The Sanatoga Post

HARRISBURG PA – Area school districts – Pottsgrove, Spring-Ford, and Pottstown among them – are being forced next year to grapple with more than just deep cuts in state and federal funding. They also face fundamental changes in educational philosophy, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Friday (April 29, 2011).

School boards understood early on that federal economic stimulus money provided during the past two years by the Obama Administration would end someday. What they may not have appreciated, The Independent reported, is the extent to which former Gov. Ed Rendell ensured extra educational money was available.

Now Rendell’s successor, newly elected Gov. Tom Corbett, is pursuing dramatic educational policy changes. His secretary of education, Ronald Tomalis, has said publicly that he does not believe more money necessarily equals better performance. And Tomalis advocates policies that allow state funding to “follow the child” rather than being tied to a specific school district.

Those shifts, according to The Independent, have left a few lawmakers scratching their heads and seeking more information.

• Read a story by reporter Darwyyn Deyo, titled “Legislators grapple with proposed education cuts, philosophy change” and published Friday by The Independent, here.
• Read a related story by reporter Brad Bumstead, titled “Pennsylvania House eyes more school choice tax credits” and published Saturday (April 30) by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper, here.

Related (to education tuition vouchers and school choice):

• Local School Boards Face Both Cuts And Policy Changes
• Local Rep. Quigley Favors Tax Credits In School Choice
• PA Senate School Choice Vote Possible Next Week
• Two Unions Break Ranks, Back State School Vouchers
• Idea: Pottsgrove Might Prosper With Own Charter School
• Choice Amendment Would Remove Vouchers’ 3rd Year
• Teacher Unions Say Budgets, Vouchers Top Their Agendas
• Poll Claims Public Opposes Tuition Vouchers
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle

Related (to the Pottsgrove School District 2011-2012 budget):

• Local School Boards Face Both Cuts And Policy Changes
• Pottsgrove Chinese Language Students Face Cuts Again
• Pottsgrove Task Force Didn’t Shelve Pay-To-Play Plan
• Committee: Charter School May Save Pottsgrove $70K
• Pottsgrove Paying $28K Next Year For MCIU Support
• Secretary Says Schools Must Find Funds Themselves
• College Students Protest Proposed Ed Budget Cuts
• Pay Freeze Endorsed As Pottsgrove Labor Talks Start
• Pottsgrove High Protesters Exercise Art Of Compromise
• Pottsgrove’s Landis Distributes State Fund Comparison
• Pottsgrove Budget Deficit Balloons With Gov’s Proposal
• MCIU Budgets On Pottsgrove Schools Agenda Tonight
• PA House OKs ‘Cut And Replace’ On Education Funding
• Idea: Other Local Schools Consider Extracurricular Fees
• Idea: Pottsgrove Might Prosper With Own Charter School
• Pooling Resources Could Save Pottsgrove On Special Ed
• Like Pottsgrove Task Force, Outsiders Weigh Cost Vs. Value
• Task Force Crowd Packs Into Pottsgrove For First Session
• School Budget Task Force Kicks Off Its Work Tonight
• Does Western PA School Tax Uprising Foretell Mood Here?
• Pottsgrove Schools Budget Short Another $400,000
• Pottsgrove, As Expected, Adopts Budget First Draft
• Pottsgrove Tentative Budget Adoption Expected
• Weather Postpones Pottsgrove Budget Meeting
• Still Time In Pottsgrove For Budget Volunteers To Enlist
• Challenge To Pottsgrove Budget Advisers: 10 Percent
• Best Guesses, Deficit Launch Pottsgrove Budget Season
• Senate Education Chair Preps For Voucher, Choice Battle
• School Board Questions Pottsgrove Recreation Costs
• Pension Reform Vote Could Benefit Pottsgrove, Others
• Notebook Worthy: News Reporters Made News Tuesday
• Pottsgrove Isn’t Waiting In Search For Budget Volunteers
• If You’ve Got A Budget Idea, Pottsgrove Says It’ll Listen
• Pottsgrove Seeks More Public Input On District Budget

Photo from Google Images

NORRISTOWN PA – Having old tires pile up around a yard both looks unsightly and can create a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Montgomery County officials say they can solve both problems, by helping you dispose of those tires today (Saturday, April 30, 2011).

A tire collection effort for county residents only (and, of course, that includes residents of Lower Pottsgrove and Limerick (PA) townships and the borough of Pottstown) will be held by the county Waste System Authority from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in a county-owned parking lot at 405 Barbadoes St. (between Markley & Barbadoes Streets), Norristown PA.

Residents can drop off up to four tires, for free; sorry, but no tires from commercial activities will be accepted. For more information, call 610-278-3618.

Waste tires present environmental, health, and safety hazards. Rainwater that accumulates in tires creates an ideal environment for mosquitoes, which are known to transmit West Nile Virus. Another hazard is fire. Large tire piles can burn for weeks causing the rubber to decompose into oil, which can pollute ground and surface water.

The branch office on East High Street at South Sunnybrook

SANATOGA PA – National Penn Bank “has been cooperative” in eliminating some components of a sign it wants to erect outside its branch office on East High Street at South Sunnybrook Road, according to Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Solicitor R. Kurtz Holloway, so the Board of Commissioners last week (Thursday, April 21, 2011) removed its objections to the proposal.

The bank initially discussed putting up an internally lighted sign, more than 8 feet high, that also would include a lighted message board. Commissioners weren’t pleased, particularly when they were fighting somewhat similar signage requests from the H&K Group along U.S. Route 422, and from Lamar Advertising for Porter Road.

At the time, they directed Holloway to make their opposition known to the township Zoning Hearing Board, from which National Penn would have had to apply for several variances. Attorney Michael Furey represented the township as the zoners met, but their hearing was delayed while the two sides tried to work out a compromise.

They succeeded. The internal lighting and light-emitting diodes that would have enabled messages are gone from the sign, Holloway said. It still will reach 8 feet 8 inches high, and at 43 square feet will be slightly larger than current zoning allows, so variances will be required. Commissioners said they were comfortable with the changes, and thanked National Penn for them.

Related:

• Lamar Wins Township Approval For TV-Like Billboards
• Hearings Scheduled For National Penn’s Sanatoga Sign
• Lower Pottsgrove, Lamar Negotiating Over Sign Request
• All Signs Point To More Township Signage Talk Tonight
• Anticipated Township Billboard Battle Gets A Reprieve
• Legal Fight Shapes Up Over Signs In Lower Pottsgrove
• Advertisers Propose Colorful, Electronic Sign In Township

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners meeting of April 21):

• Commissioners Happier With Bank Signage Proposal
• Rupert Road Bridge Repair Funds ‘Wait’ In DE Bank
• Spend That Money! Sunnybrook Funds Get Last OK
• Township Plans $375,000+ Suit To Fix Rupert Bridge
• Cooperation Agreement On Commissioners’ Agenda

SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove residents again Saturday (April 30, 2011) will have an opportunity to rid themselves – for free – of old, outdated, unwanted, or no-longer-used prescription medications that pose both a hazard and a temptation for young family members, and which should not be simply discarded.

Lower Pottsgrove officers last September distributed literature as part of their drug take-back effort.

The township Police Department is repeating its participation in the “National Take-Back Day” to collect prescription drugs, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the police station, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

More than seven million Americans currently abuse prescription drugs, according to a 2009 federal study. Each day, about 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time, research conducted for the Partnership for a Drug Free America shows. Studies conclude that a portion of abused prescription drugs are obtained from home medicine cabinets.

That makes family prescription drug abuse a national, and local, problem.

National Take Back Day was created last year by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide a way to dispose of unwanted or unused medications. The effort, held in September 2010, was deemed a huge success. About 3,000 state and local law enforcement agencies, including Lower Pottsgrove’s, participated nationwide.

All collection sites for National Take-Back Day can be used by any member of the public, no matter where they live. Also participating in Saturday’s event are the:

• Douglass Township Police Department, at Giant Supermarket, 173 Holly Road, Gilbertsville PA;
• North Coventry Police Department, at Giant Supermarket, 86 Glocker Way, Pottstown PA;
• Amity Township Police Department, at its offices, 2004 Weavertown Rd., Douglassville PA;
• Lower Frederick Township Police Department, at its offices, 5 Spring Mount Rd., Zieglerville PA;
• Phoenixville Police Department at two locations, Giant Supermarket, 700 Nutt Rd., Phoenixville PA, and at borough hall, 140 Church St.;
• Upper Providence Police Department, at its offices, 1286 Black Rock Rd., Oaks PA; and
• Pennsylvania State Police, at its Skippack barracks, 2047-C Bridge Rd., Skippack PA.

Related:

• Drug Take-Back Event Returns To Lower Pottsgrove
• ‘Slow, Steady’ Participation In Township’s Drug Take-Back
• Local Prescription Drug Take-Back Operating Today
• Lower Pottsgrove Police Will Take Back Prescription Drugs

Dustin Tavella

POTTTSTOWN PA – Popular local singer and songwriter Dustin Tavella will perform in concert May 13 (2011; Friday) from 7-9 p.m. in the auditorium of Pottsgrove Middle School, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA, as a fund-raiser for the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization, principal Bill Ziegler announced Wednesday (April 27). He will sing his latest releases and introduce a special guest, H.B. Monte.

The event will be “awesome,” Ziegler gushed.

Tickets are available for sale now at the Middle School office for $8 per person; family packs of four tickets also are available for $30, OR five tickets for $35. Tickets also will be sold at the door for $10 each. Children in pre-kindergarten through Grade 5 are welcome, but must be accompanied by “a responsible adult,” Ziegler cautioned.

• Watch Tavella performing his latest release with Monte, “She Got Me Singing,” (above) or see it at the YouTube user account DustinTavella.

POTTSTOWN PA – “Keep Your Kids Safe Online,” a seminar taught by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Cerena Coughlin and Thomas Neeson and intended to cover topics including  Facebook, sexting, cyber-bullying, online predators, and other security issues that relate to students, is scheduled for Wednesday (May 4, 2011) beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the library at Pottsgrove Middle School, 1351 N. Hanover St., Pottstown PA.

The free event is open to parents, friends, neighbors, relatives and anyone interested in the online security of children.

Photo from Google Images

The Grimms hold hands on stage

PHOENIXVILLE PA – Kevin Grimm, a Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township resident, is not fond of the word “caregiver.”

Oh, he’ll use it, alright, because it accurately describes what thousands of area people do daily in providing assistance to family members, other loved ones and friends who suffer from cancer. Grimm just doesn’t like having the title applied to him because, he says, that would constitute an admission that his wife, Patti – a member of the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors – was once a victim of the disease.

Happily, Patti Grimm also is a cancer survivor, thanks in part to her husband.

Kevin Grimm was a featured speaker last Wednesday (April 20, 2011) on behalf of all caregivers assembled for the annual Cancer Survivors’ Banquet conducted by Phoenixville Hospital. It “may be the most beautiful caregivers speech” ever, his proud wife said in an e-mail.

• Watch a video of the speech, above, or see it at the YouTube user account of krpagrimm.

Related:

• Yes, He’s A Caregiver, But Please Don’t Use That Title
• Soccer Teams Present Donation From Pottsgrove Game
• Pottsgrove Team Honoring Coach With Cancer Donation

The new west wing of Ringing Rocks Elementary is sheathed in brown insulation.

Pallets of bricks await the masons

POTTSTOWN PA – After packing themselves into a couple of cars early Tuesday evening (April 26, 2011), Pottsgrove School District directors drove the less-than-a-block distance from the Kauffman Road district offices to the under-construction Ringing Rocks Elementary School, and were not only fresh from the journey but pleasantly surprised too.

“We had a nice walk-through,” Board of School Directors’ President Michael Neiffer announced upon their return from a tour of progress at Ringing, which is being renovated and expanded at a cost of about $16 million. “Much to our surprise, there’s been a lot of progress inside. It really seems to be taking shape,” he said during the board’s Tuesday meeting.

Structural steel frames its new front entrance

Wet weather has hampered some exterior work, so workers began other projects within already enclosed spaces, construction Clerk of the Works Tom McGrady was reported to have told board members. “Hopefully, when the weather get a little bit better, we’ll get some more done outside too,” Neiffer said.

One of the school’s most prominent energy-saving features, a geothermal heating and cooling system, soon takes center stage with some contractors. A field of geothermal wells, from which Ringing will tap into the earth’s relatively constant temperature, is already in place beneath the playground on its west side. The internal system that controls the heat exchange from earth to building is due to arrive for installation next week, Neiffer added.

During construction, classes are being held in the former St. Pius X High School building on North Keim Street, Pottstown.

Mounds of earth conceal the school's geothermal well system beneath its playground

Related (to Ringing Rocks Elementary School renovations):

• Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing
• No Power For Ringing Library Computers ‘An Omission’
• Blasting A Possibility, But Not Yet, At Ringing Rocks
• Few Change Orders, So Far, At Ringing Rocks
• Rigs Arrive At Ringing Site To Drill Deep For Geo-Heat
• Exterior Demolition To Begin At Ringing Rocks
• Digging’s Done, Now Real Work Starts At Ringing
• Ringing Rocks Ground-Breaking Set For Thursday
• After Month’s Work, Pius Deemed Set For Ringing Pupils
• Ringing Rocks Bids Accepted, At $1.5 Million Less
• Final Words On Ringing Rocks: Okey-Dokey
• Ringing Rocks Gets Final Plan OK
• Borrowing Authorized For Ringing Rocks Project
• Pottsgrove Signs Pius Lease For Ringing Students
• Pottsgrove Authorizes Pius Lease For Ringing Relocation
• Call Goes Out For Ringing Rocks Construction Bids
• Board OKs Ringing Rocks’ Preliminary Plans
• School Vestibule Design OK; No Decision On Rocks’ Relocation
• Ringing Rocks Plan Approval Held Until May
• Ringing Relocation Decision Deferred Again
• Township Legal Move Saves District Time, Money
• Economic Tales, Exec Sessions, And Long Night At Pottsgrove
• 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’ April 26 meeting):

• Pottsgrove Board Tours, And Likes, Progress At Ringing
• Pottsgrove Got To Bargaining Business Quickly Tuesday
• Pottsgrove President Plans For Run As PSERS’ Trustee

POTTSTOWN PA – If you’ve got a beef with the federal government, need help with paperwork crafted by a Beltway bureaucrat, or just want someone to hear your thoughts on how the world should turn in Washington DC, Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township’s congressman – Rep. Charlie Dent – wants to see you personally … but with two conditions.

First: You’ll have to drive just a few miles to Upper Pottsgrove (PA) Township to meet him. Second: He’ll be available tomorrow (Friday, April 29, 2011) between 10 and 11 a.m. only in the township municipal building, 1409 Farmington Ave., Pottstown PA.

The congressman won’t be alone. Members of his staff also will be on hand to assist those who visit with any personal matters involving federal agencies. Upper Pottsgrove isn’t the only place Dent will visit Friday, either; Cetronia PA, an Allentown suburb, also is on his travel itinerary.

Why is Dent’s schedule so tight? Actually, not many people come out on a weekday to talk with their elected officials, nor do many choose to. They find the phone and e-mail pretty handy, and a lot less time-consuming, to reach powers-that-be for whom they voted. And while Dent and his constituent service crew will surely be pleasant and helpful, some things folks need doing may not be completed in a single visit. Meetings like those planned for Friday often are used to determine the extent of a problem; fixing it comes later.

For more information, call Dent’s East Greenville office, 215-541-4106.

WARNING CONES RE-ROUTED TRAFFIC – Orange caution cones served double duty Wednesday (April 27, 2011) on Sanatoga Station Road in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township, near its intersection with South Pleasant View Road at the Sanatoga division of Pottstown Trap Rock quarry. Pavement deterioration caused road crews to dig out a roughly 4-foot-wide by 8-foot-long section of the highway (above), but it wasn’t repaired immediately. So the cones served both to warn drivers of the impending tire-flattener in front of them, and to guide them around it (right corner) using an extra wide shoulder on the road’s south side. This portion of Sanatoga Station Road, as the blue sign notes, was once known as Mahr Road.