Riviera is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. We not only educate the children, we educate and inform the entire community! It is amazing how everyone has come together to defend the teachers and staff of our school. The only regret is the children are learning at such a tender age that they cannot trust some of the adults in charge. What role models! Many parents are very concerned about the present situation and are determined to take whatever action is necessary to take back our school.

Have the methods the Riviera ISD administration used in the planning, analysis and promotion of the recent school bond issue been attempted before?

According to the Runge ISD School Board President, “The board feels as though they were misled by information presented by former Superintendent Ernest Havner.” If you are interested in the full story, you can check out The Karnes Countywide newspaper.

Keep in mind, some of the stories were dated after we mistakenly hired our present superintendent. Surely, our school board was given information regarding his past employment by the consulting firm the district employed to fill the superintendent position. Again, this is where half-truths and not revealing all of the truth gets one in trouble. Just imagine the heartache this community would have avoided if that research firm had done its job. Let this be a wake-up call to all districts. It is a shame that one must now hire private investigators to protect one’s interests.

Why was the public told by the administration many times and even in writing that “the school administration had reviewed and interviewed four different architectural firms, two finance companies, and two project managers over the last 14 months at no cost to the school district.” Obviously the interviews didn’t cost a thing, but the school did pay $5,000 to one firm for some undisclosed service.

The administration’s whole premise for the necessity of a new facility is the old buildings are depleting the maintenance and operations budget.

The $1,243,000 figure the superintendent presented as facility repairs – which was ultimately removed on advice from RISD’s legal counsel – has never been correctly presented to the public. The real total is estimated to be less than $100,000. The next question would naturally be, “Where did they spend the money?”

Here are just a few of the numerous examples demonstrating the current administration’s skewed priorities and lack of management skills. When the community learned serious safety issues discovered in 2008 were still not completely addressed, one of the administration’s excuses was “no one would come when called.”

The administration actually said they could not find a company that wanted to do the work.

According to the administration, they chose to spend more than $67,000 on the repair of the track, more than $60,000 for field lights, more than $30,000 on sports fences, and more than $51,000 on athletic equipment. What are their priorities? To add insult to injury, the administration lumped these expenses, as well as insurance costs, salaries, utilities and supplies into that $1.24 million “facility repair cost” so the community would think we needed to build a new school, when in fact, these have nothing to do with the buildings the administration wants to replace.

The actual repair cost for facilities slated for replacement is much closer to $90,000 than the superintendent’s $1.24 million.

To remind you, while discussing repairing a safety warning system in an open meeting on Jan. 20, 2010, the secondary school principal asked, “Why spend $18,000 on this old school when you could save it and use it for a new school?”

Is that wise leadership? That administrator was then asked if he thought it was acceptable to jeopardize the lives and safety of our children for the several years it would take to build that school.

This is just one of many examples of the administration’s mismanagement that has kept our faculty, staff and children’s lives at risk.

At another bond presentation on March 9, 2010, another electrical safety issue in the cafeteria surfaced and the fact it still existed so recently is another example of blatant disregard for the safety of children, staff and faculty!

Many in the audience could not believe what they had heard and asked for clarification. The superintendent then scrambled to assure everyone the repairs would now be put on its priority repair list.

It seems to me as though the administration is purposefully diverting money from needed repairs in order to further its agenda for a new school.

In its efforts to give the false impression that the school is in dire need of replacement, the administration presented photos at least five times in open meetings concerning the bond issue. The majority of the photos are of the newer buildings and not the older buildings the superintendent wants to demolish. In addition, many of the photos simply showed maintenance neglect.

There are a number of questions the community needs answered truthfully. The Riviera School Improvement Committee is meeting Monday, April 12, 2010, at 7 p.m. at the Riviera Fire Station to discuss the best solutions for our school and community.

As a community, we are stronger than ever and our voice is louder than ever.

Vern Crocker “Riviera Patriot”