PTA advocating for School Board candidates?

[chathambooks]

I am a parent of a Perry Harrison student.

Last year I received e-mails form the PHS PTA advocating for the LTT. After contacting the State PTA and Chatham County Schools, I received an apology and I felt that the volunteers who run the PTA e-mail list at PHS understood that there had a been a line crossed.

But over the last 7 days, I have received three e-mails referencing Flint O'Brien and Pete Rubinas,school board candidates. Do you feel that this is an appropriate use of PTA e-mail lists? Do you feel that this is advocating for a certain candidate on behalf of the PTA?

[kimmimom]

One of the posts was an intro to the candidate, which I feel certain would gladly done for any candidate.  The topic clearly stated what it was, giving the ability to hit the delete button without even opening it (as I do with some of them that I have no interest in like camps since I work from home).  The other two (actually I think more) were info from the board meeting that affect all of us and yes might have mentioned who was running.  A PTSA is to keep parents informed about things that might impact their school and candidates running for board will impact the school.  As long as the email does not say VOTE for X, I don't see a problem.  The emails said X is running, nothing more, so i do not see a problem.  The delete button is available for everyone.  I appreciate the emails that have gone out keeping us updated on who is running, potential camps for TWD, free child IDs, what happened at board meetings, and other such information.  There are some folks who don't read this bulletin board and appreciate the info of other candidates, board meeting happenings, etc.   

The presidency at PHS PTA is up for grabs this year as well.  The president has the say in what emails go out, so if this is a major problem for you, put your name in the hat.  But I think Karen has done  a great job for our PTSA!     

[whatsup]

Karen is a known supporter of Pete.

[Gene Galin]

But over the last 7 days, I have received three e-mails referencing Flint O'Brien and Pete Rubinas,school board candidates. Do you feel that this is an appropriate use of PTA e-mail lists? Do you feel that this is advocating for a certain candidate on behalf of the PTA?

chathambooks -

Could you copy and paste those emails here, so that we all can take a look at the them.

Thanks.

[chathambooks]

The presidency at PHS PTA is up for grabs this year as well.  The president has the say in what emails go out, so if this is a major problem for you, put your name in the hat.  But I think Karen has done  a great job for our PTSA!     

I am not suggesting that Karen is not a good President or that she should be replaced at all.

[chathambooks]

Newt and Karen Heilman <newtandkaren@earthlink.net>,
date   Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 7:57

Pete Rubinas, a PHS parent, asked me to forward this information to the PHS community. He is running for School Board and would like input from students, parents, teachers, and administrators. His contact info is in the press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 25, 2008

 

Committee to Elect Peter Rubinas

Contact: 919-302-7054

E-mail: prubinas.chatham@gmail.com

             Chatham County parent Pete Rubinas filed today as a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Chatham County Board of Education.

            “My interest in serving on the Board of Education began over two years ago when I participated in the first Citizens College organized by Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities,” said Rubinas.  “I was struck by the breadth of the challenges facing our school system, including the significant challenges associated with the County's rapidly growing and changing population.”

             Since that time, Rubinas has attended many Board of Education meetings and further familiarized himself with the challenges facing the Board.  He believes he has the skills necessary to help the Board continue to make progress toward achieving its stated goal of “Building the Future...One Child at a Time.”

             Rubinas spent over 9 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, first in Chicago and then as a Senior Manager in the firm's Raleigh office.  During his time at PwC, Rubinas evaluated financial and operational controls for some of the country's largest companies.  He resigned from PwC in September 2006 to spend more time with his sons and to allow he and his wife to pursue their adoption of twin girls from Tanzania.  Rubinas believes that the skills he developed during his time at PwC will be very useful on the Board and a good complement to the skills of the sitting members.

            “I believe that we already have many reasons to be proud of our school system.  We have incredibly dedicated and talented teachers, involved parents, and administrators that really care about the children in our schools,” said Rubinas.  “That said, I believe we can do a much better job of meeting the individual needs of each of the children in our school system by limiting class sizes, providing adequate facilities, taking better care of our teachers, and going out of our way to encourage parent and citizen involvement in the schools.  We have the collective ability to transform our schools into truly extraordinary places for our children to thrive and grow into the unique and responsible world citizens they are capable of being.”

            “While building new schools continues to be an important part of achieving this vision, it is also only one of many challenges the Board of Education needs to focus on if we are to succeed,” continued Rubinas.  “We must meet challenges such as racial and economic achievement gaps and unacceptable dropout rates with creativity and hard work to ensure that every child's potential is being realized.  I look forward to working hard with students, parents, teachers, and administrators on these challenges and others sure to arise over the next four years.”

            Rubinas, 32, and his wife Tara will have children in the Chatham County school system for the next 15 years.  Their six year old son Charlie is in the first grade at Perry Harrison School and four year old Patrick is in the pre-K program there.  Twin daughters Senorina and Severina, 3, will be one year behind Patrick at Perry Harrison.  Rubinas holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame.

Newt and Karen Heilman <newtandkaren@earthlink.net>,
date   Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 10:59 AM

Thanks to Pete Rubinas for attending the meeting and providing the notes below.

From: Peter Rubinas [mailto:prubinas@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 10:56 AM
To: Karen Heilman
Subject: BOE Summary for PHS PTSA

Hi Karen,

Here is a quick summary of what happened at the BOE meeting last night.

1 - During the public comment session, the principal and a number of parents from North Chatham spoke out in favor of adding a pod of classrooms at the school to relieve serious overcrowding as a temporary solution until the new middle school opens.  There was a lot of frustration expressed.

2 - Dr. Bryant gave the superintendent's update, including an update on the thrift shop program and a report on the dropout rate that had been released by the state that showed the first increase in three years for the Chatham school system (our rate is now at 4.64% for 2006-7; state rate is 5.24%).

3 - Board members gave their reports.  Many references to relying on Board of Commissioners for funding in response to frustrations expressed in #1 above.  Kathie Russell also talked about county land banking for future school needs.

4 - Susan Little, Chief Financial Officer, and Debra Dixon-Doss, a consultant, presented findings and recommendations from a review of the child nutrition/food service program.  Basically, the program is losing a ton of money ($0.5 million in 2007), so the Board approved a price increase for all meals and supplemental sales to increase revenue and authorized Ms. Little to look for cost savings on the expense side and to review all internal controls for improvement.  Lunches will be $2 and breakfast $1 next school year.

5 - Connie Arnold from the Northwood High School athletic boosters proposed a fundraiser to sell bricks for the Northwood renovations.  The Board approved contingent on architect's approval.

6 - The folks from NC State presented an updated OR/Ed report, which is the  data   the school system uses to plan for future school needs and to redistrict.  Two scenarios were presented for how the new capacity at Briar Chapel could be used.  One would just take the middle school kids from PHS and NCS and send them to Briar Chapel with no redistricting.  The other would include Horton and Pittsboro Elementary and would involve redistricting.  The latter is obviously a lot more difficult.  The Board did not discuss these scenarios any further and gave no indication of their inclinations.  Another interesting point was a statement in the presentation that the Northeast high school was no longer a pressing need to address short-term capacity problems because of the "expansion" of Northwood.  Kathie Russell, chair of the Board, said that they were not going to change their plans, but I'm sure we haven't heard the end of that discussion.  Finally, the report pointed to significant need to add K-5 capacity in both the Northwood and Jordan-Matthews feeder districts in the very near future.  For more commentary on this section of the meeting, see my post at http://chatham-county-nc.com/bulletinboard/index.php?topic=5906.0

7 - Ms. Little discussed the 2008-9 budget with the Board. They will vote on it 3/17.

8 - Some policies were discussed and fundraisers approved.

9 - Draft of the 2008-9 calendar was presented to the Board. They will vote on it 3/17.

That's it.  Feel free to pass along any questions and I'll try to find the answers.

Thanks.
Pete

--
"Peace comes from being able to contribute the best we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone...it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are." -Hafsat Abiola
 
Newt and Karen Heilman <newtandkaren@earthlink.net>,
date   Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 8:29 AM
subject   FW: School Board Meeting & Overcrowding
mailed-by   earthlink.net
signed-by   earthlink.net
   
hide details 8:29 AM (1 hour ago)
   
   
Reply
   
   
Here is some more information concerning school overcrowding and other school issues from Flint O'Brien, a NCS parent.

From: Flint OBrien [mailto:flint@flintobrien.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:59 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: School Board Meeting & Overcrowding

Here are some current posts at GoodSchoolz

BOE Report: New Northeast High No Long Valid
The OR/Ed. group from NC State presented the latest school growth estimates which are lower than previous estimates. Among other findings, it said that, ?Since the board recently decided to expand Northwood High to 1200 students, the new northeast high school is no longer valid.? When the board was asked to respond to this, board chair Kathie Russell said, ?We?re not changing our plans,? meaning the board still intends to build the new high school (opening in 2011) and expand Northwood (completed in 2010). more >>

BOE: North Chatham Parents Demand Overcrowding Plan
Around a hundred North Chatham parents and teachers showed up at the school board meeting Monday and demanded to hear the plan for fixing overcrowding at North Chatham School. The new Briar Chapel Middle School was recently delayed a year, so major overcrowding relief is now two years away instead of one. Board members responded by saying they were playing catch-up and were dependent on the County Commissioners for funding. After parents spoke, board members did not offer any plans for managing the next two years of overcrowding at North Chatham. more >>

School Board Filings
Flint O'Brien filed for District 1 and Peter Rubinas filed for District 2. more >>

Regards,
Flint O'Brien
GoodSchoolz
260-8411

[Gene Galin]

I guess since Karen was so kind as to pass along Pete and Flint's press releases there shouldn't be a problem with passing along an email from another PHS parent. I'll be sending Karen an email with links to video clips from the meeting along with my own observations.

It's great to see another venue for passing along information from BOE candidates open up.

[prubinas]

Hi chathambooks,

Thank you for caring enough to ask these questions.  I sent a note asking Karen to send the press release to parents and ask that they contact me if they had any ideas for my campaign.  That is exactly what she did and I'm sure she would do the same for Gene if he asked.  I don't see anything in her message advocating for me as a candidate and I know Karen would not do that as President of the PTA.

Regarding information about what occurred at the Board meeting, Karen asked if I could provide notes about what happened at the meeting because she could not make it.  I did and she sent those notes out to the parents.

I am running an independent campaign to benefit the children of our school system and would appreciate any and all input to my campaign.

Thanks very much.
Regards,
Pete Rubinas

[chathambooks]

Great! I am hoping to see Mia Munn's observations and announcement on the list very soon as well

[chathambooks]

Hi chathambooks,

Regarding information about what occurred at the Board meeting, Karen asked if I could provide notes about what happened at the meeting because she could not make it.  I did and she sent those notes out to the parents.

Pete,
I have never seen your notes posted on the list-serv before. Seeing them within a week of your announcement smacks of endorsement and advocacy of your message.

I hope that you and Karen will consider how unfair and inappropriate this is going forward in your campaign.

Thank you
Heather Johnson
PHS parent

[prubinas]

Heather,

Thanks for the feedback.  I see how my filing on the same day as the school board meeting created the perception that you had.

Karen and I have just gotten to know one another because I sought out her input into my campaign as someone knowledgeable about the issues facing PHS.  When I told her that I attended many of the BOE meetings, she asked if I would cover this last meeting for her because there was a potential for redistricting to be discussed and she wanted to be able to let the parents know what was happening on that issue in particular.  Hope that clears up your concerns.

Thank you,
Pete

[kimmimom]

as usual, people reading something sinister going on where there is NOTHING!

[chathambooks]

I am not reading anything sinister into this.

The PTA (and Karen in particular) have treaded in to political waters in error before and I would think they would want to stay far away from this again.

I am not reading anything into this - I just think that this is an inapropriate use of the PHS PTA parent list-serv.

[whatsup]

kimimom is a known supporter of Pete.

BTW, endorsing someone is NOT sinister!
Appearing to do so on a PTSA email list is another matter

[kimmimom]

PTSA list serve is to keep parents informed about things that involve your kids and their school.  Who is on the BOE or will be in the future impacts your kids and your kids school.  No brainer to me.  If the owner of the list serve was saying vote yes or no or vote for this person or that person, that would be a violation or was saying she would not post for a certain person that would be a violation, but as far as I have heard she has not.  

GENE, has she refused to post anything for you?  How about you, MIA?  Has she said vote for Mia?  Vote for Gene?  Vote for Peter?  Vote for Flint?  Nope!  

I already know who I will vote for; doesn't matter to me who Karen supports or who she will vote for.  If you don't like what she puts on the list serve and you don't find her information helpful, you can do one of 2 things, unsubscribe or delete the things that are of no interest to you.    

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