Thank you to everyone who has contributed their experiences with the biased push poll that they received from the "school district." As previously noted, the district did not authorize this poll.
So before we take a look at this poll, let's review some of the bias that the phrasing of the questions and the recording of the answers can cause. A great sample of this bias comes from the Non Sequitir comic from Sunday.
A quote that has been attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin goes like this: Those who cast the Votes, they decide nothing. Those who count the votes, they decide everything. A variant translation is: The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. **Please note: Hold the hate mail. Despite the dictatorial similarities between the Emperor and Stalin, I am not comparing them. Stalin is still far more autocratic than a local school board president.**
So in this case, we answer a biased poll and the desired answers are pulled from the loaded questions already asked. Check out this short video on how to make a biased poll.
For those of you who were not blessed by the postal fairy with a survey, TA-DA! Here it is. The sound you just heard was a million English teachers crying out in unison in great pain and torment.
Among the misspellings and grammatical errors are "INFARSTRUCTURE" in the title (should be "INFRASTRUCTURE") and return no later "that" 3/17/2008 rather than "than." Question 4 references "formally" rather than "formerly", and also does not capitalize "high school" as in "Morrisville high school."
That's the easy stuff that probably lowers this by at least one grade level. Now for the advanced errors in presentation.
Question 1 sets up the idea that *gasp* we might need a single school to service the approximately 1000 students.
Question 2 addresses the urgent need for plumbing, HVAC, electric and window infrastructure upgrades, as well as an opportunity to determine which one is more important, of if we should do them all together. This sounds like one of those triage scenes from M*A*S*H where Hawkeye and BJ decide who gets to be operated on first and then get into a fight over the diagnosis. The patient is terminal. Almost no amount of renovation will be a cost-effective life saver.
Question 3 goes to the heart of the screaming from the people so concerned that their little 4 year old pre-schoolers would be subjected to 18 year old seniors in the same school building. Do we need one, two, or three buildings in town. For everyone who missed it, the defeated new high school was specifically designed to keep the grades separated in different wings. Now we'll reverse engineer the process on the fly.
Question 4 is the payoff question that you were led to from the first three questions. You already agreed to renovate the high school for 1000 students. You agreed that one or more of the critical systems are failing, and you agreed to fix at least one building. So you are committed to answering yes. You are further committed to closing the two elementary schools OR closing 75% of MHS. How? To "continue as usual" is a ridiculous answer because you already said that we cannot continue along the same path.
You also unknowingly agreed to the fallacious argument that a reduction of 75% in the number of students means that 75% of the school is unused. With this same logic, since we had nine school board members for 4000 students, we should now reduce the board down by 75% and eliminate 6.75 members. Ouch! Sounds like it might be painful to be the designated 1/4 member.
What about the heating costs? We're using oil heat in inefficient boilers with antiquated single pane window glass. Both are well past their useful life and need to be replaced. Just doing the boilers and windows would reduce the heating costs. I'd even like to see floor plans of just what 75% you want to shut off. With the hallway configurations available, show us what is superfluous.
Question 5. My, oh my. There was an audit done in 2008? Perhaps you are referring to the I'll take "Cover The Emperor's Butt" for $2500, Alex hastily prepared defeasement report? If that is an audit, then I want these people working at the IRS for my next audit. You have an RFP out for a real audit that includes poking and prodding into critical systems.
In fairness, we pretty much already know what the audit will find. That we were getting off easily with a $32 million dollar new school. We'll probably find that even with cost overruns, we were getting off easily with a $37 million dollar new school.
There's another issue here as well. Have you ever heard about the the five phases of any project: “Enthusiasm, trouble, search for a scapegoat, punishment of the innocent, and praise and reward for all non-participants”? It looks like the board is setting up one or more scapegoats to accept punishment for the condition of the schools. Maybe they should keep in mind that the political side (the board itself) sets priorities and spending limits and the operational side (the people who actually do the work) work within those limits.
So you want to hire a "skilled facilities director"? With what money? What rich uncle died and left money to the district? Maybe we can ask the secretary to give back her (so far) under-earned stipend to help defray part of the cost. I see a lot of spending going on ($2500 for the Hellman building report, $2.4 million to return the bond money, for example) but I am unclear on the savings that have been achieved so far.
Final thoughts: Where are replies sent? Where is anything identifying this as a product of the MSD? Well, maybe that was a saving grace, because this is an embarrassing contribution to this contentious battle. Is there no one else out there who can obtain the information in a reasonably fair and unbiased way without embarrassing us all?
8 comments:
I agree that survey is an embarrassment.
And let's not forget that the board passed a resolution not to increase taxes above 4.4%, so any increases to pay for the following additional expenditures incurred or likely to be incurred must either be cut out of school programs or put to voter referendum:
1. Hire a note-taker for Marlys;
2. Pay back this year's portion of the $2.4 million bond defeasement costs;
3. Pay this year's costs to switch banks to satisfy Bill Hellmann's vendetta against the original bond broker, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
4. Pay for the $2,500 flimsy unauthorized study Hellmann unilaterally commissioned on the Middle-High School;
5. Pay for $8,000 in similar flimsy studies Hellmann wants to do on the elementary schools, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
6. Pay for the ~$200,000 in repairs to the Middle-High School mentioned in the flimsy unauthorized $2,500 study above that Hellmann claimed were safety-related but Dr. Yonson, Reba Dunford, the District's maintenance guy, and about 15 other engineering firms indicated are not - again, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
7. Pay again to fix the doors at MR Reiter that were not fixed properly on the cheap in another unilateral move by Hellmann and will now have to be re-done, at a greater cost than the original estimate.
8. Did I miss any? I'm sure I did.
There's little comfort in knowing we're not alone in going through school convulsions, as evidenced by the article from yesterday's Courier Times:
School's pricetag 'unrealistic'
By HILARY BENTMAN
The Intelligencer
If Centennial School District residents thought $79 million to renovate part of the old William Tennent High School and construct a new building was high, what will they think when the cost tops $100 million?
That's what at least one school board member believes will happen.
Betty Huf calls the price tag for the Warminster high school “unrealistic” and expects the project to end up costing at least $100 million by the time it's completed in 2011.
“We haven't even sat down [to work out the designs and features]. No new building is cut and dry,” said the longtime board member, pointing out that the $3.52 million high school stadium project already is nearly $1 million more than originally presented.
But Centennial's superintendent, Mike Masko, said the school board has set the price and told the district no higher. “That's our marching orders,” he said.
At a recent meeting of the school board, a number of residents said they opposed constructing a new building because of high costs.
However they were agreeable to a less costly plan of renovation and some new construction on the existing school.
“We welcome necessary changes and renovations. Not a new construction,” said Joseph Donnelly of Southampton.
The estimates for the Tennent work come from the district's architectural firm Burt Hill, which has offices around the world. “They're specialists and experts. They know what it takes to build a school this size,” said Masko.
To homeowners, a new school means higher property taxes. A $79 million project will increase taxes by $255, likely to be phased in over three years. The average Centennial resident pays $2,414 in taxes this school year.
Still, should the price hold, $79 million may not be expensive when considering what some area school districts have been spending on high school projects and renovations.
Central Bucks South, which opened in 2005, cost $84 million. Pennridge spent $88 million to expand and renovate its high school, which was part of a larger $119 million project to ease overcrowding in the Upper Bucks District. And the Souderton Area School District is spending $114 million on its new high school, which will open in fall 2009
But Masko said those projects were more expensive because they were larger in scope.
“For one, we're not building a brand new auditorium, gymnasium and swimming pool. That's certainly one factor,” said Masko.
CB South in Warrington, for example, which Centennial officials recently toured, is 400,000 square feet, or double the size of the proposed new Tennent building. CB South also has a new pool and gym.
Centennial's plan is three fold: renovate part, demolish the old and build anew nearby. The hope is to fix longstanding design and structural problems.
The 35-year-old William Tennent is a two-building school. Building A is 250,000 square-feet and houses the classrooms. It will be torn down and replaced by a nearly 202,000 square foot classroom building.
Building B holds the gymnasium, auditorium and swimming pool. It will be renovated.
Tennent has about 2,000 students with room for about 1,800. And although the new building would be smaller in square footage, officials say it will provide more room because it will be designed to use space more efficiently.
The original high school is an open-space design, a 1970s concept that uses large classrooms with no physical walls to separate them. The idea is teachers work jointly and move from one area to another.
That idea was abandoned, and Centennial erected walls to section off traditional classrooms. Structurally, however, the school could not support it and reinforced metal had to be placed around the building.
The district also had to use thin walls to create the classrooms, which caused both ventilation and noise problems.
“Sound travels easily. You can hear classrooms to the left, right and behind you,” said Masko.
The classrooms were built with hallways on the outer edge. It means classes have no windows and no natural light. The building also has 60 doors, a safety concern for administrators.
The Centennial project has drawn mixed reviews. Some believe a renovation and new building are a must; others favor just renovating the existing structures.
A substantial renovation would have cost $75.8 million and increased taxes by $243. It also would have created a problem as to where to put students during construction.
Huf said the renovation figure was “padded” and would not have cost as much.
WHY NO REFERENDUM?
Normally, under the state's Act 1, the renovation/construction of the William Tennant High School would have to go to referendum, giving residents a vote on whether they want their taxes to increase above a state set cap to pay for the work.
But several years ago, in anticipation of the 2006 taxpayer relief act, Centennial school board members voted to give a future board the ability to borrow up to $110 million for building projects.
Since their vote was passed prior to Act 1, Centennial can borrow the money and raise taxes without voter consent. The board could have chosen to voluntarily go to referendum but, in the end, the majority was against it.
Hilary Bentman can be reached at 215-957-8166 or hbentman@phillyBurbs.com.
March 10, 2008 5:32 AM
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Comments To This Article:
Overall Rating For This Article: ••••••••••
Pat - If Unions are involved...
(03/10/2008 )
You can GUARANTEE that costs will FAR EXCEED the budget. That's what unions do best!!
Mark - Ridiculous Waste of Money
(03/10/2008 )
I graduated from the first William Tennent High School in 1972, and am sick to death of all my tax money being spent to fix an institution that is dysfunctional not because of the building, but because of the lack of discipline and resolve to get back to the basics of education. I invite anyone to tour the Catholic schools that my children have attended and to tell me honestly that the poor kids at William Tennent have anything to cry about. My kids excelled in their educational endeavors and despite the fact that their school was housed in an aging building. Children who are properly motivated to learn will do well no matter what shape the building is in. My challenge to the Centennial School District is this: prove to me that your educational system works before daring to ask for another dime of my money.
- Typical school board!
(03/10/2008 )
There's nothing wrong with that school as it is. I graduated in 1995, and I did just fine. Children do not need windows to learn! And to push another tax bill at me is unacceptable. I don't even have children yet I'm paying for them one way or another. If the market wasn't so crappy I'd be long gone!
- G. ROGER - Get real - it's the money
(03/10/2008 , Ratings: ••••• )
Bond issues equals money for the political parties and the political connected. My sister went to a school in Philly over 70 years ago which was already an older school. This school is still in existence and serving K to 8 today. Mark is right. It is not the facility, but the teachers and staff who provide the education, and that is whether it is being provided in the Taj Mahal or in an old country school room.
Tony - High Taxes, Poor Academic Performance
(03/10/2008 , Ratings: ••••• )
If Centennial schools were at the top of schools in Bucks County, I would feel differently. As a father of two students who attended WIlliam Tennet HS I would tell the school board they need to focus on students, not buildings. Student achievement on SAT tests is worse today than it was 5 years ago and my property tax is far more than the $2400 stated in the newspaper article. Maybe students should be allowed to join the labor union served by the Board so that they can be represented in Board decisions.
Victor - I worked at Tennet. The staff does the best it can
(03/10/2008 )
with what it has. Lets remember this is a diverse mix of students here. To some, English is practically a second language. The teachers are for the most part dedicated, as is the rest of the staff. That being said, the school is in acceptable condition, and a new school is not needed. The school board just want to keep up the Council Rock, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, etc. Building a new school is a waste of money. But hey, thats what school boards do best, waste our money
Bpb - Stop the whining
(03/10/2008 )
Talk to the people in Neshaminy. They battled for years over a new high school. For the same price it cost them to put on an addition, they could have had a brand new high school had they acted faster. Then speak to the folks at Council Rock. . . they had non-union workers and they were several months behind their targeted opening date. As for private school, I went to a Catholic school. I will put my kids' public high school classes up against any top private school and I guarantee their public schools are better. How come the private schools don't release their SAT scores?
Larry - Keeping up with the Jones
(03/10/2008 , Ratings: ••••• )
All the homework the school board has done and they are still 20 million off!They will come clean after they get their photos taken with their shiny shovels and say we are already over budget.Just think how hard it will be for people to come up with all that extra tax money with bad a economy.It wouldn't be as bad if the teacher's didn't receive 80% of the annual budget!All that high pay doesn't seem to be working uh.
In today's Courier Times, an opinion on Centennial School District's planned $79 million makeover of William Tennent High School....
'Unrealistic' price?
Bucks County Courier Times
Most Americans think of our nation as a democracy, which is sort of true. We vote and the majority rules. But ours isn't a democracy as practiced by the folks who wrote the book, the ancient Greeks.
Grecian democracy was direct democracy. In other words, everybody voted — at least every man — on every government decision from the most mundane of matters to declarations of war.
Ours is a republican form of democracy, meaning we elect people to make decisions for us. This is done with the implicit understanding that those we elect will make informed decisions that, theoretically, are in our best interest. And so it is our representatives' responsibility to thoroughly scrutinize an issue before voting.
From the halls of Congress to borough hall, the process is or should be the same: study, debate, vote.
If our representatives are conscientious and thorough, the decisions they make reflect sound judgment. The same can't always be said of the decisions voters make.
We don't mean to offend anyone, but the truth is a lot of people don't do any research before voting. They vote party or name or because they're all riled up about something. Or they base their vote on some other meaningless criteria. And that's their prerogative. But it isn't a responsible use of the right to vote.
And so we have never found referendums to be particularly desirable when it comes to essential government services, such as building or renovating schools. William Tennent High School, for example, is targeted for a $79 million makeover that includes some renovation and some new construction.
Critics have argued from the outset that taxpayers should have made the call, not the Centennial school board. And at least one school board member says the price is “unrealistic” and predicted that the project will end up costing more like $100 million.
We're glad board member Betty Huf is speaking up. By sharpening focus on the project, officials have been forced to redouble their vow to bring in the project at the advertised price. So taxpayers should benefit from the renewed attention to a decided issue.
Nobody would have benefited from a referendum that likely would have split the community into warring camps. At least the school board's vote was based on cold calculations and not hot rhetoric.
Among the advantages of representative democracy is that it inoculates society from rash judgments fueled by misperceptions and misinformation.
Taxpayers in the Centennial School District, critics of the high school makeover among them, can be confident that the board's decision on this issue was both careful and thoughtful. For their part, board members can win public confidence by coming in on budget.
The BCCT Editorial Board is a sad joke. They unashamedly bash one board for failing to go to referendum, and turn around and applaud another for the same thing. They are what are commonly known as assclowns. If you are going to change your opinion with the wind, at least have the courage to acknowledge the previously ham-handed opinion you now disagree with and why you've changed your tune. Perhaps they are learning from the national politicians, who regularly update their convixtions based on the latest polling numbers.
Finally, The Poll was a disgrace on so many levels. Has no one taken responsibility? What did the author(s) hope to accomplish? Where is the news about the investigations of the board's illegal manueverings?
The poll was created by Gloria Heater and presented to the Facilities Committee. I don't know who they actually gave it to.
Ah!! That explains some of the issues raised. Still, what did she or anyone expect to come of it? Do these people ever think anything through?
"what did she or anyone expect to come of it? Do these people ever think anything through?"
They were clearly trying to direct people to give the answers they want to hear so they could stand up say, see, even the parents of students think we should fix the electrical problems with aluminum foil and the boilers with duct tape and it will only cost us eight dollars!
There was absolutely no objectivity to that survey whatsoever. I found this how-to create a survey interesting, especially under Tips and Warnings, which states: 'Be careful in the way you phrase questions. You don't want to bias your respondents' answers. Instead of asking a question like, "Would you go to a shop that's surrounded by other businesses and lots of traffic?" ask, "Would you go to a shop that is stand-alone ' [sic] that is, one that is by itself instead of in a mall?"'
Didn't Sandy Gibson work at Temple University doing surveys? I suppose asking her to help would be too much for the board to consider. You know, actually tapping the expertise they have at hand.
When pigs fly!!!
Good idea, though.
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