Opposes Medford Area Public School District referendum

Vox Pop

Mr. Sullivan doesn’t give up. Exactly what planet are you living on.

Evidently you haven’t noticed, but we are in times of a great many stresses, lost jobs, people out of work, struggling, high prices on everything, including lumber, supplies are limited and may take months to even get a part for something. You now want to ask the taxpayers to OK a $29,910,000 referendum to build on and or renovate parts of the school.

What exactly is your underlying agenda. Who are you trying to impress, or which school district are you trying to out do.

I have said it before, a building does not make a good school. One could have a school in a simple pole shed, what matters is having good teachers, who want to stay and not use their job as a stepping stone. The average overall grade for your school is C & C+. Other school districts in the area have a better grade average than Medford. Why?

You are not even able to get maintenance staff, like janitors, now, much less them having more to take care of and keep clean and maintain. Perhaps if you would raise the starting wage a few more bucks you’d be able to get someone. If you would have kept up with updating some of your boiler room and electrical and plumbing problems over the years, those areas wouldn’t be in such sad shape now.

You didn’t have to buy that land. The numbers of incoming and out going students remain the same. There isn’t even a projected large increase in the years to come. Why do you need this right now?

Say you start construction, you run short of something, will you be able to get what you need when you need it? The prices of building supplies keep going up. If you should run short of funds which area will you take the money from to continue? Will you take it from the maintenance fund? Will you take it from say, money allotted for extra help for the teachers?

The dome. Owen and Spencer and Abbotsford have domes which are being used for cafeteria and commons areas, gymnasium, wrestling room, and classroom space, etc. These are all areas you want to enlarge with your referendum money for the school, plus you want to build a dome. Why?

Work towards a dome perhaps, and not your other grandiose ideas.

All in all, times are tough, and now is not the time to build anything. So the kids are a bit crowded in some areas, work with it. Make due and be satisfied with the good solid building you have now.

— Catherine Bristol, Medford