Hellmann'$ Chri$tmas Pre$ent

From the BCCT.

Doe$ $crooge ever receive the the me$$age from the three gho$t$? Or were the dream$ $imply returned to $ender, addre$$ unknown?

The children of Morri$ville are only dollar $ign$ to the Emperor Pre$ident. They are $imply another commodity to be traded, bought, and $old.

The Emperor'$ opening $tatement recounting all the $aving$ he ha$ $upplied $howed much more that dollar$ and cent$ It $howed u$ an empty void. How $ad.

Voter$: We got what we paid for. Enjoy the $aving$.

Board plans hearing to close Reiter
Angry parents packed the meeting room to oppose the move. “Our community’s children are not numbers,” said one.
By MANASEE WAGH

After a 25-minute-late start and much heated finger-pointing, the Morrisville School Board voted Wednesday night to advertise for a public hearing to close M.R. Reiter Elementary School.

The hearing would be set for Wednesday, Jan. 14. Board members Robin Reithmeyer, Gloria Heater and Joseph Kemp voted against the advertisement. Board member Al Radosti was absent.

At least 150 residents packed the meeting room, many of them parents of elementary schoolchildren.

Prior to the vote, the board heard public comment from nearly 20 different borough residents, the majority of whom were angry and emotional about the move toward closing the school without determining where to place its more than 250 students safely.

“If these were your children, would you even consider this option?” elementary PTO President Robin Tohm asked the board.

She broke down in tears as she thanked the district staff and administrators for smoothly transitioning Reiter students to alternative locations temporarily after a late night explosion in Reiter’s furnace room blew out windows in the building on Dec. 13.

From Dec. 17 until at least Jan. 5, Reiter students are to attend class at alternative district locations, including the Morrisville YMCA, the Middle/Senior High School and Grandview Elementary School.

Parents expressed anger over board President William Hellmann’s statement at the start of the meeting outlining how much the current board is saving the borough in tax money through canceling last year’s planned construction of a new, $30 million consolidated school for all grades.

They were also upset about Hellmann’s recent e-mail exchanges with other board members in which he called the deteriorating Reiter a “rat trap” that is consuming borough funds for continued maintenance. Hellmann’s e-mail suggested putting all 400-plus elementary school students from Reiter and Grandview into the middle/senior high school.

“Our community’s children are not numbers,” said parent Damon Miller. “You can’t just shuffle them around.”

Putting all grades into the high school would be extremely difficult, since that building caters to older students’ needs, the administration has said.

In case students cannot return to Reiter during the rest of this school year because of safety concerns, they would be set up in modular units at Grandview, said Elizabeth Yonson, district superintendent. The estimated cost of those units could be $108,000, said administrators.

For an hour before the vote to hold a public hearing, board members argued loudly among themselves about what they did or did not do toward fixing the districts’ three schools this past year. Shouts and comments against the board majority and applause for those who spoke against the board president punctuated their arguments.

Board member Gloria Heater accused Hellmann of trying to get some board members to come to a vote about the future of the schools behind other board members’ backs.

At that, some residents yelled at Hellmann, “Resign now!”

A representative from Vitetta, the engineering and architectural firm the school board hired to analyze district schools, also spoke at the meeting to say that his firm had released its report today about the state of the two elementary schools’ boilers, electrical systems, windows and ventilators. The report includes estimations for renovation costs.

It will be posted on the district Web site at www.mv.org.

The board has to hold a public hearing at least 90 days before making any decision to close a school, according to school code.