Old schools badly in need of repairs

I don't like paying taxes any more than you. The opponents to H6, the Oak Park school facilities bond measure, are right to question how money is spent.

Once a community forms a school district, it is the community's responsibility to maintain the facilities; it is not a state's responsibility. Brookside Elementary is 38 years old and needs to be renovated and made earthquakesafe. Most of the schools require new fire and life safety systems. Some roofs are old, such as the high school and middle school gymnasium roofs. They leak and can no longer be patched. Why build more buildings? One reason is there are five portable classrooms at the high school that house 100 students. The portables, built to last 15 years, are 40 years old and deteriorated beyond repair. Measure H6 addresses the priorities from the Facilities Master Plan which was developed by a professional firm, with dozens of people, and input from parents, teachers, other employees, and the school board.

The H6 priority list, garnered from the master plan, was developed by the Facilities Planning Committee, made up of parents, school administrators, teachers and professionals with expertise in school construction and renovation. Priorities focus on the most urgent and essential needs to improve student safety and classroom instruction . I will vote in favor of H6. Barbara Schwartz Oak Park