By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
It has been quite a month for the Riverside School Board. Many different topics discussed, some outcomes decided, and others are still to be decided.
1. Unfair Treatment of Board Member Denise Brewster
The following quote in the Cleveland.com article from the Riverside Local Education Association President Matt Ozinga is quite disturbing to this writer.
“RLEA no longer trusts or supports Denise Brewster as a leader or decision maker,” the association said in a written statement issued Thursday night. “Her votes have aligned with former board members who were voted out by the community, and their influence should not continue through her actions.”
It is very obvious who is running the Riverside School District. It is not the school board, elected by the voters, nor the Superintendent, selected by the school board. Unequivocally, it is the teacher’s union that is controlling the levers of power in the district. Run afoul of the union, and they will put you in your place requiring a board member to vote as the union wants.
Although I have had my differences with the leaders on the school board, they have done some amazing things for the school buildings, and the children in our district.
1. Refurbished school bathrooms at the Riverside complex by replacing stalls giving needed privacy for students and community members.
2. Completed an 8 room addition the the Riverview Elementary School to alleviate overcrowding and provide adequate space for four new housing developments, including the 1,500 Casement home complex that will support the children from these new areas.
3. Added much needed 60 parking spots, eliminating the traffic problem on Madison Avenue.
4. Added a primary playground for younger children.
5. Developed and finalized plans to build an 8 room addition with a new gymnasium at Buckeye Elementary.
6. The 120 students in the dangerous moldy trailers were brought into the building and some programs were relocated.
7. Two trailers were demolished and 2 others will also be demolished in June, 2026.
8. After the recent election, another Board member wanted to borrow $3 million more to merge Melridge students by adding 4 new classrooms and redistricting. The board is still exploring that option as a traffic study, a site study and polling parents in these two buildings will be required before any action is taken. After the election, the administration and Belinda Grassi pitched a merger of Melridge and Buckeye causing the investor to resign. The proposal will cost and additional $3 million.
9.Rust proofed the bus fleet to extend the life of the busses.
10. Reducing health care costs by exploring another option.
11. The gym floor was redone at LaMuth, as well as many other items of concern listed by the Bialosky Engineering report. The current board tackled that list which included plumbing, electrical, roofing, brick tuck pointing, etc. No new taxes were needed for any of these projects.
The former school board, led by Belinda Grassi, failed miserably to maintain school buildings, opting to completely replace buildings with costly structures. Their efforts to replace the high school were soundly rejected by the voters. Grass’s led board sold the Hayden School for $500,000. This decision caused the district s to spend $12 million on the initial Buckeye project. If additional rooms and interior renovation occurs, it will add $3 million to the project for a total of $15 million.
In my opinion, the current board with Fishel, Brewster and Keeney at the helm made major strides in being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money, and protected the children of the Riverside School District. That can never be taken away from them.
Shame on the teachers’ union for the “no confidence” vote for Denise Brewster. She is a sincere, qualified, dedicated, professional educator with very few equals on any Lake County School Board. Their vote was one of blatant intimidation because Ms. Brewster refused to “take a knee” to the powerful teachers’ union. They are definitely in charge of the Riverside School District, and all board members must never vote against the wishes of the union.
2. Proposed termination of Superintendent Chris Rateno…
I met several times with Superintendent Chris Rateno and Mr. Gary Platko, the former Chief Financial Officer, to discuss a variety of school issues. I would like to state for the record that Superintendent Rateno, and Mr. Platko treated this taxpayer with respect, and both were transparent with their answers to my questions. I had no issues in my dealings with them.
However, it appears that the last two school boards have had problems with Superintendent Rateno. Here are the last two performance evaluations for Rateno. One signed by Belinda Grassi and the other by Denise Brewster.
Consecutive performance evaluation ratings of 61% and 60% does not give the taxpayers a high level of confidence with any administrator. It appears that Superintendent Rateno suffers the same short comings of most public school administrators – the school board reports to them, and the Superintendent is “driving the bus”. It is a very common malady.
A rule in business is that an organization cannot do better than the grade of the leader. Unfortunately, when I see that the Ohio Department of Education’s Report Card website indicate the the Riverside Local School District is at 62.8% – equaling a D- in the former, “old school”, more accurate grading system, I have to question everything.
The current school board decided that the school district would improve if Superintendent Rateno was terminated. So Rateno is on a short, unpaid leave. Odds are that the new school board (minus Scott Fishel and Dennis Keeney) will retain Rateno. School Board leader and queen bee, Belinda Grassi, although giving Rateno a 61% performance evaluation will buckle to the school union and retain Rateno. The new Chief Financial Officer, Steve Thompson, is in his first year of a three year contract, and is smiling every day about his good fortune.
3. General Funds versus Property and Improvement Funds
The public has been made aware that the former Chief Financial Officer would pay for school curriculums, such as a new reading or math program for specific grades, out of the property and improvement funds rather than the required general fund.
Ohio Revised Code Section 5705.10 deals with the revenue and expenditures from a permanent improvement levy. Money placed in a special fund “shall be used only for the purposes for which such fund is established.”
The prior school boards were able to save $10 million of taxpayers’ funds in the Permanent Improvement Fund, but did not use that money to address the kids in trailers, or other critical facility needs. However, prior boards failed to maintain the buildings since constructing new schools is the preferred route in Ohio school districts.
The majority of the school board members believed that $4.6 million should be transferred from the general fund to the property and improvement funds since over the years that amount was taken from the fund to pay for General fund expenses. This action was severely objected to by the union and the teachers because they decided that the $4.6 million was their money for additional salary and benefits.
The school board brought in an expert in the field of school bookkeeping. I listened to a one and half hour explanation of fund accounting, and did not hear the speaker state absolutely that the former Chief Financial Officer did anything wrong. After the speaker concluded, Board Member Belinda Grassi and CFO Steve Thompson “sliced and diced” the presentation to the point that I wondered why I showed up to the meeting.
The union won this round since I understand that only approximately $60,000 was approved to be transferred to the Property and Improvements Fund, but Lake County Judge Pat Condon still has to rule on that and other issues.
4. If the Roof Leaks, Why Not Fix It?
There is a disturbing trend in public education. It appears that the mantra “build new” is much more acceptable to school unions rather that “repair what you have”. That has been that the position of the Riverside School District.
Board member, Scott Fishel, a roofing contractor when not serving on the school board, has been warning everyone for quite some time that the Riverside Junior and High Schools need to have their roofs replaced. His warnings have gone unheeded by Board Members Belinda Grassi and Lori Krenisky for several reasons. One reason for their objections is because Scott Fishel said it, and the second is that they would rather replace the school buildings that repair them; and finally it is what the school unions want.
The school board invited another expert to explain the federal program to replace the existing roofs with a program using solar panels in addition to new roofing materials. It was approved (3-2) by the board to enter into a contract with the federal program, but Steve Thompson refused to sign the contract.
After more meetings, and sidebars with attorneys it was decided by the board to let the union and Belinda win this issue also since the school district did not meet all of the requirements of the federal program.
If you are keeping score, it is Belinda and the unions 3, good guys 0….! The path of public education is unsustainable and dangerous for our State and nation.
The unions want you to just keep paying your property taxes, and shut up about the unions and poor proficiency scores…remember you have to go along for the children…never mind that you are being taxed out of your home that you have worked all your lives to achieve.
Who is responsible for public school funding? Allow State Representative Dan Troy describe to you about school funding. Is Socialism your preferred form of government. Where has that ever worked in the world?
6. Riverside School District Proficiency Scores
Speaking about the children, how is the Riverside School District’s performance with the state’s grading system? We did a little checking on the Ohio Department of Education’s Report Card website. Here are a few statistics you might find interesting.
Buckeye Elementary School – Proficiency Third Grade Reading …..54.9%
Riverview Elementary School – Proficiency Third Grade Reading…67.9%
Riverside Jr/Sr High School – Meets state standards in academic achievement…78%
LaMuth Middle School – Fifth Grade Math proficiency…62.7%
Sixth Grade Math proficiency…54.4%
Seventh Grade Math proficiency …58.9%
We would like to know if taxpayers can get a refund based on what is being produced at Riverside, or do we just sit back and just keep paying for underperformance.
The unions cannot look at these scores and tell the taxpayers that this is acceptable for public schools.
Advertisements
Categories: Riverside S.D.