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Sam and Libby

Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: School Board
Forum Description: Discuss the board individually and as a group.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6235
Printed Date: Mar 28 2024 at 5:25pm


Topic: Sam and Libby
Posted By: Smartman
Subject: Sam and Libby
Date Posted: Dec 10 2015 at 10:10pm
Rumor has it that the old school board is going to lift the 90 day stipulation on Sam and offer Libby a 2 year contract! By doing this it will tie the new boards hands, thus leaving the new board stuck with the 2 people who are running our district in the ground! This is ridiculous !! 😡



Replies:
Posted By: Bill
Date Posted: Dec 11 2015 at 5:48am
For those of us who are not informed about the goings on at MHS, tell us what is going on there and why Sam and Libby are disasters.


Posted By: chmoore1
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 12:46pm
As it pertains to Dr. Lolli, staff morale, discharged from Monroe, triple-dipping, time to go!   just 1 chmoore.


Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 2:32pm
The school board doesn't care about results, it just wants levies passed. Their reward for passing levy, extensions too mature. MCSD epitomizes the failure of the local, state, and federal public school system.


Posted By: enough is enough
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 5:17pm
Do not forget Lolli was asked to leave the Barberton school district.  Middletown is working on curbing bullying and Lolli is the biggest bully in the district. Nothing is going to improve as long as she is a part of the district. Barbeton and Monroe figured this out not sure why Middletown can not figure this out.

Sam on the plus side passed the levy. Other than that nothing in the district has changed. Teacher morale is at an all time low. You have a district with little to no discipline and you expect scores to go up. Teachers who do send a student to the office are seen as having no classroom management. A student can curse at you even threaten bodily harm and you are expected to look the other way. So when the district says discipline referrals are down sure they are because teachers are expected to not send students to the office or face the repercussions of the administration. This is one of the reasons 100+ teachers left last year for other districts or retired. Be on the look out for more to abandon ship if  Sam and Lolli are left in charge.

Time to let the new board members who were voted onto the board make the decisions. The voters have spoken!!!


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Enough is Enough


Posted By: jsmith2011
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 5:47pm
You want to know why the school board is doing this... Because they are pissed that the Middletown Teachers Association backed new board members. It's their way was telling the MTA to go screw themselves.


Posted By: jsmith2011
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 5:48pm
Sam is creating jobs for his buddies as they retire from Lebanon school district and bringing them to Middletown.


Posted By: enough is enough
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 9:44pm
Thank you for proving my point about retaliation against teachers. Until you have a board and administrators that can put their power trip aside and actually work with the teachers instead of against them the MCSD is going to remain in the toilet. The big losers her are the students. I hope the new board members will stand together and not bow down to the establishment,  

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Enough is Enough


Posted By: Smartman
Date Posted: Dec 12 2015 at 10:04pm
Sam is too concerned with his cell phone. Texting all his buddies. He is really harmless. Lolli on he the other hand is the anti Christ. She has failed every where she has been. She has no clue what harm she is causing to staff, students, and the schools in general. She needs to go, and go now!! She is the problem!!


Posted By: 409
Date Posted: Dec 14 2015 at 5:05pm
MJ:
Middletown school board expected to approve administrator contracts

By Rick McCrabb
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
The Middletown City Schools District board, in its last meeting of the year and the final for four outgoing board members, is expected to offer two administrators two-year contracts, rewrite part of the superintendent’s contract and give the treasurer a two-percent raise, according to tonight’s agenda.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. today with student awards in the Middletown High School auditorium, and then will move to the school’s Media Center.

Elizabeth Lolli, the district’s senior director, and Carmela Cotter, MHS principal, are expected to be approved for two-year contracts, effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018, according to Eric Gearhart, senior director of human resources.

Superintendent Sam Ison’s contract, signed on Feb. 23, 2015, is expected to be amended to include that he may terminate his contract for any reason after Dec. 31, 2016 by providing the board at least 120 days advance written notice; and the board may terminate his contract after Dec. 31, 2016 with at least 120 days advance written notice.

In the original contract, the board had to give Ison a 90-day notice, then fire him without cause with no severance.

Earlier this year, the board unanimously approved the retirement and rehiring of its superintendent, despite reservations from union members.

At that meeting, more than 100 of the 400 Middletown Teachers’ Association union members voiced their displeasure with Ison’s performance during the past two years. The union members filled the city’s council chambers, with the overflow crowd sitting in the balcony.

After the vote, most of those in attendance left the meeting.

Ison said he was “honored and very humbled” after the board showed its confidence in his performance. Ison, 58, who has served as superintendent for two years, retired on June 30, 2015, then was rehired July 2, said Marcia Andrew, school board president.

Andrew said the retire/rehire saved the district money because it didn’t have to hire an interim superintendent. Ison also volunteered to surrender two months of his retirement that saved the district an undisclosed amount of money, she said.

Ison agreed to return for $120,000 a year and eliminate his 5 percent bonus, which saved the district about $12,000 a year, Andrew said. Ison’s 2014 salary was $123,791. The contract is for three years with a possibility of a fourth year.

He promised to improve communications between the administration and the district’s staff. He also said he wanted to periodically meet with the faculty council and improve the climate and professional development in the district.

The contract for Treasurer Randy Bertram, entered into on June 30, 2014, is expected to be amended that will give him a two-percent raise, effective Aug. 1, 2015.

His work year is based on 260 working days and he’s entitled to 25 vacation days, and the days don’t accumulate. Five unused vacation days may be paid at the daily rate of pay at the end of each contract year.

Also at tonight’s meeting, the board’s four newest members — Todd Moore, Michelle Novak, Anita Scheibert and Chris Urso — and expected to address the board and its four outgoing members: Christi Delloma, Katie McNeil, DeAnna Shores and the Rev. Greg Tyus.


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Every morning is the dawn of a new error...


Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Dec 14 2015 at 8:23pm
In reading this article by McCrabb, I see alot of salary numbers and money saved for the district in the Ison discussions on his retention but I don't read anything in this article as to keeping him on board because he did a good job. In reading Andrew's reasoning, the rehiring of Ison saved the district the cost of hiring an interim super. I read where Ison gave up some pay and eliminated a 5% bonus as a retention reason. But I see no indication that he did an outstanding job as to the reason for his retention.

And then there is this....

"Ison said he was “honored and very humbled” after the board showed its confidence in his performance"

But, judging by the council meeting opposition crowd, the teacher subordinates would rather have seen him not rehired. So, the board likes the man but the board doesn't have to work for him. Might have been different if they had to. It would appear the board liking him trumps the wishes of the people working for him as to his retention. It is almost as if he and the board are thumbing their noses at the teachers. You would have thought the board would have not taken sides and listened to both sides before the rehire. It looks as if this is not the case.

It won't happen but if the new board members decided to rethink the rehire of Ison and Lolli, can they retract the decision of the previous board or alter the negotiated contracts? Or are we stuck with both until the new contract runs out in a couple of years and the board has a chance to purge them? Having a super that is not liked by the subordinates is not a healthy situation for the district. Add to that, Lolli, the problem child that no one apparently likes and we have a double barrel full of trouble. Why would the board members want that for the district? No wonder the district is such a disaster.

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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.


Posted By: 409
Date Posted: Dec 14 2015 at 11:10pm
Board members clash over Middletown superintendent’s reworked contract

By Rick McCrabb
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
The outgoing and incoming Middletown City Schools District board members and the teachers’ union clashed over personnel decisions Monday night during the last meeting of the year and the final for the outgoing board members.

Dom Williams, president of the Middletown Teachers’ Association, called the consent agenda “a very crucial decision” and one that could have a long lasting impact on the district and community. By voting before their terms ended, Williams said the four outgoing members were expressing “sour grapes” about not being re-elected this fall. He also said the decision was being rushed and he urged the board to “do the right thing” and reject the consent agenda.

Despite the concerns, the four members — the Rev. Greg Tyus and board vice president was unable to attend — voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda. After the vote, several members in the audience quickly left the Media Center at Middletown High School.

The board decided to eliminate the “no cause to fire clause” out of Sam Ison’s superintendent contract for at least one year. Earlier this year, after the MTA expressed concern about Ison’s leadership, when he retired and was rehired, the board implemented a clause that said he could be fired with no cause with no severance, what Board President Marcia Andrew called “an extraordinary clause” rarely seen in the educational field.

Andrew said following the 2016 calendar, after the four new members have more experience and worked with Ison, the clause will be added back into his contract.

Ison agreed to return for $120,000 a year and eliminate his 5 percent bonus, which saved the district about $12,000 a year, Andrew said. Ison’s 2014 salary was $123,791. The contract is for three years with a possibility of a fourth year.

The board also approved two-year contracts for Elizabeth Lolli, the district’s senior director, and Carmela Cotter, MHS principal. The contracts are effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018, according to Eric Gearhart, senior director of human resources.

Andrew said the decisions made by the board were not rushed and the board didn’t want the decisions left to the new board members.

Katie McNeil, a 20-year board member, said the consent agenda was not “a last minute deal.”

Another outgoing board member, DeAnna Shores, who wasn’t re-elected, said the claims by the union and incoming board members were “hurtful and disappointing.”

Then she added: “I care about education.”

Christi Delloma, another outgoing board member, said she will remain active in the community.

“I believe in this city. I believe in the kids,” she said.

Then she added: “Let’s end this on a good note.”

The board’s four newest members — Todd Moore, Michelle Novak, Anita Scheibert and Chris Urso — sat together in the audience.


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Every morning is the dawn of a new error...


Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Dec 15 2015 at 6:21am
"Another outgoing board member, DeAnna Shores, who wasn’t re-elected, said the claims by the union and incoming board members were “hurtful and disappointing.”"

So is watching you go along with anything and everything that has transpired during your run on the school board Ms. Shores. There is no indication you have contributed, along with the rest of the board, to any improvement in the district's performance. It is still stuck in the mud at continual improvement and at 6 of 24 indicators met. No advancement at all during your tenure. But, we do have nice neat new schools to continue the downhill trends. Terrific.

"Then she added: “I care about education.”"

And so do we Ms. Shores. That is why some of us want to see change and the end to stagnation for decades. If you have been seeing the same thing that we have noticed, why didn't you present a new direction and a new plan instead of sitting there going along with the current program of failure? You had the opportunity. Why didn't you exercise your right as a board member to suggest new ideas? This is typical of the school board and council in this town. No new ideas. Nice little pacifists lined up like bumps on a log. Just go along with the program even though it is acknowledged, but never mentioned that change is needed. No mavericks. No resistance. Just a lot of rubber stamping in both groups resulting in the pathetic state of affairs in this city. Why.

Revoke the contracts. Fire the two individuals who are causing more harm than good and let's get on with improving the district with effective competent people who will produce real results we can be proud of. Enough nonsense. Mercy.


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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.



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