View the public comments and noteworthy statements from the 11/3/2022 D158 School Board Meeting below.
1:23 – Mother discusses the LIGHT program and expresses how inappropriate a location Marlowe is for these students. She says they are cleaning rooms and watching movies instead of learning life skills. The students no longer have access to the kitchen and apartment environment that they had at HHS.
1:26 – Mother of four students discusses her daughter’s experience at the LIGHT program at Marlowe and says it is not acceptable to keep hearing that a permanent home for these students is five to 10 years away.
1:29 – Mother reads a statement from the Parent Union stating that so many parents feel that the district has lost its way. How do more solar panels raise reading scores? How do electric buses improve math scores? If there is a budget surplus, why is that money not being used to directly help the education of students in this district when only 33% of students are meeting reading standards?
1:31 – Mother addresses the issue of the open school board seat and begs them to do what is in the best interest of the children. She raises issues about social emotional learning and political agendas being pushed in the school, asking them to please abandon politics and just educate the kids.
1:34 – Mother discusses the sexual predator present at Leggee Elementary in September and gives background on where the man was located in relation to students that day. She says “The more I found out about what goes on in this district and what is hidden from parents, the more I wonder, what else are you hiding?”
1:36 – Mother discusses special needs awareness in the district, the LIGHT situation at Marlowe, and how many improvements need to be made to both LIGHT and the way special-needs issues are being handled in the district.
Later in the meeting, the board discusses going for the maximum tax levy possible, increasing property taxes for everyone in the district:
3:28 – “There’s never been a year for which we have passed along a five percent increase…”
3:33 – “There is no money left on the table due to new construction, due to estimates that you’ve been given…”
An explanation on the tax levy:
They are adding a “balloon” to the levy so they can get a higher tax rate. So, if there is more construction than expected, they can keep the rate higher – even for the new houses. This ensures they are able to tax as high as possible for everyone.
If they didn’t have the balloon, the rates would go lower for everyone because there would have more houses to spread it around to. This plan is to ensure they get all the taxes they can — not what they need based on a budget.