POINT & COUNTERPOINT IN THE NWLSD LEVY FIGHT. BUT THE REAL ISSUE IS WHETHER OR NOT THE NW BOARD HAS MADE SUFFICIENT PROGRESS ON THE RE-BUILDING OF TRUST, ISN'T IT?

The most candid person on the Northwest Local Board of Education (Board) is board member Jim Gindlesberger.

In August, 2009 he correctly identified the Northwest dilemma in getting a levy passed.  His observation was:

"The trust issue is huge.  It's something that we may not even correct by May. We are not one community. We are two communities and we have to fix that." 

The bad news is that once trust is lost, it is merely a matter of time until a relationship is a matter of time.

The good news is that once the loss of trust is squared up with, reconstructive and restorative measures can be implemented to get back to a similitude of the former trust.

However, now-a-days restoring trust is an uphill battle magnified.  And re-building trust is permanent process.  It is never completed.  If trust building efforts are ever abandoned then distrust come rushing in as a torrent.

A recent national poll shows that only about 20% of American trust governments at all levels.  This is a flip from what the 20% was in the 1950s.  In the 50s the 20% was the number who did NOT trust government.

As soon as it dawned on Northwest school officials that the failure of trust was the core problem in getting sorely needed local revenues passed by Northwest voters, it appears to the SCPR that they did go to work on an emergency program to restore trust.

But the problem with a panic program to restore trust (or, if you will:  "a quick fix"), is that any measure taken is viewed by some as being insincere and designed just to get the levy passed.  Too many times the skeptical view has proved to be accurate.

Gindlesberger's statement on the gravity of the trust problem in Northwest did not go far enough.

The problem is more than a Summit County (New Franklin and Clinton) problem.  Obviously, many Summit County constituents feel they are the outsiders in the Northwest district.  When the Board had several opportunities to bring a New Franklin or Clinton member onto the Board when board slots opened up; they failed to.  Accordingly, the Summit County constituents likely feel that they still are not embraced by district officials.

Other distrust generating problems include the bus garage purchase, the water line extension (without considering drilling its own well system) , the conversion of inside millage to meet Northwest's share of Ohio Schools Facilities Commission monies (about $1 million) and other lesser but cumulative slights of Northwest constituents which build - over time and repetition - into festering sores of generalized distrust.

Moreover, the very structure of the earned income tax effort suggests a pitting of working people against the retired.  One of the big efforts of the vote yes folks is to senior citizens, many of whom have no earned income but only tax exempt retirement and investment income.

As a parenthetical, this approach may not be the panacea of getting seniors to vote for the levy as school officials apparently think.  A mushrooming reality is that many senior citizens are returning to the "earned income" workforce out of necessity.  Years of inflation have taken their toll on viability of pensions to sustain recipients.  Also, escalating heath care deductibles erode pension income even more. 

In recent days another developing garden of distrust is a revelation that the 1% earned income tax issue (Issue 7) "Save Tomorrow" committee is 70% percent or better financed employees of the school district.  Employees who may be asking for wage increases when contract negotiations are taken up next year.

Already, a number of voters are asking:  "Is this really about preserving the Northwest school system for the kids or is it about preserving the jobs and lifestyles of a relative few?"

A question like this only surfaces in the volume and frequency that one hears it in Northwest in an atmosphere of significant distrust.

Even those who opt to vote for the tax will be closely watching school officials and union representatives in 2011 (assuming the issue passes) to see whether or not their decision to "trust" for purposes of Issue 7 were merited.

The big danger for Northwest officials lies in the passage of Issue 7.

Will it be back to business as it was in the years of levy failures?

As The Report writes, talk is circulating that Ohio could be cutting local school districts by as much as 30%.  One high level county education official is saying that if the 30% cuts materialize, Stark County schools will be finished unless they can make the money up with local levies.

A 30% cut in Northwest state funding likely means that the 1% earned income tax revenues will not last the projected 5 years. And Northwest is likely to be back with an additional levy request in the interim, especially if district employees get a pay increase in the 2011 negotiations.

It could be that not even a "pay freeze" in 2011 will do.  It may take pay cuts, if Northwest is to maintain its staff at current levels.  If salary cuts are what the financial condition of the Northwest schools call for, then can Northwest voters trust the administration and the bargaining unit to put the subject on the negotiating table?

The upshot of the foregoing analysis is that even if the earned income tax passes, Northwest school officials must ramp up exponentially the effort to re-build community wide trust or this will be the last levy they pass in a very, very long time!

CAN NORTHWEST SCHOOLS CONSTITUENTS "REALLY" GET THEIR QUESTIONS ANSWERED?

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One of the things that the Northwest Schools (Canal Fulton, Lawrence Twp, New Franklin and Clinton and small parts of Wayne County) have endeavored to do is to answer questions about the upcoming (May 4th) levy issue (1% earned income tax).

On its website, partially pictured above, readers will see that the district even has a "Rumor Mill Blog."  Commendable, no?

It is, but?

A SCPR source (a Northwest voter) recently sent to The Report a copy of answers to questions that the source obtained from Northwest Treasurer Dan Levengood (pictured above).

According to the source, it took Levengood quite a while to answer the questions which led the source to believe he would getting detailed and complete answers.

Well, the source thinks that the answers are neither detailed nor complete which The Report believes is a strange turn of events for an administration that puts a "Rumor Mill Blog" on its website.

So the question becomes:  Is the apparent willingness to answer any and all questions more "splash and dash" than reality? 

If so, the SCPR believes that the apparent Northwest approach to levy passage might be viewed by some voters as an attempt to "bamboozle" the public rather than in reality being a straightforward "give us your hardest questions and we will face up candidly and fully with them" approach.

The importance of the later over the former is that the Northwest school district desperately needs to be perceived to be rebuilding trust within the district.  Being transparent and fully forthcoming are vital elements in rebuilding trust.

For Northwest officials will have to be back to the voters in five years for a new levy by the very terms of the May 4th tax issue? 
In 2015, if the voters think they were finessed in 2010, it could be a Yogi Berra-esque "deja va, all over again" magnified in terms of ever getting Northwest voters to approve another tax issue.

What is done is done in Northwest for this 2010 election. 

It could be that what the board and administration have achieved a miracle in that they have restored trust (at least enough to get the 1% earned income tax issue passed) between August, 2009 (see Gindlesberger statement in the SCPR's next most recent blog on the Northwest tax issue) and May, 2010.

Anyway, below is a replication of Treasurer Levengood's answers.  Detailed and complete?  You be the judge. 

On the overall issue of trust rebuilding, Northwest voters will be come May 4, 2010!

IS THE NORTHWEST BOARD OF EDUCATION "REALLY" LISTENING? SEE VIDEO OF BOARD/CITIZEN INTERACTION.

Last evening the Northwest Local School District held its much ballyhooed public event in which the board of education met with about 380 Canal Fulton, Lawrence Township, North Lawrence and New Franklin residents to get their input on an "action plan" geared to restoring trust in the board which the board wants to parlay into a passage of  issue to bring new revenues into the district.

The structure that Northwest school officials set up for receiving input was effectively done as evidenced by the engaged participation of community persons in the ten to a "roundtable" format.

These groups of ten selected a leader who tallied the preferences of participants on the five highest priorities of each group (about 38 in number) which was then communicated in summary form to the board in a post-table-talk general session.

One of the Northwest School's constituents can be seen on the video at the end of this blog telling the Northwest Board of Education (in the general session at the end of the evening) that since they are "new" (all except Steven Jones), the community needs to give them a chance to show that they are trustworthy.

But will the community heed the admonition?

It might.  However, there could not be a tougher economic/financial climate for even a "new" board to climb that hurdle.

Take a look at the May, 2009 levy election results:

The Stark County portion (the largest) of the election was evenly divided on the levy whereas the vote went down by nearly 300 votes in Summit County (New Franklin).

Assuming the same number of voters in May, 2010 (which it appears will be the date the Northwest Board of Education will pick to put an issue before the voters), the "new" board line appeal will need to attract about 150 votes from the "against" side.

Can this be done?

Remember the financial crisis in the country did not materialize until the fall of 2009.  The SCPR believes whether or not individual Northwest voters were directly affected by the crisis, the crisis set up a "hunker down" mentality on tax increases  and it will be a tough sell to get any new levies passed in Stark County no matter how sorely new revenues are needed, even if  trust improves in a given locality such as Northwest.

And the SCPR does believe that the distrust of the "old" board was the major factor in prior Northwest levy defeats.

The opposite question now is this.  What is the "new" board's track record on the "trust" issue.

As can been seen in the accompanying video, it appears that there is an improvement, if one believes those presented in the video are representative of the Northwest community.

The Report believes the "new" board has done a number of things that suggest they are still trying to manipulate rather than to openly, honestly and transparently connect with consumers of Northwest's educational services.

What things?

First, there is the "community survey" done a number of months ago .  The SCPR's gauge of the survey is that the questions asked were the first cousin of a "political push polling."

A push poll is where questions are formed to elicit a desired response.

The problem with push polling is that it often is an exercise in fooling one's self.

When the "real" election occurs, believers of the push poll are stunned when the actual election produces a different result.

Second, there is the New Franklin factor.

Obviously,  in voting 2 to 1 against the May, 2009 Northwest levy try, Summit County constituents of the Northwest schools demonstrate that they are less than thrilled with the school system.

Could it be that the distrust is because there is no Summit County member of the board?

While the board was considering new members for vacancies that occurred over the last year or so, why wasn't a priority of the Jones-led board getting an eligible Summit County member on board (no pun intended)?  Think maybe the folks in the Summit County side of the the district might feel just a little bit disconnected?

Third, there is the seeming manipulations of the calendar on the schools/community interaction set up by the Northwest board by resolution on December 15, 2009.

It appeared to the SCPR that maybe the board wanted to downplay the committee meetings (committees working on formulating actions plans) held on January 11th.  The official explanation is that the "on," then "off," and then "back-on" again calendar scenario was inadvertent.  But was it?

Could be that the volleyball-esque calendar miscue was inadvertent, but given the history of distrust in the Northwest district, such incidents are bound to fuel suspicions that manipulations are still the preferred way of doing business in Northwest. 

Fourth, there  were disclaimers published in the general news media stating that the meetings of the 11th and 18th had nothing to do with a levy.  Moreover, it was touted that Superintendent Stetler was an "incidental," at most,  player in the "action plan" process.

Viewers of the video included with this blog will see that the "levy" was on everybody's mind at last night's meeting.  And Stetler was more than incidentally involved.

This "you don't see what your eyes and mind tell you that you are seeing" routine is insulting and is a ominous sign that with a "new" board; perhaps, very little, if anything has changed in terms fostering trust.

Other worrisome signs include:  the Board's failure to solicit applicants for vacant board seats, in an open-to-all, transparent way and the board's shifting of millage (no vote of the people, please) to satisfy the district's mandatory share of the Ohio's Schools Facilities Commission funding of school construction.

The foregoing are troublesome, but not necessarily fatal to restoring trust.  But the Board have further adjustments to make.

There appear to be three members of the "new" board that are more "trust" engendering than others.

Look at the numbers below of the November, 2009 vote whereby all five members were up for election.  It took a "perfect  storm" of events for this election phenomenon to occur.  Such is a rarity, indeed.

Notice that Nicole Metzger is the most trusted person on the Board.  Next is Rita Gearhart and then Jim Gindlesberger.  Hmm?

Who is at the low end of the "trust" spectrum?

Carryover "old" board member Steven Jones and Bruce Beadle who has a history of home schooling his children.

It is obvious that Jones and Beadle should be shuttled to the background during any levy try and Nicole Metzger advanced to be the lead Board person.

Yours truly listened to Metzger at the candidates night in October, 2009 and noted that she, by force of  her personality, engenders trust.  However, she doesn't appear to be all that comfortable in being front and center.

Hmm?

Lack of ego?

A refreshing change.

Metzger could be the answer as the person to put in the public eye if Northwest is to have a "new beginning" in restoring trust among the constituents of the Northwest Local School District.

Here is the video of participants in the Northwest community input night giving their and their groups' view of what Northwest needs to do to achieve a restoration of community trust.