New ASD Regions

These are the new regions in the ASD. Listed are the current board members holding those seats and if those seats are up for reelection. If you live in an area that has a seat open and you would like to run or you know someone who would like to run, please contact SoLongSolak@yahoo.com and we will point you in the right direction!

Region I
Current Member, Up for reelection?
Kozuch - YES - 2 year remaining on MJM's term
Solak - YES
Rearic - YES

Bethel, Burrell, Cadogan, Ford City, Ford Cliff, Manor, Manorville, North Buffalo and West Kittanning.


Region II
Current Member, Up for reelection?
Choncek - YES
Close - No 2013
NEW SEAT

Applewald, East Franklin, Kittanning Boro, Rayburn, Washington, West Franklin and Worthington.


Region III
Current Member, Up for reelection?
Monroe and Stitt - YES these two seats will now be ONE
Smeltzer - No 2013
Yassem - No 2013

Atwood, Boggs, Cowanshannock, Dayton, Elderton, Kittanning Twp, Pine, Plumcreek, Rural Valley, South Bend, Valley and Wayne.

Letter to Department of Education - Oppose The Wasteful Spending!

If you opposed the frivilous spending that is about to occur in the Armstrong School District, please print out the following letter, sign it and mail it to the Department of Education. The district is required to have an Act 34 Hearing, which will be held on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 6:30 pm at Elderton High School. Please plan to attend and share your views. If you can't attend, it is important that you mail a letter. Act 34 Letter

Network of influence: It's hard to tell if the public interest is being served

Armstrong County should recognize some of the names in this BLOG POST.  It's time to wake up people!

Repost of originial blog that can be found at the link above.

Some of the most influential figures in local municipalities and school districts aren't those elected by the voters. Theirs are not household names and most citizens wouldn't recognize their faces. The roles they play are hard to pinpoint and the consequences for taxpayers hard to ascertain.


Yet the threads that connect their governmental, political and business enterprises form a tight bond, affording them access to multimillion-dollar contracts, which in many cases do not go through open bidding processes that bring competition, public scrutiny and cost controls.

In "The Network," a three-part series published last week and based on a six-month investigation, Post-Gazette staff writer Rich Lord described the long-standing relationships among a group of lawyers and businessmen, and he documented $32 million in payments from state and local municipalities and agencies from 2005 to 2009 to their companies, as well as 31 bond deals since 2001.

The reality is there are two flow charts that simultaneously determine how the work of governing gets done. One is visible and contains the public officials who lead towns, counties and municipal authorities. The other is less obvious but no less influential.

The old-boys-style network includes: Stephen A. Zappala Sr., the former state Supreme Court chief justice, his brother Charles and Charles' nephew Greg; the elder Zappala's former law partner, James J. Dodaro, long active in county development, the Port Authority and the state Turnpike Commission; Mr. Dodaro's partners John F. Cambest and Gary J. Matta; Mr. Matta's brother George, the former county clerk of courts; political operatives John J. Verbanac and Edward Grattan; and business associates Joseph F. Hohman, Christopher Kerr and William Brucker.

The biggest contract, at $19.53 million, was held by Wilkinsburg-based Resource Development and Management, to handle operations of the Greater Johnstown Water Authority. The firm -- headed by Mr. Hohman, Mr. Dodaro and Mr. Kerr -- also manages three other public water systems and has gotten state contracts to advise six financially distressed municipalities and 11 local governments at risk of heading that way.

A related business, Utility Line Security, should be familiar to customers of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. It was able to add a $5 charge to their monthly bills when it assumed responsibility for line repairs. Mr. Kerr incorporated ULS and Mr. Brucker's law firm represents it. ULS obtained an unusual contract that gave it unprecedented access to a customer base because it forced homeowners to opt out if they didn't want the service rather than opt in if they did. The contract now is the subject of a civil lawsuit and a state attorney general's investigation.

In another example in the series, a Downtown firm, PrimeSolutions Capital Corp., was paid $30,000 in referral fees for sending business to a local bank. One of the accounts that was subject to the referral agreement belonged to the Allegheny County sheriff's department. The problem is, that account, holding around $6 million, earned interest from the bank that was far below the prevailing market rate. Mr. Grattan was an independent contractor for PrimeSolutions. The bank arrangement was in effect during the term of former Sheriff Pete DeFazio, who retired after pleading guilty to soliciting campaign contributions from employees. After William P. Mullen was elected sheriff, he put a stop to the practice, but the public funds in the account had missed out on earnings during years when interest rates were much higher than current levels.

Not all of the situations detailed in the series dealt specifically with dollars. In some cases, network connections led to influence. For example, Mr. Verbanac, from outside the government, was instrumental in a change in leadership at the city's powerful Urban Redevelopment Authority.

"Who you know" often is a key factor in private commerce, and many consider its practice as simply the way of the world. No one should be so naive as to suggest it doesn't play a role in government and politics as well. But that doesn't make it right and, more to the point, it doesn't necessarily serve the public's interests.

"Know who," as opposed to know-how, should not play a decisive role when the enterprise is the people's business, funded with the people's dollars. Even though the letter of the law allows for some opaque practices, citizens have a right to see how their tax dollars are being spent and a right to know who is really calling the shots.

Terrorist Attack on Armstrong School District

Disclaimer, " this is a parody, the names have not been changed to expose the sillyness".


Author: U.N. Owen

Today, the ASD, Department of Homeland Community Schools issued a warning, lowering the intelligence level from stupid to idiotic, two levels above the nadir of insane.

The reason for the lowering of the intelligence level is weapons of mass destruction have been found at a science teachers home, an unnamed source said the cache consisted of, a pen, writing paper, a voice box, independent thought and most damaging of all, a brain.

As a reminder, the ASD Department of Homeland Community Schools warning system is as follows:

1. Silly
2. Stupid
3. Idiotic
4. Imbecile
5. Insane

Members of the ASD were informed of the threat and appropriate actions taken,

D. Royce Smeltzer was interrupted reading “ My pet goat” seemed utterly confused.

Tokyo Rose Stitt was seen crying in front of Kittanning Township School, explaining “we had to close the school in order to keep it open.

Kim Jong Solak, born on a mountain top underneath double rainbows, immediately issued a statement stating “this conspiracy has been in the works since William Kerr was an oocyte”.

Ms. Sara Yessum issued a statement saying “ this is like, you know a tragedy”

Mr. John Monroe was ushered into the underground command center at an undisclosed location somewhere near Yellow Dog.

Mr. Jim Rearic stated, what a bunch of assholes

Mr. Joe Close was tooting a train whistle indicating that any vestige of sensibility has left the station.

Mr. Chris Choncek uttered a call for reason, and some investigation into whether actually possessing independent thought and a brain were reasons to lower the intelligence level.

Mr. Dave Brown, spokesman for a “truther movement” called H.E.R.O. declared that over 200 years ago, Washington D.C. applied for and built The White House, this is unfair, where is our White House? We pay taxes, it’s no fair that everything occurs near the Potomac River, I’ll bet they have a new YMCA as well. I heard them say “pull it” that means we can spend all the money we want and we want a White House. Look the Pentagon was rebuilt and we didn’t get anything, we deserve something.

Upon further reflection, it was determined that a phallic symbol would be more appropriate for the H.E.R.O. “truther movement”, all agreed that the phallus is more indicative of the movement.

Kim Jong Solak: well furthermore, on an official document which I just made up, and furthermore to my furthermore, I have read this in great detail and it has been furthermore determined that the threat, while not real, is meaningless and needs to be prosecuted.

Something smells fishy.....

An Editorial by Jen Willyard

I have waited to see if more information has come out regarding this, but since it hasn't, this is what I think so far.....the whole thing is fishy, in my eyes.

A- you can't really read everything on that kdka piece, but I can plainly see that it is not a print screen of a facebook page. It looks like a cut and paste job to me. So who did that? Why? Since it is cut and paste, is the conversation taken out of order?

B- The "maybe someone will blow it up" comment seems to me that it is taken out of context just from the few other things I can read on there. No more harmful that wishing my ex would drop off the face of the planet. LOL It's a wish in one hand and spit in the other....which one fills up first?

C- I find it curious that the police are not involved if this indeed is a threat. If this really were a threat, that school would have been locked down and bomb sniffing dogs would have been involved. Unfortunately, we have had that happen before.

D- How did kdka get a hold of this if it is a personnel issue? Sounds like either a person with connections in pittsburgh for the TV station Or someone that knows a reporter from kdka since he is from the area? Either way unethical.

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Senator Don White speaks out about Elderton Reopening

In a recent Leader Times article, Senator Don White speaks out about education spending and the reopening of Elderton High School:

Education spending: The senator called the current public system broken, adding that taxpayers are "paying through the nose" for that system.




"The education funding increase gravy train is going to stop," he said. "The governor has continued to take money from other programs and dump it into an education system that is flawed and we need to take that money back and put it where it belongs."


White also mentioned the Armstrong School District and the battle over Elderton High School, saying that the issue "has done nothing but waste millions in tax dollars."


"We as taxpayers need to pay close attention to the people we are electing into the school director positions and stop electing people who have no fiscal restraints," he said. "I have no power over the people who are elected to the school boards, the voters have given them the power to do what they do."

This is a MUCH different opinion than ASD School Director Sara Yassem claimed that Senator White had on the issue, when she claimed, under oath, that Senator Don White told her to fight for the community schools and not to believe "them" when they say that they're not interested in building a new big school.

We the People

An editorial by Rebecca Fullerton and Jennifer Willyard

So far in 2010, there have been a lot of people complaining about the state of our Towns, Boroughs, School District, Committee’s, Councils, etc.

What people are not saying, is the majority of the time, they have had the opportunity to change the way things are done but failed to do so.

When we become lazy or worse yet, apathetic, or when we expect that others will have the good sense and morality to do the "right thing" that's when things begin to deteriorate. Sometimes these things happen so slowly that we don't at first notice the route events are taking and then suddenly we find ourselves in a hole that we can' t possibly dig ourselves out of, at least not alone.

Everyone needs to get together on the same page and speak up about the wrongs that are being forced upon the majority of our citizens. We all need to do our due diligence and not expect that someone else will take care of it. Haven't you heard the expression "God helps those who help themselves"? It is about time for each and every one of us to begin helping ourselves out of the tremendous mess our school district, towns, county, and country is/are in.

There are complaints aplenty about transparency, shady dealings, illegal activity, hidden agenda’s, takeovers, kickbacks, side deals, etc. But you know what? We have nobody to blame but ourselves. Here is an expression that fits pretty well for our region: “If you do what you always did, you get what you always got”.

There are several times we have opportunities to change the way things are done. One of those times occurs in the month of November most years. If officials are not changing things over a course of years on a council or board, if positive changes are not taking place in our communities, then why are these people continuously put into these positions of power? Why is the public voting for them or maybe even worse, not voting at all?

Sometimes, it’s not a matter of why are people voting for them as much as it is a matter of who is running against them in the polls. Where are you, the people, at a time when your town, borough, county, library, sewage authority, school board needs you?

Everyone has an opinion on the way things are done, but why is nobody stepping forward and volunteering their time and not just their opinion? Where are you, the people, at a time when your town, borough, county, library, sewage authority, school board needs to hear your opinion? Why are you not at the meetings? You have these opinions, why are you not publicly stating them to the people that need to hear them the most? Just like an employee with bad performance, until they are written up, they do not change. Just like a child that is misbehaving, they will push the buck until finally you put a stop to it.

Don't think that your vote doesn't matter. IT DOES! Some of the current offenders currently in office got there 8 votes...yes 8! EVERY VOTE COUNTS! It takes mere minutes out of your day to make a positive impact on your community! Please get out there and make an informed decision by exercising your right to vote or stepping forward and being that person to vote for!

As a great man once said "Our lives begin to end the minute we become silent about things that matter...." Reverend Martin Luther King

Markilinski Resigns - Who should replace him?

Well, God does answer prayers.  Word is that the Leader Times is reporting that MJM has resigned.  Now the question is, who will replace him?  The board is going to have to appoint someone to fill his position.  With the current structrure being 5-3, we can only hope we don't get a clone of MJM in there. 

We feel the perfect candidate would be Hank Cacurak.  He's a Manor Township resident, hes a father of children in the district and he's a retired PA State Trooper.  If you would like to get a taste of what Hank is all about, here is something that he wrote, publicly during the whole "let's make Lenape half day" period.

School Director Job Description

School board members have Job Descriptions/Expectations for all employees that work for or at a school. Do the School Board Members have a job description for their position? Are expectations of what School Board Members do clearly posted anywhere? We know what is expected of students, administrators, teachers, custodians, aids, secretaries, et cetera. I have taken liberty to produce such a list. The list is not intended to be all-inclusive but touches on some basic, core beliefs many members in our community have developed thanks to the newly elected School Board. The Description/Expectations are as follows:


School Board Member Job Description/Expectations List:

You shall represent the voters of the district that elected you. Assuming that you actually live in the district that elected you, your voting and actions should represent the will of your electorate and not the interests of a municipality in which you have substantial monetary interests (eg own a business). Refrain from generalities and referring to “doing what is best for the tax payer” – as an elected public official you agree to serve your electorate. You do not serve the generic taxpayer. You serve a specific group of taxpayers who elected you.

You must conduct yourself with the highest possible ethical values. Treat people with dignity. When a board member berates a citizen you must do your best to pull in the reigns on the out-of- control board member or you will be seen at the least as being ineffective and at best aligning yourself with a bully. Do not use generic terms such as “skaters” or “misfits” to describe people you believe to be lower than you on the social ladder. It demonstrates pre-judging people (aka prejudice) and makes it impossible for you to render an unbiased judgment which affects those lives. If you cannot clear your mind of prejudice then you must recuse yourself from any votes affecting people for which you consider lower life forms. Also, no racial or ethnic slurs, either.

If you apply a standard to a group of people then expect to have that standard applied to you. For example, if you accuse a school of being a failure based upon PSSA testing scores without considering the totality of the circumstances, then you must pass a test. A “Blue Ribbon Panel” of knowledgeable Voters from the district electing you shall put together an examination based upon facts and circumstances encompassing issues before the Board. You must pass the examination or else abstain from the vote. Your experience, background and accomplishments will not be considered—only the test results (similar to PSSA Exams). If you wish to reopen a school, you will be quizzed about how much money will it cost each person and business IN YOUR VOTING DISTRICT. You will need to understand the results of a cost effectiveness study (if you have to wait three months for the facts then you must wait three months for the facts. This will curb the impulse to be impulsive.). If the vote involves millage increases then an essay explaining what millage is and how it applies to the topic will be required. You will also need to be able to correctly solve a couple of millage “problems” to further demonstrate your understanding of the issue. Testing along these lines will ensure that the Board Member will make enlightened decisions for “the taxpayer”. Testing of Board Members will serve as a reality check and demonstrate that he or she is capable of making an informed decision or vote. If the member does not pass the test then the member can be considered to be a Failure and be placed “in corrective action and have his vote reduced by one-half (which would be called a “hybrid” vote).

You must undergo another test - a random drug test. Anyone working in the school with children is subject to one. Board Members, who make decisions with millions of taxpayer dollars and directly affect the lives of children, must not be chemically impaired.

Not agreeing to random drug testing equals no right to vote at a board meeting. The way some board members think and act begs the question: “What the heck have they been smoking?!”

The Board President should be firm and fair. When a member becomes obsessed with a single topic (such as the procedure on how another school district arrives at their costs) or gets a glassy-eyed stare and begins ranting about a mythical “super school”, you must advise him he is out of order. Board Members need to remind each other that mythical schools cannot exist in a county which has a severly eroded tax base. Part of each School Board Quiz will involve asking members if they realize that PPG and Eljer aren’t here anymore to foot the bill. You must also remind everyone that Armstrong County does not have an economic tax base that can even tie the shoe string of Butler, Indiana or Westmoreland Counties. Armstrong County is not the land of Oz but more resembles the dustbowl days of Kansas.

Members need to submit to psychological examination. Just because someone graduates High School or College does not necessarily mean that they have the maturity or stability to hold a position of public trust. Just because someone is elected to public office does not mean that they actually possess mental stability. Why does a person take on a demanding job that does not provide a paycheck? If the non-paid elected public servants are taking on this job for the proper reasons we would not be witnessing some individuals behaving as if they are part of a “Saturday Night Live” Comedy Skit. Test results may explain why a school board member is a lap-dog at one meeting and then becomes an attack-dog at another meeting.

You need to make the secret Executive Meetings public as well. What kind of back-door deals are being cut. Are weaker, indecisive members being bullied by overbearing, opinionated members? Let the public examine how all the gears of the body politics work – warts and all.

I have to thank many members of the school board. You have energized an ever widening base of average people who are becoming interested in grassroots government. The riff-raff, garlic eating, skating electorate is now beginning to understand that a candidate can be elected without disclosing his true agenda until after the election. Once elected, “buyers’ remorse” cannot undo the reckless and intentional “in your face” type of damage done by an elected official who does not consider himself accountable to the electorate of his district but actually considers himself as a superior to the electorate and not as its servant. The bottom line of the above School Board Job Description is Accountability. If a board member does not wish to be held to the above standards then do the respectable thing – Resign the position. Just think about It!

Hank Cacurak, Manor Township

Mission Possible

An Editorial by Becky Fullerton and Jennifer Willyard

The last time the ASD School Board adopted a mission statement and goal, it was 2003. We think it can be agreed upon, that there have been vast changes in the past 7 years.

It would be thought, with a large organization such as the Pennsylvania School Board Association behind it, our board would look to them for guidance and assistance in their policies and endeavors.

The PSBA adopted their 5 year strategic plan in 2007. What is wonderful about their plan is they clearly outline their goals:

• Determine PSBA's role as the lead public education association
• Develop programs to recognize and promote effective governance
• Ensure PSBA has expertise to implement strategic plan
• Enhance member participation in PSBA governance, advocacy and related activities
• Expand consulting services to school boards and management teams
• Develop a fully integrated communications function for all audiences
• Increase utilization of PSBA programs & services
• Be the leader in school insurance
• Diversify PSBA's revenue base
• Ensure sound administrative procedures & controls
• Establish education research & policy analysis center
• Strengthen advocacy impact

As stakeholders in our district, we would like to know if our school directors are taking advantage of these services. One item in particular that the PSBA was working on was "Expand consulting services to school boards and management teams". Has our board taken advantage of this? Has the board had an independent entity come in to see how they are doing? How they are engaging each other? How they are engaging the community? How they are engaging our children?

What about the curriculum? Are our students being challenged enough? Are they being challenged too much? Why are our students failing? How about this question concerning curriculum: Are our students prepared for college or the world of work? Do they have to take remedial classes? Are there follow up studies by the school district to see what the students are doing five years after they graduate? Does our curriculum have to change to meet the needs of a 21st century learner. Are our children ready for the start of the Keystone Exams? For those of you that did not realize this, Pennsylvania has instituted the Keystone Exams to begin the 2011-2012 school year. These final exams will count as 1/3 of a student’s final grade, oh and if they do not pass the test, they do not graduate.

Why has information regarding this not been presented to the community? There is still discussion of past AYP, past PSSA scores, but let’s look to the future folks!

Our district has again adopted the PSBA Effective Governance Standards, but are they putting the work into that? Do they truly know what the Effective Governance Standards are?

Are they taking advantage of the training and events that the PSBA offer? If they are, then hopefully our directors attended the Symposium of Education Issues that was held July 11-12 in Gettysburg. Hopefully they listened as former Pine-Richland School District Superintendent Dr. James Manley addressed them. Perhaps they heard him state "There is no room for big egos in a learning organization. Superintendent and School Board members are dependent on one another to lead the district. How this relationship goes; so goes the district. What they do, how they act, what decisions they make and how they handle conflict sets the tone for the school district."

Maybe one of Dr. Stan Chapp’s first objectives once he takes over the reins of our district is to truly evaluate it. Take a page from Trinity School District that had Dr. Manley in to do an independent audit of their district. Our board did not want to listen when Dr. Kerr spoke about change, perhaps an independent audit of our districts workings could help. Spell out the things we are doing right. Spell out the things we are doing wrong. Offer some guidance and help.

Our board is willing to spend thousands of dollars on study after study, how about spending some money and truly evaluating something in our district other than buildings? How about implementing what some of those studies suggest rather than just wasting district tax dollars on them.

LINKS:

Trinity Area School District "A Journey Toward High Performance Schools

PSBA Symposium on Education Issues

Soup's On!

An Editorial by Becky Fullerton and Jennifer Willyard


At this week’s ASD School Board meeting, there were several interesting things discussed….one of which is the closing of Kittanning Township Elementary School and the transfer of these students to Elderton Elementary School.

A good question to ask in regard to this, is how many additional classrooms will be constructed when the renovations occur at Elderton Elementary to accommodate the pending increase in class sizes?

While most studies show that learning in the secondary schools is better with larger classes, they also indicate that elementary students need a smaller class size to be successful. The students who have been found to have the highest achievement in class size studies are the youngest of elementary students in K-3. So what will the consolidation of KT and Elderton Elementary result in for the new class sizes for these children?

Another item for consideration in this is, will the board deny transfer requests? We know personally, if we had Lenape Elementary closer to our homes than Elderton Elementary, we would put a transfer request in, especially for Kindergarteners that are in school for only half a day.

In addition to renovations being done at the Elderton complex, it seems Ford City will be receiving some renovations and possible additions as well.

Do the directors really feel that spending approximately $24 million on (as HERO stated in one of their handouts) “the aging, structurally questionable” FCHS is a good thing? There are only so many band-aids you can put on a gaping wound before you bleed out. Exactly where did this addition come from (as it was never mentioned in the options presented originally by the architects) and where on the FCHS is it supposed to be located? Maybe the ASD board will attempt to have Ford City Borough use Eminent Domain! Gee perhaps those that live on 4th Avenue should watch out as they may be part of the pending renovations!

There was also slight discussion, by Director Solak, regarding the issue of flooding at FCHS. It was stated that none of the classrooms had taken water in, but nothing with regard to results from the mold testing that was recently done. We are very interested to read these results when they are in since, as stated by many, the mold seems to be a recurring problem at the high school.

Why does the mold problem keep recurring? Poor air circulation? Clogged drains? Leaking plumbing? How did we come up with the above probable problems? Easy! Those are the reasons listed in a mold finding report from back in 2007! Where any or all of those problems addressed? Did that stop the mold from recurring? Does anyone know exactly what that status is? Again, the mold is not a new issue in Ford City High School, but perhaps it is one that somehow, someday will be remedied, one would hope, with the $24 million band-aid being applied to that building.

So lets see….Ford City gets renovations, Elderton gets renovations, ($47 million in renovations with MINIMAL state reimbursement)West Shamokin is fine (contrary to what Ms. Yassem states)…..who are we missing? Ahhhh yes! Kittanning!

Sorry Kittanning, but no soup for you!

Abstract Math and Thinking (NOT)

An Editorial by Scott Starr

Already the misinformation campaign concerning the Judge’s ruling concerning the arbitrary and capricious decision to open Elderton has begun, and the ink is hardly dry on the decision. First Director Solak incorrectly stated “the judge voted in favor of opening Elderton”, this statement is entirely wrong, the judge ruled (in my opinion incorrectly) that the vote to open Elderton was not illegal. Early on in this case, it was argued that the suit was not about Community v. Consolidated Schools, yet the judge cited this in his opinion, the ruling was wrong and the judge, in my opinion, did not understand the issue at hand. Or perhaps he did, because the ramifications of winning the lawsuit would have been far and wide, imagine if there were a heroic judge ruling in our favor, we could stop such legal and useful spending as the Arlen Specter Library and the John P. Murtha Center for public policy ($20milllion) as well as the additional $90 million in projects which are yet unnamed in our Pennsylvania State Budget! That’s right this could have been a precedent setting case, but alas, many are still following the yellow brick road searching for the wizard.

Even worse, the arithmetically challenged Director Solak, cites the loss of 160 students and $1.6 million in revenue from South Bend Township if Elderton is not opened and they choose to attend Apollo School District (That’s $10,000 per student). The cost of an Elderton education is $14,000, sixth grade mathematics show that ASD is losing $4,000 per student! (that’s $640,000). This is a FACT !

Let’s use more Solakian math, add the $640,000 difference to the cost of $2.7 million to open Elderton and we are up to $3.34 million, let’s say we would save $100 K from not busing these students and we are at $3.44 Million. With abstract Solakian math we add in the $17 - $24 million in renovation, plus the interest on the bond to be floated (the longer the life of the bond, the more interest paid) and we are talking some real money.

Our friends in South Bend Township, this is not about you, Solak is using you as a pawn for reopening Elderton, just as the folks of Kittanning Township were used, you see where that got them.

The information needs to get out to the public.

Digging a Hole?

An Editorial by Adam Scaife

Is the current ASD School Board digging our school district into a hole with a hand spade or an earth excavator?


What is the state of the ASD pension fund contributions preparedness? It has been estimated that we will owe approximately + $25 Million DOLLARS to the pension fund over the next several years. There is currently a proposed state bill with respect to the pension fund contributions. "IF" it passes it will re-amortize the contributions over a greater number of years. They didn’t say that they were reducing the overall dollar amount owed, it’s still owed, it is just spreading it out over more years. Even if our payment contributions are half of what they were to be it is a huge cost that we will have to contribute each year over the next many years. What is our ASD board and administration doing to prepare for the looming pension fund contribution? Anything? Nothing? Surrounding districts are preparing for their contribution payments. Most of the surrounding districts are reporting that they are preparing now for their pension fund contributions with tax increases and some are using portions of their fund balance (savings account) now to alleviate the tax implications toward their current budget needs and pension fund contribution preparedness.

We’ve re-opened EHS and are paying for the re-staffing and facility operational budget out of the district’s fund balance (savings account). The re-staffing of this facility is an ANNUAL COST estimated at approximately $3.5 MILLION DOLLARS. This is being paid out of the fund balance this year so that taxes are not having to be increased this year. Could it also be that there would be an up-rising by the tax base if taxes were raised this year for re-opening this facility that will only graduate 30 students at this time next year? Perhaps this Fund Balance (savings account) money could have been used more wisely to alleviate the tax burden and implications once we do have to start making our payment contributions to the pension fund? There is currently a facilities study being done and an estimated cost being tossed around at approximately $18 MILLION Dollars to renovate Elderton. How will this renovation project be justified? Again, this is for a facility that will graduate only 30 students at this time next year.

This is an inequitable and unbalanced state of affairs that this current board is imposing on the entire tax base and to the entire student body of the district. How deep will this hole be that this current ASD board is placing our entire school district in?

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!

Court Hearing Tuesday and Wednesday!

Will five be the magic number?  The three local judges, Valasek, Panchik and Nickleach have all recused themselves from hearing the case against the Super Six and their fiscally irresponsible decision to reopen Elderton High School for approximately 250 students in grades 7-12 at a cost of 3.5 million dollars.  Now we are hearing that Westmoreland County Senior Judge Daniel J. Ackerman, who was set to hear the case on Tuesday and Wednesday has been replaced by a judge from Erie because he broke his foot.

Please, if you are able to attend the hearings June 15 and 16, please show up to support the plaintiffs.  Show that you agree with them and support their decision to file suit.  The hearings will take place in Court Room 1 at 1:00 PM.

If possible, we will be live tweeting the proceedings.  Please follow HERCasd on Twitter. www.twitter.com/HERCasd