DATE: Monday, May 5, 1997                   TAG: 9705050072

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  310 lines

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - NORTH CAROLINA

Reasons to vote yes

Why to vote yes on the school bond issue is very clear to me. First of all, Dare County is a rapidly growing county, as we are all aware. We have added satellite offices throughout the county for virtually every public service offered and have not expanded them only in one area. Our present schools are bursting at the seams and the high school building is simply not big enough to house these students.

The last bond referendum was eight years ago. A new high school on the First Flight site was recommended then, but was removed. There have been five facility studies done in the last 10 years that have shown the need to build a new high school and plan for the future. This is the key to it all. We can no longer afford to be so shortsighted. If Manteo High School is expanded then the core facilities will be too small and parking will become a problem. They already have a major shortage of playing and practicing fields for athletics.

When my oldest daughter started school in 1983 there were five kindergarten classes between two elementary schools. When she graduated from Manteo High School in 1996 the school was nearly 200 over capacity then. There are now 14 kindergarten classes between three elementary schools and 15 first grades.

These students will be entering high school in the year 2004 and 2005. The studies project 1,600 students in the year 2006. A search of property available found no sites large enough and suitable for one comprehensive high school. When Manteo High School reaches its capacity of 1,400 students and is no longer expandable, what will we do?

One scenario I picture goes something like this. If Manteo High School is expanded to hold a capacity of 1,400 students, in the year 2006 it will be 200 over capacity. A new high school will then have to be built on the Kill Devil Hills site. Manteo High School's building and capacity will be so large that the boundary line drawn for it will extend far into the northern beach community so as to fill it - 65 percent of the students presently at Manteo High School live in the beach community north of Oregon Inlet - and then students from Colington and the First Flight area will be driving past the new high school to attend the Manteo High School that was designed for 1,400 students. The new high school will be built to accommodate a smaller number of students and the price tag for it will be much higher in the future than it is currently. This could happen.

The only intelligent decision I see now is to vote for this bond package and prevent future mistakes. I urge each and every one of you to think about the distant future now. It is time to build a new school in the area where the majority of the students live. The students can have a much more active role in their high school experience if they are nearer to their school and more students could participate in all activities. We need to take the necessary steps now to handle growth with careful planning for the future. And our children are our future.

Becky Lawrentz

Kitty Hawk

Thanks to exhibitors

On behalf of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, we would like to express our appreciation to the 75 exhibitors and over 1,300 that attended the recent Small Business Expo '97 at the Outer Banks Mall.

This show would not be possible each year without the cooperative effort of many individuals and businesses in the community.

This year's show was a huge success thanks to a cooperative effort of our community. Thank you to Expo exhibitors and those who attended for the part you played in making Expo '97 a great success!

Angie Brady-Daniels

John Bone

Jody Minor

Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce

Unfair to Hassell

After reading the results of Commissioner Shirley Hassell's suit against Terry Wheeler and thecounty, it strikes me as a gross injustice that the agreement called for each party to pay their own legal expenses. This in effect means that the court's expenses will be paid by the taxpayer whereas Ms. Hassell's must be paid with her own funds. As I understand her suit was to obtain important factual information necessary to represent and govern the best interests of her constituents, it seems only right that her legal fees should likewise have come out of the county coffers. This information should be accessible to every taxpayer under the Freedom of Information Act and she was merely fighting for this right. . . for US.

Carl H. Pickell

Powells Point

Reasons to vote no

Ten reasons why I will not vote for the school bond issue:

The Dare County Board of Education has failed to discharge its duty to represent all areas and all students in the county evenhandedly.

The construction of a new high school is unnecessary, is enormously expensive, and will increase our property taxes for many years to come. Our present high school was designed to be expanded to accommodate 1,400 students, which can be accomplished at reasonable costs. Additional land is available at the present high school site.

The present administrator of our school system has failed in his responsibility to keep the school buildings in good repair. It is said funds allocated for this purpose by the Dare County Commissioners have been used to offset BOE deficits, said to have been caused by mismanagement.

The present administrator has failed to provide the quality leadership that demands the best of the students, the parents and the teachers. This is reflected in the slipping SAT scores since the present administrator hit town with his cadre.

The Dare County school system is 42nd scholastically in the state even though it is third in the state in the amount of money provided for each student by the County Commissioners.

The present board is creating a segregated school in this county, creating a breach where there was none.

There is not one member of the Board of Education that has any experience in handling huge amounts of money.

The school board members who live in Manteo and Hatteras have not shown real concern for those areas but have rubber stamped a $20 million expense that will be paid for in part by the very people whose needs are not being considered in the bond referendum.

The stated wishes of the students to be allowed to stay together in one high school have been ignored.

One really bad hurricane could wipe out a large part of our property tax base, leaving those who survive to pay off the bond.

So, I will not vote for this bond with the hope it will fail, that the Board of Education will get the message and bring forth a reasonable package that will address the immediate needs of all the schools. That I would support.

Mollie A. Fearing

Manteo

Where's the information?

The Board of Education keeps insisting that those who oppose the bond do so because they do not have all the necessary information. The BOE has now had several months to publicize this information but so far none of the citizens' questions, concerns or suggestions have been addressed.

All we hear repetitively is how overcrowded and undermaintained our schools are. . . a fact which no one is questioning. We have been super saturated with endless propaganda consisting of erroneous and contradictory facts and omissions. It is time for some honest and intelligent discourse if they truly want this bond to pass.

The latest example is the current, politically inspired, discussion on the possibility of segregating the high school into 9-10, 11-12 grades. Yet at the marathon meeting between the BOE, the commissioners and public in late February, all the members of the BOE emphatically stated that since they probably would no longer be on the board when the new school(s) open, they could not possibly now commit to a future curriculum plan. These vacillating tactics leave the public with the impression that the BOE doesn't seem to know the facts themselves and are desperately attempting to push this bond through no matter what the long-range consequences may be.

It's likewise time to stop misleading the citizens by such erroneous statements as Dare County having ``the lowest (tax rate) in all 100 counties in North Carolina.'' The tax rate has no bearing whatsoever if our assessed property values are among the highest in the state, which they are. It's misleading statements like these which create frustration for all and turn this issue into such an emotional one. How can our citizens trust any of the BOE's so-called facts when some of them have been proven to be so obviously inaccurate? Our faith in this board is justifiably being questioned.

No one disputes the basic premise of our educational needs, it's how best to accomplish them that is the issue.

Marie-Louise Reifschneider

Kitty Hawk

Misleading ``facts''

On the front page of a local weekly, dated April 17, there appears a point/counterpoint column authored by Uli Bennewitz and Chuck Burton. Mr. Burton states: ``Let's deal with facts. . . Manteo High School cannot be expanded. . . ''

I resent this statement for two reasons. First, the expandability of MHS has been one of the most hotly contested ``facts'' of all the discussions on the school bond. Both sides have lined up witnesses to support claims that ``Yes, it can,'' or ``No, it can't'' be expanded. In view of the controversy, to state unequivocally that MHS ``cannot be expanded. . . '' is brash and irresponsible. Second, the architect who designed MHS and the contractor who built it have both stated that it can be expanded. That's a fact. End of discussion; there is no higher authority.

To tell me differently is the same as trying to convince me that the world is flat. And we all know that the world is not flat! If you say MHS can't be expanded, the message that I receive from you is that you don't want to expand. If you do not want to expand MHS, this then becomes an expression of desire, based on emotion. It is not a ``fact.'' If you still insist that MHS cannot be expanded, my best advice to you is get out of the way and make room for the people who can.

It's the loose bandying of ``facts'' such as this that is leading me to vote no on May 20.

Joseph Lee Willis

Wanchese

ECSU concert superb

Sunday evening, last, I enjoyed a special treat. I attended the Spring Concert performance of the Elizabeth City State University Choir. I am not a trained musician by any definition of the word. But I thoroughly enjoyed the blending of the voices of some three dozen young persons, all students of ECSU, with precision and harmony that was a delight. It was about two hours of time well spent.

This group recently completed an 8-day tour in March visiting Virginia, Washington, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York with eight performances where they were received with acclamation.

I suggest that The Virginian-Pilot keep close liaison with the Music Department of ECSU so that the people of the Albemarle area will be made aware of any future performances scheduled in our area by this fine musical organization. I further suggest that the people of the Albemarle make every effort to learn of future performances in our area by this choir and that they make plans to attend same. I believe you will not be disappointed if you do so.

Frank W. Hollowell

Elizabeth City

Bad investment

All of us on the Outer Banks understand money and I thought I would put this school bond in a somewhat different perspective.

If the Board of Education was your investment firm, would you invest your money with a group which does not yet know what exactly they are going to do with it? They have yet to make core decisions regarding curriculum, buildings, the structure of two high schools, etc.

The Board of Education has openly clashed with its teachers. Would you invest your money in an investment firm in which management openly clashed with its staff?

On May 20, we must decide whether or not to invest $59.5 million in this Board of Education. If it were your money (and it is) would you not demand more responsible planning? We are not investing for our future, we are investing for our children's future and we should consider their future more dear than our own.

Think about your decision responsibly and let's vote no on May 20 and give the Board of Education the opportunity to present us with a responsible plan next November.

Jon Britt

Duck

Inflated overkill

My family joins me in expressing our vigorous opposition to the May 20 school bond issue. We are not opposed to schools but we think this $60 million is excessive, inflated, and is overkill in expressing actual need.

We are retired people with fixed incomes. Passage of this issue will push Dare County property values to a point which will drive people away when considering growing in the region.

We think this issue is exploitation of most of us by a small minority and does not represent majority need. Remember, the cost of operation and maintenance is in addition to this building program. More taxes will follow this.

This is just another example of greedy government attempting to ``rip off'' the taxpayers for now and 15 years into the future!

The voice of another poor overtaxed taxpayer!

W.A. Cole

Kitty Hawk

Buildings aren't education

Education of our youth should be the top priority of all of the residents of Dare County, but let us not confuse education with buildings - buildings which the past and present school board and superintendent have shown themselves incapable of properly managing.

In Manteo the capital maintenance could have been handled mostly through the warranty from the builders. Anyone with an ounce of understanding knows that you don't wait till the warranty runs out before contacting the manufacturer or contractor. A recent article stated that the roof repairs could be done for probably less than $100,000. My question is this, where did the school board get their figure of $250,000 when they were totaling up needs for this bond issue? My next question is how much more on their laundry list has been more than doubled?

I must say that in spite of having been a severe critic of the county commissioners for a few years, I appreciate their forthrightness in telling us what it will cost as far as our taxes are concerned.

A new high school is needed and not just because Ms. Buxton or Ms. Walters said so. However until they can show how they will staff a whole new HS with only 3 additional teachers, where the dividing line will be for the students assigned to the various schools, and show us the curriculum that they plan to be available throughout the system, I don't feel we should go along with this bond issue.

There is still time for Ms. Buxton to publicly apologize to the 7th grade class and its teacher for her blatant violation of proper protocol, that a school board member, including its president, is to follow in contacting a specific teacher on these types of issues. Why did Ms. Buxton have such a burning desire to give the 7th grade ``accurate information,'' yet is silent before her adult critics and questioners?

Another concern that no one else seems to address is the fact that we only ever hear from Ms. Buxton and Ms. Walters. Where is the rest of the school board, and why don't we hear their opinions?

Unless the voters get some answers from the whole board, I don't think the bond issue will pass, much as we need the new schools.

John Strauss

Kill Devil Hills

Good investment

Although I feel the bond will pass, I think it is important to consider what the most likely scenario will be if it were to fail.

The ``so called'' controversial new beach high school will not go away. The school board would be irresponsible to recommend any other solutions to the overcrowding high school problem north of Oregon Inlet. I served on the 1992 High School Task Force that met together for six months to look at the best solution to the high school problem. One large school vs. two smaller schools was thoroughly analyzed. Expansion of Manteo High School was considered. There was no centrally located site large enough for one high school to accomodate 1,400 students in 1992 and there still isn't one now.

If this bond doesn't pass, the divisiveness in the county over this issue will not go away, but will intensify to a fevered pitch. The high school overcrowding problem north of Oregon Inlet will have to be the school board's most urgent concern because it is the most serious problem. The board will be forced to eliminate those items from a future bond referendum that are less critical in order to get the tax implications reduced. These items will very likely be those things that I feel are very much needed for our students on Hatteras and Roanoke Island in the very near future.

If this bond doesn't pass, who loses? All the present and future school children in Dare County. The Hatteras children lose, because their urgent needs won't be worried about again until the year 2006 when they are finally 200 students over capacity. The Roanoke Island children lose, because of the already mentioned high school overcrowding. The north beach children lose, due to the already mentioned high school crowding, and because every school on the north beach will be over capacity in the next two years.

For the first time, in the 13 years that I have lived in Dare County, I have seen the school board plan ahead.

If this bond doesn't pass, who wins? Property tax payers? If you own a $100,000 home you'll save about $90 a year, a $200,000 home you'll save about $180 a year and so forth.

For me, I look at the few hundred dollars as an investment. An investment in our children, our county, our state, our country and our world. The future is now! I'm going to vote yes May 20, because for a few hundred dollars a year (for 15 years) there is no better investment!

Jeffrey D. Jacobson, D.D.S.

Kitty Hawk

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