Aftery the failure of both referendums I'm now all for student vouchers so my children can go to the Our Lady of the Sewers Private School located in the previously named Red Tail Elementary.

I think that the failure of the referendums is a mandate from the citizens to the school board and district. You can't build facilities with no plans in place to fund the opening of the facility! The age old saying applies "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" The threat of not opening the new school if we don't send more money is exactly the reason I and most of the people I know voted against the referendums.

The district is taking the money it receives now and spending it on administration and not on teachers. We have added more figurehead positions to the district over the last few years that have nothing to do with education i.e. director of diversity and inclusion.

It is time to get our focus back on classrooms and teaching. The school board and its leaders in district 719 are going to have to do the same thing most families in this district have to do. Look at your spending and cut out the unnecessary items and work within the funds that you have. It is a tough job and not everyone will be happy with some of the decisions you have to make but, that is what good leaders do, they make tough decisions.

Some of the best leaders and inventors in this country were educated in one room school houses and they didn't have anywhere near the things we afford our children today. I am not saying we need to go back to the days of one room school houses but, there is not one example that proves throwing money at education gives better results. Good teachers and involved parents challenge young minds; bricks, carpet, computers and counselors cannot replace either.

Denise - I find your comments about how informed the community was to be insulting and in gross error. It was well known via the American and the Pacer and all of the mailings that were sent out by the school district that voting "No" on the first referendum meant that Red Tail Ridge would not open. Honestly, a school board that can't plan well enough to have the funding to open a new facility needs to rethink their priorities!

If you want to know how much ISD 719 spends per pupil, all you need to do is look at the school district website or the MN Dept of Education website. Contrary to Denise Rae's claims, ISD 719 does not spend less than other districts in the area. You see, I DID the research - I saw that Shakopee - with similar growth, student populations AND challenges managed to educate their kids better than ISD 719, they did it on less money AND they are running a budget surplus (as opposed to ISD 719's budget deficit!).

Rather than insult the intelligence of your friends and neighbors Denise, why don't you ask us why we voted against the referendum. Our answers just might enlighten you.

Cindy

I, for one, am glad that the referendums did not pass. I used to make a lot of money working at a full time job. I quit my job two years ago to return to school full time. My family and I have had to give up certain things in the process. We had to cut expenses, vacations, and excess personal items to be able to live within our means. It is my belief that the district must do the same. It certainly would not be acceptable for me to go door to door asking for money because of decisions that I may or may not have made, and expect my neighbors to cover my bottom line. The district needs to concentrate on the children, the teachers, and the education..enough putting additional money into the pockets of superintendents, administrators, their assistants, their assistants, and their assistants. Enough building additional infrastructures that are filled to capacity in 4 or 5 years - think ahead people! And enough with all the threats about our children not getting this and not getting that. This whole thing with the High School could have been prevented had people just thought a little more a few years ago. The district also should have thought about how they would fund Redtail Ridge if they decided to build it. It appears the big issue here is too much spending and not enough thought behind it. It is all about allocation of the budget that you have. I have to do it, my neighbors have to do it, and now, hopefully the district will find a way to do it.

If you are trying to send a "mandate" to the board by voting "no" on the levy and bond questions, why did you re-elect two board members who voted to put those questions on the ballot? If your purpose was to defeat the referendum, yet you don't punish those people who put the referendum to a vote, doesn't that seem like a contradiction? Why punish the kids but not the elected officials if you feel that strongly about it?

Peoples private lives should be private, regardless of what the media thinks. That said, pretty much everyone knows why Westerhaus was after Mr. Lind and why he ultimately fired him. Mr. Lind spoke to students about issues that affected and concerned them. Westerhaus deemed these topics "inappropriate" even though they mattered deeply to the students. When you force adolescents to keep their questions and feelings bottled up you end up with confusion, anger and unfortunatley, sometimes, two absolute tragedies in less than two weeks. Mr. Lind was reaching out to students and the administration didn't like it. I consider each vote for Mr. Lind a vote for change and a vote against Westerhaus and his freespending cohorts. Lind for Superintendent.

I have to sort of agree with Nancy on this.

Since the Superintendent is blaming Chris for his leaving, I would like to hear from Chris.

Either, this is what I believe happened or because of the pending legal action I can not speak right now.

From the information I gathered, what the District did was "legal" but definitely does not appear to be right.
(For instance, a state can legally take a widows farm to build a new Sports Stadium but it does not make it the right thing to do.)

Also if would be a good opportunity for Chris to share some of the thoughts and ideas he has for the district.

I know the current Superintendent has used plenty of my tax funded paper (and column inches here at the pacer) to tell me why I am a bad person, I would like to hear from Chris and the new direction the school district can go.

Chris Lind has been elected to public office, so he should speak about this -- no matter the status of a lawsuit. What's more, now we have a superintendent who has stepped down because of the fact that he was elected. I'm sorry, but this situation has been thrust into the public spotlight and it's time for Chris to talk about it.