Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

The current school board had a chance to throw Central a bone and refused.

The prevaling attitude among the board and administration seems to be that we can't fix what was done in the past. So be it.

I don't see anyone asking for a mega sports complex to be built at Ridgeview Junior High. All the Central Folk wanted was a regulation track for their side of the district. Is that really too much? Especially since North has two.

See.... the Central Folk aren't even asking for the stadium that was promised to them when Central was built.

Because of this decision, Central will not be eligible to host even a medium size track event. Oh well, I guess that North will remain the permenant host of the Stingle Invitational and the Hammond Relays.

Central Folk: Forrgedddaboutit.

By Marie Antoinette

Going down

As we can see there is a loss of trust being felt by the Citizens and the Voters of the PLSD. Clearly in 2000 when Lori Sanders stated that they would use any excess money left over from building the Taj Mahal to spend on the Central High School to make them ''EQUAL.''

Obviously that never happened.

In the mean time we have had lame attempts of the school supporters to make light of the differences and now we have a board that is cutting corners when it comes to refurbishing the Central High School site. What will happen in those 8 years of the projected life of the TWO North tracks which will need to be replaced? Will this board then say something different?

When we heard the presentations PRIOR to the North High School complex being built these were ''needed'' features. ''If that school was not built we would deny all of these children these extra curricular activities.'' Today when they talk about the Central High School these same facilities are too expensive. Those dire needs no longer exist for the Central students.

In short the North area elitist are hypocrites.

I heard the North High athletic director lobby for all of these practice fields and two tracks and how that couldn't do without them. Today not a word.

I see below a posting from Amy Stang that Central got new computers and later versions that North High didn't get. Clearly Amy is repeating information that is tightly held in the records keeping of the school.

Our problem is with the attitude of our school administration and how the board is allowing this to happen. I again call for a COMPLETE ACCOUNTING of our school system to regain the trust they have lost.

Publish to the world to see what is the teacher to student ratio at all of our PLSD schools. What is the payroll at each school? What is the academic testing results at each school. Just how much do we spend on the athletic departments at North and Central?

I know there is a facilities committee working currently to project future needed facilities. What is their findings and where are they projecting the growth to come from? How much is that growth and where are they getting their figures? My concern there is that these committees normally use historical data which is flawed because growth trends change. I would suggest that instead of predicting a new school in the year 2008 that they predict new needed schools from trigger points or events of population. In other words we will need a new school in Violet when their population reaches X number. This would be triggered from plat approvals.

There seems to be a growing public opinion in Pickerington right now that are very willing to allow the schools to drop in quality a mark or two just to slow the growth and to control the school board. At what point will our school board get the point?







By Put your cards on the table

enrollment figures

The facilities review committee (FRC) is using enrollment projections from a study performed by DeJong Inc. This study used various, established methods to project enrollment figures. Historical data is not the basis for the group's discussion or recommendations. The final report from the FRC (hopefully to be completed this month) will be available to the public. I'm sure if you want to see a copy of the DeJong report, the administration would provide it (otherwise, I have a copy I'd be glad to share). And, did you know that the agendas and meeting minutes, for the Board of Education meetings, are posted on the PLSD website? I believe the minutes are not posted until they have been approved at the following meeting. I believe the BOE is willing to answer questions and provide information. Their email addresses are included on the district's website.

school report cards

Forgot to mention that some of the data you've requested on individual school buildings is/was available. For example, I have a Heritage Elementary School 2003 Report Card, published by the Ohio Dept. of Education, copies of which were available from the office of that school. I don't know how often these report cards are printed, what the lag time is, or whether they're even still printed, but this report included the following info:

4th grade proficiency score data & attendance rates for Heritage, the PLSD, and similar districts

a profile of Heritage's students (number enrolled, % by gender, % gifted, % student with disabilities, % by race, etc.

a profile of teachers including gender, race, certification, avg. salary, attendance rates

average expenditures per pupil

The report includes the statement:

Visit www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcard or call 1-877-644-6338 for more detailed information on the performance of your school and district and the formulas used in this report card.