Letters-April 21, 2005

Many happy

with NH-S school
To the editor:
   As a candidate for the New Hope-Solebury School board, I have been speaking with a wide range of residents about issues pertinent to our schools.
   Kids First, a group of six parents, believe, if elected, they will lead our school district in the "right" direction by defeating incumbent board members and other candidates who are newcomers.
   As I travel around our communities, I encounter countless parents and taxpayers who are pleased with our schools. While there is always room for improvement, our school system remains one of Pennsylvania’s highest performers.
   Our administrators, teachers and support staff are dedicated to serving the best interests of our children. Our schools are safe. Our facilities continue to improve.
   Our children come from advantaged homes with supportive parents who have high expectations. Our community deeply values education and provides excellent opportunities for our children.
   In comparison to most school districts in our state and nation, we would do well to count our blessings and keep in perspective what is truly a problem.
   Our school system, of course, has plenty of work to do. Our board needs to listen to and remain responsive to parental concerns. We need to assess test scores that will occasionally go down by working with our principals, teachers, and children to implement improvement strategies.
   We need to reduce excessive spending and develop a timetable for implementing full-day kindergarten. We need to continuously strive to challenge the diverse academic and social needs of learners.
   It is adverse to our district’s mission when candidates engage in a mentality of "us" against "them." We need to expect behaviors of ourselves that we expect of our children as our children are watching and taking their cues from us.
   Our school board needs to reflect the diverse opinions community stakeholders. I ask the electorate to judge the merits of each candidate and decide who has the background, vision, and commitment to bring us together in a constructive spirit of cooperation.

Laurence R. Fieber
Solebury Township

   Mr. Fieber is a candidate for the New Hope-Solebury School Board of Directors.
Don’t tear down

‘work in progress’
To the editor:
   As we get into the swing of the first contested school board election in recent memory, I am dismayed by the atmosphere being created by misstatements, accusations and omissions of fact that are appearing in various "new" articles.
   This should have been a time when people who were willing to step up to this arduous, thankless task could have presented new ideas; instead, it is being used to tear down a work in progress.
   Most recently, the current board has been accused of rubber stamping everything the administration brings to the table. If this were truly the case, would not the most important initiative to the administration, all-day kindergarten, have received a 9-0 vote in favor?
   All-day kindergarten also has received some less than forthcoming treatment by some of those running for office. The board members that voted against this initiative this year had some valid reasons that were not put to rest during the public discussions. Namely, the fact the facility to house this program has not yet been built.
   There was concern there would not be enough room to maintain our desired class sizes if an unforeseen event occurred. It turns out we did not have to wait long for affirmation that putting the cart before the horse was a bad idea. We were advised at the April 11 board meeting that this year’s kindergarten registration is at a record high; almost double prior years.
   We are all in this for the kids first and that includes the appropriate infrastructure to support our programs. Let’s get it built first, and then we can move forward with this extremely worthwhile initiative.
   Much has been made of the approval to hire a human resources person. Nine of the 13 districts in Bucks County have this position and with good reason. Are our memories really that short we forget the huge taxpayer expense New Hope Borough incurred as the result of a lawsuit brought by a former police chief who felt he had been inappropriately fired?
   This school board did not create the social environment we live in where people sue for every perceived misdeed, however, as stewards of the taxpayers dollars, it is incumbent on the board to appropriately safeguard the district against potential actions. Would we rather pay up front or pay the attorneys later?
   The point has been made the Finance Committee has not met in recent months. Committees meet based on need. The budget process was refined by this group last year, and we are now testing out the changes put into place during the current budget discussions.
   If this needs to be further refined, the committee will schedule public meetings to make the necessary changes. Not once is it mentioned the Facilities Committee has met nine times since August based on the ongoing building projects. Is this the type of transparency that we can look forward to?
   "I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or for the gain of friends."
   This is from a code of ethics school boards are expected to uphold while in office. I know from working with Chris Flynn, Sean Hopkins and David Dozbaba that they take this very seriously. Who among the others running will break out and show the voters the good things they want to bring to the table and make this an honest election?

Laura A. Hughes
New Hope

Two candidates

serve township
To the editor:
   I am excited that the Democratic party is alive and well in Delaware Township as evidenced by the fact that there is a contested primary election this June.
   While all of the candidates are worthy, I am pleased to support Kristin McCarthy and Susan Lockwood for the Delaware Township Democratic nomination.
   Kristin serves as a Democratic county committeewoman and has been very active in the party, working on both the local level and assisting county, state and federal candidates, including Rush Holt, in last year’s election. She has also served the township as a former member of the Environmental Commission, and she is currently involved in the Delaware Township school as an Athletic Association coach and active in the Educational Foundation.
   Sue has a long history of service to the township, including terms on the Environmental Commission, the Open Space Committee and the Township Committee, where she also served as mayor. She continues to serve on the Planning Board and the Newsletter Committee and was recently named the outstanding volunteer of the year for Delaware Township.
   Together, Kristin and Sue will make a formidable team in the general election in November. It is important that Democrats vote Tuesday, June 7, in the primary election, and it is even more important that they support Kristin McCarthy and Susan Lockwood for Delaware Township Committee.

Chris Daul
Delaware Township
Democratic Committee
chairman

Artists should

exercise restraint
To the editor:
   The feelings of "outrage" by some area artists over the new Shad poster rules concerning political views are completely unfounded.
   The Lambertville Area Chamber of Commerce is an organization of unelected people with no power to squelch, truncate, abridge, thwart or otherwise stifle anyone’s freedom of speech to express their political views.
   Only the government can do that.
   Artists who have the compulsion to use their talents to convert any venue or event into a quasi-political forum to vent their spleens should exercise some sensitivity not to inject self-serving, irrelevant and inappropriate elements into any given occasion.
   The general populace cannot register their disagreement with this behavior except by boycotting the artists work. Is that what you want?
   Consider this analogy: Greeting people with an outstretched arm and a hearty "Heil Hitler" is an example of freely expressing one’s political views. Would you artists like someone doing that at your wedding? If not, what would you think if the nazi had a front page newspaper article condemning you and your wedding party for censorship?
   To assure the Beacon readers of my credibility, yes, I am an artist.

Keith Kraemer
Lambertville

Stay responsive

to NH-S needs
To the editor:
   I am a candidate for the New Hope-Solebury School board and would like to address some of the points raised in a recent letter by current board president Stephen Fiala.
   At the outset of this letter, I would like to state emphatically that any individual who is willing to serve the community in the role of a board member should be applauded. It is a difficult and often thankless volunteer position. Any differences of opinion that I may have with Mr. Fiala or any other board member are simply that, differences of opinion, not indictments of these individuals’ intent or competence.
   First, I would like to address the issue of administration. I don’t have ready access to the statistics Mr. Fiala offers, but I will take him at his word that the number of administrative positions has remained relatively stable in recent years.
   My concern is not with the number of positions per se. It is the cost that has become associated with these positions that troubles me.
   Let’s take the recently approved human resources professional as a case in point. When this position was voted in, I was a skeptic. Yet, as I’ve listened to board deliberations, I have found some merit in the argument that this role might be necessary given the litigious nature of personnel issues.
   What disturbs me about this position is the way it has grown within the budget. When the hiring of a human resources director was voted on, the measure was passed on the premise that the position cost would be well under $100,000 per year.
   In the proposed budget that was unveiled at a recent board meeting, the human resources director gained an administrative assistant and additional overhead. The new projected cost ballooned to more than $180,000 — nearly the projected cost of the full-day kindergarten program that the board recently voted down.
   Mr. Fiala publicly expressed concern over this cost increase. I applaud his concern. I also wonder aloud the extent to which similar upward drift has occurred over time in other administrative areas.
   In a district as small as New Hope-Solebury, administrative costs will necessarily take a greater portion of the budget than in neighboring larger districts — the cost of each administrator is amortized over fewer students. This situation makes it particularly necessary for the administration and the board to communicate effectively with the public to offer compelling evidence when administrative costs are increased.
   I, personally, remain critical of the board on what I would argue are two key issues involving forethought. The first is full-day kindergarten. The second is the decision to retain two elementary schools.
   Let’s look first at kindergarten. Over the past several years, the board has voted multiple times against full-day kindergarten despite considerable support from parents, teachers and administrators.
   The first time that the board voted against this measure, the reasons seemed understandable. Adding $200,000 to an already growing budget at the last minute may have been untenable. However, given the compelling research evidence in support of extended kindergarten as well as strong local support, the board should have moved long ago from asking, "Should we provide this instruction?" to "How can we provide this instruction?"
   This would communicate to the community that the board is planning strategically to provide this service as soon as is reasonable.
   I have been similarly critical of the decision to maintain two elementary schools. We must weigh the additional costs of two elementary schools against the potential benefit of smaller schools. While I tend to be an advocate of smaller schools, in this case I wonder if the costs associated with having two elementary schools are sustainable over time.
   In particular, I am concerned about the administrative and custodial expenses involved with this arrangement. District documents estimate this figure at more than $350,000 per year — more than the cost of full-day kindergarten.
   In addition, the current elementary schools share multiple personnel, including physical education, music and art teachers, a nurse and a guidance counselor. I assert that, in time, this arrangement will prove difficult to maintain, and there will be a call for full-time professionals in each school — adding additional cost. The board’s fiduciary responsibility demands that it rethink the two-school model.
   Like Mr. Fiala, I hope that the tone of the debate around the school board election remains respectful. That said, it is important to the democratic process that we are able to honestly and civilly disagree when necessary.
   I invite the community to get to know the candidates who I have chosen to support — Amanda Elefante, Tamara Baldasari, Megan O’Brien, Maggie Depp and Carl Glassman (www.nhskidsfirst.com).
   I support this slate not because I agree with each person on the specifics of every issue likely to come before the board, but because I am confident that when we disagree, we will be able to come to compromise in a respectful and open fashion that addresses the needs of the students and teachers while remaining responsive to the demands of the greater community.

William J. Behre
New Hope

Spaghetti dinner

helped victims
To the editor:
   We would like to thank the wonderful teachers and staff at the Lambertville Public School for putting together a delicious spaghetti dinner on April 14 at the school for people impacted by the flood.
   We are so fortunate to live in a community with so many caring and giving people. After working for the past two weeks cleaning up, it was nice to take a break and enjoy a relaxing dinner with lots of fantastic homemade desserts. We greatly appreciate your generosity and your outpouring of care and concern for residents of Lambertville.
   We would also like to thank our wonderful neighbors on South Union and Swan streets who pulled together, once again, to help each other out during our second flooding within seven months. They are a determined and resilient group. The kindness, words of encouragement, and positive attitude helped us all get through the cleanup — again.
   Finally, a big thank you to all the volunteers in town and the firemen who came from outside our community who helped pump out our basements. The local volunteers spent countless hours working with the various areas in town impacted by the flood.
   It was a long few days waiting for the waters to crest and then starting the cleanup to bring our homes back to normal. People from all over town volunteered to house those of us evacuated; others helped to empty our refrigerators and store our food; and people came to help us clean up.
   We have been asked if we would move — not from Lambertville. This is a special community with wonderful people.
   Thank you all.

Caren Franzini
and the Franzini family
Lambertville

Lambertville

open for business
To the editor:
   Life along the Delaware River has always had its ups and downs, and like many residents and business owners in the area, we at The Lambertville Station have learned how to take the good with the bad.
   So when the Delaware River spilled into our lower parking deck on Sunday, April 3, following two days of steady rains, we responded swiftly and efficiently.
   Our staff instituted a 24-hour watch and, once the waters subsided, a cleanup effort that enabled us to open our doors for lunch and dinner 48 hours later.
   Our biggest challenge still lies ahead, however — getting the word out to the public that Lambertville, whose economy is sustained in large part by spring and summer tourism, is indeed open for business.
   So, on behalf of all the merchants in Lambertville, we at The Lambertville Station would like to extend a warm invitation to your readers to visit our quaint village where spring is in full bloom.
   Explore the past at one of our many antique shops; find inspiration in the works of local artists and craftspeople displayed in our many art galleries; enjoy a fabulous meal under a canopy of blooming trees at one of the many gourmet cafes and restaurants.
   By experiencing all that Lambertville has to offer, you’ll be supporting the many local business owners who, through sheer tenacity and love of their trades, have managed to weather yet another storm.

Dan Whitaker
Rose DiMarco
co-owners
The Lambertville Station

Chair apologizes

to shad artists
To the editor:
   I thought this would be a good time to speak about the Shad Festival poster auction.
   I do not think there is any question of the growth and success of the poster auction.
   During my chairmanship, the auction proceeds have increased from $3,000 a year in the early 1980s to over $24,000 a year. The chamber has raised over $220,000 in auction funds since the beginning of the Shad Festival in the early 1970s and helped dozens of aspiring art students to fulfill their dreams.
   Responding to the threat of a derailment of the auction by an outraged resident over the content of a poster in last year’s auction, I agreed to the placement of a disclaimer on the back of the poster.
   To protect the continued success of the poster auction, I made the final decision to add this paragraph. At the time I did not feel that this was censorship.
   In retrospect, I should not have been so harsh. There are two phrases that come to mind. "You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t."
   The other is "No good deed goes unpunished!"
   In an attempt not to offend, I offended the lifeblood of the auction — the artists. Even worse, I may have undermined the event I have nurtured for 14 years.
   I ask our generous artists to understand the reason behind my decision and for our collectors to put this year’s auction proceeds over the top.
   Since I had planned for this to be my final year as chairman of the event, l thank all of the hundreds of artists and volunteers who have helped guide the Shad Festival from the first year to the present and into the future.

Steve Stegman
Lambertville

Don’t silence

shad artists
To the editor:
   If I am understanding this correctly, someone is going to decide what is political or not as far as the shad posters are concerned.
   Who is that someone?
   Art has always been a forum for discussion, not just pretty pictures, and I feel that is so wrong to censor this generous contribution from the artists who live in this town, which has always been open-minded and individual.
   What has happened to us that we could not even put a fish cartoon in a perhaps whimsical political statement?
   This world is fraught with dissension now, and if people are silenced in any way, what chance do we have of the freedom of speech that people are dying for right now? Hypocrites I fear.
   I have been involved since 1980, and unless this is retracted, I will have to think about my participation this year.

Annelies van Dommelen
Lambertville

NH-S among

highest performers
To the editor:
   I am running for re-election to the school board in the New Hope-Solebury School District.
   As the election comes upon us, we as a community need to reflect on the benefits of educating the young people of the district.
   We have spent the past four years investing in an aggressive curriculum renewal program for K-12 reading, math and science and have now begun similar processes for other subjects throughout the district.
   Our SAT scores are the highest in Bucks County, and our ranking is in the top 2 percent out of 501 school districts in Pennsylvania for our PSSA scores. We are the only district in Bucks County that has met all of the criteria to achieve adequate yearly progress as mandated by No Child Left Behind.
   We will always have additional work in order to improve our performance scores across all grade levels, but we must also recognize that this district is one of the highest performing districts in the state.
   The administration, teachers and support staff are all highly dedicated and motivated to meet the needs and challenges of our children. NCLB mandates that schools must have 100 percent of their teaching staff certified as highly qualified. This district meets that expectation.
   Enrollment has increased 45 percent over the past eight years, which has necessitated the building of a new elementary school and the upgrading of our current facilities. This jump in enrollment has caused our operating cost to increase across the district from maintenance of our buildings to the upgrades and maintenance of our playing fields.
   The board and district need to continue to be responsive and open to the community, the parents, children and staff. We need to monitor test scores and make the necessary adjustments for continued improvement. We need to exercise fiscal restraint and accountability while improving the efficiencies of our current programs.
   The board must work in partnership and collaboration with all of the stakeholders. We need to critically examine every expenditure and remove frivolous line items from the budget. We need to be responsive to the entire K-12 students and parents.
   I do research and homework in every decision I make as it concerns the district. I do not make decisions from emotionalism, nor from the "me" mentality. I try to be unbiased in my thinking and make decisions based on data and information.
   I have the educational background and vision to continue the forward momentum of the district. I am committed to all stakeholders in the district for academic, board and fiscal accountability.
   Please vote on May 17.

Christine Flynn
vice president
New Hope-Solebury
School Board of Directors

Citizens must

stop the circles
To the editor:
   The recent flooding on River Road, both Route 29 and Route 32, over the past weekend, which caused unbearable traffic, is only a small taste of things to come.
   The citizens of Lambertville, New Hope and their surrounding areas must wake up now!
   The three proposed roundabouts (circles) on Route 165 are going to create traffic to the likes no one has ever seen before! The inability of local governments and municipalities to stop the unprecedented building of developments in the Amwell and Solebury area (means) the number of cars will only increase drastically. The traffic will only get worse!
   The mayor of Lambertville and the New Jersey Department of Transportation should not, must not, constrict traffic flow. Bridge Streets and routes 179, 165, 518 and 29 are major traffic arteries and must not be constipated by traffic circles.
   Citizens of Lambertville and New Hope, wake up now! Stop the circles!

Stefan Slaby
Stefan’s Automotive Repairs
Lambertville