From the district website.
Office of the Superintendent Morrisville School District
December 11, 2008
Dear Parents and Guardians,
On Wednesday, December 10, the maintenance crew was working on one of the boilers at M. R. Reiter. The boiler backfired and smoke and the smell of oil filtered into the school. This occurred after school hours. However, there were children still at school for Homework Zone. The district contacted parents and asked them to pick up their children.
The maintenance supervisor checked the building early Thursday morning and determined that it was safe for the children to attend school. Right before school was to open the boiler backfired again. There was no smoke in the building but the smell of oil again was present. Windows were open and the smell dissipated. Around 11 a.m. I was notified that sporadically the smell of oil was detected whenever the heat came on. At that time, I felt it was in the best interest of the children and staff that the building be closed until the boiler could be repaired.
The boiler needs a new pump, which has been ordered and will arrive on Friday. Students in M.R. Reiter will not return to school until Monday, December 15. Once the boiler is repaired, we will have someone come into the school to test the air quality.
I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Elizabeth Hammond Yonson Superintendent of Schools
Friday, December 12, 2008
News from the Joint Meeting?
Anyone have anything to contribute from last night's meeting? Was Reiter discussed?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Reiter Oil Furnace Update
Here's an email I received.
Absolutely correct. This is not a "new" problem, but an ongoing one for several years.
Who has been asleep at the switch? The borough for allowing occupancy in an inferior building? The stop the school board who knew of the problem but recklessly plunged ahead with uncoordinated random repairs "FOR THE SAFETY OF THE STUDENTS" (as thundered repeatedly by the Emperor) without a plan?
Or the voters who put both groups in power?
Let's hope no one thinks to do this Google search.
According to the note sent home from M.R. Reiter today, there has been a problem with the oil burners for the past “few days”. However, those of us who have children in the building, or work there, know full well that the fumes that caused today’s closing have been present in ever increasing frequency for years.
Some of us might recall that an engineering report conducted as part of the Feasibility Study back in 2005 looked at M.R. Reiter’s electrical and heating systems. Essentially, it concluded that while those systems were functional, they were outdated and decayed, embedded in the walls, and renovations would be extensive, and costly. Further, the heating system had already presented problems, such as fumes (yes, fumes, back then), and the engineers expressed concern that if this system broke down, it would be difficult if not impossible to adequately repair it while the building was occupied.
The stench has been present over the years, and seems to have been especially pervasive since October. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, staff noticed not only the familiar, oily smell, but also a black smoke forming at the ceiling. They evacuated the building at 3:20 p.m. This morning parents arriving to drop off children found the doors flung wide, classroom windows open, gritty, dirty air wafting into the rain and wind outside. Staff quietly reported they were experiencing sore throats, irritated eyes, and were concerned about children with asthma. Parents contacted the fire marshal, the health department, and the EPA. By 12:15, the school was closed.
What was once an intermittent problem is now pervasive. Do we know what our children and our staff are breathing? Do we know what they will be breathing after the problem is once again “fixed”? Personally, I would like reassurance that the air quality is safe before children and the staff who care for them every day have to return, and by that I mean a true study, not just word that “the parts are in.” Unfortunately, this will cause us significant disruption and inconvenience, but the health of our children should come first.
Absolutely correct. This is not a "new" problem, but an ongoing one for several years.
Who has been asleep at the switch? The borough for allowing occupancy in an inferior building? The stop the school board who knew of the problem but recklessly plunged ahead with uncoordinated random repairs "FOR THE SAFETY OF THE STUDENTS" (as thundered repeatedly by the Emperor) without a plan?
Or the voters who put both groups in power?
Let's hope no one thinks to do this Google search.
According to the note sent home from M.R. Reiter today, there has been a problem with the oil burners for the past “few days”. However, those of us who have children in the building, or work there, know full well that the fumes that caused today’s closing have been present in ever increasing frequency for years.
Some of us might recall that an engineering report conducted as part of the Feasibility Study back in 2005 looked at M.R. Reiter’s electrical and heating systems. Essentially, it concluded that while those systems were functional, they were outdated and decayed, embedded in the walls, and renovations would be extensive, and costly. Further, the heating system had already presented problems, such as fumes (yes, fumes, back then), and the engineers expressed concern that if this system broke down, it would be difficult if not impossible to adequately repair it while the building was occupied.
The stench has been present over the years, and seems to have been especially pervasive since October. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, staff noticed not only the familiar, oily smell, but also a black smoke forming at the ceiling. They evacuated the building at 3:20 p.m. This morning parents arriving to drop off children found the doors flung wide, classroom windows open, gritty, dirty air wafting into the rain and wind outside. Staff quietly reported they were experiencing sore throats, irritated eyes, and were concerned about children with asthma. Parents contacted the fire marshal, the health department, and the EPA. By 12:15, the school was closed.
What was once an intermittent problem is now pervasive. Do we know what our children and our staff are breathing? Do we know what they will be breathing after the problem is once again “fixed”? Personally, I would like reassurance that the air quality is safe before children and the staff who care for them every day have to return, and by that I mean a true study, not just word that “the parts are in.” Unfortunately, this will cause us significant disruption and inconvenience, but the health of our children should come first.
School Safety at M.R. Reiter in Serious Question
If your child goes to M.R. Reiter, it looks like the school day might be over. There is nothing posted on the district website.
If any of this information is erroneous, please let me know and I will post the accurate information.
Don't forget the joint borough council-board of education meeting tonight at 8:00 P.M. at borough hall. Perhaps the attendees can answer the serious questions of student safety at Reiter.
I have emails reporting that yesterday "M.R. Reiter was evacuated after school yesterday due to the fumes and visible black smoke forming at the ceiling. Those of us who dropped off children today found the doors and windows wide open and pronounced oily/sooty odor. Concerned? Call the Philadelphia Office of the EPA 215 814 9016."
Then I have this email reporting "I just got word that M.R. Reiter is being closed today at 12:15 because of fumes and will remain closed again tomorrow. I was in the building the other night and it had a heavy smell of fuel oil."
"Heard MR Reiter elementary was evacuated @ 3:20 pm yesterday due to black smoke from decrepit heating system, and that the oil fumes were quite pungent this morning too, with the doors flung open in an attempt to improve ventilation.
Wonder how high the righteous indignation levels would be among Hellmann-Mihok-Radosti et al. if one of their own children were in this school?
Special thanks to Bill Hellmann for unilaterally chucking 9 of the 12 bids to fix the school boilers, and dropping MR Reiter from the mix entirely!"
If any of this information is erroneous, please let me know and I will post the accurate information.
Don't forget the joint borough council-board of education meeting tonight at 8:00 P.M. at borough hall. Perhaps the attendees can answer the serious questions of student safety at Reiter.
I have emails reporting that yesterday "M.R. Reiter was evacuated after school yesterday due to the fumes and visible black smoke forming at the ceiling. Those of us who dropped off children today found the doors and windows wide open and pronounced oily/sooty odor. Concerned? Call the Philadelphia Office of the EPA 215 814 9016."
Then I have this email reporting "I just got word that M.R. Reiter is being closed today at 12:15 because of fumes and will remain closed again tomorrow. I was in the building the other night and it had a heavy smell of fuel oil."
"Heard MR Reiter elementary was evacuated @ 3:20 pm yesterday due to black smoke from decrepit heating system, and that the oil fumes were quite pungent this morning too, with the doors flung open in an attempt to improve ventilation.
Wonder how high the righteous indignation levels would be among Hellmann-Mihok-Radosti et al. if one of their own children were in this school?
Special thanks to Bill Hellmann for unilaterally chucking 9 of the 12 bids to fix the school boilers, and dropping MR Reiter from the mix entirely!"
Joint Council-Board Meeting Reminder
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Joint School/Borough Committee Meeting
The Joint School/Borough Committee Meeting has been scheduled for this Thursday Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 8 pm at Borough Hall.
Site: Off-Site Borough Hall
Time: 8:00PM
Joint School/Borough Committee Meeting
The Joint School/Borough Committee Meeting has been scheduled for this Thursday Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 8 pm at Borough Hall.
Site: Off-Site Borough Hall
Time: 8:00PM
High-quality education for every child is achievable
From the Inquirer.
High-quality education for every child is achievable
Barack Obama will be well-positioned to guide efforts of dedicated educators.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 10, 2008 Mike Wang directs Teach For America in Greater Philadelphia/Camden
President-elect Barack Obama has assembled half of his cabinet in record time. I am impressed with his decisive appointments to head the State, Justice, Treasury and Defense Departments.
But I hope he will pay as much attention to another policy area that's also crucial to our economic and national security: high-quality education for every child.
We simply cannot compete effectively in the world market when only 10 percent of the children in our low-income communities can expect to graduate from college. The academic achievement gap that persists between children in low-income communities and their high-income peers has implications for our productivity, standard of living, and national security.
The good news is that we can solve this problem. As the executive director of the regional office of Teach For America, a nonprofit organization that recruits top college graduates to teach for at least two years in underserved schools, I see evidence every day that committed teachers and school leaders can raise student achievement in low-income communities.
More than 300 Teach For America teachers are working relentlessly to change educational outcomes in Philadelphia and Camden schools. And they are succeeding - in neighborhoods ranging from Germantown to Kensington, Point Breeze to West Philadelphia.
Their positive impact, along with my own experience as a Teach For America teacher in Louisiana, makes me optimistic about the future. I believe the president-elect can change the prevailing perceptions about what's possible in our public schools with a few key strategies.
First, build on the energy of young people as a force for change.
Here in Philadelphia, I have seen the impact of Teach For America teachers and alumni - most still in their 20s and 30s - in the classroom and beyond. Teach For America alumnus Marc Mannella, for example, is the founding principal of KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, one of the city's highest-performing charter schools serving low-income, minority students.
The president-elect rode to victory on a wave of optimism and activism, powered by a vibrant, young segment of our electorate. It will take committed young leaders like Mannella in every professional sector to end educational inequity, and Obama is uniquely positioned to galvanize those efforts.
Second, invest in alternative avenues of recruiting and training teachers.
To fulfill his campaign promise to recruit an "army of new teachers," the president-elect will need to expand the number of pathways into the teaching profession.
Programs such as the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows and Teach For America are proving that dedicated teachers with subject-matter expertise can help students in low-income communities succeed.
According to a recent Urban Institute study at the high-school level, Teach For America teachers are, on average, more effective than other teachers, including those who are fully certified in their subject areas.
What's more, alternative pathways can provide excellent teachers for the long term. A recent Harvard University study found that 61 percent of Teach For America teachers stay in teaching beyond their two-year commitment. That retention rate slightly exceeds the overall proportion of new teachers who remain in underserved schools for more than two years.
Finally, appoint a secretary of education who believes deeply that we can - and must - close the achievement gap.
Like Obama's other cabinet appointments, the education secretary must be a bold leader. More important, the appointee must understand that educational inequity is a solvable problem. And he or she should have the know-how to put this understanding into action.
We have ample evidence that all children can learn at the highest levels when they are given the right educational opportunities. I hope the president-elect will seize this opportunity and make education a priority for his administration.
The vitality of our economy, the health of our democracy, and the future of our children depend on it.
High-quality education for every child is achievable
Barack Obama will be well-positioned to guide efforts of dedicated educators.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 10, 2008 Mike Wang directs Teach For America in Greater Philadelphia/Camden
President-elect Barack Obama has assembled half of his cabinet in record time. I am impressed with his decisive appointments to head the State, Justice, Treasury and Defense Departments.
But I hope he will pay as much attention to another policy area that's also crucial to our economic and national security: high-quality education for every child.
We simply cannot compete effectively in the world market when only 10 percent of the children in our low-income communities can expect to graduate from college. The academic achievement gap that persists between children in low-income communities and their high-income peers has implications for our productivity, standard of living, and national security.
The good news is that we can solve this problem. As the executive director of the regional office of Teach For America, a nonprofit organization that recruits top college graduates to teach for at least two years in underserved schools, I see evidence every day that committed teachers and school leaders can raise student achievement in low-income communities.
More than 300 Teach For America teachers are working relentlessly to change educational outcomes in Philadelphia and Camden schools. And they are succeeding - in neighborhoods ranging from Germantown to Kensington, Point Breeze to West Philadelphia.
Their positive impact, along with my own experience as a Teach For America teacher in Louisiana, makes me optimistic about the future. I believe the president-elect can change the prevailing perceptions about what's possible in our public schools with a few key strategies.
First, build on the energy of young people as a force for change.
Here in Philadelphia, I have seen the impact of Teach For America teachers and alumni - most still in their 20s and 30s - in the classroom and beyond. Teach For America alumnus Marc Mannella, for example, is the founding principal of KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, one of the city's highest-performing charter schools serving low-income, minority students.
The president-elect rode to victory on a wave of optimism and activism, powered by a vibrant, young segment of our electorate. It will take committed young leaders like Mannella in every professional sector to end educational inequity, and Obama is uniquely positioned to galvanize those efforts.
Second, invest in alternative avenues of recruiting and training teachers.
To fulfill his campaign promise to recruit an "army of new teachers," the president-elect will need to expand the number of pathways into the teaching profession.
Programs such as the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows and Teach For America are proving that dedicated teachers with subject-matter expertise can help students in low-income communities succeed.
According to a recent Urban Institute study at the high-school level, Teach For America teachers are, on average, more effective than other teachers, including those who are fully certified in their subject areas.
What's more, alternative pathways can provide excellent teachers for the long term. A recent Harvard University study found that 61 percent of Teach For America teachers stay in teaching beyond their two-year commitment. That retention rate slightly exceeds the overall proportion of new teachers who remain in underserved schools for more than two years.
Finally, appoint a secretary of education who believes deeply that we can - and must - close the achievement gap.
Like Obama's other cabinet appointments, the education secretary must be a bold leader. More important, the appointee must understand that educational inequity is a solvable problem. And he or she should have the know-how to put this understanding into action.
We have ample evidence that all children can learn at the highest levels when they are given the right educational opportunities. I hope the president-elect will seize this opportunity and make education a priority for his administration.
The vitality of our economy, the health of our democracy, and the future of our children depend on it.
New Hope Solebury: School Tax Increase
From the BCCT.
School district gets first look at spending plan
By FREDA SAVANA
In a first look at the expenditure side of the New Hope-Solebury 2009-2010 budget, the school board's finance committee saw a 5.3 percent increase in spending.
While even a preliminary budget won't be out until January, and the board won't vote on a final budget until June, the committee began reviewing the spending side of the budget this week.
Among the most dramatic increases is health care, where the jump is nearly 20 percent. Its projected cost increase is from $2.8 million to $3.3 million, said Gregory Hogg, the district's business administrator.
Hogg said New Hope-Solebury teachers have the most expensive health care plan currently offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Although the increase is steep, committee member John Augenblick said, “The last thing we want is our teachers queuing up at the CVS quick clinic.”
The school district has little option with the vast majority of its spending due to teacher contracts and other mandated expenses that eat up the majority of the projected $34 million budget, but so-called discretionary spending, or about 4 percent of the budget, is open to cuts.
“We're looking at everything,” said district superintendent Raymond Boccuti. He noted that he expects to see a savings when the district's twice-a-year community mailings go from print to electronic.
“Small items add up,” said Boccuti.
Committee Chairman Christopher Nally said everyone in the district is being told to look for places to cut. “We need to think outside the box.”
School district gets first look at spending plan
By FREDA SAVANA
In a first look at the expenditure side of the New Hope-Solebury 2009-2010 budget, the school board's finance committee saw a 5.3 percent increase in spending.
While even a preliminary budget won't be out until January, and the board won't vote on a final budget until June, the committee began reviewing the spending side of the budget this week.
Among the most dramatic increases is health care, where the jump is nearly 20 percent. Its projected cost increase is from $2.8 million to $3.3 million, said Gregory Hogg, the district's business administrator.
Hogg said New Hope-Solebury teachers have the most expensive health care plan currently offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Although the increase is steep, committee member John Augenblick said, “The last thing we want is our teachers queuing up at the CVS quick clinic.”
The school district has little option with the vast majority of its spending due to teacher contracts and other mandated expenses that eat up the majority of the projected $34 million budget, but so-called discretionary spending, or about 4 percent of the budget, is open to cuts.
“We're looking at everything,” said district superintendent Raymond Boccuti. He noted that he expects to see a savings when the district's twice-a-year community mailings go from print to electronic.
“Small items add up,” said Boccuti.
Committee Chairman Christopher Nally said everyone in the district is being told to look for places to cut. “We need to think outside the box.”
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Policy Committee and Agenda Meetings Tonight
Meeting Reminders for tonight:
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Policy Committee Meeting
The Policy Committee Meeting will be held in the G Hall Conference Room at 6:30PM in the Middle Senior High School.
Site: HS G Hall Conference Room
Time: 6:30PM
Board Agenda Meeting
The monthly Board Agenda Meeting will be held at 7:30PM in the LGI Room of the Morrisville Middle Senior High School, 550 W. Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA.
Site: HS LGI
Time: 7:30PM
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Policy Committee Meeting
The Policy Committee Meeting will be held in the G Hall Conference Room at 6:30PM in the Middle Senior High School.
Site: HS G Hall Conference Room
Time: 6:30PM
Board Agenda Meeting
The monthly Board Agenda Meeting will be held at 7:30PM in the LGI Room of the Morrisville Middle Senior High School, 550 W. Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA.
Site: HS LGI
Time: 7:30PM
Science and PA Students: Less Than Perfect Together
From the Hanover PA Evening Sun.
Most 11th-graders flunk new Pa. science test
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/09/2008 02:50:14 PM EST
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvania's 11th-graders failed the state's new science test during the 2007-08 school year, according to results released Tuesday by the state Education Department.
Only 36 percent of 11th-graders scored at grade level on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment science test, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said.
The results show that Pennsylvania needs more rigorous statewide graduation standards, Zahorchak said.
"This is further evidence that local high school graduation requirements and local assessments, which are currently under the control of school boards, are not ensuring that our graduates are ready for college or careers," he said.
A plan pushed by Gov. Ed Rendell's administration to mandate new statewide graduation tests stalled this year amid opposition from lawmakers. Instead, the department is developing a voluntary testing program, starting in the 2009-10 school year.
The science test was given in the spring to students in grades four, eight and 11. The PSSA has tested students in math, reading and writing since 2002.
Eighty-two percent of fourth-graders and 53 percent of eighth-graders scored at grade level on the science test.
———
On the Net:
Information on this year’s PSSA science results can be found on the Department of Education’s Web site at http://www.pde.state.pa.us/a_and_t/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=146079.
Most 11th-graders flunk new Pa. science test
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/09/2008 02:50:14 PM EST
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvania's 11th-graders failed the state's new science test during the 2007-08 school year, according to results released Tuesday by the state Education Department.
Only 36 percent of 11th-graders scored at grade level on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment science test, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said.
The results show that Pennsylvania needs more rigorous statewide graduation standards, Zahorchak said.
"This is further evidence that local high school graduation requirements and local assessments, which are currently under the control of school boards, are not ensuring that our graduates are ready for college or careers," he said.
A plan pushed by Gov. Ed Rendell's administration to mandate new statewide graduation tests stalled this year amid opposition from lawmakers. Instead, the department is developing a voluntary testing program, starting in the 2009-10 school year.
The science test was given in the spring to students in grades four, eight and 11. The PSSA has tested students in math, reading and writing since 2002.
Eighty-two percent of fourth-graders and 53 percent of eighth-graders scored at grade level on the science test.
———
On the Net:
Information on this year’s PSSA science results can be found on the Department of Education’s Web site at http://www.pde.state.pa.us/a_and_t/cwp/view.asp?A=3&Q=146079.
Rendell targets budget shortfall
From the BCCT.
Why is it sounding like the budget process is now akin to the RMS Titanic and we're all sitting in the 4th class steerage section waiting for the porter to return with some ice?
Rendell targets budget shortfall
A combination of spending cuts, federal money, funds from gas drilling leases and some reserves will be used to make up revenue losses.
By MARC LEVY
HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell plans to offset an estimated $1.6 billion hole in Pennsylvania’s budget this year with spending cuts and money from reserves, gas-drilling leases in state forests and an anticipated federal aid package.
Rendell revealed his plans, and the gaping shortfall projection, Tuesday at a traditional midyear budget briefing for state legislators, who generally reacted positively to what they heard.
The rapidly deteriorating economy has left Pennsylvania and dozens of other states with a shortfall this year, Rendell said. For now, Rendell said his goal is to weather the volatile economy in the next year-and-a-half without a broad-based tax increase or layoffs, or any further budget cuts, until the new fiscal year begins in July.
Cuts announced so far have hit a broad array of programs, from highway and local road improvements to help for the poor, handicapped and neglected. Thousands of nonunion state employees also will go without a costof-living salary increase.
“It’s a good first step, but the numbers are bleak,” said Republican state Rep. Marguerite Quinn of the 143rd District, which includes parts of Central and Upper Bucks. “More cuts need to be made. It’s not an easy position to be in but the job has to be done. We just have to make sure we’re making necessary cuts and live within our means.”
State Rep. Rick Taylor, a Democrat from the 151st District, which includes parts of Horsham and Montgomery Township, said, “The fact that both the governor and the leadership believe we should raise taxes only as a last resort is good news for all of us, especially in this tough economy when people are losing their jobs.”
The Democratic governor pledged to work cooperatively on the plan with lawmakers, whose approval of some aspects of the plan will be necessary, and he appealed for understanding from people and organizations that are hurting from a loss of state money and services.
“We’re going to try to make the cuts we have to make in a way that still preserves our ability to grow and still preserves the services you need,” Rendell said at the briefing at the State Museum auditorium in Harrisburg. “We’re going to do it in a responsible way, because this is a crisis. Hopefully it will be a short-lived crisis.”
State Sen. Rob Wonderling, a Republican whose 24th District includes parts of Upper Bucks and Montgomery County, said, “There are no sacred cows. All facets and assets of government should be subject to scrutiny. But I’d be very careful about cutting help and support for those at the greatest disadvantage who are the most vulnerable.”
In July, Rendell signed a $28.3 billion budget, an increase of about 4 percent over last year’s budget. But through the end of November, state tax collections ran nearly 7 percent behind expectations. If the shortfall continues at that rate, the state will face a nearly $2 billion deficit when the fiscal year ends in June.
Rendell said Tuesday that his administration is projecting a $1.6 billion shortfall, a number that he cautioned could change as the nation’s unpredictable economic future unfolds.
“There’s no surety to that $1.6 billion figure,” Rendell said. “We think $1.6 billion is a conservative estimate. It could be better, and obviously it could be worse, so this will be a work in progress.”
The plan to offset it includes $500 million in cuts that Rendell has already requested from across state government and its independent agencies, including the courts and Legislature.
Rendell wants to take half the state’s budgetary reserve — or $375 million — plus another $101 million sitting idle in various program accounts that was committed in past years but never spent.
He also plans to divert $174 million from leases that allow five exploration companies to drill for natural gas on publicly owned state forest land in northern Pennsylvania. The money was slated for the state’s Oil and Gas Lease Fund, which is reserved for improvements to the state parks and forests.
In addition, Rendell said he is estimating that the federal government will approve an aid package for state governments.
“I fully expect that the commonwealth will receive the federal stimulus funding that President-elect Barack Obama spoke of last week,” Rendell said. “We anticipate receiving $450 million this fiscal year. Those funds will allow us to preserve the remainder of the Rainy Day Fund until 2009-10.”
Asked if that meant the stimulus would not be used to create jobs, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said, “No, it means we will not have to dip as deeply into the rainy day fund as we might if no help from Washington were forthcoming.”
House Minority Leader Sam Smith of Jefferson County said he generally approved of Rendell’s handling of the deficit, and suggested that House Republicans are willing to contribute some of the estimated $240 million legislative reserve to the deficit plan.
However, Smith warned that the real challenge will be handling the increasing pressure on the state’s finances in the 2009-10 fiscal year. The woeful outlook on tax collections virtually assures that state government will be unable to increase spending, he said.
Why is it sounding like the budget process is now akin to the RMS Titanic and we're all sitting in the 4th class steerage section waiting for the porter to return with some ice?
Rendell targets budget shortfall
A combination of spending cuts, federal money, funds from gas drilling leases and some reserves will be used to make up revenue losses.
By MARC LEVY
HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell plans to offset an estimated $1.6 billion hole in Pennsylvania’s budget this year with spending cuts and money from reserves, gas-drilling leases in state forests and an anticipated federal aid package.
Rendell revealed his plans, and the gaping shortfall projection, Tuesday at a traditional midyear budget briefing for state legislators, who generally reacted positively to what they heard.
The rapidly deteriorating economy has left Pennsylvania and dozens of other states with a shortfall this year, Rendell said. For now, Rendell said his goal is to weather the volatile economy in the next year-and-a-half without a broad-based tax increase or layoffs, or any further budget cuts, until the new fiscal year begins in July.
Cuts announced so far have hit a broad array of programs, from highway and local road improvements to help for the poor, handicapped and neglected. Thousands of nonunion state employees also will go without a costof-living salary increase.
“It’s a good first step, but the numbers are bleak,” said Republican state Rep. Marguerite Quinn of the 143rd District, which includes parts of Central and Upper Bucks. “More cuts need to be made. It’s not an easy position to be in but the job has to be done. We just have to make sure we’re making necessary cuts and live within our means.”
State Rep. Rick Taylor, a Democrat from the 151st District, which includes parts of Horsham and Montgomery Township, said, “The fact that both the governor and the leadership believe we should raise taxes only as a last resort is good news for all of us, especially in this tough economy when people are losing their jobs.”
The Democratic governor pledged to work cooperatively on the plan with lawmakers, whose approval of some aspects of the plan will be necessary, and he appealed for understanding from people and organizations that are hurting from a loss of state money and services.
“We’re going to try to make the cuts we have to make in a way that still preserves our ability to grow and still preserves the services you need,” Rendell said at the briefing at the State Museum auditorium in Harrisburg. “We’re going to do it in a responsible way, because this is a crisis. Hopefully it will be a short-lived crisis.”
State Sen. Rob Wonderling, a Republican whose 24th District includes parts of Upper Bucks and Montgomery County, said, “There are no sacred cows. All facets and assets of government should be subject to scrutiny. But I’d be very careful about cutting help and support for those at the greatest disadvantage who are the most vulnerable.”
In July, Rendell signed a $28.3 billion budget, an increase of about 4 percent over last year’s budget. But through the end of November, state tax collections ran nearly 7 percent behind expectations. If the shortfall continues at that rate, the state will face a nearly $2 billion deficit when the fiscal year ends in June.
Rendell said Tuesday that his administration is projecting a $1.6 billion shortfall, a number that he cautioned could change as the nation’s unpredictable economic future unfolds.
“There’s no surety to that $1.6 billion figure,” Rendell said. “We think $1.6 billion is a conservative estimate. It could be better, and obviously it could be worse, so this will be a work in progress.”
The plan to offset it includes $500 million in cuts that Rendell has already requested from across state government and its independent agencies, including the courts and Legislature.
Rendell wants to take half the state’s budgetary reserve — or $375 million — plus another $101 million sitting idle in various program accounts that was committed in past years but never spent.
He also plans to divert $174 million from leases that allow five exploration companies to drill for natural gas on publicly owned state forest land in northern Pennsylvania. The money was slated for the state’s Oil and Gas Lease Fund, which is reserved for improvements to the state parks and forests.
In addition, Rendell said he is estimating that the federal government will approve an aid package for state governments.
“I fully expect that the commonwealth will receive the federal stimulus funding that President-elect Barack Obama spoke of last week,” Rendell said. “We anticipate receiving $450 million this fiscal year. Those funds will allow us to preserve the remainder of the Rainy Day Fund until 2009-10.”
Asked if that meant the stimulus would not be used to create jobs, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said, “No, it means we will not have to dip as deeply into the rainy day fund as we might if no help from Washington were forthcoming.”
House Minority Leader Sam Smith of Jefferson County said he generally approved of Rendell’s handling of the deficit, and suggested that House Republicans are willing to contribute some of the estimated $240 million legislative reserve to the deficit plan.
However, Smith warned that the real challenge will be handling the increasing pressure on the state’s finances in the 2009-10 fiscal year. The woeful outlook on tax collections virtually assures that state government will be unable to increase spending, he said.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Bucks County Taxes Probably Rising Too...
From the BCCT.
Commissioners trade barbs on budget cuts
Diane Marseglia’s suggestion to cut 2 percent was called “arbitrary” and “haphazard” by the other commissioners.
By JENNA PORTNOY
Increased pension and health care costs make up most of Bucks County’s $7.1 million budget shortfall.
The county expects to spend $6.6 million for pension costs next year, which is more than twice the $2.8 million spent this year, said Brian Hessenthaler, director of finance and administration. Health care increases represent another $3 million hit.
“Everyone knows what’s going on with the economy,” he said. “It’s affecting every area of the budget.”
No members of the public attended a budget hearing Monday, but commissioners traded barbs on ways to cut costs in the $465.6 million spending plan anyway.
Commissioner Diane Marseglia said the county could slash $3.6 million if commissioners mandated departments cut 2 percent in all areas, excluding salaries and contractual obligations. She cited “paper use, education costs, conference attendance and consultants” as examples of places to save.
“Within that 2 percent, you might hit walls,” she said before the meeting. “But everyone can find 2 percent. It’s only two cents out of every dollar.”
During the discussion, Commissioner Cawley quizzed Marseglia on her basis for coming up with the figure, calling the suggestion “haphazard.”
“You really believe we’re going to save $3.6 million in pencils?” he asked Marseglia.
Commissioner Charley Martin called Marsgelia’s cost-cutting strategy “arbitrary.”
At a Dec. 3 commissioners meeting, Martin suggested eliminating two elected jury commissioners, who each earn about $18,000 a year plus benefits. Commissioners directed solicitor Glenn Haines to research the issue by Dec. 17. If possible, the earliest the change could affect the budget is 2010.
Asked for other ideas, Martin said, “I’ll share my ideas with the finance director.”
Among Marseglia’s remaining $400,000 in cost-cutting measures, she said the county should cut $61,800 for a public records officer, $160,000 for two newsletters as well as benefits to assistant solicitors and solicitors who serve row officers. She wants pay raises for non-union employees to drop from 3 percent to about 2.8 percent.
Cawley said any reduction or elimination of raises should occur across the board.
“If we are truly in this together,” she said, “what’s good for the non-represented employees should be good for the represented employees as well.”
Cawley said row officers rely heavily on their solicitors and suggested it would cost more to pay them per hour than it does to pay them a flat salary plus benefits. On hiring a full-time employee to comply with the state’s new Right to Know law, he said, it doesn’t look like the position is necessary.
Cawley said the county will put into a general pool some cars assigned to employees 24/7 and realize long-term savings with structured maintenance. He declined to name specific employees or reveal how much the moves would save.
If commissioners were to fill the entire budget gap with a tax increase, a resident owning property assessed at the county average of $35,942 would pay $33 more this year for a total county tax bill of $882.
Hessenthaler said departments will continue to try to save money and the county could dip into its $71.3 million rainy day fund. Typically, rating agencies frown upon such a move, but the financial crisis could change their outlook.
The budget must also account for an estimated $4.6 million in delinquent taxes, a $400,000 decrease in recorder of deeds fees, a $600,000 reduction in health department revenue, a $900,000 loss in interest earned on the rainy day fund and $1.2 million in unforeseen union contract obligations.
Marseglia said the county should only tap the rainy day fund for pension costs and state funding cuts, which county officials expect Gov. Ed Rendell to announce this week.
The tax rate remained at 21.9 mills in 2007 and 2008 and would increase by less than 1 mill in 2009 if the preliminary budget were to pass as is. A mill is a tax of $1 on every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
“In this economic climate, it would be extremely wrong-headed to raise taxes on people who are already suffering,” Cawley said after the meeting.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on a final budget Dec. 17.
Commissioners trade barbs on budget cuts
Diane Marseglia’s suggestion to cut 2 percent was called “arbitrary” and “haphazard” by the other commissioners.
By JENNA PORTNOY
Increased pension and health care costs make up most of Bucks County’s $7.1 million budget shortfall.
The county expects to spend $6.6 million for pension costs next year, which is more than twice the $2.8 million spent this year, said Brian Hessenthaler, director of finance and administration. Health care increases represent another $3 million hit.
“Everyone knows what’s going on with the economy,” he said. “It’s affecting every area of the budget.”
No members of the public attended a budget hearing Monday, but commissioners traded barbs on ways to cut costs in the $465.6 million spending plan anyway.
Commissioner Diane Marseglia said the county could slash $3.6 million if commissioners mandated departments cut 2 percent in all areas, excluding salaries and contractual obligations. She cited “paper use, education costs, conference attendance and consultants” as examples of places to save.
“Within that 2 percent, you might hit walls,” she said before the meeting. “But everyone can find 2 percent. It’s only two cents out of every dollar.”
During the discussion, Commissioner Cawley quizzed Marseglia on her basis for coming up with the figure, calling the suggestion “haphazard.”
“You really believe we’re going to save $3.6 million in pencils?” he asked Marseglia.
Commissioner Charley Martin called Marsgelia’s cost-cutting strategy “arbitrary.”
At a Dec. 3 commissioners meeting, Martin suggested eliminating two elected jury commissioners, who each earn about $18,000 a year plus benefits. Commissioners directed solicitor Glenn Haines to research the issue by Dec. 17. If possible, the earliest the change could affect the budget is 2010.
Asked for other ideas, Martin said, “I’ll share my ideas with the finance director.”
Among Marseglia’s remaining $400,000 in cost-cutting measures, she said the county should cut $61,800 for a public records officer, $160,000 for two newsletters as well as benefits to assistant solicitors and solicitors who serve row officers. She wants pay raises for non-union employees to drop from 3 percent to about 2.8 percent.
Cawley said any reduction or elimination of raises should occur across the board.
“If we are truly in this together,” she said, “what’s good for the non-represented employees should be good for the represented employees as well.”
Cawley said row officers rely heavily on their solicitors and suggested it would cost more to pay them per hour than it does to pay them a flat salary plus benefits. On hiring a full-time employee to comply with the state’s new Right to Know law, he said, it doesn’t look like the position is necessary.
Cawley said the county will put into a general pool some cars assigned to employees 24/7 and realize long-term savings with structured maintenance. He declined to name specific employees or reveal how much the moves would save.
If commissioners were to fill the entire budget gap with a tax increase, a resident owning property assessed at the county average of $35,942 would pay $33 more this year for a total county tax bill of $882.
Hessenthaler said departments will continue to try to save money and the county could dip into its $71.3 million rainy day fund. Typically, rating agencies frown upon such a move, but the financial crisis could change their outlook.
The budget must also account for an estimated $4.6 million in delinquent taxes, a $400,000 decrease in recorder of deeds fees, a $600,000 reduction in health department revenue, a $900,000 loss in interest earned on the rainy day fund and $1.2 million in unforeseen union contract obligations.
Marseglia said the county should only tap the rainy day fund for pension costs and state funding cuts, which county officials expect Gov. Ed Rendell to announce this week.
The tax rate remained at 21.9 mills in 2007 and 2008 and would increase by less than 1 mill in 2009 if the preliminary budget were to pass as is. A mill is a tax of $1 on every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
“In this economic climate, it would be extremely wrong-headed to raise taxes on people who are already suffering,” Cawley said after the meeting.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on a final budget Dec. 17.
Neshaminy: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
From the BCCT.
What's the Morrisville budget like?
District official: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
By REGIS D’ANGIOLINI
The financial outlook for the Neshaminy School District is bleak.
That was the picture business administrator Joseph Paradise painted at Monday night’s board strategic action committee meeting — a meeting that also saw presentations on the proposed fullday kindergarten program and the relocation of the Tawanka Learning Center.
While real estate tax collection in the district remains high, according to Paradise, the amount of revenue generated from the real estate transfer tax, the business privilege tax and the mercantile tax are all down. As a result, anticipated revenue for tax collection in the district could be one half of one percent — or $500,000 — lower than what was anticipated as early as last spring.
“We [in the Neshaminy School District] are not isolated from the larger economic crisis involving our country,” Paradise said.
When asked whether this would result in a property tax increase in next year’s budget, Paradise responded that such an increase would be “inevitable.” He would not give a figure, but said that the amount would be determined in budget development meetings slated to begin in January, although the district has already been working on the budget.
A major concern of his at the present time, however, is the district’s depleted fund balance, which has been dipped into during the past few years, he said. Three years ago the fund balance was $13.6 million, but as of last June it had been reduced to $4.8 million, with another $3.5 million scheduled to be used in this year’s budget.
“These are scary numbers to me — when you start putting together declining savings and sliding revenue,” he said.
Money could be made up by selling the closed Eisenhower Elementary School, which hasn’t been used as an elementary school by the district in 32 years, Paradise said.
However, one of the proposals on the table for relocating the Tawanka Learning Center is to the Eisenhower Elementary School. That move would cost the district $116,000, while the proposal to move it to an unused wing of the high school would cost $62,000, Paradise said. Both proposals were presented to the board, which is expected to continue discussing the issue at its Jan. 13 work session.
January will also see the continuation of the full-day kindergarten proposal outlined Monday night by Jaqueline Rattigan, director of elementary education. Rattigan estimated the cost at $1.3 million and said it would require the hiring of 17 more teachers and the utilization of 17 additional classrooms to serve an estimated 532 students.
In order to reduce costs, Rattigan said she will investigate a possible pilot program at the suggestion of several board members.
Prior to the committee meeting, the board elected Kim Koutsouradis as its new vice president in a 5-4 vote at the continuation of it reorganization meeting.
What's the Morrisville budget like?
District official: Tax hike ‘inevitable’
By REGIS D’ANGIOLINI
The financial outlook for the Neshaminy School District is bleak.
That was the picture business administrator Joseph Paradise painted at Monday night’s board strategic action committee meeting — a meeting that also saw presentations on the proposed fullday kindergarten program and the relocation of the Tawanka Learning Center.
While real estate tax collection in the district remains high, according to Paradise, the amount of revenue generated from the real estate transfer tax, the business privilege tax and the mercantile tax are all down. As a result, anticipated revenue for tax collection in the district could be one half of one percent — or $500,000 — lower than what was anticipated as early as last spring.
“We [in the Neshaminy School District] are not isolated from the larger economic crisis involving our country,” Paradise said.
When asked whether this would result in a property tax increase in next year’s budget, Paradise responded that such an increase would be “inevitable.” He would not give a figure, but said that the amount would be determined in budget development meetings slated to begin in January, although the district has already been working on the budget.
A major concern of his at the present time, however, is the district’s depleted fund balance, which has been dipped into during the past few years, he said. Three years ago the fund balance was $13.6 million, but as of last June it had been reduced to $4.8 million, with another $3.5 million scheduled to be used in this year’s budget.
“These are scary numbers to me — when you start putting together declining savings and sliding revenue,” he said.
Money could be made up by selling the closed Eisenhower Elementary School, which hasn’t been used as an elementary school by the district in 32 years, Paradise said.
However, one of the proposals on the table for relocating the Tawanka Learning Center is to the Eisenhower Elementary School. That move would cost the district $116,000, while the proposal to move it to an unused wing of the high school would cost $62,000, Paradise said. Both proposals were presented to the board, which is expected to continue discussing the issue at its Jan. 13 work session.
January will also see the continuation of the full-day kindergarten proposal outlined Monday night by Jaqueline Rattigan, director of elementary education. Rattigan estimated the cost at $1.3 million and said it would require the hiring of 17 more teachers and the utilization of 17 additional classrooms to serve an estimated 532 students.
In order to reduce costs, Rattigan said she will investigate a possible pilot program at the suggestion of several board members.
Prior to the committee meeting, the board elected Kim Koutsouradis as its new vice president in a 5-4 vote at the continuation of it reorganization meeting.
Selecting the Next Secretary of Education
From the Inquirer.
Obama education pick sparks conflict
The Associated Press, Posted on Mon, Dec. 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has not signaled what he will do to fix the country's failing schools, but his choice of education secretary will say a lot about the policies he may pursue.
Debate is simmering among Democrats over whom Obama should name.
Teachers' unions, an influential segment of the party base, want an advocate for their members, someone like Obama adviser Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor, or Inez Tenenbaum, the former state schools chief in South Carolina.
Reform advocates want someone like New York schools chancellor Joel Klein, who wants teachers and schools held accountable for the performance of students.
Thus far Obama has avoided taking sides, saying things that reassure the competing factions. Obama has said, for instance, that teacher pay should be tied to student achievement, which reformers like, but not solely based on test scores, which teachers like.
Unions, by the way, dislike the "reformer" label, pointing out they want reform, too. And the reform group says it cares about good teachers; it just wants bad ones out of the classroom.
"He's a wise man," said Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, chuckling. "He left himself some room to maneuver."
Bayh, a Democratic centrist who backed the No Child Left Behind law, thinks Obama will find a way to straddle the competing factions. "My strong impression of the president-elect is he is pragmatic. He won't pick an ideologue. He won't pick a side in this fight."
Even so, Bayh expects Obama to choose someone the unions can live with to carry out his education goals.
"You probably don't get there by having an overt, in-your-face fight with classroom teachers," Bayh said. "That's going to take a lot of political capital and divert energy from other things."
Can Obama make both sides happy? Not likely, said Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.
"I think it's almost an impossible pick to make and somebody not be upset," Burr said. "I'm not sure there's a candidate that bridges both divides."
One candidate might fit the bill , Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, who has spent seven years running the country's third-largest school district.
Duncan is friendly with the president-elect, playing pickup basketball as well as touring schools with the former Illinois senator and fellow Harvard alumnus. Duncan visited Washington last week, stopping for coffee with outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, but he said the visit was purely social and had nothing to do with the Obama transition.
Like Obama, Duncan has straddled both education factions, signing manifestos from each side earlier this year.
The reform group likes Duncan's work in Chicago, where he has focused on improving struggling schools, closing those that fail and getting better teachers.
And unlike Klein or Washington schools chief Michelle Rhee, Duncan has managed to avoid alienating the teachers' unions.
"Arne Duncan actually reaches out and tries to do things in a collaborative way," said Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers.
Weingarten also heads the New York teachers union, whose members felt demonized in their contract battles with Klein. The 3.2 million-member National Education Association shares their view.
"Joel Klein is not someone we would be happy with as secretary of education," NEA lobbyist Joel Packer said. "I don't think Obama is going to pick someone who's going to be really divisive."
Darling-Hammond, the Obama adviser who is heading his education transition team, is equally controversial. The reform group doesn't like her because of her criticism of No Child Left Behind and her early critique of Teach for America, which pairs college graduates with a school-in-need for two years, although she has since given the program credit for attracting talented teachers.
Both unions have said they like the idea of Obama choosing a governor or former governor. There are many to choose from, including former Gov. Roy Barnes of Georgia. Kansas' Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, whose name had been floated for several Cabinet posts, announced over the weekend that she had removed herself from consideration from a Cabinet job in the Obama administration, citing Kansas' budget problems that need her attention.
The names of former Mississippi Govs. Ray Mabus and Ronnie Musgrove have also surfaced; several people said Musgrove has talked to Democratic senators about the job, but he did not return a call from The Associated Press.
AFT backed Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the primary, and NEA held off on an endorsement, but in the general election both endorsed Obama and spent millions of dollars supporting him.
In the education debate, the competing sides break down over the degree to which teachers and schools should be held accountable for how kids are learning, and the role test scores should play in making that determination.
At the heart of the dispute: No Child Left Behind, the law that has grown as unpopular as George W. Bush, the lame-duck president who championed it.
The reform group agrees with the law's general principle of penalties for schools if test scores fail to improve. Although nearly everyone agrees the law has problems that need fixing.
The union coalition says test scores aren't the only measure, and that factors far beyond the classroom affect how well kids learn.
Obama education pick sparks conflict
The Associated Press, Posted on Mon, Dec. 8, 2008
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama has not signaled what he will do to fix the country's failing schools, but his choice of education secretary will say a lot about the policies he may pursue.
Debate is simmering among Democrats over whom Obama should name.
Teachers' unions, an influential segment of the party base, want an advocate for their members, someone like Obama adviser Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor, or Inez Tenenbaum, the former state schools chief in South Carolina.
Reform advocates want someone like New York schools chancellor Joel Klein, who wants teachers and schools held accountable for the performance of students.
Thus far Obama has avoided taking sides, saying things that reassure the competing factions. Obama has said, for instance, that teacher pay should be tied to student achievement, which reformers like, but not solely based on test scores, which teachers like.
Unions, by the way, dislike the "reformer" label, pointing out they want reform, too. And the reform group says it cares about good teachers; it just wants bad ones out of the classroom.
"He's a wise man," said Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, chuckling. "He left himself some room to maneuver."
Bayh, a Democratic centrist who backed the No Child Left Behind law, thinks Obama will find a way to straddle the competing factions. "My strong impression of the president-elect is he is pragmatic. He won't pick an ideologue. He won't pick a side in this fight."
Even so, Bayh expects Obama to choose someone the unions can live with to carry out his education goals.
"You probably don't get there by having an overt, in-your-face fight with classroom teachers," Bayh said. "That's going to take a lot of political capital and divert energy from other things."
Can Obama make both sides happy? Not likely, said Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.
"I think it's almost an impossible pick to make and somebody not be upset," Burr said. "I'm not sure there's a candidate that bridges both divides."
One candidate might fit the bill , Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, who has spent seven years running the country's third-largest school district.
Duncan is friendly with the president-elect, playing pickup basketball as well as touring schools with the former Illinois senator and fellow Harvard alumnus. Duncan visited Washington last week, stopping for coffee with outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, but he said the visit was purely social and had nothing to do with the Obama transition.
Like Obama, Duncan has straddled both education factions, signing manifestos from each side earlier this year.
The reform group likes Duncan's work in Chicago, where he has focused on improving struggling schools, closing those that fail and getting better teachers.
And unlike Klein or Washington schools chief Michelle Rhee, Duncan has managed to avoid alienating the teachers' unions.
"Arne Duncan actually reaches out and tries to do things in a collaborative way," said Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers.
Weingarten also heads the New York teachers union, whose members felt demonized in their contract battles with Klein. The 3.2 million-member National Education Association shares their view.
"Joel Klein is not someone we would be happy with as secretary of education," NEA lobbyist Joel Packer said. "I don't think Obama is going to pick someone who's going to be really divisive."
Darling-Hammond, the Obama adviser who is heading his education transition team, is equally controversial. The reform group doesn't like her because of her criticism of No Child Left Behind and her early critique of Teach for America, which pairs college graduates with a school-in-need for two years, although she has since given the program credit for attracting talented teachers.
Both unions have said they like the idea of Obama choosing a governor or former governor. There are many to choose from, including former Gov. Roy Barnes of Georgia. Kansas' Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, whose name had been floated for several Cabinet posts, announced over the weekend that she had removed herself from consideration from a Cabinet job in the Obama administration, citing Kansas' budget problems that need her attention.
The names of former Mississippi Govs. Ray Mabus and Ronnie Musgrove have also surfaced; several people said Musgrove has talked to Democratic senators about the job, but he did not return a call from The Associated Press.
AFT backed Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the primary, and NEA held off on an endorsement, but in the general election both endorsed Obama and spent millions of dollars supporting him.
In the education debate, the competing sides break down over the degree to which teachers and schools should be held accountable for how kids are learning, and the role test scores should play in making that determination.
At the heart of the dispute: No Child Left Behind, the law that has grown as unpopular as George W. Bush, the lame-duck president who championed it.
The reform group agrees with the law's general principle of penalties for schools if test scores fail to improve. Although nearly everyone agrees the law has problems that need fixing.
The union coalition says test scores aren't the only measure, and that factors far beyond the classroom affect how well kids learn.
Poverty and Children's Literacy
Bipartisan Celebration at PA Society to Benefit Children's Literacy Programs
All funds raised will go to First Book to purchase new books for children in Pennsylvania
Last update: 12:18 p.m. EST Dec. 8, 2008
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec 08, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A fundraiser to help bring the magic of a child's first book to thousands of Pennsylvania children is being held for the first time this year as part of the annual Pennsylvania Society weekend.
Sponsored by the non-partisan Pennsylvania Children's Foundation, the First Annual Holiday Celebration on December 12 will benefit First Book, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand children's access to books in order to improve their literacy skills and help them develop an interest in reading.
Governors Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge; U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey; Ambassador Marilyn Ware; and Mayors Michael Nutter and Luke Ravenstahl are chairing the First Annual Holiday Celebration. Other elected officials and state leaders are hosting the event.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, 18% of Pennsylvania children under the age of six live in poverty and children in more than two-thirds of the state are at moderate or high risk of school failure. Studies show that children from low-income families enter school at a significant disadvantage because they have not been exposed to books at home and over 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income children have no age-appropriate books. As a result, the gap in reading comprehension scores between children from low- and high-income families is more than 40 points and 27% of Pennsylvania fourth graders are reading below grade-level.
The Pennsylvania Children's Foundation was created this year to benefit children's literacy programs throughout the Commonwealth. All funds raised at the December 12 Holiday Celebration in New York City will be dedicated to First Book programs in Pennsylvania. First Book works with local Advisory Boards who reach children through literacy programs at Head Start centers, libraries, soup kitchens, churches, housing projects and after-school initiatives.
The First Annual Holiday Celebration will be held on Friday, Dec. 12, from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. in the Empire Room of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. Tickets are $250 each and tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to First Book. Contact Karen Walsh at 717-982-8194 or kwalsh@neimangroup.com for more information.
ABOUT FIRST BOOK -- First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy -- access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 60 million free and low-cost books in thousands of communities. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the nonprofit First Book please visit http://www.firstbook.org or call 866-393-1222.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Children's Foundation
All funds raised will go to First Book to purchase new books for children in Pennsylvania
Last update: 12:18 p.m. EST Dec. 8, 2008
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec 08, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A fundraiser to help bring the magic of a child's first book to thousands of Pennsylvania children is being held for the first time this year as part of the annual Pennsylvania Society weekend.
Sponsored by the non-partisan Pennsylvania Children's Foundation, the First Annual Holiday Celebration on December 12 will benefit First Book, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand children's access to books in order to improve their literacy skills and help them develop an interest in reading.
Governors Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge; U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey; Ambassador Marilyn Ware; and Mayors Michael Nutter and Luke Ravenstahl are chairing the First Annual Holiday Celebration. Other elected officials and state leaders are hosting the event.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, 18% of Pennsylvania children under the age of six live in poverty and children in more than two-thirds of the state are at moderate or high risk of school failure. Studies show that children from low-income families enter school at a significant disadvantage because they have not been exposed to books at home and over 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income children have no age-appropriate books. As a result, the gap in reading comprehension scores between children from low- and high-income families is more than 40 points and 27% of Pennsylvania fourth graders are reading below grade-level.
The Pennsylvania Children's Foundation was created this year to benefit children's literacy programs throughout the Commonwealth. All funds raised at the December 12 Holiday Celebration in New York City will be dedicated to First Book programs in Pennsylvania. First Book works with local Advisory Boards who reach children through literacy programs at Head Start centers, libraries, soup kitchens, churches, housing projects and after-school initiatives.
The First Annual Holiday Celebration will be held on Friday, Dec. 12, from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. in the Empire Room of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. Tickets are $250 each and tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to First Book. Contact Karen Walsh at 717-982-8194 or kwalsh@neimangroup.com for more information.
ABOUT FIRST BOOK -- First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy -- access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 60 million free and low-cost books in thousands of communities. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the nonprofit First Book please visit http://www.firstbook.org or call 866-393-1222.
SOURCE Pennsylvania Children's Foundation
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Cupcake Police
From the BCCT.
Don't get me wrong. The aim here is healthier students and I'm all for that. It's just that you can't MAKE kids healthy by becoming the celebrations police. It takes a personal commitment and personal responsibility.
Parents: Wake up and be a parent. Monitor what the kids eat and stop OVERbuying the stuff they shouldn't be eating.
Students: Drop the Wii controller and get outside. Find a sport. PLAY. Have fun.
District distributes wellness pamphlet
Foods with sugar are supposed to be limited for classroom celebrations.
By JOAN HELLYER
STAFF WRITER
Joan Hellyer can be reached at 215-949-4048 or jhellyer@phillyBurbs.com.
What rewards can a Bristol Township teacher use to celebrate a student’s success in the classroom? What can Bristol Township parents send in with their kids for a classroom party? What are the nutritional guidelines for Bristol Township schools to abide by during fundraising activities? Answers to those and other questions are spelled out in an informational booklet that’s being distributed this week to district students, teachers and administrators, spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said. It includes healthy-choice guidelines that are part of a wellness policy approved several years ago by the school board, she said.
A recent survey by the district’s Healthy Kids initiative suggests that while the policy was previously adhered to, efforts to maintain the wellness mandate have waned, Kelliher said.
The district began implementing the Healthy Kids project earlier this year in an effort to reduce an obesity rate of roughly 30 percent among district elementary school students, according to project officials.
Given the results of the wellness survey, District Health Coordinator Avis Anderson teamed up with Pam Duffy, the Healthy Kids coordinator, to produce the informational packet, Kelliher said.
In it, Anderson and Duffy explain the wellness policy is based on nutritional standards. For instance, it limits the amount of foods that contain sugar to two or three items during classroom parties. The offered items also need to include fresh fruits, vegetables, water, 100 percent fruit juice or milk, according to the booklet.
Anderson and Duffy provide numerous healthy alternatives to sweet treats as rewards or during celebrations and to help raise money for district schools.
For classroom rewards, they suggest giving toys or trinkets like rubber balls or finger puppets. Instead of selling cakes and candies during fundraisers, they suggest selling magazine subscriptions.
Nominal expenses to produce the blue-covered information booklets were covered with money from a $300,000 Tufts University grant the district is using to fund its Healthy Kids initiative, Kelliher said.
Don't get me wrong. The aim here is healthier students and I'm all for that. It's just that you can't MAKE kids healthy by becoming the celebrations police. It takes a personal commitment and personal responsibility.
Parents: Wake up and be a parent. Monitor what the kids eat and stop OVERbuying the stuff they shouldn't be eating.
Students: Drop the Wii controller and get outside. Find a sport. PLAY. Have fun.
District distributes wellness pamphlet
Foods with sugar are supposed to be limited for classroom celebrations.
By JOAN HELLYER
STAFF WRITER
Joan Hellyer can be reached at 215-949-4048 or jhellyer@phillyBurbs.com.
What rewards can a Bristol Township teacher use to celebrate a student’s success in the classroom? What can Bristol Township parents send in with their kids for a classroom party? What are the nutritional guidelines for Bristol Township schools to abide by during fundraising activities? Answers to those and other questions are spelled out in an informational booklet that’s being distributed this week to district students, teachers and administrators, spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said. It includes healthy-choice guidelines that are part of a wellness policy approved several years ago by the school board, she said.
A recent survey by the district’s Healthy Kids initiative suggests that while the policy was previously adhered to, efforts to maintain the wellness mandate have waned, Kelliher said.
The district began implementing the Healthy Kids project earlier this year in an effort to reduce an obesity rate of roughly 30 percent among district elementary school students, according to project officials.
Given the results of the wellness survey, District Health Coordinator Avis Anderson teamed up with Pam Duffy, the Healthy Kids coordinator, to produce the informational packet, Kelliher said.
In it, Anderson and Duffy explain the wellness policy is based on nutritional standards. For instance, it limits the amount of foods that contain sugar to two or three items during classroom parties. The offered items also need to include fresh fruits, vegetables, water, 100 percent fruit juice or milk, according to the booklet.
Anderson and Duffy provide numerous healthy alternatives to sweet treats as rewards or during celebrations and to help raise money for district schools.
For classroom rewards, they suggest giving toys or trinkets like rubber balls or finger puppets. Instead of selling cakes and candies during fundraisers, they suggest selling magazine subscriptions.
Nominal expenses to produce the blue-covered information booklets were covered with money from a $300,000 Tufts University grant the district is using to fund its Healthy Kids initiative, Kelliher said.
Baby, It's COLD Outside!
From the BCCT.
Donate your new or gently used hats, gloves, mittens and scarves this season.
The Morrisville Middle/Senior High School’s 21st Century Service Learning/Interact Club will collect cold weather items through January.
People can drop them off at the school, 550 Palmer Ave., and at The Ivins House, 80 W. Trenton Ave., both in Morrisville. The American Red Cross Lower Bucks County homeless shelter, The Salvation Army and The Ivins House will distribute the donations to those in need.
The senior high Service Learning/Interact Club is made up of student in grades nine through 12 who live in Morrisville and do projects throughout the year to help the community.
Donate your new or gently used hats, gloves, mittens and scarves this season.
The Morrisville Middle/Senior High School’s 21st Century Service Learning/Interact Club will collect cold weather items through January.
People can drop them off at the school, 550 Palmer Ave., and at The Ivins House, 80 W. Trenton Ave., both in Morrisville. The American Red Cross Lower Bucks County homeless shelter, The Salvation Army and The Ivins House will distribute the donations to those in need.
The senior high Service Learning/Interact Club is made up of student in grades nine through 12 who live in Morrisville and do projects throughout the year to help the community.
Honors for CB East and West
From the BCCT.
CB East and West ranked among top schools by U.S. News
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
Central Bucks East High School and Central Bucks West High School are among the best high schools in America.
U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services placed them in the top 604 out of more than 21,000 public high schools recognized in 48 states, based on their students' college readiness.
“We are incredibly proud of our student body, our staff and our surrounding community. An achievement of this nature is the result of a caring school community, and we're excited by the opportunities our school creates for its students,” said Abe Lucabaugh, the principal at Central Bucks East.
CB West and CB East serve about 3,000 Doylestown-area students in grades 10 through 12.
School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor's, only assigned individual rankings to the top 100 Gold Medal schools.
No other area school was ranked on the America's Best High Schools list. However, not all high schools provided sufficient data to be rated for the list, according to School Evaluation Services.
In Pennsylvania, two schools won a Top 100 distinction. Masterman Julia R Secondary School in Philadelphia is No. 53 and Conestoga Senior High School in Chester County is No. 79.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., is No. 1 in the country for the second year in a row.
School Evaluation Services placed participating schools at gold, silver or bronze levels or honorable mention, depending on how well they achieved the following criteria:
* Achievement levels for all students in reading and math core subjects on state accountability tests.
* Ability to achieve proficiency rates on state tests for the school's least advantaged student groups.
* Providing students with a challenging college-ready curriculum, measured through a college readiness index derived from participation and performance on AP tests.
The ranking system by School Evaluation Services is the only one that considers the performance of students at every level within a school, according to the organization.
CB East and CB West were placed in the silver medal level.
The top 100 high schools include 18 charter schools and 16 magnet schools. Student populations in the top schools vary greatly, ranging from 125 in Limestone, Maine, to 4,296 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
CB East and West ranked among top schools by U.S. News
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
Central Bucks East High School and Central Bucks West High School are among the best high schools in America.
U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services placed them in the top 604 out of more than 21,000 public high schools recognized in 48 states, based on their students' college readiness.
“We are incredibly proud of our student body, our staff and our surrounding community. An achievement of this nature is the result of a caring school community, and we're excited by the opportunities our school creates for its students,” said Abe Lucabaugh, the principal at Central Bucks East.
CB West and CB East serve about 3,000 Doylestown-area students in grades 10 through 12.
School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor's, only assigned individual rankings to the top 100 Gold Medal schools.
No other area school was ranked on the America's Best High Schools list. However, not all high schools provided sufficient data to be rated for the list, according to School Evaluation Services.
In Pennsylvania, two schools won a Top 100 distinction. Masterman Julia R Secondary School in Philadelphia is No. 53 and Conestoga Senior High School in Chester County is No. 79.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., is No. 1 in the country for the second year in a row.
School Evaluation Services placed participating schools at gold, silver or bronze levels or honorable mention, depending on how well they achieved the following criteria:
* Achievement levels for all students in reading and math core subjects on state accountability tests.
* Ability to achieve proficiency rates on state tests for the school's least advantaged student groups.
* Providing students with a challenging college-ready curriculum, measured through a college readiness index derived from participation and performance on AP tests.
The ranking system by School Evaluation Services is the only one that considers the performance of students at every level within a school, according to the organization.
CB East and CB West were placed in the silver medal level.
The top 100 high schools include 18 charter schools and 16 magnet schools. Student populations in the top schools vary greatly, ranging from 125 in Limestone, Maine, to 4,296 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Money crunch hits Central Bucks
From the Intelligencer.
Money crunch hits CB
By CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
Central Bucks School District is freezing spending on curriculum and athletics, borrowing and hiring new teachers next year and discretionary spending at each of its schools.
“We’re looking at everything we can to try to save as much money as we can,” district business manager David Matyas said this week.
“We’re going to look at what can we not buy this year. … Is it library books, textbooks? We’re looking at everything.”
Asked if the district is looking at a property tax rate increase for next school year, Matyas said, “We don’t have much clarity on that at all. …We probably won’t until February.”
Central Bucks’ budget for the 2008-09 school year is approximately $267 million.
Revenue hasn’t been coming in as district officials expected when they first drafted the budget at this time last year. The state Department of Education cut its subsidy to Central Bucks by about $1 million earlier this year, and district officials can’t begin to guess what the state might provide next year. Matyas told the school board he anticipates real estate transfer tax revenue will be about $765,000 less than the $4.27 million in the budget.
The district will likely earn about as much interest on its investments as officials expected — approximately $2.28 million.
Matyas said the district might get about $100,000 more in property tax revenue than the $174 million officials budgeted.
“You might as well call that flat. That’s nothing for a budget of our size,” Matyas said.
And earned income tax revenue is expected to be about $700,000 more than the $17.3 million in the district’s budget.
Expenses for this school year have been “pretty much on target,” Matyas said. But, as with everywhere else, expenses are expected to rise next year.
District officials are also trying to prepare for an expected spike in Central Bucks’ contribution to the state retirement program in 2012-13. Matyas said the district currently contributes approximately $10 million, and will have to contribute about $20 million in 2012-13.
The building, curriculum and athletic budgets — the budgets over which Matyas said the district has “some discretion” — will be frozen for the 2009-10 budget year. Finance director Tom McCambridge said the budgets make up about 3 percent of the school district’s overall budget.
The building budgets, Matyas explained, are managed by school principals and include the number of hours teacher aides work, how much copier machines get used, textbook purchases, library book purchases and cosmetic changes to the buildings.
The curriculum budget is the money the district spends on new curricula and training for teachers to implement it.
“For example, this year, we’re implementing a new science curriculum at the elementary level. That’s part of the curriculum budget. There’s a lot of staff development in that, a lot of new materials,” Matyas said. “That’s part of this year’s budget, so that will go through. The timing was good on that.”
The athletic budget is the money the district spends on coaches’ salaries, field-painting, and athletic uniforms and equipment.
Student enrollment in Central Bucks has been leveling out (the district gained only two new students this year), so district officials have decided not to create any new teaching positions.
Matyas said district officials don’t know yet what enrollment might be next year.
“We’re hoping it’s flat. We’re hoping we’re not going to experience any enrollment pressure. Enrollment pressure means new teaching positions,” Matyas said. “If we have one new kid or 500 new kids, our philosophy today is that we’re not hiring any new teaching positions.”
There is one exception to that rule, Matyas said.
District officials expect to hire five new autistic support teachers and one gifted support teacher.
“We have more special ed students we know that are coming into the K-12 population from pre-school. We also have students that are moving from the elementary to secondary level,” Matyas explained.
Matyas will present a draft budget of expenses to the school board at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Money crunch hits CB
By CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
Central Bucks School District is freezing spending on curriculum and athletics, borrowing and hiring new teachers next year and discretionary spending at each of its schools.
“We’re looking at everything we can to try to save as much money as we can,” district business manager David Matyas said this week.
“We’re going to look at what can we not buy this year. … Is it library books, textbooks? We’re looking at everything.”
Asked if the district is looking at a property tax rate increase for next school year, Matyas said, “We don’t have much clarity on that at all. …We probably won’t until February.”
Central Bucks’ budget for the 2008-09 school year is approximately $267 million.
Revenue hasn’t been coming in as district officials expected when they first drafted the budget at this time last year. The state Department of Education cut its subsidy to Central Bucks by about $1 million earlier this year, and district officials can’t begin to guess what the state might provide next year. Matyas told the school board he anticipates real estate transfer tax revenue will be about $765,000 less than the $4.27 million in the budget.
The district will likely earn about as much interest on its investments as officials expected — approximately $2.28 million.
Matyas said the district might get about $100,000 more in property tax revenue than the $174 million officials budgeted.
“You might as well call that flat. That’s nothing for a budget of our size,” Matyas said.
And earned income tax revenue is expected to be about $700,000 more than the $17.3 million in the district’s budget.
Expenses for this school year have been “pretty much on target,” Matyas said. But, as with everywhere else, expenses are expected to rise next year.
District officials are also trying to prepare for an expected spike in Central Bucks’ contribution to the state retirement program in 2012-13. Matyas said the district currently contributes approximately $10 million, and will have to contribute about $20 million in 2012-13.
The building, curriculum and athletic budgets — the budgets over which Matyas said the district has “some discretion” — will be frozen for the 2009-10 budget year. Finance director Tom McCambridge said the budgets make up about 3 percent of the school district’s overall budget.
The building budgets, Matyas explained, are managed by school principals and include the number of hours teacher aides work, how much copier machines get used, textbook purchases, library book purchases and cosmetic changes to the buildings.
The curriculum budget is the money the district spends on new curricula and training for teachers to implement it.
“For example, this year, we’re implementing a new science curriculum at the elementary level. That’s part of the curriculum budget. There’s a lot of staff development in that, a lot of new materials,” Matyas said. “That’s part of this year’s budget, so that will go through. The timing was good on that.”
The athletic budget is the money the district spends on coaches’ salaries, field-painting, and athletic uniforms and equipment.
Student enrollment in Central Bucks has been leveling out (the district gained only two new students this year), so district officials have decided not to create any new teaching positions.
Matyas said district officials don’t know yet what enrollment might be next year.
“We’re hoping it’s flat. We’re hoping we’re not going to experience any enrollment pressure. Enrollment pressure means new teaching positions,” Matyas said. “If we have one new kid or 500 new kids, our philosophy today is that we’re not hiring any new teaching positions.”
There is one exception to that rule, Matyas said.
District officials expect to hire five new autistic support teachers and one gifted support teacher.
“We have more special ed students we know that are coming into the K-12 population from pre-school. We also have students that are moving from the elementary to secondary level,” Matyas explained.
Matyas will present a draft budget of expenses to the school board at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Reorganization Wrapup
From the BCCT. No changes in Morrisville.
Same headline, different day. No change in Morrisville...
School boards elect new officers
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
State law requires all governing bodies in Pennsylvania's 501 public school districts to elect officers during the first week of December for the next year. Seven of the Lower Bucks County school boards reorganized Dec. 1. Council Rock's board reorganized Thursday night. Bucks County Technical High School's joint board committee will choose its officers during its Dec. 16 meeting. Here are the results of last week's reorganization meetings:
BENSALEM
The Bensalem school board voted 8-0 to appoint Harry Kramer to another term as its president.
The board split 5-3 in its selection of a new vice president.
Eugene Rothenberg was appointed vice president as he and Dr. Lewis Brandt, Kramer, Heather Nicholas and Stephen Nowmos voted in favor of the nomination.
Carol McGuire, Rose Jacobs and Carol Jones voted in favor of McGuire filling the post.
The board also split 5-3 to reappoint Begley, Carlin and Mandio as its solicitor.
The three no voters, as they did during the 2007 reorganization meeting, suggested the district's governing body get annual bids for the post instead of just reappointing the longtime solicitor.
James Bodnar did not attend the meeting.
BRISTOL
The Bristol school board voted 6-0 to appoint David Chichilitti to another term as board president.
The board, in separate 6-0 votes, also decided to reappoint John D'Angelo as vice president and James Petrino as treasurer.
Board member Mary Jane Paglione arrived at the meeting after the officers were selected, according to meeting records. Steve Cullen and Louis Persichetti Jr. did not attend the meeting.
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP
Bristol Township school board members voted 6-3 to elect W. Earl Bruck as president.
Bruck, who succeeds board member Stacey Pressley as president, joined Helen Cini, Frederick Black, Michele Haines, Sean Norman and Bruce Prendergast Jr. in approving the nomination.
Pressley, Angela Nober and Stacy Gerlach voted against the appointment.
The board also split 7-2 in its appointment of Cini as its vice president, with Pressley and Nober voting against. She succeeds Nober.
CENTENNIAL
Thomas Reinboth replaced Michael Monaghan as board president. Cynthia Mueller remains the vice president and Betty Huf will stay as the assistant secretary. All votes were unanimous.
Monaghan said he did not seek another year as president because of recent health problems. Reinboth commended Monaghan on his year of service as president.
Monaghan represents Region 3, which includes Warminster west of York Road, plus the Speedway section. Reinboth represents Region 2, which includes Ivyland and Warminster east of York Road except the Speedway section.
Traditionally, the regional school board alternates its leadership between Warminster and Upper Southampton every two years.
COUNCIL ROCK
The Council Rock school board unanimously approved Paul Anagnostakos as the next president. Board member Jerold S. Grupp participated in Thursday night's meeting via telephone.
Board members then voted 6-3 for Bernadette Heenan to fill the vice president's seat. Board members Kyle McKessy, Wendi Thomas and Richard Abramson voted for Grupp.
The governing body also approved 8-0 the firm of Eastburn and Gray to continue as the school board's solicitor. Board member Patricia Vaccaro-Sexton was not present for the solictor's vote.
MORRISVILLE
Joseph Kemp nominated Robin Reithmeyer to be president during the reorganization meeting but Kemp and Reithmeyer lost that vote 7-2.
Then, in separate votes, the board appointed the current officers to another year of service, with William Hellmann as president, Alfred Radosti as vice president, Marlys Mihok as secretary and Brenda Worob as treasurer. Kemp and Reithmeyer voted against Hellmann's and Radosti's appointments.
The board also voted unanimously to retain Michael Fitzpatrick as its solicitor.
NESHAMINY
The school board elected Ritchie Webb, in a 5-4 vote, to succeed Rick Eccles as president. Board members William O'Connor, Bill Spitz, Irene Boyle and Joseph Blasch voted no.
Several motions to appoint Frank Koziol, Kim Koutsouradis or Joseph Blasch as vice president failed. Koziol served as vice president for the past year.
The board will try again to elect its vice president during its 7 p.m. meeting Monday night at Herbert Hoover Elementary School on Trenton Road in Middletown, officials said.
The board reappointed Begley, Carlin and Mandio as its solicitor in a 6-3 vote. Blasch, O'Connor and Spitz voted against that firm.
Board members also approved the PA Open Records Law Act 3-2008 Session.
PENNSBURY
All Pennsbury school board officers retained their former positions.
Gregory Lucidi will serve another year as president, Arlene Gordon is vice president and Richard Johnson is the board secretary.
Compiled by education reporters Joan Hellyer, Rachel Canelli and Manasee Wagh
Same headline, different day. No change in Morrisville...
School boards elect new officers
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
State law requires all governing bodies in Pennsylvania's 501 public school districts to elect officers during the first week of December for the next year. Seven of the Lower Bucks County school boards reorganized Dec. 1. Council Rock's board reorganized Thursday night. Bucks County Technical High School's joint board committee will choose its officers during its Dec. 16 meeting. Here are the results of last week's reorganization meetings:
BENSALEM
The Bensalem school board voted 8-0 to appoint Harry Kramer to another term as its president.
The board split 5-3 in its selection of a new vice president.
Eugene Rothenberg was appointed vice president as he and Dr. Lewis Brandt, Kramer, Heather Nicholas and Stephen Nowmos voted in favor of the nomination.
Carol McGuire, Rose Jacobs and Carol Jones voted in favor of McGuire filling the post.
The board also split 5-3 to reappoint Begley, Carlin and Mandio as its solicitor.
The three no voters, as they did during the 2007 reorganization meeting, suggested the district's governing body get annual bids for the post instead of just reappointing the longtime solicitor.
James Bodnar did not attend the meeting.
BRISTOL
The Bristol school board voted 6-0 to appoint David Chichilitti to another term as board president.
The board, in separate 6-0 votes, also decided to reappoint John D'Angelo as vice president and James Petrino as treasurer.
Board member Mary Jane Paglione arrived at the meeting after the officers were selected, according to meeting records. Steve Cullen and Louis Persichetti Jr. did not attend the meeting.
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP
Bristol Township school board members voted 6-3 to elect W. Earl Bruck as president.
Bruck, who succeeds board member Stacey Pressley as president, joined Helen Cini, Frederick Black, Michele Haines, Sean Norman and Bruce Prendergast Jr. in approving the nomination.
Pressley, Angela Nober and Stacy Gerlach voted against the appointment.
The board also split 7-2 in its appointment of Cini as its vice president, with Pressley and Nober voting against. She succeeds Nober.
CENTENNIAL
Thomas Reinboth replaced Michael Monaghan as board president. Cynthia Mueller remains the vice president and Betty Huf will stay as the assistant secretary. All votes were unanimous.
Monaghan said he did not seek another year as president because of recent health problems. Reinboth commended Monaghan on his year of service as president.
Monaghan represents Region 3, which includes Warminster west of York Road, plus the Speedway section. Reinboth represents Region 2, which includes Ivyland and Warminster east of York Road except the Speedway section.
Traditionally, the regional school board alternates its leadership between Warminster and Upper Southampton every two years.
COUNCIL ROCK
The Council Rock school board unanimously approved Paul Anagnostakos as the next president. Board member Jerold S. Grupp participated in Thursday night's meeting via telephone.
Board members then voted 6-3 for Bernadette Heenan to fill the vice president's seat. Board members Kyle McKessy, Wendi Thomas and Richard Abramson voted for Grupp.
The governing body also approved 8-0 the firm of Eastburn and Gray to continue as the school board's solicitor. Board member Patricia Vaccaro-Sexton was not present for the solictor's vote.
MORRISVILLE
Joseph Kemp nominated Robin Reithmeyer to be president during the reorganization meeting but Kemp and Reithmeyer lost that vote 7-2.
Then, in separate votes, the board appointed the current officers to another year of service, with William Hellmann as president, Alfred Radosti as vice president, Marlys Mihok as secretary and Brenda Worob as treasurer. Kemp and Reithmeyer voted against Hellmann's and Radosti's appointments.
The board also voted unanimously to retain Michael Fitzpatrick as its solicitor.
NESHAMINY
The school board elected Ritchie Webb, in a 5-4 vote, to succeed Rick Eccles as president. Board members William O'Connor, Bill Spitz, Irene Boyle and Joseph Blasch voted no.
Several motions to appoint Frank Koziol, Kim Koutsouradis or Joseph Blasch as vice president failed. Koziol served as vice president for the past year.
The board will try again to elect its vice president during its 7 p.m. meeting Monday night at Herbert Hoover Elementary School on Trenton Road in Middletown, officials said.
The board reappointed Begley, Carlin and Mandio as its solicitor in a 6-3 vote. Blasch, O'Connor and Spitz voted against that firm.
Board members also approved the PA Open Records Law Act 3-2008 Session.
PENNSBURY
All Pennsbury school board officers retained their former positions.
Gregory Lucidi will serve another year as president, Arlene Gordon is vice president and Richard Johnson is the board secretary.
Compiled by education reporters Joan Hellyer, Rachel Canelli and Manasee Wagh
Winterfest
From the BCCT. I know I enjoyed the day and hope you did also. Any stories you want to share?
Pictures from the day posted at the BCCT.
Residents take part in Winterfest
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
The fortunes of this country seemed to change on Christmas night.
Little more than five months after the Declaration of Independence was signed, America's prospects in the fight for liberty looked grim. The troops were hungry and underpaid, and beating England's armies was starting to look hopeless in the winter of 1776.
So when George Washington and his troops battled freezing temperatures on Dec. 25 to overcome enemy Hessian soldiers in a surprise attack, their victory convinced the fledgling nation to keep up the fight.
Washington planned his attack from Summerseat, a historic house in what is now Morrisville.
Revolutionary War re-enactor Jim Gibson of Fallsington portrayed Washington on Saturday during a re-enactment of his historic December arrival at Summerseat.
Accompanied by several re-enactors dressed as soldiers, Gibson rode down Hillcrest Avenue to Summerseat in his carriage. He informed the residents that his troops would be commandeering their home. Dressed in royal blue and khaki with a blue sash denoting his rank, Gibson gave a rousing speech taken from Washington's letters and past speeches.
“The price of liberty is not cheap, but as it takes root it becomes a tree of rapid growth,” he said. “As a tree it flourishes, watered by the blood of patriots.”
From Summerseat, Washington planned the crossing of the Delaware with his men and 18 cannons. They faced a group of unprepared Hessians, emerging with no casualties.
With that victory, Washington was able to convince more men to join the Army, ensuring the victory over England, said Jim Slotterbeck, whose eyes welled with tears as he talked about the dedication of the troops.
“It was a pivotal moment,” he said. “It's the sincerity, and how they gave up everything for their country,” Slotterbeck wore Colonial garb to portray Summerseat owner Thomas Barclay.
The house, preserved and maintained by the Historic Morrisville Society, was packed with people enjoying glimpses of history, including traditional and holiday decorations by the Makefield Lakes Garden Club.
Patrick Peters portrayed a Colonial-era apothecary surgeon. On a table he arranged knives, a bone saw, dental instruments, medicinal herbs and other items his character would have used.
Ivy Attenborough paid close attention to Peters' descriptions about surgery without anesthesia and the use of herbs in the 1800s.
“Learning how they lived with their medicine was amazing,” said Ivy, 9, of Morrisville.
Ivy explored toy trains and books about trains in the house by the Southampton Railroad Station Society and the National Railway Historical Society.
People bought hot dogs, chili and pastries as well as raffle tickets for gift baskets. The raffle and food raised funds to maintain Summerseat.
The event was part of Morrisville's annual daylong Winterfest celebration.
Kids had breakfast with Santa at the Holy Trinity School and enjoyed a parade. At the Morrisville Senior Center, children had their pictures taken with Santa while parents checked out items for sale at the center's Christmas bazaar.
Residents visited the YMCA's craft fair, where tables were crammed with jewelry, scarves and other handmade gifts.
“The setup is just beautiful,” said Kathy Panzitta, who was exiting the craft fair with several purchases. Panzitta is vice president of the Morrisville Borough Council.
The day ended with a live nativity scene and a “Celebrate the Season” concert at First Baptist Church of Morrisville.
Pictures from the day posted at the BCCT.
Residents take part in Winterfest
By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
The fortunes of this country seemed to change on Christmas night.
Little more than five months after the Declaration of Independence was signed, America's prospects in the fight for liberty looked grim. The troops were hungry and underpaid, and beating England's armies was starting to look hopeless in the winter of 1776.
So when George Washington and his troops battled freezing temperatures on Dec. 25 to overcome enemy Hessian soldiers in a surprise attack, their victory convinced the fledgling nation to keep up the fight.
Washington planned his attack from Summerseat, a historic house in what is now Morrisville.
Revolutionary War re-enactor Jim Gibson of Fallsington portrayed Washington on Saturday during a re-enactment of his historic December arrival at Summerseat.
Accompanied by several re-enactors dressed as soldiers, Gibson rode down Hillcrest Avenue to Summerseat in his carriage. He informed the residents that his troops would be commandeering their home. Dressed in royal blue and khaki with a blue sash denoting his rank, Gibson gave a rousing speech taken from Washington's letters and past speeches.
“The price of liberty is not cheap, but as it takes root it becomes a tree of rapid growth,” he said. “As a tree it flourishes, watered by the blood of patriots.”
From Summerseat, Washington planned the crossing of the Delaware with his men and 18 cannons. They faced a group of unprepared Hessians, emerging with no casualties.
With that victory, Washington was able to convince more men to join the Army, ensuring the victory over England, said Jim Slotterbeck, whose eyes welled with tears as he talked about the dedication of the troops.
“It was a pivotal moment,” he said. “It's the sincerity, and how they gave up everything for their country,” Slotterbeck wore Colonial garb to portray Summerseat owner Thomas Barclay.
The house, preserved and maintained by the Historic Morrisville Society, was packed with people enjoying glimpses of history, including traditional and holiday decorations by the Makefield Lakes Garden Club.
Patrick Peters portrayed a Colonial-era apothecary surgeon. On a table he arranged knives, a bone saw, dental instruments, medicinal herbs and other items his character would have used.
Ivy Attenborough paid close attention to Peters' descriptions about surgery without anesthesia and the use of herbs in the 1800s.
“Learning how they lived with their medicine was amazing,” said Ivy, 9, of Morrisville.
Ivy explored toy trains and books about trains in the house by the Southampton Railroad Station Society and the National Railway Historical Society.
People bought hot dogs, chili and pastries as well as raffle tickets for gift baskets. The raffle and food raised funds to maintain Summerseat.
The event was part of Morrisville's annual daylong Winterfest celebration.
Kids had breakfast with Santa at the Holy Trinity School and enjoyed a parade. At the Morrisville Senior Center, children had their pictures taken with Santa while parents checked out items for sale at the center's Christmas bazaar.
Residents visited the YMCA's craft fair, where tables were crammed with jewelry, scarves and other handmade gifts.
“The setup is just beautiful,” said Kathy Panzitta, who was exiting the craft fair with several purchases. Panzitta is vice president of the Morrisville Borough Council.
The day ended with a live nativity scene and a “Celebrate the Season” concert at First Baptist Church of Morrisville.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Enjoy Winterfest...
There will be no posting today. You should be out enjoying Winterfest. I know I will. Stop by and say hello. I'll be the one with the coat and gloves.
Pearls Before Swine today illustrates the value of public input into the local political process. Imagine the Emperor playing the part of Rat...
Pearls Before Swine today illustrates the value of public input into the local political process. Imagine the Emperor playing the part of Rat...
Friday, December 5, 2008
Winterfest Schedule
Morrisville Winterfest December 6, 2008
8:30-11am Holy Trinity's Breakfast with Santa
Call: Audrey 215 295 9235 or Michele 215 295 6230 for advance tickets
and prices.
Tickets on sale until 12/3/08.and will NOT be sold at door. Bring a
camera for pictures with Santa!
9am-2pm Morrisville YMCA Craft Fair & Flea Market
Variety of crafts, jewelry, holiday gifts…. Food by Lumpylicious BBQ
200 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Call Kim 215 428 2598
9am-2pm Senior Center Christmas Bazaar 31 E. Cleveland Ave
AM refreshments & lunch available, bake sale, crafters, FREE pictures
w/ Santa, Gift Boxed Money shirt, raffles & door prizes 215 295 0567
10am-11:30 Winterfest Parade 215 736 0346
Post Road to S. Pennsylvania Ave., to Delaware Ave., to Washington
St., to Lafayette St., to Hillcrest Ave., to N. Pennsylvania Ave., ending
At The Morrisville YMCA!
10:00am-3:00pm Summerseat Remembers
Historic reenactors, including George Washington (scheduled to arrive at 11).
Come have lunch. Home made chili, soup & baked goods.
Basket raffle & 50/50...
Hillcrest and Legion Ave
4pm-7pm Live Nativity & FBC Open House 50 N. Penn. Ave.
LIVE nativity, refreshments, "Celebrate the Season" Concert @ 6pm,
Gingerbread House & coloring contest awards @ 7pm,
Solid Rock Youth Center 7-9pm
5pm-6pm Robert Morris Plaza Activities Bridge St. & PA Ave.
Caroling, reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas, annual
Tree lighting and the arrival of Santa Claus
5pm-8pm BRIDGE STREET BLOCK PARTY!
Enjoy your local Morrisville Business Community after hours!
LIVE entertainment, DJ, FREE refreshments Call 215 295 3430
5pm-8pm Morrisville Rescue Squad Open House
Washington St., Refreshments, entertainment, pictures with Santa…
8:30-11am Holy Trinity's Breakfast with Santa
Call: Audrey 215 295 9235 or Michele 215 295 6230 for advance tickets
and prices.
Tickets on sale until 12/3/08.and will NOT be sold at door. Bring a
camera for pictures with Santa!
9am-2pm Morrisville YMCA Craft Fair & Flea Market
Variety of crafts, jewelry, holiday gifts…. Food by Lumpylicious BBQ
200 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Call Kim 215 428 2598
9am-2pm Senior Center Christmas Bazaar 31 E. Cleveland Ave
AM refreshments & lunch available, bake sale, crafters, FREE pictures
w/ Santa, Gift Boxed Money shirt, raffles & door prizes 215 295 0567
10am-11:30 Winterfest Parade 215 736 0346
Post Road to S. Pennsylvania Ave., to Delaware Ave., to Washington
St., to Lafayette St., to Hillcrest Ave., to N. Pennsylvania Ave., ending
At The Morrisville YMCA!
10:00am-3:00pm Summerseat Remembers
Historic reenactors, including George Washington (scheduled to arrive at 11).
Come have lunch. Home made chili, soup & baked goods.
Basket raffle & 50/50...
Hillcrest and Legion Ave
4pm-7pm Live Nativity & FBC Open House 50 N. Penn. Ave.
LIVE nativity, refreshments, "Celebrate the Season" Concert @ 6pm,
Gingerbread House & coloring contest awards @ 7pm,
Solid Rock Youth Center 7-9pm
5pm-6pm Robert Morris Plaza Activities Bridge St. & PA Ave.
Caroling, reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas, annual
Tree lighting and the arrival of Santa Claus
5pm-8pm BRIDGE STREET BLOCK PARTY!
Enjoy your local Morrisville Business Community after hours!
LIVE entertainment, DJ, FREE refreshments Call 215 295 3430
5pm-8pm Morrisville Rescue Squad Open House
Washington St., Refreshments, entertainment, pictures with Santa…
Same Animosity Remains on School Board
I just liked the headline.
New leaders elected, same animosity remains on OJR School Board
By: Laura Catalano, For the Spring-Ford Reporter 12/05/2008
The Owen J. Roberts School Board elected Edward Kerner as board president for 2009, at a series of three meetings Monday that were regularly interspersed by arguments.
Board member Debbie Bissland was named vice president.
The board voted 8-1 on both those appointments, with Barbara McMeekin casting the lone dissenting vote.
But later in the meeting the board sparred over several matters, including a decision not to accept a gift of fleece jackets presented by administrators. And outgoing President John Dutton read closing remarks that were heavily critical of the superintendent and served to highlight the growing rift between the board and administration.
The meeting was actually a series of three meetings that included the brief, final meeting with Dutton as president, a reorganization meeting during which the new president was elected, and a regular business meeting.
The first meeting began with Superintendent Myra Forrest acknowledging Dutton for his dedication and presenting him with a plaque to honor his year as president. She then acknowledged all school board members, in honor of January's School Director Recognition Month. The board does not meet again until the end of January.
The administration traditionally presents board members with a gift, and Forrest showed them fleece jackets that would be ordered for each member for the second year in a row.
Following that, Dutton gave his outgoing remarks. They provided a sharp contrast to Forrest's overtures of appreciation. About half of his brief statement was a condemnation of Forrest
"It is a year that no other president of the Owen J. Roberts School Board has ever had," Dutton said, reading from a prepared statement.
He noted that two board members had resigned, two replacements had been appointed and new lawyers had been hired. He then went on to blast a fellow board member and the superintendent.
"Another board member has consistently gone to the newspapers with confidential information that was discussed in executive sessions," he accused.
He laid blame on the superintendent, claiming she failed "to give the board all the information they needed to make the most informed decisions and the right choices." And he accused her of "stacking the meetings to try to intimidate the board into voting her way."
District teachers and administrators have regularly come to meetings and voiced support for Forrest and her recommendations. Dutton noted that when the board voted down her recommendations, Forrest often proposed them again.
"Dr. Forrest was under the mistaken impression that the board works for her," Dutton read. "It's just the opposite."
He concluded by saying, "I have always had the best interest of the students in my mind first and then the taxpayers."
Forrest, seated next to Dutton, made no comment on the remarks.
However, on Tuesday, Forrest made this statement: "Mr. Dutton's comments were unprofessional, appalling, and shocking, especially in the public forum in which they were made."
She insisted that "the comments were not consistent with the outstanding academic, athletic, and artistic achievements that the Owen J. Roberts School District has attained this year. It would be preferable that the leadership of the board work with administration to establish a communications protocol so we could continue to move forward in a positive direction."
Later, during the business meeting, McMeekin brought up the fleece jackets that had been offered to the board and suggested the board forego the gift and use the money "to hire a staff person or buy textbooks."
The board approved that motion with Eugene Endress, former head of the OJR Taxpayers Alliance, casting the only apparent negative vote. But immediately after the vote, Dutton reacted angrily to the decision.
"I'm going to freeze my a-- off this winter!" he said. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard."
Later Dutton said he was planning to cancel his reservation to a conference for school board members in April, stating "I'm not allowed to get a fleece, I'm not going to San Diego."
At the end of the meeting parent Karen Shimer approached the board, and reminded them that the district's Web site maintains that the board should "lead with respect."
"I think your hearts are in the right place," Shimer said, "But the impression you're making I don't think is one you want to make."
New leaders elected, same animosity remains on OJR School Board
By: Laura Catalano, For the Spring-Ford Reporter 12/05/2008
The Owen J. Roberts School Board elected Edward Kerner as board president for 2009, at a series of three meetings Monday that were regularly interspersed by arguments.
Board member Debbie Bissland was named vice president.
The board voted 8-1 on both those appointments, with Barbara McMeekin casting the lone dissenting vote.
But later in the meeting the board sparred over several matters, including a decision not to accept a gift of fleece jackets presented by administrators. And outgoing President John Dutton read closing remarks that were heavily critical of the superintendent and served to highlight the growing rift between the board and administration.
The meeting was actually a series of three meetings that included the brief, final meeting with Dutton as president, a reorganization meeting during which the new president was elected, and a regular business meeting.
The first meeting began with Superintendent Myra Forrest acknowledging Dutton for his dedication and presenting him with a plaque to honor his year as president. She then acknowledged all school board members, in honor of January's School Director Recognition Month. The board does not meet again until the end of January.
The administration traditionally presents board members with a gift, and Forrest showed them fleece jackets that would be ordered for each member for the second year in a row.
Following that, Dutton gave his outgoing remarks. They provided a sharp contrast to Forrest's overtures of appreciation. About half of his brief statement was a condemnation of Forrest
"It is a year that no other president of the Owen J. Roberts School Board has ever had," Dutton said, reading from a prepared statement.
He noted that two board members had resigned, two replacements had been appointed and new lawyers had been hired. He then went on to blast a fellow board member and the superintendent.
"Another board member has consistently gone to the newspapers with confidential information that was discussed in executive sessions," he accused.
He laid blame on the superintendent, claiming she failed "to give the board all the information they needed to make the most informed decisions and the right choices." And he accused her of "stacking the meetings to try to intimidate the board into voting her way."
District teachers and administrators have regularly come to meetings and voiced support for Forrest and her recommendations. Dutton noted that when the board voted down her recommendations, Forrest often proposed them again.
"Dr. Forrest was under the mistaken impression that the board works for her," Dutton read. "It's just the opposite."
He concluded by saying, "I have always had the best interest of the students in my mind first and then the taxpayers."
Forrest, seated next to Dutton, made no comment on the remarks.
However, on Tuesday, Forrest made this statement: "Mr. Dutton's comments were unprofessional, appalling, and shocking, especially in the public forum in which they were made."
She insisted that "the comments were not consistent with the outstanding academic, athletic, and artistic achievements that the Owen J. Roberts School District has attained this year. It would be preferable that the leadership of the board work with administration to establish a communications protocol so we could continue to move forward in a positive direction."
Later, during the business meeting, McMeekin brought up the fleece jackets that had been offered to the board and suggested the board forego the gift and use the money "to hire a staff person or buy textbooks."
The board approved that motion with Eugene Endress, former head of the OJR Taxpayers Alliance, casting the only apparent negative vote. But immediately after the vote, Dutton reacted angrily to the decision.
"I'm going to freeze my a-- off this winter!" he said. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard."
Later Dutton said he was planning to cancel his reservation to a conference for school board members in April, stating "I'm not allowed to get a fleece, I'm not going to San Diego."
At the end of the meeting parent Karen Shimer approached the board, and reminded them that the district's Web site maintains that the board should "lead with respect."
"I think your hearts are in the right place," Shimer said, "But the impression you're making I don't think is one you want to make."
Who Let the Dogs Out?
From the BCCT.
Canine team to seek out drugs
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The Bensalem school board has hired a canine search company to help find prescription drugs that students bring to school without permission.
The searches are needed because the medications could be misused as stimulants or depressants, said Superintendent James Lombardo on Monday night after the board approved the random searches.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America's annual tracking study suggests prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is a serious problem in the United States.
The recently released study found that one in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication, one in five reported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers and one in 10 teens has abused cough medication.
Hiring Interquest Detection Canines of Eastern Pennsylvania is part of the district's ongoing effort to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, Lombardo said.
Bensalem is among several area school districts to enlist Interquest searches in its anti-drug enforcement efforts. Centennial, Central Bucks and Council Rock also have utilized the firm in the last several years.
“We want to make sure the schools are as safe as they can be,” the Bensalem superintendent said after the school board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $215 per three-hour search.
District officials will decide when and where the searches take place, Lombardo said.
They began considering the searches in the spring after dealing with a couple of cases where students brought prescription medications to school.
Lombardo would not say what medications were brought in or identify the schools where the incidents took place.
Students who are prescribed medication are supposed to bring it to the school nurse, Lombardo said. Students who bring medications to school without going through proper channels face suspension. If they bring the prescriptions to school to give to other students, they face expulsion, he said.
The agreement with Interquest runs through June.
Canine team to seek out drugs
By JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times
The Bensalem school board has hired a canine search company to help find prescription drugs that students bring to school without permission.
The searches are needed because the medications could be misused as stimulants or depressants, said Superintendent James Lombardo on Monday night after the board approved the random searches.
The Partnership for a Drug Free America's annual tracking study suggests prescription drug abuse among teens and young adults is a serious problem in the United States.
The recently released study found that one in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication, one in five reported abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers and one in 10 teens has abused cough medication.
Hiring Interquest Detection Canines of Eastern Pennsylvania is part of the district's ongoing effort to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for its students, Lombardo said.
Bensalem is among several area school districts to enlist Interquest searches in its anti-drug enforcement efforts. Centennial, Central Bucks and Council Rock also have utilized the firm in the last several years.
“We want to make sure the schools are as safe as they can be,” the Bensalem superintendent said after the school board agreed to hire the firm at a cost of $215 per three-hour search.
District officials will decide when and where the searches take place, Lombardo said.
They began considering the searches in the spring after dealing with a couple of cases where students brought prescription medications to school.
Lombardo would not say what medications were brought in or identify the schools where the incidents took place.
Students who are prescribed medication are supposed to bring it to the school nurse, Lombardo said. Students who bring medications to school without going through proper channels face suspension. If they bring the prescriptions to school to give to other students, they face expulsion, he said.
The agreement with Interquest runs through June.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Stockham Building Update
From the BCCT.
Gym coming to building at center of dispute
Lawyers say a federal lawsuit over a strip club denied at the same building is moving forward.
By DANNY ADLER
A fitness center is coming to a Morrisville location that’s been the focus of a federal lawsuit over a New Jersey company’s constitutional right to put a strip club and a commercial sign there.
Signs posted at the Stockham Building in Morrisville’s downtown district announce the future opening of Champion Fitness Center, even though the building’s owner and a possible lessee are suing the borough and its zoning hearing board.
While the lawsuit goes through U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, owners of the mostly vacant building are moving on.
The gym was part of the proposed plan for the Stockham Building, a four-story masonry structure at the southeast corner of Bridge Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Bucks County records say the building was built in 1927.
It’s unclear when the 24-hour gym will open and which floor — or floors — it will occupy. Some exercise and office equipment can be seen through the new ground floor windows, which until recently were boarded up.
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Champion Fitness Center owner Tarek Hassieb for more information.
Even with the apparent signs of progress for the 18,800-squarefoot building, lawyers said they’re continuing the federal suit.
Stockham Interests LLC, the landlord, and 10 Enterprises LLC, a lessee, said Morrisville’s ordinances prohibit “First Amendment protected expression” to bring the strip club to the Stockham Building. The suit was filed a few months after zoning officials in May denied variances to allow the club.
The borough has challenged that its ordinances are not unconstitutional and that “adult entertainment” is not permitted in the Stockham Building’s central commercial zoning district. According to borough officials, Morrisville allows adult entertainment establishments in the borough’s industrial-zoned areas between Route 1 and West Philadelphia Avenue.
There is a strip club and bar, Sugar and Spice, about one-third of a mile south of the Stockham Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sugar and Spice is zoned residential, but the club is grandfathered in, zoning officials said.
Luke Lirot, an attorney from Clearwater, Fla., representing Stockham Interests and 10 Enterprises, said in a telephone interview last week that Morrisville is attempting to “zone out” adult businesses. Borough solicitor James Downey III has said Morrisville has its zoning for “good municipal planning.”
The Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site lists the president of 10 Enterprises as Ralph Friedman of Jenkintown. Todd Colarusso is a principal of Stockham Interests.
In an order issued Nov. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Berle M. Schiller said Stockham Interests’ and 10 Enterprises’ free speech claims can proceed. The judge dismissed other claims issued by the two parties and denied Stockham Interests’ request for in excess of $75,000 in damages.
Lirot on Monday filed documents that focus heavily on the constitutional issues of the litigation. He said the documents focus on the absence of any “reasonable” locations to put such an establishment and the lack of evidence that the proposal would cause any increases in crime or declining property values.
“The bottom line is, we felt that the application was erroneously denied,” Lirot said.
Gym coming to building at center of dispute
Lawyers say a federal lawsuit over a strip club denied at the same building is moving forward.
By DANNY ADLER
A fitness center is coming to a Morrisville location that’s been the focus of a federal lawsuit over a New Jersey company’s constitutional right to put a strip club and a commercial sign there.
Signs posted at the Stockham Building in Morrisville’s downtown district announce the future opening of Champion Fitness Center, even though the building’s owner and a possible lessee are suing the borough and its zoning hearing board.
While the lawsuit goes through U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, owners of the mostly vacant building are moving on.
The gym was part of the proposed plan for the Stockham Building, a four-story masonry structure at the southeast corner of Bridge Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Bucks County records say the building was built in 1927.
It’s unclear when the 24-hour gym will open and which floor — or floors — it will occupy. Some exercise and office equipment can be seen through the new ground floor windows, which until recently were boarded up.
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Champion Fitness Center owner Tarek Hassieb for more information.
Even with the apparent signs of progress for the 18,800-squarefoot building, lawyers said they’re continuing the federal suit.
Stockham Interests LLC, the landlord, and 10 Enterprises LLC, a lessee, said Morrisville’s ordinances prohibit “First Amendment protected expression” to bring the strip club to the Stockham Building. The suit was filed a few months after zoning officials in May denied variances to allow the club.
The borough has challenged that its ordinances are not unconstitutional and that “adult entertainment” is not permitted in the Stockham Building’s central commercial zoning district. According to borough officials, Morrisville allows adult entertainment establishments in the borough’s industrial-zoned areas between Route 1 and West Philadelphia Avenue.
There is a strip club and bar, Sugar and Spice, about one-third of a mile south of the Stockham Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sugar and Spice is zoned residential, but the club is grandfathered in, zoning officials said.
Luke Lirot, an attorney from Clearwater, Fla., representing Stockham Interests and 10 Enterprises, said in a telephone interview last week that Morrisville is attempting to “zone out” adult businesses. Borough solicitor James Downey III has said Morrisville has its zoning for “good municipal planning.”
The Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site lists the president of 10 Enterprises as Ralph Friedman of Jenkintown. Todd Colarusso is a principal of Stockham Interests.
In an order issued Nov. 12, U.S. District Court Judge Berle M. Schiller said Stockham Interests’ and 10 Enterprises’ free speech claims can proceed. The judge dismissed other claims issued by the two parties and denied Stockham Interests’ request for in excess of $75,000 in damages.
Lirot on Monday filed documents that focus heavily on the constitutional issues of the litigation. He said the documents focus on the absence of any “reasonable” locations to put such an establishment and the lack of evidence that the proposal would cause any increases in crime or declining property values.
“The bottom line is, we felt that the application was erroneously denied,” Lirot said.
Some giving raises back
From the BCCT.
State legislators giving back raises
Many said they would return them to the state or donate them to charity.
By RACHEL CANELLI
’Tis the season to be giving — back, that is. And state politicians are no exception.
Many local lawmakers publicly announced Wednesday that they’ll either be returning the 2.8 percent automatic cost of living allowance to the commonwealth, or donating their raises to charity.
If all the money goes back to the state, it would total about $506,000.
“People all across Pennsylvania are losing their jobs, and of those lucky enough to stay employed, many are not getting a raise this year,” Rep. John Galloway, D-140, said in a statement about his roughly $2,000 return to the state’s general fund. “If they’re not getting a raise, then why should their elected officials get one?”
Responding to public pressure and House leadership’s call on its members to give back the COLA money, Galloway called the raises an “irresponsible use of tax dollars in these tough economic times.”
While state law prohibits legislators from refusing the and women have the option of donating the funds to charity. Many said they’re awaiting direction from leadership on how to return the dollars to the state treasury. Either way, officials pointed out they still have to pay income taxes on the amount.
Despite that, area politicians, including Rep. Anthony Melio, D-141, Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-6, and Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-12, confirmed Wednesday that they’ll be giving back the COLA raises to the commonwealth.
“I hope and pray that times get better for all the poor people having a rough time,” said Melio.
Before the give-back announcements, some lawmakers, including Rep. Katharine Watson, R-144, had already quietly decided to return the increases.
“It’s not right at this time when so many others are hurting,” she said of the raise estimated to be about $2,100. “It was a matter of my conscience and I don’t expect credit for it. I appreciate that it’s public dollars and it’s just part of what we’re supposed to do. It’s up to the members and their circumstances.”
Watson and Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, both talked about the need for a better process to lower the increases, provide the ability to suspend them, especially during tough times, or get rid of the COLA.
“People are suffering,” said Petri. “The goal is to reduce expenditures in Harrisburg.”
That’s why Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-143, is co-sponsoring a bill in the works to repeal Act 51 of 1995, which instituted the automatic raises. She and several other legislators, including Rep. Rick Taylor, D-151, and Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-18, have vowed to donate their increases to charity.
Reps.-elect Steve Santarsiero, D-31, and Frank Farry, R-142, who will be sworn in Jan. 6, have also affirmed they’ll return the COLA money.
“I want to make sure my constituents get the benefit of that money,” said Farry, who’s donating his funds to athletic associations in his district.
Santarsiero is committed to giving his adjustment to the state treasury in response to the worsening economy.
Although the politicians admitted that returning the COLA money will not solve the financial crisis, they said they should be sacrificing since everyone else is tightening their belts.
“Is it going to balance the $2 billion hole? No, it’s a small drop in the bucket,” Taylor said. “But it’s a statement that we understand the issue.”
State legislators giving back raises
Many said they would return them to the state or donate them to charity.
By RACHEL CANELLI
’Tis the season to be giving — back, that is. And state politicians are no exception.
Many local lawmakers publicly announced Wednesday that they’ll either be returning the 2.8 percent automatic cost of living allowance to the commonwealth, or donating their raises to charity.
If all the money goes back to the state, it would total about $506,000.
“People all across Pennsylvania are losing their jobs, and of those lucky enough to stay employed, many are not getting a raise this year,” Rep. John Galloway, D-140, said in a statement about his roughly $2,000 return to the state’s general fund. “If they’re not getting a raise, then why should their elected officials get one?”
Responding to public pressure and House leadership’s call on its members to give back the COLA money, Galloway called the raises an “irresponsible use of tax dollars in these tough economic times.”
While state law prohibits legislators from refusing the and women have the option of donating the funds to charity. Many said they’re awaiting direction from leadership on how to return the dollars to the state treasury. Either way, officials pointed out they still have to pay income taxes on the amount.
Despite that, area politicians, including Rep. Anthony Melio, D-141, Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-6, and Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-12, confirmed Wednesday that they’ll be giving back the COLA raises to the commonwealth.
“I hope and pray that times get better for all the poor people having a rough time,” said Melio.
Before the give-back announcements, some lawmakers, including Rep. Katharine Watson, R-144, had already quietly decided to return the increases.
“It’s not right at this time when so many others are hurting,” she said of the raise estimated to be about $2,100. “It was a matter of my conscience and I don’t expect credit for it. I appreciate that it’s public dollars and it’s just part of what we’re supposed to do. It’s up to the members and their circumstances.”
Watson and Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, both talked about the need for a better process to lower the increases, provide the ability to suspend them, especially during tough times, or get rid of the COLA.
“People are suffering,” said Petri. “The goal is to reduce expenditures in Harrisburg.”
That’s why Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-143, is co-sponsoring a bill in the works to repeal Act 51 of 1995, which instituted the automatic raises. She and several other legislators, including Rep. Rick Taylor, D-151, and Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, R-18, have vowed to donate their increases to charity.
Reps.-elect Steve Santarsiero, D-31, and Frank Farry, R-142, who will be sworn in Jan. 6, have also affirmed they’ll return the COLA money.
“I want to make sure my constituents get the benefit of that money,” said Farry, who’s donating his funds to athletic associations in his district.
Santarsiero is committed to giving his adjustment to the state treasury in response to the worsening economy.
Although the politicians admitted that returning the COLA money will not solve the financial crisis, they said they should be sacrificing since everyone else is tightening their belts.
“Is it going to balance the $2 billion hole? No, it’s a small drop in the bucket,” Taylor said. “But it’s a statement that we understand the issue.”
Inclusive School Week
From the BCCT.
All together now
Jeannette Hallak Morrisville
We are in the midst of the 8th Annual Inclusive School Week.
During the week, the focus is on what it means to provide an inclusive education.
Inclusive practices believe that all students with disabilities attend the same classes with children without disabilities. It’s about making sure that our school districts’ education system works for all students, including minorities, students of low socio-economic status, and students with disabilities.
Research has shown that inclusive practices are successful and improve academic achievement for all students.
Not that long ago many of our children were excluded from classrooms. On May 17, 1954, in the court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled, “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
I challenge each school in Lower Bucks County to celebrate Inclusive School Week and recognize those teachers who are already making their curriculum relevant for each and every child.
To celebrate, please visit: http://www.inclusiveschools.org
All together now
Jeannette Hallak Morrisville
We are in the midst of the 8th Annual Inclusive School Week.
During the week, the focus is on what it means to provide an inclusive education.
Inclusive practices believe that all students with disabilities attend the same classes with children without disabilities. It’s about making sure that our school districts’ education system works for all students, including minorities, students of low socio-economic status, and students with disabilities.
Research has shown that inclusive practices are successful and improve academic achievement for all students.
Not that long ago many of our children were excluded from classrooms. On May 17, 1954, in the court decision, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled, “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
I challenge each school in Lower Bucks County to celebrate Inclusive School Week and recognize those teachers who are already making their curriculum relevant for each and every child.
To celebrate, please visit: http://www.inclusiveschools.org
New Businesses Flock to Morrisville
I got this tip from a reader. Thanks for the info.
Borough Council: Congratulations on exceeding expectations for attracting new business to town.
See the new smoke shop on Bridge St where the Pinball place was?
Whats that make it now? 7, 8 9?????????? How much can one town smoke?
Borough Council: Congratulations on exceeding expectations for attracting new business to town.
See the new smoke shop on Bridge St where the Pinball place was?
Whats that make it now? 7, 8 9?????????? How much can one town smoke?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Galloway Rejects Pay Increase
Remember this question?
Kudos to Rep. Galloway!
What's Senator McIlhinney going to do?
Galloway returns pay increase to the taxpayers
Pennsylvania lawmakers received an automatic 2.8 percent increase in their salaries on Monday, Dec. 1. I am writing to let you know that I am rejecting the increase and returning it to the state treasury.
The cost-of-living increase was issued in accordance with a 1995 law that provides an annual COLA to state elected officials based on a cost-of-living index.
But during these tough economic times, with many residents struggling and the state facing a large budget deficit, the legislature should be looking for ways to cut spending and direct precious tax dollars toward property tax reduction and infrastructure projects that will create jobs and boost our economy.
If all 203 lawmakers return their raises it would save the state roughly $400,000. In this economy, every penny of it can make a difference.
I look forward to serving you in the 2009-10 legislative session. Please contact me if I may be of service to you and your family.
Kudos to Rep. Galloway!
What's Senator McIlhinney going to do?
Galloway returns pay increase to the taxpayers
Pennsylvania lawmakers received an automatic 2.8 percent increase in their salaries on Monday, Dec. 1. I am writing to let you know that I am rejecting the increase and returning it to the state treasury.
The cost-of-living increase was issued in accordance with a 1995 law that provides an annual COLA to state elected officials based on a cost-of-living index.
But during these tough economic times, with many residents struggling and the state facing a large budget deficit, the legislature should be looking for ways to cut spending and direct precious tax dollars toward property tax reduction and infrastructure projects that will create jobs and boost our economy.
If all 203 lawmakers return their raises it would save the state roughly $400,000. In this economy, every penny of it can make a difference.
I look forward to serving you in the 2009-10 legislative session. Please contact me if I may be of service to you and your family.
How To Fix America's Schools
From TIME
Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
By Amanda Ripley / Washington Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
Rebecca Greenfield for TIME
In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school's 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. "It was like Russian roulette," says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man's steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout. He would spend the rest of the period learning to use Microsoft Word with a pencil and paper.
One day last fall, tired of this absurdity, Rhodes e-mailed Michelle Rhee, the new, bold-talking chancellor running the District of Columbia Public Schools system. His teacher had given him the address, which was on the chancellor's home page. He was nervous when he hit SEND, but the words were reasonable. "Computers are slowly becoming something that we use every day," he wrote. "And learning how to use them is a major factor in our lives. So I'm just bringing this to your attention." He didn't expect to hear back. Rhee answered the same day. It was the beginning of an unusual relationship.
The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation's economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)
Rhee took over Anacostia High and the district's 143 other schools in June 2007, when Mayor Adrian Fenty named her chancellor. Her appointment stunned the city. Rhee, then 37, had no experience running a school, let alone a district with 46,000 students that ranks last in math among 11 urban school systems. When Fenty called her, she was running a nonprofit called the New Teacher Project, which helps schools recruit good teachers. Most problematic of all, Rhee is not from Washington. She is from Ohio, and she is Korean American in a majority-African-American city. "I was," she says now, "the worst pick on the face of the earth."
But Rhee came highly recommended by another prominent school reformer: Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City's schools. And Rhee was once a teacher--in a Baltimore elementary school with Teach for America--and the experience convinced her that good teachers could alter the lives of kids like Rhodes.
Anacostia High has a 24% graduation rate, and only 21% of its students read at grade level. Rhodes is well aware of the miserable statistics, and when he first saw his new chancellor from afar, he thought she looked petite, foreign and underqualified. "I was like, She doesn't look ready for urban kids." But after they exchanged e-mails, he agreed to meet her downtown. He realized almost at once that he had underestimated her. "She actually sat with me," he says, "and talked eye to eye, like I was one of her co-workers." They decided to meet again, this time at Anacostia High. Rhodes began to talk about Rhee to his classmates, and they started writing an agenda for the meeting, detailing all the things that were wrong with the D.C. school system. They had much to tell.
Rhee has promised to make Washington the highest-performing urban school district in the nation, a prospect that, if realized, could transform the way schools across the country are run. She is attempting to do this through a relentless focus on finding--and rewarding--strong teachers, purging incompetent ones and weakening the tenure system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom. This fall, Rhee was asked to meet with both presidential campaigns to discuss school reform. In the last debate, each candidate tried to claim her as his own, with Barack Obama calling her a "wonderful new superintendent."
Hard as it is to imagine Washington schools ranking among the best in the country, the city does have some things working in its favor. The system is relatively small, making it easier to redirect. As in New York City, the board of education was recently dissolved, which means changes can be made without waiting for the blessing of a fractious body of overseers. And now that a third of Washington's kids are in charter schools, there is intense pressure on the public system to keep the students it still has. If they keep fleeing the system at the current rate, enrollment will drop 50% every 10 years.
Each week, Rhee gets e-mails from superintendents in other cities. They understand that if she succeeds, Rhee could do something no one has done before: she could prove that low-income urban kids can catch up with kids in the suburbs. The radicalism of this idea cannot be overstated. Now, without proof that cities can revolutionize their worst schools, there is always a fine excuse. Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring a refugee camp and talking about the need for nicer curtains. To the extent they intervene at all, politicians respond by either throwing more money at the problem (if they're on the left) or making it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools (if they're on the right).
Meanwhile, millions of students left behind in confused classrooms spend another day learning nothing. [Story continues at TIME.com]
Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge
By Amanda Ripley / Washington Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008
Rebecca Greenfield for TIME
In 11th grade, Allante Rhodes spent 50 minutes a day in a Microsoft Word class at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington. He was determined to go to college, and he figured that knowing Word was a prerequisite. But on a good day, only six of the school's 14 computers worked. He never knew which ones until he sat down and searched for a flicker of life on the screen. "It was like Russian roulette," says Rhodes, a tall young man with an older man's steady gaze. If he picked the wrong computer, the teacher would give him a handout. He would spend the rest of the period learning to use Microsoft Word with a pencil and paper.
One day last fall, tired of this absurdity, Rhodes e-mailed Michelle Rhee, the new, bold-talking chancellor running the District of Columbia Public Schools system. His teacher had given him the address, which was on the chancellor's home page. He was nervous when he hit SEND, but the words were reasonable. "Computers are slowly becoming something that we use every day," he wrote. "And learning how to use them is a major factor in our lives. So I'm just bringing this to your attention." He didn't expect to hear back. Rhee answered the same day. It was the beginning of an unusual relationship.
The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation's economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)
Rhee took over Anacostia High and the district's 143 other schools in June 2007, when Mayor Adrian Fenty named her chancellor. Her appointment stunned the city. Rhee, then 37, had no experience running a school, let alone a district with 46,000 students that ranks last in math among 11 urban school systems. When Fenty called her, she was running a nonprofit called the New Teacher Project, which helps schools recruit good teachers. Most problematic of all, Rhee is not from Washington. She is from Ohio, and she is Korean American in a majority-African-American city. "I was," she says now, "the worst pick on the face of the earth."
But Rhee came highly recommended by another prominent school reformer: Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City's schools. And Rhee was once a teacher--in a Baltimore elementary school with Teach for America--and the experience convinced her that good teachers could alter the lives of kids like Rhodes.
Anacostia High has a 24% graduation rate, and only 21% of its students read at grade level. Rhodes is well aware of the miserable statistics, and when he first saw his new chancellor from afar, he thought she looked petite, foreign and underqualified. "I was like, She doesn't look ready for urban kids." But after they exchanged e-mails, he agreed to meet her downtown. He realized almost at once that he had underestimated her. "She actually sat with me," he says, "and talked eye to eye, like I was one of her co-workers." They decided to meet again, this time at Anacostia High. Rhodes began to talk about Rhee to his classmates, and they started writing an agenda for the meeting, detailing all the things that were wrong with the D.C. school system. They had much to tell.
Rhee has promised to make Washington the highest-performing urban school district in the nation, a prospect that, if realized, could transform the way schools across the country are run. She is attempting to do this through a relentless focus on finding--and rewarding--strong teachers, purging incompetent ones and weakening the tenure system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom. This fall, Rhee was asked to meet with both presidential campaigns to discuss school reform. In the last debate, each candidate tried to claim her as his own, with Barack Obama calling her a "wonderful new superintendent."
Hard as it is to imagine Washington schools ranking among the best in the country, the city does have some things working in its favor. The system is relatively small, making it easier to redirect. As in New York City, the board of education was recently dissolved, which means changes can be made without waiting for the blessing of a fractious body of overseers. And now that a third of Washington's kids are in charter schools, there is intense pressure on the public system to keep the students it still has. If they keep fleeing the system at the current rate, enrollment will drop 50% every 10 years.
Each week, Rhee gets e-mails from superintendents in other cities. They understand that if she succeeds, Rhee could do something no one has done before: she could prove that low-income urban kids can catch up with kids in the suburbs. The radicalism of this idea cannot be overstated. Now, without proof that cities can revolutionize their worst schools, there is always a fine excuse. Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring a refugee camp and talking about the need for nicer curtains. To the extent they intervene at all, politicians respond by either throwing more money at the problem (if they're on the left) or making it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools (if they're on the right).
Meanwhile, millions of students left behind in confused classrooms spend another day learning nothing. [Story continues at TIME.com]
How Obama can fix education
From the Boston Globe.
How Obama can fix education
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist / December 3, 2008
IF MONEY were the key to great education, Sasha and Malia Obama might be getting ready to transfer next month to the Francis-Stevens Education Center, the Washington, D.C., public school assigned to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which will be the girls' new address as of Jan. 20.
The District of Columbia, after all, boasts one of the most amply funded school systems in America. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the DC public schools spend about $13,700 per pupil. That is a level of funding more lavish than in 48 states and half again as generous as the national per-pupil expenditure of $9,150.
But bigger budgets, alas, don't guarantee educational excellence. Its abundant spending notwithstanding, DC's public school system ranks among the worst in the nation.
"In reading and math, the District's public school students score at the bottom among 11 major city school systems, even when poor children are compared only with other poor children," The Washington Post reported last year. According to the authoritative National Assessment of Education Progress, only one in seven fourth-graders is ranked at grade-level ("proficient") or better in reading and math. Among eighth-graders, only one in eight is proficient in reading; only one in 12 can handle eighth-grade math.
So to no one's surprise, the Obama girls will not be attending public school in Washington. Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to enroll their daughters in Sidwell Friends, the same private school that Chelsea Clinton attended when she was First Daughter.
The president-elect has taken a bit of heat for rejecting public education for Sasha and Malia. Critics point out that Obama cast himself as a staunch supporter of public schools during the presidential campaign. "We need to fix and improve our public schools," he told the NAACP convention in July, "not throw our hands up and walk away from them." When Time magazine asked the candidates whether parents should be given vouchers to enable them to send their children to better schools, his reply was adamant: "No. I believe that public education in America should foster innovation and provide students with varied, high-quality learning opportunities."
Now in fairness to the Obamas, an ideological commitment to public schools hardly obliges them to send their kids to one - especially when the local school system is as wretched as Washington, D.C.'s. The Obamas' first and deepest responsibility is to their daughters; to have enrolled the girls in the District's failing public system just to make a political point would have been appallingly irresponsible.
But in fairness to the critics, why doesn't Obama want other parents - poorer parents - to be able to do better by their children too? Candidates have been promising to "fix and improve our public schools" for decades, and for decades the schools have remained stubbornly mediocre, hefty spending increases notwithstanding. More promises won't do anything for the parents whose kids are stuck in the public schools Sasha and Malia will be spared. Vouchers, on the other hand, would.
Not every school can be a Sidwell Friends, but every school ought to have something Sidwell Friends benefits from every day. Money isn't the root of Sidwell Friends' success. Neither is the size of its classes, or its well-appointed facilities, or its loyal alumni. Sidwell Friends thrives because it has competition - and DC's public schools stagnate because they don't. Public education is essentially a monopoly, and monopolies tend to be costly, unimaginative, and indifferent to their customers' needs. Private and parochial schools, by contrast, cannot succeed if they lose the goodwill and confidence of the parents who choose them to educate their children.
The DC school system spends $13,700 per student, and most of those students can't even read or do simple math. Imagine what would happen if that money were channeled to parents instead, through vouchers that would let them freely choose their kids' schools. Imagine the energy, innovation, and diversity such competition would beget. Imagine the accountability and excellence it would lead to. Imagine the improvement in the lives of Washington's children. Imagine - 54 years after Brown v. Board of Education - achieving educational equality at last.
Public education doesn't have to be a lethargic and mediocre monopoly. Let vouchers stimulate competition, and education would be revolutionized. If that isn't change worth believing in, Mr. Obama, what is?
How Obama can fix education
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist / December 3, 2008
IF MONEY were the key to great education, Sasha and Malia Obama might be getting ready to transfer next month to the Francis-Stevens Education Center, the Washington, D.C., public school assigned to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which will be the girls' new address as of Jan. 20.
The District of Columbia, after all, boasts one of the most amply funded school systems in America. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the DC public schools spend about $13,700 per pupil. That is a level of funding more lavish than in 48 states and half again as generous as the national per-pupil expenditure of $9,150.
But bigger budgets, alas, don't guarantee educational excellence. Its abundant spending notwithstanding, DC's public school system ranks among the worst in the nation.
"In reading and math, the District's public school students score at the bottom among 11 major city school systems, even when poor children are compared only with other poor children," The Washington Post reported last year. According to the authoritative National Assessment of Education Progress, only one in seven fourth-graders is ranked at grade-level ("proficient") or better in reading and math. Among eighth-graders, only one in eight is proficient in reading; only one in 12 can handle eighth-grade math.
So to no one's surprise, the Obama girls will not be attending public school in Washington. Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to enroll their daughters in Sidwell Friends, the same private school that Chelsea Clinton attended when she was First Daughter.
The president-elect has taken a bit of heat for rejecting public education for Sasha and Malia. Critics point out that Obama cast himself as a staunch supporter of public schools during the presidential campaign. "We need to fix and improve our public schools," he told the NAACP convention in July, "not throw our hands up and walk away from them." When Time magazine asked the candidates whether parents should be given vouchers to enable them to send their children to better schools, his reply was adamant: "No. I believe that public education in America should foster innovation and provide students with varied, high-quality learning opportunities."
Now in fairness to the Obamas, an ideological commitment to public schools hardly obliges them to send their kids to one - especially when the local school system is as wretched as Washington, D.C.'s. The Obamas' first and deepest responsibility is to their daughters; to have enrolled the girls in the District's failing public system just to make a political point would have been appallingly irresponsible.
But in fairness to the critics, why doesn't Obama want other parents - poorer parents - to be able to do better by their children too? Candidates have been promising to "fix and improve our public schools" for decades, and for decades the schools have remained stubbornly mediocre, hefty spending increases notwithstanding. More promises won't do anything for the parents whose kids are stuck in the public schools Sasha and Malia will be spared. Vouchers, on the other hand, would.
Not every school can be a Sidwell Friends, but every school ought to have something Sidwell Friends benefits from every day. Money isn't the root of Sidwell Friends' success. Neither is the size of its classes, or its well-appointed facilities, or its loyal alumni. Sidwell Friends thrives because it has competition - and DC's public schools stagnate because they don't. Public education is essentially a monopoly, and monopolies tend to be costly, unimaginative, and indifferent to their customers' needs. Private and parochial schools, by contrast, cannot succeed if they lose the goodwill and confidence of the parents who choose them to educate their children.
The DC school system spends $13,700 per student, and most of those students can't even read or do simple math. Imagine what would happen if that money were channeled to parents instead, through vouchers that would let them freely choose their kids' schools. Imagine the energy, innovation, and diversity such competition would beget. Imagine the accountability and excellence it would lead to. Imagine the improvement in the lives of Washington's children. Imagine - 54 years after Brown v. Board of Education - achieving educational equality at last.
Public education doesn't have to be a lethargic and mediocre monopoly. Let vouchers stimulate competition, and education would be revolutionized. If that isn't change worth believing in, Mr. Obama, what is?
Property Tax/Rent Rebate Deadline is Fast Approaching
PA Governor Rendell Says Property Tax/Rent Rebate Deadline is Fast Approaching
128,000 more Seniors Encouraged to Apply Before Dec. 31
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Edward G. Rendell today reminded eligible residents to apply by Dec. 31 for rebates up to $650 from Pennsylvania's expanded Property Tax/Rent Rebate program.
"More than half a million seniors already received rebates this year, but we know there are about 128,000 more people who qualify but haven't yet applied," Governor Rendell said. "I encourage all Pennsylvanians to consider if anyone they know -- parents, grandparents or friends -- may qualify for a rebate and help those loved ones apply before the Dec. 31 deadline.
"These rebates helped eliminate school property taxes for more than 113,000 seniors this year, and I don't want a single qualifying senior to miss out on this help to pay their taxes."
The rebate program benefits eligible Pennsylvanians age 65 and older; widows and widowers age 50 and older; and people with disabilities age 18 and older. The 2006 program expansion increased the income limit from $15,000 to $35,000 (which excludes half of Social Security income) for homeowners and raised the maximum rebate for both homeowners and renters from $500 to $650.
Property Tax/Rent Rebate claim forms (PA-1000) and information are available online at www.PaPropertyTaxRelief.com and by calling 1-888-222-9190, between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Residents requesting forms by mail must call or submit Web site requests by Monday, Dec. 22, to allow sufficient time for mailing. Forms can be downloaded from the Web site until Dec. 31.
Forms and assistance also are available at Department of Revenue district offices (listed in the government section of local telephone directories), local Area Agencies on Aging, senior centers and state legislators' offices. Claimants are reminded to provide all the necessary income, property tax or rental information for their claims to be processed accurately and quickly. Applications must be postmarked by Wednesday, Dec. 31, in order to be considered.
"There are people and offices all over the state ready and willing to help seniors through the application process," said Acting Secretary of Revenue Stephen Stetler. "The program deadline is nearing, but time still remains for residents to explore the program and apply for rebates."
Pennsylvania is providing a total of $786 million in property tax relief this year, including expanded rebates from the state's senior citizen Property Tax/Rent Rebate program and first-ever general property tax relief for all homeowners that was distributed through school districts this past summer. As a result, an estimated 113,000 seniors had their entire school property tax bills eliminated.
Act 1 of Special Session 2006 delivered the largest property tax cut in Pennsylvania history, using proceeds from slots gaming. In addition to the expanded rebate program, the law provides state-funded tax relief through reductions in the tax bills that school districts send out each summer. The broad-based property tax relief started this year at an average of nearly $200 per household across the state.
About 600,000 seniors are expected to benefit from rebates this year, compared to 314,000 before the program's expansion in 2006. Last year, 564,000 seniors received more than $240 million in rebates. So far this year, about 600,000 people have applied for a rebate and, as of Nov. 24, rebates totaling $262 million have been sent to more than 590,000 homeowners and renters.
The expanded household income limits and maximum rebate amounts are:
Renters with incomes between $0 and $8,000 now receive a $650 rebate and those with incomes between $8,001 and $15,000 receive a $500 rebate.
The Property Tax/Rent Rebate program is one of five programs supported by the Pennsylvania Lottery. Since the program's 1971 inception, more than $3.8 billion has been paid to qualified applicants. The expanded portion of the rebate program is funded with revenue from slots gaming.
The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter, visit his Web site at: www.governor.state.pa.us.
CONTACT: Chuck Ardo 717-783-1116
Web site: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/
http://www.PaPropertyTaxRelief.com/
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Teacher Pay
Here's an article from the BCCT looking at the recent Souderton teacher's strike and teacher pay. The best part of the story are the reader comments.
Thank God that this would never happen here in Morr...
Oh. Sorry. My bad.
Teachers: Pay driving them away
By LOU SESSINGER
Staff Writer
The Souderton Area school board listened impassively as three teachers claimed the board’s rigid stance during the current labor dispute over salary is driving talented teachers to districts willing to pay more — and quality of education in Souderton is suffering.
Speaking during the public comment section of last Tuesday night’s school board meeting, speech therapist Allison Moran said the recent resignation of three of her colleagues, “due to the contract this board has presented,” has reduced the number of full-time district speech therapists to two.
One took a job in Upper Perkiomen and two were hired by Upper Dublin, she said, adding that those who went to Upper Dublin got more money.
“Quality teachers and speech therapists cannot be kept in this district without adequate compensation,” she said.
School district solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said the board was aware of a trend in which school districts are competing for a limited number of speech therapists.
“The board would be prepared to address this issue by having a different compensation scale arranged for speech therapists,” he said. “Compensation should be determined to a certain extent by supply and demand, and this board is prepared right now to sit down and negotiate a separate compensation scale for speech therapists.
“But you’re shaking your head no because it runs contrary to your concept of unionism, which keeps everybody’s salary at the same level, not withstanding supply and demand,” he added.
Science teacher Christopher Luck said he had a master’s degree, was certified to teach both chemistry and physics, was in his ninth year with the school district and earned $53,600 a year, several thousand dollars less than he would be paid at neighboring North Penn or Pennridge.
He said he has seen many of his colleagues leave Souderton for higher pay elsewhere.
“Do you really want quality teachers to leave?” he asked.
Christine Jackson, a physics teacher with 16 years’ experience, said this year the board’s attitude toward teacher salaries “left us with no choice” but to go on strike or find employment elsewhere.
“We’re disheartened by your lack of respect to teachers and administrators … and your unwillingness to strengthen the district,” she said.
The teachers union went on strike for 15 days at the start of the school year in September.
The school district has offered a three-year contract with pay raises averaging 2.5 percent. The union wants a four-year pact with raises averaging 8.2 percent.
The labor impasse is now in a phase of nonbinding arbitration.
Thank God that this would never happen here in Morr...
Oh. Sorry. My bad.
Teachers: Pay driving them away
By LOU SESSINGER
Staff Writer
The Souderton Area school board listened impassively as three teachers claimed the board’s rigid stance during the current labor dispute over salary is driving talented teachers to districts willing to pay more — and quality of education in Souderton is suffering.
Speaking during the public comment section of last Tuesday night’s school board meeting, speech therapist Allison Moran said the recent resignation of three of her colleagues, “due to the contract this board has presented,” has reduced the number of full-time district speech therapists to two.
One took a job in Upper Perkiomen and two were hired by Upper Dublin, she said, adding that those who went to Upper Dublin got more money.
“Quality teachers and speech therapists cannot be kept in this district without adequate compensation,” she said.
School district solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said the board was aware of a trend in which school districts are competing for a limited number of speech therapists.
“The board would be prepared to address this issue by having a different compensation scale arranged for speech therapists,” he said. “Compensation should be determined to a certain extent by supply and demand, and this board is prepared right now to sit down and negotiate a separate compensation scale for speech therapists.
“But you’re shaking your head no because it runs contrary to your concept of unionism, which keeps everybody’s salary at the same level, not withstanding supply and demand,” he added.
Science teacher Christopher Luck said he had a master’s degree, was certified to teach both chemistry and physics, was in his ninth year with the school district and earned $53,600 a year, several thousand dollars less than he would be paid at neighboring North Penn or Pennridge.
He said he has seen many of his colleagues leave Souderton for higher pay elsewhere.
“Do you really want quality teachers to leave?” he asked.
Christine Jackson, a physics teacher with 16 years’ experience, said this year the board’s attitude toward teacher salaries “left us with no choice” but to go on strike or find employment elsewhere.
“We’re disheartened by your lack of respect to teachers and administrators … and your unwillingness to strengthen the district,” she said.
The teachers union went on strike for 15 days at the start of the school year in September.
The school district has offered a three-year contract with pay raises averaging 2.5 percent. The union wants a four-year pact with raises averaging 8.2 percent.
The labor impasse is now in a phase of nonbinding arbitration.
Reorg Recap
Any updates from last night's reorganization meeting? Is the new boss the same as the old boss?
Presbyterian Church Alternative Christmas Shopping this Sunday
Thanks to the emailer who sent in this information on a great Christmas shopping idea!
You can also do some extra good by bringing something for the food bank too.
On Sunday, Dec. 7th the Presbyterian Church in Morrisville is having an "Alternative Gift Market" from noon to 3:00. It will feature art from Trenton Soup Kitchen artists, Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade items, handbags from Peru and others, and "gift certificates" for donations for the food pantry!
The "shop" will be in the basement area, "Fellowship Hall" at Morrisville Presbyterian Church on North Pennsylvania and West Trenton Avenues.
You can also do some extra good by bringing something for the food bank too.
On Sunday, Dec. 7th the Presbyterian Church in Morrisville is having an "Alternative Gift Market" from noon to 3:00. It will feature art from Trenton Soup Kitchen artists, Ten Thousand Villages Fair Trade items, handbags from Peru and others, and "gift certificates" for donations for the food pantry!
The "shop" will be in the basement area, "Fellowship Hall" at Morrisville Presbyterian Church on North Pennsylvania and West Trenton Avenues.
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