Smith Continuing To Support Hite Plan Dr. Lynn Smith, chair of the Lee County Board of Education Facilities Committee, put the ball back into the court of the Board of Commissioners in a statement addressing the current water and mold situation at the school. A final report from the Health Department is targeted for Friday. The Epidemiology Branch of the state public health division has been consulted and is being called in for quantification of environmental or occupational threats to health from mold, mildew, and other environmental factors. (
Click here to learn more about indoor air quality or
here to download a special notice on mold in schools.) No date for conclusion of that study has been given. Dr. Smith said any action plan based on these reports would include these priorities: 1. Clean up of existing mold and mildew 2. D
emolish The Foreign Language building and the Art Annex building and replace with pod classrooms 3. Implementation of the Hite Plan to accomplish Phase II of the renovation plan. The demolitions are currently scheduled for this summer, but some members of the board have discussed moving immediately to begin installation of the "pods" containing additional classrooms based on the final reports. He emphasized, however, ". . .without the support and financial backing of the Lee County Commissioners, we cannot possibly restore Lee County High School to the physical standards that our students, faculty, and citizens expect." It was a quick pass of the ball back to Commissioner Jamie Kelly who told the media this weekend that he supports "renovation of every building on campus, rather than rebuilding the entire campus." (
See previous post) There has been no proposal to rebuild the entire campus, but the so called "Hite Report" has been criticized by some for going beyond the minimum necessary to renovate the campus. The board of commissioners has shown little interest in the contents of the Hite report. Whatever his intentions, Kelly faces a formidable task even with a spot on the finance committee. Its chairman, Robert Reives, is still refusing to have a joint meeting of the finance committees of the two boards. The board of education's finance committee requested such a meeting 140 days ago. That is 12,096,000 seconds or 201,600 minutes or 3360 hours or 20 weeks. Perhaps Reives feels that supporters of the school have yet to wait long enough to appreciate his statement that "Now
you people know how
we felt about W.B. Wicker." The third commissioner on the finance committee, Linda Shook, has never supported any increased funds of any kind for the operation of the schools during her two years on the board and frequently questions the board of education's ability to manage its financial resources. Of course the commissioners are in deep political trouble over their handling of the LCHS issue, and the prospect of a slate of Republican commissioners with good relations with the Board of Education taking control of the commission from Reives may bring both Reives and Commissioner Jerry Lemmond around.
P.S. In the audience at tonight's Board of Education meeting was the county's "expert" who was the project manager for the now discredited "Health and Security Report." Since no one on the board of education gives his report any credibility, it is hard to believe he was there by invitation. Of course when you are paid hourly at the rate of $2000 a week, there is always a good reason one can find to be "on the clock." Meanwhile the unemployment rate is 6.6% (higher than the national average) and the $20,000 paid for 10 weeks work compares to an annual wage of $35,663.
Smith Continuing To Support Hite Plan Dr. Lynn Smith, chair of the Lee County Board of Education Facilities Committee, put the ball back into the court of the Board of Commissioners in a statement addressing the current water and mold situation at the school. A final report from the Health Department is targeted for Friday. The Epidemiology Branch of the state public health division has been consulted and is being called in for quantification of environmental or occupational threats to health from mold, mildew, and other environmental factors. (Click here to learn more about indoor air quality or here to download a special notice on mold in schools.) No date for conclusion of that study has been given. Dr. Smith said any action plan based on these reports would include these priorities: 1. Clean up of existing mold and mildew 2. Demolish The Foreign Language building and the Art Annex building and replace with pod classrooms 3. Implementation of the Hite Plan to accomplish Phase II of the renovation plan. The demolitions are currently scheduled for this summer, but some members of the board have discussed moving immediately to begin installation of the "pods" containing additional classrooms based on the final reports. He emphasized, however, ". . .without the support and financial backing of the Lee County Commissioners, we cannot possibly restore Lee County High School to the physical standards that our students, faculty, and citizens expect." It was a quick pass of the ball back to Commissioner Jamie Kelly who told the media this weekend that he supports "renovation of every building on campus, rather than rebuilding the entire campus." (See previous post) There has been no proposal to rebuild the entire campus, but the so called "Hite Report" has been criticized by some for going beyond the minimum necessary to renovate the campus. The board of commissioners has shown little interest in the contents of the Hite report. Whatever his intentions, Kelly faces a formidable task even with a spot on the finance committee. Its chairman, Robert Reives, is still refusing to have a joint meeting of the finance committees of the two boards. The board of education's finance committee requested such a meeting 140 days ago. That is 12,096,000 seconds or 201,600 minutes or 3360 hours or 20 weeks. Perhaps Reives feels that supporters of the school have yet to wait long enough to appreciate his statement that "Now you people know how we felt about W.B. Wicker." The third commissioner on the finance committee, Linda Shook, has never supported any increased funds of any kind for the operation of the schools during her two years on the board and frequently questions the board of education's ability to manage its financial resources. Of course the commissioners are in deep political trouble over their handling of the LCHS issue, and the prospect of a slate of Republican commissioners with good relations with the Board of Education taking control of the commission from Reives may bring both Reives and Commissioner Jerry Lemmond around. 
P.S. In the audience at tonight's Board of Education meeting was the county's "expert" who was the project manager for the now discredited "Health and Security Report." Since no one on the board of education gives his report any credibility, it is hard to believe he was there by invitation. Of course when you are paid hourly at the rate of $2000 a week, there is always a good reason one can find to be "on the clock." Meanwhile the unemployment rate is 6.6% (higher than the national average) and the $20,000 paid for 10 weeks work compares to an annual wage of $35,663.
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