Board debates cost of $27,000 district newsletter
AMITY >> Daniel Boone Area School Board members spent time Dec. 14 comparing the value of a $30,000 printed newsletter to $30,000 of renovations to the high school football weight room.
Michelle Miller and Laurel Reno, members of the district’s Sports Boosters, said the district was recently awarded a $30,000 grant from the Pottstown Wellness Foundation.
The funds will be used to replace old equipment and renovate the weight room into a curricular and extra- curricular fitness room for all students, according to the pair, who wrote the grant.
Amy Hicks, president of the Daniel Boone Education Association, said it costs the district approximately $27,391.50 to produce three paper newsletters each year.
Each newslet ter costs
$9,130.50, and is produced by The Communication Solutions Group Inc. in Jenkintown.
“You see what $30,000 can do for a school district,” said Hicks about the weight room renovations.
She said the public’s comments last fall about the board’s first newsletter were not positive.
“A lot of people said the newsletter went right to the recycling bin. Others said it was self-serving to the board. Is that a good use of funds?”
New school board President Michael D. Wolfe said the newsletter was supposed to be sent in September, not at the end of October.
The public expressed anger at the board’s Nov. 9 meeting — just days after the Nov. 3 election — that the newsletter was a political piece to re-elect incumbent board members..
Residents also complained that the newsletter’s articles about board members and board actions should not have replaced student-written articles that had appeared in the online newsletters.
“There are seven people in the audience (tonight),” said Wolfe, “and one member of the press. Word doesn’t get out very often of the good things happening in this school district.”
“If the newsletter publ i shed ar t icles written by students, (the district) could justify some of the costs,” said newlyelected board member Jeffrey Scott, adding that the newsletter could be an educational tool.
Board member Richard Martino, who served as board president for most of 2015, said the new newsletter is intended to be a board newsletter, not a student newsletter.
“It is for the board to inform the public — which as you can see — doesn’t come to the meetings,” said Martino.
Wolfe said the board approved last winter or early spring to discontinue the online newsletter and produce instead the three paper newsletters each year.
“There was a lot of misrepresentation and misinformation on social media (about the board and the district), such as the district’s dress code (and the incorrect rumor of uniforms). Our students are doing a lot of great things, achievements (that should be published).”
“I am very supportive of a student page [in the paper newsletter]. We have very creative students. It would be good to showcase their talents and skills.”