When is the new high school going to be built?
“It is the question that I’m asked more than any other,” John Gaiptman told me today.
He’s working on it, responds Gaiptman, who said he understands how important the new school is to New West parents.
“It’s more symbolic than anything else. This is something that since 1997 we have started and I think it becomes a symbol for (an) inability to get it done.”
Gaiptman doesn’t mince words – as I’m learning (and appreciating – it’s nice to finally get prompt answers to simple questions).
“If I’ve run into anything that’s surprised me here, and I shouldn’t be, is that when I say, ‘We are on the right track. We are moving forward,’ I kind of get this look that says ‘I’ve heard it before. Why should I trust you?’”
Gaiptman said the district has to show that it can get it done.
“The issue for me is people see the school and they say ‘Why don’t we have this brand new beautiful school that we’ve been promised?”
Gaiptman joined the district earlier this year as an interim hire. The district is still hiring for the position, but Gaiptman has said he hopes to be hired on permanently with the district. The former Victoria school district superintendent has shaken up the district in the couple of months he’s been at the helm, including providing more access to information.
