Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Agree

I whole heartedly agree that it is wrong for teachers to preach to our children about passing school levies. Last time I checked, our kids in elementary, middle, junior and high school do not have a vote except for a minority of seniors. It's my impression that teachers are paid to teach not degrade our children over some failed levies. And as a parent, I resent this when my kids come home and tell me that their teachers took up valueable lesson times with such banter.

I too am acquianted with a family that lived in the South-Western city school district. Based upon what I have learned from them, Pickerington is beginning to experience the same sort of voter response as SW city did. The votes are not so much a negative toward the levy as they are a vote of no confidence in our school leadership. Until that confidence is restored, I'm afraid that we'll never pass a levy and it'll be our kids that suffer.

To the Pickerington School Board... do not wait to to start addressing these issues. It's already too late. Our kids deserve the best we can provide. Use the resources you have available to you and make the voters see that a YES vote is the best and only response to the next levy you place on the ballot. Mobilize and get out there in front of the voters. Listen to waht we have to say.

Mom

By Central Mom

Becoming a family affair?


Time for an old bugger to weigh in. My grandkids are both in the Central District. They are happy, well-adjusted, clean and sober athletes. They, their parents and their grandparents are so happy they are in this district and not ?“that one up north?”. I started to take the survey but with my dial-up connection I got sick of waiting for a mouse click to respond so I closed the browser. I figured I would try again and I got back in. Then I thought since I got in so easy the second time I?’d try again and got in again. That?’s when I figured I could respond as often as I desired. No sustainable survey results could be had after that. Complete waste of time.

I have voted for and against levies in the past basing my decision each time on the request at the time. I am getting sick of them making the same request over and over again as they are doing now. At what point in time will they figure out that they haven?’t got a chance? Do they feel that since they are starting to close the margin of loss a little that they will finally pass it two or three elections from now? Is that sound management? I ran a successful business most of my life and I realized that if I made the same sales pitch to a customer unsuccessfully more than once that the deal couldn?’t be done and I had to change something to win the account. These poor people on the board just don?’t get it. My guess is they will come to us yet another time in May with the same old deal. Why should I change my vote?

Has the board ever considered possibly hiring someone to advise them on how to run a successful levy campaign? They form these volunteer committees to support the levy but they fail time and time again and some of those people who were on the earlier committees are now the most outspoken against levies. Why? If my company was the sole provider of light bulbs in Pickerington and my salesperson couldn?’t sell a bulb and Pickerington was growing darker by the hour I would have to assume my salesperson wasn?’t doing his job. Am I making this too simple for the district and this board to understand? People, you don?’t have the right salesman or sales pitch for your levy!

Now let?’s say this board votes to go to the polls yet again in May. Let?’s say that they still have the same sales pitch. How much will it cost this district to go out and fail to sell this product again? That?’s what really grates my cheese is that they spend possibly thousands of dollars on a losing sales pitch rather then spending a dime on hiring someone who can really sell. Bad decisions and bad management.

Let me appeal directly to Gail Oakes and Wes Monhollen. I know both of you and you both know me. I have supported you in the past and although you were reluctant or guilt-ridden candidates this past November, I supported you. Both of you, like me are or were successful business people. Certainly in your careers you made some tough decisions regarding reinvestment in your companies. Certainly you made a decision that, while it seemed too much cost to bear at the time, resulted in a stronger business for it. Think about those times when you talk with your board-mates about how you need to reinvest in this district. You are part of the management of the biggest business in this area. Make smart business decisions; reinvest in the company when you have to. If you can?’t make the hard calls, maybe you shouldn?’t have run again, guilt or no guilt. Maybe like me, only you can make the decision when it is time to retire and turn the reins over to someone who can make the hard calls.


By Central Grandpa

On the same page

Mom,

Right on!! You hit the nail on the head and must be reading my mind. My no vote has been a vote against the school board and much of the administration. I don?’t trust them and they aren?’t even trying to earn back that trust. This has nothing to do with the North campus. The people that orchestrated that debacle aren?’t around any more, for the most part. This has to do with the fact that I don?’t trust THIS board and THIS administration to spend my money wisely. We haven?’t passed a levy to give them a chance and my reason for that is simple. Tell us all we need to know first. You want to build two elementary schools. Well then you have to operate them. How much will that cost? You have current operating levies ready to expire, right? How much will it cost to replace them? When will you need them? Costs must be soaring. Higher heating bills, exorbitant salary and benefit increases? All stuff we face in our lives, too. For the operating levies you must be considering as we speak, you are taking into account all schools and not just new schools, right?

Show me in today?’s dollars how much you need and when you will need it. Simple as that! Show me a 10-year plan with each and every election on it and what you will ask for on which ballot. Seriously, you must be so far behind now that it is inevitable that you will be on every ballot for the next 10 years, right? Well tell me what your plan is. Begin to earn my trust and respect. Tell me where exactly you are looking for land for the next round of schools you must build. Show me where you have sat down with the city, township and other communities pumping what you describe as an endless stream of kids into the schools. Show me where the growth will be. Let us help you pressure our local governments to control growth in those areas and not just rhetorically tell our leaders to control growth everywhere.

The city council in postings on this website claim to be controlling growth. Blah, blah, blah. While I don?’t agree that adding huge fees to each build and enacting design criteria to price builders out of the city are effective tools to control growth, that is another subject but growth is down in the city. Regardless if it is due to a decline in the building community being felt state-wide or something the council wants to try to take credit for is irrelevant. Growth may be down but that is for your future concerns. What is of current concern to you should be filling out the current approved subdivisions. The township makes no claims to have controlled growth. That?’s good because they don?’t know how to.

I wonder if the board has ever considered that people like me are voting no for other reasons than money. I doubt it. Like you say, give us a better reason to vote yes than ?“we need more space?”. I need more space. I want the bunk beds gone. But I don?’t keep asking my neighbors to pony up money to build me a house with more bedrooms. I look from within to solve my issues and if that fails I will seek professional counseling. I won?’t just keep bugging my neighbors.

Listen to our message for a change School Board. Quit asking us to listen to yours if you won?’t listen to ours!


By Central Dad

Can't please everyone

In case you've forgotten/didn't know, the last 3 bond attempts were not identical. The first try included a new, 950 student elementary along with additions to Violet & Pickerington Elementaries and Harmon & Diley Middle Schools. Teachers (as well as some parents) came out in full force against this concept as they believed 950 was too large for an elementary and the additions would permanently make these other schools larger than ''desired.''

The school board responded with a community based committee (cross section of voters, including teachers & administrators). The board based the next bond issue on the committee recommendations (build two new 750 student elementaries). Although it failed, the board tried this same concept a second time.

So yes, 3 times voters have voted down issues to build new classroom space. But the voters didn't say no 3 times to the same issue.

As far as hiring a consultant, while that may make sense, there will be plenty that will criticize the BOE for spending money in this fashion.

The BOE can't win. Unfortunately, it's the K-6 students in this district that are really the losers. Heritage Elementary re-opened 4 years ago with 4 homerooms for each grade (K-4); under 500 students, I recall. Today, it was announced that enrollment is at 887 with 2 more students expected this week. Any new 5th graders that register at this school will be sent to Harmon (I expect that Diley is filled too). Granted, there are 5th & 6th graders at the school now, but the cafeteria, gym, and classrooms only know that they are completely filled/overbooked. Next year, portables are expected. More kids in more classrooms with no additional bathrooms, music rooms, art rooms, gym space or cafeteria space. Lunch already starts at 10:45 and continues till 1:45 (I believe).

The situation will only continue to get worse, at each elementary school, until new schools are built. If anyone has ideas on how to make voters understand the urgent need for new schools, I'm sure the school board would appreciate their insight.