Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Why are we subsidizing day care for healthy pre-school children? In the Pickerington This Week yesterday an article on the federally mandated (but not fully funded of course) pre-school program for developmentally disabled children mentions that 'typically developing' children are part of the program as well at a rate of $5 daily. I have no experience with day care costs at commercial facilities but I suspect rates are far higher than that.

When the school system is counting its every dime why give this away?

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?“kindergarten village?”

This suggestion has been made to Dr. Thiede numerous times and also to Board members. All to no avail. I was personally present when Councilman O'Brien discussed this with both Thiede and at least two board members. Cities like Elyria and Centerville have faced the same problems as we have with our youngest charges and have made positive changes to accommodate them.

Outside the box thinking such as this, while not a hallmark of PLSD, is what is necessary to both take better care of our kids and prove to the voters that they are indeed looking at all solutions. Imagine housing all preschoolers, kindergarten students and the special needs children in a safe and nurturing environment built specifically for them.

Addressing a concept such as kindergarten village not only can meet the needs of these kids, but can deal with situations such as overcrowding of the elementary schools, keeping a safe distance between the youngest students and older groups of kids, and more effective transportation.

Additionally, if the space was constructed or the proper space was found already available (read Big Bear), other space needs could be met, like public meeting spaces, spaces for special events and ample parking for those events. Imagine going to a sports banquet and not having to try to find a parking space at Ridgeview. Imagine going to a Board meeting and not having to find a spot to park near Heritage. Imagine all those buses left parked all over the district being able to be parked in one location during the day.

Why doesn?’t out board and administration listen to what the people in the district want? They obviously speak at the polls. They obviously speak in the papers and they obviously speak both at board meetings and in this forum. Why doesn?’t anyone listen? One big change I have seen at city hall is that the new council and staff members do listen. Why can?’t the new board we got elected and the new superintendent listen?

As a caution to the new members of the board we worked so hard for in the 03 elections, I submit this to you: We can work just as hard this year to change the face of the board to see if we can get someone to listen this time. We will secure the 4 open council seats to assure that the rest of the old regime is sent packing once and for all. We can also assure that we can finally seat a board that will also listen. We have had enough of people like John Kerry wavering back and forth to appease special interests. We dispensed with him and we can dispense with his clones on the school board.

Take Ownership of the Schools

I agree with your sentiments, anonymous. But I would take them a step further. As a community, we need to take ownership of our schools.

We need to begin seeing the schools as ours, not as the administration's, the school board's or the ''PLSD's.'' We need to see the schools' problems as our, not ''their,'' problems, which we must work together to solve. We need to view tax levies as our opportunity to decide what we want to spend on our schools, not as another plea for funds by ''them.''

And we need to think, as you put it, ''outside the box.'' The 1997 Facilities Commission is a good example of what I have in mind. Our meetings were open to anyone who wished to attend. We considered every alternative we could imagine, as is reflected in our report. We looked at housing a new elementary school in the old Kroger store, and at renting Woodsfield Elementary from the Columbus School District. We also looked carefully at year-round school and at split sessions, as well as at the pros and cons of housing our school children in double-wides.

At least half the members of our group were past ''no'' voters on school levies. Several had actively campaigned against the last levy that had been placed on the ballot, and had been instrumental in its defeat. But we all worked together to reach a consensus. Our report, which addresses in detail the pros and cons of each alternative we considered, was signed by every member of our group.

But we need to go further than that. The school problems we face need to be discussed at PTO meetings and meetings of neighborhood associations. The current facilities committee needs to publicize its meeting times and open its meetings to everyone in the community. Anyone who has ideas that they think worth considering, such as anonymous, should attend the committee's meetings, and insist that those ideas are fairly considered.

Finally, lets elect people to school board who share this view. Elections are coming up in just a few months. It is time for potential candidates to step forward. There are three positions to fill and, as far as I know, none of the current incumbents plans to run for reelection. So we should have three new faces on the school board next year -- a board majority.

Our schools are too important to all of us to be left to the educators. If we're not satisfied with them, then lets get involved and change them. If we want, we can do that.

School facilities committee

The school facilities committee meets (most) Wednesdays at 7:00 at Harmon. This week's meeting will be at Central, as Harmon will be having an art show, and the usual meeting room is unavailable.

The meetings have always been open to the public, but almost none chose to attend.

The committee is currently working on the report they are to submit to the board, possibly next month.