Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

As you must know by now, Forest Yocum's retirement as Superintendent of the PLSD was accepted by the Board of Education Friday morning. Mr. Yocum has accepted a post-retirement appointment as Superintendent of the Southwest Licking School District, just across I-70.

Lew Stemen has been appointed Interim Superintendent. Although Mr. Yocum will be paid through July 31, Lew is now effectively our acting Superintendent.

The Board of Education will begin its search for Mr. Yocum's replacement shortly. I do not know whether Lew will throw his hat in the ring. He did not do so last time around.

As a School Board member, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on the qualities we should look for in a new Superintendent, and also on the procedures that we should follow in selecting Mr. Yocum's replacement. I would be especially interested in suggestions for expanding community involvement in this process.

The selection of a Superintendent is among the most important decisions that we make with respect to our schools. It is important that we make this decision very carefully and also, I think, that the entire community be actively involved in it.

By Bruce Rigelman

Why Not Mark?

Dear School Board:

I know this really smart and talented guy by the name of Mark U. Why he knows everyhting about everyhting. You can just aks him. Morever, in his support of Option One he has shown his dedication to the proposition that what this school district really needs is a clear delineation between the two schools. For example, it is only fair that the voting members of the public, ie those of us who live in subdivisions with houses worth at least three hudnred thousand, should not be forced to associate with the poor folk. This will save the school district money as there is no use spending money on kids who are likely to end up as criminals, welfare recipeients and drains on society in general. This was we can really only fund one school, leaving the other as a really nice detention center.
We can justify this policy under the argument of ''neighborhoods'' schools or better yet, saving transportion costs. I am sure that if we look back at the Boston or Little Rock bussing riots we can find even more creative arguments that the dummies, whose children will eventually go to the other school anyway, will buy.
I am sure that Mark's friendship with developers will allow us to continue the policy of politely allowing the city to TIF away millions of dollars in revenue in exchange for the whopping sum of three hundred dollars a new home.


By Kram Rehu

Thanks, but No thanks.

Kram Rehu,

Kram, you have a very unique name. I have never seen it before.

I am saddened by the loss of Forest Yocum as our superintendent. His passion for the education of our community?’s students will be greatly missed. His leadership has made our district one of the finest in the nation. For Forest personally, I am delighted that he will be earning more in a district half our size.

Kram, thanks for the flattering remarks. However, the job is far too demanding and pays far too little for my likening.

It is important for our school board to hire a superintendent to build on the excellent foundation that that people like Forest Yocum, Dan Ross and Lew Stemem have established. I hope Lew Stemen will be enticed to accept the job permanently. Through the hiring of outstanding teachers and staff for years and years, Lew has established the nucleus for our outstanding school district to become one of the best in the nation. His insights into people are second to none. Lew has the tremendous respect of all in our community.

Finally, Kram, I think it is important to note that I personally don?’t favor Boundary Option 1 or Boundary Option 5A. I don?’t think either takes into account the massive growth in the southern half of our school district and adjacent to Pickerington High School Central (though Option 1 does a better job). The southern half will grow three larger (and probably three times faster with current zoning), than the northern half which for the most part is already developed.

I hope we all can work together to unite our community behind a new superintendent, behind our school board?’s decision on boundaries and the other tough challenges they face, and behind efforts to curb residential growth throughout the school district.

New Super Super

Well Dr. Rigelman, you and the school board are about to face one of your toughest decisions as board members. Mr. Uher, ?“hates to see the loss of Forest Yocum.?” I believe Mark is in the minority with that opinion.

I believe the next superintendent must have some very strong characteristics.

He must have a vision.

I believe that this new High School and the obvious over building of this site will have long lasting effects on this school district for years to come. You even talked about the boundaries in an earlier posting. There is only so much money available not only here in the district but within the State of Ohio. In bad economic times we must be prepared for what is happening to the district presently. When you depend on the funding that the previous superintendent did then you will find yourself in the predicament we currently face.


Honesty

During last year?’s levy run to build these new schools and the spending of $77 million there were many issues not explained to the public. I think your new superintendent must level with not only the school board and the parents, but he must march his butt down to the city council and let them know how much their decisions are affecting this school district. The previous superintendent lack that ability to be honest with not only with himself but also the district. The new guy must lay the cards on the table. He is going to need to be painfully honest.


Before anyone can correct a problem, one must understand the problem. The next superintendent must be a problem solver. He will need to gather his information first, then process the information and make his decision on how to solve the problems. Once he reaches that decision he must stick to his word and be consistent. He will need to be very close to a senior military officer type. Not for the students, but for the special groups that will try to control him.


Frugal

For a long time we have had this false impression that the taxpayers have money to burn and they will vote in and support any new levies. That may very well be changing. We as a community have wasted so many tax dollars over the last few years that we are going down a financial whirlpool. I can hear the sucking noise now. His first test should be to hand him a nickel and see if he can make that buffalo fart.


Leadership

He must be given the ability to lead and he must be willing to be the leader. He must keep his distant from the special interest groups and he must make his decisions based on the total good to the community, not some booster club, or developer. He must be able to call a spade a spade. If he wants to storm the hill we all must be willing to follow him with out regret. He must be a leader.


In the end, once he is hired he still works for the Pickerington School Board, who in turn works for the taxpayers of this districts no matter if they have children in the school system or not. It is our money and our children.

We can no longer have this fluff that thing are wonderful here in the neighborhood.

GOOD LUCK!






By Dr. Pepper