Stitt Deems Senator’s Comments “Incorrect”
Board President Rose Stitt criticized recent comments made by Senator Don White regarding the reopening of Elderton High School during a meeting held last night.
by Nathan Lasher
Armstrong School District (ASD) Board of Directors President Rose M. Stitt deemed remarks made recently by Senator Don White during a meeting of the Indiana – Armstrong Patriots as “incorrect” during a public meeting held last night.
“I want to correct something I saw that Senator White said that Elderton High School cost $4 million,” said Stitt.
Stitt then asked ASD Business Manager Eric Brandenburg if that figure was correct.
“The last cost, basically that was in the lawsuit that you had, it was approximately $2.6 million, and there were still a couple additional costs to that,” replied Brandenburg. “And, the operating cost is going to be 3.5.”
Board Vice President James A. Solak then asked Brandenburg what the cost was to reopen only.
“Like I said, it’s approximately $2.6 million, and then there may be some technology costs and we’re not sure about transportation as you know. I could say a ballpark $2.7 million.”
Matta
Solicitor Gary Matta then asked to comment on the situation. “I just want to make sure that the community is clear on this issue,” said Matta. “The cost of reopening and the cost of running the District, I believe, are two different definitions if you would. Some of the costs that are being included in this 2.7 to 3.5 number that has been discussed are salaries for teaching staff. Those salaries would have occurred if Elderton was open or not. So, they’re not costs to open Elderton. I think the costs to reopen Elderton would be anything that needed to be done to the building to make it inhabitable for students, and maybe some additional costs. There may have been some additional staff positions, but all of those staff positions were not in addition. So, I don’t think it’s fair to say to reopen Elderton cost 2 to 3 million dollars. Some of those costs would have been incurred no matter if that building was open or not because the education of those children would have still occurred in another facility. So, I think that we need to define that, and I don’t know if Mr. Brandenburg actually can differentiate that here this evening or not.”
After explaining that other costs still would have occurred because the Elderton High School building shares the same heating system as the elementary school, Stitt said, “I talked to Senator White on Thursday and asked him where he got that $4 million figure at because I have never seen him come to the Board or request any documents, and he told me our former superintendent had told him those figures a year ago. So, I just want to put out there that we are working to get accurate figures and we are working to try to get accuracy out there, and that those figures were incorrect and I just wanted to straighten that out.”
Board Member Christopher E. Choncek was next to join the discussion. “I do agree that you need to make a distinction between what it cost to reopen the school, but clearly without Elderton open we would not be incurring the millions and millions of dollars every year to keep it open,” he said. “So, although the distinction needs to be made, you can’t understate the fact that this School District is going to spend a lot of money every year on those staff salaries and benefits. If it wasn’t open we wouldn’t be spending on those salaries and benefits, so I don’t think that can be said enough that it still means a great deal of money whether you say it is 2, 3, or 4 million dollars. That’s still millions of dollars every year that will be incurred because it is left open.”
“I suppose that depends if you agree with Senator White in calling the Elderton community and the education of the Elderton students in the only school that’s won a national award in education a waste of money or not,” replied Stitt. “It costs money. People live in Elderton just like every other area. We pay. They paid to spend $10 million over budget on West Hills. They paid as they sat and watched Lenape.” Stitt went further to say, “We’ve closed tons of schools in this District over the years and our taxes never went down, and when Elderton High School was closed people’s taxes didn’t go down, but yet when it was opened and we found mistakes in the budget. We found out we had $4 million extra the year Elderton was opened. So, I guess it’s a matter of opinion as to where you figure your waste of money is. Obviously, we are going to have a difference of opinion on that. Of course, every school in this District, we could go through and ask how much every school in this District cost to open and then we could pick and choose which ones we feel are worth money and which ones aren’t and we could go on and on. But, the fact is that Senator White got those figures, he told me personally, from our former superintendent whenever we couldn’t get the answer out of our former superintendent at Board meetings and we’re still looking for the accurate figures. I just want to set the record straight that that figure is incorrect.”
Choncek then proposed that Brandenburg compose a report with the cost to open Elderton as well as the yearly operating costs.
Stitt also asked to see the same for every school in the District.
Next, Choncek argued Stitt’s previous point about taxes not being decreased in the past. “You are right, taxes did not go down when we closed all of those schools, but I’ll bet you if we did not close those schools they would have gone up,” he said. “So all we’re trying to do, and all we’ve been trying to do in this District, is stop the bleeding with band-aids on these buildings. Every once-in-a-while we close a building. Most of the buildings are in the Kittanning attendance area. Those elementary schools: North Buffalo, East Franklin, and all of those out there are in the Kittanning attendance area. It is very convenient to say that we don’t save money, but yet you will do it with Kittanning Township and potentially with Kittanning Junior High School whenever it helps the process and helps increase enrollment in other schools. So, we’ll go round and around, and I’m sure it’s going to continue, but we fundamentally disagree on where we should be spending our money. Not on old buildings every year with declining enrollment.”
Stitt made the argument that closing Kittanning Township was not an effort to increase enrollment at Elderton High School. “Those kids go to Elderton High School anyway,” she said.
Citing savings from possibly closing Kittanning Junior High School, dismissing the past threat of South Bend Township students leaving the District, and reconfiguring transportation, Solak claimed that expenditures from reopening Elderton High School would be offset. “The comments that it’s costing so much, $4 million, to reopen Elderton is not true,” he said.
Armstrong School District | nlasher August 24, 2010
By DANBOY, August 24, 2010 @ 6:54 AM
I suggest we do a STUDY and if Madame President and Dr. Director and I guess now the Solicitor do not agree with those numbers do another study until they are happy. Somehow I knew Dr Kerr would get back in the conversation. Before it is all said and done he will probably get blamed for the increased pension costs. After reading this article I am not sure if that was a Board Meeting or a Campaign Rally.By the way where did the KP videos go and who decides what is on and not on the Meeting’s agenda???
By scott_starr, August 24, 2010 @ 9:44 AM
You go Danboy!
Oh, and Matta, Shut up! Shall we discuss your fiscal acumen by brining up the duquense school district investigation? I have no idea how you walked unscathed from that one.
By scott_starr, August 24, 2010 @ 9:51 AM
So let’s consider the silly comments at the meeting.
If I go and buy a $300 dinner, which takes up a large portion of my food budget… it’s OK because I was going to eat anyway.
Forget the fact that I will have $100 for the rest of the month.
….. brilliant….
By GingledorfDerlinini, August 24, 2010 @ 10:16 AM
Can Matta really say with a straight face that the costs to hire the new teachers would have occured even if EHS was not opening? Really? Come on, man!!! Maybe a few, but not the greatest majority of the new hires…
Was this the same accounting used in the Duquesne Schools?
The number is well over $4 million. Everyone knows it. Add in the 20+ million for the renovations and you simply let the cement boots dry on Armstrong County before tossing her into the Allegheny.
Face facts, the irresponsibility of this school board is the final nail in the coffin for this county. Taxes are too high, and the education is sub-par. Where is the LEADERSHIP???
There may still be a chance to stop this… Ask PDE to deny the reimbursement. Send letters to:
Ms. Patricia A. Dengel, Chief
Division of School Facilities
Bureau of Budget and Fiscal Management
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Education
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333
Be sure to copy Senator White and Representative Pyle. They agree it is a waste of money. Solicit their help.
Last one out, please hit the lights!
By Jen16226, August 24, 2010 @ 10:24 AM
It was quite laughable that Mr. Matta commented.
A- he should keep his opinion to himself considering the messes he has already been in.
B- he is not an elected official so please only offer legal advice.
If you hadn’t previously seen this, see what damage the lovely solicitor has previously done.
http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/Archives/Investigations/DUQ-Report.html
By Jen16226, August 24, 2010 @ 10:28 AM
Gingle…..
Actually, with the Act 34 issue, the public will now have the opportunity to weigh in on the renovations.
Once the date of the Act 34 hearing is announced, the public will have the opportunity to submit letters to the board secretary that will go to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for them to see everyone’s opinion…..just because they submitted plancon documents to the state, does NOT mean it is a done deal with renovations.
In addition, the public will have the opportunity to publicly state at the hearing their take on the situation.
By Jan, August 24, 2010 @ 10:29 AM
So now Sen. White is being crucified for providing yet another figure as how much waste will be incurred by re-opening EHS. This is almost laughable if it weren’t so serious. At last nights meeting, there were so many numbers thrown out as to the cost of re-opening EHS- the truth is, no one knows- not ever the esteemed “fab5″ who voted to re-open this school. The business manager says 2.6M, and Solak projected 2.87M and the solicitor ( who is just that) had to put his two cents in to it- hey, maybe Matta is going to run for the school board rather than be the solicitor ( can we honestly call him that?) I trust him almost as much as I would trust Jimmy Hoffa- hmm, amazing how much those two names go together???? just sayin…..
The bottom line is this- we are proceeding forward without a clue as to the cost of re-opening EHS…does anyone else have a problem with this??????
By Jan, August 24, 2010 @ 10:31 AM
If you want to contact Patricia Dengel personally, here is the phone number: 717-787-7808 or 717-787-5480. I’m sure she’s love to hear from you.
By asdtaxpayer, August 24, 2010 @ 10:42 AM
I agree we need to communicate with the state. We need emails and form letters to send in mass quantities. Who is up to the challenge of writing the letter. The letter then should be posted on a web page where all we the people need to do is fill in their name and click. I plan on sending a letter but we need to make it easy for everyone.
We need to send this info out to everyone we are connected with. Emails, blogs, myspace, facebook, or hand this info out at strategic locations in the area.
By bweitzel, August 24, 2010 @ 10:44 AM
Great post GingledorfDerlinini. I will definitely be contacting the PDE.
Aside from cost, EHS was closed due to low enrollment, inability to offer advanced placement classes and too many “single” course offerings…right???
From recent experience I can tell you that these issues still exist. EHS cannot even offer basic classes to seniors because they do not have enough kids.
HERO, along with our school board’s “Fab 5″, you are a selfish bunch of folks. You are shortchanging your kids (and mine) for your “community school”.
WHAT A JOKE.
By rfullerton, August 24, 2010 @ 11:02 AM
Thanks gingledorf. My letter is in the mail…do you know if there is an email? And you should most definitely put this info in a letter to the editor of the leader times and the valley news. There are many folks who do not read th KP who would jump on this opportunity.
To clear up some misconceptions about KJHS…..we do NOT have any empty classrooms and if mr. Solak or one of the fab five would even deem use wortny of a visit they would know that…unless of course they DO know that and are just throwing lies out to the public…whatever the case. Here is the deal…..when 6th grade moved to west hills the life skills moved inand occupies two of the would be vacant classrooms. We then inherited the SED kids from ehs (which we are keeping, they were not sent back to ehs) who occupy another classroom. We lost another classroom to office space that was renovated into 3 offices for mr. Burns and 2 other administrators. Since mr. Burns was smart enough to “get out of dodge” his office is now being used to house ISS. The former ISS room is now a resource room. We lost two classrooms to the TV station as well…that leaves ZERO empty rooms and we habe teachers sharing rooms…hence mr. Soal I call BS on that remark!
Interesting things going in ehs and wshs…seems there are not enough kids for a tennis team now or a soccer team and only enough for the ehs girls basketball team to have a team and no bench…not sure about volleyball. I have also been told by several ehs parents that scheduling classes is a nightmare. Their kids can’t get certain classes because there are not enough kids to offer them and other classes are hard to schedule because there are not enough sections. So school board and hero you have screwed your students and the west shamokin kids BRAVO!
Anyone notice that Coach Calipare was approved as the new girl’s basketball coach at ehs last night?? Not good enough for Ford City but a shoe-in at ehs…..does something seem a bit fishy…..?
By RizzoSports, August 24, 2010 @ 11:25 AM
I “deem” Ms. Stitt to be incorrect. The opening of Elderton will cost this area $750m over 30 years.
By Ryan Bloser, August 24, 2010 @ 12:26 PM
I haven’t been up to date on the meetings – when is MM’s seat going to be filled or has it already?
R
By gertydeva, August 24, 2010 @ 1:15 PM
It costs more money to keep Elderton open than to keep it closed. Whether the amount is 2.7 million or 4 million, that fact does not change. I am tired of hearing what Elderton DESERVES because they pay taxes. If we keep it open on that basis then every little town and village in the ASD deserves a school, and guess what? We, ASD, cannot afford that! I am so tired of the HERO group and their cronies trying to put a positive spin on their financially irresponsible decision. They must be feeling pressure to try to look good, because no matter how they spin the numbers, it is a BAD decision to renovate a school for so few children. They must be “feeling the heat”. If any of the board members who voted for this travesty are relected, I will be in shock. To me, they sound on the defense with damage control, so they must be feeling the heat.
By rfullerton, August 24, 2010 @ 2:12 PM
Here is Ms. Dengel’s email…..pdengel@state.pa.us Certainly can’t hurt to give it a try!
By Elderton Parent, August 24, 2010 @ 11:33 PM
HERO is not to blame for this mess. This has been going on for years and years. HERO has been in existance for 2 1/2 years and now you all want to blame them? BILL KERR is the one who made the mess and ran before it was cleaned up. I will be surprised if PDE ever gets involved. Although I would welcome them to come in and reveal what Bill Kerr has done to this district and tax payers for the last 12 years. With or without PDE, you will see it all come to the surface just like the nasty oil on the water. Wonder if there is enough boom to absorb it all?
Watch where you all get your facts as the slimy fish sometimes take the bait and others just ramble nonsense on and on. That really can get on ones nerves.
By scott_starr, August 25, 2010 @ 9:30 AM
@Elderton Parent:
Please give specifics on how and what Kerr did.
The only mess Kerr made, as far as I can tell at the moment is trying to educate kids.
I don’t agree with everything he did during his tenure, but that’s life. At least with Kerr you can have a disagreement and there were not percipitation nor mean people clauses in his contract.
If I were Kerr, HERO would have been sued for liable and slalnder.
By gertydeva, August 25, 2010 @ 9:59 AM
@Elderton Parent
“Watch where you all get your facts as the slimy fish sometimes take the bait…” Pot meet kettle…that is what the popular view is about HERO around the rest of the district OUTSIDE of your little hamlet!!!
By dee, August 25, 2010 @ 11:38 AM
@Elderton Parent
Your accusations are pretty vague. Are you sure you don’t want to blame Dr. Kerr for the overall state of the economy or the weather while you’re at it.
By Jan, August 25, 2010 @ 5:38 PM
To Elderton Parent,
So the former superintendent is responsible for this mess- are you serious!!!!! Of course, it is easy to blame someone when you don’t want to point the finger at who is really responsible for this mess- how about pointing in the direction of the “fab 5″!
Dr. Kerr did not create this mess. As an administrator, it is his job to consult, analyze and make recommendations to the board as to what is the best course of action to take within the school district to give our students the best education feasible. That is the job description of a superintendent and, sometimes the recommendations are popular and sometimes not- in the case of Elderton- not a popular decision. But such is life. Dr. Kerr had the background and many years of experience as a superintendent to make decisions that were in the best interest of the district- unfortunately, we have school board members who felt they knew more than Kerr and beat him up every chance they could. Dr. Kerr did not turn his back on this district- he merely saw the hand-writing on the wall. Once his contract was up, this current board of 5 would not have renewed it- as we have seen with many other administrators who left the ASD. The motto of the board is this: either you agree with us and do things our way, or you’re gone. It will be interesting to see how Dr. Chapp deals with this- but considering the salary and other perks he was given with only 4 years of experience, I would venture a good guess that he will be a really good “yes” man.
During Dr. Kerr’s reign, did you see school taxes increase? Nope. So as a taxpayer I’m not sure what you’re complaining about other than you lost your “community school” for a year. If anyone should complain now, it’s the majority taxpayers in this district as we watch renovations begin on a school that will house few students and graduate a class of 29.
What I think would be best for the people of Elderton to do is just simply state “we don’t care what it cost to re-open EHS or renovate it- we want our school reopened. Because at this point, one has to wonder where your heads are in looking at the fiscal irresponsibility of this fiasco. Elderton can say they paid for their school ( back before all schools were merged into the ASD) however, I think you all forget that the costs of maintaining and staffing that school has been the tax revenue of every taxpayer in this district. I’d like to compare my school taxes to yours- I’ll bet there is a vast difference between the two. So no thanks, I don’t want to pay for a school that should not be re-opened. About that oil spill…….just sayin.
By DANBOY, August 25, 2010 @ 11:35 PM
Elderton Parent:
I agree with you totally. When the ole country hick starts rambling nonsense it really gets on my nerves. Keep that at your fingertips!!!
And one other thing Dr. Kerr You Dirty Rat!!!!!!!
I got a flat tire coming home from work and I know it was you fault.