STOWE PA – “It is not best that we should all think alike,” humorist Mark Twain, author of classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” once said. It’s “a difference of opinion,” he noted, “that makes horse races.”

Within that literary framework, suffice it to say the ponies were running hard and fast Tuesday night (Jan. 10, 2012) at West Pottsgrove Elementary School in Stowe.

What began at 7:30 p.m. as a thoughtful, polite and organized display of opinion – offered by about 200 people to the Pottsgrove Board of School Directors on competing proposals to balance attendance at the district’s three elementary schools – degenerated hours later into a hot-tempered shouting match that involved audience and board members alike.

• Read an earlier (Wednesday, Jan. 11) Post story and see and accompanying video on the meeting, here.
• Read other coverage by reporter Evan Brandt, titled “Tempers flare over Pottsgrove school ‘centers’ plan” and published today (Thursday, Jan. 12) in The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, here.

It prompted board President Michael Neiffer to call an abrupt but temporary halt to the discussion of redistricting. “The dialog (was) tremendous until the very end of the meeting,” Neiffer said Wednesday (Jan. 11) in a comment to The Post. “And that disruption was really due to one person inciting others, in my opinion. It clearly was not representative of the larger audience in attendance.”

“I had no choice but to suspend public comment until the next meeting as the disruption made it impossible to continue with meaningful input from all sides,” Neiffer added. That session is scheduled for Jan. 24, and would normally be held at the district offices on Kauffman Road. It probably will be moved to a location that can accommodate more people, such as the high school cafeteria.

Tuesday’s meeting was intended to collect opinions on how and where Pottsgrove should re-distribute and teach students in kindergarten through 5th grade during coming years at its West Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove, and Ringing Rocks buildings.

Directors currently are considering two choices. They can adjust attendance boundary lines to more evenly spread student populations across available classrooms, while the grade structure remains unchanged. Or they can alter the structure so students in K-2 attend “centers” geared to their needs at West and Ringing, while those in grades 3-5 attend a similar center at Lower.

Pottsgrove Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis favors centers, describing them as a way to improve educational programs while better using district resources and controlling costs. The consensus reaction to his administration’s advocacy has so far amounted to “prove it.”

“When I try to delve into what’s going on here,” speaker Danielle Walsh said, “there is no information … You haven’t done the work.”

“I don’t have any data, and I don’t have any numbers,” speaker Kellie Bean agreed. “That’s the one thing I asked for to make an educated decision to support this, and I don’t have it.”

“You’re not giving us anything to sink our teeth into,” speaker Ryan Gibson added, his voice rising. “I can’t look at my daughter and say, ‘this is why we’re doing it. This is the reason.’ … Let us see the train wreck you’re trying to avoid.”

Speaker Tracy Romig also pleaded to make the information understandable. “You need to dumb it down for us,” she said. “You’re throwing us information and information … give it to us simple. How’s this going to benefit us? How’s it not going to benefit us?”

Even board members, following a break in the discussion, charged Landis, Business Administrator David Nester and others to come up with more. Director Philip Keogh wanted comparative statistics on busing. Neiffer and fellow board member Nancy Landes questioned how students would be made to feel comfortable in a transition if centers were adopted.

The majority of the public in attendance was vocal, and sometimes passionate, in its objections.

• Many found the estimated times of student rides on buses carrying them to and from the centers – the district projected a maximum of 46 minutes one way – too lengthy.
• Some contended centers would deny their children the opportunity to attend a neighborhood school, a calculation they said weighed heavily in their home-buying decisions.
• Others decried what they perceived to be disruptions to family lives the centers might cause. Cited as examples were the inability for some siblings to be together in the same building, and increased parental “shuttling” to extracurricular activities.

Watch a video (above) with public comments from the meeting, or see it at The Post’s YouTube channel. An earlier and different video, also of public comments, can be found here.

Related (to Pottsgrove School District redistricting):

• In ‘Horse Race’ Of Opinions, Pottsgrove Serves As Track
• ‘Grove Residents Want Proof Ed Centers Will Succeed
• ‘The Blues’ May Await Pottsgrove’s School Board Tonight
• Both Sides In Pottsgrove Redistricting Head To Facebook
• Pottsgrove Crowd Vocal In Opposing Educational Centers
• Advocate: Pottsgrove Centers ‘Best Access’ To Resources
• Debate Over Pottsgrove Redistricting Gets Started Tuesday
• No Matter What Plan Pottsgrove Adopts, Buses Ready
• Redistricting Info ‘Slanted,’ Pottsgrove Volunteers Charge
• Pottsgrove Redistrict Discussions Quietly Move Ahead
• In Pottsgrove, Redistricting Study Work Gets Started
• Pottsgrove Sets Dates For Redistrict Committee Work
• As Expected, Interest A’Plenty In Pottsgrove Redistricting
• Landis Calls For Pottsgrove Redistricting Volunteers
• Touchy Pottsgrove Redistricting Now Being Considered