Call me crazy, but isn't the primary mission of any school board to fight for the students, to give them the best possible education, and the best possible preparation for their futures? Yet in the Quakertown school board imbroglio, everyone seems to have an advocate - except the kids.
The teachers are represented by their union. Well represented, judging from their enormous salaries. Qtown, Milford, and Richland have their solicitors. The school board has their lawyer to make sure they keep their seats. The at-large folks have one to push for change. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a mouthpiece.
We've heard why we should keep the current system, electing board members from their home districts. We've heard why we should change to electing all nine at-large. We've heard charges of personal agendas, religious takeovers, and dereliction of duty. We've even heard an absurd wannabe politician personally attempting to overturn a petition signed by 1400 people (a brilliant way to jump-start his local campaign!)
What we haven't heard is what's going to be done for the kids. The 5500+ students who apparently have no voice. The school board has failed them. The district's SAT scores are the lowest in the area, and have not significantly improved since 2001. The Integrated Math concept has been an admitted disaster, with many graduates reporting that they were totally unprepared for college courses.
Even the U.S. military has weighed in, with Marine recruiting Sgt. Darren J. Murphy writing "Quakertown High School graduates have in recent years scored consistently dead last in the military's Aptitude Test for acceptance in the Armed Forces in our region". Kids who aren't prepared for the demands of life are at a serious disadvantage no matter what they choose to do. The buck stops with the school board. They oversee the curriculum. They give direction to the staff, and the teachers.
And the same board has failed the residents. School taxes are up 50% in five years, and teacher salaries are near the top in the entire state. Twenty-five new staff are being hired this year for only 50 new students. For the last five years, student growth averaged 0.83% per year while staff grew nine percent per year. Ten times more! The culprit for higher budgets, and taxes, is not massive student growth - its massive staff growth! What have we received in return? Bottom of the area-barrel SAT scores, unacceptable math programs, and - worst of all - no real progress.
But instead of focusing on improving the quality of education, and advocating for the kids, school board members have been fixated on preserving their own power. President Philip Abramson appeared before Quakertown council to warn that their town could lose its representation if the current voting system is changed. The at-large idea, he said, could allow one town, or one agenda-driven group, to take control of the schools.
Divide and conquer. Pit one municipality against another. Abramson's own board minutes show that such danger has never existed. It is a fantasy designed to scare residents - and councilmen:
If issues and needs were truly different from one town to another, we would expect to see members vote to protect their own turf. That same protection which Abramson told council was so necessary. But the record shows that nothing divides board members along geographic lines. In fact, nothing divides them at all! Our school board is one big love fest. There were 20 board meetings from December 6, 2004, to November 9, 2005. The board voted 138 times (not including the vote to adjourn). Of those 138 votes, 133 were unanimous (96.4%).
Even the five hot-button issues weren't really contested: final budget 7-1, millage increase 7-1, preliminary budget 7-2, textbooks 5-2, teacher contract 5-3. Can you name a single matter that affects only your town? An issue that cries out for a board member to protect you? Can you even name the board members from your district who are "protecting" you?? Probably no, no, and no.
Only Quakertown and Milford voted to oppose the at-large system. Their elected leaders reacted like scared sheep, authorizing their solicitors (at taxpayer expense) to be sure their towns are safe from the at-large menace. This level of insecurity, and spending, should at least be based on something. Milford Supervisor Robert Mansfield offered that "local representation ensures a fair board".
Fair to whom??? The only things that we have seen "ensured" by local representation are high taxes, high salaries, and poor performance. The school board is supposed to manage the education of students from six towns. The issue should never be who will do the best job of serving Milford, or Quakertown. It's about the kids. The ones who have suffered most for the sins of our "local representation" board members.
In the end, the system we use is far less important than the quality of the people we elect. Mr. Abramson and cronies - ye reap what ye sow. If you had controlled costs and salaries (and, as a result, taxes), insisted on teacher performance as reflected by student performance, and created a curriculum that helped the kids rather than hobbled them, you wouldn't be facing this community crisis of confidence. You wouldn't be spending desperately-needed education funds on attorneys to defend yourselves. You wouldn't need to hide behind the smokescreen of "I protect this town".
All of this debate over elections is, of course, nothing more than posturing. The decision, at least initially, will not be made by the people, but by Bucks County Judge Robert J. Mellon. Regardless of his ruling, any future board could propose a different voting system. And all board members will eventually have to stand for re-election. On their records. Then you will be the judge.