By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – July 22, 2021 It never seems to fail when listening to local school district officials talking about their grandiose plans for "helping" the students in their charge become functional in the world without any thought to the dysfunction that currently exists in local education. Massive deferred maintenance projects requiring millions of dollars of taxpayer funding, abysmal results in education, and much needed attention to simple cleanliness in classrooms and schools are just a few of the problems that plague the District. Heaven forbid that any thing remotely related to those issues should grace the agenda at the local school board meetings, no, the latest news is that the Superintendent of Schools, Jeff Harris, is intent on growing his little fiefdom by encroaching on the County's Health and Human Services patch. It is mind blowing that Superintendent Harris has convinced the school board that purchasing a local office building to house social service style aid to the District's "neediest" students is a high priority when other issues go unaddressed. One wonders how Health and Human Services Director, Heather Snow, feels about the District's foray into her domain? Aside from this suspect transition being made at the expense of education, it would seem that the $399,900, or even the $1.4 million dollar fund balance might be better utilized to cover the costs of the deferred maintenance that so recently appeared before the school board. Yet another example of the mixed messaging that has come out of recent school board decisions which generally ignores a failing educational product while focusing on "castle building, expensive administrators, high priced teachers, and now family support centers". What's next, an IMAX theater and vacations for selected "educators" to Japan? The building located at 1200 Marshall Street, formerly the orthopedic practice of Dr. Greg Duncan, is to be purchased and retro fitted for staff and yet to be hired staff which will enable the District to provide "Family Support Services" according to Assistant Superintendent of Business, Jeff Napier. Apparently, Napier is unaware of the tiny fact that recently the County's Family Support Services Building has relocated across the street from Napier's new toy. Nothing like togetherness. The building will be utilized by the district for student healthcare, counseling and making sure the students have a full schedule of classes. The district will then provide referrals to "other agencies or departments" within the district, more social services anyone? Washing facilities for homeless youth and at the bottom of the list…some tutoring. Harris went on to say that the District has budgeted for this extravaganza and has included a number of "new" positions to be hired for the services to be provided as well as an unspecified amount going towards retro fitting the building to meet the technological needs of the undertaking. The "new services and building" will grace our presence in January of 2022. Clearly, Mr. Harris and Mr. Napier do not understand just how tone deaf this new proposal appears in light of the school district's recent discussions and approval of two mechanisms for raiding taxpayer pockets for millions of dollars, once again failing to address the actual travesty of the abysmal state of public education in the County. New buildings and refurbished old ones are not going to make an impact on how badly the District is performing in the classroom. The delivery of proper tools for students to educate themselves and the absence of propaganda and indoctrination in the classroom would be a good start. That may mean a hard look at those that currently are the arbiters of the youth of Del Norte County's educational future. Something that does not seem to matter to current administration nor many of those that occupy positions in local classrooms. As stated in several earlier articles in the Crescent City Times, DNUSD your time is up! Time to either returning to delivering actual education or going away….