Districts discuss “worst-case scenario” funding numbers

By Megan Gildow | Thursday, December 4, 2008, 09:06 AM

Clark County school districts are looking at losses of estimated tax revenue for anywhere from a couple thousand to half a million dollars, according to estimates of “worst case scenarios” from the county auditor’s office.

Nearly 3,000 appeals of land assessments were filed when it was revealed that there were doubts about the numbers from an outside company hired to perform the appraisals. As the board of revisions has heard those cases, districts have been left in limbo on the future of their local finances.

My colleague Bridgette Outten reported last week that Springfield City Schools stood to lose as much as $550,000 from what officials had projected for property tax collections.

It looks like Springfield is the worst of the worst case scenarios.

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Ohio district asks for piece of bailout pie

By Megan Gildow | Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 09:23 AM

A suburban Cleveland school district has asked for financial assistance to help deal with a growing population under the same federal program banks and automakers are looking to for a “bail out,” the Associated Press reports.

Olmsted Falls applied last week to the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, the same program that you’ve been hearing about with the $700 billion economic bailout package.

Olmsted Superintendent Todd Hoadley contends that if lawmakers will bailout these corporations, school districts should be able to get the same assistance.

Since TARP’s October conception, some school associations have been trying to determine if education might be a potential benefactor; some cities have applied too.

The U.S. Treasury Department contends that TARP is meant to stabilize financial institutions, according to the AP.

Should federal bailouts include school districts?

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Board, firm discuss superintendent search

By Megan Gildow | Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 06:15 AM

Springfield board members finalized last night a decision to hire BWP & Associates to perform two national searches to fill two of the district’s key leadership positions.

The district will quickly launch efforts to get community and other stakeholder input through the consultants with a goal of choosing a new superintendent by mid-April. That person would then play a role in the interviewing and selecting of the high school campus director.

Lots of interesting things out of last night’s meeting. I’m going to mention a couple of them now and will get to the others over the next couple days.

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Would you put a GPS tracker on your teen’s car?

By Megan Gildow | Monday, December 1, 2008, 11:13 AM

Last night while I was watching TV I heard a commercial directed at parents of teenagers.

The ad was for a GPS tracking system — not one of the handy little GPS systems that give us directions to our destinations but one that allows parents to know exactly where their child’s vehicle is.

A quick Google search reveals that there are a lot of these trackers out there for sale.

The GPS tracking systems can monitor not only your child’s location and how long they’ve been there but can also tell you if he or she goes over a speed designated by you — a feature I imagine some parents might find more attractive than the locating part.

There’s some more information on the Youth Driving Safe Web site. YDS is a group that, according to its Web site, offers low-cost trackers to parents to promote better team driving.

Would you buy one of these devices?

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Could MySpace suicide case verdict lead to more online criminal charges?

By Megan Gildow | Thursday, November 27, 2008, 04:49 PM

The New York Times has a story this week about the possible implications of a Missouri woman’s conviction on three misdemeanor charges stemming from cyberbullying on MySpace.

Legal experts expect the case to pave the way for future criminal trials over bullying on the Internet, the Times reports.

In October 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide and it was later revealed that a classmate’s mother had been taunting the girl using a fake profile on MySpace. This particular case made headlines late last year when her parents started talking about their daughter’s death.

The mother, Lori Drew, created a fake MySpace page for a fake boy and used it to get to know Megan. Then she and her daughter and the key witness in the trial, an employee who had helped create the site, sent Megan messages that said he didn’t want to talk to her again and the world would be better off without her.

Hours later, Megan Meier hanged herself in her closet.

Drew was convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles of three misdemeanor charges of computer fraud. The jury rejected felony charges and it’s unclear what kind of sentence could come from this, but legal experts are saying this case could be the first cyberbullying conviction.

And it could have a big impact on future cases.

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Auditor meets with district on preliminary revaluation figures

By Megan Gildow | Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 11:31 AM

The Clark County Auditor’s Office told Springfield schools that the district could lose more than half a million dollars in property taxes after revaluation appeals are settled, my colleague Bridgette Outten reports today.

The worst case scenario is that the district could lose as much as $551,991, according to district treasurer Penny Rucker who got the preliminary figures from Auditor George Sodders.

Springfield is already preparing for $1.4 million in budget cuts, so this could bump those cuts up to $1.9 million.

A final report is expected sometime in the next couple weeks. Look for more information from individual districts on what their potential loss could be and what that might mean in terms of budget cuts next week.

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Springfield selects search firm for recommendation

By Megan Gildow | Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 08:31 AM

Springfield City Schools will likely hire BWP Associates to find a new superintendent and the district’s first permanent Springfield High School campus director.

Board members met in special sessions last week and last night to interview BWP and another firm, Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates. Both firms are based in Illinois.

The search, including expenses, could cost up to $50,000, said Board President Donna Picklesimer.

That’s the cost for both the superintendent and campus director search and both will be national searches. The state board of education’s recent national search for a new state superintendent carried a similar price tag.

BWP’s process includes gathering input from the community and staff members to create a profile of what the district is looking for in its next schools chief, according to the company’s Web site. They then develop an advertisement and solicit candidates they feel would be a good match.

The board will vote at a special meeting Dec. 2 and will hear a presentation from BWP at that time, she said. The process will include community input and input from staff members.

The board conducted the final interview last night and it was decided that a recommendation would be made in favor of BWP instead of Hazard, Young, Attea.

Hazard, Young, Attea is the firm that conducted Cincinnati schools’ recent superintendent search until the board terminated the contract after learning that one of the five finalists for the position had settled a sexual harassment suit brought against him by a principal in the district he is set to resign from in June 2009.

The board interviewed these two firms because they are “nationally recognized as the top two firms,” said Picklesimer.

They did not seek bids from other companies or organizations, she said.

But does Springfield need a national search?

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