If the Truth In Advertising laws applied to school districts, there would have to be a name change for QCSD. The official new title would be the Quakertown Milford Richland Trumbauersville Richlandtown Haycock School District. Any pretense of "Community" is now gone.
Not just because the 80 percent of residents who don't have kids in the schools, including many seniors and others on fixed incomes, are ignored in budget and spending decisions that impact everyone's taxes.
Not just because the school board majority is so protective of their own positions that they refuse to face election by the entire community, conspiring instead to keep the antiquated, divisive system of election by regions.
Not just because the Superintendent endorsed, and enabled, an appearance by Democrat Bill Clinton, then acted on her own to scuttle the appearances of Republicans John McClain and Sarah Palin.
You can add to those shameful behaviors a reappearance of a prior community-busting act of educational stupidity. Although it has previously been shot down by sane voices, the board majority (protected by the regional voting system), and the administration (protected by the board majority) are giving it yet another try...
Our administration has staunchly opposed any type of standardized testing of students, which might be used to judge how our educational progress compares to other districts. But they can't avoid the PSSA's and SAT's. And they can't avoid having the residents learn that most QMRTRHSD schools score abysmally low, year after year, because the bad news is on the state's website. (Read much more on the latest bad news here next week.)
But the good news is that our elementary schools score very high. And among the highest is the smallest, Haycock Elementary. You would think that the board and administration would be proud of Haycock, and use it as a model for the others. But not here. The same muddled thinkers who brought us the midnight teacher contract, Integrated Math, and a $360,000+ teacher bonus for doing nothing, now want to close Haycock Elementary!
Their reasoning is that we are in a budget crisis (created, of course, by their years of overhiring and overpaying), and must now find ways to make up for their errors. State law forbids laying off teachers to balance a budget, something that the board seemed to have overlooked when it went wild with new hires and replacements for retiring teachers. And when we had the chance to reduce salaries last year, when the teacher contract expired, the board voted to just continue the current top-10-in-the-state structure. So, having dug a hole so deep they can't see the top, what now?
Naturally, they close the school that is doing the best job of educating our kids. If anything typifies the thinking of QMRTRHSD, this is it.
Proponents argue that the school has too few students, about 125. We can save by integrating them into the other buildings. And that is true. But is this the best way to save? Is breaking up what little remains of "community" in our district, and closing a school that best carries out its mission, more acceptable than, say, renegotiating the teacher contract to bring the salaries more in line with the public's ability to pay? Or requiring students who benefit from non-education activities, like band and sports, to pay small participation fees?
Or, rather than outright closing an entire school, how about just continuing what we have been doing for the past two years (during renovations) - shut down a wing of Richland Elementary? Paul Stepanoff, a director elected in Haycock, sees it as a viable option, but doesn't think the board will even consider it: "Since the districts for Richland Elementary and Quakertown Elementary are much closer together, closing a wing of Richland may actually be less disruptive to the balance of the school district than closing Haycock. Two or three meetings ago, when I suggested this, the response from (Qtown Borough director) Kathy Mosley was that it simply could not be done. But it is not only possible, we are already doing it! Yet even though it is less disruptive to close that wing, and not have to bus students all over creation to accomplish the class size goals, suggestions such as that will be completely ignored."
Stepanoff would like to see the math to compare the savings for both ideas. "We will never know unless the school board actually asks the administration to cost out both the closing of Haycock, and closing of a wing of RE. But since they are not willing to do that, apparently fearing that the data may show closing the wing may save even more, it leads me to the conclusion that closing Haycock has become more of a political decision than a cost saving one. I believe that despite Haycock being one of the highest performing schools in the district, and in an area that is showing no signs of student population decrease, the board will most likely close the school, on Kathy Mosley's lead. I tried to force a vote on Haycock school within minutes of the board voting to spend $120,000 on band uniforms (for 100 students), stating that it is an embarrassment that the board could vote to put a selected few students into uniforms for a non-core subject, and at the same time even contemplate closing an elementary school. I even evoked the (director) Nancy Tirjan speech from last season, that we owe it to the Haycock parents to give them a clear and timely answer as to the fate of their school."
The Mosley-led plan is in the true twisted spirit of the educational mediocrity that QMRTRHSD families have been forced to endure. Close a top-performing school rather than try to bring the rest of the students up to its standards. Of course, the stated reason will be economics, and the board majority - none of whom live in Haycock, or have kids in school there - will look grave, and nod in unison. Again.
And there is little that Haycock families, the ones most affected by this travesty, can do about it. That is the sad legacy of regional voting for directors. Linda Martin (Milford/T'ville), Bob Smith (Milford/T'ville), Kelly Van Valkenburgh (Qtown/Richland), Tirjan (Qtown/Richland), and Mosley can, on their own, close Haycock Elementary, even though they didn't receive a single vote from anyone who lives there, and don't face any repercussions from the families whose lives will be disrupted. Ironically, the QCSD website, which used to list the region that each director represents, has eliminated that information.
Haycock Township Supervisor Chairman Henry DePue lays the blame squarely on that board majority. "Haycock has been on the chopping block for the past several years. The board decided not to do the much-needed renovations, instead funding Richland Elementary, and the district office. There is now talk of additions for other schools, leaving Haycock falling by the wayside. Unless the board approves funding for the addition, and needed repairs, which I don't see happening, the only thing they have left is to close the school, and say it is for budget reasons. The students from Haycock Township will be the big losers."
But Haycock Supervisor Kathleen Babb found a possible silver lining: "I knew this was Andrejko's intentions for the last few years. Most of the Haycock parents knew it was going to happen too. It will hopefully help our petition to have Haycock become part of Palisades. It will certainly make our point that it would be in the best interests of both school districts to have us incorporated into Palisades."
Babb noted that she, and others, have already met with Paul Clymer, Chuck McIlhinney and Larry Glick from Patrick Murphy's office and all have indicated a willingness to help. "I don't know if Dr. Andrejko realized she was helping to make our case by pushing to have Haycock closed."
Palisades enrollment has been declining. They put a large addition on Tinicum Elementary, thinking that the area would experience growth, but it did not. Haycock's students would be enough to stabilize their declining enrollment, without overwhelming them with too many students. Babb explained "Quakertown has already said they would have to bus our kids further, and increase class size in their elementary schools, to absorb our students. Springfield Elementary and Nockamixon Elementary (both in Palisades) are closer for our students than it would be to bus them into Quakertown. Problem solved for both districts."
Overcrowding is forcing QMRTRHSD to plan either major high school renovations, or new construction. But Palisades has more than adequate capacity to take on both middle school and high school students from Haycock Township. Babb calls it a win/win for both districts: "Quakertown would have 300 less students to worry about. Of course, when we tried to present the proposal to Quakertown School Board, (President) Linda Martin would not let us. She said people and groups have to be screened by the administration, and their facts verified by them, before we can present it to the school board or public. Seems pretty unnecessary to do that, since Dr. Andrejko showed up at the Palisades School Board meeting when we made our presentation, so she already heard it. Why take it to her again? So life in QCSD goes on as usual, with the public shielded from anything that Andrejko and Martin don't want them hearing."
Stepanoff concluded "Clearly, the board majority, especially Mosley, do not use any logic in their decision-making. They are driven by emotion and politics, and a strong loyalty to whatever the administration desires."
The fate of Haycock Elementary, and 125 high-performing kids, is in poor hands. At least for now.