"IF I LISTEN LONG ENOUGH ..." rod stewart
I'll find a reason to believe...
The Board promised "Transparency". I expect it.
Well, at the Monday School Board Meeting the board and the administration agreed to ask for a levy that would generate $1,400,000.00 a year in revenue. Last November they lost a renewal levy by 19 votes so now they'll come back in May asking for an Emergency levy that is $500,000.00 more then the $900,000.00 levy they asked for in November?
Nothing in the main stream media [News-Herald} but I imagine they will get around to it eventually.
At the last couple of meetings I heard some residents tell the board what programs should be spared cuts. I can't argue that they all gave good reasons.
Now these parents will probably vote for the levy for numerous reasons. Saving the AG classes, full day kindergarten, sport's programs, staffing issues.... the list will continue to grow until May.
Will this board and administration put on paper "guarantees" for what programs and staffing would be saved if the levy passes?
Can't do that? We'll hear the board doesn't know what the state budget cuts will be. Well then I'm not going to give you people almost a million and a half dollars on faith....sorry.
Bussing, class sizes, plus some of the above must be known before you people even consider voting thumbs up or down on this levy, it's just common sense.
Dr. Hanlon must have taken lessons from AMP-OHIO and used them on the board. This is as bad as a "Take and Pay" contract. Only you will be giving this administration all this money with "NO" promises. This is a "Give and Hope" contract you give them money then hope it's spent the way you want.
Some of you have seen some of the waste in this system first hand, you want to give them more money? You'll be voting on this in about a hundred days. By Tuesday you will have received your first-half property taxes, surprise! If you got the extra 200bucks.... go for it, it's almost like shooting craps in Vegas.
posted by terminator1 @ 5:32 PM
14 Comments
14 Comments:
I don't agree that the AG program and others should be spared. Why should the school keep a program that benefits only a handful of kids when the majority need the most help. Make the cuts that count including sports. I don't give a care that kids won't or don't have anything to do after school. THATS NOT MY JOB that's the Parents responsibility. And just in case some one says it helps maintain their grades, they are required to keep a 2.0 average I believe, which is a D. So who is that helping? It's EDUCATION not a babysitting service.
Also it would help if Mexican kids enrolling were required to speak English and the kids in school that know how to speak English USED it instead of pretending they don't understand it.
We need to make a change.
It should be mandatory, for all students attending school to speak english. Why should our tax dollars be spent for ESL classes? The parents need to be responsible for this. They should be required to pay for classes so their children can speak english before attending school!
To 8:19...then apparently you don't care whether your property value goes up or drops substantially. Or maybe you rent and figure its your landlord's problem. (it won't be..he'll pass it on to you...either with increased rent [if it goes up} or reduced maintenance {if it goes down}). The immediate consequence of cutting things that benefit only a few students is for those specific students and their parents. The long-term ramifications are for the community as a whole....an unattractive, failing school system does not encourage home ownership by young families or anyone else for that matter. The families with kids make an investment in their community and add stability. If the school system is good, they aren't going anywhere until their kids are graduated. Other people like living where schools are good because they perceive a safer, more (re)sellable investment. Painesville already spends an adequete amount per student and the results are just not there.
One thing you are right about is it is time for a change...but how about cutting the programs/perks for the bloated out-of-touch administration instead of the kids. Look at the scores for Painesville schools since Hanlon took over...a steady decline for a system already in trouble. Raise the standards and then stick to it. Every policy decision affects the whole community...not just that class of kids.
REW Apparently I do care about my property value and I already knew that tax increases get passed on to the renter. I see absolutely no sense in catering to a select few when the majority of kids need help more. Fact of the matter is this school system isn't good and I don't foresee people staying here just to send their kids to school. If they want to live here because housing is cheap then stay, but no one in their right mind would stay here solely for the schools.
As long as Doc Hanlon is pulling the strings and the board are the puppets, nothing is going to change. Oh how we long for the days when Joe Mucciarone was superintendent because this one is anything but SUPER.
To 5:32...I don't see the sense in totally dismantling the extra programs because the way public dollars work... once it is gone it is almost impossible to get back. That's why people writing public budgets generally pad the need so they usually end up with what they actually wanted in the first place. This is a time-honored way to do budgeting. Hanlon will not be here forever....whether another school district goes out on a limb and actually hires him or the state takes over our system, or just maybe the school board will wake up and make that (very) necessary change. However, in the meantime, I just do not want to see our school system gutted for short-term finances. And I most certainly did not intend to insult your intelligence in assuming you didn't know how property taxes work. Many people don't though, and I was hoping to give those folks something to think about.
Hey REW- there is NO padding left anywhere. Cuts are made to the bone except for the top handful at the board office. AND---they dont even live in this city. HOW DARE they keep asking for more, more, more.
Sure the probably pay their taxes for schools in other cities but correct me if Im wrong, Painesville is one of if not the most paying the highest taxes in the neighboring communities.
So REW what are your thoughts about art, music, computers gym and cooking, band etc?
By your thinking it sounds like those should be kept too?
What's more important for this district Right Now? Reading, writing, math, science & social studies or arts?
I bet if most parents had to make a choice they'd want the basics of education first. Yes for a well rounded person all of the others are good but when in such a hurt something has to go. They can't have cake and eat it too.
Gym is one that given todays obesity that might be the only one I would hang on to for the time being.
9:10 there's a lot of padding left. The wasre is unbelievable!
I am not...nor have I ever said...that everything should be kept. I just do not believe that all extra programs and curriculae should be cut while the administration does nothing to curb itself. I cannot tell kids they should do without a few classroom perks when the superintendent gets a cell phone and car allowance (just to itemize a few things)on top of his already-generous salary and stipends. They've been cutting (or threatening to cut) from one end long enough (from the bottom up) time to start working from the top down.
So REW what is the solution?
Vote no, no and no only cuts the classified personnel you can't think for a minute Dr. Hanlon will cut his perks. Try explaining that to kids going to these schools - most don't even want to be there in the first place.
How bout those automated calls parents receive from the school?
That service isnt cheap. Maybe there would be a place to cut some pork and go back to the good old fashion call trees (we still use them where I work and they work just fine).
How 'bout showing up at school board meetings and letting them know our dissatisfaction? They hold Hanlon's contract strings.
I've got my "NO $" sign ready for May.
Adam ant, thanks for your idiotism
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