To the Editor:
Disappointment! That is the emotion that I am feeling towards the Wrenshall School Board and administration. They are trying to pass a $12.5 million referendum and spend another million dollars without voter approval for a fitness center. This is a lot of money for a small rural school district where the census shows a declining school-age population.
Not having children in school I have to plead guilty of not following local developments, but when the district is reaching deep into my pockets, it was a wake-up call. After going to a meeting about what the plans are, I cannot support them for a host of reasons, including the following:
The number of students from outside of our district is 147, which is 38 percent of the student body. While we do get state money for these students, it does not cover the whole cost so we are, in fact, subsidizing those students. If we do not have room in the school, we can cap the out-of-district student enrollment. This could prevent the massive building project that is envisioned at this point.
The online school propaganda video shows how bad the school has become due to lack of maintenance. How can we trust this school district to spend the money when they have not maintained the existing building? If they can spend $1 million without voter approval, why didn't they fix the roof and windows before this?
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The residents of the Wrenshall School District need to go to the March 28 community meeting at the school to see this overly ambitious project and ask themselves if they want to pay for this over the next 20 years.
Paul Makynen
Wrenshall Township
