I appreciate Saugus Union School District board member Katherine Cooper’s response on Aug. 21 to my letter to the editor on Aug. 16. She is correct that The Signal changed the title – I simply said “Saugus Union School District Bond.”
It is interesting that in her opening paragraph she accuses me of misinformation and that she thinks she can decide that I “don’t belong on the Saugus School board.” Sorry, but that is up to the voters to decide, not a current board member or district personnel. I do note the the current superintendent did reach out to me after I filed and said the district is like “Switzerland, and will remain neutral.”
According to two board members and the presentation on July 30, the bond ballot statement was only made available a week or so before the vote. The vote was delayed two days because while they said they worked on this from 2021 to 2022 there was a glaring mistake, and they had to modify it.
Yes, Proposition 39 is quite old and was passed to circumvent Prop. 13. Instead of requiring two-thirds majority it is now 55% for general obligation bonds.
I questioned the amount we would get if we don’t pass the local bond and the $10 billion state bond passes. According to Ms. Cooper we would not be entitled to anything, so in effect if the state bond passes and ours does not, we would get nothing. I simply proposed that we wait to see if the state bond passed before we add up to a 40-year tax with an estimated repayment of $415 million.
When specifically asked for a cost breakdown of the estimated cost for improvement, the answer was there are too many variables and unknowns – so how did they come up with the $187 million in the first place?
As to her false statement that I said board meetings and agendas are not available, what I asked is that there be a link on the home page and that the recorded meeting be available permanently, not just 30 days – why hide the recorded meetings after 30 days? From the website today:
“Online board meeting recordings will be removed after 30 days per Board Bylaw 9324.”
At the meeting on Aug. 1, I specifically asked in person the board and district to archive the recordings the same way they do minutes and agenda, not just 30 days for recordings, not just in an opinion letter.
I think more communication and transparency and common sense will benefit all students, teachers, staff and parents and will actively campaign for this.
Mark White
Saugus
