Dollars + More Dollars = International Baccalaureate
by SCRGadmin on Jul.21, 2011, under IB, Our School System
While the School District is pressuring the taxpayers of Stow-Munroe Falls for a new 10 year levy at 6.5 mills, the costs for the International Baccalaureate Program mount.
According to the IB application Form A, the school to be under consideration to join the program must pay $75,100. This fee is just to apply for consideration. So far Indian Trail Elementary School has paid $9,500 for the “consideration phase” and will soon (if not already) spend another $9,500 for the “candidate phase”. The “candidate phase” is expected to cost Indian Trail School around $46,000. If approved, the school will be charged another $32,000 to sustain the program. These amounts are subject to change because most of the paperwork has not been completed.
In addition to all the fees, the training also costs a bundle. So far the school district has shipped teachers and administrators to such places as Chicago, St. Petersburg, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Orlando, Florida, Miami, Florida, Cincinnati and New Orleans. In addition to travel expenses (paid for by the taxpayer) there is a $765.00 registration fee. The Chicago trip included the Superintendent and some School Board members. So far, about 40 school district employees and board members have made the trip to far off places for training. These figures do not include the current teachers/administrators being trained nor the future trainees.
Indian Trail School began the process in September, 2009, and has been implementing the candidate phase since June, 2010. The final phase includes a school visit by an IB inspection team, no doubt at taxpayer’s expense. If the inspection is favorable, the school becomes authorized to offer the program and attains the status of “IB World School”. The school will then be re-inspected in three years and then every five years thereafter (at taxpayers’ expense, of course). There are no refunds offered if the school fails any of the inspections.
The contract, signed by the Principal of Indian Trail School, reminds the administrators that any dispute with the contract must be finally settled by three arbitrators in accordance with the Rules of Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Geneva, Switzerland. The arbitration is supposed to be confidential, contrary to our “sunshine laws”. At least the arbitration process is conducted in English. This whole process, of course, will be charged to the taxpayers.
Below is a chart showing the current and proposed budget just to implement the IB program at Indian Trail School:
7 Comments for this entry
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July 21st, 2011 on 11:44 pm
As long as we give the schools far more money than they need to operate as we do now, they will always finds ways to squander it.
The August levy must be defeated.
July 24th, 2011 on 4:14 pm
We cannot approve this levy as long as this current Board is seated. In addition, we cannot approve this levy as long as Dr. Jones and Ms. Bulgrin are currently employed by SMF. They have proven that they cannot be fiscally responsible, just take a look at the ARRA funds and how they were distributed.
Instead of utilizing these funds for the entire district, they took a portion of the money to train our teachers in International Baccalaureate, the monies used for this Programme go directly to Geneva, Switzerland. How is that working for Stow? Has anyone out there actually taken a look at this program? Please visit http://www.IBO.org and read the Peterson Lecturers. I think it’s great that we want our children to be independent thinkers and to question everything….including this program! Why ar those who question this Programme considered “lunatics” or uneducated? Can this Programme not stand up to those who ask questions?
This community must get involved! Ask questions of the Board, your teachers, your principals, and Dr. Jones. We need to know why they aren’t answering questions as they relate to IB, why are they spending millions on such a controversial educational program? Our teachers are represented by a strong union, where has the union been through out this process?
How can anyone vote “yes” for this levy when there are so many questions regarding this Administration. Do you currently trust how they are running our schools?
July 30th, 2011 on 2:47 am
This lady told me that the IB Programme was being funded from the general account not the ARRA Money
Rasha Hetata
Educational Consultant
Office of Federal Programs
Ohio Department of Education
25 South Front Street, MS 404
Columbus, Ohio 43215-4183
877-644-6338 – toll free
614-466-4161 – office
614-752-1469 – direct
August 2nd, 2011 on 12:35 am
Poz: Your lady at the ODOE does not seem to be very well informed. Our sources (school records) seems to indicate that several different funds are being tapped. If the school district has enough money to pay for IB out of the general fund, do we really need another levy? Thanks for participating in our forum.
August 2nd, 2011 on 9:09 pm
I agree with you why do we need this levy. I just wanted to let the people know what the BOE has told the higher ups. They are telling the public one thing and the ODOE another. I find this disturbing and will not vote for the levy.
August 5th, 2011 on 12:48 am
I’ve seen all this information on this site as well as the Stow Patch and it seems that the Board and Dr. Jones are not listening to the taxpayers, parents and voters. Why? From the information posted, it leads one to believe that they are not being completely honest with the community and the teaching staff. Again, I must ask why? There are a few parents that I know have asked questions and are just trying to find answers to what this Administration is doing and we should thank them for asking the questions that the rest of us are afraid to ask. But again, WHY would this Administration pay a high price (with money we don’t have by the way) to have a special election for such an important levy when most are on vacation, WHY would this Administration bring such a controversial program (IB) to our district without including the parents or our BOE, and WHY is this Administration not being transparent with their actions?????? Is this the community
we want for our children?
August 18th, 2011 on 4:22 am
A question you need to ask is if your state DOE or county school district is overseeing the textbooks used for these classes. Does the IB status have to go through the state DOE or are the county school districts allowed to make those decisions on their own? Is the state of Ohio supplimenting the districts through RTTT?
You need to clarify with your State DOE how this works. In Florida IB and AICE must submit syllabuses of the subjects they are to teach. NO one, but NO ONE is following up on anything. Not the State DOE, not the county DOE nor the principals in the schools where IB is taught. The textbooks are not looked at for content and no one is sollowing up to see if the program follows the syllabuses presented to the state. The school IB coordinator gets to select the textbooks to be used, gives a list to principal for them to be ordered and you are off and running.
I still have some large questions:
1. Why isn’t you cannot find any background information on your school superintendent prior to being in your school district? (I am a researcher)
2. Are these school superintendent’s being paid a kick back from IB to make it so inviting for them to offer these programs and not want to report to the taxpayers the extreme cost?
3. Mearly being excited because you can say you are offering an “International Program” does not gather this much excitment. There has to be something generating this much energy.
I could go on. Good luck to you all!
Diane