Letter to The Editor: Questions to the Wissahickon School Board

Dear School Board Member,

I am asking that you do not pass Resolution W-10-12 that is being proposed by the School District Administration and their counsel, Fox & Rothschild, at Monday night’s board meeting.  I am a taxpayer and WSD parent and I do not believe that there is enough information to vote in favor of such a powerful resolution.  If passed, it could effectively lead to replacing the entire support staff in WSD all at once.  As a parent of three young children, this is a very scary proposal. 

We've already had an issue with a "subcontracted" First Student bus driver in Ambler earlier this year and when the district bus garage was called the response was that the parents needed to call First Student. Young kids ran off the bus at
the wrong bus stop!  Who are we supposed to report these types of “subcontract” issues to?  How will the district track these types of problems? This passing of responsibility is alarming!

I understand that the board has to be fiscally responsible and you have an obligation to the taxpayers.  However, first and foremost you have an obligation to the safety and welfare of our children. I watch over my children very carefully and this proposed resolution raises a lot of questions for me.   

Will the staff that my children and I are familiar with be replaced with
complete strangers?  How will this change the safety and culture of our
schools?

What type of background check will be completed on the subcontracted
employees and how will the district ensure they are done?

How will the district know that quality employees are being hired?

How does the district intend to track and resolve issues with
subcontractors as stated above?

What stake will these subcontractors have in our children's education if
they're not even district employees? Who will be accountable for these subcontractors? Based on the above bus experience, probably not the district.

How much will all of this cost us, the taxpayers? Has there been any
financial analysis done on the cost of such grand scale hiring and the
recruitment plus the attorney’s fees associated with all of this?  We all
know how much Jeffrey Sultanik charges per hour! 

I do not believe that the consequences of passing this resolution have been fully evaluated and I am asking that you NOT vote in favor of it without more research and providing more information to the parents of the district.  It is my children that this will directly impact so for me the stakes of such a proposal are very high.

Respectfully,

Tara Graefe

Ambler, PA