Tag: John Ahmann

Replying to a note that the Decatur School Board Chair Marc Wisniewski sent in to DM the other day, Board Member John Ahmann continues the public conversation with his colleague regarding the already-once-voted-on bell schedule prior to tomorrow night’s meeting, where Ahmann will attempt to get the issue put back on the agenda.

Marc:

Your recent correspondence to a citizen inquiry has two important errors of fact that I would like to address:

The first is, “…despite claims otherwise, there were not significant facts not already on the table and understood.” The evidence suggests the contrary:

a) I demonstrated at the last Board meeting that the cost estimates provided by Dr. Edwards were closely grossly inflated for the Bell schedule I proposed. Dr. Edwards has yet to correct, for the record, the cost estimates for the Bell schedule I proposed. She estimated $120,000 – $150,000. This is simply not true. Because costs were a significant driver for the decision, an accurate cost estimate is highly material.

b) At the May Board meeting Bruce Rhoaden represented the Decatur High School (DHS) SLT was ok with the earlier start time for the high school. Based on letters from high school members of the SLT, this is not true. In fact, we do not have any formal compilation of SLT parent views on the issue, nor do we have a clear picture of how the larger community perceives the issue.

Continue reading “Ahmann Responds to Wisniewski Prior to Tomorrow’s School Board Meeting”

Last week, we reported that City Schools of Decatur board member John Ahmann was openly publicizing to the community that he was trying to get the bell schedule, which he had voted against at the last meeting, back on the agenda for June.

In this note to the community, Ahmann proposed a new schedule with later start-times at the middle school and high school and an earlier start for the 4/5 Academy.  He also disputed the costs that the Superintendent projected for his schedule.

Well, the June agenda is now online and Ahmann’s reconsideration of the bell schedule is not included.  This led to a update by a parent – posted on the CSD Parents message board – entitled “Board of Education Chair and Superintendent Ignore Ahmann’s Requests”.  A snippet…

…[John] received NO REPLY from either Marc Wisniewski or Phyllis Edwards to his personal email requests to each of them to have his items placed on the agenda.

…John’s only recourse now is to propose to amend the agenda at the Board meeting, which he said is his intention. He will need a second from another Board member, and then a majority of the Board to agree that his items should be discussed.

This note was forwarded to me many times over the last couple days.  I followed up and received this reply from School Board Chair Marc Wisniewski that he sent to another resident recently, detailing his position on this matter.  Here it is in full…

I hope you know that I have no intention to ‘squelch discourse’ nor to not do what would be good for students. The bell schedule was revisited over 3 successive months – it was time to make a decision. We had heard many pros and cons from many parents. There was a need to begin the planning and organizing process for next year. So last month we voted and reached a decision that took into account the issues on both the bell schedule and the bus contract. We made a decision by a 3 to 1 vote on each (Bernadette was not in attendance). Now the sole person in the minority is seeing to bring the issues up again – there is a proper process for that but it is NOT to have an action item placed on the agenda by the chair or the superintendent. And, despite claims otherwise, there were not significant facts not already on the table and understood.

Continue reading “Decatur School Board Chair Weighs In on Bell Schedule Dispute”