We Didn't Know How Much We DIDN'T Know

From the BCCT this morning. First is a guest opinion on how destroying the school system will only destroy the community. This is something that the people here on this blog have been saying for months now.

Next is a "Thumbs up" from the BCCT on the Tech High School budget mess. I'm not sure I agree completely. Yes, it's great that the logjam was broken, but why does it take international class brinksmanship and public histrionics to force others to the negotiating table simply to do the right thing for the kids AND the taxpayers? There's also praise for the Pennsbury citizens commission and praise for the state House Education Committee's approval of the new school funding formula. If you have not clicked on the green link to the left and registered your displeasure with your elected officials, why are you waiting?

Lastly, there is an article on the Tech School graduates themselves. Here's the heart of the "why" when people ask "why do we have a school system?" Answer: It's an investment in the future.

Destroying our schools will only destroy our community
By WILLIAM S. UMEK

Current Morrisville school board members were elected based on a platform of not raising taxes and doing away with a plan to build a new school, which would have resulted in many more positive results than negative ones for the community.

Now, they are in a position whereby they cannot meet the promise of not increasing taxes without having to tax us double next year (time to start saving money, so they can save face) and they are on the edge of getting Morrisville sued by the state. We went from a board that wanted to improve the borough and the education
we provide our children to one that wants to deteriorate (the borough) to the point that the state would have to step in.

How did we end up here? New schools create a sense of pride, induce homebuyers to move in and generally raise the bar for the community. They also cost money, which is what people generally use to invest in their future.

Morrisville residents have voted to stagnate and deteriorate; the opposite of improving. What pride is there in a rundown school and a community that votes against improving them? Who wants to move into a community that does not invest in the future of their children?

I have seen dozens of nice homes that are still for sale from over a year ago. As for raising the bar and investing in our future, how much more money do I want to invest in my home or would the right move be to get out before it is too late?

If current board members have to eat their words and raise taxes, so be it. I can’t fathom that any one would ever believe that undeliverable promise in this day and age. I am sure that being sued by the state and defending the half-witted decision to not fund education will cost more than the amount our taxes increase. This is not grade school where you get elected to class president by convincing people you will have soda coming out of the water fountains.

At that level there are not any repercussions for this inability to think a plan and a promise through to a feasible conclusion. However, there are repercussions when you are running a school board and while it may not turn out well for the board members, the real issue is the long-term effects this will have on Morrisville Borough, its students and future residents.

We need to find a way to remedy this. Unfortunately, one way has been missed by the board not voting to take advantage of state exceptions to raising taxes. It would be nice to believe and one would expect that the new school board members would know how to do their job. Apparently they do not, hence the situation we are in (unless they planned on creating this mess).

It does seem that there are many experienced, smart and bright people in the district who can guide the board in making timely and informed decisions. Reba Dunford is one such person who has presented a sensible option. But was this suggested before or after the board’s decision in January? If it was after, I wish she could have made it before. And while she is not to blame for the position the board has put us in, it would be a great idea for the people of this community like her, who have the knowledge and understand how a school board should operate, to pitch in and make suggestions in line with improving our school situation. It is not a matter of being paid or not. It is a matter of improving OUR community.

My plea to the residents of Morrisville is that we come together as a community to fix this. We need to offer our experience, regardless of party and preference to the current board.

My plea to the board is to seek out the help they need to make accurate and timely decisions and to be open to the suggestions of those with more experience than themselves. We can come together, show what a great sense of community we have and put ourselves on the right track — or we can begin the process of decline into a borough that the state labels financially distressed.

I would prefer that Morrisville be labeled as a great place to live and to raise a family.

William S. Umek has lived in Morrisville for 10 years and has three boys who attend school in the district.

------------------------------------

Thumbs Up

To the Bensalem school board for finally voting last week to end the logjam that kept the Bucks County Technical High School from implementing its $21.7 million budget for the 2008-09 school year. The board voted unanimously for the budget only after the tech school’s joint board committee agreed to tackle a controversial funding formula this summer.

The agreement to approve the budget means that each sending district’s share of the cost of running the comprehensive tech school will increase 4.4 percent.

The Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school districts send students to the tech school for training in about three dozen trades, along with academics. Bristol Township, Bensalem and Morrisville have complained about the cost-sharing arrangement with the other districts.

We hope that representatives of all the districts on the joint board committee will come up with a proper cost-sharing arrangement this summer to avoid this thorny issue in the future.

To the Pennsbury school board’s citizens advisory budget committee and board member Gene Dolnick, who suggested forming the panel.

The idea was to get residents involved in the budget process beyond just commenting (read complaining) after a budget’s been proposed. The goal, in addition to smoothing public reaction to almost inevitable tax hikes, is to take advantage of expertise in the community and, perhaps, forestall a tax increase.

The committee attempted to do that by recommending ways to cut costs and generate revenue. We encourage the board to give the panel’s recommendations serious consideration. And we encourage other school boards to follow Pennsbury’s lead and form their own citizen budget panels.

To the State House Education Committee, which voted in favor of a new school funding formula.

The new formula for supplemental state funding, if approved by the Legislature, would take into consideration enrollment, the number of low-income students and English-language learners, district size and regional cost differences.

This would help ensure that the needs of every district are adequately addressed, thus creating the opportunity for each district to provide every student with a quality education.

We encourage the full House to likewise pass the measure and the Senate to adopt a similar bill.

------------------------------------

Students plotting out their futures
Graduates of the tech school’s civil engineering class, one of just a handful in the U.S., can walk into jobs that pay between $13 and $15 per hour.
By JOAN HELLYER

Sean Gosner said he has been mistaken for a space traveler while working on a project at Bucks County Technical High School.

“One guy said, ‘Hey, that’s a cool jetpack,’” Sean, 17, a tech school junior, said of the global positioning system he carries on his back while collecting data for the civil engineering project.

But don’t think that Sean minds the onlooker confusion. “I like using the GPS unit for receiving information and walking around to get the shots,” the Bristol Township resident said.

Students in Bob Hale’s civil engineering class have fanned out across the approximate 45-acre campus off Wistar Road in Bristol Township for the past several weeks to record data about the property.

The high school juniors use global positioning systems linked to six satellites and data collectors to record information that they bring back into the school and download on their computers. Information collected during the course of three marking periods will be used to create maps of the school property, Hale said.

The GPS instrument provides the students with coordinates and data on the tech school complex including the building and its surrounding driveways, vegetation and boundary lines, students said.

“Come 50 toward us, in a straight line,” BCTHS junior Anthony Schaffer, 17, said Thursday afternoon to project partner Lady Venegas, as they prepared to record elevation information in a corner of the school’s main courtyard.

Anthony, a Middletown resident, said he’s learned some valuable lessons while doing the project at the comprehensive technical high school, which serves the Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school districts.

“I’m smarter than I thought I was. We didn’t know how much we know,” Anthony said.

The GPS instruments and data collectors were secured through grants and donations from local engineers, Hale said. The students said they use that equipment and other skills including measurements, geometric equations, field notes and research skills they have developed during the last three years to do their work.

The project is designed to help students understand how to make sure the original project was done according to plan, Hale said. Their completed work will be referred to an “as built plan” if it proves the school complex was built according to plan, he said.

The exercise helps students see what they would actually do if they were land surveyors, Hale said.

The tech school’s civil engineering class is one of just a handful of civil engineering classes across the United States, the teacher said.

Students who graduate from the civil engineering class generally are able to secure land surveying-type jobs that pay between $13 and $15 per hour, Hale said. They can also pursue various careers in civil engineering, land surveying, architecture and environmental protection with additional schooling, the tech school teacher said.

If students earn a two-year degree in any of those backgrounds, they’ll likely be able to secure a $30,000 annual salary, he said. A four-year degree will provide an extra $10,000 in annual income, Hale estimated.

An advanced degree will bring home a $65,000 annual salary, and civil engineers who are licensed can make a six-figure salary, he said.

“We’re beyond high school students,” BCTHS junior Dan Quinn, 17, said. “The kids who have already graduated said it has done wonders for them and they already know what they’re doing when they get to college.”