Who is running for Township Committee?
To the editor:
I recently found in the mail a glossy, color campaign flyer, complete with professionally done matching photographs and layout, and an address label which speaks of mass distribution.
For a moment I wondered, "Who is running for the Hopewell Township Committee now?" Then it hit me. While it looks very similar to the political campaign we recently witnessed last fall, this one is actually about the school board. Interestingly, New Jersey is one of the states that does not structure school board races to be party aligned. It is the state’s small attempt at minimizing special interest pressure. However, with what I see around me I can only guess what is coming next! Don’t be fooled by the incoming onslaught of professional campaign literature. A change, just for change’s sake, is usually not an improvement at all!
Fran Bartlett
Titusville
Great expectations
To the editor:
It is time someone had the courage to ask: "What are you doing with my children?" Most are whispering rather than standing up for that which they believe; and, no one will challenge "the system."
Our three children attend Hopewell Elementary School. We are well educated and have great expectations for our children’s futures. We trying to give our children a good life and create strong, educated, respectful citizens.
The school grading system has been complicated with absurd categories (i.e. organizes materials and personal belongings). Grades are based on the letter "V," with + and -, but pluses alone will rarely be seen, according to the school.
Our educational system is lacking respect and order. Children are cuddled and coddled. Teachers have lost control because they are afraid of offending someone while doing their jobs. With "No Child Left Behind," we are carrying those who need to repeat on our coattails, teaching those who might be leaders that it is better to be sheep.
Test criteria should be returned to levels that meant what they said where outstanding was exactly that. Our children need homework and lessons. Return to what worked for hundreds of years producing intellectuals, leaders with a vision for the future, not drones in society.
Bring back mathematics, reading, science, English grammar, spelling, handwriting, art and music. Give our children a good basis from which to grow. Give them grades, not infantile, meaningless letters of padding. Tell them they have done excellent work and let them know when they have not performed well. We want to know if our children are excelling or if they need help. Is that not why the PTO or PTA was formed, to open a door of communication between parents and teachers? Or is it there to raise money for frivolous activities?
As for discipline, it is a parent’s responsibility to teach their child respect and control. If a child steps out of line, the parent is responsible for his/her actions, not the school. Teachers should not have to worry about maintaining control in classrooms. My children attend school to be educated, not to worry about the behavior of others, disruptions or bullying. Parents need to be parents.
Parents need to voice their opinions, worry about their children and fear for their child’s future. This is our school. We are the public it is serving. We need to demand that our School Report Card demonstrate that we do not fall in the average NJ ratings, but exceed them!
We live in a beautiful county and pay even lovelier taxes. Give our children what they deserve. Teach them to be doctors, lawyers, engineers.
Teach our children to be strong-minded critical thinkers so when they are called upon to be leaders of the next generation they will not only recognize the qualities of good leaders, they will be the embodiment of great leaders. Then and only then will this district know that no child was left behind.
Paul and Elisabet Schank
Hopewell Township
Administrative
costs reasonable
To the editor:
As I talk to people in the community about our school budget, a question I frequently hear is in regards to our administrative costs.
The administrative costs for the Hopewell Valley school district are 3 percent of the overall budget. But, I wondered how does our administrative costs compare with districts in our area? So, I checked the web sites for some of the area school districts and found: Princeton’s administrative costs are 5 percent of their budget. West Windsor is 7.5 percent of their budget and Montgomery is 8 percent of their budget. Hopewell Valley has the lowest administrative percentage of 3 percent.
So what makes up this number? First, we have a superintendent . She is responsible for managing a $65M organization with 6 schools, approximately 600 employees and over 4,000 students. This includes overseeing finance, budgeting, paying bills, facilities, curriculum, teacher evaluation, teacher selection, benefits administration, special education, contract negotiations, state reporting, community relations, board relations, overseeing the Web site and cable station, managing all facilities, information systems, legal services, etc. Second, we have a business manager with a small staff who maintains our operating budgets, payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, capital projects, benefits administration, debt service administration, etc.
Our administrators have meaningful positions that provide the infrastructure enabling our students to learn in a productive, efficient environment on a daily basis through a very capable teaching staff. Successful organizations have strong leadership and management reporting so they can analyze results and trends in order to determine what is best for students, staff and taxpayers. Our administration provides critical management reporting with a disciplined, financial approach.
I believe our proposed 2007-08 budget is fair. Keeping things in perspective, I believe our administration costs are in line with the budget, and I am voting yes for it. Please join me in supporting our students and our staff by voting yes on this year’s school budget.
Kim Bruno
Hopewell Township
Attention veterans!
To the editor:
Beginning March 26, the regular monthly meeting of the Hopewell Valley Veterans Association will be held on the fourth Monday of each month. This is a change from the first Monday of each month.
Although some of you may think that progress for the memorial is not moving fast enough, progress is nevertheless moving ahead. We have a tax-exempt number and our application for our IRS 501(c)(3) status (tax deductible donations) has been submitted and we are waiting for it to be approved. Fundraising plans have been executed and preliminary verbal responses have been very encouraging. Anyone wanting to make a donation may do so by mailing it to our association president. Please look at our permanent article in the "Events List" section of this newspaper for further details.
It would be nice and very encouraging if we were to see a couple of new faces at each of our meetings. I’m guessing there must be about 1,000 veterans in this area, plus a number of widows, but we usually see the same faces at our monthly meetings. That means that less than 1 percent of our veterans are involved in planning this memorial. You are a "veteran" if you have served in any of the armed services, regardless of the length of time, or whether or not you have been involved in combat, and received an honorable discharge. I’ve talked to several of you over the years and it appears that some of you believe that if you were not in actual combat, you are not a veteran. That is not true! If you are getting a veteran’s deduction on your property taxes, you are a veteran! We would like to see many more of you, including the widows, to come to our meetings and give us your ideas.
Plans are being made to have a dedication ceremony for Memorial Day. Hopewell Valley Veterans Association will hold this ceremony on May 26, Saturday, at the same site we had groundbreaking ceremonies last Memorial Day and Veterans Day near the township Public Works building. We will begin to meet every Friday at 10 a.m. beginning April 13 at the township Municipal Building.
Hopewell Borough will have their Memorial Day parade on May 27 and Pennington Borough will hold its Memorial Day parade on May 28.
Hope to see at least a couple of you at the next meeting April 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hopewell Township Municipal Building.
Sevy Di Cocco
HVVA trustee
An attractive alternative
To the editor:
It has come to my attention that the recent proposed acquisition of the Twin Pines property by Hopewell Valley has come under scrutiny by aviators who frequently use the airport. As a resident of Hopewell Valley and a student at Hopewell Valley Central High School, I would like to affirm my support for this purchase and call attention to its potentially beneficial outcomes.
I would like to first point out that the community in which the property is located is fully behind the purchase of the land and its potential use for playing fields, parks, and other forms of recreation. This township is always looking for ways to better accommodate recreation and sporting for its residents, and inversely its residents are always pushing for greater development of athletic fields and facilities. It is for this reason that I have no doubt that the township as a whole is fully behind the acquisition, as it will be a beneficial and necessary step in solidifying the growth of athletics and recreation in the township for years to come.
Aviators will point out that turning this airport into a park or playing fields will destroy what is to them an important runway and facility for their aviation livelihood, but I would ask them to consider the alternatives. The sale of the Twin Pines property is all but imperative, and the only other option for its use is as a housing development. Unfortunately, it appears that the future for this property is no longer in aviation, but rather in either recreational or residential use. I would also like to add that the expiration of the airport will not leave its former patrons out in the cold, as they will be able to take up their aviation needs at Trenton-Mercer Airport, less than10 minutes away by car and surely less that that as the bird, or in this case the plane, flies.
Aside from the obvious value of this property as a recreation facility, it is important to note that the township has proposed the idea of creating a museum or monument involving some of the hangars in order to preserve the rich history of aviation that Twin Pines embodies. I have no doubt that such a museum, in conjunction with parks and playing fields, would be a very attractive alternative to a housing development.
As a student representative of the Hopewell Valley Parks and Recreation Committee, I can assert my confidence that this land will be used to its full potential for years to come under the nourishment and development of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Randy Jones
Titusville
School secretaries
share their concerns
The following was written to members of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education and submitted to the HVN for publication:
Many secretaries attended the Board of Education meeting on March 26. At that meeting several board members took the opportunity to make public comments concerning their general view on health care coverage and retroactive pay for the present unsettled contracts (secretaries, custodial/maintenance, paraprofessionals).
We would like to respond to those comments by first stating that the average salary for a secretary is $38,000. More than half of the school districts in Mercer County compensate their secretaries better than Hopewell Valley yet none of them are required to contribute toward their health benefits. We have 31 secretaries in the district, many of whom are also taxpayers in Hopewell Valley. Just under half of these employees do make contributions to their health care premiums. We do not get bonuses or have 401Ks, nor do we have disability insurance. We have been working without a contract since July 1, 2006. We have made many attempts to compromise with the board on the health care issue through negotiations and are now in the Fact Finding process during which a neutral party assigned by the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) will make recommendations for a settlement.
The secretaries are the first people to greet the public at each of the schools. For example, if you say the names Joann and Eleanor at Hopewell Elementary, we would imagine many, if not all parents, would know who you mean, and you would find a similar response at all the other schools when you mention the secretary’s name. In the Pupil Services office, many times we are the first people to listen to a very concerned parent whose child has just been classified with special needs. We help prepare budgets, create purchase orders, record pupil attendance, maintain student records, manage accounts receivable and accounts payable, type student IEPs, staff annual evaluations and observations to name a few of the diversified duties of "secretaries."
Please, ask any administrator the value they place on their secretary. We are the "real world" to parents and administrators of Hopewell Valley. Even though we have the respect of the parents and administrators, at the present time we do not feel we are valued by the Hopewell Valley Board of Education.
We certainly recognize the difficult budgetary problems confronting the district at this time and also recognize the challenging issues the board must work to resolve. We would like the board to recognize the many long-time, dedicated employees of the district who have been working without a contract for far too long. It is apparent that the board works diligently in trying to resolve problems when confronted with public concerns.
We are hoping the board is equally concerned that three bargaining units are at the Fact Finding process of negotiations. These units are among the lowest paid employees in the district. The secretaries, custodial/maintenance and paraprofessionals are a very important part of what makes Hopewell Valley an excellent school district.
Hopewell Valley
Secretaries Association,
officers, Susan Ewart
Joann Thomson,
Diane Burkhalter
Judy Kelly
Say yes to budget
To the editor:
Citizens for Hopewell Valley Schools, founded in 2000, is a parent volunteer organization that exists in order to support the education of the children of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District and helps support the successful passage of school budgets and referendums and advocates for better school funding at the state level.
In the current climate of restrictive school funding legislation, coupled with expanding unfunded state mandates, we feel that the HVRSD board and administration has proposed a thoughtful and responsible budget. The budget defeat last year and subsequent cut of $2.14 million by the municipalities exacerbated an already difficult situation and a recurrence would compromise class size and programs.
We urge the citizens of Hopewell Valley to vote yes for the 2007-2008 HVRSD budget to continue the excellent education our school district provides for our children.
Melissa Weeks
Titusville
Judy Hill
Hopewell Township
Hira Ahluwalia
Hopewell Township
Fran Bartlett
Titusville
Lisa Marin Main
Hopewell Township
Steve Lang
Titusville
Jennifer Semple
Titusville
Randee Tengi
Pennington
