Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Our School Board is often criticized these days for not listening to us voters. Since the schools belong to all of us -- not the school board, the administrators, the teachers or our kids -- listen to us they should.

But it's hard to listen to us when our views our so fragmented, unclear or inconsistent. Sometimes we seem to want the impossible. We want inexpensive schools, but refuse to approve a levy for an enlarged-capacity elementary school that would have saved us a bundle, with no adverse impact (in my opinion) on education. We criticize the PHS North athletic facilites as excessive and wasteful (which they certainly are), and then ask that they be replicated at PHS Central.

I think it would help a lot if we got clear in our own minds on the issues. Let me try to get us started.

1. I think that we can all agree that we want good schools. This is true whether or not we have school-age children (as I no longer do). I do not wish to deny other people's children the advantages that were given mine. I also realize that my house (which, as for most people, is by far my largest investment)would be worthless without good schools in this community. Please let me know, however, if you disagree.

2. We clearly need more classroom space at the K-5 grade level. We already have enough kids in double-wides to fill an entire school and, by the time we can get another school built, we will be well on our way to filling a second one. Two new elementaries, or one new large one, seems the order of the day. But, again, let me know if you disagree.

3. Double-wides are no solution to this problem. They have short economic lives, are expensive to heat and cool, overburden the cafeterias, gymnasia, libraries, lunchrooms, lavatories and other common areas of the schools at which they are deployed. They are also a security risk (since it is difficult to control access to them), a fire hazard, and a weather hazard.

4. Split sessions or year-round school would never fly in this community. Split sessions were a disaster the last time the PLSD tried them. And year-round school would be highly disruptive to extra-curriculars, family vacation schedules and such-like (although I think that year-round school could improve learning by shortening the breaks between sessions, and it certainly would expand our current building capacity). Once again, let me know if you disagree.

[continued in next posting]

LSOTSI continued

5. PHS North and its companion were mistakes. Mrs. Oakes and I, in fact, opposed the plans for these facilities while we were both on the school board. With Mr. Monhollen's election to the board, we were able to trim back some extravagant ideas, like the idea of building a $5 million brick maintenance barn on the property. We also were able to shelter the interest earnings on construction funds for other and better uses. By the time, however, that we had a voting majority on the school board, most of the cows were out of the barn.

The new school board has, however, responded to this fiasco by declining to hire the architects or the construction manager for the North project for any new construction project. These guys killed us with overruns, and did not even clean up their own mess.

In addition, Mr. Monhollen is unwilling to leave responsibility for policing change orders with administrators. This time around the school board, I believe, will be all over the architects' plans and, so far as I know, they have not given carte blanche over this project to the teachers.

6. Thus I do not believe it makes sense to punish the PLSD for PHS North, etc., by turning down the bond levy for two new elementaries that will be on the ballot this November. If we do that, we will only be punishing ourselves.

The PLSD is not someone else -- it is us, all of us. These are our schools. If the school board does not make us feel this way, then we should vote them out of office. If administrators start acting like they own our schools, we should fire them. Let's punish the offenders, not ourselves. But, again, let me know if you disagree.

I think that we will be far more effective as voters if we send the school board a clear and consistent message. Before we can do that, we need to sort out the issues ourselves. Hopefully, this will get that started.

Making things right

Mr. Rigelman

I appreciate your efforts to sort these school issues out. However what you posted are your issues not the average voter?’s issues when voting on a school levy. If I look at the ?“average?” families on both sides of me I see one side with two high school students and the other side with one elementary student. Both have moved into the district since the North High School was built.

Many of the voters in ANY school district don?’t really follow the issues like you have outlined. Most go into the voting booth with only emotions and gut feelings. At the risk of promoting Mark Uher, passing a school levy is more about image than substance.

As one that went forth and procreated I have had the opportunity to attend different functions at both High Schools over the last few years. Driving into the North Facility I must pay for parking however I only have a short distance to walk to the stadium. At Central, parking is free mainly because I park down Hill Road in the Church lot or in downtown Pickerington and walk up hill to the stadium.

At North, the athletic boosters and the concession stand workers have a wholly different attitude and all walk with a spring in their step. At Central the parents and boosters seem to be beat down and they have lost any enthusiasm to even be there. I know we can have Chuck Kemper order them to be more cheerful but he can?’t go into the voting booth with them even if they would make that effort to vote.

Clearly there has been a struggle here in our school district over the years between the academic groups and the athletic groups. Then after the North High School fiasco the academic groups seemed to have won out over the athletic groups in elections after that time. Now the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.

Have any of you that are so entrenched with academic values NOW and so called learning ever considered what happened to all of those athletic types/parents that provided so much emotion and push during levy and bond issues? THEY ARE ALL GONE!! I know there are some real zealots that hung on but the average guy/voter is not there.


As the intellectual segment of the voters and the board members ponder the facts of a good education and only a good education, the emotional segment and the athletic types find nothing in it for them. The North High School parents already have their field of dreams and they can look down at Central or couldn't care less about the Central parents. The Central Parents on the other hand are handed the scraps or what ever is left over when it comes to facilities that we all pay taxes on.

The object of this game is to get the levy passed. To get the levy passed you need emotions and enthusiasm. You need everyone to feel good when they cast their vote. Everyone is in a funk.

What the board is attempting to do here is deny any mistakes were ever committed and thus they do not need to correct those mistakes regardless of who was on the board at the time.

Isn?’t it time we make the district whole again?











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