You are correct though as to Foley will not be there in the future so the agreement to bus children is not one that can be held as binding, the elimination of sports and busing are always the first two items threatened to be cut when there is a need for a levy. It’s the standard vote by creating fear policy exhibited by political parties and government on numerous issues because it works, it shouldn’t but it does.

City council has ignored the fact that it has received 800 signatures from the Longfellow School community to keep the school at its current location. This included nearly 10% of its signatures from Longfellow parents not wanting the school to move and 70 of these signatures are from the proposed location’s neighbors. Council also received results from a PTO survey of 158 parents of these results of only 32 parents wanting the school to move, 16 parents were against the move and 12 undecided. These numbers clearly show what the neighborhood wants and that parents are showing a lack of concern.

The fact is city council has been working with TPS for a long time behind closed doors on this land swap and the only thing that matters is acquiring the land it needs for Xunlight at the Library village’s expense.

The Dec 1st debate in City Council chambers was only a facade on the part of the City Council members in an attempt to make it look like they were concerned about the public. In fact all along they were going to approve the land swap at our expense for the sake of possibly creating some new jobs for Xunlight.

John Foley will not be around when TPS attempts to pass a large millage levy for the increased operating costs that he is responsible for. He has signed a (non-binding) statement to bus the children to the new location. He will not be here when the new school opens and children are not being bussed because of the lack of money.

City Council has forgotten that it works for the people – not big business. We elected them to represent our views and in this case it has not been happening. All I have seen from them is deception.

With the Longfellow decision, TPS is expecting to bus about 370 more students. In 2003, I did some research on the costs at academies and that included the cost of transporting students. At that time, the costs were running between $1,100 and $1,400 per student for yellow bus students. Obviously fuel and labor costs have increased since 2003. A lot of factors figure here but $1,000 per student seems a good conservative estimate of the cost per student. I believe it will be higher, but let’s use that figure for now. Nonetheless, 370 students means about $400K more per year in transportation costs than would be necessary if the building was not sited at the Jackman Road location.

So, once the building is completed in 2011, TPS over the following decade would spend $4 to $5 million more in transportation costs.

This decision will cost teachers or textbooks or computers – something has to give – or higher taxes. Since labor costs are about 80% of TPS expenses, the logical conclusion is that teachers would be laid off.

Higher future costs mean less money for what counts to improve education.

In all the decisions I have seen TPS make in this building program, I have never seen them consider the future costs of their decisions. They may but it is not something they have discussed publicly. They are quick, however, to point out that these buildings save energy costs. Well with Longfellow sited on Jackman Road, costs to the taxpayer would decrease due to building efficiencies, while eliminating the need for higher transportation costs.

I want economic development and good jobs as much as the next guy, but this deal smells and council seems to be jumping on the bandwagon without due diligence – which includes questioning the administration about the deal. Funny thing – at this committee hearing Reinbolt did not show up and sent two folks that frankly could not answer the questions posed to them. Interesting way to avoid answering the questions.

Their product does look cool, I wish them the best of luck.

As for all this land swapping, I’m just happy that someone wants to use some/any land in Toledo.

In the recent case of Longfellow (and in almost all other cases), they distributed notices primarily to parents. Staff at Longfellow knew of course and participated.

TPS has always tried to avoid involving the whole community. Why? Well my opinion is that they want as little scrutiny as possible and it is easier to control staff and a small group of myopic parents focused only on their children – parents rarely see the long term implications of the decisions being made. Democracy can be a messy business and democracy is not the business TPS is in even though they are a public institution.

This is absolutely about Xunlight getting Ryder School and TPS avoiding the possibility of it being sold and becoming a charter school as charter schools get first option on the property under state law.

Without the Xunlight issue, this swap would not pass council in my opinion based upon the research I have done. However, jobs are an important issue and it appears council is willing to trade the future stability of a neighborhood (the Library Village area is under real pressure with extremely high foreclosure rates that I have been told are the highest in the city)for the possibility of jobs.

So council is set to vote on this issue and there has been no discussion about Xunlight and what kind of deal is happening. What job or investment guarantees will Toledo get for the investment? I have been told that the city wants to transfer to Xunlight the property at little or no cost. We all know the great deals that Finkbeiner has gotten this city into as Mayor.

It would appear that the Longfellow neighborhood is not important enough for council to assure that it is done in the full light of day and with all the facts on the table. This neighborhood appears to be the sacrificial lamb in this “deal”.

Why the rush to get the land swap deal done? What is the Xunlight deal all about? Has council really looked at all the facts or are they just buying the information provided by TPS? (And that information has been at the least misleading)

Watch out folks, your neighborhood could be next. When will transparency and accountability to be a priority with both the City and TPS? Yea, it probably will never happen unless we citizens wake up and say wait a minute. But apathy reigns and we suffer from our lack of diligence as citizens and residents. In my opinion, there is more to being a good citizen than just voting, but I am likely in the minority and this is certainly an idea that politicians hope never comes to fruition.

Will they be answered before Council’s next meeting? That remains to be seen. One of the neighbors had a point, they knew about the earlier meeting but the communication wasn’t clear as to the purpose, so they didn’t attend. The communication between Council and the administration was another factor, the City has been negotiating this with TPS for close to 9 months, had members of Council known, it may not have changed the outcome, there would still be those for and against; but it would have given more time for the community to feel as if they were being heard and it would not have been the current rush scenario it is now.