THE MESSAGE TO ADRIAN ALLISON? SLOW DOWN ON McKINLEY TAKEOVER OF TIMKEN?

VIDEOS

CANTON CITY SCHOOLS
AT
JANUARY 20, 2015
COMMUNITY LEADERS FORUM

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LEADER INPUT WITH ALLISON’S RESPONSE

COUNCILMAN KEVIN FISHER

DR. ADRIENNE O’NEILL

ATTORNEY GUST CALLAS

TAGGART’S ERNIE SCHOTT

COUNCILMAN RICHARD HART

MALONE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DAVID KING

It is appearing more and more that Canton City Schools (CCS) superintendent Adrian Allison has a hearing public.

The predominant message that The Stark County Political Report is hearing from stakeholders is that the "acquisition" (community activist/former board member Eric Resnick's word) by school officials/a majority of board members of the Canton City Schools' Timken High School to be totally absorbed in the more highly renowned and titled McKinley High School.

A week ago yesterday, Allison invited what he terms as being community leaders to a breakfast meeting (muffins and coffee) at the McIllwain Center located at the schools' administrative complex on - where else - (only kidding) 305 McKinley Avenue.

Last week the SCPR focused on the major dissident to seeming "fast track" that the administration and school board have embarked upon in "merging" (if one opts for Allison's descriptive term rather than Resnick's pejorative one) Timken and McKinley into one secondary school.

(Video LINK to Resnick/Allison tete-a-tete; also SCPR blog LINK commenting thereon)

Most of those present (The Report's take) supported Allison's/the board's timeframe.  But not all.  And Resnick was not the only "cautioning voice."

The major question now is whether or not Superintendent Allison will pause to listen even if it means postponing the scheduled February 25 meeting which as of now is supposed to be "the drop dead date" on  CCS Board of Education voting "yes" or "no" on what is formally known as Phase III of the school systems "Brighter Tomorrow Plan."

Here is an indicative e-mail that the SCPR received about a perceived need "to slow down the process," to wit:

Interesting enough, the e-mail is from a McKinley alum.

And noted in the above e-mail there is an allegation of politics being played.  Undoubtedly, there are many Cantonians who buy into "this is politics as usual" scenario.

Moreover, there is the Hall of Fame Village (adjacent to the formerly name "Fawcett Stadium/McKinley High School) project thing.

The SCPR was present with camera in hand on January 20 when Allison made his presentation to about 40, more or less, community leaders.

The Report starts its "video-run-through" with the Hall of Fame issue.

To the SCPR, the most disturbing thing about Allison's presentation of Phase III was his outright dismissiveness of the signifIcance of the Hall of Fame project and an apparent disinterest (or, at least, a low priority) by Allison and the BOE about the effect that shutting down of Timken will have on efforts of Canton and Stark County leaders to revive downtown Canton.

Here is Allison had to say about any coordination between the CCS and the HOF Village project.  In a word:  "none."  Which, the SCPR thinks, should be alarming to all.



The SCPR wholeheartedly agrees, though, with Greater Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce president Denny Saunier's word of admonition on the schools connecting to Greater Canton concerns on a nexus with the the HOF complex and a continuing presence in downtown Canton, to wit:



From this point on The Report's video track starts at the beginning of Allison's presentation.

In Part I Allison's focus is on four factors in implementing Phase III of the Brighter Tomorrow plan:

• efficiency,
• necessity,
• cutural, and the
• law

The one which is causing the big fight between the administration and the BOE is the "cultural" factor.

In the Resnick blog, one gets a full dose of this fight from the Timken perspective.

It appears to the SCPR that most of the community leaders assembled on January 20th at the McIllwain Center were pro-merger community leader supporters.

Later on in this blog will focus on the community leader feedback - leader by leader, except for Resnick who has already had "his day in the sun" of a SCPR blog - with video footage of their respective comments.

Of course, The Report has already presented Canton Chamber of Commerce CEO Denny Sanuier's reaction/input above.

That reaction was, the SCPR believes, prompted by Allison's discouraging comments about CCS's lack of liaison with the HOF Village project.

Here is Part I:



And Part II:



And Part III:



Finally, Part IV - Phase III Decision Timeline



The important part of the presentation and the one which should have taken up most of the superintendent's time and attention was the reaction of the community leaders who made the early morning (7:30 a.m.) trip to the CCS McIllwain Center.

Considering the schedules that community leaders have to meet, he correctly allocated one hour for the session.

However, he took way too long for his presentation.

Accordingly, the SCPR thinks that he and board members present (Brahler, Rinaldi, Milligan and Ross-Freedom) were denied the opportunity to hear a spontaneous exchange between the community leaders present and Allison.

In this section of today's blog, the SCPR honors the community leader participants in creating a separate video for each and every one of them in their back and forth with Superintendent Allison.

KEVIN FISHER

• Ward 5 councilman
• talks about brand name value of McKinley

(Canton City Council, Ward 5)



DR. ADRIENNE O'NEILL

• Long time Stark County Educational Partnership president
• keep a competive factor in play
• maintain presence in downtown Canton

GUST CALLAS

• Repository "intellectually dishonest" on Phase III timeline matter,

ERNIE SCHOTT

• the owner of Taggarts Ice Cream Parlor and Kennedy Barbecue.
• commends CCS BOE for effort to save taxpayers money

RICHARD HART

• Canton councilman at large,
• questions on cost to CCS on home schooling and charter schools

DAVID KING

• president of Malone University,
• keep the focus on the students

There is no doubt that the Timken/McKinley merger is a hot topic that has the potential to create yet another division in Canton.

The Hall of Fame city has all too many ruptures in relationships that have materialized over the decades of Canton's continuing decline.

The Report has the sense that the CCS BOE and Superintendent Allison are not effectively managing the implementation of the Brighter Tomorrow concept.

They need to step back, regroup and take whatever time is needed to ensure that all stakeholders in the reorganizing and restructuring of Canton's schools is bought into by the vast majority of Cantonians.

If they rush "pell mell" forward and the "rush to judgment" is just that, Canton may be set back even further than it is on getting things going in the right direction.

FOLLOW UP: ONLY 3 OF 17 STARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICTS APPLY FOR SORELY NEEDED FUNDS. DO LOCAL TEACHER UNIONS STAND IN WAY? ONLY ONE STARK COUNTY LOCAL UNION (CANTON LOCAL - AKA CANTON SOUTH) FULLY COOPERATED? HMM?

Back on January 19th, the SCPR published a blog dealing with the Canton Professional Teachers Union (CPEA) being the primary reason that Canton City Schools (CCS) passed on applying for up to $3 million in federal grants (stimulus funds) through a U.S. Department of Education Race to the Top program funneled through state departments of education (ODE - in Ohio).

The SCPR was getting different accounts of the CPEA's refusal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was required to be filed with the ODE about two weeks ago.

James Carman, who is a board member for the Canton City Schools, pointed the finger at the CPEA and its president Pam Jackson.

Jackson told The Report that Carman has it wrong.  She said the decision not to apply for the grant was a "joint" decision between her (as the representative of the CPEA) and Doctor Michele Evans, superintendent of the Canton City Schools.


CLICK HERE to get up to speed with the prior statements of Carman and Jackson.

Yesterday, the SCPR received a phone call from Dr. Evans giving her version.

Evans' statement in and of itself was no help on clearing up what doubt lingers as to whether or not "the failure to apply" was a "joint" decision or totally the doing of the CPEA.  One has to understand that superintendents MUST maintain good working relationships with their bargaining units in order get anything done in local school districts.  Accordingly, on its face, Evans' statement was as ambiguous as this highly intelligent school administrator could make it.

But yours truly is skilled in "reading between the lines."  So what follows is the SCPR's interpretation of what Dr. Evans was really saying.

In the opinion of yours truly, Superintendent Evans was "ready, willing and able" to sign the MOU as instructed by her board of education.  However, the point became "moot" when discussions with Jackson made it clear to Evans that CPEA president Jackson was not going to sign the MOU.

The tragedy of all this is that the CPEA could have had it both ways.  If the Canton City School system is awarded a grant, and the requirements to implement the standards of Race to the Top proved (when fully known) not compatible with the productive functioning of the CCS, then the collective (the board, the administration and the union) could have said "thanks, but no thanks."

A Ohio Department of Education official told Superintendent Evans and the unions such, but the ODE was not agreeable to having such language put in the required Memorandum of Understanding.

Now the CCS and the union are in the position of hoping that Ohio is not granted participation in the first round of the Race to the Top funding and that there is a second round to get in on come June, 2010.

Another wrinkle to this "tail wagging the dog" scenario cropped up in the Marlington and East Canton school systems.  In those districts, the local unions did sign on, but insisted on inserting the "opt out" right language in the MOU which is a violation of ODE grant submission rules and therefore it is very likely that their applications will be rejected.

Beyond Canton Local, Marlington and East Canton,  fourteen Stark County School districts have rejected altogether applying for the stimulus monies.  Among the fourteen is the Fairless school system which is in a major financial crisis.  Why would Fairless fail to apply?

As an aside:  It will be interesting to track new school board member Charles Snyder - of "Vote No for Increased Taxes" fame on the Stark County commissioner imposed 0.5 percent sales/use tax increase and his actions on the Fairless financial crisis.

Another interesting case is the Northwest Local School District.  If there is such a thing as school district twins - Northwest and Fairless fit the bill.

Northwest is a district that has not had new revenues approved by voters for 10 years.  Last night the Northwest Board of Education voted to put a 5 year, 1% income tax levy on the ballot in May's primary election.  And yet Northwest failed to apply for Race to the Top monies. 

Stetler, the superintendent at Northwest,  tells the SCPR that Northwest chose not to apply because the money the district stood to get was not worth the effort and that getting the funds would subject Northwest to undesirable federal controls.   Moreover, Stetler said that he/the board never got to the point of asking the local teachers union, but that he fully expected that the union would have been troublesome.

An interesting side to this whole discussion is that the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers (both statewide union organizations) support applying for Race to the Top grants.

It does, in the final analysis, come down to the reality that changing how we do education in Stark County, Ohio and the nation is - to a large degree - in the hands of local teachers unions.

In the public mind, this kind of power in the hands of local teachers unions is not sustainable.

The SCPR believes that over time, the voting public will tighten and tighten the financial noose around the necks of school districts until local unions let go of their refusal to do meaningful change.

While the local teachers are warring against transformation; this is a battle they cannot win in a tough economy that is going not to rebound to its former glory anytime soon, if ever.  Because in the end the taxpaying public will have their way.

Local teachers unions think they are at war with school boards and superintendents, but they are not.  The general public is sick and tired of the poor results that are coming from public education and the public is fighting back.

This war is between local teachers unions and the tax paying public.

Right now, Stark County's teachers through their unions are choosing to be part of the problem.

If they want to survive long term; they had better get up and running on being a part of the solution!!!