MORRISVILLE SCHOOLSParents, teens upset over basketball court removal
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 5:00 am | Updated: 9:16 am, Wed Aug 24, 2011.
When Nicholas Castillo wasn’t busy with school work, he and his teenage friends would go to the Grandview Elementary court to play basketball.
Not anymore.
District officials will not reinstall the basketball court, which was removed at the principal’s request during a repaving project.
Parents and teenagers are extremely upset about the decision, made by the school board and administration, without public input. The issue is expected to be discussed at today’s school board meeting.
“Since the taxpayers were not included in the $100,000-plus design and expense approval for the Grandview paving project, the basketball courts were taken out of the plan and away from the kids without consideration as to the impact it would have,” said Wanda Kartal, a district parent and school board candidate.
School director Marlys Mihok, an incumbent in the fall school board race, said that the court was donated and, unfortunately, the donor did not provide maintenance money. She added that hopefully the Morrisville Opportunity Educational Foundation will help raise money for a new location for the court. The foundation is a nonprofit group that raises money to provide Morrisville students opportunities beyond the curriculum.
School officials said Principal Laurie Ruffing requested the basketball court not be reinstalled because about six vehicles belonging to faculty and staff had been damaged by basketball players.
Nicholas, 16, said running and dribbling the ball were getting difficult on the bumpy pavement. So when he saw the improvements going on, he assumed the court would be erected again and he and his friends would play on a smooth surface. He was disappointed when he found out that wasn’t the case, so he and a handful of his friends asked the board at last week’s work session to reconsider.
Nicholas said he and his friends used the court almost every day. During school, he estimates he plays three days a week. Since the removal of the court, he’s been playing at Williamson Park or his backyard, but he said it’s not the same.
The court at Grandview is the only one in Morrisville that has baskets at the regulation height of 10 feet, and both rims have nets, said Nicholas, who lives about five blocks from the school.
10 comments:
Flowers, a basketball court. Mihok has suggested spending MOEF money on both of these. Do you think these are good uses of MOEF money? Personally, I think buying flowers with MOEF money is ridiculous. I'm unsure on the basketball court. Thoughts? My concern is that mentioning the possibility of using MOEF money becomes a convenient excuse for not doing something that should have been a no-brainer to do in the first place.
Leave it to Marlys to be ungrateful for a gift. When Oprah gives her a new car, will Marlys sell it because there's no gas provided too? What a crock of BS these people are. Step up to the plate and take care of the kids. Oh, that's right. Marlys is not responsible for any children. Why can't a safer place be provided for the teacher's cars? Is that provided for in the well drawn parking lot specification drawing?
JUST COOPRATE!
JUST COOPERATE TOO WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)
"I will never, never, ever be responsible for any child because I am a school board member."
- Marlys Mihok
Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 9:27 a.m.
"As a Morrisville school board member and a candidate for re-election, I am asking our citizens to vote on May 17 for our Stay On Course candidates: Bill Hellmann, Al Radosti, Yvonne Ruthrauff, Steve Worob, Alina Marone and myself, Marlys Mihok.
I am proud to be part of the Morrisville school board and its secretary. As a unified board, we are committed to sound fiscal management and supporting the professional administrators, teachers and staff. As a board, we are committed to providing the best possible education for our students.
"Stay On Course" is more than a campaign slogan on signs or a billboard. It represents what we want the future to be. It represents a record of accomplishment on the part of our school board and what the board has done in spite of a very bad economy and cutbacks in state funding. It is important that we continue with the same level of sound management and fiscal responsibility that has been our guide over the past four years.
Like others on the school board, I have made a commitment to devote my time and energy to the business of the school district and the taxpayers of Morrisville. I am proud to be part of a board that has decreased school taxes two years in a row and did not raise taxes last year and will not raise taxes this year. This is a rare record in Bucks County.
WE HAVE MADE A PROMISE TO CONTINUE FINDING SOLUTIONS TO HIGHER COSTS AND DECREASED REVENUE AND WE PROMISE TO KEEP STUDENTS AND TAXPAYERS INCLUDED IN OUR DECISION MAKING.
On May 17 - "Stay On Course."
Marlys Mihok
Morrisville
"I will never, never, ever be responsible for any child because I am a school board member."
- Marlys Mihok
Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 9:27 a.m.
Did you ever consider that she may have been lying?
I really commend these kids, who are the most directly effected by this boards' inept and thoughtless decisions, for showing up and speaking out on what matters to them. Very well done!
Great job kids!
A real-world Civics Lesson too that there are inept and thoughtless decisions being made by people holding power over your lives who don't necessarily have your best interests at heart.
Stand up for what you believe in and speak truth to power. Don't be afraid, they're really like Oz once you throw open the curtain: all bluster.
Thank god they interviewed a local kid!
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