CANTON CITY SCHOOLS BOE & THE ADMINISTRATION AND PERHAPS THE CPEA DISGRACE THEMSELVES?

UPDATED

Friday Update:  8:55 a.m.

John Rinaldi <pumpitup15@aol.com>  Today at 7:17 AM

To: Martin Olson

Marty,

The Superintendent has reached out personally to the families of the children who were upset on Monday night and apologized. School board president Milligan has also written a personal letter to them apologizing on behalf of (us) the board. 

Superintendent Allison went on the Ron Ponder Show to publicly apologize as well to the families.

When we honor the youngsters at the next board meeting, the superintendent and I agreed that we need to do something a little extra special for the kids. More to come. When you make a mistake, you identify it, learn from it, grow from it.

Have a great Friday. 

J.R. Rinaldi  E.M.,C
Certified, Professional Equipment Manager

LINK TO CCS VIDEO ON MONDAY'S MEETING

 

Thursday Update:  8:04 p.m. (Revised 9:00 p.m.)

The SCPR disagrees with Mr. Soper (see e-mail below) that The Report thinks or said that the CPEA had anything to do with the calling of the CCS BOE executive session and the concomitant slighting of the to be recognized students.

Moreover, The Report deals in the body of the original blog with Mr. Soper's e-mail contention that CPEA member presence had nothing to do with the CCS-BOE non-renewal of 12 teachers which the SCPR conjectured in the original blog was a reason for the presence.  Taking Mr. Soper's word for it, the SCPR stands corrected.

John Rinaldi, a member of the CCS BOE contacted The Report on Wednesday to express his dismay with the executive session being held early in Monday's session and for going so long so as to deprive the to be recognized students of their honors at Monday's meeting  He said that he thought the board would be issuing a public apology and would try to make amends to the students.

As always when the SCPR gets a written response regarding a blog from any subject of a blog, the entire response gets published to allow subjects/organizations (its members) to express his/her/its point of view.

What follows is a response by one Greg Soper apparently speaking for himself and perhaps for others inasmuch as he uses the pronoun "We."

The Report has indication that the official spokesperson for the CPEA is Tina Riley.

Ms. Riley has not contacted the SCPR on the blog.

 SOPER'S EMAIL

[Thursday, May 19, 2016
3:24 PM

[From] greg soper

[To:]  Mr. Martin Olsen: [Olson]

This is Greg Soper from the Canton Professional Educators Association (CPEA). I read your blog daily and we have met at several events. I am looking forward to reading your blog this election season.

I am writing in reference to your piece on the Canton City Board Meeting May 16th, 2016. I believe you have been misinformed about the event and that the information on your blog is incorrect.  CPEA had no role in calling for the Executive Session. The CPEA rally had nothing to do with the non-renewal of teachers. Ohio Law and the CPEA Contract permit the district to non-renew a teacher without cause in years one through four.

CPEA was actually holding a rally to support our negotiations team. This was a planned event, which we made plans to do May 4th Many of us went inside to the meeting as we did in February and April.

While there was an Executive Session posted the Canton City School Website, CPEA was unaware of what it was about. It was not until we read the addendum when we arrived inside that we did. According to the addendum the Executive Sessions were at the request of Digital Academy Principal Minerva Morrow and Lehman Assistant Principal Pamela Bernabei-Rorrer. There was no executive session regarding a CPEA member. The executive session only involved administration.

CPEA was cognizant that the children being honored were feeling hurt and the time was getting late, and CPEA members took it upon themselves to honor the students. I am sure you are aware of the events that followed. It is important to note that it was Senior Administrator Peggy Savage was the one that shut down CPEA from honoring the students citing protocol.

CPEA members were at the meeting to honor their students and over a hundred teachers stayed for over two hours to do so. We would appreciate that you would issue a correction to your reporting on this event. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me or email the following chairs of our Member Advocacy Committee:

. . .

As I said earlier, I look forward to reading your blog this election season. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump will provide us with much entertainment.

Thanks,

Greg Soper

Wednesday Update

Nancy George has left a new comment on your post "CANTON CITY SCHOOLS BOE & THE ADMINISTRATION AND P...":

This is my speech at Public Speaks at the Canton Board meeting:

Superintendent Allison and Board members:

After 30.5 years of teaching in Canton City Schools, I finally have time to read. I am currently reading nonfiction—The Superintendent’s contract and information from Public Records Requests. 

You can’t make this stuff up--

Superintendent Allison is paid $130,000/245 days=$530.61 per diem

• Supplemental-- $8,460; $13,460--2016-17 if three positive evaluations. After 2016-17=$18,460 Increase of $10,000 in 2 years

His evaluations are to be based on student achievement and performance. Sliding test scores since Brighter Tomorrow are not included in his evaluations. 

Neither is “Climate and culture.”

• Stipend--$5,000 

No one can explain what duties and services Adrian Allison performs for his supplemental and stipend. They are spelled out for all stipends for other employees.

• We pay for a laptop and other communication devices and cell phone services for school and personal business

• Car allowance--$500 per month ($6,000 per year)

• In addition to all this other money, he received the following pay last year for 15 additional work days = $8,477 (extended time logs). He billed for, and received pay for 25 days unused vacation days--$13,265.31. 

• His contract says “the duties of this position will require the Superintendent to work during times other than normal business hours.”

Here are some of the things on his logs for which he received his per diem pay, things that staff does for no pay:

• Graduations
• Football and Boys and Girls Basketball games (not swimming, track, soccer, all you minor sports!). This includes McKinley/Massillon game.
• Hall of Fame Enshrinees Dinner
• Arts Academy Holiday Program and Arts Academy Piano Recital. His children are students there.
• Superintendent Advisory Council
• Community Meetings re: combining high schools and Brighter Tomorrow
• George Dunwoody’s funeral
• CPEA Spring Banquet AND CPEA NEGOTIATIONS

So, teachers and staff, time is money. 

You, too, need full-time pay when you do these same things, staff Brighter Tomorrow University this summer, and do the countless things you do beyond your school day to serve your students. 

ORIGINAL BLOG

Today, I planned to do a blog on an important Stark County government development.

However, on reading The Repository's Kelly Byer's account of the Canton City Schools Board of Education (CCS, BOE) meeting of last night, scrap that plan.

Byer writes a spellbinding account of seeming chaos spilling out of onto the floor of last night's CCS BOE meeting.

A thumbnail sketch of Byer's account of the chaotic evening:

• Three administrators resign (apparently at Superintendent Allison's request)
• but two return as teachers,
• The top Digital Academy administrator was non-renewed without articulated reasons despite two supporters' contention:
• that she was in touch by virtue of being an African-American in a largely African-American student body, 
• that she demonstrated dedication to task, and
• obviously, has academic strengths in that she speaks four languages,
• A recommended by the Allison administration for non-renewal of the Lehman assistant principal was rejected the BOE except for President Richard Milligan,
• A band teacher was renewed as a consequence of the due diligence of BOE member Eric Resnick on is not seeing anything alarming in her record and the Allison administration failed to provide justifying reasons for her recommended dismissal,
• Seventeen (17) Allison administration non-renewal recommendations, 12 of whom were teachers (according to Resnick),
• The Canton Professional Education (CPEA) holds a solidarity meeting  with banners and placards galore in the vicinity the BOE meeting building location,  (Note:  In the original blog, the The Report expressed the view that the CPEA presence, one would think, had something to do with teacher non-renewals; CPEA member Greg Soper [see e-mail contents above]  says that such was the case.  Taking Mr. Soper's word for it, the SCPR stands corrected)
• "Tensions ran high after board members began the meeting and then [apparently immediately] adjourned to executive session for nearly two hours,"
• Two students awaiting recognition for achievement are left waiting as the BOE is in executive session,
• One leaves in tears,
• The other is recognized by CCS staff apparently not included in the executive session after his mother chided them as representatives of the CCS for the BOE's disappointing her son in the board and the superintendent having gone into executive session,
It makes no sense at all for Superintendent Allison to say of a number of those asked to resign/non-renewed:  (quotes from Byer's article)

"All of these individuals, we value them as employees," Allison said after the meeting.

He said he appreciated Zitnik's [principal of CCS's freshmen academy] service and expects her to go on to "bigger and brighter things."

In view of his recommended non-renewal, what does Allison base his "we value them as [teaching] employees" on? 

In view of his recommended non-renewal, what does Allison base his of Zitnik base his "her go on to 'bigger and brighter things"' upon? 

One is left with the feeling that such is politically correct pontification, no? 

And, of course, there is this SCPR blog of September 15, 2015 (LINK) whereby it appears that a political deal was struck whereby the Stark County Educational Service Center (disclaimer:  yours truly's spouse is a SCESC board member) agreed to be the employer of Allison's wife though she works for the CCS and thereby getting around a state statute prohibiting the hiring of one's relatives by an elected/appointed officials. 

While the SCESC's prime function is to support Stark County school districts, to The Report such transactions are over-the-line of propriety as far as the SCPR is concerned as to what is acceptable in terms of support. 

A seeming extra toying around with the intention of the state stature, in the SCPR's opinion, is the existence of a structure within CCS operations whereby Allison's wife Krista (Director, Student, Family and Community Support) is not "directly" accountable to him. 

Such contortions apparently meet legal requirements but nonetheless add fuel to the notion on the part of many day-in, day-out users of Canton's schools that political wheelin' and dealin' is the norm and not the exception within Canton's school system including some of its board members steeped in a political agenda (for example, this LINK) rather than the well being of the CCS. 

 This is a school system that has in the latest evaluation by the Ohio Department of Education gotten all "D" and "F" (the predominate rating) grades. 

 

Simply outrageous is all that one can say about the political "war zone" that the administration, the BOE and the CPEA have wrought on the Canton City School System. 

Chaos and infighting galore in the CCS and every Stark Countian and Ohioan (by virtue of millions upon millions of non-CCS tax dollars going to CCS schools) has a stake in county and state education officials stepping in to stop the political differences carnage that the BOE, the Allison administration and CPEA volatile mixture has visited upon powerless students and parents. 

President Milligan's "we didn't think [the executive session] was going to take this long" is totally unacceptable. 

However long, the think for any elected body to do is to "always!!!" schedule executive sessions AT THE END OF THE REGULAR MEETING! 

Tell a student who waited all week for her impending recognition but who was left in the lurch by an obviously insensitive, unthinking BOE and consequently left in tears that she is welcome back at the next meeting to get her recognition. 

She may return. 

But even if she does, the damage is likely done in her perception of the membership of the Canton City Schools Board of Education. 

 As the graphic at the lead of this blog shows.  

For those powerless families that are left to fend for themselves to gain an education in the Canton system: "Oh, My God! My Child Attends the Canton City Schools." 

The rejoinder? 

 "May the Lord of Hosts have mercy on our souls!" 

With a school system like Canton's;  all the work on the Hall of Fame Village, Market Square and the Citywide Comprehensive Plan is being undermined BIG TIME!!!