Appointed to seat vacated by Jim Fox in 7-1 vote over Tom Siedenbuehl
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
Greg Wynn takes his school board member oath.
CALN – The Coatesville Area School Board appointed Greg Wynn to fill the open Region III seat at a special meeting Tuesday night.
Wynn, an IT professional at Vanguard, was selected in a 7-1 vote with board member Laurie Knecht providing voting for the only other candidate, Tom Siedenbuehl.
Wynn has been an active member of the community, regularly commenting at school board meetings and running for a Region III seat in 2013 but losing to Laurie Knecht. His son graduated from the district last year, and his daughter is currently a senior.
“I believe we’re turning the corner now. We just need to change a few other things, get finances under wraps, and better education especially for students in the lower level grades,” said Wynn.
In particular, Wynn said that he would like to focus on updating technology in the district, citing the Chester County Intermediate Unit’s audit as evidence of the need for new technology. He also said that he would like to create community focus groups to figure out CASD’s budget and work with politicians to reform state tax policies.
“I think we need to focus on taxes because this funding structure and tax formula is not working for Coatesville,” said Wynn.
Both Wynn and Siedenbuehl said that they plan to run when the seat opens again in November.
After swearing Wynn in, the board approved a 2015-16 preliminary general fund budget.
During District Business Manager Ron Kabonick’s presentation of the preliminary budget, he said that the district is currently facing a $2,185,886 deficit. However, Kabonick and board members stressed that these numbers will change as the time to pass the final budget approaches.
Tuesday night’s numbers were based on a 2.4% tax increase, which would be the maximum allowed under the Act 1 Index unless the district seeks a special exception.The state Department of Education allows for exceptions in a limited number of categories including pension costs and special education costs, both of which the district is eligible to apply for.
Kabonick also said that the state has not passed a budget (the state budget deadline is June 30 — after the district must pass a final budget), which will affect district revenue, and since the preliminary numbers were drafted, the district has made personnel changes, putting the deficit number closer to $1.7 million.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Cathy Taschner and board members acknowledged the severity of the situation, saying that in coming months they will work to cut expenses to keep tax increases low.
“This is very very hard for me to even pass this preliminary budget,” said board member Deborah Thompson. In particular, she voiced concern about senior citizens on fixed income who may not be able to handle increased taxes.
Kabonick said that the district has to take its time in negotiating teacher salaries and examine what positions are needed and what can be consolidated.
“It’s time for us to evaluate our benefits package. It’s time for us to evaluate our salaries, cap some salaries,” he said.
Taschner said that in the past, the district had a “culture of yes” that approved expenditures without proper vetting, leading to this financial situation.
“That’s going to be a very difficult conversation,” she said. “Saying yes is really easy. It’s really hard to say no and not demoralize people.”
Kabonick said that in coming years, he hopes to get the district on a long term plan. He would like to increase the district’s bond rating and refinance bonds to ease financial difficulties in the future.
The full board also approved Levin Legal Group to file suit against Microsys Information Systems, Microsys, and Simon Abboud for work that the district paid for that may not have been completed.
Taschner said that Microsys was selected to complete work on the district’s wireless internet network. However, no one is in possession of the master plan that Microsys was to create as part of the agreement. CASD is currently investigating the scope of work that was or was not completed and will take legal action accordingly.
During public comment, Fonz Newsuan called for the district human resources director to be suspended with intent to dismiss.
Newsuan said that while the district has made positive changes since the turmoil two years ago, certain people and systems are still in place from the reign of the old administration. Citing the Conrad O’Brien report, he said that the human resources director sponsored “employee terrorism.”
During the education committee meeting, Taschner addressed concerns over the ineligibility rate at Scott Middle School. Last meeting, board member James Hills said that the district needs to address the number of students failing at the school.
This week, Taschner said that the failure numbers do not tell the whole story. During her presentation, she pointed out that Scott has the highest rate of students with disabilities, and nearly all English Language Learning students at the middle school level are sent there. Still, attendance numbers and the number of students who advance to the next grade are about the same as the numbers at North and South Brandywine.
While Scott did have the highest number of failing students in language arts and science, standardized test scores had little correspondence with these failure rates.
“In isolation, they [the grades] tell a different story,” said Taschner.
In addition, Scott was the only middle school to show Pennsylvania School Performance Profile growth between the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years at just over five points. North dropped less than one point while South dropped five points.
Taschner said that the disparity could at least partially be due to teachers’ not having a chance to interact across schools in the past. She said that the district is currently working to change this along with a number of other structures in the schools including a school population disparity and ELL and students with special needs all being sent to the same school. She said that grouping all of these students together makes it hard to distribute teachers and support structures.
“I don’t want someone’s geographic location to determine the education they receive,” said Taschner.
During the operations committee meeting, the district approved Saul Ewing, Esquire to provide consulting services for the potential Coatesville Solar Initiative energy deal. Bill Warren will serve as attorney on the deal, and the firm will seek out energy experts to offer opinions. Saul Ewing’s work is capped at $5,000 and will need further board approval for any excess.
