School Board Bickering

The Danville News from Sunbury PA provides us with a break from our school board bickering: Some old-fashioned bickering of their own.

Published December 19, 2008 12:45 am - NetSummary

District divided on building decision
By Karen Blackledge, The Danville News

DANVILLE -- School board members often bicker at public meetings, and sometimes to the point of personality conflicts. This week's meeting was no exception.

At the end of the meeting, two residents including Mike Benjamin, said they were embarrassed by some board members' behavior. At the start of the meeting, he said the board needs to be fiscally responsible and "emotionally based decisions need to be replaced with a rational decision. Consolidation is the only plan on the table that meets any of these needs," he said of a consolidated elementary school. The board rescinded its vote to renovate and expand three elementaries and has no project at this time.

The arguing began when director Kellie Krum asked who would "step up to the plate all the time" and attend planning meetings on design if a consolidated elementary school is approved. While not in favor of a consolidated school, she represented the board at previous meetings on a consolidated school. Her attendance made the difference in space being provided for special education and for Head Start in the plans, she said.

"I work 60 hours a week, have two kids and am a single parent," said director Megan Raup who also represents the board on the Columbia-Montour Vocational-Technical School Board. "You work weekends and Carol (Bisordi, previous board member who attended the planning meetings with Krum) didn't work," Raup said. "You're attacking board members," she told Krum.

Member Jennifer Henning said someone needs to attend the meetings if the board votes again on a consolidated school. Before she was appointed to the board, she served on the building committee for the consolidated school, which at that time was proposed for district property across from the high school.

Board President Allan Schappert said he was willing to represent the board at meetings if a consolidated school is approved. Director Steve Schooley said he could assist Schappert.

Schappert said the district can't afford any other choice but a consolidated school. "Doing nothing will delay the inevitable further and put our children at a greater disadvantage," he said.

Vice President Dr. Paul Moser said a consolidated school will save nearly $700,000 a year. "One single school is less expensive than three little ones. If we forgo consolidation, there are safety and security issues. There are modules that were supposed to be temporary and have become part of the landscape and systems in those schools that aren't quite right. Class size is easier to control at one location and we face the prospect of reorganizing personnel with one school," he said.

Schappert said the cost to maintain the three schools amounts to a half-mill of taxes every year or an average of $75 per year for a taxpayer. "With a consolidated school, we avoid that. Looking at the numbers, everything pales in comparison," he said. "It's not just us taxing our citizens. It's the borough, the county, state and federal taxes. Everyone in this room is hit in the pocketbook and who's going to pay for this? Every day we hear more and more jobs are being lost and I don't want to contribute to this. We are still pouring money into these old schools and kicking that can down the road. Waiting makes it more expensive," he said.

Schooley, who favors consolidation, wanted to put the project on hold for six months due to the economy. The state has indicated it will be cutting revenues to districts, he said.

Business Administrator Richard Snodgrass said a consolidated school is a "more cost-effective way of running the schools than we are doing now." He said there is a potential need to raise taxes if they do not consolidate.

While saying there is no perfect project, Snodgrass recommended taking the best option and working it through. While the current economy is difficult, he believes it creates some opportunities for construction costs if we can get in the market at the right time, we will realize some savings, and if we get a bid at a time people are hungry for jobs and projects."

A number of residents spoke at the meeting. Most of them favor consolidation.

Retired Danville teacher Joan Kessler wants Danville Elementary as the consolidated school. "The day will come to build a new middle school and you'll be talking about building it on this hill," she said of the high school site. She favors Mahoning-Cooper becoming a location for administration and maintenance.

"We are not a community with a population increase around the bend and school population isn't expected to increase," she said.

"We need to find a consensus either way, stick to it or we need to table it," Christy Payton of Mahoning Township said. Payton favors keeping neighborhood schools.

Richard Snyder of Valley Township, who attended a one-room school and then the first consolidated school in Danville, asked, "Where will we get the tax money? I'm over 65 and there are a lot more people over 65. A big elaborate school -- I think we can live with what we have now."

Amy Andrews, with a son at Riverside and a son in Head Start, was concerned about her special needs son in Head Start being thrown into a large group in a consolidated school. "I'm afraid he will be bullied. I'd like to keep Riverside as a family school," she said.

Craig Welliver said building a consolidated school at the high school will compound parking problems. "It's not big enough for a playground and young drivers will be around the elementary school. You need to consider where it will be built before you decide on consolidation," he said.

Wes Wertman, businessman and long-time resident, said it comes down to the economy. "Now is not the time to do anything," he said. "Money that is spent for architecture is all on paper and not lost. I had a lot of plans for 2009 but I canceled them as of October. My products went back 20 years. This effects the whole economy and everybody's business is going downhill. People are losing their jobs."

Bob Snyder of Mahoning Township suggested Danville Elementary become the consolidated school for kindergarten through third grades.

Joe Mahoney, who has taught in the buildings being discussed, said the Liberty-Valley Elementary is still considered a neighborhood school but it is a large school. He questioned rebuilding in outdated schools when the trend in the nation is to go green. "We built a stadium that was outdated. We have to look at what our needs are and what's best for our kids and for the community," he said.

Marcy Taylor of Danville reminded everyone that President-Elect Barack Obama said he will provide money for schools. "Maybe if we take a step back and wait to see what he wants to do, maybe he can help us with this funding," she said.

George Wagner of Riverside earlier didn't favor a consolidated school, but with the cost difference between the three elementaries and a consolidated school widened considerably now, he has changed his mind.

School Pension Fund Bonuses

From lehighvalleylive.com

The bonuses probably aren't going anywhere. Both Gov. Rendell and top members of the state legislature have suggested not awarding the bonuses.

It's nice when even public officials catch on to the idea that times are tight.

Pa. school pension fund staff bonuses ending
12/16/2008, 4:07 p.m. EST
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Twenty-one investment staffers at Pennsylvania's public school pension fund received more than $854,000 in bonuses for the 2007-08 fiscal year, even though the fund's investments experienced a $1.8 billion net loss, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Public School Employees' Retirement System board plans to end the practice at the end of the month, however, citing market conditions and other factors.

"There was some concern given the unprecedented markets at this point," PSERS executive director Jeffrey Clay told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. "Across the country, there are issues raised with respect to incentive compensation for investment professionals in this market."

Bonuses for the fiscal year ended June 30 ranged from $9,720 to $106,223. The fund's investment staff receive base salaries between $63,179 and $251,542.

Gov. Ed Rendell sent a letter to system officials in November in which he advised against awarding the bonuses.

"Given the fund's recent performance and the serious financial challenges now facing the commonwealth as a whole, the payment of large bonuses to PSERS employees would be inappropriate and indefensible," Rendell wrote.

But the system's lawyers concluded that it was contractually obligated to award the bonuses because the board's policy already authorized the payments, system officials told the newspaper.

Despite the investment losses, the system's in-house investors outperformed their peers nationally, system officials said.

The investment staff's base salaries are lower than the going rate for professional investors, system officials said. The board might consider increasing the salaries in the future to keep them competitive or seek other suggestions from an outside consultant, Clay said.

Investors at Pennsylvania's other state pension fund, the State Employees' Retirement System, will not likely receive bonuses this year, given the fund's losses for the 2008 calendar year, spokesman Robert Gentzel said. The fund's investments fell 14.4 percent from January through September.

SERS investment employees are eligible for bonuses if they achieve at least an 8.5 percent rate of return.

Pennsylvania is among a minority of states that offer bonuses to the investment staff of its state pension funds, said Keith Brainard, research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.

"I think the fact that more don't do it has more to do with the politics of the issue rather than the merits of it," Brainard said.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said his agency was considering a possible audit of PSERS' contracts to determine why the system could not legally forgo the bonuses when its investments were losing money. Last year, Wagner released an audit criticizing Pennsylvania's student-loan agency for awarding $7.5 million in employee bonuses over a three-year period.

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Information from: The Patriot-News, http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews
© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Special Education Inclusion

From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Schools aim for inclusion with special-needs
Amy Crawford, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, December 20, 2008

Most of the first-graders at Bon Air Elementary in Lower Burrell raised their hands, eager to sound out the words that teachers Courtney Barbiaux and Jennifer Hartung spelled with magnetic letters on the blackboard.

As Hartung spelled out jump, hump, and stump, Barbiaux, a special education teacher, scanned the room, looking for students who were having trouble grasping the concept of blended consonants.

Among the 19 children in the class are two with autism and one with a learning disability. Despite their special education status, they were fully a part of the class, working on the same lesson as everybody else.

A few years ago, those students would have been sent to another room for separate lessons. Today, students with special needs are more often included in the mainstream classroom, an approach proponents say helps special education students academically and socially.

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, passed in 1990 and revised in 1997 and 2004, says that students with disabilities should spend as much time as possible with their non-disabled peers. In 2004, the Pennsylvania Department of Education settled a class-action lawsuit over that requirement, and since then the state has held school districts more accountable.

Four years later, many schools still are scrambling to get it right, often simply "dumping" all of their special education students in mainstream classes, said Bernard Miller, director for exceptional programs at the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Critics, including some advocates for the disabled, say mainstreaming can be taken too far, when students with serious learning problems are left to fend for themselves in regular classrooms.

"Inclusion is really big right now," Miller said.

But, while the teachers' union favors inclusion when appropriate, Miller said, "This is a big state and there are huge differences district to district."

Ideally, Miller said, general education teachers would be trained and prepared to have special-needs students in their classrooms, and those students who need extra help would still have access to a special education teacher. For many students, Miller said, pulling them out of the regular classroom is still the best option.

"Inclusion isn't an exact science," Miller said. "When it is working, we need to celebrate it, and when it's not, we need to go back to the drawing board."

One strategy used by several districts in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties is co-teaching, where two teachers team up to teach a class, as in the first grade at Bon Air.

It's an idea that has been around since the 1990s, but in recent years has become more widespread.

Ellen Estomin, who directs the special education programs in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, said every school in the city district has an inclusion program.

Some of those schools use co-teaching, she said, and the district plans to expand the method to more schools.

"For inclusion to work, it takes a team of people," Estomin said. "We are really working hard to make it work well."

The Franklin Regional School District has used co-teaching since 2000, longer than most districts, said special education director Ron Tarosky.

"Our kids do very well," Tarosky said proudly, noting that the district's special education students met requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act every year.

Most general education teachers do not have much experience with special education, Tarosky said, and that can make mainstreaming difficult. The benefit of co-teaching is that it allows a teacher who knows the content --- reading, math or science, for example ---- to work together with one who understands how to adapt it for special-needs students.

Recently at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville, English teacher Susan White and special education teacher Tina Girt were guiding ninth-graders, several of whom have learning disabilities, through the play "A Raisin in the Sun."

Using tests and evaluations, the pair could tell which students were grasping the material and who needed extra help or a modified assignment. White said the two-teacher team seemed to benefit all the students, not just those with special needs.

With more than a decade's experience in special education, Girt remembered a time when students with learning disabilities usually were segregated from their peers. The push for inclusion was an improvement, she said.

"The minute you put them in the special ed class, they misbehave because they feel like the expectations are lower there," Girt said.

Nancy Janicak, whose son Justin, 14, has Down syndrome, said she noticed that inclusion can boost a student's confidence.

The family moved to Export from Indiana County last year, and Justin now is part of an inclusion program at Franklin Regional Middle School. He still works on math and English with a special education teacher, but goes to class with his seventh-grade peers for other subjects, learning the same lessons.

"He doesn't have to remember as much as the other children," Nancy Janicak said, "but he's held accountable for the curriculum."

Being included has made Justin more excited about school, his mother said, and he has been making friends.

"He's one of the gang now," she said, "instead of the kid in 'that room.' "

At Bon Air Elementary, administrators said the first official year of co-teaching has been going well. Barbiaux and Hartung, who co-teach language arts, were pleased with their first-graders' progress.

"We've seen them improve," said Hartung, who attributed gains over last year's class to having a second teacher in the room. "It's easier for us to pick up on a lot more --- who's struggling, who needs more help."

Every student benefits from a lower student-teacher ratio, Hartung said.

Administrators in Burrell School District have high hopes for the co-teaching program, which operates under the motto "Every child can learn."

"There have been some times when students have been mainstreamed and it hasn't worked out," said Matthew Conner, who began the program last year as the special education director. "But with this model, they have more support and it hasn't been an issue."

Conner, who now is principal at Burrell's Charles A. Huston Middle School, said he hopes to find that co-taught students will do better on the PSSA, the standardized test Pennsylvania uses to determine whether schools are making progress under No Child Left Behind.

Bon Air officials already were noticing substantial improvements on scores for the 4Sight test, which projects PSSA scores.

"If they're mainstreamed and they're successful, it increases their confidence," Conner said. "We hope that spills over into the PSSAs."