Update - Lame Ducks

[State High Vision]

Monday Update July 20, 2007     We are hoping that you are having a great summer and are enjoying the last few weeks before the school year kicks in again!  While State High Vision has been less visible of late, rest assured that we are still closely monitoring the activities of the current school board.  Decisions made by this board will significantly impact our wallets and our future –but most importantly, the education of our children.  We urge you to continue to attend School Board meetings, watch the meetings on CNET and write letters to the editor.   What is a “Lame Duck?”  A lame duck politician is one who, because of deciding not to run for re-election, term limits or because they have been voted out of office, remains in power for a period of time.  Lame Duck politicians are known for making decisions based on personal agendas rather than on the wishes of the electorate because they don’t have to face consequences and/or voters at re-election.   As you know, 4 of the 5 incumbents who ran for re-election for the SCASD board will not find their names on the November ballot, making re-election likely impossible.  One incumbent opted not to run again.  Although rumors of an attempt by at least one of the ousted incumbents to stage a “write in”campaign abound, the chances of overturning the 75% majority who voted this board out of office are slim to none.  More dangerous, however, is the damage they can do to our district as “lame ducks” between now and when the new board takes over in December.   Some items to watch:   ·        SHOW ME THE MONEY! – The board has voted to move forward with numerous expensive capital projects but are doing so without a District Wide Master Plan.  Remember – the last update to the DWMP took place in 2001 (pre Grays Woods and Park Forest Elementary/Easterly Parkway projects).  The 2001 DWMP focused on the renovation of the 2 high school buildings.  The board abandoned that plan with the Mega School proposal and has been essentially winging it since.  In addition to the $1 million turf at the South Track that will likely be done just in time to have snow sit on it for several months, numerous upgrades to the high school have been proposed (estimates in the $2.6 million range).  We heard at last week’s meeting that the board is also talking about further upgrades to Memorial Field.  HOW CAN THE BOARD BE MAKING STRATEGIC DECISIONS WITHOUT A PLAN FOR THE DISTRICT?  Kudos to incumbent board member Robert Hutchinson who has been the lone voice to suggest that the district hold off on many of these projects until the new board takes office. ·        BURNING A HOLE IN THEIR POCKETS…It was not surprising to hear the district’s financial consultant (July 23, 2007) talk about how bonds the district floated were “grandfathered” in ACT 1.  We long suspected that the board was seeking out bonds and prioritizing the expensive high school project over elementary upgrades to circumvent pending voter referendum on school budgets.  Act 1 has given the public more say in budget decisions.   Several forms of this legislation were proposed to give the public more input in district budgets when the board started taking out these loans  – one in which Lou Ann Evans, SCASD board president and Past President of the PA School Board Association offered testimony. They knew public input on excessive school spending was coming and rushed to get money before the public could potentially vote NO.  Two bonds totaling $20 million were secured in 2004 for the high school project and are now available for the district to use IF THEY CHOOSE.  Subtracting the $5.2 million the district spent on the ill- fated plan leaves around $15 million.   Our taxes were raised in anticipation of a project that has now been abandoned.  Does that mean we have to spend the money?  Watch closely – we predict the Lame Duck members will spend that money and SOON.  How will this spending impact our budget when we finally engage in long term planning and perhaps start taking on prioritized capital projects?   ·        TALKING AT THE PUBLIC INSTEAD OF TALKING TO US.  The CDT recently reported that board member David Hutchinson has started a school board BLOG to give us a window on his perspectives on board decisions and other issues of interest.  We aren’t surprised.  For those of you who are familiar with BLOGS, they are a one-way communication channel that lets the writer spew thoughts and opinions (often without facts) and then EDIT what he/she chooses to post as reader comments.  This board has a history of attempting to control community dialog.  They did it at the November 16, 2005 public meeting when they put us into small groups, rather than let the community speak.  They did it when they slammed the gavel on us over and over again and made us sit down after 3 minutes.  They did it when they hired a PR specialist to talk to the public rather than talking to us directly.   It is ironic that Mr. Hutchinson is more than willing to share his personal views and opinions but at the same time fought in court to keep the public out of the Citizen Advisory Committee meetings.  A quick read of the initial postings shows that at least this one board member thinks the voting majority who opposed the Mega School were misinformed.  You can read Mr. Hutchinson’s Blog at http://www.freewebs.com/hutch153/schoolboardblogger.htm.  On a positive note, it will give voters better information with which to make their 2009 school board election decisions. ·         THE NAMES AND FACES ARE THE SAME.  Where is the accountability for the $5.2 million the board paid out to L.Robert Kimball and Associates for the Mega School disaster?  Because of the contracts, Kimball architectural firm received almost all its contracted fees for designing a building that will never be built and for which estimates came in over 18% of projected costs!!!  Instead of trying to recoup some of the lost tax dollars that were thrown away with flawed and overly eager planning, the board continues with the same architectural firm to design the turf and amenities at the South Track, the other proposed high school projects and upgrades to Memorial Field (including bumping the stadium out onto Fraser Street!!!).   Should we be considering a second opinion?    SMALL SCHOOLS UPDATE:   Parents who wish to opt out of the Small Schools Advisory program are being given permission to do so by the district.  You will remember that the SSI was developed to counteract the negatives of the “large school” and for many was seen as a bandaid response to the known limitations of a Mega School.  Parents are being given the choice of either supervising their student(s) on campus in a space provided OR taking them off campus each week during the program.   Many parents are taking this option because of concerns about value-laden material being presented by teachers and para-professionals who are not trained, don’t feel comfortable or who don’t have time to process.  Please contact us if you have additional question about the SSI “opt out.”   It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.  J.K. Rowling   NEXT BOARD MEETING – Monday, August 27 at 7:30 – 131 W. Nittany Ave.

[State High Vision]

Note 2 corrections on our update.   Today is August 20 not July 20 (are we in denial that school starts in 2 weeks???) and it was Robert Hendrickson who is showing good judgment by trying to convince other board members to wait until the new board takes over to make many of the capital decisions.   We apologize - both typos got by several of our editors.  Let's chalk it up to being out of practice since May 15!   -------Original Message-------