Ahead of a few meetings later this morning about what in the hell our school district is going to do about the fall, I am greeted by a headline on the front page of the paper about how the exclusive local private school is beginning construction on its ten million dollar new campus.
TEN MILLION DOLLARS.
Ten million dollars is about half of the annual budget for our town’s entire public school system.
This new building will be almost 24,000 square feet and sits on a 30-acre piece of land.
From the article:
“Space is tight right now,” Spencer explained. “I don’t anticipate enrolling a lot more students, though — maybe enough to fill one or two homerooms. We just want to give our students more space. We’ve got the potential with the new property to add on someday, if we want. That would be done incrementally.”
The schools currently has 137 students.
My blood is BOILING. I’m sure they do want to give their students a bit more space. You know what I want? I want our school district to not have to be begging for PPE donations. I want them to be able to afford decent online learning platforms and content. I want the schools to have enough teachers and instructional assistants and adjustment counselors and librarians. I want teachers and kids to not have to be sitting in cars in parking lots because that’s the only way they can get wifi. I want teachers not to have to run a constant online hustle to raise money for basic classroom supplies.
But hey—enjoy that spiffy new campus, I guess.