Buildings, and Raises, and Books? Oh No!

I took a tour of the new bus garage. A lot of rust on the beams but hey- I’m no structural engineer. I imagine rusty beams are common place in big old stinky buildings. I am disappointed that other options are not being considered. The last time I spent half a million dollars on property without looking around, I really regretted it. I liked the idea of going halfsies with Woodridge for a building on Marc Drive. It most likely would have saved both districts’ some money. Bulk purchasing and staff reconfiguration for starters. But I would have settled for looking at other property for just ourselves. But unfortunately the wheels were in motion for the current site well before the board even knew the idea existed. The board was asked for permission to enter negotiations for the amounts 350-500K, with renovations at an additional 150K. Appraisal at that time was stated at 424K. Imagine my surprise when I was informed that our offer of 455K was accepted! ACCEPTED. Of course it’s contingent on inspections (that we are paying for!) and board approval but I would say board approval is a given. It only takes 3 votes. And the renovations estimate has climbed to 190K. I should probably at this point reiterate that I am not opposed to a new warehouse/bus facility. I know it is needed. But so is a capital improvement fund. Would looking around for a couple months and earning a little interest on our money be a bad idea? And what about the textbooks we have put off purchasing for years? Oh- and did I mention the problems with the buildings our kids are in?
I thought the bus garage business would bring the most feedback. Man was I wrong! It seems that administrative pay raises and the new pay scale has raised the ire of the citizenry. So let me ask you this- how many years would you be willing to work for an entity without a raise? Many in Cuyahoga Falls tell me they have went years without a raise and some have even suffered pay cuts. But our CEO insisted that a new pay scale was needed and this new pay scale allowed for the raises, or in some cases freezes, in pay. Is the new pay scale fair and balanced? You tell me. The responsibility factor makes me a little uneasy but it encourages continuing education and professional development. After looking at a local salary study regarding school administrators, Cuyahoga Falls is in line with surrounding districts in almost every position. Strangely enough our most out of line position salary is athletic director. The only position that was in the table of contents in my salary study, but the data page was not in my copy. Oh and the data for this position is curiously missing from the new administrative pay scale as well. Turns out the average salary in this position is about $53,000. We hired in at $63,000. Hmmmmmm.
When is the last time you got a $22,000 raise? Seems that we had 17 applicants for the athletic director position. Out of those 17 we hired one who has no prior experience as AD, has never been a head coach, but like my 7 year-old, has experience playing on a team. I requested to see the resumes of the applicants so I could gain some insight into our CEO’s decision making process. I have not received my public request yet (12 days and counting) but I did get a reply stating it is his decision and it’s a shame I don’t trust him. I asked but was not told until after the fact that the person we hired for the AD position currently makes 41K per year and we hired him at 63K. I can’t help but wonder if we could have hired him or someone else a little cheaper. Why am I expected to approve contracts and the hiring of people I know nothing about? Most boards have a member or two sit in on the interviewing process. BTW this addendum to our agenda came in my Email Monday evening for a Wednesday meeting. I was also told that I should consider it irrelevant that the board presidents’ wife provides childcare for the new hire 5 minutes before I was expected to vote.
If the board must accept the responsibility of these decisions, the board should be a part of them. I would hardly call this a savvy business decision. I was given a day and a half to decide if a man I didn’t know was the best choice for this position. I questioned the thinking behind it and was told that I need to trust the CEO that we pay 105K per year to make these decisions.
So I did. Do I feel betrayed? You bet.
Oh yeah. One last thing to ponder. A fellow board member the other day suggested to me that the board really needs to look into giving our CEO and CFO their due. Just wondering what your feelings are on this.

Ride on the Magic School Bus

So much is happening at once that I’m not sure where to begin. A check for the Bode building and a contract for a new bus garage all in the same breath. Whew! 800K in, 655K out. And that's just to start. All signed, sealed, delivered and awaiting board approval. Yes, I’m sure it will have board approval. Does anyone question that? Now you should understand, something must be done for the warehouse/bus garage in the near future. It is old and I am impressed there are not more parking accidents. But in light of our current financial condition, and issues with our school buildings, I’m not sure this is the best solution. And I do not agree with the comment "best of all this will cost the taxpayer nothing." Taxpayer money built Bode and it was our money that came in from the sale. So tell me taxpayers, is this a wise move or are there other options? I realize our current building is old but I’m not so sure our fire department would "let it burn" if it caught fire. Please pretend this statement was not actually made at our board meeting. There is a home about 15 feet away. Not to mention the fuel storage tanks! I hope the CFFD would at least attempt to squirt some water that way.
It seems we have hired our athletic director for next year.The Director of Schnee Learning Center has snagged the job. I do not know him or our job description for AD so I should say I’m sure he’ll do a fine job. That would be the politically correct thing to say. But since I don’t know him I can only truthfully say that I hope he does a fine job. A moving statement was read at Wednesdays board meeting expressing disappointment in the bypassing of a long time employee, with much experience in the athletic department for this position. To see this same person resign his position as head football coach on the boards’ agenda minutes later was disheartening. I can only say that the Board of Education has no employment powers except the positions of superintendent and treasurer. The superintendent is responsible for the employment of personnel.
Speaking of Schnee, I have been asked by several people to point something out. We continue to hear how successful Schnee Learning Center is. Well Duh. You are letting high school kids go to school for 3 hours a day. Let’s be honest. Is Schnee successful because kids are learning or because a lot of kids with little to no motivation can go to school for only three hours per day? I’m sure that there is a percentage of students at Schnee that are truly benefiting from the services provided. But I know students are clamoring to get into Schnee and I know why. 3 – Hours- Per- Day!! Why? I have been told that this is because some of these children must help support their families. HAH! Puh-lease. Of course children are flocking to Schnee. But is this the clientele we want to attract? Read your Falls News police blotter or Sunday Beacon crime section and let me know.
I’m not so sure that putting low cost parochial schools in our district buildings is such a wise idea either. Do they draw children from our own neighborhoods? I think so. But more importantly, what do you think?
Keep your feedback coming.

Feelin' alright...

It’s been a busy week and a half. I want to apologize to you for taking so long to post. Our last board meeting was fairly uneventful. I was pleased to see CFHS student Holly Shaw was recognized for her outstanding performance in the DECA program. She won herself a $100,000 scholarship. AWESOME!!
I want to congratulate our CEO for taking the initiative to develop a comprehensible administrative pay schedule. It has been long overdue. I think the only changes I would make would be to find some way of recognizing performance. (or the lack there of.) Maybe we can now look at making insurance contributions reasonable and equal across the board. The gravy train is at depot 2006 and it’s time to get off. I hear that most of our property owners make significant contributions to insurance. Why should their tax dollars fund government employees insurance at percentages most of us only dream of?
We have had our audit meetings. It’s CONFIDENTIAL for now, but I promise that as soon as allowable by law I will let you know what they say. I don’t know why the word is always in capitol letters but somehow it seems appropriate, so I will carry on the tradition.
Please continue to Email me with your feedback on these issues. Or leave your comments here on the blog. Either way I want to know what YOU think.