The following letter was sent from Leo M. Bulavko, Secretary, Save Harford County Swimming, Inc., to Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Barbara Canavan. A copy was provided to The Dagger for publication.
Dear Superintendent Canavan:
I was feeling restless this morning and took to surfing the internet for local news, and came upon the story linked here. It is always a tragedy when a young life is lost. It is all the more tragic when it could’ve been prevented. You’ll note in this article that young J.J. Harvillicz did not know how to swim.
It doesn’t take a huge effort to connect the dots here. Could this death have been prevented if J.J. Harvillicz knew how to swim? Maybe, possibly, who knows? As a parent, a long-time swimmer, and a member of Save Harford County Swimming, that’s enough for me. It should be enough for you, as well. What’s the cost to save lives? That’s what we’re really talking about here, isn’t it? If one precious child is alive because they had the opportunity to learn how to swim, then no price paid to keep a pool open, or to provide lessons to the community, is too high.
When my son, Josh, spoke to you and the Board of Education for the first time several months ago, he said, quite plainly, that “Swim lessons save lives.” For the last 2 summers, Josh taught dozens of young people – as an HCPS employee, mind you – how to swim. How much safer are they now that they know this life skill? And what was the cost of this service? Fifty-five dollars. How much is that when you’re talking about the life of a child?
I understand and appreciate the weighty decisions you must make in your position. But as you and the Board of Education discuss the budget in the weeks ahead, I’d urge you to think of the real human costs of what eliminating swimming in Harford County could be.
Sincerely,
Leo M. Bulavko
Secretary
Save Harford County Swimming, Inc.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that they are no longer charging admission to swim meets. You would think that a Board that is cutting a program because they can’t afford it would do all they can to reduce costs and increase income. Not our Board. Apparently, they can’t figure out how to handle the money. Since the swim meets aren’t at the host high school, the money must be transported. well – it can’t be much money can it if the board isn’t worried about it??? Let’s see – about 100 people attend a swim meet, they each pay $5.00 and there are 41 swim meets – $100 x 5.00 x 41 = $20,500. This money goes in the general fund. I await the superintendent’s assurance that they have done all they can to save Harford County swimming.
The ironic thing is the meets take place in a school but they aren’t bright enough to think drop it in those safes and move the money!
Not gonna lie, there are probably a dozen swim clubs in the county, as well as a half dozen privately owned swim lesson schools. We actually have a pool at our house, but I still paid to have my daughter properly trained at these swim lesson classes. The school system should not have to carry the burden of you teaching your child to swim. If you’re worried about children drowning because they didn’t get swim classes, perhaps we should bring back drivers ed in schools so that kids can learn to drive? Or the gun ranges so kids can learn to safely handle weapons before accidents happen?
Mr “Phelps”
Glad you’re “not gonna lie.” It always puts me at ease to hear that upfront. Your attitude will serve you well when bussing is taken away. The school system is not legally obligated to carry the burden of transporting your child. This has been mentioned many times over the last few years in the budget process.
Thanks, that was a smooth attempt to poke fun at me, I hope if boosted your manhood a little. Apparently with 14 likes people seem to appreciate my point. Parents these days pay taxes and expect schools to raise their children in exchange. Here’s a novel idea, try being a parent. how about you teach your own child to swim. My daughter was in swim lessons when she was 2 years old. Why? Because accidents happen and I would rather pay $100 upfront to have her learn as a child then wait till she is in middle school and expect the school system to pay it. Quit crying about what other people can do for you, or pay for you, or cater to you, and actually do something yourself. How did that quote go, “Its not what I can do for my school system, its what my school system should do for me -for free!” Or something like that right?
Would the same thing be said if the school system decided to eliminate all sports and after school activities?
In case you didn’t know the middle school pools in Magnolia and Edgewood are the only pools around there. Both are waterfront communities!
Harford County borders Chesapeake Bay; some nice, warm day bus the kids to the beach and teach them to swim.
You been to Joppatowne? What beach? You taught a kid to swim? The river is not the place.
Focus your efforts on speaking out against the atrocious decisions to keep Joppatowne High School open, which is barely at 50% capacity. There are even discussions to construct a new High School there. Speak out against the construction of the new Harve de Grace Middle and High school, which have current buildings that are also significantly under capacity. These funding priorities, among others, are what drive decisions to cut swimming and increase pay to play, but more importantly are drastically reducing the quality of instruction in HCPS. Our best teachers and administrators have left or are leaving this county. Unfortunately they are replaced by, at best, only those individuals that couldn’t find a job in another school system
No gun classes in the schools please. The NRA has Eddie Eagle training – get the training from them for free.
We run excess capacity for a declining enrollment and keep building more schools with yet MORE seats than before. HCPS shows no appetite for closing the ones that we can not afford to maintain. Doing such would require a (to borrow an pedagogical term) RIGOR. Instead, we choose the easy and reckless path of picking off pieces from what used to make this a great place to raise a family. We ship students across the county for magnet programs (that just happen to raise the numbers in some troubled areas) yet we charge families for their kids to be involved in after school activities leaving the most vulnerable unable to afford the “extras.” We’ll all shrug and look at each other at meetings where a “heroin epidemic” is pronounced yet we slip away from programs that engage anyone not on a very specific path. The school system rings echos of Mrs. Clinton’s failed campaign. Self righteous in their insulated and disconnected path, surrounded in an echo chamber of their own opinions, and failing to see a day of reckoning at their heels. Tell me again this year how the Instructional Facilitator position is indispensable.
The magnet programs are sheer brilliance, aren’t they?
They are providing great opportunity and positive results for those in the program to also transport influencial and high performing students to, uhm, rather lower performing schools.
The magnet students will graduate schools with advanced education, and the others, well, they’ll still be ” blub blub blub blub ”
Brilliant, I stand to applaud loudly at this.
Magnets are a nice luxury for a financially stable school system. I hear private and charter schools are nice as well.
If magnet schools were about what’s best for the system and not numbers, they would take the lowest 10 percent and group them in magnets with targeted programming, mentors, and better ratios. Google it. Plenty of empirical evidence from studies on this 30 yr old mistake.
For your information, all students do not get swim lessons – only the schools with pools.
Like visits to the planetarium, all students used to take swim lessons. It’s one of a long line of programs that have been eliminated. Groups outside of Harford County Public Schools still use the pools to teach swimming to the communities.
What ever happened to combining some departments that were redundant with the county government? It seems like a lot of things get done twice. Is this a practical solution to save money?
Perhaps Harford Tech HS should get some more money. In a few posts above you claim we have great magnet schools, really? Have you been to Harford Tech? It has some of the worst Technology in the County IT wise. Most programs are lucky to keep a teacher for over a year because they are paid 1/2 of what the private sector pays. So yeah the magnet schools aren’t great in all of the county.
Tech is never given a fair shake. It’s not as glamorous to say that we are training kids for well paying blue collar jobs. The teacher issue is due to an earned reputation the system has from years of neglect and a closed minded approach to what qualifications needed to teach tech. Did you ever find a permanent welding instructor?
Why do people even apply for trade teacher jobs? What is it, $43,000 on average with a good amount of requirements.
Besides retired people, you aren’t going to get many people who really know what they are doing, in my opinion.
Some people have to be lying in the interview process, and just using the trade teacher job as just a temporary source of employment until they can land a better private sector trade job.
Mr. Fetters is doing a great job teaching cyber in Harford Tech. By the time our child graduates, they will have multiple technical certifications, and a great start to a technology college degree. We are very happy with the program there.
Back to the issue of swimming –
Unlike fall and spring, there are very limited opportunities for kids to participate in school sports in the winter – basketball teams are small and tough to make. Wrestling also limited rosters. Swimming gives many kids opportunity to play a winter sport, rather that being idle during the cold months. Futhermore, there is likely little argument that it is not only safe with minimal injuries (compared to football for example – many injuries with life long implications) , but a great way to get in shape.
The swim clubs cost over $1000 per year, and often require a gym membership on top of this.
This is about the kids. We need to cut fat out of the budget to continue this important program, rather than cut the program and add fat to the kids…
Swimming is the fat that needs to be cut out of the budget along with many other extras that most schools system don’t offer.
You say that programs like athletics are the fat, I say that the fat is sitting in a chair behind a desk at Central Administration. What next? Arts, music, clubs? How many people in charge of people in charge of people do we need?
You think correctly.the amount of money they get paid to do absolutely nothing is insane. You should look into the things the board does to employees who disagree with them or how they are payed or lack there of would be more like it. They want want want but won’t pay people near what they would make in the private sector. No wonder teachers and many others are leaving the county. Awful funny how they make great money though. They still get theirs so why care about anybody else or our children.
It appears cutting swimming was what the BOE wanted all along. Last year was lip service. Susan Brown was appointed as the liaison but could hardly be bothered to be reached. The told the group to not raise money. They cut out gate fees. Moved the swimming pools up the capital request list but than cut them.
Save Harford Swimming, you claim your the secretary. How many members do you have and who are the rest of the officers? Harford County Public Schools should get rid of all these after school activities and concentrate on the basics.
Yes like teaching you that the correct spelling of Mark Spitz’s last name is with a z!
I know how to spell my name Cdev Swallows.
Which name since it changes regularly?
Classy. I hope your vile perverted sensibilities are nowhere near my children.
You all keep blaming the BOE, this is the superintendent’s budget. Prepared by her for approval… blame her, call her office, protest her.
The fake Cdev
It’s interesting that someone would try to direct complaints to the the Superintendent rather than the board and downright suspicious that it would get 4 “likes” The entire school system with the exception of the Board answers to the Superintendent. The Superintendent tried to close pools last year and has decided to come back to finish those families and supporters off this year. Just like a CEO, NO ONE at that company would feel safe in their employment by publicly disagreeing with the CEO. So why would someone tell you to write and call her office? Well one obvious answer is that those calls and letters could be disposed of neatly with out ever seeing the light of day. Why would this get 4 likes?!? I’ll leave that up to you to figure out. The commenter Cdev is a longtime proponent of the system that apparently has insider knowledge. The comment CDev (with a capitol “D” is someone intentionally trying to give you false information, and worse, trying to be cute (with a capitol D) with someone that has spoken out. The Board is made up of ELECTED members that DO NOT GET PAID. The Superintendent makes over a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR plus perks/bonuses. She gets paid more than the County Executive!!! Her staff all take home SIX FIGURE SALARIES. The Board of Education is a designed as a check on those individuals to make sure that the community’s interests are served. Now YOU tell me… Who did that comment come from and who were the “likes” The County Executive and the County Council may get blowback from loosing the pools once they are closed and there is a drowning in the county but for now they are effectively distancing themselves from the issue. NO ONE OTHER THAN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION CAN SAVE THE POOLS THIS YEAR!!! Always communicate to the BOARD of Education DIRECTLY. Communicate your concerns to all Board of Education members not just the one from your district.
Just in case some of your e-mails should get misplaced, I would suggest showing up at the Budget Input Sessions at the dates below. Other Superintendents have scheduled meetings around the county to make it easier on you. This year, you get to travel to the Roberty building for all sessions. All at the same time of day 6:00pm.
Monday January 4th
Wednesday January 9th
Wednesday January 11th
Thursday January 19th
Monday January 23rd
BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS E-MAIL ADDRESSES;
Mrs. Nancy Reynolds Nancy.Reynolds@hcps.org
Joseph L. Voskuhl Joseph.Voskuhl@hcps.org
Joseph A. Hau Joseph.Hau@hcps.org
Laura S. Runyeon Laura.Runyeon@hcps.org
Alfred L. Williamson Alfred.Williamson@hcps.org
Jansen M. Robinson Jansen.Robinson@hcps.org
Mr. Robert L. Frisch Robert.Frisch@hcps.org
Rachel Gauthier Rachel.Gauthier@hcps.org
Thomas Fitzpatrick Thomas.Fitzpatrick@hcps.org
Amanda N. Dorsey Amanda.Dorsey@hcps.org
Agree. The members of the Board of Education can’t escape responsibility for the budget and go around pretending to be innocent. The reality is that the Superintendent only proposes the budget. The buck stops with the Board. Please direct public comments about the school budget towards the current members of the Board.
The Board of Education is responsible for the budget and can decide next year whether the pools stay open and whether the swim programs continue. Every member of this Board should be held accountable and they need to feel the community pressure. Unfortunately the Board has not been responsive to the community and have asked few questions during their meetings. There has been little said about the pools by school board members in recent meetings. Most of them have been silent on the pools, and also have said nothing on other important issues about the schools.
Nancy Reynolds and Mrs. Canavan are best buddies. Don’t try to change her opinion. She is in Barbara’s pocket on every policy or action. Focus on those with open minds.
With Nancy Reynolds as the President of the Board, it’s fair to say that the Board of Education of Harford County Public Schools is leaning toward a rubber stamp before the meetings even start. Ms Reynolds is an elected representative and will have a record to defend the next time she runs. The two of them sure seem to loose their temper a lot.
Reynols is term limited and cannot serve on the school board again either as an elected or appointed member. The same is true for Hau, Frtzpatrick and Frisch
Fitzpatrick doesn’t care about anything but building a new school in Havre de Grace. He’s willing to cut out anything it takes to get there. Canavan’s grandchildren live in Havre De Grace. I think that the future will see a new school in Havre De Grace at any cost.
Fitzpatrick doesn’t care about anything but building a new school in Havre de Grace. He seems willing to cut out anything and everything it takes to get there. Canavan’s grandchildren live in Havre De Grace. I think that the future will see a new school in Havre De Grace at any cost.
All the school board members have been useless on the pools. Last time they took the money from the fund balance to save the pools, but that’s a short sighted fix as they can’t do that forever. That’s just kicking the can down the road. If they keep doing that there will soon be little or nothing left in the fund balance.
This board has no idea what they are doing. They don’t want to make any hard decisions.
What are your suggestions?
I will make some suggestions. But isn’t it the board’s responsibility to come up with suggestions? Presumably that is why they ran for the board, or asked to be appointed to the board. They should have the answers. It’s not the responsibility of a Dagger commentator to come up with suggestions. We also have a First Amendment right to make criticisms here.
The board need to look hard at making cuts within the system. Look at closing a school or cutting an unneeded program. They need to reconsider other capital projects. Finally, stop looking like a deer in the headlights at every meeting. Stop missing meetings.
I will make some suggestions. But isn’t it the board’s responsibility to come up with suggestions? Presumably that is why they ran for the board, or asked to be appointed to the board. They should have the answers. It’s definitely not the responsibility of a Dagger commentator to come up with suggestions. We also have a First Amendment right to make criticisms here.
The board need to look hard at making cuts within the system. Look at closing a school or cutting an unneeded program. They need to reconsider other capital projects. Finally, stop looking like a deer in the headlights at every meeting. Stop missing meetings.
Isn’t the fund balance is going to get used for something anyway? It sounds like the Superintendent would prefer to have sole discretion on where that money goes and leave the Board members out of the loop. Can we see a full report on where all of the fund balance comes from as well as where is has been spent over the past 5 years? If the Board doesn’t have independent staff that reports directly to them, and the Superintendent insists upon an incremental budget process instead of zero balance budgeting, I don’t think that leaves a lot of space for the Board to come up with ideas. As a Board member, you can ask for reports BUT they will be complied by a staff member that passes them through the Superintendent first. Board members don’t get paid and barely get expenses reimbursed yet almost every staff member present in the room where the Board meets is paid over six figures! Look around next time. That’s only a very small portion of the staff in that building making that kind of money. There is an administrative assistant in Roberty that is making more that a teacher with multiple degrees and 30 years of experience! Why isn’t it fair game to use the ENTIRE fund balance and shift the responsibility for coming up with ideas back on out multi-million dollar team of “experts?”
Did you watch any of the budget meetings last year? It certainly appeared that some of the school board members were pretty adamant about keeping the pools open, and not for just one year.
MR WILLIAMSON, MR ROBINSON, MR FRISCH and MR HAU are the members that pushed very hard to keep all 3 pools. Absolutly no doubt about that! It would be kind and wise for swimmers to reach out and thank these visionaries and guardians. Thank You!
Well, all board members took an oath and are supposed to do their duty, and not laze around and make budget decisions without thinking. I’ve heard they get paid a small monthly stipend. Several board members also ran for office in the 2014 election saying they were experienced or knew a lot about education, like Reynolds, Frisch, Gauthier, Voskhul. It’s a shame if they don’t really have any ideas or solutions, or don’t want to do any real work like studying the budget and HCPS school system for cuts.
Maybe you would like to tell us how much the stipend is. I heard things too. I heard it doesn’t even cover gas money. You may want to look into why some of the board members were “investigated”. No volunteer should be subjected to threats or intimidation.
Solutions have been discussed but there still needs to be a majority to vote for them.
I’m sorry, but it’s hard to have sympathy for the school board members.
People can get on here and make all kind of claims. Bottom line it’s a funding issue. Close buildings, cut top salaries are drops in the bucket. If the rate of growth is 3 to 5%, you can’t continually give the system 1% more. Over time it catches up. The vast majority of the budget is salary and benefits. Cut that all you want your still short.
Why are we building a new school in Havre DeGrace anyway? Enrollment is down across the county, and BRAC increases didn’t materialize. They should bus those kids to other schools that are below capacity and close the Havre DeGrace school permanently.
Because David Craig wanted it as his parting gift to HdG.
Along with the Taj mahal library and a brownfield waterfront lot.
Who in the Roberty building has kids in the Havre De Grace area? That’s why we are getting more buildings.
They should try and “upgrade” it like North Harford. LOL
That wasn’t good enough for Craig.