Surveys. You see them online from the City of Columbus Department of Development and the Columbus City Schools (CCS). They take a few minutes to finish and afterwards you might have a nice warm feeling of accomplishment. You took the time to share your opinion and those in power will listen to you and act upon it… Right? Not a chance.
Those surveys are not for you.
Those surveys are for the people who write them so that they can tell their supervisors that they asked for public input; and therefore have permission to do whatever they want afterwards.
Phase One of Zone In (AKA the corporate takeover of Columbus) collected surveys from citizens worried about the future of the city. Those surveys were ignored, and in the end, the wealthy developers got EVERYTHING THEY DEMANDED. Again, the survey allowed city government to pretend that they care about the people who pay taxes.
Not to be left behind, CCS published a survey for the public and in true form ignored any of the real problems that the district faces in the future. Their ONE AND ONLY SOLUTION to the budget problem is to cut school busing and maybe sell a few unused schools.
The CCS survey IGNORES the hundreds of new central office administrators hired during the Covid pandemic. Those administrators are now seen as “vital” to the central office and their jobs will be protected over student bussing and teachers. Expanding administration at the top where it has no direct effect on the success of the students is the long-term objective of the Board of Education.
Worse than that are the tax abatements that City Council appears to grant to anyone who asks. Over a HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS each year, half that is eliminated from school funding. Nowhere in the CCS survey is the mention of how these leaders in City Council are destroying the education of generations of students by their actions. None. Democrats NEVER QUESTION OTHER DEMOCRATS.
If you don’t mention it, then it doesn’t exist. What a waste of a survey.
And as always, the sample size for both Zone In and CCS are so small that the results become useless. But, it allows the people at the top to tell themselves that they are asking for public input… right before doing whatever they want anyway.
This is your city. This is your CCS. Still proud of it?
