Free Press –
Pennridge Quakertown Hall Fame, Quakertown Superintendent, Stand Up, Gay British Policy
Dear Friends,
Good morning. The Quakertown School Board decided it didn’t need any help from me. Last week, it chose a new superintendent instead of returning to square one and continue to search.... as I suggested.
And last week, space limits prevented me giving the background for the Pennridge recipients of the sports Hall of Fame. There’s some good news. There may be a cure for spinal injury. Finally, the British military no longer exclude gays and everyone’s pleased.
First on the list.
Quakertown schools have a new Superintendent, the seventh since Joseph S. Neidig led the formation of the Quakertown consolidated school district in the early 1950’s. Lisa Andrejko arrives July 1 to run the Quakertown school system.
Notably, she’s taking a pay cut. As superintendent of the Norristown schools (her recent job), Andrejko earned about $162,000. Her post in Quakertown will pay $155,000.
That’s interesting. The popular Jim Scanlon earned $142,000 before leaving for a better job last year. I wonder if he would have continued as superintendent had the school board improved his salary to the tune of $155 or $160,000? It’s too late now, of course.
I hope that Andrejko is spectacularly successful. If she is, she’ll change Meredith’s rule. For years, I’ve said that the school board gets it right every other time. Historically, according to me, Quakertown chooses a successful superintendent followed by one who fails to measure up.
Andrejko is not a stranger to this region. She was a principal at Southern Lehigh’s middle school before her move to Norristown. In addition, Andrejko, 52, has been an adjunct professor at DeSales and Lehigh Universities.
I’m a music lover, as most of you know. Andrejko began her career as a music teacher in the East Stroudsburg school district. Wouldn’t it be grand to have Quakertown join neighboring Palisades and Pennridge school districts by forming a school orchestra?
Seriously, the school board has confidence in Andrejko and it voted 8-0 to approve her. But she’ll have her hands full. Homeowners are becoming more restless as they see their school taxes accelerate each year. And parents worry that the curriculum does not adequately prepare their children for college math and science.
Let us pray that she’s a winner!
And now to the Pennridge-Quaketown Hall of Fame. Last week, space limited me from writing about the three Pennridge winners. They are Bob Clymer class of 1958, Alan Frick ’67, and Joan Price ’62.
Clymer, the brother of State Representative Paul Clymer, was an all Bux-Mont football player before winning letters at Muhlenberg. After his college days were over, Clymer spent 36 years coaching track, plus 34 and 23 years, respectively, coaching high school football and wrestling.
Frick won three letters in football and two in baseball where he played third base. He made the all Bux-Mont baseball team for two years before finding equal success at East Stroudsburg. There, he won all league honors from 1970 until 1972 and was captain of the team during his senior year. Frick continued to play baseball after college and was inducted into the Tri County Baseball hall of Fame.
Price was a varsity starter for her softball team for four years and was co-captain in her senior year. From 1959 to 1964, she played up and down the east coast for the Perkasie “Glenettes,” a girls class "A" amateur softball team. Price coached undefeated junior high softball teams at Pennridge. From 1990 until 1995, she coached the Pennridge varsity softball team.
These three athletes joined Quakertown stars Kenneth Biehn, John Detweiler, and Shirley Neas at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies earlier this month.
Item.
There may be a cure for spinal
paralysis right around the corner. On May 10, I heard Dr. Joy Brown interview
Dr. Barth Green on radio station
Green was thrilled that laboratory testing has gone so well. By manipulating the cells of paralyzed animals and mixing them with new pharmaceutical drugs, spinal injuries have disappeared. Green expects the Federal Drug Administration’s approval to begin human trials in a few months.
If you want to help the research funding, call 1-888- Stand Up (1-888-782-6873). Or, Google Buoniconti.
Last item.
The
“The biggest news about the policy, they say, is that there is no news,” the story continued. “It has for the most part become a non-issue.”
In January, retired U. S. General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times in favor of the military abandoning its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Look at this disconnect.
To bolster its retention problem, military recruiters have lowered the bar on quality. The services have relaxed their policy of prohibiting convicted criminals to enlist. According to The Week (Mar. 16), “Last year, desperate recruiters inducted 1,605 convicted felons into the armed forces, along with 44,000 convicted of serious misdemeanors.”
And at the same time, “The military booted more than 11,000 gay men and women already serving their country…most notably 322 linguists and 54 Arabic specialists…just when we need them the most,” The Week noted, Mar. 30. We can thank the Clinton administration for the “Don’t Ask” mess it created in 1993.
Sometimes, our federal government makes me stop and shake my head in amazement. And I’ve been shaking my head a lot more these days.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith