Karen Mantia
.
New Lakota superintendent takes military tack to problems
Oct. 9, 2011
Written by Michael D. Clark
Excerpts
[Her parents founded an Italian restaurant in the Englewood community north of Dayton where she grew up. Working at age 14, she inherited both their work ethic and their disdain for financial excess since they never believed in or used credit cards. Those early, formative years, said Mantia, helped to later sharpen her sensibilities about the advantages of frugal school operations and the importance of concentrating financial resources toward students.
"That is where my conservative feelings about finances and hard work come from," she said.
The former superintendent of Hamilton County's Sycamore Schools - from 2000-2006 - she was and hired away this summer from Pickerington Schools - both districts are top rated by the state.]
…Having read the above Cinti.com article about Karen Mantia, I can just imagine how her ideas might have led to her departure from the Sycamore school district after such a short span of control. Basically, the same differences of opinions still seem to exist in the broad Sycamore community. But now they are more contentious, probably because of the dire national and global economic and financial situation and the November state and local ballot issues.
…The inability of the people with opposing points of view to resolve their differences still exists. I’ve been involved in many discussions and debates about opposing points of view, but never a true dialogue. I can only think of mere handfuls of people whom I believe may be mentally able today, to engage in a dialogue about our local school issues.
…Anger and frustration seems to always get in the way of having an intelligent, adult to adult dialogue of the issues. This isn’t unique, just look at the difficulty the federal politicians are having. A recent Cincinnati Enquire article referred to “the ‘supercommittee’ progress is impacted by Taxes-vs. cuts arguments.”
…The sad reality is that after the voting is done, “winners and losers” determined, the contentious issues will remain unresolved.