If the $1.7 billion bond referendum for Guilford County Schools construction and repair projects doesn’t pass, it won’t be because Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston isn’t trying hard enough.
Alston is doing everything he can to encourage voters to pass the school bond referendum that will be on the ballot in the 2022 primary election currently set for May 17, and this week Alston went on another tour of an aging school with reporters in tow.
His idea, of course, is to highlight all the leaky roofs, moldy basements, broken lockers, loose doors and many other problems found in the most rundown schools. Alston was doing that again on Wednesday, Feb. 16, when he toured Jackson Middle School and met with Principal Katrinka Brown to discuss the need to rebuild the school – one of the school system’s many planned projects if the voters give the county $1.7 billion to hand over to the schools.
Alston – and many other county commissioners – would also like to see voters approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase to help pay for the bonds. That item will also be on the ballot on May 17 along with the bond referendum.
Alston said after viewing the conditions at Jackson middle school that he saw more clear evidence that the school structure was on its last legs.
“It’s an embarrassment,” Alston said of the condition of the school. “It needs to be torn down.”
The commissioners toured the middle school at 2200 Ontario St. in Greensboro at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Alston has been taking a tour of area schools in the worst condition since last fall when the Board of Commissioners gave the final vote for the giant school bond to go on the ballot. Sometimes he’s accompanied by other commissioners as well, though this week he toured solo.
Alston makes it a point at nearly every county commissioners meeting to publicly press for the bonds since, he says, aging schools in the county have been neglected for decades.
He should tie it to dropping mask mandates permanently.
no, No, NO!
They haven’t issued the bonds from the last $300 million yet and already begging to break the bank with this mess. Stop funding the schools until the schools show you they can spend money appropriately.
It’s absurd to see the way they throw money around at unnecessary things and don’t take care of the basics.
May 17th is Tuesday. If want to stop this stuff, vote. If you don’t vote, you have no real right to complain about the result.
Skip if you can sell these bonds I have a very large tract of oceanfront property in Montana I need help with
“Alston makes it a point at nearly every county commissioners meeting to publicly press for the bonds since, he says, aging schools in the county have been neglected for decades.”
And how long has CHAIRMAN SKIP, as his personalized mask says, been on the Guilford County Commission? This can has been kicked down the road so long it’s flat!
Please reread Mr. Hammers editorial and think long and hard before voting for BILLIONS in bonds.
What is his cut if passed?
Skip is ALWAYS selling something or the other. When are they going to spend all the money they’re sitting on?
The thing is that once schools are built they are done with them. There is no maintenance of the facilities and they are left to rot until rebuilt, so this will be a continual issue until there is a superintendent who sees the value in keeping up the repair of buildings. Until the Commissioners and School Board learn to value taxpayer money and use it wisely I will not vote for any bond issues they propose.
Right! Maintenance is necessary to maintain a property, including one that was just built (like a car or house).
Throwing money at schools is just that – waste.
If you want to fund something, and make it sustainable, Nido Qubein is the man to make it happen. Such a valuable resource right here in Guilford County. Instead of following in his footsteps, or bothering to ask him how this or that works, our elected officials trudge along kissing arses & doing the same old mess that has failed us all for the better part of a century. Why would we expect a different result?
BE VERY Careful about what you buying from a snake in the grass.