The Observation Deck

Dave Mechenbier wrote:I applaud the board for making the decision. Popular or unpopular, now there can be no 11th hour surprise surrounding Lincoln or Grant in regards to the levy.

I did not take part in the planning meetings and haven't read all the postings. Although I appreciate the issues raised on the Deck, I prefer the answers to be based on fact. I do think the board, and I repeat the BOARD owes all of us some definitive answers.

Why was the Kaufmann Park proposal dismissed? By the way, "it would be too hard" isn't a valid answer.

What are the regulations surrounding the sale of a closed building? What is the timetable to dispose of the already closed buildings? If there is no timetable what are the annual carrying costs?

Dave

I too now finally thank the board for putting their names on a decision. Something all
but two could have done over two years ago. They certainly delivered the goods, but
not until they formed another faux committee that was designed to be dysfunctional and
semi-steerable from day one. This is not to belittle the efforts of those that took part, it
is to ask once again why do we have to continue the charades. The volunteers are gold,
but we have a habit of forming committees for things already decided.

I too never took part in any of the meetings, didn't have to, the results were obvious the
day they put Lincoln on the list, almost by mistake. The decision they made was phrased
correctly, they voted to not close Lincoln, something none of them including Mr. Markling
wanted to see happen. But for some reason, they all wanted, no needed, to close Grant,
it became nearly a death march to deliver Grant property for something, and I hope that is
not some magic beans. During the process Mr. Markling saw just how flawed the actual
process was, and he alone started to look at the hard work being done by the committee,
and saw that every time the findings said save Grant, they were either dismissed or
changed. As the magic show continued, from my conversations with Mr. Markling he begin
to see the need to save Grant, fix Roosevelt, and make Lincoln the best school in the
region. As Mel Page had put it, save 7 schools. I had only wished that the rest of the
school board could have seen a larger dedication to education, then delivering the final verdict.
Two people on the board have really gone against a lifetime of effort to deliver the
goods, again who knows maybe it is worth it to the city.

Dave I take some exception with the comment on the Deck. While there is some running
fast and loose with the facts, which is always dangerous. There are others like Kristine,
Ahmie, Betsy, Meg, Christina etc. that took part in nearly every meeting. Were charged
with data, and feasibility, that reported their findings to all of us. Some wondered from
day one why the incredible attempt to control information coming out of the committee to
the public and when they saw their data perverted or dismissed they had a need to get it
out. At the same time others with experience with the players and all involved weighed in,
and while not facts, could easily be seen as "color" in the discussion and not facts. This too
adds to the community discussion, as it would in real life. But when posted and discussed
in public at least gives other parties a chance to correct for all to see. When it is done on
phones and small coffee clatches that does not happen, and that is when it gets ugly. So I
would like to thank all that took the time to take part, and would scold any that saw lies
and misstruths here for no stepping up and making the corrections for all to see and
understand. The Deck and the Observer process is flawed only when those with information
feel no need to share or discuss with others.

Which brings us to Kaufman Park. One board member took me to Kaufman Park to explain
why a school could not be built there. When I got back to my office I called the mayor, the
planning department, and the "renter" only to find out it was all a lie. Simply spun to
make it seem like it could never happen. Maybe that member knew of Quaker Steak and
Lube, and just spun it into an amazing tale, who knows, I just find it very disappointing
when elected officials lie to voters. So I would say, we should continue to look at Kaufman
Park until it becomes something else. There is a ton of potential there and I would hate to
see it squandered.

As for the sale of the buildings, it becomes very, very tough, and we shall see if the schools
can in fact maneuver around the regulations. The quick rules are as Mr. Markling has laid
out. Once decommissioned, charter schools get the first crack at them. From there they
can go anywhere. One line of thought is to transfer the property to Lakewood City
Academy, then they could place the property up for sale, or transfer it to the city or a
group like LakewoodAlive to market and/or develop.

But that would real pervert the "essence" of the rules, and I know that the state is all over
this entire process, and was like you and I merely waiting for a decision from the board.
Because as a member of the state school board said, "We really cannot do anything until
they make a decision, then we can come in and evaluate the process, the reasons, and
the final results." So many, many people have been waiting for the decision.

I had hoped that the Board would have found a way to save all three schools until they
had an actual plan for what to do. To lose Grant Lakewood Blue Ribbon School that has
become an example of how to teach 1st year students, many with English as a second
language should have been seen as plus, not a minus, and I had hoped that Lakewood's
longtime dedication to Education would have shined a light on a better way.

My biggest fear at this point, and one I expressed to Dr. Madak his first week back, was
that this entire process would have been mismanaged so poorly, that it would have made
the board look foolish and inept, and that it would divide the community at exactly the
time we need the city to come together and support a school levy.

Vote for the levy, continue our support of education.

Yeah, I agree with Dave thank you for making finally making the decision. Now we have
a right to know why you made your choice.

For the record, what I have said to every board member, Dr. Madak, and others for the
past 2 years. "Well if you feel that way, why not just close Grant. Please do not put this
city through another series of faux meetings to trick the city into making your decision
for you. Please, we do not need another civil war." Along the way, like Mr. Markling I
learned just how good Grant is as a school and family, but terrible as a building. I hope
that the school board finds a way to serve the most densely populate part of the city,
outside of the gold coast. Even with everything against them, the deck stacked beyond
belief, Grant School has continued their excellent programs and stayed out of the politics.

Which brings us back to the Deck. If any board member wants to correct my post, or
even call me a liar, I am here, or send me an email, or post elsewhere. I stand by my
words, and I sign my name to them, and look forward to defending myself if needed.

Support the levy, Lakewood must stay dedicated to education even if our board waivers.

FWIW

Well, last night was like a scene from a movie. I was so proud of my fellow citizens at that Board meeting. The ONLY source of information in so many ways has been the Lakewood Observer and this forum. Everyone on Deck should be thanked for helping keep the community informed. People knew statistics, had well-reasoned arguments, knew that they had rights, and knew that what they were witnessing was very wrong.

In the Levy thread on the Deck, when Steve Davis was attacking my dad for his creation (back when my dad was serving in the Ohio House of Representatives) of the "unfortunate" Housebill 920, I told my dad about the debate that was going on. He was surprised and flattered that anybody remembered it or could talk about it with that degree of coherence. (For the record, he's still very proud of it.) He said, "Honey, one thing you have to remember through all of this is how lucky you are to be in a place where people are paying attention. Do you know how rare that is? People arguing and debating and finally trying to take good care of each other and their community..."

This morning seems like a good time to share that with all of you who have made it possible to at least get a start on understanding what's happening, and where we can go from here. It's a new day everybody! They did the wrong thing! A bad bad thing, as I said to Board Member Kamkutis last night. We'll see where we can go from here. But so far, good job everybody! I was proud to live in Lakewood last night, and am even more so this morning.

Betsy Voinovich

[SARCASM ALERT : SARCASM ALERT : SARCASM ALERT]

So, they're voting to close a school before even putting a levy on the ballot that could possibly solve the problem?

wow, now THAT's giving it the ole' college try.

Hey, maybe we could put up some barbed wire and use the Grant building to house the Guantanamo Bay detainees. THAT would help my property value.

"Congratulations Grant, you've been named a blue ribbon school, in appreciation of your efforts, pack your bags, pick up a hammer and help us board up the windows."

Never before in my life do I recall feeling more overwhelmed with such complete contempt for our elected leaders. If you can't solve a problem, it's your responsibility to find someone who can, and if that means you step down and make room for others to take care of business - then do it!

Well, if they sell that land and re-zone it for anything other than residential property, they'll essentially be ripping $25,000 - $50,000 right out of my pocket in what it will do to the value of my house (directly across the street). So how do you think I would vote on a school levy? Thanks BOE for apparently not thinking it a valid ballot issue.

Betsey, Dannielle and all the other people involved in the process, I apologize for ever voting for the School Board members (except for Matt). Obviously this whole process seems to be questionable.

I also apologize for a public servant, yes a public servant, resorting to name calling during this horrible immorality play.

Shame on them, shame on him and good for you.

I found it telling of Mr. Favre's character that he only took to the microphone to criticize the citizens who voiced opinions contrary to his after the recess and most of the room had cleared.

Bill

Probably off-topic, but since these comments showed up in this thread, I might as well jump in..

Betsy Voinovich wrote:In the Levy thread on the Deck, when Steve Davis was attacking my dad for his creation (back when my dad was serving in the Ohio House of Representatives) of the "unfortunate" Housebill 920, I told my dad about the debate that was going on. He was surprised and flattered that anybody remembered it or could talk about it with that degree of coherence. (For the record, he's still very proud of it.)

Remember House Bill 920? How could I forget it?

I worked for every Lakewood school levy in the late 80’s and 90’s. I wish that I could total the cost to me, and others, in money and hours just to explain to friends and voters why public schools need to raise money regularly in the face of Ohio House Bill 920 legislation. This perpetual discussion goes on in every school district in Ohio.

The Republican legislators of Ohio and the United States have seemingly gone out of their way to damage public education in our state and country, in favor of privatization and financial benefit to the likes of William Bennett’s for-profit online schools and David Brennan’s for-profit White Hat charter school management. Bennett was able to afford to gamble and lose millions of dollars that came to his business from public education funds. Brennan was, and may still be, one of the largest political contributors to Republicans in Ohio.

The same legislators that tell you how H.B. 920 makes schools more accountable are also in favor of giving voucher money from YOUR school district to private schools. I challenge you to demand accountability from those schools like you do from your ELECTED school board. State legislators took away an elected school board from Cleveland Schools. I’ll stand by my original comments about taxation without representation.

If H.B. 920 was such a good idea, why wasn’t it applied to all taxing agencies with monies coming from real estate taxes, like counties, cities, libraries, port authorities, etc? Why don’t our elected state officials stand up every year for public schools, explain what H.B. 920 means, tell the public how it works, AND explain that just because you can vote against added taxes for schools doesn’t mean that you should? Instead, they hide and leave it to countless volunteers with donated money to get the same message out over and over again. They leave us to fight among ourselves.

Nobody wants to pay more taxes, but at least the public should understand how schools are funded, or not funded.

H.B. 920 gives growing school districts with new homes and strong non-residential tax bases an advantage over older, built out, and mostly residential districts like Lakewood.

Our Ohio government has people convinced that if they spend more money on Ohio Lottery tickets, more money will go to public schools. They never explain how the Ohio Lottery Commission supplanting fund works, or doesn’t work.

With No Child Left Behind, and our own state standards, we all start believing the narratives about failed, Blue Ribbon, excellent, and improving schools. Most of that is hocus-pocus. Do we really measure what happens in individual classrooms, schools, and districts? When we measure a district, school, or teacher, do we also measure that against the culture, abilities, disabilities, language, health, community wealth and tax base, and family structure and income of attending or seldom-attending students?

Our state is allowed to call a school failed without regard to those measures. The result is that the schools, districts, teachers, and children under the most pressure, get financially penalized, the money goes to private schools and unaccountable privateers, class wars begin, and we all lose, especially kids.

In case you think I am strictly partisan on this, I am also at odds with our current president’s positions on public education and his endorsement of charter schools. School board member, Matt Markling, is a Republican. Politically, we agree on almost nothing, but he bucks the party line on public education, for which I give him great credit and respect.

For full disclosure, I was educated in religious, public, and private schools. Private education is a privilege, that should be paid for privately. The future of our community and country is in the public schools. We need an equitable and rational way to pay for and advance them.

By the way, I didn’t have a dog in this fight about Grant vs. Lincoln, but have followed it. To me as an outsider, it seems the process could have been better. I hope the goal in the decision was to improve our district schools, with a keen eye on economics.

Finally,

Betsy Voinovich wrote:He said, "Honey, one thing you have to remember through all of this is how lucky you are to be in a place where people are paying attention. Do you know how rare that is? People arguing and debating and finally trying to take good care of each other and their community..."

Yes, we do need to take good care of each other and our community.

I’m not sure if everyone is paying attention. If they ARE paying attention, like me, they may feel like they are attending a magic show. You just never know which hand to watch.



PASS THE LEVY!

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Steve--- I am going to further bend this thread off topic. You're comments are directed at the actions of then St.Rep. Voinovich. I, too, remember the efforts by Democratic politicians in support of this effort, specifically County Treasurer, Frank Gaul. The results, as you point out, have not promoted, enhanced, or even supported our uniquely American best idea--- public education.
That having been said, and I know this is diverging, I know that United States Senator Voinovich was the only legislator who publicly stated that if we start a war (Iraq) that we ought to pay for it right now with a tax.
Perhaps what I have done is muddle up the discussion with our federal, state, local forms of government.
Regardless, I do like Betsy's recount of her Dad's comments--- we gotta kick ass town that is concerned!
Vote for the Levy!
Stan Austin

For anyone who wants them, I will make available all the data I have my hands on. Last night when I confronted her during the recess, Board President BS claimed that her decision was based upon only that data that I had seen (in my role as co-chair of the district configuration subcommittee), yet then went on to say that closing Grant was the only way to make the remaining schools economically diverse - I had been repeatedly denied access to any way of knowing where our city's current students might be concentrated in regards to poverty, even though I *had* asked, repeatedly, in writing, in the spring for ways to see which neighborhoods might be disproportionately over-burdened by having a longer walk to school. I was told that it was illegal for me to see that information and illegal to use it as a determining factor. So did President BS lie to me last night, or use an illegal factor in her decision making process, or was I lied to about the illegality of using that as a component in my data analysis for the district configuration subcommittee?

I have more in-depth data than the dot maps that have been presented repeatedly - remember that those dot maps are hard to make out exactly how many actual students there are because the dots overlap. I got the actual spreadsheet of addresses with an entry for each student as of May 2009, imported them into Google Earth and color-coded each dot by what school code was associated with the particular student (which makes the large number of Lincoln's open-enrollment population blatently obvious - the earlier posted "fact sheet" that showed how many students Lincoln/Grant/Roosevelt were currently serving at that point in time is misleading for several reasons: 1.) not limited to only kids who actually live within the boundary lines in the houses that will for the most part still be there in 50 years - Lincoln has, as I recall, approximately 75 fewer students than Grant if you look at JUST ones living within their current boundary lines; 2.) the buildings are not equal size right now and no indication of percent of current building capacity is given - I know for a fact that Grant was turning away people seeking open enrollment this year because they were having trouble fitting in the kids they were already legally obligated to serve, Lincoln doesn't seem to have that problem due to the lower student population density north of the train tracks... I think I had a 3rd point but I have a head cold and it slipped my mind, those are the biggies with that chart and how easy it is to be mislead by it). I actually went and hand-counted the actual number of students in areas by "exploding" them where they overlap each other where I predicted the boundary lines would be (which were a bit off the ones currently proposed, and because of the shape of them did not fully cover the kids with more walk challenges in the Grant area - the Lincoln area dots were much closer together since Lincoln is almost exactly centered at the 1 mile mark between 2 miles separating HM and Emerson). This task would have been easier if I was using proper GIS software but I didn't feel the urge to learn to use it at that point in time. I did receive assistance from John Strok at the Cuyahoga County Auditor's office, who WAS using proper GIS software (and doing much of this work on his "free" time around caring for his own toddler child's needs, as I was working around my then-Lincoln-Pre-K student and toddler underfoot here). He was able to give me student counts for block group areas I drew, which I compared with the 1990 and 2000 census data to look at how families have shifted.

Speaking of the census data, one thing that makes ABUNDANTLY clear is that, while the Gold Coast may be the most densely populated area of Lakewood, it is almost exclusively adults. There are VERY few minors in that part of town over the last 20 years. As of May 2009, we had less than one enrolled elementary school child per BUILDING where those condos are located. Again, this is evidenced in the Google Earth view of things from the data provided by the schools, and was pretty obvious even just looking at the dot map but I wanted to verify that the dots weren't just sitting directly stacked above one another in the printed version since their street addresses would be the same with just different suite numbers. No, there really are almost no young children in those buildings. I also learned this first-hand from getting to know one of my son's Lincoln Pre-K classmates who lived in one of those condo units last school year - he and his younger twin brothers were the ONLY children in that entire building, according to their mother and the lady at the desk when I asked her incredulously. That family, incidentally, had their condo on the market the last I spoke to them so most likely there are now NO children in that building.

John Strok (auditor's office) was kind enough to generate a spreadsheet that showed where enrolled children live within the 7 school configuration boundary lines. Emerson has, by far, the lowest number of children per housing unit, less than 5% of the housing units in its currently huge boundary lines have children in them. We can not have equitable enrollment across the city AND smaller boundary lines for Emerson, the two are mutually exclusive possibilities. In order to fill Emerson to a financially feasable number of students to justify the expenses of the building and its staff, it needs to have the largest boundary area of the city. I took the liberty of measuring the perimeter of the Emerson boundary in either of the "draft" 6 school boundary maps. They are very nearly the same size. I encourage anyone who cares to check my work to do so, Google Earth is freely available at http://earth.google.com - load up the program, click on the ruler tool, switch to path instead of line, and draw the boundary - it will automatically calculate for you what the distance of walking that perimeter would be. Walking distances for the furthest kids in the Emerson district will be within .1mi (basically, the distance of the frontage of Emerson's lot itself) regardless of which 6-school configuration we wind up with. You can easily confirm this yourself by going to http://maps.google.com, click directions, input the residential intersection at the corner of the proposed boundary (remember that the corner of Warren & Franklin is not residential, I used St. Charles instead), then select "walking directions" - be sure to pick a route that doesn't have the kids jaywalking across intersections without crosswalks along Detroit and Clifton as it doesn't know by itself where they are (you can drag the route line to where it needs to be and it will recalculate, if it doesn't suggest an appropriate route on its own).

Everything I've done for this process is 3rd party verifiable and reproducable. I have pretty good training in social research methods - I aced the class as an undergraduate when it was taught by the guy who is now the dean of Case Western's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, ten years later he still thought so highly of my scientific mind (and remembered me vividly) that he wrote me a letter of recommendation to grad school and put me in contact with several other folks over at MSASS's Center on Urban Poverty who helped with my data gathering and analysis. Anyone who feels the need to verify THAT claim is free to do so also - I'm referring to Dr. Grover Cleveland Gilmore, better known as Cleve. He will recognize my name if you ask him about me and could give you a pretty good description of what I look like now as well as more than 10 years ago. All this is to say, I've not just been pulling my arguments out of my rear end, even though I've been repeatedly treated as though I were and subjective opinions & wishes have been given significantly more respect than the actual longitudinal data I gathered.

Mr. Markling, I am very much a Progressive Democrat, from Wikipedia's description I'm actually a Social Democrat (not a Democratic Socialist tho, they're not the same thing - and I'm too much a student of sub-optimal human behavior to ever be an outright Socialist). I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, or cleverly disguised three toed sloth, you *earned* my respect from the way you've handled this process in the last few weeks. Your colleagues have earned my contempt, to say the very least. I have absolutely no respect for their critical thinking skills, and serious concerns about their ability to objectively make decisions that directly impact various aspects of public education in our town. I appreciate and highly value your transparency in this process. Thank you for going apparently above and beyond what we "should" expect from our elected officials. You have set a very good example, as well as demonstrated what a tripping hazard the ethical bar your colleagues have set as you tried to raise it.


Ahmie

So is there any way to change this decision?

Hi Rhonda,

For now I'll just quote Jim from the morning.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

...I know that the state is all over this entire process, and was like you and I merely waiting for a decision from the board. Because as a member of the state school board said, "We really cannot do anything until they make a decision, then we can come in and evaluate the process, the reasons, and the final results." So many, many people have been waiting for the decision.

The short answer is "yes."

Betsy Voinovich

Thank you Betsy! Keep me informed!
Rhonda

STRATEGY 1
Send a message, defeat the levy. You only need to move 5-8% of the vote.

STRATEGY 2
Exercise democracy, circulate petitions, begin the process to remove them from office.

Regardless of what you do, you have to have numbers and organization and the clock is ticking. ORGANIZE FOR AMERICA or at least for Lakewood.

A school will be closed. Who loses?

If the levy is defeated, who loses?

Short answer to both is the students.

Strategy 1: "we don't like what the board decided so we're gonna punish the kids more"....nice

Strategy 2: A tough decision was just made...think this one through before acting

If the levy fails, there will be many tough decisions in the near term. If you don't like how Grant/Lincoln was decided, you best stick your head in the sand because you probably won't like what's coming down the road if this levy fails.

PASS THE LEVY !

Levys are for suckers.

I got your school money right here...

Strategy 1) Charge a $5.00 toll for each RTA bus using any of the bridges between Lakewood and Rocky River.

Strategy 2) Charge each member a one time $500,000 PSL for their seat on the School Board

Strategy 3) Three words : Fundraiser, Fundraiser, Fundraiser - I'm seeing all of Madison shut down for a week long Octoberfest in the street sponsored by Great Lakes Brewery, and every bar in Lakewood can have a tent (for a fee). After all, there is no problem that can't be solved with the proper application of Alcohol and Polka music.

Problem solved.

Man, I should be Mayor of this town.

Ryan Patrick Demro wrote:STRATEGY 1
Send a message, defeat the levy. You only need to move 5-8% of the vote.

STRATEGY 2
Exercise democracy, circulate petitions, begin the process to remove them from office.

Regardless of what you do, you have to have numbers and organization and the clock is ticking. ORGANIZE FOR AMERICA or at least for Lakewood.

Ryan,

Ugh!

You're like Putin. When you rear your head, I can see you on the Observation Deck.

Go get 'em, tiger!

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