LETTER:School board members are Upchurch's rubber stamps

To the editor:
Our Board of Education seems to be working on the principles of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reed – shove it down their throats until they like it.
These board members – chair Joyce Fletcher, vicechair Walt Schumm, Larry Dobson, Kevin Woosley and Jennifer Jones – must think they have a mandate from the people because they go unopposed in elections.
I believe it is apathy on the part of the residents of Oldham County, including myself.
Board members appear to rubber stamp everything that Paul Upchurch asks of them whether families of Oldham County want or need it.
Let us look at what the BOE has done for the children and citizens of Oldham County in 2010:
Raised taxes by 3 percent in a down economy ... If gasoline goes to $4 a gallon as some economists have predicted then we’ll really be in trouble.
Oldham County’s school system uses 10 percent of its budget for fuel, will the BOE want to raise our taxes if this goes to 15 or 20% of their budget?
The BOE decided to build the Brownsboro complex. The people in Brownsboro opposed building this complex. Board officials told planning and zoning Dec. 14 they’re building a neighborhood school. What neighborhood?
There aren’t 100 elementary children within two miles of their proposed location for the school. The children for this school will have to be bussed across from the north side of the county. This would give Crestwood four elementary, two middle, and two high schools when the complex is finished. Does the BOE expect a rush to Crestwood, or are they creating one for some developer?
Closing Liberty Elementary. The board originally planned to replace Liberty, and purchased 24 acres next to the current building for that purpose, at a cost of $50,000 an acre in 2008. Now the children will be bussed to La Grange Elementary, Buckner Elementary or the new Brownsboro school. So much for neighborhood schools.
Oldham County’s school system has steadily declined from 2000 until present. Mr. Upchurch pointed out in the November BOE meeting that our high school students averaged 21 on the ACT while the state of Kentucky averaged only 18 on the ACT. Mr. Upchurch was comparing Oldham county schools to a state system that ranks 37 out of 50 states. You could see the BOE nodding in approval.
They looked like bobble head dollies in a car going down a bumpy road.
The 21 on the ACT means that 40 to 50 percent of the students in Oldham County are not ready for college. It takes 21 on the ACT to get into a Kentucky state college. Paul Unchurch received an 11 percent raise in 2009, but I think he should be fired.
Gary Gibson
Pewee Valley