Stimulus can’t solve schools’ shortfalls: Wisconsin State Journal - Sunday 3/8/09

“I’m very disappointed,” Crystal Ritzenthaler, superintendent of Baraboo schools, said of the exclusion of construction money from the final bill. “Our district, like many districts, has aging facilities.”

Ritzenthaler said her district has $4.5 million in construction needs, including $1.6 million for roof repairs and $300,000 for surveillance cameras and improved entry locks.

Doyle also said he was disappointed there was no construction money for schools in the final package.

“I thought school construction would’ve been very important from a stimulus point of view,” he said. “It would’ve put people to work very quickly.”

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Really? Does the $4.5 million include the “need”ed repairs to the track and regrading of the football field and drainage so our kids can become smarter to compete in today’s global economy? Does it include the “need”ed additions to the elementary schools to accommodate 4-year-old daycare that Ritzenthaler and the board wouldn’t go to referendum for (because they knew it would fail) so the district wouldn’t have to deal with its community partners, the daycares? (Ever think of re-opening Fairfield Center and/or redistricting?) Does the $4.5 million consider that the capital projects fund was drained while district funds are used to employ an unnecessary Curriculum Coordinator position - which happens to have been filled by the High School principal’s sister?

How about questions posed by community members about surveillance cameras after the disaster at Weston two years ago asking if Baraboo was prepared? Community members were told everything was just fine as far as surveillance. Well, Crystal? Is surveillance okay or is it not? (Hint: UNAUTHORIZED student activity on the high school stage in December.) As for locks, it didn’t take you long to get locks at the Administration building last April, just after the election!

It’s nothing but $4.5 million in PORK because the school board has historically been, and continues to be, too ch*ck*n-sh*t to stand up to the unions and the administration and tell them “no” to anything related to wages & benefits, yet it’s okay for teachers to tell the kids at the Middle School they don’t have enough books to go around. Thank you, Baraboo School Board president Kevin Vodak, for continuing to carry the torch passed to you by Mary Ann Stewart, of spineless and disappointingly prioritized decision-making, encumbering the kids who don’t leave Baraboo and those of us who live here with yet another unnecessary tax burden for years to come. (Can you say REFERENDUM?)

Kudos to Cummings, Maxwell and Mortimer for having the common sense to say, “No, not now” to 4-year-old daycare. We simply can’t afford it. About time Cummings & Maxwell got the message. Thanks, guys. Welcome to the party.

I’m very disappointed too, Crystal. Disappointed in the decisions made and behavior of administrators and most school board members. You’ve had a year to turn Lance Alwin’s out of control bus around and it’s been nothing but more of the same: deceit, lies, coverups, spend, spend, spend, not enough money, don’t level the playing field - clear it and eliminate all contrary ideas and people, double standards, stacking committees, yada, yada, yada.

And the school district wonders why, when our kids graduate and go to college, many do not return to Baraboo.

Found this on Drudge Report:

Don’t even consider complaining. I read Dick Bates’ blather to the editor today, continuing his rant to blame President Bush for everything.

While President Bush isn’t blameless, he is hardly the source of responsibility. Mr. Bates should consider who has served on the House Banking committee for several years: Barney Frank. Good ol’ Barney is quite a character. He’s so far left that he can’t see center. Isn’t Barney the one who said in July, 2008 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were financially stable? Is Barney Mr. Bates’ economic advisor for the entire country?

It’s time for Mr. Bates to put up or shut up. Come up with some solutions instead of complaining about what was inherited. Our kids and grandkids will be paying for Obailout and I need an explanation for them.

Obama continues his doom and gloom-speak when he uses the word “crisis” 26 times in a single presentation. Enough is enough. He’s supposed to be the leader of the free world. How “free” is it when he’s full of nothing but depressing information?? I thought that was the mainstream media’s job. At least it was during the Bush years.

Having heard from and spoken with many people since the $786,000,000,000 Obailout was passed by the House and Senate, I haven’t heard one ioda of support - not even from those who voted for Obama. Does Washington DC exist in an informational vacuum? And what happened to the bi-partisanship boasted by the Dems? It’s turned into “my way or the highway.” So much for working together…

I thought I saw our new Dem. Representative Clark at the polls the other day. His take, as published in the BNR, is that the Obailout is the best thing for us. Really?? Could anyone please find me $1 in the Obailout that is coming to Sauk County? I couldn’t, but am certainly open to correction on this.

The idea of supporting those who made stupid decisions (such as buying a home they couldn’t afford or giving money to banks who made stupid loan decisions) infuriates me. If the banks, auto companies, or individuals go belly-up for stupidity, how and more importantly why, am I supposed to afford to support them too? I pay my bills on time and in full. Why should I be “penalized” by the government for acting responsibly? Sorry, I forgot about my $13/week benefit for doing nothing.

Thank you, Rick Santelli, for summing up the frustration of many.

If bi-partisanship has gotten us Obailout, it’s time to declare bi-partisanhip a failure.

In today’s BNR, the front page story about Monday night’s school board meeting leads readers to believe not much else happened at the meeting besides Crystal Ritzenthaler being annointed to replace the fired Lance Alwin as Baraboo School District Administrator.

The Baraboo News Republic didn’t advertise (as they typically do) Monday’s meeting. On the agenda were: consider salary and benefit recommendations for Administrators, Directors, Technicians, Board Administrative Assistant, and Assitant Aquatics director - basically all the non-union positions through June, 2010. Current contracts expire June, 2008 but were automatically renewed for one year a few months ago. Also on the agenda was consideration of using fund balance for capital projects.

With such big items on the agenda, you’d think the outgoing board members would want to step aside. Leave something for the newbies to do. Prior to the meeting, someone specifically asked board president Kevin Vodak if the vote on these important and long-term matters could be delayed two weeks until the new board was seated. Vodak said no, and the circus went on as planned.

Monday night, the OUTGOING school board UNANIMOUSLY committed the district to MILLIONS in expenditures for the next two years - and not one word was mentioned in the Baraboo News Republic about it (yesterday or today).

Monday night, the OUTGOING school board UNANIMOUSLY annointed Ritzenthaler as interim district administrator. Her version of the truth about reading scores draws her credibility severely into question.

“You may recall Ritzenthaler as the main speaker at the district’s town hall meetings prior to the most recent referendum failure in September, 2006. She stated Baraboo’s reading scores were declining. When research to the contrary by CFFR was presented to her and other community members, Ritzenthaler changed the story to: “The literacy gap between those subgroups and the general student body is growing, even while overall test scores may be on the rise” as reported in the 8/29/06 Baraboo News Republic. When further research by CFFR was presented to Ritzenthaler at the town hall meetings demonstrating that 18 of 22 subgroups showed increasing reading scores, she refused to acknowledge her prior statements as inaccurate or misleading.” H/T - CFFR

Great. Another ethically-challenged administrator. Out of the frying pan…

It’s likely future board members will take the heat for the actions of Monday night’s cash give-away. Each of the actions noted above (non-union contracts, annointing of Ritzenthaler, drawing $350,000 from fund balance) was a result of UNANIMOUS action taken by the following individuals:

Baraboo School Board President Kevin Vodak, Vice president Jill Ellinwood, Clerk Mary Anne Stewart, and members Gary Cummings, Kevin Bartol, Judd Maxwell, and Patricia Spragg. Be sure to give credit for Monday night’s actions where it is due. Their actions will come back to haunt the district financially for years to come.

As for the BNR, conveniently asleep at the wheel before, during, and after the crash cash giveaway frenzy. Another example of their bias.

SOS, DD = Same Old S_ _ t, Different Day.

In the last scheduled Baraboo School Board meeting with Mary Anne Stewart and Jill Ellinwood, the board will consider salary and benefit recommendations for Administrators, Directors, Technicians, the Board Administrative Assistant, and the Assistant Aquatics Director at Monday night’s meeting.

Yup. In one last good-bye hurrah, the Board will vote to tie up all contracts for at least the next two years. Great idea, gang. How nice of you to smooth the road for the newbies. Two questions:

1) Seeing as these contracts were settled in record time, how much of  the farm will be given away at the meeting Monday? Here’s what the board did less than one year ago.

2) When was the last time performance reviews were done for the Administrators, Directors, Technicians, the Board Administrative Assistant, and the Assistant Aquatics Director? Apparently, the board has yet to learn its lesson from the Lance Alwin debacle.

Exit question: At what point can we say the exiting incumbents have shafted and divided the community so badly it will take years to recover helped enough with their service on the school board?

Update: It’s Monday morning and still no Baraboo News Republic acknowledgement the meeting tonight is coming. I hate to pile on, but it’s just another example of the BNR’s media bias on school issues.

The hiring and retaining of Baraboo School Administrator Lance Alwin was a mistake, according to one survey conducted by the teacher’s union in 2006 and another survey conducted last year by a highly paid consultant from an outside firm. Read the Baraboo News Republic article at: BNR 040908-Alwin

Quoting one former Baraboo School District administrator, “Perception is reality.” The perception by BEA members was quite clear in their 2006 survey, and they were right on.

What in the h_ _l took the school board so long to catch on? Alwin didn’t have ANY performance reviews during his nearly four years at Baraboo. Shame on those School Board members who let him slide so long. The other candidate in the running when Alwin was hired took a post at a nearby district - and was fired within one year. And Alwin was the “lesser of two evils?” Thanksalot, Allegra. Nice foresight.

Taxpayer funds wasted on consulting to find out something the teacher’s union knew two years ago and something I knew three years ago. Goes to show the Baraboo School Board has historically been out of touch. Hopefully things will improve starting next month - and a valuable (and costly) lesson learned by the incumbents.

For a history class project, a 13 year old student in East Texas was asked to design a protest sign either for a cause or against. The youth chose the topic of illegal immigration, creating a sign reading, “If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration.” By lunchtime the day she brought her project to school, she had been choked, slammed into a brick wall, and threatened with rape and death because some Latino students were offended. 

Perhaps it’s time for people of ALL races, creeds, etc. to engage in/be subjected to sensitivity training and for schools to protect ALL students from this type of harassment.

In his second Sprint Car Series qualifying, NASCAR rookie Michael McDowell is living proof that no matter how ugly the “car of tomorrow” may be, no matter that safer barriers narrowed the racetracks, NASCAR’s emphasis on safety really paid off this time. While it is a horrendous crash, McDowell walks away. I vivid reminder that all motorists should wear seatbelts and safety gear when cycling. Click the link below to watch.

  Video: NASCAR.COM : Video*

Last night the Baraboo School Board bid farewell to one of its staunchest allies, Baraboo School Superintendent Lance Alwin. As you may recall, Alwin was at the epicenter of two referenda, the closing of Fairfield Center, the elimination of shuttle buses for city kids, the conversion of West School to a Kindergarten Center, and proudly promoted his perception of some community members to distrct staff, the school board, and the public at large. Quite an impressive set of accomplishments!

Let’s review in detail. The two referenda failed and divided the community thanks to the divisiveness of the school district’s blatantly biased attempt at brainwashing and fear mongering community members. OH! THE DECLINING ENROLLMENT AND READING SCORES!!

With Fairfield Center closed, the SCAN program has moved from trashing Pleasant Valley School to Fairfield. No word on how much damage they’ve done there, if any. Now we’re starting to hear an undercurrent about the district running out of space. What a line of bulls**t. School board members: It’s time to put your thinking caps on. Hmmm, where could we find more room? Hint: The answer is NOT, “Let’s go to referendum so we can build some.”

With the elimination of shuttle busses, kids are walking to school in -20 windchill and traffic by the middle and high schools is tied in knots daily. In addition, one youth was injured in that area last year because they couldn’t be seen as a result of the traffic congestion. What a wonderful idea to eliminate shuttle busses!

Converting West to a Kindergarten Center is hard on the kids. As their first experience with a public school, they’re together for one year. Then they go their separate ways to different schools. So much for congruency, consistency, and mainstreaming of the little ones!

As for the promoting of his perception of those who sought accountability for our school district by calling referendum non-supporters names…sticks and stones may break my bones, but I’ve got truth, Lady Liberty, and God on my side. We’re quite a team and win every time.

Maybe, someday soon, the BNR will actually have an official opinion about FORMER Superintendent Lance Alwin. Nothing like closing the door after the cows have gone to pasture. Spineless. Their headline is just another example of being out of touch.

With Alwin’s departure, yet another of my predictions for the year has come to pass. Should Alwin’s eyes come across this posting, here are a few words of wisdom for him:

As you’re sitting on a beach somewhere, enjoy an adult beverage on me, the Baraboo School District taxpayer. Take comfort knowing you were able to convince the school board you were something you are not…a leader. Should you decide to stay in the field of education administration, God help those you may encumber. In closing, I have two parting words for you and a farewell song.

DLTDHYOTWO - We wouldn’t want an insurance claim.