$200 million public high school (1 Viewer)

[johnnycakes]

My special needs kid had a basketball tourney today at Newton North High School. I remember a few years ago there was a big flap in the papers about how much this school cost to build... and services only 1,800 kids per year.

Well, this was a tourney for all special needs kids from all over... teams that go to the special Olympics. In between games my kid and I took a tour of the school... all I can say is in-freakin'-credible. The high point for him was the wood shop. He wants to be a carpenter, and the teacher was in there and gave us a private tour and explained all the different tools they had... all I can say is it would make Norm Abram from the New Yankee Workshop drool.

They could sell tickets to tour this place for $5 each and people would come. Doubt there are many well-funded private schools that have the facilities this place does.

Still, as far as academics and rankings go, etc., they lag behind Lexington High, which doesn't have nearly as nice a facility.

 

[Ilov80s]

I would be happy if the school I worked at had air conditioning.

 

[the moops]

I know a teacher who found a gig there just so his kid could go there.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

The one up the street From me was over 100 million. 167 IIRC.

 

[NutterButter]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

 

[boots11234]

what a waste. I went to a school that was 100 years old and did just fine. MOAR money is needed in EDUCATION!!!

 

[Rustoleum]

Yes. We should publically finance more football stadiums and leave kids in 100 year old buildings riddled with asbestos and obsolete plumbing and electric.

 

[NutterButter]

Yes. We should publically finance more football stadiums and leave kids in 100 year old buildings riddled with asbestos and obsolete plumbing and electric.

I think the hallways with 30 foot high ceilings and a wall of glass as an entrance way might be a little much. I mean, how are kids supposed to learn if they don't have not 1, but 2 theaters.

 

[Rustoleum]

Yes. We should publically finance more football stadiums and leave kids in 100 year old buildings riddled with asbestos and obsolete plumbing and electric.

I think the hallways with 30 foot high ceilings and a wall of glass as an entrance way might be a little much. I mean, how are kids supposed to learn if they don't have not 1, but 2 theaters.

I went to a high school that featured exactly 6 windows, plus a wall of glass at the end of one hallway (the height of late 70's prison chic architecture). I will drown you in the Olympic pool before I let you take the sunlight away from those poor kids (thought they were 50m though, not 25 like it looks I'm the pic, but I digress).

It must be horrifying to have to look across the football fields at the old building.

In all seriousness, the school definitely looks a little over the top, but if the voters had a problem, they could have overturned the school board easily enough and I imagine the cost of construction in Boston and overbuilding a facility you intend to use for probably 50+ years probably adds to the sticker shock.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

So you guys are all supernintendos and architects, right?

 

[Ministry of Pain]

My school is about 50+ years old, doubt it would sell for more than half a million. But I kind of like it in a nostalgic way.

 

[cstu]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

What's the correct amount to spend on the school per student/year?

 

[schlesinj]

I work in municipal finance and my firm is worked on a 150 plus million project for a suburban Philly project. Ultimately it will consolidate 8 elementary schools that were over 50 years old. The expected reduction in operational cost was expect nearly 7 million per year between the expectations of a more efficient school etc.

Generally, most typically school projects these days are between 30-50 million.

 

[Football Menace]

My school is about 50+ years old, doubt it would sell for more than half a million. But I kind of like it in a nostalgic way.

My high school is over 100+ years old, and I like the nostalgia also. But it needs to be updated. My idea would be to keep a lot of the nostalgic components, but gut the rest.

The old Newton North looks like a #######' palace compared to my old high school.

 

[Brony]

My high school was going to be re-constructed for a similar amount cause we found oil under school property. The new design was going great until some ####head complained to the board because a duck they had named Becky died. He'd enjoy a whole bag of #####, that fellow.

 

[((Morpheus))]

I took the SAT at the old Newton North High back in the day - that place was pretty impressive in its own right

 

[Hooper31]

The district I teach in just built a new high school and a new elementary for $22 million total. There were some matching funds and such from the state. Not sure how that works. We have a little over 100 students per class. About 500 in the high school and 700 in the elementary.

The new facilities are amazing. My old building was exactly 100 years old when they tore it down last year. The new welding and metal shop are super cool. We have an "academy" class there each morning. Students from neighboring districts come to our school to be a part of this new welding program that's being taught by journeyman welders and teachers from our local technical college.

 

[Limp Ditka]

I work in municipal finance and my firm is worked on a 150 plus million project for a suburban Philly project. Ultimately it will consolidate 8 elementary schools that were over 50 years old. The expected reduction in operational cost was expect nearly 7 million per year between the expectations of a more efficient school etc.

Generally, most typically school projects these days are between 30-50 million.

Thank goodness you don't work in English.

 

[Hooper31]

Generally, most typically school projects these days are between 30-50 million.

Really? Where does that number come from? I'm asking because it seems high. Our new school cost a small fraction of that, but we do have a neighboring district that just failed to pass an enormous bond ($122 million). Many pointed to our smaller district and its tiny price tag by comparison.

EDIT: I was wrong on the $122 million. Here's a clip from out local paper on the topic:

Ferndale School District's $125 million bond to rebuild its high school, renovate a home for Windward High School and build a maintenance and transportation center received a little more than 31 percent approval. Of 7,592 district residents who voted in the election, only 2,386 were in approval, according to final certified results.

Lynden School District's $46 million bond to rebuild its middle school and Fisher Elementary School was approved by nearly 57 percent of voters, but not enough to meet the 60 percent required to pass a bond. Of 5,968 votes, 3,397 were in favor of the bond.

 

[NutterButter]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

What's the correct amount to spend on the school per student/year?

from the looks of it, i'm pretty sure they could've shaved some millions off that number. but what's a few million when where we're talking about our future.

 

[sublimeone]

This reminds me of the time I had a meeting with a rep for the police union in not so well off suburb of Chicago. We met at the police station they constructed a few years back. To say they sparred no expense would be an understatement. I entered the massive entry way and front lobby, complete with marble flooring, 4 story vaulted ceilings and a vintage, restored police cruiser from maybe the 30's displayed in one corner. After that I headed up to the 4th or 5th floor and walked through 3/4 empty offices that were completely decked out in the nicest office furniture I have ever seen. We headed to the nicest conference room I've ever met in -- it was movie quality. It was decked out with a beautiful 15 foot conference table surrounded by $1000 chairs. There were 2 flat screens, a projector and state of the art teleconferencing equipment. It was better than anything I've ever seen in any corporate setting. It was an amazingly inefficient use of tax dollars.

I see this all the time in the Chicagoland suburbs. The nicest facilities are police stations, public schools, libraries, fire stations and other government facilities. And the taxes, the fees, the tolls, the fines keep going up, up, up!!!

 

[NutterButter]

This reminds me of the time I had a meeting with a rep for the police union in not so well off suburb of Chicago. We met at the police station they constructed a few years back. To say they sparred no expense would be an understatement. I entered the massive entry way and front lobby, complete with marble flooring, 4 story vaulted ceilings and a vintage, restored police cruiser from maybe the 30's displayed in one corner. After that I headed up to the 4th or 5th floor and walked through 3/4 empty offices that were completely decked out in the nicest office furniture I have ever seen. We headed to the nicest conference room I've ever met in -- it was movie quality. It was decked out with a beautiful 15 foot conference table surrounded by $1000 chairs. There were 2 flat screens, a projector and state of the art teleconferencing equipment. It was better than anything I've ever seen in any corporate setting. It was an amazingly inefficient use of tax dollars.

I see this all the time in the Chicagoland suburbs. The nicest facilities are police stations, public schools, libraries, fire stations and other government facilities. And the taxes, the fees, the tolls, the fines keep going up, up, up!!!

The exteriors of some of the firehouses in northern NJ make my house look like a shelter. Apparently vinyl siding is too low brow for them.

 

[the moops]

do any of you complainers actually live in Newton?

 

[fatness]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

It appears from numerous posts in this topics that schools are used much longer than 30 years. Some are mentioning 50 and 100 years. What does that do to the cost?

 

[boots11234]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

It appears from numerous posts in this topics that schools are used much longer than 30 years. Some are mentioning 50 and 100 years. What does that do to the cost?

The new schools don't last as long as the old square brick buildings. I bet 50 years is tops. Though I'm not an architect so I could be wrong

 

[boots11234]

do any of you complainers actually live in Newton?

Can't afford the taxes.

 

[the moops]

do any of you complainers actually live in Newton?

Can't afford the taxes.

so jealousy?

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Jesus, what a waste. Think of all the tanks and missiles we could bought with that money.

 

[Foosball God]

My special needs kid had a basketball tourney today at Newton North High School. I remember a few years ago there was a big flap in the papers about how much this school cost to build... and services only 1,800 kids per year.

Well, this was a tourney for all special needs kids from all over... teams that go to the special Olympics. In between games my kid and I took a tour of the school... all I can say is in-freakin'-credible. The high point for him was the wood shop. He wants to be a carpenter, and the teacher was in there and gave us a private tour and explained all the different tools they had... all I can say is it would make Norm Abram from the New Yankee Workshop drool.

They could sell tickets to tour this place for $5 each and people would come. Doubt there are many well-funded private schools that have the facilities this place does.

Still, as far as academics and rankings go, etc., they lag behind Lexington High, which doesn't have nearly as nice a facility.

I'm becoming pretty jaded with the testing and rankings. It seems like schools these days drive so hard to have kids do well on those tests, I wonder sometimes if it isn't really hurting kids education. All I hear about is the SOL tests coming up and the practice things they have the kids do for the tests and on and on. I think some funding is tied to the numbers as well which just makes it worse imo.

 

[Ilov80s]

Jesus, what a waste. Think of all the tanks and missiles we could bought with that money.

Just today I read we are sending more weapons to Iraq. We just can't afford to spend money on schools anymore.

 

[Hooper31]

Jesus, what a waste. Think of all the tanks and missiles we could bought with that money.

Just today I read we are sending more weapons to Iraq. We just can't afford to spend money on schools anymore.

No problem. We're not actually spending money for the weapons. We're borrowing the money. No sweat. Our kids will pay for it.

 

[boots11234]

do any of you complainers actually live in Newton?

Can't afford the taxes.

so jealousy?

Not at all. I would rather see more responsible use of taxpayers money. Silly me I know.

 

[Ilov80s]

Jesus, what a waste. Think of all the tanks and missiles we could bought with that money.

Just today I read we are sending more weapons to Iraq. We just can't afford to spend money on schools anymore.

No problem. We're not actually spending money for the weapons. We're borrowing the money. No sweat. Our kids will pay for it.

Can't they just borrow more and make our grand kids pay for it?

 

[fatness]

Jesus. Amortize that over 30 years and you're looking at 4k per student/year. That's not including interest on the bond they probably had to issue to pay for that.

It appears from numerous posts in this topics that schools are used much longer than 30 years. Some are mentioning 50 and 100 years. What does that do to the cost?

The new schools don't last as long as the old square brick buildings. I bet 50 years is tops. Though I'm not an architect so I could be wrong

I bet new schools last as long as it takes for someone to appropriate money to build a replacement school. Considering all the people who thing spending on schools is waste of taxpayers money, that's gonna be a lot longer than 30 years.

So what does that do to the projected costs/student mentioned above?