POTTSTOWN PA – Unusual.

That’s one way to describe Tuesday night’s (March 23, 2010) meeting of the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors. Held at the district offices on Kauffman Road, Pottstown PA, the session was unusually filled with examples in economics, unusually book-ended by two executive sessions and, as a consequence, unusually lengthy.

State, national and local economies took center stage as board members discussed the proposed renovation and expansion of Ringing Rocks Elementary School, 1401 Kauffman Rd., and the potential need in coming years to replace aging mechanical systems at Pottsgrove High School, 1345 Kauffman Rd.

Message sign outside Ringing Rocks Elementary School.

District Business Administrator David Nester, a certified public accountant who has monitored Pennsylvania Department of Education reimbursement trends for school construction over a period of years, grimly told directors the “state budget is broke. I’m not sure resources are there for another program” – such as improvements at the high school – “in the foreseeable future,” he said.

Nester’s flatly delivered statement suggests the department’s partial refunds to school districts for capital projects – known in Pottsgrove and elsewhere as PlanCon – might be dramatically reduced or even disappear in coming years. Local taxpayers alone, it hints, may be required to shoulder more or all of the bills for future building renovations.

Seconds of silence that followed as Nester’s comment sunk in provided an opening for director Robert Lindgren to characterize the economic turbulence as an “unprecedented time.” Lindgren pointed to what he claimed were even more distressing signs of trouble ahead:

• Estimates by Gov. Ed Rendell and legislative leaders in the House and Senate that Pennsylvania’s 2010 fiscal year will end in June with a deficit of at least $550 million. Other estimates on the same shortfall range as high as $4 billion.
• An “exceedingly rare” event Monday (March 22), according to a fixed-income strategist, in which buyers of two-year debt sold by billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., agreed to accept interest rates lower than those that will be paid by the federal government for U.S. Treasury debt of the same length. In effect, creditors indicated they trusted Buffett more to repay them than the government.
• The price of electricity, which is expected to rise dramatically in 2011 because rate caps imposed a decade ago by the state Legislature are ending. If, as proposed, the Ringing Rocks renovation makes far greater use of electricity than in years past, the district’s utility costs might skyrocket, Lindgren said.

All bolster his contention, Lindgren added, that the Ringing Rocks project needs to be scaled back in size and cost before construction begins.

It isn’t that simple, board member April Kontostathis countered. At this point in the process, she noted, “we either choose to go forward with Ringing Rocks as is, or not.” She got no argument from Lindgren. “Right now,” he responded, “it’s all just lines on paper and words on a computer. They can be changed.”

The exchange occurred about 2-1/2 hours into board discussions that actually began with an executive session which started before the directors’ regular 7:30 p.m. meeting. President Michael Neiffer announced the board had conducted an earlier, closed-to-the-public session to discuss “a real estate matter,” and that following the meeting it would hold a second closed session to “consider personnel issues.”

The public meeting ended at about 9:15 p.m., and the second session was reported by one participant to be longer than the first. That likely means board members didn’t go home until 10 p.m. or later, as much as four hours after they arrived.

Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):

• Geothermal Now ‘Locked’ Into Ringing Re-Build
• How Estimated Costs For Ringing Shape Up
• Less Is More In School Project, Planners Learn
• Bids Sought For Ringing Project Asbestos Removal
• Ringing Relocation Decision Possible In Two Weeks
• Restaurant, Ringing Projects Win Conditional Uses
• Ringing Rocks, Restaurant Hearing Topics Tonight
• Pottsgrove Student Enrollment: Up? Yes. Down? Yes Again
• Green Discussion At Ringing Results In Red Faces
• Pottsgrove, Archdiocese Still Discussing Pius Lease
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Discussion Set For Tonight
• In The Ringing Rebuild, Whither Pius?
• Ringing Rocks Relocation Plan: Modulars At MS
• Ringing Rocks Construction Cost Hearing Tonight
• Planners OK Ringing Rocks Land Sketch
• District Sets Dec. 3 Hearing On Rocks Budget
• Pottsgrove Asks State Help To Pay For Ringing Re-Build
• As School Opens, Progress On Ringing Rocks’ Project
• Surprise Enrollment Spurs Demographic Interest
• District Assembles Ringing Rocks Planning Team
• District OKs Architect Negotiations
• Consensus On Ringing Renovations: $16M
• Ringing Rocks Proposals Aired Tuesday
• Ringing Rocks Re-Examined April 14
• Pottsgrove To Trust-But-Verify On Ringing Plans
• Ringing Rocks Plans Take Another Step
• No Shortage Of Ideas At Pottsgrove Meeting
• Weigh In On Pottsgrove Renovations
• Framing The Rocks Discussion
• Response Mixed To Pottsgrove Improvements
• District Invites Public For Study Results
• A Different Rocks, But Only As A Concept

Related (to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors’ March 23 meeting):

• Geothermal Now ‘Locked’ Into Ringing Re-Build
• How Estimated Costs For Ringing Shape Up
• School Board ‘Topic A’ Tonight? Bet On The Budget

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