Rewind: A Look at the $40M Western Center Approval

In light of and arguments concerning low numbers on the Spring-Ford side of students going to the Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center, Patch was sent the minutes from the 2007 board convention. At the convention the $40 million renovation project was approved in a 22-2 vote where only Michael Masciandaro and Bernard Pettit voted against. There were three members missing from the convention.

Spring-Ford attendees of note included former superintendent Marsh Hurda, current president Joseph Ciresi, former member John Grispon and current member Mark Dehnert. Joseph Greb, current administrative director of the school, was also in attendance.

The purpose of the meeting was the come to an agreement on a "one-time capital projects funding formula and cost limitation," as well as receive information on program recommendations from the administration, and finally to receive a recommendation on moving forward to contract with an architect for feasibility and design work.

As discussed in the November 2006 convention, the Capital Projects Proposal called for a $40 million cap. The meeting then went into a full-on discussion of various terms of the cap and the technicalities with sending schools and the schedule of a regular school day for students choosing to attend the new program.

When asked how comfortable each superintendent was from the sending schools (Spring-Ford, Pottsgrove and Upper Perkiomen), Hurda said she was a 10 in comfort level on a 1-to-10 scale. Her reasoning was that "all three superintendents are committed to making this work and there is no question in her mind that students will get 990 hours of instruction."

Meanwhile, Bradley Landis, superintendent of Pottsgrove, said he was a 9.5, "since this is the first year and there will be some glitches to work out especially with transportation." He said he believes "there will be more advantages for students due to the increased academic options such as the science labs and all of the resources that are available at the comprehensive high schools."

Timothy Kirby, superintendent of Upper Perkiomen, said he was at an 8.54, as he "has some reservations due to the block scheduling Upper Perkiomen has in place for Math and they also run a Humanities cycle that combines Social Studies and English so this needs to be worked out in order to make sure that the students are getting the same type of education at both places."

Hurda praised the "half-day" program, saying "students will be able to have the best of both worlds by staying in contact with their home school, they can be involved in the academic program there, they can be involved in extra-curricular activities, and then come to the Western Center for their vocational training."

Masciandaro, who was one of two that voted against the project, was very thorough in asking about the schematics of the cap. He asked the superintendents if they had any doubts for putting together a quality program under the cap. Kirby responded with a "degree of confidence" based on the way the figured was arrived at. The original plan was capped in the mid-50s, but scaled down a bit.

Hurda also agreed with the $40 million cap, as by going with the half-day program, "you can serve twice as many students in the same space." She added the equipment is very expensive when outfitting vocational labs, but "she feels very confident that $40 million will do a tremendous job in improving the facility, the equipment and the [leaking] roof."

Joseph Petrowski asked about the review of the curriculum and the fact that there are some courses that are not as well attended as others. he wondered if there was any discussion regarding this with the architect in terms of the building layout and what courses would be offered. Kirby said despite low numbers in some courses, the Joint Operating Committee decided to give them another chance.

After more discussion, the board opened up comments from the public. One notable comment came from Matt Stever, an Upper Perkiomen senior at the time. Stever said there is "a different attitude at the home schools toward the Western Center students." Despite his high class rank at Upper Perkiomen, he decided to go to the Western Center and was looked down upon by teachers and peers.

Stever said "he did not really understand this attitude ast the Western Center is a way of learning a good trade in order to make an honest living. The business world and college is not for everyone but without a good school you cannot expect good learning and a good quality of learning should be expected."

He also noted that the students at the home schools only ever heard about the "bad things" and not the good coming out of the Western Center. He wrapped it up by saying "many seniors have jobs and are building stepping stones for their future but you need a good technical center with good teachers to make it a good place for students to get an equal opportunity for learning."

The only other comment of note came from Dehnert of Spring-Ford. Dehnert was supportive of the project and encouraged the boards to move forward with it.

The board of education's lengthy discussion about the woes at the vocational school at the last meeting in June sparked an interest from the public in attendance, as well as board members themselves. Further discussions will come in subsequent meetings.

The next meeting is Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m.