Monday, May 13, 2013

Weber County Forum Question of the Day: Is It Time For An Ogden/Weber School District Merger?

Theoretically, at least, the consolidation of these two districts could save Weber County taxpayers millions of dollars

More interesting over-the-weekend news concerning Ogden School District Superintendent Brad Smith's Adult Education Program "Friday Surprise," wherein Nancy Van Valkenburg expands upon her earlier story on this topic and reports that officials of the Weber County School District, upon learning of the OSD's "decision to eliminate its adult education program Thursday morning," and being asked by the Utah State Office of Education “to assume full responsibilities,” cheerfully and immediately rolled out the welcome mat to the Ogden District's "booted" AEP students, with open arms, more or less:
This noble gesture of course invites the question, folks:  "Is it time for the citizens of Weber County to put the question of a "complete" Weber County School District/Ogden School District merger back on the table?"

WCF readers with long memories will of course recall a 1989 proposal to consolidate these administratively-redundant school districts, a measure which actually appeared on Weber County ballots in November of that year. Weber County voters however then "muffed" the chance to drastically improve these geographically-overlapping districts' inefficient government services redundancy, succumbing instead to the pleas of vested interests within both school districts, who beat the bush "door-to-door," warning of "dropped jobs" and "loss of local (Ogden) school district autonomy."

Perhaps it's time for Weber County lumpencitizens to revisit this issue again, we'll suggest.  Looking at this issue solely from the a "bean counter" point of view, the consolidation of these two districts, and the elimination of the redundancies of the dual tiers of "fat cat" existing school system administrators alone could save Weber County taxpayers millions of dollars:
Throwin' in the Towel?
Additional sodden questions:
  1. Taking into account the OSD's recent "nuclear" attacks on the very foundations of the Ogden School System, is it possible that OSD officials are actually and intentionally operating with a hidden agenda, an agenda designed to once again force Weber County voters' hands on this issue?
  2. Are OSD officials in reality owning up to their managerial malperfomance and gross financial incompetence, and essentially throwing in the towel?
So what do you think, O Gentle Ones?

Would the consolidation of the separate Ogden and Weber School Districts into a single "lean and mean" Ogden/Weber School District "educational machine" be the kind of idea whose time has at long last come?

Don't let the cat get your tongues...

7 comments:

smaatguy said...

Good luck! The administrator's will make sure this will never happen....unless they all keep their jobs and get rid of others that directly support students of course

Danny said...

A merger is a good idea. It would eliminate an entire landfill full of bureaucrats, showing them for the parasites that they are.


The only reason for a separate Ogden and Weber school district is that decades ago Ogden was so rich it wanted it's own district. Those days are gone.


Whether the stupid voters who elect the Ogden School Board each time could pull their heads out and vote for consolidation is another matter. The Ogden School District Office parasites would scream like monkeys. The dumb voters would nod, frown, and obey as always.

blackrulon said...

While consolidating the two districts might be a good idea it will not happen. Lots of administrators in both districts would be redundant and lose jobs. With the money woes allegedy facing the Ogden district Weber would be foolish to take on the additional burden of students from the poorer district.

rudizink said...

I dunno, BR. They'd be acquiring a $9 million high school with genuine gold trim, yes? Even though they might have to absorb OSD's reported $2.7 current debt, that "partnering thingy" would probably still improve their balance sheet, no?

Just axin... ;-)

blackrulon said...

I would guess that before any type of combining the two districts take place the auditors and accountants would pay extreme attention to the financial records. Which might not be good for Smith because the truth about shortcomings would be put out for public viewing. My worry is that Smith, and the ever compliant school board, will give him a very generous severance package.

25yrsoverdue said...

It is 25 yrs overdue, OSD is not the only minority situation anymore, WCSD has a good enrollment of that now, so...to say the fed funds are too great to consolidate is now a mute point...Also if the fee and lunch waviers come into play, the call for consolidation should be more inevitable now than ever before..Again i would say for most it might not be a major layoff or job down size , than a attrition or retire situation for a few yrs to get to the stable number to run a dist this size...Davis co does it with 60k kids ..One dist, Plus i really don't think in this day in age , that we decipher so much between race or culture, if a student needs a wavier it shouldn't be decided upon their heritage...40k are in weber/ogden schools, 20k less than davis...it is time and way overdue, and if we don't get it done, we will have more and more RIF and the Ogden kids will go without a less than their WCSD neighbors...Then what do you do if your a parent in OSD? Move to WCSD where their kids will get the finer things in education and activity....

Juliet said...

I'm a parent of young kids and I recently moved out of Ogden in large part because I did not like where the OSD was heading. We're talking about more than just money. To inherit the mess OSD has become would be beyond foolish for the WSD.

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