Canton Parks and Recreation Department (CP&R) reviewing whether or not to replace its director (presently Healy administration holdover Derek Gordon) would become the proverbial "can of worms."
Some things are best left unopened.
For one might find that the upon a thing or matter being opened, it may prove to be infested with worms and of course nobody likes to have deal with worms.
The CP&R directorship going forward may be one of those matters.
It had to be awkward yesterday as newly appointed CP&R commissioners Sam Sliman and Mike Hanke (appointed by newly elected—November, 2015, "independent" mayor Thomas M. Bernabei—along with holdover commissioner Andy Black sat down at the meeting table with Director Gordon with the first item of business being: "Parks and Recreation Director Job Posting Review."
Look at this segment of the Canton Parks and Recreation Board of Commissioners meeting opening in which Gordon makes the point that he will not be in that he is going to be an applicant to succeed himself be part of the process of the board of commissioners deliberation/consideration of who will be the director of the newly reorganized Canton Parks and Recreation Department.
Recently, Canton City Council recognized Gordon, Sliman and J.R. Rinaldi (likely to be a candidate to succeed Gordon as director) for their collective successful effort to get funding in place for the merger of the Canton Parks Commission and the Canton Joint Recreation District (CJRD) which obviously take place not later than December 31, 2016 because on that date the independent funding source for the CJRD will expire.
Rinaldi is a member of and vice president of the Canton City Schools Board of Education (CCS-BOE).
And, he is very close-in with the Bernabei administration.
Notwithstanding Canton City Council including Gordon in its recognition of the passage on March 15, 2016 of the funding for the CP&R, the SCPR believes that there are those in key Canton political power positions who blame Gordon's lackluster approach for the defeat of the original issue back in November, 2015.
But there is recognition that the wording of the ballot language may have been to blame also.
Though Sliman and Gordon were included in the council recognition, it appears to be widely believed among Canton officialdom that Rinaldi was the heart and soul of the successful November effort on the levy.
The SCPR thinks that "behind the scenes," there will be a Battle Royale as to who becomes the first director of the newly reorganized Canton Parks and Recreation Department.
The Report has a very supportive/glowing e-mail from a sitting member of Canton City Council that will be published in a later part of the planned multi-part series.
Undoubtedly, many, if not most, perhaps all of Canton's councilpersons would be pleased to have Gordon selected.
Competition between Gordon and Rinaldi might provide an opportunity for a "compromise" candidate being selected as director.
A local version of the Republican National Committee selection of a presidential candidate?
Added spice to yesterday's meeting was the presence of the members of the fading CJRD. The CJRD held a special meeting immediately on the conclusion of the Canton Parks and Recreation Commission meeting.
In the course the the CP&R commission meeting, various CJRD members participated in a dialogue with CP&R members on various topics.
One of the more controversial inputs came from Ida Mae Ross-Freeman (a former CCS-BOE member who was defeated for reelection in November, 2015).
The Report's take on Ross-Freeman as at least insinuating if not outright accusing Black, Hanke and Sliman of acting as elitists in setting up the format for selecting the new CP&R director.
Take a look for yourself:
There is much more to come on The Stark County Political Report as the process to select a director gets going and winds down to a conclusion.
Here are a couple of files provided by the Canton Parks and Recreation Department which outlines what the qualifications are for being director:
And more details on the expectations of a director and the process:
The Report will be sharing video in future parts of this multi-part which provides the context to Ross-Freeman's comments as well as revealing input by other CJRD board members.
The merger of the Canton Parks Department with with Canton Joint Recreation District was conceived and birthed in pain, anguish and controversy and it appears from yesterday's meeting now to be experiencing growing up pains.
But for opening up a reassessment of who is to be the director of the merged entity going forward, it might not have been open to public consumption the travail that continues.
The Report thinks that whomever came up with the idea of opening up the directorship question might now be thinking: "OMG, we opened a can worms!"
After 4-1/2 years Massillon mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry has finally figured out that in order to solve Massillon's financial/economic problems, she must work with Massillon City Council.
That's the SCPR's takeaway from last night's work session council meeting in which the mayor made a proposal for persuading Massillon's voters to provide some $1M to $1.4 million in additional revenues to the city.
Except for a small parks and recreation dedicated levy, Massillonians have been unwilling going back to 1977 to provide the city's elected and appointed officials one cent more in revenues to run the city with.
Here is the mayor's core presentation of last night, in her own words:
Anyone who knows anything about Massillon government and politics knows (if they are honest with themselves) that the mayor has been her own worst enemy and for some Massillonians a veritable nightmare as this once rock solid Stark County city has slidden into a condition of treading water under her administration.
Had Catazaro-Perry at the beginning of her administration pushed for a dedicated levy plan for the streets department as she did last night, The Report thinks that a majority of Massillonians would have bought in and Tigerland would be miles of ahead of where it is now.
Instead she decided to play politics in insisting that Ohio government needed to place Massillon in fiscal emergency so that four years down the road at re-election time she could don the role of political heroine in having brought Massillon back to financial if not economic development health.
She apparently assumed that somewhere across those four years, Massillonians would agree to provide more revenues to Massillon so she had the resources to be a miracle worker.
Had she handled herself differently, they well may have.
But she chose to engage a pitched battle with council and here we are coming up in August with a fourth try for Massillon government to get sorely needed additional revenue.
As the SCPR sees it, in the back and forth underlying political warfare between the mayor and certain city councilpersons; getting a levy passed was not ever, ever going to happen.
Rather than admit the disaster she has been as mayor (only 40% of Massillon's 2015 general election voters voted for her in a three way contest coupled with her coming very close to losing the Democratic primary to a political unknown [Ress]), she continues to put an unreal picture of Massillon's financial and economic picture.
She talks about stability (hence the stones piled on one another in the lead graphic of this blog) but at the same time talks about "limping along," (hence the wilting flower in the graphic).
To The Report, such talk is trying to have it both ways which is symptomatic of one who cannot admit to herself that her refusal to work with council constructively over her first term in office has put Massillon in a terrible financial and economic development stance.
At the end of 2015 she was ebullient about a supposed $1.95 million carryover into 2016.
However, her straight-talking, has the confidence and respect of nearly every if not every member of council—Safety-Service Director Joel Smith—has consistently in effect said that the $1.95 million is a mirage in that he and other Massillon officials could spend the supposed surplus in a nanosecond.
Of course, as seen in the video above, she is now parroting Smith.
The Report's recollection is that originally (when the carryover was first ballyhooed) the mayor was not focusing on the reality that the $1.95M carryover only existed because Massillon officialdom forwent purchasing critically needed equipment, supplies and the providing of services.
The Dean of Massillon City Council (Councilman-at-Large Paul Manson) at the work session put the proper perspective on the state of financial affairs when he said that Massillon is some four to five million short of dealing with its government capital needs.
The only reason Masillon has a semblance of fiscal stability (the stone) is because Massillon has become a bare bones government that is only marginally meeting the needs of Massillonians.
In the video, Catazaro-Perry cites "confusion" over the ballot language as one of the reasons for the defeat of the March, 2016 tax issue.
And she might be partially correct that it was a contributing factor for its defeat.
But a more compelling reason in the confusion she has sewn with Massillon voters in her political dilly-dallying around with fiscal emergency, sitting on her hands on prior levy efforts and for nearly four years blaming the predecessor administration for all that ails Massillon.
If Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry will allow Safety-Service Director Joel Smith (who has been on the job for about a year) to be the de facto mayor of Massillon, then a Massillonian approval of a August "for the Streets Department" only levy might just get Massillon on a pathway to erasing the $4/5 million government capital/infrastructure deficit that Manson speaks of and on the roadway to Massillon government operating in a milieu of financial health.
Smith actually knows how to govern. The mayor doesn't. Nor did/do her prop-ups ("Kitchen Cabinet") Johnnie A. Maier, Jr., R. Shane Jackson or Eddie Elum.
Catazaro-Perry needs to do what she does best.
Be the cheerleader-in-chief of a city she has dubbed as being the "City of Champions."
Cheer on Mayor Kathy!
Leave the governance to Joel Smith and others in her administration who know what they are doing!
UPDATED: 10:45 AM (See excerpt from reader e-mail beneath Baker photo)
Update: An excerpt from n reader e-mail on the issue of whether or not Benson Stadium will be ready for local high schools/colleges, to wit:
Good morning Martin, ...
I was reading your recent installment on the topic of the HOF Village.
You said:
"Smuckler
and other assembled council persons in the Q&AS failed to seek
assurance that the stadium will in fact be completed on time for this
year's HOF game and Canton/Plain Township high school football season. "
I
know that in the WKYC interview of HOF President Baker, he assured the
media that the field would be ready for the HOF game. However right
after they would resume work on the other side of the stadium.
However,
I thought you may be interested to know the schools have actually
contracted with other schools / colleges in the area to use their
football facilities this fall. For example Walsh University who uses
Fawcett stadium has contracted to play their home games at North Canton
Memorial Stadium (they cover this on their football website).
McKinley will play no home games this season for the same reason.
... .
VIDEOS
David Baker
on the
Purpose of the HOF Project (Inspiration)
and the
Components of the Project
===============================
Questions or Lack thereof
Put to Baker
by
Canton Government Officials
It appeared that the members of Canton City Council and the Mayor Thomas Bernabei administration present were "spellbound" by Pro Football Hall of Fame CEO/Executive Director David Baker's "update" presentation last Tuesday (April 5, 2016) on the progress of NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Village Project (HOF, HOF-V, HOF-VP).
Today's blog starts off with additional video of Baker's presentation, which he says, shows the HOF-VP to be clothed in mission, purpose and values designed to inspire and thereby over the longer haul fetch the attention of the world that Canton, Stark County, Ohio is to be—as the primary purpose of the HOF-VP, according to Baker— the "inspiration center of the earth as he says the Disney complexes are "the happiest places on earth."
A primary point that Baker made is that Canton and the HOF can compete with one another over existing area resources or they can work together to create a larger pie so that there is plenty for everybody.
First, a few slides from the Baker presentation.
Next, a video of most of Baker's presentation (NFL and HOF videos internal to the presentation omitted).
When complete, some years down the road, here is what HOF-V is to look like.
Other than the existing Hall complex itself, here is how the construction looks so far.
It could be that the attendees were so enthralled with Baker's presentation as being the reason why only a few questions were asked of him by Canton's government leaders at the end of his session.
Canton has invested $5 million dollars (paid out by Canton on September 4, 2015, [confirmed by Mark Crouse, Canton Finance Director]) so far in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Village Project.
Only Councilman Bill Smuckler asked a meaningful question.
And that had to do with the financing of the project.
But Smuckler's question did not delve deep enough into specifically how much money has been raised.
Smuckler and other assembled council persons in the Q&AS failed to seek assurance that the stadium will in fact be completed on time for this year's HOF game and Canton/Plain Township high school football season.
It would not go over well with Canton voters if the $5 million does not result in a large differential of value added to Canton in terms of it school facilities.
One Stark County political subdivision elected official whom the SCPR has been in contact with since the HOF-VP was announced nearly one year ago is hopeful that Baker's enthusiasm and optimism is well placed.
But this official has questions.
And there are others who have told The Report that they have concerns that the project has been ballyhooed to the degree that should it ultimately fail, Canton has seen nothing in terms of the doom and gloom that likely will set in to make it all the more difficult to rally the citizenry to the cause of digging Canton out of its current financial/economic development hole.
It is a hole that has been many years in the making and is owned by Canton government officials going back decades.
So said Canton's consultant for the Comprehensive Plan when he appeared before Canton City Council in a work session earlier this year.
Canton is currently running a $5.1 million annual deficit in its general fund operation and it is thought that the Canton City Council recently adopted Comprehensive Plan will require coming up with $465MM in order to get the city's infrastructure where it needs to be in order to be an attractive city for those looking for solid employment opportunities in a quality environment in which to live and raise their families.
The focal point of the skepticism such as it exists can be summarized in a few financial bullet points:
Where is he estimated $475MM (Baker's latest estimate to the SCPR) to $500MM (cited on the HOF-V website to come from?
How much as been raised so far?
How much as been spent so far?
What is to keep developers from cutting and running if it becomes apparent that the money is not coming at the levels needed to finish the various pieces of the HOF-VP?
Is the stadium renovation itself at risk of being only half completed because the millions needed to complete it as envisioned?
Does the existence of unanswered financial questions promote speculation that the session held last Tuesday is more manipulation than inspiration?
It does.
There is a suspicion in the air that either Canton and/or Stark County voters are going to be asked to pony up millions more to aid in completing the project.
One observer comments that there is no way that the renovation of the stadium can be completed with the money reputedly raised so far, thought to be somewhere around $30MM.
In today's Baker video, he talks about the stadium floor being lowered some 12 feet and moved 40 feet closer to the HOF building complex.
The University of Akron's football facility built eight years ago or so, cost some $61MM.
It is thought that lowering Benson Stadium is at a great cost increase.
That Baker did not bring up enough detail about the financing factor was unfortunate because all the absence of hard information does is fuel speculation and rumors.
And there are other questions, too.
Monies have been (Fulton Road corridor) and will be spent by Canton government to tie the HOF-VP to downtown Canton:
What exists and what will be developed in terms of attractions to give visitors the HOF-V a reason to stay Canton/Stark County not two or three hours (as is presently the case) but rather two, three, perhaps four (Saunier) days?
Are there more Canton based attractions to come? (that is to say, in addition to:)
ArtsInStark,
the National First Ladies' Library,
Canton's Park System,
the Market Square development,
Palace Theater attractions,
the Canton Symphony,
the annual Stark County Fair,
the McKinley Monument,
the relocating to Canton "Black College Football Hall of Fame,"
the Canton Charge, and the like
What else is there fanning out across Stark Countians to attract out-of-towners coming to the HOF-V to stay for more than a few hours?
If not, what is to hold HOF-V visitors for two/three/four days in Canton and Stark County?
Will one of the "unintended" consequences of the project result in the relocation of downtown Canton in a de facto sense from from the Tuscarawas, Market Avenue, Cleveland Avenue core to Fulton at Interstate 77?
Canton has had to cope with the Belden Village development, The Strip's development and perhaps expansion and now a Hall of Fame Village.
It is said that the HOF-V is not competition to Canton.
Really?
Skeptics of the viability of the HOF-VP fear that Baker's "inspiration" model in reality will turn out at the end of the day to be seen as having been a "manipulation" to stave off an early failure due to an inadequate plan to nail down the financing before beginning action on the visionary plan; rather than hope it will materialize as the project moves along.
The SCPR posed a question to Baker on the inchoate financing this way: "Is this 'begin to build it and they (the financiers) will come?"
His answer?
"In that statement I think you are not looking at the financing model properly," he said.
He went on to talk about needing a plan in place to create a vision of what is designed to be built piece by piece.
So it seems that the financial plan is the raise the money component by component until the entire village is complete.
Is piece-by-piece financing realistic, inquiring minds might want to ask?
Of course, the first piece is the renovation of what was once Fawcett Stadium, now named after $11 million stadium rehab contributor and New Orleans Saint's owner Tom Benson. The planned hotel and the Excellence Center are to begin being constructed on September 1st.
Not one of the analysts of the HOF-VP, of course, admits to wanting the project to ultimately fail.
But one has to wonder given the drift of the conversation beyond the matter of financial viability and sustainability.
It is a curiosity to the SCPR that one questioner keeps saying that more ought to be done to delve into David Baker's background.
Apparently, the query has to do with a Los Angeles Times 1988 matter (LINK) in which former Irvine, CA city councilman and mayor David Baker (running for a Republican nomination for a seat in Congress) pled guilty to a $48,000 felony forgery count (reduced on sentencing to a misdemeanor by the sentencing judge) for which Baker was ordered to do community service.
Local media has reported that the HOF Board of Trustees (LINK) in the person of Aultman Hospital executive Ed Roth has fully vetted Baker on the incident and is satisfied that C. David Baker is a quality person meriting his selection as the Hall's CEO/Executive Director.
Going back to 1988 in terms of looking for something negative on Baker seems a bit much to the SCPR. Baker, to his credit, in the LA Times piece says he has huge regrets on how he handled the matter.
Baker is involved another big stakes, visionary project as a partner in a Henderson, Nevada project (LINK).
One has to wonder how many "irons in the fire" one man can handle, no?
Nevertheless, it appears to the SCPR that Baker—other than the Irvine cited matter—has had a distinguished career. (LINK).
"More needs to be done to delve into Baker's background?"
As far as the SCPR can see, there is nothing to delve into.
If he and his team at the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame pull off the HOF-VP, Baker will likely end up being a Stark County icon.
However, The Report thinks that those (off the record as to identity) asking the questions need to be heard and answers provided.
It was disappointing that Canton's elected officials did not raise the questions posed by the skeptics cited in the blog at the meeting of April 5th.
Maybe they have in private in a more individualized setting.
If so, the SCPR is unimpressed.
And so should be the citizens of Canton, indeed, all of Stark County.
The Report did try to contact HOF officials to find out whether or not periodic financial accountings for funds-in, funds out are in the offing.
No response to the attempted contact so far.
Already there are millions of dollars of taxpayer monies that are not yet accounted for to the taxpaying public in terms of an in-and-out financial journal.
Realize it or not, Canton's elected officials should be pressing for such an accounting in their own political interests.
But if they want to take the personal/political risk of not having done so and things do not turn out well; they only have themselves to blame.
Not doing so is not an option insofar as the taxpayers' interest is concerned.
Today, in this multi-part series—a Stark County Political Report exclusive—on a presentation Tuesday night by the management of the National Football League (NFL) Pro Football Hall of Fame (HOF) on the Hall of Fame Village Project (HOFVP), The Report focuses on the opening of the presentation made by Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce (CRCC) president Denny Saunier.
Saunier has been president and CEO of the CRCC for some 16 years now.
His biography shows him to be a highly credentialed and community involved leader.
He opened up Tuesday's NFL Hall of Fame Village Project update with this statement:
" ... [W]e are in the most critical, exciting times in Canton ... "
And he went on to talk about the hugeness of the project in terms of the future economic well being on Canton and indeed all of Stark County.
In yesterday's blog, the dean of Canton City Council—Councilman at Large Bill Smuckler—echoed Sanuier's take on the significance of the HOFVP.
Some Stark Countians a just a bit more reserved on Saunier's and Smuckler's assessment.
Perhaps they remember the ebullience on the part of former Mayor William J. Healy, II and others about the prospect that the Utica Shale fracking operations in Stark and Carroll counties was going to be the Eureka! economic/financial gold nugget that was likely going to be the rebirth of Canton and surrounding area to a semblance of Canton's glory days of the 1950s.
Among the cheerleaders for and predictors of fracking being "the acres of diamonds" sitting in our own backyards was the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce in the person of former Canton Repository editor David Kaminski who is now the Chamber's Vice President of Public Policy and Energy.
In the end they all could prove to be correct in their assessments on their oil and gas industry forecasts, but right now it does not look so.
Accordingly, there are those Cantonians and Stark Countians who are standing back and waiting for action and results to follow the talk on the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Village Project.
It is up to the likes of Saunier, Baker and others who constitute the heart and soul of the effort to make Canton/Stark County a place of destination to deliver.
Chambers of Commerce are the front and center piece in America of the private sector's touting that the free enterprise "can do" what government cannot do.
In that context, it is interesting that the Chamber/HOF is playing mighty close attention to local government and state government (and, perhaps, directly or indirectly qualifying for federal grants) officials undoubtedly with an eye towards getting help to achieve what Saunier describes as being a massive project.
Can the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce working hand-in-glove with the HOF management team deliver?
If they do, it is going to take another $400MM or so more in financing to put Canton in a high-fiving, fist-bumping celebratory mode come the 100th anniversary of the National Football League in 2020.
And they may need a whole lot of assistance from the taxpaying public, no?
Yesterday, a majority of Canton City councilpersons, Mayor Thomas Bernabei, Deputy Mayor Fonda Williams, II and other administration and independently elected and appointed city officials gathered at the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame complex (HOF, Hall) to be updated on the progress of the building of the Hall of Fame Village project (HOFVP).
The project which likely will stretch into the 2020s is projected to cost anywhere from $475MM to $500MM.
If all pans out the HOFVP, the year 2020—the Centennial year of the NFL—could be a year in which Cantonians/Stark Countians see Stark County's county seat reverse direction and began a march back to the 1950s when Canton at some 116,000 population was in the heydey of its existence.
At the outset, HOF President and Executive Director David Baker, said that having invited city of Canton officialdom to a get-together was not because the Hall wanted to ask for something but rather to update them on the progress of construction, planning and development of the Hall Fame Village project.
After having a light meal and refreshments catered in by the HOF folks, Baker took center stage to emcee a nearly two hour update presentation.
At the end of this video of Baker's introductory remarks, he states that the goal of the HOFVP is to make Canton/the HOFV area "the most inspiring place on earth."
If that happens, Canton will once again approximate Canton of the 1950s.
There are those holding office in various Stark County political subdivision government who are skeptical that the Hall of Fame Village Project will ever get anywhere near full realization.
One such official thinks that Canton may end up with one-half a football stadium.
The SCPR posed that question to Baker (off-camera) of the negativity that exists as to whether or not the project will be fully realized.
While he is highly optimistic that the millions upon millions of financing to be raised will be forthcoming, he did acknowledge that failure is possible.
His response was to quote former U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt, to wit:
The Baker video:
For however long it takes for The Stark County Political Report to sift through frame-by-frame the video captured of the event, readers will be seeing a multi-part series spread out over the next week or so of all that Baker had to say and the questions posed by city of Canton officialdom.
Canton government has contributed $5 million to the project so far.
In this Part 1, The Report presents interviews of Mayor Bernabei and Councilman-at-Large William Smuckler as to their take on Baker's presentation.
On the national political scene, there is a lot of frustration on the part of many everyday citizens over their inability to cope with big money, big business and big government in endeavoring to get public policy to advantage the majority interest rather than the special interests.
Hence we get the political rise of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders.
Even if either gets elected president, very little is likely to change in Washington.
What many citizens fail to realize is that "we the people" can make a difference at the local level of government.
The prime and current example of local citizens making a difference surfaced in the March 15, 2016 primary election on Jackson Township's Issue 6.
Stunning! Absolutely stunning when one takes into account the campaign finance statement of a political organization (Committee for Jackson's Smart Future) which serves as the "hand in politics" of Jackson Township developer Donald DeVille as compared to that of the ordinaries of Jackson under the campaign finance report name of Jackson Citizen Action.
The campaign finance disparity: $36,000 to $4,000 (more or less) or if you will $9 in DeVille money to the citizens' $1.
However, DeVille was up against—in the conduct and financing of the campaign—an army of angry Jackson citizens. It appears that there were at least three dozen "we put our money where our mouth is" (individual contributors not list in "social or fundraising event" tally).
Here are the actual pre-primary campaign finance reports:
DEVILLE'S
CITIZENS'
And DeVille loses 7.3 votes against his proposal as opposed to 2.7 votes for in every block of ten votes cast.
Whether it is Stark Countians being upset about the Stark County commissioners (Bosley, Harmon and Vignos/2008) "imposing' a 1/2 cent sales tax:
Or a North Canton citizen-fueled drive to control the costs of Dogwood City government:
There is a rich, rich history of Stark Countians being effective in holding Stark County political subdivision accountable.
Citizens action can indeed defeat Big Money and Big "local" Government!
Back on February 25th, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released data on "the state of education" across Ohio and each of Ohio's 88 counties including, of course, Stark County. That is,insofar as test results can quantify quality.
On the 26th, The Stark County Political Report published a blog on the release which included this graphic:
Stark County education officials try every way imaginable to debunk the reliability of the results.
Disclaimer: My wife is an elected member of the Stark County Educational Service Center's governing board. My expressed views in this blog are just that: mine.
ODE up front says that it is trying to strengthen Ohio education in coming up with new measurements. Local education officials throughout the State are resisting the ODE's drive to educational excellence for all Ohio/Stark County students.
Could it be that they understand that the 2016 version ofAmerican students are no longer willing to zealously pursue the hard work of becoming a truly educated person?
Degrees, yes! But really being able to think one's way out of a wet paper bag? No! Absolutely, NO!
To me, the above-graphed results indicatethat the value of an education is not at the top of Stark County's education community priority these days. By extension, it appears that the same condition pervades much of America.
And that impression was reinforced in spades on this past Saturday evening as I viewed "On the Way to School," a documentary on Argentinian, Indian, Kenyan and Moroccan children and the extreme hardship they experience day-in, day-out in merely getting to school; let alone attending to the rigors of study.
Here is a trailer for the film (one hour, seventeen minutes in length) which should be required viewing in all of America's schools: (trailer 1:27)
Rather than me go into a amplified narrative detailing more of the content of the film, readers should read this short New York Times review of the documentary (LINK).
Viewing the film prompted me to harken back to my own quest for an education.
While I did walk to High Street grade school (grades one through four), Lincoln School (grades five through six) and Gettysburg Area Junior High School/High School (grades seven through twelve); the walks in no way, shape or form remotely compares to what the Argentinian, Indian, Kenyan and Moroccan children experience.
By the way, High Street School was nearly 100 years old when I attended. A far cry from may of the posh, state-of-the-art schools that many contemporary American students attend.
Note: For as history and photo of High Street School go to this LINK
Nonetheless, I, in my heart, understood the value of a "free" public education as one of eight children in a lower middle class (to be generous in describing my family's economic status) family.
My mother was high school educated and made the most of 1927 public education in making her way through the world as an adult.
I, believe, as many American do, that a 1927 American high school high school education was vastly superior what 2016 American high school graduates get.
I recall hearing a National Public Radio broadcast on the state of American education a few years ago which cited a George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) study which found that a 1946 high school degree was at the time of the broadcast (probably about five years ago or so) the equivalent of a college undergraduate degree.
My father had three years at a liberal arts college, two years at a business college and two years at electrical trade schools.
But as unfortunately happens to many families, circumstances of life intervened to dampen the effect that my parents' had in terms of their education. Notwithstanding my father's good fortune in gaining a higher than high school education, educational achievement was not a priority in the Olson family. Being the seventh of eight children, I was the very first in the family to graduate from high school.
As a follow on, I aspired to go to college.
I even took the admissions test at Shippensburg State Teachers College (Shippensburg, PA about 25 miles from Gettysburg) knowing full well that the family finances would allow me to actually take advantage of the letter I received from Shippensburg stating that I was admitted on the basis of the admissions test result.
By the way, had I gone to Shippensburg, I would have been there at the same time as Larry Morgan, a long time Stark County educator and head of the Stark County Educational Service Center, to wit:
Larry Morgan, 2016 Gold Key awardee in Education, was nominated by Jim Nicodemo, assistant superintendent of Stark County ESC. Morgan, retired superintendent of Stark County ESC, has worked tirelessly to advance education goals in the community and advocate for the needs of every student of nearly every Stark County public school district during his 54 year career. Morgan began teaching in the Plain Local School District and also served as superintendent of RG Drage Career Technical Center and Plain Local Schools in addition to holding various leadership board positions throughout his career. Nicodemo says, “Larry has always had a special place in his heart for the people who work hard, from bus drivers to the cooks and the administrative assistants to the teachers.”
Source: Extract - United Way of Stark County (LINK)NOTE: Notwithstanding the above-laudatory remarks about Morgan, there are quite a number of Stark Countians (mostly dissident educators), of course) who view him differently. The most common complaint has been that he continued the long line of successive Stark County Board of Education (now, the Educational Service Center) superintendents who operated in an "it my way, or the highway fashion" who had a list of favorites administering Stark's 17 school districts that constituted a political base
Instead of going to Shippensburg, I enlisted in the United States Air Force for four years and thereby, on completing my term, qualified for the "G.I. Bill" benefits, which, of course, was one of the great American experiments in providing opportunities to those who otherwise would not have been able to pursue higher education.
After acquiring college credits while in the Air Force, I relocated to Akron(the residence of my sister and one of the few universities in America at the time [1964] which offered a degree for those students who could only attend at night] to finish my college education.
And beyond my undergraduate degree (which, one can easily surmise, was in political science), I was fortunate to be able to go on at The University of Akron acquire a law degree.
All-the-while, I worked a fulltime job at various employers, namely: Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Retail Credit (now Equifax) and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
In short, the opportunity to go to college was a godsend no matter what the obstacles were in store for me to overcome in my quest to achieve higher degrees of education and more importantly the capacity to think for myself.
Even as a grade schooler, I intuitively knew there was something special about a community and society committed to providing that a child of a economically depressed family, which did not have "a dime to spare" to spend on such luxuries as an education, to get what then was truly a "free" education.
Everything was bought and paid for by the Gettysburg, Adams County and the State of Pennsylvania taxpaying public. Interesting enough, the U.S. Department of Education did not come into being until 1979. (LINK) Pencils, pens (fountain that had to be dipped in to a ink well in the desk) basic musical instruments (e.g. kazoo), industrial arts materials and the right to participate in athletics and part of my "free" education. Indeed, "no pay to play" baseball, basketball, football and track in the Gettysburg Area School District of 1949.
Had there been, guess who would have been cut out of participating in this important component of a well balanced (academics, participation in one of the arts, and athletics) education.
So in some small measure, I can readily relate to the Argentine, Indian, Kenyan and Moroccan school children and their struggle to get an education.
I believe that at the core of American education problems these days is a fundamental disdain of the value of being educated.
On the contemporary scene, many of Donald Trump's followers (many of whom are "don't bother me with the facts" folks) I see as being people who do not want to think and are looking for Demagogue Donald's to come along to do their thinking for them.
Such as Trump-esque thinking is? If that what one wants to call his mental processes as demonstrated outside his real estate dealings.
A few of his followers are educated enough, at least from the "having obtained formal degrees" perspective , but they are totally frustrated with thepolitical games that "organized" Republicans/Democrats play in brinkmanship politics and are therefore willing to swallow Trump's superficiality in the hope that he will break the GOP/Dems stalemate on getting on with solving of the problems of America.
We—relatively rich Americans, compared to the rest of the world— argue about everything, much of it nonsense, to wit:
Common Core,
No Child Left Behind,
teaching to the test,
Charter schools and their funding at public education's expense,
whether taking tests online as opposed to paper tests,
Really, in the year 2016 and all those technologically advanced kids we constantly hear about?
advance placement students being on a 5.0 rather than 4.0 grade scale,
the unionization of teachers,
faulty parenting,
how many "snow" days will have to be made up,
automatic pay step increases for teachers,
shall AIR or PARCC (LINK) doOhio's assessment testing,
socio-economic disparities and the like
as being the cause of the decline of education in America.
But to much of the world such arguments are of the "fat, dumb and happy" variety, commonplace in rich societies.
All many in the world want and need is "the opportunity" to gain an education.
To me, the foregoing bulleted list isexcuse making pure and simple designed to make those responsible for educating our youth feel good about themselves but, which, of course, do nothing to remedy what ails America, Ohio and Stark County in terms of our educational deficiencies compared to the rest of the world.
To me, having desire and boldly setting forth to become educated is a matter of a thirsting and hungering to gain the ability to think for oneself. In America, Ohio and Stark County, it appears such is old-fashioned. We have well-paid often double-dipping self-described experts as administrators who tell us that becoming an educated person is much more complex than "seizing the day" in which opportunity knocks at the door.
It is these bureaucratic types who over years and years of administering education who have created structures of educational complexity and complications.
To repeat,"On the Way to School" shows that no matter what the barriers are which are in the way, and, in the case of American education put in the say by well meaning educational bureaucrats, the human drive to "seize an opportunity" is to be empowered to overcome every obstacle.
In the bureaucraticeducation quagmire we Americans find ourselves, aren't we standing by and watching the rest of the world pass us by?
B.A. - Political Science
J.D.
AN INDEPENDENT MINDED POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
Until 1976 I was a Republican. Since then I have considered myself a Democrat. So after long term stints of being a Republican, then a Democrat, I have come to the political position I feel most comfortable with - being an INDEPENDENT MINDED ANALYST who demands effectiveness of our politicians - Republican, Democrat or whatever.
I have changed my political affiliation to "non-partisan" by not voting in either political party primary election.
