Paying for this major project

I recently read in The Gazette that the District 11 superintendent was planning to spend up to $100 million to modernize and expand Palmer High School. Closing Boulder Street makes sense for the students’ safety. Modernizing the old building and its costs should be put to a cost/benefit analysis. Is there a better plan? I am deeply concerned about how the school district plans to pay for this major project. The superintendent has indicated he plans to issue Certificates of Participation, also known as COPs.

Teaching economics for 40 years and having a father and brother with MBAs from Harvard University who helped educate me in finances, I know that COPs are a very risky financing method. They are a tax-exempt lease financing agreement sold as securities resembling bonds, but not bonds. They are not backed by taxes, but secured as a lease agreement. They can be issued by anyone and do not need accreditation. The risk is with the ability or creditworthiness of the issuer.

It is a way to bypass the voters approval of the financing plan. The added risk is in the potential for changes in the cash flow of the district/issuer, that could impact the lease payments. What is the debt level of the district? How financially sound is it?

Rebuilding Jenkins Middle School will be costly. With President Donald Trump and Elon Musk slashing federal department funding and promising to eliminate the Department of Education, COPs financing has the potential to bankrupt the school district. If that happens, the teachers and the extra support personnel will be the ones left to suffer, as administrators responsible resign, retire and walk away from the financial mess they created. This is an economic no-brainer decision. Loudly tell the superintendent and school board no to certificates of participation!

John Hawk

Colorado Springs

Talk to kids about marijuana

“It’s a bad deal for our community.” That is how Mayor Yemi Mobolade describes recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs. We applaud him as a father and community leader for speaking out about his concerns for the community and his child.

The last time Colorado Springs participated in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, the city’s high school students did better than their neighbors to the north and south when it came to indicators of youth marijuana use. Denver and Pueblo high school students — who are bombarded with the marketing that accompanies stores in their communities — were more likely than Colorado Springs students to have tried marijuana, they had a lower perception of harm, and they reported marijuana was also easier for them to get.

Compounding the problem is the growing body of evidence linking mental health issues, including psychosis and schizophrenia, to high-potency marijuana use. This is a risk especially in the developing brain as these concentrated products proliferate.

The Common Sense Institute released a new report titled, “The Consequences of Drug Decriminalization.” Among its key findings: Data shows a correlation between rising public acceptance of drug use and overdoses.

A critical need is public awareness from parents and trusted adults. Parents should talk to their kids. Research shows that kids who have an adult who cares about them and has clear boundaries about substance use are less likely to use drugs.

Doug Robinson

Colorado Springs

DUI deaths in Colorado

I grew up in Colorado. My family relocated here in 1961. Several years later, I turned 18 years old and was (by law) allowed to drink 3.2 beer. And boy did my college buddies and I made a bold attempt to drink the Adolph Coors Company dry. I look back at that time of my life and label it as “young and stupid.” For some unknown reason, God was watching out for us and I do not recall even so much as a fender bender car accident during that period of my life.

As the years progressed, unfortunately for most of our nation, America’s long-standing and deep-seated morals began to fall by the wayside. Fast forward to early 2000 when “medical marijuana” was legalized. And 12 years later, “recreational marijuana” was made legal. Today, the Gazette’s front-page headline indicates that “DUI Deaths on the Rise in Colorado.”

I also seem to recall reading in a recent past issue of our newspaper that teenagers and young adults are eschewing alcohol (and consuming marijuana instead). What sort of babbling idiot does one have to be to not know and understand that a huge swath of our citizens are consuming marijuana on a daily basis and then are making a bold attempt to function in society. And much of that marijuana use is not for any sort of physical pain but simply for them to get high. While I am quite sure that a good amount of the voting citizens of El Paso County are well-intentioned and pure of heart but this alarming increase in intoxicant use issue will certainly end up with most of those pro-marijuana voters eventually saying “Oh, no! What have we done?”

John Wear

Black Forest

Students becoming productive

Colorado DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) is holding its annual state competition at The Broadmoor hotel. Teams of high school business students present their sales projects. The students are well-dressed. They are polite. They are thoughtful. They are eager to participate.

The Doherty High School team was in the hotel shuttle bus that I drive twice. Two male students helped lift aboard the heavy bags of hotel guests. I praised the female students’ uniform dress suits with an attractive pink bow. I asked their teacher, Charmyn Neumeyer, whether DECA interests more young women than young men.

She said yes. She said that today this is true of all academic opportunities. I said many boys might think it is uncool to dress up and take the challenge of participating in academic opportunities. She replied yes, that is so, but that as young men students do begin to practice the good dress, politeness and teamwork as in DECA club, they begin believing that it is cool.

School District 11 is starting a new era. How about “Hats (and all outer garments) off to education!” “In your seats and prepared at the bell, and Stand to greet the teacher!” “Park cellphones and electronics in your backpack or briefcase for the school day!”

Students love it and respond when enthusiastic adults respect the students to become positive adults. Politeness doesn’t cost a penny.

James Sayler

Colorado Springs