Gloucester VA Links and News: Announcement

Showing posts with label Announcement. Show all posts

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Gloucester, VA Page Middle School Dis Service Announcement 2

We continue our exploration on the communities arguments against the plans of the new Page Middle School on various levels. Showing numerous communications between local concerned citizens and Gloucester officials responses to community questions. We have a lot to go over within the next few days. Everyone needs to know what is going on in this county.

Mr. Kiser,

Thank you for responding to my questions.

In question number one I am referring to the size school which could be built on the existing Page Middle School site in comparison to building on the proposed site. Many residents including me are under the assumption there are plans to reduce the size of the new school's auditorium and gymnasium to save money. New plan design costs in comparison to purchasing pre-designed plans likely equates to somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 square feet of potential building. Site development costs will likely equate to over 20,000 square feet of potential building. What does that equate to in teacher’s pay, school buses, school supplies, technology, etc? Demolishing the damaged school was the sensible thing to do. Is abandoning the site at the cost of tens of millions of tax payer’s dollars a sensible thing to do?

In question number seven you say, “The new site is large enough to accommodate three schools over the years ahead.” The Virginia Department of Education recommends the following in new school site selection:

3.2 Size of New School Site
A. The following minimum usable site sizes are recommended:
Additional Acreage Per 100 Pupils in
School Type Basic Acreage Ultimate Enrollment
Primary or Elementary (grades pk-7) 4 acres
Middle School, Intermediate, Jr. High 10 acres
Senior High or Combined School 10 acres

Other considerations recommended to evaluate existing or potential school sites are:

1. Adequate site acreage to separate pedestrian, bus, and car traffic
2. Adequate site acreage to meet the needs of the outdoor physical education program
3. Adequate road frontage and ease of access
4. Availability of utilities
5. Proximity to noise and other pollution sources (airport, traffic, industrial)
6. Additional considerations would be the shape of the site, topography, and soil conditions
7. Adequate perimeter road circulation for emergency response vehicles.
8. Where possible, locate new schools in attendance areas that will
promote students to walk or ride bicycles safely to school. When
developing a new school site or altering an existing site the design
should include features that encourage pedestrian or bicycle
access to and from the school site.

Site topography, soil conditions, close proximity of wetlands, traffic and construction costs, especially construction costs, will likely never make it feasible to construct three schools on the new site.

In questions six and seven you infer vacating all School Board land connecting to Roadview Farm. For clarification; are there any conversations by the School Board as a whole or in part about the sale, trade or other means of transferring ownership of the two parcels of land known as Tax Map #39-198A and #39-198B, consisting of almost 26 acres which connect to the proposed school site and were purchased by Harry Corr in December 2011? Are there any conversations by the School Board as a whole or in part about transferring ownership of the existing Page Middle School site and or Bus Garage by sale, trade or otherwise? Careful

Gloucester Point Resident

Find below my answers to your questions in red. Take care.

Ben Kiser
Division Superintendent

A few questions about Page Middle School:

1) Why are over 25,000 square feet of school building being sacrificed to move off of the existing Page Middle School site?
· If you are referencing the portion of Page Middle School that was not destroyed by the tornado, the School Board decided, after much conversation and public input, that rebuilding on the old Page site was not the best solution and that renovating a 60-year old building was not financially prudent. As you know, the remainder of the old school was recently demolished and removed.

Do you realize how much space that is?
· Yes
3) Does the new school building design have wasted space areas that will require constant upkeep such as an internal court yard?
· No. There may be outdoor learning patios designed as part of the instructional houses but they are not interior courtyards.
4) Will the new school be designed to enhance utilization of Smart Board technology?
· Technology will be a component of the new school and smart boards may be one of the components.
5) Will additional wiring conduits for future upgrades be included in the building design?
· Electrical capacity for future utilization will be considered as part of the design.
6) What are the plans for the existing Page site?
· No specific plans at the moment. Some conversations have taken place as to the possibilities but nothing formal. The School Board still has its bus compound on the property. A solution for the bus compound may be required prior to any other use of that property being determined.
7) Are there any plans to obtain more land at the new site?
· The School Board does not have any plans to purchase additional land. The new site is large enough to accommodate three schools over the years ahead.
8) Will a model of the new Page Middle School and grounds be made available on the school website?
· As plans are refined, drawings will be available on the School Board’s website.

Greetings Mr. Kiser,

I know you are a busy person so I won’t take up much more of your time. Thank you for “your” answers and opinions which you appear to be settled upon. As I have researched Page Middle School I couldn’t help but notice you use the pronoun “I” disproportionately to “we”. I have always been taught a community works together. In a community setting such as Gloucester, people want to be involved.

Gloucester County is rich in professionally intelligent and talented residents who can provide valuable advice and guidance that will never be provided by any hired commercial firms or businesses. There are many communities who take advantage of those valuable free resources when they undertake a project such as building a new school. Much of their resident involvement is channeled through the district representatives who seek out and make themselves available to their constituents to discuss issues. Other community involvement is channeled through today’s technology.

Those communities also have meetings which are advertised and open to the public, as is in Gloucester County. Unfortunately, that is the only community involvement aspect Gloucester County shares with those other more prosperous and content communities. In Gloucester most residents are not willing to become involved because of what took place with the attempt by residents to unseat several county supervisors. Many people feel like there is no use in being involved because they feel those who are appointed and elected are going to do what they want with total disregard of those they are entrusted to represent. Despite the setting being in a rural community or a major metropolis, those who are appointed and elected to ensure the education of children are supposed to work in tandem with those others who have been appointed and elected to represent the interests of the community as a whole. They are supposed to set the example of people working together for our children. In Gloucester County that is not the way things are.

The Gloucester School Board members have been manipulated to, among other things, take the approach of checking the required blocks as pertains to community involvement and working cohesively with other appointed and elected officials. Resistance to working in tandem and restricting involvement of others presents a strong appearance of deception efforts which are normally perpetrated by persons with self gain agendas driven by greed. I certainly hope that does not continue to manifest into being the case in Gloucester County.

Again, thank you. You have been an enormous help in my continuing research of Gloucester County’s administrative process.

I will first say that I disagree with your assumptions and perceived savings. The School Board has done due diligence on both sites and agreed to the best possible solution for replacing Page Middle School after months of vetting the advantages and disadvantages of many scenarios. Even though some individuals are assuming that several million dollars can be saved just by rebuilding on the previous site, that is simply just not the case.

The T.C. Walker Road property far exceeds the minimum guidelines for school construction as established by the Department of Education and will be able to accommodate a middle school, a high school, and an elementary school eventually.

Over the past year and a half, many conversations have taken place regarding the potential for the property adjacent to the old Page site and the new property. At this time, no plans are in place or are being discussed by the School Board regarding the property in question.

As I stated in my last email, eventually, the School Board and the Board of Supervisors will agree to the disposition and future use of the old Page site. At the moment, the School Board owns the property and has its bus compound situated on the property. No plans have been made by the School Board regarding the future use of the site.

Take care.

Ben Kiser

Some of the conversations seem to be out of place. This is how they are coming through to us and we are trying to sort them out as best as possible. The objective however is to let everyone see all the issues surrounding the new school that is being forced on us all. That is if we allow it to be forced on us. What should be taken into consideration is that there is an appearance that the Board of Supervisors may have been hoodwinked in areas on this matter. Take into consideration, if that were the case, they could have denied the funding at any time, so do not be fooled. If no one is watching what is going on, we are all in trouble.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Gloucester, VA Page Middle School Dis Service Announcement 1

We have recently been given access to a series of communications regarding a number of areas of concern about the upcoming Page Middle school and all the issues surrounding the project.

It is our own opinion that the location of the new planned middle school is not at all in the best interest of the community as a whole. It is further our opinion that there are ulterior motives for why the new Page Middle School is being built in this new location.

We are now going to start presenting these communications as it is very in depth and well thought out. We see a lot of wholes in the arguments coming from various Gloucester officials and will interject our own opinions throughout the series. Eventually, we will be putting up a website covering the subject in a proper timeline covering all the issues and let everyone determine your own final opinion on the matter, deciding if your best interests have been taken into consideration or not. It's the tax dollars of each Gloucester resident, present and future, at stake. Construction has not yet started and now is the time to get involved before it becomes to late.

So let's begin:

Board Members,

It is understood that statistics prove natural lighting enhances learning. It is understood that the proper utilization of glass in school buildings provides that lighting and can lower energy costs. It is also understood that the improper or over use of glass in school buildings can result in negative impacts such as higher design and construction costs, higher energy costs, higher up keep and maintenance costs, redesign and build over or modification costs, distraction of students from learning, students and staff becoming the target of a shooter and more.

To adequately protect the occupants of a school building from a potential outside shooter the use of glass must be done so in a manner as to prevent the shooter from obtaining a line of sight. The utilization of fences or other such barriers to obscure the line of sight will also provide cover, concealment and a perch for a potential shooter. When determining the transition point between a solid wall and glass, the height of a person plus three or so feet should be considered to prevent line of sight target acquisition. If there are trees, towers, buildings or other means for a potential shooter to gain a height advantage to establish line of sight those conditions should be considered as well.

The use of interior glass should also be considered thoroughly to minimize the ability of an inside potential shooter. In today’s reaction drills students are taught to systematically do what is possible to evasively minimize line of sight opportunity for a potential shooter. Glass areas between classroom and hallway or open area should not provide this line of acquisition or line of sight opportunity for a potential shooter. If glass is used in any of the areas not suggested it should be bullet proof in composition as should its framework.

Bullet resistant glass is expensive----up to $60 a square foot according to Tom Briggs, president of U.S. Armor. This in addition to the cost of framing and installation. Mr. Briggs’ company supplies glass across the country and makes types of it to withstand 9mm to .50 caliber.

Response:

Been quiet on this front but have been following your messages. Prior to the joint meeting I spent a large amount of time looking at every angle possible to try to get the SB to reconsider a number of things – but to no avail. I talked to a number of individuals in various walks of life. I poured over those bore reports, looked at past contracts, etc. Nothing seemed to make a difference in the way the train was going. We had an e-mail from a gentleman that looked at the exact square footage of glass in the new school and compared relative costs of strengthened glass and regular solid walls and it was considerable (as you already know). I brought it up at the joint meeting but no one at our meeting said anything except sheetrock walls get dirty and require repairs and painting regularly. Another individual e-mailed us with numerous suggestions on how to save money and nothing happened either. It seems the train is out of the station and moving faster by the day that nothing will stop it except when the contract bids do come in.

In any case, all that extra work took a toll on me and my work at VIMS. I got so far behind that I am now paying the price of making up lost times on my weekends. I don’t mind as I know in my heart I did my best.

By the way, it is ironic that the SB is concerned about school security and want SRO’s at all the primary schools but yet want all this glass in the new school that will compromise kids safety.

Cheers

Board of Supervisors, Abingdon District

Gloucester County

Next communication:

JJ,
Your efforts, though ignored by some, are appreciated by many others. I do believe there will be a tremendous impact on the next couple of County elections due to what is occurring during the process of rebuilding Page Middle School. The citizens have spoken time and time again only to be ignored. There are members on the School Board and the Board of Supervisors who are in their positions for reasons other than doing what is in the best interest of the Gloucester Community.

Next Communication:

I respectfully disagree with your general description of board members and will only speak for myself. My only reason for being on the school board is to do the best job I possibly can for the children of this county. I have had a very positive experience with the school system and want to give something back to this county and be part of the solution. As part of this effort we do need to look forward and plan beyond our terms to assure the school progresses and we stay in constant improvement. The federal and state governments have been failing us for many years and especially over the past 5+. Their unfunded mandates and the cutting of existing funding streams have burdened this community as well as many others to points that have been unseen in the past. We still have 5500 students and 850 staff members showing up each day at our schools and they deserve the best we(our community) can provide them since they are our future .

Thanks you

Very Respectfully

Randy Burak

Next Communication:

Mr. Burak,

With all due respect, your response contains all the more reasons for you and board members from both boards to utilize available funds that are coming from the Gloucester Community in such a way as to get the most out of each and every dollar. In the area of school construction that is not the case and because of that fact there will be less dollars to utilize in other areas of equal or more importance like the school system operating budget.

There would definitely be more support for what is being done if you or anyone else could logically tell the Gloucester Community what justifies ignoring the Community and spending such a substantial amount of money to develop a new site in order to rebuild an incomplete, non-storm safe, glass filled, shooter friendly, high maintenance Page Middle School.

Response:

I guess we can go on and on with our emails but I assure you that the only goal is to complete a new school to replace the one destroyed by the tornado within budget that is safe, academically welcoming and one that flexible to withstand the many changes in the educational environment over the next 50+ years.

This issue you raise regarding glass in the building was modified from its initial plan and the glass was reduced. The area with the most glass can be closed off and access to the entire “house” can be restricted completely. We continue to work with the sheriff’s office to assure that we consider all things but Newtown introduced new threats that were never seen before and Newtown had some advanced security measures in place.

Our first and foremost objective is to have a safe place for our children to learn and I respectively disagree wholeheartedly that you would even think that anyone would do anything differently for reasons such as self-promotion. We have children, neighbors, friends, family in these schools each and every day and their safety is the only goal followed by the best academics we can provide.

Respectfully

Randy Burak

***** Please see our notes at the bottom of this post. *****

Next communication:

Instead of answering the question that has been asked over and over again Mr. Burak, Chairman of the School Board, seems to have become defensive and evasive. The glass areas at the back of each school house that he says will be secure will be enclosed by a fence. Here again is an extra cost
added to the project that will do very little to safegard the students and staff within the new multi-million dollar school.

End of the thread.

***** Our Notes but not our production.

Email from Gloucester County, Virginia Sheriff, Darrell Warren:

Good morning to you! Unfortunately, my office has had zero input in the design of the new school. Supervisor James and I spoke last week about his feelings on the design and he is in favor of placing deputies in all schools but says he won’t allocate a nickel until they take some glass out of the Page plans. Supervisor Orth told me six weeks ago that he was going to call me for my input about the new design but I have yet to hear from him. I can tell you that I did read your letter in the Gazette last week and what you write is correct about target visuals. Unfortunately, I nor anyone in my office, really has a position to tell them how to design their building. In the past, the schools have welcomed the idea of the Sheriff’s Office conducting threat assessments of their campuses so it would make sense, to me at least, for them to ask for some safety guidance on new construction design. Having said all of this, I am sure that there are experts out there that are much more qualified than me, who study topics such as these and make recommendations. I would hope that they have consulted with someone like this but it doesn’t appear this way. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Take care!

Darrell

Anyone see any issues here? This is the first in a series that most Gloucester residents will find very disturbing.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Liberty's Kids 23, The Hessians Are Coming, Battle of the Hook Pre Show

As a Pre Show to the upcoming Battle of the Hook event coming here to Gloucester, Virginia in less than 3 weeks, we have here, Liberty's Kids episode number 23, The Hessians Are Coming. Please see below for more information in regards to the Battle of the Hook.

Benjamin Franklin Announces The Battle of the Hook from Chuck Thompson