Opinion - What's behind all the BWSB Election Games

My name is Jane Casciato, and I am posting this to discuss the state of our school district, what it takes to become a member of the school board, and the current BOD election cycle.

The state of education in the United States is in flux. The tides of change range from erasing parity in all school districts by flattening tax receipts in either the county or state, so that each student is funded equally, to the draining of school district funds through private school vouchers, which essentially gives taxpaying parents dollar credits to take anywhere they choose. But RIGHT NOW in Allegheny County PA, a school district is the best reflection of the neighborhood it serves. An online article in The New York Times visually describes the generational upward mobility by neighborhood, and the Baldwin Whitehall School District fares pretty well. It serves as a reinforcement of what I have always claimed – that education is the very best, cost-effective opportunity for our children to better themselves in their lives, and if families don’t exploit that opportunity, they will pay for it the rest of their lives. As an aside, PA as a state also fares pretty well; just compare it to MI, the state of Dick and Betsy DeVos, which has seen the most school privatization enacted in the USA.

But public school districts around the country face enormous threats – financial squeezes, outside influences never seen to date, and the ever-present duty of both offering scholastic education to its brightest while raising the minimum for its most educationally challenged, and educating the spectrum that lies in between. Most charter schools and private schools work at either end of the spectrum – building scholars or reforming the academically challenged.

So, why would parents who live in such a school district want to move their child to a private school? I will say that both my daughters went to Catholic school – St Gabes through the 8th grade. I thought it was important that they integrate their education with religious learning, which was mine and my husband’s choice. And like the current state of public school districts in PA, it was funded by the St Gabes community not through tuition but tithing, or as our pastor always said, “Time, Talent, and Treasure.” Were there those who couldn’t pay as much – yes. Were there those who took advantage-yes. Was it superior to the BW school district – eh. It had some of the same plusses and minuses that any school has; like BW, it was an amalgam of its contributors. But my girls both attended Baldwin High, and they got fantastic college opportunities because they placed a priority on their education. In fact, it was Nichole’s love of computer programming, which began at Baldwin High, fueled her college education and her successful career in internet networking. My younger daughter, Sarah is pursuing biology, and will graduate university this May.

Another reason people would move their children out of the district, is that they have effectively written off the school. Their children may need more personal attention to motivate them, or have needs not met in the school district, or even that they are concerned that the quality of their child’s peers is not to their liking. And while I understand a parent’s choice for her children, should that person make decisions for the school district they have effectively written off? How will they be able to relate to the issues of the district when they don’t participate? And if school vouchers come to pass, should somebody whose kids will effectively be pulling dollars out of the district be able to balance a decreasing budget they themselves are affecting? What would motivate someone like that to seek a place on the board?

There has been speculation over the past two weeks as to this team of challengers asking to be on the school board. At first, I thought it was to hold the purse strings of the district’s funds, since there will be some pretty big construction projects coming on the horizon. But what if it was bigger; what if it is at the core of the whole “Educational Freedom” movement – privatization. Could 5 board members steer the future of this district into the arms of a private, management company? Right now, I would think not, as the district must be in financial distress for the state to even consider it. But what can a board majority do? From the modest amount of research into the bylaws, a majority board can both charter a private school which serves the district, Code 140 under Programs, and as far as I can see, rent them space in the facilities of the district, based on the rules for renting facilities, Code 707 under Properties. I also found, though, that any move to integrate a charter school within the walls of a PA public school can only be approved by both 50% of teachers in that school and 50% of parents of children attending that school, (PA 1949, Act 14). PS - the lowest hanging fruit on the "Integrated Charter School" tree for BWSD would be an English as a Second Language school. Teachers wouldn't feel threatened to vote for it, and parents would want a more cost-efficient way of dealing with immigrant children. But what people don't understand is that the charter school teachers and parents won't have a voice in future charter school ideas, and soon, votes to continue to parse out district buildings will become a minority privilege.

I really don’t know what is motivating this group to run for BWSB, much less their quest to appeal a Court of Common Pleas decision regarding current members’ petition sheets, in order to have them tossed from the ballot. All I know is that if they are spending lots of money for an attorney, then it is because there is much more money at stake. I truly do not want to meet all the parents and taxpayers in the gym for a school board meeting, because we couldn’t foresee a dirty trick played on us by another BOD.

The taxpayers of the BW school district deserve to have a board who are good stewards of the district’s treasury, while fostering the best of each student, so we can flaunt our brand - that territory of generational upward mobility. Inform yourselves and VOTE MAY 21.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/upshot/maps-neighborhoods-shape-child-poverty.html