A big welcome to Marlys Mihok, today's guest blogger, as she appeared in the BCCT.
At least we have the answer to the Kate Fratti's question of "What are they hiding?" The answer: A big fat super-grande enchilada filled with nada.
Updated May 12 with more comment goodness from the BCCT website. Who knew Marlys had so many fans?
Raising scores, lowering costs
Bucks County Courier Times
The Morrisville school board has four seats to fill in the primary election. Every candidate has cross-filed and the ballot positions do not follow any order. But beware; there is a world of difference between the "Stay On Track" candidates and the other hopefuls.
Over the last 16 months the "Stop the School" board majority has kept the promise of increasing test scores and lowering taxes without affecting the educational programs. Just ask our superintendent and business manager. Rumors rumbling around town could not be further from the truth. We have not cut funding for special education, music or sports. We actually added girls JV Softball to the extracurricular roster. We will not fire para educators or classroom aides and in fact hired four more. We have only reduced our administrative staff by one elementary principal and one high school assistant principal, through attrition.
Do we really need a principal and assistant principal for the high school and two principals at the elementary school when total district enrollment is just 855 students? Morrisville has been top heavy with highly paid administrators for decades.
Our opponents say we don't have a plan. Truth is in just 16 months the Morrisville school board has installed fire alarms in every classroom. Placing children in classrooms without smoke detectors was outrageous to us. A kitchen ventilation system and fire suppressant hoods have been installed in the cafeteria. We have completed renovations in our junior/senior high school to upgrade the electrical system. This summer all the windows will be replaced with state of the art triple pane windows which will keep in the heat from our new gas-fired boilers scheduled to be installed before students return in the fall.
Since taking office, the Stop the School majority has reduced health insurance costs keeping the same coverage, telephone system costs, and copier lease costs. Remember the Sandy Gibson School Board said renovations to our buildings would cost more than building new? New building costs from Vitetta Architects and engineers predicted their new school building costs to be $48 million for the new Pre K through 12 campus. The renovation budget in reality is only $7 million and all of our bid proposals are lower than estimated.
And speaking of the budget, Morrisville Borough School District has a balanced budget this year. Taxes in our borough decreased last year by 39 mils or 600 for the average homeowner. This year on July 1 your tax bill will be another pleasant surprise as the board majority will propose another reduction to our business manager.
Two men running on the opposition have publicly stated that they were in favor of building the new K through 12 campus and if elected they will build a new school. With enrollment declining every month does this make sense to you? They have invited everyone receiving their flier to a rally serving free hot dogs and soda. Trust me, that free hot dog in exchange for your vote will really cost you $1,500 dollars a year every year in tax increases to house their own children in unnecessary new construction.
In summary the Morrisville school board "Stop the School" majority in our first 16 months has raised test scores, lowered taxes, reduced wasteful spending, and has renovations under way. So it is my recommendation that we "stay on track" on May 19. Re-elect Brenda Worob, a board veteran now in the majority; and we need your vote for Ronald Stout who saved us almost a million dollars with his common sense suggestions; and Jack Buckman, who has served Morrisville residents in many capacities for years; and John DeWilde, a special education teacher who will be an advocate for students and families in our district.
May 11, 2009 02:00 AM
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charley, 05-11-09, 8:38 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
Raising scores, lowering costs, exploding boilers...yep. The current Mo'ville school board is doing a fabulous job.
charley, 05-11-09, 10:11 am | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
"...in just 16 months the Morrisville school board has installed fire alarms in every classroom."
Well, I'm sure those fire alarms came in handy when the boiler exploded. Safety first, huh?
leatherk, 05-11-09, 1:32 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
There is no plan. The district business administrator, under penalty of perjury, has certified that the six point plan that both Bill Hellmann and Brenda Worob claimed the district was developing (as reflected in approved and posted board meeeting minutes) does not exist. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has confirmed this finding and also cautioned the district regarding factual errors of this type causing legitimate cause for concern.
https://www.dced.state.pa.us/public/o...
It's too bad that Marlys was unable to attend the candidate meet and greet last Sunday at Williamson Park even though she called up one of the "opposition" candidates and asked to be invited. As a result of her phone call, all four candidates from the stop the school side were invited. Not one of them showed. Two mayoral candidates did attend and some excellent discussions took place between the public and the candidates that were present.
The point isn't the hot dogs and soda. It's the open communication between people that makes this important. Instead of hiding things from the public, like the $2.5 million spent to re-sell the defeased bond monies back or holding secret meetings out of the public eye, the candiates and the public met openly. For example, we openly discussed that the "new" K-12 school idea is completely dead. Everyone who attended is in agreement that any new school would need to be approved by public referendum and that there is no way the town would approve. Only the stop the school people continue to dredge up the memory of the "new" school just to scare people.
charley, 05-11-09, 2:37 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
Hey all you "thumbs downers." Why not try to rebutt some of what has been posted here instead of clicking a little red down arrow and thinking that somehow qualifies as thoughtful debate.
From an AP article reprinted in EducationWeek.c om: "No one was injured, but the explosion seemed to some to be another indication that the Morrisville School District needs to get out of the education business. Despite having one of the highest school tax rates in Bucks County, students learn in aging facilities and have less-than-stell ar test scores to show for it."
Hear that? Members of the current Morrisville School District need to get OUT OF THE EDUCATION BUSINESS!
Anonymous Coward, 05-11-09, 3:08 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
"stay on track" includes blowing up schools. "stay on track" means trailers for elementary school kids. "stay on track" means looting the emergency fund to appear to balance the budget. It means lying about the other candidates who have NEVER said they are building another school. It means lying about a 6-point plan. It means forcing Dr. Yonson to take a contract cut. It means forcing the principal to do two jobs. It means shipping out the high school students to the lowest quality alternative school (stopped only by huge numbers of irate parents). It means lowering taxes with no consideration to the safety or education of the students.
floating duck, 05-11-09, 3:36 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
How about being told to GET OUT OF YOUR HOME? That is just about as rediculous as telling families that sorry but Morrisville needs to get out of the education business so we cannot have your children here so there goes your home value! Some young families moved here FOR the small school system. Our child is not a number but has a name and I do not feel that children should wonder were they are going to attend school! How would you feel not knowing were you go to work day to day. Ignorance is bliss and I'm saddened by all of the ignorance in this could be amazing small town. If you do not want to live in a family oriented town YOU GET OUT. We are staying and fighting FOR OUR CHILDREN and quality of LIFE.
False Profit, 05-11-09, 3:49 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
More than a few lies or distortions packed in there, including:
1. This board majority raised test scores.
This board majority had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the higher PSSA test scores. The most recent tests Mihok's crowing about were taken in Spring 2008, before the board majority's 1st budget was even passed. BLATANT LIE!
2. Taxes in the borough decreased last year by 39 mils or 600 for the average homeowner.
Huh? First off, 39 mils equates to $702 in Morrisville, so Mihok's math is WRONG. Actually, school taxes decreased by 17.8 mils ($321) for the average homeowner. Another $217 per homeowner (12.1 mils) came from gambling revenue that the school board had NOTHING TO DO WITH. Way to try to take credit for that!
Boro taxes INCREASED by 3.5 mils ($70) - does Mihok want to take credit for that?
Why did school taxes go down $321? The board defeased (gave back) most of the bond money for new school construction or renovations (which cost taxpayers $2.5 million long-term), and took $1.1 million (19 mils) from the district's "fund balance" (savings account).
So, in effect, Mihok's really saying..."Hey, reduce taxes last year, we cost taxpayers $2.5 million over the long-haul, and drained over $1 million from the savings account left by prior boards - don't we look GOOD???"
No, I don't think you do.
False Profit, 05-11-09, 3:57 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
"I will never, never, ever be responsible for any child because I am a school board member."
- Marlys Mihok
Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 9:27 a.m.
False Profit, 05-11-09, 4:07 pm | Rate: Flag -3 Flag | Flag Report
Mihok sez --> That free hot dog in exchange for your vote will really cost you $1,500 dollars a year every year in tax increases to house their own children in unnecessary new construction.
Then why does the flier being handed out by her allies say the tax increase will be $3,300?
Forget about the fact that no new school can be built without voter approval. Can you and your cronies at least get your lies straight and settle on a number?
At least the blowhard McCarthy-like Senator in "The Manchurian Candidate" eventually settled on 57 card-carrying commies in Congress after checking out a Heinz Ketchup bottle!
False Profit, 05-11-09, 4:15 pm | Rate: Flag -4 Flag | Flag Report
Oh, and why did Mihok and crony board candidate Ron Stout camp out across the park on the rainy Sunday when many citizens and school board candidates were under the pavillion actually having reasonable discussions with their hot dogs & soda?
Creepy and sad, but TRUE!
Mihok should have taken a picture - it would have lasted longer! Then again, maybe she did?
ADDED May 12: Wow. Who knew Marlys had so many fans?
Note To Self, 05-11-09, 5:07 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Call the IRS:
To make sure I am correct that the QSRE is violating their 501C3 status by campaigning in any way for/against political candidates during any election cycle!
Have a nice day :)
davidi n Morrisville, 05-11-09, 5:32 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
I have been accused of wanting a new school, by Mrs. Mihok. I believe that in a perfect world, we would all like to live in, go to school in, work in, brand new buildings. I have said that the people of Morrisville would like a new school, but we flat out cannot afford it --- and state law mandates a referendum to decide the matter by the people of Morrisville. Apparently, again, Mrs. Mihok doesn't know the law. She spews lies about people she disagrees with but won't have the respect to face someone and argue truths, not fantacy of her own making. She claims 2 candidates made pro new school comments. She doesn't even know who they are. One of those she accused isn't running for anything, he made some comments at a meeting about closing M R Reiter school. Shes not a very detail orriented person I guess. I haven't heard them talk at all about the students during ANY of their meetings. When asked if they could hire a 1 on 1 aide since 5 have left the district, Hellman and Mihok only asked what was their salary, did they get benefits, and do we pay into retirement for them. How about do we need them? how are they being utilized now? How many students are they helping and do we need more? The only way any were hired is because the pres and his wondrous sidekick Al weren't at the meeting. Sad, very sad. They care only about the checkbook. I care about the students and the taxpayers. I have payed taxes here for 18 years and have 1 duaghter who grasduated from Morrisville and 1 in 9th grade. Between the entire sitting board, there is 1 child in the system. Mrs. Mihok has told bald faced lies for her own agrandizement and benefit. It's sad she can't hold her head any higher than the curb she has stooped to.
slimjim01, 05-11-09, 5:34 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
The above article is a low blow...even for you Marlys! Marlys seems determined to destroy Morrisville. As the mouthpiece for the "Stay on Track" team, she should get her facts straight before spouting off in the press...maybe the water in the hot tub was too much, and she is not able to think clearly these days, or maybe it was the flash from her camera while taking pictures of children(creepy , I know!!)and she is not able to see things for what they are. Morrisville deserves better!!!
charley, 05-11-09, 5:42 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Does anyone have pictures of the post-explosion boiler from M.R. Reiter? Those pics need to be circulated throughout Mo'ville so the residents can see how effective the current board has been and how much they care about the students.
It's a shame that a nice town like Mo'ville gets shackled with a school board that is led by a sneaky, arrogant knucklehead like Hellmann.
To "floating duck," my point in my last post was that the current school board is rotten and they should not be in the education business. I'm sorry to have not made that more clear. I have nephews in the Mo'ville school system and they've had wonderful teachers. There are great educators, staff, and students in that school district. The kids are loyal to their schools and my one nephew who was in Reiter and is now stuck in a portable at Grandview still talks about his "old" school and misses it terribly. I feel the current board has woefully short-changed the students in Mo'ville and should be too ashamed of themselves to even consider asking to be re-elected.
gratefullee, 05-11-09, 10:16 pm | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
As the blog so nicely points out, Quid Pro Quo.
From http://savethemorrisvilleschool.blogs... :
-----Original Message-----
From: bill hellmann [mailto:bill hellmann cpa@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 10:55 AM
To: Heater, Gloria
Cc: bill hellmann
Subject: RE: engineering services, high school boilers
i am the one that stirs the drink. if i sit there, yonson's spending
will kill this town. she has two puppet board members that do whatever
she tells them, and the TINY pro-schoolers crew. ha ha ha! they are all
sand pounders. ha ha ha !
one by one they are either leaving or being replaced. soon, yonson will
be by herself. i have been talking to bill farrara and i like him and
so do other board members. he likes the consolidation we are talking
about (tuitioning out). i assured him we will always need a super and
at least one principal.
i know i am not polite at the meetings. i will work on that and try to
be more patient and respectful to the other fools. my problem is i
have little patience for incompetence and i am surrounded by those
types of people up there.
--------------- --------------- --------
Is this the kind of person you want running your town's school? No school = no one moving in and investing their family's future and money. Ironic that he talks about Yonson's puppets, given that Mihok and crew vote lockstep with Hellmann who, as you can see from the aforementioned e-mail, is a mature, thoughtful, individual who cares so much about the future of the school and students (can you feel the sarcasm?).
leatherk, 05-12-09, 7:24 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
A vote for Worob, Buckman, Stout, and DeWilde is a vote for Hellmann and Mihok. Staying on track is voting to continue intolerance, secrecy, and an "us versus them mentality".
charley, 05-12-09, 8:57 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
"Mr. Leather filed a timely appeal of the denial on April 3, 2009 seeking copies of the “six-point plan.” Mr. Leather subsequently indicated that he was only appealing the denial of a copy of the “six point plan.” After the filing of the appeal, Mr. DeAngelo provided the OOR with a sworn attestation that a record containing a “six point plan” does not exist."
Is this the kind of school board the students of Morrisville deserve? I believe they deserve much MUCH better than Hellmann and his current cabal.
lurch03, 05-12-09, 9:30 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
I find it mindboggling that Marlys and her crew would take credit for the higher test scores. They had nothing to do with it. The real test will be this years PSSA results. The current board majority has done nothing for the education of the children. They are only interested in lower taxes!!Some in their crew even want to eliminate them altogether!http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/l...
Isn't the author of this a big supporter of Hellman&Co? Morrisville voters should be vary aware of the tactics Marlys and her crew are up to. Unethical...yes ....Do not vote for the "stay on track" candidates!!!!T hey will further derail Morrisville!
lurch03, 05-12-09, 9:44 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
"Placing children in classrooms without smoke detectors was outrageous to us."
Marlys.....why did it take you 16 months to install fire alarms? If children were of your concern don't you think this should have been done sooner?? Oh that's right....
"I will never, never, ever be responsible for any child because I am a school board member."
- Marlys Mihok
Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 9:27 a.m.
You have already answered that for us!!
ANGRY PARENT, 05-12-09, 10:04 am | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Marlys is there any reason you need to LIE? Are you scared you're going to lose? You know darn well that there is NO TALK about a new school being built!!!!! Test scores ha ha That's a big THANKS to Dr Yonson! She is the one who made the difference, how can you take credit when you weren't even on the board yet? you could careless what our test scores are. you know if they keep falling Moville will be in trouble,,,like shutting down schools...That would just make your day HUH?
We need BECK, MILLER, JENKINS & STONEBURNER for our school board. THEY CARE ABOUT OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE!!!!
KEEP UP ALL YOUR LIES BECAUSE THEY WILL JUST HIT YOU IN THE FACE LATER.....
False Profit, 05-12-09, 10:05 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
PSSA scores have been trending higher for about the last 5 yrs., which coincides with Dr. Yonson's arrival as Superintendent.
When the Mihok board majority took power at the end of 2007, what did they do? They spent a couple grand of taxpayer $$$ for a law firm to evaluate Dr. Yonson's signed 5-yr. contract, then ripped it up and handed her a 3-yr. deal - take it or shove it.
Dr. Yonson easily could have not signed it, sued for breach of contract, and won - all at taxpayer expense. She didn't, which is a testiment to her placing children's and taxpayer concerns above her own personal concerns.
But Dr. Yonson knows a hostile board majority that doesn't properly value education when she sees one. She's now a finalist for a Superintendent postion in Springfield, Montgomery County. More turnover, more turmoil.
Just another of many short-sighted, hard-headed, hostile, arrogant decisions by the board majority.
A gimmicky tax cut isn't worth the price. Let's give others a chance. Please vote: BECK, MILLER, JENKINS, STONEBURNER.
lurch03, 05-12-09, 10:11 am | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
Well said angry parent!!!
The whole town knows the new school is a dead idea!!If ever a new school idea is brought up again it will have to go to a vote by the people of the town(ie: referendum). The only ones who do not get this are the current board majority(Hellma n & co.).
Vote May 19
BECK,MILLER,JEN KINS,STONEBURNE R for school board!
They will not lie to you!
False Profit, 05-12-09, 10:19 am | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
I keep wondering when all the lies are going to catch up with her. I hope the increase in lying about baseline levels is a sign that the election is really close this time, and may not go her way.
But stranger things have happened. For example, Mihok, Worob, and many others campaigned for the now-hated Sandy Gibson board she blasts. In many ways, she helped make the stinky smelly bed we're all now lying in. Thanks! All told, we spent about $5 million to plan and then tank a new school - so in the end we're getting $7 million in renovations for $12 million. What a bargain! And still we have trailers at Grandview Elementary.
And wasn't Mihok on the 1990's board that improperly locked out teachers/aides, which ended up costing taxpayers over $1 million?
As Sonny & Cher said, the beat goes on......
False Profit, 05-12-09, 10:20 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
Ooops, I meant above, not about, baseline levels!
False Profit, 05-12-09, 10:39 am | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
Mihok was caught in a lie to Courier Times reporter Kate Fratti last year.
Mihok lied and said Dr. Yonson hadn't informed the board about a deadline for passing a tax cap resolution. Dr. Yonson had informed the board, and she had the tapes to prove it.
Given Mihok's documented history of lying, I'm surprised the Courier Times didn't fact-check her article before printing it. Newspapers have an obligation to print the truth, and she has burned them before.
charley, 05-12-09, 1:08 pm | Rate: Flag 0 Flag | Flag Report
From Kate Fratti's column on the situation in Mo'ville:
"In an e-mail written to the rest of the board fewer than 24 hours after the boiler blew, board President Bill Hellmann indicated a shuttered M.R. Reiter is just what he’d hoped for. The emphasis is all his.
“If we close both elementary schools and put everybody in the high school, we will save a FORTUNE in operating costs. EVERY YEAR. The pro new-schoolers wanted a K-12 school. Well here it is. The other people who might not want a K-12 are a minority and when they see their reduced tax bill on July 1 of each year, they just may change their minds in these new tough economic times. We will save ANOTHER fortune by not repairing either of those two buildings. We will solve the M.R. Reiter problem. CLOSE THIS RAT TRAP NOW.”
Hellmann’s e-mail makes it clear why in June he eliminated Reiter from a list of buildings to be examined by engineers in preparation for eventual renovations that might have prevented the explosion. And, it’s clear, now, why the board’s been dragging its feet on fixes to Grandview Elementary School, too.
Rat traps.
Hellmann, Brenda Worob, Marlys Mihok, Al Radosti, Bill Farrell and Gloria Heater were voted into office by an electorate that desperately wanted to stop construction of a new K-12 building it could not afford. The winning slate promised voters they’d renovate existing buildings instead.
They lied. Some of them have said privately they’d like to rid the borough of the entire school system.
One school down. Two to go."
Oh, and keep up the good work clicking on all those little red down arrows. Whoever is doing that should have the guts to jump in here and defend the current board. I guess they won't because the current board is indefensible. Period.
lurch03, 05-12-09, 1:48 pm | Rate: Flag 1 Flag | Flag Report
Its people like Marlys Mihok that give Morrisville a bad reputation.
Vote May 19
BECK, MILLER, JENKINS, STONEBURNER for school board!
False Profit, 05-12-09, 2:55 pm | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
Remember this Bill Hellmann, CPA (aka King, My King, Emperor, My Emperor, etc. to Marlys Mihok) email?
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:51 AM
i just spoke to mike [presumably Fitzpatrick, Board Solicitor] about school closings. he said it would take a year for hearings, etc. but we could put mr reiter kids in grandview or high school in an EMERGENCY situation. this is good. it will give us an excuse to get them out, quickly. once they are out of mr reiter, lets keep them
out! also, we do not have the money to build out anywhere. we need to renovate and ADAPT, only.
False Profit, 05-12-09, 3:01 pm | Rate: Flag -1 Flag | Flag Report
Or this one, just 4 days after the MR Reiter Elementary furnace explosion:
December 17, 2008, 9:21 am, subject Injunction – “I think they [presumably the Borough] would have filed an injunction if the school board tried to reopen it without consent from the Borough Engineer as far as safety is concerned. Here is our chance. CLOSE THIS RAT TRAP NOW. TELL FRATTI!!! HA HA HA. I AM THE ANTI-CHRISTTTTT TTTT.”
Check the January 5, 2009 board meeting minutes at the link below if you don't believe it.
http://www.mv.org/files/16907/JAN.5.2...
charley, 05-12-09, 4:08 pm | Rate: Flag -2 Flag | Flag Report
Also from the 01/05/09 meeting minutes:
"Marlys Mihok read a statement:
At the February 27, 2008 school board meeting Mr. Tim Lastichen, our building maintenance supervisor stated that his main concern was the heating system at Reiter. It scared him. Tim stated that we should be looking into the heating system at Reiter. At that meeting Mr. Hellmann made a motion to have an engineering safety study done on both elementary schools. Board members voting yes were Hellmann, Farrell and Worob. I was absent. Members voting no were Kemp, Reithmeyer and Frankenfield. The motion was defeated 3-3. The safety study was not done. Mr. Hellmann wanted the record to show that the safety issues and the nay votes were not following. These are safety issues that should be fixed immediately. On March 12, 2008 when the full board was present Mrs. Reithmeyer brought up a paper called “House Rules.” This is not a part of our board policy. The House Rules state in part “motions defeated can not be reintroduced until the 3rd business meeting.” Dr. Yonson supported Mrs. Reithmeyer
Special meeting of Board of Directors on this issue. Subsequently, the engineering safety study on the elementary schools was not put on the agenda on this night. Mrs. Reithmeyer not only voted against having the engineering safety study done at the 2 elementary schools on February 27, 2008, her, Mr. Kemp and Dr. Yonson also blocked it from being put on the agenda meeting on March 12, 2008. Nine months later the furnace exploded at Reiter and windows shattered. What would the parents of children say to Mr. Kemp and Mrs. Reithmeyer if the windows blew out in their child’s face? Our children were put at risk of injury or worse by Mrs. Reithmeyer, Mr. Kemp and Dr. Yonson.
Mr. Hellmann: stated that everybody on this board has made mistakes in the past year. If we keep fighting we will not get anything done. It’s time to get together and solve our problems.
Mr.Kemp: you say this after asking Marlys to read this pointing fingers and me and Robin, Dr. Yonson and Ed who at the time said we already have a report, why do we need another one? We know what’s wrong why not fix it?
Mrs. Reithmeyer: Mr. Lastichen did say it needed to be fixed and your half-baked report, that your company admittedly told us was a ‘cursory” report. Then when we looked at the boilers I sat here and argued vehemently with you because you wouldn’t put Reiter on the list. You didn’t want to include Reiter. You only did two burners are Grandview because Tim begged for it.
Mr. Hellmann: I wanted Reiter left off because I didn’t think that school was safe.
Mrs. Reithmeyer: That’s right; so don’t be blaming me for it. It’s on your shoulders. You and Marlys can burden it."
Okay, so Hellmann & Co. KNEW that Reiter was dangerous and DID NOTHING to keep the kids in there safe, but Mihok sure was quick to lay the blame on three others, including Dr. Yonson. Oh, wait, they did install some fire alarms in some classrooms. Safety first, huh Mihok?
False Profit, 05-12-09, 4:38 pm | Rate: Flag 1 Flag | Flag Report
At the Feb. 27, 2008 meeting, Hellmann wanted to do cheapo, flimsy, walk-through, open nothing reports for the 2 elementary schools.
In Jan. 2008, he hired a firm to do this for the High School. He hired them ON HIS OWN, without board authorization.
The board had to bail him out by voting at the Jan. 30, 2008 meeting to pay for the High School report, or risk being sued by the firm for failure to pay.
Hellmann has demonstrated over and over again that he can't or won't follow rules, and only gets away with it because he has loyal followers like Mihok, Worob, and Buckman to bail him out.
Enough is enough! The ends don't justify the means!
Please vote:
BECK, MILLER, JENKINS, STONEBURNER for school board on May 19!
False Profit, 05-12-09, 4:46 pm | Rate: Flag 1 Flag | Flag Report
Refresh my memory again on who was ABSENT at the Feb. 27, 2008 meeting and could have broken the 3-3 deadlock?
Oh, that's right. Marlys Mihok.
Hellmann Mihok crony Al Radosti was absent too.
Gloria Heater was absent too, and might have voted with them back then, but I think she has since seen what a horror show they really are.
And what would a winning vote have achieved? Why, 2 more cheapo, flimsy, walk-through, open nothing reports for the 2 elementary schools, even though the inadequacies of, and problems with, all 3 schools had already been thoroughly studied.
Showing posts with label DeAngelo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DeAngelo. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
We Saved A TON of Money
From the BCCT.
No tax increase for district
By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
The district saved $1 million by cutting down wasteful practices and installing a new air conditioning system.
The Morrisville school board has approved a zero tax increase and a proposed $18.9 million final budget for next year.
The news came as a relief to many residents at the Wednesday evening meeting. Taxes are expected to remain the same as this year, at $3,371 for an average assessed property of $18,000. Individual taxes may be lower if people take advantage of homestead rebates that the state offers from its gaming revenue. The millage rate is 187.3 mills and the value of a mill in Morrisville is $59,059.
The budget decreased by about $1 million from this year, due to several changes. Among them are a more efficient HVAC system in the high school next year and an effort to cut extraneous paper use and other wasteful practices.
As usual, salaries and benefits make up a large percentage of expenditures. Total staff salaries are expected to cost $9.22 million and total benefits should be $2.35 million.
"That's pretty consistent with where we were last year," said business administrator Paul DeAngelo.
Residents asked if the reduced budget means education will be affected.
"I can assure you all the cuts will not change any of the programs we have been doing," said Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.
Some residents pointed to the disruption of M.R. Reiter Elementary School's operation as well as the loss of two elementary principals and a high school principal as a sign that education has been affected.
After Reiter Elementary closed several months ago due to a furnace explosion, the district ended up saving money in daily operational costs for the school. Students have been placed in other district buildings and eight modular units, which are paid for by insurance. There are no plans to replace three principals who left for various reasons, including a new job and retirement.
Although their jobs have been temporarily covered by other capable staff and administration, the board should think about replacing the principals, said board member Robin Reithmeyer.
In his 2009-10 budget calculations, DeAngelo assumed that Reiter would remain a non-operational district property. If the board decides this summer to sell it, the revenue could be used toward planned or future renovations for the district's middle/high school and other elementary school.
The budget appears balanced for now, but the future could bring uncontrollable expenditures to the district, said DeAngelo. One of the most damaging could be the anticipated sharp rise in future retirement pension contributions, up to 30 percent higher by 2013, according to the state. After next year, DeAngelo wants Morrisville to place $500,000 annually in a fund to avoid asking taxpayers to dig deep for retirement pensions.
The board plans to hear a public response to the proposed final budget on May 13 and adopt the budget on May 27. Details are available on the business page of Morrisville schools' Web site at www.mv.org/district.cfm?subpage=537779 and in district offices at 550 West Palmer St.
No tax increase for district
By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
The district saved $1 million by cutting down wasteful practices and installing a new air conditioning system.
The Morrisville school board has approved a zero tax increase and a proposed $18.9 million final budget for next year.
The news came as a relief to many residents at the Wednesday evening meeting. Taxes are expected to remain the same as this year, at $3,371 for an average assessed property of $18,000. Individual taxes may be lower if people take advantage of homestead rebates that the state offers from its gaming revenue. The millage rate is 187.3 mills and the value of a mill in Morrisville is $59,059.
The budget decreased by about $1 million from this year, due to several changes. Among them are a more efficient HVAC system in the high school next year and an effort to cut extraneous paper use and other wasteful practices.
As usual, salaries and benefits make up a large percentage of expenditures. Total staff salaries are expected to cost $9.22 million and total benefits should be $2.35 million.
"That's pretty consistent with where we were last year," said business administrator Paul DeAngelo.
Residents asked if the reduced budget means education will be affected.
"I can assure you all the cuts will not change any of the programs we have been doing," said Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.
Some residents pointed to the disruption of M.R. Reiter Elementary School's operation as well as the loss of two elementary principals and a high school principal as a sign that education has been affected.
After Reiter Elementary closed several months ago due to a furnace explosion, the district ended up saving money in daily operational costs for the school. Students have been placed in other district buildings and eight modular units, which are paid for by insurance. There are no plans to replace three principals who left for various reasons, including a new job and retirement.
Although their jobs have been temporarily covered by other capable staff and administration, the board should think about replacing the principals, said board member Robin Reithmeyer.
In his 2009-10 budget calculations, DeAngelo assumed that Reiter would remain a non-operational district property. If the board decides this summer to sell it, the revenue could be used toward planned or future renovations for the district's middle/high school and other elementary school.
The budget appears balanced for now, but the future could bring uncontrollable expenditures to the district, said DeAngelo. One of the most damaging could be the anticipated sharp rise in future retirement pension contributions, up to 30 percent higher by 2013, according to the state. After next year, DeAngelo wants Morrisville to place $500,000 annually in a fund to avoid asking taxpayers to dig deep for retirement pensions.
The board plans to hear a public response to the proposed final budget on May 13 and adopt the budget on May 27. Details are available on the business page of Morrisville schools' Web site at www.mv.org/district.cfm?subpage=537779 and in district offices at 550 West Palmer St.
Friday, April 10, 2009
ERIP Recap
From BucksLocalNews.com
Morrisville School District approves early retirement plans
By Petra Chesner Schlatter, Staff Editor Posted on Thu, Apr 9, 2009
The Morrisville School Board has approved on an early retirement incentive plan (ERIP) for eligible staff members.
Six board members voted yes and two members, Robin Reithmeyer and Gloria Heater, dissented. Al Radosti was absent from the meeting.
Heater said the district would not save enough money by offering the retirement package.
Reithmeyer protested the motion, alleging that Board President Bill Hellman had made a deal with the union without the full board’s knowledge.
This is the first time the Morrisville School District has offered an early retirement plan to district employees. The incentive was not part of the original collective bargaining agreement, but was added as an amendment by the school board’s vote.
At least nine people are expected to take the package.
After the meeting Board Member Jack Buckman said, “The teachers want to have a health care plan for a number of years. Usually, a health plan doesn’t go with you. We agreed to that.”
According to Buckman, the package will save the district money, but it ends on how many people accept the deal and if the district has to replace the retiree.
“When you replace one employee,” he said, “You usually get them for less money. The other ones were here so long; they’re on the top of the salary range.”
Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business administrator, said every teacher’s salary is included in the 2009-10 Preliminary Proposed Budget. However, he did not factor the ERIP program into the budget.
To be eligible for the ERIP, permanent professional employees must have 15 years of service. In addition, participants would be required to retire on June 30.
Under the plan, there are two options for participants.
The first is a lump sum payment with two cash payments between September 2009 and January 2010.
If three people take the plan, they would receive $25,000 each. If three to five take it, they would each receive $40,000. If six to eight take it, they would each receive $50,000. For nine or more retirees, they would each receive $70,000.
The second option would be medical premium reimbursement up until age 65 with caps on the total premiums.
Teachers have until April 30 to notify the school district if they want to take early retirement.
Drew King, president of the Morrisville Education Association, said last month that he had presented some information to the school board president to initiate discussion on a possibility of an early retirement package.
Governor asks for merger study:
Meanwhile, the issue of school districts merging in Pennsylvania has come up. Gov. Ed Rendell’s budget calls for the creation of a committee to research whether some school districts in the state should be consolidated. There are now 501 school districts in the Commonwealth. The governor wants to reduce that to 100.
The Morrisville School Board requested its solicitor, former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, to prepare a resolution on the matter for the next board meeting, which is scheduled for April 22.
At this time it’s not known what the chances are of Morrisville merging with the Pennsbury School District, although in the past Pennsbury officials have indicated they would prefer not to merge the districts.
Morrisville School District approves early retirement plans
By Petra Chesner Schlatter, Staff Editor Posted on Thu, Apr 9, 2009
The Morrisville School Board has approved on an early retirement incentive plan (ERIP) for eligible staff members.
Six board members voted yes and two members, Robin Reithmeyer and Gloria Heater, dissented. Al Radosti was absent from the meeting.
Heater said the district would not save enough money by offering the retirement package.
Reithmeyer protested the motion, alleging that Board President Bill Hellman had made a deal with the union without the full board’s knowledge.
This is the first time the Morrisville School District has offered an early retirement plan to district employees. The incentive was not part of the original collective bargaining agreement, but was added as an amendment by the school board’s vote.
At least nine people are expected to take the package.
After the meeting Board Member Jack Buckman said, “The teachers want to have a health care plan for a number of years. Usually, a health plan doesn’t go with you. We agreed to that.”
According to Buckman, the package will save the district money, but it ends on how many people accept the deal and if the district has to replace the retiree.
“When you replace one employee,” he said, “You usually get them for less money. The other ones were here so long; they’re on the top of the salary range.”
Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business administrator, said every teacher’s salary is included in the 2009-10 Preliminary Proposed Budget. However, he did not factor the ERIP program into the budget.
To be eligible for the ERIP, permanent professional employees must have 15 years of service. In addition, participants would be required to retire on June 30.
Under the plan, there are two options for participants.
The first is a lump sum payment with two cash payments between September 2009 and January 2010.
If three people take the plan, they would receive $25,000 each. If three to five take it, they would each receive $40,000. If six to eight take it, they would each receive $50,000. For nine or more retirees, they would each receive $70,000.
The second option would be medical premium reimbursement up until age 65 with caps on the total premiums.
Teachers have until April 30 to notify the school district if they want to take early retirement.
Drew King, president of the Morrisville Education Association, said last month that he had presented some information to the school board president to initiate discussion on a possibility of an early retirement package.
Governor asks for merger study:
Meanwhile, the issue of school districts merging in Pennsylvania has come up. Gov. Ed Rendell’s budget calls for the creation of a committee to research whether some school districts in the state should be consolidated. There are now 501 school districts in the Commonwealth. The governor wants to reduce that to 100.
The Morrisville School Board requested its solicitor, former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, to prepare a resolution on the matter for the next board meeting, which is scheduled for April 22.
At this time it’s not known what the chances are of Morrisville merging with the Pennsbury School District, although in the past Pennsbury officials have indicated they would prefer not to merge the districts.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Public Notices: Boiler Cleaning
From the BCCT.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
MORRISVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for Boiler Cleaning for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933.
Bids must be received on or before April 14, 2009 at
which time they will be opened publicly at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive any information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Appeared in: Bucks County Courier Times on 03/25/2009 and 04/01/2009
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
MORRISVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for Boiler Cleaning for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933.
Bids must be received on or before April 14, 2009 at
which time they will be opened publicly at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive any information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Appeared in: Bucks County Courier Times on 03/25/2009 and 04/01/2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Thanks For Your Career, Now Get Out!
From the BCCT.
In a completely standard move, the Morrisville board launched another surprise. Attention Morrisville teachers: Yes, YOU! The one with the grey hair and the college diploma chiseled into a stone tablet. We pay you too much and can replace you with someone at half your salary. Thanks for the memories. Now get out. You have one month to decide.
This is mitigated by union prez King mentioning that he initiated the talks and I do not blame him. Looking out for these people is his job. If I had the time in, I'd escape this district too. The chaos and uncertainty this board leaves in its wake is reason enough.
The administration had a hard time finding replacements for teachers one at a time. Can you imagine filling nine spots or more?
Good point. WILL these teachers be replaced? The (patent pending) Do More With Less Magic-8 Ball says *shake*shake*shake* "Fewer seats needed at 2009 staff Christmas party"
Board to offer retirement packages
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
In an effort to save money, the Morrisville school board agreed Wednesday to allow eligible staff members to take advantage of an early retirement incentive plan.
The move, approved 6-2, was not without its critics.
Board members Gloria Heater and Robin Reithmeyer opposed the offer. Reithmeyer said board President William Hellmann had acted on his own to offer the incentive plan and that other board members were not aware of it until last week, several days after Hellmann sent a March 5 letter with incentive plan details to the teachers union.
In addition, the plan was not brought up in a board committee meeting or in executive session, Reithmeyer said.
At Tuesday's meeting, union President Drew King said he had initiated talks with Hellmann and the district by presenting them with a rationale for such a plan.
Hellmann and the administration had responded to King's request and worked closely to come up with a proposal for the union, said district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick. School code was not broken because their offer could not have gone into effect until a consensus of the board voted on it, he said.
Reithmeyer said Hellmann does not openly let the board know what he is doing and thinking. He said he had communicated his intentions regarding the retirement incentive plan to the board in February.
The incentive plan is valid for full-time permanent professional employees who have had 15 years of continuous service with the district and want to retire on June 30. It offers two options: either a lump sum of up to $70,000 or medical premium reimbursement to age 65, capped at $1,200 per month. That's if nine or more eligible staff members take the offer. The lump sum payment amount will be less if fewer people opt to take the offer.
How much the district would save depends on how many decide to take advantage of the incentive and how and if the district decides to replace them, said Paul DeAngelo, the district's business administrator. Individual teachers have until April 30 to apply.
March 26, 2009 02:11 AM
In a completely standard move, the Morrisville board launched another surprise. Attention Morrisville teachers: Yes, YOU! The one with the grey hair and the college diploma chiseled into a stone tablet. We pay you too much and can replace you with someone at half your salary. Thanks for the memories. Now get out. You have one month to decide.
This is mitigated by union prez King mentioning that he initiated the talks and I do not blame him. Looking out for these people is his job. If I had the time in, I'd escape this district too. The chaos and uncertainty this board leaves in its wake is reason enough.
The administration had a hard time finding replacements for teachers one at a time. Can you imagine filling nine spots or more?
Good point. WILL these teachers be replaced? The (patent pending) Do More With Less Magic-8 Ball says *shake*shake*shake* "Fewer seats needed at 2009 staff Christmas party"
Board to offer retirement packages
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
In an effort to save money, the Morrisville school board agreed Wednesday to allow eligible staff members to take advantage of an early retirement incentive plan.
The move, approved 6-2, was not without its critics.
Board members Gloria Heater and Robin Reithmeyer opposed the offer. Reithmeyer said board President William Hellmann had acted on his own to offer the incentive plan and that other board members were not aware of it until last week, several days after Hellmann sent a March 5 letter with incentive plan details to the teachers union.
In addition, the plan was not brought up in a board committee meeting or in executive session, Reithmeyer said.
At Tuesday's meeting, union President Drew King said he had initiated talks with Hellmann and the district by presenting them with a rationale for such a plan.
Hellmann and the administration had responded to King's request and worked closely to come up with a proposal for the union, said district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick. School code was not broken because their offer could not have gone into effect until a consensus of the board voted on it, he said.
Reithmeyer said Hellmann does not openly let the board know what he is doing and thinking. He said he had communicated his intentions regarding the retirement incentive plan to the board in February.
The incentive plan is valid for full-time permanent professional employees who have had 15 years of continuous service with the district and want to retire on June 30. It offers two options: either a lump sum of up to $70,000 or medical premium reimbursement to age 65, capped at $1,200 per month. That's if nine or more eligible staff members take the offer. The lump sum payment amount will be less if fewer people opt to take the offer.
How much the district would save depends on how many decide to take advantage of the incentive and how and if the district decides to replace them, said Paul DeAngelo, the district's business administrator. Individual teachers have until April 30 to apply.
March 26, 2009 02:11 AM
Sunday, March 22, 2009
State grant money could go to waste
From the BCCT.
If you have any further problems with deciding how to handle the grant money, make the check payable to the "Morrisville School District" and send it to the attention of Paul DeAngelo, Business Administrator.
State grant money could go to waste
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The school board held off financial support for the plan until priority concerns are identified.
Bristol's municipal government has won a $250,000 state grant to fix up local ball fields, but that money could go to waste if the school district doesn't help match the funds, borough council President Ralph DiGuiseppe said.
"Do we want to invest the $500,000? It's either that or we give the $250,000 back to the state and say, 'Thank you, but no thank you.' We don't need any more fields for the borough. It's up to the school," DiGuiseppe said during the board's meeting Thursday night.
Despite the plea, the board remained noncommittal. President David Chichilitti said the board does not want to commit any money to the project until the most pressing needs for playing fields are identified.
The borough obtained the $250,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to make the improvements. It has to match the $250,000 with its own money or money from other sources in order to use the state funds, officials said. No deadline has been announced.
The municipality could contribute $150,000 if the school board would pitch in another $150,000 to secure the matching grant, DiGuiseppe said. The extra $50,000 would be used to cover design fees and other related costs, he said.
Bristol insiders say the board is taking a cautious approach to the request because the district recently paid the borough almost $500,000 in construction and permit fees for the new pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school under construction off Beaver Street.
The payment, as required by borough officials, was made in a lump sum at the beginning of the project instead of as costs were incurred. DiGuiseppe promised the school board in early 2008 that any fee money leftover at the end of the project would be used for recreational purposes.
Now that the new school is just about completed, board members want to see what taxpayer dollars will be left over from the fees to use toward the ball field renovations, district sources said.
In the meantime, Chichilitti asked that a joint committee, made up of district and borough representatives, determine what's needed to accommodate area ball teams. Once the priority concerns are identified, the board could decide if it wants to be involved in the renovation project, he said.
Board members made the request Thursday after Evan Stone, a site designer with Pennoni Associates Inc., presented an overview of the proposed improvements to four ball fields at Memorial Fields off Jefferson Avenue that would be partially paid for with the matching funds.
The $500,000 would cover costs associated with the first phase of an estimated $1.4 million project that could be done in two phases, Stone said.
This is the second time in as many months Stone gave board members an overview. During the initial presentation in February, district representatives asked Stone to go before the full board to sketch out the project. However, board members Steve Cullen, Mary Jane Paglione and Louis Persichetti Sr. did not attend Thursday's meeting.
Given their absence, Chichilitti said he was reluctant to ask board members if they wanted to help finance the work.
Chichilitti said the board wants to make sure the work addresses areas that need improvements. For instance, he said, the fields' bathrooms do not need to be replaced right now. They just need some touchup paint. As part of that review, Chichilitti asked Stone to provide the committee with specific deadlines for the process involved in securing the state grant.
He asked board member James Petrino and Athletic Director Greg Pinelli to represent the district on the committee along with another board member still to be named. DiGuiseppe agreed to appoint three municipal representatives to the committee and the board agreed to split Pennoni's fees with the borough.
If you have any further problems with deciding how to handle the grant money, make the check payable to the "Morrisville School District" and send it to the attention of Paul DeAngelo, Business Administrator.
State grant money could go to waste
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The school board held off financial support for the plan until priority concerns are identified.
Bristol's municipal government has won a $250,000 state grant to fix up local ball fields, but that money could go to waste if the school district doesn't help match the funds, borough council President Ralph DiGuiseppe said.
"Do we want to invest the $500,000? It's either that or we give the $250,000 back to the state and say, 'Thank you, but no thank you.' We don't need any more fields for the borough. It's up to the school," DiGuiseppe said during the board's meeting Thursday night.
Despite the plea, the board remained noncommittal. President David Chichilitti said the board does not want to commit any money to the project until the most pressing needs for playing fields are identified.
The borough obtained the $250,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to make the improvements. It has to match the $250,000 with its own money or money from other sources in order to use the state funds, officials said. No deadline has been announced.
The municipality could contribute $150,000 if the school board would pitch in another $150,000 to secure the matching grant, DiGuiseppe said. The extra $50,000 would be used to cover design fees and other related costs, he said.
Bristol insiders say the board is taking a cautious approach to the request because the district recently paid the borough almost $500,000 in construction and permit fees for the new pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school under construction off Beaver Street.
The payment, as required by borough officials, was made in a lump sum at the beginning of the project instead of as costs were incurred. DiGuiseppe promised the school board in early 2008 that any fee money leftover at the end of the project would be used for recreational purposes.
Now that the new school is just about completed, board members want to see what taxpayer dollars will be left over from the fees to use toward the ball field renovations, district sources said.
In the meantime, Chichilitti asked that a joint committee, made up of district and borough representatives, determine what's needed to accommodate area ball teams. Once the priority concerns are identified, the board could decide if it wants to be involved in the renovation project, he said.
Board members made the request Thursday after Evan Stone, a site designer with Pennoni Associates Inc., presented an overview of the proposed improvements to four ball fields at Memorial Fields off Jefferson Avenue that would be partially paid for with the matching funds.
The $500,000 would cover costs associated with the first phase of an estimated $1.4 million project that could be done in two phases, Stone said.
This is the second time in as many months Stone gave board members an overview. During the initial presentation in February, district representatives asked Stone to go before the full board to sketch out the project. However, board members Steve Cullen, Mary Jane Paglione and Louis Persichetti Sr. did not attend Thursday's meeting.
Given their absence, Chichilitti said he was reluctant to ask board members if they wanted to help finance the work.
Chichilitti said the board wants to make sure the work addresses areas that need improvements. For instance, he said, the fields' bathrooms do not need to be replaced right now. They just need some touchup paint. As part of that review, Chichilitti asked Stone to provide the committee with specific deadlines for the process involved in securing the state grant.
He asked board member James Petrino and Athletic Director Greg Pinelli to represent the district on the committee along with another board member still to be named. DiGuiseppe agreed to appoint three municipal representatives to the committee and the board agreed to split Pennoni's fees with the borough.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Trashes and Grasses and Snow. Oh my.
From the BCCT.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933. The individual items and bid opening times are as follows:
Bus Contracted Service 8:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Trash Removal 9:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Grass Cutting and Snow Plowing 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Bids must be received before the above listed deadline at which time they will be opened publicly in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933. The individual items and bid opening times are as follows:
Bus Contracted Service 8:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Trash Removal 9:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Grass Cutting and Snow Plowing 10:30 a.m. on Monday, April 6, 2009
Bids must be received before the above listed deadline at which time they will be opened publicly in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Time for lunch
From the BCCT.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
BOROUGH OF MORRISVILLE
SCHOOL DISTRICT
The School District of Borough of Morrisvile is requesting bids for Food Service Management Service for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Business Office, School District of Borough of Morrisville, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, 215-736-5933. Proposals are to be submitted in a sealed envelope marked with the item being bid to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator.
Bids must be received no later than 9:00 Tuesday, April 7, 2009, at which time they will be opened publicly in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. A mandatory Walk-Thru Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the High School.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
BOROUGH OF MORRISVILLE
SCHOOL DISTRICT
The School District of Borough of Morrisvile is requesting bids for Food Service Management Service for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Business Office, School District of Borough of Morrisville, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, 215-736-5933. Proposals are to be submitted in a sealed envelope marked with the item being bid to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator.
Bids must be received no later than 9:00 Tuesday, April 7, 2009, at which time they will be opened publicly in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. A mandatory Walk-Thru Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the High School.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Vitetta Chooses Grandview
From buckslocalnews.com
Firm concludes Grandview is better than Reiter
By Petra Chesner Schlatter; Posted on Wed, Feb 4, 2009
Vitetta, an architectural and engineering firm, recently concluded a study of M.R. Reiter and Grand-view elementary schools in Morrisville School District.
A recommendation was made at a special public hearing on Jan. 29: if any school is going to be used for an elementary school, Grandview Elementary School is the better choice from a physical standpoint.
Bill Corfield, a regional director of Vitetta, said his firm was directed to conduct a study, comparing M.R. Reiter and Grandview in order to determine which school is in "better condition."
The auditorium at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School was sparsely filled with parents, mostly who were asking if the Morrisville School Board has any long-range plans about displaced schoolchildren from M.R. Reiter Elementary School. A public hearing was held to give the community a chance to voice their opinions.
Reiter was closed in mid-December after a furnace exploded on the weekend. The Morrisville School Board is considering whether to close the school permanently.
As a result, the children who were displaced from M.R. Reiter were sent either to Grandview or the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Vitetta's study was conducted prior to the explosion. At M.R. Reiter, the firm had checked the heating units, boilers, electric, plumbing, exhaust fans and lighting.
According to Vitetta's Corfield, M. R. Reiter does not have handicap accessibility. He noted that Reiter is 2 1/2 stories high and that it is "hard to get around the building." Grandview is one floor.
"When planning an elementary school, it is always advantageous to have it on one floor," Corfield said.
He noted there is a water problem in the multi-purpose room at Reiter. "We have some major concerns about the amount of water and how to stop it," he said, noting the source of the water is unknown. The floor had to be replaced once because of the problem.
Corfield explained, "because of the water entry, the building is settling. Major cracks have been there. They're not getting any better."
"The Grandview School is in better condition," he said. "We did not see cracks or water infiltration in Grand-view."
Reiter sits on about three acres at the corner of Harper and Clymer avenues. The square footage for the entire building is 46,200 and it is zoned CS-1 (Community Service District.)
The current estimated insurance loss due to the furnace explosion is $1.15 million. "It's growing as we speak," said Paul DeAngelo, business manager for the school district.
"They're still in the process of cleaning the building," he said.
Meanwhile, he said after the meeting that the Morrisville School District entered into an appraisal agreement on Dec. 7 with Gleason Real Estate.
The value of the building and the land at Reiter is estimated at $995,000.
DeAngelo gave some history about Reiter, which previously was the site of the Robert Morris High School and was built on the site in 1924.
In 1959, the school was destroyed by fire. Later, it was rebuilt as M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
DeAngelo said the last record about the furnace was recorded in 1959. "They're well over 40 years old. They should have been replaced twice," he said.
The clean-up at Reiter continues. Teachers have received the supplies and materials from their classrooms. The clean-up company is focusing on the content first and the building last.
"What's still there are desks and filing cabinets," DeAngelo said. They are being cleaned and will be taken to the modular classrooms at Grandview Elementary by Feb. 20.
"The clean up is going pretty much as we thought," he said. "It's a slow process because it's the entire building.
The insurance claim is for $1.15 million. DeAngelo said a big chunk is the modular classrooms. Leasing eight modular classrooms with bathrooms will cost $500,000, he noted.
The insurance company sent a forensic engineer. "His recommendation is to replace the boilers," DeAn-gelo explained. "The school district will put it out to bid to determine the costs-we're estimating $300,000 for two boilers."
Other big-ticket items, he said, include the clean up for $93,000. Some computers are being tested, which will cost $134,000.
"We have a whole list of miscellaneous items from staff time, to the windows that got blown out to cleaning and inspection," DeAngelo added.
The cost to renovate and install a new furnace at Reiter would be $4 million. Meanwhile, the cost to renovate Grandview Elementary School is $2.6 million.
The modulars are being installed and will be finished Feb. 20, according to DeAngelo. "The snow and ice put us behind."
He said the immediate priority is getting the modular classrooms installed at Grandview, where some of the Reiter children are going since the blast.
In the summer, the school district could "look at the possibility of bringing the fourth grade to the high school," DeAngelo indicated, stressing that plan could be contingent upon the board's decision whether or not to close M.R. Reiter.
DeAngelo also talked about what could happen if the board ultimately votes to close Reiter. The long-term plan, according to the business manager, could be to create an intermediate high school for fourth-to eighth-grade. That group could be sectioned off from 9th-to 12th-graders. K-3 could be at Grandview.
Firm concludes Grandview is better than Reiter
By Petra Chesner Schlatter; Posted on Wed, Feb 4, 2009
Vitetta, an architectural and engineering firm, recently concluded a study of M.R. Reiter and Grand-view elementary schools in Morrisville School District.
A recommendation was made at a special public hearing on Jan. 29: if any school is going to be used for an elementary school, Grandview Elementary School is the better choice from a physical standpoint.
Bill Corfield, a regional director of Vitetta, said his firm was directed to conduct a study, comparing M.R. Reiter and Grandview in order to determine which school is in "better condition."
The auditorium at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School was sparsely filled with parents, mostly who were asking if the Morrisville School Board has any long-range plans about displaced schoolchildren from M.R. Reiter Elementary School. A public hearing was held to give the community a chance to voice their opinions.
Reiter was closed in mid-December after a furnace exploded on the weekend. The Morrisville School Board is considering whether to close the school permanently.
As a result, the children who were displaced from M.R. Reiter were sent either to Grandview or the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Vitetta's study was conducted prior to the explosion. At M.R. Reiter, the firm had checked the heating units, boilers, electric, plumbing, exhaust fans and lighting.
According to Vitetta's Corfield, M. R. Reiter does not have handicap accessibility. He noted that Reiter is 2 1/2 stories high and that it is "hard to get around the building." Grandview is one floor.
"When planning an elementary school, it is always advantageous to have it on one floor," Corfield said.
He noted there is a water problem in the multi-purpose room at Reiter. "We have some major concerns about the amount of water and how to stop it," he said, noting the source of the water is unknown. The floor had to be replaced once because of the problem.
Corfield explained, "because of the water entry, the building is settling. Major cracks have been there. They're not getting any better."
"The Grandview School is in better condition," he said. "We did not see cracks or water infiltration in Grand-view."
Reiter sits on about three acres at the corner of Harper and Clymer avenues. The square footage for the entire building is 46,200 and it is zoned CS-1 (Community Service District.)
The current estimated insurance loss due to the furnace explosion is $1.15 million. "It's growing as we speak," said Paul DeAngelo, business manager for the school district.
"They're still in the process of cleaning the building," he said.
Meanwhile, he said after the meeting that the Morrisville School District entered into an appraisal agreement on Dec. 7 with Gleason Real Estate.
The value of the building and the land at Reiter is estimated at $995,000.
DeAngelo gave some history about Reiter, which previously was the site of the Robert Morris High School and was built on the site in 1924.
In 1959, the school was destroyed by fire. Later, it was rebuilt as M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
DeAngelo said the last record about the furnace was recorded in 1959. "They're well over 40 years old. They should have been replaced twice," he said.
The clean-up at Reiter continues. Teachers have received the supplies and materials from their classrooms. The clean-up company is focusing on the content first and the building last.
"What's still there are desks and filing cabinets," DeAngelo said. They are being cleaned and will be taken to the modular classrooms at Grandview Elementary by Feb. 20.
"The clean up is going pretty much as we thought," he said. "It's a slow process because it's the entire building.
The insurance claim is for $1.15 million. DeAngelo said a big chunk is the modular classrooms. Leasing eight modular classrooms with bathrooms will cost $500,000, he noted.
The insurance company sent a forensic engineer. "His recommendation is to replace the boilers," DeAn-gelo explained. "The school district will put it out to bid to determine the costs-we're estimating $300,000 for two boilers."
Other big-ticket items, he said, include the clean up for $93,000. Some computers are being tested, which will cost $134,000.
"We have a whole list of miscellaneous items from staff time, to the windows that got blown out to cleaning and inspection," DeAngelo added.
The cost to renovate and install a new furnace at Reiter would be $4 million. Meanwhile, the cost to renovate Grandview Elementary School is $2.6 million.
The modulars are being installed and will be finished Feb. 20, according to DeAngelo. "The snow and ice put us behind."
He said the immediate priority is getting the modular classrooms installed at Grandview, where some of the Reiter children are going since the blast.
In the summer, the school district could "look at the possibility of bringing the fourth grade to the high school," DeAngelo indicated, stressing that plan could be contingent upon the board's decision whether or not to close M.R. Reiter.
DeAngelo also talked about what could happen if the board ultimately votes to close Reiter. The long-term plan, according to the business manager, could be to create an intermediate high school for fourth-to eighth-grade. That group could be sectioned off from 9th-to 12th-graders. K-3 could be at Grandview.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Parents criticize board in writing
From the BCCT.
Parents criticize board in writing
By MANASEE WAGH
Morrisville residents have written letters to school officials expressing fears for the district’s future.
“I demand to know what is in store for my children’s education and most importantly their proper safety?!” parent Tammi Bresnen wrote.
Five people responded to district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick’s encouragement for additional written testimony after a Jan. 29 public hearing about the closing of M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
“It’s not a lot, but it’s not bad,” board member John Buckman said of the number of people who wrote.
Bresnen and other residents criticized the board for poor communication with the public.
“This board has shown time and time again that it does not act with a publicly discussed, debated, and enacted long-term strategic plan in place. It acts in fits and starts without an overarching goal,” wrote parent Kevin Leather.
The board plans to refurbish Grandview, the district’s other elementary school, and it’s investigating putting grades kindergarten through eight in the high school building. Leather called those two initiatives “opposing avenues of action.”
Resident Carol J. Bargery proposed renovating Reiter and selling Grandview. Morrisville could send grades kindergarten through eight to the high school and grades nine through 12 to Reiter, she wrote. The district should hold a public referendum before closing Reiter or any other building, she suggested.
About 250 students attend Morrisville Middle/Senior High School in grades nine through 12. Until a December furnace explosion, Reiter housed more than 250 students.
They are sharing space currently with other students in various district buildings for at least the rest of the school year. The explosion is not the sole rationale for closing the school. Board members had planned to close at least one elementary school in the district and use the money from its sale to renovate the district’s two other school buildings. The Reiter incident and an earlier evaluation of the building provided the board justification to pick Reiter for closing.
About 20 people expressed their opinions verbally at the public hearing. Then residents had until 3 p.m. on Feb. 2 to submit written opinions as part of the public hearing record.
Representatives from Vitetta, the engineering and architectural firm hired to evaluate the district schools, said at the public hearing that Reiter was in worse shape than Grandview Elementary. It has serious cracking in the walls and water seepage indoors.
“To fix that building doesn’t seem too probable at this point. Whatever the testimony’s saying, we have to look at the problems,” said Buckman. He said he sympathized with parents who expressed frustration with Reiter’s issues.
Morrisville is installing eight modular units on Grandview’s property this month to give some of the displaced students their own space. Bad weather has delayed the units’ installation, Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said last week.
The district has reserved $7.4 million for renovations to the high school and one elementary school.
Vitetta is about to start the design phase of window and boiler renovations for the high school. The work shouldn’t cost more than $4.8 million, said district business administrator Paul DeAngelo.
Since Reiter may be closed, Grandview is next on the list to be renovated. Vitetta’s current estimate for fixing the smaller Grandview is $2.6 million. Resolving Reiter’s problems would cost about $4 million, according to the company.
The board can only make a decision about closing a school building 90 days after the public hearing, according to school code.
“Our board will come to a well thought out decision about what is best for our educational program, the children and the taxpayers and hopefully satisfy most of the community,” board President William Hellmann wrote in an e-mail exchange Tuesday.
Bargery hopes the board will be more candid about its thinking.
“Maybe if you would be more open and forthright with the community the community would reach out, and when Americans work together there is nothing we can’t do,” she wrote.
Parents criticize board in writing
By MANASEE WAGH
Morrisville residents have written letters to school officials expressing fears for the district’s future.
“I demand to know what is in store for my children’s education and most importantly their proper safety?!” parent Tammi Bresnen wrote.
Five people responded to district solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick’s encouragement for additional written testimony after a Jan. 29 public hearing about the closing of M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
“It’s not a lot, but it’s not bad,” board member John Buckman said of the number of people who wrote.
Bresnen and other residents criticized the board for poor communication with the public.
“This board has shown time and time again that it does not act with a publicly discussed, debated, and enacted long-term strategic plan in place. It acts in fits and starts without an overarching goal,” wrote parent Kevin Leather.
The board plans to refurbish Grandview, the district’s other elementary school, and it’s investigating putting grades kindergarten through eight in the high school building. Leather called those two initiatives “opposing avenues of action.”
Resident Carol J. Bargery proposed renovating Reiter and selling Grandview. Morrisville could send grades kindergarten through eight to the high school and grades nine through 12 to Reiter, she wrote. The district should hold a public referendum before closing Reiter or any other building, she suggested.
About 250 students attend Morrisville Middle/Senior High School in grades nine through 12. Until a December furnace explosion, Reiter housed more than 250 students.
They are sharing space currently with other students in various district buildings for at least the rest of the school year. The explosion is not the sole rationale for closing the school. Board members had planned to close at least one elementary school in the district and use the money from its sale to renovate the district’s two other school buildings. The Reiter incident and an earlier evaluation of the building provided the board justification to pick Reiter for closing.
About 20 people expressed their opinions verbally at the public hearing. Then residents had until 3 p.m. on Feb. 2 to submit written opinions as part of the public hearing record.
Representatives from Vitetta, the engineering and architectural firm hired to evaluate the district schools, said at the public hearing that Reiter was in worse shape than Grandview Elementary. It has serious cracking in the walls and water seepage indoors.
“To fix that building doesn’t seem too probable at this point. Whatever the testimony’s saying, we have to look at the problems,” said Buckman. He said he sympathized with parents who expressed frustration with Reiter’s issues.
Morrisville is installing eight modular units on Grandview’s property this month to give some of the displaced students their own space. Bad weather has delayed the units’ installation, Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said last week.
The district has reserved $7.4 million for renovations to the high school and one elementary school.
Vitetta is about to start the design phase of window and boiler renovations for the high school. The work shouldn’t cost more than $4.8 million, said district business administrator Paul DeAngelo.
Since Reiter may be closed, Grandview is next on the list to be renovated. Vitetta’s current estimate for fixing the smaller Grandview is $2.6 million. Resolving Reiter’s problems would cost about $4 million, according to the company.
The board can only make a decision about closing a school building 90 days after the public hearing, according to school code.
“Our board will come to a well thought out decision about what is best for our educational program, the children and the taxpayers and hopefully satisfy most of the community,” board President William Hellmann wrote in an e-mail exchange Tuesday.
Bargery hopes the board will be more candid about its thinking.
“Maybe if you would be more open and forthright with the community the community would reach out, and when Americans work together there is nothing we can’t do,” she wrote.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Morrisville parents want long-term plan
From the BCCT.
What a shock. We want a plan. That's the first time I've heard about that request...NOT!
One of our own borough councilmen lost total control at a school board meeting once shouting "Shame! Shame!" at the late Ed Frankenfield. Mr. Frankenfield's crime? Demanding a plan from the Emperor. (Side note to all who have heard about the Emperor's removal of public speakers from the January 28 meeting because they were disruptive. Not only did he not stop Mr. Worob, he applauded Mr. Worob's comments when they were concluded.)
Do you get it now, your Lord Highness? Where is the plan?
Be sure to send your written comments on the closure plan by Monday at 3:00 P.M. The Emperor and Solicitor Fitzpatrick promised answers to the questions posed.
Morrisville parents want long-term plan
Residents are encouraged to submit written opinions about the proposed closing of M.R. Reiter Elementary by Monday.
By MANASEE WAGH
Whether or not their district is one school short, residents would like to see a long-term plan for Morrisville’s children.
People scattered across the auditorium at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School listened as about 20 residents, most of them parents, give testimony during a public hearing Thursday evening to close M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
Parents expressed frustration with a December furnace explosion that has required the roughly 250 Reiter students to attend class in various district locations, including the high school. Starting next month, modular units will be installed on Grandview Elementary’s property for grades one and two.
“What are you going to do next? How do we address the children’s safety, especially if we put kindergarten kids with high school kids?” said resident Kevin Waters.
Various parents said they laud the administration’s efforts to continue their children’s education during the emergency, but denounce the board’s lack of full disclosure about a long-term plan if Reiter is permanently closed.
“I’d like to see what they promised during the campaign, that they were going to work on education and safety,” said Susan Hough, the parent of a child at Reiter.
Ed Bailey, the father of a child in the district, said he’d like to see a referendum to decide whether or not Reiter should be closed.
“I don’t want see-sawing. We should come up with a reasonable compromise that most voters will support. There’s been a lot of anger, and I’d like to see us come together,” he said.
The two boilers in the aging building are about 50 years old and should have been replaced twice during their lifetime, said Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business administrator, at the hearing.
Reiter is in poor shape, with cracking that allows water to seep into the building and some features that date back to the 1920s, said Bill Corfield, a representative from Vitetta, an architectural and engineering firm that performed an assessment of the district’s two elementary schools, Reiter and the smaller Grandview.
If the Reiter building and property are sold, the remaining two schools could use the money for renovation, board President William Hellmann has said. Vitetta is starting the design phase for renovating the high school soon and the board has directed the firm to look at fixing problems in Grandview as well.
Renovating Reiter’s structural issues and physical systems, including windows, boilers, electrical, plumbing and lighting, would cost about $4 million. Renovating Grandview would cost about $2.6 million.
“Grandview is not large enough for the children we have. I haven’t seen a long-term plan to place students,” said Johanny Manning, a former school board member who has a child in Reiter. She said the cur rent situation crams elementary students into makeshift classrooms, and doesn’t allow for proper instruction in either core subjects or extras, like music or art.
After the hearing, the board cannot make any decisions about closing Reiter for at least 90 days, according to the school code. District solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick encouraged residents to submit written opinions about the proposed closing by Monday, Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. to contribute to the public hearing record. The opinions can be given to the administrative offices at 550 West Palmer St.
Financial problems have plagued the district for years, with previous boards trying different options to provide a quality education in better buildings. The current board is looking into possibly housing preK though grade eight in the high school building, a plan that requires sending grades nine through 12 to other districts on a paid tuition basis.
Fitzpatrick said at the Wednesday board meeting that he has not gotten “entirely positive” responses from neighboring districts about this proposition.
About 855 students currently attend school in Morrisville’s three buildings.
Though parent Elvin Velez did not give testimony at the hearing, he said he’d like to see a consolidated school done properly.
“As a taxpayer, it could be cumbersome, but that’s the nature of the beast,” he said. “We could pull through this as a community to find solutions.”
What a shock. We want a plan. That's the first time I've heard about that request...NOT!
One of our own borough councilmen lost total control at a school board meeting once shouting "Shame! Shame!" at the late Ed Frankenfield. Mr. Frankenfield's crime? Demanding a plan from the Emperor. (Side note to all who have heard about the Emperor's removal of public speakers from the January 28 meeting because they were disruptive. Not only did he not stop Mr. Worob, he applauded Mr. Worob's comments when they were concluded.)
Do you get it now, your Lord Highness? Where is the plan?
Be sure to send your written comments on the closure plan by Monday at 3:00 P.M. The Emperor and Solicitor Fitzpatrick promised answers to the questions posed.
Morrisville parents want long-term plan
Residents are encouraged to submit written opinions about the proposed closing of M.R. Reiter Elementary by Monday.
By MANASEE WAGH
Whether or not their district is one school short, residents would like to see a long-term plan for Morrisville’s children.
People scattered across the auditorium at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School listened as about 20 residents, most of them parents, give testimony during a public hearing Thursday evening to close M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
Parents expressed frustration with a December furnace explosion that has required the roughly 250 Reiter students to attend class in various district locations, including the high school. Starting next month, modular units will be installed on Grandview Elementary’s property for grades one and two.
“What are you going to do next? How do we address the children’s safety, especially if we put kindergarten kids with high school kids?” said resident Kevin Waters.
Various parents said they laud the administration’s efforts to continue their children’s education during the emergency, but denounce the board’s lack of full disclosure about a long-term plan if Reiter is permanently closed.
“I’d like to see what they promised during the campaign, that they were going to work on education and safety,” said Susan Hough, the parent of a child at Reiter.
Ed Bailey, the father of a child in the district, said he’d like to see a referendum to decide whether or not Reiter should be closed.
“I don’t want see-sawing. We should come up with a reasonable compromise that most voters will support. There’s been a lot of anger, and I’d like to see us come together,” he said.
The two boilers in the aging building are about 50 years old and should have been replaced twice during their lifetime, said Paul DeAngelo, the district’s business administrator, at the hearing.
Reiter is in poor shape, with cracking that allows water to seep into the building and some features that date back to the 1920s, said Bill Corfield, a representative from Vitetta, an architectural and engineering firm that performed an assessment of the district’s two elementary schools, Reiter and the smaller Grandview.
If the Reiter building and property are sold, the remaining two schools could use the money for renovation, board President William Hellmann has said. Vitetta is starting the design phase for renovating the high school soon and the board has directed the firm to look at fixing problems in Grandview as well.
Renovating Reiter’s structural issues and physical systems, including windows, boilers, electrical, plumbing and lighting, would cost about $4 million. Renovating Grandview would cost about $2.6 million.
“Grandview is not large enough for the children we have. I haven’t seen a long-term plan to place students,” said Johanny Manning, a former school board member who has a child in Reiter. She said the cur rent situation crams elementary students into makeshift classrooms, and doesn’t allow for proper instruction in either core subjects or extras, like music or art.
After the hearing, the board cannot make any decisions about closing Reiter for at least 90 days, according to the school code. District solicitor Michael Fitzpatrick encouraged residents to submit written opinions about the proposed closing by Monday, Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. to contribute to the public hearing record. The opinions can be given to the administrative offices at 550 West Palmer St.
Financial problems have plagued the district for years, with previous boards trying different options to provide a quality education in better buildings. The current board is looking into possibly housing preK though grade eight in the high school building, a plan that requires sending grades nine through 12 to other districts on a paid tuition basis.
Fitzpatrick said at the Wednesday board meeting that he has not gotten “entirely positive” responses from neighboring districts about this proposition.
About 855 students currently attend school in Morrisville’s three buildings.
Though parent Elvin Velez did not give testimony at the hearing, he said he’d like to see a consolidated school done properly.
“As a taxpayer, it could be cumbersome, but that’s the nature of the beast,” he said. “We could pull through this as a community to find solutions.”
Friday, January 9, 2009
School board declares 'emergency' in Morrisville
From buckslocalnews.com
School board declares 'emergency' in Morrisville
By Petra Chesner Schlatter; Staff Editor Posted on Wed, Jan 7, 2009
MORRISVILLE -- In an 8-0 vote, the Morrisville School Board passed a resolution Jan. 5 declaring an emergency and authorizing certain purchases in the wake of the Dec. 13 furnace explosion at M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
Those purchases are contingent on whether or not the insurance company will pay for eight modulars.
A special hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29 about the possible closure of M.R. Reiter forever. The board majority, led by President Bill Hellman, is in favor of closing the school, despite opposition from parents. M.R. Reiter has been closed since the blast.
Paul DeAngelo, the school district's new business manager, told a full house at the special meeting that a report was scheduled to be released at press time about the composition of the soot, which was caused by the explosion.
After the meeting, DeAngelo said the report would tell whether carcinogens were found in the soot. He confirmed that asbestos was confined to the chimney of the furnace.
DeAngelo gave a detailed presentation about how much it would cost to lease eight modulars, which would be installed at Grandview Elementary School.
The board approved the leasing of eight modular classrooms with restrooms from Mobilease Modular Space, Inc. of Thoro-fare, N.J. The total cost over two years would be $433,472 plus the cost for delivery costs to dismantle and return the modulars.
The cost would be $5,760 per month for 24 months plus $6,400 delivery, $98,932 for set-up and $189,900 for utilities.
With the vote approving the modulars, the configuration of which grades will go where will change. Some parents attending the special meeting were concerned that fifth-graders would attend classes at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Dr. Elizabeth Yonson, superintendent, assured the audience that if M.R. Reiter were to be closed, fifth graders would be segregated from the sixth-graders at the middle/senior high school. But she stressed that a configuration plan is not yet in place because the school board would have to approve one.
Yonson also noted that the Pre-Kindergarten classes, which have been held at the YMCA, could go to the middle/high school. She said this is done in other school districts and that high school students often work with that population.
First-and second-grades would attend class in the modulars. Kindergarten classes would be held in Grandview Elementary. Third-and fourth-grades would remain at the main building at Grandview.
Yonson described the modulars as "very nice" and "great." She noted there would be bathrooms in the classrooms and covered walkways for children. The modulars would be air-conditioned. She said without air conditioning, summer was "unbearable on the second floor of M.R. Reiter."
"There will be new carpeting," Yonson said. "They look absolutely brand new. When you walk in, you would not know you were in a modular."
One parent was concerned about the noise that would be created when the modulars were installed. Yonson said there would be less noise than in the older modulars now at M.R. Reiter.
"We need to do something immediately so our children and teachers have a quality education," Yonson said.
Opening the public comment section was former School Board Member Johanny Manning, who had advocated building the controversial $30-million consolidated school complex. That plan called for housing all grades in one facility.
Manning served on the school board before the new majority took control of the school board after the November 2007 elections. The new majority was part of a slate to stop plans for the school complex. The new board stopped the school from being built.
Saying the current problems with M.R. Reiter were inevitable, Manning asserted that the problem would have occurred regardless of whom was serving on the school board.
"I have to say, 'We told you so,'" Manning said. "We knew that the furnaces were long past their expectancy. I don't want to hear it's a total surprise. It's been happening for years. I say, shame on you!"
Manning said the school year has "truly been interrupted."
She criticized the school board for "spending a half-million dollars not knowing what we will do in a month. If the building is not reopened, how do we change the configuration?"
Yonson said insurance would pay for the modulars, it is not coming from district funds.
Jon Perry, a Morrisville Borough resident, told the audience to continue attending school board meetings. "You really have to keep your eye on this board," he said. Perry added that people should "try to get [board members] to do the right thing."
Perry said the current board majority "forges ahead" with "inadequate information."
School Board Member Bill Farrell said, "I come here month in and month out. It's a circus. Forget what's happened in the past." He said M.R. Reiter was a "time bomb."
One resident said that "all three schools are time bombs."
One idea that was raised was using Manor Elementary School to ease crowding at Grandview because of M.R. Reiter students being placed at Grandview.
However, Mike Fitzpatrick, board solicitor, said the district and the Head Start program have a lease/purchase agreement for 20 years. He said using Manor, which is owned by the school district, would probably not be an option.
Parents asked when teachers would be able to get the rest of their teaching materials. One parent alleged that the teachers were just "babysitting" the children. But, Yonson and Laurie Ruffing, acting elementary principal, said that was not true. Teachers were able to go into M.R. Reiter after the blast to get some of what they needed.
The teachers, Ruffing said, will get additional materials before the clean-up effort at M.R. Reiter is complete.
During the meeting, other parents expressed their concerns about the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up of students. They said that more crossing guards are needed at the high school for the students' safety.
School board declares 'emergency' in Morrisville
By Petra Chesner Schlatter; Staff Editor Posted on Wed, Jan 7, 2009
MORRISVILLE -- In an 8-0 vote, the Morrisville School Board passed a resolution Jan. 5 declaring an emergency and authorizing certain purchases in the wake of the Dec. 13 furnace explosion at M.R. Reiter Elementary School.
Those purchases are contingent on whether or not the insurance company will pay for eight modulars.
A special hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29 about the possible closure of M.R. Reiter forever. The board majority, led by President Bill Hellman, is in favor of closing the school, despite opposition from parents. M.R. Reiter has been closed since the blast.
Paul DeAngelo, the school district's new business manager, told a full house at the special meeting that a report was scheduled to be released at press time about the composition of the soot, which was caused by the explosion.
After the meeting, DeAngelo said the report would tell whether carcinogens were found in the soot. He confirmed that asbestos was confined to the chimney of the furnace.
DeAngelo gave a detailed presentation about how much it would cost to lease eight modulars, which would be installed at Grandview Elementary School.
The board approved the leasing of eight modular classrooms with restrooms from Mobilease Modular Space, Inc. of Thoro-fare, N.J. The total cost over two years would be $433,472 plus the cost for delivery costs to dismantle and return the modulars.
The cost would be $5,760 per month for 24 months plus $6,400 delivery, $98,932 for set-up and $189,900 for utilities.
With the vote approving the modulars, the configuration of which grades will go where will change. Some parents attending the special meeting were concerned that fifth-graders would attend classes at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Dr. Elizabeth Yonson, superintendent, assured the audience that if M.R. Reiter were to be closed, fifth graders would be segregated from the sixth-graders at the middle/senior high school. But she stressed that a configuration plan is not yet in place because the school board would have to approve one.
Yonson also noted that the Pre-Kindergarten classes, which have been held at the YMCA, could go to the middle/high school. She said this is done in other school districts and that high school students often work with that population.
First-and second-grades would attend class in the modulars. Kindergarten classes would be held in Grandview Elementary. Third-and fourth-grades would remain at the main building at Grandview.
Yonson described the modulars as "very nice" and "great." She noted there would be bathrooms in the classrooms and covered walkways for children. The modulars would be air-conditioned. She said without air conditioning, summer was "unbearable on the second floor of M.R. Reiter."
"There will be new carpeting," Yonson said. "They look absolutely brand new. When you walk in, you would not know you were in a modular."
One parent was concerned about the noise that would be created when the modulars were installed. Yonson said there would be less noise than in the older modulars now at M.R. Reiter.
"We need to do something immediately so our children and teachers have a quality education," Yonson said.
Opening the public comment section was former School Board Member Johanny Manning, who had advocated building the controversial $30-million consolidated school complex. That plan called for housing all grades in one facility.
Manning served on the school board before the new majority took control of the school board after the November 2007 elections. The new majority was part of a slate to stop plans for the school complex. The new board stopped the school from being built.
Saying the current problems with M.R. Reiter were inevitable, Manning asserted that the problem would have occurred regardless of whom was serving on the school board.
"I have to say, 'We told you so,'" Manning said. "We knew that the furnaces were long past their expectancy. I don't want to hear it's a total surprise. It's been happening for years. I say, shame on you!"
Manning said the school year has "truly been interrupted."
She criticized the school board for "spending a half-million dollars not knowing what we will do in a month. If the building is not reopened, how do we change the configuration?"
Yonson said insurance would pay for the modulars, it is not coming from district funds.
Jon Perry, a Morrisville Borough resident, told the audience to continue attending school board meetings. "You really have to keep your eye on this board," he said. Perry added that people should "try to get [board members] to do the right thing."
Perry said the current board majority "forges ahead" with "inadequate information."
School Board Member Bill Farrell said, "I come here month in and month out. It's a circus. Forget what's happened in the past." He said M.R. Reiter was a "time bomb."
One resident said that "all three schools are time bombs."
One idea that was raised was using Manor Elementary School to ease crowding at Grandview because of M.R. Reiter students being placed at Grandview.
However, Mike Fitzpatrick, board solicitor, said the district and the Head Start program have a lease/purchase agreement for 20 years. He said using Manor, which is owned by the school district, would probably not be an option.
Parents asked when teachers would be able to get the rest of their teaching materials. One parent alleged that the teachers were just "babysitting" the children. But, Yonson and Laurie Ruffing, acting elementary principal, said that was not true. Teachers were able to go into M.R. Reiter after the blast to get some of what they needed.
The teachers, Ruffing said, will get additional materials before the clean-up effort at M.R. Reiter is complete.
During the meeting, other parents expressed their concerns about the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up of students. They said that more crossing guards are needed at the high school for the students' safety.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Pennsylvania Right to Know Law
The BCCT is beginning a series on the new Pennsylvania Right to Know Law.
Who are the Morrisville contacts?
For the borough: George Mount, borough manager
For the school district: Paul DeAngelo, business administrator
Considering the secrecy that the Emperor and the board of chosen accomplices has employed over the past year of amazing cosmic power, I'm expecting Mr. DeAngelo's waiting room to be a bit too small to accommodate the number of people wanting answers.
The school district has a link right on the home page. I did not see one on the borough webpage.
New law makes secrecy more difficult
Seeking records used to mean proving why they should be released; now the government must prove why they shouldn’t.
By PETER JACKSON
HARRISBURG — PennDOT’s list of dangerous roads and intersections is an official secret, shielded from the public because of loopholes in the state’s Right-to-Know Law.
In 2006, a Commonwealth Court panel upheld PennDOT’s refusal to turn over a partial list to a Pittsburgh television station. The court said the station had failed to prove the information was sufficiently connected to an account, contract, voucher or decision — categories in the law that define what is a public record.
“The situation is a Catch-22 for requesters, in that the agencies and courts hold them to an impossible standard — prove there is a connection, but you cannot have the records that will enable you to do so,” said Gayle Sproul, a media lawyer who represented Hearst-Argyle Television Stations, WTAE’s owner, in the case.
Public-access advocates hope that widely shared frustration will subside after Jan. 1, when an overhaul of the state’s Right-to-Know Law takes effect. The changes are expected to dramatically expand what people can find out about what goes on behind the scenes of the state and local governments.
The new Right-to-Know Law will repeal the 52-year-old original, long regarded as one of the nation’s weakest.
No longer will you, journalists or activists interested in mining government records have to cross their fingers and hope the document they want fits into one of a half-dozen narrow categories. Nor will they have to hire a lawyer and go to court to challenge an agency’s refusal to turn over a record.
The new law is built on the presumption that most government records are open — the opposite presumption of the current law. It also places on public agencies — from state bureaucracies to county governments and local school districts — the legal burden of showing why a record should be withheld, instead of forcing requesters to establish why it should be made public.
“This is really a change in the culture of governance in Pennsylvania,” said Barry Kauffman, director of Pennsylvania Common Cause. “In too many cases, employees and officials of government agencies had an attitude that they own the government records instead of just being the caretakers of the government records.”
In most case, those whose requests are denied will be able to appeal directly to a new, nonjudicial agency — the Office of Open Records — whose director has a track record as an advocate of public access.
Teri Henning, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, which spearheaded lobbying for the new law, said the hope “is that, over time, these fundamental changes will create a culture of openness in Pennsylvania government.”
That spirit of openness is tempered in the law by a list of 30 wide-ranging exceptions that are tailored to respond to such concerns as personal privacy, public safety and internal deliberations by public officials.
The exceptions, which make up about one-fifth of the law, are “very wordy, very detailed and dense, filled with what I will call, kindly, mumbo jumbo,” said Sproul, who’s also president of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition. “That in itself is an impediment to getting public records.”
The law also expands access to government contracts: Private businesses that do business with state and local governments are required to make some records available to the public. It covers all of state government, including — to a limited extent — the Legislature and the state’s judicial system, both previously exempt.
It covers an array of state affiliated entities including community colleges, the 14 state owned universities in the State System of Higher Education and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The state related universities — Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln — are generally exempt, but required to issue annual financial reports that include their highest 25 employee salaries.
Local agencies covered by the law include counties, boroughs, townships and school districts, as well as charter schools, vocational schools and intermediate units.
By now, every agency should have designated an open-records officer to oversee compliance, adopted a policy for managing its records and briefed employees on how to handle records requests.
No one is predicting a flawless implementation.
“There’s going to be confusion at the beginning ... from citizens, from public officials and from members of the media,” said Terry Mutchler, the lawyer and former reporter that Gov. Ed Rendell appointed to a six-year term as director of the openrecords office.
Many observers predict a spike in records requests — and appeals to Mutchler’s office — in early 2009 as Pennsylvanians test their access under the new law. That will likely be followed by a gradual return to a more normal pace.
“After five years, we’ll forget it was ever such a big deal,” said Emily Leader, a lawyer for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which speaks for the state’s 501 school districts.
Mutchler, who’s hiring six staff lawyers to help her handle the expected deluge of appeals, has been working with associations representing county commissioners, township supervisors and school boards — as well as newspapers. At some sessions, concerns were expressed about the status of e-mails.
The new law defines a record as “information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that documents a transaction or activity of an agency.” That includes not only e-mails, but audio recordings, photos and even films.
“Here’s the e-mail training,” Mutchler told a Pennsylvania School Boards Association workshop in October. “If you don’t want to read it on Page One, don’t put it in e-mail. If you’re sending an e-mail, envision it on letterhead.”
Access advocates hope the new law will open records like PennDOT’s hazardous-sites list to public scrutiny.
PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said the lists are kept confidential because the rankings can be misleading and state law bars such information from being used in legal claims against the state.
Asked if PennDOT plans to withhold the information after the new law takes effect, he said, “I can’t speculate.”
Who are the Morrisville contacts?
For the borough: George Mount, borough manager
For the school district: Paul DeAngelo, business administrator
Considering the secrecy that the Emperor and the board of chosen accomplices has employed over the past year of amazing cosmic power, I'm expecting Mr. DeAngelo's waiting room to be a bit too small to accommodate the number of people wanting answers.
The school district has a link right on the home page. I did not see one on the borough webpage.
New law makes secrecy more difficult
Seeking records used to mean proving why they should be released; now the government must prove why they shouldn’t.
By PETER JACKSON
HARRISBURG — PennDOT’s list of dangerous roads and intersections is an official secret, shielded from the public because of loopholes in the state’s Right-to-Know Law.
In 2006, a Commonwealth Court panel upheld PennDOT’s refusal to turn over a partial list to a Pittsburgh television station. The court said the station had failed to prove the information was sufficiently connected to an account, contract, voucher or decision — categories in the law that define what is a public record.
“The situation is a Catch-22 for requesters, in that the agencies and courts hold them to an impossible standard — prove there is a connection, but you cannot have the records that will enable you to do so,” said Gayle Sproul, a media lawyer who represented Hearst-Argyle Television Stations, WTAE’s owner, in the case.
Public-access advocates hope that widely shared frustration will subside after Jan. 1, when an overhaul of the state’s Right-to-Know Law takes effect. The changes are expected to dramatically expand what people can find out about what goes on behind the scenes of the state and local governments.
The new Right-to-Know Law will repeal the 52-year-old original, long regarded as one of the nation’s weakest.
No longer will you, journalists or activists interested in mining government records have to cross their fingers and hope the document they want fits into one of a half-dozen narrow categories. Nor will they have to hire a lawyer and go to court to challenge an agency’s refusal to turn over a record.
The new law is built on the presumption that most government records are open — the opposite presumption of the current law. It also places on public agencies — from state bureaucracies to county governments and local school districts — the legal burden of showing why a record should be withheld, instead of forcing requesters to establish why it should be made public.
“This is really a change in the culture of governance in Pennsylvania,” said Barry Kauffman, director of Pennsylvania Common Cause. “In too many cases, employees and officials of government agencies had an attitude that they own the government records instead of just being the caretakers of the government records.”
In most case, those whose requests are denied will be able to appeal directly to a new, nonjudicial agency — the Office of Open Records — whose director has a track record as an advocate of public access.
Teri Henning, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, which spearheaded lobbying for the new law, said the hope “is that, over time, these fundamental changes will create a culture of openness in Pennsylvania government.”
That spirit of openness is tempered in the law by a list of 30 wide-ranging exceptions that are tailored to respond to such concerns as personal privacy, public safety and internal deliberations by public officials.
The exceptions, which make up about one-fifth of the law, are “very wordy, very detailed and dense, filled with what I will call, kindly, mumbo jumbo,” said Sproul, who’s also president of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition. “That in itself is an impediment to getting public records.”
The law also expands access to government contracts: Private businesses that do business with state and local governments are required to make some records available to the public. It covers all of state government, including — to a limited extent — the Legislature and the state’s judicial system, both previously exempt.
It covers an array of state affiliated entities including community colleges, the 14 state owned universities in the State System of Higher Education and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The state related universities — Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln — are generally exempt, but required to issue annual financial reports that include their highest 25 employee salaries.
Local agencies covered by the law include counties, boroughs, townships and school districts, as well as charter schools, vocational schools and intermediate units.
By now, every agency should have designated an open-records officer to oversee compliance, adopted a policy for managing its records and briefed employees on how to handle records requests.
No one is predicting a flawless implementation.
“There’s going to be confusion at the beginning ... from citizens, from public officials and from members of the media,” said Terry Mutchler, the lawyer and former reporter that Gov. Ed Rendell appointed to a six-year term as director of the openrecords office.
Many observers predict a spike in records requests — and appeals to Mutchler’s office — in early 2009 as Pennsylvanians test their access under the new law. That will likely be followed by a gradual return to a more normal pace.
“After five years, we’ll forget it was ever such a big deal,” said Emily Leader, a lawyer for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which speaks for the state’s 501 school districts.
Mutchler, who’s hiring six staff lawyers to help her handle the expected deluge of appeals, has been working with associations representing county commissioners, township supervisors and school boards — as well as newspapers. At some sessions, concerns were expressed about the status of e-mails.
The new law defines a record as “information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that documents a transaction or activity of an agency.” That includes not only e-mails, but audio recordings, photos and even films.
“Here’s the e-mail training,” Mutchler told a Pennsylvania School Boards Association workshop in October. “If you don’t want to read it on Page One, don’t put it in e-mail. If you’re sending an e-mail, envision it on letterhead.”
Access advocates hope the new law will open records like PennDOT’s hazardous-sites list to public scrutiny.
PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said the lists are kept confidential because the rankings can be misleading and state law bars such information from being used in legal claims against the state.
Asked if PennDOT plans to withhold the information after the new law takes effect, he said, “I can’t speculate.”
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Business administrator named
From the BCCT.
Business administrator named
BY MANASEE WAGH
The Morrisville School Board voted to make Paul DeAngelo the district’s new business administrator Wednesday.
DeAngelo will assume the role on Nov. 17 at an annual salary of $102,000. He replaces Reba Dunford, who served in the position for about three and a half years. She left on Oct. 18 to become business administrator at North Montgomery County Vocational Technical High School. An interim business administrator is now filling the job.
DeAngelo has been the business administrator at the approximately 10,000-student Coatesville Area School District for four years. In comparison, Morrisville’s public schools teach about 1,040 students.
“The district is very lucky to have Mr. Paul DeAngelo as our new business administrator. His experience with the Coatesville School District will serve him well in his new capacity. He also has experience in the business world prior to Coatesville. He’ll be able to bring both perspectives to the job,” said Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.
Board member Robin Reithmeyer was also pleased with the pick.
“I think he’s a good guy. He brings good ideas to the table,” she said.
The board interviewed eight candidates for the job.
Business administrator named
BY MANASEE WAGH
The Morrisville School Board voted to make Paul DeAngelo the district’s new business administrator Wednesday.
DeAngelo will assume the role on Nov. 17 at an annual salary of $102,000. He replaces Reba Dunford, who served in the position for about three and a half years. She left on Oct. 18 to become business administrator at North Montgomery County Vocational Technical High School. An interim business administrator is now filling the job.
DeAngelo has been the business administrator at the approximately 10,000-student Coatesville Area School District for four years. In comparison, Morrisville’s public schools teach about 1,040 students.
“The district is very lucky to have Mr. Paul DeAngelo as our new business administrator. His experience with the Coatesville School District will serve him well in his new capacity. He also has experience in the business world prior to Coatesville. He’ll be able to bring both perspectives to the job,” said Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson.
Board member Robin Reithmeyer was also pleased with the pick.
“I think he’s a good guy. He brings good ideas to the table,” she said.
The board interviewed eight candidates for the job.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
What's a Swaption?
From the Erie Times News
Suit: Swap cost district $1M
Erie school system claims excessive fees, fraud in financial deal
BY ED PALATTELLA Published: September 03. 2008 12:50AM
The Erie School District is claiming that a huge investment bank, an Erie broker and a Philadelphia-area investment adviser colluded to defraud the district of more than $1 million in a financial transaction in 2003.
The disputed deal is known as an interest-rate swap. The district is suing to try to force JPMorgan Chase & Co. and others to repay what the district believes are excessive fees that JPMorgan collected.
The other defendants are David DiCarlo, JPMorgan's local broker at the time; and Investment Management Advisory Group Inc., or I.M.A.G.E., which the school district paid $60,000 to provide independent advice on the swap, or "swaption."
The district is alleging in the suit that JPMorgan, through DiCarlo, recommended that the school district retain I.M.A.G.E., and that JPMorgan and I.M.A.G.E. "were involved in a collusive arrangement in the market for Swaptions" at the time of the district's deal. The district claims collusion and "anti-competitive conduct" allowed JPMorgan to procure "excessive transaction fees."
"I.M.A.G.E. and the individual Defendants had knowledge of the ... anti-competitive collusive conduct and participated in it," the district claims in the suit.
As part of the swap -- a form of bond refinancing -- the district received $755,000, which the district plugged into its budget in 2003. Based on its calculations, the district said in the suit, JPMorgan should have received no more than $128,000 in fees for handling the swap. The district claimed JPMorgan instead received $1,227,415 in fees.
The Erie School District, according to the suit, "has been damaged in the amount of $1,099,415, representing the difference between what it should have received under a properly structured swap transaction ... and what was received as a result of the School District being fraudulently induced to enter into the transaction."
The suit does not itemize how much DiCarlo might have collected in fees or commissions.
A spokeswoman for the New York-based JPMorgan said the bank would have no comment on the suit, though the bank previously said the swap was handled properly. A representative from I.M.A.G.E., which is based in Pottstown, did not immediately return a phone call on Tuesday, though that firm has previously defended the handling of the swap.
DiCarlo, reached Tuesday, said JPMorgan has advised him not to comment on the school district's claims.
DiCarlo said he stopped working for JPMorgan as of July 31. He said he retired from JPMorgan because the Erie office was closed.
A spokesman for the bank, Brian Marchiony, confirmed DiCarlo's departure and declined, through an e-mail, to comment on the reasons DiCarlo left.
A national issue
The Erie School District's suit, docketed in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday, culminates months of research that the school district conducted on the swap. The district said in the suit that school officials in October learned through Bloomberg Markets, a national magazine, that the fees might have been excessive.
The suit also represents the Erie School District's legal plunge into the nationwide dispute over swaps, which are unregulated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, and which the school district claims were not legal in Pennsylvania until September 2003. The Erie School Board approved the swap with JPMorgan on Sept. 4, 2003.
Other municipalities across the United States are also claiming they were victimized in swap deals, and in March, they filed a class-action suit against JPMorgan and others in federal court in Washington. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which includes Wall Street.
In addition, the FBI, SEC and Internal Revenue Service are investigating swaps and similar transactions nationwide. No one has been charged, though a federal grand jury in New York City has been empaneled in the probe, according to public records.
Erie schools Superintendent James Barker, the head of the district for 15 years, has said the district will aggressively pursue any money it believes it is owed in the swap deal. The district hired a Harrisburg law firm, McNees, Wallace & Nurick, to handle the suit, and the lawyers on the case, James DeAngelo and Delano Lantz, commented through a brief statement Tuesday.
The lawyers said the district is seeking to recover damages from the conduct of the defendants.
The eight-count suit claims securities fraud, two other types of fraud and civil conspiracy against all the defendants; breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against JPMorgan and I.M.A.G.E.; and breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence against I.M.A.G.E.
Claims against DiCarlo
As the local broker for the 2003 swap, David DiCarlo is the subject of claims throughout the suit. The suit claims DiCarlo, then an Erie-based vice president for JPMorgan Securities, used his years of experience as a local broker to help persuade the Erie School District to agree to a swap that, unbeknownst to the district, would lead to the large fees for JPMorgan. The suit said DiCarlo never disclosed the size of the fees to the Erie School Board, and that I.M.A.G.E. never raised concerns about the fees.
DiCarlo, a former state representative and currently a member of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, worked with the Erie School District and other local municipalities for decades on bond refinancings and other large-scale financial transactions. DiCarlo was a registered broker with RRZ Public Markets, based in the Pittsburgh area, from 1983 to 2003, and a registered broker with JPMorgan Securities, a part of JPMorgan Chase, from May 2003 through August. JPMorgan acquired RRZ Public Markets in February 2003.
The Erie School District claims that, as part of the fraud, JPMorgan "exploited" its expertise on swaps and "the trust engendered by Defendant DiCarlo's history of dealings with the Erie School District."
DiCarlo, the district claims, "held himself out to be a trusted adviser to the Erie School District and had for 20 years represented the Erie School District on multiple refunding issues."
Details Of The Swap
Interest-rate swap deals are often called "swaptions."
In a swap, two parties agree to exchange payments at different rates. One party typically pays a fixed rate, and the other pays a rate tied to a commodity or security.
In the case of the Erie School District, the district in 2003 agreed to exchange payments with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in connection with $37.3 million in bonds the district issued in 2000 for building projects.
As part of the swap, the district received $755,000, which it plugged into its budget, according to the district's lawsuit, filed Tuesday. The district previously put the figure at $785,000.
JPMorgan, in turn, got an option to take over as the district's bond holder on the 2000 issue in 2011. If JPMorgan took the option, the district would have made its bond payments directly to JPMorgan and not the current investors.
JPMorgan in the swap deal also got money from fees -- the amount of money that is at the center of the school district's suit. JPMorgan has never publicly disclosed the fees. The district, in its suit, claims JPMorgan received $1,227,415 in fees, based on the district's calculations.
The district claims JPMorgan should have received no more than $128,000 in fees for handling the swap. The district wants JPMorgan to repay the difference -- $1,099,415. Bloomberg News, including Bloomberg Markets, which reported extensively on the Erie School District swap, had estimated the fees at $3.9 million.
The Erie School Board approved the swap in a 6-0 vote on Sept. 4, 2003. Three of the directors, including Richard Szychowski, a board member since November 2002, were not present. Of the six directors who voted for the swap, three are still on the board -- Jim Herdzik, Mary Frances Schenley and Eva Tucker Jr.
The swap with JP Morgan has since expired. The district restructured it with PNC Bank in 2006.
Nationwide Concerns
As the Erie School District goes to court over its interest-rate swap, similar financial transactions have raised concern nationwide from other municipalities, as well as law-enforcement officials.
The FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service are investigating swaps. No one has been charged, though a federal grand jury in New York City has been empaneled in the probe, according to public records.
The deals under scrutiny, according to public records, include those involving JPMorgan and the Investment Management Advisory Group, or I.M.A.G.E., the Philadelphia-area business that acted as the Erie School District's adviser in the district's disputed 2003 bond swap.
A class-action suit filed in federal court in Washington has also raised questions about the propriety of swaps and similar investment vehicles known as municipal derivatives.
The suit, filed March 12, claims JPMorgan Chase, I.M.A.G.E. and more than 30 other financial institutions conspired -- through kickbacks and other activities -- to fix prices and rig bids for swaps and similar municipal derivatives throughout the United States from Jan. 1, 1992, to the date the suit was filed.
The suit in June was transferred to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which includes Wall Street.
What's Next
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the other defendants have 20 days from the time they are served to respond to the lawsuit the Erie School District filed in U.S. District Court in Erie. The case has been assigned to Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.
The school district filed the suit in federal court because it involves claims under federal antitrust and securities law, according to court records.
The district said it filed the suit within the five-year statute of limitations for claims involving the swap, which the Erie School Board approved Sept. 4, 2003.
Suit: Swap cost district $1M
Erie school system claims excessive fees, fraud in financial deal
BY ED PALATTELLA Published: September 03. 2008 12:50AM
The Erie School District is claiming that a huge investment bank, an Erie broker and a Philadelphia-area investment adviser colluded to defraud the district of more than $1 million in a financial transaction in 2003.
The disputed deal is known as an interest-rate swap. The district is suing to try to force JPMorgan Chase & Co. and others to repay what the district believes are excessive fees that JPMorgan collected.
The other defendants are David DiCarlo, JPMorgan's local broker at the time; and Investment Management Advisory Group Inc., or I.M.A.G.E., which the school district paid $60,000 to provide independent advice on the swap, or "swaption."
The district is alleging in the suit that JPMorgan, through DiCarlo, recommended that the school district retain I.M.A.G.E., and that JPMorgan and I.M.A.G.E. "were involved in a collusive arrangement in the market for Swaptions" at the time of the district's deal. The district claims collusion and "anti-competitive conduct" allowed JPMorgan to procure "excessive transaction fees."
"I.M.A.G.E. and the individual Defendants had knowledge of the ... anti-competitive collusive conduct and participated in it," the district claims in the suit.
As part of the swap -- a form of bond refinancing -- the district received $755,000, which the district plugged into its budget in 2003. Based on its calculations, the district said in the suit, JPMorgan should have received no more than $128,000 in fees for handling the swap. The district claimed JPMorgan instead received $1,227,415 in fees.
The Erie School District, according to the suit, "has been damaged in the amount of $1,099,415, representing the difference between what it should have received under a properly structured swap transaction ... and what was received as a result of the School District being fraudulently induced to enter into the transaction."
The suit does not itemize how much DiCarlo might have collected in fees or commissions.
A spokeswoman for the New York-based JPMorgan said the bank would have no comment on the suit, though the bank previously said the swap was handled properly. A representative from I.M.A.G.E., which is based in Pottstown, did not immediately return a phone call on Tuesday, though that firm has previously defended the handling of the swap.
DiCarlo, reached Tuesday, said JPMorgan has advised him not to comment on the school district's claims.
DiCarlo said he stopped working for JPMorgan as of July 31. He said he retired from JPMorgan because the Erie office was closed.
A spokesman for the bank, Brian Marchiony, confirmed DiCarlo's departure and declined, through an e-mail, to comment on the reasons DiCarlo left.
A national issue
The Erie School District's suit, docketed in U.S. District Court in Erie on Tuesday, culminates months of research that the school district conducted on the swap. The district said in the suit that school officials in October learned through Bloomberg Markets, a national magazine, that the fees might have been excessive.
The suit also represents the Erie School District's legal plunge into the nationwide dispute over swaps, which are unregulated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, and which the school district claims were not legal in Pennsylvania until September 2003. The Erie School Board approved the swap with JPMorgan on Sept. 4, 2003.
Other municipalities across the United States are also claiming they were victimized in swap deals, and in March, they filed a class-action suit against JPMorgan and others in federal court in Washington. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which includes Wall Street.
In addition, the FBI, SEC and Internal Revenue Service are investigating swaps and similar transactions nationwide. No one has been charged, though a federal grand jury in New York City has been empaneled in the probe, according to public records.
Erie schools Superintendent James Barker, the head of the district for 15 years, has said the district will aggressively pursue any money it believes it is owed in the swap deal. The district hired a Harrisburg law firm, McNees, Wallace & Nurick, to handle the suit, and the lawyers on the case, James DeAngelo and Delano Lantz, commented through a brief statement Tuesday.
The lawyers said the district is seeking to recover damages from the conduct of the defendants.
The eight-count suit claims securities fraud, two other types of fraud and civil conspiracy against all the defendants; breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing against JPMorgan and I.M.A.G.E.; and breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence against I.M.A.G.E.
Claims against DiCarlo
As the local broker for the 2003 swap, David DiCarlo is the subject of claims throughout the suit. The suit claims DiCarlo, then an Erie-based vice president for JPMorgan Securities, used his years of experience as a local broker to help persuade the Erie School District to agree to a swap that, unbeknownst to the district, would lead to the large fees for JPMorgan. The suit said DiCarlo never disclosed the size of the fees to the Erie School Board, and that I.M.A.G.E. never raised concerns about the fees.
DiCarlo, a former state representative and currently a member of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, worked with the Erie School District and other local municipalities for decades on bond refinancings and other large-scale financial transactions. DiCarlo was a registered broker with RRZ Public Markets, based in the Pittsburgh area, from 1983 to 2003, and a registered broker with JPMorgan Securities, a part of JPMorgan Chase, from May 2003 through August. JPMorgan acquired RRZ Public Markets in February 2003.
The Erie School District claims that, as part of the fraud, JPMorgan "exploited" its expertise on swaps and "the trust engendered by Defendant DiCarlo's history of dealings with the Erie School District."
DiCarlo, the district claims, "held himself out to be a trusted adviser to the Erie School District and had for 20 years represented the Erie School District on multiple refunding issues."
Details Of The Swap
Interest-rate swap deals are often called "swaptions."
In a swap, two parties agree to exchange payments at different rates. One party typically pays a fixed rate, and the other pays a rate tied to a commodity or security.
In the case of the Erie School District, the district in 2003 agreed to exchange payments with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in connection with $37.3 million in bonds the district issued in 2000 for building projects.
As part of the swap, the district received $755,000, which it plugged into its budget, according to the district's lawsuit, filed Tuesday. The district previously put the figure at $785,000.
JPMorgan, in turn, got an option to take over as the district's bond holder on the 2000 issue in 2011. If JPMorgan took the option, the district would have made its bond payments directly to JPMorgan and not the current investors.
JPMorgan in the swap deal also got money from fees -- the amount of money that is at the center of the school district's suit. JPMorgan has never publicly disclosed the fees. The district, in its suit, claims JPMorgan received $1,227,415 in fees, based on the district's calculations.
The district claims JPMorgan should have received no more than $128,000 in fees for handling the swap. The district wants JPMorgan to repay the difference -- $1,099,415. Bloomberg News, including Bloomberg Markets, which reported extensively on the Erie School District swap, had estimated the fees at $3.9 million.
The Erie School Board approved the swap in a 6-0 vote on Sept. 4, 2003. Three of the directors, including Richard Szychowski, a board member since November 2002, were not present. Of the six directors who voted for the swap, three are still on the board -- Jim Herdzik, Mary Frances Schenley and Eva Tucker Jr.
The swap with JP Morgan has since expired. The district restructured it with PNC Bank in 2006.
Nationwide Concerns
As the Erie School District goes to court over its interest-rate swap, similar financial transactions have raised concern nationwide from other municipalities, as well as law-enforcement officials.
The FBI, Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service are investigating swaps. No one has been charged, though a federal grand jury in New York City has been empaneled in the probe, according to public records.
The deals under scrutiny, according to public records, include those involving JPMorgan and the Investment Management Advisory Group, or I.M.A.G.E., the Philadelphia-area business that acted as the Erie School District's adviser in the district's disputed 2003 bond swap.
A class-action suit filed in federal court in Washington has also raised questions about the propriety of swaps and similar investment vehicles known as municipal derivatives.
The suit, filed March 12, claims JPMorgan Chase, I.M.A.G.E. and more than 30 other financial institutions conspired -- through kickbacks and other activities -- to fix prices and rig bids for swaps and similar municipal derivatives throughout the United States from Jan. 1, 1992, to the date the suit was filed.
The suit in June was transferred to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which includes Wall Street.
What's Next
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the other defendants have 20 days from the time they are served to respond to the lawsuit the Erie School District filed in U.S. District Court in Erie. The case has been assigned to Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.
The school district filed the suit in federal court because it involves claims under federal antitrust and securities law, according to court records.
The district said it filed the suit within the five-year statute of limitations for claims involving the swap, which the Erie School Board approved Sept. 4, 2003.
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