Golladay Letter published on Loveland Beacon July 1, drew a variety of critical responses to his opinion Loveland School Board and administration has not made enough effort to cut costs for taxpayers who will likely face another school tax levy on a future ballot.
Susan Kavouras, Symmes Township, Loveland School parent, sent this response for publication in PEOPLE’s VOICE on Loveland Beacon.
SYMMES TWP. – LOVELAND, OH (July 3, 2020) –
Susan Kavouras: Symmes Twp – Loveland, OH resident (Provided)
Everyone knows Mr. Golladay’s feelings (Click here to read his July 1, “Letter to the School Board”) regarding any future levies, he has made that clear time and time again. What I didn’t realize is, according to Mr. Golladay’s misinformed logic, there is a time stamp on how long people have to pay taxes. Sorry sir, you will be paying taxes as long as you live in Loveland or any municipality in the United States. When I moved here in 2001, I was pregnant with my first child. I paid my taxes even though I didn’t have a child in the district. Wait – you’re probably thinking, “you were actually going to have a child in the district so of course you would support the taxes”. Not exactly, both my husband and I went to private schools our whole lives. We had every intention of continuing with private schooling for our kids, until . . .
. . . We saw the direction the schools were headed. When we saw the support of the community and the quality of the district, we thought – ‘we want that kind of experience for our children’. I haven’t regretted that decision since the day we made it. What I am seeing now is awful. A community is being torn apart, yet nothing the district does will right the ship. Mr. Golladay said there have not been cuts. Well he isn’t looking closely then. We lost two current music teachers – one in the high school and one in the primary. We had our music program reduced; both in the high school and in fifth grade. The LIS music teacher got reassigned to LPS. There have been staff who left and are not being replaced. Other staff have been moved around. The ‘pay to play’ fees have increased substantially, there is no longer high school busing. These are just the items at the forefront. There are more in the background. These are very real, very hard-hitting cuts.
What I would like to ask from each and every one of you is: “What do you want for your future?” If you want to be angry and against the school district, then, by all means do that. I don’t want that for me, or my life. Back in January, when I saw all of the hatred out there for supporters of the levy, my friend Joanne Prater and I came up with the idea of ‘Pawsitive Tigers’. Its original intent was to have a safe space for people who supported the levy, and those who worked in the district, to talk without being condemned for it. What I have seen come from that page is something I DO love. People coming together throughout this pandemic, and even throughout the BLM movement, and saying: “What can I do? How can I help?” We need more of these positive actions and less of the blame game. Blaming gets us absolutely nowhere. Trying to ignore the problem will not make it go away. Maybe we need a little more positive cooperation and a lot less people not taking responsibility.
NOTE: Susan Kavouras is a resident of Symmes Township – Loveland, OH. She has children who attend Loveland Schools and is administrator of the “Pawsitive Tigers” Facebook group supporting positive dialogue on all things Loveland Schools. The views expressed in her letter to the editor published here are her personal views. She is in no way affiliated with, or a representative of the LCSD and is not affiliated, nor a representative of Loveland Beacon online news site. Loveland Beacon welcomes your opinion.
