Brownsville board delays decision
BROWNSVILLE – A controversial vote regarding the future training site of vocational-technical students from the Brownsville Area School District has been delayed. The monthly meeting of the school board originally slated for this evening has been postponed until 7 p.m. Tuesday. Board president Rocky Brashear said the decision to postpone the meeting was made because superintendent Larry Golembiewski is out of town at a conference and won’t be back until next week.
Brashear said he made the decision to postpone the meeting because Golembiewski has been involved in the negotiations and fact finding relating to the issue.
Specifically, the school board has been looking into transferring students from the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School in Georges Township, where they have attended for decades, to the Mon Valley Career and Technology Center in Speers, Washington County, beginning with the 2005-06 school year.
At the beginning of the 2004-05 school year, 22 Brownsville students were turned away from the Fayette County vo-tech. Students from Brownsville, Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin school districts attend the school. The issue of students being turned away has not arisen in any other school district.
Golembiewski earlier said that there is a quota system that limits the number of students that can attend the school from each district. He also expressed concern about low scores on the state assessment tests by Brownsville vo-tech students. Also, the Speers career center is only a 12-minute ride, compared to the 40-minute ride to the Fayette County vo-tech.
A vote by the school board to send students to the Speers career center at last month’s meeting failed when it ended with a 4-4 tie. Since that time, district officials have been looking for a solution. Last month, the board was presented with a petition signed by 62 Brownsville vo-tech students opposed to attending another school and several people spoke out against the proposed switch. Approximately 75 Brownsville students attend the vo-tech.
Brashear said he doesn’t have a problem with the Fayette County vo-tech school itself; he has a problem with the fact that students got turned away.
He said it is upsetting that the vo-tech school has been recruiting additional students for two years and when more signed up from Brownsville, the slots weren’t there. Brashear added that he felt that it was wrong that the students were not informed that they couldn’t attend the vo-tech until a week before the school year began.
Whatever happens, Brashear said, the Brownsville school district still has a financial obligation to the vo-tech until 2008. “We’re still trying to resolve it,” he said. Different options, such as sending some students to each vo-tech, have been discussed.
The motion set to come up for a vote is for sending vo-tech students to the Mon Valley Career and Technology Center for the 2005-06 school year. The motion also stipulates that the cost will be based on average daily membership and that the district will remain a member of the Fayette County vo-tech until a board vote alters that status.
Last month, the board voted to hire attorney Tim Bergren to advise the board on the legality of pulling out of the school at a cost of $80 per hour.
Brashear said he even doesn’t know if the board will even vote on the motion Tuesday, adding that a lot of information has come to light in a past couple days regarding the issue.
He also said he is upset that the teachers at the vo-tech have become involved in the issue. “They had no business sticking their nose in the situation. Our kids are stuck in the middle and we’re still trying to resolve it,” Brashear said.
The Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School Education Association ran an advertisement on Feb. 16 urging concerned taxpayers from the Brownsville Area School District to attend Tuesday’s meeting to express concerns about the proposed switch.
“We are proud of living and teaching in Fayette County and we would like to continue to serve the students and families of the Brownsville Area School District here in Fayette County,” the ad states.
The ad mentions keeping tax dollars in Fayette County and also mentions that two programs, welding and diesel, are not available in Speers, but are offered at the Fayette County vo-tech.
Brashear said he feels that it isn’t the place of the education association at the Fayette County vo-tech to become involved by placing the ad. “They’re interfering in the process,” Brashear said.
“I don’t want it to be a fiasco. I think we can come to a compromise.”