CCS School Board and Commissioners want to Spend $217 Million on Twenty-Five 55+ Year-Old schools!!! Commissioners Like the news because they have a (BAD) reason to Raise YOUR Taxes!!! However, NO NEW SCHOOLS WILL BE BUILT!!!??? Announcement, review, analysis, conclusions and descriptions by Robert A
Folks, if you think the “discovery” of so much corruption swirling around the new Cleveland County Casino (AKA Catawba Casino, AKA Kings Mountain Casino) is abhorrent, YOU ain’t hear’d nuttin’ yet!!! The Commissioners and School Board puts the gambling crowd, organized crime syndicates and corrupt political sell-out “blow-fly’s” swarming around the Casino to shame. And all in the name of “what’s best for the children.”
And all done the same old way. Bring in a bunch of outside consultants, pay them big money, tell the consultants what you want them to “officially” tell you, have a big presentation, and then have them tell you what you wanted to hear all along-for the record. That is what the big joint School Board and Commissioner (fake) meeting held August 8, 2022 was all about.
And Robert A can prove it. It is all in the Consultant’s documents that School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen, CCS Superintendent Stephen Fisher, Commissioner Kevin Gordon and others have kept secret from the public for so long that have just been found by Robert A’s. Secret Documents that, just now, made public that will be included at the end of this article. For YOUR review and confirmation of what is true and what is deception. But, after the fact of the August 8th phony “Joint” School Board and Commissioner’s Meeting. Where the Consultants, School Board and Commissioners plan on spending $217 Million in taxpayer dollars for an illegal purpose. Robert A will do the math for you. First.
$35 Million The School Board is spending $35+ Million on new auditoriums for
Burns and Crest High Schools. Long overdue, but now new additions
to old facilities.
$34 Million The School Board has already began spending $34 Million on
maintenance items for various CCS facilities around Cleveland
County.
$148 Million This is the amount, on top of all the $Million$ already being spent,
that the High Dollar Consultants recommend spending of all the other
CCS facilities in order to meet the “Guiding Principles” imposed on
the Consultants by the CCS School Board. These “Guiding
Principles” are fancy names for the CCS specified results, telling the
Consultants what the CCS School Board wanted to hear as a presentation. And, that is what the School Board got. What they paid for. What they wanted to hear from the consultants, right from the start. Big, BIG numbers to fix old schools but nothing for new schools/
$217 MILLION Total taxpayer dollars!!
Folks, Check Robert A’s arithmetic for yourselves. That is something that neither the CCS School Board NOR the Commissioners will Never-Ever ask a citizen and taxpayer to do. Check the numbers for themselves. But, what has Robert A got to hide?? Nothing, Absolutely NOTHING!!!
Notice that, not a dime is set aside for the construction of any new Schools. In fact, he Consultants actually recommended NO NEW SCHOOLS were to be built. But that was what the consultants were paid to recommend. No New Schools. Maintain the old schools-and more.
OK Robert A, how can you say that? Where is YOUR Proof???
Robert A says the proof is easy. It is right there in the Consultants Presentation Documents that School Board Chairman Luke Queen and Superintendent Stephen Fisher kept secret from Robert A and to the public until after the August 8, 2022 Joint School Board and Commissioners meeting. That Presentation document has NOW been discovered and is provided in it’s secret hiding place, in full and at the end of this article.
But, to answer your particular question, here is the Truth. The Proof. Straight from the Presentation Document.
Quiding Principle Number 1. Which says:
“Maximizing operational efficiency and effectiveness should inform key decisions on maintaining, improving, or changing each campus within the school system’s portfolio of buildings.”
This was hidden on the very last page of the 24-page Presentation with a big RED Star beside it. It is totally clear that CCS’s instructions, right from the start, to the Consultants was NO NEW SCHOOLS!!! And, you can check the CCS Meeting Video. The Consultants said clearly that they did NOT recommend building ANY new Schools.
However, those Twenty-five 55+ year old schools are chock full of asbestos and mold with little to NO insulation. Leaking roofs and air leaks throughout. No built-in special safety and terrorist protections either. And, the Consultant’s presentation said nothing about asbestos abatement or the sky-high utility bills that will stay sky high for at least 30 more years if the consultant’s recommendations are followed. The Consultants didn’t even bother bringing in their LEED Specialist. And, they had a LEED Specialist. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design. LEED Certified buildings are designed to be energy efficient, utility efficient and sustainable. These twenty-five old CCS School Buildings could never, ever be LEED Certified and will always be energy hogs. ETC.
So, in the first place, why did the CCS School Board ever conduct a Facilities Assessment that was strangle-holded from the git-go with this rigged “Guiding Principle No. 1???”
The answer to that is Guiding Principle No. 2, and Guiding Principle No 3. which state:
2. Maintain the school system’s four identified enrollment zones for student matriculation from Kindergarten through 12th Grade.
3. Continue to maintain and improve each of the school system’s four high school campuses in their current locations.
NOOoooWWwwww!!! You can easily see the corruption at Cleveland County Schools that will NOT allow any new school construction to replace the 25 OLD asbestos-ridden, energy-hog school buildings. Although the THREE former Cleveland County School systems that were merged into one district about 20 years ago, keeping the same attendance zones as before undermines the intent of the School Merger (to save money) and allows everything to be as was. Three separate school districts. With NO cost savings. NEVER, EVER.
And the cheaply built Burns and Crest High Schools and their feeder schools always being behind the curve in equivalent facilities and opportunities for their students. With Burns and Crest attendance zone taxes always being shared with the Shelby and Kings Mountain attendance zone schools and NEVER, ever the other way around.
Folks, this will be one of several articles regarding the way the Nit-wit and corrupt School Board (especially School Board Chairman Robert “Luke “Queen) and the Nit-wit and corrupt Commissioner Board (Especially Commissioner Chairman Kevin Gordon are throwing good taxpayer money after bad. And there is STILL no Strategic Plan on the particular maintenance items and the exact cost for each one of them. It is very likely that the cost estimate is very low and the actual cost will be very much higher. That is the way it turns out around 100% of the time.
But, stay tuned. Robert A has some good ideas to turn all of this around if HE decides to run for Commissioner and wins in 2024. Good solid ideas that only Robert A has got the guts and the grit to implement. Robert A will be writing about that soon. Very soon. Although 2024 is some time away, Robert A will publish his ideas to solve the various problems at CCS as well as with the Commissioner’s leadership (Lack of).
Hint!!! One of the first things Robert A would do as a Commissioner would to declare a State of Educational Emergency withing Cleveland County Schools, take charge and make the changes that would solve the problems. Stay tuned for some of the details. Some may be controversial; all will be common sense and do-able. And lawful. And, with maximum parent and citizen input.
With all that said, Robert A ran into an informed and knowledgeable citizen last night at Walmart in Shelby. That informed and knowledgeable person informed Robert A that Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Mooresboro, NC just built a full-fledged High School for $19 Million. Also, Pinnacle Classical Academy in Shelby, Robert A believes just finished a High School that was much, much more economical than the $100-$130 Million estimate the CCS consultants presented at the August 8. 2022 School Board-Commissioners Joint Meeting. Which would be one way to justify NO new School Construction. High-ball the cost of new facilities and low-ball the maintenance cost. Just one more reason to reign-in a foolish School Board as well as a tax and spend Commissioner’s Board.
Also, One last thing. The 2022 School Board Elections will be soon upon us. Robert A still recommends double-shot voting only for Dr. Danny Blanton and Ronnie Grigg for the CCS School Board. Robert A will need their help if he runs and is elected Commissioner in 2024. Robert A likes to hit the ground running in all that he does.