Comments on Cleburne Times Review Article - John Tennison: Co-chair of Yes Matters PAC brings a ‘message of hope’ re: bond scam

 Yep! gonna comment on this one too!

You say 'overwhelming consensus'?  How about overwhelming conflict of interest with all the CISD employees packed into the bond steering committee?  How about the use of that ol' Delphi Technique to manipulate the bond committee members?  Exactly how many people stopped coming due to the overt manipulation by the bond consultants to achieve a pre-ordained result, ie: 'C'mon everybody! Rubber Stamp this $130 Million Dollar Bond!'

The high school is educationally unsound?  Was it educationally unsound when they built it?  Or is it just educationally unsound now after years of 'demolition by neglect' due to a school administration and school board that has found other uses for the maintenance budget over the years?  Has the football program ever been educationally unsound?  or short a dollar?  If education is such a big priority at CISD, and it's possible for a building to be 'educationally unsound', then why was maintenance of the buildings not given a higher priority than the football program?

Crowded halls?  Like, when the bell rings for class to get out, right?  Now, the studies on growth in Cleburne that the administration and school board have that say that growth in Cleburne is stagnant and the high school won't be at capacity for ten years, do we believe those studies and school board members who went around with a clipboard counting heads and classrooms and found that the school was nowhere near capacity, or do we believe you, the guy saying that the halls are crowded.. when the bell rings.. r i g h t. .....

New facilities impact the quality of education?  So it's just a bunch of dimwits we have coming out of ivy league schools with buildings over 200 years old?  Classic high schools across the country that were built in the 50's after the post world war II boom, all those schools inhibit education of students because of old well maintained buildings?  So, you promise, you PROMISE, that if we spend $130 Million Dollars on a new high school that we don't need for space constraints, and a sports plex we don't need for educational purposes, that even though Cleburne currently tests in the bottom ten percent of the state, that if we build this new building, they will magically start testing in the top ten?  Do you guarantee that? PERSONALLY?  Oh.. no?   

Trust?  You want to talk about trust?  Let's see.  Supposedly our high school is CROWDED.  and DANGEROUS.  And yet the first bond scam you guys put out there was for a NEW FOOTBALL STADIUM.    Now, after that scam was voted down, it turns out that the construction company out of Austin that donated $5000 bucks to the Cleburne PAC pushing this thing, and is hoping to get the contract on the 'school', says right on the front of their website, 'OUR SPECIALTY IS BUILDING NEW FOOTBALL STADIUMS'.  

Then we see how the CISD administration did with the concession stand project over at Wheat Middle School.  $277,000 spent, over a $245,000 budget, on a HOT DOG STAND, the size of a small two car garage, that will be used 8 times a year.  You can buy or build a three story house with garage and pool for that kind of money in Cleburne, but no!  You guys built.. A HOT DOG STAND.  

Apparently our OVERSIGHT process failed on that project, which is why we don't TRUST the CISD administration, the bond consultants, or especially the Vote YES crowd, who have fallen to name calling, assaults at public bond meetings on youtube video! stealing vote NO signs and burning them at back yard parties (you should see the game camera video!), trying to alienate property owners that will be affected by the bond even though their main residence is not in Cleburne 'Don't Mess with Cleburne har har!', the administration has been duplicitous with the facts, especially having Heath the Superintendent admit, in front of the Lions Club, as reported by the Cleburne Times Review, that the administration, as of yet, has no architect firm hired, has no contractor hired, has had no feasibility studies done, and yet they can somehow tell us, to the penny, how much all this will actually cost.  

I think, I'm pretty sure, all they have, are two photoshopped pictures, one of a generic high school, and one of the proposed new layout of the school ground, both 'artists renderings', not actual plans, that show a big sports plex in addition to this proposed high school.  

It smells like a bad sales pitch at a time share condo.   

This thing is a scam.  votenocleburne.blogspot.com    2016cleburneisdschoolbond.blogspot.com   google 'Cleburne School Bond Scam',  search youtube for '*INSIDERS* expose CISD BOND!'  

We need a much much smaller bond, with OVERSIGHT to force them to spend the money on the school, to repair the high school, Cooke ,and Coleman.  We then need to audit the financial records of that hot dog stand at Wheat to find out just why it was so expensive.  Then we need to clean house and hire people with a priority of education instead of school expansion when the current high school won't be at capacity for a decade.  We then need to investigate WHY the schools fell into such disrepair, and find out WHO is responsible, so that THEY can go to JAIL.

From the Cleburne Times Review 'Time to Step Back on 2016 School Bond Proposal'

This was a guest column in the Cleburne Times Review this past Sunday April 24th 2016, and it was so good I retyped the thing to post it, thanks to CTR for not putting this up on their website even by Wednesday!  For anyone who still has any doubts about voting NO on this bond scam, this article should put that to rest.  Get out there and vote NO on this bond scam!


Time to step back on 2016 school bond proposal

Lots of information about the CISD 2016 bond has been given out and both sides are pointing fingers at each other for various reasons.  But one central theme we all seem to agree on is our facilities need regularly scheduled maintenance and updating.

Last years's bond steering committee learned from Huckabee that it would cost a little over $40 million to bring all of CISD's facilities up to code.  The three new elementary schools built in 2007 already need $1.3 million in repairs.  Neither bond has addressed this concern to date.  Why? At Coleman and Cooke both were scheduled to have roofs in 2013 and 2014. But again this maintenance was deferred.  Why?

A Cleburne ISD telephone survey conducted last year stated that any bond over $100 million would not be supported by the community.  CISD called a $150 million dollar bond and true to the survey it failed.  Is paying for advice we don't plan to consider sound thinking?

Another Facilities Planning Committee was formed for the 2016 bond and I decided to sign up and I attended all nine meetings.  Nine people sat at my table and our moderator was the principal at Cooke Elementary School.  One member of our group attended two meetings and never came again.  We were a diverse group including a teacher, a para professional, two PTA folks, two gentlemen whose wives worked for the school, and myself, a retired IBM employee.  After listening to my table I was beginning to form the opinion that my colleagues would agree to probably most, if not all, of the ideas presented at the meeting.  No one seem to understand that we were being shown just dreams and ideas of what could be built at the high school campus.

At the beginning of the meeting Superintendent Kyle Heath told committee members that a stadium was not on the table for this bond.  However, after seeing the presentation of two new gyms, two new locker (facilities), two new football/soccer fields and a new softball field wrapped in Astro turf, the notion of a sports complex began to evolve.  Without any real clear-cut plans before me I began to visualize that we could also turn that current football field at the high school into a stadium with just the addition of bleachers and a few more amenities.  The architects never really explained to our committee the parts that define a 'comprehensive' package as the ballot language suggests.

By the fifth or sixth meeting, more participants began to drop out as we continued to hear from one expert after another.  I was most interested in the fact that the demographic study presented to us showed no real growth at CISD for the next five years. This expert billed the district for $8,500 and I wondered if we were going to heed his findings or ignore it like the previous phone survey?

Local school districts in Godley, Joshua, Keene and Alvarado have all passed bonds in the $45-50 million range. That, in my opinion, seemed to be a reasonable amount to ask for so that taxpayers migh be able to slowly adjust their budgets to afford their increased property tax bill or the rise in rent for non-homeowners.  Not to forget those with small businesses or other types of income producing properties owned by locals, or 'outsiders', who may be negatively affected.  The difference between other local bonds and ours seemed to be that their facilities improvements were completed in phases guided by increases in enrollment.  that has made me start to look at the view from 30,000 feet and ask what parts of this 'comprehensive package' is a need or a want.

Lately, Dr. Heath has been shifting the talk from growth to the condition and age of our facilities.  As I listened to other members talk of age, over-crowding, and unsafe conditions, I began to question why any parent would knowingly send their child into harm's way?  District officials cite 1.400 students will pass thru the current high school, remodeled as a CTE, on a daily basis.  The question becomes, without a set of design plans, how do we know that $38 million will be needed to turn the old high school into a state-of-the-art career and technology center?

We all want the kids to be safe and secure and we all want our teachers to have what they need so every child can have a proper public education.  But I think that we should do it in a manner that is responsible for both the kids and the taxpayers.

Emotional decisions are not good financial decisions when we're talking about $130.5 million dollars.  Should the interest be as estimated about $102.9 million added to the $43 million we are already encumbered with, we could feasibly place the district $276.4 million in debt.  Now before you start pointing out how much another district spends per child versus Cleburne, I don't really think we want to get into 'bragging rights' to see who can be in the most debt.  But if you want to use that argument then I'll respond by saying when 85 percent of your budget goes for salaries and the top earners are administrators and coaches instead of teachers, the 15 percent you have left over for the kids is your reason why.  That's a business model doomed for failure.

All children have different strengths, weaknesses, and talents, and that is why academics is job one to me.  I would rather be at the top of my class in academic scores in a 41 year old building than be in a shiny new building in the bottom 10 percent of the state.  Whether the bond passes or fails, CISD still has the same administrators, the same teachers, and the same kids.

I'm voting no because of the inability of our district and school board to maintain our current facilities, excessive administrative and coaches salaries compared to our teachers, average academic scroes, and the amount of unwise debt placed on the taxpayers and our high percentage of economically disadvantaged families.

As odd as this may sound, I'm doing it for the kids.

Letter to the Editor of Cleburne Times Review, Why Vote NO! on 2016 Cleburne School Bond

Found this on the Cleburne Times Review, under letter to the editor, pretty much says it all! G

Not long ago the Cleburne Independent School District proposed a $150 Million school bond which was defeated by the voting public. After this vote, the majority hoped that they would be given a voice when the next bond was being created. The first bond was defeated (1) because it was the largest in Cleburne history and therefore created a tax hike that was considered beyond reasonable, and (2) there was no completed architectural design phase, no blue prints, and open ended and vague wording. In other words, it was impossible to know what specifically was going to be done with the taxpayers’ money.

Welcome to the currently proposed $130 million school bond. If passed, this current bond will be the largest bond ever passed and it will increase your school property tax rate approximately 16 percent. Has a design phase been completed? Have there been blueprints drawn up—specifics as to what will be done? Heck no. In other words, the school administration just told the majority of voters to go suck an egg.

I would like to see the major problems at the high school as pointed out by the Cleburne High School principal addressed. The high school needs a new competition gym, we are told. I don’t think a new competition gym is unreasonable. The problem — the new bond contains not one new gym but two — count them — two new gyms.

The career technology center needs some expansion and modernization — the cost is $38 million. Really? The high school also has a traffic flow problem and some classrooms that need extensive reorganization. I am sure that this would cost $10-$15 million, but who would know since the administration’s plan to solve this problem is to build a new high school.

I believe the majority of voters would vote for a reasonable compromise bond that considered suggestions from the opposing side and that created a bond that addressed the needs of the students and not the wants and wishes of the administration. Do we need two new gyms? Does the foyer to the auditorium need a remodel? Do our athletic fields need to be changed to synthetic turf when there are more injuries on synthetic turf and synthetic turf can be 40 degrees hotter than natural grass? These are very debatable issues that cost very serious money.  

It was suggested that an oversite committee, formed of local people familiar with construction, could oversee the implementation of the bond. The voters would then know that they were getting the best bang for their buck and that money was being spent on only the approved projects. This suggestion was dismissed by the administration.

The idea of a paid independent construction manager to watch over the bond was also dismissed. A suggestion to have a cafeteria-style bond, which other districts have used, where voters could choose their projects and not have to vote for the whole enchilada — for instance have the new career technology center project and the new gym and the new high school on the bond and you could choose to vote for all or one or two or none? This suggestion was also dismissed.

By the way, the idea that this bond was formed by a citizens committee is pure poppycock. I was on this committee and can say that Superintendent Kyle Heath told the committee at the very first working meeting that “the priorities have already been decided.” The bond items were already determined by the administration before the committee had its first meeting. Then why were 60 of us asked to attend three hours of meetings each week for nine weeks? If you thought CISD really wanted input from the people, think again. All they really wanted was a committee to rubber stamp what they had already decided before the committee ever assembled.

The point of this is that I believe the voters will pass a reasonably priced bond that fixes the needs of CISD and contains oversite. But, I believe the voters will and should defeat a bloated bond formed by bureaucrats who ignore reasonable suggestions and refuse to compromise with a majority of the voting public.    

It’s time, once again, to remind some hard-headed public servants who pays their salary.

Vote no.

David Shelton is a Cleburne resident.

9 more reasons to vote NO on the Cleburne ISD 2016 School Bond, it's a SCAM

Found this as an updated list of why to vote NO on this Cleburne 2016 School Bond, however, my personal opinion is that the main reason to vote it down is that the existing school won't even be near capacity for a decade.  There is no reason for a new high school, CISD just needs to repair what they've got.  But, for a lot more detailed reasons to vote NO, read below! and share with a friend!

Why vote NO, the Cleburne Texas 2016 School Bond

Why are so many people screaming that the Cleburne ISD 2016 School Bond is a bad idea?

There are a lot of single reasons, but the broad strokes are this.. 1) CISD hasn't been able to do a good job of teaching the kids with the tools they've got.  CISD student test scores are, on average, pretty low when compared to the rest of the state of Texas.  If you can't get the job done right, then you don't get the nifty toys like a shiny new high school and a big sports plex.

2) The CISD administration and the school board have a lousy history when it comes to responsible spending of taxpayer money.  The school board showed extremely bad judgement when they approved $245,000 for a concession stand.. A CONCESSION STAND! over at Wheat Middle School, that later had costs go up to $277,000 according to the Cleburne Times Review, and FOIA requests show may have actually cost as much as $318,000 dollars.  That is insane.  First, the school board are supposed to act  as a check against irresponsible spending, and shop around on these projects.  They haven't done that once.  In Cleburne that much money would buy you a three story house with a garage and a pool on several acres of land, but Cleburne ISD built a hot dog stand on land already owned by the school.  Either the construction company screwed the school knowing that the school board was too dumb to question their numbers, or someone got kickbacks or ran with the money.  Regardless, who can google Cleburne real estate prices can figure out pretty quick that spending that much for a hot dog stand that will be used 8 times a year is just nuts.

Then take the last school bond promotion, for $150 Million Dollars.  The school just HAD to HAVE a new football stadium.  Oh, but now, it's all about the kids, and a new school.  Never, in the description of their plans for the money, do you hear the phrase 'Sports Plex', but that is exactly what they want to build, in addition to the new high school.   The taxpayers voted that last bond down, and not a year later the school administration and bond consultants start new meetings for a new bond almost as big. How many times do we have to say no?

3) and the top reason not to pass this bond, really, is this.  The current high school is not out of space, and won't be near capacity for a decade.  Go to a school board meeting, when ALL the school board members are there, and ask them which one of them did walk throughs to verify space constraints at the high school.  Ask them about the studies done that show negative growth for the next few years, and limited numbers after that, such that the high school won't be at capacity for 10 years.  They'll walk you through it all.

We'll get into the detailed reasons here in further posts, but those are the broad strokes, and it gets down to to this.. Dear Cleburne ISD administration and School Board.. we just don't believe you any more, we don't have faith that you'll spend out money effectively, and we don't believe that a school system that can't do a good job of educating the kids already needs a shiny new sports plex or high school that will do nothing to resolve that issue, and certainly not for $232 Million Dollars after interest.

You should all be aware that so far the school has spent roughly $120,000 of your money to promote this scam to you, and is bending a few rules doing it.  Big signs promoting the bond that 'look' like they are on school property, an upcoming rally promoting the bond with early voting onsite, teachers and administrators with conflicts of interest promoting the bond and manipulating taxpayers at the steering committee, all of that is illegal.. my personal opinion is that this is a criminal enterprise, with someone pulling strings behind this thing in order to embezzle a few million on the back end, but that's just my opinion.   They could just be that incompetent.

You should also be aware, that other than those nifty pictures on the school and bond website, there are no plans, architectural drawings, design plans, nothing, created so far as plans for how the money will be spent.  The superintendent told the Lions Club the other day, 'We'll go through a design phase when we get the money, those pictures you see on the website are just an 'artist's rendering''.  Wow.  So basically, you're bein sold 2 pictures, for.. $130 Million Dollars.  Once they get the money, they can do anything they want with it, there is no oversight from anyone into how the money is spent.  Do you think that a school board that approved a $245,000 hot dog stand that went over budgets is going to keep an eye on the money so no one steals it?  I doubt it.

Vote this thing down folks, it. is. a. SCAM.

Found this online, Top 9 Reasons to VOTE NO ON THE CLEBURNE ISD 2016 BOND

Vote NO! on 2016 Cleburne School Bond Flyer