Our recommendation: Springboro voters should say 'yes' the first time to school levies

This greening of Wade Field expensive mess can be traced right back to George Long's incompetence and financial manipulation of taxpayer's money. Just like Care Flight field, George promoted this boro glory as "not costing the school a penny" and boosting the economy by increased community support at our schools sports events.
Same thing with boasting that the Wade Field project was being "funded by a private entity" and wouldn't cost the school a penny; and would "boost the local economy! How silly! What "private entity?" Isn't the only "secured funds" for this project money that was "forced" from private citizens who pay property taxes in Springboro city and township neighborhoods?
Isn't township trustee Jason Gabbard associated with the boosters groups that George Long reported had donated $100,000 to this project?
How did George Long and these boosters groups push this thing through without submitting verification of all this phoney financial backing?

Follow the Money Trail wrote:

This greening of Wade Field expensive mess can be traced right back to George Long's incompetence and financial manipulation of taxpayer's money. Just like Care Flight field, George promoted this boro glory as "not costing the school a penny" and boosting the economy by increased community support at our schools sports events.
Same thing with boasting that the Wade Field project was being "funded by a private entity" and wouldn't cost the school a penny; and would "boost the local economy! How silly! What "private entity?" Isn't the only "secured funds" for this project money that was "forced" from private citizens who pay property taxes in Springboro city and township neighborhoods?
Isn't township trustee Jason Gabbard associated with the boosters groups that George Long reported had donated $100,000 to this project?
How did George Long and these boosters groups push this thing through without submitting verification of all this phoney financial backing?

Supposedly Wade field's recent remake was made possible by private donations made thru Springboro Wee Panthers Football Inc. Somehow I think we've yet to hear ..."the rest of the story".

Of course most everyone in town knows the installation of Care Flight Field was primarily paid for by Miami Valley Hospital.
I can think of nothing more hypocritical than an installation of artificial sports field turf being sponsored by a hospital.

In The Know wrote:

<quoted text>
Supposedly Wade field's recent remake was made possible by private donations made thru Springboro Wee Panthers Football Inc. Somehow I think we've yet to hear ..."the rest of the story".
Of course most everyone in town knows the installation of Care Flight Field was primarily paid for by Miami Valley Hospital.
I can think of nothing more hypocritical than an installation of artificial sports field turf being sponsored by a hospital.

The wee panthers "reportedly" pledged to contribute about $100,000
over a five year period to the Wade Field project (or so rumor says).
Also, wasn't the Cook Foundation supposed to have pledged a large amount? and at that time, the foundation didn't exist?
But, at this time, have any of these actually donated the money?
So why was this project blessed by our former president Scott Anderson as "being a great example of community volunteerism?"

And where is all that money for ticket sales and concessions that was raised at games that brought in more people spending money at care flight field?

In The Know wrote:

<quoted text>
Supposedly Wade field's recent remake was made possible by private donations made thru Springboro Wee Panthers Football Inc. Somehow I think we've yet to hear ..."the rest of the story".
Of course most everyone in town knows the installation of Care Flight Field was primarily paid for by Miami Valley Hospital.
I can think of nothing more hypocritical than an installation of artificial sports field turf being sponsored by a hospital.

Supposedly.... oh wait, these are the facts....

Pee Wee pledged $150,000
Springboro Lacrosse pledged $50,000
Cook Family Fund pledged $100,000
The City of Springboro pledged up to $100,000
Cleacreek Township pledged up to $100,000

I believe something was passed by all jurisdictions to spend the money so I think that would be public record if you want to check. But its much easier to speculate, isn't it? That's the "rest of the story."

worried wrote:

<quoted text>
Supposedly.... oh wait, these are the facts....
Pee Wee pledged $150,000
Springboro Lacrosse pledged $50,000
Cook Family Fund pledged $100,000
The City of Springboro pledged up to $100,000
Cleacreek Township pledged up to $100,000
I believe something was passed by all jurisdictions to spend the money so I think that would be public record if you want to check. But its much easier to speculate, isn't it? That's the "rest of the story."

Q) Were the taxpayers of either the City of Springboro or Clearcreek Township provided the opportunity to either collectively approve or veto their respective jurisdiction's "pledge" of $100,000 ??

A) No.

Voice Of Reason wrote:

Miller's Buddy ?

Mike Holweger

In The Know wrote:

<quoted text>
The real "deception" in bringing artificial sports turf to Springboro schools surrounds a preconceived notion that artificial sports turf is a safer playing surface. In fact, this notion is anything but the truth. There have been repeated studies through the last two decades that have proven sports turf to be many times more hazardous than properly maintained, properly mowed natural grass athletic fields, particularly when it involves potential career-ending leg and knee injuries. All over America right now, there are school disticts as well as professional sports organizations ripping out expensive artificial turf in order to install natural turf specifically for the purpose of improving the overall safety for their athletes.
So what are the real reasons behind this and other school districts now having artificial sports turf? People, the bottom line isn't about safety, It's about admissions and concessions income revenue. Chances are attendance and concessions will drop dramatically if a big weekend game is washed out and has to be made up during a weekday. The preconceived notion is natural grass and natural soil tends to result in more rain-outs. This is not necessarily true. Problems such perennial rainout issues occur primarily in instances where the management of the turfgrass itself is allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
For decades on end there has been no one within Springboro schools maintenance department or their pre-2012 grounds maintenance vendor that has had adequate experience or knowledge in the field of sports turf grass management. The outsourcing of much of this sports field maintenance was deemed to be much too expensive. So because of this lack of in-house experience and lack of funding, it was no doubt way too easy to reach for this artificial sports turf as a "band-aid" of sorts.

Is the Wade Field property owned by the school district taxpayers?

Twp resident wrote:

<quoted text>
Q) Were the taxpayers of either the City of Springboro or Clearcreek Township provided the opportunity to either collectively approve or veto their respective jurisdiction's "pledge" of $100,000 ??
A) No.

When did the school board president and school business manager call a special "community-wide" meeting to inform the commuity of this great act of "community volunteerism?"
When were taxpayers asked IF we wanted to "volunteer" to donate $100,000 of our money?

Answer wrote:

I don't really care who was "for or against" at the meeting. I do care about the MONEY!!! There have been too many distractions.
Get back to finding out where the Boosters money is and has been for the last eight years, and what did the Coaches do with all the camp money, fund raisers that were "sponsored" by the Boosters, and all the other individual sport fund raisers????
Where is the MONEY? And with games starting soon, the new AD had better get a plan in place to run the concessions, take the tickets, pay the referees, etc.
The AD and the BOE need to get this worked out NOW. Don't leave it to the last minute and then decide to have the Boosters or some other non-profit come in and run it. It is very important to know how much is collected, what the gross and net collections are, and have the SCHOOL TREASURER book the money properly.
Is casino night being planned? The BOE needs to get on that and make sure the money makes it to the school. Same for all fundraisers. Who is collecting pay to play? Is it going to the coaches? Why? It should go to the School Treasurer, who should track it by sport, and then reconcile with each coach who has or has not paid. There has been too little oversight for too long. Have the AD do some of the work, too.

Anybody know if these issues will be addressed at the August 14 school board meeting?

worried wrote:

<quoted text>

Pee Wee pledged $150,000
Springboro Lacrosse pledged $50,000
Cook Family Fund pledged $100,000
The City of Springboro pledged up to $100,000
Cleacreek Township pledged up to $100,000

2/5 of the money is from the taxpayers.
Another 2/5 is tied in some way or another to Springboro boosters.
Scary.

Thoughtful wrote:

You will have a hard time selling Coach Holtrey as a dishonest, money-grubbing human being. I am not a friend or a relative, but know him to be a good honest, christian coach. In answer to your question as to why he did not divulge the whole truth (assuming your story is accurate)- perhaps, as the current board is want to do, he felt he was under no obligation to lay open books to you. One can only imaging the tone of that meeting!
August 1 Dayton Daily News:'Plice chief Jeff Kruithoff was emphatic that Holtrey was not a person of interest about that by his or the state's office.' If there is wrongdoing, it will come out in a real investigation by people who are hired to do said investigations carefully and accurately. Coach Holtry was not the only AD to miss the errant treasurer.
This is looking like a personal vendetta.

I wonder why Coach Holtrey is now lawyering up in the face of a state auditors?

Springboro City council meeting minutes from 4/19/12. See page 13 of 27 in link below.

Keep in mind that the Cook Family Fund did not exist officially with the State of Ohio until May 1, 2012. Also, they are operating under the Warren County Community Foundation "umbrella". They are not a stand alone 501 C 3. Their incorporation says that they are to help children of Warren County, not Springboro Schools. So, there is no guarantee that all, or any, funds will go to Springboro schools. See second link below, page 5, Article III.

http://www.ci.springboro.oh.us/files/Minutes4...

http://www2.sos.state.oh.us/reports/rwservlet...

Kirby should look at the facts first.

http://www.springborosun.com/2012/08/jeff-kir...

Holtrey was a Coach for 21 years.
Holtrey was Ad for two plus years.

Both positions have requirements off the basketball court.

Fundraisers must be approved in advance by the Superintendent and monies must be deposited with the school Treasurer. As both a Coach and AD, this was not done.

Quite a lot of money seems unaccounted for, both Booster and team fundraiser monies. when Holtrey was in charge, in both positions, he did not perform his fiduciary duties. He did not follow Board Policy 9210. He did not provide accountability.

When Holtrey was AD, he instituted pay to play, with no evidence that it was necessary, and nothing to back up the $475 per player amount. When parents asked, he gave no answers. When pay to play was collected, it went into the GeneralFund, not to the Athletic Fund, and not to the individual sport. Holtrey never checked to see that all players had paid, or that those on free and reduced lunch did not have to pay.

As AD, he did not supervise the other sport coaches to determine if their fundraisers were operated properly. That was part of his job, and he did not do it.
Holtrey is not alone in not fulfilling his duties as required per Board policy, but as both a Coach and an AD, he did not do his job.

Where is all the basketball fundraiser money? What about the summer camp money? What about the Saturday basketball money?

Holtrey and all the other ADs during the last eight years shirked their duties as custodians of public funds.

Holtrey and all the other sport coaches during the last eight years shirked their duties as custodians of public funds.

The Superintendents who did not supervise the ADs and Coaches shirked their duties.

The Treasurers who did not collect the funds from the ADs and coaches shirked their duties.

Mr. Kirby is an Officer if the Court, as an attorney. He should learn the facts, not the basketball scores before passing judgment.

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Twp resident wrote:

<quoted text>
Q) Were the taxpayers of either the City of Springboro or Clearcreek Township provided the opportunity to either collectively approve or veto their respective jurisdiction's "pledge" of $100,000 ??
A) No.

Q. Do the taxpayers get to vote when the streets are paved or the light bulbs changed in the city and township buildings.

A. NO

Q. Why?

A. We have a representative form of government. We ELECT people who make decisions for the collective good of the community. Or not the collective good depending on your point of view.

Too bad we have to waste all this time and effort on the Band Boosters when we are starting a new school year with almost an all new administrative staff in the central office, two fewer principals in our elementary school. What happened to children first? What are we doing to help them transition into the new year?

This posting seems to spend way too much time pointing fingers rather then lending a helping hand to those who should matter the most, our students. Our future and the future of our community is based on giving our kids the best education we possibly can. All this in-fighting does nothing but detract from what is truly important.

Irish1158 wrote:

Too bad we have to waste all this time and effort on the Band Boosters when we are starting a new school year with almost an all new administrative staff in the central office, two fewer principals in our elementary school. What happened to children first? What are we doing to help them transition into the new year?
This posting seems to spend way too much time pointing fingers rather then lending a helping hand to those who should matter the most, our students. Our future and the future of our community is based on giving our kids the best education we possibly can. All this in-fighting does nothing but detract from what is truly important.

The Band Boosters are probably the only well run group. They have records, file with the IRS and will open their books to whoever asks. The Springboro Athletic Boosters on the other hand, have not filed with the IRS since 2005 for the 2004 year, have lost their nonprofit status and have seemingly not donated a lot of money collected on behalf of the school. The coaches and Athletic Directors for the last eight years have been keeping off the books accounts, not turning in their fundraising money and following Board policies.

Before you can have a children's first environment, you must have adults in place that are following the rules. The administration, coaches, athletic boosters, athletic directors, superintendents and treasurers have not been following the rules, and it seems that a lot of money is missing. Is this the appropriate environment for children? What kind of example are these "role models" providing?
Don't work yourself up taking things out of context, or bury your head in the sand. If you want to "be for the children first", then get everything in the open and help to fix it. If you don't help to fix things, then you are just adding to the problem.

The kids will be fine. The adults are the problem.

Observer wrote:

<quoted text>
I wonder why Coach Holtrey is now lawyering up in the face of a state auditors?

Why does Mr. Holtrey need a lawyer for a simple audit of a basketball camp? This isn't exactly like an audit of Enron.

I Love how so many people THINK they know so much about Mr. Holtrey's personal life! Like that fact that he is supposedly lawyering up??? If he is in fact lawyering up I wouldn't blame him at all! In fact I would go after a lot of people for slander if I were him! The board has pretty much accomplished what they wanted to do and that was to make him look like he has done something wrong. I still haven't seen any proof of that and I was always told innocent until proven guilty!

control wrote:

<quoted text>
Q. Do the taxpayers get to vote when the streets are paved or the light bulbs changed in the city and township buildings.
A. NO
Q. Why?
A. We have a representative form of government. We ELECT people who make decisions for the collective good of the community. Or not the collective good depending on your point of view.

representative form? ya mean like the crooks that run the township and the city?

The Springboro Athletic scandal is a big tangled web. Let's not forget that there are more culpable people out there than Troy Holtrey. He is just one of a long line. The state auditors investigation will reveal many more. That is why several people currently involved in athletics have all lawyered up. The following people are just a culpable at Holtrey. Do not expect to hear much in the news because they all have been advised by their attorneys not to speak out at all.
1. David Baker
2. Tim Detwiller
3. Craig Colston
4. Larry Hook
5. Steve Castator (Former AD)
6. Troy Holtrey
7. George Long
8. Ron Malone (some of the years in question he was the supervisor of the AD)
9. All coaches who ran these illegal camps.