by Matthew Kapszukiewicz
In 2018-19 the Loveland School District invited me and hundreds of other community and business leaders to provide input into their facility master plan and the “Portrait of a Tiger” to identify the community’s vision for the student experience at Loveland. I truly believe they listened.
The classrooms are overcrowded and desperately need to be modernized to keep up with the type of education required to prepare our students for jobs in the 21st-century workforce. The administration has been straightforward that the cost of regular maintenance of current facilities is outpacing the cost to upgrade or build new. If we don’t build new, we will spend more money keeping old buildings functioning, than we would with new ones!
While my children will be graduated before they see a benefit, Loveland schools can count on my support, because now is the time that we must invest in our community and our schools for everyone’s benefit and ensure a prosperous future.
Common sense says we move forward with the proposal or we will spend more to maintain inadequate facilities, thus wasting money. The availability of land in Loveland also creates urgency to move forward. If we miss this opportunity, we will lose a lot of flexibility and likely make upgrades more costly. We must act now. Of course being prepared to compete in a global economy where artificial intelligence, bots, etc. require students to be agile like we’ve never seen.
Today our school holds classes in hallways and in trailers! This will only get worse if we do not support the ask. We need better space, more flexible space, more cost-effective space to ensure this community prepares the workforce of the future.
Let’s be smart about this and not throw good money after bad. Let’s move forward in a deliberate and intentional way that secures our future and leaves us with options for a very bright future. There is a cost no matter how you vote.
