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As I left last night’s school board meeting, someone mentioned that I didn’t even take notes. I responded, “You’re right, but didn’t you hear… everything’s fine!”

Nearly 50 residents attended last night’s meeting. Most were concerned with the situation (or non-situation) at Harvey. One big question is ‘whose facts are right and whose facts are wrong?’

At the very beginning, the first guest speaker was reminded not to use people's names…. well she slipped in the first minute so we all knew she was talking about former teacher Ross Grippi. I have made it a point to leave many comments off this blog if for no other reason than I can't prove them or they have nothing to do with the subject.

As always, in Painesville fashion, the problem is never attacked first, but the person who brings this to the public is the villain. Destroy the messenger, who cares about his facts, whether real or unreal.

Then another person gets up with his graphs and charts. For such an accomplished person he failed to pass them around or even tell us where these facts can be found. One chart I wish I could have seen is how many Harvey graduates go on to college and get an Associate, Bachelor’s, or Master’s degree. Let us compare PCLS to other districts. I am tired of hearing about Ashtabula schools, could we aim a little higher please!

Even being the underachiever that I am, I will at least tell you where my facts come from.

An elderly person in the audience mentioned ‘if this was a corporation you all would have been fired by now.’ I guess he is wondering how many years can you be in continuous improvement before you have to show real improvement? I would like an answer to that myself.

I made the mistake of mentioning Ms. Martin’s next monthly meeting to be held September 29th. Mr. Dillard said NO NAMES or he would end this now. O.K., so I guess some unnamed person will have a meeting on that day.

Next came the administration and board’s answer to last month’s comment section.
The first comment I remember by the administration was regarding the teacher who had managed to get 87% of her tenth graders to past the math portion of the equivalency test. They added that ‘yes, that was true, but her scores for her 11th and 12th graders dragged down her total scores.’ You have to wonder why. Due to confidentiality laws, they would not discuss why she was not re-hired….and as a side-note: in the first three years of any teacher’s contract, they do not have to give any reason for dismissal…so we still really do not know why.

Board member Reverend Gerald Kalb, who I view as one of the most honest people I know, read the Painesville City manager and police chief’s analysis of the situation at Harvey. Yes, there were 86 fights, 18 assaults and 68 minor disturbances that I guess must happen in every high school. Ninety-nine percent of all discipline problems at Harvey are caused by approximately twenty-two percent of the students.

Here is what I came away with: Dr Hanlon has invited anybody to meet him at 7 AM at the high school, he’ll buy the coffee. There is only one way I can honestly tell you if there is a problem or not… personally, I don’t want to take the guided tour, I would like to take a few days off from work and spend that time shadowing the SRO officer at the High School…not for a selected hour or two but for a full two or three days. I will even be willing to do this after the November election and I will promise everyone that reads this blog that I will print exactly what I see….good or bad. My guess is the school administration will stall this for some reason or another (insurance, confidentiality etc.) but I can think of no other way for me to find out the truth. I have heard from too many people that I trust and respect that there are very real problems. I would give them an unbiased view of what is really going on at the high school. I will make this offer in a letter to the Board of Education and the school administration. The ball is in their court.

If there was a positive out of last night’s meeting, it is good to see that many residents are looking for answers.