Leaky Roofs at Burns and Crest High Schools!! “Problems” with New Auditorium at Burns!!

Editor’s Note: CCS claims Commissioners won’t give them the $6 Million$ needed to make critical repairs!! Commissioners can’t get from CCS the detailed repair needs, repair schedules or repair plans. So, the commissioners have given CCS NOTHING for critical repairs to school facilities!! Now, CCS is cutting 50 Jobs!!! And, the defeated CCS School Board Chairman Robert Queen gets himself appointed a “Cohort” to the “Hunt Institute!!” A liberal controlled policy advisory group located in a Raleigh suburb that nobody should be paying any attention to.

There is an old saying: “When the blind lead the blind, they all fall into the ditch!!!” Are the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners and the CCS School Board, working together for the best interest of CC??? The answer is a big NO!!! They are refusing to work together!!! Thus, proving that this old saying is 1,000% true. Folks, those of you readers on heart or blood pressure medications, make sure your meds have been taken and you are calm and sitting down before YOU continue reading the rest of this article.

Citizens, when you attend both the CC Commissioner Meetings and the School Board Meetings for many years like Robert A has. And you pay close attention like Robert A does. You soon discover that both the Commissioners and the School Board have their own personal agendas and to Hell with what is in the best interest of the citizens of Cleveland County. Much less the CC taxpayers and the CC school children!!! This article will be limited to just one big example. Just One BIG Example of when the CC Commissioners and the CCS School Board are supposed to work together.

Let Start with these simple facts:
CCS School Board:
The CC Board of Commissioners are the only local entity in CC that can raise and collect taxes. The Commissioners allocate many million$ of CC taxdollars collected, then turn the cash over to CCS for their operations. Including construction, operation and maintenance of CCS facilities.

The CCS School Board generally oversees the activity of operating the CC Public School System. Which includes owning, construction of, and operating and maintaining school facilities.

The CCS School Board is directly responsible for the proper development of plans for the construction and maintenance of CCS facilities and being fiduciarily responsible for the costs associated with that facility construction and maintenance (among many other things).

Neither the CCS School Board, the CCS Superintendent, the CCS Assistant Superintendent and Director of CCS Operations and Maintenance have the education, experience, skills and participation necessary to successfully oversee CCS construction, operations and maintenance of CCS facilities.

Although the CCS fleet of 25 plus schools has an average age of 60+ years, CCS has no formal “strategic plan” for the proper operations, maintenance or replacement of those individual old CCS school facilities.

CCS has informally conveyed their need for approximately $6 Million just in funding for various roof leaks at Burns and Crest high schools. The Commissioners have requested (and rightly so) a detailed documentation of the needed repairs and a schedule for these repairs and the need for funding schedules. And, CCS has refused to comply with the Commissioners valid request for this funding description and justification. The CCS School Board knows that THEY (CCS) have no valid strategic plans for school facility repairs and have chosen NOT to develop such plans and provide them to the Commissioners and to the public, for their own political purposes.

CC Board of Commissioners:
The CC Board of Commissions KNOW that CCS has not complied with their valid request for $6 Million just for roof repair and who knows what else.

The Commissioners have foolishly ignored the fact that the CC Courthouse (Built in the early 1990’s) has thirty or more years of useful service left in them. Yet are planning and have approved the construction of a New Justice Center that will have a realistic total cost of at least $400 Million$ dollars (including shuffling around existing demolition and new construction on the same site at the same time) plus finance charges and debt service payments.)

The Commissioners, despite their short sighted and wishful thinking, overall foolishness, complete stupidity, total lies and deceptions, know that the aging fleet of Cleveland County school facilities, repairs AND new construction cannot be paid for on top of the New Justice Center Project, without HUGE increases to CC Taxpayers property tax bills.

Despite CC Commissioner Johnny Hutchins whiney and phony comment at the June 4th, 2024 Commissioner’s Meeting that he does NOT want to saddle the hard working CC Taxpayers with a tax increase in the 2024-2025 budget; Commissioners Hutchins, Gordon, Whetstine, Hardin and Bridges all have to know that they will be levying a huge property tax bill increase to hit in the 2025-2026 Budget year. (See the attached video and watch Hutchins whine! All the while knowing that it is a joke, he/they are playing on ALL CC taxpayers and voters.)

Now, some facts that Robert A has just learned about:

This past Thursday, Robert A was doing a bit of shopping at the Walmart in Cherryville when he ran into some friends from Upper Cleveland who were doing the same. These friends have a granddaughter who attends Burns High School. The granddaughter reported to them that during the huge windstorm and rain that hit Upper Cleveland County recently, blowing over trees and such, also caused great alarm at Burns High School. Many children were instructed to go to the gymnasium or the new auditorium to take shelter. Only to find water pouring in on them from leaky roofs. These friends and grandparents of the BHS student had different understandings of which it was, the gym or the new auditorium. With this news; Robert A immediately remembered last fall (2023), when both Burns and Crest had brand new gym floor replacements installed before fixing their roof leaks. A big rainstorm came in right in the middle of basketball game at both Burns and Crest and totally soaked the new floors, voiding the floor warranties at both Burns and Crest. All because the CCS School Board (Robert Queen) had purposely (and totally foolishly) decided to install the floors before fixing the roofs. So, Robert A decided to do some investigation of his own.

The first thing Robert A did was to search his own mind regarding the many budget issues and high-priority maintenance work that were discussed (argued about) at various CCS School Board meetings. About all the repair and maintenance work that needed to be done regarding outside work (like roof replacements) and HVAC installations that was considered inside work, although, often enough, the HVAC work included installing Chillers and other equipment on the roof which required cutting holes in the various roofs. And then properly and completely seal the roof penetrations at the end of the jobs.

WARNING! You folks on blood pressure or heart medications; YOU might want to take a break right how and think calming thoughts. You are about to get pissed-off.

During the COVID Pandemic Democrat Governors and Liberal School Board Associations across the USA shut down public schools as a way to (among other things) sabotage the booming national economy under President Donald J. Trump to damage his reelection campaign in 2020. Billions upon Billions of dollars were them poured into funds such as ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds to do certain things. One of the top named priorities for ESSER funding was Social/Emotional Learning. Over time certain “Inside” repairs to schools and school facilities were charged to ESSER. Along with just about everything else. Cleveland County Schools, like just about everybody else, charged all kinds of things to ESSER.
Now, let’s take a closer look at Social/Emotional Learning. SEL is widely used to teach and advance the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ agenda as well as all this mess about transgender thinking and actions, including pornography, being a Constitutional Right that the US and State Governments and all taxpayers have to accept and pay for. Also note that the CCS Budget increased from around $150 Million before COVID to $250 Million after COVID. And, during most all of the decline in Christian teachings and values in the USA over this past four years.

Editor’s Note: Although Social/Emotional Learning has sneaked itself into Public Schools and away from teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, it has little to do directly with leaking roofs. So, we will move back to that topic. However, the North Carolina Department of Public Instructions has jazzed up and disguised the SEL movement as described in the Official NCDPI website as shown in the link below. If you want to see the truth and how the Schools have twisted it, see for yourself.

Back to Leaking Roofs and Robert A’s investigation:

After a little snooping here and a little snooping there, Robert A was able to confirm that the roofs at both Burns and Crest High School gyms have NOT been properly repaired.

But there is more. There are other instances of leaking roofs at Burns and Crest, as well as other places:

A number of recently installed HVAC equipment located on various CCS facilities roofs were not properly sealed and contribute to the number of school roofs that are leaking. With no CCS plans to repair the leaks until the Commissioners provide them with the money (Million$), no questions asked.

The CCS School Board Finance Committee Chairman Joel Shores has repeatedly stated that CCS is in financial difficulty over a number of things because of the Commissioners refusal to give CCS the money they want. Although both CCS and the Commissioners did work together during the 2024 Primary Elections to provide large increases to teacher supplemental pay. Obviously seeking their vote in the 2024 Republican Primary Elections for both the Commissioners as well as CCS School Board candidates.

The Commissioners have now foolishly committed themselves to Hundreds of Millions od dollar$ in Debt to build a new 815,000 square-foot Justice Center when the Old Jail and Courthouse has 20-30 more years of useful life left in them. For your information 815,000 sq-ft is the equivalent to 18.71 acres under roof. Or 4.7 acres per floor.

The CCS School Board’s controversial engineering “Facilities Study” project regarding CCS school facilities predicts it will take $106,331,381.00 (in direct costs only) to maintain CCS facilities with NO NEW School construction. (You can expect finance charges for this amount will double, or more, that amount.)

And, most disturbing of all, the brand-new auditorium at Burns High School is already having various “problems.” (Just like the $23 Million dollar Health Department did-1starting, when it was brand new.)

Folks, if you have any questions, ask them to the Commissioners and School Board Members!!!

Also, remember that the 2024 Elections are NOT OVER YET!!! Not until the December 5, 2024 General Elections are complete4 and the ballots counted. IF YOU STAY HOME like you did in the 2024 Primary Elections, it is all over. Cleveland County is broke and you, your children and grandchildren will be left paying the bills of this major debt these present Commissioners; Kevin Gordon, Ronnie Whetstine Johnny Hutchins, Deb Hardin and Doug Bridges have left you with. What you will hear from Robert A after that is “I told you so!!!”

Citizens, if you want to bring your county government’s spending and waste under control, YOU have only one option.

Robert A recommends voting in the 2024 General Elections for the Commissioner and the CCS School Board Candidates as follows:(Please vote for ALL of the Candidates listed on your ballot to provide the maximum Ballot Security!!)

Cleveland County Commissioners Candidate recommendations:

Cleveland County Commissioner Candidate recommendations:

Tony Berry
Stormy Mongiello
David Peace

Cleveland County School Board Candidate recommendations:

Kenneth A. Ledford
David Fisher
Gloria Sherman
Rod Powell
Tracy Ross