Thanks to the contributor who sent me links to stories that appeared on KYW3 and Fox29 regarding a new school being built in Chester County.
It's being built on a Superfund site.
Look, Mom! Look what I brought home. I found it in the schoolyard........
Chester Co. School Proposal Draws Opposition
KIMBERTON, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
Phoenixville Township held a controversial school board workshop on Thursday to decide whether or not to begin construction on a new school.
The proposed location for the new East Pikeland Elementary school is on a potentially dangerous toxic superfund site, a location that has local parents up in arms.
"I believe this is a time bomb waiting to happen," Celeste McGilney said. "We have a bed of water that is contaminated and no one can say to me that that water will not come up"
Test wells of the groundwater from a landfill near the proposed location have tested positive for TCE, however the EPA and DEP both say the site is appropriate and poses no health risk.
Despite assurances from the government and Chester County, officials some residents, like Jeff Effgen, still aren't convinced that this decision isn't one they won't soon regret.
"The fact that you can't drink the water, still is a red flag and an alarm to me and I think it might be retroactively something that we're really embarrassed to have not dealt with."
The EPA has made their recommendations, however it is ultimately up to the district to decide whether or not to proceed with the construction.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Not a Tony Winning Performance
The BCCT today again recognized that the Emperor is running a one man show. Unlike the folksy Mark Twain of Hal Holbrook, or the spot on Ebenezer Scrooge by Patrick Stewart, the world of William Hellmann, CPA, Emperor of Education, is far less entertaining. It is a dark and sinister place. His penchant for sharp and divisive activity, especially where none was needed, has been played out time after time.
"Let's speed this up." "Vote now." "I'm tired of all this." "Let's move on." "Your time is up." The schools director who is for the taxpayer. Isn't that a rather ironic slice of life? All through literature, we find the story of the guy on the wrong side of things. Through experiences, they find the right side, move over, and there's a happy ending. Not so here.
I do take issue with the use of the word virtuoso in the editorial below. The connotation of that word is rather exemplary, defining someone with exceptional and unique talents. We're all unique. It's what we do that is a moral issue. It is often an innocent progression, which leads unexpectedly to other, possible nasty, uses.
There's still a way out. A reader already suggested a way that the board members themselves can begin to clean up the mess quickly, quietly, and without a monetary cost.
I can't **RECALL** another way to handle this myself...
While I do not think that the Emperor is capital "E" Evil personified (think Hitler and Stalin), his obvious inability to work and play well with others is a small "e" evil that does need to be addressed.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Evil is nourished and grows by concealment." - Virgil
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil." - Max Lerner
"Of two evils, choose neither." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
One-man band
Multiple heads are better than one.
Morrisville school board President William Hellman is very smart and very capable. He thinks big and has lots of ideas.
Problem is he’s a one-man band. Nobody else on the board gets to play along. At least that’s the way it appears.
Thus, a stunning and divisive proposal to simply dissolve the high school and pay for students to be educated in other districts shows up as a formal proposal. No public debate by board members. No input from citizens.
Maybe Hellmann’s plan is the best thing for the struggling district, its overburdened taxpayers and, most importantly, the students. And maybe shutting the borough’s two elementary schools and uniting them at a renovated high school is a great solution, too — another of Hellman’s big ideas.
It’s just that other board members, as elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, ought to be part of the planning process.
We strongly urge the borough’s virtuoso board president to share the spotlight.
"Let's speed this up." "Vote now." "I'm tired of all this." "Let's move on." "Your time is up." The schools director who is for the taxpayer. Isn't that a rather ironic slice of life? All through literature, we find the story of the guy on the wrong side of things. Through experiences, they find the right side, move over, and there's a happy ending. Not so here.
I do take issue with the use of the word virtuoso in the editorial below. The connotation of that word is rather exemplary, defining someone with exceptional and unique talents. We're all unique. It's what we do that is a moral issue. It is often an innocent progression, which leads unexpectedly to other, possible nasty, uses.
There's still a way out. A reader already suggested a way that the board members themselves can begin to clean up the mess quickly, quietly, and without a monetary cost.
I can't **RECALL** another way to handle this myself...
While I do not think that the Emperor is capital "E" Evil personified (think Hitler and Stalin), his obvious inability to work and play well with others is a small "e" evil that does need to be addressed.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Evil is nourished and grows by concealment." - Virgil
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil." - Max Lerner
"Of two evils, choose neither." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
One-man band
Multiple heads are better than one.
Morrisville school board President William Hellman is very smart and very capable. He thinks big and has lots of ideas.
Problem is he’s a one-man band. Nobody else on the board gets to play along. At least that’s the way it appears.
Thus, a stunning and divisive proposal to simply dissolve the high school and pay for students to be educated in other districts shows up as a formal proposal. No public debate by board members. No input from citizens.
Maybe Hellmann’s plan is the best thing for the struggling district, its overburdened taxpayers and, most importantly, the students. And maybe shutting the borough’s two elementary schools and uniting them at a renovated high school is a great solution, too — another of Hellman’s big ideas.
It’s just that other board members, as elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, ought to be part of the planning process.
We strongly urge the borough’s virtuoso board president to share the spotlight.
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