MASON CITY – Well-known volunteer Janice Easley wants a lot of “no” votes today at the polls in Mason City on the two taxes that are on the ballot.
Ms. Easley now sports a walking stick and a whistle to go with the drumstick she brought to the last City Council meeting.
“I’ve been blowing this whistle,” she said, “to get people’s attention. They need to wake up. These taxes aren’t for the kids, they are just fine. It’s more waste.”
Today (Tuesday) is the final day to get out and vote on the ISL and PPEL levies on the ballots in Mason City.
“Do you think I’d get in trouble blowing this whistle outside the polling places?” Ms. Easley asked.
Watch video:
httpv://youtu.be/bf3cou3gwew
Hey Janice,
Go home.
Yep…Go back to worrying about the band shell.
Dummies. There goes more of your money. For what?
You think a pay increase helps that teacher dig in and really want to teach better? Or that kid who hates school anyway suddenly will love it? Or advanced programs that were already available on the internet?
No! Too bad. How will you ever know anyway? Most ignorant part of all. Who’s going to monitor any of it and the outcomes?! Exactly, no one.
This will mean more technology. Kids in surrounding districts all have Mac Laptops…Maybe we can now too. This is exciting!
Ah yes . . . the Apple Mac. I kids have them. They lug them around and come home to use the PC. Really Apples are a niche product.
IT PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s what we are talking about, the positive thinkers and the builders are taking back this town from the complainers and haters. Great Job Mason City.
In my opinion Janice blowing her whistle outside of the polling station constitutes voter intimidation wich last I checked is illegal. I hope she gets her crazy old self arrested.
People like McCourt and Easley rally made this easy to vote yes.
Just watched the video and my gosh her granddaughter went to Nora Springs just because they said the pledge of allegance is just crazy. She probably went there because they have better technology and the community supports the school. They built a brand new school on roosevelt field and there are complaints? Roosevelt sucked at all sports and the kids that came out of there can be found on north iowa mugshots today. vote no or voye yes but don’t let this woman influence you with her ramblings.
Steve you had better be careful about what you say. There are a TON of good kids in that school and Many more that came out of that school. There are also bad apples in EVERY other school as well. Bet you didn’t realize that many of the people who own and work for the buisness’s here in town were Roosevelt kids.
If the money went for books and supplies and things to help the kids, this would all be fine. However, it ends up going for Administration pay and the kids don’t get what they deserve. Take a look at all the Principals, assistants, etc. at the schools. Everyone has to have an assistant or two and the coaches all have to have half a dozen assistants and the kids are left out once again. We need to get back to the kids having what they need to learn and the Administration earning the big fat salaries they all make any more, whether they are good or not.
This is like a baseball game. Everyone wants to be at bat. no one wants to field and there are so many errors.
Error number one?
Mason City was never going to get the casino. it would have gone to Clear Lake but they didn’t want it.
When the state changed the way the 1% sales tax our school lost big dollars since Mason City is large regional retail sales center.
Technology has changed the entire world and our kids need to be better educated.
Maybe it’s time for schools to just do club sports. Dan Deleney even suggested that to me several years ago.
Today learning has to be a lifetime vocation.
All those old line industries have either died or migrated to cheaper labor areas and they ain’t coming back.
Janice should spend a day at the high school just to see how much things have changed.
Horses don’t crap on main street anymore either.
Yes the good old days were much simpler but how many would give up indoor plumbing, phones, tv, a car, dishwasher, wash machine, dryer, microwave or many of our other everyday conveniences. Education is the engine that drives change.
Hey Hacker–
You make some really valid points.
I only see 2 things that aren’t really true. The committee that was formed to decide on the casino issue, voted that we should have it and voted to go forward. The committee had representatives from all cities in the county. It was the churches that kept it from locating in our county. It could have gone to Cl or MC– either way the taxpayers in our county would have been winners. If u remember where our mayor at the time was from and where he owned land, I think that is closer to being the relevant question. I was in on several discussions at the time and that seemed to be the consensus.
As far as the Local Option Sales Tax– that money was never designated for schools, not in any of the referendums.. Schools were not on the list. However, when it comes up again, it can be revised to include schools( a specific project or funding stream).
Just so people know, these 2 issues on the ballot today, are not for salaries for anyone– not teachers, administrators, other staff….
I am anxious to see how it turns out. Usually in a race like this, the bitchers usually don’t vote which gives the positive voters some edge. But, this time I am not so sure….
MASON CITY HAD IT CHANCE WHEN THE CASINO WANTED IN! THEY VOTED NO! LOOK HOW WELL NORTHWOOD SCHOOLS ARE DOING ALSO THE TAXES HAVE GONE DOWN! WOW !!!!
The same people who voted no on the casino are some of the same ones standing in line to buy lottery tickets. Hypocrites?
I think its funny how some people think its up to mason city to set an example for the whole rest of the country on how much teachers and admin should or shouldn’t be paid. Our teachers pay and even the administrators pay is consistent with other similarly sized schools. If you want qualified people, you have to pay what the market will bear…you may not like it, but thats the way it is. Voting yes puts our community on an even par with all other communities the same size. Right now we already look like we are one backward city in Iowa, voting no again would be more of the same.
Do you ever have it bass-ackwards!
If only taxes were raised……then the schools would perform.
Well that’s been said with every tax increase for the last 50 years and school performance has been dropping since then too.
See the correlation? Or did you go to public school?
GREED ON DISPLAY IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The citizens of Mason City DO support our schools with more than enough to educate our children.
Big Government Schools have become nothing more then a indoctrination for the liberals to brainwash our youth. With that said, our kids are less educated today then when we spent LESS money and had lower taxes.
Our School System is not an education system at all. It is a big big tax spending machine that constantly keeps asking for more, more, more money to pad the teachers and administrations pocket.
Always in the name of our kids. That emotional argument is wore out.
Bottom line. You are not producing quality education for our kids with all your spending.
Sorry, you don’t have the trust of the people and you only have yourselves to blame!
GREED, GREED, GREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don’t like the greed, promote someone to run for office. Find someone trustworthy and for the people. Don’t just point your finger, do something about it. So many people just want to complain but not do anything. Make a difference!!!!!
I am very involved. Much more than you realize. I am in the bowels of the school system and it isn’t pretty.
Thanks for asking though.
I appreciate you being in the bowels of the school system. I’m sure you see things that need change. What can “we” do to change it??? There are power in numbers. That’s why we are voting today. Will not supporting the school system change it???
NO NO NO! Voting to give the school system more money will only make things worse. They are wasting to much money now.
What we need in our school system are leaders with a moral compass and leaders that build a curriculum that gives our kids an educational foundation that can carry them into adulthood with the tools they need to succeed.
What we have currently is liberal indoctrination and revisionist history. The materials used in many classes are laced with to much nonsense.
We are not turning out kids with a solid education where it matters!
Sorry.
Agree with Steve! She needs to be arrested if she does anything to influence voters. She may scare people away from the voting places – GET A HANDLE ON THIS, MCPD.
VOTE YES FOR THE KIDS AND THE SCHOOLS!
It is perfectly legal to have an opinion in this country until they take that away too, go get em Janice forget these bullies.
I wish she would have been standing outside the library years ago saying to vote “No” for that.
Please support our kids and our schools!!!! Our population consists of a large number of elderly and retired citizens. Have they forgot about when their kids went to school??? Businesses and young professional families do not look at coming to Mason City because we have a $8 million dollar library. They don’t come because our taxes are low. They come here for the opportunity to make a business prosper, to have their kids go to a school that is competent and competitive with other comparable sized schools, low crime and to find a place they can call their home for the rest of the lives. Setting down new roots and spending their hard earned money right here in River City. Businesses grow and employ more people. Population goes up, helping our tax base, etc… etc… Vote no if you want Mason City to keep declining and becoming a ghost town. Vote yes to support our kids and giving them the best opportunity Mason City can offer and hopefully retaining them here in our community!!!
to bad there aren’t more people in Mason City that think like you. Your comments are spot on. I’m voting yes.
I totally and completely agree with your post. I will be voting “YES”!!!!!
I do get a kick out of Janice, good for her for standing up for what she believes in, but I cannot agree with her in this case. My children went thru the Mason City School System in past years and I feel that it is my responsibility to pay it forward to the rest of the children in our community.
Our government is now pushing harder than ever on our school systems and children to compete with other Countries. So many of you are whining and complaining that teachers are paid too much. In my opinion you can’t put a value on a teacher. They are trying their best to teach the next generation that is ever changing and evolving throwing in the no child left behind act. Our 5-6 year olds are expected to learn way more than we were taught at their age in kindergarten. We have 347 school districts in Iowa and we are 1 of 12 that does not have this funding. I want my children and future grandchildren to have the education and athletics that they deserve. My votes an obvious yes!
“Please support our kids and our schools!!!! Our population consists of a large number of elderly and retired citizens.” Most of them on fixed incomes; school taxes or medicine which do they pay for? Surely you don’t want grandma to die do you?. You also forgot the poor, also on marginal incomes. You are a fool if you think that these taxes won’t be passed on to the renters in the area. Everyone will pay this tax increase.
“Have they forgot about when their kids went to school???” Nope, but at that time an A or F meant something, and the children could read/write and cypher. Remember us “old fogies” could add 1/16 and 1.25.
“Businesses and young professional families do not look at coming to Mason City because we have a $8 million dollar library.” That so true, I voted against the Library renovation.
“They don’t come because our taxes are low.” That is true.
“They come here for the opportunity to make a business prosper” How many businesses have come to Mason City? I’ve seen how many have left: Alexander Battery, Wellborne Ind., Minnesota Rubber, IMI Cornelius, etc. etc.
“, to have their kids go to a school that is competent and competitive with other comparable sized schools,” Sorry but Mason City Schools are not competent nor competitive. Bat that is true of Iowa schools in general. Iowa ranks as low as 38th in some surveys on math and science competency. 38th? Yep only 12 other states place lower (not 19 more as some would believe).
“low crime and to find a place they can call their home for the rest of the lives.” Well yep, but that is not Mason City. For years we have seen declining population leading to a decline in school enrollment, but we need MORE money to teach FEW students.
“Setting down new roots and spending their hard earned money right here in River City. Businesses grow and employ more people. Population goes up, helping our tax base, etc… etc…” Again, Mason City has a declining population, declining businesses, and very few opportunities for entertainment (except for bars you got enough of those).
“Vote no if you want Mason City to keep declining and becoming a ghost town.” Its not a ghost town yet? Those young bright students cut and run, nobody is moving in to save Mason City, you do not have the intelligent workers that business needs, wants and demands. Last week I proctored a test for 2 positions at work, 8 people took the test. . . only 2 could answer all the questions. Hell, I am surprised that all of them could write their name on the answer sheet.
“Vote yes to support our kids and giving them the best opportunity Mason City can offer and hopefully retaining them here in our community!!!” This is the “best opportunity Mason City” can offer? Need a job at the Call Center?
Good for Janice. The schools have enough money to waste without more taxes. VOTE NO.
This is the reason why Mason City is going in the dumps. It makes me sick to my stomach for her to go to the schools and tell the kids that she is more important than they are. She needs to be in a home or even better not around at all
Why do you not donate 20% of your wages to the school Steve. You seem more than willing to spend other people’s money? Walk the walk big guy.
Steve works for the school system and I hope his grandmother is deceased so she can’t witness his thoughts on the elderly. And. Hey mom aren’t you just proud of that son of yours, boy you and the school system failed him and here’s a heads up mom, don’t get old cuz old Steve’s eyeballing your ssi check!!!
Hey Steve-o mc folks DO support their kids this is NOT about the kds it about GREED and over-paid admins like mrs MIcish who get $200,000 plus $6k to drive to clear lake and back!!!!