The Observation Deck

On the heels of the recent news of the district's Excellent rating on the state report card, you may want to view the video below of Superintendent Jeff Patterson's Convocation presentation. He he laid out an exciting vision for the district's future that includes huge strides in technology and aspirations of being among the best in the state.

http://www.lakewoodcityschools.org/content_page2.aspx?cid=682

Please take the time to review the convocation video. Lakewood is blessed to have Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson at the helm of the Lakewood City Schools. You want accountability? Watch Superintendent Patterson challenge our parents, students, faculty, staff, administrators, and school board members to build a school district that is top 20 in the State of Ohio by the year 2020 or “20 by 20.”

Matthew John Markling wrote:Please take the time to review the convocation video. Lakewood is blessed to have Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson at the helm of the Lakewood City Schools. You want accountability? Watch Superintendent Patterson challenge our parents, students, faculty, staff, administrators, and school board members to build a school district that is top 20 in the State of Ohio by the year 2020 or “20 by 20.”

Mr. Markling,

Good fortune lies with those Superintendents who have been fortunate enough to practice their craft in Lakewood. The gift is to those who work with our children...that's the blessing.
The community has provided the resources,we now expect the results.

Please inform us of the current ranking of the district.

Scott Meeson

Matthew John Markling wrote:Please take the time to review the convocation video. Lakewood is blessed to have Superintendent Jeffrey W. Patterson at the helm of the Lakewood City Schools. You want accountability? Watch Superintendent Patterson challenge our parents, students, faculty, staff, administrators, and school board members to build a school district that is top 20 in the State of Ohio by the year 2020 or “20 by 20.”

Not to sound like a negative Nancy, but challenging people to build a district is not really the same thing as accountability. I mean, that is a goal, but is he still going to be here in 2020 to be held accountable if we don't reach it?

That's not accountability...yet. Actions speak louder than words. As one English teacher in the district was fond of saying "show me don't tell me".

Thealexa Becker wrote:Not to sound like a negative Nancy, but challenging people to build a district is not really the same thing as accountability. I mean, that is a goal, but is he still going to be here in 2020 to be held accountable if we don't reach it?

That's not accountability...yet. Actions speak louder than words. As one English teacher in the district was fond of saying "show me don't tell me".

Image of the Convocation meeting.

Indeed Accountability and transparency has nothing to do with building a district, has nothing
to do with community meetings, designed by committee, and two year long charades. It
has to do what is said and done at those meetings, and in the day to day operation of the
schools and city. And for Lakewood it would be a massive lifestyle change and change in
the way city hall and Lakewood schools does business.

Last week, we could look at the announcement of Rick Berdine's resignation as a perfect
example of the problems.

FWIW


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Wow. Matt Markling gave one of the most heartfelt, moving speeches I have ever heard a board member give. (I know it is a long video, Matt's speech starts at about 15:32) I hope that the rumor of him staying on the ballot and running for re-election is true.

I remember the days when school board members and administrators used to blame no child left behind for poor performance. It is refreshing to see the new superintendent and school board members trying to improve upon our excellence and work towards being one of the top school districts in the state, regardless of how that is determined. Our schools need to stay strong and I am glad we have leaders in place to make that happen.

Jim - I am not sure I understand your complaint about accountability. The resolution to accept Rick's resignation was done at an open meeting, maybe the real issue is why no reporter was there to share this with the rest of Lakewood sooner. (I know it isn't an arrest or a sunset...)

Ryan Salo wrote:Wow. Matt Markling gave one of the most heartfelt, moving speeches I have ever heard a board member give. (I know it is a long video, Matt's speech starts at about 15:32)

I hope that the rumor of him staying on the ballot and running for re-election is true.

Yes! Me too!


Betsy Voinovich

Ryan Salo wrote:
Jim - I am not sure I understand your complaint about accountability. The resolution to accept Rick's resignation was done at an open meeting, maybe the real issue is why no reporter was there to share this with the rest of Lakewood sooner. (I know it isn't an arrest or a sunset...)

Ryan,

I doubt Rick Berdine's name was mentioned in the open meeting. You can go to one of these board meetings and still be left in the dark after the meeting has concluded..... Just look at the APPROVED SCHOOL BOARD MINUTES regarding some obscure resignation that took place on 6/17/2011:http://lakewoodcityschools.org/docs/BoardDocuments/Min%20Sp%20Mtg%20061711.pdf. Lakewood, in my opinion, does not provide much detail in their minutes...it's more of a general variety of purposeful summation.

Here is my challenge:
Read the following minutes from Strongsville City Schools, http://www.strongnet.org/17141061992844363/lib/17141061992844363/Minutes_6-16-11.pdf, and try to find [b]that kind of detail in any APPROVED SCHOOL BOARD MINUTES from Lakewood City Schools.[/b]

Try Rocky River: http://www.rrcs.org/Downloads/4%20June%2023%202011%20Regular%20with%20attachements2.pdf

Try Cleveland Heights: http://www.chuh.org/includes/uploads/pdf_files/district/meetings/2011/Regular/minutes_jun07_2011.pdf

Try Mason City Schools: http://masonohioschools.com/files/filesystem/6-14-2011%20Minutes.pdf

Try Springfield City Schools: http://www.spr.k12.oh.us/files/filesystem/Final%20Minutes%206-23-11.pdf

Let me know what you find.

Scott Meeson

Ryan Salo wrote:Jim - I am not sure I understand your complaint about accountability. The resolution to accept Rick's resignation was done at an open meeting, maybe the real issue is why no reporter was there to share this with the rest of Lakewood sooner. (I know it isn't an arrest or a sunset...)

Ryan

The LO is very much a pot-luck dinner. What are you bringing? I could go through a litany of items you have
brought to this project, but for the others I state.

On an off through the years, we have had people covering the board. Most stopped over frustration to be honest.
With them, with me, who knows. I try not to pry.

Me, I make sure it comes together on all levels, and some photos, and about 5 stories a year. It is what I can
do, which I suppose is not enough, but...

I believe the school board should be covered by a person that understands it, has kids in the system or came
through the system, and under a major aspect of budget, education, kids, safety, sports. You have to admit
that is not describing Jim O'Bryan. But maybe it would cover you, and you could bring a higher level to the
project and the city. Bindel is spectacular at council. Me, I will probably stick to photos of he beauty or the beasts.

.

Scott,

The minutes you posted were more of a summary (and not even a complete summary) of the meeting. The minutes are much more detailed and fit into a large binder. Our district could do a better job of making the minutes, the complete version, available to the public. You can go into the treasurer’s office and read them. I don’t think they are even available at the library any more.

If you attend a school board meeting the minutes/meeting are available in white binders on the table where you sign in. It will list specifics on human resources items, the resolutions, and include any contracts that are being voted on. I have been attending school board meetings for the last 4-5 years and follow along with the information in the binder. School board meetings typically have not been a place where the members discuss matters openly. Mostly, decisions seem to be made prior to meetings and so to have any inkling of what is going on it is important to grab a binder and follow along. That being said, I do admit that I like the detailed information being included in the minutes of some of the other districts that you listed, especially when it comes to the treasurer’s report. I don’t recall many board meetings in which detailed information was given during the treasurer‘s report. Usually a report is very broad and members of the board rarely ask questions.

Making available complete and detailed minutes that can be easily accessed on-line would demonstrate that school board members are serious about being open and accountable. Indeed, "show me, don't tell me".

Kristine Pagsuyoin wrote:Scott,

The minutes you posted were more of a summary (and not even a complete summary) of the meeting. The minutes are much more detailed and fit into a large binder. Our district could do a better job of making the minutes, the complete version, available to the public. You can go into the treasurer’s office and read them. I don’t think they are even available at the library any more.

If you attend a school board meeting the minutes/meeting are available in white binders on the table where you sign in. It will list specifics on human resources items, the resolutions, and include any contracts that are being voted on. I have been attending school board meetings for the last 4-5 years and follow along with the information in the binder. School board meetings typically have not been a place where the members discuss matters openly. Mostly, decisions seem to be made prior to meetings and so to have any inkling of what is going on it is important to grab a binder and follow along. That being said, I do admit that I like the detailed information being included in the minutes of some of the other districts that you listed, especially when it comes to the treasurer’s report. I don’t recall many board meetings in which detailed information was given during the treasurer‘s report. Usually a report is very broad and members of the board rarely ask questions.

Making available complete and detailed minutes that can be easily accessed on-line would demonstrate that school board members are serious about being open and accountable. Indeed, "show me, don't tell me".

Kristine,

Thanks for the info. With all this talk about transparency and accountabilty, why would I want incomplete versions of the agenda and minutes? Maybe I'm just suppose to feel good about the number of times I see "agenda" and "minutes" on the following web page:http://lakewoodcityschools.org/districtBoardEd.aspx.

It appears that a decision has been made, in this era of rapid advancements in technology, that this type of information (complete detailed agenda/minutes in this case) shall not be made readily available through modern day means of distributing information. Instead, we are relying on binders at school board meetings to communicate the business of our school board. I'm wondering how well that serves a community that has been sold on the idea of investing millions of taxpayer dollars on the updating of our school buildings?

On the other hand: The school district has earned an "Excellent" rating from the state. Maybe my thoughts and other discussions of accountability and/or transparency serves as a "cancer" (for lack of a better word at this time) to those "shared values" that enable a school district to keep moving forward?

Scott Meeson

Transparency is a buzzword, often cited without much consideration as to whether or not complete transparency is a good thing.

For example, assume you go to your doctor and after an examination the doctor concludes that you may be experiencing hallucinations and that you are probably lying about how much you drink, and decides he should look at those issues on your next visit. Now, those observations go into his records, but is it best that he reveal them to you? If he reveals them, you would possibly take offense and stop seeing him. If he doesn't reveal them, he can look further into them and determine whether his impressions were accurate, or whether you or he was just having a bad day. I think that is a situation where transparency may not be the best thing.

Now, the function of a political board is a bit different, but not entirely. Don't forget that in this country we have chosen a representative form of government, where we expect our representatives to act in our best interests; in such a system, we shouldn't expect to be making the decisions ourselves; the mob does not rule.

In its dealings with operating officials, the board is evaluating people who, like all of us, have some strengths and some weaknesses. So if the board is concerned a bit with some weakness of an operating official, should that be placed in the open, or dealt with discretely? I think the chances of improving the performance would be much better if the situation were dealt with discretely, rather than being made an agenda item for some board meeting. People realize this and the board is allowed to deal with such personnel matters privately. But I think the idea of discretion goes beyond personnel matters. I don't think you could negotiate an effective labor contract with the public looking over your shoulder. And some matters that come up but are subsequently dropped should not see the light of day, while others should be made public only after preliminary investigation and even negotiation.

So I think we should stop idolizing transparency and place more emphasis on results.

Will Brown wrote:Transparency is a buzzword, often cited without much consideration as to whether or not complete transparency is a good thing.

Complete transparency is always a good thing on anything that gets paid for or voted on by the public.

I will admit that there are points when discretion is needed, but all of those are only at the time of the
negotiation. And I would say 50% of those could easily be talked about before hand with a overview of
where and why.

Will, our elected officials really do not need much help in arguing for non-transparency, but i am sure they
appreciate the help. After all this is the city that believes residents and private business should be more
transparent than non-profits and city officials. Hey, variety makes the world go round, right?

At the end of the day if they get our $$$$$ and our votes, then we are their bosses/partners and we have a
right to know what is going on.


FWIW


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Kristine Pagsuyoin wrote:Scott,

I have been attending school board meetings for the last 4-5 years and follow along with the information in the binder. School board meetings typically have not been a place where the members discuss matters openly. Mostly, decisions seem to be made prior to meetings and so to have any inkling of what is going on it is important to grab a binder and follow along.

You have probably been to more Board meetings than some Board members.

The statement that caught my ear was the "need for more revenue" statement.

Does it makes sense to hand out raises in the face of declining revenue? At what point do higher property taxes excelerate the decline in property values? What happens when the County finally values Lakewood real estate at its real value? Will lower values mean a property tax rate of 4%, 5%?

What raises, Bill? Last I heard we agreed to a pay freeze. If you'd like to come by and peruse my pay stubs, you're welcome to come by.

For further explanation, please see what I wrote after every other time you've offered up this red herring.