3 months ago
Friday, March 20, 2009
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- Chief Highknocker
- You aren't local until you have at least three generations in the cemetery.
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37 comments:
I have heard that Ken Bates spent $15,000 of taxpayer money to have the school featured on this television show. That figure has not yet been verified so please understand this is only what I have heard.
If this is in fact true, then I would like to know exactly the course of events that led to this transaction. Who authorized this expenditure? Mr. Bates, perhaps you could answer me. Why would you spend $15,000 to promote the school during these hard financial times? I understand this project did not begin last month, yet with the school needing major repairs, teachers and aides being let go and families, schools and businesses tightening their belts all across this country would you spend this exorbitant amount of money on such a superfluous undertaking?
If the school was not being so poorly run, Green Lake would not be in danger of losing their schools to consolidation. Your reputation now precedes you, Mr. Bates, and until you leave your position here in Green Lake, our school is doomed to fail. Please take little e with you. We've had enough of both of you.
yes the school did pay for half of it but you are a little late for the complaint.
Yes, the $15,000 cost is true. I've read it in the newspaper.
The total cost was $30K. The chamber and school split the cost.
Yes...come to the Thrasher Opera House for your "free" showing of the commercial paid for with your tax dollars. Kudos again to Ken Bates for his fiscally irresponsible use of someone elses money.
What the heck is Bates doing with the Chamber of Commerce; the Rotary; the Caestecker Library board; the GLA; the GLO; The Cornerstone Project; etc? (If you've been to a school board meeting you'll know how "passionate" Ken is about Cornerstone).
I won't argue the benefits of any of these organizations/causes. However,is there any wonder why the school is in the state it is when Bates seems to be more involved in things unrelated.
Ken, a word of advice...spend more time doing what the taxpayers pay you to do - PLEASE!
People, people! This is not new news. Matter of fact, this very blog had a long thread on this very topic last spring after it was first reported in the Ripon newspaper. Check the archives at the bottom of the page. It's there - "The School And Discover Wisconsin" (May 16, 2008). How quickly you all forget.
yes. This ia very old news and whoever is complaining now really needs to start going to a few meetings once in a while.
people should not sign their real names to this blog. it allows the jackasses who read this to use their opinions against them or make them feel like a horse's ass for having a thought. now they will read this and criticize me but i do not know who they are so now i can't use their ideas to criticize them back but if i had signed my real name they would use my opinion to make fun of me or think bad thoughts of what i said or think lousy ways about me at the greasy spoon when i smoke my cigs and have a private conversation with my buddies but they will see me and think that there is that lady that thinks this way or that way. now i said what i wanted to say and no ones knows who i am when i go to the little corp to have my eggs and bacon and coffee and cigs and talk to the friends and neighbors.
Yes, this may be old news, but people still have a right to know who authorized the school to spend $15,000 on some TV commercial. When did the Board approve this? Who voted which way?
A small but important point: the TV series "Discover Wisconsin" is not produced or aired by Wisconsin Public Television. It is produced by Discover Mediaworks (http://www.discoverwisconsin.com/) and airs on commercial TV stations.
Big deal. You think anyone is going to move to Green Lake because they saw it on TV? Yeah right.
Yes, I would also like to know who specifically voted to spend $15,000 of taxpayer money on this production. Are there school board minutes posted online that we can reference? Was it even voted on or was this another ridiculous waste of money that went unauthorized and undertaken by Ken Bates?
If the Green Lake school had not been cutting personnel and programs, then maybe spending $30,000+ between land and TV promotion wouldn’t be so absurd. Let's hold another referendum!
It is very unfortunate that we cannot terminate Ken Bates contract. At the very least can we require him to take over the job of principal, that should have been written into this contract? The school board members who overlooked this and voted to renew Bates contract should step down, they have truly failed in their responsibilities.
"It is very unfortunate" that the Chief can't post something fun or different on this blog without you people turning it into a head hunt for somebody or a Bitch session about something.
Good grief, enough's enough! Why does this crap have to ruin almost every thread on this blog?
I thought that the Inquisitor was meant for people to express their opinions. Why do you think that people read the blogs, to feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Life is controversy, if you can't handle it then you shouldn't bother reading anything on the internet. Go crawl under a rock and pretend that all is well.
Here’s the reality. Some people on this blog have intelligent comments and legitimate questions/concerns. Others are ignorant grumps who simply have an axe to grind. The important thing is to realize which is which. Just because someone wants to know how the school decided to pay $15,000 for Discover Wisconsin, that doesn’t mean the blogger is inciting a bitch session or a witch hunt. However, when people do have such concerns or questions, they should be posed politely, rather than framed in a way that implies there’s conspiracy afoot.
I am not ignorant or a grump, and what one person might consider "an axe to grind" another person might construe as "trying to get some answers and effect some positive changes in a situation that obviously needs addressing". What one person might consider "a witch hunt" another might construe as " a focused attempt to bring accountability".
Hello People, the screening is at 6:45, doors to the Opera House open at 6:00 for refreshments...
OK fine. Have your "focused attempt to bring accountability." Now here’s an idea. Perhaps you could ask the School Board about the Discover Wisconsin cost at the meeting this Wednesday. Then you'd really force the accountability issue.
That is, if you have the guts.
These things should be a matter of public record. We shouldn't have to beg for information from the school or the school board.
You're right. Go to the meeting tomorrow and ask the Board during Public Comments. Again, that’s assuming you have the guts. Otherwise let’s move on to another topic.
Holy cow...looks there's going to be a throw-down at the school board meeting.
It will be the battle of.....
FOCUSED ATTEMPT AT ACCOUNTABILITY -Versus- IF YOU'VE GOT THE GUTS.
I love it when people challenge others anonymously. It truly gives credibility to them throwing down the gauntlet.
Hail to the chief!! Your blog is great. The First Amendment is alive and well.
Did anything exciting happen at the school board meeting last night? Did anyone have the guts to ask the $15,000 question?
Of course not. Not one word from the public about this. Must be a REALLY big controversy! People would rather complain online rather than taking their questions to the School Board. Are you afraid there might be a logical answer?
aren't the board members suppose to police this kind of thing.
Truthfully, whether or not the $15,000 was spent with school board approval is irrelevant. What a waste of money for a district that is supposedly cash strapped and facing the potential for a referendum to pay for much needed infrastructure repairs.
Total and complete fiscal irresponsibility. Does anybody actually think that this type of "commercial" advertising is going to bring families, and therefore students, to our community? Not sure who was responsible for authorizing the expenditure but somebody needs to be held accountable for such asinine spending. Hopefully everyone in Green Lake enjoys their fifteen minutes of fame...it was paid for with your tax dollars.
I couldn't agree more, Rodney! What on earth were they thinking?
Hey, if you pay me $15,000 I will walk up and down Mill St. with a sandwich board, begging people to move here and send their kids to Green Lake Schools. I will do this at least five times, mostly on weekends and during daylight hours so that people can see me. This will be just as effective as Discover Wisconsin's thinly veneered look at things here in GL.
I still have not seen anyone step up to take accountability for our school system spending $15,000 of taxpayer money on this wasteful idea. How surprising!
You are not intelligent enough to wear a sandwich board for advertisement. Stick to what you do best--piss and moan. Get a life already.
You is right. I ain't intelligent enough to wear a sandwich board and besides I hate wearin' them because I always gets mayonnaise on my bib overalls. Get it - sandwich board and mayo! Now...I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there. Lord, I Apologize To the Starving Pygmies Down There in New Guinea…
I is gonna just sit hear and piss and moan becuz' I is too stupid to know how intelligent Ken Bates was to spend the $15,000 on such a wise promotional item. With more intelligent decisions like this he'll soon be a part of the Obama administration. I'm waiting for Bates and the rest of the gang to start blaming the last school administration for all the problems they've "inherited" over at our fine institute of lake learnin'.
Yes, I figured as much--your sarcastic self-deprecation speaks volumes about who you are and what you stand for.
Find another scapegoat. You and yours are old, old news.
I thought the Discover Wisconsin feature on Green Lake was excellent. The school participating in the cost also makes a lot of sense to me. The best time to promote something is when the market is soft, not when things are booming. If only one student-of-choice switches to our school because of this exposure the investment would be paid off in less than three years. I personally believe people in our community need to "back off" and let the school administration and elected school board members do their job without the constant interruption from a uninformed few.
We'll see how many people are part of this "few" on April 7th.
I had a good laugh when I opened my weekly dose of the GL Repeater and saw Bates and Koeppen accepting their "award". Hmnn...an award purchased for only $30,000 dollars. Now...I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there. Lord, I Apologize To the Starving Pygmies Down There in New Guinea…
Look it up my highly intellectual friend. An award is not bought, it is earned. There is no doubt in my mind why the three representatives from Discover Mediaworks have the biggest smiles of the group...Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching $$$. I'll bet they'd be happy to present as many of these "awards" as they can get printed up.
By the way last anonymous poster on 3/31/09...you seem relatively intelligent (stress relatively). Assuming you have some formal education, were you "awarded" your degree by a diploma mill or did you actually spend time earning it?
Alas, the mind is a terrible thing to waste so please, stop!
I can't wait to see the Academy Awards for best small-town school district waste of money in a non-existent category. We're gonna win for sure!
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