POTTSTOWN — The school board is set to vote Monday on proposed 2 percent raises for mid-level administrators and support staff.
If approved by the board, it will be the first raise in two years for some.
The matter was on the agenda for discussion at Thursday night’s meeting, but none of the school board members had any comment. The package was recommended by the school board’s personnel committee.
If approved, the raises would be effective April 1, said Business Manager Linda Adams.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s looking like another tough budget season for school districts across Berks County.
Of the 13 local districts that have prepared preliminary budgets, all but one spending plan included significant shortfalls, ranging from about $400,000 to $2.2 million.
Muhlenberg’s budget doesn’t have a gap, but it currently includes a property tax increase larger than the state permits.
Budget gaps among districts can be somewhat hard to compare, because some include tax increases or major cuts in their preliminary budgets while others don’t.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Daniel Boone School Board is moving forward with a preliminary 2013-14 budget that includes drastic cuts.
The board voted 6-2 Monday to pass a preliminary $54.9 million budget that closes a nearly $5 million gap by raising taxes the maximum amount, furloughing nearly 40 employees and eliminating kindergarten and all extracurricular activities, including sports.
Board members Connor J. Kurtz and Kevin F. McCullough voted no and Robert D. McLaughlin was absent.
More than 100 residents attended the meeting, with many speaking out against the cuts outlined in the preliminary budget.
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SOUTH COVENTRY — Enrollments in the Owen J. Roberts School District are expected to remain flat or even decrease over the next ten years, according to new enrollment projections presented to the board at a recent committee of the whole meeting.
Projections show the overall student population rising slightly through 2016, from the current 5,121 students to 5,240. If the projections prove true, the numbers will begin dropping in 2017, when 5,233 students are expected to be registered, rising and falling in some years, but hitting 5,218 students in 2022.
Those predictions, presented by Director of Pupil Services Holly W. Acosta, are based on a new study by Decision Insite, an enrollment impact firm which looks at kindergarten enrollments, planned residential developments, and student cohorts through each grade level.
The numbers are a far cry from the steady growth the district had been experiencing in the past, with district wide enrollments climbing by over 1,000 students in 10 years, from 4,050 in 2002 to 5,121 in 2012. That’s a reflection of the economy and the dip in the housing market which has put a number of large scale development projects on hold, according to Superintendent Michael Christian.
Officials in the Reading School District announced the discovery of an accounting error that has left the district short more than $15 million.
Board President Robert F. Heebner Jr. said revenues for the 2010-11 school year were overstated by about $15.6 million. Heebner said it is still unclear which revenues were misstated.
That number could change, he said, as the district is still working on digging up all the facts about the incident.
The mistake was missed in audits of the district last year but popped onto the radar during an audit of the 2011-12 school year, which is taking place now.
Faced with a projected shortfall of $1.2 million for 2013-14, Twin Valley School District officials met with residents Wednesday to explore trimming costs in ways that students wouldn’t notice.
But administrators acknowledged there was one exception to that goal: a compacted school day.
“This is why you’re all here,” acknowledged Dr. Robert F. Pleis, superintendent.
More than 50 district residents attended the town hall-style meeting at Twin Valley Elementary Center, where a team of administrators detailed cost-cutting options that emerged from focus groups earlier this year.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Reading School District isn’t likely to get any relief from the financial straits that have led the district to cut programs, layoff staff and close schools.
Robert Peters, the district’s chief financial officer, provided the school board with an initial overview of the district’s 2013-14 budget process at a meeting Wednesday night. And the outlook doesn’t appear good.
The district, like others across the state, will yet again be facing increasing expenses with little hope of jumps in revenue.
Peters said increases in pension contributions will probably cost the district about an extra $2.5 million next year, and health care costs will likely increase somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million.
HARRISBURG – School districts are being evaluated this fall to determine if they belong in fiscal watch status, a new category for designating local government entities on a slippery financial slope.
The state Department of Education is identifying which districts need monitoring because of such factors as low cash on hand or limited ability to generate tax revenue and take on more debt as it implements the School District Financial Recovery Law enacted in July.
The law establishes a state oversight process for school districts similar to what Act 47 offers for fiscally distressed municipalities.
Four urban districts – Harrisburg, York City, Chester-Upland and Duquesne – have received preliminary declarations as districts in financial recovery, the ultimate distress category that triggers the appointment of a chief officer to develop a recovery plan.
Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/an-act-47-for-fiscally-distressed-schools-takes-shape-1.1381357
Editor’s note: I am unfortunately not surprised by this. I am guessing this is just another person who is tired of banging his/her head against “the proverbial wall” trying to make things better for Pottstown. The assembly flap might have been the last straw but there is more to this than just one incident.
Maybe it’s the constant barrage of criticism being lobbed by the Fishwrap at community leaders that helps push them out of town. People like Jason Bobst and Reed Lindley always have other options. After a while, no matter how good someone’s intentions are, people reach a saturation point and “walk away” to save what’s left of their sanity.
It’s a vicious cycle in Pottstown. My condolences to the new Borough Manager and Superintendent of Schools.
POTTSTOWN, PA — Reed Lindley stunned the school board and the community Thursday night by resigning as superintendent, effective immediately.
Lindley, who was not present for the regular board meeting, submitted his letter of resignation to the board, citing only “personal reasons” for his decision.
Following a 30-minute, closed-door executive session at the opening of the meeting, a somber-faced school board returned to the meeting room and unanimously accepted his resignation.
The resignation comes on the heels of community outrage over a three-hour assembly at Pottstown High School in which a speaker extolling the virtues of entrepreneurship also challenged students to sell coffee to compete for an iPad.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Years of neglect have left the Reading School District with a host of buildings in desperate need of repairs.
Upgrades are needed to heating systems, windows, fire safety systems, roofs and a number of other areas.
Reading has about $56 million available in bond funds for construction, and officials are in the process of figuring out how to spend it.
Michael Kautter of Kautter & Kelley Architects, who was hired to do a feasibility study, recently updated the school board on the status of the enormous project. In all, the feasibility study found nearly $83 million in needed repairs throughout the district.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The financial picture for the Reading School District isn’t pretty.
That news should come as no surprise as the district is fresh off a rough budget process that saw dozens of employees laid off and five schools closed.
But exactly where the district stands may not have been crystal clear.
That’s why the business office put together a special presentation this week to fill the Reading School Board in on the district’s financial trends.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Editor’s note: As the grandparent of a six-year-old granddaughter, this would send me about over the edge! Many thanks to Reading Police Office Chevron Salata for finding Adriann.
For more than four terrifying hours, Brenda McMullen and her family were left to imagine the worst.
McMullen’s 6-year-old grandson, Adriann Flemming Jr., was missing on Wednesday. And those who love the little boy had no idea where to find him.
The ordeal was the result of yet another Reading School District busing mistake, a problem that has plagued the district during the opening week of school.
In this instance, Adriann was put on the wrong bus after school at 16th & Haak Elementary School and taken to the wrong day care center.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A group of administrators suddenly fired in April by the Reading School District has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $150,000 in damages.
The administrators claim the district violated the terms of their employment contracts by not providing 30 days’ notice before terminating the contracts.
After a series of retirements and resignations of several top administrators following the 2010-11 school year, the district found itself in need of a leadership team. The district turned to a group of retired administrators who had been working with the district through the state’s Distinguished Educator Program.
The district hired several administrators, including acting superintendent J. Drue Miles, on a temporary basis. They were asked to lead the district for up to a year, or at least until the district was able to permanently fill the slots.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When classes resume Monday in Wilson School District, many students will find themselves in new surroundings.
Students at the now-closed Lincoln Park and West Wyomissing elementary schools will move to other buildings.
In addition, a redistricting effort impacts students at two more elementary schools and both middle schools.
To ease the transition for about 600 students, Wilson has scheduled open houses, tours, orientations and demo bus rides.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By definition, it’s a union – oftentimes, an absorption. It could be as simple as sharing a sports team. Or as complex as a new high school.
For the school officials who make the ultimate decision, though, mergers aren’t so easily defined. They’re complex; never the same. And ultimately, the trigger for heated emotions all around.
Since talk of a merger between the Exeter and Antietam school districts reignited this year, questions have arisen.
If the two were to combine, residents wondered, would there be a new name? Which high school would be used? And who, if anyone, would actually benefit?
Location of Pottstown in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
POTTSTOWN — With a 7-3 vote Thursday night, the school board rejected a proposal to suspend work on designing additions to three elementary schools to allow the potential to save as much as $6.5 million to be explored.
The proposal, made by school board member Thomas Hylton, sought to take advantage of a recent change in long-standing state policy that was made with the passage of the most recent budget in Harrisburg.
Throughout the many years of discussion on the elementary school project, it has been state policy that it will not provide reimbursement to any school construction project that does not eliminate the use of modular classrooms.
The need to meet this requirement is among those driving the decision to add between 12 to 14 classrooms in additions to Rupert, Lincoln and Franklin elementary schools, which is where the $24 million project now stands.
Just two days after passing a 2012-13 budget that laid off more than 200 employees, the Reading School District is looking to hire – and the teachers union isn’t very happy about it.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipediaust two days after passing a 2012-13 budget that laid off more than 200 employees, the Reading School District is looking to hire – and the teachers union isn’t very happy about it.
In an email sent to staff Friday, the district announced that it is looking to fill 14 administrative positions. Some are existing positions currently vacant, while others are new.
But despite appearances, district officials said, the district is not opening up its budget to create new positions.
Calling the job listings a wish list for newly hired superintendent Dr. Carlinda Purcell, school board President Yvonne L. Stroman said only seven or eight of the positions will likely be filled when school begins this fall. Stroman said only positions included in the district’s $220 million budget – such as director of secondary education and director of special education – will be filled.
A year ago, Jim Bozzini came before the Boyertown School Board as a parent and taxpayer to suggest a new way for the cash-strapped district to raise money: advertisements.
Now the board is turning to Bozzini, president of School Media Marketing, Gilbertsville, to deliver on his suggestion and solicit advertisements for the district.
The board has approved a three-year contract with Bozzini, the lone bidder, that will give School Media Marketing a 20 percent commission on advertising proceeds.
Officials have estimated $25,000 in first-year profits for the district and say, based on the experience of other districts, that the number could grow to six figures in future years.
Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sixteen financially distressed school districts across Pennsylvania, including the Reading School District, could soon be getting a bit of extra help.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a school funding bill Friday that includes extra money for school districts facing financial disasters.
The bill was expected to be considered by the full Senate today. If approved, it would mean an extra $3.7 million for Reading.
Reading is the only Berks County school that would qualify for extra funds.
Location of Lower Pottsgrove Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
LOWER POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP – Property taxes will rise by 2.8 percent in the Pottsgrove School District next year as the result of a 8-1 vote Tuesday by the Pottsgrove School Board.
The vote was the final word on the $58.9 million budget for the 2012-13 school year.
The board also voted to set a millage rate of 35.979 mills for the new fiscal year, an increase of .98 mills.
It will raise taxes by $35.98 for every $1,000 of assessed value, or about $118 for a home valued at $120,000, the district’s median assessment, Nester 
told The Sanatoga Post.
Roy's Rants - For Your Information 