by Scott Jentsch

I attended the School Board Meeting on February 22, 2021, where the "Long-Range Facility Planning" presentation was given by Superintendent Joe Garza.

This is a transcript of my presentation regarding this subject during the "Privilege of the Floor" period at the beginning of the meeting (before the presentation was given):

I’m looking forward to the presentation of the Long Range Plan tonight, as the most recent plan available to the public is 3.5 years old. Given that, before the current fiscal year, the District went for three years with no long range planned maintenance items funded in the budget, I am very concerned that even with the proposed increases presented at a previous Board meeting, those increases appear to the public to be arbitrary, and may not be sufficient to meet our needs because of the backlog of projects.

If there is one question that I hope is answered tonight is if the proposed budget amounts for the next four years are sufficient to meet the needs in the Long Range Plan.

There may be information of which I am not aware, as I am not a School Board member… yet.

But if there is, that’s another issue, and one that is a priority for me, which is improved communication with the public. I propose that, going forward, the Long Range Plan be communicated to the community in a way that would be easy for people to read and understand. This is something that I have been discussing recently with Patrick Miller and David Cotey.

Perhaps the LRP items could be grouped into categories like:

1. Top 5 LRP projects overall, and for each school
2. If the School District had $100,000 to spend on LRP projects, what would be done? (You did this at the annual meeting, I think?)
3. Most Important LRP projects for 1 year, 3 year, and 5 year projections (what is looming out there that people need to be thinking about now?)
4. All LRP projects, with detail. Easily browsable by property, and sortable by various attributes.
5. Recently Completed Projects (Orchard Lane pavement, Ike Wall Repair, etc.) with photos and descriptions of what needed to be done and how much it cost.

The text that is on the Long-Range Facilities Plan page is a good start, but it's just an overview with generalities. If that can be supplemented by information similar to what is in this list, I think it would be a really good step in the right direction.

If something like this is done, I think it would go a long way to help the community understand what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how much it will cost. It help the public appreciate what has been done, and give you credit for the work that you’re doing, and it will allow the community to be more involved and more aware of the process for the sake of accountability as well as greater understanding of our needs as they relate to our budget and funding sources.

I’m happy to help with this effort because I feel it is important, and I don’t believe in criticizing or coming up with ideas without being willing to help.

Unfortunately, the "one question" I was hoping they would answer was not answered. I will reach out to see if I can find out that answer and update this page if/when I do.

Last Updated: Apr 15, 2022

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