AND MON SCHOOLS’ INTRANSIGENCE

Per Thursday’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting in Morgantown, how can it possibly be that the WV Division of Highways (DoH) has apparently no idea that “rush hour” often exists at the 705/119 intersection from around 2:00 to 6:30? That is a direct conflict with school traffic peak hours, contrary to DoH rep Perry Keller’s MPO meeting statement claiming no conflict, no overlap. Did the Morgantown MPO not provide the DoH with a record of when the nearby massive employers undergo their midafternoon shift changes?

And how can it possibly be that the DoH-hired ENTRAN traffic analyst Tom Creasey had apparently no idea of the backup into the 705/119 intersection from the Hampton Avenue T intersection .4 miles south on 119? No matter who is responsible for studying what here – the MPO? the DoH? ENTRAN? – one can only conclude that ENTRAN and the DoH and the Morgantown MPO are operating totally without a clue on major traffic issues. No one corrected Keller’s baffling statement of ignorance. Read the rest of this entry »

LET THE OFFICIALS KNOW

Direct your complaints and suggestions to WVU, MPO, DoH, School Board, and the media via the contacts below to encourage WVU not to sell the land to Mon Schools on which to build the intended 705/119 intersection school, to encourage the School Board not to build at that intersection, and to encourage the DoH (West Virginia Division of Highways) and the MPO (Monongalia Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization) to solve the Hampton Avenue/119 intersection backup problem, and to cut congestion on route 705 and the Mileground in general. Tell your traffic nightmare stories, and/or your views about the schools, the neighborhoods, and planning. Read the rest of this entry »

“NO PEDESTRIAN ACTIVITY”

In case anyone missed it: a City Council member pointedly joked at Thursday’s MPO meeting:

“The only pedestrians on the Mileground are dead ones.”

No crosswalks are planned at the 705 Mileground intersection for the elementary school intended to be sited there. Having observed the roads, ENTRAN is “assuming no pedestrian activity.”

We should all deeply appreciate the dead pedestrians remark. It could not be more appropriate.

That the intended commuter and commercial intersection school site is preposterous goes without saying. But if one must say something, “dead pedestrians” and “no pedestrian activity” say it all. Read the rest of this entry »

A CASE FOR INTERVENTION

Can the five Monongalia County School Board members honestly say that Superintendent Devono (in relation to the green school and in other particular matters such as school capacity rates) has adhered to state code as noted in Section 3 – 02 – 9 of the Mon BoE’s Policies and Procedures, quoted below? Germane examples follow.

Legal duties and responsibilities of the Superintendent are listed in the West Virginia Code. The Superintendent shall have the following duties and responsibilities:

9. Keep the county board apprised continuously of any issues that affect the county board or its schools, programs and initiatives. The county superintendent shall report to the county board on these issues using any appropriate means agreeable to both parties. When practicable, the reports shall be fashioned to include a broad array of data and information that the county board may consult to aid in making decisions…

Did the Superintendent in required timely manner “apprise” the entire board of any of the following? or has the Superintendent ever apprised the entire board of any of the following (before or after public disclosure via FOIA requests)? that:

1) the green school is a Woodburn/North “overflow” school; de facto redistricting?

2) the green school grant application states that Mon Schools will redistrict in two years, upon construction of the green school?

3) the original preferred site for the green school was in North Elementary’s catchment?

Read the rest of this entry »

DEVONO AXES WOODBURN

June 24 2010 Woodburn closure Board of Education meeting minutes in quotes below:

BoE Minutes: “She [Susan Eason] questioned the Board about possible future redistricting [in relation to the proposed green school consolidation and closures]… Superintendent  Devono replied that redistricting was not on the table…”

By FOIA, we’ve shown that redistricting is so on the table that it is written into the grant proposal.

BoE Minutes: “Katy Ryan questioned the size of the new school with Superintendent Devono stating the school will be built to house 450 students.”

By FOIA, we’ve shown that, weeks earlier, Devono conveyed privately to architect Shriver that the “needs” of the new school are for about 700 students.

BoE Minutes: “She [Katy Ryan] wondered how the Mileground property emerged [as the preferred site for the green school]. Superintendent Devono…stated…that a main consideration for the consolidation is a central location for the two schools.

By FOIA, we’ve shown that Devono’s original preferred location was actually nearly a mile down route 705, which happens to be in North Elementary’s catchment basin. In any case, that spot is the exact distance from Easton school as the old UHS possible green school site, and less than two tenths of a mile closer than the Woodburn schoolgrounds possible green school site.

Read the rest of this entry »

CROWDED, OVERCROWDED – AND CUTTING SEATS

Monongalia County Schools intends to blow through about $15 million of local, state, and federal funds to build the green elementary school that has the effect of REDUCING school capacity by 32 seats. According to public records, Easton and Woodburn schools combined currently can accommodate 482 students. And according to public record, the green school is to open at a capacity of 450.

Meanwhile, of the 4 elementaries nearest to Woodburn school and Easton school, last year 2 operated overcapacity, another operated at 96 percent capacity and the other at 85 percent. “Our school is packed,” one of the area principals notes on the verge of the new school year, “the whole district is.”

Read the rest of this entry »

THE LOCAL AND STATE FAILURE

Is there a penalty for Monongalia County Schools operating two schools overcapacity this past school year (Suncrest and North Elementaries)? The state and local figures show that is the case.

Does the WV Department of Education intend to act on the fact that it has been publicly revealed that Monongalia County Schools continuously lied to the public about the intended green school size, its potential location, and student body composition in the months before and in the months after the Easton and Woodburn Elementaries’ closure hearings, and continuing to the present? FOIA is a wonderful thing.

Is the fact that the WV School Building Authority is going deep into phase 2, the Schematic Design phase, of the green school grant to Monongalia County without the grantee having title to the land to build on 1) legal, 2) standard or regulated, 3) advisable?

Must the WV State Board of Education and the WV Department of Education each still approve both the green school grant to Monongalia Schools and its 2010-2020 CEFP calling for the closure of Easton and Woodburn to be consolidated into the green school? All remains to be decided, yes? If so, when and where?

Why would any of the agencies named above approve a last minute, scandalous, extremely risky, and completely uncertain facility siting project at one of Morgantown’s recently documented most dangerous (and congested and polluted) intersections on its most dangerous road, route 705 – the first and only public school to be on any of the most dangerous intersections, and the first to be even anywhere on this most dangerous and congested road?

Read the rest of this entry »

And that must not be.

REDISTRICTING LIES

Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of the West Virginia School Building Authority (SBA) we learn that Monongalia County Schools states on the SBA green school grant compliance checklist “Compliance With SBA Requirements Proposed New Project” under the section “Adequate Space For Projected Student Enrollment”:

“There is adequate space for enrollment projections. Once this facility [green school] is completed [Fall 2012], redistricting will occur in the North and Cheat Lake Elementary areas due to overcrowding.”

Publicly, the Monongalia County Board of Education has been denying such redistricting plans. Board President Barbara Parsons denied it again in a July email:

“As a Board, we have had no discussion, whatsoever, regarding any changes to North Elementary attendance area and the new school. I can see how it might appear to be a logical consideration, but the Board is extremely sensitive to any issue involving redistricting because we had these discussions prior to building a new University High School. At that time we said there would be no redistricting and we have vigorously maintained that position. … Any future consideration of redistricting will be at the initiative of the public.”

Read the rest of this entry »

INCOMPLETE FOIAs

The problems with the siting of the green school in Monongalia County go far beyond air pollution, terrible as that problem is.

For example, neither the Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) nor WVU are complying with FOIA laws (Freedom of Information Act). We know this because Mon BOE releases some emails with WVU that WVU fails to release, and vice versa. All very relevant emails that both parties are legally bound to release, per FOIA requests. Their FOIA compliance is lousy. Their FOIA research methods are lousy: mere “keyword” searches by an IT employee, in the case of WVU, according to WVU. The BOE’s approach? The FOIAed parties are not held remotely accountable for turning over what they know best, their own correspondence (which was the City of Morgantown’s approach). Better yet would be a combination of these methods and a court assigned independent investigator.

For just a couple examples: WVU failed to release certain email discussions with Mon Schools about green school site appraisals. We know this correspondence exists because Mon Schools released those emails. Likewise, Mon Schools failed to release emails with WVU about green school site possibilities. We know the correspondence exists because WVU released it. Apparently outside investigators are required to ensure Mon Schools’ and WVU’s full compliance with FOIA laws.

Some of the troubling information we’ve learned via FOIA:

Read the rest of this entry »

SCHOOL SIZE LIES

WVU would sell seven acres of its dairy farm land at a badly undermined major commuter and commercial intersection to Monongalia County Schools for the purpose of building a “small” energy efficient elementary school. It seems one never knows what one is going to step into at a congested high traffic intersection, does one? Especially when the adjacent land also happens to be part of WVU’s undermined dairy farm. Some big ol’ cowflops maybe?

Architect Ted Shriver in an email to superintendent Frank Devono about the green school, June 2010:

“According to my preliminary calculations the SBA school is 40,500 square feet but to meet your needs it’s really about 65,000 square feet and as discussed last week we may approach a 70,000 square foot building with adequate space and expansion.”

One hopes that Architect Shriver of Williamson Shriver is mistaken in the first figure above. The maximum allowable school size for a school of 450 elementary students is 50,400 square feet not 40,500. Or does Shriver not intend to see the indoor area of  the green school built to the maximum size allowed, at a site where the outdoor conditions range from far less than ideal to highly dangerous?

70,000 square feet? That’s about the maximum size allowed for a school of 700 students.

Easton school: 176 students. Neighborhood Woodburn school: 227 students. Green school capacity, publicly stated: 450 students. Expanded green school capacity, privately indicated: 700 students.

Read the rest of this entry »

HOLLOW PLANNING – NO PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

When is the first public meeting regarding planning and designing the green school?

No public involvement has been or will be implemented during the Planning phase of the green school grant.

The first School Building Authority grant deadline is a mere two weeks away.

SBA Director Mark Manchin and the architects’ idea of a green school seems to be that of a relatively high tech energy efficient machine. Period. Greenery, living things, ecology, solariums, green houses, gardens, landscaping, green roofs, living roofs, green walks, wildlife, botanical study, active growing, and related green activities, green policies, green food and food systems, healthful activities, green community activities, myriad green childrens’ activities – not so much at all.

“Thinking outside the box” may be a silly buzz-phrase and cliched notion but Manchin and the architects show precious little sign of even knowing what the box may be, what the boxes are, let alone how to think outside them. Amazingly one of the lead architects even stated as much at the green school “kickoff” (public not invited) as if that were no problem.

Everyone seriously involved needs to think outside the purpose of a school – break that rule especially – because new good ideas will come from that exercise to help expand our understanding of what a school is, could be, and should be. Any school. Let alone a green school. To help improve the current impoverished reality of what learning is, could be, should be. A substantial percentage of the SBA grant money should be set aside upfront for creating a green school and green school grounds and activities beyond anything currently envisioned or expressed by Manchin, the architects, and the BOE.

Read the rest of this entry »

DISTINCT PATTERN OF RECENT LOUSY NEW SCHOOL SITING AND BUILDING

Skyview Elementary opened in 2006 above Morgantown Industrial Park. Mylan Park Elementary opened in 2006 on a former strip mine of the sort on which toxic coal ash was commonly dumped. Both schools were built isolated from residential areas, and yet neither school has a ballfield: none of the playground areas were made big enough to contain one, no fields, and no walking tracks. Meanwhile the current Woodburn Elementary school set to be closed in two years has both a field and a walking track, and it was not built at a mine, nor above an industrial park. Evacuations due to industrial park smoke such as happened at Skyview and Westwood?: not possible. Air and soil complications from being built on a mine, such as at Mylan Park or at the proposed Mileground site?: not possible at Woodburn. Moreover, the proposed new school on Woodburn grounds does include a field, one that has room for a walking track.

And still the school board claims there is not enough space to rebuild on Woodburn schoolgrounds: “like a shoe that doesn’t quite fit.” But then these are the same school board members who oversaw the building of large remote Skyview Elementary above an industrial park, the building of large Mylan Park Elementary at a mine site, and the building of remote and isolated University High School which opened in 2008 on land that cost nearly $2 million to mine-fill and to this day bears and abuts the hazards of open mine portals, a “sludge pond,” tipples, and a slag pile. Lovely obstacles and dangers for cross-country practices, meets, and the occasional student explorer. Apparently the WV DEP has requested permission to survey these hazards and would likely use tax money in the future for the safety clean-up and fixes required. Once again, outside intervention required for the BOE. And apparently outside initiative. And more money. Quite a pattern. Read the rest of this entry »

WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

January 2010 Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan comment:

“The sewer smell at the [Mylan Park] school also remains problematic.”

In 2006, Mylan Park (Consolidated) Elementary opened at an old mine site where toxic coal ash was dumped, many tons. Read the rest of this entry »

The kids would pay. That has been established. And now who else?

PUBLIC NOT INVITED

Monongalia County Schools superintendent Devono has announced that he will hold a “green school kickoff” meeting/lunch at the Waterfront on Tuesday August 3rd at 10:00 with the principals of Easton and Woodburn schools, a few Mon Schools’ selected parents, a few Mon Schools’ selected teachers, a Centra bank official, a WVU architect, Morgantown Mayor Bill Byrne, possibly SBA Director Mark Manchin, and very few others.

This is very troublesome, as superintendent Devono has declared that this meeting is “technically not open to the public” even though he added, “however, we will not turn anyone away.”

That’s absurd, and essentially duplicitous.

Moreover, the superintendent repeatedly invited Mon school board members while noting that they were not required to attend, and yet the board did not discuss how many board members were considering attending…even as board president Parsons stated she thought the entire board should attend this type of meeting on the green school.

Of course, by law, the Board would be required to call a formal board meeting, which would not have been advertised, also legally required, if 3 or more board members attend.

So, the whole process in regard to this meeting is inexcusably sloppy, at best.

The planned green school meeting is disturbing on a number of additional accounts.

Who will be paying for this green school meeting at the Waterfront? The school district? Do they not have enough empty rooms and buildings of their own, free of charge, in which to hold a meeting at this time of year? Why is lunch being paid for and by whom? Read the rest of this entry »

DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA?

Monongalia County Schools must insist that the SBA green school grant be divided in two. One part to build a green school on revitalized Woodburn school grounds. The other part to build another green school on sensible grounds where it is needed.

What we can expect of top quality green schools:

A green roof. Green roofs reduce sound pollution, air pollution, roof wear and tear, while controlling for temperature and water runoff:

Read the rest of this entry »

THE DANGEROUS AND DESTRUCTIVE INCOMPETENCE OF THE MONONGALIA COUNTY SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION

The New Woodburn Community School Initiative is opposed to Monongalia County Schools and the WV School Building Authority’s decision to build a new “green” elementary school (with state and federal stimulus funds) at the intersection of route 705 and 119 on the “Mileground” in Morgantown on expensive and undermined WVU farmland that WVU seems all too willing to sell. We are opposed to a school being built there for many reasons, especially including the myriad threats to our children’s health, safety, and well-being, which are spelled out in great detail at this website.

It’s ironic, the current Monongalia County School Board President Barbara Parsons is the Director of Educational Services at Monongalia General Hospital, and has been so for nearly 20 years. She helps people learn about health issues. She helps people get health screenings, and yet seems oblivious to the health dangers and costs of siting an elementary school at a busy intersection, dangers that would threaten or harm our children on a daily basis, and that would open Monongalia County Schools to liability and negligence lawsuits regarding our children’s health and safety now and for years to come.

So it is, regrettably, that we are forced to appeal to state and other agencies for intervention. Read the rest of this entry »

DAMAGING CHILDREN FOR LIFE

Bill Davenhall, “Busy Roads, Air Pollution and Environmental Health Risks,” Huffington Post, July 24:

“A number of important studies over the last several years have linked children’s respiratory health problems with high densities of vehicular roadway traffic…. If the research carried out in California is relevant to other states and communities (and it probably is), the discovery that childcare facilities within 600 feet (two football fields in length) of a major highway (defined as having more than 50,000 vehicles per day) have more sick kids should be a wake-up call for every community. The research also suggests that about 7 percent of all the California daycare facilities and 5 percent of the schools that children under 12 attend are ‘too close’ to a busy highway. …taking better care of a child’s lungs is a far better investment than spending money on treating the lifelong damage that bad air will contribute. The window of opportunity is very small — their first 12 years of life!” Read the rest of this entry »

PLANNING FOR THE PUBLIC NEEDS TO BE MADE MORE PUBLIC

PUBLIC PUSHED OUT

For a quick look at some degrees of separation and who’s who, see a few connections. Plus, this recent comment at Facebook. Which takes us back to Let’s Play in Traffic, Kids! and The Tip of the Iceberg.

MON SCHOOLS OPERATING IN SECRECT & LYING ABOUT SITES CONSIDERED

Superintendent Frank Devono and the School Board made a big point, very belatedly, of showing 19 sites that they claim to have considered for the green school.  However Mon Schools apparently to this day has still never mentioned Devono’s original preferred site, “across from Damon’s.” Doing so would give the game away about which students Mon Schools administration has apparently intended for the green school. Read the rest of this entry »

PICTURES OF MONONGALIA SCHOOLS LUNACY

What The…?

Read the rest of this entry »

And so is the rest of the Monongalia County School Board.

MARK TWAIN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

My name is Mark Twain. You might remember me. I wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and a little ditty called The War Prayer.

I died some time ago but am back for a moment to endorse today’s Dominion Post editorial, “School board’s stars in alignment,” which calls for the Monongalia County Board of Education to return ex-board member Mike Kelly to the School Board, filling by appointment the vacant seat.

This is truly a brilliant suggestion, because Mike Kelly is a rubber stamp, and so is everyone else on the school board. And we all know and love what school boards are for, don’t we? School boards are meant to rubber stamp the divine leadership of any superintendent of a school district in thrall to high dropout rates, large class sizes, large schools, remote schools, and an ever decreasing number of schools. Who would not want to rubber stamp that potent brew? Not Mike Kelly! Not the entire school board! Read the rest of this entry »

DANGER ALERT: OBLIVIOUS OFFICIALS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Are the officials stealing the 705 Connector/Mileground road expansion project from the public in a manner similar to that of the green school dealings? What are the consequences for any new elementary school, and for the public at large?

The public gets shut out of too many important decisions until too late. Such operation-on-the-hush causes even the institutional actors problems. For example, Bill Austin, the Director of the Monongalia Morgantown Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), in a March 17 note to the West Virginia Department of Highways (DOH): Read the rest of this entry »

WHO DO YOU KNOW?

What do new US Senator from WV Carte Goodwin & WV Governor (and US  Senate candidate) Joe Manchin & the WV School Building Authority & the Green School have in common? Read the rest of this entry »

THE GROTESQUE FOLLY OF A COMMERCIAL STRIP INTERSECTION SCHOOL

Will Mileground (and related) business interests force the WV Department of Highways to build the less safe of road expansion options? Will the DoH allow itself to succumb to such pressure? What is the position of WVU on the road expansion options? What is the position of Monongalia County Schools? And the County itself? The City?

These and various other public entities (see the MPO) would do well to take very public and very appropriate positions on this question, or risk opening themselves wide to public condemnation and legal action, not to mention the future increased potential for road danger and disaster. Read the rest of this entry »

TIMELY FACTS MATTER

Does Monongalia County Schools ever plan to announce an open election for a school board seat during the November general election?

Why can’t the officials and the media quickly and reliably inform the public about the law and proper procedure in this case? Read the rest of this entry »

SECRETS AND LIES OF SITING THE SCHOOL

And so it is that the BOE, both the board and superintendent Devono, are fully intent upon siting the school district’s forthcoming green school at one of Morgantown’s most congested and high traffic and pricey intersections (land acquisition cost $2.275 million for 7 acres). Also undermined! (requiring $650,000 for mine-fill; or more!) Such is the current direction of Mon Schools. And they are aided and abetted in this by WVU.

It gets worse.

In an email obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request, we learn in a 10/14/2009 email from WVU Director of Real Estate Services, Shannon Mundell, to WVU Vice President of Administration and Finance, Narvel Weese, that Mundell:

Had a brief discussion with Mr. Devono regarding WVU’s property near and around the Mileground. He [Devono] is needing approximately 8-10 acres (10 preferred for bus turnaround).

He was originally looking at the area across from Damon’s [down route 705], but as that is our sacred American Chestnut area, he is open to suggestions. Also, with school starting prior to 8:30, the Mileground area is another viable option (maybe behind Armory?).

Confidentially, the overflow from North [elementary] and [the entire student body of] Woodburn elementary will be placed in this school. …

Now isn’t that interesting. You see, the green school has all along been said in public by Mon Schools to be a consolidation of Easton elementary and Woodburn elementary, not a consolidation of Woodburn elementary and North elementary overflow. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s like bad farce, only worse. More damaging.

HALF WILLFULLY CLUELESS, HALF PRETENDING

At last evening’s BOE meeting, July 13, New School Board President Barbara Parsons opened discussion of the absent and reportedly resigned ex-board-member-elect Rebecca Myers, by referring to the “vacancy” Myers had left on the board.

BUT by the end of some minutes of conversation, Superintendent Devono had re-educated President Parsons so that Parsons eventually stated that there was no vacancy because Myers had not officially resigned, despite Devono’s telling the media a week earlier that Myers had resigned. Read the rest of this entry »

CIRCLING THE WAGONS AGAINST THE PUBLIC

At the school board meeting yesterday evening: board-member-elect Rebecca Myers resigns before being sworn in.  Nancy Walker out as President. Barbara Parsons elected President. Charlene Brown to be the new Principal at Woodburn Elementary, transitioning from Assistant Principal at University High School. Apparently to discuss FOIA matters with attorney the board went into (a second) executive session, one which was not on the agenda. To which, let this be said: No comment. No comment. No comment. Read the rest of this entry »

THE NEED TO LAWYER UP

Via A.F.T.: “The Monongalia County Board of Education recently paid $3,893.89 in a settlement with the American Federation of Teachers. The two groups settled after the A.F.T. said the board violated open meetings laws by failing to inform the public back in October. … [A.F.T.] claims the board also violates the laws by issuing different agendas to its members than to the public.”

Speaking of violations, has the BOE posted an announcement for this evening’s July 6th meeting in the newspaper?

THE RIDICULOUS GLIB IGNORANCE OF THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER

One always welcomes wise words from the DP. Let’s see what they have to say today. Title of the DP editorial, July 5, 2010:

“A tough lesson in government” – subtitle: “Foes of Mon County BOE’s decision on closing school should get on with it”

Wise words? One wonders: “get on with” what? The DP notes: Read the rest of this entry »

ONE WITH A BAD IDEA – THE OTHER MAKING IT WORSE

According to the Dominion Post today, Brookhaven Elementary needs an addition. Apparently it’s overcrowded. That overcrowding could be relieved by sending nearby Sabraton area children to a new elementary in Woodburn.

What elementary school is not already overcrowded or bursting at the seams? The Mon School District is on track to recklessly slash the number of elementary schools from 15 to 10 in seven years, 2005-2012. Read the rest of this entry »

“SUDDEN, SEVERE DAMAGES”

from Ry Rivard’s article at the Charleston Daily Mail:

Plans to build an environmentally friendly school atop an abandoned coal mine in Morgantown face criticism from parents who say the site is inappropriate for an elementary school. Read the rest of this entry »