Effective Practices

An Editorial by Becky Fullerton and Jennifer Willyard

On Monday evening, the ASD School Board revealed the secret identity of our new Superintendent to be Stan Chapp from Freeport School District…however, that was all they really revealed.

Where was the transparency in the hiring process?

Where is the transparency in revealing the contract terms and salary?

This is all public information and should be divulged at the time of hire. And once again, where is the transparency in a long range plan for our district?

Part of the problem in the lack of transparency of the ASD school board, is they are not following half of the practices set by the Pennsylvania School Board Association. For the detailed Standards for Effective School Governance set by the PSBA here is a link:
We urge everyone to read this with particular interest paid to the benchmarks.

Some of our personal favorite questions to answer are:

"How have the boards actions and attitudes elicited community trust and respect?"

"How often do members of the board speak to or participate with community organizations?"

"How do board members balance the need to represent the electorate with the need to to lead the district forward on behalf of children?"

"How does the board measure and evaluate the public perception of the board's behavior and demeanor, and how do those preceptions help or hinder confidence in the board?"

Wow!!! Perhaps being that she is the district representative with the PSBA, Ms. Yassem should get a copy of this to all the board members for their review! Or maybe this could be one of the things that could be read and discussed during one of the 5 annual training opportunities that the board members are suggested to take part in!

There are reports that there were only six candidates in the pool for the Superintendent position and only two of those were interviewed. Why not hire an interim Superintendent for a longer period of time to make sure a candidate did not slip through the cracks. Perhaps extend the search, or even use such services as the University of Pittsburgh Tri-State Study Council or Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, to help identify a strong candidate?

Perhaps it would have led the board to hire Dr. Chapp, but due diligence would have been done. We do not want to discount Dr. Chapp’s qualifications. He, on paper, seems to be qualified to do a great job as Superintendent of schools, however, it would have been nice if there would have at least been an open interview process so the public could hear what the vision was of each of the candidates.

Will they bring something new to the table, or is it more status quo?

What are the goals the board has for the new superintendent?

This district needs to move forward, it is time the board works with all of its constituents.

This is a time where vision is absolutely needed and transparency is a must, will the school board FINALLY do so?

With the end of the school year, we wish to congratulate all of the outgoing seniors the best of luck, health and happiness in all their future endeavors!

How does it change?!

EDITORIAL BY JENNIFER WILLIARD AND BECKY FULLERTON


“Change is inevitable, growth is optional.”-Author Unknown

President, Vice President, Senator, Congress, Representative, Governor, Mayor, Judge, Coroner, Sheriff, District Attorney, School Board, Magistrate, Council, Tax Collector.

These are just some of the positions that we, as tax payers, elect people to look after our best interests and this week’s primary races show that across the country people are want change. But in order for change to happen, people need to become involved.

Of the 42,711 registered voters in Armstrong County, only 14,714 came out to the polls on Tuesday’s Primary Election.

Why is the voter turnout so poor in our county? Are people so apathetic about government or do they feel so helpless as to how to change what is going on that they just throw up their hands and let the chips fall where they may?

Does this seem familiar, perhaps similar to what happened with our last school board election? Should the lack of candidates and the lack of voter turnout for that last election tell us something about the quality of those who were elected to the board? Is the fact that one of our board directors ran unopposed in both the primary and in the November election, the fact that of the 3,087 registered voters in his region only 958 voted and of those only 686 voted for him an indicator of what type of “growth”, or lack there-of, that we can expect for our school district in the future? Why did we have so few candidates?

Is the job hard? Yes. Time consuming? Yes. Thankless? Perhaps. Important? Very. Maybe the outcome of the last election will help the silent majority have the courage to step forward, find qualified, quality candidates and VOTE! The voters of the Armstrong School District need to say “enough is enough”. Our children’s education is more important than the petty agenda’s of many of the current directors.

We need to find dedicated, forward- thinking, selfless individuals to lead our district. The out of control actions and spending of the current board needs to be brought into check and there is only one way to do that…..by action not by lip service. Our children’s educations, their future, the future of the County and maybe even to a degree the future of our Country are at stake. Why do we have people in power who think so little of education? Who are willing to cut teachers from a building, who by their own voice, have said is on the “warning list” for poor PSSA scores to staff a building with fewer students than said school….to staff a building where there will be classes with 10 or less students, to staff a building where some teachers will have only 4 classes to teach all day (as opposed to the customary 6-7 classes of all other building’s teachers) and fill the rest of their days doing “duties” yet are receiving the same pay as other teachers in the district? Why was the last open caucus meeting postponed…..because they can’t get the figures in order to show that reopening Elderton will not cause an increase in taxes or not deplete the current fund balance…..they are scrambling to try to make it appear to the taxpayers and voters that reopening EHS is fiscally sound when in fact there is just no way that it is. Apparently the agenda’s of the “super six” supersede the education of the majority of the students in the district. Why else would they be putting our students in such a precarious situation for PSSA success? Is it just so that it looks like there will not be “too many” new teachers hired to staff EHS. So the education of all of the other students in the district means so little to the “super-six” that this is okay???

The fact is we need to get out there, vote and support those that are in line with how we feel about things…..whether it is President or School Director.

Kittanning Paper Comments

Editorial by Jennifer Willyard and Becky Fullerton


The online version of the Kittanning Paper contains the same articles as are in print but there is also the option to comment on the articles, including this one (below). For the past several months there have been many articles in regard to the Armstrong School District and many specifically relating to the status of Elderton High School.

Here is a very interesting posting from this week:

“Please explain the math you are using when you make this statement: “The Elderton attendance area generates enough tax revenue to pay for the operation of the school and contributes to the debt service for schools in other areas of ASD.” Please indulge me for my own edification and please explain this to the people of: East Brady, Worthington, Shannock Valley, Dayton, Kittanning, and Ford City.

I am using the ASD reported attendance area Revenue and Expenditure Statement and I don’t see where you can make this claim.

View these documents here:

The people from Elderton are good upstanding people that contribute positively to the community. We want your children to have as stellar of an education as possible, but not at the expense of other children’s education within the district. The misconception that the ASD needs Elderton and their taxes in the ASD is not factual. However, Elderton attendance area does need the ASD in order to keep their facilities open. Surrounding School districts sought for consolidation would and will not keep the Elderton Jr. Sr. High School open and renovate the facility. Our wanting for Elderton to remain within the district has nothing to do with revenues provided by the Elderton attendance area. Everyone has access to the data from the ASD for attendance area revenues and expenditures. We urge you to review them. (See above web-link) Yes, if Elderton attendance area is to remain within the ASD, the ASD needs to close and consolidate Elderton in order to reduce expenditures in facilities and staffing. This is where the greatest gains are to be had. However, a positive affect to the revenue stream for the ASD is also created by a secession of Elderton along with their revenues.

If secession to a neighboring school district is truly pursued by Elderton attendance area, for the price tag placed on the buildings you will find that the insured values of the facilities and assessed market value of the acreage should be a fair market price. Do insurance companies generally place higher replacement values on facilities that they insure? Regardless, the insured value of the buildings and the assessed market value of the acreage is the place to begin negotiation at a minimum. When Sugar Creek Elementary was closed by the ASD and re-opened to be continued to be used as an elementary school by the Karns City School District they paid for the facilities as such at that time. Other facilities that were closed and no longer to be used as a school have gone at lower prices. Which way would Elderton prefer it to be when their buildings are assessed for their value?

Do not get me wrong. I am NOT against Elderton, the people of Elderton, or the students of the Elderton attendance area. I am for ALL of the townships, boros, and municipalities and ALL of the people, and ALL of the students of the ASD. Elderton is not its own school district and has not been since the 1960’s. Due to declining enrollment, low student to teacher ratio, and ever increasing costs to educate a student (higher than all other attendance areas)it was time to close the facility and consolidate. If you truly believe that your above statement is correct, you may want the Elderton attendance area to earnestly pursue secession.”- Adam Scaife

Our reason for posting this particular comment? Savings is a very difficult thing to show.

We haven’t had a tax increase in this school district since approximately 2002 when the taxes settled at the current rate of 55 mills. Cost of education has gone up each year–so the “savings” have been used in one of two places. It is either being applied to off-set the increasing cost of operating a bloated school district (without increasing taxes)–or it is sitting in an over-taxation savings account (Fund Balance). Your savings which resulted from reducing costs are exactly in one of those two places.

And yes, there is savings which resulted from closing EHS. You simply can not remove the operation of a building and its associated staffing and not have “savings”.

The question is why hasn’t that savings been returned to the taxpayers in the form of a millage reduction?

The Pension Plan

We are sure, by now, you have read Jennifer Willyard and Rebecca Fullerton's latest editorial in The Kittanning Paper.  In it, they discuss the Pension Plan Spike that is going to occur in the 2012-2013 school year.  We thought you would like to see some supporting documents.  We like to get the true facts to the public, we just don't make things up, we have documentation to back up everything we write about.

In addition to the documents below, we urge you to investigate this yourself at the PA Public School Employee's Retirement System (PPSERS) website especially this page, which discusses the rate spike.

Pension