Half of you probably already read this, the other half don't care, there may even be an overlapping Venn diagramish looking group that is both. But here is the story, because it's definitely what is going on in my life today. About three weeks ago I began going to school board meeting to show support for a plan to build campus style elementary buildings. The plan had already been approved by the previous version of the Ashtabula Area City Schools Board of Education, based on studies and information gathered by the teachers, but members of the current group decided it wasn't what they wanted. There are a number of reasons given, none of them very good, for attempting to change the plan.
In the meantime, as the board members hemmed and hawed, they were costing the building project $6,000.00 a day. One member wanted to remind everyone that this wasn't money being taken away from the students, I beg to differ. Who else is losing out if not the students?
One of the reasons given was the area. The proposed site is on Wade Ave, not far from The Bonniewood Estates. Bonniewood has been known as the worst part of the city for a long time. Only problem is, this isn't true anymore. Police records show officers were called to the housing projects four times for all of 2006. During those four calls arrests were made once, a drug house was busted. This was actually a good thing because it was the neighbors that called the cops, showing that they aren't willing to stand for drug trafficking in their area. I went knocking on doors in Bonniewood before one of these meeting to inform the residents what was going on, and being said about them. Never once did I feel unsafe.
Some board members claimed to be for keeping neighborhood schools, problem here is there really is no such animal anymore. Very few kids walk to school, arrival and dismissals are extremely dangerous because of all the traffic. Plus, the state requires a certain number of students for each building, which would still involve consolidating schools.
This leads me to the next problem, enrollment has decreased since the original numbers were given to the state. If the schools are built anywhere but Wade Ave, we have to reapply and a new student census will be taken. This will cost us at least one building, if not two. So any other plan means going form 5 elementary schools to 4, possible 3.
Enough background for now, but please ask questions if you have them. At the meeting two of the teachers from my building read a letter signed by the staff. The next day there was a misquote in the Star Beacon, followed by an apology in front of the board that night, and a retraction the next day. Not to mention that each board member received a copy the day is was read.
David Sheldon decided he was going to create some angle to make the teachers look bad and wrote a letter to the Beacon, after the board voted to go forth with the original plan, (vote passed 3-1, Sheldon was not present). Here is an article that appeared the same day as his letter.
That day I wrote this response, and it was printed in the paper today under the headline, Teacher Baffled by Sheldon's Comments.
In response to Mr. David Sheldon’s Letter
I am absolutely baffled by the statements you made in your letter to the “Star Beacon” that appeared March 23, 2007. Maybe you can clarify them for me. At exactly what point was your child mentioned? Actually, at what point were you or any other board member mentioned in the letter signed by the staff of Thurgood Marshall? What exactly were the “nasty” remarks?
As for the comments that appeared in the “Star Beacon.” After reading our words misquoted in the newspaper we reacted by immediately faxing the actual letter to Lisa Davis and asking for a retraction. That was followed by an explanation of what happened and an apology, for someone else’s mistake, during that evening’s board meeting at the start of the open discussion period.
You have been a lawyer for a number of years Mr. Sheldon, and part of your profession is to understand how to present words and emotions to manipulate people into believing what you want them to believe. However, I sincerely doubt people will believe you felt threatened by a group of teachers and residents who wanted to voice their opinions. As a lawyer and magistrate you have been in rooms with all sorts of criminals. As a basketball referee you have run up and down the court, inches away from angry mobs calling you everything they can think of, and then some. Yet, you would have us believe the heartfelt opinions of a group of teachers scared you? Then again hope and progress always bring fear to the establishment and the supporters of status quo. Just ask Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, and Gandhi. Furthermore, if you are so frightened by the beliefs of teachers perhaps it is time for you to reflect on whether or not you are capable of handling the responsibilities for which you have been charged.
It was mentioned in the front page article that ran the same day as your letter that the teachers owe you an apology. Well, Mr. Sheldon I am sure I am not alone in the belief that it is you who owes an apology. Not just to the teachers, but to everyone else who spoke at the board meeting on March 13, 2007. Community members, including teachers, residents, former board members, and retired teachers, had the courage to get up and speak their minds; some were even moved to tears by their beliefs. While this went on you sat slouched in you chair, arms folded or hands in your pocket, unable or unwilling to give an ounce of respect to these people. You are entitled to your opinion and have earned your vote as a board member, and I respect both. What you do not have the right to do is degrade the people who have opinions that differ from yours, and outright mock them in public. I am relieved none of my students were in attendance at the meeting to witness the display you put on; we work so hard to teach them to be respectful to others. It would have been a shame for them to observe a community leader behaving in such a manner.
In closing I would like to remind you that no one knows at this point how campus style elementary schools will affect the number of teaching positions available. Yet, we still stood and will continue to stand in support of what we know is best for our students.
Scott L. Spence
Teacher
Thurgood Marshall
I am absolutely baffled by the statements you made in your letter to the “Star Beacon” that appeared March 23, 2007. Maybe you can clarify them for me. At exactly what point was your child mentioned? Actually, at what point were you or any other board member mentioned in the letter signed by the staff of Thurgood Marshall? What exactly were the “nasty” remarks?
As for the comments that appeared in the “Star Beacon.” After reading our words misquoted in the newspaper we reacted by immediately faxing the actual letter to Lisa Davis and asking for a retraction. That was followed by an explanation of what happened and an apology, for someone else’s mistake, during that evening’s board meeting at the start of the open discussion period.
You have been a lawyer for a number of years Mr. Sheldon, and part of your profession is to understand how to present words and emotions to manipulate people into believing what you want them to believe. However, I sincerely doubt people will believe you felt threatened by a group of teachers and residents who wanted to voice their opinions. As a lawyer and magistrate you have been in rooms with all sorts of criminals. As a basketball referee you have run up and down the court, inches away from angry mobs calling you everything they can think of, and then some. Yet, you would have us believe the heartfelt opinions of a group of teachers scared you? Then again hope and progress always bring fear to the establishment and the supporters of status quo. Just ask Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, and Gandhi. Furthermore, if you are so frightened by the beliefs of teachers perhaps it is time for you to reflect on whether or not you are capable of handling the responsibilities for which you have been charged.
It was mentioned in the front page article that ran the same day as your letter that the teachers owe you an apology. Well, Mr. Sheldon I am sure I am not alone in the belief that it is you who owes an apology. Not just to the teachers, but to everyone else who spoke at the board meeting on March 13, 2007. Community members, including teachers, residents, former board members, and retired teachers, had the courage to get up and speak their minds; some were even moved to tears by their beliefs. While this went on you sat slouched in you chair, arms folded or hands in your pocket, unable or unwilling to give an ounce of respect to these people. You are entitled to your opinion and have earned your vote as a board member, and I respect both. What you do not have the right to do is degrade the people who have opinions that differ from yours, and outright mock them in public. I am relieved none of my students were in attendance at the meeting to witness the display you put on; we work so hard to teach them to be respectful to others. It would have been a shame for them to observe a community leader behaving in such a manner.
In closing I would like to remind you that no one knows at this point how campus style elementary schools will affect the number of teaching positions available. Yet, we still stood and will continue to stand in support of what we know is best for our students.
Scott L. Spence
Teacher
Thurgood Marshall
19 comments:
Scott,
thanks for not being afraid to stand up for your what you believe is best for the students in our community. Very rarely do you read letters in the paper that don't stray into pettiness and vindictiveness. Your letter was concise, factual, and eloquent, and steered clear of finger pointing. Good job. I was proud to be your friend today. Almost as proud as when you bought Karen the " I love Jake Ryan" shirt.
Scott,
Proud does not describe how I feel after reading your letter. I still feel like you are "my baby brother", but when I read some of your posts, I realize more and more that you are a great man. You touch my heart deeply by your passion (you did get that from me you know!). Who would have ever guessed that the little kid hung up in the closet with a hangar by his big brother would turn out to be so caring?!!!!
Proud doesn't usually describe how a feel about you either ...
Whatever - kick his *ss, Seabass.
Can I get the Cliff notes? Just kidding; well done Spuncie. As per your boy Sheldon or whatnot, whats that guy's problem? Tell him to get a new pocket protector, take the slide rule out his arse, and edumacate these kids! Tough to be respected when in essence your vote or opinion is holding up funding to improve education. He needs to call a foul on himself. See that, I used a basketball reference to describe a referee.
The underlying problems I cannot discuss here, because it is based on theories, (although well founded), and hearsay, (although from an honest source(s)). Perhaps on my myspace which is private I will present my "Tell all" But I will tell you it has to do with his best interests not anyone else's.
I don't know what Mr. Sheldon's issues are but that isn't one of my concerns as a parent whose children will be attending these campus style schools. I have tons of questions about how this is all going to work. When I first heard about all this I was riddled with worry. The Wade Ave site also is not appealing to us as parents. There are many of us who still believe neighborhood schools are best. Not because I don't want my children going to a diverse school, but because we chose to live in area by the school of our choosing. Now I will not have a choice. Am I scared to send my 5 year old to a giant campus in the middle of a wooden area? Who wouldn't be? How would you decide what to do if Mattie was going to attend these school? I don't ask that sarcastically, I genuinely want to know your opinion of the saftey of the children, would they feel as safe as you did walking around that neighborhood? Was that a long enough comment for you? We will have to have a longer discussion on this soon/
If Wade Avenue is the only location available than it is a sad state of affairs. So the taxpayers who foot the bill for this new school or schools are going to have Wade Avenue jammed down their throats? There might be a beautiful new campus elementary school, but no money to operate it. Good luck passing a levy to operate this state of the art facility.
Celeste all good questions so here are the answers in no real order
First off, the area is safe enough that their is an allotment of $200,000.00 houses being built on the opposite side of the proposed site. What does, I'm assuming you mean, wooded area have to do with anything? If it was in the city people would say, "It's too busy there, there's too much traffic, it's accessible to too many wackos, someone's going to get killed." Neighborhood schools as yo know them are finished anyway. Each building, in the neighborhood setting, per the state of Ohio, must have an enrollment of 450 students, no matter how you look at it that is combining 2 1/2 of our current buildings/districts. Oh and as for being afraid for your five year old, consider this currently they will be going into a building with angry attitude riddled 6th graders, some who are over 13 by the end of the year. In a campus style building, your child doesn't have to be afraid of the big kids, because their building only houses 5 and 6 year olds.
The benefits of campus style are immense. Beginning with students learning about diversity. 2 stories, coaching TM B-ball against Plymouth, kid calls one of my players the N word. Why? He didn't know better. Taking my students to field trip at KSUAC kid goes, "Mr. Spence why are all these houses so nice, and everything where I live so crummy?" we were only in W 13th St, houses that are kept up, but not exactly Stonegate. Why? He wasn't familiar with things outside of his neighborhood, even a mile away. Station Ave is much worse than Wade, much much worse. But I've walked it a number of times with all ages of students, and as far as the neighborhood goes the school is respected and off limits. I am not sure where exactly they would be walking to on Wade Ave, and the design for buses and car riders is way better than anything currently in place.
I know this sounds hypocritical when Mattie goes to Sts. John and Paul, but first off it's a non-issue, I live in Buckeye. Second, when I work and Mattie has a day off guess where she goes, Thurgood Marshall. She goes to a classroom, and she is gone for the day, lunch, recess, specials all with that class. She likes being there and the kids love having her there.
We as a district have a huge problem with a transient population. Over 300 students have switched schools within our district thus far this year. That is a ton of paperwork, but more importantly each time that happens the student has to go through all the emotions that come with being the new kid. He has to try and figure out what is expected from a new teacher, what the rules are, and his place in the class. he may miss covering something, or have to study the same thing twice. Not to mention the ability for teachers of each grade level to work together and share ideas.
The schools can share resources, no longer will it be true that this school has this computer lab, that one has a great library, that one has a cafeteria separate from the gym...Of course all the schools would be build the same now, but what about 20 years from now?
It is beneficial as a tax payer because you are maintaining one property, rather that 4 separate locales.
There is more but the post itself was long enough, but please this is what I hoped for, for people to ask questions.
I know where there is a nice piece of property available on carpenter Rd.
Anonymous, sorry I missed your comment. Must be because you so boldly took credit for it. Nonetheless, you mention passing levies to operate the school. Again, it is much cheaper to operate a facility in one location than it is 4 or 5 in different locations. Second, if you don't like levies, I suggest signing a petition to get a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot to finally make school funding constitutional, which the Ohio State Supreme Court has declared it isn't 4 times, and nothing was done by previous administrations to correct it. The amendment will mean more money from the state to ensure districts in economically depressed areas (Ashtabula), get the funding they need, rather than relying on levies. It also gives a break to the elderly and disabled.
Anonymous, I'm going to assume, since I don't know who you are, that you probably live in Ashtabula, I can't think of a place withing the district, save Plymouth, that is far from a high crime area.
If you read the entire original post you would know that it is more than just Wade Ave being the only spot available, which if there's going to be campus style schools it is pretty much, any changing of the plan is going to cost us schools.
By the way just curious, you would vote down a school levy to better the education of students because of where a school was built? No wonder educated young people don't stay in this area, people are incredibly vindictive and backwards. Reminds me of the rumors about rapes at the Ashtabula Mall when it opened.
The funny thing is this Wade Avenue sight isn't being jammed down your throats, it was decided upon along time ago, members of this board decided to move backwards rather than forward.
But I'm all ears tell me where in the city, to uphold promises made after the High School and Jr High were placed in Saybrook, is enough property to build these schools. Keep in mind this property is being annexed because it is currently in Saybrook. I honestly could care less about the location, I just want the campus buildings, but I am not willing to give up 1 maybe 2 buildings and continue to lose 6 grand a day to move it.
My apologies if my words were harsh and sarcastic, but if you want respect stand by what you are saying by claiming your comments like Celeste did.
Anonymous is an idiot. Here is what s(he) said:
"So the taxpayers who foot the bill for this new school or schools are going to have Wade Avenue jammed down their throats?"
--A brand new school in ANY area is bound to be better than a run-down, over-crowded school in area B. The only jammed thing down your throat, oh never mind, you minx!
"There might be a beautiful new campus elementary school, but no money to operate it. Good luck passing a levy to operate this state of the art facility."
--Gotta agree with the Spunce here; the GOP-led state legislature has done NOTHING to rectify what the GOP-heavy Ohio Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional 4 times over the past 15 years or whatnot. Governor Strickland is the latest gov to vow to fix the schools, but with idiots like the ballsy Anonymous voting, we likely face another 15 without a solution.
Spunce et al., you are good people trying to improve the schools in your area.
Anonymous, not sure what to tell you. Maybe you should instead pay taxes to support an idiot war by an idiot Texan who.. no, not Rob, I like that guy. And besides, he was NE Ohio before it was fashionable.
Scott,
I am Josh's wife. I read your blog daily. This "situation" is really bothering me. I'm not sure why since we live in Trumbull county and it's a complete non-issue for us. Sadly, I have nothing profound to say but I do have an opinion. As parents we all have choices to make. Some easier than others. I believe that while Celeste's concern is valid, it is quite selfish and a bit naive. I have known for years that Ashtabula schools were considering restructuring and like I said, I live in Trumbull county. So when she chose to live near the school of her choice she had to know what the future possibilities were. I'm sure the Wade area school will be quite safe however, if it's not the best place for Celeste's children then she'll have to make a different choice; but not at the expense of the rest of the students. I do though, applaud Celeste for having the guts to put her name on an oposing opinion! Scott, I'm always a fan of people who stick up for what is right not necessarily popular. I look forward to meeting you.
Nice to "meet" you Jennifer. This whole thing has begun to consume me. It's all I'm thinking and talking about.
Those of you who didn't see it, City Solicitor Tom Simon took out a full page in the Star Beacon today to speak out against the Campus style schools. It was a lot of this is what we were promised and it isn't what we are getting. And he makes some valid points. BUT, when neighborhood schools were promised they were promised because the city wasn't getting the high school and the description of neighborhood meant the city would indeed get some schools. Under the campus plan the city gets "ALL" the elem. schools. Simon is going to fight this no matter what because he is holding a grudge against the city schools since it was decided to place the HS in Saybrook. Plus the BOE is suing the city because they have been illegally giving tax abatements in the city without the boards approval. Not saying this was intentional on the part of the city, or that the lawsuit is a great idea for what should be a strong partnership, but it is what it is and it all falls in the Solicitor's lap. Made more interesting by the fact that board member Mike Franklin is running against Mr. Simon, (Thank God), for City Solicitor this Fall.
My head nearly exploded when I read
these words in his article aimed at Mr. Franklin and Mrs. Trebuchan-Wertz, "Remember the currency of democracy and good government is the truth." I guess when he's not serving minors in his bar, breaking up marriages to date women half his age, avoiding payment of his property taxes, cheating the electric company, and the list goes on, he is busy up holding truth, justice and the American way. I mean c'mon this quote was begging for an attack it's so dripping with hippocracy.
I want to end this by saying two things:
1. The letter I wrote was not about Campus vs. Neighborhood schools, it was about the behavior, ignorance, and lies of David Sheldon.
2. I am 100% for Campus style schools. I say that without owning a piece of property in the district, an office to run for, or a child attending the city schools. I say it as a teacher who wants only what is best for the CHILDREN of our district. I can show up on Station Ave, Wade Ave, West 13th, Columbus Ave or any other place, do my job, collect my pay check, and detach myself from it all at the end of the day. But I don't, and neither do my colleagues. We have nothing to gain personally, like others do by either configuration, we can however make great strides professionally working within the campus model And if the only way we improve is if we can say our students are also improving.
I don't understand your statement of a non-issue that your daughter goes to SS. J & P, but yet you are so gung ho about public education. Have you ever heard of "Open Enrollment."
More strong accusations from someone too afraid to stand behind their comments.
Yes, I have heard of open enrollment. Not really a huge fan of it either. More NCLB crap just like the tuition vouchers that Strickland is thankfully going to cut. How do you improve schools when students can leave and take their funding with them?
I am a Herald, my Mom is a Herald, my brother is a Herald, and so are most of my relatives and friends. This is why my daughter goes there. I believe wholeheartedly in public education, it's one of the few things left that make this country great. But, I also believed my time at St. John had a hand in making me who i am, for better or worse, and the least I can give back is sending my child there.
As for why I am so gung-ho on public education, well unless you just posted without reading any of this, you know I am a teacher. Public education is my job, and I love it. While my daughter may not attend a public school, I have 250 students that I care about very deeply, and I want to see them have the best opportunity to succeed, and I believe that campus style buildings will give them just that.
Sounds like a typical teacher response. Do as I say, just not as I do. “I am a Herald, my Mom is a Herald, my brother is a Herald, and so are most of my relatives and friends. This is why my daughter goes there." Why then would you not want to teach at Saints John and Paul?
"Public education is my job.” Your argument is not even credible.
Sharon welcome to ASO, and thank you for not posting anonymously.
I never said "Don't send you child to St. John." So where does the phrase, "Do as I say not as I do come in?"
As far as why wouldn't I teach at St. John, here is the typical teacher response you were looking for. I became a teacher for one reason to make a difference in the lives of young people. I believe I have the greatest opportunity to do that at the school where I work. It's the same reason I haven't left and gone to schools in "better areas" when jobs have been available. Not trying to be braggadocios, but I am smart enough to have gone into any profession, (lawyer, doctor, businessman), that I chose, and made much more money. However, teaching is what I love.
Thurgood Marshall is one of the most special places I have ever been, and while I am for the campus style schools, it will still be a sad day when that school is empty and its staff broken-up.
If you can think you can do a teacher's job better, Sharon by all means, go get your BA in Education, and come give it a shot. Keep in mind you will have to continue your education to and past your Masters, at your own expense. Otherwise, keep your shots directed at me and not others in my profession.
Furthermore, did your comment serve any purpose other than to be a (poor) attempt to slam me?
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