Norristown Area School District (NASD) Board of School Directors

Did you know that most of your local taxes go to the School Disrtict? They do.

ENRO is now monitoring our School Board - the Norristown Area School District (NASD) - to inform you of what's going on.  East Norriton, along with Norristown and West Norriton, form the NASD. 

NASD School Board meetings are held:

NASD Administration Building
401 N Whitehall Rd, Norristown, PA 19403

(info from the NASD website):

Parents and residents are cordially invited to attend the meetings of the Board of School Directors of the Norristown Area School District which are conducted under the guidelines of the Sunshine Act.   This past year, since a few more residents have been attending meetings, the school board now allows more time for public comment.  Don’t be shy; ask questions if you don’t understand.

*     The work session is held on the third Monday of the month at 7:00p.m.

*     The general business meeting is held at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month, except in December.

*     Special meetings and committee meetings are called on an "as needed" basis and are usually held on Monday night.

*     Public notice of all additional or changed School Board meetings is published in The Times Herald.

*     Agendas are posted on Board docs on Fridays before meetings at the Board docs page of the NASD website.

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Be sure to follow the news here!


* Please read the notes and discussions regarding the proposed athletic field below this News section


School Board mulls $20K tab for major repairs to Roosevelt Field - Times Herald, June 22, 2010

Final Public Presentation of the 2010-2011 School Budget - click here for updated presentation

Tax increase rolled out - NASD 2010 budget - Times Herald June 15, 2010

Vereb discusses 'complex' issues. NAHS Multi-Purpose Athletic Field  - May 4, 2010 Times Herald

NASD Board Approves Electric Contract - May 1, 2010 Times Herald

Vereb arranges meetings about proposed NASD athletic field- April 27, 2010 Times Herald

District Reduces Tax Increase- April 20, 2010

NASD Preliminary 2010-2011 Budget adopted Feb. 16, 2010  - Click here to view the school district’s budget presentation.

There is no link to this article.“NASD Eyes K-K site” article in Times Herald Feb. 25, 2010:  The Norristown Area School District has hired an appraisal firm to appraise the Kennedy-Kenrick High School for a possible school purchase. The appraisal will be funded from the district’s 2009-2010 operations budget. NASD Preliminary 2010-2011 Budget adopted Feb. 16, 2010  - Click here to view the school district’s budget presentation.

NASD School Board Meeting Changes
"NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Norristown Area School District Board of School Directors' has changed its regularly scheduled work sessions for March and May.
The March worksession will be held on March 16th at 7:00 PM and the May worksession will be held on the 18th.
Same location: Board Room, Administration Building, 401 N. Whitehall Road, Norristown, PA 19403.

 Recent furloughs spark protests – NASD School Board meeting filled with parents, teachers and administrators:  Times Herald Feb. 23, 2010

 NESPA staff reductions under way  - NASD furloughed support workers: Times Herald Feb. 20, 2010

 Board trims tax increase – NASD adopted preliminary fiscal 2010-2011 budget: Times Herald Feb 20, 2010

School Board Approves Potential Layoffs – Feb. 4, 2010 – Norristown Area School Dist

Early budget includes tax hike – Jan. 26, 2010 – Preliminary NASD 2010 budget

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Update on the Proposed Athletic Field at Norristown High School -

Open Dialogue is helpful to all…..  .  

Notes from Neighbors Meeting regarding NASD Proposed Athletic field

Key Discussion Points with Neighbors @ May 11, 2010 Meeting

·         Participants in small group meetings with NASD have included:  Jan Pearce, Anne Marie Rohricht, Dr. Janet Samuels, Denise Ashe, and Michael Howell from the School District; Joe Byrnes, Paul Piantone and Karen Madden from West Norriton Township; and Valerie Perry, Karl Schmitz, and Fran Cubberley, neighbors; and Representative Mike Vereb.

·         Three meetings have transpired to date:  initial at Mike’s office, second serving as a field trip to both Roosevelt Field and Plymouth Whitemarsh High School’s athletic facility, the latter representing conceptually what NASD now wishes to create (they have downsized their original vision), and a third to debrief the trip.

·         Roosevelt Field cannot accommodate the multi-sport use intended for new facility such as football, soccer, field hockey, track

o   Roosevelt Field is in deplorable condition.  To demolish and rebuild some type of athletic facility would cost $4.9 million according to the estimate given to NASD.

o   Parking remains on ongoing challenge, presently and in the future, given space constraints of the location

o   While enrollments at Roosevelt Elementary School have declined, demographics indicate growth will occur in the future.  NASD wishes to retain the property occupied by both the school and stadium to allow for future needs.

·         NASD firmly believes that building a multi-use facility on Norristown Area High School grounds will be the most cost-effective and desirable outcome.

 As a result of the concerns and opposition from neighbors to NASD’s initial proposal, the District has indicated its willingness to include the following assurances:

 ·         In the Land Development Contract required to proceed with the project, which will be legally binding, NASD will stipulate:

§  Taxes will not be increased to pay for any phase of the project, and that no construction will be started for any phase unless the District has the funds in hand. 

§  The District currently has $1.2 million set aside from 2004 Bond Financing and $200,000 promised from a private donor; three additional grant applications have been submitted to request an additional $700,000.

o   Restrictions relative to hours when lighting and sound system will be in use and limitations on external use by outside entities

§  Lighting will be similar to what Plymouth Whitemarsh has to ensure it does not exceed playing field area and impact neighbors

·         The District is willing further reduce the seating capacity for the new facility to less than 3500.

·         Phase I of the project is expected to cost $1.8 million, most of which the District already has in hand, and will include the track and field, storm water management system, and  fencing;  portable bleachers will be used initially. Subsequent phases will only be pursued once additional non-tax dollars are acquired and will include items prioritized by the District.  Phase II will likely include permanent seating.  As funding permits, a pre-fabricated press box (less expensive), lighting, and a support building with rest rooms and concession area will be added.  The Board has agreed that a 9,000 square foot support building can be downsized by eliminating the building of team locker rooms.  The teams can simply walk back to the NAHS and use existing showering facilities.

·         The District realizes their mistake in not being more open about its plans and wishes to be collaborative and forthcoming with residents and neighbors going forward.

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Email from Fran Cubberly of Our West Norriton (OWN) – May 3, 2010

Greetings Neighbors.

Please see the message below from our Representative and neighbor, Mike
Vereb. I believe his efforts are truly founded on what is best for our
community and trust his leadership. Because of his commitment to us, he
has brought people from all sides of the issue together to gather facts
so that we all can be better informed. I encourage you to accept his
invitation for us to meet as a group so that you can be brought up to
speed on this issue:

Hello all,

I am writing to you in order to give you an update on the stadium issue. As you may have heard, in the last two weeks, there were two meetings held to get dialogue going on the stadium issue. I contacted West Norriton and asked for two representatives and the same with the school district. I also asked the three people who have been in touch with me about the neighbor issues and who have helped me get everyone together. I thought it best to begin with a smaller group so that effective communication could get started. Let's be clear, this was not and is not an attempted sell out of anyone's interests in the neighborhoods.

I would like to explain. I was notified by West Norriton and School officials that the legal bills have reached a combined $180,000.00. I was also advised that there is no end in sight. With the school board forging ahead, the lawyers battling ahead, we see ourselves as residents still no further informed than when we started. It is completely possible that whether the zoning board rules for or against the project that the other party will proceed to county court. Again it would not be an answer but rather more legal bills.

I thought it would be beneficial to get all parties to sit down without lawyers and see if a consensus is possible. Is there a way to back up and start this all over? The anger in people has taken over and as a Leader I just cannot sit back. That being said, the township stands with its constituents no matter the cost and frankly so do I. I just thought it would be prudent to at least get the dialogue going that should have happened in the first place. I have told the school district more than once that they failed in communicating from the beginning.

Where we are today: At the first meeting, a general conversation took place about concerns ever the project. Questions like what about Roosevelt? Why not repair that? Why is it in the condition it is in?
What about water runoff, noise, traffic, etc. was also brought up.

The next meeting was this past Friday; we toured Roosevelt and also Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s (PW) facility. We were shown the deterioration at Roosevelt. Many questions came up about how it was let go, why were light poles put in the middle of the track, what will it cost to tear down the existing structure, parking, etc. After a tour of Roosevelt, we then went to PW. This is what the school district has in their mind to build and an indicator as to what is wanted. Many questions were brought up about drainage, costs of construction, etc.. I suggest if you are in the area of Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School (PW), you go around back and take a look.

We were going to have one more meeting of the smaller group and ask about funding and how would it be paid for. Currently, you and I are paying for a 1.4 million dollar bond to be used for the project. No matter what happens, this money is already borrowed from the prior project at East Norriton Middle School. We were going to ask where else would construction money come from. How can they prove that the construction would be covered by private match funding and not tax payers' dollars?

After this meeting, I was going to ask all of you to get together again and update you on all the facts as we have them. This is not saying we are coming to you with plans or pre-determined thoughts; we just want to deliver the information we are provided. No agreement is in place, no grounds have been surrendered, but rather substantial dialogue has happened. I truly feel that if this happened earlier they would not be in such a battle. There have been so many reasons to not trust the district in the way they started this, but they have truly stepped up and are clearing the air in many areas. That said, I am not suggesting this is over or settled.

Would a meeting be helpful in the next week or so? We could try for an early evening or a weekday next week. Please let me know your preference and availability by sending an email back to me at mvereb@pahousegop.com. I will try to select a date that is most convenient for the majority of residents.

Thank you so much,

Mike
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Meetings Coming up

Go here for listing of School Board meetings

Agendas are posted on Board docs on Fridays before meetings at the NASD website: this link takes you there directly or from the NASD Home page, click on "School Board" and then click on "Board docs".

Contact information for NASD School Board members:


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