Preparing For A Fight
Sheffield group organizing to keep high school openBy STEPHANIE HAMM shamm@timesobserver.com
Article Photos
Nearly 150 members of the Sheffield area flooded the fire hall Tuesday evening for the Save Our Schools Committee meeting, which supports two local residents running as write-in candidates for seats on the Warren County School District's board of directors.
Jack Werner, a former educator and athletic director in the district, is running for a four-year seat on the board. Mary Anne Paris, a long-time local business owner, is running for a two-year seat.
Both candidates said they are for keeping Sheffield Area Middle/High School open, which may potentially close under the district's plan to consolidate area high schools from four to two.
"I truly believe your kids, just like my kids, deserve a school in town," Werner told the audience.
Paris said she looks at the closure from an economic standpoint.
"We can't afford to lose this school," she said. "If we do, we'll lose our community."
There has been no discussion with neighboring school districts on possibly joining them, according to Paris, but that could change if Sheffield was set to close its doors.
David Bauer, a representative of the 4 Schools 4 Warren Countygroup against closing Eisenhower High School, said earlier this month that the state School Code requires schools to join adjoining districts, so Sheffield would have the option of either Kane Area School District or Forest Area School District.
"We're getting our ducks in a row," said Paris. "We wish to remain in the Warren County School District."
Committee Treasurer John Labesky said that nearly $3,705 has been raised to fund campaign efforts, and "there looks to be more coming in."
A major task to complete before the Nov. 3 general election is getting write-in votes for Werner and Paris. The committee plans to distribute documents to registered voters by mail and through volunteers walking door-to-door distributing the information on how to submit a write-in vote and background on the consolidation plan.
"We've had a lot of community support," said Committee Chairman Jim McMillen.
The two options for high school consolidation the school board is considering would either utilize Warren Area High School and Youngsville High School as the two district high schools, which would cost about $82 million, or Warren and a new high school, which would cost about $102 million. Under both options, Sheffield Area Middle/High School would become a kindergarten through eighth grade facility, while Allegheny Valley Elementary School in Clarendon and Sheffield Elementary School would both close.
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Placer44
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10-30-09 10:39 AM
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Exactly nmpet75, I was going to tell him that his post actually supports what I was saying. One county one school!
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nmpet75
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10-30-09 10:05 AM
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wesn, if your study is so great then how do account for the wonderful results of waec and many other schools like it in other districts that have consolidated. Districts and within a district are very different.
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utherjorge
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10-30-09 6:17 AM
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muskie, the rampant stupidity in that comment shows that your account here should be immediately deleted. You aren't smart enough to be posting.
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muskie
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10-29-09 7:12 PM
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I like the "One county,one school" someone said.Sounds good. Chris89,don't know what you're talking about,but we have NO kids. Why should WE pay to put everyone elses kids through school? You want kids YOU pay to educate them. There is birth control now! I get a charge out of people getting tax BREAKS for having kids,they should get tax PENALTYS,for the burden they put on society.
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fivealive
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10-29-09 5:05 PM
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That report only briefly mentions a few instances of school consolidation and I believe those were districts that merged w/ 1 hs each. I'll have to look again. District mergers are different. The report cites (just as an example) the cost of leveling out teacher pay. That's not an issue in WCSD, as teachers are on the same pay scale. You don't have to merge district level admin, systems, etc. You are dealing with the same number of students, not creating a larger student population w/in the district. You aren't merging tax bases. The consolidation w/in WCSD is much simpler, relatively speaking. My point was that the 4Schools group is using this report to prove their point when it doesn't really address the issue at hand. The words "consolidation" mixed with "bad" don't prove the argument. Read the article that brianhagberg mentioned. Really informative, deals w/ the WCSD situation and is less biased than the PSBA report.
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wesnaustin
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10-29-09 1:22 PM
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Five alive says; "that paper has to do with the merger/consolidation of DISTRICTS, not schools w/in districts. You are talking about two totally different beasts." If you read the paper closely the author references consolidating schools too. It IS the same beast on a smaller scale. I know by reading your posts you are smart enough to know this, you're reaching now. The same problems that crop up when consolidating districts will happen when consolidating schools. Any potential money gains will be negated by new programs to deal with student problems, and student achievement will not improve and may actually drop off.
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utherjorge
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10-28-09 7:54 PM
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When you change a school from K-12 to K-8, and move the older kids elsewhere, it's not about space. It's about getting all students of teh same age together for the greatest efficency. And again, there's nothing wrong with a class size at 25.
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brianhagberg
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10-28-09 7:11 PM
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Master, the reason they can keep Sheffield as a K-8 is because the 9-12 students would be gone. It allows them to bring in the elementary students without having to make any additions to the current building, i.e. without spending much money.
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fivealive
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10-28-09 6:46 PM
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Far, I just googled Davare and the article title. It is interesting and makes some good points, however it deals w/ district-district merger. That entails costs and factors not relevant to the WCSD situation, ie leveling-up salaries, etc. Good info if you're looking into Rendell's plans for district mergers. I agree w/ brianhagberg that the studies need to be read and looked at with a critical eye. Not only how the info applies/is relevant to WCSD but also who is writing the reports and their angle and potential bias. While I still think consolidation is the WCSD's only option at this point, I would like to read info supporting the other point of view. It is called gathering the facts and making an educated decision. Hope the school board members (all of them!) are doing the same.
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brianhagberg
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10-28-09 6:33 PM
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Sorry, previous post should have said, "I just read..." didn't mean to sound like I was telling everyone to ONLY read that study.
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fivealive
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10-28-09 6:32 PM
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"Personally, I hope they can find a way to continue with the current number of schools. In my experience and opinion, schools are a nucleus of a community and, without one, the community suffers." I agree, MasterDebater. Do you know how to keep all the schools open, while maintaining educational quality in a district with declining enrollment and tax base? If there were a way, I would be 100% for it. But the facts say there isn't a way to accomplish that. I don't want to see the district waste another five or ten years debating the inevitable. That isn't fair to the students or to the taxpayers.
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brianhagberg
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10-28-09 6:32 PM
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Far: search for the article "2 or 4 High Schools" from 9/3/09. It describes what the options are that the board is considering. Though I must say these are certainly preliminary plans as much detail is lacking.
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brianhagberg
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10-28-09 6:29 PM
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Just read "A Phenomenological Study of School Consolidation" done by the University of Arkansas. It's a non-biased study that takes into account both sides of the argument. It was done after consolidation in Arkansas, some was district into district and some was school into school. I think everyone needs to take a look at more of these studies as they spoke with teachers, students, and administrators about their experiences before and after consolidation.
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FarfromHome
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10-28-09 6:27 PM
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Can any tell me where to find the plan for consolidation? I would like to read it. Also I haven't read Dr. Davare's paper. However after reading this article and five's comments, it looks as if it may hold some weight in this discussion. While, we are talking about consolidation between districts in regards to Sheffield, however not an exact fit. Thanks in advance.
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Placer44
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10-28-09 6:25 PM
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Can't we all just get along? No.
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Placer44
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10-28-09 5:23 PM
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The sports team in this area are historically awful.
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fivealive
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10-28-09 5:23 PM
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Wesnaustin, that paper has to do with the merger/consolidation of DISTRICTS, not schools w/in districts. You are talking about two totally different beasts. While an interesting read, it has little to do with the situation in the WCSD. Try again...
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reader
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10-28-09 5:18 PM
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if the school district said our budget does not have enough money to support any athletic teams and their transportation for many years, i wonder if 4schools people would still be for keeping their schools open. if you debate this opinion, it shows you are sports minded and not academically interested.
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Placer44
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10-28-09 5:13 PM
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wesnaustin runs off tail between her legs.
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wesnaustin
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10-28-09 4:56 PM
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Let's see Placer44 says Dr. David Davare who does works for the PSBA doesn't know s**t about education, and I am a comedian for not agreeing with totheright and having an opinion. That pretty much sums up their credibility to comment further on this subject I would think.
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Placer44
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10-28-09 4:27 PM
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Wesnaustin you would do well by taking a look at the American economy. The school district is a business. Just like American industry must consolidate businesses to survive so must the schools. Dr. David Davare PhD doesn't know jack squat.
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Publius
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10-28-09 3:50 PM
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Does anyone remember Sugar Grove? There used to be a town called Sugar Grove in Warren County. Nothing there now. It all went away when they closed the high school. Anyone remember Russell? Same thing happened there. Wait a minute...I was misinformed, there still are towns called Sugar Grove and Russell, and people live there. How can this be?
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wesnaustin
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10-28-09 3:24 PM
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All of the pro-consolidation parrots that like to repeat the company line could do themselves all a favor by reading a paper written by Dr. David Davare PhD titled Mergers/Consolidation of School Districts. It can easily be found with a little internet research, or you can find it in the research section of the Pennsylvania School Board Association web site. Very eye opening, and debunks a lot of the myths about big savings and better education through consolidation.
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nmpet75
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10-28-09 3:04 PM
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Sami, Are they embarrassed of their town? At any rate your argument does not hold water. A town of 2000 has its own economic problems. However, if property values are rising, upper middle class are moving there with homes valuing at 250k, maybe the consolidated schools have something to do with it. City dwellers who want more land, less crime, a slower pace but yet the benefits of the consolidated school district. I do live in the city but because I wanted the benefits of waec for my kids. We moved here 4 years ago. I want more for my kids and I want to see progress in our schools. I wouldn't care if they put a large school in Youngsville as long as it is better than just being an ok status quo education.
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nmpet75
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10-28-09 2:58 PM
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Brandon T, You say they do just fine.Maintain a status quo.Todays world is more competitive everyday.Technology changes every day and it matters the education and experience you have.A consolidated school changes the status quo.It costs about the same because now money is spent on tech. it was once not able to afford, or additional classes and options that it was once not able to give the kids.Something that is not talked about is maturity benefits of a larger peer base.In a small school your cliques are strong and if you do not conform you are an outsider.In a larger peer group you have the ability to find your own identity and grown within it as it is more likely to find other peers like you.These choices in academics and a larger social base allows you to develop both academically and emotionally to be a better well rounded person who is better prepared for life after HS.The question should be, why don't the kids deserve better?
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