Did I Miss Anyone?

Why am I so pessimistic? I guess because I’m one of those people that is destined to grow up and be a cranky old lady. It’s my nature to distrust governmental agencies. When you read “real” newspapers (sorry Falls News) you get information about how non-elected administrators are spending our money. Take the Plain Dealer (Monday, January 29, 2007) the other day for instance. They point out that Mr. Sanders may have other favors, I mean reasons, for refinancing. He’s certainly handing out a lot of jobs to his buddies. These are the things taxpayers are tired of. And you can’t vote them out. Favors and grabbing all the taxpayer money you can is the main reason these jobs are sought. Trust me, I grew up in a family that had every extended family member in some sort of government job or another. That or they were a union officer and employee at one auto maker or another so I understand what unions are all about too. Most administrators aren’t in this “for the kids”, and unions aren’t in it for the employees. That’s my opinion anyway. Teachers are at as much of a disadvantage in the current school culture as our kids are. I’m told time and time again that it’s their own union contract that prevents them from teaching methods and curricula that they feel would be successful. Another thing I’m secretly told, but no one wants to say out loud is if they actually had a choice as to joining the union or not, some teachers would not join. But if you want to teach, you’re in. You pay the dues whether you want to or not. Kind of ironic that the union says the teachers are not paid enough, yet force people who don’t want to give up the money for dues to pay. Now let’s talk about administrators, favors and tax money.

The Falls News did do an article this week on the reconfiguration committee meeting. I notice little was said regarding the committee chairs or how this looked to several of us from CF. First let me point out that there are three committee chairs. Two from Silver Lake and one from Cuyahoga Falls. Take note of the ever-present Silver Lake majority. And for the record, nothing from the CF committee chair made it to the recommendation list. Only SL suggestions made it The PFE facilitator was fine with this. But I guess this is where the favors come in to play. The facilitators’ relative recently got a job in the CF school system. But this isn’t supposed to look funny to the taxpayer. After all, it is business as usual. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.
SL chair #1 headed up “reconfiguration; grade level based” SL chair #2 headed up “reconfiguration; neighborhood schools. CF chair headed up “reconfiguration; best practices”. All committees agreed that class sizes directly impacted student achievement- yet one SL chair asked the question “Do class sizes really drive excellence?” I wonder if she would have asked this if her kindergartner was in a class of 28? Besides the fact that she had already said that class sizes do affect achievement. The only research not included in the recommendations was research on best practices. If we aren’t doing this reconfiguration based on best practices why are we wasting our time? There are two things I know for sure about grade level based configuration. #1, it’s the most cost effective way to even out all class room disparities and inequalities. #2, it’s the best way to achieve teacher curriculum collaboration. So when kids hit middle school, they don’t come from six different “backgrounds”. Strangely enough the only cost benefits or achievement benefits mentioned were ones that favored keeping things the same. Did I mention that none of the CF chair best practices made the recommendation list?

A disturbing incident happened when the various tables were told to discuss what would make it to the recommendation list. Four board members were present including myself. Two of us sat back with the audience and kept our respective mouths shut. Two of us participated in the discussions. One of those board members wasn’t even a member of the committee. The board will be expected to vote on these recommendations. I have to ponder if it will be difficult to vote on your own recommendations? And strangely enough it's the same board members that don't want a question about reconfiguration on the community survey. Even I'm smart enough to know that neighborhood schools would overwhelmingly win in a community "vote".

The one point made that I can possibly agree with is that no particular configuration drives achievement. Good! Then we can focus on which configuration is the most cost effective. Because isn’t that what project recovery and the plan for excellence was supposed to be? A way to responsibly spend tax dollars and achieve greatness amongst all students? One of the “Plan for Excellence” district beliefs is “All students can learn” LOL! Let me know when that happens. We’re too busy trying to find new and improved ways to keep things the same. How much do you want to bet me that the push will be to redraw the elementary school boundaries? I’ll bet you a bagel and a cup of coffee. I’ll warn you though. I drink $3.50 cappuccinos. This is a desperate attempt to keep a cash cow open. I guess people would rather continue spending $2000 per pupil extra of our own money on open enrollers. (68% of kindergarten at SL is open enrolled) to justify this neighborhood school. Meanwhile break out your check books for the pay to play fees. And school fees, which by the way I still cannot get a straight answer as to what “school fees” are actually used for. I mean I pay for the gym clothes, I pay for the weekly readers, I pay for the assignment books, I pay for workbooks. So what are the fees for? C’mon all you administrators have my Email address in the handbook. Somebody please give me a valid, non BS answer. Oh and if anybody wants to take me up on that bet, let me know soon. We just got the property tax bill so Tarzan said I can’t go to the coffee shop for a while. Something about us not getting a levy increase when our expenses rise. Must cut back. Look for ways to save. I miss that cup of coffee.

Because...

I couldn't have said it better. This is a must read.
Molly Benedum's Blog

Sour Grapes Anyone?

It looks as if the naysayer’s were right. I think we wasted everyone’s time with mediation. What does listening mean to you? Does it mean just hearing what someone is saying? Or is consideration of what was said come into play? For me it is this: to take in what someone has said, consider it against my own point of view, perhaps use what was said to modify my point of view, perhaps not. But last night was an example of how it really works. It was stated that “we have to listen to what they have to say, but we don’t have to consider them or capitulate to them.” Gee, thanks. If you’re not going to consider others’ ideas, what is the point of my going to meetings? I also found it very telling that one board member stated that she had planned to be president and have another member to be VP, but “allowed” the current set up to try to compromise and give the appearance of harmony. So I guess we really do have one person running the show. At least that’s how it sounded to me. The selections were done behind closed doors and the rest of us were let in on it at the meeting.

I have said it to many in individual E-mails but I guess it’s time to say it here- You are complaining to the wrong person. You need to be E-mailing your concerns to the three board members that are running the board. They are the ones that can make changes happen. I can tell them how you feel ‘til I’m blue in the face. But as stated above, it falls on deaf ears. Don’t get me wrong, I still want your input on issues, but when you write to complain to me about the very same things I’m complaining about, it’s not productive. If you don’t hear back via Email, call them. They are who is directing how your tax dollars are spent. Not me.

I know there are some of you chomping at the bit about Wednesday’s levy vote. I would like to clarify a few things. First of all we voted to send the language to the County Fiscal Officer, not to put it on the ballot. I do still have questions and concerns before the ballot vote. But I do think Mrs. Gunter made a valid point. She said that in her mind putting this issue on the ballot is giving the voters a chance to evaluate the board. I’ll take it one farther and say it’s a chance to let the voters evaluate this district. Some will say that by putting it on the ballot it’s an endorsement of it. I disagree. I think there are blind followers on both sides of every issue. If people think this district needs and deserves this money it will pass. If people are fed up, it will fail. Either way I do know this. The state auditor said our staying out of fiscal watch depends on renewal levies. Having a school system in fiscal watch isn't good for your property values. And if you want your community to be desireable to families looking to buy a house, fiscal watch is not what you want to present them with.

I better get to bed. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. The board has an executive session scheduled at 9:30 AM to discuss union negotiations. I know it’s a waste of time for me. After last night it was made clear to me that I will be heard but not considered. I’m wondering why I should bother.

Here We Go Again

Looks like placing a renewal levy on the ballot is on the agenda sooner than I had expected. Not much time to gauge public opinion. Not that public opinion matters much. I’m going to step out of my school board member role and step into my taxpayer role. This is what started my trek down the school board path. Does my district deserve to continue to be funded by me? Is it living up to the same standards I place on myself?
Let’s take a look at this. Our household income did not go up but our property taxes did. So we had to cut back in other areas. I heard propaganda that said “it (the levy cost) is the cost of a daily cup of coffee”. Well it’s a cup of coffee I don’t appreciate losing. And for what? Our elementary kids still don’t get field trips, we pay to play extra curricular activities, and our district condones biased bussing practices and class sizes. Why? Because we have a board that allows it. This board has handed over raises and continued to allow spending in areas that are unnecessary. Oh and guess what? The new bus garage needs windows and an alarm system before it would be safe to move in. Well guess what? I need new windows and an alarm system too. Oh and laugh if you want but I still say a Doberman would work as well, if not better than an alarm system. Can I get back that cup of coffee per day if this renewal doesn’t pass?
Then there is the other side. First of all if this renewal fails a couple times, the first cuts will affect our kids. One of the first battle cries you hear at levy time is “do it for the kids”. Yet I know kids in the Falls that are denied bussing because 1/10th of a mile is more important than the safety of an eight year old, families that were “redrawn” at the last minute last year for the sole reason of denying bussing, and kids that are threatened with not being permitted to participate in art projects because their parents haven’t paid school fees. Like a kid has any control of their parents paying fees. And why can’t our kids take AP classes without paying fees? What the hell are my tax dollars going for if not to educate the brightest students to the fullest? But this is where they will make us suffer if we do not pass a renewal. Our kids.
So you’re between a rock and a hard place. Unless you have a board that is willing to make cuts. We could close another building or two if we move to grade level alignment. Big savings involved in that, as we can recall from two years ago. Now when the last two buildings closed I was told that kids are resilient and could handle the change. Now I’m hearing that it’s detrimental for kids to switch buildings. Hmmmm. I was also told a while back that a certain administrator could leave and it wouldn’t pose a problem to us. Another employee would be able to perform their own job as well as the vacant position. This tells me there is a job that’s not needed. Needless to say both jobs are still filled.
And to top it off, “Project Recovery” is more like real life than you know. We have relapsed. Tax and spend with out an eye on the future of education. So what do I do? It’s like enabling a drug addict if I vote for it but I punish what’s most dear to me if I vote against it.
Gee it would be nice to have a board majority that focused on educating our kids and insisted on less waste? Let’s hear the pros and cons of putting this on the ballot. I’m truly in a quandary.

Let Them Eat Cake

Please excuse my long absence. I need an extended break from the craziness of the school world! But I’m refreshed and back. As you probably read in the paper, not much has changed. I was hoping that after our first session with the federal mediators we could start to try to cooperate. Silly me. I thought we could start focusing on the education of children. But instead we continue to focus on who can outdo whom. Did I really think I would be elected to serve as VP? No. I was nominated to prove a point. You see two of us have been dealing with being shut out for a year now. They do it under the auspices of a majority. Yet they do not care they are shutting out the voting public majority. If you’ve been to any of the board meetings I think you would notice one thing about the five of us individually. There is only one member who continually keeps the focus on education, testing scores, and student achievement. She was appointed to the Cuyahoga Falls Foundation committee! What a slap in the face. I knew the triumvirate would never elect her president of the board even though she would have been the best pick. Their original pick for president and the reasons were unacceptable to me. My vote for board president is not going to be based on politics. Someone needing a title because they are up for re-election this year is not sound reasoning. Since I knew common sense would never prevail, a 5-0 vote was promised for the current president (lesser of two evils) and our education person as VP. But it became apparent that was not going to happen. My pick for VP declined my offer to nominate and offered to nominate me instead. What the heck, I had to try! I strongly feel the taxpayer majority deserves a voice on the board. But politics prevailed and winner takes all by a margin of one. I found the whole scene a comical waste of time. It was known going in who it would be. We should have skipped the formalities and just sworn them in when we walked in. Could’ve shaved 15 minutes off the meeting.
Now let’s touch on a few hot button (pardon the pun) issues. Cell phones first. Driving home from Bolich, I watch my friends’ daughter text message a 3-paragraph dialogue in 10 seconds flat. Keep in mind you non-text message users, each number on your phone stands for 3 or 4 different letters. “S” for instance requires 4 pushes of #7 on your phones and the actual #7 takes 5 pushes! Kids can text faster than an executive secretary can type. In fact Madam Kellie predicts that future keyboards will resemble a phone number pad more than our familiar keyboards. And everyone will type one handed. Eventually people will only type with their thumbs. I was told a story Wednesday night of a kid who texted 28 messages back and forth with his girlfriend during class, phone under the desk because he can do it with his eyes closed. I’m actually getting proficient at it and I’ve only done it about ten times. Everyone is fretting what to do. As usual I have the solution but no one will listen. We have the ability to block transmission in the classroom. Now I’m no techie, but I do know that if I go into secure areas, my cell is rendered useless. Scramble the signals, or whatever it is that these computer guru’s do that I know nothing about, but do know is available.
And thanks to the Beacon Journal, let’s talk about retire/rehire, or more commonly referred to as double dipping. There are two schools of thought on this one. First is the “it’s saving the taxpayer money” argument. You as a taxpayer will no longer pay for insurance benefits, (I wonder about the $1000 payment for not taking our insurance though), and perhaps a slight decrease in pay. This side will also point out the years of experience you are getting for the money. While this side has some merits the other side counter attacks with cries of how unfair it is. And to a point I agree. If you are a productive employee hoping to apply for that job when it is available, what is your incentive to stay if retirees are keeping their positions? And although a state pension is money the retiree earned, most taxpayers do not have this option after retiring and it leaves a bad taste in the voters’ mouth. It gives the appearance of a good ole boy system. It also eliminates young fresh professionals from bringing new ideas to a system. And they generally come in at a lower pay rate too. And the new person would generally buy a house in the neighborhood and start contributing to the local economy.
What’s your thoughts on these issues?