"My post was 05-23-08 11:04 PM To ltdavid, I hope I can count on your vote, when I run for school board." - Janay

We want stimulus checks because it helps us in the short term, but when it comes to investing in the future, we are tightfisted. It is the nature of the beast. We reap what we sow, and with fields of self-indulgence being reaped today, we will sow children with poor educations and inherited problems that they will be ill equipped to remedy.

That being said, the writing for these closings has been on the wall since the late 70's. The same goes for Warren Elementary, I will regret seeing its closure, but with the school systems operating on tighter budgets, the fiscal sense dictates that smaller outlying schools close and the construction of central middle schools must commence.

Many will argue that the burden of transportation is simply too much as travel times will skyrocket with a central middle school in the Barlow area. Sadly their complaints will fall on deaf ears. The district is already educating the kids at a premium, so the transportation to and from must fall on the parents.

The days of the local school are going the way of the dodo and if you examine other districts in our area we saw much of the same changes in the 80's, Warren has been stuck in a time warp.

I hope we can start an intelligent adult conversation now. If you want to “pick a fight” or “defend yourself” to a specific person, please exchange emails and go away.

I pose those same questions to anyway who would like to weigh in:

1. How much is a reasonable levy to build new schools? A specific amount you consider reasonable and realistic for the people to be able to pay.

2. How much are you willing to spend to change school names right now as we discuss cutting teachers and closing schools to save money?

3. What are the educational negatives to trailers?

My post was 05-23-08 11:04 PM To ltdavid, I hope I can count on your vote, when I run for school board.

When I run, you will know. Until then I will continue to keep you informed of facts happening in the district.

I will simplfy my questions because I realized after posting them they can by easily spun and not answered:

1. How much is a reasonable levy to build new schools? A specific amount you consider reasonable.

2. How much are you willing to spend to change names right now as we struggle financially?

3. What are the negatives to trailers?

ohjanayio, we are still waiting for what you think as a candidate, not what the current board members know or think. The questions cannot be answered by repeating current meeting minutes:

Do you support new schools at all costs? If yes, what would you be willing to spend?

You are correct, they do have the same mascot, can they all unify around that without changing names? The question remains, as a board member would you be willing to spend thousands of dollars today to change names at a time when we are trying to save money?

What are the negatives to trailers? The question is not are there negatives, what are the negatives?

Who cares what the current board has their eye on. The question is do you, as a candidate, support building new schools at any cost?

You refer over and over to the current board in your answers. Since you said you plan to run and want votes, the questions are specific to what you would do.

5. I have been fighting the board for over a year about Cutler and Bartlett. The current superintendent and board have their eyes set on new buildings which the state will pay 50%. They are taking premeditated steps to reach this goal and imagine how good this will look on a resume’.

3. Yes there are negatives to each school in the district, but they do not out weight the positives of the district as a whole. I will not be drug into the muck and whine. Today we took a field trip from Cutler to my son’s new school. Little Hocking had planned a wonderful welcome and assigned each student a buddy. We got a nice tour of the school, teachers pointed out numerous ways students were all same. I saw only positive reactions from the students. This may not be our choice, the choice was made for us, but we can choose to make the best of it. 4. Yes there are negatives to trailers, but the current superintendent and board has decided that is where they will educate our children. I do not see that changing until they accomplish their goal of new buildings.

1. The board knows the financial situation of the community and knows it will be hard to pass a levy. I will be at the board meetings gathering information and asking questions. Like you I want what is best for the district and will vote for a reasonable levy. 2. I know firsthand about the heart ache, as I guide my 7 year old through this change. The LH bus turns around in front of our house; we chose to send our son to Cutler. Changing names would impact everyone and be extremely expensive. The suggestion did get numerous emotional responses, from those saying others needed to be less emotional. Fact Jr. High teams at all elementary schools are already called Warriors and wear blue and white.

cont....

I do not support name changing right now. I really don't support new buildings right now or in the near future. Consolidation is ridiculous given the geography of our county.

I do support using money to make our schools energy efficient. I do support using trailers as a short-term solution; I hear we have been graduating more seniors than enrolling kindergarteners. I support any child coming to LHS despite the animosity their parent brings to the table; the child is not to blame. I support the school board and the tough job they fought to have.

That is funny you mention the swings. My other friends have a daughter that will go to third grade I think. She was amazed at the playgound at LHS and how many people were there to play with. These kids are great.

In Wood County they are renovating three high schools. It was originally I think to cost about $50 million and now has ballooned to I think $64 million. They aren't even done. This is renovating, not building from scratch. We have to be realistic about what we can do. Taxpayers cannot be burdened with new levies to build new schools at those costs.

The news tonight talked about the police cutting costs. They talk about cutting staff. This is scary stuff now. Keep the three schools we have. Make them better and pump money into the classrooms.

I won’t look back as you bash me for my opinion now. I am disheartened enough as it is. Good luck to you all as you move forward. And no reason to use caps for me mrsmom, I know you are sad.