Penta Board to Possibly Make Changes is a portion of the title of the June 10, 2008 entry of Lucas County Educational Services Center Updates by Angela Zimmann. Through the title of that blog entry and its contents, readers were informed by Angela Zimmann that there might be action taken at June 11 meeting of the Penta Career Center Board of Education to make changes in the composition and size of the Penta Board. Dr. Zimmann also mentioned that the goings-on would "be reported in the traditional news media." However, regardless of that prediction, there has been extremely little coverage of what transpired and what is underway as a result of what transpired.
Read that entire blog entry over here. And, oh, to the best of my knowledge, nothing of any kind about this specific issue has ever appeared in the local area daily newspaper, The Blade.
The bottom line of the action taken by the Board of Education of Penta Career Center by a split vote of 8 - 2 is that the Penta Board has decided to give the shaft to Lucas County! The Penta Board took action to decrease the representation of Lucas County Educational Service Center by fifty per cent effective January 2009. Consequently, Wood County Educational Service Center with its less than Lucas County local member school districts student enrollment and at about half of the financial tax contribution as that of Lucas County ESC local member school districts will have double the representation and vote as does Lucas County ESC.
The June 11, 2008 Board Meeting Minutes has an item entitled Board Organizational Structure that provides the text of the resolution and the vote outcome, but contains none of the discussion that took place. The minutes do not reflect that a request was made for more information before the vote, but was denied. The minutes do not reflect that an amendment to the main motion was tendered, but was not allowed. Actually, in all matters, the minutes do not reflect very much of any substance.
The traditional media appear not to have covered that meeting action at all. The closest thing to any coverage appeared in the September 16, 2008 Holland-Springfield Journal in which it was reported by Jane Maiolo: "At the September 10 meeting, Judy Hansen of the Lucas County Educational Service Center (LCESC) expressed her belief that the motion may have been voted on improperly. She requested the board seek a legal opinion."
If you read the September 10, 2008 Board Meeting minutes, you will notice that there is absolutely no mention of any kind regarding the concerns expressed by Judy Hansen or of any of the discussion related to those concerns having taken place during that meeting of the Penta Career Center Board of Education. What is the Penta Career Center Board of Education trying to hide? Why are the minutes of the Board meeting vague and less than complete? Why is there no record of discussions that have taken place during official meetings of the Penta Career Center Board of Education? Where is the transparency? Where is the accountability?
A couple of other portions of that Holland-Springfield Journal article in reporting about the June 11, 2008 meeting state: "Joe Rutherford of the LCESC had requested to amend the motion" and "However, Treasurer Carrie Herringshaw said that under parliamentary procedure, only the person who made the motion could amend it. Mr. Meyers declined to amend his motion, which subsequently passed." I am sorry that I cannot provide a link to the full story; it appears that the Holland-Springfield Journal does not have its articles online.
But, that is still not the end of what's been going on. At the October 8, 2008 meeting of the Penta Career Center Board of Education, Joe Rutherford distributed a written letter to the members of the Penta Board. In that letter, which I understand is a matter of public record, Mr. Rutherford wrote that the total student 2007 - 2008 enrollment of Penta Career Center Wood County ESC local member school districts was 8,220 while that of Lucas County ESC local member school districts was 8,420, which means there are more students in the Lucas County ESC local member school districts than the Wood County ESC local member school districts. Joe Rutherford's letter also pointed out that the total property value within the Penta Career Center Wood County ESC local member school districts stands at $991,941,722.00 while that from Lucas County ESC local member school districts is $1,748,103,814 meaning the tax wealth of Lucas County local member school districts is 75 percent greater than that of Wood County ESC local member school districts. (Now, you tell me which County has local school districts that are contributing more taxes to the operations of the Penta Career Center.) It is my understanding that neither the letter nor its contents were acknowledged or discussed during or after the meeting. Nor can I discern whether the letter or any reference to the letter have been made a part of the official public record or minutes of the October 8, 2008 meeting of the Board of Education of Penta Career Center.
I put forth that the procedures followed by the Penta Board are highly questionable. I question the honesty and integrity of those within the Penta Career Center establishment who imposed their questionable processes, procedures, and will upon the elected Lucas County Educational Service Center Governing Board representatives to the Penta Board and upon the taxpaying citizens of Lucas County local member school districts.
I smell a cover-up of monumental proportions by the Penta Career Center administration and by the Penta Career Center Board of Education. I see the taxpayers of Lucas County ESC local member school districts being shut out by an elitist group on the Penta Career Center Board of Education. I assert that Lucas County ESC and its local member school districts have gotten the shaft from the Board of Education of the Penta Career Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment