This week I received for the first time an issue of the Allentown School District Foundation's annual appeal and report. I was impressed about the good work of the foundation. Since its inception the foundation has raised $8.8 million dollars for the school district. This year $68,000 went to help seventy graduates with their college tuition. Numerous teachers were also given grants to enable special programming.
Lehigh Valley News reports that the foundation has learned through the grapevine that the administration/board is considering cutting ties with the foundation; without, as of yet, providing an explanation... Talk about shutting the stable door on a gift horse.
There apparently will be some changes in the Foundation's leadership. Perhaps the changes would be more beneficial for the school system if they occurred within the board and administration.
Few things leave me as speechless as this. I ask everyone to contrast the calibre of those ensconced in ASD leadership with those who volunteer their time to raise money from the private sector for the district. The difference is night and day. In short the clown show wants to take control of a foundation that is run by intelligent, upright, and respected members of the community. This is the ASD, this is the entity that fails annually to educate Allentown's students, that hires and fires people with the drop of a hat, routinely pays their bad choices to leave, where schools and budgets are in chaos, and secrecy prevails. Who would give these people a dime? Answer, politicians.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not unusual for a new superintendent to want total control. Rumor is Birks wants this board gone along with their institutional knowledge, since she can’t control it.
ReplyDeleteNo inside knowledge here, but just looking at their financial report and what I’ve read in the past, I’d surmise this:
ReplyDeleteI believe the Foundation was originally set up (with the District’s support) to be a conduit for the District to have access to grants that the ASD (a government entity) might not otherwise be eligible for.
From the financial portion of the report, it would appear that the funds raised are way down from even the pre-Covid years, and management fees are up (albeit slightly dollar-wise but more significant from a percentage standpoint).
It’s also apparent that the Foundation has spent a large amount of its efforts raising money and distributing funds for numerous college grants, many of which are small dollar grants.
I would imagine that the Board/ASD might feel that the Foundation has strayed from its original purpose (again, in their view) of raising funds for the benefit of the ASD that it would not be able to directly apply for and funneling them into the District.
The college grants, while I’m sure appreciated by the college-bound students receiving them, don’t exactly fit that mission and could likely be raised by some of the many staffers within the ASD admin building. While they may provide some incentive to some students, those funds are going to colleges, not the ASD.
I would expect that if the ASD Board does discontinue its relationship with the Foundation, it will likely start another entity more responsive to raising funds that would benefit all ASD students and help the district get better results in the classroom.
Whether the current ASD Board and ASD Superintendent are capable enough to get those results with whatever increased funding they can get is another story, but I’d imagine the disagreement does come down to the money being raised and what should be done with it.
That the Foundation’s leadership is now asking the ASD Board for insight as to what the specific issues are is a clear indication of how far the two organizations have grown apart.
Your argument makes perfect sense until as I wrote before, you take into consideration the calibre of those populating ASD leadership and the volunteers leading the foundation. The asumpsion that the leadership of the ASD would do anything for the correct reason can only be surmised by those unaware of the cast of characters involved.
DeleteThere is a very important common denominator around the valley his name is Daniel Bosket. He sits and controls the money for many institutions and organizations. Open your eyes good citizens.
ReplyDeleteSeems there is plenty of disfunction in the School Board
ReplyDeletescott@7:24: Scott is a former school board member, and accordingly has insight about the current board/administration and the foundation.
ReplyDeleteanon@7:46: If you're referring to the school board, they are elected and the Superintendent has very little influence over those elections.
As to the Foundation and their board, we'll see how things develop. I expect there will be less donors with the ASD attitude.
anon@8:47: The foundation's donor list is the who's who of Allentown. As my post states ASD bit the hand that helps it.
anon@10:29: I doubt that Dan Bosket "controlled" the funds for the foundation.
I have known Dan Bosket for over twenty year. I have always thought he was a straight shooter. He has never done anything to make me question that assumption.
Delete“anon@8:47: The foundation's donor list is the who's who of Allentown. As my post states ASD bit the hand that helps it.”
ReplyDeletePerhaps I should have been clearer in my original comment. The ASD Administration can reach out to the “who’s who” in Allentown without needing the foundation as a go-between. Anyone of the “who’s who” can legally make a tax-deductible donation to the District, and the District doesn’t need the foundation (or it’s redundant overhead) to get those funds.
The foundation (in ASD’s view) is needed to tap into funding for the benefit of the District that the District cannot tap into itself. I suspect that the Foundation sees itself as more than just that, and is now stepping on the District’s turf.
Hence the friction.
anon@2:26: I know nothing of the Foundation seeking grants and other" taping into funds" to which you refer. I remember when the Foundation started. It was and I believe still is a third party vehicle for people to contribute to student enrichment, i.e. scholarships and grants.
ReplyDelete