my letter to everyone except the board cause why bother they wont read it...not you joe! To whom it should concern, I have been a resident of Reynoldsburg for the last 32 years. I am a citizen, a voter, a taxpayer, and most importantly a mom. I am writing you today in regards to the current state of affairs here in Reynoldsburg. Our Board of Education are currently in a contract dispute with our schools teachers. Their initial proposal was laughable to say the least. Doing away with group health insurance, which could have resulted in our tax dollars being wasted on fines, and offering a non specified payout to purchase insurance on the health exchange. A merit pay system that they claim will attract the best and brightest. If that were true then why have 20% of our teaching staff resigned in the last year? Am I to believe that 54 of our 350 teachers were ineffective. If so then I am seriously impressed that Reynoldsburg managed an excellent school rating in previous years. My neighbor has been a teacher in the Gahanna school district for 5 years and every year has applied to teach in Reynoldsburg because it was her dream job, this year she did not apply, that alone speaks volumes to me. The Board refuses to put in writing a cap in classroom sizes. I cant stress enough how important this is. My daughter started kindergarten last year and I spent some time in her class for school parties and volunteered with book fair among other things and observed her learning conditions. Her class had 26 students in it. If youve never taught before that number may not sound very big but these are 5 year olds. Trying to get 5 year olds to be on the same page and learn what should be taught with no outside help is virtually impossible. I mentioned to her teacher that she needed help in her room there was no way to manage that many small children many of them in a classroom setting for the first time. She warned me not to say anything for fear that she would be considered ineffective and suffer consequences. She has since been let go from the school. My daughter didnt learn much in kindergarten and I had to take it upon myself in the spring to try and teach her to read. Some may blame the teacher, not me I blame the system she worked for. She shouldnt have had so many students in her class, especially since it was half day kindergarten. She shouldnt have to fear for her job if she asked for help! They have also seriously mismanaged our tax dollars in so many ways that listing them all would take all day so here are just a few. They are spending $81,000 to retain the firm huffmaster, a disreputable firm that supplies subs many of which are not certified to teach, in the event of a strike. They are spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer to represent them, money that could have been saved by using the free lawyer provided by the state. They implemented open enrollment and instead of taking the federal money they generated from that and hiring more teachers to compensate for the influx of students, they are just sitting on it and currently have more then 9 million dollars in their account. and last but certainly not least they made a very risky investment with a financially troubled European bank resulting in a $1.4 million dollar pay out to terminate that investment. All that money is gone, our hard earned money! we dont have enough teachers in the arts, music, or gym. Something the Board promised to rectify if the community passed a levy which the community did vote to pass, the board has yet to hold up their end of that bargain. I hope that I have opened a few eyes today with this letter. Unfortunately our community is helpless right now. we have tried writing e-mails to our board members, most of whom dont even bother to write back. we have voiced our concerns at board meetings, students, parents, and teachers have poured their hearts out while the Board members sit and play on their phones, apply lipstick , and occasionally take a moment to look at each other and roll their eyes. What are we the community to do that we havent done already. There are no options for us, we cant have a recall vote to replace the board with people who genuinely care about the quality of education in our schools. Our Superintendent Tina Thomas-Manning has called herself the CEO of Reynoldsburg schools... my children arent commodities, public education is not for profit. At least it shouldnt be but I suppose with 9 million in the bank it sure seems like a for profit business doesnt it! Thank you for your time I just hope that you find it in your heart and busy schedule to help us. Sincerely, Sabrina Gray
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:22:22 +0000
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