When I watch the news, it bothers me when they give a short blurb about something that has happened and then never go on to elaborate about it.

That is why at times my posts are so long. Sometimes you have to lay a foundation before the whole puzzle will come into view. Some assemble the frame before going on to what is really inside.

I like to lay a good foundation in my reponse. I believe it helps clarify my position whether another is in agreement with it or not. It is an opinion.

It is not a directive, it is not a command it is not a demand. It is my opinion and if one wishes to read it they may if they wish not to then that is okay too.

I read all that post for it allows one to see things as they are on the other side of the fence. I believe some of my posts might be the direction we should head but it takes additional input to assure that the ideas have merit.

Sometimes people do post in a way that either proves or disproves a point. Most of the time they don't but sometimes they do.

Some see it from a different perspective but it is hard to tell when the posts are so brief.

I encourage people to write longer posts so we can begin to understand where people are coming from. So often we cut people short or don't have time to hear the whole story. Here we have that opportunity and should take advantage of it. Get it out. You'll feel better.

Martin Fleming

You're correct Rocketsmom41. They need the continous flow of money. However, as you go back through the records, you notice that money was coming in to support the school and they had a tremendous influx on funds this past school year. The fact is they projected the district would experience a 6% growth at the end of the 2008-2009 school year. They experienced a 10.2% growth. This means they received approximately $1.7 million dollars more coming in than what they expected. Were did the money go? The money should have been a carry over to the following year right? That means the $728,000.00 plus the 4.2% overage of funds collected would have given us a $2.4 million dollar carry over to the next year. Now we are informed that we will have a deficit in 2009-2010. A short fall of $900,000.

They had the extra funds and used the money without forward thinking because an interim treasuer told them they had the money and they used it.

Now if the levy had passed, then they would of had considerable funds and where would they go. They have not informed us as to why they spent the extra $1.4 million over the forecasted budget. We don't know what that extra money was used for (remember, it was money they weren't expecting to get (sort of like you won $10,000.00 in the lottery you didn't expect). If they have more funds than they need in the budget, rather than be cautious and hang on to it only to realize at a later date they are going to be short on funds so let's just tap into that endless well (and this time let's make sure the well will be endless), called the Property Owner and put on a continuous levy. It is a cycle that constantly repeats itself. When will it end. How many continous levies do we need on the books before taxes collected to support our schools overwelms the community it educates?

When do we step in and begin to find out where our funds are truly going. When do we lose sight of what is necesary versus what is fluff to educate our children. We become complacent over time and fall into a realm where we do not want to invest personal time to really find out how our money is used in our district. Sometimes we find out certain things and are upset at what we do find. We decide to inform others of what we found and it begins to upset those as well.

Our community has fallen away from truly involving themselves in the school district. They say a community raises a child but it appears our community has come to let others raise our children. We leave all the fine details to others rather than get involved in our district.

Getting involved does not mean we should just be little lambs and volunteer our services and forget about how they manage the money and write contracts with the employees. We should get involved all around and really pay attention to all the details of educating our children.

I have done that, I am suprised by what I find, I have informed others with documentation I have received and found and I show them the same thing I see. Anything I have said has not been disputed by either the Board or Administration.

And just like employees in the industrial and commercial world, most staff members do not appear to really know how the school spends all the funds.

There are a handful that do, but again that is just a handful.

So if we pass these high end levies that will never go off the books, then remember, it has been done before and it won't be long before you will have to produce a ponzi scheme to stay above water. Just as Social Security has done and will have to increase it's ability to do so.

Before the last Baby Boomer retires we will be long into paying out more to retirees than what the system takes in.

The path we are following today in the way we fund, educate and spend the money to educate is taking us down the same path as the Social Security system. This levy surely would have done that.

It would be nice if we had a total inventory of what and where everything is in our school district so we don't over order anything requested. It would be nice to have a purchasing agent dedicated full time to finding the best deals.

These are people we have in businesses. And I know you will say that the eduation of our children is not a business. But it is. And if we haven't been running it that way that is where our problem is. Those two people above are normally the ones who save the companies the most money when used wisely.

Imagine what we would find in waste or how much we can save in purchasing if done properly.

Do we have that? No. Would it help us? Yes?

I know that the staff would not get raises equal to $3.4 million dollars. I was more concerned with what they were going to do with the additional funds and I wanted to know exactly where it was going before giving them something that is going to create a great hardship on many in the community. Would they have just spent it like the $1.4 million. Do you even care?

I do. Many others do. It appears 1628 people did also. Back in November it was around 2900.

Did those who vote No doing this to get back at the school or being malicious or hateful towards the children? Of course not and it is ludicrous to thing so. It would take an extremely simple mind to even come to that conclusion.

Are they beginning to realize what has been happening, have they realized they would not be able to survive or come up with the funds to pay the additional tax, are they tired with having to fund the education system, have they lost hours, wages or jobs? Do they believe the education system needs to reform the way students are educated, do they think teachers with 30 years or more should be made to retire, do they think class sizes should be bigger, do they think we need a Purchasing agent, do they think the need a comptroller, inventory specialist? Yes and Yes a few maybe's.

Are these all my ideas? No. You see, since I have been writing in these posts, many of the ideas I write about are ideas that are coming from many of you. For some reason since I have been posting, people have been reading and many have been thinking these are all my ideas. Many of them come from people just like you and I just convey them out to the world for some of them have no idea on how to begin to do this.

I have found my way. So when you decide to chastise me or relieve your anguish and anger on mean it doesn't matter. I will continue to do as I have and both inform and project your thoughts on to the rest. If you like it fine, if you don't fine. At least I got it out there.

I hope their next attempt will be one that shows a little bit of wisdom has been included or we will have to go at it again.

Martin Fleming

Did those who vote No doing this to get back at the school or being malicious or hateful towards the children?

Martin,

This is what people mean when they tell you to know what you're talking about. The payroll was NOT going to jump. The levy would have helped to CONTINUE to pay your teachers, support staff, admin, etc.... The staff was NOT going to get raises equaling 3.4 million dollars. Please, please know what BS you're spreading! There has to be continuous money coming in to pay the staff. What makes a school run besides the children? The teachers and other staff. So common sense would say that most of the money would go to make sure we have people to teach our children. In this day and age our children and future grandchildren will NEED an education to further themselves. Period.

I welcome any one who has ideas to improve, change or maybe keep it the same offer up those ideas as I have mine and maybe we can all begin to understand how the other believes our district should be. We may not have the answers or we just may have an idea that could be incorporated into anothers idea and arrive at an agreeable solution.

Is there a need to work at ones character rather than try to point out flaws. Or maybe provide the opposite perspective.

We need to do something in our district.

We need to do it quickly.

And neither side has won anything. Either way whether is passed or it didn't, was not the fault of either side but the state of the economy itself. The feeling of being unsure what our future holds. This is on every ones mind.

We have to be practical in our decision based on what we know or what we believe.

Change is inevitable and maybe this levy would have just put it off for a short time. Payroll jumping $3.4 million in just the first year is kind of shocking. Maybe they won't spend the whole amount on Salaries and Benefits but what will be done with the excess in the mean time?

These kind of things bother me.

Don't know why.

Martin Fleming

3Rockets, you have not idea whether I would support a levy or not. Just for your information, I would support a levy that would would get technology, materials and tools in the hands of the students. I would support a levy that would be for maintenance on the buildings and bring back the custodians, mechanics and technology personnel. I will not support a levy that takes away my democracy. That is what a continous levy does. I will not support a 9.5 mil continous levy. So you are way off base saying I would never vote for a levy.

Even if the levy had passed they would not bring back the busing. Their overspending of 1.4 million of the projected revenue caused the dilema we are in now. It wasn't the economy, it wasn't that they didn't have the funding, they just mis-spent it. Mr. Puster forecast a 6% increase in funding for the 2008-2009 school year but he was slightly off. The received 10.2% over the previous years revenue and they just spent the overage. They should have saved that money and they would of had a carry over of 2.1 million versus the 728,000 they carried over.

That is documented and I have those documents to prove it. There is no misinformation there.

Are you aware of Barrington Estates in Aurora. Are you aware of the cost of those homes? I would bet that the homes in Barrington Estates have a total combined value that exceeds the total combined value of all the homes in Streetsboro. That's just Barrington Estates!

That is why we cannot be compared to Aurora. The economy in Aurora is NOT the same as it is in Streetsboro. Sorry.

In your "So to answer your question" paragraph, you did not answer my question as to how we ask people to move here. Just building homes is not asking people to move here. It may entice people to move here versus living in the true suburbs of Cleveland like Bedford, Shaker Heights, Hough, but it does not ask them to move here. Mr. Neff buys the land, builds Ryan Homes and from what I have learned he sells them back to Ryan Homes to market when he is done with them. Greentree, Hannum Stonegate and Deer meadows. What does that have to do with anything? At one time these areas were farms that were paying a pitance in taxes compared to the homes that are there now paying huge amounts of property tax. But yet, our schools population has grown very little. Why, because they don't have the number of children in the homes that our district did back in the late 60's and 70's. That's when families were much larger. Back then the average house hold had 5 children compared with todays average of 1.5 children per home. So where and how does your explanation show me where we ask people to move here. The developer is hoping they move here but I don't see where they are asking people to move here. Your idea makes it seem that since a person is Irish, they all have red hair and blue or green eyes. Just because we build the homes doesn't mean we are asking people to move here. I get it, if we build a bunch of homes right on the top of the north pole or south pole, that means we are asking people to move there. That's the assumption right?

The issue is not with the teachers but rather with the Board and Administration and how they ARE NOT Frugal with our funds. They get people like you to believe they are frugal but they really aren't. Why do we need a marketing firm when we have students that can market the district. Why do we hire an outside Psych firm to assess our students when we have three of our own? Why do we hire a guy to tell the Board and City Council how to communicate with each other? Why did we hire two gentlement to survy a cross section of the community and in both cases have not followed their advice? That is spending frugally right?

The levy really won't change much for the levy of 2005 was for the kids, the levy of 2007 was for the kids but yet, our students are going to schools that are falling apart, the textbooks are so old and outdated they are virtually worthless, our computers are sitting on repair benches or are waiting to be repaired, the computers are way outdated for today's technology, we don't have enough to service all the students (one class a week for about an hour per student) is just a start. What part of those levies were for the kids. Our super even stated that 85% of the levy (which is around 3.4 million was going to salaries and benefits. This levy according to the County Auditors office would generate $4,011,000 million a year. But yet now the district is stating it will generate just over 2 million. There numbers are always fluctuating and changing which in turn is confusing many.
When they show me they can REALLY spend the money on the children then I would help pass a levy. But so far, that hasn't been the case.

They cut 1.3 million from their budget and received a loan of 1 million. Busing was only going to save them $142,000. So if they cut the 1.3 and got 1 million from a loan why didn't they bring back the busing? It is nothing more than a strongarm tactic that you bought into. Rather than fight the district, you'd rather spend your time and energy countering me. You go to city council meetings why don't you go to school board meetings and see what really is going on?

And sports. I thought we were sending children to school for academics. I paid for my grandchildren to go bowling out of my own pocket. I did it for 6 years for my Grand Daughter and 5 years for my Grand Son from the age of 4 to 10. They have both received scholarships for their efforts from bowling. How many children receive scholarships from the district under grade 12 in our district. Have any idea. None. Granddaughter has around $900.00 in scholarships and grandson has around $500.00. But the community did not support my grand children, it came from my back pocket. If you want your children is school sports, then I think you should pay for it out of your back pocket and let the money I am funding through property taxes go to academics. That would be fair. I beleive an education is way more important than the sports that you could be paying for out of your pocket book. How many children in the past 50 years in our district went on to play professionally in the sports we have to offer? Do you know? I don't know of any myself. So shouldn't my tax dollars go on to pay for academics to create future doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professions? I do.

No I don't sleep very well at night for I am concerned about the number of students on the free or reduced lunch programs, I worry about the seniors on a fixed income, I worry about those families who have had their wages reduced, hours cut and being laid off and those families who have little to eat and have to go to the food cupboard to help feed their families. Believe it or not the vote no signs are geared to support the children for I want the money that we provide and fund to go to the equipment, materials and tools our students to learn. I guess you just can't see beyond the sign. I want to be assured by the district that the funds will go to something other than Salaries and benefits.

The state pays $400.00 a year per student for busing. By the district cutting busing they are hurting us more than if they were to keep busing. You'll find this information on the ODE web site. You do know what ODE means right?

1500 children riding the bus is worth $600,000 a year. And by the way, Howie Chizec is the one who stated busing is payed 100% by the state. He had a letter in his hand that said that. Call him and gripe about it. He'll even send you the letter that said the governor would pay for the transportation. Give him a call.

The School Board at their meetings ask for the community to communicate with them. I am and was doing my part. Whether they hear or listen to me is not important. I am complying with their wishes. I am not denouncing this levy because they don't listen to me. If you have been reading my posts you would have known that. I am denouncing this levy because it is a 9.5 mil continous levy that takes away my democracy and voting from the future. This levy is forever. It never dies. That is what the continous part means. I am not willing to give up my democracy. Not for you or anyone else. Sorry. I have fought in the military for this freedom just as our service personnel are doing today. You want me to give up that freedom. I won't do that for you. Your comments show why I should fight even harder than I have in the past and that is just what I am going to do. Too bad if you don't like it.

Were you not at the school board meeting where over 100 people showed up to denounce block scheduling and wanted it changed? Many of those were people I believe were from the PASS committee. And today, we still have block scheduling. The board are our representatives who should be listening to the public. But yet, we still have block scheduling.

I would not run for school board. I have no desire to hold a position such as that. Yes I have ideas and I print them to let others know where I am coming from. What I don't see is anyone else offering up ideas. These people work for us and so far their ideas have not made dramatic strides in the way our students perform or are educated. They truly are not the experts you think (or they think), they are. You want them to run it while you sit back watch. Get involved and give them some ideas of your own.

Most of the time there are only about 4 citizens that attend Board Meetings that I have seen in the last 7 years. You it appears are not one of the regulars so how can you assume what I do know and what I don't know.

Please, please provide me with links and documentation that shows what you say are half truths. Just because you say they are does not make it true. Provide me with the evidence that says what I am saying is a half truth. Please.

No, I do not want busing eliminated. The district needed to prove a safe zone for students before the state says they should terminate busing. The district can not prove a safe zone exists because it doesn't. The termination of busing is voluntary and is an option providing they can establish the safe zone. The district is doing nothing more than pulling the wool over your eyes and you don't even realize it because your didn't read the guidelines set forth by the state.

Terminating busing, terminating after school activities and no school dances IS NOT what I wanted and it is a pity that that is what you have perceived out of all of this. If that is what you have perceived it is no wonder that you want to vote yes for this levy and I can understand it then. More power to you.

The students in this district receive way more support from me than you'll ever comprehend. You don't know me and you obviously don't see where I am coming from.

The more money we pump into our school district as a community the more the state will reduce our funding. The idea here is to make sure our students are all getting the same opportunity, chance and the materials and technology to make it happen. Pumping more money just into salaries and benefits will not get us there. To do so you are just short changing the students of our community and you should be the one who should be ashamed of yourself for supporting such a levy.

Support your community and your children, not the pocket books of the Administration. Go up to the school and look at the computers they have available, look at the fact that the students only get to work with a computer for one class one day a week. Oh, did I tell you that my granddaughter in the 7th grade had one hour of computers a week for one 9 week period? Yeah, we're really doing a great job educating the children.

Are you aware we have around 160 courses and in the 7 years I have been attending board meetings they only spent $460,000 on books for only 22 courses. Is that how this levy is for the kids. Remember the 2005 and 2007 levy that was for the kids? If it was then why have we only replaced textbooks for only 22 courses?

Yeah, you know what you're doing alright.

Vote NO on the levy.

Martin Fleming

vote no

Just to show that you would never support a levy, under any circumstances, your comment of "this isn't going to change much for the students" really shows your lack of awareness of what is going on with the schools. Let's see.. we get busing back, have basketball,wrestling, volleyball practices and games.. our 4,5 and 6th grade basketball teams have had no access to gyms to practice in and have played all of our games on the road this year.. school dances, winter formals, field trips,boy/girl scouts, DARE graduation.. your right Martin, no changes for the kids..

Your wanting to compare us to other Portage county schools is where I got the rural part..those are your words.. You would rather compare Streetsboro to these schools correct?? You don't want to compare Streetsboro to Aurora because their "economy" is better than ours?? That just sounds funny..Economy is not the word your looking for..maybe they are a more "affluent" community than Streetsboro, but I am pretty sure the economy in Aurora is about the same in Streetsboro..

So to answer your question.. How does a community ask people to move here?? Let's see, they sell land to Ryan Homes, and other developers, build houses...etc..you should have been up at city council when they were re-zoning all of this land and put a stop to it!! Greentree, Hannum, Stonegate, Deer Meadow, etc, etc..What did you think, these were all retirees moving in here instead of making the trip down to Florida??

By saying that the levy won't change much for the kids, it sounds like this is just your way of being able to sleep at night, by turning it into an issue with the board/teachers.. I understand, this is why support signs are geared toward the children, and the no signs are not, because really, how would that sound saying something like "No for the Kids!!" It's a cop-out, plain and simple..

As for the board being Representatives.. just because they don't agree with you, that doesn't mean they are not representing.. they are representing others in this community that want to provide the best atmosphere for learning and education for our children.. I would hate to see what that would look like in your world..

If it weren't for my kids being in the district, I would really encourage you to run for school board so the community could see your majic at work in fixing the schools.

And my last point, when you state your half truth's you really do an injustice for my kids..for instance, "the state pays for busing".. no the state pitches in, and that pitching in works out to no kids being bused within a two mile radius..this is what you want right?? To run everything at the minimum. Well, you got it! I am sure the kids like to walk past your house in the morning and see all of your "NO" signs.. Be a little more creative on your signs.. how about "No More Busing", "No Afterschool Activities", "No Scout meetings in our Schools" "No School Dances"!!

Enjoy your exerience at Streetsboro CITY Schools kids!! Yea!! Thanks Mr. Flemming for your support!!

The levy wasn't and isn't going to change much for the students to begin with. Just Salaries and Benefits for school employees.

That is all this levy is really about other than being a 9.5 mil continous levy.

I don't recall stating anything about being rural. Don't get that one.

Ravenna has close to 30,000 residents and Kent has around 25,000. Streetsboro has just under 15,000. We are not a city like them. Crestwood consists of Shalersville, Hiram, Mantua and Freedom. Most likely 15,000 in those 4 combined that all send their children to Crestwood. Streetsboro also doesn't have the "City" buildings such as Aurora, Kent and Ravenna.

You may be slightly confused there 3Rockets.

Streetsboro still has the "Rural" atmosphere as far as I'm am concerned. Ever been down Seasons, Page, Frost Rd East, Diagonal? Where's the "City" part. Could you take some pictures and post them somewhere where we can see the "City" part.

As far as the board, they are Represtatives and a liaison for the community and they are to CONVEY the community's voice, NOT become the community's voice. Again your are confused there 3Rockets.

You are trying to convey a positions that doesn't have logic or sense. I am not trying to be brash with you just letting you understand what I perceive from your comments.

Streetsboro has been a City I believe since 1972, and I have been a resident since 1953.

How doesn a community ask people to move here? Do they send out flyers in neighboring towns? How does that happen?

The city let's developers in here to build, people find out there are homes and they make the choice. I must have missed that part about asking people to move here.

Oh yeah, many of those who have moved here are now struggling because of hours cut, wage cuts, lay offs and companies going out of business. Some of those homes are up for sale, foreclosure and abandoned. Some are now worth far less than what the owner originally paid for it. Making it hard to meet the exhorbitant mortgages and now we want to throw another $900.00 on top of that $300,000.00 home that is now worth $225,000.00. Great idea, let's force everyone into default or bankruptcy and that will make the state pay for education. Why didn't we think of this before.

The board is not there to make our decisions for us but listen to collective community input to make their decisions by delivering them to the community through Board Business meetings and then giving the public the time to review those issues before making a final committment. Look at the Health Care system they are trying to develop and pass. If the input of the citizens of our great nation did not interject, then it would have been passed the day after it was introduced.

The our not our Repesentation but our Representatives who are accountable to the Tax Payer. Look at their organization chart. It states Taxpayer (refering to Property Tax payers), School Board, Superintendant and Treasuer (reporting to the board not to each other, both are equal, one is not higher than the other), the Administration then Staff. Notice Taxpayer comes first. Not the Board. There is a reason for that. Again, they are not our Representation. Just our Representatives and employees of the community for which they serve. There you go Serve. They are our servants that are to abide by the wish and desires of their community.

Hope this explains it for you 3Rockets.

Martin Fleming

Well, whatever happens, I sure hope the kids don't suffer at the hands of the school administrators. Martin Fleming, has made some very good points and why don't people at least listen? Why aren't there more people on the uprise?

Where is the community's representation?? Uh.. let's see here, they (board members) all live in the community and are voted in by the community..Hey Martin, there's your answer.. THEY ARE YOUR COMMUNITY REPRESENTATION!!!If you don't like them, please take all of the money that you spend on your "NO" signs, and put them toward your campaign for school board!! I can't wait to see your signs for election!! Let's see how you would do, rather than just posting random shots here on the RC website!! Put your money where your mouth is!!

Also, Streetsboro is no longer a "rural" community.. it is a City school district.. if you wanted to stay "rural" then you should have had signs in your yard years ago against the building craze here in Streetsboro over the last 10-15 years!! Our rural community and CITY leaders, asked for all of these people to move in here, now that they are all here... what, let's go back to rural?? Sorry Martin, can't have it both ways! So we should be compared to CITY school districts like Kent, Ravenna, Aurora, and not LOCAL school districts like Rootstown, Southeast and G-Ville..