What a novel idea: A plan! "We need to think before we start cutting this and cutting that...If you look at it closely, 1,000 square feet is a classroom and that's $250,000. We're not getting back a lot of money by cutting out space and look at what we would be cutting. You got to look at this in the long term."
Allan Schappert, school board president, warned the board not to focus on the project by building to cost. He said keeping the educational needs and requirements in mind also is important.
"How much can we shave off before we're making significant impacts in our ability to deliver education to our children?"
Published July 23, 2008 12:15 am - With rising construction costs and the inclusion of more space, the price tag for Danville's elementary school renovation project has risen $7 million in two months.
Project increases $7M in two months
School board must refine plans
By Jaime North
The Daily Item
DANVILLE -- With rising construction costs and the inclusion of more space, the price tag for Danville's elementary school renovation project has risen $7 million in two months.
The plan to upgrade the Danville, Mahoning-Cooper and Riverside elementary schools will now cost an estimated $47 million after the architect, L. Robert Kimball Associates, recently incorporated the building principals' requests for educational needs and made adjustments for the increasing costs of construction, according to Richard Snodgrass, the district's business administrator.
"We need to get a refinement of what the board wants as a scope of work for these schools," Snodgrass told the school board Tuesday night. "The architect is kind of at a standstill."
In May, the district received an estimate of $40 million to renovate and make additions to the three neighborhood schools, totaling 167,000 square feet. Among the added features were multipurpose rooms, music and art rooms and storage space at each school.
Adding in the principals' list of needs, such as computer labs, the project grew to 176,000 square feet.
It's the extra square feet that needs to be addressed next by the school board, Snodgrass said.
"Obviously, the costs of this project are driven by the square footage," he said. "In order to get the costs down, we need to cut square footage out of the project."
Kellie Krum, a school board member, suggested the board set a limit on the square footage and have the architect work with the elementary principals to determine what needs to be cut or adjusted to reduce the size of the project. Krum was shocked at the size of the overall project, specifically the projected growth at Mahoning-Cooper, which is designed to double in size from 24,000 square feet to more than 60,000 square feet.
"If you could've seen what we were dealing with when we first started talking about this project three years ago to what I see now, it's unbelievable," she said. "The amount of square footage that has grown is incredulous. Somehow, we've been able to limp along with 23,000 square feet at Riverside and 24,000 square feet at Mahoning-Cooper and still been able to educate children."
Simply cutting out space is not the answer, according to Steve Schooley, another board member.
"We need to think before we start cutting this and cutting that," he said. "If you look at it closely, 1,000 square feet is a classroom and that's $250,000. We're not getting back a lot of money by cutting out space and look at what we would be cutting. You got to look at this in the long term."
Allan Schappert, school board president, warned the board not to focus on the project by building to cost. He said keeping the educational needs and requirements in mind also is important.
"How much can we shave off before we're making significant impacts in our ability to deliver education to our children?" Schappert said.
"You've grown significantly in square footage, because you're educating kids in inappropriate spaces," Snodgrass said. "Time is passing, and like I've said, time is money."
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Community Plays a Role in Education
From the Inquirer
Beyond the Spin: Don't underestimate the role community plays in education
By George Curry Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008
Inquirer Columnist
Just mentioning the term school reform will open a floodgate of familiar suggestions: Reduce class sizes, end social promotions, raise graduation standards, reform curricula, expand preschool programs, create charter schools, upgrade the caliber of teachers - and the list goes on.
But Hugh B. Price, former president of the National Urban League, says that while those ideas might be good, we are overlooking perhaps the most effective component of school reform: more community involvement. And he doesn't just make that pitch - he shows us how to do it.
I covered Price's tenure at the National Urban League in the 1990s, and I was always impressed that while other civil-rights leaders grabbed for headlines, Price preferred difficult issues unlikely to put him in the spotlight.
One such issue was education. After leaving the Urban League, Price has continued as an education reform advocate and recently wrote a book titled Mobilizing the Community to Help Students Succeed. In an insightful and readable book equally useful for educators and community organizers, he provides the right mix of examples and research studies to bolster his arguments.
His central argument is: "Communities should motivate youngsters to take school seriously and strive to achieve, and should celebrate them when they do. This culture of achievement augments the efforts of engaged parents and helps fill the void created by parents who are not involved."
Price launched a Campaign for African American Achievement at the National Urban League and allowed local affiliates to devise their own ways of rewarding achievement.
Most affiliates celebrated September as Achievement Month, sending a message early in the school year that success was important. Enlisting other groups, they organized back-to-school parades, dinners, county fairs, block parties, and other events to celebrate academic achievement. Students were presented with certificates, legislative proclamations and, in some cases, money.
In Mount Vernon, N.Y., Superintendent Ronal Ross wanted to improve reading in every elementary school. So he announced that every student who read at least 50 books a year would get a free bicycle. The students had to submit a book report on each book.
"Ross originally figured that the number of winners would be modest enough that if he and and members of his cabinet bought several bikes, that would be sufficient," Price recalled. " . . . To his surprise, nearly 170 students completed at least 50 books. Another 520 read between 40 and 49 books. The top scorer was a black boy in the 5th grade who had read 82 books. The runner-up was another 5th-grade black boy who had read 81 books. All totaled, over 1,600 youngsters read 25 or more books that year."
Ross relied on the business community to help him purchase more bikes.
"All of us want positive reinforcement," Ross explained. "These kids are going to be reading long after they stop riding a bike."
It is also important to encourage students who may never be at the top of the class.
"In K-12 education, schools typically recognize and reward the top achievers in any given category, whether for academic accomplishment or community service. This tradition is perfectly understandable," Price observes. "The trouble is that students who are struggling academically or disenchanted with school may perceive those traditional forms of recognition as utterly out of reach.
"Recognizing this, some schools opt to celebrate a broader array of accomplishments. As one Florida principal whose school follows this practice puts it, 'I believe that all students need to be motivated, and when you only recognize the A students, you have lost a group of students who think they can never be recognized. . . . We have students set individual goals for reading, math and writing. When they meet their goals, they are rewarded for their work.' "
A California principal said such an approach is "a way to reward individual students for reaching their potential, not surpassing others."
The role the community plays in education should never be underestimated.
"Children do indeed pay attention to values and norms transmitted by others," Price writes. " . . . Because young children aren't yet adept at self-appraisal, they tend to rely on others' opinions to create their own judgments of confidence and self-worth."
Communities can play a powerful role in helping students reach their potential.
Beyond the Spin: Don't underestimate the role community plays in education
By George Curry Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008
Inquirer Columnist
Just mentioning the term school reform will open a floodgate of familiar suggestions: Reduce class sizes, end social promotions, raise graduation standards, reform curricula, expand preschool programs, create charter schools, upgrade the caliber of teachers - and the list goes on.
But Hugh B. Price, former president of the National Urban League, says that while those ideas might be good, we are overlooking perhaps the most effective component of school reform: more community involvement. And he doesn't just make that pitch - he shows us how to do it.
I covered Price's tenure at the National Urban League in the 1990s, and I was always impressed that while other civil-rights leaders grabbed for headlines, Price preferred difficult issues unlikely to put him in the spotlight.
One such issue was education. After leaving the Urban League, Price has continued as an education reform advocate and recently wrote a book titled Mobilizing the Community to Help Students Succeed. In an insightful and readable book equally useful for educators and community organizers, he provides the right mix of examples and research studies to bolster his arguments.
His central argument is: "Communities should motivate youngsters to take school seriously and strive to achieve, and should celebrate them when they do. This culture of achievement augments the efforts of engaged parents and helps fill the void created by parents who are not involved."
Price launched a Campaign for African American Achievement at the National Urban League and allowed local affiliates to devise their own ways of rewarding achievement.
Most affiliates celebrated September as Achievement Month, sending a message early in the school year that success was important. Enlisting other groups, they organized back-to-school parades, dinners, county fairs, block parties, and other events to celebrate academic achievement. Students were presented with certificates, legislative proclamations and, in some cases, money.
In Mount Vernon, N.Y., Superintendent Ronal Ross wanted to improve reading in every elementary school. So he announced that every student who read at least 50 books a year would get a free bicycle. The students had to submit a book report on each book.
"Ross originally figured that the number of winners would be modest enough that if he and and members of his cabinet bought several bikes, that would be sufficient," Price recalled. " . . . To his surprise, nearly 170 students completed at least 50 books. Another 520 read between 40 and 49 books. The top scorer was a black boy in the 5th grade who had read 82 books. The runner-up was another 5th-grade black boy who had read 81 books. All totaled, over 1,600 youngsters read 25 or more books that year."
Ross relied on the business community to help him purchase more bikes.
"All of us want positive reinforcement," Ross explained. "These kids are going to be reading long after they stop riding a bike."
It is also important to encourage students who may never be at the top of the class.
"In K-12 education, schools typically recognize and reward the top achievers in any given category, whether for academic accomplishment or community service. This tradition is perfectly understandable," Price observes. "The trouble is that students who are struggling academically or disenchanted with school may perceive those traditional forms of recognition as utterly out of reach.
"Recognizing this, some schools opt to celebrate a broader array of accomplishments. As one Florida principal whose school follows this practice puts it, 'I believe that all students need to be motivated, and when you only recognize the A students, you have lost a group of students who think they can never be recognized. . . . We have students set individual goals for reading, math and writing. When they meet their goals, they are rewarded for their work.' "
A California principal said such an approach is "a way to reward individual students for reaching their potential, not surpassing others."
The role the community plays in education should never be underestimated.
"Children do indeed pay attention to values and norms transmitted by others," Price writes. " . . . Because young children aren't yet adept at self-appraisal, they tend to rely on others' opinions to create their own judgments of confidence and self-worth."
Communities can play a powerful role in helping students reach their potential.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Relax. Your eyes are not going bad and you don't need to wait for the coffee to kick in. That's a Latin phrase meaning generally "Who watches the watchers?"
I received an email asking an interesting question: Who is physically doing the Morrisville re-registrations? Only Morrisville School District employees can perform this function for confidentiality reasons. The email I received suggested that community volunteers were going to be assisting. Does anyone have the facts?
UPDATED July 31:
VOLUNTEER REQUEST - STUDENT RE-REGISTRATION
The Morrisville School District is requesting volunteers to assist with re-registration of ALL district students. Re-registrations will take place at the Morrisville M/S High School on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8:30 to noon and 1:00 to 3:00 during the day as well as in the evening from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on the following dates -- August 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 -- also on Saturdays August 9 and 16 from 10 am to 3 pm.
Please call the Office of the Superintendent 215-736-5930 if you can offer assistance in this process. As always, thank you for your support.
I received an email asking an interesting question: Who is physically doing the Morrisville re-registrations? Only Morrisville School District employees can perform this function for confidentiality reasons. The email I received suggested that community volunteers were going to be assisting. Does anyone have the facts?
UPDATED July 31:
VOLUNTEER REQUEST - STUDENT RE-REGISTRATION
The Morrisville School District is requesting volunteers to assist with re-registration of ALL district students. Re-registrations will take place at the Morrisville M/S High School on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8:30 to noon and 1:00 to 3:00 during the day as well as in the evening from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on the following dates -- August 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 -- also on Saturdays August 9 and 16 from 10 am to 3 pm.
Please call the Office of the Superintendent 215-736-5930 if you can offer assistance in this process. As always, thank you for your support.
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