Build Mount Airy Middle and fix the old schools

     Going back to review the meeting between the county commissioners and the school board, Commissioner Doug Howard really did downplay the need to upgrade schools over time (portables are not all that bad; it was good enough for us), questioned the need to get architectural designs when a middle school is a middle school and asserted that you should be able to pull a design off the shelf.
      One size fits all.
     Those were not questions for the school board. He was asserting opinions -- probably opinions he heard at the barber shop or some similar center of wisdom.
     The only question he asked was, "How many kids go to a middle school?"
     He thinks Carroll County has built "very ornate schools."
     His colleague, Richard Rothschild, said there is no need to spend any more money on a school than you would for a business office space or a factory site.
     That comment compelled Steve Guthrie, superintendent, to stop chewing his tongue to say, in all due respect, that you cannot compare the costs of building a school to that of a shell building for business cubicles or similar flex space.
     Not what the boys down at the club want to hear, but it's closer to the truth than the perspectives the commissioners have.
     What is disconcerting is that these commissioners are not asking questions, not seeking information; they are taking their ignorance into the field as the basis for action -or inaction, as the budgets for education are being considered.
     The commissioners questioned the need to fix the roof at one building, and asserted that the maintenance proposals of the board could be pushed back a few years.
     To my chagrin, the previous board pushed those projects off the table about as long as they can be held up. In my opinion, they should have been done sooner. Money is tight, but if you don't take care of what you have, you lose it altogether.
     We have built all the new buildings we will need for awhile, except for Mount Airy Middle School. That needs to be done now, and it's a unique site that needs architectural and engineering expertise, not barbershop expertise.
     And it's time to fix old buildings. When the roof starts leaking, you lose the walls below, and the floors, and the use of the facility.
     Like the old auto maintenance commercial of years ago said, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."
     What you can't do is assume you know everything, do not want to hear otherwise, and put things off until they cost many times what they should.
     That's not frugality; that's false conservatism.