• Posted by justabitcrazy at 5:36 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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One of the best things to brag about is the graduation rate of your students and the ratings of your overall school district, not how close you are to a college campus. Who brought this idiot in to run the schools...

• Posted by Heraclitus at 6:06 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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The Superintendent knows even less about Economics than he does about Education. Middletown's lagging economy will not be stimulated by 3 gymnasiums in proximity to each other...hey wait! why not put a cover over Central Avenue and build a mall? Middletown is consistently on the bottom tier for quality of education and this administration wants the local citizens to piss away more of what they already don't have to build him a gym...good luck passing that levy.

The old High School on Girard may be the best building they have (and it has 2 gyms Woooo!), don't buy into scare tactics about THAT being the reason people are leaving... look instead at what this administration has not done to educate children.

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Heard this before: "we need this for the children" ? But after every levy is passed they always seem to give themselves more raises. Middletown Sam Ison is currently making $126,000 a year. His salary will increase to $138,000 next year and then to almost $150,000 the following year. It's never about the children, it's all about enriching themselves. Not to mention any building project will use Steed-Hammond-Paul as architects who always give thousands to the pro-levy campaigns. It's like pay to play.

• Posted by TomCat007 at 7:26 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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Mr. has inversely made a terrific point. If the Middletown City School District could perform any worse, it would a reason for selling my property.....if I could find a buyer. How many levies, building programs, grants have been given to the district during the past 12 years??? Now for the litmus tests: How much higher is the graduation rate? How much lower is the need for discipline including suspensions or referrals to alternative schools? How many new buildings and ball fields does it take to raise GPA's? How long should taxpayers wait to see a reasonable return on investment (ROI)?How much money should taxpayer funnel into a defunct system that never improves versus save for food, shelter, clothing, medical, tutors, college? Children need more support at home for general living provisions.

• Posted by TomCat007 at 7:45 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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One more brief point, just in case someone want to play demographics or poverty cards. Even Dayton and Cincinnati districts have shown more improvement on the Ohio Score Card in recent years. Middletown generally meets 2-5 indicator requirements each year.

Also, my comments are NOT against the children or education but they are against the long running squandering of money and resources that are meant prepare the children for college and life.

• Posted by Ricks2524 at 7:50 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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Levies are cure-alls for everything.. blah blah blah

• Posted by TyphoidMary at 9:34 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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I wonder which classes at MHS are "the current trend for college credit" offered to the few students that might take advantage. I would bet the number of students wouldn't break 30.

I agree with Tomcat, At what point do the property owners start holding the administration accountable for poor ratings? Throwing more hard earned tax dollars at it is clearly not the answer.

• Posted by rocoforce at 9:47 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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The best way to save money or bring up our education level would be to begin at the top. There is a "good ol' boy" club and they are doing things in THEIR own best interests, not the school districts. Look up the history of Libby Lolli (Dr. Elisabeth Lolli). How many jobs has she been fired (asked to leave) in her past. She was let go(left) from Monroe because she is incompetent in her abilities. So Middletown City Schools wants the "best for our children" yet they continue to hire second rate hacks who have no clue how to run an academic program. She was given a 3 out of 5 on “provides adequate data to support budgetary requests" that's better than 50% but shouldn't we expect more from our school leadership? They want to add $84 dollars per house based on the average current house price in Middletown. But ask yourself, why are house prices so low in Middletown? Because NOBODY wants to send their kids to our horrible school system. Everybody loves the Lakota school system and that's why people move there. Middletown has some great homes, and some not so great. But should't our average home price be higher than $59,000? Don't ever think home prices have nothing to do with the school district. It does, people move to areas where their kids will excel in the local school district.

• Posted by benoni at 9:55 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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May 6, my vote is NO. All they know how to do in Middletown is tear down. How is it that building in Europe are still being used after 300-400 years +? Don't come to my door.

• Posted by PrivateSector at 11:07 p.m. Mar. 19, 2014
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There is never enough money for the schools no matter how many levies are passed.

Why pass another, it won't be enough and the hand will be out for more next year.

Anybody that votes for a school levy is a fool.

• Posted by Judsba at 3:51 a.m. Mar. 20, 2014
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Two things. It may be radical, but levies are levied by property taxes, right. I think that those who DO NOT pay taxes on property SHOULD NOT be able to vote on levies, plain and simple ! Second, the parochial schools provide excellent educations with no taxpayer dollars, right ? (they are operated with tuitions, donations and other sources) VOTE NO ON THE LEVIES and make the schools survive on what they already have, like we, the taxpayers do !

• Posted by UncleAndy2 at 6:56 a.m. Mar. 20, 2014
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It is nothing short of criminal for the piggly wigglies at Middletown to be talking about a tax levy when they are wasteful spenders of their current resources, and do a poor job of educating children.

The teacher salaries there are the second-highest in our area. Only the free spending criminals in Lakota outdo Middletown in teacher salary. Check it out:

Average salaries for Butler County teachers
Teacher salary average 
for 2010-11 school year:

Lakota $63,505
Middletown $58,683
Fairfield $58,628
Ross $57,137
Hamilton $56,551
Talawanda $55,863
Edgewood $55,160
Monroe $54,489
Madison $50,765
New Miami $48,262

And what are taxpayers getting for these princely expenditures? Not much, it would appear. Middletown, which spent $8,733 per student, scored lower than state averages on recent standardized tests, a 74 percent in the performance index and a 33 percent in the indicators met, the lowest of any area district.

Every employee at Middletown City Schools should get a 10% haircut on the next paycheck. That will balance the books. And employees should get another 10% haircut next year if student performance does not improve.

The cuts should start with Superintendent Greg Rasmussen, who makes $130,000 a year to turn in inferior results. What a racket!

SOURCES:

http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/teacher-salary

http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/local/spending-doesnt-equate-to-higher-test-scores/nfC8N/

http://www.journal-news.com/news/hamilton-news/more-teachers-getting-second-jobs-in-sluggish-economy-1289928.html

http://uncleandystruthemporium.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/piggly-wiggly-oinker-school-superintendents-are-getting-rich-on-your-dime/

• Posted by justabitcrazy at 9:15 a.m. Mar. 20, 2014
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Andrea these students can still take those classes whether they are next door of down the street from the college campus. What did Middletown students do a few years ago, when Cincinnati State was not located in Middletown just not go. No, those who want to better themselves will find a way to achieve what they want, so maybe you need to look in the mirror before pointing the idiot finger.

• Posted by GoofyJim at 12:38 p.m. Mar. 20, 2014
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This just amazes me every time another school tries to justify more money. If I am not mistaken there was just an article that the amount they spend on each child does not improve performance. Though I am sure the ones that back these levies will say the article was completely wrong. Secondly, did any one notice what they are using for the value of a house per $84 per hear.

I wish by law they had to go by the average price of the homes in the area to determine how much the levy would cost.

If I am not mistaken the teachers here are paid 2nd highest in the area and no improvement in performance but I am sure the students they have to deal with can be pretty interesting that is why I would expect this school or Hamilton to pay the highest wages and Lakota to be one of the lowest paid. (Oh boy I can hear the ones at Lakota now.)

Lastly, instead of keep coming back to the tax payer’s maybe they should bug the elected officials in Middletown to bring in businesses.
If I am not mistaken the teachers here are paid 2nd highest in the area and no improved performance. Makes you go hmmm. Though I would expect this school or Hamilton to pay the highest wages.

Lastly, instead of keep coming to the tax payers maybe they should bug the elected officials in Middletown to bring in business. If businesses were brought into the area you would see more tax money, things kinda work that way for your information teachers and government.