Two schools
Dear Editor:
The idea of two schools is a bad plan because small schools are better for students. My daughter is a school psychologist and she said that small schools are always better for the students. I have wondered why there was never any upgrades to Eisenhower when there was a new school built in Warren and a complete rebuild in Youngsville schools and Russell was completely rebuilt but nothing was ever done for Sugar Grove Grade School or Eisenhower and Lander was closed.
It seems as if there is only money to be spent on other schools and never at the northern end of the county. It is as if we don't pay taxes. When the consolidation was done in the 1960's, Warren got all new schools and text books because they hadn't done any upgrades before and nobody in Warren wanted to spend their tax money or raise their taxes to update their schools. So the county merged.
It hasn't been very fair for the Northern Area School District. I think that the Northern Area School District should start their own district and let the ones that want to merge merge and the ones that don't, they can get out of the current system.
Carolyn Evinczik
Sugar Grove
Facebook
MySpace
Digg
Stumble
Mixx
Fark
del.icio.us
LiveSpaces
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|---|---|
|
10-26-09 6:00 PM
|
Agreed five...I wish I didn't have to work tonight so I could go to the board meeting. I have a feeling anything that remotely sounds like "consolidation" will be met with "town hall-like" reactions.
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-26-09 5:53 PM
|
I'm sure he will. :) Just don't understand why someone trying to "help" wouldn't start helping people find the positive, adjust to reality, etc. People may even find that they like the new set-up better.
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-26-09 5:34 PM
|
Don't you worry, SuperBauer will think of something...
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-26-09 5:34 PM
|
Not even Dave Bauer himself thought the Corry option was going to fly. Corry had nothing to gain and lots to lose, let alone getting the state to approve it. Again, Bauer just saying what folks want to hear. I truly hope the board does the right thing, regardless of all the noise the 4Schools folks will make. There is just no way around it. You cannot justify 4 schools with the current (and projected) student population. Heck, there would be a strong argument that you can't justify two. Isn't there a board meeting tonight to discuss this issue and perhaps vote on a plan/recommendation? Wish I were a fly on the wall...
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-26-09 4:52 PM
|
nmpet: I think you possibly misunderstood my intentions. I don't feel that we should keep all the schools in the district open, the numbers don't justify it. I was simply trying to illustrate that there could be other options to "consolidate or don't consolidate" and that it works. The Boyers area is roughly the size of Scandia, however the students that attend Monitau come from an area similar in size to the Ike attendance area. Only trying to show that if the 4Schools people are so dead set on saving Ike, let them try being their own district, or joining Corry, whichever they prefer as long as this bickering over buildings comes to an end.
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-26-09 3:53 PM
|
"Obviously you haven't been in this area very long if you're asking a group that chose David Bauer as it's spokesman to act as a rational adult." Good one, brianhagberg! And so very true...there is a lot of history w/ the EHS area. Lots of years of "unfair" mentality, Dave Bauer's history goes way back, animosity toward the "city", etc. Unless you understand the history, you can't understand the problem enitrely. This is not just a bunch of hicks -- they really believe what they are saying and they do see Bauer as the one to save them. Best way to combat this is to stick to the facts and demand the same of Bauer and 4Schools.
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-26-09 2:58 PM
|
totheright: Isn't a large portion of this debate about unfair treatment and certain schools getting all the money? My point about knowing where the money goes was not necessarily about every borough, township, etc. It was simply saying that, that way these 4Schools people would no longer be able to cry about WAHS getting everything while "their" school withers away. Obviously you haven't been in this area very long if you're asking a group that chose David Bauer as it's spokesman to act as a rational adult.
|
|
nmpet75
|
|
|
10-26-09 2:58 PM
|
Brian Hagberg, Do you realize how large Butler,pa is? If you take Youngsville, sugar Grove, Sheffield, and Warren it would fit into the 16001-2 zip code. To Take Butler county would be impossible - Parker goes to AC valley and you are missleading with the Boyers school because it is quite a large area that attends the school there, I want to call it montour but the name is escaping me. I graduated from Butler senior high school in 93 with over 2000 other kids, 3200 were in the class that followed. The numbers are not half that now because everyone wants a closer commute to Pittsburgh. You would not believe how big cranberry twp schools have grown and consolidated to be. At Butler, I had everything available to me that a community college offers. It was an awesome opportunity that I would love all kids to have. 11-12 had their own school, so did 9-10 and 7-8. They were completely separate on separate properties. However to compare Warren to Butler? Warren COUNTY could never be as large
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-26-09 6:46 AM
|
The state will never approve them splitting off. Isn't Rendell trying to conolidate entire districts w/in the state? Definitely wouldn't approve creating a super-small district, let alone they couldn't financially support themselves. (BTW, the 4Schools folks are using studies relating to Rendell's idea of DISTRICT consolidation to prove their point -- completely different issue than consolidating small schools w/in a district.)
|
|
utherjorge
|
|
|
10-26-09 3:24 AM
|
The writer of this letter is simply lying. It is completely untrue that any school psychologist would say that small schools are "always" better for students. That's a fabrication, and the WTO should do a better job of ferreting out liars like this. There is no evidence to support this, and as Maly is trying to say, anyone traveling in absolutes shouldn't be listened to. It's never all one or the other. It's amazing to see the lies that the "North County" people will spread to keep Ike open. I say let them leave. Will they be able to afford a new school and debt service on an already-built building in Russell? Someone show me the math here.
|
|
garypayton
|
|
|
10-25-09 11:21 PM
|
Maly, no one know what you're talking about here. What is being generalized? The letter writer is pretty specific that north county got screwed in the 60s (silly as that sounds)and the comments since are not generalized either. Plus, her daughter is a school shrink, Ike educated, I imagine. What gives? If you have an opinion, share. If not, spare us the one-liners.
|
|
Malachy
|
|
|
10-24-09 11:41 PM
|
No generalization is any dammed good, including this one.
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-24-09 6:40 PM
|
Much of the 4Schools argument is based on emotion and not facts. The sentiment that they are ignored in the district is not new but it is sure being exploited now -- because they have no facts to back up their position. Funny thing is that if they were to become the Northern Area School District there would be a battle about Russell getting all the attention and Sugar Grove being ignored. It would provide endless hours of entertainment for the consolidated and improved WCSD folks. :)
|
|
garypayton
|
|
|
10-24-09 12:47 PM
|
The talking points are out and this letter writer got em all in. Tne Corry thing is a bust so the new direction is a separate district inside the county. They already have a name picked out. Writer managed to get the name in twice. Note the capital letters. Get wise people. This north /south scism is manufactured! Is Sugar Grove the seat of northern Warren County? In what way have our northern brothers, sisters, and cousins been treated unfairly. Once they start down the "disrespect" road, all reasonable dialog is over. It may already be over. In hard economic times, communities, such as the Warren County School Distict community, must pull together and not tear apart. The Ike-at-all-costs crowd would rather see the school system go to*****than admit that they but a part of the whole.
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-23-09 4:48 PM
|
I'm sure most of it has to do with a more stable population, though one of the areas I lived in was Boyers, which is about the size of Scandia, and they were able to fund an elementary and Junior/Senior High with little to no problem.
|
|
writer10
|
|
|
10-23-09 4:03 PM
|
That is interesting. Wonder what they do to keep the taxes lower.
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-23-09 1:58 PM
|
Interesting writer, as I lived in Butler County for a few years and they have multiple school districts, yet a lower tax rate that Warren.
|
|
writer10
|
|
|
10-23-09 1:48 PM
|
Cattaragus and Chataqua counties are listed in the top 5 across the country for taxes. One of the main reasons for this is the number of school districts located in these counties. If these 4 school people break away, watch as their taxes jump through the roof and the rest of us would be laughing. The northern area would not be able to support Eisenhower with all it's current programs.
|
|
brianhagberg
|
|
|
10-23-09 11:50 AM
|
From what other of our "esteemed" posters have said, Ms. Evinczik's proposed separated school district would be shot down by the state. I have felt for a long time that breaking down the school district from a county school district to individual districts throughout the county is the only way to put an absolute end to this debate. That way each area can be sure that their tax money is going to the school that they want.
|
|
fivealive
|
|
|
10-23-09 11:29 AM
|
Good point, reader. Large school does not mean large classes. The notion that a consolidated school in the WCSD will be "large" is wrong. Two high schools in the WCSD will only be about 800 kids each. That is not large. One time small schools are bad -- when they have to close because they don't have the student enrollment to support them. Look at the rate of declining enrollment for EHS, factor in that it is projected to continue and the writing is on the wall, folks. Maybe there is merit to Ms. Evinczik's suggestion of a seperate Northern Area School District. At least that way, the 4Schools folks would stop holding the rest of the district's progress hostage.
|
|
reader
|
|
|
10-23-09 11:17 AM
|
small schools are better? small classes are better? which is it? small schools and large classes or large schools with small classes. do you 4schools4warren people really know what you want besides the pride you still carry from when you went to school 50 years or so years ago? there is another world out there besides the farms in the northern area. so, ms. evinczik, take your school and your clones and start your new district. PLEASE
|