Regarding the water problem at Summit Elementary School and the aftermath. What really has me in a quandary is the money being spent on it.

Superintendent Dale Lumley submitted a letter to resign stating his intention to retire early. The letter was accepted during an emergency board meeting on Feb. 5. The Feb. 14 Butler Eagle reported Lumley and his wife’s health care costs would be covered until he is 65, which is in five years. The district will pay their health care cost up to $190,000 per year. That is $950,000. That’s ludicrous. The article further stated that for budgeting purposes the cost to the district for the health coverage is estimated at $20,000 per year, making that $100,000 for five years. Why? People who retire normally pay for their own health insurance. Why can’t he?

In the March 7 edition Butler Eagle printed an article pertaining to the school board pondering on how to go about finding Lumley’s replacement. The subject of using various search consultant options was brought up. Several consultant proposals were provided and ranged in cost from $6,500 to $26,000.

Here’s the quandary: Why is it that all of this money, and then some, is being spent on this fiasco? At the beginning of every new school year lists are sent home with students from their teachers, including elementary teachers, listing the school supplies, such as tablets, No. 2 pencils, etc., the parents are to buy for their children to use in the classrooms. This is hard for some parents to do since they may be low-income or poverty level and may have more than one child in the household. Lists are also sent home asking the parents to purchase things for the teachers to use in their classrooms. Why aren’t our school taxes being used for the students’ supplies in the classrooms? They used to be! We used to be given a tablet and No. 2 pencil the first day of school and again later on when we needed them.

It’s time for the powers that be to start rethinking about how and where our school taxes should be used. Aren’t our schools for the children and the school taxes to be used for the schools?

Think: How many school supplies could be purchased with the amount of money that is being paid out for Lumley’s health care for the next five years, the consulting fees and whatever else connected with this fiasco?