No Financial Security in D112 Referendum Plan: Letter

The following letter was written and submitted by Loren Schechter.

North Shore School District 112 tells us that we need to spend $198 million (plus an additional $150-million+ in interest) to reconfigure our school system).

What will we get for this massive expenditure?

We will get an unprecedented Big Box middle school—a school whose size is unsupported by peer-reviewed literature. We will lose half our neighborhood schools--the loss of which will disproportionately harm the district’s most vulnerable students; we will lose all elementary schools west of Route 41, and all middle schools east of Route 41. We will lose green space, create traffic congestion and promote district-wide busing.

Yet there is even more that we will not get.

We will not achieve financial security. This plan is a financial gamble, likely to leave the District--and our community--in a financially precarious position. We will not be able to meet future, perhaps unanticipated needs. In addition, this plan underfunds maintenance of our remaining schools. In fact, Dan Littman, co-chair of the financial subcommittee of the Superintendent’s Citizen Finance and Facilities Advisory Committee (SCCFAC) has stated that this plan fails to solve the financial problems of the District. Furthermore, we will not get an independent financial audit, despite the repeated request of many community members.

SCFFAC spent three years studying the process, and its chairman came to the conclusion that “…the community wanted change, but it didn’t want radical change.” SCFFAC noted that the community rejected grade centers, and supported a two middle-school model, grades 6-8.

And yet this plan, developed by a hand-picked committee operating with no minutes or records, was the only group to discuss the single middle school model. No other plan was fully pursued by 112, or subject to the “value-engineering” process that reduced costs for the single middle school.

The District has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to sell this plan to the community.

They hired an elite public relations firm for $12,000/month (at taxpayer expense), and spent tens of thousands of dollars on promotional video paid for by taxpayers.

We need a better plan. One that is financially prudent, educationally sound, and respects the neighborhood school model!

Join me and vote “NO” for the D112 referendum on March 15!

Loren S. Schechter