BCCT Thumbs Down on Grandview Basketball Court
■ To Morrisville school Superintendent Bill Ferrara, who told parents clamoring for the return of recently removed basketball hoops to take their complaint to city hall. The backboards were removed from Grandview Elementary school when the parking lot was paved, and Ferrara said they’re not coming back. It’s not his job, he said, to provide recreation for the community.
33 comments:
wow awesome!!!!!
I think the reporter for the Courier should have paid a little closer attention to what was really said instead of talking through the entire meeting to the person next to her. This is just another example of remarks being blown out of proportion! I get that the kids want hoops but also understand that there are bigger issues facing our district! Have some patience people! Sheesh!
Why should we have patience? The track record of transparency, understanding, and responsiveness is so good?
I'm not on the BCCT Editorial Board, and sometimes I can't understand how it decides these Thumbs Ups and Downs because they seem all over the map. But I can't say Mr. Ferrara or the Board deserves kudos for the way they handled this one from the start.
My feeling is that if Mr. Ferrara (or the Board) had said what he said about the Basketball Court in June before the Board voted to spend the $143,491 on the paving project, people might not have been overjoyed, but maybe they would have swallowed it a little better.
This has been a consistent problem for many years on many issues. I attribute a good bit of recent improvements to it being an election year. I believe sustained public scrutiny and feedback has had an overall positive impact. I also believe it shouldn't have to be so difficult to affect positive change, but it is what it is.
Mr. Ferrara was rude and disrespectful to the public when the topic was brought up
The hackles ere up, weren't they? He made it seem like he's doing everybody a favor by not calling the cops and ticketing every kid who sets foot or scooter on school property.Thumbs Down deserved, but the Board shares it too, maybe even more for their major part in it.
"I think the reporter for the Courier should have paid a little closer attention to what was really said instead of talking through the entire meeting to the person next to her. This is just another example of remarks being blown out of proportion! I get that the kids want hoops but also understand that there are bigger issues facing our district! Have some patience people! Sheesh!"
This is pretty funny. She is a reporter. She records the meeting. She didn't get anything wrong. I don't agree that its an example of things getting blown out of proportion. It's a perfect example of what's wrong with the bigger picture. The board made a bad decision. They should (but won't) just be professional and make it right. I understand they were trying to less expensively make more parking, but it was the board who was not looking at the big picture of what they were doing, just business as usual. They consistently do not think of the kids first and this situation gets to the heart of that. It also was just what some in the community needed to see that this is a symptom of a much bigger problem within the school district.
WOW,
I guess we can add another title to former gym teacher Bill Ferrara's resume.
Shill for the Morrisville School Board
Seems to me the staff that park in the new parking lot appreciate the space.
...and the reporter thought she was at a school board meeting! Close attention really was paid there, huh?
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem!
Explain how you are part of the solution.
It's a little lost on me.
I didn't really want to spend $143,491+ on great parking for teachers and staff. Is that wrong of me?
I was looking more for significant safety and traffic flow improvements.
I'm looking for board members that have the sense and skills to know that they should tell the public about (and coherently explain the reasons for) things like this BEFORE they do them, not after.
Also, if you want to nit-pick the reporter, realize that a good, dedicated investigative reporter could have had many a journalistic field day with this board.
Seems to me the staff that park in the parking lot are hoping they aren't involved at all because they are all afraid of getting canned. I would like to leave them out of the discussion because they are between a rock and a hard place. LOL I used to want to be a Morrisville School District teacher.
I spoke with Councilman Rivella today who was disappointed that the school district tried to tie the borough into the dismantling of the basketball court at Grandview School. I was reminded that the borough has no authority over the school grounds. On a positive note, today Mr. Rivella made sure that the borough installed new nets at the basketball courts in Williamson Park. Realizing that Williamson Park is not in the 4th ward and is about a half mile away, he hopes this helps everyone enjoy using the courts.
Thank you Dave and for those who actually give a dam about the kids in this district.
Thank you for talking to Councilman Rivella and for his efforts on the Williamson park nets.
I was at the Super meeting the other night. Correct me if I'm wrong (anyone else who was there), but I remember Mr. Ferrara first saying that he spoke to Mayor Rita Ledger and that she said the School District isn't responsible for providing recreation. Then when asked about it minutes later, he said that Mayor Ledger agreed with his concept that the School District isn't responsible for providing recreation.
My points are 1) that Ferrara talked to the Mayor, not Borough Council, and 2) it started out seeming like the Mayor pitched the "District isn't responsible for recreation" angle first, but it ended up sounding like Ferrara did the pitching.
Ask Laurie Ruffing if she actually said, as Marlys Mihok claimed in public, that she was adamant about not restoring the b-ball hoops. Reliable sources say Ruffing denies it. Someone's lying. The smart money is on Mihok.
ummm...she said whatever Jane Burger told her to say.
The mayor position has no teeth. She shouldn't be speaking for the borough or the school district.
To me it sounds like the stay on track/stay on course people made some phone calls to get their people to the meeting but all they could come up with was Rita. Isn't the mayor supposed to be the PR person for the borough? Its supposed to be GOOD PR, not BAD PR. Geezzz ya think she could at least get that right. Sorry I couldn't help myself, it frustrates me.
Rita loves to champion one bad idea after another. This is just another case of this happening. She has a history of it, after all she was the person who brought the proposed strip club to the Stockham bldg, gave us the fireworks store, sold the Mill Pond and is as we speak hoping/waiting for council to change after the next election to bring hudd housing apts into the upper floors of the stockham bldg. The downstairs dismantled laundry isn't just sitting there for storage, they are patiently waiting. This is just another in a long line of bad PR brought on by Rita Ledger.
Thanks Dave.
I hear you.
Clarification: Rita Ledger wasn't at the Super meeting on 9/14 that led to the Thumbs Down.
At the Super meeting, Ferrara said that he had spoken to Ledger, so he must have spoken to her in advance of the meeting. But she wasn't there.
Many times i feel sorry for Ferara b/c he has to defend the board who sets the tone, but he's on board all the way with this one, so own it and own the Thumbs Down but give a peice to the board too they earned it.
Certainly not a banner week for Ferrara or Morrisville in the press, TV, etc.
A Bulldog football victory tonight would help ease the sting.
Go Bulldogs!!!!!!!
seems like angryyet is the one who's the most accurate here. if you dont stop these school board nitwits you deserve all you get.
Unfortunately, no Bulldog victory tonight:
Springfield 39
Morrisville 16
Football: Springfield 39, Morrisville 16
Morrisville struggles early and falls to Springfield
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Posted: Friday, September 16, 2011 9:44 pm | Updated: 1:36 am, Sat Sep 17, 2011.
By Jean-Paul Lautenschlager
Correspondent | 0 comments
Three losses minus one coach doesn’t calculate into the start Bill Quill desired.
The Morrisville football coach knew the 2011 fall campaign would be a struggle, but he didn’t plan to drop his first three contests and have his defensive coordinator resign.
After Friday’s 39-16 loss to Springfield at Robert Morris Field, Quill and the Bulldogs are ready to start calculating a new equation.
“I knew it was going to be a challenge. These first three games are the toughest games we’re going to have all year,” said Quill, who took over the reins late last spring. “You see a little bit of good things in our first three games.”
It was a controversial week for Morrisville. A member of the coaching staff was accused of putting a bounty on an opposing player during last week’s contest against New Hope-Solebury. The allegations led to his resignation last Wednesday.
Failing to rebound Friday, Morrisville was shut out by the Spartans in the first half. Springfield scored on their first three drives, including a run of 68 yards and two passes of 61 and 24, respectively.
The Spartans also scooped up a fumble for a score. They lit up the scoreboard for 39 points in the first half and scored 24 points on five downs.
“I think we need to hit the weight room and work harder in practice,” said running back Raimy Valdez, who carried 10 times for 22 yards.
The Bulldogs didn’t quit. They outscored their opponents 16-0 in the second half. Senior Eric Wilcox started the season at quarterback, but moved to running back. He got Morrisville on the board with a 13-yard run and finished with 20 carries for 118 yards.
“Our kids didn’t quit. Our goal coming out at halftime was to win the second half,” Quill said.
Elighar Rankins moved from running back to quarterback last week. He welcomed the move and completed two of five passes for 71 yards, including a 61-yard strike to Gary Boyd.
“We’ve made many changes in the last few weeks,” Quill said.
The positives prompted Quill to juggle the positions last week. After Friday’s second half, he may have found the correct alignment. Morrisville gained 137 yards on the ground and 66 through the air. The bulk came after halftime.
“We just need to work harder. The hard part is done,” said junior Kevin Munoz, who caught a two-point conversion. “We can win every game coming up now. We’re a good squad.”
The Bulldogs committed 10 penalties for 95 yards and lost two fumbles. Despite the lopsided score, they didn’t give up. Quill believes he has the correct players in place to start adding to the win column.
“We can win if we put our minds to it,” Munoz said.
Our kids are resilient and have great pride in their district despite the issues they are faced with from a corrupt board to the administration who are just a bunch of lackies and yes men/women. its time we had some people on the board who actually put the kids first while still working within the budgets
Ever notice how teachers + staff are rarely sucked into the swirl of negativity?
On the whole they're great, working really hard + doing their best every day for the kids despite increasing burdens, challenges + obstacles.
They're among the least of the problems and the best of the solutions.
I agree. Our daughter's in 4th grade now, and we've had nothing but good teacher and staff experiences so far.
Patience with this board will get you absolutely nowhere.If the past has taught us anything,it's that you must continue to speak up for what you want or you will see it simply pushed aside permanently. I say keep the pressure on! The fact that the hoops issue isn't even on the plate right now, speaks volumes.Yes, there are other important issues, but the hoops issue is equally as important and affects and concerns many.Wouldn't it be nice to put the children first for a change? Someone should step up and give the kids back what was unfairly taken away from them.
Yes! Pretending, cozying up to proven nasty liars, working a two-faced middle behind the scenes to get a few scraps is no way to go about things in the long haul.
Regime change is preferred, required, overdue.
The biggest buttload of gumdrop goodness anyone could deliver is to send Marlys Mihok back to ordinary citizen status with her 3 podium minutes timed by her own ultra-fast timer.
Zoning in on the negative:viewing all kids as potential delinquents based on the few; obliterating a donated, low cost recreational asset peacefully and respectfully enjoyed by many......with no public input
Lets eagerly shut-up and await the behind the scenes resolution. What will be the preferred means of communication? Sly glances or smoke signals?
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