Salt in the wound

What value is a public official’s word? OK. Now what should it be? What do we teach our children on the value of our word? When you vote yes or no to a referendum how much value do you place on the school district administration’s word?

If you’re not a sports fan you may have missed this article in the June 29 edition of the Daily Chronicle:

Barbs excited for new facilities in 2011
By JAMES NOKES – sports@daily-chronicle.com
When the new DeKalb High School opens on Dresser Road in the fall of 2011, every athletic team at the school will get to enjoy a significant upgrade.

DeKalb athletic director Dan Jones was like a kid on Christmas morning as he described the blue prints for a new multi-purpose football and soccer stadium, performance gymnasium and – perhaps most importantly – a field house. –FULL STORY–

If you click on and read the full story link you’ll learn of many wonderful things the new multi-purpose football and soccer stadium will provide our students. They do deserve the best.

But if you attended the pre-referendum meetings, especially the one at the Egyptian Theatre and the one at DHS, you’ll remember a clear promise made by District 428 Board President Mike Verbic and then Superintendent Paul Beilfuss: There will be no new football stadium, at least not one built with referendum dollars, at the new high school.

Now, beginning in 2011, DHS will save $375,000 over the next ten years by moving home football games from Huskie Stadium to the new high school. That is a fraction of the almost $2 million that it costs to put artificial turf on the field. That turf will need to be replaced every 8-12 years. The first $2 million is borrowed money (referendum) so with interest charges you can double that.

That’s not all of the costs of a new stadium but not all of those costs are covered with referendum dollars. According to the report, a private group has banded together to try and secure financing for lighting and enough seating.

I supported the referendum. I took the administration for their word. I was pretty confident that if voters approved the referendum that the citizens of DeKalb, Cortland and Malta would raise the money for a football stadium for our community and our student athletes.

So again I ask, and this is not a rhetorical question, what is the value of our word?