What a disappointment the first school board meeting was since the school levy passed. The Superintendent stated that the district will not realize the levy's revenues until February or March of 2010. He then discussed reinstating three cuts such as; tutoring in the elementary schools, transportation routes, and the families' cost for extra curricular activities such as, pay to play. The Superintendent further emphasized pay to play costs. The school board unanimously voted to reduce the $1,000 cap on the families' cost for extracurricular activities. There was no further discussion on tutoring? Why not?

Academics should be priority in Tallmadge! Some children are being left behind without tutoring. If these students don't develop the basic learning skills in elementary, then the rest of their education will be tremendously challenging. Why is there no $1,000 cap for families that pay for tutoring out of pocket? Tutoring is an expensive burden on the families that don't want their children left behind and struggling with the basic building blocks of learning. So let's stay focused on tutoring as priority. Isn't the educational needs of all children more important then extracurricular activities? After all, education is required by state and federal regulation not playing.