Posted: 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, 2016

MIDDLETOWN

Middletown school board president: Focus on future not past

By Michael D. Clark

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — The leader of Middletown’s school board says don’t focus at where the district has been at the expense of seeing where it’s going.

Middletown Schools are about to launch major and historic initiatives, including next week’s ground breaking for a new school, public outreach for a new strategic plan, bolstered school security and refinancing of district bonds that could save taxpayers $1 million.

The aggressive plans were delivered this week by first-year Middletown Board of Education President Chris Urso during the city’s “state of the city” event.

“The center of a community is its schools, and it is our schools that can lead the way to a more optimistic Middletown,” said Urso, who was invited by Middletown Mayor Larry Mulligan Jr. to speak at Tuesday’s event.

Middletown Schools have been buffeted in recent months with the latest rounds of low scores on the state’s annual report card and a state audit earlier this month that criticized a handful of the school district’s finance procedures but found no missing money.

But Urso, who is one of four recently elected members of the five-person school board, said residents of the Butler County city have much to be optimistic about but they also share in creating a better future for their public schools.

“We are fighting against a history of people being pessimistic, but I’m really optimistic as along as the community is involved,” Urso said Wednesday.

A major key will be a new strategic plan to be developed after a public outreach campaign starting in April - dates have yet to be scheduled - with a series of opinion-gathering meetings, he said.

“You have to have the community buy in. We want to find out what people are thinking (about the schools) and gauge the community,” said Urso.

On Monday, Urso and other school officials will join local business and community leaders at a ground-breaking ceremony for the district’s new middle school and extensive renovation of Middletown High School.

The school construction stems from residents in 2014 barely approving a tax increase of $95 million for the projects.

Urso said the recent state audit aside, in which most of the district’s procedural mistakes have already been corrected, Middletown Schools’ “general fund revenues have exceeded expenditures for each of the last two years and are expected to do the same this current year and upcoming years as well.”

“Currently, we are exploring an opportunity to refinance the district’s 2007 construction bonds that will substantially save our taxpayers future interest costs for these refinanced bonds,” he said, adding the district could save $1 million or more “if the markets continue to work in our favor.”

The district’s annual operating budget is $85 million.

Middletown Superintendent Sam Ison said, “This is an exciting time for the schools.”

“We are in the beginning stages of the renovation and construction of our last two educational facilities. This means, that by the fall of 2018, all 10 of our district buildings will be new, or newly renovated within a span of 12 years, from 2006 to 2018.

“With the new buildings,” said Ison, “I believe our district is standing on the precipice of hope.”

 

The two words front and center within the Middletownian lexicon are "hope", and "plan." One might add "revitalization."

Only a fool would take solace in the hopeless performance of MCSD, then cheer the waste of over $100 Mm in buildings, and a "plan" which exists only as a shell it needs to get better, without delineating any detailed action nor tasks required to accomplish the plan, albeit MCSD or city hall.

Hopeless, not hopeful.

Turn the lights out. 

One of the best posts ever made, Journal News, by a local teacher aka screen name.

BTW, focus groups will never turn around the city, nor the school district.

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I beg to differ with that not looking back comment.

If by looking back, the Board says it wants to junk the mindset of the last 20 years, that's fine. In fact, it's about time.

But ironically, if you look back a bit further, Middletown had a credible school system. And I will always argue that the reason is so simple. Middletown enforced discipline once upon a time.

Some twisted reasoning came into focus in this district that students can't be held to the same conduct standards as were commonplace a generation ago. The results have been predictable.

Students engage in recreational misbehaviors. Actually, you've got to give the students credit for their cognitive analysis. They certainly figured out that teachers were not going to get much in the way of support. It was fun for them to disrupt without real consequences

Ten years ago, teachers had their office referral totals tallied and used as criticism from the very administrators that ignored and/or reinforced the misbehaviors of the students in the first place. I can't help but to wonder if that's not still the practice.

So board, please don't embarrass yourself, as past leadership has. by assuming there's some sort of advanced curriculum guide or lesson planning strategy that will turn this ship around. That's like Officers of the Titanic rearranging deck chairs in response to the iceberg collision.

Make discipline your simple strategy. Enforce high conduct standards without exception and without apology. If that means an uptick in suspensions or expulsions, so be it. You owe that to the students who are trying to learn....not to mention their parents who are paying taxes.

It worked just fine in the not so distant past. It works fine in surrounding districts today....just ask the many former Middletown teachers who now thrive in surrounding communities.

I wish our schools well and hope that they are successful.  My only concern is that a new strategic plan is only part of the solution.  There have been good plans in the past that have not produced significant improvement, not because the plan wasn't good, but because the implementation wasn't.  This has been the issue with MCSD for years.  Lots of good, productive talk, but when it becomes time to implement and people's behavior, actions, rewards have to change they freeze and don't follow through. Hopefully the board realizes this and holds firm, holds people accountable, fires those who don't follow through, rewards those who follow, change and get results.  Otherwise this is just an academic exercise with no lasting impact and no positive change for our students.

Am pretty much on the same direction as fact Guy's post and the first paragraph as that of acclaro. Pride in having an education, preparation, attendance and punctuality from day 1. Full understanding of those responsibilities from student to parent, with adults held legally responsible. Building that foundation makes the rest much easier.