From the BCCT.
Board authorizes tentative pact with unions
By: LOU SESSINGER
The Intelligencer
The Souderton Area School Board is willing to accept most of two recommended contract settlements with the unions that represent the school district's teacher aides and secretaries with the exception of provisions related to the employees' health insurance coverage.
At a special meeting Tuesday evening, the board took two votes on the contract settlements recommended by state-appointed fact finder John Skonier.
Regarding the Souderton Area Educational Support Personnel Association, which represents about 140 teacher aides, the board authorized a tentative agreement that approves the fact finder's report with the following exception:
"Employees who work seven or more hours a day and at least 170 days per school year shall be entitled to participate in the lowest cost teachers' health care plan for single employee benefits provided that the employees contribute 10 percent of the health care premium."
Regarding the approximately 50-member Souderton Area Secretaries Association, the tentative agreement was similar but with slightly different language dealing with how the employees are classified and whether the provisions of their employment were "tied to" the teacher aides union contract.
In addition, 10-month employees who work seven or more hours a day can participate in the lowest cost teachers' health plan for single coverage and a contribution of 10 percent of the premium cost.
The teachers currently have a choice of different health plans with different co-pay options and other features.
School board President Bernard S. Currie after the meeting was apologetically tight-lipped about the board's tentative agreement.
"All I can really talk about tonight is the fact that the board authorized a tentative agreement," he said. "I can't say any more about the details because the employees haven't had a chance to vote on it. It wouldn't be fair for them to read about it in the newspaper before they had a chance to vote on it."
When asked if some of the aides and secretaries have not had health care insurance, all Currie would say is "some have and some have not." He declined to elaborate.
Neither would Currie explain how the board's health care provision differed from the fact finder's recommendation to which the board took exception.
According to Gary Smith, the Pennsylvania State Education Association representative who has been working on contract negotiations with both unions, the secretaries were scheduled to vote on the fact finder's recommendation today and the teacher aides on Thursday.
Both unions have been working under the terms of contracts that expired in June 2008.
Meanwhile, the school board and the district's teachers union are awaiting the report of an arbitration panel aimed at resolving their contract impasse. The sticking points are salary and health insurance.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Secretary's computer monitored
From the BCCT.
Impassioned infighting and underhanded behavior: Not just for Morrisville any longer.
Officials: Secretary's computer monitored
By: JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times
Accusations flew back and forth despite the borough solicitor's warning that personnel matters should remain confidential.
Six years before her recent suspension, Tullytown Secretary Beth Pirolli's work computer was fitted with a device to track her activity, borough officials disclosed Tuesday night during a heated town hall meeting.
As the regular council meeting quickly devolved into a discussion about Pirolli, Councilman Rick Adams said then-resident Ed Armstrong, who is now a councilman, personally "put on the rubber gloves" and had installed a device on the borough's secretary work computer to monitor it for political activity.
Adams said the bill for the device had been filed under another name and he challenged Armstrong and others at the meeting to take a lie detector test and answer questions about the alleged incident.
Armstrong flatly denied installing any such device. Armstrong said it was Adams who had approached him in 2003 to ask whether it was possible to monitor Pirolli's computer. Armstrong said he told Adams that it was possible to monitor the computer, but he denied any further involvement.
Beth Pirolli's sister Holly Kettler said at the meeting Armstrong "was obsessed" with the borough secretary, who was suspended March 26 after a closed-door meeting of the Tullytown Council.
Kettler asked whether anyone had contacted her sister to talk about the allegations that led to the suspension. Council President Joseph Shellenberger said that no one had contacted her.
There was certainly plenty of talk about the borough secretary Tuesday, though she wasn't in the borough hall to hear it or to respond. The newspaper was also unable to reach Pirolli after a visit to her home on Main Street.
The details about Pirolli's career and her recent suspension were discussed publicly and for about an hour during the meeting. Borough solicitor Mike Sellers repeatedly cautioned that such that personnel matters should remain confidential.
At the March 26 meeting, Councilwoman Mary Ann Gahagan had publicly stated that at least some of the allegations involved certain checks that were found in Pirolli's desk.
The borough secretary was suspended with an affirming vote by council members George Fox, Ed Czyzyk, Shellenberger and Armstrong. The motion to suspend Pirolli included a condition that she should continue to receive both pay and benefits.
However, Councilman Matt Pirolli, Beth's brother, said she was not being paid and he wanted to know why. Pirolli abstained last month from voting on her suspension.
Shellenberger said there was "a very good answer" as to why the borough secretary had not been paid.
That reason was discussed in a closed-door meeting and should remain confidential, Shellenberger said.
Longtime borough resident Al DiGiovanni said he came to the council meeting Tuesday night to complain about basketball hoops on his street.
"But from what I'm seeing here tonight," he said, "you guys have a much bigger problems than I have."
Impassioned infighting and underhanded behavior: Not just for Morrisville any longer.
Officials: Secretary's computer monitored
By: JAMES MCGINNIS
Bucks County Courier Times
Accusations flew back and forth despite the borough solicitor's warning that personnel matters should remain confidential.
Six years before her recent suspension, Tullytown Secretary Beth Pirolli's work computer was fitted with a device to track her activity, borough officials disclosed Tuesday night during a heated town hall meeting.
As the regular council meeting quickly devolved into a discussion about Pirolli, Councilman Rick Adams said then-resident Ed Armstrong, who is now a councilman, personally "put on the rubber gloves" and had installed a device on the borough's secretary work computer to monitor it for political activity.
Adams said the bill for the device had been filed under another name and he challenged Armstrong and others at the meeting to take a lie detector test and answer questions about the alleged incident.
Armstrong flatly denied installing any such device. Armstrong said it was Adams who had approached him in 2003 to ask whether it was possible to monitor Pirolli's computer. Armstrong said he told Adams that it was possible to monitor the computer, but he denied any further involvement.
Beth Pirolli's sister Holly Kettler said at the meeting Armstrong "was obsessed" with the borough secretary, who was suspended March 26 after a closed-door meeting of the Tullytown Council.
Kettler asked whether anyone had contacted her sister to talk about the allegations that led to the suspension. Council President Joseph Shellenberger said that no one had contacted her.
There was certainly plenty of talk about the borough secretary Tuesday, though she wasn't in the borough hall to hear it or to respond. The newspaper was also unable to reach Pirolli after a visit to her home on Main Street.
The details about Pirolli's career and her recent suspension were discussed publicly and for about an hour during the meeting. Borough solicitor Mike Sellers repeatedly cautioned that such that personnel matters should remain confidential.
At the March 26 meeting, Councilwoman Mary Ann Gahagan had publicly stated that at least some of the allegations involved certain checks that were found in Pirolli's desk.
The borough secretary was suspended with an affirming vote by council members George Fox, Ed Czyzyk, Shellenberger and Armstrong. The motion to suspend Pirolli included a condition that she should continue to receive both pay and benefits.
However, Councilman Matt Pirolli, Beth's brother, said she was not being paid and he wanted to know why. Pirolli abstained last month from voting on her suspension.
Shellenberger said there was "a very good answer" as to why the borough secretary had not been paid.
That reason was discussed in a closed-door meeting and should remain confidential, Shellenberger said.
Longtime borough resident Al DiGiovanni said he came to the council meeting Tuesday night to complain about basketball hoops on his street.
"But from what I'm seeing here tonight," he said, "you guys have a much bigger problems than I have."
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
New stats for PSSAs
From the Inquirer.
Pa.: New stats better gauge student achievement
By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer, Posted on Mon, Apr. 6, 2009
When results of the recent PSSA tests are released this summer, they will likely show a dramatic increase in the number of schools meeting state-mandated No Child Left Behind proficiency standards.
Last year, 72 percent of Pennsylvania public schools met the marks, based primarily on the math and reading tests for grades three to eight and 11. In the Philadelphia area, 65 percent of schools met the benchmarks.
This year, close to 250 more schools across the state - about 28 percent of those that did not meet the standards last year - could achieve the proficiency levels, based on projections from 2008 scores.
The increase would not be the result of academic progress, however, but would come from a new statistical method of calculating test results that provides other benefits as well by helping educators analyze student and school performance in more in-depth ways.
For the first time this year, schools will get credit for meeting state standards if statistical projections of students' test results show enough improvement in coming years, even if the children are not performing at grade level now. Fifteen states use similar systems.
"We now have a scientific method of projecting whether or not a school . . . will bring a grade or a group to proficiency," Gerald Zahorchak, the Pennsylvania secretary of education, said in an interview. "It's the power of a new way to look at data - to look at whether schools have really made and will be making progress with their students."
In preparation for using projected test scores to meet proficiency standards, the state has assigned each student an identification number, allowing the system to track PSSA results from year to year. The tracking numbers were instituted in 2006, but this is the first year that past test scores will be used to calculate school proficiency.
Kristen Lewald, state coordinator for the new PSSA tracking system, said that just as a baseball player's batting average is a good predictor of how good a hitter he or she will be in, "the best predictor of a student's performance is their history."
Before this year, school-achievement calculations were based on the current-year scores of all students in the tested grades as well as other groups: minorities, special-education students, English-language learners, and low-income students.
If 56 percent of students in all groups score proficient or above in math and 63 percent are proficient in reading, a school meets state standards, called making adequate yearly progress. Schools where test scores show sizable improvement also make the grade. Those that don't meet the standards must act to improve performance; continued failure leads to increasingly drastic sanctions.
Starting this year, each school's proficiency will be measured by those scoring methods and by the new statistical projections, which educators call the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (PVAAS).
Tracking individual student performance through identification numbers is a better way to determine whether schools are doing their job, education experts say.
In districts where many students move to new schools or out of the area from one year to the next, for example, comparing school scores for last year's third grade and this year's fourth grade would not tell much about how well the school is educating children. That's because many students would not be the same ones who took the test the year before. The new system solves that problem by tracking students' performance no matter what school or district they are in.
As a result, the new tracking system has become a powerful new diagnostic tool, helping educators get a good grasp on how students are progressing, said Victoria Gehrt, assistant superintendent of the Kennett Consolidated School District.
Gehrt said her district uses the tracking data to figure out everything from how well a new math curriculum is working to analyzing whether students at all achievement levels are making a year's worth of academic progress in a year's time.
"It's a great tool - the PSSA score only tells if students are proficient but it doesn't tell you whether you are making a difference - whether there is student growth from year to year," she said.
In the West Chester Area School District, the tracking system helps schools make earlier sixth-grade placements, using score projections from previous years, said Robert Culp, the district's elementary math and science assessment director.
In Montgomery County's Methacton district, the tracking system was used to analyze the effectiveness of some lower-level math courses that were eventually eliminated, superintendent Timothy Quinn said. And it is used to make sure students are taking courses that are rigorous enough to challenge them, he said. "Getting As and scoring proficient on the state tests is not enough," Quinn said. The tracking system, he added, "really pushes high-achieving districts like ours to ask, 'Are we doing as much as possible?' "
The student tracking system, which began with a $4 million federal grant to the state in 2005, has other uses as well. Starting with the senior class of 2010, for example, the Education Department will be able to accurately calculate four-year high school drop-out rates, a key statistic that has been difficult to compute.
The department now collects student demographic and attendance information, school staff demographics and courses taught, school course offerings, and what courses students take.
In the fall, the system will be extended to Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges and 14 State System of Higher Education universities; state-related and private colleges also have been invited to join. The state wants to better understand how students can be adequately prepared for college and how they do once they get there.
With a prekindergarten through college tracking system, Zahorchak said, "the possibilities are limited only by our imagination."
Pa.: New stats better gauge student achievement
By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer, Posted on Mon, Apr. 6, 2009
When results of the recent PSSA tests are released this summer, they will likely show a dramatic increase in the number of schools meeting state-mandated No Child Left Behind proficiency standards.
Last year, 72 percent of Pennsylvania public schools met the marks, based primarily on the math and reading tests for grades three to eight and 11. In the Philadelphia area, 65 percent of schools met the benchmarks.
This year, close to 250 more schools across the state - about 28 percent of those that did not meet the standards last year - could achieve the proficiency levels, based on projections from 2008 scores.
The increase would not be the result of academic progress, however, but would come from a new statistical method of calculating test results that provides other benefits as well by helping educators analyze student and school performance in more in-depth ways.
For the first time this year, schools will get credit for meeting state standards if statistical projections of students' test results show enough improvement in coming years, even if the children are not performing at grade level now. Fifteen states use similar systems.
"We now have a scientific method of projecting whether or not a school . . . will bring a grade or a group to proficiency," Gerald Zahorchak, the Pennsylvania secretary of education, said in an interview. "It's the power of a new way to look at data - to look at whether schools have really made and will be making progress with their students."
In preparation for using projected test scores to meet proficiency standards, the state has assigned each student an identification number, allowing the system to track PSSA results from year to year. The tracking numbers were instituted in 2006, but this is the first year that past test scores will be used to calculate school proficiency.
Kristen Lewald, state coordinator for the new PSSA tracking system, said that just as a baseball player's batting average is a good predictor of how good a hitter he or she will be in, "the best predictor of a student's performance is their history."
Before this year, school-achievement calculations were based on the current-year scores of all students in the tested grades as well as other groups: minorities, special-education students, English-language learners, and low-income students.
If 56 percent of students in all groups score proficient or above in math and 63 percent are proficient in reading, a school meets state standards, called making adequate yearly progress. Schools where test scores show sizable improvement also make the grade. Those that don't meet the standards must act to improve performance; continued failure leads to increasingly drastic sanctions.
Starting this year, each school's proficiency will be measured by those scoring methods and by the new statistical projections, which educators call the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (PVAAS).
Tracking individual student performance through identification numbers is a better way to determine whether schools are doing their job, education experts say.
In districts where many students move to new schools or out of the area from one year to the next, for example, comparing school scores for last year's third grade and this year's fourth grade would not tell much about how well the school is educating children. That's because many students would not be the same ones who took the test the year before. The new system solves that problem by tracking students' performance no matter what school or district they are in.
As a result, the new tracking system has become a powerful new diagnostic tool, helping educators get a good grasp on how students are progressing, said Victoria Gehrt, assistant superintendent of the Kennett Consolidated School District.
Gehrt said her district uses the tracking data to figure out everything from how well a new math curriculum is working to analyzing whether students at all achievement levels are making a year's worth of academic progress in a year's time.
"It's a great tool - the PSSA score only tells if students are proficient but it doesn't tell you whether you are making a difference - whether there is student growth from year to year," she said.
In the West Chester Area School District, the tracking system helps schools make earlier sixth-grade placements, using score projections from previous years, said Robert Culp, the district's elementary math and science assessment director.
In Montgomery County's Methacton district, the tracking system was used to analyze the effectiveness of some lower-level math courses that were eventually eliminated, superintendent Timothy Quinn said. And it is used to make sure students are taking courses that are rigorous enough to challenge them, he said. "Getting As and scoring proficient on the state tests is not enough," Quinn said. The tracking system, he added, "really pushes high-achieving districts like ours to ask, 'Are we doing as much as possible?' "
The student tracking system, which began with a $4 million federal grant to the state in 2005, has other uses as well. Starting with the senior class of 2010, for example, the Education Department will be able to accurately calculate four-year high school drop-out rates, a key statistic that has been difficult to compute.
The department now collects student demographic and attendance information, school staff demographics and courses taught, school course offerings, and what courses students take.
In the fall, the system will be extended to Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges and 14 State System of Higher Education universities; state-related and private colleges also have been invited to join. The state wants to better understand how students can be adequately prepared for college and how they do once they get there.
With a prekindergarten through college tracking system, Zahorchak said, "the possibilities are limited only by our imagination."
Neshaminy Turns into Morrisville
From the BCCT
Dear Sam: Come on over to Morrisville. Much to our shame, fire all the teachers and replace them, and a state takeover of the district are the stated goals of the Emperor's minions.
Find middle ground
I recently attended a senior meeting regarding the current situation in Neshaminy School District at the Lower Southampton Library. Mostly everyone there was quite concerned how things are going. Many had suggestions on how to fix the problems.
Jim Barrett (chairman of the Democratic committee in Lower Southampton) said, “We should cut the administrators’ pay by say 20 percent. Sue Barrett (an ex-school board member) said, “We should fire all of them and start new from scratch. Or we could declare the school district bankrupt and let the state take it over.”
For two prominent community leaders to make these kinds of suggestions is, in my view, outrageous. I’m sure most members of the community do not want the state to run our schools.
A school board member, Joe Blasch, started reading a list of programs they can cut such as music, art, school bus routes, have part-time library, etc. I felt this too is a bit much and stated, “You want to cut things from our kids and not our teachers.”
Our kids are our most important and precious asset. We have many great teachers in our schools who care a great deal about our kids. I know, I have a boy in third grade and he loves school. That’s because of our teachers.
What we need is for the union and the school board to go back to the table and find some middle ground where everyone will be dealt with fairly. Our children should not suffer for an unreasonable union leader or an unreasonable community leader.
Sam Pozzuolo Feasterville
Dear Sam: Come on over to Morrisville. Much to our shame, fire all the teachers and replace them, and a state takeover of the district are the stated goals of the Emperor's minions.
Find middle ground
I recently attended a senior meeting regarding the current situation in Neshaminy School District at the Lower Southampton Library. Mostly everyone there was quite concerned how things are going. Many had suggestions on how to fix the problems.
Jim Barrett (chairman of the Democratic committee in Lower Southampton) said, “We should cut the administrators’ pay by say 20 percent. Sue Barrett (an ex-school board member) said, “We should fire all of them and start new from scratch. Or we could declare the school district bankrupt and let the state take it over.”
For two prominent community leaders to make these kinds of suggestions is, in my view, outrageous. I’m sure most members of the community do not want the state to run our schools.
A school board member, Joe Blasch, started reading a list of programs they can cut such as music, art, school bus routes, have part-time library, etc. I felt this too is a bit much and stated, “You want to cut things from our kids and not our teachers.”
Our kids are our most important and precious asset. We have many great teachers in our schools who care a great deal about our kids. I know, I have a boy in third grade and he loves school. That’s because of our teachers.
What we need is for the union and the school board to go back to the table and find some middle ground where everyone will be dealt with fairly. Our children should not suffer for an unreasonable union leader or an unreasonable community leader.
Sam Pozzuolo Feasterville
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 25: Join The Friends of the Delaware Canal
From Kate Fratti in the BCCT.
Calling all canal lovers
By: KATE FRATTI
Bucks County Courier Times
Feeling ambitious? Or just in need of some fresh air? The Friends of the Delaware Canal hope so. They need you to lend them a hand at spring cleaning on April 25.
Come on. At least think about it. If you ever visit the canal for long walks, bike rides, fishing and exercising the dog, it's not a bad way to show some gratitude. Also not a bad way to meet other canal lovers or to spend some free quality time with the kids. Tell them Canal Cleanup Day is a treasure hunt.
Friends Director Susan Taylor has made a few interesting finds in the years she's been participating in the cleanup. Seems she found a perfectly intact dried bat once. "As in the mammal bat," she explained. OK. Treasure is a strong word.
She did find a bag of coins totaling $10. Another time she found prom accessories, including bow tie and corsage. She also was on hand to watch a helper find a snapping turtle hiding in a tire. "The person dropped that tire really fast," she recalled. It was good for a laugh.
The Friends of the Delaware Canal is "an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings. Its primary goals are to ensure that the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol and that the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.
No small task, but a supremely worthwhile goal. Bucks County boasts an awful lot of pretty places to soak up nature, but portions of the canal rival all others.
I live closest to the sections near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield. It's one of my favorite places. Dredging there is expected to be done by May 18.
Which means my part of the canal - between Yardley and Morrisville - will be picture postcard perfect again this summer. Turtles sunning (when they aren't hiding in tires), fish jumping, birds of every feather and wildflowers along the banks, water lilies in the center. Come early enough in the morning or late enough in the day and you'll see deer coming to drink.
I'll never understand how anyone who's witnessed the historic canal's beauty could leave behind the litter they do - things like soda cans and tangled fishing tackle - requiring a massive cleanup every spring.
Susan says she'll need about 100 volunteers to get the job done this year. And that's with 30 of the 60 miles of canal between Bristol and Easton still undergoing restoration so off the cleanup roster.
For work purposes, the canal has been divided into three zones, upper, central and lower canal. Cleanup teams will be led by area coordinators. The New Hope Garden Club is pitching in. As always, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol Township will be doing its part, too. Mary Kehoe will coordinate in Bristol again.
"She recruits young people and the Bristol Hibernians. She gets lots of food donated from local businesses to feed her crew," Susan said.
Canal Cleanup Day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Everyone who wants to participate should choose a convenient or needy location, and then contact the area coordinator. The coordinator will let volunteers know where to meet and what to bring. Gloves, long-handled nets, boots, and branch snippers are useful, Susan said. Trash bags will be provided.
"Canoe or kayak owners who are volunteering in sections of the canal that have water are urged to bring their boats to retrieve the elusive trash that lies just out of reach in the water and on the berm bank," she said.
If you live in Falls and enjoy the canal, you are especially needed. The Friends still are seeking a coordinator for the cleanup there. To lead a group of "willing trash pickers, brush clippers and tire retrievers," call 215-862-2021.
That's also the number to call for all other information about the cleanup day and to find out who your coordinator will be. You also can e-mail questions to friends@fodc.org.
Calling all canal lovers
By: KATE FRATTI
Bucks County Courier Times
Feeling ambitious? Or just in need of some fresh air? The Friends of the Delaware Canal hope so. They need you to lend them a hand at spring cleaning on April 25.
Come on. At least think about it. If you ever visit the canal for long walks, bike rides, fishing and exercising the dog, it's not a bad way to show some gratitude. Also not a bad way to meet other canal lovers or to spend some free quality time with the kids. Tell them Canal Cleanup Day is a treasure hunt.
Friends Director Susan Taylor has made a few interesting finds in the years she's been participating in the cleanup. Seems she found a perfectly intact dried bat once. "As in the mammal bat," she explained. OK. Treasure is a strong word.
She did find a bag of coins totaling $10. Another time she found prom accessories, including bow tie and corsage. She also was on hand to watch a helper find a snapping turtle hiding in a tire. "The person dropped that tire really fast," she recalled. It was good for a laugh.
The Friends of the Delaware Canal is "an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings. Its primary goals are to ensure that the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol and that the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.
No small task, but a supremely worthwhile goal. Bucks County boasts an awful lot of pretty places to soak up nature, but portions of the canal rival all others.
I live closest to the sections near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield. It's one of my favorite places. Dredging there is expected to be done by May 18.
Which means my part of the canal - between Yardley and Morrisville - will be picture postcard perfect again this summer. Turtles sunning (when they aren't hiding in tires), fish jumping, birds of every feather and wildflowers along the banks, water lilies in the center. Come early enough in the morning or late enough in the day and you'll see deer coming to drink.
I'll never understand how anyone who's witnessed the historic canal's beauty could leave behind the litter they do - things like soda cans and tangled fishing tackle - requiring a massive cleanup every spring.
Susan says she'll need about 100 volunteers to get the job done this year. And that's with 30 of the 60 miles of canal between Bristol and Easton still undergoing restoration so off the cleanup roster.
For work purposes, the canal has been divided into three zones, upper, central and lower canal. Cleanup teams will be led by area coordinators. The New Hope Garden Club is pitching in. As always, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol Township will be doing its part, too. Mary Kehoe will coordinate in Bristol again.
"She recruits young people and the Bristol Hibernians. She gets lots of food donated from local businesses to feed her crew," Susan said.
Canal Cleanup Day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Everyone who wants to participate should choose a convenient or needy location, and then contact the area coordinator. The coordinator will let volunteers know where to meet and what to bring. Gloves, long-handled nets, boots, and branch snippers are useful, Susan said. Trash bags will be provided.
"Canoe or kayak owners who are volunteering in sections of the canal that have water are urged to bring their boats to retrieve the elusive trash that lies just out of reach in the water and on the berm bank," she said.
If you live in Falls and enjoy the canal, you are especially needed. The Friends still are seeking a coordinator for the cleanup there. To lead a group of "willing trash pickers, brush clippers and tire retrievers," call 215-862-2021.
That's also the number to call for all other information about the cleanup day and to find out who your coordinator will be. You also can e-mail questions to friends@fodc.org.
Districts ambivalent about merger idea
From the Erie Times-News.
School districts ambivalent about governor's merger idea
BY VALERIE MYERS
Published: April 05. 2009 12:01AM
SCHOOL DISTRICTS -- BY THE NUMBERS
The number of public-school districts, public schools and public-school students is actually increasing nationally:
1993-94 school year:
14,523 public-school districts, 83,621 public schools, 43.5 million public-school students.
2007-08: 14,556 public-school districts, 100,308 public schools, 49.8 million public-school students.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics
When two Beaver County school districts are pronounced the Central Valley School District on July 1, they will be the first ever to merge without the state Department of Education forcing them to do so.
The voluntary consolidation of the Center Area and Monaca school districts will reduce the number of Pennsylvania's local school districts from 501 to 500 -- or 400 more than Gov. Ed Rendell wants.
Rendell has proposed a legislative commission to recommend ways to downsize -- he says "right-size" -- the number of public school districts to no more than 100, or about 1.5 school districts per county.
The action has precedent; the state has ordered a number of school district consolidations through the years. The most widespread through the 1960s pared 2,277 local school districts to 669, said David Davare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Not many people regret those consolidations.
But many wonder whether further consolidations are financially and educationally prudent.
Keeping up (or down) with Joneses
Rendell points to neighboring Maryland as a model for Pennsylvania's schools. Maryland has just 24 school districts -- one in each county.
The upsides of consolidation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, include reducing "staggering, and growing" administrative costs, local property tax relief, and pooling of resources for better, more-affordable education, including more class choices than small districts can provide.
Also, only 10 states have more school districts than Pennsylvania, and many of the highest-achieving states are organized into far fewer school districts, according to the PDE.
But a 2001 study by Syracuse University's Center for Policy Research found that school district consolidations in New York state have saved money only for very small districts, had negligible savings for districts of 1,500 students, and increased costs in larger districts -- both in dollars for labor and transportation and in staff, student and parent engagement.
And in other states where consolidations have recently been ordered, they aren't universally popular. In Maine, voters are organizing a referendum in hopes of repealing a 2007 law requiring consolidation of the state's 290 local school districts into about 80.
In Nebraska, where a 2005 state law requires elementary-only school districts to merge with K-12 districts, a lawsuit attempting to overturn the law was dismissed in federal court but has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Been there, (not) done that
Retired Harbor Creek schools Superintendent David Smith at one time favored the consolidation of the Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts.
Analysis and some preliminary consolidation of the two administrations changed his mind.
The two districts were the last in Erie County to seriously consider consolidation, in 1999. A state incentive grant paid for some administrative consolidation, including sharing a business manager who worked half of each day at Harbor Creek and half at Iroquois.
"The savings we anticipated just weren't there," Smith said. "By and large, it worked out well, but it wasn't saving money. The business manager was putting in ungodly hours."
Other pocketbook issues and the educational issues of consolidation are tougher to address, Smith said. One school district might have a junior high school and the other a middle school. One might have its buildings paid for while the other has significant debt that taxpayers in the combined district would have to pay off.
Academic success and which schools close, which remain open and whether new schools are needed can be even bigger headaches.
"And when you start talking about cost savings and closing down schools that aren't efficient or too small, then you get into transportation issues, and that's a nightmare. Transportation costs are enormous," Smith said.
The toll isn't just in gasoline and maintenance, but time, he said.
"How much time are youngsters spending on that bus and what activities are they going to miss out on because they're on that bus? You have to consider those kinds of things as well," Smith said.
Tigers and Yellowjackets 1, Vikings 0
Another problem with consolidation is loss of local identity and control. It was the deal-breaker when Fairview and Girard school districts looked at consolidation 40 years ago. By state mandate at the time, no district could have fewer than 4,000 students. Both Fairview and Girard were below that number and planned consolidation while appealing the mandate.
The two districts drew up plans for a joint Lake Erie High School and together hired a football coach and bought Viking wrestling mats and football uniforms before the state Board of Education finally granted their appeals -- based on loss of local control and identity and no real educational benefit -- in 1970. The red-and-black Fairview Tigers and yellow-and-black Girard Yellowjackets wound up divvying the blue-and-gold Viking spoils.
Those local identities and loyalties can derail consolidation, said Daniel Matsook, superintendent of the Center Area School District now merging with Monaca.
"We call those matters of the heart, and we've put them on the back burner," Matsook said. "There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot."
Third time's no charm
In Chautauqua County's Ripley Central School District, the economics of consolidation with neighboring Westfield or Sherman schools haven't convinced voters who decide the issue in New York state. Ripley has looked at mergers three times in the past 10 years. They've been rejected by one of the parties all three times, most recently by voters in the Westfield Academy and Central School District in February.
"There's no overwhelming proof that centralization eliminates or reduces taxes," said Jeff Buchholz, who taught in Ripley and was president of the teachers union there through all but the most recent merger effort.
Central (Valley) issues
For Monaca and Center Area school districts, where enrollments have declined along with the steel industry, consolidation is expected to improve both education and economics. The two districts expect to save a combined $1.4 million annually, Department of Education spokesman Michael Race said.
Still, consolidation -- including closing an elementary school and deciding on middle school rather than junior high -- hasn't been easy, Center Area's superintendent said. The two school districts have been working on the merger for more than three years.
"We went into this agreeing only to investigate whether merger makes sense or not; we didn't go into it saying we're going to merge," Matsook said. "We looked at the facts, and the facts bore this out."
School districts ambivalent about governor's merger idea
BY VALERIE MYERS
Published: April 05. 2009 12:01AM
SCHOOL DISTRICTS -- BY THE NUMBERS
The number of public-school districts, public schools and public-school students is actually increasing nationally:
1993-94 school year:
14,523 public-school districts, 83,621 public schools, 43.5 million public-school students.
2007-08: 14,556 public-school districts, 100,308 public schools, 49.8 million public-school students.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics
When two Beaver County school districts are pronounced the Central Valley School District on July 1, they will be the first ever to merge without the state Department of Education forcing them to do so.
The voluntary consolidation of the Center Area and Monaca school districts will reduce the number of Pennsylvania's local school districts from 501 to 500 -- or 400 more than Gov. Ed Rendell wants.
Rendell has proposed a legislative commission to recommend ways to downsize -- he says "right-size" -- the number of public school districts to no more than 100, or about 1.5 school districts per county.
The action has precedent; the state has ordered a number of school district consolidations through the years. The most widespread through the 1960s pared 2,277 local school districts to 669, said David Davare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Not many people regret those consolidations.
But many wonder whether further consolidations are financially and educationally prudent.
Keeping up (or down) with Joneses
Rendell points to neighboring Maryland as a model for Pennsylvania's schools. Maryland has just 24 school districts -- one in each county.
The upsides of consolidation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, include reducing "staggering, and growing" administrative costs, local property tax relief, and pooling of resources for better, more-affordable education, including more class choices than small districts can provide.
Also, only 10 states have more school districts than Pennsylvania, and many of the highest-achieving states are organized into far fewer school districts, according to the PDE.
But a 2001 study by Syracuse University's Center for Policy Research found that school district consolidations in New York state have saved money only for very small districts, had negligible savings for districts of 1,500 students, and increased costs in larger districts -- both in dollars for labor and transportation and in staff, student and parent engagement.
And in other states where consolidations have recently been ordered, they aren't universally popular. In Maine, voters are organizing a referendum in hopes of repealing a 2007 law requiring consolidation of the state's 290 local school districts into about 80.
In Nebraska, where a 2005 state law requires elementary-only school districts to merge with K-12 districts, a lawsuit attempting to overturn the law was dismissed in federal court but has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Been there, (not) done that
Retired Harbor Creek schools Superintendent David Smith at one time favored the consolidation of the Harbor Creek and Iroquois school districts.
Analysis and some preliminary consolidation of the two administrations changed his mind.
The two districts were the last in Erie County to seriously consider consolidation, in 1999. A state incentive grant paid for some administrative consolidation, including sharing a business manager who worked half of each day at Harbor Creek and half at Iroquois.
"The savings we anticipated just weren't there," Smith said. "By and large, it worked out well, but it wasn't saving money. The business manager was putting in ungodly hours."
Other pocketbook issues and the educational issues of consolidation are tougher to address, Smith said. One school district might have a junior high school and the other a middle school. One might have its buildings paid for while the other has significant debt that taxpayers in the combined district would have to pay off.
Academic success and which schools close, which remain open and whether new schools are needed can be even bigger headaches.
"And when you start talking about cost savings and closing down schools that aren't efficient or too small, then you get into transportation issues, and that's a nightmare. Transportation costs are enormous," Smith said.
The toll isn't just in gasoline and maintenance, but time, he said.
"How much time are youngsters spending on that bus and what activities are they going to miss out on because they're on that bus? You have to consider those kinds of things as well," Smith said.
Tigers and Yellowjackets 1, Vikings 0
Another problem with consolidation is loss of local identity and control. It was the deal-breaker when Fairview and Girard school districts looked at consolidation 40 years ago. By state mandate at the time, no district could have fewer than 4,000 students. Both Fairview and Girard were below that number and planned consolidation while appealing the mandate.
The two districts drew up plans for a joint Lake Erie High School and together hired a football coach and bought Viking wrestling mats and football uniforms before the state Board of Education finally granted their appeals -- based on loss of local control and identity and no real educational benefit -- in 1970. The red-and-black Fairview Tigers and yellow-and-black Girard Yellowjackets wound up divvying the blue-and-gold Viking spoils.
Those local identities and loyalties can derail consolidation, said Daniel Matsook, superintendent of the Center Area School District now merging with Monaca.
"We call those matters of the heart, and we've put them on the back burner," Matsook said. "There comes a time when you have to look beyond maintaining inefficiencies because somebody wants to maintain their school colors or mascot."
Third time's no charm
In Chautauqua County's Ripley Central School District, the economics of consolidation with neighboring Westfield or Sherman schools haven't convinced voters who decide the issue in New York state. Ripley has looked at mergers three times in the past 10 years. They've been rejected by one of the parties all three times, most recently by voters in the Westfield Academy and Central School District in February.
"There's no overwhelming proof that centralization eliminates or reduces taxes," said Jeff Buchholz, who taught in Ripley and was president of the teachers union there through all but the most recent merger effort.
Central (Valley) issues
For Monaca and Center Area school districts, where enrollments have declined along with the steel industry, consolidation is expected to improve both education and economics. The two districts expect to save a combined $1.4 million annually, Department of Education spokesman Michael Race said.
Still, consolidation -- including closing an elementary school and deciding on middle school rather than junior high -- hasn't been easy, Center Area's superintendent said. The two school districts have been working on the merger for more than three years.
"We went into this agreeing only to investigate whether merger makes sense or not; we didn't go into it saying we're going to merge," Matsook said. "We looked at the facts, and the facts bore this out."
The Money Man
From the Inquirer.
PhillyDeals: Former CEO is Pa.'s stimulus watchdog
By Joseph N. DiStefano Posted on Sun, Apr. 5, 2009
While U.S. government officials have been driving bosses out of boardroom windows as it takes over troubled automakers and banks, Gov. Rendell has gone the other way, tapping a private-sector chief executive officer as a watchdog for Pennsylvania's handling of nearly $10 billion in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, a.k.a. stimulus funds.
State government "is an unknown world, for me," said Ronald J. Naples, who retired in 2008 after 28 years as a chief executive, first at Philadelphia's former Hunt Manufacturing Corp., and for 13 years at multinational Quaker Chemical Corp. in Conshohocken.
He'll get to learn fast. Besides serving as the spending program's chief accountability officer, with a salary just a fraction of what he made in his last corporate job, Naples - a Republican backer of Democrat Rendell - is also almost nearly the only business voice on the governor's Stimulus Oversight Commission, whose board he'll head.
With Naples, there's state General Services Secretary James Creedon, who's in charge of actually spending the stimulus dollars, business-lobby leader Gene Barr, electricians' union officer Donald Siegel, state United Way chief Tony Ross - plus no less than eight Pennsylvania politicians and aides, a mixed ticket of Democrats and Republicans, federal and state, each faction with constituents to please.
It's not this group's job - or Naples' - to command where each dollar goes. The stimulus has marked $4 billion for Medicare and other health-care programs, $2.6 billion for school projects, $1.4 billion for roads, trains, and buses, $1.1 billion for job training and relief, hundreds of millions more for housing and energy.
Nor will the group much affect the resulting fights breaking out in the General Assembly over how stimulus spending can be creatively applied to reduce the need for scarce state dollars, leaving other subsidies to live another day.
Naples says his job "is making sure we're accountable for the results. That's the challenge that attracted me."
"We're in a situation where the country has a really big problem," he said. "It's an important time for our leaders to get it right, and to know we're getting it right. What are we doing with the money? What are the results?"
There's already a Web site - recovery.pa.gov
Under fire
What does Naples add to the state's existing spending process and its capacity for self-measurement?
He started in the public sector - as a West Point graduate and an Army artillery officer in Vietnam. "In combat, things go wrong," he said. "There's no excuses. You go and fix them. All the way down the line."
Running a public company, Naples had to balance customers and workers, short-term and long-term goals, while boosting sales and earnings to keep Wall Street analysts and shareholders happy, in the face of growing world competition.
"When I arrived at Quaker, the world was evolving to where we needed to deal with global business," he said, and go beyond the old arrangement of local plants selling directly to local customers in Europe, Asia, or the United States.
"We had to change the way we went after markets, established jobs, set up financial and people reporting," he continued. "So we could deal with General Motors the same in Shanghai as in Detroit.
"We had to learn, and to teach our people, that their knowledge was a company asset. We had to show our people, so they could show the customers, that we were delivering, not just products, but service."
Government spending has its own competing interest groups, political cycles, personal connections - much of it difficult to quantify in managerial terms.
"This will be an interesting process for me," Naples said. "Friends have asked me, 'Why in the world do you want to do this kind of job. You have a good reputation. Why put it at risk?'
"For me, if I have a good reputation, it's there to be spent. It's what's given me the opportunity to do good and important things."
He paused, on the phone from his home in Wynnewood, his wife bustling through the room: "This will be the education of Ron Naples," he said. "Because it really is a different world."
PhillyDeals: Former CEO is Pa.'s stimulus watchdog
By Joseph N. DiStefano Posted on Sun, Apr. 5, 2009
While U.S. government officials have been driving bosses out of boardroom windows as it takes over troubled automakers and banks, Gov. Rendell has gone the other way, tapping a private-sector chief executive officer as a watchdog for Pennsylvania's handling of nearly $10 billion in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, a.k.a. stimulus funds.
State government "is an unknown world, for me," said Ronald J. Naples, who retired in 2008 after 28 years as a chief executive, first at Philadelphia's former Hunt Manufacturing Corp., and for 13 years at multinational Quaker Chemical Corp. in Conshohocken.
He'll get to learn fast. Besides serving as the spending program's chief accountability officer, with a salary just a fraction of what he made in his last corporate job, Naples - a Republican backer of Democrat Rendell - is also almost nearly the only business voice on the governor's Stimulus Oversight Commission, whose board he'll head.
With Naples, there's state General Services Secretary James Creedon, who's in charge of actually spending the stimulus dollars, business-lobby leader Gene Barr, electricians' union officer Donald Siegel, state United Way chief Tony Ross - plus no less than eight Pennsylvania politicians and aides, a mixed ticket of Democrats and Republicans, federal and state, each faction with constituents to please.
It's not this group's job - or Naples' - to command where each dollar goes. The stimulus has marked $4 billion for Medicare and other health-care programs, $2.6 billion for school projects, $1.4 billion for roads, trains, and buses, $1.1 billion for job training and relief, hundreds of millions more for housing and energy.
Nor will the group much affect the resulting fights breaking out in the General Assembly over how stimulus spending can be creatively applied to reduce the need for scarce state dollars, leaving other subsidies to live another day.
Naples says his job "is making sure we're accountable for the results. That's the challenge that attracted me."
"We're in a situation where the country has a really big problem," he said. "It's an important time for our leaders to get it right, and to know we're getting it right. What are we doing with the money? What are the results?"
There's already a Web site - recovery.pa.gov
Under fire
What does Naples add to the state's existing spending process and its capacity for self-measurement?
He started in the public sector - as a West Point graduate and an Army artillery officer in Vietnam. "In combat, things go wrong," he said. "There's no excuses. You go and fix them. All the way down the line."
Running a public company, Naples had to balance customers and workers, short-term and long-term goals, while boosting sales and earnings to keep Wall Street analysts and shareholders happy, in the face of growing world competition.
"When I arrived at Quaker, the world was evolving to where we needed to deal with global business," he said, and go beyond the old arrangement of local plants selling directly to local customers in Europe, Asia, or the United States.
"We had to change the way we went after markets, established jobs, set up financial and people reporting," he continued. "So we could deal with General Motors the same in Shanghai as in Detroit.
"We had to learn, and to teach our people, that their knowledge was a company asset. We had to show our people, so they could show the customers, that we were delivering, not just products, but service."
Government spending has its own competing interest groups, political cycles, personal connections - much of it difficult to quantify in managerial terms.
"This will be an interesting process for me," Naples said. "Friends have asked me, 'Why in the world do you want to do this kind of job. You have a good reputation. Why put it at risk?'
"For me, if I have a good reputation, it's there to be spent. It's what's given me the opportunity to do good and important things."
He paused, on the phone from his home in Wynnewood, his wife bustling through the room: "This will be the education of Ron Naples," he said. "Because it really is a different world."
Public Notices: Boiler Cleaning
From the BCCT.
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
MORRISVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for Boiler Cleaning for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933.
Bids must be received on or before April 14, 2009 at
which time they will be opened publicly at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive any information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Appeared in: Bucks County Courier Times on 03/25/2009 and 04/01/2009
NOTICE TO BIDDERS
MORRISVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Morrisville School District is requesting sealed bids for Boiler Cleaning for the 2009-2010 school year. Specifications may be obtained from the Morrisville School District, 550 West Palmer Street, Morrisville, PA 19067, to the attention of Paul W. DeAngelo, Business Administrator, 215-736-5933.
Bids must be received on or before April 14, 2009 at
which time they will be opened publicly at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School. The owner reserves the right to waive any information and to accept or reject any/all bids in its best interest.
Marlys Mihok
Board Secretary
Appeared in: Bucks County Courier Times on 03/25/2009 and 04/01/2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Hellmann's Symphony Number Four
From today's Non Sequitur.
It used to be number nine, but everything's being cut to the bone these days.
Welcome to back to school night 2010 in the Emperor's domain. Your kid's teacher is their teacher too.
It used to be number nine, but everything's being cut to the bone these days.
Welcome to back to school night 2010 in the Emperor's domain. Your kid's teacher is their teacher too.
So Who Is Running for Office in Morrisville?
For being six weeks out, the Morrisville school board and borough council races are pretty quiet. Even our friends in Trenton have already had meet the candidate evenings. Do you remember when the stop the school people ducked out on telling the public what they stood for or even just dismissed as lies what they already planned to do. Look what we got.
Demand the candidates answer questions this time around.
School board candidates field voters' questions
Sunday, April 05, 2009
BY CARMEN CUSIDO
HAMILTON -- More than 100 residents turned out to ask candidates running for school board questions about the budget, school facilities and students illegally attending Hamilton schools who live elsewhere.
Seven of the eight candidates appeared at the forum last Wednesday. They are vying for three three-year terms on the board.
The majority of the residents at the candidate's night were from the Hamilton Democratic Club, which sponsored the event at the township library, but others were not affiliated with the club, said Marilyn Jose, the club's president.
"These candidates' nights are really nonpartisan," said Jose, "it gives (residents) a chance to sit down and talk with the candidates."
The most recognizable candidate is Richard Kanka, who along with wife Maureen, founded the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation and helped establish Megan's Law for identifying child predators. The Kankas were in the national spotlight after their daughter's rape and murder 15 years ago.
Kanka is running on a slate with former township councilwoman Eileen P. Thornton and Chris Nnajiofor, supervisor of education for the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission.
"I'll bring stabilization to our funding," Kanka said.
Susan Ferrara, who previously sat on a school board in Dewitt, N.Y., said people are frustrated that students in the district are just getting by.
"We have to get kids out of the mindset that the world begins and ends in Hamilton," Ferrara said. Her running mate, Bruno Falvo, was not at Wednesday's event, and has not actively campaigned. Ferrara has said Falvo has been pressured to quit.
One man, who did not want to be identified, asked school board President Eric Hamilton, an incumbent in the race, about out-of-district students who illegally attend Hamilton schools. The township last year passed an ordinance that includes a $2,000 fine plus restitution for education costs for illegal students.
Hamilton said the district has been aggressive in removing out-of-district students and collecting fines. He is running on a slate with Troy Stevenson, the board's vice president, and Ronald Tola, who has a background in facilities management.
Donald Ryland, a Mercer County corrections officer, had not made up his mind who he'll vote for, but he was impressed with Stevenson because of his background in law enforcement as an officer in the county sheriff's department, and Nnajiofor because of his knowledge of educational leadership.
"I identify with (Stevenson's) law enforcement background the most. ... When education fails, it tends to lead to an increased chance of a life of crime."
Another voter, Tom Walls Sr., is inclined to vote for the Kanka, Thornton, Nnajiofor slate.
"Hamilton Township has to focus on the education of students, not peripheral things like sports, band and social life," Walls said, adding that he likes Thornton's experience in municipal governance and Nnajiofor's background in educational leadership. He thought Kanka, father of two district graduates, seemed to be in line with his slate.
Tola, Thornton and Nnajiofor have been endorsed by the Hamilton Township Education Association.
Demand the candidates answer questions this time around.
School board candidates field voters' questions
Sunday, April 05, 2009
BY CARMEN CUSIDO
HAMILTON -- More than 100 residents turned out to ask candidates running for school board questions about the budget, school facilities and students illegally attending Hamilton schools who live elsewhere.
Seven of the eight candidates appeared at the forum last Wednesday. They are vying for three three-year terms on the board.
The majority of the residents at the candidate's night were from the Hamilton Democratic Club, which sponsored the event at the township library, but others were not affiliated with the club, said Marilyn Jose, the club's president.
"These candidates' nights are really nonpartisan," said Jose, "it gives (residents) a chance to sit down and talk with the candidates."
The most recognizable candidate is Richard Kanka, who along with wife Maureen, founded the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation and helped establish Megan's Law for identifying child predators. The Kankas were in the national spotlight after their daughter's rape and murder 15 years ago.
Kanka is running on a slate with former township councilwoman Eileen P. Thornton and Chris Nnajiofor, supervisor of education for the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission.
"I'll bring stabilization to our funding," Kanka said.
Susan Ferrara, who previously sat on a school board in Dewitt, N.Y., said people are frustrated that students in the district are just getting by.
"We have to get kids out of the mindset that the world begins and ends in Hamilton," Ferrara said. Her running mate, Bruno Falvo, was not at Wednesday's event, and has not actively campaigned. Ferrara has said Falvo has been pressured to quit.
One man, who did not want to be identified, asked school board President Eric Hamilton, an incumbent in the race, about out-of-district students who illegally attend Hamilton schools. The township last year passed an ordinance that includes a $2,000 fine plus restitution for education costs for illegal students.
Hamilton said the district has been aggressive in removing out-of-district students and collecting fines. He is running on a slate with Troy Stevenson, the board's vice president, and Ronald Tola, who has a background in facilities management.
Donald Ryland, a Mercer County corrections officer, had not made up his mind who he'll vote for, but he was impressed with Stevenson because of his background in law enforcement as an officer in the county sheriff's department, and Nnajiofor because of his knowledge of educational leadership.
"I identify with (Stevenson's) law enforcement background the most. ... When education fails, it tends to lead to an increased chance of a life of crime."
Another voter, Tom Walls Sr., is inclined to vote for the Kanka, Thornton, Nnajiofor slate.
"Hamilton Township has to focus on the education of students, not peripheral things like sports, band and social life," Walls said, adding that he likes Thornton's experience in municipal governance and Nnajiofor's background in educational leadership. He thought Kanka, father of two district graduates, seemed to be in line with his slate.
Tola, Thornton and Nnajiofor have been endorsed by the Hamilton Township Education Association.
Would You Like a Pension?
From the BCCT.
Before we break out the tar and pitchforks, let's remember it's not the teachers who set up this system, but our elected hoi-polloi in Harrisburg.
Public pensions more lucrative than private
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
Bucks County Courier Times
In a 2006 report for the Commonwealth Foundation, a government watchdog group, senior fellow Richard C. Dreyfus wrote that Pennsylvania public pension funds, which cover legislators, judges, public school employees and other state employees, are more generous than plans in other states and are far more generous than a representative group of major private employers in Pennsylvania.
In Nov. 2008, the Employee Benefit Research Institute, whose goal is to "enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education" reported median pay for public pensions nationally in 2007 was $23,721, compared to $12,599 for those drawing a retirement check in the private sector.
The Congressional Research Service said government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as those who work for private companies and the typical benefit "is far more generous."
But supporters of those pensions say they serve a purpose.
"You don't hear people say I'm leaving the private sector to make more money," said Stephen Herzenberg, an economist with Keystone Research.
Herzenberg, who researched "The State of Working Pennsylvania 2008" with Mark Price, concluded "the top 1 percent of Pennsylvania earners captured a stunning 79 percent of all growth in personal income between 2001 and 2005."
Another find showed "the average income of the bottom 90 percent of Pennsylvania families fell by 4 percent between 2001 and 2005."
"Good, secure pensions are actually in part compensation for having lower wages," Herzenberg said. "In Bucks and Montgomery counties, you have the pick of the crop of teachers who could make more money with private companies but they choose to teach because it's a very important thing to do."
Herzenberg said the decline in private pensions is the problem, not the generosity of public retirement plans.
"This Wall Street collapse makes it plain that we can't rely on 401(k)s for pension security. So the right policy in response is not to strip everyone back to 401(k)s," he said. "It's how do we get secure pensions for more private sector workers as well as school custodians."
Wyphe Keever concurs. Keever, assistant communications director for the Public School Employees Retirement System, said "the public sector is often pitted in what I call a race to the bottom. At the bottom is retirement insecurity for all, where no one has enough money to retire. That's not good for the private sector, that's not good for the public sector."
Jeff Clay, PSERS' executive director, calls it "class warfare."
"People say I don't have it so you shouldn't either. These are difficult times. We should be coming together looking for solutions instead of scapegoating."
But that divide between those who have government benefits and those who don't appears to be accelerating.
"The local and state government pension crisis will dwarf just about any fiscal issue because these systems are so generous," said Pete Sepp, vice-president for policy and communications with the National Taxpayer Union. "The problem we'll have with Social Security 20 years from now is happening right now with pensions.
"The challenge is to try and stop the bleeding by reforming the system for new hirers. That will buy us a little time at least."
Matt Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, said his group did an analysis of 44 major corporations in Pennsylvania and all are phasing out defined benefit pensions.
"They're too unaffordable and too unpredictable," he said. "Like most things in Harrisburg, it requires a major controversial crisis to get anything done, and we're certainly on the verge of that. It could very well mean bringing pitchforks to the Capitol steps."
Before we break out the tar and pitchforks, let's remember it's not the teachers who set up this system, but our elected hoi-polloi in Harrisburg.
Public pensions more lucrative than private
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
Bucks County Courier Times
In a 2006 report for the Commonwealth Foundation, a government watchdog group, senior fellow Richard C. Dreyfus wrote that Pennsylvania public pension funds, which cover legislators, judges, public school employees and other state employees, are more generous than plans in other states and are far more generous than a representative group of major private employers in Pennsylvania.
In Nov. 2008, the Employee Benefit Research Institute, whose goal is to "enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education" reported median pay for public pensions nationally in 2007 was $23,721, compared to $12,599 for those drawing a retirement check in the private sector.
The Congressional Research Service said government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as those who work for private companies and the typical benefit "is far more generous."
But supporters of those pensions say they serve a purpose.
"You don't hear people say I'm leaving the private sector to make more money," said Stephen Herzenberg, an economist with Keystone Research.
Herzenberg, who researched "The State of Working Pennsylvania 2008" with Mark Price, concluded "the top 1 percent of Pennsylvania earners captured a stunning 79 percent of all growth in personal income between 2001 and 2005."
Another find showed "the average income of the bottom 90 percent of Pennsylvania families fell by 4 percent between 2001 and 2005."
"Good, secure pensions are actually in part compensation for having lower wages," Herzenberg said. "In Bucks and Montgomery counties, you have the pick of the crop of teachers who could make more money with private companies but they choose to teach because it's a very important thing to do."
Herzenberg said the decline in private pensions is the problem, not the generosity of public retirement plans.
"This Wall Street collapse makes it plain that we can't rely on 401(k)s for pension security. So the right policy in response is not to strip everyone back to 401(k)s," he said. "It's how do we get secure pensions for more private sector workers as well as school custodians."
Wyphe Keever concurs. Keever, assistant communications director for the Public School Employees Retirement System, said "the public sector is often pitted in what I call a race to the bottom. At the bottom is retirement insecurity for all, where no one has enough money to retire. That's not good for the private sector, that's not good for the public sector."
Jeff Clay, PSERS' executive director, calls it "class warfare."
"People say I don't have it so you shouldn't either. These are difficult times. We should be coming together looking for solutions instead of scapegoating."
But that divide between those who have government benefits and those who don't appears to be accelerating.
"The local and state government pension crisis will dwarf just about any fiscal issue because these systems are so generous," said Pete Sepp, vice-president for policy and communications with the National Taxpayer Union. "The problem we'll have with Social Security 20 years from now is happening right now with pensions.
"The challenge is to try and stop the bleeding by reforming the system for new hirers. That will buy us a little time at least."
Matt Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, said his group did an analysis of 44 major corporations in Pennsylvania and all are phasing out defined benefit pensions.
"They're too unaffordable and too unpredictable," he said. "Like most things in Harrisburg, it requires a major controversial crisis to get anything done, and we're certainly on the verge of that. It could very well mean bringing pitchforks to the Capitol steps."
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Right to know ruling update
From the Pennsylvania Newspapers Association blog comes an update on the right to know law.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Office of Open Records Issues Damaging Decision
In Ford v. Northampton Area School District, AP 2009-0123, the Office of Open Records (OOR) has dealt a blow to open government, apparently finding that a budget discussion among a quorum of a school board was not "deliberation" for Right to Know Law purposes because it was, in the words of the OOR, an "informal" discussion. If this decision stands, it could have terrible repercussions for the public's right to know.
In Ford v. Northampton Area School District, AP 2009-0123, William Ford, a reporter for The Morning Call (Allentown) requested copies of a budget proposal that the Northampton School Board had discussed at a public meeting. The Board provided the draft budget, but redacted dollar figures from the document. Ford argued that the entire budget proposal was a public record under the new Right to Know Law, and we agree.
The School Board argued that exemption 708(b)(10) of the Right to Know Law allowed it to redact the budget figures. That section allows agencies to withhold certain internal, predecisional, deliberative documents from the public. It provides, however, that the exemption does not apply to documents presented to a quorum of an agency for deliberation at a public meeting. In other words, documents that are in a school board's "board packet" become presumptively public when they are presented to a quorum of the school board for the purpose of public discussion. There are limited exceptions to this rule, but none are relevant here.
The OOR agreed that the Right to Know law does not protect a record that is submitted to a quorum for deliberations at a public meeting. It found, however, that the draft budget was not presented to a quorum for "deliberation." According to the OOR, the budget discussion was informational and therefore the School District could redact the budget figures. In reaching this conclusion, it emphasized that the board did not make any decisions regarding the budget at the meeting in question.
This analysis is not only incorrect as a matter of law, it is incredibly damaging to the public's right to know - and threatens to set us back over 20 years, to a time when the Sunshine Act allowed agencies to hold many discussions behind closed doors.
It's worth taking a look at the history of the Sunshine Act. As originally adopted, Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act required government agencies to hold open meetings only when they were voting or taking official action. Not surprisingly, this meant that many agencies held their meaningful discussions and debates behind closed doors, only letting the public in when it was time for the final vote. As a result, the public knew "what" the agency had decided, but nothing about "why" a particular decision was reached.
In 1987, the law was amended to rectify this. As a result, today's Sunshine Act not only requires agencies to take all official action in public, it also requires them to deliberate most matters in public (there are limited exceptions for personnel, litigation, and certain other topics). "Deliberation" is defined as "the discussion of agency business held for the purpose of making a decision."
Since the 1987 amendments, there has been much debate and discussion about what constitutes "deliberation," and the Pennsylvania Courts have weighed in on a number of occasions. One thing is clear, though, that a decision doesn't have to be imminent for an agency discussion to constitute "deliberation." See Ackerman v. Upper Mt. Bethel Township, 567 A.2d 1116 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), where the Court found that a private conference among three members of a township board of supervisors concerning an amendment to a zoning ordinance was "deliberation" of agency business, even though no official action was expected to be taken.
Agencies sometimes point to language in court decisions to support their argument that board members may informally discuss matters without violating the Sunshine Act. See, e.g., Conners v. West Greene School Dist., 569 A.2d 978 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), appeal denied, 581 A.2d 574 (Pa. 1990)(Reference in newspaper that several board members apparently discussed a budget issue during a meeting recess not sufficient to find a Sunshine Act violation). It is critical to understand these cases in context, however. In Conners, for example, there was no actual evidence that budget issues were discussed during the recess. Just as significantly, there was no allegation or evidence that a quorum of the board was involved in the alleged discussions.
The Sunshine Act requires agencies to deliberate most issues at an open, advertised meeting. The "Board packet" provision in the Right to Know Law was intended to allow the public to "follow along" with these public discussions, by allowing interested citizens access to records that are being discussed by a board at an open meeting. Having access to records, as well as meetings, is the only way for community members to understand and participate in their government.
In Ford, there is no dispute that a quorum was present, that the budget proposal had been presented to a quorum, and that the proposal was discussed at a public meeting subject to the Sunshine Act. If the OOR intends to redefine "deliberation" to exclude budget discussions that occur prior to a final budget vote, we should all be very concerned. For that "definition," if adopted by local government, could mean that none of the budget discussions (until the final vote) have to occur in public. We've already been down that road -- and it was a disaster. Let's not head that way again.
We recognize that the OOR does not have jurisdiction over Sunshine Act disputes, but we urge it to reconsider its definition of "deliberation" in the Right to Know context, and to protect and preserve the public's right to know.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Office of Open Records Issues Damaging Decision
In Ford v. Northampton Area School District, AP 2009-0123, the Office of Open Records (OOR) has dealt a blow to open government, apparently finding that a budget discussion among a quorum of a school board was not "deliberation" for Right to Know Law purposes because it was, in the words of the OOR, an "informal" discussion. If this decision stands, it could have terrible repercussions for the public's right to know.
In Ford v. Northampton Area School District, AP 2009-0123, William Ford, a reporter for The Morning Call (Allentown) requested copies of a budget proposal that the Northampton School Board had discussed at a public meeting. The Board provided the draft budget, but redacted dollar figures from the document. Ford argued that the entire budget proposal was a public record under the new Right to Know Law, and we agree.
The School Board argued that exemption 708(b)(10) of the Right to Know Law allowed it to redact the budget figures. That section allows agencies to withhold certain internal, predecisional, deliberative documents from the public. It provides, however, that the exemption does not apply to documents presented to a quorum of an agency for deliberation at a public meeting. In other words, documents that are in a school board's "board packet" become presumptively public when they are presented to a quorum of the school board for the purpose of public discussion. There are limited exceptions to this rule, but none are relevant here.
The OOR agreed that the Right to Know law does not protect a record that is submitted to a quorum for deliberations at a public meeting. It found, however, that the draft budget was not presented to a quorum for "deliberation." According to the OOR, the budget discussion was informational and therefore the School District could redact the budget figures. In reaching this conclusion, it emphasized that the board did not make any decisions regarding the budget at the meeting in question.
This analysis is not only incorrect as a matter of law, it is incredibly damaging to the public's right to know - and threatens to set us back over 20 years, to a time when the Sunshine Act allowed agencies to hold many discussions behind closed doors.
It's worth taking a look at the history of the Sunshine Act. As originally adopted, Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act required government agencies to hold open meetings only when they were voting or taking official action. Not surprisingly, this meant that many agencies held their meaningful discussions and debates behind closed doors, only letting the public in when it was time for the final vote. As a result, the public knew "what" the agency had decided, but nothing about "why" a particular decision was reached.
In 1987, the law was amended to rectify this. As a result, today's Sunshine Act not only requires agencies to take all official action in public, it also requires them to deliberate most matters in public (there are limited exceptions for personnel, litigation, and certain other topics). "Deliberation" is defined as "the discussion of agency business held for the purpose of making a decision."
Since the 1987 amendments, there has been much debate and discussion about what constitutes "deliberation," and the Pennsylvania Courts have weighed in on a number of occasions. One thing is clear, though, that a decision doesn't have to be imminent for an agency discussion to constitute "deliberation." See Ackerman v. Upper Mt. Bethel Township, 567 A.2d 1116 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), where the Court found that a private conference among three members of a township board of supervisors concerning an amendment to a zoning ordinance was "deliberation" of agency business, even though no official action was expected to be taken.
Agencies sometimes point to language in court decisions to support their argument that board members may informally discuss matters without violating the Sunshine Act. See, e.g., Conners v. West Greene School Dist., 569 A.2d 978 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989), appeal denied, 581 A.2d 574 (Pa. 1990)(Reference in newspaper that several board members apparently discussed a budget issue during a meeting recess not sufficient to find a Sunshine Act violation). It is critical to understand these cases in context, however. In Conners, for example, there was no actual evidence that budget issues were discussed during the recess. Just as significantly, there was no allegation or evidence that a quorum of the board was involved in the alleged discussions.
The Sunshine Act requires agencies to deliberate most issues at an open, advertised meeting. The "Board packet" provision in the Right to Know Law was intended to allow the public to "follow along" with these public discussions, by allowing interested citizens access to records that are being discussed by a board at an open meeting. Having access to records, as well as meetings, is the only way for community members to understand and participate in their government.
In Ford, there is no dispute that a quorum was present, that the budget proposal had been presented to a quorum, and that the proposal was discussed at a public meeting subject to the Sunshine Act. If the OOR intends to redefine "deliberation" to exclude budget discussions that occur prior to a final budget vote, we should all be very concerned. For that "definition," if adopted by local government, could mean that none of the budget discussions (until the final vote) have to occur in public. We've already been down that road -- and it was a disaster. Let's not head that way again.
We recognize that the OOR does not have jurisdiction over Sunshine Act disputes, but we urge it to reconsider its definition of "deliberation" in the Right to Know context, and to protect and preserve the public's right to know.
What to do with $5.5 million?
From the BCCT.
Bucks planning commission discusses its stimulus cash
By: Gary Weckselblatt
The Intelligencer
The Bucks County Planning Commission was briefed Wednesday about $5.5 million coming to the county as part of the federal government's stimulus spending.
A large chunk of the money, $3.9 million in an energy block grant, will be spent to make county facilities more energy efficient. "That's going to be the first priority," said Lynn Bush, the commission's executive director.
The county will also receive nearly $1 million, a "huge amount of money," she said, for the Homeless Prevention Program.
Bush said the county must have agencies in place by September to administer the funding to help people "on the brink of homelessness."
Guidelines for a $650,000 Community Block Grant have yet to be determined, she said.
The planners held Wednesday's meeting at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County, near the Doylestown Airport.
The center is in a former print distribution company that went out of business. Former Gov. Mark Schweicker and former Congressman Jim Greenwood helped locate the facility for the center. It has been turned from "a dilapidated building into a state-of-the-art research institute" with 22 companies and 220 employees, said James Horan, the site's chief operating officer.
Horan said European companies have recently visited the 112,000-square-foot campus and spoken about the possibility of relocating.
Bucks planning commission discusses its stimulus cash
By: Gary Weckselblatt
The Intelligencer
The Bucks County Planning Commission was briefed Wednesday about $5.5 million coming to the county as part of the federal government's stimulus spending.
A large chunk of the money, $3.9 million in an energy block grant, will be spent to make county facilities more energy efficient. "That's going to be the first priority," said Lynn Bush, the commission's executive director.
The county will also receive nearly $1 million, a "huge amount of money," she said, for the Homeless Prevention Program.
Bush said the county must have agencies in place by September to administer the funding to help people "on the brink of homelessness."
Guidelines for a $650,000 Community Block Grant have yet to be determined, she said.
The planners held Wednesday's meeting at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County, near the Doylestown Airport.
The center is in a former print distribution company that went out of business. Former Gov. Mark Schweicker and former Congressman Jim Greenwood helped locate the facility for the center. It has been turned from "a dilapidated building into a state-of-the-art research institute" with 22 companies and 220 employees, said James Horan, the site's chief operating officer.
Horan said European companies have recently visited the 112,000-square-foot campus and spoken about the possibility of relocating.
If the fertilizer gets too deep, there are alternatives
An emailer has suggested an alternative activity on the night of April 23 if you did not want to attend the joint school board/borough council meeting.
If you are looking for some lighter entertainment, you can, instead, enter the HS auditorium on April 23rd at 7:00 pm (or April 24th or 25th) and see a great performance of the MPC Youth Club’s production of “Oklahoma!”. If you bring canned goods to donate to the needy, you can get a dollar off your ticket price. Proceeds benefit various charities that the kids select.
If you are looking for some lighter entertainment, you can, instead, enter the HS auditorium on April 23rd at 7:00 pm (or April 24th or 25th) and see a great performance of the MPC Youth Club’s production of “Oklahoma!”. If you bring canned goods to donate to the needy, you can get a dollar off your ticket price. Proceeds benefit various charities that the kids select.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Souderton HS senior: Give future students what I've had
From the Souderton Independent.
We seem to keep forgetting why the schools exist: It's the students.
Souderton Area HS senior: Give future students what I've had
By: Bob Keeler, Staff Writer
04/03/2009
Initially, it wasn't a big deal to Souderton Area High School student Samantha Hickman that the school board and teachers hadn't reached an agreement for a new contract.
"At first I was in a mindset similar to many of my other fellow seniors - So what? I'm out of here in a year. I'm sure they'll settle it before we get back to school," Hickman said during the public comment portion of the March 26 Souderton Area School Board meeting.
"Seven months and look where we are now," Hickman continued.
Following a 13 day strike by the teachers at the beginning of the school year, the two sides are now in non-binding arbitration and still don't have a contract. Recommendations from a fact finder for new contracts with district aides and secretaries, who are also working without a new contract, are about to be voted on.
Teachers say they are among the lowest paid in the area, which is causing good teachers to go elsewhere and that 28 teachers have left for reasons other than retirement since the impasse began. Board members say they are trying to keep raises within an affordable level to taxpayers and when there are district openings for teachers, there are plenty of applicants in all except some specialized areas.
Hickman said she doesn't want the district to lose what she's had as a student.
"If I hadn't met many of the teachers I had during high school, I don't know who I would be, but I certainly wouldn't be the type of student willing to get up here tonight and speak to you all about how highly I value education," Hickman said.
"Please allow my younger brother and sister this experience," she said. "Please allow my friends, my neighbors, my family and all future students of Souderton Area this experience."
The teachers are an important part of helping with the transition by students into their future, she said.
"Please make a decision that will satisfy people in the long run, not just during an economic crisis. Be flexible and allow yourself to view the arbitrator's report with an open mind. I ask you to please place some value in the one thing that matters in the community the most, a strong foundation," Hickman told the board. "As we enter what I hope to be the final act of this situation, I urge you to not only think of the present, but of the future. Picture Souderton on its current path, but 50 years from now. Will you be content with the decisions that you made today? Are you setting up my world - our world - for a prosperous future?"
Hickman's support for the teachers was the second of the night from a high school student.
Following recognition of high-achieving student musicians, student Cassondra Diaz gave flowers to choir director Teresa Washam as a token of appreciation from the students.
"She is the reason why we are here and she has dedicated her time and her energy to us and we can't thank her enough," Diaz said.
"You represent how great our teachers are and how they are far from a dime a dozen," Diaz told Washam.
The public comment portion of recent board meetings has focused on the strike and its aftermath.
Before the start of the March 26 public comment, Bud Miller, the board's vice president who chaired the meeting, reminded those in attendance that the arbitration is still ongoing and there can't be any new contract or negotiations until the arbitration is completed.
"There's nothing we can do at this time in that regard," Miller said.
"We appreciate what you do for us and it's important to remember we're all on the same team," Miller told teachers at the meeting.
Former board member Tracy Cole said she had not commented publicly before because it's important to let the arbitration process unfold, but wanted to respond to comments made at previous meetings.
"I want the board to know that while some members of the community have expressed at board meetings that if the teachers don't like it here, then they should just leave, that is not how I feel, and I am also a taxpayer and a parent of two students presently in our schools," Cole said.
Cole said she appreciates the devotion and passion expressed by teachers at previous meetings and doesn't want the district to have a "revolving door of employees."
"That's no way to run a business or a school district," Cole said. "It leads to poor returns on our investment, our investment in our employee, and more importantly, our investment in our children's future."
Teacher Beth Swartz spoke in opposition to board proposals to create new merit pay systems.
"As a teacher in the district, I know that we already have two forms of merit pay and we don't need another," Swartz said.
One is yearly evaluations by school principals that can freeze a teacher's salary if an unsatisfactory rating is given and lead to firing if there's no improvement, she said.
"We've had this form of merit pay for more than 15 years," Swartz said.
The other form of merit pay is scholarships to teachers from Souderton Area Education Foundation, she said.
"The big unanswered question to the board is what formula would be used to determine merit? Who determines who receives merit pay?" Swartz said, reviewing some possible systems, but concluding the systems are "merely divisive attempts at favoritism."
Resident Charlotte Wellener said proposed new state laws banning teacher strikes should be supported.
"This would eliminate all of what's been going on these past few months, open in the public, with our taxpayers and children being held hostage," Wellener said.
Resident Hugh Donnelly said Pennsylvania's teachers are among the highest paid in the country.
Giving information from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, Donnelly said the Pennsylvania State Education Association has moved from being a professional development organization at its 1852 start into a powerful labor union and political machine that leads to higher taxes.
"By completely politicizing public education at every level, the PSEA has effectively marginalized parents, children and even teachers in communities throughout Pennsylvania," Donnelly said.
We seem to keep forgetting why the schools exist: It's the students.
Souderton Area HS senior: Give future students what I've had
By: Bob Keeler, Staff Writer
04/03/2009
Initially, it wasn't a big deal to Souderton Area High School student Samantha Hickman that the school board and teachers hadn't reached an agreement for a new contract.
"At first I was in a mindset similar to many of my other fellow seniors - So what? I'm out of here in a year. I'm sure they'll settle it before we get back to school," Hickman said during the public comment portion of the March 26 Souderton Area School Board meeting.
"Seven months and look where we are now," Hickman continued.
Following a 13 day strike by the teachers at the beginning of the school year, the two sides are now in non-binding arbitration and still don't have a contract. Recommendations from a fact finder for new contracts with district aides and secretaries, who are also working without a new contract, are about to be voted on.
Teachers say they are among the lowest paid in the area, which is causing good teachers to go elsewhere and that 28 teachers have left for reasons other than retirement since the impasse began. Board members say they are trying to keep raises within an affordable level to taxpayers and when there are district openings for teachers, there are plenty of applicants in all except some specialized areas.
Hickman said she doesn't want the district to lose what she's had as a student.
"If I hadn't met many of the teachers I had during high school, I don't know who I would be, but I certainly wouldn't be the type of student willing to get up here tonight and speak to you all about how highly I value education," Hickman said.
"Please allow my younger brother and sister this experience," she said. "Please allow my friends, my neighbors, my family and all future students of Souderton Area this experience."
The teachers are an important part of helping with the transition by students into their future, she said.
"Please make a decision that will satisfy people in the long run, not just during an economic crisis. Be flexible and allow yourself to view the arbitrator's report with an open mind. I ask you to please place some value in the one thing that matters in the community the most, a strong foundation," Hickman told the board. "As we enter what I hope to be the final act of this situation, I urge you to not only think of the present, but of the future. Picture Souderton on its current path, but 50 years from now. Will you be content with the decisions that you made today? Are you setting up my world - our world - for a prosperous future?"
Hickman's support for the teachers was the second of the night from a high school student.
Following recognition of high-achieving student musicians, student Cassondra Diaz gave flowers to choir director Teresa Washam as a token of appreciation from the students.
"She is the reason why we are here and she has dedicated her time and her energy to us and we can't thank her enough," Diaz said.
"You represent how great our teachers are and how they are far from a dime a dozen," Diaz told Washam.
The public comment portion of recent board meetings has focused on the strike and its aftermath.
Before the start of the March 26 public comment, Bud Miller, the board's vice president who chaired the meeting, reminded those in attendance that the arbitration is still ongoing and there can't be any new contract or negotiations until the arbitration is completed.
"There's nothing we can do at this time in that regard," Miller said.
"We appreciate what you do for us and it's important to remember we're all on the same team," Miller told teachers at the meeting.
Former board member Tracy Cole said she had not commented publicly before because it's important to let the arbitration process unfold, but wanted to respond to comments made at previous meetings.
"I want the board to know that while some members of the community have expressed at board meetings that if the teachers don't like it here, then they should just leave, that is not how I feel, and I am also a taxpayer and a parent of two students presently in our schools," Cole said.
Cole said she appreciates the devotion and passion expressed by teachers at previous meetings and doesn't want the district to have a "revolving door of employees."
"That's no way to run a business or a school district," Cole said. "It leads to poor returns on our investment, our investment in our employee, and more importantly, our investment in our children's future."
Teacher Beth Swartz spoke in opposition to board proposals to create new merit pay systems.
"As a teacher in the district, I know that we already have two forms of merit pay and we don't need another," Swartz said.
One is yearly evaluations by school principals that can freeze a teacher's salary if an unsatisfactory rating is given and lead to firing if there's no improvement, she said.
"We've had this form of merit pay for more than 15 years," Swartz said.
The other form of merit pay is scholarships to teachers from Souderton Area Education Foundation, she said.
"The big unanswered question to the board is what formula would be used to determine merit? Who determines who receives merit pay?" Swartz said, reviewing some possible systems, but concluding the systems are "merely divisive attempts at favoritism."
Resident Charlotte Wellener said proposed new state laws banning teacher strikes should be supported.
"This would eliminate all of what's been going on these past few months, open in the public, with our taxpayers and children being held hostage," Wellener said.
Resident Hugh Donnelly said Pennsylvania's teachers are among the highest paid in the country.
Giving information from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, Donnelly said the Pennsylvania State Education Association has moved from being a professional development organization at its 1852 start into a powerful labor union and political machine that leads to higher taxes.
"By completely politicizing public education at every level, the PSEA has effectively marginalized parents, children and even teachers in communities throughout Pennsylvania," Donnelly said.
Group to start push for tax relief
From the BCCT.
Group to start push for tax relief
Some residents are fed up over rising school taxes.
By AMANDA CREGAN
STAFF WRITER
Fed up with what they see as skyrocketing property taxes, bloated school budgets and outof-control teachers contracts, a grassroots group of Quakertown Community School District parents and taxpayers decided Thursday night that enough was enough.
More than 20 community members assembled for a first organizational meeting at Arianna Miles, a former restaurant in Haycock Township that is closed for renovations and set to open as a bed and breakfast this summer.
“Part of what we want to do is just to make the board hear us and make them understand we’re not just going to roll over and let them do what they want. They need to understand they represent us,” said Kim Pacella, a Haycock resident.
Helen Kondracki says she’s been diligently attending and speaking up at school board meetings for 10 years seeking change for seniors and pushing for more transparent financial decisions, to no avail.
Rising property taxes are forcing seniors out of their homes throughout the Quakertown School District, she said.
“We’ve got three (school board) members looking out for our interest and the rest are looking out for the administrator, and the way we’re going we’ll never get property tax relief,” said the Haycock resident, speaking of the nine member board.
School board member George Dager attended Thursday’s meeting.
Jill Wooden, who initiated the gathering, says she’s tired of parents who complain about rising costs but back down when the superintendent mentions cutting programs instead.
“I know a lot of people in this community who are on fixed incomes and some who can’t afford food. I’m here for them as well. The district dangles in front of us saying, ‘Then we’ll have to cut programs.’ Then cut them!” she said.
Quakertown district officials are facing a tough budget year.
The $86.9 million preliminary budget calls for a $211 increase for the average homeowner. Last year, the district hiked taxes by $156 for the average homeowner.
To present an early 2009-10 budget in the black, Quakertown had to draw its fund balance down to nearly zero to cover a $3.8 million deficit.
The final budget will be adopted in May.
Until then, parents and taxpayers vowed Thursday night to begin working to help pare down the budget by joining school budget committees and funneling ideas created in the grassroots group meetings into the district.
They also plan to hone in on upcoming school board elections and next year’s teachers contract renewal.
The group will work toward long-term goals aimed at property tax reform in Harrisburg.
“Until the Legislature makes a change and makes a cap, you’re going to sit here for however many more years and say the same thing,” said Haycock Supervisor Chairwoman Kathleen Babb. “The Legislature does not put through meaningful tax reform. We have been fighting for tax reform for 25 years.”
But here and now, residents say something has to be done to get school spending under control. Haycock resident Wooden says change starts with them.
“Far too long in this country people have been busy making a living and doing for their family, but we as a populace have forgotten how to be a community,” she said. “We only have each other. As neighbors, we need to stand each other up in tough times.”
The group will next meet on April 16.
Group to start push for tax relief
Some residents are fed up over rising school taxes.
By AMANDA CREGAN
STAFF WRITER
Fed up with what they see as skyrocketing property taxes, bloated school budgets and outof-control teachers contracts, a grassroots group of Quakertown Community School District parents and taxpayers decided Thursday night that enough was enough.
More than 20 community members assembled for a first organizational meeting at Arianna Miles, a former restaurant in Haycock Township that is closed for renovations and set to open as a bed and breakfast this summer.
“Part of what we want to do is just to make the board hear us and make them understand we’re not just going to roll over and let them do what they want. They need to understand they represent us,” said Kim Pacella, a Haycock resident.
Helen Kondracki says she’s been diligently attending and speaking up at school board meetings for 10 years seeking change for seniors and pushing for more transparent financial decisions, to no avail.
Rising property taxes are forcing seniors out of their homes throughout the Quakertown School District, she said.
“We’ve got three (school board) members looking out for our interest and the rest are looking out for the administrator, and the way we’re going we’ll never get property tax relief,” said the Haycock resident, speaking of the nine member board.
School board member George Dager attended Thursday’s meeting.
Jill Wooden, who initiated the gathering, says she’s tired of parents who complain about rising costs but back down when the superintendent mentions cutting programs instead.
“I know a lot of people in this community who are on fixed incomes and some who can’t afford food. I’m here for them as well. The district dangles in front of us saying, ‘Then we’ll have to cut programs.’ Then cut them!” she said.
Quakertown district officials are facing a tough budget year.
The $86.9 million preliminary budget calls for a $211 increase for the average homeowner. Last year, the district hiked taxes by $156 for the average homeowner.
To present an early 2009-10 budget in the black, Quakertown had to draw its fund balance down to nearly zero to cover a $3.8 million deficit.
The final budget will be adopted in May.
Until then, parents and taxpayers vowed Thursday night to begin working to help pare down the budget by joining school budget committees and funneling ideas created in the grassroots group meetings into the district.
They also plan to hone in on upcoming school board elections and next year’s teachers contract renewal.
The group will work toward long-term goals aimed at property tax reform in Harrisburg.
“Until the Legislature makes a change and makes a cap, you’re going to sit here for however many more years and say the same thing,” said Haycock Supervisor Chairwoman Kathleen Babb. “The Legislature does not put through meaningful tax reform. We have been fighting for tax reform for 25 years.”
But here and now, residents say something has to be done to get school spending under control. Haycock resident Wooden says change starts with them.
“Far too long in this country people have been busy making a living and doing for their family, but we as a populace have forgotten how to be a community,” she said. “We only have each other. As neighbors, we need to stand each other up in tough times.”
The group will next meet on April 16.
JOINT SCHOOL/BOROUGH COMMITTEE
NOTICE
The next meeting of the Joint School/Borough Council Committee will be held on April 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the G-Hall Conference Room located in the rear of the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Traffic concerns at the Grandview Elementary School will be on the agenda. The Committee welcomes interested parties and requests that they come prepared with suggestions for discussion and consideration addressing traffic problems at the Grandview Elementary School.
If you are unable to attend this meeting but would like your concerns to be included, please send an e-mail containing your comments to mmihok@mv.org prior to the day of the meeting.
Marlys Mihok, Secretary
Borough of Morrisville School District
Chairman Facility Committee
The next meeting of the Joint School/Borough Council Committee will be held on April 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm in the G-Hall Conference Room located in the rear of the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.
Traffic concerns at the Grandview Elementary School will be on the agenda. The Committee welcomes interested parties and requests that they come prepared with suggestions for discussion and consideration addressing traffic problems at the Grandview Elementary School.
If you are unable to attend this meeting but would like your concerns to be included, please send an e-mail containing your comments to mmihok@mv.org prior to the day of the meeting.
Marlys Mihok, Secretary
Borough of Morrisville School District
Chairman Facility Committee
St. Ann parents looking at options
From the BCCT.
St. Ann parents looking at options
By: GEMA MARIA DUARTE
Bucks County Courier Times
About 90 elementary students will be placed in different schools after the parochial school closes in June.
The parents of children at St. Mark School say they'll welcome with open arms students from St. Ann School, which is being closed.
"We are a community," said Joe Kulak, a St. Mark parent whose family lives in the borough. "We have to stick together."
With the closure of St. Ann School in June, about 90 elementary students - including about 40 who live in the borough - will be placed in different schools, the Rev. James Day, pastor of St. Ann, said Thursday afternoon.
He said the students are also being enrolled at Our Lady of Grace in Penndel, Immaculate Conception in Bristol Township and St. Michael the Archangel in Tullytown.
Declining enrollment is decimating St. Ann, which costs $660,000 a year to operate, school officials said. In 1993, enrollment peaked at 213 students. But it has been declining steadily since 2000.
St. Ann isn't the first Catholic elementary school to close in the region, though it is the first to close in Bucks. Parish elementary schools throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been merging or closing over the past five years due to falling enrollment.
The archdiocese owns the school property and, as of Thursday, didn't have any plans for it, said Donna Farrell, spokeswoman for the archdiocese.
Bristol residents Brian and Charlene McGinley said they'll enroll their child at St. Mark. "It's close by," Charlene McGinley said.
St. Mark officials declined to comment on the enrollment process this week or to discuss how many students they expect.
Brooke Ulinski, a St. Mark parent, said an enrollment increase would help that school keep tuition stable. The Bristol Township mother said she pays about $5,500 a year for her three children to attend St. Mark.
"Let's say 50 students don't come back because their parents can't pay their tuition because of the economy; those kids could be replaced by students coming from St. Ann," she said. "I know St. Mark is not at risk of closing, but it's something to think about."
Virginia Huffnagle, also a St. Mark parent, said she doesn't believe an increase in enrollment would affect the classroom dynamics at St. Mark.
"Some classrooms may have one or two more students," she said Wednesday, as she picked up her 12-year-old stepdaughter. "Students will get the same attention and good education."
Max Mendez, a St. Ann father, said his two children will be enrolled at St. Joseph the Worker in Fallsington.
"It's a better place for my children to continue receiving a good Catholic education," he said.
Trish Lawlor, a St. Ann mother, said for the time being she'll register her two children to attend Bristol's public elementary school, Warren Snyder-John Girotti School.
"If I don't move by the summer, I'll enroll them at St. Mark," she said. "I'm looking to move to a town that the school district has school bus services."
April 03, 2009 02:10 AM
St. Ann parents looking at options
By: GEMA MARIA DUARTE
Bucks County Courier Times
About 90 elementary students will be placed in different schools after the parochial school closes in June.
The parents of children at St. Mark School say they'll welcome with open arms students from St. Ann School, which is being closed.
"We are a community," said Joe Kulak, a St. Mark parent whose family lives in the borough. "We have to stick together."
With the closure of St. Ann School in June, about 90 elementary students - including about 40 who live in the borough - will be placed in different schools, the Rev. James Day, pastor of St. Ann, said Thursday afternoon.
He said the students are also being enrolled at Our Lady of Grace in Penndel, Immaculate Conception in Bristol Township and St. Michael the Archangel in Tullytown.
Declining enrollment is decimating St. Ann, which costs $660,000 a year to operate, school officials said. In 1993, enrollment peaked at 213 students. But it has been declining steadily since 2000.
St. Ann isn't the first Catholic elementary school to close in the region, though it is the first to close in Bucks. Parish elementary schools throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been merging or closing over the past five years due to falling enrollment.
The archdiocese owns the school property and, as of Thursday, didn't have any plans for it, said Donna Farrell, spokeswoman for the archdiocese.
Bristol residents Brian and Charlene McGinley said they'll enroll their child at St. Mark. "It's close by," Charlene McGinley said.
St. Mark officials declined to comment on the enrollment process this week or to discuss how many students they expect.
Brooke Ulinski, a St. Mark parent, said an enrollment increase would help that school keep tuition stable. The Bristol Township mother said she pays about $5,500 a year for her three children to attend St. Mark.
"Let's say 50 students don't come back because their parents can't pay their tuition because of the economy; those kids could be replaced by students coming from St. Ann," she said. "I know St. Mark is not at risk of closing, but it's something to think about."
Virginia Huffnagle, also a St. Mark parent, said she doesn't believe an increase in enrollment would affect the classroom dynamics at St. Mark.
"Some classrooms may have one or two more students," she said Wednesday, as she picked up her 12-year-old stepdaughter. "Students will get the same attention and good education."
Max Mendez, a St. Ann father, said his two children will be enrolled at St. Joseph the Worker in Fallsington.
"It's a better place for my children to continue receiving a good Catholic education," he said.
Trish Lawlor, a St. Ann mother, said for the time being she'll register her two children to attend Bristol's public elementary school, Warren Snyder-John Girotti School.
"If I don't move by the summer, I'll enroll them at St. Mark," she said. "I'm looking to move to a town that the school district has school bus services."
April 03, 2009 02:10 AM
Public silenced at regionalization meeting
From the BCCT.
Big deal. The Emperor cuts off public opinion on a whim.
Public silenced at regionalization meeting
By: DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times
Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Penndel officials are meeting to discuss regionalizing their police forces, but the meetings aren't open for public questions.
The five people in the audience at a meeting of officials from three small boroughs regarding a possible police regionalization were not allowed to comment or ask questions at a meeting in Penndel's borough hall Thursday night.
But the folks - consisting of three council members, a council candidate and a resident - did sit and listen.
"We're at a very preliminary stage in this study where we are just trying to determine the feasibility for each borough and that's why we have multiple members of councils and government here," Penndel Mayor Michael Sodano said during the meeting.
Last month, a Penndel resident sat through the group's meeting. At a Penndel borough council work session later in the month, a resident and a councilwoman said they thought the meetings were closed to the public.
Officials this week said the public is welcome to attend the meetings, where they discuss a recent state report outlining the benefits and cost projections if Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Penndel choose to regionalize their police forces, but the meetings aren't open for public questions.
Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said the meetings should follow the state's Sunshine Act, which allows public participation.
Penndel's and Langhorne's lawyers disagree.
Langhorne solicitor Catherine Anne Porter sent an e-mail to the newspaper giving her and Penndel solicitor Don Williams' view.
"It is our opinion that the police regionalization informational sessions held at the Penndel Borough Hall are proper and appropriate," Porter wrote. "As the municipalities involved are committed to public involvement in the government, the sessions have been held in a public building, with doors open to the public and with the public permitted to attend, though not participate, in the sessions."
She says that if officials from the three municipalities decide to move forward with police regionalization and appoint representatives to an official police regionalization committee, that those meetings should fully comply with the Sunshine Act.
Melewsky doesn't see it that way. "Although the boroughs have not formally appointed a committee to render advice on the issue of police reorganization," she said Thursday, "representatives of borough council have nonetheless participated in meetings about the issue and can (or may have) render advice based on their participation in these meetings."
Penndel resident Lloyd Patton attended the meeting. Afterwards, said he always thought the meetings were closed, and was surprised to find out residents could sit through them.
But he wanted more: "I think they should have had a question-and-answer or a public comment at the end of the meeting," Patton said.
The representatives from neighboring towns stressed financial and staffing concerns during Thursday's meeting.
Langhorne Mayor Chris Blaydon said his officers wonder what will happen to them if his borough regionalizes police forces with neighboring Langhorne Manor and Penndel.
"My part-time officers are on pins and needles wondering what their fate is," Blaydon said during the group's informal, hour-long information session. He noted that the three towns have more police officers than the number that would be available under a regional department.
Other officials, including Sodano, said they hoped the boroughs could find officers within their own ranks to fill a regional department's jobs.
"I'm sure there are officers who are worthy and willing to participate," he said.
April 03, 2009 02:10 AM
Big deal. The Emperor cuts off public opinion on a whim.
Public silenced at regionalization meeting
By: DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times
Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Penndel officials are meeting to discuss regionalizing their police forces, but the meetings aren't open for public questions.
The five people in the audience at a meeting of officials from three small boroughs regarding a possible police regionalization were not allowed to comment or ask questions at a meeting in Penndel's borough hall Thursday night.
But the folks - consisting of three council members, a council candidate and a resident - did sit and listen.
"We're at a very preliminary stage in this study where we are just trying to determine the feasibility for each borough and that's why we have multiple members of councils and government here," Penndel Mayor Michael Sodano said during the meeting.
Last month, a Penndel resident sat through the group's meeting. At a Penndel borough council work session later in the month, a resident and a councilwoman said they thought the meetings were closed to the public.
Officials this week said the public is welcome to attend the meetings, where they discuss a recent state report outlining the benefits and cost projections if Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Penndel choose to regionalize their police forces, but the meetings aren't open for public questions.
Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said the meetings should follow the state's Sunshine Act, which allows public participation.
Penndel's and Langhorne's lawyers disagree.
Langhorne solicitor Catherine Anne Porter sent an e-mail to the newspaper giving her and Penndel solicitor Don Williams' view.
"It is our opinion that the police regionalization informational sessions held at the Penndel Borough Hall are proper and appropriate," Porter wrote. "As the municipalities involved are committed to public involvement in the government, the sessions have been held in a public building, with doors open to the public and with the public permitted to attend, though not participate, in the sessions."
She says that if officials from the three municipalities decide to move forward with police regionalization and appoint representatives to an official police regionalization committee, that those meetings should fully comply with the Sunshine Act.
Melewsky doesn't see it that way. "Although the boroughs have not formally appointed a committee to render advice on the issue of police reorganization," she said Thursday, "representatives of borough council have nonetheless participated in meetings about the issue and can (or may have) render advice based on their participation in these meetings."
Penndel resident Lloyd Patton attended the meeting. Afterwards, said he always thought the meetings were closed, and was surprised to find out residents could sit through them.
But he wanted more: "I think they should have had a question-and-answer or a public comment at the end of the meeting," Patton said.
The representatives from neighboring towns stressed financial and staffing concerns during Thursday's meeting.
Langhorne Mayor Chris Blaydon said his officers wonder what will happen to them if his borough regionalizes police forces with neighboring Langhorne Manor and Penndel.
"My part-time officers are on pins and needles wondering what their fate is," Blaydon said during the group's informal, hour-long information session. He noted that the three towns have more police officers than the number that would be available under a regional department.
Other officials, including Sodano, said they hoped the boroughs could find officers within their own ranks to fill a regional department's jobs.
"I'm sure there are officers who are worthy and willing to participate," he said.
April 03, 2009 02:10 AM
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Where's the Stimulus Money??
From pennlive.com
A day late and more than a dollar short.
Here's a roundup of other news from April 1.
"No more mopin' around," Gov. Ed Rendell says
by The Patriot-News Editorial Board
Wednesday April 01, 2009, 12:15 PM
The news about job losses, bank busts and desperate automakers is not getting any better.
Gov. Ed Rendell is trying to do his part to aid the citizens of the commonwealth.
His latest plan is to use about $15 million from the federal stimulus funds pouring into the state to try and change the mood of Pennsylvanians.
The Patriot-News has learned that the money will be spent to hire clowns, mimes, magicians, street performers and comedians (nothing blue) who will be dispatched to malls, fairs and festivals across the state to boost morale.
The governor's idea is based on history: During World War II performers helped keep Americans' spirits up while they were faced with food and gas rationing.
The governor and his economic team believe if people begin feeling more positive they might begin spending more money, which will boost the economy and hopefully bring about more jobs to the commonwealth.
The merriment will be conducted through a new Headquarters of Economic and Emotive Efforts, or HEEE.
No estimate yet on how many performers will be needed to fan out across Pennsylvania, but clearly some counties will need more cheering up than others.
One of the concerns, however, is that the national shortage of clowns at the moment -- due to the foreclosure of the largest clown school in Florida -- could spell difficulties for hiring the needed numbers.
We would recommend that the clowns could be replaced in a pinch by former Wall Street investors eager to relocate and willing to trade their bonuses for Bozo shoes.
We wholeheartedly agree with the governor's approach. Months into this economic mess, we all need something to make us laugh.
So the next time you go to the Colonial Park Mall, look for the guy juggling bowling pins outside the Sears store, but if you don't catch him, we at least hope reading this will make you chuckle.
After all, it is April Fool's Day.
A day late and more than a dollar short.
Here's a roundup of other news from April 1.
"No more mopin' around," Gov. Ed Rendell says
by The Patriot-News Editorial Board
Wednesday April 01, 2009, 12:15 PM
The news about job losses, bank busts and desperate automakers is not getting any better.
Gov. Ed Rendell is trying to do his part to aid the citizens of the commonwealth.
His latest plan is to use about $15 million from the federal stimulus funds pouring into the state to try and change the mood of Pennsylvanians.The Patriot-News has learned that the money will be spent to hire clowns, mimes, magicians, street performers and comedians (nothing blue) who will be dispatched to malls, fairs and festivals across the state to boost morale.
The governor's idea is based on history: During World War II performers helped keep Americans' spirits up while they were faced with food and gas rationing.
The governor and his economic team believe if people begin feeling more positive they might begin spending more money, which will boost the economy and hopefully bring about more jobs to the commonwealth.
The merriment will be conducted through a new Headquarters of Economic and Emotive Efforts, or HEEE.
No estimate yet on how many performers will be needed to fan out across Pennsylvania, but clearly some counties will need more cheering up than others.
One of the concerns, however, is that the national shortage of clowns at the moment -- due to the foreclosure of the largest clown school in Florida -- could spell difficulties for hiring the needed numbers.
We would recommend that the clowns could be replaced in a pinch by former Wall Street investors eager to relocate and willing to trade their bonuses for Bozo shoes.
We wholeheartedly agree with the governor's approach. Months into this economic mess, we all need something to make us laugh.
So the next time you go to the Colonial Park Mall, look for the guy juggling bowling pins outside the Sears store, but if you don't catch him, we at least hope reading this will make you chuckle.
After all, it is April Fool's Day.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Effective Teaching for All Children: What It Will Take
From the Inquirer.
Group urges improved teacher quality in Philadelphia
By Martha Woodall Posted on Tue, Mar. 31, 2009
Inquirer Staff Writer
A new coalition of researchers, activists, community groups, parents, and students will kick off a campaign today to press the Philadelphia School District to overhaul its hiring process and make improving teacher quality a top priority in the district.
Called "Effective Teaching for All Children: What It Will Take," the project will urge Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to "recruit, reward, and retain talented school staff, distribute teachers equitably, and support their development in every school."
The Education First Compact, a consortium of local education-reform organizations, and the Philadelphia Cross City Campaign, a collection of community groups, will unveil their campaign today in City Hall at 4 p.m.
Although Ackerman has said she placed a high priority on improving teacher recruitment, streamlining the hiring process, and developing strategies to retain talented staff, coalition members said they were disappointed that teacher quality was not given a top priority in the draft of her strategic plan, Imagine 2014.
Her plan does call for hiring teachers by June instead of August and requiring teachers who want to transfer to inform the district by May.
At a media briefing yesterday, coalition members said the groups had joined together to develop a six-point platform that includes distributing effective teachers more equitably across the district, creating a "deep bench" of teacher applicants, and making sure there were no teacher vacancies when school opened in the fall.
"Every child deserves an effective teacher," said Brian Armstead, director of civic engagement at the Philadelphia Education Fund. "And every school needs a stable workforce of effective teachers."
Coalition members said that the district's cumbersome and lengthy hiring process and seniority provisions in the teachers contract that give teachers the right to transfer to other schools resulted in the least-experienced teachers' being concentrated in the neediest schools.
And, because 70 percent of teachers leave the district within six years, the neediest schools rarely have a chance to develop a stable staff. The lack of stability and the constant influx of new teachers contribute to the gap of student achievement, the group said.
"This issue has been with us for a long period of time," Elizabeth Useem, senior research consultant at Research for Action.
The nonprofit educational research organization based in Philadelphia has released three studies on teacher quality in district schools in the last few years.
Useem said the district had made improvements but needed to do more.
"Right now there was a general agreement that we have a tremendous opportunity to really make significant progress," Armstead said. "We have a new superintendent who has expressed a sincere commitment to eliminating the achievement gap and who understands the importance of quality teaching."
He also said that the time was right because the district was in contract negotiations with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and because President Obama had made a commitment to improving teacher quality in public schools.
PFT president Jerry Jordan said inexperienced teachers could be effective and creative.
The union prefers that schools have a mix of veterans and new teachers.
At schools with large numbers of low-income students, the best incentive for attracting and keeping effective teachers "is having great leadership and good working conditions for teachers," Jordan said. "Those are the things that make the biggest difference."
Group urges improved teacher quality in Philadelphia
By Martha Woodall Posted on Tue, Mar. 31, 2009
Inquirer Staff Writer
A new coalition of researchers, activists, community groups, parents, and students will kick off a campaign today to press the Philadelphia School District to overhaul its hiring process and make improving teacher quality a top priority in the district.
Called "Effective Teaching for All Children: What It Will Take," the project will urge Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to "recruit, reward, and retain talented school staff, distribute teachers equitably, and support their development in every school."
The Education First Compact, a consortium of local education-reform organizations, and the Philadelphia Cross City Campaign, a collection of community groups, will unveil their campaign today in City Hall at 4 p.m.
Although Ackerman has said she placed a high priority on improving teacher recruitment, streamlining the hiring process, and developing strategies to retain talented staff, coalition members said they were disappointed that teacher quality was not given a top priority in the draft of her strategic plan, Imagine 2014.
Her plan does call for hiring teachers by June instead of August and requiring teachers who want to transfer to inform the district by May.
At a media briefing yesterday, coalition members said the groups had joined together to develop a six-point platform that includes distributing effective teachers more equitably across the district, creating a "deep bench" of teacher applicants, and making sure there were no teacher vacancies when school opened in the fall.
"Every child deserves an effective teacher," said Brian Armstead, director of civic engagement at the Philadelphia Education Fund. "And every school needs a stable workforce of effective teachers."
Coalition members said that the district's cumbersome and lengthy hiring process and seniority provisions in the teachers contract that give teachers the right to transfer to other schools resulted in the least-experienced teachers' being concentrated in the neediest schools.
And, because 70 percent of teachers leave the district within six years, the neediest schools rarely have a chance to develop a stable staff. The lack of stability and the constant influx of new teachers contribute to the gap of student achievement, the group said.
"This issue has been with us for a long period of time," Elizabeth Useem, senior research consultant at Research for Action.
The nonprofit educational research organization based in Philadelphia has released three studies on teacher quality in district schools in the last few years.
Useem said the district had made improvements but needed to do more.
"Right now there was a general agreement that we have a tremendous opportunity to really make significant progress," Armstead said. "We have a new superintendent who has expressed a sincere commitment to eliminating the achievement gap and who understands the importance of quality teaching."
He also said that the time was right because the district was in contract negotiations with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and because President Obama had made a commitment to improving teacher quality in public schools.
PFT president Jerry Jordan said inexperienced teachers could be effective and creative.
The union prefers that schools have a mix of veterans and new teachers.
At schools with large numbers of low-income students, the best incentive for attracting and keeping effective teachers "is having great leadership and good working conditions for teachers," Jordan said. "Those are the things that make the biggest difference."
Unmanageable
Two views from the BCCT
Pension poison
‘Unmanageable!’
Dramatically higher school district contributions to the state pension fund could push stressed taxpayers over the brink.
We’ve all heard it before: “There are no guarantees in life.” And some of us might have believed it. Wrong. Very wrong.
There is a guarantee in life and it's called the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS). The state-mandated, taxpayer-funded pension system is as guaranteed as it gets.
We refer to Tuesday's Page 1 story, "Schools face huge pension hikes." The headline, while accurate, is incomplete. What you find out when you read the story is that it's taxpayers who face huge pension costs, because the enormous increases in pension contributions that school districts must, by law, begin making will be passed on to taxpayers.
This is yet another result of the economic meltdown. Like a lot of pension funds that are invested in the market, Pennsylvania's school employees fund has been losing money. A lot of it. Unlike private pension funds, the school employees' fund, or PSERS, is guaranteed.
On its Web site, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, also known as the teachers union, describes it this way: "Unlike private-sector defined benefit pension plans that have made the news in recent years, PSERS pensions are guaranteed by law as contractual agreements between the participants and the state of Pennsylvania. PSERS, essentially, is a separate fund set up by the state to earn investment returns that will help the state pay for the pension benefits. The pension obligations themselves are guaranteed by the state."
And that means, in the union's boastful words, "Current and future PSERS retirees' pension checks are not affected by market conditions."
It would have been nice if state lawmakers had insulated school tax bills from market conditions. But they didn't do that. They did hike their own pensions a whopping 50 percent a few years ago, and simultaneously increased school employees' pensions 25 percent - perhaps a thank-you for all those campaign contributions from the school employees' unions.
But it's taxpayers who have to fund those increases and, likewise, who have to make up for the huge hit the pension fund has taken. Call it a double whammy.
The heavy hits will begin in the 2012-13 school year, when districts' share of the pension contribution, now at 4.78 percent, could jump to 30.22 percent. The rate will hover in the 30 to 35 percent range for a decade. "It could cost us $6.6 million more" in 2012-13, one local school district business manager fretted, adding: "These numbers aren't manageable."
No, they're not. Not for the taxpayers on whose financial backs the school districts ride.
And that means our state lawmakers must do something. They can't ignore this one - or come up with another politically safe but ultimately phony solution like they've done time and again on tax reform. They've got to step up - AND FIX IT!
Here are a couple of ideas: According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin, which likewise has sustained huge pension losses, will cut public employees' pension benefits. In Virginia, lawmakers are considering a bill that would freeze the current pension plan for public employees and replace it with a 401(k) for all future hires. The Pennsylvania Senate considered a similar bill in 2007, but it went nowhere. RESURRECT IT!
And how about that gluttonous pension hike lawmakers brazenly bestowed on themselves and school employees? It was selfish then - ruinous now. REPEAL IT!
Look, change won't come easy, we know that. The state teachers union for one will fight any alterations to its pot of retirement gold. On its Web site, the union notes that "defined contribution plans, e.g. 401(k) and 403(b), are affected" by the current economic crisis. Those are the retirement plans regular people have. And it urges union members to circle the wagons: "We can expect continued political attacks on PSERS, but at a time when many individual investors have suffered considerable losses on their 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts, the merits of a defined benefit pension system have become obvious...
"That's why it is important for us to do everything in our power to protect and strengthen our defined benefit pension plan."
The battle looms. Who will lawmakers fight for?
And the answer?
Blatant conflicts standard fare in corrupt Harrisburg
By TIM POTTS
Tim Potts is executive director of Democracy Rising Pennsylvania, a non-profit watchdog organization dedicated to the reform of state government.
When foxes guard the henhouse, the hens lose. Now substitute Pennsylvania lawmakers for foxes, the capitol for the henhouse and citizens for the hens. Guess who loses.
This week, Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV provided yet another example of how lawmakers manage to use their position to feather their own nests with blatant conflicts of interest that are perfectly and shamefully legal. Investigative reporter Jim Parsons documented that a large number of state lawmakers combine outside income from private ventures with assignments on committees that oversee those same ventures. Among the conflicts:
A lawmaker who is employed by a company that is regulated by a committee on which the lawmaker sits. As if that isn’t enough, the lawmaker also rents his district office space from his employer.
A lawmaker who is both on the board of a company that sells insurance and on the House Insurance Committee.
A lawmaker who both owns a firm that consults with agribusinesses and is chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Lawmakers excuse serving two masters by claiming that their outside occupations bring expertise to committee work. But there is no shortage of expertise available to committees without creating such conflicts of interest. To use a timely example, what bankers sitting on the Banking Committee would blow the whistle on financial derivatives from which they and their employers are making tons of money?
As Parsons’ report points out, this kind of self-dealing is not illegal. The lawmakers, after all, are the ones who would have to make it so, and they, like hedge fund managers, have every incentive to let their own good times roll, no matter how much it costs the public.
Don’t we pay lawmakers enough that they should forego outside employment that conflicts with their duties on behalf of the taxpayers? Or at least be barred from committees that most often write the final form of legislation that the full House and Senate consider?
WAMs — The Mother of All Conflicts
One of the things the conviction of former state Sen. Vince Fumo and the latest charges against former state Rep. Mike Veon have in common is the conspicuous conflicts of interest made possible by the largely secret and unaccountable Walking Around Money (WAMs). Among Fumo’s 137 convictions for public corruption were $1.5 million in WAMs that Fumo laundered through a Philadelphia non-profit. The allegations filed against Veon included nearly $10 million in WAMs allegedly laundered through his own non-profit, the Beaver Initiatve for Growth (BIG).
Both cases point out the potential dangers of allowing lawmakers to appropriate money to themselves. While not all such arrangements conclude with illegal acts, it’s hard to know because absent a grand jury investigation, no one’s minding that henhouse either. The Department of Community and Economic Development that is the source of most WAMs allows WAM recipients to choose their own auditors thereby failing to ensure that either Fumo’s or Veon’s high-profile WAMs were being used legally. Does anyone think they do a better job with the less visible WAMs?
Another problem with WAMs is that they come at the expense of other things. When lawmakers get to choose whether to give money to themselves or to food banks, domestic violence prevention, schools or back to taxpayers, who gets the money? How many taxpayers think the best use of $160,000 a year was to pay Veon’s brother to do nothing of benefit for taxpayers? The only way to ensure that lawmakers’ interests aren’t conflicted is to eliminate the conflicts as much as humanly possible.
What’s the solution?
All of this will change when citizens decide to stop wasting their money on corruption and on political leaders who abide corruption.
A year from today, the entire House and half of the Senate will be asking for your vote. If they don’t clean up the capitol, will they get it?
Pension poison
‘Unmanageable!’
Dramatically higher school district contributions to the state pension fund could push stressed taxpayers over the brink.
We’ve all heard it before: “There are no guarantees in life.” And some of us might have believed it. Wrong. Very wrong.
There is a guarantee in life and it's called the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS). The state-mandated, taxpayer-funded pension system is as guaranteed as it gets.
We refer to Tuesday's Page 1 story, "Schools face huge pension hikes." The headline, while accurate, is incomplete. What you find out when you read the story is that it's taxpayers who face huge pension costs, because the enormous increases in pension contributions that school districts must, by law, begin making will be passed on to taxpayers.
This is yet another result of the economic meltdown. Like a lot of pension funds that are invested in the market, Pennsylvania's school employees fund has been losing money. A lot of it. Unlike private pension funds, the school employees' fund, or PSERS, is guaranteed.
On its Web site, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, also known as the teachers union, describes it this way: "Unlike private-sector defined benefit pension plans that have made the news in recent years, PSERS pensions are guaranteed by law as contractual agreements between the participants and the state of Pennsylvania. PSERS, essentially, is a separate fund set up by the state to earn investment returns that will help the state pay for the pension benefits. The pension obligations themselves are guaranteed by the state."
And that means, in the union's boastful words, "Current and future PSERS retirees' pension checks are not affected by market conditions."
It would have been nice if state lawmakers had insulated school tax bills from market conditions. But they didn't do that. They did hike their own pensions a whopping 50 percent a few years ago, and simultaneously increased school employees' pensions 25 percent - perhaps a thank-you for all those campaign contributions from the school employees' unions.
But it's taxpayers who have to fund those increases and, likewise, who have to make up for the huge hit the pension fund has taken. Call it a double whammy.
The heavy hits will begin in the 2012-13 school year, when districts' share of the pension contribution, now at 4.78 percent, could jump to 30.22 percent. The rate will hover in the 30 to 35 percent range for a decade. "It could cost us $6.6 million more" in 2012-13, one local school district business manager fretted, adding: "These numbers aren't manageable."
No, they're not. Not for the taxpayers on whose financial backs the school districts ride.
And that means our state lawmakers must do something. They can't ignore this one - or come up with another politically safe but ultimately phony solution like they've done time and again on tax reform. They've got to step up - AND FIX IT!
Here are a couple of ideas: According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin, which likewise has sustained huge pension losses, will cut public employees' pension benefits. In Virginia, lawmakers are considering a bill that would freeze the current pension plan for public employees and replace it with a 401(k) for all future hires. The Pennsylvania Senate considered a similar bill in 2007, but it went nowhere. RESURRECT IT!
And how about that gluttonous pension hike lawmakers brazenly bestowed on themselves and school employees? It was selfish then - ruinous now. REPEAL IT!
Look, change won't come easy, we know that. The state teachers union for one will fight any alterations to its pot of retirement gold. On its Web site, the union notes that "defined contribution plans, e.g. 401(k) and 403(b), are affected" by the current economic crisis. Those are the retirement plans regular people have. And it urges union members to circle the wagons: "We can expect continued political attacks on PSERS, but at a time when many individual investors have suffered considerable losses on their 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts, the merits of a defined benefit pension system have become obvious...
"That's why it is important for us to do everything in our power to protect and strengthen our defined benefit pension plan."
The battle looms. Who will lawmakers fight for?
And the answer?
Blatant conflicts standard fare in corrupt Harrisburg
By TIM POTTS
Tim Potts is executive director of Democracy Rising Pennsylvania, a non-profit watchdog organization dedicated to the reform of state government.
When foxes guard the henhouse, the hens lose. Now substitute Pennsylvania lawmakers for foxes, the capitol for the henhouse and citizens for the hens. Guess who loses.
This week, Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV provided yet another example of how lawmakers manage to use their position to feather their own nests with blatant conflicts of interest that are perfectly and shamefully legal. Investigative reporter Jim Parsons documented that a large number of state lawmakers combine outside income from private ventures with assignments on committees that oversee those same ventures. Among the conflicts:
A lawmaker who is employed by a company that is regulated by a committee on which the lawmaker sits. As if that isn’t enough, the lawmaker also rents his district office space from his employer.
A lawmaker who is both on the board of a company that sells insurance and on the House Insurance Committee.
A lawmaker who both owns a firm that consults with agribusinesses and is chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Lawmakers excuse serving two masters by claiming that their outside occupations bring expertise to committee work. But there is no shortage of expertise available to committees without creating such conflicts of interest. To use a timely example, what bankers sitting on the Banking Committee would blow the whistle on financial derivatives from which they and their employers are making tons of money?
As Parsons’ report points out, this kind of self-dealing is not illegal. The lawmakers, after all, are the ones who would have to make it so, and they, like hedge fund managers, have every incentive to let their own good times roll, no matter how much it costs the public.
Don’t we pay lawmakers enough that they should forego outside employment that conflicts with their duties on behalf of the taxpayers? Or at least be barred from committees that most often write the final form of legislation that the full House and Senate consider?
WAMs — The Mother of All Conflicts
One of the things the conviction of former state Sen. Vince Fumo and the latest charges against former state Rep. Mike Veon have in common is the conspicuous conflicts of interest made possible by the largely secret and unaccountable Walking Around Money (WAMs). Among Fumo’s 137 convictions for public corruption were $1.5 million in WAMs that Fumo laundered through a Philadelphia non-profit. The allegations filed against Veon included nearly $10 million in WAMs allegedly laundered through his own non-profit, the Beaver Initiatve for Growth (BIG).
Both cases point out the potential dangers of allowing lawmakers to appropriate money to themselves. While not all such arrangements conclude with illegal acts, it’s hard to know because absent a grand jury investigation, no one’s minding that henhouse either. The Department of Community and Economic Development that is the source of most WAMs allows WAM recipients to choose their own auditors thereby failing to ensure that either Fumo’s or Veon’s high-profile WAMs were being used legally. Does anyone think they do a better job with the less visible WAMs?
Another problem with WAMs is that they come at the expense of other things. When lawmakers get to choose whether to give money to themselves or to food banks, domestic violence prevention, schools or back to taxpayers, who gets the money? How many taxpayers think the best use of $160,000 a year was to pay Veon’s brother to do nothing of benefit for taxpayers? The only way to ensure that lawmakers’ interests aren’t conflicted is to eliminate the conflicts as much as humanly possible.
What’s the solution?
All of this will change when citizens decide to stop wasting their money on corruption and on political leaders who abide corruption.
A year from today, the entire House and half of the Senate will be asking for your vote. If they don’t clean up the capitol, will they get it?
One or more schools must go
From the BCCT.
One or more schools must go
Centennial anticipates uncontrollable costs the next five years and significantly higher contributions by 2013 for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System.
By MANASEE WAGH
STAFF WRITER
To most parents’ delight, the idea of a single elementary school went up in smoke.
However, Centennial’s not out of the woods yet.
A troubling financial outlook means one or more of the six current elementary schools will need to close within the next few years, said board members recently.
If nothing is done, the district’s expenditures would outstrip revenues every school year. By 2013-14 taxes would surpass the state mandated increase by about $7.9 million, according to projections from the district’s business office.
The administration says those numbers are conservative.
Projections even two years out show taxes surpassing the state-mandated limit by $1.4 million, assuming an Act 1 tax index of 3.9 percent for each year after 2009-10.
Under the state’s Act 1 legislation, school districts have to hold a public referendum to raise taxes more than 4.1 percent, which is unlikely since more than 80 percent of district residents do not have kids in public school, said school board operations committee members Cindy Mueller and Mark Miller at a recent meeting of the Courier Times editorial board.
“The Act 1 limit could change year to year. We don’t know,” board President Thomas Reinboth said Tuesday.
Over the next five years, Centennial anticipates uncontrollable costs, including a new professional staff contract next year and significantly higher contributions by 2013 for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Operating and maintaining all the elementary schools currently adds $5.8 million annually.
“A big wild card is the teacher’s contract we’ll be negotiating,” said Reinboth. The current contract expires in June 2010. “That could have a tremendous impact on the numbers, good or bad, but hopefully positively. We as a board will be reviewing these numbers at a finance committee meeting next week. I think it’s important for the whole board to review it,” he said. Total employee salaries and benefits represent about three-quarters of the budget. Teacher salaries and benefits are a large component of the total.
Revenue won’t keep up with expenditures, according to official figures, and the district doesn’t know enough details about how much the federal school stimulus would provide.
To save the most money in the long run, Miller and Mueller, who make up two-thirds of the operations committee, were pushing for a single $91 million elementary campus in Shenandoah Woods, a Warminster housing development for Willow Grove Naval Air Base before it closed. The federal government would have donated the land.
The campus was projected to save $2.2 million yearly, more than any other option that architects Burt Hill formulated, including renovating all schools. Constructing the single school in phases for an opening in 2013 would have reduced the gap in the budget from $7.9 million that year to $4.3 million, according to projections.
The existing elementary setup contains more than 60 unused classrooms altogether, said architects. With uneven class sizes and systems badly in need of renovation, the buildings cause an unnecessary drain on district finances, say board members.
Now the district and architects are going back to the drawing board to formulate other options besides the original 13 the board considered and discarded in the past month.
A more in-depth look at the financial plan will be discussed at an April 20 public finance committee meeting. It takes place at 6:30 p.m. in district offices at 433 Centennial Road, Warminster.
One or more schools must go
Centennial anticipates uncontrollable costs the next five years and significantly higher contributions by 2013 for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System.
By MANASEE WAGH
STAFF WRITER
To most parents’ delight, the idea of a single elementary school went up in smoke.
However, Centennial’s not out of the woods yet.
A troubling financial outlook means one or more of the six current elementary schools will need to close within the next few years, said board members recently.
If nothing is done, the district’s expenditures would outstrip revenues every school year. By 2013-14 taxes would surpass the state mandated increase by about $7.9 million, according to projections from the district’s business office.
The administration says those numbers are conservative.
Projections even two years out show taxes surpassing the state-mandated limit by $1.4 million, assuming an Act 1 tax index of 3.9 percent for each year after 2009-10.
Under the state’s Act 1 legislation, school districts have to hold a public referendum to raise taxes more than 4.1 percent, which is unlikely since more than 80 percent of district residents do not have kids in public school, said school board operations committee members Cindy Mueller and Mark Miller at a recent meeting of the Courier Times editorial board.
“The Act 1 limit could change year to year. We don’t know,” board President Thomas Reinboth said Tuesday.
Over the next five years, Centennial anticipates uncontrollable costs, including a new professional staff contract next year and significantly higher contributions by 2013 for the Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Operating and maintaining all the elementary schools currently adds $5.8 million annually.
“A big wild card is the teacher’s contract we’ll be negotiating,” said Reinboth. The current contract expires in June 2010. “That could have a tremendous impact on the numbers, good or bad, but hopefully positively. We as a board will be reviewing these numbers at a finance committee meeting next week. I think it’s important for the whole board to review it,” he said. Total employee salaries and benefits represent about three-quarters of the budget. Teacher salaries and benefits are a large component of the total.
Revenue won’t keep up with expenditures, according to official figures, and the district doesn’t know enough details about how much the federal school stimulus would provide.
To save the most money in the long run, Miller and Mueller, who make up two-thirds of the operations committee, were pushing for a single $91 million elementary campus in Shenandoah Woods, a Warminster housing development for Willow Grove Naval Air Base before it closed. The federal government would have donated the land.
The campus was projected to save $2.2 million yearly, more than any other option that architects Burt Hill formulated, including renovating all schools. Constructing the single school in phases for an opening in 2013 would have reduced the gap in the budget from $7.9 million that year to $4.3 million, according to projections.
The existing elementary setup contains more than 60 unused classrooms altogether, said architects. With uneven class sizes and systems badly in need of renovation, the buildings cause an unnecessary drain on district finances, say board members.
Now the district and architects are going back to the drawing board to formulate other options besides the original 13 the board considered and discarded in the past month.
A more in-depth look at the financial plan will be discussed at an April 20 public finance committee meeting. It takes place at 6:30 p.m. in district offices at 433 Centennial Road, Warminster.
Special needs require higher costs
From the Pottstown Mercury
School district reality: Special needs require higher costs
Published: Monday, March 30, 2009
By Evan Brandt/ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
POTTSTOWN — In 10 years, the number of special education students in Pottstown schools increased by more than one third, the number of special education classroom assistants increased three-fold and the number of special education teachers jumped from 26 to 40.
Outlined in a report to the school board Thursday, that information covers the period between the 1996-97 school year and the 2006-07 school year.
Further, in just the last two years, the number of special education students has increased by 64, from 443 to 507 and the district has added nine more special education teachers, bringing the total to 49. And in that same period, seven more special education classrooms assistants have been added, bringing this year's total to 79.
According to a statewide report released just last month, the increases in Pottstown are part of a trend being seen throughout Pennsylvania.
Between 2002 and 2007, special education enrollment in Pennsylvania has jumped by 25,000 students, Batseon said of the report's findings.
Not surprisingly, during that time, the district's special education costs have also grown.
That's because, statewide, it costs 2.3 times as much to educate a special education student on average as it does to educate kids without special needs.
In addition to the additional staff, "hidden costs" come in the form of "extra paperwork and meetings," said Pamela Batseon, the district's director of special education and student services.
The "Costing Out Study" conducted for the Pennsylvania Department of Education and released this year notes that the base cost for educating a student in Pennsylvania is about $8,000 per year.
By contrast, in Pottstown the annual average cost for a special needs student's education is $20,933, the study shows.
Still, Bateson said, that number is less than most other districts in Montgomery County.
Which is not to say it's cheap.
Last year, the district spent $10.1 million on special
education, said Business Administrator Linda Adams. This year, the special education budget is $10.5 million
But numbers don't tell the whole story.
"The numbers are not as simple as they might appear on the surface," Batseon told the school board.
A mind-numbing number of factors affect special education, its costs, its requirements and the manner in which the services are delivered, and not just in Pottstown.
With the state regularly monitoring the district for compliance with the maze of regulations, Batseon identified for the board no less than 23 areas on which the district must maintain constant compliance.
They include things ranging from "assistive technology," to drop-out and graduation rates, to parent participation and ensuring special education students are taught in the "least restrictive environment."
"We are comparing for compliance monitoring right now that will take place at the end of the month and we need to be able to demonstrate things like ensuring there are 28 square feet per special education student in each building," Batseon said.
Understanding how those regulations work can save the district from expensive litigation. "In Pottstown, we do not see the level of litigation and due process cases other districts are hit with," Bateson said.
While there is no shortage of state and federal regulation of special education, state and federal funding is scarce.
According to the costing out study, 391 of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts have inadequate special education funding, Batseon said the report concludes. In most districts, the shortfall is about $1 million per year.
Adams said typically, state aid comprises about 30 percent of Pottstown's special education budget and federal funding another 1 percent.
School Board Vice President Robert Hartman said one reason state funding falls so short is a change the state made decades ago in how special education is funded.
Under the previous system, the state reimbursed districts based on how many special education students they actually have.
Then, the system was changed to make reimbursements based on a formula that assumes a similar ratio of special education to nonspecial education students in each district, Hartman said.
But that sort of assumption is expensively inaccurate, as studies show that districts with lower income families have a disproportionately higher number of special education students, meaning the districts with what are often the weakest tax bases are burdened with some of the highest costs.
Despite that evidence "the state never said 'whoops, we were wrong' and changed it back," said Hartman.
For example, one factor that the state's formula fails to take into account is the Catch-22 that the borough's schools actually attract families with special education students because of its expertise with handling special education because of its already high special education population.
"We do a good job with special needs and people do come to this district for that," Hartman said
One of the things at which Pottstown has become expert is handling even difficult cases in-house.
For example, sending a student with extreme needs who attends the "life skills" classes, to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit would cost a total of $60,000 a year. Taking that same student "in-house" costs taxpayers $15,412.
Bateson said the 35 students Pottstown has taken back, although the action required more staff being hired, ultimately saves Pottstown taxpayers $1.5 million per year.
Similarly, the autism classes the district has established, where 15 students are educated, saves the taxpayers $700,425 a year over sending them to the Intermediate Unit, Bateson said.
Taken together, these efforts to bring students back to Pottstown to be educated have saved the average Pottstown property owner, with an assessment around $80,000, about $160 per year, Business Manager Linda Adams estimated.
Bateson pointed out that the staff in Pottstown is working toward moving students into regular education.
The best way to do that, experts say, is to catch any issues early in a child's educational career.
Perhaps that is why the vast majority of the district's special education students, and accompanying staff, are located in the elementary schools.
Of the district's 507 special education students, 230 are in the elementary schools, along with 23 teachers and 38 assistants.
Another 129 students are in the middle school and 148 in the high school.
Of course, another Catch-22 of special education is that the earlier you identify students as having special needs, the more of them you have.
Never the less, Batseon pointed out that in 2006/07 school year, 105 students were found eligible for specal education services.
This year, only 73 were identified.
"We're not just spending more of the district's money," said Bateson. "We're really trying to do what's best for the students and keep the district out of hot water."
School district reality: Special needs require higher costs
Published: Monday, March 30, 2009
By Evan Brandt/ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
POTTSTOWN — In 10 years, the number of special education students in Pottstown schools increased by more than one third, the number of special education classroom assistants increased three-fold and the number of special education teachers jumped from 26 to 40.
Outlined in a report to the school board Thursday, that information covers the period between the 1996-97 school year and the 2006-07 school year.
Further, in just the last two years, the number of special education students has increased by 64, from 443 to 507 and the district has added nine more special education teachers, bringing the total to 49. And in that same period, seven more special education classrooms assistants have been added, bringing this year's total to 79.
According to a statewide report released just last month, the increases in Pottstown are part of a trend being seen throughout Pennsylvania.
Between 2002 and 2007, special education enrollment in Pennsylvania has jumped by 25,000 students, Batseon said of the report's findings.
Not surprisingly, during that time, the district's special education costs have also grown.
That's because, statewide, it costs 2.3 times as much to educate a special education student on average as it does to educate kids without special needs.
In addition to the additional staff, "hidden costs" come in the form of "extra paperwork and meetings," said Pamela Batseon, the district's director of special education and student services.
The "Costing Out Study" conducted for the Pennsylvania Department of Education and released this year notes that the base cost for educating a student in Pennsylvania is about $8,000 per year.
By contrast, in Pottstown the annual average cost for a special needs student's education is $20,933, the study shows.
Still, Bateson said, that number is less than most other districts in Montgomery County.
Which is not to say it's cheap.
Last year, the district spent $10.1 million on special
education, said Business Administrator Linda Adams. This year, the special education budget is $10.5 million
But numbers don't tell the whole story.
"The numbers are not as simple as they might appear on the surface," Batseon told the school board.
A mind-numbing number of factors affect special education, its costs, its requirements and the manner in which the services are delivered, and not just in Pottstown.
With the state regularly monitoring the district for compliance with the maze of regulations, Batseon identified for the board no less than 23 areas on which the district must maintain constant compliance.
They include things ranging from "assistive technology," to drop-out and graduation rates, to parent participation and ensuring special education students are taught in the "least restrictive environment."
"We are comparing for compliance monitoring right now that will take place at the end of the month and we need to be able to demonstrate things like ensuring there are 28 square feet per special education student in each building," Batseon said.
Understanding how those regulations work can save the district from expensive litigation. "In Pottstown, we do not see the level of litigation and due process cases other districts are hit with," Bateson said.
While there is no shortage of state and federal regulation of special education, state and federal funding is scarce.
According to the costing out study, 391 of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts have inadequate special education funding, Batseon said the report concludes. In most districts, the shortfall is about $1 million per year.
Adams said typically, state aid comprises about 30 percent of Pottstown's special education budget and federal funding another 1 percent.
School Board Vice President Robert Hartman said one reason state funding falls so short is a change the state made decades ago in how special education is funded.
Under the previous system, the state reimbursed districts based on how many special education students they actually have.
Then, the system was changed to make reimbursements based on a formula that assumes a similar ratio of special education to nonspecial education students in each district, Hartman said.
But that sort of assumption is expensively inaccurate, as studies show that districts with lower income families have a disproportionately higher number of special education students, meaning the districts with what are often the weakest tax bases are burdened with some of the highest costs.
Despite that evidence "the state never said 'whoops, we were wrong' and changed it back," said Hartman.
For example, one factor that the state's formula fails to take into account is the Catch-22 that the borough's schools actually attract families with special education students because of its expertise with handling special education because of its already high special education population.
"We do a good job with special needs and people do come to this district for that," Hartman said
One of the things at which Pottstown has become expert is handling even difficult cases in-house.
For example, sending a student with extreme needs who attends the "life skills" classes, to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit would cost a total of $60,000 a year. Taking that same student "in-house" costs taxpayers $15,412.
Bateson said the 35 students Pottstown has taken back, although the action required more staff being hired, ultimately saves Pottstown taxpayers $1.5 million per year.
Similarly, the autism classes the district has established, where 15 students are educated, saves the taxpayers $700,425 a year over sending them to the Intermediate Unit, Bateson said.
Taken together, these efforts to bring students back to Pottstown to be educated have saved the average Pottstown property owner, with an assessment around $80,000, about $160 per year, Business Manager Linda Adams estimated.
Bateson pointed out that the staff in Pottstown is working toward moving students into regular education.
The best way to do that, experts say, is to catch any issues early in a child's educational career.
Perhaps that is why the vast majority of the district's special education students, and accompanying staff, are located in the elementary schools.
Of the district's 507 special education students, 230 are in the elementary schools, along with 23 teachers and 38 assistants.
Another 129 students are in the middle school and 148 in the high school.
Of course, another Catch-22 of special education is that the earlier you identify students as having special needs, the more of them you have.
Never the less, Batseon pointed out that in 2006/07 school year, 105 students were found eligible for specal education services.
This year, only 73 were identified.
"We're not just spending more of the district's money," said Bateson. "We're really trying to do what's best for the students and keep the district out of hot water."
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