| Board Update 3-27-00 The Slippery Rock School Board has decided to form a committee to establish a Citizens Advisory Committee to advise board members on issues that involve parents! This move comes after 3 years, and over a half a dozen presentations to the Board by parent advocate Deborah Wells to do just that-establish such a group. Wells has been relentless in lobbying for a Citizens Advisory Committee and it appears that it will soon become a reality. Based on the belief that parents have a natural right to direct the education of their children, such a committee will allow parents to have meaningful input into the governance of our district. Until now, the Board has rejected Wells' proposal, based on the Board's desire to retain all control and relegate parents participation to helping with homework and fund raising activities. Deborah Wells and board member Watson should be thanked for leading this effort. A committee will be formed consisting of Watson, Angerett, Giesler and Thompson to establish this Parental Advisory Committee. In Another Moment of Clarity...... Through the had work and lobbying efforts of Katherine Gardner and other members of Citizens for Safe Schools, the Board has decided to finally act on their recommendations and hire a security consultant to assess security needs of all the schools in the district. This has been put off too long by our district - and the recommendation by Citizens for Safe Schools to have this type of assessment done was made long ago. Why has our Board finelly decided to make the security needs of our children a priority at this time? Simple. Last night Mr. King, our solicitor, informed the Board that they could be held legally responsible if there was a problem and they hadn't taken steps to provide a safe environment for our children. Even though Ms. Gardner and other parents have been concerned with building security for years, it took the Board thinking they could be sued to take their concerns seriously. Is there no shame? Board Update Board Update 4-17-00 Is there a price on the security of our children while they are attending schools in our district? You bet there is...... and it is less then $3000! Our know it all Board has decided to not hire a security consultant to provide the district with a comprehensive security plan and risk assessment because the costs would range between $3000 and $18000 depending on which consultant they hired. Apparently our Board has decided to leave it in the hands of board members Youngman, a grumpy old man, Smith, a funeral director, and Geisler, someone who works out of his home with a fax and a computer. Geisler, suggested this brilliant idea based on his opinion that the consultants' findings would be too expensive and take too long. Yeah right! Like our board can do anything quickly, not to mention they know nothing about security risk assessment. The Board has, however, hired a consultant to do the security at Har-Mer and the Middle School as part of the upcoming renovations. Adams doesn't like this plan either. He claims that the consultants hired to do these two schools are liberals because of their views of the events at Columbine HS. But, despite his objections, Har-Mer and the Middle school will have professionals designing the security systems at these two schools. It's comforting to know that we have a Board who is so versatile and all knowing. They don't need professionals to design curriculum - after all, they are eager to throw out all the work the teachers have done and instead implement the conservative's darling "Core Knowledge". And does Chapter 4 have any educational benefits? Who cares? Everyone else in Western PA opposes it - that's good enough for our Board. And mandatory homework - once again, our Board knows best. We can all rest easy knowing that the security of our children is in good hands. Board Update 6-27-00 As most of you know, our superintendent, Reggie Bonfield, has resigned. The way he tells it, he is leaving because he wants to be closer to his family. He has taken a job with the Northgate School District, just several miles from his home. Bonfield really resigned because our board is dysfunctional, and he was not allowed to do his job. Last night he told me he did the best he could with what he had. During the meeting he thanked the parents, students and community for allowing him to serve as superintendent. He didn't thank the board. Hmmmm. Wonder why? Well...He also commented last night that this last meeting will be memorable in several ways. I would like to thank Dr. Bonfield for putting up with our board for as long as he did. This was no small task. Sooooo....we are now looking to hire a superintendent. This will not be easy for several reasons. First, superintendents are as rare as hen's teeth. And second, anyone in their right mind couldn't work for our board. Like I said, we are all real lucky that Bonfield managed to stay here 3 years of his 5 year contract. Stay tuned! But don't hold your breath. Get that Cleavage out of my Face! According to Mr. Beil, HS Principal, he is "shocked" with the way many female students are dressing. According to Beil, females are showing a lot more cleavage, wearing pajamas to school, bras are being publicly displayed, and backless shirts are being worn. He stated that he is seeing more then he wants to see. What does he recommend to end this unseemly situation? Well, he and the Executive Student Council recommended the implementation of school uniforms! Yep, to avoid having their sensibilities offended, they think uniforms would bring about a more moral atmosphere (I guess parents' morals need some improvement, too, if they let their children go to school dressed like that.) Beil presented the board with changes to the HS Handbook, that included many outlawed items of clothing and also included a rule that requires females to wear bras. He said that the teachers would function as the "police officers" to enforce the new rules. When Mr. King saw the list, he got very animated, and informed Beil and the board that he would have to do a legal review before these suggestions could go into the handbook. Duh! (makes me wonder if King is the only reason our district is even still afloat) Now, don't get me wrong, I dislike seeing cleavage on females as much as the next guy, but do we really need to put our HS students in uniforms to avoid seeing it? Anyway, Adams jumped at the chance to make a motion for Beil to look into the uniform issue, Watson jumped even faster to second the motion, and the resulting vote was unanimous. Our board is now investigating implementing a uniform policy. This decision was made more easily because the HS students seem to think uniforms are a good idea too. Now I want ya'll to remember this. Our district is considering uniforms to put a stop to unseemly female attire, not for safety reasons. This is important because safety (gang clothing etc.) is the usual reason districts implement uniforms, not to police the wearing of morally acceptable garments. As this issue progresses and goes through legal review, I suspect the reasons for uniforms will change from moral reasons to safety ones. Of course, most of ya'll reading this are probably in favor of uniforms. It never ceases to amaze me how quick parents are in turning over their parental rights and obligations to the state. For those of you who may wonder how far the government can go in telling you how your children can dress, click here for the ACLU's interpretation of the law. What do you think? Do you favor uniforms? Click here to let your opinion be heard! What's this? Why haven't any of you told me that our district had a web site? Better question. Why hasen't the district told us they now have a web site???? I was surfing around, lookin at dis and dat and low and behold, there it was, complete with an email address. Click here to visit what I think is the Official Slippery Rock School District web site! |
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