Letters to the Editor: Residents Voice Opinions on District 113 Referendum (Cont'd)

Board knows best

I support the because I trust the District 113 Board of Education. As a past board member in District 113 for 16 years, I know the time and dedication members commit to their community service. After a thorough and comprehensive community engagement process, the board voted 7-0 to place this issue on the ballot. Each member of the board believes this measure should pass because the infrastructure and building improvements are needs, not wants. This board, like those before them, are fiscally conservative and proactive in terms of managing tax dollars. The district has maintained our AAA bond rating, a very rare accomplishment in the nation. Less than 130 other school districts in the nation can boast this fiscal achievement. This board has earned our trust. Our students deserve our support. I will vote YES on April 5.

Diane Rochester

Facility quality doesn't match education quality

Although our children will soon graduate from this district and will not benefit from the proposed District 113 referendum, we will be voting “yes” on April 5. As educators, we chose to purchase our home here so that our children could receive a quality high school education in preparation for college. Now that we are in the schools, we recognize that the quality of our high school facilities does not match the high quality of the education. Just as our homes need regular repairs and updating, so do our schools.  Many other area high schools have stronger facilities than ours to take their students into this new century;  our property values will go down if we can’t compete.   

Likewise, our country will lose economically if it can’t compete in the global marketplace with countries like India and China. These countries are making sure that their kids have what they need to develop technology skills.  Some of the money generated through this referendum will go toward technology purchases that will give our students the opportunities to do the same.  It takes money to stay on top of the latest in technology so that our students can compete in the global job market. 

This is just one example of how the money from this referendum will be used.  Our district administrators, school board and consultants have thoughtfully developed a comprehensive plan for use of the funds.  We need to trust in them to provide the essential updates needed to provide the best educational experience possible for our most precious resource, our children.  

Invest in the future of this community and vote “yes” on April 5!

Dr. and Mrs. Paul Luepke

On David Greenberg's comments on District 113 pools

Mr. Greenberg,

I wish you spent more time researching your article before you go knocking a 40-year relationship that both Deerfield and Highland Park District have had with the District 113 school district.

For 40 years, the COHO swim team, and more recently the HPAC swim club, has been serving the District 113 community providing swimming lessons and a competitive feeder swim club for the district 113 schools.  This year, COHO and HPAC (Highland Park Aquatics Club) have over 60 swimmers swimming in championship meets that represented the Deerfield and Highland Park communities.   

If you had looked at the pool use schedule both programs (COHO and HPAC) use the pool after the high school programs and continuing education programs have finished using the pool. COHO, being the larger of the two programs, has also helped support the pool with equipment donations throughout the years.

The COHO and HPAC programs have actually created such strong teams for the Deerfield and Highland Park schools that their rosters have grown so large that the teams are at capacity.  The pools were not designed for the amount of swimmers and divers practicing in the pools at one time during the girls/boys seasons.  The design of the new pool will allow for the divers and the swimmers to practice concurrently without the worry of anyone being hurt during practice.  It also will allow a more streamlined water polo practice season.

Lastly, the additional space being considered in the new plans would allow for additional aquatic classes to be included in the physical education curriculum, which is one of the only required classes by the state of Illinois. This combined with the age of the mechanicals and the physical structure of each pool will help alleviate the possible worst-case scenario of a complete pool failure.

I am sure you are not driving around in the same car as you did in high school.  It’s time to see that the children of the future of District 113 get to benefit from all the available technology and facilities so they get the best education that is possible.

For the record, by the time this would actually take place, my children would be juniors and would only benefit from these improvements for a very short period.

Mark Brottman

Schools need to step up maintenance

Our high school District 113 is requesting to issue $133 million in bonds to fund technology and facilities improvement projects. I became very curious and started to learn more. First, I went to the District 113 website and read everything posted under "April 5, 2011 Ballot Question." My immediate reaction was that we should support the effort to keep our high schools among the very best. I am all for new technologies, for the best value. But when I looked at the pictures of our dilapidated school buildings, I asked myself: Where have all the facility operation and maintenance funds gone to? Have the school buildings been mismanaged?

Currently there are two major , one for and one against the referendum. Carefor113schools.com is one and educationfirstin113.org is another. Both sites provided very good information and perspectives. The educationfirstin113 site “facts” tab did ask an eye-opening question: “Where is the Feasibility Study?” For those not familiar with facility planning and construction, the link “Older and Historic Schools: Restoration vs. Replacement and the role of a feasibility Study” provides a good insight.

Now I have many questions: The financial report stated that the combined high schools can accommodate 5,000 students; attendance is only around 3,700. While near-term attendance seems to be flat. With the aging population,  will that trend continue? Why are we building more? Has there been a peer review to justify building more? Has there been a parallel planning study to evaluate retrofitting existing buildings by architects specialized in restoration of older buildings? Has anyone evaluated the merits of the design competition? Who sets the requirements of the present study resulting in the $133 million referendum? Did the requirements include the detailed definition of the needed scope of work that can be delivered within a realistic budget that is in alignment with cost estimated by a construction firm? It is well known that the operating cost of a building far exceeds by many times the first cost for its life. Will the district be asking for more money later to operate a larger campus?

I did not find answers to any of these questions in the District 113 site. Seems like there has not been a thorough feasibility study performed. Unless there is new information surfacing, I am concluding that District 113 needs to work on a better plan for everyone to vote on. I invite others to join me to vote NO at this time. As for the buildings, they have been there for a long time. They can wait for another year. The schools need to step up the maintenance effort first.

Felix Cheong-Leen

Money spent now will pay off in the future

I am a Highland Park resident and I support the District 113 “No Tax Rate Increase” Referendum.  I am surprised that some members of the community are opposed to funds being spent on improvements to our community high schools’ physical facilities.  

A big portion of the funds would go toward badly-needed technology improvements, replacing the cobbled-together 1980s technology at both high schools. At last, our students will have in-school access to web-based information and networking for all their educational needs.  

And with the continuing rise of obesity in our country, I am amazed that our community could oppose better physical education facilities to benefit not only students but all the community members who could use them.  How can we possibly encourage our children to engage in healthy activities when we as a community ignore those aging, decaying and unsafe physical education spaces. Dollars spent wisely now will certainly “pay it forward,” supporting more and better physical activities in both schools.

David Solomon 

Facilities can't wait for repairs

I am going to support the Township High School District 113 referendum because our facilities need repair and renovation now.  Why now?  Both schools are old: the Deerfield High School original  structure dates back to 1959 and the Highland Park academic structure, that needs to be replaced, dates back to 1914.  Although the facilities have been well maintained, parts of the buildings have simply outlasted their life expectancy. As anyone who owns an older home knows, buildings and facilities wear out, and it takes resources to repair and/or replace them. These buildings house our children as they learn, and we need our learning sites to be safe and efficient.

As a taxpayer who really doesn't want to pay more taxes, I believe that this April is a good time to support  District 113's referendum because of the opportunity to retire old bonds and purchase new ones at an exceptionally low rate.  The benefit to our community is better school buildings and no increase in the tax rate.

District 113 has created three short informative videos that are easily accessed through the website: www.dist13.org.  Viewing these videos helped me to see some of the physical issues and challenges the district now faces.  Seeing those videos and gathering other information has convinced me that now is the time to support the referendum.  I believe that a positive outcome in April will benefit our children and our entire community for many years to come.

Susan Benjamin