Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

According to the Times-Sun today, the only three candidates who filed for school board were Sanders, Oakes, and Monhollen.

Congratulations to all those who only complained about the board but did nothing. You get what you deserve.

All over again

First the fact that three filed doesn't mean they will be on the ballot. Remember in 2001 Wes had a problem getting on the ballot because of something wrong with his petitions.

Clearly this is a victory for the school administrators in that they will get the same old group in there to run things as they always have. They are going to get another pass and not address their issue head on.

If there is no community support to address these issues it will be a very long time before our school system recovers.

This morning's news

FAIRFIELD COUNTY - Residents in the county's two largest school systems, Lancaster and Pickerington, will have to write the names of their favorite candidates on the November ballot in order to complete the five member school boards in their districts.
The Fairfield County Board of Elections rejected three petitions for school board candidates Thursday morning: One in Lancaster - the second-biggest school system in the county - and two in Pickerington - the county's largest school district. Lancaster Board President Patti Moore's and member Charlie Smith's four-year terms will expire Dec. 31. Moore originally filed for re-election. Smith said he didn't sign up to run for his seat because of personal reasons.
Moore was the lone Lancaster candidate to meet the 4 p.m. filing deadline on Aug. 25. She needed 75 signatures of registered voters in the district. Fairfield County Board of Elections Director Alice Nicolia said Moore's petition was rejected because the incumbent didn't acquire enough signatures. The board of elections will notify all candidates whose ballots were rejected by mail, Nicolia said.
''Due to the technicality issues that resulted in (the) rejection of my petitions by the Board of Elections, I will file a declaration to be a write-in on the November ballot,'' said Moore.
The Pickerington school board members whose petitions were rejected by the board of elections, Gail Oakes and Wes Monhollen, also failed to obtain the correct number of valid signatures. Pickerington residents needed to acquire 25 valid signatures because the population in the town is less than 20,000 residents. Oakes and Monhollen did not return phone calls. Incumbent Lori Sanders will be the only candidate listed on Pickerington's ballot.


continued in Lancaster Eagle-Gazette

Rest of the story

Continued from Lancaster EG -

Lancaster school board member Rosemary Hajost wants to see Moore keep the seat and feels the community will re-elect the district's board president to another term.

''That would be a great loss to our school district,'' Hajost said. ''She's a great school board president. I'm sure she'll be written in.''

An all write-in ballot may be what 44-year-old Thom Pearce needs to get elected to Lancaster's school board this time.

Pearce, who has three children in the district, ran for the school board in 2003 and 2001. School board members are elected every odd numbered year. Pearce got more votes each election, and just missed making the school board in 2003. He often attends Lancaster school board meetings. Pearce said many people in recent weeks asked him to run for the school board again.

''If this is something I'd pursue, like anything I do, I wouldn't take it lightly,'' he said. ''I've really been contemplating it. Someone needs to step up to the plate.''

Scott Ebright, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association, agrees with Pearce.

''The role of the school board is to represent the local citizens,'' Ebright said. ''It's the citizens' school district. It's very important for community leaders to become involved.''

Ebright said whomever fills the seats in Lancaster and Pickerington's should be dedicated to public education, because it is a changing environment. The person will have to deal with layoffs because of funding issues, passing ballot requests and have to make tough decisions such as closing a school.

''The strength of a school board is you have five different individuals with different ideas and backgrounds,'' Ebright said. ''Continuity good be a good thing, but change could be good as well. It's not an easy job.''

Hollie Reedy, staff attorney for the OSBA, said if no one files to run for the empty spots, the school boards must declare vacancies in January, provided there is at least three school board members. Once the vacancy is declared, the school board will have to accept applications for the empty spots, and fill it within 30 days. If there are not at least three board members in January, the county probate court will appoint individuals to the fill the empty spots.

Reedy said she's heard of districts not having anyone run for school board positions before. She thinks that could be a positive sign for the district.

''Usually when no one runs, it means people are happy with the way the school district is being run,'' she said. ''In a way, it's not really a bad thing.''