...but when I was reading the paper this morning I spit coffee all over the paper itself. Then, I think I sprained my keyboard accessing the BCCT website to re-read this letter.
School closing no big deal; you'll get over it, kids
As a veteran of the Neshaminy/Maple Point debacle of 1975, I too was upset at the thought of losing friends to a “foreign” school. Guess what? I survived and my quality of life shows no ill effects from my experience. And I have news for the kids of Morrisville. The things that they think are life and death issues now, in five years, will not matter at all.
They must realize that as public school students, they are required to attend the school that the public (the taxpayers) can afford to provide. This is Morrisville, not Beverly Hills. When these kids become taxpayers, they will understand.
As for the kids who say they will drop out of school if they are sent elsewhere, I hope they realize that even if they do drop out, their parents will still be required to pay school taxes. Again, in time none of this will matter — except whether or not they have a diploma. These kids shouldn't throw away the opportunity to become a useful, productive citizen just because they think they are being treated unfairly. This is not a personal issue.
Isn't it also unfair for long-time Morrisville residents (especially senior citizens and those on fixed incomes) to lose their homes or be forced to move because they can no longer afford to live here? Be assured that the fallout from this issue will affect them long after these kids have gone on to their post-high school lives. These kids need to realize that, in the big picture, what they want, or don't want, does not take precedence over the needs (or very survival) of a whole community.
Whatever happens, kids, believe me, you'll get over it. So get out of bed, get dressed and go to school — wherever that is.
Wow. And people like this get to vote, drive, and everything.
Dear Letter Writer: How many borough council and/or school board meetings have you attended in the past few years? Are you part of the solution, or just heckling from the sidelines?
Let's start with the main topic, where you are somewhat correct despite channelling Captain Obvious: school is school, and you can learn wherever the school is. You will make new friends wherever you go. It is not the end of the world, and every one of us who has survived puberty and our teen years does know that.
Having said that, what are you smoking? You go off on dropouts and how parents need to make sure their kids attend schools. The same is true of the people of the town. They are as equally obligated to provide the place for the schooling to occur.
Beverly Hills? Please. At least compare apples to oranges. You insult all of us when you compare Morrisville like that. Morrisville is a good place to live. It's a good place to bring up children. And, it's a good place to grow old in. I'll live here any day over Beverly Hills. Why do you see it differently?
You're right: This is not a personal issue and I wish the seniors of this borough would take a deep breath for just a moment and reflect on what they are doing. I will ask it again, this time not in a comment, but in a post. Where were you in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s when the pottery closed, the rubber mill burned and the steel mill died? What did you do then to make things better for today? Did you attend council meetings, school board meetings, and business association meetings to make a difference? I'll give your criticisms more credence if you did. I'm working today for the Morrisville of the 2010s, 2020s, 2030s, and beyond. What are you working for?
I am not indifferent to the tax burdens placed on all of us. I pay high taxes too, but which of you is approaching our borough council to get the Gateway project started? Let's get some tax revenue into this place so the residential taxes can go down for a change. All we hear from are the same old people who want the Morrisville of their youth to reappear. News flash: It ain't happening. You want lower school taxes? Raise the tax revenue by supporting new buildings and the revitalization of downtown. When those front line people supporting a newer and better Morrisville are out there working, do they see you working side by side with them?
I'm not collecting it yet, but where's MY Social Security? There are too many burdens placed on that system for it to continue too much longer, but by law, I'm required to pay for that too. At least you get to complain about the school taxes. I have no choice but to see more of my paycheck go toward supporting the seniors. Since the seniors are calling for a general strike on the youth of this borough, what if the tables were turned and we, the wage earners, stop paying into Social Security?
Let's turn your own words around: You must realize that as taxpayers, you need to live in the house you can afford. I'm very sorry that inflation and recession and all manner of economic ills have befallen all of us. But why do you want to be protected, yet think it odd for the children to be protected too? Let's continue..."you need to realize that in the big picture, what you want, or don't want, does not take precedence over the needs (or very survival) of a whole community." You're looking very small picture at the seniors. Let's expand your vision just a bit, shall we? Look in the mirror and read that paragraph again.
Are you really sure this is the way you want to go? Generational wars where one side loses out in favor of another? I've seen this play out in a number of cities and towns. When one side has to lose out, eventually the entire town suffers. This isn't just about you.
The board meeting is this Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 7:30 P.M. I will expect our letter writer to be there and to sign up to speak. Otherwise, your words today are meaningless. Whatever happens, you'll get over it, won't you?
The soapbox is now available. Next speaker?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
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10 comments:
OK, Ill step up! Did the letter writer mention that in 1975 she wasn't moved to New Jersey, but to a different school in the SAME %@^&#^# district! Im sure she GOT OVER IT realy quick because she STILL had the same things she had in her other school. Ever see Christmas Vacation where Chevy Chase losses it? Wonder if I can read the script from that at the next board meeting.
Damn I need a Tynenol!
Please, oh please, send this response to Ann Stinson, official Morrisvillain, to the editor as a guest column. It is truly how I feel too.
Once order of rant with a Tylenol chaser, coming right up.
A good friend of mine was a veteran of the 1984 Maple Point debacle. As a senior, instead of being a Big Man on Campus at Maple Point, he was relegated to being a little fish in a big pond at Neshaminy High because Maple Point was closed. He hasn't been the same since. You can write to him at:
Inmate No. 42967
Cell Block D
U.S. Penitentiary - Leavenworth
Leavenworth, KS 66048
He loves to get letters - just don't mention high school, though.
"They must realize that as public school students, they are required to attend the school that the public (the taxpayers) can afford to provide."
This is patently FALSE! And a lie besides.
First of all, they are not required to attend any specific school. There is no law that requires that. They can attend public school, private school, parochial school, alternative schools or may be educated at home.
Yes, the child must be educated until the age of 16, but they have many choices, and for the writer to address kids that way is BULLYING.
Secondly, the onus is on the State (and the local school board as an extension of the State) to provide "a free and appropriate education" to the children.
The author, assuming he is a taxpayer, must realize that he is required, by law, to provide a free and appropriate education.
Closing a school or a district may be a solution, but he is still required to provide this education, out of his tax dollars.
All I can say is that the author is IGNORANT and a BULLY.
[I am definately as mad as you guys about this.]
A bully and condescending.
I was a member of the last Freshman class at Maple Point (1983) and moved into what they called Neshaminy Langhorne in 1984. I'd been able to walk to Maple Point (it wasn't safe, but I could, and I did). The next year (and the two years after that) I had a 45-55 minute bus ride to and from school). Mull that over. That's 90 minutes a day, 7.5 hours a week, 30 hours a month, 300 hours a school year. Is that the best we can do for our kids?
How long would their "commute" be?
Would the same folks who pined for the "safety" of the kids in the drainage ditches care about the extra time in a vehicle?
Would the same folks who pined for the "safety" of the kids in the drainage ditches care about the extra time in a vehicle?
In a word, NO. Somehow there are 2 different groups of kids. The precious ones they care about when it suits their irrationional fear-based agenda, and the nameless faceless others that need to shut up, put their uniforms on, get in line, get over it or, better yet, get out.
Wow, you folks are one nasty little group.
"You must realize that as taxpayers, you need to live in the house you can afford"
Imagine the Pennsbury school board making such a suggestion to some of the less affluent areas of the district. I wouldn't advise that you openly publicize this blog as Ann Perry (the one that always drags her poor little girl out to exploit her presence)did last night at the council meeting. Folks will get a clear impression of your general mean-spirited sniping on display.
As for the fantasy that attracting new business will provide some panacea for tax relief, just take a look at the empty storefronts and the vacancies in the last revitalization effort. With the economy tanking, don't expect the horizon to be any brighter. Besides, why would any business invest in Morrisville when Yardley and other Bucks communities have more prestige and less of a tax burden? Most be some desperate folks in the construction industry these days...
Thanks to the above anonymous commenter for reading through the website. I'm sorry you think we're nasty. I think the stop the school people are exquisitely nasty. Read today's posts to see more info on that.
"You must realize that as taxpayers, you need to live in the house you can afford" is exactly why we're in a housing crunch right now. People living over their means messed it up for all of us.
Then there's the people who are truly being priced out of their homes by inflation and taxation. I do understand that very well, watching a widowed grandmother spend 22 years in a one bedroom apartment after losing her longtime family home because of bad investing strategies and not enough Social Security.
Even in Biblical times, the tax man ruled, and sometimes even destroyed, good honest people in the name of the local currency. I cannot repeal the laws of supply and demand, inflation and taxation, but they can be mitigated. A rising tide does carry all the boats, and investing in this town is the right decision. So is investing in all of the residents, including the children.
...Ann Perry (the one that always drags her poor little girl out to exploit her presence)
I happen to know Ann Perry and that little girl, and I can assure you she does not bring that little girl along to exploit her presence. When both parents work, and one parent needs to work late on a given night, sometimes it's difficult to arrange child care at the spur-of-the-moment. If you care about what's going on in the community and want to have a voice about it, you sometimes have no choice but to bring your child along with you. If you want to read into it that it's exploiting her presence, that's your prerogative. No one can control what you think, do, or say but you. But perhaps a major part of the problem here is people building their behaviors around total speculation about other peoples' situations and motivations.
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