Board Closer To Replacing Treasurer

[Jim O'Bryan]

The Lakewood City School District Board of Education, which is seeking to replace its current treasurer, has identified six candidates who will be interviewed December 6 and December 7, 2011.

Ohio School Board Association consultant Kathy LaSota, who led the recruitment process for the Board, met with Board members on December 1 to present the results of the OSBA applicant screening.

Read more on our front page!

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2011/12/02/lakewood-schools-narrows-treasurer-search


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[marklingm]

Because there has been some confusion in the media, the actual press release is set forth below.

News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 2, 2011

CONTACT: Kathy LaSota
Ohio School Boards Association
614-540-4000

Lakewood City School District Treasurer Search Progresses

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Lakewood City School District Board of Education, which is seeking to replace its current treasurer, has identified six candidates who will be interviewed December 6 and December 7, 2011.

Ohio School Board Association consultant Kathy LaSota, who led the recruitment process for the Board, met with Board members on December 1 to present the results of the OSBA applicant screening.

“I was pleased with the results of OSBA’s professional search process,” Board member Linda Beebe said. “The school treasurer position is a challenging one. It is sometimes difficult to provide boards of education with the number and quality of candidates needed to fit our essential criteria. The Lakewood Board of Education, staff and community should be proud that top-notch applicants are attracted to our school district. The most difficult work is to come over the next several weeks as the Board narrows the field and identifies the successful candidate.”

The following candidates will be interviewing for the treasurer’s position:

• Teresa L. Emmerling, Treasurer, Massillon City Schools

• Lewis E. Galante, Treasurer, Perry Local Schools

• Robert J. Matson, Treasurer, North Olmsted City Schools

• Timothy J. Penton, Treasurer, Whitehall City Schools

• Biagio Sidoti, Treasurer, North Ridgeville City Schools

• Kevin M. Staller, Treasurer, Nordonia Hills City Schools

“It is undisputed that we received an outstanding pool of treasurer candidates because Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson, in collaboration with our teachers, staff, administrators and parents, has created a culture which expects and demands excellence,” said Board President Matthew John Markling. “I look forward to working with my fellow Board members and Superintendent Patterson to select a treasurer who will work collaboratively with our administration and Board to prudently manage the fiscal resources of the district and ensure that our students continue to receive a quality education that meets their needs for future success.”

The Board plans to have the new treasurer under contract by December 31, 2011. The new treasurer will replace Richard Berdine, who in June announced his resignation as of December 31, 2012. The incoming treasurer, who begins work on August 1, 2012, will work closely with the current treasurer to ensure a smooth transition.


Christine Gordillo
Communications & PR Specialist
Lakewood City Schools
216-529-4074 (Office)

[Scott Meeson]

Because there has been some confusion in the media, the actual press release is set forth below.

News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 2, 2011

CONTACT: Kathy LaSota
Ohio School Boards Association
614-540-4000

Lakewood City School District Treasurer Search Progresses

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Lakewood City School District Board of Education, which is seeking to replace its current treasurer, has identified six candidates who will be interviewed December 6 and December 7, 2011.

Ohio School Board Association consultant Kathy LaSota, who led the recruitment process for the Board, met with Board members on December 1 to present the results of the OSBA applicant screening.

“I was pleased with the results of OSBA’s professional search process,” Board member Linda Beebe said. “The school treasurer position is a challenging one. It is sometimes difficult to provide boards of education with the number and quality of candidates needed to fit our essential criteria. The Lakewood Board of Education, staff and community should be proud that top-notch applicants are attracted to our school district. The most difficult work is to come over the next several weeks as the Board narrows the field and identifies the successful candidate.”

The following candidates will be interviewing for the treasurer’s position:

• Teresa L. Emmerling, Treasurer, Massillon City Schools

• Lewis E. Galante, Treasurer, Perry Local Schools

• Robert J. Matson, Treasurer, North Olmsted City Schools

• Timothy J. Penton, Treasurer, Whitehall City Schools

• Biagio Sidoti, Treasurer, North Ridgeville City Schools

• Kevin M. Staller, Treasurer, Nordonia Hills City Schools

“It is undisputed that we received an outstanding pool of treasurer candidates because Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson, in collaboration with our teachers, staff, administrators and parents, has created a culture which expects and demands excellence,” said Board President Matthew John Markling. “I look forward to working with my fellow Board members and Superintendent Patterson to select a treasurer who will work collaboratively with our administration and Board to prudently manage the fiscal resources of the district and ensure that our students continue to receive a quality education that meets their needs for future success.”

The Board plans to have the new treasurer under contract by December 31, 2011. The new treasurer will replace Richard Berdine, who in June announced his resignation as of December 31, 2012. The incoming treasurer, who begins work on August 1, 2012, will work closely with the current treasurer to ensure a smooth transition.


Christine Gordillo
Communications & PR Specialist
Lakewood City Schools
216-529-4074 (Office)

A wheelbarrow full of money doesn't hurt either.

[Charlie Page]

News Release

Ohio School Board Association consultant Kathy LaSota, who led the recruitment process for the Board, met with Board members on December 1 to present the results of the OSBA applicant screening.

Their might have been one more candidate if Kathy had sent me the application I requested. No, I don't have my School Treasurer license but I could have very easily got the 300 hours necessary in the six months before Rick Berdine's last day.

[Mike Zannoni]

As much as I like a good dog and pony show, I sent this email on Friday 12/2 to all our current school board members:

----------------------------------------------------------
Dear School Board Members --

I feel it is strongly inappropriate under the circumstances to consider Mr. Berdine for re-hire as Treasurer. I speak for many who consider his forced resignation without the public's review (as to the reasons surrounding it) to be a scandal and an outrage, and also consider his severance package to be mutually exclusive of any new salary from such re-hire, even if some loop-hole allows for such a thing.

I would, however, support any other qualified candidate that you may choose, assuming s/he is of good character and works responsibly and transparently for the betterment of the district, as an appointee of the Board, our elected officials.

I also fully expect the Board to exercise due oversight of all activities of any Treasurer who is appointed, something that may well have been lacking in the past.

Thank you.

Mike Zannoni
---------------------------------------------------------------

No response yet. Anyone have anything to add?

[Bill Call]

........I also fully expect the Board to exercise due oversight of all activities of any Treasurer who is appointed, something that may well have been lacking in the past.
.......
No response yet.

Lot's of luck with that.

I had hoped that at least one outsider would have been elected to the Board. By outsider I mean someone who is not well connected and in full agreement with the current power structure. Their thinking runs along the lines of "We need to spend more money doing what we have been doing for the last 30 years".

Berdine will be receiving nearly $6 million in retirement benefits curtousy of the Lakewood taxpayer, about half the cost of a new elementary school. His departure is the perfect time to evaluate the entire management of Lakewood School system.

Does the district need its own treasurer?

Should we share a treasurer with other districts?

Should we outsource the entire finance department?

Do we really need 600 different pay scales?

How are we going to pay for 50% increase in health care costs?

How are we going to pay for 5% raises?

Should the district run its own charter schools?

Do we hire more para-professionals and fewer teachers?

Since the State keeps delaying the funding for the next phase of construction should we consider moving forward on our own or..

Don't ask.

[Mike Zannoni]

........I also fully expect the Board to exercise due oversight of all activities of any Treasurer who is appointed, something that may well have been lacking in the past.
.......
No response yet.

Lot's of luck with that.

Are you saying best of luck with a response of any kind? (I don't expect THAT!)

Or are you saying best of luck having the Board supervise and actually oversee the Treasurer? If that's the case, and if you're right, we are in a terrible situation, one that requires further action. We should definitely not be throwing up our hands, as that's why many situations in Lakewood are the way they are.

Did anyone read the PD story about the State's "Excellent" rating? That 68% of schools in Ohio are rated Excellent, and that the rating system in Ohio is considered so laxical that it is in the process of being sharply changed, such that schools will begin to be immediately warned about where they would be by the soon-coming more-realistic standards. The current Ohio "Excellent" rating is apparently equivalent to "barely adequate" by national and international standards. Now I can't help wondering about the true standing of Lakewood's schools . . .

I was a National Merit scholar in a Parma Public school, as have been many of my friends over the years, most in public schools, from different parts of the Cleveland area, but I'm told Lakewood does not regularly produce students who receive this scholarship award, only some finalists in the running. If I remember correctly, National Merit scholarships are awarded based on SAT scores. Why aren't our students getting them?

Is Lakewood's "Excellent" rating truly such the feather in the cap of this School Board, as we're often led to believe?