Free Press –
Quakertown School District Cease Fire, Henry Rosenberg and Blooming Glen
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Today’s subjects are the Quakertown School District’s “cease-fire;” a conversation with a Quakertown area man who teaches high school physics in the war zones of Philadelphia; and Blooming Glen may become a national historic district.
I thought about the critics of the Quakertown school district as I chatted with Tom Peterson, a likeable, local fellow the other day. I’ve known him through Richland Meeting where he once presided as Chief Clerk. Last year, he returned to teaching science after a 30-year career in the private sector. He taught in one of Philadelphia’s most troubled schools.
Why in the world would you choose to teach at Frankford High School, I asked?
“I thought about America’s biggest problem that I could do something about,” Tom answered. He was referring to urban public education’s biggest challenge…abject poverty coupled with violence.
To no one’s surprise, the poverty-violence cycle in every American city is repeating…generation after generation. What is surprising is that governments have not proposed workable remedies. Sociologists tell us that if a neighborhood is not safe…if a household is not safe…children will turn out badly.
For example, more than half of Philadelphia’s children do not graduate from high school. Black children are particularly vulnerable…60 percent of black males who fail to graduate end up in jail.
And that cost is staggering. We taxpayers spend $40,000 on each prisoner, each year. Friends, there are two million people in jails across the nation.
Tom Peterson says that if children come to school hungry and scarred though violence, there’s little chance for them to learn. He’s right and his experience is living proof. Some day, I’ll write about our conversation.
Several years ago, I wrote that America would be better off in the long run if we ran urban public schools 24 hours each day, 365 days of the year. Children would be safer, not hungry, and ready to learn. But it would come with a tremendous price tag…although the annual cost of incarceration is staggering too…$80 billion yearly and growing. The investment would pay off because the poverty-violence cycle would end.
Education is the key to America’s future success in an expanding global economy. Unfortunately, our children are not measuring up to their Asian and European competition. Will we have to import scientists, engineers, academics? Tom Peterson says that Philadelphia schools are importing foreign science teachers right now.
Harvard University President Derek Bok said it best decades ago. “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Would you believe that we fund our public schools by zip code? Well we do. Students in the New Hope-Solebury school district have more invested in their education than Quakertown kids. In my opinion, state taxes should pay the entire cost of public education. In the Quakertown school district, Pennsylvania pays far less than 50 percent of the cost…resulting in property owners making up the difference.
For those of you who worry about the loss of local control, how much local control do school boards actually have? Very little. The State Department of Education mandates the academic curriculum and the teachers’ unions determine most of the budgets. As I see it, the only real power that a school board has is to hire and fire the superintendent.
And speaking about superintendents, I’ve become weary of critics hounding the Quakertown school board. Yes, property taxes have climbed 42 percent over a five-year period. And yes, parents worry that the school may not be preparing their children for the rigors of college academics.
But I think that we citizens should take a few collective breaths and let the new superintendent show her stuff. Personally, I think that school board members…not the administration…should respond to public criticism. School board members should not sit idly by while taxpayers take pot shots at the school.
In addition, I wonder whether the school board should sue the state, forcing it to satisfy its constitutional obligation…providing equal education to every child? Unfortunately, I have no answer for the problem of inadequate parenting. Whether a child comes to school ready to learn is an exclusive parental obligation. There are too many parents who fail to inspire their children.
Well, I’ve gotten a lot off my chest…but I feel better
Last item.
Last week, I read that Charlotte and Henry Rosenberger of Blooming Glen are preserving 136 acres of their land. It’s the second Rosenberger farm to be taken away from developers. Bucks County’s open space program acquired the first 285-acre farm in 2000. Now, the two Rosenberger farms completely encircle the village of Blooming Glen, guaranteeing its Victorian look forever. The Rosenbergers hope to put Blooming Glen on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bucks County paid $12,000 per acre to the Rosenbergers for the 136 acres, which will permanently remain as open space. “In the farm land preservation program, the county pays landowners a per-acre sum to forgo their right to sell their property for development,” Scott Kraus explained in the Morning Call, Aug. 3.
“In all, the county has preserved 9,842 acres of farmland, including more than 800 acres in Hilltown,” Richard Harvey said. He’s the county administrator of farmland preservation. “The sooner the land can be preserved in those municipalities, the better.”
Bucks County will ask voters in November to approve an additional $87 million for open space preservation. I urge voters to say yes.
Was the $12,000 per acre price that the county paid a bargain? I had a chat with Kenneth Bennington, Hilltown’s township manager. He told me that the market value for farmland in Hilltown varies between $20,000 and $40,000 per acre. Was the price which Bucks County paid to the Rosenberger’s a steal? Absolutely.
Bravo Rosenbergers!
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith