Nothing from Dist. 204 on enrollment

If you follow the endless stream of e-mails and other information coming from Indian Prairie School District 204 you will have noticed something strange. Ever since the district convinced voters four years ago into approving hundreds of millions of dollars for the third high school that we were going to desperately need by 2010, we never hear a peep from the district about enrollment anymore. Hmmm.

So, let's take a look again this year at the facts in the district's official Sept. 30 enrollment number report that they must file with the state. And what do we see? Once again, we see no growth and in fact overall enrollment declined by 267 students or the equivalent of 10 more empty classrooms.

But, the “yes” voters will say, “There must be growth at the elementary or middle school levels.” Nope. Elementary and middle school enrollment both showed declines from 2009.

This all reminds me of the old Wendy's commercial from the 1980s in which actress Clara Peller receives a burger with a massive bun from a fictional competitor that uses the slogan “Home of the Big Bun”. The small patty prompts Peller to angrily exclaim, “Where's the beef?”

Only today, it is taxpayers and future generations who are wondering, “Where's my money?” The country is bankrupt, the state is bankrupt and apparently District 204 is morally bankrupt for borrowing hundreds of millions to buy land and build a school we did not need and cannot afford to operate.

Paul White

Naperville