The shock has worn off enough that I finally find myself able to write. I went to Wednesday’s meeting thinking that my motion to secure the funds to see that the survey goes to every school district residence would be a 2-3 vote and wouldn’t carry. Much to my chagrin an unexpected turn of events occurred and my motion carried 3-2. I was speechless which doesn’t happen often! I’d like to thank the board members that voted for this motion but I can’t. They didn’t do it for me. They did it because it was the right thing to do. Changing the mailing list has caused a delay but it turns out that is a good thing. It was scheduled to go out next week. Spring break. Duh. So look for it mid to late April. Remember, this is finally a chance to have your voice heard loud and clear. A resident made the statement that getting the survey to everyone was a waste of money, that everyone didn’t need to be heard. But I heard the contrary from a majority of the taxpayers. In fact, every E-mail and phone call I received warned me of the particular consequences I would suffer from that resident if he or she did not get a survey. I told them I would do what I could but I am only one person. I do not have the power to make this happen alone. But apparently enough people spoke up that I can sleep soundly now. All threats are off. If you don’t get a survey it’s because your house does not exist.
I have to admit I am curious about the results. What are we doing right and wrong according to the funders? That’s what I want to start calling the taxpayers that live here whether they own or rent. The funders. Because contrary to popular belief, renters most certainly do pay property taxes. Indirectly of course, but they pay. I made a little chart I would like you all to see. It is a comparison of my house value appreciation over the last ten years versus the property tax increase percentage. As you can see my taxes have increased twice as much as my house value. I doubt that’s a good economic indicator.
The districts’ new web site is going to be awesome! I’m so impressed (except for my picture), and I bet you will be too. It’s much easier to navigate and up to date.
Have a good spring break!!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
How About "Get Real Ohio"?
What a week! I’m so exhausted I think I’ll sleep all day Sunday. I went to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Wednesday for an Ohio School Boards legislative update. This has been scheduled for months. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Governor Strickland decided to have his State of the State address the same day this was scheduled. He hit on most of the issues near and dear to educators. Charter schools and vouchers being two biggies. Of course funding was much anticipated and really a let down when it was over. Cuyahoga Falls City School District doesn’t benefit at all. But the one that nobody is talking about is the Ohio Graduation Test and what it will do to kids that think they’re college bound. Passing the OGT to receive a diploma is going to shut a lot of people out of scholarships and more importantly certain colleges. I’m particularly talking about athletes. If the requirements are high school diploma or equivalent they can get a GED and still apply. But the schools that require a high school diploma only will be losing out on a lot of athletic talent. No more will kids be able to slide by in high school and go to college because of athletic ability. Now those college slots and scholarships will go to kids who must pass the OGT and earn a diploma according to the criteria set by the Ohio State Board of Education. Pretty sad that they think that all kids need a set standard of education to succeed in life. The only time the date of the start of the Civil War was important in my adult life was when I was in a room full of old ladies in a beauty shop showing off my arm chair Jeopardy skills.
But such is life. We allow these people to spend our tax money on testing companies and printing companies and consultants and data analyzers and the list goes on and on. All for a system that does not and cannot work. People do not want to deal with reality. The reality is everyone cannot and will not pass the OGT. You set these kids even farther behind by denying them something that was at least barely attainable before. On the other hand it improves the chances for smart poor kids to get into college.
The one good part of Stricklands’ speech was the charter school restrictions. I don’t agree with canceling vouchers in all but Cleveland schools. I think vouchers should be left intact everywhere. They are generally used at private parochial schools and I believe they promote competition. I also feel that if your local public school is failing your child, you should have the right to take your child and your tax dollar elsewhere. Failing charters are another story. With so many stories lately of charter school operators running off with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to other states. Not to mention the operators that stay here and dole out our tax money to our legislators in the form of campaign contributions, so these same legislators will pass legislation allowing the charter school operators to profit from our tax money. It’s a vicious cycle. And did I mention that most of them are failing or have closed because of educational and financial failures? Charter schools have succeeded in other states but Ohio’s system of charters is a failure thanks to legislators (they set the rules) pimping their votes out to the highest bidders (David Brennan, charter school Don) instead of putting Ohio’s children first.
I left the Ohio State House feeling invigorated, powerful, arrogant and strangely unclean. You go in feeling like you can change the world and you leave realizing that unless you become some special interest groups’ political whore, you’ll change nothing. It all goes back to the back scratching I so often talk about. The lobbyists dig deep in their pockets at campaign time especially but really throughout the term of the “elected”. In return the elected dig deep in their murky bag of amendments and throw them into seemingly reasonable legislation. It’s an unspoken rule that an aye vote is attached to the amendment. One of those things they teach in “How to Screw the Taxpayer 101”. I took the longest, hottest shower of my life when I got home and felt much better.
I guess I should mention that it looks like our CEO is staying for now. I’m surprised Hudson didn’t want him. He’s a financial wizard who knows school funding inside and out. I thought he would be a perfect fit. Oh well, their loss and Revere is still looking. After applying at two different places in five months I have to wonder if the handwriting is on the wall. And all this after getting a new contract and a raise. And this business about being “asked” to apply at these jobs is starting to get to me. If you don’t network you don’t get “asked”. They ask because you ask.
Friday night was Roberts Middle School’s all night party. I went at midnight and stayed ‘til about 3 AM. Middle school girls are hyper and high pitched and middle school boys are aggressive and mean. I dread the day I am the one who has to actually stay all night!
But such is life. We allow these people to spend our tax money on testing companies and printing companies and consultants and data analyzers and the list goes on and on. All for a system that does not and cannot work. People do not want to deal with reality. The reality is everyone cannot and will not pass the OGT. You set these kids even farther behind by denying them something that was at least barely attainable before. On the other hand it improves the chances for smart poor kids to get into college.
The one good part of Stricklands’ speech was the charter school restrictions. I don’t agree with canceling vouchers in all but Cleveland schools. I think vouchers should be left intact everywhere. They are generally used at private parochial schools and I believe they promote competition. I also feel that if your local public school is failing your child, you should have the right to take your child and your tax dollar elsewhere. Failing charters are another story. With so many stories lately of charter school operators running off with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to other states. Not to mention the operators that stay here and dole out our tax money to our legislators in the form of campaign contributions, so these same legislators will pass legislation allowing the charter school operators to profit from our tax money. It’s a vicious cycle. And did I mention that most of them are failing or have closed because of educational and financial failures? Charter schools have succeeded in other states but Ohio’s system of charters is a failure thanks to legislators (they set the rules) pimping their votes out to the highest bidders (David Brennan, charter school Don) instead of putting Ohio’s children first.
I left the Ohio State House feeling invigorated, powerful, arrogant and strangely unclean. You go in feeling like you can change the world and you leave realizing that unless you become some special interest groups’ political whore, you’ll change nothing. It all goes back to the back scratching I so often talk about. The lobbyists dig deep in their pockets at campaign time especially but really throughout the term of the “elected”. In return the elected dig deep in their murky bag of amendments and throw them into seemingly reasonable legislation. It’s an unspoken rule that an aye vote is attached to the amendment. One of those things they teach in “How to Screw the Taxpayer 101”. I took the longest, hottest shower of my life when I got home and felt much better.
I guess I should mention that it looks like our CEO is staying for now. I’m surprised Hudson didn’t want him. He’s a financial wizard who knows school funding inside and out. I thought he would be a perfect fit. Oh well, their loss and Revere is still looking. After applying at two different places in five months I have to wonder if the handwriting is on the wall. And all this after getting a new contract and a raise. And this business about being “asked” to apply at these jobs is starting to get to me. If you don’t network you don’t get “asked”. They ask because you ask.
Friday night was Roberts Middle School’s all night party. I went at midnight and stayed ‘til about 3 AM. Middle school girls are hyper and high pitched and middle school boys are aggressive and mean. I dread the day I am the one who has to actually stay all night!
Friday, March 09, 2007
It's President, Not Dictator
It’s official. PBS is playing a Pink Floyd concert that I am sitting here enjoying. Now I don’t know about you but I have always felt that PBS concerts were for old people. So, one of two things has happened. PBS has suddenly become really cool or the other alternative. Not to mention that I am suspicious that they playing actual Pink Floyd because those dudes on the show are old. But damn they sound just like them! My groups have migrated to PBS from MTV. And they censored the BS from the song “Money”. Sigh.
It looks as if the title of President has went to someone’s head. I tried to ignore the seating debacle. I figured maybe he was having a bad day when I heard the hall way argument of who should sit where. As I scurried away from a conversation that turned to what could technically be considered “board business”, I heard the Pres state that he has the “power, duty and responsibility to sit board members where he so pleases.” While I found the comment to be comically presumptuous and petty, I sat where I was assigned. Although I now have no elbowroom and am constantly paranoid that others are reading my very important notes, I suffer through the situation. I liked having my own desk because I am very high maintenance and need lots of “stuff” with and around me. I might try setting up folders between us like the third graders do so no one can cheat.
But last night the Presidents dictatorial attitude reached new levels. I shouldn’t lay all the blame on the Pres. His attitudes were supported by his right hand (wo)man. Please excuse how generic I must be, but because of a lack of our president to honor a contracted timeline, certain documents are not public record- yet. So I must be careful. But it is known that the board is responsible for evaluating itself as well as employees. A procedure is agreed upon and implemented. A major part of any evaluation is based on opinions. Do I think this task is performed effectively or not? Let use president Bush for example. If we all were to evaluate his job performance, and came to the war section of his evaluation, one of us may think too many have died and we need to pull out and give him a zero here. Another of us may feel that he is doing a great job with the resources congress has given him and would save the entire Middle East if congress would just let him have his way and give him a ten. Neither is necessarily wrong just an opinion of how that individual sees Bush’s job performance on that issue.
The board President needs to realize his place on the board. His place is not to admonish other members for their opinions, beliefs, and question our reasoning for decisions we have made. And I understand that sometimes the results of a combined effort of five very different people may not be pleasing to everyone, you will have to learn to live with it. There will be some instances where a board majority cannot keep a dissenting opinion off the record. Another thing the board president needs to learn is that you can’t change the rules of the game after it has started. A procedure was agreed upon. You can’t come in after the fact and try to write new rules for the game because you didn’t like the final score. Geez I was in the band and even I know that!
He stepped over the line last night by attempting to give that over-the-glasses dad look and whine about the outcome of a procedure that he gave the board one week to complete and told us how it was going to be done. And no one complained and we did it and got back on time. Missing the deadline because you didn’t like the outcome doesn’t fly in my book. Wanting to change the way things are done after fact doesn’t fly either.
But the most intriguing threat came from another member. She said “you know, our policy says we could have done this procedure and just had board majority rule on the score.” I’m waiting to see that policy! Sometimes the things these people say never cease to amaze me.
It looks as if the title of President has went to someone’s head. I tried to ignore the seating debacle. I figured maybe he was having a bad day when I heard the hall way argument of who should sit where. As I scurried away from a conversation that turned to what could technically be considered “board business”, I heard the Pres state that he has the “power, duty and responsibility to sit board members where he so pleases.” While I found the comment to be comically presumptuous and petty, I sat where I was assigned. Although I now have no elbowroom and am constantly paranoid that others are reading my very important notes, I suffer through the situation. I liked having my own desk because I am very high maintenance and need lots of “stuff” with and around me. I might try setting up folders between us like the third graders do so no one can cheat.
But last night the Presidents dictatorial attitude reached new levels. I shouldn’t lay all the blame on the Pres. His attitudes were supported by his right hand (wo)man. Please excuse how generic I must be, but because of a lack of our president to honor a contracted timeline, certain documents are not public record- yet. So I must be careful. But it is known that the board is responsible for evaluating itself as well as employees. A procedure is agreed upon and implemented. A major part of any evaluation is based on opinions. Do I think this task is performed effectively or not? Let use president Bush for example. If we all were to evaluate his job performance, and came to the war section of his evaluation, one of us may think too many have died and we need to pull out and give him a zero here. Another of us may feel that he is doing a great job with the resources congress has given him and would save the entire Middle East if congress would just let him have his way and give him a ten. Neither is necessarily wrong just an opinion of how that individual sees Bush’s job performance on that issue.
The board President needs to realize his place on the board. His place is not to admonish other members for their opinions, beliefs, and question our reasoning for decisions we have made. And I understand that sometimes the results of a combined effort of five very different people may not be pleasing to everyone, you will have to learn to live with it. There will be some instances where a board majority cannot keep a dissenting opinion off the record. Another thing the board president needs to learn is that you can’t change the rules of the game after it has started. A procedure was agreed upon. You can’t come in after the fact and try to write new rules for the game because you didn’t like the final score. Geez I was in the band and even I know that!
He stepped over the line last night by attempting to give that over-the-glasses dad look and whine about the outcome of a procedure that he gave the board one week to complete and told us how it was going to be done. And no one complained and we did it and got back on time. Missing the deadline because you didn’t like the outcome doesn’t fly in my book. Wanting to change the way things are done after fact doesn’t fly either.
But the most intriguing threat came from another member. She said “you know, our policy says we could have done this procedure and just had board majority rule on the score.” I’m waiting to see that policy! Sometimes the things these people say never cease to amaze me.
Monday, March 05, 2007
SPECIAL! SPECIAL! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Thank goodness the cat is finally out of the bag. I’m sure you’ve all read about it by now. Our illustrious CEO has submitted an application to the Hudson school district. I can’t say I’m surprised. The CEO was approached by “Finding Leaders” basically a school district head hunting group. One thing strangely missing from their sales pitch is the fact that they are taking leaders too. The same leader they find for you, they approach later with an offer from another district and take them from you. In the mean time they have used about 10 grand of your tax money. Notice the CEO’s statement that he didn’t apply for this job. Here’s where once again the back scratchin’ comes into play. This is not just our district- this is districts throughout the United States. Superintendents hire attorneys and consultants and boards consistently rubber stamp their employment. Employment for things like union negotiations, building designs, remodeling projects, district improvement plans, etc, etc, etc. These same attorneys and consultants moonlight for companies like “Finding Leaders”. Guess who comes to mind first when job openings arise? The very same people who used tax payer money to butter their bread. As stated in the previous blog by many- it’s me first, the education of your kids second.
I like SmartAlex’s suggestion to look into a residency requirement. I’ve heard the argument that “you exclude a lot of highly qualified candidates when you limit your residency”. I am insulted by that comment. In effect that says there is no one in our fair city or quaint village that is qualified. HAH! I know better! I also know that there are people that would line up to move here and lead a school district as safe and low maintenance as ours is. I’m not saying we don’t have any problems, but they are minor compared to the “Big 8” and high poverty districts. Over two dozen people applied for the Hudson job. Hardly a shortage of people willing to take on a challenge. And they applied knowing 3 board members, several administrators, a treasurer and a superintendent have resigned in the last year! Good luck with that situation! Hudson’s former superintendent gave a presentation to the Cuyahoga Falls board 4 weeks ago. You’d think she would have warned the CEO while she was here!
I should get to the point of this blog. Mrs. Gunter and I have called a special board meeting for today (Monday March 5, 2007) at 1PM in the board office. Proper notification was made to the papers but apparently too late for publication. I guess there wasn’t a chance to bring it up during the interview that somehow made it in time for publication. Anyway it’s only an executive session so don’t get excited that you’re already at work and can’t make it. You’d just get kicked out. I can’t tell you who it’s about but I can tell you it’s to discuss the employment of personnel.
BTW. Looks like the survey is done. More on that later.
I like SmartAlex’s suggestion to look into a residency requirement. I’ve heard the argument that “you exclude a lot of highly qualified candidates when you limit your residency”. I am insulted by that comment. In effect that says there is no one in our fair city or quaint village that is qualified. HAH! I know better! I also know that there are people that would line up to move here and lead a school district as safe and low maintenance as ours is. I’m not saying we don’t have any problems, but they are minor compared to the “Big 8” and high poverty districts. Over two dozen people applied for the Hudson job. Hardly a shortage of people willing to take on a challenge. And they applied knowing 3 board members, several administrators, a treasurer and a superintendent have resigned in the last year! Good luck with that situation! Hudson’s former superintendent gave a presentation to the Cuyahoga Falls board 4 weeks ago. You’d think she would have warned the CEO while she was here!
I should get to the point of this blog. Mrs. Gunter and I have called a special board meeting for today (Monday March 5, 2007) at 1PM in the board office. Proper notification was made to the papers but apparently too late for publication. I guess there wasn’t a chance to bring it up during the interview that somehow made it in time for publication. Anyway it’s only an executive session so don’t get excited that you’re already at work and can’t make it. You’d just get kicked out. I can’t tell you who it’s about but I can tell you it’s to discuss the employment of personnel.
BTW. Looks like the survey is done. More on that later.
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