Politics & Government
Farmington School Bond Opponents Challenge District's Response to Mailer
Irving Ginsberg and Sue Burstein Kahn say there are too many unanswered questions in the revised bond proposal.
After Farmington Kids 1st sent out a postcard urging a no vote on the November bond election, Farmington Public Schools officials countered with a "fact versus fiction" document distributed to media and through the district's list serv.
"In my opinion, it was nothing but obfuscation," said Irving Ginsberg, a member of the bond opposition group and long-time district critic.
"Everything in there was sourced," said Sue Burstein Kahn, treasurer of Farmington Kids 1st.
One point of contention centered on a postcard claim that the University of Michigan Power Center spent just $1.5 million on a recent upgrade, while the district is asking for $6 million to upgrade just one high school auditorium.
The Center's operations manager told Supt. Susan Zurvalec that the facility had undergone $2.5 million in upgrades in previous years. But Ginsberg points to a May 16, 2013 Board of Regents memo that reported the Center has had "no major renovations" since its opening in 1971.
The $1.5 million Center renovations would include restroom upgrades, lobby repainting, new lighting, safety upgrades, refurbished seating, and barrier-free restroom and seating platform upgrades, the memo indicates. The $6 million Farmington High auditorium upgrade includes a new fly loft, addition of a drama room, scene shop and other "back of house" improvements, lobby, restroom and entrance upgrades, new seating and acoustic and sound system improvements, according to district information.
College-ready claim
Ginsberg also stands by the postcard's reference to 27.3 percent of FPS seniors being college ready, calling Zurvalec's statement that 95 percent of seniors go on to 4-year colleges, community colleges or technical schools more "obfuscation". Students may be admitted to colleges and still require remedial help, he said.
"Community colleges are not colleges, in the sense of being 'college ready'," he added, noting the same holds true with technical schools.
The accusation of wasteful spending, Ginsberg said, also holds despite the district's clean audits and award-winning finance department.
"The audit has nothing to do with the decisions they've made," Ginsberg said, pointing to the controversial sale of Eagle elementary and the still-pending disposition of four vacant land parcels where schools were demolished.
"They insisted on having a special election (for the failed bond referendum) at a cost of $85,000, even though people asked them to wait," Ginsberg said. "If that's not mismanagement, I don't know what is."
Quick turn-around criticized
Kahn and Ginsberg both cited a lack of detailed information about proposed improvements and the bond's quick turn-around. Kahn said former Supt. Bob Maxfield, after a successful 1997 referendum, cited a number of steps the district took, including "focus groups, surveys and a public hearing", when the district's first request failed.
This time around, she said, officials announced just days after the failed election that they would come back in November. The district did conduct an online survey and spoke with focus groups between Aug. 6 and the Aug. 27 vote to approve the revised bond.
Kahn said she wonders how officials came up with revised dollar amounts so quickly. The bond proposal was reduced by more than $38 million and split into two components.
"Everybody I talk to says, 'We will support a reasonable bond that makes sure we have safe schools, takes care of integral infrastructure needs'," she said. "There's so many unanswered questions for such a huge amount of money."
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
