A Park City School Board member says we are wrong about PC CAPS Building Discussion

We received a comment from a Park City School District Board member on our story School Board Postpones Decision on Professional Studies Building Indefinitely Without Any Discussion?. We had said that we didn’t feel there was discussion regarding the PC CAPS building because the meeting seemed to move from a letter stating that the vote on the building should be postponed; to a motion stating this; to a discussion about capital budgets, building and committees; to a vote on postponing the building.

The school board member took issue with our opinion. She stated that “this post is simply wrong”. She then points to a portion of time after the motion and says “Simple math – that was a 26 minute discussion on this decision”. We are the first to admit we could get something wrong, so we reviewed the video again.

The board member is correct, there is a 26 minute discussion. However, we stand by our opinion. In reviewing the “discussion” it seems to generally be about a Master Planning Committee. I don’t think we heard the words “Professional Studies Building” or “PC CAPS Building” once in this discussion. How is the “thing” that the motion and vote are about not the focus of the discussion?

From the public’s view there was vote for the Professional Studies Building that easily passed in May. We then heard there was going to be another vote to reaffirm the original vote. We then see in the meeting that a letter is read by the Superintendent saying she thinks we should wait on the building until priorities are decided by a committee. We then see a motion being made to do this. We then see a discussion about budgets and the cost of Treasure Mountain. Finally a vote is taken on delaying the building and the motion passes.

What did we expect to see? Perhaps someone explaining why they originally thought we needed the building immediately but now it was OK to hold off. Maybe comments on over crowding and how this building could be used for other things to reduce crowding so they need to go ahead. Perhaps comments on the public outcry against moving so fast, so they agree the board needs to wait. Basically, where was the discussion on why the building should or should not be delayed given its checkered past? It all seemed absent.

In our opinion, there was a leap from “we have to have this building” to “let’s delay this indefinitely” with no explanation to the public. That leaves us wondering if the discussion never happened, whether the Superintendent’s speech was so amazing that it left everyone both immediately agreeing and speechless, or whether the discussion happened somewhere else.

We are left looking at an immaculate conception. All of a sudden out of nowhere comes a baby. It’s here, so we all wonder where it came from. Call us politically perverted, but we want to see the sex.

This is of course our opinion. We are sure other opinions vary. We would recommend watching the video below and forming your own conclusion. You may want to see the superintendent read her letter at about 00:27:30. Then you may want to watch from about 1:28:30 where the motion is made to 1:54:00 where the vote on the building occurs. Do you feel you received an adequate explanation of why the board members who previously voted 4-1 on this are now willing to put it on hold? Do you believe this was the only discussion that took place that convinced four people to change their minds? Perhaps you do and you think we have it completely wrong. Perhaps you are right.

We, however, stand by our original opinion. It just seems strange.

Note: The School Board’s video does not see to work on some mobile phones. It you don’t see a video above, you can try the original link:

http://video.pcschools.us/videos/video/3186/in/my-videos/