After facing the third levy defeat in 2008, the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education appealed to the community to join them in conversation about the state of our schools and the financial decisions to be made in the future.
In a letter in the Nov. 16 Stow Sentry, the Board wrote:
Our school system is at an important crossroads and we need your help
in deciding which road to take.
During the past year, voters have defeated three operating levies for the
Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools. Our reason for placing these levies on the
ballot was to
head off an approaching budget crisis for our school district.
We have, however, reached the point where our community needs to decide whether
to seek additional funding to maintain the current level of educational programs
and services being provided to our students or to stay off the ballot and
continue reducing our school district’s budget.
This will not be an easy decision. Like many of you, some of us have taken a big hit personally from our nation’s financial meltdown. So, placing another school levy on the ballot is the last thing we want to have to do right now.
This letter is our invitation for you to join us in a frank and open conversation about this vitally important issue. Please let us know if you would like to help decide what to do about our difficult situation.
You can reach us by calling the superintendent at the Board of Education
office at 330-689-5445 or you can contact us personally. Our phone numbers
are listed
below.
In addition, we will be developing several methods of bringing community
members together in the near future to have conversations about the direction
of our
school district. We desperately need your help in defining the quality
of the school district the community desires. Please contact us now and
attend
one of
the community conversation meetings being planned.
Sincerely,
Board of Education
330-676-1215
330-688-5886
330-676-0418
330-688-1532
330-686-5834