"I'LL BE WATCHING YOU" police

Lately I have had the opportunity to take my granddaughter to school in the morning. Now I remember taking my children to school and also at times me being taken to school. {long ago}
My question concerns the high amount of parents that feel they must drive up to precisely in front of the main doors before letting their children out of the car. Good weather or bad. O.K. I can't understand not wanting to make Jr. walk an extra twenty feet but why is it necessary for them to sit and watch them enter the building. Am I not aware of some mysterious Bermuda Triangle that is situated in front of these school buildings.
I have also watched little children in small groups or even alone walking to school. Am I to believe these children's parents are neglect in raising there children? Will these children grow up and be more or less self reliant? My question seems to be are we coddling our children to much and that in the future they might lack some self confidence?
Yes I understand we are living in a different time but maybe some of us might have taken this to far?When in my time the rule was  "you had better be in the yard when the steetlights go on". Now we all seem to live in some fear? Is it because because we turn on the news and somewhere a child has been abducted? I guess this all makes sense except that walk from the car to the front door of the school.

What do you think?

SPECIAL SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

I have been informed that two school board members will be present Wednesday 11/28/12 evening at 7:00pm at Harvey Library to answer any question than can for those who may not want to wait thru a board meeting.
Sorry if I confused anyone.

'WELL IT'S BEEN A WHILE" stained

Well its been a while. Oddly when you have a problem with your leg and foot and the doctors have corrected it, you in a very short time find out you have another bigger problem that might have nothing to do with the first. That's where the problem of  symptoms comes in when it finally lands you flat on your back to the point the Painesville EMS has to carry you out of the house. Back to the hospital along with the very heavy meds some that led me to believe Gwyneth Palttrow was one of the doctors looking after me.
The miracles of drugs.

Not much happening around here but it seem Painesville did catch one unpleasant first page story on the News-Herald. Seems Lake County Probate Judge Ted Klammer is not to happy with the city utility departments. Odd the Judge complains once and its on the front page. People on Elm St. have to live with rusty water until city residents are "blackmailed" onto a $8.00 surcharge amount on their water bills. What the Court House seems to be experiencing with is what many Painesville resident have also been putting up with in the past years. One caveat the County pays no property tax. He even mentioned a county relocation to Mentor maybe the county can explain where that money will come from? Remember the hospital left. My point as I understand it no one answered the Judges complaint from the city administration? I can only hope maybe  a council person checked in with the Judge? No mention of the flooding was made by anyone at the past city council meeting. Remember lets stay positive. If you remember at the council meeting when Main St. streetscapes were discussed the city will spend $250,000 for new electric lines on Main St.
At that time Councilman Flock asked about the water and sewer lines on Main St.
He was told that at that time the city administration felt those utilities were in good shape. The water line break? Ground Zero St. Clair and Main St. you can't make this stuff  up. Wonder where the next break will be?
Main Street Streetscape will show city residents how to best waste a million dollars in a small area.

While I'm  I mentioning  city council meetings. At the last council meeting I attended I was left very uncomfortable with the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys {Werners vs. Jack's} I understand the the two can't seem to get along but a council meeting is not the place for this. I an worried that this has the possibility to blowup into something far worse then it is now. At the last council meeting Council President seemed to do his best to end this side show with little results, but at least he tried.

I guess he could ask the Werners what exactly they believe council could do to legally solve this problem in writing. At this point I see the city without a solution to this situation. Along with the present actions making them worse.

By now you have received your new county tax appraisal what do you think???

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JUST A SHORT NOTE HERE. THERE WILL BE NO TOWN HALL MEETING THIS WEEK AT ELM ST. SCHOOL COUNCILMAN FLOCK IS SPENDING THIS WEEK IN EXECUTIVE MEETINGS INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES FOR THE CITY MANAGER POST.

"AGAINST ALL ODDS" phil collins

Pardon me if I gloat a little this morning. I guess for the most part I'm satisfied with the election results today. Watched FOXNEWS and caught Carl Rowe meltdown around 11:00pm last night. Got the idea I was in an alternate universe. Priceless
First if you have a President with less than 2% GDP. Constant unemployment of over 8% and 23 million people under employed or not at all. If you run against this President and loss you a) Had the wrong candidate b) had the wrong message. Or both?
Yes if you want to become President I want to see ten years of tax returns, yes I want details, not I show you after the election?
Interesting side note Governor of Massachusetts, born and raised in Michigan, homes in New Hampshire, California. A rrunning mate from Wisconsin yet neither could carry any of these states?
A clue you can blame the Tea Party for the loss of Senate seats that were viewed as shoe-ins. Todd Adkins, and Richard Mourdock. Richard Lugar just wasn't enough Conservative for them.

Time for the grownups to grab the party back. This Tea Party that started out as a good idea seems to have imploded. Many of the gains made in 2010 went to the wayside last night.

Republicans "Leave women alone" They know best whats best for women. Why you stepped into it like you did confounds me.

While your at it could you also leave Gays alone? 10% of the voting public. Leave them alone. They are not trying to change your lifestyle they seem to want to just want some happiness and fairness in their lives.

Keep supporting Anti-Hispanic groups not reaching out to Blacks many having the same values as you do but currently view the current GOP a little to the left of the Klan. Take my advice your running out of white men to carry you forward.

Lori DiNallo failed in her attempt for state office. I will support any qualified candidate that will make here a one term councilwoman. I believe by now everyone in Painesville knows what the ultimate prize was.

Biggest surprise of the night? That's easy Ann Radcliffe defeating Jason Wuliger for County Recorder. How she pulled that out I don't know but it was a pleasant surprise. Money can't buy you happiness or a County position.Congratulation Ann, you to Maureen Kelly I will never forget your appearance at the Lake County Tea Party event.

Yes and in many ways today seems like Ground Hog Day. Let's see if the President reaches out and Congress reaches back. Or will it be politics as usual?

Democrats enjoy your wins today. Remember the Donald Trumps, Koch Bros. Sheldon Adillson's will retreat back to their mansions and start making plans for 2014, 2016. They don't feel defeated in the least.

Soon we will receive the comments of the coming Armageddon by the results of this election remember we all pretty munch have to go through life the same as we did yesterday. We can only hope that Country will come first over Party and the American people will  reap the benefits. Be positive!

"WE CAN WORK IT OUT" beatles

The author of this post is Steve Costell... a Painesville City Board Of Education member I supported in the last election.


Thank you for providing a forum for people of our community to express their thoughts and concerns regarding topics that impact them. The post titled “What a Beautiful Mess” is an example of the ability for people to express themselves, but unfortunately, that post offers a point of view that is not entirely factual and may confuse readers that have taken the time to research the facts regarding Issue 4. I will attempt to offer clarity to the statements in this post, but if there are still questions, I encourage you to reach out to a member of the Board, or the Superintendent’s office for more information.

1) Truth and transparency- While questions regarding the status of any police investigation would need to be directed to the Painesville police, I can offer you the following information. Within days of the Board and Administration being made aware of the investigation, the administrator in question resigned his position. All known information was filed with the Ohio Department of Education and copies of these reports were printed in the News-Herald. As a board member and parent of two children in our district, I find the accusation that any administrator or board member knew of the alleged situation, yet did nothing about it, to be flat out wrong and damaging to our district.

2) Proposed cuts - The proposed cuts that we are facing have direct impact and visibility to the students and parents of our district. Here’s the list of proposed cuts as presented:

- Elimination of Full day kindergarten

- Elimination of the Elementary Academically Gifted program

- Continued limitations on hiring impacting class sizes

- Elimination of all Athletics grades 7-12
- Eliminate all associated athletic costs (sports transportation, administrators, coaches, etc.)

- Implementation of state minimum transportation in our district.

- Evaluate privatization of transportation services

- Elimination transportation secretary position

- Eliminate bus maintenance contract

- Evaluate the privatization of custodial services

- Eliminate all non-athletic field trips

- Reduce the contracted days of secretaries

When you compare the size of our administrative staff to that of similar districts, we have already have fewer administrators than other districts, and we are lowering costs by sharing services with other districts for our nutritional services, treasurer and transportation services.

3) Status quo- Everyone wants our district to excel, including me. I’m sorry if you think we have not made progress and things are “status quo”. Here are a few of the many changes or advancements that our district has made over the past few months:

- Changes in leadership at Harvey, Heritage and Chestnut may not have been planned, but have been implemented seamlessly and viewed as favorable by many that I have talked with.

- Maple Elementary is leading our Elementary Schools with an “Excellent” rating on the state report card.

- Our students and staff are excelling in local, state and national competitions

There are wonderful and innovative programs taking place every day in our schools. From DOGS to One Book one Maple, or our outstanding FBLA program, parents, students and staff go above and beyond to help our schools improve. We need the support of our community to re-build our Red Raider pride, and to help our children understand the value of a quality education.

4) The relationship of school performance and property values are definitely closely tied together. I agree that the current perception and scores of our schools are not be what we would like to see, but by voting against Issue 4, you are greatly limiting the ability for schools and community to move forward. Here are a couple examples:

The elimination of full day kindergarten will have catastrophic effects now and long term in our district. Through testing of our incoming kindergartners, it has been found that a large percentage require extensive intervention to help them rise to the levels they should be at. Without full day kindergarten, there simply won’t be enough time in the day for this level of intervention.

The elimination of grade 7-12 sports will take away from the after school activities available to our students and put more kids on the street looking for things to do. We don’t have a community pool or fancy recreation center, we have high school sports. In addition, many students strive to meet eligibility requirements to play their sport of choice.

I have tried to keep my response brief, but there is so much at stake for our students, parents and community that it’s hard to do. It’s important for people to have accurate information available when they make their decisions about how to vote. If there are any questions regarding Issue 4 and what it means to our community, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Hanlon or a member of the Board of Education.

Additional facts and the full presentation about issue 4 can be found here- http://www.painesville-city.k12.oh.us/PCLSOperatingLevy2012.aspx

Thank you for your continued support of our schools and community,

Steve Costell

Steve I truly like the fact that you took the time to express your views. This post might make it easier to decide. No matter what everyone should know the facts.

'WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MESS" diamond reo

DearTaxpayer,
 In October 2010 a citizen's group was formed regarding the 'State of the Union' of Painesville City Local Schools. The cause of the formation was threefold. 1. A lack of leadership at Harvey High School and at the district offices; 2. An ongoing concern regarding the consistently LOW scores on the State Report Card; 3. An increasingly top-heavy payroll at the board of education Office. Now,two years later, our concerns are even more profound.
LEADERSHIP in the district: In the past TWO years SIX of the EIGHT school administrative positions in the district have experienced change: Chestnut [1] Heritage[2] Harvey[3]. What kind of consistency can we hope to  provide for our students with this kind of turnover?
Why is it that extensive searches and an intense interview process the middle & high school that were hired are constantly "BULLIED" by the superintendent ans assistant superintendent in regard to discipline?
During Ms Kimberly Martin tenure at Harvey H 2006-2012 Graduation fell from 83.2% in 2006 to 63.2% in 2012. Is this her fault? I don't know. Like her or not these are the fact's presented by the State of Ohio seem to bear out her policies don't work.

On Thursday October 18,2012 the Cleveland Plain Dealer printed the STATE REPORT CARD results.
These numbers represent a 20% DROP from 83.2% in six years , why, and what can we do about it?
The only districts LOWER than PCLS in Lake, Geauga, & Cuyahoga counties are East Cleveland,Warrensville, and Cleveland. The June issue of Cleveland Magazine rates PCLS as the lowest also.

On Tuesday, November 6,2012 voters in Painesville City will be asked to approve a 4 mill permanent operating levy costing an additional $122.50  for each $100,000 of property valuation.
WE ARE ASKING YOU TO VOTE NO FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS.
1. Trust and transparency in the district is non-existent. Seven weeks ago a high school administrator resigned abruptly amid allegations of inappropriate contact with a student. It is our belief that Top administrators at the high school and administration knew of this situation long before it became public. If we can't trust them with our children, why would we trust them with our money?
2. The threatened cuts if the levy does not pass are aides,bus drivers,secretaries,custodians all of whom provide DAILY SUPPORT TO OUR STUDENTS & make an average of $25,000-$30,000 year and most live in our city. What about more belt-tightening at the Board Office?  Elimination of ONE position allows us to retain four staff listed above.
3. Send a clear message to our administrators as well as board members that we as residents, parents, educators are not happy with the status quo. A yes vote might give them the idea we are all content with the present direction the system is headed.
4.The state of the schools drives our property values. With the graduation rate listed above,Painesville City Local Schools will continue to be a last resort for home buyers. Per Dr. Hanlon the state of Ohio pays 70% of the $11,169.00 to educate a student. When a student attends a private school, open enrolls to another district or is home schooled we lose that state funding.We as a district are currently losing in excess of $250,000 a year,.

Anyone want to rebut this article feel free to post it and I will give you the opportunity to express your views.

On another topic with concerns to Harvey High School I am to understand that some parents have made accusation concerning discipline handed out by our new principal. It seems he receives very little support from the board office. I guess as residents and parents we can stand behind Principal McWreath or we can ignore this and next year expect to see another new face at Harvey. Any of you ever wonder why the Principal at Heritage left just before the school year? I have been told by many everyone seems more than pleased about the situation presently at Harvey. Let's not let a few screw-up something positive.