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McCook Gazette

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Editorial

Stimulus funds mean new classrooms for McCook Elementary

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Four and a half years after the new McCook Elementary building, school officials are preparing to add on.

Did the original planners leave something out? Has the population increased so much that more space is needed? Yes, there are more students entering the system, and no, planners did the best they could with the bond money available when the current project was under construction.

But the main reason the project is being undertaken is that money is available through in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding.

Some $336,000 in stimulus money has to be used for special education, so a new developmental learning classroom will be built on the northwest side of the new building. It will have its own entrance, which will alleviate some traffic congestion on the east side of the building at drop-off and pick up times.

It will also leave the current DLC and structured resource classrooms open to be used for some of the larger-than-usual K-3 classes coming up through the system.

An additional $14,000 in stimulus funding earmarked for preschool programs will be used to bring the existing preschool classrooms into compliance with ADA regulations, update a restroom in the classroom that is the original North Ward kindergarten in the south end of the main north-south hallway.

The burgeoning federal deficit is on the top of everyone's mind as we watch the spending bill pass and the health care bill advance, and general spending policies are worthy of debate.

But when generous federal funding is offered, local officials and the taxpayers they represent have little choice but to accept it.

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  • "But when generous federal funding is offered, local officials and the taxpayers they represent have little choice but to accept it. "

    Please excuse my falling off my Christmas 'High,' to address the above, so I will make it short, and go away.

    Those words are, in my opinion, "Welfare Words, of a Lazy Nature." We will be participating in a financial boondoggle that is going to destroy this country, financially, at least.

    I do hope my opinion is not of the minority persuasion. If it is, I can only thank God I do not have to live too many years under the financial misery todays spending blitz is going to cause.

    We seem to have lost sight of what Freedom IS, and what it takes to keep ourselves FREE. An old adage that should have been flushed is: "Don't look a Gift Horse in the mouth, it will bite you."

    Merry Christmas, to one and all. Arley

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Tue, Dec 15, 2009, at 5:29 PM

  • A couple of thoughts on the new addition and the stimulus funding. 1)the city and county will be well advised to not under build if/when they build a safety center and jail. The bond isn't even paid off yet for the renovated elementary and we are already adding on. 2)According to the Obama Administration's own website, Nebraska received $858,235,100 in stimulus funding which created 2,839 jobs amounting to $295,000 per job. I for one would like to apply for one of those jobs. The website also states, however, that Nebraska has a 4th, 14th, 31st, 44th and 48th congressional districts.

    -- Posted by dennis on Wed, Dec 16, 2009, at 2:06 PM
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