Your place for no answers, or plenty of answers, depending on your point ot view.
52 comments:
Anonymous
said...
There are plenty of answers, just not the ones some people want to see. And as far as "think of the children," I've been hearing this refrain for years like it's some magical solution or the trump card that settles all arguments. It isn't and it doesn't. Most people understand that children are the future, but parroting this phrase adds nothing and simply makes me want to stop listening to you.
Parroting "think of the seniors" and "taxes taxes taxes" over and over again is different in what ways? Lay your answers on me. My eyes are strong enough.
And to answer, seniors and taxes being used as a sledgehammer is just as bad, but it is no where near as overused as "Think of the Children."
A certain Mr. Conductor summed it up nicely: "Everybody loves their children; it doesn't make you special. : : : John Wayne Gacy loved his children. Yes, he did. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is this constant, mindless yammering in the media, this neurotic fixation that suggests that somehow everything--everything--has to revolve around the lives of children. It's completely out of balance.....And you'd be anxious and depressed too if you had to put up with these pathetic, insecure, yuppie parents who enroll you in college before you've figured out which side of the playpen smells the worst and then fill you with Ritalin to get you in a mood they approve of, and drag you all over town in search of empty, meaningless structure: Little League, Cub Scouts, swimming, soccer, karate, piano, bagpipes, watercolors, witchcraft, glass blowing, and dildo practice. It's absurd. : : : They even have "play dates", for Christ sake! Playing is now done by appointment! But it's true. A lot of these striving, and parents are burning their kids out on structure. I think what every child needs and ought to have every day is two hours of daydreaming. Plain old daydreaming.
Turn off the internet, the CD-ROMS, and the computer games and let them stare at a tree for a couple of hours. Every now and then they actually come up with one of their own ideas. You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the f&%k alone.
So, in summary, what have you brought to the table? A George Carlin riff and some digs at "think of the children". Got it. Thank you for your input. The Committee will take it under consideration. Got anything else?
The welfare of children does not trump all other values and principles. When we "think of the children," we need to think about the society they are going to grow up in as well.
That would be a slight over reaction to reality. The solution is quite simple. Elections are held for people to earn the right to make tough decisions based on the best interests of education and community. The sad state of Morrisville, is that those two things are now separate. Hence the craptown we have become. Value was never assigned to reading and writing. Instead, the loud obnoxious under educated vocal majority.
I like the majority on the school board now. It is tenuous though and needs to expand by at least 2 more.Stout and Worob need to go. Buckman needs to set out the next few plays.I don't have a problem with Dewilde on the board.
I agree. Steps are being made in the normal direction that indicates Morrisville just may be heading in the direction of that the rest of normalville america has been doing for umpteen years.
No, not really, but think about that for a moment. Unless we get our act together as a community, all we do is open the door for the same old thinking that got us in this mess to put us deeper into the doo-doo. While we have reasonable people in charge ready to do serious talking and deciding, let's get this as fixed as possible.
Possible high school closing worries Bristol residents Posted: Sunday, November 18, 2012 5:55 am | Updated: 7:12 am, Sun Nov 18, 2012.
By ANTHONY DIMATTIA STAFF WRITER | 0 comments
Bristol Borough High School will open again in September, the school board president promised.
But after that, who knows.
“The school will definitely be open next year. We have no intention of closing the high school next year,” assured board President Ralph DiGuiseppe III at a packed board meeting Thursday night.
Yet he cautioned that changes need to be made to keep the quality of education in the borough at a high standard, and it needs to happen quickly.
The district is struggling financially, and school officials have traveled to Harrisburg to meet with state Department of Education heads to discuss the district’s financial survival.
The overwhelming fear of residents at the meeting was that years of tradition would erode if the high school is closed.
“We’re going to miss traditions like the football team in Bristol. We need to find the way to keep that school open,” said one Bristol woman.
DiGuiseppe assured everyone that no decision regarding the school has been made.
“The school will definitely be open next September, but there’s going to be a lot of changes made,” he said.
Shipping students outside the district was brought up by one Bristol parent, and DiGuiseppe was quick to point out the possibility and the advantage to the borough and its students.
If a larger district were able to absorb the roughly 350 Bristol high school students, the borough could negotiate a lower out-of-district rate, saving the borough additional education costs. The borough could not be charged anything higher than the out-of-district tuition, which averages $12,000 per student, according to DiGuiseppe. This year, Bristol’s cost per pupil is $15,221 at the elementary level and $19,458 at the secondary level.
“Every other school district in Bucks County expands multiple municipalities. They have a larger population which increases the tax base and student body population and, therefore, provides, not a better education, but more of an education,” he said.
Other than Bristol and Morrisville Borough, only three municipalities have school districts that don’t extend beyond their borders. They are financially stable New Hope plus Bensalem and Bristol Township, each of which have roughly 7,000 students.
DiGuiseppe emphasized Bristol’s struggles to provide the same quality education for its students compared to larger districts in the county.
“Because of our budget constraints, we’re limited to not offering a lot of AP classes, extra curriculum or drama classes, there’s a whole list,” he said.
Bristol offers only one AP course.
In contrast, Pennsbury offers 19 AP courses, Neshaminy 13, Bristol Township 10 and Bensalem 14. In Lower Bucks, Council Rock offers the most with 21, and Centennial with 17.
“Unfortunately there’s been some bad decisions made in the past. There’s been a lot of changes in state education and charter schools and insurance costs and pension and it’s just the perfect snowball,” he said.
State Rep. John Galloway, D-140, said earlier this month that Bristol officials are looking into their options.
“Gov. (Tom) Corbett is cutting education state funding, he’s not infusing it,’’ he said. “He’s about consolidating. Bristol ... knows the reality they are standing on, and what they are dealing with.”
These BCCT articles just keep churning up the same stuff with no new information. No one in any position of power or authority like Gov., PDE or Legislature is offering to do anything meaningful. So what gives, just lame journalism?
We and Bristol on the ropes and Pauly D racks up taxpayer paid tuition like it's going out of style. To possibly become something other than the business manager. Does this make sense to anyone, Pauly D and Ferrara excluded?
By Kevin Cooney Staff writer | Posted: Monday, November 19, 2012 5:00 am
The annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry between Bristol and Morrisville has been put on hold by the Warriors’ trip to the PIAA playoffs.
The two sides have postponed their annual Turkey Day clash — which is also a Bicentennial Athletic League contest between the two — until further notice depending on when the Warriors’ current run in the PIAA Class A tournament comes to a conclusion.
Bristol — which beat Communications Tech 27-24 on Friday night — is scheduled to take on District 11 champion Williams Valley on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Souderton High School.
“Right now, we’re going to push it back a week,” Bristol athletic director Greg Pinelli said in a call late Sunday night. “And we’ll push it back on a week-to-week basis depending on what happens.”
A call to Morrisville athletic director John Hubiak was unsuccessful Sunday night.
The postponement was one of three options that could have been on the table for Bristol and Morrisville. One was potentially playing two games in three days — an option that has been executed by bigger schools such as Pennridge, which will play both Quakertown on Thanksgiving and Spring-Ford in the District One Class AAAA semifinals Saturday. Realistically, it is unlikely that a Class A school with its smaller numbers could pull off such a feat.
“It was a safety issue (to not play both),” Pinelli said.
The other would have been an outright cancellation of the game, which would have created an odd circumstance because it involves Bicentennial Athletic League rivals.
The two teams have met every year on Thanksgiving since 1928 with the exception of 2001 when the Bulldogs disbanded their football team for the season. Bristol leads the series 45-35-3, having won the past 12 games.
Anyone who voted for Debbie Smith, Todd Sandford and/or Eileen Dreisbach, you should know that all three voted NO to the 2013 borough budget that called for no tax increase (again) and actually decreased everyone's trash bills by another $20.
These people are not working for you, they are working for a Jane Burger agenda. Just thought you should know, although you should have figured this out by watching their negative behavior at council meetings because they make it very clear.
Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:00 am | Updated: 7:38 am, Tue Nov 20, 2012.
0 comments
We don’t really need more examples of how broken the legislative process is and how badly state government reform is needed. But we simply can’t ignore the obvious. And what recently happened to a special education bill that was long-in-the-works and sorely needed is yet another example of Harrisburg’s obvious flaws.
We refer to House Bill 704. It was sponsored by Bucks County state Rep. Bernie O’Neill, R-29, who knows a little something about special education having been a special-ed teacher for many years.
The measure, which had bipartisan support and an impressive 56 co-sponsors, would require a 12-member commission to develop a new funding formula and establish three categories for students receiving special education funding: from least to most intensive services. The idea is to more appropriately — and fairly — assist districts in meeting state mandates regarding special education, while assuring that students and taxpayers are not overlooked in the process.
O’Neill called it a “matter of fairness. Fairness to our kids, fairness to our school districts and fairness to our taxpayers.” A companion measure already had been approved by the state Senate, 46-1. Unfortunately, the House version became a vehicle to amend laws on an entirely different issue — charter schools: how they operate and how they’re funded.
Those are big issues that deserve lawmakers’ time and attention. Instead, legislative leaders apparently with Gov. Corbett’s assistance piggybacked the charter school measures onto O’Neill’s bill. The controversial amendments then torpedoed support for the bill, which in its original form had nothing to do with charter schools. So disparate were the measures’ objectives that O’Neill ended up voting against his own bill.
“Six years of work went down the drain,” said O’Neill, who accused the governor of using the bill to broker “backroom deals.” A spokesman for the governor denied the accusation. The chairman of the House Education Committee, Bucks County’s Paul Clymer, pointed a finger at “leadership” deciding “it would be a good time to put in a reform package for cyber and charter schools.”
We don’t disagree. Several issues surrounding charter schools need attention; how they’re funded chief among them.
But these are complicated and highly sensitive issues. Any changes that might result from legislative action would have significant impact on school districts and charter schools alike. It’s why the issues should be debated on their own.
Ensuring that critical issues are not piggybacked into law — as charter school reform almost was — requires state government reform. It’s widely known that the law-making process in Harrisburg is too susceptible to tampering by legislative leaders — which is the way leaders want it. What’s needed is a rebellion. O’Neill and other lawmakers who are — or ought to be — tired of seeing their hard work go nowhere need to step up for themselves and the citizens they represent.
Are we going to get the assinine annual Mayor Ledger budget veto yet again? Followed by a special council meeting dedicated to her 2-yr-old child inspired irrational questions and statements, followed by passage of the budget?
Anything is possible. Even working together for a better Morrisville. But Ledger, Burger & friends can't seem to find their way past the mud they continually sling to see that working for the community instead of against it is even an option. Why people continue to vote for these obstructionists is beyond me.
I would be more surprised if Ledger didn't veto the budget and cost all of us more money to hold a special meeting that ends with the budget being passed without her, just like last year.
The people Burger puppets & the people who vote for them can't even see that they are pawns in Jane Burger's vendetta against anyone positively moving Morrisville forward because she blames them for taking away her "big fish in a little pond" status.
There is no length these people will not go to in following Burger even if it means sacrificing what's best for the town over and over again. I really don't get it. They have opportunities to do such good, yet decide not the work with the others to improve Morrisville. Sad...
Let's see,... citizens of the ville elected Driesback, Burger, Worob, Stoudt, Smith, Radosti...Do we have a thing for finding the least capable among us and putting them in charge? We are the poster child for that old adage about the inmates running the asylum. I'm at a further loss as to how these folks show their faces in public after what they've said and done. Have they no shame whatsoever?
From my sofa, I watched the November borough council meeting. At that meeting,an older woman came to speak at public comment, blaming council for the hurricane and for the tree that fell on her property. (I'm thinking it was a street tree)
Shortly after, a man spoke during public comment. The man is a neighbor of the older woman & spoke on her behalf. He spoke about the winds that travel across the football field & that having so many mature trees is a ticking time-bomb, that council was not being responsible.
Both of these people relayed that the borough should get rid of the street trees throughout the borough, even if they are healthy, mature trees. (I would love to know if they would like to raise taxes to accomplish this.)
The reason I'm bringing this up is because later I was told that while the woman spoke, the man was videotaping her & the councilpeople who spoke on the matter. Then, when the man got up to speak, he handed the camera to...Jane Burger, who videotaped him while he spoke. Oh Jane, always plotting & manipulating. Tells me everything I need to know about these people.
I live here because I like trees, especially big ones, and I want to live amongst them. If you don't want trees, move to the city. Don't react to a once in a blue moon event and ruin the beautiful streetscape for everyone.
I don't think Jane is as incapable as her cronies, but WTF is with her need to meddle and plot? Can't she just retire and enjoy the rest of her existence? Jane, I'm talking to you here.. Just step away from the local politics and leave it to others. You had your turn and it's time to fade into the sunset.
I heard those people speak too. The woman said that she had been going to the borough office for like 7 years complaining that she wanted the tree gone even though there is nothing wrong with it. She said she had lived there for like 40 years. I wonder if she would have complained if the borough had taken down that tree when she was a younger woman. Mr. Seward told her that he had spoken to her before & told her that he had never denied any resident who wanted to take down a street tree in front of their property.
Even though she was blaming council, it looked to me as though nobody on council even knew who this woman was besides Debbie Smith who said something about "when we spoke". This tells me that she & the woman spoke previously but Debbie Smith didn't relay it to the rest of council. I'm not surprised.
The borough cannot possibly be expected to take down every street tree. Seems like such a bizarre demand.
I thought the Borough did a great job cleaning up after the storm. Kudos to all of the workers. The trees that fell on my property are my responsibility, not the Borough's. I am glad that Asplundh didn't come in and do their usual butchery. They leave a nightmare of mangled limbs behind when they're done. Trees take a long time to grow large. Please consider this before removing any healthy trees. Once you cut them down, it will take at least one, and maybe several generations, before any facsimile can grow back. Save the trees.
The people who follow Jane Burger only know what Jane is telling them. They don't bother or care to find out anything else or even if the information they receive from her is correct. There are people who actually think she is knowledgeable & working for the good of the community, not that she likes to hear herself talk, makes it up as she goes along, and is only working for herself.
If this older woman has been going to the borough office about this tree for 7 years, then Jane was on council for 4 of those years. She should also be pissed at Jane, but there was Jane, plotting with this man & woman to come to this meeting to bash council & being so obvious that she even held the camera for them.
These people need to live by the Republican philosophy they support in Jane Burger and Debby Smith. They need to pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and take personal responsibility rather than sitting around whining and waiting for a government bailout. The Great Ronald Regan said that government isn't the solution to the problem; government is the problem. Get with the program, TREELOADERS!
Do you like having an ambulance squad in Morrisville Borough? Planning on attending the Santa Paws event? Please consider dropping off a donation to the Morrisville Ambulance Squad. These Morrisville heroes daily save the lives of the people of Morrisville Borough. Haven't donated to this organization in a while? Perhaps never? Please do. Do you owe them money? PAY IT! Their services are not free. They operate by the money they receive so every penny helps.
Pa. told to re-evaluate charter school test scores
KATHY MATHESON , The Associated Press
Posted: Thursday, November 22, 2012, 2:22 PM
PHILADELPHIA - Federal education officials have denied Pennsylvania's request to evaluate charter school achievement using more lenient criteria, saying they must be assessed by the same standard as traditional schools.
The rejection means Pennsylvania cannot substitute a less stringent method for measuring "adequate yearly progress," the federal benchmark known as AYP. Critics said the formula artificially inflated charter schools' performance for political reasons.
"I cannot approve this ... because it's not aligned with the statute and regulations," U.S. Assistant Education Secretary Deborah Delisle wrote in a letter released by the state Wednesday.
The issue surfaced in September when Pennsylvania's latest standardized test scores were reported. For the first time , and without approval from federal officials , state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis treated charter schools as districts, not individual schools.
Schools must hit certain targets at every tested grade level to make AYP. But for a district to meet the benchmark, it needs only to hit targets in one of three grade spans: grades 3-5, 4-6 or 9-12.
Under Pennsylvania law, every charter school is considered its own district. So by using the grade span methodology, about 59 percent of charters made AYP , a figure that supporters touted, comparing it with the 50 percent of traditional schools that hit the target.
Yet only 37 percent of charters would have made AYP under the individual school method. Delisle ordered Pennsylvania to re-evaluate charter schools' AYP status using that standard by the end of the fall semester.
She noted that Pennsylvania can assess charters under the district method but only in addition to the school method.
The state will now assess charters under both standards, according to a Wednesday statement from Pennsylvania Education Department spokesman Tim Eller.
Previously, Eller had argued that the grade span calculation leveled the playing field for charters, which are publicly funded but operate independently of school districts.
And while acknowledging that standard can mask academic problems, Eller has said school districts have taken advantage of the methodology for years. The grade span calculation enabled 61 percent of districts to make AYP in 2011-12, while only 22 percent would have made AYP without it, Eller said.
Opponents say parents are much more interested in the performance of individual schools than districts as a whole.
AYP is a key component of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools that fail to make AYP receive additional oversight and, eventually, could end up with new staffs or be shut down.
MorrisvilleCops enter apartment during fire say they found pot-growing operation
Jared Giersch is facing drug charges after police found a pot growing operation in his closet after entering his apartment to evacuate it during a fire.
Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 1:45 pm | Updated: 6:49 pm, Tue Nov 27, 2012.
By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer | 0 comments
Posted on November 27, 2012
by Jo Ciavaglia
When Morrisville police entered an apartment in a burning building, they expected to find a person. Instead, they say they stumbled on a suspected marijuana growing operation inside a bedroom closet.
The 24-year-old tenant faces drug charges.
The incident occurred just before midnight Saturday, when a fire was reported at the Orchard View apartments in the 400 block of Plaza Boulevard. As part of their usual procedure, police and firefighters evacuated residents of the impacted apartments – units 71 through 74, according to police.
When police tried to evacuate apartment 72, no one answered. When maintenance workers opened the door to let police and emergency workers into the one-bedroom apartment to check for people, the apartment was filled with smoke.
Police said they heard a shower running, but the bathroom and the shower were empty. While checking the rest of the apartment, police discovered an alleged marijuana growing room in the master bedroom closet, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The room contained marijuana plants, plus the heat and artificial light needed to promote growth and a fan system for assisting in the pollination process, police said. The entire room had a strong odor of marijuana, police added.
Police secured the apartment and obtained a search warrant.
Tenant Jared Gierisch -- who told police he was in New Jersey at the time of the fire -- was arrested and arraigned Monday morning before Morrisville District Judge Michael Burns on charges of felony manufacture, delivery or possession with intent with manufacture or deliver, and related misdemeanor charges. He was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail.
In Plaza Blvd. Apartments?!?!? You don't say!!??!! Who would ever think crime would happen there. Why, that's almost like crime happening at the seven-eleven at Bridge and Pennsylvania!!! Unheard Of!!!
52 comments:
There are plenty of answers, just not the ones some people want to see. And as far as "think of the children," I've been hearing this refrain for years like it's some magical solution or the trump card that settles all arguments. It isn't and it doesn't. Most people understand that children are the future, but parroting this phrase adds nothing and simply makes me want to stop listening to you.
Parroting "think of the seniors" and "taxes taxes taxes" over and over again is different in what ways? Lay your answers on me. My eyes are strong enough.
Highly doubtful they have anything worthwhile to contribute.
Nice strawman you set up there.
Color me surprised.
And to answer, seniors and taxes being used as a sledgehammer is just as bad, but it is no where near as overused as "Think of the Children."
A certain Mr. Conductor summed it up nicely: "Everybody loves their children; it doesn't make you
special. : : : John Wayne Gacy loved his children. Yes, he did. That's not
what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is this constant, mindless
yammering in the media, this neurotic fixation that suggests that somehow
everything--everything--has to revolve around the lives of children. It's
completely out of balance.....And you'd be anxious and depressed too if you had to put up with these
pathetic, insecure, yuppie parents who enroll you in college before you've
figured out which side of the playpen smells the worst and then fill you
with Ritalin to get you in a mood they approve of, and drag you all over
town in search of empty, meaningless structure: Little League, Cub Scouts,
swimming, soccer, karate, piano, bagpipes, watercolors, witchcraft, glass
blowing, and dildo practice. It's absurd. : : : They even have "play dates",
for Christ sake! Playing is now done by appointment! But it's true. A lot of
these striving, and parents are burning their kids out on structure. I think
what every child needs and ought to have every day is two hours of
daydreaming. Plain old daydreaming.
Turn off the internet, the CD-ROMS, and the computer games and let them
stare at a tree for a couple of hours. Every now and then they actually come
up with one of their own ideas. You want to know how to help your kids?
Leave them the f&%k alone.
email this George Carlin material to dmiller@mv.org
problems solved.
Bitter much? Please assure us that you didn't reproduce.
Insults, the last refuge of small minds.
So, in summary, what have you brought to the table? A George Carlin riff and some digs at "think of the children". Got it. Thank you for your input. The Committee will take it under consideration. Got anything else?
did you really say dildo practice. perhaps you need a little of your own good lord
The welfare of children does not trump all other values and principles. When we "think of the children," we need to think about the society they are going to grow up in as well.
" perhaps you need a little of your own good lord"
Somehow I doubt my good lord needs this.
Perhaps you missed the intro where the submitter attributes this to Mr. Conductor, aka George "7 dirty words" Carlin.
Meh, this is a blog. As the saying sarcastically goes, "The Internet...Serious Business."
In other words, "Lighten up Francis."
The solution is to massively and drastically change our entire society.
That would be a slight over reaction to reality. The solution is quite simple. Elections are held for people to earn the right to make tough decisions based on the best interests of education and community. The sad state of Morrisville, is that those two things are now separate. Hence the craptown we have become. Value was never assigned to reading and writing. Instead, the loud obnoxious under educated vocal majority.
I like the majority on the school board now. It is tenuous though and needs to expand by at least 2 more.Stout and Worob need to go. Buckman needs to set out the next few plays.I don't have a problem with Dewilde on the board.
I agree. Steps are being made in the normal direction that indicates Morrisville just may be heading in the direction of that the rest of normalville america has been doing for umpteen years.
Which is NOT shooting themselves in the foot.
Stay the Course 2013! Bring them all back.
No, not really, but think about that for a moment. Unless we get our act together as a community, all we do is open the door for the same old thinking that got us in this mess to put us deeper into the doo-doo. While we have reasonable people in charge ready to do serious talking and deciding, let's get this as fixed as possible.
...fixed as soon as possible
Possible high school closing worries Bristol residents
Posted: Sunday, November 18, 2012 5:55 am | Updated: 7:12 am, Sun Nov 18, 2012.
By ANTHONY DIMATTIA STAFF WRITER | 0 comments
Bristol Borough High School will open again in September, the school board president promised.
But after that, who knows.
“The school will definitely be open next year. We have no intention of closing the high school next year,” assured board President Ralph DiGuiseppe III at a packed board meeting Thursday night.
Yet he cautioned that changes need to be made to keep the quality of education in the borough at a high standard, and it needs to happen quickly.
The district is struggling financially, and school officials have traveled to Harrisburg to meet with state Department of Education heads to discuss the district’s financial survival.
The overwhelming fear of residents at the meeting was that years of tradition would erode if the high school is closed.
“We’re going to miss traditions like the football team in Bristol. We need to find the way to keep that school open,” said one Bristol woman.
DiGuiseppe assured everyone that no decision regarding the school has been made.
“The school will definitely be open next September, but there’s going to be a lot of changes made,” he said.
Shipping students outside the district was brought up by one Bristol parent, and DiGuiseppe was quick to point out the possibility and the advantage to the borough and its students.
If a larger district were able to absorb the roughly 350 Bristol high school students, the borough could negotiate a lower out-of-district rate, saving the borough additional education costs. The borough could not be charged anything higher than the out-of-district tuition, which averages $12,000 per student, according to DiGuiseppe. This year, Bristol’s cost per pupil is $15,221 at the elementary level and $19,458 at the secondary level.
“Every other school district in Bucks County expands multiple municipalities. They have a larger population which increases the tax base and student body population and, therefore, provides, not a better education, but more of an education,” he said.
Other than Bristol and Morrisville Borough, only three municipalities have school districts that don’t extend beyond their borders. They are financially stable New Hope plus Bensalem and Bristol Township, each of which have roughly 7,000 students.
DiGuiseppe emphasized Bristol’s struggles to provide the same quality education for its students compared to larger districts in the county.
“Because of our budget constraints, we’re limited to not offering a lot of AP classes, extra curriculum or drama classes, there’s a whole list,” he said.
Bristol offers only one AP course.
In contrast, Pennsbury offers 19 AP courses, Neshaminy 13, Bristol Township 10 and Bensalem 14. In Lower Bucks, Council Rock offers the most with 21, and Centennial with 17.
“Unfortunately there’s been some bad decisions made in the past. There’s been a lot of changes in state education and charter schools and insurance costs and pension and it’s just the perfect snowball,” he said.
State Rep. John Galloway, D-140, said earlier this month that Bristol officials are looking into their options.
“Gov. (Tom) Corbett is cutting education state funding, he’s not infusing it,’’ he said. “He’s about consolidating. Bristol ... knows the reality they are standing on, and what they are dealing with.”
Thanks for posting. This should do wonders for Bristol's HS enrollment.
These BCCT articles just keep churning up the same stuff with no new information. No one in any position of power or authority like Gov., PDE or Legislature is offering to do anything meaningful. So what gives, just lame journalism?
Yup! Read back and you'll see the same things dredged up, churned around and then buried every few election cycles.
We and Bristol on the ropes and Pauly D racks up taxpayer paid tuition like it's going out of style. To possibly become something other than the business manager. Does this make sense to anyone, Pauly D and Ferrara excluded?
Bristol-Morrisville game postponed
By Kevin Cooney Staff writer | Posted: Monday, November 19, 2012 5:00 am
The annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry between Bristol and Morrisville has been put on hold by the Warriors’ trip to the PIAA playoffs.
The two sides have postponed their annual Turkey Day clash — which is also a Bicentennial Athletic League contest between the two — until further notice depending on when the Warriors’ current run in the PIAA Class A tournament comes to a conclusion.
Bristol — which beat Communications Tech 27-24 on Friday night — is scheduled to take on District 11 champion Williams Valley on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Souderton High School.
“Right now, we’re going to push it back a week,” Bristol athletic director Greg Pinelli said in a call late Sunday night. “And we’ll push it back on a week-to-week basis depending on what happens.”
A call to Morrisville athletic director John Hubiak was unsuccessful Sunday night.
The postponement was one of three options that could have been on the table for Bristol and Morrisville. One was potentially playing two games in three days — an option that has been executed by bigger schools such as Pennridge, which will play both Quakertown on Thanksgiving and Spring-Ford in the District One Class AAAA semifinals Saturday. Realistically, it is unlikely that a Class A school with its smaller numbers could pull off such a feat.
“It was a safety issue (to not play both),” Pinelli said.
The other would have been an outright cancellation of the game, which would have created an odd circumstance because it involves Bicentennial Athletic League rivals.
The two teams have met every year on Thanksgiving since 1928 with the exception of 2001 when the Bulldogs disbanded their football team for the season. Bristol leads the series 45-35-3, having won the past 12 games.
The gameday breakfast is postponed too?
The Game Day breakfast has Nothing to do with the Game itself, it is for the Student Loan Fund so it is still on
Anyone who voted for Debbie Smith, Todd Sandford and/or Eileen Dreisbach, you should know that all three voted NO to the 2013 borough budget that called for no tax increase (again) and actually decreased everyone's trash bills by another $20.
These people are not working for you, they are working for a Jane Burger agenda. Just thought you should know, although you should have figured this out by watching their negative behavior at council meetings because they make it very clear.
What do these clowns want, a tax cut to put us in a hole or just to be pissy and unproductive?
Broken process
Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:00 am | Updated: 7:38 am, Tue Nov 20, 2012.
0 comments
We don’t really need more examples of how broken the legislative process is and how badly state government reform is needed. But we simply can’t ignore the obvious. And what recently happened to a special education bill that was long-in-the-works and sorely needed is yet another example of Harrisburg’s obvious flaws.
We refer to House Bill 704. It was sponsored by Bucks County state Rep. Bernie O’Neill, R-29, who knows a little something about special education having been a special-ed teacher for many years.
The measure, which had bipartisan support and an impressive 56 co-sponsors, would require a 12-member commission to develop a new funding formula and establish three categories for students receiving special education funding: from least to most intensive services. The idea is to more appropriately — and fairly — assist districts in meeting state mandates regarding special education, while assuring that students and taxpayers are not overlooked in the process.
O’Neill called it a “matter of fairness. Fairness to our kids, fairness to our school districts and fairness to our taxpayers.” A companion measure already had been approved by the state Senate, 46-1. Unfortunately, the House version became a vehicle to amend laws on an entirely different issue — charter schools: how they operate and how they’re funded.
Those are big issues that deserve lawmakers’ time and attention. Instead, legislative leaders apparently with Gov. Corbett’s assistance piggybacked the charter school measures onto O’Neill’s bill. The controversial amendments then torpedoed support for the bill, which in its original form had nothing to do with charter schools. So disparate were the measures’ objectives that O’Neill ended up voting against his own bill.
“Six years of work went down the drain,” said O’Neill, who accused the governor of using the bill to broker “backroom deals.” A spokesman for the governor denied the accusation. The chairman of the House Education Committee, Bucks County’s Paul Clymer, pointed a finger at “leadership” deciding “it would be a good time to put in a reform package for cyber and charter schools.”
We don’t disagree. Several issues surrounding charter schools need attention; how they’re funded chief among them.
But these are complicated and highly sensitive issues. Any changes that might result from legislative action would have significant impact on school districts and charter schools alike. It’s why the issues should be debated on their own.
Ensuring that critical issues are not piggybacked into law — as charter school reform almost was — requires state government reform. It’s widely known that the law-making process in Harrisburg is too susceptible to tampering by legislative leaders — which is the way leaders want it. What’s needed is a rebellion. O’Neill and other lawmakers who are — or ought to be — tired of seeing their hard work go nowhere need to step up for themselves and the citizens they represent.
I only had a chance to not vote for Debby Smith. When is she up again?
Are we going to get the assinine annual Mayor Ledger budget veto yet again? Followed by a special council meeting dedicated to her 2-yr-old child inspired irrational questions and statements, followed by passage of the budget?
Anything is possible. Even working together for a better Morrisville. But Ledger, Burger & friends can't seem to find their way past the mud they continually sling to see that working for the community instead of against it is even an option. Why people continue to vote for these obstructionists is beyond me.
I would be more surprised if Ledger didn't veto the budget and cost all of us more money to hold a special meeting that ends with the budget being passed without her, just like last year.
The people Burger puppets & the people who vote for them can't even see that they are pawns in Jane Burger's vendetta against anyone positively moving Morrisville forward because she blames them for taking away her "big fish in a little pond" status.
There is no length these people will not go to in following Burger even if it means sacrificing what's best for the town over and over again. I really don't get it. They have opportunities to do such good, yet decide not the work with the others to improve Morrisville. Sad...
That's because they are, as you said, obstructionists. Their goal is not to improve Morrisville.
Debbie Smith is in her first year as a councilperson. She has three more years - ugh
Look at the bright side - the glass is 1/4 empty.
Let's see,... citizens of the ville elected Driesback, Burger, Worob, Stoudt, Smith, Radosti...Do we have a thing for finding the least capable among us and putting them in charge? We are the poster child for that old adage about the inmates running the asylum. I'm at a further loss as to how these folks show their faces in public after what they've said and done. Have they no shame whatsoever?
Todd Sandford...
From my sofa, I watched the November borough council meeting. At that meeting,an older woman came to speak at public comment, blaming council for the hurricane and for the tree that fell on her property. (I'm thinking it was a street tree)
Shortly after, a man spoke during public comment. The man is a neighbor of the older woman & spoke on her behalf. He spoke about the winds that travel across the football field & that having so many mature trees is a ticking time-bomb, that council was not being responsible.
Both of these people relayed that the borough should get rid of the street trees throughout the borough, even if they are healthy, mature trees. (I would love to know if they would like to raise taxes to accomplish this.)
The reason I'm bringing this up is because later I was told that while the woman spoke, the man was videotaping her & the councilpeople who spoke on the matter. Then, when the man got up to speak, he handed the camera to...Jane Burger, who videotaped him while he spoke. Oh Jane, always plotting & manipulating. Tells me everything I need to know about these people.
The seeds were planted long ago. How tall and unstable those trees grew while Jane Burger held the reins of power.
How government blows until the wind does.
That storm was Mother Nature's way of asking why Jane Burger and the company she keeps hate their fellow citizens so much.
I live here because I like trees, especially big ones, and I want to live amongst them. If you don't want trees, move to the city. Don't react to a once in a blue moon event and ruin the beautiful streetscape for everyone.
I don't think Jane is as incapable as her cronies, but WTF is with her need to meddle and plot? Can't she just retire and enjoy the rest of her existence? Jane, I'm talking to you here.. Just step away from the local politics and leave it to others. You had your turn and it's time to fade into the sunset.
I am very uneasy about the fact that Jane Burger, Debbie Smith and some other friend of theirs have complete control over the voting rolls in Ward 3.
Foxes and a henhouse come to mind.
I heard those people speak too. The woman said that she had been going to the borough office for like 7 years complaining that she wanted the tree gone even though there is nothing wrong with it. She said she had lived there for like 40 years. I wonder if she would have complained if the borough had taken down that tree when she was a younger woman. Mr. Seward told her that he had spoken to her before & told her that he had never denied any resident who wanted to take down a street tree in front of their property.
Even though she was blaming council, it looked to me as though nobody on council even knew who this woman was besides Debbie Smith who said something about "when we spoke". This tells me that she & the woman spoke previously but Debbie Smith didn't relay it to the rest of council. I'm not surprised.
The borough cannot possibly be expected to take down every street tree. Seems like such a bizarre demand.
I thought the Borough did a great job cleaning up after the storm. Kudos to all of the workers. The trees that fell on my property are my responsibility, not the Borough's. I am glad that Asplundh didn't come in and do their usual butchery. They leave a nightmare of mangled limbs behind when they're done. Trees take a long time to grow large. Please consider this before removing any healthy trees. Once you cut them down, it will take at least one, and maybe several generations, before any facsimile can grow back. Save the trees.
The people who follow Jane Burger only know what Jane is telling them. They don't bother or care to find out anything else or even if the information they receive from her is correct. There are people who actually think she is knowledgeable & working for the good of the community, not that she likes to hear herself talk, makes it up as she goes along, and is only working for herself.
If this older woman has been going to the borough office about this tree for 7 years, then Jane was on council for 4 of those years. She should also be pissed at Jane, but there was Jane, plotting with this man & woman to come to this meeting to bash council & being so obvious that she even held the camera for them.
These people need to live by the Republican philosophy they support in Jane Burger and Debby Smith.
They need to pick themselves up by their own bootstraps and take personal responsibility rather than sitting around whining and waiting for a government bailout.
The Great Ronald Regan said that government isn't the solution to the problem; government is the problem.
Get with the program, TREELOADERS!
Do you like having an ambulance squad in Morrisville Borough?
Planning on attending the Santa Paws event?
Please consider dropping off a donation to the Morrisville Ambulance Squad. These Morrisville heroes daily save the lives of the people of Morrisville Borough. Haven't donated to this organization in a while? Perhaps never? Please do. Do you owe them money? PAY IT! Their services are not free. They operate by the money they receive so every penny helps.
Pa. told to re-evaluate charter school test scores
KATHY MATHESON , The Associated Press
Posted: Thursday, November 22, 2012, 2:22 PM
PHILADELPHIA - Federal education officials have denied Pennsylvania's request to evaluate charter school achievement using more lenient criteria, saying they must be assessed by the same standard as traditional schools.
The rejection means Pennsylvania cannot substitute a less stringent method for measuring "adequate yearly progress," the federal benchmark known as AYP. Critics said the formula artificially inflated charter schools' performance for political reasons.
"I cannot approve this ... because it's not aligned with the statute and regulations," U.S. Assistant Education Secretary Deborah Delisle wrote in a letter released by the state Wednesday.
The issue surfaced in September when Pennsylvania's latest standardized test scores were reported. For the first time , and without approval from federal officials , state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis treated charter schools as districts, not individual schools.
Schools must hit certain targets at every tested grade level to make AYP. But for a district to meet the benchmark, it needs only to hit targets in one of three grade spans: grades 3-5, 4-6 or 9-12.
Under Pennsylvania law, every charter school is considered its own district. So by using the grade span methodology, about 59 percent of charters made AYP , a figure that supporters touted, comparing it with the 50 percent of traditional schools that hit the target.
Yet only 37 percent of charters would have made AYP under the individual school method. Delisle ordered Pennsylvania to re-evaluate charter schools' AYP status using that standard by the end of the fall semester.
She noted that Pennsylvania can assess charters under the district method but only in addition to the school method.
The state will now assess charters under both standards, according to a Wednesday statement from Pennsylvania Education Department spokesman Tim Eller.
Previously, Eller had argued that the grade span calculation leveled the playing field for charters, which are publicly funded but operate independently of school districts.
And while acknowledging that standard can mask academic problems, Eller has said school districts have taken advantage of the methodology for years. The grade span calculation enabled 61 percent of districts to make AYP in 2011-12, while only 22 percent would have made AYP without it, Eller said.
Opponents say parents are much more interested in the performance of individual schools than districts as a whole.
AYP is a key component of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Schools that fail to make AYP receive additional oversight and, eventually, could end up with new staffs or be shut down.
MorrisvilleCops enter apartment during fire say they found pot-growing operation
Jared Giersch is facing drug charges after police found a pot growing operation in his closet after entering his apartment to evacuate it during a fire.
Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 1:45 pm | Updated: 6:49 pm, Tue Nov 27, 2012.
By Jo Ciavaglia Staff writer | 0 comments
Posted on November 27, 2012
by Jo Ciavaglia
When Morrisville police entered an apartment in a burning building, they expected to find a person. Instead, they say they stumbled on a suspected marijuana growing operation inside a bedroom closet.
The 24-year-old tenant faces drug charges.
The incident occurred just before midnight Saturday, when a fire was reported at the Orchard View apartments in the 400 block of Plaza Boulevard. As part of their usual procedure, police and firefighters evacuated residents of the impacted apartments – units 71 through 74, according to police.
When police tried to evacuate apartment 72, no one answered. When maintenance workers opened the door to let police and emergency workers into the one-bedroom apartment to check for people, the apartment was filled with smoke.
Police said they heard a shower running, but the bathroom and the shower were empty. While checking the rest of the apartment, police discovered an alleged marijuana growing room in the master bedroom closet, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The room contained marijuana plants, plus the heat and artificial light needed to promote growth and a fan system for assisting in the pollination process, police said. The entire room had a strong odor of marijuana, police added.
Police secured the apartment and obtained a search warrant.
Tenant Jared Gierisch -- who told police he was in New Jersey at the time of the fire -- was arrested and arraigned Monday morning before Morrisville District Judge Michael Burns on charges of felony manufacture, delivery or possession with intent with manufacture or deliver, and related misdemeanor charges. He was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $50,000 bail.
In Plaza Blvd. Apartments?!?!? You don't say!!??!! Who would ever think crime would happen there. Why, that's almost like crime happening at the seven-eleven at Bridge and Pennsylvania!!! Unheard Of!!!
Luckily there are Dunkin Donut shops near both, so police presence is asssured.
Manor Park is representin in crystal meth!
http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/bristol/million-crystal-meth-ring-had-extensive-bucks-county-ties-ag/article_e4680ca7-12e3-5f3c-b38c-daea5515b65c.html
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