Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

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The 2005 state-mandated 10 year plan with a 5 year extension is available on the website, at the Pickerington Public Library, at the Township offices and at City hall.

By Any Mouse

Here's how to get my vote

While I have posted here before with my concerns about the seemingly high numbers of administrative, non-education providing staff, before I can condone arbitrary ?“trimming the fat?”, I would have to know the numbers and the comparison to other similar districts in Ohio. I suspect that we have a high number of administrators given the Principal/Assistant Principal/Deputy Assistant Vice-Principal/Junior Deputy Assistant Brother-in-Law?’s Cousin?’s Sister Co-Principals that seem to be prevalent in the schools. But those are just my suspicions.

I would need to see the data to support or refute my suspicions simply because (drum roll please) I have been wrong before. The articles in the papers are a good start at admitting there are trust and communication problems, but I haven?’t seen a plan to address the problems. Hopefully in upcoming articles there will be some plans discussed where we will see the district?’s plans to address the issues.

Another thing I am concerned about is that an article appeared discussing the difference between purchasing portable classrooms and building real classrooms. My concerns are specifically about the fact that the actual costs weren?’t outlined. For example they say that a modular classroom, which is supposedly undersized, is 650 square feet. You get two per modular so the classrooms cost about $62 per square foot. To construct a real classroom costs how much per square foot? Can we use a number that typical institutional construction costs? Let?’s say it?’s $150 per square foot. Then a correctly sized 900 square foot classroom costs about $135,000 to build a classroom. In neither case are bathrooms, cafeterias, etc. covered, or are they?

So what I am looking for is an apples to apples cost comparison or true modular costs versus true what I think they called brick and mortar cost. Are those numbers possible to get? Because what I see right now is a modular classroom costs $40,500 and a brick and mortar classroom costs $135,000. That?’s a big difference. Even if you were able to even the playing field by up costing the modular to 900 square feet it would be $55,800 versus $135,000. Still a big difference, is it not?

So to the school board, administration and article writers I say can you give us the numbers we need to see to help base a decision on? Can you also give us the data regarding the administrative types in the district versus the educational types? Then can you give us the comparative salaries of our admin versus others?’?

Now back to the topic of the week and what they are asking. I did some research along the left side of this page and it appears that the board does occasionally listen to what we are asking for. We asked for expansion of existing schools and they put it on the ballot and we voted it down. We asked for two schools and they put it on the ballot and we voted it down. It seems everything we have asked for has been put in front of the voters and we said no. Granted there were extenuating circumstances in each election (remember Brink?’s website) but we have to be careful what we ask for because we just might get it. We have to be willing to approve something we ask for if the board agrees to give it to us. We can?’t simply ask for expansion of existing schools and then vote it down because we want to pick it all apart. We won?’t get a perfect option to vote on. We have to be willing to compromise and we have to be willing to accept the fact that they will come back to us time and time again for more schools and more operating money. It won?’t change. We?’re too far behind to change it.

continued

By Central Dad

People make decisions

We are subject to decisions being made by people. People make the best decisions they can based on the information they are given. When these people are running for office they can make promises and promises based on the information they have which I suspect is very different from the information they have after elected. I voted for Brink and Reade. They told me what I wanted to hear during their campaigns but they have disappointed me after getting elected. I don?’t hold it against them personally because the information they have to work with after getting elected is probably much different than what they had during the campaigns. What I hear them say now is the same I heard Carlier, Sigman and Sanders say that made me vote against them. The only difference I see is that I believe that Brink and Reade?’s hearts are in the right place and they would vote more towards what I would want to see than against it. Their predecessors voted for blocs whether they were boosters or unions.

The same I suspect applies to the city leaders. I suspect that the biggest number of incoming students each year comes from the city and I suspect that is a direct result of decisions made by earlier administrations. I voted for people like Shaver and Riggs to change things. They told me what I wanted to hear during their campaigns. I even spoke to a few people in the city government supporting hiring Gilleland for manager. While I am devastated by the fact that they have become clones of their predecessors in their behavior I can attribute some of that to the information they now have is different than what they had during campaigns. Well, I can maybe say that about Riggs as she wasn?’t already on council like Shaver was. Others I voted for in this past election have also disappointed me in that they said they would do things but now have given no indication they will. By this point in time two years ago the city was already moving in a positive direction. Now they seem to be standing still, dead in their tracks. Can we also expect a repeat of history in that residential building will again start to increase? Will these leaders also say that if the city doesn?’t grow it will die? Will they also tell us that we need more money from taxes to survive?

one more to go....

By Central Dad

Tools and cooperation

Will they say impact fees will help so we can justify building more houses and adding more kids to the schools? Will they say that design standards will make us more profitable? Or are they all of the mindset that this Brian Sauer character is in saying that increasing water and sewer rates are an effective growth management tool? (I can?’t believe no one in the city has defended or opposed his statements!) Since disappointments like Shaver have set so much store in people like this Sauer, does this mean that the leadership is admitting that impact fees, design standards and utility fee increases are now their tools to slow or stop growth?

One thing that would make me consider voting for levies would be to be able to read reports in the papers about meetings occurring between the schools, the city, the townships and even business leaders like the Chamber of Commerce so that I could believe that any of these bodies consider the others when making decisions. I would think more of saying yes if I understood that any of these gave a hoot about the other and demonstrated cooperation in planning the ?“big picture?”. Is this big box development across from North a good move for ALL of the communities affected? Are the residential development killers mentioned above used by the city beneficial to all? Would stopping development completely help or harm us?

My vote depends on the big picture. If we build more and better schools, will it just do as it has in the past and encourage more development? After all, what other draw has there ever been to ?“Why I want to move to Pickerington?” than the schools? Unless you?’re a sadistic traffic lover, what other reasons are there to move here? None in my book. That?’s why I am here and that?’s why so many I talk to are here. If we continue to buy and install more crappy modular classrooms will development shift to other areas like Powell or someplace? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Who knows? Show me a bigger and brighter big picture and I might vote yes.



By Central Dad