Thursday, May 11, 2006
I was pretty stunned by how much money the school district expects to save by just making some adjustments in how its buses run. Not millions, but $100,000 ain’t bad. Also, some nice options for daycare, congrats to
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FINALIST ~ The district is looking for an architect to do the planning for Monrovia High, should Measure M pass, and one of the finalists is WLC Architects, which gave a presentation at the meeting. According to WLC representative Glen Ueda, the company has had 30 years experience doing local school design. He said the firm hasn't won a lot of awards but on the other hand the roofs don't leak and the projects are finished on time and on budget. Ueda gave a computer slide show of what the new buildings at the high school might look like. The designs kind of echoed the archway and tower themes from the front of the school. I'd describe the designs (keeping in mind they are just off-the-cuff ideas) as "craftsmanlike." But I think craftsmanlike is great; if you tried to get an inspired look, it'd probably cost a boatload more money and you'd probably have to deal with some prima donna architect who would be a pain in the neck. The front of Monrovia High is so beautiful that I think it's just fine if buildings hidden in the back are simply functional, well built and reasonably attractive. Also, several board members who had checked WLC's references spoke very highly of the firm, saying that everybody they spoke with felt the company had been very professional and easy to work with.
COST CUT ~ This item is pretty mind-blowing. The district has managed to cut the cost of school busing by probably more than two thirds (from $150,000 to $50,000) and still provide approximately the same level of service. Because of this, the district will be able to keep home-to-school transportation in the budget for at least another year. Wow! Congratulations! And... how in the world did you do that? Well, the district rearranged the bus routes so it takes fewer buses and fewer drivers. Also, remember I said the savings is probably *more* than two thirds? That's because, as Board member Bryan Wong suggested, the district could sell up to three of its nine buses, which would bring in a bit of money, and, of course, not having three buses means savings in maintenance and fuel bills. Ya know, this makes me wonder where else the district might be able to save costs. I've sometimes thought that several local districts could save money by getting together to share the costs of expensive equipment or specialized personel. Might be worth considering if it hasn't been already. Board member Clarence Shaw suggested that the district might save even more money by going to neighborhood schools, but Superintendent Louise Taylor said the schools are clustered in a way that makes that difficult since the south and west ends of town don't have close-enough schools.
CABLE BILL ~ At the request of Monrovia Mayor Pro Tem Mary Ann Lutz, the district decided to support a city resolution requesting that the state legislature modify a bill supported by ammend a telecommunications reform bill in the Assembly. Lutz said it would put funding for community access cable channels in doubt, would give the franchise fees currently paid by the cable companies to cities to the state (which would send it along to the cities), and it might let cable companies put their equipment on public sidewalks without community oversight. Lutz said the bill is supported by Verizon and at&t (it's lower-case, now), which apparently want to get into the cable biz. Personally, I'd love to have competition in the cable business, and I'd be happy for Verizon and at&t to join the fray, and I hope the bill passes, but I agree that it should have some changes. Any measure that would have the state collect fees "on behalf of" the cities is utterly laughable and any local governmental body that would trust the state to pass the money along to them is comprised of idiots. The moment the state gets its hands on that money it will forget that the money belongs to the cities and start treating it as its own. As I recall, that happened when the state began collecting school taxes. The state has no credibility in this matter.
SPECIAL DAYS ~ Also, you'll be happy to know that May 17 has been named Staff Appreciation Day, and that at around 10 p.m. on May 10, the board named May 10 as School Nurse Day. I hope all you school nurses enjoy your day retroactively.
