Lake County, Ohio - School Districts

TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID AT MARKET VALUE

2011-08-23T10:39:00.006-04:00

The Editorial this morning in the News-Herald (http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/08/23/opinion/nh4405821.txt):

"They taught us in a way that helped the information stick with us and encouraged us to keep on learning for a lifetime.

Some might even have fostered a desire to actually become a teacher just like them.

Unfortunately, though, that million just isn't there.

As evidenced by countless school districts turning to voters for new funding, it's a problem for every school district.

So, as we weigh teachers' worth, we consider several factors, including education level, effectiveness and district budget.

It's easy to let sentimentality take over as you discuss what people are worth vs. what you can pay them. In this case, that can't happen. The pot of money isn't very deep and definitely has a bottom.

We favor allowing the market to dictate teachers' pay. Reward them for advanced degrees and efforts to better their contributions to schools and students' lives, but expect the same concessions required of those who pay them — the taxpayers.

More and more of us are shouldering greater portions of our health care costs and giving up raises. We expect the same level of sacrifice from those who work for our cities, counties and school districts."

We agree!

TEACHING METHODS CHALLENGE EDUCATION MYTHS

2009-11-04T19:13:00.001-05:00

The following is an article printed October 18th in the LA Times. It challenges traditional school leaders thinking.

Districts and states that use the 'value-added' approach have had some surprising results: Class size, student background and schools' funding appear to be less critical than has long been believed.

By Jason Song and Jason Felch , LATimes
October 18, 2009

"For years, schools and students have been judged on raw standardized test scores. Experts say this approach is flawed because they tend to reflect socioeconomic levels more than learning.

The "value-added" approach attempts to level the playing field by focusing on growth rather than achievement. Using a statistical analysis of test scores, it tracks an individual student's improvement year to year, and uses that progress to estimate the effectiveness of teachers, principals and schools.Academics have also used the approach to test many assumptions about what matters in schools.

Scholars are still puzzling over what makes for a great teacher or school, but their results challenge orthodox assumptions like these:All teachers are equal. For decades, schools have treated teachers like interchangeable parts. Value-added results suggest there are sharp differences in teachers' effectiveness.

More money, more learning.

The highest growth among students is often in poor schools with low achievement scores, according to districts and states that have adopted the value-added approach. Students at affluent schools sometimes have high proficiency scores but make little new progress year to year. Teachers can't overcome a student's background. Recent research shows that with several effective teachers in a row, students can overcome disadvantages. Some studies suggest minority and poor students make as much progress as other pupils when placed with the same effective teachers.

Class size is key.

Modest changes in class size have been shown to have little to no effect on student learning. Bad teachers tend to teach in poor schools. Several studies suggest that there is more variation among teachers within a school than across schools. Effective instructors are often distributed across rich and poor schools, and they tend to stay at challenging schools longer than at ineffective ones.

Teacher experience matters.

Although teachers are generally paid more for years of experience, research suggests that instructors show dramatic improvement in their first few years and then level off. Teachers with 20 years of experience are often no more effective than peers with five.

Teacher education matters.

Schools routinely pay higher salaries to teachers with graduate degrees. But several studies have found that educators with advanced degrees do no better than those without, with the possible exception of high school math teachers.

Teacher credentials matter.

Most public schools pay teachers more for certifications and advanced credentials. But several studies have shown that non-traditionally prepared instructors -- such as those in the Teach for America program -- have similar or slightly better outcomes than certified ones."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

A CASE OF SCHOOLS LOSING SIGHT OF THEIR MISSION

2009-10-19T06:15:00.001-04:00

Another interesting article from the Washington Post. What were school district board members and administrators thinking. This is a case of school district administrators not understanding their mission.

"Gifted Student Is Being Held Back By Graduation Rules

By Jay Mathews
Monday, October 5, 2009
Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/04/AR2009100402297_pf.html

Anyone who wants to appreciate how strong a grip high school has on the American imagination -- and how clueless some school districts are about this -- should consider the story of Drew Gamblin, a 16-year-old student at Howard High School in Ellicott City.

Drew, a child so gifted he taught himself to write at age 3, craves a high school education and all that comes with it -- debate team, music, drama and senior prom.

After a series of inexplicable decisions by Howard County school officials, such as requiring him to stay in a Howard High algebra class he had already mastered, his parents decided to home-school him and put him in college classes. But Drew insisted on his high school dream.
So he is back at Howard, although it's not clear what grade he is in, and the school district is making it hard to enjoy what the school has to offer. He is being forced to take a world history course he already took at Howard Community College and a junior-year English course he took at home, as well as classes in other subjects he has studied.

Drew said he hopes that school district superintendent Sydney L. Cousin will use a state regulation that would allow him to create an alternative way for Drew to graduate without so much course repetition, but it doesn't look good.

Drew could go to college right now. He passed the Maryland state High School Assessment test in sophomore English at the advanced level (Howard refuses to give him credit for the course) and did the same in American government. Two years ago, he scored in the 92nd percentile on the PSAT and placed in the top 4 percent of all African American students who took the exam.

But he wants those high school memories, and he wants the county to admit its mistakes. "If I've earned the credit, I've earned it," he said. "I'm fighting for what is already mine."
Patti Caplan, spokeswoman for Howard schools, said the district "spent an overwhelming amount of time" on Drew's case and offered him "numerous opportunities and accommodations, to no avail." Because of confidentiality rules, she said, she couldn't say more.
In a nine-page decision Aug. 19, the Howard school board denied the family's request for credit for courses taken in college and at home. The board's only hint of any regret at what it put the family through came in saying that "because of their persistence, the parents were able to persuade the administration to accept the Japanese language [two of Drew's college courses] in fulfillment of the modern language credit. It is unfortunate that situation took so long to be resolved."

His parents have appealed the Howard board's decision to the state school board, but that process will take months.

It didn't have to be this way. Some school districts have welcomed children as in love with learning as Drew is. His mother, Ellicia Chau, said the first clue about what her son could do came at age 18 months, when he put together a 50-piece puzzle.

At 21 months, he was sounding out letters on the sides of delivery trucks. During Thanksgiving dinner when he was 3, his mother wondered who had written the name Ike, one of Drew's uncles, on a napkin. Drew eventually convinced her it was he.

Chau, who said she is a big supporter of public education, put him in Howard schools. In the middle of third grade, he was promoted to fourth grade. But when sixth grade became too slow for him, the district refused to move him to seventh. "It is not our policy," an official said.
So she pulled him out to home-school him. But, at his insistence, in 2006 she enrolled him in ninth grade at Howard High. She said she tried to follow the rules, but interpretations of them kept changing. One official agreed that Drew had mastered algebra, but it wasn't until November that year that he was allowed to move to geometry. Because of red tape, another month passed before he got any assignments in that class.

Drew's situation is no surprise to advocates of gifted education, who report clumsy handling of kids like him all over the country. Howard has been slower than other Washington area districts to embrace acceleration, although it is getting better. Its participation rate on Advanced Placement exams has doubled since 2002.

Most American high schools look hard for ways to give struggling students their diplomas. Maryland let 4,000 students graduate this year by doing special projects after they didn't pass the required state tests. Meanwhile, Drew has been told he has to listen to old lectures and take tests he has already passed to finish high school.

"I don't want to be 40 and not have these memories to look back on," he said. In a way, he is getting his wish, because being bored to distraction often comes to mind when people think about their high school experience.

But I don't think that is what Howard school officials intended when they decided to tell this bright student that their interpretations of the rules were more important than his education.

This poor student should have never gone through this. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES ON PUNISHMENT - NOT GOOD FOR OUR CHILDREN?

2009-10-14T19:58:00.004-04:00

The Wall Street Journal reported this afternoon, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473331382043514.html about two incidents of "stupidity" involving the judgment of public school officials in other states. Some of the schools in Lake County purportedly have similar zero tolerance policies - as you will see in reading these incidents - nothing replaces common sense. Hopefully we won't see the same types of lapses in judgment occur here.

"Zero-Tolerance Watch Matthew Whalen, 17, is an Eagle Scout who has completed 10 weeks of military training and plans to attend West Point. But he's worried his plans to serve his country may be thwarted by the geniuses who run Lansingburgh Senior High School in Troy, N.Y., where Whalen is a senior. In an interview with FoxNews.com, he explains what happens:

He said his school's assistant principal, Frank Macri, approached him on Sept. 21 and asked him if he was carrying a knife.

"I was taken down to the office, and they told me that a student told them that I was carrying a knife," Whalen said.

He said he told them "they could search me and everything, and they said, 'There's no need for that.' " . . .

"And they said, 'Do you own a knife?' I said, 'Yes, I'm a soldier and an Eagle Scout--I own a knife.'

"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'

"And they asked me to show it to them. I didn't realize it was going to be a problem. I knew it wasn't illegal--my police chief grandfather gave the knife to me."

Whalen said he took school administrators to his car because he thought their fears would be allayed when they saw it was just a 2-inch knife.

"They thought I had a dagger in my car or something like that, so I thought yeah, I'd show it to them," Whalen said.

"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended."

But things didn't end there, Whalen said.

"They brought a cop in, who told them 'he's not breaking any laws, so I can't charge him with anything.' "

Nonetheless, the principal suspended him from school for five days. Then, at a "superintendent hearing" that the superintendent didn't bother to attend, the principal quadrupled the punishment. Whalen says he worries that the disciplinary action on his record will hurt his chances for admission to West Point. Let's hope Principal Macri is shamed into backing down.

Good sense seems to have prevailed in Newark, Del., where, as we noted yesterday, five-year-old Zachary Christie was sentenced to 45 days in reform school for bringing a Cub Scout utensil to school. Reports NBC News:

On Tuesday night the school board made a hasty change to its code of conduct. The seven-member board voted unanimously to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who bring weapons to school or commit other violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days. . . .

School board member John Mackenzie told The Associated Press before the meeting that he was surprised school officials did not use common sense and disregard the policy in Zachary's case. The need for common sense to prevail over the letter of the law was a recurring theme among the boy's supporters and school safety experts.

It's amazing how often our government schools turn out to be run by people who need to be told of "the need for common sense to prevail.""

Perhaps those school districts in Lake County who have zero tolerance policies should consider implementing a "common sense" disciplinary policy instead?

Let us have your thoughts. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

DOUBLING DIPPING PUBLIC OFFICIALS - NOT A GOOD THING!

2009-10-11T16:37:00.003-04:00

We received a comment from a reader complaining about a double dipping administrator in their district. The following is a Plain Dealer editorial from August of this year, expressing that paper's view. We agree with the sentiment.

""Double-dipping" has been a fact of Ohio life for decades. In its purest form, the practice of letting some public workers bank both a full taxpayer-paid salary and a taxpayer-subsidized pension is supposed to let talented officials stay in public life without sacrificing retirement benefits.

For a while, until federal rules changed in about 1991, public employees even enjoyed the "bargain" of paying a salary for double-dippers shorn of the need to contribute to the retirement benefits they would have paid for another worker. Currently, state taxpayers pay a 14 percent pension contribution for public workers who contribute 10 percent.

The idea is to benefit Ohioans, not to pick their pockets or insult them.

That's why over the years -- despite the public distaste for a perk few in the private sector can enjoy -- double-dipping in Ohio was not just tolerated but broadened to include some in hard-to-fill jobs, including teachers.

Too bad so many public officials instead treat the perk like membership in a private club to which the public should not have access, enriching themselves while adding to the taint of cronyism.

Shamefully, full figures on how much double-dipping enriches our public servants are hard and sometimes impossible to come by. That, in turn, thwarts checking the claim that the practice doesn't cost state retirement funds extra.

True, a disgusted public did finally prevail on the legislature some years back to require that elected officials planning to "retire" and then return to public life disclose that fact to county boards of election before seeking election. That's how the public learned recently -- thanks to reporting by The Plain Dealer's Henry J. Gomez and Joe Guillen -- that at least 17 prominent elected officials in Cuyahoga County are part of the double-dipping club, or soon will join it.

The disclosure requirement doesn't apply to nonelected officials, however.
Virtually every year, the Ohio legislature takes another unsuccessful stab at reforming this process -- and no wonder. That's like asking the fox to renovate the hen house.

Lack of transparency is the first thing that has to change. Every double-dipper in Ohio should be listed, starting with elected officials, and the full taxpayer-subsidized salary and pension delineated.

Next should be an extension in the time double-dippers must spend retired before they can return to public life and draw both a salary and full pension benefits. For some workers, it's now just two months. That should be extended to at least six.

It's true that double-dipping is legal in Ohio. That doesn't make it an inalienable right, particularly at a time when more than one of every 10 Ohioans can't find a job in any field."

As always you can contact us carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - BOARD SHOULD READ CONTRACTS THEY APPROVE?

2009-10-11T05:35:00.003-04:00

The News-Herald reported on Friday that the Auburn Career Center Board just approved a contract with their employees union for the next three years, http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/10/09/news/nh1545093.txt.

The vote was 9-1 by the board. What the News-Herald did not report was that one of the board members requested this vote be delayed by a week so that all the board members could read the contract. When this board member moved to delay the vote - this was voted down 9-1. This contract WILL COST YOU THE PUBLIC well in excess of $10 million dollars over its life!

This kind of reminds us of the situation occurring with the United States Senate on HealthCare Reform - in that the Senate may not make the bill available with enough time for all the Senators and the public to even have a chance to read the bill.

This isn't transparency or even good governance when even our elected officials aren't reading the details on what they are voting on. For this poor behavior we give the Auburn Board a failing grade!

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT - BOND ISSUE? - ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

2009-10-10T20:05:00.003-04:00

We received the following note from Toni Rogers who runs the Citizens for Smart Schools PAC in Madison, Ohio in response to our blog on whether Madison will have a bond issue on the ballot next spring. Toni originally though we were indicating that a bond issue would be on the ballot in November. We indicated we didn't make such a statement but if so we would correct it.

We hadn't but Toni wrote us the following thoughtful comment, which we will share with you so you can have another side of the picture.

"The news reporter emailed me back, correction ran the next day. I think you were responsible for the tax fatigue comment. I run a PAC in Madison, Citizens for Smart Schools. Formed in 1994. We may have tax fatigue, and I have voted NO for school tax levies since the early 90's BUT when the bond issue comes up in May, I will be supporting it. I am a member of the Facilities Committee and I believe that we will be presenting a proposal to the Madison community that they will not be able to say no too. As I actively campaigned door to door against the Bond issue two years ago,I told those same individuals that I would be back asking for $125 extra dollars in property taxes and I would appreciate there support. The majority agreed. It is not that we do not want to take this opportunity of the tobacco settlement money, we want to be able to sustain it with a net zero increase in operating expenses if not a significant savings. So that is the real story....trust me. Thanks for the website, it is a great idea."

We were responsible for the voter fatigue comments - because the voters in Madison appear to be tired. We'd like to thank Toni for her comments and working with the Madison School District. We'll look forward to hearing about Madison's proposal next spring - if the new board decides to put another bond issue on the ballot.

MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT - ANOTHER BOND ISSUE?

2009-10-07T05:03:00.001-04:00

Not yet! At least for the moment.

The News-Herald reported http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/10/06/news/nh1531888.txt today:

"Madison school buildings still in the works

Published: Tuesday, October 6, 2009

By Sandra M. Klepach SKlepach@News-Herald.com

This election day marks two full years since Madison voters rejected a $77 million centralized education complex near the high school.But the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which would have funded 60 percent of the bill, approached Madison School Board again last month.Still interested in our program? it asked. Let us know by Oct. 9 and you'll get dibs over the 20-some districts that don't.

The board unanimously approved a response."Basically what we sent to the Ohio School Facilities Commission is saying, yes, we are still interested," board President Jacqueline Azbill said.By the voted language approved last week, Madison now enters an "active planning process" with the OSFC, which offers it "priority" status, to prepare for a possible conditional approval in 2010. "The School District Board intends to obtain funding by May 2010," the resolution states, to oblige the next funding cycle, which ends July 2010.

Azbill said board Vice President Rex Reigert heads the facilities committee that meets regularly to discuss building possibilities, for which the district would likely get a 50-50 funding split. The OSFC now offers a segmented project option, but it's laden with rules, including a requirement that the district raise 4 percent of its assessed valuation for any one project, Superintendent Roger Goudy said."Such a project would cost Madison about $19 million and likely include a new middle school "and something," Goudy said, adding Homer Nash Elementary is currently being considered for the latter."The campus plan has pretty much died," Goudy said. "This gives the future board the option (to consider a OSFC project), where had we not passed this, then that ship would have been out of the port. At least we want to have those discussions."

In November 2007, voters rejected a 4.81-mill bond issue designed to raise $33.6 million, plus a 0.50-mill, 23-year operating levy. That combined issue would have cost taxpayers an initial $165.68 a year per $100,000 of property valuation, but it failed by a vote of 3,466 to 2,183.

Citing a lack of community support for the plan, Madison School Board pulled the same bond issue from the August 2008 special election ballot.

Madison voters will be busy Nov. 3, filling three open School Board seats from a pool of eight candidates, only one an incumbent. Voters also will decide a 1.68-mill emergency renewal operating levy, which would cost homeowners $51.45 per $100,000 of property valuation and generate $697,270 annually for five years. The issue otherwise expires in December."It is the committee's recommendation to the Board of Education that we have a segmentation on the ballot for May," Azbill said. "Now, we have a lot of work to do yet, the board hasn't approved that. It's just a recommendation. Some of the board members wanted some other things considered. It's ultimately up to the board, we have to approve it.""

If the majority of the board doesn't change Madison voters may be looking at a bond issue in February or May or next year. Sounds like the current Madison board members can't resist the temptation of matching funds.

We think this is only going to fatigue the voters.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - IS BOARD UP TO NO GOOD?

2009-10-06T06:41:00.001-04:00

We understand the Perry School District Board is considering giving a number of their administrators large, long term contracts just as they did with the Treasurer. In these financially difficult times we don't think that is a good idea. We hope the board doesn't follow through. It would not only be a shame, but also a slap in the face to the tax paying public.

We also understand that certain Perry School Board members have attempted to deride the information we print in our blogs. We welcome those members to point to our errors. We suspect we won't hear from these board members because our experience with similar individuals show their type like to work behind the scenes to discredit the messenger rather than having a spirited debate over the facts.

Finally, we received the following blog from one of our more active readers. This blog compares the Perry Treasurers salary and other administration at Perry with administrators in districts Perry Schools like to compare themselves with.

From our reader:

"These are current numbers and do not reflect any increases that the districts might possibly have given, nor does it reflect the huge increase accorded the Perry CFO to be effective August 1, 2010. What it clearly does show is the current comparison of Perry with these 12 other districts. Bear in mind that the 12 districts are the 12 districts the Perry administration and board wanted to be compared to. This is base pay only and does not include benefits, perks, or other compensation.

For those who have a hard time with spread sheets following is a simple analysis:

THE TWELVE SELECTED DISTRICTS

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENTS

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than Bay Village-don't have one.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $6,912 more annually in base pay than Beachwood's Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $5,416 more annually in base pay than Brecksville's Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than Chagrin Falls-don't have one.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $19,651 more annually in base pay than Chardon's Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $16,156 more annually in base pay than Kenston's Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than Kirtland-don't have one.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $8,141 more annually in base pay than Olmsted Falls Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than Orange-don't have one.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than Rocky River-don't have one.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes -$1,179 less annually in base pay than Solon's Asst Super.

Perry's Asst Super currently makes $127,806 more annually in base pay than West Geauga-don't have one.

TREASURER/CFO's

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $26,975 more annually in base pay than Bay Village's Treasurer
.
Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $947 more annually in base pay than Beachwood's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $1,814 more annually in base pay than Brecksville's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $19,181 more annually in base pay than Chagrin Fall's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $41,268 more annually in base pay than Chardon's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $27,339 more annually in base pay than Kenston's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $29,671 more annually in base pay than Kirtland's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $39,815 more annually in base pay than Olmsted Fall's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $6,031 more annually in base pay than Orange's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $12,928 more annually in base pay than Rocky River's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $12,820 more annually in base pay than Solon's Treasurer.

Perry's Treasurer/CFO currently makes $67,186 more annually in base pay than West Geauga's Treasurer."

Thanks to our reader. As always you can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT - BUSING: DID COURT MAKE RIGHT DECISION?

2009-10-04T18:30:00.003-04:00

We don't know - but here is what we do know.

Judge Lucci of the Lake County Common Pleas Court ruled Friday on the Madison Bus Driver Union (OAPSE) law suit by dismissing the claims against the Madison School District and their administrators.

If anyone has a copy of the ruling please forward it to our attention at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

We don't know all the details but do understand that there may have been tactical errors in the OAPSE union lawsuit. The News-Herald quoting Judge Lucci's ruling indicated that the former bus drivers only recourse was to follow grievance procedures in their contract for unfair labor practices under the Ohio Revised Code.

Unfortunately for these former bus drivers given the time frame that has elapsed it is most likely too late to file a grievance. This truly is a shame and these individuals should have had their grievance heard on the merits rather than having their case dismissed with no opportunity to be heard.

The News-Herald article http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/10/03/news/nh1519822.txt is as follows:

"Court makes decision on Madison bus union
Published: Saturday, October 3, 2009

By Sandra M. Klepach SKlepach@News-Herald.com

In a sweeping ruling Friday, Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Eugene Lucci dismissed a lawsuit filed last year against Madison School Board, two district administrators and Community Bus Services of Youngstown, hired to staff and operate the district's bus garage.

Lucci denied jurisdiction over three of the claims, though, including the prominent breach of contract claim.

Attorneys for the Ohio Association Public School Employees Local 238 filed the suit July 30, 2008, on behalf of 37 school bus drivers, bus assistants and school bus mechanics who lost their jobs when the district privatized its garage at a savings of $1.5 million over five years.

OAPSE Field Representative Lloyd Rains did not respond to a message left on his cell phone Friday afternoon.

The suit alleged that the board breached its collective bargaining agreement with OAPSE — lasting July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2008 — when it voted June 17, 2008, to hire CBS effective July 1, 2008.The decision was made five days before the union's contract expired and new negotiations could be scheduled, OAPSE claimed. Laid-off employees were notified June 19 "for reasons of economy and efficiency" and told they could reapply through CBS.The suit asked for an injunction to stop and void the CBS contract, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

It named the school board, CBS, former Superintendent James Herrholtz, Assistant Superintendent Matthew Chojnacki, and the state of Ohio as defendants.

The state was named because the lawsuit claimed certain parts of House Bill 66, enacted in 2006, are unconstitutional because they can be used to interfere with contracts.Oral arguments were heard Sept. 25.

Lucci found that the board achieved both economy and efficiency in hiring CBS.However, he denied jurisdiction to rule on the "breach of contract" claim, the "refusal to bargain, discrimination, and violation of public policy" claim, and whether a certain rule applies to unions wherein transportation service employees are included with other employee classifications."

The plaintiffs' only means of recourse is to follow the grievance procedures laid out in the (collective bargaining agreement) and in (Ohio Revised Code) 4117 (regarding unfair labor practices." Judge Lucci wrote.

Chojnacki, School Board President Jacqueline Azbill and CBS President Terrence Thomas also couldn't be reached Friday afternoon. But current Superintendent Roger Goudy said it's good to have the suit behind them."This is hopefully going to start the healing process, because these things are never healthy for either side," he said. "It's one of those things unfortunately that got to this point, and we'll hopefully all move on together from here and build a better school district."

Goudy did not know the cost of the district's legal defense against the suit."

STATE OF OHIO - BUDGET CHANGES/EDUCATION OFFICIALS LOBBYING?

2009-10-03T13:15:00.004-04:00

The educational "professionals" special interest groups are already at it arguing for their piece of the pie!

Governor Strickland asked for a worse case analysis from the ODE on Monday. On Tuesday State Superintendent Delisle gave her analysis in an e-mail to local superintendents trying to make the case of how "devastating" additional cuts would be. Friday morning Governor Strickland proposed what many state legislators believe to be an increase in taxes or as the Governor terms it a rollback of the final year of income tax rate reductions that were effective January 1, 2009.

Now the special interest groups run by former school administrators and funded with your dollars through membership dues that many of the local, city and exempted village school districts pay have begun to lobby to ensure that education doesn't have to take a cut. We have attached a sample letter from the Ohio Association of School Business Officials to members and urged them to "act now and contact legislators."

We question whether it is fair that the educational community wants no decreases in funding from the state while the Governor has reduced or held steady the wages of many state employees, and has also reduced their numbers. Every state agency has been impacted but our educational community refuses to do their part in helping the Governor solve this problem.

This is pathetic and one of the reasons why local levies for new money across the state are difficult to pass.

The following is the sample letter from the Ohio Association of School Business Officials:

"Dear Representative (or Senator)_______,

We in the _______ School District are alarmed by the latest news about the state budget crisis.

This latest crisis was caused by the court action delaying the installation of Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) which was to yield the necessary revenue to maintain a balanced state budget. We are concerned that school districts could be harmed even during this school year if no replacement revenue is found. The Governor has proposed delaying the final phase-in of the personal income tax to resolve the budget deficit. We urge you as a legislator representing this school district to work with your colleagues in the legislature to support the governor’s proposal to resolve this issue or develop an alternative resolution that avoids reductions in school funding.

To the _______ School District, the loss could be as much as ___ yet in this fiscal year. This would mean [insert examples of layoffs, reduction of programs, etc].

The students in our district and our community would suffer greatly if this loss occurs. As state leaders, we are counting on you to find a revenue source that would replace the VLT funds to avoid this devastation.

We appreciate the priority on education you have already demonstrated in this budget. Please work to maintain that commitment and solve this crisis as soon as possible."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PAINESVILLE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT - WERE BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION UNFAIR TO STUDENTS, PARENTS AND PARAPROFESSIONALS?

2009-09-30T20:20:00.005-04:00

The News-Herald reported today that the "Painesville [City] School Board will cut 15 classified positions at a special meeting early this morning, according to Superintendent Michael Hanlon, who spent Tuesday notifying those who might be affected in person. The move will eliminate 12 paraprofessional positions, two monitor positions and one custodial position, Hanlon said. Resulting savings will depend on circumstances to come, he said. 'Overall in the classified bargaining unit we're talking about maybe an 8 percent reduction, somewhere in that range,' Hanlon said."

We question why Painesville City Schools are making this move 1 month into the new school year? Why instead weren't these decisions made last spring so the district could plan for and adjust to these moves over the summer break?

One possible answer is that the school district had not yet completed negotiating their contract with the OAPSE union by that time. While we don't know what precipitated this move, if the board and administration knew of these reductions in force at that time could this be construed as "bad faith" on part of the school district administration and board?

We are even more surprised given that Painesville City Schools 5 year forecast shows a $4.5 million dollar reserve going into this year.

Paraprofessionals, or teachers aides, assist classrooms teachers in all kinds of tasks. Most of the 12 paraprofessionals were probably involved with special needs children making this move devastating to the parents with children on individual educational plans (IEP's), which often require the services of an aide as part of their program.

The News-Herald also reported that "The district's contract with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees calls for the reduction process to take 30 days. 'We respect each of the individuals involved in this, and so wherever possible we want to provide that 30-day implementation window,' Hanlon said. The news surprised OAPSE Regional Director Lloyd Rains Tuesday afternoon. 'We are reviewing the options and having further discussion with the district on the rationale,' he said. The district successfully bargained with OAPSE in June, prior to approval of the new state budget, and with its Painesville City Teachers Association in September, after the announcement.'"

While Dr. Hanlon claims he respects each of these individuals and therefore was providing the 30-days, we suspect the OAPSE union contract requires the process to proceed this way. We believe if Dr. Hanlon truly respected these individuals he would have made this move months ago when these individuals had a chance to be hired by another district. Given these circumstances we understand VERY CLEARLY why OAPSE Regional Director Lloyd Rains was surprised.

Finally, the News Herald reported Hanlon stated ""Clearly those factors that came out as a result of the state budget changed some of the economic landscape," Hanlon said."We need to ensure we have the resources necessary to meet the obligations of those contracts. That, compounded with some of the changes in House Bill 1 in terms of the nature of our funding and other factors — we have a need to balance that budget over the next two years.""

Again we question Dr. Hanlon's motives. While it is easy to blame this on the state budget, he should have known what the budget was going to be in July. If it was a result of the state budget then why weren't these changes made before the beginning of the school year?

We have rated Painesville City Schools as the worst district in Lake County - these types of moves by the district only continue to reaffirm our belief in our rating!

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

OHIO'S STATE BUDGET PROBLEMS - HOW WILL IT AFFECT EDUCATION?

2009-09-29T19:47:00.004-04:00

The State of Ohio Supreme Court ruled on September 21st that Governor Strickland's plans for installation of video lottery terminals at Ohio's horse racing tracks was subject to a state vote or referendum. This will affect about $1 billion dollars of the State budget passed in July of this year.

As a result the Governor is asking state agencies to come up with cuts that will be made in anticipation of the revenue shortfalls. As a result, this afternoon State Department of Education Superintendent Deb Delisle sent the e-mail below to Ohio school superintendents .

This e-mail outlines some of the problems facing the State as well as Department of Education - and the house of cards the State of Ohio's budget has been built on. Clearly from Delisle's e-mail one can see first hand the unsustainability in the State's current budget. Ohio is "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Obviously, Delisle also appears to be prepping the local superintendents for media inquiries. Her e-mail is as follows:

"Good afternoon.

As I mentioned to you in Monday’s weekly update, the state budget is of concern due to the Ohio Supreme Court ruling from Sept. 21, 2009 that stated that the installation of Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) at Ohio’s horse-race tracks is subject to referendum. The referendum cannot appear on the ballot until November 2010.

House Bill 1, the state budget bill, included VLTs as an extension of the Ohio Lottery; as such, the proceeds from VLTs would only be able to be used for education. The biennial budget for K-12 education in H.B. 1 included $851 million in revenues from VLTs. Since the ruling, we have received many questions about the impact the loss of those funds might potentially have on the budget for education in Ohio.

Yesterday, Governor Ted Strickland’s Office asked ODE to provide information about how potential additional reductions would affect K-12 funding. The Governor’s Office is releasing the information ODE provided to the media shortly, and I want to be certain you have access to it, should you receive any inquiries.

I do want to stress that, very similar to prior scenario building during the budget development process, these figures and examples are being used to DEMONSTRATE how devastating any additional reductions would be to education. NO decisions have been made about altering the education budget. ODE has developed information for two scenarios.

One scenario is based on ODE receiving a waiver from meeting maintenance of effort (MOE) and use of funds criteria from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE). This would allow ODE to shift State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF) from FY11 to FY10. Shifting funds would minimize the impact of the revenue loss in FY10, but would require the entire loss of revenue to be made up in FY11.

The other scenario assumes that USDOE does not grant a waiver to ODE. This would result in not only the loss of VLT revenue, but could also cause the loss of SFSF appropriated for both ODE and the Board of Regents as the state would not be able to meet its obligations for MOE and use of funds. The reductions would then have to be split over both years of the biennium.

Without a waiver from the USDOE losing both the VLT and SFSF funding results in a shortfall of $2.3 billion. Based on the simulations released earlier this month, a 10.31% reduction in districts’ FY 2010 payments and 15.74% in FY 2011 payments would be necessary. In the scenario, reductions have been applied at these percentages across the board. We have only provided estimates for traditional districts, but reductions at the same levels for community schools are assumed.

We do not know if the USDOE would grant a waiver of these particular requirements and allow us to remain eligible to receive SFSF funds.

Click here to visit Education Reform on the ODE Web and view the funding adjustment under this scenario. (Actually this link takes you to the page where both scenarios are available.)

With a waiver from the USDOE - If ODE were granted a waiver for meeting MOE and use of funds criteria by the USDOE, reductions would be shifted to affect FY11 only. Under this scenario, $285.2 million which has already been included in the FY11 K-12 education budget would have to be shifted to fill the shortfall in FY10. The shift in funds would be necessary because USDOE guidance for the use of SFSF funds requires any shortfalls in FY10 to be addressed before applying funds to shortfalls in FY11. This avoids a deficit in FY10, but means that the full impact of the cuts would need to be absorbed in FY11 and shared by both K-12 education and the Board of Regents.

Reductions to districts would be in the amount of $654.2 million, or an across-the-board reduction of 10.06% per district in FY11. This also results in a budget shortfall for the Board of Regents of $197.3million.

For the purposes of this exercise, Joint Vocational Schools are not included in either reduction scenario. Any further reduction to the JVS budget would put an additional $44 million in federal Perkins grant funds at risk.

Additionally, neither of these scenarios can fully account for the implications these reductions might have at the local level. For example, in order to preserve Title I or IDEA funds (both regular and stimulus) a district may need to divert resources to those programs.We understand that the uncertainty of the last year has been difficult for you as planning budgets and making important decisions about your finances have been thrown into flux by issues with the state budget.

The current situation definitely adds to the angst we all feel. Let me reiterate that NO decisions have been made about education funding. Please understand that we are doing everything we can at ODE to assist you through these tough financial times.I will keep you informed as soon as ODE receives any information."

Let us have your thoughts. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN - GOOD FOR LAKE COUNTY?

2009-09-27T09:43:00.004-04:00

The Columbus Dispatch has reported Friday http://blog.dispatch.com/dailybriefing/2009/09/senator_wants_allday_k_delay.shtml#more that "The chairman of the Senate Education Committee is pushing to delay Gov. Ted Strickland’s requirement that districts offer all-day kindergarten starting next school year. Under the two-year budget passed in mid-July, all school districts, regardless of test scores or statewide ratings, must offer all-day kindergarten beginning in the fall of 2010, unless they get a waiver from the Ohio Department of Education. Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, introduced a bill this week that would delay that requirement for one year."

We believe this is misguided. The bills sponsor Senator Cates was quoted in the article as saying “It’s basically giving us some breathing room and hopefully we’ll have some better picture of where we’re focused on resources going into that second year...It was going to become a burden to figure out how to do this.”

Here is the rub. The Dispatch says "A number of school district officials have raised concerns that they do not have the money to hire additional kindergarten teachers nor the space to house the necessary classrooms. Schools are going to have a tough time just doing what they’re doing now." according to Cates.

This is the same political rhetoric that is always used. We don't have the money. That is nonsense at least in Northeast Ohio and Lake County in particular. Over the last decade, most of the school districts in Lake County have experienced unprecedented revenue growth. These districts could in many cases very easily reorganize and find ways to support Governor Strickland's all day kindergarten initiative.

The Dispatch reports that "The bill is drawing fire from a Cleveland-based nonprofit education advocacy group, which noted today that schools can not only get a waiver for the 2010-11 school year, they can also partner with local child care centers to accommodate kindergarten classrooms if space is limited. 'Why should we delay the full-day kindergarten implementation for the entire state if many districts are willing and able to implement this change in 2011?' said Katie Kelly, director of GroundWork. 'Districts who are truly not able to meet that deadline should apply for a waiver, or form new partnerships with the child care providers in their districts.'"

We agree!

Unfortunately if you listen to many of educational leaders whine you will get nothing done - which is a large part of the reason the U.S. and Ohio's educational system is where it is.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - HIGHEST COSTS (BY FAR) FOR ALL LAKE COUNTY SCHOOLS!

2009-09-26T16:24:00.004-04:00

We received the following blog from a reader in Perry. This only demonstrates, in our opinion, how out of touch the current school board in Perry truly is. We agree with our reader that the taxpayers from Perry SHOULD NOT BE HAPPY!

"The c.a.r.e committee recently mentioned the spread between what it cost to educate a youngster in Perry as opposed to the other 8 Lake County districts, but didn't put numbers out to show just how bad this disparity is.

The monetary numbers for school years 2008/2009 will not be released by the state until the end of October, but the latest available numbers were taken from each district's required financial and forecast statement to the state at the end of October 2008 which encompassed school years 2007/2008.

Total enrollment combined at the other eight districts was 30,876.

Grand total all expenditures combined at the other eight districts including monies into 'slush' funds was $309,714,859.

That comes to $10,031 for each student to have been educated at the other eight districts in Lake County.

For Perry, total enrollment was 1,886.

For Perry, total expenditures were $29,593,193 including monies into their slush fund.

That comes to $15,691 for each student to have been educated in Perry.

That is a difference of $5,660 more for each youngster to have received their education in the Perry District in school year 2007/2008. A follow up to this will be provided for school year 2008/2009 once the information is released by the state at the end of October.

Did all this money help Perry's kids excel educationally, or did it, and does it, primarily enrich the district's administrators? The taxpayers eventually will have to stop what is going on. One can only hope they wake up soon."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES' WEBSITES

2009-09-25T07:37:00.002-04:00

We just learned that Rich or Richard Radcliffe who is running for the Riverside School Board has a web site at http://www.radcliffe4schoolboard.webs.com/.

If anyone has information on other candidates' websites who are running for the Riverside Local School Board in Painesville, Ohio, or for any other school district in Lake County, Ohio in contested board races we'd like to know - so we can let you know where to find their web sites so you might make an informed decision in November.

As always contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SUBPOENA'S SCHOOL EMPLOYEES

2009-09-25T05:09:00.003-04:00

The News-Herald reported yesterday that the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) subpoena'd information from the Kirtland Schools. We understand the ODE may be looking deeper and may have subpoena'd a number of individuals - at least one currently working at the Lake County Educational Service Center (LCESC).

Kudos to the ODE in this particular instance. We believe the ODE hasn't always scrutinized such matters and we are glad in this case they don't appear to be turning a blind eye.

A former Kirtland employee, is quoted in the article that follows, indicating he didn't believe things were always done in the best interests of the children. This is very disconcerting.

We hope this is fully investigated on all levels to better understand why this matter couldn't have been reported earlier by school employees (who apparently were aware) rather than having to wait what appears to be years until a parent group finally filed a complaint.

We also wonder why a number of these employees who work at the Kirtland School District are employeed by the Lake County Educational Service Center - both the current and former special education director - instead of Kirtland directly hiring these individuals?

Also did this matter not get reported because school district employees are a tight community and protect their own, employees who knew were scared, or simply because the allegations lacked merit? We don't know - but if any children were denied an appropriate education - this would indeed be very unfortunate and appropriate steps need to be taken.

We copy the article in its entirety so you can form your own judgment.

"By Sandra M. Klepach
SKlepach@News-Herald.com

At least one subpoena has been issued by the Ohio Department of Education's Office of Professional Conduct in response to complaints filed in mid-July by a group of Kirtland parents and guardians.

School Board Member Julie Sohngen said a letter delivered to the board office Tuesday implores her to send related documentation to Columbus by early October.

"I'm not being asked to come to Columbus; they just wanted documentation, basically," she said.

"To me it's just an ongoing investigation, and they're just gathering more data to try to figure out what's going on."

Superintendent Stan Lipinski declined to comment on the subpoena or whether anyone else in the district had received one.

"Because this investigation could be the subject of future litigation, it would be inappropriate for myself or anyone within the School District to make any comments at this time," he said.

"That is the only way to do these things fairly, honestly and professionally."

The Office of Professional Conduct only comments on probes that result in discipline, so it wouldn't reveal which of the four submitted complaints have called for subpoenas.

Filed by 16 parents and guardians, the complaints claim that School Board President Robert Schenosky received tutoring services for his child last school year while two eligible children were denied, and that the district deliberately violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Schenosky denies any wrongdoing, and a related board investigation was not formally concluded, Sohngen said.

What is known is a state investigator spent Aug. 25 and 26 in Kirtland, interviewing two current or former board members, including Sohngen, five current or former educators, and 10 parents or guardians, said Tom Christopher, a complaint signatory and co-chair of the Kirtland Education Council.

Among them, Harry Siskind, 13-year principal of Kirtland Middle School who retired in June 2007, alleges that Lipinski told administrators to "work out of students' IEP's" inclusion services — the step between a separate classroom and completely unaided inclusion — going into the 2004-05 school year, then cut special needs instructional staff.

An IEP, or individualized education program, is a unique list of education goals and plans for a child with learning difficulties.

Now director of special services at Lake County Educational Service Center, Siskind had not received a subpoena by Wednesday morning, his wife said. But "if I'm subpoenaed to make statements of course I will," he said. "Unfortunately at times things were done that were not in the best interest of the students. I got a lot of facts."

What it means

Subpoenas don't verify any particular stage of an investigation, ODE spokesman Scott Blake said.

"We have pretty broad subpoena power, so we can subpoena for interviews, for hearings, for records," Blake said. "It's one of the tools we have for our investigative process. Do we always use them? Well no, sometimes we call someone and say, 'We want to talk to you,' and they come. If we call someone and they won't come, or we really want their records, then we may use a subpoena."

Sohngen said she will not violate students' privacy laws, and has consulted her own attorney for good measure.

"I want the state to get the information they need to help us figure out how to do things better, or if we're not doing things right tell us how to fix them, but I don't want to violate anyone's privacy," she said.

Also, recipients of the parents' complaints, the Ohio Ethics Commission cannot predict its investigation timeline, but the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened a case Aug. 12 into allegations of a five-year violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

Christopher said evidence clearly proves the administration failed to meet these responsibilities for its roughly 140 students with disabilities.

"More concerning is the evidence which suggests these breaches were willful and deliberate," he said. "As a Kirtland business owner, taxpayer and resident, I am simply appalled at what has come out and feel very badly for these families. I cannot imagine how it got this bad. Where was the oversight? It is time to fix this and do right by the disabled children of Kirtland."

Kirtland School Board holds its next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in the high school LGI room. Kirtland Education Council, a parent advocacy group not directly affiliated with the complaints, meets at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Old South Church United Church of Christ, 9802 Chillicothe Road. The public is welcome to both meetings."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - TREASURER'S CONTRACT RAISES EYEBROWS!

2009-09-24T18:50:00.004-04:00

We told you earlier about the large contract the Perry School Board recently gave to their Treasurer, Mr. Galante. The following is a comment sent to us from a Perry resident. We applaud this resident for the eye opening research he has done.

Our only comment is that Perry Schools appear to be gaming the system by comparing themselves with most of these school districts. Educationally they are not in the same league.

The blog is as follows:

"Nine of the twelve districts the Perry administration, and board, chose to be compared with earned the states highest educational honor for the 2008/2009 school year - "Excellent with Distinction."

Following is the current average annual teacher base salary in each of these nine districts: Bay Village $64,463; Beachwood $76,763; Brecksville $73,240; Chagrin Falls $59,455; Olmsted Falls $64,669; Orange $78,625; Rocky River $67,535; Solon $71,866; West Geauga $59,468. MRS. SINES: ALL NUMBERS ARE FROM THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION UNDER TEACHER DATA.

Perry's teachers current annual base salary average is $58,850, therefore:

Perry's teachers average $5,613 less than Bay Village teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $17,913 less than Beachwood teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $14,390 less than Brecksville teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $605 less than Chagrin Falls teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $5,819 less than Olmsted Falls teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $19,775 less than Orange teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $8,685 less than Rocky River teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $13,016 less than Solon teachers in annual base salary.

Perry's teachers average $618 less than West Geauga teachers in annual base salary.

IN SUMMARY, PERRY"S TEACHERS AVERAGE $9,604 LESS ON AVERAGE IN ANNUAL BASE SALARY THAN THESE NINE DISTRICTS.

CLOSER TO HOME, THE TWO DISTRICTS IN LAKE COUNTY THAT WERE RATED "EXCELLENT WITH DISTINCTION" BY THE STATE - WILLOUGHBY/EASTLAKE AND MENTOR PAID THEIR TEACHERS $62,583, AND $65,667 RESPECTIVELY IN ANNUAL BASE SALARY. PERRY"S TEACHERS AVERAGED $5,273 LESS THAN THE AVERAGE OF THESE TWO LAKE COUNTY DISTRICTS.

WITH BENEFITS ADDED ON THE NINE AVERAGE IS $92,413 @ 35% BENEFITS FACTOR.
WITH BENEFITS ADDED ON PERRY"S AVERAGE IS $82,390 @ 40% BENEFITS FACTOR.

IF I CORRECTLY UNDERSTAND THE ENORMITY OF MR. GALANTE"S NEW CONTRACT THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE DISTRICT IN THE ENTIRE STATE THAT PAYS THEIR TREASURER/CFO MORE THAN MR. GALANTE - CLEVELAND. WAY TO GO PERRY SCHOOL BOARD.

Warren Felder"

Thanks Mr. Felder, as always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.
________________________________________________________________________________________

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - TREASURER GALANTE'S NEW CONTRACT

2009-09-24T18:41:00.000-04:00

We are hearing rumblings in the Perry community about the new treasurer contract signed by the Perry School Board with Mr. Galante. We feel this contract was financially irresponsible. We are attaching it for your review - as always give us your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

Perry School's Treasurer Contract (Galante) 2009, LAKE COUNTY, OHIO

OHIO SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION - PULLING THE WOOL OVER THE PUBLIC'S EYES?

2009-09-24T05:12:00.007-04:00

The following is an e-mail received by various school board members in Ohio whose schools are members of the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA). This e-mail was given to us by a reader. The e-mail offers letter writing support to newspapers to support the school districts' around the state in attempting to pass tax levies this fall.

In reading the e-mail we believe the OSBA is offering unconditional support for passage of any tax levies around the state. Our reading of this e-mail (and we summarize our understanding) is that the districts need to tell the OSBA what they want the OSBA to say in a letter and they will then send such a letter to the local newspaper apparently with no questions asked supporting the local school district's levy. Presumably the newspapers won't understand this is what we believe to be a "set up".

You the taxpayer are paying for this lobbying through the membership dues your school district pays to the OSBA - remember the OSBA is funded by public school districts and not by private individuals.

One only has to look at the OSBA to understand where they are coming from. The OSBA hires many ex-school district administrators so we believe the OSBA is interested in keeping the tax money flowing regardless of whether any of these individual tax levies are in the public's interest or not.

Hopefully the newspapers around Ohio don't fall for this and print these letters from the OSBA.

We print the OSBA e-mail below in its entirety so you can form your own judgment.

"For many school districts, the passage of a tax issue this November is critical to their success. OSBA is offering its support to any member district on the Nov. 3 ballot.

If you would like OSBA to write and submit a personalized letter to the editor to your local newspaper, please send an e-mail to Scott Ebright, OSBA deputy director of communication services . Include a paragraph or two describing the kind of levy (renewal, bond issue, phase-in operating, etc), the main talking points of the campaign and need for the levy, e-mail addresses or fax numbers where you would want the letter to be sent, and submission deadlines. Please send any electronic files of levy materials as well. In the letter, we will reinforce your campaign’s message.

To meet your local newspapers’ election letters to the editor policies, please submit your information by Oct. 2, 2009.

Rick Lewis, CAE
Executive Director
Ohio School Boards Association8050 N. High Street, Suite 100Columbus, OH 43235(614) 540-4000"

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - HIGH ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS?

2009-09-20T20:48:00.005-04:00

The Perry School District doesn't get it - today is not the time to let costs get out of hand. We understand the Perry School Board just approved an outrageous contract for their Treasurer. Whats more bothersome is that his contract doesn't expire until 2010 - the school board didn't need to enter into this contract until the new board is in place next year.

We question whether this was done due to the fiscally conservative nature of 1 or 2 of the new board members and the fear that this wouldn't be approved after the new board is seated without a fight. What makes this more bothersome is that the contract was renewed for 5 years - sad but we'll talk about this more in a subsequent blog. We are trying to obtain a copy of the Treasurer's contract to make available to our readers.

We received the following from one of our readers on Perry's administrative overhead costs, and a comparison of Perry Schools with other high spending districts. Clearly when it comes to spending Perry appears to be tops - unfortunately for the taxpayers.

"Further on the outlandish Perry Administrative overhead:

A number of weeks ago all districts were required to file a report with ODE called "Average Salary of All School Personnel (District)," for this past school year.

In a comparison with Chagrin Falls, one of the twelve districts the Perry administration and board wanted to be compared to, had 34 more students enrolled than Perry this past school year. Under the category 'Official/Administrative,' further proof, if needed, is established of runaway administrative overhead in Perry.

Chagrin Falls had 10 people in this administrative category costing a total of $922,040 in base salaries for the year. Adding in their benefits percentage of 32% Chagrin Falls total in this category was $1,217,093

Perry had 14 people in this administrative category costing a total of $1,271,886 in base salaries for the year - $349,846 more - 38% greater. Adding in Perry's benefits percentage of 40% Perry's total in this category was - $1,780,640 or $563,547 more than Chagrin Falls spent - 46% more in administrative overhead. This does not include 'perks' for either district.

To put this into a proper perspective Chagrin Falls scored 107.0 on the state's Performance Index - Perry was barely over 100 at 100.2. Chagrin Falls again qualified for the states highest educational honor - Excellent with Distinction. Perry barely stayed in the Excellent category.

Chagrin Falls does not have an assistant superintendent. Neither do five of the other districts Perry chose to be compared with. Four of these five districts - Bay Village, Orange, Rocky River, and West Geauga also received the 'Excellent with Distinction' honor without an assistant superintendent. How come?

$563,547 isn't chump change, and almost falling into the 'effective' range educationally isn't a blue ribbon winner. All this executive cost, for what?"

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

BEST (AND WORST) SCHOOLS IN LAKE COUNTY, OHIO

2009-09-14T06:11:00.009-04:00

Its been about 3 weeks since report cards were released by the State Department of Education.

For parents and others looking to move into or within Lake County, we have compiled a list of what we believe are the best and worst school districts in the Lake County - the top school districts and those less desirable. If you want good schools for your children or you believe that property values are improved by having good school systems - these are the school districts to look at IN THIS ORDER in Lake County, Ohio.

This list is not only based on the recent state report card but a number of other factors as well. These factors include whether the district has improved or stagnated over recent years with respect to their scores on the state report card, bullying/teacher problems, financial costs, administration's managerial ability, public sentiment in the district, and the schools support for all students public/private in the district.

Our list is as follows from best to worst (top school districts to those less desirable):

1. WILLOUGHBY-EASTLAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT
2. MENTOR EXEMPTED VILLAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT
3. KIRTLAND LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
4. FAIRPORT HARBOR SCHOOL DISTRICT
5. WICKLIFFE SCHOOL DISTRICT
6. PERRY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
7. MADISON LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
8. RIVERSIDE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
9. PAINESVILLE CITY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Here's why:

No. 1. WILLOUGHBY-EASTLAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT

We can only compliment this district. To start with the district achieved Excellent with distinction on their state report card. Their administration is thoroughly professional. The district encountered a number of tough situations with students and dealt with them in a well trained professional manner.

No. 2. MENTOR EXEMPTED VILLAGE SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district also achieved Excellent with distinction on their state report card. Superintendent Hoynes likewise is a professional. The district goes the extra mile with private school students from NDCL and Lake Catholic, we commend them for this forward looking strategy and believe it pays dividends for all residents. The district has, however, received a black eye regarding a number of incidents of teacher abuse of students and an alleged bullying issue, and dropped to number 2 in our eyes because of this. We hope these types of issues are eliminated.

No. 3. KIRTLAND LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district was rated as Excellent on their state report card. This district has been professionally managed in the past, however, they have also recently received a black eye regarding their handling of special education students. We are also troubled that this district like other districts in the county contract their special education administrators through the Lake County ESC rather than hire them directly through the district.

No. 4. FAIRPORT HARBOR SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district was rated as Effective on their state report card but from a positive standpoint this district improved from last year. This is commendable and why we rate them as high as we do. Parents and taxpayers want school districts that are moving in the right direction.

No. 5. WICKLIFFE SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district was rated as Effective on their state report card but also improved from last year. This is commendable. In recent months the district has had a number of high profile missteps such as for example hiring an administrator and letting him go a couple of days later. This particular misstep could have been eliminated if proper due diligence was performed prior to making the hire. We believe this district will continue to improve.

No. 6. PERRY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

While this school district was again rated as Excellent, they only made 25 of 30 of the state indicators - they slipped. This district, we believe, also has poor financial controls leading to the highest cost per student in Lake County by a significant margin. This district faces great uncertainty in future years if controls are not put in place. Currently the state makes up a significant portion of these costs but these state payments are scheduled to be decreased over a number of years. If costs ARE NOT REDUCED significant tax increases will be necessary making buying a home in this district a financial uncertainty.

No. 7 MADISON LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

This school district was rated as Effective. This is not a district of choice. While the district has some of the lowest tax costs per student in Lake County, a series of missteps over a number of years have led to voter distrust. Currently 9 individuals are running for 3 positions on the Madison School Board. Only 1 incumbent is running so 2 new board members will be elected. This is good and may lead to some necessary changes.

No. 8 RIVERSIDE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district is also not a district of choice. This school district was again rated as Effective for a third year in a row. The High School/Junior High School is rated as Continuous Improvement - and has been in improvement status for 3 years. The district also was unable to meeting the federal NCLB requirement for AYP.

Clearly from an educational standpoint this district is moving in the wrong direction, which we believe is attributable to the schools administration. Instead of focusing on education over the past year, the administration of this school district has battled private school parents over busing, and fought a Chardon family over attending school in Chardon rather than the Riverside Schools.

This district also has a trust issue as well, the most notable example being the purchase of the County Home in 2005 in the face of the voters defeat of a proposed bond issue of that same year.

This district has had a bullying problem over the past several years and we don't believe they have solved it.

Many of the buildings in the district have not received appropriate maintenance over the years even though the district received tens of millions of tax revenue increases over that same period. This district's five year forecast indicates new tax revenues will be necessary in a mere two years given their projected spending pattern. A combination of poor educational performance, financial controls, and poor management make this district one of the least desirable in Lake County.

10. PAINESVILLE CITY LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

This district received a rating on their state report card of Continuous Improvement. They were listed in the bottom 10% of all school districts in Northeast Ohio - not just Lake County - in performance by the Plain Dealer in the company of such notables as Akron and Cleveland City Schools. This district needs to focus on important matters such as educational improvement and financial controls rather than fighting private school parents over busing. This district needs not only a change in board but likewise administration as well.

We'd like to know what you think? As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

WILL OHIO'S EDUCATION SYSTEM FOLLOW THE PATH THAT CALIFORNIA'S HAS?

2009-09-12T11:56:00.006-04:00

The following is recent commentary we found on the internet written by conservative syndicated columnist George Will. It should make our readers think and wonder will Ohio's elementary and secondary educational system go in this direction? Will Ohio be here in the next 5, 10 or 20 years? Are we next?

By George F. Will Thursday, September 10, 2009

"SAN DIEGO -- Becoming governor next year will be a daunting challenge for California's Republican insurance commissioner, but Steve Poizner has surmounted other obstacles, as when he volunteered to teach without pay in an East San Jose high school. After he sold, for $1 billion, one of the technology companies he founded after moving to California from Texas, and after serving as a White House fellow, he walked into San Jose's school district office, explained that he graduated No. 1 in his class at the University of Texas, earned a Stanford business degree and now wanted to teach American government to high school seniors. A functionary declared: "Nothing you have said qualifies you to be in the classroom."

Undeterred, he placed calls to the district's 12 high school principals. Eleven did not return his calls. The 12th, whose students were mostly from working-class Hispanic families, gave Poizner the opportunity he describes as the hardest, and most rewarding, thing he has ever done.

On his first day it rained, the roof leaked and he probably violated union contracts by moving a trash can to catch the seepage. When some parents -- they were plumbers -- offered to fix a broken water fountain, they were spurned. The education code, by which state legislators micromanage California's thousands of schools at the behest of teachers unions, is, Poizner says, 2,000 pages "and growing rapidly." He is disgusted that more than half of the 600,000 employees in primary and secondary education are not in classrooms. The most "telling statistic," he says, is that in Los Angeles (where one in three school dollars goes to teachers' pensions) 25 percent of public school teachers send their children to private schools. Other signs that tell of California's dystopia are:

Having institutionalized envy in a steeply progressive income tax, California depends on 200,000 wealthy taxpayers for 25 percent of its revenue. The state ranks behind only liberal New York in the number of outward-bound moving vans. More people would flee if they could sell their homes. Between 1990 and 2007, the state lost 26 percent of its factory jobs and 35 percent of its high-tech manufacturing jobs. "Detroit, only with sunshine," says Investor's Business Daily. In Nevada (no personal or corporate income tax; sales taxes lower than California's), a Las Vegas organization lures Californians with a talk titled "California Has Lost Its Mind and Las Vegas Is Providing Psychoanalysis."

California has the lowest debt rating of any state, the fourth-highest unemployment rate (11.9 percent) and its job growth rate since 2000 is almost 20 percent below the national average. Some county and state public safety employees retire at 50 receiving at least 90 percent of their final year's pay, forever. Taxpayers pour more than $3 billion a year into state employee pension funds, 10 times more than they did 10 years ago, and still there are large unfunded liabilities for which taxpayers are liable. More than 5,000 retired state employees' annual pensions exceed $100,000. If public employees did not begin drawing pensions until age 65, California would save half a trillion dollars through 2030.

Between 1997 and 2007, the state workforce, including public school employees, grew 24 percent, to almost 900,000. Government spending has grown 40 percent faster under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger than under his Democratic predecessor. Since 2005, state spending has increased twice as fast as inflation and population. Democrats blocked allowing parents to enroll their children online in state health programs because it might have endangered unionized clerical jobs. As the state prepares to release tens of thousands of felons from prison to comply with a court order and help balance the budget (in 2002, prison guards received a 37 percent raise), it has 19,000 illegal immigrants incarcerated.

Poizner, whose rivals for the Republican nomination include former representative Tom Campbell and former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, expects to benefit from the electorate's mood swings. In 2003, it soured on Gray Davis, the archetypal political lifer (he was Gov. Jerry Brown's chief of staff), replacing him with Schwarzenegger, who then was the muscular amateur and who now is the incredible shrinking action hero. Poizner thinks California's dialectic of disgust will elevate him -- a slight, bespectacled entrepreneur who is the only Republican other than Schwarzenegger to be elected statewide since 1994. Getting a state sickened by multiple toxic policies to elect someone whose name sounds like poison may be difficult, but perhaps not more so than getting to teach, unpaid, in East San Jose."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - HIGH ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS?

2009-09-10T06:26:00.001-04:00

We received the following blog from one of our readers in the Perry School District. We thank our reader for the time and effort he has made to pull together these facts and figures.

"In reviewing the educational performance ratings of the Perry School District for this past school year one can only wonder what does the Perry administration, and the school board, spend our money on?

From posted results by the state it sure looks like education is being short changed. The campus is pretty, and the sports complex gleams, which I guess justifies the fact that grades in school grades three through ten went down in every single category this past school year, except for 4th grade math (no change), 7th grade math, and 10th grade social studies.

Most of the Perry district's spending isn't going into instruction, because during the tenure of this administration and board, the district only averaged 46.8 cents of every dollar spent going into instruction. The state average for all 614 districts during the same period of time (four years) is 55.5 cents of every dollar spent getting into instruction. The top educational districts in the state try to get as close to 60 cents as they can, of every dollar they spend, into their classrooms. Example: Solon, one of the twelve area districts Perry chose to be compared to, and the number one district in the recent Plain Dealer Ohio Report Card listing, has increased the amount of money into their classrooms each of the same four years - 58.1 cents; 58.4 cents; 58.6 cents; and 59.2 cents of every dollar Solon spends gets into their classrooms.

Well, one of the places it goes in Perry is exorbitant, out of the ball park, administrative overhead. You know like salaries, benefits, perks, credit cards, expensive trips, and positions and people not needed, etc. Examples of this excessiveness is a comparison of what it costs per pupil to support school district administrations. The state average during this board and administration's tenure is an average of $1,175, each year per pupil, to support administrative overhead. Solon, for the same four years, their average is below the states at $1,140 for each student to support their administration.

For Perry, over the same period of time, it cost each Perry student an average of $1,710,each year, to fund their administration. That's 46% more than the state average and 50% more than the Solon average. What is all this expensive administrative overhead in the Perry district buying for the students and the tax paying stakeholders?

To paraphrase 'Cool Hand Luke,' "What we have here is a major disconnect."

Warren Felder"

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

ELIMINATE THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP - STOP ADMINISTERING THE TESTS!

2009-09-08T20:47:00.004-04:00

We couldn't say it better. The State of Ohio Education Blog, http://www.stateofohioeducation.com/ stated:

"Contained in the recent budget, HB1, Governor Strickland and a majority of the Ohio House and Senate signed off on eliminating the already limited testing of social studies standards because it costs too much. Seriously?

It costs too much to do any testing of student mastery of social studies minimum standards until high school? It must be okay to eliminate these tests because Ohio students have generally mastered social studies content?

Wait a minute. That's not right. Ohio test results from grades five and eight social studies assessments are among the lowest of the more than two dozen state achievement indicators.

I guess Ohio found an effective (and cost efficient) way to address unacceptably low student achievement and eliminate the achievement gap: stopping administering tests."

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

"[OHIO] SCHOOL FUNDING AIN'T FIXED?"

2009-09-07T12:52:00.008-04:00

According to Mr. Vaccariello, Treasurer at the Riverside Local School District "school funding ain't fixed."

During the August business meeting of the Riverside School District board of education Mr. Vaccariello claimed he received an e-mail from the local state representative - Riverside's local state representative is Mr. Mark Schneider - saying state funding for education was fixed.

Mr. Vaccariello from his discourse during the last board meeting clearly believes it is not.

Why the diametrically opposed positions?

Maybe because our local state representative believes the funding formula is fair?

Maybe because Mr. Vaccariello wants others (the state) to support Riverside's runaway costs?

Mr. Vaccariello goes on to make the point that there is very little in House Bill 1 and the educational reform just enacted HE LIKES.

Is school funding not fixed - or could Mr. Vaccariello just be complaining?

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - SUPERINTENDENTS SALARY/CONTRACT

2009-08-29T09:23:00.004-04:00

The News-Herald reported on August 10th that "Raises to the base salaries of public school employees hover from 0.5 percent for teachers at West Geauga Schools to 4.7 percent for the Riverside Schools superintendent, according to data collected from the districts."

In other words, the Riverside School Board has awarded Superintendent Jim Kalis the largest salary increase given in Lake and Geauga counties this year, while at the same time the State of Ohio reported what most people we have spoken to believe are poor results for this district on the 2009 state report card. AT $123,000/YEAR PLUS PERKS CLEARLY THIS IS NOT PAY FOR PERFORMANCE!

We are providing you with a copy of Kalis' contract so you can read the details including the other perks. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

Riverside Schools Superintendent Contract - Painesville

PAINESVILLE CITY SCHOOLS - BOTTOM 10% IN NORTHEAST OHIO?

2009-08-27T21:38:00.003-04:00

Only 7 school districts performed worse than Painesville City Schools in Northeast Ohio that were listed by the Plain Dealer.

These included Cleveland Municipal, East Cleveland and Akron.

We'd like to ask our readers if anyone knows what Painesville City School's plan is to improve the education they are delivering.

Clearly whatever they currently are doing is not working.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - 2008/2009 STATE REPORT CARD

2009-08-27T21:02:00.007-04:00

We received the following message:

"Thanks for the work your organization does to raise awareness of problems with local school districts in Lake County.

I live in the Riverside School District and was disappointed when I opened my copy of the Plain Dealer this Wednesday, and learned that our school district was 53rd out of 98 schools listed in the paper on how they performed on the 2008/2009 state report card. That is in the bottom half of all school districts in the Plain Dealer's coverage area.

I worry about my children and how well they will be prepared for college or whatever route they choose, and hope our school district can improve. I believe we all need to get more involved in how our schools are being run.

Many thanks,
Debbie"

We understand! As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

CONGRATULATIONS WILLOUGHBY EASTLAKE AND MENTOR!

2009-08-26T19:34:00.003-04:00

Excellent with distinction!

We hate to say it but we told you so. In April we wrote a blog called East vs. West - http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/04/lake-county-school-districts-east-vs.html. In the blog we spoke about the good AND bad districts in Lake County. We pointed out that those good districts where you want your child educated include Willoughby-Eastlake and Mentor.

The recent state report cards bear this out.

Willoughby-Eastlake Schools - http://www.scribd.com/doc/19092855/WilloughbyEastlake-Schools-State-Report-Card-2009

Mentor Schools - http://www.scribd.com/doc/19092730/Mentor-Schools-State-Report-Card-2009

Citizens of Willoughby-Eastlake and Mentor can be proud. The teachers, administrators, classified employees and boards as well.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - NEW LEADERSHIP NEEDED

2009-08-25T18:32:00.006-04:00

We received the following blog from one of our readers:

"I just read the new school district report cards. Congratulations to all of the school districts that obtained the State ranking of Excellent, especially Newbury and Mayfield. To jump two spots is quiet impressive.

I would be happy if the district I live, Riverside Local School District, was able to teach our 8th graders how to read at a proficient level. How is it possible the 8th grade class only scored 74.3 on the reading portion of the Test. When in 6th grade this same class scored at 86.3 and in 7th grade it scored an 87.4. Why the regression?

I'm concerned with our districts ability to educate these and all of the other children in our district. By the way this same classes writing score went from 89.2 in 7th grade to 75.1 in 8th grade. They were .1% away from failing this section also.

Is our district hiring teachers who are unable to teach these kids?

Is this administration unable to establish a curriculum that will allow these children to grow?

Is the Board to inept to hire good people to educate these kids?

As a parent of the district who has had children move from grade school up through all grades I can attest that it is all of these. And no matter how much money they want the public to throw at it, it will not help what is broke in the district. I believe it is time for new leadership in the Riverside School District.

If we keep the same people in office we will keep getting the same results, an “Effective” educational system.

Hey by the way I understand the Superintendent just got a large raise. I’ll bet you he is glad it is not based on increased test scores (or improved performance). Thanks, _______________"

Thank you. We withheld the writer's name because we are not sure whether he/she still has children in the Riverside School District. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - DR. SAILORS A WELCOME ADDITION

2009-08-24T21:01:00.003-04:00

We received the following congratulatory message in response to our blog on Dr. Sailors becoming a member of the Perry School District Board of Education.

"I am very pleased that Dr. Sailors will become a member of the Perry School Board at the start of the new year, and wish him every success in helping to make the Perry District the top notch educational institution it can be. I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Sailors on several items related to the district, and look forward to a continuation of that relationship.

Warren Felder"

Thank you Mr. Felder - we feel the same way. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

Paineville City School District - Elect New Board Member?

2009-08-23T09:25:00.006-04:00

Three individuals have filed to run for two positions in the November election for Painesville City School Board. Two incumbents Gerald Kalb and Mary Hada, and newcomer Steve Costell.

We have written on a number of occasions about Painesville City School District, and in particular about some of the difficulties that private school parents seem to get from both the Painesville City School Board and the administration over busing that these parents are supposed to receive and is MANDATED by state law.

We know that other than obtaining "boat loads" of state money for new schools - that from both a fiscal as well as educational standpoint this is one of the school districts in Lake County with what we believe are both poor financial controls and performance (as evidenced by their state report card).

We hope to learn more about Costell to understand whether he might bring about the change that WILL be necessary for this school district to improve the education delivered to Painesville City School District students.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - NEW BOARD MEMBERS

2009-08-22T11:20:00.004-04:00

Petitions have been filed and the Perry School District will have two new board members.

Current board members Brewster and Rideout have not filed to be re-elected.

The two new members will begin in January. They are Ashley M. Hacking and Dr. Frank Sailors. While we know very little about Hacking we do know that Dr. Sailors will be a welcome addition.

Dr. Sailors has questioned expenditures not only at Perry but at the Auburn Career Center, and we understand was instrumental in helping ensure that broad sweeping changes be made at that institution.

We applaud Dr. Sailors for stepping forward and look forward to his serving our community. Dr. Sailors is a reasonable, thoughtful, inquisitive type of individual every board of education needs to make sure the community's interests are being served.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

OHIO SCHOOL LIABILITY - BE AWARE!

2009-07-09T06:33:00.000-04:00

Here is information from a legal website, http://nwbullseye.blogspot.com/2009/04/ohio-school-immunity-no-liability-if.html. Think about this when you entrust your children to your local schools.

"There is NO liability in Ohio against a school district if your child is molested, raped, or assaulted on a school bus. It doesn't matter if these school children can't even protect themselves because they're six years old, or are special needs students with a physical or mental disability.

This comes courtesy of a March, 2009 Ohio Supreme Court case known as Doe v. Marlington School District.According to the Court, a school district's liability for the negligent "operation" of a school bus does not include supervision and oversight of the students on the bus.

So here's the bottom line: school districts have blanket immunity no matter what happens on the bus, as long as the driver doesn't negligently crash it. If a school child was repeatedly molested or assaulted, and bus driver knew about it, no liability. If parents complained about an injury or assault to their child and the school district did nothing and it happened again, no liability.

So let's review the shameful breadth of the wall of immunity in Ohio for school districts. If your child is raped or molested in the restroom, locker room, gym, bus, or on a field trip, there is immunity--even if the offending school employee was a convicted child molester, as I wrote about here. And if the school district punishes children by repeatedly sending them to a "seclusion room" where they later hang themselves, no liability under Ohio law, as I wrote about here.T

his is what our Ohio Legislature has done for the protection of Ohio school children. The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld these laws on more than one occasion. It's disappointing to say the least a civilized society that is supposed to be based upon principles of legal responsibility and accountability for your actions. You've heard of the axiom "let the buyer beware?" For Ohio school children, it's becoming "let the youngsters beware.""

As always send us your comments at carecommittee@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - EMPLOYEES ALSO OVERWELMINGLY SUPPORT NEW SUPERINTENDENT!

2009-07-01T05:14:00.000-04:00

We have received a large number of responses from current and past Auburn Career Center employees who overwelmingly support the new superintendent. We didn't receive any negative comments.

What is even more surprising are the number of comments we received in support the steps she has taken to move Auburn towards fiscal responsibility.

To us it appears these employees not only are happy with the current change they realize that it is in everyones' best interest if the financial stability of Auburn is secured.

We appreciate the selfless vision of these employees.

As always continue to send us your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOLS DISTRICTS - MOST INEFFICIENT IN LAKE COUNTY?

2009-06-24T07:45:00.000-04:00

We received this comment from a reader and thank him for the thoughtful comparison. Ask yourself "Why are the costs at Perry SO HIGH?"

The comment is as follows:

"The c.a.r.e. committee on several occasions has suggested that if costs were compared to the 8 Lake County Districts Perry's numbers would be much worse than the comparison with the 12 districts selected by the Perry administration and school board on October 7, 2008, so I did that exercise. The comparison to all 20 districts was done on a total cost per student basis for school year 2007/2008

The grand total of each district's expenditures, including transfers out of general funds, were included. The information was collected from each districts financial statement to the state on October 30, 2008. The enrollment for each district for school year 2007/2008 was pulled from the ODE database. The total cost per student for each district was a simple division of grand total expenditures divided by enrollment.
Example: Mentor expended $92,647,133 last year. Their enrollment was 9,060. Their total cost per student therefore was $10,226.
Perry expended in total $29,593,193 last year. Their enrollment was 1,886. Their total cost per student therefore was $15,691.

Following is a simple analysis comparing Perry to all 20 districts:

THE TWELVE DISTRICTS SELECTED BY THE PERRY ADMINISTRATION AND BOARD

Perry's total cost per student was $5,247 higher than Bay Village

Perry's total cost per student was -$4,813 lower than Beachwood

Perry's total cost per student was $4,900 higher than Brecksville

Perry's total cost per student was $5,102 higher than Chagrin Falls

Perry's total cost per student was $6,245 higher than Chardon

Perry's total cost per student was $5,141 higher than Kenston

Perry's total cost per student was $4,877 higher than Kirtland

Perry's total cost per student was $5,543 higher than Olmsted Falls

Perry's total cost per student was -$2,906 lower than Orange

Perry's total cost per student was $4,885 higher than Rocky River

Perry's total cost per student was $3,993 higher than Solon

Perry's total cost per student was $4,986 higher than West Geauga

Perry on average was $3,600 higher in total cost for each enrolled student than these 12 selected districts.

THE EIGHT LAKE COUNTY DISTRICTS

Perry's total cost per student was $3,895 higher than Wickliffe

Perry's total cost per student was $5,996 higher than Willoughby/Eastlake

Perry's total cost per student was $4,877 higher than Kirtland

Perry's total cost per student was $5,465 higher than Mentor

Perry's total cost per student was $6,750 higher than Fairport Harbor

Perry's total cost per student was $4,300 higher than Painesville City

Perry's total cost per student was $6,834 higher than Riverside

Perry's total cost per student was $5,774 higher than Madison

Perry on average was $5,486 higher in total cost for each enrolled student than these 8 Lake County Districts

If all of these districts had the same enrollment as Perry's - 1,886 - Perry on average would have outspent the 12 selected districts by $6,789,567 each. As to the Lake County Districts Perry on average would have outspent the 8 by $10,347,270 each. The c.a.r.e. committee is therefore correct in that a financial comparison to the 8 other county districts would show what the analysis does show - Perry's expenditures are much higher when measured against the other 8 Lake County Districts. Of the 614 public school districts in the state of Ohio Perry was number 10 in total cost per student for school year 2007/2008 putting Perry in the top 1.6% for per student expenditure in the entire state."

As always we welcome your input. You can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - EMPLOYEE'S THOUGHTS?

2009-06-24T07:30:00.003-04:00

We'd like to hear from more employees of the Auburn Career Center regarding how they feel about the new superintendent appointed by Auburn's board.

Please send us your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

SUMMER VACATION

2009-06-24T07:27:00.002-04:00

We received a large number of e-mails asking why we have not posted for the last two weeks. Well its because we've been on vacation.

Given it is summer also understand that we will only be posting about 1 time per week. Thanks for your support and reading our blog.

We apologize.

As always send your e-mails and comments to carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

OHIO SENATE'S VERSION OF EDUCATION REFORM

2009-06-10T22:48:00.002-04:00

The Ohio Senate has passed their version of the State budget.

The following is a document, prepared by the Legislative Services Commission, which explains the differences between the current Senate version, the House substitute bill and the original language presented to the legislature in the Executive Budget Proposal by Governor Strickland. The Education portion of the budget begins on page 102.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

CompareDoc-HB1-CC

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Other Research bill ohio

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH IS OVER!

2009-06-10T22:25:00.002-04:00

We learned from a reader that the Auburn Career Center employees learned today that the Auburn school board has voted to select a new superintendent.

The new superintendent is Margaret Lynch!

This is a good decision given that Lynch has already demonstrated a willingness to positively change the district. This much need change likely will be welcomed positively by many.

We will let you know when we learn more. As always we welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - BOARD NEPOTISM?

2009-06-07T21:02:00.003-04:00

A reader wrote about the question raised by another reader about the perceived nepotism at the Riverside School District:

"People shouldn't be surprised by this kind of nepotism. It's been going on forever, and in more districts than not.

Even worse are when board member's offspring wind up with scholarship monies to college, as well as summertime employment at the old school district, and no reason for either. Go further and find offspring on high school football and other sports teams that have no business on these teams but are there because of a parent who is a board member or friend of a board member.

As long as we go on electing board members who have filial ties to their districts this kind of what I believe to be blatant corruption will continue to happen.

You think those two board members whose kids are working in the Riverside district this summer have any sense of wrong doing?

I believe they don't, and what is even more outrageous, is their offspring accepting what, in my opinion, was not earned."

Please contact us with your comments, questions or concerns at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - BOARD NEPOTISM?

2009-06-05T06:16:00.003-04:00

One of our readers wrote to us expressing their disgust with two Riverside Local School District board members children being hired by the district as summer help.

We followed up and confirmed that indeed Tom Trombley's and Pam Johnson's children were hired by Riverside School District as summer help.

Did the district really need this help? Or not?

Regardless this sends the wrong message and further erodes public confidence in this district!

We know that Trombley's children have been hired before.

After learning of this we obtained a copy of the board meeting. When we watched, it appears to us that both of these board members seemed a bit embarrassed when abstaining from the vote.

They should be!

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - MORE ON NEW SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH?

2009-05-27T21:29:00.013-04:00

While there is no news on the new superintendent search at the Auburn Career Center we understand three candidates are under consideration - the current interim superintendent, an assistant superintendent from the Cuyahoga County JVS, and an assistant superintendent from the Lake County ESC.

It has been reported by the News-Herald that the Auburn Career Center will experience a $800,000 shortfall this next year. Further we believe additional money will need to be allocated for repairs and new equipment.

In our opinion, what Auburn needs is a fiscally responsible, education professional who can not only navigate the financial waters but at the same time can provide the teachers and students at Auburn with the tools that are required for a proper career technical education.

As we stated before, we hope the board at Auburn continues forward with the current interim superintendent. She has shown a willingness to confront Auburn's problems head on. We commend the board for appointing her.

At the same time we are concerned about what we believe might be a temptation for this board.

A number of the board members are up for election this fall. Given the financial problems at Auburn, we believe there could be a temptation by board members to select a candidate for superintendent they are more comfortable with who they believe would be more inclined to help sweep some of the very problems this board apparently helped creat by lack of oversight - "under the rug".

We hope this doesn't happen!

One of the candidates is part of the management team at the Lake County ESC. We have blogged about a number of problems at the Lake County ESC, but we haven't discussed in great detail all of the financial problems the Lake County ESC has experienced over the past couple of years due to what we believe again is attributable to poor oversight.

We believe and understand these problems include almost NOT MAKING PAYROLL on more than one occasion, program cost overruns in one case amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, extravagant travel and benefits for certain individuals, retired administrators on the payroll double dipping, consultants on the payroll one making as much as $4000 per day, some employees being hired on behalf of local school districts at what we believe to be inflated salaries, and a general lack of both good fiscal as well as educational direction.

Will the Lake County ESC board members who also sit on the Auburn board pick their own candidate? We don't know, but we'd be concerned about their motives if they did.

Can this candidate handle the financial, personnel, and educational problems Auburn is currently experiencing? We don't know - maybe -but why take a chance of stepping back from the progress currently being made at the Auburn Career Center by the current interim superintendent?

STAY TUNED!

As always you can contact us with information, questions or comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - MORE CUTS NEEDED?

2009-05-25T21:03:00.001-04:00

The News-Herald reported last week that the Auburn Career Center will experience a $800,000 shortfall this year.

The new, interim superintendent apparently inherited this shortfall from the previous administration.

We have reported on a number of the difficulties that Auburn is currently experiencing among them poor morale of employees and waste. What we haven't spoken about is the poor condition of the equipment and some of the facilities being used for educating the students.

There is logical reason nor excuse for this!

We believe that proper equipment purchases and maintenance have been neglected for years.

The initial suspension of contracts last week saved about $100,000.

The News-Herald wrote "With a total $800,000 shortfall this year, Lynch all but confirmed these adjustments are just the beginning. Lynch, who defines her current efforts as "lessening the impact," inherited the district's current budget April 1 after longtime superintendent G. Thomas Schultz announced his retirement in January."

We believe the Auburn Career Center should make between $1 to $1.5 million dollars in cuts to their administrative costs - this would not only take care of the $800,000 anticipated shortfall but also allow for replacement of equipment and making badly need repairs.

We hope that Lynch and the board will continue to make the required changes.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - NEEDS A CHANGE IN DIRECTION?

2009-05-19T06:43:00.004-04:00

One of our readers sent us a copy of a letter we understand was sent to the Auburn Career Center board. This letter was NOT sent to us by the writer.

This letter was written by what we understand to be a well respected, former Auburn Career Center teacher of 23 years who continues to work at Auburn on a substitute basis who apparently believes as we do that the Auburn Career Center needs a change in direction.

The letter is as follows:

"Dear Auburn Career Center Board Members:

I am the former ..................... teacher at Auburn Career Center for 23 years. I began my teaching career when Henry LaMuth was Superintendent and retired in 2000. I have been a substitute teacher at Auburn since my retirement.

My heart is still in Auburn Career Center, but I have many concerns about the direction Auburn has taken in recent years. I read the letter in the Lake County Schools Blog written by a former administrator.

As a teacher who has continued to be involved with the school since my retirement, I feel it is important that I convey to you that I am in agreement with the content of that letter. Auburn is no longer a student centered school; it does seem to be more interested in public relations than the quality of instruction in the classrooms; staff morale is at an all time low; the inner circle seems to enjoy privileges not available to the general staff; the school budget is out of line, and student conduct both inside the classroom and in the hallways is not up to handbook standards and often times lacks respect.

It cannot be clearer that the ship needs to take a drastic turn so that it can again be student centered and get its' spending under control. Spending on lavish trips and frivolous buildings needs to stop. The new superintendent needs to be in the building, not traveling around the country and being heavily involved in state and national organizations. The focus needs to be on Auburn Career Center and strengthening its' foundation.

For the reasons stated above, I feel strongly that Maggie Lynch is the perfect candidate to return Auburn to its' former level of excellence. She is a hands-on leader who spends time in classrooms, understands curriculum, takes the time to know students, and is truly interested in each student attending Auburn. in addition, she understands what has occurred at Auburn Career Center over the last few years and is thus equipped to make the necessary changes.

Lastly, Maggie is one of the most ethical professionals I have ever worked with. Her integrity is beyond reproach.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I know that Maggie is the leader who can get Auburn Career Center back on course and get everyone working together to return the school to its' former excellence."

We thank our reader for sending us this letter. We thank the writer of this letter for getting involved, and for reading our blog. As always you can send us your comments and questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - NEW SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH UPDATE

2009-05-17T15:49:00.008-04:00

We understand from our readers that few candidates applied for the superintendent position at the Auburn Career Center.

We also understand that certain board members and many Auburn employees both equally are not impressed with the quality and qualifications of a number of those individuals they understood applied.

We question why the position was not advertised with the Ohio School Boards Association (or in other obvious venues) even though the Auburn Career Center is a member?

Is it possible that those running the search are not interested in finding a large number of qualified candidates? Is it possible that those running the search want to steer the board to whom THEY believe is the right candidate? We hope not.

On a side note we have blogged on a number of occasions about the slick, glossy promotional brochures distributed to the public in the school districts Auburn Career Center supports and explained to our readers why this was a waste of their tax dollars.

We understand that this has come to the attention of the board and questions are now being asked about what this is costing the Auburn Career Center, which unfortunately is currently experiencing financial difficulties due to many past wasteful expenditures.

We are estimating that the board will find out that these brochures have cost Auburn in excess of $100,000 over the past twelve months but we will wait till we find out the actual costs and then will let you know whether or not we were right.

We thank our readers for their comments. As always please send us your questions and comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

OHIO EDUCATION ASSOCIATION - ENDORSES HOUSE BUDGET

2009-05-16T10:56:00.012-04:00

The OEA or Ohio Education Association (the largest Ohio teachers' union) issued the following "press release". The substance of the press release was a resolution supporting the Ohio House and Governor Strickland's budget as it relates to education.

While we agree with many of Governor Strickland's suggestions related to changing the structure as to how education is delivered, it appears that the Ohio House is planning a "give away" to some of the very constituents that heavily supported the Democrat takeover of the Ohio House of Representatives. In some cases where special interests such as the OEA, and the Democratic party spent close to what we estimate to have been between $500,000 to $1,000,000 dollars on certain single Democratic candidates to unseat particular Republicans (this type of campaign spending is unheard of in state races and we believe amounts to buying an elected seat).

We have no question as to why the OEA issued this press release in support of this budget given what their constituents stand to gain from increased spending. We question whether this budget as proposed is a "give away" to the OEA as "pay back" for past support?

Lets implement education reform without wasting the precious resources we do have, and spending money we don't have!

The OEA's press release is as follows:

"COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ohio Education Association approved a resolution of support for Substitute House Bill 1 - the biennial budget and Governor Ted Strickland's school-funding/reform package on Saturday May 9. The approval came from OEA's Representative Assembly, which is the top governing body of the Association. The Representative Assembly is comprised of more than 1,300 delegates elected by local education associations throughout Ohio.

"We have a governor who understands that education and innovation are the foundations of our economy. He knows a strong reinvestment in public schools and colleges is the path to revive Ohio," said OEA President, Patricia Frost-Brooks. Governor Strickland addressed the OEA Representative Assembly Friday and encouraged delegates to embrace his proposals.

The governor's plan, with many positive improvements made before it was passed by the Ohio House of Representatives April 29, provides a number of measures designed to transform Ohio public schools for the 21st century. The OEA Resolution said the plan "represents an historic opportunity to improve public education in Ohio and provide the resources needed to provide a high-quality education to all Ohioans."

"Despite these hard economic times, this is a step toward making Ohio schools funding fair and adequate for every Ohio child. We commend Governor Strickland and the House for offering education stakeholders the opportunity to be involved in the process of crafting this legislation," Frost Brooks said.

"This legislation is now before the Ohio Senate, and OEA encourages the Senators to support this challenging vision of public education, from kindergarten through college and university level," said Frost-Brooks. "Ohio cannot afford to waste this historic opportunity."

The Ohio Education Association represents 130,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio's public schools, colleges and universities."

As always send us your comments and questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

OHIO EDUCATION REFORM - IN STRICKLAND'S OWN WORDS

2009-05-13T21:13:00.004-04:00

A reader sent us the following link:

Governor Strickland's own words on Education Reform, May 8, 2009.

We thank our reader. As always you can reach us with your comments and questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

SHOULD OHIO SENATE THROW OUT STICKLAND'S AND OHIO HOUSE'S BUDGET?

2009-05-13T20:42:00.003-04:00

One of our readers has brought our attention to an editorial in the Columbus Dispatch.

After reading the editorial we would ask "Has Strickland or the Ohio House really taken a good look at the budget numbers?"

The Columbus Dispatch, yesterday, called for the Ohio Senate to throw out Governor Strickland's and the Ohio Houses budget http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2009/05/12/sham.ART_ART_05-12-09_A8_UCDR38A.html?sid=101, calling the so-called "budget" a "fantasy". This budget is part of the basis for educational reform we have blogged about on several occasions.

Here is what the Dispatch had to say:

"It's time to start over with the 2010-11 state budget.

The spending proposals put forth by Gov. Ted Strickland and passed in modified form by the Ohio House of Representatives lack any relation to fiscal reality and should be scrapped.
The Senate should build a new budget from scratch, using conservative estimates of how much revenue the state will have over the next two years.

The House version is built on layers of folly.

First, Strickland used several sources of one-time money, including federal stimulus dollars and the state's rainy-day fund, to pay for programs that will require funding long after the windfalls are gone.

House members used even less prudence by shopping around for the most favorable revenue numbers -- scrapping Budget Director J. Pari Sabety's estimates for fatter ones put out by the Legislative Services Commission -- to justify spending even more than Strickland had proposed.

Every close look at the budget reveals more cracks:

• Revenue estimates are wildly optimistic. In the midst of the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, Strickland is relying on a near-miraculous rebound over the next two years -- so much, apparently, that income-tax receipts and other revenues would grow dramatically enough to more than replace the $7 billion in one-time money he proposes to spend in 2010-11. If only.

• Even if Strickland's initial numbers had been realistic, they were blown out of the water last week by the news that this year's income-tax receipts are so far below expectations that most of the rainy-day fund might be gone by June 30.

• The proposal underestimates costs. For primary and secondary education, the area of the budget that would grow most under Strickland's plan, the governor estimates that fulfilling his plan would require boosting education spending to $8.64 billion by 2019, from the current $5.94 billion.

But a Dispatch analysis quickly poked holes in that figure; it was calculated without taking inflation into account. By the time the whole plan is phased in, even if inflation is only a modest 1.9 percent per year, it would cost more than $10 billion.

Getting from here to there would require jaw-dropping increases in school funding every year: $600 million for the budget being written now, $900 million for 2012-13, $1 billion for 2014-15, and so on.

The response of the governor's office to these issues raised by The Dispatch was as disturbing as his earlier suggestion that he shouldn't have to explain where the money is going to come from to pay for his education plan -- that, as long as the state is committed to improving education, "it will be sustainable."

He said he's going with the lower figure of $8.64 billion for the education plan because, who knows how much inflation will be over the next 10 years? That's irresponsible.
Strickland's spokeswoman, Amanda Wurst, was no more convincing, saying Ohio "could very well see deflation in the next 10 years."

With that kind of thinking for a foundation, the House budget in its current form is a recipe for Draconian cuts or massive tax increases in the future.

This is why the Senate must start from scratch with legitimate revenue estimates and insist that they be the basis for negotiations when the Senate and House meet to iron out the differences between their budget plans."

We thank our reader. As always you can reach us with your questions or comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

KIRTLAND AND MENTOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS - STARTING TO GO GREEN!

2009-05-09T08:36:00.004-04:00

One of our readers brought to our attention that the News-Herald reported that both the Mentor as well as the Kirtland School Districts received grants for retrofitting school buses with pollution control equipment. This is good and although not directly related to education is an example of forward thinking by these schools' administrations.

Here is part of what was said in the News-Herald.

"the Mentor, Kirtland and South Euclid-Lyndhurst school districts, ....[applied] for and receiving state grants to retrofit pollution control technology on their school buses. These districts, and 12 others around the state reaped a total of $1.21 million in funding from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Locally: Mentor Schools secured $138,876 to retrofit 44 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and closed crankcase filtration systems and to install pre-heaters on 12 additional buses to reduce idling. Kirtland Schools secured $95,230 to retrofit 18 buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and closed crankcase filtration systems and two buses with continuously regenerating technology diesel particulate filters, and to install pre-heaters on an additional 14 buses. South Euclid-Lyndhurst Schools secured $40,898 to retrofit six buses with diesel oxidation catalysts and closed crankcase filtration systems and two buses with closed crankcase filtration systems.

Mentor Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Hoynes said her district applied for the grant about two months ago."I feel good about it. It's a win for our taxpayers, a win for the environment," Hoynes said."

As always please send us your comments and questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

OHIO EDUCATIONAL REFORM - HOUSE BILL 1

2009-05-06T22:13:00.005-04:00

Currently the Ohio legislature is working on Educational Reform. This bill has passed the Ohio house with the Ohio senate now working on it.

We believe this reform bill has a number of provisions that are GOOD and more alarming a number that are simply NOT GOOD for our districts or you as a taxpayer. Hopefully the Ohio senate reworks a number of the provisions of this bill.

We are providing a copy of a comparison between what Governor Strickland has proposed and that which the Ohio House is proposing (from the Ohio Department of Education web site).

As always we'd like to hear your comments or questions. You can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

Ohio Educational Reform Bill - House Bill 1
Ohio Educational Reform Bill - House Bill 1 carecommitteepac

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Other Research act 2009

MENTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT - SUPERINTENDENT CONFRONTS PROBLEM HEAD ON?

2009-05-03T18:31:00.004-04:00

The News-Herald reported on Thursday that Mentor School District's superintendent Jackie Hoynes is looking to find ways to better screen teachers.

This was after three teachers from Mentor Schools in the past year have been accused of inappropriate contact with students.

The sum of the article indicated that Mentor will change their policies in how teachers get screened.

One item caught our interest in the article. That being a quote from Chardon superintendent Joe Bergant. Bergant said, "..testing isn't a sole solution for this problem. Teachers must be constantly reminded of their role."

Bergant is 100% right - not only must the screening be improved but compliance training must be mandated at regular intervals.

We would also add that these teachers' colleages are often the one who get the first hint of trouble -those teachers need to understand that they are legally obligated to report ANY suspicions of child abuse to Child Services - not the administration or board (they can do that also). Dr. Hoynes needs to make sure this legal obligation is clear to all employees.

Dr. Hoynes is a good leader. We trust that Dr. Hoynes is confronting this problem head on - and we recommend that other superintendents in other Lake County districts (they know who we are talking about) avoid the temptation to criticize her and rather wake up, admit their problems and start finding solutions that benefit the public.

As always you can send us your questions or comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - EMPLOYEES' (A.K.A. K.I.D.S.) POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE!

2009-05-02T11:23:00.013-04:00

We've received the following question from one of our readers:

"Can you explain who the KIDS Committee is? I looked at both the CARE Committee's and the KIDS Committee's literature and have followed up with the sources referenced. I find the KIDS Committee information misleading and therefore will vote no on the tax levy."

We don't know the individual members, but we do have lists of their contributors.

We have written on the KIDS Committee before. For those who don't know the KIDS Committee, it is a political action committee associated with the Riverside School District funded almost entirely by employees and special interests.

This is what we wrote about them in the summer of 2005.

"The political action committee associated with the School District (and whose co-chair, Mr. Shoaf, is the District’s future superintendent) listed $17,437 in pre-May 2005 campaign contributions for support of the bond issue: $1437 came from school employees and $16,000 from other special interests who stood to profit from passage of the bond issue. The architect contributed $8,000, the engineering firm $2,500, the construction management company $2,500 and a nationally recognized financial company from St. Louis $3,000. The CARE Committee couldn’t find a single dollar contributed by private citizens from the District.

It is obvious to the CARE Committee and we believe the community why these political contributions were made. Given Board Vice President Mike Palermo’s previous statement, the CARE Committee worries that the community would not have received good or full value from one or more of these vendors if the bond issue had passed. As one community member stated and we agree “it does not pass the smell test”.

Ask yourself, Why is the Board of Education unwilling to renounce this practice of accepting donations from these special interests? Is it because they have little or no support in the community to finance these poorly planned campaigns?

Ironically, one of the expensive enrollment studies showing declining enrollment through 2011, which Board Member Doris Moss called “wrong” in a Letter to the Editor (News-Herald, April 28, 2005), was done by the same engineering firm who contributed $2,500, and who the District had enough “faith in” that they planned to use them to help construct the new junior high school, if the bond issue had passed."

Incidently, we are unaware of ANY contributions made to the KIDS Committee by concerned community members. If you are let us know along with the individuals names and the amount and date of the contribution.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

WILLOUGHBY-EASTLAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT - RENEWAL TAX LEVY

2009-05-02T10:30:00.008-04:00

Willoughby-Eastlake is seeking renewal of 10-year, 3.81-mill renewal levy on the ballot May 5.

This levy generates $7.6 million dollars per year and would cost homeowners $233.36 dollars per $200,000 in property valuation.

Willoughby-Eastlake has an EXCELLENT ranking on their state report card.

While we question whether this tax levy should be 5-years rather than 10, we do note as we have stated before on this blog that the school district's leadership has done a good job.

We therefore find no reasons at this time why voters should vote no on this levy.

KIRTLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT - RENEWAL TAX LEVY

2009-05-02T10:30:00.007-04:00

Kirtalnd School District is seeking renewal of a 5-year, 4.06-mill renewal levy on the ballot May 5.

This levy generates $1.45 million dollars per year and would cost homeowners $248.68 dollars per $200,000 in property valuation.

Kirtland School District is an excellent, well run school district, and consistently maintains an EXCELLENT ranking on their state report card.

We find no reasons at this time not to vote yes on this tax levy.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - THREATENING VOTERS TO PASS LEVY?

2009-04-30T06:26:00.002-04:00

The Riverside School District board met on Tuesday, April 28th.

At the meeting, which is televised on the district's cable channel the administration and board spoke about likely cuts that would be made if the proposed levy being voted on May 5th isn't passed. Please watch the meeting.

Unfortunately we believe many of the cuts proposed are designed to scare the voters!

Remember the Riverside School District had a $7.7 million dollar cash reserve. The distrist doesn't need to threaten voters - just behave in a financially responsible way.

We are encouraged in that a number of cuts appear to be those already recommended by the Ohio State Auditor in 2007 - that is good (http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/AuditSearch/detail.aspx?ReportID=59248). For instance, one of those cuts is cuts in custodial staff. Remember, the Ohio State Auditor already recommended the district make large cuts in the custodial staff. We encourage the district to do so whether the levy is passed or not.

The district board and administration DO NOT need to threaten cuts that directly involve the education of your child!

We recommend the Riverside School District make ALL of the cuts the Ohio State Auditor recommended. We also suggest the district reduce bloated administrative costs, eliminate expensive outside legal costs (using the Lake County Prosecutor for free), reduce large overtime expenses, bring wages in line with the state average, freeze or reduce administrative salaries, and run the school district like a business.

As a side note. Recently literature and information has been sent to voters or published on the district website implying to the voters that open enrollment has ended. This isn't the case.

Purportedly the district has take the position they will take no NEW open enrollment students this next fall - this is good. They still have a large number attending school in the district (remember it costs the district on average $9400 to educate a child and they receive less than $6000 per child through open enrollment - a net loss for each child) - this isn't good.

At the board meeting we understand the administration indicated they may recommend INCREASED open enrollment if the levy does not pass apparently to use open enrollment as a revenue generator? This not only is bad for your children, but eludes logic!

We discourage the board and administration from using what we believe are apparent scare tactics to get their levy passed. Unfortunately these scare tactics may work but we believe ultimately will increase distrust of the taxpayers and parents of the district.

As always you can reach us with your questions or comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

MENTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT - THREE TIMES TOO MANY!

2009-04-27T23:33:00.006-04:00

The News-Herald reported today that another Mentor teacher is allegedly in trouble for inappropriate contact with a minor. While we believe that most of the Mentor teachers are probably outstanding individuals - THIS IS THE THIRD INSTANCE IN LESS THAN A YEAR.

The News-Herald reported in part:

"Mentor teacher arraigned on rape charge
Published: Monday, April 27, 2009

A Mentor Schools teacher is accused of raping a student.
Barry R. Valentine, 35, was arraigned on a count of rape Monday in Mentor Municipal Court. He is suspected of sexually assaulting a female Mentor student repeatedly from July 2007 to February 2008...........", http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/04/27/news/doc49f5e16d20c93750313986.txt.

In an earlier blog (http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/04/mentor-school-district-bullying-must-be.html) we stated:

"While we have blogged that we appreciate the stewartship of Dr. Hoynes [Mentor's Superintendent], we also bring this up because Mentor is experiencing a[n unusually] large number of questionable personnel issues. Dennis Holmes, Mentor's Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, needs to actively be addressing this issue. Again, as we indicated in an earlier blog, http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/03/mentor-school-district-compliance.html, we believe Mentor Schools needs to do better compliance training to insure that teachers understand their roles."

We ask Dr. Hoynes or Mr. Holmes to tell the public what they are doing to reduce the chance of this happening again - they can do it here if they would like. As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY PERSONEL DON'T ASK FOR MONEY?

2009-04-26T06:15:00.005-04:00

We received an interesting comment from a reader outside the Riverside School District.

Is Riverside School District overstaffed? What non-teaching positions can be cut?

Here is what our reader had to say:

"While not a resident of the Riverside School District I have been following with interest the pros and cons on the forthcoming levy request for Riverside on both this blog site,and the News Herald.on line. Nobody seems to have looked at the numbers, so lets look at the most important numbers that the school districts furnish to the state - Financial Statements required by the state at the end of October of each year.

On October 30, 2008 Riverside reported to the state that their grand total of expenditures was $39,982,532 for fiscal year 2008.

They listed on that report that total wages, salaries, and benefits for the year were $30,655,519.

That is 76.7% of every dollar spent by the Riverside district winding up in the wages, salaries, and benefits for the district's employees.

Their neighbor up the road - Perry - who has made the spending of money an art form, doesn't even come close to this kind of absolute lack of control by a school board.

On the same date - October 30, 2008 - Perry reported to the state that its grand total of expenditures was $29,593,193 for fiscal year 2008.

They listed on that report that total wages, salaries and benefits for the year were $20,018,752.

That comes to 67.6% of total expenditures going to all the employees in the Perry district in wages, salaries and benefits. That, school board at Riverside, is a 9.1% differential. It's people Riverside School Board. It's people that need to be cut that school boards just don't seem to have the guts to make their administrators do.

Beachwood - one of the wealthiest districts in the state - expends 76.9% of every spent dollar on wages, salaries and benefits. They can afford to do that - Riverside can't, so how come Riverside does?

Mark Twain over 100 years ago said: "First God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." Apropos then, and even more apropos now, in the writers opinion."

As always your can reach us with your comments or questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - COST/PUPIL ALMOST 150% GREATER THAN ANY DISTRICT IN GEAUGA COUNTY!

2009-04-24T18:03:00.002-04:00

Here is what our reader had to say:

"After reading over the blog from the person from Berkshire several times I thought a comparison to a district that really knows how to spend money would be enlightening. From previous studies I knew that the Berkshire District was substantially below the state average in total cost to educate each of its students. I also took exception, as you did, to the statement that teachers are the culprits in district spending. They are not. It's administrators who propose, and rubber stamping school boards, that drive the expenditure ship in our school districts, in my opinion.

The following is an alphabetic listing of the seven districts in Geauga County for last school year - 2007/2008 compared to Perry Local School District in Lake County (a small rural school district).

Berkshire - 1,118 enrolled $10,061,927 total expended $9,000 cost to educate each student

Cardinal - 1,398 enrolled $12,745,335 total expended $9,117 cost to educate each student

Chardon - 3,105 enrolled $29,330,238 total expended $9,446 cost to educate each student

Kenston - 3,122 enrolled $32,936,248 total expended $10,550 cost to educate each student

Ledgemont - 602 enrolled $5,503,438 total expended $9,142 cost to educate each student

Newbury - 691 enrolled $7,199,933 total expended $10,420 cost to educate each student

West Geauga - 2,248 enrolled $24,064,069 total expended $10,705 cost to educate each student

Average of the 7 Geauga County Districts - $9,769 to educate each one of 12,284 kids

Perry - 1,886 enrolled $29,593,193 total expended $15,691 cost to educate each student

Difference to educate a student in Perry against the seven Geauga County Districts is $5,922 more.

Difference to educate a student in Perry against the Berkshire District is $6,691 more."

We agree with our reader that Perry needs to work on fiscal responsibility!

As always you can contact us with your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - UNBIASED INFORMATION?

2009-04-23T21:40:00.005-04:00

One of our readers wrote the following for a blog with their opinion and commentary:

"The News-Herald ran an article on the upcoming Riverside Local School District substitution levy this Tuesday, April 21. What was most enlightening was not the article itself but the comments that were posted in reference to it.

The apparently angry, threatening school board member, Mike Palermo and other nameless entities who are obviously connected to the school write that individuals with questions regarding this operating levy should contact school officials only for accurate information.

One might ask "How objective can these folks be considering they are the ones requesting the money?". One might also wonder "How can we trust this Board and Administration after they so purposefully misrepresented the Lake County Home purchase to the taxpayers and the community?".

This School District continues to jiggle figures and speak out both sides of their mouths. Ask some NDCL parents who are district taxpayers how the safety of their children mattered to this Board and Administration. While they say they care about the kids, their actions proved otherwise.

If you want clear, unbiased information you should check out this blogspot's helpful listing of the Riverside School District's Budget and Teacher's Contract (which are both linked via this site). Read for yourself how your hard-earned tax dollars are spent and I believe you will be stunned.

While we all have endured job losses, wage freezes, and benefit cuts this District continues to have outrageously generous health care benefits and retirement packages, wage INCREASES and half- year work schedules. I believe you will see this District has not been good stewards of our generous tax dollars and do not deserve any more."

We thank our reader for their thoughful comments. As always you can contact us with your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - CAN WE AFFORD WHERE THEIR HEADING?

2009-04-23T02:09:00.005-04:00

The following is a blog written about the Berkshire School District in Geauga County - it applies as well to the Riverside School District who when a comparison is made makes Berkshire's waste look like "chump change". This blog was posted and can be found on the Burton Blog http://www.burtonblog.com/view.cfm?post=3208.

"If you have been reading this blog for the past three years, you have heard me harp and harp on this same issue since Day One: These school districts - both big and small - can NOT keep paying HUGE school teacher benefits and stay afloat. Never. No way. Calculate it any way you wish, but health benefits are going up 20% every year. So they're DOUBLING every five years if schools let them "run away".

As I've said before as well - the teacher unions are to blame. They want teachers EVERY YEAR to get AT LEAST 3% raises and maintain or RAISE benefits. No can do any more. Period. It can't happen. In many school districts, benefits are 20% of the budget! And that is WRONG on many levels - especially when you consider the KIDS are the reason we have the schools! And kids are forced to endure "cuts" when it SHOULD be the teachers!

The point I am making is this: These school district budgets are being RAPED by teacher unions/state education lawyers who have always WON during negotiations - the teachers and support staffs got RAISES and MASSIVE BENEFITS. Now the bill has come due. And guess what? The taxes can NEVER keep up with the massive salary and benefit increases. Never. Voters are now organizing with "Tea Parties" and voting "NO" at the ballots. Of course. The party's over for the schools. The brick wall has been hit. There's only one thing to do: Teachers must start paying for their benefits. At the very, very least, school boards must look at the teachers for what they are: nine month workers. So at the VERY LEAST the teachers must FULLY PAY for three months (25%) of their benefits. That would be an immense savings for every school district.

Have a look at two dinky school districts locally here. Newbury ran five attempts before they were bailed out to the tune of $1.2 million! And now the Einstein Super over there says "it's not enough"! Ha! The voters over there got duped! Sheep... That's another story. Very sordid, very awful... Have a look at the "Five Year Projection" of Berkshire - we'll be OVER $1 million in deficit by 2012! They can't make enough cuts to pull those figures in line.

On a larger level, digest this one: The Los Angeles Board of Education (second largest school disrict in the country) is planning to lay off 5,400 teachers/support staff for next year because their school district has a $596 million deficit looming! Whoa! Stop the presses! What have I been saying all of this salary/benefit madness would lead to?

Look at the facts: Any way you view the matter, teachers only work nine months a year, but are paid for 12 and benefited for 12 months! That can't happen any longer. No way, no how. The teacher unions have brought the schools to their knees because of their own greed - just like the auto workers' union brought down the Big Three. We predicted this and it has happened. Now it's time to fix it.

You MUST get to these school board meetings and ask the right questions. Last Berkshire School Board meeting had only four people in the audience! TURN OFF THE .... TV SET AND GET INVOLVED BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! What's wrong with you people?"

We disagree that teachers' unions are to blame but rather it is the administrations and even more so the boards of education that allow this to happen.

As always please contact us with your questions, comments or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - 2009 BUDGET: YOU MAKE THE CALL?

2009-04-22T06:01:00.003-04:00

We received a copy of Riverside Schools' 2009 budget. We are shocked at some of the expenses.

Given Riverside has a levy pending on the ballot we want your impression of the projected (and now mostly spent) expenditures. Give us specifics not conclusions - we will give you ours as well.
Finally, let us know if the budget prudent or wasteful? You make the call.

CLICK THE FOLLOWING TO ACCESS THE BUDGET http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/11067400/1ehlg681hnktlccv4o8d

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH AND ADVICE FOR PRINCIPALS?

2009-04-20T21:57:00.001-04:00

Here is a letter we received from an individual we believe to be an employee of the Auburn Career Center regarding the new superintendent search. Hopefully, the Auburn board can ask the proper questions of their employees to check out this story, and factor this into their decision process.

Here is our reader's opinion and comments:

"Not long ago someone shared with me something said by an Auburn staff member to the effect of, "The poison has left the body, but the damage remains". While it may be true that some poison has left the body, certainly more remains and Auburn will continue to suffer from it. The continuing Auburn illness can be traced back to a handful of individuals within Auburn.

One of the symptoms of this illness is the low morale found within the staff of Auburn. Its cause I believe is middle management or even more specifically the principals. It does not take another building-wide survey or 2 hour staff meeting to figure it out.

Auburn is bleeding and the reason is clear!

Auburn has in the past had some outstanding administrators and employees. I wonder why three past administrators and so many good employees just got up and walked away from Auburn? No real "good-byes". No retirement parties.

After years of service and being well liked by their subordinates why would good administrators and so many good employees just get up and leave?

Being forced out or leaving something you cannot live with for an ethical or moral reason is the answer. Many of them took positions at a considerably reduced salary just to get out. Over the years I feel many have been forced out of Auburn or have been stepped on simply because they truly pushed for what was best for students and it conflicted with what I believed was the twisted self-interest of a select few.

Is the board even aware of how many qualified staff have left and/or why they left? I feel this is just another example of the board being kept in the dark as with the administration’s habitual gross unnecessary spending. I believe the poor behavior of a few self-interested administrators can no longer be ignored or tolerated.

The past administration, ruled Auburn for years. Now that they are gone, nearly all employees appear to be happy. In my opinion, they had complete and total control of all areas of the school. No decisions were made before checking with them. During that time, it appeared the specially selected few who reported to them were kept in the dark and had no real power or decision making ability. So after years of working under that model of leadership it is not surprising as to the lack of leadership the current groups of administrators demonstrate on a daily basis.

I further feel that the current administrators have no clue on how to lead or manage the daily operations of the school. Worse yet is that the principals appear to have adopted the poor practices of the former administration without the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. I have heard the term "a rudderless ship" used by others and it really does describe the principals at Auburn.

I feel the model of rising to leadership at Auburn through the vehicle of entitlement without true qualifications needs to end before it ultimately kills Auburn! The number of letters after one's name does not mean a thing when speaking of the administration at Auburn.I realize meetings must be held. However, one would think that before a meeting is held the coordinator of that meeting would have an agenda ready with important topics to discuss.

I believe, as many others do, that unnecessary meetings are held when the information can be easily delivered in an email. When do good things happen for students if everyone is continually in unnecessary meetings? Then there are the meetings where input is sought from staff only to find out later that it appears that the decisions had already been made behind closed doors by a select few. And I must mention that those select few have little or no experience in the classroom or even dealing with students in general.

Many of those pre-made decisions appear to me to really have little to do with what is best for students, but rather can be tied to serving the self-interest of a select few. I believe the administration needs to start making decisions that really do positively impact students, and they need to take action that does not unnecessarily increase the work load of the staff. It is time to stop looking at the staff as a hindrance and find value in them.

I believe the administration needs to stop this unprofessional, self-serving management style that has created such poor morale. What myself and others felt to be the intimidating style of micro-management that exists serves no one to any benefit. The only way this style management can be explained is that they lack confidence in decision making abilities and question their own professional qualifications. I feel the principals need to grow up or move on already!

Decision making at the principal level is frozen to the point that students are affected in a negative way. Yes, be aware of liability risks, but stop worrying about how it will affect your next preordained step on the career ladder. If you were truly doing what is best for students the image will follow.

Get out into the hallways and meet the students. Most of them will be happy to see you and might know who you are. If you go to any local area school and watch the daily routines you will see some interesting things. For one, administrators meet and greet the students as they enter the building in the morning and as they leave to go home. And, amazing as it may sound, many of the administrators know the students by first and last names! Administrators are in the hallways making sure all is well and giving the students and the staff a sense of leadership and guidance.

Truly, you have all learned this basic idea as presented in any education course that you must have taken. Yet, if you ask students at Auburn who the principal is, most will not be able to tell you. It is sad to see people go into a profession to help young people and then appear to ignore them! What a disservice to our young people and to the career of education.

It seems the board of education is finally able to make decisions that will truly impact students and Auburn in a positive manner. One breath of fresh air is Maggie Lynch. Under Lynch the morale of Auburn has never been more optimistic than with her appointment. Reorganizing the school will be a difficult task but, I know Lynch has the qualifications and ability to make it happen.

She will have to deal with what I believe to be past favoritism with certain staff who have been riding on others coat-tails. Maggie has the support of the majority of the staff and it will be in the best interest of the board and Auburn stakeholders to offer her the permanent position. Her appointment would provide Auburn the student focused leadership that has been lacking for so many years."

As always we can be reached at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - READERS COMMENT ON TEACHERS CONTRACT!

2009-04-19T18:56:00.008-04:00

We posted the Riverside Local School District’s teacher contract on Thursday, April 16th. Since then, we have received a large number of comments.

Comments varied, but mostly centered around how surprised our readers are at the amount of money being paid to teachers, or how little teachers pay for their benefits.

While these comments are the views of our readers and we don’t necessarily agree with them all – these comments allow our school districts and boards to view how others perceive of their actions.

While we appreciate the role our teachers perform there is no reason why teachers in Lake County need to be the highest paid in the State of Ohio.

No one is against our teachers making a good living but there has to be some end to these raises.

Why is our school district providing such lucrative contracts to their superintendent and treasurer, and such generous pay and benefits to the rest of their employees as is demonstrated by this contract?

Here are a few of the comments from our readers:

“……I’m a senior citizen and with taxes and other prices increasing I can barely afford to live. I have owned my own house for 32 years and have raised my children in this district. I’ve cut my spending but clearly this district I have supported over the years doesn’t appear to be watching how they spend our tax dollars as demonstrated by this teachers' contract. I am very disappointed.”

“…...My major problem with this [contract] is what they [the teachers] pay for their own medical coverage. We pay over $500/month for our family health coverage! $500 per month! Teachers are paying $110/month with incredibly low co-pays. I feel that they should be covering more of their own medical insurance.”

“……I had no clue teachers were being paid this much………”

“……The way I understand it is that at the end of this contract teachers at the top of the pay scale can make over $82 thousand dollars and if they happen to be the football or basketball coach they can make close to $103 thousand dollars. I don’t make half of that nor does my husband. I don’t know if both of us combined will ever come close to that type of income……….”

“……It appears that these teachers have it written into their contract that they only have to work a 7 1/2 hour day, and get a paid lunch as well as “planning period”. Also they can only work about 180 days, with a large number of sick days and personal days. This is much less than half a year of work with less than 7 hours of work a day ………Perhaps this is why the United States is lagging behind the rest of the world in how we educate our children?..........”

“……How can I get a contract like this?.........”

We are happy to support our teachers, but we prefer to promote and pay large salaries to those who are putting in the extra effort. We therefore agree with Obama and Strickland that performance or merit pay should be part of how we compensate our teachers – as we understand they have suggested.

We note to our readers that teachers and all other school employees can retire after 35 years at 88% of the average of their last three years salary. That means that many school employees are retiring with incomes of $70-100 thousand plus per year. This is unsustainable!

We hope our readers will continue to keep sending us their comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - SUPERINTENDENT NOT AFFECTED BY LEVY?

2009-04-17T20:31:00.007-04:00

We received the following comment from a reader. This reader is apparently concerned that the Riverside School District's Superintendent Jim Kalis wants district residents to pass a levy WHEN - he lives in Chardon AND will not have to pay these taxes if passed.

Here is what our reader had to say:

"I appreciate all your organization does to get out the message about what is going on in our school districts.

I was really disappointed to learn when talking to other parents in the Riverside district that its' superintendent Mr. Kalis not only doesn't live in our district, but he educates his children at St. Mary's in Chardon.

He apparently wants to saddle us with taxes, but is not willing live amongst us, share the costs of even his own salary, or educate his children with ours.

Shame on Mr. Kalis! I won't be voting for his levy."

We thank our reader for their comments. As always you can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - IS TEACHERS' CONTRACT FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE?

2009-04-16T21:42:00.007-04:00

We obtained a copy of the most recent Riveride Local School District teacher's contract, http://www.scribd.com/doc/14301196/Riverside-Local-Teachers-Contract?secret_password=c7c15jpt3hh5or8ey1d.

We want to hear whether our readers feel the Riverside school board was being fiscally responsible when they approved this contract?

As always we look forward to your response. You can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

SPECIAL ELECTIONS - OUR READERS AGREE WASTE OUR TAX DOLLARS!

2009-04-14T18:12:00.003-04:00

The News-Herald reported this past week that Lake County Commissioner Dan Troy has taken the position that special elections waste our tax dollars (http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/nh737860.txt). We agree.

We find that school districts often place tax levies on the ballot for special elections at great cost to the taxpayer to try to slide these tax increases on your back without you noticing.

Here is what one of our readers had to say:

"I was happy to read in last week’s News Herald the article about special elections where Commissioner Troy states that school districts should hold their elections for their tax levies during general or primary elections. When school’s have special elections, we taxpayers have to foot the bill and our tax dollars are used to hold these special elections.

Why can’t schools put renewals or new levies on the ballot when most voters are at the polls voting on other issues?

Are these schools hoping that only their faithful voters will take the time to go and vote yes on their issues?

I am upset that the school district I live in (Riverside) is holding such an election in May and my taxes are being spent for this purpose.

Why can't the Riverside district wait until the general election in November to ask for the public for more money rather than spending our taxes to hold a special election?

I plan on voting no on Issue 1 and will tell my family, friends, and neighbors to do the same."

The answer to all our reader's questions is "Clearly we believe that these school districts don't want the accountability of having a larger voting base voting on these tax issues", and "They don't consider this a waste of our tax dollars if they can get their levy passed." That is why we are doing what we can to make sure all the voters have the information they need to make their vote on the proposed Riverside tax levy in May.

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOLS ISSUE 1

2009-04-13T05:01:00.003-04:00

At Riverside's March 31st televised board meeting, Superintendent Kalis and Treasurer Vaccariello both talked about the CARE Committee's recent brochure that has been delivered to the Riverside School District's residents. We are flattered!

We noted with amusement that Treasurer Vaccariello appears to imply that somehow our organization's brochure is inaccurate and if you just call him he will set you straight.

This is the oldest political trick in the book.

Obviously if Mr. Vaccariello had facts refuting the points made, we believe he'd make you aware of them IMMEDIATELY! We're quite sure he doesn't, but call him anyways if you're uncertain. He can be reached at (440) 358-8209.

Because of Mr. Vaccariello's statements we are going to offer to print Mr. Vaccariello's reply word for word on our blog. Quite frankly, we would have printed it word for word if he had just asked. We are for transparency and certainly would be happy to print his opinion as well - although we might not agree with it but we'll reserve judgment until we see it.

We believe Mr. Vaccariello reads our blogs frequently - so there should be no excuse that he didn't see this blog.

Here is what we said in our recent brochure.

"PLEASE VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1
Issue 1 is a “NEW” levy – not a renewal

Why vote no? Because:

*Riverside School District’s revenues increased from $28 to $40 million dollars, or 42% over the past 6 years - over double the rate of inflation.

*The district used a majority of the increased revenues for salary and benefit increases for administrators and employees.

*This tax levy money is not necessary to provide a quality education.

*The Riverside district had a $7.7 million dollar cash reserve this year.

*The State Auditor recommended Riverside district make $1.3 million in cuts, however the board refuses to make the major recommendations.

*Even though times are tough Riverside apparently is still unwilling to live within their means – instead they want their own “public stimulus”.

*Part of your tax money and this tax levy go to educating “open enrolled” students from other districts – why are we paying for this?

*You can get more information at http://www.lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/ if you click on the Issue 1 or Riverside School District links.

Paid for by Care Committee, Dr. Fred Lisy Treasurer, 13596 Leroy Center Road, Painesville, OH 44077"

We stand by it. As always you OR MR. VACCARIELLO can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - NEW SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH?

2009-04-10T06:59:00.003-04:00

We understand the Auburn Career Center has put out a brochure describing the application process for hiring a new superintendent, the joint vocational school, the timeline and a leadership profile.

We have reviewed the brochure and have a couple of comments.

The brochure paints an unrealistic and rather optimistic view of the district (or career center).

Whoever is hired in this role needs to understand the financial and personnel issues the Auburn Career Center has and will likely have over the next 5-10 years.

The brochure further goes on to say that "Applicants should NOT make personal contact with Board of Education members." We wonder if this is an attempt at controlling the selection process by certain board members or remnants of the past adminsitration? We suspect Auburn's employees are worried about this as well.

The leadership profile in the brochure describes a number of fluffy characteristics, skills and abilities needed for the position.

Bottom line - whoever Auburn's board hires needs to understand all the problems they are getting into, they need to approach the position not for financial gain but as a challenge, and they need to guide the district back to basics of financial accountability and education fundementals.

As always you or those individuals who are considering applying for the Auburn Career Center Superintendent position can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - FOLLOW UP: INEPT SUPERINTENDENT AND BOARD?

2009-04-09T07:35:00.005-04:00

Here is a followup to our post from yesterday by another reader who has apparently done her "homework". Hopefully this board and administration starts doing theirs':

"I just read the comments posted on April 8th regarding the Riverside School Board. The individual who posted made many valid statements. In addition to dropping the NDCL students, the board is now dropping the children who will be 8th graders at Notre Dame Elementary School next year. The bus will continue to be provided for the younger children ( and will be at less than half it's capacity). This leaves the 8th grade students with no means of transportation.

Having spent a considerable amount of time going through the budget from the Riverside School District (all 200+ pages of it), I cannot understand how anyone would consider voting for the levy on May 5th. I have also reviewed the State of Ohio financial reports for Riverside for the next 5 years and again do not understand why the residents of this district are not calling for the resignation of all the board members.

The subject of open enrollment is another issue that needs to be more publicly debated and explained to the voters.

As a side note; I personally have tired of watching a certain female board member cry during board meetings. It is certainly in sharp contrast to the way she talked to the Notre Dame students. In retrospect, I wish I had video taped all the mornings various board members were present when the bus was loading so that all residents would have had the opportunity to see how they treated the children.

There is so much to say and even more to investigate regarding the Riverside School District. I am so sorry I recently moved to this community."

As always you can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - INEPT SUPERINTENDENT AND BOARD?

2009-04-08T08:19:00.001-04:00

The following is a comment and opinion from another one of our readers about the Riverside School District and their May tax levy.

Our reader said:

"I have lived in various states and have NEVER encountered a more inept group of people than the superintendent of schools and school board for the Riverside School District.

These people don't even make the definition of mid-level bureaucrats.

They have been unable to manage the finances of the school district, the schools are doing terribly academically, they continue to mismanage the needs of the community, particularly the growth in migrant population, and the best they have been able to come up with from a cost cutting stand point is to stop servicing NDCL families with a bus from the Auburn Career Center to NDCL.

Wow, why don't you disenfranchise your wealthier constituents to really kill the value of property?

Why don't you beg for more students when you can not even take care of those you already have?

I believe the board should be voted out and the superintendent should be fired immediately.

Please use your right to chose to vote against the levy and against this inept team!

A very disgruntled Concord resident!"

We think many of our readers would certainly agree with our reader's sentiment.

As always YOU can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com with your comments, suggestions or questions.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - STAFF MORALE PROBLEM?

2009-04-07T06:22:00.004-04:00

We understand the morale of the staff at the Auburn Career Center is pretty low.

Morale of a school district's staff is important in that an unhappy or demoralized staff can end up severely affecting the education delivered to the students.

We also understand that for a number of years that the administration knew this through a series of employee surveys, but that apparently these surveys may not have been disclosed to Auburn's entire board.

If so then we ask the question "Why?"

We have obtained one of these surveys and it seems to confirm what we have been hearing. We can't understand why such a large problem wasn't communicated to or understood by the Auburn board?

The Auburn board has hired an interim superintendent, Maggie Lynch, whom we understand does not appear to operate in such a way where the Auburn board is kept in the dark.

Whether Lynch is retained or a new superintendent is hired, Auburn's board needs to make sure that the administration understands that all material information needs to and must be disclosed to the board of education.

This is unacceptable and appropriate action should be taken by the board to hold those responsible accountable!

MENTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT - BULLYING MUST BE STOPPED!

2009-04-06T06:31:00.004-04:00

The News-Herald recently reported that parents of a 2007 suicide victum filed suit against the Mentor School District http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/04/03/news/nh706320.txt. The suit apparently alleges that this student was bullied by his peers while his math teacher and an administrator knew about it and did not take action to report or stop it.

The parents apparently are not seeking money for themselves, but rather to create an awareness of the problem of bullying in schools.

While we will await determinations that will need to be made about the facts in this case by the court, we are concerned about bullying in any number of local school districts. This along with hazing SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED!

Switching direction slightly, Mentor School District over the past year has experienced at least two situations we know of where teachers have allegedly crossed the line with respect to relationships with students.

You may ask "Why do we bring this up in a blog on bullying?" We do so because both bullying and inappropriate relationships between adults and students are forms of child abuse. Sure in one case an adult is the perpetrator and in the other the student's peers are, but we see no difference as to the responsibilities of other adults - who learn of the problem - to report such actions.

While we have blogged that we appreciate the stewartship of Dr. Hoynes, we also bring this up because Mentor is experiencing a large number of questionable personnel issues. Dennis Holmes, Mentor's Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, needs to actively be addressing this issue. Again, as we indicated in an earlier blog, http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/03/mentor-school-district-compliance.html, we believe Mentor Schools needs to do better compliance training to insure that teachers understand their roles.

Mentor Schools needs to confront bullying head-on and insure that NO STUDENT feels threatened while attending school in the district!

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - STRATEGIC PLAN TO AVOID ACCOUNTABILITY?

2009-04-03T17:43:00.007-04:00

Recently we again read the Riverside Local Schools' strategic plan.

In our opinion this is another feel good plan to avoid accountability.

Missing from the plan are what every strategic plan should include

-clear quantifiable goals and objectives;

-actions designed to help the school district meet those goals and objectives; and

-methods to accurately measure whether those goals and objectives are being met.

Riverside's plan portends to include some of these, but if you read it closely IT DOESN'T!

Instead it includes fluff! Thats right no substance.

For example, look at the strategic objectives:

By 2012...

*all graduates will be prepared to be self-sustaining and contributing members of society. Thats great they should be, but how can the public be sure this is happening? How will the district measure this?

*all students will be competitive at an international level beginning with math, science and technology. Again how will the district measure this?

*all students will experience a flexible, student-centered educational environment. Again how will the district measure this?

*everyone in the learning community will establish and implement measurable standards of excellence through a collaborative process. We wonder what this even means let alone how this will be measured?

Sadly, the district appears to be attempting to hoodwink or fool the public.

We have more confidence in the taxpayers. We believe the taxpayers are looking at the poor performance by Riverside Schools on their State Report Card, and understand the "king has no clothes" (does anyone remember that tale).

Perhaps the Riverside School District needs to understand the public will not support a "rudderless ship" - the public can do this at the polls in May?

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

LAKE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS – EAST VS. WEST?

2009-04-01T21:49:00.006-04:00

It’s ironic when one looks at the school districts in Lake County.

The school districts in the western part of the county appear to be well run, providing good value for the taxpaying citizens in those communities. These districts include Kirtland, Willoughby-Eastlake and Mentor.

On the other hand those districts in the eastern part of the county such as Riverside, Painesville City, Perry, and Madison, we believe are not being managed to nearly their potential.

We understand at many meetings between the superintendents of all of these schools held at the Lake County ESC that the superintendents from the eastern end of the county sit at one end of the room and those from the western end sit at the other - often with little communication between east and west. Kind of like the cold war for those who are old enough to remember.

Superintendents from the Kirtland, Willoughby-Eastlake and Mentor appear to have good backgrounds and experience in the education field and this is evident in the operation of those districts as well as performance by those district’s students.

Superintendents from Riverside, Painesville City, Perry, and Madison we believe have been and are inexperienced and that shows both in the financial operation and performance by students of those districts.

Unfortunately, it’s clear the inexperienced superintendents from the eastern end of the county could be and are not taking advantage of the expertise and experience of those from the western end of the county.

We encourage the Riverside, Painesville City, Perry and Madison superintendents to take advantage of a resource that they should have been using all along!

As always you can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

KIDS Committee - VOTEYESON1INFO.COM

2009-04-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

For more information on the KIDS Committee, or voteyeson1info.com go to the following link.

http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/05/riverside-school-district-propaganda.html

As always if you have questions or comments please contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

WELCOME TO NEW READERS

2009-03-29T18:35:00.004-04:00

We welcome our many new readers.

This blog is for those individuals in the Lake County, Ohio who would like not only better, but more accountable public schools for both our children and the taxpayers.

Lake County schools include the Lake County Esc, Auburn Career Center, Wickliffe Schools, Willoughby Eastlake Schools, Kirtland Schools, Mentor Schools, Riverside Schools, Painesville City Schools, Fairport Harbor Schools, Madison Schools, and Perry Schools. While many of these districts are fine institutions, they will only become better when they know the public is watching what they do.

There are, however, those schools districts who at times don't believe they are accountable to the public and we only hope that we can serve to make those occasions more transparent to you.

We welcome any reasonable comments and will edit when appropriate. You can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - READERS WEIGH IN AGAINST ISSUE 1!

2009-03-26T19:10:00.010-04:00

Clearly the sentiment of our readers is that Riverside isn't doing enough to reduce their expenditures. Our readers further believe that with the large amount of money the district is spending it isn't being spent wisely.

We received this comment from a reader:

"I'm tired of the Riverside Schools continuing to ask me for more money. Times are tough, and my job is anything but certain.

Riverside Schools continue to give large increases in salaries and benefits, while other parents, my wife and I are not happy with the education our children are receiving. If I could afford it I would send my children to a private school.

I attended one of my children's music concerts at the high school and Riverside Schools pushed this May tax levy at us even during the program on an evening where my wife and I only wanted to observe our children and their musical accomplishments.

In addition this group called the KIDS Committee was handing out pro-levy postcards, telling us to vote for their levy right in the school near the auditorium. I find this appalling!

Today I get home and receive in the mail a copy of Riverside Schools' publication called the PIPELINE, again promoting this tax levy. In it the school district talks out of both sides of their mouth on one hand they say it won't raise new taxes, on the other they talk about increasing revenues for district. Maybe this was a slip of the tongue.

I still remember when they purchased the County Home after they told us they had no money and we told them no. It turned out they had the money.

I don't trust them and my wife and I will be voting no on their new tax levy. You can print this if you'd like just withhold my name, I'm afraid it could be used against our children. Thanks for keeping us informed."

Well said. If you have comments, questions or suggestions please contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - SHOULD THE DISTRICT BE REDUCING WASTEFUL EXPENDITURES BEFORE ASKING YOU FOR MONEY?

2009-03-25T19:11:00.007-04:00

We've received a number of comments from readers who apparently are frustrated Riverside School District keeps asking them for money when times are tough.

We sympathize, particularly, since we see no evidence of any effort on Riverside board's or adminstration's behalf to cut back on their spending.

Here is what one reader said:

"The Riverside School District’s Board of Education and its administration have decided to put an operating levy on the ballot this May 5th.

Apparently they believe that taxpayers can afford to continue to provide more and more money for increased salaries, wages and benefits. This on the backs of citizens who have had to endure pay cuts, job losses, reduced or lost benefits, and depleted retirement and investment funds.

What measures have the leaders of this school district taken to reduce costs and waste?

Have they considered any plans to tighten their belts? It doesn’t appear so. While we have all had to trim or cut our budgets, the Riverside School District just keeps on spending.

Why haven’t they implemented any of the Performance Audit’s recommendations for saving money? Why have they handed out 15% increases in wages and benefits over the past 3 years? Are they being good stewards of your tax dollars? It doesn’t appear so.

Why don’t they make some long overdue budget adjustments, and freeze wages and benefits at their current levels before asking for more money and give the poor, overburdened taxpayers of this district a break?

I hope the Riverside School District voters consider this when they vote on May 5th."

Please send us your comments, questions or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - OPEN ENROLLMENT HURTS DISTRICT?

2009-03-23T22:43:00.007-04:00

Does open enrollment hurt the Riverside School District?

Yes. Here's what we believe.

Superintendent Kalis and Treasurer Vaccariello seem to continue to encourage the school board to allow for open enrollment, in what we believe is a misguided attempt at bringing in more revenues to the district at the expense of taxpayers and children in the school district.

What is open enrollment?

Open enrollment is allowing children who reside in other school districts to attend school in the Riverside School District.

Do all school districts have open enrollment?

No and most of the best districts don't entertain allowing it. For example, Mentor an execellent district doesn't allow it.

Why don't the better school districts allow it?

Read the following and maybe you can start to form your own opinions.

How can open enrollment hurt a school district?

Open enrolled students take up space that a resident student could take. For example, there are cases we know of in the Riverside Schools where district taxpayer's children are bused to an elementary school across the district because space they should be given at their nearby elementary school is being taken by open enrolled children from other school districts. No preference is given to the district taxpayer's child.

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?

We don't think so.The Riverside district spends over $8000 per child on average per year to educate a child. The district, however, takes in thousands of dollars less from the state to educate this open enrolled child. Who makes up the difference? You do.

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE?

We don't think so.

Why should a Riverside taxpayer make up the difference that it takes to educate an open enrolled child?

We don't know of any good reason.

If the Riverside School District is so overcrowded as the board and administration continue to allege then why allow for open enrollment?

We can't answer this. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO US! If you are a parent and want to educate your children in the Riverside School District is there an incentive to move into the district? No certainly not! If you can buy a cheaper home, with lower property taxes in Cleveland, Fairport Harbor or some other lower performing district why wouldn't you and then just enroll your child in Riverside schools?

Does open enrollment affect your home's value?

Maybe? It certainly can't help it.We believe open enrollment may lead to disciplinary problems. We know of cases where children are expelled from their home district or another district where they are open enrolled, and re-enroll in another district offering open enrollment.

Doe open enrollment create a good environment for your child if they are forced to attend school with children who have been expelled from their own school district?

We don't think so.If open enrollment doesn't make sense from either an educational or financial standpoint then why allow it? Good school districts like Mentor don't. If Riverside wants to improve then we believe THEY SHOULDN'T EITHER.

Hopefully this causes our readers to question Riversides policies allowing for open enrollment.

What do you think? As always we'd like to hear your questions, opinion or comments. You can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT - SUPERINTENDENT'S FIRST BIG MISTAKE?

2009-03-20T18:25:00.005-04:00

The News-Herald recently reported that the Madison School District has a contract with the classified union – aides, janitors, secretaries, etc. Since then we have received a number of complaints from our readers.

The classified union contract includes 3 percent raises for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 – it’s also retroactive. This doesn’t add in the step increases, which we estimate increases the costs to 4-5 % for each year for many employees and also what we estimate to be significantly increased costs over these two years for providing benefits for these employees.

What was the new Superintendent Goudy thinking?

Ohio just announced a huge unemployment increase in the state – unemployment now stands at 9.3%. Companies continue to lay off, and some taxpayers are getting no raises or being asked to take pay cuts.

Goudy is the new Superintendent the board just hired who lived in Solon, sat on the Solon School Board and we understand recently ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Legislature. Is he a politician? We don't know, but he certainly appears to be appeasing the OAPSE union. Why? Maybe because of the way the busing was handled when it was privatized. Two wrongs don't make a right, and in each case we believe the public continues to suffer.

Madison Schools' Superintendent Roger Goudy called not having a contract for these employees "a travesty" — the district's support staff union finally has a contract again.

The real travesty is the size of this contract that he apparently negotiated.

The News-Herald stated “Goudy started with the district in January. He met with the federal mediator about six weeks ago, then spent about five hours with OAPSE's local negotiating team and field representative Trina Molnar.”

Clearly it looks to us and our readers like Goudy only spent five hours on this contract, but the Madison School District and their taxpayers will suffer paying for what we believe to be a huge mistake for 2 years and will continue to loose credibility with the taxpayers.

The buck stops with the board, however, and it will be interesting to see who is replaced in November.

As always you can reach us with your questions, comments or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - GOD MADE IDIOTS, AFTER PRACTICING HE MADE SCHOOL BOARDS!

2009-03-19T22:08:00.006-04:00

We received the following comment from a reader. Our reader was also considerate enough to copy the Perry board, superintendent and treasurer.

We continue to extend our offer to publish the Perry board's or administration's side of the story. Remember this is the comparison that the Perry School District wanted to make, we believe the real comparison should be against other Lake County schools. If that comparison was made we believe the numbers would be much worse.

Our reader:

"Since I never received from the Perry administration or board where and why Perry spent $9.2 million dollars more last year than its sister district Chagrin Falls I pulled the numbers myself: These numbers are straight subtractions taken from the financial documents submitted to the state by both districts on October 30, 2008.

Enrollment - Chagrin Falls 1,922 Perry 1,886 Difference - 36 students more in Chagrin Falls

Wages & Salaries - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $1,339,140

Employee Benefits - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $1,889,974

Purchased Services - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $1,940,655

Supplies & Materials - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $658,943

Capital Outlay - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $801,082

Other Objects - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $436,789

Transfers out of General Fund to Discretionary Funds - Perry outspent Chagrin Falls by $2,499,697

Interest & Fiscal Charges - Perry spent less than Chagrin Falls by -$324,226

IN TOTAL EXPENDITURES PERRY OUTSPENT CHAGRIN FALLS LAST YEAR BY $9,242,054

Comment: In the preceding eight school years Perry has outspent Chagrin Falls by $70 plus million dollars with just about identical enrollment. Chagrin Falls is one of twelve area districts the Perry administration and board chose to be compared with at a special board meeting October 7, 2008.

For those who might jump to a conclusion that the teaching staff is the biggest part of this $9.2 million dollar difference - wrong, wrong, wrong,. It lies elsewhere, and the community residents should demand to know where this money has gone, and continues to go.

Chinese Proverb: "THERE IS NO FEAST WHICH DOES NOT COME TO AN END."

Mark Twain Quote from over 100 years ago: "FIRST GOD MADE IDIOTS. THAT WAS FOR PRACTICE. THEN HE MADE SCHOOL BOARDS.""

We believe at the rate of $9.2 million per year, $70+ million over eight years, pretty soon this will add up to some "real money"!

As always we welcome your comments, questions or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

MENTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT - COMPLIANCE TRAINING NEEDED?

2009-03-18T18:33:00.002-04:00

The News-Herald reported this past weekend that another teacher at the Mentor School District was being investigated due to "inappropriate"contact with a student, http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/03/13/news/nh613013.txt. This is the second time in less than a year that this has happened, and we're sure that Dr. Hoynes would agree twice too often.

While we applaud the actions taken by Mentor and Dr. Hoynes, we would suggest that Mentor needs to make sure these young teachers are receiving the appropriate compliance training to insure that they understand the seriousness of this type of conduct.

We would also point out that such instruction is common sense and doesn't need an attorney for reviewing the requirements with these employees.

The News-Herald article is as follows:

"Officials are investigating allegations that a Mentor High School teacher "engaged in inappropriate behavior with several students" in the second such Mentor School District case in a year.

In a statement released Friday by Superintendent Jacqueline D. Hoynes, without identifying the teacher's name, gender or age, or what the alleged behavior was, the district said it started hearing complaints on March 4 about the second-year teacher. District officials took "swift and thorough action to determine the validity of the claims," the statement said, adding: "The teacher was immediately placed on paid leave. The district notified the Mentor Police Department, who began their own investigation to determine whether there was any criminal wrongdoing." A police spokesman said the department's only statement is that the case "is still an open investigation."

In the statement, Hoynes added: "Our district takes any report of teacher misconduct very seriously. We will use all resources available to determine the facts and take the necessary steps to ensure our schools remain a safe and secure learning environment for all students."

The district said it won't discuss specifics until police and school investigations are concluded. The statement added that no criminal history or previous claims of misconduct were found in background checks prior to the teacher's hiring in 2007. Mentor Schools require child abuse prevention training for all teachers and other programs focusing on appropriate teacher conduct.

The district plans more staff training with its attorneys to stress any laws involving teacher conduct, the statement said. A three-year prison sentence was imposed last year against a former teacher for having a sexual relationship with a student at Shore Junior High in Mentor. The 23-year-old female teacher and 15-year-old boy were involved between May 28 and June 6 last year at the school. Before the conviction, she contacted him by instant messenger and told him to deny any relationship, the Lake County Prosecutor's Office said. That teacher's only prior record was a 2004 speeding ticket."

As always your can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com with your comments.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - ISSUE 1: JUST SAY "NO"!

2009-03-16T05:01:00.003-04:00

This comment was sent to us by one of our readers.

"In May 2009 Riverside Local School District will be asking its voters to approve a new levy. This is not just a renewal of an expiring levy, but rather a substitute levy. This levy likely will cost taxpayers more than a normal renewal over the life of the levy.

The real questions are, does the Riverside Local School District really need this new levy?

Will this money be spent to better educate our children?

Will the district finally become accountable for its excessive spending?

I don't think so.

The school district currently has what I understand from their five year forecast to be a $7 million dollar reserve. The district refuses to make the cuts that the state has recommended from its performance audit, and the district continues to hand out excessive raises to its employees and administrators.

How many of our districts' taxpayers have gotten 15% raises in pay and benefits over the past 3 years, and how many have lost their jobs?

I do not think we should give the district more money so they continue to hand out monopoly style raises.

We all have learned over these past three years that highly paid employees do not equal better test scores!

The board will threaten the voters that busing will be cut and other school activities may have to be cut if this levy does not pass, as they did in 2003 and 2004. As voters we must stand up and tell them “no” and to also start cutting the fat out of district's expenditures - particularly before they ask us to reduce our disposable incomes.

Riverside has been operating well in the black for many years. This is due to the fact their revenues have increased signficantly over the past 15 years allowing the district to become fat and lethargic. Riverside's board and administration don't appear to understand how to operate within the confines of a budget.

I think it is time for us the taxpayers and voters of this district to put pressure on the board and administration to make them operate within the confines of a budget."

We agree and thank our reader. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

AUBURN CAREER CENTER - NEW INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT!

2009-03-14T13:50:00.003-04:00

We understand the Auburn Career Center board met on Thursday, March 12th and appointed Margaret (Maggie) Lynch as the new interim superintendent. Lynch will replace the outgoing Tom Schultz while the board of education conducts a superintendent search.

We understand that Lynch is well liked within the organization particularly among the teaching and support staff.

We applaud the board for making this interim appointment!

The Auburn Career Center currently has a number of issues that need to be resolved so they can deliver a good education to their students and good value to you as the taxpayer.

The issues include an extensive employee morale problem, an alarming five year forecast and budget that needs much work and adjustment, and problems with at least one of their programs.

As we have said before, the interim and new superintendent will need to make cuts going forward to insure the stability of the Auburn Career Center. We believe those cuts can be made in the "bloated" administrative structure and by eliminating waste without affecting the education the students receive. We will detail some of that waste at another time.

The interim and new superintendent will also need to address the employee morale problem. We think a good first step was with Lynch's appointment. This so far is only symbolic, but we believe that Lynch may have the energy and will to make the fundemental changes in the culture that are necessary to evoke real change.

Finally we hope that the interim and new superintendent will get back to basics. That being -Auburn needs to deliver a good education at a good value. If they do this there will be no need for PR people and fancy brochures because the public will over time begin to understand through example the value they are receiving for the tax dollars.

As always you can contact us with your questions, comments or concerns at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - THE NO SPIN ZONE II!

2009-03-13T19:33:00.007-04:00

We still continue to get a number of comments concerning our earlier blog titled "THE SPIN ZONE", http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/03/perry-school-district-spin-zone.html. Here is another example of what another one of our readers is saying:

"As the President of OAPSE I believe Mrs. Gant could at least be honest when she speaks on camera.

If she truly wants to help the district save money then why hasn't she suggested not providing transportation for high school students. Parents have been warned about losing transportation when the Perry School District wants to pass a levy - so lets start being proactive and save a large sum of money starting now.

I'm sure Mrs. Gant would agree not only to saving paying salaries but that for every dollar thats earned the district pays an additonal 43 cents in benefits. That to me would be a step in the right direction Mrs. Gant by seeing how we should all work toward helping Perry School District save money. Yes we do C.A.R.E.!!!!!!!!!!!

Many concerned parents."

We thank our reader for her comments and opinion. We still haven't heard from Mrs. Gant, the Perry Board or Administration about their side of the story. As always you can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - A WAY TO CUT WASTE!

2009-03-12T19:09:00.003-04:00

We received the following comment and suggestion from a reader as a follow up to an earlier comment from this same reader on "EXCESSIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT", http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/02/perry-school-district-excessive.html. Our reader copied board members Sines, Farrell, Rideout, Brewster, and Martin, as well as, the Perry Superintendent and Treasurer by e-mail.

Our reader makes a good case for reduction in professional development costs - we're waiting to see if there is any response from the board or administration. Remember the OAPSE President has implied that the board and administration would be happy to address the public's questions.

Our's is whether the Perry School District is going to implement our readers suggestion?

"As a follow up to my previous blog on teacher time out of class for professional development here's some further worth while information, and a positive simple recommendation to fix this costly problem.

First of all I randomly picked two typical teachers from the Middle School where it has already been established that 44.6% of total absentee hours (not counting leaves, vacations, no sub, etc.) was on 'Personal Professional Development Time,' and occurred in school year 2006/2007. In that school year the middle school ran just under 8% teacher absenteeism (including PDT). These random teachers missed 72 hours (9 days), and 120 hours (15 days) respectively being 'developed.' See the attached spread sheets to see how well this practice is making Perry comparable to the 12 districts the administration and board selected to compare Perry with on October 7, 2008.

It cost the Perry District $408 per student last year for a cost of $769,488 for this development service. Just by knocking 45% out of this expense to bring it in line with Beachwood - $222, or Solon - $228, in cost per student, would save the Perry District approximately $345,000. Go deeper like West Geauga - $100, Rocky River - $142, Kirtland - $150, and Bay Village - $162, and the Perry District could be looking at savings of approximately $507,000.

Continuation of this practice without modification, in my opinion, is a disservice to the kids who come to learn every day, a huge cost to the district in substitutes, and a reflection of the poorer grades in both the elementary and middle school compared to the 12 districts the administration and board selected to compare Perry with.

With what this district faces financially, an good administrator or executive of the Perry School District would make a decision in a heart beat to cut this practice way back effective yesterday, and bring it in line with the four districts who average $139 in staff support."

We thank our reader for his well thought out comment and suggestion. As always you, the Perry board or administration can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - POOR MANAGEMENT = STIMULUS?

2009-03-10T17:49:00.007-04:00

We received the following commentary from one of our readers:

"I was reading through the list of the individuals and companys who had requested the opportunity to apply for Federal Funds, http://recovery.ohio.gov/ ,your tax dollars, through the Economic Stimulus Package and one name kept coming up, Riverside Local School District.

It turns out the school district is requesting in excess of $15,000,000.00 to help repair the districts school buildings that are quickly becoming in disrepair!

While I would be elated if we could get our buildings all fixed up, on someone else’s dime I can only wonder how we have gotten to this point?

Where was the leadership from our board that would have prevented us from getting to this point?

Why are we looking for someone else to fix our problems?

For the past 7 years this district under the leadership of Ms. Moss, Mr. Trombley, and most recently with Mr. Palermo, Mr. Kallay and Mrs. Johnson have gone to the voters once for a new middle school, which was rejected and then for an even larger levy that would afforded them the opportunity to buy the county home, build a new school, and bus garage.

This last levy was defeated by the voters by an almost 2 to 1 ratio. But due to the creativity of the Treasurer Michael Vaccariello the district was able to come up with $1,500,000.00 to buy the county home property that the voters told them not to.

Do you remember where you were when you heard the board did what the voters told them not to do? That is spend $1,500,000.00 on a county home and property that the district could have used to fix our current structures.

Instead we are left with a vacant piece of property. Not once has this board come to us, the parents and most importantly the voters, with a plan to fix, repair, or renovate the current structures in the district.

Why does this board continually ask for a new school without taking care of the 7 we already have? After reading the facilities study the district has done I have come to realize we are in a position of damage control. We will spend the next several years plugging the holes in the Titanic hoping it will get to port before it sinks!

Instead of looking for someone to fix our problems, maybe we should get new board members and administrators who can find a solution in house?"

We agree with our reader that there's been much waste and many false starts. Let's not forget the waste on "pet" projects such as the stadium renovation and outfitting the field house with the permanent improvement levy funds instead of using the money to fix our current structures.

Ask yourself how did these projects help your children's education?

We thank our reader for the thoughtful commentary. As always you can reach us with your comments, questions or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S EDUCATION INITIATIVE!

2009-03-10T17:13:00.001-04:00

We appreciate many parts of President Obama’s education speech this morning.

Our favorite parts included performance pay models for teachers, better student data tracking systems, longer school days and years, eliminating weak state testing standards, more money for schools that improve, more grants for fresh ideas, better teacher training, more charter school growth, and accountability for poor teachers and schools.

President Obama supported accountability in schools through testing, even though this appears to be a Republican plank. We applaud him for taking the right position at the risk of angering the unions that supported him. His explicit endorsement of the tough Massachusetts testing system — a favorite of GOP conservatives — will probably irritate the NEA and education activists in his own party.

Like many of the sincere and reasonable changes Governor Strickland has endorsed, the proof will be in the implementation.

A test of both Obama’s and Strickland’s sincerity will be if and how these changes are implemented.

As always please send us your questions, comments or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - THE NO SPIN ZONE!

2009-03-09T22:45:00.007-04:00

We've received a number of e-mails about Ms. Gant's comments about the CARE Committee at the last Perry board meeting, http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2009/03/perry-school-district-spin-zone.html. Here is what one of our readers said:

"In your blog about Perry on March 9th Ms. Gant President of the Perry OAPSE is quoted as saying that Perry has reduced expenses.

It's true, but such a teeny bit that in the big picture it is insignificant.

I would ask the same question I've been asking of the Perry administration and Board for many, many months - where did the $9.2 million dollars more go, that Perry spent over Chagrin Falls last year, with Chagrin Falls having 36 more students.

I think it is beholden of Mr. Farrell, or someone from the administration, to enlighten Ms. Gant as to where that $9.2 million dollar difference went. Be sure to be honest with Ms. Gant so she knows how much of that difference the OAPSE employees got with the help of the administration and board.

It shouldn't be that hard to figure when one looks at the states numbers and sees that it cost each Chagrin Falls student $2,142 to support their OAPSE employees, and a whopping $3,590 for each Perry student to support their OAPSE employees - a difference of a $1,448 burden placed on each Perry student's back. Multiply that by the 1,886 students Perry had enrolled last year plus benefits and I'd swear all day long, along with Ms. Gant, that this administration and board, as the old song goes, "are too marvelous for words."

As a small sidelight, to put this in perspective, Chagrin Falls wound up last years school year with a performance index rating of 108.1. Perry came in at 102.9, but spent $9.2 million dollars more."

Well said. We'd like to thank our reader.

We are waiting to hear OAPSE President Gant's side of the story, or the Perry board's or administration's.

As always you, the Perry board or administration can reach us with your side of the story, comments, suggestions or questions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - THE SPIN ZONE!

2009-03-08T15:58:00.008-04:00

Apparently the Perry School District is worried about the financial information we've given you about the district.

The Gazette Newspapers reported in their weekly newspaper on March 6th that Cindy Grant the president of Perry's OAPSE union stated at the February board meeting that she wished the people who hear information being put out by the CARE Committee would contact the school administration or board members to get their side of the story. She said the current superintendent and board have been working hard to be fiscally responsible and have reduced district expenditures.

We believe this is a "smoke screen" being put out by the head of the classified union to discredit the information we've been providing to you. We also wonder if Grant could be acting as a surrogate for the board - that would be troubling. It is clear to us the classified union is doing this out of self interest.

We ask the Perry School District to stop the spin!

We contacted Matt Farrell, Perry's board president back in November and offered him the chance provide Perry's "side of the story". Farrell, however, declined. We suspect he did so because he didn't have an answer, or at least one that would be satisfactory to our readers and the public in general.

We make the same offer to OAPSE Union President Grant to give us the school district's "side of the story" (or to Farrell). We suspect she won't also - but only hope she does!

If the Perry school district believe they are financially responsible then why be afraid of addressing the issues we've raised?

We suspect because the Perry board and administration understand it is clear they haven't been! Based on our understanding of the numbers we know signficant changes need to be made at the Perry School District to avert large financial problems in the future!

Please contact us with your questions, comments or suggestions at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com. OAPSE President Grant (or Farrell) can do so likewise if they want to back up or support Grant's statements.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - TEACHING TO THE TEST?

2009-03-07T11:01:00.005-05:00

Many of our readers tell us they are not happy with the education their children receive or have received from the Riverside School District.

A number have told us their biggest regret was not sending their children to another district or to a private school.

Parents start to understand the problem better when their children attend college and have a difficult time keeping up with students from the better districts. By that time its too late or more difficult to solve.

This is a shame, but we certainly understand why this happens!

Riverside schools' state report card rating has slipped significantly over the past several years.

One of the complaints we also constantly hear is that the school district teaches to the state test. In other words, your children are being taught all year just to take a test in April.

One parent told us of a situation where she questioned why American History was being taught during a World History class, and the teacher replied it was because the students needed to learn this content for the state test.

The problem with this approach of teaching to the test is children memorize but don't learn how to think for themselves and aren't inspired to be creative. This lack of proper training in the fundementals of learning becomes clear at the college level or in the work setting when these former Riverside educated children can't solve problems they haven't seen before.

We believe Albert Einstein must of had a school system similar to Riverside's in mind when he stated,

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry."

and

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

Perhaps Riverside's state test scores will improve when or if they return to the fundementals of learning rather than just teaching to the test.

Thanks to our readers for their comments. You can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - IS IT ABOUT THE CHILDREN OR THE MONEY?

2009-03-05T18:32:00.008-05:00

We keep hearing from our readers that they are not happy about a number of issues involving the Riverside School District.

We don't think most people's "beef" is with the teachers or support staff, but rather appears to involve the board and administration.

A case in point. We understand that on Tuesday night the Riverside board was represented by an attorney at the Lake County School Board meeting - in our opinion needlessly spending your tax dollars.

At that meeting, the County Prosecutor's representative told the Lake County Board that a Riverside resident, Mr. Morgan, had the right to petition for a special election to move his property from the Riverside School District to the Chardon School District. This could have cost you the taxpayer $30,000-50,000 dollars.

Mr. Morgan's children were uprooted from the Chardon district last year and forced to attend school at the Riverside district. You can read more about Mr. Morgan's plight in this News-Herald article http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/02/13/news/nh453765.txt.

We understand Chardon has all along been amenable educating these children, but Riverside didn't go along with this because they didn't want to give up a small amount of tax revenues that would go with the transfer of the property.

Kudos to the Lake County Prosecutor's Office. They suggested a mediated solution.

Kudos also to Ron Graham (Mr. Morgan's attorney) and Mr. Morgan for agreeing to work with the districts even though by law they are not required to do so.

The Riverside School District, in our opinion, has picked on a large number of their residents this year. Remember those Notre Dame Cathedral Latin parents who were denied busing at the last minute after being told they would have it. Remember also those St. Mary's Chardon parents who weren't able to get full busing either. These parents pay taxes and don't burden the district to educate their children but the Riverside's board and administration don't seem to care.

The Riverside district needs to start remembering - its about the children, ALL THE CHILDREN.

As always we welcome your comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - POOR MANAGEMENT?

2009-03-04T18:19:00.005-05:00

We received the following comment in response to the infrastructure problems recently coming to light at Hale Road Elementary:

"I'm not impressed with Riverside School's Maintenance Director.

I remember when Mr. Hoyt decided to mess around with the football field. I understand he put manure down on the field and killed the grass just before the 2003 football season. I believe that cost the school district and their taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. I also understand it also created all types of headaches for the board and administration throughout the football season. I feel they should have gotten rid of him then.

I also remember his monkeying around trying to clean up illegal dumping behind Hale Road Elementary. I suspect the taxpayers could have gotten the work done much cheaper.

You ask whether the district has a preventative maintenance program? Ha ha ha!

I don't think this guy knows what preventative maintenance means.

-Larry"

We appreciate Larry's point of view and feel he's made a number of good points, but we would point out that we believe the board and administration share responsibility also.

You can contact us with your questions, suggestions and comments at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - MUST LEARN TO LIVE WITHIN ITS MEANS!

2009-03-03T19:01:00.013-05:00

Watch the most recent Riverside Feb 24th board meeting. Apparently, the Riverside School District is having some problems with their infrastructure at Hadden Elementary School costing upwards of an estimated $1.2 million dollars. If they pay for all improvements on their "wish" list it could cost approximately $1.7 million dollars.

The infrastructure problem involves installing a new boiler at about $600,000, and roofing and masonry work that brings the cost to approximately $1.2 million dollars. Its not clear there isn't a cheaper solution - and also whether the school district has even explored other options.

Based on these so-called problems the district is now in the “crisis” mode according to a number of board members. In reality they are merely reacting to a situation brought about by lack of proper planning.

Board members implied that some of these problems are due to the school district not being "visionary" in the past. We agree!

This infrastructure problem has the board talking about closing down Hadden and moving the children to other elementary schools while at the same time building a large number of modular units to accommodate these children – or just fixing Hadden over this next summer.

We believe the suggestion of closing Hadden is merely a scare tactic designed to create concern among the parents whose children attend elementary schools that would be affected by this solution.

The possibility of a bond issue for a new school was broached as well. Clearly an old story telling you what the school district really wants - if they thought you'd possibly fall for it.

Most well run organizations have a preventative maintenance program. We want to know why these infrastructure problems weren’t caught much earlier before they rose to this order of magnitude?

Doesn’t the school district have a preventative maintenance program? We suspect they don’t – particularly a proper one!

The taxpayers of the Riverside School District voted for and renewed a large permanent improvement tax fund on 2 occasions – but look around the district – we believe the administration and board haven’t used this money appropriately.

Millions of dollars and much of this permanent improvement tax fund was spent during the last five year period fixing the football stadium and outfitting the field house while we believe much of the necessary preventative maintenance wasn’t accomplished let alone even attempted.

During this period the board also bought the County Home and its surrounding property after you told them not to - spending $1.53 million dollars of your tax dollars, see http://lakecountyschools.blogspot.com/2008/11/riverside-local-school-district-county.html.

Now this continuous waste and improper allocation of your money is starting to show – and we suspect it will only be a matter of time until the current board thinks about asking you for more money to solve problems we believe they created and continue to create. (If they did this would be in addition to what is being requested this May.)

The school district can solve this problem in a number of ways that will have little impact on the education they provide or the students. Its time the school district start doing the proper preventative maintenance in their buildings and quit using the permanent improvement tax levy as a "slush" fund for pet projects.

THE RIVERSIDE BOARD NEEDS TO START USING THE PERMANENT IMPROVEMENT FUND FOR WHAT IT WAS INTENDED!

FIX HADDEN - THE DISTRICT HAS THE MONEY.

We as individual taxpayers have to live within our means – isn’t it time the Riverside School District does also?

As always you can contact us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - VOTE NO ON MAY TAX LEVY!

2009-03-01T14:35:00.009-05:00

We feel it was wrong for the Riverside School District to put a tax levy on the May ballot. Here’s are some of the reasons why.

We believe this tax levy is being requested simply to pay for additional salary and benefit increases given to administrators and other employees.

Over the past several years, the Riverside board has given large salary and benefit increases. For example, just over the 2006-2008 time period - salary and benefit costs for all employees in the district increased by over 10.8%. Inflation during that same period was 5%.

THESE SALARY AND BENEFITS COSTS EXCEED INFLATION BY 116% IN JUST OVER 2 YEARS! This is ridiculous.

Over the past five years we believe the Riverside School District has consistently allowed their salary and benefit costs to outpace inflation. For example, we believe you only need to look at salary increases given to the current individuals who are Treasurer and Superintendent during that time period (this is a topic for another blog) to start to begin to understand the district's spending patterns.

DESPITE ALLOWING COSTS TO ESCALATE THE DISTRICT BUILT UP A $7.7 MILLION DOLLAR CASH BALANCE!

This should lead you to question the need for a tax levy being on the ballot in May in the first place. In addition, the district had a performance audit done by the Ohio State Auditor, which recommended $1.3 million dollars in cuts to the Riverside expenses that we view as waste (http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/AuditSearch/detail.aspx?ReportID=59248).

We know many of the cuts potentially resulting in the largest cost savings have never been made. Why not?

For one reason since the district was able to build up a reserve at such a fast pace there was no need to make cuts. Also maybe the district thought a larger reserve would only cause organizations like ours to question their actions even more?

Riverside School District needs to:

1) implement the $1.3 million dollars in cost savings identified by the Ohio State Auditor,

2) use the additional approximately $1.5 million per year on average the district has been saving from previous levies to build or add to their reserve to educate the children of the district, and

3) eliminate open enrollment.

Will this affect the quality of education? We believe it will improve our children's education.

Ironically, the quality of education at the Riverside School District has been dropping according to their state report cards over the past several years even as their expenses have been increasing at what we believe is an unreasonable pace.

WE BELIEVE EDUCATION CAN BE IMPROVED IN THE DISTRICT WITH PROPER MANAGEMENT AND BY MAINTAINING THE CURRENT NUMBER OF TEACHING STAFF!

We believe cost savings can be achieved in other areas through employee attrition, reduction in administrative and overhead expenses, creative sharing arrangements with other districts, and by reducing or eliminating increases in current expenses!

Clearly, the Riverside district doesn’t appear to understand the financial hardships their residents are currently under so our readers need let them know how they feel when voting on this tax levy in May.

We are recommending that residents of the Riverside School District vote no on this tax levy.

As always we welcome your questions, comments and suggestions. You can reach us at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com

RIVERSIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT - NEW TAX LEVY?

2009-02-28T03:12:00.006-05:00

The Riverside School District board prodded by their administration placed a proposed tax levy on the ballot for May of this year.

The following are different quotes that may have some relevance:

-I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

-A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.. -- George Bernard Shaw

-Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

-Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else . -- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

-Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)

-I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

-In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire (1764)

-Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! -- Pericles (430 B.C.)

-The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan

-The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

-The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain

-The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

-A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Thomas Jefferson

It should make one think! We hope you will remember these quotes (and who said them) when you vote in May!

As always we can be reached at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

PERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT - EXCESSIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT?

2009-02-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

We received an e-mail from a Perry reader who has been looking into the district's professional development costs. Apparently quite a bit of money is being spend in this area - our reader's contention is that this unfortunately is "programmed absenteeism" and it benefits are far outweighed by the costs to the students and the taxpayers.

Here's what our reader says:

"First of all there is no problem with teacher absenteeism at Perry High School. Attendance has been steady between 96.5% and 97.0% for a lot of years staying slightly ahead of the state average, and even doing better than the twelve districts the administration and board selected back on October 7th of 2008 as the districts they wanted to compare Perry with. In fact over the last four years Perry High School averaged 96.7% in teacher attendance as opposed to the twelve other districts in the same time frame averaging 96.2% attendance in their high schools.

Also, as previously demonstrated, Perry High School compared pretty favorably in the five core subjects with the averages of the other twelve districts on the results of the 10th grade OGT tests.

However, the Perry Elementary, and Middle Schools are examples of how top management can absolutely screw up something that was OK, and make that something into something not so OK.

First, in teacher attendance at both schools, which was 95.4% average at the elementary school and 96.6% average at the middle school, was attained under the previous administration. This administration over its four year tenure has lowered attendance at both schools to an average of 93.0% - that’s an incredulous 7% absenteeism rate. The average teacher absenteeism of the twelve selected elementary schools for the four year period was 4.6%, and for the twelve middle schools 4.2%.

Second, reading and math being the constants for a comparison of 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades the scores for both of these subjects were used from school year 2007/2008. The twelve selected districts averaged 93.2 in reading, and 90.4 in math. Perry averaged 91.0 in reading and 87.6 in math.

Believing very strongly that there is a correlation between grade attainment and teacher absenteeism an analysis of what was causing increased teacher absenteeism in both the elementary and middle schools was in order. Accordingly, the spread sheets containing this information were forwarded by e-mail to the writer, from the district, and the analysis went forward. A senior from the high school compiled the raw data furnished. The following rules were established: No absentee hours were to be included if any kind of a leave (medical, maternity, administrative) was involved. Nor were any hours to be included that were caused by jury duty, vacation, or any hours that did not require a substitute. The only hours compiled were short term illness, personal time, and teacher professional development. School year 2006/2007 was used as atypical for the four years studied.

Results of analysis: In the elementary school teachers were out of their classrooms for a total of 5,962.25 hours costing the district $70,294.93 in substitute pay. Of this total 28.5% - 1,700.75 hours - $20,051.84 was because of teacher professional development time –PROGRAMMED ABSENTEEISM.

In the middle school teachers were out of their classrooms for a total of 5,601 hours costing the district $66,035.79 in substitute pay. Of this total 44.6% - 2,499 hours - $29,472.05 was because of teacher professional development time – PROGRAMMED ABSENTEEISM.

Not included in these cost numbers are travel reimbursements for hotel/motel, food, gasoline, etc.

It is the writer’s strong contention that the current administration and school board ought to get off their collective duffs and ask the kids what they think of having to deal with substitutes who get $11.79 an hour, and most could care less whether any learning happens, while the teacher is God knows where being professionally developed. Perry outspends almost the entire state in cost per student in this category, and I challenge those in the district who force this “stuff” to show the community the children who have profited from this practice. Is some of this personal teacher professional time out of the classroom needed? Of course it is, but it should be minimal not the heavy representation the figures show. Even Beachwood, one of the richest districts in the state, has cut way back on this practice, and spends less per student on it than Perry does.

It is my opinion that this is top management’s attempt to justify the employ of a top administrator the district does not need. Teachers are going to be ill, and teachers will take personal time from time to time, but we don’t need them out of their classrooms on a practice that is way out of proportion for any good it might do for the kids."

We thank our reader for the thoughtful analysis. As always we can be reached at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.

MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT - WHO'S RUNNING FOR SCHOOL BOARD?

2009-02-25T18:53:00.002-05:00

Dave Jones of the News-Herald blogged yesterday that incumbents David Albert, Jay Fabian and Steve Baldwin are up for re-election this year in Madison for School Board. He also noted that at the Lake County Elections Board, candidacy petitions are held so far only for Garrison Majernik for a Madison School District Board seat, http://northernohiolocalpolitics.blogspot.com/.

We understand that a number of other active and concerned citizens are also interested in running.

The Madison board and likewise the incumbents up for election have certainly stumbled over the past several years, and therefore we encourgage those "active and concerned citizens" to run and give the residents of Madison a choice.

We stated before that "In November 2007, [Madison's] ...board wasn’t able to pass a bond issue for new schools – despite the State of Ohio signing up to pay a large percentage of the costs they lost 2,262 for and 3,584 against - http://www.lakeelections.com/archive/11062007/11062007Results.htm. A large margin of defeat.

We believe the Madison Board then needlessly caused a stir by the way they handled privatizing busing.

Finally, the Madison Board voted to put another bond issue on the ballot for new schools in August 2008 only to withdraw it a number of weeks later."

We suspect that most of those active, concerned citizens who are currently looking to run for school board won't take the "bait" and commit to running too early.

As always you can contact us with your questions, comments and concerns at carecommitteepac@yahoo.com.