Steve King
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Rock the Vote!
I want to offer anyone who has questions to join me at Burton Manor for the Rock the Vote concert. I offer leadership that listens. Come talk to me, and let me show you why I should be your choice for State Representative.
Steve King
Steve King
Monday, September 22, 2008
A parent on Transportation
This is one of the emails I have received about the transportation department. Customer service doesn't seem to be a priority.
Subject: Bus Stop Safety Concern
To whom it may concern,
I am the mother of two children enrolled full time in the Livonia Public School district. On September 5, 2008, I emailed the Transportation District about an unsafe bus stop that was assigned to my son, a 7th grader at Holmes Middle School. The discounting response that I received from them via voice message and then over the phone when I finally got someone on to pick up, has appalled me. For reference, I have enclosed my original email to the Department of Transportation.
The response I received from the Transportation Department was that due to cost cuts, bus stops had to be consolidated. I was also told that event though the children have to wait for their bus in the street, based on the existing policy middle school and high school students are intelligent enough to stay out of traffic. I was also told that the bus stop is in a Livonia subdivision and that means that it is not dangerous because there is not a lot of traffic.
I completely disagree. The fact that the bus stop at Broadmoor & Alexanderis in a Livonia subdivision does not make it safer at 7:25 a.m. when most of the residents in that subdivision, including myself, leave for work. The street is not a safe place to wait for the bus for anybody regardless of age, intelligence or maturity. This set-up is a disaster waiting to happen especially with the winter months approaching. The three students that are picked up at the Broadmoor & Alexander live in closer proximity to the Alexander & Sunnydale intersection. This will be a safer and more logical choice for these students. This intersection is well lit, has sidewalks and it is on the existing bus route.
I am aware of the limited budget that the district is working with, but at the same time I do not believe that assigning bus stops without considering the safety of our children is what Dr. Liepa the superintendent of Livonia Public School had in mind when he stated that "We're looking at being as efficient as we can..." I am also appalled about the level of unprofessionalism displayed by the woman who answered when I called the Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, I do not have her name because she hung up on me before I could get it, but not before she told me that she did not even have to answer the phone.
Finally, I may be just one parent of two children enrolled in the Livonia Public School District, but this district is funded by taxes from people like me and from funds (even if limited) received from the State of Michigan on behalf of my children attending the Livonia Public School District. I believe that this entitles me to a reasonable (not condescending) response to my request. I can promise the Livonia Public School District that if anything happens to my child while waiting for the bus I will personally hold the district responsible.
Subject: Bus Stop Safety Concern
To whom it may concern,
I am the mother of two children enrolled full time in the Livonia Public School district. On September 5, 2008, I emailed the Transportation District about an unsafe bus stop that was assigned to my son, a 7th grader at Holmes Middle School. The discounting response that I received from them via voice message and then over the phone when I finally got someone on to pick up, has appalled me. For reference, I have enclosed my original email to the Department of Transportation.
The response I received from the Transportation Department was that due to cost cuts, bus stops had to be consolidated. I was also told that event though the children have to wait for their bus in the street, based on the existing policy middle school and high school students are intelligent enough to stay out of traffic. I was also told that the bus stop is in a Livonia subdivision and that means that it is not dangerous because there is not a lot of traffic.
I completely disagree. The fact that the bus stop at Broadmoor & Alexanderis in a Livonia subdivision does not make it safer at 7:25 a.m. when most of the residents in that subdivision, including myself, leave for work. The street is not a safe place to wait for the bus for anybody regardless of age, intelligence or maturity. This set-up is a disaster waiting to happen especially with the winter months approaching. The three students that are picked up at the Broadmoor & Alexander live in closer proximity to the Alexander & Sunnydale intersection. This will be a safer and more logical choice for these students. This intersection is well lit, has sidewalks and it is on the existing bus route.
I am aware of the limited budget that the district is working with, but at the same time I do not believe that assigning bus stops without considering the safety of our children is what Dr. Liepa the superintendent of Livonia Public School had in mind when he stated that "We're looking at being as efficient as we can..." I am also appalled about the level of unprofessionalism displayed by the woman who answered when I called the Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, I do not have her name because she hung up on me before I could get it, but not before she told me that she did not even have to answer the phone.
Finally, I may be just one parent of two children enrolled in the Livonia Public School District, but this district is funded by taxes from people like me and from funds (even if limited) received from the State of Michigan on behalf of my children attending the Livonia Public School District. I believe that this entitles me to a reasonable (not condescending) response to my request. I can promise the Livonia Public School District that if anything happens to my child while waiting for the bus I will personally hold the district responsible.
Accountability at transportation
Here is a the transcript of Mr. Brad Wolkan's audience communication at our 9/15/08 board meeting. He asks some good questions.
The Citizens for Livonia's Future has received communications from several parents regarding issues with transportation. These are very similar issues to those that have been occurring over the last few years. Bus stops in unlit locations, or where there are no sidewalks, children getting home at 5pm, or having to cross a busy street, or in one case, a bus stop located in close proximity to the home of a registered sex offender.
The largest issue appears to be the lack of communication, or the type of response to calls placed by parents from the persons responsible for the transportation department communication. This reflects very poorly upon LPS and directly affects relations with your customers.
The recent posting for the job of assistant transportation supervisor clearly shows that instead of fixing systemic problems in transportation, LPS has again chosen to throw bodies on the fire and incur more long term expenditures, this is being done at the expense of our classroom dollars. When will this mentality stop?
Huron valley public schools was wrestling with these same issues at the beginning of year start - up issues, but they cured the problem by the following year by obtaining assistance from a transportation management company. I know much has been said about contracting services, but in some cases this may be necessary, especially when it becomes very apparent that the district is unable to manage these services themselves.
This solution is also a one time cost and will not have theSame impact upon the classroom dollars as the expense of a long-term employee at a supervisory level. When will we stop working harder and begin to work smarter? Working harder only incurs more cost; working smarter can achieve the goal of saving money.
This brings us to the question of why the district is creating new administrative positions as well as reassigning supervisory & administrative roles. These changes appear to be in direct conflict with financial checks & balances for our very limited classroom dollars. You have a new administrator of operations reporting to the director of secondary education. You have hired a finance supervisor to oversee the bid process, yet the warehouse supervisor has been conducting most of the bid process. You willNow have a vacancy in the warehouse supervisor position - who will be doing the bids and purchasing duties? Will this now create another promotion to fill that position?
You have created vacancies within the transportation, warehouse, & custodial departments by promoting from within, yet you have proposed to lay off custodians and forgo the daily cleaning of school classrooms & lavatories. All of these promotions are continuing to cost the district in long term expenditures at a time when you continue to deplete the dangerously low cash reserves. Where are all of these funds coming from? The positions that have been vacated due to attrition should be the additional funds returned to the classrooms so that we may maintain our educational offerings for our students, not for the long-term expense of creating more upper management.
Wasn't one of the goals of the reconfiguration of the district to reduce administrative levels? Why is the district going backwards and why is LPS creating and filling more & new administrative positions?
I would direct your attention to board policy CGB - administrative personnel positions -, which states:
"All administrative positions in the school system shall be established initially by the board of education.
It is the intent of the board to activate sufficient number of such positions to promote the attainment of the school system goals."
I must ask the board this question: have all of these current and proposed administrative positions been established by the board, and is the board aware of what area of responsibility each of the administrative positions have? Do you know how many employees report to these administrators and what their job responsibilities are?
The LPS administration appears to be very convoluted and have no real organizational structure, there does not appear to be direct levels of reporting, or defined areas of responsibility.
You, as board members, have a direct responsibility to answer to thousands of students, parents, and citizens of this district, yet there is only one person who is responsible for answering to you. Don't you think it may be time to begin to hold that person responsible for providing answers to the board, so that you, our board of education, will be able to responsibly answer your constituents?
The Citizens for Livonia's Future has received communications from several parents regarding issues with transportation. These are very similar issues to those that have been occurring over the last few years. Bus stops in unlit locations, or where there are no sidewalks, children getting home at 5pm, or having to cross a busy street, or in one case, a bus stop located in close proximity to the home of a registered sex offender.
The largest issue appears to be the lack of communication, or the type of response to calls placed by parents from the persons responsible for the transportation department communication. This reflects very poorly upon LPS and directly affects relations with your customers.
The recent posting for the job of assistant transportation supervisor clearly shows that instead of fixing systemic problems in transportation, LPS has again chosen to throw bodies on the fire and incur more long term expenditures, this is being done at the expense of our classroom dollars. When will this mentality stop?
Huron valley public schools was wrestling with these same issues at the beginning of year start - up issues, but they cured the problem by the following year by obtaining assistance from a transportation management company. I know much has been said about contracting services, but in some cases this may be necessary, especially when it becomes very apparent that the district is unable to manage these services themselves.
This solution is also a one time cost and will not have theSame impact upon the classroom dollars as the expense of a long-term employee at a supervisory level. When will we stop working harder and begin to work smarter? Working harder only incurs more cost; working smarter can achieve the goal of saving money.
This brings us to the question of why the district is creating new administrative positions as well as reassigning supervisory & administrative roles. These changes appear to be in direct conflict with financial checks & balances for our very limited classroom dollars. You have a new administrator of operations reporting to the director of secondary education. You have hired a finance supervisor to oversee the bid process, yet the warehouse supervisor has been conducting most of the bid process. You willNow have a vacancy in the warehouse supervisor position - who will be doing the bids and purchasing duties? Will this now create another promotion to fill that position?
You have created vacancies within the transportation, warehouse, & custodial departments by promoting from within, yet you have proposed to lay off custodians and forgo the daily cleaning of school classrooms & lavatories. All of these promotions are continuing to cost the district in long term expenditures at a time when you continue to deplete the dangerously low cash reserves. Where are all of these funds coming from? The positions that have been vacated due to attrition should be the additional funds returned to the classrooms so that we may maintain our educational offerings for our students, not for the long-term expense of creating more upper management.
Wasn't one of the goals of the reconfiguration of the district to reduce administrative levels? Why is the district going backwards and why is LPS creating and filling more & new administrative positions?
I would direct your attention to board policy CGB - administrative personnel positions -, which states:
"All administrative positions in the school system shall be established initially by the board of education.
It is the intent of the board to activate sufficient number of such positions to promote the attainment of the school system goals."
I must ask the board this question: have all of these current and proposed administrative positions been established by the board, and is the board aware of what area of responsibility each of the administrative positions have? Do you know how many employees report to these administrators and what their job responsibilities are?
The LPS administration appears to be very convoluted and have no real organizational structure, there does not appear to be direct levels of reporting, or defined areas of responsibility.
You, as board members, have a direct responsibility to answer to thousands of students, parents, and citizens of this district, yet there is only one person who is responsible for answering to you. Don't you think it may be time to begin to hold that person responsible for providing answers to the board, so that you, our board of education, will be able to responsibly answer your constituents?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thoughts on the cost of Lisa's 7,000,000 loan
Here is an email I and the other board members received.
Subject: Issue with Short Term Anticipation Note authorization for this evening
As a LPS taxpayer, I have some concerns concerning the upcoming discussion /approval for issuing short term anticipation notes for the district:
- I feel the recent Observer article indicating that some of all of the borrowing costs will be recovered through investment income. It should be assumed that only a portion of the $7 million borrowed will be available for investment purposes during the borrowing period (if that is not true,there would be no need to borrow in the first place). The Board should ask fora fair estimate of the net borrowing costs before approving this transaction.
- A fair estimate can be prepared by analyzing current borrowing and investment costs utilizing the weekly and monthly cash flow estimates the district is required to submit no later than Friday of this week(according to the MMBA website). However, this document is missing from the agenda packet distributed for this item. Given the critical nature of the decision and the short notice of getting the needed approval, I would like the Board to ask why that document is not included, at least in its preliminary form.
- I would have prepared an estimate to include with this communication, but I received no response from the Finance Director to my request for an explanation of the statement attributed to her in the Observer.
- If we can assume net borrowing costs will be 2% ($140,000), I would ask that the Board insist on making other cuts to absorb this amount. The last Budget estimate I could find on the LPS website estimates that other cost increases for 2008-2009 will be $960,000. That estimate does not appear to include the costs of this borrowing.
Thank You,
-- John C. Whaley, CFA, AIF
Actium LLC
Subject: Issue with Short Term Anticipation Note authorization for this evening
As a LPS taxpayer, I have some concerns concerning the upcoming discussion /approval for issuing short term anticipation notes for the district:
- I feel the recent Observer article indicating that some of all of the borrowing costs will be recovered through investment income. It should be assumed that only a portion of the $7 million borrowed will be available for investment purposes during the borrowing period (if that is not true,there would be no need to borrow in the first place). The Board should ask fora fair estimate of the net borrowing costs before approving this transaction.
- A fair estimate can be prepared by analyzing current borrowing and investment costs utilizing the weekly and monthly cash flow estimates the district is required to submit no later than Friday of this week(according to the MMBA website). However, this document is missing from the agenda packet distributed for this item. Given the critical nature of the decision and the short notice of getting the needed approval, I would like the Board to ask why that document is not included, at least in its preliminary form.
- I would have prepared an estimate to include with this communication, but I received no response from the Finance Director to my request for an explanation of the statement attributed to her in the Observer.
- If we can assume net borrowing costs will be 2% ($140,000), I would ask that the Board insist on making other cuts to absorb this amount. The last Budget estimate I could find on the LPS website estimates that other cost increases for 2008-2009 will be $960,000. That estimate does not appear to include the costs of this borrowing.
Thank You,
-- John C. Whaley, CFA, AIF
Actium LLC
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Letters on Layoffs
Please click on the pages below to see a larger version. Please click on "comments" to leave a comment.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Staight talk from a Livonia parent.
Steve,
As a concerned parent of two boys ages 2 and 4, I have recently been watching the School Board meetings to familiarize myself with the financial situations of the school district. As any parent of a 4-year old I am pleased to be living in Livonia believing that my son will be attending an excellent school in 1-more year.
As with any business there are tough financial issues to work through in this economy. You seem to be one of the few on the school board who actually is looking at the big picture. I do see many excellent concerns raised by you in the meetings. I think the rest of the school board should take a step back and listen to some of your ideas.
I do not understand how Livonia can sign a 2-year contract with the SEALS,while teachers are cut. Shouldn't the students education be the 1st priority? Couldn't all janitorial and maintenance positions be outsourced. This could also eliminate some support administrative positions. As a parent I do want the classrooms cleaned, but I am more concerned that my son will be in a class of more than 30 students. It doesn't matter to me who cleans the room, a LPS employee or an outsourced employee.
I will be basing my children's enrollment in public vs. private schools on how the budget cuts are handled. There are many other parents that support my beliefs.
Keep raising the good ideas. Glad to see you question the "Consultant Fees".
____________
Please click on "comments" to leave a comment.
As a concerned parent of two boys ages 2 and 4, I have recently been watching the School Board meetings to familiarize myself with the financial situations of the school district. As any parent of a 4-year old I am pleased to be living in Livonia believing that my son will be attending an excellent school in 1-more year.
As with any business there are tough financial issues to work through in this economy. You seem to be one of the few on the school board who actually is looking at the big picture. I do see many excellent concerns raised by you in the meetings. I think the rest of the school board should take a step back and listen to some of your ideas.
I do not understand how Livonia can sign a 2-year contract with the SEALS,while teachers are cut. Shouldn't the students education be the 1st priority? Couldn't all janitorial and maintenance positions be outsourced. This could also eliminate some support administrative positions. As a parent I do want the classrooms cleaned, but I am more concerned that my son will be in a class of more than 30 students. It doesn't matter to me who cleans the room, a LPS employee or an outsourced employee.
I will be basing my children's enrollment in public vs. private schools on how the budget cuts are handled. There are many other parents that support my beliefs.
Keep raising the good ideas. Glad to see you question the "Consultant Fees".
____________
Please click on "comments" to leave a comment.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Additional Everyday Math Comments
Mr. King:
We greatly appreciate your comments regarding the Everyday Math curriculum for 5th and 6th graders. As parents of a 4th grader, we have endured a very frustrating school year as our son has tried to learn this new program, along with his teachers, who have done a fabulous job. We were looking forward to next year and a return of "normal" math. Of course, we realize that we are among many who do not like change but my husband and I are both college grads (he, in elem. ed.) and have felt very inadequate as we have helped our son with homework on a nightly basis. We are very discouraged to think that we will have some of the same struggles again next year. What we really liked about what you had to say is that it may have been better to introduce the program to the younger grades first and then add a grade each year. In all fairness, we do think that Everyday Math is a good program and we have both a Kindergartner and 2nd grader (who piloted it his first grade year) that have excelled with this material. We do see the wisdom of exposing our kids to algebra, geometry, etc.. at a young age and our younger kids have caught on quickly. Our regret is that our 4th grader had all of this thrown at him after already "mastering" many of these lessons in a different way. We are worried that a big chunk of his lessons have not been completed since he was switched abruptly to a new program. Our fear is that next year our son will once again be instructed by teachers who are inexperienced at instructing in this way. We just wanted you to know that we support your comments and wish the outcome would have been different. Thanks for your time and continue the good work of providing for our district!
We greatly appreciate your comments regarding the Everyday Math curriculum for 5th and 6th graders. As parents of a 4th grader, we have endured a very frustrating school year as our son has tried to learn this new program, along with his teachers, who have done a fabulous job. We were looking forward to next year and a return of "normal" math. Of course, we realize that we are among many who do not like change but my husband and I are both college grads (he, in elem. ed.) and have felt very inadequate as we have helped our son with homework on a nightly basis. We are very discouraged to think that we will have some of the same struggles again next year. What we really liked about what you had to say is that it may have been better to introduce the program to the younger grades first and then add a grade each year. In all fairness, we do think that Everyday Math is a good program and we have both a Kindergartner and 2nd grader (who piloted it his first grade year) that have excelled with this material. We do see the wisdom of exposing our kids to algebra, geometry, etc.. at a young age and our younger kids have caught on quickly. Our regret is that our 4th grader had all of this thrown at him after already "mastering" many of these lessons in a different way. We are worried that a big chunk of his lessons have not been completed since he was switched abruptly to a new program. Our fear is that next year our son will once again be instructed by teachers who are inexperienced at instructing in this way. We just wanted you to know that we support your comments and wish the outcome would have been different. Thanks for your time and continue the good work of providing for our district!
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