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(Lehigh Valley suburban school districts seeing sharp rise in poor students.)
(Teachers say Saucon Valley School District can afford to pay them more.)
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In suburbia, a growing education in povertyParkland, East Penn, others have turned to community groups and churches to get kids food and shelter.June 14, 2014|By Patrick Lester and Dan Sheehan, Of The Morning CallFrom its distinguished alumni CEOs, well-known authors, professional actors to its enviable test scores and championship sports teams, the Parkland School District glows with an aura of affluence and privilege.But amid its McMansions, backyard pools and pristine parks lies a different Parkland, one that has long been hidden but is emerging, family by family, into view. It's the Parkland of the poor.Over the past five years, the district has seen a dramatic rise in the number of students living in poverty. A total of 1,605 students about one in five qualified this school year for free or reduced-price lunches, the benchmark for <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/page.php?sale=Tory-Burch-Bootie>Tory Burch Bootie</a>  determining the level of low-income students in schools. That number could fill more than half the district's eight elementary schools.Parkland, now home to three church-run food banks, isn't alone. Across the Lehigh Valley, suburban school districts are grappling with the challenges of an emerging demographic of families that are dealing with job loss and doubling up with friends and relatives in cramped motel rooms and apartments or even living out of cars.Forty-four percent of the nearly 100,000 public school students in Lehigh and Northampton counties qualified this school year for the federal school lunch program. That's up from about one-third in 2007, according to a Morning Call analysis of state Department of Education records on students qualifying for free and reduced-lunch in 2007 and 2014.The poverty spike comes as districts are coping with budget pressures driven by significant losses in state funding in recent years, and it has prompted school officials to form alliances to meet the challenges presented by poor children.Parkland, East Penn, Salisbury Township and other districts have tackled the trend with new and enhanced programs designed to provide basic necessities toothbrushes, bookbags, food and supply the extra academic, emotional and social support that may be lacking at home.They're teaming with nonprofits to provide those services. They're linking people to social service agencies. They're expanding before- and after-school food and homework programs and, in some cases, starting Head Start classes."Parkland enjoys a good reputation and well-deserved reputation, but we've tried to chip away and let people know that we're a very fortunate school district but have the same problems as everybody else," said Diane Irish, the district's social worker.Consider Michele, who lives with her father, her 13-year-old daughter and her 12-year-old son in a single room at a run-down motel in Upper Macungie Township.Over lunch one afternoon at a township restaurant, Michele said she moved to the motel where her father already lived after <a href=http://www.radiorcs.com/page.php?sale=Jimmy-Choo-Shoe-Outlet>Jimmy Choo Shoe Outlet</a>  her roommate in an Allentown apartment left and she couldn't afford the rent on her own.The children, in sixth and seventh grades, get enough to eat at school through the free and reduced-price lunch program, and outside school through roughly $500 a month in food stamps, she said. The children's father contributes about $400 a month in child support, and Michele's father pays most of the room cost.But living in a shuffle of homes over the past few years has prevented them from settling into a stable routine. The children sleep in sleeping bags on the floor and are far from neighborhoods where they might find playmates.This is especially hard for Michele's son, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, and relies on a number of <a href=http://www.alportico.net/page.php?sale=Gucci-Sweaters>Gucci Sweaters</a>  medications to stabilize his behavior. He's run into disciplinary problems at school, some of which Michele attributes to his transient lifestyle."If I can get a place of my own, he'll get into it, he'll get his routine down," she said.Michele has worked sporadically, most recently at a temporary job in a warehouse that ended with the holidays. She has had trouble finding steady employment because she must rely on public transportation she can't afford a car any more than she can afford an apartment and has a slim resume.Irish, who worked with poor students in the Allentown School District before moving to Parkland, said most families in such circumstances never expected to be there."You get a snowball effect," she said. "There's some precipitating incident job loss, illness and you start falling behind in bills. It compounds and snowballs and you start shifting into survival mode."Michele seems to be the quintessential victim of circumstances and environment. She never really had a proper home. Her parents, reasoning that the cost of a motel included electricity and cable television, raised her in such places. When her children's father left years ago, she abruptly became a single mother of two with little support."Life doesn't always end on a happy note. Life can be a pain," Michele said.Stories like Michele's are being played out throughout the region.1 |  |  | Featured ArticlesMore:
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Can Saucon Valley afford to pay teachers more?  Lower Saucon and Hellertown Jimi McCullian, THE MORNING CALL In Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people that is one of two municipalities that make up Saucon Valley School District, the houses are notably smaller and closer together than in Lower Saucon Township. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of... In Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people that is one of two municipalities that make up Saucon Valley School District, the houses are notably smaller and closer together than in Lower Saucon Township. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of... (Jimi McCullian, THE MORNING CALL) By Jacqueline Palochko and Eugene Tauber, Of The Morning Call Educators Why doesn t Saucon Valley give teachers what they want?Teachers say Saucon Valley should spend more on them.Should <a href=http://www.styledepth.com/test.php?sale=True-Religion-Sweat-Pants>True Religion Sweat Pants</a>  wealthy schools pay their teachers more than poor schools? During a nearly three-year contract impasse, the Saucon Valley School District has been portrayed as a bastion of affluence that could easily give teachers what they want, but refuses to do so.What the teachers wanted was a 3 percent raise in each of three years. But when the school board balked and a strike loomed, they trimmed that proposal to 2 percent. Last Sunday, a day before Saucon Valley students returned to classes, the board rejected the new proposal, leaving the district's 180 teachers without a contract.The Saucon Valley Education Association whose members have gone on strike three times since 2005 has said the district could tap into the $15 million it has in reserves to cover the raises, and not have to increase taxes. Everyone knows that Saucon Valley is a wealthy district, Andrew Muir, attorney for the teachers union, said in July. Wealthiest local school districts <a href=http://www.getrecd.com/news/Gucci-Outlet-Store-Cheap-Shirts-Ii-New.html>Gucci Ii</a>  The school board says fiscal prudence is behind the district's healthy balance sheet not wealthy taxpayers. We are not a country-club district, School Director Ralph Puerta said at a heated school board meeting earlier this month. We are not a district of mansions. We are an average district. The perception raises the question: Is Saucon Valley wealthy? And if it is, should it pay the salaries teachers want?Is Saucon Valley rich?On the surface, Saucon Valley looks to be doing better than average.Of the 500 school districts in the state, Saucon Valley ranked in the top 20 percent for median household income, $67,950, and per capita income, $38,468. Both figures are at least $10,000 higher than the state median. While its rate has risen since the Great Recession, poverty touches just 4 percent of families in the district far lower than the state average. Locally, Saucon Valley ranks sixth among the Lehigh Valley's 17 school districts in median household income, according to 2012 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.While other districts have increased property taxes, Saucon Valley is an anomaly, having had no such hike in six years. Even without raising taxes, it has built up reserves of $15 million. It also has not faced the flood of teacher layoffs and program cuts that hit many city and suburban districts as state funding went down beginning in 2011.On the books, Saucon Valley appears wealthy, said Bethlehem economist Kamran Afshar. Its reserve fund, equivalent to about 40 percent of its budget, is hefty, he noted.With such reserves, Afshar said, Saucon Valley can afford raises.District officials say all is not as it appears. They say the two municipalities that make up the district Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown are two distinct communities. Lower Saucon Township, with about 3,700 people, is a community of large houses on sprawling properties and single homes in suburban cul-de-sacs. It has a median household income of $80,058. About 2 percent of people live in poverty.Over in Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people, the houses are notably smaller and closer together. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of people in Hellertown live in poverty.Under the district's current property tax rate of 51.74 mills, the owner of a home assessed at $50,000 pays $2,587 a year. The district's negotiations team has said when taxes increase, <a href=http://www.kaatskillmtnclub.com/Page0.aspx>Tory Burch Promo Code</a>  it will be hard for those already struggling financially and those living on fixed incomes. I understand the plight of the taxpayers, chief negotiator and School Director Ed Inghrim said. Especially in Hellertown. Determining salaries cComments

Revision as of 04:00, 13 September 2014

Can Saucon Valley afford to pay teachers more? Lower Saucon and Hellertown Jimi McCullian, THE MORNING CALL In Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people that is one of two municipalities that make up Saucon Valley School District, the houses are notably smaller and closer together than in Lower Saucon Township. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of... In Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people that is one of two municipalities that make up Saucon Valley School District, the houses are notably smaller and closer together than in Lower Saucon Township. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of... (Jimi McCullian, THE MORNING CALL) By Jacqueline Palochko and Eugene Tauber, Of The Morning Call Educators Why doesn t Saucon Valley give teachers what they want?Teachers say Saucon Valley should spend more on them.Should <a href=http://www.styledepth.com/test.php?sale=True-Religion-Sweat-Pants>True Religion Sweat Pants</a> wealthy schools pay their teachers more than poor schools? During a nearly three-year contract impasse, the Saucon Valley School District has been portrayed as a bastion of affluence that could easily give teachers what they want, but refuses to do so.What the teachers wanted was a 3 percent raise in each of three years. But when the school board balked and a strike loomed, they trimmed that proposal to 2 percent. Last Sunday, a day before Saucon Valley students returned to classes, the board rejected the new proposal, leaving the district's 180 teachers without a contract.The Saucon Valley Education Association whose members have gone on strike three times since 2005 has said the district could tap into the $15 million it has in reserves to cover the raises, and not have to increase taxes. Everyone knows that Saucon Valley is a wealthy district, Andrew Muir, attorney for the teachers union, said in July. Wealthiest local school districts <a href=http://www.getrecd.com/news/Gucci-Outlet-Store-Cheap-Shirts-Ii-New.html>Gucci Ii</a> The school board says fiscal prudence is behind the district's healthy balance sheet not wealthy taxpayers. We are not a country-club district, School Director Ralph Puerta said at a heated school board meeting earlier this month. We are not a district of mansions. We are an average district. The perception raises the question: Is Saucon Valley wealthy? And if it is, should it pay the salaries teachers want?Is Saucon Valley rich?On the surface, Saucon Valley looks to be doing better than average.Of the 500 school districts in the state, Saucon Valley ranked in the top 20 percent for median household income, $67,950, and per capita income, $38,468. Both figures are at least $10,000 higher than the state median. While its rate has risen since the Great Recession, poverty touches just 4 percent of families in the district far lower than the state average. Locally, Saucon Valley ranks sixth among the Lehigh Valley's 17 school districts in median household income, according to 2012 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.While other districts have increased property taxes, Saucon Valley is an anomaly, having had no such hike in six years. Even without raising taxes, it has built up reserves of $15 million. It also has not faced the flood of teacher layoffs and program cuts that hit many city and suburban districts as state funding went down beginning in 2011.On the books, Saucon Valley appears wealthy, said Bethlehem economist Kamran Afshar. Its reserve fund, equivalent to about 40 percent of its budget, is hefty, he noted.With such reserves, Afshar said, Saucon Valley can afford raises.District officials say all is not as it appears. They say the two municipalities that make up the district Lower Saucon Township and Hellertown are two distinct communities. Lower Saucon Township, with about 3,700 people, is a community of large houses on sprawling properties and single homes in suburban cul-de-sacs. It has a median household income of $80,058. About 2 percent of people live in poverty.Over in Hellertown, a borough of about 5,600 people, the houses are notably smaller and closer together. Median household income is nearly $30,000 less than in Lower Saucon. Almost 7 percent of people in Hellertown live in poverty.Under the district's current property tax rate of 51.74 mills, the owner of a home assessed at $50,000 pays $2,587 a year. The district's negotiations team has said when taxes increase, <a href=http://www.kaatskillmtnclub.com/Page0.aspx>Tory Burch Promo Code</a> it will be hard for those already struggling financially and those living on fixed incomes. I understand the plight of the taxpayers, chief negotiator and School Director Ed Inghrim said. Especially in Hellertown. Determining salaries cComments

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