Comments on It's About Oshkosh Students: Thoughts on School Facilities Direction

Thanks for taking the time. I see you're in the ...

2008-03-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks for taking the time. I see you're in the same quandry when reasoning this out.

Anonymous 11:56amSorry for my delay in responding ...

2008-03-16T21:04:00.000-05:00

Anonymous 11:56am

Sorry for my delay in responding (this is my third try today --- computer problems)...

To be honest, I have not decided if I will cast two votes for School Board or not.

I completely disagree with Mr. Lemberger's stand on facilities and I think it shows a need for more study and information on his part. The $12-$14 million referenced in various reports, is for delayed capital improvements/maintenance, it does NOT include any amount to fix a school like Oaklawn, Smith or the other schools slated for closure so right away the dollar figure used would have to go up, and I do not believe it makes sense to invest any more money in an Oaklawn, Smith, Lincoln, Lakeside or Green Meadow at this point in time. That said, I do not see Mr. Lemberger's stand as one of pandering to certain voters, my take is that he truly believes this is the right thing to do. What I'm not sure of is, if with more information, he could come around to the understanding that closing some schools will not destroy our "neighborhood" concept, it will just make it more efficient. It is clear to me that Mr. Schneider and Mrs. Monte are not willing to make decisions based on efficiency rather they will continue to pander to the West side and the Green Meadow parents (a very strong group no doubt). I don't know what else you can call recommending an Oakwood K-8 (as Mrs. Monte has) when we have an excess of middle school seats and the projection for next year is a DECLINE in enrollment at Oakwood. She has also proposed a new school for Lakeside Green Meadow, yet there are NO numbers to justify that. Mr. Schneider has NEVER indicated whether he will close any schools at all (putting him in the same boat as Mr. Lemberger except Mr. Schneider doesn't appear willing to actually take a stand and say he doesn't support closing any schools or if he does support closing schools he won't say that, and name any schools either).

I attended the student forum and I liked Mr. Lemberger's answers on a number of the questions asked. He seems like a reasonable man and one who is willing to work with others. I do not see that same trait in either Mrs. Monte or Mr. Schneider. That is one of the reasons I support Mr. McDermott, while I don't agree with him on all the issues, Mr. McDermott has always been a decent man who tries to find compromises where he can. That is something I see definitely lacking in both Monte and Schneider. Does Mr. Lemberger have it? I'm not sure, hence I'm not sure if I will vote for him or not. I will say that I do hope he is elected over Mr. Schneider or Mrs. Monte. Mrs. Monte can say all she wants that she can "work with others" but if you have read her blog posts over the past few years, I think you would question that. The things she has written about board members (some patently untrue, others just written to be critical and not just of positions but of the person in general) as well as members of the administration makes me question how she would mend all those fences and get people to trust and listen to her. I think we have all seen how little Mr. Schneider cares about working with others and compromising.

I think if either Mrs. Monte or Mr. Schneider get elected we will have the same fractious board we have now. If Mrs. Monte and Mr. Schneider get elected, I firmly believe it will be the beginning of the decline in our school district with a lot of quality people looking elsewhere for work.

So if I felt compelled to vote for two board members it would certainly be McDermott and Lemberger, I just don't know if I will vote for two or not.

Hope that helps.

Mrs. Theil,Thanks for taking a moment to respond. ...

2008-03-16T12:56:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Theil,
Thanks for taking a moment to respond. I'm not looking for a debate as suspected. I'm trying to figure out how we as voters can make this board achieve necessary changes. In my mind there is no question that boundaries need to be changed, some schools need to close, and some schools need to updated. We need to pass a referendum and take care of our kids. I think Mr. McDermott would agree with all of these. My quandry is that I don't want to spend another year with the 4-3 split and nothing being done about this issue. Therefore, I'm curious who you endorse besides McDermott. No disrespect or debate-mongering intended.

Anonymous 6:32pm - 9:03amForgive my suspicion if i...

2008-03-16T08:54:00.000-05:00

Anonymous 6:32pm - 9:03am

Forgive my suspicion if it is unfounded, but why are you so interested in my opinion of who your second vote should be cast for?

I'm thinking Anonymous 12:44pm might be correct and if so I see no point in expressing my opinion since if Anonymous 12:44 is correct you aren't really interested in my thoughts on the matter anyway. If I am mistaken, I apologize and would like to know why you seek out my opinion on this particular vote?

I am out of town at the West girls basketball tour...

2008-03-15T20:04:00.000-05:00

I am out of town at the West girls basketball tournament and having difficulty posting. I will respond sometime Sun.

9:03's unwilling to accept a common sense approach...

2008-03-15T13:44:00.000-05:00

9:03's unwilling to accept a common sense approach to voting. Just looking for another debate with someone. ;)

Mrs. Theil?

2008-03-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Theil?

If you're so supportive of what Dr. Heilmann says,...

2008-03-14T21:03:00.000-05:00

If you're so supportive of what Dr. Heilmann says, and you must be or you wouldn't use it to tear down Lemberger's position, then why bother voting for anyone else? The other two candidates don't go along with Heilmann and the committee's recommendation anyhow. Vote for McDermott and be done with it.

Don't like Monte, check.I'm really rather interest...

2008-03-14T19:32:00.000-05:00

Don't like Monte, check.

I'm really rather interested in Mrs. Theil's thought.

Dr. Lemberger clearly doesn't have the best interest of the entire commmunity in mind. Dr. Heilmann has told him time and again that keeping status quo regarding number of schools open is NOT a possibility.

Perhaps it really doesn't matter who the other person is...if McDermott, weinsheim, bowen and kavanaugh provide a majority anyhow?

1. No one says you must vote for two people. If yo...

2008-03-14T14:24:00.000-05:00

1. No one says you must vote for two people. If you want to vote for only one, go ahead and do so.

2. Mrs. Monte has demonstrated her lack of some basic understanding of how the district is run too (refer to previous posts on this issue before asking us to point them out AGAIN), and she's been at this for three years now. At least Dr. Lemberger has an open mind and can be reasoned with. He's not interested in saying no just for the sake of saying no, or to be contrarian, or some other nonsensical reason like that.

I'm interested in Mrs. Theil's thoughts on this on...

2008-03-14T10:50:00.000-05:00

I'm interested in Mrs. Theil's thoughts on this one...

if I support McDermott, to whom does my second vote go? Dr. Lemberger seems to be struggling just to understand basics of how the district is run, Schneider is conservative and Monte is ....

You need to brush up on your reading skills. The p...

2008-03-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

You need to brush up on your reading skills. The poster didn't say you intimidated or bullied anyone. They referred to Monte & Co., bullying that you have chosen to overlook that has been part of their approach from her first campaign 2 years ago. It is a trend that is synonymous with the name Monte. As was already mentioned by someone, if you don't want to deal in fact, go elsewhere. Politics and political blogs are no place for the faint of heart. Or those who can't stand the heat in their own kitchen.

How in the world did I bully or intimidate? I sim...

2008-03-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

How in the world did I bully or intimidate? I simply asked for civil, appropriate language. I'm shocked that Mrs. Theil allows such ridiculous posts.

I was told that this blog was a forum for discussing the issues. I didn't understand that it was a bullying, children on the playground format.

Now that I understand your point of view, I can only hope that the OASD's anti-bullying program will help your children turn out kinder than you.

How sad that 12:30 got onto the playground after t...

2008-03-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

How sad that 12:30 got onto the playground after the bullying started by Monte & Co. They can't bully and intimidate without expecting to have the same done back to them, and their constant exhibition of sour grapes is only more of the same. If you don't subscribe to the expression of turnabout being fair play, go back to the Monte blogs where the world is slanted and dillusional.

It's unfortunate that the administrator of this bl...

2008-03-11T13:30:00.000-05:00

It's unfortunate that the administrator of this blog allows such ridiculous posts to continue, and be perpetuated by ill-mannered posters.

I should hope that our children do not treat each other with such bullying and inappropriate language.

C'mon now 5:20. Don't you know the only thing sour...

2008-03-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

C'mon now 5:20. Don't you know the only thing sour grapes are good for is a good whine?

Crude? Poor language? At least proof of her exploi...

2008-03-10T20:21:00.000-05:00

Crude? Poor language? At least proof of her exploits exists all over the net. Get over yourselves already and if you can't deal with it, crawl back to the blogs where you're surrounded by those "good" Monte vibrations and a chorus of whining.

Wow, from sea to shining sea. I guess she's campa...

2008-03-10T18:20:00.000-05:00

Wow, from sea to shining sea. I guess she's campaigning more than I realized.

How crude to use poor language on a message board. Where's the moderator?

The point 3:04 really meant to make was the Monte ...

2008-03-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

The point 3:04 really meant to make was the Monte klan enjoys bitching and whining about anything and anyone they can. Proof of it abounds from sea to shining sea.

?????????????

2008-03-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

?????????????

Read Oshkonversation and you can see that virtuall...

2008-03-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Read Oshkonversation and you can see that virtually the same post was retracted and apologized for there. I merely point that out and my post is removed here. That's my point.

Monte bash?! Asking her questions and expecting h...

2008-03-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

Monte bash?! Asking her questions and expecting her to defend her positions is bashing her? You are really messed up in the head. If you want to see bashing, check out the Monte blog.

That's great that you remove my comment and leave ...

2008-03-10T15:07:00.000-05:00

That's great that you remove my comment and leave the Monte bash. Real nice!

John Lemberger has asked Mrs Monte to explain wher...

2008-03-10T05:31:00.000-05:00

John Lemberger has asked Mrs Monte to explain where she will get the money for her facilities plan over on the Oshkonversation board but all she has done is ignore his questions and attack his plans. Maybe she has no answers. What's that expression about the best offense being a good defense? Mrs Monte is nothing but defensive and voters have always seen that and will again show they don't like it come this April.

I guess for the same reason $1,000,000 per year ev...

2008-03-04T22:51:00.000-06:00

I guess for the same reason $1,000,000 per year every year in savings is minimal and "nothing". That $32,000 bus route you reference is an EVERY year ocurrence and is part of the opertating budget... $32,000 for a bus means you cut $32,000 from some other part of the budget to pay for it.

I would eliminate the Green Meadow/Lakeside school in the K-3 plan (Mr. Traska has repeatedly stated that school would only have 149 students in it at $3,400,000 that is $22,818/pupil) which would save about $3,400,000. Of course there is talk of adding a Green Meadow/Lakeside to the K-5 plan which would increase the cost of that one by about $3,400,000 and make the cost of the two options about the same.

We also don't know the cost of additonal Special Education staffing since it won't be as efficient under the K-5 plan and the cost of Speech/Language, OT & PT rooms hasn't been factored into the cost of the K-5 Plan.

But, none of that matters anymore, it looks it will either be the K-5 plan with 6 board members supporting it, or a couple members of the board will decide they no longer support this plan and we will have a referendum only to catch up on deferred maintenance. If that fails then the community will only be able to point a finger at itself for letting its facilites deteriorate. As always, time will tell.