Tag Archives: Harrisburg School District

School Board Awards $63,000 Contract To Retired Assistant Superintendent

October 21, 2014 | by Paul Barker

The Harrisburg school board on Monday night awarded a $63,750 contract to Barbara Hasan, a former assistant superintendent who retired from the district in June, for services as a principal mentor, a position newly created this year.

The contract, under which Hasan will be paid $70 per hour, will be for 25 hours per week of work and is effective Oct. 21 of this year through June 30, 2015.

Two other principal mentors, Lori Dixon and Joy MacKenzie, were hired at last month’s regular board meeting on Sept. 15. Their contracts are for the same hourly rate of $70 per hour, but for a smaller number of hours than Hasan’s, with Dixon slated to work 25 hours per month and MacKenzie 20 hours per month.

Hasan’s contract is between the school district and Hasan Educational Consultant, a firm founded on Sept. 18, according to a business filing with the Pennsylvania state department. The filing lists Hasan as the business owner.

Carol Kaufmann, the school board secretary, said at Monday night’s board meeting that this is the first time the school district has hired principal mentors.

The board agendas for Sept. 15 and Oct. 20 describe the position somewhat differently, with the September agenda referring to “principal mentor services” and the October agenda, which describes Hasan’s larger contract, referring to “support, evaluation, and guidance to Principals assigned by the Superintendent or designee.”

Kaufmann, however, said the jobs had the “same focus.”

After Monday’s board meeting, Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney said she was “excited” about having the principal mentors, who she said would help principals “in content areas as well as data analysis.”

All three mentors are past principals themselves, said Knight-Burney, herself a past principal. “Being principal sometimes is a very lonely place,” she added. “Sometimes they need that support.”

Hasan, who retired on June 27, has several family members currently employed in the district. Her daughter, Aqila, was promoted in July from high school math teacher to assistant principal at SciTech, a position newly created this year at an annual salary of $87,624.

Another daughter, Ayesha, is a first-grade teacher at Foose, while a son, Bilal, is the district’s federal programs coordinator.

The Harrisburg school district currently employs 10 principals and at least as many assistant principals in its 10 schools, according to individual school pages on the district website.

TheBurg Podcast, Oct. 3, 2014

October 3, 2014 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

Oct. 3, 2014: This week, editor-in-chief Larry Binda and senior writer Paul Barker discuss a potential (if slight) budget surplus projected for Harrisburg this year, a long-delayed federal courthouse at N. 6th and Reily, and the latest in the recovery of the Harrisburg School District.

August News Digest

August 28, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Museum Funding Targeted

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse has asked the Dauphin County commissioners to cease channeling a portion of the countywide hotel tax to the National Civil War Museum.

Papenfuse said that he objects to an arrangement worked out by former Mayor Stephen Reed that funnels a certain amount of money each year to the 13-year-old museum, despite a county ordinance designating that the money be spent on promoting tourism in the city. In the last fiscal year, the museum received $290,000 out of the portion meant for promoting the city, which totaled around $500,000.

The museum, located in Reservoir Park, used that money to pay for operational costs as part of its $1.1 million budget.

Instead of giving that money to the museum, Harrisburg would be better off using it to promote other tourism initiatives, such as the city’s annual summertime festivals, Papenfuse said.

The city owns most of the museum’s artifacts, as well as the building, which it rents to the museum for $1 a year. The museum pays its operational expenses, but the city is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the building.

Tax Abatement Discussed

The Harrisburg school board last month listened to a proposal to revive tax abatement for property improvements in the city.

Brian Hudson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, shared with the board a plan to stimulate development and renovation in the city through a 10-year, citywide abatement program.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse is expected to push this fall for an initiative that would lead to no tax increases for property improvements over a decade. Instead, taxes would be levied for that time based upon the pre-improvement value of the properties.

In order for the program to take effect, the school board, the city and Dauphin County all would have to sign off on it.

New School Administrator

Education consultant Drue Miles, author of the education chapter in the Harrisburg school district’s state-sponsored recovery plan, last month was named the district’s new acting school improvement administrator.

The position, which pays $600 per day, was vacant after the departure of Sherry Roland-Washington, who left Aug. 15.

Gene Veno, the district’s state-appointed chief recovery officer, said that he recommended the emergency hiring of Miles while the superintendent searched for a permanent replacement for Roland-Washington.

City Audit Delayed

Harrisburg’s audit has been delayed several months due to a budget oversight that did not fund the outside assistance the city needed for prep work before the audit could begin.

The Thompson administration did not request—and City Council did not approve—funds for the engagement of Trout Ebersole & Groff, the accounting firm that has assisted the short-staffed budget office with audit preparation in recent years.

The oversight stemmed in part from a decision by the state Department of Community and Economic Development not to assist the city with audit prep this year, as it had in prior years under Act 47 and receivership.

After taking office, the Papenfuse administration worked to apportion the necessary funding for outside help, which will cost around $45,000. Brian Ostella, chair of the city’s audit committee, said that prep work was completed in mid-June and actual audit work began in mid-July.

Maher Duessel, the accounting firm that has performed the city’s audit for the last decade, expects to complete the audit by mid-November, Ostella said.

Sinkhole Probe Launched

Harrisburg City Council has approved hiring an engineering firm to conduct an emergency sinkhole investigation.

Camp Hill-based Gannett Fleming is performing the work, focused around the 1400-block of S. 14th St., where several sinkholes have formed in recent months. The probe, which will employ seismic surface waves and verification drilling to develop a site map, should be completed by year-end.

The cost of the investigation will be shared with Capital Region Water. It is estimated to cost $166,000.

Trash Fees Adjusted

Harrisburg’s small business owners have received some relief, after City Council temporarily lowered fees for trash collection.

For years, small businesses have complained that they were subject to high commercial collection rates, even though they generated little trash.

Under the new provision, small businesses will be charged the same rate as residential customers: $156 a year or $13 a month. To qualify for the lower rate, they must produce no more trash each week than can fit into two trashcans with lids.

The lower rate applies only until the end of the year. In November, the Department of Public Works will assess the impact of the reduction and report to council whether it should be made permanent.

Mansion Re-Named

The mansion in Reservoir Park last month was officially re-named in honor of Harrisburg Councilwoman Eugenia Smith.

The prominent building was named the Honorable Eugenia Smith Family Life Center during a ceremony featuring music, speakers and a release of doves.

Smith, 53, died suddenly in April at the start of her second term as city councilwoman.

Changing Hands

Cumberland St., 119: R. Nordberg to JB Buy Rite LP, $50,000

Duke St., 2614: A. & V. Morelli to PI Capital LLC, $61,300

Ellerslie St., 2346: PA Deals LLC to D. Clark, $70,000

Fulton St., 1419: JP Morgan Chase to G. & D. Hanslovan, $63,000

Green St., 1112: M. Monathan & M. Taylor to M. Fitzgerald, $165,000

Green St., 1514: J. Couzens to E. Sheaffer & D. McCleskey, $180,000

Green St., 1711: R. Mehiel & L. Kackman to B. Rockwell & N. Gurley, $168,000

Green St., 1811: R. Ruiz to M. Bonsall, $100,000

Green St., 1921: J. & A. Webb to WCI Partners LP, $117,000

Green St., 2031: J. & A. Webb to WCI Partners LP, $119,000

Green St., 3234: R. Krasevic to T. Ash, $119,900

Locust St., 122: DLK Partners LLC to Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Inc., $130,000

Luce St., 2332 & 2314½: R. & C. Sheetz to Care Properties LLC, $60,000

Mercer St., 2441: M. Davenport et al to O. Diallo & M. Barry, $46,000

N. 3rd St., 1408: F. & M. Cavanaugh to GreenWorks Development LLC, $139,900

N. 3rd St., 3026: L. Curtis to R. Daniels Jr., $35,000

N. 4th St., 2427: D. Seymore to B. Jones Sr., $35,000

N. 6th St., 3014: J. Hadfield & W. Grace to K. Dixon, $73,000

N. 6th St., 3212: R. & B. Snyder to RT Home Solutions Inc., $30,000

N. 12th St., 33: Kirsch & Burns LLC to LMK Properties LLC, $40,000

N. 18th St., 1000: JLB Properties LLC to S. Donald, $44,900

N. Front St., 111: J.A. Hartzler to BCRA Realty LLC, $250,000

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 101: A. Ferraiolo to A. Mohanavel, $156,500

N. Front St., 1525, Unit 602: M. & C. Heppenstall to R. Hostetter Jr., $250,000

Paxton St., 1924: L. Zaydon Jr. to Steve Fisher Rental Properties LLC, $125,000

Penn St., 1520: S. Litt to A. Fortune, $114,000

Penn St., 2411: J. Shockey to D. Wendt, $78,375

S. 2nd St., 314: J. Wansacz to D. Bowers & K. Shifler, $115,000

S. 3rd St., 19: P. Dobson to Dewberry LLC, $325,000

S. 13th St., 506: PA Deals LLC to J. & A. Garbanzos, $65,000

S. 19th St., 1133: M. & B. Faulkner to N. Colon & R. Romero, $85,000

S. 23rd St., 600: G., D. & M. Complese to S. Wright, $69,900

State St., 219: WCI Partners LP to B. & K. Sidella and J. & N. Jones, $225,000

State St., 1516: Kirsch & Burns LLC to LMK Properties LLC, $37,000

Susquehanna St., 1737: Secretary of Veterans Affairs to L. Reapsome, $43,500

Walnut St., 1206: Kirsch & Burns LLC to LMK Properties, $32,000

Walnut St., 1525: ABC Solutions LLC to Choukri Auto Services LLC, $40,000

Wiconisco St., 620; 621 Emerald St.; 2352 Derry St.; and 612 & 614 Seneca St.: R. Shokes Jr. & Shokes Enterprises to JDP 2014 LLC, $259,000

Harrisburg property sales for July 2014, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Consultant On School Recovery Plan To Oversee Harrisburg Curriculum

August 5, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Drue Miles, an education consultant and the author of the education chapter in the Harrisburg school district’s state-sponsored recovery plan, is the district’s new acting school improvement administrator, following a unanimous vote Monday night by the board of school directors.

The position, which will pay $600 per day, was to be left vacant by the departure of Sherry Roland-Washington, whose resignation was also ratified by board vote Monday night and is effective August 15.

Gene Veno, the district’s state-appointed chief recovery officer, said Monday that he recommended the emergency hiring of Miles while the superintendent searched for a permanent replacement for Roland-Washington.

Miles, a former principal and assistant superintendent in Lancaster, worked as acting superintendent of the Reading school district for about a one-year period covering the 2011-12 school year. In June of 2013, he was appointed acting superintendent in Boyertown, where he served briefly before being replaced by a permanent superintendent early the following school year.

Miles is also the president of Miles Educational Services, where his services include “analyzing educational systems and writing both recovery plans and school/district plans to assist struggling school districts,” according to his LinkedIn profile. He has additionally worked as a senior education consultant for Public Financial Management, Inc., a national financial advisory firm, since February 2013.

On Monday, after the school board vote, Miles described his new role as “continuing oversight” of the development of the district’s curriculum, which is undergoing a process of alignment with new state standards.

That process was delayed somewhat under the tenure of Roland-Washington, who had initially aimed to have the curriculum alignment completed by last August, in accordance with the deadlines established by the original recovery plan.

Late last February, with the updates still not completed, the district opted to switch from an in-house team of teachers and administrators to a contractual agreement with Scholastic for the purpose of finishing the new curriculum. Then, in April, Veno amended his recovery plan to push back the curriculum deadlines by one year.

The first unit of the core curriculum, which comprises courses in English language arts, science, social studies and math, will now be completed in time for teacher in-school planning days next week, Miles said Monday. The complete curriculum, meanwhile, is slated to be finished by April of 2015.

Miles also said on Monday that he will take a leave of absence from Public Financial Management for the duration of his employment by the Harrisburg school district.

A Legacy of Learning: Artist Oliver LaGrone devoted his life to teaching others. A scholarship in his name ensures that his work continues.

July 31, 2014 | by Ann Myers

Screenshot 2014-07-30 21.24.35 Oliver LaGrone, noted poet, sculptor, educator and humanitarian, believed in educating through generosity. He wanted to make education possible and dreams come true.

In 1974, LaGrone inspired members of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg (UCH) to establish a scholarship in his name. He wanted to help graduates of the Harrisburg School District attend college so they could lead more productive, successful lives.

This past June, that dream came true for one Harrisburg grad, Merced Ramirez, now a sophomore at Messiah College. He was awarded $5,500 as the 2014 recipient of the Oliver LaGrone Scholarship.

“The LaGrone Scholarship helped me stay at Messiah,” he said. “I thought of transferring to another college that offered a full scholarship. But my professors at Messiah helped me work through my financial challenges, and, with the LaGrone Scholarship, I found a way to continue at Messiah.”

LaGrone, a committed Unitarian Universalist, was not a Pennsylvania native. He found his way here in 1970 after accepting a position teaching art education and African-American history at Penn State. He also was artist-in-residence at Penn State Harrisburg and held a similar position with the Hershey Foundation and Boas Center of Learning for the Harrisburg School District.

Several of his sculptures are prominently displayed in the UCH. In fact, proceeds from the sale of his sculpture, “The Dancer,” helped provide initial funding for the scholarship. His sculptures also can be seen in the LaGrone Cultural Arts Center at Penn State Harrisburg.

Dedicated, Driven

Meeting Ramirez at Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, I was introduced to a bright, articulate and witty young man. Graduating in the top 5 percent of his class from Harrisburg SciTech High, mathematics and languages were his favorite subjects.

While in high school, he was a member of the National Honor Society, Youth and Government Club, varsity soccer team and track and field team. He also participated with the Joshua Group, an at-risk youth mentoring organization in Harrisburg. That experience inspired his strong commitment to helping others and serving his community. Dedicated and driven, Ramirez now is majoring in international business with a minor in Chinese.

He does his best to make ends meet. He has a job at UPS this summer and hopes to be a residential advisor during his junior year. After graduation, he plans to work abroad collaborating with professionals from many backgrounds and careers.

When asked how he will give back to his alma mater, Ramirez said he wants to help students who struggle financially, providing secure pathways, allowing them to stay at Messiah and finish their education.

“My message is don’t let hard times destroy the possibility of a great future,” he said. “Don’t let disadvantages set you back. Make the hardest times the best times. Use them to grow and overcome adversity.”

Strong Foundation

In May of 1992, at the age of 84, LaGrone journeyed back to Harrisburg to celebrate the revitalized scholarship. Redefined to suit more diverse needs, the scholarship now may be used for any legitimate cost connected with schooling, such as tuition, books, room and board, transportation and childcare.

Margaret Carrow, chairwoman of the selection panel for the Oliver LaGrone Scholarship program, believes that a strong educational foundation can help people make a difference in the world.

“I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was fortunate to attend Clark University in Worcester, Mass.,” she said. “By chairing this committee, I am assuring that students have their chance to go to college and make a difference in the communities in which they live.”

The scholarship is given based on motivation to completion of one’s education despite obstacles, as well as financial need and knowledge and skills gained from life.

A unique feature of the scholarship is its mentoring component. A member of the UCH is matched with the scholarship recipient to provide personal support and encouragement throughout his or her education.

“My mentor understands me and the adversity that I have overcome,” said Ramirez, pausing before summarizing what the scholarship is really all about. “This is a great opportunity.”

Harrisburg Mayor Has “Positive” Meeting with State Education Secretary, Remains Concerned About Academic Benchmarks

May 8, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse met Tuesday with acting state Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq, having what the mayor described as a “positive and productive” two-hour conversation with the secretary and two Department of Education consultants working closely on the state recovery plan for the Harrisburg School District.

Karl Singleton, the mayor’s senior advisor for education and youth, also attended the meeting.

According to the mayor, during the meeting Dumaresq and her consultants went “line by line” through the new performance standards in Veno’s recovery plan. Papenfuse had previously critiqued those standards as having lowered the bar from the original plan’s benchmarks. He said he still stands by that judgment after Tuesday’s meeting, though he also said the conversation had an overall “positive” tone and that he believed it was a very important first step in an ongoing discussion about the district. Papenfuse also expressed his appreciation for the meeting, saying the secretary was “very generous with her time.”

The modified academic benchmarks in Veno’s amended plan, made public at a school board meeting in late April, take their lead from a new state system of “school performance profiles,” which were adopted in the fall and provide a more in-depth look at the academic quality of Pennsylvania schools and districts.

On Thursday, Papenfuse said he had a “philosophical disagreement” with the new measures, which rely on assessments of annual growth in addition to students’ raw test scores. Harrisburg schools, though they typically score poorly on standardized tests, score better on the growth measures. The district’s overall growth score in mathematics, for example, is reported as 100 percent on its performance profile, meaning district students, on average, are making or exceeding a year’s worth of progress in one year of schooling.

The mayor expressed doubts about the merits of the growth measures in assessing the quality of Harrisburg’s schools, saying that “improvement is not the same as success.”

Papenfuse also said he still has questions about what will happen to the district if it doesn’t meet the benchmarks in the amended plan. The original plan explained that, if district schools didn’t meet the academic targets laid out through 2016, Veno and the state would be authorized to “take the necessary steps to transfer District-educated students to schools under external management.”

The amended plan appears to incorporate this language. But, Papenfuse said, when he asked Dumaresq about the consequences of missing Veno’s benchmarks, she told him she wasn’t sure. The mayor said he was “very surprised” she did not have an answer, though he did say she promised to provide one soon. Repeated inquiries last week by TheBurg to the Department of Education’s press office and to Veno about this same question have not received replies.

On April 3, following a private February meeting with Veno, state Sen. Rob Teplitz and state Rep. Patty Kim, Papenfuse had publicly called for Veno’s resignation. He remains committed to this request, he said Thursday, saying he believes Harrisburg needs a “new recovery officer with expertise in urban education reform.” As of this writing, Veno had not responded to calls.

This story has been updated with an additional quote from Papenfuse about school assessments.

Moving Targets

April 30, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

Is Gene Veno, the state-appointed recovery officer for the Harrisburg school district, serious about improving Harrisburg’s schools?

Mayor Eric Papenfuse first raised this question on April 3, when he announced he had petitioned the education secretary for Veno’s removal. He said his request was based on an unsettling meeting he’d attended in late February, during which Veno apparently suggested that the district would never meet his plan’s academic goals. (Veno disputes this, though state Sen. Rob Teplitz and state Rep. Patty Kim, who were also at the meeting, backed up Papenfuse’s account.)

Then, last week, Veno released an update to his plan that changed its academic goals. In particular, the new plan reduced targets for student proficiency in reading, math and science, as measured by standardized test scores. The difference was only a few percentage points, but it was enough to rankle Papenfuse, who saw an attempt to quietly lower expectations without a full public vetting. He wrote an open letter to the acting education secretary, Carolyn Dumaresq, accusing Veno of having “watered down” his original plan.

“I feel fundamentally that the new plan has shifted the goalposts,” Papenfuse said Tuesday night in city hall. He suggested the amendments embraced “mediocrity,” adding, “It’s a big deal.”

How big a deal is it? One difficulty in assessing the new academic targets is that the state, in the year since the original plan was drafted, has changed its measurements of school quality. In October, the Department of Education launched a new system of “school performance profiles,” which use weighted averages to rate schools and districts on a 100-point scale. The profiles are meant to provide a balanced look at school performance, combining points for “achievement” (how high student test scores are in a given year) with points for “growth” (how much students improved since the previous year).

These combined factors—achievement and growth—can provide for a more nuanced picture of school performance. In Harrisburg, for instance, nearly every school does poorly in raw test scores, yet, at the same time, nearly every school meets (and, in many cases, exceeds) expectations for annual growth. But the performance profiles include yet another measure of public schools: they also set annual targets for improving test scores, referred to, in characteristically eye-glazing language, as “indicators of closing the achievement gap.”

These targets are the subject of Papenfuse’s claim about benchmarks being “watered down.” The state defines the achievement gap as how far a school fell short of 100-percent proficiency in the 2012-13 school year. The state then applies a formula to come up with annual targets for “closing” the gap (actually, the targets are for cutting the gap in half within six years). For instance, applied to Harrisburg’s district-wide proficiency in math, which was 38 percent in 2012-13, the formula produces an annual target of a 5.2-percent increase per year.

This is where the new recovery plan has lowered expectations. Instead of demanding the full 5.2-percent jump in math proficiency in 2014, Veno, the recovery officer, has asked for a more modest climb of 3.64. Similar reductions were applied to the targets in science and reading. These new targets represent only 70 percent of the state’s recommendations, though the plan does ratchet them up towards full achievement of state goals by 2016.

So, to return to the original question: are these targets a sign that Veno has lost faith in the district, or is the mayor’s letter petty squabbling? The difference between Veno’s new goals and the state’s, as I wrote above, is only a couple of percentage points. On the other hand, even the state goals fall short of the original recovery plan, which called for annual gains in proficiency of up to 7 percent.

But the recovery plan’s goalposts, moving or otherwise, are only a partial measure of its academic seriousness. Even reduced targets are still just targets. The question for the recovery plan is whether it helps the district reach them.

Veno’s plan, at least on paper, has promises on this front, including reinstating full-day kindergarten, installing a system of consistent feedback between the superintendent, principals and teachers, and overhauling the school curriculum. But there’s also discouraging evidence regarding the implementation of these goals.

The original plan included a deadline for the curriculum overhaul of Aug. 15, 2013, in time for the current school year; in the amended plan, the deadline is Aug. 11, 2014. The plan’s financial objectives, including union concessions, were achieved in a matter of months (though, as it turned out, on the basis of shaky accounting). The delay on the academic front might tell you something about Veno’s priorities. (Since Monday, Veno has deferred to the Department of Education’s press secretary for comment. Neither the department nor Harrisburg school district officials responded to inquiries Wednesday.)

The beginning of this article asked if Veno was serious about academic improvement. Perhaps more to the point is the question of whether he can be serious about budget cuts and academic improvement at the same time. Nobody seems particularly keen to confront this question, and for good reason. Doing so would require admitting that Veno’s office, and the legislation that created it, has two irreconcilable goals: spending less on public education, and getting more out of it.

This story has been updated to include information about requests to Veno for comment.

State Lawmakers Back Harrisburg Mayor in Dispute over School Recovery Officer

April 16, 2014 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

If you’re going to meet about something as contentious as public education, you might want to bring a tape recorder.

That may be the best lesson so far in the saga surrounding Mayor Eric Papenfuse’s call for the removal of Gene Veno, the school district’s state-appointed chief recovery officer.

Two weeks ago, Papenfuse kicked up a small storm by going public with the fact that he had asked the state Secretary of Education to replace Veno, saying Veno did not believe in his own recovery plan for the district.

Papenfuse said his remarks were prompted by a meeting to discuss the state of the district and to get an update on the progress of Veno’s plan. State Rep. Patty Kim, who hosted the meeting in her Capitol office on the morning of Feb. 28, has corroborated the mayor’s account of the meeting. So has state Sen. Rob Teplitz, who also attended.

Almost as soon as the meeting began, Kim said, it turned “personal.”

According to Papenfuse, Veno acted defensive, driving the discussion off course with erratic remarks. At one point, Veno even lobbed a political threat at Teplitz, suggesting that people had encouraged Veno to run for Teplitz’s Senate seat.

Veno acknowledged making this remark, but said that immediately afterwards he added he “wasn’t interested” in running for office.

But what really disturbed him, Papenfuse said, was that Veno, when asked whether his plan would meet its academic benchmarks, “unequivocally” said it would not.

“He absolutely, completely doesn’t think his plan is going to work,” Papenfuse said. “That was where the conversation got frustrating. He blamed everybody else, and then he said that there was nothing he could do about it.”

As Kim describes it, Papenfuse “was trying to pin down Mr. Veno on what his next step of action was going to be with the school district.” Veno, she said, didn’t have one.

Veno, however, continues to deny he ever suggested his plan would fail. He said he “absolutely” believed it would succeed, but that it was “going to take some time.” He also explained that the circumstances leading up to the meeting had made him suspicious of its purpose.

In the weeks before the scheduled meeting, Veno said, he received a call from Sherri Magnuson, the president of the teacher’s union. Magnuson told him about a recent meeting with Papenfuse and his education advisor, Karl Singleton, during which the mayor had asked for the union’s support in calling for Veno’s resignation.

“So I went into that meeting [with the mayor] knowing he had asked for my removal,” Veno said.

Papenfuse said he did not recall expressly asking union leadership to support Veno’s removal, but that he did remember “discussing a lack of confidence in Veno.”

“I encouraged them to think more broadly about their role,” Papenfuse said. “We talked confidentially about the recovery plan, and we asked them to come back and let us know what they were willing to do. I didn’t anticipate they’d go back to Veno.”

Magnuson, the union president, said she clearly remembered the mayor asking if the teachers would join him in calling for Veno to resign. She said she did not reply, because that sort of decision would need to be taken to her membership, and that she later informed Veno because she thought he had a “right to know.”

According to Papenfuse, after the meeting, Veno also spread a rumor among some school officials that Papenfuse, Teplitz and Kim had instructed him to fire the district superintendent, Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney. Jennifer Smallwood, the school board president, said last week that Veno had “directly” told her as much. Papenfuse denied making any such suggestion to Veno, as did Teplitz and Kim.

After the Feb. 28 meeting, Papenfuse and Teplitz met with Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq and urged her to replace Veno. According to Papenfuse, Dumaresq, who was appointed by Gov. Corbett last August, promised a reply within two weeks. Four weeks later, having gotten no response, the Papenfuse administration issued its press release about the request for Veno’s removal.

Tim Eller, the state Department of Education’s press director, said Dumaresq denied providing a timeline for her response to the mayor. Eller declined to discuss the status of the mayor’s request, saying the secretary would not publicly comment on a “personnel matter,” except to say that “Gene Veno is the CRO for Harrisburg and remains the CRO for Harrisburg.”

Teplitz and Kim, both Democrats, and both elected in 2012, represent districts that include the city of Harrisburg. Veno, who lives in Teplitz’s district, said that he brought up the prospect of running for Teplitz’s seat only because people in the community had been asking him about it. “I felt he should know, the community supported what we were doing in the school district.”

Asked which members of the community had made the suggestion, Veno replied it was “people you would see on the street, having a cup of coffee.”

“They see you hard at work, and they ask if you’re running for office,” he said.

Backfire

April 7, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

“I’m not certain how the city will be served with only three fire stations,” said Harrisburg Councilwoman Susan Brown-Wilson.

It was November 2010, and former Mayor Linda Thompson had just proposed an austere budget for 2011 that included several significant changes to the operations of the city’s Fire Bureau, including the closing of one of the city’s four fire houses, the aged Paxton Fire Co. station in Shipoke.

A furor ensued.

Downtown business owners, apartment residents and Shipoke homeowners all flocked to City Council meetings to complain. The firefighters’ union held a press conference condemning the proposal. Signs popped up in the windows of city homes and businesses asserting that they were with the firefighters (and, by implication, against the mayor).

“I’ve been inundated with phone calls and emails about the closing of [the Paxton] station,” Councilwoman Eugenia Smith said at the time.

By the time council passed its 2011 budget, most funding had been restored to the bureau, and the fire station remained open. Thompson wisely never went there again.

Fast-forward three-plus years.

Late Thursday, somewhere around 5:15 p.m., a press release popped into the email inboxes of the usual gang of City Hall reporters. Mayor Eric Papenfuse, it said, planned to shut down the Paxton station, citing the same reasons that Thompson had back in 2010—the aging fire station needed costly repairs, was in a flood zone and was not essential to ensure the safety of city residents. A press conference Friday afternoon affirmed this plan and these reasons.

The surprise, late-afternoon statement was the second press release that Papenfuse issued that day on a controversial subject. A few hours earlier, he had publicly called for the dismissal of Gene Veno, the school district’s chief recovery officer, as well as the approval of the proposed Key Charter School, which hopes to open in the old Bishop McDevitt site at 2200 Market St.

On that day, he even let leak that he had been called to testify before a grand jury in Pittsburgh that is investigating actions that led to Harrisburg’s financial crisis.

My reaction to these events can be summarized in a single word: why? Or, to be more specific and slightly more verbose: why now?

Since taking office in January, the Papenfuse administration has been trying to find its operational groove. It spent the first month attempting to get acclimated, only to find itself battling with council over budget priorities, raises for key managers and the attempted creation of new cabinet positions. Almost immediately afterwards, it fell into an unexpected controversy over a deteriorating church and, more significantly, the arrest of the man who owns it.

Now this.

What struck me most about the announcements was how unnecessary they seemed. I respect Papenfuse’s commitment to improving the city’s low-performing schools (even though the administration has little power over them). And I further respect his desire to remove the chief recovery officer if he feels that Veno is not the right man for the job.

Papenfuse, however, already had privately urged state Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq to replace Veno. I saw little value in a public statement lambasting him, followed by press interviews that once again placed the city in the midst of conflict in the public eye. Furthermore, Papenfuse has little say in how the city’s schools operate, making his high-profile stance seem like turmoil for no real purpose.

Likewise, I don’t understand why Papenfuse decided to reignite the firestorm over the Shipoke fire station at this time. I accept his word and and that of Fire Chief Brian Enterline that the station is in need of repair. In addition, closing the station, it seems, will result in substantial savings to the city.

Papenfuse, however, set himself up for exactly the backlash that greeted Thompson. Moreover, the proposal was dropped on Shipoke and downtown residents without preparation or warning, again recalling the former mayor. The completely predictable uproar caused Papenfuse to hastily arrange a public forum late Sunday at the closed restaurant, Char’s Bella Mundo, to try to undo some of the damage from engaging only the press–and not the impacted community–before acting.

As to the grand jury leak–as much as I desire justice for this city, that information isn’t supposed to be public at all in fear that it will affect the investigation.

The Papenfuse administration has a great deal on its plate, foremost continuing to adjust to the business of running an effective government. The Paxton fire station is simply not a high-priority issue and easily could have put off for six months until the administration had a firmer bearing and had addressed more pressing issues. In addition, it should have learned a lesson from the Thompson days, taking the time to engage residents instead of potentially angering them.

Harrisburg needs stability and confidence. Residents need to be assured that there’s a steady hand on the wheel, an administration that does not seek out, manufacture or exacerbate controversy.

Our two previous mayors embraced, even relished, conflict and controversy, offering this city more than its share of unnecessary melodrama. Harrisburg now needs sober, methodical leadership, even if that means feeding less red meat to the 6 o’clock news.

Mayor Moves to Replace School Recovery Officer

April 3, 2014 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse today called for the replacement of Gene Veno, the school district’s chief recovery officer.

In a prepared statement, Papenfuse said that he doesn’t think that Veno believes that Harrisburg schools “will meet academic benchmarks under the plan he devised.”

“This is unacceptable and compromises the future of our children,” he said.

Papenfuse said he recently met with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq to express “alarm” at the lack of progress in improving academic standards in Harrisburg schools.

“I asked Secretary Dumaresq to replace Gene Veno as recovery officer for the Harrisburg School District to bring more energy and a new vision to reinvigorate our schools,” he said.

The state appointed Veno about a year ago to draft a recovery plan for the district, which is now being implemented. The district is buried under a debt of almost $500 million and suffers from subpar student performance.

Separately, Papenfuse urged the school board to approve the application of Key Charter School, which wishes to open a school in the former Bishop McDevitt site.

“I believe in parental choice as an essential component of educational reform,” he said. “The proposal from Key Charter provides the highest and best use I have seen for the former Bishop McDevitt building and would be a positive development for the city.”

The board has been reluctant to approve new charters, denying numerous applications over the past several years.

The city has no direct control over the school district. Nonetheless, Papenfuse has made improvement of the school system a significant focus of his new administration.

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