Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – October 6, 2024

The College of the Redwoods says they need money to restore the infrastructure of the school some of which haven’t been tended to in 50 years. Who believes this? Next question; why haven’t repairs to leaky roofs and aging plumbing, gas, electrical and sewer lines been done in 50 years?

Who dropped the ball?

Next paragraph: removing unsafe buildings? What are they going to do? Build new buildings? Which buildings are unsafe? And the big question, why didn’t they insert how much money they’re wanting on this bond? And then, how many years will we be paying for this bond?

I do believe we need training facilities but is College of the Redwoods the place to do this considering how poorly they have taken care of the facilities?

Let’s go down to “Ensuring Responsible Use of Local Funds.”

HA, that’s a laugh! Why? Because they’re going to install an independent citizens’ oversight committee which, as we all know, is just five bobble heads that are “yes men/women” who don’t really take responsibility for our taxpaying dollars. Just look at the City and the County’s promise to fix the roads and tell me how many roads have been fixed in the last 4 years? And that was with Measure S and Measure R money – the 1% sales tax.

Couple more things. “No Measure I funds could be used for salaries….. faculty.” Well, how are they going to pay for the teachers to do the training in nursing, firefighting and public health fields? Then “rebuilding outdated student housing….” I never knew there was student housing. I know I’ve asked this before about all the apartment complexes being built around town, but have never gotten an answer; what do they mean in dollars and cents how much students would have to pay?

To conclude, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a private corporation come in and utilize some of the empty buildings around town to teach students construction trades and healthcare training? Actually, classes could or should be started in high school. We still have umpteen years to repay the $25 million school bond money. Surely, now that the public high school is fixed, they can find teachers or contractors to start the important education of students in the trades because we certainly are not known for our students academic achievements. Ever wonder how many doctors, lawyers or scientists as an example, have been produced out of Del Norte public schools? I do. I’ve seen first hand the product of our public education system. Many cannot write in cursive. Many cannot spell. Their math skills are lacking. Critical thinking is sorely missing.

I would venture to guess that our public school students are more conversant in cell phone usage and drugs (and drug overdoses) than they are interested in excelling academically.

Taxed to death. That’s what this community is known for. They don’t know when to stop. They don’t know how to spend money wisely. They are certainly not known for their honesty. When I talk about “they” I’m referring to our local government bodies including those connected to the College of the Redwoods .

Based on the little information provided in the 4-page BS advertising piece, I won’t be voting in support of this bond.