Hi Steve,
I saw on your Franklin Matters site that you invite people who have something of importance to say about Franklin to submit their ideas to you.
I believe the taxpayers of Franklin deserve to hear more than one opinion on the proposed school building. I'm attaching something I wrote regarding the vote, and would appreciate it if you would allow readers of your site to read it.
Thank you, and please contact me with any questions,
Mary Brennan
127 Summer Street, Franklin
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VOTE NO
MARCH 27
As parents of school age children we urge you to Vote No for the proposed new Franklin High School because the plan is:
EXTRAVAGANT
With its turrets, towers, walls of glass and sloping roof lines, this looks like something out of television’s Beverly Hills 90210! Boasting a suspended walking track, Olympic size gymnasium, professional auditorium and a blank check for all new furnishings, this proposal is not reflective of the way most citizens of Franklin live, and is not necessary for good education.
WASTEFUL
Tearing down a forty year young high school and field house, ripping up playing fields just paid for, throwing everything inside the building away, this proposal mocks the Franklin taxpayer by saying, “give us millions to build a high school, more millions to maintain it, more millions to install sports fields, and we’ll rip it all down and ask you for a hundred million more!”
EXPENSIVE
Wise consumers know that to get the best value for their money they should choose from the mid-range. Not the cheapest (you’ll be sorry), or the most expensive (you’ll pay lots for things you don’t need), but the mid-range. In this case that would be maintaining and renovating the current high school.
EXTRAVAGANT
With its turrets, towers, walls of glass and sloping roof lines, this looks like something out of television’s Beverly Hills 90210! Boasting a suspended walking track, Olympic size gymnasium, professional auditorium and a blank check for all new furnishings, this proposal is not reflective of the way most citizens of Franklin live, and is not necessary for good education.
WASTEFUL
Tearing down a forty year young high school and field house, ripping up playing fields just paid for, throwing everything inside the building away, this proposal mocks the Franklin taxpayer by saying, “give us millions to build a high school, more millions to maintain it, more millions to install sports fields, and we’ll rip it all down and ask you for a hundred million more!”
EXPENSIVE
Wise consumers know that to get the best value for their money they should choose from the mid-range. Not the cheapest (you’ll be sorry), or the most expensive (you’ll pay lots for things you don’t need), but the mid-range. In this case that would be maintaining and renovating the current high school.
KEEP FRANKLIN AFFORDABLE!
If you have something you'd like to submit for 'Voices of Franklin', please follow these instructions:
Mary, you have to look at the entire project however, renovating would be very disruptive to the students (it is estimated the rennovations would take 3+ years) who would have to endure the continuous changes in the school while it was being renovated. The two renovation options that were researched ended up with a final charge to the taxpayer of 38 or 43 million vs the 47 million for a new school. Ultimately I feel that the reduced impact and much improved design and layout are a win for the community.
ReplyDeleteThe design of the new high school has been well thought out and implemented in other communities and will likely be much easier to maintain and more efficient to run over the life of the building which if we included in the analysis we would see that it would save us more money.
Do you really want your children to spend 3 years in a construction site?
Geoff
Mary,
ReplyDeleteWhile I disagree with you on every point you make, most of them are subjective. HOWEVER, to say everything inside the building will be thrown away is patently untrue. While the new building cost includes much needed upgrades in technology, everything useful in the old building, including computers, smart boards, etc. will be transferred to the middle/elementary schools. In that sense, the new high school will have a beneficial effect on all the schools in town. Anything that can be used from the high school to benefit other buildings most certainly will be.
Sean
I am wondering how many debt exclusions we are still paying off...Keller school, Remington school, Fire stations etc...
ReplyDeleteKeller Sullivan, Remington-Jefferson and Horace Mann all are coming off over the next several years. I should have the info handy but not at this moment.
ReplyDelete