Your vote doesn’t count with new New Braunfels ISD administration

In February of 2018, The NBISD Long Range Facilities Committee made a recommendation, that was approved unanimously by the Board of Trustees, to call a bond election that included the demolition of the old NBHS Ninth Grade Center and the construction of a new elementary school at that site that would replace Seele Elementary and Carl Schurz Elementary.

It was a priority of the Long Range Facilities Committee to provide new facilities for those students in Seele, Carl Schurz and Lamar elementaries. The enrollment capacity of the new campus was to be 850 students, which is comparable to the three newest elementary schools in the district.

After approval by the board of trustees, and prior to the bond election, the district conducted multiple presentations to the community presenting a detailed explanation of what the bond funds would be allocated for. Presentations included three parent/community meetings, multiple civic club presentations, Chamber of Commerce presentations and presentations to the NBISD Ambassadors. There is a power point presentation that was utilized to present the information that is still on the district website. There is also a flier that was produced by the district that details the construction of the elementary school at the old NBHS Ninth Grade Center site.

The voters of NBISD approved the construction of the elementary school on the old Ninth Grade Center site in the 2018 bond by nearly a 70% passing rate. It is obvious from their actions that your vote does not count!

The district is representing that there will be at least $15 million in savings by not building the new elementary school that you voted for. The new elementary school was bid at approximately $28 million. My understanding is that the delay in construction has caused the bid for the new elementary in Legend Point to be $7-$8 million dollars more. Also, the projected cost of renovations to Carl Schurz are between $18-$19 million. Plus whatever the costs to renovate Seele Elementary will be. How do these numbers add up to $15 million in savings?

The new elementary campus was designed to accommodate 850 students. The enrollment at Seele Elementary in the last state report was 296 and the enrollment at Carl Schurz was 353. That is a total of 649. Plans were in place to rezone approximately 200 students from Veramendi to this new campus. These students are ones who commute much further to Veramendi Elementary than they would have the proposed new campus. This would have alleviated overcrowding at Veramendi Elementary by opening up approximately nine classrooms starting this year. But the district believes providing portable classrooms is a better option. For your children? To save money?

Carl Schurz Elementary is 88 years old and Seele Elementary is 73 years old. The district had building surveys conducted by the Texas Association of School Boards which indicated that the buildings were “beyond their useful life.” And the total cost to renovate these buildings will more than likely exceed the cost of that new elementary school. Throwing good money at old buildings does not make sense.

Don’t be deceived by their smoke and mirrors. But most importantly, keep in mind that YOUR VOTE DOES NOT COUNT WITH THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION.