Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Now that the dust has begun to settle and people on our school board have become better thinkers about money and reality we see the ugly head of that pay to play for sports issue rise up once more. Check out the article in the dispatch and in ''OUR'' pages to the left.


Now that the builders got their variance their one time $325,000 bribe is gone and we must now consider raising the participation fees. Last year the fees were $170.00 per pupil ''next year they will be likely be higher''. All this was for was to save Lou Postage's butt in an election.

Yet I see hundreds of condos and apartments still being built and these guys (builders) see no end in sight in their efforts to bury Pickerington and its school system that has served them so well over the years. They even had the guts to sue Pickerington because they dared to call for a moratorium on housing starts.

So to the TAXPAYERS of Pickerington and central Ohio you are under assault from a group of greedy bastards that see nothing less that taking every dime from you and turning your children out into the street just so they can sell more homes. Clearly those children that do not have the $170 or more next year will (more than lately in the $500 range) not be playing sports. If we don't have enough athletes then some programs will be dropped.

Thank you M/I

If we don't have enough members for the band then those programs could be dropped.

Thank you Dommion
Thank you Rockford
Thank you all

Now will we have the real division between the rich school and the poor schooln system? Will the Central High School drop sports while the north school continues? Clearly they got all of the good coaches. That would then means that not only are the Central parents subidizing that monster on Regugee Road but they would also be subidizing its sports programs. Clealry those folks up there see nothing wrong with their activities in promoting this growth.

Those same athletic boosters should now stand up and take full credit for the mess they have inspired.



By Onlooker

We're Dealin

Now what does that Doug something say on TV with his commercials? ''His company builds communities.'' He also say his company builds homes close to ''good schools.'' Doesn't this imply that his company had something to do the with the good schools?

Isn't hard to watch that commercial and not visualize old Doug with a guitar in his hand?

One Father's Idea

Here is a novel idea. In Cincinnati a few years back their city schools opened a High School that was just for athletes. I think the name of the school was called CAPE and it produced one athlete, Carlos Snow who played for Ohio State.

Since there seems to be so much athletic booster influence in our North High School why don't we just make it the Physical Education High School and be done with it.

Move all of the gifted and higher education classes down to the Central High School near the Library and move all of the extra curricular activities up to the North High School. Clearly the North High School has the athletic Fields and the facilities to carry on their assigned jobs in educating the bodies of our young people. They could also teach the basics like they do at Eastland and Fairfield Career centers and the district could put the more advanced classes down at the Central High School. We might even be able to start a few language and College classes with a more concentrated group of young students. How about some Advanced Math and Science classes? I would even suggest that instead of making the boundaries of the two high schools by geographic borders we insist on higher educational standards to get into the Central High School. In those standards we would also include discipline and work load on classes taken. This would concentrate the athletes at the North High School so we could produce those super teams that every one seems to desire. We could hire teachers that teach instead of do you have any coaching experience along with your Math Degree?

This would eliminate the need for two sports teams and we could save money in educating those children that are attending class and preparing for higher education. Every student in the district then would have the opportunity to pursue his or her desire in either sports or academics while still receiving the education required to graduate by the state.

Since the supplemental contracts were around $1.2 Million last year we could cut those contracts by 50% and it would be down in the $600K range. If we are selling 500 new homes every years that would only leave the builders with a $1,200 contribution for each house they sell to keep our sports programs going.

Clearly a intramural Physical Education program could be used at the Central High and the basic academic classes could be taught at the North High School.


Inlcude the Junior High Schools in this plan also.

Maybe I am just too far out of the box in my thinking here?

Could this keep the different parts of the community United?

By Concerned Dad

too far outside the box

Many athletes are scholars taking advance placement classes, putting them in this catagory is a digrace. You may be disgusted with what you see at the North palace, but placing the blame and the brunt of the solution on the kids is plain wrong in my book. For too long in this community the adults, save for a few, were on auto pilot and they did not demand responsible government nor did they elect those who could stand up to the builders and tell them where to put it. This did not happen overnight, nor will it be solved overnight. We finally have a core of individual in office who will try to make a change, this will be the hardest job they have ever taken on.

I think this perspective can you look just as bad as the so called ''athletic boosters'' who live through their kids. The blame rests with the adults who let this go on for too many years. Instead of throwing stone, lets come up with real solutions and back those elected and not remain as ''onlookers.''