KING DAY RIFT DEVELOPS MAYOR'S TALK AT SCHOOL DRAWS THE IRE OF BOARD PRESIDENT
January 8, 2000
Mayor Carty Finkbeiner told pupils at Martin Luther King, Jr., Elementary School yesterday that he will honor 12 people, eight posthumously, this month with the first MLK Distinguished Service Awards.
But the mayor's discussion of the award program upset Larry Sykes, president of the Toledo board of education.
"He used the school and the children there to promote his own program," Mr. Sykes said. "How unscrupulous can you get?
"I'm livid about this, and as long as I'm school board president, he will not be welcomed at any Toledo public school," he said.
READERS FORUM
January 11, 2000
Students get the wrong lesson
I read with wonder the quote by Larry Sykes of the Toledo Board of Education in regard to the mayor the other day. I wondered if he really meant to give the students of Toledo Public Schools such a great lesson in how to get along with people they don’t like.
Instead of trying to solve the problem reasonable and rationally, he said, “The mayor is not welcome in Toledo Public Schools.”
This is one lesson the students will probably learn … and it is one we don’t want them to.
(Name omitted by me)
WHOSE LETTERHEAD IS IT?
(Pages of Opinion)
February 7, 2000
Members of the suburban Akron school board were out of line when they censured it’s vice president, John Keim, for writing a letter to a newspaper in which he favored tax-supported vouchers for private school tuition. They didn’t think through the situation or the ramifications of their act. First, each school board member is independently elected by the public, and has a right to a separate view that can be expressed in an official capacity in a vote or a debate leading up to it; and in an unofficial capacity in expressing an opinion, orally or in writing.
The notion that board stationery, as a vehicle for such expression, belongs to the board collectively and is beyond the reach of independently elected members it wrong.
The issue of free speech by board members is sure to crop up here in Toledo as it has in Mr. Keim’s Copley-Fairlawn district. That’s because Toledo school board president, Larry Sykes, insists – in an inappropriately high-handed fashion – that only he can speak for the board.
Mr. Sykes may have garnered more votes that anyone else on the board, but he was not elected board dictator, only a board member, first among other equals whom voters also picked to represent them.
We agree with Mr. Keim, and with Toledo school board member Peter Silverman, that no speech restrictions should be laid on individual and independently elected school board members.
A school board member, or a city council member for that matter, is entitled to use official stationery to express opinions because he or she, and not a secret cabal, has been independently elected to the post.
For sure such individual opinions should not suggest that they are those held by other board members, alone or in aggregate. But an official elected to a board, council, or commission does not lost his or her independence in thinking or in speech as a result of his election.
“Other board members don’t want him (Mr. Keim) expressing his views, which they oppose, on school stationery lest he confuse the public. But if he (Mr. Keim) failed to do just what he was doing, he would short change the people who elected him because of his views. If Mr. Keim give the impression of speaking for the board, but isn’t really, it may be because the rest of the board members go along to get along.
Vibrant debate has always been fostered by people speaking feely. Getting elected to a school board or city council should not compromise that right.
READERS FORUM
April 21, 2000
“School board can’t be trusted”
After following the platitudes of Larry Sykes, it is easy to see that he and the rest of the Toledo school board have yet to take any responsibility for the financial situation of Toledo Public Schools. Mr. Sykes said on local talk radio that “this is what the voters gave to us.” As a voter who voted against the levy in March I have to say to Mr. Sykes, “Look what you and the board gave to us!”
It was the board’s lack of stewardship during the last few years that brought us to where we are now. Even the state auditor warned of a shortfall in 1998, and it fell upon deaf ears.
Mr. Sykes and the rest of the board need to take personal responsibility and admit they are the problem before any changes can take place. What makes things even more appalling is the conspiracy of silence that took place during the school board campaigns of 1999. Mr. Sykes and Mr. Glazer knew what was coming after Jan. 1, 2000. I think it’s time for the board to do the only honorable thing and step down. They cannot be trusted one day more. (Name omitted by me)
TPS PICKS PROFESSOR FOR TOP JOB BGSU’S SANDERS HIRED AFTER DOUGLAS REJECTED
July 25, 2000
Dr. Eugene Sanders, a Bowling Green State University education professor, was hired last night on a 4-1 vote to be the next superintendent of Toledo Public Shools.
Before the vote, Dr. Sanders said, “… I think the way we make change for children is by working together and not in an antagonistic manner.”
Board President Larry Sykes said he was disturbed by the lack of unanimous support for Dr. Sanders. But he predicted the full board will support Dr. Sanders’ work.
“He’ll have the support. I think anyone that has been elected for the school [board] will support the candidate that has been elected. These things happen,” Mr. Sykes said.
POP CONTRACTS PAY, BUT WHAT ABOUT HEATH? CRITICS SAY SCHOOLS EXCLUSIVE SUPPLIER DEALS IGNOR NUTRITION
December 24, 2000
Anna Brown’s job has gotten a lot tougher.
As director of child nutrition and food service for the Toledo Public Schools, she tried to make sure school children eat and drink healthy when they’re in school. But she says it’s a tough sell convincing children to choose milk or water over soft drinks. She said children are used ot drinking lots of soft drinks at home and outside of school. But she said she’s dismayed her own school district has made it so easy for children to drink pop in school.
In 1999 Toledo Public School officials signed an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola that guarantees the district $450,000 a year for 10 years. While soft drinks were available in the school district before the contract, Ms. Brown maintains the number of machines has increased since the contract was signed. More machines mean more children drinking pop, she reasons, and fewer children choosing milk.
Toledo school officials said students are only allowed to drink soft drinks between classes, during lunch, and before and after closes at school
Larry Sykes, president of the Toledo board of education, said he’s aware of concerns that Ms. Brown and others have about children’s consumption of soft drinks in school.
That’s one reason he said he plans to meet with a local group formed earlier this year by Toledo area dentists. It hopes to raise awareness about soft drink consumption in schools.
“I have not seen any hard documentation that says this is bad,” Mr. Sykes said. He added that he hasn’t received any parent complaints.
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