Social workers fill gap for schools

Published November 30. 2019 06:29AM

<p>By Jarrad Hedes</p><p>jmhedes@tnonline.com</p>

Sometimes a gamble pays off, sometimes it doesn’t.

When Lehighton Area School District officials kicked the tires on adding a social worker to its staff, it was one of the first in the area to do so.

The district hired Kerri Miller before the 2017-18 school year in the newly minted social worker/transition coordinator position, an investment that paid such high dividends, it budgeted for a second such position beginning in 2018-19 and landed Carrie Kenny.

“We often talk about educating the whole child and hitting that hidden curriculum,” Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said during a board meeting Monday night.

“Our two social workers are extremely valuable to our students and families because they offer assistance in so many areas, from crisis intervention to our mental health curriculum and awareness. Education is more than just science and math and language arts and those things you see on the surface. We’re fortunate to be able to fund these positions and have Kerri and Carrie as part of our team.”

The duo spoke Monday about their roles in the district and the bridge they provide between the school and the community.

When there are student attendance problems, Miller said, they are on the front lines with home visits trying to get to the root of the issue.

“This is one of the most common things we do,” she said. ”If a teacher is having a hard time getting ahold of a family, it’s easier for us to call or go out and check on things to see what needs to be done to get that student in school and back on track.”

The job also includes check-ins and counseling services for students who may be at risk of self-harm or have other concerns.

“Sometimes they are just having a bad day and need someone to talk to,” Kenny said.

Also among the laundry list of duties are staff trainings, helping oversee the Aevidum clubs in the middle school and high school, working with students who have been deemed homeless and transition coordination services.

“The transition coordinator component involved working with those 14 years of age or older who really need help getting their foot in the door as far as employment and what life after school looks like for them,” Kenny said.

Looking back on establishing the positions, board President Larry Stern called it a great investment for the district and the community.

“Bridging the gaps that they do is one of the most important things done here in the district,” Stern said. “A lot of times, children need help more than just between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Often, coming to school is the most stability a child has during the day, so what these ladies do to help them is incredible.”

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What is the actual dollar amount for the utilities at the EC. Are we spending more on transportation with all the kids coming to one building? How about showing us the actual dollar amount we are saving each year. Yes, there are benefits to the students, but do the pros outweigh the cons? But the dollar amounts are what matter at this point as the other buildings have been sold. Let's see the actual numbers here.
But I repeat I'm asking the same questions and I would like the same answers but calling people morally corrupt because they don't know all the information while not having all the information is completely hypocritical
But are you not morally corrupt on make your assumptions and decsions without all the information that you say is being withheld from you
I do believe by asking the right questions in a respectful manner ms bowes recieved answer to her questions about the extra games being played at the field
But asking again how can you make decsions with out all the information
When the majority blocks board members from getting or seeing the information requested it is immoral. A few months ago it was asked that the Budgets and the Budgets at a Glance for the last 4 years be added to the district website so the analysis could be done by interested parties. It was agreed to but has yet to appear in it's entirety as requested.
Is in the policy do that or was it just request why not bring up a motion to make the budget and meeting be put on the website
Hmmm another good question by me

Maybe because it just easier to complain about how they are bad and you are good then do actual governing
If you Can only answer about morals and transparency for yourself
Can you answer why you tried to pass a motion while not telling the citizens all the information about the insurance company and who was trying to
do the audit of the claim
How about telling everyone who and why you felt it okto hide peoples faces on YouTube videos wouldnt that be a transparency issue
Why not answer the question about the football fields and the schools why not actually have information and facts
Not to mention if you want people to show you respect wouldnt be a good idea to show so respect

You have asked many questions that a lot of us would want answered
But you will never get a answer when you go off topic with personal attacks
Show respect get respect
Oh when it comes to these social workers and what they do give them a break these woman and guidance counselors have dealt with a lot the past few weeks and without them kids would be having a harder time then they should








Government transparency would answer all your questions.

Show up, Bring Larry Stern and his district employed wife and her boss Superintendent Cleaver. Everyone would benefit from a proper financial review. Why is this presentation regularly blocked from the board agenda? All great questions to ask our government's public servants.

Citizen to citizen, let's talk, review the documents.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.

So again. Why bring up the man's wife
I believe that comment isnt very moral

Again are we not having a audit which will go thru our financials

Are you not a part of the government
So shouldnt you answer the questions I am asking
What are you hiding
Why arent you being transparent
Why not answer my questions
Converned,

1) Can you answer why you tried to pass a motion while not telling the citizens all the information about the insurance company and who was trying to do the audit of the claim
- Actually, this offer of audit was released to the public, I formalized it in a motion. I released the name in the meeting, however, felt the name was moot. In business, Monday morning quarterbacks and reviewing expenses is a regular occurrence that promotes learning and expose areas of savings, it is not cheating to learn from past mistakes.

2) How about telling everyone who and why you felt it okto hide peoples faces on YouTube videos wouldnt that be a transparency issue.
- if you state which video you think was editted to remove faces I can discuss more intelligently.

3) Why not answer the question about the football fields and the schools why not actually have information and facts
- The stadium questions were answered. The data not shown was the data not released by you government. I'd suggest a RTK, however the district is less than morally cooperative.

4) Not to mention if you want people to show you respect wouldnt be a good idea to show so respect
- I do not want, nor do I request the respect of the immoral. I do not negotiate with the immorals, I lobby to replace them in the elections. These efforts have been done successfully. I act to expose government immorality. Upon completion of my research, I believe Larry, Rita, Wayne, Andy and Steve were illogical with their adoption of an unsustainable budget. I lobbied for a moral board and the concerned citizen delivered. God Bless America.

5) You have asked many questions that a lot of us would want answered
- Yet, the government data has not been published? Why? Have the immoral five blocked transparency? For how long? Eager for Dec 4? I am.

6) But you will never get a answer when you go off topic with personal attacks.
- No such thing as off topic when it comes to government transparency, and when is a fact considered an attack?

6) Show respect get respect
- Respect is not the path for victory when shifting the morality of an immoral government is the goal. Seeking Larry, Rita, Wayne, Steve or even Andy's respect would be a waste as they appear to respect the immoral actions in opposition to their oath of office.

7) Oh when it comes to these social workers and what they do give them a break
- As a citizen, I feel the adults, professionals mind you, are well respected. Your assumptions to the contrary are erroneous, and we're discarded as such.

Your questions are well stated. I look forward to an open meeting to review the financials and discuss a sustainable path forward.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Let's go thru this one by one
1) when you tried to pass the motion you didnt bring up the the name of the company not until you were pressed by the citizens did you give the answer again a bit of honesty
2) any video you have posted from your election to the board in question has people blurred out of them
3) again shouldnt you know the answers before calling some morally corrupt dont you think its backwards and irresponsible to not post all the facts
4) so you dont want the respect not do respect the citizens that voted against what you believe is immoral
Are you not a role model to these kids in this community couldn't you handle yourself in a more professional manner
Did you not hear what that young man said in the meeting

5) when is facts a attack
Maybe when they answer your question and you belittle the people who are answering them
6) I havent disrespected you one time thruout this conversation and yet I have changed you mind on conversation and where and when we are going to have it
See how a little respect goes a long way
7) my comments we erroneous
Why didnt you show any respect to the two woman who were speaking why did you continue to shuffle thru your papers
To me it would seem you didnt care
And finally what is your sustainable path forward
Because I asked you that and still havent received a answer
Wow, so much to unfold again. I wish you would just meet. We don't bite and we don't eject citizens like in the past. Larry' connection with his wife's boss the Superintendent is an important factor to me. As is Wayne Wentz familial connections, Yenser's apparent connection with our insurance provider etc. Governments should transparently reveal and shed such bias.

Let me try this.
You as a concerned parent should have a list of every dollar spent, to not provide it is the actions of an immoral board. Agreed?
The path forward is to provide mandated educational benefits first, and let the community decide any charitible benefits. Agreed?
The board is a group of individual public servants. Agreed?

You voice matters, but you would get better results, and some efficiency gained, if you use logic and facts when conversing with business persons and moral leaders.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Again dont you think the fact you have brought it continues to hinder your ability to do your job
The maturity and respect needs to be present for a working relationship
With you continue to bring it up is turning them off to helping you
As is your disrespect of the people working in the administration building
RESPECT it goes a long way again I use this conversation as a example
I believe that the elected officials and the men and woman I vote for are the people with the right to make the best decsions for this community

As right or as wrong you think they are they are elected officials

I want to see complete transparency and honesty and respect from both side

And as far as I am concerned until the day you see how the actions of your past affect how people treat and see you
You will never get what that young man was talking about
True respect must be earned, it is not given. Hide faces on the videos? I don't remember the hiding of any faces. And I've seen most of them. But perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean by hiding. There may be a lot I disagree with, re Dave Bradley, but also a lot with which to agree. I agree we need far more transparency, we need more oversight of the finances, we need to identify and the areas of wasteful spending and cut the waste. We need to put more into education of the students, evidenced by the 2019 PSSA results from the PDE.
Look up videos on youtube you will find the videos I'm talking about
Where is the video of tonight's event
Why didnt bradley bring up the name of insurance company in the motion
Why did he try and mislead people
You know math works two ways right
Math also works on the insurance claims that the school district needs to file for injuries
The amount of revune created by having a multi purpose field ( which by the way we arent taking advantage of)
How much saving just the insurance policy did we save

Safety of the kids is major one
Be open be transparent how much revune create over these last couple weeks at these games
How about the revune created for the wizards game
Dont you think if we can create more revune from having these things that it gives more opportunities to fund raise for the soccer club during games
And football and cheerleading and the band can fundraise more
Which takes pressure off the general fund
So, we both believe there can be benefits from the government taking and spending funds from the public.

The difference is, as a business minded person, the management needs to document the decisions and results. The emotional plans and ideas need to be founded by math and metrics.

The metrics on insurance for example would require facts to be collected. The offering and use documents along with the cost and benefits

You have probing questions, did you ask your government these questions, and did they answer?

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
So if you havent recieved any information like you always so you dont then how do you know any of the facts you throw out is actually true
Because if you know the answers why arent you answering the questions I am asking of you
Are keeping information from the public
Like you did about the insurance companies audit
The information I was provided and willing to share, as proposed, are the basis of my actions. They are enough to ask more questions and seek more data.

The lack of complete transparency is the source of your frustration, to me it is the source of more requests for information, and continued patience.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
But are you not basing your opinion on only half the information available
Wouldnt a bussiness minded person want all information before making a decsion
What if the information that you say is being held showed that the new school and football stadium was more sustainable then if we kept the 4 schools
Would you be able to say you were wrong

All information is best, however, some is enough and more the better.
The data on the EC decision was very detailed, however, the board was immoral. Some admitted to not reading it, and they didn't take the time or effort to correct errors. Don't take this as direspectful, but you appear to use circular logic a bit too often.

The data is clear, immoral use of known data was proven. Lack of information is evident, therefore, more immorality is evident. Taxing with a surplus was evident, therefore, immoral. I could go on.
List all your questions, all your needed data and write an email to the entire board. See who answers your information and post it here.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
He did mention the name of the company. I did not hear it due to those around me commenting to each other. So I asked again. I specifically decided to listen to that part of the video the next day and I did hear him state the name before I asked again.
Facts unverified are left as open
Facts verified are accepted
Information published them proven as false are classified in two catagories, lies and ignorance. We have a lot of these erroneous releases of inaccurate data.

The insurance audit was offered to the entire board. After politely allowing any of the feckless five to identify them, I did, exposing the five to immoral activity. Welcome to politics of moral people stuck on a board of immoral.
As for the citizen that asked, he got the answer soon enough.


So as a business minded person at what point do you say it's more cost efficient to rebuild then it does to keeping patches over broken stuff
When does it become more cost efficient to have one school instead of having to staff 4

Those points are moot, the four safe, debt-free local schools are closed.
However, to answer the question, business persons use the calculations related to proper asset management.
Replacement calculations include a return on investment (ROI) and an internal rate of return (IRR). The owners are consulted and the calculations openly reviewed by all prior to a decision.

As for the fstatementd and reports this board and administration presented to the public, Unfound them to differ from what I found in the ones they published to the state and lending institutions. As a business person, I tend to trust the latter.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Again you only have half the information how can you say it was cost efficient to keep thos schools open and staffed then it would be to have a new school built

The thing I see and it's in my opinion that you have a opinion of the board and are working backwards from your opinion

You are not willing to see the other side your not willing to be open to facts that arent yours

Perhaps, it would have been more prudent for the board at the time to present a factual accounting of what the new school would cost instead of pulling needed equipment and supplies from the bid documents, then using the general fund to purchase them. Look at the budget reports. the information on the budget-busting purchases is in there.
If it was discussed, and in the interest of transparency, it should be in the minutes. Do you know that it was discussed? It is the job of those paying the taxes to question their government, especially with this level of debt for a residential tax base. The Bond for the new EC was taken out in 2015 and runs until 2043. That is 28 years. And in 2023 the interest rate goes to 5%. At that point, $2,885,000.00 will have been paid on the principal. We start paying 5% interest on $29,615,000.00 at that point. That is on top of all the other Bonds and Loans for which we pay principal and interest. Want the proof? Look at the documents.
The algorithm is basic to asset management and contains many variables, all available to the owner of a real estate asset. The board ignored the offered resources to perform this evaluation.

A new roof is not a patch.
There was no structural issues, most were safety and maintenance related.
Franklin for instance was reported to have required and optional repairs of less than a few mortgage payments.
Like many universities, without a capacity issue, or an enrollment growth, the use of an existing, safe, local debt free school is generally more efficient. A structural issue may change that, however, as proven such discussion is moot according to the engineering study.

Read the feasibility study, your eyes will be opened. The lies about the cost to repair vs. The cost to build were grossly misstated. Ask commissioner elect Rocky Arner. He is reported to have said the district missed a step. They did. The same ESCO process that was used to renovate the HS and MS could have been used on the four safe, local debt-free elementary schools the task force recommended to keep open. You need to do more reading if you plan on opening that can of worms.

That ship has sailed. We need to focus on the past only to ensure we do not repeat mistakes. Other mistakes needing repair are the escalating bond interest rates, corruption and waste.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Show the information you clearly have
But like I asked before when does the cost of fixing supersede the amount to build a new
That long winded explanation still didnt answer any of the questions I brought up
Just because someone said that they messed up doesnt mean he is right
I like numbers show me the information

The problem with comparing the hs and ms to the elementary is that you are talking about one high school and one middle school compared to 4 elementary schools and how the prices quadruple for everything
So its apples to oranges
To get back to the social workers...
Why does it "Take a village" to raise the children?
Because when the parents were children, they were never taught how to be parents.
The government schools concern mostly about careers/college/sports.
Where is "Morality" in all of that?
Do you think the change in the parenting might have to do with the economy and the ability for parents to be home with their children?
The ability for them to be home with them and be engaged in their lives the way most of our parents were
Concerned,

Your arguments are valid, so ask you to ask yourself this philosophical question: "Should the district raise taxes enough to hire each child an individual surrogate grandparent and a government funded set of parents?"

I agree this pendulum can swing far, and a balance is best realized in a limited government. By reducing the burden and authority of government over individual citizens a freedom of opportunity is released.

Please remember this is a government agency. Mandated benefits to be received by students. Failing to receive these benefits can result in severe penalties. As would be the failure of a stakeholder to pay for them. Freedom is obtained by a neutral pendulum, most benefits from the least harmed, the far right and far left are causes for the most harm, the no aggression rule results in the least.

Let's meet at Mario's. You seem skilled in the art of a moral, fsctual discussion.

Bring Larry, his wife, and her boss the Superintendent if you know them.
Some believe this profile is an district insider, I trust you to be a concerned citizen.

Can an educational insider that benefits from adding to the government's mandates be a concerned citizen? I think so.

What is the purpose of government?
When are the consolidated efforts of a government able to be efficiently applied? If corrupted, what is the corrective action? I believe it is the individual's responsibility to review and exposure the moral and immoral activities of government agencies.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Again why bring up his wife
Why do you need to make things personal
As a business minded person this isnt personal its bussiness

And when it comes to the grandparents comment
We have people in roles just like that they are called counselors and social workers

But is it not the responsibility on the citizen to have all the information before making a assumption and do it in a respectful and professional manner and be willing to have a debate without trying to belittle the other person
A district insider really come on I am just a concerned citizen who has been watching from the outside who has seen enough belittling of people for their opinions
I do not repeat do not work for the school district
The economy? How about holding to a budget. It's possible to get by on one income, but you're not buying smart phones, games, new cars, big homes... you get it.
Priorities are all screwed up.
Why does it take the government school twice as much time to do what a home school mom can do? That mom doesn't have the Master Degree either. The village idiots raising the children, while mom is out working to pay the school property tax, so the village idiots can have the summer off.
Wow what a rant that turned in to.
Economy? The economy is great, wages are up, and we aren't at war.
Adopted,

Good evening. The district gives out smart phones to many employees and fully funds their use. The waste is prolific. And yes, home schooling, charter and parochial schools all meet the educational mandates much more efficiently. On the three metrics, applied time and financial and test scores, the district has been found to be much less efficient. Some say the smart and affluent children select those options, yet, these options are available to all students. We really need to identify if it is the smart children that select a more individualized educational setting or a is it that a more individualized education setting creates a smarter student. School choice would identify those organizations that perform best. When the rich are the ones opting for private education is evidence to seek the information about opportunities to give your student the added advantage.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Why does it take the government twice as long today what a mom takes to do the same thing that's easy
Because there is a process and laws you need to follow in a government
Where mom is the final say

But any way you would never understand what i would be talking about because I would talk right over your head
You think diversity is stupid
School vouchers were introduced to districts with massive mismangement issues. This could be a solutions that puts the local authority of the PA School Code in the hands of those mandated to receive the benefits.

This could remove the corruption and waste in a broken system of immoral government officials. Rubber stampers that abdicate their authority and give their blind trust to the very people they were elected to oversee appears to be at the heart of the immorality.

Sincerely,

Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Not to mention it would seem you would like to take funding away from the public educational system
That is the same reason why you tried to have the eye program moved to the lions club to show that private sector can do the job so we can cut funding to that area too

Is this what you are trying to do

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