According to Frank Murphy,
blaming the school board for Sharon Parker’s retirement as school
superintendent is off base.
Murphy, a Republican, is
running for re-election for school board. Chadds Ford Democratic Party Chairman
Rob Porter said in a recent email message that it was school board actions that
led Parker to retire, and Democratic Party candidate Kathy Do said in an
interview that “The majority of people on the board are looking at the concerns
of people in the district who want to move away from the educational vision of
a person like Sharon Parker.”
Murphy said the comments are
misguided and reflect poor communication and leadership.
“I don’t think there is a need
to make an issue out of this because there wasn’t an issue there. It was
creating an issue.”
Murphy said he would hate to
think that people in the community would think that the board forced out a
person of Parker’s character and then replaced her with her “right hand man.”
He said that makes no sense.
He said there would be no
motive for the board to do such a thing. The accusation is “the type
distraction that stops us from getting to other issues.”
He also said Parker made it
clear she was leaving for her own reasons, not because of the school board.
“I choose to accept Sharon
Parker at her word. I don’t think it’s right for Mrs. Do to be questioning the
veracity of Sharon Parker and I think that’s what she’s doing.”
He added that Parker’s memory
is ill served by such comments.
Murphy, a former township
commissioner in Aston, moved to Chadds Ford in 2008, partly because of the
school district.
Other candidates and board
members also moved into the area because of the school district. So what sets
him apart from others?
“I think what sets me apart by
way of background is I have two engineering degrees, both in mechanical
engineering, and I also have a law degree. More important than the degrees and
the initials after your name, I think, is the mindset that goes into each of
those professions, so I tend to look at things, I think, logically. And I think
in a serial fashion in order to get to a result. So I believe that combination
of skill sets is important. I also have a number of years experience in local
government.”
Another reason he wanted to get
involved with the school board, Murphy said, was that he was concerned with the
divisiveness over the high school renovation project he found when he moved
here. He said it was caused by poor communication.
“I think the biggest problem
still revolves around how that board acted with regard to public input. What I
saw was a great idea and potentially a great result really messed up by lousy
execution.”
His concern over poor
communication still holds. He said his biggest concerns lie in the lack of
ability to communicate clearly with everyone who lives in the district and how
to serve that community.
He said there was plenty of
input leading up to the building project, but the board didn’t listen. He also
cited the current talk about a study over building utilization, a study done at
the request of Parker.
He said the board was trying to
eliminate the appearance of backroom deals.
“When information was presented
to us in executive session regarding the facility utilization, we believed it
was important to let the people know that there was something being talked
about. It probably took up three
minutes at one meeting just to say this was something the administration
brought up and something we talked about. That turned into a firestorm of
concern that we were about to have an immediate vote, as Mrs. Do called it, to
destructively reconfigure the schools. That’s the biggest concern when you have
the inability to clearly explain and communicate with all district
stakeholders.”
He said the reason the board
didn’t think it needed more discussion was because there was nothing to discuss
at that time.
“There was no plan to do it.
There was no impending vote. There was no upcoming decision.”
(Murphy’s interview was
conducted prior to a school board work session during which the topic of
reconfiguration was discussed. See UCF board to decide on school building
utilization study for that story.)
Murphy recognizes that
controversies beyond the high school renovation, teachers’ contract and
utilization study are lurking around the corner. He acknowledged that Charles
F. Patton Middle School might also need some serious renovations in the not too
distant future.
“The middle school is getting
tired. Anybody who’s been in it knows it. It’s a great building, great facility
and the staff takes great care of it, but there is a lifespan to capital
projects and it’s clearly getting tired.”
He’s concerned that the debt
service for the high school project is now more than 11 percent. Previous
boards, he said, thought that would never happen. That extra cost now limits
what the board can do, Murphy said.
He said the district is
otherwise fortunate in that the district has an administration and faculty that
are delivering quality education, but finances do come into play.
“I’m concerned that several
years down the road, as budgets get tighter in Harrisburg, as budgets get
tighter in Washington and as budgets get tighter in each and every household
around here, how we’re going to continue to provide such great services. That’s
why I’m proud of some of the steps we’ve taken.”
Among those steps are the
multi-year teachers’ contract, an improvement in the middle school academics
and improved education in the elementary schools. He said this is the first
year in a long time that the district bought new school books for the
fifth-graders.
“You have to keep your eye on
that ball. It’s not just dollars and cents.”
He again referred to the building
utilization study. Murphy said that once some people heard there could be
savings in a reconfiguration, they were for it, but that he is coming at from a
different angle.
“My approach to this
utilization, reconfiguration issue is: What is the benefit to the students?
What are the academic benefits? What can we do to improve education? And if we
can improve it by reconfiguring, then that’s something that we should really
explore. But I don’t think that just because it saves money is the right way to
go.”
One idea concerning revenue
that’s been cropping up for at least the last four years is about naming
rights, having a business or some other entity pay the district for the right
to name a building, room gymnasium or sports field.
Current board member Paul Price
brought up the issue when he ran in 2007, the two Democratic Party candidates
want the idea considered as does one of Murphy’s running mates.
Murphy said, that while he is
in favor of exploring the idea, there are several reasons he thinks it hasn’t
gotten any traction.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds.
You don’t know what the market is for certain things. Do you sell a sign for
$10,000 and then it’s only that price from now on? Or, is it really worth
$100,000?”
He added that the board has had
other issues to deal with, the high school project, teachers’ contract and the
transportation study among others. There was too much on the table for the
board to come up with a naming policy at the same time, Murphy said.
Joining Murphy on the ticket
are incumbent Timotha Trigg and newcomer Sharon Jones. Gregg Lindner joins Do
on the Democratic Party ticket.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
