The YorkCounts E-Newsletterfound on the blog at yorkcounts.org
January 2008
In this issue:
Metro-York implementation gains steam
Before and across the holidays – and as 2008 began – YorkCounts volunteer leaders got started on the ambitious task of implementing the Metro-York recommendations.
Each of the eight Metro-York ideas for building a better, stronger community is likely to have a separate implementation committee. Most of them have formed or are forming – and meetings populate the January calendar.
The first official Metro-York follow-up meeting took place January 9 at Penn State York, involving more than 20 educators and other participants – including four area school superintendents, several school board members, state Rep. Bev Mackereth and the chief of staff of state Rep. Eugene DePasquale. This panel, which has become known as the Educational Opportunities Committee, has been tasked with pursuing one or more of the ideas from the following Metro-York education recommendation:
Attack the root problem: a school district can’t succeed when poverty and its related problems are concentrated the way they are in the York City schools.
In York city, 85 percent of public school students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (which, according to government classifications, means they are living in poverty). Across the country, numerous strategies are being employed to de-concentrate school poverty in a given area, and it’s time that one or more of them be tried here. A task force must be formed to consider, prioritize and plan the implementation of:
- New academic programming that appeals to parents throughout York County, with the added benefit that it would result in interaction between city, suburban and rural students. Enrollment would always be by choice.
A “student exchange” could allow individual students from the city to go to school in the suburbs, or those from the suburbs to go to the city, for a limited period of time such as one year. Such a program would broaden academic experiences and, perhaps more importantly, break down the barriers between people.
A public magnet school could be open to students across York County and could be funded by those districts. It could be located centrally, but apart from any existing schools. Such a school would offer new academic opportunities to children inside and outside the city. It would also ease overcrowding in the suburban districts.
A public charter school could house a maximum of 49 percent city students and 51 percent non-city students – potentially, the children of parents who work in the city. This school would be located in the city.
A public school choice program could grant some number of York city kindergarteners admission to other districts’ elementary schools each year. Once there, they would receive special support to stay, holding the other districts harmless financially.
- An education-based incentive for middle-class parents to return to the city with their children. Scholarships can be powerful incentives. The Kalamazoo Promise is one example. It’s providing four-year scholarships to graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools to colleges in Michigan. The program has dual educational and economic appeal, as the city’s population decline has reversed, housing values have jumped and businesses have relocated to Kalamazoo.
State Secretary of Education Dr. Gerald Zahorchak is expected to address the Educational Opportunities Committee in late January or early February.
Commissioners, others applaud Metro-York
York County Commissioners Lori Mitrick, Doug Kilgore and Steve Chronister unanimously approved a resolution in December commending Metro-York participants “for producing a thoughtful and detailed plan for improvement” and urging “community-wide participation in the conversation about the… future of our community.”
The Board of Commissioners was joined later in December and early January by the boards of PeoplesBank, Wagman Construction, G.A. and F.C. Wagman and Better York in endorsing the Metro-York output.
The resolutions noted that “a guiding Metro-York principle was to identify regional solutions to regional challenges.”
YorkCounts in a statewide context
YorkCounts is drawing attention not only around York County, but also across the state for efforts to sustain and enhance the quality of life in York County.
The Metro-York effort in particular is highlighted in a report called Putting the Pieces Together: Five Case Studies of Regional Cooperation in Pennsylvania.
The report is available online (
http://www.renewpa.org/downloads/putting_the_pieces_together_report.pdf) and reviews Metro-York as well as regional cooperation in the Lehigh Valley and in Elk, Cameron and Clearfield counties.
“For the business and civic leaders who constitute Metro-York’s participants,” the report notes, “there is no question that suburban communities must work more cooperatively with the city.”
The document was prepared for and distributed at the Path to Prosperity summit, a statewide event staged in December by the Campaign to Renew Pennsylvania (RenewPA) and IssuesPA – a project of the Pennsylvania Economy League – with support from the Team Pennsylvania Foundation.
Mark your calendars for 2008 summit
The 2008 YorkCounts Summit has been scheduled for Thursday, April 17 at the Yorktowne Hotel. Further details will be available soon, but now’s the time to circle the date.
Governor Rendell is expected to speak at the event, which will coincide with the release of YorkCounts’ Annual Report.
For questions about the Summit, contact the Director of YorkCounts, James DeBord, at (717) 815-6436 or
jdebord@ycp.edu.
The YorkCounts E-Newsletter is written by Beau Boughamer. Reach YorkCounts by mail c/o the Center for Community Engagement at York College of Pennsylvania, 605 South George Street, Suite 160, York, PA 17401, by telephone at (717) 815-6430 or by e-mail at yorkcounts@gmail.com. Visit YorkCounts online at yorkcounts.org.
