Between a Rockwood and a Hard Place

Kudos for people trying to hold their elected officials accountable on the proposed sale of the Rockwood golf course.  But we need to connect the dots a little more.

1.  Why did the District buy the Mallinson property instead of Rockwood for the new western Independence elementary school?

Rockwood was on sale for $575,000 but the District didn't want it at that price.  It was on the short list of possible properties that the District was looking at for the new elementary school.  I'm sure that they wanted it donated and to get it for free.  But they were willing to spend $1,000,000 for the Mallinson property in Sugar Creek.

2.  Wouldn't the Rockwood site have been a better place for an elementary school than the Mallinson property?

The costs just to prepare the Mallinson property are huge.  Does anyone have pictures of the site preparation?  The costs to prepare a Rockwood site would have been minimal - already pretty level and cleared.  If the District was going to split an elementary school into primary (grades K-1-2) and intermediate (grades 3-4-5) schools, it would have made more sense to do that across from Korte - which the District admits is overcrowded with over 700 students.

3.  Why is western Independence treated differently than eastern Independence?

The new elementary school in western Independence will be at capacity on day one - which will necessitate those schools to remain overcrowded and the need to another (costly) school.  The Little Blue Elementary will be built BEYOND capacity and will have empty rooms - we hear?  Oh, maybe someone needs to ask which elementary school will the superintendents' elementary children go to?

4.  Why was there a task force to name the eastern Independence elementary school but there hasn't been one named for the western Independence elementary school? 

5.  How about the idea of the District having its own golf course?  That is not what we need to spend our money on right now.  How much is maintenance going to cost just to water the grass?

There are a lot of questions - and probably a lot of the answers are hidden behind closed doors.