A majority of the Madison Central School District voters who showed up yesterday swung my way, saying No to the $16.98-million new gym and renovation project. The school's vote-stacking scheme, the media's manipulative, in-the-tank coverage (Chuck Clement still doggedly refuses to mention the underestimated $2.9-million gym that was the crown jewel of the rejected plan).
I expect supporters of the plan will moan that the folks who voted no don't care about children (oops: my boss Dr. Douglas Knowlton is already saying that, consistent with previous efforts to brand opponents enemies of education). I would suggest, however, that supporters of the architect's first draft turn that frown upside down and view yesterday's vote as a successful basis for moving toward a workable building renovation plan.
First, let's compare yesterday's vote with the 2007 bond issue to build a $5.83-million gym complex (the Credit Soup/Bulldog Media Sports Center):
| 2007 Yes | 2007 No | % Yes | 2011 Yes | 2011 No | % Yes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ward 1 (NE Mad) | 386 | 385 | 50.06% | 439 | 321 | 57.76% |
| Ward 2 (NW Mad) | 208 | 240 | 46.43% | 221 | 197 | 52.87% |
| Ward 3 (S Mad) | 109 | 170 | 39.07% | 140 | 163 | 46.20% |
| Rural | 210 | 411 | 33.82% | 263 | 386 | 40.52% |
| Total | 913 | 1206 | 43.09% | 1063 | 1067 | 49.91% |
Notice that the Yes vote was consistently higher, by 6.4% to 7.7%, in each ward and across the board. Ask the voters to build just a gym for six million, and only 43% say Yes. Ask the same voters to spend nearly three times that amount on a new gym and some genuine educational improvements, and you get almost 50% to say yes. Those numbers suggest Plan C should drop the gym and focus just on renovating the high school.
If there is failure in this campaign, it perhaps lies with the school's vote-stacking plan. For all its tours and propaganda and voting at basketball games, the school district only got eleven more people to vote this time than in 2007. That's a 0.5% increase, and still only 28% voter turnout overall. That's a pretty paltry return on investment... and the appearance of voter influence appears to have damaged voter trust in the district and motivated some No votes. When the school floats Plan C, it might get better results by conducting the election normally, with absentee voting available strictly at the business office.
Oh yeah, what's this Plan C I'm talking about? It's the next logical step for the school district to get the school improvements it needs. During our podcast recording session yesterday, Scott Ehrisman noted that when he attended Parkston High School, the new building from which he graduated required three public votes to obtain approval. School bond issues almost never pass the first time. That's a natural and I would argue healthy part of the process. In 2007, Plan A failed. Plan B failed yesterday (after too long a wait). Here's Plan C (no charge, Madison!):
- Tell the architect to drop the new gym from his first draft. Offer voters a plan that spends $10 million on renovating existing classroom space and building new fine arts classroom space. (Essentially, do Charlie Johnson's plan.)
- No vote-stacking: allow absentee voting at the business office only. Avoid any appearance of vote influence (registering DSU students, "encouraging" MHS seniors to vote, having students make "Vote for Yes for MHS!" posters, etc.).
- Hire a new business manager (remember, the very experienced Cindy Callies is retiring) who has a great deal of public trust and will be widely recognized as an honest election official.
- Don't do any campaigning. Don't organize a group of supporters. Don't unleash the Education Foundation. Just let the voters decide.
Most importantly, don't give up the way the new gym supporters did when they lost the first vote. Don't alienate the electorate by calling opponents of this first bad plan enemies of education. We're not. Build a plan, build a consensus, and provide for the necessities that the school needs.
Wow, I can't believe Dr. Douglas Knowlton's comments. That is pathetic. He should understand logical fallacies. I honestly can't believe someone in his position would be allowed to make such comments and still retain his position.
Is this typical of his leadership style?
What's the difference between informing the public of the plan and campaigning for it? Asking people to spend millions of dollars requires telling the people why they should do so. If they can't successfully justify the renovation, then spending money on an architect is just a waste of resources.
Your position would stifle discussion and voter participation.
Anyone who qualifies can register to vote. It doesn't matter if they are in high school or attend DSU. It's their right.
I don't think that anybody will give up, BUT people will need to step back and take a breath. The sting of defeat has to go fade. Some rural voters seriously risked their lives yesterday to brave the bad roads just to get to the polls to vote "NO!" Discussion will have to happen with those opposed and changes will have to be made in any remodel plans.
In the meantime, we all should support our schools, students, teachers, staff and administration in any way we can. A genuine word of encouragement and appreciation can make anyone's day.
Bull, Michael. You're perpetuating the same embarrassing and contorted "Oh, we're not doing anything illegal" excuses the school used. Call it what it is: The school was clearly pushing the limits of election law with its de facto advocacy of the plan. The tours never talked about what doesn't need work in the high school or what we can do without. The tours were pure advocacy, a dog and pony show. I want honest and open discussion, but I want no more buffalo-ing from school officials and media. Don't tell me you're just "informing the public" when in fact you are doing everything you can to market the plan and influence votes toward the desired outcome.
I'll say this: if I ran a sanitary district election the way the school ran this election, people would have my hide.
That remark on Twitter by Dr. Knowlton is just not necessary. In the first place, the plan should have had 2 different votes. One for the upgrading (which does need doing) and a second vote for the extras (like the gym). I believe the vote would have been very different. I believe that the vote would have been different if it was for the upgrading of the school only. We do care about the kids and their safety.. Our priorities need to be straightened out. Education means good classrooms, access for every student in every part of the school, updated electrical, fire, etc. That's what I care about. Maybe some other people feel the same way. The teachers and the students learning are the main goal of an education. I did not vote against the kids! All no voters did not vote against the kids.
I am current biting my lip at the fact that stung a bit and I want to tweet something back... but when you are a leader weather its business, city, ect. you need to know your boundaries. But what a professional- in his spot he should be taking a deep step back and not getting to involved. With a comment like that what is stopping someone in Madison thinking about going to DSU go "what an a*****e" and pick SDSU "he doesn't care about my concerns".
Another thing to ponder: we were told that the high school had to be renovated to meet the ADA requirements: the ADA was passed in 1990, 21 years ago. So the sudden urgency is rather questionable - unless there's a looming lawsuit that no one at the school is mentioning?
Oh, and Dr. Knowlton, one of the things school is supposed to teach is good sportsmanship: in other words, how to be a good loser.
I will stand behind everything I have said. Those who purport to be educational supporters and yet voted against the bond issue played right into the hands of all those that do not support education. It certainly sounds like a interesting coalition. These are my personal opinions. I will take every opportunity to fight for these kids and the future of South Dakota. Let me also say that student athletes, art students, consumer science students, science students, technical studies students all deserve the same high level facilities to be educated in and this plan was the best one to serve all our young people in Madison.
If I didn't support education I’d go live in a barn. I do support the renovation project but what you tried to sell wasn't enough to convince me it was the right idea. Not the fact that I do not support education.
Dr Knowlton, you need to take a step back and not be jumping on toes of potential yes votes down the road. Don’t burn bridges by possibly being out of line in someone’s view. I think a few of us on this site that voted no yesterday could be yes ones down the road if a plan is drawn up that everyone can agree on. :) And if you want to stand up and fight and make things better get everyone agreed on something and not spit it back to people who have LEGITAMITE concerns. Now that this bond vote has failed, instead of jumping on them and making comments you should be calling (well not you, your wife and the yes committee) around and polling and see what fears people had. Take a more professional approach to it. Just a tip!
From the outside looking in, it appears that while many care one way or another, most do not care enough to vote.
Now that, Michael, is a point well taken. If we had gotten that other 72% of voters off their duffs, how might they have voted?
No plan will truly be a success until it engages the entire community enough that the majority of voters cast a ballot. I can excuse a certain percentage because of the weather or their health.
The people of our school district have said their piece, and as a supporter of the plan, of course I am disappointed. But as you say Cory, I'm sure there will be future efforts to bring our school up to modern standards. But I have to agree with Michael that your idea that there should be no campaigning is misguided. This is a political issue, and by not campaigning, you cede all ground to the opposition.
People that are advocates need to advocate to the extent possible within the law. That includes registering any supporters within the district (be they HS seniors or DSU students) and getting them to the polls. I don't see how that could be objectionable. They have the same right to vote as anyone else. In contested political elections, the winning side is usually the side that is well organized. After all your preaching about the need for community involvement and discussion, I don't understand your point of view on that elementary question. Actively supporting policy you believe in is not a crime--usually it is referred to as civic involvment.
I wasn't around in '07 (and am unsure that it's really an apples to apples comparision in any case) to see how that election went down, but I suspect that improved performance this time out could well be directly attributable to a more organized movement.
Maybe I'm too late in the game to be saying anything now, but enough is enough. Are we in grade school? Name calling by the "YES" voters will not in any way benefit you the next time we go to the polls on this issue. I voted no, and I am not afraid to say I voted NO.
To be quite honest, Mr. Knowlton's comments hurt, and are rather immature. I care DEEPLY about my children’s education! Just because I voted no, do not tell me I don't support education. This plan was not just about a renovation, but about an attitude of "it's all or nothing". I walked out of the "tour" feeling exactly how Mr. Knowlton and many other facebook friends are making us NO voters feel---that we don't support education. I was a huge supporter and member of the committee that worked hard to get the Opt-Out passed a few years back.
Updates need to be made, no doubt about it and I support that, I support a bigger gym--even if my children may not end up being athletes. I myself was an athlete in school, and I would have loved a state of the art gymnasium, but we did great without it. State of the art in today’s economy is not NEEDED. Would it be great to have all this? Absolutely! Madison has produced some amazing talent; athletic, academic, arts, music...you name it. And they did it with the "run down, horrific school" that just isn't good enough?
Now, I hope Mrs. Knowlton has some idea on how to do damage control from her wonderful interview aired on KSFY yesterday. Quite honestly, if I was someone considering a job in Madison and one in, let’s say Brookings, that would require me to relocate to either place—after seeing that interview, I would hands down choose Brookings. Sure made me question why I should even be sending my kids to this school!? But I will give her credit for trying to make the NO voters feel even worse for “not caring†about the children.
In the few years I have lived here, Madison has proved to me how they rush to get what they want. Did the school not learn when they wanted to shove the last gymnasium vote down everyone’s throats? Take the time and give options. Hold public meetings, not tours of what you want, to find out what the taxpayers want and what they feel is really NEEDED. Then go back to the drawing board. The turnout at these meetings are not going to be great, that’s a given, but they have to be offered. It seemed to have worked for the Aquatics Center, even though it took 2+ years of meetings to get there. Could that committee have just jumped in and done what they wanted? Absolutely, but they didn’t. They were persistent, one to two meetings a month for 2 years. And the result is an amazing aquatics center for everyone!
Make the changes that must happen and this can include a gym…lets get rid of the “state of the art†items, for now; these things can be added later. Make the improvements and upgrades when the money is really available. Back to the drawing board folks….
Perhaps I did react a bit emotionally but given the passion that I feel about education and what kids in this town, this state and this nation deserve I think it might be understandable. At least I am willing to put my name on my comments unlike Grandma and Casey and others that hide behind a blog as a way to make comments and not be held accountable for them. Eve, the real losers are the hundreds of students who now may not get the chance to be educated in a facility that ALL students can be proud of.
[editor's note: "Grandma" is my daughter's grandma, Ruth Heidelberger. —CAH]
I also feel very sorry for all the teachers and yes my wife that had to go back to that school today and explain to the students that there were people in this town that wanted to support a decent place for them to go to school but just not enough.
For all those who somehow believed that the main problem with this building was a new gym should really look at the amounts that were going into safe and decent heating and ventilation systems, the auditorium that would showcase the arts and performance, the labs and all the other facilities which would have been up graded and and could have provided a strong statement to students that yes education and this school is important.
Now lets talk economic development. I do believe DSU is a major economic driver in this town and every new student, program, research endeavor has the potential of tremendous economic impact. When high school students and their parents visit Madison to attend athletic events or other events at the school they make a judgement about the town. Is this a town that takes pride in the educational environment they provide? Because one of the decision points that students use when making a decision to attend a particular university is the town it is located in.
I believe so strongly in the potential of Dakota State University and will work hard to bring more students, more funding and more opportunities to this city e.g. Ben Franklin exhibit, Harry Potter programs, the South Dakota Symphony. Because everything this city and the citizens do to promote the city, the schools, the parks, the arts, athletics and the environment here helps with those efforts I will work vigorously, sometimes emotionally and with unrelenting zeal to promote this amazing university and thus the city of Madison. And that Mr. Amert is my leadership style.
Dr. Knowlton's statement will come to haunt any future attempts to pass this proposal. It was insulting and unprofessional. Many of the people who voted no realize that to impose this huge a debt on this school district at this time is not a wise choice of resources. I would say that 99% of those who voted no DO care about education, and if the proponents of this proposal think that simply campaigning harder after denigrating these voters will work, they are living in fantasyland.
Fix the necessary items now. I think you would be surprised how many no voters would support that type of plan. Put the rest aside until the capital outlay fund is available to pay for it when the elementary school is paid off.
Dr. Knowlton, you still don't get it. You state, "I also feel very sorry for all the teachers and yes my wife that had to go back to that school today and explain to the students that there were people in this town that wanted to support a decent place for them to go to school but just not enough. "
I daresay we (even as no voters) "support a decent place for them to go to school" in a greater amount than most of the promoters. You are still portraying those of us who pay the majority of the education expense in this district as being no friend of education, and this is completely wrong.
We attended a school board meeting when this project was first discussed and spoke at that meeting about this very thing, but were essentially listened to and ignored. If you want respect, you have to give respect.
Dr. Knowlton,
If I had a proposal that would entirely fund the state k-12 funding formula but some vested political interests would consider it to be an income tax, would you support the concept. If not( you probably would not given your position), would you be offended if I claimed that you were anti-education by not supporting a funding proposal that would pay better and more professional salaries for our educators?
I stand by my recommendations:
(1) Address upgrade needs first
(2) Keep the project under 10 Million
(3)Any project over 10 million be covered by a capital campaign with all funds committed upfront.
My prediction this plan would pass 70-30.
"At least I am willing to put my name on my comments unlike Grandma and Casey and others that hide behind a blog as a way to make comments and not be held accountable for them."
Casey Meehan, MHS class of 2006. And yes, I do tend to hide behind my first name on political issues for a business and professional aspect of it. I don't want to lose business because someone else disagree's with me on a political subject when I could be of services to them wether he is or isn't for the school, republican or democrat, ect. ect.
I have said my piece- i feel you stepped on my toes and spat in my face when you could easily turn me into a yes voter with some changes to the school plans. And yes I do understand that you are emotional about this subject as well and why you would be and I do agree that a person in your shoes should be as well.
Dr. Knowlton, I am offended to see your comments. As you pay no real estate taxes in this district, you are hardly in a position to attack those of us who pay a lot in taxes, when it's our taxes that support the school programs, activities, buildings, and salaries.
We all support education. Some of us do it with money and taxes, and some just talk about it. You stated you were willing to make a charitable contribution to the school debt in lieu of taxes; but charity is voluntary and taxes are forced.
Terms like "forced," "imposed," and "rammed down our throats," are really not very accurate in the context of a democratic election, especially one that requires 60% to pass.
I'm not hiding behind my name, Mr. Knowlton and I don't think most are on this page. Quite frankly, I have just never commented on a blog before but I have posted a link on my Facebook page directly to this site and I have discussed this, and many other issues there.
Heres a comment that was posted on my Facebook page a while back in regards to my questions on this issue.....take note at the fact that this is from a CURRENT JUNIOR at MHS: "Man Kelli Brown! I am really liking your status' today! Coming from a current Junior at the school, they are making it worse than it seems. YES, the school does need SOME updating to meet codes & safety regulations! If you really look at the plans it seems that it is more for cosmetics & becoming more "modern". We just built a new elementary school and screwed that up, so should we be rushing into this? Looks doesn't improve learning, I think you should keep that all in mind"
Losing hurts, especially when a person is so passionate about the issue, been there, done that. What are we teaching our kids right now with the behavior of the way some are acting regarding this "loss"?
Lets use common sense when dealing with this loss, the same thing you tell your kid when they fall off their bike when trying to ride the first time without training wheels, when they lose their first wrestling match, etc...."get back up, brush it off, and keep at it. You can't get everything right the first time. Keep working hard and improve upon what you learned you did right and what maybe you did wrong this time, it will help you conquer it the next time"
Well I guess I do not have much to say other than I do believe that our kids education is important but on the other hand I believe we should only do what is necessary at this point. The economy has not been real good to us and with everyone having to pay for this, some of us just plain can not afford it. No raises for three years and prices going up. I think right now we probably have bigger things to attend to. Not sure about all of you but our life is riding on the line financially and we CAN NOT afford our taxes to be raised right now. Just my opinion.
Dr. Knowlton-
I imagine that if you donated your yearly salary to MHS every year that could help the children. Are you against education because you do not donate your yearly salary?
Of course not, you recognize that there are economic limitations to every choice and it is unreasonable for you to sacrifice so much even if it is for the good of the children. In this difficult economic period our choices need be carefully weighed against their economic cost. As CAH has pointed out many times, such a large bond would limit the future possibilities for Madison just as donating the majority of your salary to MHS would limit yours.
The question that you should be asking is what are the critical infrastructure needs? Is a new stadium absolutely necessary? Can we justify any of this with the expected decline in future enrollments? If we do this now, what are we going to give up in the future?
While you are an advocate for education, you must be logical and reasonable or you will be labeled a zealot.
Thought for the day...people may never remember what you said but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Shame on you Dr. Knowlton!!!! How dare you suggest that I do not care about my grandsons education?
Property tax payers are often "site bound". Often those most in favor of "the child", etc. are portable professionals ready to jump ship and community as soon as the taxpayers are left on the hook for the portable professionals ego-driven building projects and they are offered another "building project".
I may not live in Madison anymore, but I have many friends with kids in school there, so I care. And it is obvious that you all care too! I haven't seen a single person write on here that it's a horrible idea and it shouldn't happen, it just seems that everyone at this point needs a plan that is reasonable. I agree, back to the drawing board!
And since when did we start teaching our kids that cosmetic appearances and material items are the only things that matter? I attended a small rural school that was nothing special when I was growing up, and guess what, I graduated from DSU with a double major. And, I'm pretty confident that my grandparents attended a one room school with no gym, and my grandpa was qualified enough to fight in WWII and attend Brookings College. What I am trying to say is that all of these material things are nice, however, if you have good teachers then that is really all that matters!
If it's a matter of safety for the students, then yes it needs to be address. If it's a matter of making things handicap accessible then yes it needs to be address. A state of the art gym? Really? How many businesses in Madison have closed or layed off workers in the last 3 years? I know that a lot of people in Madison can't afford it right now. As for Dr. Knowlton, I'm not impressed with your approach, you may care, but you are making it look like you only care about the material objects!
Grandma here (Ruth Heidelberger). Just thought I would be sure you know who I am. Supersweet, your name is?
I am part of the other half of town that pays taxes. Lots of taxes. The kids education is number 1 on my list and their safety is the top priority. Let's get this whole thing on the right track and make a positive future for the students. The school updating is good. To push a gym into the picture is not a good choice to bundle in with the update. I've lived in Madison for more years than I want to count. I've seen the way the special interests work and believe it is time for the everyday citizen to be heard. How about we give people a real chance to speak out and be respected without cutting anyone down because they don't agree with "you". Why can't we be heard - we can't be heard because we aren't the "elite" group. So many fine people in the town of Madison that don't get heard. What a shame.
In our representative democracy the will of the people is expressed at the ballot box. Every eligible voter had the opportunity to be heard on February 1. The only one's not heard were those who elected not to vote.
The people will have another opportunity to be heard at the joint city/school election in June.
The ballot box is the only place around here where everyone has the opportunity to be heard... well, that, and this blog. ;-)
Check that above date: the city and school board elections are two months earlier: April 12! Good time to pick some new school board members who seek more open public dialogue, yes?
I support updating the school. I have posted my name and a link to my website. I graduated in 1981 from MHS. I graduated from DSU with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with minors in French, Spanish and English. My wife and I own and operate Black Studios in Rutland SD. My kids go to Rutland School just down the street from my house. We are in Madison once or twice a day. I go to West Center Church in Madison. Most of my customers live in Madison. I grew up on a dairy farm west of Madison. You can find us sometime during almost every day at the Madison Community Center. My family is number 1 in my life. This is who I am.
"SuperSweet" name please...full real name...every time. I might know who you are but not everyone here does
I count as friends people on both sides of the last bond issue. There are people that I deeply respect that I disagree with.
As a business owner, I realize the importance of a strong local economy and infrastructure including education. In short, the more people that we have in the community earning a decent living means the difference if I prosper or struggle to survive. We need a school building that better allow all students a chance for excellence on their way to graduation. That success may be academic, athletic, in the fine arts or one of the vocational programs. Such a school building will help attract and retain industry, small business and families to Madison. We already have the people. They have the talent. What we need now is innovation. The 10% budget cut will force all districts to get creative and change the way they do things. The same thing goes for the Madison High School remodel. If a plan is to pass, the board will have to think outside the tradition box and get creative about doing more without spending more. At one point today, I thought the best thing to do is to wait for a year or two, but the time is clearly now to regroup, re-evaluate and submit something new because putting a bond issue off indefinitely in the future does not allow us to take advantage of the cheap interest rates available today which in turn reduces the tax load over the long term.
The next few months should be VERY interesting...
Ya, I knew I blew the election date right after the post.
Here's to those concerned about names: Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Real name please...
Backing up: Brett, I misspoke when I said there should be no campaigning. That's foolish. You are right: civic involvement is necessary and fitting on any local political issue. What Matt and Penni and other supporters did in their advertising and door-knocking is as good for local democracy as letters to the editor or the discourse occurring on this blog.
What I wanted to say (but was too hasty, sloppy, and inarticulate to say) was that the campaign and other attempts at voter influence have two problems. First, we do have a law against expenditure of public resources to influence the vote. Much of what the school district itself did was an effort to influence the vote in all but legally provable name. The tours, for instance, were not merely information-providing activities. The school district very deliberately highlighted the reasons to vote Yes. The school also conducted an early-voting scheme that was rife with opportunity for voter influence. I'm not sure how to resolve that problem, but I was not the only one left with a bad taste in my mouth from the school's attempts to manipulate public opinion.
A greater problem with the campaigning is that it entrenches the hierarchical Madison mindset. Too often the Madison mindset is to have a few chosen elites make the decision, then sell it to the masses (if we have to). We could spend a lot less time selling an idea to stakeholders if we involved more of them in an open, public process to develop the plan in the first place. I know, getting people to participate is still a challenge, but we live in a local culture where folks like my mom ("Grandma" above) feel they've been ignored by the elites so frequently that they don't believe their input will be given an honest hearing when they are asked for it. We have a lot of cultural inertia to overcome.
Dr. Knowlton's comments above demonstrate that closed hierarchical mindset. Several people are saying that the new gym was indeed a factor in their vote. Dr. Knowlton discounts that public sentiment, says it's not there, and then explicitly asks us not to look at that part of the issue and instead focus on the other aspects of the plan that he and other supporters would rather talk about. I am very glad to have Dr. Knowlton as one of the few members of the Madison power structure engaging in this conversation (where's Sharon? where's the school board? where's Gene Hexom?), but I am stunned at how counter-productive his comment are. Instead of offering at least the appearance of listening to stakeholders and building support for compromise that could resolve this conflict, his words have the effect Casey and others have cited, alienating neighbors and turning maybes into firm nos.
Comparing the 2007 gym campaign with the current gym/renovation campaign: Brett, you said, "improved performance this time out could well be directly attributable to a more organized movement." The 2007 campaign seems to have been as organized and quite possibly more professional-looking than this year's. Darin namken at Credit Soup/Bulldog Media ran it, and he's an extraordinary marketer. The campaign signs were slicker. They much more avidly co-opted the Bulldog symbology. They had fancier ads and yard signs. It was Russ-Olson style big-money campaigning. And it failed miserably.
In both cases, well-funded media campaigns were defeated by uncoordinated pockets of vocal opposition and general cranky voter sentiment. I agree with John Sweet: Madison is simply a darned hard town to sell any big money project in. Normal campaign/marketing tactics seem as likely to backfire as win votes. I think the route to win is to use better collaborative engagement of stakeholders up front, be absolutely transparent in the process, and then present a plan that is so solid that it stands on its own merits... and even then, we might lose.
To Mike Black
I do believe that SuperSweet is former superintendent John Sweet.
Then he should have no problem using his real name.
Sure, it's John Sweet. We've established that in previous comment-section conversations. I allow handles (as I do for Linda, who likes "nonnie", and Rod, who occasionally favors "Goldman", and even myself, mashing my initials into that last name), particularly when I can vouch for the speaker. Now, back to the issue....
I sincerely hope we all keep our eyes on the prize through this vigorous discussion. It sounds like everyone blogging is pro-improvement and passionate where education is concerned. Yes, I'm disappointed it didn't pass on the first try, but that was not unexpected. What is disappointing is to go through the polling books and see so many (72%) who didn't express an opinion where it actually counts, in the booth. We're all in this together and together we will pass a plan that meets a super-majority of 60% of Madison Central voters.
I agree with Mr. Knowlton 100%. He is a very well educated man, with Madison's best interest....without anything to gain.
Everyone on here says that they support their kids....blah blah blah! I am throwing the bs flag. Some of you on here have a larger "bar tab" each year than you would pay for the additional taxes. If you don't like this, than I believe you feel a tad guilty because I am right.
Mr Amert.....ask your father and uncle how much improvements should cost....if they support the school should they give up their salary and do the school improvements for free. Good luck with that one. I doubt that this will be posted, as I disagree with the Great and Mighty, Journalist.
Madison will never support it's school. There are too many of them that are worried what everyone else has and what they don't. Jealousy is not attractive!
Have a great day!
Pam's argument appears to boil down to (a) opponents of the plan all drink too much and (b) Dick and Don Amert ought to work for free.
As for envy, it's the school district that keeps telling us we need to have a fancy gym like Hartford and Tea.