From CNN.com
Education chief favors longer school year
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Those lazy days of summer may become a thing of the past if the new secretary of education has his way.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan suggests giving incentives to teachers whose students perform well.
Arne Duncan, the Cabinet secretary charged with overhauling America's educational system, is studying programs that keep kids in school longer to boost their academic achievements.
"When I go out and talk about that, that doesn't always make me popular with students. They like the long summers," Duncan said in an interview Wednesday with CNN conducted in the Education Department's library.
But Duncan said American students are "at a competitive disadvantage" because the United States has shorter school years than other countries such as India and China.
"It doesn't matter how poor, how tough the family background, socioeconomic challenges," Duncan said. "Where students have longer days, longer weeks, longer years -- that's making a difference."
More time in school is one of several ideas under consideration as Duncan settles into his new role.
The lanky former college basketball player and father of two speaks quickly, with remarkable energy in the face of daunting challenges.
Thirty percent of high school students drop out before graduation, and another 50 percent won't finish college, according to Education Sector, a nonprofit think tank.
For Latino and African-American students, the numbers are more dramatic. About half of them will graduate from high school, the Washington-based group said.
As school administrators struggle with dropout rates, they also are confronting drastic budget cuts amid national economic uncertainty. Districts are slashing jobs and putting off plans to repair crumbling school buildings.
"What's going on, state after state, due to this tough economy, is devastating educationally. And we can't afford to get worse now. We have to get dramatically better," said Duncan, former chief of Chicago Public Schools.
President Obama and lawmakers have directed billions of dollars to the Department of Education through the stimulus package, and they propose to send more in the 2010 budget Obama announced Thursday.
Duncan said some of that money will provide schools with immediate relief to keep teachers.
"Thanks to the stimulus package, we have the chance to save literally hundreds of thousands of teacher positions. This is a huge, huge deal," he said, citing a University of Washington study that suggests 600,000 teachers could be lost this year without drastic intervention.
"We're going to be able to avert maybe not all of those cuts but a huge percentage of those, and that's very very important," he said.
But the new funds may be only enough to keep a crisis at bay, said Kevin Carey of Education Sector. State and local shortages are forcing schools to make do with much less.
"The economic situation is hurting school budgets," Carey said. "The stimulus package that just passed will help that somewhat, but there still isn't a whole lot of new money to pay teachers more, reduce class sizes, reduce high school dropout rates."
Duncan also suggested giving incentives to teachers whose students perform well, an unpopular idea with teachers' unions. And he said school systems may need to make tough decisions about teachers who don't perform at par.
"If teachers aren't making it, we want to support them and help them develop, but ultimately if it's not working, our children deserve the best," Duncan said. "They probably need to find something else to do."
Duncan also is pushing for new benchmarks that would use international standards to compare American students with those overseas.
He faults No Child Left Behind for standards that he said don't accurately monitor some children's progress.
"When you're told you're meeting those standards, you think you're doing OK. You're really not," Duncan said.
"Our children are not competing for jobs down the block or in the district or in the state -- they're competing against children in India or China, and they need to know how they stack up."
Carey said Duncan's efforts to meet Obama's education goals are an immensely complicated task.
"There are 50 states, there are 14,000 school districts, 90,000 schools, and Secretary Duncan is responsible for every one of them. But they all have their own ideas, their own funding sources, their own local leadership," Carey said.
Duncan said he feels "a real sense of urgency" to implement national education reform.
"Our children in this country have one chance at education. One chance. We can't wait. We can't wait seven or eight years. We'll lose a generation of kids," Duncan said. "And so we have to get better; we have to get better now."
Saturday, February 28, 2009
"If you don't like it, get out,"
From the Intelligencer. It looks like Souderton is running down the same stretch of road as Morrisville. No money and fixed-income retirees combining with the requirement to provide an education to the local children.
Teachers predict 'brain drain' if they don't get pay raises
By LOU SESSINGER
The union is asking for an 8.2 percent increase. The district is offering 2.57 percent.
As they have for several months, Souderton Area School District teachers spoke at Thursday night's school board meeting to express their dismay at the contract impasse between the board and the Souderton Area Education Association, the teachers union.
Six teachers came to the podium during the public comment portion of the meeting. Their common theme was that they and their colleagues deserved pay raises that would put their salaries in line with those of other school districts in the area. If not, some of them warned, the district could suffer a "brain drain" of sorts as the best teachers leave to seek better pay elsewhere.
The members of the Souderton Area Education Association went on strike in early September, delaying the opening of school until Sept. 19. The teachers union and school board then entered non-binding arbitration, which is still going on.
Teachers are seeking a four-year contract with annual salary increases compounded at an average of 8.2 percent a year. The school board is offering a three-year contract with annual salary increases compounded at an average of 2.57 percent a year.
School board President Bernard S. Currie on Thursday night pointed out that an arbitration panel is still conducting closed-door hearings on the last best offers of the board and union, and so contract negotiations are at a standstill until the panel releases its recommendations, which are expected in the spring.
High school science teacher Kenneth Hamilton said he had experienced a "loss of faith" in the school board's willingness to seek a fair settlement.
High school learning support teacher Sandra Campagna said she hoped both sides would be willing to accept the arbitrators' recommendations they could "work on a settlement together."
Janet Smith, a fifth-grade teacher at Salford Hills Elementary, said she wanted to "dispel the myth" that it would be easy for the school district to rebuild the quality of its teaching staff if there were a "mass exodus of teachers" driven away by low pay.
"We are not dime-a-dozen teachers," she said. "We live next door and have close community ties. Shame on this board + we are dedicated teachers and not a dime a dozen."
But two members of the community who addressed the board rejected the teachers' arguments and supported the board's negotiating position.
Charl Wellener said she had lost faith with the teachers and thought their contract demands were not motivated by a desire for fairness but by greed.
If teachers were unhappy with their salaries, she said, they should seek employment elsewhere.
Hugh Donnelly agreed.
"If you don't like it, get out," he said, adding that 20 percent of the district's property taxpayers were age 60 and over.
"They don't have kids in school, but they have to pay taxes. Eight and a half percent (a year pay raise) is obscene."
Teachers predict 'brain drain' if they don't get pay raises
By LOU SESSINGER
The union is asking for an 8.2 percent increase. The district is offering 2.57 percent.
As they have for several months, Souderton Area School District teachers spoke at Thursday night's school board meeting to express their dismay at the contract impasse between the board and the Souderton Area Education Association, the teachers union.
Six teachers came to the podium during the public comment portion of the meeting. Their common theme was that they and their colleagues deserved pay raises that would put their salaries in line with those of other school districts in the area. If not, some of them warned, the district could suffer a "brain drain" of sorts as the best teachers leave to seek better pay elsewhere.
The members of the Souderton Area Education Association went on strike in early September, delaying the opening of school until Sept. 19. The teachers union and school board then entered non-binding arbitration, which is still going on.
Teachers are seeking a four-year contract with annual salary increases compounded at an average of 8.2 percent a year. The school board is offering a three-year contract with annual salary increases compounded at an average of 2.57 percent a year.
School board President Bernard S. Currie on Thursday night pointed out that an arbitration panel is still conducting closed-door hearings on the last best offers of the board and union, and so contract negotiations are at a standstill until the panel releases its recommendations, which are expected in the spring.
High school science teacher Kenneth Hamilton said he had experienced a "loss of faith" in the school board's willingness to seek a fair settlement.
High school learning support teacher Sandra Campagna said she hoped both sides would be willing to accept the arbitrators' recommendations they could "work on a settlement together."
Janet Smith, a fifth-grade teacher at Salford Hills Elementary, said she wanted to "dispel the myth" that it would be easy for the school district to rebuild the quality of its teaching staff if there were a "mass exodus of teachers" driven away by low pay.
"We are not dime-a-dozen teachers," she said. "We live next door and have close community ties. Shame on this board + we are dedicated teachers and not a dime a dozen."
But two members of the community who addressed the board rejected the teachers' arguments and supported the board's negotiating position.
Charl Wellener said she had lost faith with the teachers and thought their contract demands were not motivated by a desire for fairness but by greed.
If teachers were unhappy with their salaries, she said, they should seek employment elsewhere.
Hugh Donnelly agreed.
"If you don't like it, get out," he said, adding that 20 percent of the district's property taxpayers were age 60 and over.
"They don't have kids in school, but they have to pay taxes. Eight and a half percent (a year pay raise) is obscene."
Friday, February 27, 2009
School For Sale
From the BCCT.
Schoolhouse: 100 years old
Vacant: 20 years
Possible messsage: “We are watching you”
Schoolhouse going up for sale
By DANNY ADLER
Northampton officials want to sell a nearly 100-year-old school building in the township’s Richboro section.
The supervisors unanimously voted Wednesday night to transfer the deed of the Richboro Schoolhouse on the 1000 block of Second Street Pike to the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority. The authority will work to find a buyer for the 4,536-square-foot building and the 2-acre lot it sits on.
Any sale of the schoolhouse, which was erected in 1913 and has been vacant since 1989, needs to be approved by supervisors.
Administrators say having the authority work on its behalf may yield a better price than a public bidding process and will give the township more say in the former school’s future.
The supervisors solidified an agreement with the redevelopment authority in October, shortly after an Upper Southampton appraiser estimated the fair market value of the property at $530,000.
The exterior of the schoolhouse was restored in 2007, but the inside is trashed. Photos taken in December show damaged walls and fixtures smashed by vandals. Debris is strewn around, and an old blackboard is covered with messages, like “We are watching you” and “We’re all gonna Die!”
The state’s redevelopment law allows the Bristol-based authority to negotiate the sale price of real estate without seeking public bids, officials said. The October agreement says the authority will forward proceeds to Northampton.
While officials will be able to put limitations on different aspects of the property, from its use to aesthetics, any restrictions are likely to lower the market value, Supervisor George Komelasky said.
“Any time you limit what the purchaser could do with the property, the value would actually come down,” Komelasky said.
Township Manager Bob Pellegrino said 12 people have showed interest in the property.
Supervisor Frank Rothermel had opposed the October agreement, saying he wanted the township to hold onto the property and use the historic structure for educational and nonprofit use. He voted in favor of the deed transfer Wednesday.
Schoolhouse: 100 years old
Vacant: 20 years
Possible messsage: “We are watching you”
Schoolhouse going up for sale
By DANNY ADLER
Northampton officials want to sell a nearly 100-year-old school building in the township’s Richboro section.
The supervisors unanimously voted Wednesday night to transfer the deed of the Richboro Schoolhouse on the 1000 block of Second Street Pike to the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority. The authority will work to find a buyer for the 4,536-square-foot building and the 2-acre lot it sits on.
Any sale of the schoolhouse, which was erected in 1913 and has been vacant since 1989, needs to be approved by supervisors.
Administrators say having the authority work on its behalf may yield a better price than a public bidding process and will give the township more say in the former school’s future.
The supervisors solidified an agreement with the redevelopment authority in October, shortly after an Upper Southampton appraiser estimated the fair market value of the property at $530,000.
The exterior of the schoolhouse was restored in 2007, but the inside is trashed. Photos taken in December show damaged walls and fixtures smashed by vandals. Debris is strewn around, and an old blackboard is covered with messages, like “We are watching you” and “We’re all gonna Die!”
The state’s redevelopment law allows the Bristol-based authority to negotiate the sale price of real estate without seeking public bids, officials said. The October agreement says the authority will forward proceeds to Northampton.
While officials will be able to put limitations on different aspects of the property, from its use to aesthetics, any restrictions are likely to lower the market value, Supervisor George Komelasky said.
“Any time you limit what the purchaser could do with the property, the value would actually come down,” Komelasky said.
Township Manager Bob Pellegrino said 12 people have showed interest in the property.
Supervisor Frank Rothermel had opposed the October agreement, saying he wanted the township to hold onto the property and use the historic structure for educational and nonprofit use. He voted in favor of the deed transfer Wednesday.
"Stop the School" in Pennsbury?
From the BCCT.
‘Throw the bums out!’ It’s time for a taxpayer revolution
Two Democrats and two Republicans face re-election as Pennsbury school board directors this year. All four of them need to be thrown out of office.
If making that statement ruffles feathers in my own party, so be it. Sometimes one just has to say enough is enough. School taxes are roughly 80 percent of property taxes for most Pennsbury residents, and nine elected school board officials have been raising our property taxes above the rate of inflation year after year.
With the current economic crisis causing serious hardship and financial distress for many people, the idea that the school board could even consider raising our property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year is obscene. Yet on Feb. 12, the board voted to approve having that right. Then on Feb. 19, the board voted on a tentative teacher union contract that adds millions of dollars to labor costs next year. Not one penny of this multimillion-dollar additional expenditure on teachers’ salaries and benefits will improve one student’s academic performance.
Let’s remember that Pennsbury’s teachers are already extremely well compensated. Their taxpayer-funded salaries are among the very highest in the state, and their taxpayer-funded benefits are out of this world. All this tentative agreement does is say that teachers who earn a $98,000 salary must wait one year before getting another pay hike. Most other teachers will still get big pay raises and all teachers will get their incredibly low 10 percent contributions to health care premiums locked in for another year.
Are the people expected to pay higher property taxes to give away such freebies? That would be us — the people who are losing their jobs and homes in a recession. And that’s why the four incumbents need to be thrown out of office. Much like those unethical opportunists in the state Legislature who pander to the teachers union to get elected, our local school officials are doing the same thing.
We read daily reports of job losses, as private employers are cutting labor costs in an effort to survive this recession. But our school board knows it can never go out of business because, whenever there is a revenue shortfall, they just shake down taxpayers.
To add millions of dollars to labor costs shows how out of touch the school board has become. They don’t want to make any decisions that might upset the teachers union. So instead, they spin a pay “freeze” — in name only — proposal onto the public.
Well, it is time for a taxpayer revolution. If you haven’t yet marked your calendar for May 19, please do it now. That’s when school board elections occur and they are typically low voter turnout affairs. Low voter turnout allows union-backed candidates a chance to get elected, to inflict even more pain upon taxpayers. So I put it to readers that voting on May 19 is as important as voting last November.
The Pennsbury school board should have voted against raising property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year. And they should have voted down this union-pandering, tax-hiking, multimillion-dollar increase in labor costs agreement with the teachers union. Then, the board should have voted to negotiate more realistic concessions.
If teachers don’t want to make realistic contract concessions, then we need to start firing them. They should be thankful for being protected with a job for life in today’s economy. Because how many families are dealing with a job loss? How many seniors are dealing with the possibility of losing their home?
Enough is enough. The incumbents on the Pennsbury school board have failed us. Make a note on May 19 to throw them out of office. Taxpayers hit hard by this recession are at breaking point. The American people have always had a revolutionary spirit, and the rallying cry “Throw the bums out!” has swept across many prior elections. It now needs to sweep across the Pennsbury School District in 2009.
‘Throw the bums out!’ It’s time for a taxpayer revolution
Two Democrats and two Republicans face re-election as Pennsbury school board directors this year. All four of them need to be thrown out of office.
If making that statement ruffles feathers in my own party, so be it. Sometimes one just has to say enough is enough. School taxes are roughly 80 percent of property taxes for most Pennsbury residents, and nine elected school board officials have been raising our property taxes above the rate of inflation year after year.
With the current economic crisis causing serious hardship and financial distress for many people, the idea that the school board could even consider raising our property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year is obscene. Yet on Feb. 12, the board voted to approve having that right. Then on Feb. 19, the board voted on a tentative teacher union contract that adds millions of dollars to labor costs next year. Not one penny of this multimillion-dollar additional expenditure on teachers’ salaries and benefits will improve one student’s academic performance.
Let’s remember that Pennsbury’s teachers are already extremely well compensated. Their taxpayer-funded salaries are among the very highest in the state, and their taxpayer-funded benefits are out of this world. All this tentative agreement does is say that teachers who earn a $98,000 salary must wait one year before getting another pay hike. Most other teachers will still get big pay raises and all teachers will get their incredibly low 10 percent contributions to health care premiums locked in for another year.
Are the people expected to pay higher property taxes to give away such freebies? That would be us — the people who are losing their jobs and homes in a recession. And that’s why the four incumbents need to be thrown out of office. Much like those unethical opportunists in the state Legislature who pander to the teachers union to get elected, our local school officials are doing the same thing.
We read daily reports of job losses, as private employers are cutting labor costs in an effort to survive this recession. But our school board knows it can never go out of business because, whenever there is a revenue shortfall, they just shake down taxpayers.
To add millions of dollars to labor costs shows how out of touch the school board has become. They don’t want to make any decisions that might upset the teachers union. So instead, they spin a pay “freeze” — in name only — proposal onto the public.
Well, it is time for a taxpayer revolution. If you haven’t yet marked your calendar for May 19, please do it now. That’s when school board elections occur and they are typically low voter turnout affairs. Low voter turnout allows union-backed candidates a chance to get elected, to inflict even more pain upon taxpayers. So I put it to readers that voting on May 19 is as important as voting last November.
The Pennsbury school board should have voted against raising property taxes more than 4.1 percent this year. And they should have voted down this union-pandering, tax-hiking, multimillion-dollar increase in labor costs agreement with the teachers union. Then, the board should have voted to negotiate more realistic concessions.
If teachers don’t want to make realistic contract concessions, then we need to start firing them. They should be thankful for being protected with a job for life in today’s economy. Because how many families are dealing with a job loss? How many seniors are dealing with the possibility of losing their home?
Enough is enough. The incumbents on the Pennsbury school board have failed us. Make a note on May 19 to throw them out of office. Taxpayers hit hard by this recession are at breaking point. The American people have always had a revolutionary spirit, and the rallying cry “Throw the bums out!” has swept across many prior elections. It now needs to sweep across the Pennsbury School District in 2009.
Right to Know Law Update
The first group of rulings on records sought under the new law have been made. The York Daily Record has a great website that covers the new PA State Right to Know law.
The Office of Open Records also has their website where rulings and final determinations made will be posted.
The Office of Open Records also has their website where rulings and final determinations made will be posted.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The windows are coming
The windows are coming.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS MORRISVILLE BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
Public Notice is hereby given that sealed bids for the Window Replacement at
Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, located at 550 West Palmer Street,
Morrisville, Pennsylvania 19067, will be received by the Morrisville School District Business Office located at 550 West Palmer Street,Morrisville, Pennsylvania 19067 until 1:00 PM on Monday, March 23, 2009 at which time the bids will be publicly opened, read aloud and recorded for presentation to the Board of Education. Bids will be received and contracts awarded on the basis of separate proposals, which shall include all the work required in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and all other laws and regulations pertaining to public contracts. The bid opening will be held in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School.
Sealed bids will be received for the following: CONTRACT NO. 1 - GENERAL CONSTRUCTION
The Bidding Documents may be examined at the Office of the Architect, VITETTA, 4747 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19112; Telephone (215) 218-4747. Copies of the bid documents may be obtained at the office of the Architect upon receipt of a non-refundable document charge of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) in the form of a CHECK OR MONEY ORDER made payable to VIETTA. NO CASH will accepted. A $25.00 shipping charge is required if a mailing of the documents is desired. Express mail charges will be additional. Only prime bidders will be issued bidding documents. No partial sets will be issued to Subcontractors, Suppliers, or Manufacturers. Bidders are advised to telephone the Architect's Office in advance to confirm the availability of documents.
Documents are also available for examination at the, Northeastern Pennsylvania Contractors' Association (NEPCA), Reed Construction Data, F. W. Dodge Corporation and Harrisburg Builders Exchange.
A pre-bid tour of the existing facility is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 3:00 pm. Contact Tim Lastichen, Director of Buildings and Grounds (267) 228-5663 between the hours of 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM to schedule visits to the site at times other than the pre-bid tour. Bidder, afforded the opportunity to visit the Project site, shall be held responsible for cognizance and knowledge of existing features and conditions ascertainable by such site visit, and costs of the Work associated therewith.
Bids shall be submitted to the Owner as identified above and shall be mailed or delivered to Owner to be received not later than time as stated above. Oral, telephonic (facsimile or telex), or telegraphic bids are invalid and will not receive consideration.
All proposals shall be irrevocable for sixty (60) days after bid opening date, unless delayed due to required approvals of another governmental agency, sale of bonds, or the award of a grant or grants, in which case bids shall be irrevocable for one hundred twenty (120) days in compliance with Pennsylvania Act #317 of 1978, approved November 26, 1978, and as amended December 12, 1994. Bids shall be accompanied by a bid guarantee, in the form of a Bid Bond, Cashier's Check or Certified Check in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the Bid Sum, payable to the Owner.
Notice is given that the project for which construction bids are being solicited hereby is a project constituting a public works project and is subject to applicable provisions of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, the Act of August 15, 1961, P.L. 987, as amended and supplemented, and appropriate prevailing minimum rate as promulgated under provisions of said Act must be paid by contractors in connection with performance of the necessary work.. Notice is also given that the project for which construction bids are being received is subject to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Act of October 27, 1955, P.L. 744, as amended and supplemented.
The Owner reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive, at his discretion, any or all irregularities, mistakes, omissions, or informalities relative thereto.
Marlys Mihok
School Board Secretary
NOTICE TO BIDDERS MORRISVILLE BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
Public Notice is hereby given that sealed bids for the Window Replacement at
Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, located at 550 West Palmer Street,
Morrisville, Pennsylvania 19067, will be received by the Morrisville School District Business Office located at 550 West Palmer Street,Morrisville, Pennsylvania 19067 until 1:00 PM on Monday, March 23, 2009 at which time the bids will be publicly opened, read aloud and recorded for presentation to the Board of Education. Bids will be received and contracts awarded on the basis of separate proposals, which shall include all the work required in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and all other laws and regulations pertaining to public contracts. The bid opening will be held in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School.
Sealed bids will be received for the following: CONTRACT NO. 1 - GENERAL CONSTRUCTION
The Bidding Documents may be examined at the Office of the Architect, VITETTA, 4747 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19112; Telephone (215) 218-4747. Copies of the bid documents may be obtained at the office of the Architect upon receipt of a non-refundable document charge of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) in the form of a CHECK OR MONEY ORDER made payable to VIETTA. NO CASH will accepted. A $25.00 shipping charge is required if a mailing of the documents is desired. Express mail charges will be additional. Only prime bidders will be issued bidding documents. No partial sets will be issued to Subcontractors, Suppliers, or Manufacturers. Bidders are advised to telephone the Architect's Office in advance to confirm the availability of documents.
Documents are also available for examination at the, Northeastern Pennsylvania Contractors' Association (NEPCA), Reed Construction Data, F. W. Dodge Corporation and Harrisburg Builders Exchange.
A pre-bid tour of the existing facility is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 3:00 pm. Contact Tim Lastichen, Director of Buildings and Grounds (267) 228-5663 between the hours of 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM to schedule visits to the site at times other than the pre-bid tour. Bidder, afforded the opportunity to visit the Project site, shall be held responsible for cognizance and knowledge of existing features and conditions ascertainable by such site visit, and costs of the Work associated therewith.
Bids shall be submitted to the Owner as identified above and shall be mailed or delivered to Owner to be received not later than time as stated above. Oral, telephonic (facsimile or telex), or telegraphic bids are invalid and will not receive consideration.
All proposals shall be irrevocable for sixty (60) days after bid opening date, unless delayed due to required approvals of another governmental agency, sale of bonds, or the award of a grant or grants, in which case bids shall be irrevocable for one hundred twenty (120) days in compliance with Pennsylvania Act #317 of 1978, approved November 26, 1978, and as amended December 12, 1994. Bids shall be accompanied by a bid guarantee, in the form of a Bid Bond, Cashier's Check or Certified Check in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the Bid Sum, payable to the Owner.
Notice is given that the project for which construction bids are being solicited hereby is a project constituting a public works project and is subject to applicable provisions of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act, the Act of August 15, 1961, P.L. 987, as amended and supplemented, and appropriate prevailing minimum rate as promulgated under provisions of said Act must be paid by contractors in connection with performance of the necessary work.. Notice is also given that the project for which construction bids are being received is subject to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Act of October 27, 1955, P.L. 744, as amended and supplemented.
The Owner reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive, at his discretion, any or all irregularities, mistakes, omissions, or informalities relative thereto.
Marlys Mihok
School Board Secretary
Morrisville fails to invest in children’s future
From the BCCT.
Morrisville fails to invest in its children’s future
I am a lifelong resident of Morrisville and graduated from Morrisville High School in 1978. My children attend the same school I attended. I have heard these same issues for the entire time my children have been enrolled in Morrisville: that there’s no money to fix the school or to do much else. My boys have often asked why the school board treats them like non-citizens.
Now there is talk about having a school system of K-8 and sending our teenagers to a different school system, possibly Pennsbury, which we’d pay to educate our children.
Would this prevent Pennsbury from raising taxes? Be realistic. We would send fewer than 200 kids to Pennsbury. Pennsbury’s budget will increase due to the added students but will the added income from Morrisville really add sufficient funds to reverse a tax increase? I do not see how the math would help Pennsbury taxpayers.
Another question to consider is how interchangeable the Morrisville curriculum is with that of Pennsbury so that if/when the students transfer they are not hindered? In this day and age, it is difficult for teenagers to adjust, and to take them from a graduating class of 45-55 kids and move them to a graduating class of 800 is a big change. Yes, the majority of the kids would “just deal with it” as school board President Hellman has stated. But why should they?
I moved to Morrisville because it is a small town. I had a great education at Morrisville High School and I have done well for myself. My kids have great teachers and both boys have career goals.
Why can’t today’s school board see that and encourage our kids? Morrisville is not as “transient” as Hellman believes. Morrisville is full of good families doing the best they can to raise their kids and the school board has failed them again.
When are we ever going to do the best for our children? If Morrisville residents of the distant and recent past had been willing to invest in their youth and in the future the problems the district now faces would not exist. When will residents understand that shortterm savings and shortsightedness do not produce long-term growth and prosperity? We need to invest in and plan for the long term.
Regina G. Wallace Morrisville
Morrisville fails to invest in its children’s future
I am a lifelong resident of Morrisville and graduated from Morrisville High School in 1978. My children attend the same school I attended. I have heard these same issues for the entire time my children have been enrolled in Morrisville: that there’s no money to fix the school or to do much else. My boys have often asked why the school board treats them like non-citizens.
Now there is talk about having a school system of K-8 and sending our teenagers to a different school system, possibly Pennsbury, which we’d pay to educate our children.
Would this prevent Pennsbury from raising taxes? Be realistic. We would send fewer than 200 kids to Pennsbury. Pennsbury’s budget will increase due to the added students but will the added income from Morrisville really add sufficient funds to reverse a tax increase? I do not see how the math would help Pennsbury taxpayers.
Another question to consider is how interchangeable the Morrisville curriculum is with that of Pennsbury so that if/when the students transfer they are not hindered? In this day and age, it is difficult for teenagers to adjust, and to take them from a graduating class of 45-55 kids and move them to a graduating class of 800 is a big change. Yes, the majority of the kids would “just deal with it” as school board President Hellman has stated. But why should they?
I moved to Morrisville because it is a small town. I had a great education at Morrisville High School and I have done well for myself. My kids have great teachers and both boys have career goals.
Why can’t today’s school board see that and encourage our kids? Morrisville is not as “transient” as Hellman believes. Morrisville is full of good families doing the best they can to raise their kids and the school board has failed them again.
When are we ever going to do the best for our children? If Morrisville residents of the distant and recent past had been willing to invest in their youth and in the future the problems the district now faces would not exist. When will residents understand that shortterm savings and shortsightedness do not produce long-term growth and prosperity? We need to invest in and plan for the long term.
Regina G. Wallace Morrisville
Grades 4-12 will be in same building
From the BCCT. Anyone else have news from the meeting?
Downsizing the district in 3...2...
Grades 4-12 will be in same building
The restructuring decision is a safeguard against the possibility of Reiter being closed or being too damaged to open for the fall semester, said acting interim Superintendent William Ferrara.
By MANASEE WAGH
Morrisville students in grades four and up will share a building starting next year. The school board voted 6-2 to reconfigure the district Wednesday evening, with members Joseph Kemp and Gloria Heater opposed. Students in grades four to eight would attend an “intermediate school” in the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, set apart from grades nine to 12, which would continue their schooling in the same building. Grades four to six would be separate from grades seven and eight.
Grandview Elementary would house grades pre-K to three.
Up to $7 million will be invested in renovating the two buildings.
The plan doesn’t call for new construction, but will partly rearrange the use of current spaces, said acting interim Superintendent William Ferrara.
Plans are still preliminary, but he said the administration discussed separating different grade levels in the high school by putting doors in between building sections.
Board member Kemp thought the vote was too premature because neither he nor the public had seen specific and detailed plans for how the facilities would be restructured. He wanted to table the vote and hold it until a later time, but his suggestion was defeated. Board President William Hellmann said he’s pleased with the plan. Community members expressed concern regarding the restructuring before the board has voted on whether or not to close its third school, M.R. Reiter Elementary. Parent John Perry called it “putting the cart before the horse.” About a month ago, the district held a public forum to discuss the possibility of closing Reiter, which was temporarily closed in December after a furnace explosion. The building was damaged badly enough that its students had to be relocated to other district buildings, where they remain. Some will move to modular units on the property of Grandview Elementary this year.
By law, the board has to wait 90 days after the public hearing to vote on closing Reiter.
However, the restructuring proposal is distinct from Reiter, said district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick.
“The issue came up under the initiative of the superintendent. It’s a separate issue from Reiter,” he said.
If the district ends up keeping Reiter and it is repaired, students may be moved back there at some point, board members said.
For now, the administration is simply being proactive by planning to move all the students into Grandview and the high school building this fall, Ferrara said.
“If Reiter is not ready, we won’t be scrambling around,” he said. If the board decides to close it permanently, then the restructuring plan gives the district a place to put the 250 Reiter students, he said.
Downsizing the district in 3...2...
Grades 4-12 will be in same building
The restructuring decision is a safeguard against the possibility of Reiter being closed or being too damaged to open for the fall semester, said acting interim Superintendent William Ferrara.
By MANASEE WAGH
Morrisville students in grades four and up will share a building starting next year. The school board voted 6-2 to reconfigure the district Wednesday evening, with members Joseph Kemp and Gloria Heater opposed. Students in grades four to eight would attend an “intermediate school” in the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, set apart from grades nine to 12, which would continue their schooling in the same building. Grades four to six would be separate from grades seven and eight.
Grandview Elementary would house grades pre-K to three.
Up to $7 million will be invested in renovating the two buildings.
The plan doesn’t call for new construction, but will partly rearrange the use of current spaces, said acting interim Superintendent William Ferrara.
Plans are still preliminary, but he said the administration discussed separating different grade levels in the high school by putting doors in between building sections.
Board member Kemp thought the vote was too premature because neither he nor the public had seen specific and detailed plans for how the facilities would be restructured. He wanted to table the vote and hold it until a later time, but his suggestion was defeated. Board President William Hellmann said he’s pleased with the plan. Community members expressed concern regarding the restructuring before the board has voted on whether or not to close its third school, M.R. Reiter Elementary. Parent John Perry called it “putting the cart before the horse.” About a month ago, the district held a public forum to discuss the possibility of closing Reiter, which was temporarily closed in December after a furnace explosion. The building was damaged badly enough that its students had to be relocated to other district buildings, where they remain. Some will move to modular units on the property of Grandview Elementary this year.
By law, the board has to wait 90 days after the public hearing to vote on closing Reiter.
However, the restructuring proposal is distinct from Reiter, said district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick.
“The issue came up under the initiative of the superintendent. It’s a separate issue from Reiter,” he said.
If the district ends up keeping Reiter and it is repaired, students may be moved back there at some point, board members said.
For now, the administration is simply being proactive by planning to move all the students into Grandview and the high school building this fall, Ferrara said.
“If Reiter is not ready, we won’t be scrambling around,” he said. If the board decides to close it permanently, then the restructuring plan gives the district a place to put the 250 Reiter students, he said.
PA graduation tests inadequate
From the Centre Daily Times
Study finds many Pa. graduation tests inadequate
By MARK SCOLFORO - Associated Press Writer Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Many of the graduation tests being used in Pennsylvania schools fail to adequately measure whether students perform at 11th grade levels in math and reading, according to a study released Wednesday.
* Copy of the Study
Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said the study shows Pennsylvania needs to take steps to ensure its high school graduates are ready for post-secondary education and the workplace.
"It's not a good situation," he said Wednesday. "The data obviously tell the story."
The study by two Penn State University education professors found great variation in the type of tests being used and how they are administered and applied.
The professors called it the most comprehensive look at the tests school districts use as an alternative to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, which measures all students at various stages, including 11th grade.
It was commissioned by the state Education Department at a cost of $276,000.
The study found there are districts that measure reading skills in ways that do not involve actual reading - by testing vocabulary, for example. Some districts' graduation assessments give students credit for their attendance, course grades or good citizenship.
Math and reading tests in just 18 of the 418 districts that were evaluated passed muster by fully meeting the study's standards, which compared the local tests with statewide proficiency standards. Unpaid panels of Pennsylvania public school educators examined the local tests.
Panelists described some assessments as thorough and professional, while others evidenced a lack of concern for the purpose of graduation tests, the report said.
As a condition of participation in the study, school districts were promised that their ratings by the panelists would not be disclosed publicly, although superintendents can get their own.
The Pennsylvania State Board of Education has proposed a statewide standard for graduation by 2014 that would include final exams in English, math, science and social studies. But opposition by the state school boards' association and some state lawmakers has stalled it.
In July, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission issued a report saying graduation tests should be tailored to individual districts rather than imposed uniformly across the state.
More than 50,000 students graduated in 2007 based on their local district's alternative test, and the Education Department has concluded that tens of thousands of students are currently allowed to graduate without sufficient skills.
Education Department spokesman Mike Race said the study "raises very serious questions about these local assessments, which is what we've been saying for months."
Study finds many Pa. graduation tests inadequate
By MARK SCOLFORO - Associated Press Writer Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Many of the graduation tests being used in Pennsylvania schools fail to adequately measure whether students perform at 11th grade levels in math and reading, according to a study released Wednesday.
* Copy of the Study
Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said the study shows Pennsylvania needs to take steps to ensure its high school graduates are ready for post-secondary education and the workplace.
"It's not a good situation," he said Wednesday. "The data obviously tell the story."
The study by two Penn State University education professors found great variation in the type of tests being used and how they are administered and applied.
The professors called it the most comprehensive look at the tests school districts use as an alternative to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, which measures all students at various stages, including 11th grade.
It was commissioned by the state Education Department at a cost of $276,000.
The study found there are districts that measure reading skills in ways that do not involve actual reading - by testing vocabulary, for example. Some districts' graduation assessments give students credit for their attendance, course grades or good citizenship.
Math and reading tests in just 18 of the 418 districts that were evaluated passed muster by fully meeting the study's standards, which compared the local tests with statewide proficiency standards. Unpaid panels of Pennsylvania public school educators examined the local tests.
Panelists described some assessments as thorough and professional, while others evidenced a lack of concern for the purpose of graduation tests, the report said.
As a condition of participation in the study, school districts were promised that their ratings by the panelists would not be disclosed publicly, although superintendents can get their own.
The Pennsylvania State Board of Education has proposed a statewide standard for graduation by 2014 that would include final exams in English, math, science and social studies. But opposition by the state school boards' association and some state lawmakers has stalled it.
In July, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission issued a report saying graduation tests should be tailored to individual districts rather than imposed uniformly across the state.
More than 50,000 students graduated in 2007 based on their local district's alternative test, and the Education Department has concluded that tens of thousands of students are currently allowed to graduate without sufficient skills.
Education Department spokesman Mike Race said the study "raises very serious questions about these local assessments, which is what we've been saying for months."
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Reiter Semi-Officially Closed Tonight
Meeting reminder for the Emperor and the Board of Chosen Accomplices. Tonight at 7:30 in the MHS auditorium, they will magically turn the clocks ahead to April 29 and vote to close M.R. Reiter tonight by adopting a two school plan for the district.
It's what they wanted all along. Remember the Emperor's "Christmas Present" and Kate Fratti's expose on the Emperor's emails?
Don't like it? Then come out and tell them.
Don't understand how this happened? Non Sequitur explains:
It's what they wanted all along. Remember the Emperor's "Christmas Present" and Kate Fratti's expose on the Emperor's emails?
Don't like it? Then come out and tell them.
Don't understand how this happened? Non Sequitur explains:
Merger Talk: Proceed With Caution
From the Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette
Rendell's school merger idea deserves a look
But skeptics who say it must show considerable savings make a strong point
February 23, 2009
Less is more. At least, that's what Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is thinking in asking his state's Legislature to appoint a commission to study the merger of the state's school districts.
His heart is in the right place. Anywhere the state can save money, even by trimming Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, would sound like a proposal that could make taxpayers happy.
But wait. The governor has a number in mind. It's 100, and that means an ambitious consolidation that is likely to strip some districts of their unique identities as they move in with a larger family of schools. As well-intended as the governor's efforts are, he is asking state officials to tinker with one of the sacred areas that causes anxiety among residents, especially in rural areas where schools are as important to communities as their churches.
Theoretically, fewer districts and more efficiency should yield school systems that can apply their money toward higher quality. But theory doesn't carry as much weight as the political backlash that can hammer local legislators who might have to explain to voters why their district is losing its identity in a larger collection of schools.
Legislators such as Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, agree with Wellsboro schools Superintendent Phil Waber that the issue is worth studying. And why wouldn't they say that? There's nothing to lose at this stage of the process, and certainly there's a wealth of information to be gained.
Plus, if the legislatively appointed commission actually produces reliable information that consolidations would save money, then the discussions could go from theory to fact. But as Waber correctly points out, unless any such plan includes school closings, there's not likely to be much savings.
The governor's plan has several steps to take before it even comes close to reality. First, there has to be a study commission that is expected to come up with two plans. Then the public gets a chance to respond before the legislature, called the General Assembly in Pennsylvania, votes on each plan. Disapproval of the plans would throw the merger issue into the laps of the state Board of Education.
For now, the plan is just that. A plan. With further study, it can become a real talking point, and that's where a merger study must lead. But Waber is right. Unless it can save money, lots of it, a merger won't be much use.
Rendell's school merger idea deserves a look
But skeptics who say it must show considerable savings make a strong point
February 23, 2009
Less is more. At least, that's what Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is thinking in asking his state's Legislature to appoint a commission to study the merger of the state's school districts.
His heart is in the right place. Anywhere the state can save money, even by trimming Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, would sound like a proposal that could make taxpayers happy.
But wait. The governor has a number in mind. It's 100, and that means an ambitious consolidation that is likely to strip some districts of their unique identities as they move in with a larger family of schools. As well-intended as the governor's efforts are, he is asking state officials to tinker with one of the sacred areas that causes anxiety among residents, especially in rural areas where schools are as important to communities as their churches.
Theoretically, fewer districts and more efficiency should yield school systems that can apply their money toward higher quality. But theory doesn't carry as much weight as the political backlash that can hammer local legislators who might have to explain to voters why their district is losing its identity in a larger collection of schools.
Legislators such as Rep. Matt Baker, R-Wellsboro, agree with Wellsboro schools Superintendent Phil Waber that the issue is worth studying. And why wouldn't they say that? There's nothing to lose at this stage of the process, and certainly there's a wealth of information to be gained.
Plus, if the legislatively appointed commission actually produces reliable information that consolidations would save money, then the discussions could go from theory to fact. But as Waber correctly points out, unless any such plan includes school closings, there's not likely to be much savings.
The governor's plan has several steps to take before it even comes close to reality. First, there has to be a study commission that is expected to come up with two plans. Then the public gets a chance to respond before the legislature, called the General Assembly in Pennsylvania, votes on each plan. Disapproval of the plans would throw the merger issue into the laps of the state Board of Education.
For now, the plan is just that. A plan. With further study, it can become a real talking point, and that's where a merger study must lead. But Waber is right. Unless it can save money, lots of it, a merger won't be much use.
Next PTO Meeting: March 9
An email from one of our readers.
Last night, a PTO meeting was held at Grandview School and had the best turn out in years! Among the items discussed were the Move up Ceremony for the fourth and fifth graders and fundraiser ideas. We are bringing Popcorn Days back to children at Grandview starting this Friday the 27th and are planning some great fundraisers that will get more parents and the community involved. With the election of new officers to the PTO it will bring consistency and stability to the meetings and events. The next meeting is on March 9th at 7pm at Grandview.
Could you possibly post something of this to your readers-we would love some more support!
Last night, a PTO meeting was held at Grandview School and had the best turn out in years! Among the items discussed were the Move up Ceremony for the fourth and fifth graders and fundraiser ideas. We are bringing Popcorn Days back to children at Grandview starting this Friday the 27th and are planning some great fundraisers that will get more parents and the community involved. With the election of new officers to the PTO it will bring consistency and stability to the meetings and events. The next meeting is on March 9th at 7pm at Grandview.
Could you possibly post something of this to your readers-we would love some more support!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
NCLB: The Teach to the Test Act?
From the New York Times
Rename Law? No Wisecrack Is Left Behind
By SAM DILLON Published: February 22, 2009
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, an effort to fix No Child Left Behind, the main federal law on public schools, provoked a grueling slugfest in Congress, leading Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, to say the law had become “the most negative brand in America.”
The little schoolhouse, front and back, at the Education Department building in Washington. A blog contest to rename the No Child Left Behind law has received entries like the Rearranging the Deck Chairs Act and the Teach to the Test Act.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan agrees. “Let’s rebrand it,” he said in an interview. “Give it a new name.”
And before Mr. Duncan has had time to float a single name, scores of educators, policy wonks and assorted rabble-rousers have rushed in with an outpouring of proposals.
The civil rights leader Marian Wright Edelman took the high road, suggesting it be called the Quality Education for All Children Act. But a lot of wise guys have gotten in on the act too, with suggestions like the All American Children Are Above Average Act. Alternatives are popping up every day on the Eduwonk.com blog, where Andrew Rotherham, a former Clinton administration official, is sponsoring a rename-the-law contest.
One entry, alluding to the bank bailout program, suggests that it be called the Mental Asset Recovery Plan. Another proposal: the Act to Help Children Read Gooder.
Part of the problem is that the law, which comes up for reauthorization every five years, became closely associated with President George W. Bush, and as his popularity slid, the law, and its name, came under attack and ridicule.
Jay Leno, for instance, pointed out in 2006 that Mr. Bush’s approval rating had dropped to 35 percent. “You know Bush’s No Child Left Behind program?” Mr. Leno said. “Now even the children left behind are going, ‘You go ahead, we’re fine.’ ”
The law dates to 1965, when Congress passed it to channel federal money to poor children in the war on poverty, calling it the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
By the early 1990s, a school accountability movement was gaining momentum. In the 1994 reauthorization, the Clinton administration required states to develop new math and reading standards, use more tests, and adopt a benchmark for school improvement known as “adequate yearly progress.” And it gave the law a new name: the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994.
Most people clung to the original name, however, until Mr. Bush signed No Child Left Behind.
The phrase appears to be borrowed from Ms. Edelman, the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, who throughout the 1990s seasoned speeches with the phrase “leave no child behind.” In 1994, the organization registered “Leave No Child Behind” as a trademark.
But as early as the mid-1990s, Mr. Bush, then the Texas governor, was routinely using similar phrases.
In 2000, the organization reminded the Bush campaign about its trademark, but those complaints were brushed aside. After Mr. Bush’s inauguration as president, he sent Congress a thick packet of education proposals to guide the law’s 2001 rewriting, titled No Child Left Behind.
Sandy Kress, a Texas lawyer who helped compile those proposals, said the phrase nicely summarized the president’s views, especially his provision requiring that authorities publish test scores for all minority groups, shining a spotlight on the low scores of poor students previously hidden by schoolwide averages.
Just about everyone praised that feature of the Bush-era law. But other provisions aroused opposition, including the requirement that every child be brought to proficiency in reading and math by 2014, which many educators said was like requiring law enforcement agencies to end all crime.
Nicknames for the law proliferated: No Child Left Untested, No Child’s Behind Left, No School Board Left Standing.
Since Mr. Rotherham announced his contest last week, Eduwonk has received 41 entries, including: the Double Back Around to Pick Up the Children We Left Behind Act, the Rearranging the Deck Chairs Act, the Teach to the Test Act and the Could We Start Again Please Act.
Rename Law? No Wisecrack Is Left Behind
By SAM DILLON Published: February 22, 2009
WASHINGTON — Two years ago, an effort to fix No Child Left Behind, the main federal law on public schools, provoked a grueling slugfest in Congress, leading Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, to say the law had become “the most negative brand in America.”
The little schoolhouse, front and back, at the Education Department building in Washington. A blog contest to rename the No Child Left Behind law has received entries like the Rearranging the Deck Chairs Act and the Teach to the Test Act.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan agrees. “Let’s rebrand it,” he said in an interview. “Give it a new name.”
And before Mr. Duncan has had time to float a single name, scores of educators, policy wonks and assorted rabble-rousers have rushed in with an outpouring of proposals.
The civil rights leader Marian Wright Edelman took the high road, suggesting it be called the Quality Education for All Children Act. But a lot of wise guys have gotten in on the act too, with suggestions like the All American Children Are Above Average Act. Alternatives are popping up every day on the Eduwonk.com blog, where Andrew Rotherham, a former Clinton administration official, is sponsoring a rename-the-law contest.
One entry, alluding to the bank bailout program, suggests that it be called the Mental Asset Recovery Plan. Another proposal: the Act to Help Children Read Gooder.
Part of the problem is that the law, which comes up for reauthorization every five years, became closely associated with President George W. Bush, and as his popularity slid, the law, and its name, came under attack and ridicule.
Jay Leno, for instance, pointed out in 2006 that Mr. Bush’s approval rating had dropped to 35 percent. “You know Bush’s No Child Left Behind program?” Mr. Leno said. “Now even the children left behind are going, ‘You go ahead, we’re fine.’ ”
The law dates to 1965, when Congress passed it to channel federal money to poor children in the war on poverty, calling it the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
By the early 1990s, a school accountability movement was gaining momentum. In the 1994 reauthorization, the Clinton administration required states to develop new math and reading standards, use more tests, and adopt a benchmark for school improvement known as “adequate yearly progress.” And it gave the law a new name: the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994.
Most people clung to the original name, however, until Mr. Bush signed No Child Left Behind.
The phrase appears to be borrowed from Ms. Edelman, the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, who throughout the 1990s seasoned speeches with the phrase “leave no child behind.” In 1994, the organization registered “Leave No Child Behind” as a trademark.
But as early as the mid-1990s, Mr. Bush, then the Texas governor, was routinely using similar phrases.
In 2000, the organization reminded the Bush campaign about its trademark, but those complaints were brushed aside. After Mr. Bush’s inauguration as president, he sent Congress a thick packet of education proposals to guide the law’s 2001 rewriting, titled No Child Left Behind.
Sandy Kress, a Texas lawyer who helped compile those proposals, said the phrase nicely summarized the president’s views, especially his provision requiring that authorities publish test scores for all minority groups, shining a spotlight on the low scores of poor students previously hidden by schoolwide averages.
Just about everyone praised that feature of the Bush-era law. But other provisions aroused opposition, including the requirement that every child be brought to proficiency in reading and math by 2014, which many educators said was like requiring law enforcement agencies to end all crime.
Nicknames for the law proliferated: No Child Left Untested, No Child’s Behind Left, No School Board Left Standing.
Since Mr. Rotherham announced his contest last week, Eduwonk has received 41 entries, including: the Double Back Around to Pick Up the Children We Left Behind Act, the Rearranging the Deck Chairs Act, the Teach to the Test Act and the Could We Start Again Please Act.
Making do with less
Editorial from the BCCT.
If this is editorial policy, how about having the reporters ask the tough questions like:
Why did/didn't you cut this program?
What is/is not affected?
How much does this save/cost?
Then, print the answers. If the answer is "I dunno", print that too. Be accountable all around, not just on the editorial page.
Making do with less
Hit with pay cuts and wage freezes, taxpayers have no choice but to cut back. School boards should follow their example.
It’s kind of like the Stockholm syndrome, that state of mind where a hostage becomes sympathetic to the hostage taker. We have in mind those hefty tax hikes school districts are proposing as part of their preliminary budgets.
Fortunately, preliminary budgets are state-mandated exercises that are frequently revised. So by the time a final budget is passed calling for a lower tax hike than originally proposed, taxpayers are thankful that their captors gave them a break.
In normal times, that sort of thing is almost tolerable. Indeed, taxpayers understand rising costs. But in case school officials haven’t noticed, these are not normal times. They are difficult times. Most taxpayers are feeling the financial pinch; many are hurting.
And so it’s unrealistic if not irresponsible for school districts to be discussing hefty tax increases while jobs are being lost, wages frozen and people generally are making do with a whole lot less.
In this area of the state, we’ve become spoiled by the overall high quality of education and haven’t always demanded that school boards knock off the spending binges.
A big part of the problem is the ever-rising cost of labor and school districts’ willingness to meet the unreasonable demands of teachers unions. Top-heavy administrations, with six-figure salaries, add to the burden — too often with school boards hardly batting an eye.
Act 1 was the state law that was supposed to put the brakes on school spending by requiring districts to seek voter approval for tax increases. But each year, districts can raise taxes a certain amount (this year, it’s 4.1 percent) without consulting the voters. In our view, 4.1 percent is excessive these days. But districts can exceed even that by filing for certain exceptions.
Act 1 has become a bad joke, and the taxpayers are the butt of it. School officials don’t help by piling on higher and higher expenses that they claim are absolutely vital.
There is certainly enough blame to spread around for the crisis in public education funding. The state has danced around the problem for years. And local school officials haven’t worked hard enough to bring their budgets in line with economic reality. That needs to change.
Certain “necessities” have to become “options” and certain “options” have to be scrapped, at least for the time being. In every district, labor agreements have to be scrutinized. Renegotiation shouldn’t be an unheard of practice.
In short, school districts have to get their spending under control before they bleed their taxpayers to death.
If this is editorial policy, how about having the reporters ask the tough questions like:
Why did/didn't you cut this program?
What is/is not affected?
How much does this save/cost?
Then, print the answers. If the answer is "I dunno", print that too. Be accountable all around, not just on the editorial page.
Making do with less
Hit with pay cuts and wage freezes, taxpayers have no choice but to cut back. School boards should follow their example.
It’s kind of like the Stockholm syndrome, that state of mind where a hostage becomes sympathetic to the hostage taker. We have in mind those hefty tax hikes school districts are proposing as part of their preliminary budgets.
Fortunately, preliminary budgets are state-mandated exercises that are frequently revised. So by the time a final budget is passed calling for a lower tax hike than originally proposed, taxpayers are thankful that their captors gave them a break.
In normal times, that sort of thing is almost tolerable. Indeed, taxpayers understand rising costs. But in case school officials haven’t noticed, these are not normal times. They are difficult times. Most taxpayers are feeling the financial pinch; many are hurting.
And so it’s unrealistic if not irresponsible for school districts to be discussing hefty tax increases while jobs are being lost, wages frozen and people generally are making do with a whole lot less.
In this area of the state, we’ve become spoiled by the overall high quality of education and haven’t always demanded that school boards knock off the spending binges.
A big part of the problem is the ever-rising cost of labor and school districts’ willingness to meet the unreasonable demands of teachers unions. Top-heavy administrations, with six-figure salaries, add to the burden — too often with school boards hardly batting an eye.
Act 1 was the state law that was supposed to put the brakes on school spending by requiring districts to seek voter approval for tax increases. But each year, districts can raise taxes a certain amount (this year, it’s 4.1 percent) without consulting the voters. In our view, 4.1 percent is excessive these days. But districts can exceed even that by filing for certain exceptions.
Act 1 has become a bad joke, and the taxpayers are the butt of it. School officials don’t help by piling on higher and higher expenses that they claim are absolutely vital.
There is certainly enough blame to spread around for the crisis in public education funding. The state has danced around the problem for years. And local school officials haven’t worked hard enough to bring their budgets in line with economic reality. That needs to change.
Certain “necessities” have to become “options” and certain “options” have to be scrapped, at least for the time being. In every district, labor agreements have to be scrutinized. Renegotiation shouldn’t be an unheard of practice.
In short, school districts have to get their spending under control before they bleed their taxpayers to death.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Backtracking and Flip Flopping
In an earlier post just over a year ago, I had vowed never to again give this person any sort of space on this blog. I have no choice but to do the fast politician flip-flop and present this, as it appeared today in the BCCT.
The first reason is the deluge of emails I have received to tell me about this. The second reason is the comments that were left on the BCCT website. I have posted some of them below.
Commenters: Anything you want to add? I've been eating too many sour grapes lately.
Pennsbury preaches, but fails to practice
By GLORIA DEL VECCHIO
Bucks County Courier Times
Recently, a Courier Times editorial seemed to side with the sour-grapes minority in Morrisville who were turned down overwhelmingly in their bid for building a new high school.
Is the editorial board aware of how many more families would be losing their homes and businesses in Morrisville if those school taxes had been astronomically increased - if that school had been approved now that the country is in a deep recession? That we are now also burdened with a large rise in municipal taxes would push the town into some type of failed state.
This newspaper has reported that our school board is reaching out with a creative idea of paying to send our 250 high school students to neighboring Pennsbury - and to other school districts south of Route 1.
Our family, before the Delaware River flooded, lived in Yardley and my four children went through the Pennsbury schools. It was, even then, known universally by the school kids, themselves and their parents, that there is a social-economic split within the Pennsbury system itself in which Route 1 is the dividing point.
Every time Morrisville approaches Pennsbury to take some of our students, the latter has some new excuse.
Pennsbury officials claim publicly their concern for social justice, teaching students the necessity and value of compassion, concern for others and community service, etc. We are always reading stories in the Courier about classes collecting money for some family in trouble or for service-people in Iraq; yet, hypocritically and shamefully, Pennsbury will not take in Morrisville students because of cruel snobbery and selfish pretentiousness.
They certainly aren't teaching by example!
However, at this point, let us return to the Courier's editorial, which criticized the school board for failing to follow though on building a K-12 school and abandoning the borough's high school-age children. Sure, I can see the value of having children nurtured near home; but, high school students do not need to be so sheltered and limited. Their possibilities, interests and horizons should be opened up just as at puberty their minds blossom out to a greater world.
Last year, I was invited to a band concert at one of the Pennsbury intermediate schools, where I was blown away by how great those kids were - the quality of the music and the near-professionalism of the players. After that concert, in the lobby of that school, there was such joy and happiness in the crowd of kids, parents, grandparents and teachers. Everyone was so proud!
Sometime afterward, I watched the Morrisville High School graduation ceremony on TV. Our high school band performed and I felt so sorry for those kids and for our town. The band was playing a simple, traditional melody and it was very much out of tune and disconnected. In fact, it sounded like a second- or third-grade music ensemble!
All parents want the best future for their children and should realize they need the better secondary education (and at a lower price) that a larger school district can offer. The Morrisville School District is just too small and the community's financial resources too limited to prepare our high school students for the 21st century.
February 23, 2009 02:10 AM
Comments
MHS student, 02-23-09, 11:46 am | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Students at Pennsbury play music. They are told "play this, this and that." Morrisville students can READ music, and know what, when and how to play. Students at Morrisville are proud of their ability to play music. Last year one student qualified for the District Band and performed. Even just a few weeks ago, the Marching Band was asked by the Trenton Devils to play the National Anthem. Yeah you're right, those kids must really be a disgrace to their town. Gloria, nice try. As to Pennsbury accepting the Morrisville kids, why are you calling us a charity case? The only reason why Morrisville is not the best, is because we have no business revenue to be put into the schools. Otherwise, Morrisville would contest with "the top" as it once did. It is a shame because by now the new school would be built, and there would be no maintenance issues at the schools. Morrisville kids don't want to go to Pennsbury, we want to stay here; that is where we belong. Period.
jmcdelaware94, 02-23-09, 8:40 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
yes, you see that southies. you are just as bad as us north of route 1 people.
Michelle12, 02-23-09, 8:45 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
The voters of Morrisville by majority elected a School Board that has destroyed the educational system in your district. They only had only one concern in mind and that was stopping the construction of the new building before examining and evaluating the where they want to be in the future or even caring about the children. They created it through their lack of being responsible to the parents of children who deserve a good educational environment. Their one-sided balancing act will have economic implications for every resident. Morrisville property values will decrease along side with the fact that families with children will not want to move into your neighbors.
As to your comment in your editorial about Pennsbury will not take in Morrisville students because of “cruel snobbery and selfish pretentiousness .” The fact is that Lower Makefield residents contribute approximately 60% of our property taxes towards the Pennsbury School District budget. If Morrisville taxpayers feel that they can ride the” gravy train free” or have LMT taxpayers increase their share of taxes, you are wrong!
Go elect officials who know how to be financially responsible and balance the education of your future children with the current tax base. You asked for this when you elected them – and you deserve what you have.
Rebecca100, 02-23-09, 8:45 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
Whose side are you on Gloria? What "cruel snobbery" to publicly and so viciously criticize the children in the Morrisville band. What purpose is served to broadcast your opinion if Pennsbury is truly just being snobby. Why would they want this caliber of musical student in their midst?
I would like to see both districts look into options and financials of a cooperative arrangement but preferably if there is a merger to build new schools as so many in the Pennsbury District are aging too with no plans to my knowledge anytime soon to replace them. Other districts have combined resources and everyone has benefited.
omega1, 02-23-09, 9:29 am | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Golria, I feel your shame.
Such self loathing.
Indicitive of your generation, you've never seen a cause that you couldn't embrace to loath.
xxxx, 02-23-09, 10:04 am | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
First, the Pennsbury band is more than twice the size of Morrisville. Second, you are comparing a graduation ceremony (THAT YOU WATCHED ON TV!,nice) to an actual concert. Why don't you try to attend a Morrisville concert. The kids and parents also have a great time at Morrisville concerts. Every kid gets an opportunity to play and the pride they feel of actually accomplishing something can be felt by everyone in the audience. But I guess you wouldn't get the same feeling from watching TV. You have to care about the kids and actually show up and support the student. Not just sit by and watch(TV) then ask for another district to support your kids. Try being there then maybe your comment won't make you look like such an ignorant snob. Don't trash the few good things that students feel proud of, that is a sign of a true bully. This district could be a real gem if people but the time into building up the school instead of trying to destroy it.
Gabriel, 02-23-09, 12:39 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Michelle12 hit the nail on the head. Morrisville was at a crossroad with what kind of school district they wanted to be. They are in a tough financial position as we all are, and they had a choice to either reinvest in their education or just cut every expense. They chose the latter. Now they expect Pennsbury to take the students they won't support? Sounds just like when someone proposes building a new prison. It's a nice idea but not in my back yard.
DaveH, 02-23-09, 12:45 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Gloria: You did it again. You opened your mouth and every time you do that you make a fool of yourself. Don't you ever get tired of being foolish?
MHS Student: Most Pennsbury students who continue through the music program CAN read music. The ones that can't are getting a chance at playing music and an exposure to it for appreciation and interest. Go to a Pennsbury High School Jazz band concert and you will see some of the finest musicians from Pennsbury perform at a professional level difficult to achieve by even larger schools (or some professionals). That's because Pennsbury has a long standing music program and tradition that has been honed over many years. Those students rehearse almost every day and do whatever it takes to keep the tradition and excellence alive. That attitude has filtered down from the high school to the middle schools and it gives Pennsbury a nationally recognized music program.
jmcdelaware94, 02-23-09, 1:19 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
and a nationally recognized jazz quartet known simply as the 'butterscotch krumpets'. although they did screw up the national anthem at one basketball game.
TylerDurden, 02-23-09, 2:17 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Here we go again.
Instead of the measuring contest on who has the better band let us instead look at the fact that these problems have been facing Morrisville for years and they have done nothing over time. Now when they are faced with having to do something there answer is to attempt to bride another district into taking their students so they can once again do nothing.
This has nothing to do with cultural or social issues it has to do with the simple fact that Pennsbury is already overcrowded and should not take on out of district students. Add in the fact that the students in Morrisville do not want to be pawned off then what you have a situation that requires some thought and ideas, which apparently the current and previous boards in Morrisville woefully lack.
The first reason is the deluge of emails I have received to tell me about this. The second reason is the comments that were left on the BCCT website. I have posted some of them below.
Commenters: Anything you want to add? I've been eating too many sour grapes lately.
Pennsbury preaches, but fails to practice
By GLORIA DEL VECCHIO
Bucks County Courier Times
Recently, a Courier Times editorial seemed to side with the sour-grapes minority in Morrisville who were turned down overwhelmingly in their bid for building a new high school.
Is the editorial board aware of how many more families would be losing their homes and businesses in Morrisville if those school taxes had been astronomically increased - if that school had been approved now that the country is in a deep recession? That we are now also burdened with a large rise in municipal taxes would push the town into some type of failed state.
This newspaper has reported that our school board is reaching out with a creative idea of paying to send our 250 high school students to neighboring Pennsbury - and to other school districts south of Route 1.
Our family, before the Delaware River flooded, lived in Yardley and my four children went through the Pennsbury schools. It was, even then, known universally by the school kids, themselves and their parents, that there is a social-economic split within the Pennsbury system itself in which Route 1 is the dividing point.
Every time Morrisville approaches Pennsbury to take some of our students, the latter has some new excuse.
Pennsbury officials claim publicly their concern for social justice, teaching students the necessity and value of compassion, concern for others and community service, etc. We are always reading stories in the Courier about classes collecting money for some family in trouble or for service-people in Iraq; yet, hypocritically and shamefully, Pennsbury will not take in Morrisville students because of cruel snobbery and selfish pretentiousness.
They certainly aren't teaching by example!
However, at this point, let us return to the Courier's editorial, which criticized the school board for failing to follow though on building a K-12 school and abandoning the borough's high school-age children. Sure, I can see the value of having children nurtured near home; but, high school students do not need to be so sheltered and limited. Their possibilities, interests and horizons should be opened up just as at puberty their minds blossom out to a greater world.
Last year, I was invited to a band concert at one of the Pennsbury intermediate schools, where I was blown away by how great those kids were - the quality of the music and the near-professionalism of the players. After that concert, in the lobby of that school, there was such joy and happiness in the crowd of kids, parents, grandparents and teachers. Everyone was so proud!
Sometime afterward, I watched the Morrisville High School graduation ceremony on TV. Our high school band performed and I felt so sorry for those kids and for our town. The band was playing a simple, traditional melody and it was very much out of tune and disconnected. In fact, it sounded like a second- or third-grade music ensemble!
All parents want the best future for their children and should realize they need the better secondary education (and at a lower price) that a larger school district can offer. The Morrisville School District is just too small and the community's financial resources too limited to prepare our high school students for the 21st century.
February 23, 2009 02:10 AM
Comments
MHS student, 02-23-09, 11:46 am | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Students at Pennsbury play music. They are told "play this, this and that." Morrisville students can READ music, and know what, when and how to play. Students at Morrisville are proud of their ability to play music. Last year one student qualified for the District Band and performed. Even just a few weeks ago, the Marching Band was asked by the Trenton Devils to play the National Anthem. Yeah you're right, those kids must really be a disgrace to their town. Gloria, nice try. As to Pennsbury accepting the Morrisville kids, why are you calling us a charity case? The only reason why Morrisville is not the best, is because we have no business revenue to be put into the schools. Otherwise, Morrisville would contest with "the top" as it once did. It is a shame because by now the new school would be built, and there would be no maintenance issues at the schools. Morrisville kids don't want to go to Pennsbury, we want to stay here; that is where we belong. Period.
jmcdelaware94, 02-23-09, 8:40 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
yes, you see that southies. you are just as bad as us north of route 1 people.
Michelle12, 02-23-09, 8:45 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
The voters of Morrisville by majority elected a School Board that has destroyed the educational system in your district. They only had only one concern in mind and that was stopping the construction of the new building before examining and evaluating the where they want to be in the future or even caring about the children. They created it through their lack of being responsible to the parents of children who deserve a good educational environment. Their one-sided balancing act will have economic implications for every resident. Morrisville property values will decrease along side with the fact that families with children will not want to move into your neighbors.
As to your comment in your editorial about Pennsbury will not take in Morrisville students because of “cruel snobbery and selfish pretentiousness .” The fact is that Lower Makefield residents contribute approximately 60% of our property taxes towards the Pennsbury School District budget. If Morrisville taxpayers feel that they can ride the” gravy train free” or have LMT taxpayers increase their share of taxes, you are wrong!
Go elect officials who know how to be financially responsible and balance the education of your future children with the current tax base. You asked for this when you elected them – and you deserve what you have.
Rebecca100, 02-23-09, 8:45 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
Whose side are you on Gloria? What "cruel snobbery" to publicly and so viciously criticize the children in the Morrisville band. What purpose is served to broadcast your opinion if Pennsbury is truly just being snobby. Why would they want this caliber of musical student in their midst?
I would like to see both districts look into options and financials of a cooperative arrangement but preferably if there is a merger to build new schools as so many in the Pennsbury District are aging too with no plans to my knowledge anytime soon to replace them. Other districts have combined resources and everyone has benefited.
omega1, 02-23-09, 9:29 am | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Golria, I feel your shame.
Such self loathing.
Indicitive of your generation, you've never seen a cause that you couldn't embrace to loath.
xxxx, 02-23-09, 10:04 am | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
First, the Pennsbury band is more than twice the size of Morrisville. Second, you are comparing a graduation ceremony (THAT YOU WATCHED ON TV!,nice) to an actual concert. Why don't you try to attend a Morrisville concert. The kids and parents also have a great time at Morrisville concerts. Every kid gets an opportunity to play and the pride they feel of actually accomplishing something can be felt by everyone in the audience. But I guess you wouldn't get the same feeling from watching TV. You have to care about the kids and actually show up and support the student. Not just sit by and watch(TV) then ask for another district to support your kids. Try being there then maybe your comment won't make you look like such an ignorant snob. Don't trash the few good things that students feel proud of, that is a sign of a true bully. This district could be a real gem if people but the time into building up the school instead of trying to destroy it.
Gabriel, 02-23-09, 12:39 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Michelle12 hit the nail on the head. Morrisville was at a crossroad with what kind of school district they wanted to be. They are in a tough financial position as we all are, and they had a choice to either reinvest in their education or just cut every expense. They chose the latter. Now they expect Pennsbury to take the students they won't support? Sounds just like when someone proposes building a new prison. It's a nice idea but not in my back yard.
DaveH, 02-23-09, 12:45 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Gloria: You did it again. You opened your mouth and every time you do that you make a fool of yourself. Don't you ever get tired of being foolish?
MHS Student: Most Pennsbury students who continue through the music program CAN read music. The ones that can't are getting a chance at playing music and an exposure to it for appreciation and interest. Go to a Pennsbury High School Jazz band concert and you will see some of the finest musicians from Pennsbury perform at a professional level difficult to achieve by even larger schools (or some professionals). That's because Pennsbury has a long standing music program and tradition that has been honed over many years. Those students rehearse almost every day and do whatever it takes to keep the tradition and excellence alive. That attitude has filtered down from the high school to the middle schools and it gives Pennsbury a nationally recognized music program.
jmcdelaware94, 02-23-09, 1:19 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
and a nationally recognized jazz quartet known simply as the 'butterscotch krumpets'. although they did screw up the national anthem at one basketball game.
TylerDurden, 02-23-09, 2:17 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Here we go again.
Instead of the measuring contest on who has the better band let us instead look at the fact that these problems have been facing Morrisville for years and they have done nothing over time. Now when they are faced with having to do something there answer is to attempt to bride another district into taking their students so they can once again do nothing.
This has nothing to do with cultural or social issues it has to do with the simple fact that Pennsbury is already overcrowded and should not take on out of district students. Add in the fact that the students in Morrisville do not want to be pawned off then what you have a situation that requires some thought and ideas, which apparently the current and previous boards in Morrisville woefully lack.
School board behaves like children
From the Pottstown Mercury.
No, it's not about Morrisville.
School board behaves like children, but fails to lead on their behalf
Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:18 AM EST
The motives of Pottstown parents, community advocates and the school board are said to be "for the children," but this town's behavior, though childish, has little to do with what's best for kids.
In what can only be described as a three-ring circus, the Pottstown School Board on Thursday reversed course for the third time, rescinding with a 5-4 vote its November decision to consolidate elementary education into three buildings and return to the concept of keeping all five elementary schools.
The vote came near the end of a four-hour meeting in the auditorium of Pottstown Middle School, attended by about 200 people and featuring emotional pleas from parents and community leaders on the plan to close two of the borough's five elementary schools and convert a third into an early learning center.
It was the proposed — and already approved — conversion of Edgewood from a K-5 neighborhood school to an early learning center housing 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten programs that attracted the greatest outcry.
The early learning center would mesh with Pottstown's PEAK program, a network of public-private partnerships that has achieved a national reputation for its success as an established early education initiative.
The Edgewood parents, donned in red T-shirts, pleaded with the board to keep their school open in its current form — "for the children." They argued that it is a good school which should not be closed, that the board was ignoring the importance of stability in their children's lives, and that this disruption would be detrimental to their education.
But, others pointed out that schools are not closed because they are bad schools — they are closed because the town can not financially support maintaining five elementary buildings, several of which are in dire need of renovation or rebuilding.
As one speaker pointed out, the former Jefferson School closed some years ago — a blow to that neighborhood just like any other — and children adapted. Their lives were not ruined; their education not destroyed.
Just as passionate as the parents about keeping schools open were several former school board and economic advisory board members who said with vehemence and conviction that the town's finances can not support five elementary buildings.
Lost in the accusatory rhetoric of the speakers was a "clear sense of purpose and vision," as noted by Wendy David, who spoke representing United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
David, whose organization just announced a grant in excess of $200,000 for the district's early education program, warned the board against constantly reversing itself: "If the district wants to reap the benefits of outside investors, it needs to pick a clear vision and stick with it."
David is not the only private funder who has cautioned the school board and borough council in Pottstown on the dangers of following a path of constant detour and disjointed leadership.
Her words and those of others continue to go unheeded. Even for this town with its recent years of discord, Thursday night's exhibition was embarrassing. Board members, community leaders, parents, educators — all took personal shots at others, leaving little about their opinions to the imagination.
When the time came for the board members to speak, it was impossible to miss the sniping tone and veiled accusations that preceded their vote — a vote that went backward and undid a positive step they had taken in November.
No matter what this school board decides, someone will be unhappy. They may be parents loyal to their neighborhood school. They may be working homeowners fretting over costs. Or, educators eager to pursue their notion of better learning.
Regardless, the school board — as individuals charged with the goal of reaching a consensus of leadership —bear the burden of dealing with those who are unhappy and making the hard decisions anyway.
Giving sway to the Edgewood parents and neighborhood schools proponents may feel like a victory for some today. But what happens when the costs of keeping open all the schools further drives up the tax burden?
Newstell Marable, president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, made the point Thursday that children are flexible. "They can adapt; it's adults who don't like change," he said.
The Pottstown community, and this school board, demonstrated Thursday that they can behave like children. But, when it comes to making a decision, they react like stubborn adults who cannot agree or take a higher road.
This process of deciding to rescind a decision and go back to a plan that was never a plan is not "for the children." It's just childish.
No, it's not about Morrisville.
School board behaves like children, but fails to lead on their behalf
Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:18 AM EST
The motives of Pottstown parents, community advocates and the school board are said to be "for the children," but this town's behavior, though childish, has little to do with what's best for kids.
In what can only be described as a three-ring circus, the Pottstown School Board on Thursday reversed course for the third time, rescinding with a 5-4 vote its November decision to consolidate elementary education into three buildings and return to the concept of keeping all five elementary schools.
The vote came near the end of a four-hour meeting in the auditorium of Pottstown Middle School, attended by about 200 people and featuring emotional pleas from parents and community leaders on the plan to close two of the borough's five elementary schools and convert a third into an early learning center.
It was the proposed — and already approved — conversion of Edgewood from a K-5 neighborhood school to an early learning center housing 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten programs that attracted the greatest outcry.
The early learning center would mesh with Pottstown's PEAK program, a network of public-private partnerships that has achieved a national reputation for its success as an established early education initiative.
The Edgewood parents, donned in red T-shirts, pleaded with the board to keep their school open in its current form — "for the children." They argued that it is a good school which should not be closed, that the board was ignoring the importance of stability in their children's lives, and that this disruption would be detrimental to their education.
But, others pointed out that schools are not closed because they are bad schools — they are closed because the town can not financially support maintaining five elementary buildings, several of which are in dire need of renovation or rebuilding.
As one speaker pointed out, the former Jefferson School closed some years ago — a blow to that neighborhood just like any other — and children adapted. Their lives were not ruined; their education not destroyed.
Just as passionate as the parents about keeping schools open were several former school board and economic advisory board members who said with vehemence and conviction that the town's finances can not support five elementary buildings.
Lost in the accusatory rhetoric of the speakers was a "clear sense of purpose and vision," as noted by Wendy David, who spoke representing United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
David, whose organization just announced a grant in excess of $200,000 for the district's early education program, warned the board against constantly reversing itself: "If the district wants to reap the benefits of outside investors, it needs to pick a clear vision and stick with it."
David is not the only private funder who has cautioned the school board and borough council in Pottstown on the dangers of following a path of constant detour and disjointed leadership.
Her words and those of others continue to go unheeded. Even for this town with its recent years of discord, Thursday night's exhibition was embarrassing. Board members, community leaders, parents, educators — all took personal shots at others, leaving little about their opinions to the imagination.
When the time came for the board members to speak, it was impossible to miss the sniping tone and veiled accusations that preceded their vote — a vote that went backward and undid a positive step they had taken in November.
No matter what this school board decides, someone will be unhappy. They may be parents loyal to their neighborhood school. They may be working homeowners fretting over costs. Or, educators eager to pursue their notion of better learning.
Regardless, the school board — as individuals charged with the goal of reaching a consensus of leadership —bear the burden of dealing with those who are unhappy and making the hard decisions anyway.
Giving sway to the Edgewood parents and neighborhood schools proponents may feel like a victory for some today. But what happens when the costs of keeping open all the schools further drives up the tax burden?
Newstell Marable, president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, made the point Thursday that children are flexible. "They can adapt; it's adults who don't like change," he said.
The Pottstown community, and this school board, demonstrated Thursday that they can behave like children. But, when it comes to making a decision, they react like stubborn adults who cannot agree or take a higher road.
This process of deciding to rescind a decision and go back to a plan that was never a plan is not "for the children." It's just childish.
Pennsbury Contract Extension
From the Inquirer.
Pennsbury teachers ratify contract extension
By Dan Hardy Posted on Sat, Feb. 21, 2009
The school board and teachers in Bucks County's Pennsbury School District, acting to cut costs as the economy struggles, have ratified a one-year contract extension that gives teachers no across-the-board raises.
The extension agreement is the only one of its kind so far in Pennsylvania, said David Davare, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. It reflects a broader effort to keep expenses and tax increases down because of the economic downturn, he said.
The board approved the measure by a 6-2 vote Thursday night; the 835 members of the Pennsbury Education Association had voted "overwhelmingly" for the agreement earlier this month, union president George Miller said.
"While we wait to see how the economic situation proceeds, we hope this will give some relief to the community," Miller said.
The agreement allows teachers to receive raises due them because of advances from one level to the next on the existing seniority-based salary scale, and if they obtain advanced education degrees. About 56 percent of the teachers will get no raise, Gregory Lucidi, the school board president, told the audience at the meeting.
The agreement will cost the district about $1.1 million, taking into account anticipated retirements, district officials said. This year's budget for the 11,000-student district is $174 million.
"I believe this is a good deal for Pennsbury," Lucidi said. "It will help with our goal of a zero percent increase" in taxes.
School board members Gene Dolnick and Wayne DeBlasio voted against the agreement, saying they wanted the teachers to give up all increases. Board member Richard Johnson was absent.
DeBlasio said yesterday: "I think it's a good deal. I just think we should have done better. . . . I feel very strongly that as a whole, Pennsbury's staff should be saying, 'With the economy as bad as it is this year, we're glad we have a job; we'll take nothing this year.' "
DeBlasio said the school board was looking at cuts in administration expenses, could reduce its pre-kindergarten offerings, and might cut staff though attrition and reduce high school course offerings. "Our revenue is down. . . . We're going to have to cut expenses," he said.
Davare said that most school districts say revenue is holding up fairly well but that there has been slippage in real estate transfer taxes, paid when a property is sold. As a result of economic worries, he said, fewer districts are proposing new academic programs for next year.
"Boards don't ever raise taxes just for the sake of raising taxes," he added. "But I do think they are paying more attention to the local economic situation, seeing if they can go for another year with a low impact" by keeping expenses down.
Teacher contracts will expire in 11 other school districts in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties before school starts this fall. Negotiations have started in all those districts.
Robert Broderick, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said that in the initial stages, "there are all different kinds of offers on the table, from one end of the spectrum to the other - from freezes and givebacks to acting as if the economy does not affect them very much. . . . All negotiations are local and reflect the circumstances in that community."
Three contracts that expired last year - Neshaminy; Springfield, Delaware County; and Souderton - are not settled.
Pennsbury teachers ratify contract extension
By Dan Hardy Posted on Sat, Feb. 21, 2009
The school board and teachers in Bucks County's Pennsbury School District, acting to cut costs as the economy struggles, have ratified a one-year contract extension that gives teachers no across-the-board raises.
The extension agreement is the only one of its kind so far in Pennsylvania, said David Davare, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. It reflects a broader effort to keep expenses and tax increases down because of the economic downturn, he said.
The board approved the measure by a 6-2 vote Thursday night; the 835 members of the Pennsbury Education Association had voted "overwhelmingly" for the agreement earlier this month, union president George Miller said.
"While we wait to see how the economic situation proceeds, we hope this will give some relief to the community," Miller said.
The agreement allows teachers to receive raises due them because of advances from one level to the next on the existing seniority-based salary scale, and if they obtain advanced education degrees. About 56 percent of the teachers will get no raise, Gregory Lucidi, the school board president, told the audience at the meeting.
The agreement will cost the district about $1.1 million, taking into account anticipated retirements, district officials said. This year's budget for the 11,000-student district is $174 million.
"I believe this is a good deal for Pennsbury," Lucidi said. "It will help with our goal of a zero percent increase" in taxes.
School board members Gene Dolnick and Wayne DeBlasio voted against the agreement, saying they wanted the teachers to give up all increases. Board member Richard Johnson was absent.
DeBlasio said yesterday: "I think it's a good deal. I just think we should have done better. . . . I feel very strongly that as a whole, Pennsbury's staff should be saying, 'With the economy as bad as it is this year, we're glad we have a job; we'll take nothing this year.' "
DeBlasio said the school board was looking at cuts in administration expenses, could reduce its pre-kindergarten offerings, and might cut staff though attrition and reduce high school course offerings. "Our revenue is down. . . . We're going to have to cut expenses," he said.
Davare said that most school districts say revenue is holding up fairly well but that there has been slippage in real estate transfer taxes, paid when a property is sold. As a result of economic worries, he said, fewer districts are proposing new academic programs for next year.
"Boards don't ever raise taxes just for the sake of raising taxes," he added. "But I do think they are paying more attention to the local economic situation, seeing if they can go for another year with a low impact" by keeping expenses down.
Teacher contracts will expire in 11 other school districts in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties before school starts this fall. Negotiations have started in all those districts.
Robert Broderick, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said that in the initial stages, "there are all different kinds of offers on the table, from one end of the spectrum to the other - from freezes and givebacks to acting as if the economy does not affect them very much. . . . All negotiations are local and reflect the circumstances in that community."
Three contracts that expired last year - Neshaminy; Springfield, Delaware County; and Souderton - are not settled.
The Devil is in the Details
From the BCCT. Morrisville can use $441,000. No one disputes that. The question is *how* or *where* to spend the money.
SCHOOL STIMULUS MONEY
Devil of package is in details
School districts won’t know the regulations for spending the money until June.
By HILARY BENTMAN and JOAN HELLYER
Area school districts will get a slice of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package, but just how much, under what conditions, and for how long remains unclear.
It has left local school administrators scratching their heads and waiting for answers to questions that mount daily.
“It’s complicated,” said Eileen Kelliher, spokeswoman for the Bristol Township School District, which is scheduled to receive almost $3 million over two years to educate low income and special education students.
“In June, we will get the administrative regulations that tell us what we can use it for and then we will be able to plan,” Kelliher said.
The devil, they say, is in the details, agreed Dave Matyas, business administrator for the Central Bucks School District. “We don’t know the details and you never know for sure what strings come attached,” he said.
Under new estimates recently released, Central Bucks could see $3.4 million from the federal bill to be used over a two-year period.
The stimulus package is providing school districts with Title I and IDEA money.
Title I helps districts that have high concentrations of students from low-income families. Most area schools use their allotment for remediation. But only eight area districts are eligible for the additional money under the stimulus package.
IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, funding is often used for special education, an area of school budgets that continues to increase. The money is given to the state and redistributed to the districts.
Both Title I and IDEA grants can be used to fund existing programs, said Melissa Salmanowitz, spokeswoman for the House Education and Labor Committee, which released the estimates.
“They can use the money however they see fit, as long as it’s in accordance with the law,” she said.
But just how much of an impact the money will have on local districts is hazy.
Pennsbury, which could receive almost $2.5 million for special education expenses, isn’t making any plans for the money until district officials find out from the state how the money can be spent, spokeswoman Ann Langtry said.
Bob Reichert, business manager in Hatboro-Horsham, expects his district won’t see much in the way of increased state revenue this year, so new federal funding may only “help sustain what we received in the past.”
“A lot of it is going to be onetime funds, a shot in the arm,” he added. Hatboro-Horsham is estimated to receive about $1.1 million over two years.
Additionally, estimates show Pennsylvania will get about $1.9 billion in fiscal stabilization money, which can be used for school construction, renovations and to help districts make ends meet.
Those funds will be distributed by the state Department of Education, where officials are working on the parameters for allocation, said spokesman Michael Race.
The education department told the state’s 501 school districts last month to compile wish-lists of shovel-ready projects in preparation for the stimulus package. Shovel-ready projects are those that can begin in six months and immediately put people to work.
Bensalem is putting together its wish list, Superintendent James Lombardo told school board members last week, with hopes that some of the money could be used to cover renovations in the coming school year.
Palisades School District officials already compiled their list. It includes new roofs for a couple of schools and relocating the varsity baseball and softball fields.
How quickly some of those projects can be funded and whether the stimulus will help reduce the property tax burden in the coming school year is unclear as the state waits for the money to roll in.
SCHOOL STIMULUS MONEY
Devil of package is in details
School districts won’t know the regulations for spending the money until June.
By HILARY BENTMAN and JOAN HELLYER
Area school districts will get a slice of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package, but just how much, under what conditions, and for how long remains unclear.
It has left local school administrators scratching their heads and waiting for answers to questions that mount daily.
“It’s complicated,” said Eileen Kelliher, spokeswoman for the Bristol Township School District, which is scheduled to receive almost $3 million over two years to educate low income and special education students.
“In June, we will get the administrative regulations that tell us what we can use it for and then we will be able to plan,” Kelliher said.
The devil, they say, is in the details, agreed Dave Matyas, business administrator for the Central Bucks School District. “We don’t know the details and you never know for sure what strings come attached,” he said.
Under new estimates recently released, Central Bucks could see $3.4 million from the federal bill to be used over a two-year period.The stimulus package is providing school districts with Title I and IDEA money.
Title I helps districts that have high concentrations of students from low-income families. Most area schools use their allotment for remediation. But only eight area districts are eligible for the additional money under the stimulus package.
IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, funding is often used for special education, an area of school budgets that continues to increase. The money is given to the state and redistributed to the districts.
Both Title I and IDEA grants can be used to fund existing programs, said Melissa Salmanowitz, spokeswoman for the House Education and Labor Committee, which released the estimates.
“They can use the money however they see fit, as long as it’s in accordance with the law,” she said.
But just how much of an impact the money will have on local districts is hazy.
Pennsbury, which could receive almost $2.5 million for special education expenses, isn’t making any plans for the money until district officials find out from the state how the money can be spent, spokeswoman Ann Langtry said.
Bob Reichert, business manager in Hatboro-Horsham, expects his district won’t see much in the way of increased state revenue this year, so new federal funding may only “help sustain what we received in the past.”
“A lot of it is going to be onetime funds, a shot in the arm,” he added. Hatboro-Horsham is estimated to receive about $1.1 million over two years.
Additionally, estimates show Pennsylvania will get about $1.9 billion in fiscal stabilization money, which can be used for school construction, renovations and to help districts make ends meet.
Those funds will be distributed by the state Department of Education, where officials are working on the parameters for allocation, said spokesman Michael Race.
The education department told the state’s 501 school districts last month to compile wish-lists of shovel-ready projects in preparation for the stimulus package. Shovel-ready projects are those that can begin in six months and immediately put people to work.
Bensalem is putting together its wish list, Superintendent James Lombardo told school board members last week, with hopes that some of the money could be used to cover renovations in the coming school year.
Palisades School District officials already compiled their list. It includes new roofs for a couple of schools and relocating the varsity baseball and softball fields.
How quickly some of those projects can be funded and whether the stimulus will help reduce the property tax burden in the coming school year is unclear as the state waits for the money to roll in.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Neshaminy Negotiations
From the BCCT.
I don't follow "As The Neshaminy Turns". It's hard enough keeping up with the plot twists on "One Morrisville to Destroy", but when the negotiations start out with "Go ahead, make my day" style pronouncements, it promises to be a less than cordial series of talks.
We should pay attention and watch this as it plays out. It's probably a preview of the Morrisville talks to come in a few years. Unless of course, by then it's the Pennsbury School District, but that's another story. And another soap opera to tune into. "All My Students" perhaps?
School board says it won’t budge
Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget.
By RACHEL CANELLI
They’re not budging.
After the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers recently rejected the school board’s latest health care and salary offer and proposed a counter offer of their own, board President Ritchie Webb told the newspaper’s editorial board last week he believes there’s solid unity on the board to stick to its guns.
Webb’s fellow board members were quick to agree.
“The current contract … has drained the blood from taxpayers,” said Frank Koziol. “I have dug in my cleats and clamped down on my mouth piece. Reggie White couldn’t budge me. I think the only reason we only have nine votes is because [there aren’t] 10 people on the board.”
While union President Louise Boyd also was invited to meet with the newspaper’s editorial board, she declined, saying she meant no disrespect to the public, but it’s the 700-plus educators’ policy to negotiate directly with the district — not through the media.
“Unfortunately, the district has been unwilling to move this process forward in as timely a manner as the (NFT) has strived to achieve,” Boyd wrote via email. “Quite frankly, we’re disappointed that the district has chosen to be more proactive in communicating with the media than with the (union’s) negotiations team.”
Either way, board members said they’re not willing to move from a position of providing teachers with a 1 percent annual salary increase, plus about 2 percent for step increases for longevity and educational training, and asking them to contribute 15 percent to their health care premiums the first year of a proposed three-year deal, 16 percent the second year, and 17 percent in the last year.
Since Neshaminy is the only district in Bucks County where employees pay nothing toward those insurance premiums, board officials said they won’t even consider the teachers’ counter-offer of keeping the medical and drug package status quo and giving 6 percent annual salary increases, including steps.
“This board has never been as unified as it is now,” said William O’Connor. “And since there will be no retro pay, I sincerely hope the NFT will return to the bargaining table with a renewed commitment towards compromise.”
Joseph Blasch, William Spitz and Susan Cummings all concurred.
The union members do pay $15 for doctor visits and $5 and $20 for generic and brand-name drugs, respectively, through Personal Choice, the district’s human resources department reported.
Although Webb said he values the teachers as quality people, he claimed the district simply can’t afford their requests due to a looming $14 million budget deficit.
Webb added that’s why the board is trying to eliminate the $3 million cost of providing retirees with full benefits until age 65 and another $1 million to allow educators to pay the $5 generic fee for $20 brand name drugs when generics aren’t available.
Boyd said the union’s negotiating team is ready and willing to keep talking.
“Our goal is to continue providing the students and the taxpayers of the Neshaminy School District with the highest levels of educational and professional standards possible,” said Boyd. “To that end, we will continue to make every effort on our part to negotiate directly with the district in an effort to secure a fair and equitable contract for our members.”
But board Vice President Kim Koutsouradis said Neshaminy School District needs to start taking care of its financial issues, beginning with the teachers.
Educators start in the district at about $51,976 and top out at roughly $95,923. The average Neshaminy teacher’s salary is $76,000, administrators said. The district pays at least $22,000 per year to cover a family of four’s health care. The average employer contribution for a similar package is roughly $12,700, according to the National Coalition on Health Care.
Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget, officials said.
“I … can’t see giving a cent more than what was already offered,” said Koutsouradis. “Enough is enough and it’s time the teachers wake up.”
I don't follow "As The Neshaminy Turns". It's hard enough keeping up with the plot twists on "One Morrisville to Destroy", but when the negotiations start out with "Go ahead, make my day" style pronouncements, it promises to be a less than cordial series of talks.
We should pay attention and watch this as it plays out. It's probably a preview of the Morrisville talks to come in a few years. Unless of course, by then it's the Pennsbury School District, but that's another story. And another soap opera to tune into. "All My Students" perhaps?
School board says it won’t budge
Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget.
By RACHEL CANELLI
They’re not budging.
After the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers recently rejected the school board’s latest health care and salary offer and proposed a counter offer of their own, board President Ritchie Webb told the newspaper’s editorial board last week he believes there’s solid unity on the board to stick to its guns.
Webb’s fellow board members were quick to agree.
“The current contract … has drained the blood from taxpayers,” said Frank Koziol. “I have dug in my cleats and clamped down on my mouth piece. Reggie White couldn’t budge me. I think the only reason we only have nine votes is because [there aren’t] 10 people on the board.”
While union President Louise Boyd also was invited to meet with the newspaper’s editorial board, she declined, saying she meant no disrespect to the public, but it’s the 700-plus educators’ policy to negotiate directly with the district — not through the media.
“Unfortunately, the district has been unwilling to move this process forward in as timely a manner as the (NFT) has strived to achieve,” Boyd wrote via email. “Quite frankly, we’re disappointed that the district has chosen to be more proactive in communicating with the media than with the (union’s) negotiations team.”
Either way, board members said they’re not willing to move from a position of providing teachers with a 1 percent annual salary increase, plus about 2 percent for step increases for longevity and educational training, and asking them to contribute 15 percent to their health care premiums the first year of a proposed three-year deal, 16 percent the second year, and 17 percent in the last year.
Since Neshaminy is the only district in Bucks County where employees pay nothing toward those insurance premiums, board officials said they won’t even consider the teachers’ counter-offer of keeping the medical and drug package status quo and giving 6 percent annual salary increases, including steps.
“This board has never been as unified as it is now,” said William O’Connor. “And since there will be no retro pay, I sincerely hope the NFT will return to the bargaining table with a renewed commitment towards compromise.”
Joseph Blasch, William Spitz and Susan Cummings all concurred.
The union members do pay $15 for doctor visits and $5 and $20 for generic and brand-name drugs, respectively, through Personal Choice, the district’s human resources department reported.
Although Webb said he values the teachers as quality people, he claimed the district simply can’t afford their requests due to a looming $14 million budget deficit.
Webb added that’s why the board is trying to eliminate the $3 million cost of providing retirees with full benefits until age 65 and another $1 million to allow educators to pay the $5 generic fee for $20 brand name drugs when generics aren’t available.
Boyd said the union’s negotiating team is ready and willing to keep talking.
“Our goal is to continue providing the students and the taxpayers of the Neshaminy School District with the highest levels of educational and professional standards possible,” said Boyd. “To that end, we will continue to make every effort on our part to negotiate directly with the district in an effort to secure a fair and equitable contract for our members.”
But board Vice President Kim Koutsouradis said Neshaminy School District needs to start taking care of its financial issues, beginning with the teachers.
Educators start in the district at about $51,976 and top out at roughly $95,923. The average Neshaminy teacher’s salary is $76,000, administrators said. The district pays at least $22,000 per year to cover a family of four’s health care. The average employer contribution for a similar package is roughly $12,700, according to the National Coalition on Health Care.
Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget, officials said.
“I … can’t see giving a cent more than what was already offered,” said Koutsouradis. “Enough is enough and it’s time the teachers wake up.”
Save Money at What Cost?
From the Charlotte (SC) Observer. To save money, they're playing all the high school basketball games in the same gym, rather than JV at one and varsity at another. The result? Games ending way too late at night, incomplete homework, and a slow teacher day tomorrow.
Saving money, but at a cost to kids?
Schools reduce travel by holding games at one site, but some students get home late.
By Langston Wertz Jr. Posted: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009
On Feb. 10, a high school basketball game featuring the top two boys' teams in the state started at 8:41p.m. Hopewell's team, ranked No.1, left Vance's gym, after an exhilarating 70-62 win, just before 11 to take a bus back to campus.
By the time the players got home and ready for bed, it was going to be after midnight.
This season, many games, like Hopewell-Vance, increasingly started – and ended – later.
“I've got homework to do and on game nights, a lot of times, you can't do it after school. You have to wait until you get home after the game,” said Hopewell guard Brandyn Curry, a 4.6 student who has signed with Harvard. “It's tough to stay awake in class.”
About 10 years ago, Mecklenburg County principals changed from playing three games at one gym and junior varsity boys at another to playing four games at one site.
Principals thought that by combining games, they could save on expenses.
Until last season, the JV games were played with running clocks, except during the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters. Before the 2007-08 season, JV coaches asked to remove the running clock in exchange for shortened warm-up and halftime sessions.
In some cases, it's working fine. Myers Park athletics director Greg Clewis said his school has made a point to enforce 10-minute breaks between games and halftimes – five minutes shorter than some schools. His goal is to be done by 9:30 each night.
“I know you'll have something from time to time,” Clewis said. “You'll have a girls' overtime or something like that, but if kids leave the gym at 10:30, then you've got an issue.”
Most CMS teams are mainly playing in Charlotte. In neighboring counties like Cabarrus, late game times, plus long bus rides, can be a bad mix.
Concord boys' coach Scott Brewer has had games start as late at 8:50 more than an hour's bus ride from campus.
“That teacher who coaches is so fatigued that they're affecting 90 to 100 kids because they're too dad-gum tired to teach,” Brewer said. “So it's video day or worksheet day, especially for somebody who teaches, say, English or Chemistry. And even a PE teacher will just sit on their can and roll the balls out.”
Cabarrus County School Board member Wayne Williams said county principals were recently asked if they would like to continue playing four games at one site. Two principals voted to split the games. Six voted not to maintain status quo.
“It makes a whole lot more sense to play JV at one school and varsity at another,” Williams said. “Then you don't have possibility of starting varsity boys too late. Usually this doesn't affect girls teams because when they get done playing, they get on the bus and go home.”
In Union County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV has seven-minute quarters, down one from the norm.
In Wake and Guilford counties, teams either play the JVs at a different site or split games up by boys and girls.
In Gaston County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV plays with a running clock, stopping in the final two minutes of each quarter – a version of CMS' old policy.
“Our games are over by 9, 9:30,” said East Gaston athletics director Ken Howell.
At last week's Hopewell-Vance game, the fourth quarter started at 9:37.
“We need to get (kids) home earlier,” CMS school board member Joe White said. “Some years ago, when boys were at home, girls traveled and that interfered with wrestling. But I would say now as both a grandparent and a school board member, we need to figure this thing out.”
Next fall, CMS schools will be reorganized into new conferences, whose officials will meet in May. Vicki Hamilton, the CMS system AD, said one of the agenda items for that meeting are these late games.
Myers Park's Clewis estimates that if CMS played JV and varsity games at separate sites, for example, there would be no additional bus costs, but schools would add about $400 per night for game staffing.
Hamilton said schools would work hard to find a good solution.
“I've been in gyms this year where I looked at the clock and it's 10:40, and that's difficult when our student-athletes have to travel back to the home school, get in their parents' car and drive home and take care of academic work, and then be back at school at 7a.m. So we're going to get our heads together and see what we can come up with that can reduce the length without stepping on the integrity of the basketball games.”
Saving money, but at a cost to kids?
Schools reduce travel by holding games at one site, but some students get home late.
By Langston Wertz Jr. Posted: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009
On Feb. 10, a high school basketball game featuring the top two boys' teams in the state started at 8:41p.m. Hopewell's team, ranked No.1, left Vance's gym, after an exhilarating 70-62 win, just before 11 to take a bus back to campus.
By the time the players got home and ready for bed, it was going to be after midnight.
This season, many games, like Hopewell-Vance, increasingly started – and ended – later.
“I've got homework to do and on game nights, a lot of times, you can't do it after school. You have to wait until you get home after the game,” said Hopewell guard Brandyn Curry, a 4.6 student who has signed with Harvard. “It's tough to stay awake in class.”
About 10 years ago, Mecklenburg County principals changed from playing three games at one gym and junior varsity boys at another to playing four games at one site.
Principals thought that by combining games, they could save on expenses.
Until last season, the JV games were played with running clocks, except during the final two minutes of the second and fourth quarters. Before the 2007-08 season, JV coaches asked to remove the running clock in exchange for shortened warm-up and halftime sessions.
In some cases, it's working fine. Myers Park athletics director Greg Clewis said his school has made a point to enforce 10-minute breaks between games and halftimes – five minutes shorter than some schools. His goal is to be done by 9:30 each night.
“I know you'll have something from time to time,” Clewis said. “You'll have a girls' overtime or something like that, but if kids leave the gym at 10:30, then you've got an issue.”
Most CMS teams are mainly playing in Charlotte. In neighboring counties like Cabarrus, late game times, plus long bus rides, can be a bad mix.
Concord boys' coach Scott Brewer has had games start as late at 8:50 more than an hour's bus ride from campus.
“That teacher who coaches is so fatigued that they're affecting 90 to 100 kids because they're too dad-gum tired to teach,” Brewer said. “So it's video day or worksheet day, especially for somebody who teaches, say, English or Chemistry. And even a PE teacher will just sit on their can and roll the balls out.”
Cabarrus County School Board member Wayne Williams said county principals were recently asked if they would like to continue playing four games at one site. Two principals voted to split the games. Six voted not to maintain status quo.
“It makes a whole lot more sense to play JV at one school and varsity at another,” Williams said. “Then you don't have possibility of starting varsity boys too late. Usually this doesn't affect girls teams because when they get done playing, they get on the bus and go home.”
In Union County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV has seven-minute quarters, down one from the norm.
In Wake and Guilford counties, teams either play the JVs at a different site or split games up by boys and girls.
In Gaston County, teams play four games at one site, but the JV plays with a running clock, stopping in the final two minutes of each quarter – a version of CMS' old policy.
“Our games are over by 9, 9:30,” said East Gaston athletics director Ken Howell.
At last week's Hopewell-Vance game, the fourth quarter started at 9:37.
“We need to get (kids) home earlier,” CMS school board member Joe White said. “Some years ago, when boys were at home, girls traveled and that interfered with wrestling. But I would say now as both a grandparent and a school board member, we need to figure this thing out.”
Next fall, CMS schools will be reorganized into new conferences, whose officials will meet in May. Vicki Hamilton, the CMS system AD, said one of the agenda items for that meeting are these late games.
Myers Park's Clewis estimates that if CMS played JV and varsity games at separate sites, for example, there would be no additional bus costs, but schools would add about $400 per night for game staffing.
Hamilton said schools would work hard to find a good solution.
“I've been in gyms this year where I looked at the clock and it's 10:40, and that's difficult when our student-athletes have to travel back to the home school, get in their parents' car and drive home and take care of academic work, and then be back at school at 7a.m. So we're going to get our heads together and see what we can come up with that can reduce the length without stepping on the integrity of the basketball games.”
Spend Now or Pay Later
From the BCCT. This may be happening in South Carolina, but it's equally applicable to the Morrisville School District. Instead of a state of the art 21st century K-12 building, we now have one building on life support (with the doctors ready to pull the plug), one receiving massive amounts of prosthetic trailer applications, and a third needing a quad bypass to clear out decades of neglect.
‘Corridor of Shame’
Spend now, or pay later
Kathleen Parker writes this column for Washington Post Writers Group:
DILLON, S.C. — When Bud Ferillo told me to dress warmly, it didn’t occur to me that he was concerned I might be cold inside the classroom.
We were heading to J.V. Martin Junior High School, the school made famous by Barack Obama’s visit during his presidential campaign. At his first news conference as president, Obama referred to the school as an example of why we need stimulus funds for school reconstruction.
Obama learned about J.V. Martin, built in 1896, from Ferillo’s 2005 documentary, “Corridor of Shame,” about crumbling schools along South Carolina’s I-95 corridor. Funded by community leaders and foundations, the film highlights problems that were presented as evidence in a lawsuit 36 school districts brought against the state for failing to provide “minimally adequate education” to all students. (The South Carolina Supreme Court is expected to rule any day.)
“All” is the operative word as plaintiffs claim unequal treatment.
Their evidence is compelling.
Plaintiff districts are 88.4 percent minority compared to the state average of 48.1 percent, according to the lawsuit. They are primarily poor with 86 percent of students getting free or reduced-cost lunches. And 75 percent of students in the plaintiff districts scored unsatisfactory or below average on state achievement tests, compared to 17.4 percent of total students in the state.
Moreover, teachers in plaintiff districts make less than similarly qualified teachers in other districts and fewer have advanced degrees. Not surprisingly, it’s hard to recruit teachers to impoverished areas to teach disadvantaged students in collapsing schools without modern equipment.
Ferillo, who heads a public relations firm in Columbia, argues that improving schools not only will help attract better teachers but also raise parent expectations and participation while inspiring children who are aware of their second-class citizenship. Earlier this month, Ty’sheoma Bethea, an eighth-grader at J.V. Martin, wrote Congress asking for help.
South Carolina isn’t the only state whose rural schools are in trouble, of course. Many of the 1,200 nationwide that Obama hopes to replace with stimulus funds have suffered declining funding in recent years as manufacturing jobs have disappeared, populations have declined and tax bases have shrunk. But problems are exacerbated by an uncomfortable fact most would prefer to ignore: Poor African-American communities are not a top priority.
Ray Rogers, Dillon School District superintendent, has been at J.V. Martin for 18 years, during which he has been forced to serve as janitor, fire marshal and handyman, battling the elements within and without. Rags fill holes, buckets capture water. A fire drill sometimes means jogging down hallways yelling, “Fire drill!”
Rogers’ blue eyes betray battle fatigue and tear up easily as he talks. He says he can take the grief from folks who don’t see why he gets so worked up, but he can’t fathom how good people can turn their backs on children. He gets plenty of grief.
At the Charcoal Grill over a fried chicken buffet, a fellow at the next table calls out: “Hey, you in good with Nancy Pelosi? I hear she’s got $30 million to save a mouse.” (He was referring to funds for wetlands maintenance that would benefit, among other things, the salt marsh harvest mouse.)
Another jovial neighbor notices the wedding ring on Assistant Superintendent Polly Elkins’ finger and says: “Hey, does Obama know you got all them diamonds?”
It’s all friendly enough, but one senses a smidgen of veiled contempt just beneath the banter. These folks remember when nobody ever heard of Barack Obama or Dillon — and when J.V. Martin was good enough for them.
None other than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a native son, accepted his high school diploma in the auditorium that’s now part of the junior high school. Of course that auditorium, along with one-third of the campus, is now condemned.
As it happens, I did not remove my jacket or scarf during a threehour interview and tour. Although most rooms were relatively warm, thanks to recent repairs, some still registered as low as 50 degrees. Four years ago when Ferillo was filming here, the gym was 18 degrees.
In other schools along the I-95 corridor, classroom ceilings have collapsed and sewage backs up in hallways on rainy days. Sometimes snakes wander in from neighboring swamps.
What happens in rural South Carolina may not be of paramount importance to people elsewhere, who are facing their own economic challenges. But what’s true here is true in rural communities across America, and our choices are pretty simple. As Ferillo put it: “We either educate the child or we jail the adult.”
‘Corridor of Shame’
Spend now, or pay later
Kathleen Parker writes this column for Washington Post Writers Group:
DILLON, S.C. — When Bud Ferillo told me to dress warmly, it didn’t occur to me that he was concerned I might be cold inside the classroom.
We were heading to J.V. Martin Junior High School, the school made famous by Barack Obama’s visit during his presidential campaign. At his first news conference as president, Obama referred to the school as an example of why we need stimulus funds for school reconstruction.
Obama learned about J.V. Martin, built in 1896, from Ferillo’s 2005 documentary, “Corridor of Shame,” about crumbling schools along South Carolina’s I-95 corridor. Funded by community leaders and foundations, the film highlights problems that were presented as evidence in a lawsuit 36 school districts brought against the state for failing to provide “minimally adequate education” to all students. (The South Carolina Supreme Court is expected to rule any day.)
“All” is the operative word as plaintiffs claim unequal treatment.
Their evidence is compelling.
Plaintiff districts are 88.4 percent minority compared to the state average of 48.1 percent, according to the lawsuit. They are primarily poor with 86 percent of students getting free or reduced-cost lunches. And 75 percent of students in the plaintiff districts scored unsatisfactory or below average on state achievement tests, compared to 17.4 percent of total students in the state.
Moreover, teachers in plaintiff districts make less than similarly qualified teachers in other districts and fewer have advanced degrees. Not surprisingly, it’s hard to recruit teachers to impoverished areas to teach disadvantaged students in collapsing schools without modern equipment.
Ferillo, who heads a public relations firm in Columbia, argues that improving schools not only will help attract better teachers but also raise parent expectations and participation while inspiring children who are aware of their second-class citizenship. Earlier this month, Ty’sheoma Bethea, an eighth-grader at J.V. Martin, wrote Congress asking for help.
South Carolina isn’t the only state whose rural schools are in trouble, of course. Many of the 1,200 nationwide that Obama hopes to replace with stimulus funds have suffered declining funding in recent years as manufacturing jobs have disappeared, populations have declined and tax bases have shrunk. But problems are exacerbated by an uncomfortable fact most would prefer to ignore: Poor African-American communities are not a top priority.
Ray Rogers, Dillon School District superintendent, has been at J.V. Martin for 18 years, during which he has been forced to serve as janitor, fire marshal and handyman, battling the elements within and without. Rags fill holes, buckets capture water. A fire drill sometimes means jogging down hallways yelling, “Fire drill!”
Rogers’ blue eyes betray battle fatigue and tear up easily as he talks. He says he can take the grief from folks who don’t see why he gets so worked up, but he can’t fathom how good people can turn their backs on children. He gets plenty of grief.
At the Charcoal Grill over a fried chicken buffet, a fellow at the next table calls out: “Hey, you in good with Nancy Pelosi? I hear she’s got $30 million to save a mouse.” (He was referring to funds for wetlands maintenance that would benefit, among other things, the salt marsh harvest mouse.)
Another jovial neighbor notices the wedding ring on Assistant Superintendent Polly Elkins’ finger and says: “Hey, does Obama know you got all them diamonds?”
It’s all friendly enough, but one senses a smidgen of veiled contempt just beneath the banter. These folks remember when nobody ever heard of Barack Obama or Dillon — and when J.V. Martin was good enough for them.
None other than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a native son, accepted his high school diploma in the auditorium that’s now part of the junior high school. Of course that auditorium, along with one-third of the campus, is now condemned.
As it happens, I did not remove my jacket or scarf during a threehour interview and tour. Although most rooms were relatively warm, thanks to recent repairs, some still registered as low as 50 degrees. Four years ago when Ferillo was filming here, the gym was 18 degrees.
In other schools along the I-95 corridor, classroom ceilings have collapsed and sewage backs up in hallways on rainy days. Sometimes snakes wander in from neighboring swamps.
What happens in rural South Carolina may not be of paramount importance to people elsewhere, who are facing their own economic challenges. But what’s true here is true in rural communities across America, and our choices are pretty simple. As Ferillo put it: “We either educate the child or we jail the adult.”
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Calhoun St. Bridge upgrade, Web site
From the BCCT.
Calhoun St. Bridge to be upgraded, gets own Web site
A new Web page will update the public on the project’s progress.
By GEORGE MATTAR
Cross the Calhoun Street Bridge in your travels? Be prepared for some traffic headaches when a major rehabilitation begins later this year.
To ease the pain, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced Thursday it has launched a Web page to keep the public informed of the project. The bridge links Trenton and Morrisville across the Delaware River. [Link to web page here.]
While the project is in the preliminary design phase, the commission is dedicating a specific page on its public Web site due to the volume of commuters who use the bridge, said commission spokesman Joe Donnelly.
“We also set up a Web page because of the anticipated community interest,” Donnelly said.
The executive director of the commission, Frank G. McCartney, said the Calhoun Street Bridge rehabilitation will be challenging.
“This Web page is a manifestation of the commission’s intent to keep the public informed and involved with the decision-making process as this project goes forward.”
The project will include replacement of the superstructure floor system; repair of iron trusses, the substructure and approach roadways; and improvements to the rails and sidewalk, Donnelly said.
The goal is for work to begin late this year, with completion in late 2010.
The bridge, included on the National Register of Historical Places, opened for travel on Oct. 20, 1884, and is 1,274 feet long. It is a Phoenix Pratt truss with a timber plank pedestrian sidewalk supported by the upriver truss on steel cantilever brackets. It is the longest through-truss bridge in the commission’s 20 bridge inventory and the only one built completely of wrought iron.
The Calhoun Street Bridge has a 3-ton weight limit, an 8-foot vertical clearance and a 15 mph speed limit. In 2007, an average 18,500 vehicles used the bridge each day.
Calhoun St. Bridge to be upgraded, gets own Web site
A new Web page will update the public on the project’s progress.
By GEORGE MATTAR
Cross the Calhoun Street Bridge in your travels? Be prepared for some traffic headaches when a major rehabilitation begins later this year.
To ease the pain, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced Thursday it has launched a Web page to keep the public informed of the project. The bridge links Trenton and Morrisville across the Delaware River. [Link to web page here.]
While the project is in the preliminary design phase, the commission is dedicating a specific page on its public Web site due to the volume of commuters who use the bridge, said commission spokesman Joe Donnelly.
“We also set up a Web page because of the anticipated community interest,” Donnelly said.
The executive director of the commission, Frank G. McCartney, said the Calhoun Street Bridge rehabilitation will be challenging.
“This Web page is a manifestation of the commission’s intent to keep the public informed and involved with the decision-making process as this project goes forward.”
The project will include replacement of the superstructure floor system; repair of iron trusses, the substructure and approach roadways; and improvements to the rails and sidewalk, Donnelly said.
The goal is for work to begin late this year, with completion in late 2010.
The bridge, included on the National Register of Historical Places, opened for travel on Oct. 20, 1884, and is 1,274 feet long. It is a Phoenix Pratt truss with a timber plank pedestrian sidewalk supported by the upriver truss on steel cantilever brackets. It is the longest through-truss bridge in the commission’s 20 bridge inventory and the only one built completely of wrought iron.
The Calhoun Street Bridge has a 3-ton weight limit, an 8-foot vertical clearance and a 15 mph speed limit. In 2007, an average 18,500 vehicles used the bridge each day.
Merger Talk: More Big Government?
Is the school consolidation just another way toward big government?
We Pennsylvanians love our communities
by Lowman S. Henry, CEO and
Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research
Governor Ed Rendell's suggestion that Pennsylvania should undergo another round of school district consolidation has reignited the debate as to whether fewer and bigger is better than more and smaller.
It is a debate that has raged for years over Pennsylvania's other units of local government: municipalities such as townships, boroughs and cities. The commonwealth has 5,334 such local governments ranging in size from the 1,450,000 residents who live in the City of Philadelphia, to small boroughs with less than 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania's tradition of local government can be traced back to the colonial era, when local communities were run by New England-style town hall meetings wherein all the residents showed up to debate and vote upon issues of common concern.
The tradition of local government is one to which Pennsylvanians cling. Over the years, polls conducted by the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research have shown that overwhelmingly local government is viewed by voters as the most responsive and cost efficient. This despite repeated efforts by state government and often times business groups who continually push for municipal consolidation.
Why do Pennsylvanians love their local governments so much? A big factor is identity. Think about where you live. If you live in a small town or community do you tell people you are "from" your town, or that you are "from" the nearest big city? If you are from Chester, you don't tell people you live in Philadelphia. If you live in Greensburg, you don't say you are from Pittsburgh. If you reside in Camp Hill, you don't tell folks you are from Harrisburg.
And then there is the issue of access and accountability. The old town meeting concept worked because people had a direct voice in the affairs of their community. Since local governments provide the services most people use on a day-to-day basis – like trash pick-up, parks, roads, police protection – we like being able to complain to someone who will listen, or have a say in who and how these services are provided.
Smaller units of government also increase dramatically public interaction with elected officials. If you live in a small town or township chances are you know at least one member of borough council or one member of your board of township supervisors or commissioners. They are your neighbors. They go to church with you, shop at the same grocery store, and their kids go to school with your kids. Local officials tend to be the most responsive because they are the most accessible.
A recent Lincoln Institute survey of township supervisors found little buy-in to the argument that consolidating municipalities would save money. Sixty-seven percent said they did not think that regionalization or consolidation of municipalities would bring about cost savings. In fact, many argue they already work together with neighboring municipalities when it is beneficial. Eighty-six percent of the townships participating in the survey said they have inter-municipal agreements.
And, while Philadelphia, Harrisburg and the state's other biggest cities are looking for a federal bail-out to survive the current economic recession, townships are holding up rather well. Seventy-four percent said they have not had to reduce services in order to avoid raising taxes and 68% said they have a "rainy day" fund set aside to help them weather any economic storm. Further, despite the economic recession, 40% report there has been some business growth in their municipality, and 35% have seen more manufacturing activity.
In fact, the supervisors told the Lincoln Institute their biggest problems are not financial. Roadway conditions and traffic problem top their list of concerns, followed by low commercial tax base, aging infrastructure, sprawl and affordable housing. Supervisors are also concerned that some of their local functions, such as planning and zoning, will be co-opted by counties or the state. Eighty-three percent want to keep that at the local level.
Another reason township supervisors resist consolidation is to protect what they see as a superior quality of life in their municipalities. Eighty percent told the Lincoln Institute that high crime rates are causing people to flee the state's cities, 72% said high taxes in cities are a problem, and 61% cite poor schools in cities as a reason why their populations are moving out.
The bottom line is Pennsylvania's system of many medium and small sized municipalities is working financially, administratively, and provides a sense of community to residents. As the debate over school district consolidation heats up, it would be wise to take some of the same factors that make Pennsylvanians satisfied with their local governments into consideration when deciding how large our school districts should become.
We Pennsylvanians love our communities
by Lowman S. Henry, CEO and
Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research
Governor Ed Rendell's suggestion that Pennsylvania should undergo another round of school district consolidation has reignited the debate as to whether fewer and bigger is better than more and smaller.
It is a debate that has raged for years over Pennsylvania's other units of local government: municipalities such as townships, boroughs and cities. The commonwealth has 5,334 such local governments ranging in size from the 1,450,000 residents who live in the City of Philadelphia, to small boroughs with less than 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania's tradition of local government can be traced back to the colonial era, when local communities were run by New England-style town hall meetings wherein all the residents showed up to debate and vote upon issues of common concern.
The tradition of local government is one to which Pennsylvanians cling. Over the years, polls conducted by the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research have shown that overwhelmingly local government is viewed by voters as the most responsive and cost efficient. This despite repeated efforts by state government and often times business groups who continually push for municipal consolidation.
Why do Pennsylvanians love their local governments so much? A big factor is identity. Think about where you live. If you live in a small town or community do you tell people you are "from" your town, or that you are "from" the nearest big city? If you are from Chester, you don't tell people you live in Philadelphia. If you live in Greensburg, you don't say you are from Pittsburgh. If you reside in Camp Hill, you don't tell folks you are from Harrisburg.
And then there is the issue of access and accountability. The old town meeting concept worked because people had a direct voice in the affairs of their community. Since local governments provide the services most people use on a day-to-day basis – like trash pick-up, parks, roads, police protection – we like being able to complain to someone who will listen, or have a say in who and how these services are provided.
Smaller units of government also increase dramatically public interaction with elected officials. If you live in a small town or township chances are you know at least one member of borough council or one member of your board of township supervisors or commissioners. They are your neighbors. They go to church with you, shop at the same grocery store, and their kids go to school with your kids. Local officials tend to be the most responsive because they are the most accessible.
A recent Lincoln Institute survey of township supervisors found little buy-in to the argument that consolidating municipalities would save money. Sixty-seven percent said they did not think that regionalization or consolidation of municipalities would bring about cost savings. In fact, many argue they already work together with neighboring municipalities when it is beneficial. Eighty-six percent of the townships participating in the survey said they have inter-municipal agreements.
And, while Philadelphia, Harrisburg and the state's other biggest cities are looking for a federal bail-out to survive the current economic recession, townships are holding up rather well. Seventy-four percent said they have not had to reduce services in order to avoid raising taxes and 68% said they have a "rainy day" fund set aside to help them weather any economic storm. Further, despite the economic recession, 40% report there has been some business growth in their municipality, and 35% have seen more manufacturing activity.
In fact, the supervisors told the Lincoln Institute their biggest problems are not financial. Roadway conditions and traffic problem top their list of concerns, followed by low commercial tax base, aging infrastructure, sprawl and affordable housing. Supervisors are also concerned that some of their local functions, such as planning and zoning, will be co-opted by counties or the state. Eighty-three percent want to keep that at the local level.
Another reason township supervisors resist consolidation is to protect what they see as a superior quality of life in their municipalities. Eighty percent told the Lincoln Institute that high crime rates are causing people to flee the state's cities, 72% said high taxes in cities are a problem, and 61% cite poor schools in cities as a reason why their populations are moving out.
The bottom line is Pennsylvania's system of many medium and small sized municipalities is working financially, administratively, and provides a sense of community to residents. As the debate over school district consolidation heats up, it would be wise to take some of the same factors that make Pennsylvanians satisfied with their local governments into consideration when deciding how large our school districts should become.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Uniforms
Thanks to the emailer for this reminder.
………don’t forget uniforms…..Marlys and Brenda will be bringing that subject up again at the meeting next week. My kids will be eating lunch as soon as they get to school, but HELL they will be fashionable. Will this stop Marlys from taking pictures????
Ugh!
………don’t forget uniforms…..Marlys and Brenda will be bringing that subject up again at the meeting next week. My kids will be eating lunch as soon as they get to school, but HELL they will be fashionable. Will this stop Marlys from taking pictures????
Ugh!
More Middle-High School restructuring?
Thanks to the emailer for this tip. Just like all the plans of the Emperor, we find out piece by piece.
Does anyone have any other information?
Apparently, the middle/high school will be going to a six period day next year (as opposed to eight). I am curious to know if this program restructuring is happening for educational reasons, or out of necessity to accommodate two additional grades What does this mean for middle and high school students? Will course options be reduced as a result? Will students still have full-year English and Math, and other core classes. Something (1/4 of each days classes) is going to give. What? Not so long ago, we moved away from block scheduling. This appears to be a move in that direction again - what changed?
Does anyone have any other information?
Apparently, the middle/high school will be going to a six period day next year (as opposed to eight). I am curious to know if this program restructuring is happening for educational reasons, or out of necessity to accommodate two additional grades What does this mean for middle and high school students? Will course options be reduced as a result? Will students still have full-year English and Math, and other core classes. Something (1/4 of each days classes) is going to give. What? Not so long ago, we moved away from block scheduling. This appears to be a move in that direction again - what changed?
District surveys residents about cost-cutting measures
From the BCCT.
District surveys residents about cost-cutting measures
Posted in News on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Joan Hellyer
Bensalem residents can make suggestions about ways for the school district to save some money over the next few years in an online survey.
Everything except salaries and benefits is up for consideration, according to a letter from the district’s superintendent posted at www.bensalemsd.org.
“While we expect a slight reduction in the cost of goods and supplies, we do not anticipate a decline in the area representing most of our budget, salaries and benefits,” Bensalem Superintendent James Lombardo said in the letter. “Given that we are a business that relies primarily on the skills of people, we do not foresee large cost savings in most expenditure areas.”
The district’s 2009-10 projected budget is estimated at $114 million. Of that amount, about $74 million will go toward salaries and benefits, according to district officials.
The budget projects a $170 average property tax hike to help cover a $7 million revenue shortfall. The district also could use as much as $3 million from its savings account, known as the fund balance, to help cover the budget deficit. The fund balance has about $11 million in it, officials said.
Despite the revenue shortfall, Bensalem is not experiencing some of the “significant budgetary gaps” neighboring districts are grappling with because of “excellent planning” by district officials, Lombardo said in the letter.
However, given revenue trends and problems with the state’s reserves “we anticipate a much grimmer picture in the next two years,” the superintendent said.
Lombardo points to several financial issues as cause for concern including revenue declines from sales taxes and real estate and interim taxes.
In anticipation of the continuing economic downturn, district officials already have taken several cost-cutting steps, including an immediate freeze on non-essential travel or conference expenses not already approved and requests to staff to reduce paper consumption and energy usage, Lombardo said in the letter.
School board members recently suggested Lombardo survey the public after he told them he sent a similar letter to district staff about ways to save money.
The superintendent’s correspondence to the community includes a link to the cost-savings survey.
District officials will collect the community’s feedback for a few weeks and then forward it onto the school board for consideration, the superintendent said.
District surveys residents about cost-cutting measures
Posted in News on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Joan Hellyer
Bensalem residents can make suggestions about ways for the school district to save some money over the next few years in an online survey.
Everything except salaries and benefits is up for consideration, according to a letter from the district’s superintendent posted at www.bensalemsd.org.
“While we expect a slight reduction in the cost of goods and supplies, we do not anticipate a decline in the area representing most of our budget, salaries and benefits,” Bensalem Superintendent James Lombardo said in the letter. “Given that we are a business that relies primarily on the skills of people, we do not foresee large cost savings in most expenditure areas.”
The district’s 2009-10 projected budget is estimated at $114 million. Of that amount, about $74 million will go toward salaries and benefits, according to district officials.
The budget projects a $170 average property tax hike to help cover a $7 million revenue shortfall. The district also could use as much as $3 million from its savings account, known as the fund balance, to help cover the budget deficit. The fund balance has about $11 million in it, officials said.
Despite the revenue shortfall, Bensalem is not experiencing some of the “significant budgetary gaps” neighboring districts are grappling with because of “excellent planning” by district officials, Lombardo said in the letter.
However, given revenue trends and problems with the state’s reserves “we anticipate a much grimmer picture in the next two years,” the superintendent said.
Lombardo points to several financial issues as cause for concern including revenue declines from sales taxes and real estate and interim taxes.
In anticipation of the continuing economic downturn, district officials already have taken several cost-cutting steps, including an immediate freeze on non-essential travel or conference expenses not already approved and requests to staff to reduce paper consumption and energy usage, Lombardo said in the letter.
School board members recently suggested Lombardo survey the public after he told them he sent a similar letter to district staff about ways to save money.
The superintendent’s correspondence to the community includes a link to the cost-savings survey.
District officials will collect the community’s feedback for a few weeks and then forward it onto the school board for consideration, the superintendent said.
Dear Mr. Obama: Pay Up
Here's an idea from the Concord(NH) Monitor
District sets out to collect on fed pledge
School boards to send special ed invoice to D.C.
By Karen Langley, Monitor staff, February 16, 2009 - 6:51 am
What's a school district to do when federal mandates arrive without federal money? Send an invoice.
That's the response of local school boards disgruntled with the perpetual gap in special education funding.
At the suggestion of their superintendent, the school boards of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield and Epsom have decided to bill the U.S. Department of Education for nearly a quarter of their special education costs from the past five years. The Pembroke board will consider the move at its next meeting.
Board members' qualms stem from the pledge Congress made to fund 40 percent of costs when it mandated special education programming in 1975. Funding has varied since then but has never risen much above the current 17 percent level.
The Education Department is likely to receive similar invoices, because the American Association of School Administrators is encouraging members to draw attention to the funding shortfall by billing the government.
Superintendent Peter Warburton said the campaign should not raise questions about the dedication to special education at SAU 53. It's meant rather to draw attention to the additional burden on districts, he said.
"My concern is we are now saddled with such large special education bills that in small districts lots of our other programming is being jeopardized," he said.
The SAU finance office is compiling past expense reports for filing next month.
The idea of billing the federal government for special education costs originated in Barrington, not far from the SAU 53 schools, according to Mary Kusler, assistant director of advocacy and policy at the school administrators association.
The Barrington School District first sent the government a $605,271 bill for special education costs in the 2000-01 school year.
Mike Clark, then chairman of the school board, said members were tired of drawing fire for the tax raises their budgets incurred. Board members agreed to protest what they considered failure to pay money owed.
"We weren't naive enough to think they had just not thought of the idea and would sit down and write every school district in the nation a check," Clark said.
Invoices from Barrington later included back expenses and interest. (The district never received a check, though Sen. Judd Gregg did send a letter.)
Warburton said he hopes the campaigns of enough school districts will prompt the government to increase funding. At the Deerfield School Board, Donald Gorman calls it a "political gambit" but expects to see money. If the government doesn't pay, he wants to sue.
"They said they were going to pay for it," he said. "Put the money on the table, boys."
Dick Cohen, executive director of the Disability Rights Center in Concord, said a court would be unlikely to consider the funding pledge by Congress legally binding. He questioned the argument that special education costs are truly owed to the districts.
"Education has always been seen as a local and state responsibility," he said. "The fact the federal government is providing extra in our view is a bonus."
Superintendents throughout the area said yesterday they did not plan to mail bills but were disheartened by the funding shortfall.
Recent meetings of the Andover School District featured votes requesting that congressional delegates act to fully fund special education, said Superintendent Michael Martin.
"Special education is always a topic at budget time," he said. "I think it's fair to say we are disappointed that the 40 percent is not funded."
District sets out to collect on fed pledge
School boards to send special ed invoice to D.C.
By Karen Langley, Monitor staff, February 16, 2009 - 6:51 am
What's a school district to do when federal mandates arrive without federal money? Send an invoice.
That's the response of local school boards disgruntled with the perpetual gap in special education funding.At the suggestion of their superintendent, the school boards of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield and Epsom have decided to bill the U.S. Department of Education for nearly a quarter of their special education costs from the past five years. The Pembroke board will consider the move at its next meeting.
Board members' qualms stem from the pledge Congress made to fund 40 percent of costs when it mandated special education programming in 1975. Funding has varied since then but has never risen much above the current 17 percent level.
The Education Department is likely to receive similar invoices, because the American Association of School Administrators is encouraging members to draw attention to the funding shortfall by billing the government.
Superintendent Peter Warburton said the campaign should not raise questions about the dedication to special education at SAU 53. It's meant rather to draw attention to the additional burden on districts, he said.
"My concern is we are now saddled with such large special education bills that in small districts lots of our other programming is being jeopardized," he said.
The SAU finance office is compiling past expense reports for filing next month.
The idea of billing the federal government for special education costs originated in Barrington, not far from the SAU 53 schools, according to Mary Kusler, assistant director of advocacy and policy at the school administrators association.
The Barrington School District first sent the government a $605,271 bill for special education costs in the 2000-01 school year.
Mike Clark, then chairman of the school board, said members were tired of drawing fire for the tax raises their budgets incurred. Board members agreed to protest what they considered failure to pay money owed.
"We weren't naive enough to think they had just not thought of the idea and would sit down and write every school district in the nation a check," Clark said.
Invoices from Barrington later included back expenses and interest. (The district never received a check, though Sen. Judd Gregg did send a letter.)
Warburton said he hopes the campaigns of enough school districts will prompt the government to increase funding. At the Deerfield School Board, Donald Gorman calls it a "political gambit" but expects to see money. If the government doesn't pay, he wants to sue.
"They said they were going to pay for it," he said. "Put the money on the table, boys."
Dick Cohen, executive director of the Disability Rights Center in Concord, said a court would be unlikely to consider the funding pledge by Congress legally binding. He questioned the argument that special education costs are truly owed to the districts.
"Education has always been seen as a local and state responsibility," he said. "The fact the federal government is providing extra in our view is a bonus."
Superintendents throughout the area said yesterday they did not plan to mail bills but were disheartened by the funding shortfall.
Recent meetings of the Andover School District featured votes requesting that congressional delegates act to fully fund special education, said Superintendent Michael Martin.
"Special education is always a topic at budget time," he said. "I think it's fair to say we are disappointed that the 40 percent is not funded."
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