A Pair of School Related Conversations Drawing Interest

Two recent posts have generated some good conversation, and I want to thank everyone regardless of their position for keeping them constructive.

The first was in regard to elementary specials and the overcrowding of classes in some cases (read it here). The readers have seemed to confirm that in some cases these classes have been over-crowded with 30+ students and another interesting issue was raised, that being the computer classes, which previously had a computer teacher are now taught by the classroom teacher (leading some to wonder what happened to the computer teacher and another to point out that Lower Nazareth has converted its lab to a classroom).

There were good points made for mixing the classes, which may want to be considered in the future. At the elementary level students are primarily with their class all day, as a result the issue of who has which teacher becomes very important. If specials were mixed, they'd have that in addition to lunch and recess, giving them an opportunity to meet more students in school and acclimating them for middle school. The final point made in the conversation was that some parents will be attending the next School Board meeting so if you are, please be sure to send me an email or post comments to let us all know what happened.

The second was in regard to the recent purchase of an electric hybrid bus (read it here). One point I'll make here that I didn't in the post is that Jenning's Transportation (with whom I worked with during my tenure at the School District as Director of Administrative Services) got a whale of deal (and good for them for being able to negotiate it) in being able to purchase a $200,000+ bus for the cost they purchase a standard one ($67,000).

The initial issue raised was the decision by the district to spend $14,000 to be "green". The conversation discussed the role of government in leading initiatives that over time will be good for all vs. the responsibility of government entities (like a school district) in spending taxpayers money. Not to mention in what areas that money ought to be spent.

Again thanks to everyone who commented to date and feel free to return to these articles to post additional comments if you haven't already.