CASD board candidate questions

Below you will find the full responses to questions we asked each CASD school board candidate

in an email on Friday, May 8. All responses here are exactly as each candidate turned them in.

Legal fees: Do you think the district is justified in how much money it spends on legal fees; why

or why not? Is it important that the district be transparent about how much is spent on legal

fees and what exactly the fees are for, and how good of a job has the district done with this?

Superintendent: Rate the job Dr. Padasak has done in the district. Has he had a positive or

negative impact, and why?

Spending/budget: Rate the district's financial status. What should be done to remove the deficit

and achieve a balanced budget? Do you support the potential 3.75% tax increase for 2015-16,

and why? (NOTE: Questions were given to the candidates before the school board voted May

13 to potentially use a 2.4 percent tax increase instead of 3.75 percent. Some responses may

refer to the former proposed tax increase.)

Growth and the future: Has the district been taking the right steps to accommodate the

significant growth of 1,000+ students expected over the coming decade? What do you see as

the biggest challenge(s) the district faces over the next several years, and what do you think

should be done about it/them?

Steven Gaugler

Legal fees: "The CASD is a business with revenues of close to $125 million. Based on the

numbers I have seen, our annual legal fees are less than 0.0025% of our annual revenue. I

cannot think of any business this size that would consider such an expense anything more than

a required cost of doing business to protect the interests of their investors who, in this case, is

the taxpayers. It is my understanding that our current solicitor charges us $130/hour. This fee

has been increased less than a handful of times over 40 years from the original fee of $90/hour.

To put this in perspective, in 2012 Harrisburg School District (which has lower enrollment than

CASD) changed solicitors to REDUCE their billable hourly rate to $250 in an attempt to save

money. It should also be noted that their previous solicitor also charged them $60,000 to

transfer their files to the new solicitor's firm. The concept that legal fees are an issue is a farce.

Every school district across the commonwealth has legal fees. Ours are lower than most. This is

reality. Those who are trying to capitalize on the district’s piggy bank through lawsuits would

have you believe we are paying too much. I believe the public sees through the smoke &

mirrors and understands that this is purely an attempt to get easier access to the district & the

taxpayers’ funds.”

More information on legal fees & the sources used to draw the conclusions above. See the

PennLive link below for more information concern HSD legal fees.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/04/solicitors_legal_tab_to_harris.html

Please also note the numbers listed below related to legal fees in other districts in our region

over the 2 year period of 2007-2009 (which is 6-8 years ago) that were taken from the PennLive

link provided below.

Legal fees paid by districts for 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years combined:

Central Dauphin School District: $852,973 total; 10,956 students

Cumberland Valley School District: $210,718 total; 7,730 students

Harrisburg School District: $1,009,642 total; 8,391 students

West Shore School District: $402,526 total; 8,122 students

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/01/school_districts_spend_thousan.html

Concerning Dr. Padasak performance:

“In order to answer this question objectively I felt it was necessary to do my own

research. The first step was to find out who hired Dr. Joseph Padasak. I found that in 2005

Eugene Gayman, Robert Helman, Stanley Helman, Lori Leedy, Craig Musser, Tom

Orndorf, Fred Rice, Dave Sciamanna, & Renee Sharpe voted unanimously to hire Dr.

Padasak. The next step was finding out what expectations had been set for him. I

reviewed a number of documents including a 90 page Strategic Plan which was

developed in 2006 to begin addressing the future of the district from 2007-2012.

Numerous members of the community including parents, teachers, district staff, &

administrators were appointed by Dr. Padasak to serve on various committees. These

committees helped identify the long term goals for CASD which set the expectations for

our superintendent. I reviewed this document as well several others provided on the

CASD website. I could not find one challenge these committees gave Dr. Padasak which

he did not accept & there are far too many of them to list. In almost every case he not

only met but exceeded the expectations he was given. I then asked myself “what have Dr.

Padasak’s performance evaluations reflected”. So I politely asked him if he would

provide me with copies of his evaluations. He turned them over with delight. What I

found was that every one of his evaluations has indicated a performance level of

satisfactory or above. The thing I found most interesting is that the first 5 were written by

an individual who is now probably his most vocal opposition. I think that says a lot. So I

will agree with her. Dr. Padasak’s performance has been at a minimum satisfactory and,

in most cases, commendable.”

Concerning spending & budget:

“As a homeowner, I cannot say that I want to pay any more taxes than is necessary. As a

parent, I want what is best for our children & their education. I am pleased that the

majority (8-1 vote) of our current board recognized that paying $234,000 to get $3,766,000

in from a recent reverse tax appeal settlement was a good deal. I cannot understand why

this vote was not unanimous. We all agree the budget needs spent wisely. We also need

to recognize that our district has fiscally changed. We have seen an increase in low

income families. As a result, there is an increase in costs to our district’s needs as well

as a reduction in our revenue. That said, the idea of taking away opportunities from our

children should be our last resort and only be considered after every other avenue has

been explored. Another thing that needs to be pointed out is that it’s difficult to say what our

fiscal status will be come this fall considering we do not know what funding we are

receiving from the commonwealth in the 2015-2016 school year. Governor Wolf has made

a promise to us that adequate funding for education is a number one priority for him.

Until that piece of the puzzle is in place everything else is all speculation. But in reality

we are not in fiscal difficulty. We have saved over $8 million in interest since 2010 by re-

financing our capital debt. Of the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania, only 15 having a

higher bond rating that CASD according to Moody's Rating Service. If CASD ever

received a downgrading from its current AA2 rating, it will be because we chose to use

our budgetary reserves rather than raise taxes.”

Kevin Mintz

Legal fees: "I don't think that the district is justified on how much money it spends on legal

fees, but honestly, with the lack of transparency, how do we really know? It is very important

that the district be transparent as legally as possible so that we as community members,

taxpayers, and parents know how much is being spent and why. I understand that some

lawsuits are unavoidable, however, are we using the best methods in our district to avoid ones

that are avoidable? When right to know requests are delayed by red tape, and questions are

dodged, the transparency is noticeably absent."

Superintendent: "It is not as black and white to rate the job Dr. Padasak has done in the district.

Being the superintendent is a thankless job, in which one must wear many hats. Some of the

positives during his tenure are the starting of programs such as pre-K that could help our most

at risk students and the IB program that could help our highest achievers. Some of the

negatives during his tenure are the previously mentioned lack of transparency, the handling of

employees and students (such as the Cathy Dusman case, the LGTBA club, forcing out of

students from high school, dress code, the false impression portrayed to the public through

very inaccurate national ranking systems, and the fear of transfer/termination perceived by

employees for speaking their minds). We need to change the atmosphere and the culture of

negativity that is being developed, but we can not ignore this by only focusing on the positives.

We need to find ways to correct these negatives that have occurred over the past few years

and soon.

Spending/budget: "Financially the district appears to not be stable. One big issue I have is that

when a few board members raised questions about the budget, there was not a serious look at

the programs and their benefits to the school and community. While as a taxpayer I am glad

that the tax increase was voted at 2.4% instead of 3.75%, but as a parent, teacher, and

community member I am very upset that we have not really looked at the programs to see if

they are really beneficial to our goals. Why is the budget being approved and tax increases

going through before we answer these questions? We should have two main goals as a district:

Ensuring the well-being of our students and preparing them to be active and contributing

members of our community. Everything we do must fall into those two categories and anything

else is extra that is not needed. We must take care of the needs of the students (especially

those most at risk) before we as a community decide if we are willing to pay for extra things

that we may want but don't really need."

Growth and the future: "The biggest challenge the district is facing is not the overall expected

growth but the rising number of our at-risk students and meeting the needs of our continually

diversifying socio-economic population. Many students are entering our schools and cannot

recognize letters of the alphabet. Many students need additional help to learn English to

communicate better with their teachers and classmates. Many students have different learning

styles that need to be addressed. Many students' only meal(s) they eat are in the school. We

have three elementary schools with high FARM (free-and-reduced meals) populations that is so

high that the entire school receives free meals. We need to do the following: Expand pre-K, to

give students the opportunity to be ready to learn when they enter Kindergarten. We need to

partner with our business community to have more job training/internships/apprenticeships

available so our students leave with jobs and not just diplomas. We need to partner with our

local community non-profit groups so we can help our at-risk students can have access to

programs that can help ensure their most basic needs are met. Our community is only strong

as our weakest citizen; we need to work together and invest in these ways to stop the cycle of

generational poverty that is going on in our community."

Darrell Snyder

Legal fees: I think that we must understand that the CASD is essentially a 125 million dollar

business and is the second largest employer in Franklin County. I believe that the public would

expect any business this size to incur some legal fees as a part of the cost of doing business. I

also believe that the fee structure and overall costs are very reasonable when compared to

other similarly sized school districts and businesses. I think that transparency in regard to these

fees or any other decisions would be a good thing. A CASD Director is an elected representative

of the community and should be willing and able to discuss any decision made with their

constituency.

Superintendent: While I don’t personally know Dr. Padasak, I think it’s apparent that he is not

afraid of either change or controversy. I admire the role that he has played in the changes that

have been made in the CASD under his leadership to offer better short term and long term

opportunities to Chambersburg students. Offering opportunities like the Junior ROTC program,

the International Baccalaureate program, the Career Magnet School, and Enhanced Workforce

Development at the Franklin County Career and Technology Center have given a large

percentage of the student population chances that they would not have had before. While I like

that he is not afraid of change, I question his relationship tactics with the School Board, the

public, and with CASD employees. I find it troubling that this question would even come up

(especially as often as it does) given the unmitigated successes and growth of the CASD under

his watch. While great leaders don’t necessarily need to be well liked, I would like to see some

reconciliation and understanding between all of these very important parties.

Spending/budget: As with any budget, we first have to differentiate between “needs” and

“wants”. Often, items on these lists will differ between the public and the administration. For

example, in my viewpoint my son “wants” a phone, but in his viewpoint he “needs” a phone.

That is where I believe the elected Board of Directors must decide which category to put the

item in by taking into account the opinions of BOTH their constituency and the administration.

If our budget allows us to fulfill all of the “needs” of our students, then I would not support the

tax increase. However, if our students “needs” cannot be met with the allocated budget (still

yet to be determined), then other sources of revenue would need to be found.

Growth and the future: Strategic plans are in place, but need to be revisited often to ensure

long term academic and achievement successes along with fiscal solvency. Our diverse cultural

and socio-economic populations are a challenge to best prepare ALL students for long term

successes. As I mentioned before, I have been impressed with how the administration has

mitigated this issue to this point by developing new programs and curriculums that meet the

individual student’s needs. I would like to see this trend continue where we are able to provide

opportunities for the full spectrum of students equally rather than taking an easier route of

“teaching to the middle” to merely pass students through the system with little regard for long

term success.

Kim Amsley-Camp

Legal fees: This is indeed a topic of much discussion. Our legal fees, like all CASD expenditures,

are a matter of public record and are readily available for public inspection and comment.

Legal fees are listed on the CASD website. Our legal fees are managed as effectively and

efficiently as possible. We employ five law firms, each representing the District in specific areas.

To put our fees in context with the general fund budget: CASD has an annual budget of more

than $123 million; our legal fees are slightly more than $286,000, to date, and they include

special education, technology, personnel, real estate and general legal services. Our legal fees

are less than .02% of the District budget. Just this year we spent approximately $18,000 in legal

fees to pursue reverse tax appeals and it resulted in the collection of $4 million that will go

directly to students and programming over the next 10 years. This is $4 million that won’t be

coming from local taxpayers’ pockets. The District maintains liability insurance that protects it

from losses resulting from litigation. 80% of the legal costs for claims are paid by the insurance

company. In exchange, the insurance company controls the litigation and dictates whether

lawsuits are settled or not. Legal fees are a cost of doing business and are never taken lightly

by the District.If one were to do a thorough investigation of the legal fees incurred by

comparable schools districts in the region, the investigation would reveal that CASD’s cost of

doing its legal business is far less than that of other districts on a per student basis.

Superintendent. Our superintendent is evaluated annually by the full board. Evaluations are

shown on the CASD website along with the upcoming year’s goals. His goals are set annually

and mutually agreed upon by the board. This superintendent was hired to make changes to

the District and to improve school performance. He has done that. At the time he was hired,

our buildings lacked the necessary 21st century technology infrastructure to allow our students

to compete in an ever increasing competitive global economy. In addition, he has been given

input by and listened to the business community to upgrade/update the schools and

curriculum, which has been the cornerstone to our planning and building program. That has

come with a risk that change is difficult for some and accountability of staff is not always well

received. The board has supported significant changes over the last several years and while

some have taken longer to implement, every decision is analyzed in the best interests of the

students. To answer this question directly, the superintendent has done and continues to do

the job for which he was hired. Depending on the specific initiative, one’s opinion might look

more or less favorably on the change. With all the publicity surrounding the superintendent,

we seem to have lost sight of the District’s accomplishments under his leadership. As one of

the fastest growing and most diverse school districts in the state, we have unique challenges

such as increasing enrollments and a corresponding increase in the number of students that

qualify for free or reduced lunches. In spite of those challenges, the District has been

recognized repeatedly for its accomplishments. As an example, in 2013, the Pittsburgh

Business Tribune reported an Overachievers Ranking for 498 Pennsylvania school districts in

which CASD ranked number 444. The higher the rank the better the district is performing.

Spending/budget: Unfortunately, every public school district in the commonwealth is at the

mercy of the state budget process. We are required to adopt our budget prior to knowing the

state’s allocation. To ensure that the District will be able to meet its obligations for the coming

year, the Board has approved a 3.75% maximum tax increase. Given the savings from the

teachers/support staff contracts and the savings from bond refinancing and cost saving actions

by administration, this 3.75% will most likely not be necessary. In the 3 years, I have been on

the board, tax increases have decreased, and have averaged 1.2% annually which is significantly

less than that of the previous boards in which increases ranged from 3.5% -8.81% annually. It is

important to highlight that CASD is one of only 15 school districts in the state to have a AA bond

rating. This bond refinancing has saved the District $1.8 million since 2008. CASD is the sixth

fastest growing district in the state and because Pennsylvania is one of just three states that

does not have predictable funding formula, the board will be continually challenged fiscally.

My experience allows me to understand the challenges and I am confident that I can lend

leadership in navigating toward long-term fiscal stability. There is always room for

improvement and I promise that I will remain open and accessible to the community and to any

suggestions as to how to improve the budgetary process while maintaining and improving

educational opportunities in the CASD.

Growth and the Future: Our district is growing at the unprecedented rate of 100 students

annually. An increase of 100 students means a need for 4 new teachers, 4 classrooms and all of

the required supporting expenses. We have utilized feasibility studies from outside firms and

worked at meeting that challenge. With the recommendations from those feasibility studies,

we have renovated most schools or built new ones to accommodate this growth while

enhancing the educational experiences of our students. CREATIVITY and forward thinking is the

answer. I encourage and welcome community involvement in helping to address our future

challenges. Education is the foundation of our community and to build on it requires

community investments of time, talent and the resources of everyone. I look forward to

working with those who are ready to help meet the challenges. Our CHILDREN are our FUTURE.

Stanley J. Helman

Legal fees: I don't think anyone likes to pay legal fees. The district has a responsibility however

to defend itself and the taxpayers of the district when lawsuits are brought against it. A large

portion of the legal fees are a result of defending tax assessment appeals. If the district

doesn't defend these appeals the other taxpayers in the district will be required to pay higher

taxes on their properties. The district has published the legal fees on their website and

provided the PO reporter with a detailed summary of these bills. There are some aspects of

the bills which are by law confidential and therefore can not be made public.

Superintendent: I would allow the public to evaluate for themselves the job Dr. Padasak has

done. I would point out that during his tenure in the district we have when from being in the

bottom third of the districts in the state to being ranked near the top of the state in

performance. We are recognized as one of the most advanced district in the state with regard

to the quality and variety of academic and extra curricular programs that we offer our

students. We have received countless state and national recognitions for our achievements.

We are a district which is recommended to parents of special needs students because of the

tremendous programs and support we offer. We are one of the only districts that actually has

a child advocacy group for parents. We also have one of the top 15 bond ratings in the state

according to Moody's Rating service. Change is sometimes uncomfortable. Therefore

many times it causes contention when it is implemented.

Spending/budget: The district's financial status is very positive. There is not actually a deficit.

The district is using a sound financial plan to use some of our fund balance to prevent the

need for large tax increases. I do not support a 3.75% tax increase. I proposed (and the board

passed) a 2.4% increase. I think that when we pass our final budget in June we should be able

to bring that rate down to close to 2%. The district has been able to save over $14 million

dollars by refinancing bonds over the last five years. This is partially due to our excellent bond

rating and the lower interest rates we can get because of that.

Growth and the future: The district has continued to prepare for future enrollment increases

by improvement and expansion of our facilities to make sure we have capacity for these

students. The biggest challenge the district faces is our ever increasing poverty level of

families. We have implemented programs designed to help these students overcome the

challenges that this poverty present. It is increasingly more difficult to fund these programs as

budgets continue to tighten. The success of these students depends on the continuation and

improvement of these programs.

Dr. Mark Schur

Legal fees: Legal expenses are unnecessarily too much. Litigation has been dragged on beyond

reason with silly appeals that waste tax payer money and distract from education. Right to

know expenses can be reduced by making documents available as a standard practice instead

of spending time and money enforcing bureaucratic roadblocks. Transparency is lacking today.

The Finance Committee, chaired by Mr. Helman, has fallen short of fulfilling its oversight

responsibility of requiring itemization of Legal billing and subsequently making such available

for the public.

Superintendent: Documented specific and measurable performance goals are more important

than individual perspective when discussing job performance. According to the CASD website

and the Superintendent/CASD contract, eight performance objectives exist. Since these are

more strategy in nature and span a five year period, I assume that the Board, led by the

Personnel/Negotiations Committee (comprised of Mr. Helman, Mrs. Amsley-Camp, and Mrs.

Boryan) has laid out specific and measurable performance criteria for this school year. The lack

of such makes the annual June performance review a meaningless exercise and demonstrates a

lack of objective oversight. For example: Objective 1 “The Superintendent and Associate

Superintendent will sustain an organizational vision that promotes academic and organizational

success”. Exactly what must be accomplished by May 31, 2015 in order or anyone to

OBJECTIVELY evaluate performance? If any such criteria exist, I call for it to be published.

Promoting academic success includes both relaying accolades by outside groups as much as

being present to honor student accomplishments. Personally, I was disappointed that neither

Superintendent nor Associate Superintendent was present at the National Honor Society

induction at the Career Magnet School on May 6. An absence was noted by other parents. Not

attending at least a portion of the induction ceremony does not demonstrate promoting

academic success.

Spending/budget: I do not support the 3.75% tax increase. I do not support a 2.4% increase. I

do not support a 2% increase. I do not understand how the district needed a 3.75% increase for

months (which still would have left a deficit of nearly $2 million), and then during the course of

public discussion (with an election less than a week away) make a recommendation change the

increase to 2.4%. While this may make voters less irritated, I observed in disbelief. Board

members who make motions to add items to the agenda “last minute” are chastised, yet it is

acceptable practice to move the amount of a tax increase around on a $125,000,000 budget

and not be provided clear financials of those impacts. Only minutes before during the public

comment of the School Board meeting on 5/13/15, I stated “the materials provided in this

budget proposal do not provide adequate detail for the Board to make a responsible decision.

The budget proposal does not provide any spending cuts or other recommendations on options

to achieve a balanced budget, and that approval of this budget demonstrates fiscal

irresponsibility and lack of strong oversight by the Board.”

In addition to the forecasted deficit (nearly $2,000,000), we are facing further budget deficits of

$1 million in each of next two years. How does the Finance Committee (Mr. Helman (chair),

Mrs. Amsley-Camp, Mrs. Boylan, and Mr. Floyd) expect those deficits to be covered – manna

from Harrisburg, more tax reassessments, continued increases to district taxpayers, or spending

cuts?

The first step is for the Board to receive budget and financial performance information in a

manner that allows objective oversight to ensure taxpayer’s money is used wisely. Provision of

materials in a manner that is acceptable to the Board and that follows existing school board

policy will simply need to be outlined as a performance requirement of the appropriate

administrative individuals.

Growth and the future: A study forecasted growth to occur in the northern region of the

district. I have difficulty understanding how the decision to rebuild a school in the southern

part of the district positions the district well for projected growth. Our three year old second

high school (the Career Magnet School), is already at capacity, scaled back from its original

design. Our future is in a difficult predicament as the result of the efforts and

recommendations of the Buildings and Grounds Committee (Mr. Helman (chair), Mrs.

Amsley-Camp, and Mr. Norcross).

The first large challenge that must be tackled is budgetary discipline and oversight. I look

forward to working with Mr. Norcross, who has been a voice calling for more transparency, Mr.

Lennartz (my fellow candidate with extensive budget experience) and the administration to get

us where we need to be in this respect. Other distractions need to be addressed and finalized

including legal matters and migrating the culture to one of collaboration – within the Board,

with Students, with Teachers, and with Administration.

William (Bill) Lennartz

Legal Fees: There is NO transparency! Should there be? Of course! It’s the taxpayer’s money

and they have a right to know how their taxes are being spent. How much is being spent on

legal fees and what are they for? Does anyone know? I spoke with an individual who has been

following the Cathy Dusman case closely and estimated over a hundred thousand dollars has

been spent on that case alone. The district has lost on appeal twice. It’s time to admit it made

a mistake and move on and stop spending more and more funds that it doesn’t have. The same

individual has asked the Board for this information under the Freedom of Information Act and

ran into a stone wall. It would have cost hundreds of dollars to obtain the information and then

so much would have been redacted (SP) rendering it useless. The individual finally gave up.

Excessive legal fees are evidence of a wrong focus. – more a result of personality conflicts and

poor judgment by Administration and Board than anything. If the sincere focus was on

Education these fees would not exist or at least would not be in question as a controversial

campaign issue. And they are excessive. The amount of fees CASD has accumulated over the

past few years is more a result of poor judgment, mismanagement, arrogance, and downright

stubbornness.

Superintendent: I would have to give him a D. Why? I have personally knocked on more than

500 doors in my district while I was out campaigning and of those that mentioned Dr. Padasak,

no one had a positive comment with the exception of one person. (I never brought his name

up first while talking to voters but I would listen to them if they saw him as an issue.) I never

worked with nor spoke with him and normally I like to form my own opinion of someone but

when you hear the same negative comments over and over again, you have to come to the

conclusion that it is doubtful that many people could be wrong. People are our most important

resource and should be treated with respect even if they have a different idea or opinion about

an issue. A good leader does not need to bully by using fear and intimidation to get his or her

way. You need to look no further than the Cathy Dusman case. Our teachers deserve better

and should not have to work in that kind of environment. I would not have voted to renew Dr.

Padasak’s contract a year early.

We need a Board that understands and respects the fact that it is accountable to the

Community – not to the Administration. The School Board is responsible to direct the affairs

and establish the policies of the School District, while the Administration is responsible to

implement the Board’s directives and policies, and to report back to the Board on all matters.

As a Director, I want to be able to walk the hallways of our schools without an escort.

(Currently, an escort is required.) I want to talk to teachers and I want them to talk to me

without the administration looking over my shoulder. (Of course as a courtesy I would check in

with the front office first.) I want to observe classrooms to get a feel for what they do and see

the interaction between teachers and students. I don’t want to rely on what the administration

tells me or have a guided orchestrated tour. I want to see and hear for myself.

Spending/Budget: I rate it an F. To sum it up in a word; irresponsible! Past board leadership,

Mr. Helman and Ms. Amsley-Camp, who currently sit on the finance committee, share the

responsibility for the CASD’s dismal financial state. In the recent past, the Board has voted for a

5.5% tax increase in 2011-12 and 2.6% last year (for the 2014/15 school year) and now the

proposed 2.4% for next year. (NOTE: The Board voted to reduce this tax increase from 3.75%

to 2.4% at the 13 May Board meeting.) In addition, just recently the Board voted to build a new

school in Marion. My opponent, Mr. Darrell Snyder, is also a part of this group seeking a seat

on the Board.

One of the biggest problems with the budget process is the lack of transparency. Do you hear

them touting the $1.75M budget deficit? I have not seen any evidence of proposed spending

cuts to justify such a large tax increase. How can you justify spending thousands of dollars for a

trip to New Orleans last year to attend a conference and spend hundreds more to attend

another conference at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center when the funding in the

school budget is tight?! My experience as a budget analyst was that when funds are short (and

certainly if they are in the red), one of the first areas you cut is travel and then overhead and

discretionary items in the budget. The Administration, and especially members of the school

board, must set an example and be held to the highest standards. This is only one reason why

the current composition of the Board needs to change. Proper oversight and control is severely

lacking.

I DO NOT support a tax increase of 3.75% (now on the table for a 2.4% tax increase). The only

reason it is an issue today is due to the reckless spending of the current leadership. This is a

situation that could have been and should have been avoided. We all have household budgets

and we all know what happens when we spend more than we have coming in….bad

things….that’s what happens. The answer ISN’T always tax, tax and more tax. The answer IS to

develop an effective budgeting process by determining proper priorities, making sure that

educating Students remains the highest priority and is properly funded. It’s a simple concept!

Growth and the future: Unfortunately, the vote to build a new school in Marion by the Board is

just another example of poor decision making. It is the wrong school at the wrong time. The

school was not at capacity and with declining enrollment the focus should have been on

accommodating the growing student population at those schools that are already at or above

capacity.

As far as I know the School Board has not developed a Comprehensive Plan, with contingencies,

to properly plan for the growth. From a distance, the approach, and resulting actions and

initiatives, seem to be piece meal at best and misguided at worst. This is what the Board should

be doing as a representative body – having workshops to review data, statistics, and trends and

work together in a public setting to develop new, or revise current strategies to best plan for

future demands.

Alex Sharpe

Legal fees: The district is absolutely not justified in the amount it spends in legal fees. I find it

interesting that, according to Mr. Dart’s monthly reports, Black and Davison bills more time for

“meetings/consultation” than every other category of legal services except for defending tax

appeals. This figure shows that the administration and board leadership over-relies on legal

counsel to make decisions or are pushing the boundaries of the law far too often. I have

personally reviewed CASD’s lawsuits regarding Shawn Shreffler, Cathy Dusman, the Sunshine

Act, and many of the Right to Know costs, and they should have been resolved before any legal

actions were pursued.

As far as transparency, the district has improved. Demands from the public have been

considered and probably are the reason for Mr. Dart’s monthly report regarding legal fees. The

district’s actual transparency problems lie not only with the public, but also, the administration

and board leadership must be transparent with respect to the rest of the school board. Board

members have stated meetings that they do not receive information pertaining to the district’s

various lawsuits. The district’s lawyers and administration/board leadership make all decisions

regarding legal matters without informing the rest of the board or getting board approval. The

Sunshine Act mandates board transparency, so I’d say transparency is pretty important. There

is definitely room for improvement.

Superintendent: Padasak has successfully created the appearance that the district is performing

well on an educational level. He also permitted a different vision for the Career Magnet

School—a STEM school concept—that has resulted in an excellent educational environment.

After coming to Chambersburg, he implemented the former board’s vision to update and

upgrade the district’s facilities. However, Padasak has failed miserably when it comes to

valuing staff. He has divided the district by making hiring decisions based on his personal

relationship rather than focusing on merit. He failed miserably in implementing and enforcing

the dress code. Padasak has turned the Act 93 group into a political organization in order to

show support for himself and specific candidates during the present election. Superintendents

are not supposed to be involved in electing board members who will ultimately oversee the

superintendent, so why is Padasak recruiting candidates for the school board and why is Bill

Hodge passing out flyers in support of certain candidates? Most importantly, Padasak has

successfully and completely controlled the flow of information in this district, which has

promoted him to the position of dictator instead of being a collaborator. 21st century

education should be about collaboration. Teachers need the freedom to teach without

worrying about who is looking over their shoulder.

Spending and budget: The state of financial affairs is not good. The district’s financial advisers

have warned that the district’s perfect bond rating is in jeopardy. That means it’s going to cost

the district more to borrow money. The current board’s decisions have put us in a bad financial

place, and you can’t just tax your way out of it. For example, why did we spend $8,000,000 in

cash to build a school in New Franklin when the district could have borrowed the money for 30

years for around 3%? We can’t afford to be reckless with spending.

With respect to the tax increase, to my knowledge, there has been no commitment from this

board to cut costs in order to reduce the deficit. This is an absolute necessity. The district’s

budget does not give any good information. It contains gross generalities where the district is

spending the money. We need to reform the budget process so that it is a year-round

endeavor to get the most of district resources. This district has to commit to refraining from

spending money that is not allocated in the budget.

Given the events of Wednesday’s board meetings and the proposed tax increase, I am skeptical

as to whether the 3.75% increase was ever a serious proposal—it’s looks more like an election

ploy to me. Either way, the district still has a budget deficit. What kind of a budget process is

that?

Growth and future: In response to the population growth and distribution, the district has done

exactly the opposite of what it should have done. It built new 2-deep elementary schools in

New Franklin and Marion—areas that see little or no student growth. Instead, the borough

schools and schools in the northern part of the district are bursting at the seam. Didn’t the

district buy 5 acres at Grandview because it recognized that it would have to respond to an

increase in student population in the borough and the northern part of the district? Building

these new schools appeared to be politically motivated—Stanley Helman pushed very hard for

both of these schools. Now the biggest problem facing the district is that you can’t unring the

bell. First, where does the district get the money to accommodate this population growth in

the north? Second, how can the district justify building yet another elementary school? The

district shouldn’t be bussing students from their neighborhoods in order to fill vacant

classrooms in Marion and New Franklin.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but the biggest problems facing the district right now all stem from

funding problems. This district has far too many administrators, and it spends too much on the

administration. I don’t understand why we have 7 principals in the high school? 10 years ago,

there was one for each grade and an overall building principal. Many independent services rate

our district in the bottom tier of the state, and I’m concerned that we don’t have adequate

financial resources to implement the necessary changes to make corrections. This district has to

make hard choices and really must scrutinize where and how money is being spent—a top to

bottom evaluation of the budget is required. We can’t just add to what we have done in years

past. There needs to be legitimate change to the financial mentality within the district and with

its administration.

Joan Smith

Legal fees: It is obvious that the Dusman and Shreffler cases have been a huge waste of

taxpayer money that would never have been done if the board were using good judgment.

Looking forward to a new solicitor.

Superintendent and growth/future: Teacher morale has been at its lowest except among his

trusted “lieutenants” as heard from many teachers who fear punishment if seen talking to a

board member or talking at a board meeting. His administration is far more concerned with

how CASD looks rather than about how it performs. School Digger and Niche website show that

the state testing picture is not as rosy as it seems, check it out for yourself. It is admirable that

Dr. Padasak endorsed two new elementary schools for his school board cronies: however, he

did not take into consideration where the overcrowding is in our district. The magnet school

was too small to begin with and now it’s screaming for expansion, but I was reassured at a

board meeting, when we were going over the District Wide Facility Student of 2014, that CMS

was fine. Well, it is not. It now is in need of expansion. The Borough and other elementary

schools are busting at the seams but for “some reason” his supporters on the board don’t seem

to care enough about the overcrowding to their regions I suppose. This mentality must stop.

Spending/budget: District needs BUDGET EVERY DIME!!!!!!!!!! Every expense needs to be

accounted for. Other areas for consideration are as follows:

All our busing should be turned over to sub contractors.

Cell phone coverage should be basic, nothing extra. No one needs multiple phones or I-pads.

A new solicitor should be hird.

Administrative bonuses in hard times should be eliminated.

Again, I will vote against a 3.75 mill increase. I would not go over index. I know that with

cleaning up the pension mess and needing teachers, keeping at-or-a 2 mill increase is being

responsible. With new board members, I would like to scrutinize the budget, eliminating

wasteful spending. I feel the board is never given a clear picture on expenditures like other

districts, only when that happens, can we make proper budget cuts.

Candidate Bill Fosnot did not submit responses by deadline.