School budget decimation
To the editor:
During my tenure as the member of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education from 1991-2003, I experienced a total of five defeated school budgets. Recently, I attended the "open public" session hosted by the three municipalities (led by township Mayor Vanessa Sandom) during which the school district’s defeated budget was supposed to be evaluated.
It was shocking to experience the lack of concern and public discussion these municipal leaders showed for the needs of our school district. The hiring of an expensive accountant, not directly associated with our community, should not be a substitute for honest debate and deliberation. Instead of seriously digging into the district’s budget in an "open public" session, as in the past, they hired an accountant, to privately advise them behind closed doors. No report from this "expert" has appeared in public, to date, but it has been requested by the school board.
As a senior citizen, I would love to see my taxes lowered responsibly. Yet, there was something terribly flawed with this process. All three municipalities including Pennington (whose electorate passed the budget) just sat back and indicated that, in the spirit of "working together," they would agree to allow this largest budget cut in the district’s history. At no time was there any discussion of the effects these cuts would have on the district for many years to come. The total of all five of the budget cuts that my boards faced amounted to $1.7 million and we went through some pretty rough years. This year the municipalities required, with this one cut, a $2.14 million decrease. This certainly is one of the largest school budget cuts, percentage-wise, in this entire state.
These officials did not represent their individual municipalities and argue in open public session over "how much," or "why such a large amount," or is this more than is "usually cut," or anything else. They played a "behind-closed-doors" game I have never seen in this Valley. This game and this process were scary to say the least.
The truth is: Hopewell Township’s budget will increase this coming year by 7.75 percent. The school district’s budget was going to increase by 6.58 percent. This $2.14 million cut is going to hurt the education system in Hopewell Valley for many years to come!
Each municipality knows the devastating effects of the state’s new law, S1701, on their budget processes. Why were these individuals, who made this huge, unprecedented cut to the public education system of our Valley, not mindful of these restraints, more leery of this process, and who was orchestrating it?
Sally Turner
Hopewell Township
Enforcement needed!
To the editor:
In his May 10 article, "Township will ask DOT to make changes on Route 31," John Tredrea states that connecting Crest and Orchard avenues by extending Plymouth Street "would eliminate the need for a school bus pick-up and drop-off on northbound Route 31, which has a very narrow shoulder." I’m guessing this statement is actually a compressed blending of several disparate topics discussed simultaneously at one of the town meetings held to solicit neighborhood comment on the changes discussed in Mr. Tredrea’s article.
First, to my knowledge, no children from Crest, Orchard or Plymouth are picked up or dropped off by school buses on Route 31. Connecting the roads has nothing to do with, and certainly will not eliminate the need for buses to stop for child residents of Route 31. What is outrageous, however, is the connection between Route 31’s very narrow shoulder and school bus stops. The narrow shoulder was the reason given by a township authority for the failure to enforce the law whereby motorists must stop for stopped school buses.
This important law is repeatedly broken several times daily as many cars and trucks continue to accelerate past stopped buses. The brazen disregard for our children’s’ safety has multiplied since installation of the light at Denow Road. Where I used to witness about three offenses per week, the norm now is as many as six vehicles per bus stop, per day. The potential income from fines alone could easily fund whatever might be necessary to enforce traffic laws on this tiny stretch of road, but no effort is made because there is no place for police to pull over offenders. Couldn’t the same camera technology used to catch drivers who run red lights be adapted to target those who pass stopped school buses?
Tremendous amounts of time and money have been and will continue to be spent in efforts to improve the safety of Route 31 between I-95 and the Pennington Circle. Elimination of left turns may help, especially at Diverty Road, but still fails to address a key problem namely the area between I-95 and Denow Road, a densely populated residential area. Most drivers, having just been discharged from I-95, are ill prepared for the sudden change in driving expectations. Thrown into the mix are seasoned travelers who know that speed limits and school bus laws will not be enforced. The more improvements are implemented that make Route 31 look like a highway, the less drivers will respect or notice the need to stop unexpectedly for a school bus or even slow down for a resident turning into a driveway. The problem is not so much that local residents need to stop for left turns or school buses, but that all drivers entering township roads need to know that traffic laws will be strictly enforced.
Sandra Muccioli
Hopewell Township
Unnecessary scare tactic
To the editor:
I am writing to respond to the recent letters regarding the Martin Tract.
The Hopewell Township Committee signed a contract with the SADC to sell the development rights to the Martin Tract in September. We are fortunate to have been accepted by the SADC into this program to preserve the farmland portion of the Martin Tract and to receive approximately $2 million, which we can use for future agricultural and open space preservation projects. When the Township Committee signed this contract, the requirements of the deed of easement were clear. Our Hopewell Township Agricultural Advisory Committee is not in favor of the delays that have occurred in proceeding with this project. This land is being preserved for agricultural purposes with excellent existing environmental controls already in place. With the maximum impervious cover limits and the conservation plan that will be required because of the highly erodible soils, it is not possible for a new owner to cover the land with greenhouses or build a polluting factory farm on this land. To state otherwise is an unnecessary scare tactic.
The neighbors adjacent to the Martin Tract have enjoyed this land as parkland at no cost for years. If they wish to control exactly how the land is managed, they have an excellent opportunity now to pool resources and buy it at auction. They can then come up with a creative plan to manage the land as long as it remains forever available for agriculture.
With regard to Ted Stile’s statement that tax revenues from farmland assessed properties being very small, it is important to point out that people who own homes on farm assessed land pay as much tax for the land that their houses sit on as every other homeowner in the township. Farm-assessed property owners are not given a tax break in any sense on our homes and the 1-3 acres around these homes. The land outside this envelope is given a low farmland assessment, which is appropriate as municipal or school services are not required. The farmland assessment program has been the single most effective open space preservation initiative in the state. Last winter at a conference evaluating farmland preservation programs, Dr. Stiles suggested that we should consider eliminating farmland assessment in towns like Hopewell Township so that the towns can buy up this land and "control" how it is used. Clearly this would be disastrous. Hundreds of acres of farmland would soon fall into development.
The idea that farmland is better "controlled" by government or nonprofits is counter-productive in our effort to preserve land and to encourage agriculture. Private farm owners invest their own money and hard work and have been excellent stewards of the land in Hopewell Township. Our town is fortunate, for instance, to have such tax contributing horse farms as Blue Stone Farm, Southwind Farm and Duncraven to name a few. Rather than attacking private land ownership, we need to be purchasing agricultural easements from farmland owners through programs such as our Planning Incentive Grant for farmland preservation. While some lands preserved in Hopewell Township with conservation easements are currently being farmed, they are not protected over the long term for agricultural use and no longer return any tax revenue to the town. Several of these preserved pieces are already going fallow.
With the economic conditions as they are today, it is extremely difficult to make a profit farming. Yet in counterpoint to this we are learning about how damaging our present prevalent food has become to our health. "Read Fast Food Nation," by Eric Schlosser and the "Omnivores Dilemma," by Michael Pollan to get a better understanding of the degradation of our food supply over the past 50 years. Then look at the alarming increase in obesity, autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, diabetes and cancer. We need to wake up and seek out and support those people who are bucking the economic tide and trying to grow/produce healthy locally grown food. Every time we buy food, we vote. We can study and build on such creative examples as the Hamills and the farming they have spawned at Cherry Grove Farm.
When opportunities like the Martin Tract farmland preservation arise, let’s keep our focus on promoting local agriculture rather than fighting to put more restrictions on the land, placing further economic burdens on the farmer and making the land not economically viable for future farm use. As a town we need to be spreading the word among the regional and even national sustainable agricultural community to attract good farmers to our community and let them know about opportunities like the Martin Tract. And we need to realize the many benefits of our existing local farms and work to encourage them to evolve and prosper in the future.
Lucia Stout Huebner
chairwoman, Hopewell Township
Agricultural Advisory Committee
Historians say thanks
To the editor:
The Hopewell Valley Historical Society would like to thank each and every one of you who came out for our third annual Spring Social at Hopewell Valley Vineyards. We wanted to provide a "kick-off" to Pennington Day, and, after warming up in the tasting room, kick and dance you did!
We also would like to thank the following individuals and businesses: N.T. Callaway Real Estate L.L.C., Main Street Design, Hopewell Valley News, David Berends, The Lifters, The Catering Company, Kerr Korn and Flower Stand, Pennington Presbyterian Church and especially Hopewell Valley Vineyards for providing the spectacular setting.
In addition, we also thank those of you who joined our society and those of you who could not attend but made monetary donations. All of you are a part of Hopewell Valley history, and we hope you will continue to support the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
Debbie Gwazda
and Benji Orr, co-chairs
HVHS Spring Social
Chorus gets
support!
To the editor:
On behalf of the Hopewell Valley Chorus (whose members come from all over the Delaware Valley), we thank these Mercer County and Hunterdon County businesses for their support during 2006. Their generous gifts along with our ticket sales and membership dues helped us provide $4,000 in scholarships this spring to members of the Trenton Children’s Chorus and to graduating seniors at Hopewell Valley Central High School.
Additional funds came from 30 individuals in Mercer, Hunterdon, and Bucks Counties. Thanks to: Amboy National Bank, Avanti’s Italian Ristorante, Dr. Robert Bowden, Ernest Consoli and Sons, Inc., Commerce Bank (Flemington), Donna’s Hair Studio, Ferry House, Flemington Central Liquors, General Land Abstracts, Hopewell Pharmacy, Hopewell Valley Community Bank, Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Haircutters, Huntland Farm Boarding Stable, The Independent Traveler, Jim’s of Lambertville, Max’s Bistro, New Jersey Business and Industry Association, Nursery Lane Kennels, Nutt, Inc., Pennington Sales and Service (John Deere), Pennington Quilt Works, Princeton Fuel Oil, Raymond James Financial Services, Robert N. Ridolfi, LLC, Rosedale Mills, Inc., Daniel Saporito, DMD, Shop Rite of Pennington, Schulte Restorations, Jack Vlasac & Co., and Wildflowers Inn, Pennington. These are merchants worthy of your support for their wonderful generosity.
Be sure to come hear the chorus next week, as we sing the National Anthem at the Veteran’s Park dedication (Memorial Day at 2:30 p.m. adjacent to the Hopewell Township Municipal Building) and on June 2 at Hopewell Valley Community Night with the Trenton Thunder, 7 p.m.
Bill Williams, president
Stockton
About HVRSD
technology
To the editor:
Judith Ferguson, HVRSD district superintendent, said she was disappointed "but not shocked" by the budget’s defeat. She went on to say that she didn’t interpret the defeat as an indictment of the spending plan the district put together. "We held two public hearings, and we never heard any complaints against the local school budget," she said. "All we heard was ‘My property taxes are too high,’"
At the meetings I attended, I heard several complaints about the spending plan. If one were convinced that the HVRSD intended to deliver a cost-effective education, I don’t believe anyone would worry about tax increases (but the tax increases wouldn’t be so great!). Here, I am addressing the competence of the spending for technology.
The Hopewell Valley Regional School District has approximately 3,300 students in grades K-12. There are currently 1,700 computers in the district on which approximately 230 different software applications reside.
Although I have observed poor computer utilization in the schools and have heard concerns brought up at the town meeting, the 2006-2007 spending plan includes the purchase of approximately 320 computers for K-12 for $350,000, approximately 11 servers K-12 (three for the WAN) for $73,000, approximately 35 voip phones for $10,000, and approximately $60,000 for software licensing and upgrades.
With the appropriate adapter, regular phones can be used for voip calls. The Technical Plan, which can be found at http://www.hvrsd.k12.nj.us/district/tech/techplan.htm, contains no explanation of why these voip phones cost more than 20 times the current market price for a phone. The Technology Plan also contains no information about ubiquitous Internet access, the HVRSD Intranet, software applications, hardware, etc. What is the purpose of having 230 different applications installed?
The HVRSD curriculum can be found at http://www.hvrsd.k12.nj.us/district/curriculum/index.htm. In it, there are three engineering/design courses that are part of the "Project Lead The Way" initiative. These courses all use an AutoCAD application, which makes the $350,000 new computers expenditure a necessity! Is this expenditure so the students can use a computer rather than a drafting board justified? I firmly believe that the purpose of an education is to teach students to think. I believe it is very wrong to introduce a student to a software application and to build any student expectations that the software application will do the thinking for them!
Concerning the purchase of servers and software application licensing/support, there is an "open source" trend that has gained serious momentum (at least in industry) in the past few years. Does it make sense for a school district to ignore this open source movement and to continue to spend incredible amounts of money when products of comparable, if not greater value can be downloaded for free?
When Dr. Ferguson claimed she would like to partner with the community to deliver a cost-effective education, I had hoped that she would be willing to accept help available in the community (I have offered any help I can provide) and to convince the voters that the HVRSD is willing to provide a cost-effective education!
Brian J. Mc Hugh
Pennington

