You only get one chance in life to make a first impression, but one good thing about life is that you do eventually get to make a second impression as well.
Guilford County Schools officials will have that chance to make a new and better impression to residents near Colfax, when they hold a new community meeting on the proposed Katherine G. Johnson K-8 School – which has been a matter of a good deal of controversy lately.
In late April, a group of residents in the western part of Guilford County, where the school is to be located, heard presentations from school board members – and the local residents had a string of objections to the plans: the roads were too narrow and dangerous for the added traffic; the curriculum plans for the school had been changed; the school would alter the essential nature of the area, and the schedule presented to the public suggested that it may not even serve students until as late as 2027.
Following that meeting, a group of irate county residents came and spoke at the Guilford County commissioners meeting, as speakers from the floor, and the commissioners heard their concerns. A few days later, the Guilford County commissioners met in a formal joint committee meeting with school board members and had one key message for the school leaders: Start communicating much better with local residents who are being affected by school board projects.
The commissioners pointed out to school leaders that there were $2 billion in school construction and repair projects on the way, so the communication problem needed to be addressed early or there would be a couple of decades of combative meetings with the public.
Commissioners also told school board members and school officials that the strategies the commissioners had just been shown for mitigating issues seemed well thought out and thus would have likely quelled the nerves of some of the concerned citizens had they been communicated well at the first meeting between the schools and community residents.
The commissioners got their wish.
Soon after the joint committee discussion, a new community meeting to discuss the K-8 Katherine Johnson School was announced. It will take place on Thursday, May 4 at Colfax Elementary School.
Interestingly, that’s the exact date and time when the Guilford County Commissioners hold their next meeting – so, the commissioners should be spared some complaints from angry parents at least this week.
Another issue regarding the school is the price of the land that has been negotiated. Land in the area is $40,000 – $45,000 per acre. The more land that is purchased, usually the lower the price per acre. On reliable information, the current negotiated price for the land at Boylston Rd and S. Bunker Hill Rd is $90,000 – $100,00 per acre. Attorneys involved in the negotiations, the commercial real estate broker and others are refusing to divulge the amount. If the negotiated figures as stated are anywhere near correct, the taxpayers of Guilford County are being ripped off, and whoever has been involved in the negotiations should be fired or resign. Government hides behind privacy for the sellers until after the purchase. If the land is overpriced and the land is purchased at the overpriced amount, there is no recourse by the taxpayers. Tell the Guilford County taxpayers the truth. It is taxpayer money, not county commissioners’, school board members’, nor the school board’s lawyer’s money. Government does not have the authority to blatantly and without regard waste taxpayer money to the enrichment of a LLC property owner. Build the school next to Colfax School. If more land is needed to do so, there is land next to Colfax School for sale that is much, much cheaper than the land at Boylston and Bunker Hill. No major road changes and the new school can share the playground facilities at Colfax. The owner of the land at Boylston will continue to pay property tax, which benefits all of us.
Are they handing out bottles of personal lubricant at the door? The citizens aren’t stupid. You can throw a rock to Colfax Elementary School from this proposed site. The County already owns that and the roads have been expanded to handle much more volume than the proposed site. Wouldn’t common sense dictate that you expand the existing school rather than build a new one? Yes, you would need to do away with the ball fields. That’s a much more suitable use for the new site anyway. Your school board needs an education. Oh, yeah, we knew that already. Most of them belong in jail after that last board appointment.
GCS has more explaining than they could ever do at this meeting! This whole situation has been covered with secrecy and LIES… They have come steamrolling into Colfax , thinking “no one” would notice their deceiving tactics and lies and get what they want ! NO !! Boylston and Bunkerhill Road residents don’t want the school in our country neighborhood! Colfax elementary is 2 Miles away … with land surrounding it to improve or even build larger building. The infrastructure is already there! But that makes sense doesn’t it ? GCS is squandering $ that Guilford County taxpayer have given them . They have a poor tract record with maintenance and handling of schools!
They reported a DOT traffic analysis for this proposed site…. When in fact DOT personal when contacted know nothing about the project ????
Something smells really fishy about this whole situation!!!! Including a “closed” session about this project .
In beginning said school was a STEM , then corrected themselves saying no it wouldn’t cause site too small , now backtracking and saying…ok we will fit it somehow …
GCS you should be ashamed of your business tactics and deception of the taxpayers!
This site is a horrible idea for a school, it’s unsafe. The traffic is horrendous on a 2 lane rural road with blind spots, hills and a hairpin curve.
Why would GCS want this site ??? Is more going on here than we can imagine ???? Of 14 possible sites & they chose this ???
Wake up GUILFORD COUNTY !!! GCS are corrupt !!
The purchase price of the land is very important because the money to purchase is taxpayer money. If Guilford County Board of Education is overpaying for the land especially when there are less expensive alternative locations, then this action calls for a written complaint to the NC Attorney General before purchase is made. The complaint would be directed against the entire Board members but specifically directed at Denna Hayes since she is the chairman. The complaint would include a request to place a moratorium on the land purchase until the complaint has been resolved.
There is more to the story of the choice of the location of this land purchase. Because government is so sneaky and, in this case, the Board along with their lawyer(s) work to withhold information, the secret innerworkings of the land purchase will never be voluntarily revealed. That is why the Board will not reveal the negotiated purchase price of the land before purchase. All Guilford County taxpayers have a right to know because this affects all taxpayers not just the ones living around the school’s proposed location.
Taxpayer money cannot be used to unfairly enrich a person or, in this case, an LLC, especially when there are alternative locations available that are less expensive to the taxpayers.
Another comment about overpaying for the land at Boylston Rd and S Bunker Rd. This land will be purchased with borrowed money. Overpaying for the land means that as long as the burrowed money is being financed, the county will continue to pay interest on the overpriced land meaning that the land will cost a lot more than the initial price.
Please, please PLEASE JUST STOP saying you are going to explain it better like we are morons or children. If you don’t think Colfax knows exactly what’s going on here you are out of your minds. You’d be shocked by what we know. Hey everybody, let’s put a 30+ acre public monstrosity (the size of the Wal-Mart/Sams Club Super Center lot on Wendover) at the end of your driveways (literally). We want to keep it running 24/7 for medical clinics and whatever else we come up with. We’ll be a GREAT next door neighbor. You’ll love it! There will be hundreds of cars + buses blocking you in your homes multiple times a day (P.S. It’s your home that you’ve probably invested everything in, but you don’t matter…like…at all.) You already have tons of accidents at that 90 degree turn that is near the bus entrance to the school? We don’t mind sending buses full of kids around that every day. Ok fine, we will put up a stop sign. I mean secretly we are probably going to tear up these roads and take your yards but we don’t want to say that out loud yet. It will be great for everyone! Well, not for you, but the developers are chomping at the bit for an “in”. What if you need to get out to go to the hospital? We mentioned that you don’t matter right? Oh wait, you aren’t just rolling over for this? Let us nuance it a bit for you at the next meeting. Do you have any clue how stupid this sounds? Stop embarrassing yourselves. Stop harassing Colfax and put this at your own house if you want it so badly.
Relative to an earlier comment, the proposed location is not contiguous to the city of High Point. Therefore, this would be a “spot zone,” if annexed. We were told that it is not a “spot zone” since schools can fit into any location. The plan is to make this a “community school.” A community school is no longer a school in the accepted meaning of a school, which is a place for learning for children between certain age groups. Schools have a designated opening time and a designed closing time. Community schools would be open 24/7 with medical treatment available. So where did this idea of “community schools” originate? Of course, California. The reason: To reimagine the concept of schools. Why: For social equity. And what is social equity: The same outcomes for everyone. The social equity proponents say that it is about fairness. If that were true, why not use the word fairness? Everyone understands fairness just like everyone understands the word cheaters. Fairness is not equal outcomes. Fairness is impartial and just treatment without favoritism. Social equity is unfair on its face. Not everyone is equal in ability. So why would a brilliant student with mathematical skills at graduation time be recognized at the same level as a student that has a difficult time with basic math?
Not only are the residents in the area of the proposed school being lied to about the “school,” so were the voters who voted for the school bonds. If the school bonds had defined the school(s) to be built as “community school(s),” a concept out of California, would the bonds have passed? The bonds were a bait and switch and should be rescinded and put to another vote.
The immediate question is the proposed “community school” location. Taxpayer money cannot be used to enrich a person(s) by paying over appraised value of the land, which is being done, especially since there are viable alternatives. The residents in the area were told the site was selected because the land was cheap. This is not to be believed. If it is so cheap, why not divulge the negotiated price? The proposed location is a “spot zone,” which High Point City Council has said in the past they would no longer practice. A “community school” does not fit the definition of a school. Therefore, the bonds should be annulled and Skip Alston and Deena Hayes can start over.
Guilford County tax payers should open their eyes to realize what is happening right below their noses. GCS is trying to purchase this property for an extraordinary amount of money that comes out of tax payers pockets. This money is lumped within the 2020 bond that was supposed to provide a STEM school for the area, but wait…that does not exist anymore or no wait it will be labs only? And without the STEM campus the project will still cost 18 million more tax payer dollars…because that makes sense. Less of a school for more money. GCS needs to be held accountable for their money habits since we are the ones they get their money from, instead of hiding behind closed doors for private meetings like the liars they are. GCS has picked a poor location that cannot accommodate what they put in the bond and they know it. Citizens have made enough noise that GCS is starting to panic and try to distract us with meetings scheduled at the same time at different locations. There are more citizens in this equation than there are school board members, see you at both meetings GCS.
If the attendance is light, it only reflects that the community had our own meeting last night and is getting organized. I doubt that anything true or new will be presented. It is a bit late in the game to ask for our participation. That should have happened before GCS hired CBRE to locate, and also build a school designed to maximize their profits. It has nothing to do with the needs of this community or the promises made in the 2020 bonds.
Planning and Zoning in High Point stated 2020 That area is low density residential , which includes primarily single family detached dwellings on individual lots. Development densities in these areas shall Not exceed 5 dwellings per acre! Land with open spaces should include passive enjoyment and environment protection.
These lands are NOT intended for development within the 5 year time frame if this adopted land use plan !!!
GCS is using an older document that doesn’t succeed this document. GCS is making up their own rules to steamroll this project in !!!
A school of this size (900 students) will not flow in this area , it is out of place . Yes I’m for schools , just in the appropriate places . Colfax elementary has room for expansion!
You cannot be serious. Government works in the dark. If government were honest, most of what the government is engaged in and proposes would create blowback from the citizenry. Government reveals nothing until there is no time for the citizenry to react. We do not have open government in Greensboro, High Point, Guilford County and, of course, Big Daddy, the federal government.
The proposed school is being built with borrowed money. It is called a bond because bonds are not understood by the electorate, and politicians know it. Therefore, the politicians work hard to convince enough people to vote for the bond that is wrapped in warm and fuzzy words like schools and parks. However, when the school is not the school that is envisioned by the voter and traditionally understood, then the bond was presented to deceive.
Let me say again, bonds are borrowed money not a grant. The money must be repaid with interest. The winners are the people who invest in bonds. Bond investment returns are tax-free to the investor. The losers are the taxpayers. Investors love good quality bonds. The rich get richer at the expense of the taxpayer.
So, no, we were not late to the party. We were not informed that a party was going on.
Well Commissioners, the second impression didn’t go so well either, now did it. Neither will the 3rd or the 10th or the 100th. At last night’’s meeting Dr Oakley took very few questions because she had to go to a ballgame. She ruins people’s lives and then brings the lawyer to help talk over the victims – then rushes out because she doesn’t want to face the ramifications of her poor decisions. The victims are just in her way and she doesn’t want to look at them. She talks about “stretching dollars” – completely laughable while promising 50% less school for 50% more money. Time for Dr Oakley to pack her bags.
Last night a meeting was held at Colfax School regarding the proposed location of a K-8 school at Boylston Rd and S. Bunker Hill Rd. It was the second meeting on the subject because the first was a dud resulting in more questions than answers. The meeting was promoted as a second chance for the school board to explain why and how the proposed location was selected. The meeting was to be held between 5:30-6:30. Is there a collective word for two duds in a row? Some thoughts:
It was to be a meeting between school board members and the residents who would be most affected by the new school. The number of school board members in attendance: ONE, and that was not Deena Hayes.
The meeting was to be held for the benefit of the residents. Since the meeting was scheduled for one hour, it was critical that the residents get their comments heard and questions answered. Whitney Oakley, superintendent of Guilford County Schools, spoke followed by a lawyer who repeated the same information that had been presented at the first meeting. Between the two speakers, over 30 minutes of the 60 minutes of the question-and-answer time was taken up by people who could not adequately explain the choice of the proposed school location at the first attempt. Taking up over half the hour was designed to limit the comment and question time by the residents. When someone in the audience mentioned to the lawyer that the meeting was for the residents not for her to show slides so small that could not be read but also slides that had been presented at the first meeting, the lawyer was undeterred. The superintendent and the lawyer were purposedly running out the clock.
Whitney Oakley is an arrogant, overpaid Karen. She left the meeting precisely at 6:30 to attend a ballgame. It was apparent that she would rather be somewhere else. Who hired this woman?
Whitney Oakley stated that the school would be a STEM school. This was news to the attendees since we had been told that the location was not large enough for a STEM school. When Ms. Oakley was reminded of this, she repeatedly stated that it would be a STEM school. She was too arrogant to entertain any idea that was different from hers. No wonder Guilford County students are performing subpar.
The bond approved in 2020 should be rescinded since Guilford County residents are not getting what voters voted for despite Oakley’s arrogant proclamation to the contrary.