ASD Board Members Appalled by Administration's Actions

ASD Board members Chris Choncek, Jim Rearic and Joe Close issue the following statement:

Over the last few days, the Armstrong School District Administration has orchestrated a public relations campaign at taxpayer expense to promote the political agenda of the board majority. To spend district funds on such PR just days after voting to eliminate nearly 70 jobs in the name of cost cutting is a slap in the face to both the taxpayers and those employees about to lose their livelihoods.

As stewards of the taxpayer dollars, we are appalled at these blatant actions. For a 'newsletter' to be mailed to all district residents extolling the virtues of the proposed $80 million renovation arriving in homes just days before the Election reeks of politics. As board members we were never consulted on the content of this mailing and are troubled by the fact its contents are far from the norm of previous newsletters.

Coupled with the paid ads appearing in local newspapers 'explaining' the referendum questions it is clear these media efforts are coordinated to promote the agenda of the board majority at taxpayer expense. To state a no vote on the referendum means approval of the $80 million renovation plan is subjective at best. There is only one question on the ballot and the rhetoric contained in these taxpayer paid advertisements is not only opinion - but a main platform of those members of the board majority running for re-election.

Mailings and advertisements are not cheap and for the ASD to send out such propaganda at the taxpayer expense less than one week before the election is insulting to the constituents we represent and highly unethical behavior by professionals paid by taxdollars to serve the public - not a certain segment of the ASD board of directors.

This board majority has already spent millions to pay architects, bond agents and attorneys who do not even live in our district to advance this ill-conceived renovation plan. Now they are wasting more tax dollars promoting this boondoggle. It's bad enough the taxpayers have been stuck with the bill for the projects; they shouldn't have to foot the bill for the promotion of political agendas.

We demand the Armstrong School District administration and the board members responsible for this action personally reimburse the district taxpayers for this unauthorized use of taxpayer funds.

The board majority doesn't care what you have to say....

Especially Stitt and Solak.  This was totally apparent at Monday's Open Caucus meeting.  Four speakers and two board members appealed to the rest of the board to revisit the denied Student Transfers and to revote on them. 

Mr. Reesman speaks......

Mr. Crawford speaks......

Mr. Fullerton speaks......

Ms. Sperski speaks........

Choncek and Close speak, Stitt shuts them down......

Now Solak rants.............

People of Armstrong County, especially those in Solak and Stitt's areas, you need to do something.  These two board members DO NOT CARE what you think or want.  They only have their own agenda.  It is now up to you to create CHANGE!  Qualified people need to run against these two for the 2011 election.

Do we have any volunteers?

Stitt and Solak have a problem with cost allocation

Board Directors Stitt and Solak have a problem with Close's request that the $94,000 spent on the architect and future costs be put towards the total of reopening Elderton. Would this be because of the lawsuit holding them and the four others that voted to reopen this school financially responsible for all costs involved with the reopening of Elderton?

If you weren't able to attend the Town Hall Meeting in Kittanning on Sunday, March 28, 2010, you can watch the meeting in it's entirety on YouTube.  There are 14 videos. (Use the control arrows on the left and right to scroll through the 14 videos)

Questions that were subitted in advance and were in the printed program:

• Why isn’t the Department of Education getting involved?
• Do we have a long-range plan?
• Were we able to realize any savings from the closing of EHS?
• What’s the story with EHS’s secession to AR, was there interference?
• What were your reasons for voting for or against reopening EHS?
• What are your plans for the upcoming pension plan fund spike?
• Studies show that elementary schools should be kept smaller and secondary should be consolidated, why is ASD doing the opposite by consolidating KTE with EE and reopening EHS with small class sizes?
• Why does Kittanning have inadequate facilities like science labs?
• Are there plans for a Super School? If so, how can we afford it and where will it be built?
• Why wasn’t there a referendum vote?
• What were the reasons given by the board to have Lee Price dismissed as solicitor?
• What were the reasons given by the board for not entertaining any other possibilities and choosing from a candidate field of "one" to have this person as our new solicitor?
• Where did the new solicitor come from?
• What is his background?
• What other school districts has he had involvement with in the past and does he currently have involvement with on either a solicitor level or on a council level to private groups involved in activities with a school district?
• Why do you keep spending thousand of dollars to do studies and do nothing with them when you don't get the results that you want?
• Would it be more beneficial for our school district if the board members were elected at-large instead of by attendance areas/regions?
• If so, what would we need to do to go about making that change?
• Since the District's state mandated retirement contribution is scheduled in the next 5 years to increase from just under 5% to over 30% of salary expenses, wouldn't it be prudent for the District to lower salary expenditures by reducing the number of teachers?
• Armstrong County is similar to the State of Kansas where an aging population and a declining student  enrollment are causing schools to be consolidated. Closer to home, surrounding areas are closing and
• consolidating schools. Why is Armstrong County expanding the number of schools and teachers?
• Does the Armstrong School Board think like the State and Federal Governments that taxpayers have the where-with-all to pay any bill they lay on the table?

These were questions asked from the audience.  There were a few more that were asked directly by audience members, these are the ones that we had in writing.

• How many teachers were actually furloughed when EHS closed?
• What is it going to take to revers the decision back to close EHS?
• Because certain boar members will not let the Lenape half day figures alone, is there a fear that ASD could potentially choose to only go for half day because of the hybrid option and not allow student choice?
• What is your forecast for the "Elderton Transfers" vote and what will be the fallout of that vote?
• Is it ethical for a school board member to block emails from his/her constituents?
• Will EHS be on school improvement due to low PSSA scores for 08-09.  Will this process cost ASD additional funding?
• How will this years PSSA scores be configured?
• Board Director Solak posed a question on February 23's agenda on OTH-5 - Has PDE given approval for re-opening EHS?
• What recourse will parents have if transfer requests are denied?

Finally a written comment from a retired IUP professor:
I have no question, my comment would be that while I empathize with the desire to maintain a sense of community, community members need to take the energy they've used to re-open Elderton High School (at great expense to their fellow citizens) and use it creatively to find another way to maintain that sense of community. 

Truer words have never been spoken.