THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018
“Upgrading Education = Helping Out My BFF”
We are now hearing more disturbing things about the Forest Hills building project.
Board president Jim Frooman’s law firm represents the construction company originally hired by the school district to run the project. Actually, to overrun them “as a result of an approximate 20% increase in construction costs since the bond was passed.” They got fired. Incredibly, we find now they’re not. Hey, you’re my BFF. No problem. You get the job. We got your back.
Normal people can’t make this stuff up. They sure are slow to get it when it happens. In defense of normal people, we suspect this could be because much has been hidden illegally in what has become the Forest Hills “executive session” bunker.
The school district is helping us uncover the mess. In the latest Forest Hills propaganda piece sent out to local residents, we find an article “Upgrading Education.”
In that article we see pictures of classrooms supposedly brought into the 21st century with our over-taxed dollars. Not. The 1950’s bones the buildings started with still dominate. Basically, the Cold War bomb shelter look with no or few windows. Upgrades my ass. Where the hell did all that money go?
What we also see in the pictures reflects the bunker mentality that created those classrooms. And the school board’s mentality today. Rightfully so. What they have done and are doing with no oversight with their “renovate to new” school pseudo-upgrading project feels criminal. Go to the mattresses school board so you don’t have to face “Lucy, you have got some splainin’ to do.”
Superintendent Scott Prebles is carefully left out of the article despite having perpetrated the construction debacle initiated by disgraced former superintendent Dallas Jackson. Jackson had brought in his BFF architect to propose, plan, and sell to voters a project that went against an independent state building survey that clearly said renovation was a bad idea. How right the agency was. Did Jackson and Prebles also insure that Frooman’s construction company connection was made? Was the bidding process rigged?
Both Jackson and Prebles are BFFs of school board members Jim Frooman and Randy Smith. So much for qualifications and objective candidate searches. We remind our readers that Jackson received an undeservedly generous termination package from these guys.
The district writes to residents that it “has overcome obstacles by transferring project ownership to the bonding company, Travelers Insurance, which introduced Vertex Engineering to oversee the project.” Yet, “These companies maintain a relationship with Performance Construction, original contractor, because ‘Performance has the institutional knowledge and the background on the project.’” As we reacted before, obstacle my ass. Got your back, BFF!
Can’t let our BFF’s down can we? Have to keep them involved even though they have been fired for non-performance. And now we have an overseer without “institutional knowledge.” The school district seems to want to convince us this all is a good thing.
Where is this going to end? When is someone going to call out these guys? Where’s the investigation, the audit, something, anything?
Instead, we spend countless hours of time attending pompous public meetings, writing and reading endless social media posts, arguing indignantly amongst ourselves. Over whose feelings might be offended today by a school mascot in existence for 80 years.
Upgrading education, my ass!
