Should elementary schools in Indian Prairie School District 204 have air conditioning, and why weren't they built that way in the first place?
The answer to the second part of that question is that in order to get referendums passed during the 1990s boom years, costs were held to a miniumum. So the new schools were built the old-fashioned way.
Now it would cost about $800,000 per school to retrofit the 19 elementaries with AC, or about $15 million total.
Would it be worth it? Would you be willing to pay for it if another referendum is proposed?
I would absolutely pay. The schools can be like a brick oven. Some classrooms have been 105-110 degrees. Would you want to work if your office was that temperature for 6 hours? I would think you would be calling OSHA on your employer. Children can not handle extreme temperatures as well as adults. It's a medical fact.
Granted there are some jobs where heat is part of the job, but being a student is not one of them. I absolutely would pay even though my last child will be gone from the elementary schools before anything could be retrofitted.
I would suggest a lower-cost alternative. I think we can all agree that the high temperatures occur predominately at the extreme ends of the school year -- August and June. I also submit that most of us can recall a school schedule for which classes did not begin until September and ended very early in June. Currently, we have very few five-day weeks during the school calendar. How about cutting some of the half days, institute days, a few long week-ends and see if we can't avoid having the schools open during the extreme hot weather -- that could be done for little or no cost.....
I'd think with all the taxes we pay, that Naperville would be able to afford to put AC in all the schools. It is ridiculous that the kids are having to suffer in those classrooms. How can they expect kids to concentrate when they're melting? And my big question is if the heat is so manageable, then why does the teachers' lounge have AC? They feel the money is well-spent for the adults to be comfortable, but not the children?!
Why back in my day we walked up hill both ways to school AND had no air conditioning!
I think the solution that Sam proposed here is awesome, and I hope someone from the school board considers it. $15,000,000 is a LOT of cash. How many teachers could be hired for that much money, or better yet, how many underpaid teachers could get a raise? How many full college educations does $15,000,000 buy?
I'm amazed by the number of days the kids who go to local schools have been getting off in the past years. Why not cut out the fluff and compact the school year? If I'm counting the days correctly from here- http://ipsdweb.ipsd.org/CalendarList.aspx district 204 has 32 school days off. Now, granted, a lot of those days are holidays and either winter or spring break... but the fact remains the same: If the school district got rid of some of these days off school could either start or end a whole month sooner or later, avoiding most if not all of the dreadfully hot summer weather.
1.The teachers are just as miserable as the students - if not more so.
2. When we fight for every teachable minute in the school day, we do not like to give up 2-3 Weeks of time because the students cannot think of anything but how hot they are.
3. Fans do not work to cool an entire classroom.
4. The ventilation - windows- do not open as much as "they used to when I went to school."
5. We - as a society - have become conditioned or aclimated to having air conditioning when we are inside a building.
6. The weather patterns are changing and it is hotter, longer, during the summer. (global warming, el nino, el nina, etc.)
7. It is to the point of being unhealthy for the children and the adults in the buildings.
I truly believe that if we come together as a community of parents, board memebers, district employees and citizens, we can get this done. Because it is the right thing to do for our students, and our community.
Sure. Why not with median incomes over $97k they can afford it in district 204...
Joe has a terrific idea. Start the school year in September and compact some of the holidays during the school year. It makes so much sense and saves a few million dollars.
Enough with the air conditioning! Another $15,000,000? Sure and then after that it will be more funding needed for other unnecessary things. Look, it is hot a FEW days at the beginning of the school year. The remainder of the time it is miserably cold and there is absolutely no need for AC. I think $15,000,000 can be put to much better use than to keep the spoiled children of Naperville, Illinois cool for a few days!
Amen to these children not being in school! It just started and they are going to have a FOUR day weekend already!! Now I'm supposed to pay more in tax dollars for air conditioning?? What for?? No one is in school to enjoy it!
Have year round school - yes, YEAR ROUND. One quarter (nine weeks) in school, three weeks off, rotating throughout the year. Then, I'll support air conditioning the schools. And put these children to work already, since they have so much time off. Covering a textbook is NOT an assignment!! When do they start working in 204?? Don't tell me it's too hot - this is at an air conditioned building.
I think if they can find the money it's not a bad idea. However, when I was in school, which wasn't that long ago (I'm 27), we didn't have air conditioning, and we complained on the hot days but I don't see that it adversely affected my development or education, so if they don't get air conditioning it's not the end of the world.
I am shocked to find out that not all modern schools built within
the last 20 years do not have AC!!! Here in Naperville... no AC?
Who made these decisions that AC is not needed back then?
I hate to say it but our old 203 schools (30 years old) DO have
AC! What the heck is with 204?
Lets set some things straight. Adolescents in 80~90 degree indoor temp
with moving air CAN handle the temp like adults. They just have to dress
properly and drink lots of water, not sugary drinks. In fact kids may handle
it better than adults because many adults aren't in as good a shape as our kids!
There are always exceptions.
Even 15 years ago, who in Naperville bought a car without an AC? I bet every
reader has AC in their car AND in their house. Enough said huh?
Sure maybe AC will be used only in May and Aug/Sept, but to me that is not
the main concern.
Main reason to have AC and a properly designed HVAC system is to condition and
purify the air within the building for health reasons. The air should be filtered 24/7
to remove allergens. Kids and adults suffer from allergies/asthma at increasing
numbers. They can all breath better with conditioned air. Also, proper humidity
level is needed to keep molds from proliferating; another source of problems.
Kids should feel comfortable during school, not getting tired in class and after class
because they are hot all day. This isn't a good learning environment.
I have to ask what school of higher learning doesn't have AC? I bet even ALL STATE
colleges/universities and even community colleges like COD have AC. I've attended
several in the last decade and all have AC. What are 204 school admins doing by not
having AC to create the best learning environment for these young kids. AMAZING!
$15 million? That's chump change guys. Do it.
$15 million buys about 6 teardowns in 203. (3 available now in Cress Creek, 2 more soon)
For the few days in the year ac is needed, portable units can be rented or purchased for each classroom, for less than a fraction of a fraction of the discussed sum.
Shifting the school year out of August is also a excellent and the best idea.
A previous poster mentioned that kids should be fine in 80-90 degree temps. Fair comment......but for the past two days my son's classroom was 101 and 103. That's a different story.
We all have become accustomed to AC in our houses, cars, and work places. It is not FAIR for the teacher or the students to suffer. For all of you who feel it is not needed, or are concerned about the cost, go sit in these rooms for the 6 hours they are there, then tell me it is uncalled for or that our children are spolied.
I also agree that having the AC will help purify the air quality in the schools. My sons have seasonal allergies and they are already suffering. And, if it would be more cost effective, I would be all for year-round school. In studies, it shows kids who do this remember more and do better, is that not what we want for our kids?????
At the meet and greet on the 22nd, I almost passed out from the heat in the upper level, and I am 35 years old.
How does the school justify having air conditioning in the teachers' lounge and main office, but not in the classrooms? If it's too hot for the adults, then it's too hot for the children!
I agree with NorthNaper resident. But let's be clear on one comment in that post: "Adolescents in 80~90 degree indoor temp with moving air CAN handle the temp like adults." ... we're not talking about adolescents -- it's the elementary schools that don't have a/c. So this affects a lot of kids under 8 years old. Children that small shouldn't face 100+-degree temperatures.
What a great combination of - hey it's Naperville ( btw - 204 is more than Naperville people) - and with our great median incomes - let's spend all we possibly can...and the other side - I'm not paying for AC, way too much money, my taxes are too high already.
For the record I would support AC if proposed in a new referendum, but I hardly believe it is the most crucial topic facing 204 right now. Opening the 3rd HS is far more important right now.
For those wondering why the offices have AC in some schools and the school does not -- those people work all summer - when it is the hottest. For the ''fiscally responsible'' that also saves $ from cooling the whole school, all summer.
For those who have not been here 10+ years, the reason many 204 schools do not have AC is that we have a referendum basically every year to build schools as one of the fastest growing SD's in the country. Just as now there were those complaining about costs and AC was left out to keep costs down. Just as now there are those who will vote no against any money appropriations.
Let's look into the actual costs and then determine if we can pass a referendum for the monies involved.
As for the 203 comment on they all have A/C - you have monies needed badly for physical plants that need all kinds of work - facing very strong opposition - so let's not throw stones here. So they have A/C and need lots of other things -- this is the attitude I really don't understand here - don't we all live in the same area ? I guess not.
Corrected. We are talking about children and adolescents.
Also, if the temperature is much beyond 90 inside the school then together with high
humidity then heat index will be close 100. At this temp, no one will be able to deal well at all.
The body can't cool itself off at that point. In fact a child with even a mild temp due to
some bug may push them over the top.
If the calculated heat index is above 100 in your school rooms and the school doesn't take
action to let the kids go home or take them to a gym with AC, then in my opinion this is a
dangerous situation. To be sure, if the heat index is 100+ then these kids are just trying to keep
cool and learning becomes secondary. I just can't understand any parent or empty nester who
is willing to subject our kids to this kind of treatment.
Follow up to my previous HVAC comment. I hope they are not just retrofitting some cheap AC units
to these schools. They should not make another mistake. They need to start from the ground up
and design a entire indoor air quality system that adequately handles cooling, heating, humidifying,
dehumidifying, purifying, and fresh air exchange system to provide healthy air 24/7 to the entire
school. This is so important when we consider the density of kids in the confined space and all
the cleaning chemicals that are used on a daily basis.
So, what exactly are 204 parents getting for $15 million?
Another $15,000,000? Why not? The district is already $10,000,000 over budget on the 3rd high school and they have not even broken gound yet. Speaking of the land, wait until the truth comes out on that. The district said the land would be $225,000 an acre, a figure every informed person knew was a lie. But hey, it is a lot easier to get a 124,000,000 referendum passed than to be honest will people and tell them it will really require borrowing of $150,000,000 or more and oh and by the way, did I mention the district has no money to operate this school once it is built?
Another 15,000,000? Just ad it to the next referendum which is sure to be just around the corner.
District 204 is a stinking pot of corruption and fraud.
Oh and by the way, did I mention the 3rd high school will never be needed?
Ha Ha! I just laugh when I read about the city I USED to live in and the high taxes that are rampant. I am SO glad I got out of there when I did and live in a much warmer climate, more for your money, lower cost of living city!
Hard to believe there could be a post that long that could have not one single fact correct - but congratulations to the one steering the conversation from A/C to the 3rd high school and doing so with nothing but FUD.
The SD never said $225K on the land - the public bid was $257 so where did you get that number from ? If you are going to make up a number, don't do it where there already is public record.
The kids that cause the need for the 3rd HS are already in the system - they can easily be counted and unless you want 5000 student high schools - the HS is needed
The referendum was for $124M and that is exactly what is borrowed on it - . You cannot include debt already incurred for other schools that were build and then refinanced at a lower %.
Oh by the way did I mention the SD has the highest financial rating that can be assigned to a school district in the state -- yeah they give those to SD's that are broke and corrupt.
Get a clue will ya
Onetov ( alias : VOTENO ) - that ship has sailed by a 60%-40% margin.
Thank you Naperville Sun for covering this educational issue and facilitating our community dialogue.
It seems that the knee-jerk reaction here is to again frame discussion primarily in terms of perceived financial expense, while ignoring the need for impact analysis on the quality of education for our children.
I think the majority of both our taxpayers and our registered voters would agree that room temperatures at or above the middle 80s are uncomfortable for most children and teachers.
What we need is the help of our district leadership to understand the educational impact, along with the corresponding costs of the range of viable alternatives. Then, we as a community can make meaningful decisions on what efforts to support.
Some of the factors that I believe are highly relevant for inclusion in this impact analysis are:
(1) The health and safety of our children and staff, including those with special needs.
(2) The physiological and mental stress on our young children and the corresponding impact on their ability to learn.
(3) The stress on our classroom teachers and its impact on classroom teaching, morale, absenteeism, retention, recruitment, etc.
(4) The impact on test scores and learning benchmarks.
(5) The number of days and classroom hours where room conditions exceed acceptable standards, limits and levels of human comfort.
(6) The potential use of Emergency Days and Interrupted Days as authorized by the Illinois State Board of Education.
(7) A risk assessment of potential litigation generated on the basis of the educational and employment inequities between our district schools that have A\C and those that do not.
We should expect the severity and frequency of these heat extremes to continue to grow into the future. Now is another timely opportunity for our community to join together and move forward on this issue.
WE THANK NAPERVILLE SUN FOR PROVIDING THIS FORUM.
Our six year old son has Asthma, but he was getting better. He did not have any episode during the last six months and we were happy. But...When he went to McCarty Elementary in 1st grade, he came home complaining that "it was too hot and I had difficulty breathing". He went to school for just two days and for the first time in his life HE WAS SENT DIRECTLY TO THE HOSPITAL FROM DOCTOR'S OFFICE DUE TO HIS VERY SERIOUS CONDITION RESULTING FROM AN ASTHMA ATTACK. This happened on the third day after the schools opened.
We and our doctor are positive that the extreme heat and lack of ventilation were the main triggers and we don't know what is the immediate solution to this problem which is VERY SERIOUS.
Our son has recovered for the immediate attack, but he is afraid to go back to class and says that it is too hot. The teacher has told the parents during the "Meet and Greet" session that even if she opens the windows, it does not help because of a wall(?) in front of the windows. I don't understand what kind of architectural standards are followed in this case.
We as parents are EXTREMELY CONCERNED of the health and safety of our child. This issue needs to be given a very high priority, we will not hesitate to take our child out of school if it happens again until the school district addresses this issue.
Let's see, is this the school board that passed the referendum to build a new school but is waiting to secure the land on which to build it? Is this the school board that built a school that has been sitting vacant now for two years? Is this the school board that until recently was spending $10 thousand per year for an eighth grade "graduation" ceremony? Is this the school board that admitted after passage of the new school referendum that the small hallway size at Neuqua was indeed a design flaw and that the halls should have been larger? Is this the school district that required a year of gerrymandering to figure out just which students would be permitted to go attend the "new" school?
My bet is that this board will spend the $15 million and not bat an eye, after all there is always more money isn't there. My bet is that the voters will just say, ok. Opening windows and using fans are just too archaic for those three to four days, maybe, per year for our teachers and children to tolerate. And who is Dave? This poor guy must be really stressed out about everything in his life. And what the heck is acceptable levels of human comfort when described by the "GOVERNMENT"! Does anyone understand or care about what we are doing to our children? Today's children apparently can not handle anything that disrupts their perfect little lives. They go unchallenged and are becoming weak, fat, and overindulged! Allow me to employ the all to true phrase, "how did we ever survive"?
Dave is perfectly fine, and chooses to use the same handle each time he posts..but to each his own.
Maybe if you had any real interest you would have been at the SB meeting last night to hear health care professionals ( cardiologists) explain the situation and consequences going on in our schools right now. Of course your demmeaning put down of all Naperille kids at once is far more clever, we are all impressed. So missing the testimony of ER room trips for asthmatic students and the inability to hear over fans for the hearing impaired areliving their perfect little lives. Must be something to be so smug.
btw - you may want to go past that 'empty' school which has students in it, and the SB acquired to be built with a large private grant that saved taxpayers a lot of money - with the stipulation it was built when it was and as an ES - but don't let facts get in the way of your rant. Have a nice day, and make sure to remove the A/C from your home and car, we wouldn't want you to be viewed as spoiled.
Hey Dave:
First, allow me to apologize, my comment should have been addressed to those of "Naperville Father" vice yours. Although having read your retort, you also seem a little stressed. I am not a resident of district 204 and merely pay the mandatory taxes required so you are correct, I did not attend the sbm last night. I do commend your attendance though and only wish there were more people like you that understood the importance of being a knowledgeable participant in the system. Ya' know what though, I bet I know as much about the 204 sd than the majority of the parents with children in it. Want to bet? Given that, allow me to correct one thing said - I did not demean children, Napervilles or otherwise. If I demeaned anyone it would the "helicopter parents" of the last couple generations that have, among other things, given us our fattest generation. Believe me, I have had many conversations with teaches and support personnel in both the 203 and 204 districts detailing parental behavior and the results obtained.
Ok Dave:
1. I am not an MD but I do know that given the medications available today that it is highly unusual for an asthmatic to require hospital attention.
2. Fans precluding the hearing impaired from understanding the instructor - come on Dave.
3. So the sb was able to move the children from the small school to the larger new one? It was my understanding that the residents of the smaller school objected to their kids being bussed to the larger "new school". I will admit that I had no knowledge of any grant involved stipulating when it was to be built. It's a shame the granter didn't have the ability to be just a little more more thoughtful or logical though.
I did have one teacher tell me that the windows in her non-air conditioned school would not open. If this is true, pretty poor planning don't ya' think? Anyone that believes that air conditioning was excluded from a bond issue to save capital monies is being a little naive. Let's see, you're building a house and elect to keep the swimming pool or the $120 per yard carpeting and $3000 desks vice include air conditioning. Priorities, priorities. My oh my oh my, is there anyway possible to have enough money to just make everybody happy?
I know you won't believe this but I made it through high school without a/c and many of my college classes also were only nature conditioned. I do drive a van w/o a/c and can attest that I can survive! I hope this clears up some issues and facilitates even more discussion among the 204 parents. Good day Dave.
Okay, so you're not an MD but you know more than a cardiologist and her pediatrician husband on the cases involving hospital visits in the past weeks from students in our district. And also know more than parents with children who have cochlear implants and live every day with a struggle to hear and understand.
C'mon Uncle Buckeye, you may not like the past few generations, but these are not people making up things, they are certified experts sharing factual occurances.
I too went to a high school and grade school without A/C - and while uncomfortable the schools had a different air flow, as opposed to many of our ES that had to have their 2nd floors altered in order to avoid potential safety hazards and now have little to no air flow there. And yes A/C was left off to get passage of all the referendums because of people who choose to relieve the good old days, without A/C, walking 10 miles uphill to school each day, writing their homework on the back of a shovel. I grew up without a lot of things ( most things) in my life, that neither qualifies me for a medal, nor makes it any kind of rite of passage for the ES children here to suffer through so they can repeat their 'war stories' to their grandchildren.
In all seriousness, this is a topic far too important to not receive the proper attention and due diligence from the 204 community. I hope all voters do their homework on this, and do not confuse it or tie it together to any other issues, past or present, and come to a conclusion based on evidence. The replay of the SB meeting is available on the IPSD 204 website. Please listen to the speakers, especially the health care professionals and teachers explain the current situation. Talk to parents / teachers / administrators and students at a school near you for first hand experiences.
I too was skeptical on hearing, for the first time, about the impact of background noise. As the father of a child with hearing loss, classroom listening conditions turned out to be just another one of those issues that I needed to learn to help my child. Some of you who have parents who depend on hearing aids or cochlear implants may also have experience with their personal difficulties in locations with background noise issues.
We sometimes use a sound meter in our advocacy efforts, and I find that portable fans generally push sound levels of 60 decibels and higher. In our child's classroom, the teacher uses three fans to help cope with the heat. For comparison, some open office environments intentionally pipe in around 50 decibels of background noise to provide speech privacy by interfering with the ability to hear speech coming from the next cubicle. With the portable classroom fans running, we're actually interfering with our young students' ability to understand the speech of their teachers and classroom peers.
The United States Access Board supported the study and development of a classroom listening conditions standard. It is known as ANSI/ASA S12.60-2002, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements and Guidelines for Schools. The standard specifies maximum background noise of 35 decibels for unoccupied classrooms. More information is available on the U.S. Access Board's classroom acoustics webpage at:
http://www.access-board.gov/acoustic/index.htm
Another webpage documents the expert testimony presented by Robert Apfel, Professor of Architecture in the development process of the standard: http://www.nonoise.org//quietnet/qc/index.htm
His testimony includes this insight: "Moreover, when bad acoustics are a primary reason for prohibiting students with disabilities the opportunity to benefit from education or it increases the cost of education, the students and we are all poorer."
The children with disabilities are least able to cope with difficult classroom conditions. They are the children who are least able to compensate and to make up for lost time and lost educational opportunities.
I believe our community is willing to support a proper learning environment for the young elementary school children who need our help the most.
This discussion seems to be getting horribly off-topic. First, let’s address some of the concerns about the children of Naperville becoming “weak, fat and overindulged”. If this true, why does Naperville turn out such a phenomenal group of athletes year after year? But much more important than this silly fact, is why Naperville has suffered such a statistical imparity for military causalities in the Iraq war? Could it be our “overindulged” kids have chosen to join the military to serve their country, at a greater rate than other communities? Let’s not use the adjectives, weak, fat and overindulged when talking about Naperville’s kids, it’s not appropriate and not very accurate. Next, let’s quit talking about the “good old days”. There really aren’t that many of us that would “gladly” give up today for yesteryear. Who wants to give up today’s informational opportunities, communicational opportunities, medical opportunities, and even today’s comfort standards?
Now, back on topic. 15 million dollars stacked on your kitchen table is a lot of money, but divided over the households of district 204 is about $0.15 per household per day. For a family of three that comes to about a nickel a day. Fifteen cents won’t take your SUV a half a mile or your Honda Civic across the district. Cut 10 lattes a year or one bottle of wine at a restaurant, one massage, or one tank of gas and you have paid for all our elementary students to have air-conditioning. This is not a huge burden and should have been done years ago.
This is not an issue about Naperville....It is about district 204 and its students and teachers, and their health. District 204 has both Aurora and Naperville students. I am so tired of hearing Naperville, Naperville.....get over yourselves. I have listened to this for the last 20 years.
The facts are this via the SB meeting the other night...
It will only cost each taxpayer about $50-55 a year, even say $100.00 a year on a high end, is that to much for our kids and their well being? I am an Aurora mom, and think it is well worth it....My kids are the most important thing to me, and I would think you all feel the same.
I was at the meet and greet and could not believe how hot and uncomfortable the classrooms were. I almost passed out, and was only there for a hour....for you who do not believe our kids need this, shut your AC off on hot days and sit in your house for 6 hours....many of you do not open your windows at all for "allergy" reasons, so send your kids to school and suffer????
We have to rememberr the facts, and think of the little bit it would affect our taxes each year....
The fact that our middle schools and high schools have A/C indicates that we think it's important in this climate. Why should grades K - 5 be treated differently than grades 6 - 12, other than the cost? Well, let's just figure out the most econimical solution to getting the same air quality in all our schools, and get it done.
At the SB meeting it was mentioned that it might be nice to have some climate data. Below are some links to daily temperature charts from the Aurora weather station for the years 1901 - 2005. For those who are interested, the second link is to the raw data.
Charts of daily high temperatures for 1901 - 2005:
http://www.geocities.com/jamie.9848@sbcglobal.net/plots.doc
Raw data for same:
http://www.geocities.com/jamie.9848@sbcglobal.net/IL110338_1601.xls
I just realized that the links from my earlier post are currently not functioning. Due to the size of the files I immediately surpassed the data transfer rate limit. Until I find another home for the files, or make them smaller, please e-mail me if you want to see them.
I'm very sorry for the confusion.
OK, quick review here. Statistically our current society has created our most overweight and physically unfit generation. This is statistical fact, easily verified anecdotally by just looking around. This does not mean EVERY child in Naperville, Aurora, or Bolingbrook is obese Greg, only that the prevalence of this body type is now greater than ever before measured. Now if you don’t think that today’s average child is overindulged you have a problem with reality. By the way, thank you Jim for reminding many of us, this is about sd 204 and not just those living in NAPERVILLE!
Now, the political propaganda, that it will ONLY cost $50 to $100, or $ 0.15 per day. Hey, that equates to almost being free if reduced to the cost per minute. Ask the taxpayers in sd 203 just how well the sb estimated their needs. So sd 204 only wants a measly $15 million, an additional $50 - $100 per year. Remember, that’s in addition to the tax increase due to the new building program. Sure, I’ll believe their suggested tax reduction but only AFTER I actually see it. Now DuPage County is also desperate for money, hang on to your wallets. The State of Illinois is big time broke; hang on to your wallets. The City of Naperville as well as Aurora needs funds to maintain services and their image, hang on to your wallets. If one is to believe the Democrats we will soon have FREE health care, hang on to your wallets. The list goes on and on. Yup, just $50 to $100 more per year. Hey, we can have anything we want for just pennies per day. Isn’t that what they all say? Sometime just think about how many dollars are required by our various taxing bodies to maintain their existence. Add up what you already pay in taxes! They ALL say, it’s just pennies more per day. Ya know what, those damn pennies do add up. Gosh, what about the people that are on a fixed income. Ah well, too bad for them. By the way, did you notice the new “tax” coming to Naperville, it’s called red light cameras. HUGE dollars there.
To retrofit all the schools to accommodate air-conditioning for the 5 – 10 days per year required is unrealistic. On a “per day” basis its actual cost must be close to $100 per family. Our schools are available 365 days per year but we only use them 180 days. Does that make any sense today? By golly, we already pay teachers for a school year. Install the air-conditioning, expand the school year to twelve months and thus eliminate the need for a new high school and now the sd is being fiscally responsible to the taxpayer. This would also maximize the student learning process and afford teachers a greater opportunity to accomplish their primary objective, to educate the student. Everybody wins and nothing of substance is sacrificed. What a concept! We all have needs and want the best for our children but the problem is, can we afford to provide everything for everybody all the time without change?????