According to Kettering school officials, the Kettering School system, will need to put a new operating levy on the ballot next May. It looks like the amount of the levy will need to be 7 mills.
Yikes. The last new money was approved in November 2007, a five year 4.9 mill levy, and, at that time, the community was promised that, if the 4.9 mill levy was approved, no new money would be requested for another four years.
The district is going into the red sooner than expected and it looks like the district will need to break its promise of waiting four years to ask for new money. If the levy goes to the voters next May, as school officials recommend, then, this will be 18 months earlier than promised.
The district just this last May (2009) approved a renewal levy of a 6.9 mills. To return next May (2010) and ask for 7 mills of new money, will be a tough sell.
I want to comment about some of the ideas in this speech in a future post. Mike May in this video explains that he taught for 33 years. He is the ranking member of the education committee in Iowa’s House of Representatives
I’m surprised to learn that in You-tube land I am the fourth Michael Bock to post a video. What are the odds? There is a Michael Bock who plays for Charlotte Christian, number nine, and makes a great tackle and a Michael Bock who does great tricks on his skate board and a Michael Bock, speaking in German, who is an official for Mercedes Benz. I’m theMichael Bock who is seeking election to the Kettering School Board in Kettering, Ohio. I wonder if somehow we could all be related?
Public education needs a big leap in quality — including a big leap in cost effectiveness. We need a ten year process of transformation that will result in a 21st century system of education. Community consensus is needed. Leadership is needed. The biggest challenge for the Kettering School Board is to lead the community in creating a shared vision of the future, and, in creating a well-thought out, long-term plan to bring that vision to reality.
I’d say that almost anyone running for any office could put that last sentence to good use and I’m offering it for free to anyone who is interested. David Esrati, for example, could say, “The biggest challenge for the Dayton City Commission is to lead the community in creating a shared vision of the future, and, in creating a well-thought out, long-term plan to bring that vision to reality.”
The challenge for our democracy, it seems to me, is the challenge of whether or not our democracy can and will produce leaders as I’ve defined leader above, as one who brings together a community, “in creating a shared vision of the future, and, in creating a well-thought out, long-term plan to bring that vision to reality.” Words, of course, are easy, it is easy to talk the talk. The tough part is to have an answer to Deming’s question: “By what method?”
Effective leaders find a way to engage the public in realistic and meaningful discussion. Effective leaders find a way to create community. Of course, engaging the public, creating community is easier said than done, but technology has given us powerful opportunities. So, I am entering You-tube land and I might enter Facebook land as well.
I’m now the proud owner of Mac OS X “Snow Leopard.” It seemed a little pricey — with tax I paid about $180 for the box set — but it seems to have a lot of neat stuff, including a whole new (for me) set of software called iWork. I want to use iWork to update my Lulu book and to produce some statistical graphs concerning Kettering Schools.
I tried to learn a little about the new version of iMovie by editing video of my presentation to the South of Dayton Democratic Club. This new software has an option that will analyze the shaking of a movie — from a handheld camera — and remove the shake from the video. I didn’t try that with this editing attempt. I hope to make a lot of short videos in this election season, so, hopefully, my video products eventually will improve.
