Tag Archives: Harrisburg School District

May News Digest

May 31, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

Sanitation Changes Weighed

Harrisburg’s existing rules governing trash collection may soon get canned.

City Council is considering a new, more comprehensive sanitation ordinance that would usher in stronger enforcement tools and more efficient billing for its trash collection services and lay out clearer rules for city recycling programs, Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced last month.

It would also waive annual trash fees for the owners of vacant lots and properties, eliminating an unpopular provision of the current ordinance, Papenfuse said.

The revised sanitation code aims to curb the city’s perennial problems of illegal dumping and excessive trash accumulation. It would grant the city stronger enforcement powers by creating two categories of offenses and a new fine structure.

Under the proposed ordinance, serious offenses—including illegal dumping, accumulation of trash exceeding 1,000 pounds, improper waste disposal and failure to register as a private trash hauler—would be considered category 1 violations punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to 90 days in jail.

Category 2 violations are more minor acts that are likely to recur without deterrence, Papenfuse said. These violations, which include failure to bag waste, obstruction of streets and sidewalks or interference with enforcement, would be met with fines starting at $100. Fines would increase up to $500 for each subsequent offense.

The ordinance would also permit the Public Works Department to designate enforcement officers to patrol public streets for violations. It also would authorize police officers to issue citations and enforce the ordinance.

Papenfuse said that the new legislation also would codify the city’s free and mandatory recycling services, including its new glass recycling program.

“This will bring us into the new century in regard to recycling,” Papenfuse said. “We’ve more than tripled recycling in the last few years but very little is laid out in existing code.”

One of the most significant changes would be an annual billing structure designed to save money for the city and its residents.

Harrisburg residents currently make monthly payments for trash services. Under the new ordinance, the city treasurer’s office would include trash fees in property tax bills. The separate charges would appear on the same invoice and would be subject to the same due date and discount period.

Residents may opt out of yearly billing in favor of monthly direct deposit payments. However, those who pay their trash fees within 60 days of billing would receive a 2-percent discount.

City Treasurer Dan Miller said that streamlined bills would save the city $100,000 in mailing and labor costs each year. He also hopes it will increase the city’s collection rate and improve early-year cash flow.

Miller said that the city has a 98-percent collection rate for its real estate tax, with 70 percent of that revenue coming in during the 60-day discount period.

“We assume trash will be the same, which would increase cash flow and generate more interest for us throughout the year,” he said.

Staff Cuts, Tax Hikes in School Budget

Kindergarten cuts might not be coming to Harrisburg after all.

Members of the Harrisburg School District administration unveiled a new budget proposal last month that would preserve the full-day kindergarten program in favor of cutting 31 district employees. The proposal calls for eliminating nine administrators, 11 teachers, and 11 AFSCME union members for a total of $2.132 million in savings, which would narrow the district’s deficit to $4 million.

The budget still calls for maximum tax hikes for the next three years.

District Business Manager Bilal Hasan said that over-hiring has contributed to the district’s annual deficits, which are projected to deplete the district’s fund balance by 2020. Thirty-seven teachers who have been hired since 2016 took positions that were not in the district budget, Hasan said.

Interim CFO Jim Snell explained that salaries alone don’t account for the district’s high expenses. Costs like healthcare benefits and pension payments only emerged in long-term budgeting projections, he said.

“When you start to look at the reality of recurring costs over multiple years, that’s when you appreciate the true consequence of those decisions,” Snell said. “Some of those consequences are starting to get in the way and cause financial challenges for us.”

Budget and finance chair Ellis Roy was incredulous when Hasan confirmed the extent of the over-hiring.

“You’re telling me we hired 37 people we had no money to pay for?” Roy said. “We’re self-destructing here.”

Hasan said that the district has not had a position control mechanism in place to monitor its total number of staff positions and vacancies. The administration has implemented a new policy so that no position can be added to the payroll unless it is approved and included in the budget, he said.

Hasan and Snell said that developing a position control program is a lengthy and tedious process that requires collaboration between the district’s human resources, IT and business departments. Employees must code each permanent position with a unique identification number, which can be difficult in a large organization with high turnover, Snell said.

“At any point in time, there are staff coming and going, so there was a never a snapshot that said ‘at this moment in time, these are all our positions,’” he said.

The district’s mistake, Snell explained, was anticipating expenditures in line with previous years without accounting for vacant positions that the district wanted to fill. When the administration ramped up its recruiting efforts and hired dozens of new teachers at the beginning of this school year, it unwittingly took on employees that were not included in the budget.

The implementation of a position control system was one of the initiatives outlined in the district’s state-mandated recovery plan, which it adopted in 2013. The task ultimately fell to Hasan, who began developing the program in August 2017 and oversaw its implementation earlier this year.

“This will provide structure and order, and that was not always the case when we were hiring,” Snell said.

School Board Votes to Retain Knight-Burney

Sybil Knight-Burney will remain the superintendent of the Harrisburg school district for at least three more years, the city’s school board decided last month.

After almost an hour of public comment during which district residents overwhelmingly called for Knight-Burney to be replaced, the board rejected a motion that would have hired a search firm to find a new superintendent and passed another measure to retain her for a term of three to five years.

Frustrated residents began jeering the board before its members could vote on the second motion.

“You don’t care!” one resident yelled. “This is insanity, clear as day. You don’t care.”

“This is ridiculous!” Gerald Welch yelled, before chanting “Shame!” as he and two-dozen other exasperated residents left the gymnasium.

Yanna Kent, a Harrisburg High School alumnae, said she did not want to see the district put in state receivership, which is one possibility facing it when its five-year recovery plan expires in June.

“We need to do a better job,” Kent said, addressing the board and the administration. “We put you here to work for us and, if you don’t want your job, leave.”

Other residents pointed to the fact that state test score and graduation rates have remained stagnant or declined under Knight-Burney’s leadership. Some called out the administration for not yet completing the initiatives outlined in the district’s five-year recovery plan.

Almost 70 percent of the initiatives have been fully completed as of February 2018, according to the most recent report available from the state’s chief recovery officer.

“If I only complete at 70 percent of what my job had asked me to do, would I be able to continue, especially when other people are willing to go 100 percent?” said Carmen Dones. “It’s time to say thank you, but I think it’s time that we say goodbye.”

Board President Judd Pittman, who voted against retaining Knight-Burney, pointed to other sobering facts from the past two years: $180,000 in district funds were embezzled by an employee, 70 teachers were hired at the wrong pay step, and the district revealed two years of over-hiring by its business office.

Those factors have contributed to an $8 million budget deficit this year, as well as a structural deficit that threatens to eat up the district’s general fund by 2021.

Pittman cited these incidents as evidence that the district has not implemented strong accountability systems during Knight-Burney’s tenure.

“In 11 years, if you have not had time to put systems in place it’s time to come to the table with [solutions], or it’s time for us to look at other opportunities to put systems in place,” Pittman said before the board voted on the superintendent’s contract.

Pittman has been advocating since December for the board to launch a superintendent search. The board passed a motion to do that in March and then tried to rescind that action in April.

Board director Tyrell Spradley raised the motion to rescind in April, after voting in March to consider new candidates for Knight-Burney’s post. Spradley voted to retain the superintendent, along with board directors Ellis Roy, Lionel Gonzalez, Melvin Wilson and vice president Danielle Robinson.

Board directors Brian Carter, Carrie Fowler and Percel Eiland joined Pittman in the minority.

Substation Cost Rises

The Harrisburg Police Bureau last month made a plea for an additional $165,000 to construct a substation on S. 15^th Street.

That sum represents a 13-percent increase over the project’s $817,000 budget.

City engineer Wayne Martin said that bids for the project came in above early estimates and insisted that the added cost was “not an unusual” margin for error in publicly bid projects.

Several council members lamented the fact that the project’s timeline has lagged as its costs increased.

“Three years ago, we planned a $300,000 precinct with a turnaround of three to six months,” Councilman Cornelius Johnson said. “Now, it’s more expensive, and it’s only a substation.”

Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Carter said that early plans to retrofit a facility at S. 15^th Street became impossible once it was found to be structurally unsound. That structure was razed in December to make way for a new modular building.

Police officials say they don’t have enough manpower to staff a full-time precinct, but they still think a substation would benefit officers and residents. Carter reported that increased police presence in South Allison Hill has helped drive down homicides there this year.

“The cost is what it is, but I know that, since we’ve been concentrating on that area, we have not had homicides,” Carter said.

Tough Road for CAT

Harrisburg’s public transit network has a bleak road ahead of it.

Capital Area Transit (CAT) will end the year with a $700,000 deficit, but new Executive Director Richard Farr can’t explain why.

“It’s like an archeological dig trying to figure out how we got this far in the red with no foreseeable way out,” Farr told Harrisburg City Council last month.

Farr said that CAT’s “worst case scenario” would be to reduce service to narrow the deficit. Administrator salaries have been cut to the furthest possible extent, he said, which leaves the company eyeing its other major expenditures—insurance and maintenance—as possible areas to shave costs.

CAT has the highest maintenance costs in the state, Farr said, outpacing major public transit authorities like Philadelphia’s SEPTA system. It also has the third-highest labor costs.

And yet, CAT buses leave customers stranded every day due to driver shortages, Farr said.

CAT executives hope to join an insurance network to help mitigate some of its maintenance costs. But the source of the high labor expenditures remains hazy, especially since the agency has slashed administrator salaries in recent years by leaving high-level positions vacant.

Like most public transit authorities, CAT derives little revenue from fares and other consumer sources. State and federal dollars constitute the bulk of its funding, which make its annual revenues relatively stable and predictable.

“This isn’t a revenue problem, it’s an expenditure problem,” Farr said. “Some of these costs are legacy… but we have a big hurdle we need to work through.”

Farr hopes to avoid service reductions and said he has already averted driver layoffs once since taking the helm of CAT earlier this year.

Even if service reductions are avoided this year, they may be inevitable, said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

“Eventually, they’ll have to cut service because they’ll have to use next year’s funding to pay this year’s line of credit,” Papenfuse explained.

HACC to Vacate Midtown Building

HACC plans to vacate one of its Midtown Harrisburg buildings after its lease expires in four years, the college said last month.

HACC, a community college with campuses in Harrisburg, Gettysburg, Lancaster, York and Lebanon, announced plans to leave Midtown 2, the former Evangelical Press Building, moving its trade and technology programs out of the building between mid-2019 and June 2022, with the expiration of its 15-year lease.

“No programs are being cut, and the transition will occur at times that have the least impact on classes,” said college President John J. “Ski” Sygielski. “Requirements to complete these programs will remain unchanged.”

HACC leases the building from GreenWorks Development, which fully renovated the landmark, century-old building at N. 3^rd and Reily streets starting in 2006. HACC moved into the 80,000-square-foot building a year later, signing a long-term lease.

Soon after, HACC also moved much of its administrative staff across the street to GreenWorks’ newly built Campus Square Building, but returned these employees to the main campus at Wildwood several years ago. It plans to continue to occupy a third building, called Midtown 1 at N. 4th and Reily streets, which houses its workforce development, continuing education and welding programs, according to the college.

The move from Midtown 2 will save the college about $1.9 million in annual rent, maintenance and expenses, according to HACC. A portion of the savings initially will be used to renovate spaces for the relocated programs, HACC said.

So Noted

Capital Region Water has received the Award in Excellence for Sustainability from the American Planning Association, Sustainable Communities Division. CRW received the award in the Sustainable Green Infrastructure Project category for its “Community Greening Plan: A Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan for Harrisburg.”

Chad Dion Lassiter was named the new executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission last month. Lassiter has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of race relations, conflict resolution, mediation, teaching, counseling, policy and prison reform.

George Scott captured the Democratic nomination last month for U.S. Congress, besting a field of four candidates. He will face Republican incumbent Scott Perry in the November general election.

Harry Young has been named the new executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. In this role, Young will serve as the organization’s voice to build business, promote economic development and fulfill its mission to foster LGBT business equality and inclusion in central Pennsylvania.

Kathryn Aumiller announced her retirement last month as executive director of the Pennsylvania Regional Ballet. This summer, Aumiller will retire after 25 years leading the organization, which is searching for a new director.

S&T Bank has announced Shannon Golden as vice president, business banker, serving the Harrisburg market. In this role, she is responsible for fostering and strengthening business relationships in the region.

Stosh Snyder last month was named the new executive director for Theatre Harrisburg, responsible for the organization’s overall operations. A Harrisburg area native and actor, Snyder replaced Allison Hays, who served in the post about one year.

William B. Hawk, Lower Paxton Township supervisor, has been elected to a one-year term as president of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. The association represents the commonwealth’s 1,454 townships of the second class.

Zembo Shrine is back on the market after its proposed sale fell through. Arkansas-based Beaty Capital Group had the iconic, Moorish-style Shriners building in Uptown Harrisburg under contract, but backed out of the purchase after further examination of the mid-Atlantic area’s entertainment market, according to the company.

In Memoriam

Samuel Sloan Auchincloss died on April 27 after a brief illness. Born in New York, he was the long-time co-owner with his wife Susan of Auchincloss & Auchincloss, a Harrisburg-based marketing communications firm. Over the years, Sloan was active in many organizations, including Historic Harrisburg Association, Harrisburg Rotary, Harrisburg Lions Club, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Susquehanna Art Museum, the Rockhill Trolley Museum and the Harrisburg Chapter National Railway Historical Society, among others. Sloan also was a great friend, mentor and supporter of TheBurg. He is survived by his wife Susan, son Lloyd Brian Auchincloss, daughter Elizabeth Auchincloss Strickler, stepdaughter Leah Peak, their spouses and three grandchildren.

Changing Hands

Adrian St., 2436: S. Stroyan to PA Deals LLC, $30,000

Allison St., 1502: SWM Properties LLC to T. Mullally, $53,400

Barkley Lane, 2502: S. Vetock to J. Guerrero, $68,000

Berryhill St., 1101: Biks Auto Collision LLC to J. Garcia, $185,000

Bigelow Dr., 39: R. Johnson to J. Mayweather, $52,900

Briggs St., 211 & 213: Rockville Enterprises LLC to Grey Rex LLC, $230,000

Calder St., 105: A. Brett & K. Magagna to K. & G. Tennis, $150,000

Cameron St., 620: L. Aronson Family Trust & R. Aronson to Gini LLC & J. Pal, $225,000

Chestnut St., 2035: T. Coley to W. Seago, $62,500

Conoy St., 104: E. & K. Eckman to D. Wolf, $142,500

Croyden Rd., 2832: D. & B. Ratcliffe to J. Core, $51,000

Green St., 810: M. Hillman to S. & J. McGrath, $145,000

Green St., 1318: R. Bullock to G. & E. Gibeau, $93,500

Green St., 1802: BM Investment Group LLC to Asprodites Simpson Trust, $183,500

Green St., 2428: S. Tagle to T. & N. Blank, $137,500

Kensington St., 2223: PA Deals LLC to A. Womer, $64,900

Kensington St., 2326: E. McCloskey to I. Chatman, $69,900

Kensington St., 2431: Wells Fargo Bank to T. Dieu, $31,500

Lexington St., 2632: D. Grossman to A. Memic, $63,500

Luce St., 2306: T. & T. Parson to P. Almodovar, $69,900

Market St., 1025A: J. Lamb Sr. to J. Colron, $45,000

Market St., 2468: C. Jackson to S. Green & J. Burnett, $122,600

Mulberry St., 1845: V. Rivas to F. & R. Garcia, $70,000

North St., 1616: B. Davenport to C. Brooks, $39,000

N. 2^nd St., 1937: US Bank National Association to M. Horgan, $92,000

N. 2^nd St., 2053: 7 Eleven Inc. & Sunoco Retail LLC to Realty Income Trust 6, $3,221,477

N. 2^nd St., 2538: T. & L. Magaro to M. Parsley, $110,000

N. 2^nd St., 3033: A. Myers to D. Madsen, $100,000

N. 3^rd St., 1014: 1014 N. 3^rd St. LLC to O’Sullivan Realty, $660,000

N. 3^rd St., 1231: E. Gabler to N. Wahby, $107,450

N. 3^rd St., 1824: B. Strike to T. Miller & L. Wood, $79,900

N. 3^rd St., 2329: CPenn Properties Old Uptown LLC to M. Mtere & F. Laoukili, $50,000

N. 6^th St., 2407: Hobbeze Inc. to Elliots Enterprises LLC, $34,000

N. 6^th St., 2528: Premier Property Solutions LLC to H. Foka, $31,000

N. 6^th St., 2933: P. & E. Devenshire to C. Wise, $62,000

Paxton St., 1619: JC Hunt Management LLC to NAR Investments LLC, $110,000

Peffer St., 269: G. Neff & M. Baltozer to Heinly Homes LLC, $101,000

Penn St., 1925: WCI Partners LP to G. & K. Capoferri, $135,000

Race St., 566: I. & S. Milnes to B. Shisler, $119,000

Rudy Rd., 1919: M. O’Neill to A. Ross, $74,900

Rumson Dr., 298: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development to J. & J. Avila, $41,000

S. 17^th St., 1040: Wells Fargo Bank NA to B. Nguyen, $40,000

S. 20^th St., 12: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development and Information Systems & Networks Corp. to D. & L. Romero, $30,010

S. 25^th St., 701: O. Huynh to G. Coppersmith, $69,900

State St., 1323: J. Ward to A. & S. Shelly, $71,000

State St., 1325: J. Ward to A. & S. Shelly, $71,000

Susquehanna St., 2112: E. Reichert to T. Hage, $45,000

Swatara St., 2158: Reverse Mortgage Solutions Inc. to D&F Realty Holdings LP, $30,500

Valley Rd., 2407: D. Loughery & J. Levine to E. Mena, $249,900

Verbeke St., 124: R. and M. Gordon to Kyzer Rentals LLC, $105,000

Going Up: HBG school board passes preliminary budget with maximum tax hike, staff cuts.

May 29, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

The Harrisburg school board at tonight’s meeting.

Harrisburg homeowners likely will pay higher school taxes this year, thanks to a preliminary budget approved by the Harrisburg school board tonight.

Board directors voted 7-2 to levy a 3.6 percent tax increase, the district’s first since 2012.

Combined with the elimination of 50½ teaching, administrative and support positions, the additional tax revenue will reduce the district’s $9 million deficit to $4.7 million for the 2018-19 school year, Business Administrator Bilal Hasan said.

At tonight’s special board meeting, no members of the public protested the proposed tax hikes. But almost a dozen said that preserving the ranks of teachers, principals and support staff should be the district’s first priority.

Kayla Mini, a music teacher at Foose Elementary School, said that cutting teachers and support staff would exacerbate the district’s poor teacher retention rate.

“Thirty students in a classroom is not kind to me, my colleagues or administrators or to kids,” Mini said. “Why do we have such a high turnover? I guarantee it is because of unkind working conditions.”

District residents offered ideas for cost-cutting measures. Jayne Buchwach proposed a 5-percent pay cut for central administration staff, and Kia Hansard pointed to administrative positions that could be eliminated to increase efficiency.

Jody Barksdale, president of the Harrisburg Education Association, said the district should bid out current services to ensure it is getting the lowest rates on procurement.

The budget that the board approved tonight will eliminate 24 instructional staff, 14.5 administrators (including four school vice principals) and 11 sanitation workers, counselors and security personnel represented by the AFSCME union.

It will also set the district’s tax rate at 28.8 mills, an increase of 1.0008 mills from this year. With Harrisburg’s median home value of $42,800, the tax hike will cost the average city homeowner an additional $43 a year.

Long-term budget projections presented in April call for tax hikes of the same magnitude every year through 2021.

The board has until June 30 to submit a final budget to the state. Until then, the district’s business office will search for more cost-cutting measures, Hasan said.

When pressed by board President Judd Pittman, Hasan said that the business office could consider some of the proposals made by district residents.

However, Hasan said that it would be up to different bargaining units to volunteer to take pay cuts. He also emphasized that all positions in the district’s central administration office were the first to be considered for elimination.

Even so, the board could add one more administrative position before the budget is finalized. It voted 7-2 tonight to approve a resolution for the creation of a new assistant superintendent position.

That position is not currently included in the 2018-19 budget, Hasan said, but will be added following the board’s affirmative vote.

Board directors Carrie Fowler and Tyrell Spradley voted against the assistant superintendent motion. Fowler also dissented in the 7-2 budget vote, joined by board director Percel Eiland.

Superintendents to State: We need more funding to support our students.

May 23, 2018 | by Yaasmeen Piper

Superintendents from a number of urban school districts in Pennsylvania gathered on Tuesday inside the state Capitol to ask for additional funding.

A group of Pennsylvania superintendents, students and parents rallied inside the state Capitol for increased school funding on Tuesday, saying that, due to a lack of resources, vital programs and staff were being cut.

“We as superintendents of urban school districts came to Harrisburg today to speak with our legislature about what it is that they can do and what we can do to help them improve the lives of our young students,” said Dr. Juan Baughn, superintendent of Chester Upland school district.

Dr. Stephen Butz, superintendent of the Southeast Delco school district, told the story of a student named Brittany and her journey through the district. Butz first met Brittney a decade ago when she was in kindergarten. While Brittney struggled with reading, she enjoyed the music program that was then offered to kindergarten students.

“She was singing in the chorus that year,” Butz said. “I remember her mom– her mom was working two jobs that year just to make ends meet, but she was concerned about Brittney, concerned that Brittney get a good education.”

By the time Brittney was in fourth grade, the music program and a physical education program had been cut, the average class size had risen from 25 to 33 students, and, by Brittney’s second year of high school, the district’s staff of more 700 had been slashed to fewer than 600.

“Brittney is now a 16- or 17-year-old student looking ahead toward college, looking ahead toward being successful, and that’s what state funding [toward] education can provide,” Butz said. “We must adequately fund our schools for our students. All of our students.”

About eight years ago, the Harrisburg school district faced a $22 million deficit, closing five schools and furloughing hundreds of employees. According to Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney, that was just the beginning.

As a new superintendent, Knight-Burney said she was forced to eliminate music, athletics, pre-K and kindergarten programs. Now, Harrisburg is in danger of losing of kindergarten completely.

“No new superintendent should have to tell her community that their neediest and most vulnerable student population would be at risk for failure because there will be no pre-K or kindergarten program to provide them with the fundamental tools needed to learn just [how] to read,” she said.

According to Knight-Burney, the lack of funding is a vicious cycle. It leads to a reduced quality of education, which contributes to parents taking their children out of the district.

“Families and businesses that have the ability to relocate often choose to do that and move to the more affluent districts, contributing to the upward spiral of real estate values there and the downward spiral that often occurs in the urban or otherwise economically disadvantaged areas,” she said.

Knight-Burney estimated that the Harrisburg district is underfunded each year by more than $35 million.

“I’m often asked, and I struggle to try and understand, ‘Why is it that our lawmakers don’t want our students in our urban districts to receive a fair and equitable education?’” she said. “I am still struggling, as my colleagues are struggling, to understand why this inequity is allowed to continue to the eventual detriment of our greatest commodity, our children.”

Several speakers at the event strongly denounced Senate Bill 2, which would allow students who live in the state’s lowest academically performing districts to use public money for private school tuition.

Alan Johnson, superintendent of the Woodland Hills school district, said his school would suffer under the proposed law, which would divert tax money away from public schools to private entities.

“We don’t just educate,” Johnson said. “We clothe our children, we feed our children, we care for them after school, sometimes we care for them on weekends. We see to their physical health, we see to their mental health, we see to their behavioral health. We do so much more than educate.”

Despite inadequate funding, Johnson said his school still holds an 88-percent graduation rate, with 60 percent of students going on to a two- or four-year college. He and other superintendents criticized wording from some school voucher proponents, who have described lower-performing public school districts as “failing.”

“And out of this building [the Capitol] came a system that says my school district is failing,” he said. “I don’t think the school district is failing. I think the system is failing our school districts.”

HBG school board to consider motion to rehire superintendent on Monday.

May 16, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

The Harrisburg School Board will meet next week to elect a superintendent for a minimum three-year term, a letter sent to board directors announced today.

Members of the school board received notice by email late this afternoon that the vote will take place at their monthly meeting, scheduled for Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the district offices at 1601 State St. State school code requires board directors to receive at least five-days notice for such a vote.

The notification letter signed by board secretary Carol Kaufman, as well as an accompanying memo from board President Judd Pittman, were shared with TheBurg this afternoon.

The vote offers the board a final opportunity to re-hire Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney for a period of three to five years.

Before the board votes to offer Knight-Burney a contract, though, it will consider a motion to appoint a search firm to find a new superintendent.

Knight-Burney’s contract with the district expires on June 30. The board voted in March to consider new candidates for her position, then tried to rescind that vote in April in an action that was found invalid under state law.

The debate over the district’s top administrator has fiercely divided the board and its leadership since December. Pittman has consistently voted to consider new applicants for the position, while Vice President Danielle Robinson has pushed for Knight-Burney to be rehired.

The issue has drawn dozens of district residents to board meetings, where they spoke out in near equal numbers to support and oppose Knight-Burney’s contract being renewed.

A memo Pittman sent to board directors today explained that placing the two divergent motions on Monday’s agenda would “honor the diversity of public comment over the last five months,” as well as “the actions and legal obligation of the board as a result of the March 19 meeting” and “Madam Vice President [Danielle Robinson’s] request to hire Dr. Knight-Burney for an additional 3-5 years.”

The resolution that the board passed in March allowed it to consider new superintendent candidates, but it did not preclude board directors from offering Knight-Burney a new contract before her current one expires.

Robinson told TheBurg this week that she hoped the board would offer Knight-Burney another term.

Knowing that Robinson wanted to consider a motion to re-hire Knight-Burney, Pittman decided to place it on Monday’s agenda rather than allow it to rise from the floor, he said.

The two motions the board will consider on Monday carry mutually exclusive outcomes. Since only one director, Tyrell Spradley, has voted inconsistently on the superintendent issue, his vote could decide which one comes to fruition.

Currently, the board is also contending with an $8 million budget deficit, which may require the district to cut more than 30 teachers, administrators and support staff for the 2018-19 school year.

Spradley declined to comment on the vote by phone on Wednesday evening. Robinson could not immediately be reached for comment.

“People they love will go away:” Teachers plead with board to preserve school staff for students’ sake.

May 14, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

Teachers from Foose Elementary School attended the school board budget and finance committee meeting tonight in support of their vice principal, William Hicks, who may be transferred under proposed budget cuts.

Harrisburg teachers worried about impending budget cuts brought their concerns to the school board tonight, where they asked board directors to trim fat from the district’s administration before eliminating educational and support staff.

At least 30 teachers were joined by members of the public and district parents at a budget and finance committee meeting, where public comment ran for more than an hour.

Teachers said that the proposed cuts to classroom staff and school administration offices would hurt students and disrupt school operations. They also questioned the salary expenditures in the district’s central administrative office.

The most recent budget proposal from the district business office calls for the elimination of 31 employees across the district, including assistant principals, counselors, security personnel, teachers and district administrators.

The cuts would narrow the district’s projected deficit from $8 million to $5 million for the 2018-19 school year, assuming the board authorizes maximum tax hikes.

Tonight, teachers implored the board to prioritize salary cuts in the district’s central administrative office rather than in school buildings.

Suzanne Williams, a veteran teacher at Downey Elementary School, said that the teachers, security guards, school counselors and food service personnel who interact with students every day should not have their jobs in jeopardy.

“Each year, we’re faced with more problems than the last, and everything is cut from the bottom, nothing ever from the top,” Williams said.

Another teacher said that the cuts would unfairly strain administrative and educational staff in schools. She contended that central administrative offices are fully staffed, pointing as an example to the six employees in the district’s human resources office.

“None of the people at 1601 are expected to work alone, without assistance, but our principals, secretaries, security personnel are,” the teacher said, referring to the district’s central administrative offices at 1601 State St. “These cuts directly affect the academic climate of our schools.”

Business Manager Bilal Hasan said that the proposed budget would cut some central administrative positions. He said that every department in the district’s administrative building was asked to identify one position to eliminate.

The budget proposal also calls for eliminating assistant principals at buildings with fewer than 500 students, which includes both Downey and Foose elementary schools.

More than a dozen teachers from Foose appeared at the board meeting in support of the school’s vice principal, William Hicks, who may be transferred to another building due to the cuts. Teachers said that Hicks has formed a formidable duo with Principal Alexis Wertz, and they urged the board not to separate the administrators.

“Breaking up the team will reinforce the trauma our students already know, which is that people they love will go away,” said Kayla Mini, a music teacher at Foose.

Teachers also called out specific salaries and spending choices by the district. Angela Holmes, an elementary school librarian, wanted to know why $7,100 had been taken from the district’s library funds to pay for a high school excursion to an amusement park.

Many teachers questioned the district’s $280,000 grant-funded budget for consultants, and more than one commenter remarked on the $100,000 in annual salary and incentives for Hasan, the business administrator.

The final comment of the night came from district parent Kia Hansard, who asked why Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney was not at the meeting.

“She needs to be here. It’s her responsibility to help figure this out,” Hansard said about Knight-Burney, who was notified in March that her contract will not be automatically renewed when it expires on June 30.

The school board will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, May 21 at 5:30 p.m. in the district administration building at 1601 State St. The budget and finance committee will next meet on Monday, June 5.

Deja Vu? City residents once again protest penalty tax assessments.

May 11, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

For the second year in a row, Harrisburg residents claim that a local collections agency is improperly slapping them with delinquency charges.

And, for the second year in a row, that agency denies any wrongdoing.

Keystone Collections, the firm that assesses Harrisburg City School District’s annual occupation tax, has come under fire from taxpayers who say they received penalty charges for their 2017 tax bills, despite never receiving initial invoices.

The district’s $120 occupation tax is levied annually on any city resident who holds a job. It’s separate from the city’s Local Services Tax, which takes $3 a week from any employee in Harrisburg, including commuters.

Fulton Street resident Lynn Schaufelberger received a $180 invoice from Keystone Collections on April 25, charging her $60 for fees and services on top of the $120 flat tax rate. She’s certain she never received any first notice of the tax bill, which Keystone claims was issued to her in July.

Schaufelberger receives Social Security disability payments because chronic illness prevents her from working. She knew she couldn’t afford the hefty fine on her fixed income and was also adamant that she shouldn’t be taxed for a job she doesn’t have.

“I got nowhere trying to argue the fine,” Schaufelberger said, after calling Keystone’s offices to explain her circumstances.

In neighborhood social media groups, almost a dozen residents have leveled the same charge as Schaufelberger—Keystone billed them a late penalty without sending an initial tax notice, they claimed.

The pattern is consistent with complaints from last year, when dozens of taxpayers said that they received delinquent charges from Keystone without ever seeing their first bills.

Following the Money

Keystone representatives stand by the agency’s system for recovering delinquent taxes. They insist that everyone who was fined a penalty in April was on a mailing list for tax bills they sent out in July 2017.

“Beginning in January, Keystone cross-checked the tax year 2017 payment data against the original mailing list,” Keystone said in a written statement. “Those on the original mailing list who did not pay the tax on time were sent a delinquent notice in April 2018.”

The company offered a nearly identical explanation last summer, when a Burg reporter inquired about missing notices in Harrisburg.

In April 2017, Harrisburg residents Annie Hughes and Timi Lesperance appeared at a Harrisburg School Board meeting to request an investigation into Keystone’s billing practices. They presented the board with a list of almost 30 taxpayers who believed they’d been unfairly assessed a penalty.

Bilal Hasan, the district’s business administrator, said that the district investigated the charges against Keystone last year and found no evidence of wrongdoing by the collections firm. He said the district is looking into the matter again after receiving a fresh round of complaints from residents.

Financial statements that the school district provided in response to a Right-to-Know request show that Keystone did collect 71 percent of its occupation tax revenue between July and September of last year. All told, the tax generated $554,866 for the district between July 2017 and January 2018, after Keystone withheld $50,000 for it mailing costs and commission fees.

According to the district’s contract with Keystone, the company is compensated $1 for each tax bill it mails, plus reimbursement for postage. Since the statements do not itemize Keystone’s costs, however, it’s impossible to isolate the commission payment to determine how many bills the agency mailed each month.

Under state tax law, the district does not have to compensate Keystone or reimburse postage for delinquent tax bills. Rather, both entities split proceeds from fees. A $12 “statutory penalty” goes to the district, and a $13.20 “cost of collection” goes to Keystone. The contract does not say who gets the $25 late filing fee.

Delinquent occupation taxes netted the district $216,369 in 2016 and 2017, and $178,683 in the ongoing 2017-18 billing period, according to financial statements.

Stalemate

Despite Keystone’s reassurances, some taxpayers remain adamant that their delinquent notice was the first communication they received from Keystone during the 2017 tax cycle.

Ed Nielsen said he didn’t pay his occupation tax in July 2017 because he never received a bill from Keystone. He got the penalty notice in April and paid it shortly thereafter to avoid a fight.

“If they are sure they sent it, and I am sure that I didn’t receive it, it’s kind of a stalemate in terms of who has the responsibility,” Nielsen said.

Like Neilsen, Hughes and Lesperance begrudgingly paid their penalty fees last year, even after contesting them with Keystone.

Hughes said she’s disappointed, but not surprised, to see the collections agency zealously assessing penalties again. She stands by her assertion from last year that the school board ought to commission a third-party audit of the collections firm.

“I feel like they’re failing the community,” Hughes said. “An audit is a reasonable request, and it would really assure us that our taxes are being collected fairly.”

School board members could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hughes filed a complaint against Keystone last year and urged other residents to do the same if they felt they’d been unfairly penalized.

State Attorney General spokesperson Joe Grace said that the state’s consumer complaint bureau has received 58 complaints against Keystone Collections since 2010. The AG’s office cannot comment on the existence of any investigations.

The district’s contract with Keystone expires in June 2019.

Loading…

Keystone Contract by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

Keystone Financial Statements by Lizzy Hardison on Scribd

April News Digest

April 30, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

Superintendent Decision Reversed

The Harrisburg School District may not be getting a new superintendent after all, thanks to an unexpected vote last month.

In March, the board voted 5-4 to approve a resolution opening the position of superintendent to new applicants. The move signaled to current superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney that her contract would not be automatically renewed when it ends on June 30.

But last month, Tyrell Spradley, the board member who cast the deciding vote on that contentious resolution, motioned to rescind it. His motion passed 5-4 with board members Carrie Fowler, Percel Eiland, Brian Carter and board President Judd Pittman in the minority.

Asked what the vote meant for Knight-Burney’s contract, district Solicitor Samuel Cooper pointed to the Pennsylvania school charter. That law states that the board must give the acting superintendent 90-days notice if it doesn’t intend to automatically renew her contract.

But if the board fails to take action, the terms of Knight-Burney’s contract extend for one year, Cooper said.

By nullifying the vote from the prior month, the board has essentially chosen to forego any action on the superintendent’s contract. It will automatically renew for a one-year provisional period, but Cooper said the board could act before then to renew it for up to five years.

After the meeting, Spradley said that he changed his mind about the search because the board received new information about personnel and budget matters.

Allowing Knight-Burney’s contract to renew for one additional year will preserve consistency in the district and lead to better decision-making by the board, he said.

“I don’t have an issue looking for candidates, but we need time to find the correct ones,” Spradley said. “The board may feel rushed.”

Pittman was disappointed, but not surprised, by the board’s action. He said his position on Knight-Burney’s tenure has not changed in the three years he’s served on the board.

“When you look at our academic data and the evidence we put forth for our success, it just isn’t there,” Pittman said. “If we’d done a search and Knight-Burney came out as the best candidate, I would have supported her… but our responsibility as a board is to hold everyone as accountable as possible.”

School Finances “Bleak”

The Harrisburg School District’s finances are “more bleak” than anticipated, said the president of the Harrisburg school board.

Board President Judd Pittman offered that assessment last month following a presentation by Chief Financial Officer James Snell, who told the board that the district is facing serious financial challenges.

Budget projections prepared by consultants at Philadelphia-based Public Financial Management (PFM) anticipate that rising expenditures and flat revenues will generate years of consecutive deficits and ultimately draw down the district’s $21.6 million fund balance.

PFM consultant Marissa Litman told the board that the fund balance could be depleted in as few as three years, even if the board levies the highest allowable tax hikes.

Expenditure projections anticipate no salary increase for HEA-represented employees, but they do expect that bargaining will move some teachers up a salary step based on a grievance settlement. Social security and pension payments will increase along with those salary expenditures, and the projections also call for $3 million for facility enhancements. The expenditure projections assume that the district will continue its debt service payments and will not borrow any more money.

Litman reminded the board that projections are based on assumptions that are subject to change. Nonetheless, she advised the board to correct its spending to avoid drawing down its fund balance.

“This has been projected for a number of years, and now we have to deal with it,” Litman said.

The district was able to add to its fund balance as recently as the 2014-15 fiscal year. But the district ran a $3.7 million deficit in 2015-16, followed by a deficit of roughly half a million in 2016-17. The current 2017-18 budget anticipates another $6 million deficit.

DBEs Debated

For months, Harrisburg City Council members have raised seemingly the same question to members of the city’s administration.

How many women and minorities are being hired for public works contracts?

Last month, they got their first firm answer from Harrisburg Business Director Marc Woolley, who appeared at a legislative session to review the city’s success in hiring disadvantaged business enterprises, or DBEs, for its public contracts.

DBE is a recognized business category that includes minority business enterprises (MBEs) and women business enterprises (WBEs). A business can seek MBE or WBE certification if 51 percent of its ownership is controlled by minorities or women, respectively.

Most large cities across the country have policies aimed at drawing DBEs into public projects. TheBurg reported in March that Harrisburg’s own policies became the subject of scrutiny late last year, when council members grilled city officials on the rate of DBE participation in a major repaving project.

Last month, Woolley confirmed that DBE contracts for the 3rd Street Multimodal project, which will enhance two miles road and sidewalks from Uptown to downtown Harrisburg, amounted for just 3.8 percent of the project’s $3.1 million construction budget.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement if we want to increase our participation percentages,” Woolley said.

Working with colleagues from the Department of Community and Economic Development and the city’s Affirmative Action Office, Woolley set out to determine how many DBEs have participated in city contracts in the past three years and how city departments can reach more through bidding and solicitation.

According to Woolley, the program currently under development will have three objectives: removing impediments to business certification, participating in business development, and elevating small businesses and suppliers by moving them up the supplier chain.

Woolley said that Harrisburg’s current process for certifying DBEs is cumbersome, which could discourage businesses to seek DBE certification and, in turn, skew the city’s participation rate.

Woolley and his team plan to simplify the certification standards and are in the process of verifying the DBE status of every vendor that the city has hired in the past three years. The verification process has already revealed some vendors who were not listed as DBEs and who have since been added to the city’s Certified Minority Business Directory, Woolley said.

While some cities try to enforce minimum participation levels for DBEs, Harrisburg’s own DBE program will focus on education and business development, Woolley said.

City officials also plan to bolster outreach efforts by advertising public bidding opportunities on social media and in public service announcements.

More Apartments Downtown

Another downtown apartment project received the official go-ahead last month, as Harrisburg City Council agreed to a residential conversion on Pine Street.

Council voted 5-1 to allow Harristown Enterprises to proceed with converting the circa-1952 office building at 124 Pine St. to a 25-unit apartment building with commercial space on the first floor.

The lone no vote came from council President Wanda Williams, who stated that she would refuse to vote affirmatively on future Harristown projects until she was satisfied that they contained what she considers to be affordable units.

With the affirmative vote, Harristown can move forward with purchasing the six-story, 30,000-square-foot building from current owner Keystone Human Services, which has it on the market for $1.5 million.

Once the sale is complete, Keystone is expected to lease the building until it can find a new home, meaning that the office-to-residential conversion probably won’t begin until early 2019, according to Harristown CEO Brad Jones.

The Pine Street project, Jones said, will consist of 18 one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom units that will range from about 700 to 850 square feet in size. He expects rents to be about $1,095 to $1,395 a month. The project includes 19 off-street parking spaces, which would be rented separately.

Over the past few years, Harristown has converted several other downtown office buildings to residential use, adding about 60 apartment units in all.

At last month’s meeting, City Council also approved a resolution that will allow broadcaster ABC27 to construct a 3,500-square-foot addition to its Uptown Harrisburg building. The project entails consolidating three parcels at 3235 Hoffman St. and at 560 and 600 Alricks St., demolishing several existing structures on the Alricks Street parcels and adding to the main building on Hoffman Street.

In other action, council passed an “aerial easement agreement” with Harristown, allowing the company to continue to string about 580 lights over S. 3rd Street between Market and Chestnut streets. Harristown hung the lights last year after receiving temporary authorization from the city. Since then, several evening block parties have been hosted on the street.

Council also approved a $2 million, 10-year loan from the state Department of Transportation Infrastructure Bank to fund the repair and improvement of streets, including accessibility upgrades, in south Harrisburg.

Lastly, council passed a resolution allowing New York-based Smart City Media to install about 25 digital kiosks in downtown and Midtown Harrisburg. The kiosks will display city-based information such as events, businesses, dining options, schedules and history, with Smart City footing the $100,000 cost per kiosk, said Councilman Cornelius Johnson. The displays will contain advertising, with the revenue split between the company and the city, he said.

Glass Recycling Re-Starts

Glass is trash no more.

That was the message of Mayor Eric Papenfuse last month, as he announced the return of glass recycling to Harrisburg.

“We are pleased to be able to provide a way for our residents to recycle glass jars and bottles,” Papenfuse said. “This is just another way we’re trying to implement environmentally friendly programs that will make us a green and progressive city.”

Three years ago, Harrisburg suspended glass recycling, citing its high cost and difficulty. At the same time, it began to accept paper products for recycling, which previously had not been allowed.

While glass recycling will re-start, it will not be picked up with other recyclables during weekly curbside collection. Instead, the city has identified areas in the following places where glass can be dropped off:

Shipoke
Hall Manor
Kline Plaza
Fire Station Two
Fire Station One
Fire Station Eight
Broad Street Market
Uptown Shopping Plaza
Harrisburg Department of Public Works
William Howard Day Homes

Each location will provide a clearly marked dumpster or bin for recycled glass products, Papenfuse said.

Specific glass products, including jars and bottles without lids or tops, will be accepted. Other glass products such a mirrors, windows and drinking glasses, will not be accepted.

Papenfuse said that glass recycling has re-started because the new program will keep glass out of the waste stream of other recycled products. A major challenge for glass recycling has been that broken glass is difficult and expensive to separate and handle when intermingled with other recycled waste.

The city has contracted with Mount Pleasant, Pa.-based CAP Glass, a glass recycler, to collect and recycle the glass.

Papenfuse said that, since he’s been mayor, recycling in the city has increased three-fold, and he stressed the importance of glass recycling to keep down the city’s cost of burning solid waste at the incinerator.

“Not only are we concerned about the environment,” he said. “We’re also concerned about taxpayer dollars.”

River Walk Repaving Funded

Harrisburg will soon start repairing its pockmarked riverfront walkway, working with a budget that’s 50 percent larger than initially anticipated.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced last month that the city has received an additional $500,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to repair concrete on the entire length of the city’s historic river walk—11,000 linear feet stretching from the Shipoke neighborhood to Maclay Street in Uptown.

The city learned a year ago that it had received $1 million from the federal Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant, which is designed to assist and promote non-motorized transportation.

City officials knew then that $1 million would not cover the whole project, Papenfuse said. They successfully lobbied PennDOT, which administers the federal TAP grant, for more money.

“It’s a massive project,” Papenfuse said. “With the price of concrete and total scope of the project, we needed more.”

Papenfuse said that work could begin as early as this year. He declined to say how long it would take to complete the repairs, but did say that the city might have to work quickly to comply with terms of the grant. Harrisburg expects to receive its funds almost immediately after City Council grants approval for the grant agreement.

“I think PennDOT is ready to go,” Papenfuse said. “This isn’t that complicated and won’t require a separate design phase. So, we’ll move into the contract and bidding phase next.”

The 100-year old river walk is pummeled by floods, snow and ice every year, which leads to erosion and cracks in the concrete. The walkway is currently marred by potholes and uneven surfaces, making it difficult to navigate for anyone riding bikes, pushing strollers, or travelling in wheelchairs.

The funds from this grant will not permit the city to repair the stairs leading from Riverfront Park to the riverside promenade, nor the steps that descend from the lower walkway into the river. Papenfuse said that those fixes, as well as other enhancements like landscaping, could be made by the city with in-house labor after the walkway repairs are complete.

“This is a major investment, and it will be up to the city to maintain it,” Papenfuse said.

HACC Tuition Rises

HACC students will have to pay a bit more for the next academic year, as the college plans to raise tuition and fees to close a budget gap.

The Harrisburg-based regional community college announced last month that its board of trustees passed a $142 million budget with an average 2.9-percent tuition hike.

“HACC faces enrollment challenges similar to other colleges and universities across the commonwealth and throughout the country,” HACC President John J. “Ski” Sygielski said.

Sygielski said that HACC faced a $1.7 million shortfall for the 2018-19 academic year. The higher tuition and fees will yield an extra $2.4 million, he said. HACC’s tuition will increase by $6 per credit hour for sponsoring, non-sponsoring and out-of-state tuition rates.

For an in-state resident who lives in one of the 22 sponsoring school districts, tuition will increase from $174.25 to $180.25 per credit hour (3.4 percent increase). For non-sponsored, in-state residents, tuition will go from $211 to $217 per credit hour (2.8 percent increase). Out-of-state residents will pay $262 per credit hour, up from $256 (2.3 percent increase).

There also will be a $25-per-credit-hour increase in tuition rates for “College in the High School” and dual enrollment programs, and a $1-per-credit-hour increase in technology fees for students.

So Noted

Barley Snyder last month announced that it has formed a “Senior Living Industry Group” to address legal issues facing the growing senior living industry. The law firm has offices throughout central PA, including in Harrisburg.

Devan Drabik began last month as the new director of marketing and communications for ExploreHBG, Visit Hershey & Harrisburg’s tourism branding program for Harrisburg. Drabik last served as director of business development for the city of Harrisburg

Gary Lenker was named last month to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf, Lenker is executive director of Tri-County Housing Development Corp.

S&T Bank last month announced two personnel moves. Melissa Doss was named mortgage banker to serve the Harrisburg and East Shore markets. In her new role, she will originate mortgage loans and foster relationships with new borrowers in that region. Katie Rittel was promoted to mortgage banker, responsible for originating mortgage loans and growing the bank’s existing loan portfolio in the Camp Hill and West Shore markets.

Shores Veterinary Emergency Care Center cut the ribbon last month on its facility at 835 Sir Thomas Court, Harrisburg. The 9,600-square-foot hospital features two surgical suites, eight treatment rooms and a dedicated trauma entrance, in addition to a 40-seat conference room.

TheBurg last month announced that it received 16 2018 Keystone Professional Awards from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. TheBurg received peer-judged press awards in a wide range of categories, including for reporting, writing, headlines, graphics, photography and design. For the third straight year, TheBurg also won the prestigious “Sweepstakes” award for best performance statewide in its category.

Traditions Mortgage last month held a grand opening for its new location at 3421 Market St., Camp Hill. A division of York Traditions Bank, the mortgage company lends in York, Dauphin and Cumberland counties.

Changing Hands

Boas St., 405: V. Zahorian to J. Varner & C. Fowler, $119,900

Briggs St., 223: P. & J. Moran to D. & L. Butcher, $175,000

Brookwood St., 1915: R. Carter & S. Hill to Edwin L. Heim Co., $50,000

Chestnut St., 2043: V. Oster to P. Geltmacher, $128,500

Cumberland St., 211: Summerhill Partners LP to B. Sholtis, $118,000

Derry St., 1333: Leonard Dobson Family Limited Partnership to S. Costa. $50,000

Emerald St., 247: US Bank National Assocation to M. Bekelja, $31,000

Green St., 1611: L. McLeaish to M. & S. Topping, $177,500

Green St., 1918: J. Leahan to D. Haubert, $145,000

Green St., 2009: J. Croft & M. Kmiecinski to L. Crandall & C. Wagner, $206,000

Green St., 2220: M. & L. Craig to Harrisburg Properties LLC, $34,000

Harris St., 216: D. & R. McLean to D. Zimmerman, $161,500

Harris St., 220: D. Grossman to D. Merkt, $184,000

Harris St., 234: D. Barclift to Big Leaf Properties LLC, $40,000

Hillside Rd., 105: W. & L. McBride to J. Runyan, $149,900

Kelker St., 204: W. Manley to A. Nebbou, $125,000

Kensington St., 2223: Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. to PA Deals LLC, $31,000

Logan St., 1730: E. Tisdell to B. & W. Bechtel, $145,000

Manada St., 1914: T. & R. Black to W. Fischer, $30,500

North St., 254 & 256: Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority to Alli Lin LLC, $34,300

N. 2^nd St., 1200, 1202, 1204 & 1206, Harrisburg Second Street Apartments LLC & Nish Realty Inc., to WCI Partners LP, $235,000

N. 2^nd St., 2053: Sunoco Retail LLC to 7 Eleven Inc., $1,248,000

N. 3^rd St., 2600: D. & V. Alvear to L. Freed, $160,000

N. 4^th St., 1422: Leonard J. Dobson Family Limited Partnership to B. Esworthy, $80,000

N. 4^th St., 2747: A. Sieger to S. Gamble & C. Kilb, $135,000

N. 4^th St., 3212: L. Bowers to C. Gibson & R. Landon, $100,000

N. 5^th St., 2606: M. Pitts to M. Napper, $67,900

Parkside Lane, 2906: R. & K. Riley to S. Webb, $350,000

Peffer St., 216: SL Realty to S. Gallagher & C. Prestia, $60,750

Penn St., 917: B. Fritz to B. Golper & J. Wu, $96,000

Penn St., 1908: WCI Partners LP to K. & D. Smyth, $165,000

Putnam St., 1625: S. & M. Mavric to J. Avila, $36,000

Radnor St., 618: Dziko Properties to D. Nelson, $45,000

Rudy Rd., 2311: N. Ishman to V. McCallum, $151,000

S. 14^th St., 1408: M. & B. Graybill to City of Harrisburg, $42,000

S. 14^th St., 1445: G. Neff to City of Harrisburg, $43,000

S. 14^th St., 1446: D. & T. Patterson to City of Harrisburg, $52,000

S. 14^th St., 1448: G. Neff to City of Harrisburg, $50,000

S. 14^th St., 1450: G. Neff to City of Harrisburg, $49,000

S. 14^th St., 1452: G. Neff & City Limits Realty to City of Harrisburg, $51,000

S 17^th St., 1034: NationStar HECM Acquisitions Trust 2017 to D&F Realty Holdings LP, $45,000

S. 19^th St., 533: PMSC Investments LLC to V. & D. Morales, $58,500

S. River St., 321: S. Cammack to J&S Home Solutions, $60,000

Susquehanna St., 1739: A. Otterson to A. Nebbou, $85,500

Susquehanna St., 1833: J. Secrest to C. Straub, $110,000

Susquehanna St., 2018: Unite LLC to P. Truong, $30,000

Verbeke St., 1723: J. & C. Weathers to Harrisburg Properties LLC, $49,900

Woodbine St., 214: Monte Design Studio LLC to E. Whittaker, $105,900

Woodlawn St., 2710 & 2712: Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. to Fruition Holdings LLC, $80,299

Burg View: Harrisburg’s School Daze

April 19, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda

You’ll have to forgive the residents of Harrisburg for a certain case of whiplash.

On Monday night, the city school board voted 5-4 to retain the district’s long-serving superintendent, at least for another year. Minutes later, board members sat through a crushing report on the district’s dire financial condition.

In fact, the district’s finances are so bad, the board was told, that years of deficits are projected, even if the district imposes the maximum allowable annual tax hikes.

How do we make sense of this?

The short answer—it doesn’t make sense.

But the problem isn’t just financial. The poorly performing district has shown scant academic improvement since Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney was hired in 2011. In fact, it consistently has fallen far short of academic goals imposed by the commonwealth, meaning it probably will stay in the state’s recovery program for troubled school districts past its scheduled exit in June. Nor is the appointment of a state receiver for the district out of the question.

Meanwhile, over just the past year, the district has experienced crisis after crisis, including high teacher turnover, mass student suspensions, a faculty revolt over abusive students, a supervisor who admitted stealing almost $180,000 from the district, and the bizarre, administration-led investigation—at the district’s expense—of two of its own school board members (who just happened to be vocal critics of the superintendent).

Indeed, Knight-Burney has her strong supporters, who believe the system has shown some improvement during her tenure. They often cite a district-wide curriculum management plan, restoration of full-day kindergarten and a few, rather isolated academic bright spots. So, I guess, it’s not all bad news.

But, after seven years, “not all bad news” is weak sauce for students struggling to get by, for teachers who feel besieged in their own classrooms and for city property owners who, evidently, are looking at rising tax bills as far as the eye can see.

Apparently, though, it is good enough for the five board members who voted to retain Knight-Burney, who earns $179,208 annually, for the 2018-19 school year.

We’ll have to see if any board members change their minds come July, when city residents receive their new tax bills. So far, residents have shown remarkable patience as they wait for city schools to improve, but nothing erodes good will faster than a tax shock. Will they sit idly by while being asked to pay more to support an administration that clearly is not succeeding?

Lawrance Binda is editor-in-chief of TheBurg.

March News Digest

March 30, 2018 | by Lawrance Binda and Lizzy Hardison

Free Evening Parking

Free parking could come to downtown Harrisburg as early as this month, as City Council passed a resolution that would offset street parking costs after 5 p.m.

Council agreed unanimously last month to join Dauphin County and the Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District (HDID) in ponying up money to offset parking revenues that operator Park Harrisburg would lose between 5 and 7 p.m.

“I think it’s a boost for the city,” Mayor Eric Papenfuse said. “I think it will lead to more people visiting downtown.”

Harrisburg’s contribution will amount to $110,000 over the next year and will come from money that the parking system already owes the city, said Papenfuse. The county has also pledged $110,000, and HDID will pay $50,000.

The county and HDID had hoped for a three-year deal, though council approved just a one-year test period.

By entering into the “memorandum of understanding,” the three entities—the city, county and HDID—must finalize the exchange with the parking system operator. Papenfuse has said he expects no pushback, as the system operator, SP+/Park Harrisburg, and its asset manager, Trimont, just want to ensure that contributions offset lost revenue, which, last year, amounted to $270,000 between 5 and 7 p.m.

Papenfuse said the parking subsidy could kick in as soon as April, but may take longer.

Since 2014, the city has tried several tactics to mitigate the cost of street parking. First, the Papenfuse administration convinced the system’s operators to lower the “happy hour” rate from $3 to $2 an hour between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. It later turned many of downtown’s loading zones into 15-minute free parking areas.

Nonetheless, downtown bar and restaurant owners continued to complain about a loss of business, which they largely blame on high parking rates.

If implemented, the plan would come with some conditions. First, it would apply only to street, not garage, parking. Secondly, it would take effect only within the HDID boundaries, which run downtown from State to Chestnut streets.

Loan Fund Launches

Whether you’re a shop owner looking to expand your storefront or an aspiring entrepreneur with a business dream, you may benefit from a new loan fund that launched last month in Harrisburg.

Impact Harrisburg is partnering with the Community First Fund and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency to launch the Harrisburg Business Opportunity Fund (HBOF) with $1 million in seed money, according to Sheila Dow Ford, executive director of Impact Harrisburg.

Impact Harrisburg, which was founded with proceeds from the sale of Harrisburg’s incinerator, will contribute $350,000 to the fund. The Pennsylvania Housing and Financing Authority has pledged $650,000 through its nonprofit subsidiary, the Commonwealth Cornerstone Group.

Loans will be available to small, for-profit business owners or aspiring business owners in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. According to Dow Ford, the goal of the fund is to encourage economic development, job creation and a diverse workforce in the city of Harrisburg.

“We’re providing for a segment of the population that has, for various reasons, been overlooked by traditional lending institutions,” she said.

Any for-profit business or startup in Harrisburg can apply for a loan, Dow Ford said, though real estate trusts or businesses that buy and sell property will not be eligible.

The new fund bears some resemblance to Harrisburg’s old revolving loan fund, which was launched in 1984 and languished in the 2000s as many borrowers became delinquent.

Dow Ford acknowledged that some HBOF loans might be considered risky by traditional lending standards, since they will be issued to people and ventures that might be denied by traditional lenders. However, she hopes that the partnership with Community First Fund will prevent the same mismanagement and delinquency that plagued the city’s revolving loan fund.

Superintendent Search Begins

The Harrisburg School District is putting up a help wanted sign, but there won’t necessarily be a personnel change in its highest office.

In a 5-4 vote, the Harrisburg School Board decided last month to accept applications for the position of superintendent. The vote means that if current Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney wishes to stay in her post, she must apply for her job and beat out other candidates.

The vote came after more than an hour of spirited public comment at last month’s school board meeting, as near-equal numbers of district residents encouraged the board to vote for or against a resolution to initiate the hiring process.

Residents who supported renewing Knight-Burney’s contract emphasized the importance of consistent leadership during the district’s recovery process. Those who called for an open hiring process said that the district deserved to consider candidates who might make more dramatic gains in student achievement.

Knight-Burney became Harrisburg’s superintendent in 2011. Since 2013, she’s been responsible for implementing the actions in a state-crafted recovery plan, which outlined almost 100 initiatives to improve the district’s academics and operations.

Her current contract, which was renewed in 2014, expires on June 30. Asked if she would reapply for her job, Knight-Burney declined to comment.

Act 47 Status Considered

“The clock is ticking” on the next step in Harrisburg’s path to financial recovery.

That’s the message that a state official had for Harrisburg’s administration and City Council last month, as both bodies were briefed on the timeline for the city’s remaining six months in the state’s Act 47 program for distressed municipalities.

Marita Kelley, Harrisburg’s Act 47 coordinator, appeared at a council work session to explain the city’s duties before Act 47 status expires on Sept. 23.

Here’s what lies ahead, according to Kelley. The mayor and the city clerk will receive a financial condition report, prepared by Kelley and the Pennsylvania Economy League. A public meeting on its contents should take place this month.

After the meeting, she and the Pennsylvania Economy League will have 90 days to prepare a final exit plan for the city. In that plan, they’ll make a formal recommendation for what the city should do in September: extend its Act 47 status, exit the program or enter the oversight of a state-appointed receiver.

The exit plan should arrive before city officials in mid-July. After another round of commenting and a public meeting, Kelley will finalize the exit plan in time for the Sept. 23 expiration deadline.

Kelley thinks it’s highly unlikely that Harrisburg will enter receivership in September. She was hesitant to recommend an action to the city last month, but said during a budget meeting in December that Harrisburg will likely spend another three years in the program, at least.

Reports Released for Train Station, Paxton Creek

A restaurant and café in Harrisburg’s train station, a pedestrian bridge over the train tracks, a flood-controlled Paxton Creek.

Those are a few of the ambitious goals laid out in two reports released last month by the state Department of Transportation, which is taking the lead on rehabilitating the blighted Market Street corridor just east of the Harrisburg Transportation Center, roughly from the train station to Cameron Street.

“These studies serve as a road map to help the city continue to develop as an attractive place to work and play,” said PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards.

PennDOT’s first priority is rehabilitation of the train/bus station itself, set out in a report titled, “Harrisburg Transportation Center Transit Oriented Development Master Plan.”

That project includes removal of the large office space in the main lobby, the addition of an “open-concept café” in the lobby, new seating in the station concourse, the addition of a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating, a new entry plaza from the lower-level Market Street entrance and the addition of office space on the upper floors.

According to Richards, work is expected to begin relatively soon, as the department has completed 90 percent of the design for the $15 million renovation and is now working with Amtrak on a construction schedule.

The next priority is a massive flood control project designed to restrain, improve and restore Paxton Creek, as delineated in the “Paxton Creek Master Plan.”

The plan outlines steps to modify the channel size and make other improvements that would take 133 acres out of the 100-year flood plan and partially remove another 275 acres, making the area far more attractive for redevelopment. The plan also envisions enhancing the creek area with recreational paths and restoring it to a more natural environment.

PennDOT anticipates four to five years of preliminary work before construction on the project could begin. The estimated cost of the creek improvements is $60 to $90 million, with potential grants coming from the state’s Multimodal Fund, the Department of Community and Economic Development and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The transportation master plan envisions other projects, which include:

Streetscaping and façade enhancement, including new sidewalks, landscaping, street furniture, signage and utility and lighting poles.
A pedestrian bridge that would extend the station concourse over the railroad tracks, through the former Harrisburg central post office and into the redevelopment area.
Relocation of the intercity bus terminal from Market Street to the redevelopment area and expansion of the facility.
Development of the area near an east entrance to the station.
A new plaza on Market Street.

“These projects will provide exciting opportunities for development in the city of Harrisburg, and for enhancing the quality of life for our residents,” Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with PennDOT on projects that will benefit not only Harrisburg residents but the entire region.”

New Districts Upheld

Pennsylvania’s redrawn congressional districts withstood two court challenges last month, clearing the way for some areas, including the Harrisburg area, to be unified under new district lines.

First, a three-judge federal panel threw out a Republican-led challenge to the new district map. The same day, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a Republican request for an emergency stay that would block use of the new map in this year’s elections.

As a result, the state Supreme Court’s redrawn district map will stand. This includes a new 10th congressional district that encompasses all of Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York counties, including Harrisburg, York and Carlisle.

The primary election is slated for May 15.

Gaming Grants Given

The Dauphin County commissioners shelled out some $6 million to dozens of projects last month in the annual disbursal of gaming grant money.

The commissioners spread the money around to municipalities throughout the county, with the largest sums, by state law, going to those nearest to the Hollywood Casino at Penn National in Grantville.

In and around Harrisburg, grants to governments included:

* City of Harrisburg: $229,724 for police equipment, the engineering bureau and for Fire Bureau dive team equipment

* Susquehanna Township: $159,900 for sanitary sewer system extension, for Progress Fire Co. vehicle replacement and for Wedgewood Hills Swim Club heat pump installation

* Lower Paxton Township: $82,825 for Devon Manor pool improvements, Koon’s pool improvements and Ranger and George Park soccer upgrades

* Hummelstown: $58,471 for municipal building debt service

* Highspire: $57,200 for roadway rehabilitation

* Steelton: $43,000 for Fire Department apparatus and Skate Park debt reduction

* Swatara Township: $13,000 for Police Department K-9 and training

Grants to Dauphin County entities included:

* MDJ Court Administration: $200,000 for construction of MDJ buildings

* Dauphin County Industrial Development Authority: $137,000 for solar farm project debt reduction

* Dauphin County Parks & Recreation: $101,000 for Detweiler Park master plan and Fort Hunter Station planning project

* Dauphin County Redevelopment Authority: $100,000 for a project on the former State Hospital grounds

* Dauphin County Land Bank Authority: $100,000 for renovation of vacant homes

Grants to organizations included:

* Camp Curtin YMCA: $100,000 for conversion of an indoor pool into a recreational area

* Central Dauphin School District: $75,600 for a school safety improvement project

* Jewish Home of Greater Harrisburg: $75,000 for an emergency generator project

* Penn FC (Harrisburg City Islanders): $72,562 for a field conversion project

* Humane Society of Harrisburg Area: $70,000 for an expansion of veterinary services

* Salvation Army: $50,000 for a new headquarters and services facility

* Harrisburg Rugby Food Club: $50,000 for Perseverance Field improvements

* Homeland Center: $40,000 for an emergency generator project

* The Nativity School: $40,000 for furniture purchase and building renovations

* Open Stage of Harrisburg: $32,000 for facility and equipment upgrades

* Capital Region Literacy Corp.: $30,000 for books in schools and clinic program

* Habitat for Humanity: $28,000 for weatherization project

* Heinz Menaker Senior Center: $25,000 for ADA-compliant restrooms

* Midtown Action Council: $13,652 for historic marker renovation and expansion

* Beacon Clinic: $5,000 for HVAC installation and renovations

More Downtown Apartments

More apartments appear headed for downtown Harrisburg, though it may be awhile before you’ll be able to move into one.

Harrisburg City Council last month introduced a resolution that would allow Harristown Enterprises to convert a circa-1952 office building to a 25-unit apartment building with commercial space on the first floor.

The building, at 124 Pine St., currently houses Keystone Human Services, which would seek new space following a sale, said Harristown CEO Brad Jones.

Keystone currently has the six-story, 30,000-square-foot building on the market for $1.5 million.

Over the past few years, Harristown has converted several downtown office buildings to higher-end apartments, most recently at the corner of N. 2nd and Cranberry streets. That 12-unit building, Jones said, has been renamed “The Bogg on Cranberry.”

The Pine Street project, he said, would consist of 18 one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom units that would range from about 700 to 850 square feet in size. Jones said that he expects rents to be about $1,095 to $1,395 a month. The project includes 19 off-street parking spaces, which would be rented separately.

If Harristown gets City Council approval, the company hopes to close on a building purchase in May. Jones, however, expects that Keystone will then lease the building back until it can find a new home, meaning that renovation work probably won’t begin until early 2019.

So Noted

Blake Lynch was named Harrisburg’s new community policing coordinator last month. In this position, Lynch, formerly director of development at the Boys and Girls Club of Harrisburg, will serve as a liaison between the city’s Police Bureau and the community.

Club XL is set to open this month near S. Cameron and Hanna streets in an industrial area of Harrisburg. Owner Phil Dobson said the 18,500-square-foot nightclub and concert venue will feature a large stage, a sophisticated light and sound system and an exterior patio, among other amenities.

Gamut Theatre Group this month plans to begin the second phase of the build-out of its building in downtown Harrisburg. The Gamut Theatre Education Center will include the Alexander Grass Second Stage, two renovated classrooms and other areas for students to learn various aspects of theater operations. The $700,000 project should be completed by August, according to Gamut.

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant is making plans to open in the newly constructed Hershey Towne Square on Chocolate Avenue in Hershey. The company expects the 9,000-square-foot space to be ready late this year or early next year.

Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority announced last month that Robert “Bob” Zorbaugh will replace Jim Warner as CEO when Warner retires at year-end. Zorbaugh, the current chief operating officer, has served with LCSWMA, which owns Harrisburg’s waste-to-energy incinerator, since 1990.

PSECU last month announced the planned retirement of President Greg Smith, effective February 2019. Smith has served with the credit union for nearly 30 years.

Right on Reily is slated to open late this month in restaurant space across the street from Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg. Owner Dylan Simon said he plans to open at 7 a.m. and will feature freshly made breakfast items, sandwiches, soups and salads from the eatery at 263 Reily St.

Theatre Harrisburg last month announced the departure of its executive director, Allison Graham Hays, who served in the post for about one year. A search for a new director has begun. Those interested should send a resume and cover letter to [email protected].

Changing Hands

Adrian St., 2421: J. Howard to L. Brown, $69,900

Berryhill St., 2216: PA Deals LLC to A. & L. Smith, $64,900

Boas St., 111: P. & M. Keelen to J. Swope, $67,000

Boas St., 409: A. Antoun to P. Cannon & M. Hertrich, $84,000

Boas St., 1910: Dobson Family Limited to M. Cardona & S. Guzman, $36,000

Duke St., 2433: 2013 Central PA Real Estate Fund LLC to S. Henry, $65,900

Evergreen St., 17: E. Ordonez to P. Paniagua, $40,000

Fulton St., 1625: Z. & H. Khan to J. Seibert, $125,750

Fulton St., 1722: Wilmington Savings Fund & Society FSB to PA Deals LLC, $77,500

Green St., 2322: Lake Como REI LLC to Lynn & Ryan Investment Properties LLC, $36,000

Hale Ave., 383: 2013 Central PA Real Estate Fund LLC to S. Henry, $65,000

Hale Ave., 403: O. Peck to C. & A. Bullock, $71,000

Harris St., 204: G. Olives to A. Hermany & T. Minnick, $149,900

Holly St., 1916: W. Aikens Jr. to R. & B. Cook, $43,000

Hummel St., 243: Tri County HDC Ltd. to B. Dixon, $69,900

Kensington St., 2267: M. Eismann to Blackfoot Viking LLC, $40,000

Kensington St., 2328: 2013 M&M Real Estate Fund LLC to S. Henry, $65,900

Market St., 1028: J. & A. Karagiannis to R. Luu, J. Son & KS Property Management LLC, $250,000

Market St., 1800: G. Walker to Horizon Trust FBO, Timothy Carter IRA, $105,000

Mayflower St., 1366: G. Vargas to D. Tellado, $60,000

N. 2^nd St., 221: CJ2 Group LLC to Second and Cranberry LLC, $350,000

N. 2^nd St., 2338: H. Witte & A. Atkinson to V. Paredes, $95,000

N. 3^rd St., 3218: T. & B. Seely to S. Dudek, $139,900

N. 4^th St., 1911: K. & D. Fletcher to M. DeMeo, $73,900

N. 5^th St., 1948: L. Blanton to B. & K. Feidt, $73,500

N. 5^th St., 2554: J. Johnson to D. Mallek & W. Sarris, $60,000

N. 5^th St., 3201: Branch Banking and Trust Co. to F. Nestico, $80,000

N. 15^th St., 2: R. Sharma & N. Saini to D&F Realty Holdings LP, $100,000

N. 15^th St., 1425: Top Notch Properties LLC to B. Wevodau Sr., $30,000

S. 24^th St., 563: Lake Como REI LLC to Lynn & Ryan Investment Properties LLC, $65,000

Parkway Blvd., 2509: Harrisburg Rentals LLC to A. & L. Smith, $118,500

Peffer St., 321: K. Whitehead to V. Robinson, $74,000

Penn St., 1504: R. Davis to D. & M. Witwer, $70,000

Penn St., 1612: A. La Luz to N. Giustra, $140,000

Race St., 552: G. & K. Nguyen to A. & H. Appleberry, $144,000

Revere St., 1722: R. Brunstetter to Top Unit Properties LLC, $80,000

Rolleston St., 1153: A. Phillips to C. Suriel, $43,000

Rudy Rd., 2492: HT Properties LLC to W. Marca, $59,000

Rumson Dr., 2899: S. Markowitz to M. Gleason, $58,000

S. 14^th St., 1404: S. McMurray to City of Harrisburg, $47,000

S. 14^th St., 1409: V. Brice to City of Harrisburg, $48,000

S. 14^th St., 1411: DRW Properties LLC to City of Harrisburg, $50,000

S. 14^th St., 1412: M. Hudson to City of Harrisburg, $53,000

S. 14^th St., 1420: S. Crittenden to City of Harrisburg, $52,500

S. 14^th St., 1436: J. Newhouse to City of Harrisburg, $49,000

S. 14^th St., 1441: W. & B. Hornung to City of Harrisburg, $39,000

S. 14^th St., 1442: Blue Real Estate LLC to City of Harrisburg, $51,000

S. River St., 315: Red Realty LLC & D. Shearer to J. & S. Bachman, $109,000

State St., 1713: D. Schneider to J. Virbitsky, $85,000

Susquehanna St., 1622: R. & G. Harris to H. Maierle & C. Kostelecky, $134,500

Susquehanna St., 1704 & 1706: J. Shoop to N. Lotze & A. Anderson, $122,000

Sycamore St., 1421: G. Neff to C. Pizarro, $35,000

Waldo St., 2627: PA Deals LLC to S. Henry, $54,000

Wyeth St., 1413: M. & J. Boyer to J. Hegarty, $105,000

Harrisburg property sales for February 2018, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Harrisburg School Board votes to consider a new superintendent.

March 20, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney speaks at a district press conference in December 2017.

The Harrisburg School District is putting up a help wanted sign, but there won’t necessarily be a personnel change in its highest office.

In a 5-4 vote tonight, the Harrisburg School Board decided to accept applications for the position of superintendent. The vote means that if sitting superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney wishes to stay in her post, she must apply for her position and beat out other candidates.

The vote came after more than an hour of spirited public comments, as near-equal numbers of district residents encouraged the board to vote for or against a resolution to initiate the hiring process.

Knight-Burney has been Harrisburg’s superintendent since 2011. Since 2013, she’s been responsible for implementing the actions in a state-crafted recovery plan, which outlined almost 100 initiatives to improve the district’s academics and operations.

Harrisburg schools are perennially plagued by low test scores, high personnel turnover, and expenses that outpace revenues. The district has had pockets of success–test scores at Marshall Math and Science Academy and Harrisburg High School’s SciTech Campus far outpace other schools in the district. But most campuses have failed to meet academic targets set in the district’s 2011 recovery plan.

District data show that Harrisburg’s five elementary schools had an average of 20 percent ELA proficiency among third graders in 2017. That figure, which is based on data from the PSSA standardized tests, did not exceed 23 percent for grades 5 to 8.

Proficiency rates are even lower for math. Across the district, fewer than 18 percent of students were considered proficient in the subject in 2017. The district recorded zero-percent proficiency for seventh grade students at Camp Curtin Academy and eighth grade students at Rowland Academy.

The district has also struggled with high rates of chronic absenteeism, which TheBurg reported in February can undermine even the most effective teaching.

In a presentation tonight before the board, Knight-Burney pointed to student growth data as evidence of the district’s improvement. Growth data measure how much students progress during an academic year, whereas test scores measure what they know at a given point in time.

Knight-Burney said that test scores are unreliable performance indicators, which is an argument that’s gaining traction in the education community. Since test scores are tightly correlated with family income, they often offer a dire picture of high-poverty districts like Harrisburg, where 85 percent of students are from low-income households. Growth is becoming the new standard for educational success.

“Growth is about how fast and how much kids are learning,” Knight-Burney said. “Our students are growing and have the potential to be high achievement.”

Data show that Knight-Burney isn’t wrong. TheBurg reported in February that Pennsylvania’s new method for evaluating school success will focus on growth rates rather than test scores. That could drastically alter how Harrisburg ranks in statewide school assessments. Whereas the district’s test scores are perennially among the worst in the state, its growth rate is only slightly below average.

Data show that Harrisburg students progress by an average of 4.2 years during five years of schooling. That means they learn at a rate that’s equal to or faster than students in wealthier districts nearby, even though their test scores are consistently much lower.

“Many kids come to school three to four years behind grade level, so there’s lots of work that we have to do,” Knight-Burney said. “When we’re comparing ourselves to other districts, it’s not fair.”

While making her case before the board, Knight-Burney also touted the development of a district-wide curriculum, a Teacher Leadership Academy and new extracurricular activities as successes of her seven-year tenure.

Nonetheless, the superintendent’s pitch didn’t convince all board members that she deserved another term. Faced with a four-to-four vote among his fellow directors, board newcomer Tyrell Spradley cast the tie-breaker to initiate the hiring process. He expressed confidence that Knight-Burney would stand out among other candidates.

“I’d put my superintendent against anyone else who came in,” Spradley said. “I know she’d succeed.”

Spradley joined board directors Carrie Fowler, Percel Eiland, Brian Carter and board president Judd Pittman in voting for the resolution to start a hiring process. Board directors Melvin Wilson, Ellis Roy, Lionel Gonzalez and board vice president Danielle Robinson voted against it.

After Spradley’s deciding vote, it became clear that board members did not agree on what the resolution meant. Robinson and Wilson visibly reproached Spradley for his vote, implying he had cost the superintendent her job.

“It means she’s gone,” Robinson said to Spradley.

School solicitor Samuel Cooper had to intervene to clarify that the vote did not preclude Knight-Burney from serving another term.

“What you chose in your vote is to open up the office for a search for superintendent, and she has the ability to apply,” Cooper said.

After the clarification, Spradley reiterated his belief that Knight-Burney would defend her post from competitors.

“You don’t know that,” Wilson told him.

The board considered the resolution tonight because it is required to give Knight-Burney 60 days notice if it chooses not to renew her contract. The resolution was also on the agenda in December, January and February, though it was tabled by a board vote each time.

Knight-Burney previously beat out competition to become Harrisburg’s superintendent. She was selected from a pool of applicants by the school board in 2011. Her current contract, which was renewed in 2014, expires on June 30.

Asked after tonight’s meeting if she would reapply for her job, Knight-Burney declined to comment.

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like

You May Also Like