Loveland, Ohio – Due to the resignation of board member Kevin Daugherty, the Loveland Board of Education met on 17 June to fill his seat for the remainder of his term, which is through the end of the current calendar year, December 31, 2023.
The Board entered into an executive session to conduct phone interviews with the following candidates:
Josh Hendrickson
Christina Jeranek
Anna Bunker
Lynn Mangan
Elaine Hipps
Marcia Neumann
Brad Goldie
Roger Talyor
Elliot Grossman
Carly Tamborski
Brain Tibbs
After the executive session ended, Board President Dr. Kathryn Lorenz said that instead of choosing a candidate who said they would run for election in November, they chose a candidate who indicated they would not be seeking a permanent seat on the Board.
Lorenz, Rev. Jonathan Eilert, Dr. Eric Schwetschenau, and Eileen Washburn voted to appoint Dr. Brad Goldie to the vacant position.
Goldie is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Miami University and serves on the District Finance Committee.
Loveland, Ohio – These events will be your chance to personally meet the local politicians who want to be part of the teams leading the Loveland City School District and Loveland City Council for the next 1,440 days. Four-long years, so this is important!
On October 21 the Little Miami River Chamber Alliance, Loveland Magazine, and LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV will host the contenders for seats on the school board, and on October 14 they will bring together on a public stage your job applicants for Loveland City Council.
City Council – October 14, at 7:00 PM at the Loveland Middle School/Intermediate School Cafeteria.
School Board – October 21, at 7:00 PM at the Loveland Middle School/Intermediate School Cafeteria.
Will there be undisputed champs?
Election fans can see if the contenders roll with the punches, stick and move, or have promises that pack a punch. Will you see any future respected political figures or elder statesmen/women?
Both of these heavyweight championship Forums will be broadcast “LIVE” on the Loveland Magazine FaceBook Page. It’s not Pay-per-View and tickets are not required – it’s totally FREE!
Who knows, there might be some highfalutin’ good ideas that come from one or more of these candidates that can transform Loveland. There will almost certainly be some re-hashing the past but that will be OK if it leads to knowledge of what the future might hold.
Politicians routinely offer more promises than they keep, however hearing them straight from their mouths is the start of holding them accountable. Meeting them in person is always better than voting based on the number of yard signs and you can be a political influencer if you can say, “I actually heard her say it!”
If you cannot attend in person or chose to be inside the safety of your own home you may want to tune in LIVE to be in-the-know.
The format will follow the same as in the past:
To begin, candidates will each present their platform for 2 minutes and tell you why they are running for office.
Questions will be asked for 60 minutes allowing each candidate two minutes to reply or pass.
After 60 minutes candidates are asked to close with 2-minute speeches.
Voters can throw their written questions into the octagon and all questions will be screened for duplicity by independent ring-side judges. The emcees will ask as many of the questions as time allows in the 60 minutes.
You the registered voters of the City of Loveland and the Loveland City School District however will be the crucial and critically important judges come November 2 so reserve your ring-side seat by saving these dates.
August 23 – Write-in candidates must file declarations of intent by 4 p.m. (72 days before general election
September 17 – Military & Overseas Absentee Voting begins (46 Days Before Election Day)
October 4 – Deadline for voter registration for Nov. 2 general election (30 days before general election)*
October 5 – Early In-Person Voting begins and includes the Saturday, Sunday and the Monday before Election Day
October 5 – Absentee Voting By Mail begins (28 Days Before Election Day)
October 11 – Board of Elections Closed to In-Person Voting (Columbus Day).
October 30 – Applications for absentee ballots to be mailed for Nov. 2 general election must be received by boards of elections by noon (3 days before general election)
November 2 – General Election Day. Polls open at 6:30 AM and close at 7:30 PM.
Throughout the years, men and women in our armed forces have made great sacrifices to protect our freedom and democracy. Today, the courageous members of our military branches continue to serve our country so we all can enjoy one of our most sacred rights – the right to vote. Through the I Vote in Honor of a Veteran initiative, you can demonstrate the pride you feel for a veteran or servicemember and, at the same time, encourage others to vote on Election Day.
Wear an I Vote in Honor of a Veteran pin on Election Day to show your appreciation to those men and women who made it possible for you to exercise your right to vote.
To get your pin, click this LINK to submit a testimonial about how they’ve inspired you will be sent one.
Loveland, Ohio – On November 19, before a packed, stand on the furniture in the back for a better view, house, Anna Bunker took to the open forum microphone to express views on the recently failed levy that was on the November 5 ballot. The Board asked voters to approve issuing bonds for $118,515,000 and a combined operating and bond levy of 16.78-mill. The levy was rejected by voters 78-22 per-cent.
The Board is currently considering placing another levy on the ballot in March of 2020. They say they will need to submit ballot language for a potential operating levy on the March ballot no later than December 18, requiring a first resolution to be passed at the December 10 board meeting.
Bunker’s comments were during the regular business meeting of the Board where residents are allowed to sit in front of a microphone for 3 minutes to talk to the Board, the Administration, and the other audience members about anything relating to the operation of the District.
There was another meeting that night following the business meeting. It was facilitated by Jeffrey Stec, the Director of Citizens for Civic Renewal. The District hired Citizens for Civic Renewal to conduct this public meeting.
Te next meeting of the Board will be on November 26 at 6 PM in the LMS/LIS Media Center. (View the Agenda) Among agenda items is a “Recommended Action” by the Superintendent to cancel the contract with Allerton Hill Consulting. Another item is a resolution put forth by the Treasurer to participate in Ohio Open Checkbook. The Board is also expected to appoint an Ad Hoc, Short Term Advisory Committee. You can read the proposal below.*
Other Meetings:
Tuesday, December 3, 6 PM (special meeting)
Tuesday, December 10, 6 PM (work session)
Tuesday, December 17, 6 PM (special meeting)
*Ad Hoc, Short Term Advisory Committee
This ad hoc advisory committee has been established for the purpose of helping the Board of Education to determine whether a March ballot issue is feasible or not. The committee will work with the Board while the meeting is in session which will allow for interaction between committee members and board members.
On 11/26, the committee will be invited to join the meeting after the board has concluded regular business outlined on the agenda. On 12/3, the full board meeting time will likely be given to the work of the committee.
Should the work result in a determination that a March ballot language is feasible, we must meet election timelines. The determination of millage for a ballot issue in March 2020 must be approved in a formal resolution of necessity by the Board of Education on 12/10/19. Seven days later (12/17) the Board must approve a resolution to proceed. The resolutions must be given to the Board of Elections by 12/18/19.
Should the work result in a determination that March is not feasible, the Board and community will focus on a November 2020 operating levy.
Following the 12/3/19 meeting, this committee will be dissolved having served its intended objective. However, should the format be successful we will develop a system to continue the work and identify a way to give more people an opportunity to participate if they wish.
Not only did Allerton Hill’s tactics divide this community with the “stick to the message at all costs” and scare tactics, but telling us that our children are not safe was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
by Anna Bunker
You have awakened our sleepy little community to the fact that we can no longer trust the judgment of the Loveland Board of Education to represent our community in matters relating to the Loveland City School District. When you were elected, we gave you our trust to act in the best interest of our community and a few weeks ago the polls stated you have have not.
This is the outline of Anna Bunker’s speech to the Board of Education during the Hearing of the Public portion of the meeting on November 19
As a group, you have lost my trust in your ability to recognize what the community needs. We shouldn’t need to be sold the idea of 3 new buildings, 110 acres of land, security upgrades, etc… If the Superintendent and Board of Education spent the same amount of time educating the community before they voted on adopting the plan as they did to promote it during the election, I think we would be having a much different conversation today.
The fact is you knew this was a big ask and tried to hide the overall costs in the fine print. You conducted a survey before you voted on putting this on the ballot and the survey told you that 90% of the people surveyed had no or little idea about the Building Tiger Nation plan. In that same survey, you were told that 50% of the people believed Loveland already had high taxes.
And even with this information, you approved the plan and put it on the ballot anyway.
Speaking of communications, the fact that you felt the need to hire Allerton Hill with a price tag of $133,000 to sell this levy to the community has to be one of the biggest mistakes you made. This is not Washington DC or New York City, this is Loveland, Ohio, a caring and trusting community that takes care of one another.
Not only did Allerton Hill’s tactics divide this community with the “stick to the message at all costs” and scare tactics, but telling us that our children are not safe was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.
This was just a scare tactic because the truth is our Tiger community is safe.
How dare you tell our community and surrounding communities that our schools are not safe!
Are there improvements that can be made, of course.
Are there changes you would like to implement, of course.
But our schools are safe.
This was just a scare tactic because the truth is our Tiger community is safe. We have amazing administrators, teachers, staff, and safety officers that in an emergency will do their best to keep our children safe. There will always be some new theory or strategy on school safety, but it doesn’t mean our kids are not safe.
I believe you are all good people acting with good intentions. But I also believe somewhere along the road things went sideways and you may have forgotten why you initially ran for this position.
Fool me once, shame you, Fool me twice, shame on me.
What am I going to do? I am going to keep our Political Action Committee up and running to ensure two things:
1) A seat on the Board of Education will never be unopposed again.
2) I will do my best to keep myself informed and continue to keep the Loveland community informed, so they are never blindsided again.
You have not only lost my trust in your ability to represent our community’s needs, but you have also lost my vote.
As a mother of three kids, a school volunteer and a supporter of every teacher in the Loveland School District, I agree the classroom trailers and teachers on carts (not classrooms) are not a long-term solution. I also agree the District has no $0 option.
My question is how did we get to this point?
First, how did the schools get into a position to have additional teachers without classrooms or the need for extra space (i.e. trailers) when all the data shows there has been NO significant student growth in the Loveland School district in 10 years?
Second, the age of buildings is not a reason to abandon them and start anew. There are plenty of 80+-year-old schools throughout the United States and Cincinnati that are still serving their communities. If the school district had invested money into maintaining and improving these buildings this may not be an issue. For what it is worth, according to the 2018 Loveland City School District Financial Reports, the 2018 maintenance budget was cut by over $1 million between 2017 and 2018.
I’ve heard comments praising the Board of Education for stretching levy money out past their original request, but there is another viewpoint. We, the Loveland voters, approved a levy giving the school district money to keep the schools operating and maintained, so why didn’t they spend the money? Some may call this fiscally responsible, but if the buildings haven’t been maintained and updated and now need to be replaced, isn’t that being fiscally irresponsible?
CHALLENGE for the Board of Education
I urge that the Board of Education and Administration to take a deep dive into the ROOT CAUSE of how the LCSD got the taxpayers into this situation of voting FOR or AGAINST one of largest School Levy requests in the State of Ohio and then, create processes and procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future.
Personally, I cannot support giving the school district a gift of three new school buildings, which, if building maintenance process is not corrected, will need to be replaced after the bond is paid off in 37 years.
In the September 12th information session at the High School, Superintendent Crouse told us that if the new $16 million Fine Arts Center with a 1,000 seat auditorium were added to the campus, the existing auditorium building would then be used for educational space including, adding a space for the Robotics team since they have to currently share space with the wrestling team.
Historically, school boosters have been responsible for fundraising and paying for costs/maintenance for their activities. As taxpayers, we are responsible for electing the Board of Education who we trust to provide quality education to ALL our children, not just the athletes, choirs, bands or other extracurricular teams.
CHALLENGE for Loveland Voters
This levy will be a hardship for many Loveland residents. I have a challenge to anyone that is FOR the levy and this increase will not be a hardship on your family, please make a healthy donation to the Loveland Music Boosters, Loveland Robotics Team or the Loveland Athletic Boosters. Help these Boosters raise the money they need to improve their programs, but please don’t ask taxpayers to make sacrifices for these extracurricular programs.
