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55V35lM t1_j6ao27f wrote

Reply to comment by Loose-Violinist-1103 in Should Virginia help pay to rebuild Fox Elementary? What happens if lawmakers say 'no'? by CrassostreaVirginica

That was Elkhart Middle on Hull Street that was condemned and the students were combined with Thompson Middle on Forest Hill the following school year after initially going to Clark Springs. Elkhart-Thompson Middle was left vacant when the new River City Middle School was completed. Please understand how RPS’s continued and ongoing mismanagement of it school stock (deferred maintenance and continued use of underutilized schools) has been more significant in recent years than the Dillion rule (thats an excuse at this point - adjust and move forward). The entire reason we’re having this convo is because the system did not maintain their fire alarm systems.

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Loose-Violinist-1103 t1_j6apeqn wrote

The Board voted to demolish Elkhardt Thompson (forest hill Ave) in 2020 because its poor condition is “unfit for use.”

90% of the RPS budget is for desperately needed staff. We have $9.5M in CIP funds in the current draft budget. At that rate of annual investment we’ll make it through all $2B of deferred maintenance in 210 years.

That’s not because of a couple of decades worth of a shitty facilities director who should have been fired a long time ago. That’s because school funding is systemically broken and schools have no way to afford their maintenance or replacement.

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55V35lM t1_j6atf55 wrote

Which is only impacting RPS which spends the most per student in the region? Skepticism seems warranted.

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Loose-Violinist-1103 t1_j6atrx9 wrote

I said this is state wide - most of these schools were build 50 years before our peer in the countries. There’s a $26B statewide need to repair or replace Virginia schools. It’s a current issue in the GA. This isn’t just RPS. Rps is just further in the hole than most. Bristol is rough too.

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Loose-Violinist-1103 t1_j6aqmft wrote

And no - were not here because of fire alarms. That was obviously bad - but it didn’t prevent RFD from getting to fox BEFORE it was in flames. They cleared the building and LEFT.

We’re here because there are some 50 schools in RPS and too many of them (fox included) haven’t been retrofitted for sprinklers because that costs about $40k per school and we don’t have that money.

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55V35lM t1_j6au6n7 wrote

Ahh, the fire alarm, which should have both notified the RFD and indicated where in the building the alarm was triggered but did neither owing known maintenance issues was not the primary contributing cause but it’s the fault of the nonexistent sprinklers - which would have likely failed anyway due to… lack of maintenance.

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Loose-Violinist-1103 t1_j6avruz wrote

Look, blame who you want. I believe the facilities director was negligent. I also believe RPS cannot fix schools with money they don’t have, and cannot raise themselves. Bills to address the systemic problem are making progress at the state level because Rural republicans and urban democrats agree. I won’t be losing sleep because you and I don’t.

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55V35lM t1_j6bttis wrote

Well stated - I just don’t trust the those who would allocate such funds to do so efficiently. RPS’s current budget proposed by the superintendent largely goes to paying non-teachers - not teachers or capital improvements.

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Loose-Violinist-1103 t1_j6cxw7o wrote

I’m not following. Should there be more money going to teachers or more money to CIP? And what non-teachers should RPS cut? Procedurally, yes, the superintendent drafts the first budget. But it’s very much shaped by board mandates made over the last year like collective bargaining ($24M), and a 30-staff virtual school ($3M). Also expenses that feel like luxuries now - school renamings and tuition to specialty schools.

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Freseper t1_j6brp1a wrote

Months before this happened a certain alarm company that was part of this story but no longer exists upgraded the burglar alarm at work. They asked if they could have the remains of the old system because it was still in use in many RPS schools— and basically only there— and the parts were impossible to obtain.

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