The Sanatoga Post

Sign outside the West Chester Area School District administration building

POTTSTOWN PA – A Chester County PA school system, whose Community Budget Task Force seemed so successful that it caused the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors last year to copy the model and create a group just like it, is getting what may be the earliest start yet on crunching numbers for 2012-2013 revenues and expenses.

In a letter to his community published Wednesday (Aug. 31, 2011) by the West Chester Patch online news service, Dr. James Scanlon, superintendent of the West Chester Area School District, urged parents, taxpayers and anyone else interested to attend a Sept. 13 meeting in the district’s East High School to form committees and begin budget planning for the following year.

That would normally be three to four months ahead of when Pottsgrove begins tentative budget work.

West Chester “remains committed to involve our community in major decisions such as those that impact our annual budget,” Scanlon wrote. “Demands for services continue to increase and revenues are forecast to decrease again in 2012-13 and beyond. It is more important than ever for us to hear directly from community members what the priorities are when it comes to making decisions about funding programs,” he added.

Once started, committee work would continue through October and be completed by late November under Scanlon’s timeline. That would be followed by a task force report presentation in December. West Chester’s school board would evaluate the recommendations in January 2012, and vote on a final budget by June 2012.

• Read the entire document, titled “Letter to the Editor: WCASD Forming Community Budget Task Force” and published Wednesday by The Patch, here.

Pottsgrove directors, at the suggestion of district Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis, decided in October 2010 to adopt West Chester’s idea of forming a task force to solicit community input on how the 2011-2012 budget could be shaped. By the time the budget was finally approved, they pronounced themselves satisfied with the experience.

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

• Pottsgrove Model For Budget Force Gets Earlier Start
• After The Budget, Pottsgrove Directors Bat Clean-Up
• Unlike Pottsgrove, Most Districts (So Far) Avoid Freeze
• PA Legislators Work To Reform Schools’ Taxing Abilities
• Pottsgrove Task Force, A Good Idea Copied, Copied Again
• Of 7 Final Budget Choices, Pottsgrove Landed In Middle
• Pottsgrove OKs Final Budget: 1.8% Tax Hike, About $74
• ‘Cyber School, Here We Come,’ Pottsgrove Proclaims
• Budget-Motivated Pottsgrove Admin Changes Approved
• Plan To Further Cut Pottsgrove Tax Hike Dies In Tie
• Pottsgrove Cuts Admin Job Among Leadership Changes
• Pottsgrove Plans For Re-Assignments A Budget-Saver?
• Teamsters Agree, Too, On Wage Freeze For Pottsgrove
• Does Pottsgrove Have An Administrative Cut-In-Waiting?
• Red And Yellow Items Left On Pottsgrove Budget Table
• Pottsgrove OKs 2.8% Tax Hike In Tentative 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

Hole in Reading sewer main break won’t be fixed until later Wednesday

POTTSTOWN PA – Residents in Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township who rely on public water supplies rather than private wells may have found Tuesday (Aug. 30, 2011) that their H2O smacked of a little more chlorine than usual. The reason: a spill of raw sewage from Reading PA into the Schuylkill River caused officials at Pottstown’s Water Treatment plant to add extra dollops of the purifying chemical for safety’s sake.

Water and sewer services in much of the township are purchased from Pottstown, which in turn pumps water from the Schuylkill and cleans and treats it for public usage. River water quality was affected Monday (Aug. 29) when a 42-inch sewer main broke at Reading’s Fritz Island treatment plant, The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper reported.

The township also is served by the Superior Water Company, but it could not be immediately determined how, if at all, its water supply was affected.

Borough Manager Jason Bobst told The Mercury that Pottstown “has been adding extra chlorine” into its treatment mix since the incident and was “monitoring the water constantly.” He reported that up to 15 million gallons of untreated sewage was estimated to have been dumped.

At the time of The Mercury interview, Bobst said the break was expected to have been fixed by Tuesday afternoon; The Reading (PA) Eagle newspaper reports it likely won’t be repaired until today (Wednesday, Aug. 31).

• Read a story by reporter Evan Brandt, titled “Pottstown water plant dealing with upstream sewage spill” and published Tuesday by The Mercury, here.
• Read a second, expanded story by Brandt, titled “Drinking water threatened by flooding and sewer spill (Updated information), also published Tuesday by The Mercury, here.
• Read a story in The Reading Eagle, titled “Crews putting clamp on sewage-leak hole” and published Wednesday, here.
• Read and watch a story by WFMZ-TV in Allentown PA, titled “Residents, officials react to sewage main break” and published Wednesday, here.
• Read a story by NBC-TV in Philadelphia, titled “Reading Dumps Sewage Into Schuylkill” and published Tuesday, here.
• Read commentary on the incident by Pottstown blogger Roy Keeler, titled “42-Inch Sewer Main Ruptures In Reading – Raw Sewage Being Dumped Into Schuylkill River” and published Tuesday by the Roy’s Rants blog, here.

Photo from Google Images

KING OF PRUSSIA PA – The inspection of a U.S. Route 422 bridge crossing the Perkiomen Creek will restrict traffic on an eastbound portion of that highway Thursday morning (Sept. 1, 2011) near Oaks PA, the King of Prussia-based District 6 office of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Tuesday (Aug. 30).

The bridge between Pawlings and Egypt roads in Upper Providence (PA) Township will be subject to inspection from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the day, PennDOT Community Relations Coordinator Charles Metzger said. One lane of the roadway there will be closed, limiting traffic flow. “Motorists are advised to allow extra time when traveling through the area,” he added.

The reason or need for the inspection was not given.

Drivers can regularly check traffic conditions on Pennsylvania’s major highways by visiting the department’s website, 511pa.com; by calling 5-1-1 from any phone; or by monitoring the social media website Twitter at www.twitter.com/511PAPhilly.

CALLERS CONCERNED; NO CAUSE TO WORRY – Callers to emergency 9-1-1 dispatchers, who reported a hot air balloon had crashed Tuesday (Aug. 30, 2011) at about 8 p.m. on the grounds of Pottsgrove Middle School, North Hanover Street, Pottstown PA, were unduly concerned, according to reporter Brandie Kessler of The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper. “Hot air balloon landed (didn’t crash, although callers in to 911 said differently),” she Tweeted from the scene on Twitter, the social media platform. She also uploaded this photo of the balloon operator tending to his gear – taken with her cell phone – to her user account at YFrog.com, a Twitter-related photo website.

Photo by Brandie Kessler from YFrog

POTTSTOWN PA – Now that third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classes are under way in the Pottsgrove School District, students in those levels who are musically inclined (or hope to be someday!), are being encouraged to register for band and orchestra lessons that soon will be offered at Lower Pottsgrove, Ringing Rocks, and West Pottsgrove elementary schools.

Band instructor Kristen Hyde last week told parents if their children were interested in the program she should be contacted by e-mail, here.  Students will be able to rent instruments from Zeswitz Music, 100 Gibraltar Rd., Reading PA, Hyde said.

Photo from Clipart.com

POTTSTOWN PA – No matter how much the Pottsgrove School District might have planned, not everything went quite according to plan with school bus schedules as it re-opened buildings Monday (Aug. 29, 2011) to students.

Pottsgrove’s first day of school mostly began as it has in the past: with happy children, smiling teachers, clean and shiny classrooms, and a general aura of enthusiasm, parents reported Monday and today (Tuesday, Aug. 30) on Facebook and other social media networks. Leading up to the big day, though, there was a bit of behind-the-scenes tension.

The same problem – an unexpected, last-minute influx of newly registered students – that has put a squeeze on desk space in some elementary school classrooms, also caused transportation routes to be re-worked last week even after they were officially released to the public.

“We continue to enroll students as the start of school approaches,” Business Administrator David Nester, who oversees district transportation issues, explained. “Occasionally, one of the students lives in a location that is not near an existing stop, or where walking to that stop could be dangerous. In those cases, we may be required to add a stop at or near their home.  When this occurs, other stops on that route may be altered by a couple minutes.”

Schedules were initially posted last Wednesday (Aug. 24) on the district website. Then Pottsgrove delivered e-mails Saturday (Aug. 27) to parents, reporting it had “received registrations subsequent to the publishing of the bus schedules” and created revisions issued at noon that day. “If additional revisions are necessary, you will be notified,” it advised families.

Some parents understood the process; it’s happened infrequently before. Others checked their child’s route, found no change in it, and wondered publicly what the fuss was about. A few worried in Twitter Tweets and on Facebook Walls about district inaccuracies.

“We (work) diligently to provide the most accurate information to our parents on a timely basis,” Nester added. “The schedules provided on our website earlier … were the most accurate at that time.”

Growth in the elementary schools’ enrollment has caused Pottsgrove Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis to call for a study on the possibility of geographic redistricting – determining which students attend which schools, based on where they live – or possibly re-structuring grade levels accommodated by each building.

A committee to conduct that study is being formed now, and applications are still being accepted for public participation. Those interested are asked to call Landis’ secretary, Barbara Paolucci, at 610-327-2277 Ext. 1011, by no later than Sept. 9 (Friday).

Related:

• Added Students Caused Some Pottsgrove Bus Revisions
• Pick Up, Here: Pottsgrove Software Improves Its Busing
• Pottsgrove’s 2011-2012 Bus Schedules Now Available
• Changes Delay Issuing Pottsgrove School Bus Schedules

Related (to Pottsgrove School District redistricting):

• Added Students Caused Some Pottsgrove Bus Revisions
• As Expected, Interest A’Plenty In Pottsgrove Redistricting
• Landis Calls For Pottsgrove Redistricting Volunteers
• Touchy Pottsgrove Redistricting Now Being Considered

Photo from Google Images

WASHINGTON DC – Two public meetings to be conducted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which are intended to give area residents an opportunity to comment on environmental issues they think the NRC should consider as it contemplates requests to renew operating licenses for Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station, will be held Sept. 22 (2011; Thursday) at 2 and 7 p.m. in Sunnybrook Ballroom, 50 Sunnybrook Rd., Sanatoga PA, the commission announced.

An open house, during which residents can also personally meet with NRC staff members, will be held for an hour before each of the two meetings, at 1 and 6 p.m. respectively. Also at the meetings, staff members will describe the license renewal review process.

Related (to federal re-licensing of Limerick Generating Station):

• NRC Legal Notice: Meetings Ahead At Sunnybrook
• NRC Staffers Stop By, Say ‘Hi’ To Commissioners

Editor’s Note: The graphic at top was submitted to The Sanatoga Post by Ikeda King, a licensing assistant in the NRC’s Division of License Renewal, along with a request for our publication’s quote for the cost of advertising what her letter described as the above “legal notice.” Although The Post accepts, and receives revenue from, all kinds of advertisements,  on Monday (Aug. 29) it notified King that it will report the announcement of these meetings as news and will not charge the NRC an advertising fee. The graphic will appear in The Post on two other days, Sept. 8 and 20, also without an advertising fee.

POTTSTOWN PA – An all-you-can-eat meal of chicken wings, corn on the cob, potato salad, dessert and a beverage will be served to the public Sept. 15 (2011; Thursday) from 5-7 p.m. at the Sanatoga Court senior living facility, 225 Evergreen Rd., Pottstown PA. Ticket sales, at $10 per person, benefit the Delaware Valley Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk.

• This event has been added to The Post calendar.

The meal will be prepared by the court’s Chef Eric, according to its admissions and marketing director, Earl Stingel. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling the facility at 610-718-0900, or by contact Stingel via e-mail, here.

Photo from Google Images

STORM'S A'BREWIN' - With just one look at the sky Saturday afternoon (Aug. 27, 2011) at 3:30 p.m. above the Sanatoga Fire Company hall on East High Street, Pottstown PA, almost any observer could tell Hurricane Irene's rain and strong winds were on their way

ALL THAT WATER, SCHUYLKILL-BOUND - A driveway storm pipe on Pruss Hill Road, Pottstown PA, pours drainage runoff Sunday (Aug. 28, 2011) at 8:45 a.m. into a culvert that leads to Sanatoga Creek and, eventually, into the Schuylkill River only a few miles away

OR, SADLY, MAYBE TO A BASEMENT - Two men rely on a pump and large-gauge hose to remove water Sunday (Aug. 28, 2011) at 12:20 p.m. from the basement of a home on East High Street near North Pleasant View Road in Sanatoga village

Related:

• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Three Last Storm Sights
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Tired, Satisfied Volunteers
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Pruss Hill Road Accident
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Keeping Sewer Debris Away
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Flooding In Sanatoga
• Across Our Area, The Calm Before The Storm
• Essential hurricane info (from The Pottstown Mercury)
• When (Not If) Irene Arrives, Township Should Be Ready
• See Why Irene Will Make Life In Sanatoga An Adventure
• If It Happens Where You’re At, Let The Post Know!
• Batten Down The Hatches For Hurricane Irene

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Sunday's command center volunters at the Sanatoga Fire Company included, from left, Sarah Moyer, Chief Rick Brendlinger, Carrie Grzywacz, Derek Dry, and Jeanette Roberts.

SANATOGA PA – Long before Hurricane Irene’s arrival on Saturday night (Aug. 27, 2011), more than a dozen volunteers of the Sanatoga Fire Company were pumped up, literally, to fight the storm.

Company Fire Police Capt. Robin Guber sets storm task and flooded road lists

Hours ahead of the winds and rain, Fire Chief Rick Brendlinger said, a group had assembled to inspect, clean, and ensure the operability of every piece of equipment firefighters and fire police might possibly need during the bad weather. Topping the list were the company’s collection of pumps, generators and other items required to empty basements of water and keep electricity running.

Some desperate Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township home owners can be thankful everything worked as planned, company Safety Officer Mark Doorly added. “We were busy (Sunday, Aug. 28) with 10 pump-outs,” local basements that had flooded with storm water, he said.

Directing those efforts – from fielding phone calls, to assigning and dispatching equipment, to coordinating flooded road closures with township police and emergency management teams – demanded even more volunteer help. By the peak of activity during the early hours of Sunday morning, when the storm’s impact hit Sanatoga hardest, the fire company had 25 members on hand to offer assistance, according to Deputy Chief Mark Schaeffer.

“We’ve had an awful lot of our people turn out,” Schaeffer said proudly.

Many of them were young.

David Updegrove this year observes his 50th anniversary with the Crooked Hill Ridge Runners, as the company’s members are known. Thirteen others have been serving since 2003. But 28 joined the company in 2006 or later, and nine of those during this year alone, its website shows. They are the lifeblood, Brendlinger said, of the fire company’s future.

They’re techies as well. A group of them huddled Saturday at 7 p.m. with company officers around a conference table on the second floor of the fire hall, 2222 E. High St., Pottstown PA, to stare at laptop computers they would later use to log activities and reports from the night for the county and township.

They and other members, all doing jobs important to the storm operation, kept at it for 14 hours, until Brendlinger closed the upstairs command center Sunday at shortly before 9 a.m.

Related:

• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Tired, Satisfied Volunteers
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Pruss Hill Road Accident
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Keeping Sewer Debris Away
• Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Flooding In Sanatoga
• Across Our Area, The Calm Before The Storm
• Essential hurricane info (from The Pottstown Mercury)
• When (Not If) Irene Arrives, Township Should Be Ready
• See Why Irene Will Make Life In Sanatoga An Adventure
• If It Happens Where You’re At, Let The Post Know!
• Batten Down The Hatches For Hurricane Irene