Has anyone else found alot of information just isnt adding up lately? I watch as those in power at ISD 2142 are attacking whole towns based on their hate of a few people. The 2142 plan supporters have decided to blame those who are against the school changes for the mistakes of JCI and the ISD 2142 school board. JCI FAILED TO DO THEIR HOMEWORK. The people who voted no had no part in JCI failing to do their job. If you want to be mad at someone then JCI is your man!
We are being called names and being attacked. In their eyes we voted due to taxes, I can honestly say thats BS! The fact is we were never given anything to vote YES for. ISD 2142 threw the Tower-Soudan area under the bus and when we had the audacity to say NO they started the smear campaign and the gloves were off.
I hope that the Tower-Soudan area is paying close attention to the future of ISD 2142. The new State Park going into Breitung comes with close to $200,000 per year in tax money for our local school and those who's children will be going to the Tower-Soudan Elementary should make sure that this money is USED to better the elementary school in OUR area because we all know if ISD 2142 can get away with it the Tower-Soudan area will never see a dime of this money.
Its time to find a middle ground. Face it no one won, we all lost and the only people who have been hurt in this are our kids. Its time to put away the smear tactics and look at the reality. JCI failed to follow through. They sold a bad plan and we are all going to pay for it.
Its time the school board and JCI dealt with THEIR mess.
Thank you,
Dena Suihkonen
Great post Dena! Having Johnson Controls doing the consulting was like the fox guarding the hen house. A non-partial entity should have been hired that had no interest in "financial gain". I hope everyone is paying attention that J.C. have been inept in their job. Not checking out zoning and CUP info. before a purchase is made that is not "contingent" upon receiving approval?!!!! Unheard of in the world of professionals. This is a horrible boondoggle and I hope to heck it can be stopped before more money is wasted.
Greentea:
Nice post. I totally agree with you. I feel that there should be more parents getting involved in the education, instead of sending their students somewhere else. Stand up for the students of this school, the whole school. Sending your children somewhere else is not the answer either. I know that it is not easy making a decision...as I don't know what to do at this time. But we have to all stand and state what we feel is necessary. If no one else comes forward, only the ones that have been here the entire time fighting for the school, if you don't want to say anything still support your community. Do this showing your support at the meetings. Its not the students fault that 2142 has no concerns for Tower, and the same for Johnson Controls. Be a leader for our students and let's show our kids that we are not going to take second best. We are going to take what is rightfully ours and that is our school and tax money and use it for the school that has no reason to be closed.
Let's show Johnson Control and the school board of 2142 that we are standing in front of our students waitng for what belongs to us....and that is our school. The whole school.
Middle ground needs to come from both sides. I am seeing very little in the way of williness to compromise on either side.
I kept my kids in the Tower-Soudan schools this year. I am hoping I made a good decision I guess we will see as time goes on. Right now all I can say is Tower-Soudan was left with 5 million to make the best Elementary school we can for our children. Its up to us to make sure this happens. There will be a meeting in Tower on Sept. 20th. We need parents to show up and help plan the school we would like for OUR children. I am speaking of the whole areas children as our children. These 5 million dollars will be used to rebuild an Elementary, a vote was taken and whether you voted yes or not the ballot stated this money would be used to remodel the Tower-Soudan school for a PreK thru 6th grade and now its up to us to make sure it is used to do that.
Thanks
Dena Suihkonen
Tower-Soudan Parent
I sent my son to school in Virginia when we moved here from Minneapolis as the course work at his grade level was comparable to what he had already done 2 years before in Mpls public schools.