Last week both local newspapers published articles about flooding problems with District 64 schools (“District 64: Bond issue, tax hike mulled to fund $2.8M flooding fix,” Herald-Advocate, Jan. 26; “Call For School Drainage Repairs,” Journal, Jan. 26). 

According to those articles, Carpenter and Franklin Schools need approximately $2.8 million to remedy flooding.  The H-A reported that the auditorium at Carpenter “is unusable due to the flooding issues” and needs “drastic attention,” while Franklin needs an underground water detention vault and a new storm sewer.

And in case flooding isn’t problem enough, we recently (in November 2010) learned that Carpenter is unsafe because of inadequate heat and no air conditioning.

Are all these pressing needs that must be attended to immediately?  Frankly, we don’t know, although it sure sounds that way.

But what’s suspicious to us is that these problems are the kinds of things that just don’t spring up overnight.  Yet in this case these seem to have…just sprung up overnight.

Back in November we started hearing (in the local newspapers) about the problems with the Carpenter heating system, as well as the complaints about Carpenter having no air conditioning.  But back then there was no mention of flooding – and especially not the kind of flooding that makes an auditorium “unusable.”

But a review of the minutes of the November 15, 2010, District 64 school board meeting discloses comments by Carpenter 1st Grade teacher Lisa Gray and Carpenter parents Brett Parker, Jennifer Gallery and Colleen Straka raised complaints about some of these conditions, although those minutes reflect that only Ms. Gray reported any water issue, which she described not in terms of “flooding” but as “water and mold in the basement.”

In the past we’ve been critical of local government management that downplays or ignores problems until they reach crisis proportions, at which point they become “emergencies.” We question whether that has been allowed to happen here.

But we also wonder why, given all of the additional tax revenues District 64 has taken in since the 2007 tax increase referendum, the District 64 board is talking about a bond issue and a tax increase to cover that $2.8 million cost. 

Where has all that money gone?