Letters to the Editor

Hello, my name is Corey Driscoll.  I am raising a family in the Easton Valley School District with my wife Kendra, and 2 daughters Kendyl (10th grade), Kenzley (8th grade). I own 2 businesses in the school district, K&K Greenacres Lawncare (18 years) and Downtown Pub (15 years). My wife works locally in the medical field. My family is very active in the community. I have been a volunteer firefighter for the last 20 years and have served on ambulance for around 15 years.  Both of my daughters are very involved in the school.  I am going to ramble on here for a bit and my grammar may not be the best, but I’ll get my point across.

I am here to bring positive attitude back to our school unlike Mr. Richard Betts and his cronies. He is part of the problem in the world we live in today. It seems that he only likes to bring up bad news and a lot of it isn’t even true. Like Mr. Fee being the one that wanted to proceed with the new gym and locker rooms. I am on the building facilities committee and we as members of that committee voted to proceed with taking the project to the school board. It was not Mr. Fee as he was just the facilitator of the meetings and Mr. Betts was even in that meeting when we voted.

I am going to touch on what I call Iowa test of basic skills scores back in my day (Today ISASP).  I truly do care about education in our school and hope everyone does well on these tests. We all know not everyone is a good test taker, including myself. Mr. Betts is so worried about these scores when we all know that there are students that don’t care about these scores the older, they get. I was one of them back in school.  Is that the school’s fault or kids fault when they don’t try. I have asked people older than me and younger and they said the same thing. There weren’t just 2 or 3 people either, I had asked over 25 people.  I had one tell me that they used to have races who could fill in the ovals the fastest. I had a couple that said they tried their best.  Not everyone is going into college. Heck, only 67% of kids graduate college and only 27%-40% of graduates work in jobs directly related to their degree a decade after graduation. There are a lot more kids I feel going into trade schools.  We live in a rural area. Yeah, our high school scores were down a little this year from last year, but Mr. Betts fails to mention that our elementary scores were up this year. Right here is a prime example that he doesn’t ever want to show positives. I also know there are parents that don’t care about how well their kids do on the test.  So is that the school’s fault or parenting issue. So often it seems like parents treat our schools as a daycare instead of a school. It’s time to stand up for our teachers and let them teach and reprimand students as they need to be without being threatened all the time. Not oh my kid wouldn’t do such a thing. Maybe scores would increase some. In all GPA and ACT are the most important scores to get into college. Our last four graduating classes, 77% of them have been on the A, B honor roll list. Have you ever seen where Mr. Betts has sent out congratulations on his Facebook page or in his letter to the editor. No because that would be positive.  Maybe he should worry about what’s going on in the state with what they are trying take away from teachers.  We already have a shortage, if these takeaways go through, we will even have a bigger shortage.

Now onto worrying about property taxes. Mr. Betts is so worried about property taxes going up in the Easton Valley School district, but he doesn’t even own a square inch of property in our district (check out beacon). He has been wasting our tax dollars (thousands) over the last couple of years by bringing up all these codes and different rules that we must send onto our school lawyer. To this day I don’t think they have found anything wrong with the codes. So just think how much money could’ve been put into education instead of a lawyer.  As far as I am concerned, Mr. Betts is presenting himself as a bully because he is not getting his way.  There are people who feel the school board owes him an apology, but I feel he owes our school board and teachers an apology for his bullying. I just ran into a friend the other day that is from Clinton High asking me about a Richard Betts. I filled him in on him and he proceeded to tell me that he was sending out mass emails to their board and ripping on Easton Valley. He continued to tell me that you guys have a problem on your hands. Then to find out Mr. Betts is sending mass emails throughout the whole state. He is even arguing with the high up in the state and questioning their lawyers which is even costing us more taxpayer dollars that could be used for education.  Maybe Mr. Betts should worry more about what’s going on with education in the state on what they are considering taking away from state employees. Heck Mr. Betts even quit midterm of being a mayor (kind of funny to see his picture on Facebook taking oath and didn’t make a term). If he was so good, he should have stuck it out and not be a quitter. What are you teaching kids by quitting.  I’ve gone around and asked a few businesses in town if he ever comes in and supports them and couple other in our district in a different town and none of them have any recollection of him stepping foot in their place. How do you stand behind a guy that doesn’t want to support local businesses when they support the school many times over a school year.

Here are some reasons why we are looking to get a new gym and locker rooms. If we can get a gym that has 2 competition-size courts, it will help alleviate how late kids must be at school for practice. We would also be able to host tournament games. Now for the people out there that don’t think this will help with academics you are wrong. If this goes through there will be the opportunity to change the existing locker rooms into classrooms. If we keep getting the higher numbers in our grade school, we are going to have to either add on over there or bring the sixth grade over to the high school where we can utilize the old locker rooms. There has been discussion about whether the new gym goes through on a vote, they would like to get some better sound and lighting for plays in the old gym. Also, get some better seating possibly. So, all in all this is not just about sports like Mr. Betts always likes to bring up. If you people that continually say sports don’t mean anything and it’s an extra-curricular then that means no extra-curricular at all in our school. I have heard that there are people who want no sports in school. What do you think kids will do then if there is no extra-curricular to do in school. Getting in trouble is just a thought or maybe we lose a ton of families out of our district forcing us to close. Then all the crybabies will be wondering why our property values have decreased so much and, in the end, paying extra property taxes would have been the better choice. We have the oldest facility in our conference. Being a businessperson, it is usually a good thing to keep up with upgrades. If you want to keep throwing patches on it will cost, you more money in the long run. Also, Betts has referred to having to move the water main possibly in the past, he has made assumptions again that it would cost at least $1,000,000. I personally went to the city and talked to them about if they would be able to get a rough estimate for moving a water line and it came in around $150,000 plus design fees. Again, Betts wants to make things sound a lot worse than what they are without finding out.  We would keep the same tax rate of $2.70/1000 if the gym and locker rooms go through on a vote. We are just extending the loan, not upping property taxes.  Also, one reason why our debt per student is higher rate now is we were just a newly combined district just over 10 years ago.  When we do that, you usually must make some upgrades to your facilities.

I would like to discuss the question that has been raised about what happened to the track money that was donated by some families back in the 70’s or 80’s.  I went to the school and asked that question and sure enough they had an answer. Back in 2005 Preston was looking to put in bleachers in the gym and they went and talked to a couple of the families to see if they would be allowed to use that money.  After some of the families discussing with their kids, they decided that it would be fine to put into the athletic booster fund to purchase new bleachers. The CD was worth around $26,000 when they cashed it in. If anyone has any more questions about it please don’t hesitate to ask, I can send you the right directions as I personally know a family that was directly involved with the decision.

In conclusion I just want to let you know that I am 100% for education. Just ask my kids if they don’t make the honor roll, they must pay for their own car insurance. That is just one instance. Like I said before we don’t have to get so wrapped up into the Iowa test of basic skills scores. Nobody is perfect in this world as Mr. Betts makes sound like he is. We all make mistakes that you can learn from. I feel that education and extra-curricular activities go hand in hand. From school homework to quiz bowl team to plays to sports you learn how to work as a team. Teamwork is one of the biggest words used in business to be successful.  There are very few single teams. Even in wrestling it’s your individuals for each weight class but you still end up with a team score. You are going to win some and lose some. If you would like to learn more about what will possibly be going on the ballot about a new gym and locker room, please reach out to me.  This is just not about sports, it is also about education. We have several positive members on this committee that also would be more than happy to answer any questions.  I hope more people jump on board and stand up for our School. If you are able, please go to school board meetings or write letters. In the end we are the Easton Valley River Hawks and as an old friend said, LET’S DO THIS FOR THE KIDS.

Chris Fee’s Pattern: Ignore the Law, Skip the Rules, Spend the Money

The Easton Valley School Board and Superintendent Chris Fee continue to demonstrate a troubling pattern of mismanagement, lack of transparency, and disregard for both state law and community trust.

Failure to Comply with State Law (HF299)
House File 299 (2025) requires Iowa school districts to clearly inform parents, guardians, and students of their rights to Medical and Religious Immunization Exemptions, and to include this information in communications, registration documents, public health announcements, and school websites. Easton Valley has not done this. By failing to comply with HF299, the district is not only breaking the law but also denying parents critical information they are entitled to under Iowa code.

Facilities Committee Sidestepped
In June 2025, Superintendent Fee stated he would convene the Facilities Committee to confirm financing plans and determine next steps for phase one of the district’s master facility plan. By the July 2025 meeting, Fee admitted that he and the committee chair decided there was “no need” to meet, reducing the committee’s role to simply being informed about a petition process for a funding measure for the 7 million gym project. This bypassed the committee’s intended role of researching unresolved cost issues—such as relocating a water main—before any project moved forward. Sidestepping this process strips away due diligence and public accountability, leaving the community with less information before being asked to sign a petition for millions in new spending.

Greenhouse Project Mismanagement
The board and administration failed to perform even the most basic due diligence when awarding the greenhouse contract. The company selected openly stated during a public update (July Board Mtg 2025) that they “don’t build greenhouses,” had never taken on such a project, and primarily construct metal buildings. This lack of relevant experience should have been a dealbreaker. Instead, the bid was accepted without verification, leading to predictable delays, costly rework, and a project timeline now stretching to a full year. This was entirely avoidable with proper vetting.
When academic performance is slipping, as evidenced by state test score declines, the focus should be on core education and legal compliance—not mismanaged construction projects, bypassed committees, and unlawful omissions.

Call to Action
Before signing any petition to put new debt on the ballot—especially for non-essential projects—taxpayers should demand that Chris Fee and the board:
·   Provide full transparency on all project costs and timelines.
·   Restore the Facilities Committee to its intended role.
·   Immediately comply with HF299 by informing all parents of their exemption rights.

Easton Valley families and taxpayers deserve competent, lawful, and transparent leadership—not another rushed push for millions in spending without answers.

Richard Betts (Preston, IA)