Ringgold Real Questions

Everyone is distracted with bricks and mortar. BUT How many teachers with masters degrees do we have? How many teachers have been in serviced on discipline? Why are we not paying more to attract better teachers? If anyone is interested in taxes then pay for good teachers then the tax base will improve. If you do not more people will move away for better education and we will have less people paying more taxes. Parents must demand more from the school board. Consider our state ranking one of the worst. What is our board doing?? Asleep at the wheel? Parents demand more for your kids or settle for less.

Distracted with bricks and mortar?

That IS the issue. The board (they say) in two secret meetings decided to build a new middle school. The board estimates the cost to be $43 million, with a tax increase of 8.55 mils. What, all of sudden the board are experts at construction and building costs? There’s a pyrite problem at one site and Denise Kuhn deemed it okay, now she is a civil engineering expert? They state they found a suitable site next to the High School, who said it was suitable? Now the site is undecided?$43 million, I don’t think so, more like $60 to $70 million, and that is –my- guess. Do they anticipate the cost of labor and materials to decrease in the next four years?
They say the current Carroll Middle School is not suitable for the the students, but now it is okay for the elementary students? They say moving the Middle school students to Finley will save $500,000 per year. This so-called savings was stated a number of times in the Valley paper. But typical of that news reporting rag, it wasn’t asked how much the district planned to spend to convert the building , they use the word ‘house’ not teach, for use at the elementary level. I guess it was much more than the savings added up to over 4 years, that’s 2,000,000 for you board members who are reading this, would be, that would look good for that “Dream” our Denise has, click your heels together dear. And if you ever noticed, the boards members don’t answer questions. The real cost of this new school will far exceed the estimated $43 that the board estimates, even though many of us know they have already decided on the architect, the builder or general contractor, and the suppliers, how else would you get any idea what it would cost? Plus they can work out the kickback money that way too. Sure they will go through the motions of the bids, but low and behold the ones they first worked with on the preliminary estimates will get the approval, with explanations of course. It’s the way this game works; they have played it many times before. They know the taxpayers are too stupid to remember and stir up something else to draw the attention away from the graft.

BUT How many teachers with masters degrees do we have?

Search me, check the PA teachers salary.org web you can figure it out.
I’ll bet not as many, it costs more for those with masters.
The game plan was to have the older teachers retire, hire new teachers without Master’s and pay the new hires pennies, and save some money.

In case you haven’t noticed, the board always states how they saved money, never how education has improved. Funny, isn’t it?

How many teachers have been in serviced on discipline?

Why ?

You have two board members committing adultery and another going to trial for sex charges and you are focusing on disciplining the teachers? For things like; asking for more supplies or giving an opinion?

That’s the Catch 22, save money, don’t attract good teachers, tax base drops, can hardly afford the teachers you have, build a new school, most of the students will be welfare, let the kids attend with lice, meet the no child left behind act,(which reads many won’t get ahead either waiting for those to catch up), get money from the feds for meeting the requirements of the law, and do it again.

This is public education? Oh, yes it is, a real education costs money, so we’ll raise taxes in the meantime

Well Stated

You also have them hiring new teachers that are already within the school either subs or teaching a different subject. They just move them around. It would be nice to see some fresh faces. Not all teachers that have a masters are the best either. Its like any other career. Just because you went to college longer, doesnt make you the best. There are quite a few really great dedicated teachers that only have a bachelors degree. They just really need to search them out. The older teachers dont want to retire, and some of them really need to. They werent that good to begin with and have a bad repoir with students. This hapens in every district unfortunately. I rememer a few teachers I had when I was growing up that should have been working in a field where they didnt have to deal with children... and some couldnt handle being with adults either.

ex valley neighbor wrote:

You also have them hiring new teachers that are already within the school either subs or teaching a different subject. They just move them around. It would be nice to see some fresh faces. Not all teachers that have a masters are the best either. Its like any other career. Just because you went to college longer, doesnt make you the best. There are quite a few really great dedicated teachers that only have a bachelors degree. They just really need to search them out. The older teachers dont want to retire, and some of them really need to. They werent that good to begin with and have a bad repoir with students. This hapens in every district unfortunately. I rememer a few teachers I had when I was growing up that should have been working in a field where they didnt have to deal with children... and some couldnt handle being with adults either.

I definitely agree. I just believe the attitude of the leadership is that the children of this area are not deserving of a top notch education. Quality of education absolutely without a doubt needs to be the first and most important priority of the school board and subsequent leadership. Everything else is secondary. If that could ever happen it would have a positive effect on the entire area.

Right now the primary focus of the district is to meet the requirements of the Federal 'No Child Left Behind Act’. If they don't meet the minimums, the district will be left out of any future federal money and grants.
The need to build a new middle school isn't to improve education, save money, to have a central location, or even to fulfill any 'Dream' that Denise Kuhn has. The main reason to build a new middle school will allow the district to combine the student grade averages; doing so will bring the district to at least the minimum allowed by the 'No Child Left Behind Act'.
With the two schools, Finley’s average is well within the ranges required by the NCLBA.
Carroll Middle School is not, they are below the guidelines. By combining the schools the Finley scores will bring the Carroll scores up, but that means overall the scores will be lower but within the guidelines.
This has been the problem since the NCLBA was enacted; both Carroll and Donora Elementary have had this problem with meeting the requirements. It’s been said; ‘off the record’ that the Donora students are keeping the overall scores low, with bad grades and poor attendance. I’ve heard this myself on a number of occasions and it’s been repeated by others within the district system.
So the solution seems to be to build a new school. Why not it’s not their money, it’s the taxpayers. They can sell the taxpayer the BS about saving money. Yeah, right, spend some $60,000,000, that’s million, PLUS to save $500,000 and raise taxes 8.5+ mils.
Gee, did they all go to Donora and leart (sic) that new math there?
I guess the students –WILL- get a lesson from the Ringgold School Board, that politics rewards the ones who don’t put the effort forward and those who do will get to pay for it.
Was that your ‘Dream’ too Denise? You’ll be remembered the same way your buddy Jack Henson is remembered, as the ones who destroyed the Ringgold School District.
Sure, nice school, but how many Professional Athletes are you going to graduate this year? If you do, you’ll to build a new stadium for them so you can name it after them.
Maybe you can heat and air condition the porta-johns.

Why do people hate Ringgold so much? Things like this...Increase in taxes again! What do the children get? NOTHING! They get photo copy worksheets and some you can't read! Instead of helping the children they jump around so much. Stick with one thing longer and HELP the students learn it. Dont worry about jumping to the next chapter until it is understood! Homework is not the answer. A few teachers feel oh they did bad on the tests so more homework is needed. NO help them while they are in school! That is what they need. The children get nothing no tablets,pencils and most all fun is taking out of school! Now close CMS then it will be a Elementary school? That makes NO sense once again. That school has no auditorium and is too small. MEC & DEC have gym,auditorium and are alot bigger!! Our school board must be the contractors also. They change figures around don't know have a site for middle school, but taxes go up? How long will it take to build a safe middle school? It took almost 1 year to fix/update the high school cafetaria!

I have always been opposed to ringgold because of these reasons!#1 donora should have been merged with monessen or charleroi this would have saved alot of money!#2elrama should have been merged with jefferson#3finleyville and union township should have been merged with southpark#4What ringgold should consist of is monongahela,neweagle and carroll township and thats it!Now the damage has been done taxes are going to rise so much many will leave the district!I'll tell you what ringgold is its another yugoslavia a forced conglomeration of a bunch of little countries that eventually fell apart as ringgold is a truely horrible experiment gone bad with no hope of ever working!

P D OFF TAXPAYER wrote:

I have always been opposed to ringgold because of these reasons!#1 donora should have been merged with monessen or charleroi this would have saved alot of money!#2elrama should have been merged with jefferson#3finleyville and union township should have been merged with southpark#4What ringgold should consist of is monongahela,neweagle and carroll township and thats it!Now the damage has been done taxes are going to rise so much many will leave the district!I'll tell you what ringgold is its another yugoslavia a forced conglomeration of a bunch of little countries that eventually fell apart as ringgold is a truely horrible experiment gone bad with no hope of ever working!

Huh? What, no sports on TV tonight?

I guess the boundries for those counties don't matter to you? That would be 3 counties, so you in Donora what to pay taxes for Westmoreland county, tho you live in Washington county?
And if you lived in Elrama, you'd be happy paying Allegeny county taxes?
You'd be paying taxes to a county that you can't vote in, you would have no representation; do you really think that's a good idea?
Explain how this would save money or even work at all.

I admit the idea of closing MEC is beyond absurd. It probably has the nicest auditorium and gym around for elementary in a very nice setting. But Education is still the biggest concern. I like Ringgold. I just believe that the leaders are not focused on quality education. We need to demand that all decisions be based on one premise and that premise should be how does this improve the quality of education at Ringgold. If this were done it would be better for the children, the community and the tax base. I think the taxpayers need to demand education first!! School district leaders need to hear this over and over and if they cannot put education first then they need to be voted out. The youth of this community deserve no less than any other community. If we can have fancy signs, fields and new buildings then we can pay for god teachers and books!

I agree!
I can't figure it out either.
If you attempt to ask specfic questions to any of the SB members about improving education you'll get an answer that sounds like a form letter.
I've had them do the 'what do you think we should do' question from them whenever I asked. I repeated the question again and then got a belligerent responce, more defensive than anything. They only can answer one way 'We're saving money' or 'It will better this way'; no matter what you ask the answer will be some other subject or simply ambiguous and you'll have more questions. The SB meetings are a joke, they have to approve your question beforehand and then you may not get to ask anything, just a waste of time.
And if you speak out, the police will escort you from the building...for simply wanting to ask a question....in a public forum.

Exactly how much fed $$ are we talking about? How about if we just thumb our collective noses at the feds and say we're not complying with this poorly written law from the Bush regime and tell them that they can shove their federal dollars? And "The main reason to build a new middle school will allow the district to combine the student grade averages" is BS. Carroll has to take the emotional support kids from Finley because Finley won't accommodate their needs which also has an effect on each school's scores. Carroll also has a higher percentage of low-income families, which (unfortunately) is also reflected in the scores. If anything, Finley's/the new middle school's scores will be pulled down because class sizes will be bigger which means less individual attention with those students that really need it. Plus the kids being shipped from Donora to Finley will be on the bus for at least 30 minutes/day/each way, most likely more. That's less time to sleep and less time to study. I'm predicting that over the next three years, these kids will do so poorly that the state will come in and take over. That will be a collective black eye on this school board. BTW -- the new middle school isn't going to be done until 3.5 years from the time the site is selected, which is being done behind closed doors. So if your kid just graduated from DEC or MEC and is heading to 6th grade, they won't even SEE the new middle school.
Bottomline -- this school district sucks. Not the teachers; I do believe they are doing their best. But this school board is one of the worst I've seen. They care more about $$ than they do the kid's education. I would encourage any family looking to move to this school district to avoid it like the plague. Too bad Tom Ridge's voucher program didn't take hold -- if it did, we wouldn't have to worry about this new school -- there wouldn't be any kids going to any schools in this District.

P D OFF TAXPAYER wrote:

I have always been opposed to ringgold because of these reasons!#1 donora should have been merged with monessen or charleroi this would have saved alot of money!#2elrama should have been merged with jefferson#3finleyville and union township should have been merged with southpark#4What ringgold should consist of is monongahela,neweagle and carroll township and thats it!Now the damage has been done taxes are going to rise so much many will leave the district!I'll tell you what ringgold is its another yugoslavia a forced conglomeration of a bunch of little countries that eventually fell apart as ringgold is a truely horrible experiment gone bad with no hope of ever working!

I agree

I would not encourage anyone to run from the area. I would encourage the taxpayers who want to see a better district to hold the district leaders accountable for the quality of education. The children in this area deserve no less. It often seems that the leaders of our district believe that the area children are not going anywhere anyway so substandard is acceptable. Taxpayers demand better or vote them out.

I've said for a long time that people who run for school board positions should have a background in education. Maybe there wouldn't be so much nonsense like there is now.

headshaker wrote:

I've said for a long time that people who run for school board positions should have a background in education. Maybe there wouldn't be so much nonsense like there is now.

No they should have common sense and compassion for those of us seniors that are stuck in this joke of a school district!

Be glad u arent in Elizabeth Forward. They just got another shaft. The school board are a bunch of nit wits. Lawsuits over several hundred thousands of dollars, firing teachers that are fantastic and keeping the crappy ones, raising taxes to cover their mistakes.... ugh. I could go on and on.

...you are right, RSB is heading the way of EF.

to Connie: Why should they only worry about seniors? If you mean more breaks for seniors, you should be knocking on Rendell's door. I'm sure he'll promise you something, you'll never get it, but he'll promise anyway.

i wonder if anyone on the ringgold school board has a brain1 why would you choose to close two beautiful schools (mec & dec) and renovate carroll middle school. the reason we're getting a new hs is because you did not want to renovate carroll. to have all the kids together is absurd i thought denise kuhn had a little compassion for the taxpayers but i guess not

Does anyone else hate the fact that the school board has closed door meetings and do not let the tax payers contribute to the meetings? Why are the decisions made in the back rooms and then not discussed with the people in attendance? We need new people on the board that will stand up to the "old school" way of thinking. City Hall meetings are the same way. WE NEED NEW BLOOD and more information sharing!