Sunday, May 17, 2015

#8 - THE SCPR "BOTTOM 10" (I.E. WORST) STARK COUNTY POLITICAL SUBDIVISION ELECTED OFFICIALS



This blog is the third in a series of 10 blogs until the tenth one in which The Stark County Political Report will name the absolutely worst Stark County political subdivision "elected" official.

For those readers who are just catching up with the list, here are links to the previous two.
To be sure, there are some pretty bad "un-elected" ones, but the SCPR's focus in this series is of the "elected variety."

The Report has asked readers to weigh-in as to whom will achieve the dubious distinction of being Stark County's worst from among the list of county, village, city and board of education officials who have convinced their respective constituents to vote for them.

Interestingly enough, one respondent to yours truly's request that readers send their guess to tramols@att.net has successfully figured out the name of the official who will be blessed in a few days with the unveiling of the absolutely worst - in the opinion of SCR - Stark County political subdivision elected official.

For those readers who want to join the elite group of successful guessers, here is a clue.

The "winner" is NOT a member of the Maier Massillon Political Machine (MMPM).

We all just heard a sigh of relief - didn't we? - from Kathy, Johnnie, Jr., Phil, George, and the like.

However, some of those devotees to the MMPM need to keep their fingers crossed in hopes that they will place somewhere in the remaining six slots.

Remember, none of them made the top spot.  Sorry guys!

Better luck in the next quarterly report.

Today's honoree is the president of the Canton Local Schools Board of Education (i.e. Canton South High School District, "CLS-BOE"); namely, Dave Brothers, both individually as a member of the board for some 18 years now and in the representational sense for the entire board in his capacity as the board leader.

Who does the SCPR take President Brothers to represent in boardsmanship style?


And beyond the Canton Local Schools his style of leadership as being indicative (in terms of accessibility, accountability and responsiveness to constituents) of all too many boards of education throughout Stark County, Ohio and indeed the nation.

It is yours truly's experience that boards of education are by and large the "all too often" uncritical captives of their respective superintendents

It appears to The Report that has been the case in the Canton Local School District BOE vis-a-vis the now retiring Superintendent Kim Redmond.


There is a story to the manner in which Ms. Redmond notified the CSD-BOE and the Canton Local public that she is retiring.

But that comes later in this blog.

The main reason the SCPR sees fit to name Brothers and his colleagues as #8 on The Report's Bottom 10 of the Worst Stark County Political Subdivision elected officials list has to do with the process the board invoked back in June, 2014 when it appointed Dianne Williams to replace member John Martin who resigned in late May, 2014 and left with a stormy assessment of the way the CLSD-BOE conducts its business.

Yours truly encourages readers to go to The Report June 17, 2014 blog (LINK) to get a thorough understanding of the background of what went on among members of the CLSD-BOE in arriving at the decision of Williams replacing Martin.


The SCPR graphic compares the CLSD-BOE located in the democratic republic of the United States of America and its board appointment processes to line "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" a la the Shakespearean play Hamlet as spoken by Marcellus.

And here is a summary paragraph from the June 17, 2014 blog:


That there would be any question whatsoever that an elected body followed the law of Ohio in its procedures is troublesome indeed.

No wonder there is discontent in the Canton Local District.

There is a remedy to the discontent.

It's called an election.


Interestingly enough, as of the date of the writing of this blog; nobody including Knight and Williams have taken out petitions.

Of course there are over two months before the filing deadline.

And now to the bizarre superfast press release to school board meeting to act on Redmond's resignation timeline.



Note the May 1, 2015 (note:  no hour and minutes indication) date on the press release.

So one has to presume  (isn't that an splendid way to do the district's business) that the release was sent out at the very least 8:59.59 or sometime before 9:00 a.m. (the law requiring 24 hour notice to the public).

Isn't that just wonderful:  "One has to presume!"

Apparently, the very same day (no "written/sent out" date on his letter, how sloppy can you be Treasurer Schatzel?), the school district's treasurer sends out a notice to the CLSD board members themselves, to wit:



Undoubtedly, they (i.e. the CLSC-BOE members) knew way before May 1st that Redmond was leaving.

It is apparent to the SCPR that the Canton Local Schools District Board of Education thinks it is an "island unto itself."

The Redmond resignation process makes it obvious that nothing has changed with the culture in place at the CLSD-BOE notwithstanding the passage of nearly a year since the questionable process in appointing Dianne Williams to replace John Martin went down.

Another "Bush League" operation at the hand of the CLSD-BOE-led culture of snubbing those who question the BOE's way of doing business - the SCPR is told - was the omission of township elected officials from the April 29th ground-breaking dignitary invitation list.

From the district's website this:


The SCPR is told that it is common knowledge throughout Canton Township that there is a chilly relationship between the CLSD-BOE/Administration and the township's Board of Trustees.

But, if accurate (note:  the SCPR sees no reference to any elected township officials in the cited-above website link); snubbing them is pretty petty stuff, no?

And highly disappointing coming from folks who say they are devoted to educating (e.g. "come let us reason together") our youth, no?

Accordingly, President Dave Brothers in his individual capacity as a board member and representationally in his role as president of the board for the tone set in relation to the Canton South community, richly deserves to be singled out as #8 on The Stark County Political Report's bottom 10 list of Stark County Political Subdivision elected officials.

Moreover, the SCPR includes the board membership at large as deserving of being included in the #8 grouping on The Stark County Political Reports bottom 10 list of elected officials.

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