To the Editor:
Get the school system to give us some FACTS! The school board made it clear they want out of the pool business. It is perfectly clear to me that they have no intention of opening this year, no matter what we do!
Please help me clarify, because I am really confused!
1) You stated “on the record” you have no idea how many kids visited the pool each day, due to inaccurate record keeping. Then how did you justify the number of lifeguards you kept on staff each day? Let alone how many visitors we have for our “home” meets. You advertised for the first time last year. If it is true you don’t have an accurate head count, then you will never know if it worked or not!
2) You won’t allow us to run the pool unless we are “employed by the school” yet workers by the bus load help out our OTHER sports teams.This confuses me, as I see many “assistants” and coaches (who are not certified teachers) on the field with my kids, but you won’t allow RED CROSS certified First Responders to “go to the aid” of our children’s health and mental well-being?
3) I really am baffled why we spend school funds on ANY health education when you are PROMOTING an unhealthy lifestyle with junk food breakfast and lunch, taking away playgrounds and Jr Hi recess activity and NOW taking away swimming as an option! Actions speak so much louder than words, as any parent knows. When we tell a kid to eat healthy and then feed them tons of sugar and carbs, what is that telling them? When we say, go get exercise and then yell at them for riding bikes and skateboards in safe places or close the pool, just what is that telling them? Actually, this kind of “double-talk” is a fairly good example of how kids grow up to have schizoid-type characteristics. In order for a child to succeed in life, they need clear, concise directives that are PROVEN out with adult examples and lots of positive reinforcement. Are we doing that for our kids, or are we expecting them to become automotrons, simply moving through school, getting good grades on empty calories and inactivity?
4) You state you demand $30,000 to open the pool, yet board members state they won’t allow us to open even then. Why in the world would we pay you this amount as it cannot be justified nor balanced against any bookkeeping that states there are any funds coming INTO the pool through memberships or sponsorships, let alone adequate justification for the number of lifeguards you supposedly left on staff out there while no kids were signed in to swim? Your own staff member admits to spending over 70 man hours installing numerous floor tiles! Your treasurer looked completely surprised when the subject of “pool memberships” even arose! Do you really expect us to feel that this is a “justifiable” number when your own treasurer can’t justify her facts?
5) Where are the records of funds coming into the “013” account you claim really “runs” the pool? The CWW wrote a check each year to the “POOL FUND” as each student received a “membership” to the Vet’s pool. Your accountant states “on the record” she has “no knowledge of this.” We are truly baffled by this lack of a high standard of book keeping.
So, let me get this straight: You want tax payers to believe no money came into the running of the pool, yet $30,000 was spent on simply the operations of the pool? I find this hard to swallow. Will taxpayers cough up a levy increase when you can’t account for funds coming into the school for daily operations of the pool? It certainly raises more questions on the accounting practices of Carrollton Village Schools.
Kim Podratz
President
SOAP
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