Among them was a letter from Mohonasen schools Superintendent Kathleen Spring, who indicated that a sudden influx of special needs students from the former military housing complex off Duanesburg Road was driving up the district’s budget by an estimated $420,000.
I give her credit for stating the facts in relation to this property. Taxpayers deserve to know if a particular property is draining its resources such as; police, fire and students. Isn't it important to weigh all the facts before making a decision like this? Some may consider it politically uncorrect but I do not. Residents and board members should be made aware of these facts when deciding the creation or fate of a property like this.
I give her credit for stating the facts in relation to this property. Taxpayers deserve to know if a particular property is draining its resources such as; police, fire and students. Isn't it important to weigh all the facts before making a decision like this? Some may consider it politically uncorrect but I do not. Residents and board members should be made aware of these facts when deciding the creation or fate of a property like this.
Hey PG13, obviously you don't have anyone with special needs in your family...so this doesn't have the same affect on you! Well, lucky for you and your family.
The issue of special needs kids or even not special needs kids, should be taken into consideration when deciding on larned's proposed 248 unit apt complex as well.
Special needs or not, it will impact the school systems. This is just one issue that really needs to be taken into consideration when development issues of this magnitude are proposed.
It will be interesting to see what direction this town board goes.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The commission also received a pointed letter from Evan Christou of Tops American Grill at Five Corners. He said the housing area appears to be in a “disappointing state of disrepair” and questioned the safety of the buildings. “The condition of these buildings negatively impacts the value of our properties and does not portray a community which boasts in its motto ‘a nice place to live,’ ” he wrote in the correspondence. This is a joke right. Look around this town the old Curry rd shopping center, cvs on Guilderland ave, Capital Plaza, Grand Union on Carman rd, and the list goes on forever and as far as I can see the apartments don't look any worse than the rest of the town. I guess if you have a special needs child you have to treat them the same way that unwanted puppies get treated so they don't put a drain on the school system but don't cut any of the wasteful spending or lower the teachers benefits or salary to save money.
I give her credit for stating the facts in relation to this property. Taxpayers deserve to know if a particular property is draining its resources such as; police, fire and students. Isn't it important to weigh all the facts before making a decision like this? Some may consider it politically uncorrect but I do not. Residents and board members should be made aware of these facts when deciding the creation or fate of a property like this.
Hey PG13, obviously you don't have anyone with special needs in your family...so this doesn't have the same affect on you! Well, lucky for you and your family.
Obviously, you are making it something it isn't. This isn't about throwing people out of town who have a family member who has a disability. It's about allowing a zoning change which would allow a housing project that has shown to be a drain on our services. The housing is problematic to say the least. All one has to do is look at the calls for service for both fire and police not to mention the school district. Also the fact that the sewer issue is important because any new development in the industrial park is going to need their sewer capacity. And how about the surronding business and residential property owners whose house/business values are decreasing because of this housing project?
And you don't think a school leader has the responsibility to inform the taxpayer and board members the effects this will have on the school budget??? That's just nutz in my mind. I believe it's their responsibility to do so.
You, as a taxpayer, don't feel that a resident or a board member should know about the financial effects a project will have on the budget prior to making the decision of whether to approve of it or not? You're right, I don't have the same opinion as you do. I'm for making smart decisions when knowing all the facts. I couldn't disagree with you any more than I do on this subject. You trying to make it into a discrimination case is a joke.
The commission also received a pointed letter from Evan Christou of Tops American Grill at Five Corners. He said the housing area appears to be in a “disappointing state of disrepair” and questioned the safety of the buildings. “The condition of these buildings negatively impacts the value of our properties and does not portray a community which boasts in its motto ‘a nice place to live,’ ” he wrote in the correspondence. This is a joke right. Look around this town the old Curry rd shopping center, cvs on Guilderland ave, Capital Plaza, Grand Union on Carman rd, and the list goes on forever and as far as I can see the apartments don't look any worse than the rest of the town. I guess if you have a special needs child you have to treat them the same way that unwanted puppies get treated so they don't put a drain on the school system but don't cut any of the wasteful spending or lower the teachers benefits or salary to save money.
You may want to review a previous thread where there are many individuals on this board who were posting on how terrible this housing project was and something needed to be done.
Don't school districts get extra federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to take care of our students that may have a disability?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides federal funding to states and local school districts for expenses incurred in providing federally mandated special education and related services to those disabled children covered by the act. To be eligible to receive federal special education funding, states must provide a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) and guarantee related procedural safeguards for all children with certain disabilities.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) is a broader, less prescriptive federal civil rights statute that covers some disabled children not served under IDEA. States and local school districts must serve eligible disabled children regardless of the cost or severity of the disability, although IDEA requires only that children benefit from an education, not that they receive the best possible instruction.
I read the previous thread on how bad the apartments are but they fit right in with the rest of the town so why discriminate against the apartments. Someone has plans for that property and the apartments stand in the way IMHO.
I agree with Peter - this is is being made into something its not. First community members want to know the information, then they jump on it right away. You can't have your cake and eat it too. I want my kids to go to a school with a high graduation rate. If families keep moving in and out of Mohawk Manor, then that rate will keep dropping. Soon Mohon will be a School in Need of Improvement! For what? Transients moving in and out of district?
So let me get this straight. We give public schools the right to levy taxes against those who live in a district. The resident has NO CHOICE but to pay those taxes, regardless of the quality of service that schools provide, and in return the school district has NO CHOICE but to educate the residents school aged children. I think it is a little immoral maybe even unethical for a public school superintendent to write a letter to a town board in opposition of the zoning change because of the cost incurred by the type of residents that type of housing may attract.
Nikki DiLeva(an educator herself)moved to Rotterdam to provide a better life for her children, who just so happen to attend Mohonasen Schools. It's ironic that the Mohonasen Superintendent is publicly opposing housing that in her opinion would attract the type of children that would be a burden to the district, condemning these children to an education with lower income housing and higher crime(the likes of which Ms. Dileva moved from).
This rant isn't against the zoning, but rather the public school system. That is why we need vouchers, so that people are not condemned to a failing education because of their geographic location. We live in the cast system when it comes to our kid’s educations.
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