Parent asks- What happened to the fields @ VRHS

Mark,

AE- I do question why the D49 BOE got legal advice on the use of mill levy money in executive session?

MS- I didn't ask for the executive session, I asked for a letter answering the question. The administration and legal professionals felt they needed to have the time to address the board, together as a board, in an authorized attorney/client setting.

Because we are the only district in Colorado to ever finance buildings with a Mill Levy, there are no standard answers here, because almost everything about this Mill Levy is Non-standard. (Not bad, just non-standard.)

While I am prohibited by law from revealing what is discussed in executive session, I can share my opinion and my general understanding that there is NO statutory prohibition on using this Mill Levy Money on an Artificial turf field at VRHS. The question is, should we? The board has not answered that question yet.

AE- We are spending so much time on the issue of the purchase of astro turf that I think we are forgetting a major factor in why there even is a discussion about astro turf in the first place - and this would be the question "what happened to the field???". Can we have an insurance claim, a warranty claim or was it negligence on our part?

MS- Good questions, all of which have been asked and answered in open session. Yes, there are things we can to. We have done and are doing them. Yes we are negotiating and working with the contractor.

AE- I personally think that astro turf might be a good idea - IF we would have the money for such a luxury. I just read in the paper this weekend about school districts making the comment "you don't want to spend money on any big purchases right now since we don't know how much money will get cut next year (from the state)". Is D49 immune to budget cuts from State? I think we are struggling as much as any other district, just look at the cuts at central office in order to keep the cuts away from the classroom....

...It almost seems like a hypocrisy to cut and deny at one end and be exuberant at another end. It works fairly easy at our house - a brand new suburban would be great, would fit all the kids and dogs in nicely, make travel so much easier. But it still is a fact that even so it would be nice and maybe cost saving in certain aspects, our family car is paid for and does the job. We have to SAVE for bigger expenses that make more sense - like saving for college. This is called being fiscally responsible, especially in tough economic times.

As always, sincerely,
Alexandra Eichelberger

MS- Yes it works that way at my house too. But you have the wrong analogy. The question is not about a luxury. What if your car would hold only 1/3 of your family on any given day, and the rest had to take a taxi to another alternative football field half way across the district?

What if your current car was restricted use, and could be driven at all only every other day?

Now how does that new mini-van that will hold everybody and work every day sound?

We have heard from the staff at VRHS that they do not have adequate facilities to provide the academic PE classes that are required. (Much less for all the team sports). And that is with only 3 grades there. Next year it will be 34% worse when VRHS has all 4 grades.

Natural turf (grass) has to rest between uses or you end up with dirt, dead grass and an expensive mess. Artificial turf can accommodate 5 class periods of PE, the marching band, followed by a hard practice of the soccer team, followed by a full contact game of football, and do it all again the next day. Try that on natural grass, and in a short period you have the expensive mess I spoke of.

VRHS has 2 grass fields, FHS has 3. VRHS is short one rectangular field and a baseball field. The additional fields are in Phase 2 or 3 of the master planning document, but they are not funded, so when they will happen is not scheduled at this time other than "future". Unfortunately, the need is not future, it is now.

During our break at the last meeting, I also heard from the community sports coach using PLC . He stated that PLC can not sustain an increased use that is anticipated for very long without the field suffering there, or a reduction in some programs.

The alarming thing to me is, I heard that VRHS cannot accomplish its academic PE mission with the fields it has, and several team sports will need to be bussed at an unspecified cost. I also heard that even if we just let the sub standard situation go and make do with utilizing other facilities for this season, it will only be worse next year.

If that is all true, we have a problem that artificial turf will solve. We have the money and can use it. The only thing we lose is what else that $500K or $600K could have bought.

And that's the problem. If we hold the MLO money for an auditorium (which we also need), how do we justify doing nothing to solve the problems of our PE classes and sports teams at VRHS?

I and every board member will be faced with these questions next week. So if anyone has a great idea, now would be a good time to speak up.

Mark Shook

Director/ Falcon D49

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The next day

Mark,

Since I am an inquisitive person I went ahead and checked out (this) blogspot. You took the liberty of posting PARTS of my original post without a disclaimer where the post came from (at this point it looks like I posted to your blog - which I am very much opposed to due to the Gazette reaching a bigger audience) or that YOU EDITED my post. Does this upset me? Very much so because in the light of transparency you should have been honest about where MY post came from and also that you took the liberty to edit it.

What Alexandra is talking about is that her original post, (clearly addressed to me), was posted first by her on gazette.com. I did not edit or change her words to say something else, I just did not quote her entire letter. I quoted her question, (above) and then answered it. What I quoted is unedited and represents the true nature of her question.

Notice the . . . (in the middle of her letter to me, these are ellipsis)

Here is what a legal site has to say about the use of ellipsis:

Quote:An ellipsis is a series of three points with spaces between them (. . .) inserted into a quotation to indicate the omission of material from the original quotation. There are quite a few simple rules for the proper use of ellipses, which are used more often in legal writing than most forms of writing, since lawyers often (generally too often) quote material from other sources. Failure to use the proper form of an ellipsis could misrepresent the work of another person and result in legal liability for the writer. Correct use of ellipses, on the other hand, shows that the writer has carefully attended to detail, and thus increases the reader's confidence in the reliability of the written work. Close Quote.

Alexandra continues:

Since I like to stay fair - I would like to say that I appreciated your explanation of the astro turf situation and it makes somewhat sense even so I do not agree with some of your reasoning. You did avoid answering the reasoning for executive session - "lawyer-client privilege" is not the best of reasoning given the fact that we are talking about using mill levy monies.

Sincerely
Alexandra Eichelberger

My RESPONSE

Dear Alexandra

First, I posted your question and my answer so I could point other parents with the same questions to it . I thought it was a good question, and the subject was timely and of interest to many parents. You have now made clear to all those that read your question and my answer, that you originally posted the question to me on a comments section in our local newspaper, and I quoted it here, and answered it both places.

On the attorney client authorization for executive session, I refer you to the Colorado.gov website.

I am not a lawyer. The lawyer for the company that administers our bond and mill levy came to give us legal advise. Our tax dollars pay for your board to be represented by educated licenced lawyers, so I listen to the experts.

Here is the link:

http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/open/00openmeet.htm

Alexandra, we have spoken many times on many subjects. My intent in answering your question is and was just as it appears, to share the answer. I enjoy talking with you, and want to do my job as a board member by responding to the parents and citizens of D49.

Mark Shook

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