BUDGET REFORM for STUDENT LEARNING at lmsd.info - the lower merion school district alternative information source

We Need Your Help, Now!

Please contact us at the "email me" link to the left if you are willing to donate your time or money.  We are in the final stretch of our fight to force the School Board to give the public a say in this $300M expenditure.  We will not win without your help.  And don't forget to sign our petition.  Thank You For Your Support!

ANOTHER VIEW ON NEW HARRITON GRAND OPENING

October 19, 2009

To the Editor:

 

In last week’s edition, you printed in the news section a press release prepared by the Lower Merion School District regarding the opening of New Harriton High School. After reading the unedited article, I felt compelled to offer another version:

 

“Residents of the Lower Merion School District (including the Forgotten Taxpayer) are invited to the grand opening of the largest and most expensive new public school in the Country on a per pupil basis.  The ribbon cutting at New Harriton High School marks the culmination of years of planning, community opposition and litigation. 

 

The LMSD Board and Administration had the foresight to locate the new school, designed to accommodate 1,250 students, at the sparsely-populated western edge of the District.  The plan was to equalize enrollment between New Harriton and Lower Merion High Schools.  As a quick glance at a map could have predicted, this led to a divisive redistricting process.  After hiring a top-notch redistricting expert, whose plan was totally ignored, the Board decided to adopt redistricting Plan 4b.  As a result, neighbors in Narberth now send their children to different high schools, and students who could have walked to Lower Merion are now forced to take buses to New Harriton.  To the relief of all, the high school matriculation plans of the nine board members’ families were not affected.

 

The District purportedly held over a hundred meetings to gather input from the community regarding renovating vs. building brand new schools.  The culmination of these meetings was the state-mandated Act 34 hearing for New Harriton, where 9 people spoke in favor of the District’s plans, while 27 were opposed.  The District responded by refusing to air the video of the hearing on its public access cable channel and instead used taxpayer money to hire a public relations firm to “sell” the community on its plans.  In addition, 460 residents wrote letters of opposition to the PA Department of Education.  After inviting (and ignoring) input from the community, the Board charged ahead with its plans.

 

The Board set a “not-to-exceed” budget for New Harriton of $98.25 million.  When the bids far exceeded this figure, the Board again invited public comment.  There were more meetings, and even radical suggestions such as delaying the project or scaling back the size of the schools to meet actual enrollment projections.  Fortunately, the Board ignored this heresy and voted to exceed its own “not to exceed” budget, raising it to $102.9 million.  As a result, New Harriton was completed “on time and on budget”.

 

Since the New Harriton building is so large, school buses can no longer be parked on the property.  Therefore, the district is paying or litigating to park school buses at the Croyle site, the Connelly Container site, the Matsonsford Road site and the Crooked Lane site, two of which aren’t even in the Township.  Despite its goal of making New Harriton “green”, LMSD will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the fuel and drivers to crisscross the district every day.

 

The centerpiece of New Harriton is the soaring glass-encased library.  Part of the District’s rationale for making Harriton and Lower Merion High Schools so large is that they would “provide space for use by community groups”.  However, instead of allowing the public to use the beautiful library, the Township is going ahead with plans to spend $11 million to renovate Ludington Library, located less than two miles away.

 

Community members who are unable to attend the New Harriton ribbon cutting should mark their calendars for October of 2010.  At that time, the District will open the doors of the even larger and more expensive Lower Merion High School.  The district will celebrate the distinction of having the two largest and most expensive new schools in the nation.  There will also be an opportunity for families of students who were displaced from Lower Merion to Harriton to see what they are missing as a result of the District’s $250 million capital program.

 

For more information on the LMSD, and their stewardship of the community’s resources, please visit www.lmsd.info.”

Stephen J. Gleason

Rosemont

School Board Really Has No Clue

Have you had a chance to see the Keystone Cops comedy routine put on by the Lower Merion School Board last week?  If not, click this link and advance to 124:51 on the video counter to view the February 9^th School Board meeting.

Apparently, no one on the Board or the Administration has any idea how big the new high schools will be!  When asked to answer with more specificity than their mantra that the schools were designed for 1250 students each, they stammered, gave each other the eye, undermined one another’s answers, attempted to distract from the issue ("we can hold classes in the hallway!"), and ultimately concluded that they simply don’t know.  And when asked specifically if the schools could each hold 1600 students, they became flip and indignant.

Are they embarrassed that, after authorizing the expenditure of more than a quarter of a BILLION dollars of your money, they don’t know what they bought?  Or do they simply not want us to know?  Aren’t these the very same people who approved the PlanCon submission to the Pennsylvania Department of Education that requested authorization to construct two high schools, each with a Rated Pupil Capacity of 1820 (1812 for LMHS) and a Full Time Equivalent capacity of 1647  (1640 for LMHS).  Read this article for links to the District’s own submissions to the PDE.  These numbers are based on the PDE’s own guidelines for educational space requirements.  But maybe there’s a reason we need 40% more space than anyone else.  Why can’t the Board simply explain why they chose to build the two largest and most expensive public high schools on a per student basis ever build in the United States. 

But this is certainly not the only deception you can witness if you take the time to watch this meeting and then independently inform yourself.  Take staffing for example.  Business manager Scott Shafer tells us that we will be hiring five new custodians and four new aides because the new Harriton is so much larger than the old.  It seems we can reassign teachers from one high school to the other, but the half-demolished LMSD is not able to give up any custodians.

Or, how about the budget?  Mr. Shafer tells us “we now have our final, major increase in the taxes in 2009-10.”   Really, Mr. Shafer?  Haven’t we all known since 2006 that the Commonwealth would be assessing a large tax increase in 2012 for unfunded teacher pensions due to a shortfall in that fund?  In 2006 Mr. Shafer denied this was something we should consider and plan for before we took on too much debt.  Yet on December 16, 2008, Mr. Shafer was quoted by the Inquirer deflecting the Commonwealth’s current plan to triple the amount that School District’s pay into the fund in 2012 as a Harrisburg-created problem.  He knew about it then and he knows about it now.  So why is Mr. Shafer again hiding this fact by stating at the February 9^th meeting that: “Future tax increases after this year become much more normalized and be much lower.”  (see 50:51 on the video counter)  Could it be that, by then, Mr. Shafer will be enjoying the pension defined in his own employment contract that he authored?

Perhaps it’s the same reason that Mr. Shafer states that “in 2004 the Board incurred $110M of debt to pay for the high schools.”  (see 44:11 and 47:55 on the video counter)  He chooses his words carefully to make sure he can convince the Board to deny the taxpayers from having the voice that is required by ACT 1.  In 2004, the Board voted to incur debt for the new LMHS hoping to take advantage of a loop-hole in the then-proposed ACT 1 language.  But they didn’t actually incur any debt, and won’t until this year.  Why LMHS and not Harriton?  Because it wasn’t until the redistricting question first arose in 2005 that they realized they better build Harriton first before everyone understood it was too large.  You can read about how Mr. Shafer then overtaxed us by $20.1M from 2006 to 2008 to avoid the ACT 1 vote for the Harriton debt service at lmsd.info, see Taxation to Eliminate Representation.  The point here is he’s doing it again, only this time under a bogus “exception on account of construction” that will never be challenged or enforced as long as the citizens of LM remain paralyzed by apathy.

And so the pattern continues.  At the previous, January 26^th meeting, when asked about the upcoming PDE hearings to investigate the PlanCon process for both schools, the District solicitor performed the same “slight of hand.”  Read the letter to the Board at www.lmsd.info.

At a time when we continue to be promised transparency and accountability, the conduct of the Lower Merion School Board when faced with valid questions from the public continues to be a pathetic display of ineptness, insecurity, and deceit.  If you are ready to shed your apathetic crutches, contact us at lmsdbudget.reform@verizon.net and learn how you can make a real difference for our community and our children.  We need your help, now.

Bill Manginelli, Narberth

Letter To Board - Be Straight With The Public

I would like this letter read into the record during the Public Comment portion of the next School Board Meeting.  Thank you for your consideration.

 

February 5, 2009

 

To the School Board Directors of Lower Merion School District:

 

I watched the video of the January 26, 2008 School Board Meeting and was disappointed to see that the Board is still refusing to answer questions from the citizens.  However, there was one exception that I found even more disconcerting.  A citizen asked the Board to address the upcoming ACT34 Hearings that have been ordered by the Secretary of Education.  Among all of the other questions asked, the Administration chose to ask the solicitor to address this one question. 

 

District Solicitor Roos was quite disingenuous in his answers.  First, he stated that there are no hearings scheduled.  True, only because Mr. Roos has refused to provide BUDGET REFORM FOR STUDENT LEARNING at www.lmsd.info, the citizens group that filed the ACT 34 complaint, with timely access to the District’s public records.  This delay forced the Hearing Officer to postpone hearings without yet setting new dates.  But clearly, hearings have been ordered and will be scheduled.  By contrast, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has already provided its entire document file to BRSL, before the District has even provided complete answers to BRSL’s document request.

The Group That Reduced Your School Taxes By 3.5% Continues to Fight for Citizens Rights - But We Need Your Help!

Budget Reform for Student Learning at www.lmsd.info was organized in May 2006 in response to the then proposed tax increase of 15.1%.  After the Board adjusted the amount to 14.3%, BRSL organized a group of over 200 citizens to pressure the School Board into answering the tough questions about its proposed budget, and in particular, its debt service schemes.  The result was an offer to drop the increase to 10.8% to get BRSL to "back off."  Of course, we did not. 

What happened is explained in this article that was run in the Main Line Times, Main Line Life, and The Bulletin.  A careful reading will show that the Board majority insisted that "every remaining penny" of the 10.8% budget increase was needed to maintain educational programs.  But was it?  Less than a year later, we learned that the very budget that we succeeded in having reduced by over 3.5% had over a $6.5M surplus embedded in it.  Worse than that was the realization that this over-taxing was part of the "debt service scheme" that had been hidden from the public. 

Our small victory for the citizens put millions of dollars back in the taxpayers pockets, saving each Lower Merion resident over 3.5% on their school taxes each year.  Our latest victory has come from the PA Secretary of Education,who will conduct formal hearings in February 2009 to decide on the merits of BRSL's complaint that the PlanCon approvals of the two high schools without a voter referendum was a violation of PA ACT 34.  Finally,the residents of Lower Merion may have a chance to have their voices heard.  This would not only help offset the massive tax increases looming in our near future, but would also force a renewed look at the current plan to bus children from Ardmore and Narberth past Lower Merion High School to Harriton.

But fights like this come at a cost.  BRSL needs your help now.  If you support what we are doing, please visit www.lmsd.info, sign our petition to rescind the PlanCon approvals, and contact us at lmsdbudget.reform@verizon.net.  We need help funding our efforts and getting the word out.

 Bill Manginelli, Narberth

Last Chance to Have a Voice in Redistricting Debacle - SIGN THE PETITION

As co-founder of Budget Reform for Student Learning, www.lmsd.info, I have spent years studying the actions of this board and the schools they intend to build.  When I speak specifically of this board I speak of those who were on it prior to the 2007 election.  For those new members who do not know the facts of which I speak , I suggest that they do some research to better understand the challenge they have inherited.

 

The problem we face today began with a lie by this board about a PA Department of Education regulation that our properties were too small for one school.  I use the word lie because when I alerted the Superintendent and Board President of their error they ignored me an instead sent out a District Digest to every household restating their lie.

 

They continued by refusing to define new school boundaries first.  The reason is obvious.  Next, they lied about having to house over 2,500 students.  They have now admitted that will never be the case.  Next they lied to us at the budget hearings saying they needed every penny for education programs and then later having to admit that they stockpiled $20.1M of excess taxes to have a Harriton down payment sufficient to avoid an Act 1 budget vote.  Now we hear that they need a minimum of 1,000 students for each school to satisfy another made up constraint. 

 

And the biggest lie is the 1,250-student size of the schools, in reality each big enough to educate over 1,800 students.  If it were not for this board’s need to now save face, redistricting would not be necessary; it is not necessary.

Redisticting - The Choice is Simple

    If you study the LMSD redistricting issue, there really is only one choice.  All you have to do is to take a look at the current high school boundaries, CLICK HERE  The red school on the left is Harriton, the pink on the right Lower Merion.

    The current Harriton boundary is already up against Lower Merion High School.  This is with only 35% of the high school population going to Harriton.  Obviously, for Harriton to take 50% of our high schoolers, the boundary would either have to wrap around LMSH or reach for areas far to the south of LMHS.  Either is ridiculous.

    You may ask what was the board thinking.  Simply put, they were blinded by the desire to avoid referendum and they were misled by the professionals that they tasked to get the job done, no matter what.  And when BRSL pointed out to them that Harriton was simply to big, they launched an all-out assault led by there Superintendent to brand BRSL as an anti-public-school group that was trying to prevent the construction of new schools.  Nothing was further from the truth.  And despite the massive support that BRSL had during the Act 34 Hearing process, CLICK HERE they charged ahead!

    It's time to stop their madness and insist that we do not redistrict.  The New LMSH is large enough for significantly more students then the existing, now half demolished, school could hold.  And we can still modify the construction contracts to save money on Harriton.  Money that will be needed for the significant new costs coming that the District is not yet talking about, such as the new teacher contract and the required 2012 massive pension funding increase that is sure to completely eliminate the small remaining tax advantages of our community.

    If you want to be an active part of the fight, email us at the link at www.lmsd.info.

Bill Manginelli, Narberth

Redistricting - Just How Big Are The New High Schools?

UPDATED WITH NEW LINKS...

    Rather than redistricting, the taxpayers of Lower Merion should be worrying about what we are going to do with all the wasted space we are constructing.  For years, the Lower Merion School Board has insisted that the two new high schools are each properly sized for 1,250 children.  But this is simply not true.  Based the Pennsylvania Department of Education's own standards, each school has a Rated Pupil Capacity of over 1,800.  It is well known that the way to get around the Act 34 vote trigger is to adjust the school size up.  While this sounds nonsensical, it is true.  And, this is what they did!

    In simple terms, it works this way.  The Act creates a spending limit based on the school capacity.  If you’re over the limit, you must put the plan to a voter referendum.  The School Board made sure it would avoid a vote by writing periodic Act 34 tests into the architects’ contracts.  By running the calculation early, you can adjust the design to avoid the act.  How? 

    

What Has Led To Redistricting? The New Harriton High School is Too Big and Too Expensive

You may recall this headline exclaimed repeatedly by citizens warning about the LMSD “Modernization Plan.”  Now, as the real costs of that plan tally, some portions of the community are getting angry.  With good reason; they’ve been duped!

This latest “cost” was obvious to anyone who was paying attention.  What happens when one of the two equally-sized schools is located on the border of the least densely populated side of town?  You guessed it, a long bus ride that for some will pass right by a closer school. 

But there is a simple solution to the redistricting issue.  Don’t do it!  We don’t have to because the new Lower Merion High School is big enough to take the same percentage of our high school students as it always has.  In fact, both schools are that big.

Did LMSD Violate 22 Pa. Code §349 Concerning Special Education Classrooms? – You Decide.

The Issue:  For months, members of the community questioned the LMSD Board and Superintendent about why the Educational Specifications prepared by Dancu Associates called for fifteen (later revised to thirteen) Special Ed Rooms, even though the report assigned no enrollment to these rooms.  When Board President Rosenwald and Superintendent Savedoff arrogantly refused to answer these questions, a group of citizens filed a formal written appeal to the PA Department of Education (“PDE”).  The November 1, 2007 issue of "Support or Schools" created by the group "New Schools Now" states:  these people "made serious allegations to the PA Department of ED with the Harriton Act 34 documents.  PDE had no choice but to investigate.  The allegations proved unfounded and the Act 34 application for Harriton was ultimately approved, but after months rather than weeks.” (Note that, originally, we incorrectly attributed this quote to the website of the Democratic candidates for Lower Merion School Board. While the Democrat's website does routinely post the writings of Greg Nowell, one of the authors of the "New Schools Now" statement, this particular quote does not appear on that website.)

Read on to see what the PDE really found!

Are Harriton and Lower Merion High Schools Too Big and Too Expensive? – You Decide.

The Issue:  The website of the Democratic candidates for Lower Merion School Board states:  "Industry publications show that Harriton and LMHS are in line in size and cost with comparable school districts".   In fact, for the past year, members of the community have been asking the current School Board and Superintendent to identify even one new high school, anywhere in the country, that is as big or as expensive as the proposed New Harriton and Lower Merion on a per student basis.  The silence is deafening, leading to only two possibilities:  (1) This Board thinks it is not accountable to the community at large, and can choose to ignore them; OR, (2) No such school exists.  

The Facts:   Below is a table comparing the proposed New Harriton and Lower Merion to other new high schools currently underway throughout the United States. All of this information is taken from the 2007 School Planning and Management Construction Report. 

Board Sets Not-to-Exceed for New LMHS

The questions is, do they mean it?  They certainly didn't when they did the same thing for Harriton.  The following notes were provided by a citizen who was there.  If you were there, you know these observations to be true!  After reading this, I can only say "throw the bums out!"

Make Your Voice Heard

The Lower Merion School District (“LMSD”) has scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 7:00 PM in the Lower Merion High School Auditorium to present its plans for the financing and construction of a completely new Lower Merion High School. The hearing is required by the PA Department of Education (“PDE”) under Pennsylvania Act 34 (the “Taj Mahal Act”) which was enacted to give voters the power to approve or disapprove expensive school construction projects via referendum. 

School Board Turns Away From State Construction Funding

As you should know by now, the Lower Merion School District is moving ahead with the construction of a New Harriton High School despite the fact that the bids came in higher than their own not-to-exceed budget.  You should also know that the District has overtaxed the citizens by $20.1 Million over the last three years so that it won't have to borrow an amount that would require voter approval.  But now we learn another new twist that has resulted in our taxes being higher than necessary.

The Real Cost of Delays

On Monday, May 21, 2007, the Lower Merion School Board intends to vote to exceed its own not-to-exceed budget for the New Harriton High School project.  Can they really be so desperate that they will risk so much?  They have received only one bid for the major portion of the work.  And the project is only $1.9M away from requiring a referendum.  What does all this mean?  If, during construction, the project experiences extra costs in excess of $1.9M, the project will stop and the District will have to go to the voters for approval to complete.  Of course they are banking on the voters being unwilling to stop a half built project.  But, imagine the delay costs associated with suspending the project. And yet, the cost of delay is the very argument they use for moving forward.  They say that if they delay construction any longer, the project will cost millions more.

But will it?  Click here to understand the true cost of delays, and here for Appendix 2. 

Please take a close look at what the School Board is doing to the future wellbeing of our schools and of our community.  Write to capitalcomments@lmsd.org and tell them what you think; tell everyone you know what is happening; and join us for this important meeting on Monday, May 21 at 8PM in the LMHS library.

BACK TO SQUARE ONE FOR HARRITON

The reason that the proposed New Harriton High School is breaking the budget is so obvious even a caveman could see it.  The LMSD Board and Administration will blame the cost on neighbors, unyielding Township officials and even Hurricane Katrina.  While these are convenient excuses, here is the truth: the proposed building is simply too big, and therefore too expensive, even for Lower Merion.

LMSD FAILS ON HIGH SCHOOL MODERNIZATION

The current Lower Merion School District (“LMSD”) Board and Administration have often stated that they were elected and hired based on their agenda of building two new high schools for the District.  Now that the bids for the new Harriton High School have come in wildly over budget, it is a good time to examine where we stand with respect to high school modernization.   

Harriton Project Stalled By High Bids

By:RICHARD ILGENFRITZ

Main Line Times

03/01/2007

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ROSEMONT - For months, critics of the Lower Merion School District have been saying the new Harriton High School was too big and too expensive.
It seems now that the first round of bids have come back from potential contractors, the critics may have been right.

LMSD School Board Ignores The Wishes Of The Majority

To The Editor:

If you were one of the over 450 citizens who took the time to write commentary in opposition to the New Harriton High School and submit it to the school district last fall, Jamie Savedoff says that you are hardly representative of the desires of the school district.  To quote his words as closely as I can from tonight’s (2/26/07) board meeting, “With 40,000 voters in Lower Merion, 450 to 460 people opposing the new schools is hardly representative of the desires of the majority of the school district.” 

Taxation to Eliminate Representation

I would like to share with you the comments I made to the Lower Merion School Board at the February 12, 2007, board meeting, as my questions and their inability to provide answers should concern us all:

"I have carefully listened to Mr. Shafer’s explanation of the new financing plan, and I have carefully read the Superintendent’s “Win-Win” letter.  While the Superintendent’s characterization that the new financing plan is the result of patience and careful planning may be correct, I believe it is the result of lies that have been patiently proffered and deception that was, in fact, carefully planned.

Board Decides Smaller is Better (for this year)!

PA enacted a law in 2006 that for the first time in state history allows taxpayers, in 2007, to vote on excessive school district budgets.

In June 2006, our LMSD School Board authorized the single largest tax increase in LM’s history.  Weirdly, it turns out… we really haven’t hired any more teachers, we really didn’t buy any more books, we really didn’t give everyone monster raises, and we didn’t do anything known to the public that could reasonably explain such a record-setting-high estimated increase in expenses.  [Of course, any ‘officials’ are welcome to share their thoughts.]  Critics argued that it was a dishonest budget, that the “books were being cooked” and that it was an attack on Democracy.  (click here for chart)

School Board Admits to Over-Taxing – They Justify Collecting Excess Funds as “USE IT OR LOSE IT!”

This is a video of Lower Merion School District Business Manager Scott Shafer on January 22, 2007 explaining how he backed into the latest budget “projection” in order to maximize the tax increase without triggering a public budget vote per the new Act 1.  Hear him explain how he worked backwards to maximize this year’s tax increase by inflating the projected expenditures to maximize a surplus that will allow the district to beat the Act 1 limits in the future.  And while this is the first year that the District has admitted to inflating its budget to create a surplus to spend on two oversized schools, here are the facts:

• The District has just announced a 6.5M surplus from the 2005-2006 budget. 
• The District has just announced another $8.5M surplus in the 2006-2007 budget.
• The District intends to raise taxes for the 2007-2008 budget as high as it can without triggering an Act 1 vote, in order to collect $5.1M in excess of the funds that the district will need to cover 2007-2008 expenses. 

This additional overtax will put the District’s grand total of excess revenues collected from the public at about $20.1M.  Mr. Shafer tells us that his advice to this Board is “use it, or loose it,” (his words) an attitude that should scare every taxpayer in Lower Merion. Please click the play arrow to start the video.  For more instructions, please click the "continue reading" link below the video screen.

Update On The Superintendents Comparison to Upper Dublin - Board Asks Citizens To Vote on New School Proposal

You may recall that, in November 2006, I took issue with the Superintendent's reference to Upper Dublin as an example of a District that is building a high school that is as big and as expensive as the new Harriton High School.  If the facts he left out of that comparison weren't enough, the Upper Dublin School Board has just demonstrated how a school board with integrity and the public trust can truly lead a community.

* * * * * SIGN THE HARRITON PETITION * * * * *

Please take a moment to let the Lower Merion School Board know that you are concerned about the extreme size and cost of the New Harriton High School. To sign a petition expressing your concerns, click here.

FUTURE OF SCHOOLS IN LOWER MERION IN JEOPARDY

By refusing to acknowledge the changes that are taking place around them, the Lower Merion School District (“LMSD”) Board and Administration are gambling with the future of educational programs and jeopardizing the completion of renovations at Lower Merion High School. 

Is Outsourcing The School Board's Easy Way Out?

At the October 23, 2006 Lower Merion school board meeting, the Board voted to hire a consultant to investigate outsourcing custodial, grounds-keeping, and transportation services under the guise that they are responding to public demands to streamline the budget.  But, when you look at how the Board is spending the tax payers' dollars, one might ask if their real motivation is to divert the public's focus away from the excessive administration costs and extravagant pet projects that have been the trademark of this Board's tenure.  To know the answer, one just needs to look at the facts.   

Is The School Board Getting Technology Right? (or, What Are We Really Getting For Our Six Million Bucks?)

If you have been following the District's so-called "budget presentations," you may have caught the technology budget presentation.  But is the District really following the advice of the consultant that it so proudly displayed at that presentation.  If you listen to the students, you may wonder if your $6,000,000.00 per year investment is really preparing them for the global economy, or is it simply impressing those who will simply never get it.  In the words of one student, "the results of its implementation suggest this [latter] conclusion."

Are We Investing in a Failing System?

Perhaps our school board leaders could take a lesson from the mayor of New York.  This quote was run in the OpinionJounal from the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

"The fact is, our education system looks a lot like the U.S. auto industry in the 1970s -- stuck in a flabby, inefficient, outdated production model driven by the needs of employees rather than consumers...

Is Our School Board Focused on the Right Issues?

Has our school board's fixation with new schools turned their attention away from a real problem?  While we have never heard about student's "increase in alcohol consumption" and "provocative behavior" from the Board, it has apparently advanced to a point where at least some administrators finally see the need to act. 

School District "Spins" the Facts

The following was emailed by the Lower Merion School District to all public school parents in mid-December.  Because of the nature of the content, Budget Reform for Student Learning believed it was necessary to prepare the commentary that follows.  The original words are in black and our commentary is in blue (italics).  While you read this, please keep in mind our overriding concern is the distorted priorities that guide the Board's spending. 

Is Our School Board Ignoring The Law? Come To The December 18th Board Meeting To Hear Their Answer!

Do you believe that the Lower Merion School Board is breaking the law?  That is precisely the concern that 68 residents expressed in their November 9, 2006 letter to the board.  So what action has the board taken to respond to these citizens?  So far, the board has simply ignored them.  But, while ignoring certain members of the public has been routine for some members of this board, ignoring the law is another matter!

Resident Questions the Board's Intent; Board Defends Using Students to Promote its Agenda

This resident questions the board's promotional materials that were prepared by district staff at the expense of the public and handed out by students at the poles on Election Day (click here for district's flier). He is concerned about the welfare of the children and the express Act 1 prohibition of the use of public funds for political purposes (see page 44, paragraph m. of Act 1, click here to view the entire Act). 

Superintendent Defends His Comparison to Upper Dublin High School

On Election Day, several high school students were seen handing out a Lower Merion School District flier that, among other things, made a case for the district's plan to build new high schools.  Many citizens sees this as a violation of Act 1 (for information on Act 1, click here), which states that: "No public funds may be used to urge any elector to vote for or against a referendum or be appropriated for political or campaign purposes."

Board President Strikes Back at lmsd.info

There is no doubt that Board President Larry Rosenwald is a master of control.  This time, he has figured out how to not only muzzle the public, but also his own board!

Blame It On The Board Solicitor!

Several months ago I wrote in hopes that the school board would be willing to correct some “misinformation” that it had distributed in the June 2006 edition of the District Digest. 

2007 VOTE: Don't Pull the Level on the School Board...BE INFORMED!

You may have seen our handout at the poles on Election Day 2006.  In keeping with our commitment to remain non-partisan, we asked both Parties to hand it out.  While we have heard that one party handed more out than the other, we were happy to know that, at many poles, both the Democratic and Republican committee people saw our handout for what it is, a non-partisan appeal to voters to become informed about the issues that will face our next School Board.  And so you may have received a copy from a your local committee person or directly from a member of our group.  If you did not receive our handout on Election Day, please (click here for a copy), and please stay informed over the next several months as new candidates emerge to challenge the the Board to be make education and learning their number one priority.

Why Don’t The Educators Give Us All Of The Information

As I read the superintendent’s letter, I had to wonder why he is not giving us the whole story.  After all, isn’t information power?  Doesn’t the public have the right to come to their own conclusions after hearing all of the information?  Are he and the school board afraid that the citizens will come to the wrong conclusions?  Read this reprint from the October 26, 2006 Main Line Times.

Did You See The Superintendent's Letter To The Community? It Aired On LMSDtv6 Instead Of The Act 34 Hearing, Which You Can See Below!

Note:  Many members of the community have expressed their displeasure with the content and tone of Superintendent Savedoff’s letter to the community that was posted on the District’s website and run in the local papers on September 21, 2006.  The response below was compiled on behalf of these members of the community who are concerned with the direction of the current Administration and Board. To maintain factual integrity, Superintendent Savedoff’s original words are in black; the responses are in blue (italics).

View the Lower Merion School District: Harriton High School Act 34 Hearing in its Entirety

11/1/06 Update:  On October 23, 2006, after the expiration of the Act 34 Comment Period, the school board reversed its previous decision and unanimously agreed to air the hearing.  The district is listing viewing times on LMSD TV6 and on its website.  During the last week, residents have complained to us that the meeting is not showing at the published times.  The district has informed us that it experienced a "programming mixup due to daylight savings time" and that they have corrected the problem.  In response to our request, the district also informed us that it is unable to upload the hearing on its website so that the public can view it at their convenience.  Thus, we will continue to offer it on our site.

Despite repeated requests from members of the public who were unable to attend, the School Board had refused to air the video of this public hearing, instead making it available only to those willing to request this public information and go to the District offices to obtain it on CD. We have had to pay for much of the public information that we have requested from the District under the Commonwealth Sunshine Act. In keeping with our commitment to educate citizens by providing them with free access to all relevant public information, here is your opportunity to view the full video of the Act 34 Hearing that was held on September 21, 2006. Please click the play arrow to start the video.  For more instructions, please click the "continue reading" link below the video screen.

A Note We Received With A Copy of Her Letter To The Board. Perhaps You Have A Friend in the Same Situation?

Dear Sirs:

The attached letter is being mailed to The Secretary of The Board of School Directors.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.  If this school construction goes through as currently planned and our taxes are raised, I, like many other residents of Lower Merion Township, will be forced to look for a home elsewhere.

We Received This From Someone Who Did His Own Reseach...And He Isn't Happy!

Excerpt from a letter to the school board:

These issues are more troubling when considering the fiscal management of the district under their own forecast.

	Enrollment	Professional Staff	Expenses	Expenses	Expenses	Tax Base
	(Total)	(Total)	(Total)	(per professional)	(per child)	(Value of 1 Mill)
2012	6,899	677	$ 222,508,677	$ 328,717	$ 32,252	$ 7,614,918
2006	6,881	659	$ 148,210,666	$ 224,937	$ 21,539	$ 7,361,013
Change	-1%	3%	50%	46%	50%	3%
CAGR	0%	0%	7%	7%	7%	1%

The district expects to increase expenses by 50% while both enrollment and number of professionals remain unchanged and the tax base increases by only 1% per year during the same period.

Slick PR or Sloppy Staff Work. Can You Tell?

For every citizen of the Lower Merion community and especially its taxpayers, the performance of the school board members continues to be an area of great interest and continual concern---elected by the voters, these stewards of our tax dollars and our educational processes, have agreed to perform their duties "in the best interests of the Lower Merion citizens."  Clearly, any rational person reviewing the spend rate of the current high schools and the grand plans for the future high schools would pause at the quality of their recent decisions and proposed future actions!

Don't Compete with Episcopal Academy

I am writing with my concerns about the past and proposed school tax increases in the context and spirit of Pa. Act 34, and in the principals of common sense, fiscal responsibility and morality.

The power to tax must be used wisely and with the utmost concern. It is an awesome power and a responsibility not to be taken lightly, no matter what the perceived benefit to a community. Yours is to educate Everyman, and not to compete with Episcopal Academy.

Long Time Resident Finds it Hard to Stay Proud!

Dear Mr. Rosenwald (School Board President):

As a 31 year resident of Lower Merion, I have always been proud of the manner in which the local government officials have made thoughtful, long range plans to enhance the quality of life for the residents of the township which has benefited students, parents and those with no children who are residents of the township.  This history has now been distorted by the actions of the current School Board.

He Thinks The Hearing was a Mockery

To The Lower Merion School Board,

I am writing to express my objection to the conduct of the School Board in their process for the new Harriton High School.  I believe the process has been secretive, flawed, and lacked any true desire to get voter input –

LMSD Parent Speaks Out on New Schools

To the School Board of Lower Merion,

I would like to request a referendum be held for the proposed new high schools.  As a parent of children who attend the public school, I appreciate all that you have done to create a wonderful school.

Unfortunately, as a Gladwyne parent, I also witnessed the upgrades to that elementary school which left the school with huge administrative areas, a huge center hall and not enough class rooms so the 4th and 5th graders are now in classes of 24 and 25 instead of 20.  Education quality is sacrificed when you have 24-25 kids in a single classroom.  I would have preferred to have trailers forever than to reduce the quality of education by having such large classes… and yes the quality of the teaching was lower with that many students, and the teachers were unhappy. It was a lose, lose.

Dr. Savedoff Saves The People

A strange feeling of deja-vu came over me when I read Dr. Savedoff’s letter in the September 21, 2006 issue of the Main Line Times and on the district’s website.   Having been a public school teacher in a local district, I am all too familiar with his leadership style: bullying and intimidation.   When I was teacher, many administrators viewed anything short of blind obedience as oppositional and displaying lack of support for the school district.   It seemed to me at that time that administrators intimidated teachers in order to get what they wanted. Years later, as a taxpayer in Lower Merion, bullying is rearing its ugly head again.

SAMPLE LETTER: YOU HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 23RD TO COMMENT

You have a limited amount of time to comment to the school board and the PDE regarding the new Harriton high school project.  The school district has not facilitated this process very well.  We have put together the following instruction sheet (click here for instructions) to help guide citizens throught the process.  We have also compiled a sample letter that you can print (click here for sample letter) or download as a word document (click here for sample letter in Word) so that you may edit it to your liking.  Please print the instruction sheet and sample letter and give it to your neighbors who are not on the internet.  Stuff mailboxes and put them on car windshields.  Unlike the district, we do not have a network to reach every parent in the district within one day.  We must rely on you to get the word out person to person, one citizen at a time.  We believe that numbers count, so please encourage every resident in your home and neighborhood to send their own letter.  Please let us know that you have sent a letter (email us at lmsdbudget.reform@verizon.net)so that we can ensure that the PDE recieves yours.  Thank you for standing up for what you believe.

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN SEEING THE ACT 34 MEETING, YOU MAY BE OUT OF LUCK!

Over 100 township residents attended the Act 34 meeting for the new Harriton high school to hear the district's presentation and to present their views and listen to those of their fellow citizens.  Of 36 citizens that spoke, 27 offered strong objections to the project based on its size and cost.  The remaining 9 citizens presented reasons why Harriton high school should be replaced, although none discussed specific reasons for the size being 2.5 times greater than the space allocations recommended by the PA Dept. of Ed. or for the cost being twice the 2005 national mean and 25% higher than the 10% most expensive high schools in the nation. 

Too Big and Too Expensive

The New Harriton HS is Too Big and Too Expensive!  See how our school construction compares to a fiscally responsible school district. Download a Comparison of Harriton to another Pa High School

You've Seen The Signs - Here's What's Going On!

The Lower Merion School Board is taking the final steps to begin construction of two new high schools at a projected program cost of $238 million.  This and other spending decisions are projected to increase school taxes 49% by 2011.  They are doing this without any credible input from the community.  The Community Advisory Committee (CAC) the board formed to "advise them" on the need for one school or two was handpicked and given inaccurate information.  For example, the CAC was told: