If you haven't read last weeks letter in the Ripon Commonwealth from Nancy Burns, former administrator of the Green Lake School District try to get a copy. It is direct and to the point by someone who has been there. She makes the point that it could raise Green Lake Prop. taxes by 25 percent this year by a school district that already exceeds the revenue cap by $600,000 per year already.
As a side note about voting in the school referendum these are the voting requirements that I got from the county:
1.Must have resided in the state of Wisconsin for at least 10 days in the last year, not consecutively.
2. You may register at the time you vote at the residents polling place.
3. You will not be able to vote in the spring election where you otherwise reside (Ill, Arizona, Florida for example) and will have to re-register there for their elections.
4. If you want to vote by absentee ballot it must be in by Feb. 11 for the Feb. 16 election.
Town of Brooklyn phone number is 920-294-6600
City of Green Lake phone number is 920-294-6912
Town of Green Lake phone number is 920-398-3492
I would call your government office to double check all this.
Posts
12 years ago
202 comments:
1 – 200 of 202 Newer› Newest»Chief, thank you for this valuable information! People, talk to your friends and neighbors, let them know you are voting NO and tell them why.
Also, please contact the school board members and let them know that you do NOT want Ken Bates contract renewed. We can save our school but we must first get rid of Bates, who is wasting our hard earned tax money and putting our children's futures at risk. School board members contact information is located on the school web site. Thank you for doing your part.
I find it absolutely amazing that the same people who ran the poor woman (Burns) out of town on a rail are now praising her. What the hell is wrong with you people? After you’ve run Bates out and get the next one, when he/she doesn’t tell you what you want to hear about your precious school and Bates sounds off in the paper, will you praise him then too? Do you see what’s happening here… do we need to get you a mirror to see the problem?
Good grief people. Learn to get along and work together or this will never end! The whole ugly mess is poised right now to repeat itself. What is it, a 3-5 year cycle? Vote them in, like them, learn to not like them, beat the drums, stir up controversy, then run them out, get the next one and start it all over again!
No no no. You have it wrong. I was sad to see Nancy Burns leave. I did not have a problem with her. Did you notice that the newspaper never mentioned ONCE what it was that she supposedly did wrong? That is because she didn't do anything wrong, and was kind enough not to sue for her wrongful dismissal. I am guessing you can thank Burr Zeratsky for the witch hunt that drove her to another school system. They are fortunate to have her, she is doing just fine from what I hear.
This Bates matter is an entirely different thing. Just a coincidence that it was Burr Zeratsky who saw to it that his long-time friend Ken Bates was hired for the job, even though he was not even one of the top 3 candidates? Green Lake got a foul deal, and I am pissed off to say the least. Thanks Zeratsky, why don't you stay the HELL out school issues! Bates has done so many things to hurt our school and drive it into the ground. Bates lax response to e jon Tracy is a classic example of his ineptness to deal with important situations. I could start a list of things that Ken Bates has and hasn't done that have hurt our school system.
The people that want Bates out are not the same people who drove Nancy Burns out for no good reason. We have plenty of reasons to get rid of Bates.
110% in agreement with the last post. Dead on...time for change!
Those are LIES you continue to spread.
Nancy Burns was incompetent. She was terrible. That is a fact. She may be a nice person, but Nancy was just plain incapable of fullfilling her job. Do some fact checking on a senior class trip she chaperoned and later became a major embarrasement. (Just as she is in her present employment.) Nancy cost our school district way beyond what she was paid. The ultra conservative bloggers on this site are dishonest when they say otherwise. I suppose they must be friends of Nancy's.
What EVIDENCE do you have that connect Ken Bates and Burr Zeratsky? Be specific. No hearsay and rumors. That they worked together, along with other board members, is a good thing for the school, isn't it? I can tell from the school board meetings that the board and Bates did not always agree, but they do share common goals, which was the best for our school.
Why has no one explained SPECIFIC examples of e.jon tracy abusing his principal job? Was there ever any school board reprimand against him? And tell us how Ken Bates is responsible for every employee's actions. (My son is in a certain social studies class that is taught by a teacher who I think can be legally classified as incompetent. How can Bates be responsible for that?)
I'm all for lower school taxes and accountability, especially during this time. I'm unsure about the upcoming referendum. But I won't take a bunch of hearsay. What evidence do you have? Hearsay is not good enough.
Wow, you spew your hearsay and then doubt what others say. You are most amusing. Wasn't that the senior trip that ended early because a beloved school-mate died in a tragic car accident? What dirt are you trying to smear around? Everyone on that trip was devastated by the news. Are you insinuating that Mrs. Burns did something wrong on that trip? Funny that my student was on that trip and I did not hear of any inappropriate behavior on the part of Mrs. Burns. She cared deeply about the students and they could tell, they cared about her too. This is more than I can say for Bates! He has divided students, divided teachers, divided families, and run our school to financial ruin.
Regarding specifics on e jon Tracy, where have you been these past several years? Why don't you go back and read ALL of the past blogs, there are plenty of comments about e jon and the abuse he doled out as principal.
As a current student at Green Lake High School, I must say that we are spending all the money on stuff that we don't need, but we're ignoring the basics. For God's sake, the heating is different in every room! In one class it is 50 degrees, but in another it's 85! We're spending our time and money into new programs that just cost more, but with the new IB program, I only know of maybe one person who is going to do it in my class, and half of my class has high honors! It's pointless I tell you! This referendum may just push my parents to pull me out of the school system, and move somewhere else. My mother and father are already working full time, and we're just barely staying here. If taxes increase by this much, then why stay here? The school is going downhill, there are no jobs, so why bother to stay here?
The same anger about government waste and control that elected Scott Brown to the Massachusetts's senate is the same anger that Green Lake voters are feeling about this ridiculous school referendum. People are fed up with our tax money being pissed away. Everyone KNOWS that the school does not need more money to educate our children, they receive more than enough money to do the job and to do the job well. Bates has not been responsible with our money and our school, and the idea of giving him MORE money to waste should outrage every person in the district.
I find it very interesting that the test scores that Bates brags about were derived from a chosen group of students and NOT from the entire student population. The early grades are still struggling with their reading levels. This is totally unacceptable. You can't throw money at this problem and expect to solve it. We need to get rid of Bates in order to save our school. He has proven that he is not capable of working within a balanced budget (with plenty of money) and therefore should be let go as soon as possible. His incompetence has earned him a one way ticket back to Columbus. I really wish he had never come here.
Our school is so small. The administrator job should be combined with the role of principal. Why do we continue to waste money when we have solutions to save money? This needs to change. The IB school needs to go, it is taking money away from our regular students and this is not fair. Why did our tax dollars go to pay for Deb Knesers's master degree and other certifications? Why should I pay for her education? This truly angers me. I cannot afford to go to college, I cannot afford to send my kids to college but I can pay for Deb Kneser's master degree? I don't think so! This is just an example of why our school is crumbling. We need to completely change the way things have been operating at the school.
It’s astonishing that the Green Lake Reporter refuses to report about the School Board primary also taking place on February 16th. They have had zero coverage about the primary. It’s an important election because one of the five candidates will be cut.
Also, the district has scheduled four informational meetings about the referendum. Perhaps those of you who criticize the school anonymously on this blog will have the guts to attend and speak up in person.
January 25 at 10 a.m., Caestecker Public Library
January 25 at 6:30 p.m., Brooklyn Town Hall
January 27 at 6 p.m., Green Lake School library
February 2 at 6 p.m., Caestecker Public Library
I see someone started a Facebook Fan Page against the Referendum
I probably will attend at least one of the referendum "informational" meetings, but there is absolutely nothing that could be said that will change my mind about this referendum. Bates is hardly a reliable source of truth and cannot be trusted. He has been trying to scare people into believing that the school will close or that as many as ten teachers will lose there jobs. There is no truth to this!
The fact is that the school is spending almost $20,000 per student and they want more! There is no way on earth to justify this. This is beyond shameful, this is downright scandalous.
I agree completely. Nothing is going to change my mind about voting NO for the referendum. For those of you who are undecided, chew on this. We are spending $100 per day, per student.
If you had to write out a check every week for $500 for each of your kids to go to school, would that sit well with you? Well, it doesn't sit well with me, and maybe you are not personally paying $500 per week for your child to attend school, but WE are. Why? Why is Green Lake spending so much money??? Why are we paying for daycare??? Why is one grade of 15 students split into two classrooms??? Why do we have three full time and two part time janitors, and a cleaning service??? Why do we pay two bookkeepers? Why is it 80 degrees in the classrooms??? Why are our primary reading scores still low??? Why are we wasting money on the IB program and flying teachers all over the country??? Why do we continue to pay an administrator who is inept and cannot work within a budget???
The previous blogger is right. This is shameful and scandalous.
Stop spreading lies! The district pays $150 per credit reimbursement for all teachers and administrators up to 12 credits per year. It is part of the contract that is given to all licensed employees. Stop smearing individuals because you have a bone to pick with them. Most of the teachers/adminstrators in the district have a masters degree and they were paid for the same way! Credits can cost as much as $500 per credit, $150 is a far cry from paying for all of it! Crying on this blog is not going to fix this. The teacher's union negotiates the contract with the school board. As long as it is in the contract the $150 will remain as reimbursement. This is very common for teaching contracts. Many school districts reimburse full tuition instead of a set amount per credit. Do you not want your teachers to remain current and give your children the best education possible? If you don't like the $150 reimbursement then Green Lake's board needs to negotiate it out of the master agreement. This has been in the master agreement for over 25 years. Slandering individuals is not going to solve this issue!
I read Ken Bates weekly column this week in the GL Reporter and Commonwealth. In it, he goes through a fairly thorough list, to put the facts out on a number of issues.
I have to say when I finished reading it, it seemed to address a number of things being said that are not true, and I thought he did a good job of getting the facts out there and clearing up things that people have made up or misstated. It might be helpful
to read the column for yourselves to see where some of the facts back up what he says.
All this nonsense and made up stories about how Ken Bates got hired. I was invited to be part of the community group that helped with the search. As I recall, there were about 18 of us who were invited to be part of the search, besides the board members and it was a real mix of conservative and liberal, parents, business owners, teachers. And we were told that this was done on purpose by the board to get a broad mix of community opinion.
We all got to interview all of the finalists in small group interviews. And we all gave our opinion to the board.
I also remember that a search firm was used to screen applicants and do the background checks, (not Bur Zeratsky, as someone keeps falsely suggesting.
I remember that it was a rather full majority, like 90% or more that rated Ken as number 1 of the finalists they recommended back to the board. (There was no such thing as a blogger wrongly suggests, that Ken was not even in the 3 finalists.)
I also find it interesting in going back to check the records and that the board voted 7-0 to hire Ken and 7-0 to approve the contract. One of those 7 was Harley Reabe. Yet no one seems to speak of that.
I thought the whole process was fair and community representation was a big part of it.
Last point. For all the Nancy Burns supporters. Interesting that no one has brought up that she is the one who sought out and hired Jon Tracy. Also, interesting that she talks hypocritically in her letters to the editor about poor use of tax dollars, yet she had no problem taking $75,000 from the district at the end, for doing nothing, and then turning around the next day and accepting another offer.
Please, lets just make sure we have all the facts on the table when we are going after people with half of the story.
Have any of you looked at the packet of charts and graphs that Ken Bates is handing out with his referendum propaganda? If you ask me, it does not help his cause. For one thing, according to one pie chart, we have 4 less staff now than in the 2005/06 school year, and yet salaries and benefits have risen over $100,000 in that time period. Why on earth would we be paying more for salaries when we have less staff? This makes no sense to me. If you have 4 less staff, say at an average of $50,000 per staff member, that should be a reduction of $200,000, not an increase of $100,000!
Look at the pie chart for expenditures. In the current school year, we are paying $251,809 (four percent of our budget) on "travel". What does this mean? I do not think this means "transportation" as in busing. If any of you know what this is, I would appreciate you explaining what we are spending over $1000 per day on "travel" for.
Regarding staff cost, increases in the cost of health insurance may account for some of that.
Health insurance increases should not amount to $300,000 per year (just for the increase). How many of the 60 staff members receive insurance?
$100,000 increase in salaries in 4 years is not a huge increase. That is only $25,000 per year. Teachers have been guaranteed 3.8% pay increase due to the QEO. Take the total salary in 2005 and increase it by 3.8%. You will very easily be able to account for the increase.
But there are 4 less staff members,so there is no way to account for the increase.
Correction: One blogger made several mistakes.
1. Harley Reabe was a member of the board which hired Ken Bates. Wrong. The board members at that time were Bur Zeratsky, Wendy Schultz, Jane Handel, Dean Sommers (substitute for Kaye Zwaicher), Mark Dosogne, Jodine Deppisch, and Jane Piernot.
2. Yes, Nancy Burns did hire Jon Tracy. He worked with her one year before Mrs. Burns was forced to leave. He was a different person then than he was when he retired.
3. Nancy Burns' contract spelled out strict criteria under which she might leave her position before her contract ended. Contracts are legal agreements which are required to be upheld. To honor the terms of her contract, she needed to be reimbursed for the time the district agreed to employ her. She didn't "take" anything. She and the district had an agreement, and breaking that agreement could have led to legal action. She should have sued anyway. Discovery would have been so revealing!!!
I think the previous blogger you mentioned was correct. Check the record. Harley was just new on the board when the contract was voted. The seven you refer to were involved with the search. Harley came on and voted the contract.
If the school district is in need of money why don't they stop being so greedy and get back in contact with Markesan Schools and the south side of Big Green residents and sit down and try and hammer out a deal that will work for everyone. If our school wouldn't have had the greedy "us us us" attitude, we could have came to a deal that would have been great for us and them.
Our taxes would have been driven lower and maybe more would be willing to listen to the school asking for money.
I say split the savings/value 50/50 Markesan-Green Lake and then all are happy.
Markesan would not give up the property. How were they not the greedy ones? This has to have been posted by one of the taxpayers that wanted to reduce their tax bill by joining Green Lake.
I don't know what a previous blogger meant by saying Tracy wasn't the person he was when he retired?? That comment makes no sense at all. Just ask North Fond du Lac---he was always the same. That's why they forced him out there also. He just got even worse under Bates because he was given free reign without fear of being reprimanded by Bates.
Nancy was not a good leader, but Bates is even worse and has no scruples. The problems really began when Nancy was hired. None of the staff members on the committee felt she was right for the district but the board members just plowed ahead and hired her anyway.
I say again---it should have happened then and should happen now. Hire an experienced, good superintendent as an interim person to "straighten" the place out and stabilize things for a year or two and give that person some say in bringing in someone to head up the school in years to come.
I agree with the last blogger.
It would have been an awkward situation to try to tell GLSD taxpayers you needed two referendums.
One to pay the Markesan District some of the money we'd receive from these new properties. As it is, a lot of people don't want the one that is coming up. The people that would have benefited the most were the homeowners involved in the potential property district transfer. That one needed to die.
There is way too much emphasis here in whether Bates should go or stay. No school administrator has the power to act according to his or her own personal agenda. Wisconsin law is clear that the school administrator performs duties under the direction of the School Board. Past boards got this exactly backwards. The current Board has improved greatly in the past year in understanding that it has the ultimate authority. Depending on the outcome of the school board elections in February and April, further improvements hopefully will take place. It is up to all of us to support efforts on the Board to act responsibly.
Why would we keep an administrator that has done nothing but damage to our school??? Yes, hopefully after new school board members are elected, we can do even better, but renewing Bates contract would be a HUGE mistake. A school district at small as ours should not be paying an administrator AND principal. Let Bates contract expire (there is still over a year left to go with this jackass) and then let Mary Allen watch over things while the school board makes the necessary changes to save our school.
You need someone with a superintendent license (60 credits, #3 license) to run a district. A principal cannot do it unless they also hold a superintendent's licence. Princeton is able to do it because their guy holds both licenses. All of you that keep throwing out all of your "perfect solutions" need to understand school leadership.
Can you say interim superintendent?????
So, all you need is 60 credits and a #3 license and you have 'leadership'?
Sorry, it still doesn't sound as if it would be very difficult to get someone else for a reasonable salary who has the first 2 items and perhaps true "leadership" ability. This can't be said for 'Smoke & Mirrors' Kenny Bates.
I am sure that all of you have received your Referendum newsletter in the mail. It contains the standard bad arguments that Bates is weakly trying to make.
Once again, I feel this attempt to win favor only serves the opposite result. For instance the "reason" that the district budget continues to increase with 66 fewer students is that items such as salary and benefits continue to increase! Well, DAH. This is part of the fricking problem. We are in a recession. My spouse and I have not had a raise in years, even though we work harder than ever. Why are teachers receiving and automatic 3.8% increase every year? Why did "other" staff just receive a pay increase? Everyone else is tightening their purse strings, but the school must think they are the Federal government or something.
The answer to "what happens if the referendum vote is no" is almost amusing. The budget would have to be reduced $660,000. Therefore programs and services will be reduced or eliminated. DAH. This is what we should have been doing for the past several years! Is Ken Bates now just finally figuring out what needs to be done ensure the continuation of our little school?
The QEO (qualified economic offer) which has been in place on the state level for years, sets the salary increase for teachers. Schools must abide by this.
The QEO will not be in effect next year, I believe. Then the situation goes back to collective bargaining/arbitration. This may not be better.
If you want to make instructive criticism of the situation, it is important to study the background. Public education is a complicated business.
Well I figured there was a reason why the teachers were receiving an automatic pay increase. Just more flaws in the system that should be corrected.
Public education is a complicated business and it's important to study the background!
It's also important to use words correctly: Constructive criticism if you please!
Control freak.
Instructive criticism is exactly what I meant.
Actually, I did not make any criticism, if you look at my blog you will see that I merely asked a question. Blogging is complicated business.
The school budget should be reduced, not increased. Vote NO on February 16th!
If I am not mistaken, tomorrow is the day that our school board will decide whether or not to renew Ken Bates contract. I ask each school board member to please consider this: If the public were to vote on this, instead of the school board, would Bates contract be renewed?
I feel the answer to that question is overwhelmingly NO. So why would you (school board member) even consider voting contrary to what your constituents want? If Mr. Bates position was elected by the public, he would be sent home in a hurry. If the school were a business, he would have been fired by now. So please, do not renew Ken Bates contract again. It never should have been renewed the last time.
Ever filled out an annual evaluation for school superintendent, and then asked for the school board's summary reaction to those evaluation's results? Funny how the average evaluation rating might result in an average C grade, but a school board will rate a superintendent with an A-B grade. Hmmm...why would a school board supposed to be representing the people who elected them voting with such significantly higher marks than public? Summary interpretations from those with the power to be heard and make the grade...gotta luv em'.
Consolidation is the only answer or we all die!
"I ask each school board member to please consider this: If the public were to vote on this, instead of the school board, would Bates contract be renewed?"
This is exactly why there is a democratically-elected school board--so that a minority of malcontent extremists do not control local public education.
If Ken Bates' contract is not renewed, I only hope that it is not because of a vocal minority that only supports an administrator that they can control.
Ken Bates' contract should not be renewed. But it is very important that the Board understand that it is in charge, not the Administrator.
Shadow-I believe you are correct, I think that smaller districts such as Green Lake, Princeton and Markesan need to work together and figure out something that works for all communities. We need to face the hard reality that we aren't all going to be able to survive alone but together we can become stronger.
Contract is renewed... 8 more years.
WTF
Another lie- it is not 8 more years. Find out the facts!
So what really happened?
Contract renewed...Vote was 5 to 2 ;-(
This is incomprehensible! I am very angry. What on earth were they thinking?
Unbelievable is right. And heard there was a serious situation brought up by a parent at school board meeting that could cause a lot of problems and expenses for the school. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? School Board members are voted to represent us - why don't they listen to our wishes? They owe us an explanation if they expect anyone to vote for the referendum. Hopefully some of the candidates will vote what we citizens and tax payers want. Celest King,Dr. Jim Williams, and Gordy Farrell all are tied to the administration. Do any of the others listen to us taxpayers?
The Shadow is right. Consolidate. Don't duplicate.
A previous blogger said, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? School Board members are voted to represent us - why don't they listen to our wishes? They owe us an explanation if they expect anyone to vote for the referendum."
Perhaps it is possible, just possible that there are many community members who don't think like you do, did you ever consider that? Perhaps the board members have listened from a variety of community members, not just the circle you travel in, and voted based on what they heard from a general consensus of opinion out there that the school has some good things going, that some of the challenges are not a direct result of something Ken did or didn't do, and that they are going to move forward under his leadership. Obviously they didn't think the way some of you do, but that doesn't mean they didn't listen to the voters. They just listened to more of others who think differently than you do.
A 5-2 vote tells me that the larger group opinion is backing this leadership for reasons they believe in.
I think Mr. Grumpy 1 and Mr. Grumpy 2 will have to go home following this administrator contract vote and give some thought to their future purpose on this board. They obviously are specific agenda driven, not considering the future for the school.
Mr. Grumpy 1 has always been the fastest to say no to anything new.
If he had his way, kids would have to pay for every activity at the school. And he is on record as saying the school should close. What kind of board member is that?
Mr. Grumpy 2 is simply on that board for a 1 item grudge agenda. He spent a year doing nothing until he had the chance to vote no on the administrator contract. Beyond that, name one thing he has really gotten into on the board in this last year. The answer is nothing.
His participation on the board is not driven to build a future for the school. It's about a grudge.
I hope both of them realize the futility of their personal agendas and step off the board now to allow some people to get on the board who want to work as a team to move this school forward so we can focus on the education of our kids.
I agree 100% percent. Mr. Grumpy 1 and Mr. Grumpy 2 have proven to be ineffectual and very poor representatives of our school community. The offer nothing but their personal agendas to few and far inbetweens.
I agree with the previous bloggers. Harley and Dennis would do the community a good turn if they stepped down. How does a recall work?
It is sooooo time to move on, Harley and Dennis. If you read the recent brochure letter sent to parents and community members on the referendum, it makes two things clear.
1. A big part of school costs going up are driven by the state law tied to having to give that guaranteed 3.something % raise to teachers, that our school district administrator has no control over.
2. That consolidating with another district will end up costing us more.
If bloggers want to complain about increasing costs, they should focus their attention on the teachers union that forced this through, as well as the ridiculous position the union has taken on insisting on the very expensive health insurance program they follow statewide. Studies have been done to prove there are a number of alternative carriers we could consider that could save a district like Green Lake, many, many thousands of dollars, with comparable coverage, but no, the union has stuck its head in the sand and forced the district to stay with this over bloated coverage for teachers.
Maybe Harley & Dennis, Mr. Grumpy 1 & Mr. Grumpy 2, could do a better service to the community and instead volunteer their time on something non young people oriented, like sewer boards or volunteer to set up tables and chairs at a senior center. They clearly are not the right people to be in charge of the future growth of children in the community.
I for one, and grateful that Meade and Amy came to their senses on this administrator contract vote.
WRONG: Dennis and Harley have the strength and conviction to hold their ground, unlike Amy and Meade. Those two say one thing, and then vote the opposite. Dennis and Harley can hold their heads high for having such courage. Amy and Meade on the other hand, should be ashamed and embarrassed. Meade! I think the long pause before your vote allowed all your courage to escape, sad very sad.
Dennis and Harley are the only board members worth keeping! The rest have to go. No way were the others representing the needs or wants of this school district by renewing Bates contract. This is a disgrace. The elections will tell you what the public truly wants.
On that note, why is Green Lake paying for Deb Kneser to fly to Los Angelos for four days, for her hotel and meals and registration fees for some IB seminar? Deb Kneser is independent from the school! Now, she is in New York for 4 days for the same reason, and guess who is paying for it! We are! The IB school is sucking us dry! Now I see why the budget has $250,000 per year for TRAVEL. That's about $1500 per DAY we are paying for this IB bullshit. Deb Kneser does not even work at the school.
You're right another waste of money!
By the way, why are we paying a local resident to promote the school? Since when does the school need a paid PR person. I thought the newspaper stated the flashy Illinois transplant was paying for all of this PR B.S.at no cost to the taxpaper. Must be the 1st time the paper got it wrong.
I don't get it! Call me naive but why can't we get back to teaching the basics? Get rid of I.B. and the charter school! Teach the wonderful students that we do have left the basics and do that well! We don't need all I.B. and charter school to make our kids successful! I don't want to see our school close either but come on people. We can do so well without all of the "fancy, expensive alternatives."
I hope Reabe and Deyo are recalled. They both are petty little men who do not represent the community at large. What have they contributed to the school since being elected to the school board? Absolutely nothing. Petty little men.
Again, get your facts straight! There is not travel as a line item in the school budget! Transportation in the budget is bussing. Where do you bloggers get your information?
Many thanks to the last blogger for stating the truth about the "travel costs" as turning out to be about bus costs. It is amazing to me that people on this blog make up a bunch of crap about what some line item is in the budget for, like trying to make it sound like the school spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on teacher travel, when it is really the cost of bussing kids to school.
It is just another example of so much ignorance being spewed out there by people who do not have the facts, yet scream the loudest about wanting change.
Last, thanks to the blogger a few posts ago who called it right. Harley and Dennis are petty little men who get a charge out of saying no just to hear it come out of their mouths. Neither bring an ounce of sense for any positive thinking or efforts to grow the school or advance the education.
They are just angry spiteful characters on a small stage, fired up by a minority of whiners who have nothing else to do with themselves except pester people at meetings. Hopefully they will fade back into the woodwork and allow the rest of the board to move forward.
Mike Ratter is a paid employee of the City of Green Lake. He has posted comments that oppose the school referendum. (Mike is not known for his smarts.)
It is inappropriate (unlawful?) that Ratter post comments in that he is a "public servant."
Did Mike post these comments on his own time or while he was on duty?
I don't want my tax dollars to support the wages of a dufus who uses the Internet to stick it in the eye of the former emmployer of his malcontent wife. Get that, Annette?
Where is there anything written by Mike Ratter?
Oh. You must be referring to the members of the 'copy machine room gossip club". This was a special group of school employees who thought they were paid to gather in the copy room at the school, and eat, gossip loudly and often about other teachers and staff, and complain about anything and anyone. No skill sets were necessary to be in this club other than the ability to keep eating to grow their ever expanding rear ends, and the ability to find ways to waste time during the day. Complaints were generally heightened when they were made to actually do work. They believed they had the guaranteed privilege of a job just because of time put in over the years. They also honed their skills in being nasty to the public, giving the impression they couldn't be bothered or disturbed to help someone. That team was broken up by the administrator and replaced by people who smile, work and help people. There are remnants of that old club still wandering through the school. One of the old leaders of that club can still be heard daily yelling at students or someone across the hall any time you walk within 300 feet outside her classroom.
Once again, thank you Ken and disciples for showing yor true colors by attacking and making incinuations against those who may have an opinion different than yours (Reference Harley, Dennis, Mike, etc.) Regardless of occupation or position, they are all taxpayers, and I don't find to hard to believe that maybe all taxpayers don't want to just donate money to the school for no clear purpose. Maybe give the taxpayers a clear plan of exactly how the money will be spent, instead of trying to scare them into believing the school will close, and you would have more support for this referendum. Name calling and accusations are certainly not going to help your cause.
Hello Anonymous,
Actually, I can only be heard approximately 200 yards from my room as I've lost a bit of my loudness power over the course of my career...however my students are still proud of the fact that people actually think I'm yelling when I'm actually reading aloud with expression and feeling. I have been known to stand on top of a desk during math class to speak loudly so my students remember the concept we're learning about (Oh my do they think that's a hoot....just did it on Thursday!) How about if you come and spend a day in my classroom, we'd love to have you. There is nothing more I enjoy than teaching the students in Green Lake and nothing more than they enjoy than spending the day with me! The only club I belong to is the "helping my students to reach their fullest potential club". I have some very satisfied customers and would be happy to supply you with names as references if you have enough courage to come to my classroom and speak with me. Can't wait to see you!
Jody Borgardt
It’s obvious that all these new blog comments suddenly attacking Harley and Dennis are coming from the same one or two people, pretending to be many people. It’s misleading and sad. Where were all those posts before last week? Don’t be fooled. It’s the same person or two, with some grudge against Harley and Dennis, posting over and over. I'm not buying it.
You are probably right. Of course, that could also be true about the many posts over time that attacked the administration and board. It could be just one or two people trying to sound like many people.
Maybe the whole blog is just two people?
The voices I hear over and over again on this blog are Wendy Schultz, Deb Kneser (who is laughing all the way to the bank), and perhaps someone related to Ken Bates.
Shame on the school board members who voted to keep an ineffective supt. You deserve everything you get now. (Actually, you won't get anything---just lose it) The "copy room" truth squad always had it right. It is just that the truth hurts, doesn't it. It takes a little person (or a little pipsqueak of a man) to comment on body size and think that's an attack.
Maybe you should tell Bates his old job is open. I'm sure Columbus will be begging for him to come back. Ya, right.
Give us all a break, Mrs.Borgart.
You are a small-town bully.
Give it up.
I agree about the name calling--petty little men. They don't rubber stamp, so they're petty. Right. What's the job of the board anyway?
I don't know Mr.Reabe very well, but I have known Mr.Deyo for many years. He taught my kids. He changed since he was elected as a school board member. Why doesn't he support the school that paid him for many years?
I pay taxes like everyone else, so I feel that I can say what I think. To me it seems that Mr.Deyo is using Mr.Reabe to vent his anger.
I could be wrong but I trust my feelings about this. Why are Mr.Reabe and Mr.Deyo so against the school?
I agree. I remember when Dennis was a very good teacher. Our child loved listening to Dennis with his daily reading times, and his efforts to introduce students to the love of reading. Often, former students would stop by to reconnect with him or talk with him in the community. It was a different time because he used his teacher talents and passion for helping kids to be a positive force in the community.
But a former good teacher does not necessarily a good member make.
Dennis somehow became bitter and is on the board, not for the betterment of students and families, but to satisfy a grudge. Problem is, he can't have his way so now he has nothing else to offer or be part of tied to board business. So far he has been ineffective in showing any leadership or providing any direction for committee work or any initiatives. He will likely fill his term and settle back into retirement.
Harley is just against anything that costs money. Where is his thought on the value of opportunities for kids? He might think differently if he even attended one student activity to see the benefit for students.
Excuse me, why does supporting the school mean you MUST support spending more money? And why does support for spending more money mean everything at school will automatically improve? Those 2 issues are not necessarily tied together.
Comments are made about not knowing Harley and Dennis very well, but then accusations are made about anger, bitterness, etc. Could it be that both are determined that the district live within its means? What's wrong with that? They are being accused of being angry because they don't want to spend excessive amounts of taxpayer money. Get a grip! That doesn't compute. That's not anger. That's common sense.
Harley does not support the school. That is the point. He wants to see the school closed, at least the high school part of it, because he has said so in public settings. He also thinks kids should pay a fee for things like sports and music, or any extra curricular activity. Many parents cannot afford a fee so it becomes unavailable to students, when these types of activities are also a part of a life education. When Harley went to school, these activities were certainly available to him as they are in schools across the country as part of the education system. Now he wants to charge for these activities with no thought to the students who will be left out of the programs because their family does not have the means. In our country, it is supposed to be about equal access for all in public education, supported by the general population. Harley knows that. His focus is cost cutting but he is not considering the consequences to students. I am all for getting rid of inefficiencies where they make sense. Harley is only gauging success if the bottom line is cut, regardless of the consequences. It is what he does for a living as a cost control agent, so that is his mindset.
Dennis is worse. His run for the board is about a grudge, a one item agenda, not about looking at the whole picture for bettering the school district.
What is wrong with you people? Dennis Deyo ran for board for a perfectly legitimate reason--to make the district better for kids. With that poor excuse for a supt. in place, there is no way that is going to happen. Too bad Amy & Meade are cowards and could not do what they know is right.
I feel pity for the person(s) who are attacking Dennis Deyo and Harley Reabe on this blog. Jut because Dennis and Harley don't agree with the rampant, out of control spending and other misconduct occurring at the school? They are the only two school board members worth keeping. It's time for common sense to prevail and necessary changes to be made at the school. I personally am disgusted by Amy Pipho and Meade Grimm for falling short of their responsibilities to to do what is best for the school and our children. Calling them names surely will not help matters, we are all (supposed to be) adults here. If anyone were to be recalled, it would be those two.
Regarding the "transportation" and "travel" discrepancy, here is what is says on page 16 of the handout that Ken Bates hands out at his "informational" referendum meetings. Actual 2005/06 TRAVEL expenditures were $200,469. Actual TRAVEL for 2009/10 is $251,809.
There are 181 days in the school year. This means that Green Lake schools are spending $1,391 PER DAY ON TRAVEL.
Now we need to learn just what Ken Bates means by "TRAVEL" on page 16. If it means busing for students, then it should be called "transportation". And if it means busing, why on earth are we paying $1,391 per DAY for a few school buses to run a short route twice a day??? I don't believe that is what
"TRAVEL" means.
I believe "TRAVEL" means flying Deb Kneser to Los Angeles and New York for IB training. I believe it means flying an entire group of teachers to New Orleans where they all had private, upscale hotel rooms for IB training. I believe it means flying Ken Bates around the country for Charter school gatherings. And let's all look back at the good old days when teachers like Mary Hunter and others were flown to Europe for special teacher functions.
Oh, yes, there was initially some grant money to start up the IB and Charter schools, but that was short-lived and now they want us tax payers to foot the bill for their lavish travel expenses and other various and sundry extravagant wastes of money.
The IB school needs to GO, immediately. The extra teachers and staff hired for the IB school need to GO, immediately. The charter school needs to GO, as fast as possible. Other schools are spending HALF what we spend per student, and until we slash this ridiculous spending, the future of keeping any public school in Green Lake looks very grim. No pun intended.
Hell ya'...I'm buying a bus and getting into this program. One Quarter of a Million dollars for running the school buses a short portion of the day, all of 180 days per year (and for other occasional school activities).
Sign me up ASAP!
Who is BS'ing who...no way, no how that this is just for transporting students. But...if it is, just one more thing that needs to be looked into because if the taxpayers are paying that amount, then there is definitely a problem! And I'm getting in on it before the taxpayers wise up!
I think Amy and Meade showed wisdom and courage by voting in favor of Mr. Bates. We're fortunate they are on the school board
Wisdom and courage...So now we have the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion running our school! Whenever I've seen Ken Bates in action it's made me think that we should 'pay no attention to that man behind the curtain'.
Unfortunately, thanks to the most recent action of the school board, the only ones not being paid any attention to are we taxpayers.
We don't live in Oz folks, this isn't the Emerald City and there isn't a yellow brick road.
Pull your heads out of your arses and keep Bates in check. You've already proven that you aren't aligned with the thoughts of the populous by voting to extend his time jagging up Green Lake school district.
And no, you can't click your heels together and wish this thing away...
Vote No on the referendum and learn how to make it work with less...Or soon, there will no longer be a place called GLSD!
I spent most of yesterday reading all of the postings concerning the state of the GL schools and actions being taken to protect/save them. Prior to that, I'd been gathering information from the newspapers, GL friends and neighbors to get my arms around what exactly we're being asked to vote on and why.
It may sound strange but as an "outsider" looking in (I'm a part-time resident), it is heartwarming to see citizens stepping up, speaking out and showing they care deeply about their community. Whatever side you fall on in this debate, the fact there IS one is healthy and required. Now only if we could get this kind of attention on national issues! We would certainly make legislators think twice about putting our interests first before theirs.
Turning back to the Referendum, I cannot, nor would I, engage in the debate not knowing the history or facts that clearly evoke such heated and pointed emotions. The basis for my concerns stem from the fact that in all of the information I've reviewed, there is little I can find that explains/details how these financial projections were arrived at.
I am presuming the current Administration and school board members worked together and undertook an in-depth analysis to support the financial requirements of this referendum, ie factors such as student head count projections against other districts, capital equipment needs, demographic trends/statistics, just to name a few. However, I've been unable to find anything that details this information to help the taxpayers, of which I am one, to have any confidence that the expenditures are justified or needed. Current revenue per student numbers alone warrant disclosure/back up to justify the fact they will go up even higher if this referendum is passed.
At this point, my instincts and experience in matters of sound business practices and thoughtful budgeting for 30+ years require me to reject this referendum unless the information outlined above is presented and offered for all taxpayers to see, review and understand.
In closing, I realize it's hard not to be emotional and passionate when our children's well being is at stake. However, I would urge everyone to move on from what WAS to what IS -- put the accusations, negative emotion and passions aside, and work to get the answers I outlined above. I can assure you it will become clear to everyone whether or not this referendum is justified/needed.
256600 Pupil Transportation - Vehicle Servicing
10E-256600-348 Vehicle Fuel 25,000.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 25,000.00
Total Pupil Transportation - Vehicle Servicing (256600) 25,000.00
256710 Contracted Pupil Transportation - Regular - Home to School
10E-256710-341 Contracted Pupil Transportation 100,268.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 100,268.00
Total Contracted Pupil Transportation - Regular - Home to School (256710) 100,268.00
256720 Contracted Pupil Transportation - Shuttle Services
10E-256720-341 Contracted Pupil Transportation 3,577.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 3,577.00
Total Contracted Pupil Transportation - Shuttle Services (256720) 3,577.00
256740 Contracted Pupil Transportation - Co-Curricular Activities
10E-256740-341 Contracted Pupil Transportation 18,800.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 18,800.00
Total Contracted Pupil Transportation - Co-Curricular Activities (256740) 18,800.00
256770 Contracted Pupil Transportation - Field Trips
10E-256770-341 Contracted Pupil Transportation 9,400.00
10E-256770-345 Pupil Lodging and Meals 1,000.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 10,400.00
Total Contracted Pupil Transportation - Field Trips (256770) 10,400.00
256790 Contracted Pupil Transportation - Other
10E-256790-341 Contracted Pupil Transportation 8,431.00
Total Purchased Services (300) 8,431.00
Total Contracted Pupil Transportation - Other (256790) 8,431.00
Anyone care to interpret this gibberish?
Looks as though someone from the school, or school board, has some factual numbers to throw out here on the old Btch Sight! Still uncertain how 299 kids who don't all need transportation provided by the school cost One-Quarter of a million dollars per year
Concerning Frank Baum comments:
Shame on you, a sarcastic windbag and know-it-all. Your wife, kids and dogs must cower when you enter the room.
By the way, please do stick your head up your arse. You just might find some insight.
Nice to have heard from one of the flying donkeys who've been ingrained with the wisdom that is Green Lake.
Let's discuss Wisdom and courage...
Yes, they showed wisdom and courage to renew the contract of an inept 'leader'. Under Bates' tutelage the GLSD has become a circus of ineptitude. He's given us direction...about 30 different directions, none of which lead to anything real and tangible. He is all about "Pie in the Sky" thinking and spending. Under his watch, GLSD has become a divisive entity within our community. Does this make sense? A school should be a promotion of the community within which it thrives...a bonding influence. Unfortunatly, with Ken at the helm it has proven to be a divisive force within the community.
Wisdom and courage to vote for raises for the support staff (and add staff) when damn near everyone else is working for the same, or less, than they were a year ago.
Wisdom and courage to say one thing and then do another (a.k.a.: talking out of both sides of their mouths)!
The voters of Green Lake need to show true wisdom and courage and vote NO on the upcoming referendum (and then vote NO again when they run it past the populous later this spring). We need to tell these inept school board members (and administrator) to make it work with less. The writing is on the wall and unless they do so we are only delaying the inevitable....Closure of the school altogether, or some sort of consolidation.
Stop letting inept people make the decisions that shape your lives.
Oh, and as far as the fear I put into the hearts of my 'family'..you forgot to mention the cat and the ferret. The cat is scared as hell of me. The ferret - not so much (he kind of reminds me of Ken, overly friendly but still, a weasel)!
For Baum--
Blah, blah, blah horse's ass.
For Bates and his 'cronies' ruining GL school...
Blah, blah, blah...
"Pop goes the weasel(s)...Vote NO", keep finances in check and preserve our community!
I read Ken Bates rebuttle to former superintent Nancy Burns. If half of what Bates states is true, I have to conclude that Burns is simply a mouthpiece for several persons who blog on this site.
No newspaper (or other source) has challenged Bates on his assertions.
I'm voting YES for the referendum, as well as the people I socialize with. We do not trust a lot what is accused on this blog.
By the way, the smart aleck remarks by some people here are a good indication about the civility and trustworthyness of their character.
Oh, for sure...I am definitely voting to increase the amount of money we spend per student so at the end of the 4 years proposed by the referendum we'll be at close to $25,000 per student. And that's assuming we still have 299 students at the school. If things continue we'll have less students and maybe we can get it close to $30,000 per student.
Heck no...I don't see anything wrong with that!
If this community actually stands behind Ken Bates and the school board who is putting this referendum forth...the saying is accurate....
"we have seen the enemy and it is us".
I don't know why this is even a consideration when you look at the blatant waste and ill-advised spending that has brought this thing to the forefront. It's almost as ludicrous as a 1/2 page ad being taken out in newspapers to promote a PUBLIC SCHOOL. What is that all about? And the publications are specific to our area. Do Bates and his pack of morons think that they'll get people to open enroll due to the asinine add in the paper...give me a break. I love the line in the ad which says it all about the pompous attitude they have at GLSD..."Impressed, aren't you"!
It made me want to throw up.
For those of us that have seen the steady decline in quality of education...the steady increase in disenchantment...perhaps the ad should have read....
"Depressed, aren't you?"
I was doing some research about the local school and the IB program. Green Lake is not listed on the IBO.ORG web page. Does anyone know why Green Lake is not listed.
Does anyone recognize of an accurately how diverse countries are portion for Haiti and what countries they are?
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What in theee hell was that last blog post about?
The dude must be smoking something serious.
Maybe they need meds.
There is a story in today's GL Reporter that breakfast is going to be served daily at the school now. I am so disgusted by this mentality, that big government is taking "care" of our children because we are too busy or stupid to do the job ourselves. What next? Maybe the school can start wiping my kids' ass for him, since he's obviously too stupid to do the job correctly and mommy and daddy never taught him how. Let's hire a few ass-wipers to work at the school while we're at it and give them a raise right away.
I have been able to serve my own breakfast from the age of 4 and made sure that my children also knew how to open the box of cereal and pour milk on it, all by their stupid little selves. I guess kids today aren't as fortunate and have no responsible adult in the home. Mommy must be spending all the Cheerio money on crack and meth.
More government programs keep us crippled as a society. Good job, school board. I feel sorry for your children, they must be stinky hungry little things.
Board Candidate Forum - tonight at 7:00 at the school. Saw in Ripon Paper - not in Green Lake paper.
I know who I am voting for, and even better, know who I am not voting for!
Too bad they don't all come up for election at once. It's not like we need to keep any continuity since, with a couple of exceptions, ALL the board members can be replaced. It's unfortunate that you have people who run on a 'defined' platform; who hand out information on what they'll do if elected; go door to door shaking your hand and nodding their head in agreement with your thoughts and wishes...
And then when it comes time to put up or shut up...They become turncoats and join the morons who've gotten us into this mess in the first place.
For those board members most recently elected...very, very disappointing efforts thus far. Sorry I helped put you in charge of a good share of my taxes every year...sorry you are the ones making decisions regarding the future demise of the school. Sorry I listened to your lines of BS and believed them.
Hey,,,, if you are so passionate about this, how about you run for the board and fix everything? You seem very convinced that you know exactly what needs to be done. Go for it.
"stinky little morons..."?
Stick a sock in yourself, Randy.
It's not that anyone has all the answers. The problem, as stated in my blog, is when people say one thing - - and do another. Or worse, preach against something with great conviction and then do the complete opposite. This is the case with some of the most recent additions to our illustrious board.
There is a saying..."Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress". What I have a problem with is the lack of honesty when campaigning for a position. Credibility is essential when dealing in the public forum. Unfortunately, based on what has happened in the last few years...and what appears to be continuing under the current board...our reigning body at GLSD lacks this element!
Once you lose it...it's very difficult to get it back.
However...it's not too late to try (Hmnn, Amy, Meade...the "others").
Have you sat down and talked one on one with any of the Board members you are so angry with and asked THEM why they did as they did? As a former school board member - not in GL - I quickly learned that things are NOT AS BLACK AND WHITE as I'd expected. So before I waste energy on being upset and criticizing, I have learned to ask THEM individually as to WHY they made a certain decision, contrary than many expected. On a whole, not just in GL, but other Boards,they have always been very willing to explain their reasons. I don't always agree with their decision, I understand why it was made. Give it a try-you will feel better - and at least know WHY they might not have voted as you expected them to.
I heard Dr. Williams withdrew last night to be able to devote his time to his mother whose health has been failing.
I am glad that Williams withdrew. As far as talking with board members, I don't see the point. There is no justifiable reason or excuse as to why Bate's contract was renewed. He is poison to our school district, his actions and inactions have cost us taxpayers dearly, and any amount of trying to paint a pretty picture out of the messes he has made is a waste of time.
I am voting for Mrazik and Rouse. We need fiscal conservatives on the school board who care about the future of this community.
I happen to agree with stinky little morons. These types of entitlement programs such as school breakfast are exactly what we need our society to get away from! Power to the people, not the government. It keeps the weak in a submissive state of dependency. Bad decision on the part of the school board.
If you see no point in talking with school board members about their decisions, that is unfortunate as you have just shut the door on democracy. The whole point of elected officials is to have them represent the population, and do the best job they can and make the best decisions they feel is right, based on all the information they have. If you don't feel they made the right decision, I think it is better that you talk with them rather than dismisst them out of hand, to find out why they vote like they do. You might at least find out what all they are considering. You certainly are entitled to your opinion, but it would be stronger if you gave it to them face to face then on a blog so they can know how you as a voter feel.
As I stated earlier...saying one thing and doing another is the gist of the problem. And just so you know, for the ones in question, I HAVE SPOKEN WITH THEM! While they were campaigning for the position I spoke with ALL of them (yes, I thought it best to hear what they had to say, and also share my opinions with them). When I made my selection upon the ballot it seemed very straight in my mind what the board members were for, and what they were against...Once again, based upon their own words.
Unfortunately, sometime between the election and the most recent turn of events a couple of the board members must have forgotten what they were supposed to be all about!
All I can say is disappointing...very disappointing!
It's the same old crap being doled out by a few new members and the inner sanctum of the old guard!
I highly recommend everyone do some research and get out and talk to the folks running for the board in the upcoming election. It's not too late...That is, if we can get people on the board who are reasonable, intelligent, and stick to their principles!
To Rodney Blog-OY-ovich:
Because someone doesn't agree with your point of view doesn't make them wrong. Why can't you get this?
To whomever doesn't get the following point:
1) A candidate runs for election saying they are for, or against, something.
2) Constituents vote for that person based on what they were for, or against.
3) The person (or in our case, persons) is elected based upon what they promised being for, or against.
(OKAY...Hopefully I didn't go too fast for you and you'll catch it this time):
4) Now that the person(s) is/are in office....THEY'VE ACTED/VOTED COMPLETELY OPPOSITE TO WHAT THEY PREACHED DURING THE CAMPAIGN!
Maybe it wouldn't have been so hard for you to understand if I had used the word 'lied'...as in, they lied to their constituents to garner votes! I guess I was overestimating some folks ability to understand when they've been bamboozled.
Open your eyes voters of Green Lake...It happens in small town politics just like in Madison and Washington! And it's happening to you. The spin doctors are trying to work their 'black magic' with this upcoming referendum.
As stated by the immortal O'Jays in their telling composition on politics (sic) 'The Backstabbers'...
"They smile in your face, all the time they wanna take your place...the backstabbers"!
Come on school board members...Do the right thing and stop being 'backstabbers'! And voters of Green Lake...Be certain that you can trust whomever you vote for in the next election. Whether you want to believe it, or not, the future of Green Lake will be dictated by the future direction of the school. It is a vital element in determining the 'value' of moving to the area and it's presence, or lack there of, does matter in the grand scheme of things.
I don't think anyone "lied" to garner votes.... to get on a school board? That makes no sense. No one wants to get on a school board, with some agenda that necessitates first lying to the populace to get elected so that they can vote the very opposite way.
If you really thought about what you just suggested, you might realize the silliness of that logic.
I am more likely to believe that people run for these offices, and they know a certain amount about the issues. Then they get elected, they move onto these boards, and they learn more. About the school. About the issues. About the big picture. They hear different sides, understand the budget better, etc.
Then, when it is time to vote on an issue, they probably have to search their heart on all of what they have learned and have to consider in what the implications are for the school, and then they vote in the best way they think makes the most sense.
I just don't believe it is about tricking people, or doing an about face.
If you think you can elect someone who is going to do exactly what you want to do for everything you want, you will be sorely disappointed.
Hopefully, we elect people who will look at all the facts and make the choices they believe is the best for all of the things they are considering.
Bates just got to them, that's all. Good for Dennis and Harley for having the fortitude and good sense to see through that huckster. Bates would have made a fine used car salesman. Kind of reminds me of one, doesn't he?
Amen! I have experienced this first hand. I was on a school board in another town and went in to the job determined to make some specific changes I felt were vital. I immediately saw all that was involved in one "simple" decision - and ended up seeing what I was adamant about changing, could not be changed without consequences on other issues in areas I had no idea about - and that would have negative affects on issues I felt were vital to the school. The only way Rodney is going to understand the many facets of a decision, whether it be on the School Board, national politics, or other areas - one must study the FULL outcome and ramifications affected by a decision. The only way one understands this fully is if he runs for and gets elected to a position and sees these things first hand. NOTHING in life is black and white - contrary to what people who have not taken the time to explore the WHOLE issue and what is involved believe.
A lot of rhetoric, but it all boils down to the fact that we are stuck with a lousy administrator for several more years, and no amount of words can explain it to my satisfaction. I have talked to a lot of people in town, and nobody I know is happy that Bates contract was renewed. Quite the opposite. I don't really give a damn what the "rules" are, Meade and Amy blew it.
That's interesting. I too have talked with a lot of people in town who are just fine with renewing the administrator's contract. Many seem to have questions about the proposed referendum, which we all should, so that we understand what the issues are and what we are voting on. So apparently, there are more people in town than just the people you know.
But the fact is, you represent a portion of the community, not all of the community. Perhaps outside of your circle there are many people that do support the school board.
Thank you for stating the truth.
Not everyone in town thinks the way Rodney and his group do. Yet they are sure that only their way is the right way and that everyone must think just like they do. Plenty of people will continue to support this administration and school board. I am grateful Meade and Amy did not do something so disruptive. We do have problems in our school district but I would like to see this board and administration tackle them with help from the community, instead of this of "off with their heads" mentality.
When the district is forced to consolidate in less than five years what will you all have to say then????????
If the school has to consolidate in 5 years, it will not be because of an administrator or a board. It will be because we have lost jobs in the area, like many small towns in Wisconsin have over the years. People had to move away because they couldn't afford the housing here anymore and they could not find factory and restaurant jobs, and store jobs, because too many closed.
This is not unique to Green Lake. I have seen the map of Wisconsin school districts from 10 years ago to now, and there have been many districts closed or consolidated, many tied to small towns. Green Lake has the distinct difference of having the higher lakefront properties to tax, to continue to fund the school, otherwise we would have probably closed up as well some years ago. Wouldn't matter who was administrator. Yes, I know some people have left the district because they didn't like what was happening, and some people moved into the district because they did like what was happening. It's about jobs and housing. We probably will consolidate eventually because we won't be able to justify the small number of students that live in this community. I think it is inevitable no matter what we try to do. So I plan to enjoy it while it is here, and hopefully get a good education for my kids.
If Green Lake ends up consolidating, it will be because we are spending $20,000 per student, per year. Interesting that other small communities in Wisconsin can educate their K- 12 for half that amount.
Say what you want. And I do agree that we are spending more per student than a lot of schools, but I would like to look at what is in those numbers on line itmes as compared to the other districts of comparable size to understand where the real differences are and where we are similar to a comparable school that has comparable programs and services. As example, I know that GL has special ed costs into its own budget, where in some school districts, that is farmed out to another district and doesn't show up on their budget because it is state aid to the provider.
That being said, jobs or lack thereof and affordable housing or lack thereof, will be the number
one and two reasons Green Lake continues to decline and those two issues will force the consolidation. ( And I am for cutting expenses where necessary or looking at efficiencies to help stem the tide and operate effectively).
Our school board needs to go over the entire operating budget with a fine-toothed comb to see where cuts can be made. How ludicrous that our arrogant board members and administrator have gone forward with a referendum in the midst of these extremely difficult economic times without even trying to save money. I know there is huge waste going on at the school. Until we get a new administrator/principal, our tax money will continue to be wasted.
There is plenty of low-cost, affordable family housing in Green Lake. There have been the same for sale signs in front of affordable homes for years now. Don't blame decreased enrollment on that. Bates and Tracy drove families out of Green Lake faster than the Pied Piper drove the rats out of Hamlin.
How do you know that for a fact, that that is what caused people to leave town? What about jobs?
And just because for sale signs are on houses, doesn't make them affordable. You still have to have adequate income to pay the mortgage and utilities, etc.
Let's consider this: Both Princeton and Markesan have more 'affordable' housing than Green Lake. If I'm not mistaken, both of those school districts have also seen a decrease in the number of students over the past several years.
So, is 'affordable housing' really the problem with Green Lake.
Same situation with jobs...where are they in Green Lake (or in the surrounding areas)? Other than service industry jobs, or professional service jobs (ie: tradespeople, etc.), there aren't many employment opportunities in the area that would allow a family to subsist (note: didn't even suggest they'd prosper...just subsist).
So, we have nothing to offer in the way of employment or housing yet we think people will flock to the area and save the school...and THE CITY OF GREEN LAKE. Is there something I'm missing about this whole scenario?
The only people moving here are low income welfare recipients. It's a good thing there will be new health and human service offices opening soon. And while we're at it, let's give the school an extra few million dollars per year to waste on whatever they feel like. $20,000 per student isn't nearly enough.
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.” – Abraham Lincoln
I read in the paper that the school just hired a fourth grade aide. If I am not mistaken, there are only 16 fourth graders in the school, and they are divided into two classrooms! Why on earth do they need an aide? Are these teachers qualified to teach a class? Do they sit in the teacher's lounge all day, smoking and gossiping? What the hell is going on at school that a teacher cannot handle teaching nine kids in a classroom? This is beyond my comprehension.
I agree, I cannot figure out why the school has so many aides. I don't remember any aides when I went to school. Teachers had 28-32 students and taught the class, all day, by themselves. We received a better education than my student is getting here in Green Lake, with these small class sizes and the extra paid personnel. Maybe if they actually worked and studied, it would help. Every time I pop into my son's classroom, they are working on crafts or other non-study activities. I am not sending my son to school to have him learn how to glue beans onto a piece of cardboard. Can't we just get down to the business of educating?
Don't know this for a fact, but in some cases the aide is required because of a particular special need of an individual child or children who qualify for such assistance under federal guidelines. It could be this aide was hired or replacing an aide who is assigned to a specific situation? Again, I don't know the specifics of this, but it could be something like this. I hope person who raised the question on the blog calls thse school to ask the question and get the real answer from Ken Bates office.
There is hope for new jobs coming to Green Lake. I have it on good authority that a large ultra fancy funeral home is going to built in downtown Green Lake. Should bring lots of jobs with it, since they will be so busy as people are always dying to get in.
Hopefully, you'll be their first client. ;P
Honest Abe, nice post above if you belive in Urban Legends. If you go to truthorfiction.com or many other sites, you'll find the words you listed and attributed to Abe Lincoln were actually written and published in 1942 by William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister.
I received a two great brochures from school board candidates Dick Mrazik and Sydney Rouse. I intend to vote for both of them, and (hopefully) throw the brown-noser Gordy Farrell off the school board. Enough is enough!
Sydney Rouse raised some excellent questions on the back of her brochure. These questions are worthy of repeating. They are also worthy of answers, but with Ken Bates running the show, I doubt that will ever happen.
Questions I Want Answered
1. Why is per-pupil spending about $19,000 compared to about $12,000 state-wide?
2. Why do we need multi-categorized primary grades when our class sizes are not large?
3. How many students are leaving our district and why? Has there been a follow-up as to why?
4. How many students have received an International Baccalaureate Scholarship and how many received a Merit Scholarship? Is the IB program cost effective in light of the results?
5. In this age of Webinars, is sending school personnel to seminars around the country efficient use of taxpayers money?
6. Would we be better off with a Business Manager and part-time Superintendent?
7. Why not study the possibility of a hybrid joint school district with 1 superintendent for 2 or more schools?
8. Has the Charter School drawn in students or just divided grades?
9. Why are our legal fees so high?
10. In the referendum, what is a non-recurring expense? How can the Board justify these increases?
Like many of you, I would like to see some common sense solutions to the problems that have escalated at the school these past several years. Best of luck to both Sydney Rouse and Dick Mrazik in the primary next week!
I'd like to see Sydney and Dick elected, just so that a year or so from now, I could laugh at the bloggers who will be complaining about them not doing everything they promised to do in their campaign, or for voting a different way on issues
or choices than people thought they were going to, because they found out more facts and details, once they were on the board. It will be interesting to hear people calling for their heads, who are doing the same now for Amy and Meade.
Yes, please,by all means, vote for Sydney and Dick so that we can lambaste them next year. Oh, and please share this same thought with as many friends, acquaintances, family members, friends of family members, etc....basically anybody that you come across who can vote. Let's really show those fiscally responsible folks a thing or two by electing them and then toying with them the next couple of years while they try and help resolve the unabated spending at GLSD.
It would be so funny if we did that so please do vote them into office so we can start the games!
I am going to vote for Sydney Rouse and Dick Mrazik, too. And I don't believe that Amy Pipho and Meade Grim are beyond hope. It will be much easier to accomplish positive change at the school once certain people are off the school board. Our only hope for seeing that our schools remain in Green Lake is getting fiscally conservative board members to get the budget and administration under control.
Well, so far, sounds like two votes each for Sydney and Dick.
I plan to vote for Celeste and Gordy. I read the piece in the Green Lake Reporter, ( an ad, really), taken out by Marty Vlasek, in support of a referendum.
I appreciated his view and comments and I would like to have people on the board who will look at all of the facts and issues, and make decisions based on the whole picture, not just cutting for cutting sake, but where it truly makes sense, and not for spending for spending sake, but truly where it makes sense.
My concern about Sydney and Dick are that they have been given marching orders by a small group who are promising to support them, who just want cutting done, no matter what the implications.
It is my hope that our board, whatever the makeup, will look at the budget, top to bottom and carefully consider those areas to cut if that is what it takes.
Celeste King is a clueless ditz! When she was on the school board last time, she voted to get rid of FACE and then, after the vote was concluded, asked what FACE was! She is a detriment to the school and the future of our children.
I just read Marty Vlasek's "paid advertisement" in the newspaper and I am not even slightly convinced that the school needs more money. What a bunch of bull!
Vote NO on Tuesday! The school gets PLENTY of money to educate 299 students. Period.
That's for sure! Ken Bates keeps using the argument that the tax rate in Green Lake is lower than almost anywhere else in Wisconsin? What the hell is he talking about? He obviously does not live and pay taxes in Green Lake! I have to pay almost $5000 per year in property taxes, and we have regular house, nothing big or fancy. We can't afford to pay any more. Maybe if Ken Bates was so worried about money shortages next year he wouldn't to and blow tons of money on attorneys for stupid, selfish, idiotic bullshit like trying to force the ABA into giving the school their best land. I can't believe this guy had his contract renewed, he's a total assbag.
If the school can't function by spending $20,000 per student, then it's time to spend a lot less money. Why is this so difficult to understand, it is a very basic principle. If you don't have it, don't spend it. Dah.
There is a great commentary/letter to the editor from former administrator Marty Valascek in Thursday’s, 2/11, Green Lake Reporter. It's buried on the bottom right of Page 19, but worth the read. It seems GL School has had a high per student cost for many years. It’s odd that no one really gave much concern to it until this referendum came along.
I’m voting YES, because my kids, your kids and the neighbor’s kids are worth it!
The Oshkosh School Board just made a unanimous decision to raise average high school class sizes to 25 students per teacher next school year – up from 21 students per teacher.
Schools everywhere are learning how to cut spending and make the changes that need to be made in order to function. We don't need any more whining about not having enough money, we need real, drastic changes to be made here in Green Lake at the school. Six students in a class? Nine students in a class? This needs to end!
That was NOT a great commentary/letter by Marty Vlasek, it was a paid advertisement. How could you mistake a paid advertisement for a letter to the editor?
I am not buying into the moronic belief that the school does not already have enough money to educate less than 300 students. The school needs to cut spending and economize. We need to get rid of the IB program, and the charter school. They are sucking money. Just how much does it cost to give each charter school kid their own laptop? Why the hell do they need one? Why has Ken Bates allowed the building to run into a state of disrepair for years, and now all of a sudden he is concerned about it? Because he has no idea how to run a school.
Feb.12, 2010
ATLANTA — Georgia education officials ordered investigations on Thursday at 191 schools across the state where they had found evidence of tampering on answer sheets for the state’s standardized achievement test.
The order came after an inquiry on cheating by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement raised red flags regarding one in five of Georgia’s 1,857 public elementary and middle schools. A large proportion of the schools were in Atlanta.
The inquiry flagged any school that had an abnormal number of erasures on answer sheets where the answers were changed from wrong to right, suggesting deliberate interference by teachers, principals or other administrators.
Experts said it could become one of the largest cheating scandals in the era of widespread standardized testing.
“This is the biggest erasure problem I’ve ever seen,” said Gregory J. Cizek, a testing expert at the University of North Carolina who has studied cheating. “This doesn’t suggest that it was just kids randomly changing their answers, it suggests a pattern of unethical behavior on the part of either kids or educators.”
Professor Cizek praised Georgia for conducting the analysis, saying that many states do not monitor erasure rates to check for potential cheating.
In October, The Journal-Constitution identified 10 Atlanta schools that had an extraordinary gain in scores, including two that went from among the worst to among the best in a year. Officials at the district, which gives $2,000 cash bonuses to educators at schools that meet improvement goals, said they did not believe there had been cheating. All of those schools are now on the “severe concern” list.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Don't you wonder why Green Lake test scores have basically done the same thing? I want to see community volunteers to oversee testing and collect the tests, seal them and mail them back to wherever it is they go. Then let's look at Green Lake test results.
Yes, I also want to have neutral, third party volunteers to sit in the classrooms during testing. The teachers, principals and administrators should not be allowed to handle the completed tests. In fact they should not get to see the actual tests ahead of time, either.
I also have my doubts about why our students are testing higher than other schools. I personally know a lot of our local students, and many of them are not especially smart. For instance, I know a middle school student who barely knows how to tell time. These kids have atrocious spelling, poor grammar, and weak math skills. Yes, we also have some very smart students, we have the whole mix. But on average we do not have a school full of little geniuses. Trust me.
What can we as a community do to organize this type of volunteer system? If Ken Bates objects to it, then that is all the more reason to make sure such a plan is implemented.
You all talk about waste and cutting budgets, in my opinion if you want to talk about waste, we should have built our kids a $30,000,000 school and left the county workers and inmates where they were. Just what the hell is that new county building going to do to better our community our kids and our country? Not one damn thing. What a messed up backwards move that was. Has our county not been able to function in the existing building? Seems to me they were doing just fine.
I’m sorry I’m too old now and I’ll probably never see it change in my lifetime, but I hope someday we get things figured out right the first time around!
Just once, let's put the kids First!
I can see no reason to ask for volunteers to oversee testing. If Georgia has a bunch of cheating teachers, that is their problem.
( Remember, we're talking about Georgia here).
I have not heard or seen one bit of evidence to question our teacher's doing anything to fake these results. When that happens, then we can worry about it.
Let's worry about good things for our school, not make up bad things.
Just because you know a child who cannot tell time, does not have to reflect on the good work of many students and teachers. I know a child who can't remember to put the toilet seat down after he pees. Lives in my house. Doesn't mean I dont' expect him to do well on his tests at school.
Honestly, you people keep looking for trouble where there is no trouble. And then you wonder why people question about coming to live here.
How do you know if there is trouble? If there is nothing to hide, then there should be no problem with having neutral, third party volunteers to oversee the testing. This type of cheating is going on all over the United States. Of course you won't know if there is cheating until it's too late.
If there is nothing like this happening at Green Lake, then there is nothing to be afraid of. But the ONLY way to know is to intervene. What's it to you? Do you work at the school? I thought so.
Hey, Grumpy Old Fat Man, get back on your side of the blog! How dare you talk about the courthouse under the school topic?
Actually, I don't care if you do. But you jumped my sh_t when I mentioned the school under the courthouse topic. All's fair.
It's not necessarily the teachers who are cheating on the tests. Didn't you read the article? Very interesting...
Okay,,, if you start observing tests with "outside observers", just because, not for any specific concern or evidence of students, teachers or administrators doing wrong, then where does it stop? Do you observe science class? Do you observe a teacher teaching kids to read? Do you observe kids learning something creative in art?
Interesting we can hardly ever seem to get very many of us to attend school board meetings, or school candidate forums, ( I am guilty of not doing it), but now we want to find people to volunteer to observe testing.
I think this has already been tried in another country. The Soviet Union. And look how that ended up.
I say trust the teachers and students unless they have shown they are doing something wrong.
Vote Yes on Tues. 2/16 or we can flush Green Lake down the toilet.
I saw in the Northwestern the Oshkosh School District has contracted with a firm that helps them find huge savings to the insurance plans for teachers, by encouraging competitive bidding for their health insurance and other benefits, which will help their budget woes.
Why couldn't Green Lake do the same?
We fight this battle every year here with the teachers union, regarding their insistence on staying with the highest costing health plan.
Seems like we could be saving many precious taxpayer dollars right there, if the teachers would cooperate.
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Vote yes on Feb 16 or we can flush Green Lake down the toilet? You've got to be kidding me! We've been swirling into oblivion for a long, long time, seemingly unaware that our school, and town, were heading for the abyss of all small, resort/vacation towns.
The bottom line is, local kids grow up and move away. The city, and school, populations decrease proportionately. And...we end up in the situation we are currently in!
So, why delay the inevitable by putting more wasted funds into a losing, short-term proposition. Throwing more money at the problem GLSD has become, will solve absolutely nothing. It will only give impetus to those who have mismanaged the funding for years at an even greater expense to already overburdened taxpayers.
To this point the administration still needs to answer for many, many financial 'irregularities' that exist within the school budget. There are ledger entries that need explanation/elaboration to completely paint the picture of the 'gross financial mismanagement' we've been subjected to.
I say NO to this referendum and will continue to say NO until each and every financial question has been answered by an independent audit(not a bought and paid for financial consultant from the school). Once this audit is done, and the results made available to the voting public, then and only then should the idea of a referendum be addressed.
Enough of the BS being thrown about by the FOR or AGAINST people. If there is nothing to hide...then put it all out on the table for the voters to see and let the chips fall where they may once the facts are out there!
It's time for everyone to stop accepting the status quo as an excuse for gross overspending. Just because GL has had a high expense per student for years...WHY DOES IT HAVE TO CONTINUE. It wasn't right 10 years ago...it isn't right now...and it won't be right if we say YES and continue the insanity.
As the saying goes..."insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results"...Let's try something different - Like curbing asinine spending, holding the school board and administration accountable to fiscal responsibility...AND OPERATING WITHIN A BUDGET THAT IS ALREADY HIGHLY OVERINFLATED DUE TO WASTEFUL SPENDING!
Vote NO on the referendum and lets stop the insanity that has run rampant at GLSD for years!
Yeah Rodney! You have it exactly RIGHT!
"I say NO to this referendum and will continue to say NO until each and every financial question has been answered by an independent audit(not a bought and paid for financial consultant from the school). Once this audit is done, and the results made available to the voting public, then and only then should the idea of a referendum be addressed."
This is EXACTLY what needs to happen before a referendum should even be considered.
Vote NO on Tuesday!
How interesting that anyone would be against having impartial observers to make sure that test scores in Green Lake are valid. What are "they" afraid of?
Getting the volunteers would be no problem. I think this is an excellent idea, not just for Green Lake, but for every school district in the nation.
All it would entail is having one volunteer to sit quietly in each classroom during testing. When the tests are complete, the volunteer would collect the tests and seal them in an envelope. The volunteers would gather all the envelopes and immediately prepare them to be shipped back to the location where the tests are corrected and reviewed. This would eliminate any doubt of wrongdoing on anyone's part, student, teacher, principal or administrator. Simple, and fair.
To those worried about cheating on tests, I'm not even sure that the school has an answer key because they are sent somewhere else to be checked, and I think a machine checks them. Maybe this does happen in schools, but do you know how much time it would take for someone to sit down with those tests, read the questions, determine the correct answers, and then change the answers? I know of kids, including my own, who did very well on the ACT test (over 30), and these tests are not administered at Green Lake. They are taken elsewhere. I'm not saying that cheating can't happen, but I would find it somewhat unlikely. I guess if people are so concerned about it, a neutral party could be in charge of gathering and sealing the tests in an envelope.
There are different ways to manipulate data (ie: test scores). Not to suggest that this happens but wouldn't it be in a school districts best interests to have certain kids take certain tests and other kids not take any tests. That is...only allow 'select' students to take the test thus affecting the numbers. Wouldn't more positive results attract people to a school district?
Just a thought...not that it would happen in Green Lake (correct?).
I think that when they take the standardized testes throughout the different grades all students in the class have to take them. These are given in GL. With tests like the ACT and SAT the students choose to take them depending on what they plan to do after high school. I supposemany of the best students take the tests and others don't. Also, if a student is attending a technical college and isn't required to take the one of the tests, they probably won't take it. But, this is probably the same at all or most schools.
One of the biggest selling points used is that 80% of graduates go on to college. Since the referendum issue has arisen some of us parents of GL graduates have been asked if we knew how many of the 80% have graduated from college. (In my son's class I know at least 4 did not finish - 2 transferred to tech schools, and 1 got a job with his brother.) Some people have asked school board members and teachers, but no one knows, despite saying they would find out but those we know have not heard yet. If anyone knows, please put it on the Blog as we think it would make a difference if voters saw that a large percentage graduated from college. ..... Or if no answer is given suspicious people would wonder why. Thank you.
It only makes sense to monitor testing. If Bates is going to go around bragging about how high our kids test scores are, I believe this should be verified, annually. Also, I have heard that only certain students are tested, naturally the brighter ones. This does not seem ethical to me.
Not sure if only certain students are tested, but I wish our education system as a nation would take a closer look at that possibility.
It seems ridiculous to me to have a testing system such as the ACT administered to all students, including those who are headed to working in jobs like packaging cookies at Ripon Cookie factory, or driving a truck, or bagging groceries at Pick N Save.
Those jobs require no college classes or high ACT scores. They just require honest, hard working individuals who will show up and do their job.
Why put kids like that through a testing program that will either make them feel bad about themselves, or serves no purpose for where they are headed for some of the local jobs around here like the types I mentioned.
Seems to me that those tests should be offered to kids who are trying for certain levels of education beyond high school that require a minimum level on an ACT score, or employment fields that actually look at ACT scores, when considering applicants.
Not all students are going to take the ACT in any class. It depends upon their post high school plans. Plus, the ACT and SAT have fees that the student pays, so if a student doesn't need it they most likely won't take it. These tests are voluntary, but I think everyone has to take the other standardized tests, offered periodically to students in el. ed. through high school. I was always under the understanding that everyone in the grade took these tests. I suppose schools could skew the answers by having certain kids not take them, but I've never heard of anything like that going on here. Has anyone's children ever come home and said that certain kids didn't have to take the test?
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wtf? I think the last bloggers been doing some Maui wowee.
Naw...just one of them techno-ology studnts from the IB programme showing how much they learnt on them computer things that Bates brung em'.
Those postings full of gibberish are spammers. Selling porno sites and other items, drugs, etc. They hit open blog sites like this one that allow anyone to post. They will do so more and more. The Chief can blow them out, but for some reason chooses not to.
In response to a couple of items in last weeks edition of the Green Lake Reporter (Thursday, Feb 11th Edition).
First, in Ken Bates article "Countdown to the Referendum" (Main section, Pg 6, last column), he states:
"Another hot button issue is the one of spending per pupil. This has become another hot topic only since the referendum has come up".
I don't pretend to be privy to all information being bantered about regarding the school but to this statement from Bates I say - - You've got to be kidding me!! How out of touch are you, or how out of touch do you think the people of Green Lake are?
Anyone who has been in Green Lake the last several years can attest to the cacophony of concerns raised over the cost per student in GlSD.
For Bates to claim ignorance that this wasn't a 'hot topic' prior to the referendum is a flat out lie.
If he is not blowing smoke, then we have another, and greater problem - - He is completely out of touch with reality.
Either way...a statement like just begins to show the true breadth of the problem at GLSD.
Second issue: Another paid advertisement by the school to push the referendum (Page 5...Can't miss it).
What is with all the paid advertisements? If this was such a good, necessary thing, people would be voting yes without reservation. The 'gloom & doom' "fact sheet" as reported in this ad is full of half-truths and scare tactics.
My suggestion to Bates, the current (and future) school board, and anyone else associated with spending the taxpayers money...Go to page 18 of the same Green Lake Reporter and read the article on preparing for your financial future through budgeting! Excellent idea and something we've all had to do.
Don't get me wrong. I truly don't want to see Green Lake without a community cornerstone such as the school. But, I also don't like seeing this community torn apart by deceit, dishonesty, in-fighting, and manipulation which has been the case over the last several years.
Put the financial information (ALL of the information) out on the table FIRST! After it's been looked at and verified for accuracy and transparency, then and only then, should any talk about increased budgets and school referendums be bantered about.
We are putting the cart in front of the horse with this one folks...and the horses ass at the school will be laughing all the way to the bank if you pass the referendum!
That last post from Rodney is excellent and absolutely right on!
Something that mystifies me is the constant implication made by pro- ref posters that spending more and more money is equivalent to caring about kids. Folks, look at the money pits in Milwaukee, Detroit, New York and other places that get funding from every source imaginable and still put out a failing product. It's not the money. It's the culture, attitude, and educational techniques and philosophy that determine success or failure.
Another point about the amount of money being spent is an issue as well. At the current per pupil spending rate in Green Lake, we are already spending more than it costs to send a student to any of the state colleges. If the referendum passes, we would be spending at the rate of sending a student to some private colleges. Good grief!
Reread Rodney's post. And after the election, be ready to hold the board and administration accountable and ready to find the answers to all the questions we have.
And speaking of paid advertising: When does information become advocacy? In my mind, that happens when half truths, missing facts, twisting the arguments takes place, and is it legal for a school to actively campaign for a political position on an issue? Wis. law does have something to say about that. And did the board approve the expenditure for that advertising? Who paid for the yard signs?
Please vote NO!!!
I heard that the Green Lake Rotary paid for the referendum signage.
Why? Because Bates is in the Rotary? Is this what Rotary is supposed to do with their funds?
This doesn't make the Rotary look very good.
I'm pretty sure the yard signs and advertisements in the paper were paid for and sponsored by the local Green Lake County Republican Party, not the Rotary, and certainly not the school.
The Rotary can do whatever they want with their funds. They raised them, and they support things for the community, especially with an emphasis on youth.
Why would the Republican Party pay for the yard signs? This is not a partisan issue. If this is true, I will not be donating any more money to the Green Lake County Republicans.
As far as the Rotary goes, I never said they couldn't spend their money on signs, only said it made them look bad. And it does. People are mad as hell about this referendum, and any group supporting it is cutting their own throat.
"Pretty sure" signs and ads urging voters to vote yes for the referendum paid for by the GL Co. Republican Party? Pretty sure? How did you arrive at that conclusion?
The GL Co Republicans do not spend money on any candidate or campaign without the approval of its executive board. Its constitution requires that any support must agree with core Republican values and principles. Sorry, but increased spending on any publicly funded entity needs to be justified and substantiated by sound documentation, which is lacking here.
Besides, Republicans are all about promoting freedom, individual responsibility, and less gov't intervention in our lives, not increased gov't spending and a larger tax burden on the citizens. Sadly, the last poster is grossly uninformed about what Republicans stand for and support.
Don't misunderstand. Republicans support kids, and good, sound education, but they believe that any gov't effort, whatever it may be, demands accountability and responsibility to the citizens to do the best job possible with the least possible expense. If that one principle were applied all across the board in gov't at every level, our current economy would be roaring along, and even here in Green Lake, job opportunities would be looking better, attracting families with children to move here. That's what we need to keep the school functioning and flourishing, not passing a referendum which ultimately would suck more money out of everyone's pockets.
This is good to hear, I didn't think the Republicans would be that stupid as to support a referendum for more spending when the current spending has not been accounted for.
On that note, wouldn't it be wise if there were a per student spending cap for Wisconsin Public Schools? Green Lake is a classic example of why a cap would be fair. Here is Green Lake, we have residents from every income level, lower, middle and upper class. Hypothetically, a school referendum that is heavily supported by the upper class could place a heavy financial burden on the lower and middle classes as far as property taxes are concerned. It could in theory force people to lose their homes.
$20,000 is way too much money to spend annually on educating one child. It is not fair to the hard-working, responsible people who cannot afford tax increases to want to raise that amount even higher.
Please vote NO on Tuesday.
I've got news for you. The "upper class" overwhelmingly OPPOSES this referendum. Most of them became "rich" because they are good at managing money. They don't want their property taxes to go up, either. With more money in their pockets, they will spend at local businesses. If their taxes go up, many will sell and leave.
I think someone was messing with your heads about the Republican Party supporting the referendum to see if they could get a rise out of some of you. Looks like it worked.
To the blogger who wrote, "Republicans support kids, and good, sound education, but they believe that any gov't effort, whatever it may be, demands accountability and responsibility to the citizens to do the best job possible with the least possible expense. If that one principle were applied all across the board in gov't at every level, our current economy would be roaring along, and even here in Green Lake, job opportunities would be looking better, attracting families with children to move here."
I am just curious, would that be the same Republicans that led us into war the last 8 years costing us untold billions and many lives lost, in a country with no evidence of weapons of mass destruction, that was paid for, excuse me, not paid for since it was never reported in the annual US budget and is leaving us with this incredible debt? Is that the accountability and responsibility for the least possible expense, you are talking about?
Or are you talking about the Republican leadership that allowed the banking mess to fester and be covered up in those same 8 years?
Just want to make sure. I am being asked to support the party with the principles that we need to get us out of the mess, that put us into the mess.
Don't forget to vote, YES! tomorrow, for the referendum.
Vote yes for Celeste King and Gordy Farrell.
This ad paid for by the Green Lake County Republican Party.
A couple of drones.
Vote YES for the referendum--or else!
Paid for by Harley and Mr. Grumpy
That last comment was too funny as Harley and Mr. Grumpy are probably voting NO because they want the current administration to be fiscally responsible!!!!!!!
I love the way the signs were worded...They say nothing about a 'referendum'.
If there was actually a spot on the ballot that I could vote yes for the School but NO for the referendum, I would.
I want the school...However, there's NO way I want the referendum.
If people think this is counterintuitive then you haven't been attuned to what's truly been going on at GLSD for many years.
We aren't Washington folks and we don't have to act like we are.
The voters in Green Lake can actually make a difference in our community...we hold the votes...let's use them wisely.
Ken Bates is a Rotarian. However, the Green Lake Rotary did not pay for the "YES" signs.
A Green Lake Rotarian
it helps if the blog moderator takes time to look at the submissions
I wonder if Harley is outside the Brooklyn Town Hall, charging people a fee to vote?
I heard that an informal exit poll today had it running 2-1 in favor of the referendum.
When will they announce results from today's election?
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