- A couple of items were missing from the agenda last night. One of those missing items was Eric Frey giving an update on the turf field/field lights project and the battle MSD is having against Worcester to put lights in. Namely, it's one resident (who is representing 14 other Worcester residents, whose identities are unknown at this time) who has hired an attorney in an attempt to stop or severely restrict MSD from doing anything involving field lights in the near future. From what I heard at the meeting, this same resident fought against MSD in 1995 when they went all the way up to the Appellate Court, with the Appellate Court telling Methacton that they can do what they want with the field, just they can't do it 24/7. My opinion on this should be obvious: let Methacton put lights in, and cut out the moronic restrictions and requirements in the ordinance, but that's just me. Also, from what I heard, this resident doesn't even live within distance of the high school that these lights would be a problem for the resident. Which is great; we have a spiteful resident with enough money to lawyer up to stop Methacton from doing what should have been taken care of 25 years ago. Awesome.
- Another conspicuously missing item on the agenda was the vote to refinance the school district's current bond rate to reap the benefits of low interest rates, and give MSD more budgetarial wiggle room. There was a catch--one part of the refinancing would add $5,000,000 in new money that would have to have 85% of the money spent in three years. It's no secret that this money was for the turf project, but after Mr. Frey's presentation on how much of a tooth and nail fight it is against Worcester to put just lights in, the board displayed a rare streak of logic and voted for "Option 2A", which would refinance the loan, as agreed, but would forgo the new money portion. Which shows two things in particular: that the turf field project isn't a sure thing (thank God), and that the board realised this and decided to come back to it after getting the lights settled, as to not look the gift horse in the mouth, I guess. If this logic streak continues, maybe the 1.7% tax increase budgetary scenario could become a reality!
- The Planetarium Projector Bid was tabled by the Board last night, due to many members of the board feeling that there wasn't enough curriculum work ready for the projector, and they weren't willing to drop the $250,000 required for it. There is some logic to this, however, what some members of the board were asking, namely Mr. Phillips, was not only the curriculum planned, but also a schedule and how many grades would use it. That's like arranging your living room furniture and you don't even have the house built; how do you expect a full, detailed plan when the object in question isn't even in the school yet? The presentation last week, in my opinion, gave enough information to show that grades five through eight would surely use it, not mentioning all of the elementary school students being bused to Arcola to look at the stars. Listen, $250,000 would be the most money Methacton has spent on the Planetarium since it was built, it's time to replace the slide projector you have showing students the stars. I guess "better late than never" will be used here.
- The Arcola Select Chorus was a special guest at the Board Meeting, and they kinda kicked ass. It's good to see that the music program in this district is still going strong.
Update: I incorrectly dated the meeting to have taken place on April 26th. It was in fact April 23rd.
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