Meet the Candidates: Jerold S. Grupp

Name: Jerold S Grupp

Occupation: Clinical Research Project Management

Length of time living in Northampton Township: 14 years

What organizations and activities are you involved with locally?

Council Rock School Board – Director – 2000 to Present. 

I have served as Board VP, Chair of Finance, Chair of Facilities, PSBA Liaison, Middle Bucks Institute of Technology Alternate, Chair of Technology, Member of Policy Committee

Council Rock School Safety Taskforce – Member – 1999 to 2000
Council Rock Class Size Committee – Member – 1998 to 1999
Council Rock Technology Advisory Committee – Public Member – 1998 to 2000
Newtown Ambulance – Volunteer EMT – 1997 to 2000
Shir Ami Religious School – Volunteer – 1997 to 2001
Bucks County Pandemic Response Team – Volunteer – 2006 to 2010
Miracle League of Northampton – Volunteer – 2008 to 2009

Why do you want to serve on the Council Rock School Board?

When I volunteered for the Council Rock School Board in February, 2000, I wanted to return the board to a focus on the education of children, and providing a safe environment for our students and staff.  

At the time, the Board’s final approval for the construction of Council Rock South was in question, and I wanted to help ensure that South was built, and that the overcrowding in the high school was put to an end. As a citizen volunteer on the Class Size Committee and the School Safety Taskforce, I was very concerned that the board had been deferring building maintenance across the district and relying on the use of modular classrooms at all levels.

My election to the Board in 2001, and reelection in 2003 and 2007 with bi-partisan support was recognition by my community that they appreciated my applying sound business management practices to the running of the District as well as my desire to keep the public informed on the issues before the Board and incorporate the community’s input into my decision making.

As the second most senior member serving on the school board, my 12 years of experience provide our district with both vision for the future, but also a context to understand why current practices are in place and the rationale behind them.  I have invested 12 years in improving Council Rock schools.  Like anyone who has been responsible for building and improving an organization, I want to ensure that the District continues to be among the best in the state and that the citizens of Council Rock are well served.

The most recent budget that was passed had a zero percent tax increase. However, that didn't come without significant cuts to staffing and programs. Do you agree with all the cuts made to the 2011-2012 budget? If not, why and which ones do you oppose?  

It is important to realize that the School Board is made up of nine equal voting members, with a tenth non-voting member as the Superintendent.  I don’t agree with all of the spending cuts within the budget, but I don’t believe any sitting board member agrees with each and every cut. Every Board member does not necessarily agree with every expenditure, either.  It is important as a Board member that I advocate for those items I think are important and essential.

While I personally would have preferred that we retained, or even expanded, upon our use of Reading Specialists, I understood that I would be unable to muster four more votes for this program. This program attacks reading deficits in children identified early in their primary education; this program contributes to improving the educational experience long-term for those students.  I believe this saves the District money in the long run, by avoiding later Special Education spending.  

What is your view on the elimination of the ninth grade sports program and what do you think should be done to keep freshmen engaged athletically?  

The district did set aside $10,000 ($5,000 at each high school) for working to develop greater utilization of the existing team/club sports programs available in the community.  The same economic constraints facing Council Rock are facing our neighboring school districts, many of which have also merged their ninth grade sports programs into their existing teams.  Without surrounding teams to play, the ability to schedule inter-mural competitions was limited this year.

With the cooperation of the coaching staff, additional coaches have been added for some sports at no additional cost to the district.  An example is that the Council Rock North football program added two additional assistant coaches, by splitting the existing Football program coaching money across more coaches, with each coach receiving less compensation. With knowledgeable coaches, and appropriate planning, the younger players will be able to participate. In the recent victory of Council Rock South football over William Tennent, numerous freshman and sophomore players had the opportunity to play in the varsity game.

I also support the greater involvement of students in intra-mural competition.

Council Rock has consistently received top marks for the quality of education it provides to its students. But there is always room for improvement. What is one thing you think would improve education in the district and how would you go about implementing it?  

When I came to the Board, the district’s approach to implementing technology into our classrooms was disjoint, and ineffectual.  I have been working closely with the Information Technology department of Council Rock; together we have implemented a plan to provide updated computers for student use throughout the district.  This plan allows for a consistent budget item that provides our students computers appropriate to their needs.  There is opportunity for greater growth in this area, and better integration of computers owned by the students in the day to day operation of the schools using such offerings as “Open Access”.

Parental involvement remains key to maintaining and improving educational achievement of Council Rock students. Global Connect is a service which we have implemented to rave review from parents and community.  This system can notify groups of parents very quickly by telephone about urgent or critical information about the district.  School closings, delayed openings, and other messages are now communicated to parents in minutes by telephone.  The Student Information Center usage is expanding quickly, and allows parents access to much more information about their students’ attendance, grades and classroom activities than in the past. This expanded usage solidifies the bond between parents and school, leading to improvements for our students.

What other issues would you like to see come to the forefront if you are elected to the board?  

I have worked for the past 14 years (12 as a School Director) to refine and improve the Council Rock School District. Some that I take personal pride in are:

• I led the Board in recruiting and promoting Mark Klein to Superintendent from his position at Holland Elementary. I knew that we were putting in place a highly qualified, compassionate and articulate educator.  I rely upon the professional judgment of Mr. Klein and the other professional educators to ensure that we remain compliant to the many levels of regulation before Council Rock, and to serve the children and community of Council Rock well.  
• In 2009, I convinced the administration and my fellow board members to contract with the Services for Teens at Risk for Suicide organization run by the University of Pittsburgh to ensure that we were doing everything possible to avoid losing our children to suicide.
• By working with the Council Rock business office, I have been able to help refine the purchasing and bidding procedures.  Now all bid requests are posted on the www.crsd.org website along with the tabulation of submitted bids.  This has driven increased competition in bidding, and cost savings to the District and taxpayers.
• In 1999-2000, I worked hard with other citizens to define a facilities plan and procedures to improve the security of our elementary, middle and high schools.  As a Board Director, and part of the Facilities Committee, I worked with my fellow Board Members and Administrators to bring those improvements to our schools.
• When I first joined the Board, the Alternative School (now called the Sloan School) was housed in cramped, dingy space as part of a garage on rented property.  The Sloan School is now housed in the same state of the art facility as the Network Operating Center.  With the improved space, Council Rock is no longer spending as much as $38k per student for out of district placements for some children.  This space is further utilized for Twilight School, avoiding expensive homebound instruction for students who cannot attend their regular school due to disciplinary actions, but for whom the district is responsible for their on-going education.
• The district needs to remain aware and proactive regarding enrollment patterns in our district.  In recent years, the student population has declined from more than 12,500 to approximately 11,600.  We need to stay vigilante on our enrollment projections, and consider how best to serve our students while remaining fiscally responsible and utilizing our facilities appropriately.
• I’ll continue my push for the use of technology as an appropriate teaching tool and adjunct to the education of our children.  As a Board Director, we need to remain open to new technologies, but to choose among them wisely.