Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Not hearing anything right

First I have written letters in the past. Then standby for calls from angry parents claiming I am picking on the teachers and a bunch of other claims and half truths.

Now we see the teacher's union getting into the political process and they are endorsing candidates for of all things Pickerington City Council and Pickerington Mayor. What business it is of theirs who is elected to the City government? What's in it for them? Believe me when a teacher's union or any other union gets into the mix it is ALWAYS about them. They endorse a teacher and the spouse of a school employee as two of the endorsed candidates how darn obvious is that? If it is about growth then most of the available land to develop is in Violet Township. Why not put their candidates up for a run against the trustees?

There are those of us that have spoke at Board meetings and in many cases the board has limited what most of us have to say.

Believe me there is growing frustration among many of us out here that only the insiders are going to have a chance at the school board. So why shouldn't I run for the board? As we all can see there are seven candidates running for two board seats. To win one of those two seats will take more money than I have available to spend. I am hearing some candidates spend $3.50 per sign and the school board race takes 700 signs. Even if a person could get that down to 500 signs that is still more than I can afford.

I would imagine that there is around 15K or 16K voters in the district. To reach enough of them would be a huge effort. You can't organize and build a campaign team in that short of a time frame.

At the moment, I am not hearing anyone say or promise what I want to hear from the board candidates. The only protest I can make is by voting NO on Tuesday

Some thoughts

Thanks for this posting. I wanted to respond to a couple of the points brought out in it.

''Trying to link the caring about our teachers and our children is bogus in my mind. Yes we care about the children. No one loves our kids like we do. But the teachers are adults and they should be treated as employees like any one of us. They are working for us.''

I couldn't agree more.

''So the question is if the levy fails and the school looses the $2.8 Million will it hurt to have a little larger class size and maybe NOT hire a few teachers next year? Is taking on a larger work load and being more productive any different than you or I being in an office or department that doesn?’t replace an employee when they leave despite more business? How many of us have been loaded down with more work and because of completion in our business our company can?’t raise our prices? Yet we continue to allow the PEA and the school board to propose and we grant them higher prices for the education we receive for our kids.''

You have a really good point here. I stopped by the district offices yesterday and picked up a copy of the teachers' union contract (''Master Agreement between the Pickerington Education Association and the Pickerington Board of Education'') because I got tired of board members telling me I was wrong about everything, and that it usually had to do with ''contractual'' obligations, so I wanted to see for myself.

The contract is a bound book of 168 pages. Yes, 168 pages. Anyone can get a copy of it, but be prepared to justify why you want it and endure the dirty looks.

Article 29 of the contract, ''Unit Member Day and Year,'' page 84, states, ''The unit member workday shall not be longer than seven and one-half (7 1/2) hours.''

The unit member (teacher) year, page 86, is a total of 186 days.

Article 39 (pages 98-100) is titled ''Class Size.''

The limits are as follows:

Elementary (K-4) and Departmentalized Classes 26 pupils per class
Elementary (5-8) and Departmentalized Classes 28 pupils per class
Grades 9-12 30 and no more than 170 students per day
Grades K-8 30 - maximum cap per class
Grades 9-12 32 - maximum cap per class
Grades 7-12 - Physical Education 32 - maximum cap per class

The contract approves overage payments to teachers for larger class sizes, ranging from $15.00 to $30.00 per week.

The PEA really thought of everything! At this point I'm really baffled as to why I thought board members are elected to represent the community. From the looks of it, they seem to bend over backwards for the union teachers.

Mis leading

I was told the other day that Dr. Mantia has been saying that if this 5 mill replacement levy passes then there will be no need to increase the propertry tax for 4 years. However check this out off the school web site:

If the 5-mill instructional operating levy that is on the November 6, 2007 ballot and the 7.9-mill operating issue that expires in December 2008 are both approved by voters, then the district should remain fiscally stable and not need to ask voters for additional instructional dollars for four fiscal years. The power point presentation, including a synopsis narrative, is available on the district?’s Web site at www.pickerington.k12.oh.us/administrativeDepartment.aspx?aid=40.

Apparently I am heaing one thing and they are saying something different on their web site.

Don't hold your breath for either to pass.

Glad your not running

If you are unwilling to work hard to get elected then I surely don't want you as a board member. I want the type of person that is not afraid of hard work and willing to go after things they believe in. You are obviously not that person.

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