Gym Night Participation

Last night was the 44th annual Morrisville Gym Night fought between the Gold and the Blue teams at the high school. For those of you who keep score, Gold won last night over Blue.

I'm not a fan of the "everyone is great" school of recognition. Once the fundamentals are learned and you reach a certain age of awareness and accountability, it's time to learn the stark real-life lesson that not everyone wins every time. Life doesn't award participation trophies.

This time though, it's different. If you participated in gym night, then the reality that one team will win and another will lose was clear. However, all of the participants won, and here's why.

Those sixth through twelfth graders learned real life lessons like:
** Just because I worked hard does not mean I or my team will win. I and my team may not have won, but my hard work is still meaningful.
** A team together is stronger than the individual alone, but the team fails without the individual contribution.
** I am an individual, but my contribution toward the team goal raised all of us up. I may not necessarily be good performing a cheer, acting in the skit, or playing the sports, but I do know where I can contribute, and I did.
** I can be a good winner, because the next time I could be the loser. I can be a good loser, because I could be the winner the next time.

Were you there? What other life lessons do you think our kids learned last night?

The next time someone tells you that Morrisville produces lower quality students, point to gym night and tell them that you were there and saw the high quality of our students. Ask if they saw this alleged low quality themselves. The answer will probably be "NO", because they were not there to see the reality of the schools, and the good students that are the products of the Morrisville school system. Sadly, that probably includes the school board members and their sycophants who are bent upon the destruction and eradication of this little school system. I know I did not see any of them there. If this is wrong, please feel free to send word of your school board member sighting. Take a look at that "Citizenship" theme that was included in the programs last night. The next time you hear them talking, ask yourself if they are demonstrating "good citizenship" or "poor citizenship."

Thank you to the MHS administration, teachers, staff, and especially the students, who worked together to make this a success. You deserve a lot more than a mention here for your hard work and dedication. Also, a special thank you to everyone who participated in the "Locks of Love" donations. I know the hair will grow back, but I hear several Bulldogs had a rather close shave.

Items to Think About

Here's a sample of some items that have crossed my browser.

Another submission for the Wayback Machine, from October 2003 where Steve Worob was concerned that a sham feasibility study was being used by the administration to build the new school. Wow. Now it's a sham study for renovation and squandering $2.4 million in administrative fees to defease the bond. Some things never change. (Thanks to the anonymous submitter.)




















Defense of Testing Series: The Forgotten Middle: Improving Readiness for High School
The percentage of eighth graders on target to be ready for college-level work by the time they graduate from high school is so small that it raises questions not just about the prospect that these students can eventually be ready for college, but also about whether they are even ready for high school. But when students' skills are improved during middle school, the results by the end of high school can be astounding.

Who Shall Govern Our Schools?
The question of how best to "inform their discretion" while retaining control by "the people" is the task facing democratic-minded school reformers. If democracy be our ends, noted another famed educator, John Dewey, then it must also be our means.

Control school budgets; give the voters final say

Where Are We Going Today, Mr. Peabody?

Anyone remember Sherman and Peabody and the Wayback Machine?

I came across this mention from the New York Times, April 20, 1997. Did this policy work as well as it was hoped? What are we doing today?

School Districts Are Getting Tougher on Illegal Students Who Come From Other Places
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: April 20, 1997

It's crackdown time in Morrisville, Pa.: this summer, in an effort to stop students from trickling across the state line from New Jersey, the school board will require all students in the district to re-enroll and prove their residency.

And if that doesn't do the trick, the board in the 1,050-student suburban district near Trenton has also voted to award a $500 bounty to any school security guard who identifies, and turns in, an out-of-town student illegally attending the local schools.

''When school lets out and you see a lot of cars with out-of-state license plates picking children up, that's a problem,'' said Stephen Worob, treasurer of the Morrisville board and a leading supporter of the new policy. ''Another board member and I followed some over the border, on a kind of fact-finding mission. We're convinced that there are a substantial number of out-of-district kids in our schools illegally.''

The bounty payment may be unique to Morrisville. But as American society generally becomes more hostile to outsiders -- witness the backlash against immigration -- many school districts are taking a tougher line on families who illegally enroll their children in school districts where they do not pay taxes.

Usually, it is affluent suburban districts with reputations for educational excellence that guard their borders most zealously, but some urban districts, too, have discovered outsiders enrolling illegally at specialized or magnet schools.

In New York City, it was still news last year when two suburban youngsters were found to be attending Public School 41.

But on Long Island, many Nassau County school districts routinely spend much time and effort weeding out students from Queens by requiring re-registration, hiring private detectives or making home visits. In January, in the first such case on Long Island, a couple from Far Rockaway, Queens, were charged with criminal fraud for enrolling their 12-year-old son in Lawrence Middle School. The charges were based on a five-month investigation that grew out of a tip to a school registration phone line that the Lawrence district set up last year.

''I think what's driving this is that in the last two or three years, all kinds of school districts have come under more pressure to account for every dollar and every kid than in years past,'' said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of the largest urban school systems.

In Ohio earlier this year, a single mother who drove a bus for the Cleveland school board was sent to jail for five days for illegally sending her kindergarten son to school in Euclid, a nearby suburb.

There are no good statistics on how many students, nationwide, enroll illegally in schools outside their own districts. But the New Jersey School Board Association estimates that 8,000 to 10,000 students in that state alone enroll illegally in suburban districts to avoid school in their poor urban areas.

According to the Education Commission of the States, 14 states have adopted legislation that either requires or encourages school districts to accept children from elsewhere in the state. Even in those states, however, districts are generally allowed to set limits and rules on how many, and which, out-of-district students they will accept, based on the openings available.

And in most states, districts can ban out-of-district students. ''Over all, on the state level, I'd say the trend is toward school choice,'' said Kathy Christie, information coordinator of the commission. ''But the wealthier school districts tend to be very concerned about out-of-district students trying to come in.''

Given the mix of tighter financing, crowded classrooms and parents' increasing sense of urgency about getting their children into good schools, education lawyers and school boards say that student residency questions seem to be arising more frequently, especially in suburban districts near struggling big-city school systems.

An Illinois law that took effect earlier this year makes illegal school registration a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine and tuition reimbursement.

''Our hope is that the new law will provide some type of chilling effect on those who are undermining the system by falsely enrolling their children and not paying their share,'' said State Representative James Durkin, a chief sponsor of the law.

Mr. Durkin said the legislation had been spurred by complaints from his constituents, in a district that includes Oak Park, River Forest and other affluent suburbs just outside the Chicago city limits.

''Whenever I went to forums in my district, I would hear a great deal of concern about the number of students from Chicago falsifying their addresses,'' he said. ''In a most basic sense, it's a theft from the people who provide the funds. My constituents would tell me they were paying incredibly high local tax bills of $5,000 to $8,000 to support their schools, while these district jumpers were getting a free ride.''

Many school officials, echoing Mr. Durkin's feelings, see the issue as simply a matter of fairness to insure that only those who pay for the district's services get them.

''We have a wonderful educational program, tops in technology, with quality staff and small class size,'' said Elizabeth Fineberg, the superintendent of the Morrisville district. ''But we're only staffed for the number of children we're supposed to have in the district. We don't want to have to give less to our students. So we have worked very hard, and made every effort, to keep illegal students out. In past years, we've put out 10 or 12 students a year.''

Like many districts nationwide, Morrisville used to allow out-of-district students to attend its schools if they paid tuition. But it ended that program several years ago.

And this summer, said Mr. Worob, the board treasurer, the district will require every family to re-enroll, by requiring four proofs of residency, such as a utility bill or driver's license, and three proofs of identity. Anyone who is not the parent of the child being registered will also have to show proof of legal guardianship, he said, and other checks are being devised for divorced families with dual custody when only one parent lives in Morrisville.

But others say the number of students trying to sneak across the lines from poor neighborhoods in big cities into richer suburban schools is a powerful indicator of the poor-quality education offered in many cities.

They argue that it is not good social policy to criminalize parents' efforts to get their children into better schools -- efforts prompted by a lack of resources and a commitment to a good education, rather than by any malicious intent.

''If this country has gotten itself into a situation where we criminalize parents for searching out the education they want for their kids, we're going in the wrong direction,'' said Mr. Casserly of the urban schools coalition.

And many are troubled by the undertone of racial inequality: it is no accident, they say, that the policies tend to fall most harshly on poor black parents who cannot afford either out-of-district tuition or private school, women like Judy Kincaid, the 36-year-old Cleveland school bus driver who went to jail for sending her 5-year-old son, Quenten, to school in Euclid, Ohio.

''I put my child in the Euclid school system because I wanted him to have a better life and a better education,'' Ms. Kincaid told reporters when her case was being heard.

There was good reason for Ms. Kincaid to think the Euclid schools might be better for her son: Euclid has smaller classes, a lower dropout rate and a higher graduation rate than the troubled Cleveland schools. For Ms. Kincaid, who gave the authorities a false address, reporting that she lived with her son's aunt, the difference came down to something simpler and more tangible: in Euclid, Quenten got his own workbook, while his Cleveland kindergarten uses photocopied work sheets.

Last month, Ms. Kincaid lost her job with the Cleveland school board, said a spokesman for the schools, who said the dismissal was related to her driving record, not the district jumping. Ms. Kincaid, who now has an unlisted telephone, could not be reached for comment.

Ms. Kincaid, the first parent caught by Euclid's new enforcement policy, was confronted after a tip from a school bus driver who saw that Quenten got into a car each day when the driver dropped him off.

''The Kincaid case was our first one,'' said Patrick Newkirk, a retired detective from the Euclid Police Department who was hired by the district as a full-time residency officer in October. ''But we've referred five other fraud charges to the city prosecutor since then. And there's a lot more people we've found who registered legally, then moved, but didn't take their kids out of our schools. Those we just tell to withdraw.''

So What Did You Think?

I'm sitting here through the viewing of the Emperor's meltdown session. It's just about to end. Does anyone have any comments or observations?

The joint council-board meeting is also going on tonight. Anyone care to report from there?

Who Will Win in Ohio?

I can't answer that just yet, but thanks to the emailer who alerted me to this piece by Andrew Sullivan today. Sullivan was looking at the appeal of Hillary Clinton in Ohio and the reader forwarded the article to me with the comment: "Saw this, thought of Morrisville. In fact, if you replace Ohio with Morrisville, you will get a very accurate assessment of where the drivers of the town have put us."

The shame of it all is that it is a very apt illustration of life circa 1950 right here in Pleasantville...er...Morrisville.

Ohio still wants to have those high paying, manufacturing jobs of the 50's and 60's, and agriculture. I was struck by the interviews on 60 Minutes, Sunday night, from Chillcothe, Ohio. They all seemed to be bemoaning not being able to go to Florida once a year and buying a new car every two years. But only one had tried to get more education for the new challenges of the Global Market.

The state legislature has dragged its feet on fulfilling the Ohio Constitution’s mandate for state funding of education. The Supreme Court of Ohio has told them many times of the requirement, but is ignored. The legislature’s laughable solution was school vouchers, in effect, subsidizing the haves’ private education while giving the have-nots a limited choice. So Ohioans still are in a 50’s movie, play football in high school and Dad’s job will be waiting for you.

NAFTA did not kill the manufacturing jobs in Ohio; they were going, going, gone, before the agreement. But Ohioans have been waiting for some miracle to bring them back, and if their children do get an education, the children leave the state for better opportunities.

So we are in a state very much fighting the culture wars of the last century, educated in the last century, looking for the last century’s solutions.

Comic Relief Vision Quest

This is an oldie but a goodie.


Planning ahead is vision. Can anyone tell me the vision of the Emperor and his Trusted Toadies?

A closed and shuttered school system in Morrisville is the vision. It's like the cans you put out twice a week. Someone comes around and it just goes away. *POOF* No more pesky uncooperative administrators and no more parents concerned about their children. No more teacher labor contracts, cafeteria expenses, books, wintertime plowing and salting, PSSA or SAT scores, and Thank God!, no more feasibility studies for these decrepit school buildings.

The district problems become someone else's problem. Instead of too many IEP students in Morrisville and too low test scores, the surrounding districts each have a few more and either they prosper in their new surroundings, or the larger class numbers statistically mask their failure.

If you have time to visit the Home Depot on Route 13 at the old Levittown Shopping Center site, take a moment to stand in the parking lot and gaze east across Route 13. You can't miss it. The non-stop line of trucks with their seagull heralds. It's the Tullytown landfill.

Those things we got rid of never just "went away." They were just transported somewhere else and became some one else's problem. I know we can do better. Do you?

Joint Council-BOE Meeting Tuesday

Here's a reminder that we all need to take notice of: A joint borough council-board of education meeting. It will be tomorrow evening, March 4, 2008, at BOROUGH HALL ON UNION STREET at 7:30 P.M.

What would you ask the combined members of our joint tax force?

Buildings Survey?

What's up with this? Does it have anything to do with this previous post?

DISCLAIMER - SCHOOL BUILDING SURVEY
Recently some district residents received a survey concerning the school district buildings.

This survey was NOT authorized by the Administration of the school district.

Comic Relief

Courtesy of Luanne.

Is this funny or reality?

Morrisville: Example of What Not To Do, Part II

If you can't be a good example, at least be an example.

See what the BCCT readers think of the lessons learned here in Morrisville when applied to the new Centennial school.

"The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he?"

Anyone Remember "The Clash"?

I've been humming this tune all day long.

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?

Please vote in our newest poll. And, feel free to add an explanation as a comment to this post.

Morrisville: Example of What Not To Do

Editorial in the BCCT today

Just Another Night in Morrisville, Part III

I may need some assistance on some of the details of this part of the story, because the reconstruction I have seems to have some portions at odds with each other. SO...while some of the details of this may have to be clarified, the result is spot on.

If you remember back to the time following the revelation that the Emperor self-commissioned the $2500 Hellman building report to cover his tracks for the defeasement, it was suggested and broadly hinted at, that the Emperor was given a talking to by Counsel Kelly and the rest of the board. (Disclaimer: I was not there and those that were there are not talking. At least not to me. But if you want to, my email is listed at the top.) He was basically told, you're new and inexperienced, and you're eager to push your agenda, but this is not allowed. You can't run your own show here. You act in the name of the board only. We're covering you this time by an 8-1 vote. Go and sin no more.

Now, last night, we find out that the Emperor has been lunching with the district health care provider contact and/or other health care provider contacts (please, someone clarify!) in order to promote "competition" among the providers.

The problem is that the board did not sanction this. The Emperor also apparently casually mentioned that he was "the boss" and he wanted action taken to reduce costs to the district. (Clarification requested.)

Let me stop here and applaud the idea that the Emperor was promoting, not the way it was done. Stimulating competition and lowering costs is worthy. The Emperor has a problem with the "red tape" stuff and clearly and loudly proclaimed this for all to hear.

Captain Obvious reports that many people who have a high disdain for authority and controls have an authority and control problem of their own. Not that I'm making a correlation here, you understand.

So, that's when Robin Reithmeyer unleashed her latest load of lèse majesté and told the Emperor that this board runs on red tape.

Momentary reality check: A self professed experienced CPA with extensive contact with the US Tax Code and the IRS, as well as several municipal governments in Pennsylvania, is unaware that red tape runs the world. Um...I'm thinking, maybe...NOT!


But then, the other four board members, even Mrs. Steve "You Squandered Two Million Dollars Of Our Money" Worob began chiding him. So did Counsel Kelley. So did the audience. They had all already privately told him once not to overreach and to operate beyond his mandate. Now, the public got to watch and join in.

With last night's performance, quite a bit was lost. The openness and honesty that the Stop the Schoolers supposedly ran on, and that Bill Farrell (honestly and sincerely, I believe) mentions quite often, is revealed as nothing but hollow words, as empty as the chocolate bunnies on Easter morning when you bite their ears off. With these acts, one man has made a mockery of the eight remaining members of the board, the school administration that he holds in high disregard, the parents that he openly ignores, and yes, even the taxpayers that he is allegedly crusading for.

Don't believe me? See for yourself on the replays all next week. Watch and check back in with us here and let us know what you think. Unless the tape is mysteriously damaged or lost.

When the name "Bill Clinton" is mentioned, I'm sure the first association you made to a word was "liar". I'm not sure what one word will stick here, but for William I, Emperor of Education, I have no doubt that the single word will show itself sooner rather than later.

I believe my three minutes are up. Feel free to add as you will.

Comic Relief

An editorial view of the blind defeasement entitled "The Silence of the Lambs"

Just Another Night in Morrisville, Part II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More to come.

Just Another Night in Morrisville, Part I

A line like that conjures up a quiet, placid, gentle evening. Bird call, dog bark, cat meow, and cricket chirp, all combining to create their symphony of the night. Well, just like Dr. Johnny Fever transitioning the formerly quiet music station into WKRP by dragging the needle across the LP (kids, ask your fossilized parents to explain what I just said), let's take a look at last night's school board business meeting where the fun and laughs were non-stop.

Thank you to everyone who dropped me a line with their take on last night's meeting. There was a general agreement on one thing: What is the Emperor thinking?

First, let's start off with the rumor that the defeasement cost $2 million dollars. I can categorically report that information is 100% completely false. It was actually about $2.4 million. No one knew about it except the Emperor until it was all over. The public and even a few of the board members pleaded for judicious deliberations at the January 23 meeting, but the defeasement express plowed onward. We now know the true cost. Between the previous feasibility studies and the current debt retirement costs, Morrisville is now the proud possessor of a $5 million dollar sports complex in the rear of the high school. The only good thing this did was provide a closure for the "squandering" squawkers to cease their pseudo-frugal spending chant. No matter what the Gibson board spent as an entity on studies and analyses, the Hellmann board, single handedly, spent more.

A second, and slightly more bizarre note to the defeasement, is that the Emperor will not "dumb down" a defeasement cost presentation for the board or the public. It's too complicated for us mere non-CPA mortals to comprehend. However, he will invite us to feast at the right hand of power and trek to his office where he will personally lead us through the magical mystery money tour and show us his spreadsheet. There's something about that that sounds vaguely unsettling in a sidewalk flasher type of way...

The new board secretary, Marlys Mihok, was not in attendance last night. Also missing in action are the minutes from the January 2 special meeting; the January 9 agenda meeting; the January 30 special meeting; and the February 13 agenda meeting. So now the Morrisville School District will pay for someone else to do her job. This is in addition to the stipend that she receives for not doing it and is keeping, despite past board practice of donating it back to the financially strapped community. It figures. One of the few times that I want the Emperor to exercise his financial fix-it magic pixie dust, he's asleep on the job, voting to allow Marlys to continue piling up missing minutes faster than a state work crew on a coffee break.

Then, it got interesting. With reliable toadies Mihok, Angry Al and Gloria Heater not in attendance, the first cracks in the Emperor's invincibility aura appeared.

The Emperor was ready to deny tenure to a dedicated and caring teacher if it involved a raise for her. Even if it did (and it does not, until next school year), that's a very petty attitude, but perfectly consistent for the Emperor. Congrats to our MHS vocals teacher who gained tenure last evening.

The Hellmann Building Report, formerly known as the defeasement fig leaf, was used as the rock solid cornerstone for an emergency safety repairs resolution to spend an open ended amount of money (only some $200,000 was identified, the rest was "to be determined"). At first the Emperor wanted to table the motion because his vote counting skills showed three storm troopers missing from the front lines. When the board refused to table, the Emperor became passionate about spending the money because the "professional engineers" identified these issues. Very passionate. Extremely passionate. So passionate that one has to wonder what might be in it for him.

This is not a swipe at the engineering firm. They are a well respected company with a long track record of success. But we have noted the lapses in the report, including that it is, by the candid admission of the firm, incomplete. What did you expect for $2500? A full report complete with Power Point slides?

So then, a voice of reason started to speak. It was persistent, clear, and unambiguous. Robin Reithmeyer wanted to know enough information so that she could make up her own mind, rather than relying on royal pronouncements of whim to guide her vote. She even mentioned an email that the Emperor had sent to her instructing her to keep quiet and just cooperate.

The plot thickens. More later.

Do We Need To Know This For The Test?

Nice to see that all our kids are well educated, according to USAToday . *sigh*. Where have you gone, Millard Fillmore? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Teens losing touch with common cultural and historical references

Big Brother. McCarthyism. The patience of Job.

Don't count on your typical teenager to nod knowingly the next time you drop a reference to any of these. A study out today finds that about half of 17-year-olds can't identify the books or historical events associated with them.

Twenty-five years after the federal report A Nation at Risk challenged U.S. public schools to raise the quality of education, the study finds high schoolers still lack important historical and cultural underpinnings of "a complete education." And, its authors fear, the nation's current focus on improving basic reading and math skills in elementary school might only make matters worse, giving short shrift to the humanities even if children can read and do math.

"If you think it matters whether or not kids have common historical touchstones and whether, at some level, we feel like members of a common culture, then familiarity with this knowledge matters a lot," says American Enterprise Institute researcher Rick Hess, who wrote the study.

Among 1,200 students surveyed:

•43% knew the Civil War was fought between 1850 and 1900.

•52% could identify the theme of 1984.

•51% knew that the controversy surrounding Sen. Joseph McCarthy focused on communism.

In all, students earned a C in history and an F in literature, though the survey suggests students do well on topics schools cover. For instance, 88% knew the bombing of Pearl Harbor led the USA into World War II, and 97% could identify Martin Luther King Jr. as author of the "I Have a Dream" speech.

Fewer (77%) knew Uncle Tom's Cabin helped end slavery a century earlier.

"School has emphasized Martin Luther King, and everybody teaches it, and people are learning it," says Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank. "What a better thing it would be if people also had the Civil War part and the civil rights part, and the Harriet Tubman part and the Uncle Tom's Cabin part."

The findings probably won't sit well with educators, who say record numbers of students are taking college-level Advanced Placement history, literature and other courses in high school.

"Not all is woe in American education," says Trevor Packer of The College Board, which oversees Advanced Placement.

The study's release today in Washington also serves as a sort of coming out for its sponsor, Common Core, a new non-partisan group pushing for the liberal arts in public school curricula. Its leadership includes a North Carolina fifth-grade teacher, an author of history and science textbooks, a teachers union leader and a former top official in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Did Defeasement Cost $2 Million?

This is a rumor I'd really like to prove false. In comments to another post today, the question was posed regarding the cost of defeasement. We knew that some $25,000 went to the Hellmann crony financial firm as payment. Here we have an anonymous poster suggesting that the real costs were some two million dollars.

Can we get some real cost numbers on this? I know a certain councilman and school board spouse would complain that this is squandering if this is true.

Blogger Jon said...

Speaking of frugal spending, is there any status information on the bond defeasement that can be shared? Have the bonds been defeased? If so, how much did the defeasement cost, just the $29,000 fee for the defeasement company?

With interest rates dropping, I'm concerned that the investments made to defease the bonds won't cover everything, and that taxpayers will end up holding the bag for the difference for years to come. I hope my concerns are unfounded, especially since this was not mentioned to the public at either at the January 23 board meeting when the board almost voted to defease, or the January 30special meeting when they did.

February 26, 2008 10:22 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hear that the defeasement cost over $2 million, and that all Board members except his highness had no idea it would cost this amount. Lovely.

February 26, 2008 1:41 PM

21st Century Funding Cuts-Action Needed

I just received this urgent news tip. If you have the opportunity, please help.

We had many of the club advisors work on letters with their students. There is no better testimonial than the words out of the mouths of our children. We will be sending a large packet of letters, and petitions to each of our local representatives. Additionally, we have asked all the school district employees, and the agencies that partner with 21st Century to call the offices of Patrick Murphy, Bob Casey, and Arlen Specter. The flyer below has numbers to the local and Washington D.C. Offices

We feel that the loss, or reduction of after school programs would be devastating not just to our students, but the millions of students participating in 21st Century programming nationwide. Though we have not been notified that we would among the programs affected, neither have we received assurances that we are safe.

Please consider contacting our representatives to have your voice heard. Feel free to pass these phone numbers to anyone who may be interested in helping us to be heard.


URGENT! YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING 21ST CENTURY FUNDING CUTS

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: February 25th and 26th –
National Call-In Days to Show Support for After School Programs.

President Bush is proposing a devastating cut to after school funds and a drastic restructure of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. This would mean that after school programs such as Morrisville’s would not have funding needed to remain in operation. If you want to show opposition to this proposal, we are urging you to participate in a National Call-In Campaign to support after school programs on February 25th and 26th.

On February 26th the US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings will be testifying before the House of Appropriations Committee responsible for after school funding and we want Members of Congress to know that their constituents do not support the President’s proposal to cut and reconfigure the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.

Together we can send a message that after school programs are critically important to the success of our children and youth and that the President’s proposal should be rejected. Encourage your partners, colleagues and friends to call in n behalf of the millions of youth who need a safe, productive and inspiring place to go to during the after school hours.

Congressman Patrick Murphy –
215-826-1963 (Bristol Office) 202-225-4276 (Washington Office)

Senator Bob Casey –
215-405-9660 (Philadelphia Office) 202-228-0604 (Washington Office)

Senator Arlen Specter –
215-597-7200 (Philadelphia Office) 202-224-4254 (Washington Office)

Parent Action Alert

Here's a reminder about the upcoming school board meetings on this Wednesday night, February 27.

The Education Committee and Human Resources Committee meetings are at 6:30 and 7:00 in the G-hall conference room.
The business meeting starts at 7:30 in the LGI.

Parents: the future of your children is being driven simply by dollars and cents. Decisions will be made solely on this basis and will not address parental concerns. According to people who attended the last parent advisory meeting, the Emperor made it clear that the goals that the parents have for their children carry less weight than the wishes of the taxpayers.

This is not automatically bad. Frugal spending is a good thing. However, while the digital-style process of adding columns of numbers proceeds without errors, the analog-style education process is hardly as neat and tidy. There are costs and allowances required by law, common process, and even just plain decency that defy neat quantification. Remember how the Emperor wants to nickel and dime the special education kids? Your kids are next.

I see the other parents in the schools frequently, volunteering, assisting, or even just keeping up to date. I have not encountered a current school board member or a member of the criticism groups doing the same thing. This is an open call to anyone who can point to the critics of the Morrisville schools who put their money where their mouth is and actually volunteer their time in the schools.