Should there be a referendum on the Bethel Park High School project?

Nearly 400 people have signed an online petition asking the Bethel Park school board to stop plans for a new high school and to hold a referendum. The project is expected to cost about $100 million. Should the public vote on the project? [Read PG story.]

 YES! $100 million, $200 million financed? This is a questional project at best and taxpayers should decide the issue.

It's incredible that they are trying to spend 100 million on something without a public vote. Yes, they certainly should let the community decide.

We the citizens of Bethel Park elected this school board to make these decisions for us.  Did we have a choice?    YES!  We made that choice at the LAST election.  I know I did, and voted for candidates that openly stated they were ready to build a new school..

The school might cost $100 million, but it is worth the expense to bring Bethel Park into the 21st century.  But it won't cost $200 million with interest.  At current bond interest rates, the cost with interest will be more like $156 million.

 We the citizens had no idea that the school board was going to spend $156 million + the inevitable overruns! Let's face it the average citizen pays no attention to who runs for school board. I will bet that you can go up to the average citizen in any school district and maybe 1 in a 1000 could name 1 school board member. The www.savebethelhigh.com webite now has over 700 signatures and many more hand petitions. The group was formed less than a month ago. People vote for a school board to address curriculum issues and staffing.

Why is it someone always decides a building is more important than the teachers, the parents and the tools they use to educate our children? Will the new building give a student a better test score? How about a better SAT score? NO! The school building is smaller wth a reduced number of science labs from 15 to 5. Some teachers will not have homerooms, they will move their materials via cart.

What is it with school districts who think building is better than mantaining. Go to local small colleges like Washington & Jefferson or Waynesburg or many others. The buildings are far older than BPHS. They only add to exsisting structures due to increased enrollment. Bethel Parks average class size is 420 students, down from a high of 780 in 1978.

I will tell you what you get with the new high school, a fantastic gym, auditorium and other non core subject activities. Baldwin went way over budget, South Parks school roof leaks, there was a rape in Upper St. Clair, a herione dealer was let into the Seneca Valley high school by students. New building, different problems!

 Actually, the school board has been researching this project for almost 4 years.

During the last election, each of the 5 board members who were elected spoke in favor of a new school. The citizens of Bethel Park voted them into office.  The voters knew much more than you give them credit for.

People vote for school boardsTO RUN their schools.  And yes, this includes buildings as well as curriculum and staffing.

And I did notice that the counter on your website only shows 550, including the non-residents and students.  Still a far cry from 700 plus.  Or, are you just planning on some "inevitable overruns?"

 Thank you for paying attention to the www.savebethelhigh.com website! There's more to come. You pointed out we have only 550 signatures, but what you do not know is there is over 180 more that petitioners that need to be verified. We have more paper signatures to come as well. Try to look beyond the surface and you may be surprised what you will find.

We took a poll last month and out of the 250 calls we made, only 5% new about the new construction project. So you are wrong again!

Why is it that the few proponents of the project do not want this on a referendum? Because you know it will go down with overwhelming results. I know, your the people who are smarter that the rest of us, but we simple people have to pay the taxes. So induldge us and lets have a debate on the merits. Name the time and place!

A bunch of people who had the chance to vote for school board members had their chance to vote, or run for school board if they are so concerned, now want the new school to go to a vote.  Should they not have paid closer attention to the candidates and elections in which they ran for office?  How many elections and ballots do we need?  Why even have a school board?  We can just put every expenditure on the ballot.  Soon our budget will be about $1.05.  As a matter of fact, why don't we just put all public expenditures in Bethel Park on the ballot?  Soon, we can have old roads, fewer police officers, rusting playground equipment in our parks... ahhh, what a wonderful place to live and raise a family!

Why do I want a new school?

1. If you have ever been inside the BPHS, you will find moldy rooms, peeling paint, rooms ill-equipped for modern educational technology, and a general state of disrepair.
2. The campus is impossible to secure.  A new building will be infinitely safer and easier to secure than the current multiple-building setup.
3. The district will reap huge savings annually on heating and air conditioning costs, as 50-plus doors will not open and close 11 times daily.
4. The value of my home will rise.  If I pay $300 more in property taxes each year, I will bet my life that a new school will result in the value of my home increasing by more than that $300 per year.
5. My kids wil attend that school some day, and I want them to have the same educational opportunities as those in Mt. Lebanon, USC, Peters Township, etc.  I know what you are thinking - "then move there."  That's exactly what will happen with many families if you allow your schools to rust and rot.  Then we can say, "at least we have cheap taxes!"  Then Bethel Park can be the "cheap" community and attract the types of people who only want to pay a bare minimum in taxes.  As I said earlier, that becomes the community with poor roads, poor services, poor schools, and one where residents who were once proud of their community leave in droves, only to be replaced by those looking for low property taxes.  That will do a lot for the value of your homes.

To Baddog93:

I was at the high school TODAY! I believe the spending of a $100 million is not an everyday occurrence, it is a once in a lifetime occurrence, so letting the community vote on this issue is hardly usurping the school board everyday authority, Let the people vote, Comrade Baddog93.

1. I found no moldy rooms and spoke to the staff and a few teachers that believe the new layout of the school is absolutely awful. I did see where a few ceiling tiles were missing because of a roof leak. The leak was fixed but the ceiling tiles were not replaced. That's the real disgrace. The School Board has done nothing to maintain the buildings. Do you want them in charge of spending $100 million on a new school? The few area that I saw paint peeling I could have my 12 year old daughter fix.

2. If a new building is so much safer tell that to the Columbine community that had 2 students shoot up the place for 4+ hours with no police entering a building because they could not identify the target. Students and teachers poured out of every possible escape route with no accountability of who was in and who was out of the building. People bled to death because the authorities did not enter the building. How many colleges have single buildings to lock the building down? Your dreaming if you think a student cannot walk in to any school with a gun. If a crazed gunman wants in the building I don't think he will knock on the door either. He will just shoot the glass door and walk in. Single buildings safer? Ask that to the parents of the three female students in Upper St. Clair who were sexually assaulted and on e raped in the stairwells. Ask that to the people of Seneca Valley who only weeks ago has a 20 year old aided by some students enter the building to sell heroine. Anyone wishing to do harm can walk in any building in the morning, at recess or dismissal time. Stopping someone before they engage in some crazy act is the only prevention.

3. The savings in energy costs is $300k as stated by the school board. If you build that awfully designed McHigh School @ a cost of $100 million and finance it, it will take 666 years to equal the savings. Apparently brick buildings only last less than 50 years here in " I gotta keep up with the Jones" Bethel Park.

4. There is absolutely no evidence your home will increase at a higher rate with a new high school. Property values don’t depend on the high school building; it depends on the quality of the curriculum, the teachers and the parents. Even if the property values increase you will also pay more. In fact, the school board is voting to raise the real estate transfer tax .05%! So that when you move with your new found wealth they intend on making you pay more to leave Bethel Park!

Did you know that Bethel Park spends more money per student than USC, Mt Lebanon and Peters Twp.? The fact is Bethel spends $1200 per student that USC, $1280 more than Mt. Lebanon and an unbelievable $4400 more than Peters!

The Bethel Park School Board is voting June 30th to increase millage rate by 3/4 of a mill. Increase the earned income tax (wage tax) by .05% and the transfer tax by .05%. Does Bethel Park sound like a community who will be attracting families to Bethel Park to you?

Copier,

Clearly you have not been in the basement of High School Building #3, where there are dehumidifiers in place, in a failed attempt to keep the mold at bay.  Clearly you have not been in the classrooms in Building #4, where the mold is on the ceilings (as is the peeling paint your 4-year-old can fix.). 

I am sure that, had USC had a multi-buiding campus, nobody would have been sexually assaulted.  Based on your philosophy, we shouldn't even have campus security guards.  "Anyone crazy enough is going to do it anyway, we can't stop them, so why even try."  That's the worst argument against improved security I have ever heard.  It is much easier to secure and much more of a deterrent to have a building with 6 entrances/exits, versus 60.

If you don't think better schools improve your property value, again you are mistaken.  You can do any study you want... Age of schools vs. property value, SAT scores vs. property value, spending on new physical plant vs. property value, and you will find a strong correlation between new school construction and property value. 

Fortunately, this job is already out for bid and will soon break ground.  Hopefully, the movement to improve our facilities and educational program will go on as scheduled.  Then, you all can figure out some other way to make us a second-rate community.

Now, you can go and find all the exceptions to my general arguments...  find an example of some neighborhood with a very old school and great property values (they exist)... find an example of new schools with security problems (they exist)... but they are just that, exceptions to the rule.  That's like citing some high school dropout who is a millionaire as your reason for dropping out of school... it makes no sense, kind of like you.

 Baddog,

MOLD in a building! Run for your life! PAINT peeling! Call the police! Why would you let a school board finance a 100 million to build a new "Sports & Activities Center and High School too" if they can't keep up with simple maintanance.

You can make a ridiculous argument about security, but having an armed officer and four security guards on campus is adaquate.

I have spoken with teachers, secretaries and staff and most believe the school new school is terrible and they have concerns, but feel they cannot speak out.

You may be the 1st person to speak out and say we will have improved test scores, even the school board will not say that.

With a name like maddog you are obviously a younger guy and have given no thought to what tax increases have on our senior population (over 30%). I never did either before I spoke out. I get calls daily form seniors thanking me. They are scared and paying more is just not an option for them. Students approach me daily and tell me how great the campus environment is. They voted overwhelmingly to keep the campus. Why are you pro-spend types concerned to put it on a referendum? I know, you will lose overwhelmingly. You clearly are a football or  basketball dad who wants Junior to have a new weight room and athelitic upgrades.Did you know we can completely update the campus with NO tax increase? You obviously did not graduate from Bethel or understand the great tradition of our campus. Why do you want to take away the great history?

You may think this is going forward, but I would not start bragging just yet. Stay tuned, there is more to come....

Jeff Becker

412.608.8816

 Don't kid yourself. Just because you like to call people liars, unintelligent and other terse words, it doesn't mean that everyone is like you. Give it up already.

 To "baddog93"

You are naive if you think that this school will bring more taxpayers to Bethel Park. Quite the contrary. More taxes will drive taxpayers away and keep others from coming here. Who wants to move into a community that has a 25 year stone around its neck?

As far as the current buildings are concerned, why do you think they are having problems? It is simply because our illustrious Superintendent and the board, want a new school and are not maintaining the current school. To those who keep moaning about the incompetent remodel of the school, I would ask "whose responsibility was it to make sure the proper repairs were made? The school board of course. Do you really think that they will do a better job with this school, once all the contractors and the bidding are in place. You people need to start thinking of the consequences that this $200 million dollar expense will bring, mainly the inability to maintain all the other schools in the borough. Tom Knight came here with the express purpose of building this school. Then he will take his pension and go to his happy retirement in Brownsville, Pa. Did you even know that this set of plans is the third one? The board was not privy to the changes. Why were they changed? No one, but the select few knows. Do you also think it is "wonderful" that Weber Murphy Fox is charging upwards of $35,000, just for the two new roads off Church? Do you ask yourself why those costs weren't included in the plans? You speak of safety? Do you think the students will be safer in one four story building? Be honest, and think on your feet. Quit listening to all of those people who are gilding the lily. The lily is going to turn into a rampant weed.

The election of the school board is a farce, baddog93.  They appear on both Democratic and Republican ballots in the primary so no one can challenge them.  Whether or not anyone knew of their intentions is moot.  The fact is, they are artificially keeping the reported cost of the school down by saying things like they will only use linoleum instead of ceramic.  If they do that, they're stupid, and if they think anyone is buying that line, they're even more rediculously stupid than we can imagine. They're keeping it down because they know the state requires them to put this to a referrendum if the cost goes above a certain amount. Before you buy into their "little" tax increase know what happened at Keystone Oaks.  They were promised the little rise in tax BS, and after the school was built, friends of mine had their school taxes rise $300.00 per year for the past three years.  That's almost one thousand dollars INCREASE to what they were already paying.  And your theory that a new school will attract new, vibrant, young people (hey, what's the matter with the thousands of older Bethel Park residents?) with children is worse than any astrologer's guess.  I believe the fact that Bethel Park school district has historically never ranked in high standing in the country or state, while Mt. Lebanon, Peters and USC have AGAIN been recently announced to have superior schools (and again, Bethel Park is not even a whimpering distant also-ran) within the entire country is only a rousing disapproval of everything our idiotic school board has done to the image of Bethel Park. They have done a lousy job in the past, and they are asking for a mulligan.

Our current VP voted for IMS and its open classroom.  We paid millions to rectify his poor judgement.  Our current VP voted to sell McMillan Elementary School for a measly few hundred thousand dollars in soft money which went up in smoke in one year.  When I stood up at the school board meeting with a map of Bethel Park with a line drawn down the middle, I showed them that their actions would cause one school (Lincoln) to be on one side of Bethel, while all remaining schools were on the other side, causing small children to have to ride buses for a long period of time daily, his words back to me were, "We have studied this situation and we are sure we will not need the room, our population is declining, and the kids will not be on the bus a minute longer." 

Well, if you've been a resident for any length of time, you'd know that their intelligence was far from accurate, and modular buildings had to be installed to take care of the overflow in just a few short years.  Our current VP voted to close Neil Armstrong, then to reopen it at a huge cost to take care of even more children.  This is the same man who started the "ad hoc community committee" to ascertain the need for a new school.  Any first grader should have known this group was spoon fed the "facts" and that any dissenting voters would be removed to show a united front.  Many of the committee members disagreed with the need to build a new school, yet why are they being kept quiet? This man should have been put in jail for the fraud he has committed to every Bethel Park resident, yet the school board practically wets itself when he's in the room.  These events are tips of the iceburg of mass spending our current VP has forced us to swallow.  You people who don't know the history are dooming the rest of us who do know the lies and deceit of the school board to a thousand dollar increase in taxes per year.  I hope ya choke on your rosebud of happiness, baddog93.  You're exactly the kind of person who deserves it. 

I have written many letters to editor in local and national papers and have received many letters and calls in response, yet I have never experienced the volume of calls from Bethel Park teachers who absolutely hate this new school idea, yet they must remain unnamed due to the severe retaliation they whould face from the school board.

We will fight them- I fought them before and won.  I took the school board to court with the Bethel Park Historical Society and forced them to save the School House.  We couldn't get them to save the Park Avenue Middle School which was so solidly built that it could have withstood a direct blast from a bomb (ok, I embellished that one a bit) but is WAS solid, and we had engineers look at the building who said it would have taken only a million dollars to make it back up to code.  They sold the land to Bethel Park which did a great job with our new community center, yet I can't help but think that the old middle school would have been around a lot longer than our newly constructed center had it been allowed to survive, and we would have quadruple the space we now have for service oriented agencies. 

All said and done, the new school is just a bad idea at the wrong time yet they continue to try to paint a great smiley face on this pig.  I have to wonder who is being paid?

 Mt. Lebanon’s High School building is as old as Bethel’s –if not older! And Mt. Lebanon was awarded a SILVER Medal ranking by US News and World Report for 2009 Best US High Schools.

Bethel Park did not even receive a Bronze – or an Honorable Mention! Yet we spend MORE per high school student than Mt. Lebanon. The only natural conclusion from this is that if Mt Lebanon can achieve this with such an old and dilapidated school – it is NOT the building! It is superior teaching and community/parental involvement - not superior facilities that really make the difference.

Bethel Park needs to improve its teaching processes before spending so much money on such an expensive, poorly conceived building.

Having attended several school board meetings, never once was one school board member able to show how a new building would improve scores and student performance and rankings. Even the literature on their website (primarily all from one self-serving architectural firm) demonstrates that it is processes together with community and parental involvement that achieve great results.

Many times I asked for data and financial information but the school board was less than forthcoming with answers and details. Much more information should be available for the residents to review along with justification for how a new building will improve the education of our students.

We need a referendum!