If you go down this path, and we take the steps we're taking now, it's going to move our chances for a referendum from slim to none. We're going to be stuck in these buildings for probably 10 to 15 years.

The way Greenville is beating our pants off is not with their 2 and 3 percent higher salaries. They are offering new teachers a brand new classroom, while we are offering that new teacher a broken-down portable. Now where would you choose to teach?

The last $17 million the board spent on renovations was in the Easley area, and before that the board spent $14 million in Clemson. The board has access to about $15.3 million now. It makes sense that Liberty and Pickens get a large chunk of that money.

Relative to surrounding school districts our starting pay is lower than most, but the cost of living in Pickens is less too. It's not how much you make, but how much you have in your pocket after you pay all your bills.

That isn't happening now. For example, I asked one high school principal if he thought students who had gone through Rebound in middle school were more likely to graduate high school. He said he didn't even know which students had gone through Rebound.

We still have a school district to run. Building needs remain the top priority, and we must not let this change at the top break our stride on this issue.