The Merchantville Board of Education has conducted a study on sending high school students to Haddon Heights instead of Pennsauken. The findings of this study will be released at the January 10th school board meeting.
The lawsuits will bankrupt us. Hopefully Haddon Heights backs out before litigation drags on too long. Why not stick with Pennsauken and try to fix the high school?
We simply can't afford to change the send/receive. Let's be realistic. Even if Pennsauken didn't take us to court, what if a much higher percentage of graduating 8th graders decided to attend public high school? If just 15 additional students per grade opted for Haddon Heights at $14K per that comes to $840K per year without including transportation. I don't see where that money could come from. The only thing left to cut is the police...
Cruiser is correct in his assessment (made elsewhere). Pennsauken could show no harm by the loss of our small H.S. population in any way, financially or socio-economically. And at this time in State politics the NJ Dept. of Education would find it difficult to maintain a rigid posture against a district trying to better its educational system and, more importantly it might be argued, to increase the proportion of students staying enrolled in the public school system through 12th grade. Both are priorities of the D.O.E.
However, after hearing that Merchantville teachers approached the school board expressing concern over student performance in basic skills --something teachers have been charged with teaching as a top priority since public education was created-- I am struck with the thought that our folks have lost their way in their profession and our community would be better off outsourcing the job to a well-run neighbor like Cherry Hill.
I ask rhetorically, how could a faculty ask for more help to do what can be done successfully with nothing but a slate board, chalk and enthusiasm?
good point springfield. actually, why don't we just say no high school for any resident altogether and save that 15 per grade, or $840K per year and we can buy a whole bunch of stuff. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a new recreation complex, but i'll settle for leaf pickup.
seriously though, it doesn't matter if the entire student population we have decided to go to Haddon Heights, we have a responsibility as a community to make sure our kids' education is paid for. period. we have just been getting a nice discount for the last 40 years because our high school situation is so ridiculously horrible, that any kid that can afford to go somewhere better does.
Responsibility or not the money has to come from somewhere. What can we cut that's worth $840+ transportation and potential litigation? How much would outsourcing police to Pennsauken save? This is the only thing left to outsource or cut. What'll it be?
I am sure the school board will have answers to many of these questions, to Springfield nice thought but two different budgets, to KT sounds like the New CSA has some shaking up to do with the Staff.....
I appreciate the current school board for finally taking on this issue. Good luck to you all with all the nay sayers who know it all and will come out of the woodwork to bitch and moan.
"...all the nay sayers who know it all and will come out of the woodwork to bitch and moan."
The "nay sayers" don't have to know it all. The State runs a testing program with published results purposely to inform average residents about how well all students of each school in each school district are learning all basic skills.
Complain about the tests if you must to hide from them, but over the past half decade our children have performed poorly and every year THE RESULTS GET WORSE.
Dozens of excuses. Money thrown in all directions. Consultants hired; programs introduced; teachers inserviced. But no one wants to grab the bull by its horns and wrestle it down and dirty into every classroom, stop watch running, and tie instruction tightly to the basics.
Everybody wants to sit on a high fence, a new gun in hand with a silver bullet, to shoot the animal without facing it. It hasn't happened yet. It will not happen tomorrow.
For the kids' sake, give the school away to our neighbor.
It may be two different budgets, but it all comes from the same pockets. If schools go up by $840,000 + transportation + litigation, the money has to come from somewhere. How much more taxes can we pay? We pay through the roof now.
springfield, you are also forgetting that the state provides aid, on a per student basis, which would be a significant portion of that $14K a year number.
but its kind of funny that we're even having an argument about how we can't afford to send our kids to high school and that we have absolutely nowhere to cut to make room. if thats not a prime example illustrating why a town of our size can't efficiently run itself and an indicator that we should be trying as best we can to merge with Cherry Hill, I dont know what is.
It is absolutely disgraceful that any citizen in Merchantville Borough would take a stance that not every child had the right to a public funded high school education. It is, to begin with, a right of citizenship. We don't have the money, obviously but the school board has been taxing the taxpayer in such a way that a public funded education should be available for every student. Where is the money or accountability? Close the damn school already, the parking situation is so dangerous that it is an accident or a child waiting to be hit by a car. Other than educational concerns, this is a huge concern as well and no one is giving us parents an answer. Where the hell is Merchantville's finest that we pay? They are not even looking after that parking lot. Totally, absolutely makes me embarrassed to live here but I am STUCK with this stupidity of people who don't want to see us merge with a thriving well-run community. Oh, the town also looks disgusting being overrun with leaves that are not picked up. Forget the losing weight argument, that is lame, it should be a provided service, period! It looks like crap. Great job community leaders of Merchantville - NOT. When you are asking why things have come to this, look in the mirror. And remind yourself that your time is ticking. There are more people for this merger movement in this town than against and that is the reality of the situation. We will do our best to not go down with you!
"more people for this merger movement in this town than against"
I am not sure that anyone knows the numbers supporting and opposing a consolidation. The study has just begun to find the financial facts.
It might be said that the supporters of small governments have a heavy burden in today's world that did not exist two generations ago -- the pressure of giant governments.
For instance, our school. When I was a kid Merchantville's population was about the same as today. The school was K-12 and Delaware Twp parents nearby had the option to send their children to Merchantville High School. The NJ Dept. of Education ended our high school, saying the enrollment was too small for a comprehensive education.
All of the founders of our nation and all of its scientists graduated from smaller high schools and many from colleges smaller than Merchantville H.S. At the time our H.S. was open, Rutgers in Camden had 450 undergraduate students in 3 programs (sciences, social sciences, humanities) and fewer than 75 students in the law school. Having mandated that Merchantville is too small for a high school program, the State Dept. began allowing home instruction by parents having no education themselves.
Similar legal restrictions apply to local government. At its last meeting a planning board member proposed a new requirement for any multifamily building owner who applies for a variance to expand an operation -- require an inspection to check if the existing property meets health and safety codes. The solicitor responded that such a requirement might exceed the Board's authority.
What? A local authority can allow a property owner to deviate from local ordinances but not have legal authority to check for compliance with existing ordinances when debating the variance?
I remember a school superintendent saying at his retirement in the mid-1970s that he was happy to be leaving education because it was becoming too legalistic. Well, maybe Merchantville will be saying that soon ... not because we cannot provide good education and municipal services, but rather because big government won't let us do it well.
We can not provide good education and municipal services not because of big government, but because of our small borough. Merchantville can not keep up with modern day living. It needs help and a lot of it, no matter what some superintendent said when they retired. The past is the past and needs to be left there. Time to move forward. And, yes, there are people keeping their fingers crossed and praying that this study bodes well for a merger. More so than not, bet on it.
Merchantville's problem (municipal and school) isn't so much it's size, though that does impose challenges. It's main problem is the rampant cronyism in both municipal and school government. Examples are the unnecessary employees the borough and school have maintained - employees like the paid firefighter (yeah, I know the arguments. But look at other similar-sized communities that get by just fine without) and the Speech "therapist's" cost to the school (90k direct salary, IIRC). Get rid of the cronyism and change the attitude from the school and local government being a jobs program for the friends of those in power, AND quit rewarding friend with bloated purchase costs for their broken-down properties, and the borough AND school would be just fine.
Take off your Brennanite glasses, Cruiser. A LOT of small communities are doing just fine. The difference is that they have people in charge who don't think the town coffers are there to feed their friends and families.
so the answer is to have cherry hill pay for your high school education since it is beyond merchantville's means? No. In cherry hill we have our own concerns. We have facilities that need work and we have high schools that are at capacity.
yes, merchantville is in a difficult situation. however, if you want to merge, if you want to be saved, it makes much more sense to become part of pennsauken. all of the arguments made in this thread can be made with pennsauken as well as cherry hill. you already have the high school relationship. you could keep your elementary...maybe even more funding for your elementary. cherry hill has 70k + population, and pennsauken has 30k+. it makes much more sense you to merge with pennsauken as you already have one foot in the door.
Anon, 12/21, 2:45 PM - Even if you took away everything you think is cronyism, the main financial problem will still be the same - Merchantville is too small to support a complement of modern governmental services
I heard on the news today that Camden County government will establish a County Police Force to begin in Spring, 2012. For starters, the County Police Force will take over the Camden City Police Force. This means that a portion of the county tax paid by all property holders in the county will go to pay for the County Police Force. So the big question for Merchantville is whether or not it should join the County Police Force?
Cruiser is right. Camden City did agree to the Camden County Police force. It's coming. Oh, and our town did not sign a petition for a study with Pennsauken, just Cherry Hill so don't go telling Merchantville citizens what our rights are - it is our duty to look for the best option for our town. You are really beating a dead horse to keep telling us to merge with Pennsauken. That's just not what the petition for the study is about folks.
Hey pretend Cherry Hill resident; assclown. Find a new hobby. So bored of you. We know you live right here. No one from Cherry Hill checks this blog everyday. Pathetic.
So if on jan 10, if the boe states the study with haddon heights indicates it makes sense to change the send/receive, can we give up this merger thing?
Merchantville can not afford to change its send/receive relationship. $840,000 + transportation + legal fees! I've lived here long enough to know that it won't happen anyway. The only affordable way out of this mess is to merge. A borough of our size can not continue in this day in age. Leaf pick up problems are just the beginning. This boat will start to take on water soon.
It would be a very sad day indeed if Merchantville were to get a desirable send-receive district willing to partner with and then have to decide that it would not persue a change because the change would be too costly.
The community could just plough ahead with such a change and once the expense of the new district and the additional high school students becomes painfully apparent, the hue and cry of the public would be to seek relief however achievable at which time the only relief would be a merger with Pennsauken.
It could end up in a situation like that.
For Merchantville, a merger with Cherry Hill now is the golden opportunity in all of this.
keep in mind that some of us are spending $4k - $10k additional to send our children to private high school so the solution of our taxes increasing $1k and a desirable high school send receive is a win-win. and we get to keep our small town and our k-8.
with the cherry hill merger our k-8 will close.
those of you that do not have school age kids will immediately see and increase in property value.
I don't see a new high-school send receive as solving some major problems:
1. The declining quality of MES; 2. The inadequate police facilities (see the Master Plan for a full explanation); 3. Lack of access to better public facilities (public library, sports fields) 4. No representation on the school board that provides high school education to our residents.
Anonymous 12:24 1:53 - The best deal though is to have no tax increase and no private high school tuition and higher property values and better economic diversity of the community. Win-win-win-win. Leaf pick up could return - another win.
You have no knowledge of how the merged community would handle the MES K to 8 school location. No one has that knowledge.
Regardless of whether or not a home has school age children, the effect on the market value of the home would be the same.
Alice has some interesting points that Merchantville needs to consider regardless of future association. 1. Quality of MES; 2. Police facilities; 3. Access to library, sports fields) 4. Representation on school board. Alice was referring to Haddon Heights but the same considerations need to be addressed with a Cherry Hill merger.
The declining quality of our school gets solved with a Cherry Hill merger, or does it? If we should export our children to C.H., would they get extraordinary instruction to pull them out of their deficits or would they just get lost in a large system? Cherry Hill already has a portion of students performing as poorly as ours. It is just a smaller percentage of their population and so doesn't raise attention. I have suggested before that an earnest effort by M.E.S. has a greater chance of success than exporting our children in need to a large system. Our board has yet to address our proficiency problems.
Police? Merging with C.H. will empty our facility, as marginal as it is. And the ratio of police to residents will drop by a third, to the level in C.H. Our Master Plan recommends a substation in the West End. We would have no precinct in Merchantville.
Library? We have access to Camden County Library materials right here in Merchantville. The folks across the C.H. border a few blocks away must go through the C.H. library on Kings Highway, don't they?
School Board? Liaison with Haddon Heights would be no different from that with Pennsauken today. In a C.H. merger we would lose our local board.
It is not a simple decision in any direction. We would be wise to ramp up our energies today to deal with our problems today expecting no change ... and then be pleasantly surprised if one should present itself tomorrow. We are not doing that by my reckoning.
Cruiser has some interesting arguments favoring consolidation with Cherry Hill but he is so optimistic in his comments I am afraid he glosses over the negatives.
Doing so, for as much as it motivational, is dangerous. John Adams sold our Continental Congress on rebellion from British sovereignty. Had France not rescued us with its navy and army, we would have failed miserably. And the rescue itself was by dumb luck in timing.
If you are about to make resolutions for the coming year, keep in mind that NOAA predicts a one in three chance of January and February being warmer than normal in our area with equal chances that precipitation will remain normal.
Maybe that is why oil and natural gas prices are so low ... the producers know we can get along with less and would do so if the costs were high.
One way to improve the schools is to look at the data and find out where the weaknesses are in instruction based on testing results. Are you teaching what is being tested? Another way to improve is to develop a testing program throughout the year. (e.g., test prep, practice and strategies- along with formulating in class tests and assignments with questions and prompts that mirror the test. Yeah..teaching to the test. Yes and NO! Until NCLB and RttT is abandoned, that is the way schools, teachers and students are measured. Give me the data and redacted test results by grade and category and I'll develop a program for you. UrbanLad
"Teaching to the test" always comes up as some kind of negative sound bite in discussions of educational matters. The special interests with their own agendas have mercilessly communicated that teaching to the test is bad.
Persons interested in this matter should be sure they read a few of the tests. I venture all will come away with the feeling that a sound educational program has to enable students to master the material in these tests. The tests are not that hard. Everything in our society has to be prioritized. In all areas of life there are scarce resources and tremendous needs. In education the resources have to first be applied to getting students to achieve well on the tests. If after that there are resources available, they can be applied to other things. There is no harm, only betterment, in teaching to the tests if that is what it is best to causing the students to be successful on the tests.
There is much to be thankful for. No reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. Merchantville can survive. Although its true that the borough has spent its entire surplus and that taxes will need to be raised, the good news is that we have very little municipal debt. We can begin to take on a manageable level of debt in the short term to get through this bad economy, while raising some taxes and cutting some services. The sky is not falling.
They could actually go k-12 in that building. Stabilize the town and be a model for others on how small can work. fundamentals and basic skills can and should be taught, and tested. But that is only a small part of successful schooling. It is a shame. Your communitie's fear of change might actually cause a much bigger change in the end.
So cherry hill gets a $1.4 M loss as well as a population of students that perform "poorly" (per Marvin).
Sorry, we don't see an upside.
At the consolidation meeting Mr Perno said that Merchantville will not contribute any funds to the study. We are making sure that Cherry Hill will not contribute any funds.
if merchantville wants this so badly, they will have to raise the money. our new mayor will be in the decision making seat shortly. he knows this is a loser for cherry hill.
Anon, you don't live in Cherry Hill. Your posts are blatently obvious that you live in Merchantville and are against the merger process. You are an assclown. Do yourself a favor and do something else in the New Year besides pretend to be something you are not.
"Liaison with Haddon Heights would be no different from that with Pennsauken today." Exactly. It's not an improvement on that measure.
"In a C.H. merger we would lose our local board." In a merger we gain a school board that is directly responsible to us for the quality of not only K-8 but also for the high school.
Merchantville's inadequate police facilities are an ongoing problem that is expensive (millions of dollars expensive) to fix.
If your issue with police and a potential merger is the number of patrols and a local station, then this can be addressed in the consolidation through the creation of a "special service district." SSDs are part of the statutory process in consolidation and we would do well to take advantage of them. An SSD could be created to have a substation in Merchantville, perhaps our current police facilities would be adequate for such a purpose.
These are the types of ideas that interested people should be bringing to the commission.
Good points, Alice, all of them. Does one need a special circumstance to create a "special services district"? ...other than "My ice cream cone is bigger than yours now so I want a bigger one tomorrow too."
Cherry Hill lives next to Pennsauken just as we do and C.H. has a predominance of students who perform as poorly as ours in that border area. Our prospects after merging will be the same as C.H.'s border students today.
The irony of the merging-is-best thinking that a reinvigorated small school district has a far better likelihood of improving student performance than does a large school district.
Merchantville should place all of its resources and energies into improving its own programs. The new superintendent should take that on as his highest priority. As to the high school situation, Cruiser is mostly right in what he champions. However, if our school board wants to pursue the Haddon Heights alternative, if there is one, and Merchantville taxpayers have concerns about cost, well, our board might consider restructuring our school into a middle school with grades 6 to 9 together. There are many such middle-school programs across America. Keeping 9th grade would reduce our sending tuition cost by 1/4 and give us a larger school population at the upper level at home which would allow us to provide a stronger academic program with adolescents.
No,no,no to integrating 9th grade in MES. You people are getting desparate with solutions to keeping a school that needs to be closed. And how the hell do you address more traffic in a parking lot that can't even accomodate what is there? It can't happen. For that matter, the state should be called in to investigate what is going on with that entire situation. Any parents on board with me? I'm sick and f'ing tired of it! And that call and letter will be written after the next MES Board Meeting on 1/10/12, I PROMISE! MES will have to answer to NJ for the disgraceful situation. Time is up. The 8th graders are even too mature to be in with the smaller population of kids, they have to go to 9-12 after they graduate. Integration never going to happen. Most public schools have facilities for PreK-5 and then 6-8 to separate the adolescents from the smaller elementary population. That would be a step backwards to bring in 9th graders and do not want my tax dollars spent that way! Start sharpening your pencils because your alternatives suck! NJ DOE, senators and state reps, here I come to place my stake in protecting our students from an absolutely disgraceful, unsafe, accident waiting-to-happen commuting situation! ;)
Ignoring your inappropriate language, let me suggest that you look into your educational history books before spitting out your thinking to the Dept. of Educ.
The concept of JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (grades 7 to 9) was developed around 1907 and caught on like wild fire for the merits of its learning-theory base. Over the next seventy years the K-8 structure waned as being archaic.
The MIDDLE SCHOOL concept which commonly houses grades 5 to 8, 6 to 8, 6 to 9, 7 to 9, was developed in the mid 1960s and caught on equally well for the merits of its psychological base. Middle school teaching is an approach to working with children. Its housing varies among school districts to accommodate differing numbers of students more than any other factor. In fact, most communities introduced the "middle school" concept when they needed to build a new school, not the reverse.
Yes, we need advocates speaking out for improvement in our school programs but, please, put some facts in your mouth before you sound off. Trumpeting K-8 as the best grouping will produce only laughs.
I don't need to go back and check history to make my point, I am aware of the suggestion segregation of the system and that MES does not have it. I never said trumpeting K-8 was best so don't put words in my mouth if that's how you read it. It is simply the way it stånds in MES now and it is absolutely outdated. Putting 9th in there is absolutely even more backwards, that was my point. I'd like to see our kids go to the more conventional separation that is in place in most other public school districts. And the commuting situation in MES warrants some language to get people's attention as too many are turning a blind cheek and it is simply not acceptable. In fact, the Courier Post is another good resource to tap as they are close by enough to take a look...and have their pulse on what is going on in this community. In speaking to the reporter on the education beat, she never got return calls from Swanson. Maybe the new guys will be more responsive.
There are very few reporters left at the Courier Post. If you have read that paper lately, you will realize there are very few South Jersey stories. Keep looking if you need a reporter to dig into anything!
Don't worry your pretty little headso don't need to dig. This veteran reporter is there full-time and already agreed to give the issue publicity. It deserves attention and will get it. You need to dig into something other than what concerned conscious parents are up to and come up with a better rebuttal than what you wrote. This is serious issue that will get the attention it deserves whether you like it or not.
"Putting 9th in there is absolutely even more backwards, that was my point."
Look at the other side of your point. We have a building that was once a successful school, K-12. It has enough spaces with separations to run separate programs.
New Point: Adding 9th grade allows Merchantville to have a comprehensive Middle School, or if you don't like that language, to have a traditional Junior High School.
Merchantville would have a hugely better chance for State approval to hold onto its 9th graders than with any other course of action for improving the education of its older students, including a change in send/receive contracts.
Once the comprehensive Middle School is in place --or Junior High-- it would be easier to apply for State permission to create an "Alternative High School" (grades 10-12) as an option to the continuing Pennsauken contract. That would give Merchantville parents three choices for grades 10 to 12: Merchantville Alternative H.S., Pennsauken H.S., private placement.
My bet is that Merchantville could run a superb Alternative H.S. with 60 students and 4 H.S.-certificated teachers. And guess what! Outstanding/advanced 8th and 9th grade students might qualify to take courses in the Alternative School program. That adds another option for Merchantville parents -- motivating their teens to qualify for early admission into Merchantville's alternative academic program.
The heck with this merger is right! We can afford to spend more than we bring in for years more to come- we have very low levels of debt. We can afford to take on some debt for operating expenses or we could move to an all volunteer services model. Everyone could take turns serving the community- like a chore wheel. Maybe we could build a more robust community watch and deputize members under some circumstances. This is a time to be creative, not throw the baby out with the bath water!!!!
Wow! Did they change the laws to allow municipalities to spend more than their taxation raises? Perhaps we could spend lots more than we do.
I know a guy who ran up hundreds of thousands in credit card debt and then didn't pay it. Some of the banks offered settlements of pennies on the dollar. He didn't pay that either. Of course he lost his house after defaulting on taxes and had to move out of state into a rental to keep from being dispossessed by creditors of furniture and car. Asked if his fun was worth the result, he answered soberly, "I blew it!"
Our anonymous friend in town wants us to "take on some debt", seemingly mixing school costs with local governmental expenses somehow. Does he know we issued a bond to cover the cost of the PNC Bank building and parking lots and even more debt for the sewer line rehabilitation just completed?
What's his idea for paying that debt ... or is he up for defaulting too? In his movie "The Mouse That Roared", Peter Sellers gathered a band of Vikings to attack New York City, hoping he would be defeated and thereby become eligible for foreign aid. His problem was that New Yorkers ignored him and his army ... or did NYC surrender? I forget.
You people are dreaming with this notion of a charter school and this other BS. We need the merger to happen yesterday. You need money to do this stuff you are talking about and it's not there. Stop it already. There are more and more people in this town realizing how critical it is to move forward with the merger and putting positive energy into making it happen. Cherry Hill will vote for this as long as it makes financial sense for them and let's hope it does!
Go to the merger meetings. The next meeting is 1/17.
They are trying to rush this study through. There is no funding and no study yet and they are already saying it needs to be done by July for a nov vote.
Preliminary results are ch will lose $1.4m and it will over crowd the high school, put a strain on our facilities, and lower our proficiency percentage.
Ch is voting no. There is a new mayor in town. Literally. We don't want this.
Is there a psychologist on the blog who can explain why a commenter needs to tell where he lives every time he posts?
I live in Merchantville and think it would be more efficient in time and electronic energy for that alien to create a moniker that explains where he lives and thinks, such as, what?, C.H. Void? He wouldn't need to tell us what he thinks; we know already.
And what about the waste of energy in posting his stuff? This week we gave up incandescent bulbs. What's next?
I live in Cherry Hill, Merchantville and Stone Harbor. I think getting rid of 100 watt incandescent bulbs is crazy! That is why I am in the process of hoarding cases of them in my many basements.
Smart people have already been using CFLs and LEDs and enjoying the electric bill savings they cause. Furthermore, the air has lass pollution from energy production and needless costs of power plant creation and replacement are avoided. This is a win-win no matter how you look at it.
I'm pleased to be saving $4.00 in electric power over the life of a CFL vs. an incandescent. And the CFL only costs me $5.00 more than the incandescent!
The LEDs are even more ludicrous in their "savings."
don't they save like $1.4 million? and i live in cherry hill, merchantville, stone harbor and haddon heights! i know the results of the study based on these light bulbs. lol
Just based on the bulb cost alone, CFL is a much better deal. The 750 hour incandescent bulb will have to be replaced 13 times during the 10,000 hour life of the CFL bulb. The total costs of the 13 incandescent bulbs at today's price would be $4.93 versus the $2.49 one time cost of the CFL.
That the CFL bulb only uses 23% of the electricity of the incandescent bulb is frosting on the cake.
CFL bulbs are a good deal, individually and for the community.
The law regarding them will eventually only affect 40 watt to 100 watt incandescent bulbs. These are the predominantly used sizes. The law will not affect specialty bulbs such as for chandeliers or for oven lights.
Hate to be a bulb buster but Cruiser missed one point. The CFL bulbs may last 10,000 hours on average BUT the ballast unit in them only lasts about 500 starts. So if you turn on or turn off your flurescent substitute, say when entering a room or if the light is on a timer or motion detector, you will not get your treasured 10,000. You will have an expensive dead bulb in a few months.
Is your solution to leave the lights on? There goes your energy savings.
Also, the reason a CFL costs ten times an incandescent bulb's 37 cents is simple. They are more difficult, material-absorbing and energy-consuming to manufacture. The consumption energy saved in America comes at an even higher production energy and environmental cost on the other side of the world.
Cruiser, the whole world considered, this one-sided legislation is LOSE/LOSE. Far better would be to use easily-made incandescents and shut them off when not needed. But then, if we were interested in saving energy and the environment, space craft would see the globe lighted up from sea to sea.
The package of the Ecosmart CFL bulb mentioned that it is guaranteed to work for nine years. If the bulb dies in a "few months," or even a few years, take it back.
Few if any will need to be taken back. The reality is that they last far longer than 500 starts.
The bulb law continues to be a win- win for the worldwide environment and the pocketbooks of all. Smart people realize that.
If your cherry hill child can't learn because a Merchantville child sits next to him in class you've got bigger problems to worry about that any merger..
If your cherry hill child can't learn because a Merchantville child sits next to him in class you've got bigger problems to worry about than any merger..
My guess is that I have had half a dozen CFL light bulbs go bad while living here 9 years. They fail from cold temperatures, frequent restarts, vibrations and other reasons I have not yet figured out ... as the neighbor says, just like any other bulb.
Very few, very few, consumers keep sales receipts 9 years to cash in on a warranty and who can remember the year he screwed a bulb into any given socket. Companies bank on consumers failing to act on warranties.
Perko manufactured a ring-type oarlock that kept oars from falling overboard. Great design! Guaranteed two years. However, the oarlocks were constructed of a metal alloy that reached fatigue under moderate stress and so in heavy seas when rowing pressure exceeded the metal's tolerance the oarlock would snap off at its stem.
I would like to tell you that I keep oarlock purchase receipts but the truth is that those moments when replacement oarlocks are needed --in a storm in a strange port-- the chances of keeping a receipt dry and storing it safely for future times are slim to none. What I used to do was to buy another set and then send the broken lock back with the new receipt. Did it twice in five years but I cannot do it again because the company stopped making that model. I don't wonder about that; I wonder why they do not forge that design in a stronger metal.
Cruiser talks about all the good points of CFL lights. But we know that every accountant looks at both sides of a ledger, the liabilities against the assets, the negatives against the positives, to determine total worth. He is just not telling us about the whole costs of CFLs.
One thing to keep in mind - as the CFL ages, it gets dimmer, unlike an incandescent. By the time it's four years old, a CFL will be producing nearly 1/4 less light than when it was new. Also, CFLs are sensitive to the orientation in which they operate. In a table lamp where the bulb is upright (bulb base at the bottom) they're not too bad, though they do fail to reach the rated claimed operating duration much more frequently from repeated switching on and off (so do incandescents, by the way). When installed in ceiling fixtures with the base at the top, the life of a CFL is markedly decreased from the upright orientation. CFLs have more toxic and / or environmentally unfriendly chemicals in them than incandescents, as well, like mercury. The Ecosmart CFL's Cruiser touts as so wonderful simply have less of them than most CFLs, but still more than incandescents. If you look at the entire picture, the government interference with electrical lighting choices is about as smart as the PNC Bank purchase in Merchantville was.
The bulbs and many other guaranteed products have lot numbers on them by which the manufacturer determines if the guarantee period has expired. You do not need a receipt.
The facts clearly support that the bulb legislation is a good deal for the nation and the personal pocketbooks of the citizens. Trying to broad brush an opposite conclusion, when the preponderance of information does not support such, is folly. You have been watching Fox News too much.
There is a line item in the sewer system relining project that shows several thousand dollars for replacement of sewer manhole covers. I do not know why other than supposing some existing covers might break when opened but that is not my point.
Along West Chestnut Avenue (Pennsauken side) there are several manhole covers labeled "Palmyra Foundry". I like to think that those old cast iron covers were forged along the Delaware some 80 years ago when Palmyra, Pennsauken, Camden and Gloucester were producers of industrial and commercial goods. Camden's slogan was "From Pens to Battleships" when Esterbrook was a resident manufacturer.
What we have done in the last three generations is to export industry to other parts of the world in part to brag that we have a clean environment. Cruiser would call that a "WIN" no doubt but much of the waste was just moved from one backyard to another. CFLs are a classic case in point. We burn less energy but we are paying ten times the cost of an incandescent to somebody out of town who must consume five times more energy in production. AND WE ARE EXCITED BY THE PROSPECT.
@ a thought said...good point. Many of us do not even think that person is really from Cherry Hill. Just writing to bash the merger process. On another note, the thought of sending our students to Haddon Heights is a good back up plan for the high school situation. But it does not solve the other reasons people want the merger to happen. It's just not about the schools and that person who poses from Cherry Hill constantly makes it about that when it is so much more complex. It is on the Cherry Hill side as well - it's just not about our kids going to CH schools.
After many years of abuse that manhole lids take being located in the middle of the roadway from cars, snow plows, pavement restorations, etc., some lids may need to be replaced. Some of the lids are so old and out of date and not designed to the standards we have today, including having pull handles that make it easy for sewer personnel to get in and out of the manholes for maintenance purposes. Some times it makes sense to change designs of products we use every day and not be such a curmudgeon about everything from sewer manholes to energy efficient light bulbs.
and for the record, 95% of the manhole lids used in this area are produced by the bridgestate foundry, located in Berlin. Thats NJ, not Germany.
Chris: 95% of the manhole lids...are produced by the bridgestate foundry, Berlin.
Yes, I see them. If you have anything to do with manhole covers, Chris, keep in mind I would like to bid scrap value for the replaced Palmyra Foundry covers which I would use for a "flagstone" path around my garden. I am one of the curmudgeons who has kept in my house the 1903 toilets made in Camden with oak water closets, the 1922 6-ft wide very-deep porcelain sinks and all the walnut or oak woodwork that fits.
There is nothing wrong with sifting through fireplace ashes for old hand-cut iron nails. Our forefathers did that for hundreds of years to save a halfpenny or two. This past holiday I saw a beautiful wide-plank oak floor recut from salvaged beams out of a church -- all hand cut both times a hundred years apart.
What our society throws away give pause to wonder if we are on the right tract. Outlawing mercury thermometers astounds me. The villainous mercury is reclaimed and sold to South American countries where it is burned in the air as an insecticide. Tomorrow it must be outlawing and reclaiming CFLs, don't ya think?
My Kenmore washer grew so far out of balance two adults were needed to sit on it during the spin cycle. That pretty much convinced me that I would no longer buy Sears products after fifty years of buying nothing else, except for my house, a Corvair convertible and a green '41 John Deere tractor.
Early this week Home Depot sold me a Maytag replacement (larger) for $354 including delivery, set up and running test. A private contractor made the delivery today within 15 minutes of the estimated arrival time, unpacked and carried the unit up 3 and a half flights of steps, having to remove a door, and installed & tested the washer all within 30 minutes. That included reinstalling the door and disconnecting, removing and taking away the old washer.
CNBC has been talking about a chronic weakness in Sears' performance despite the purchase of K-Mart. I guess a hundred twenty five years is a lifetime for any business. The other day a financial commentator said four of the largest businesses in the world barely existed fifteen years ago. She must have been talking about Google, Facebook, the iPad companies and such -- a far cry from the barbed wire and P.T.O. auger I bought from the Roebuck catalog 40 years ago.
And to think, the other guy is preoccupied with leaves, taxes and more senior citizen services. No wonder the world is awry.
Oh, Cruiser, I have two nonfunctional 26-watt GE CFLs. Where do I return them? ... or dispose of them?
Why in the world do people keep posting that it's just about the high school? Hello, it's just not. No matter how many times other folks just want to bring up other issues of real concern, i.e., services, seniors, the police force we can't afford, leaf bagging, property values and taxes, they are just brushed under the rug. Get real, we are!
Its about something different to different people, for me it IS all about the schools. I was pro merger but the "We'll tell ya what to think" attitude of the merger people has put me on the fence.
No matter what anyone says, these issues are too important for anyone to sway the people that want this merger. Talk is cheap, who cares what anybody says. There is way too much at stake here and the facts speak for themselves. That is being real, not just pointing the issue at the high schools and whining about what someone else said. People are worried about their home values, being able to pay taxes, what this community can not offer it in services, their elderly as well as educating it's kids. The "fence" does not exist to those of us who give a damn.
I wish the best of luck with haddon heights. We in cherry hill that understand the facts believe there is no advantage to our town. If this study is not thorough and it is a rush to put it on the ballot we will make all efforts to be sure it doesn't happen. Merchantville is smart to pursue a new hs solution as well as this merger. See you all on the 17th.
I was initially against a merger, until I read the venom in Merchantville.com at the begining of this soap opera. I'm warry of folks who seem afraid to study this. Looked like they were afraid of something or have something to hide.
We need to do whatever it takes to maintain our independence: take on short term debt, cut needless services, develop more apartments and open up our elementary to larger class sizes through school choice.
Definitely on the side of the fence that wants the merger because we do give a damn what happens to this community. Haddon Heights High School can not and will not save Merchantville Elementary or the other problems that plague this town and it's embedded politics. We have no independence with Trenton targeting small towns. Time to bag our problems all with the leaves and go with Cherry Hill...
Kudos to the fine folks who gathered and bagged the leaves on all of the traffic islands at the Centre/Chapel circle. It was a weekend of hard work. The area looks great.
It's a shame those folks had to do that, and thanks to them, and our Public Works didn't. Glad to hear some of the town got cleaned up, but, unfortunately, there is alot that is just being left on the ground because of the bagging situation. Many neighboring towns now have programs where there PW Depts. are getting cash for the deals they make with people and/or businesses that want the leaves. Is Merchantville doing this as well and also not picking up our leaves. That sucks!!!
Merchantville BOE paid for the study for HH send/receive, not the Borough. It came right from the school budget to the tune of $30k. And as for the study with Cherry Hill, those funds are still being worked out by the committee but have nothing to do with the school budget. Let's hope this study with HH doesn't blow up into another huge litigation battle with PHS - but doubtful that it won't.
The Board of Education paid $30,000 to learn if Haddon Heights is a good receiving school? Good heavens! Is the report printed in gold leaf?
What is wrong with the electorate and elected leaders? We sat here and watched our Board blow away even more than that on a computerized math program and on a consultant, and twice we sent our faculty to Rowan for courses ... when do we direct teachers to work in the classrooms with underperforming students without the extras?
Did you know that the sending of faculty to Rowan at the Board's expense under the guise of improving basic skills instruction was actually satisfying the teachers' annual credit requirements which all teachers statewide are responsible for acquiring on their own?
Cruiser has always said the job of government is to provide services, not jobs. It seems the local school board does not understand that principle.
Maybe we should vote for merging just to eliminate the negligence.
$30K form the boe budget and $100k from the merchantville municipal budget. regardless of the budget, it is still coming from the merchantville taxpayer out of their pocket.
i hope something positive comes from all these studies. we'll see tomorrow night. i can't wait. i bet the result is a need for a second in depth study!
I work for the Pennsauken School District. We won't have to sit on our hands and take this, like we would have with the merger. This will go to the courts. I'm afraid this is going to get expensive for all.
Go to the BOE meeting and hear the results of the study for yourself! Do not go by what you hear on this Blog. Tuesday night at 7:30 in the Merchantville Library!!
"I work for the Pennsauken School District. We won't have to sit on our hands..."
Merchantville parents would be pleased if you got off your hands, as you say you are doing, and began working towards improving your students' academic performance and ours too. We wouldn't be wringing our hands if your schools were successful in educating the children you are charged with.
Personally I think you folks have escaped deserved criticism for sitting on your hands. We have been too polite about it. Maybe we gave up on your programs because you have not been responsive to the kids needs. In any case, if you want to continue to receive our tuition --that seems to be what you are implying in the threat to go to court-- you will need to become effective classrooms.
I was not impressed by the presentation on the new send receive. Seems they made some big assumptions on the number of students that would go to the new school. Their tax numbers seemed speculative at best.
Haddon Heights would be better than Pennsauken, but not by much. Is this the best we can do? Lets merge.
Has HH provided a written document saying that in the event M-ville would be able to get out of the send-receive with Pennsauken, HH would take our kids? Getting such a document from a desirable send-receive partner is the first step in achieving the desired change.
Or is the HH board still pondering whether or not they are going to provide such a document?
I wasn't at the meeting either, not for a lack of caring, but because I was at a board meeting for my church. So, what was the answer to Cruiser's question? Seriously no snide comments. It's because I'd like to know.
This is fantastic news! I believe this should be a factor in the merger discussions.
BOE votes to end current Sending-Receiving relationship
At at the Tuesday, January 10th, 2012, in front of a capacity crowd, the Merchantville Board of Education unananimously voted to terminate its current sending-receiving relationship with Pennsauken and establish a new sending-receiving relationship with Haddon Heights and present the petition to the Administrative Law Judge. Their decision was based on the results of a BOE commissioned study that was released at the meeting. Some conclusions of the report were that Merchantville students would receive an education equal to or better than what they receive in Pennsauken, Haddon Heights High School would benefit from the additional revenues, Pennsauken would see an insignificant tax increase and the four other districts involved - Merchantville, Barrington, Haddon Heights and Lawnside - would see a reduction in school tax levy. The report also concluded that Haddon Heights High School would see no decrease in the racial diversity in their learning environment. The Haddon Heights Board also voted unananimously tonight to enter into a sending-receiving relationship with Merchantville. Feasibility Study Handout
Why isn't everyone thrilled about this? We wanted a new high school and now we have it. HH is a good school. This is great news and we should be celebrating!
At the school board meeting there was one resident who was not "thrilled" about the Haddon Heights agreement. It was Mr. James, an officer of the C.H. consolidation commission. In fact he was vociferously opposed to the agreement.
Why? you ask. Let's see. He was appointed to the consolidation commission by the merger petitioners. He lives in a section of Merchantville which is a block or two from the Cherry Hill border.
the difference this time is that ending the send receive will not change the diversity mix in the terminating district.
also, with the scores of our students do you really believe one of the highest performing schools will have interest? this is one of the reasons it will never work with cherry hill. we are right where we belong.
i don't think pennsauken will have a cause of action. we should move forward.
You have to love the lies, send receive with HH is still a pipe dream with a CHANCE of happening in 5 years. Why would they disband?
Personally I think the whole thing is just smoke and mirrors put forth by the school board because they know the dilapidated, under performing school would be shut down under a merger. If they can sway a percentage of the voters who don't stay informed they might have a chance at stopping a merger.
They are counting of stupid people listening to sound bites. In other words, typical politics.
The school board should be spending their money on improving the education of the kids they are charged with currently.
so you want us in cherry hill (one of the highest performing school districts in the state) to take the students from the merchantville "underperforming school". THAT is a pipe dream. Do you think that we would ever let that happen?
What Mr. James living near Cherry Hill has to do with him wanting a merger with Cherry Hill, I don't know. I don't see how that makes a difference. I also don't understand why anyone, anywhere would want to attack another human being who is working to obtain information that may have a positive effect on the community. Both the BOE and the merger commission should be applauded for trying to make a difference as the rest of you type away at your keyboards and complain.
"...an education equal to or better than..." what they currently get in Pennsauken.
I think one of the things you have to demonstrate to the administrative law judge is that the education would be better. I don't think "the same or better" will make it past the judge.
Are most of the people on this blog complete idiots? Here is the deal, if you have children and (feel that the parochial schools which hire people WHO DO NOT HAVE TEACHING CERTIFICATES, stink like I do,) then this is better for our kids. We pay enough in taxes and why should we pay to continue to send our kids to lousy catholic schools because Pennsauken is one of the worst schools in the state. HH is not the best but it is better than CC or BE or Paul VI academically. Do not get me started if your child is special ed and you think God is going to provide the services they need?
"Mr. James living near Cherry Hill...why anyone would want to attack another"
No attack, other than his on the Haddon Heights agreement.
BIAS points out that Mr. James has demonstrated he is not a neutral, disinterested person wanting to oversee a clean study of the consolidation issue. Mr. James wants the consolidation even before a study is conducted --so strongly that he attempted to defeat Merchantville School Board's send/receive agreement with Haddon Heights.
If the consolidation study results should come out favorably and the merger were voted in, the H.H. send/receive agreement would become moot before its scheduled start. Mr. James knows that scenario. His attempt to block the H.H. Agreement shows that he wants there to be no alternative to consolidation, whether or not the study proves favorable.
It is not the person who is being attacked. It is his maneuvering to eliminate a fair choice. He should be removed from the supervisory position because he is not neutral.
Unfortunately, not everyone is neutral. I don't think you have to be neutral to be on the Commission. Keeping an open mind is important. In saying that, the commission meeting is next week and this may be discussed. i believe this shows how fragmented the town is right now. not moving in the same direction. i really have to question the movement to circumvent the township government and school board. these are the elected officials. if you want to go in another direction, vote for other people.
"It is his maneuvering to eliminate a fair choice."
Because someone questions something, they are trying to eliminate it or attack it? When did it become a bad thing to find out all the facts? I was at that meeting and he in no way was trying to eliminate anything, but like several of the rest of us there, had real questions about the HH agreement.
As far as a fair choice, what's more fair than the fact that the town will vote on the merger whereas this was decided by the BOE. I realize we vote for the BOE, but I find it more "fair" for everyone to have a voice on this matter, because it will effect everyone.
Neighbor, then you should have run for the BOE, like it or not Send Receive issues are Board decisions. I think the Beef with the Vice Chairman of the Consolidation Committe is the way he started his stement/question at the Board meeting "You people must have your head in the sand" I lost alot of respect for him from that comment, and he has lost my opinion that he could be fair and neutral. Like it or not, truth or lie that is the perception he made. But this is not about consolidation, Mr. James, or anyone else it is about the BOE taking steps to provide the best education for our children, it is as simple and as complex as that. But as an earlier blogger siad its pretty easy to sit back and be critical of other people who have to make tough decisions.
and another point neighbor, you do have a voice, not on this blog but go to a board meeting and ask your question or make your statement during one of the two public comment sessions. BOE members are elected officials they will listed to their consituents.
Somewhere above Alice suggested that the State commissioner of education would not look favorably on changing a send/receive if the education were "the same or better".
Let me suggest that the Great Schools rating of Haddon Heights High School, based on test performance, is at "7" out of 10. Compare that to "3" for test performance in Pennsauken H.S.
Of course, an individual student's performance cannot be guaranteed but the school environment has a major influence on learning.
I cannot imagine that the Dept. of Education could claim that H.H. and Pennsauken are about the same.
Aw, I didn't check Alice's comment before making mine. Alice referred to an administrative law judge, not to the State D.O.E.
In the the Haddonfield decision years ago, the administrative law judge granted the proposed change in send/receive. The commissioner of educational overruled the judge by introducing the "ethnic diversity" argument.
Sorry, Alice, my mind skipped a beat in quoting you.
The phrase "same or better" is from commenter 1/11/12 at 3:37PM: "Some conclusions of the report were that Merchantville students would receive an education equal to or better than what they receive in Pennsauken..."
I saw the presentation materials which are fine as far as they go. What I would like to see is the full report of the consultant. Does anyone know if that is readily available?
I believe that the study falls short when it concludes the same amount do students will attend other high schools if the send receive is changed. The number of students going to these schools will decrease and students attending HHS will increase. That part of the analysis is flawed.
Just finished reading the feasibility study and it is very thorough. Hopefully it will sway the admintrative court judge into letting us make the change.
HH send/receive will never happen. Merchantville can't afford it. It is clearly to try and sway people to not want the merger. Nice try, won't happen, EVER!!!
I don't really think its a method of swaying people away from a merger, but ultimately, the merger group will need the help of residents with children in the school system and if pennsauken is out of the loop, people might not care as much. that said, the combination of MES and HH is still not as good the cherry hill school system, so it might not make a difference anyway.
as far as not being able to afford to send our kids to HH, thats crap. School districts go through ups and downs in student populations all of the time. It happens. and you know what, schools still survive and taxes increase at the same levels that they always do. the dynamic with which our community will change in a good way by severing the pennsauken relationship is immeasurable. young couples will move here, followed by more commercial ratables, etc. and it all work out. Simply arguing for not changing our current status with Pennsauken in any regard is simply just moronic. Do it any way possible. period.
Chris, the feasibility study clearly states Merchantville taxes will go up. This HH thing is a big loser. The administrative law judge will throw this to the curb and tell us to stay with Pennsauken. Especially after PHS files its lawsuit, which it will. Whoever posted the BOE should have done something else with the money rather than throw it at this study was correct. We need to merge or just keep struggling until Trenton pulls more crap on us to force us to do things we will not want to do. It stinks but it's the truth.
Actually, the feasibility study indicates that Merchantville's taxes would decrease slightly. the only one that would increase would be pennsauken by an insignificant amount. thanks for playing.
It does state our taxes would go down, but that is assuming that the same number of kids would choose public school education.
Its a inaccurate assumption, it doesn't take into account more children going to HH than Pennsauken or taking part in school choice.
There would be new, more attractive options available to parents its short sighted to think as the consultant put it "the same amount of parents would choose a catholic school education."
Then there is a other possibility that more children who currently go to Saint Pete's might enter into the public school system based on the better high school.
oh i agree, but anon's statement that the feasibility report "clearly" says our taxes will go up is false.
the fact of the matter is that merchantville, as a community, has been on a decline for quite a while. This is due to Pennsauken High School, nothing more. And the idea that some of our neighbors actually think the status quo is ok, is just sad.
Merchantville's decline due to Pennsauken high school, really? That is a ridiculous statement. Sounds like something someone very uneducated would state. Get up on the issues and stop blaming PHS for the decline of this town.
Merchantville's decline due to Pennsauken high school, really? That is a ridiculous statement. Sounds like something someone very uneducated would state. Get up on the issues and stop blaming PHS for the decline of this town.
let's see. the actual text from the feasibility study, conclusion at the end of the study.
From a financial perspective, Pennsauken will see an insignificant tax levy increase while the other four districts will see decreases. Therefore, there are no significant negative financial consequences that should impede the proposed change in the sending-receiving relationship.
Anon, I know its a long boring document, but if you could read, as you suggest that I cannot, you might have seen that part.
You hire any realtor and tell him you are thinking about buying in Merchantville and see what they say. The word Pennsauken will be in the first 2 sentences. It will most likely be "Small little town with nice old victorian homes, but, they send kids to Pennsauken, so if you are planning on having kids, look elsewhere".
Our inability to attract young professionals is undoubtedly our biggest problem. Solve the Pennsauken issue, and see what happens.
what is up with the posters posing as merger people against the send receive? are they serious? send receive has been an issue for this town for quite some time, it wasn't created to defeat consolidation, if FACT just the opposite is true, consolidation is being attempted to resolve the High School issue, that is a FACT! Maybe now it is morphing into something else, or at least there is an attempt by some to claim other issues. It just amazes me how people who claim to be neutral and just want a study pick it apart when one is presented to them. I anxiously await the feasability study done by the consolidation commission. How can the vice chairman of the commission makes such assumptions and claim the study is flawed? He has absolutely no basis other that opinion, he has no expertise or any other qualifications to make such claims. Now LaVardera is jumping on the same bandwagon. At least he has the intelligence to realize that Send Receive is a crucial issue.
The Board has my total support on this issue, they were elected by the Residents of Merchantville, unlike to Consolidation Committee who were appointed by a chosen few.
I disagree with your opinion on the BOE. Yes we vote for them. However when there is an important issue, maybe the most important issue in the ten years I've lived here, I'm not so sure I want only their vote on the matter but the whole town's vote. Say what you will about how the merger commission was compiled,the important fact is you will all have a vote after the study happens. I am very interested in the HH send/receive. I just want all our options available.
This HH study states that a 'Merchantville tax levy would increase". So why are we doing this - to sway folks to not want the study with CH. Not us, we want it and feel that this pursuit is going to be a waste of time after the administrative law judge reviews it and has a lawsuit, to boot, from PHS. Merchantville BOE should have done this years ago and they would have our respect. This study does not hold water to us and we believe that when there are more factors to bring to a study other than the high school as the study with CH will be, that there will be positive outcomes for Merchantville. We hope so as this is no answer and will not work out in the end. PHS will win and get its way again.
The petitioner who came to my house never even mentioned the high school situation. It was all about high taxes and declining services. That was two years ago.
"This HH study states that a 'Merchantville tax levy would increase"
i'm all for consolidating, but you can't lie about the other study. The BOE study says the exact opposite of what you are claiming. read before you open your mouth and let all of the flies in.
are you for real? read the study. it says taxes will DECLINE slightly in Merchantville.
this is 2011. the send receive will pass through the administrative counts - no problem. i am hearing pennsauken may not even challenge it. they have no basis.
when they challenged it last time it was due to the changing make up of their student population. this is not the case today. review the study. do you see the difference? this is a done deal. the boe worked very hard for 2 years on this relationship. they should be commended and supported.
Cherry Hill-Merchantville merger exemplifies perils of N.J. consolidation Letters to the Editor | July 17, 2011 — [Re: “If it's broke, why not fix it?", Remapping Debate's article on New Jersey's fragmented system of 556 municipal governments.]
Cherry Hill is one of the largest New Jersey communities, at 70,000 plus, and we have one of the largest school district populations at 11,000. Consolidation will not help us get tax relief. We have high property taxes relative to what our properties are worth because we do not receive our fair share of the income tax funds we send to Trenton.
As per our school funding formula calculations (the "uncapped aid" figures), we should be receiving at least $36 million in direct state aid to education. We will be receiving approximately $11 million. And though the governor has stated that the total amount of state direct school aid to education is what it was two years ago, we in Cherry Hill will be still be receiving significantly less than we did.
Consolidation with Merchantville will just make the direct state aid situation even worse. Merchantville's school tax levy is less than 3 percent of Cherry Hill's. Their per pupil tax levy is much less than Cherry Hill's. Merchantville's state aid per pupil is approximately $3,500 where Cherry Hill's is less than $1,000.
So, if we were to consolidate (and of course the state would fund the combination district at Cherry Hill's rate), the combined district would lose even more of its fair share of state aid. So the real issue for my community, Cherry Hill, is our not receving an equitable amount of the funds we send to Trenton back to us in tax relief.
"Courage to Connect" [an organization that seeks to educate the public about the impact of "Home Rule"] is not interested in helping us in Cherry Hill. We already meet their size requirements for what should be an "efficient community." We in Cherry Hill are just being used, and the population of our community is just too large to band together and fight back.
If "Courage to Connect" helped us get our fair share of state funding, I would feel differently. If the state rewarded us in Cherry Hill by giving us our fair share of state aid to education I would feel differently.
From what I read on your website, your articles point out that things are not always what they appear. There are hidden agendas.
Well, guess what. My agenda is that our community stops being bled to death because relative to other communities in New Jersey we are not and have not been for years getting our fair share of the funds we send to Trenton back to us. (We are not the only ones.) The way the state has administered and modified the original SFRA [School Funding Reform Act] has made things worse, and SFRA was not fair to our community to begin with. And CEIFA [Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act] was underfunded...
Consolidation with a community whose citizens have been similarly cheated will not bring a greater percentage of the funds we send to Trenton back to us. In fact, when Merchantville's per pupil state aid is brought down to our level, it will make things worse.
HaHa. Who can refer to Cherry Hill as a community? I believe that most view Cherry Hill as a bunch of different developments connected by congested roads lined with beautiful strip malls. Despite the differences in the thoughts of its members, most will refer to Mechantville as a community. I am proud to be a member of this community, even though I have to bag my leaves. To all those inCherry Hill who are worried about your standardized test scores..relax. You probably have bigger fish to fry.
actually I liken the consolidation people to the Captain of the Italian Cruise ship, except the rest of the offocers and passengers won't allow the same outcome.
A mosquito is better than sinking like the Italian cruise ship. And some people are more than annoyed by the consolidation movement. It's lifespan has already outlived what those are against it thought it would. By the posts, they sound threatened that anyone would want to try and do something about making change in a town that is no longer thriving - it's just denial. Things will change, if not consolidation, they will still change dramatically. Too many issues and concerns for Merchantville residents living in a struggling small town.
To say that Cherry Hill and Merchantville are struggling with the same issues is blind. We need the study to see how a merger can help our town. Remember, we are not listed as a great town to raise a family. Cherry Hill is. We have a lot of work to do. What is so blind about that??
listed by who? you speak out of your anal spincter. Merchantville is a wonderful place to raise a family, I have done so and I know many more families who feel the same way.
My Kids DO go to school here and they love it! They like their teachers and their classmates. They love the fact that they can walk to school. They love that fact that when they pass some on the street that person not only says hi but knows them by name!
Big changes have already happened at Merchantville School and under the leadership of the new CSA and a change in the High School it will only continue to change and grow stronger.(no pun intended) The past is just that... THE PAST!
MES is certainly not the biggest problem we have in this town, but you're kidding yourself if you think that because your kids can walk to school that they are getting a better education than perhaps the kids in the neighboring towns of cherry hill, moorestown, mount laurel, medford, evesham, haddonfield, haddon heights, etc. If we can get the HH send/receive, awesome. if not, the community will remain what it is. a place that has no ability to attract young professional couples because we have a sub-par school system. for some residents, for some reason, thats ok.
not sure why consolidation with ch has even been considered. our communities are so different. there is no match here. i wish the commissioners would see this and discontinue this effort.
The commissioners, like the petitioning group and those who signed the petition, see potential for a merger which is why things have moved along. If it doesn't happen and we at least get HH, fine - but not the best scenario. We still have a police force, PW and goverment that we really can't support in the long haul and something will have to be done about it anyway. Our downtown is losing yet another business! Better to do the study with Cherry Hill. Our homes annexed to the West side would make a nice mix of unique homes for CH, and let's face it, the high tax dollars we pay on our homes would go into their coffers. Keep the progress going commissioners!
203 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 203 Newer› Newest»Crucial issue for our children and town, I see this as progress one way or the other.
The lawsuits will bankrupt us. Hopefully Haddon Heights backs out before litigation drags on too long. Why not stick with Pennsauken and try to fix the high school?
We simply can't afford to change the send/receive. Let's be realistic. Even if Pennsauken didn't take us to court, what if a much higher percentage of graduating 8th graders decided to attend public high school? If just 15 additional students per grade opted for Haddon Heights at $14K per that comes to $840K per year without including transportation. I don't see where that money could come from. The only thing left to cut is the police...
Cruiser is correct in his assessment (made elsewhere). Pennsauken could show no harm by the loss of our small H.S. population in any way, financially or socio-economically. And at this time in State politics the NJ Dept. of Education would find it difficult to maintain a rigid posture against a district trying to better its educational system and, more importantly it might be argued, to increase the proportion of students staying enrolled in the public school system through 12th grade. Both are priorities of the D.O.E.
However, after hearing that Merchantville teachers approached the school board expressing concern over student performance in basic skills --something teachers have been charged with teaching as a top priority since public education was created-- I am struck with the thought that our folks have lost their way in their profession and our community would be better off outsourcing the job to a well-run neighbor like Cherry Hill.
I ask rhetorically, how could a faculty ask for more help to do what can be done successfully with nothing but a slate board, chalk and enthusiasm?
good point springfield. actually, why don't we just say no high school for any resident altogether and save that 15 per grade, or $840K per year and we can buy a whole bunch of stuff. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a new recreation complex, but i'll settle for leaf pickup.
seriously though, it doesn't matter if the entire student population we have decided to go to Haddon Heights, we have a responsibility as a community to make sure our kids' education is paid for. period. we have just been getting a nice discount for the last 40 years because our high school situation is so ridiculously horrible, that any kid that can afford to go somewhere better does.
Responsibility or not the money has to come from somewhere. What can we cut that's worth $840+ transportation and potential litigation? How much would outsourcing police to Pennsauken save? This is the only thing left to outsource or cut. What'll it be?
I am sure the school board will have answers to many of these questions, to Springfield nice thought but two different budgets, to KT sounds like the New CSA has some shaking up to do with the Staff.....
I appreciate the current school board for finally taking on this issue. Good luck to you all with all the nay sayers who know it all and will come out of the woodwork to bitch and moan.
"...all the nay sayers who know it all and will come out of the woodwork to bitch and moan."
The "nay sayers" don't have to know it all. The State runs a testing program with published results purposely to inform average residents about how well all students of each school in each school district are learning all basic skills.
Complain about the tests if you must to hide from them, but over the past half decade our children have performed poorly and every year THE RESULTS GET WORSE.
Dozens of excuses. Money thrown in all directions. Consultants hired; programs introduced; teachers inserviced. But no one wants to grab the bull by its horns and wrestle it down and dirty into every classroom, stop watch running, and tie instruction tightly to the basics.
Everybody wants to sit on a high fence, a new gun in hand with a silver bullet, to shoot the animal without facing it. It hasn't happened yet. It will not happen tomorrow.
For the kids' sake, give the school away to our neighbor.
It may be two different budgets, but it all comes from the same pockets. If schools go up by $840,000 + transportation + litigation, the money has to come from somewhere. How much more taxes can we pay? We pay through the roof now.
AND what do we get for all of the money we pay? Bagging our own damn leaves and more to come.
school board taxes went down this year, how quickly one forgets. and bagging the leaves has probably saved you from putting on another 10 pounds
springfield, you are also forgetting that the state provides aid, on a per student basis, which would be a significant portion of that $14K a year number.
but its kind of funny that we're even having an argument about how we can't afford to send our kids to high school and that we have absolutely nowhere to cut to make room. if thats not a prime example illustrating why a town of our size can't efficiently run itself and an indicator that we should be trying as best we can to merge with Cherry Hill, I dont know what is.
It is absolutely disgraceful that any citizen in Merchantville Borough would take a stance that not every child had the right to a public funded high school education. It is, to begin with, a right of citizenship. We don't have the money, obviously but the school board has been taxing the taxpayer in such a way that a public funded education should be available for every student. Where is the money or accountability? Close the damn school already, the parking situation is so dangerous that it is an accident or a child waiting to be hit by a car. Other than educational concerns, this is a huge concern as well and no one is giving us parents an answer. Where the hell is Merchantville's finest that we pay? They are not even looking after that parking lot. Totally, absolutely makes me embarrassed to live here but I am STUCK with this stupidity of people who don't want to see us merge with a thriving well-run community. Oh, the town also looks disgusting being overrun with leaves that are not picked up. Forget the losing weight argument, that is lame, it should be a provided service, period! It looks like crap. Great job community leaders of Merchantville - NOT. When you are asking why things have come to this, look in the mirror. And remind yourself that your time is ticking. There are more people for this merger movement in this town than against and that is the reality of the situation. We will do our best to not go down with you!
"more people for this merger movement in this town than against"
I am not sure that anyone knows the numbers supporting and opposing a consolidation. The study has just begun to find the financial facts.
It might be said that the supporters of small governments have a heavy burden in today's world that did not exist two generations ago -- the pressure of giant governments.
For instance, our school. When I was a kid Merchantville's population was about the same as today. The school was K-12 and Delaware Twp parents nearby had the option to send their children to Merchantville High School. The NJ Dept. of Education ended our high school, saying the enrollment was too small for a comprehensive education.
All of the founders of our nation and all of its scientists graduated from smaller high schools and many from colleges smaller than Merchantville H.S. At the time our H.S. was open, Rutgers in Camden had 450 undergraduate students in 3 programs (sciences, social sciences, humanities) and fewer than 75 students in the law school. Having mandated that Merchantville is too small for a high school program, the State Dept. began allowing home instruction by parents having no education themselves.
Similar legal restrictions apply to local government. At its last meeting a planning board member proposed a new requirement for any multifamily building owner who applies for a variance to expand an operation -- require an inspection to check if the existing property meets health and safety codes. The solicitor responded that such a requirement might exceed the Board's authority.
What? A local authority can allow a property owner to deviate from local ordinances but not have legal authority to check for compliance with existing ordinances when debating the variance?
I remember a school superintendent saying at his retirement in the mid-1970s that he was happy to be leaving education because it was becoming too legalistic. Well, maybe Merchantville will be saying that soon ... not because we cannot provide good education and municipal services, but rather because big government won't let us do it well.
We can not provide good education and municipal services not because of big government, but because of our small borough. Merchantville can not keep up with modern day living. It needs help and a lot of it, no matter what some superintendent said when they retired. The past is the past and needs to be left there. Time to move forward. And, yes, there are people keeping their fingers crossed and praying that this study bodes well for a merger. More so than not, bet on it.
Merchantville's problem (municipal and school) isn't so much it's size, though that does impose challenges.
It's main problem is the rampant cronyism in both municipal and school government.
Examples are the unnecessary employees the borough and school have maintained - employees like the paid firefighter (yeah, I know the arguments. But look at other similar-sized communities that get by just fine without) and the Speech "therapist's" cost to the school (90k direct salary, IIRC).
Get rid of the cronyism and change the attitude from the school and local government being a jobs program for the friends of those in power, AND quit rewarding friend with bloated purchase costs for their broken-down properties, and the borough AND school would be just fine.
Rampant cronyism is not Merchantville's main problem.
The size of Merchantville is its main problem.
Take off your Brennanite glasses, Cruiser. A LOT of small communities are doing just fine. The difference is that they have people in charge who don't think the town coffers are there to feed their friends and families.
so the answer is to have cherry hill pay for your high school education since it is beyond merchantville's means? No. In cherry hill we have our own concerns. We have facilities that need work and we have high schools that are at capacity.
yes, merchantville is in a difficult situation. however, if you want to merge, if you want to be saved, it makes much more sense to become part of pennsauken. all of the arguments made in this thread can be made with pennsauken as well as cherry hill. you already have the high school relationship. you could keep your elementary...maybe even more funding for your elementary. cherry hill has 70k + population, and pennsauken has 30k+. it makes much more sense you to merge with pennsauken as you already have one foot in the door.
Anon, 12/21, 2:45 PM - Even if you took away everything you think is cronyism, the main financial problem will still be the same - Merchantville is too small to support a complement of modern governmental services
I heard on the news today that Camden County government will establish a County Police Force to begin in Spring, 2012. For starters, the County Police Force will take over the Camden City Police Force. This means that a portion of the county tax paid by all property holders in the county will go to pay for the County Police Force. So the big question for Merchantville is whether or not it should join the County Police Force?
Whaddaya think?
cruiser,
Once again you don't know what you're talking about.
Cruiser is right. Camden City did agree to the Camden County Police force. It's coming. Oh, and our town did not sign a petition for a study with Pennsauken, just Cherry Hill so don't go telling Merchantville citizens what our rights are - it is our duty to look for the best option for our town. You are really beating a dead horse to keep telling us to merge with Pennsauken. That's just not what the petition for the study is about folks.
Hey pretend Cherry Hill resident; assclown. Find a new hobby. So bored of you. We know you live right here. No one from Cherry Hill checks this blog everyday. Pathetic.
Assclown. Interesting. Really wants me to embrace the merchantville community. See you on jan 17.
So if on jan 10, if the boe states the study with haddon heights indicates it makes sense to change the send/receive, can we give up this merger thing?
It is only about the schools.
Can someone please report what happens on January 10?
Merchantville can not afford to change its send/receive relationship. $840,000 + transportation + legal fees! I've lived here long enough to know that it won't happen anyway. The only affordable way out of this mess is to merge. A borough of our size can not continue in this day in age. Leaf pick up problems are just the beginning. This boat will start to take on water soon.
The timing of this BOE study sure seems fishy.
again, so merchantville cannot afford to change its send-receive so cherry hill has to save the town. NOT.
We will not jeopardize the integrity and academic excellence of our schools for another town.
I'm sorry. I don't know why I keep pretending to be a CH resident. It's a compulsion.
It would be a very sad day indeed if Merchantville were to get a desirable send-receive district willing to partner with and then have to decide that it would not persue a change because the change would be too costly.
The community could just plough ahead with such a change and once the expense of the new district and the additional high school students becomes painfully apparent, the hue and cry of the public would be to seek relief however achievable at which time the only relief would be a merger with Pennsauken.
It could end up in a situation like that.
For Merchantville, a merger with Cherry Hill now is the golden opportunity in all of this.
keep in mind that some of us are spending $4k - $10k additional to send our children to private high school so the solution of our taxes increasing $1k and a desirable high school send receive is a win-win. and we get to keep our small town and our k-8.
with the cherry hill merger our k-8 will close.
those of you that do not have school age kids will immediately see and increase in property value.
we all win. by far the best solution
I don't see a new high-school send receive as solving some major problems:
1. The declining quality of MES;
2. The inadequate police facilities (see the Master Plan for a full explanation);
3. Lack of access to better public facilities (public library, sports fields)
4. No representation on the school board that provides high school education to our residents.
Anonymous 12:24 1:53 - The best deal though is to have no tax increase and no private high school tuition and higher property values and better economic diversity of the community. Win-win-win-win. Leaf pick up could return - another win.
You have no knowledge of how the merged community would handle the MES K to 8 school location. No one has that knowledge.
Regardless of whether or not a home has school age children, the effect on the market value of the home would be the same.
I live in Haddon Heights and we don't want Merchantville. We already deal with Lawnside. We are mobilizing.
Alice has some interesting points that Merchantville needs to consider regardless of future association. 1. Quality of MES; 2. Police facilities; 3. Access to library, sports fields) 4. Representation on school board. Alice was referring to Haddon Heights but the same considerations need to be addressed with a Cherry Hill merger.
The declining quality of our school gets solved with a Cherry Hill merger, or does it? If we should export our children to C.H., would they get extraordinary instruction to pull them out of their deficits or would they just get lost in a large system? Cherry Hill already has a portion of students performing as poorly as ours. It is just a smaller percentage of their population and so doesn't raise attention. I have suggested before that an earnest effort by M.E.S. has a greater chance of success than exporting our children in need to a large system. Our board has yet to address our proficiency problems.
Police? Merging with C.H. will empty our facility, as marginal as it is. And the ratio of police to residents will drop by a third, to the level in C.H. Our Master Plan recommends a substation in the West End. We would have no precinct in Merchantville.
Library? We have access to Camden County Library materials right here in Merchantville. The folks across the C.H. border a few blocks away must go through the C.H. library on Kings Highway, don't they?
School Board? Liaison with Haddon Heights would be no different from that with Pennsauken today. In a C.H. merger we would lose our local board.
It is not a simple decision in any direction. We would be wise to ramp up our energies today to deal with our problems today expecting no change ... and then be pleasantly surprised if one should present itself tomorrow. We are not doing that by my reckoning.
Cruiser has some interesting arguments favoring consolidation with Cherry Hill but he is so optimistic in his comments I am afraid he glosses over the negatives.
Doing so, for as much as it motivational, is dangerous. John Adams sold our Continental Congress on rebellion from British sovereignty. Had France not rescued us with its navy and army, we would have failed miserably. And the rescue itself was by dumb luck in timing.
Merry Christmas to all!
If you are about to make resolutions for the coming year, keep in mind that NOAA predicts a one in three chance of January and February being warmer than normal in our area with equal chances that precipitation will remain normal.
Maybe that is why oil and natural gas prices are so low ... the producers know we can get along with less and would do so if the costs were high.
Low gas and oil prices sound like yet another Obama administration success story!
This administration has to claim victory where they can since they haven't come through on the promises of the election.
One way to improve the schools is to look at the data and find out where the weaknesses are in instruction based on testing results. Are you teaching what is being tested? Another way to improve is to develop a testing program throughout the year. (e.g., test prep, practice and strategies- along with formulating in class tests and assignments with questions and prompts that mirror the test. Yeah..teaching to the test. Yes and NO! Until NCLB and RttT is abandoned, that is the way schools, teachers and students are measured. Give me the data and redacted test results by grade and category and I'll develop a program for you.
UrbanLad
"Teaching to the test" always comes up as some kind of negative sound bite in discussions of educational matters. The special interests with their own agendas have mercilessly communicated that teaching to the test is bad.
Persons interested in this matter should be sure they read a few of the tests. I venture all will come away with the feeling that a sound educational program has to enable students to master the material in these tests. The tests are not that hard. Everything in our society has to be prioritized. In all areas of life there are scarce resources and tremendous needs. In education the resources have to first be applied to getting students to achieve well on the tests. If after that there are resources available, they can be applied to other things. There is no harm, only betterment, in teaching to the tests if that is what it is best to causing the students to be successful on the tests.
There is much to be thankful for. No reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. Merchantville can survive. Although its true that the borough has spent its entire surplus and that taxes will need to be raised, the good news is that we have very little municipal debt. We can begin to take on a manageable level of debt in the short term to get through this bad economy, while raising some taxes and cutting some services. The sky is not falling.
They could actually go k-12 in that building. Stabilize the town and be a model for others on how small can work. fundamentals and basic skills can and should be taught, and tested. But that is only a small part of successful schooling. It is a shame. Your communitie's fear of change might actually cause a much bigger change in the end.
So cherry hill gets a $1.4 M loss as well as a population of students that perform "poorly" (per Marvin).
Sorry, we don't see an upside.
At the consolidation meeting Mr Perno said that Merchantville will not contribute any funds to the study. We are making sure that Cherry Hill will not contribute any funds.
if merchantville wants this so badly, they will have to raise the money. our new mayor will be in the decision making seat shortly. he knows this is a loser for cherry hill.
go go haddon heights!
There I go again! I don't really live in Cherry Hill. I just pretend to on this blog. I need to find a new hobby.
Anon, you don't live in Cherry Hill. Your posts are blatently obvious that you live in Merchantville and are against the merger process. You are an assclown. Do yourself a favor and do something else in the New Year besides pretend to be something you are not.
Marvin:
"Liaison with Haddon Heights would be no different from that with Pennsauken today." Exactly. It's not an improvement on that measure.
"In a C.H. merger we would lose our local board." In a merger we gain a school board that is directly responsible to us for the quality of not only K-8 but also for the high school.
Merchantville's inadequate police facilities are an ongoing problem that is expensive (millions of dollars expensive) to fix.
If your issue with police and a potential merger is the number of patrols and a local station, then this can be addressed in the consolidation through the creation of a "special service district." SSDs are part of the statutory process in consolidation and we would do well to take advantage of them. An SSD could be created to have a substation in Merchantville, perhaps our current police facilities would be adequate for such a purpose.
These are the types of ideas that interested people should be bringing to the commission.
Good points, Alice, all of them. Does one need a special circumstance to create a "special services district"? ...other than "My ice cream cone is bigger than yours now so I want a bigger one tomorrow too."
Cherry Hill lives next to Pennsauken just as we do and C.H. has a predominance of students who perform as poorly as ours in that border area. Our prospects after merging will be the same as C.H.'s border students today.
The irony of the merging-is-best thinking that a reinvigorated small school district has a far better likelihood of improving student performance than does a large school district.
Merchantville should place all of its resources and energies into improving its own programs. The new superintendent should take that on as his highest priority. As to the high school situation, Cruiser is mostly right in what he champions. However, if our school board wants to pursue the Haddon Heights alternative, if there is one, and Merchantville taxpayers have concerns about cost, well, our board might consider restructuring our school into a middle school with grades 6 to 9 together. There are many such middle-school programs across America. Keeping 9th grade would reduce our sending tuition cost by 1/4 and give us a larger school population at the upper level at home which would allow us to provide a stronger academic program with adolescents.
No,no,no to integrating 9th grade in MES. You people are getting desparate with solutions to keeping a school that needs to be closed. And how the hell do you address more traffic in a parking lot that can't even accomodate what is there? It can't happen. For that matter, the state should be called in to investigate what is going on with that entire situation. Any parents on board with me? I'm sick and f'ing tired of it! And that call and letter will be written after the next MES Board Meeting on 1/10/12, I PROMISE! MES will have to answer to NJ for the disgraceful situation. Time is up. The 8th graders are even too mature to be in with the smaller population of kids, they have to go to 9-12 after they graduate. Integration never going to happen. Most public schools have facilities for PreK-5 and then 6-8 to separate the adolescents from the smaller elementary population. That would be a step backwards to bring in 9th graders and do not want my tax dollars spent that way! Start sharpening your pencils because your alternatives suck! NJ DOE, senators and state reps, here I come to place my stake in protecting our students from an absolutely disgraceful, unsafe, accident waiting-to-happen commuting situation! ;)
Ignoring your inappropriate language, let me suggest that you look into your educational history books before spitting out your thinking to the Dept. of Educ.
The concept of JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (grades 7 to 9) was developed around 1907 and caught on like wild fire for the merits of its learning-theory base. Over the next seventy years the K-8 structure waned as being archaic.
The MIDDLE SCHOOL concept which commonly houses grades 5 to 8, 6 to 8, 6 to 9, 7 to 9, was developed in the mid 1960s and caught on equally well for the merits of its psychological base. Middle school teaching is an approach to working with children. Its housing varies among school districts to accommodate differing numbers of students more than any other factor. In fact, most communities introduced the "middle school" concept when they needed to build a new school, not the reverse.
Yes, we need advocates speaking out for improvement in our school programs but, please, put some facts in your mouth before you sound off. Trumpeting K-8 as the best grouping will produce only laughs.
I don't need to go back and check history to make my point, I am aware of the suggestion segregation of the system and that MES does not have it. I never said trumpeting K-8 was best so don't put words in my mouth if that's how you read it. It is simply the way it stånds in MES now and it is absolutely outdated. Putting 9th in there is absolutely even more backwards, that was my point. I'd like to see our kids go to the more conventional separation that is in place in most other public school districts. And the commuting situation in MES warrants some language to get people's attention as too many are turning a blind cheek and it is simply not acceptable. In fact, the Courier Post is another good resource to tap as they are close by enough to take a look...and have their pulse on what is going on in this community. In speaking to the reporter on the education beat, she never got return calls from Swanson. Maybe the new guys will be more responsive.
There are very few reporters left at the Courier Post. If you have read that paper lately, you will realize there are very few South Jersey stories. Keep looking if you need a reporter to dig into anything!
Don't worry your pretty little headso don't need to dig. This veteran reporter is there full-time and already agreed to give the issue publicity. It deserves attention and will get it. You need to dig into something other than what concerned conscious parents are up to and come up with a better rebuttal than what you wrote. This is serious issue that will get the attention it deserves whether you like it or not.
Happy New Year to all.
"Putting 9th in there is absolutely even more backwards, that was my point."
Look at the other side of your point. We have a building that was once a successful school, K-12. It has enough spaces with separations to run separate programs.
New Point: Adding 9th grade allows Merchantville to have a comprehensive Middle School, or if you don't like that language, to have a traditional Junior High School.
Merchantville would have a hugely better chance for State approval to hold onto its 9th graders than with any other course of action for improving the education of its older students, including a change in send/receive contracts.
Once the comprehensive Middle School is in place --or Junior High-- it would be easier to apply for State permission to create an "Alternative High School" (grades 10-12) as an option to the continuing Pennsauken contract. That would give Merchantville parents three choices for grades 10 to 12: Merchantville Alternative H.S., Pennsauken H.S., private placement.
My bet is that Merchantville could run a superb Alternative H.S. with 60 students and 4 H.S.-certificated teachers. And guess what! Outstanding/advanced 8th and 9th grade students might qualify to take courses in the Alternative School program. That adds another option for Merchantville parents -- motivating their teens to qualify for early admission into Merchantville's alternative academic program.
Can't wait to hear from the board on the progress. Haddon heights here we come. The heck with this merger.
The heck with this merger is right! We can afford to spend more than we bring in for years more to come- we have very low levels of debt. We can afford to take on some debt for operating expenses or we could move to an all volunteer services model. Everyone could take turns serving the community- like a chore wheel. Maybe we could build a more robust community watch and deputize members under some circumstances. This is a time to be creative, not throw the baby out with the bath water!!!!
" take on some debt for operating expenses"
Wow! Did they change the laws to allow municipalities to spend more than their taxation raises? Perhaps we could spend lots more than we do.
I know a guy who ran up hundreds of thousands in credit card debt and then didn't pay it. Some of the banks offered settlements of pennies on the dollar. He didn't pay that either. Of course he lost his house after defaulting on taxes and had to move out of state into a rental to keep from being dispossessed by creditors of furniture and car. Asked if his fun was worth the result, he answered soberly, "I blew it!"
Our anonymous friend in town wants us to "take on some debt", seemingly mixing school costs with local governmental expenses somehow. Does he know we issued a bond to cover the cost of the PNC Bank building and parking lots and even more debt for the sewer line rehabilitation just completed?
What's his idea for paying that debt ... or is he up for defaulting too? In his movie "The Mouse That Roared", Peter Sellers gathered a band of Vikings to attack New York City, hoping he would be defeated and thereby become eligible for foreign aid. His problem was that New Yorkers ignored him and his army ... or did NYC surrender? I forget.
What are the days for the pick up of Christmas trees?
Can they go out on Tuesday with the yard waste?
Or are they required to go out on Thursday with the regular trash collection?
I like the idea of creating a Merchantville Junior High School with grades 7,8,9. It would help our enrollment and give students another year here.
Why don't we rent space in our school to a charter school for grades 10,11,12?
The Merchantville charter school idea was just dumb.
I live in Cherry Hill and think that this merger is a great idea for so many reasons. My neighbors agree. I hope it happens.
You people are dreaming with this notion of a charter school and this other BS. We need the merger to happen yesterday. You need money to do this stuff you are talking about and it's not there. Stop it already. There are more and more people in this town realizing how critical it is to move forward with the merger and putting positive energy into making it happen. Cherry Hill will vote for this as long as it makes financial sense for them and let's hope it does!
Go to the merger meetings. The next meeting is 1/17.
They are trying to rush this study through. There is no funding and no study yet and they are already saying it needs to be done by July for a nov vote.
Preliminary results are ch will lose $1.4m and it will over crowd the high school, put a strain on our facilities, and lower our proficiency percentage.
Ch is voting no. There is a new mayor in town. Literally. We don't want this.
I live in Cherry Hill and think that this merger is a BAD idea for so many reasons. My neighbors agree. We know this will NOT happen.
anon:"I live in Cherry Hill and think..."
Is there a psychologist on the blog who can explain why a commenter needs to tell where he lives every time he posts?
I live in Merchantville and think it would be more efficient in time and electronic energy for that alien to create a moniker that explains where he lives and thinks, such as, what?, C.H. Void? He wouldn't need to tell us what he thinks; we know already.
And what about the waste of energy in posting his stuff? This week we gave up incandescent bulbs. What's next?
I live in Cherry Hill, Merchantville and Stone Harbor. I think getting rid of 100 watt incandescent bulbs is crazy!
That is why I am in the process of hoarding cases of them in my many basements.
Smart people have already been using CFLs and LEDs and enjoying the electric bill savings they cause. Furthermore, the air has lass pollution from energy production and needless costs of power plant creation and replacement are avoided. This is a win-win no matter how you look at it.
Cruiser is right.
I'm pleased to be saving $4.00 in electric power over the life of a CFL vs. an incandescent. And the CFL only costs me $5.00 more than the incandescent!
The LEDs are even more ludicrous in their "savings."
don't they save like $1.4 million? and i live in cherry hill, merchantville, stone harbor and haddon heights! i know the results of the study based on these light bulbs. lol
Always glad to hear that Cruiser is right even though it may be said tongue-in-cheek.
At the nearby Home Depot tonight this is the information on the cheapest incandescent and CFL 100 watt (or equivalent) bulbs:
Incandescent:
Manufacturer: Phillips Soft White
Price each: $0.37 (4 pack costs $1.47)
Watts: 100
Life: 750 hours
CFL:
Manufacturer: Ecosmart Soft White
Price each: $2.49 (4 pack costs $9.97)
Watts: 23
Life: 10,000 hours
Just based on the bulb cost alone, CFL is a much better deal. The 750 hour incandescent bulb will have to be replaced 13 times during the 10,000 hour life of the CFL bulb. The total costs of the 13 incandescent bulbs at today's price would be $4.93 versus the $2.49 one time cost of the CFL.
That the CFL bulb only uses 23% of the electricity of the incandescent bulb is frosting on the cake.
CFL bulbs are a good deal, individually and for the community.
The law regarding them will eventually only affect 40 watt to 100 watt incandescent bulbs. These are the predominantly used sizes. The law will not affect specialty bulbs such as for chandeliers or for oven lights.
Always glad to hear Cruiser is right!
Yeah, it's such a rare thing, right Cruiser?
No, give credit where due. Cruiser is usually right on the money.
Hate to be a bulb buster but Cruiser missed one point. The CFL bulbs may last 10,000 hours on average BUT the ballast unit in them only lasts about 500 starts. So if you turn on or turn off your flurescent substitute, say when entering a room or if the light is on a timer or motion detector, you will not get your treasured 10,000. You will have an expensive dead bulb in a few months.
Is your solution to leave the lights on? There goes your energy savings.
Also, the reason a CFL costs ten times an incandescent bulb's 37 cents is simple. They are more difficult, material-absorbing and energy-consuming to manufacture. The consumption energy saved in America comes at an even higher production energy and environmental cost on the other side of the world.
Cruiser, the whole world considered, this one-sided legislation is LOSE/LOSE. Far better would be to use easily-made incandescents and shut them off when not needed. But then, if we were interested in saving energy and the environment, space craft would see the globe lighted up from sea to sea.
...space craft would NOT see...
Turning on any lightbulb, cfl or incandescent repeatedly, diminishes the lifespan of the bulb.
As usual, ktbfw is wrong.
The package of the Ecosmart CFL bulb mentioned that it is guaranteed to work for nine years. If the bulb dies in a "few months," or even a few years, take it back.
Few if any will need to be taken back. The reality is that they last far longer than 500 starts.
The bulb law continues to be a win- win for the worldwide environment and the pocketbooks of all. Smart people realize that.
If your cherry hill child can't learn because a Merchantville child sits next to him in class you've got bigger problems to worry about that any merger..
If your cherry hill child can't learn because a Merchantville child sits next to him in class you've got bigger problems to worry about than any merger..
My guess is that I have had half a dozen CFL light bulbs go bad while living here 9 years. They fail from cold temperatures, frequent restarts, vibrations and other reasons I have not yet figured out ... as the neighbor says, just like any other bulb.
Very few, very few, consumers keep sales receipts 9 years to cash in on a warranty and who can remember the year he screwed a bulb into any given socket. Companies bank on consumers failing to act on warranties.
Perko manufactured a ring-type oarlock that kept oars from falling overboard. Great design! Guaranteed two years. However, the oarlocks were constructed of a metal alloy that reached fatigue under moderate stress and so in heavy seas when rowing pressure exceeded the metal's tolerance the oarlock would snap off at its stem.
I would like to tell you that I keep oarlock purchase receipts but the truth is that those moments when replacement oarlocks are needed --in a storm in a strange port-- the chances of keeping a receipt dry and storing it safely for future times are slim to none. What I used to do was to buy another set and then send the broken lock back with the new receipt. Did it twice in five years but I cannot do it again because the company stopped making that model. I don't wonder about that; I wonder why they do not forge that design in a stronger metal.
Cruiser talks about all the good points of CFL lights. But we know that every accountant looks at both sides of a ledger, the liabilities against the assets, the negatives against the positives, to determine total worth. He is just not telling us about the whole costs of CFLs.
One thing to keep in mind - as the CFL ages, it gets dimmer, unlike an incandescent. By the time it's four years old, a CFL will be producing nearly 1/4 less light than when it was new.
Also, CFLs are sensitive to the orientation in which they operate. In a table lamp where the bulb is upright (bulb base at the bottom) they're not too bad, though they do fail to reach the rated claimed operating duration much more frequently from repeated switching on and off (so do incandescents, by the way). When installed in ceiling fixtures with the base at the top, the life of a CFL is markedly decreased from the upright orientation.
CFLs have more toxic and / or environmentally unfriendly chemicals in them than incandescents, as well, like mercury. The Ecosmart CFL's Cruiser touts as so wonderful simply have less of them than most CFLs, but still more than incandescents.
If you look at the entire picture, the government interference with electrical lighting choices is about as smart as the PNC Bank purchase in Merchantville was.
calm down michelle bachman.
The bulbs and many other guaranteed products have lot numbers on them by which the manufacturer determines if the guarantee period has expired. You do not need a receipt.
The facts clearly support that the bulb legislation is a good deal for the nation and the personal pocketbooks of the citizens. Trying to broad brush an opposite conclusion, when the preponderance of information does not support such, is folly. You have been watching Fox News too much.
Thank you, Scientist.
There is a line item in the sewer system relining project that shows several thousand dollars for replacement of sewer manhole covers. I do not know why other than supposing some existing covers might break when opened but that is not my point.
Along West Chestnut Avenue (Pennsauken side) there are several manhole covers labeled "Palmyra Foundry". I like to think that those old cast iron covers were forged along the Delaware some 80 years ago when Palmyra, Pennsauken, Camden and Gloucester were producers of industrial and commercial goods. Camden's slogan was "From Pens to Battleships" when Esterbrook was a resident manufacturer.
What we have done in the last three generations is to export industry to other parts of the world in part to brag that we have a clean environment. Cruiser would call that a "WIN" no doubt but much of the waste was just moved from one backyard to another. CFLs are a classic case in point. We burn less energy but we are paying ten times the cost of an incandescent to somebody out of town who must consume five times more energy in production. AND WE ARE EXCITED BY THE PROSPECT.
@ a thought said...good point. Many of us do not even think that person is really from Cherry Hill. Just writing to bash the merger process. On another note, the thought of sending our students to Haddon Heights is a good back up plan for the high school situation. But it does not solve the other reasons people want the merger to happen. It's just not about the schools and that person who poses from Cherry Hill constantly makes it about that when it is so much more complex. It is on the Cherry Hill side as well - it's just not about our kids going to CH schools.
After many years of abuse that manhole lids take being located in the middle of the roadway from cars, snow plows, pavement restorations, etc., some lids may need to be replaced. Some of the lids are so old and out of date and not designed to the standards we have today, including having pull handles that make it easy for sewer personnel to get in and out of the manholes for maintenance purposes. Some times it makes sense to change designs of products we use every day and not be such a curmudgeon about everything from sewer manholes to energy efficient light bulbs.
and for the record, 95% of the manhole lids used in this area are produced by the bridgestate foundry, located in Berlin. Thats NJ, not Germany.
It really really is all about the High School
Chris: 95% of the manhole lids...are produced by the bridgestate foundry, Berlin.
Yes, I see them. If you have anything to do with manhole covers, Chris, keep in mind I would like to bid scrap value for the replaced Palmyra Foundry covers which I would use for a "flagstone" path around my garden. I am one of the curmudgeons who has kept in my house the 1903 toilets made in Camden with oak water closets, the 1922 6-ft wide very-deep porcelain sinks and all the walnut or oak woodwork that fits.
There is nothing wrong with sifting through fireplace ashes for old hand-cut iron nails. Our forefathers did that for hundreds of years to save a halfpenny or two. This past holiday I saw a beautiful wide-plank oak floor recut from salvaged beams out of a church -- all hand cut both times a hundred years apart.
What our society throws away give pause to wonder if we are on the right tract. Outlawing mercury thermometers astounds me. The villainous mercury is reclaimed and sold to South American countries where it is burned in the air as an insecticide. Tomorrow it must be outlawing and reclaiming CFLs, don't ya think?
It's also about bagging leaves, high taxes, and lack of services for our seniors.
My Kenmore washer grew so far out of balance two adults were needed to sit on it during the spin cycle. That pretty much convinced me that I would no longer buy Sears products after fifty years of buying nothing else, except for my house, a Corvair convertible and a green '41 John Deere tractor.
Early this week Home Depot sold me a Maytag replacement (larger) for $354 including delivery, set up and running test. A private contractor made the delivery today within 15 minutes of the estimated arrival time, unpacked and carried the unit up 3 and a half flights of steps, having to remove a door, and installed & tested the washer all within 30 minutes. That included reinstalling the door and disconnecting, removing and taking away the old washer.
CNBC has been talking about a chronic weakness in Sears' performance despite the purchase of K-Mart. I guess a hundred twenty five years is a lifetime for any business. The other day a financial commentator said four of the largest businesses in the world barely existed fifteen years ago. She must have been talking about Google, Facebook, the iPad companies and such -- a far cry from the barbed wire and P.T.O. auger I bought from the Roebuck catalog 40 years ago.
And to think, the other guy is preoccupied with leaves, taxes and more senior citizen services. No wonder the world is awry.
Oh, Cruiser, I have two nonfunctional 26-watt GE CFLs. Where do I return them? ... or dispose of them?
If they are guaranteed, my recommendation is that you return them to where you bought them.
Why in the world do people keep posting that it's just about the high school? Hello, it's just not. No matter how many times other folks just want to bring up other issues of real concern, i.e., services, seniors, the police force we can't afford, leaf bagging, property values and taxes, they are just brushed under the rug. Get real, we are!
Its about something different to different people, for me it IS all about the schools. I was pro merger but the "We'll tell ya what to think" attitude of the merger people has put me on the fence.
No matter what anyone says, these issues are too important for anyone to sway the people that want this merger. Talk is cheap, who cares what anybody says. There is way too much at stake here and the facts speak for themselves. That is being real, not just pointing the issue at the high schools and whining about what someone else said. People are worried about their home values, being able to pay taxes, what this community can not offer it in services, their elderly as well as educating it's kids. The "fence" does not exist to those of us who give a damn.
I wish the best of luck with haddon heights. We in cherry hill that understand the facts believe there is no advantage to our town. If this study is not thorough and it is a rush to put it on the ballot we will make all efforts to be sure it doesn't happen. Merchantville is smart to pursue a new hs solution as well as this merger. See you all on the 17th.
Seriously? Does anyone believe that this would be happening if our send receive was with Haddonfield right now? Really?
"The "fence" does not exist to those of us who give a damn. "
So if you are still deciding you don't give a damn? If your waiting for the study results to form a opinion you don't give a damn?
I'm off the fence, I can't side with people who think like that.
I was initially against a merger, until I read the venom in Merchantville.com at the begining of this soap opera. I'm warry of folks who seem afraid to study this. Looked like they were afraid of something or have something to hide.
So merchantville is paying for a study to review their students to attend HH hs and also for a study to merge with cherry hill? Wow, that makes sense?
I am for the merger as well. I know the merchantville school will close but cherry hill has gOod schools and my kids will be bussed to one of them.
We need to do whatever it takes to maintain our independence: take on short term debt, cut needless services, develop more apartments and open up our elementary to larger class sizes through school choice.
Definitely on the side of the fence that wants the merger because we do give a damn what happens to this community. Haddon Heights High School can not and will not save Merchantville Elementary or the other problems that plague this town and it's embedded politics. We have no independence with Trenton targeting small towns. Time to bag our problems all with the leaves and go with Cherry Hill...
Kudos to the fine folks who gathered and bagged the leaves on all of the traffic islands at the Centre/Chapel circle. It was a weekend of hard work. The area looks great.
Thanks!
It's a shame those folks had to do that, and thanks to them, and our Public Works didn't. Glad to hear some of the town got cleaned up, but, unfortunately, there is alot that is just being left on the ground because of the bagging situation. Many neighboring towns now have programs where there PW Depts. are getting cash for the deals they make with people and/or businesses that want the leaves. Is Merchantville doing this as well and also not picking up our leaves. That sucks!!!
Merchantville BOE paid for the study for HH send/receive, not the Borough. It came right from the school budget to the tune of $30k. And as for the study with Cherry Hill, those funds are still being worked out by the committee but have nothing to do with the school budget. Let's hope this study with HH doesn't blow up into another huge litigation battle with PHS - but doubtful that it won't.
The Board of Education paid $30,000 to learn if Haddon Heights is a good receiving school? Good heavens! Is the report printed in gold leaf?
What is wrong with the electorate and elected leaders? We sat here and watched our Board blow away even more than that on a computerized math program and on a consultant, and twice we sent our faculty to Rowan for courses ... when do we direct teachers to work in the classrooms with underperforming students without the extras?
Did you know that the sending of faculty to Rowan at the Board's expense under the guise of improving basic skills instruction was actually satisfying the teachers' annual credit requirements which all teachers statewide are responsible for acquiring on their own?
Cruiser has always said the job of government is to provide services, not jobs. It seems the local school board does not understand that principle.
Maybe we should vote for merging just to eliminate the negligence.
$30K form the boe budget and $100k from the merchantville municipal budget. regardless of the budget, it is still coming from the merchantville taxpayer out of their pocket.
i hope something positive comes from all these studies. we'll see tomorrow night. i can't wait. i bet the result is a need for a second in depth study!
I work for the Pennsauken School District. We won't have to sit on our hands and take this, like we would have with the merger. This will go to the courts. I'm afraid this is going to get expensive for all.
Go to the BOE meeting and hear the results of the study for yourself! Do not go by what you hear on this Blog. Tuesday night at 7:30 in the Merchantville Library!!
Conflicts with planning board meeting. Could someone fill us in?
"I work for the Pennsauken School District. We won't have to sit on our hands..."
Merchantville parents would be pleased if you got off your hands, as you say you are doing, and began working towards improving your students' academic performance and ours too. We wouldn't be wringing our hands if your schools were successful in educating the children you are charged with.
Personally I think you folks have escaped deserved criticism for sitting on your hands. We have been too polite about it. Maybe we gave up on your programs because you have not been responsive to the kids needs. In any case, if you want to continue to receive our tuition --that seems to be what you are implying in the threat to go to court-- you will need to become effective classrooms.
I was not impressed by the presentation on the new send receive. Seems they made some big assumptions on the number of students that would go to the new school. Their tax numbers seemed speculative at best.
Haddon Heights would be better than Pennsauken, but not by much. Is this the best we can do? Lets merge.
I agree with the above post. Not impressed with the entire HH situation. Let's merge.
Unbelievable and disgusting. See you in court Merchantville.
yes, disgusting that merchantville residents would prefer not to send their kids to a high school ranked 298 out of 322 in NJ.
way to go pennsauken high school, thats some quality you are providing.
A send receive with HH can't hurt, almost anything beats our current send receive.
Lets keep this in perspective though, IF this happens and that's still up in the air, it wouldn't happen til 2016.
I felt like the consultants were trying to sell us their services, face it you could skew this data any way that fits your need.
One thing I didn't see factored in to thew financials was the cost of the lawyers and consultants going forward.
I say move forward with it just in case we don't merge, but move forward with the merger too, don't let this cloud the issue.
If it were a quality school like Haddenfield I might feel different, but its JUST HH.
Has HH provided a written document saying that in the event M-ville would be able to get out of the send-receive with Pennsauken, HH would take our kids? Getting such a document from a desirable send-receive partner is the first step in achieving the desired change.
Or is the HH board still pondering whether or not they are going to provide such a document?
Crusier, had you bothered to come to the meeting you would know the answer to that!
I wasn't at the meeting either, not for a lack of caring, but because I was at a board meeting for my church. So, what was the answer to Cruiser's question? Seriously no snide comments. It's because I'd like to know.
How do our scores compare with HH? We already know how they compare to Cherry Hill. Is this a done deal? what is the tax impact?
Charlotte, if you go to merchantville.com there is an overview of the BOE meeting posted.
This is fantastic news! I believe this should be a factor in the merger discussions.
BOE votes to end current Sending-Receiving relationship
At at the Tuesday, January 10th, 2012, in front of a capacity crowd, the Merchantville Board of Education unananimously voted to terminate its current sending-receiving relationship with Pennsauken and establish a new sending-receiving relationship with Haddon Heights and present the petition to the Administrative Law Judge. Their decision was based on the results of a BOE commissioned study that was released at the meeting. Some conclusions of the report were that Merchantville students would receive an education equal to or better than what they receive in Pennsauken, Haddon Heights High School would benefit from the additional revenues, Pennsauken would see an insignificant tax increase and the four other districts involved - Merchantville, Barrington, Haddon Heights and Lawnside - would see a reduction in school tax levy. The report also concluded that Haddon Heights High School would see no decrease in the racial diversity in their learning environment. The Haddon Heights Board also voted unananimously tonight to enter into a sending-receiving relationship with Merchantville. Feasibility Study Handout
Why isn't everyone thrilled about this? We wanted a new high school and now we have it. HH is a good school. This is great news and we should be celebrating!
This new send receive will cause taxes to sky rocket. We should either stay with Pennsauken or merge with Cherry Hilll.
My property values are already starting to climb!
we're not thrilled with this, because its not going to happen. i would love it if it did, but it will get litigated to no end and we'll be no closer.
what is different in this case than in 1992 when we did the same?
We are trying to go to a lessor school this time. Way to set the bar..... in the middle.
"Why isn't everyone thrilled about this?"
At the school board meeting there was one resident who was not "thrilled" about the Haddon Heights agreement. It was Mr. James, an officer of the C.H. consolidation commission. In fact he was vociferously opposed to the agreement.
Why? you ask. Let's see. He was appointed to the consolidation commission by the merger petitioners. He lives in a section of Merchantville which is a block or two from the Cherry Hill border.
Need more reasons than vested interest?
the difference this time is that ending the send receive will not change the diversity mix in the terminating district.
also, with the scores of our students do you really believe one of the highest performing schools will have interest? this is one of the reasons it will never work with cherry hill. we are right where we belong.
i don't think pennsauken will have a cause of action. we should move forward.
I am hearing that the Merger Commission is considering disbanding at this point.
You have to love the lies, send receive with HH is still a pipe dream with a CHANCE of happening in 5 years. Why would they disband?
Personally I think the whole thing is just smoke and mirrors put forth by the school board because they know the dilapidated, under performing school would be shut down under a merger. If they can sway a percentage of the voters who don't stay informed they might have a chance at stopping a merger.
They are counting of stupid people listening to sound bites. In other words, typical politics.
The school board should be spending their money on improving the education of the kids they are charged with currently.
so you want us in cherry hill (one of the highest performing school districts in the state) to take the students from the merchantville "underperforming school". THAT is a pipe dream. Do you think that we would ever let that happen?
"I am hearing that the Merger Commission is considering disbanding at this point."
I heard they're aliens impersonating humans to start a takeover of the world.
If you're going to spread outright lies, at least make them interesting.
What Mr. James living near Cherry Hill has to do with him wanting a merger with Cherry Hill, I don't know. I don't see how that makes a difference. I also don't understand why anyone, anywhere would want to attack another human being who is working to obtain information that may have a positive effect on the community.
Both the BOE and the merger commission should be applauded for trying to make a difference as the rest of you type away at your keyboards and complain.
"...an education equal to or better than..." what they currently get in Pennsauken.
I think one of the things you have to demonstrate to the administrative law judge is that the education would be better. I don't think "the same or better" will make it past the judge.
This thing will be dead on arrival. It's a distraction.
Are most of the people on this blog complete idiots? Here is the deal, if you have children and (feel that the parochial schools which hire people WHO DO NOT HAVE TEACHING CERTIFICATES, stink like I do,) then this is better for our kids. We pay enough in taxes and why should we pay to continue to send our kids to lousy catholic schools because Pennsauken is one of the worst schools in the state. HH is not the best but it is better than CC or BE or Paul VI academically. Do not get me started if your child is special ed and you think God is going to provide the services they need?
The HH Agreement is the best thing to happen to Merchantville in 30 years. I am glad to see that the BOE had the guts to move forward. Bravo!
I don't think people think its a bad thing, it just is very, very far from actually happening.
I am glad they are TRYING, but at this point that is exactly what it is, a attempt to change the send receive.
I seem to remember something about counting chickens.....
"Mr. James living near Cherry Hill...why anyone would want to attack another"
No attack, other than his on the Haddon Heights agreement.
BIAS points out that Mr. James has demonstrated he is not a neutral, disinterested person wanting to oversee a clean study of the consolidation issue. Mr. James wants the consolidation even before a study is conducted --so strongly that he attempted to defeat Merchantville School Board's send/receive agreement with Haddon Heights.
If the consolidation study results should come out favorably and the merger were voted in, the H.H. send/receive agreement would become moot before its scheduled start. Mr. James knows that scenario. His attempt to block the H.H. Agreement shows that he wants there to be no alternative to consolidation, whether or not the study proves favorable.
It is not the person who is being attacked. It is his maneuvering to eliminate a fair choice. He should be removed from the supervisory position because he is not neutral.
speaking of studies....next consolidation meeting is on the 17th. Anyone know where it is? and is there a website where any of this info is posted?
Unfortunately, not everyone is neutral. I don't think you have to be neutral to be on the Commission. Keeping an open mind is important. In saying that, the commission meeting is next week and this may be discussed. i believe this shows how fragmented the town is right now. not moving in the same direction. i really have to question the movement to circumvent the township government and school board. these are the elected officials. if you want to go in another direction, vote for other people.
"It is his maneuvering to eliminate a fair choice."
Because someone questions something, they are trying to eliminate it or attack it? When did it become a bad thing to find out all the facts? I was at that meeting and he in no way was trying to eliminate anything, but like several of the rest of us there, had real questions about the HH agreement.
As far as a fair choice, what's more fair than the fact that the town will vote on the merger whereas this was decided by the BOE. I realize we vote for the BOE, but I find it more "fair" for everyone to have a voice on this matter, because it will effect everyone.
Neighbor, then you should have run for the BOE, like it or not Send Receive issues are Board decisions. I think the Beef with the Vice Chairman of the Consolidation Committe is the way he started his stement/question at the Board meeting "You people must have your head in the sand" I lost alot of respect for him from that comment, and he has lost my opinion that he could be fair and neutral. Like it or not, truth or lie that is the perception he made. But this is not about consolidation, Mr. James, or anyone else it is about the BOE taking steps to provide the best education for our children, it is as simple and as complex as that. But as an earlier blogger siad its pretty easy to sit back and be critical of other people who have to make tough decisions.
and another point neighbor, you do have a voice, not on this blog but go to a board meeting and ask your question or make your statement during one of the two public comment sessions. BOE members are elected officials they will listed to their consituents.
Somewhere above Alice suggested that the State commissioner of education would not look favorably on changing a send/receive if the education were "the same or better".
Let me suggest that the Great Schools rating of Haddon Heights High School, based on test performance, is at "7" out of 10. Compare that to "3" for test performance in Pennsauken H.S.
Of course, an individual student's performance cannot be guaranteed but the school environment has a major influence on learning.
I cannot imagine that the Dept. of Education could claim that H.H. and Pennsauken are about the same.
Aw, I didn't check Alice's comment before making mine. Alice referred to an administrative law judge, not to the State D.O.E.
In the the Haddonfield decision years ago, the administrative law judge granted the proposed change in send/receive. The commissioner of educational overruled the judge by introducing the "ethnic diversity" argument.
Sorry, Alice, my mind skipped a beat in quoting you.
The phrase "same or better" is from commenter 1/11/12 at 3:37PM: "Some conclusions of the report were that Merchantville students would receive an education equal to or better than what they receive in Pennsauken..."
This is all great but WTF is the BOE doing to improve the education of the kids currently in our school?
These kids receive a sub par education, with outdated technology and a dilapidated building.
Alice: "same or better" is from commenter 1/11/12 at 3:37PM
Perhaps the anonymous commenter would clarify that point of the study.
One might speculate that high-functioning students could perform the same and low-functioning students could perform better.
But it could be the opposite ... which is the case in Merchantville School if the satisfaction of active parents is an indicator.
He wasn't anonymous, he was presenting to the BOE.
Is a copy of the consultant's report readily available to the public? Is it on the internet?
I copied and pasted from the merchantville.com site. The feasibility study presentation is on line.
I saw the presentation materials which are fine as far as they go. What I would like to see is the full report of the consultant. Does anyone know if that is readily available?
www.merchantvilleschool.org left side of page pdf file entitled feasability study - it is the full study
I believe that the study falls short when it concludes the same amount do students will attend other high schools if the send receive is changed. The number of students going to these schools will decrease and students attending HHS will increase. That part of the analysis is flawed.
Just finished reading the feasibility study and it is very thorough. Hopefully it will sway the admintrative court judge into letting us make the change.
Strange - posted something about the Consolidation meeting, but don't see it....
The next Merchantville/Cherry Hill Consolidation Meeting is Tues 1/17 at 7:30pm at the Merchantville Community Center.
HH send/receive will never happen. Merchantville can't afford it. It is clearly to try and sway people to not want the merger. Nice try, won't happen, EVER!!!
I don't really think its a method of swaying people away from a merger, but ultimately, the merger group will need the help of residents with children in the school system and if pennsauken is out of the loop, people might not care as much. that said, the combination of MES and HH is still not as good the cherry hill school system, so it might not make a difference anyway.
as far as not being able to afford to send our kids to HH, thats crap. School districts go through ups and downs in student populations all of the time. It happens. and you know what, schools still survive and taxes increase at the same levels that they always do. the dynamic with which our community will change in a good way by severing the pennsauken relationship is immeasurable. young couples will move here, followed by more commercial ratables, etc. and it all work out. Simply arguing for not changing our current status with Pennsauken in any regard is simply just moronic. Do it any way possible. period.
Chris, the feasibility study clearly states Merchantville taxes will go up. This HH thing is a big loser. The administrative law judge will throw this to the curb and tell us to stay with Pennsauken. Especially after PHS files its lawsuit, which it will. Whoever posted the BOE should have done something else with the money rather than throw it at this study was correct. We need to merge or just keep struggling until Trenton pulls more crap on us to force us to do things we will not want to do. It stinks but it's the truth.
Actually, the feasibility study indicates that Merchantville's taxes would decrease slightly. the only one that would increase would be pennsauken by an insignificant amount. thanks for playing.
It does state our taxes would go down, but that is assuming that the same number of kids would choose public school education.
Its a inaccurate assumption, it doesn't take into account more children going to HH than Pennsauken or taking part in school choice.
There would be new, more attractive options available to parents its short sighted to think as the consultant put it "the same amount of parents would choose a catholic school education."
Then there is a other possibility that more children who currently go to Saint Pete's might enter into the public school system based on the better high school.
oh i agree, but anon's statement that the feasibility report "clearly" says our taxes will go up is false.
the fact of the matter is that merchantville, as a community, has been on a decline for quite a while. This is due to Pennsauken High School, nothing more. And the idea that some of our neighbors actually think the status quo is ok, is just sad.
chris, go back to school, not playing here. you forgot to pay attention in reading class. hope you are not an MES graduate.
Merchantville's decline due to Pennsauken high school, really? That is a ridiculous statement. Sounds like something someone very uneducated would state. Get up on the issues and stop blaming PHS for the decline of this town.
Merchantville's decline due to Pennsauken high school, really? That is a ridiculous statement. Sounds like something someone very uneducated would state. Get up on the issues and stop blaming PHS for the decline of this town.
let's see. the actual text from the feasibility study, conclusion at the end of the study.
From a financial perspective, Pennsauken will see an insignificant tax levy increase while
the other four districts will see decreases. Therefore, there are no significant negative financial
consequences that should impede the proposed change in the sending-receiving relationship.
Anon, I know its a long boring document, but if you could read, as you suggest that I cannot, you might have seen that part.
You hire any realtor and tell him you are thinking about buying in Merchantville and see what they say. The word Pennsauken will be in the first 2 sentences. It will most likely be "Small little town with nice old victorian homes, but, they send kids to Pennsauken, so if you are planning on having kids, look elsewhere".
Our inability to attract young professionals is undoubtedly our biggest problem. Solve the Pennsauken issue, and see what happens.
what is up with the posters posing as merger people against the send receive? are they serious? send receive has been an issue for this town for quite some time, it wasn't created to defeat consolidation, if FACT just the opposite is true, consolidation is being attempted to resolve the High School issue, that is a FACT! Maybe now it is morphing into something else, or at least there is an attempt by some to claim other issues. It just amazes me how people who claim to be neutral and just want a study pick it apart when one is presented to them. I anxiously await the feasability study done by the consolidation commission. How can the vice chairman of the commission makes such assumptions and claim the study is flawed? He has absolutely no basis other that opinion, he has no expertise or any other qualifications to make such claims. Now LaVardera is jumping on the same bandwagon. At least he has the intelligence to realize that Send Receive is a crucial issue.
The Board has my total support on this issue, they were elected by the Residents of Merchantville, unlike to Consolidation Committee who were appointed by a chosen few.
I disagree with your opinion on the BOE. Yes we vote for them. However when there is an important issue, maybe the most important issue in the ten years I've lived here, I'm not so sure I want only their vote on the matter but the whole town's vote. Say what you will about how the merger commission was compiled,the important fact is you will all have a vote after the study happens. I am very interested in the HH send/receive. I just want all our options available.
This HH study states that a 'Merchantville tax levy would increase". So why are we doing this - to sway folks to not want the study with CH. Not us, we want it and feel that this pursuit is going to be a waste of time after the administrative law judge reviews it and has a lawsuit, to boot, from PHS. Merchantville BOE should have done this years ago and they would have our respect. This study does not hold water to us and we believe that when there are more factors to bring to a study other than the high school as the study with CH will be, that there will be positive outcomes for Merchantville. We hope so as this is no answer and will not work out in the end. PHS will win and get its way again.
The petitioner who came to my house never even mentioned the high school situation. It was all about high taxes and declining services. That was two years ago.
"This HH study states that a 'Merchantville tax levy would increase"
i'm all for consolidating, but you can't lie about the other study. The BOE study says the exact opposite of what you are claiming. read before you open your mouth and let all of the flies in.
chris, taxes will go up big time with HH. read it again, it's not doable.
are you for real? read the study. it says taxes will DECLINE slightly in Merchantville.
this is 2011. the send receive will pass through the administrative counts - no problem. i am hearing pennsauken may not even challenge it. they have no basis.
when they challenged it last time it was due to the changing make up of their student population. this is not the case today. review the study. do you see the difference? this is a done deal. the boe worked very hard for 2 years on this relationship. they should be commended and supported.
Jeff said it best. Go Jeff
Cherry Hill-Merchantville merger exemplifies perils of N.J. consolidation
Letters to the Editor |
July 17, 2011 — [Re: “If it's broke, why not fix it?", Remapping Debate's article on New Jersey's fragmented system of 556 municipal governments.]
Cherry Hill is one of the largest New Jersey communities, at 70,000 plus, and we have one of the largest school district populations at 11,000. Consolidation will not help us get tax relief. We have high property taxes relative to what our properties are worth because we do not receive our fair share of the income tax funds we send to Trenton.
As per our school funding formula calculations (the "uncapped aid" figures), we should be receiving at least $36 million in direct state aid to education. We will be receiving approximately $11 million. And though the governor has stated that the total amount of state direct school aid to education is what it was two years ago, we in Cherry Hill will be still be receiving significantly less than we did.
Consolidation with Merchantville will just make the direct state aid situation even worse. Merchantville's school tax levy is less than 3 percent of Cherry Hill's. Their per pupil tax levy is much less than Cherry Hill's. Merchantville's state aid per pupil is approximately $3,500 where Cherry Hill's is less than $1,000.
So, if we were to consolidate (and of course the state would fund the combination district at Cherry Hill's rate), the combined district would lose even more of its fair share of state aid. So the real issue for my community, Cherry Hill, is our not receving an equitable amount of the funds we send to Trenton back to us in tax relief.
"Courage to Connect" [an organization that seeks to educate the public about the impact of "Home Rule"] is not interested in helping us in Cherry Hill. We already meet their size requirements for what should be an "efficient community." We in Cherry Hill are just being used, and the population of our community is just too large to band together and fight back.
If "Courage to Connect" helped us get our fair share of state funding, I would feel differently. If the state rewarded us in Cherry Hill by giving us our fair share of state aid to education I would feel differently.
From what I read on your website, your articles point out that things are not always what they appear. There are hidden agendas.
Well, guess what. My agenda is that our community stops being bled to death because relative to other communities in New Jersey we are not and have not been for years getting our fair share of the funds we send to Trenton back to us. (We are not the only ones.) The way the state has administered and modified the original SFRA [School Funding Reform Act] has made things worse, and SFRA was not fair to our community to begin with. And CEIFA [Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act] was underfunded...
Consolidation with a community whose citizens have been similarly cheated will not bring a greater percentage of the funds we send to Trenton back to us. In fact, when Merchantville's per pupil state aid is brought down to our level, it will make things worse.
— Jeff Podowitz (Cherry Hill, New Jersey)
HaHa. Who can refer to Cherry Hill as a community? I believe that most view Cherry Hill as a bunch of different developments connected by congested roads lined with beautiful strip malls. Despite the differences in the thoughts of its members, most will refer to Mechantville as a community. I am proud to be a member of this community, even though I have to bag my leaves. To all those inCherry Hill who are worried about your standardized test scores..relax. You probably have bigger fish to fry.
I refer to Merchantville as a sinking ship.
We don't refer to Merchantville as a community anymore, either. Just read these blogs. Sinking ship is more like it.
Merchantville seems to be rearranging the chairs on the deck of the titanic.
please don't expect Cherry Hill to be the life boat.
actually I liken the consolidation people to the Captain of the Italian Cruise ship, except the rest of the offocers and passengers won't allow the same outcome.
We already have the captain of the Italian Cruise Ship sailing Merchantville.
Really, you went there, you coward!
You just may thank us when we save you. You went "there" first, if you can't take it, don't dish it out. Personal insults not necessary.
Nope, never gonna happen, consolidation is just like a mosquito, it's annoying but has a very short life cycle.
A mosquito is better than sinking like the Italian cruise ship. And some people are more than annoyed by the consolidation movement. It's lifespan has already outlived what those are against it thought it would. By the posts, they sound threatened that anyone would want to try and do something about making change in a town that is no longer thriving - it's just denial. Things will change, if not consolidation, they will still change dramatically. Too many issues and concerns for Merchantville residents living in a struggling small town.
Every town, in this State i struggling as are many of its residents. Do you think Cherry Hill isn't struggling. Take off the blinders.
To say that Cherry Hill and Merchantville are struggling with the same issues is blind. We need the study to see how a merger can help our town. Remember, we are not listed as a great town to raise a family. Cherry Hill is. We have a lot of work to do. What is so blind about that??
listed by who? you speak out of your anal spincter. Merchantville is a wonderful place to raise a family, I have done so and I know many more families who feel the same way.
yeah, its wonderful until your kids have to go to school here.
My Kids DO go to school here and they love it! They like their teachers and their classmates. They love the fact that they can walk to school. They love that fact that when they pass some on the street that person not only says hi but knows them by name!
Big changes have already happened at Merchantville School and under the leadership of the new CSA and a change in the High School it will only continue to change and grow stronger.(no pun intended) The past is just that... THE PAST!
MES is certainly not the biggest problem we have in this town, but you're kidding yourself if you think that because your kids can walk to school that they are getting a better education than perhaps the kids in the neighboring towns of cherry hill, moorestown, mount laurel, medford, evesham, haddonfield, haddon heights, etc. If we can get the HH send/receive, awesome. if not, the community will remain what it is. a place that has no ability to attract young professional couples because we have a sub-par school system. for some residents, for some reason, thats ok.
not sure why consolidation with ch has even been considered. our communities are so different. there is no match here. i wish the commissioners would see this and discontinue this effort.
The commissioners, like the petitioning group and those who signed the petition, see potential for a merger which is why things have moved along. If it doesn't happen and we at least get HH, fine - but not the best scenario. We still have a police force, PW and goverment that we really can't support in the long haul and something will have to be done about it anyway. Our downtown is losing yet another business! Better to do the study with Cherry Hill. Our homes annexed to the West side would make a nice mix of unique homes for CH, and let's face it, the high tax dollars we pay on our homes would go into their coffers. Keep the progress going commissioners!
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