Spring-Ford's Invisible Budget Raises Taxes 4.2%

Photos by Evan Brandt

Members of the Spring-Ford School Board work together to turn over a blanket using only their feet as part of an exercise undertaken by students and demonstrated Monday night. Maybe next year's preliminary budget was hiding under there as well.

Last night the Spring-Ford School Board unanimously voted to "make public" the preliminary 2019-2020 school budget.

I would like to tell you how much the document calls for spending, but I don't know because nobody seemed to think it was important enough to mention during the meeting.

And afterward, when I asked Superintendent David Goodin how much the budget calls for spending he didn't know either, at least "not off the top of my head."

One might hope that a top administrator of a school district who just had his contract extended for another three years last month and who will be paid more than $198,000 in the first year of that contract, might know how much money his administration has proposed spending next year, but hey, that's just me.

So then I asked Dr. Goodin if the preliminary budget includes a tax increase and, noting that "I know that's all you care about reporting," he said it was "about 4.2 percent."

Asked if there is a copy of the preliminary budget that had just been "made public" and he said "it's online."

Except it isn't.

At least it wasn't on the Spring-Ford website any place that I could find it last night.

These 10 Spring-Ford Marching Band Members have been
chosen to  

march in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, CA.

The 2018-2019 budget can be found on the business office page, the one that did not raise taxes, but no 2019-2020 preliminary budget.

According to the agenda for the Nov. 19 meeting, Chief Financial Officer James Fink gave a presentation on the 2019-2020 preliminary budget, but his presentation is not attached to that agenda, nor does it appear under board presentations page, which don't go past October.

You can't look at the presentation from the minutes of the Nov. 19 meeting because no meeting minutes beyond September are posted on the district web site.

Nor can you watch Fink give the presentation because there are no videos of board meetings posted on the web site beyond October.

So it would seem that the Spring-Ford School Board and I have a very different definition of what "make public" means.

All that said, it is unlikely that taxes will end up going up by 4.2 percent next year.

The preliminary budget is just what it sounds like, a very preliminary look in a ridiculously long budget process driven by Pennsylvania's Act 1.

Not to be outdone, the Spring-Ford High School Marching Band

was on hand last night, all 170 of them, to celebrate winning the

Cavalcade of Bands Championship this year.

That act requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education to issue an "adjusted index" for each school district every year. Think of it as a "tax cap" over which a school budget cannot raises taxes without getting voter approval in the spring primary election.

Given that Spring-Ford's index for the 2019-2020 school year is 2.3 percent, it's more likely that the 4.2 percent tax hike Goodin mentioned is simply a place-holder.

As the year goes on, expenses get clearer and estimates get more accurate and the final budget adoption in June is likely to produce a tax hike, if any, of 2.3 percent or lower.

Last year the board did not raises property taxes at all and the year before that, it raised taxes by 2.3 percent.

But until the 2019-2020 preliminary budget is "made public," we won't know exactly where things stand right now.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Spring-Ford's Invisible Budget

Lengthy Bus Rides Rile Spring-Ford Residents

Choosing which meeting to cover last night was like choosing which bowl of vanilla ice cream you want to eat.

Between the Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts school boards and the New Hanover Township Supervisors, there wasn't much chocolate fudge worth picking one over the other.

The plan had been to go to New Hanover because a vote on the Gibraltar Rock Quarry loomed, but that vote has been delayed. Given that the rest of the meeting was a budget workshop for a town that hasn't raised taxes in 12 years that didn't lean much to chew on newswise.

When stringer extraordinaire Laura Catalano confirmed she would be covering the OJR meeting, it was off to Royersford I went.

Speaking of Royersford, Spring-Ford Superintendent David Goodin showed a slick student-made video of the district's participation in the borough's community day.

Here it is:



Other than that, the meeting was fairly routine with one exception. Three mothers of Pope John Paul II students, Melissa Dougherty, Lisa DiRico and Colleen O'Brien, were on hand to complain about the lengthy bus rides their children must endure in the morning.

Dougherty said her son spends nearly an hour on the bus each morning when he lives just two miles from Pope John Paul II.

Superintendent David Goodin said it is unavoidable because of the different start times and the need to make bus routes efficient.

We'll have more on this topic in a future article in The Mercury.

In the meantime, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Magic School Bus

Spring-Ford Speaks Out About Teacher Investigated Over 'Blitzkreig' German Wrestling Character

Photos by Evan Brandt

Upper Providence resident John McGuigan was the first of nearly 30 people to sign up to speak Monday night about Spring-Ford's decision to take no action against sixth grade teacher Kevin Bean, who had worked during his own time as a professional wrestler named Blitzkreig and whose actions giving the Nazi salute and yelling "sieg heil" during matches caused a controversy.

It was a puzzle at first, why so many people were in the audience at a seemingly routing meeting of the Spring-Ford Area School Board last night.

I'm not too bright, but eventually I figured out why they were there to speak at the end of the meeting.

It was about Kevin Bean.

He's the teacher who, until recently, had a side job as a professional wrestler playing a "heel" called "Blitzkreig," who, videos showed, waved a German flag with the iron cross, gave the Nazi salute and shouted "sieg heil!" before matches.

But he is not that person in real life, said the majority of the 29 people who spoke Monday night, several of whom called him a "gentle giant."

And, in fact, he is no longer that character either.

The second speaker Monday night was Zach Laurie, president of the Spring-Ford Education Association, who read a statement from Bean.




In his statement, Bean said he will no longer play the character of Blitzkreig and that, for the moment at least, he will no longer wrestle.

He said during his years wrestling, he had portrayed many characters, most recently as a "bad guy."

"The sensationalized character the media has accused me of being is misleading. I do not believe in or support the philosophies of antisemitism or hatred in any way," Bean wrote in his statement.

Bean, wrestling as Blitzkreig during a match in Quakertown,

is seen in this video screen-grab giving the Nazi salute.

"I am truly remorseful for the pain and discomfort this character has brought people. for that was never my intent."

Bean said in his statement that "this character no longer exists, nor will he re-appear at any point in the future."

Bean's statement said he is currently not wrestling and "wrestling is not something I plan to discuss in the classroom or at any time in a school setting."

Earlier this month, the district announced that its investigation of Bean's activities as a wrestler had violated no district policies and that he would not be disciplined and would remain as a teacher.

It was evident, from those who spoke on his behalf, that Bean has touched many lives in his 14 years with Spring-Ford.

Former  Kevin Bean student Colin Sanford.

Speaker after speaker lined up to speak about how Bean had helped their child; what an excellent teacher he is, and how much he cares.

Most speakers were parents, although some were former students themselves, including Colin Sanford, who talked about how Bean had helped him when Sanford's father died suddenly while he was in sixth grade.

"I made more friends in Mr. Bean's classsroom than in all four years of high school," Sanford told the board.

Diana Lachenmayer read a letter from her daughter Lindsay who wrote that Bean had helped her when she was being teased about her weight and inspired her to have self-confidence and to pursue a career in education.

Christine Mason said her son was in Bean's class during "a difficult divorce" and Bean helped her son with his depression and mentored him.

Many stressed his inclusiveness, and his ability to ensure that everyone in his classroom participates and is respected. They repeated that he was playing a character, like an actor in a movie and many said "wrestling is not real."

Rachel Slosberg said "all we saw was a German bad guy."

At least two people who identified themselves as being active in the Jewish community defended Bean and said they had been to see him wrestle and had no issue with him.

Rachel Slosberg said her son had experienced antisemitism and it was Bean who mentored her son and helped him through it.

"We went to see his show and all we saw was a German bad guy," she said.

But Jewish opinion was not unanimous Monday night and Andrew Rosabloom said he is "disappointed with the investigation" and the outcome.

Rosabloom said Bean had "failed to set a good example" for students with his character, and "the fact that he found it appropriate to say 'sieg heil' at an event where there were children present is reprehensible."

"He says those are not his beliefs, but he made a conscious choice to play that character," Rosabloom said.

Other speakers agreed and said while they did not want to see Bean fired, they do want to have their concerns addressed more thoroughly by the school district and to use the situation as an opportunity for empathy and dialogue.

Beth Eldridge said the images of Bean her daughter
saw "broke her heart."

They said those who did not have Bean as a teacher might not understand that his character and real life person are separate.

Beth Eldridge of Limerick said her 10th grade daughter did not have and does not know Bean and was disturbed by the images she saw of his character.

"Please understand how these images affect children of color. It broke her heart," Eldrige said.

She added that her daughter has experienced "a huge uptick" in racial epithets being used against her since the issue became public.

One speaker noted that most of those who spoke in Bean's defense were not minorities and may not understand what it's like to go to school in a place where nearly all teachers and nearly 85 percent of the students are white.

She also said that some parents upset by Bean's actions did not come to speak Monday because they feared retaliation against their children who are students in Spring-Ford.

Karisma Gilmore said hopefully a dialogue on diversity
has been prompted by the situation.

Korlu Evaile said her family moved to the area because of the schools, and said they are indeed excellent.

She said she does not know Bean and does not judge him, but that the situation raised issues of race and she has found "whenever race comes up, people retreat to their respective corners."

She said "before this happened, I was feeling safe, but this is very unsettling" and pointed out "where are the teachers who look like my daughters?"

Karisma Gilmore said she is pleased to see so many people defend Bean and say he is a good person, adding "it's because he's such a good teacher that some of us are disappointed."

She added "I'm actually happy something like this happened because now we can have a dialogue. I hope we can all leave here trying to understand the other side."

Schools Superintendent David Goodin said the controversy around Bean's activities were "a trying time, but it has opened up a dialogue about diversity and moved issues of race and diversity t the forefront."

He said his administration has "made every attempt" to diversify the staff and that no parent should fear retaliation against a student by the staff because a parent speaks out.

School Board President Thomas DeBello thanked all the parents for speaking their mind and encouraged more dialogue and suggestions.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting"

Wrestling Teacher Defended, Diversity Discussed

$164M Spring-Ford Budget Will Raise Taxes 2.35%

Photos by Evan Brandt

CHAMPIONS ALL: Undefeated 7th, 8th, 9th, 10, 11th and 12th grade Spring-Ford student athletes recognized at Tuesday night's Spring-Ford Area School Board meeting.

Spring-Ford board member Mark Dehnert cast the only vote against the proposed final $164,444,651 proposed final budget for the 2018-2019 school year Tuesday night.

Dehnert said his vote was because "we're not addressing security in the whole district."

He was likely referring to a previous matter on which he had also disagreed with the majority of the board -- the creation of a new position, coordinator of safety and emergency preparedness.

Dehnert said the job, meant to address safety concerns in an era of school shootings, was a waste of resources and that the money should instead be spent on having armed guards in every building.

Superintendent David Goodin had explained the budget called not only for the new position -- which would include patrol as well as administrative duties, but a second employee who would "make the circuit" among the district's many school buildings.

Dehnert was unconvinced.

James Fink, CFO of the district, said the budget carries a 2.35 percent tax hike, below the maximum 2.4 percent allowed by the state-set maximum.

The new millage rate will be 26.8599 mills, which represents an increase of .6157 mills or $.6157 for every $1,000 of assessed value.

For a home assessed at $250,000, this represents an annual increase of about $154.
School Board President Thomas DiBello said one of the big items this year was the new teacher contract which, Fink said, adds up to a collective 5 percent increase when raises and benefits are considered together.

The other big cost is special education, costs which the state mandates but pays only a small portion.

No member of the public spoke either for or against the budget.

The vote Tuesday night technically advertises the proposed final budget for 30 days and the board will have to vote again at the June 28 meeting to make the budget final.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting:

Champions, Budgets and School Security