MV schools to place levy on Nov. ballot « Taking it to the Streets

MV schools to place levy on Nov. ballot

MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon Board of Education took the first step toward placing a $2.5 million operating levy on the November ballot during Monday's monthly meeting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 10:58 amand is filed under story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

wow

how many of you have gone to a board meeting to expres your concerns? probably none.
how many know what it takes to run a school district? zero
how many of you just hate taxes? 95%

schools need to be run more efficient, i dont disagree. I want my money spent so that each child has the same opportunities. But look at the cities with great schools. each of those cities brings in more businesses because it is a great place to live. when more businesses come in, that means more tax dollars for the cities and schools and more jobs.

taxes arent a bad thing. stand up to the board, if they think they will be voted out, then they will do a better job.
- tom zinne
  
  Wow
  gone to a board meeting yes!
  talked to board members yes!
  read and look at financails yes
  family members involved in education (no here now) yes
  agreed legit taxes ok yes!
  
  hate government wasteful spending and cronyism Yes!!!!!
  
  This Board and administration does not have a good track record contrary to statements
  Wow you have not addressed the waste that this board has committed nor their inability to admit and to lie about it. (not requested new money in the last 10 years) either the Mount Vernon News reported got the quote wrong or Mr Short lied (or obfuscated probably saying he meant no new “operating” monies, not capital, but the board took $8,000.000.00 in operating funds and switched them to capital to build the country club elementary for their country club cronies.
tom zinne

Wow,

I agree the kids suffer and the suffer due to the poor decision making of the administration and board. However, how are going to get the message to them other than to vote no? We just had 2 new board members go on January,

Wow, are you suggesting an impeachment process for the board member?

Which ones do we target? and who do we replace them with? what is the Law?
How about just saying no to new taxes for the Mt Vernon City Schools?

Mt Vernon is not an anti-education city, we are an anti money wasting city, Until you start addressing the waste that the Board and Adminstation has done, you are in total denial.

If more money for the schools will fix the problem and give us a better education system then lets a flat tax per parcel of $1,000,000.00 per day this will allow our students to have the best educational system in the world.

Throwing good money at a bad situation will not help!

Wow, how about something more than a sentence and with some real thought besides just taking more of my limited money and resources.
- CW
  
  “Mt Vernon is not an anti-education city, we are an anti money wasting city”
  
  I guess that explains why one cannot drive down any of the streets in this town without ruining their car. I have never in my life seen such sorry excuses for roads. You get what you pay for I guess, so as long as everyone’s content with living in a dilapidated town with vacant and crumbling buildings around every corner, craters strewn throughout the roads, and an under-educated populace fighting over the non-existing jobs, so that we can all “save a few bucks” then everything’s good, right?
wow

MTV THE ANTI EDUCATION CITY
- Ray
  
  We’re not anti education, we’re anti waste. You are one of the people who look at this mess of a board & district and see rainbows and unicorns. Wake up!!! People are out of work, struggling to pay bills, and make ends meet, they simply DO NOT have another penny to give to a wasteful entity.
  
  The school board doesn’t give a darn about the hardships facing the good people of this county. The entire world is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. I’d like to know where does a broke district get the money to blow $800,000.00 on a farce of a trial & hire a law firm to try and scare the auditor into raising property values? Those expenses are just what we KNOW about. We need to stand up to these thugs and say enough is enough.
Ed

I would like to see an independent auditor go over the Knox County School system books first to see if they need more money. Until an audit is done everyone should vote “NO” in November.
tom zinne

When Mr Short said this
“”said Superintendent Steve Short. ‚ÄúHowever, Mount Vernon is an exception in that we have not requested new money from voters since 1996. “”

He lied! The school board asked for Millions of new money just a few short years ago to build all new elementary buildings. The Public said NO!!! And we will say no again. The Board spent $8,000,000.00 of Rainy day funds on a Capital expenditure of the Country Club Elementary. Increasing Busing expenses because not a single child walks to this school, while the Buildings it replaced West and Elmwood had many childing walking or biking to school, Obviously the school board doesn’t care about our costs, childhood obesity, or global warming. The just wanted to have a new school building close to the country club.

Instead of coming to the Public first about a building program, they spent rainy day funds that could be used now!

They now have the nerve to ask for more money during a recession, with unemployment at high rate and mortgage foreclosures at an all time high. Great judgment and decision making Board!
wow

then vote for new school board members. dont make the kids suffer.
Miriam St. Jean

I voted for the renewal levy in May because it had already been in place. I support the school system with all my heart.

That said, it’s time to stop the bleeding and vote “NO”

I’m almost in shock that they had the audacity to put a new levy on the ballot, given the bad decisions made by the school administrators and board membersover the years, and the financial crisis that most of us are facing.

Unbelievable
Bob Smith

If Mr. Freshwater had placed a Koran on his desk, hung a poster of Islamic people bowing in prayer, and taught that science is fraudulent and that the world was created by Allah…You so-called Christians would be marching in the street demanding his removal…it’s time to move on. He defied the law and the Board’s directives. Quit wasting my tax dollars on lawyers and spend them on educating my children and yours!
wow

i see everyone on here is for quality education. what a shame. blame the school districts for the failures of parents. much easier than looking into the mirror. grow up people look at what happened to grove city, they can not find any companies to come to their town because the schools are in such bad shape. Education is the linchpin of a great society and our education system is going down the drain due to people playing politics with kids education.
- CW
  
  I agree. I can personally attest to the sorry state of education in this city. I have lived in 5 other states throughout the years, where my children were taught in the public schools of those areas; each of those other regions were ahead in cirriculum, and thus my children recieved a better education in every other school district that they attended. The inadequacy of MV schools is not a new phenomenon. I myself moved to MTV from the state of Massachusetts at the age of 10, in elementary school, and I remember the studies being far behind the cirriculum we were learning in Mass. In 8th grade I moved back to Mass. from MTV for a couple of years with my mother, and was then struggling far behind the other kids there. Perhaps they refer to Massachusetts as “tax-a-chusetts” for a reason, but one thing is for sure, the tax money is utilized to provide for highly educated, skilled students, which may explain also why some of the nation’s most prestigious schools can be found in that state.
lrd

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its not JOhn Freshwater its the schoo board l. Look at the waste.
Renters it does effect you your rent is going UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Look where are wages are.
Al Case

To expand upon Mr. Short’s point MV is also an exception from most districts in Ohio since they have been pursuing an anti-Christian witch hunt for three years in the legal system.
- CW
  
  The “witch” you are referring to is the one who continues to drag this complete circus through the court system, at the expense of our children, instead of owning up to his mistakes and moving on with his life. I blame the school board for not pursuing this “anti-christian witch hunt” long ago, as one-track religion has NO place in the public school system. Noone wished to infringe upon his personal beliefs, just keep them away from my children, as the constitution mandates. There were spots for him throughout private Christian schools, he chose to defy the law.
Alumni

My sister is a public school adminstrator. If the public knew the full extent of the system (pork,waste,goals) they would be marching in the streets. I encourage everyone to go online and research the public “fool” system (type in “progressive education”) and its goals.
Corgi Mom

There is no way they are getting a yes vote from our household! They have wasted enough of our money!
Bob Smith

We should tell John Freshwater that we want the money back that the district had to pay lawyers to fight the jerk’s lawsuits!
Alumni

Vote “no” on this bottomless money pit. Stop paying these frauds for pouring sand into your childs brain.
- woodyj
  
  If it doesn’t pass they’ll just reappraise your property value to get the money that way
- CW
  
  I am just curious as to what, in your opinion, you would “expect” your children to be learning?
sky king

NO! NO! NO! NO!