What a Thanksgiving! I wake to my name in the paper for being censured at the Tuesday night board meeting by my colleagues. Funny thing is, they made it a last second addendum to the agenda and gave me absolutely no time to prepare a response. Don’t get me wrong, I responded. But I plan on responding further.
About two months ago an executive session was held in the high school library after a public meeting. Items were discussed that concerned me as being outside the scope of what should be talked about behind closed doors. You see the law has set in place specific items that your board may discuss in private. At the next meeting during an executive session I brought this up to the board attorney with the full board present. His advice was this: You probably shouldn’t have done it and don’t do it again. I asked how we could remedy the situation and was scoffed at by the board. I then called the Ohio School Board Association for advice. Their legal counsel suggested that a complaint could be filed with Marc Dann’s office. “But” I was cautioned, “do you really want to embarrass the board like that?”
Then we held a public meeting in Columbus of all places. It was all open and the item was briefly discussed. Curious? Request the minutes. Although I bet you’ll find them scantily clad.
My reasons for being concerned about this item vary. First of all, I find it strangely coincidental that two months before an election this expensive project was discussed in private. Secondly, I think the board attorney should “probably” have been a little more precise with his answer. I think the “don’t do it again” says it all.
Despite the warning of the Ohio School Board Association, I have decided to file the complaint. Yes, I know it appears retaliatory. But the censure of myself and this issue are both tied to the same problem. Items discussed in executive session. What is confidential and what does the public have the right to know? I think my colleagues sometimes forget it is the tax payers money we are talking about. My money. Your money. I anxiously await Marc Dann’s opinion.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A rebel without a clue...Hah!
If you saw Friday’s Beacon, don’t fret! I am not in violation of anything. While the article gave the impression that I did something wrong, I assure you I didn’t. Well, unless you consider informing the public wrong. The reporter left the story in the board room and printed the opinions of my fellow board members. Then to add insult to injury he printed this statement: Patterson said that all she did was tell a reporter that a contract extension would likely be voted on soon. I didn’t say any such thing. I said a meeting was called by TWO board members and the reporter was notified as the law requires and she was given an agenda with attachments. The attachments are in the blog below. Once the meeting was called the items were given to the media making them an open public record.
It’s reporting like this that leads me to today’s’ Dick Feagler column in the Plain Dealer. He complains that bloggers do not know how to write a story because we aren’t in the trenches like beat reporters are. I admit I have not seen the face of a dead child that appears to be sleeping. Thank God. I don’t need to see it in person to have opinions and feelings about the why and how it happened. Another complaint he makes is that bloggers don’t pull all-nighters with politicians. Maybe it’s just the blogs I read but I see a plethora of functions bloggers attend, then write about. I think what ticks off reporters like Feagler is the fact that bloggers are unrestrained.
Yes you may have the occasional blogger that doesn’t know his or her @$$ from a hole in the ground. But when you find a good reliable blog, you know it. I think Feagler is jealous that bloggers really don’t have a worry in the world when they write. No editors to tell me I’m going to offend people. No finance department complaining that subscriptions are down. Nobody telling me I have to cover this or report on that. No leaning to one side or the other to please the new flavor of the week owner. It’s all me and my blog. I can be serious, I can be funny, I can make fun of people, and I can be sarcastic. I can make up my own words- and I have. I think what really irks him is the fact that I didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a college education to do this. And I’m arrogant enough and free enough to dare say that I write better than most, not all but most local reporters. Part of it is because I don’t have the restrictions I talked about above and part of it is because I truly love to do this and see the need.
Back to the Beacon. Just the facts. How you use information has always been a tactic of biased people. Leaving out important facts can be very misleading. For instance, in the example above of a dead child, most people assumed the child met a violent end. What if I were to tell you her heart just stopped? Still a sad story but the facts change your opinions of how and why she died. The beacon left out so many facts in Fridays article that it gives the appearance I did something wrong. I didn’t. And for the record, I spent the beginning of this week pulling all-dayers with our treasurer. She assured me she is not upset about the situation with her contract. I’m sure you wont find that in the Beacon Journal either.
It’s reporting like this that leads me to today’s’ Dick Feagler column in the Plain Dealer. He complains that bloggers do not know how to write a story because we aren’t in the trenches like beat reporters are. I admit I have not seen the face of a dead child that appears to be sleeping. Thank God. I don’t need to see it in person to have opinions and feelings about the why and how it happened. Another complaint he makes is that bloggers don’t pull all-nighters with politicians. Maybe it’s just the blogs I read but I see a plethora of functions bloggers attend, then write about. I think what ticks off reporters like Feagler is the fact that bloggers are unrestrained.
Yes you may have the occasional blogger that doesn’t know his or her @$$ from a hole in the ground. But when you find a good reliable blog, you know it. I think Feagler is jealous that bloggers really don’t have a worry in the world when they write. No editors to tell me I’m going to offend people. No finance department complaining that subscriptions are down. Nobody telling me I have to cover this or report on that. No leaning to one side or the other to please the new flavor of the week owner. It’s all me and my blog. I can be serious, I can be funny, I can make fun of people, and I can be sarcastic. I can make up my own words- and I have. I think what really irks him is the fact that I didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a college education to do this. And I’m arrogant enough and free enough to dare say that I write better than most, not all but most local reporters. Part of it is because I don’t have the restrictions I talked about above and part of it is because I truly love to do this and see the need.
Back to the Beacon. Just the facts. How you use information has always been a tactic of biased people. Leaving out important facts can be very misleading. For instance, in the example above of a dead child, most people assumed the child met a violent end. What if I were to tell you her heart just stopped? Still a sad story but the facts change your opinions of how and why she died. The beacon left out so many facts in Fridays article that it gives the appearance I did something wrong. I didn’t. And for the record, I spent the beginning of this week pulling all-dayers with our treasurer. She assured me she is not upset about the situation with her contract. I’m sure you wont find that in the Beacon Journal either.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Along with the dirt and the dust, we have a few cockroaches
Wow!! I cannot believe the lengths people will go to keep things under the rug. I had decided not to elaborate on the details of the treasurers contract in my last blog to give the Falls News Press the opportunity to do the right thing and print the details of the contract that was released to them with the agenda for the special meeting. What they actually printed was pitiful. I don’t blame the reporter. I know from my conversations with her that she had intended to inform the public. I’m not sure what happened in between our conversation and the printing of the paper but apparently someone put the pressure on to keep the details to themselves. So basically everyone on the board, and at the offices of the Falls News Press know what’s in the treasurer’s contract and superintendent’s salary increase is but felt it was OK to wait until after the election to fill in the rest of Cuyahoga Falls. Who is involved in the shrouding? My spidey senses tell me it was Phil Keren and Scott Shriner, as these are the two people generally responsible for keeping you uninformed. I guess your only recourse is to call them at 330-688-0088 ext.3110 and ask them what is in the contracts.
Just kidding you can always just click here (superintendent and treasurer) and see them for your self. You see, once these documents were released to the media as an attachment to the agenda for the Monday Oct. 29th meeting, they became part of the public record. My only regret is that I didn’t do this sooner. I foolishly thought our local paper would publish the facts. The facts are this: The board came to a tentative agreement at the Thursday Oct. 25 special board meeting and had already told the Falls News Press that we would be taking action on it that night. Then your board majority decided to let the Oct. 31 deadline pass and make the new contract retroactive and supersede the old new contract. Feeling that our treasurer was worthy of signing before the deadline and knowing that the contract was finished Bob Heath and I called for the Monday Oct. 29th special meeting, attached an agenda with details, filed it with our treasurer, and released it to the media. Unfortunately I did not hand deliver a personal invitation to each and every board member. Therefore, proper notice was not given and the meeting was cancelled. My bad, I admit.
Remember when looking over the contract that our treasurer has been responsible for much of the turn around our district has seen. She has renegotiated contracts with vendors that have saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, she performs the fiscal duties of our district as well as Schnee Learning Center and The Cuyahoga Falls Foundation, she also oversees the 4th largest budget, ranks fourth in years of experience yet is one of the lowest paid treasurers in Summit County. In fact the four treasurers that rank below her on the pay scale have fringe that exceed ours and more than make up for lower compensation. In doing comparisons all treasurers with budgets the size of Cuyahoga Falls earn $90K or more plus fringe and benefits.
Contrary to the claims of one incumbent, the turn around Cuyahoga Falls has seen is due to our treasurers skills and watchful eye on our finances. The Board of Education has not given direction to our administrators for two years. The successes this district can claim are due to employees who, despite their board who can’t even approve a contract on time or set meaningful goals, continue to give our children a quality education and keep our budget in the black.
Just kidding you can always just click here (superintendent and treasurer) and see them for your self. You see, once these documents were released to the media as an attachment to the agenda for the Monday Oct. 29th meeting, they became part of the public record. My only regret is that I didn’t do this sooner. I foolishly thought our local paper would publish the facts. The facts are this: The board came to a tentative agreement at the Thursday Oct. 25 special board meeting and had already told the Falls News Press that we would be taking action on it that night. Then your board majority decided to let the Oct. 31 deadline pass and make the new contract retroactive and supersede the old new contract. Feeling that our treasurer was worthy of signing before the deadline and knowing that the contract was finished Bob Heath and I called for the Monday Oct. 29th special meeting, attached an agenda with details, filed it with our treasurer, and released it to the media. Unfortunately I did not hand deliver a personal invitation to each and every board member. Therefore, proper notice was not given and the meeting was cancelled. My bad, I admit.
Remember when looking over the contract that our treasurer has been responsible for much of the turn around our district has seen. She has renegotiated contracts with vendors that have saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, she performs the fiscal duties of our district as well as Schnee Learning Center and The Cuyahoga Falls Foundation, she also oversees the 4th largest budget, ranks fourth in years of experience yet is one of the lowest paid treasurers in Summit County. In fact the four treasurers that rank below her on the pay scale have fringe that exceed ours and more than make up for lower compensation. In doing comparisons all treasurers with budgets the size of Cuyahoga Falls earn $90K or more plus fringe and benefits.
Contrary to the claims of one incumbent, the turn around Cuyahoga Falls has seen is due to our treasurers skills and watchful eye on our finances. The Board of Education has not given direction to our administrators for two years. The successes this district can claim are due to employees who, despite their board who can’t even approve a contract on time or set meaningful goals, continue to give our children a quality education and keep our budget in the black.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)