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Board Update
1-17-00

Last night's Board Meeting began with an Act 34 Hearing for the Har-Mer Elementary. This hearing is required by law to allow the public to make comments on the proposed renovations to the building.

The Architect, Alan Cuteri, presented a summary of the project and Chris Gibbons, a financial consultant, presented a review of the financial information relating to the bond costs, method of fiancing, and impact on millage.

One citizen expressed their concerns that the new additions may not be adequate to meet future enrollment needs should more people move into the Harrisville area. There was not much comment except that there may be one extra classroom available to meet growth.

Another citizen asked questions concerning the water contamination problems at the Har-Mer building. He asked if there had been a report issued concerning these problems and was told yes. The renovation plans include the digging of a new well in addition to the replacement of the pipes in the building. The pipes need to be replaced because they may be the source of the high levels of lead in the water.

NOW WAIT!! Maybe I've just been misinformed or totally out of it on this one, but I have never heard that the well water at Har-Mer contained contaminates. I have always been under the impression that the water was bad from lead in the pipes! Hmmm. What kind of contaminates? The citizen who asked about this last night asked specifically if PCB's had been found in the well water, he was told that they didn't think so.

Has anyone seen this "report"? What the heck have these students been washing their hands and faces with anyway?

Citizens have until 12:00 noon Febuary 21, 2000 to submit written comments regarding the Har-Mer project to the secretary of the Board of School Directors.

In other matters........

The board had their regular committee meeting immediately following the Act 34 Hearing.

Dr. Sharon Sykora addressed the proposed Middle School field trip plans to the board. The students will be going to Williamsburg Va.. Since no teachers or other district employees will be going on the trip, the board did not have to approve it, thus the usual "gifted bashing" by some board members didn't occur! YES!

In other business......

Last meeting Bill Adams requested that the attorney find out if board members could review the state assesment (PSSA). Mr. Adams and Dr. Christmann both want to get a look at this test because it is now a requirement of Chapter 4 and will assess how well our students are meeting the new state mandated standards. As many of ya'll know, Chapter 4 is very controversial and the more politically conservative in the state have real problems with these mandates. So...Adams wants to look at this test, not as a parent or a member of the public, but as an elected official. Well.....our attorney, Mr. Breth, had a phone conference with the state people and reported that Chapter Four allows not only parents to review the test ( two weeks prior to its administration) but that the general public also has this right. So, if the "public" has this right, so does a board member.

This is a curious thing. Chapter Four states that only parents have the right to review this test. So this "new" interpretation on the part of the state, that the "public" also has this right to review the test, even if they don't have a child taking it, is interesting. The bottom line is that- no, a board member does not have the right to review the test anytime they want as a BOARD MEMBER, they can only review it as a member of the public, and only 2 weeks before it as given like the rest of us.

Some members of the board will be taking a field trip to Lancaster, Ohio to a Core Knowledge school on 1-20 and 21. Dr. Christmann and others have been pushing this school reform movement as a "fix" to our "lack of basics" woes. I guess they want to see it in action. Well....we will see if Dr. Christmann and Mr. Adams REALLY have the courage of their convictions and make this trip.

There will be a Athletic Committee meeting on 1-25-00 at 5:30pm in the MS library to discuss Mr. Adams' pet peeve- children "heading" soccer balls. Man! Should be lively!

There will be a Crisis Management Meeting on 1-27-00 at 7:30 pm in the MS large group instruction room.

One last observation. Last night's meeting was one of the most easy going, non-hostile, productive meetings I have attended in years. Why, you ask? Because Adams and Christmann were absent! As usual, my opinion. But, others in attendance made this same observation. Go figure!

Update Jan 24 2000

Serious "Situation" at Area Elementary School

In a letter (click here to view letter) to parents of 4th and 5th grade students, the principal explained the details of a "situation" that took place on Friday, January 21 at the Area Elementary school. The letter reads, in part:

"...a set of custodian's keys for equipment was left in the upstairs girls' restroom. When he returned a few minutes later to get them the keys were gone...the 4th and 5th grade teachers decided later in the day to check the desks, backpacks, and pockets of all the girls. While the district has the authority to do this..."

Well, do they? Now I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that students do have a constitutional right to privacy under the 4th amendment (related to unreasonable search and seizure). Of course lockers and desks are school property, and students shouldn't expect those areas to be private. However, there is a high expectation for privacy one's possessions - backpacks, purses, coats, and certainly their person.

Without an individual suspect, can a District decide to search everyone? If there is a compelling state interest, maybe so. When weapons or drugs are brought into a school, an immediate danger may exist. But when a set of equipment keys are negligently left in a public place and then stolen, I'm not sure that anyone's safety or well-being is threatened.

At last night's meeting, a citizen asked under what authority this search was conducted. Mr. King, the District's solicitor, said he had never heard of this before, so the letter to parents only contained the legal opinion from our elementary school principal.

It's too bad the elementary principal was out last Friday. Her attempt to recover the keys (have the secretary ask the students to please return them) seems quite reasonable. So what went wrong? Why were so many innocent children searched? Does the District have the authority to conduct such sweeping searches? I don't think so - it's probably not legal and it's certainly not right. And if something ain't right, what is it?????

Click here to read about the many other privacy violations in our district!

Core Knowledge - Alive and Well

Director of Curriculum and Staff Development, Dennis Spinella, reported on the recent fieldtrip to a Core Knowledge School in Lancaster, Ohio. Spinella, Jean Allen (Moraine principal) and 5 teachers (no names were given) visited the school in order to find out more about how Core Knowledge works. You may recall that this attempt at school reform was the brainchild of Adams and Christmann - but I guess they know all they need to about Core Knowledge - (Did we ever find out who the Directors of the Foundation are?)- and didn't really need to see it in action.

Anyway. Spinella said it was "fascinating" and said the teachers were eager to talk with the Board about what they saw. According to Spinella, the teachers want a private meeting with the Board. They did not want to come to "an evening meeting like this where it is a public forum", but instead wanted a "roundtable discussion to share their candid thoughts".

A private meeting? Candid thoughts? I don't know, but it seems to me that this is an issue that does involve the public. Whose children will be affected by this curriculum? Whose tax dollars paid for the trip? Why would a group of professionals be anything less than candid in public? But hey, Core Knowledge is just sound eduction. This ain't political, is it?!! Mr. King, though, said they had to do it in public.

In March, 8 teachers (again nameless) will be going to the National Core Knowledge conference in California (Any community members asked to participate?). Once again, Adams and Christmann are too busy to go (where have they gotten all their information about Core Knowledge anyway? Investor's Business Daily?) Never fear! The Board nominated Angerett to represent the Board at the conference. Goodness knows, it always helps to learn about something from an expert and not just rely on personal feellings....

And finally....

This just in. Har-Mer parents and children, middle school parents and children, you've been screwed. Those plans for renovations - (the ones developed by the architect and approved by the state) forget it. Everyone knew Adams, Christmann, and Youngman would vote no when it came to approving the bond issue - and they did. But so did Angerett. When asked why, he said it was too much money. Pressed by Mr. Smith to explain the basis for thinking like that, Angerett said it was his "own personal feeling is that's too much". Based on what? Smith queried. "Based on my own personal feelings". Has Angerett ever renovated a school? What about the opinions of our consultant who found that the costs as presented by our architect to be acurate? What about the opinions of the staff and community members whose comments were taken into account by the architect?

Oh no, Angerett knows better......based on his "personal feelings". Man. Ain't local control great!!

Funny this vote came up on the night Surgenor officially resigned. Ah. The wonders of local control. Delay, delay, delay, and politics will out. And it's the politics of personal power.

In my opinion (and ya'll know I have one); after watching this renovation thing go down for the last several months, is is apparent that the board knew Surgenor (and his vote) was going to resign, and Adams delayed this project just so it would come to a 4 to 4 vote and kill the project. Why did the board president Duryea allow these delays to continue? As president he should have seen Adams' political game and put an end to his thinly veiled attempt to have this come to a vote when there were only 8 board members.

I'd sure sleep better at night if I knew that I could save money by compelling children to attend school in a substandard building with tainted water. But those are just my personal feelings.....

Board Update 1-28-00

As they say, "If You Don't Vote, You Can't Complain"

Seems like the public either abandoned the construction projects at Har-Mer and the Middle School, or else they are content to let the Board alone make educational decisions that will affect the lives of their children and every child in the District for years to come. Two very significant Building and Grounds committee meetings were held (Dec. 4 and Dec. 8), but only one lone community member showed up. Yes, the meetings were advertised, but it seems that the no public hoodwink worked.

As you know (well, maybe you don't), the bids for renovations at Har-Mer were more than the Board wanted to spend, so the buzz word for the last month or so has been cut, cut, cut. Former acting superintendent Ahlum (is he now the 10th Board member? The one who works behind the scenes but doesn't appear in public?) has been giving advice to Board members about where cuts can happen. Newly hired principal Ron Cokain has also been telling Board members what can get the ax. Board members themselves have official and "secret" lists of items to go. And parents' input? It's been conspicuously absent, much to the Board's delight.

In Friday's 4:00 meeting in the Middle School library, the Building and Grounds Committee made decisions that are going to the full Board on Monday for a vote. Will there be any further discussion? It's doubtful. Giesler, Adams, Youngman and Smith pretty well hashed it out, and voted on each item on the architect's list of changes for Har-Mer. All cosmetic changes are gone. That fancy library roof? Forget it. Plaster walls? Gypsum is cheaper. A sprinkler system? Not if the code doesn't require it. Brick for the multi-purpose room? Nah. Block construction is good enough for those Harrisville folks. A screen to hide the dumpster? No need for our tax dollars to go there. Gielser says the PTO can pay for it. Same for the shrubs.

If you Har-Mer folks are lucky, you might get bleachers. That's good, because the wood in the gym is out. Which will make the gym a lot louder, but at least there will be somewhere to sit. No display case (might cause too much school "spirit"). But you will, thanks to Dr. Beaton, get a partition wall between the library and computer room (Cokain wanted to cut that).

It just makes me think about the renovations to the Area Elementary. At least that school wasn't done in the cheapest way possible, without regard to aesthetics or academics. The library is a pleasant place. The front facade isn't too bad. All of the old classrooms were even renovated as part of the project. Adams was almost gleeful when he explained how it was liberal parents and liberal Board members who had all of those ideas for Har-Mer, ideas that will never see the light of day. I never thought I'd say this, but where's Jim Roberts when you need him? (I know Jim Roberts, and Randy Giesler is no Jim Roberts when it comes to supporting Har-Mer). According to Adams, the school shouldn't even be there, but since it is, all that's really needed at Har-Mer are two modular buildings.

I'd like to thank the taxpayers from the Harrisville area for helping to fund Moraine and the Area Elementary. It's too bad that their children are being treated as second class citizens (they don't need clean drinking water, do they???). No one has objected, though, so I guess the Board must really be representing the will of the people. The changes will be voted on Monday night, and the rebidding process will begin.

Onto the Middle School. Just two words. Metal Building.

Well, ok, maybe more than two words....Bids for Value Reengineering and Constructability Analysis have come in (translation, how can they cut costs? Even though the project came in under bid, hey, maybe it can be done even cheaper). A firm will be hired Monday night to not only cut costs but also to find out how much it would cost to build a steel building in between the High School and the Middle School (since enrollment is increasing, maybe more space will be needed, according to Mr. Adams).

Independent expert witness and clerk of the works Roger Weaver was there to help give advice. And guess what? It turns out he just finished building a freestanding metal (it has a brick facade) school building for the Mars Home for Youth (what a coincidence!!!). It has 8 classrooms, an office, sinks, a parking lot, heat and air conditioning (and even a lab, added Mr. Youngman) and only cost $153 per square foot. According to architect Cuteri, the Middle School new construction (according to the bids which the Board has rejected) will cost $145.33 per square foot, and $50.51 per square foot for the renovations. Ah, but the cold feel of steel. Something so, I don't know, rigid about it...

And if there was a new metal building, then we wouldn't need that Taj Mahal District office. I know it isn't handicapped accessible, but hey, how many people in wheelchairs need to get in there anyway? If we just got rid of a few soccer fields, we could build a ramp to the building, steep though it might be (or so the Board argued).

Well how did we get into this mess anyway? According to Giesler, mistakes were made. Someone, the liberal board or the liberal parents, told the architect to do this.

Thank goodness for this Board. The children at Har-Mer - second class citizens. The middle school - metal building. And the community? They must support this Board. They elected them, and I haven't heard any objections to what is being proposed. Have you??? Maybe it's time for another town meeting, this time to discuss the proposed changes. Would the Board dare??

I strongly urge anyone who cares about what happens to Har-Mer and the Middle School to show up Monday night. Let your voices be heard. Or else let the Board alone decide the future of the District.