Taming the elephant

The installation of Joe Payne as the new GSD board member brings some interesting questions.  First will he be able to tame the pink elephant that is still in the middle of the room.  Second, the board, which is aware of the elephant in the middle of the room, once again shot themselves in the foot by not appointing an applicant from the Gettysburg area who applied for the position.  The board seems to be hesitant to involve themselves with anyone who doesn't fit a particular mold that they have unofficially established.
In the meantime, the Ohio Graduation Test scores loom large over our heads with this years results soon to be published.  Will we once again finish last against all schools in a 25 mile radius?  And what about passing a bond levy?  Maybe a board member from the Gettysburg area would have done just a little to bring those folks on board.  Guess we'll never know about that, will we.
Bottom line is something has to happen.  Hopefully Joe Payne is a sleeper.  Hopefully Joe Payne will be able to ask the hard questions and not let up until he gets an answer. Hopefully Joe Payne has a little hell's fire and brimstone he can throw out during a meeting to get us off of dead center.
Congratulations Joe Payne, you certainly have your work cut out for you.  Let's hope that the Big Pink Elephant in the middle of the room doesn't get any bigger.

The Big Pink Elephant

It appears that there is a big pink elephant in the middle of the room and no one wants to talk about it. Before the last election a lot of people did a lot of campaigning for and against a levy for a new school. I don't know if any of them looked at the real facts.  This blog has unearthed a lot of cold, hard facts.  Numbers usually don't lie, especially when they can be backed up with facts.  In this case the research that I did came from the Board of
Elections and the Ohio Department of Education.
These facts show very plainly that people within the city limits of Greenville pretty much support the schools and with only a couple of exceptions, everyone else whom we've invited into the system in years past doesn't support the schools at all.  It's right there in black and white.  No one has said a word about it.
A comparison of Greenville Schools Sophomore classes taking the Ohio Graduation Test with schools within 25 miles of Greenville shows that we consistently come in behind everyone else.  Those figures weren't made up, they're the State of Ohio figures, not just last year but for the last 4 years.
Well as this elephant gets bigger, you got to wonder if all those people outside Greenville knew this and not voting was there way of complaining about low test scores and the people in the city just didn't care or what.  More than likely nobody ever looked at the stats before.  The counter on this blog was reset at 500 hits and it now has over 700 so it's pretty obvious that at least 700 people know what the statistics are now and yet the elephant still stands there. No one has said a word
It's sort of embarrassing that the levy went down as many times as it has.  It's even more embarrassing that our kids are graduating and the figures show that they only comprehend about 75% of what they were taught.  Why is that? In 20 years those same kids will be wondering where all the elephants came from!

Four year comparison of the State Proficiency test

This chart is a comparison of four years of Proficiency test results.  Please note in each area of study what the state average is.

In Math the state average is 81%, in Greenville it is 77%, 16 points below average.

In Writing the state average is 90%, in Greenville it is 83%, 7% below average.

In Science the state average is 76%, in Greenville it is 68%, 8% below average.

In Social Studies the state average is 82%, in Greenville it is 74%, 8% below average.

In Reading  the state average is 85%, in Greenville it is 72%,13% below average.

These figures tell us that our kids can't read, although they can write which is sort of odd%.  While 76% of the kids statewide understand science and what makes the world go around, our kids haven't a clue at 68% and so on. Wonder if a new school would fix this?

The Carnegie Library and Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall

Recently someone asked the question " who actually owns Memorial Hall"?  A little searching yielded a lot of information.  The best information was found on Wikipedia.  I've edited it here and added a couple of bits of information.  Hope this answers the question.

Here is the straight scoop on Memorial Hall and the Library

 Soon after F. Gillum Cromer became the superintendent of the Greenville City Schools in 1888, he began to plan for the creation of a library for the city's students. Financing for the library was largely dependent on the children of the city, who performed entertainments on Washington's Birthday; the monies earned were used to pay for the books and for the upkeep of the library system. As the library increased in size, it was decided to expand it and to open it to members of the public. From 1892 to 1901, the library was housed in the basement of a store on Fifth Street.^{[2]:373, 374}

Construction In the spring of 1901, the city's board of education petitioned Andrew Carnegie to donate money for the expansion of the library. In response, Carnegie offered $15,000 on the condition that the city pledge $1,500 annually for its support. After examining the library system in Pittsburgh and consulting its head librarian, the board requested $25,000 and pledged $2,500 annually; Carnegie accepted this offer   After the board accepted bids on plans, the members discovered that the desired structure would cost nearly $30,000 and ordered a revision of the plans; however, when this news reached prominent local businessman Henry St. Clair, he requested that the revision be cancelled and pledged sufficient funds for the building as originally planned.^[2]:375 St. Clair's wish having been granted, the library's cornerstone was laid on October 30, 1901, and construction was completed on March 19, 1903;^[the structure had cost $31,177.50.

Memorial Hall Following Henry's St. Clair's death on October 7, 1908, the city benefited greatly from his will — $100,000 was to be given to the city's board of education for the erection and maintenance of an assembly hall for the use of the city schools. Board members soon voted to build this hall adjacent to the Carnegie library; as the 1868 high school already occupied this location, the entire building was moved a short distance to the south in the summer of 1909. Excavation for the new assembly hall commenced in the spring of 1910, and the cornerstone was laid on June 30. Large crowds attended the laying ceremony; and members of the leading families of Darke County provided patriotic music.After a long period of construction, the building was dedicated on May 3, 1912 and given the name of "Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall." While the construction of the hall and the removal of the high school had cost $135,000, the board of education was not left impoverished; St. Clair's widow compensated the board for the extra expenses. The finished structure, built of brick and stone in a manner similar to the library, featured a large auditorium and a range of classrooms for the city's students

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information.

From the Columbus Dispatch...........

The Ohio Education Association (OEA) which represents about 80% of Ohio's teachers has a labor problem of it's own. The negotiators who work for the association are on strike.  The 110 striking workers are members of the OEA's Professional Staff Union.  Their average salary was average salary of $111,350 in 2009.  This is about $10,000 more than the average school superintendent in Ohio.  You can read the whole story by going HERE

A comparison of schools within 25 miles of Greenville - The Ohio Graduation Test

The Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) is a test mandated by the state of Ohio and given to all sophomores each school year.  The chart below shows all schools within a 25 mile radius of Greenville.  It does not include private or parochial schools as they are not mandated to report.  This particular version was sorted by the Science Scores.  Click on the chart to enlarge for better reading.