Richland council to urge Elco to look at other options

Borough Council decided to send a letter to the Elco school board requesting it get a second opinion before closing Schaefferstown and Myerstown elementary schools and building an intermediate school.

[Moco]

When will Mr Houtz GROW UP??? He failed to realize that SOS has a specific agenda and they will feed warped statistics about renovations and projects all around the area, and they(SOS) will always point out that, this is cheaper, and that was more expensive, both of which have absolutely nothing to do with the specifics of ELCO renovation or building.
Mr Houtz is quick to latch onto the SOS ideas, but failed his constituents by not gathering any stats or information from the school or board of education. Shame on you for being uniformed and ignorant to the processes that the board has passed through, or even bothering to attend an informational meeting or even ask one question pertaining to these projects. You did't do your homework!
Furthermore his whining about the costs of a new building are totally off, in that, the payback on the geothermal heating system is a quick 5 years which means taxpayer savings over the long haul.
Do the math Scott on taxpayer savings on the new project VS renovation,(which is no option) due to HT sitting on their hands for 30 years on the sewer issue.
TAXPAYERS STAND TO SAVE 10 MILLION $#$$$$ with the new building over renovating and if SOS did not tell you this ....well that's not in their agenda. Again Scott, you were uninformed of the important facts.

Similarly, citizens of Richland have been denied quality representation by VP Mueller, who has failed to grasp the complexities of a deep and comprehensive(253 page) feasibity study done by Crabtree, measuring the total educational needs of ELCO, and seems to think a few guys walking around a school building with a sketch pad for a few hours, will do what CR's full staff did in 10 months..... I don't think so!
....and the district should modify their in-place 30 year building plan, because this flimsy, worthless offer is free?....I don't think so!
Shame on all of you local township officials (save Mr. Deck) for not doing your homework , have listened to only one side of the discussion, and were blindly led into believing that suing is the only recourse.
Which leaves my final point...hats off to both the lawyers in this case who manage to bill both the towns and the school district at $150 per hour, for the ignorance and laziness of their supervisors and council members.

[Eighty Six]

#1 No specific SOS agenda, just doin' what's right.
#2 Your numbers are wrong, really wrong. If this whole project comes in under 25 Million, we'll be lucky, really lucky.
#3 Sewer is coming, but it is only an issue for expansion, not renovation. So, when you know the truth, no issue.
#4 Crabtree's Marketing Plan, I mean Feasibility Study, is according to the Boards agenda, not fact based numbers, estimates, and averages.
#5 Geo thermal, not included in your numbers, add another Million $$$+
#6 Additional land needed for lost athletic field(s)and playground, not in your numbers, plus $$$?
#7 What about the playground equipment? "The PTAs can pay for that!", and that's a school board member quote.
#8 Way to go Heidelberg Township!
#9 Way to go Houtz!

Do I really need to go on?

Everyone needs to show up at the September 15th School Board meeting! Get involved and speak up where it counts, in public!

[banshee]

Moco wrote:

When will Mr Houtz GROW UP??? He failed to realize that SOS has a specific agenda and they will feed warped statistics about renovations and projects all around the area, and they(SOS) will always point out that, this is cheaper, and that was more expensive, both of which have absolutely nothing to do with the specifics of ELCO renovation or building.
Mr Houtz is quick to latch onto the SOS ideas, but failed his constituents by not gathering any stats or information from the school or board of education. Shame on you for being uniformed and ignorant to the processes that the board has passed through, or even bothering to attend an informational meeting or even ask one question pertaining to these projects. You did't do your homework!
Furthermore his whining about the costs of a new building are totally off, in that, the payback on the geothermal heating system is a quick 5 years which means taxpayer savings over the long haul.
Do the math Scott on taxpayer savings on the new project VS renovation,(which is no option) due to HT sitting on their hands for 30 years on the sewer issue.
TAXPAYERS STAND TO SAVE 10 MILLION $#$$$$ with the new building over renovating and if SOS did not tell you this ....well that's not in their agenda. Again Scott, you were uninformed of the important facts.
Similarly, citizens of Richland have been denied quality representation by VP Mueller, who has failed to grasp the complexities of a deep and comprehensive(253 page) feasibity study done by Crabtree, measuring the total educational needs of ELCO, and seems to think a few guys walking around a school building with a sketch pad for a few hours, will do what CR's full staff did in 10 months..... I don't think so!
....and the district should modify their in-place 30 year building plan, because this flimsy, worthless offer is free?....I don't think so!
Shame on all of you local township officials (save Mr. Deck) for not doing your homework , have listened to only one side of the discussion, and were blindly led into believing that suing is the only recourse.
Which leaves my final point...hats off to both the lawyers in this case who manage to bill both the towns and the school district at $150 per hour, for the ignorance and laziness of their supervisors and council members.

thats not the issue the issue is that who let the buildings get this bad in the first place and also they could have gotten other reports for free turned those down whose hiding what by the way? and going with just the first person you come across(crabtree) is stupid i worked construction you get several differrent oppions

[banshee]

SOS oh and by the way hopefully i'll be moving out of this area which is in my opinion one big botched abortion. the school board is a bunch of monkeys flinging sh*t on everyone who need to go to common sense school.and anyone else who thinks the school board is right are just a bunch of people in need of a operation that removes there head from their asses.

[Eighty Six]

The reality is that buildings aren't really that bad. A few minor repairs over the years would have prevented all of this stuff. The folks at Schaefferstown have been patiently waiting for their turn for repairs and renovations. It's been promised for years. So imagine their surprise when the bomb was dropped ... "oh by the way, the school board's new plan is to close your school as well as Myerstown". Were the plans delayed as part of some larger master plan, who knows. It sure looks that way.

I can't say I disagree with your school board comments, but just letting this happen, isn't right either. The children need what is best, and it may not be the cheapest. Right now we don't really know because the numbers have been spun in such a way that they fit in with the current agenda. Don't move, get involved.

Everyone needs to show up at the September 15th School Board meeting! Get involved and speak up where it counts, in public!