Spend Our Money to Renovate Schools But Not Consider Redistricting and Maybe Reducing Buildings?

Council Rock embarked on an ambitious rebuilding plan about three years ago, talking about renovating all its buildings which wouldn’t be cheap. This was after they had commissioned a study that was expected to have called for building another school. But instead, the demographics showed a downward trend in enrollment. So there was no need [...]

Richboro Middle School Redistricting — Two Options Up for a Vote Tomorrow — Will We End Up with a Geographically Segregated Board?

As I’ve noted before, the School Board has been mulling over ideas to get all Richboro Middle School graduates sent to one high school, as opposed to the current situation where part of the graduating class goes to South and the other part to North.  For the past few years, they have offered students a [...]

Melsky Property Sales Agreement Renewal Up for Discussion

One of the items shown on the agenda for tonight’s meeting of the School Board is a discussion item regarding an agreement renewal for the Melsky Property sale to Toll Brothers.  This agreement caused a swirl of controversy during a period about two to three years ago, when Toll Brothers threatened to hold up selling [...]

Taxpayers Beware: Richboro Redistricting Would Create a Geographically Segregated Council Rock School Board — May Have Gigantic Cost/Tax Consequences for Years

One of the consequences of the proposed redistricting Richboro Middle School could have a much bigger impact on the future than simply the question of where students will go to school.  What is being proposed could potentially shift the power in Council Rock toward one of the two high schools.  With that power would come [...]

Philadelphia Magazine Ranking of Top 50 Public High Schools in the Area — Council Rock North at #31; South at #35

A few weeks aago I posted about the most recent rankings by Philadelphia Magazine of the Top 50 public high schools. At the time, there wasn’t an on-line list available and I published information based on reading the print magazine. There’s now an on-line version of the list of schools available, at this link.  Because [...]

Update on Flooded Gym Floor at Maureen M. Welch Elementary

At yesterday’s meeting of the Facilities Committee, an update was given on the damaged gym floor at Maureen M. Welch Elementary School. I posted in August that a flood had occurred when a sprinkler fitting failed, with anywhere from 50% to 100% of the floor needing replacement. Here’s where it stands: The damaged part of [...]

What’s the Role of the Board and Administration to Keep the Public Informed?

I believe there is a need on the part of the District to keep the general public (as taxpayers who fund the School District’s operations) advised about what is going on, especially in areas where it may affect the budget (and in turn, taxes).  The Board meetings would be one time (and probably the most [...]

2009 PSSA and AYP Results: Some Good News, Some Concerns

The results are now in for Districts and Schools for the PSSA tests taken last Spring. These contain a ton of data and provide one way of looking at progress and problems.  You can see the data at this link to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (along with links there to prior year data). When [...]

Council Rock Moving in the Wrong Direction? Philadelphia Magazine Rankings Drop

The September issue of Philadelphia Magazine is on newsstands, and as they have done the last few years, they print a ranking of schools in the Philadelphia area. This year’s issue has a list of the Top 50 public high schools.  Now, I would always take a magazine’s rankings with a grain of salt.  But [...]

Flooding Issues at Council Rock North High School and Sol Feinstone Elementary

The other day I posted about flooding at Maureen M. Welch Elementary School bad enough that 50% if not 100% of the gym floor  will need to be replaced.  There have been other flooding issues this summer at other schools in Council Rock as well.  None seemed to cause as much damage as at Maureen [...]