No Tax Increase

Congratulations to the Middletown School district, board and new school superintendent Rasmussen for your efforts paid off in getting the Substitute levy passed.

Here is hoping for academic progress.

Congratulations to Ms. Andrew, the Spider and other school levy supporters on their victory. You convinced the few voters that there were and won your prize.

I am totally amazed at the general public on their ability to reason and use logic on this. The data to date, presents an unsuccessful school district in a high tax area, spending a very high cost per pupil to produce, IN GENERAL---IN GENERAL (for all those who want to mis-read this) an inferior product(yes- there are exceptions) in the form of the poorly educated student.(when compared to other districts) Amazing!!! All of this evidence, and the voters opted for approval???? Now, with the operational money in place, the school board, the new super, the admin. and the teachers will continue to make suttle changes, produce broken bits and pieces of evidence indicating improvement to appease the public and, when the Journal publishes the results of the next proficiency testing, we will see the same results we have always seen. (I think that's a safe guess on my part based on historical test data as it relates to the promised "changes" of the past levies) The real, meaningful changes just flat out never materialize folks. Haven't for years. They are made at levy approval time and just "fade away in the sunset" as after-election time passes. Today marks the beginning of the same sequence of events. The schools will take a big breath of relief and head back to their daily rituals, knowing that everything is ok in their little world and they can continue to operate as usual, knowing the forgetful public will not remember the "promises to improve" to get their little levy passed. I cringe when I look at the picture of Rasmussen and Tyus all giddy with delight, knowing that they are safe because, once again, they were part of the winning side, thanks to the apathy of the no voter. The apathy/laziness of the no voter lost this levy for the "anti" side. They are fools to have allowed this to happen and have now contributed to more stagnation.

Again, congrats to the winners. I am disappointed in the outcome and fear no positive results from this approval.

Today is "starve the beast day" at the polls. We will be voting no on any and all issues and voting for anyone but the incumbants on all races. Isn't it time to force some changes from the failed ways that have been used for so long. Let's throw out the trash that causes business as usual. Could today be the start in a new direction? You decide....is it going to be more of the same old people, performance and programs or are you ready for something different?

Ms.Andrews:

Vet, yes, I was out both Saturday and Sunday going door to door reminding people to vote and asking for support of the school levy. Sunday, my kids asked to help.  Smartman is correct, the flyers were paid for by the Invest in Tomorrow Committee, funded by private donations.

"Invest in Tomorrow"...is that like the sign in the store window that said "Free Beer Tomorrow"?  a tomorrow that never comes? 

Vet, the flyers are paid for by donations to Invest in Tomorrow. The district does not pay for campaign material.

Bill all we can do is wait and see at this point.  I find it hard to compare a district with 45,000+ students and 84  schools, as listed on the Kansas Education site, in Wichita to what can be expected here, a district with 6500 students and what 9-10 schools.

I hope you're right Pacman.  I just hope people aren't overly optimistic about him just because he comes off as a different personality than Price.  I wish him the best but am not expected too much.

I think Rasmussen has made abundantly clear that he is not taking any action yet and is just listening and learning.  If I had to bet at this early stage I have a feeling that he will not be a success here -- wrong fit for wrong situation.  This district needs a strong turnaround specialist who can run MCSD as as business and butt some heads to get things done.  Bob Sommers may have been a good one.  I think the new guy would have been good for a successful district who maybe had some in-fighting or needed to tweak a few things.  Plus I doubt bringing in a guy from another state is going to work when we need some dramatic action.

Can anyone figure out how one can understand the workings of Middletown in just three weeks when most of us who has lived here for twenty or more years haven't figure out the the system and thinking yet. This guy is amazing

Vet, I had a minor virus which was impacting my keyboard, so my last thread was rather unreadable. I would not be concerned about the Journal and its impact. It has none. 90% of what's in it is the crime public record data, "Do You Know If Yur Neighbor Is In Jail", See Who Committed What Crime Today." They simply troll for the crime public record data. On the vast majority of cases, anything the Journal endorses, it fails. I told you how this will come down. Those like Smartman who enjoy going to Myrtle Beach with his top 10% group will vote ys, better to spred expense over many people---the companies have left, so now its mainly the residents. The thinking group with objective fact, will vote no, realizing this simply motivates and serves as a catalyst to those who want to keep overhead in place, not disrupt the 8-4 routine, while property values plummet. Then, if they have some infrastructure in place, will vote YES, by going to the assisted living and nursing homes, getting those votes as they pay no taxes. And by raising these taxes capped at 4%, Middletown will just continue its decline because you can't give a house away, and no one wants anything to do with Middletown.  

When the AK strike started, that put the community in a mess which would have taken a decade to dig out from. Then, the collapse of September 2008 put thecity two decades behind. Theeare so many homes in foreclosure in Middletown, there is enoug houing stock for decades. Middletown is in a nightmarish situation. Companies left, no more burden is placed on those whom can't get out. Its disgusting, fustrating, and really nauseating.