School Superintendent Looks Back On Career At B.A.S.D.

I'm so glad to see Lewis leaving!!!!!! See ya later buddy....

He can't even finish the 2009-2010 school year much less another year of his contract. Why are you bailing out so soon Mr. Lewis? Moravian can obviously do without you since most colleges went back in August.

I guess it's just as well. Somehow, I think another "train wreck" is coming concerning him. I don't trust the guy at all.

Seven years as a Superintendent and all he is known for is what happened at the end with the "swaps". I guess all he did in his prior seven years went unnoticed. Personally, I always had the feeling that BASD had their act together more so than ASD. Bethlehem is a nice city and although it met with problems over the demise of the Steel, it is still hanging in there. However, Superintendents come and go but they will always come under fire just as Presidents of the US. They will never please everyone. Keep in mind there were always nine board members overseeing the district during his tenure as superintendent. Oh well so goes life!! I am sure the next super will have similar problems and if he comes in to limit the size of the marching band or the football team because of funding, get ready to find a new superintendent.

It is a difficult job that even Jesus Christ couldn't do.

Why did he shave his 'stache? He looks less walrus-y without it.

I thought Allentown was the worst school district that's why I moved to bethlehm 14 years ago,because I have elementary and middle school children but since that nitchman middle school situation it sure feels like I still live in allentown and if you have a special ed child, wow!! beware.... why do you think they have NO CAMARAS in the special ed classrooms that's a special need for children that can't tell you what the hell went on in school today!!!!

Yeh, biggest acheivements are spending our money to build castles. What about the grades? He may now move on with this on his resume.'I built schools, I got a lot of taxpayer money, then I mismanaged it.' What a puff piece! But that is the norm for this station. That is why no one watches it.

good luck Moravian!!

John wrote:

Seven years as a Superintendent and all he is known for is what happened at the end with the "swaps". I guess all he did in his prior seven years went unnoticed. Personally, I always had the feeling that BASD had their act together more so than ASD. Bethlehem is a nice city and although it met with problems over the demise of the Steel, it is still hanging in there. However, Superintendents come and go but they will always come under fire just as Presidents of the US. They will never please everyone. Keep in mind there were always nine board members overseeing the district during his tenure as superintendent. Oh well so goes life!! I am sure the next super will have similar problems and if he comes in to limit the size of the marching band or the football team because of funding, get ready to find a new superintendent.
It is a difficult job that even Jesus Christ couldn't do.

John- I feel that I am a fair person. I have 2 children. One 30 and the other 16(i had him young-lol!). I have been involved with BASD during both administrations.
I do agree with you that it's a "thankless job." However- I'm not just looking at the swaps.He is arrogant. Talks down to people and when he first came from the Pocono area, he had many promises. I was looking forward to his tenure because anything could be better than Dilusio. Wrong. The school board was always fighting.Always. He's supposed to be in charge of things.He was in charge of a big mess, I agree. But he didn't handle himself professionally with many things.
Try getting a job in BASD? The past 2 administrations it was who you know not what you know.(I wasn't one of the many applying, but I know quite a few)
I guess it was how he conducted himself that got to many people.Let's also remember, he brought back Stanley Majewski, knowing that he had to because of the swaps. That was a big deal. It happened over his 7 yrs, so yes, people will remember that. It was poor businesss management and he could've stopped it. He was part of it.
The people who are going to suffer are the kids and taxpayers long after he's gone.
I hope he's not teaching any business courses at Moravian.

RSD Survivor wrote:

<quoted text> John- I feel that I am a fair person. I have 2 children. One 30 and the other 16(i had him young-lol!). I have been involved with BASD during both administrations.
I do agree with you that it's a "thankless job." However- I'm not just looking at the swaps.He is arrogant. Talks down to people and when he first came from the Pocono area, he had many promises. I was looking forward to his tenure because anything could be better than Dilusio. Wrong. The school board was always fighting.Always. He's supposed to be in charge of things.He was in charge of a big mess, I agree. But he didn't handle himself professionally with many things.
Try getting a job in BASD? The past 2 administrations it was who you know not what you know.(I wasn't one of the many applying, but I know quite a few)
I guess it was how he conducted himself that got to many people.Let's also remember, he brought back Stanley Majewski, knowing that he had to because of the swaps. That was a big deal. It happened over his 7 yrs, so yes, people will remember that. It was poor businesss management and he could've stopped it. He was part of it.
The people who are going to suffer are the kids and taxpayers long after he's gone.
I hope he's not teaching any business courses at Moravian.

Do you have a guess on what this will cost the Bethlehem area taxpayer/homeowner because of these swaps fiasco ? School taxes always go up but this may be huge ?

jones wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you have a guess on what this will cost the Bethlehem area taxpayer/homeowner because of these swaps fiasco ? School taxes always go up but this may be huge ?

I wouldn't even try to guess Jones. I feel bad for a lot of people these days.Whatever does happen,we have no control over.
Have a good day Jones.

Thanks for the answer. I guess I couldn't expect more, kind of a tricky question .

I haven't E-mailed any legislatior yet to find out how they feel about Sam Rohrer's bill to eliminate the school property tax completely and place the tax on other items excluding food , clothing and a couple of other items I'm not too sure about yet.

As soon as I get the wording right I'll start with Sen Jane Orie. I want to make sure I have the facts right before she returns my E-mail with a phone call ? Sam needs colleague sponsers and I should back it up with a little more than , "will you be a sponser of Sam Rohrer's school property tax elimination bill"?

So let me see if I understand this whole story correctly. What they did with the "swapping" was illegal or was it an attempt to save money by switching from one loan to another. I did this with my mortgage about 10 years ago when the rates came down. I remortgaged and saw a decrease in the percent and overall payback on the loan. I guess I "swapped" one loan for another in an attempt to save money. If this was done by Majewski and Lewis to reap benefits for themselves or for a payback from some loan company, then the attorney general should have been on this months ago and they should be headed for court. Why did this not take place??? Did they do something illegal or did they do this to save money through financial manuvers the average person could never understand. I cannot for the life of me, imagine that they did this with nine board members breathing down their neck and watching their every move. If this was illegal, where is the legal action. Lewis is going to retire and join the staff at Moravian. If these swaps were transactions that went badly, then join the current financial world of bad investments that put this country and the world in a recession and a near depression.

What happened in Bethlehem is a drop in the bucket compared to the world financial situation but it is still a critical problem for the district. I am not saying these guys were right by no means but what is the real story. The cost of these swaps will cause many problems for the district but we must see if the intentions were illegal or an attempt to save money that went badly. If it was a bad deal, think of how many Americans across the country did the same thing with their credit cards, car loans, and home loans.

All the board members approved it and I guess the public bought the plan also.

Now it comes out only a few people can understand how it worked. Between the banks, Majewski and Lewis quite a few million are going to be slung on the taxpayer back that were lost on these swaps. can you think fraud investigation . I'm going to look up swaps and see if I can figure it out?

jones wrote:

All the board members approved it and I guess the public bought the plan also.
Now it comes out only a few people can understand how it worked. Between the banks, Majewski and Lewis quite a few million are going to be slung on the taxpayer back that were lost on these swaps. can you think fraud investigation . I'm going to look up swaps and see if I can figure it out?

Look at all the bad investments that put us into this recession we are in. The taxpayers are going to pay but look how people paid by losing so much on their 401Ks. What we lost on 401Ks is a small portion of what it will cost to make up the lost money at BASD.

Wait til you get your school tax bill and looking ahead a little bit you're going to be told you have to beef up the underfunded psers retirees payments.

We all lost in investments ,401Ks and such. Your taxes will continue to go up as long as our legislators keep their money grabbing ideas going. They were voted in to keep us informed and watch our tax money.
What did we get ?
2:am pay grab, slots,27.9 billion budget and table games. I'll test the waters and see if there is any chance of voting out all incumbents or don't vote. It may just be another waste of time.(second verse, same as the first)

Wait til you get your tax bill and in the not too far future how much more you will be contributing to the underfunded psers retirees .

whoops, they wait five minutes , cut me off ,and when I put a shortened post up I see mine from five minutes ago ?

Isn't there a law that the school tax increase can only be a certain amount and if it goes above that amount, it must be put to the voters. They will vote it down. Maybe that is what should happen. If all budgets for 2010-1011 need to go to the voters that could send a strong message to the legislators that they should do something about property taxes.

Call your legislator and ask them if they'll support Sam Rohrers bill to completely eliminate the school property tax bill and send the tax on something you can choose to buy or cut back on . One way or another the homeowner is responsible for the increase in school taxes.

Sam Rohrer needs legislative co-sponsors for the legislation he is proposing to eliminate the school property tax off the back of the homeowner and place it elsewhere.

Rendell is opposed to this and said it would be too hard to figure out what each school district would need from one year to the next . Try your PC Ed , you'll find out how easy it will be.

John wrote:

Isn't there a law that the school tax increase can only be a certain amount and if it goes above that amount, it must be put to the voters. They will vote it down. Maybe that is what should happen. If all budgets for 2010-1011 need to go to the voters that could send a strong message to the legislators that they should do something about property taxes.

I think there is a law to that effect ? I can't remember the last time I had any say in my school property tax bill.

Lewis is leaving for greener pastures and can't be quetioned on anything that happened under his tenure with the basd ? That leaves Mejewski , and he's retiring. Go ahead and think you'll have a vote on your taxes but it ain't happening.

The psers pension is underfunded and in a year or two you'll be asked to pay for all the teachers that are on pension and there ain't enough money there. Look it up. You as a homeowner are responsible to pay for all the teachers on pension and that pension can never be lowered because of underfunding.
Enter the homeowner to dig deeper to keep the teachers in tall cotton.