The New Hope-Solebury School District Board of Directors approved a proposed final budget for the 2014/2015 fiscal year at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday night.
An audio tape of the meeting is available here.
The budget proposal had drawn even more attention than usual because it included a major campus renovation, and the administration’s view of a critical need to modernize was met by calls for fiscal restraint.
As far as the free exchange of ideas, there is a little more leeway at the school board committee meetings. There will be a joint Facilities Committee and Finance meeting to be held on Thursday, June 12, at 6:30 PM where the Finance Committee will attempt to show that there is enough money- $36,000,000,to spend on a Campus Revitalization Plan, while the Facilities Committee will try to convince the public that there is a DIRE need to go for everything in the plan.
The meeting is scheduled to be held in the small district conference room at 186 West Bridge St. and not the 475 seat auditorium. This just goes to show the arrogance of the Board members and their supt. that the community is not interested and won’t show up. It’s up to people like myself and Jane Adele to convince enough people to attend so that the meeting is held in the auditorium.
Since no committee meeting is audio taped by the district-the fear of having a true and accurate record of the proceedings-hopefully there will be people who bring camcorders and put the whole meeting on You Tube.Public exposure is the best weapon against a totalitarian regime.
Prior to the meeting attended by approximately 50 people, there was a press release from the district that a tentative agreement was reached between the teachers and the district regarding the teacher’s contract. Hence,I guess the teachers felt that there was no need for them to show as they have been doing for the last few meetings.
As far as community input, one has to realize that there is a world of difference between the meetings held by the New Hope Borough Council where a free exchange of ideas and comments is encouraged and yes, RESPONDED TO by the Council members UNLIKE the New Hope Solebury School Board where the only response you get is (a)thank you for your comments or (b) we will take your comments and questions under advisement. Simply put the board members, taking their lead from the supt.,want to be as NON transparent as possible. Since knowledge is power, they don’t want to share any of that knowledge with the public.
Word has it that there was a “lousy” turnout at the board meeting, and that the public could make comments about the budget before the vote – but that they shouldn’t expect any direct answers from Board members if they were to ask a question about the budget. So much for inviting the community to participate!
Budget passed with little public input.