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Photos by Evan Brandt
A sizeable crowd turned out to defend Pottstown's music, arts, library and foreign language programs from possible budget cuts Thursday, only to find out the board decided against cutting any programs.
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The Pottstown High School parking lot was nearly as full as on holiday concert nights.
Rally posters made by seventh and eighth grade band members were being handed out.
Speeches extolling the benefits of music education were being rolled and un-rolled in the nervous hands of those not used to public speaking.
But as Thursday's school board meeting got going, School Board President Amy Francis took the wind out of everybody's sails by announcing the proposed cut to the music program they had all come to protest is not going to happen.
This was the reaction:
But those who had come to fight for their programs were told the fight is not over and doesn't belong in Pottstown. Rather it belongs in Harrisburg, where the Republican majority does not use the Legislature's own fair education formula to fund public schools in Pennsylvania.
"The problem is not in Pottstown, the problem is in Harrisburg and if we don't make change there,
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| Pottstown sixth grader Amiyah Carter, picks a protest sign made up by seventh and eight graders in preparation for the May 16 school board meeting. |
A group of Pottstown Schools advocates has joined with a larger advocacy group called POWER to press for the passage of House Bill 961 which calls for all Pennsylvania public school funding to be allocated using the three-year-old fair funding formula which takes things like poverty and local tax effort into account.
Had it been in place this year, Pottstown would have had $13 million more to balance its budget, rather than considering not replacing long-time high school band director Michael Vought, who is retiring this year.
Instead, the decision was made to pull an additional $97,000 out of the reserve fund to balance the $63 million preliminary budget for the 2019-2020 school year that was adopted by an 8-1 vote later in the evening. Board member Thomas Hylton cast the only nay vote.
But it will take more than a single rally to save these Pottstown school programs on a more permanent basis, said Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.
"Don't just think that one day is going to change everything. Take some time and call a legislator. Call (House) Speaker (Mike) Turzai," Rodriqguez said.
"If Speaker Turzi decides that bill is not going to make it to the floor, if we don't have the opportunity
to get a hearing; if we don't have the opportunity for it to go the education committee for it to actually get to the House, even though we have 56 co-spsonsors for the bill and only need 102 votes for it to pass, one person can keep that from going to the floor," Rodriguez said.
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Ironically, the night Pottstown rallied to save its music program,
was also the night it received a national music education award
from the National Association of Music Merchants.
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"So we need you to pick up the phone before you actually go," he said.
"Because this is the morally right thing to do, it's not about money, it's about students. And until people understand that we are not begging for money, we are fighting for students, nothing will change and we will be right back here again next year," Rodriguez said.
"You have to go to Harrisburg, there's really no excuse," said state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist. "And it can't be this nice-to-meet-you-Harrisburg. You really have to let them know what it means. It's nearly $14 million this district is underfunded; the fifth most under-funded district in the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania," he said.
"It's a disgrace," Ciresi said. "It needs to end. And it needs to end this year."
"Pottstown made it work again this year," said fair funding activist and school board candidate Laura Johnson. "But eventually, we will not be able to make it work without changing how Harrisburg funds public education."
She said the money the General Assembly stiffs Pottstown not only threatens programs, but also affects teacher salaries. Pottstown currently has the lowest average teacher salaries in Montgomery County.
That's not news to Beth Yoder, Pottstown High School art teacher and president of the Federation of Pottstown Teachers.
The arts "are the heart and soul of the education of our children," said Yoder. "We need to educate the whole child, and not just the half that we can afford."
Added Yoder, "we constantly talk about zip codes dictating what our kids have or do not have. Why would you consider taking even more away from them just because they were born in 19464? There are hundreds and hundreds of studies that show the positive impact the arts have, both physiologically and emotionally the arts have on every single student."
Here's video of more of Yoder's comments:
As evidence of Yoder's assertions, student Kayleigh Gibson stepped up the microphone and said Yoder's art room "was my safe place" when she was having a hard time at home. "Art, music and foreign language literally saved my life," she said.
"We're not a band, we're a family," said 2017 graduate Alivia Lopez, who came to the meeting to support a program that helped her and countless others. "There are teachers here in this program who were moms and dads to these students."
Tammy Vontor said her son went to college on a music scholarship and will have a career as the result of the music education he received in Pottstown.
Alum Jessica Moyer, a former band president, said "the band put Pottstown on the map" and warned against the axiom of "doing more with less. Eventually, less always becomes less," she said.
She said she would be on the buses being arrange for the visit to Harrisburg.
So will Ted Freese, a Pottstown school librarian who thanked the board for also rejecting the idea of not replacing retiring middle school librarian Claire Faust, which would likely have lowered English and math scores.
"June 12 is officially my last day of school, but my family and I will not be going to Disney World. We're going to Harrisburg," said Freese.
"I don't beg for much, but I will beg every day of the week for our kids, every day of the week," said Board Vice President Katina Bearden. "But we need your help, to have all this energy we have here right now tonight, and put in the right place" and that place is Harrisburg, she said.
If you'd like to follow that advice, and help Pottstown get the education funding it deserves, click here.
And with that, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting:
Listen to the Music
"Because this is the morally right thing to do, it's not about money, it's about students. And until people understand that we are not begging for money, we are fighting for students, nothing will change and we will be right back here again next year," Rodriguez said.
"You have to go to Harrisburg, there's really no excuse," said state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist. "And it can't be this nice-to-meet-you-Harrisburg. You really have to let them know what it means. It's nearly $14 million this district is underfunded; the fifth most under-funded district in the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania," he said.
"It's a disgrace," Ciresi said. "It needs to end. And it needs to end this year."
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| Laura Johnson |
She said the money the General Assembly stiffs Pottstown not only threatens programs, but also affects teacher salaries. Pottstown currently has the lowest average teacher salaries in Montgomery County.
That's not news to Beth Yoder, Pottstown High School art teacher and president of the Federation of Pottstown Teachers.
The arts "are the heart and soul of the education of our children," said Yoder. "We need to educate the whole child, and not just the half that we can afford."
Added Yoder, "we constantly talk about zip codes dictating what our kids have or do not have. Why would you consider taking even more away from them just because they were born in 19464? There are hundreds and hundreds of studies that show the positive impact the arts have, both physiologically and emotionally the arts have on every single student."
Here's video of more of Yoder's comments:
As evidence of Yoder's assertions, student Kayleigh Gibson stepped up the microphone and said Yoder's art room "was my safe place" when she was having a hard time at home. "Art, music and foreign language literally saved my life," she said.
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| Alivia Lopez |
Tammy Vontor said her son went to college on a music scholarship and will have a career as the result of the music education he received in Pottstown.
Alum Jessica Moyer, a former band president, said "the band put Pottstown on the map" and warned against the axiom of "doing more with less. Eventually, less always becomes less," she said.
She said she would be on the buses being arrange for the visit to Harrisburg.
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| Ted Freese |
So will Ted Freese, a Pottstown school librarian who thanked the board for also rejecting the idea of not replacing retiring middle school librarian Claire Faust, which would likely have lowered English and math scores.
"June 12 is officially my last day of school, but my family and I will not be going to Disney World. We're going to Harrisburg," said Freese.
"I don't beg for much, but I will beg every day of the week for our kids, every day of the week," said Board Vice President Katina Bearden. "But we need your help, to have all this energy we have here right now tonight, and put in the right place" and that place is Harrisburg, she said.
If you'd like to follow that advice, and help Pottstown get the education funding it deserves, click here.
And with that, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting:
Listen to the Music
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