We attended the BoE meeting last night and left with almost as many questions as we came with, and certainly with a reinforced view that there is a distinct lack of planning for our school district.
In summary – there is a strong chance that our community will be asked to approve a large bond (high end of $12M) to replace equipment that is still functioning acceptably in a building that might not be used in two years time. And if that sounds absurd to you then we fully agree.
The three biggest decisions facing our community for the school at the moment are:
- The potential regionalization/consolidation with Union and Bethlehem school districts.
- The need to make some costly capital investments in the Franklin Township School building.
- The replacement of Dr. Diaz as the School Superintendent.
These are huge issues for our community and are heavily interlinked, but the current Board has shown no urgency in trying to address them and is now scrambling to push through ill-considered plans to meet external deadlines (e.g. the deadline for getting a referendum on the ballot in November).
Regionalization Study
The Regionalization Study was released in June but last night was the first time that this was shared with the Board. During Public Questions Colin asked Dr. Diaz for more details on the timeline for making a final decision as there has been concern in the community, and the following was shared:
- The plan will be shared at a joint meeting on 05-Sep after which the plan will be published to the FTS school web site. We are not sure if this is the Regionalization Study, a recommended implementation plan or both.
- There is currently no set timeline for making a final decision on when to put the recommendation to a vote, nor how that vote would be structured.
The Regionalization Study funded by the state should made available to the communities immediately and we are making an OPRA request to have that released. This will allow everyone to come to the 05-Sep meeting well prepared on the fundamentals and be able to focus on the proposed implementation plan.
We believe that the implementation plan that will be presented on 05-Sep should address the following elements:
- What are the viable options for consolidation/regionalization with the associated pros and cons for each option, including
- quality of education for the students,
- impact on taxes,
- average duration of bus rides,
- impact to student services (special education, sports, etc.)?
- What is the recommended option?
- What is the timeline for the decision to be taken?
- How will the decision be made (school board members only, referendum across the districts, etc.)
- What is the target date for the implementation?
- Will the proposal result in a consolidation of the school boards, and if so how will it ensure that as the smallest township Franklin retains an appropriate influence on the new board?
Investment Plan/Bond Referendum
The main item on the agenda for the initial public session was titled “Referendum” and was presented by the architecture firm H2M. Simply the title of this section indicates the lack of forethought – the architecture firm should present the architecture plans. The Board should consider the presentation, review the cost of the multiple options and then propose to the community the recommendation for funding. Once the architect is making comments about how best to get a referendum passed by the public you know the train has gone off the tracks.
On the content of the presentation – there is a great deal we can criticize but will keep the comments brief. We are not questioning that there needs to be investment in the facility (assuming the building is still required) but do question the timing and magnitude.
Key points.
- H2M recommended replacing all of the HVAC equipment, even though they acknowledge much of it is still functioning effectively.
- Some of the equipment is very old and all is approaching the end of its normal operating lifecycle.
- Some of the equipment has had significant issues in the past couple of years leading to discomfort for students and staff and in some cases school closures or early closing.
As stated we believe investment is required but our community is not well served by paying an architectural firm to simply recommend a single option rather than explaining the choices to us.
Our community should also be presented with a costing proposal to for a staged replacement program for the HVAC, starting with the units that are least reliable and spreading the cost over many years. We should seek to have bids from local HVAC firms for maintenance contracts and to have them provide a professional opinion on the condition of each unit. We should be told how much the maintenance and repairs have cost in the last 2-3 years, and what the typical escalation on costs is for units of this age.
Very few of us can afford to do all the work our homes need in a single project – we stage it over years and plan for increased maintenance costs on the deferred items accordingly.
At the very least we need to have the option for a deferred implementation explained to us.
Superintendent Vacancy
Dr. Diaz has resigned and will leave on 01-Oct. The Board did not present or even mention the process for appointing a successor duing the initial public session nor are there any job adverts posted that we can see (though the Executive Administrator position is posted). It is our understanding that under the shared services agreement Union selects the Superintendent, but this does not preclude Franklin’s Board President from being involved in the interview process nor the selection decision.
Our district is facing huge questions and we don’t know how or when the leadership position will be filled, nor what say Franklin will have in the decision.
Our Conclusion
Between last night’s meeting and the prior Board meeting our Superintendent resigned and the Regionalizational Study was delivered. The Board’s response? Cancel the July meeting, don’t schedule any special meetings and according to comments by Ms. Cummins at last night’s meeting some of the Board members don’t even bother to attend committees.
As a community we deserve better.