Board spars over words and numbers

Show me the reconfiguration taking place on the "East side" of the district? No can do - they still keep their two, old, inefficient, neighborhood middle schools. Back up about ten years where the proposition was made to combine/consolidate Sutter Park and Liberty (ONLY)- again, on the "West side" of the district - despite loud pleas from parents in that area to consider the WHOLE district for reconfiguration, administrators chose to let it die rather than spread the burden to the "East side" of the district EVENLY. Subsequently, a few years later, they simply singled out Sutter Park to close (even though there are many older, inefficient, ineffective, deteriorating buildings in other parts of the district - the squeaky wheels kept this from being considered too. Next comes along this whole "Phoenix" concept ... who bears the burden? Those who live in the Perry ("West side") area of the district ... overcrowding into McCord (also in the "West side" of the district)- now, further wanting to cram more bodies into McCord (West side) rather than doing the right thing and re-organizing the ENTIRE district attendance boundaries... Go read the article posted now about the noisy little group of parents who don't want THEIR (East side) old school reconfigured...

THIS my friends, is indeed, the Worthington way... parocialism of the Olde Worthington area, and cow-towing to the teachers unions at an unsustainable pace will, indeed, drive the district off the proverbial cliff sooner or later...

BECAUSE unions have to have MORE at each session - doesn't matter so much what 'more' is as long as there is some kind of raise in salaries and benefits, and some negotiation for less work - we'll never have stable schools because our income doesn't go up at the same rate as theirs.

For 4o years, they've been getting raises until they have out-priced themselves, even in 'good' neighborhoods. We can't stop unions from being unions and every two years, education is going to cost us more because of labor contracts. Because benefit rates ( health care costs ) raise every minute, a levy every two years will be required just to pay these bennies.

When unions exist, these are the rules, BECAUSE they make the rules, we foot the bill.

Thanks to Marc Share for having the guts to speak up. Thank you, Sir. A school board member who realizes his job is protect to the community, in both the quality of education and the cost - and he's warning you now. You, and 15 other districts around the outerbelt are about to crash and burn because your union is driving you into a ditch. The union will continue to drive all the way to bankruptcy court and consolidation into a state-wide system because they don't have the ways or means to negotitiate health for the system at large, only the workers. And if they aren't negotiating MORE, there is no reason for them to exist.

We've arrived at the flashpoint, and you have a school board member trying to explain it to you. Best Wishes, Mr. Share! Save what you can so it can be converted, and lets reinvent ourselves for the future of our kids, and America.

Wow! More levies so soon? Didn't we just pass a permanent 6.9 mill levy? And the city just increased the income taxes too. The cost of living in Worthington is going up much faster than the income of the residents.

concerned resident wrote:

Wow! More levies so soon? Didn't we just pass a permanent 6.9 mill levy? And the city just increased the income taxes too. The cost of living in Worthington is going up much faster than the income of the residents.

The cost of funding schools is increasing, should we choose to increase it, because the state of Ohio is taking funding away from Worthington with their reduction in the Tangible Property Tax. This revenue from the brewery and Worthington Industries represents appox. 15 million dollars that Worthington Schools has always received. If the State takes this money the school district must either replace the money with local tax levies or reduce the budget. The reduction obviously can come at the employee level with a reduction in salaries and benefits, but that alone won't make-up for this reduction and tax shift from the state.

Wow, the big schools are starting to feel what the little school in rural ohio have been feeling for several years.

All of our programs are now cut or pay to play. Levies are voted down left and right for even basic maintenance of the school buildings. People cannot afford to pay more taxes at this time with the economy.

I really feel bad for all involved. I wish the state would do something, but that being said, I doubt they do anything at all.

It does not help that some of the principals are "retired" then rehired , so they double dip into state retirement and Worthington.

I agree with the one comment "And the city just increased the income taxes too. The cost of living in Worthington is going up much faster than the income of the residents." Money is not growing on trees...

I personally am grateful that Marc Schare is a representative on the school board in Worthington. We need clear thinkers and straight talkers to wake up this community. Worthington has molly coddled teachers for years. As our daughter went through elementary, middle and high school in Worthington, we saw that many teachers were doing what was expected of them, a few excelled and a few were incorrigible. I say take away the elite health care coverage and demand that teachers perform, or get newer, younger and more motivated teachers into the district.

I don't know if the teachers have an elite health care package and I doubt that most teachers are overpayed. Also, my son had a teacher last year who had been teaching over thirty years and she was AMAZING! This year he has a teacher who has less than 10 years of experience and she is just okay. I don't know that new teachers are always better.

My son is in elementary school and I don't see any evidence of money lavishly spent or wasted.

I voted for the last levy and I want a quality education for my son. But in this economy you can't expect residents to continue to pay more and more taxes- people just don't have it. Obviously we need to elect state politicians who won't mandate unfunded programs and continually cut funding to schools. But, until that happens, the school district will have to make difficult cuts to programs. They need to fund the basic programs and do a really good job at providing the core curricular subjects that our children need. Maybe they will need to cut extra curricular programs or electives until the economy rebounds.

Diana in Worthington wrote:

I personally am grateful that Marc Schare is a representative on the school board in Worthington. We need clear thinkers and straight talkers to wake up this community. Worthington has molly coddled teachers for years. As our daughter went through elementary, middle and high school in Worthington, we saw that many teachers were doing what was expected of them, a few excelled and a few were incorrigible. I say take away the elite health care coverage and demand that teachers perform, or get newer, younger and more motivated teachers into the district.

I would like to echo this kudo to Mr. Schare. Although my wife and I are among the 51% of Worthington residents with no children at home (according to the 2009 survey Mr. Schare provided me a link to), I still appreciate clear thinking and straight talk. The reality is that educational services are not immune to the market forces of supply and demand. Ultimately, passions on either side of this issue will have to give way to this reality.

Worthington Dad wrote:

<quoted text>
The cost of funding schools is increasing, should we choose to increase it, because the state of Ohio is taking funding away from Worthington with their reduction in the Tangible Property Tax.

Get educated and stop with the propaganda. You are held harmless thru 2012 or 13. Money comes out of one line item but goes right back in thru another. Read hb66 geeze !!!!!

Worthington Grad wrote:

I vote - about to fall off a cliff. The district has been going downhill for years. The whole district and community needs to reinvent themselves in modern times.

Thank you - the Industrial Age is over, yet the mentality remains.

Keith G wrote:

<quoted text>
I would like to echo this kudo to Mr. Schare. Although my wife and I are among the 51% of Worthington residents with no children at home (according to the 2009 survey Mr. Schare provided me a link to), I still appreciate clear thinking and straight talk. The reality is that educational services are not immune to the market forces of supply and demand. Ultimately, passions on either side of this issue will have to give way to this reality.

I would like to thank Charlie Wilson for standing up and voting against Mr. Schare being vice president of the school board. I think he makes sense and we should not be cutting and cutting all the time. We should have gone for a larger levy last year like he wanted then we would not be in this position. All that Schare wants to do is attack the teachers and they are not the cause of the problem but they are made to be the scapegoats every time.

Propaganda wrote:

<quoted text> Get educated and stop with the propaganda. You are held harmless thru 2012 or 13. Money comes out of one line item but goes right back in thru another. Read hb66 geeze !!!!!

PPT reimbursement is being phased out on a schedule which causes it to be completely eliminated in 2018, and the State has given no indication how this money will be replaced. The likelyhood is that it won't be.

The current school funding law is designed with a 'tuning' knob, called the Education Challenge Factor, which the politicians can use to tweak a district's state funding to whatever they want. It's supposed to be calculated based on the number of people in a school district who have a college degree, property wealth, and poverty, but our politicians chose not to reveal the mechanics of the calculation. I think that's because there are no mechanics.

The ECF for Worthington schools is 0.896897, which means that WCS will get about 90% of the state funding the Governor's new "evidence based system" would say is Worthington's due share. Every school district has one of these six digit fractions encoded in the law (see http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3306.051 ). It looks like a 'goal seek' factor to me - a number you apply on the input side of an equation to make the output come out the way you want.

It is precisely because the General Assy chose not to disclose how they came up with these precise and individualized factors that I think it's the way they make the answer for each school district come out the way they want, regardless of what the rest of the so-called evidence-based funding system says a district should receive from the State.

The cost of running our schools, and the way they are funded, will never get fixed until the people of Ohio rise up and demand change. Apathy doesn't get it any more - that's how America has gotten so screwed up. If We the People don't start living up to our civic responsibilities - that is, to participate in government - our country is doomed.

And we need tons more people like Marc Schare holding public office.

Kudo wrote:

<quoted text>
I would like to thank Charlie Wilson for standing up and voting against Mr. Schare being vice president of the school board. I think he makes sense and we should not be cutting and cutting all the time. We should have gone for a larger levy last year like he wanted then we would not be in this position. All that Schare wants to do is attack the teachers and they are not the cause of the problem but they are made to be the scapegoats every time.

Are you sure about that? Teachers continue to donate to that little thing called a union, which DEMANDS raises in salary and benefits at EVERY session. Of course, teachers can walk out with clean hands when they hire thugs to do the dirty work.

As a Worthington resident I am absolutely disgusted with this school system's complete lack of self control regarding spending. My property taxes have doubled in the past ten years as a homeowner, and the school board still claims to need more money. Bottom line is this: the irresponsible board continually spends more than it brings in, not controlling itself like the rest of us in reality are forced to do. Give the budget to any ten Worthington homeowners and I bet we can find ways to get this thing balanced. Shape up!

Lady You have obviously never seen a teachers union in action. There are no thugs, mostly just nice elementary teachers in Bellepoint sweaters! If the teachers union didn't exist we'd surely go back to the days of teachers being treated like indentured servants. If Mr Schare is such a high minded advocate for the community why does he want to get rd of the code of ethics for Board members?

yea no thugs in Andy Stern's ........ECIU.......Communist!! !!!!!!! ITS now called Social Justice ...
LOL

Ahgast wrote:

Lady You have obviously never seen a teachers union in action. There are no thugs, mostly just nice elementary teachers in Bellepoint sweaters! If the teachers union didn't exist we'd surely go back to the days of teachers being treated like indentured servants. If Mr Schare is such a high minded advocate for the community why does he want to get rd of the code of ethics for Board members?

How sweet...and inocuous...Bellepointe Sweaters! Is that anything like the Red Hats?

What we know is this - if this oh-so-gentile group of gentlepersons don't get their way, we'll bring in Federal mediators. Getting their way could be anything from a raise in salary or step pay, more benefits, and less work. Since it's been going this way for forty years, we've reached the tipping point. One more levy will break proberbial camel - and your workhorses will need to be buried. Is that really what you want?

Perhaps, at one time, the community and the system could work together. But we left that vortex on the graph in the past decade. Now, we're working at tremendous odds.

It's not that taxpayers don't want to pay teachers - it's that we can't keep up with union demands. You would bankrupt us, force us out of our homes, even though that would cause you to go belly-up, too. Do none of you understand the severity of this place in time?

WE would ask you - WHY should we lose everything we've worked for merely to keep your union happy? The working class and low-end white collar workers are tanked - the next group they come after is the middle-management group, which already isn't far behind. Is there an economic group where union demands and taxpayer income levels out?

Do you really want to find out?

Ahgast wrote:

If Mr Schare is such a high minded advocate for the community why does he want to get rd of the code of ethics for Board members?

The Board Member code of ethics has absolutely nothing to do with ethics. Here are some comments on the subject:

http://www.mschare.com/speeches/s032210.htm

The "code of ethics" can be found here:

http://www.worthington.k12.oh.us/uploads/2/Fi...

1. It is unethical for a board member to:

A. seek special privileges for personal gain;

B. personally assume unauthorized authority;

C. criticize employees publicly;

D. disclose confidential information or

E. place the interest of one group or community above the interest of the entire District.

2. It is unethical for a board to:

A. withhold facts from the Superintendent, particularly about the incompetency of an
employee or

B. announce future action before the proposition has been discussed by the Board.
A politician who wants to do away with the above mention selection from the Worthington Board of Education Code of Ethics.... Now I am aghast. Absolutely nothing to do with ethics. Says a lot about you Mr, Schare