Submitted by Jennifer Andrews
The BET’s “unveiling” of facts surrounding OGS has revealed nothing more than a group of elected officials blocking the safety of our school children.
We keep hearing about this magical Independent Estimate that the BET is calling for. We heard about it in March, we heard about it in July. So, the question begs, where is this magical estimate, and why is it taking so long? Have they found someone to do the estimate? Probably not, as the OGS independent estimate request for quotes came in from $40K all the way up to $90K, and the current budget for these estimates is $15K. That is a large discrepancy and is one great example of just how out of touch the BET is with current construction costs.
This is a complete waste of taxpayer money. The reason building committees are put together is to do all of this rigorous research. The building committee members are chosen to find the best resources and best path forward for our community. The OGS building committee has already done all of this. Why the redundancy? If the BET is going to consistently block and question these committees’ hard work, why do we even bother putting them together?
OGS will not have addressed the ADA compliance issues that they agreed to do by 2023 after the complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The $1.5M for flooding and ADA the BET keeps shouting from the rooftops about will NOT bring the school into ADA compliance. This is just a quick Band-Aid for show. In the end it will increase construction costs during the renovation, because whatever is done now, will likely need to come down during the rebuild. This will not protect the district from future litigation due to the lack of FULL ADA compliance.
Fact, OGS enrollment is only increasing every year, despite the “trends” the BET keeps throwing in our faces. Apparently Old Greenwich just isn’t trendy enough!
We have the BOE working together across partisan lines, all in favor of getting these renovations done in a timely manner. These are elected officials we have put our trust in. Why doesn’t the BET have the same trust in these individuals?
The BET is putting a chokehold on our school-aged community and in my opinion, overreaching in their authority.
Respectfully,
Jennifer Andrews