Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Hey Lisa

Before you even respond with your usual high and mighty self-serving reproach to the last poster, we know you sold out. We know because we campaigned for you. You sold us out and the others we hoped would make a difference on the board. Is being VP that important? Is being Lori's yes girl all worth it? Quit counting quotes like others do and work for the kids the way you said you would. What good is 2 elementaries and no middle? Why don't you use the sense we thought you had when we worked for you and withdraw this levy until you have a more equitable plan rather than what you think is ''the easy sell''. Do you think you'll get more votes or brownie points for getting this levy passed? Wouldn't you prosper more with taking the time and energy to get the right levy in front of us. Wouldn't ALL of us prosper more?

C'mon Lisa. Do what you said you would do before it is too late. Don't be a sell-out. You know Sigman is just waiting in the wings to come back. You ain't seen hard times until you get him and Stemen hooked back up. Dark times are ahead.

By Another Heritage Parent

Who's to blame

I don't know why anyone thinks Lisa Reade controls the school board. Or that the school board is to blame for the overcrowding and the need for more schools. The overcrowding is due to the housing boom caused by a great school system attracting buyers to the glut of homes permitted by the previous City of Pickerington officials. Things are changing, but the process is slow. The school district is now present at many meetings with developers (Dr. Thiede is a welcome guest in discussions with both the City and the Township) and they're asking for developers to do more (donate land, build buildings, etc.). But, in the meantime, we've got to house the elementary kids that are currently in portables. I sincerely hope the May bond issue passes so that the portables are the elementaries can be removed and these kids can be taught in a proper school, with proper bathroom, cafeteria, gym, media center, and classroom space. As for the middle school kids, the idea to build additions to the middles schools, that would have housed the middle school kids currently at Heritage, failed miserably. My take is that lack of teacher support was a big factor in the failure of this concept. Teachers and administrators don't want large schools as they don't believe this is the best environment for the kids. Unfortunately, the enrollment projections don't justify building a 3rd middle school at this time. I don't support building a school that will be half empty for the next ten years, while paying to operate it and maintain it. There are better uses for our operating funds (like filling teacher positions). Portables could be added at Harmon and Diley to accommodate the Heritage Middle School kids, but apparently, that's less desirable than putting them in actual classrooms. Nothing's perfect. If Diley and Harmon became overcrowded with these kids, there'd be additional complaints about early/late lunch times, lack of library space, etc.

I will have at least 2 children attend middle school at Heritage. I don't think the experience is all that bad. There are certainly both negatives and positives to being at Heritage vs. Diley or Harmon. And yes, the 5th and 6th graders are going to see Oklahoma at Central next week. As for availability of clubs, some of those decisions are made by the individual school (the school board gives each school money to use for these types of activities but doesn't dictate which activities should be offered). Do the other middle schools have a newspaper or service club? I never checked. Would it have been nice to have a chess club at Heritage? My son would have enjoyed it; I'm not sure how many others would have participated. Things could be better at Heritage, perhaps, but things could be worse if our kids were at Diley or Harmon, also. Our kids have formed bonds with each other after being in class together for so many years. I hope that when they go to Jr. High next year, they can fall back on these friendships.

The kids, the administration, and the school board shouldn't be blamed for the overcrowding. They shouldn't pay the price of having to use portables and using overcrowded schools. Split sessions may have worked before when there weren't so many single parent households and families in which both parents work. Split sessions aren't currently well received in Groveport. We need new schools, with the immediate need being 2 elementary schools. No one wants to pay more taxes, but the alternatives of funding more portables or going to split sessions are not the answers. And, for those concerned about property values, it pays to keep our school district strong and desirable.

If you have questions for school board members, by all means contact them. If you have concerns with administrators, contact Dr. Thiede. Complaining on in this discussion area won't get you answers or changes.

Property Value Myth

I for one am tired of the myth that is always spread ''If you don't pass this levy / bond issue your property value will go down''.

Q: What happens to our property values when the taxes become so high that we price ourselves out of the market?

A: Our property values decrease.

Many areas that have had difficulty passing a levy / bond issue have enjoyed respectable growth in their valuation. This isn't the trump card that it is trumped up to be.

Next, in response to your comment about the dual income families needing the schools to be on their schedule. It isn't my responsibility to provide day care services to the families that want to enjoy a dual income. For crying out loud people, give up the boat and travel trailer. Stay at home and raise your kids. All of society will be better off when we quit farming out the job of raising our children.

If someone had figured out the art of tele-transportation we would probably have Pickerington people sending their kids off to India for cheaper day care.

END OF RANT.


By Shoeless Joe Jackson

Markets Forces

I believe there is a lot of truth in what Joe says. Pickerington has been a door mat to the builders for years and in exchange for being that door mat the builders have flooded our housing market with ''interest only loans, free options, super low interest rates and even protection against being laid off where your loan is protected with the lender making your mortgage payments.'' Of course this all costs money and it works well when the interest rates were low.

I know there are a lot of people that choose to move to Pickerington because of the schools. The sad fact is our property values are actually controlled by the market and when your neighbor takes months to sell their home it affects your home's value. If your neighbor's home is competing with 35 brand new homes with all kinds of incentives that your neighbor can't offer then your neighbor's only option is to lower his price. Once he lowers his price that directly affects your home value no matter that your child is attending school in a brick and mortar building or in a trailer.

One reason some of the Pickerington residents place their homes on that market is the level of property taxes. I know a number of people that have found by moving to the East less than 10 miles they can reduce their monthly living expense considerably. I believe I read somewhere that PLSD is the highest voted in R.E. tax in the County.

Clearly having a school board build such a massive waste or monument to their collective egos as in the Taj Mahal this adds to the tax flight of our citizens and generally lowers the property values of all of us because it raises the level of taxation which push many from our district and when there are more sellers than buyers the market tends to decrease in value.

With regard to both parents working and the responsibility of the community to provide for this should also be addressed. Here again is the ?“in over our collective heads?” problem many suffer here in the district. In many cases both parents must work to pay the taxes and keep a roof over the heads of their families. Let me illustrate: the P & I payment on a $200K loan at current interest rates is around $1,073. The total R.E. tax on that home would be around $266 per month. Well over the 25% of the total payment.

Just slowing the rate of new students into our district (no matter who is at fault) will slow the frequency of the need for new school buildings. It will also slow the rate increases in our R.E. taxes. Lower monthly payments do to tax reductions gives much more room for that monthly mortgage payment to be P & I.

Joe makes another good point in building use. Maybe as a community we go to split sessions. It gets our children out of the portables. They have a brick and mortar building to attend school in and we can go a few years will out tax increases maybe even see our taxes go lower. This may encourage some of those citizens in our district to stay. For every citizen that stays that is one less for sale sign for those that must sell their home to compete with.




By Sinking values