The Tempest in the Teapot

Many thanks to Keith Williams of Kirkwood for passing this information to me and others in the Kirkwood School District. Keith put out an email last week informing readers about the $48 Million bond proposal to be presented at the Board meeting Monday night, July 19. Many questions from taxpayers have ensued as to the necessity of an aquatic center, new kindergarten rooms and a track at a middle school.

Will the district listen to these comments? Will the board turn a deaf ear to the citizens? Will the board learn to differentiate between necessities and luxuries?

There appears to be a disconnect between reality and fantasy, not only in DC, but also in the halls of the Kirkwood School District. Read these emails carefully. The frustration is great and the elected leaders need to listen.

Kmail

Kmail@KmailNews.com

Hello again, Kmailers 14 July 2010

Last week my sarcastic musings about the gigantic bond issue that the Kirkwood School Board wants to float sure hit a raw nerve with most of you readers. Kmail got 3 cancellations and a boat load of great Emails in return. I asked for your opinions and you kindly offered them in quantity! I can only hope the School Board reads this Kmail, they might learn what Kirkwood is telling them in no uncertain terms. Pasted below you will find 20 or 30 of your more interesting letters. ( including cancellations) Draw your own conclusions. I've got plenty more, but I think you get the idea of what most Kmailers are thinking would be wise for the School Board to do..

Sadly, I received not one single opinion pointing out why or how Kirkwood and our school kids' education will benefit from this gross spending spree for a non-essential wish list of useless "educational" goodies. Just spend, spend spend on anything handy.

What kind of lesson are we teaching our ourselves? The Kirkwood School District has basically paid off one of its credit cards, and it wants to go on a new spending spree? Let's make do with what we have for a while instead of buying shiny new useless things on credit.

By the way, I see where the Board has issued a clarification on the "free" Kindergarten pitch. Parents will continue to have to pay tuition for full day kindergarten, so nothing has really changed, except that everyone's taxes will go up. If the Kindergarten parent thinks they will now get "free" all day kindergarten they have been sadly misled.

Additionally, there has been nary a peep of the need for the operating funds that will be required next year, nor of increased maintenance and technology expenses associated with expansion of the physical facilities. Enrollment has not substantially increased in the last ten years, tax collections have nearly doubled.

Hang on to your wallets, your children, and your homestead Kirkwood, the school board wants to mortgage them all.

Kmail policy is NOT to print the name of the originator of a response unless given permission by the writer.

Keith Williams for Kmail

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Please take us off your email list at once. We agree with nothing you have said, nor do the large majority of our friends, neighbors and colleagues in Kirkwood. Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. W Family +++++++++++++

Wow, I didn't really need to read past the first couple paragraphs. This sums up everything that is wrong with the way governments on all levels view tax revenue. Frustrating, depressing, absurd. How can I help?

Steve

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Keith, THANK YOU! This is exactly what I was thinking. I was already peeved a couple of months ago when I read they were spending $330,000 on a new awning by the Dougherty Ferry school entrance, so students don't have to stand in the rain. Three hundred thirty thousand dollars! You can buy a very nice Kirkwood house for that, and this is just a roof! How about we save some money and just buy all the students gold-plated umbrellas?

You are correct, there is no semblance of fiscal responsibility in the district. Astroturf is absolutely unnecessary. I'm sure they will claim it's to save on maintenance of the grass, but we all know that several years down the road we will need to "maintain" the astroturf by replacing it, just as we had to replace the all-weather track about five years after it was installed, and are now replacing it again.

I like sports as much as the next guy, but this is not the mandate that our school district was created to serve. I am currently looking to move, and have so far been looking in Kirkwood, but if it looks like this is going to pass, I will expand my search to the neighboring suburbs. Thanks again -- I'm glad to know I'm not the only taxpayer who's feeling fed up with the big spenders. E M

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Keith, You would think the Realtors in town would be livid. This just has to chill the market. kp

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Sir,

You are not thinking big enough. Kirkwood needs to raze the entire high school complex (rebuild a stat-of-the art high school somewhere else), buy out some adjoining properties and build a giant lake so we can have a KHS Yachting Team. I want maximum bang for my buck!!!! JC

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Keith Our home tax doubled during 2002 and 2009 (100% increase).Our tax acceleration exceeds that of one of the premier, wealthiest counties outside of California! James

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Keith, Hang in there! I certainly agree with you. bt

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I can't tell where in your editorial the sarcasm ends and the facts about what the Board actually either wants to do or is just considering begins. So I can't trust any of it. Just the cold hard facts and letting the reader make up his own mind would make your piece more powerful. js

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Keith Has anyone looked @ these board members personal credit scores?Don't know about you but I treat my business spending with the same principals I run my personal finances. Who are they to frivolously spend OUR hard saved cash! D M

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Don't be fooled! Voters, they are playing games with the aquacenter prop. They bet you will say yes to kindergarten improvement , since it's kind of free, and be satisfied saying no th the nutty prop. The kindergarten is prop is not frre. It's a brand new "home improvement loan" with the staffing expense undisclosed at this time. Be a little indignant at this devious approach. DS

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I saw in theWebster-Kirkwood Times this past Friday a picture of 9 female high schoolers from Kirkwood High who had traveled to France for spring break. PARIS, FOR SPRING BREAK. If the parents can send them to Paris, they should be able to raise the money for the new sports facility they think their children deserve to have at taxpayer expense. GC

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I as one vote concur with you. Can't not see our Kirkwood elected officials finding ways to spend money with the economy unstable as it has been. If the student population is shrinking as well then they need to re think ways to conserve monies not spend. LW

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Great thoughts, thanks for the information. The community needs to get a look into this and be prepared to get the vote out in opposition. With this bond issue, how much has this school district achieve from their original $100 million request several years ago? I bet we are about the same point, KPS just sliced it up to shove it down our throughts. RR

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Thank you, thank you Keith. You are on a roll; that is enough information for everyone to join in the fight with vigor c l

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First of all I am embarrassed that I was not aware of the school boards request for/and proposed use of these funds. If what you are describing is true then I totally agree that we need to stick to educational necessities for near, and possibly, the long term. I have been a resident of Kirkwood for about 50 years and even though I sent my kids to private schools I always supported the Kirkwood school district when my vote was needed to raise taxes. However, this request is out of line and at least for now, I can't and won't support it. Yours Truly, P

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A beautiful piece of sarcasm! I enjoyed reading it, and am inclined to agree with you. BTW, my faith in the democratic process was renewed recently when I toured the redone Kirkwood Public Library. Though I was sorely disappointed when the first tax and bond issues failed so badly, I now see that a more modest redo of the old was the right course of action. Separately, I would be interested to hear your take on the state of the Historical Society, and the Save Mudds' Grove campaign. cr.

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Keith, thanks for the update. You are so right on! Who is paying for the new astro turf state of art drainage football field with a tunnel to the locker rooms? I heard it was the Pioneer Booster, Kirkwood school district foundation, and US? I am really disappointed if the KSDF is using their funds for this project. In the past they only used funds contributed by me and other parents and alums to fund educational in the classroom or teacher student activities. If they are contributing to this football field then no more money from me.

'As you probably know we have also ended up with the highest paid suburban school district Superintendent. It's not his fault. Dr. Dameral whined every year for more and more salary and bonus . Now we have a Superintendent of a fairly small district making top income. You should check this out. My complaint on the board was always that the Superintendent and Admin people's salaries were getting out of line with teacher salaries. People on there are now are in their third or fourth terms. We need new blood on the board for a new focus. This group has got to go. They are out of touch with the real Kirkwood. pb

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Is there anyone in town supporting this besides the School Board ? eww

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Thanks Keith, I need to read this more closely, but I can tell you, as a parent of a Kindergartener, adding full day Kindergarten for all kids sounds like a good idea to me. I thought it was crazy I had to pay out of pocket for Kindergarten in such a highly regarded district. I do wish that was separated from the "aquatic center", which I'm not sure I'd support at this time.Food for thought. Thanks again, Matt

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I'm interested in the issues that arise in Kirkwood. I think K-mail is an invaluable resource to bring that news to our citizens. And okay, I'll even listen to your lengthy opinion on the topics--it is afterall YOUR newsletter and I value hearing every side to the story before making up my own mind. But is there anyway we could get the same important information without the tedious "comedy" routine? It is unbelievably tiresome and annoying beyond words to even get through your beleaguered messages at times--even when I may fully agree with your stance. Sir, with all due respect, you are no Oscar Wilde. Leave the "ranting-old-man-who-thinks-he-is-witty routine" to the stand-up comedians and pass on the worthwhile topics with any related intelligent thoughts to your interested audience without grating on their nerves to the point of distraction.

-RJG

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Amen Mr. Williams! Thanks again for making me smile with your satirical and poignant prose! DP

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Thank you Keith: It's about time someone speaks out about the rising taxes in Kirkwood. I am a senior citizen and have lived in Kirkwood since 1971. It is becoming increasingly hard for me to justify staying here with the laws, bans and taxes that Kirkwood keeps implementing. The school taxes are out of hand. If the parents of the children attending Kirkwood schools feel that their kids "need" these amenities, let them pay for them. That's what we do in private schools.What can we do to stop this from even getting on the ballot since Kirkwoodians seem to approve every tax increase. I wonder, if like the government, they even read or understand the issues before they vote.A concerned Kirkwood citizen. gc

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We agree with you 100%. We suggest that you make a list of names that also agree and submit to the Board. This e-mail gives you permission to use ours.Thanks,E +L B

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Keith – Thanks again for an informative letter. I must say that I was shocked to find out some of the ways our tax dollars are considering being spent by Kirkwood. The last time I checked we were in a major recession. I agree that we should see how the artificial turf on the football field works out before additional projects are started.

Quite honestly I don't understand why the decision was made to change the field to astro turf at the high school. I was under the impression that the "natural" turf was the better choice. It definitely is much more attractive. And considering that Kirkwood prides itself on how environmentally friendly we are, why would we want to "slap down" the synthetic stuff. It reminds me of a line from Joni Mitchell's great song "Big Yellow Taxi" which echoes my sentiments about so much that is happening here in our fair town…"paved paradise and put up a parking lot…you don't know what you've got til its gone!" Sue

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As long term residents of Kirkwood, we protest the proposed bond issue in the strongest way possible. We, the propery owners affected are now taxed to the hilt; Now facing the joy of a tax reduction which you propose to steal from us by unfounded, luxury projects is an insult.Certainly you all cannot be so far out of touch as to persist in this, and expect to continue holding those impregnable seats of taxing authority. jj

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Did anyone happen to notice that Des Peres and Kirkwood sales taxes also went up the first of July? Was that the new metro tax we voted on? And I did find out the other tax increase we had was for the 911 updates. Plus the Kirkwood library tax is now on my bill - that was the only increase on our personal property tax this year.

A former CFO for the school board had an interesting letter to the editor in last weekend's Post - he didn't seem to be in favor of the bond issue! Wish I could remember his name. And my papers are recycled already.sp

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Kieth,I'm with you. Not needed. I will vote NO

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BRAVO!!!!! I'm behind you, no along side of you on this issue.
I guess the school board must think Kirkwood is recession proof? WRONG, I cannot afford more taxes for anything. kate

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I moved from Kirkwood in February '09 (didn't want to, but that's a different story) and tried like crazy to orchestrate a way back (my offices are there; loved the micro-commute!) UNTIL I started reading all this K-Mail, and other sources, reporting the goings-on in my previously beloved Kirkwood. I was fairly vocal about the absurd request to change Rifle Range Drive to something PC....OMG. So this report of $$ shenanigans by the school board sealed the deal for me. I'll buy a house in some other zip code.Your opinions expressed in this e-mail mirror my own....and people wonder what's wrong IN America???? As if the shenanigans in the White House weren't enough..... red B

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Thanks for the the e-mails, Keith, I read them all. I can`t believe that at this time, that the school board could possibly consider this type of spending. Less stop this before it happens, by attending the school board meeting, scheduled for the 19TH, and voice our opinons. Bob

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Thanks for a great email! I am with you ALL the way. jm

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I agree . BigH

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