I’ll try to bring everyone up to speed on what is going on. The board received a report on April 13th stating our CEO would be teaching at a semi-local university. He stated his current contract permits the teaching. As I understand it, fellow board member Barb Gunter recalled that the CEO’s contract required board approval for the teaching and asked several times to have this item added to the agenda. This item was requested as an addition to the agenda before the draft was even typed. But our fearless board president once again took a dictatorial attitude and ignored the request. I guess he is unaware that it was not actually a request by Mrs. Gunter, it was the polite way of having something added. Board members do not need permission from anyone to have an item added. Furthermore it is highly unusual for the CEO and CFO to be composing the agenda. In most the districts the boards sets the agenda with input from the two. But in our district we are handed the agenda and expected to approve what’s on it. Any place for board business on the agenda? No. Any place to bring back tabled items? No. Well that’s because it never happens.
But my real concern with this issue is the time spent away from the district by our CEO. We have granted permission for our CEO to attend superintendents’ consortium three days per month with the taxpayer footing the gas bill. Now, the board approved another four days per week, four and a half hrs per day of Cuyahoga Falls School district time teaching at Ashland University. As a taxpayer representing taxpayers, I am not crazy about paying someone 105K per year to work for someone else. Especially with the problems we are facing here. Like the bus garage issues, bussing issues, class size inequities, and the closing of the fiscal year.
Another thing happened that I’d like to touch on. We pay a secretary to our CEO a good bit of money to do her job. So why is a fellow board member proofreading and correcting the CEO’s LEADERS handbook? This isn’t the first "work" done for our employees. Is this proper? I think it would be hard to be unbiased in making decisions on items you have worked on. Should our administration use board members for this type of work? It makes me uncomfortable.
Now let’s talk about the LEADERS handbook. Everything involving the school district is an acronym so get used to it. Basically the LEADERS handbook is the administrative and supervisory employee benefits and compensation plan. For starters free insurance. I think the last people in the United States that still get free insurance. Added bonus- if a spouse works for the district we pay them back up to $1000.00 if they opt for the family plan. They can accumulate up to 325 days of sick time. Only three personal days. There are also many monetary retirement incentives. While a majority of companies have moved to the use it or lose it attitude regarding sick leave accumulation, our district will buy back what is not used. We also give a bonus for not using it. We give a bonus to do what we hired them to do- come to work. Last but not least, the professional improvement leave. This is a provision that allows an administrator to take up to two years leave, get paid the difference in his or her salary from the person hired to replace them, and retain full fringe benefits minus sick leave accumulation. Raise your hand if your benefit package is comparable. City, county, state, and federal government agency workers put your hands down. I bet that leaves no one with their hands up.
See, most of us live pay check to pay check, we pay through the nose for insurance if we have insurance, we hope we get a raise this year but most of us wont. Our employers won’t pay us to work somewhere else, we pay for our continuing education out of our own pockets as well as the gas to get there and back.
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To: All of the kind people who want a healthy community,
We, the people, must ask our leaders to operate in an honest, open, and responsible manner. If we do not then our community uses secrets to bind us all into silence.
Silence becomes consent. And, silence enables.
Thus, a silencer can repeat patterns with a 'positive short term result' for only the silencer.
Meanwhile, the negative results continue to 'add up' for both the short and long term.
There's nothing to tell. Well otherthan this: Our board president asked to go into exec. session and amend the agenda after it was approved which caused some cornfusion (my term for comical confusion). I was unaware of the reason for the session so from my perspective we went in, the board pesident said "I wanted to discuss-" and was cut off by Ms. Gunter who stated "this conversation does not belong in here, it belongs out there" motioning to the board room. We all stood up and left. It had to be a world record for the fastest executive session in recorded history. Discussing public business behind closed doors is a no no. I am distraught that I will never know what was about to be said. I can only assume given the addendum Ms. Gunter requested that it was pertaining to that request. I guess I'll never know for sure.
To CF halfinformed citizen:
The sessions you sppeak of were on a Saturday morning at the same time as wrestleing competion and gymnastics competition in downtown Columbus. In my quest for a parking spot, I got lost. After 45 minutes of wandering aimlessly in the ghetto's of Columbus, I saw 2 men holding hands, looking friendly. So I stopped and they graciously gave me directions back to the convention center. I finally found a meter (which I had to run back to every two hours), walked forrevvverrr, attended all but the first session. There is no signing up for particular sessions, and the sunshine law was not a topic at any of the sessions that weekend. Once again CF Uninformed Citizen is spreading falsehoods instead of doing a little detective work first. The "She" that noted I was signed up for and missed sessions lied to you. "She" also forgot to tell you that while I finished the Saturday sessions the other CF board attendees left early.
And what makes you think that I am the great and powerful Oz and can conjure up the ousting of our CEO? This is the best conspiracy theory yet. Is that the best agenda for me you could come up with? You missed my real agenda. It's really so I can go to meetings in Columbus just for the opportunity to sleep in.
And lastly, of course I was the butt of jokes to you at a teachers workshop. You were in a roomful of people that live off public money. They think it's funny that you live/work? in a community that has someone elected willing to speak up for the guy who pays the bills. (I'm talking the taxpayer here, not the CFO). I can hear it now...
Hahaha, Kellie want's to save money by having you actually pay for your insurance? Like common people do? And have you working in the district on district time or else use your vacation time to work extra jobs? Hahaha
Guess what? I'm not the butt of jokes at gas stations, grocery stores, pet shops, my continuing education classes, coffee shops, factory's or the kids I've volunteered with over the years.
Tiger1 - I personally do not believe that folks in Columbus are really joking about our district, just that cf-uninformedcitizen would like the people of this community to believe that. He (or she) doesn't really sound like they have the best interests of our district at heart and seem to be someone with a vested interest in keeping the general public in the dark. The same goes for jeh.
It's really a shame that someone with ties to our district would try to give legs to such a distasteful, distorted rumor. Whomever jeh and cf_informed_citizen are, they are just as guilty of degrading our district and attempting to lower its public profile as they accuse Kellie of being.
Taxpayer,
The very first thing I said was Ashland University has already signed sealed and delivered the students and I would not vote no at this late date because it would serve no useful purpose. And denying the teaching at this late date would all harm and no good. I agree it does not serve th etaxpayer and I addressed this issue and also stated that I would like to discuss this matter before any decisions are made next year. I was not one of the board members that gave Email or vocal approval before the vote. I assumed the matter would be handled the way it was- at a board meeting. I also took the CEO at his word when he said his contract allowed for it. Hats off to Ms. Gunter for her attempt and success at getting this done right.
Lastly, I have talked to a few people that do teaching "on the side" as some of our other board members did. Many do it on Saturday's or evenings so it doesn't interefere with their jobs. And the best one I heard- If you do it on taxpayer time you use your vacation time rather than having the taxpayer buy it out at the end of the year in addition to this "perk".
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