Category: RETTIG: My Two Cents Worth

RETTIG: This and That

Congratulations to Coach Bartolovic and the Ford City Football Team for having an undefeated regular season and two play-off wins!

They have cut several trees down in Kittanning Riverfront Park. They should plant one for every one they cut down.

Will Jimmy Solak retire now that he has the Armstrong School District the way he thinks it should be?

The Wible Road in East Franklin Township is one of the most dangerous roads in the area. It could use some fresh yellow and white paint for foggy and night-time driving. Also, install a guard rail so people will quit wrecking into the pine trees near Old Route 422.

Kittanning Borough got a lot of paving down. I hope they continue it next summer.

When will they have a school board meeting in Kittanning? I think I asked that before.

OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

RETTIG: The Three Renovations

If I lived in Elderton, I would have wanted the school open too as the good people of that community do. Who would want kids getting up early in the morning for those long bus rides and the disrupting of their lives?

But Elderton has one problem… not enough students. Some classes have 1, 2, 3, and 4 students. The cost per student has to be high compared to the other schools. Maybe with the addition of Kittanning Township, that would alleviate the problem of cost.

Building an addition in Kittanning may be okay, but what happens to the parking and practice field for football? Parking is now at a premium for sporting events, and God knows the football field could not take all the practices plus five or six home games. It’s a mess. It’s time for turf.

Maybe the solution would be to build at West Hills for the seventh and eighth grades where they have lots of room for expansion and a beautiful school. They have two gyms so that would alleviate the problem of building two new ones. If Kittanning needs two gyms, use the one at the junior high plus put the administration offices in the new part of the building. After all, Kittanning is the county-seat of Armstrong County.

Ford City has great school spirit with their winning athletic teams. But the school is old and there is hardly room for expansion. There comes a time when hard decisions have to be made and the directors better make them now because the loan is costing them for the next thirty years. What kind of shape will the school be in by the end of the loan time? The future does not look good. People will still relocate in Butler and Cranberry to avoid the Armstrong school system and taxes.

But I guess it’s too late. They have voted for the renovations. Same old school district that cannot get into the 21st century. It’s just my two-cents worth!

P.S. Why are there no school board meetings held in Kittanning?