In an attempt to give students and parents input in the decision-making process of menu planning as well as increase student use of Toledo Public Schools’ (TPS) food services, the district will host “tastings” at 10 schools the weeks of May 6-10 and 13-17.

James Gant, chief business manager, explained the purpose and structure of the planned tastings and sought input from members of the Food Service Ad Hoc Committee on April 18.

Tastings will be 30-minute events at seven elementary and three high schools. Students and parents who participate will taste five to eight food items the district is considering adding to next year’s lunch menus, said Reynald  Debroas, director of TPS Department of Food Services.

Each tasting will be the same,  Debroas said. Participants at all the elementary schools will taste the same food items. Participants at each high school will taste the same food items although those items will differ from those tasted at the elementary schools.

Participants will vote on each item they taste. If  Debroas places six food items on the tasting menu with the intention of adding three items to next year’s district menu, the top three vote-getting items will win, said Patty Mazur, TPS communications director.

The tastings will cost TPS nothing, Mazur said. The event will be vendor-financed, and Mazur said the district expects that five to eight potential vendors will participate.

The idea for this year’s tasting events grew out of one tasting  at DeVeaux Elementary School last year at which DeVeaux and Whittier Elementary School students and parents tasted and voted on food items for this year’s breakfast menu, Mazur said.

Scheduled tastings

The seven elementary school tastings will take place:

• May 6 — Larchmont, 1515 Slater St., 43612
• May 7 — Beverly, 3548 S. Detroit Ave., 43614
• May 8 — Garfield, 1103 Ravine Pkwy., 43605
• May 9 — Hawkins, 5550 W. Bancroft St., 43615
• May 10 — Navarre, 800 Kingston Ave., 43605
• May 13 — Elmhurst, 4530 Elmhurst Drive, 43613
• May 14 — Whittier, 4221 Walker Ave., 43612

The three high schools tastings will take place:

• May 15 — Bowsher, 2200 Arlington Ave., 43614
• May 16 — Start, 2010 Tremainsville Road, 43613
• May 17 — Woodward, 701 E. Central Ave., 43608

Breakfast award

In other business, Gant informed committee members that  TPS Board of Education (BOE) member Larry Sykes accepted the 2012 School Breakfast Program of the Year Award from Children’s Hunger Alliance (CHA) on Feb. 18. TPS was honored as Ohio’s top school district for its partnership with CHA, Action for Healthy Kids and the American Dairy Association Mideast in sponsoring its first school breakfast program.

CHA reported that in September the district began offering hot breakfasts at least three days a week in all K-8 school buildings as well as adding additional fresh fruits and whole grains to the breakfast menus. In that same month, CHA reported that more than 8,500 children in the district ate breakfast at school as compared to 4,790 six months earlier, and that about 40 percent of all K-8 students eat breakfast on average each day in TPS.

The breakfast program is financed with federal funds, Gant said, and because of low food and labor costs, the district makes about 25 cents per meal served.

Sykes said he is a strong supporter of the breakfast program because of the strong correlation he sees between  feeding students and improved student performance.

Sykes, who attended the National School Board Association conference in San Diego from April 12-15, said he listened to a compelling presentation made by the San Diego Unified District.

“They spoke about their food program and what it did,” Sykes said. “Attendance went up. Performance increased and discipline [problems]decreased.

“You can get that from the Columbus City Schools district, too. They did the same thing, and they found that when they give kids a hot breakfast, attendance and academic performance improves and discipline [referrals and incidents] go down.”

Fiscal responsibility

The committee also discussed strategies on how TPS can continue to become fiscally sound.

In 2012, food services received a $700,000 subsidy from TPS general fund, down from $2.8 million in 2004.

Citing high food and labor costs, Gant reported TPS loses approximately 17 cents for every elementary school lunch and 58 cents for every high school lunch it serves.

In 2012, TPS was reimbursed $2.94 per meal for each free or reduced lunch it served. Gant said that although about 78 percent of students would qualify for a free or reduced lunch, TPS serves only about 40 percent of those students. Gant said that if TPS developed an aggressive strategy in enrolling students in the free and reduced lunch program, food services could stop losing money and actually turn a profit.

Alternative meals

Although  Debroas said it had been TPS practice not to serve alternative meals for at least the past 12 years, Gant said he is inclined to pursue that option next year.

An alternative meal is a nutritionally sound but less expensive meal districts are permitted to serve to students who do not qualify for free or reduced lunches but cannot or do not pay for the hot meal prepared for the student body, Gant said.

Jean Ford, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 840 president, said when she began working for TPS in 1983, an alternative meal was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, fruit cup, large juice, milk and vegetable. Ford said districts no longer serve that meal because more children are allergic to peanut butter now.

“Now, an alternative meal would probably be a cheese sandwich, milk, juice and a fruit or vegetable,” Ford said. “It wouldn’t be the specific hot meal that we serve the children.

“Like today was taco meat with refried beans, Doritos, orange juice and milk. They would not get that. An alternative meal would not be all of that. I have to guess, though, because they haven’t told us.

“However, right now, we are not doing an alternative meal. None of us want any child to go hungry. We are just having them charge meals.”

Charging meals has created a fiscal dilemma, Gant said.

Ford said some students have “charged a substantial amount of money for their hot meal lunches. Their parents don’t want to fill out the free and reduced lunch application but they still want the students to eat. And we know some of them have the money but they won’t pay the charges off.

“And if you went through all the charges … Oh, my gosh. Going back to even just last year, it’s a few thousand dollars.”

Gant said that TPS needs to strictly adhere to its programs, policies and procedures.

“We have a program in place,” Gant said. “Fill out an application. If not, we will provide a nutritional meal, but not the meal that students whose parents fill out the application receive.”

BOE President Brenda Hill said one problem is that parents know the district won’t let their children starve.

Sykes said some of the problem lies in poor parenting.

“Some of our parents are irresponsible,” Sykes said. “The kids are raising themselves and we know that.”

However, Gant said TPS cannot ignore its own policies.

“We need to get parents to at least try to fill out the application,” Gant said. “However, we will always work on the principle that we are not to turn away any kid in need of food.”

Possible outsourcing

Gant’s discussion of the Food Service Ad Hoc Committee’s decision to put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) to investigate whether the management and/or operations of food services could be better served by an outside firm drew immediate concern from David Blyth, AFSCME representative.

“What the Ad Hoc Committee wanted to look at were different options to see if there is anything we can be doing better as a district,” Gant said. “The concern, obviously, from the union’s perspective is that once you put those things out, although you will get back some suggestions, they may also suggest that the district actually farm out the whole operation and take over the employment of it.

“It’s been clear from our perspective — and one of the things that I said when we put this out — that there would be no change at all in employment arrangements with the district. That was my point.

“The other point I wanted to make is that when we analyze whether we should be doing it or not, a lot of things that Dave [Blyth] said needed to be considered. We’ll go though it thoroughly.

“We’re not going to automatically decide to use a management firm to run food services. When we went through this same process for the Print Services analysis, we came to the conclusion it was best that we continue to operate our print shop versus having it farmed out.”

Blyth said that although he understands Gant’s position, he does not think it was productive for TPS to put out an RFP.

“I don’t agree to that because what happens is, once you let a company like that in, they’re going to say, ‘Gee, part of the problem here is the pay that you’re offering employees,’ ” Blyth said. “What we want to do is hire the employees as older ones resign or retire.

“I just don’t think the school system should be a place where businesses should be making a profit off what should be a nonprofit activity, meaning our children.

“And I’m also fearful about getting a private concern managing food services. I have a feeling that we’re now giving up an important decision-making process. We’re giving up a function, if you will, of the school system to outsiders who are driven by the profit motive.”

Increased prices

Blyth said AFSCME’s apprehension with the direction of the Food Service Ad Hoc Committee stems from the possibility that its decisions may lead to an increase in student lunch prices.

“The biggest concern I have is that we somehow end up with a private concern coming in, and then the end result of that will be that the price of food will go up,” Blyth said. “We already know that we’re basically charging under market, based on what we saw from Cincinnati and the other school districts.

“I think there is a legitimate reason to raise our food charges, but I don’t think we need to get into a situation where they’re raised so a company can make a profit.

“I also think children value and do better when there’s a stable workforce in the schools and they’re seeing the same people day in and day out. I think it’s important to them. And I think if you go to a situation where you use a company that, frankly, is going to be paying minimum wage or a little above, you’re going to see an endless succession of employees. You’re going to see turnover far, far more than you do now because at that kind of money, people are going to work until they can find something better and then move on.

“And many of the food ladies have been there forever. Jean Ford, the union president, has been a food service worker for 30 years. She has a wealth of knowledge. She knows how to work around kids. The kids know her. And I think they’re better served having that stable and consistent face like Jean’s that they see every day.”

‘Including the kitchen sink’

Blyth said he also has serious concerns with what he characterized as a flawed performance audit.

“My main fear is that when people get to the bottom of that document where it says, ‘If you embrace these savings over five years, you’ll save $101 million.’ I’m concerned that people will look at that and say, ‘Oh, that’s where the money comes from. We don’t have to vote for any levies.’

“And the problem with the performance audit is, although there are a lot of good ideas there, they’ve thrown in everything, including the kitchen sink, to get to that number, and some of it just isn’t realistic. From what I’ve heard and seen, they were going by data that was previous to the transformation to K-8 so they’re looking at data and numbers that don’t really match the reality of where we are.

“And some of the stuff … I don’t think it’s going to be politically palatable closing down schools and combining this and that. I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Tags: James Gant, Larry Sykes, Toledo Public Schools, TPS

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 25th, 2013 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Community, Education.
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If Board of Education (BOE) member Larry Sykes has his way, Toledo Public Schools (TPS) will accept Recommendation 6-6 of Evergreen Solutions’ performance audit by relocating the district’s central office staff and functions to the heart of the city.

“I would love it if we could be Downtown,” Sykes told those who attended the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Building Committee meeting on April 17.

Sykes suggested James Gant, TPS chief business manager, have a conversation with Lucas County officials as well as City of Toledo officials to see if either entity owns a building or property in the Downtown area that it might be interested in swapping with TPS.

“We should put our feelers out,” Sykes said. “You’d be amazed at the properties the city and county have that we may be able to utilize. I understand time is of the essence, but you don’t jump out of the fire into the fire.”

Sykes also suggested Gant look into the Owens Corning Building, which Sykes said “is probably half-empty.” Owens Corning is located at the intersection of Washington and Summit streets.

On its website, Hines, a privately owned, international real estate firm, reports that the building currently has one major tenant and 370,816 square feet of net rentable office space.

Sykes also suggested Gant inquire into whether ProMedica Toledo Hospital or the University of Toledo have any space available.

“What about Scott Park?” Sykes asked Gant. “They’ve just about abandoned that facility.”

However, UT’s Scott Park campus is not located in Downtown Toledo, but at 2225 Nebraska Ave.

Sykes’ suggestion came in response to a discussion between fellow BOE member Lisa Sobecki and Gant about whether to invest approximately $15,000 into temporarily cooling the Thurgood Marshall Building for the summer months or to move offices to the Summit Annex, 1530 N. Superior St., before June.

“I’ve thought about [moving Downtown] myself, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard that from any other board member,” Gant said after the meeting.

Gant said moving out of the Thurgood Marshall Building “is the best decision in the long term. We need to be in a more efficient building and utilize the space more effectively.”

However, Gant said he had a more immediate concern.

“Short term, my problem is my HVAC system is not working,” Gant said. “I have to have temporary cooling or I’m going to be murdered around here. Short-term is just temporary cooling. What I’m suggesting is it may be better to pay for temporary cooling than waste $250,000 in replacing a chiller when we know we need to move.”

Gant said he did not think a move to the Summit Annex would be viable because it would mean the loss of about 20,000 square feet of space, which he said is one-third the space available in the Thurgood Marshall Building.

However, Evergreen Solution’s performance audit reported that the current central office staff has about 69 percent more square feet per person than most school districts and 170 percent more than optimum for an office building.

Sobecki said her biggest concern with moving into the Summit Annex was the cost of “quite a few renovations” that will be needed.

Gant spoke of the cost benefits of moving TPS’ central office administration to the former DeVilbiss High School, 3301 Upton Ave., which houses the Toledo technology Academy.

“We’re already utilizing that site so the cost of operation will be a lot less,” Gant said. “I’m already operating it right now, so we’re talking about maybe only cooling additional rooms. That is appealing to some respect.”

However, the committee dismissed the idea as impractical for three reasons:

• The possibility of more student programs being scheduled at the former high school within 12 months.
• What Sykes called “a very serious parking issue. There is only one way in and one way out. More traffic would create congestion.”
• Sykes’ concern that “the mixing of adult and student populations could be problematic.”

Sykes closed the meeting by telling the group he was attending his first OSFC Building Committee meeting of the school year to ask the committee “to please look into three things I have had brought to my attention recently.”

Sykes said the Old West End Academy’s computer lab’s design is so archaic that students sit at computers facing the walls, which prevents teachers from using the district’s technology to instruct the classroom of students.

Sykes also said the 200-plus unused phone lines identified in a performance audit as costing TPS at least $45,600 a year need the committee’s immediate attention.

Finally, he said, the one boys’ bathroom at Jones Elementary, located on the first floor by the lunchroom, has only one stall and one urinal.

“I’ve been over there on a Friday night where they have as many as 200 parents there for dodge ball with their young kids,” Sykes said. “And there’s a line outside that latrine like they were drinking beer.”

Tags: James Gant, Larry Sykes, Lisa Sobecki, Thurgood Marshall Building, Toledo Public Schools

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 18th, 2013 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Community, Education.
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Two weeks after more than 20 Libbey High School alumni and supporters documented 370 pieces of memorabilia stored by Toledo Public Schools (TPS), the Libbey High School Alumni Association will host a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. April 9. The group plans to discuss possible placement of the school’s trophies, medals, paintings, photos, portraits, plaques, newspapers, yearbooks and other assorted memorabilia.

The meeting will take place in the Believe Center inside the Aurora Gonzalez Community Center, 1205 Broadway St.

In response to Libbey preservation project spokesperson Sue Terrill’s comments to the Board of Education (BOE) at its March 26 meeting, board member Larry Sykes expressed his support of the alumni association’s mission.

“I am sympathetic to the people of Libbey,” Sykes said. “We can work with them as they attempt to find a home for those artifacts. And I don’t want to see [Terrill] back here because she is complaining that she needs something in the Libbey High School alumni project.”

Speaking directly to the superintendent Jerome Pecko, Sykes said, “Whatever she needs, let’s make sure she gets it.”

‘Too little, too late’

Libbey High School’s original gym at the time of its 2012 demolition. (Bill Albert)

Preservation project volunteers said that although they appreciated Sykes’ vocal support, it is simply too little, too late. They said they needed that support from all board members in 2012 when the BOE voted to demolish the South End high school, leaving the 1200 block of Western Avenue bare.

“It’s just a great big hole, a bare space,” said 1963 graduate Sharon Barton Hamilton. “It will probably grow over in weeds in a couple of years if they don’t find another purpose for it. It will become just another empty lot with weeds.”

Sierra Hines, a 2010 graduate, said she is offended by the BOE’s previous lack of support.

“They already got rid of our school,” Hines said. “It’s adding insult to injury when you just dump the trophies into a storage room and not do anything with them. It’s like all my memories have been taken from me.”

Larry Farren, a 1966 graduate, questioned where the BOE’s support was during the first two years of the preservation project committee’s efforts.

“We’ve tried to save as much of the legacy as we could,” Farren said. “We tried to take as many photographs as we could. The exterior was easy. It was still up. But we had a hard time getting inside Libbey to take pictures.”

Farren said he has “no idea” why committee members were required to wait more than a year before being allowed access to the shuttered building.

“Maybe they were worried about insurance, maybe that we’d get hurt,” Farren suggested. “Or maybe they thought if the documentation got out there, their decision would be reversed. That is a possibility.”

Jean Murphy, a 1966 graduate, called it a “disgrace” that Libbey was demolished within two years of being closed while DeVilbiss and Macomber high schools have stood for 22 years since closing.

Fred Crabtree, a 1963 graduate, agreed with Murphy.

“It bugs the hell out of me that after going through all that information we went through, I couldn’t find a single reason why when they closed DeVilbiss and Macomber [in 1991], they didn’t tear them down. All these years later, both are still standing. But with Libbey, they closed it [in 2010] and they tore it down to the ground in less than two years.”

Bill Albert, a 1966 graduate, was harsher in his assessment of the BOE, calling its actions immoral.

“Now the South End is totally, absolutely deficient in education and everything else,” Albert said. “What they’ve done to those kids’ education down there is criminal.”

A public display

Demolition crews at the Libbey High School site on March 8, 2012. (Bruce Taylor)

Volunteers universally agreed that their work documenting the memorabilia should lead to the establishment of a facility where the items would be on public display.

Hamilton said she would like to see a museum for all closed TPS schools “so that everything could be under one roof to make it feasible.” She suggested the South branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library at 1736 Broadway St. as a possible location.

Larry Noyes, a 1963 graduate, also supports the establishment of a museum.

“Those items are already recorded,” Noyes said. “We have documentation. I would like to see that put into some kind of museum to where somebody can go there and say, ‘Oh, yeah. My grandfather — he was part of that team.’ It would be nice.

“I think that for the amount of effort that went into earning those trophies and awards, we owe something to those people that worked very hard to bring that honor to the school — not so much for themselves, but for the sake of Libbey High School. There were a lot of them over all the years, and I think that should be preserved.”

Jean Murphy, a 1966 graduate, suggested that the memorabilia could be displayed in several buildings, including the Area Office on Aging on Arlington Avenue and the Lyman W. Liggins Senior Center and the Veterans Outpatient Clinic, both on South Detroit Avenue.

“The people of South Toledo could go and see, or take their grandchildren to see, the World War II memorial for the teachers and students lost in World War II,” Murphy said. “They could take their families to see some of the important things in their lives.”

Eddie Auerbach, a 1950 graduate, said he’d like to see the City of Toledo establish and maintain a citywide Sports Hall of Fame to honor athletes from area high schools as well as The University of Toledo.

“It’s just too bad that they had to do what they did to Libbey,” Auerbach said. “It’s gone now. It’s just too bad.”

Public auction

James Hines, a 1984 graduate, said he’d like to see TPS sell the memorabilia to interested citizens.

“I wish there was some kind of way to auction them off,” Hines said. “I know people who they are valuable to would go after them. People would pay a lot of money just to have them. There’s a lot of people that fought with sweat and blood over trophies.

“Auction them off. Give them away. Put them online for people to see them. Do something. To leave them packed up in a warehouse somewhere — and later on probably trash them — is a crime.”

The South Toledo site where Libbey High School stood from 1923 to 2012. (Bruce taylor)

‘Give people pause … ’

Farren said it’s important to save as much of Libbey’s legacy as possible.

“Maybe we’re being pie-in-the-sky, but this is part of the history of Toledo,” Farren said. “We’re hoping that by saving as much as we can, we can give people pause to think about what Toledo once was and can be again.”

Farren said even citizens with no connection to Libbey should take notice of TPS’s demolition of its unused buildings.

“In a way, this goes to the heart of Toledo,” Farren said. “We did not maintain Libbey the way it should have been maintained. Now we have these new schools. We’ve been to the OSFC (Ohio School Facilities Commission) Building Committee meetings, and we’ve heard about problems with the new schools.

“And you have to wonder, are the people of Toledo going to repeat the mistakes of the past? Are they going to maintain these new buildings? Or in 40 years, or 50 if we’re lucky, are these buildings going to have to be replaced and millions of dollars will have to go into the process again?”

‘A piece of history that’s gone’

Noyes said the demolition was, “kind of like they’re tearing down a part of your life. It’s a piece of history that’s gone. It’s just like a lot of other things that are gone. Eventually, it loses its impact. Time has erased a lot of that memory.

“I don’t think you have to save everything. I just don’t understand why Libbey had to be the school to be gobbled up in a steam shovel. There’s a lot of feeling involved. I look at that piece of property now, and I just don’t know what to say about it. They have a big rock out there, almost like a tombstone. When I first saw it, it was kind of like a gravestone for Libbey.”

Albert refuses to even drive by the site of the former high school.

“That’s one part of Western Avenue. I will never go down,” Albert said. “I saw Libbey as it was, and I didn’t see it being torn down. I refused to see it, and I refuse to go onto that section of Western Avenue.

“When I went that way to get to the Frederick Douglass Building for a couple of meetings, I had my left hand over the left side of my face so I wouldn’t even approach Libbey, seeing it. That’s how I am with that. I have my memory and my sight of Libbey, and that’s how I’ll look at it.”

Tags: Area Office on Aging, Aurora Gonzalez Community Center, Jerome Pecko, Larry Sykes, Libbey High School, Libbey High School Alumni Association, Lyman W. Liggins Senior Center, Sue Terrill, Toledo Public Schools, University of Toledo, Veterans Outpatient Clinic

This entry was posted on Friday, April 5th, 2013 at 7:26 am and is filed under Community, Education.
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Toledo Public Schools’ Board of Education (BOE) was told April 3 that it could save as much as $101 million during the next five years if it would adopt Evergreen Solutions’ performance audit in its entirety.

However, Linda Reico, president of Evergreen Solutions, said it is not reasonable to expect any school district to implement every recommendation her firm makes.

“A good success rate would be between 75 and 85 [percent],” Reico said. “But I’m not usually called back to monitor whether a district does one, two or three. But that’s been our general success rate.”

Reico also acknowledged that since 80 to 85 percent of costs a school system faces are salary and benefits, recommendations would focus on reduction in personnel.

“It’s got to come with people who are not being used effectively,” Reico said. “However, we recommended additional personnel in area where we though they needed it as well. So it just wasn’t a hatchet job, so to speak.”

Reico’s addressed the BOE for almost 90 minutes, highlighting what she considered some of the more significant 50 commendations and 169 recommendations contained in the performance audit. She also noted that 61 of the recommendations “carry a fiscal impact that will have to be addressed in union negotiations.”

Noteworthy recommendations

Additional recommendations not previously mentioned at the March 13 Finance Committee meeting include:

* Board members need to top micromanaging district operations and creating special staff assignments.

* Close two elementary schools and one high school.

* Immediately close the Thurgood Marshall Building, even if it will require establishing a temporary central administration office for this summer.

* Restructure the cabinet, eliminating one assistant superintendent position and creating a chief of staff position.

* Eliminate a minimum of 15 assistant principal positions.

* Eliminate 15 elementary school and six high school clerical staff members.

* Negotiate instructional authority away from teachers and back to principals.

* Hire in-house legal counsel and a part-time paraprofessional to cut the cost of legal costs from $56.50 per pupil to the state average of $20.94 per pupil.

* Hire an additional communications office specialist. Reico told the board, “You’re underfunded and understaffed, and your PR is showing it.”

* Stop paying employees supplements for duties that are already a part of their job descriptions.

* Eliminate petty cash funds and replace them with a procurement card system.

* Increase the cost of a meal that students who do not qualify for free or reduced lunches pay to be in line with the federal reimbursement rate for meal prices.

* Sell 56 buses.

* Increase the numbers of students per bus from 22 to 30 to save $1.5 million a year.

* Implement standards for technology purchases of computer hardware and software.

* Disconnect 200 phone lines that are no longer in use.

* Create a cap on the number of photocopies made by a single employee.

Most controversial recommendations

“The presentation left the most controversial recommendations in the report,” said Steven Flagg, an education advocate who has followed TPS’s progress for the past 17 years. “Those of us that have been calling on the district to respond to the reality of Toledo feel like we’ve been vindicated.

“I got a kick out of all the compliments the board members gave Dr. Reico after her presentation. The more they said, the more they were digging their hole. Do they not see that they are going to have to actually do something now?

“Section 2 excoriates them. Section 3 rips the bargaining units apart. Section 3 is directly aimed at TFT (Toledo Federation of Teachers), and every single one of those recommendations requires a contract change. I find it interesting that Kevin Dalton (TFT president) was the only bargaining unit representative not at the presentation.

“Now comes the Implementation Committee. They won’t want to put critics like me on it, but we’re the most informed citizens out there. We have to make sure that we keep on them. They’re not going want to do it. They’re just now realizing what’s in the report and they’re going to have to finally do something.”

Board praise

The compliments to which Flagg referred came from all five board members. Each member individually thanked Reico for the work the BOE paid Evergreen Solutions $120,000 to complete.

“It seems to me that in this current day, it’s hard to find a company that makes a commitment and sticks to it to the day, like you have,” said BOE member Bob Vasquez. “I hope that we all receive this in the right way and not become defensive because I will tell you that no way internally we could have done what you have done.

“You have presented is great information. I look forward to reading it. I’m looking forward to working on it. I’m not defensive at all about it. But I do know that we’re going to have to balance your suggestions with the reality of the day-to-day operations of this school district. But I look forward to that opportunity.”

BOE member Lisa Sobecki focused her praise on the collaborative nature of the report.

“For all your hard work, you couldn’t have done it without everyone pitching in, in a timely fashion to allow you to create 500 pages or so,” Sobecki said. “I think the collaboration of our administration and our folks out there in the buildings is something fresh and different coming out of TPS. It’s different than what people have heard or perceived they heard in the past that we are not transparent.”

Reico told the BOE its presentation strategy is one of most transparent she has ever seen. Reico also said she would send the board a suggested implementation strategy tailored specifically to the issues TPS faces.

BOE member Larry Sykes mused that if the BOE had “done this three years ago, when it was first suggested, we’d be three years head of the game.”

‘Like any other school district’

Reico said TPS operations are “like any other school district. Some things are very efficient and effective and some things need to be improved upon.”

She said TPS will see savings increase after it completes the first year of implementation.

“First year [savings] will be less significant,” Reico said. “In order to generate cost savings, you have to [invest money], so there are greater costs the first year than years two through five.”

Reico also said Evergreen Solutions identified more cost savings per pupil in TPS than the typical district it evaluates.

TPS was “a little higher than typical,” she said. “Off the top of my head, [the typical district] might be half that [$101 million five-year projection].”

BOE President Brenda Hill was a little skeptical of Evergreen Solutions’ overall projection in savings.

“I’ve seen budget projections before, and a lot of times the number that they project and the reality is not quite the same,” Hill said. “But the fact is, they see ways that we can save some money.

“It’s just like I asked them about bussing. It’s just not practical to put a child on a bus for an hour just to fill the bus up. So there are things we have to look at.

“Things about staffing … maybe there’s an extra assistant principal and an extra secretary. There was a reason. So we have to look at the reasons in the way that children’s education and the quality of the service that we give them [relates] to the cost. We have to look at both of those. Both are important. But the bottom line is the education of the students.”

Hill said she agreed with Reico’s recommendation regarding the communications office.

“Our public relations needs to be increased. When we increase our PR, we will be able to do a much better job. That’s been my mantra for a long time too. So she just went right down the path I wanted to hear.

“It’s an investment. When you have better public relations and you can communicate with the community better, they understand what you’re about and it helps all the way around.”

Inaccurate staffing formula

Don Yates, president of the Toledo Association of Administrative Personnel (TAAP), questioned the relevance of the staffing formula Reico used to arrive at a few of her recommendations.

“I haven’t studied it closely enough to understand exactly what the impact would be on our membership, per say, other than to say the formula that she used to make her recommendation for assistant principals is, quite frankly, an outdated staffing formula,” Yates said. “We essentially negotiated it away the last negotiations so our assistant principals aren’t assigned by [the number of students] anymore.

“It’s done by district need. Essentially, the assistant superintendents, chief academic officer and myself have conversations about where was the greatest need for assistant principals.

“I see where she got her number. That may or may not be totally accurate as far as the need is for assistant principals. But it’s certainly worth looking at.

“And also remember that, that formula described in the current collective bargaining agreement is pre-K through 8 [school configuration]. That was the staffing formula used under the old configuration of the school district. So it’s certainly worth looking at again this time. We don’t object to looking at reallocating staff where they’re best needed.”

Upcoming negotiations

Yates said he was also encouraged to hear Reico’s recommendation that TPS negotiate instructional authority away from teachers and back to principals.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, nor is there any doubt in the minds of most experts you will see as you research education leadership, school principals are the second most influential individuals that impact the achievement of kids,” Yates said. “You have to have principals that have the authority to be instructional leaders in their buildings, not simply managers of the buildings.

“That’s not just from TAAP. That’s national research about effective schools vetted out over and over again. (Ohio Department of Education’s ‘Beginning Principal Mentoring Program’, September, 2012)

“Principals that have the authority in their schools to bring in teachers that want be there, are willing and able to do the job and fit in with the culture of the building, and are willing to be team players and work with the principals, they get a heck of a lot more done than those that don’t have the authority to manage their staffs.

“I think the Race to the Top format is an excellent model for the district to implement because it gives decision-making authority at the building level. And when you have decision-making authority at the building level that includes principals and teacher leaders, you get the decisions, you get people that are committed to the building, and they do a better job.”

Yates said TPS has already taken the initial steps for principals to regain the administrative authority the district negotiated away in the 1970s.

“I think we’ve done that with the school improvement grant with six schools and with the Race to the Top schools. And I think the Transformation Plan has empowered people to start looking at what the needs are in their building.

“It’s a small step, and there’s a lot more to be done, but I’m a firm believer in putting the authority at the school level with people at the schools that have the authority to make the decisions. And they’re not waylaid by the central office, teacher unions or administrator unions.”

A conservative perspective

John McAvoy, a Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition board member who has pushed for local performance audits, said he was “really happy” with what he had seen in a quick review of the executive summary.

“It looks like these guys did a very good job looking at pretty much all the aspects,” McAvoy said. “I’m looking very much forward to the board pulling together and involving the community in some of these things.

“For instance, one of the things I like that they recognized is giving more authority to the principals. The example I give is we’re getting ready to spend $160,000 to hire a superintendent, but quite often his hand are tied because of contracts. When he wants to do something, he has to go back to a contract and look and make sure it’s OK.

“So we’re looking for perhaps maybe some give on the upcoming labor negotiations on giving some if those things back and put those back into the authority of the superintendent and the principals and people who make decisions on running the schools.”

McAvoy questioned why the district should even hire a superintendent is she or he does not have decision-making authority.

“Just hire a contract negotiator for $30,000 a year,” McAvoy said. “We hire a superintendent to run this business. And if his hands are tied because of contracts, then let’s negotiate some of those hand-tying things out of there.

“Have they been there for 40 years? I don’t care if they were there for 140 years. If it’s something that’s tying our hands, then we need to say, ‘Look, we need to untie the hands of the people who are hired to do a job.’ And if we’re going to continue to keep their hands tied, then we’re going to continue to get what we got.”

‘Coming to the table with an open mind’

David Blythe Jr., an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representative, said he is concerned that McAvoy “comes to the table with an agenda that I think reflects absolutely no new taxes, all government is wasteful and we need to say no to everything.

“He’s waiting in the wings to be at the helm of the ‘right to work’ movement if it makes it to the ballot. I just have a different viewpoint on the working individual.

McAvoy is serving as state coordinator for the potential Ohio’s Workplace Freedom Amendment, similar to Michigan’s right-to-work law.

Blythe added, “[McAvoy’s] affiliated with the group that went to Findlay and wanted to tamp down a fire levy. So he doesn’t come to TPS with an open mind. He comes with an agenda that ‘We have to do everything we can to tamp down taxes.’ And my thinking is, ‘The Greatest Generation came back after WWII, and they may not have liked it, but they paid their taxes.’ ”

Blythe said he also objects to McAvoy’s discussion of education as a business. Blythe said the in 300-year history of education in the U.S., the concept that education is a business isn’t even 20 years old. Blythe believes education is a social service.

“Whenever somebody says education should be run like a business, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Blythe said. “It just doesn’t work that way. A business can make a decision based on dollars and cents only. Government cannot. They’re so many conflicting constituencies out there.

“If you ran this as a business, you’d have a huge divide between haves and have-nots.”

Blythe also said he believes the school choice movement “is a detriment to society. I think we lose that commonality, and I think we lose that ‘We’re all in this together’ kind of thing. Before you know it, nobody has a common reference.”

Tags: Bob Vasquez, Brenda Hill, David Blythe Jr., Don Yates, John McAvoy, Larry Sykes, Linda Reico, Lisa Sobecki, Toledo Public Schools

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Education.
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False TV reports that a student had brought a gun to Raymer Elementary School on Feb. 15 panicked many East Toledoans, leading parents to pull more than 160 students from classes that Friday morning.

Toledo Public School (TPS) Board of Education members and administrators agree the incident highlights the need for TPS to address safety issues.

Sobecki said she asked that a safety agenda item be added to TPS’s Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Building Committee.

Sobecki said the committee will keep safety and security “a standing item to keep board members abreast” of issues that need to be addressed.

“I want to keep it on the agenda,” Sobecki said. “We should have safety on an agenda, and we don’t currently have that on any of our committees.”

At January’s board meeting, Sobecki encouraged fellow board members to make either Superintendent Jerome Pecko or Chief Business Manager James Gant aware of any safety and security concerns board members had, so that when the two administrators met with City of Toledo fire and police chiefs in early February to discuss TPS’s emergency procedures, they could include “all that information we’ve been thinking about.”

Lisa Sobecki and Jerome Pecko

Gant said when he and Pecko met with Police Chief Derrick Diggs and Fire Chief Luis Santiago, “We talked about our process and procedures and made sure they were comfortable with them. We wanted to make sure that our communication was good … to see if they had anything they would like to add to the discussion in terms of how we could be more proactive in what we’re doing.”

Gant said a major concern the four men discussed was whether TPS’s policy, where all school building doors are locked and no one is allowed to leave or enter the building in an emergency, was the best course of action.

“We talked about how we handle active shooters and whether the lockdown procedure was an efficient method of doing that, or whether the program ALICE [Alert–Lockdown–Inform-Counter-Evacuate] would be a direction the district would like to move into,” Gant said. “Let me explain what ALICE is by example. Right now, if we have an active shooter and they get into the classroom, what we teach our kids to do, and it’s what most districts have done probably forever, is to find a location, to get down and to hide.”

A TPS elementary school teacher who asked her name not be published confirmed what Gant said.

“Fire drills are once a month, but there are no prescribed number of times [active shooter drills] have to be done,” she said. “We do one every fall, and they do that K-12. We practice with the kids. There’s a prescribed script that’s read, and every school has the same script.”

Gant said recent research indicates that the “get-down-and-hide” approach is not necessarily the best strategy.

“We want folks to be more active in the process, so we actively look for ways to escape,” Gant said. “We become active in the way we try to distract the shooter so we can eliminate any collateral damages.

“So maybe we start throwing things at the shooter. Some districts have had golf balls in buckets in the corner of every room, that type of thing, to be more active in stopping the shooter.”

Gant said ALICE is a program the district is only considering and that it will not be presented to the board for discussion or a vote Feb. 26.

“It’s something we would have to develop,” Gant said. “Part of the thought process is to get more folks involved in the training; get folks trained and make sure they’re comfortable with it. And then we would roll it out, along with the policy that goes along with it.”

Scope of safety

At January’s meeting, board member Larry Sykes encouraged Pecko and his cabinet to broaden the scope of safety and security experts they consulted to include the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“If one of our schools goes into lockdown [because of an active shooter], I’m sure the FBI, the ATF and the rest of them potentially could come in our school,” Sykes said. “If it doesn’t happen, great. But if it does happen, we will know how to handle it, when to call them in and when not to. With hostage situations you have to have your best. And that is the FBI and the ATF.”

Sykes pointed to the fact that the Newtown, Conn., shooting Dec. 14 was the 31st school shooting in the U.S. since the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999.

“From all those, we have learned something,” Sykes said. “You have FBI profilers. You have people telling you how to watch out, how to look at stuff, what to be aware of. And that goes beyond your local police, fire and sheriff departments.

Sykes and Sobecki said before TPS would change the lockdown policy, it would seek input from taxpayers.

“Any time we change policies, we go out to the citizens,” Sykes said. “It’s good to have public input from people who have a vested interest, and that’s parents who have their children in our schools.”

Sobecki said that if TPS switched from the current lockdown policy to ALICE, it would schedule meetings to explain the changes to the public.

“There would be a time and a place to do that, but we would have to first take care of it internally,” she said. “We would have to identify the program, whether it’s ALICE or something else, what we’re going to do and make sure our top-notch professionals are trained in the new program because it will be a different philosophy.

“And after you do that, you go site by site to explain the procedures we would have for ALICE versus lockdown. But a public hearing isn’t going to the public and asking ‘Do you think it’s OK if we do ALICE or do you want something else?’

“First, we would have to educate the community about what ALICE is. And then we would take their questions to help them understand.”

Other business

The next regular board meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 26:

Pecko will present four cabinet members — Romules Durant and Brian Murphy, assistant superintendents of TPS’s two K-12 learning communities; James Gault, chief academic officer; and Cheryl Spieldenner, chief human resources officer — to the board for three-year contract renewals.

The Human Resources Committee will take the cost of two background checks to the full board without a recommendation since committee members Cecilia Adams and Bob Vasquez do not agree on a course of action.

Adams predicted at the committee meeting that the board will vote 3-2 to require employees to pay for the state-mandated FBI background check and that the district will pay for the TPS-required Ohio background check, with Brenda Hill, Sobecki and Vasquez voting “yes” and Adams and Sykes voting “no.”

Treasurer Matthew Cleland said the FBI background check would cost TPS $68,880. The Ohio background checks would cost $63,140.

The Feb. 28 board meeting, to begin at 5 p.m., will focus on the board’s options for hiring a superintendent to replace Pecko, who is leaving when his contract expires July 31.

Tags: Derrick Diggs, James Gant, Jerome Pecko, Larry Sykes, Lisa Sobecki, Luis Santiago, Newtown Connecticut, school safety, school shootings, Toledo Public Schools

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2013 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Community, Education.
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Steven Flagg, an education advocate who has followed Toledo Public Schools (TPS) and education issues for the past 17 years, has questioned the TPS Board of Education’s lack of transparency concerning its discussion of Superintendent Jerome Pecko’s job performance and Pecko’s letter to the board stating that he would not accept a contract extension after his current contract expires July 31.

In a Feb. 1 letter, Flagg told board members they have an obligation to justify their decision to the community they were elected to serve by making Pecko’s job evaluation public.

In an interview Feb. 6 after he released the letter to the media, Flagg said, “This goes to transparency and the fact that an evaluation is the board’s view into the operation of this district, how they see it performing and where they see the challenges.”

Flagg said Toledoans need to know the board’s perspective and vision for the district before they decide whether to vote for a renewal levy later this year.

Flagg also took exception to TPS Board President Brenda Hill’s comments published in The Blade where she was reported as saying she was legally “prohibited” from disclosing conversations held in a closed-door session.

Citing Ohio law, Flagg informed board members they are not legally required to disclose those conversations, but they are not legally prohibited from disclosing those conversations, as Hill said.

“I understand what he’s saying,” Hill said. “He’s trying to force me to say what happened in executive session. “Maybe I misspoke. According to the attorney, there is no legal obligation. I really thought it was more than that. What I said to the media I thought was right at the time I said it. And if it’s not correct, I stand corrected.

“I didn’t go to law school, so this is my personal opinion,” Hill said. “Executive session is there so that we can discuss employment or legal issues confidentially. And I am not going to get into a ‘he said, she said.’ ”

Hill said she feels the integrity of the board is at stake.

“We go into executive session so we can discuss freely what we need to discuss, and then we come back out and we make our decision,” Hill said. “All we do in executive session is discuss.

“I understand resigning because you do think about it often, and Dr. Pecko did say later that he had been thinking about it,” Hill said. “You think about it, and you’re going back and forth, and then it seems like one day there’s an inner voice that just says, ‘It’s time.’ And you do it.”

Board member Lisa Sobecki said she agrees with Hill’s observation about Pecko’s decision to not accept a contract renewal if one were to be offered.

“I fully understand what Ms. Hill said about Dr. Pecko’s decision to retire,” Sobecki said. “I don’t know what I’ll do when I get to that point, but I already know it’s not going to be an easy decision.”

Sobecki also took the same position as Hill regarding discussing what happens in executive session.

“I may not be legally prohibited from talking about that, but I don’t have to talk about that, and I don’t intend to talk about it,” Sobecki said.

Hill and Sobecki suggested that if board members did not feel secure that their discussions in executive session would remain confidential, they may not feel comfortable being honest with one another.

However, board member Larry Sykes said that before the board can go into executive session, it must announce the reason for the executive session, and that announcement dictates what can be discussed.

“If we go into executive session, we’re telling the public we’re going to discuss a potential lawsuit, the hiring or termination of employment or contracts. Talking freely has nothing to do with the damn purpose of the discussion that you went into executive session for.”

Sykes said he thinks Hill needs to make a clarification.

“You need at least three [votes to extend Pecko’s contract]. At this particular time, I am uncomfortable in making any comments. I do not lie about anything. It needs to be addressed at some point in time, and there needs to be a point of clarification.”

Board member Bob Vasquez did not confirm that the board discussed Pecko’s contract. Rather, he said, “We absolutely discussed Dr. Pecko’s job performance. We went into evaluate Dr. Pecko, and when we say we’re going to evaluate somebody, that’s exactly what we’re talking about.”

In response to Flagg’s concerns regarding the board’s lack of transparency, Sobecki said,“In my time on the board [six years], the Board has worked very hard at becoming more transparent in all of its business. Go to BoardDocs. You can see everything we do online. You can see every check we write and how much it is for.

“We even broadcast board meetings for a time. When we had to make budget cuts and decide whether to lay off an English teacher or to stop broadcasting board meetings, we kept the teacher and cut the broadcast. If we ever have the money and could go back and revisit that issue, I would certainly be open to the possibility of broadcasting board meetings again. As a district, that’s just one area of transparency we cannot afford right now.

Vasquez said he is “in complete agreement” with Sobecki.

“Mr. Flagg is entitled to his opinion and I respect that. But Mr. Flagg has been around for a long time, and I would hope he would acknowledge that the board has made great strides in becoming more transparent,” Sobecki said.

Tags: Brenda Hill, Jerome Pecko, Larry Sykes, Lisa Sobecki, Steven Flagg, Toledo Public Schools

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2013 at 11:46 am and is filed under Community, Education.
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Members of the Toledo Public Schools Board of Education received a formal invitation to the Scott High School Centennial Celebration in 2013 at its monthly meeting Jan. 24.

Scott High School Centennial Celebration logo

The Scott High School Centennial Celebration is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2013, at the Seagate Center in Downtown Toledo. A broad-based group of Scott alumni have worked on plans for the celebration since late 2010.

“We’re here to invite all of you to join alumni and friends of Scott High School to participate. We feel this 100th anniversary event will provide a very positive opportunity to celebrate Toledo Public School successes,” Stan Odesky, general chair of the Scott High School Centennial Celebration, told the school board members.

Odesky and Scott High School Principal Treva Jeffries presented board members with an official Scott 100th T-shirt. Odesky graduated from Scott in 1955. Jeffries graduated in 1992 after serving as a class president, cheerleader and homecoming queen.

The school board members welcomed the news about the school’s centennial celebration, especially Larry Sykes, a current board member who also served on the board during the school’s 75th celebration.

Sykes shared his enthusiasm with Odesky, who chaired the 75th celebration event that was attended by two members of the first complete graduating class in 1917.

Ironically, the newly renovated Scott High School will open for classes on Jan. 30, according to TPS officials. The $42 million renovation project transformed the school into a modern facility while maintaining design elements and history of the building.

The renovation was designed by local architect, Arnold Remer, a 1954 graduate of Scott High School.

Public tours of the school will be held on Feb. 4 and 18, and March 3 and 17. RSVPs for the tour must be made by calling the school at (419) 671-400.

A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at Scott on March 20 with the first graduation scheduled for June 6 on the anniversary of the school’s dedication.

The president of Amherst College, Alexander Meiklejob, spoke to an estimated crowd of 8,000 people at the dedication of Jesup W. Scott High School on June 6, 1913.

The school was named in memory of Jesup Wakeman Scott, one of Toledo’s early promoters and contributors to educational development.

Edward Drummond Libbey served as president of the school board at the time of the dedication. Libbey High School was later named for the Toledo businessman and philanthropist.

More than 30,000 voters cast ballots in 2008 to pass a bond issue with about 70 percent of the vote to raise $500,000 to build two high schools in Toledo. Scott was to be built on Collingwood Avenue on the west side of the Maumee River and Waite High School on the east side.

Based on area population and academic statistics from feeder schools, the location for the first high school was at the Collingwood site on the border of wards four and seven of the TPS school district.

In 1911, construction began on Scott High School when a steam shovel from the H.J. Spieker Company scooped the first load of dirt for the project. The exterior of the school was completed a year later with its estimated cost having grown to $290,000.

“We hope to generate sufficient funds to provide an annual college scholarship to a deserving Scott graduate in perpetuity,” Odesky stated.

Tags: Arnold Remer, centennial, Larry Sykes, Scott High School, Stan Odesky, Toledo Public Schools, Treva Jeffries

This entry was posted on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Community, Education.
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Toledo Public School Board voted unanimously to accept the fact finding report associated with three units of the Toledo Federation of Teachers on June 28. One of the five votes was symbolic.

TPS Board member Jack Ford who has been absent due to illness phoned in to participate via conference call, his vote did not count since Ohio’s law requires votes be made in person.

Board President Bob Vasquez, Board Vice President Lisa Sobecki, Board member Larry Sykes and Board member Brenda Hill voted to accept the fact finder report. The report called for a 2.5 percent salary cut, increased health care costs and elimination of 25 positions related to curriculum support specialists, gifted and alternative school programs.

June 28, prior to the school board meeting, teachers, paraprofessionals, and substitute teachers met separately and unanimously approved the fact finder report.

“I really wanted to be there, I know I have to be here in person to vote yes or no, if I was there — I would enthusiastically vote yes,” Ford said.

The revenues coming into the district have been cut, property values have been lessened, said Sobecki. “I appreciate the fact that all three bargaining units voted unanimously to accept the fact finders report,” Sobecki said. This shows the commitment they have to Toledo Public Schools she said.

“Even though it is a 2.5 percent decrease, the treasurer told me the actual amount staff will lose on their regular take home pay is 7 to 8 percent,” Hill said.

“I hope this shows the community that we are serious and taking a hard stance in balancing the budget,” Sykes said. He said he would work with other board members and is committed to this district. “God bless each and every one of you,” Sykes said.

Vasquez urged the community to look at the fact-finder report carefully, he said the concessions are significant. “We didn’t get everything we wanted, they didn’t get everything they wanted,” Vasquez said.

It was also reported that the Lucas County Auditor’s office has reduced the total agricultural/residential property valuation in 2009 by 16.914 percent, and .723 percent in 2010 which will cause a revenue reduction from the 3.6 mills levied by $1,080,000.

TFT president Fran Lawrence was recognized by the board, she is set to retire as a teacher in the TPS district and as president of the teachers union on June 30.

The four board members present also approved a resolution that would allow the auction of Libbey High School, as well as athletic bleachers located on the property. The sale of the property shall include a minimum bid requirement equal to the fair market value of the land as determined by the Lucas County Auditor’s Office. Sobecki authored the resolution.

Tags: Bob Vasquez, Brenda Hill, Jack Ford, Larry Sykes, Libbey High School, Lisa Sobecki, Toledo Federation of Teachers, Toledo Public Schools

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Community, Toledo Public Schools.
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“Well, what would you do with a brain if you had one?” — Dorothy

The Yellow Brick Road to preserving Libbey High School will not originate from One Government Center or 445 E. Manhattan Blvd.

We recently showed our young sons “The Wizard of Oz.” They were swept away by the swiftly moving story and infectious songs, as they followed Dorothy and her coterie through their perilous and eventful journey.

On March 4, as I watched an hourlong meeting concerning the fate of Libbey High School, I could not stop feeling I was reliving Frank L. Baum’s fever dream.

Activist Warren Woodberry and the Libbey Preservation Committee envisioned a meeting in which they could present several alternatives to the demolition of the buildings on the Libbey Campus on Western Ave. There are two key points to their plan. First, no one is fighting to restore Libbey as an active high school. It is understood by even the most fervent Libbey alumni that there will never again be Toledo Public Schools freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors ebbing and flowing through the halls like blood cells pumping through a network of arteries and veins. Second, there is no movement to save all of Libbey; the roof damage, accumulating water rot and general disrepair have doomed the magnificent main building. But the newer field house, food preparation space and vocational center offer an opportunity to create a community center that could house several services.

Among the two dozen ideas for Libbey usage Woodberry and the preservation committee were anxious to present were after school and GED programs, food and assistance programs, a voting site, a small manufacturing area, a computer training center, day care programs, a green technology site and vocational training. These are ideas, not signed contracts, but they are not concepts that can be described as unrealistic or impossible to implement.

Woodberry had noble intentions, but events beyond his control, like a tornado sweeping through the plains of Kansas, conspired to throw everything into chaos.

Over the rainbow

Before the 11 a.m. meeting, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell met with TPS officials — and only the most naïve among us would believe they were huddling to practice a choral arrangement of “Over the Rainbow.” According to the mayor’s office, “It was about two minutes and they exchanged pleasantries and [Bell] clearly articulated his position on Libbey to them so that they knew where he stood.”

From the beginning of the 11 a.m. meeting, it was clear that Bell, flanked by TPS Superintendent Jerome Pecko and TPS Board of Education President Bob Vasquez, was not there to facilitate a protracted conversation about the effort to preserve Libbey.

The meeting included two dozen elected officials (including TPS Board of Education member Brenda Hill, Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak, Lucas County Administrator Peter Ujvagi and Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel), Libbey supporters, a few businessmen (including Fifth Third Bank President and Libbey graduate Robert LaClair) and cameras from the local television news stations.

There was enough straw wafting from the Scarecrow contingent to cover a path from One Government Center to Topeka. And while there were no Cowardly Lions in the room, there were several people Woodberry believed would be in attendance who were notably absent, including Sen. Edna Brown, former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority member Jerry Chabler.

Bell’s first statement was that the meeting would not be allowed to exceed 60 minutes. Bell’s second statement was that the City of Toledo was not going to take any financial responsibility for Libbey’s preservation nor its demolition costs. Neither of those definitive statements fostered any hope for a true dialogue. Bell was not surrounded by flames and green smoke, but he spoke with the authority of the Great and Powerful Oz himself, with that wizard’s penchant for “I will talk, you will listen” communication.

And your little dog, too

Before Woodberry, the ostensible host of the meeting, could speak, Bell gave the floor to Pecko, who made it clear that TPS had no intention of missing an Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) deadline for demolishing Libbey. Before he could finish, Toledo City Councilman (and Libbey graduate) D. Michael Collins interjected that he had testified before the OSFC on Feb. 24, and secured commitment that the $2.25 million in demolition funds could be guaranteed for an additional 24 months.

Like a pack of the Wicked Witch of the West’s winged henchmen, the TPS officials and Bell descended on Collins, questioning and doubting his comments about the OSFC arrangement. It was strikingly clear that Collins and Bell are not mutual fans; they seem to work together as well as a falling house and the Wicked Witch of the East.

Again, before Woodberry could begin, TPS Board of Education member Larry Sykes jumped in. Sykes, in an important community forum with the clock ticking, opened his comments with a glance at me and the statement that “I am not a terrorist,” a reference to a Feb. 6 column in which I described TPS’ decimation of the South End as “institutional terrorism.” Well, Mr. Sykes, despite your aggressive effort to single me out in a large crowd and intimidate future commentary, you made your point — you are no terrorist.

A terrorist is scary.

Sykes, the Tin Man displaying no heart, brusquely proclaimed that “the die were cast” on Libbey and that he did not see any chance that the TPS board would change its vote to demolish Libbey.

He said all that before one word on Libbey’s behalf was uttered by its supporters.

Within minutes, three levels of government exposed their egos, prejudices and alliances. If only a sixth-grade civics class had been watching from behind a panel of glass.

I’m melting! Melting!

Finally, Woodberry took the floor and implored the attendees to focus on the positive opportunities. He and his allies — including Sue Terrill of the Libbey Alumni Association, former Libbey basketball coach Leroy Bates and green technology housing expert Bill Decker — tried to build a case for the alternative uses of the Libbey property, but the preceding conflict and hostility punctured any opportunity for an open exchange of ideas. The impatience and disinterest on display from the city and TPS officials melted the meeting’s intent as surely as a bucket of water vaporized the Wicked Witch of the West.

It looked like the hour-long meeting was effectively ended within 30 minutes, but then, like a floating pink bubble heralding Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, Rep. Marcy Kaptur arrived. It did not take long for Kaptur to sum up the atmosphere; “I sense a lot of tension,” she said, in the most diplomatic comment since “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Since no one recapped the first 30 minutes of the meeting for her, Kaptur could not have known that the discussion did not for one minute focus on returning Libbey to its former status as an active school. So she opened her comments on that exact topic, suggesting the University of Toledo, or more likely Owens Community College, might utilize the campus for an educational opportunity. Kaptur did not wave a wand or cue the Munchkin chorus, but she brought a calm to the meeting that had been noticeably absent.

There’s no place like home

One of the productive, albeit inconclusive, conversation threads followed the projected costs of maintaining the Libbey buildings for Collins’ hypothetical 24 months. TPS Chief Business Manager James Gant estimated it would take a minimum $150,000 a year to “mothball” the unoccupied building, a number that does not include roof repairs or other essential preservation steps.

Various members of Toledo’s Lollipop Guild interjected during the meeting, but there was no true plan or course of action presented. There was more discussion of Collins’ OSFC proposal and agreement that there needs to be a short- and long-term needs discussion, but Woodberry and his allies never really gained control of the meeting from the yapping Totos in the room.

At noon, the monthly city alarm test effectively ended the meeting. Two dozen people from every level of Toledo government came together and left with nothing as resolute or certain as that blaring siren.

For as closely as its situation mirrored Dorothy’s, the collective group might as well have been wearing ruby slippers. The power to fix Libbey has been within them all along, but they are distracted by nostalgia, dreams, fears and the chatter of people who carry more resources in their brains, hearts and guts than they realize.

While watching “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time in 30 years, I was struck by a scene I did not remember from my small-screen viewing as a child. Just after the Wizard dispatches Dorothy and her posse to capture the Wicked Witch’s broomstick, they are shown in the haunted forest.  Tin Man has his ax and a Quentin Tarrantino-size pipe wrench, Lion has a net and a Gallagher mallet and the Scarecrow is carrying … a gun. It’s a silver revolver, and to see it is to be shocked out of the film’s magical, musical “reality.”

Seeing a Toledo community movement fall victim to the least productive elements of Toledo politics was a real-life “Scarecrow’s gun” moment, a surreal, jarring, impossible to reconcile collision of liars and bribers and glares.

Oh, my.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him through e-mail at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: BIll Decker, Bob Vasquez, Brenda Hill, Carty Finkbeiner, City of Toledo, D. Michael Collins, Edna Brown, Frank L. Baum, Gallagher, James Gant, Jerome Pecko, Jerry Chabler, Larry Sykes, Leroy Bates, Libbey High School, Lighting The Fuse, Marcy Kaptur, Michael S. Miller, Mike Bell, Owens Community College, Peter Ujvagi, Quentin Tarrantino, Robert LaClair, Sue Terrill, Tina Skeldon Wozniak, Toledo Public Schools, University of Toledo, Warern Woodberry, Wizard of Oz

This entry was posted on Friday, March 11th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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The Toledo Public Schools (TPS) plot to demolish Libbey High School is an act of institutional terrorism.

If someone were to describe a scenario in which an authoritative body funded by the public entered a nearly 90-year-old institution, scattered its people, gutted its neighborhood’s identity and threatened to demolish its building, your mind might flash to Sarajevo or Fallujah.

But this atrocity is being waged in the South End of Toledo.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, people scheming to eradicate a way of life through fear and violence are rightly branded as extremists and enemies of society. In Toledo, this unforgivable scenario is being perpetrated by the school system and its board members. Rather than blowing shrapnel through flesh, they shrug their shoulders with indifference. Rather than plant bombs underfoot, they nod their heads and take notes. Rather than standing and firing bullets, they look into cameras and cite statistics.

These calumniators wear business ties and pantsuits, but they are just as responsible for their actions as any bomb-strapped insurgent. It’s a passive-aggressive approach, destruction through neglect, but when all is said and done, the members of the TPS Board of Education — Bob Vasquez, Lisa Sobecki, Larry Sykes, Jack Ford and Brenda Hill — will forever have Libbey’s blood on their hands. By placing the short-term financial considerations of TPS above the long-term needs of the community, the board members have betrayed their constituents, their responsibilities and the future of an entire neighborhood.

Once a giant such as Libbey has fallen, it is easier for the assassins to close other schools in their mission of “rightsizing,” a phrase so Orwellian, it is shocking it’s not used in “1984.”

A wrecking ball blasting through the walls of Libbey High School will not have anywhere near the national impact on life and liberty as an airplane hurtling into an office framework or a truckload of fertilizer exploding into a federal building, but the damage blistered into Western Avenue will create its own crater of permanent loss.

When terrorists attack, there are heroic first responders willing to risk their own lives to help. Firefighters, police officers and people of all walks of life rush to offer aid.

The only defenders standing between Libbey and its destruction are a handful of people who understand that the day Libbey becomes rubble is the day that a significant number of South End residents are going to realize they have been symbolically torn into pieces by an institutional suicide bomber. Those people will not fight by taking up arms; they will choose flight by taking to their feet, leaving the area to further sink into boarded-up houses, closed businesses and abandoned people.

Everything that troubles TPS can be viewed through the lens of what went wrong at Libbey High School. Declining population. Dwindling resources. Crumbling infrastructure. Community apathy.

Back in September, after touring my high school alma mater one last time, I wrote a prematurely dismissive good-bye to the school. I discussed the memories and people who made Libbey what it was.

“But those moments were not shared with a brick or a hallway,” I wrote. “It was the people at Libbey who made it special, and their spirit, through the alumni association and hall of fame, will not crumble when the wrecking ball hits. Their love and fellowship will not die, even as the fortress passes into dust.”

That was written from a mindset of sadness and acceptance. After closely following the efforts of Sue Terrill and Warren Woodberry, two of the people leading the effort to preserve Libbey, my passive emotions have been replaced by anger. If it weren’t for Terrill, Woodberry and those who stand beside them, Libbey would be turned to dust accompanied by only whispers of resignation. The group working to save the building is instead mustering a roar of protest that should wake all of us from our slumber of surrender and remind us that there are things worth fighting for, no matter how long the odds.

Toledoans are accustomed to standing by helplessly as the past is erased — homes, schools, malls, restaurants, theaters. Terrill, Woodberry and their soldiers may not have money or easy solutions, but they are standing and fighting, and that deserves respect and consideration.

Terrill and Woodberry know there are more questions than answers. Should all of Libbey be saved, or just its more modern elements? Are supporters correct when they say it could be a “business and community center, providing a place to develop new technologies and jobs for our community and our city”? Where will the money come from, not just today but in the following years and decades? Is there such a thing as a high school being “too big to fail?” Would this energy and attention be better devoted to schools that still serve children? Would neighbors rather see an empty field than a closed school? Is it too late to save Libbey? Is it too late to save the neighborhood and its people?

These questions are thin battle cries against the plan to destroy Libbey High School and decimate its struggling neighborhood. But in this fight, the terrorists are in plain sight and their methods are well-known. Even if questions are not enough to slow and stop the destruction, their echoes will forever haunt the legacies of those who actively shepherded Libbey’s demise — and of those who stood by passively and allowed them to triumph.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. E-mail him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Bob Vasquez, Brenda Hill, Jack Ford, Larry Sykes, Libbey High School, Lighting The Fuse, Lisa Sobecki, Michael S. Miller, Sue Terril, Toledo Public Schools, Warren Woodberry

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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