From buckslocalnews.com
Morrisville Matters campaigns for a 'more balanced' school board in Morrisville School District
By John Williams
BucksLocalNews.com
MORRISVILLE BOROUGH – “The district needs a vision,” Damon Miller, candidate for Morrisville School Board, said in a straightforward tone about the existing arrangement of the school board.
“A long-term vision,” seconded two of Miller’s running mates, Wanda Kartal and Ted Parker.
“And direction, of course,” chimed in Dave Stoneburner, also a candidate for school board.
Miller, Kartal, Parker and Stoneburner are all members of Morrisville Matters, an independent group of Morrisville locals with a mission of “bringing balance” to the representatives of the school board of the Morrisville School District.
“The mindset right now is just chop, chop, chop,” Kartal, a graduate of Morrisville High and life-long resident, asserted, “and that’s not the only answer to our problems.”
“The entire community has no idea whether there is going to be a policy change. We usually hear about something through rumor,” Miller, who has unsuccessfully run for school board in the past, said. “With committee meetings no longer happening, you have no idea what is going on in the schools now.”
The group strongly believes that the current school board needs management experience. It’s the value judgments, not the cost judgments, they all agree, that distinguishes a proactive board from a passive board. It’s the implications of your judgments the ultimately matters.
“One person is a business man,” said Miller, “Mr. Hellmann. He has his own business. What Morrisville needs is community input, interest, involvement and the board needs to be responsive to all of this.”
A board that questions itself and doesn’t just deliberate contentious issues behind closed doors, but rather in a formal, community session, Stoneburner explained, is a board that has effectively done its job.
“Right now, it’s about the bottom line – the numbers behind the program,” he said.
“When you make a decision you need to ask yourself, ‘What is this going to save us,’ or ‘How is it going to save us money,’ and ‘What affect is it going to have on our children?’”
All four said the reason they’re running is to change the course the district is on.
“Going forward,” stated Parker, who is a native of Staten Island, N.Y., “I understand school budgets are going to be smaller. I think they [the board] lack the creativity to get the best bang for their buck. They’re out of touch with the end product of their decisions – the children.”
Stoneburner wants to see more booster support, which he said doesn’t cost the school district a dime. It is volunteerism and will bolster pride in the community.
“We need to find a way to reach out to those people, even if it is one time a week,” Miller offered.
“Or even one time a month,” proposed Stoneburner.
Kartal said she remembers the day’s when community members used to proudly affirm, “I bleed blue and gold,” and the camaraderie with being a “Bulldog.” A moniker closely aligned with Penn State University’s “I bleed blue and white.”
“The town needs to be alive and vibrant again,” she said.
Kartal is a mother of two boys who are students in the Morrisville School District. Tyler, a sophomore at the Bucks County Technical High School, participates in sports and is enrolled in the Automotive Technology program and already holds some certifications. Her youngest, Wesley, is in the sixth grade and is an active member of the music department as well as the Service Leadership Club.
"I wanted my kids to experience my small town,” she said. “That’s important to me. It’s been a wonderful experience. As far as the accessibility of the teachers, I have had no problem with any of them, whatsoever.”
Miller said they’ve been going door-to-door, talking with residents and said they’re “in the community.” He found that most residents are looking for value in their school district, regardless of the tax structure.
“They don’t want the money wasted,” he said. “They just don’t want to pay money into a system that’s not producing kids that are capable of going out and providing for betterment of the area.”
“You can make cuts, but if you don’t have a sense/vision of what those cuts can or will do, that’s no good,” Parker said.
They said the district must continue to find out what colleges are looking for in incoming students, effectively booster, create a dialogue within the community by once again holding community involvement meetings and urge basic input of opposing ideas even if it they aren’t popular.
As Miller described, “It’s one of those things where you ask yourself, ‘Where is the value?’ If my car keeps on breaking down, I’m not going to keep putting money into it if I know I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new one.
“For the amount of money were spending, I don’t believe there’s a good majority of people in the town that think they’re getting their money’s worth out of the district. And they’re right and we’re hear to change that,” he avowed.
Originally published Thursday, March 31.
