What's under your rug?

Once again I feel the need to write a disclaimer. The statements in todays blog or any other blog I write for that matter, do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of other Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education members or employees of the Cuyahoga Falls City School District. I write this blog to convey my views and concerns to the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls so that they may make an informed decision at the voting booth. I also write to elicit feedback from citizens regarding current issues facing me as a board member.

I don’t know what to do so I’m going to blog about it. Last Friday another board member and I called a special meeting. It was scheduled for Monday night at 6 PM. I attached an agenda to the notification letter that stated the purpose of the meeting. The purpose was to vote on the treasurer’s contract and an addendum to the superintendent’s contract. Two items that would have taken all of five minutes to vote on. Why a special meeting you ask? Well, that was because there is a deadline for the treasurer’s contract. That deadline is October 31. Unfortunately it is also precariously close to Election Day. So even though the board and treasurer came finalized the details last Thursday, in plenty of time to meet the deadline, the board majority has chosen to miss the deadline and put it on the November 20th agenda. It could have been voted on last Thursday. In fact the newspaper was told it would be.

What’s most distressing to me is that the board member that agreed our treasurer was worth signing on time, he didn’t want to sign for a second proper notification. You see the original notice wasn’t hand delivered so the meeting couldn’t take place. Even though the board has held other special meetings without proper notification. But I guess when you can get a majority to show up with or without proper notification it really doesn’t matter. I asked the member to sign a second notification and he said that he would leave it up to the board president. Translation- He’s been talked to. I can hear it now. How dare he try to do the right thing. Don’t you realize people will be voting soon? My goodness it’s amazing how a weekend full of phone calls can change your mind.

I wonder why no one wants to get together and approve these contracts? I heard talk of needing a “clean copy”. That’s odd, the board has approved many contracts previously without a “clean copy” including the teacher’s contract that we still don’t have a copy of. I could be wrong but I am highly suspicious that your board is keeping something under the rug ‘til November 6th is over with.

Speaking of under the rug, there’s one more thing I’m a little unsettled about. Do our employees’ goals really fall under the guidelines of executive sessions? And do costly projects really fall under the category of a goal? Or could your friendly local school board be using new and improved ways to spend your tax money behind closed doors? I bet you’ll find out all about this doozy after November 6th as well.

Some people may question my motives in writing this. I think my motives are pretty darn clear. Election day is November 6th. You can make a difference by making an informed decision. If you like being informed like I describe above and spending like my last blog talked about- vote for it. If you want someone with a strong finance background and common sense- Vote for Molly Benedum!

Thoughts at Election Time

I'd like to preface this blog by stating that the opinions stated here are mine. The numbers and facts I cite in my blogs come from various sources of public record. I do not have time to list my sources in every blog. If you'd like to refute any number I use, feel free. I don't post it unless I'm confident my source is solid. The statements in todays blog or any other blog I write for that matter, do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of other Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education members or employees of the Cuyahoga Falls City School District. I write this blog to convey my views and concerns to the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls so that they may make an informed decision at the voting booth. I also write to elicit feedback from citizens regarding current issues facing me as a board member.

I’ve been pondering whether to write this blog. After all, it seems so outrageous that I should even have to. But I am told that the rumor mill has been grinding up some tall tales. I guess election time does that to people. I got a call today from someone who was under the impression that I want to close more school buildings. I thought this issue had been buried a long time ago but it seems that this bit of misinformation is once again making the rounds. First of all, I don’t have the authority to close buildings. Second of all, I have never said I want to close buildings. I have said that I feel this district needs to reconfigure. We have some buildings packed full and others nearly empty. We have an elementary school with more students than the middle school it feeds to. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again… I’m tired of some kids in this city getting the short end of the stick while other areas are pampered. I really find it odd that people are talking about me when I’m not even running for office. The caller felt it was a shallow attempt by the candidate to create a diversion from the real issues.

Another point the caller wanted clarified was whether I only support candidates from the City of Cuyahoga Falls. This one is easy. Yes. Silver Lake is overly represented on the Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education. The small village is about ten percent of our population, provides ten percent of our local revenues, and yet controls sixty percent of your board of education. I strongly believe my city needs fair representation on the board. The median income in CF is much lower than SL and I’m not convinced that the candidate from SL understands the financial burden of new levies on us mortals. I’m not sure former administrators do either. That leaves two. You figure it out.

One of them I will mention here. Molly Benedum. Contrary to popular belief, I did not know Molly before the school districts’ financial fiasco of 2005. She contacted me and offered her financial expertise because we shared a common goal. That goal is to see our tax dollars spent wisely and see to it that information is not only available to the average Joe, but that the average Joe can understand it. Only then should you be asked whether you support an issue or not. Molly knows school finance almost as well as our treasurer and I feel would provide a valuable service to the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls.

Don’t forget what your current members up for election have done for the last few years. One was responsible for being asleep at the wheel and letting our finances go to pot and then promising to either “resign after the new members are settled in or finish my term and not run again, depending on how things go.” I guess that was a lie. But alas, society has become used to lying politicians and it hardly fazes us. So let's move on and look at what has been done. Both incumbents have voted to approve the purchase of a 50-year-old money pit of a bus garage still not being used (and needing about another quarter million dollars dumped into the project before it is usable!), encouraged the CEO to explore the drilling of natural gas on school property in the heart of Cuyahoga Falls, but the real kicker was they gave the largest percent increase in salary to the superintendent and treasurer before they were evaluated, before their contracts were negotiated, and without them even asking! They then approved a replacement levy to be placed on the ballot, even as the CAT tax is performing better than expected. In fact it is performing so well that we went from a deficit two years out last October to smooth sailing for the next 5 years. So don’t let them fool you like they tried to do with the friendly caller. Our positive financial future is due to three things: Prudent budgeting by our treasurer, generous payments from taxpayers, and a better than expected CAT payments.

Doing It For The Kids

I know it’s been a while. I wish I had the time to be on the computer as much as some of you can. I haven’t reported on the last few meetings so I guess I should fill you in on some details. Administrative raises were approved. 3% for the next three years. Another $500 in merit pay can be had each year if we meet district wide excellence. The cost is more than worth it if the results are achieved. Unlike some people, I believe in dangling the carrot for results. It’s a tactic that works as long as you’re using a carrot that tempts the subject. For instance, one of my children had a teacher that would allow the student to skip the “main” spelling test if they passed the “pretest” on Wednesday with a 100% score. I never saw that kid practice so hard for a test so he didn’t have to take the test. The goal was accomplished and everyone got something out of it. Merit pay has its benefits. Good teachers aren’t afraid of it. Good negotiating teams are. Oh! That reminds me- you really should check out this web site:

Union Facts.com

I listened to a speaker from this organization a few weeks back and was intrigued. What I find interesting is that the states with the poorest economies have the strongest union holds. Hmmmm….I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. Before you send me hate messages let me give you some background:
My dad was a bona fide UAW officer. I was brought up Union Strong, Union Proud. We had all the medical and dental care a person could want. I didn’t understand that GM was in this business to make a profit. My dad said they owed it to us for his time in the company and quality workmanship and such. I also saw other members of my family work as hard or harder and not get these benefits. Then I had some history classes and I learned that way back in the old days unions were formed to protect workers. People were literally worked to death. They were organizations that fought for rights and protections that are law today. Then I turned 18 and got a job and much to my surprise found out I was part of a union whether I liked it or not. To add insult to injury they took union dues out of my $80 paycheck. But they didn’t even meet with management when the department was eliminated. But let’s get back to the lessons of our fathers. GM realized that they could get non-union workers elsewhere and still pay a decent wage but cut benefits. Why wouldn’t they? The UAW realized if it was going to keep jobs i.e. membership in the United States major concessions would have to be made. Plants closed and new workers started paying for benefits. Then old workers did. Then retired workers started paying. What they realized is free insurance will kill a business. If a for-profit company cannot sustain free insurance benefits how is a school district supposed to? The difference is the school district can’t go to Mexico via NAFTA.

I’ll tell you what bothered me most about negotiations. No one fought for classroom resources, new books, building security, or updated technology. All the things I hear from teachers time and time again that these are the things they want. Nothing “for the kids”. It was all “for the raises and benefits”. Remember this at levy renewal time. I hope they don’t try to guilt trip me with the “do it for the kids” mantra. I just paid $200 for a field trip, $100 in school fees, and a $1000 property tax bill. Not to mention the money I’ve spent on school fundraisers. I don’t dare print that figure here for fear of being cut off from the checking account. I feel like the community has done and is doing its part “for the kids”.



BTW: Just to clarify something for people. A proposed bylaw change failed. Bylaw 0147 will stay as passed in 2002 and revised several times since. It was a nice re-election gesture but so transparent I actually lost respect for the member that proposed it. There are times when this position takes more time than a full time job. $125 per meeting with a maximum of 30 meetings per year. That's $3750 per year. No benefits. No fringe. Heck nobody's even tried to bribe me for a vote! Besides, you can relinquish any part or all of the board compensation if you so choose.

It's a bargain for the taxpayer. A changing of the guard in November could really impact how your tax dollars are spent.