Answers from John DeWilde.

Here's the second set of questions posed yesterday to school board candidate John DeWilde.

Next series of questions: Thank you for participating in this. Here is the first series of questions. This is a collection of six emails and comments so far

1. Why, as a candidate and resident, have you not seen the QSRE fliers that have your name on them? Why, as a candidate, do you not know the details of literature promoting your election to the school board?

2. Why do you believe it is acceptable to let proxies operate beyond your control and do the dirty work for you, and then claim ignorance on the details?

3. Who told you about the QSRE fliers? Did you distribute any of them yourself?

4. Are you currently employed as a Special Ed. teacher? If not, why not? When was the last time you were in front of a classroom with special ed students actively teaching the student(s)? Is your certification up to date and are you up to date with your continuing education? Because the special education field changes abruptly from year to year, do you feel you have the professional credentials to authoritatively comment on special education needs in 2009?

5. As a Board member, what is your view on student re-registration and will you be involved with the Board's initiatives to re-register students? Do you believe Morrisville schools are overrun with out of district students? Do you believe that the administration is not doing enough to address this issue?

6. Are you troubled by inaccurate statements and written comments by Marlys Mihok, QSRE, and others on your behalf? If so, what do you plan to do about it? If not, why?

A: Click here

Questions for John DeWilde

Dear John,

Someone alleging to be you has commented on the post "BCCT Voters Guide: School Board"

Please either contact me savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com or in another comment providing some sort of authentication that you are who you say you are and I can approve the comment.

I posted a comment from someone that was supposedly Graeme Thomson and apparently was not.

Update: John DeWilde has provided authentication and his comment will be posted. He has also agreed to answer some questions from the audience.

He even notes that passions are running high. After all, this is about our kids. Do not get between me and my kids. I promised I would keep things as cool as possible, so please pose your questions in the form of a question, like Jeopardy, but with fewer lit matches attached to the gallons of gasoline included in the question. Send them to savethemorrisvilleschool@yahoo.com or post as a comment and I'll pass them along.

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First question: Thank you very much for responding so quickly. I will post your response. Will you hold yourself open to having reasonable conversation with other commenters and posters here? I know some of us can go over the top and I will try to keep it issue oriented.

The first question I would ask is why do you allow the QSRE type of anonymous literature to go out? Do you approve of the "$3300.00 dollar tax increase prediction by Bill Hellmann, CPA" and "Jermaine doesn't pay taxes" fliers or can you back them up somehow?

JD: Yes I would be happy to have open and honest and reasonable conversations with other posters. I'll ignore anything inflammatory. Passions are running high right now.

I haven't seen any QSRE fliers, and that isn't a dodge. I have been told about them, but I don't know the details. I am going to ask Bill about his numbers though. I can't say yay or nay to his statement, but the bottom line is that if the school is built taxes will go up signifigantly.

My opinion is that if the facts aren't correct then don't print them. I saw the blog about the flier and I'd like to know how being a renter is relevant. Who hasn't rented before? He isn't paying home property taxes, but he is still paying taxes.

Someone posted on the blog that I have moving violations "so is this the type of person you want on the schoolboard"? Again what is the relevance.

Flame suit on....

STS: We've already noted this: The new school is dead. Claiming that a new school will be built if the Morrisville Pride candidates are elected is bogus at best, and is more properly an outright falsification.

Anyone else?

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Next series of questions: Thank you for participating in this. Here is the first series of questions. This is a collection of six emails and comments so far

1. Why, as a candidate and resident, have you not seen the QSRE fliers that have your name on them? Why, as a candidate, do you not know the details of literature promoting your election to the school board?

2. Why do you believe it is acceptable to let proxies operate beyond your control and do the dirty work for you, and then claim ignorance on the details?

3. Who told you about the QSRE fliers? Did you distribute any of them yourself?

4. Are you currently employed as a Special Ed. teacher? If not, why not? When was the last time you were in front of a classroom with special ed students actively teaching the student(s)? Is your certification up to date and are you up to date with your continuing education? Because the special education field changes abruptly from year to year, do you feel you have the professional credentials to authoritatively comment on special education needs in 2009?

5. As a Board member, what is your view on student re-registration and will you be involved with the Board's initiatives to re-register students? Do you believe Morrisville schools are overrun with out of district students? Do you believe that the administration is not doing enough to address this issue?

6. Are you troubled by inaccurate statements and written comments by Marlys Mihok, QSRE, and others on your behalf? If so, what do you plan to do about it? If not, why?

Defease The Emperor Poll

Thank you to everyone who contributed their vote to defease the Emperor.

The runaway winner was Robin Reithmeyer, formerly of the QSRE and running mate of the Emperor, and now an open dissenter of the Emperor's rule while still sharing the same dais with him. (I've heard of the doctored signs from the 2007 election where Robin's name is crossed off boldly, acknowledging her apostasy and heresy from the one true faith. Has anyone else heard about this or seen one?)

Joe Kemp came in second in this informal poll. Everyone else came in far behind these two.

Robin Reithmeyer: From Queen of the Q to...?? 20 40%
Joe Kemp: A principled no! 11 22%
Other... 6 12%
Ed Frankenfield: You still need a plan! 4 8%
Bill Hellmann: Don't mess with Bill! 3 6%
Brenda Worob: Two for one! You get Steve too! 3 6%
Marlys Mihok: Minutes? They take months! 3 6%
Al Radosti: You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. 0 0%
Bill Farrell: Email? 0 0%
Gloria Heater: Whatever Bill says! 0 0%

I do not agree with everything either of them have done. That doesn't matter. What matters is that each of them take the time to do the due diligence and the homework in the off hours that makes their time on the dais count. The Emperor and the Court of Toadies lack this ability to grow, reconsider, and independently evaluate. They slavishly follow one person, and this one person has a frozen view of reality. Following sheepishly is no way to go through life.

There were also several "other" votes. "Someone with a clue" was one. "A leader with vision and common sense" was another. Former board candidate Jon Perry also received one vote. All three are worthy.

Then there were a series of rather baffling votes pointed at the same two people that really left me rather confused and uneasy. They match a number of comments to postings that I have deleted rather than posting because they really didn't make sense. Yet the persistence of these comments over several months seems to point to some sort of truth. I'm not sure what to make of it all.

Yes, I've been vague and non-specific and I'm beating around the bush. Would the person(s) who have been making these comments please let me in on the secret? You can comment to this post anonymously and just note "do not publish" if you're more comfortable with that.

Just Another Night in Morrisville, Part II

When we last left our story, an open insurrection was beginning against the autocratic rule of the Emperor. The members of the Q in the audience were aghast at her insolence. The Emperor himself was rocked and resorted to babbling semi-coherently about school safety issues.

But before we visit this storyline, let's take a look at the delivery of the Q-gram last weekend that was discussed by several speakers. For some bizarre reason, it was disclosed that pictures are taken of the houses that receive a Q-gram. Do me a favor and leave me off the distribution list.

The shocking revelation that the class of 2008 did poorly on the mathematics section of the PSSA was not shocking. The only people that were shocked were the dilettantes who bungee in to piously shed mock public tears about our education woes and then obliviously bungee out again until the next pseudo-crisis arises.

I am as disappointed in the math score as anyone is, but the truth of the matter is that real watchers and supporters of the Morrisville school district knew this already, because they were briefed by Dr. Beth Yonson.

The percentile scores for the class of 2008 were 28% scoring proficient or higher in mathematics. In reading, it was 58%. In writing, it was 86%. We have work to do in math, but it looks like the reading and writing scores are pretty good.

There was also a speaker who did an analysis of the complete scores for the entire state. Again, while the math scores were disappointing, they were not wildly out of synch with the rest of the state.

Kudos to Robin Reithmeyer, who had the audacity to openly proclaim that the Emperor had no clothing. She laid out her case rather well (does anyone have a copy of her statement?) and had several pointed exchanges with His Highness.

Then came the insurrection. Robin pointed put that the Emperor was trying to spend money without a comprehensive plan, and that if he has allowed the original December RFP for bids to have gone out without meddling with it, the board would be reviewing the bids already, not just the process. She also properly noted that the items listed as code violations are longstanding items that are grandfathered in. She further noted that the bids will be opened next week and spending the money now without a plan was foolish.

My understanding is that the Emperor melted down quite like the Wicked Witch of the West when Dorothy doused her. He babbled about fires in the school and how the children were in danger.

Isn't it curious how these same items existed last year and candidate Hellmann didn't want them addressed, and now that he's holding on to personal responsibility for it, he's the Mother Theresa of repairs?

The $200,000 in repairs only covered the high school, not the two elementary schools. These schools are even worse off than the high school.

Speaking of the elementary schools, The Emperor arranged for his buddies to do another study, this time at the elementary schools. This time, he even managed to mention it to the board before the study started.

Both of these items failed to be approved, by a 3-3 tie, with Hellmann, Worob and Farrell wanting to plunge along without a plan, and Reithmeyer, Kemp, and Frankenfield wanting a comprehensive plan. **NOTE ADDED: I should mention that Bill Farrell has a deep and genuine interest in the safety of the schools and the students, and I believe that he is more interested in safe schools "right now" so that our kids are safe.**

On another note, I don't understand all of this, so if someone has the info, please share, but apparently Hellmann has a serious personal issue with the banking institution holding the district's money. A move out of here was not approved as well.

Then came the revelation that Billy-Boy stuck his hand in the cookie jar. Again.

More to come.

So what's the cost of ignorance?

I have to admit, Mr. Stout has a point in one area. $2 million was spent on feasibility studies and reports and research. That's called "due diligence." The Emperor can do it for $2500 single handedly.

Why does it matter if it happened yesterday, a week, a month, a year, or a decade ago? Did it happen? If it did, Angry Al should be held responsible. If it didn't, the false accusers should be held responsible. End of story. That's a responsible and mature response. Why would you want to hide anything about this issue?

The source of the "allegations" are the sore losers from the last election and political opponents of Angry Al. OK. So? Does that make anything that has been said less truthful?

Again with the false $22,000 per student figure. That is the TOTAL school budget divided by the TOTAL number of students. That is not the total taxpayer cost. Grants and other "free" money not paid for by the taxpayers of Morrisville are part of the budget. This is a classic propaganda move. Repeat the lie until it becomes truth. Be a careful and critical reader, especially when "truth" is presented. This is the first step in combating ignorance.

Another classic propaganda move: see how neatly the two issues (Angry Al and John Jordan, and the sore losers regarding school) are neatly bunched together for comparison? If you are against the "sore losers", you're against Jordan and for Radosti. Nicely done, but they do not equate. They are all separate issues. You can be for or against the school, for or against Angry Al, for or against Jordan, and even for or against anything.

You know what? Every adult that spouts off about the failure rate of the students should be required to have their opinion license revoked until THEY take the same tests. Let's see how they do. I'll take the tests anytime. How about you? While we're at it, let's all take this 8th grade test.

Incidentally, take a look at how Washington works to see how ridiculous some of these assertions are. If you're for the investigation du jour, "the American people demand answers and an investigation is needed." If you're against it, "these baseless allegations should be put aside so that we can get back to the work of the American people." It's all useless hypocritical rhetoric on both sides.

Just let the whole truth be told. What are we afraid of...the truth?



Morrisville cannot afford costly school system

Regarding the Courier Times stories about Morrisville school board member Al Radosti and allegations from NAACP President John Jordan that Radosti used a racial slur, apparently, more than two years ago:

The sources for these stories are the disgruntled losers of the last school board election and the political rivals of Al Radosti.

It was more than two years ago when lame duck school director John Jordan defied the town's majority by voting to build a new $30 million school that most did not want or could not afford.

So where was Jordan when over $2 million was squandered on architects, bankers and lawyers on the ill fated school plan? Where was his concern when three out of every four graduates of the Morrisville School District failed at math and reading on their state assessment tests and costs soared to over $22,000 per student?

Morrisville is a beautiful and culturally diverse town that's been free of racial tension but we simply cannot afford the current school system. We don't need Jordan and his allegations stirring the pot.

Ronald Stout
Morrisville

The QSRE Stirs...

Like the mythical Kraken or our counterpart known as Godzilla, the QRSE is awakening from their triumphal post-electoral slumber.

When we last left the Q, they were sitting contentedly at the table of power and basking in the afterglow of victory. They trumpeted their victory to the right wing no-tax fringe. They even got their Vice President, Ed Bailey, self-appointed to a position as a shadow board member.

Now it seems that there's a new group in town to challenge their propaganda. I've heard rumors of something for a while now, but nothing that I could point to. Apparently the Q have heard this too, and have decided to make this group the new target of their propaganda.



Let's take a look at this flyer. If I am wrong on any of these items, please let me know and I will correct them.

A-Field sale: I have not heard any board members state outright that the A-Field will not be sold. What is your source? Who said this and when?

Sell the Magic Cottage: Perhaps, but you mean that you are NOT open to selling assets when we need to raise money? You would prefer to hold onto the Magic Cottage (and I do not know the particulars of this deal anyway, so if anyone would care to fill in the details...) and have extra taxation rather than selling an under-performing asset and bringing back the money to help the budget?

No names: This group is probably in its infancy and still organizing. I'm in no position to argue about anonymity, but I would imagine that when they are ready, they will appear.

You stand behind what you say? Great. Let me go over your flyers to see, but the big thing that strikes me is your opposition to school uniforms. Uniforms were evil under Sandy Gibson, according to one of your flyers, but now suddenly they're OK with Emperor William Hellmann CPA?

You do not have to pay off the $23 million: What a crock! Yes you do! The money is borrowed. We have to pay on it. What you mean to say is that the money is being taken out of its current parking place, placed in a series of investment instruments designed to pay off the bondholders every six months as scheduled. Allegedly your tax millage will go down. Why don't YOU ask the Emperor to show us how much the taxes will go down? He doesn't respond to anyone who is not slavishly dedicated to his ego.

There will be 7 million dollars to rehab our schools: While that is a slightly inflated figure (even the Emperor is using six million as the figure), how far will that go, especially when the 2005 feasibility study suggested that $14 million was needed just for the high school alone?

They kept their promise and stopped the school: Yes. They did.

First time a town has been able to hold back a project: Yes. You did. And Morrisville is the worse off for you having done so.

The best education possible: Sure. In Pennsbury, Bristol, or wherever you can auction our kids off to. Don't you get it? The small school district is exactly what brings people to Morrisville.

Input from all the residents: So do we speak at the secret executive sessions or speak really fast in the 45 minute timeframe allowed by our benevolent dictator?

Isn't it interesting that the Emperor and Hellmann's Heroes hide behind these people rather than stating things openly and clearly at board meetings or even in answering resident emails and questions?

Anyone else?

Shoe on the Other Foot?

Congratulations to Ed Bailey, lately of the QSRE and now a member of the Morrisville School Board, replacing...um...replacing...um...

Wait a minute...when did he get elected? Or appointed? Who is he replacing?

In any event, Ed has provided the LOL Of The Day. We have been warned! Propaganda is effective only when the QSRE/Stop the School people are using it and it is disloyal and unAmerican when used against those same people.

By the way, my algebra skills show that $500,000 over 13 years, considering a student educated from K to 12 in Morrisville comes out to $38,461 per year. Is this the new propaganda based number we should we be using?

I'm also intrigued by Mr Bailey's insistence in infringing my civil rights to speak out.

Considering all options

In the Jan. 12 article, “Mixed reaction to outsourcing idea,” the reporter mistakenly refers to a “proposed transfer plan” for Morrisville High School students. No proposal is under consideration; rather, the school board is researching possible ways of providing quality education while controlling costs.

Our district is currently spending about $500,000 for every student that it graduates. Yet because of our small size, the high school curriculum is necessarily limited.

Perhaps outsourcing is not the solution for our struggling district, but let's get as many options on the table as possible. Every option will have its pros and cons, and whatever we choose, we will have to accept trade-offs. We are already accepting trade-offs even if we are not aware of them; we need to assess our options to find out what opportunities we are missing.

Those of you who supported the K-12 school need to end your propaganda war against the school board if you want your wishes to be considered. If you can only deliver 350 votes, and nothing the school board does can please you, why should they bother?

Ed Bailey
Morrisville school board

The People Are Ticked!

Today I thought I would share the contents of the mailbag with everyone. Many people blind copied me on letters that were sent to the board members, the superintendent, and the Courier Times. A few did grant permission to publish excepts here and I appreciate their openness.

It appears that the people of Morrisville are generally cranky about this rather bizarre and underhanded desperation move by the Stop the School board members. Stop the School didn't mean Close the School.

Just a reminder: the next meeting is in the MHS LGI room on January 23, 2008 at 7:30 P.M. However, my Crystal Ball tells me a larger venue will be needed.

On to the mailbag...

Letter 1: I am firmly and vigorously against your plan to "Farm Out" our students to Conwell-Egan or to any religious based school. Any tax payer dollars going to a religious based institution is a violation of the US Constitution.

I am a Roman Catholic, a taxpayer, and a parent; but I am an American first, and I believe that this scheme is nothing but an attempt to starve the Morrisville School District out of existence.

Letter 2: Oh and this point: We are the candidates that pledge to work together with the parents and residents, in an open and honest partnership in the best interest of our children’s education. Where was the working together with parents and residents when deciding to farm out the children? Perhaps PLEDGE means something different to me….again I must check the dictionary. While I am at it, I will look up OPEN and HONEST as well.

With your help we pledge:

to provide a quality education for our children. By making the students share books?
a curriculum that will enable our children to achieve proficiency on the PSSA tests and academic excellence.
state of the art technology for grades K through 12. Will we be busing the state of the art technology with the 9th-12th graders? We made need a bigger bus!
a financial management plan to assure every possible dollar goes into educational programs and materials and stops waste. Again, by sharing books?

Letter 3: I have not bought a home in Morrisville to take advantage of the small school system only to see my children bused ridiculous distances to a school where they will be outcasts.

I admit that removing high school students from the mix is certainly a novel way to raise the test scores in 11th grade.

Brainstorming is a wonderful tool. It exposes the stupid ideas rather quickly. Publicly, quickly, now, expose this stupid idea and abandon it.

Telephone Numbers

I was going through some old documentation here and I was struck by a telephone number. You know, something like 867-5309 or Pennsylvania 65000.

I was looking through an old Stop the School brochure and I noticed the telephone number 215-295-2900 listed as a place where the Stop the School people would tirelessly answer the phone and get you a voter registration form. I even blogged this back a month ago and never did this search. So I Googled the number. Imagine what I found.



Did the Historic Morrisville Society make an illegal campaign contribution to the Stop the School candidates by providing this service?

The NEXT Ten Words

For fans of "The West Wing", Josiah Bartlet accidentally buzzed on medications is still a better president than most of his 42 real life brethren. We can talk later on about comparisons between Josiah Bartlet and William Hellmann CPA.

Here's President Bartlet about to wipe the proverbial floor with his opponent, Florida Governor Robert Ritchie (played by Mr Barbra Streisand himself, James Brolin) in the final presidential debate.

Video or Script

MODERATOR
Governor Ritchie, many economists have stated that the tax cut, which is centerpiece of your economic agenda, could actually harm the economy. Is now really the time to cut taxes?

RITCHIE
You bet it is. We need to cut taxes for one reason-- the American people know how to spend their money better than the federal government does. [Ed Note: Didn't some president of the Morrisville Board of Education say pretty much the same thing?]

MODERATOR
Mr. President, your rebuttal.

BARTLET
There it is. That's the ten-word answer my staff's been looking for for two weeks. There it is. Ten-word answers can kill you in political campaigns. They're the tip of the sword. Here's my question: What are the next ten words of your answer? Your taxes are too high? So are mine. Give me the next ten words. How are we going to do it? Give me ten after that, I'll drop out of the race right now. Every once in a while... every once in a while, there's a day with an absolute right and an absolute wrong, but those days almost always include body counts. Other than that, there aren't very many un-nuanced moments in leading a country that's way too big for ten words. I'm the President of the United States, not the President of the people who agree with me.

So school board Stop the Schoolers: Give us the next ten words that come after these items and tell us how we're going to do it:

Stop the School [and then...? how?]
Lower the taxes [and then...? how?]
Refurbish a fifty year old building [and then...? how?]
Cut all the sports [and then...? how?]
Sell Grandview, Reiter, and the A-Field [and then...? how?]
Send the high school students to another district [and then...? how?]

Stop being the school board members that represent the people who agree with you. Become the school board members for Morrisville.

Dear William Hellmann CPA, Angry Al, Ducky, Captain Algebra, and the rest of the No-Sports League: This is a breaking newsbrief to get through your heads. You...ALL of you...work for me. You work for the QRSE people too. You work for the kindergarteners, the high school seniors, AND the senior citizens. You are public servants, and have donned the mantle of a servant of the people, not the imperial purple.

So far I am not impressed. Yes, you will defease the 30 million dollar bond issue; yes, you might even bring the budget down (although there were a lot of weasel words from William Hellmann CPA about the actual millage decrease, citing teacher pension contributions, and debt service); yes, you might even bully Beth Yonson and Reba Dunford out of office (after last night if either of them ever trust any one of you NSNs again, it would be foolish!) and arrange for less-talented sycophants to take their positions (but hardly replace them!): you will also probably succeed in re-engineering the Six Million Dollar Marshmallow Stuffed High School Shell, but once the dust settles, WHAT'S NEXT??

All of the NSNs have all consistently ducked this part of the question. So, my fellow Morrisvillians, I ask you now...step up to the microphone during the public sessions, ask your hard questions, and then before you walk away, make sure to say, "What are the next ten words of your answer? Give me the next ten words. Tell us how you are going to do it." Prediction: Silence or weasel words will prevail, because revealing the plan isn't their style.

You Never Know What Google Can Find

A brief history of the Morrisville School District, by a guest blogger. I think it's so wonderful that a public servant like the comptroller of Morrisville worked so diligently with the QRSE people to ensure a brighter future for all. Does anyone know who this angel of compassionate mercy is?

I also never knew that our high school, built in 1957, actually met the code requirements of the 1960s. Big, big bravos to our time traveling architects and engineers. (Just for fun, does anyone know which public buildings were our official "Duck and Cover, Kiss Your Butt Goodbye" Cuban Missile Crisis shelters?) Ditto about the evil BCCT who never sees things the same way as these enlightened individuals.

I like the comparison to caring about the senior's medications but not caring about the kids. The technical term for this is "cognitive dissonance." Really. It is.

We also need to have a lesson in the use of apostrophe's when it's a plural and when it's a possessive. I can hear teachers across the commonwealth crying out in pain as they read this amateurish writing.

I feel like something is missing through. More than just the period at the end of the last sentence, or even a completion to the thought. But, sadly, that's where this heartfelt missive ends. Just as we're getting to the good

Taxpayer Successes in Pennsylvania School Districts

This letter is from Sharon Hughes, President of Morrisville Citizens for Quality, Responsible and Safe Education, Inc.
Tonight , Tuesday, 12/4/07, in Morrisville six candidates were sworn in as school board directors who represent the people of this community.It may take a moment to explain.
The state of Pa. recommended that Morrisville consolidate our three schools because we only have 900 students in our entire system and they would all fit in our existing high school with some modifications. But, our school board announced on September 28, 2005, that they wanted to tear down all three of our schools and build a new K-12 School at a cost of $28 Million dollars. (We believe that the actual cost would have been at least one-third higher had the numbers been honest. This belief is based on what the costs are to build schools in other districts in Lower Bucks County.) Our buildings were sound, but our systems, (electric, plumbing, etc.) were shot. Our high school was built to such high specifications in the 1960s that it was our towns designated bomb shelter. Bink Architects were hired on what I consider a very amateurish Feasibility Study that bears no resemblance to the school that was finally settled on.
Morrisville pays the highest taxes in Bucks County already, and this new school would put many of our citizens into tax sales.
Six weeks later on November 16, 2005, the board voted to float a $30 Million bond for the new K-12 School. At this point our group, Morrisville Citizens was born. We were turned down by every law firm in town to represent us. We then hired a law firm from Philadelphia, Robert Sugarman and Associates, to represent Morrisville Citizens. Bob Sugarman's first sentence after we explained the precarious tax situation that this bond put Morrisville's people into was, "That means that seniors will not be able to afford their medicine." Bob is a Godsend to Morrisville, and one very excellent lawyer.
Hiring a lawyer was not inexpensive. We still need to fundraise to pay our bill. But, in the first year of holding off the bond we saved the people of Morrisville about one million dollars because the interest rates for municipal bonds went down in that year.
He fought for us for two solid years and never once wavered in his dedication to our cause although there is really no way to stop a school board. He tried every legal way he could, even taking our case to the Supreme Court of the state of Pennsylvania only to be told they would not look at the case.
Two school board members who voted for the new school were lame ducks and left in Nov. 2005. Three more school board members resigned in the two months after the vote to build. The first to leave was the school board treasurer. I think they all knew about the reality or unreality of the numbers and got out before things got too hot. The three new hand picked board members voted pro school all the way.
Morrisville Citizens for Quality, Safe, Responsible Education met every Sunday night for over a year, and every other Sunday night for the next year. We were blessed early on when the comptroller for Morrisville looked at the numbers and realized what this new tax burden would do to our town and he worked with our lawyer for the entire two years at no charge looking at the financial problems with the plan. We found a member who printed tens of thousands of flyers for us for free. We found dedicated people who took over 3,000 flyers out every time we needed to communicate with the town. This was our only voice as the local newspaper was exclusively the voice for the school board. We brought facts and figures to the school board at every meeting only to be met by condescending attitudes and downright rude responses about us not caring about the children's education. The school board president told us that "schools do educate children", therefore a new school would educate our students better.
We wrote to and spoke with to the governor's office, local state representatives and senators, with PDE reps, the auditor general, Carle Dixon and numerous others who all said the same thing, "School Board's can pretty much do what they want to do !" "You elected them."
Our school board tried to sell two of our existing schools to a developer although they were still being used. The district would have rented back the schools until the new school was built. This was to force the hand of the new school board so they would have to build the new school.
We plowed on and held out until we were able to have our slate of six candidates take all six spots in both the democratic and the republican spaces in the May Primaries.
But the school board wasn't through. They established a new state political party.,"The community Party" in order to get onto the ballot in November. The school board president accused one of the new school board members of threatening her children

Look into the Crystal Ball

One of the things I love about history is how it repeats. George Santayana said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Bernard Shaw wryly noted in his corollary, "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history."

We see that it's not the exact occurrences that keep repeating: JFK will never be president again, but there are presidents like Clinton (Bill, not Hillary) who are Kennedyesque, evoking memories of JFK. Napoleon will never again be defeated by the Russian winter, but Hitler went and tried just to be sure.

So where am I going with this? Well, I'm going to apply my crystal ball and soothsaying skills to see how the next four years are going to turn out.

A) Paging Dr. Yonson: I apologize that you came to work in a school district with erratic elected officials. Like several of your predecessors, I see the superintendent's chair again being vacant. Note for the new board: There is a reason why George Steinbrenner has not written a book on management. Repeated firing and hiring is not an accepted way to foster faith and trust. The John Gould witch hunt was farcical and I can hardly wait to see who is going to spearhead the jihad against Dr. Yonson. (BTW: Anyone know the outcome of the John Gould lawsuit against Councilman and school board spouse Worob?) UPDATED Nov 25: Sorry for the delay, but this was obtained from a cracked crystal ball. Dr Yonson received a new five year contract, despite the opposition from the NSNs.

Issue: Superintendent's new contract

Vote: Approved 6-3 with Heater, Radosti and Worob opposed

Impact: Salary will be $130,000 for the first year of the new, five-year contract, effective July 1.

B) Karma: What goes around, comes around. You reap what you sow. Do you remember how Sandy Gibson ran on a ticket with the NSNs four years ago? When she looked at the facts and the studies, and came to the realization that building a new school was a regrettable, but necessary move, the NSNs began a virtual jihad against her. And now the bogey-woman is gone. She and all her "minions" have been removed. (Sounds like all the Jedi Knights have just been killed, doesn't it? Should we cue the Vader march?)

But let's look six months down the line. What happens to one of the more thoughtful NSNs (I'm assuming a lot, but work with me, OK?) when they reach the realization that Sandy was right! After recovering from the faint on the floor, how will they approach the Evil Empire? What happens when the promised tax savings do not materialize and the people revolt? How will the "new" board react when someone hands THEM stuffed lame ducks? (I imagine the duck woman will be the first to speak out against it!) The reprehensible tactics used by the QSRE group and the Stop the School people against opponents will come back to haunt them. Can you imagine these board NSNs month after month being harangued from the floor by the people who elected them? How long before Angry Al cracks under pressure?

C) The Hubbert Peak: What does something about oil depletion have to do with the school board? Plenty. Simply stated, this theory charts oil depletion saying that the first 50% of oil extracted from the ground is the easiest to take and the best quality available. We can debate the merits of the argument of oil reserves, but the theory itself is fairly reasonable.

I am sure that they can find something to cut that will be able to be endured and/or accepted without major hardship to students, staff, or physical plant. I'm guesstimating that most of the cuts that can be made "painlessly" have been made, or will be made shortly by the new regime. That's the first 50%, the "easy" 50%...But then comes the question:

"What's Next?" ™

Here is where Captain Algebra and the No Sports League come to the rescue, slashing the math department, gutting the history department, eradicating the athletics department, doubling the price of lunches, and whatever else they can do to cut costs and raise money. Maybe charge the kids for each hall pass? "Sorry, Bobby. You were absent yesterday. Thank you for your note, but you forgot the five dollar fee to process it." Yes, this is an absurd list of things, but let's ask what actually IS on their list?

I have this fantasy wish, that I could be in the room when the seven NSN board members are sitting there and the Oh-No Second hits. That's been variously described as the infinitesimal fraction of time between slamming the door and remembering the car keys are inside, or the time you hit "send" on the private message but realise you really hit "reply all." This will be the time that they realise that governing is harder than campaigning and that they are in a very deep swamp of doo-doo. Which leads to...

D) Depletion. Before the year 2008 is over, at least one of these NSNs will resign because they couldn't take it. It will mean nothing because a willing lackey will be put in their place. But it's on my list of predictions.

Anyone out there care to add to the list?