Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

How about a game of hardball?

I have asked the City Manager to request from our Law Director to make a public records request of the school to get data to be used for controlling and managing our growth in the future. That data must be related to grade levels and the changes in every neighborhood over the last five years I want the entire school district. I am tired of these pointless accusations by school employees isolated to a desk somewhere and not willing to do a through job. If Lew Stemen knows where to house his school children and where to send the school buses then he knows the changes that have occurred year by year over the last five years and he knows the legal jurisdictions that they live in. Yes I will use it as a political tool to finally pry the truth out of this den down at the school board. HOW DOES THE CITY ADDRESS THE PROBLEM IF THEY ARE KEPT IN THE DARK BY NOT HAVING DATA THAT ONLY THE SCHOOLS HAVE?

My other frustration is the school board members themselves. I have told the school board members that there are serious issues with the disparity between the two high schools and the city residents won?’t support the board?’s efforts with out addressing that disparity. These board members response to me is that I am seeing things there is no disparity. I challenge anyone to take a friend that has never been to Pickerington on a Sunday and drive them through the two high school complexes and see your friend?’s reactions. I bet there will be a difference.

The second issue is many city residents feel betrayed by the board and they have lost trust in this board. I will call that the ?“HOPE?” issue. The citizens before they pass another levy will need to see the light at the end of the tunnel on growth. Lying to the citizens that ?“nothing has changed?” only prolongs the passage of any future levy. The ?“hope?” issue I have heard from more than just city residents.


As I read the South East Messenger article and Lew Stemen?’s comments I became more enrage as I continued to read. We have a City staff working their collective butts off to try to develop the policies and programs the majority of council are requesting. I know how much they are putting in and I will not tolerate anyone suggesting either directly with their damn snide remarks about nothing changing.

Clearly actions speak louder than words. The board wants to keep this growth issue alive for as long as possible to justify their needs arguments for these two new elementary schools. By withholding the data they stay in control.

Now the excuse is to call us dumb butts. Along with Brian, and over the weekend during my triad I was told I was not smart enough read the complicated enrollment reports issued to every board member every six weeks. I will trade any board member my sewer stress test report with anyone of your enrollment reports.

Time is running out to put in place a growth management tool that includes the schools. We must know where these new kids are coming from within to be able to address the issue with a program or other policy. We must know whether we should use some new approach to controlling our future or use the method that Hudson Ohio used. We have some cooperation from the township currently I would only hope the school district would now see the light and join with the city and the township to create a great future for our residents. Blindsiding our city staff and efforts only compounds the issues and prolongs its resolution.

I am very willing to talk and listen. I will not sit and only listen and I would advise the opposite for our board members.

Well said, Ted


We?’re lucky to have you on our side.

I am voting ?“NO?”. I am not convinced of the stated need and the egos of the administration prevent me from assuming their projections are correct.

If Thiede actually said that he is a poor leader. PLSD can do better. But what do you expect? These folks just don?’t get it. I predict another bond failure by a wide margin.


By john b.

Thank you

Ted,

Thank you and the new adminstration and new council members for all of your efforts. I am sure that you know that people can be very impatient, and that sometimes things appear to be worse before they improve. Thank you for providing this information on the discussion pages today.

I believe all of your efforts will pay off in the future and that our community will benefit because of them. I hope until then... that you remain committed to the somtimes thankless job that you now have, and I pray that the election will put in place an expansion of your team to continue to move our community to a better place.

Tail wagging the dog

John and Lisa

Thank you for your comments.

I don't mean to rag on the school board members of Pickerington but there seems to be a problem with the tail wagging the dog here.

It seems to me that the school board and the city councils SET or ESTABLISH the policy. They then should hire competent employees to carry out those policies. Our school board members have been turned into bean counters. I understand from more than one board member that they are working 30 to 40 hours per week doing what? Just looking at them all in the eye they are all burnt out. I do appreciate the hard work and dedication they have put forward in serving their community. However with that appreciation doesn't give the school employees the right to slam another group of public employees just as dedicated.

I have not looked at salaries at our school in a while but I would guess we are paying the school administrators in the hundred grand plus range. Yet we see board members carrying spread sheets around checking and double checking their employees. Why? I think it is time for new employees if the board members must do their work that they are being paid well for doing.

Maybe it is time that our school board clearly lay our THEIR and the Community's polices and demand that the school staff carry those policies out.

With the exception of poor old John Fuller, bless his soul, you never see or hear the city or township EMPLOYEES blasting the school board. It is not the place of any employee speaking on behalf of the board and on the record to insult or attack another government, that is the job of the elected leaders and our board members to make those comments if warranted.

I had a long talk with Judy yesterday and she was upset that none of these issues had come up in her regular meetings with the school superintendent. I would think out of just common decency that those issues should have been discussed prior to making any inflammatory statements on the record. I know for a fact that Judy has withheld council actions until she could notify the township trustees before the issue came to light. She didn't want to blind side the trustees and the township staff.

Our city manager is a class act both blond and smart. I am upset that she must endure these attacks in silence which infuriates me to no end.

Even accused killers get the evidence that the state has against them. Here in Pickerington the city is accused of doing nothing and the accuser is the only person holding the evidence.

I bet I could win that debate every time if I was the only one to have access to the data being debated.

One last comment and I must keep saying because it is true. Our city staff is top shelf. They know their limits and if a subject matter is over their head we hire outside advisors.

Over the weekend one board member asked me, why I was so ''defensive''. Defensive is when mom catches you with your arm in the cookie jar. I have nothing to be defensive about.