Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Second and final candidate forum

This forum was well attended by about 85 people. All five candidates came and I thought everyone gave a good accounting on themselves...

I handled myself much better this time and yes, I wore a suit and tie...

Some AMAZING things were said. I am still quite shocked by a couple of them...

One sitting School Board member said:
"Good kids will do dumb things, and we need to remember that."

Another sitting School Board member said:
"We should be more merciful to students."

Wow, one of these almost for sure refers to Jeff Fraser and his expulsion, the other most likely refers to the expulsion. I was quite shocked to say the least... One of them sincerely came across as regretting voting for the expulsion of Jeff Fraser (Which was voted in favor of unanimously...)

I am not mentioning names of which School Board members said what on purpose. If you were at the meeting you will know who said what...

The other thing that was shocking was some of the answers to a question fielded from the crowd. It was a question asking us to "name a current problem in the school system."

Most all of us said the size of Carroll High School.

One other challenger hinted at the atmosphere at Carroll.

I was a lot more blunt about the atmosphere at Carroll.

Then a sitting Board Member also said the atmosphere at Carroll High School. I was SHOCKED, to say the least...

This was an enjoyable event and I had fun.

Mike Sylvester

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike,

You seemed shocked that these members would make statements regretting their decision on Fraser - why is that? They're probably worried about the backlash for what was seen by the majority as a harsh decision.

Also, why are you surprised that the atmosphere at Carroll was listed as a problem by another member?

I wasn't there so maybe I'm missing some context...

The Conservative UAW Guy said...

Keep at em!

Pat White mentioned your name on WOWO the other day, and I was all like "Hey! I know that dude!"

Well, sorta.

Keep up the great work, Mike!!

Robert Enders said...

People do things that they regret all the time. Jeff Fraser regrets making the book. The NACS Board incumbents regret expelling him. Fraser was held accountable, now voters should hold the Board accountable. Those Board members acted out of passion rather than reason, behavior that is completely unacceptable for a elected official.

William Larsen said...

There was some discussion on the adding on to Carroll versus building a new high school. I had thought the new high school would cost $100 Million and have a capacity of at least 1,500. To add on would cost less at $60 million, but what I did not know was it does not add anywhere near the capacity. The current enrollment at Carroll is about 1,500 with another 600 at the freshmen campus. After the addition total capacity will be 2,800 or roughly we increase capacity by 700 students at a cost of $60 million.

Adding on versus building a new school cost a lot more per student increase in capacity. Again the board is using cash flow accounting which will lead to another tax hike later on. They need to use accrual accounting in order to maintain a level tax rate and allow the increase in property values and additional new properties provide increase revenues.

Things to think about:
Are the hallway and stairs the limiting factor for Carroll? If so, how does adding more students move through hallways already to narrow?

Adding a new larger gym will allow all of Carroll to assemble at one time, but are we not paying on two previous gym bonds so that they could assemble at one time? If we could sell these previous gyms, then adding a larger gym would make sense, but you cannot sell a gym.

It goes back to having a long-term plan. You need to have criteria on which to plan.

Any new school if it is planned to be expanded, must be designed with that in mind. You make the infrastructure (hallways, stairways, gyms, cafeterias) either expandable or large enough so that when expansion takes place they can accommodate the expansion.

With expansion you mix new and old. You have two different building life spans to deal with at the same time.

The purpose of the school board is to finance the school system and higher adminstrators who handle the education. It is clear the current board does not do this.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

You are right about the long term planning issue. Too many suburban school districts fail to monitor their own growth and continue to build schools that are out of date in very short order.

Also, you are correct not to mention teacher's aids for Prime Time money. By and large teacher's aids are a waste of money. Too many of them become a hindrance to the teacher and the administration will not hold them accountable for their performance. This money would be much better spent if it were focused on the poor performing students as you suggested.

Keep up the good work...

Anonymous said...

Rumors are that Neumeyer won't be back next year. Except the school board just approved a $1700 trip she'll be taking in September. Junkets.

By the way, did you read my letter to the editor. It appeared in the News-Sentinel today and the NorthWest News yesterday. Yager and Felger already have complained and absolutely hate it. Free speech is the greatest thing.

Anonymous said...

The atmosphere at CHS is the same as at every other school: the whiners whine, the good students work & the lazy kids are lazy, the teachers want to teach, and the administrators have to put up with malcontents (those enrolled in school and those expelled, and adults with nothing better to do.)

I'd like to see real solutions offered in place of this incessant crying.

Oh Jeff... if you only knew the true meaning of Free Speech. Sour grapes, dear boy, sour grapes.

Anonymous said...

nacsmom,

Please enlighten us o'champion of 1st amendment issues - what is the true meaning of free speech?

Robert Enders said...

I'm pretty sure that Jeff and the rest of us understand the meaning of free speech. But just in case, we all can look it up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Jeff:

I am surprised because if they feared a backlash, WHY DID THEY VOTE THE WAY THEY DID IN THE FIRST PLACE?

I am surprised that several people outright said there is a problem at Carroll becasue they have never alluded to any such thing at any Board Meetings...

NACSmomof2:

Actually I was surprised how many candidates and sitting Board members alluded to problems at Carroll. I have also been surprised how many parents have contacted me about Carroll...

Carroll needs to be looked into.

I am not saying that it is awful; I am saying that it does not seem to be operating at the same level as the other schools in the district.

That being said, I have no children in the school and I am interested in hearing what other people think about Carroll.

What do you think of Carroll NACSmomof2?

Andrew Kaduk said...

I wouldn't expect an answer on that if I were you, Mike. It's obvious from the tone of her post that she's just fishing for a response by being sardonic and feebly inflammatory. I've seen her type before.

Anonymous said...

She might not even be a "NACS mom of 2". As far as we're concerned it could be an administrator.

They are extremely angry at the bad press they've been getting recently with letters to the editors in Northwest News, Journal Gazette and News-Sentinel. Pat White today had a big discussion about Carroll's controversial playing of DaVinci Code, and made some great attacks on the school.

The place is falling down the tubes, seriously. I hope Neumeyer resigns, or is forced out by the board/ state DOE.

Anonymous said...

I am the proud mom of two NACS students (both girls -- brilliant and beautiful) [an FYI for you, A. Kaduk] and am of the firm belief that ONLY NACS parents should sit on boards guiding the future of our district. Unless you have a student with their bum in a chair somewhere in the district your opinions don't carry much weight.

Mr. Sylvester, I already clearly stated what I think of CHS. Please see my previous post. Again, Carroll is a mix of attitudes and ambitions -- teachers, administrators, and students alike. No segment of society is free of problems just as Carroll is not. The pangs we're suffering now are mostly growing pains -- not the pain of suffering under an inept or covertly evil administration as some would like to hope.

TWO THUMBS WAY UP FOR Mr. & Mrs. King!! The child (theirs) who supposedly authored the letter they refute was never thought to have actually written it by adults with whom he has daily contact. Young Mr. Fraser continues to chaff against the punishment he rightfully received, and as is his right, continues his endless public bawling and pouting. Unfortunately, young Mr. King became an unwitting accomplice.

Andrew Kaduk said...

I guess some people do fall for the "innocent victim" conspiracy theory the embarassed parents set forth...

OK, go for it.

BTW, I totally agree (as you have obviously read from me before) about the board members needing to have kids in the school system (or on their way in) to be viable. Hence, Hilger needs to be gone, as he made a coherent choice to allow his daughter to be transferred to Dwenger. Tsk Tsk...goodbye!

Anonymous said...

Here is my estimate to the amount of people that want the principal fired:

Students: 99%
Parents: 87%
Teachers: 65%
Past students: 98.5%
Other taxpayers: mostly undecided

From my experience, these numbers are relatively accurate. Obviously "nacsmomof2" lives in a warped world, or is friends with some administrators, or is biased, or just naive to the true problems at Carroll HS.

It is great though every often to see one parent with a different viewpoint. I never said EVERYONE agrees with the argument that Carroll is falling apart, just review those percentages..

Anonymous said...

Regarding John Hilger: Unlike the media and anyone else that states that he is a business owner, I am wise beyond my years. Due to the outstanding deficiates and poor decision making, his business was taken over by an unnamed company, owned by the Tippman and Henry families. Mr. Hilger's ability to rubber stamp everything, maybe of neccessity, due to he does know what the 'hell' he is doing.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what your feelings were on building a new school versus another expensive remodeling

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