Dr. Jerome Roberts will host a community forum. He hopes to encourage parent and resident comments. Topic will be about the possibility of a referendum, again on the April ballot and budget reduction plans for 2007-2008 school year.
This is open to the public at the School Service Center, 417 Fifth Street @ 7 PM.
Hope to see many bodies in attendance. Even if you do not wish to comment, come and support those who do. If you cannot be there in person, please give thoughts for those who represent you.
16 comments:
I hope to see MANY people show up. Even if they are only there for moral support of those making comments.
I do know, admin. has a "workshop" of sorts going on with the pro ref. community and some student involvement.
The Beacon stated "perception is often reality to the public". "Perception & reality" is part of the theme of the district workshop.
I suppose they may be suggesting that the Indian Trail land sale and the money that was discussed and never received from Bigelow is not reality, it is just the perception of the public that we got.........um...let's say misinformed.
Or is it a nice way of attempting to convince the pro members the rest of the community is NOT truly intelligent enough to understand what REALLY is going on. "The public" is just perceiving things differently than the those who are in favorof the referendum.
Duh! It doesn't mean the public is not dealing in reality.
Perception is based on observation and thoughts by each individual. My thoughts are that
I cannot afford to pay more taxes.
I have not observed fiscal responsibility by the school board.
My thought is to cut the fat off the top heavy district before I observe it topple.
That is my perception of the reality in my small corner of this community.
Tonights meeting was successful in the sense that people were speaking out. About 25 or 30 people attended the meeting and seemed to be from different areas of the east side.
I wasn't happy with some of the comments from Russell (isn't that a surprise) and Dr. Roberts seemed to keep going over the same points. They don't seem to listen to the words you are speaking but I am hopeful this is a start.
They said their minds were not made up to have another referendum vote in April but their actions spoke differently. At least that is what is seemed like to me.
I thought the District did a good job tonight. When you step away from it all, look at what they have to deal with everyday. They have no control over how many kids show up at the doorsteps to the schools each year (well very little). They did not impose the tax cap law. They are, however, responsible for their past, present and future actions. I think they are on the right track with these public forums. It was good to see some of the Board members there observing and contributing. Very good evening!
Hey VT, thanks for putting this blog together. I just found out about this blog. This is my first post. I am looking forward to some good discussion of issues. I thought the meeting tonight was a good start. Long way to go but at least people are talking.
I know people have asked about city involvement. It is my opinion that at this point the district needs to get its own house in order and then get more city involvement down the road. The State is the only one who can really help here.
You are very welcome, cc tomcat.
I was a little discouraged by the time and note to RSVP at the Jan. 16th Tuesday Talk. Does this mean if people do not RSVP they cannot attend? Though my guess is most of us will be at work, at the scheduled time of noon.
I, also was disappointed to see in the Beacon that EA sports is getting a reprieve. Russ and Dan were the only 2 I heard speak up to spread the cuts around and included some athletics in the first cut, such as golf, and other low participant teams. Seems like the rest of the board has pretty much decided to go with the "original plan". The original plan I saw did NOT include admin.
Roberts has suggested cutting admin would make substantial changes in the way programs would be run. In the red is not a good way to run.
I thought they were open to suggestions. Yet, the article makes it sound like they have already decided to go with "the plan."
I, too, am happy about the move to include the public in open dialogue. How sincere is the effort?
Russ was quoted as saying they (the board)have "agreed this week to go with the original plan."
The fact they are holding the next meeting midday gives me the impression the offer of listening to the public is an empty invitation.
Am I just being a negative Nell, or does anyone else feel this way?
Kind of looks like the School Board from Hell is trying to cover their behinds in case someone accuses them of trying to make important decisions in secret (like they've been doing these past several years!)
My only hope for this district is that some NEW people are elected to the board who will actually LISTEN and RESPOND to taxpayers' questions & concerns!
Remember we are dealing with politicians here. Smoke and Mirrors are the name of the game. These forums are just to say "we had em" just like West. Everybody says they are doing such a greta job and getting everyone involved. I just think they have a better PR campaign and both districts knew from the very beginning exactley what they are going to do.
I hope it comes out about how many freebies the administrators get through the district at the cost of all the East side residents - namely medical insurance. It's just not the superintendent that gets this perk, but asst. supers, principals, asst. principals, deans, etc. That could save the district a lot of money right there if they would start making the people that make the most money pay for their insurance.
What ever happened with them trying to destroy tapes of meetings where past bad decisions were made?
Too late......they are gone forever.
The tapes might be gone but there still should be minutes. Although this board does not seem to keep good ones.
IF Dr. Roberts and the Board really want to convince people that they are trying to be more responsive, there are a couple of things they should do:
--Update the "Board Bits" on the district website. Only 6 of the last 10 or so meetings are posted.
--Make the "District News" on the website available to the public, instead of requiring a password to access information that has already been released to the media.
And finally, please realize that answering taxpayers' repeated and sincere questions with "no comment", "personnel matter", or "the issue is over" does nothing to encourage public trust in a School Board!
Did anyone read Jasmyn Martin's article in this morning's Beacon? She is a student at East High, involved in several arts classes (drama, painting, music). She makes several good points about how some kids wouldn't want to go to school at all if it weren't for arts or sports.
And as a musician, I remember that my reason for getting up in the morning during my high school years was going to school for choir, band, and drama. My own (grown) kids may not choose to become professional musicians, but their experiences in the school music programs helped shape their character and gave them lifelong skills.
And if the School Board wants to know who to blame for the referendum defeat, they can just look in the mirror. Several years of their underhanded, secretive dealings have gotten District 131 into this mess!
so have all the illegals!
*LOVE* his "transparency" that Jerome said he had in the Beacon today.
Does that apply to his making the school tapes invisible too?
Sure--a lot of mistakes didn't happen on his watch, but covering up sure does.
And you know what? As long as the schools think they are going to have a referendum right around the corner, they just won't tighten their belts. They have a lot of excess waste--not just in administration--but they are bent on threatening the kids.
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