Meandering #10 Why Context Is Important

Okay, it's late and it's the weekend, so this is not huge news, but it makes for a little comic relief.

The P-C tells us the big news: North Liberty will have a new elementary school by fall 2008.

The crowd of about 100 people, including 60 second-graders from Clear Creek Elementary in Oxford, huddled under umbrellas as school board members, North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm and other dignitaries dug their gold shovels into the gravel. "It’s a great day,” school board president Jim Seelman said.--I suppose if you've got a gold shovel, every day is a great day.

“It [North Bend Elementary] will be a nice study tool for our children,” Paula Vincent said. “It’ll be more than just a name.” --I would think one of those gold shovels would be a better study tool (question 1: How do you get a shovel like that?) and I hope, beyond a name, the building will be used for education.

North Liberty councilor Gerry Kuhl said the construction of the new school will bring more economic development to town. “Every dollar that is spent between now and 50 years , every dollar will turn over five times,” he said. “That’s tremendous economic development.”--I am not the strongest person with mathematics, but I would think even that if a dollar turned over once a year, it would turn over at least 50 times in 50 years, but I guess that's why Gerry gets the big bucks (which I presume also turn over).


“We’re not only building a school, but we’re building a future for our children,” she [Paula Vincent] said.--Apparently North Liberty children didn't have a future before North Bend Elementary was funded, sorry Penn and Van Allen kids.