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
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