Pointing fingers at the wrong people

Joni Blackman's Oct. 13 column seemingly casts blame on further divisiveness in Indian Prairie Unit District 204.

Is it fair to point fingers at the taxpayers who defeated the 2005 referendum for the position we're in today?

These voters didn't say "no" to quality education, unless you quantify educational "quality" in the form of buildings and indebtedness. They said "no" to increased taxes and indebtedness, "no" to additional land and permanent space, and "no" due to uncertainty in the plan.

And contrary to what Blackman wrote, the Frontier Campus most certainly is included in the "mix"--it's a $250,000 annual expenditure that is not only part of the space answer but provides an extension of pre-existing programs.

In October 2005, the administration represented that Frontier created seats for 600 students with "room to grow." At the time, then Superintendent Howard Crouse stated Frontier would "allow us to use tax dollars wisely and provide classes in a 'permanent' space with more opportunities for our kids than using portable classrooms to handle our high school overcrowding."'

He also believed there might be ways to make Frontier stretch beyond its intended period of use, and if we continued to need space, the district could create a "similar short-term solution."

There are claims current enrollment would fill three 3,000 student high schools. We have five facilities for high school enrollment. Their "optimum" capacity equals 9,000 seats. Using today's numbers, middle school enrollment has reached its peak at 7,027 and will somewhat decline next year. High school enrollment will peak in 2011-12 at 9,252 for a potential shortfall of 252 seats. Elementary enrollment has declined over the past two years.

What was the basis, again, for converting WV Gold to a middle school if it's needed for high school space, and why do we need 3,000 high school seats for a 252 seat shortage?

Christine Vickers

member, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 Board of Education