The Springboro School Board Road Show is coming to your town! Call your buddies, bring your friends, and prepare to be amazed!!!
Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly be surprised by the actions of our Springboro school board, they go and turn it up to eleven. Yep, even as they tell us about the enormous and overwhelming issues we face at home in The Boro, they are now taking the show on the road to Crestview Baptist Church at 6600 Salem Avenue in the Englewood area. Originally the event was going to be held in Vandalia at Christian Life Center, but it was changed at the last minute. If you’re in Vandalia, Englewood, or other surrounding communities, our school board president will be there tonight spreading her version of “the truth” and her vision for “academic success” so she can help your district too. By help your district I mean present you with a plan to create complete and total dysfunction in your schools and destroy any and all civic pride and community trust in your town – just like they are successfully doing in Springboro. The show starts at 7:00pm, so get there early.
Here is a preview of what will and will not be presented:
You will hear her make claims about the board’s role in fiscal responsibility.
Ask her why they view items like books and busses as essential to education, but teachers as disposable, replaceable, and commoditized. Ask her about the role of stimulus money in this fiscal success – money which had nothing to do with the board, yet which they fail to acknowledge. Ask her why they are taking the district to the point of financial collapse so that they can have the state do their dirty work when we go into receivership. Ask her why she thinks that having the lowest expenditure per pupil, while increasing class size and expectations is somehow sustainable. Ask her why they claim our taxes are too high, in spite of the fact that we spend less than neighboring communities and deliver great return on that investment.
You will hear her stake claim to academic success.
Ask her to endorse the results of the the excellent teachers and students who actually did the work – producing great results in spite the board. They won’t say such things here in Springboro. Ask her why, if we believe so much in our academic success, that her fellow board members write posts in local publications about how our district is failing our children and we are in educational crisis. Ask her why there was no press release or article or community announcement when the latest round of testing revealed that our district ranks third in the region.
You will hear her talk about school pride.
Ask her why 500 people showed up to a recent school board meeting to tell the board they are failing to act responsibly and that we as a community disapprove of their actions. Ask her why our teachers live in fear and are under what amounts to a McCarthy era gag order from our board for fear of losing their employment. Ask her why they view our educators as adversaries. Ask her why they view community members with legitimate questions as political opponents.
You will hear talk about our low expenditure per pupil and high test scores.
Ask her why, if we are spending so little and getting so much, the board is not overwhelmingly in favor of advocating for a renewal levy to continue this success. Ask her how this trajectory is possibly sustainable. Ask her why it is alright to reward high performing professionals in the private sector, but not in the public sector. Ask her why she won’t ask our community to invest in an efficient educational system to ensure that it will continue to exist.
You will hear her talk about how Ohio’s educational system is failing our children with excellent rankings and poor test scores.
Ask her why the website of her own board organization touts Ohio has being 10th nationally in education. Ask her why in spite of the fact that Springboro scores incredibly high on any metric, we are told that our own district is reflective of a broad state educational problem. Ask her why when she says we can do better in AP course performance, the board is not investing in placing more resources in this area. Ask her why, if we are failing in preparing our children for college, our ACT and SAT scores are on par with other top districts.
You will hear claims of putting children first.
Ask her why we would spend 15k on a charter school study, waste time talking about arming our teachers, and constantly be in the press for everything but the academic successes of our children, who are supposed to come first. Ask her why they think our teachers are overpaid union thugs who should be dealt with, disposed of, and bullied, instead of openly communicated with, respected, and treated fairly. Ask her why we won’t put us versus them politics aside and work as a community to pass a levy to make sure our children have schools to attend. Ask her why she views every static component of the educational system such as books and busses as essential to children, but the actual teachers who care for and educate our kids as somehow less important in putting children first. Ask her why the educational excellence of the children of Springboro is not a priority for our board to talk about on the news, on AM talk radio, and in our community paper.
You will hear her talk about being tough on teachers unions.
Ask her why, in spite of the fact that our teachers have been extremely cooperative and willingly made sacrifices just as the public sector has done, that the board is driving full speed ahead toward going into state receivership instead of simply passing a renewal levy and negotiating in good faith with our outstanding educators. Ask her why they won’t go to the public with a list of potential cuts, but they will go to the teachers with one. Ask her why they won’t collaborate with the teachers and the public to negotiate fairly, openly, and cooperatively in the interests of our children. Ask her precisely what our local teachers have done that has required the board to be so tough, because as far as I know, they have been more than willing to make financial sacrifices, teach larger classes, and give more without complaining about it – all while delivering excellent results and caring for our kids.
You will hear about how she and other board members want to be open with the community and even give out their email addresses to people.
Ask her why her fellow board members openly acknowledge taking email addresses from other people’s email messages, adding them to their own political email distribution lists without consent, and then sending out email messages to the very same people explaining what they did, but kindly saying recipient of the message could opt out of future messages. Ask her why bullying is outlawed in schools except as it pertains to the school board. Ask her why our teachers can’t openly communicate with people about what their concerns are. Ask her why teachers are shunned for sharing information relative to their employment. Ask her why they believe they want every child in our school to study our constitution, and yet believe they get to control people’s first amendment rights to exercise free speech. Ask her why they don’t engage the public in shaping the future of our schools.
We would like to ask these questions ourselves, but we are not allowed to have public Q and A with our board. Perhaps you will have better luck.
