From the Fayetteville Morning News. The Greenland school district continues to climb out of their hole after the state DoE took over the district.
The community there is pulling together. How many corporate contributions can Morrisville expect if they are made to a board whose president flatly tells clients not to invest in Morrisville?
Greenland Schools Still Moving Forward With Improving Finances
Cox Communications donates $600 to district's art program
Last updated Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:03 PM CST in News
By Rose Ann Pearce, THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- The Greenland School District continues to make progress toward digging itself out of its financial hole, Superintendent Roland Smith told about 50 employees and patrons Thursday.
In a 60-minute presentation in the Greenland High School cafeteria, Smith touched on a number of issues that have occurred since August, including the success of students in and out of the classroom; volunteers who have stepped up to raise more than $80,000; and school officials and local patrons who spent hours getting the school grounds in order after last month's ice storm.
There were also reports on monthly expenditures on different accounts in the district budget, which show the different is spending $125,211 less from July to January this fiscal year from last fiscal year for salaries and operation.
Smith is making monthly reports to the community since the Arkansas Department of Education took over financial control of the district last July for because of its financial difficulties.
Smith upped his estimated year end balance to $150,000 for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. His previous estimate was $137,000.
Looking ahead to the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins July 1, Smith projected Greenland should have "a very health $450,000 minimum ending balance." And, he added, by the end of the next fiscal year, by June 30, 2010, Greenland should be in the range of having a reserve fund of 7 percent to 10 percent of the total operating budget, as recommended by the state.
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Over the past 10 years, Greenland ending year balances have fluctuated from a high of $866,302, in 1998-99 to a low of $1,994 in 2007-08. That figure includes an operating loan of $621,000.
In other reports, athletic director Lee Larkan announced a new program at the high school to encourage students to complete homework assignments in class and at night.
A team of teachers is volunteering to provide additional tutoring in math and literacy before and after school. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the additional time if they need help.
"When you don't do homework, getting a zero is no option," Larkan said. Students who are referred to the tutoring sessions have no option either. If a student misses two sessions, parents are notified. By the fourth absence, the student, parents, teacher and either Larkan or Principal Hope Dorman will have a sit-down conference at the high school.
The district also received a $600 donation from employees at the Cox Communications office in Fayetteville for the district's art program. Elementary art teach Carol Moeller said the money will be used to expand the clay and tile art program.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
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From today's PhillyBurbs on-line. Starting today, I think the Saturday BCCT in your driveway (or tree) is history.
There really is a free lunch
By: MANASEE WAGH
Burlington County Times
Morrisville staff members received a treat for their recent resourcefulness in a tough time.
Chick-fil-A provided the entire district staff with free boxed lunches Friday for their efforts to continue the educational process with as few disruptions as possible following recent upheavals at M.R. Reiter Elementary. About 140 staff members enjoyed the lunches of sandwiches, wraps, fruit cups, brownies and iced tea.
“I’m overwhelmed. They were so generous. The teachers absolutely loved it,” said Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.
The Chick-fil-A “Eat Mor Chikin” cow stopped by the elementary classrooms to say hello to the students, too.
Chick-Fil-A gives the elementary students a positive character trait of the month as part of its Core Essentials Program. Teachers encourage students to explore and demonstrate that trait through classroom reinforcement and activities. The restaurant also provides supplemental materials for teachers and take-home information for parents.
If students are good at exhibiting the character trait of the month, they earn a free Chick-Fil-A nugget meal.
January’s trait was resourcefulness, which district teachers and staff showed abundantly after a December furnace blast made Reiter unusable, said Jodi Hartenstine, the marketing director for Chick-fil-A on Oxford Valley Road in Middletown.
“It’s using what you have to get the job done. They were exemplifying the trait there. Everybody was working together, and we wanted to do something to honor them for that, so we came up with the appreciation lunch,” said Hartenstine.
Teachers and staff in Morrisville Middle/Senior High School and Grandview Elementary adjusted their activities and spaces to accommodate Reiter students as Reiter teachers worked to help their young students through the crisis.
More than 250 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades still are displaced and in various district buildings. Grades one and two soon will leave the high school and settle into modular units on the property of Grandview Elementary School. Grade five will stay at the high school for now, and kindergarten, third and fourth grades are sharing space with Grandview’s regular population. Pre-kindergarten is at the Morrisville YMCA.
“It’s so nice to have something to celebrate,” said Diane Woodruff, a Reiter kindergarten teacher who’s now in Grandview Elementary School. “We have bounced around this year. This was just an ‘Ah-haaah.’ You take a deep breath and really appreciate it.
“We’ve had to be really resourceful. It sort of saluted what we’ve been doing. It was delicious, and the kids thought the cow was absolutely adorable,” she said.
Woodruff said she’s been teaching her students to be resourceful.
They think of ways to use materials to substitute for things they sometimes might not have since leaving Reiter.
“We talk about how animals are resourceful in getting and storing food in winter. We have to do things so that if one way doesn’t work, come up with a new one. Don’t give up,” she said.
The Middletown Chick-Fil-A will sponsor a Morrisville School District Spirit Night Feb. 28 during which customers who mention Morrisville School District will get discounts. About 15 percent of proceeds from the event will be given to the district, according to a company press release.
Another from today's PhillyBurbs on-line.
Bristol school board could use borough equipment to televise meetings
By: JOAN HELLYER
Burlington County Times
The Bristol school board has been invited to use the borough’s television equipment to broadcast its meetings.
Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe extended the invitation to school board members at their Thursday meeting. “It would let taxpayers see how you conduct [school district] business,” DiGuiseppe said.
The council is installing an estimated $40,000 worth of broadcast equipment in its chambers at borough hall to record its meetings so they can be played back unedited on the borough’s cable access channel. Several grants are being used to pay for the project, the council president said.
The broadcasts are expected to begin in March, he said.
“If you want to try it, you can try it for a month or two,” DiGuiseppe said to board members. But if the school board decides to regularly broadcast its meetings, it also would have to buy equipment to air the sessions on the district’s cable access channel, he said.
School board President David Chichilitti said board members will talk it over.
“If we have an important meeting, like a budget meeting, this would be good to get the word out on how ‘this is our number and this is how we got there.’ It’s an idea,” Chichilitti said.
I wonder if advising people not to invest in Morrisville is one of the points in Hellmann's mysterious, elusive, Steve Worob's book-might-be-published-first, 6-point "plan"?
If so, as far as I can tell, the other 5 are:
1. Do what I want to do;
2. Don't tell the public or even certain other board members what I'm doing;
3. Surround myself with ideological compatibles, willing accomplices with non-functional spinal columns, or, preferably, both;
4. Don't answer questions;
5. Don't have an actual plan.
This can't be right, because I can think of several other points that seem to be part of the "plan". But, given #5 above, this may be OK:
6. Don't follow any established rules or procedures;
7. Don't honor contracts;
8. Treat all dissenters as enemies who must be crushed;
9. Conduct board business via my company's office and private emails;
10. Restrict public comment at all times, except if the commenter is a friend or ally;
11. Always favor taxpayers over children;
12. Do not accept or believe any information or expert advice from those I have deemed "opponents";
13. Always believe that I know more and better than anyone else;
14. Always attempt to blame others for mistakes or failures, preferably "the prior board";
15. Farm out High School to anyone that'll take 'em, shove K-8 into the Middle-High School, and sell MR Reiter and Grandview Elementaries;
16. Whatever randomly happens and whatever I do is the plan, get it?
17. Repeat as necessary.
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