From the Norristown Times Herald. I wonder if anyone from the Morrisville Borough Council or the Morrisville School Board would attend or host a similar conference right here at home.
Event to address suburban issues
CARL ROTENBERG, Times Herald Staff, 09/27/2008
NORRISTOWN - The problems of ever-increasing school budgets, crumbling water and sewer infrastructure and blighted housing in the Philadelphia suburbs will be addressed Sunday afternoon in a unique "First Suburbs" public forum at St. Patrick's R.C. Church.
The 4 to 6 p.m. public program will feature Gov. Ed Rendell with 600 elected and appointed officials from Montgomery, Chester, Bucks and Delaware counties. It is free and open to the public, but requires pre-registration.
A coalition of clergy and public officials organized the agenda to address problems specific to the first-ring suburbs adjacent to Philadelphia.
John McKelligott, the former school board president of William Penn School District in eastern Delaware County, will talk about reducing unfunded state and federal mandates for local school districts while increasing the funding base for schools.
"This is about fighting blight and preventing blight in the older suburbs. One prime issue are the financially burdensome school districts that cost more than the residents can pay," McKelligott said. "The schools need to be renewed to attract new residents."
McKelligott praised Rendell's education budget for making the school funding system "reasonable and equitable."
"We need to proceed with this school financing going forward," he said. "We need to diminish the excessive property tax burden on older communities."
McKelligott argued that because school taxes are a big chunk of the total tax burden it inhibits township government from creating innovative programs.
"The First Suburbs program will present our needs and our petitions to significant state legislators and public officials," McKelligott said.
Several area state representatives are slated to attend the forum.
State Rep. Jay Moyer, R-70th Dist., said he was in agreement with the First Suburbs agenda and will attend.
"I'm in synch with what they want to do. The revitalization of Norristown is one of my top priority items," Moyer said.
"On the school finance reform, I was proud to vote for the additional $1.5 million for the Norristown Area School District," Moyer said. "We changed the formula around and the governor agreed."
Moyer will support a $100 million earmark from the federal government for water and sewer repairs in Pennsylvania.
"I've been working with (Sen.) Arlen Specter's office on this," Moyer said.
David Forrest, the Norristown Municipal Administrator, is looking forward to the forum.
"The aim of the project is to bring all the community leaders together to identify the challenges we all have in common and ask our legislative leaders to support us in addressing those challenges," Forrest said.
"We've gotten over 400 people who have pre-registered," Forrest said. "We're expecting at least 200 on Sunday who have not registered yet."
Father William Murphy of St. Patrick's Church, said the church hierarchy had decided to host the event "because it will bring together people of different faiths and anyone interested in the welfare of Norristown."
Montgomery County Commissioner Joseph M. Hoeffel III, state Rep. Lawrence Curry, D-154th Dist., and eight state senators and representatives from neighboring districts will attend the forum.
The William Penn Foundation and several charitable organizations are sponsoring the forum.
"After this convention we'll come away with a work plan to put this into action," said Alison Murawski, the communications manager of Good Schools Pennsylvania. "We will see more gatherings of this organization and discussions on how we will roll out this agenda."
Sunday, September 28, 2008
From High School to the Workforce
From the Inquirer
Philly-area program moves students to workforce
RACHEL CANELLI
The Associated Press Posted on Sat, Sep. 27, 2008
NEWTOWN, Pa. - As Max Clamper sat waiting for the interviewer to call his name, he lightly patted his hands against his legs in an anxious rhythm.
"Don't be nervous," he told himself as he took a deep breath to relax, and comforted himself with words of wisdom. "Speak with confidence. Give a firm handshake; otherwise it'll be like a dead fish. Sit up straight and try not to repeat yourself."
To 20-year-old Max, the meeting wasn't just about a post, or a paycheck. It was about self-sufficiency.
"I'm praying I get the job," said Max as his dark, wide eyes smiled through his thin glasses. That's why he's been getting some extra help to prepare for the working world.
A former Council Rock High School South student, Max is one of several teens and young adults enrolled in the Council Rock Educational Center's office skills training program.
Located in an office building in Newtown Township, the course is run by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit No. 22. It's a transition for participants who've moved beyond their respective school or district's special education program, administrators said.
"This is about more than just getting a job , it's about keeping one," said lead teacher Christopher Polzer. "School is much different than work. That's why we emphasize social aspects like team-building, working together, and realizing their strengths and weaknesses."
Several districts, including Council Rock, Neshaminy, Pennsbury and Bristol Borough, feed into the program, which serves 18- to 21-year-olds, Polzer added.
Besides practicing interviewing skills, the students learn about dress codes, making eye contact, hooking up computers to the Internet and phrases like "rolling with the punches" and "tooting your own horn."
"They're good workers," said Joyce Mosticchio, job developer and trainer. "It's all about gaining independence."
The men and women also receive work experience from various training sites around the county like the I.U., Mosticchio said.
"This program is fabulous because it gets you out there and ready for the outside world," said Clamper. "I'm a very knowledgeable kid, but my goal is to live on my own. And maybe drive a car in the next 10 years."
While Max was rehearsing questions to ask his interviewers, he found out that he's now one step closer to those goals , he got a job with the I.U.
Philly-area program moves students to workforce
RACHEL CANELLI
The Associated Press Posted on Sat, Sep. 27, 2008
NEWTOWN, Pa. - As Max Clamper sat waiting for the interviewer to call his name, he lightly patted his hands against his legs in an anxious rhythm.
"Don't be nervous," he told himself as he took a deep breath to relax, and comforted himself with words of wisdom. "Speak with confidence. Give a firm handshake; otherwise it'll be like a dead fish. Sit up straight and try not to repeat yourself."
To 20-year-old Max, the meeting wasn't just about a post, or a paycheck. It was about self-sufficiency.
"I'm praying I get the job," said Max as his dark, wide eyes smiled through his thin glasses. That's why he's been getting some extra help to prepare for the working world.
A former Council Rock High School South student, Max is one of several teens and young adults enrolled in the Council Rock Educational Center's office skills training program.
Located in an office building in Newtown Township, the course is run by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit No. 22. It's a transition for participants who've moved beyond their respective school or district's special education program, administrators said.
"This is about more than just getting a job , it's about keeping one," said lead teacher Christopher Polzer. "School is much different than work. That's why we emphasize social aspects like team-building, working together, and realizing their strengths and weaknesses."
Several districts, including Council Rock, Neshaminy, Pennsbury and Bristol Borough, feed into the program, which serves 18- to 21-year-olds, Polzer added.
Besides practicing interviewing skills, the students learn about dress codes, making eye contact, hooking up computers to the Internet and phrases like "rolling with the punches" and "tooting your own horn."
"They're good workers," said Joyce Mosticchio, job developer and trainer. "It's all about gaining independence."
The men and women also receive work experience from various training sites around the county like the I.U., Mosticchio said.
"This program is fabulous because it gets you out there and ready for the outside world," said Clamper. "I'm a very knowledgeable kid, but my goal is to live on my own. And maybe drive a car in the next 10 years."
While Max was rehearsing questions to ask his interviewers, he found out that he's now one step closer to those goals , he got a job with the I.U.
Obama-McCain on education
From the Harrisburg Patriot News/pennlive.com
Both want more school accountability
Sunday, September 28, 2008
BY JAN MURPHY
Of The Patriot-News
When it comes to educating children in classrooms, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have presented voters with a clear choice on some key issues.
McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, supports school vouchers that would give parents money to move their children to a better performing school.
Obama, his Democratic opponent, generally doesn't support vouchers. But he is supportive of charter schools and putting federal aid into expanding public school options.
Obama wants the federal government to fully fund the No Child Left Behind law, which seeks to bring all students to math and reading proficiency in six years. Many educators say the government hasn't provided the money to meet the law's requirements.
McCain would prefer to build on No Child Left Behind and direct some money now going to schools directly to students for tutoring.
Obama wants to move toward voluntary universal preschool, a goal shared by Gov. Ed Rendell. McCain looks to expand Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for low-income children.
But the two candidates hold similar views on other issues.
Both call for increased accountability measures on failing schools. Obama advocates meaningful report cards on their children's progress. McCain speaks of giving school principals greater control of funds and holding them accountable for raising student achievement.
Both candidates want to reward top teachers and those who take jobs in urban areas. Both speak of increasing the number of charter schools. Both have called for stepping up federal support of special education, which Pennsylvania has sought for years.
Obama's plan, laid out over 20 pages, invests heavily in early education and school readiness and extends to higher education, where he offers $4,000 in exchange for community service.
McCain's nine-page plan invests far less new money in educational programs, redirects aid to individuals rather than institutions, and targets $500 million of current funds to build virtual schools and develop online courses.
His virtual-school program and Obama's innovative-schools fund could help Pennsylvania, which recently launched a study of creating a state-run virtual high school.
To people such as Jim Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the choice as to which would be better for Pennsylvania is clear. It's Obama all the way.
"McCain's answer to everything is privatize it," Testerman said. "He really has no interest in taking public education and improving it. His interest is in just destroying it and let the wealthy kids go to private schools."
Obama wants to restructure the weakest parts of No Child Left Behind such as removing the emphasis of punishing underperforming schools and assessing students beyond just math and reading tests. Testerman likes Obama's emphasis on small class sizes and early education, both initiatives that Rendell has promoted. And he favors Obama's support for providing more aid for college.
McCain is the obvious choice to Eugene Hickok, a former state education secretary and a former political science professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle.
"If I had to summarize McCain's approach, it really is about empowering families, empowering students, empowering teachers as opposed to funding the system," Hickok said. "That doesn't mean he's against funding the system, but his argument is we need to rethink the system."
Goldsboro parent Gale Mitchell, a registered Democrat, said she is torn about which candidate to support when it comes to education.
"With all this economic situation, I don't know that either of them will be able to deliver on what they are saying they can do," she said.
No Child Left Behind
Parents and educators interviewed for this story agreed that President Bush's signature education law has done some good. It has forced districts to examine the performance of all students, including those with special needs or limited English proficiency.
"But kids are being tested to death. It's just crazy," said Cheryl Desmond, a Millersville University education professor. Neither of the candidates is "really looking at what No Child Left Behind has done to schools in terms of the emphasis on these incredibly high-stakes tests."
Kathy Swope, the president of the Lewisburg Area School Board, has two complaints about the law: the penalties that schools face if they don't improve -- such as leadership changes -- and the law's failure to recognize special-education students' circumstances. She said she has yet to hear what the candidates would do to address them.
Swope dislikes McCain's plan to pay parents directly for tutoring instead of giving it to schools, which takes away schools' control while still holding them accountable for student learning. She is not enthralled with the targeted funding that both candidates espouse.
"Neither platform ... [allows] individual districts the opportunity to tell the federal government what our needs are and funding those needs. That concerns me," said Swope, an undecided Republican.
School choice
The willingness of Obama and McCain to support options to traditional public schools delights Larry Jones, president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools.
"I think Senator Obama and Senator McCain both are showing school choice does not have to be an enemy of public schools. It can actually be one of the saving graces," said Jones, CEO of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School in Philadelphia.
Jones, a Democrat, said he can see a distinction between the two candidates' views.
Obama supports public school choice, particularly in underperforming districts. He advocates creating a fund to help states and districts create public school options such as charter schools, theme-based schools and career academies that could be partially supported with private sources.
McCain embraces public and private school choice, including school vouchers.
"Parents deserve a choice in the education of their children," McCain said at the Republican convention. "And I intend to give it to them."
None of this school choice sounds good to Kim Loch, a parent of three children in the West Shore School District.
"It doesn't fix what's wrong with our public schools," said Loch, a registered Republican. "It leaves kids who don't have an option in failing schools."
Susan Haesseler, dean of Messiah College's School of Education and Social Sciences, said her concern over school choice is the heavy reliance on parents to know what choices are available.
"These are very challenging issues for parents for whom English is not their first language, who are living in poverty," Haesseler said. "I haven't seen how either candidate addresses that."
Desmond said that most vouchers fall short of covering private schools' tuition.
"It couldn't be extended to every child unless John McCain really wanted to fully fund that," Desmond said. "But he is interested in reducing government spending, so it doesn't make sense."
Affording college
McCain wants to provide tax incentives for families to save for college. Obama would provide a $4,000 refundable credit for students who commit to 100 hours of public service a year.
McCain calls for consolidating some federal aid programs to make paying for college less complex. Obama proposes to do this by simplifying the process of applying for federal student aid by allowing families to check a box on their federal income tax forms.
Some financial aid officers said this might complicate the process of applying for state and college aid programs, which rely on the federal student aid form.
Mitchell, a mother of a high school student and two college students, said neither is proposing what she wants to see -- having all the money available to pay for college in one place.
"You hear that there's all this money out there that goes unused every year," she said. "We've been looking and looking and looking and can't find it."
JAN MURPHY: 232-0668 or jmurphy@patriot-news.com
A SERIES OF ISSUES
Starting today and on the next four Sundays, The Patriot-News will look at key issue in the presidential election and how they affect you. TODAY: Education Oct. 5: National security Oct. 12: Economy Oct. 19: Energy Oct. 26: Health care
Both want more school accountability
Sunday, September 28, 2008
BY JAN MURPHY
Of The Patriot-News
When it comes to educating children in classrooms, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have presented voters with a clear choice on some key issues.
McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, supports school vouchers that would give parents money to move their children to a better performing school.
Obama, his Democratic opponent, generally doesn't support vouchers. But he is supportive of charter schools and putting federal aid into expanding public school options.
Obama wants the federal government to fully fund the No Child Left Behind law, which seeks to bring all students to math and reading proficiency in six years. Many educators say the government hasn't provided the money to meet the law's requirements.
McCain would prefer to build on No Child Left Behind and direct some money now going to schools directly to students for tutoring.
Obama wants to move toward voluntary universal preschool, a goal shared by Gov. Ed Rendell. McCain looks to expand Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for low-income children.
But the two candidates hold similar views on other issues.
Both call for increased accountability measures on failing schools. Obama advocates meaningful report cards on their children's progress. McCain speaks of giving school principals greater control of funds and holding them accountable for raising student achievement.
Both candidates want to reward top teachers and those who take jobs in urban areas. Both speak of increasing the number of charter schools. Both have called for stepping up federal support of special education, which Pennsylvania has sought for years.
Obama's plan, laid out over 20 pages, invests heavily in early education and school readiness and extends to higher education, where he offers $4,000 in exchange for community service.
McCain's nine-page plan invests far less new money in educational programs, redirects aid to individuals rather than institutions, and targets $500 million of current funds to build virtual schools and develop online courses.
His virtual-school program and Obama's innovative-schools fund could help Pennsylvania, which recently launched a study of creating a state-run virtual high school.
To people such as Jim Testerman, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the choice as to which would be better for Pennsylvania is clear. It's Obama all the way.
"McCain's answer to everything is privatize it," Testerman said. "He really has no interest in taking public education and improving it. His interest is in just destroying it and let the wealthy kids go to private schools."
Obama wants to restructure the weakest parts of No Child Left Behind such as removing the emphasis of punishing underperforming schools and assessing students beyond just math and reading tests. Testerman likes Obama's emphasis on small class sizes and early education, both initiatives that Rendell has promoted. And he favors Obama's support for providing more aid for college.
McCain is the obvious choice to Eugene Hickok, a former state education secretary and a former political science professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle.
"If I had to summarize McCain's approach, it really is about empowering families, empowering students, empowering teachers as opposed to funding the system," Hickok said. "That doesn't mean he's against funding the system, but his argument is we need to rethink the system."
Goldsboro parent Gale Mitchell, a registered Democrat, said she is torn about which candidate to support when it comes to education.
"With all this economic situation, I don't know that either of them will be able to deliver on what they are saying they can do," she said.
No Child Left Behind
Parents and educators interviewed for this story agreed that President Bush's signature education law has done some good. It has forced districts to examine the performance of all students, including those with special needs or limited English proficiency.
"But kids are being tested to death. It's just crazy," said Cheryl Desmond, a Millersville University education professor. Neither of the candidates is "really looking at what No Child Left Behind has done to schools in terms of the emphasis on these incredibly high-stakes tests."
Kathy Swope, the president of the Lewisburg Area School Board, has two complaints about the law: the penalties that schools face if they don't improve -- such as leadership changes -- and the law's failure to recognize special-education students' circumstances. She said she has yet to hear what the candidates would do to address them.
Swope dislikes McCain's plan to pay parents directly for tutoring instead of giving it to schools, which takes away schools' control while still holding them accountable for student learning. She is not enthralled with the targeted funding that both candidates espouse.
"Neither platform ... [allows] individual districts the opportunity to tell the federal government what our needs are and funding those needs. That concerns me," said Swope, an undecided Republican.
School choice
The willingness of Obama and McCain to support options to traditional public schools delights Larry Jones, president of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools.
"I think Senator Obama and Senator McCain both are showing school choice does not have to be an enemy of public schools. It can actually be one of the saving graces," said Jones, CEO of the Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School in Philadelphia.
Jones, a Democrat, said he can see a distinction between the two candidates' views.
Obama supports public school choice, particularly in underperforming districts. He advocates creating a fund to help states and districts create public school options such as charter schools, theme-based schools and career academies that could be partially supported with private sources.
McCain embraces public and private school choice, including school vouchers.
"Parents deserve a choice in the education of their children," McCain said at the Republican convention. "And I intend to give it to them."
None of this school choice sounds good to Kim Loch, a parent of three children in the West Shore School District.
"It doesn't fix what's wrong with our public schools," said Loch, a registered Republican. "It leaves kids who don't have an option in failing schools."
Susan Haesseler, dean of Messiah College's School of Education and Social Sciences, said her concern over school choice is the heavy reliance on parents to know what choices are available.
"These are very challenging issues for parents for whom English is not their first language, who are living in poverty," Haesseler said. "I haven't seen how either candidate addresses that."
Desmond said that most vouchers fall short of covering private schools' tuition.
"It couldn't be extended to every child unless John McCain really wanted to fully fund that," Desmond said. "But he is interested in reducing government spending, so it doesn't make sense."
Affording college
McCain wants to provide tax incentives for families to save for college. Obama would provide a $4,000 refundable credit for students who commit to 100 hours of public service a year.
McCain calls for consolidating some federal aid programs to make paying for college less complex. Obama proposes to do this by simplifying the process of applying for federal student aid by allowing families to check a box on their federal income tax forms.
Some financial aid officers said this might complicate the process of applying for state and college aid programs, which rely on the federal student aid form.
Mitchell, a mother of a high school student and two college students, said neither is proposing what she wants to see -- having all the money available to pay for college in one place.
"You hear that there's all this money out there that goes unused every year," she said. "We've been looking and looking and looking and can't find it."
JAN MURPHY: 232-0668 or jmurphy@patriot-news.com
A SERIES OF ISSUES
Starting today and on the next four Sundays, The Patriot-News will look at key issue in the presidential election and how they affect you. TODAY: Education Oct. 5: National security Oct. 12: Economy Oct. 19: Energy Oct. 26: Health care
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)