It’s Showtime! Paparazzi Await At Methacton Post Prom

Students arriving at Methacton for post-prom were greeted by a dramatic cherry colored red carpet and an entranceway styled after Grauman’s Chinese Theater. I didn’t see any Joan Rivers’ wanna be’s stalking the sidelines and waiting to offer commentary on the gowns and tuxes worn by the arriving guests, but you could almost imagine her there. And that’s a good thing, because soon after checking in students will swap out their fancy duds for more comfortable attire far more suitable for the evening’s recreational activities.

As always, the hugely popular community walk-through prior to the post-prom garnered lines well in advance of the 6:30 pm start time as hundreds of students’ family members, friends and curiosity seekers from other towns showed up to await a tour of the over-the-top decorations and fascinating activities that had been prepared for Methacton’s post-prom attendees. Note: link to a 23-minute video set to music featuring all of the decorations can be found here. 

Guests started down the red carpet and wound their way through a hallway depicting past Oscar-winning films, and past the coat check into the gym, where two new features are a virtual reality station and an escape room. As you approach the end of the gym, a rising drumbeat signifying danger ahead leads into the ‘Jumanji’ exhibit featuring 3D jungle animals appearing to leap off the wall and the twinkling nighttime stars of the plains.

Other movies featured in the extensively detailed decorations include Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Minions, Dr. Seuss, Toy Story, Ghostbusters, Titanic, Star Wars, Finding Nemo, Grease and the Wizard of Oz, to name a few. Also included was a section on films from “Bollywood”.  As in prior years, elementary school students handled decorations in the lavatories and were exceptional, as always. This year’s themes included the hilarious “Lego Batman”, ‘9’, a steam punk-themed Tim Burton film, a super scary “It” and the soothing ocean colors and island atmosphere of “Moana”. The Methacton School Board directors and their families put together the 'Minions' display.

2018 marks the 19^th year of the premier post-prom event in Montgomery County, attracting close to 100% participation by students attending the prom (93% of prom attendees as of last year, and between 800-900 students in total, some of whom do not attend the prom) and the over one thousand visitors who take the walk-through preview tour. Created to give students a safe place to spend the overnight hours after prom, it’s blossomed over the years to be something students AND parents look forward to experiencing.

Post-prom came about largely because studies show that two of the most dangerous nights for high school students are the evenings following the prom and graduation. As soon as the prom ends, students spend the entire night inside the high school in a safe, drug and alcohol free environment. Free to all junior and senior high school students and their dates, attendees are expected to sign in and stay all night – if they want to leave, parents are called and the students are not released until they arrive.  Students are free to go after 5:30 am but must stay til the end to be eligible to win awesome door prizes.

The high school interior becomes virtually unrecognizable, having been transformed into an entirely new environment. Activities available throughout the night include a casino, sporting events such as dodgeball and volleyball tournaments, a coffee house with entertainment (this year’s theme was Harry Potter), inflatables, a, an arcade, glow laser tag, a comedy/improve group, hypnotist, yoga, trike races, and roving performers. There’s even a dash of reality TV in the form of Cash Cab. Food is available throughout the evening for students and volunteers. New this year was an escape room and virtual reality station.

There’s no cost to the students to attend – all expenses incurred in making the props and decorations, providing food and entertainment, and the prizes that are offered to those who stay all night are paid for by generous donations of hundreds of hours of time, and cash, goods and services from community sponsors, businesses, organizations and families – the operating budget is between $45,000 and $50,000 annually. Several fundraisers are also held during the year to raise funds, such as the annual summer golf outing at Shannondell, and the adult dinner dance held in the wintertime.

Enjoy this compilation of the gorgeous decorations created for “It’s Showtime!”, and these fun facts provided by the post-prom committee:

·        * It takes more than 450 volunteers to work the night of post-prom, for setup, manning the functions and security at post-prom, and clean up the next morning.

·         *60+ local businesses and over 100 families provided cash donations for this year’s post-prom

·         *Post-prom is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization and is not affiliated with Home & School or Methacton High School.

·         *Each year a student logo design contest is held, with the winner receiving two free tickets to the prom.

·         *Over 65 volunteers work behind the scenes starting in October each year lending their various talents to design, build and create the decorations and displays for post-prom.

·         *Post-prom decorations are loaned out to seven other Methacton School District schools, five surrounding local school districts, and many local community groups.

·         *The post-prom Education Committee sends notes to all of the local florists and tuxedo shops to tuck into students’ corsages, boutonnieres and jacket pockets reminding students to make good choices on prom night and thanks those shops who’ve agreed to help us keep our students safe.

It’s never too late to donate to support this very worthy cause that saves young lives. If you’d like to contribute, mail your tax-deductible check payable to Methacton Post Prom to: PO Box 39, Eagleville, PA, 19408-0039.

Driver's Ed

Driver’s Ed, Part I. Is it just me, or is crashing cars into buildings a trendy new thing? It’s been quite a while since I first took the test to get my driver’s license, but I’m pretty sure back in the 80’s the DMV didn’t feel obligated to point out explicitly that one should avoid running into buildings with one’s car. Maybe they should start including that as a test question, though, because over several weeks this past summer, and then again in December, LP has been home to four such crashes, and I’ve seen a few more on the local news around the wider area.

First, on June 21, a car crashed into the side of the Sunoco/Mini Mart at 3201 West Ridge Pike (at the intersection with Mt. Kirk). Reports indicate that the driver was parking their car, when their dog jumped into the front seat, hit the gear shift lever into ‘drive’ and then the driver, attempting to stop the car, hit the gas instead of the brakes.

Second, around 5:30 pm on June 26, 2017 a truck crashed into the home of the Wheelers on Woodland Avenue. The home, at the juncture of the ‘T’ intersection of Clearfield and Woodland, sustained some damage although it was still habitable. In that incident, officials still aren’t sure what the cause was, although mechanical issues and careless driving have been ruled out. The cause is potentially medical, but confirmation of that may never be received. 

Third, on July 9, someone crashed into the Dunkin’ Donuts at the intersection of Trooper Road and Egypt Road shortly after midnight. I’m told it was the result of a domestic argument. The facility was repaired and reopened in September.

Then, to finish out the year, on December 22, 2017, the Friday just before Christmas a car crashed into the Collegeville Italian Bakery on Ridge Pike, practically turning it into a drive-through at the busiest time of year.  The building sustained significant damage to the pizzeria section of the restaurant, but no one was hurt and they were able to have it repaired within a month later and reopened as of January 21.

Let's be careful out there, folks! So far, no serious injuries or fatalities, but it's only a matter of time until something tragic happens. 

Driver’s Ed, Part II

In the Déjà vu Department (there was a similar incident with a prior school board member a few years ago), back on September 30, 2017, a Methacton school board director, identified in court records as Michael Ryan of Audubon, was arrested and charged with ‘public drunkenness’ stemming from an incident that occurred outside the Audubon Ale House.

Reportedly Ryan, elected in 2015 as a member of the CARE team of candidates (Community Advocates for Responsible Education), was allegedly found asleep, intoxicated, inside his car and identified himself as being on the Methacton school board to the arresting officer. He was charged with public drunkenness in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5505, which prohibits a person from being in any "public place manifestly under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance ... to the degree that he may endanger himself or other persons or property, or annoy persons in his vicinity."

Ryan had a hearing in district court on January 10 (continued from a November date) and reportedly was ordered to perform 24 hours’ worth of community service. Another hearing is scheduled for March 28, at which time I understand his charges may be dismissed if he completes said community service. It’s not clear whether or not he actually wound up pleading guilty to anything, although some reports of comments Ryan has made on the record at school board meetings would seem to indicate that he in fact considered himself guilty despite an initial ‘not guilty’ plea. In reaching out to the district court office for clarification of the docket details, I was referred to the arresting officer, who has yet to return my call.

According to people in the courtroom at the time, Ryan was told by the judge that he 'might want to drink less' or 'call an Uber' next time. 

At least Ryan didn’t try to claim it never happened, and blame anonymous internet bad guys for completely inventing the story (as did the former school board director who found herself in a similar situation, albeit in another state). At the end of the day, she resigned; as in that instance, Ryan should probably also consider resigning from the school board. Those responsible for educating our kids and  elected to be in charge of an annual budget exceeding $100,000  are supposed to be serving as good examples to them, and should be held to a higher standard and demonstrate that they can exercise better judgment while in office.

I’ve heard some people ask why, if he was found in his car, he wasn’t charged with DUI instead of public drunkenness  -  that’s a question for the arresting officer. We don’t know the entirety of the fact pattern, and clearly, the arresting officer has discretion at the scene to determine how they want to handle a given incident.  There are numerous pieces of criteria that go into determining whether a driver has ‘control’ of the vehicle and intent to drive and thus whether it rises to the level of DUI. 

By most accounts Ryan is a hard worker on the Board, and I'm sure the pressure of being a school director is substantial, but let's hope this is the last time a Methacton school director finds him/herself in the crosshairs of the law. 

Oh The Places You’ll Go! En Route To The 2017 Methacton Post Prom

A whirlwind trip around the globe awaited Methacton High School students planning to attend the 2017 post-prom event, themed ‘Oh The Places You’ll Go! (after the Dr. Seuss story by the same name) but when they arrived, they needed no passports or luggage,  only a desire to have fun and stay out of harm’s way.

The same goes for the more than 1000 family, friends and curious attendees from other school districts who lined up well in advance of the 6:30 community walk-through start time to learn about this amazing endeavor and to get a sneak preview of the decorations, activities and features of this year’s domestic and internationally-themed event, many of whom will have kids gracing the newly-converted high school hallways in a few short hours when the prom is over.

2017 marks the 18^th year of the premier post-prom event in Montgomery County, attracting close to 100% participation by students attending the prom (93% of prom attendees as of last year, and between 800-900 students in total, some of whom do not attend the prom) and the aforementioned 1000+ visitors who take the walk-through preview tour. Created to give students a safe place to spend the overnight hours after prom, it’s blossomed over the years to be something students AND parents look forward to experiencing.

Post-prom came about largely because studies show that two of the most dangerous nights for high school students are the evenings following the prom and graduation. As soon as the prom ends, students spend the entire night inside the high school in a safe, drug and alcohol free environment. Free to all junior and senior high school students and their dates, attendees are expected to sign in and stay all night – if they want to leave, parents are called and the students are not released until they arrive.  Students are free to go after 5:30 am but must stay til the end to be eligible to win awesome door prizes.

The high school interior becomes virtually unrecognizable, having been transformed into an entirely new environment. Activities available throughout the night include a casino, sporting events such as dodgeball and volleyball tournaments, a coffee house with entertainment, inflatables, a bull riding machine, an arcade, laser tag, a comedy/improve group, hypnotist, yoga, trike races, and roving performers. There’s even a dash of reality TV in the form of Cash Cab. Food is available throughout the evening for students and volunteers.

There’s no cost to the students to attend – all expenses incurred in making the props and decorations, providing food and entertainment, and the prizes that are offered to those who stay all night are paid for by generous donations of hundreds of hours of time, and cash, goods and services from community sponsors, businesses, organizations and families – this year’s operating budget topped $46,000. Several fundraisers are also held during the year to raise funds, such as the annual summer golf outing at Shannondell, and the adult dinner dance held in the wintertime.

Enjoy this compilation set to music (via You-Tube) of the gorgeous decorations created for “Oh The Places You’ll Go”, and these fun facts provided by the post-prom committee:

https://youtu.be/RFRJJc_BvSo

·       - It takes more than 450 volunteers to work the night of post-prom, for setup, manning the functions and security at post-prom, and clean up the next morning.

·       - 61 local businesses and over 100 families provided cash donations for this year’s post-prom

·      -  Post-prom is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization and is not affiliated with Home & School or Methacton High School.

·       - Each year a student logo design contest is held, with the winner receiving two free tickets to the prom.

·        -Over 65 volunteers work behind the scenes starting in October each year lending their various talents to design, build and create the decorations and displays for post-prom.

·        -Post-prom are loaned out to seven other Methacton School District schools, five surrounding local school districts, and many local community groups.

·        -The post-prom Education Committee sends notes to all of the local florists and tuxedo shops to tuck into students’ corsages, boutonnieres and jacket pockets reminding students to make good choices on prom night and thanks those shops who’ve agreed to help us keep our students safe.

It’s never too late to donate to support this very worthy cause. If you’d like to contribute, mail your tax-deductible check payable to Methacton Post Prom to: PO Box 39, Eagleville, PA, 19408-0039.

Out With The Old, In With 2016

While the seasons don’t seem to have varied much around here this year, a number of changes did come our way in 2015, with more headed our way for 2016. Some are positive, and for others, the jury is still out. 

·        With relatively little fanfare, the cloverleaf intersection at Trooper Road and 422 was completed and opened. Outdated when it opened back in the early 80’s, not having a full interchange led to extra traffic being funneled onto Egypt Road as cars made their way to the Oaks interchange in order to be able to head westbound on 422.  About ten years ago, representatives from several local townships, including LP, went to Washington to ask for money to be appropriated to complete the interchange (as well as widen 422 and complete Sullivan’s bridge, under construction now). Now complete, it’s open, and traffic appears to be flowing better through Audubon with less congestion at rush hours. Hallelujah! 

·        Repairs to the Arcola Road Bridge are slated to be completed and the bridge re-opened to traffic no later than July 5, 2016. Given the warm fall we’ve had thus far, and the flurry of recent activity (crews were spotted working on the beams for the decking on Christmas Eve!), and presuming weather stays relatively mild and/or dry early in 2016, it’s a real possibility we may see the barricades removed early, sometime next spring. Fingers crossed!

·        In a stunning upset, for the first time ever, the Methacton School Board is now controlled by Democrats. The losing incumbents had been entertaining the possibility of closing an elementary school or two due to declining enrollment and projected higher pension costs on the horizon as an alternative to raising taxes, but the CARE (Community Advocates for Responsible Education) team disputed all of that, and took issue with the manner in which the school board was conducting its business.

CARE, which claimed to be bipartisan despite being primarily Democrat in political registration and orientation, and despite receiving primarily Democrat party funding, now has a voting majority on the school board. While I’m trying to keep an open mind and hope they are approaching the tasks before them grounded in reality, I suspect we will find ourselves needing to hold onto our wallets more than ever in 2016.

·        Speaking of Methacton, after decades of stalling and delays, we finally got a new turf football field constructed, bringing Methacton into the same era as most local school districts’ athletic programs. Available for play just as the current school year began, making this project a reality was the culmination of hard work and serious fundraising by dozens of people. While there is some evidence that turf fields contribute to more sports injuries, time will tell as to how that plays out at Methacton.  

·        After a 39-year career in law enforcement, LP Police chief, Francis “Bud” Carroll, appointed as chief in LP in 2000, is retiring. Stepping into his big shoes as incoming chief is Bud’s second-in-command, Lt. Stan Turtle. Many of our veteran officers have retired in the last two to three years, all after distinguished careers serving in Lower Providence, but this is a de facto ‘changing of the guard’. Best wishes, Bud, in your well-deserved retirement. Perhaps I’ll see you around down at the courthouse in Judge Ferman’s courtroom.

·        Bud’s Bar (also known as the historic Jack’s Tavern, and no relation to the aforementioned Bud Carroll), which stands at the intersection of Egypt/Park Avenue/Pawlings Road, has long been closed and become something of a dilapidated eyesore. One of the limitations of the property is the small lot size and the zoning, which results in a negative building envelope requiring numerous waivers for anything viable to be built or operate there. 

      Since having the bar repainted in 2011 as part of my campaign for township supervisor, I've been contacted from time to time by several of the real estate agents carrying the listing, with clients interested in the property and hoping to marry the two. Several interested clients wanted the possibility of a drive-through, and moved onto other properties in different communities when told that was off the table by ordinance (along with all the other challenges that property represents). 

Much to the township’s credit, they voted this month to authorize advertisement of a Zoning Ordinance Amendment revising Audubon VC Village Commercial District (in which Bud’s Bar is located) to permit facilities with drive-through services as a conditional use. Our township solicitor noted that the ordinance would permit this usage just in this portion of the Village Commercial District, which already has several drive-throughs existing on nearby commercial properties. Both the Township’s Planning Commission and the Montgomery County Planning Commission reviewed the proposed amendment and surfaced no issues, making the supervisors more comfortable with it.  If passed after public hearing, it gives the Township the ability to evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, applications for use of the property that contain a request for a drive-through and decide whether it works for the requested use on a given property. 

I think this signals a realistic approach by the Board of Supervisors to try to get a viable business in that spot. The alternative is that businesses will continue to bypass the location due to the numerous challenges and restrictions, and Bud’s will continue to deteriorate until the only viable option is to demolish it. Hopefully an interested business will come along that’s willing and able to afford to purchase and rehabilitate the building, and the Township will be amenable to making that happen.

As for me, 2015 brought new wheels and a terrific new guy into my life, so I haven’t had as much time to write as I would have liked, but I’ll be back at it full force in 2016. I hope your holidays were as fantastic as mine were (both kids were home, including my daughter, who lives down South) and that, like Lower Providence and Methacton, your New Year is full of wonderful developments too.

Seal of Disapproval

One of the things modern parents teach their children these days is that what one posts online can come back to haunt you in the future. Pre-internet, that wasn't a problem, but it sure is now. 

Last week’s scandal, wherein an endorsed Republican candidate for Methacton School Board, Scott Misus, posted offensive comments on a public social media site, became a cautionary tale and living example of this important lesson. The Misus situation has made what one posts online relevant, and in an era of lazy and low-information voters, vividly illustrates how unwillingness to do one’s own research on candidates and to allow others to do your thinking for you can have serious consequences.

Political parties have their own agendas and tend to be run by people who like to play kingmaker for their own reasons, and since most people aren’t privy to insider info about the personalities, alliances and agendas, reliance on their opinions should be viewed as no more than a starting point; a guideline, not gospel.

And don't bank on the press to do meaningful vetting for you, either. The days of investigative reporters are largely gone, and very small budgets at most media outlets means they primarily publish little more than press releases.

Misus, who was jointly endorsed by the two Republican committees in Methacton School District (LP and Worcester; school board candidates cross file, and evidently the LP Dems decided not to endorse at all), has been dealt with by party leadership and officially stripped of his endorsement.  While it’s too late to have his name removed from voting machines, he will not be advocated as a candidate on Election Day. At considerable expense, party sample ballots were pulled and reprinted without his name on them. His name was painstakingly removed from yard signs on which he appeared.  The viewpoints he expressed are not shared by the members of the local party or the other endorsed candidates.

Absolutely, I think we should have done a better job of vetting our candidates. Court records were scrutinized but we should have gone further. All candidates were asked at the endorsement meeting whether there was any information about themselves that could embarrass the party, and Misus either forgot about these Facebook posts or didn’t see a problem with them, as they were not mentioned.

But that’s typical and not a good way to vet candidates unless you already know the answer and are verifying a candidate’s honesty. Candidates often lie or mislead. They forget, hedge, hide, engage in wishful thinking, and understandably try to put the best face on things. A good vetting process is systematic and ideally discovers both the strengths and weaknesses of candidates before offering them assistance or support. You can’t rely only on what a candidate tells you.

However, even when one DOES know of adverse information that defies explanation, sometimes parties move forward with a candidate anyway. That’s when doing your own research is most valuable.

This is not just an indictment of the GOP. The local Democrat party has had their missteps too.

For example, back in 2009 one of my coworkers was a LP Democrat committeeman who excitedly bragged to me one day that his party was going to put up as a township supervisor candidate a 'dynamic woman who was new to Lower Providence but not new to politics’.

I was intrigued because I was working on a campaign to elect the then-incumbent supervisor, so as soon I learned the name, I researched this woman and discovered that she was a notorious con artist who had been at the heart of a 2002-2003 scandal in Philadelphia wherein she pretended to be an heiress descended from a Revolutionary war hero, ingratiated herself into Philly high society, and used this persona to swindle a wealthy Philadelphia real estate broker out of more than $80,000 in cash and thousands more in the form of goods and services from others. She was so notorious that a couple of crime shows had done episodes about her. (See a good summary, here; this woman, who has since remarried, moved out of Lower Providence last year as the result of a foreclosure, so apparently her money management problems continue to this day. She still has an active court docket with Montgomery County as she's still paying restitution).

Anyway, I passed this information onto county GOP party leadership, who took it to Democrat party leadership, who then presented it to the candidate and asked her whether this information was true. She quietly withdrew and nobody was publicly embarrassed. 

Perhaps, like the “CARE” parents, we should have just shopped the story around to the local news media for maximum exposure and humiliation instead of handling it in a gentlemanly manner and giving the party the opportunity to address it first.  

The lesson is, if a party doesn’t do a good job vetting candidates these days, when it’s easier than ever via the Internet, the opposition (and/or public) most certainly will.  It’s not called ‘opposition research’ for nothing.

While the Worcester Republican Committee (via Worcesterpapolitics.com) apparently was quick to blame Lower Providence’s Republican Party for the Misus debacle, the offensive Facebook posts were never presented by their municipal leader, Wini Hayes, during the leadup to the joint school board endorsement meeting (or at the actual meeting) as a reason why we should not endorse Mr. Misus, even though Ms. Hayes took the lead on questioning candidates and asked each of them about the existence of unflattering or adverse information.

Given how WRC has positioned themselves (via their friends at Worcesterpapolitics.com) as somehow innocent in this, you can imagine how surprised I was to discover something that apparently escaped WRC six years ago when it endorsed current supervisor Susan Caughlan, and earlier this year when they re-endorsed her for re-election.

Ms. Caughlan (also known as Mrs. David Brooks, whom I’ve written about previously), an attorney, wrote and published an article for the William and Mary Law Review  in 1987 that defended the in-home possession and viewing of child pornography as a protected First Amendment right [you can read her argument yourself here].  This was not a random class assignment she was forced to write, it was an analysis she chose to make, write and publish.

I’m not sure how one can defend the creation or mere existence of, let alone the private possession, viewing and sharing of, child pornography anywhere, anyplace, anytime, but this woman evidently feels the framers of the Constitution envisioned this as a protected, God-given right more than two hundred years ago - as long as it occurs in the privacy of your home, of course, if I read this correctly - and attached her name to this garbage. As a Republican, as an American, as a parent, as a human, it disgusts me that WRC would hold up someone with these reprehensible views and endorse them as some sort of exemplary representative of our values, no matter when she wrote it.

In the event that Caughlan belatedly defends writing this as some sort of youth-inspired insanity, it gets worse. In the “You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep” department, I’m told she’s had a long friendship and association with recently convicted child porn purveyor (and Worcester Twp resident) John Harris. This friendship is shady especially when you consider that he has reportedly endorsed her in the past, donated money to her campaign, and records show she voted  to spend in the neighborhood of $200,000 of Worcester Township taxpayer dollars protecting his emails from discovery in a Right-To-Know case (Worcester didn't have an email system of their own at the time and now, of course, we know what kind of things were lurking in his email). And, incidentally, she’s also voted to spend taxpayer resources to battle Methacton School District in efforts to delay and restrict the installation of field lights at Methacton’s football field in an effort to prevent them from impacting nearby residents, which includes and benefits Harris, among other things.  

This friendship/association is common knowledge in and around Worcester, so why, again, was she ever endorsed? Was SHE vetted? As I mentioned above, WRC chair Wini Hayes asked Methacton school board candidates seeking a party endorsement this year if there was anything negative about themselves that they needed to explain; did she ask Caughlan the same thing at their meeting to endorse a supervisor candidate? And if so, did Caughlan ever tell WRC about this plank in her ‘conservative’ platform?

Is it any wonder, then, that the fastest growing voter identity group is “independent” and that increasingly, voters look with more favor upon UNendorsed candidates?

Political parties are made up of imperfect humans who despite the best of intentions, sometimes get it wrong. Voters have a wealth of free information easily available to them to determine who a candidate really is, what he/she is really about, and whether a candidate resonates with their values.  The fact that so many have voter apathy and abdicate the vetting responsibility to others lends validity to the saying ‘you get the government you deserve”.

Fuzzy Math

If the public hearings Methacton School District held on Feb. 23 and 25 regarding the proposed closure of Audubon Elementary illustrated anything, it was that district elementary parents have been busily completing lots of homework in response to the announcement.

 

IIn addition to math (working out their own calculations for enrollment and capacity projections, as well as reviewing the budget and the costs of expected impacts) and research homework (reviewing state legislation and regulations governing PSERS, sale of school properties and other topics), the parents also prepared a spelling lesson for the school board members: “WTR”, or Why The Rush?

 

In all, over the two evenings the hearing took place, more than 100 speakers offered their concerns regarding the potential impact on their kids and the district as a whole, should one or more schools close. Parents and educators offered a variety of comments under oath. Testimony included concerns regarding class size, disputes about the enrollment and capacity projections offered by PEL (with some parents providing their own projections which they deemed more accurate), potential property value impacts, what redistricting would look like, requests for the school board members to visit an elementary, whether Audubon Elementary is under agreement of sale, desire for more community involvement and input, and the rushed timeline for action. Parents also disputed the estimated costs, and/or need for, school facility repairs and upgrades. 

Given the current angst over the misrepresentations that led to the construction of Skyview, I was somewhat surprised to see at least three of the “Skyview” former school board members present in the audience at the Monday portion of the hearings – Marijane Barbone, Jim Van Horn, and Dan Sattler. All three served as president of the school board during their respective tenures.  

Ms. Barbone  offered testimony and owned her decision to build and fund Skyview – she was a school board member from 2002 to 2011.  She cited her past experience and lectured the current school board members to slow down, stating “With all the things that have to be done I don’t know how this could be done by the fall”.  

Despite parents’ demonstrated aptitude for mathematics, perhaps they are looking at the wrong set of numbers. The issue is more complex than just enrollment and capacity projections.  

As of the 2014-2015 school year, it costs us $19,900 to educate each child in the school district. A big part of that mix is teacher salaries and pensions, facilities/operating expenses, and other state or federally mandated spends.

 

As the administration explained to the Board in 2014, one of the largest drivers of increased budget costs is the state-mandated PSERs. With pension costs rising, the Board expects increases in mandatory contributions to be required by the Commonwealth. Assuming we can keep costs flat next year and accounting for the mandated increases in salaries, steps and PSERs, according to Methacton's five-year projections, if all stays the same (as if!) five years from now we will be looking at a $12 million deficit. To be able to tax enough to cover that it would have to go out for a referendum vote by District taxpayers.

By state law (Act 1, the Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006), anything over the annual index set by the Commonwealth (currently set at  1.9%) must go to the voters for referendum unless exceptions are sought and approved for one-off, unusual expenses that are unforeseen or outside the District’s control. However, there is no exception for mandated PSERS payments. If the School board does nothing now to try to trim costs substantially, we will have to do something drastic. 

The last time a referendum vote occurred was in 2007, when voters rejected a mere half a percent increase to the Earned Income Tax requested by the school district. It's safe to say if a tax referendum vote is needed now, that percentage will be substantially higher than .5% and the Board members recognize the likelihood that it would be soundly defeated at the polls. 

I did some homework of my own and researched what each of those parents who offered testimony paid in school taxes. The low end of the scale was around $3000 a year and the high end of the scale was just under $10,000 a year. That’s per HOUSEHOLD per year, not per child. Are you beginning to see the problem? This $12M hole is so big, we can’t tax our way out of it. We’ve cut all the low-hanging fruit and now there are only big limbs to lop off. 

One Lower Providence mother testified that because she has four children enrolled at Methacton, she’s “done her fair share to contribute to the enrollment in this District”. So let’s do a word problem. For those four kids, it’s costing the District just under $80,000 to educate them, but they’re only taking in, at most, $10,000 a year from their household. In fact, according to county property tax records, from this woman’s specific household, it’s much less….$4,903.

There are roughly 33,000 residents (13,000 households) in Methacton School District. But of those 13,000 households, not all are occupied by people working in the prime earning years of their lives. A significant percentage (approximately 15%) are seniors on fixed incomes, and another 20% or so percent are single person or single-parent, one-income homes. Even minor tax increases are forcing these folks out of their homes. Some give up and move somewhere cheaper, if they can; but there are about 7 foreclosures a month in the District and not all of them are seniors.

The tax base is largely at the breaking point.  And proposed legislation in Harrisburg designed to potentially give taxpayers relief from paying property taxes in exchange for higher income and sales taxes could potentially remove local taxing authority for schools altogether which ultimately means less local control over your own school district, but also means wealthier school districts such as ours will find ourselves funding less affluent, poorer-performing school districts at the expense of our own.

After cutting the low-hanging fruit of T1 classes, after-school activities buses, closing the library one day a week, outsourcing cafeteria workers and bus drivers, all that’s left at this point is teacher salaries, benefits/pension or facilities. No one wants to close schools or lay off teachers, but it’s truly coming down to a case of ‘pick your poison’.

 

One gentleman, a Lower Providence resident, testified that “I don’t care what it costs, I’m happy to die destitute and alone if it means keeping the school open”, and that he sees “no reason other than money to close a school, but I don’t care about that”.  I might add that of all the parents who testified, I discovered that this individual’s household pays the lowest amount in property (school district) taxes.

This man evidently believes that the 70% of taxpayers in the district that DO NOT have kids in the school system don’t get a seat at the table when decisions like this need to be considered, even though that 70% is paying the lion’s share of the freight in keeping public schools open. For people like him, the taxpayer evidently isn’t viewed as a stakeholder on equal footing with parents, children, staff or faculty. The schoolboard members must, however, consider the perspectives of ALL taxpayers, not just those with kids currently attending school in the District.

 

Part of that 70% are parents with school aged kids in private school. These folks are essentially paying double at the same time they are reducing the burden on the public school system by educating their families elsewhere. 

As many, many District taxpayers have told me over the years, people with the “happy to die destitute’ mindset are welcome to go ahead and impoverish themselves if they want…by all means, go ahead, write bigger checks to Methacton voluntarily and leave the rest of the taxpayers alone. The 70% have college and retirement to pay for.

 

Some of those parents testified that if a school or schools close, it could negatively impact the quality of education, the reputation of the school district and ultimately affect property values. That may be, and keeping schools open may well help property values stay as high as possible, but what is the point if the BANK gets a good sale price for your home when our taxes become so high, many residents can’t pay them and wind up getting forced out in foreclosure?

Another key element of property value is affordability. In addition to evaluating whether a school district is a good one, potential buyers in Lower Providence and Worcester Townships also evaluate the affordability of local taxes. Getting a reputation for higher than average taxes drives off potential residents as much as a poorly performing school district.

And yes, while I agree that we also arguably may need a brand-new state-of-the-art turf field facility with stadium lights to be able to compete athletically, I have always questioned the wisdom of moving ahead with this at a time when the economy has not been great, wondering ‘can we afford it’ knowing that these issues were looming. While the school district maintains that much of the funding for this expense will be raised by private funds, in actuality, to date only a small amount of the money pledged has actually been collected

 

The District scheduled a special meeting for this evening, March 11 at 7:30 pm at Arcola Middle School. I anticipate that the school board will take the opportunity to respond to parent concerns, offer opportunities for parent and community stakeholder involvement in the process, and possibly back off the aggressive timeline. In the meantime, more than a dozen candidates for Methacton school board have filed paperwork with the Montgomery County Board of Elections seeking to be placed on the ballot for the May primary. Those candidates include incumbents Barone, Pellicano, Shackleford, and Woodring.

At the end of the day, class size, top-notch facilities and high dollar spend per student are not the most important determinants of educational success, it’s PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. The several hundred parents who came out to speak on behalf of Arrowhead, Audubon and to a smaller degree, some of the other three elementary schools in our District, demonstrated that, at least in that regard, we are quite rich indeed.