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Home > Blogs > Middletown School News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > June > 17 > Entry
Superintendent responds to claim he is “disinterested and disconnected”
In today’s Middletown Journal, I reported that Madison Local Schools Superintendent Chris Cline responded to criticism by members of the Board of Education. Two board members expressed their dissatisfaction in Cline, who attended a Cincinnati Reds game with his son instead of a special board meeting to finalize the firing of David “Jamie” Wagner, the former teacher and coach accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. At the special June 10 meeting, my colleague Megan Gildow reported board vice president Tim Young said, Cline’s “inactions tonight by not being here shows our community how disinterested and disconnected he truly is. These are not the actions of anyone who should be leading a school district. We deserve better than this.” After declining to comment for the newspaper last week, Cline responded to that claim publicly during the Board of Education meeting Monday, June 16. “I believe I have demonstrated my interest, concern and caring for students and community of the Madison Local School District,” Cline said, after he read his prepared statement, which is provided below. He also said special board meetings, like the one he missed, are scheduled by the treasurer, and in this case, “I had no role in the board meeting, the recommendation was not mine to give. It was supposed to be a 15 minute board meeting.” Cline also said he e-mailed all board members Friday saying he would miss the meeting “if that was okay,” after Young said he met with Cline to ask that he attend the meeting. Cline also said he called board President Glenn Cappel the day before the meeting.
Cline’s full statement reads:
In my interviews it was expressed that there were problems between the BOE and the teachers over the last negotiations. It was also expressed that there were problems between the Treasurer and the Superintendent. It was expressed that both of these situations had to be addressed. A 3-year contract was negotiated using a modified Interest Based Bargaining process. The treasurer was release(d) 3 months after I started and a new treasurer began 6 months after I started in Madison. Upon investigating the financial situation of the district I discovered that in Fiscal year Ending 2004, over ½ million dollars more was spent than taken in through revenues. Also, in the time period between 2001-02 school year and the 2003-04 school year 22 new certified positions were created. At this time the Jr./Sr. High School went to block scheduled then the district to trimester scheduling. Further analysis of the 5-year-forecast that was in place when I arrive din the district showed that Fiscal Year Ending 2008 (which we just completed) the district would be again spending over $300,000 more than we would take in with a negative cash balance in Fiscal Year Ending 2011. Expenditures were reduced allowing a 5-year-forecast which shows that we will start spending more than we take in during Fiscal Year Ending 2010 and will be able to continue a positive cash balance until Fiscal Year Ending 2012. As the revenue stream created by open enrollment continues, those dates will continue to be pushed our father. In the area of curriculum and instruction, an analysis of the Local State Report Cards for Madison showed that in 2005-06 and again in 2006-07 the District missed Adequate Yearly Progress and was At Risk both years. The Local Report Cards also show that Madison Intermediate School did not meet AYP in 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07, and was in its first year of school improvement this year. The ACT Readiness Report received in July of 2006 showed Madison’s test data from the 2001-02 school year through the 2005-06 school year. On all of the tests for those 5 years the Madison graduates scored below the state average with the exception of 2003-04 and 2004-05 in mathematics where they scored at and then just above the state average. In a Cincinnati Enquire(r) article on Sunday, July 20, 2006, it was shown that 39 percent of our graduates has to take remedial course in their first year of college. This was 3rd highest in Butler Count and just 1 percentage point higher than Middletown City Schools. The response to these statistics and other data was to create a 4-year-old PreKindergaren, an Intervention Summer School, and After School Tutoring program, bring in reading consultants who provided professional development for teachers in Guided Reading and instruction, and summer teacher professional development workshops on guided Reading and standards. In the area of facilities and grounds, there were problems with maintenance of building, safety of buildings and ground, and security of buildings and grounds. We have sought to create safe, secure, and protected buildings and grounds for our school use and purposes while seeking to maintain community use of the property. Complete descriptions and detailed supportive documentation are in the complete White Paper.
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