The Ticket, To Chang........

I know I spelled change wrong, you'll understand why in a minute.

New rule, if your running for school board you must be smarter than a fifth grader. I took a drive around through Reedsville and saw these signs. First of all, these people are supposed to run the schools. Instead, it looks like they got a group of third graders, gave them some Mountain Dew and black spray paint and had them to do their signs. As if this weren't bad enough, they spell the word candidate wrong. So, if your running for school board, make sure that at least ONE of the 4 people you are running with know how to spell the word C-A-N-D-I-D-A-T-E-S. Honestly, reflect on this for a while......Not one of them, not single person knows how to spell, and we should trust you to run our schools? This is the funniest thing ever. Ya know, covering the police was fun, but this, this is like a dream.


I have visual proof for you...take a look.... its great..


So I just wanted to zoom in on it really quick so you get the full effect. Maybe we could get one of the C-A-N-D-I-D-A-T-E-S, to explain how this happened, better yet maybe we could get them some better signs. MONEY FOR THE POOR ANYONE???? ANYONE AT ALL???

Thanks for Reading,


Mifflin County Blog

Save the Pool

Don't close the Reeds Gap State Park Pool. I know its easy for me to say, "Don't close it." when I really don't use it all that much, but still, it shouldn't be closed. Why is it that the space has to go empty? Just a big field. Why not demolish it and put up a new pool? Get some local municipalities to put up some funds to help out with it. Also, charge an admission fee. I am sure people would be ok with having to pay something to use the pool. Perhaps, all of the money used to fund the police force could be used for the pool instead. Let's be honest the money that goes to the police force is like throwing money down the drain any way. At least if it goes to the pool everyone will get use out of it.OK I WONT START DOWN THIS PATH AGAIN.

Second, what about just fixing the current pool? Again, let it go for this year only charge an admission and use that money to fix the pool. People don't mind paying for something when the know where the money is going. In the current economic climate, lots of kids aren't going to be able to take a vacation this summer. Allow them to use this pool. Appeal to the community for help. I am sure something can be done.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

GO HAVE A GREEN BEER!!

Mifflin County School Board

Readers of this column know how much we have focused on the Mifflin County Regional Police Board. It is now time pay focus on the school board. No local election is more important than this one. The future of Mifflin County Schools is at stake.

The current members of the board are Beth Reifsnyder, Phil Nash, John Traxler, Kirk Rager, Travis Parkes, Dave Molek, Dr. Ruth Armstrong, Robert Bratton, and Walter Harpster. The incumbents up for election in 2009 are Travis Parkes and Walter Harpster. Robert Bratton has chosen not to seek reelection. Four of these members serve on the board of the Mifflin-Juniata Career and Technology Center. They are Kirk Rager, Travis Parkes, Walter Harpster, and Robert Bratton.

Based on what is reported in the news, this is a divided board with a coalition formed by Rager, Parkes, Traxler, and Harpster who nearly always vote the same on every issue.

Harpster and Parkes are currently running on the same ticket with two new candidates: John Hulbert and Kristen Sharp.

I know nothing about the beliefs of Hulbert and Sharp, but I fear that having them run is an attempt by the Rager camp to take over the board. Is this something the citizens of Mifflin County want?

I don’t think so. I want our elected officials to think independently and make their own decisions and not come to board meetings after privately meeting decide how to vote. The future of Mifflin County schools is too important for one collective mind to decide on all matters. You may think I am wrong about this, but think about it. These are the same people that thought it would be a good idea to build a school during a recession. Also, the same people that are to busy to attend meetings on a consitant basis. Also, the same people that are afraid to make the tough decisions.

If anyone has an e-mail address for Mary Lou Siglar, Kristen Sharp, Walter Harpster or any of the other candidates please forward them to me.

My Take on Hower

The Good...

Talk about running for a reason. She really seems to be interested in doing the right thing. I have taken a look at past Mifflin County School Board meeting minutes, she has been very active. This is not a person who needs on the job training. She has experience as she points out. She is interested in students. That is a novel concept. To often people run for this position as a stepping stone. No concerns with that here. She really is interested in students and student learning. She knows all of the statistics. Pointing out the areas of weakness withing the Mifflin County School District.


The Bad...

I may take some heat for this but, I wish she would take a stand on the issues. By creatively dancing around the questions, the electorate will look through that. She offered no opinion on the new high school, just a question. When it came to teacher negotiations she pointed out that negotiations are on going. What does that mean? She claims that early childhood education needs to be reviewed. My question was what was her opinion of it. Do you like it? Is it worth funding? She also seems to have the board view out of focus. The board makes policy, the superintendent carries these policies out. She gave the school board a "C". They aren't doing good, but aren't doing bad either. Even when it came to school district consolidation, she had a neutral opinion.



I think its clear she is not a politician. That's a good thing. We need new blood. I think she should polish her message a little bit. I wish her the best of luck.

I understand that the current board members that are running are going to be running as a ticket. It will be interesting to see what their platform is.......

They better start with how they decided to build a school during a recession.



Thanks for Reading,

Mifflin County Blog