Fat Tuesday!
Here are the hordes of angry Pottstown taxpayers making their way to this Thursday’s school board meeting
POTTSTOWN, PA – Today is Fat Tuesday…the last day to fatten up before the Lenten season.
The Mardi Gras celebrations remind us of the five member “Back to the 50’s” voting block of our Pottstown School Board – partying and spending money we don’t have on things our children don’t need.
Ladies and gentlemen…we give you…The Fiscally Irresponsible Five!!
Speaking of which, there is NO neighborhood schools committee meeting tonight. Board member Thomas Hylton needs time to work on the elementary schools master plan and financial budgetary slide show presentations he’ll be speaking about at length during this Thursday’s general board meeting.
Don’t worry folks, as soon as the agenda for this Thursday’s meeting is posted to the district website, we will, of course, make it available on our site for our readers. We here at Save Pottstown!! like to promote events before they happen…not report on them weeks after the fact. Thursday’s meeting allows for public comment, so get your ideas together on paper and be sure to attend Thursday’s meeting and tell the board what’s on your mind.
Here are a couple of ideas:
- Exactly how is the district paying for the new expen$ive hi$torically-accurate windows for Rupert and Edgewood Elementary Schools?
- How does this project help our children’s education?
- When will board member Thomas Hylton recuse himself from voting on the windows project, now that $20,000 of his personal finances are directly wagered on the outcome of this project?
- When will board member Valerie Harris recuse herself from voting on projects concerning Rupert, since her employer (her sole mean of income) is an avowed proponent of hi$torically re$toring Rupert using taxpayer funds?
- Why is board member Thomas Hylton not allowing public discussion on his proposals (specifically the Rupert and Edgewood window$ project) during public board meetings?
Please make sure to ask these questions and any others you want answered. Remember, this is a board that promotes open government…so they’re working FOR YOU, the Pottstown taxpayer. Everything’s on the table baby!
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Let’s also ask the following questions:
Why have the members of Pottstown School Board have allowed a single Board Member to speak as if he were the entire Board.
Let’s ask Mr. Huss when he will begin to act as the School Board President…ensuring that all Board members have prior knowledge of all actions regarding other members and that no one Board member is permitted to act without discussion (full discussion) and majority agreement.
Let’s ask the full Board to tell the public both the short and long term educational plan for the children of Pottstown including:
1. When will the children currently in Modulars be integrated back into the buildings.
2. How are the educational needs of all the children in Pottstown being addressed.
3. Where the will money needed to support High School children through the new mandatory state testing come from and what is the plan to ensure that the children pass these new graduation requirement tests?
4. When will they begin to discuss education – the actual purpose of the School Board
5. Why Mr. Hylton has been on Board for now 3 months and never used the word education — of more specifically — how can windows be more important than the future of the children of Pottstown.
6. Why doesn’t Mr. Wasnauck and Mr. Hylton buy Rupert as a private foundation, renovate with private money and sell the building as a historical landmark allowing the School Board to get on with the business of educating the children of Pottstown with what little money is available.
All EXCELLENT point/questions, Iagree!!
Shall we dare to enter into a debate the preception of the ONE MAN CRUSADE and its cry…”Damn the taxpayers, I know what is best for this town!! You voted me into office and that gives me unlimited power to do as I please!!”
We ALL know just because a person gets a win in an election it isn’t a true measure of the ‘voice of the people’ without good turnout at the polls.
This is a Democracy and to stand on a lame platform proclaiming you are acting on the ‘orders’ of the people in a VERY Dictatorial manner says to me that if you strangle and squelch the people long enough when you offer a breath of fresh air they will be forced to accept it!! Sound about right?
We have seen votes of the SB reversed before so take the call to action NOW before that is the ONLY option to stop this madness!!! Keep in mind the battle ain’t over just yet…
I believe SAVE POTTSTOWN is a wonderful opportunity for readers to finally be INFORMED as well as discuss their thoughts/concerns on the information provided. However, I also believe this site was established to encourage readers to express their thoughts/concerns not only here but at the open forum related to their thoughts/concerns. That unfortunately is not happening. The attendance at all School Board meetings is low as is the attendance at Borough Council and Committee of the Whole meetings. If we are ONLY discussing our thoughts/concerns here what good does that do, none. We all need to rally together and attend the meetings that have us talking so much. If we are not expressing our thoughts/concerns to the people making decisions for us, they think we accept their decisions. It is clear from all the blogs that many do not. Ask for/or print a schedule for all meetings and make an attempt to attend as many as possible. Let you voice be heard. Our future and the future of our community depends on it!
So, if this is ‘Fat Tuesday’ let’s make it a ‘FULLHOUSE Thursday’!!
I can’t speak for anyone but me…much as I’d like to attend more of the Council meetings I can only do so much and I have chosen to focus my attention on SB happenings!!
Informus is right, please attend and if you can’t encourage someone to go in your place or maybe get a rotation set up amongst you and your neighbors and/or friends; it might make the load seem less daunting. There are people attending who haven’t been there in many years and it gives people against what the SB is trying to push through a voice and puts certain people on notice that we matter and care.
This SP ‘movement’ is about changing the direction the SB is taking, not showing up after a decision has been made in an attempt to reverse it – we must be proactive and DEMAND accountibility and ethical behavior. A SB is supposed to hold Education as a top priority and since December the only significcant talk of that has come from the Admin Team and Federation. The 9 at the table have had to concern themselves with minutia and lees-than-productive talk of windows and geothermal heat rather than EDUCATION. It is a SCHOOL Board, afterall.
So, come and save your next blog or rant for the Hearing from the PATRONS of the schools – THURSDAY 7:30pm, PMS.
Thanks again, Informus, for touching on that!!!
Power to the People…
Code Blue!
See you Thursday.