5/16/18

Rapid City schools getting the shaft while cops get the cash

One of Rapid City's west side schools is prone to flooding but there's little money to do anything about it because the police department wants a new precinct there.
"We just don't have the money right now," said assistant superintendent Dave Janak Monday night at the regular bimonthly Rapid City Area School Board meeting. In 2016, an outside consultant targeted Meadowbrook Elementary for possible closure, given traffic and environmental concerns. Facilities service manager Kumar Veluswam said when water enters Meadowbrook, either from Rapid Creek rising or a heavy rain, it doesn't leave the property. "We've flooded multiples classrooms in that building," Veluswam said. [Money tight in next Rapid City Area Schools budget ]
So, police unions get the cash while teachers unions get the shaft: how conservative. A third of qualified teaching grads leave South Dakota while the remainder struggle with certification.
The idea of a new police precinct was briefly addressed at the Rapid City Council meeting May 7 when the council considered the city’s government facilities Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) through 2023. The RCPD requested $600,000 in 2023 for the potential cost of purchasing and renovating a building for its new precinct in west Rapid City. [Police chief says second precinct needed for growing Rapid City]
Ashamed of being the only state without at least one gold or silver medal school South Dakota education officials were too embarrassed to even provide permission to US News to publish the state's Advanced Placement results in their rankings.


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