Wednesday, January 20, 2016

RANDOM THOUGHTS


On Sunday, the 17th I went to the West Bloomfield High School for the UnitedWeWalk.org celebration.  For the uninformed, UnitedWeWalk is a tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. I walked in the minus 15 degree wind chill.  However, I now possess a terrible cold and cough. I tell you my tale of woe only as an explanation as to why I am now wide awake, in the middle of the night. I’m rummaging through some odds and ends concerning the Pontiac School District.  These are items that bother me but not enough to dedicate an entire article about them.


First, I’m looking at “School District of the City of Pontiac, Statement of Net Position” dated June 30, 2015.
Now I am by no stretch of the imagination an accountant, therefore all I can do is add up the numbers on this statement, which should be available on their web site:

Total Liabilities and deferred inflows of resources………………………$130,516.742
Total assets and deferred outflows of resources ………………………..$  45,587,941
The difference…………………………………………………………………………….$  84,928,803


Again, it looks like voodoo economics to me, but then all I have are the numbers.
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Second, there is a picture that has appeared in the newspaper several times over the last year or so and is on most of the Districts literature.  It further demonstrates the ineptitude of the people running the Pontiac School District.  If you look closely at the caption beneath the photo. You have to ask yourself, “Why do they have a picture of a boiler in Almont, a city 40 miles outside of Pontiac?”  OR, and even more disturbing, how in the world does such an obvious mistake go uncorrected for over a year? 
Aging boiler at Almont Elementary School in Pontiac. Photo from Pontiac School District
NOTE:   This looks like every other boiler in the known world &……….. it’s ALCOTT school.

1 comment:

  1. Just hours after I pointed out in the blog that the Pontiac School District Paper (aka the Oakland Press)

    and the District themselves couldn't even properly identify a photograph of an old boiler. To wit: For over a year

    they said it was in the ALMONT school instead of properly saying it was in the ALCOTT school. Well someone

    is reading the blog because in Thursday's school paper this story appears:

    http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20160120/cold-classroom-complaint-resurfaces-in-pontiac-officials-say-classrooms-warmer-Wednesday




    The lesson here is that I've made more improvements to the Pontiac School District buildings than they have in the last 10 years.

    Now, before we heap to much praise on these folks, let me tell you, a conspiracy theory I've heard is that this may not even

    be a picture of the ALCOTT school boiler. I personally don't buy into this theory, however for over a year they got the name

    wrong. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.





    OUR CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER, WE NEED TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!

    Jim Endres for C.A.R.E., Communities Acting for Responsible Education

    http://carepsd.blogspot.com/

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