The Observation Deck

How many sick days are used per school year:

Certified Staff (Tchrs/Admin) 4544 days– Classified Staff (Support Staff) – 2,896 days

How much does the district spend on substitutes? Certified Staff (Tchrs/Admin) - $580,000
Classified Staff (Support Staff) - $280,000

What are the average number of sick days taken per teacher?

4,544 days ÷ 503 tchrs/admin = 9 days/yr (Inclusive of maternity leaves & long-term illnesses)

So, where does the 15 days in the subject title come from? Is that what they are allowed, but they only take 9 or am I missing something?

And how does voting NO or YES on Issue 14 change this????

Matthew Lee wrote:So, where does the 15 days in the subject title come from? Is that what they are allowed, but they only take 9 or am I missing something?

Employees can be paid for some unpaid sick leave.

Peter Grossetti wrote:And how does voting NO or YES on Issue 14 change this????

While levy campaigns speak of maintaining services what they really mean is maintaining the status quo.

These sorts of things are generally either mandated by the various states, or are a part of a negotiated agreement between districts and their employees. Those agreements are regularly reviewed and renegotiated.

Unused sick days extended to staff members generally can accumulate over the years, but at retirement, only a relatively small portion of those can be counted.

Certain types of other leave allowances are also mandated by the Federal Government, as well.

I would imagine that Lakewood sick day allowances pretty much reflect other school district policies in most Ohio public schools.

The point made about "maintaining status quo" confuses me, because schools are necessarily always in a constant state of improvement and change. Each year, school districts have to work and cooperate with many interests in the development of their budgets.

A person might philosophically wish that a local school district could make any number of sweeping unilateral decisions on their own, but school districts must follow the laws of the land, or potentially face very difficult, and often expensive adversarial situations.

The Lakewood Schools have done a tremendous job serving the needs of their students, sometimes under difficult circumstances. Please support your public schools and support the school levy.

Just a few thoughts from a retired teacher.


Back to the banjo.

I'll state it once again:

Per Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, here is the Issue 14 wording:

An additional tax for the benefit of the Lakewood City School District for the purpose of current expenses at a rate not exceeding 3.9 mills for each one dollar of valuation, which amounts to 39 cents for each one hundred dollars of valuation, for a continuing period of time, commencing in 2013, first due in calendar year 2014.

Other than "for the purpose of current expenses," NOWHERE in the ballot issue wording does it say precisely HOW the $$$ are to be spent. We voters are ONLY approving/disapproving additional funds.

Make the assumptions you want, but in actuality, it is our BOE and school administrators who decide how funds are spent; not campaign committees.