My name is Alan Darion. For those who do not know me, I taught at the Kutztown Area Junior and Senior High Schools for 32 years before retiring and getting elected to the Kutztown Area School Board (KASB). I am now in the first year of my second term. Toward the end of my career I decided to run for school board because I saw a steady decline in the education provided at the High School. It was still extremely good; the dedication of the staff would allow no less. I believed, however, that the drive to go beyond "very good" to true excellence was slowly eroding. During my first term, slow but steady progress was being made to restoring the school to its former glory. However, the results of the last election have brought that progress to a screeching halt.
A majority of seats on the Board are now occupied by individuals who seem to represent the views of the Kutztown Taxpayer Watchdogs. Such a group can serve the entirely legitimate function of helping to prevent wasteful spending. However, there are also those in the Watchdog group that seem to believe that almost any money spent on public education is inherently wasteful. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this view is shared by the people who now control the Board.
By majority vote, this Board has stopped the High School building and renovation project, eliminated three high school teaching positions, and one special education position, ended the classroom driver education program, and arbitrarily cut $5000 from the library budget, to mention just a few of their actions. In later postings I will go into more detail on the harm these cuts will have on our kid’s education, as well as the effect that other short-minded actions might have. Of more immediate concern is that these actions are being blamed on the entire School Board, when, in fact, it is the will of only a few members, albeit a majority, of the Board.
I, along with some other members of the Board, have tried to express our opposition at Board meetings, and at times the newspapers have reported portions of these remarks. However, in the face of majority action, that included using taxpayer money to place a self-serving ad justifying their actions in the Patriot, I believe I, and perhaps other members of the Board minority, need to be more public with our dissent. So I have started this blog – The Minority Report of the Kutztown Area School Board (KASB).
This blog is not intended to be a forum for public debate; that is best left to public Board meetings. However, I hope it will allow for an exchange of ideas among those of us concerned about the effects the actions of the current Board are having on the education of our children. In your posts, please make sure that you identify yourself in some verifiable way. I look forward to reading and sharing your comments.
