From the BCCT.
Parents split on proposed redistricting
By: JOAN HELLYER
Burlington County Times
Some Bristol Township parents are happy that their kids could be transferred from one district elementary school to another. Others are up in arms at the prospect that their kids or others in the area could face a second change in their school assignment within the last three years.
The emotions ran from one extreme to another Wednesday night at Lafayette Elementary School as parents reviewed a proposed redistricting plan for about 40 students in attendance area 44A.
It involves kids who live within walking distance of Maple Shade Elementary School. Their neighborhood had been assigned to Maple Shade until about three years ago, when the school board reassigned the area to Lafayette to better balance the student population in the two schools.
Now the population has shifted again, and a revision in assignments is needed, Lafayette Principal Jim Moore told the estimated 50 district residents who attended the information session in the school cafeteria.
The affected area is within the neighborhood bounded by Glenrose Avenue on the west, Arthur Avenue to the north behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School, Dixon Avenue to the east and Newport Road to the south, according to district officials.
Students within that area who attend Lafayette this year may continue to attend their current school if their parents want them to, district officials said. But, new enrollees to the district and kindergarten students would have to attend Maple Shade.
The rest of the students who are in the attendance area that borders Route 13 and Route 413 would continue to go to Lafayette, according to the proposal, as they have done so for the past three years since the previous redistricting.
The thought of another change brought back old wounds from the last reassignment for some parents.
“That is why the neighborhood and community doesn’t trust you,” parent Paula Hess told board members who attended the information session.
Others, including Dorena Geier, were overjoyed that their child could soon attend an elementary school within walking distance.
“I want my kid back at Maple Shade. If [the proposed redistricting] doesn’t go through, can I still send her back? We’re right across the street,” Geier said.
The school board will consider the proposed redistricting during its April 20 meeting. The 7:30 p.m. meeting will be held in the district’s administration building off Mill Creek Road.
Joan Hellyer can be reached at 215-949-4048 or jhellyer@phillyBurbs.com.
March 26, 2009 07:48 AM
Friday, March 27, 2009
Renovation Bids Top Estimate
From the Intelligencer.
This is why Morrisville can out-perform any other school district financially. We have the know-how of The Emperor, who can cost out any plan, anywhere, anytime, and it will never, ever go over budget. We don't need fancy degreed and experienced people to provide studies.
School renovation bids under estimate
By: LOU SESSINGER
The Intelligencer
If the dark cloud of the economic recession has a silver lining, it could be that some contractors anxious for work might be willing to work for less than they would in brighter financial times.
That was the message the North Penn school board heard Wednesday as it prepared to award $9.7 million in bids for renovation work at North Wales Elementary.
Those bids brought the total estimated cost of the project to about $11.2 million, said D. Michael Frist, the school district's director of business administration.
That's almost $4.5 million less than the $15.7 million the district had budgeted for the work.
"It's about 26 percent under the estimate," Frist told the board. "It has to do with the current economic climate and that the bid candidates are looking for work."
The bids the school board approved Wednesday included $3.7 million to general contractor Ernest Bock & Sons Inc; $2.4 million for HVAC work to Myco Mechanical Inc.; $881,000 for plumbing to Worth & Co. Inc; $1.3 million for electrical work to MJF Electrical Contracting Inc.; $379,000 for fire protection to Apex Plumbing & Heating Inc.; and $969,000 for site work to Bencardino Excavating Inc.
The board also approved a bid of $119,900 to Sargent Enterprises for asbestos abatement at the North Wales school.
The renovation work at the school, located on Summit Street in North Wales, includes a new lobby and main office, bus lanes, a driveway and parking lot, as well as upgraded heating, electric and sprinkler systems, new carpets and repainting.
The school opened as a high school in 1928 and became an elementary school in 1955. The work is expected to begin this summer and be completed in the summer of 2010.
Lou Sessinger can be contacted at 215-345-3148 or lsessinger@phillyBurbs.com.
March 26, 2009 02:41 AM
This is why Morrisville can out-perform any other school district financially. We have the know-how of The Emperor, who can cost out any plan, anywhere, anytime, and it will never, ever go over budget. We don't need fancy degreed and experienced people to provide studies.
School renovation bids under estimate
By: LOU SESSINGER
The Intelligencer
If the dark cloud of the economic recession has a silver lining, it could be that some contractors anxious for work might be willing to work for less than they would in brighter financial times.
That was the message the North Penn school board heard Wednesday as it prepared to award $9.7 million in bids for renovation work at North Wales Elementary.
Those bids brought the total estimated cost of the project to about $11.2 million, said D. Michael Frist, the school district's director of business administration.
That's almost $4.5 million less than the $15.7 million the district had budgeted for the work.
"It's about 26 percent under the estimate," Frist told the board. "It has to do with the current economic climate and that the bid candidates are looking for work."
The bids the school board approved Wednesday included $3.7 million to general contractor Ernest Bock & Sons Inc; $2.4 million for HVAC work to Myco Mechanical Inc.; $881,000 for plumbing to Worth & Co. Inc; $1.3 million for electrical work to MJF Electrical Contracting Inc.; $379,000 for fire protection to Apex Plumbing & Heating Inc.; and $969,000 for site work to Bencardino Excavating Inc.
The board also approved a bid of $119,900 to Sargent Enterprises for asbestos abatement at the North Wales school.
The renovation work at the school, located on Summit Street in North Wales, includes a new lobby and main office, bus lanes, a driveway and parking lot, as well as upgraded heating, electric and sprinkler systems, new carpets and repainting.
The school opened as a high school in 1928 and became an elementary school in 1955. The work is expected to begin this summer and be completed in the summer of 2010.
Lou Sessinger can be contacted at 215-345-3148 or lsessinger@phillyBurbs.com.
March 26, 2009 02:41 AM
Dilbert Explains the Emperor
From Dilbert. The Emperor and his style of collecting feedback from the group.
And so does the BCCT.
To Morrisville school board President Bill Hellmann, who apparently considers the school district his own private domain.
We refer to the early retirement plan approved by the board this week. Call it a post-dating.
Seems Hellmann developed the plan jointly with the teachers union president and sent a letter disclosing the initiative to union members. He did so, however, without the board’s approval, involvement or even some members’ awareness, according to a few disgruntled board members. And there was no mention of the plan at committee meetings or executive sessions of the board, the members complained.
Hellmann said he mentioned his intentions in February. Nonetheless, board members complained that Hellman has a very bad habit of not telling the board what he is doing or thinking.
For all the good it will do, we remind Mr. Hellmann that the Morrisville School District is not a kingdom and he is not its king.
And so does the BCCT.
To Morrisville school board President Bill Hellmann, who apparently considers the school district his own private domain.
We refer to the early retirement plan approved by the board this week. Call it a post-dating.
Seems Hellmann developed the plan jointly with the teachers union president and sent a letter disclosing the initiative to union members. He did so, however, without the board’s approval, involvement or even some members’ awareness, according to a few disgruntled board members. And there was no mention of the plan at committee meetings or executive sessions of the board, the members complained.
Hellmann said he mentioned his intentions in February. Nonetheless, board members complained that Hellman has a very bad habit of not telling the board what he is doing or thinking.
For all the good it will do, we remind Mr. Hellmann that the Morrisville School District is not a kingdom and he is not its king.
Free Admission With Badge
From the BCCT.
Meeting features police security
By: DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times
Township meetings have become increasingly hostile, with shouting, name calling and heckling among residents and supervisors.
Some new faces joined the usual cast and crew at this week's Northampton Board of Supervisors.
Two police officers, one in uniform, the other in plainclothes, were asked to stand guard at Wednesday's meeting by township Manager Bob Pellegrino. This happened two weeks after Pellegrino called police to a supervisors meeting because of a raucous recess.
Northampton's meetings have been increasingly hostile, with shouting matches, name calling and heckling - residents versus supervisors, residents versus residents, supervisors versus supervisors.
With the officers there, Wednesday's meeting was, by far, the most civil in quite some time. But not everyone appreciated the police presence.
Supervisor Jim Cunningham said he was troubled by the police presence at the supervisors meeting and at a Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority meeting down the street last week. He requested police be excused from sitting through public meetings.
"It's my belief that their presence in these meetings only serves to fuel any resentments or hostilities that the residents have," he said. "There are more pressing matters I'm sure that they would have to tend to in the community."
Supervisors Chairman Vincent J. Deon agreed, but also noted the good behavior at the meeting with the cops sitting in the audience.
"I agree 100 percent with you, Mr. Cunningham. But it's pretty clear that the civility and decorum has gone up about 105 percent with them in the room," he said of the police officers. "There are others of us that believe the same way, but it's the safety of this board that Bob Pellegrino is partly in charge of."
Pellegrino, who didn't attend Wednesday's meeting, said Thursday that it was his decision alone to have police on site. He said he wants to ensure order and make sure everyone is safe at Northampton's meetings. The police, he said, are there only to break up any possible physical confrontations.
The move also was criticized by some residents, including Tim Snee.
"What kind of paranoia is going on that you have to have armed police here at our meetings?" he asked. "What are we going to do next? Metal detectors? Are we going to have to take our shoes off before we come in? Put everything in a crate when we come in, put it through an X-ray machine? This is ridiculous."
People who attended the meeting two weeks ago at town hall said tempers flared during the public comment portion. During the recess, arguments broke out and there was a potential physical confrontation brewing, they said. That's when Pellegrino called the police.
Meeting features police security
By: DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times
Township meetings have become increasingly hostile, with shouting, name calling and heckling among residents and supervisors.
Some new faces joined the usual cast and crew at this week's Northampton Board of Supervisors.
Two police officers, one in uniform, the other in plainclothes, were asked to stand guard at Wednesday's meeting by township Manager Bob Pellegrino. This happened two weeks after Pellegrino called police to a supervisors meeting because of a raucous recess.
Northampton's meetings have been increasingly hostile, with shouting matches, name calling and heckling - residents versus supervisors, residents versus residents, supervisors versus supervisors.
With the officers there, Wednesday's meeting was, by far, the most civil in quite some time. But not everyone appreciated the police presence.
Supervisor Jim Cunningham said he was troubled by the police presence at the supervisors meeting and at a Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority meeting down the street last week. He requested police be excused from sitting through public meetings.
"It's my belief that their presence in these meetings only serves to fuel any resentments or hostilities that the residents have," he said. "There are more pressing matters I'm sure that they would have to tend to in the community."
Supervisors Chairman Vincent J. Deon agreed, but also noted the good behavior at the meeting with the cops sitting in the audience.
"I agree 100 percent with you, Mr. Cunningham. But it's pretty clear that the civility and decorum has gone up about 105 percent with them in the room," he said of the police officers. "There are others of us that believe the same way, but it's the safety of this board that Bob Pellegrino is partly in charge of."
Pellegrino, who didn't attend Wednesday's meeting, said Thursday that it was his decision alone to have police on site. He said he wants to ensure order and make sure everyone is safe at Northampton's meetings. The police, he said, are there only to break up any possible physical confrontations.
The move also was criticized by some residents, including Tim Snee.
"What kind of paranoia is going on that you have to have armed police here at our meetings?" he asked. "What are we going to do next? Metal detectors? Are we going to have to take our shoes off before we come in? Put everything in a crate when we come in, put it through an X-ray machine? This is ridiculous."
People who attended the meeting two weeks ago at town hall said tempers flared during the public comment portion. During the recess, arguments broke out and there was a potential physical confrontation brewing, they said. That's when Pellegrino called the police.
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