Here is a letter I received on the MCAT program, and the administration's plan to open the MCAT.
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I have a very simple question… WHY? Why would you take one of our districts most prestigious programs and attempt to prohibit any further participation from students within our own district? How many students and parents have there been over the years who have been very disappointed that they have not had the opportunity for participation in this program because of limited space, or because of the criteria used to determine acceptance? What would it take to allow for more students within the LPS district to attend this program?... The lowering of the criteria by a few points? Or maybe just taking students from the top of the list of those who did not meet that criteria to enable them to fill in the available seats?

This district risks further alienation from LPS students & parents who have tried very hard to gain acceptance in this program. What would you think if your child was not accepted to this program, only to see students from outside of LPS partake in what should available to our own students first. I ask you to seriously re-evaluate any attempts at accepting students from outside of our own district, and make every attempt at accommodating LPS students first. Are we trying to attract & retain students to LPS, or give them reasons to leave?

Furthermore - I would like to know what process has been used, and what criteria and data has been collected to determine why this administration feels it is necessary to exclude LPS students from further participation in the MACAT program.

Letter from a concerned parent

The June 23rd committee of the whole meeting generated a lot of emails. Here is one on how we choose an auditor.


I noted on the attachment to the agenda that the recommendations highly favor the current firm of Plante & Moran. It is also noted that Plante & Moran have been the district auditors since 1995. It is time to set aside ratings & preferences and look at reality. Any firm that has been doing the same process at the same location with the same clients for over 12 years will often suffer from complacency, and quite possibly errors & oversight. I do not need to mention the mistakes Plante & Moran has made in other districts where they clearly missed millions in embezzlement or the outstanding errors in accounting procedures. Those were districts that Plante & Moran were also already in a “comfort zone” with, much like LPS.

It is time, after 12 years, to place a new set of eyes on the audit process. Lets not let the “goodies & benefits” that Plante & Moran offers, or the camaraderie that district has long had with them, nor even the difference in price or ratings make the choice as a choice so obvious that we are missing the bigger picture. Now is the time to make a change to ensure complacency or oversight has not occurred in the past, and if so, will not occur in the future. We need to ensure accountability & accuracy in our school finances for the sake of all of our students, staff, and the entire LPS community.

As board members, your continued due diligence on behalf of the LPS community is necessary more now than ever before. The economic future does not appear to be returning to anything resembling the previous decade anytime soon, and even then we must protect for a huge reduction in economic status. Every penny counts today, and for tomorrow.

An interesting piece of the LPS budget

Here are a few choice pieces of our budget. You can see that the cost of the energy management program exceeds 100k, before any of their fees are paid. Were is the savings?

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