For a while now, Morrisville residents have eagerly awaited the "six point plan" put forward by the Emperor, but safely hidden from the public's scrutiny and debate.
One parent has now gone to the state to force the Emperor to make the plan public. Kate Fratti has a blog entry about it.
My reading of the PA state right to know law exceptions says that this is not likely to prevail.
Here's hoping I'm wrong.
What's the plan, Mr. Hellman?
By: Kate Fratti
In Morrisville, a parent applied to receive a copy of "a six point plan," authored by School Board President Bill Hellmann and has been denied. Kevin Leather has appealled under the right to know laws. Here's hoping he's successful. Folks have a right to know what their elected leaders are planning. Or in this case, should the word be plotting? Why else would leaders be so secretive?
April 20, 2009 05:35 PM
Showing posts with label Fratti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fratti. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 25: Join The Friends of the Delaware Canal
From Kate Fratti in the BCCT.
Calling all canal lovers
By: KATE FRATTI
Bucks County Courier Times
Feeling ambitious? Or just in need of some fresh air? The Friends of the Delaware Canal hope so. They need you to lend them a hand at spring cleaning on April 25.
Come on. At least think about it. If you ever visit the canal for long walks, bike rides, fishing and exercising the dog, it's not a bad way to show some gratitude. Also not a bad way to meet other canal lovers or to spend some free quality time with the kids. Tell them Canal Cleanup Day is a treasure hunt.
Friends Director Susan Taylor has made a few interesting finds in the years she's been participating in the cleanup. Seems she found a perfectly intact dried bat once. "As in the mammal bat," she explained. OK. Treasure is a strong word.
She did find a bag of coins totaling $10. Another time she found prom accessories, including bow tie and corsage. She also was on hand to watch a helper find a snapping turtle hiding in a tire. "The person dropped that tire really fast," she recalled. It was good for a laugh.
The Friends of the Delaware Canal is "an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings. Its primary goals are to ensure that the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol and that the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.
No small task, but a supremely worthwhile goal. Bucks County boasts an awful lot of pretty places to soak up nature, but portions of the canal rival all others.
I live closest to the sections near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield. It's one of my favorite places. Dredging there is expected to be done by May 18.
Which means my part of the canal - between Yardley and Morrisville - will be picture postcard perfect again this summer. Turtles sunning (when they aren't hiding in tires), fish jumping, birds of every feather and wildflowers along the banks, water lilies in the center. Come early enough in the morning or late enough in the day and you'll see deer coming to drink.
I'll never understand how anyone who's witnessed the historic canal's beauty could leave behind the litter they do - things like soda cans and tangled fishing tackle - requiring a massive cleanup every spring.
Susan says she'll need about 100 volunteers to get the job done this year. And that's with 30 of the 60 miles of canal between Bristol and Easton still undergoing restoration so off the cleanup roster.
For work purposes, the canal has been divided into three zones, upper, central and lower canal. Cleanup teams will be led by area coordinators. The New Hope Garden Club is pitching in. As always, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol Township will be doing its part, too. Mary Kehoe will coordinate in Bristol again.
"She recruits young people and the Bristol Hibernians. She gets lots of food donated from local businesses to feed her crew," Susan said.
Canal Cleanup Day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Everyone who wants to participate should choose a convenient or needy location, and then contact the area coordinator. The coordinator will let volunteers know where to meet and what to bring. Gloves, long-handled nets, boots, and branch snippers are useful, Susan said. Trash bags will be provided.
"Canoe or kayak owners who are volunteering in sections of the canal that have water are urged to bring their boats to retrieve the elusive trash that lies just out of reach in the water and on the berm bank," she said.
If you live in Falls and enjoy the canal, you are especially needed. The Friends still are seeking a coordinator for the cleanup there. To lead a group of "willing trash pickers, brush clippers and tire retrievers," call 215-862-2021.
That's also the number to call for all other information about the cleanup day and to find out who your coordinator will be. You also can e-mail questions to friends@fodc.org.
Calling all canal lovers
By: KATE FRATTI
Bucks County Courier Times
Feeling ambitious? Or just in need of some fresh air? The Friends of the Delaware Canal hope so. They need you to lend them a hand at spring cleaning on April 25.
Come on. At least think about it. If you ever visit the canal for long walks, bike rides, fishing and exercising the dog, it's not a bad way to show some gratitude. Also not a bad way to meet other canal lovers or to spend some free quality time with the kids. Tell them Canal Cleanup Day is a treasure hunt.
Friends Director Susan Taylor has made a few interesting finds in the years she's been participating in the cleanup. Seems she found a perfectly intact dried bat once. "As in the mammal bat," she explained. OK. Treasure is a strong word.
She did find a bag of coins totaling $10. Another time she found prom accessories, including bow tie and corsage. She also was on hand to watch a helper find a snapping turtle hiding in a tire. "The person dropped that tire really fast," she recalled. It was good for a laugh.
The Friends of the Delaware Canal is "an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings. Its primary goals are to ensure that the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol and that the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.
No small task, but a supremely worthwhile goal. Bucks County boasts an awful lot of pretty places to soak up nature, but portions of the canal rival all others.
I live closest to the sections near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield. It's one of my favorite places. Dredging there is expected to be done by May 18.
Which means my part of the canal - between Yardley and Morrisville - will be picture postcard perfect again this summer. Turtles sunning (when they aren't hiding in tires), fish jumping, birds of every feather and wildflowers along the banks, water lilies in the center. Come early enough in the morning or late enough in the day and you'll see deer coming to drink.
I'll never understand how anyone who's witnessed the historic canal's beauty could leave behind the litter they do - things like soda cans and tangled fishing tackle - requiring a massive cleanup every spring.
Susan says she'll need about 100 volunteers to get the job done this year. And that's with 30 of the 60 miles of canal between Bristol and Easton still undergoing restoration so off the cleanup roster.
For work purposes, the canal has been divided into three zones, upper, central and lower canal. Cleanup teams will be led by area coordinators. The New Hope Garden Club is pitching in. As always, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol Township will be doing its part, too. Mary Kehoe will coordinate in Bristol again.
"She recruits young people and the Bristol Hibernians. She gets lots of food donated from local businesses to feed her crew," Susan said.
Canal Cleanup Day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Everyone who wants to participate should choose a convenient or needy location, and then contact the area coordinator. The coordinator will let volunteers know where to meet and what to bring. Gloves, long-handled nets, boots, and branch snippers are useful, Susan said. Trash bags will be provided.
"Canoe or kayak owners who are volunteering in sections of the canal that have water are urged to bring their boats to retrieve the elusive trash that lies just out of reach in the water and on the berm bank," she said.
If you live in Falls and enjoy the canal, you are especially needed. The Friends still are seeking a coordinator for the cleanup there. To lead a group of "willing trash pickers, brush clippers and tire retrievers," call 215-862-2021.
That's also the number to call for all other information about the cleanup day and to find out who your coordinator will be. You also can e-mail questions to friends@fodc.org.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Who Needs a Referendum?
Apparently, the closing of an elementary school is not the same as the closing of the high school.
Board president William Hellmann said no decision about closing the high school would be made without going to referendum. He agreed to organize a meeting with all board members and community stake holders, including residents, students and teachers, to brainstorm ideas and discuss options for Morrisville going forward.
Ask the Emperor: Where's the referendum?
'It is our future'
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
An emotional crowd packed the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School auditorium Wednesday night in a show of support for keeping the 116-year-old high school together.
About 15 people spoke during the school board's public comment session, most giving impassioned statements against dissolving the school.
“We found a gem of a town,” William Martin said of his family's wish to move into Morrisville for its community and small school. If the students are sent to other, larger districts, like nearby Pennsbury, they would have little opportunity to join and excel in sports teams, the band, and other groups, said Martin, father of a student.
The large turnout at the meeting also included about 50 Middle/Senior High School students. Several, including student representative Kimberley Charles, expressed outrage at the board's unwillingness to allow them to speak longer after the end of the 45-minute public comment period.
“Let them speak!” was the often-repeated cry from students and other attendees.
Student Michael Leather said the school is too valuable to disband.
“The teachers here are our mentors for life,” he told the board. “Have a student poll and ask us what we want, since it is our future.”
John W. Jordan, the president of the Bucks County NAACP, also spoke during the public comment session, not only about keeping the school together, but also to point out a racial comment allegedly made by current Morrisville school board member Alfred Radosti.
“The NAACP is asking tonight for the resignation of Mr. Radosti,” said Jordan, whose speech elicited gasps from the crowd and sustained applause.
Jordan said Radosti made his comments in front of another former school board member, who did not want to be named. That member brought the matter to Jordan's attention, and he spoke to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Civil Rights Division and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
“Certain things will not be tolerated,” said Jordan, also vice president of the state NAACP and a former Morrisville school board member. Jordan said he was talking to the state Department of Education to “check on what the board is doing.”
Jordan also addressed concerns that programs might be cut to accommodate financial issues.
After public comment, Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said that neither programs nor textbooks were slated to be cut at this point.
“We looked at the contingency fund of $120,000,” she said, adding that it could be used in place of raising taxes above the state mandated 4.4 percent index.
In an agenda meeting two weeks ago, the board decided to forego applying for state exceptions, which would allow the district to raise taxes above the index to cope with uncontrollable costs.
About two weeks ago it was revealed that some members of the new Morrisville school board majority contacted local school systems to see if they would be interested in accepting its high school students on a tuition basis. This was reportedly one option to relieve financial and other stresses in the district.
Board president William Hellmann said no decision about closing the high school would be made without going to referendum. He agreed to organize a meeting with all board members and community stake holders, including residents, students and teachers, to brainstorm ideas and discuss options for Morrisville going forward.
Staff writer Kate Fratti contributed to this article. Manasee Wagh can be reached at 215-949-4206 or mwagh@phillyburbs.com. Kate Fratti can be reached at 215-949-4179 or kfratti@phillyBurbs.com.
January 24, 2008 6:29 AM
Board president William Hellmann said no decision about closing the high school would be made without going to referendum. He agreed to organize a meeting with all board members and community stake holders, including residents, students and teachers, to brainstorm ideas and discuss options for Morrisville going forward.
Ask the Emperor: Where's the referendum?
'It is our future'
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
An emotional crowd packed the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School auditorium Wednesday night in a show of support for keeping the 116-year-old high school together.
About 15 people spoke during the school board's public comment session, most giving impassioned statements against dissolving the school.
“We found a gem of a town,” William Martin said of his family's wish to move into Morrisville for its community and small school. If the students are sent to other, larger districts, like nearby Pennsbury, they would have little opportunity to join and excel in sports teams, the band, and other groups, said Martin, father of a student.
The large turnout at the meeting also included about 50 Middle/Senior High School students. Several, including student representative Kimberley Charles, expressed outrage at the board's unwillingness to allow them to speak longer after the end of the 45-minute public comment period.
“Let them speak!” was the often-repeated cry from students and other attendees.
Student Michael Leather said the school is too valuable to disband.
“The teachers here are our mentors for life,” he told the board. “Have a student poll and ask us what we want, since it is our future.”
John W. Jordan, the president of the Bucks County NAACP, also spoke during the public comment session, not only about keeping the school together, but also to point out a racial comment allegedly made by current Morrisville school board member Alfred Radosti.
“The NAACP is asking tonight for the resignation of Mr. Radosti,” said Jordan, whose speech elicited gasps from the crowd and sustained applause.
Jordan said Radosti made his comments in front of another former school board member, who did not want to be named. That member brought the matter to Jordan's attention, and he spoke to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Civil Rights Division and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
“Certain things will not be tolerated,” said Jordan, also vice president of the state NAACP and a former Morrisville school board member. Jordan said he was talking to the state Department of Education to “check on what the board is doing.”
Jordan also addressed concerns that programs might be cut to accommodate financial issues.
After public comment, Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said that neither programs nor textbooks were slated to be cut at this point.
“We looked at the contingency fund of $120,000,” she said, adding that it could be used in place of raising taxes above the state mandated 4.4 percent index.
In an agenda meeting two weeks ago, the board decided to forego applying for state exceptions, which would allow the district to raise taxes above the index to cope with uncontrollable costs.
About two weeks ago it was revealed that some members of the new Morrisville school board majority contacted local school systems to see if they would be interested in accepting its high school students on a tuition basis. This was reportedly one option to relieve financial and other stresses in the district.
Board president William Hellmann said no decision about closing the high school would be made without going to referendum. He agreed to organize a meeting with all board members and community stake holders, including residents, students and teachers, to brainstorm ideas and discuss options for Morrisville going forward.
Staff writer Kate Fratti contributed to this article. Manasee Wagh can be reached at 215-949-4206 or mwagh@phillyburbs.com. Kate Fratti can be reached at 215-949-4179 or kfratti@phillyBurbs.com.
January 24, 2008 6:29 AM
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Fratti: One school down. Two to go.
Kate Fratti in the BCCT.
Come see the Emperor and the Board of Chosen Accomplices in concert TONIGHT, 7:30 P.M. in the LGI.
Please make them move the meeting to the auditorium. Bring a friend. Bring a neighbor. Bring your kids. Show the kids what democracy is all about and show the board members that the students of Morrisville are worth fighting for.
Morrisville going down?
If you think Morrisville school board members are wringing their hands after learning the borough will block the reopening of M.R. Reiter Elementary School until engineers deem it “safe,” you’ve been had.
While grade-schoolers are displaced, staff is scrambling, the maintenance guy is explaining and parents are up in arms, the mood of the board leadership following the boiler room explosion at Reiter is celebratory. Dollar signs everywhere. The explosion was a Christmas gift.
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.
So what until then?
It’s rumored school board directors have spoken with council members about using county open space preservation funds to purchase the Reiter property and that county Commissioner Jim Cawley has offered to assist them with such a plan.
Cawley insists he has not had any such conversation with anyone from Morrisville — though the county’s always willing to help when it can, he added.
Which, I suppose, suggests the open space suggestion isn’t so farfetched. How else to unload rat trap real estate? Morrisville will need to spend its open space allotment or lose it, and what other open space is there?
The stumbling block to eliminating the whole district immediately? A teachers contract that blocks lay-offs and furloughs for the next few years. The Reiter boiler explosion blew open a path to save at least some “FORTUNE” now by eliminating operating costs.
It will mean cramming gradeschoolers into space at the high school and eventually reconfiguring high school classrooms to create a grade-school wing.
Learning in the midst of all that commotion? You never hear this board use the word. It’s not their concern.
They came into power with an agenda to be rid of schools entirely. They should have said so up front. They might very well have been elected, anyway.
Either way, stating their intention was the honorable thing to do. This sneaky approach is disruptive, chaotic and bad for the borough’s reputation as a place to live and work. It could have been dangerous.
“If this school district does not wake up, this town is going down,” Hellmann e-mailed the rest of the board as he urged consensus.
His critics argue the descent already has begun. The cart’s being driven by sneaks and bean counters.
UPDATE December 18, from the BCCT.
CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS
Morrisville School Board member Brenda Worob was voted into office in 2005. Her term expires in 2009. Incorrect information appeared in Kate Fratti’s column Wednesday.
The Courier Times strives for accuracy. However, when we do make errors, we want to correct them as soon as possible in this space. To help us, please call 215-949-4161 (days) or 215-949-4211 (nights).
Come see the Emperor and the Board of Chosen Accomplices in concert TONIGHT, 7:30 P.M. in the LGI.
Please make them move the meeting to the auditorium. Bring a friend. Bring a neighbor. Bring your kids. Show the kids what democracy is all about and show the board members that the students of Morrisville are worth fighting for.
Morrisville going down?
If you think Morrisville school board members are wringing their hands after learning the borough will block the reopening of M.R. Reiter Elementary School until engineers deem it “safe,” you’ve been had.
While grade-schoolers are displaced, staff is scrambling, the maintenance guy is explaining and parents are up in arms, the mood of the board leadership following the boiler room explosion at Reiter is celebratory. Dollar signs everywhere. The explosion was a Christmas gift.
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.
So what until then?
It’s rumored school board directors have spoken with council members about using county open space preservation funds to purchase the Reiter property and that county Commissioner Jim Cawley has offered to assist them with such a plan.
Cawley insists he has not had any such conversation with anyone from Morrisville — though the county’s always willing to help when it can, he added.
Which, I suppose, suggests the open space suggestion isn’t so farfetched. How else to unload rat trap real estate? Morrisville will need to spend its open space allotment or lose it, and what other open space is there?
The stumbling block to eliminating the whole district immediately? A teachers contract that blocks lay-offs and furloughs for the next few years. The Reiter boiler explosion blew open a path to save at least some “FORTUNE” now by eliminating operating costs.
It will mean cramming gradeschoolers into space at the high school and eventually reconfiguring high school classrooms to create a grade-school wing.
Learning in the midst of all that commotion? You never hear this board use the word. It’s not their concern.
They came into power with an agenda to be rid of schools entirely. They should have said so up front. They might very well have been elected, anyway.
Either way, stating their intention was the honorable thing to do. This sneaky approach is disruptive, chaotic and bad for the borough’s reputation as a place to live and work. It could have been dangerous.
“If this school district does not wake up, this town is going down,” Hellmann e-mailed the rest of the board as he urged consensus.
His critics argue the descent already has begun. The cart’s being driven by sneaks and bean counters.
UPDATE December 18, from the BCCT.
CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS
Morrisville School Board member Brenda Worob was voted into office in 2005. Her term expires in 2009. Incorrect information appeared in Kate Fratti’s column Wednesday.
The Courier Times strives for accuracy. However, when we do make errors, we want to correct them as soon as possible in this space. To help us, please call 215-949-4161 (days) or 215-949-4211 (nights).
Friday, November 14, 2008
Education, Philanthropy, and Common Sense
Props to Kate Fratti for highlighting Gene's work, and uber-kudos to Gene Epstein himself.
Gene’s cash kids
Gene Epstein knows full well there are old friends who purposely cross the street when they see him to avoid the charity shakedown.
Gene, a prominent Bucks philanthropist, always has an angle, a noble project, a fundraising proposition. You need to be part Mother Theresa to put up with him, which is to say patient, kind, generous to a fault.
Economy wreaking havoc on your business? Gene doesn’t want to hear it. There are poor to feed, homeless to shelter, lives to change, kids to inspire. They don’t go away in a poor economy, so how about you pony up and he’ll match your gift.
You’ve read about some of Gene’s good works in this newspaper or when he has been honored for his humanitarian efforts.
And he’s nowhere near finished. Seems Gene at 69 is spending his retirement years in Wrightstown working full-speed ahead to change the world, always reaching deep into his energy and financial reserves. He has about a dozen projects on his desk today.
He also has a way of pricking a person’s conscience. It means he’s a real pain in the neck if you’re just trying to mind your own business.
Big ideas and generosity like Gene’s may leave some of us cold, but many are grateful for his initiative. They’re happy for his ideas on how to help. All they have to do is write a check and feel good about it.
Gene’s newest project peaks my interest. Maybe because it’s based in part on his theory we don’t give our kids near enough credit for their creativity and resourcefulness. Stand back and they can work wonders, he says, but we grownups rarely are willing to stand back.
Our lack of faith in kids is a crime, says Gene, who long has lectured that the notion we must provide more for our kids than we had, is “the dumbest” parenting mistake.
It “declaws” the kid, he says. The child never is allowed to move into the mode where he must call upon his own resources. He never learns what he’s made of, or what he’s capable of, or why it matters that he’s here on Earth.
It’s a form of child neglect really, to underestimate the power of kids’ caring and imagination.
Gene never has been guilty. It’s why he’s about to hand more than 2,500 Bucks kids $10 each and challenge them to spend it well. And why he has full confidence he’s making a smart investment. He calls it the Civic Engagement Project.
He got the idea in April while watching ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson spotlight Ohio English teacher Pat Colangeli in his “Person of the Week” segment. Pat had given each of the 20 children in her classroom $10. They were encouraged to use it to help someone not as well off as they were. And if they decided they were the best charity in town, well, then they could spend it on themselves. The only rule was that they had to write an essay explaining how they’d spent the cash and why.
Those 20 kids not only didn’t squander the money, they used it to launch a student fundraising drive that netted more than $6,000, which was dispensed for all sorts of good works around their town.
So far, 15 Philadelphia schools have said they’ll participate in Gene’s version of the experiment and about 10 Bucks high school principals have written to say, “Send us that check!”
Why didn’t every invited school race to take Gene’s money? He made the offer in May, and the invitations are just being accepted now.
It comes down to whether a teacher or adviser would agree to coordinate the 100 kids in each school who’d be managing that $1,000. And Gene’s not giving any strict guidelines or ideas for charities or how the program should be run. He’s leaving that up to the kids and their adviser.
Gene’s giving the schools until the end of the year to report their results to him. The most innovative use of the money will be acknowledged at an awards ceremony.
I’ll keep you posted along the way.
Gene’s cash kids
Gene Epstein knows full well there are old friends who purposely cross the street when they see him to avoid the charity shakedown.
Gene, a prominent Bucks philanthropist, always has an angle, a noble project, a fundraising proposition. You need to be part Mother Theresa to put up with him, which is to say patient, kind, generous to a fault.
Economy wreaking havoc on your business? Gene doesn’t want to hear it. There are poor to feed, homeless to shelter, lives to change, kids to inspire. They don’t go away in a poor economy, so how about you pony up and he’ll match your gift.
You’ve read about some of Gene’s good works in this newspaper or when he has been honored for his humanitarian efforts.
And he’s nowhere near finished. Seems Gene at 69 is spending his retirement years in Wrightstown working full-speed ahead to change the world, always reaching deep into his energy and financial reserves. He has about a dozen projects on his desk today.
He also has a way of pricking a person’s conscience. It means he’s a real pain in the neck if you’re just trying to mind your own business.
Big ideas and generosity like Gene’s may leave some of us cold, but many are grateful for his initiative. They’re happy for his ideas on how to help. All they have to do is write a check and feel good about it.
Gene’s newest project peaks my interest. Maybe because it’s based in part on his theory we don’t give our kids near enough credit for their creativity and resourcefulness. Stand back and they can work wonders, he says, but we grownups rarely are willing to stand back.
Our lack of faith in kids is a crime, says Gene, who long has lectured that the notion we must provide more for our kids than we had, is “the dumbest” parenting mistake.
It “declaws” the kid, he says. The child never is allowed to move into the mode where he must call upon his own resources. He never learns what he’s made of, or what he’s capable of, or why it matters that he’s here on Earth.
It’s a form of child neglect really, to underestimate the power of kids’ caring and imagination.
Gene never has been guilty. It’s why he’s about to hand more than 2,500 Bucks kids $10 each and challenge them to spend it well. And why he has full confidence he’s making a smart investment. He calls it the Civic Engagement Project.
He got the idea in April while watching ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson spotlight Ohio English teacher Pat Colangeli in his “Person of the Week” segment. Pat had given each of the 20 children in her classroom $10. They were encouraged to use it to help someone not as well off as they were. And if they decided they were the best charity in town, well, then they could spend it on themselves. The only rule was that they had to write an essay explaining how they’d spent the cash and why.
Those 20 kids not only didn’t squander the money, they used it to launch a student fundraising drive that netted more than $6,000, which was dispensed for all sorts of good works around their town.
So far, 15 Philadelphia schools have said they’ll participate in Gene’s version of the experiment and about 10 Bucks high school principals have written to say, “Send us that check!”
Why didn’t every invited school race to take Gene’s money? He made the offer in May, and the invitations are just being accepted now.
It comes down to whether a teacher or adviser would agree to coordinate the 100 kids in each school who’d be managing that $1,000. And Gene’s not giving any strict guidelines or ideas for charities or how the program should be run. He’s leaving that up to the kids and their adviser.
Gene’s giving the schools until the end of the year to report their results to him. The most innovative use of the money will be acknowledged at an awards ceremony.
I’ll keep you posted along the way.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Breaking News: Reba Dunford resigns
The Emperor's reign of terror has claimed another victim: award winning business manager Reba Dunford.
Reba Dunford was often the last voice of reason pleading with the Emperor before he went and did something wild and wacky. He did it anyway, but it's on record that she tried. Wait until the Emperor finds out she was right in what she recommended to the board.
The Imperial bullying of the business manager was pretty obvious and blatant. Even lawyers have a veneer of mutual professional respect. Apparently William Hellmann, CPA, missed that ethics class discussion.
Superintendent Yonson seems to fill her busy days accepting resignations. How many more lifeboats are going over the side before we wake up and impeach this Emperor and this board?
Morrisville schools business manager resigns
Posted in News on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School District’s Business Manager Reba Dunford tendered her resignation Tuesday effective Oct. 18.
Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said it was with regret that she accepted the resignation. Dunford has been with the district 4 years.
“Reba Dunford is an excellent business administrator. She restructured the business office and made it more efficient. She is an important member of my team and I will miss her,” Yonson said Wednesday.
Dunford and Yonson have been the subject of heated and often public criticism from the new school board majority. Soft-spoken Dunford sparred openly at times with School Board President Bill Hellmann in recent budget work sessions in which Hellmann presented his own budget drafts.
The board, despite Yonson’s protest, reduced her contract from the five years approved by the previous board to three.
Reba Dunford was often the last voice of reason pleading with the Emperor before he went and did something wild and wacky. He did it anyway, but it's on record that she tried. Wait until the Emperor finds out she was right in what she recommended to the board.
The Imperial bullying of the business manager was pretty obvious and blatant. Even lawyers have a veneer of mutual professional respect. Apparently William Hellmann, CPA, missed that ethics class discussion.
Superintendent Yonson seems to fill her busy days accepting resignations. How many more lifeboats are going over the side before we wake up and impeach this Emperor and this board?
Morrisville schools business manager resigns
Posted in News on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 4:40 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School District’s Business Manager Reba Dunford tendered her resignation Tuesday effective Oct. 18.
Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said it was with regret that she accepted the resignation. Dunford has been with the district 4 years.
“Reba Dunford is an excellent business administrator. She restructured the business office and made it more efficient. She is an important member of my team and I will miss her,” Yonson said Wednesday.
Dunford and Yonson have been the subject of heated and often public criticism from the new school board majority. Soft-spoken Dunford sparred openly at times with School Board President Bill Hellmann in recent budget work sessions in which Hellmann presented his own budget drafts.
The board, despite Yonson’s protest, reduced her contract from the five years approved by the previous board to three.
Steve, pick up the needle, man
A follow up to this post.
Folks, this is what passes for a "high public official" in Morrisville.
Comments To This Article:
* kim - Pennsbury needs to re-register also!!!
(08/15/2008 )
I don't think the kids from Trenton are being dropped off to attend Morrisville, I see kids waiting at bus stops for Pennsbury buses in cars with NJ plates.
* Steve - FrATTY More twists and more misinformation!!
(08/16/2008 )
Here Kate goes again!! Just like the misspelling in the title above twisting the truth to hurt her political opposites whom volunteer their time and save the taxpayers money. Small example, why does she exclusively state that the re-registration is to purge the children from Trenton? Because she hopes to plant the seeds of perceived prejudice against the new school board. The misinformation in Fratti's article is more voluminous than what I have time to refute however Kate, given the dubious history of mis-managment and corruption in the school district, why should we trust school employees with sensitive information more than long term highly respected residents? Maybe you'd feel better if we brought back Frank or the good doctor to oversee things!! This type of re-registration has worked well in the past but Kate fails to mention that. She is a fine example of why her rag newspaper is going down the drain. Feel that pink slip getting closer Kate??????????
* Ann - In Steve We Trust...
(08/16/2008 )
Small example, why does she exclusively state that the re-registration is to purge the children from Trenton?
It's probably from stuff like this, which is a quote from a commenter at the March 26, 2008 Morrisville school board meeting:
I feel that board should consider a registration process for all students entering school in September of ’08. Parents of students should have to submit tax bills for proof of residency and renters would have to submit copies of the lease along with any necessary legal documentation in the event that the students is under their guardianship, but in actually is not their child/children. Perhaps this process should be carried out each year to eliminate students that should no be enrolled in MHS. This could definitely be a savings. I personally have heard the parents who stated that their children are enrolled in the Morrisville School System. “Quote…”the one mother said, just take them across the bridge it is easy to do”. She did it. She was telling the other Mothers “I know you don’t want your kids in Trenton High…why put up with that when you can put them in Morrisville.
* kate - what worries me . . .
(08/16/2008 )
I don't feel the pink slip, Steve, but when I read this kind of careless, angry rant from an elected official I do feel my lunch come up ... especially since this terrific little town is so in need of reputable, thoughtful, ethical leadership to move it forward.
* kate - Doh!
(08/16/2008 )
Given the fat jokes I've endured from this particular official, I realize I just opened myself up to further critique of my diet what with a reference to lunch and all ...
* Ann - Bonehead Appetit
(08/16/2008 )
April 20, 1997 New York Times:
''When school lets out and you see a lot of cars with out-of-state license plates picking children up, that's a problem,'' said Stephen Worob, treasurer of the Morrisville board and a leading supporter of the new policy. ''Another board member and I followed some over the border, on a kind of fact-finding mission. We're convinced that there are a substantial number of out-of-district kids in our schools illegally.''
* Steve - Golly Ann !!!
(08/17/2008 )
You're almost as good a truth twister as Kate. How do you equate that a 1997 quote about "out of state license plates," means that a re-registration is to purge Trenton kids. Dah!!! Won't it purge all illegal students equally? How dare you use an anecdotal comment from an unnamed source to support the racial undertones of Kate's hateful article. She is so blinded by her hate for the new school board that she can't help herself. Maybe it is time for Dale or Pat to talk to her. I personally do not subscribe to the Courier Times anymore. Kate is a part of the reason. By the way Kate, do you even live in Morrisville?
* Ann - Gee Whiz
(08/17/2008 )
I wasn't trying to equate anything, other than the mental image of you and some other board member following cars with out-of-state license plates over the border 11 years ago on a fact-finding mission. How far did you follow them, by the way? And who was that other board member?
* kate - Oh, now I see ...
(08/17/2008 )
Steve, are we to believe that you followed students to the Princenton border? I haven't heard a soul argue that re-registration aimed at insuring all enrolled students actually reside in the boro is a bad idea. It's necessary, I suppose. Morrisville can not pick up the tab for Trenton's failures. That said, using volunteers to conduct re-registration is unnecessary and an afront to parents worried about exposing their private information to strangers instead of paid, trained staff. As for the veiled threat that somehow my superiors would be chagrinned by my comments, it isn't so. I'm charged with commenting on the goings on around me as they might interest readers. My reader response indicates I've struck a nerve in Morrisville. The goings on here, bear watching to inform the average citizen. I do not live in Morrisville, Mr. Worob. You needn't to live there to observe the challenges it faces.
* kate - Not enough information for hate
(08/17/2008 )
Mr. Worob, I can honestly say I don't know any of the Morrisville School Board members except for the most casual acquaintance in the last 6 months. The only thing I "hate" is disregard for taxpaying residents. Some of them are parents who depend on these schools for the education of their children. It is an education that generations of Morrisville residents before them took for granted. I do not live in Morrisville. You don't have to live there to see some elected officials are acting badly.
* kate - sorry
(08/17/2008 )
Forgive me, in my impatience to be approved by the "blog master" (who is he anyway?) I posted twice.
* steve - Ok Kate, but are you fair.
(08/19/2008 )
Believe it or not, I have a certain amount of respect for a tenacious person who stands up and fights. Even if they are short sighted and biased. I realize Kate that you are not a typical reporter with an obligation to convey both sides. You are a feel good story teller or a rip their throat out reporter who thrives on emotions rather than unbiased, fair reporting. That being said, before a little weasel can fill up your ears, you should at least afford a little courtesy to the other side. On one hand you state you "do not mean to demean volunteers," "they may be very nice people." Then, on the other hand you allude they may be "thieves and gossips." You really don't know these people and never bothered to speak to them but I'll tell you this, at least one of them you hurt very badly. Why? because you are closed minded and set in your ways but I now offer you a chance to change this. Let's face it, you consider yourself a voice and champion of the good people who need your help. Am I right? OK. I think I'm a good person(believe it or not) and I can use your help. Please tell me, what do you think about a Bucks County judge who presides over an unfair trial and then tells the person who was fighting for the people that,"if you appeal my decision, I will do everything in my power to stop you." Yes it's true Kate, there is a judge with high aspirations who believes he has more power than we have rights. Then some poor court reporter felt obligated to omit his threat from the transcript and lie about it. I kid you not, there are many witnesses to this. If you are a fair person for the people then call me for the story or your life.
* steve - Typo!!!
(08/19/2008 )
Sorry Kate it's late. That was supposed to end,"the story OF your life. My bad.
* - Score
(08/19/2008 )
KATE; 1 STEVE; 0
* Ann - Victim or Aggressor?
(08/19/2008 )
Among the problems I have with what you’re saying, Steve, is that the trial of which you speak was not “the people vs. former Morrisville School District Superintendent Dr. John Gould”, it was “Dr. John Gould vs. Steve Worob, the guy who brazenly and recklessly shot his mouth off so much about Dr. Gould’s alleged corruption, which he was unable to prove, that Dr. Gould got tired of it and sued him for ‘slander per se’ for damaging his reputation and hurting his prospects for future employment”. And Dr. Gould won, to the tune of over $100,000.
You see, you may have a point, even a good point, but you can’t maliciously tear someone down just because you think you’re right. Even if there was something there, you couldn’t back it up. I’m not defending corruption or Dr. Gould (who seems to have done an adequate job of defending himself). But I am defending the principle of innocent until proven guilty, a presumption I’m sure you would want if you were facing charges.
His words may have been harsh, but I think the Judge was trying to do you a favor. I think he was trying to say “Let it go. End this destructive vendetta, for everyone’s sake, including yours.” Kind of like on June 9, 1954, when Joseph Welch said to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R – Wisconsin), “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”. Does that mean there were absolutely zero commies in the entire U.S. Government? No. But do the ends always justify the means? No. The world’s not perfect, but overall I think justice was served in your case.
* steve - Ann
(08/19/2008 )
Ann, I really didn't like you before but now I'm beginning to feel sorry for you. You're pathetic and you don't even realize it.
* steve - How about it Kate.
(08/19/2008 )
A great story about an unscrupulous judge who is a member of the good old Republicans club that controls the courthouse and politics in Bucks County. I'm a life long Republican but when something stinks in my party I am not afraid to expose it. You see, the debacle that unfolded in Morrisville was just the tip of the iceberg of pervasive corruption that is rooted in large bond issues to school districts from major federal lending institutions. All of this buried by a Republican controlled justice system. Get in the way and the boys in black robes will crush you. It makes me wonder how many people are unjustly sitting in jail. But Ann would say "justice was served" I guess.
* kate - Did we change the subject ?
(08/20/2008 )
Steve, pick up the needle, man. You've been playing the same old song for so long. Publish the book you promise. Who could tell your version of the story better than you?
As for the volunteers, they may be very nice people, but they've been organized by people who aren't always so nice ... I still wonder if they share the school board majority's view that privacy laws are a nuisance. It's a fair question in the case of a re-registration that requires personanal information be released to them.
* kate - And about that intimidation thing you do ...
(08/20/2008 )
Freud says there are no accidents....the story or my life? sheesh.
Folks, this is what passes for a "high public official" in Morrisville.
Comments To This Article:
* kim - Pennsbury needs to re-register also!!!
(08/15/2008 )
I don't think the kids from Trenton are being dropped off to attend Morrisville, I see kids waiting at bus stops for Pennsbury buses in cars with NJ plates.
* Steve - FrATTY More twists and more misinformation!!
(08/16/2008 )
Here Kate goes again!! Just like the misspelling in the title above twisting the truth to hurt her political opposites whom volunteer their time and save the taxpayers money. Small example, why does she exclusively state that the re-registration is to purge the children from Trenton? Because she hopes to plant the seeds of perceived prejudice against the new school board. The misinformation in Fratti's article is more voluminous than what I have time to refute however Kate, given the dubious history of mis-managment and corruption in the school district, why should we trust school employees with sensitive information more than long term highly respected residents? Maybe you'd feel better if we brought back Frank or the good doctor to oversee things!! This type of re-registration has worked well in the past but Kate fails to mention that. She is a fine example of why her rag newspaper is going down the drain. Feel that pink slip getting closer Kate??????????
* Ann - In Steve We Trust...
(08/16/2008 )
Small example, why does she exclusively state that the re-registration is to purge the children from Trenton?
It's probably from stuff like this, which is a quote from a commenter at the March 26, 2008 Morrisville school board meeting:
I feel that board should consider a registration process for all students entering school in September of ’08. Parents of students should have to submit tax bills for proof of residency and renters would have to submit copies of the lease along with any necessary legal documentation in the event that the students is under their guardianship, but in actually is not their child/children. Perhaps this process should be carried out each year to eliminate students that should no be enrolled in MHS. This could definitely be a savings. I personally have heard the parents who stated that their children are enrolled in the Morrisville School System. “Quote…”the one mother said, just take them across the bridge it is easy to do”. She did it. She was telling the other Mothers “I know you don’t want your kids in Trenton High…why put up with that when you can put them in Morrisville.
* kate - what worries me . . .
(08/16/2008 )
I don't feel the pink slip, Steve, but when I read this kind of careless, angry rant from an elected official I do feel my lunch come up ... especially since this terrific little town is so in need of reputable, thoughtful, ethical leadership to move it forward.
* kate - Doh!
(08/16/2008 )
Given the fat jokes I've endured from this particular official, I realize I just opened myself up to further critique of my diet what with a reference to lunch and all ...
* Ann - Bonehead Appetit
(08/16/2008 )
April 20, 1997 New York Times:
''When school lets out and you see a lot of cars with out-of-state license plates picking children up, that's a problem,'' said Stephen Worob, treasurer of the Morrisville board and a leading supporter of the new policy. ''Another board member and I followed some over the border, on a kind of fact-finding mission. We're convinced that there are a substantial number of out-of-district kids in our schools illegally.''
* Steve - Golly Ann !!!
(08/17/2008 )
You're almost as good a truth twister as Kate. How do you equate that a 1997 quote about "out of state license plates," means that a re-registration is to purge Trenton kids. Dah!!! Won't it purge all illegal students equally? How dare you use an anecdotal comment from an unnamed source to support the racial undertones of Kate's hateful article. She is so blinded by her hate for the new school board that she can't help herself. Maybe it is time for Dale or Pat to talk to her. I personally do not subscribe to the Courier Times anymore. Kate is a part of the reason. By the way Kate, do you even live in Morrisville?
* Ann - Gee Whiz
(08/17/2008 )
I wasn't trying to equate anything, other than the mental image of you and some other board member following cars with out-of-state license plates over the border 11 years ago on a fact-finding mission. How far did you follow them, by the way? And who was that other board member?
* kate - Oh, now I see ...
(08/17/2008 )
Steve, are we to believe that you followed students to the Princenton border? I haven't heard a soul argue that re-registration aimed at insuring all enrolled students actually reside in the boro is a bad idea. It's necessary, I suppose. Morrisville can not pick up the tab for Trenton's failures. That said, using volunteers to conduct re-registration is unnecessary and an afront to parents worried about exposing their private information to strangers instead of paid, trained staff. As for the veiled threat that somehow my superiors would be chagrinned by my comments, it isn't so. I'm charged with commenting on the goings on around me as they might interest readers. My reader response indicates I've struck a nerve in Morrisville. The goings on here, bear watching to inform the average citizen. I do not live in Morrisville, Mr. Worob. You needn't to live there to observe the challenges it faces.
* kate - Not enough information for hate
(08/17/2008 )
Mr. Worob, I can honestly say I don't know any of the Morrisville School Board members except for the most casual acquaintance in the last 6 months. The only thing I "hate" is disregard for taxpaying residents. Some of them are parents who depend on these schools for the education of their children. It is an education that generations of Morrisville residents before them took for granted. I do not live in Morrisville. You don't have to live there to see some elected officials are acting badly.
* kate - sorry
(08/17/2008 )
Forgive me, in my impatience to be approved by the "blog master" (who is he anyway?) I posted twice.
* steve - Ok Kate, but are you fair.
(08/19/2008 )
Believe it or not, I have a certain amount of respect for a tenacious person who stands up and fights. Even if they are short sighted and biased. I realize Kate that you are not a typical reporter with an obligation to convey both sides. You are a feel good story teller or a rip their throat out reporter who thrives on emotions rather than unbiased, fair reporting. That being said, before a little weasel can fill up your ears, you should at least afford a little courtesy to the other side. On one hand you state you "do not mean to demean volunteers," "they may be very nice people." Then, on the other hand you allude they may be "thieves and gossips." You really don't know these people and never bothered to speak to them but I'll tell you this, at least one of them you hurt very badly. Why? because you are closed minded and set in your ways but I now offer you a chance to change this. Let's face it, you consider yourself a voice and champion of the good people who need your help. Am I right? OK. I think I'm a good person(believe it or not) and I can use your help. Please tell me, what do you think about a Bucks County judge who presides over an unfair trial and then tells the person who was fighting for the people that,"if you appeal my decision, I will do everything in my power to stop you." Yes it's true Kate, there is a judge with high aspirations who believes he has more power than we have rights. Then some poor court reporter felt obligated to omit his threat from the transcript and lie about it. I kid you not, there are many witnesses to this. If you are a fair person for the people then call me for the story or your life.
* steve - Typo!!!
(08/19/2008 )
Sorry Kate it's late. That was supposed to end,"the story OF your life. My bad.
* - Score
(08/19/2008 )
KATE; 1 STEVE; 0
* Ann - Victim or Aggressor?
(08/19/2008 )
Among the problems I have with what you’re saying, Steve, is that the trial of which you speak was not “the people vs. former Morrisville School District Superintendent Dr. John Gould”, it was “Dr. John Gould vs. Steve Worob, the guy who brazenly and recklessly shot his mouth off so much about Dr. Gould’s alleged corruption, which he was unable to prove, that Dr. Gould got tired of it and sued him for ‘slander per se’ for damaging his reputation and hurting his prospects for future employment”. And Dr. Gould won, to the tune of over $100,000.
You see, you may have a point, even a good point, but you can’t maliciously tear someone down just because you think you’re right. Even if there was something there, you couldn’t back it up. I’m not defending corruption or Dr. Gould (who seems to have done an adequate job of defending himself). But I am defending the principle of innocent until proven guilty, a presumption I’m sure you would want if you were facing charges.
His words may have been harsh, but I think the Judge was trying to do you a favor. I think he was trying to say “Let it go. End this destructive vendetta, for everyone’s sake, including yours.” Kind of like on June 9, 1954, when Joseph Welch said to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R – Wisconsin), “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”. Does that mean there were absolutely zero commies in the entire U.S. Government? No. But do the ends always justify the means? No. The world’s not perfect, but overall I think justice was served in your case.
* steve - Ann
(08/19/2008 )
Ann, I really didn't like you before but now I'm beginning to feel sorry for you. You're pathetic and you don't even realize it.
* steve - How about it Kate.
(08/19/2008 )
A great story about an unscrupulous judge who is a member of the good old Republicans club that controls the courthouse and politics in Bucks County. I'm a life long Republican but when something stinks in my party I am not afraid to expose it. You see, the debacle that unfolded in Morrisville was just the tip of the iceberg of pervasive corruption that is rooted in large bond issues to school districts from major federal lending institutions. All of this buried by a Republican controlled justice system. Get in the way and the boys in black robes will crush you. It makes me wonder how many people are unjustly sitting in jail. But Ann would say "justice was served" I guess.
* kate - Did we change the subject ?
(08/20/2008 )
Steve, pick up the needle, man. You've been playing the same old song for so long. Publish the book you promise. Who could tell your version of the story better than you?
As for the volunteers, they may be very nice people, but they've been organized by people who aren't always so nice ... I still wonder if they share the school board majority's view that privacy laws are a nuisance. It's a fair question in the case of a re-registration that requires personanal information be released to them.
* kate - And about that intimidation thing you do ...
(08/20/2008 )
Freud says there are no accidents....the story or my life? sheesh.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Re-register at your peril
Kate Fratti and the Re-Registration Blues
Re-register at your peril
The latest insult added to injury in Morrisville — where recent school budget cuts still sting for parents — is a student re-registration under way.
As in 2005, parents must prove residency with multiple documents. The purpose is to ensure that children living across the river in Trenton aren’t enrolling illegally in the Morrisville system. School board member Joe Kemp believes it is a myth that numerous city kids are being dropped off here for school. The re-registration could serve to dispel the myth or correct the problem if it exists.
What’s bothersome is that the reregistration is being conducted by community volunteers and not school staff. You must hand over personal information — a driver’s license number, a mortgage payment stub, your utility bill, a lease agreement, bank statement, tax return, etc. — to a virtual stranger selected by the school board president. No background check, no clearances, no assurances your information is safe from thieves or gossips.
The information-taker will record your driver’s license number and have your home, work and private cell phone number. He or she will know if you have a custody issue. Perhaps that you were late with payment of your electric bill, and that you lease your home, don’t own it.
Do you care? There’s been no mass protest of the process. Of course, parents are not informed that the person taking their information is not on staff.
By law, there is no need for formal clearances of volunteers because parents are not asked to provide details about their children other than the school they will attend.
Still, there is the possibility that you might reveal to the information taker that while your child’s home school is, say M.R. Reiter, he attends some other school to deal with a disability. Do you care who knows about your son’s or daughter’s learning challenges?
I would not hand over my papers or information about my child’s condition to just anyone, particularly not in the rotten climate that pervades the borough these days.
This school board president demanded at one point in the budget process to know the addresses and specific needs and services provided special education students.
Why?
Bill Hellmann said he wanted to protect against administrators padding the special education budget. The release of confidential kid information is illegal, however. Mr. Hellmann was told that repeatedly and still insisted on it.
In the end, the board was provided only information that did not impinge on a child’s privacy rights. Which is to say Mr. Hellmann was blocked from knowing that Johnny Doe at 123 Civil Liberties Street is challenged by severe autism and goes to Hope For Tomorrow School. He was provided the total cost.
That’s as it should be. The specifics of Johnny’s educational needs, and whether his parents live in a house or a subsidized apartment, are none of Mr. Hellmann’s business. Johnny’s entitled to an education under the law.
Nor is it my neighbors’ business whether I own my home or lease it or from whom. I’d prefer my being on welfare not be up for chit-chat at a bridge club meeting.
I don’t mean to demean volunteers, who for one reason or another feel strongly enough about re-registration to help with it. They may be very nice people. But they were organized by leaders who think privacy laws are a nuisance. Do they feel the same way?
You have to ask why this re-registration was not voted on or discussed publicly. It was merely a directive from the majority.
A defender of the volunteer process opines that if one has nothing to hide, one would cheerfully hand over his papers to anyone who wished to see them. That kind of logic isn’t just dangerous, it’s un-American.
Trust just anyone with my personal information? Not a chance. And surely not this crowd.
Kate Fratti, whose column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, notes that if you ask that a district staff person handle your re-registration, the request will be granted.
Re-register at your peril
The latest insult added to injury in Morrisville — where recent school budget cuts still sting for parents — is a student re-registration under way.
As in 2005, parents must prove residency with multiple documents. The purpose is to ensure that children living across the river in Trenton aren’t enrolling illegally in the Morrisville system. School board member Joe Kemp believes it is a myth that numerous city kids are being dropped off here for school. The re-registration could serve to dispel the myth or correct the problem if it exists.
What’s bothersome is that the reregistration is being conducted by community volunteers and not school staff. You must hand over personal information — a driver’s license number, a mortgage payment stub, your utility bill, a lease agreement, bank statement, tax return, etc. — to a virtual stranger selected by the school board president. No background check, no clearances, no assurances your information is safe from thieves or gossips.
The information-taker will record your driver’s license number and have your home, work and private cell phone number. He or she will know if you have a custody issue. Perhaps that you were late with payment of your electric bill, and that you lease your home, don’t own it.
Do you care? There’s been no mass protest of the process. Of course, parents are not informed that the person taking their information is not on staff.
By law, there is no need for formal clearances of volunteers because parents are not asked to provide details about their children other than the school they will attend.
Still, there is the possibility that you might reveal to the information taker that while your child’s home school is, say M.R. Reiter, he attends some other school to deal with a disability. Do you care who knows about your son’s or daughter’s learning challenges?
I would not hand over my papers or information about my child’s condition to just anyone, particularly not in the rotten climate that pervades the borough these days.
This school board president demanded at one point in the budget process to know the addresses and specific needs and services provided special education students.
Why?
Bill Hellmann said he wanted to protect against administrators padding the special education budget. The release of confidential kid information is illegal, however. Mr. Hellmann was told that repeatedly and still insisted on it.
In the end, the board was provided only information that did not impinge on a child’s privacy rights. Which is to say Mr. Hellmann was blocked from knowing that Johnny Doe at 123 Civil Liberties Street is challenged by severe autism and goes to Hope For Tomorrow School. He was provided the total cost.
That’s as it should be. The specifics of Johnny’s educational needs, and whether his parents live in a house or a subsidized apartment, are none of Mr. Hellmann’s business. Johnny’s entitled to an education under the law.
Nor is it my neighbors’ business whether I own my home or lease it or from whom. I’d prefer my being on welfare not be up for chit-chat at a bridge club meeting.
I don’t mean to demean volunteers, who for one reason or another feel strongly enough about re-registration to help with it. They may be very nice people. But they were organized by leaders who think privacy laws are a nuisance. Do they feel the same way?
You have to ask why this re-registration was not voted on or discussed publicly. It was merely a directive from the majority.
A defender of the volunteer process opines that if one has nothing to hide, one would cheerfully hand over his papers to anyone who wished to see them. That kind of logic isn’t just dangerous, it’s un-American.
Trust just anyone with my personal information? Not a chance. And surely not this crowd.
Kate Fratti, whose column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, notes that if you ask that a district staff person handle your re-registration, the request will be granted.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Withering away?
Another editorial from the BCCT this morning. The attention on our plight is appreciated, but what does it really accomplish?
Sometimes the "just the facts" approach doesn't tell the whole story. There are times when I watch the tape and re-read the printed story and wonder why "less is more." The printed story may be factually unassailable. However, it's not a complete representation of what is unfolding.
For example, let's look at some of the recent stories. "Morrisville's tax reduction is the exception in the area, with most other districts experiencing some sort of tax increase." Why was defeasement not mentioned as the reason for the large tax decrease?
"Hellmann thinks certain expenditures have been padded so there is more money in the budget, making it a kind of wish list...Yonson has expressed frustration with this view on several occasions and stressed that the administration has specified only a “bare-bones budget.” You just printed two diametrically opposed viewpoints. Let someone who knows school budgets in the area take a look at the two viewpoints, compare them with the actual Morrisville budget, and let us know who is right. At least let us know who is more right. Either Dr. Yonson or Mr. Hellmann is making the mis-characterization.
"Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti: Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change." What does federal, state or local law require to be done to successfully farm out the students? Are you ready to press a Sunshine Law challenge to the well-documented secrecy from this board?
"Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice. Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said." Well? Who is correct, Hellmann or Yonson?
This isn't Watergate and we don't need Woodward and Bernstein style reporting. But while you're here, can you turn over a few rocks and let us know what crawls out?
Intentions unknown
Withering away?
As the Morrisville school board pecks away at the schools, parents rightfully worry about the quality of the schools. What does the future hold?
Anger, resentment and frustration are boiling over in Morrisville. School board meetings are nearly out of control as citizens find creative ways to disrupt business. In addition to bickering among board members, meetings drag on and on. Last week’s session lasted five grueling and rambunctious hours.
Still, you can hardly blame citizens for acting out.
The majority members of the school board were elected on the promise they’d stop construction of a new K-12 school, a $30 million project that was the subject of contentious debate itself. That citizens replaced the old board with one opposed to the new school can be considered a de facto referendum on the issue. Sick and tired of ever-spiraling school taxes, most citizens viewed the new school as too costly and unnecessary. That much is clear.
What’s not clear is the school board’s long-range plan. Are members committed to the schools?
We raise the question because the school board appears to be pecking away at the district, seeking to shorten the superintendent’s contract, investigating opportunities to export high school students to other districts, refusing to fill open positions.
What’s the plan? Is the board’s goal to shut down the high school, perhaps all the schools?
Citizens have a right to know. Parents are rightly concerned about the quality of education as the district is slowly disassembled — if that’s what’s happening. And so they’re jamming meetings in a frantic effort to stymie a board that appears to have little concern about the children they’re responsible for educating.
Elected officials deserve to function amid conditions conducive to thoughtful decision making. But officials need to demonstrate thoughtful concern for the people they represent by being open, honest and forthcoming.
“We’re doing the best we can with the resources we have” isn’t a good enough answer — not when the board takes actions that suggest there’s a lot more explaining to do. It’s time for school board President William Hellmann to address the question openly and honestly.
Sometimes the "just the facts" approach doesn't tell the whole story. There are times when I watch the tape and re-read the printed story and wonder why "less is more." The printed story may be factually unassailable. However, it's not a complete representation of what is unfolding.
For example, let's look at some of the recent stories. "Morrisville's tax reduction is the exception in the area, with most other districts experiencing some sort of tax increase." Why was defeasement not mentioned as the reason for the large tax decrease?
"Hellmann thinks certain expenditures have been padded so there is more money in the budget, making it a kind of wish list...Yonson has expressed frustration with this view on several occasions and stressed that the administration has specified only a “bare-bones budget.” You just printed two diametrically opposed viewpoints. Let someone who knows school budgets in the area take a look at the two viewpoints, compare them with the actual Morrisville budget, and let us know who is right. At least let us know who is more right. Either Dr. Yonson or Mr. Hellmann is making the mis-characterization.
"Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti: Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change." What does federal, state or local law require to be done to successfully farm out the students? Are you ready to press a Sunshine Law challenge to the well-documented secrecy from this board?
"Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice. Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said." Well? Who is correct, Hellmann or Yonson?
This isn't Watergate and we don't need Woodward and Bernstein style reporting. But while you're here, can you turn over a few rocks and let us know what crawls out?
Intentions unknown
Withering away?
As the Morrisville school board pecks away at the schools, parents rightfully worry about the quality of the schools. What does the future hold?
Anger, resentment and frustration are boiling over in Morrisville. School board meetings are nearly out of control as citizens find creative ways to disrupt business. In addition to bickering among board members, meetings drag on and on. Last week’s session lasted five grueling and rambunctious hours.
Still, you can hardly blame citizens for acting out.
The majority members of the school board were elected on the promise they’d stop construction of a new K-12 school, a $30 million project that was the subject of contentious debate itself. That citizens replaced the old board with one opposed to the new school can be considered a de facto referendum on the issue. Sick and tired of ever-spiraling school taxes, most citizens viewed the new school as too costly and unnecessary. That much is clear.
What’s not clear is the school board’s long-range plan. Are members committed to the schools?
We raise the question because the school board appears to be pecking away at the district, seeking to shorten the superintendent’s contract, investigating opportunities to export high school students to other districts, refusing to fill open positions.
What’s the plan? Is the board’s goal to shut down the high school, perhaps all the schools?
Citizens have a right to know. Parents are rightly concerned about the quality of education as the district is slowly disassembled — if that’s what’s happening. And so they’re jamming meetings in a frantic effort to stymie a board that appears to have little concern about the children they’re responsible for educating.
Elected officials deserve to function amid conditions conducive to thoughtful decision making. But officials need to demonstrate thoughtful concern for the people they represent by being open, honest and forthcoming.
“We’re doing the best we can with the resources we have” isn’t a good enough answer — not when the board takes actions that suggest there’s a lot more explaining to do. It’s time for school board President William Hellmann to address the question openly and honestly.
Friday, June 27, 2008
couriertimesnow.com
Kudos to the new Courier Times website. There's three separate stories posted here about Wednesday night's Morrisville school board meeting.
The first story is member Joe Kemp urging the board majority to do their homework before making changes. The story is sad in that Joe Kemp needs to use BCCT columnist Kate Fratti as his means of communication because the Emperor and his blindly subservient accomplices are unapproachable and indifferent. If you're not pleased with the way the current Stop the School majority is acting, drop them a line at SchoolBoard@mv.org. If you copy savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com, I'll print it as well.
In the second story, the board's shameful treatment of Dr. Elizabeth Yonson is chronicled. Memo to the Emperor and accomplices: You're lucky that Morrisville has this talented administrator at all. If she doesn't sue the ever living crap out of you, it's because she's a better human being alone than you could ever collectively aspire to be. Go. Have the common decency to be ashamed. Especially those board members who keep talking the big talk about being independent, but when the Emperor commands, you keep on running to his beck and call. You may talk the talk, but the audience can clearly see the walk, and it doesn't match the talk.
The third story mentions the dilemma of economics. How do you pay for what you need? Parents are well versed in that daily struggle. Are average taxpayers? Yes, they are. But do some of them really understand the definition of a "community"? Let's also note that the reporter neglected to mention why the millage is lower. Answer: The penny-wise and pound-foolish bond defeasement.
MV school director pleads his case
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change. Kemp, a minority member, worries the board leadership’s serious interest in a plan to tuition out high-school students to save money isn’t being aired in open.”The board should have [Solicitor] Mike Fitzpatrick draft formal letters to any and all school districts or private schools that we may wish to consider for a tuition program. He should also give us his opinion about the legality of such a plan,” he said.
“Talks should be held between a committee of the board and the teachers’ union with legal representation on both sides to see if there is any way to tuition students that will be acceptable by the union.
“We should find out if privatizing our high school means that all private school students would have their tuitions paid by the district. We should consider hiring an architectural firm that works with school districts to tell us the costs of converting our MHS to either a grade school or a K-12.
“We should find out the costs regarding busing as a factor in sending high school students out of the district and would that then make the district a busing district.
Superintendent contract shortened
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Morrisville’s school board majority approved shortening Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson’s contract at Wednesday night’s meeting. The contract was revised to three years instead of five.Yonson has been with the district for at least three years. The previous board renewed her contract for five years, from July 1 this year to June 30, 2013.
Under her leadership, Morrisville schools made several gains, including high performance levels in elementary school math.
Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice.
Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said.
Fewer taxes = fewer educational services?
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.
The school board approved a $19.88 million budget Wednesday.
Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough’s average assessed property of $18,000.
Those who were eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218.
But there will be consequences, warned administrators. The new budget doesn’t account for all of the $2.2 million needed for special education services and additional money needed for alternative and charter schools.
The district will find a way to pay for all of those uncontrollable costs, but cuts may need to be made in other areas, said administrators. The state mandates that special education and charter and alternative schools must be paid for fully.
The first story is member Joe Kemp urging the board majority to do their homework before making changes. The story is sad in that Joe Kemp needs to use BCCT columnist Kate Fratti as his means of communication because the Emperor and his blindly subservient accomplices are unapproachable and indifferent. If you're not pleased with the way the current Stop the School majority is acting, drop them a line at SchoolBoard@mv.org. If you copy savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com, I'll print it as well.
In the second story, the board's shameful treatment of Dr. Elizabeth Yonson is chronicled. Memo to the Emperor and accomplices: You're lucky that Morrisville has this talented administrator at all. If she doesn't sue the ever living crap out of you, it's because she's a better human being alone than you could ever collectively aspire to be. Go. Have the common decency to be ashamed. Especially those board members who keep talking the big talk about being independent, but when the Emperor commands, you keep on running to his beck and call. You may talk the talk, but the audience can clearly see the walk, and it doesn't match the talk.
The third story mentions the dilemma of economics. How do you pay for what you need? Parents are well versed in that daily struggle. Are average taxpayers? Yes, they are. But do some of them really understand the definition of a "community"? Let's also note that the reporter neglected to mention why the millage is lower. Answer: The penny-wise and pound-foolish bond defeasement.
MV school director pleads his case
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Morrisville School Board member Joe Kemp today in an email urged the board majority, yet again, to do its homework before committing the troubled district to big change. Kemp, a minority member, worries the board leadership’s serious interest in a plan to tuition out high-school students to save money isn’t being aired in open.”The board should have [Solicitor] Mike Fitzpatrick draft formal letters to any and all school districts or private schools that we may wish to consider for a tuition program. He should also give us his opinion about the legality of such a plan,” he said.
“Talks should be held between a committee of the board and the teachers’ union with legal representation on both sides to see if there is any way to tuition students that will be acceptable by the union.
“We should find out if privatizing our high school means that all private school students would have their tuitions paid by the district. We should consider hiring an architectural firm that works with school districts to tell us the costs of converting our MHS to either a grade school or a K-12.
“We should find out the costs regarding busing as a factor in sending high school students out of the district and would that then make the district a busing district.
Superintendent contract shortened
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Morrisville’s school board majority approved shortening Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson’s contract at Wednesday night’s meeting. The contract was revised to three years instead of five.Yonson has been with the district for at least three years. The previous board renewed her contract for five years, from July 1 this year to June 30, 2013.
Under her leadership, Morrisville schools made several gains, including high performance levels in elementary school math.
Board President William Hellmann did not provide a concrete reason for shortening her contract. He thanked Yonson for doing an exemplary job and said a shorter contract was a better choice.
Yonson herself said it was an irregular course of action. After their first contract expires, most Bucks superintendents who get their contracts renewed do receive five-year contracts, she said.
Fewer taxes = fewer educational services?
Posted in News on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 5:09 pm by Courier Times reporter Manasee Wagh
Residents in Morrisville can expect to pay $321 less in taxes next year.
The school board approved a $19.88 million budget Wednesday.
Taxes will lessen to $3,371 for a homeowner with the borough’s average assessed property of $18,000.
Those who were eligible for the homestead/farmstead exclusion will see a further decline of $218.
But there will be consequences, warned administrators. The new budget doesn’t account for all of the $2.2 million needed for special education services and additional money needed for alternative and charter schools.
The district will find a way to pay for all of those uncontrollable costs, but cuts may need to be made in other areas, said administrators. The state mandates that special education and charter and alternative schools must be paid for fully.
Monday, June 16, 2008
As Promised, Monday's Followup
Here's the column that Kate Fratti promised last week from her recent discussions with the Emperor and Angry Al.
Roadblock to drastic changes
Continuing their investigation into ways to reduce costs in Morrisville School District, Bill Hellmann and Al Radosti met with a Delaware Valley High School representative Tuesday afternoon.
She arrived at Hellmann’s West Bridge Street office just as a reporter and I were leaving it. We’d spent 90 minutes with Hellmann, Radosti and board member Bill Farrell, who agreed to share their rationale for proposing drastic changes to the financially strapped school system.
How drastic? They seem to have given up hope of any merger with neighboring Pennsbury. So, by September 2009, some board members hope to have closed at least one grade school, maybe two, and consolidated all grades in the middle/senior high school building. That is unless, by then they’ve been able to tuition highschoolers out at substantial reductions in cost per student. In that case, the current high school building would hold just K-8.
DVH is best known for educating at-risk kids, but President Dave Shulick has said it is accredited and experienced in regular education. Although Shulick has expressed interest in privatizing Morrisville High, Hellmann maintains he met with DVH this time to learn more about how alternative schools work. I have trouble buying that, but he’s insistent.
As for changes, Hellmann acknowledges the high school would need renovations to accommodate new grades, but that’s the least of obstacles.
The roadblock to consolidation and severe cost-cutting is a 5-year teacher contract that prevents furloughs or any substantial change to the student-staff ratio until 2012. Morrisville’s student-staff ratio stands at12.3 to 1, which doesn’t always give a true picture of class size, but does dictate the number of professionals who must stay on the rolls. There are 71 teachers, 1 psychologist, 3 guidance counselors and a nurse and two gifted/instructional support aides for fewer than 1,000 kids.
Hellmann said savings realized by farming out high-schoolers could be used to reduce teaching ranks. “Maybe retirement incentives,” Hellmann said.
He conceded Morrisville, under the direction of Superintendent Beth Yonson, is successfully educating children in its elementary schools, but says the high school has become a last resort for kids failed by the Trenton school system across the river. They move into Morrisville at very low reading and math levels. “We can’t be the special education center for Bucks and Mercer counties,” he laments.
Radosti, whose gruff way of expressing his unfiltered thoughts about kids today, changes in society and Morrisville’s proximity to the Trenton school system has won few friends among more liberalminded residents, says he’s weary of being accused of being racist and anti-education just because he wants to cut costs so people his age can keep their homes. He raises his voice two decibels to explain to me just how weary.
A Morrisville grad and a retired police officer, he worked two and three jobs to send a son to Notre Dame High School and a daughter to Grey Nun Academy. In each case, because he feared Morrisville classrooms were too disruptive. Nothing like the school system he enjoyed years before them. Don’t tell him he doesn’t value education.
Hellmann sent all but one of his kids to Conwell-Egan Catholic. He has approached CEC about a tuition program for Morrisville.
Neither man pretends to have any warm and fuzzy emotional ties to a school system they say is a drain on its townspeople. It’s a problem, Hellmann says.
It looks like he’s working to be rid of it — and soon.
Roadblock to drastic changes
Continuing their investigation into ways to reduce costs in Morrisville School District, Bill Hellmann and Al Radosti met with a Delaware Valley High School representative Tuesday afternoon.
She arrived at Hellmann’s West Bridge Street office just as a reporter and I were leaving it. We’d spent 90 minutes with Hellmann, Radosti and board member Bill Farrell, who agreed to share their rationale for proposing drastic changes to the financially strapped school system.
How drastic? They seem to have given up hope of any merger with neighboring Pennsbury. So, by September 2009, some board members hope to have closed at least one grade school, maybe two, and consolidated all grades in the middle/senior high school building. That is unless, by then they’ve been able to tuition highschoolers out at substantial reductions in cost per student. In that case, the current high school building would hold just K-8.
DVH is best known for educating at-risk kids, but President Dave Shulick has said it is accredited and experienced in regular education. Although Shulick has expressed interest in privatizing Morrisville High, Hellmann maintains he met with DVH this time to learn more about how alternative schools work. I have trouble buying that, but he’s insistent.
As for changes, Hellmann acknowledges the high school would need renovations to accommodate new grades, but that’s the least of obstacles.
The roadblock to consolidation and severe cost-cutting is a 5-year teacher contract that prevents furloughs or any substantial change to the student-staff ratio until 2012. Morrisville’s student-staff ratio stands at12.3 to 1, which doesn’t always give a true picture of class size, but does dictate the number of professionals who must stay on the rolls. There are 71 teachers, 1 psychologist, 3 guidance counselors and a nurse and two gifted/instructional support aides for fewer than 1,000 kids.
Hellmann said savings realized by farming out high-schoolers could be used to reduce teaching ranks. “Maybe retirement incentives,” Hellmann said.
He conceded Morrisville, under the direction of Superintendent Beth Yonson, is successfully educating children in its elementary schools, but says the high school has become a last resort for kids failed by the Trenton school system across the river. They move into Morrisville at very low reading and math levels. “We can’t be the special education center for Bucks and Mercer counties,” he laments.
Radosti, whose gruff way of expressing his unfiltered thoughts about kids today, changes in society and Morrisville’s proximity to the Trenton school system has won few friends among more liberalminded residents, says he’s weary of being accused of being racist and anti-education just because he wants to cut costs so people his age can keep their homes. He raises his voice two decibels to explain to me just how weary.
A Morrisville grad and a retired police officer, he worked two and three jobs to send a son to Notre Dame High School and a daughter to Grey Nun Academy. In each case, because he feared Morrisville classrooms were too disruptive. Nothing like the school system he enjoyed years before them. Don’t tell him he doesn’t value education.
Hellmann sent all but one of his kids to Conwell-Egan Catholic. He has approached CEC about a tuition program for Morrisville.
Neither man pretends to have any warm and fuzzy emotional ties to a school system they say is a drain on its townspeople. It’s a problem, Hellmann says.
It looks like he’s working to be rid of it — and soon.
Friday, June 13, 2008
So What Are Your Thoughts?
Here's a blog entry from Kate Fratti. Do you think the Emperor is simply chock full of waste products? Is Farrell a complete coward or just unwilling to be linked with a premature plan? Why is the Emperor backpedaling like a frightened deer? Is it time to replace the Emperor with someone else? Why is the Emperor excluding Reithmeyer and Kemp? (Do I smell fear in the water?) Why does the Emperor fear Reithmeyer and Kemp so much? (More fear! Are they strong with The Force?) What lapdog toadie is the Emperor's handpicked successor to the community minded Ed Frankenfield? These and other questions to be answered on the next episode of "As The Bulldog Turns"
As for a formal proposal? Let's make one and let it sit exposed to public scrutiny. The Emperor is unwilling to let anything he does be exposed to public scrutiny.
This Emperor? He is not clothed at all. He is a feeble mockery of a man.
Not so fast, Fratti
Last week, I met with Morrisville School Board President Bill Hellmann and members Al Radosti and Bill Farrell to understand better what changes they propose for the school district. The status quo, won’t cut it, they say. Morrisville is drowning in the cost of it all.
As I was leaving, the arrival of a representative for Delaware Valley High School was announced. I asked Bill Hellmann why he was meeting with DVH. He declined to comment.
You’ll recall that earlier this year DVH president Dave Shulick a Philadelphia attorney proposed privatizing MV High. Said he could do it for a fraction of the cost and could educate kids right in town. The school is best known for educating at-risk kids, but I was assured the school is accredited and experienced in regular education. Parent reaction to the offer was swift and negative. Prematurely negative, I think. I’d have like to have heard a formal proposal by DVH, but it wasn’t to be.
Intrigued by the meeting at Hellmann’s office now, I blogged about it to you. Looked like the presentation would be made not-so-formally first.
My blog turned up on Savethemorrisvilleschoolblogspot.com and comments from parents were fast and furious. They were ticked off.
That may have led to an email from Bill this morning, copied to all the majority board members, but not to Robin Reitmeyer and Joe Kemp, that he’d only met with DVH to learn more about how alternative schools work indicating that I’d jumped the gun and signaled to parents a worry where there shouldn’t be one. No talk of privatizing, says he.
No one knows if that’s true but Bill and Al Radosti. Farrell didn’t stay for the meeting. We’ll have to take the first two at their word.
More about my meeting with the fellas in my column on Monday.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 1:47 pm | |
As for a formal proposal? Let's make one and let it sit exposed to public scrutiny. The Emperor is unwilling to let anything he does be exposed to public scrutiny.
This Emperor? He is not clothed at all. He is a feeble mockery of a man.
Not so fast, Fratti
Last week, I met with Morrisville School Board President Bill Hellmann and members Al Radosti and Bill Farrell to understand better what changes they propose for the school district. The status quo, won’t cut it, they say. Morrisville is drowning in the cost of it all.
As I was leaving, the arrival of a representative for Delaware Valley High School was announced. I asked Bill Hellmann why he was meeting with DVH. He declined to comment.
You’ll recall that earlier this year DVH president Dave Shulick a Philadelphia attorney proposed privatizing MV High. Said he could do it for a fraction of the cost and could educate kids right in town. The school is best known for educating at-risk kids, but I was assured the school is accredited and experienced in regular education. Parent reaction to the offer was swift and negative. Prematurely negative, I think. I’d have like to have heard a formal proposal by DVH, but it wasn’t to be.
Intrigued by the meeting at Hellmann’s office now, I blogged about it to you. Looked like the presentation would be made not-so-formally first.
My blog turned up on Savethemorrisvilleschoolblogspot.com and comments from parents were fast and furious. They were ticked off.
That may have led to an email from Bill this morning, copied to all the majority board members, but not to Robin Reitmeyer and Joe Kemp, that he’d only met with DVH to learn more about how alternative schools work indicating that I’d jumped the gun and signaled to parents a worry where there shouldn’t be one. No talk of privatizing, says he.
No one knows if that’s true but Bill and Al Radosti. Farrell didn’t stay for the meeting. We’ll have to take the first two at their word.
More about my meeting with the fellas in my column on Monday.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 1:47 pm | |
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Student Farming Plan Back on the Agenda
It looks like last night's Morrisville High School class of 2008 is shaping up to be the next to last MHS class.
What is it with these two and what do they have against the Morrisville school system? Here's two bitter and angry men out for destruction. Remember the January board meeting where the Emperor even conceded that "he got it" and the community did not want the high school students tuitioned out?
Private Morrisville High?
Posted in News on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Continuing their investigation into privatizing Morrisville High School, school board directors Bill Hellmann and Al Radosti met with a Delaware Valley High School representative Tuesday afternoon.They seem to have given up hope of any merger with neighboring Pennsbury. So, by September 2009, some board members hope to have closed at least one grade school, maybe two, and consolidated all grades in the middle/senior high school building. That is unless, by then they’ve been able to tuition high-schoolers out to another district or to Delaware Valley High School at substantial reductions in cost per student. In that case, the current high school building would hold just K-8.
DVH is best known for educating at-risk kids, but President Dave Shulick has said it is accredited and experienced in regular education that could be provided in or near Morrisville.
What is it with these two and what do they have against the Morrisville school system? Here's two bitter and angry men out for destruction. Remember the January board meeting where the Emperor even conceded that "he got it" and the community did not want the high school students tuitioned out?
Private Morrisville High?
Posted in News on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm by Columnist Kate Fratti
Continuing their investigation into privatizing Morrisville High School, school board directors Bill Hellmann and Al Radosti met with a Delaware Valley High School representative Tuesday afternoon.They seem to have given up hope of any merger with neighboring Pennsbury. So, by September 2009, some board members hope to have closed at least one grade school, maybe two, and consolidated all grades in the middle/senior high school building. That is unless, by then they’ve been able to tuition high-schoolers out to another district or to Delaware Valley High School at substantial reductions in cost per student. In that case, the current high school building would hold just K-8.
DVH is best known for educating at-risk kids, but President Dave Shulick has said it is accredited and experienced in regular education that could be provided in or near Morrisville.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Emperor Speaks!
Thanks to the tipster regarding Kate Fratti's blog.
I couldn't find the BCCT editorial and Greta's guest opinion on line to see if any comments were posted. In fact most dates from the holiday weekend are not there. I think it's a CONSPIRACY!!!
Maybe conspiracy is a little over the top. Maybe. Who knows?
And Kate--can you get the editorial and Greta's guest opinion posted to phillyburbs.com?
I’m all ears
Today, I heard from Morrisville School Board President Bill Hellmann who invited me to sit down with him soon to talk about the challenges facing Morrisville and the board majority’s efforts to deal with them. Hellmann is a man of very few words, often decling comment even at public school board meetings. I’d asked him to simply explain his rationale for calling for serious cuts to spending on special education and alternative schooling. He’s proposed not funding nearly half of the increase in costs. Says the district has to draw a line somewhere. Some argue that what he’s proposing will never pass legal muster. I’ll let you know when we’re scheduled to talk.
I couldn't find the BCCT editorial and Greta's guest opinion on line to see if any comments were posted. In fact most dates from the holiday weekend are not there. I think it's a CONSPIRACY!!!
Maybe conspiracy is a little over the top. Maybe. Who knows?
And Kate--can you get the editorial and Greta's guest opinion posted to phillyburbs.com?
I’m all ears
Today, I heard from Morrisville School Board President Bill Hellmann who invited me to sit down with him soon to talk about the challenges facing Morrisville and the board majority’s efforts to deal with them. Hellmann is a man of very few words, often decling comment even at public school board meetings. I’d asked him to simply explain his rationale for calling for serious cuts to spending on special education and alternative schooling. He’s proposed not funding nearly half of the increase in costs. Says the district has to draw a line somewhere. Some argue that what he’s proposing will never pass legal muster. I’ll let you know when we’re scheduled to talk.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence ?
It doesn't take much to do a search where "Zero Tolerance" and "Zero Intelligence" appear very close to each other in published articles. Most of the time, these citations appear in the context of our schools where six-year-olds are suspended for innocent kisses or Eagle Scouts suspended because they accidentally left a rusted Scout knife in their pack or lost in the car trunk.
Today, Kate Fratti takes a look at an issue at a MHS student's freedom of speech rights balanced against the rights of the staff and administrators.
It's a tough call. But then again, aren't ALL of the teenage related decisions tough calls?
Kudos to Dr. Yonson and the rest of the staff. This was apparently a pretty sticky situation with a lot of extenuating circumstances and related baggage that had the potential to turn into an extremely serious situation.
What it really turned out to be was a typical high school student who was unhappy with the teachers, staff, and administration. What a shocking revelation. Even the "Back to the Future" movies caricatured Mr. Strickland the disciplinarian as a disliked high school fixture. How many of us can say we "liked" our high school teachers? (Yes, there were some we liked and respected, but for the most part, I know I thought of them as associate parents and nearly as annoying as the real thing.)
This student took it a step farther and created songs, burned them to CDs and started selling them. Extra credit points for the entrepreneurial spirit, but the execution of the business plan was not well thought out. Real people in the real world get fired when they use their employer's time and resources for personal gain. This was no different except that it was a high schooler who was using the "employer's" resources. Kids are notorious for not thinking things out fully.
It seems like the punishment here is severe but fits the crime. It's a bitter but reasonable ending for their high school career, and the future (college, etc) will not be effected, unless the students lets that happen.
CD stirs up trouble
Should a boy be allowed to write a song critical of adults running his high school and then produce a music CD with that song as its centerpiece?
Should he be allowed to sell said CD to classmates on school grounds? Isn't that the kind of entrepreneurial spirit adults should applaud?
Does your answer change if the CD lyrics are raunchy? What if they aren't just scandalous, but maybe slanderous, too? Like, what if the boy proclaims in lyrics that one administrator has been ... how can I say this delicately, because the singer did not ... uh, physically intimate with another?
Morrisville Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson says the boy had every right to sing what he thinks, and to lay it down on a CD for sale. You don't have to be old to exercise your right of free expression.
You do have to be old to see around corners, though.
The entertainer shot himself in the foot when he violated school policy by allegedly selling the CD on school grounds, even posting fliers that could have potentially exposed the district to liability for slander, Yonson said. What if it could be argued the CD amounted to a school-sponsored project?
The student cinched his undoing by violating another school policy, allegedly loading the CD onto a school computer to play it for other students. He'd signed a contract, as all the kids do, promising the computers would not be used for anything but school work.
His punishment?
The fledgling musician, a senior, has been suspended, and will not be permitted to participate in graduation ceremonies.
The suspension is pretty stiff. The boy will be allowed to complete his senior requirements, but it won't be at Morrisville during the regular school day. He'll likely be invited to do his work at the close of the regular day. His college of choice will not be notified of his recent troubles.
Case closed? Not yet.
Yonson was at a conference in Harrisburg Friday when she got phone calls from the high school telling her lots of kids disagreed with her stand. They planned to walk out of the school in protest of the musician's suspension.
click here!
Kids were informed that any who chose to walk out wouldn't be permitted to participate in sports or any other extracurricular.
“There are proper ways to protest, to have your position heard,” Yonson said. “Walking out of class isn't one of them.” Kids stayed put.
Case closed now?
Not so fast again.
Fueling kids' continued opposition to the musician's suspension, even this week, is by now a well-circulated rumor that another student brought an unloaded gun to school, threatened other kids' safety via a “hit list” on MySpace, but was merely suspended for 10 days.
No fair, kids argued. The musician was being persecuted because he dissed staff, while a kid packing heat got off easy.
Yonson says it's just not true.
Administrators investigated the rumor and found a case of whisper down the lane that reached parents who phoned her. There was no gun in school, administrators found — and no “hit list.”
Yonson did concede that recently a Neshaminy student — who was attending a Bucks County Intermediate Unit support class at Morrisville High — did verbally threaten a classmate. He's been expelled from Morrisville and returned to Neshaminy.
“If he was a Morrisville student, we'd have to deal with him. We don't,” she said.
Some worry the gun rumor was manufactured and fanned by kids close to their music-producing peer who needed an argument to rile other kids.
In the end, the mess had a lot of grownups singing the blues last week — parents, teachers, administrators — all trying to reason with and calm teenagers. No word on whether they'll produce a CD.
Today, Kate Fratti takes a look at an issue at a MHS student's freedom of speech rights balanced against the rights of the staff and administrators.
It's a tough call. But then again, aren't ALL of the teenage related decisions tough calls?
Kudos to Dr. Yonson and the rest of the staff. This was apparently a pretty sticky situation with a lot of extenuating circumstances and related baggage that had the potential to turn into an extremely serious situation.
What it really turned out to be was a typical high school student who was unhappy with the teachers, staff, and administration. What a shocking revelation. Even the "Back to the Future" movies caricatured Mr. Strickland the disciplinarian as a disliked high school fixture. How many of us can say we "liked" our high school teachers? (Yes, there were some we liked and respected, but for the most part, I know I thought of them as associate parents and nearly as annoying as the real thing.)
This student took it a step farther and created songs, burned them to CDs and started selling them. Extra credit points for the entrepreneurial spirit, but the execution of the business plan was not well thought out. Real people in the real world get fired when they use their employer's time and resources for personal gain. This was no different except that it was a high schooler who was using the "employer's" resources. Kids are notorious for not thinking things out fully.
It seems like the punishment here is severe but fits the crime. It's a bitter but reasonable ending for their high school career, and the future (college, etc) will not be effected, unless the students lets that happen.
CD stirs up trouble
Should a boy be allowed to write a song critical of adults running his high school and then produce a music CD with that song as its centerpiece?
Should he be allowed to sell said CD to classmates on school grounds? Isn't that the kind of entrepreneurial spirit adults should applaud?
Does your answer change if the CD lyrics are raunchy? What if they aren't just scandalous, but maybe slanderous, too? Like, what if the boy proclaims in lyrics that one administrator has been ... how can I say this delicately, because the singer did not ... uh, physically intimate with another?
Morrisville Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson says the boy had every right to sing what he thinks, and to lay it down on a CD for sale. You don't have to be old to exercise your right of free expression.
You do have to be old to see around corners, though.
The entertainer shot himself in the foot when he violated school policy by allegedly selling the CD on school grounds, even posting fliers that could have potentially exposed the district to liability for slander, Yonson said. What if it could be argued the CD amounted to a school-sponsored project?
The student cinched his undoing by violating another school policy, allegedly loading the CD onto a school computer to play it for other students. He'd signed a contract, as all the kids do, promising the computers would not be used for anything but school work.
His punishment?
The fledgling musician, a senior, has been suspended, and will not be permitted to participate in graduation ceremonies.
The suspension is pretty stiff. The boy will be allowed to complete his senior requirements, but it won't be at Morrisville during the regular school day. He'll likely be invited to do his work at the close of the regular day. His college of choice will not be notified of his recent troubles.
Case closed? Not yet.
Yonson was at a conference in Harrisburg Friday when she got phone calls from the high school telling her lots of kids disagreed with her stand. They planned to walk out of the school in protest of the musician's suspension.
click here!
Kids were informed that any who chose to walk out wouldn't be permitted to participate in sports or any other extracurricular.
“There are proper ways to protest, to have your position heard,” Yonson said. “Walking out of class isn't one of them.” Kids stayed put.
Case closed now?
Not so fast again.
Fueling kids' continued opposition to the musician's suspension, even this week, is by now a well-circulated rumor that another student brought an unloaded gun to school, threatened other kids' safety via a “hit list” on MySpace, but was merely suspended for 10 days.
No fair, kids argued. The musician was being persecuted because he dissed staff, while a kid packing heat got off easy.
Yonson says it's just not true.
Administrators investigated the rumor and found a case of whisper down the lane that reached parents who phoned her. There was no gun in school, administrators found — and no “hit list.”
Yonson did concede that recently a Neshaminy student — who was attending a Bucks County Intermediate Unit support class at Morrisville High — did verbally threaten a classmate. He's been expelled from Morrisville and returned to Neshaminy.
“If he was a Morrisville student, we'd have to deal with him. We don't,” she said.
Some worry the gun rumor was manufactured and fanned by kids close to their music-producing peer who needed an argument to rile other kids.
In the end, the mess had a lot of grownups singing the blues last week — parents, teachers, administrators — all trying to reason with and calm teenagers. No word on whether they'll produce a CD.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Crossposting to Kate Fratti
Kate recently updated her blog with entries on the hiring of Mike Fitzpatrick as solicitor, and the lack of quorum for the school board retreat. Please check it out and leave her some comments to let her know that we appreciate her hard work in keeping us all informed about what is happening here in the borough.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Mike Fitzpatrick is New Solicitor
Fitzpatrick named school board solicitor
[UPDATED May 7, 2008 3:30 P.M. Kate Fratti mentions this in her blog. I don't really agree with the sentiment, but I agree it's unfortunately a real and viable option. I still prefer the smaller district. That's what brought me and my family here in the first place.]
Former Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, an attorney with Begley Carlin and Mandio in Middletown, is the newest solicitor for the Morrisville School Board.
Fitzpatrick, a Middletown resident and former county commissioner, will replace Thomas Kelly of Media.
Kelly represented a prior school board, which had begun moving forward with plans to construct a new high school despite public outcry. The new board majority, which took office in December nixed that plan and recently defeased the bond lined up to pay for it.
Although this will be Fitzpatrick’s first time as a school board solicitor, the firm has a long tradition in that arena. Currently, it represents Bristol, Neshaminy, Bensalem, Centennial and Central Bucks school districts.
In 2006, Fitzpatrick lost his 8th district congressional seat to Democrat Patrick Murphy, and was expected to challenge Murphy to regain it this year. Instead, Fitzpatrick expressed interest in running against Democratic State Rep. Chris King. Not long after his announcement, Fitzpatrick declined saying a family health consideration demanded he stay closer to home. He returned to practice law full time after 12 years.
Other candidates for the solicitorship included Karen Quinn of Steif Gross Sagoskin Gilman and Classetti and Harry Glosser, a Morrisville attorney and former school board director.
Board members said they were counting on Fitzpatrick’s political connections and legislative experience to guide their way as they decide how to maintain or reorganize the small and financially beleaguered school system.
The law firm Curtin and Heefner recently finished its review of the district’s contract with school Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson. Some board members have expressed interest in reducing the duration of that 5-year agreement. No details of the Curtin and Heefner review have been released to the public yet.
[UPDATED May 7, 2008 3:30 P.M. Kate Fratti mentions this in her blog. I don't really agree with the sentiment, but I agree it's unfortunately a real and viable option. I still prefer the smaller district. That's what brought me and my family here in the first place.]
Former Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, an attorney with Begley Carlin and Mandio in Middletown, is the newest solicitor for the Morrisville School Board.
Fitzpatrick, a Middletown resident and former county commissioner, will replace Thomas Kelly of Media.
Kelly represented a prior school board, which had begun moving forward with plans to construct a new high school despite public outcry. The new board majority, which took office in December nixed that plan and recently defeased the bond lined up to pay for it.
Although this will be Fitzpatrick’s first time as a school board solicitor, the firm has a long tradition in that arena. Currently, it represents Bristol, Neshaminy, Bensalem, Centennial and Central Bucks school districts.
In 2006, Fitzpatrick lost his 8th district congressional seat to Democrat Patrick Murphy, and was expected to challenge Murphy to regain it this year. Instead, Fitzpatrick expressed interest in running against Democratic State Rep. Chris King. Not long after his announcement, Fitzpatrick declined saying a family health consideration demanded he stay closer to home. He returned to practice law full time after 12 years.
Other candidates for the solicitorship included Karen Quinn of Steif Gross Sagoskin Gilman and Classetti and Harry Glosser, a Morrisville attorney and former school board director.
Board members said they were counting on Fitzpatrick’s political connections and legislative experience to guide their way as they decide how to maintain or reorganize the small and financially beleaguered school system.
The law firm Curtin and Heefner recently finished its review of the district’s contract with school Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson. Some board members have expressed interest in reducing the duration of that 5-year agreement. No details of the Curtin and Heefner review have been released to the public yet.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Conspiracy?
There's almost always a grain of truth inside of the conspiracy theories. That puff of smoke on the grassy knoll and an inexperienced and harassed pathology team combined to provide us with forty five years of entertaining JFK conspiracy theories. There's even a great link for the Ten Wackiest Conspiracy Theories. (Numbers 5 and 9 were new to me.)Boldly ignoring the cyberspace "STOP" sign, Steve Worob has heedlessly plunged into the four way intersection of Fact and Fiction Lanes toward the ultimate destination of Wassup Dude?
The latest Insults instead of answers post is rather misspelled and awkwardly phrased. I find it entertaining that some of the people who most desperately want school standards would not be able to cut it in a ninth grade English class at Morrisville.
Why for God's sake would he ever use the name "Gould" in a written text? Ever? I wouldn't talk about Elliot Gould, Stephen Jay Gould, Gulden's Mustard, or the Gould Coast of Antarctica. Taking up his challenge to "Here’s a hint, just like here he never finished out his contract as superintendent. You can google his name with Allentown Morning Call if you feel my statement is leaking water.", I did just that.
On Monday [Feb 25, 2007], a new superintendent will take charge of the Northwestern Lehigh School District.
The Board of Education on Tuesday appointed Assistant Superintendent Susanne Meixsell to replace John Gould, who will assume a newly created position as the district's director of strategic initiatives. Meixsell will have a five-year contract.
A press release issued by the board said Gould, whose employment agreement would have expired June 30, 2008, will retire Jan. 16, 2008.
Wow. That was hard hitting, um, conclusive proof...of...what exactly? The only outrageous thing I saw was the fact that the new superintendent got a five year contract! That's scandalous! FIVE YEARS!! What school district would ever give a five year contract to a superintendent?
Oh. Sorry. My bad. [Shout-out to EHY: Keep up the good work!]
The whole statement itself is also a bit out there. I believe he's confusing one Jon for another for one thing. [Oh dear, I always get this mixed up. It's slander when it's spoken, and libel when it's written, right?] But,
28: First of all, high public offical is just an accurate description of the position and nothing more. No concete intended. And common people are regular hard working people. I put myself above no one. I’m about as blue collar as you can get. Some people will twist anything.
Kate, I didn’t think you’d have the courage to interview me. Nice excuses. But at least you get to keep your job now. Although I don’t usually read your colum, (It’s boring) it will be good to see your picture three times a week. Nice job defending your newspaper but you’re wrong again. You really should do some research before before spouting off about things you don’t know. You are a waste of time.
And Jon, oh my gosh it’s former school director Jon Franklin. I should have known but to tell the truth, I forgot all about you. You were quiet and went with the flow when you were on the board. Glad to see you’re finally speaking up 7 years later on the blog. Interesting how in one breath you believe I was guilty of malice but then you say “I believe that you believe it.” You contradict yourself Jon. Then you say “you describe things a lot differently than I remember.” Why don’t you say what these things are? Because you can’t. You don’t know anything about what happened and I didn’t see you in court. You my friend, were a self server enabler. You had blinders on and neglected to see the double billing, triple billing, and altered contracts. In fact, you enabled the thugs to spread like a cancer and wreak fiscal havoc elsewhere. Then, the students school store was even plundered. All this while the school lawyer was embellishing himself to the tune of $78,000 per year.And what about the wonderful Einstein Cyber Charter School that you favored? How many thousands of dollars were we out on that deal. Am I the only one who read the Nihill and Riedley forensic audit report on Einstein? Am I the only one who read the SEC report on the Dolphin and Bradbury Bond Company? Why do I torture myself like this? I guess it must be because I hold myself high above the common people, right Jon? You were an ardent supporter and enabler to the former superintendent. (The good doctor) Do you recall after he was Morrisville’s superintendent for over 4 years that “74% of the middle-senior high school and Grandview Elementary students performed at basic or below basic levels in math and 63% scored at basic or below basic in reading.” Do you think this could have been because the good doctor was to busy jetting around the country performing private/paid services for Classroom Conect and Interlink? You should know Jon, you approved the taxpayers paying for that. Do you remember in fact that the test results were so poor that even you became angry? I cite Courier Times news article of January 24, 2002, titled “Board hesitant to support project.” The project was the Rivers Bays and Ocean project that the good doctor and his gooooood friend Dawn wanted you to approve. I quote, “Board member Jon Franklin demanded a plan. “I think there needs to be a plan laid out for our kids to score better on tests. Is there a plan in place where administrators and teachers directly attack central elements that are leading to weaker scores?” Franklin said. “The district is in the process of developing a plan, Gould said. That was the one time i remember you speaking out. It was a flash in the pan Jon. Sorry, not good enough to make my book. Finally Jon, you were critical of the people who allegedly drove the good doctor out of Morrisville but did you happen to see how he performed at his next school district? Here’s a hint, just like here he never finished out his contract as superintendent. You can google his name with Allentown Morning Call if you feel my statement is leaking water. I could go on for hours telling things but that would spoil the book so finally Jon, keep up your good blog work for I believe you found your calling in life but do me one favor, when you criticize me and state that you “saw things differently,” please have the courage to state the examples IF YOU CAN.
Comment by:
Steve - 5.2.2008 at 12:26 am
Thursday, May 1, 2008
So, what’s next?
Good luck Kate! I've been asking that question for months now.
Here's hoping you have better luck.
So, what’s next
Word is the Morrisville School Board is considering hiring a new person to serve as facilities director for the district. It’s unclear whether the current maintenance supervisor would keep his job.
Friday the board will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the high school to hire a new solicitor. And then, there’s the superintendent’s job. Beth Yonson’s contract was sent out for review to the law firm of Curtin and Heefner last month. No official word on whether that review has been completed. Yonson has a five-year deal with the district. School board majority members have indicated they’d like that changed.
Thoughts?
Posted by Kate Fratti at 3:02 pm |
Here's hoping you have better luck.
So, what’s next
Word is the Morrisville School Board is considering hiring a new person to serve as facilities director for the district. It’s unclear whether the current maintenance supervisor would keep his job.
Friday the board will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the high school to hire a new solicitor. And then, there’s the superintendent’s job. Beth Yonson’s contract was sent out for review to the law firm of Curtin and Heefner last month. No official word on whether that review has been completed. Yonson has a five-year deal with the district. School board majority members have indicated they’d like that changed.
Thoughts?
Posted by Kate Fratti at 3:02 pm |
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
More Frattiness
Take a look at the recent blog posts made by BCCT columnist Kate Fratti. We talked about the Insults instead of answers entry [STS] [BCCT] previously. Now, she has two new entries, one complete with tin foil hat. I'm ruthlessly appropriating the photo because it's too good to pass up. I hope Kate, Mr. Fratti [possiprobably?], and the feline will approve. The furry one looks ticked off. Who would want to known as Le Chat Au Chapeau?
Kate: Thanks for keeping up with this. Morrisville really needs a change from the politics of fear.
Call me crazy: I’ve been at this job a very long time and I’ve been called a lot of names, accused of a lot of things. But never wide ranging conspiracy. Until now. Weird. Very weird.
Morrisville Councilman Stephen Worob first used this Web site to mock my full figure last week, (hey, I’m big boned!) and now claims in a post on this blog that this columnist was presented by him information and documents pertaining to questionable bond issues related to several school districts including Morrisville. AND that I’ve not reported on them because the banks, the newspaper, a beat reporter, a judge, lawyers, state and federal officials and the state school board association and I were in cahoots. The ultimate corruption. His theory is that we all risked our reputations, our careers, our personal integrity and credibility to block information Mr. Worob had about financing that was bad for schools and for kids.
Say what? How do you have a rational conversation about change in the borough with guys like this at the helm? No wonder regular people are so discouraged. Speak out and you can find yourself mocked (really, seriously I am big boned) or in the middle of a fictional book outline. I can speak about that now, first hand.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 3:20 pm |
Can’t get anything past this guy: Morrisville Councilman Stephen Worob, husband to school board director Brenda Worob professes to loathe this newspaper, but reads it and its phillyburbs.com bloggers faithfully, even contributes regularly to its op-ed pages.
His latest contribution was to its electronic pages in which he comments on my figure. This counts for discourse these days.
“Chubby cheeks” he calls me. Doesn’t mention which cheeks, but I have to concede, alas, that all of them fit the description. Guess his weight watching is easier than addressing issues that plague the school board and the borough. Not the least of which are gatherings of school officials at the Worobs’ home out of the eye of voters.
Worob accuses me and my chubby cheeks of digging up dirt in the borough. I haven’t really. The dirt I’ve reported on was surface dirt or dirt called in. But now he’s made me curious. What’s he so afraid I’ll find that he tries to embarrass me out of school board meetings? I’ll think more about it over my next cookie.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 4:05 pm |
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