To the utter surprise of, well, no one, John "Jack" Buckman, formerly of the Morrisville School Board and formerly of the Borough Council, is once again, a school director.
Vacancy filled by former board member
By ELIZABETH FISHER
The Morrisville school board on Thursday night appointed John Buckman, a former board member and a former councilman, to replace board member Ed Frankenfield, who died May 28.
Board members Alfred Radosti, Bill Hellman, Brenda Worob, Bill Farrell and Marlys Mihok voted for Buckman; Joseph Kemp and Robin Reithmeyer voted no.
Buckman was previously on the school board from 1987 to 1991. At the time, he did not run for a second term. He also served on the Morrisville council for several years.
Four other residents had sent resumes expressing interest in taking, including former borough police Chief Victor Cicero, currently a substitute teacher in the district.
Each candidate underwent 15 minutes of scrutiny, offered a statement and answered questions from board members. Buckman said his main concerns centered on money — an important issue in the cash strapped school district — and quality education.
“I’d like to keep the taxes down as much as possible while inspiring the kids,” he told the board.
Suggestions from the candidates included pressuring Harrisburg to come up with more school funding and adding muscle to their demands by forming coalitions with other local school boards.
Buckman’s appointment didn’t go through without friction. Reithmeyer objected to inclusion of candidates whose resumes were received after the 9 a.m. June 13 deadline.
Buckman’s and Cicero’s resumes were among those that missed the deadline.
“Why do we have deadlines?” asked Reithmeyer. “It’s a bad precedent. In the future, if the deadline is 9 a.m., and if they have to be [turned in] at the school district, we should adhere to the rules.”
Buckman’s and Cicero’s applications were dropped off at Chairman Bill Hellman’s office and did not reach the office until after 10 a.m.
District Solicitor Mike Fitzpatrick intervened, saying board members could nominate anyone, even someone who did not submit a letter, up to the time the vote was taken.
Worob, who nominated Buckman, was pleased. “I was persuaded by the fact that Jack had been on the school board in the past and was very productive. He’s a caring person and has a lot of integrity. I feel he is the right person to replace Mr. Frankenfield.,
Showing posts with label integrity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label integrity. Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Not a Tony Winning Performance
The BCCT today again recognized that the Emperor is running a one man show. Unlike the folksy Mark Twain of Hal Holbrook, or the spot on Ebenezer Scrooge by Patrick Stewart, the world of William Hellmann, CPA, Emperor of Education, is far less entertaining. It is a dark and sinister place. His penchant for sharp and divisive activity, especially where none was needed, has been played out time after time.
"Let's speed this up." "Vote now." "I'm tired of all this." "Let's move on." "Your time is up." The schools director who is for the taxpayer. Isn't that a rather ironic slice of life? All through literature, we find the story of the guy on the wrong side of things. Through experiences, they find the right side, move over, and there's a happy ending. Not so here.
I do take issue with the use of the word virtuoso in the editorial below. The connotation of that word is rather exemplary, defining someone with exceptional and unique talents. We're all unique. It's what we do that is a moral issue. It is often an innocent progression, which leads unexpectedly to other, possible nasty, uses.
There's still a way out. A reader already suggested a way that the board members themselves can begin to clean up the mess quickly, quietly, and without a monetary cost.
I can't **RECALL** another way to handle this myself...
While I do not think that the Emperor is capital "E" Evil personified (think Hitler and Stalin), his obvious inability to work and play well with others is a small "e" evil that does need to be addressed.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Evil is nourished and grows by concealment." - Virgil
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil." - Max Lerner
"Of two evils, choose neither." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
One-man band
Multiple heads are better than one.
Morrisville school board President William Hellman is very smart and very capable. He thinks big and has lots of ideas.
Problem is he’s a one-man band. Nobody else on the board gets to play along. At least that’s the way it appears.
Thus, a stunning and divisive proposal to simply dissolve the high school and pay for students to be educated in other districts shows up as a formal proposal. No public debate by board members. No input from citizens.
Maybe Hellmann’s plan is the best thing for the struggling district, its overburdened taxpayers and, most importantly, the students. And maybe shutting the borough’s two elementary schools and uniting them at a renovated high school is a great solution, too — another of Hellman’s big ideas.
It’s just that other board members, as elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, ought to be part of the planning process.
We strongly urge the borough’s virtuoso board president to share the spotlight.
"Let's speed this up." "Vote now." "I'm tired of all this." "Let's move on." "Your time is up." The schools director who is for the taxpayer. Isn't that a rather ironic slice of life? All through literature, we find the story of the guy on the wrong side of things. Through experiences, they find the right side, move over, and there's a happy ending. Not so here.
I do take issue with the use of the word virtuoso in the editorial below. The connotation of that word is rather exemplary, defining someone with exceptional and unique talents. We're all unique. It's what we do that is a moral issue. It is often an innocent progression, which leads unexpectedly to other, possible nasty, uses.
There's still a way out. A reader already suggested a way that the board members themselves can begin to clean up the mess quickly, quietly, and without a monetary cost.
I can't **RECALL** another way to handle this myself...
While I do not think that the Emperor is capital "E" Evil personified (think Hitler and Stalin), his obvious inability to work and play well with others is a small "e" evil that does need to be addressed.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Evil is nourished and grows by concealment." - Virgil
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil." - Max Lerner
"Of two evils, choose neither." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
One-man band
Multiple heads are better than one.
Morrisville school board President William Hellman is very smart and very capable. He thinks big and has lots of ideas.
Problem is he’s a one-man band. Nobody else on the board gets to play along. At least that’s the way it appears.
Thus, a stunning and divisive proposal to simply dissolve the high school and pay for students to be educated in other districts shows up as a formal proposal. No public debate by board members. No input from citizens.
Maybe Hellmann’s plan is the best thing for the struggling district, its overburdened taxpayers and, most importantly, the students. And maybe shutting the borough’s two elementary schools and uniting them at a renovated high school is a great solution, too — another of Hellman’s big ideas.
It’s just that other board members, as elected representatives of the people, and the people themselves, ought to be part of the planning process.
We strongly urge the borough’s virtuoso board president to share the spotlight.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
And to Think I Was Worried About PAPA Bear...
There are days when I truly wonder if anyone is reading. Once that "post" button is pressed, do my posts go anywhere? Does anyone read them?
Then one of you go and remind me that, yes, there is someone out there. Thanks, Mother Bear. Thank you for the thoughtful and reflective essay. You have truly made my day. Please make sure that you put in your application for the school board. You would be a worthy successor to Ed Frankenfield.
Parents: Your last opportunity to make a difference in YOUR child's education is here. Remain silent, and Morrisville High School closes its doors for good. The high schoolers are farmed out and we become a K-8 district. Is that what you want?
I've noticed we've all been a bit quiet lately - stunned perhaps? I wrote the following opinion/long rant if you are interested in posting it. I'd prefer to remain anonymous at least for now.
Opinion:
There has been much buzz about what lies in the future for Morrisville students. Parents are worried, young teens working toward future goals are anxious, not knowing what lies ahead, where they will be attending school next year or the year after. The board majority has been nothing but grossly disrespectful of the population it was elected to serve -- the students. [NOTE: This is where the root of the problem lies. The Emperor believes his constituency is the taxpayers, not the students. All of you who voted for the Stop the School people: Do you believe the same thing? The correct answer is that his constituency is MORRISVILLE: Child, Student, Taxpayer, and Seniors. Even if you do not have a child or grandchild in this school system directly, you probably have nieces or nephews or grandchildren in other districts. Would you be comfortable trusting their education to William Hellman, CPA, Emperor of Education? LOL--I didn't think so. So why is it OK for the Morrisville students? Stop concentrating entirely on your wallet and consider the long term effects of what this plan will do.]
Board President Bill Hellmann revealed his "plan" at the latest school board meeting, confirming rumors that high school students will be bused to some other school. Despite this revelation, there has yet to be any real public discussion by the current Morrisville board on the issue of tuitioning out the high school and moving K-8 to that building, so we can't be certain of the board majority's intentions. We can, however, make some educated guesses based on the little drops of information that have been squeezed out.
Research into this scenario might offer board members some insight into how it would actually play out. But the board majority appears to be poised to move forward with a plan, without studied contemplation and in spite of the plain facts and expert advice that is available to them. The educational progress, time and money potentially wasted, without obtaining factual information or even looking to that which has already been provided through past studies, could be devastating to this community and our students.
If Hellmann's scheme is the direction the board chooses -we can be certain of some of the roadblocks. First, that the board will not be able to move the elementary school students to the high school building until a suitable plan is in place for the high school students. What might this be? Didn't the Courier recently reveal that neighboring public schools had been contacted about accepting our students for tuition, but all were either unable or unwilling to do so? And, that two Catholic schools and one alternative school expressed some interest?
To this end, unless the state forces another local school to accept our students, or the board decides to bus them far from home, we might speculate that the board appears to be considering some sort of voucher program. The NEA website has some interesting information about the outcomes of voucher programs in other states http://www.nea.org/vouchers/02voutrack.html. If such a plan is in place the law still requires that districts provide a "Free and Appropriate Education" for all students. This means, those for whom space is not available in another school must still be educated, and that education must be appropriate to the students needs.
Could all Morrisville high school students be sent to Catholic School? I would imagine that the constitutional separation of church and state would prevent such a plan being legal for all students. If I am of another religion or simply not interested in my child attending a religious school, I think I'd have a pretty sound legal argument for not sending my child to a Catholic School. The district might offer me the same tuition in a voucher to opt for another school, but if I cannot find another available school at the same tuition, and I cannot afford the difference, the district is still obligated to provide me with a free and appropriate education.
Is my only alternative, then "Alternative School"? Is alternative school appropriate for all students? How will the district provide free and appropriate education for students who are not Catholic or don't require an alternative school program?
Let's say the board somehow overcomes the glitch of actually having to provide education for all our high school students, and we are ready to move the elementary students in. The district will have to get state approval for the plan and the facilities will have to comply with PDE code for elementary school students. Past research has indicated that major renovations are required in order for the building to be acceptable for elementary school use. In addition, there are the problems with air flow (backwards in case of fire -- see past engineering studies), energy inefficiency and outdated systems to overcome. Has the board studied this beyond the brief walk through personally commissioned by our board president but paid for by the public?
There are numerous sound, reasonable ways we can brainstorm to educate all of our students, but we need to work within reality and with absolute accountability to the children. The board majority, or at least the President and one other "we", seem to have forged a plan without public debate, without research, without regard for the educational program or the needs of the students. This so-called plan is really just a numbers-crunching scheme, and does not reflect responsible school directorship. Nor does the budget for this year, where the board is proposing arbitrary cuts to special and alternative school education in defiance of the professional advice of educators. Perhaps the plan is "Hellmann's Plan", and the budget is "Hellmann's Budget", but where then is the deliberation? Where are the answers to our questions?
(Notable exceptions -- Joe Kemp and Robin Reithmeyer have both worked to provide respectful answers, along with the shining example of respectful board service, the late Ed Frankenfield.)
The board has an ethical and legal obligation to the students of this district. Perhaps the President and others did not know what they were getting into, besides their single minded and unresearched mission to stop the new school. However, as elected officials they are, whether they like it or not, accountable to the laws that protect the rights of our children. Their duty involves due diligence in decision making, along with accountability to Sunshine Laws that require public deliberation and protect the public's right to know of and be heard in board policy and decision making. [Note: Bold is mine]
School board service is serious business with the ultimate outcome of helping to shape the future for our students. Our children cannot be guinea pigs to the board president's unstudied plans. They don't have time for trial and error; childhood is short. If board members are not up to serving our children -- all of our children, renters, owners, children with special needs, and children who require alternative education -- through diligent, studied, responsible decision making, then they don't deserve the honor of this position.
Mother Bear
Then one of you go and remind me that, yes, there is someone out there. Thanks, Mother Bear. Thank you for the thoughtful and reflective essay. You have truly made my day. Please make sure that you put in your application for the school board. You would be a worthy successor to Ed Frankenfield.
Parents: Your last opportunity to make a difference in YOUR child's education is here. Remain silent, and Morrisville High School closes its doors for good. The high schoolers are farmed out and we become a K-8 district. Is that what you want?
I've noticed we've all been a bit quiet lately - stunned perhaps? I wrote the following opinion/long rant if you are interested in posting it. I'd prefer to remain anonymous at least for now.
Opinion:
There has been much buzz about what lies in the future for Morrisville students. Parents are worried, young teens working toward future goals are anxious, not knowing what lies ahead, where they will be attending school next year or the year after. The board majority has been nothing but grossly disrespectful of the population it was elected to serve -- the students. [NOTE: This is where the root of the problem lies. The Emperor believes his constituency is the taxpayers, not the students. All of you who voted for the Stop the School people: Do you believe the same thing? The correct answer is that his constituency is MORRISVILLE: Child, Student, Taxpayer, and Seniors. Even if you do not have a child or grandchild in this school system directly, you probably have nieces or nephews or grandchildren in other districts. Would you be comfortable trusting their education to William Hellman, CPA, Emperor of Education? LOL--I didn't think so. So why is it OK for the Morrisville students? Stop concentrating entirely on your wallet and consider the long term effects of what this plan will do.]
Board President Bill Hellmann revealed his "plan" at the latest school board meeting, confirming rumors that high school students will be bused to some other school. Despite this revelation, there has yet to be any real public discussion by the current Morrisville board on the issue of tuitioning out the high school and moving K-8 to that building, so we can't be certain of the board majority's intentions. We can, however, make some educated guesses based on the little drops of information that have been squeezed out.
Research into this scenario might offer board members some insight into how it would actually play out. But the board majority appears to be poised to move forward with a plan, without studied contemplation and in spite of the plain facts and expert advice that is available to them. The educational progress, time and money potentially wasted, without obtaining factual information or even looking to that which has already been provided through past studies, could be devastating to this community and our students.
If Hellmann's scheme is the direction the board chooses -we can be certain of some of the roadblocks. First, that the board will not be able to move the elementary school students to the high school building until a suitable plan is in place for the high school students. What might this be? Didn't the Courier recently reveal that neighboring public schools had been contacted about accepting our students for tuition, but all were either unable or unwilling to do so? And, that two Catholic schools and one alternative school expressed some interest?
To this end, unless the state forces another local school to accept our students, or the board decides to bus them far from home, we might speculate that the board appears to be considering some sort of voucher program. The NEA website has some interesting information about the outcomes of voucher programs in other states http://www.nea.org/vouchers/02voutrack.html. If such a plan is in place the law still requires that districts provide a "Free and Appropriate Education" for all students. This means, those for whom space is not available in another school must still be educated, and that education must be appropriate to the students needs.
Could all Morrisville high school students be sent to Catholic School? I would imagine that the constitutional separation of church and state would prevent such a plan being legal for all students. If I am of another religion or simply not interested in my child attending a religious school, I think I'd have a pretty sound legal argument for not sending my child to a Catholic School. The district might offer me the same tuition in a voucher to opt for another school, but if I cannot find another available school at the same tuition, and I cannot afford the difference, the district is still obligated to provide me with a free and appropriate education.
Is my only alternative, then "Alternative School"? Is alternative school appropriate for all students? How will the district provide free and appropriate education for students who are not Catholic or don't require an alternative school program?
Let's say the board somehow overcomes the glitch of actually having to provide education for all our high school students, and we are ready to move the elementary students in. The district will have to get state approval for the plan and the facilities will have to comply with PDE code for elementary school students. Past research has indicated that major renovations are required in order for the building to be acceptable for elementary school use. In addition, there are the problems with air flow (backwards in case of fire -- see past engineering studies), energy inefficiency and outdated systems to overcome. Has the board studied this beyond the brief walk through personally commissioned by our board president but paid for by the public?
There are numerous sound, reasonable ways we can brainstorm to educate all of our students, but we need to work within reality and with absolute accountability to the children. The board majority, or at least the President and one other "we", seem to have forged a plan without public debate, without research, without regard for the educational program or the needs of the students. This so-called plan is really just a numbers-crunching scheme, and does not reflect responsible school directorship. Nor does the budget for this year, where the board is proposing arbitrary cuts to special and alternative school education in defiance of the professional advice of educators. Perhaps the plan is "Hellmann's Plan", and the budget is "Hellmann's Budget", but where then is the deliberation? Where are the answers to our questions?
(Notable exceptions -- Joe Kemp and Robin Reithmeyer have both worked to provide respectful answers, along with the shining example of respectful board service, the late Ed Frankenfield.)
The board has an ethical and legal obligation to the students of this district. Perhaps the President and others did not know what they were getting into, besides their single minded and unresearched mission to stop the new school. However, as elected officials they are, whether they like it or not, accountable to the laws that protect the rights of our children. Their duty involves due diligence in decision making, along with accountability to Sunshine Laws that require public deliberation and protect the public's right to know of and be heard in board policy and decision making. [Note: Bold is mine]
School board service is serious business with the ultimate outcome of helping to shape the future for our students. Our children cannot be guinea pigs to the board president's unstudied plans. They don't have time for trial and error; childhood is short. If board members are not up to serving our children -- all of our children, renters, owners, children with special needs, and children who require alternative education -- through diligent, studied, responsible decision making, then they don't deserve the honor of this position.
Mother Bear
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Sheep
This was such a great comment I though it deserved its own posting. It also has the virtue of being inexpensive.
Do I hear a motion? Is there a second?
Pat Henry has left a new comment on your post "Send the Emperor and Angry Al to Sioux City!":
Why not start with a more practical experiment.
For this experiment you need:
1 set of "Robert's Rules of Order"
1 dictator
5 sheep
2 board members willing to buck the system
Meeting 1:
Board member 1 (let's call him Joe) could make a motion to remove the dictator as president of the board. Board member 2 (let's call her Robin) would second the motion. With a motion and a second on the floor the motion will be open for discussion. The two board members will make a case that, for the good of Morrisville, someone else should be the board president. A CALM and LEVEL argument for the motion must prevail. Do not let the temperature rise too high before turning down the heat. (Predicted outcome: The sheep will quietly gnaw at the grass. The Dictator will get angry. The motion, upon a vote, will be defeated.)
Meeting 2:
Repeat the experiment. Note the changes in the sheep. Suggest another board member as a replacement (it doesn't matter who, the object is to shake the dictators confidence. Even a replacement by the Vice President,(let's call him Al) would be a successful conclusion to this experiment. In fact, it might serve the experiment if you started with the most acerbic replacement, and on each iteration suggest amore acceptable candidate).
Repeat over and over again until a change in results becomes evident.
This experiment in civil protest should produce some very interesting results. The idea is not to remove the dictator from the board, just to remove him from the role of dictator.
Do I hear a motion? Is there a second?
Pat Henry has left a new comment on your post "Send the Emperor and Angry Al to Sioux City!":
Why not start with a more practical experiment.
For this experiment you need:
1 set of "Robert's Rules of Order"
1 dictator
5 sheep
2 board members willing to buck the system
Meeting 1:
Board member 1 (let's call him Joe) could make a motion to remove the dictator as president of the board. Board member 2 (let's call her Robin) would second the motion. With a motion and a second on the floor the motion will be open for discussion. The two board members will make a case that, for the good of Morrisville, someone else should be the board president. A CALM and LEVEL argument for the motion must prevail. Do not let the temperature rise too high before turning down the heat. (Predicted outcome: The sheep will quietly gnaw at the grass. The Dictator will get angry. The motion, upon a vote, will be defeated.)
Meeting 2:
Repeat the experiment. Note the changes in the sheep. Suggest another board member as a replacement (it doesn't matter who, the object is to shake the dictators confidence. Even a replacement by the Vice President,(let's call him Al) would be a successful conclusion to this experiment. In fact, it might serve the experiment if you started with the most acerbic replacement, and on each iteration suggest amore acceptable candidate).
Repeat over and over again until a change in results becomes evident.
This experiment in civil protest should produce some very interesting results. The idea is not to remove the dictator from the board, just to remove him from the role of dictator.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Insults instead of answers
Kate, Kate, Kate. Why can't you just cooperate? [Ed Note: Read with heavy emphasis on sarcasm.]
Thanks for reading. Thanks also for your follow up. [Ed Note: Read with no sarcasm.]
Nice graphic too...
Insults instead of answers
Lots of angry hot air and ruffled feathers at last night’s Morrisville School Board meeting, and some aimed here at the newspaper and me in particular.
Seems my pointing out that school board member Brenda Worob hosted a gathering of school board members a couple of Sundays ago didn’t sit right with her husband Councilman Stephen Worob and other supporters of the current board majority.
Their track record when it comes to transparent government is iffy, and I remarked I didn’t believe their assurances no school board business was discussed that weekend out of the view of the public. I also questioned why they were demanding personal information about children in need of special education services in the district.
Here’s the column.
Oh, that made some people mad. Most notably Stephen Worob, who regularly uses the cable television camera to rant about his perceived bias of this newspaper. Never mind that he is a frequent contributor to the editorial pages where he’s allowed to say whatever is on his mind. Mostly what’s on his mind,it seems is that the rest of us should put a sock in it while he and his circle run Morrisville. Question him and some others and stand back for the personal attack. (Check out some of the responses under my column.) No answers to the question, just a frontal assault.
Best defense is a good offense, I suppose. Shoot the messenger to block the next inconvenient message.
A couple of months ago, Worob remarks in school board minutes that the local press is “clueless when it comes to investigative reporting.” I think that was wishful thinking. It’d be better for current leaders if we didn’t investigate.
Oddly, Worob supporters, didn’t criticize me for a lack of investigation this time, but for “digging up dirt.” Thing is, no digging’s been necessary. This current school board majority is so dismissive of state law and the rules of common decency, and the intelligence of its constituents that its missteps and misstatements are glaring. They don’t bother to cover their tracks very well.
Here’s hoping again for an end to the vitriol and ego, and a move toward common sense and compromise. Regular residents will have to lead the charge. Their leaders are out to lunch.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 2:17 pm |
Thanks for reading. Thanks also for your follow up. [Ed Note: Read with no sarcasm.]
Nice graphic too...
Insults instead of answers
Lots of angry hot air and ruffled feathers at last night’s Morrisville School Board meeting, and some aimed here at the newspaper and me in particular.Seems my pointing out that school board member Brenda Worob hosted a gathering of school board members a couple of Sundays ago didn’t sit right with her husband Councilman Stephen Worob and other supporters of the current board majority.
Their track record when it comes to transparent government is iffy, and I remarked I didn’t believe their assurances no school board business was discussed that weekend out of the view of the public. I also questioned why they were demanding personal information about children in need of special education services in the district.
Here’s the column.
Oh, that made some people mad. Most notably Stephen Worob, who regularly uses the cable television camera to rant about his perceived bias of this newspaper. Never mind that he is a frequent contributor to the editorial pages where he’s allowed to say whatever is on his mind. Mostly what’s on his mind,it seems is that the rest of us should put a sock in it while he and his circle run Morrisville. Question him and some others and stand back for the personal attack. (Check out some of the responses under my column.) No answers to the question, just a frontal assault.
Best defense is a good offense, I suppose. Shoot the messenger to block the next inconvenient message.
A couple of months ago, Worob remarks in school board minutes that the local press is “clueless when it comes to investigative reporting.” I think that was wishful thinking. It’d be better for current leaders if we didn’t investigate.
Oddly, Worob supporters, didn’t criticize me for a lack of investigation this time, but for “digging up dirt.” Thing is, no digging’s been necessary. This current school board majority is so dismissive of state law and the rules of common decency, and the intelligence of its constituents that its missteps and misstatements are glaring. They don’t bother to cover their tracks very well.
Here’s hoping again for an end to the vitriol and ego, and a move toward common sense and compromise. Regular residents will have to lead the charge. Their leaders are out to lunch.
Posted by Kate Fratti at 2:17 pm |
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Secret Meeting Agenda Revealed
Well, we finally have the first fruits of the Secret Meeting at the Worob's house, courtesy of the BCCT. I could not resist shouting at the monitor as I read this essay. My thoughts appear in italics. Anyone else want to rant at Steve?
People of Morrisville: Glad you’re finally paying attention
By STEPHEN WOROB
I’m glad that so many Morrisville residents now want to express their views about the future of our school district. My question though is where you have been! [As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Steve here. Where have you been? You elected a slate of angry small minded people to run the education system and we're now reaping the benefits.]
Now marks the tenth anniversary of the malicious dismantling of our once-decent school district. [What happened ten years ago? Who dismantled it and why? This is an accusation without substance to back it up.] For years, self servers [Glass House Alert: Be careful on your use of words.] have plagued this district with mismanagement, greed and corruption. Where have you people been? Like it or not, the Morrisville school district has become a big cow that is getting milked to death. [My tin foil hat is firmly on my head. Tell me more. And let me know where the line for milk starts.]
Since 1998, over $7 million has been appropriated toward physical improvements to our aging school buildings. This money was wasted; [You are alleging that seven million dollars has been wasted. What does "wasted" mean? And weren't you a part of that as a board member and officer?] now we have boilers that are said to be so bad that they may explode. [That's because they're 40 years old. Did you as a school board member ever appropriate money to replace the boilers?] Where have you people been?
Not even soaring taxes and horrible test scores could get most of you off your bottoms to demand changes, [true] but you tout the high paid administrators who continually pat themselves on the back for sub-mediocrity. Hence, self promoting [Glass House Alert 2] /substance-less things like domestic and international awards still attract your attention. [Since you brought the subject of attention up, your academic skills aren't well displayed here either. You're making accusations all around the place and not offering a shred of evidence. If you have something that is actionable, take it to the appropriate authorities. Otherwise, you're grandstanding just to hear the sound of your own voice. I know several Morrisville teachers who would grade these unsupported statements rather harshly. I know of one judge who did already.]
Now, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 76 percent of our recently graduated students failed math and reading on their state assessment tests (worst in the county). [True. Sadly true. Why though? Test scores are dropping all over the country. What is your plan to fix it? Today, you are representing a group who has refused time after time to reveal a plan. SHAME ON YOU!! You personally harangued a sick man in public, shouting repeatedly at him, to the point of him being taken to the hospital and yet you sit there smugly, hurling accusation after accusation WITHOUT A PLAN OF YOUR OWN! That's called attention whoring and only adds to the problem. It fixes nothing but your pathetic need for attention.] If costs over the next 13 years could somehow stay the same and nothing else changes, each kindergartner entering this district will cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars and 76 percent of them will fail at math and reading. [That's a tortured twist to logic. I agree that throwing money at a problem does not solve it, and Morrisville is paying an extremely large amount to educate its students. We've talked about the math of per student costs. Diving the budget by the number of students yields a high number. Once you subtract the "free" money, the grants and gifts, the real per student cost is much lower. Ask your CPA buddy to explain it. Then, you use the worst score available to make your point. You learned that from the Emperor who keeps screaming that the interest rates are dropping and the old board was wrong in not defeasing earlier because the rates were dropping. What if the rates had actually risen? The argument fails. Same if this year's 11th graders do better in their test scores. Your logic fails.] Despite such dismal results, our prior lame duck school board locked the superintendent and teachers into lucrative long-term contracts. [That's a great use of code words. "Lucrative" in this context connotes luxury or overpayment and "lame-duck" reminding us that term expiring members actually did something. If you think Dr. Yonson or the teachers are overpaid, that's fine as far as your personal opinion, but the salaries are quite within the norm for Bucks County, the state of Pennsylvania, and the East Coast. Secondly, if you're so concerned about lame ducks sitting around while their term is expiring, put your money where your mouth is. On the morning after Election Day when your successor has been elected, I expect your resignation from Borough Council effective immediately. Otherwise, you're just attention whoring again.]
Where have you people been?
When it comes to education, if you expect that our state representatives who are in bed with entities such as the teachers unions and the superintendent’s association, are going to initiate needed changes, you better think again. [While this may be accurate, what does little Morrisville have to do with this? This needs to be attacked on the state level, and no amount of pain or anguish that you inflict upon the children of Morrisville will change this. The Emperor and his Court of Toadies regularly repeat this mealy mouthed drivel. You need to make changes to this at the state level. Stop posturing uselessly in board and council meetings, and use your elected office to make the changes needed.]
In a recent Courier Times article about outsourcing our high school students, teachers would not comment for concerns of crossing the state teachers union [Well, DUH! If there was a teacher who honestly supported a plan to do away with their own job, either they are an uncommon altruist, or silly enough that I would not want them to be teaching my children anyway. If your fight is with the state teachers union, Morrisville, again, is not the place to be holding this fight. Stop posturing uselessly on the local level and use your elected office at the state level where the fight belongs.] but parents and students rightfully expressed their concerns. Drastic changes can be upsetting but when this board of directors tells you that a major restructuring is necessary, you better believe them. [Ah. Believe. As in the statement "I trust the board to do what is right?" I believe this board to be bereft of common sense and ethically challenged. If they told me today was Saturday, I would want independent confirmation.]
At $22,000 per student and dismal test scores in the high school, this district would have gone bankrupt long ago in the real world. [Yes. Absolutely. There's a reason why the education system does not function in a 100% business style model, along with hospitals, and even government itself. They provides services that are of an incalculable future value at a large present cost and a zero immediate financial return. Can schools, hospitals, or governments function as complete profit making institutions? Of course, but what would be the resulting services?] With public education spiraling out of control, our careless lawmakers (whom are in the business of getting reelected) [Does anyone else see the irony of a career elected official spouting about being in the business of being re-elected?] don’t address the root of the problem but rather promote tax shifts and schemes that just pump more money on top of a failing institution. [Talk to the state and federal officials who put this into place. But we would be remiss if we did not take advantage of every break the state and federal governments offered, wouldn't we?]
Who of sound mind really believes that Act 1 legislation to cap and control runaway school spending is worth the paper it was written on? With its 10 exceptions that protect a bloated incumbent bureaucracy, Act 1 law is nothing more than pathetic smoke and mirror legislation. [Your fight is not in Morrisville. Shut up here, and go and fix it. In Harrisburg.]
Now in Morrisville we have a new and somewhat [somewhat?] novice school board that recognizes that status quo is unacceptable and drastic changes are necessary. Let the changes begin here in Morrisville. First we must stop taxing people out of their homes. [I'll agree with this, but who repealed the natural processes of inflation and declining purchasing power? Read Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Read about the inflations that beset the dying British Empire. Read about the "Great Depression." It was rather a big news item a few decades ago. But that's only a partial piece of the puzzle. Did these same people financially plan for their futures? I'm not immune to financial disasters and neither is anyone else by the simple virtue of being a homeowner.] Does anyone really believe that test scores will improve if we go from $22,000 per student to $30,000? I don’t think so. The more we feed the monster, the bigger it will get. [This is just ridiculous. Who is advocating raising the money we taxpayers send to the district?]
My point is not to say I told you so but rather we must all work together just to survive. And perhaps, if we all stick together,[I think you meant to say, "Just Cooperate!"] maybe we’ll gain the attention of our (don’t rock the boat) lawmakers.
Stephen Worob, Morrisville, is a former school board member and a current councilman in Morrisville.
People of Morrisville: Glad you’re finally paying attention
By STEPHEN WOROB
I’m glad that so many Morrisville residents now want to express their views about the future of our school district. My question though is where you have been! [As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Steve here. Where have you been? You elected a slate of angry small minded people to run the education system and we're now reaping the benefits.]
Now marks the tenth anniversary of the malicious dismantling of our once-decent school district. [What happened ten years ago? Who dismantled it and why? This is an accusation without substance to back it up.] For years, self servers [Glass House Alert: Be careful on your use of words.] have plagued this district with mismanagement, greed and corruption. Where have you people been? Like it or not, the Morrisville school district has become a big cow that is getting milked to death. [My tin foil hat is firmly on my head. Tell me more. And let me know where the line for milk starts.]
Since 1998, over $7 million has been appropriated toward physical improvements to our aging school buildings. This money was wasted; [You are alleging that seven million dollars has been wasted. What does "wasted" mean? And weren't you a part of that as a board member and officer?] now we have boilers that are said to be so bad that they may explode. [That's because they're 40 years old. Did you as a school board member ever appropriate money to replace the boilers?] Where have you people been?
Not even soaring taxes and horrible test scores could get most of you off your bottoms to demand changes, [true] but you tout the high paid administrators who continually pat themselves on the back for sub-mediocrity. Hence, self promoting [Glass House Alert 2] /substance-less things like domestic and international awards still attract your attention. [Since you brought the subject of attention up, your academic skills aren't well displayed here either. You're making accusations all around the place and not offering a shred of evidence. If you have something that is actionable, take it to the appropriate authorities. Otherwise, you're grandstanding just to hear the sound of your own voice. I know several Morrisville teachers who would grade these unsupported statements rather harshly. I know of one judge who did already.]
Now, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 76 percent of our recently graduated students failed math and reading on their state assessment tests (worst in the county). [True. Sadly true. Why though? Test scores are dropping all over the country. What is your plan to fix it? Today, you are representing a group who has refused time after time to reveal a plan. SHAME ON YOU!! You personally harangued a sick man in public, shouting repeatedly at him, to the point of him being taken to the hospital and yet you sit there smugly, hurling accusation after accusation WITHOUT A PLAN OF YOUR OWN! That's called attention whoring and only adds to the problem. It fixes nothing but your pathetic need for attention.] If costs over the next 13 years could somehow stay the same and nothing else changes, each kindergartner entering this district will cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars and 76 percent of them will fail at math and reading. [That's a tortured twist to logic. I agree that throwing money at a problem does not solve it, and Morrisville is paying an extremely large amount to educate its students. We've talked about the math of per student costs. Diving the budget by the number of students yields a high number. Once you subtract the "free" money, the grants and gifts, the real per student cost is much lower. Ask your CPA buddy to explain it. Then, you use the worst score available to make your point. You learned that from the Emperor who keeps screaming that the interest rates are dropping and the old board was wrong in not defeasing earlier because the rates were dropping. What if the rates had actually risen? The argument fails. Same if this year's 11th graders do better in their test scores. Your logic fails.] Despite such dismal results, our prior lame duck school board locked the superintendent and teachers into lucrative long-term contracts. [That's a great use of code words. "Lucrative" in this context connotes luxury or overpayment and "lame-duck" reminding us that term expiring members actually did something. If you think Dr. Yonson or the teachers are overpaid, that's fine as far as your personal opinion, but the salaries are quite within the norm for Bucks County, the state of Pennsylvania, and the East Coast. Secondly, if you're so concerned about lame ducks sitting around while their term is expiring, put your money where your mouth is. On the morning after Election Day when your successor has been elected, I expect your resignation from Borough Council effective immediately. Otherwise, you're just attention whoring again.]
Where have you people been?
When it comes to education, if you expect that our state representatives who are in bed with entities such as the teachers unions and the superintendent’s association, are going to initiate needed changes, you better think again. [While this may be accurate, what does little Morrisville have to do with this? This needs to be attacked on the state level, and no amount of pain or anguish that you inflict upon the children of Morrisville will change this. The Emperor and his Court of Toadies regularly repeat this mealy mouthed drivel. You need to make changes to this at the state level. Stop posturing uselessly in board and council meetings, and use your elected office to make the changes needed.]
In a recent Courier Times article about outsourcing our high school students, teachers would not comment for concerns of crossing the state teachers union [Well, DUH! If there was a teacher who honestly supported a plan to do away with their own job, either they are an uncommon altruist, or silly enough that I would not want them to be teaching my children anyway. If your fight is with the state teachers union, Morrisville, again, is not the place to be holding this fight. Stop posturing uselessly on the local level and use your elected office at the state level where the fight belongs.] but parents and students rightfully expressed their concerns. Drastic changes can be upsetting but when this board of directors tells you that a major restructuring is necessary, you better believe them. [Ah. Believe. As in the statement "I trust the board to do what is right?" I believe this board to be bereft of common sense and ethically challenged. If they told me today was Saturday, I would want independent confirmation.]
At $22,000 per student and dismal test scores in the high school, this district would have gone bankrupt long ago in the real world. [Yes. Absolutely. There's a reason why the education system does not function in a 100% business style model, along with hospitals, and even government itself. They provides services that are of an incalculable future value at a large present cost and a zero immediate financial return. Can schools, hospitals, or governments function as complete profit making institutions? Of course, but what would be the resulting services?] With public education spiraling out of control, our careless lawmakers (whom are in the business of getting reelected) [Does anyone else see the irony of a career elected official spouting about being in the business of being re-elected?] don’t address the root of the problem but rather promote tax shifts and schemes that just pump more money on top of a failing institution. [Talk to the state and federal officials who put this into place. But we would be remiss if we did not take advantage of every break the state and federal governments offered, wouldn't we?]
Who of sound mind really believes that Act 1 legislation to cap and control runaway school spending is worth the paper it was written on? With its 10 exceptions that protect a bloated incumbent bureaucracy, Act 1 law is nothing more than pathetic smoke and mirror legislation. [Your fight is not in Morrisville. Shut up here, and go and fix it. In Harrisburg.]
Now in Morrisville we have a new and somewhat [somewhat?] novice school board that recognizes that status quo is unacceptable and drastic changes are necessary. Let the changes begin here in Morrisville. First we must stop taxing people out of their homes. [I'll agree with this, but who repealed the natural processes of inflation and declining purchasing power? Read Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Read about the inflations that beset the dying British Empire. Read about the "Great Depression." It was rather a big news item a few decades ago. But that's only a partial piece of the puzzle. Did these same people financially plan for their futures? I'm not immune to financial disasters and neither is anyone else by the simple virtue of being a homeowner.] Does anyone really believe that test scores will improve if we go from $22,000 per student to $30,000? I don’t think so. The more we feed the monster, the bigger it will get. [This is just ridiculous. Who is advocating raising the money we taxpayers send to the district?]
My point is not to say I told you so but rather we must all work together just to survive. And perhaps, if we all stick together,[I think you meant to say, "Just Cooperate!"] maybe we’ll gain the attention of our (don’t rock the boat) lawmakers.
Stephen Worob, Morrisville, is a former school board member and a current councilman in Morrisville.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
BCCT and Emperor Spar
Today's BCCT carries a double shot of goodness today. First is the editorial that blasts the Stop the School "open and transparent" board members for their lack of openess and transparency.
The second is a guest opinion printing the statement that the Emperor read at a recent meeting.
We report, you decide.
Secret society: Unschooled board
Morrisville school board members are pursuing unpublicized agendas at private locations with little regard for the public’s right to know.
Officially, Bill Hellmann and the new majority on the Morrisville school board were given power by the people who voted them into office. Unfortunately, the people have been kept in the dark as the board routinely conducts business not only behind closed doors — but behind private closed doors.
As Courier Times columnist Kate Fratti reported, school board members are beating the state Sunshine Law’s quorum stipulation by meeting tag-team style at private locations. Sunday, it was at board member Brenda Worub’s home. Four of nine board members acknowledged being present at one time. A fifth attended earlier, but left before others arrived.
Questioned about the propriety of the secret meeting, Hellmann dismissed it as an issue: “I’m not sure there is anything to comment on. This is a gathering of friends, some of whom … happen to be on the school board. … We will continue to meet with each other, mindful of the law, whenever we wish.”
We’re not sure what Hellmann means by “mindful of the law,’’ but the tag-team meetings suggest a focus on the letter of the law rather than its spirit. In the process, the requirement that elected officials keep the public informed seems to have been forgotten, if not ignored.
Dedicated to undoing plans to build a new $30 million K-12 school, Hellmann and his supporters on the board have routinely worked behind the scenes since his anti-new school majority took over in January. But beyond stopping construction, the board apparently wants to scrap its high school program altogether — without any public input.
In her Monday column, Fratti reminded us of a string of backroom decisions, beginning with the board secretly contacting other districts about taking Morrisville High School kids on a tuition basis. Also secretly, engineers were asked to review conditions at all three borough schools. Now, the school district solicitor attorney who protested the secret hiring is expected to be replaced at the next board meeting. Hellmann originally directed that resumes for a new attorney be sent to his private office rather than the school district.
Bill Hellmann is a smart man. There’s no doubt about that. He’s a certified public accountant and in the Guest Opinion below, Hellmann confronts some of the criticism he’s faced. But there are matters he doesn’t address, including his recent demand — so far unfulfilled — that administrators reveal the names and addresses of special education students. Hellmann recently has preached the need to control the costs of special education.
The cost of special education is a common complaint among school officials. But Hellmann’s demand for the identities of students and their addresses is, well, frightening.
In our view, this unschooled board needs to learn some respect for the public’s right to know. Meanwhile, we encourage citizens — the parents of students, in particular — to stand up for their rights.
Cost of dissolving school bond debt pales next to savings
Regarding the recent Courier Times editorial, “Costly lessons,” as it pertains to the Morrisville School District. The article stated that the K-12 building project should have gone to a referendum. I agree with this statement and spoke several times at public meetings, imploring the prior board majority to do just that. They ignored me and many other people on this issue.
There was overwhelming opposition to this project and bond issue and it was emphatically proved at the polls in May 2007 and again in November 2007. I strongly disagree that our school buildings, at least the high school, are in awful condition. The high school needs some renovation and upgrades only. The school district is in the process of doing an evaluation of the school buildings.
I do not believe that we can build a quality K-12 school for $30 million. The Philadelphia Archdiocese plans to build two new high schools in our area, at a size not much larger than our planned school building but at a cost of $65 million each. I believe I was elected, in part, to help the school district provide a quality education for our children at a cost the community can afford.
The following is an explanation of dissolving the debt and how much was saved:
That the school district had to put up more than $24.4 million to dissolve $22 million proves how expensive the original bond issue was. But we also received an extra $1.67 million in bond premium with the original issue. There is no free lunch; this had to be paid back. This present board did not issue this expensive debt. The prior board majority issued this expensive debt. This bond issue has a 10-year call, which means we have to pay interest to the bondholders for 10 years whether we like it or not.
This is a long time and expensive. The prior majority board was told many times by this town not to issue this expensive debt. In fact, there was a citizen lawsuit to try to stop this expensive debt issue. We have no control over current interest rates. I, for one, am not going to play the interest rate game with public funds. If this was my money, maybe I would gamble, but not with public funds. We have to cut our losses and move forward.
Since the new school is not going to be built, IRS regulations require this debt to be dissolved within a certain time period — I believe three years from date of issue. We have to give it back. I believe this community elected the new board members to help the school district bring back fiscal and operational order. Eighty-five percent of the bond proceeds need to be spent within three years of issuance.
This partial dissolution freed up approximately $1.2 million in the current budget of the general fund. These funds can be used for more upgrades, a possible tax reduction for the ’08-’09 budget year or other items the board decides upon. We also plugged a probable $400,000 budget hole in the ’08-’09 budget. We also reduced the millage for the ’08-’09 budget year by approximately 7 mills. We also saved future tax millage by partially defeating this debt. We also probably saved (depending on current interest rates) approximately $460,000 (the difference between what we have to pay bondholders vs. what we would earn ($1.3 million vs. $855,000).
In summary, we saved $12.6 million in future interest costs by dissolving this $22 million in bonded debt. The bond premium money mentioned above in the amount of nearly $1.7 million, plus the nearly $1.2 million sitting in the general fond equals almost $2.9 million. This is more than the $2.4 million that was put up as extra money to dissolve the $22 million bond.
Disclosure of the bond dissolution was first made at a committee meeting back around Dec. 17. Another analysis was included in the board packet in January before the Jan. 30 vote. I am only one board member. We have nine members all together. If there were any questions on the dissolution, I would hope any board members would have asked our financial advisor or our bond attorney prior to or at the Jan. 30 public meeting.
Bill Hellmann
is president of the Morrisville school board and is a certified public accountant.
The second is a guest opinion printing the statement that the Emperor read at a recent meeting.
We report, you decide.
Secret society: Unschooled board
Morrisville school board members are pursuing unpublicized agendas at private locations with little regard for the public’s right to know.
Officially, Bill Hellmann and the new majority on the Morrisville school board were given power by the people who voted them into office. Unfortunately, the people have been kept in the dark as the board routinely conducts business not only behind closed doors — but behind private closed doors.
As Courier Times columnist Kate Fratti reported, school board members are beating the state Sunshine Law’s quorum stipulation by meeting tag-team style at private locations. Sunday, it was at board member Brenda Worub’s home. Four of nine board members acknowledged being present at one time. A fifth attended earlier, but left before others arrived.
Questioned about the propriety of the secret meeting, Hellmann dismissed it as an issue: “I’m not sure there is anything to comment on. This is a gathering of friends, some of whom … happen to be on the school board. … We will continue to meet with each other, mindful of the law, whenever we wish.”
We’re not sure what Hellmann means by “mindful of the law,’’ but the tag-team meetings suggest a focus on the letter of the law rather than its spirit. In the process, the requirement that elected officials keep the public informed seems to have been forgotten, if not ignored.
Dedicated to undoing plans to build a new $30 million K-12 school, Hellmann and his supporters on the board have routinely worked behind the scenes since his anti-new school majority took over in January. But beyond stopping construction, the board apparently wants to scrap its high school program altogether — without any public input.
In her Monday column, Fratti reminded us of a string of backroom decisions, beginning with the board secretly contacting other districts about taking Morrisville High School kids on a tuition basis. Also secretly, engineers were asked to review conditions at all three borough schools. Now, the school district solicitor attorney who protested the secret hiring is expected to be replaced at the next board meeting. Hellmann originally directed that resumes for a new attorney be sent to his private office rather than the school district.
Bill Hellmann is a smart man. There’s no doubt about that. He’s a certified public accountant and in the Guest Opinion below, Hellmann confronts some of the criticism he’s faced. But there are matters he doesn’t address, including his recent demand — so far unfulfilled — that administrators reveal the names and addresses of special education students. Hellmann recently has preached the need to control the costs of special education.
The cost of special education is a common complaint among school officials. But Hellmann’s demand for the identities of students and their addresses is, well, frightening.
In our view, this unschooled board needs to learn some respect for the public’s right to know. Meanwhile, we encourage citizens — the parents of students, in particular — to stand up for their rights.
Cost of dissolving school bond debt pales next to savings
Regarding the recent Courier Times editorial, “Costly lessons,” as it pertains to the Morrisville School District. The article stated that the K-12 building project should have gone to a referendum. I agree with this statement and spoke several times at public meetings, imploring the prior board majority to do just that. They ignored me and many other people on this issue.
There was overwhelming opposition to this project and bond issue and it was emphatically proved at the polls in May 2007 and again in November 2007. I strongly disagree that our school buildings, at least the high school, are in awful condition. The high school needs some renovation and upgrades only. The school district is in the process of doing an evaluation of the school buildings.
I do not believe that we can build a quality K-12 school for $30 million. The Philadelphia Archdiocese plans to build two new high schools in our area, at a size not much larger than our planned school building but at a cost of $65 million each. I believe I was elected, in part, to help the school district provide a quality education for our children at a cost the community can afford.
The following is an explanation of dissolving the debt and how much was saved:
That the school district had to put up more than $24.4 million to dissolve $22 million proves how expensive the original bond issue was. But we also received an extra $1.67 million in bond premium with the original issue. There is no free lunch; this had to be paid back. This present board did not issue this expensive debt. The prior board majority issued this expensive debt. This bond issue has a 10-year call, which means we have to pay interest to the bondholders for 10 years whether we like it or not.
This is a long time and expensive. The prior majority board was told many times by this town not to issue this expensive debt. In fact, there was a citizen lawsuit to try to stop this expensive debt issue. We have no control over current interest rates. I, for one, am not going to play the interest rate game with public funds. If this was my money, maybe I would gamble, but not with public funds. We have to cut our losses and move forward.
Since the new school is not going to be built, IRS regulations require this debt to be dissolved within a certain time period — I believe three years from date of issue. We have to give it back. I believe this community elected the new board members to help the school district bring back fiscal and operational order. Eighty-five percent of the bond proceeds need to be spent within three years of issuance.
This partial dissolution freed up approximately $1.2 million in the current budget of the general fund. These funds can be used for more upgrades, a possible tax reduction for the ’08-’09 budget year or other items the board decides upon. We also plugged a probable $400,000 budget hole in the ’08-’09 budget. We also reduced the millage for the ’08-’09 budget year by approximately 7 mills. We also saved future tax millage by partially defeating this debt. We also probably saved (depending on current interest rates) approximately $460,000 (the difference between what we have to pay bondholders vs. what we would earn ($1.3 million vs. $855,000).
In summary, we saved $12.6 million in future interest costs by dissolving this $22 million in bonded debt. The bond premium money mentioned above in the amount of nearly $1.7 million, plus the nearly $1.2 million sitting in the general fond equals almost $2.9 million. This is more than the $2.4 million that was put up as extra money to dissolve the $22 million bond.
Disclosure of the bond dissolution was first made at a committee meeting back around Dec. 17. Another analysis was included in the board packet in January before the Jan. 30 vote. I am only one board member. We have nine members all together. If there were any questions on the dissolution, I would hope any board members would have asked our financial advisor or our bond attorney prior to or at the Jan. 30 public meeting.
Bill Hellmann
is president of the Morrisville school board and is a certified public accountant.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Now What?
You talkin' to me?
Yeah. I'm talkin' to you.
If you're angry, irritated, infuriated, exasperated, aggravated, upset, wound up, bothered, maddened, frustrated, displeased, provoked, riled, incensed, cheesed off, put out, hacked off, narked, ticked off, dissatisfied, discontented, disaffected, displeased; fretful, complaining, querulous, pettish, testy, petulant, cranky; chafed, annoyed, piqued, vexed, aggravated, amplified, angry, anxious, augmented, beset, bothered, browned-off, bugged, burnt-up, chafed, deliberately provoked, distressed, disturbed, embarrassed, embittered, enhanced, enlarged, exacerbated, exasperated, galled, griped, harassed, heated up, heightened, hotted up, huffy, inconvenienced, increased, intensified, irked, irritated, magnified, miffed, nettled, peeved, perturbed, piqued, plagued, provoked, put-out, put to it, puzzled, resentful, riled, roiled, ruffled, sore beset, soured, troubled, vexed, worried, worse, worsened, or something else in that general mood, then you're exactly the one I want to talk to.
The problem is that I need you to take action. Are you ready? Thanks to jon for providing this comprehensive list of the Hellmann Administration's successes so far:
1. Hire a note-taker for Marlys;
2. Pay back this year's portion of the $2.4 million bond defeasement costs;
3. Pay this year's costs to switch banks to satisfy Bill Hellmann's vendetta against the original bond broker, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
4. Pay for the $2,500 flimsy unauthorized study Hellmann unilaterally commissioned on the Middle-High School;
5. Pay for $8,000 in similar flimsy studies Hellmann wants to do on the elementary schools, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
6. Pay for the ~$200,000 in repairs to the Middle-High School mentioned in the flimsy unauthorized $2,500 study above that Hellmann claimed were safety-related but Dr. Yonson, Reba Dunford, the District's maintenance guy, and about 15 other engineering firms indicated are not - again, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
7. Pay again to fix the doors at MR Reiter that were not fixed properly on the cheap in another unilateral move by Hellmann and will now have to be re-done, at a greater cost than the original estimate.
I know there's more. But isn't this enough?
The parents WILL be shut out of the decision process unless you take action now.
Tell the board you are disgusted with their antics so far. You can do it by email or by telling them face to face at one of the opportunities listed below:
**Parent Advisory, Tuesday March 11, 6:00 P.M. in the MHS LGI
**Infrastructure and Finance Committee Meetings, Wednesday March 12 at 6:30 and 7:00 P.M. MHS G-Hall conference room.
**Board of Ed Agenda Meeting, Wednesday March 12, 7:30 P.M. MHS LGI
**Education and Human Resources Committee Meetings, Wednesday March 26 at 6:30 and 7:00 P.M. MHS G-Hall conference room.
**Board of Ed Business Meeting, Wednesday March 26, 7:30 P.M. in the MHS LGI
Your silence or inaction gives them the courage to continue their disregard for the parents as an integral part of the education process. Don't let that happen.
Yeah. I'm talkin' to you.
If you're angry, irritated, infuriated, exasperated, aggravated, upset, wound up, bothered, maddened, frustrated, displeased, provoked, riled, incensed, cheesed off, put out, hacked off, narked, ticked off, dissatisfied, discontented, disaffected, displeased; fretful, complaining, querulous, pettish, testy, petulant, cranky; chafed, annoyed, piqued, vexed, aggravated, amplified, angry, anxious, augmented, beset, bothered, browned-off, bugged, burnt-up, chafed, deliberately provoked, distressed, disturbed, embarrassed, embittered, enhanced, enlarged, exacerbated, exasperated, galled, griped, harassed, heated up, heightened, hotted up, huffy, inconvenienced, increased, intensified, irked, irritated, magnified, miffed, nettled, peeved, perturbed, piqued, plagued, provoked, put-out, put to it, puzzled, resentful, riled, roiled, ruffled, sore beset, soured, troubled, vexed, worried, worse, worsened, or something else in that general mood, then you're exactly the one I want to talk to.
The problem is that I need you to take action. Are you ready? Thanks to jon for providing this comprehensive list of the Hellmann Administration's successes so far:
1. Hire a note-taker for Marlys;
2. Pay back this year's portion of the $2.4 million bond defeasement costs;
3. Pay this year's costs to switch banks to satisfy Bill Hellmann's vendetta against the original bond broker, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
4. Pay for the $2,500 flimsy unauthorized study Hellmann unilaterally commissioned on the Middle-High School;
5. Pay for $8,000 in similar flimsy studies Hellmann wants to do on the elementary schools, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
6. Pay for the ~$200,000 in repairs to the Middle-High School mentioned in the flimsy unauthorized $2,500 study above that Hellmann claimed were safety-related but Dr. Yonson, Reba Dunford, the District's maintenance guy, and about 15 other engineering firms indicated are not - again, if he succeeds at next month's meeting in passing the vote, provided his buddies Marlys, Al, & Gloria are there this time to bail him out);
7. Pay again to fix the doors at MR Reiter that were not fixed properly on the cheap in another unilateral move by Hellmann and will now have to be re-done, at a greater cost than the original estimate.
I know there's more. But isn't this enough?
The parents WILL be shut out of the decision process unless you take action now.
Tell the board you are disgusted with their antics so far. You can do it by email or by telling them face to face at one of the opportunities listed below:
**Parent Advisory, Tuesday March 11, 6:00 P.M. in the MHS LGI
**Infrastructure and Finance Committee Meetings, Wednesday March 12 at 6:30 and 7:00 P.M. MHS G-Hall conference room.
**Board of Ed Agenda Meeting, Wednesday March 12, 7:30 P.M. MHS LGI
**Education and Human Resources Committee Meetings, Wednesday March 26 at 6:30 and 7:00 P.M. MHS G-Hall conference room.
**Board of Ed Business Meeting, Wednesday March 26, 7:30 P.M. in the MHS LGI
Your silence or inaction gives them the courage to continue their disregard for the parents as an integral part of the education process. Don't let that happen.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Just Another Night in Morrisville, Part III
I may need some assistance on some of the details of this part of the story, because the reconstruction I have seems to have some portions at odds with each other. SO...while some of the details of this may have to be clarified, the result is spot on.
If you remember back to the time following the revelation that the Emperor self-commissioned the $2500 Hellman building report to cover his tracks for the defeasement, it was suggested and broadly hinted at, that the Emperor was given a talking to by Counsel Kelly and the rest of the board. (Disclaimer: I was not there and those that were there are not talking. At least not to me. But if you want to, my email is listed at the top.) He was basically told, you're new and inexperienced, and you're eager to push your agenda, but this is not allowed. You can't run your own show here. You act in the name of the board only. We're covering you this time by an 8-1 vote. Go and sin no more.
Now, last night, we find out that the Emperor has been lunching with the district health care provider contact and/or other health care provider contacts (please, someone clarify!) in order to promote "competition" among the providers.
The problem is that the board did not sanction this. The Emperor also apparently casually mentioned that he was "the boss" and he wanted action taken to reduce costs to the district. (Clarification requested.)
Let me stop here and applaud the idea that the Emperor was promoting, not the way it was done. Stimulating competition and lowering costs is worthy. The Emperor has a problem with the "red tape" stuff and clearly and loudly proclaimed this for all to hear.
Captain Obvious reports that many people who have a high disdain for authority and controls have an authority and control problem of their own. Not that I'm making a correlation here, you understand.
So, that's when Robin Reithmeyer unleashed her latest load of lèse majesté and told the Emperor that this board runs on red tape.
Momentary reality check: A self professed experienced CPA with extensive contact with the US Tax Code and the IRS, as well as several municipal governments in Pennsylvania, is unaware that red tape runs the world. Um...I'm thinking, maybe...NOT!
But then, the other four board members, even Mrs. Steve "You Squandered Two Million Dollars Of Our Money" Worob began chiding him. So did Counsel Kelley. So did the audience. They had all already privately told him once not to overreach and to operate beyond his mandate. Now, the public got to watch and join in.
With last night's performance, quite a bit was lost. The openness and honesty that the Stop the Schoolers supposedly ran on, and that Bill Farrell (honestly and sincerely, I believe) mentions quite often, is revealed as nothing but hollow words, as empty as the chocolate bunnies on Easter morning when you bite their ears off. With these acts, one man has made a mockery of the eight remaining members of the board, the school administration that he holds in high disregard, the parents that he openly ignores, and yes, even the taxpayers that he is allegedly crusading for.
Don't believe me? See for yourself on the replays all next week. Watch and check back in with us here and let us know what you think. Unless the tape is mysteriously damaged or lost.
When the name "Bill Clinton" is mentioned, I'm sure the first association you made to a word was "liar". I'm not sure what one word will stick here, but for William I, Emperor of Education, I have no doubt that the single word will show itself sooner rather than later.
I believe my three minutes are up. Feel free to add as you will.
If you remember back to the time following the revelation that the Emperor self-commissioned the $2500 Hellman building report to cover his tracks for the defeasement, it was suggested and broadly hinted at, that the Emperor was given a talking to by Counsel Kelly and the rest of the board. (Disclaimer: I was not there and those that were there are not talking. At least not to me. But if you want to, my email is listed at the top.) He was basically told, you're new and inexperienced, and you're eager to push your agenda, but this is not allowed. You can't run your own show here. You act in the name of the board only. We're covering you this time by an 8-1 vote. Go and sin no more.
Now, last night, we find out that the Emperor has been lunching with the district health care provider contact and/or other health care provider contacts (please, someone clarify!) in order to promote "competition" among the providers.
The problem is that the board did not sanction this. The Emperor also apparently casually mentioned that he was "the boss" and he wanted action taken to reduce costs to the district. (Clarification requested.)
Let me stop here and applaud the idea that the Emperor was promoting, not the way it was done. Stimulating competition and lowering costs is worthy. The Emperor has a problem with the "red tape" stuff and clearly and loudly proclaimed this for all to hear.
Captain Obvious reports that many people who have a high disdain for authority and controls have an authority and control problem of their own. Not that I'm making a correlation here, you understand.
So, that's when Robin Reithmeyer unleashed her latest load of lèse majesté and told the Emperor that this board runs on red tape.
Momentary reality check: A self professed experienced CPA with extensive contact with the US Tax Code and the IRS, as well as several municipal governments in Pennsylvania, is unaware that red tape runs the world. Um...I'm thinking, maybe...NOT!
But then, the other four board members, even Mrs. Steve "You Squandered Two Million Dollars Of Our Money" Worob began chiding him. So did Counsel Kelley. So did the audience. They had all already privately told him once not to overreach and to operate beyond his mandate. Now, the public got to watch and join in.
With last night's performance, quite a bit was lost. The openness and honesty that the Stop the Schoolers supposedly ran on, and that Bill Farrell (honestly and sincerely, I believe) mentions quite often, is revealed as nothing but hollow words, as empty as the chocolate bunnies on Easter morning when you bite their ears off. With these acts, one man has made a mockery of the eight remaining members of the board, the school administration that he holds in high disregard, the parents that he openly ignores, and yes, even the taxpayers that he is allegedly crusading for.
Don't believe me? See for yourself on the replays all next week. Watch and check back in with us here and let us know what you think. Unless the tape is mysteriously damaged or lost.
When the name "Bill Clinton" is mentioned, I'm sure the first association you made to a word was "liar". I'm not sure what one word will stick here, but for William I, Emperor of Education, I have no doubt that the single word will show itself sooner rather than later.
I believe my three minutes are up. Feel free to add as you will.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Kate Fratti Fallout
According to two items from Kate Fratti's BCCT blog, former Morrisville school board member, and current Bucks County NAACP president Jon Jordan will address the Morrisville School Board at its regular meeting on Jan. 23. Meeting begins at 7:30.
Oh, and before I forget, she mentioned something about last night's meeting. Thanks, Kate...your integrity's welcome in Morrisville, and it's much larger than the combined integrity of the two members you mentioned. I don't think you experienced a "pencil malfunction", but the inevitable result that comes from crossing over into this side of the Twilight Zone.
A mea culpa
It’s not easy to stand up for yourself, and especially not when you have to do it before a roomful of people, but that’s what Beth Yonson, superintendent of Morrisville schools did last week.
Said she had no choice holding up a copy of my column in which I’d opined that she wasn’t playing fair with school board members. I based that on board members’ public allegations that her administration never notified them of an important budget deadline.
“It wasn’t advantageous,” Marilys Mihok said, and Gloria Heater agreed, for the administration to let elected officials know they had until just Jan. 3, to cap any budget increase to just 4.4 percent. It is why a special meeting had to be called quickly for Jan. 2, and with very short notice to members. No administrators or even the solicitor attended.
The cap, which the board eventually did approve at the special meeting, means the board has closed the door on asking for any special exceptions even in the event of financial emergency.
Thing is, whether or not Yonson liked the idea of the cap — she doesn’t because she believes the board could hold an increase to 4.4 or below without a legal resolution that could hamstring it — she not only notified them of the resolution deadline but publicly discussed it at length.
Last week, she used her superintendent’s report to replay a meeting tape showing that. She said she didn’t mean to embarrass anyone, just to defend her reputation.
“My integrity is important to me,” she said.
Mine, too. And so I apologize to Dr. Yonson for not checking the physical record before taking board members at their word even at a public meeting.
For their part, members Mihok and Heater accused this columnist of fabricating any statement about being hoodwinked by administrators. Heater said I must have misunderstood. Mihok advised the superintendent to grow a “thicker skin.”
Me, too, I guess.
Integrity is not important to everyone.
Oh, and before I forget, she mentioned something about last night's meeting. Thanks, Kate...your integrity's welcome in Morrisville, and it's much larger than the combined integrity of the two members you mentioned. I don't think you experienced a "pencil malfunction", but the inevitable result that comes from crossing over into this side of the Twilight Zone.
A mea culpa
It’s not easy to stand up for yourself, and especially not when you have to do it before a roomful of people, but that’s what Beth Yonson, superintendent of Morrisville schools did last week.
Said she had no choice holding up a copy of my column in which I’d opined that she wasn’t playing fair with school board members. I based that on board members’ public allegations that her administration never notified them of an important budget deadline.
“It wasn’t advantageous,” Marilys Mihok said, and Gloria Heater agreed, for the administration to let elected officials know they had until just Jan. 3, to cap any budget increase to just 4.4 percent. It is why a special meeting had to be called quickly for Jan. 2, and with very short notice to members. No administrators or even the solicitor attended.
The cap, which the board eventually did approve at the special meeting, means the board has closed the door on asking for any special exceptions even in the event of financial emergency.
Thing is, whether or not Yonson liked the idea of the cap — she doesn’t because she believes the board could hold an increase to 4.4 or below without a legal resolution that could hamstring it — she not only notified them of the resolution deadline but publicly discussed it at length.
Last week, she used her superintendent’s report to replay a meeting tape showing that. She said she didn’t mean to embarrass anyone, just to defend her reputation.
“My integrity is important to me,” she said.
Mine, too. And so I apologize to Dr. Yonson for not checking the physical record before taking board members at their word even at a public meeting.
For their part, members Mihok and Heater accused this columnist of fabricating any statement about being hoodwinked by administrators. Heater said I must have misunderstood. Mihok advised the superintendent to grow a “thicker skin.”
Me, too, I guess.
Integrity is not important to everyone.
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.
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.
Anybody at the 1/9 meeting?
joeyouknow said...
Ooh. Anybody at the 1/9 meeting?
Kate Fratti was!
I will expand upon this tasty little tidbit tomorrow.
January 9, 2008 10:29 PM
Joe! Expansion, please! If you send me something in a comment or email, I will gladly post it as an article.
Please keep in mind the Alice Roosevelt Longworth posting challenge as well.
ADDED Jan 10, 12 noon. Many thanks to joeyouknow
The first new board agenda meeting was held last night, 1/9/08. The board went through the proposed agenda from the administration. There was discussion (+ confusion). One highlight was when Reba Dunford, Business Manager went through the budget cuts that Mr. Hellmann asked her to make. She explained (once again) that there is not fat in the budget and pointed out the necessity of each item to the educational and business needs of the district. Finally, she said that instead of cutting necessary programs, the administration decided to liquidate the contingency fund ($120,000) which hasn't been used the past couple of years and can be covered, in case of emergency by the Capital Projects fund, which still has $3 million in it.
Later, Dr. Yonson showed a piece of the tape from the December business meeting. The purpose of showing that tape was twofold: 1) to make her case to the board that the board was advised properly about the budget process (the complaint that led to the Jan. 2 special meeting) and 2) to clear her good name (ref. Kate Fratti's column reprinted on this site). Dr. Yonson was very upset, to say the least, about the comments that she and the administration did not advise the board that going on with the preliminary budget process precluded the need for the referendum. And that this was stated numerous times at a public meeting that she was unable to attend, and that it was told to Kate Fratti of the Courier Times. Friends and colleagues from out of the district were calling her to lend their support, which is how she found out about the debacle.
So it was duly shown that the board was advised, both by document (in November) and live and in person. Discussions about the issue took place between the people who never heard about the process and the people who were explaining the process right up there on the big screen. Three board members did speak up at the January meeting saying that they remembered said conversation. Five did not. Majority rules. As does reality! Sorta.
After Dr. Yonson's proof was presented (and this is the good part), Marlys Mihock told her she'd got to have a thick skin in this job and you can't trust everything you read in the paper. Why, who knows who said what and if it was even recorded properly...
At which point...
The stranger in the brown shirt with the notebook...
Speaks up....
And says.... (I'll quote for dramatic purposes, but it's just my recollection)
"But Marlys, you told me..."
Flipping through notebook, reading...
"Not one of the administrators told us that told you that there was a deadline to cap the budget!"
I could not stifle the laugh.
Yep.
PWNED! (see Wikipedia, old people) [ed: link added]
Kate Fratti was there. She apologized for not double checking her facts. She spoke up, out of turn, inappropriately at a school board meeting, because she, like Dr. Yonson, had her own good name to defend.
Truly, Marlys has her own definition of the truth. And it seems her memory's for crap, too. So except for putting the defeasement (giving back at a cost) of the construction bond on this month's agenda, it was a better than usual meeting.
Thanks joeyouknow! Did Marlys at least have the good grace to somewhat apologize, or was it brushed off as just another outrageous thing she said, and she didn't care that she was caught?
It sounds like Dr Yonson and the award winning Mrs Dunford may be in for a bit of a rough ride from the new and improved school board. But a double helping of kudos for them both, and Kate Fratti as well.
Ooh. Anybody at the 1/9 meeting?
Kate Fratti was!
I will expand upon this tasty little tidbit tomorrow.
January 9, 2008 10:29 PM
Joe! Expansion, please! If you send me something in a comment or email, I will gladly post it as an article.
Please keep in mind the Alice Roosevelt Longworth posting challenge as well.
ADDED Jan 10, 12 noon. Many thanks to joeyouknow
The first new board agenda meeting was held last night, 1/9/08. The board went through the proposed agenda from the administration. There was discussion (+ confusion). One highlight was when Reba Dunford, Business Manager went through the budget cuts that Mr. Hellmann asked her to make. She explained (once again) that there is not fat in the budget and pointed out the necessity of each item to the educational and business needs of the district. Finally, she said that instead of cutting necessary programs, the administration decided to liquidate the contingency fund ($120,000) which hasn't been used the past couple of years and can be covered, in case of emergency by the Capital Projects fund, which still has $3 million in it.
Later, Dr. Yonson showed a piece of the tape from the December business meeting. The purpose of showing that tape was twofold: 1) to make her case to the board that the board was advised properly about the budget process (the complaint that led to the Jan. 2 special meeting) and 2) to clear her good name (ref. Kate Fratti's column reprinted on this site). Dr. Yonson was very upset, to say the least, about the comments that she and the administration did not advise the board that going on with the preliminary budget process precluded the need for the referendum. And that this was stated numerous times at a public meeting that she was unable to attend, and that it was told to Kate Fratti of the Courier Times. Friends and colleagues from out of the district were calling her to lend their support, which is how she found out about the debacle.
So it was duly shown that the board was advised, both by document (in November) and live and in person. Discussions about the issue took place between the people who never heard about the process and the people who were explaining the process right up there on the big screen. Three board members did speak up at the January meeting saying that they remembered said conversation. Five did not. Majority rules. As does reality! Sorta.
After Dr. Yonson's proof was presented (and this is the good part), Marlys Mihock told her she'd got to have a thick skin in this job and you can't trust everything you read in the paper. Why, who knows who said what and if it was even recorded properly...
At which point...
The stranger in the brown shirt with the notebook...
Speaks up....
And says.... (I'll quote for dramatic purposes, but it's just my recollection)
"But Marlys, you told me..."
Flipping through notebook, reading...
"Not one of the administrators told us that told you that there was a deadline to cap the budget!"
I could not stifle the laugh.
Yep.
PWNED! (see Wikipedia, old people) [ed: link added]
Kate Fratti was there. She apologized for not double checking her facts. She spoke up, out of turn, inappropriately at a school board meeting, because she, like Dr. Yonson, had her own good name to defend.
Truly, Marlys has her own definition of the truth. And it seems her memory's for crap, too. So except for putting the defeasement (giving back at a cost) of the construction bond on this month's agenda, it was a better than usual meeting.
Thanks joeyouknow! Did Marlys at least have the good grace to somewhat apologize, or was it brushed off as just another outrageous thing she said, and she didn't care that she was caught?
It sounds like Dr Yonson and the award winning Mrs Dunford may be in for a bit of a rough ride from the new and improved school board. But a double helping of kudos for them both, and Kate Fratti as well.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Kate Fratti's Column in the BCCT
Many, many thanks to the email tip about this column in today's BCCT. As you could see from my avalanche of weekend postings, that there is not a lot of time during the week to post and read.
I'm not blind to the fact that there is a lot of ill will on both sides of this issue that needs to be overcome.
Morrisville needs to change fast
Not everyone uses a new year to turn over a new leaf, and that seems especially true in the Morrisville School District, which is really too bad.
If there's any place where a lot of very decent people could drastically improve a situation just by improving their behavior, this is the place.
But as of last week, all sides remain guilty of constant, brutal sniping and undermining in this little school system where voters have reversed plans for a new high school, saying they just can't afford one.
A new dollar-driven majority, emboldened by the voter mandate, has been beating its chest like a bully for a year. And those who'd so hoped for a new school and the borough rejuvenation they believed it would foster, have been noisily licking their wounds as even deeper cutbacks are threatened.
One ousted school board member cried at a meeting Jan. 2, where proposed cuts were outlined.
“They just don't care about our kids,” she sniffled.
After the meeting, a current board member said she believes administrators “retaliated” against the community by padding the preliminary budget for 2008. The board needs to show the professionals who's boss, she said.
Lots of drama and still very little productive talk about teaching kids well at a reasonable cost. Agreeing on what's reasonable will be the challenge.
The stated purpose of the Jan. 2 special meeting was to vote on a resolution to cap the next budget increase at 4.4 percent to “send a message.” It means there would be no special exceptions allowed above that cap even if the money is needed.
The minority view was that budget rigidity could put the district in a bad place in the event of an emergency the district couldn't pay for.
“You'll bankrupt the schools,” accused one naysayer. “I'd rather bankrupt the schools than the town,” answered a defender of the plan.
It's that kind of inflammatory back-and-forth that keeps the district stuck in second gear.
Here's the bottom line: This community didn't support construction of a new school, but that doesn't means it supports gutting the whole system. New-school proponents need to move past their disappointment and decide how best to support and improve the existing schools. That won't get done by castigating the opposition or weeping.
The majority, drunk with power, should stop “sending messages” and take practical steps to ensure kids have updated, safe, properly staffed buildings stocked with the necessary school supplies and equipment.
Administrators can foster cooperation by playing fair. Not one mentioned to the board last month that there was a deadline for a resolution to cap the budget. That necessitated the hastily called special meeting, where board members indicated they felt hoodwinked.
School board President Bill Hellman, an accountant who led the call for the cap, told me while he thinks the superintendent and business and operations manager “seem like very nice people,” their business acumen “worries” him.
Others worry that while Hellman may be very good with a dollar, he isn't trained to run viable schools. He and the rest of the board have to count on staff for that.
That's going to require mutual respect and trust.
Times have surely changed, but there'd be no danger of bankrupting the schools or the town if decent people would only bury the hatchets —it will take a mass grave — so that calmer, cooler, more professional, good-natured heads and hearts can prevail. It's possible.
Kate Fratti, whose column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, wonders if enough leaves can be turned quickly enough to make a difference fast.
I'm not blind to the fact that there is a lot of ill will on both sides of this issue that needs to be overcome.
Morrisville needs to change fast
Not everyone uses a new year to turn over a new leaf, and that seems especially true in the Morrisville School District, which is really too bad.
If there's any place where a lot of very decent people could drastically improve a situation just by improving their behavior, this is the place.
But as of last week, all sides remain guilty of constant, brutal sniping and undermining in this little school system where voters have reversed plans for a new high school, saying they just can't afford one.
A new dollar-driven majority, emboldened by the voter mandate, has been beating its chest like a bully for a year. And those who'd so hoped for a new school and the borough rejuvenation they believed it would foster, have been noisily licking their wounds as even deeper cutbacks are threatened.
One ousted school board member cried at a meeting Jan. 2, where proposed cuts were outlined.
“They just don't care about our kids,” she sniffled.
After the meeting, a current board member said she believes administrators “retaliated” against the community by padding the preliminary budget for 2008. The board needs to show the professionals who's boss, she said.
Lots of drama and still very little productive talk about teaching kids well at a reasonable cost. Agreeing on what's reasonable will be the challenge.
The stated purpose of the Jan. 2 special meeting was to vote on a resolution to cap the next budget increase at 4.4 percent to “send a message.” It means there would be no special exceptions allowed above that cap even if the money is needed.
The minority view was that budget rigidity could put the district in a bad place in the event of an emergency the district couldn't pay for.
“You'll bankrupt the schools,” accused one naysayer. “I'd rather bankrupt the schools than the town,” answered a defender of the plan.
It's that kind of inflammatory back-and-forth that keeps the district stuck in second gear.
Here's the bottom line: This community didn't support construction of a new school, but that doesn't means it supports gutting the whole system. New-school proponents need to move past their disappointment and decide how best to support and improve the existing schools. That won't get done by castigating the opposition or weeping.
The majority, drunk with power, should stop “sending messages” and take practical steps to ensure kids have updated, safe, properly staffed buildings stocked with the necessary school supplies and equipment.
Administrators can foster cooperation by playing fair. Not one mentioned to the board last month that there was a deadline for a resolution to cap the budget. That necessitated the hastily called special meeting, where board members indicated they felt hoodwinked.
School board President Bill Hellman, an accountant who led the call for the cap, told me while he thinks the superintendent and business and operations manager “seem like very nice people,” their business acumen “worries” him.
Others worry that while Hellman may be very good with a dollar, he isn't trained to run viable schools. He and the rest of the board have to count on staff for that.
That's going to require mutual respect and trust.
Times have surely changed, but there'd be no danger of bankrupting the schools or the town if decent people would only bury the hatchets —it will take a mass grave — so that calmer, cooler, more professional, good-natured heads and hearts can prevail. It's possible.
Kate Fratti, whose column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, wonders if enough leaves can be turned quickly enough to make a difference fast.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
BCCT Thumbs Up for the NSNs
This seems to go back to my previous post: Beware of pretended neutrality where none exists. Feel free to comment as you wish...
Bucks County Courier Times Thumbs up
Bucks County Courier Times Thumbs up
* To the Morrisville school board for sticking to its campaign promise of fiscal responsibility.
The board passed a resolution this week to keep the district's real estate tax increase at the state-mandated inflation rate of 4.4 percent. While Act I mandates that school districts can't raise taxes above a state-set inflation index without a voter referendum, there are exceptions for which districts can apply so they can raise taxes above the inflation index without a referendum. By passing this resolution, the board essentially has stated that it won't seek any of those exceptions.
Fantastic! We have frankly gotten used to candidates making campaign promises — lowering taxes chief among them — only to see them forgotten once they get into office. Not the 2008 Morrisville school board, apparently. And though at least one board member has stated that pledging to keep to the 4.4 percent at this early stage of the budget proceedings could be irresponsible, we would rather think of it as a show of determination to keep their word to the voters of Morrisville.
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