The Sunday BCCT

Why don't you check out the Sunday BCCT. Grab a cup of coffee and relax. There's a commentary on NCLB, three local districts with teacher contracts expiring (take a look at how the budget process affects the contract negotiation process) and local towns actually uniting with local school boards to promote development. (The rumors are TRUE! Outside of Morrisville, cooperation toward a common goal does exist!)

GUEST OPINION
No Child Left Behind leaving far too many behind

“No Child Left Behind” is working? It is if your definition of “No Child” equates to 70 percent of our children.

Last month’s report by America’s Promise Alliance concluded that nationwide, nearly 1.2 million students drop out of school every year and that about seven out of 10 students graduate on time. While these alarming statistics may only seem a problem for failing schools and the children they affect, the loss of potential along with the economic burden on society as a whole should be of immense concern for all of us. The Alliance along with the Bill Gates Foundation has announced its support for summits to be held across the country to “increase awareness, encourage collaboration and facilitate action” to improve graduation rates. But will any of these summits deliver anything different than the same ole-same ole?

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer editorial addressed the dropout problem, stating, “The problems are complex and not entirely the schools’ fault. In fact, the most effective solutions to reducing the dropout rates start at home.”

In a perfect world, that may be, but home is only the solution where there is no dropout problem. It’s a Catch 22. If the home solution premise was applicable to the kids dropping out, we would have no such problem. You’d be better calling for a wholesale change in society than expect the families of dropouts to be able to get the kids back at their desks.

You can have as many educators’ symposiums and “dropout summits” as you like. But no matter how hard you work it, continuing the same approach and expecting a different result, is not a description of success. It’s the definition of insanity.

It doesn’t start in the home, or with the student. It starts with the attitude of the educational system towards the student. And that will need a complete overhaul. That might sound expensive, but it really isn’t. When a child drops out of school we not only lose revenues derived if they had remained, but we’re also losing their futures and everything they could have contributed to society. We’re losing the taxes from work income and the potential their creativity could have generated, if only we showed them how to access it. Instead we end up with welfare and criminal drains on our taxes and well-being. An overhaul done right becomes a revenue producer, not an expense.

The turnaround calls for reminding children, repeatedly, how adversity, mistakes and failure can be key ingredients to cooking up a tasty pot of success. Pushing ahead in spite of the obstacles we all face not only turns many defeats into victories, but more importantly, reveals a passion or hidden talent that otherwise would have remained buried; something so unique to the child alone, something so vital to his or her happiness, that no one else but they could have discovered it.

But it all starts by removing the negative implication of the word “failure.”

In sports, we call it practice. In entertainment, rehearsal. In science, research. In education ... failure.

That can be changed the moment we choose to start using the tools that failure provides; not to smash, but to shape possibilities.

It’s is not about embracing incompetence, but about students recognizing their own strengths, no matter what they are, and using them as a jumping off point. Failure should never be where we stop, but where we begin; not a place of loss, but one of discovery.

In most cases our present educational process makes an effort to teach the same thing to in the same way to every individual student and expecting the same result. But with each student’s individual experience and level of expertise, how in the world would we ever expect any diverse group of children to learn on an equal level?

In this lemons-to-lemonade principle, we must allow students to create their own lemonade. It may not turn out as sweet as we think it should be, but the process is not about accommodating our personal taste. It’s about helping each student tap into his or her own heart, soul and enthusiasm; into that part of the student that says “I can do it.”

The idea is not to judge, not to stifle, not to kill the freedom and energy that creativity breeds.

Hopefully, our educational system sees the benefit of teaching every student where they are. Only then will our children can see how far they can go.

The cost, negligible. The benefits, astronomical.

Steve Young,
Langhorne, is author of “Great Failures of the Extremely Successful” (www.greatfailure.com)

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Teacher contracts up in 3 districts
By HILARY BENTMAN
STAFF WRITER

While school districts are working to finalize their 2008-09 budgets by the June 30 deadline, several in the area are finding themselves at a considerable disadvantage — not knowing how much it will cost to pay their teachers next year.

The Palisades, Neshaminy, and Bristol Borough districts in Bucks County will see their teachers’ contracts expire at the end of this school year, and have yet to ink a new deal with their unions.

Salary and benefits account for about two-thirds of a budget, and district officials say they are trying to make educated guesses as to how much a new agreement will cost.

Administrators in Palisades are tight-lipped about how they’re budgeting in anticipation of new contracts, citing ongoing negotiations as the reason for their reticence.

“We do the best we can to estimate where we think things will fall,” said Donna Holmes, spokeswoman for the Palisades district, which has 160 teachers nearing the end of a three-year deal.

There is one important factor in negotiating — a school board cannot agree to a contract that is more expensive than what’s been budgeted.

For example, if a district sets aside $1 million to cover salaries, the board cannot agree to a deal that would cost $2 million, said Joe Paradise, business administrator for Neshaminy, where its teachers are coming to the end of a seven-year agreement.

In calculating its 2008-09 budget, Neshaminy officials are going by the current salary schedule, but have added on the amount owed to teachers who will reach the next level in experience.

Teachers are paid more for years of service, so if a fourth-year teacher is entering his fifth year, for example, the district will budget his fifth-year salary, based on the pay scale as it currently stands.

For health care, Paradise said Neshaminy will plan as if the current benefits program goes unchanged but will budget the 16 percent to 18 percent increases expected from the carrier, Blue Cross.

Palisades has faced some difficulties ironing out contracts in the past. Its current deal was not inked until October 2005, or three months after the previous deal expired. While classes continued uninterrupted, teachers worked only their contracted hours and some back-to-school nights were canceled.

The pact provided for approximately 3 percent raises annually. Starting salaries for new teachers jumped from $36,671 to $40,000 by 2007-08, while maximum salary increased from $88,309 to $93,505. Teachers agreed to contribute 11 percent to health care costs.

Under Palisades’ proposed $36.3 million budget for 2008-09, about $23.8 million is set aside for salary and benefits, representing nearly 66 percent of the budget.

Under the current year’s $34.7 million budget, about 67 percent of the budget is for wages and health care.

Laurie Borger, president of the Palisades’ teachers union, calls the bargaining environment “very amicable” and expects to reach an agreement before school starts in the fall.

In Neshaminy, negotiations have been described as slow. A state appointed fact-finder has now reviewed both sides and is expected to shortly release a recommendation to the school board and union.

Each side has about 10 days to accept or reject the deal. School board attorney Charles Sweet said the report will be made public if both sides reject or accept the contract.

Under the current deal, a new hire earns about $42,552, while a teacher with a master’s degree plus 30 credits is making about $95,923.

Teachers do not pay any health care premiums, but they do pay $15 co-pays and $5 and $20 for generic and brandname drugs, respectively.

Of the district’s $166.6 million proposed budget for next year, about $118 million, or 71 percent, is set aside for salary and benefits.

Bristol Borough teachers will see their five-year deal expire at the end of August.

School board members have met with teachers union representatives a couple of times, and plan to do so again in June, said district business manager Joseph Roe, who declined to provide specifics about what’s been discussed so far.

The Lower Bucks district has about 100 teachers. Under its expiring deal, salaries increased 13 percent over the length of the contract.

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Towns unite to apply for development grant
The aim is to improve the Penndel train station and the surrounding area.
By GEMA MARIA DUARTE

Ask and you shall receive.

At least that’s how it happened for Penndel.

Borough Councilwoman Barbara Heffelfinger asked Middletown’s supervisors Tuesday to participate in a partnership that would enable the borough to apply for a Transportation Revitalization Investment District — or TRID — grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

Middletown committed $15,000 to the project, which calls for improving the Penndel train station and its surrounding area.

“I think it’s a good idea because part of land they want to improve, the parking lot around the train station, is in Middletown,” Middletown Supervisor Jasper Caro said Thursday. “With just about anything you do, you need a study, and this will help get that out of the way. If everything comes to fruition and there is a marked improvement in that area, then it will be that much more worthwhile.”

The purpose of TRID is to spur transit-oriented community revitalization and enhance the community character around public transit facilities. The major objective is to encourage municipal cooperative approaches to generate new investment, reinvestment and revitalization through transit-oriented development as well as increasing public transit.

In addition to the $15,000 from Middletown, Penndel would chip in $10,000 to match part of the $75,000 TRID grant.

“Middletown voted to commit to the funds for the match if the grant is awarded to Penndel,” Ward McMasters, Penndel’s council president said Thursday.

“Heffelfinger, her committee, the borough council, borough planner Joseph Luste and other consultants are to be commended for what has been achieved in the last seven years,’’ McMasters said. “There have been a number of grants that have resulted in a number of critical studies and recommendations leading the borough to the last piece of the puzzle, a TRID application.”

Middletown also is one of several groups that have written letters of support for the grant application. Langhorne Manor, Neshaminy School District, SEPTA and other county agencies also have given their support, McMasters said.

School Board Business Meeting Wednesday

Looking ahead through the holiday weekend, the public has another chance to be ignored by the full school board during the monthly business meeting on Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 7:30 P.M. in the MHS LGI. This month's battle: The budget.

It's hard to stand up in front of the board, speak your precisely timed three minute statement, and then have the Emperor cavalierly proclaim "I have nothing to say", but come on out anyway. I hear that some of the people have started bringing snacks and there's a pool running on how soon into the meeting the first snarl will come from the Emperor. (I chose "during the Pledge of Allegiance" in the pool. Did you notice he doesn't even invite the public to stand anymore? He just bangs the gavel and stands.) Marlys Mihok is even sponsoring a contest for the spiffiest ring tone to be heard during the meeting. Prizes will not be awarded, but she will grace you with a withering stare.

The truth is that, yes, the Emperor DOES need to address the concerns of the public. That's the entire meaning behind the thirty day display period for the budget and the public comment period at each meeting. The public is invited to come out and state their concerns. It's also the duty of the board members to RESPOND to those concerns. Notice I did not say they had to AGREE with the concerns: They only need to RESPOND. Do you remember how Sandy Gibson used to make a list and go down it: "Mr. Jones, you talked about"..."Mrs. Smith, we can't do that and here's why"...and on and on. Our Lord Sovereign Emperor does not speak to mere mortals, nor address their concerns. But he's supposed to. He works for you, remember?

Sports News at MHS

Congratulations to the MHS Baseball AND Softball teams on a great season and best wishes as they continue through the district playoffs.

On Tuesday the baseball team will play the Class A semifinal match against Delco Christian.

Also on Tuesday, the softball team will play their Class A semifinal match against Christopher Dock. This game will be played at William Tennent.