Board of Ed Finds $358,890 for Winchester Homes, Inc.

Tight budget? 
Apparently not.


Instead of planting trees on existing public school land the Board of Education is paying a private company (Winchester Homes, Inc.) $358,890 this fiscal year to preserve trees on their land. See memos here and here and here and another $138,528 in 2008 here.  


This is just one more consequence of the overbuilding of public school sites: less trees around schools.

But the Board of Education has lots of land that isn't being used for schools right now. Take a look at the inventory.  And what about the unused Woodwards Road elementary school site (shown in image) that Superintendent Jerry Weast has used for "planting" lots of cell towers? Couldn't the Board  "plant" trees on that site or one of their many other sites instead of paying a private developer for trees? 


Where did the Board of Education "find" $358,890 while at the same time Media Specialists (Librarians) are being cut?
If there is surplus funding in the capital budget it can always be moved to the operating budget, as has been done in the past!