Administration is asking the newly reconstituted board, at its first meeting, to hire the same financial adviser, George K. Baum and Company, who put together the 2012 issue and it is has already been working with the survey company, Patron Insight, which specializes in talking to school district patrons, sizing up what they might be willing to vote for, and then recommending that approach to school boards.
George K. Baum and Patron Insight worked together to put together the unsuccessful Neosho bond issue proposal recently and has worked on numerous other issues across the state.
Voters have to approve before a school district can borrow money.
As the Joplin R-8 Board of Education decides Tuesday whether to hire Baum, it also will have to deal with more than $2 million worth of change orders for the new Joplin High School/Franklin Tech, and decide on a recommendation by Superintendent C. J. Huff to pay an additional $2,489,675 for a comprehensive audio-visual system for Joplin High School/Franklin Tech.
According to the proposal, much of that will come from a $3 million EDA grant, but "our local match is an additional $750,000."
For the money, the district will receive scoreboard, sound equipment, projectors, microphones, audio and light equipment for auditorium, audio enhancement for Franklin Tech shop areas, hardware for audio and video production classes and an integrated intercom and digital signage throughout the buildings.
What is the $3 million EDA grant? Where did it come from? And we only have to match 750,000? Gee, that's about what you gave Bright Futures last year, CJ. If only you had saved it for a rainy day.
ReplyDeleteA snowball has a better chance of surviving on a Missouri sidewalk in July than Huff has in me supporting any requests for money. I've always supported the schools, but I will not give one more dime until Huff and his friends at JSAB are gone.
ReplyDeleteNo way in hell, Huff. No way. Don't even bother to ask.
ReplyDeleteThey're going to spend money to hire a firm to try and trick us again into giving them more money when they are cutting teachers, janitors, secretaries and tech people? That is just plain stupid.
ReplyDeleteNO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
No more! Not one penny more until all the folks connected to all this waste are GONE!
No more Huff and company (including his board members) THEN we'll talk.
Fool me once, shame on you.
ReplyDeleteFool me twice, shame on me.
Ain't gonna happen, CJ.