New ASD Administrator Officially Begins Tenure
Newly-hired Assistant Superintendent Dr. Joshua Williams sits next to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Soloski at last night’s special meeting of the Armstrong School District. Williams officially began as Armstrong School District assistant superintendent July 1. This was his first school board meeting last night at West Hills Intermediate.
by Jonathan Weaver
A new pair of assistant superintendents joined Armstrong School District board directors at the voting table last night.
During a special meeting to approve personnel and a tax appeal settlement, Dr. Joshua Williams and Dr. Cheryl Soloski sat among elected officials.
Dr. Williams, a 1990 graduate of Shannock Valley High, was officially hired for a five-year contract during April’s regular voting meeting.
Dr. Williams said he has more than two decades of educational experience in Elk County.
“I worked in St. Mary’s (Area) School District for almost 22 years, where I was a teacher, director of technology for a few years, the bulk of my time - 13 years - as high school principal and the last two years as assistant superintendent,” Williams said.
Williams achieved his doctorate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania about five years ago, his masters in curriculum and instruction from Penn State University and undergraduate degree in history/political science from University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
“I loved technology – when I did that job, I thoroughly enjoyed it…but during that experience, you start thinking about the next thing and what you can do for kids,” Williams said. “When I was here, there were a lot of people in this community and in Rural Valley that did a lot of things for me as a kid.
“The opportunity to come back here and give back when I’m from here is too much to pass on.”
Williams and his wife, parents of three daughters – including 12-year-old, Lacey, that will enroll at West Shamokin this Fall - will be moving home to Rural Valley.
According to April’s approved personnel documents, Williams is to receive a salary of $133,000 annually.
Before his official start July 1, Williams transitioned into the role formerly held by James Gaggini.
“The things he told me (were) great to hear. It was all very positive,” Williams said. “I knew I made the right decision for sure.”
In 2008, Gaggini retired after 35 years as an educator and administrator - lastly being named Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education and Pupil Services – but was named an acting assistant superintendent in October 2014.
Soloski formerly served as the district elementary Coordinator of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
School directors also approved two immediate resignations and a pair of elementary principal re-alignments, among other hires.
Armstrong School District | jweaver July 12, 2016
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By lowfatlowcarbnosugarcheesecake, July 12, 2016 @ 8:57 AM
So- question for ASD… we closed how many schools in the past few years and according to your studies and architects enrollment is declining yet you continue to add to administration?
How exactly do you justify that?
By wonderwhy, July 14, 2016 @ 8:58 AM
One of the main reasons people choose not to move to Armstrong County is the high taxes. The school taxes are outrageous! Why do we need another administrator? Butler, Fox Chapel, etc do not have as many administrators as we do. We need to cut the spending and the taxes. This is a poor county. We cannot afford nor do we need all these people in the Admin Building. Stop the waste of our money. It is easy to spend someone elses money. The answer is not to keep raising taxes. Nobody with a job will ever move here.
By watchdog15, July 14, 2016 @ 12:24 PM
Excessive spending has to be the highest priority for ASD. Taxes are stifling any growth and development. A former article in the LT describes all elementary students will receive free breakfast and lunches due to the poverty level in the district. (see below) Someone has to get real about the condition of the local economy. Poverty is escalating, not just among families with school age children but for the elderly who comprise the majority. No one wants to talk openly about it and hiding our reality is only going to make things worse. If you think outsiders don’t know you’re wrong. That’s why no one is moving here.
Here’s a segment from the article.
Free lunches for students
Armstrong school district enrolls in federal program.
All students attending Armstrong County elementary schools will receive free meals this coming school year thanks to the federally-funded Community Eligibility Provision Program.
The elementary schools qualify for the program because, according to LuAnn Fee, Director of Food and Nutrition Services, the district’s “direct certification numbers” are over 40%.
“The direct certification list comes from the Welfare Department,” said Fee. “It identifies the families that are on food stamps or receive financial aid.”
By jorn jensen, July 14, 2016 @ 11:22 PM
I will answer both of your concerns, lowfatlowcarbnosugarcheesecake and wonderwhy - but first, do you attend school board meetings? Do you hold them accountable to their faces? Are you willing to ‘get in their face’?
lowfatlowcarbnosugarcheesecake, ASD enrollment - 1974 = 15,000 students, 2010 = 5,500 students, 2015 = 5,100 students. These are factual numbers - this is actual data. Yes, it shows a declining enrollment with factual data. Now, let’s couple that with just the teaching staff - not administration. 1974, 15,000 students and 525 teachers - 28.7:1 ratio. 2010, 5,500 students, 500 teachers - 11:1 ratio. 2015, 5,100 students, 475 teachers - 10.7:1 ratio. So, the logical question to ask this school board? What is this school board’s student/teacher ratio goal? Do you have one? The Kimball architect lady representative, on the elementaries upgrades ‘program’, used a common number, in a school board meeting that I attended, of 25:1. So, what is our school board’s goal ratio? I have no clue.
I asked the school board, in a public meeting, “When are we laying off teachers to help pay off this loan?” The response from Mr. Kirk was that “we’re doing that through attrition.” Really? And how long will that take if you’re still hiring teachers? No answer. No reporter reported on my question - they just hover with the school board after the meeting.
This is the mentality that we’re dealing with.
So, you ask, “How exactly do you justify that?” They justify it this way - nepotism, conflict of interest, and failure to abstain from voting when it directly affects their own immediate family income. Study your school board. They are owned by the PSEA. That, effectively has the teachers’ union negotiating with itself - the ideal form of negotiation. Look at how many on the school board are ‘teacher-related’ - Joe Close’s wife is a teacher, Stan Berdell’s wife is a teacher, Tim Scaife is a retired teacher and was union president, Ms. Walker is a retired teacher. Study the rest of them and ‘find the connection’.
Where are the school board police to make arrests? They don’t exist.
Why are we in the top ten, in teacher pay, in the state’s 510 districts? Ask your school board. Come to a meeting and ask them and hold them accountable.
wonderwhy, you ask, “Why do we need another administrator?” We don’t. How do you convince a school board that is owned by the PSEA? You don’t. Simple as that.
Our top two total $300,000. The Super at $167,000 and the Assistant Super at $133,000. What do they do for that money? You tell me.
The voters are to blame for voting for school board people like this. Voters don’t do their due diligence - they have too many other important things to do in order to get by. Why worry about supposedly good, decent people running for public office?
Come to a school board meeting and be amazed - 9 people - that’s if Rearick shows up - marching down through an agenda like Grant through Richmond, with all unanimous votes. No discussion, no debate. How can that be? It can be because these people work this all out ahead of the public meeting. There’s Sunshine Law abuse via internet, cell phones and many other forms of communication where they get this all worked out ahead of the public meeting and then they can march down through the agenda in 15 minutes - leaving the audience wondering, “What the heck did I just experience?”
If you really have interest and concern in this, attend school board meetings and ask questions. Hold them accountable. Be prepared to be amazed - such as, your question must be regarding an agenda item, that you have a 5 minute time limit, that you sit in front of a ‘U’-shaped board layout with a very uninviting look on their faces
(how dare you question them?), that you must get up to a podium and speak through a microphones while Mr. DeVivo mumbles and won’t speak into his microphone.
It is a real experience - come do it some time and enjoy yourself.
By Patzu, July 15, 2016 @ 7:45 PM
Jorn:
Put the pieces together.
This is not that hard to crack.
Who knows who?
Family tradition?
Who did you go to school with?
By sid87, July 17, 2016 @ 3:06 PM
jorn-
While some of the information you are spewing out is true, some is also misleading. The only way that you are going to be able to reduce the number of teaching staff is to reduce the number of buildings in your inventory. Think about it, in each building you are going to have to have x number of math teachers, x number of English teachers, x number of science teachers, etc. Like it or not, most teachers are not certified to teach more than one subject. Combine this with the fact that the district has many more course offerings in 2015 than they did in 1974. No one will argue that there are far less students today, than there were 40 years ago, but what the district is teaching is far different than it was then. I am not suggesting that these courses should not be offered, they most certainly should. I’m just pointing out something that many often don’t think about. I’m not sure what you have against teachers and administrators, but it is getting old. If you have all the answers as you claim to have, I doubt that you would have been so soundly defeated when you made your bid for school board.
By jorn jensen, July 18, 2016 @ 7:43 AM
sid87 - Why not post with your real name? What is the need to post with a pseudonym? Hmmmm.
You admit that I state truth. You state, “While some of the information you are spewing out is true, some is also misleading.” Misleading. Let’s see where you are misleading the readers.
You state, “The only way that you are going to be able to reduce the number of teaching staff is to reduce the number of buildings in your inventory.” Duh! We’ve closed 4 buildings and consolidated into one new building, so, we’ve done EXACTLY what you are saying is needed in order to reduce teaching staff. You’re obviously not from this area and not familiar with ASD - if you were, you’d know that.
“Combine that with the fact that the district has many more course offerings in 2015 than they did in 1974.” Kindly list them. How many is many? Computer-related classes would be new since 1974. Chemistry, algebra, trig, biology, calculus, Spanish - that stuff is still the same. So, list your “many”.
“No one will argue that there are far less students today, than there were 40 years ago, but what the district is teaching is far different than it was then.” What? Are there new revelations in algebra? Spanish? Will anyone argue that there are far less teachers, in conjunction with far less students, today? The ratios tell the truth - we are overloaded with teachers - and administrators.
“I’m not sure what you have against teachers and administrators, but it is getting old.” There you - assume. You ‘assume’ that statement merely because I hold people accountable - accountable for costs, along with education. Nowhere have I stated that I don’t like teachers or administrators - what I state is that, like in the private sector, do it cost-effectively or fold it up. The money tree is withering. Without teachers, I couldn’t type this response. Further, I have advanced degrees - that required something called education - you know, teachers, teaching and administrators.
If my message is getting old to you, then just don’t read it, Save yourself the grief.
“If you have all the answers as you claim to have, I doubt that you would have been so soundly defeated when you made your bid for school board.” I have been a school board director, in the past. We closed two outlying elementaries in the Leechburg Area and consolidated into one school in town. We should have closed that school and merged with another district, but we never did accomplish that. I have not run for school board since. So, your ‘fact’ is erroneous. I did run for county commissioner and had my ass handed to me - I hold those people accountable for spending, the same as I hold school boards and administrators accountable for spending - wasteful spending of the taxpayers’ dollars.
Put on your big boy/big girl pants and debate with your real name - give your argument some validity.
By sid87, July 18, 2016 @ 11:48 AM
jorn-Sorry for the slip, I am well aware that you ran for commissioner and not school board. Regardless, the outcome was the same. The voters of Armstrong County are not as dumb as you think.
By cartman, July 18, 2016 @ 3:36 PM
Jorn
You and I have agreed on many things. I am, as is my wife, a former teacher. All through our careers, PSEA took our money and gave it to candidates we found appalling. I wish that you would not group all former teachers into lovers of the teachers’ union. We are on the same side. It would be nice if you would recognize that.
By jorn jensen, July 19, 2016 @ 7:00 AM
To you, cartman, I apologize. I realize that many union members are ‘in the union’ because they have to be in order to hold a job. And that stifles Pennsylvania and gives right-to-work states a competitive edge over Pennsylvania. Our old-time union mentality will keep Pennsylvania non-competitive.
The problem is that government, and public education, which is ‘government provided’, is not market-based. Public sector unions ‘manipulate’ the normal operation of the economy.
In the private sector, if someone is unhappy with your product, you either make it better or more desirable, or you go out of business. In the public sector, the solution is mostly to just raise the ‘income’ regardless of the outcome - tax them more and more.
I push hard for accountability and fiduciary responsibility - be it school boards, commissioners, township supervisors, representatives, presidents and so forth.
Ignoring commissioners, for the moment (they’re doing some some proper work like fleet reduction and such), the school systems - when I was on school board, we intercepted a PSEA letter to teachers - it encouraged them to run for school boards in the districts of their residence, not where they taught. If they lived where they taught, they were encouraged to be ‘active’, but not on board. That infiltration was in the 1980’s. Today, the PSEA ‘owns’ the school boards - it has become much more blatant over the years.
So, the PTCC, of which I am a member, is pushing for what Jeff Pyle ran on 12 years ago - property tax elimination. Transfer that tax load, especially for schools, over to increased sales and income taxes - ‘moving’ money. Why? Because there are only 3.2 million property owners in the state carrying the burden of an over-priced public education system. There are 12.7 million residents - a much larger ‘pool’ to get the money from. Plus, any out-of-stater earning money or buying anything in Pennsylvania would help pay for public education.
The problem is that public education is much too costly, so how do you address that? Get a bigger pool of ‘payers’ as HB/SB 76 would do? Yes. But, why not also go after the root cause of the problem? Put some ethics back into public education governance - get the PSEA out of school boards.
Doing both would be a big improvement - larger group of ‘payers’, us taxpayers, and controlling/reducing costs such as taking student/teacher ratios from 11:1 back to 20:1, or 25:1. Public pensions is another thing out of control when a teacher can retire with 80% of pay, in payable pension, after 30 years of service and 100% of pay after 40 years of service. How are property owners with $500/month pensions supposed to be able to pay an $8,000/month teacher’s pension?
Economically, it is way out of balance.
I’m surprised that sid87 didn’t use the ‘but its for the kiddies’ line to belittle me. That the amount of of sheriff’s tax sales of property is meaningless. That seniors go without meds, or food, in order to pay the property tax in order to stay in their paid-off homes.
To you, cartman, I apologize for ‘lumping you in’.
By jd718, July 19, 2016 @ 5:24 PM
A valid argument is still valid username or real name. So sick of the pretentious Bull that you have to use a real name to be valid! For some even a real name doesn’t spell Integrity, right Jensen?
By mad-2010, July 19, 2016 @ 6:25 PM
“Put on your big boy/big girl pants and debate with your real name – give your argument some validity.”
Wow! Jensen believes he has the authority to set the terms of a valid argument! That’s Funny!
I’d say to Jensen: Put on your big boy/big girl pants and debate with the facts. Let the chips fall where they may!
By worthingtonman, July 19, 2016 @ 6:44 PM
@ Cartman
Don’t you know in Jorn’s world all teachers are bad. He forgets that the teachers really have no choice but to be in the Union. I am sure a lot of them would prefer not to be in the union. With that said I sure do not understand the hiring of an additional Superintendent and that salary is outrageous. I would like to see a breakdown on all that these superintendents are doing to earn that kind of wage. I know people managing entire factories and not making that kind of money. They definitely should be downsizing Admin not up sizing it. They are starting to lose me on some of this spending. I guess being a Schill as Jorn says I should be in the know.
Oh and hey Jorn tell your buddies with their ” Oh look at my hot rod mentality” that they should not be burning rubber and speeding up Bear street in Worthington. we have children and Senior citizens in this residential area. it is not their darn speedway.
By jerry6, July 21, 2016 @ 10:05 AM
Worthingtonmn. As they say, what goes around comes around. One time I posted on here about the noise from four wheelers and you told me that if you knew where I lived, you would come by my house and roar your engines. It isn’t nice when it happens to you, is it? As my mother always said what goes around comes around and your finding that out complaint about cars raising by.
By sid87, July 21, 2016 @ 2:00 PM
jorn-
We agree on a number of things. I apologize if you took my post as belittling you, that was not my intent. I only wanted to point out that some of the information was misleading.
I realize they have reduced the number of buildings, that’s my point. They have reduced the number of teachers that you stated in 2015 as 475 down to less than 400 full time teachers. As you also stated, the computer type classes would be new. Do you know exactly how many there are? I don’t, but let me name a few that I am aware of microsoft office, computer programming one, two, three, and four, CAD one, two, and three, computer science, robotics one, and two, media and filmmaking one and two, multimedia, information tech essentials. This does not include any of these that may also be offered as an advanced placement course. These are also only those offered in grades 10-12 and doesn’t include any that are offered in grades k-9. More courses mean more opportunities for students, but the trade-off has to be more teachers. You must also look at how the laws have changed regarding special education, where now you have a special education teacher in the same classroom at the same time as a regular classroom teacher to assist the students who have been mainstreamed into the regular classroom. This will skew that all important ratio that you mentioned. You are correct that you never mentioned that you don’t like teachers, but your posts come across that way. You imply that they are all money hungry and incompetent. I don’t believe that I have ever seen you give one complement to an educator other than that you are thankful that you can read and write. Just curious, are you and your family products of public education? Like it or not, education is not a business that you can run like you do in the private sector. Our children are not widgets. While I agree that throwing money at the problem is not a solution, it must be properly funded. I also agree with you that property tax is not a fair way to fund our schools and income tax seems to be a much better choice. My property tax bill is outrageous, I pay over 9,000 each year. So, I’m behind the tax reform 100%. You also mentioned pensions for public employees. I agree this is an area that needs change. I feel like making changes to the pensions of current employees and those who have already retired is unfair, but we need to make changes for future employees. You stated that a teacher can retire with 80% after 30 years. This is not true. If a teacher retires with less than 35 years, there is a penalty. A teacher with 30 years would be looking at 65%, not 80. Furthermore, tax payers are not the only ones paying for that pension. Don’t forget to mention that the teacher is required to kick in 7-8% of their salary to the pension system. 15 years ago the state stopped making contributions to the pension system in an effort to divert those funds to other areas. Unfortunately, as we all know, the economy tanked and suddenly the pension system was in a world of hurt. It’s important to understand however, that the teachers never stopped making their contributions to the system as the state did.
By jorn jensen, July 21, 2016 @ 3:10 PM
There you go, the shill for the school board, a self-proclaimed conservative, starts out with, “Don’t you know in Jorn’s world all teachers are bad.” That’s just how stupid worthingtonman is. But, worthingtonman, cartman is not stupid - that is quite evident in his postings.
And then worthingtonman turns a bit conservative and worries about the number of superintendents and their salaries.
So, worthingtonman, which way is it for you? Or are you suffering from identity confusion?
“They are starting to lose me on some of this spending.” Really, worthingtonman? Are you saying that I might have been right along? Imagine that. Why not belly up to the bar with your bud, Joe Close, and tell him that he’s starting to lose you on some of this spending?
And, worthingtonman, I was not there, so you need to whine to the police about speeding and burning rubber. I’ll send you some cheese and crackers for your whine. You call me guilty by association - I wasn’t there. Maybe ask the firemen how they did at that event.
jd718 - Perhaps sid87 is a teacher, an administrator, or a school board member, huh? You bunch of gutless no-name posters - at least if you’re going to attack me, sign your real name to give yourself some validity. Simple idiots.
By jd718, July 22, 2016 @ 7:06 AM
“All through our careers, PSEA took our money and gave it to candidates we found appalling.”
Also, All through our careers, I took every pay raise and benefit the PSEA union negotiated for us teachers! LOL Ah, hypocrite much!
By jd718, July 22, 2016 @ 7:50 AM
“How are property owners with $500/month pensions supposed to be able to pay an $8,000/month teacher’s pension?”
Why do I find statements like this somewhat misleading?
“That seniors go without meds, or food, in order to pay the property tax in order to stay in their paid-off homes.”
Why are statements like this one above always made without statistics?
By jd718, July 22, 2016 @ 8:06 AM
Jensen a simple idiot would think there are Subjects in America! LOL Try again! LOL
By jd718, July 22, 2016 @ 8:16 AM
Great post sid87 it does explain some things to a layman like myself, Thanks…..
By mad-2010, July 22, 2016 @ 8:25 AM
One time it’s an argument, the next time it’s a debate! When things don’t go Jensen’s way it’s an attack when opinions differ! Then call the posters idiots! Come-On Jensen! Just debate or state your opinion without the name-calling, have fun! WOW!
By mad-2010, July 22, 2016 @ 9:06 AM
Sid87 made some excellent points under a username, I wouldn’t call sid87 an idiot, more like a person with a valid Opinion!
By mad-2010, July 22, 2016 @ 9:32 AM
Doesn’t Pa. have a property/tax rebate program for seniors, you know the ones with the $500/month pensions Jensen talks about. People 65 years of age or older or a widow 50 years of age or older would be eligible, also the disabled, vets and so-forth.
@jd718, that’s why you find some of the statements made as misleading, in some cases they are misleading. You need to have the full story most of the time to get things right, not that everyone misleads someone on purpose!
By cartman, July 22, 2016 @ 10:55 AM
First of all, jd718 must be talking about a different PSEA than the one I knew. On the state level, the organization did nothing for me. The local did very little. In fact, more often than not, the so-called negotiators looked out mainly for themselves. On one occasion, those on my step of the salary scale got less money after a strike than the board originally offered. Maybe jd is a union official??
As for the new administrator, why a rip off. With fewer buildings and fewer students, why should there be more administrating to do? It’s ridiculous. As for staff cutting, Jorn’s point is well taken, but there is a major obstacle. With two junior/senior high schools, you are bound to have a lot of staff. These schools have to offer a certain number of courses, even if there are only three kids in the class. The answer, though painful, is brutally clear. There must be further consolidation. Make West Shamokin a junior high or middle school, and use the new building as a senior high. This is, after all, what should have been done in the first place.
By the way, Jorn, apology accepted. No hard feelings.
By mad-2010, July 22, 2016 @ 2:12 PM
How often do you find a Conservative like Jensen worrying about seniors paying for meds and taxes or anything else for that matter? Sounds a lot like a Liberal to me!
Answer: Only when it suits what they want badly! LOL
By jorn jensen, July 23, 2016 @ 9:58 AM
cartman, I value and respect your opinion and communication. I also own property in West Leechburg and I got slapped with $132 increase in that school property tax bill. I rent it to a non-paying renter, so I get to foot their 2 kids’ education, for free, for them (they’re evicted - no longer a rental). I went to the school board meetings and told them to close that district and merge with another. I told them that graduating 66, 20 of whom were Lenape Tech graduates, is a crime - a waste of taxpayer dollars and that they were cheating students out of specialized courses offerings. Most of the audience was teachers, of course. One lady, in a phys ed outfit (I assume a phys ed teacher), got up and told the board that $14,500 to send students to Lenape Tech is a luxury that the district can’t afford. In other words, she wanted to pull those Lenape students back to Leechburg to protect her job and ‘increase the enrollment’. You won’t see that in the newspapers. Thing is, the per student cost at Leechburg is $16,500, so the Lenape Tech deal looks pretty good to me - plus, they graduate with a salable skill - ready to go to work with all of these opportunities around here. Next, a lady in a PSEA polo shirt gets up and says, “We do NOT cheat kids out of specialized education offerings - we’ll teach down to a classroom size of 2 students.” And there was applause. That WAS in the newspapers. The PSEA’s mantra is to educate and protect their members, I guess at any cost. The school board’s mantra, I would guess, should be to provide education cost-effectively. Two students is tutoring. Three students, in your example, is tutoring.
So, I was quite alone in that school board meeting, and I stand my ground and will be back as a regular. Funny, though, the atta-boys I get from people in the community - the ones that wonder why their wallets are being cleansed by the PSEA-controlled school board.
sid87 - Well-written piece. I value and respect your opinion - you appear to be well-informed and intelligent. You mention 400 teachers - I got from the school board meeting 475. So, where does one go to get factual information from teachers’ unions, school boards, etc? I like 400 much better than 475 if we’ve taken 4 buildings down to one, new, expensive, poorly-located one.
Okay, lots of computer-related courses and lots of special education-needs students and teachers (double-ups) - so, I ask, again, what is a reasonable, cost-effective ratio? Someone give me a goal number.
On fair and balanced reporting, sid87, your pension investment is ‘guaranteed’, regardless of market conditions. Isn’t it somewhere around 8% guaranteed? That is by contract, negotiated with someone, either school boards or state people or someone. Regardless, the bottom line is that if the markets are returning 3%, I am forced to kick in the other 5%, in taxes, while my own is generating 3%. But, I understand how the real world works - you get what you successfully negotiate. A lot of taxpayers don’t even know they are footing that guaranteed return because people don’t pay attention to the details.
I’d like Jeff Pyle to read your response of 2 PM, July 21, 2016. And, I’d like the KP to update comments a bit more often. These are important matters that some of us discuss.
So I come across as not liking teachers? Let’s see. 12 years of public education, another 4 of engineering, and another 4 of evening of MBA. I guess that I’ve been around a lot of teachers - and I survived the college years and did not become a liberal. I teach heat treating, as a consultant. I have tutored honors students in algebra. Read that correctly - tutoring HONORS students in algebra. Why would an honors student need tutoring? I like teachers just fine and I thank them for their work every day - just do it in a cost-effective manner - and that is the school boards’ jobs to manage that.
Imagine me running for school board, ASD, in 2017. The PSEA would have a fit. They’d have to publish so much dirt on me that you’d think I’m worse than The Hildebeast. They need a conformist - someone with family in teaching. Unanimous agenda voting is important. Let’s get some artificial turf for the sports fields that we couldn’t afford.
So, to some on this site, like jd, worthingtonman, and some others, in order to insult me, I must first value your opinion….nice try, though.
By mad-2010, July 23, 2016 @ 3:10 PM
Well Jensen, your post says it all! Spoken like a true Demagogue, with just a hint of narcissism! You must first value somebodies opinion! Funny, you would have to think everything is about you, How wrong you are! LOL
By jd718, July 23, 2016 @ 9:06 PM
“They’d have to publish so much dirt on me that you’d think I’m worse than The Hildebeast.”
All they would have to do is read back issues of the KP they’d have all the dirt they would need!
Listening to you Jensen, one would swear the Repubs actually carried the state of Pa during a Presidential election! However, the fact is Repubs have not carried Pa. for decades. LOL
By jd718, July 24, 2016 @ 6:40 AM
“I rent it to a non-paying renter, so I get to foot their 2 kids’ education, for free, for them (they’re evicted) – no longer a rental.”
Just a suggestion: Maybe you should “Put on your big boy/big girl pants” and pick your tenants more carefully. The statement about footing the 2 kids’ education is a crock of Dew! Typical Jensen!
You need some cheese and crackers for that whine.
By Flamingo1, July 24, 2016 @ 11:58 PM
Jorn-
I am sure that if you called a school board member and politely asked your question about the duties of the new Assistants you would get an answer. The e-mail addresses appear on the website.
One area that you do not address is the rise in Special Education students in the district. Very expensive and staff intensive. The costs are law mandated and not an area that can be cut. Compared to 30 years ago the costs have quadrupled. I am not defending it, just noting it.
By jorn jensen, July 25, 2016 @ 7:11 AM
See in the news where West Leechburg wants to get out of the Leechburg School District? They want to join Kiski and they have several options to do so. Leechburg graduates 66, 20 of them through Lenape Tech - that’s running a district for 44 graduating students - at any cost.
In a news article, West Leechburg was called an ATM for the Leechburg school district. Taxes, there, went up considerably more than ‘in town’ (Leechburg) and it was justified by some mysterious ‘formula’. Formula scormula, it is more dollars out of West Leechburgers’ pockets than out of Leechburgers’ pockets for a ‘finished’ school district. 800 total students when Kiski has a 4500 enrollment - people, wake up!
These school boards need to start facing the reality of this area - and, Leechburg IS a part of this area.
By jd718, July 26, 2016 @ 9:14 AM
As They now say: America: “We Will Rise”
By mad-2010, July 27, 2016 @ 9:16 PM
Trump as close to treason as any American could ever be! Never Trump, Never!