The Observation Deck

I wanted to move this part of the discussion to a move relevant thread.

Matthew John Markling wrote:

Danielle Masters wrote:I assume the meeting is done by now. How were the votes cast on the issues? Was there any discussion on the two issues before the votes were cast?

Danielle,

The 7:15 a.m. meeting was attended by Betsy, Linda, and me. Ed and John had prior work commitments and were not in attendance, which can certainly be understood given that this was a last minute emergency meeting.

The contract between ComDoc and OFFICEMAX Impress was approved 3-0 because the vendor agreed to all of the Board’s terms and conditions with respect to student confidentiality and public records, as well as other provisions.

We then began discussing the “Resolution of the Lakewood Board of Education to Seek a Waiver to Request the Delay of All-Day, Every-Day Kindergarten,” which reads as follows:

WHEREAS, The Lakewood Board of Education recognizes that providing all-day, every-day kindergarten presents a hardship to the school district and is seeking a waiver for the delay of implementation; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education understands that the waiver is for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education acknowledges that the Superintendent may seek a waiver with board approval by submitting the board adopted resolution for delay, the justification for the waiver and a plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year; and,

WHEREAS, on July 1, 2010 the Lakewood Board of Education recommends and grants permission to the Superintendent to seek a waiver.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Lakewood Board of Education recommends that the Superintendent seek a waiver for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Administration did assure me that – in spite of the resolution – there will, in fact, be all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year (just as it is now) and that this emergency resolution simply addresses funding issues only. My school board colleagues were unwilling to unconditionally guarantee the same.

The “Resolution of the Lakewood Board of Education to Seek a Waiver to Request the Delay of All-Day, Every-Day Kindergarten” passed 2-1.

I voted “no” because I have fought hard to ensure that all-day, every-day kindergarten is available to all Lakewood parents and their children. The State of Ohio now mandates all-day, every-day kindergarten and, most importantly, our Administration reports that all-day, every-day kindergarten is the foundation of the increasing academic elementary excellence we are experiencing in Lakewood today. The Board is now recommending that the Lakewood City Schools be excused from offering all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year. I am simply unwilling to break my promise to our parents and jeopardize all-day, every-day kindergarten for our children.

Matt

So where it stands now is that the Administration is willing to guarantee that all-day, everyday kindergarden will be offered for the coming school year despite the wording of the waiver but School Board members Shaughnessy and Beebe are not willing to make that same guarantee to Lakewood parents. So when will Lakewood parents of incoming kindergarden students know whether or not the district will offer all-day kindergarden in the fall?

It is now July 1st and if all-day kindergarden is not offered then parents need as much time as possible to make other arrangements and figure out how to if necessary tweak their finances and work schedules. This is another one of those times when the community not only deserves but requires absolute transparency. To not spell this out as soon as possible amounts to the School Board actively hurting families in Lakewood.

The fact that the administration wants it but is dependent on the board to fund it makes yours a good question, Danielle.

This reads as though the board has yet to pass what is needed to fund this for the 2010-2011 school year. This statement seems accurate. If so, when will the board determine whether or not to fund it for the 2010-2011 school year?

Why was this an emergency? The state mandate has been know for a couple years. Was the waiver request delayed to so that a full discussion of the issue wouldn't interfere with the May levy?

Full-day kindergarden was a prominent bullet point on all of the levy propaganda. By getting a waiver It can continue to be used as a carrot to attract supporters.

Having a wavier will also allow the flexibility to have full-day kindergarden at some buildings and not at others. When we go to 6 schools and over crowding at the 3 south schools will make it difficult to have full-day kindergarden. We could keep all-day at the north schools as an incentive to open enroll to fill those buildings in the less student populated areas of the city.

Bill

Bill Trentel wrote:Why was this an emergency? The state mandate has been know for a couple years. Was the waiver request delayed to so that a full discussion of the issue wouldn't interfere with the May levy?

Full-day kindergarden was a prominent bullet point on all of the levy propaganda. By getting a waiver It can continue to be used as a carrot to attract supporters.
Bill

Hi Bill,

This is how the Board does everything. Everything they do is some kind of move to make sure the public knows as little as possible, as late as possible.

Cutting All-Day Kindergarten would never be brought up before the levy. And in voting for the levy we had to place our trust in the hands of people we know are not accountable or transparent in order to support our students, teachers and administrators. It's a terrible position to be in. And though this School Board has members that once must have been responsible, they are now in a dreadful state. They choose silence and secrecy, every time, except for Matt Markling.

And of course it would be an "Emergency" last minute meeting, even though, as you point out, the state mandate has been known about for a couple of years. If parents and citizens had some warning, they might have attended the meeting, even at 7 am to ask questions, and to demand that the Board kept their word. All-day Kindergarten is very important to people. There is no reason in the world that this resolution had to be discussed and voted on in one session, except to marginalize the public. Except to avoid their eyes, and questions, and rapidly declining expectations.

There was no "Emergency" when they voted, in one session on the Phase 3 plan either. Their cowardice is staggering but at this point it's old news. They don't seem to actually understand what accountability is, and they actively oppose transparency, as if their own rights, like the rights of Kings and Queens, are being violated if they have to share what they're doing with the people they represent.

Bill Trentel wrote:Having a waiver will also allow the flexibility to have full-day kindergarten at some buildings and not at others. When we go to 6 schools and over crowding at the 3 south schools will make it difficult to have full-day kindergarden. We could keep all-day at the north schools as an incentive to open enroll to fill those buildings in the less student populated areas of the city. Bill

This Resolution that they say they're not really going to follow-- the Administration promises we wil still have all day Kindergarten this Fall, though the Resolution clearly states that the district doesn't have to-- though Mrs. Beebe and Mrs. Shaughnessy will not commit to it-- is a lot like the Resolution in 2008, that stated plainly, and was signed by all, that "Grant would be demolished." And yet in 2009, the Phase Three Committee was convened to "decide" which schools should be kept open, based on "community input." At the April 2009 Forum, the city of Lakewood came up with specific criteria to use for how we should decide which schools should be rebuilt and which ones should close. At the September Forum, the School Board allowed all of that criteria to be marginalized in the presentation, allowed new completely unvetted criteria to be brought in, criteria not asked for by the community, and in the end, have still not been able to go through the list of what the COMMUNITY ASKED FOR and explain why they are giving them NONE OF IT.

The trick was to pretend they were responsive, and transparent and accountable. But when the right answer didn't come up, they could do nothing but stare open-mouthed at the community, and act against the best interest of Lakewood's children. If they haven't done that, they have not been able to explain to us how the decision they made is good for Lakewood's children.

No more neighborhood schools, if you live in the middle, courtesy of your School Board. It makes a great campaign slogan. And this is the middle for Hayes and Roosevelt too, not just Grant. Everyone will lose the Northern part of their neighborhood population so those kids can leave their home schools and hike on up to Lincoln, because as Bill points out, there are not enough kids in Lincoln's own neighborhood to fill a school.

In the case of the 2008 Resolution, the Board went with exactly what they had already decided, to close Grant, and then hired facilitators, at OUR expense, for thousands of dollars, to help bury the information the community asked for, and then come up with what they had already decided a year earlier. These were the very same facilitators that did such a good job with Franklin. Apparently they had earned the School Board's trust. Maybe the Board will go along with this Resolution too, even though they gave us their word that they won't go along with their own Emergency Resolution, which states that they no longer have to offer All-Day Kindergarten THIS Fall. What will we have to do as a community to make them actually tell us what the decision is?

We had to trust them with the money we just gave them with the Levy. Maybe the only way we can actually hold them accountable is to have the complete budget posted online so we can see line by line what they are doing with our money, and with our children's future.

As Dave Anderson points out, we need to know exactly what they will and will not fund for the 2010-2011 school year, and beyond. It's July, the levy passed, maybe they could get to work on that.

Betsy Voinovich

I just wonder who these board members feel they're accountable to? Based on their actions, I'm going to assume they feel it's no one.

I suspect the Resolution was created to give the BOE some flexibility in the face of increasing Kindergarten enrollment and the anticipated shortfall in funding.

I hope they don't pull the rug out from under kindergarten families for the 2010-2011 school year at the eleventh hour as they attempted to do at Grant in 2008-2009.

Many communities have filed for a waiver to postpone implementing the mandatory all-day program. However, I think that we should do all we can to hold on to the progress the district has made by being an early adopter. Going backwards, even for a year, could have a negative impact on performance and cause young families on the fence to flee.

So many things in our community seem to be handled behind closed doors and with a view to increasing land values to the North of the William Sonoma line. Cowtowing to the wealthy and damning the poor.

I am disgusted by "leaders" who feel they are above it all. Members of our board of Education, of course excluding Matt, think they're too good to talk to us. These are the kids we went to school with who thought they were better than everyone and never grew up.

The Executive Director of Lakewood Alive gets lauded for programs that the organization usurped from others. The school board lies and schemes behind everyone's back.

Terrible role models for the kids of the city and they are making us look like fools and patsies.

From http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9279&p=71080#p71080:

Charlie Page wrote:

Matthew John Markling wrote:

WHEREAS, The Lakewood Board of Education recognizes that providing all-day, every-day kindergarten presents a hardship to the school district and is seeking a waiver for the delay of implementation; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education understands that the waiver is for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education acknowledges that the Superintendent may seek a waiver with board approval by submitting the board adopted resolution for delay, the justification for the waiver and a plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year; and,

WHEREAS, on July 1, 2010 the Lakewood Board of Education recommends and grants permission to the Superintendent to seek a waiver.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Lakewood Board of Education recommends that the Superintendent seek a waiver for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Administration did assure me that – in spite of the resolution – there will, in fact, be all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year (just as it is now) and that this emergency resolution simply addresses funding issues only. My school board colleagues were unwilling to unconditionally guarantee the same.

Matt,
I'm having difficulty understanding why a waiver for delay of implementation has been sought by the Administration yet the very same Administration has assured you there will be all day, every day kindergarten. Is this just a move to get the State to fund this mandate? That if enough school districts complain they'll fund it?

Regarding the urgent need for this meeting, was there a deadline approaching for the waiver to be filed? Or was there a communication breakdown somewhere along the chain that caused an emergency?

Thanks - Charlie

Charlie,

Apparently the above resolution does not mean what it really says and the Board actually voted for all-day, and every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year by voting against it.

See http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2010/07/lakewood_schools_will_fund_all.html.

And, according to the above article, it appears that the Board actually voted against a real “plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year” by voting for it.

Matt

It is important to note that Lakewood's current kindergarten program is considered an extended day program. All of the required state curriculum is taught in the morning, and children have the option to go home at the end of the morning. There are parents who only desire a 1/2 day kindergarten for their children, and perhaps by applying for this waiver Lakewood Schools can continue to offer both 1/2 day and extended day options. For the children who stay all day, they are able to participate in lunch, recess, afternoon specials, and academic enrichment/intervention.

From http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9279:

Charlie Page wrote:

WHEREAS, The Lakewood Board of Education recognizes that providing all-day, every-day kindergarten presents a hardship to the school district and is seeking a waiver for the delay of implementation; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education understands that the waiver is for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year; and,

WHEREAS, the Lakewood Board of Education acknowledges that the Superintendent may seek a waiver with board approval by submitting the board adopted resolution for delay, the justification for the waiver and a plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year; and,

WHEREAS, on July 1, 2010 the Lakewood Board of Education recommends and grants permission to the Superintendent to seek a waiver.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Lakewood Board of Education recommends that the Superintendent seek a waiver for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year.

Matthew John Markling wrote:Charlie,

Apparently the above resolution does not mean what it really says and the Board actually voted for all-day, and every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year by voting against it.

See http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2010/07/lakewood_schools_will_fund_all.html.

And, according to the above article, it appears that the Board actually voted against a real “plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year” by voting for it.

Matt

Matt - I'm not an attorney but I would tend to think that "the Lakewood Board of Education understands that the waiver is for the delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year" would mean a delay or postponement of all-day, every-day kindergarten for this upcoming school year.

Further, "...and a plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year..." would mean finding a way to implment all-day, every-day kindergarten in the 2011-12 schoold year.

Apparently, after reading David George's piece in the Sun News, I'm misinterpreting the resolution, and so are you

David George, Sun News

LAKEWOOD -- At a special meeting Thursday, school board members voted 2-1 to ask the state for a waiver to release federal grants from last school year to pay for the extended kindergarten program for 2010-11. Board member Matthew Markling opposed the resolution; two other members were absent.

"There will definitely be all-day kindergarten this year," board president Betsy Shaughnessy said.

"We thought we had it all figured out, but the state gave us another hoop to jump through, Superintendent Joseph Madak said Friday.

Officials cautioned that all-day kindergarten is in place only for the upcoming school year. Future budgetary considerations may impact the program's status for 2011-12 and beyond.

George is a freelancer from Lakewood. Contact him at davidg7376@yahoo.com.

I'm not sure how David George can state the waiver is "to release federal grants from last school year to pay for the extended kindergarten program for 2010-11" when there is no mention of federal grants in the waiver itself? How does he know this information and a Board of Education member doesn't?

Which leads me back to an unanswered question about communication.

Charlie Page wrote:Regarding the urgent need for this meeting, was there a deadline approaching for the waiver to be filed? Or was there a communication breakdown somewhere along the chain that caused an emergency?

Charlie,

The fact that the Board promised our parents that the Lakewood City Schools would offer their children all-day, every-day kindergarten seems clear.

The fact that all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years is already in the budget seems clear.

The fact that state law mandates all-day, every-day kindergarten seems clear.

The fact that the board resolution specifically calls for the "delay of all-day, every-day kindergarten for the 2010-2011 school year" seems clear.

The fact that the board resolution goes on and further calls for "a plan for implementation for providing all-day, every-day kindergarten beginning in 2011-2012 school year" seems clear.

I have no idea how to respond to whether an emergency existed or not. And, after reading David George's article, I am not even sure I was at the same board meeting.

Since I know that you appreciate the greatest American epic space opera, I think the following clip best summarizes this whole issue:



Matt

David George did write a more comprehensive article that was published in the July 8, 2010 edition of the Sun Post-Herald but, unfortunately, that article is not online to share.

Danielle Masters wrote:It is now July 1st and if all-day kindergarden is not offered then parents need as much time as possible to make other arrangements and figure out how to if necessary tweak their finances and work schedules. This is another one of those times when the community not only deserves but requires absolute transparency. To not spell this out as soon as possible amounts to the School Board actively hurting families in Lakewood.

I suspect that this trial balloon about all day kindergarten is just a tool to get another levy passed.

The tried and true method of all wasteful and inefficient bureacracies is to cut the most (pick one) popular, visible, necessary, effective, important) program with the explanation that "we just don't have enough money". Along the lines of "Weevvee loooookked highhhh and lowwwww and all we can think to do is stop feedun the childrun.".

Linde Beebe, Ed Favre and Betsy Shaughnessy have been around too long. The district can no longer afford their style of leadership. Times like these demand more than a rubber stamp.

Check out the story written by Danielle Masters in the latest issue of the Observer.

Thanks Danielle! Great story. Many of us are following this story as well as other BOE issues. Your work on this is appreciated.