Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Grades 4-12 under one roof

From BucksLocalNews.com.

No, it's not a surprise. Now there's two sure votes to close Reiter. We already know about the Emperor's RATTRAP!!! Now, Jack Buckman confirms his vote to close Reiter: "We have to restructure to fit all the students in the space we're going to have."

Then there's this gem of a quote: Buckman, who previously served on Morrisville Borough Council, said the board majority had planned on restructuring "long before we had any problems with M.R. Reiter School."

There's a plan? Let's see it. Jack: You have now confirmed it exists. Release it to all of us.

Reliable toadyism: Morrisville has it.


Grades 4-12 under one roof
The school board approved putting kids ages nine through 18 in the same school.
By Petra Chesner Schlatter; Staff Editor Posted on Thu, Mar 5, 2009

A controversial restructuring plan was adopted for Morrisville schools in which elementary school children will attend class in the same building as high-school students. The plan was approved at the Morrisville School Board meeting Feb. 25 in a 6-2 vote.

Students in fourth through 12th grades in the Morrisville School District will attend classes in the Middle/Senior High School building. The new plan will be effective July 2009.

Voting to approve the restructuring was Board Chairman Bill Hellman, and Board Members Marlys Mihok, Bill Farrell, Al Rodosti, Brenda Worob and Jack Buckman.

Voting against the measure were Gloria Heater and Joe Kemp.

Board Member Robin Reithmeyer was not present.

Buckman, who previously served on Morrisville Borough Council, said the board majority had planned on restructuring "long before we had any problems with M.R. Reiter School." He noted people have objected, saying the board was restructuring because of the problem with Reiter.

In December, Reiter was closed because the school's furnace had exploded. Reiter students have been going to class since then at either Grandview Elementary School or the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.

As a result, Morrisville Borough Council voted to make a portion of Grand-view Avenue one-way because children were being dropped off or picked up with children running across the street.

Attending Grandview Elementary School in the fall will be pre-K to third grade. Fourth through eighth grades will attend an intermediate-level school within the Middle/Senior High School. Under the plan, the fourth to sixth grades will be separated from seventh and eighth grade classes.

Board Member Joe Kemp was not in favor of the restructuring. Later, he tried to table the motion, but was unsuccessful.

According to Buckman, the school district "has to plan on doing this. This involves changing structure - you want to prepare a head of time."

He added, "We have to restructure to fit all the students in the space we're going to have."

Some students at Grand-view will attend classes in modular units as a result of the closing of M.R. Reiter.

The school board recently held a public hearing about whether to close Reiter, during which time parents vehemently opposed the proposal. The board had 90 days after that hearing to decide if the school should be mothballed.

2 comments:

Jon said...

"He (Buckman) noted people have objected, saying the board was restructuring because of the problem with Reiter..."

Channeling Andy Rooney for a moment, ya ever notice that Buckman always has some incredibly simplistic and completely off-base assessment of why people might object to something?

I point back to my 2/26/09 post for some info on why I objected to the vote:

"They (all present but Joe Kemp and Gloria Heater) voted for the restructuring "idea" - the use of the word "plan" is misleading - I don't think it's even written down on a cocktail napkin. W. Ferrara gave a short confusing non-enlightening talk about the "Brown and White areas of the floor" (if you know what this means, please tell me), moving science rooms, H-16 and back, F-Hall, crash doors for Grades 4-6. No discussion of Grandview at all, no pictures, slides, nothing written, quite lame. No description or explanation of space utilization/configurations, how educational programs won't be affected.

Joe Kemp's wise motion to table this vote until he and the board could actually see some actual information on the "idea" was naturally soundly defeated."

I'll add to this that MR Reiter can't officially be closed until April 29, so why couldn't the board have held off for a more polished, coherent, & professional presentation that actually answers some legitimate questions about the "idea" at the March or April board meeting, canned Reiter as we know they want to at a special board meeting shortly after April 29, and then voted on the restructuring at the May board meeting?

Nah, that would have made too darn much sense.

Peter said...

"The school board recently held a public hearing about whether to close Reiter, during which time parents vehemently opposed the proposal. The board had 90 days after that hearing to decide if the school should be mothballed."

I thought it was a requirement that ALL questions be answered before this can go forth. There were an awful lot of questions raised at the hearing. Has anyone received any answers?