Octorara Graduation
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
E-mail From a Concerned Octorara Parent
From: "Loree Lonsinger"
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 12:58:57 AM
Subject: Elimination of High School Sports - Octorara Area School District
At the Special Budget Meeting for Parents on Wednesday evening, an idea was suggested to form an All Sports Booster to prevent the elimination of HS Sports in the Octorara School District. A group of concerned parents would like to propose moving forward with this idea. We are making an effort to contact all boosters/clubs in hopes that we can come together as a community to ensure that all HS Sports will continue for the benefit of the students. A meeting will be scheduled in the near future to discuss this possibility.
We would appreciate if you would forward the message below to all sports booster participants.
To current and future parents of High School athletes in Octorara SD,
It has recently been brought to our attention that Dr. Newcome has made a recommendation to the Board of Directors that there will be a reduction to HS athletics in the 2011-12 budget in the amount of $50,000.
His recommendation includes a request that the Board of Directors set time lines for the elimination of tax dollars funding school district athletics. He believes five years is a reasonable goal for this process.
In order to keep HS School Athletics alive in the Octorara School District, a group of concerned parents would like to form an All Sports Booster to prevent the elimination of HS sports.
If interested in saving HS sports, please fill out the form in the link below:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHU0WFhHNkZDUmUxV3NLVVFNaFB2S2c6MA#gid=0
It is important that all parents in the district attend the meetings below to be informed of the proposed budget cuts for 2011-12:
March 30, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Town Hall Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
April 11, 2011 Work Session, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m.
April 18, 2011 Regular Board Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m .
April 21, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Parent Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
April 26, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Town Hall Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
May 9, 2011 Work Session, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m.
May 16, 2011 Regular Board Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m .
June 20, 2011 Budget Approval
Thank you for your time.
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 12:58:57 AM
Subject: Elimination of High School Sports - Octorara Area School District
At the Special Budget Meeting for Parents on Wednesday evening, an idea was suggested to form an All Sports Booster to prevent the elimination of HS Sports in the Octorara School District. A group of concerned parents would like to propose moving forward with this idea. We are making an effort to contact all boosters/clubs in hopes that we can come together as a community to ensure that all HS Sports will continue for the benefit of the students. A meeting will be scheduled in the near future to discuss this possibility.
We would appreciate if you would forward the message below to all sports booster participants.
To current and future parents of High School athletes in Octorara SD,
It has recently been brought to our attention that Dr. Newcome has made a recommendation to the Board of Directors that there will be a reduction to HS athletics in the 2011-12 budget in the amount of $50,000.
His recommendation includes a request that the Board of Directors set time lines for the elimination of tax dollars funding school district athletics. He believes five years is a reasonable goal for this process.
In order to keep HS School Athletics alive in the Octorara School District, a group of concerned parents would like to form an All Sports Booster to prevent the elimination of HS sports.
If interested in saving HS sports, please fill out the form in the link below:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHU0WFhHNkZDUmUxV3NLVVFNaFB2S2c6MA#gid=0
It is important that all parents in the district attend the meetings below to be informed of the proposed budget cuts for 2011-12:
March 30, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Town Hall Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
April 11, 2011 Work Session, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m.
April 18, 2011 Regular Board Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m .
April 21, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Parent Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
April 26, 2011 Special Budget Meeting - Town Hall Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:00 p.m.
May 9, 2011 Work Session, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m.
May 16, 2011 Regular Board Meeting, OMS Multi-Purpose Room, 7:30 p.m .
June 20, 2011 Budget Approval
Thank you for your time.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
School cuts will come in all sizes - Lancasteronline 03/27/2011
School cuts will come in all sizes
Layoffs, fewer teams and supplies, even no mulch. Groups will try to save some things.
Sunday News
Updated Mar 27, 2011 00:44
By GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Nearly all the 300 chairs set up at Martin Meylin Middle School Tuesday night were filled, as residents of the Lampeter-Strasburg School District turned out to hear just how dire the school district's budget situation was.
Many, said district superintendent Dr. Robert Frick, were "aghast" at what they heard.
"We talked about things we don't have to provide, and said that when times get tough, they will have to go away," Frick said. And many of those things are going away.
Middle school junior varsity sports — boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, football and field hockey — will die unless booster clubs step up and agree to pay the coaches' stipends. Paper calendars and newsletters now distributed to district residents may be distributed online only. And in-school suspension rooms will be eliminated; "Now if you're suspended, you're out of school," Frick said. "It becomes the parents' problem, not the school's problem."
The list of programs and services long provided by school districts that will become the parents' problem next year is growing — not just at L-S, but all over the county.
Grappling with major funding shortfalls, virtually every school district in the county plans significant cuts next year. The Eastern Lancaster County district has already voted to lay off 15 teachers; last week a School District of Lancaster board member said up to 100 teachers could be laid off in the coming years. Classroom sizes will grow; administrative, and in some cases, teacher salaries will be curtailed.
Many of the cuts will be smaller in scope — yet they could have an outsized impact on parents and students, who may feel them immediately.
Districts are talking about eliminating bus trips and charging students who participate in extracurricular activities. Field trips could be eliminated; so could paper calendars and newsletters.
In this new, austere environment, there is likely to be more pressure on parents, parent-teacher organizations and booster clubs to shoulder a greater amount of the financial burden — or see programs eliminated for good.
School officials have spent months talking about the problem, hosting town meetings and sending home letters in an attempt to prepare parents for what's coming. "It is a totally different world out there," Frick said. "The people at our meeting, they get it.
"But I don't think most people get it."
Felt in the fall
They will — though perhaps not until next fall, after budgets for the 2011-12 school year are approved and the cuts kick in.
Besides voting to furlough 15 teachers, a move designed to save $1.31 million, Elanco is also considering raising ticket prices for sporting events, and selling advertising at Garden Spot High School stadium and gymnasium.
Hempfield, where teachers became the first in the county to agree to a pay freeze next year, still faces a $500,000 budget gap, Superintendent Brenda Becker said. The district may start charging a fee for participation in extracurricular activities, though Becker said she's not sure how much it would be. "The board wants to make sure it's not onerous for parents," she said.
Hempfield could also eliminate some bus routes and will begin printing its student planners in-house. "The planners will not be as glossy or attractive, but will be functional," Becker said.
Summertime blues
In Cocalico, summer programs like tennis and instrument lessons will be cut, as will district-funded field trips for clubs. And fees or costs for elective courses could be added or increased, Superintendent Bruce Sensenig said. Students who take the SAT prep course may need to buy the textbook, he said.
In Conestoga Valley, student participation fees for extracurricular activities, already in place, would be raised, late bus runs for sports and detention eliminated, and "Global Connect," the phone system that makes automated calls to parents about school closings, also eliminated.
Kim Seldomridge, CV's business manager, said that at three school district forums on the budget, none of these were cited as concerns by residents. Instead, he said, most worried about the proposal to eliminate the district's bowling, rifle, swimming and golf teams. As a result of the concerns, Seldomridge said, those sports were taken off the chopping block.
Penn Manor will eliminate midday kindergarten transportation next year; money provided to teachers to purchase miscellaneous school supplies will be cut back; floors could be polished less often; and the district will cut back on playground mulch, which won't be replenished every year unless there's a safety issue due to too little mulch, Penn Manor Superintendent Michael Leichliter said.
"We will not make cuts that will put the safety of students at risk," Leichliter said. Penn Manor doesn't want to save a few dollars today, he said, if that will "exponentially increase maintenance issues in three to five years.
"Like the rest of our budget cuts, this means we will be engaged in a constant balancing act," he said.
He's met with athletic booster groups and PTOs, "asking them to take their share of the pain." Teresa Rineer, president of the PTO at Letort Elementary School, said the PTOs at all the district's schools are talking about ways they can work together to save the district money — and maybe, programs.
"Instead of every school having a movie night, maybe we just do one big one, and save money on the movie licenses we have to buy," said Rineer, mother of a middle-schooler and a sixth-grader. "Maybe we don't do three assemblies next year, we do two; maybe we join forces with other school districts, get the same people for assemblies and get discounts."
Already, she said, families have stepped up. Letort Elementary is having a "March Madness" label contest to see which class can collect the most Box Tops For Education and Labels For Education, which generate money for school districts; this year the school has tripled the number of labels it collected last year.
"We don't want our kids going door to door; we need to find creative ways to be helpful," she said.
"If we stay united, we'll be able to make a small dent."
Still, Leichliter, the superintendent, said he suspects the coming austerity will take many parents by surprise.
He said that in the past, when a parent called the school district asking officials to add a bus stop for their child, the district did so almost reflexively. But that can no longer be the case.
"By law, we can ask a student to walk a mile and a half" to a bus stop, he said. Not that the district would necessarily do that, but more stops mean a greater cost; and "I think people are going to be surprised" if they call, ask for a new stop, and the answer is "no," he said.
Unfortunately, he said, this is only the beginning.
"We're making the easy cuts now," he said. "The ones next year and in the following years are going to be tougher.
"The next few years in our schools is going to be a story of shared pain," he said.
Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. Email him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/366907#ixzz1HokSjfJo
Layoffs, fewer teams and supplies, even no mulch. Groups will try to save some things.
Sunday News
Updated Mar 27, 2011 00:44
By GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Nearly all the 300 chairs set up at Martin Meylin Middle School Tuesday night were filled, as residents of the Lampeter-Strasburg School District turned out to hear just how dire the school district's budget situation was.
Many, said district superintendent Dr. Robert Frick, were "aghast" at what they heard.
"We talked about things we don't have to provide, and said that when times get tough, they will have to go away," Frick said. And many of those things are going away.
Middle school junior varsity sports — boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, football and field hockey — will die unless booster clubs step up and agree to pay the coaches' stipends. Paper calendars and newsletters now distributed to district residents may be distributed online only. And in-school suspension rooms will be eliminated; "Now if you're suspended, you're out of school," Frick said. "It becomes the parents' problem, not the school's problem."
The list of programs and services long provided by school districts that will become the parents' problem next year is growing — not just at L-S, but all over the county.
Grappling with major funding shortfalls, virtually every school district in the county plans significant cuts next year. The Eastern Lancaster County district has already voted to lay off 15 teachers; last week a School District of Lancaster board member said up to 100 teachers could be laid off in the coming years. Classroom sizes will grow; administrative, and in some cases, teacher salaries will be curtailed.
Many of the cuts will be smaller in scope — yet they could have an outsized impact on parents and students, who may feel them immediately.
Districts are talking about eliminating bus trips and charging students who participate in extracurricular activities. Field trips could be eliminated; so could paper calendars and newsletters.
In this new, austere environment, there is likely to be more pressure on parents, parent-teacher organizations and booster clubs to shoulder a greater amount of the financial burden — or see programs eliminated for good.
School officials have spent months talking about the problem, hosting town meetings and sending home letters in an attempt to prepare parents for what's coming. "It is a totally different world out there," Frick said. "The people at our meeting, they get it.
"But I don't think most people get it."
Felt in the fall
They will — though perhaps not until next fall, after budgets for the 2011-12 school year are approved and the cuts kick in.
Besides voting to furlough 15 teachers, a move designed to save $1.31 million, Elanco is also considering raising ticket prices for sporting events, and selling advertising at Garden Spot High School stadium and gymnasium.
Hempfield, where teachers became the first in the county to agree to a pay freeze next year, still faces a $500,000 budget gap, Superintendent Brenda Becker said. The district may start charging a fee for participation in extracurricular activities, though Becker said she's not sure how much it would be. "The board wants to make sure it's not onerous for parents," she said.
Hempfield could also eliminate some bus routes and will begin printing its student planners in-house. "The planners will not be as glossy or attractive, but will be functional," Becker said.
Summertime blues
In Cocalico, summer programs like tennis and instrument lessons will be cut, as will district-funded field trips for clubs. And fees or costs for elective courses could be added or increased, Superintendent Bruce Sensenig said. Students who take the SAT prep course may need to buy the textbook, he said.
In Conestoga Valley, student participation fees for extracurricular activities, already in place, would be raised, late bus runs for sports and detention eliminated, and "Global Connect," the phone system that makes automated calls to parents about school closings, also eliminated.
Kim Seldomridge, CV's business manager, said that at three school district forums on the budget, none of these were cited as concerns by residents. Instead, he said, most worried about the proposal to eliminate the district's bowling, rifle, swimming and golf teams. As a result of the concerns, Seldomridge said, those sports were taken off the chopping block.
Penn Manor will eliminate midday kindergarten transportation next year; money provided to teachers to purchase miscellaneous school supplies will be cut back; floors could be polished less often; and the district will cut back on playground mulch, which won't be replenished every year unless there's a safety issue due to too little mulch, Penn Manor Superintendent Michael Leichliter said.
"We will not make cuts that will put the safety of students at risk," Leichliter said. Penn Manor doesn't want to save a few dollars today, he said, if that will "exponentially increase maintenance issues in three to five years.
"Like the rest of our budget cuts, this means we will be engaged in a constant balancing act," he said.
He's met with athletic booster groups and PTOs, "asking them to take their share of the pain." Teresa Rineer, president of the PTO at Letort Elementary School, said the PTOs at all the district's schools are talking about ways they can work together to save the district money — and maybe, programs.
"Instead of every school having a movie night, maybe we just do one big one, and save money on the movie licenses we have to buy," said Rineer, mother of a middle-schooler and a sixth-grader. "Maybe we don't do three assemblies next year, we do two; maybe we join forces with other school districts, get the same people for assemblies and get discounts."
Already, she said, families have stepped up. Letort Elementary is having a "March Madness" label contest to see which class can collect the most Box Tops For Education and Labels For Education, which generate money for school districts; this year the school has tripled the number of labels it collected last year.
"We don't want our kids going door to door; we need to find creative ways to be helpful," she said.
"If we stay united, we'll be able to make a small dent."
Still, Leichliter, the superintendent, said he suspects the coming austerity will take many parents by surprise.
He said that in the past, when a parent called the school district asking officials to add a bus stop for their child, the district did so almost reflexively. But that can no longer be the case.
"By law, we can ask a student to walk a mile and a half" to a bus stop, he said. Not that the district would necessarily do that, but more stops mean a greater cost; and "I think people are going to be surprised" if they call, ask for a new stop, and the answer is "no," he said.
Unfortunately, he said, this is only the beginning.
"We're making the easy cuts now," he said. "The ones next year and in the following years are going to be tougher.
"The next few years in our schools is going to be a story of shared pain," he said.
Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. Email him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/366907#ixzz1HokSjfJo
No comment from school officials about cuts (Spring-Ford) - Daily Local News 03/27/2011
The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
No comment from school officials about cuts
Spring-Ford Area School Board to address budget at meeting scheduled Monday
Sunday, March 27, 2011
By MARK D. MAROTTA, Special to the Local News
UPPER PROVIDENCE — Spring-Ford Area school officials say they will not comment about possible personnel cuts related to the district's pending budget shortfall until Monday's school board meeting.
In an e-mail Thursday night, Robert Wolfe, president of the Spring-Ford Education Association, the teachers' union, said the school board had decided "to cut certain programs" to close next year's budget deficit.
"However," Wolfe added, "right now these are only proposed program changes" that would need approval from the state Department of Education.
"If these proposed changes are approved, then these employees would be shifted to other positions that they might be qualified to teach that are not being cut," Wolfe said.
Wolfe said the district could eventually furlough some teachers in the absence of circumstances such as attrition through retirement.
Wolfe said the number of teachers possibly affected is "not set in stone, nor am I yet aware of exactly which programs the board is considering cutting. (Teachers' union) members are quite aware of the budget situation here at the district and hope to come to some arrangement where such eventualities might not be necessary."
School Board President Joe Ciresi said Thursday evening that the administration's recommendation affecting the teachers will be on the agenda of Monday's school board meeting. He declined to provide any further information, citing the nature of the issue as a personnel matter.
Ciresi said the district is trying to maintain its fiscal integrity in the face of a looming $12 million budget gap.
"We've been open and transparent about this from the start," Ciresi said.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports say that 30 custodial staff members and at least 22 teachers' aides were told Thursday they are being let go by the district later this year.
According to a source who declined to be identified, an early retirement incentive plan the school board approved earlier this week for qualified administrators, custodians, instructional aides and other support staff had generated little interest.
Contacted with a request for comment on Friday morning, district Superintendent Marsha Hurda responded that questions related to the program and staffing cuts would be addressed at the school board meeting Monday.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/27/news/srv0000011257437.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
No comment from school officials about cuts
Spring-Ford Area School Board to address budget at meeting scheduled Monday
Sunday, March 27, 2011
By MARK D. MAROTTA, Special to the Local News
UPPER PROVIDENCE — Spring-Ford Area school officials say they will not comment about possible personnel cuts related to the district's pending budget shortfall until Monday's school board meeting.
In an e-mail Thursday night, Robert Wolfe, president of the Spring-Ford Education Association, the teachers' union, said the school board had decided "to cut certain programs" to close next year's budget deficit.
"However," Wolfe added, "right now these are only proposed program changes" that would need approval from the state Department of Education.
"If these proposed changes are approved, then these employees would be shifted to other positions that they might be qualified to teach that are not being cut," Wolfe said.
Wolfe said the district could eventually furlough some teachers in the absence of circumstances such as attrition through retirement.
Wolfe said the number of teachers possibly affected is "not set in stone, nor am I yet aware of exactly which programs the board is considering cutting. (Teachers' union) members are quite aware of the budget situation here at the district and hope to come to some arrangement where such eventualities might not be necessary."
School Board President Joe Ciresi said Thursday evening that the administration's recommendation affecting the teachers will be on the agenda of Monday's school board meeting. He declined to provide any further information, citing the nature of the issue as a personnel matter.
Ciresi said the district is trying to maintain its fiscal integrity in the face of a looming $12 million budget gap.
"We've been open and transparent about this from the start," Ciresi said.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports say that 30 custodial staff members and at least 22 teachers' aides were told Thursday they are being let go by the district later this year.
According to a source who declined to be identified, an early retirement incentive plan the school board approved earlier this week for qualified administrators, custodians, instructional aides and other support staff had generated little interest.
Contacted with a request for comment on Friday morning, district Superintendent Marsha Hurda responded that questions related to the program and staffing cuts would be addressed at the school board meeting Monday.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/27/news/srv0000011257437.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Speakers urge school board not to cut sports - Daily Local News 03/26/2011
Speakers urge school board not to cut sports
Saturday, March 26, 2011
By MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY
PENN — Don’t cut sports programs.
That was the message a standing-room-only crowd of at least 150 residents gave to the Avon Grove School Board on Thursday night.
One after another, the speakers spoke about the value of middle-school, ninth-grade and junior-varsity B team sports programs on a list of possible expenses to be eliminated from the district’s 2011-12 school year budget.
Current high school students were among the speakers, relating how the middle school sports programs were important for them and pleading that they not be cut for the younger students.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to state public education subsidies have put Avon Grove in budget trouble. Even with a 5.9 percent tax increase and $3 million taken from the district’s fund balance, the district remains $3.6 million short of a balanced budget.
Over the past few months, Avon Grove school officials have developed a list of possible budget cuts, with the expenses ranked in three tiers depending on how much they affect students. Before the governor’s budget proposal, district administrators had hoped they would only have to touch the first tier, which contains steps such as doubling student parking fees from $50 to $100 and no longer printing the high school course guide.
The second tier includes reductions in programs with more impact on students. The third tier lists cuts to sports and other programs.
Reports say about 400 of the 900 middle school students participate in sports, at a cost to the district of about $162,000. At that rate, if students were charged for participation, the cost per student would be about $400.
Also proposed are:
• reducing intermurals to save $14,200,
• eliminating JVB boys and girls lacrosse and JVB girls field hockey at the high school for a savings of $12,000,
• eliminating ninth-grade athletics to save $29,891, and
• not filling one coach or adviser from every high school athletic program and student activity that has more than one such person to save $68,351.
A few of the larger items from the list of proposed cuts include cutting the senior citizen tax relief program to save $98,200 and eliminating professional and support staff positions through attrition and retirement to save more than $600,000.
Also proposed is the reduction of about eight professional positions to save $457,795 and reducing support positions to save another $800,000.
“There are a lot of items on this list. You’re going to have to make the decision of what you want to keep in and what you want to leave out,” district Superintendent Augustus Massaro said at the meeting.
During the meeting’s comment period, someone urged the board to take more from the district’s fund balance to avoid cuts to programs, but Massaro cautioned that using money from savings does not solve the funding problem.
“Long term, it can have a devastating financial impact,” he warned.
The budget cuts proposed by Corbett still have to go before the Legislature, and changes could be seen before final approval.
The board encouraged residents to contact their state representatives about the cuts and to attend the school board’s finance committee meetings when budget items are addressed in more specific terms.
The district’s website invites comments on the budget and suggestions for adding revenues or cutting expenses.
“In Avon Grove, our reality is that our revenues are less then our expenditures,” Massaro said. “I’m predicting this gap, for most school districts in the commonwealth, is going to get greater and greater.”
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/27/news/doc4d8e5ed1b46ab285847369.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Saturday, March 26, 2011
By MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY
PENN — Don’t cut sports programs.
That was the message a standing-room-only crowd of at least 150 residents gave to the Avon Grove School Board on Thursday night.
One after another, the speakers spoke about the value of middle-school, ninth-grade and junior-varsity B team sports programs on a list of possible expenses to be eliminated from the district’s 2011-12 school year budget.
Current high school students were among the speakers, relating how the middle school sports programs were important for them and pleading that they not be cut for the younger students.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed cuts to state public education subsidies have put Avon Grove in budget trouble. Even with a 5.9 percent tax increase and $3 million taken from the district’s fund balance, the district remains $3.6 million short of a balanced budget.
Over the past few months, Avon Grove school officials have developed a list of possible budget cuts, with the expenses ranked in three tiers depending on how much they affect students. Before the governor’s budget proposal, district administrators had hoped they would only have to touch the first tier, which contains steps such as doubling student parking fees from $50 to $100 and no longer printing the high school course guide.
The second tier includes reductions in programs with more impact on students. The third tier lists cuts to sports and other programs.
Reports say about 400 of the 900 middle school students participate in sports, at a cost to the district of about $162,000. At that rate, if students were charged for participation, the cost per student would be about $400.
Also proposed are:
• reducing intermurals to save $14,200,
• eliminating JVB boys and girls lacrosse and JVB girls field hockey at the high school for a savings of $12,000,
• eliminating ninth-grade athletics to save $29,891, and
• not filling one coach or adviser from every high school athletic program and student activity that has more than one such person to save $68,351.
A few of the larger items from the list of proposed cuts include cutting the senior citizen tax relief program to save $98,200 and eliminating professional and support staff positions through attrition and retirement to save more than $600,000.
Also proposed is the reduction of about eight professional positions to save $457,795 and reducing support positions to save another $800,000.
“There are a lot of items on this list. You’re going to have to make the decision of what you want to keep in and what you want to leave out,” district Superintendent Augustus Massaro said at the meeting.
During the meeting’s comment period, someone urged the board to take more from the district’s fund balance to avoid cuts to programs, but Massaro cautioned that using money from savings does not solve the funding problem.
“Long term, it can have a devastating financial impact,” he warned.
The budget cuts proposed by Corbett still have to go before the Legislature, and changes could be seen before final approval.
The board encouraged residents to contact their state representatives about the cuts and to attend the school board’s finance committee meetings when budget items are addressed in more specific terms.
The district’s website invites comments on the budget and suggestions for adding revenues or cutting expenses.
“In Avon Grove, our reality is that our revenues are less then our expenditures,” Massaro said. “I’m predicting this gap, for most school districts in the commonwealth, is going to get greater and greater.”
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/27/news/doc4d8e5ed1b46ab285847369.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Parent Meeting 3/23/2011
"The only person who likes change is a wet baby."
I'm not sure who to attribute that quote to, as several different people are cited as having said it. However, it sums up the parents' meeting last night. The comments on this meeting are going to be different from what I normally do. I won't cover everything & I will put my opinion in some places.
There seemed to be a lot of angst among incoming-Kindergarten parents about the proposed change to Full-day-every-other-day Kindergarten from 1/2 days. Let me say: It will be okay. Currently, in the half-day setting, Kindergarten teachers have 2 1/2 hours to get everything in. That is not a lot of time for what they need to accomplish. If anything happens to get them off schedule by 5 minutes, there is no time to get back on track. With a whole day, if something gets you off schedule by 5 minutes, there is an opportunity to make up that time. Part of that 2 1/2 hours is spending time to gear up & wind down. That amount of time out of 2 1/2 hours is a significant percentage....out of a whole day, not so much. The students will actually be gaining instructional time. We have great Kindergarten teachers and I'm sure they will be able to structure the day that is advantageous to everyone. It is a great first step to all-day/every-day. It's only taken them 12 years to get to this point.
One of the other areas of concern was the dissolution of the teams for 7th & 8th grade. Again... it will be okay. Each way has its advantages & disadvantages. One clear advantage I see for the proposed structure is the flexibility it will give for scheduling. This would have been good for our youngest. The math class and CA classes she needed to be in were at the same time. She ended up in a lower math class than she should have been in because of the CA class she needed. Having no teams would have allowed her to be in a more appropriate math class.
One concern that was shared was about kids being "guinea pigs". Your child will be a "guinea pig" at some point in their school career no matter where they attend school. Every time a pilot program is introduced, your kid is a "guinea pig" (Project Read, the Scott Foresman series). Every time a new assessment is introduced, your kid is a "guinea pig" (i.e. high school students taking the Keystone exams this year to set the standards).
There was a lot of discussion about what could be done. Dr. Newcome spoke about the Octorara Regional Planning Commission. He again emphasized that people need to contact their local municipalities and make sure they are ready for commercial development as the economy improves. The district NEEDS that commercial development to ease the tax burden on residents.
People complain about their school property taxes, but in a lot of ways the district's hands are tied. They are limited in how much they can raise taxes, but have no control over taxable property or mandates from the state that increase costs.
Another area that was discussed was athletics. The goal of the district is to move to private funding for sports. This has been several years in the making - although many people haven't wanted to recognize it. There were some comments that if that is the case, then the district needs to "get out of the way" and let the clubs do what they need to. There were questions about coaching salaries & whether the clubs would be bound to the contracted points system. That would need to be negotiated out of the teachers' contract. Audience members asked that it be considered during negotiations.
The administration would not discuss the current contract negotiations. Audience members made it clear that the teachers need to understand how difficult it has been for a lot of people over the past few years and that the negotiating team needs to be tough.
For the most part, the meeting was civil and informative. I wasn't sure that it was going to be, as someone who isn't a parent of a current student seemed angry & antagonistic with his questions.
The rest of the meetings should be just as interesting.
I'm not sure who to attribute that quote to, as several different people are cited as having said it. However, it sums up the parents' meeting last night. The comments on this meeting are going to be different from what I normally do. I won't cover everything & I will put my opinion in some places.
There seemed to be a lot of angst among incoming-Kindergarten parents about the proposed change to Full-day-every-other-day Kindergarten from 1/2 days. Let me say: It will be okay. Currently, in the half-day setting, Kindergarten teachers have 2 1/2 hours to get everything in. That is not a lot of time for what they need to accomplish. If anything happens to get them off schedule by 5 minutes, there is no time to get back on track. With a whole day, if something gets you off schedule by 5 minutes, there is an opportunity to make up that time. Part of that 2 1/2 hours is spending time to gear up & wind down. That amount of time out of 2 1/2 hours is a significant percentage....out of a whole day, not so much. The students will actually be gaining instructional time. We have great Kindergarten teachers and I'm sure they will be able to structure the day that is advantageous to everyone. It is a great first step to all-day/every-day. It's only taken them 12 years to get to this point.
One of the other areas of concern was the dissolution of the teams for 7th & 8th grade. Again... it will be okay. Each way has its advantages & disadvantages. One clear advantage I see for the proposed structure is the flexibility it will give for scheduling. This would have been good for our youngest. The math class and CA classes she needed to be in were at the same time. She ended up in a lower math class than she should have been in because of the CA class she needed. Having no teams would have allowed her to be in a more appropriate math class.
One concern that was shared was about kids being "guinea pigs". Your child will be a "guinea pig" at some point in their school career no matter where they attend school. Every time a pilot program is introduced, your kid is a "guinea pig" (Project Read, the Scott Foresman series). Every time a new assessment is introduced, your kid is a "guinea pig" (i.e. high school students taking the Keystone exams this year to set the standards).
There was a lot of discussion about what could be done. Dr. Newcome spoke about the Octorara Regional Planning Commission. He again emphasized that people need to contact their local municipalities and make sure they are ready for commercial development as the economy improves. The district NEEDS that commercial development to ease the tax burden on residents.
People complain about their school property taxes, but in a lot of ways the district's hands are tied. They are limited in how much they can raise taxes, but have no control over taxable property or mandates from the state that increase costs.
Another area that was discussed was athletics. The goal of the district is to move to private funding for sports. This has been several years in the making - although many people haven't wanted to recognize it. There were some comments that if that is the case, then the district needs to "get out of the way" and let the clubs do what they need to. There were questions about coaching salaries & whether the clubs would be bound to the contracted points system. That would need to be negotiated out of the teachers' contract. Audience members asked that it be considered during negotiations.
The administration would not discuss the current contract negotiations. Audience members made it clear that the teachers need to understand how difficult it has been for a lot of people over the past few years and that the negotiating team needs to be tough.
For the most part, the meeting was civil and informative. I wasn't sure that it was going to be, as someone who isn't a parent of a current student seemed angry & antagonistic with his questions.
The rest of the meetings should be just as interesting.
PowerPoint from Board meeting 03/21/2011
Link to Powerpoint presentation that shows Octorara compared to other area districts:
http://octorara.pa.schoolwebpages.com/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=MjAxMS0xMl9QcmVzZW50YXRpb25fSUlfTWFyY2hfMjEucGRmOjo6L3d3dzcvc2Nob29scy9wYS9vY3RvcmFyYS9pbWFnZXMvZG9jbWdyLzk1ZmlsZTIwNDYucGRm
http://octorara.pa.schoolwebpages.com/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=MjAxMS0xMl9QcmVzZW50YXRpb25fSUlfTWFyY2hfMjEucGRmOjo6L3d3dzcvc2Nob29scy9wYS9vY3RvcmFyYS9pbWFnZXMvZG9jbWdyLzk1ZmlsZTIwNDYucGRm
Lampeter-Strasburg school board details budget challenges Lancasteronline 03/23/2011
Lampeter-Strasburg school board details budget challenges
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 23, 2011 19:48
By CINDY HUMMEL, Correspondent
About 100 Lampeter-Strasburg residents learned details behind an anticipated tax hike during a Tuesday night town meeting.
District officials reviewed the draft 2011-12 budget, which includes a 2.95 percent tax increase using exceptions under state Act 1. Even so, the district faces a budget shortfall of $611,100, which it plans to partially plug with $400,000 in reserves.
Business manager Terry Sweigart said the district is still trimming the budget after already making $1.9 million in cuts, which include the elimination of positions.
Reasons for the unusually tight budget include higher health care and pension costs. The district also expects a reduced state subsidy, less income from realty transfer and income taxes, declining real estate values, a higher rate of delinquent tax bills and less interest income from investments.
Noting that the crowd was the largest he has seen in five years, school board member Scott Riekers said: "We need you there in this very uncharted territory."
Many residents had questions.
One woman asked how state legislation requiring the district to pay cyberschool tuition was passed. Riekers said the measure passed in 2001, originally reimbursing districts for one-third of the cost. The 2011-12 budget includes no state reimbursement for the more than $500,000 the district must pay.
Resident Mark Sellers, who called L-S a district "second to none in the county and probably the state," encouraged the district and residents to work together to get through the budget challenges.
"I think there are no easy answers here," Sellers said. "We have to make cuts all around."
Resident Bob Haldeman said some residents could not afford a 2.95 percent tax increase. When he added that he felt he had a better education in a school with eight grades and one teacher than L-S students do today, several other residents replied negatively.
Other parents offered money-saving suggestions, such as having sports operate independently, continuing early retirement incentives and charging more for use of district buildings.
A second meeting, covering the same material, takes place Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Martin Meylin Middle School, 1600 Book Road, Lampeter.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365700#ixzz1HYqiAHMa
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 23, 2011 19:48
By CINDY HUMMEL, Correspondent
About 100 Lampeter-Strasburg residents learned details behind an anticipated tax hike during a Tuesday night town meeting.
District officials reviewed the draft 2011-12 budget, which includes a 2.95 percent tax increase using exceptions under state Act 1. Even so, the district faces a budget shortfall of $611,100, which it plans to partially plug with $400,000 in reserves.
Business manager Terry Sweigart said the district is still trimming the budget after already making $1.9 million in cuts, which include the elimination of positions.
Reasons for the unusually tight budget include higher health care and pension costs. The district also expects a reduced state subsidy, less income from realty transfer and income taxes, declining real estate values, a higher rate of delinquent tax bills and less interest income from investments.
Noting that the crowd was the largest he has seen in five years, school board member Scott Riekers said: "We need you there in this very uncharted territory."
Many residents had questions.
One woman asked how state legislation requiring the district to pay cyberschool tuition was passed. Riekers said the measure passed in 2001, originally reimbursing districts for one-third of the cost. The 2011-12 budget includes no state reimbursement for the more than $500,000 the district must pay.
Resident Mark Sellers, who called L-S a district "second to none in the county and probably the state," encouraged the district and residents to work together to get through the budget challenges.
"I think there are no easy answers here," Sellers said. "We have to make cuts all around."
Resident Bob Haldeman said some residents could not afford a 2.95 percent tax increase. When he added that he felt he had a better education in a school with eight grades and one teacher than L-S students do today, several other residents replied negatively.
Other parents offered money-saving suggestions, such as having sports operate independently, continuing early retirement incentives and charging more for use of district buildings.
A second meeting, covering the same material, takes place Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Martin Meylin Middle School, 1600 Book Road, Lampeter.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365700#ixzz1HYqiAHMa
Senators target school mandates - Lancasteronline 03/22/2011
Senators target school mandates
Republican lawmakers say they want to help cash-strapped districts cut expenses
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 22, 2011 23:28
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
All public school teachers must get 10 paid sick days per year and be eligible for paid sabbatical leaves after 10 years of service, according to the Pennsylvania Public School Code.
The code, which has been in effect since 1949, also requires that school districts provide transportation for school-age residents who attend private schools — even if those schools are in other states bordering Pennsylvania.
Those are two examples of the unfunded mandates forced upon public schools that state lawmakers want to eliminate to help cash-strapped school districts cut expenses.
At a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol, state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola unveiled a series of bills designed to eliminate these and other mandates. Included in the package are four bills sponsored by state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township and one each sponsored by Sen. Lloyd Smucker of West Lampeter and Sen. Mike Folmer of Lebanon, who represents a portion of Lancaster County.
All are Republicans.
"This package makes it possible for school districts to continue to provide a quality education without raising local property taxes," said Piccola, the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
Local school officials were skeptical of that claim but generally praised the proposals as a step in the right direction.
"It looks to me like the legislators have heard the districts' pleas for flexibility, given the challenging economic times we're facing," said Amy Slamp, superintendent of Elizabethtown Area School District.
Slamp said she needs to study the legislation in more detail to determine how much money her district could save from the changes.
Piccola's office was unable to provide a projected statewide savings from the proposed legislation, which is designed to help offset a nearly $1 billion reduction in state education funding in Gov. Tom Corbett's 2011-12 budget.
During Tuesday's press conference, state Sen. Andy Dinniman, Democratic chairman of the Education Committee, said the legislation would "hopefully save 1 percent to 2 percent of these cuts."
The bill with the biggest potential for savings, local school officials said, would allow districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons.
Introduced last month by Folmer, Senate Bill 612 would amend the School Code, which allows teacher furloughs only in response to enrollment declines, program reductions and school consolidations.
S.B. 612 also would remove a provision in the code that teachers who were hired last be laid off first, enabling districts to implement layoffs based on teacher effectiveness.
State Rep. Scott Boyd of West Lampeter has introduced similar legislation in the House
Folmer's bill and S.B. 870, which would repeal mandated teacher sick days and sabbaticals, have the most potential for savings, said Bob Frick, superintendent of Lampeter-Strasburg School District.
"The rest of them, in my opinion, would be window dressing," he said of the other bills.
L-S pays $1,000 in substitute teacher costs to cover each teacher who uses all 10 of his or her sick days a year, Frick said. Teachers also can save up and "cash in" their unused days.
But for any savings to materialize, he said, the teachers' contract would have to be amended because those provisions are included in that agreement.
Brubaker is sponsoring a bill that would suspend for two years a state requirement that teachers receive continuing education, usually at the expense of the school district where they work.
Like the furlough bill, however, most tuition reimbursements are guaranteed in teacher contracts, and those pacts would have to be renegotiated before school districts could realize savings.
Brubaker also is sponsoring the following legislation:
• S.B. 296 — Raises from $5,000 to $25,000 the threshold on expenditures for which districts must seek competitive bids.
• S.B. 873 — Streamlines the PlanCon process the state uses to review school construction projects eligible for state reimbursements.
• S.B. 872 — Reduces restrictions on the dual-enrollment program that allows high school students to enroll in college-credit classes.
Corbett has eliminated dual-enrollment funding for next year. The changes would take effect if funding is restored.
Smucker's bill would repeal a section of the School Code mandating that annual increases in basic education subsidies be used only for new and expanded programs, not existing expenditures.
Other mandate-relief legislation would:
• Suspend the required filing of "nonessential" reports to the state Department of Education during years in which state education funding declines.
• Allow districts to hire school-certified nurses instead of registered nurses.
• Allow districts to post public notices on the Internet instead of paying for newspaper advertisements.
• Ease restrictions on the hiring of superintendents. Districts could hire candidates with graduate degrees in business or finance who are not certificated.
• Other mandate-relief legislation in the pipeline would eliminate prevailing wage requirements on school construction projects and increase the number of hours part-time employees must work to join the state pension system.
The Senate Education Committee also plans to introduce legislation designed to give residents more control over property taxes.
Senate Bill 357 would require a two-thirds majority vote by school boards to increase property taxes.
Brubaker plans to introduce a bill to eliminate Act 1 exceptions for costs beyond a school district's control, such as pension payments and special-education expenditures.
The legislation would force districts to seek voter approval for any property tax increase above their state-mandated base Act 1 index.
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365355#ixzz1HYksFCKM
Republican lawmakers say they want to help cash-strapped districts cut expenses
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 22, 2011 23:28
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
All public school teachers must get 10 paid sick days per year and be eligible for paid sabbatical leaves after 10 years of service, according to the Pennsylvania Public School Code.
The code, which has been in effect since 1949, also requires that school districts provide transportation for school-age residents who attend private schools — even if those schools are in other states bordering Pennsylvania.
Those are two examples of the unfunded mandates forced upon public schools that state lawmakers want to eliminate to help cash-strapped school districts cut expenses.
At a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol, state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola unveiled a series of bills designed to eliminate these and other mandates. Included in the package are four bills sponsored by state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township and one each sponsored by Sen. Lloyd Smucker of West Lampeter and Sen. Mike Folmer of Lebanon, who represents a portion of Lancaster County.
All are Republicans.
"This package makes it possible for school districts to continue to provide a quality education without raising local property taxes," said Piccola, the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
Local school officials were skeptical of that claim but generally praised the proposals as a step in the right direction.
"It looks to me like the legislators have heard the districts' pleas for flexibility, given the challenging economic times we're facing," said Amy Slamp, superintendent of Elizabethtown Area School District.
Slamp said she needs to study the legislation in more detail to determine how much money her district could save from the changes.
Piccola's office was unable to provide a projected statewide savings from the proposed legislation, which is designed to help offset a nearly $1 billion reduction in state education funding in Gov. Tom Corbett's 2011-12 budget.
During Tuesday's press conference, state Sen. Andy Dinniman, Democratic chairman of the Education Committee, said the legislation would "hopefully save 1 percent to 2 percent of these cuts."
The bill with the biggest potential for savings, local school officials said, would allow districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons.
Introduced last month by Folmer, Senate Bill 612 would amend the School Code, which allows teacher furloughs only in response to enrollment declines, program reductions and school consolidations.
S.B. 612 also would remove a provision in the code that teachers who were hired last be laid off first, enabling districts to implement layoffs based on teacher effectiveness.
State Rep. Scott Boyd of West Lampeter has introduced similar legislation in the House
Folmer's bill and S.B. 870, which would repeal mandated teacher sick days and sabbaticals, have the most potential for savings, said Bob Frick, superintendent of Lampeter-Strasburg School District.
"The rest of them, in my opinion, would be window dressing," he said of the other bills.
L-S pays $1,000 in substitute teacher costs to cover each teacher who uses all 10 of his or her sick days a year, Frick said. Teachers also can save up and "cash in" their unused days.
But for any savings to materialize, he said, the teachers' contract would have to be amended because those provisions are included in that agreement.
Brubaker is sponsoring a bill that would suspend for two years a state requirement that teachers receive continuing education, usually at the expense of the school district where they work.
Like the furlough bill, however, most tuition reimbursements are guaranteed in teacher contracts, and those pacts would have to be renegotiated before school districts could realize savings.
Brubaker also is sponsoring the following legislation:
• S.B. 296 — Raises from $5,000 to $25,000 the threshold on expenditures for which districts must seek competitive bids.
• S.B. 873 — Streamlines the PlanCon process the state uses to review school construction projects eligible for state reimbursements.
• S.B. 872 — Reduces restrictions on the dual-enrollment program that allows high school students to enroll in college-credit classes.
Corbett has eliminated dual-enrollment funding for next year. The changes would take effect if funding is restored.
Smucker's bill would repeal a section of the School Code mandating that annual increases in basic education subsidies be used only for new and expanded programs, not existing expenditures.
Other mandate-relief legislation would:
• Suspend the required filing of "nonessential" reports to the state Department of Education during years in which state education funding declines.
• Allow districts to hire school-certified nurses instead of registered nurses.
• Allow districts to post public notices on the Internet instead of paying for newspaper advertisements.
• Ease restrictions on the hiring of superintendents. Districts could hire candidates with graduate degrees in business or finance who are not certificated.
• Other mandate-relief legislation in the pipeline would eliminate prevailing wage requirements on school construction projects and increase the number of hours part-time employees must work to join the state pension system.
The Senate Education Committee also plans to introduce legislation designed to give residents more control over property taxes.
Senate Bill 357 would require a two-thirds majority vote by school boards to increase property taxes.
Brubaker plans to introduce a bill to eliminate Act 1 exceptions for costs beyond a school district's control, such as pension payments and special-education expenditures.
The legislation would force districts to seek voter approval for any property tax increase above their state-mandated base Act 1 index.
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365355#ixzz1HYksFCKM
Donegal school board OKs realignment plan - Lancasteronline 03/22/2011
Donegal school board OKs realignment plan
Board requires its approval for each step of controversial, cost-saving consolidation
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 22, 2011 20:24
by DEAN LEE EVANS, Correspondent
Donegal school board members approved two motions Thursday related to a districtwide grade realignment plan despite opposition from two members who sought to table the plan a second time to allow more input.
Ronald Melleby and Stephen Gault voted against a motion to adopt a grade realignment plan presented and endorsed by the administration last month.
The realignment plan calls for the closure of Maytown Elementary and the Kindergarten Center; and the realignment of all kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade levels under one roof at Donegal Springs Elementary, all 3rd through 6th grades into the Riverview Elementary/Middle School complex and 7th and 8th grades into the current high school.
Moving the 7th and 8th grade levels into the current high school would be done after the district's new high school, currently under construction next to Donegal Springs Elementary, opens next year.
The plan was set for a vote March 3, but tabled until Thursday to allow more time for board members to review the details.
"I see no rush to do this now," Melleby said. He questioned the immediate impact of the plan.
He questioned John Coleman, board member and facilities committee chairman, about the two measures up for a vote.
Coleman said Thursday the grade realignment plan would likely not affect classes for the 2011-12 school year, but approving the plan now sets certain actions in motion.
Coleman and business manager Amy Swartz both touted the plan last month for its savings in the face of a budget shortfall currently estimated at $2.3 million.
The realignment plan was presented as a way to shave approximately $500,000 off the district's annual budget — mostly in building costs associated to maintain the two buildings slated to close and through the consolidation of supplies and services.
Coleman said the four schools that Donegal students would be consolidated into need infrastructure upgrades before the students can relocate.
However, Coleman said a limited realignment at Donegal Springs Elementary School — the newest and most modern of Donegal's schools — could occur sooner because the building was least likely to require significant improvements.
Winnifred Younkin, director of elementary education, said approving the plan now was vital because staffing considerations for the upcoming school years are under way.
Melleby asked, "In your opinion, it's important to push the first domino this evening?"
Younkin said yes.
Susan Ursprung, assistant superintendent, who spoke Thursday in the absence of Swartz, said the bulk of the grade realignment would likely be implemented by the 2012-13 school year.
Gault said he supported the closing of Maytown and the Kindergarten Center and the grade realignments to the current high school, but he questioned the administration's realignment of the lower grade levels.
At the March 3 meeting, he proposed that Donegal Springs Elementary house grades kindergarten through 4th grades and that the middle school house grades five and six.
He said his proposal might add one or two teachers, which countered the administration's goal of realigning grades without adding any new teachers.
A second motion Thursday authorized the administration to implement the realignment plan.
However, board member Robert Spayde got support to amend the motion to authorize the administration to recommend action and require it to get board approval for each step in the process.
That amended motion passed unanimously.
Neither action approved by the board Thursday set any plan in motion to close Maytown or the Kindergarten Center.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365314#ixzz1HYgR8rpO
Board requires its approval for each step of controversial, cost-saving consolidation
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 22, 2011 20:24
by DEAN LEE EVANS, Correspondent
Donegal school board members approved two motions Thursday related to a districtwide grade realignment plan despite opposition from two members who sought to table the plan a second time to allow more input.
Ronald Melleby and Stephen Gault voted against a motion to adopt a grade realignment plan presented and endorsed by the administration last month.
The realignment plan calls for the closure of Maytown Elementary and the Kindergarten Center; and the realignment of all kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade levels under one roof at Donegal Springs Elementary, all 3rd through 6th grades into the Riverview Elementary/Middle School complex and 7th and 8th grades into the current high school.
Moving the 7th and 8th grade levels into the current high school would be done after the district's new high school, currently under construction next to Donegal Springs Elementary, opens next year.
The plan was set for a vote March 3, but tabled until Thursday to allow more time for board members to review the details.
"I see no rush to do this now," Melleby said. He questioned the immediate impact of the plan.
He questioned John Coleman, board member and facilities committee chairman, about the two measures up for a vote.
Coleman said Thursday the grade realignment plan would likely not affect classes for the 2011-12 school year, but approving the plan now sets certain actions in motion.
Coleman and business manager Amy Swartz both touted the plan last month for its savings in the face of a budget shortfall currently estimated at $2.3 million.
The realignment plan was presented as a way to shave approximately $500,000 off the district's annual budget — mostly in building costs associated to maintain the two buildings slated to close and through the consolidation of supplies and services.
Coleman said the four schools that Donegal students would be consolidated into need infrastructure upgrades before the students can relocate.
However, Coleman said a limited realignment at Donegal Springs Elementary School — the newest and most modern of Donegal's schools — could occur sooner because the building was least likely to require significant improvements.
Winnifred Younkin, director of elementary education, said approving the plan now was vital because staffing considerations for the upcoming school years are under way.
Melleby asked, "In your opinion, it's important to push the first domino this evening?"
Younkin said yes.
Susan Ursprung, assistant superintendent, who spoke Thursday in the absence of Swartz, said the bulk of the grade realignment would likely be implemented by the 2012-13 school year.
Gault said he supported the closing of Maytown and the Kindergarten Center and the grade realignments to the current high school, but he questioned the administration's realignment of the lower grade levels.
At the March 3 meeting, he proposed that Donegal Springs Elementary house grades kindergarten through 4th grades and that the middle school house grades five and six.
He said his proposal might add one or two teachers, which countered the administration's goal of realigning grades without adding any new teachers.
A second motion Thursday authorized the administration to implement the realignment plan.
However, board member Robert Spayde got support to amend the motion to authorize the administration to recommend action and require it to get board approval for each step in the process.
That amended motion passed unanimously.
Neither action approved by the board Thursday set any plan in motion to close Maytown or the Kindergarten Center.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/365314#ixzz1HYgR8rpO
Solanco School District eyes cuts to sports, driver ed - LancasterOnline 03/22/2011
Solanco School District eyes cuts to sports, driver ed -
LancasterOnline.com News
Mar 22, 2011
The release of Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2011-12 state budget caused increased apprehension about future expenditures in the Solanco School District.
Board members learned Monday evening that Solanco will receive about $800,000 less than expected in state funding, forcing them to find ways to make up for a total deficit of $2.5 million in the district's proposed 2011-12 budget.
Superintendent C. Martin Hudacs presented a list of potential spending cuts that could yield savings of $1,104,312 to $4,866,812. But it would not be possible to implement all of the cost-saving measures in the upcoming year, even if the board approved every cut.
The decision of administrators to accept no pay raise next year will save the district $41,812.
"We appreciate your sensitivity to our situation," board president Daniel Bender said. Bender added that budget discussions will be held at every upcoming board meeting.
District officials also are looking at reducing staff positions through attrition when employees retire, as well as resignations and re-assignments that could save the district $200,000 to $600,000.
In addition, they are considering potential cuts in the athletics program, which could save the district anywhere from $20,000 to $110,000. Cuts in spending for driver education could save an additional $20,000 to $38,000.
Cyber and charter school funding was drastically cut in the state budget, leaving Solanco administrators thinking about trying to introduce students in those programs to the district's Virtual Academy. It is estimated that this could yield a cost savings of $25,000 to $200,000.
Hudacs said administrators are focusing on "what can be done to have the minimum impact in the classroom."
"You can see we have our work cut out for us. … I have full confidence in this board and administration to come up with some good decisions, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy," board member Kurt Kreider said.
Bender added, "I would say we're in favor (of the potential cuts) at least as a starting point. … We don't know where the budget is going to end up."
Ralph Jones, of Georgetown, spoke to the board and encouraged the members to try to minimize tax increases.
"I'm not criticizing anyone," he said. "I understand these people are between a rock and a hard place. You have to treat government like fire. It has to be kept in the firebox."
"The power to tax is the power to destroy," Jones told board members.
In another matter, the board awarded a $7,260 bid to Cash & Carry in Quarryville for new light fixtures in the newer of two gymnasiums at Solanco High School. The expenditure could result in a $3,800 rebate from PPL.
LancasterOnline.com News
Mar 22, 2011
The release of Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2011-12 state budget caused increased apprehension about future expenditures in the Solanco School District.
Board members learned Monday evening that Solanco will receive about $800,000 less than expected in state funding, forcing them to find ways to make up for a total deficit of $2.5 million in the district's proposed 2011-12 budget.
Superintendent C. Martin Hudacs presented a list of potential spending cuts that could yield savings of $1,104,312 to $4,866,812. But it would not be possible to implement all of the cost-saving measures in the upcoming year, even if the board approved every cut.
The decision of administrators to accept no pay raise next year will save the district $41,812.
"We appreciate your sensitivity to our situation," board president Daniel Bender said. Bender added that budget discussions will be held at every upcoming board meeting.
District officials also are looking at reducing staff positions through attrition when employees retire, as well as resignations and re-assignments that could save the district $200,000 to $600,000.
In addition, they are considering potential cuts in the athletics program, which could save the district anywhere from $20,000 to $110,000. Cuts in spending for driver education could save an additional $20,000 to $38,000.
Cyber and charter school funding was drastically cut in the state budget, leaving Solanco administrators thinking about trying to introduce students in those programs to the district's Virtual Academy. It is estimated that this could yield a cost savings of $25,000 to $200,000.
Hudacs said administrators are focusing on "what can be done to have the minimum impact in the classroom."
"You can see we have our work cut out for us. … I have full confidence in this board and administration to come up with some good decisions, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy," board member Kurt Kreider said.
Bender added, "I would say we're in favor (of the potential cuts) at least as a starting point. … We don't know where the budget is going to end up."
Ralph Jones, of Georgetown, spoke to the board and encouraged the members to try to minimize tax increases.
"I'm not criticizing anyone," he said. "I understand these people are between a rock and a hard place. You have to treat government like fire. It has to be kept in the firebox."
"The power to tax is the power to destroy," Jones told board members.
In another matter, the board awarded a $7,260 bid to Cash & Carry in Quarryville for new light fixtures in the newer of two gymnasiums at Solanco High School. The expenditure could result in a $3,800 rebate from PPL.
Taking it out on teachers - LancasterOnline 03/24/2011
Taking it out on teachers - LancasterOnline.com News
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/364299?sms_ss=printfriendly&at_xt=4d8bb600de1fe696%252C0
March 24, 2011Media Center
Beth Rosenberg has taught roomfuls of elementary students for more than 30 years, and nothing seems to take the shine off of her enthusiasm for her chosen profession.
Not even the criticisms of those who assail teachers as overpaid and under-worked.
Teachers "know what we do, and we know how valuable it is, and we know how hard we work," said Rosenberg, who teaches fourth grade at Eshleman Elementary School in the Penn Manor School District.
Rosenberg is described by those who know her as a dedicated and respected educator. But her once widely respected profession has come under fire — from taxpayers who contend that teachers are too generously compensated, and from conservatives who are pushing for more school choice.
"Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?" was the headline of a recent New York Times article, which noted the characterization of teachers in the public discourse as "glorified baby sitters."
The much-publicized documentary film, "Waiting for 'Superman,' " blamed teachers, and particularly, teachers' unions, for failing schools.
As the battle raged in Wisconsin over collective-bargaining rights for teachers and other public-sector employees, a pundit on a Fox business show dismissed teaching as a "part-time job," claiming that teachers are "done at 2:30 in the afternoon and they don't work summers."
This inspired Jon Stewart, on "The Daily Show," to deliver an ironic lecture about the "greed" of teachers. Stewart feigned dismay over their "special textbooks with all the answers in them," and the "shiny red apples" they get every day.
Jane Bray, dean of the School of Education at Millersville University, said many teachers feel demoralized by the teacher-bashing. "Teachers feel like they're being kicked around," she said.
Across the country, public officials have sought to reduce budget deficits by turning their sights on teacher salaries and benefits.
Republican state Rep. Scott Boyd, of West Lampeter Township, recently introduced legislation that would make it easier for school districts to furlough teachers, without regard to seniority, for economic reasons.
And Gov. Tom Corbett, who's seeking significant cuts in education spending, has asked public school employees to accept a pay freeze next year.
Last week, Hempfield School District teachers voted overwhelmingly to take a pay freeze, the first in the state to do so. And the Pennsylvania State Education Association called on all PSEA locals to consider doing the same.
"Did the teachers' union do it out of the kindness of their heart, or did they see the writing on the chalkboard?" asked one skeptical poster on TalkBack, the online forum of Lancaster Newspapers Inc.
Chuck Trupe, a former Eastern Lancaster County School District school board member, said "classroom teachers have my full support and respect. The vast majority of them work extremely hard and are teaching for the right reasons."
But taxpayers are faced with huge property tax bills, and they see teachers getting salary and benefit packages that are superior to their own, he said. "Bottom line in all of this is that the taxpayers are looking for a level of fairness."
Visible and near
Unlike other, more distant objects of taxpayer wrath — Wall Street bankers, for instance, or Washington politicians — teachers are visible and near.
In times such as these, when people are struggling financially, they look at teachers and other public employees, whose salaries are funded by tax dollars, and say, " 'Wait a minute, you're not suffering as much as we are,' " said Brenda Becker, superintendent of the Hempfield School District.
Teachers have been able to depend on yearly raises, relatively low-cost health coverage, and state-mandated pensions, while many other workers have seen their pensions dwindle, and their wages and benefits decline.
Becker said, "truly, I understand why there is a lot of anger" over school taxes. She said she thinks there needs to be a "total system overhaul" of the way public schools are funded.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, said he would like for there to be a "civil, public discourse" about teacher compensation and benefits.
"What we need is discussion and debate and consensus on what the needs in 2011 are, and how our laws need to change to make the system fairer," Leichliter said. "Demonizing teachers is not fair. It works well in 30-second sound bites, but it's not the answer."
And educators "can't really fight back," said Becker, of Hempfield, noting that to answer with the same fervor as critics "would be considered unprofessional."
Becker said some of the teacher-bashing is being fomented by champions of school choice, who want to use public money for private education. So they focus on bad teachers, and, in Pennsylvania, on "the small number of schools that aren't working," she said.
If a school was showing a pattern of not producing, "I would be the first in line to say, 'Shut that school down,' " she said, adding that it is unfair, however, to depict all public schools in a negative light, when most schools, particularly in Lancaster County, are performing well.
Conservative reaction
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, which advocates for school choice, countered that "even in the good public schools, you have students who are not being served."
Teacher-bashing doesn't make for "a healthy debate," he said. But when people read stories about, for instance, the suburban Philadelphia teacher who called her students "lazy whiners" in her blog, good teachers get lumped in with the bad.
Becker said she thinks the vilification of public schoolteachers has been difficult for many. "I think that many of them do understand that they are wearing targets on their backs right now, and that frustrates them because many of them are working harder than they've ever worked before."
Bray, of Millersville University, said that the pressures on teachers have "skyrocketed" in recent years.
This month, students are taking Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, which are intended to measure student achievement, in accordance with No Child Left Behind.
Most teachers welcomed the accountability that No Child Left Behind, which became law in 2002, brought to education, but the high-stakes testing required by the law has been stressful for students and teachers alike, Bray said.
Moreover, the mainstreaming of students with special needs — though "a good thing," in Bray's view — has meant that regular-education teachers now must try to meet the needs of students whose abilities may vary greatly.
And special education teachers face an array of challenges, Bray said, noting that their paperwork load is ongoing and complicated and critical in ensuring their students' needs are met. And the protocols they have to follow are complex and often changing.
Monitoring progress
Cathy Cieslinski, an instructional support teacher at Hempfield's Centerville Elementary School, said that she and the other teachers there constantly monitor, and document, the progress of their students.
Instruction — and intervention, when needed — is driven by data, and collecting such data means that teachers do a great deal of paperwork, she said.
That paperwork generally gets done outside of school hours, because her "day is so wrapped around working with students and teachers and parents," she said.
Not only are teachers seeking to teach everyone from English-language learners to gifted students to students on the autism spectrum, but they are dealing with students who have to "overcome some very unbelievable difficulties ... having nothing to do with the books and learning," said Bray, of Millersville.
"Unfortunately in today's society, many students bring emotional and relational baggage to school with them each day," said Jeff Brenneman, a mathematics teacher at Hempfield High School, in an e-mail. "Often times, they look to teachers for a listening ear ... or a word of encouragement. We are not just called to challenge the motivated, but also to motivate those who face significant challenges outside of our school walls."
Becker said that "most teachers are good employees who go way above and beyond," to help their students. She said she thinks it's unfair when "educators are painted very broadly as being greedy."
She and other school administrators said that teachers not only are using their own money to buy classroom supplies, but they know teachers who have purchased school supplies for children in need — or who have discreetly paid the fees of students who wanted to play school sports.
And they said that their teachers, and other school personnel, collect money and goods for families who need everything from furniture to clothing to toiletries to heating fuel.
Leslie Rice, a mathematics teacher at Hempfield's Centerville Middle School, has been teaching for 20 years, but before she became a teacher, she worked as a data processing manager for a bank. With a college degree in math, she said she could be making more money in the private sector.
"Teaching is not a profession you go into for the money," Rice said, noting that she is a teacher because she takes joy in "seeing that little light go on," when a child figures out something he's been struggling to learn.
Cieslinski, of Centerville Elementary, said, "I don't think you can be in the profession today, unless you really have a passion for it."
Benefield, of the Commonwealth Foundation, said he thinks most teachers are "dedicated to their job." And he said he thinks that most teachers, though not all, put in long hours during the school year.
He said he doesn't consider teaching a part-time job — but because of summer vacation, he would describe it as a "part-of-the-year job."
Bray said she wishes the "naysayers of the teaching profession" could see how many teachers attend the Summer Institutes — graduate-level education courses — held at Millersville.
"The summer is the time when we go to school," Leslie Rice said.
The summer is not only when teachers do coursework — it's also when curriculum gets written, Bray said.
Penn Manor teacher Beth Rosenberg said she chooses to be in her classroom, getting it ready for the school year, by early August. "You can't just walk in on the first day of school," she said.
And once school starts, she said, she doesn't have "any free time until June."
Her work — doing lesson plans, grading papers, preparing report cards — often spills into her evenings and weekends.
When students are in the classroom, "You pretty much always have to be on," Rosenberg said.
A teacher's day doesn't allow for coffee breaks, or even more than one or two bathroom breaks. "You plan your bathroom breaks for when your kids are at specials," she said, noting that the job is "never-ending."
Hempfield's Jeff Brenneman said that many of his colleagues arrive at school more than an hour and a half before the school day starts. And many evenings, he noted, "after my own three children are tucked into bed, I take out school work at home and spend hours at night and during the weekends grading projects and tests, preparing for the next day of instruction, or reading school e-mails."
Brenneman said teachers "give up planning periods, flex periods, or lunch time to assist students with make-up work and to help students who need additional support. Teaching is a full-time job that requires a great deal of work beyond the school day."
Still, he said, the rewards of the job make up for its demands. "There is nothing professionally that gives me more satisfaction than convincing students that, with a little hard work and determination, they are capable of dreaming bigger or rising to a higher level of understanding, accomplishment, or success than they thought previously possible," he said.
Beth Rosenberg said she recently told a high school volunteer in her classroom that if he wanted to go into teaching, " 'Be prepared for it to be all-consuming. It's a lot of hard work. And if you're not willing to put in a lot of hard work, you shouldn't do it.' "
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/364299?sms_ss=printfriendly&at_xt=4d8bb600de1fe696%252C0
March 24, 2011Media Center
Beth Rosenberg has taught roomfuls of elementary students for more than 30 years, and nothing seems to take the shine off of her enthusiasm for her chosen profession.
Not even the criticisms of those who assail teachers as overpaid and under-worked.
Teachers "know what we do, and we know how valuable it is, and we know how hard we work," said Rosenberg, who teaches fourth grade at Eshleman Elementary School in the Penn Manor School District.
Rosenberg is described by those who know her as a dedicated and respected educator. But her once widely respected profession has come under fire — from taxpayers who contend that teachers are too generously compensated, and from conservatives who are pushing for more school choice.
"Teachers Wonder, Why the Scorn?" was the headline of a recent New York Times article, which noted the characterization of teachers in the public discourse as "glorified baby sitters."
The much-publicized documentary film, "Waiting for 'Superman,' " blamed teachers, and particularly, teachers' unions, for failing schools.
As the battle raged in Wisconsin over collective-bargaining rights for teachers and other public-sector employees, a pundit on a Fox business show dismissed teaching as a "part-time job," claiming that teachers are "done at 2:30 in the afternoon and they don't work summers."
This inspired Jon Stewart, on "The Daily Show," to deliver an ironic lecture about the "greed" of teachers. Stewart feigned dismay over their "special textbooks with all the answers in them," and the "shiny red apples" they get every day.
Jane Bray, dean of the School of Education at Millersville University, said many teachers feel demoralized by the teacher-bashing. "Teachers feel like they're being kicked around," she said.
Across the country, public officials have sought to reduce budget deficits by turning their sights on teacher salaries and benefits.
Republican state Rep. Scott Boyd, of West Lampeter Township, recently introduced legislation that would make it easier for school districts to furlough teachers, without regard to seniority, for economic reasons.
And Gov. Tom Corbett, who's seeking significant cuts in education spending, has asked public school employees to accept a pay freeze next year.
Last week, Hempfield School District teachers voted overwhelmingly to take a pay freeze, the first in the state to do so. And the Pennsylvania State Education Association called on all PSEA locals to consider doing the same.
"Did the teachers' union do it out of the kindness of their heart, or did they see the writing on the chalkboard?" asked one skeptical poster on TalkBack, the online forum of Lancaster Newspapers Inc.
Chuck Trupe, a former Eastern Lancaster County School District school board member, said "classroom teachers have my full support and respect. The vast majority of them work extremely hard and are teaching for the right reasons."
But taxpayers are faced with huge property tax bills, and they see teachers getting salary and benefit packages that are superior to their own, he said. "Bottom line in all of this is that the taxpayers are looking for a level of fairness."
Visible and near
Unlike other, more distant objects of taxpayer wrath — Wall Street bankers, for instance, or Washington politicians — teachers are visible and near.
In times such as these, when people are struggling financially, they look at teachers and other public employees, whose salaries are funded by tax dollars, and say, " 'Wait a minute, you're not suffering as much as we are,' " said Brenda Becker, superintendent of the Hempfield School District.
Teachers have been able to depend on yearly raises, relatively low-cost health coverage, and state-mandated pensions, while many other workers have seen their pensions dwindle, and their wages and benefits decline.
Becker said, "truly, I understand why there is a lot of anger" over school taxes. She said she thinks there needs to be a "total system overhaul" of the way public schools are funded.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, said he would like for there to be a "civil, public discourse" about teacher compensation and benefits.
"What we need is discussion and debate and consensus on what the needs in 2011 are, and how our laws need to change to make the system fairer," Leichliter said. "Demonizing teachers is not fair. It works well in 30-second sound bites, but it's not the answer."
And educators "can't really fight back," said Becker, of Hempfield, noting that to answer with the same fervor as critics "would be considered unprofessional."
Becker said some of the teacher-bashing is being fomented by champions of school choice, who want to use public money for private education. So they focus on bad teachers, and, in Pennsylvania, on "the small number of schools that aren't working," she said.
If a school was showing a pattern of not producing, "I would be the first in line to say, 'Shut that school down,' " she said, adding that it is unfair, however, to depict all public schools in a negative light, when most schools, particularly in Lancaster County, are performing well.
Conservative reaction
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, which advocates for school choice, countered that "even in the good public schools, you have students who are not being served."
Teacher-bashing doesn't make for "a healthy debate," he said. But when people read stories about, for instance, the suburban Philadelphia teacher who called her students "lazy whiners" in her blog, good teachers get lumped in with the bad.
Becker said she thinks the vilification of public schoolteachers has been difficult for many. "I think that many of them do understand that they are wearing targets on their backs right now, and that frustrates them because many of them are working harder than they've ever worked before."
Bray, of Millersville University, said that the pressures on teachers have "skyrocketed" in recent years.
This month, students are taking Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, which are intended to measure student achievement, in accordance with No Child Left Behind.
Most teachers welcomed the accountability that No Child Left Behind, which became law in 2002, brought to education, but the high-stakes testing required by the law has been stressful for students and teachers alike, Bray said.
Moreover, the mainstreaming of students with special needs — though "a good thing," in Bray's view — has meant that regular-education teachers now must try to meet the needs of students whose abilities may vary greatly.
And special education teachers face an array of challenges, Bray said, noting that their paperwork load is ongoing and complicated and critical in ensuring their students' needs are met. And the protocols they have to follow are complex and often changing.
Monitoring progress
Cathy Cieslinski, an instructional support teacher at Hempfield's Centerville Elementary School, said that she and the other teachers there constantly monitor, and document, the progress of their students.
Instruction — and intervention, when needed — is driven by data, and collecting such data means that teachers do a great deal of paperwork, she said.
That paperwork generally gets done outside of school hours, because her "day is so wrapped around working with students and teachers and parents," she said.
Not only are teachers seeking to teach everyone from English-language learners to gifted students to students on the autism spectrum, but they are dealing with students who have to "overcome some very unbelievable difficulties ... having nothing to do with the books and learning," said Bray, of Millersville.
"Unfortunately in today's society, many students bring emotional and relational baggage to school with them each day," said Jeff Brenneman, a mathematics teacher at Hempfield High School, in an e-mail. "Often times, they look to teachers for a listening ear ... or a word of encouragement. We are not just called to challenge the motivated, but also to motivate those who face significant challenges outside of our school walls."
Becker said that "most teachers are good employees who go way above and beyond," to help their students. She said she thinks it's unfair when "educators are painted very broadly as being greedy."
She and other school administrators said that teachers not only are using their own money to buy classroom supplies, but they know teachers who have purchased school supplies for children in need — or who have discreetly paid the fees of students who wanted to play school sports.
And they said that their teachers, and other school personnel, collect money and goods for families who need everything from furniture to clothing to toiletries to heating fuel.
Leslie Rice, a mathematics teacher at Hempfield's Centerville Middle School, has been teaching for 20 years, but before she became a teacher, she worked as a data processing manager for a bank. With a college degree in math, she said she could be making more money in the private sector.
"Teaching is not a profession you go into for the money," Rice said, noting that she is a teacher because she takes joy in "seeing that little light go on," when a child figures out something he's been struggling to learn.
Cieslinski, of Centerville Elementary, said, "I don't think you can be in the profession today, unless you really have a passion for it."
Benefield, of the Commonwealth Foundation, said he thinks most teachers are "dedicated to their job." And he said he thinks that most teachers, though not all, put in long hours during the school year.
He said he doesn't consider teaching a part-time job — but because of summer vacation, he would describe it as a "part-of-the-year job."
Bray said she wishes the "naysayers of the teaching profession" could see how many teachers attend the Summer Institutes — graduate-level education courses — held at Millersville.
"The summer is the time when we go to school," Leslie Rice said.
The summer is not only when teachers do coursework — it's also when curriculum gets written, Bray said.
Penn Manor teacher Beth Rosenberg said she chooses to be in her classroom, getting it ready for the school year, by early August. "You can't just walk in on the first day of school," she said.
And once school starts, she said, she doesn't have "any free time until June."
Her work — doing lesson plans, grading papers, preparing report cards — often spills into her evenings and weekends.
When students are in the classroom, "You pretty much always have to be on," Rosenberg said.
A teacher's day doesn't allow for coffee breaks, or even more than one or two bathroom breaks. "You plan your bathroom breaks for when your kids are at specials," she said, noting that the job is "never-ending."
Hempfield's Jeff Brenneman said that many of his colleagues arrive at school more than an hour and a half before the school day starts. And many evenings, he noted, "after my own three children are tucked into bed, I take out school work at home and spend hours at night and during the weekends grading projects and tests, preparing for the next day of instruction, or reading school e-mails."
Brenneman said teachers "give up planning periods, flex periods, or lunch time to assist students with make-up work and to help students who need additional support. Teaching is a full-time job that requires a great deal of work beyond the school day."
Still, he said, the rewards of the job make up for its demands. "There is nothing professionally that gives me more satisfaction than convincing students that, with a little hard work and determination, they are capable of dreaming bigger or rising to a higher level of understanding, accomplishment, or success than they thought previously possible," he said.
Beth Rosenberg said she recently told a high school volunteer in her classroom that if he wanted to go into teaching, " 'Be prepared for it to be all-consuming. It's a lot of hard work. And if you're not willing to put in a lot of hard work, you shouldn't do it.' "
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Debating pros and cons of teacher unions - Lancasteronline 03/19/2011
Debating pros and cons of teacher unions
Sunday News
Updated Mar 19, 2011 23:22
By SUZANNE CASSIDY, Staff Writer
Much of the swirling rancor toward teachers has to do with the dislike some people have for teachers' unions.
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, contends that teachers' unions "are detrimental to taxpayers, to their students and to good teachers. ... They say schools are under-funded. You ask them how much they need, and they just say, 'More.' "
Last week, though, in response to a budget crisis in the Hempfield School District, the Hempfield Education Association voted in favor of a pay freeze next year. Hempfield's teachers had been slated to receive pay raises averaging 3.725 percent.
Also last week, Pennsylvania State Education Association President James Testerman called on all PSEA locals to "seriously consider" talking to their school boards "about a pay freeze or other cost-saving measures to maintain class sizes and academic programs."
In a news release, Testerman said that "the educational professionals in the Pennsylvania State Education Association have been willing to be good public partners and tackle tough issues before, and we're willing to do it again. We hope to prevent a $1 billion cut in state education funding, but we also realize that tough economic times have hit many of our public school districts."
In the Manheim Central School District, the situation remained uncertain on the teacher-pay front.
That district's school board issued a news release last week, saying that while contract talks with the Manheim Central Education Association had been "amicable and professional, the district sincerely hoped these talks would have been concluded by now."
The teachers' opening bid, submitted a year ago, asked for annual pay raises of 4.2 percent in a new six-year contract. School Board President Nancy Sarley said she could not comment on whether the teachers had lowered their demands. And attempts to reach the leaders of the Manheim Central Education Association were unsuccessful.
Chuck Trupe had his own clashes with the teachers' union, when he was a member of the Eastern Lancaster County School Board. He said he was "shocked" by PSEA's willingness to accept pay freezes.
"It's a hopeful first step, but definitely it's just the first step," Trupe said.
Trupe, like Benefield, of the Commonwealth Foundation, still wants to see PSEA concessions on teacher tenure, merit pay and the furloughing of teachers, without regard to seniority.
Benefield said he believes that tenure is "an unnecessary rule," which does not exist in other professions.
"I've never heard of doctor tenure, or lawyer tenure, or reporter tenure," he noted. "Teacher retention and compensation should primarily reflect performance in the classroom."
But Floyd Montgomery, a retired PSEA negotiator in Lancaster County, said other professionals, such as attorneys and doctors, set their own salaries and, often, determine their own working conditions.
Without tenure, teachers would be, as they were in the past, at the mercy of school administrators and elected school board members, he said.
In Benefield's view, however, tenure only serves to protect bad teachers.
Hempfield School District Superintendent Brenda Becker said she often hears that "once someone has tenure, you can't touch them. That is not true. If someone tells you, you can't remove a bad teacher, you have an administrator who is not doing his or her job."
A teacher found to be "doing something egregious" can be terminated immediately, she said. It takes more time to remove a teacher for incompetence, she said, but "it can be done."
The process requires that a teacher be given an improvement plan, and get regular monitoring, support and feedback. If these steps don't lead to better performance, the teacher can be fired, she said.
Becker, who is in her fourth year as superintendent at Hempfield, said teachers have been let go — or have resigned, prior to termination — every year she's been there.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of the Penn Manor School District, said his district also has had cases "where we've let teachers go who were underperforming."
He said the Penn Manor Education Association "always protects the legal rights of educators but does not make excuses for ineffective teachers."
When evidence showed a teacher was not performing, or had "clearly violated another area of the school code ... we have not encountered challenges with our association," Leichliter said.
Montgomery dismissed as ludicrous the notion that tenure was "a license to be a loafer for the rest of your life."
He said that tenure was instituted decades ago to protect teachers from being hired and fired at will by capricious school board officials and administrators. If a superintendent's daughter, or a school board member's niece, wanted a certain teaching job, the teacher who already had the job was "out of luck," Montgomery said.
He said that when he began working for the PSEA in Lancaster County in 1971, some school officials were ousting teachers who got pregnant (or pregnant teachers would be allowed to take unpaid leave, but not sick leave, he said).
In those days, he said, teachers also were "grossly underpaid."
Things have changed on that score. According to the PSEA, the average starting teacher salary in Lancaster County, for last school year, was $41,482. The average teacher salary was $57,037. Lancaster County teachers have an average of 11.4 years of experience; nearly 46 percent have master's degrees, or even more advanced degrees.
When salaries were low, "the way we attracted people to the field was to have a good benefits plan, and good pension plan," Becker said.
Now, public pensions, including those for teachers, have become a source of anger among taxpayers.
PSEA spokesman Wythe Keever said pensions for public school and state employees are "set by law — that means the General Assembly passed bills and the governor signed them into law."
Teachers' unions may not have negotiated those pensions, but they have been "a roadblock" to reforming them, Chuck Trupe asserted.
But Keever pointed out that the PSEA applauded a bipartisan pension reform bill, which was signed into law in November. That law, which will apply to school employees hired on, or after, July 1 of this year, raised the retirement age to 65; increased the vesting period from five to 10 years; reduced the maximum pension benefit; and added a shared-risk requirement for employees.
The PSEA, however, is not likely to applaud efforts by Republicans, including Gov. Tom Corbett, to institute merit pay for teachers.
Montgomery said that merit pay "has been batted around for years and years and years," and has been found to be unworkable by school boards and administrators, as well as by teachers.
Benefield said he believes, however, that a merit pay system could be based on peer and administrator reviews and parental surveys, as well as on value-added test scores, which indicate growth in students' academic achievement.
Becker, of Hempfield, said she would support a merit pay system, if someone could come up with a system that is "equitable."
But "when you deal with pay based on achievement in private business, you're all starting with the same raw material," Becker said. "With us, the raw material varies greatly."
Penn Manor's Leichliter concurred, noting that "when you're a car salesman, and you sell a car, you receive a bonus." But how do you compare the performance of a teacher who is teaching a required course to learning disabled students, with that of an educator teaching an Advanced Placement elective to gifted students?
Leichliter said that Penn Manor used to have a merit pay system in the 1980s, but it just "did not work." And he said he has not seen "a system that works yet for schools."
Good teachers are "not going to be motivated by higher pay for higher performance," he said. "They're going to help children no matter what."
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/364344#ixzz1HSq6exZ3
Sunday News
Updated Mar 19, 2011 23:22
By SUZANNE CASSIDY, Staff Writer
Much of the swirling rancor toward teachers has to do with the dislike some people have for teachers' unions.
Nathan Benefield, director of policy research at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, contends that teachers' unions "are detrimental to taxpayers, to their students and to good teachers. ... They say schools are under-funded. You ask them how much they need, and they just say, 'More.' "
Last week, though, in response to a budget crisis in the Hempfield School District, the Hempfield Education Association voted in favor of a pay freeze next year. Hempfield's teachers had been slated to receive pay raises averaging 3.725 percent.
Also last week, Pennsylvania State Education Association President James Testerman called on all PSEA locals to "seriously consider" talking to their school boards "about a pay freeze or other cost-saving measures to maintain class sizes and academic programs."
In a news release, Testerman said that "the educational professionals in the Pennsylvania State Education Association have been willing to be good public partners and tackle tough issues before, and we're willing to do it again. We hope to prevent a $1 billion cut in state education funding, but we also realize that tough economic times have hit many of our public school districts."
In the Manheim Central School District, the situation remained uncertain on the teacher-pay front.
That district's school board issued a news release last week, saying that while contract talks with the Manheim Central Education Association had been "amicable and professional, the district sincerely hoped these talks would have been concluded by now."
The teachers' opening bid, submitted a year ago, asked for annual pay raises of 4.2 percent in a new six-year contract. School Board President Nancy Sarley said she could not comment on whether the teachers had lowered their demands. And attempts to reach the leaders of the Manheim Central Education Association were unsuccessful.
Chuck Trupe had his own clashes with the teachers' union, when he was a member of the Eastern Lancaster County School Board. He said he was "shocked" by PSEA's willingness to accept pay freezes.
"It's a hopeful first step, but definitely it's just the first step," Trupe said.
Trupe, like Benefield, of the Commonwealth Foundation, still wants to see PSEA concessions on teacher tenure, merit pay and the furloughing of teachers, without regard to seniority.
Benefield said he believes that tenure is "an unnecessary rule," which does not exist in other professions.
"I've never heard of doctor tenure, or lawyer tenure, or reporter tenure," he noted. "Teacher retention and compensation should primarily reflect performance in the classroom."
But Floyd Montgomery, a retired PSEA negotiator in Lancaster County, said other professionals, such as attorneys and doctors, set their own salaries and, often, determine their own working conditions.
Without tenure, teachers would be, as they were in the past, at the mercy of school administrators and elected school board members, he said.
In Benefield's view, however, tenure only serves to protect bad teachers.
Hempfield School District Superintendent Brenda Becker said she often hears that "once someone has tenure, you can't touch them. That is not true. If someone tells you, you can't remove a bad teacher, you have an administrator who is not doing his or her job."
A teacher found to be "doing something egregious" can be terminated immediately, she said. It takes more time to remove a teacher for incompetence, she said, but "it can be done."
The process requires that a teacher be given an improvement plan, and get regular monitoring, support and feedback. If these steps don't lead to better performance, the teacher can be fired, she said.
Becker, who is in her fourth year as superintendent at Hempfield, said teachers have been let go — or have resigned, prior to termination — every year she's been there.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of the Penn Manor School District, said his district also has had cases "where we've let teachers go who were underperforming."
He said the Penn Manor Education Association "always protects the legal rights of educators but does not make excuses for ineffective teachers."
When evidence showed a teacher was not performing, or had "clearly violated another area of the school code ... we have not encountered challenges with our association," Leichliter said.
Montgomery dismissed as ludicrous the notion that tenure was "a license to be a loafer for the rest of your life."
He said that tenure was instituted decades ago to protect teachers from being hired and fired at will by capricious school board officials and administrators. If a superintendent's daughter, or a school board member's niece, wanted a certain teaching job, the teacher who already had the job was "out of luck," Montgomery said.
He said that when he began working for the PSEA in Lancaster County in 1971, some school officials were ousting teachers who got pregnant (or pregnant teachers would be allowed to take unpaid leave, but not sick leave, he said).
In those days, he said, teachers also were "grossly underpaid."
Things have changed on that score. According to the PSEA, the average starting teacher salary in Lancaster County, for last school year, was $41,482. The average teacher salary was $57,037. Lancaster County teachers have an average of 11.4 years of experience; nearly 46 percent have master's degrees, or even more advanced degrees.
When salaries were low, "the way we attracted people to the field was to have a good benefits plan, and good pension plan," Becker said.
Now, public pensions, including those for teachers, have become a source of anger among taxpayers.
PSEA spokesman Wythe Keever said pensions for public school and state employees are "set by law — that means the General Assembly passed bills and the governor signed them into law."
Teachers' unions may not have negotiated those pensions, but they have been "a roadblock" to reforming them, Chuck Trupe asserted.
But Keever pointed out that the PSEA applauded a bipartisan pension reform bill, which was signed into law in November. That law, which will apply to school employees hired on, or after, July 1 of this year, raised the retirement age to 65; increased the vesting period from five to 10 years; reduced the maximum pension benefit; and added a shared-risk requirement for employees.
The PSEA, however, is not likely to applaud efforts by Republicans, including Gov. Tom Corbett, to institute merit pay for teachers.
Montgomery said that merit pay "has been batted around for years and years and years," and has been found to be unworkable by school boards and administrators, as well as by teachers.
Benefield said he believes, however, that a merit pay system could be based on peer and administrator reviews and parental surveys, as well as on value-added test scores, which indicate growth in students' academic achievement.
Becker, of Hempfield, said she would support a merit pay system, if someone could come up with a system that is "equitable."
But "when you deal with pay based on achievement in private business, you're all starting with the same raw material," Becker said. "With us, the raw material varies greatly."
Penn Manor's Leichliter concurred, noting that "when you're a car salesman, and you sell a car, you receive a bonus." But how do you compare the performance of a teacher who is teaching a required course to learning disabled students, with that of an educator teaching an Advanced Placement elective to gifted students?
Leichliter said that Penn Manor used to have a merit pay system in the 1980s, but it just "did not work." And he said he has not seen "a system that works yet for schools."
Good teachers are "not going to be motivated by higher pay for higher performance," he said. "They're going to help children no matter what."
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/364344#ixzz1HSq6exZ3
Bargaining continues for teachers contract in U-CF - Daily Local News 03/23/2011
The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Bargaining continues for teachers contract in U-CF
Unionville-Chadds Ford official updates progress
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
By Wm. Shawn Weigel, Staff Writer
Talks continue in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the teachers association, with no end to negotiations in sight.
On Monday night at the district's regular business meeting, board member Frank Murphy said the two sides met several times over the last few weeks and that the sessions have been productive.
The discussions are hard, the discussions are difficult. But there's been a lot more give and take than in the past, a lot more useful conversation … than what we've seen at the beginning," he said.
Murphy said that the board is now faced with a nearly $1 million annual shortfall due to Gov. Tom Corbett's preliminary budget, which called for over $500 million in cuts to both public and secondary education.
"Out of a $70 million budget, you can do the math," Murphy said. "It certainly makes it harder to negotiate contracts."
He said the school board met with the association just before Monday's meeting for a productive session.
"Numbers were exchanged, thoughts were exchanged and we have pledged to each other to continue that process," he said.
Murphy also cited an incident at a board meeting several months ago, where a student in the district appealed to both sides of the argument to grow up and act like adults.
"The board took that to heart, and I'd like to say I believe the teachers association has taken it to heart as well," Murphy said.
The district and the association returned to the negotiation table last month after the union unanimously rejected the results of a fact-finder's report that came down in favor of the district.
The union continues to reject the district's proposed health care and benefits package, as well as salary increases and compensation for continuing education.
The teachers have been working under the terms of their last contract since it expired in June 2010. Negotiations have been ongoing since January of that same year.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/23/news/srv0000011225282.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Bargaining continues for teachers contract in U-CF
Unionville-Chadds Ford official updates progress
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
By Wm. Shawn Weigel, Staff Writer
Talks continue in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the teachers association, with no end to negotiations in sight.
On Monday night at the district's regular business meeting, board member Frank Murphy said the two sides met several times over the last few weeks and that the sessions have been productive.
The discussions are hard, the discussions are difficult. But there's been a lot more give and take than in the past, a lot more useful conversation … than what we've seen at the beginning," he said.
Murphy said that the board is now faced with a nearly $1 million annual shortfall due to Gov. Tom Corbett's preliminary budget, which called for over $500 million in cuts to both public and secondary education.
"Out of a $70 million budget, you can do the math," Murphy said. "It certainly makes it harder to negotiate contracts."
He said the school board met with the association just before Monday's meeting for a productive session.
"Numbers were exchanged, thoughts were exchanged and we have pledged to each other to continue that process," he said.
Murphy also cited an incident at a board meeting several months ago, where a student in the district appealed to both sides of the argument to grow up and act like adults.
"The board took that to heart, and I'd like to say I believe the teachers association has taken it to heart as well," Murphy said.
The district and the association returned to the negotiation table last month after the union unanimously rejected the results of a fact-finder's report that came down in favor of the district.
The union continues to reject the district's proposed health care and benefits package, as well as salary increases and compensation for continuing education.
The teachers have been working under the terms of their last contract since it expired in June 2010. Negotiations have been ongoing since January of that same year.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/23/news/srv0000011225282.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
School district bracing for 'worst case' (West Chester) - Daily Local News 03/22/2011
The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
School district bracing for 'worst case'
West Chester Area officials wrestling with $3.4 million budget shortfall
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ, Staff Writer
WEST GOSHEN — West Chester Area School Board's property and finance committee Monday night presented a long list of budget reductions to close an anticipated $3.4 million budget gap.
"We can prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said board member James B. Davidson. "But we've got to prepare for the worst."
With Corbett's proposed budget looking to cut funding for extended-day kindergarten, charter schools, special education and Social Security reimbursements for school employees, the committee acknowledged that "everything's on the table" to try to save these programs.
The school board plans to decide to make cuts in three phases, combining factors that include 60 retired teachers, a districtwide salary freeze, permanent staff and administration reductions, increasing student parking fees from $50 to $70, and many more cost-reducing steps.
Three words repeated at Monday's meeting and in budget planning materials were reorganization, reduction and removal.
"In planning for a difficult budget, we had already anticipated a reduction in state funding," said district Superintendent James R. Scanlon. "But we didn't expect (this)."
According to Scanlon, prior to the announcement of the governor's budget proposal earlier this month, the district was expecting a reduction of $1.1 million.
While raising taxes is an option that will aid the district in bridging the large budget gap, Scanlon recognized that property taxes would only go so far.
"The only way to account for the additional $3.4 million will be to find other revenues or reduce expenses," he said.
Corbett said his budget is structured with four main intents: "fiscal discipline, limited government, free enterprise, and reform." For kindergarten to high school instruction, it proposes a $550 million (or 10 percent) reduction. Also, all grants earmarked for school districts to use for learning and class-size reduction, a total of $260 million, will be eliminated.
"This budget sorts the must-haves from the nice-to-haves," said Corbett.
The fiscal year for the district ends June 30, and the state Legislature must reach a decision on the budget by that same day.
Jeffery T. Seagraves expressed concern over the board having to commit to a budget maybe a month before knowing if such drastic cuts would truly have to be made.
The school board plans to be collaborating with its community budget task force to seek other methods to reduce the budget by its self-imposed May or June deadline.
To contact staff writer Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez, send an e-mail to smfernandez@dailylocal.com.
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/22/news/srv0000011221323.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
School district bracing for 'worst case'
West Chester Area officials wrestling with $3.4 million budget shortfall
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ, Staff Writer
WEST GOSHEN — West Chester Area School Board's property and finance committee Monday night presented a long list of budget reductions to close an anticipated $3.4 million budget gap.
"We can prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said board member James B. Davidson. "But we've got to prepare for the worst."
With Corbett's proposed budget looking to cut funding for extended-day kindergarten, charter schools, special education and Social Security reimbursements for school employees, the committee acknowledged that "everything's on the table" to try to save these programs.
The school board plans to decide to make cuts in three phases, combining factors that include 60 retired teachers, a districtwide salary freeze, permanent staff and administration reductions, increasing student parking fees from $50 to $70, and many more cost-reducing steps.
Three words repeated at Monday's meeting and in budget planning materials were reorganization, reduction and removal.
"In planning for a difficult budget, we had already anticipated a reduction in state funding," said district Superintendent James R. Scanlon. "But we didn't expect (this)."
According to Scanlon, prior to the announcement of the governor's budget proposal earlier this month, the district was expecting a reduction of $1.1 million.
While raising taxes is an option that will aid the district in bridging the large budget gap, Scanlon recognized that property taxes would only go so far.
"The only way to account for the additional $3.4 million will be to find other revenues or reduce expenses," he said.
Corbett said his budget is structured with four main intents: "fiscal discipline, limited government, free enterprise, and reform." For kindergarten to high school instruction, it proposes a $550 million (or 10 percent) reduction. Also, all grants earmarked for school districts to use for learning and class-size reduction, a total of $260 million, will be eliminated.
"This budget sorts the must-haves from the nice-to-haves," said Corbett.
The fiscal year for the district ends June 30, and the state Legislature must reach a decision on the budget by that same day.
Jeffery T. Seagraves expressed concern over the board having to commit to a budget maybe a month before knowing if such drastic cuts would truly have to be made.
The school board plans to be collaborating with its community budget task force to seek other methods to reduce the budget by its self-imposed May or June deadline.
To contact staff writer Sara Mosqueda-Fernandez, send an e-mail to smfernandez@dailylocal.com.
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/22/news/srv0000011221323.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Octorara High School - Principal Spotlight
1. USA Swimming Women's 50 Freestyle in Indianapolis- Cierra Runge a 9th grader at OAHS, qualified for the USS Senior National Championships that will be held in August 2011.
2. At 16 years of age, Jeanna Bissinger is the youngest exhibitor at the third annual Photography Show currently on display at the Oxford Arts Alliance Gallery, 38 S.Third St., Oxford.
3. Harley Blevins: Accepted into the Navy Nuclear program. He plans to join the Navy after high school. Brian Peterson was awarded a Full Scholarship to Thaddeus Stevens.
4. In February, TSA competed at the regional conference with one student, Jacob Ragsdale taking 1st place in extemporaneous speaking. This is the second year for Jake to do so. Jake is now eligible to participate at the state level in April to compete for a chance to go to national final. Last year Jake placed 10th in the state.
5. Lindsey Tracy placed 2nd in the National History Day competition at Immaculata University on Saturday, March 5th. Her presentation "The Elaborate Master Game: The Cuban Missile Crisis" will compete at the state level at Millersville University in May.
6. Pennsylvania College of Art and Design Summer Workshop Scholarship were awarded to: Jessica Stead, Junior.
7. Amanda King was accepted into the Honors Program at Liberty University (which includes a $15,000 scholarship).
8. Rachel Irato received a $12,000 “Dean’s” scholarship to each year of study at Alfred University.
9. The OAHS basketball team concluded their season on Friday with a district title and winning 2 state playoff games until they succumbed to Neuman Goretti. This is the first time Octorara has made it this far in the state tournament.
10. Leo Club with the assistance of Mrs. Guiseppe and Cassandra Shavney as well as OAHS students Geneva Blaha, Dan Brown, Caleigh Feeny, Erin Seawell and Kelly Whelan raised $2,057.00 for the Pulsera Project designed to encourage, educate, and support many young Nicaraguans by selling bracelets made in Nicaragua.
11. Currently the Students without Borders club namely Magdalena Stuehrmann, Joe Mattis, James Warburton, Abby Butler, Geneva Blaha, Elenora Arramova, Mayra Juarez, Casandra Shavney, Dominic Lupo, Jolene Sweitzer and Taylor Fritz are raising funds to help those impacted by the recent earthquake in Japan.
12. Congratulations to the following staff members nominated for the Citadel Heart of Learning Award: Mrs. Kathleen Heller, Mr. Jed King, Mr. Mark Peticca, Mrs. Jen Watson & Mrs. Kristen Winner.
2. At 16 years of age, Jeanna Bissinger is the youngest exhibitor at the third annual Photography Show currently on display at the Oxford Arts Alliance Gallery, 38 S.Third St., Oxford.
3. Harley Blevins: Accepted into the Navy Nuclear program. He plans to join the Navy after high school. Brian Peterson was awarded a Full Scholarship to Thaddeus Stevens.
4. In February, TSA competed at the regional conference with one student, Jacob Ragsdale taking 1st place in extemporaneous speaking. This is the second year for Jake to do so. Jake is now eligible to participate at the state level in April to compete for a chance to go to national final. Last year Jake placed 10th in the state.
5. Lindsey Tracy placed 2nd in the National History Day competition at Immaculata University on Saturday, March 5th. Her presentation "The Elaborate Master Game: The Cuban Missile Crisis" will compete at the state level at Millersville University in May.
6. Pennsylvania College of Art and Design Summer Workshop Scholarship were awarded to: Jessica Stead, Junior.
7. Amanda King was accepted into the Honors Program at Liberty University (which includes a $15,000 scholarship).
8. Rachel Irato received a $12,000 “Dean’s” scholarship to each year of study at Alfred University.
9. The OAHS basketball team concluded their season on Friday with a district title and winning 2 state playoff games until they succumbed to Neuman Goretti. This is the first time Octorara has made it this far in the state tournament.
10. Leo Club with the assistance of Mrs. Guiseppe and Cassandra Shavney as well as OAHS students Geneva Blaha, Dan Brown, Caleigh Feeny, Erin Seawell and Kelly Whelan raised $2,057.00 for the Pulsera Project designed to encourage, educate, and support many young Nicaraguans by selling bracelets made in Nicaragua.
11. Currently the Students without Borders club namely Magdalena Stuehrmann, Joe Mattis, James Warburton, Abby Butler, Geneva Blaha, Elenora Arramova, Mayra Juarez, Casandra Shavney, Dominic Lupo, Jolene Sweitzer and Taylor Fritz are raising funds to help those impacted by the recent earthquake in Japan.
12. Congratulations to the following staff members nominated for the Citadel Heart of Learning Award: Mrs. Kathleen Heller, Mr. Jed King, Mr. Mark Peticca, Mrs. Jen Watson & Mrs. Kristen Winner.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
School Board Meeting 03/21/2011
OCTORARA AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
March 21, 2011– 7:30 p.m.
Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
AGENDA
1.Lord’s Prayer
2.Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
3.Roll Call
2 absent
4.Approval of Minutes from the Work Session of February 14, 2011, and the Regular Meeting of February 21, 2011.
Approved.
5. Presentations
A. Education Technology Grants – Dr. Bishop
Dr. Bishop went over some educational opportunities the district has taken advantage of through grants and other low cost means.
Mrs. Dean's 4th grade class became penpals with education students at West Chester University. They worked on literacy & writing. There are two classrooms participating this semester.
A group of 3rd through HS teachers participated in a science/math integration workshop.
A Geodome is coming to the campus for 4 days next week. It will be used at the K-6 Math Family Fun Night. More information can viewed at http://www.geodome.info/
Received video conferencing equipment from the CCIU. They have used it to contact classrooms across the country. They hope to expand to around the world.
Mr. Bankert presented information on Promethean Boards. Nearly every classroom now has one. Ninety percent have been installed in the past 3 years. The website is http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/. Software to create presentations is included. Octorara was selected for a pilot program (one of 30). There is a website that is only for Octorara teachers. They can share files with each other. Fifty-six teachers have signed up for it. There are about 150 presentations currently on the site. For participating the District will receive $15,000 in equipment from Promethean.
B. Budget Update – Mr. Carsley
Mr. Carsley explained how Act 319 causes a shift in who pays school taxes and by how much. He also presented information from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education website that showed how Octorara compares to Districts in Chester & Lancaster counties.
One Mill is worth $665,464 in the Octorara District. One Mill is worth $8,207,667 in the West Chester District.
Average Assessment for Octorara is $ 114,000. Average Assessment for Unionville is $ 270,000.
People has asked about joint purchasing. We do joint purchasing in several areas through the I.U. Mr. Carsley showed a list.
We have received a savings of about $ 279,000 by switching to Provident Energy for electric procurement.
Future concerns:
If the index doesn't change, one-half of it will be taken by retirement costs. In following years, the percentage will be worse.
Chester County tax history: the 5 year increase average is $675 ($135/year)
Lancaster County tax history: the 5 year increase average is $484 ($97/year)
Mr. Norris confirmed that the budget at this point uses $1.2M of Fund Balance to get below the index. He asked if there are further cuts that could take place to use less Fund Balance.
Mr. Carsley said he never recommends using Fund Balance. That is using non-recurring revenue to pay for recurring expenses. We need to maintain acceptable levels of Fund Balance. It needs to be tightly managed.
There was discussion about the expected continued decrease in revenues & how the District will probably have to dip further into the fund balance.
Mr. Hume said that Fund Balance is the "people's money". He said that people need to contact their representatives. Mr. McCartney agreed.
6. Information Items
A.The coaches for the combined seventh and eighth grade boys’ baseball team will be Mr. Drew Duggan and Mr. Phil Rudisill each receiving two points.
7. Treasurer’s Report
A.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the General Fund Report for period ending February 28, 2011.
Approved
8. Business Manager’s Report
A.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the list of bills for payment.
Approved.
9. Visitors’ Comments - Agenda Items Only
None.
10. Recommended Action Items: (Italicized items are new; they were not on the March 14, 2011 agenda.)
Approved A-L.
A. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Policy #303.2, 404.2, 504.2 Supervisor/Employee Relationships, second reading.
Resignation Approvals:
B.That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept the resignation of Ms. Katherine Ward as a Title I reading assistant at the Octorara Middle School effective February 22, 2011. (Hired August 25, 2010)
C. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Ada (Jackie) Ellingsworth’s resignation as manager/cook at the Octorara Primary Learning Center for purpose of retirement effective June 9, 2011. (Hired September 28, 1998)
D. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Jody Bradley’s resignation as a third grade teacher at the Octorara Elementary School effective March 8, 2011. (Hired August 25, 2003)
Hiring Approvals:
E.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Ms. Gail Bolger as a long term substitute business education teacher at the Octorara Area High School effective February 24, 2011 through March 11, 2011. Ms. Bolger’s rate will be $140 per day. (Extended medical leave.)
F.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Ms. Joan Miller as a long term substitute instructional assistant at the Octorara Elementary School effective March 25, 2011 through June 14, 2011 pending completion of work related documents required by law and the District. Ms. Miller’s rate will be $11.40 per hour. (Replacing Tammy Anthony who is filling a long term substitute position.)
G. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve a change in rate for Ms. Stacey Hoopes from $15.42 to $16.17 effective January 1, 2011 due to credits earned. Ms. Hoopes is an instructional assistant at the Octorara Intermediate School.
H. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the list of 2011Summer Reading Program employees at the hourly rates listed.
I. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following substitute teachers for the 2010-2011 school year:
Gail Bolger (Business Education)
Joan Miller (Elementary)
Matthew Reinert (Health, PE)
J.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following substitute support personnel for the 2010-2011 school year:
Susan King (Clerical, instructional assistant)
K.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following supplemental contracts for the 2010-2011 school year:
Matthew Reinert OAHS JV Baseball Coach 6pts @ $570 $3,420
JoAnn Marinacci Mentor for Tammy Anthony $ 200
L.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Mr. Derek Smith as the boys’ varsity soccer coach for the 2011-2012 school year.
M. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Eleanor Cugini’s resignation as librarian at the Octorara Area High School for purpose of retirement effective June 22, 2011. (Hired September 1989)
Approved.
N. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Mr. Harry Rylee’s request for unpaid Family Medical Leave from March 11, 2011 through June 6, 2011. Mr. Rylee is a custodian at the Octorara Middle School.
Approved.
O. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following change in salary due to graduate credits earned:
Carol Dittoe From M+15 ($65,470) to M+30 ($67,344) Step 11
Approved.
P.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following change orders:
Lobar #401-016 - Credit to compensate for materials required to repair fiber and electrical lines in the amount of -$9,495.00
Eastern Shore Services #404-04 - Relocation of existing conduits in loading dock area, replacement of existing fiber lines and electrical lines in the amount of $33,467.22
Reed Associates #408-02 – Modifications in casework for room E109 in the amount of $2,216.00
Mr. McCartney asked why this needed repaired. Mr. Stoltzfus explained why.
11. Finance Committee Report
Saw same Budget Presentation as shown earlier.
12. I.U./C.A.T. Board Representative’s Report
Mr. Stoltzfus was not able to attend. He will forward e-mail to Board Members.
13. Old Business
none
14. New Business
None
15. Other Items and Announcements
None.
16. Visitors’ Comments – General
Jen Zduniak (Londonderry) - believes we have awesome teachers. Is disappointed that so few teachers have been nominated for the Citadel Heart of Learning Awards. She'd like to find a way to publicize it to get more teachers nominated.
Anita Grimes (Parkesburg) shared information from school districts in Berks County. One district is offering early retirement incentives ($18,000 one-time payment) that could save the district $41,000 per teacher. This is independent of contract negotiations. She also wanted to give a plug for all-day Kindergarten. The bulk of students attending charter schools are in the lower grades.
Kathy Blank (West Sadsbury) - Wondered about the effect on education of laying off teachers. She proposes pay freeze as an alternative.
Tammy Awad (West Sadsbury) - wants to know how residents can help - fundraisers? Residents need to have a voice. She'd like to be proactive.
17. Administrator Comments/Announcements
Mr. Rohrer gave a list of high school student highlights. (See separate blog post).
Ms. Wilson gave a list of middle school student hightlights. (See separate blog post).
18. Board Comments
Dr. Newcome said they weren't offering an early retirement package this year. They offered one last year. Ten teachers took it. He is still running numbers on full-day Kindergarten.
He'd like to discuss the layoffs as part of the Parent & Town Hall meetings. There will be a better opportunity to have a dialogue.
As to how to help - the nature of the challenge is the system of funding schools (property taxes). He talked about the Octorara Regional Planning Commission and how the area needs to be poised to take advantage of when the economy turns around. We need tax rateables (commercial property) in this District.
Mr. Norris said that we need to battle apathy.
Ms. Bowman suggested that Ms. Zduniak work through the PTO to get more nominations for the Citadel awards. She also mentioned fundraising and how a lot of the people who are heavily involved in fund raising were in the room.
Mr. Hume gave the phone number for Senator Pillegi 1-888-984-3478. He recently called about the proposed voucher system & how it will take even more money away from public schools.
Mr. McCartney thanked people for coming out.
19. Adjournment
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday, March 21, 2011 – 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Executive Session for personnel – Monday, March 21, 2011 – Following the Regular Meeting in the District Office Conference Room
Facility Committee Meeting – Monday, April 11, 2011 – 6:00 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Next regularly scheduled Work Session – Monday, April 11, 2011 – 7:30 p.m. in the Octorara Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday, April 18, 2011 – 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Next regularly scheduled Board Meeting – Monday, April 18, 2011– 7:30 p.m. in the Octorara Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
March 21, 2011– 7:30 p.m.
Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
AGENDA
1.Lord’s Prayer
2.Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
3.Roll Call
2 absent
4.Approval of Minutes from the Work Session of February 14, 2011, and the Regular Meeting of February 21, 2011.
Approved.
5. Presentations
A. Education Technology Grants – Dr. Bishop
Dr. Bishop went over some educational opportunities the district has taken advantage of through grants and other low cost means.
Mrs. Dean's 4th grade class became penpals with education students at West Chester University. They worked on literacy & writing. There are two classrooms participating this semester.
A group of 3rd through HS teachers participated in a science/math integration workshop.
A Geodome is coming to the campus for 4 days next week. It will be used at the K-6 Math Family Fun Night. More information can viewed at http://www.geodome.info/
Received video conferencing equipment from the CCIU. They have used it to contact classrooms across the country. They hope to expand to around the world.
Mr. Bankert presented information on Promethean Boards. Nearly every classroom now has one. Ninety percent have been installed in the past 3 years. The website is http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/. Software to create presentations is included. Octorara was selected for a pilot program (one of 30). There is a website that is only for Octorara teachers. They can share files with each other. Fifty-six teachers have signed up for it. There are about 150 presentations currently on the site. For participating the District will receive $15,000 in equipment from Promethean.
B. Budget Update – Mr. Carsley
Mr. Carsley explained how Act 319 causes a shift in who pays school taxes and by how much. He also presented information from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education website that showed how Octorara compares to Districts in Chester & Lancaster counties.
One Mill is worth $665,464 in the Octorara District. One Mill is worth $8,207,667 in the West Chester District.
Average Assessment for Octorara is $ 114,000. Average Assessment for Unionville is $ 270,000.
People has asked about joint purchasing. We do joint purchasing in several areas through the I.U. Mr. Carsley showed a list.
We have received a savings of about $ 279,000 by switching to Provident Energy for electric procurement.
Future concerns:
- Continued cuts in state funding
- Healthcare (costs and excise tax)
- Retirement Rates (2012/13 12.22%; 2013/14 16.71%)
- Charter Schools
- Elimination of exceptions
- Future legislation
If the index doesn't change, one-half of it will be taken by retirement costs. In following years, the percentage will be worse.
Chester County tax history: the 5 year increase average is $675 ($135/year)
Lancaster County tax history: the 5 year increase average is $484 ($97/year)
Mr. Norris confirmed that the budget at this point uses $1.2M of Fund Balance to get below the index. He asked if there are further cuts that could take place to use less Fund Balance.
Mr. Carsley said he never recommends using Fund Balance. That is using non-recurring revenue to pay for recurring expenses. We need to maintain acceptable levels of Fund Balance. It needs to be tightly managed.
There was discussion about the expected continued decrease in revenues & how the District will probably have to dip further into the fund balance.
Mr. Hume said that Fund Balance is the "people's money". He said that people need to contact their representatives. Mr. McCartney agreed.
6. Information Items
A.The coaches for the combined seventh and eighth grade boys’ baseball team will be Mr. Drew Duggan and Mr. Phil Rudisill each receiving two points.
7. Treasurer’s Report
A.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the General Fund Report for period ending February 28, 2011.
Approved
8. Business Manager’s Report
A.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the list of bills for payment.
Approved.
9. Visitors’ Comments - Agenda Items Only
None.
10. Recommended Action Items: (Italicized items are new; they were not on the March 14, 2011 agenda.)
Approved A-L.
A. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Policy #303.2, 404.2, 504.2 Supervisor/Employee Relationships, second reading.
Resignation Approvals:
B.That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept the resignation of Ms. Katherine Ward as a Title I reading assistant at the Octorara Middle School effective February 22, 2011. (Hired August 25, 2010)
C. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Ada (Jackie) Ellingsworth’s resignation as manager/cook at the Octorara Primary Learning Center for purpose of retirement effective June 9, 2011. (Hired September 28, 1998)
D. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Jody Bradley’s resignation as a third grade teacher at the Octorara Elementary School effective March 8, 2011. (Hired August 25, 2003)
Hiring Approvals:
E.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Ms. Gail Bolger as a long term substitute business education teacher at the Octorara Area High School effective February 24, 2011 through March 11, 2011. Ms. Bolger’s rate will be $140 per day. (Extended medical leave.)
F.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Ms. Joan Miller as a long term substitute instructional assistant at the Octorara Elementary School effective March 25, 2011 through June 14, 2011 pending completion of work related documents required by law and the District. Ms. Miller’s rate will be $11.40 per hour. (Replacing Tammy Anthony who is filling a long term substitute position.)
G. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve a change in rate for Ms. Stacey Hoopes from $15.42 to $16.17 effective January 1, 2011 due to credits earned. Ms. Hoopes is an instructional assistant at the Octorara Intermediate School.
H. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the list of 2011Summer Reading Program employees at the hourly rates listed.
I. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following substitute teachers for the 2010-2011 school year:
Gail Bolger (Business Education)
Joan Miller (Elementary)
Matthew Reinert (Health, PE)
J.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following substitute support personnel for the 2010-2011 school year:
Susan King (Clerical, instructional assistant)
K.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following supplemental contracts for the 2010-2011 school year:
Matthew Reinert OAHS JV Baseball Coach 6pts @ $570 $3,420
JoAnn Marinacci Mentor for Tammy Anthony $ 200
L.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the employment of Mr. Derek Smith as the boys’ varsity soccer coach for the 2011-2012 school year.
M. That the Octorara Board of School Directors accept, with regret, Ms. Eleanor Cugini’s resignation as librarian at the Octorara Area High School for purpose of retirement effective June 22, 2011. (Hired September 1989)
Approved.
N. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve Mr. Harry Rylee’s request for unpaid Family Medical Leave from March 11, 2011 through June 6, 2011. Mr. Rylee is a custodian at the Octorara Middle School.
Approved.
O. That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following change in salary due to graduate credits earned:
Carol Dittoe From M+15 ($65,470) to M+30 ($67,344) Step 11
Approved.
P.That the Octorara Board of School Directors approve the following change orders:
Lobar #401-016 - Credit to compensate for materials required to repair fiber and electrical lines in the amount of -$9,495.00
Eastern Shore Services #404-04 - Relocation of existing conduits in loading dock area, replacement of existing fiber lines and electrical lines in the amount of $33,467.22
Reed Associates #408-02 – Modifications in casework for room E109 in the amount of $2,216.00
Mr. McCartney asked why this needed repaired. Mr. Stoltzfus explained why.
11. Finance Committee Report
Saw same Budget Presentation as shown earlier.
12. I.U./C.A.T. Board Representative’s Report
Mr. Stoltzfus was not able to attend. He will forward e-mail to Board Members.
13. Old Business
none
14. New Business
None
15. Other Items and Announcements
None.
16. Visitors’ Comments – General
Jen Zduniak (Londonderry) - believes we have awesome teachers. Is disappointed that so few teachers have been nominated for the Citadel Heart of Learning Awards. She'd like to find a way to publicize it to get more teachers nominated.
Anita Grimes (Parkesburg) shared information from school districts in Berks County. One district is offering early retirement incentives ($18,000 one-time payment) that could save the district $41,000 per teacher. This is independent of contract negotiations. She also wanted to give a plug for all-day Kindergarten. The bulk of students attending charter schools are in the lower grades.
Kathy Blank (West Sadsbury) - Wondered about the effect on education of laying off teachers. She proposes pay freeze as an alternative.
Tammy Awad (West Sadsbury) - wants to know how residents can help - fundraisers? Residents need to have a voice. She'd like to be proactive.
17. Administrator Comments/Announcements
Mr. Rohrer gave a list of high school student highlights. (See separate blog post).
Ms. Wilson gave a list of middle school student hightlights. (See separate blog post).
18. Board Comments
Dr. Newcome said they weren't offering an early retirement package this year. They offered one last year. Ten teachers took it. He is still running numbers on full-day Kindergarten.
He'd like to discuss the layoffs as part of the Parent & Town Hall meetings. There will be a better opportunity to have a dialogue.
As to how to help - the nature of the challenge is the system of funding schools (property taxes). He talked about the Octorara Regional Planning Commission and how the area needs to be poised to take advantage of when the economy turns around. We need tax rateables (commercial property) in this District.
Mr. Norris said that we need to battle apathy.
Ms. Bowman suggested that Ms. Zduniak work through the PTO to get more nominations for the Citadel awards. She also mentioned fundraising and how a lot of the people who are heavily involved in fund raising were in the room.
Mr. Hume gave the phone number for Senator Pillegi 1-888-984-3478. He recently called about the proposed voucher system & how it will take even more money away from public schools.
Mr. McCartney thanked people for coming out.
19. Adjournment
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday, March 21, 2011 – 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Executive Session for personnel – Monday, March 21, 2011 – Following the Regular Meeting in the District Office Conference Room
Facility Committee Meeting – Monday, April 11, 2011 – 6:00 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Next regularly scheduled Work Session – Monday, April 11, 2011 – 7:30 p.m. in the Octorara Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday, April 18, 2011 – 6:30 p.m. in the District Office Conference Room
Next regularly scheduled Board Meeting – Monday, April 18, 2011– 7:30 p.m. in the Octorara Middle School Multi-Purpose Room
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Important Budget Dates
March 21, 2011 Board Presentation @ Regular Session -Mr. Carsley Update with State Budget Numbers
March 23, 2011 Parent Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
March 30, 2011 Town Hall Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
April 11, 2011 Budget Discussion @ Work Session
April 18, 2011 Budget Discussion @ Regular Session
April 21, 2011 Parent Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
April 26, 2011 Town Hall Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
March 23, 2011 Parent Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
March 30, 2011 Town Hall Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
April 11, 2011 Budget Discussion @ Work Session
April 18, 2011 Budget Discussion @ Regular Session
April 21, 2011 Parent Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
April 26, 2011 Town Hall Meeting OMS Multipurpose Room 7:00 p.m.
Brubaker's school-tax proposal knocked - Lancasteronline 03/18/2011
Brubaker's school-tax proposal knocked
Senator says bill would give taxpayers greater power; educators say it would force them to cut vital programs
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 18, 2011 21:03
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
Local school officials are criticizing a proposal by state Sen. Mike Brubaker to limit school property tax hikes, saying it would result in program cuts while failing to address problems with Pennsylvania's public school funding system.
Brubaker, of Warwick Township, plans to introduce legislation this month that would do away with a mechanism most school districts have used to raise taxes above limits mandated under Act 1.
The bill, expected to be introduced this month, would bar districts from seeking exceptions, which allow them to exceed their base Act 1 indexes to fund expenditures such as pensions and mandated special-education programs that are out of their control.
The legislation would force districts to put any tax increase above their Act 1 indexes — the average for Lancaster County next year is 1.7 percent — up for a referendum vote.
Forcing a public vote "will allow for a more robust dialogue between school districts and residents regarding school district expenditures and the ability of taxpayers to pay for them," Brubaker, a Republican, said.
But school officials say the public is unlikely to approve any tax-hike referendum, and districts would be forced to cut programs to pay for mandated expenses they can't control.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, pointed out that pension costs, which are established on the state level, are slated to skyrocket in the next few years, and schools are mandated by federal law to provide whatever special-education services their pupils need.
"If the exceptions are eliminated, the only choice that will remain is to drastically reduce educational programs for students," he said in an email.
Brubaker said his bill would give local taxpayers more control over their school taxes, something Act 1 has failed to do. Since 2007-2008, the state's school districts have received exceptions allowing them to raise taxes by up to $667 million, he said.
That number might be misleading, however, because many districts that seek exceptions don't end up using the full taxing ability.
That's what has happened here.
Of the county's 17 districts, 12 received exceptions last year for $11.6 million worth of expenditures, but only half the districts used them to exceed their base indexes.
Although they could have raised taxes by an average 6.1 percent — well above the 3.4 percent index for the county — the increases actually fell below the index, on average, at 3.34 percent.
County districts followed a similar pattern in 2009-2010.
This year, most county districts are again seeking exceptions, mainly because the average Act 1 index will be at an all-time low of 1.7 percent.
Gerry Huesken, superintendent of Conestoga Valley School District, said Brubaker's proposal to eliminate exceptions "is an easy step to take politically," but it doesn't address underlying funding problems.
"Those issues involve real solutions to rising health care costs, the pension issue and special-education expenditures," he said in an email.
"I would hope that we would first start with substantial discussions on a statewide health care plan, a more impactful solution to the pension crisis and greater (cost) containment or revenues for special-education costs.
"They are the tougher issues that should be addressed first. Of course, it is easier to limit the school districts, but how do we pay for these soaring costs?"
Brubaker agreed lawmakers need to take a hard look at the entire public school funding system and whether it relies too heavily on local taxes.
"I think we need to talk about education reform in a comprehensive manner," he said. "We should have a robust statewide conversation on … whether an appropriate amount comes from property taxes."
The Legislature already is reforming the system, he said, by introducing a series of bills designed to reduce costly state mandates on public schools.
Brubaker has sponsored a bill that would eliminate prevailing wage requirements on school construction projects, cutting labor costs by up to 25 percent, he said.
Other legislation in the pipeline would impose a moratorium on state requirements that teachers continue their education. That would save districts on tuition reimbursements and professional development costs, Brubaker said.
Another bill would increase the number of hours part-time school employees must work to join the pension system, reducing those costs for school districts.
Brubaker said he may consider changes to his bill to address concerns about special education and pension costs, but for now, he plans to eliminate exceptions altogether.
Constituents have told him they expected Act 1 would give them more say over taxation than the law now provides, he said.
But county school officials are dubious about residents approving any tax increase that exceeds the Act 1 index — no matter how badly it's needed.
Brenda Becker, Hempfield School District superintendent, said 70 percent of residents in most communities don't have children in public schools, "so the possibility of getting a majority of folks to vote for an increase in taxes is slim to none, regardless of the consequences."
Brubaker disagrees.
"I think that sells the taxpayers short," he said. "The taxpayers will reject taxation only if there's not a strong, viable argument for it."
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/363937?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d83cf2b92572a2e%2C0#ixzz1H5ilpVvM
Senator says bill would give taxpayers greater power; educators say it would force them to cut vital programs
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 18, 2011 21:03
By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
Local school officials are criticizing a proposal by state Sen. Mike Brubaker to limit school property tax hikes, saying it would result in program cuts while failing to address problems with Pennsylvania's public school funding system.
Brubaker, of Warwick Township, plans to introduce legislation this month that would do away with a mechanism most school districts have used to raise taxes above limits mandated under Act 1.
The bill, expected to be introduced this month, would bar districts from seeking exceptions, which allow them to exceed their base Act 1 indexes to fund expenditures such as pensions and mandated special-education programs that are out of their control.
The legislation would force districts to put any tax increase above their Act 1 indexes — the average for Lancaster County next year is 1.7 percent — up for a referendum vote.
Forcing a public vote "will allow for a more robust dialogue between school districts and residents regarding school district expenditures and the ability of taxpayers to pay for them," Brubaker, a Republican, said.
But school officials say the public is unlikely to approve any tax-hike referendum, and districts would be forced to cut programs to pay for mandated expenses they can't control.
Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, pointed out that pension costs, which are established on the state level, are slated to skyrocket in the next few years, and schools are mandated by federal law to provide whatever special-education services their pupils need.
"If the exceptions are eliminated, the only choice that will remain is to drastically reduce educational programs for students," he said in an email.
Brubaker said his bill would give local taxpayers more control over their school taxes, something Act 1 has failed to do. Since 2007-2008, the state's school districts have received exceptions allowing them to raise taxes by up to $667 million, he said.
That number might be misleading, however, because many districts that seek exceptions don't end up using the full taxing ability.
That's what has happened here.
Of the county's 17 districts, 12 received exceptions last year for $11.6 million worth of expenditures, but only half the districts used them to exceed their base indexes.
Although they could have raised taxes by an average 6.1 percent — well above the 3.4 percent index for the county — the increases actually fell below the index, on average, at 3.34 percent.
County districts followed a similar pattern in 2009-2010.
This year, most county districts are again seeking exceptions, mainly because the average Act 1 index will be at an all-time low of 1.7 percent.
Gerry Huesken, superintendent of Conestoga Valley School District, said Brubaker's proposal to eliminate exceptions "is an easy step to take politically," but it doesn't address underlying funding problems.
"Those issues involve real solutions to rising health care costs, the pension issue and special-education expenditures," he said in an email.
"I would hope that we would first start with substantial discussions on a statewide health care plan, a more impactful solution to the pension crisis and greater (cost) containment or revenues for special-education costs.
"They are the tougher issues that should be addressed first. Of course, it is easier to limit the school districts, but how do we pay for these soaring costs?"
Brubaker agreed lawmakers need to take a hard look at the entire public school funding system and whether it relies too heavily on local taxes.
"I think we need to talk about education reform in a comprehensive manner," he said. "We should have a robust statewide conversation on … whether an appropriate amount comes from property taxes."
The Legislature already is reforming the system, he said, by introducing a series of bills designed to reduce costly state mandates on public schools.
Brubaker has sponsored a bill that would eliminate prevailing wage requirements on school construction projects, cutting labor costs by up to 25 percent, he said.
Other legislation in the pipeline would impose a moratorium on state requirements that teachers continue their education. That would save districts on tuition reimbursements and professional development costs, Brubaker said.
Another bill would increase the number of hours part-time school employees must work to join the pension system, reducing those costs for school districts.
Brubaker said he may consider changes to his bill to address concerns about special education and pension costs, but for now, he plans to eliminate exceptions altogether.
Constituents have told him they expected Act 1 would give them more say over taxation than the law now provides, he said.
But county school officials are dubious about residents approving any tax increase that exceeds the Act 1 index — no matter how badly it's needed.
Brenda Becker, Hempfield School District superintendent, said 70 percent of residents in most communities don't have children in public schools, "so the possibility of getting a majority of folks to vote for an increase in taxes is slim to none, regardless of the consequences."
Brubaker disagrees.
"I think that sells the taxpayers short," he said. "The taxpayers will reject taxation only if there's not a strong, viable argument for it."
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/363937?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d83cf2b92572a2e%2C0#ixzz1H5ilpVvM
Manheim Central school board reveals broad gap in teacher contract talks- Lancasteronline 03/16/2011
Manheim Central school board reveals broad gap in teacher contract talks
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 16, 2011 23:03
By CIVIA KATZ, Correspondent and BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
Manheim Central school board and its teachers appear to be far apart in their efforts to reach a settlement on a new contract, according to an update on negotiations released Tuesday by the board.
The teachers want annual raises of 4.2 percent in a new six-year contract that would maintain the status quo on teacher health care costs and tuition reimbursements, according to the update, which was read at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
The board, meanwhile, wants teachers to accept a three-year contract with no raises — down from an original offer of 2 percent — and pay more for their health care. It also wants the district to have more discretion on reimbursing teachers for tuition costs.
Contract negotiations usually are conducted behind closed doors, but Superintendent Bill Clark said the board decided to release the update to inform the public of the status of the talks, which have stretched on for more than a year.
The old teacher pact expired June 30, and Manheim Central is the only district in Lancaster County still negotiating a contract from last year.
"We are disappointed the board chose to take our negotiations public," Jon Charles, president of Manheim Central Education Association, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
"The climate of negotiations has changed dramatically since we made our original proposal. We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the district, and we hope they will do the same."
District officials said Manheim Central doesn't have the money to meet the unions' demands.
It's facing a $2.4 million deficit for next year, even with a projected 6 percent tax increase, and Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2011-12 budget would cut state funding by more than $500,000.
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to make some very tough decisions and have to raise taxes," board member Kenneth Kowalski said.
District administrators and support staff members have agreed to freeze their pay next year to help Manheim Central balance its budget.
The district also plans to eliminate a language teaching position and the head teaching position at the middle school next year, for a savings of about $170,000.
According to the negotiations update, district teachers currently pay $25 per month for individual health care coverage, $74 per month for coverage for two family members and $120 per month for a family.
The teachers want those rates to remain, while the district wants teachers to pay a fixed percentage of health care costs, ranging from 10 percent to 13 percent, in the new contract.
It also wants to introduce a deductible of $400 for individuals and $800 for families for "in-network" care and a $1,400 deductible for "out-of-network" expenses.
Manheim Central also wants to exclude from the health care plan working spouses who have access to their own employer-paid health insurance, while the teachers want spouses to remain eligible for coverage.
The union also wants the district to continue paying teachers who have obtained a National Board Teaching Certification an additional $7,000 per year, according to the update.
The school board wants to eliminate that stipulation, which is costing the district about $189,000 for 27 teachers.
The union also wants Charles to receive guaranteed paid time off from work every day to do union business.
"The association should take care of union business outside of the school day," according to the update.
The superintendent said Wednesday he did not know how much the teachers' contract would cost the district if it included all of the union's requests.
Despite the apparent divisions over a new contract, both sides said they will continue to negotiate.
In addition to Manheim Central, teacher contract talks are under way in Penn Manor, School District of Lancaster and Octorara school districts and Lancaster County Career & Technology Center. These contracts expire at the end of the current school year.
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/363257#ixzz1H5gy6Dxw
Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Mar 16, 2011 23:03
By CIVIA KATZ, Correspondent and BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer
Manheim Central school board and its teachers appear to be far apart in their efforts to reach a settlement on a new contract, according to an update on negotiations released Tuesday by the board.
The teachers want annual raises of 4.2 percent in a new six-year contract that would maintain the status quo on teacher health care costs and tuition reimbursements, according to the update, which was read at Tuesday night's school board meeting.
The board, meanwhile, wants teachers to accept a three-year contract with no raises — down from an original offer of 2 percent — and pay more for their health care. It also wants the district to have more discretion on reimbursing teachers for tuition costs.
Contract negotiations usually are conducted behind closed doors, but Superintendent Bill Clark said the board decided to release the update to inform the public of the status of the talks, which have stretched on for more than a year.
The old teacher pact expired June 30, and Manheim Central is the only district in Lancaster County still negotiating a contract from last year.
"We are disappointed the board chose to take our negotiations public," Jon Charles, president of Manheim Central Education Association, said in an e-mail Wednesday.
"The climate of negotiations has changed dramatically since we made our original proposal. We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the district, and we hope they will do the same."
District officials said Manheim Central doesn't have the money to meet the unions' demands.
It's facing a $2.4 million deficit for next year, even with a projected 6 percent tax increase, and Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2011-12 budget would cut state funding by more than $500,000.
"Unfortunately, we're going to have to make some very tough decisions and have to raise taxes," board member Kenneth Kowalski said.
District administrators and support staff members have agreed to freeze their pay next year to help Manheim Central balance its budget.
The district also plans to eliminate a language teaching position and the head teaching position at the middle school next year, for a savings of about $170,000.
According to the negotiations update, district teachers currently pay $25 per month for individual health care coverage, $74 per month for coverage for two family members and $120 per month for a family.
The teachers want those rates to remain, while the district wants teachers to pay a fixed percentage of health care costs, ranging from 10 percent to 13 percent, in the new contract.
It also wants to introduce a deductible of $400 for individuals and $800 for families for "in-network" care and a $1,400 deductible for "out-of-network" expenses.
Manheim Central also wants to exclude from the health care plan working spouses who have access to their own employer-paid health insurance, while the teachers want spouses to remain eligible for coverage.
The union also wants the district to continue paying teachers who have obtained a National Board Teaching Certification an additional $7,000 per year, according to the update.
The school board wants to eliminate that stipulation, which is costing the district about $189,000 for 27 teachers.
The union also wants Charles to receive guaranteed paid time off from work every day to do union business.
"The association should take care of union business outside of the school day," according to the update.
The superintendent said Wednesday he did not know how much the teachers' contract would cost the district if it included all of the union's requests.
Despite the apparent divisions over a new contract, both sides said they will continue to negotiate.
In addition to Manheim Central, teacher contract talks are under way in Penn Manor, School District of Lancaster and Octorara school districts and Lancaster County Career & Technology Center. These contracts expire at the end of the current school year.
bwallace@lnpnews.com
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/363257#ixzz1H5gy6Dxw
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Oxford school board braces for budget cuts-Daily Local News 3/17/2011
The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Oxford school board braces for budget cuts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
By MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY, Special to the Local News
LOWER OXFORD — Members of Oxford Area School Board were prepared for Gov. Tom Corbett's budget to cut funding for basic education, but they didn't know the cuts would go as far as they did.
When Oxford began preparing its draft budget for 2011-12, the board anticipated a 10 percent cut to the state funding for basic education and planned accordingly. What they did not anticipate was the elimination of three line items that reduce Oxford's funding by an additional $1.8 million.
The biggest hit for Oxford comes from the elimination of the state's charter school subsidy that takes away $1.2 million. Also being cut are funding for middle and high school tutoring and the Accountability Block Grant which funds ESL teachers, two regular education teachers and a special-education teacher.
"Our challenge is now to find areas in the budget where we can make up the $1.8 million shortfall," superintendent Raymond Fischer said. Fischer told the board that he will work with the administration to propose additional cuts for the next budget committee meeting along with a cost-benefit analysis. "Every budget item will be on the table for review."
Finance committee chair Joe Scheese explained that the board was ready for the 10 percent cut, but not the additional items that effectively turn it into an 18 percent cut. "I made the commitment at the town hall meeting, that if we had the 10 percent reduction the kids would not see any program cuts," he stated. "We probably are going to see some changes. They are probably going to walk farther to bus stops, they are probably going to walk farther to schools. We'll bring it all back to the board for our April work session, put it all out on the table, then the board will have to make a decision."
Scheese noted that the change to eliminate the charter school subsidy and put the cost of those students back on the district could be a sign of other changes that will cost the public schools. "Any voucher program coming in the future is probably going to come out of our pocket as well," he said.
The most controversial item of the board meeting concerned approval of a district wide teacher survey. The Oxford Education Association President Pamela Brown spoke against the survey; while denying rumors that the teachers' union was stalling the survey that was proposed back in October. "Please do not use the association as a scapegoat," she said.
The board voted on a motion to conduct a survey, without specifying the contents, but they could not agree on the results. There were four yes and three no votes, with member Kurt Haegele abstaining, but board president Jason Brady questioned if he could abstain without cause such as a conflict of interest.
"It's become a long term fiasco that's amounted to zero value at this point," Haegele said, refusing to vote for or against a survey.
Board member Mike Alexander, who voted against the survey, challenged the aye vote of James Dale Cornelius on the grounds that Cornelius has a conflict of interest because his wife is a teacher.
Cornelius supported the survey as a way "to get an unfiltered response from teacher what it is like to teach in Oxford," he said. "Where better to get information about teaching and learning than the teachers themselves?"
There was also the question of whether the motion passed because even at 4-3 in favor, there was not a majority of the full board, or the board present. With no clarity, the board decided to research the rules of order and possibly vote again when the full board is present.
The board did approve a motion initiated by Dominic Pirocchi to have all of the school board's public meetings recorded and shown on local cable television. Currently only the monthly regular meeting and work session are being recorded.
Alexander opposed the action but did not cast a vote against the measure, which passed with only Howard Robinson voting no.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/17/news/srv0000011172938.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
Oxford school board braces for budget cuts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
By MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY, Special to the Local News
LOWER OXFORD — Members of Oxford Area School Board were prepared for Gov. Tom Corbett's budget to cut funding for basic education, but they didn't know the cuts would go as far as they did.
When Oxford began preparing its draft budget for 2011-12, the board anticipated a 10 percent cut to the state funding for basic education and planned accordingly. What they did not anticipate was the elimination of three line items that reduce Oxford's funding by an additional $1.8 million.
The biggest hit for Oxford comes from the elimination of the state's charter school subsidy that takes away $1.2 million. Also being cut are funding for middle and high school tutoring and the Accountability Block Grant which funds ESL teachers, two regular education teachers and a special-education teacher.
"Our challenge is now to find areas in the budget where we can make up the $1.8 million shortfall," superintendent Raymond Fischer said. Fischer told the board that he will work with the administration to propose additional cuts for the next budget committee meeting along with a cost-benefit analysis. "Every budget item will be on the table for review."
Finance committee chair Joe Scheese explained that the board was ready for the 10 percent cut, but not the additional items that effectively turn it into an 18 percent cut. "I made the commitment at the town hall meeting, that if we had the 10 percent reduction the kids would not see any program cuts," he stated. "We probably are going to see some changes. They are probably going to walk farther to bus stops, they are probably going to walk farther to schools. We'll bring it all back to the board for our April work session, put it all out on the table, then the board will have to make a decision."
Scheese noted that the change to eliminate the charter school subsidy and put the cost of those students back on the district could be a sign of other changes that will cost the public schools. "Any voucher program coming in the future is probably going to come out of our pocket as well," he said.
The most controversial item of the board meeting concerned approval of a district wide teacher survey. The Oxford Education Association President Pamela Brown spoke against the survey; while denying rumors that the teachers' union was stalling the survey that was proposed back in October. "Please do not use the association as a scapegoat," she said.
The board voted on a motion to conduct a survey, without specifying the contents, but they could not agree on the results. There were four yes and three no votes, with member Kurt Haegele abstaining, but board president Jason Brady questioned if he could abstain without cause such as a conflict of interest.
"It's become a long term fiasco that's amounted to zero value at this point," Haegele said, refusing to vote for or against a survey.
Board member Mike Alexander, who voted against the survey, challenged the aye vote of James Dale Cornelius on the grounds that Cornelius has a conflict of interest because his wife is a teacher.
Cornelius supported the survey as a way "to get an unfiltered response from teacher what it is like to teach in Oxford," he said. "Where better to get information about teaching and learning than the teachers themselves?"
There was also the question of whether the motion passed because even at 4-3 in favor, there was not a majority of the full board, or the board present. With no clarity, the board decided to research the rules of order and possibly vote again when the full board is present.
The board did approve a motion initiated by Dominic Pirocchi to have all of the school board's public meetings recorded and shown on local cable television. Currently only the monthly regular meeting and work session are being recorded.
Alexander opposed the action but did not cast a vote against the measure, which passed with only Howard Robinson voting no.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/17/news/srv0000011172938.prt
© 2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
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