Petition: Easton School Board Broke the Law
Group called "Taxpayers Unite" says Easton Area School Board should have been more transparent about layoffs.
A group called "Taxpayers Unite" is circulating a petition charging that the Easton Area School Board violated Pennsylvania's Sunshine Law when cutting jobs recently.
In the past few weeks, the board has eliminated 24 jobs with little public discussion. That was on top of the 102 positions cut in May.
"We respectfully request that staffing furloughs be brought before the public at open meetings for public discussion before decisions are made," the group wrote on the petition website.
"We also request that ALL budget items (big and small) be reviewed in detail line by line, cost cuts be made and any expense that is not absolutely necessary during these difficult economical times be eliminated before considering any further staffing cuts."
Board President Robert Fehnel told the Express-Times that all executive sessions held during meetings are conducted with the board's attorney present. If the board veers into an area that needs to be discussed publicly, the attorney will inform them.
Eleven people have signed the peitition in the last three days. One of them -- who didn't list a name -- claimed to be a teacher who lost his or her job this year.
"I'm saddened by the many cuts made to the school district due to careless spending," the commenter wrote. "The students are the ones who are going to suffer, and no one seems to be bothered by that at all. The EASD already has problems with overcrowding in classrooms, and this is only going to make it worse."
School board members have called on the district's teachers union to reopen their contract. The union has responded that it did so last year, giving back $28 million.
Kevin Huff Sr.
8:50 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
go rovers
Anonymous
4:37 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Stop the spending on so many different unique buildings. There should be one design approved for its efficiency and then all of the schools should be built from the same blueprint. I am sure that many will disagree but then they can pay for all the new blueprints each and every time we need a new school building in this state. On another lesser scale of money is the scheduled "half day". What type of joke is that on the tax payer. You use the same amount of gas and it counts as a "whole day". That is a rip off of education. Also, please outlaw the frivolous "fun" movies in school. Our children need an education they do not need to be watching fun movies, they need to be stretched to think outside the box. They need motivation that might only come if they are not obsessed with having the most recent iphone or checking facebook. We need the smaller to teacher to student ratio and even more we need parents to get a backbone and teach their children respect and good ethics in working hard .
louis kootsares
8:38 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
there is too much administration too high priced administration it was proven class size does not effect learning but attention span is the key there is a longer attention span with the aid of a tv in the classroom there are lots of good things that the teachers union probably would not like to hear as the parasitic administrators also do not care to address
Fuzzy F Face
8:40 pm on Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Better quality teachers and less nepotism in the school district would stretch the tax dollar. There are many places that could have cuts made if people all gave a little. Where else can a brand new teacher without experience get hired because of WHO THEY ARE AND WHO THE KNOW. Its ridiculous,....... quality before family
louis kootsares
11:15 am on Saturday, July 28, 2012
oh yes our quality educators another one to add to the list lets see there isnt drug testing humm read the papers no sobrity tests read the papers no tests for perverts read the papers and now shop lifting lets clean house and go to the unemployment office ..interview new teachers if they can say their name 3 times the same way they can teach if they cannot they can be an administrator