Tag Archives: Lower Merion School District

is there a disconnect between pa’s reporting systems and pa school districts?

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The news out of Central Bucks School District is undeniably explosive.

NBC 10: PENNSYLVANIA
Teacher, aide accused of abusing students with special needs at Pa. school By Deanna Durante and David Chang

There is no way around how ugly this is. No way at all. Now, of course, those of us familiar with Lower Merion School District know that the Central Bucks Superintendent is Dr. Steven Yanni. Yanni was Superintendent in Lower Merion for a few months, never moved into the district and then was gone back to Bucks County (where he lived, so you know that was a heck of a commute to the Main Line every day.)

A related aside was an excellent article in the student newspaper for Lower Merion High School about the revolving door of superintendents in Lower Merion School District. https://themerionite.org/7089/features/lmsds-revolving-door-at-the-superintendent-position/

It was always my opinion that Yanni used getting the job in Lower Merion to get him back where he wanted to be, which was Buck County and of course now he’s on leave because of all of this so maybe that wasn’t the best decision?

Philadelphia Inquirer: Central Bucks’ superintendent is on leave after report found abuse of special education students by Maddie Hanna
Updated April 24, 2025, 10:08 p.m. ET

Now, although not a fan of Yanni, I am less of a fan of the insanity that goes on in a lot of these Bucks County school districts, especially this one. Let us not forget things like Clarice Schillinger, founder of the Keeping Kids in School PAC, who recruited nearly 100 parents to run for school boards across Pennsylvania over masking/anti-vaxxing etc who also made national news as the Bucks County party mom who was accused of slugging a kid?

A 17th Birthday Party, a Stocked Bar, Beer Pong, and a “Parental Rights” Mom Facing Assault Charges

Bucks County is a total circus with their school districts, especially Central Bucks.

But what came out in this recent thing and this report that was filed that was so explosive to me demonstrates that there’s like this breakdown between school districts, the state including things like “Child Line”, and police departments.

It reminded me of something that happened in Chester County and that was the death of that poor girl, Malinda Hoagland. That made national news as well.

AP News: State, local officials failed 12-year-old Pennsylvania girl who died after abuse, lawsuits say

So these two cases this new one in Bucks County and this one from last year in Chester County, to me clearly illustrates that all these agencies that are supposed to be working together for the benefit of children are in fact not.

Let’s start with Child Line which has been a subject of scrutiny in the past. In 2023 there was a report put out about their registry by the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Temple Law School:

Advocating Abolition of PA ChildLine Registry August 22, 2023

In 2022 Community Legal Services filed a law suit: https://clsphila.org/criminal-records/childline-lawsuit/

Child Abuse Cases in Pennsylvania: The Real Face Behind the Mask of the Child Protective Services Law

Now I think because of the problems experienced because of Child Line not l functioning properly, or perhaps functioning unfairly as these articles indicate, it also means that school districts are perhaps reluctant to go to the state and file with Child Line?

I know from what parents told me I guess it was a couple or a few years ago when there were issues at some local daycare places. Parents told me about their experiences calling Child Line among other things they basically felt like when they called in something they weren’t heard or taken seriously. Others have said to me it’s like calling any other thing in Harrisburg that’s supposed to help residents, it’s just a study in frustration.

Of course the greatest irony is because the federal government is monkey around so much with education and actually most probably wants to try to get rid of the Department of Education, these resources are needed more than ever.

https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2025-04-14/pennsylvania-child-advocate-abuse-investigations-childline

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/former-glen-mills-schools-students-claim-in-new-lawsuits-they-were-sexually-physically-abused-by-staff/

From 2016:

ON THE BEAT, POSTS, PUBLIC SAFETY
Advocates say PA’s child abuse hotline has had major problems since 2010, so why did the state wait so long to investigate?

Alexandra Kanik
May 26, 2016

I think there’s a lot of blame to go around. And then you look at the hierarchy and what not within each school district. Often teachers are afraid to step forward. They have to deal with their peers. They have to deal with their teachers union. They have to deal with the administration. It is my opinion that that’s why you didn’t see very much happen that should’ve happened with the whole scandal within the Great Valley School District of making hyper sexualized and horrible fake social media profiles of teachers within that district. That made the news and then it fizzled out and disappeared.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/great-valley-middle-school-tiktok-malvern-chester-county/

https://whyy.org/articles/chester-county-middle-schoolers-fake-tiktok-accounts-impersonating-teachers/

That issue shouldn’t have disappeared like that, but you know in order for law-enforcement to do anything teachers have to step forward and allow their names to be used, don’t they? The school district certainly didn’t want this blown up anymore in Great Valley. They wanted it to disappear.

And then there is the crap that all of the school districts have had to deal with since Covid. First there was masking an anti-vaxxing. Now it’s back to book banning. The latest was Radnor School District. And there we all saw a familiar face from the Great Valley School District book banning debacle that included litigation that cost the district and taxpayers quite a bit of coin, and the litigation went nowhere.

what do radnor school district and great valley school district now have in common??

I’m pleased to report that Radnor school district is UN-banning the books it banned and I’ve posted the link to the meeting so you can hear how the parents, residents, and former attendees of various Radnor schools felt. You have to surf a little bit into the video, but it’s well worth listening to these people.

The school districts in Pennsylvania seem to deal with a continual circus. I think that’s fair to say. That makes it harder for them to do their jobs.

I also think that is fair to say I think there was an enormous breakdown in the Central Bucks School District, circling back to what I opened this post with, but they’re not the only district that suffers from these things. Now I think Superintendent Yanni will be the scapegoat here and the fall guy, especially because the Republicans in that area didn’t want him here in the first place, did they? But he’s not the only one that can take a lap or two for how that whole horrible scenario all happened at Jamison Elementary.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/doylestown/central-bucks-board-member-calls-superintendent-resign

https://www.buckscounty.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1274

I have to be honest and say that I am not surprised that there are issues in any school district when it comes to special needs kids. There are the teachers and administrators and other personnel who really really care, and then there are the ones who don’t.

I have had many friends over the course of my life who have had kids with varying degrees of special needs in some very familiar school districts who ended up having to take their kids OUT of these public school districts, and in some cases, sue the district to get the kids into better programs elsewhere.

And then there are the parents who want school districts to deal with severe bullying issues, and things of that nature. And there’s a lot of double talk, but not a lot of action. And sometimes the bullying is not from the kids, it’s the adults, yes?

The circus of school districts needs to get back to the best interest of the child. Every time one of these horrible things happens school districts say they’re going to do better. Then the state will say it’s going to do better, and eventually it all goes back to the way it was doesn’t it? Actual change and reform need to happen.

And that includes a need for school districts to have effective mechanisms in place to deal with the parents that think that what they believe personally should be applied across the board to every parent with things like book banning. The dead baby poster toting book banning poster toting parents are taking up a lot of valuable time within our school districts. They seem to think that their rights matter more than everyone else’s. These circus routines distract from more important matters. You know things like child abuse. Or actual education.

And Harrisburg? Well, Harrisburg is its own cesspool, and this is a glaring example of what they need to actually do better as well.

And then all of these school districts and the state have to work better with law enforcement. it has to be a partnership for the betterment of the children, putting the egos and partisan politics aside.

OK, I’m getting off my soapbox now. But I just think there’s actual reform that needs to happen and it’s not just in one exceptionally problematic school district in Bucks County.

Have a good rest of your Fridays everyone.

reliving evil spying laptops in lower merion school district.

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Wow. I think I will have to actually watch this twice to catch it all but I just finished Spy High. It’s well worth watching and it’s not just because although I had no kids in Lower Merion School district when this occurred, I was still living there. Some of my friends were right in the middle of this and I knew people who had kids in the high schools then.

This was in general a crazy time then. Friends of mine in Ardmore were also fighting redistricting. And the redistricting was insane. Literally they were spreading out minority students. And then of course there was this whole walk zone thing that affected the kids who walked from different places in Ardmore to Lower Merion High School. I swear some of the streets on the “no no” list were literally added because some residents didn’t want kids walking around their neighborhood….even going to school.

Click to access lowermerionbrief.pdf

So yeah, I wrote about evil spying laptops when it was happening and after the fact. It was one of the creepier things that Lower Merion School District has ever done, and well it’s a long list for creepy things that the school district has done over time. What price first class, right?

evil spying laptops: when something a community lived through becomes a docuseries

So where to begin ? This one random day a man contacts me about the laptop scandal in Lower Merion. He was working on a documentary series about this.

Initially, he kind of wanted to talk to me and maybe did I want to be interviewed since I had blogged about it a lot ? I said thank you for asking, but I didn’t think it would be appropriate because I didn’t have kids in the school district back then I just had friends involved in the issue. And I also no longer lived in Lower Merion. So I offered to connect him to my friends.

So guess what? That was Jody McVeigh-Schultz… the director of “Spy High.” Life is just very random sometimes.

I realize that a lot of people don’t like bloggers and they don’t like me as a blogger in particular, so that was a definite factor as well in me saying no I shouldn’t be interviewed. And it’s not my story personally to be part of and it’s not just the story of Blake Robbins, who was one of the named defendants in one of the lawsuits and a part of this series.

There were a lot of victims in this and I’m glad this series is out now and I hope it’s so many people watch it because Lower Merion School District kind of made this go away in my opinion. The phrase swept this under the rug comes to mind….

There’s one person in particular whom I am glad finally got to tell his story. And he’s the young man whom my friend Lynn (who is also in the series) is very fond of and really good friends with his mother, June. His name is Keron Williams. And also another young man named Jalil Hasan. They both shine through in this series with quiet grace and dignity.

You see, the story always had the Robbins family kind of at the center of it and it’s not just about them. I don’t know them, and after watching this entire series, I am reminded once again at the inequity within this issue even within the financial settlements. How is it that the white student got so much more money than the black students? Especially when you think about the fact that at one of the black students had the same lawyer as the white student?

I have to be honest that the series made me sad as good as it was because you see how kids lost part of their childhood with this. And how this affected their families and community as well.

One thing I was really pleased to see in the series is in my opinion how visually uncomfortable the lawyer for Lower Merion School District was while being interviewed. And of course, Lower Merion School District wanted no parts of being interviewed for this.

I’m not a fan of Lower Merion School District. I have not been for a very long time. There was what I experienced my brief time there at Welsh Valley before going to Shipley, and then there’s just all the crap that they have pulled and tried to pull over the years.

Welsh Valley was really an eye-opening experience as to the mentality of the school district and a lot of the kids. I might be almost 61, but I can still see in my mind‘s eye the penultimate mean girls strolling down the halls in their crotch-splitting tight jeans and Candies flipping their crimped hair. I also will say I don’t think their middle-aged selves are particularly different from their young teen selves at that point. But they were the first ones that taught me that I really was strong and during those years, I did make some wonderful friends I have to this day.

I never understood in the first place why the Lower Merion School District thought it was OK to turn on the cameras. I mean if other Apple products like your phone can be located via a find my phone app, why couldn’t something like that have been used as extra security? Why the cameras? How would turning on a camera tell them where a lost laptop actually was? Did they think it was going to give a screenshot of a street name? 

And what happened to all the thousands of images that existed but disappeared? It is still seriously like they were stalking their own student body? Kids who never did anything wrong were deeply affected, and on certain levels permanently affected by this.

Other things I find astounding are the people still employed by Lower Merion School District who were part of this scandal and debacle who continued with employment by the district after this, some of whom are still employed today by the district? After this went down and the settlements were paid out these people should’ve no longer been working for the school district, yet there they are.

I will admit I was not only sad at the end of this, but I had many mixed emotions watching the entire four parts of the documentary series. Public schools are supposed to look out for the greater good of the students, but are they really doing that any longer, or is it just one big exercise in cover their ass which is kind of what I think happened here in the end.

If you get Amazon Prime I hope you take the time to stream Spy High. And to Lower Merion School District I simply ask what’s it like having the cameras turned on you?

OK, I am going to give you links to some of the past articles on this as well as the current coverage.

Thanks for stopping by.

https://time.com/7275031/spy-high-true-story-prime-video/#

https://deadline.com/2025/01/spy-high-docuseries-blake-robbins-lawsuit-ordered-prime-video-mark-wahlberg-1236265186/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/spy-high-tv-review-2025

Director Jody McVeigh-Schultz investigates school espionage for Spy High

https://www.technadu.com/spy-high-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-explosive-docuseries-based-on-a-real-life-surveillance-scandal/583835/

https://people.com/spy-high-docuseries-inside-teen-webcam-surveillance-case-11701579

Parents file civil-rights suit vs. Lower Merion School District

Four-part series on Lower Merion spycam case to premiere next month

Privacy issue goes public as vice principal, student speak

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/610k-settlement-in-school-webcam-spy-case/

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/education/20100504_Web_cam_report_blasts_Lower_Merion_school_district.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/year-in-review/20101012_Lower_Merion_district_s_laptop_saga_ends_with__610_000_settlement.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news20100416_1_000s_of_Web_cam_images__suit_says.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/20100419_Lower_Merion_details_Web_cam_scope.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/20/us-school-accused-laptops-spying

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/laptop.suit/index.html

More details emerge in Lower Merion School District webcam case

https://www.cato.org/blog/how-broadly-did-school-laptops-spy

https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/USA/2010/0219/Teen-says-school-spied-on-him-at-home-via-school-issued-laptop

School district admits to taking 56,000 laptop photos

https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2010/04/philadelphia-area_school_distr_1.html

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20100225_Laptop_family_is_no_stranger_to_legal_disputes.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8523807.stm

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/filing_school_district_spied_on_1000s_of_students_at_home_via_laptop_webcam

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/kILo80KUhg

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/02/school_laptop_spying_case_prob.html

Lower Merion School District Sued For Spying On Students Via Webcams In School-Issued Laptops

evil spying laptops: when something a community lived through becomes a docuseries

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Never underestimate the power of community. A friend sent me an article this morning. Evil spying laptops that happened in Lower Merion Township is a docuseries.

To me? Oh how cool- the person (can’t remember their name) scouting for this initially contacted me because I blogged about it back then under Save Ardmore Coalition about evil spying laptops, I connected him to a friend from LMVUE who connected them to other people a while back and the end result? This. Never knew it would be Mark Waglburg thing. Yes he’s behind the series.

My friends and I always had the opinion that the kids in the case weren’t the only ones who had it happen to them, we always thought there were many more kids but these were the ones whose parents came forward. After all there were thousands of photos.

However, one kid’s parents’ issues became part of what was the story of this case. What the kid went through should never be diminished because of the actions of the adults in his life at the time.

I can tell you that this docuseries coming out is going to be very hard on the people who had to live it, but I am hoping that because Mark Wahlberg is behind it that it will be a story told the right way.

I was not part of the interviewing process for this docuseries because I told the person who initially contacted me that it wasn’t my story to tell because at the time I didn’t have kids in the school district, I was just writing about it as an issue locally. I was a community activist and a blogger there before I moved out here And became the blogger that everybody likes to complain about. But when it came to that, I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to speak about it. The people to speak about it are most appropriately the people that truly lived it not just people like me who observed it happening in the community.

But the thing is when people tell their story sometimes something good will happen and I’m hoping something good will happen here because if people see this, maybe it will be stopped in all the other places it’s still happening.

For those of us who lived through this back then either as a parent of a directly affected child or just as a community member thinking how could a school district be violating rights like this, it changed out we looked at computers. I don’t think any of us will ever have a camera on a laptop or a desktop that doesn’t have a cover over it, even if it is just a post it note.

And I will also note that I felt back then there was a very racial component to this whole thing as well, and I hope that the series covers that. Again, when I was initially contacted about this, I sent them to LMVUE people not the Robbins family whom I did not ever know.

Deadline: ‘Spy High’ Docuseries From EP Mark Wahlberg Lands At Prime Video

By Katie Campione

Philadelphia Inquirer: Lower Merion’s notorious ‘WebcamGate’ scandal to become an Amazon docuseries Mark Wahlberg is executive producing ‘Spy High,’ a four-part series premiering this Spring. by Rosa Cartagena Published Jan. 27, 2025, 3:05 p.m.

Please note that although the Inquirer characterizes this as a “dark period” in Lower Merion School District history, it’s hardly been the only dark period in this screwy school district.

LMVUE (Lower Merion Voices United for Equity in Education) which was also integral to this was a group of residents and parents who deserve a lot of credit here. They went against the school district initially for redistricting, and they did a lot of other things to help parents and students in the district, including having a big voice here with evil spying laptops.

I know when it comes to this, that a lot of people are upset that this one family seems central to perhaps even this docuseries – but again even if the parents were slightly less than did, the kids deserve laptops spying on them? No, they did not. So whatever the motivation was that caused these parents to become a lead in this and a face in this, perhaps if they hadn’t been so vocal, would this have gotten so far? It’s a double edge sword isn’t it? And I do think that if they hadn’t been so out in front on this, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so much attention.

However, I wonder if it will go into one of the other characters who were there when this happened? And one person is the guy who parents wanted out in Wallingford Swarthmore school district correct?

But to people out there who think they can’t make a difference in their community, it can happen.

And we never referred to it as WebCamgate, it was always evil spying laptops.

Thanks for stopping by and see articles linked below.

Philadelphia Inquirer:

Wallingford-Swarthmore’s superintendent is leaving, after accusations of ‘tyrannical’ management style

by Maddie Hanna
Published Aug. 16, 2024, 9:40 a.m.

https://themerionite.org/7089/features/lmsds-revolving-door-at-the-superintendent-position/

Who is Lower Merion School District’s new assistant superintendent?
Former Cheltenham superintendent agrees to resign following ongoing troubles with parents
Lower Merion School District has a plan to replace Superintendent McGinley

https://www.aclupa.org/en/press-releases/aclu-seeks-protect-students-privacy-lower-merion-school-district-laptop-lawsuit

https://edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/School-Webcam-Spy.html

https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/2011/10/11/bringing-the-21st-century-into-the-classrooms/

Click to access 3.pdf

Justia: Independent Investigation of LMSD and Laptops

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/610k-settlement-in-school-webcam-spy-case/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2010/04/22/lower-merion-school-district-explains-the-56000-webcamgate-shots/

https://casetext.com/case/robbins-v-lower-merion-school-district

Lower Merion School District Sued For Spying On Students Via Webcams In School-Issued Laptops

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lower-merion-school-distr_n_758882

when the side show is more interesting than the circus…

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So the other day I posted about Oakwell :

oakwell is safe-ish?

I opened with that snippet from the Lower Merion School District meeting.

Why?

Because it has sent off a tsunami of social media speculation. I can’t resist and I have to memorialize some of it. It’s fascinating.

When I started seeing things appear on social media yesterday, I actually reached out to Natural Lands. They told me what was appearing on Facebook wasn’t true. I have no reason to doubt them. Because if Lower Merion School District is in the middle of a delicate transaction, no one might know anything yet.

They actually responded on social media:

I’m going with nothing to see here with Oakwell until there is actually something to see. Large real estate transactions, especially when you’re talking about hopefully a preservationist can be quite delicate, so in my opinion it’s time to put the egos aside and sit on the gotcha moments for now.

Like I said, sometimes the side show is more interesting than the circus. What is gained out of this game of gotcha?

That’s all.

oakwell is safe-ish?

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So… I have written about Oakwell before, including this post which included history that I dug up:

what about oakwell? once part of stoneleigh, now set to be demolished by greedy lower merion school district?

Apparently Lower Merion School District has had a change of heart? I will believe it when the deal is inked but I am cautiously optimistic.

Truthfully, I had stopped following much of what was going on at Oakwell, because some of the volunteers involved with the Save Oakwell I found to be so distracting as individuals, that it made it hard to follow the actual issue. That being said I would occasionally get my updates from other friends I have that have been involved with this since the beginning.

Oakwell is next door to Stoneleigh. Originally was part of Stoneleigh land before we all came along. I remember going to some nonprofit thing there years ago I think with my mother, it was a garden thing. It’s been too many years to remember what.

I wonder what the prior owner thinks? I wonder because he is the one who set this all in motion in the first place isn’t he?

And then you have to wonder who is the new potential owner? When this all first started, Villanova University was buying it. Then came the whole thing with Lower Merion School District.

Other posts I wrote:

lmsd is front page over eminent domain…again
once again, lower merion school district and her cheerleaders can’t see the forest for the trees….so why not just clear cut the forest?

So who is the potential new owner the latest superintendent of the Lower Merion School District mentioned? Honestly, I don’t know. What I do know is nothing is finalized and if there is a new owner brewing, it has to be voted on by the school board. In public.

So I wouldn’t be quick to believe everything you read on Facebook just yet, and I am saying that as someone who has pretty goddamn good sources.

I think at best we are cautiously optimistic. I hope it’s saved so that tea pavilion survives because that’s actually rare to see one pretty much intact. Given the history of the property, of course what would be awesome is if it could be added to Stoneleigh but I don’t know that that is happening and we just have to wait and see at this point.

Just pray, it isn’t some predatory developer. One of the biggest problems in this area when it comes to saving gardens and preserving things is, there are no more Ernesta Drinker Ballards around.

The Future of Oakwell Takes a Turn as Advocates Continue to Rally

Here are some photos that a friend of mine took a couple of years ago that I shared before :

once again, lower merion school district and her cheerleaders can’t see the forest for the trees….so why not just clear cut the forest?

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RANT ALERT. If you don’t want to hear it, turn away now.

Traveling back from whence I came, or visiting issues in Lower Merion Township is always amusing albeit somewhat disturbing to always be amazed at the blind devotion to Lower Merion School District especially when once again they are doing something destructive.

The comments from the blind faithful THIS time are over Lower Merion School Board plans to bulldoze a beautiful swath of woodland unnecessarily is truly something which will take your breath away. I am not giving those comments air time because they are always the same thing: when it is distilled and boiled down, Lower Merion School District is perfect.

If you disagree with Lower Merion School District cheerleaders no matter what they are trying to do you are at a minimum a bad person. Or you are NIMBY, which doesn’t apply unless it’s in your neighborhood and even then it is just a knee jerk pejorative term most of the time. These folks want to drive their status symbol green friendly Teslas, but when it comes to actually doing better the environment in other ways, or even just preserving an area to keep a bit of charm, that is far too inconvenient.

And OMG you would think Lower Merion School District was in dire peril if they don’t get their way every single time.

MISPLACED SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT. Lots of school districts excel and thrive on far, far less.

No Lower Merion School District is not perfect and it has decades of issues to prove that. And no I don’t think highly of them.

And Lower Merion Township has contributed to issues surrounding Lower Merion School District vis a vis development. Sure they are separate entities autonomous from one and other, yet they have a weird codependency since what they do as individual entities affects the other. And when you overdevelop and they come, it overcrowds the school district, correct?

A few years ago now, Lower Merion School District had a failed attempt to seize land from Stoneleigh, the 100% preserved property donated by the Haas family to Natural Lands to remain preserved in perpetuity for people (and nature) to enjoy.

Then when Lower Merion Township School District couldn’t get their greedy paws on Stoneleigh, they acquired the old Clothier Estate and it was happy bulldozing. Oh and I forgot, before they attempted to get Stoneleigh, there was that whole situation where they made a play to take Ashbridge Park. Yes a park.

So then there was the whole thing of they still need more land and that old disco song “More, More, More” comes to mind because with Lower Merion School District more, more, more is always their mantra. Nothing is ever enough.

Photo Courtesy of Save Oakwell Sister to Stoneleigh.

As a school district they could have sent representatives to Lower Merion Township for years to express concern over infill development, but they didn’t. And once upon a time, they had other schools, that they closed. They closed Ardmore Junior High School around 1978, they let the Ardmore Avenue School (elementary) rot and eventually closed it (that caused redistricting back then didn’t it although it was also integration?) they closed Bryn Mawr Elementary School, and the Wynnewood Road Elementary School.

So in my humble opinion, Lower Merion School District has always had issues and always been a crappy neighbor. In the vein of that opinion, their still current and fractured relationship with neighbors over field lights at Arnold Field. And remember redistricting again in the not too recent past and the case Students Doe v. Lower Merion School District which made it to the U.S. Supreme Court although it was not heard?

So back to Villanova where the new middle school with the stupid name that means nothing but could have meant something if they had bent their absurd rigidity and allow it to be named after beloved educator, Sean Hughes. Anyway, Lower Merion swoops in and elbows out Villanova University using eminent domain once again to get 13.4 acres on adjacent sites to Stoneleigh at 1800 West Montgomery Ave. and 1835 County Line Rd.

Oakwell. 13 acres of old growth woods and heritage trees, mostly majestic oak trees. HUNDREDS of them. This property was in play for a while and I believe the former owners just dangled a juicy carrot until they had enough people salivating. First it was Villanova University (which would have been just as bad owning this property in my opinion.) But you know Lower Merion School District and their favorite billy club of eminent domain, right?

So now it is to be turf field city, the hell with trees and species like the great horned owl which remarkably DOES live there? This is also still a threat to Stoneleigh in my humble opinion. This is also an enormous environmental threat to the entire area and will affect not only Lower Merion Township residents, but Radnor Township residents who literally are on the other side of terribly narrow County Line Road. And of course one can’t help but wonder, does a new school mean the need for another outpost for first responders? Where would THAT go if so?

This is post is truthfully an addendum to a last-minute call to arms the other day for anyone who grew up in Lower Merion Township or lives there still today.

Please continue to send emails telling the Lower Merion School District to NOT bulldoze down many acres of a pristine old growth oak forest. They want to destroy a valuable natural resource that will affect Stoneleigh immediately adjacent, and neighbors in Lower Merion Township and Radnor Township just so middle schoolers can have a few turf fields.

FLOOD THEIR EMAIL!


I hate to sound as old as dirt but we had plain old grass fields and survived quite nicely. It’s middle school. Of course ironically it’s also the place in school where they teach or used to teach earth science and this property is like a giant living earth science lab complete with great horned owls.


The school board keep trying to do an end run around neighbors who want to have a zoning hearing board meeting on this issue. I think it behooves all of us to support the neighbors and environmentalists on the front lines of this issue.

This property they acquired adjacent to Stoneleigh is irreplaceably special. It has mature woodlands with all sorts of flora and fauna species as well as the oaks. Those old growth oaks in particular are extraordinarily valuable, and not just monetarily. They are also heritage trees.


This property has been evaluated by experts and it is a treasure trove of species. It is home to many, many migratory birds, etc.


Here is whom you address your email to (and YES include LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP):

communitycomments@lmsd.org
publiccomment@lowermerion.org
shouchins@lowermerion.org

drmumin@lmsd.org

mcgloia@lmsd.org

shaferm@lmsd.org

Now including those email addresses because if you have been sending emails their comment email address keeps getting overwhelmed.

Lower Merion Township Zoning Hearing Board Meeting Cancelled 1/25/22

The zoning meeting got cancelled on this topic this week. It is rescheduled. Do not know exact date. Including Lower Merion Township in your email will probably be the only response you get. And it will be from the current Township Secretary and it will be terse and may even feel somewhat rude, but you have put your sentiments on the record which is important in any issue. Don’t expect great things from the Township Manager, Ernie McNeely, and if you don’t believe me just ask folks in West Chester Borough where he came from before he became socially upwardly mobile and moved to Lower Merion, right?

By all accounts, Lower Merion School District finally has a decent superintendent. But he inherited a legacy of bad decisions and bad apples in my humble opinion. This was set into motion by the previous superintendent who was even worse than the one he succeeded.

Middle school kids can play just fine on grass fields and the new middle school has field space too. They could have fields on this latest seized property and save the woodlands. Saving those woodlands gives them opportunities from other than turf fields. Kids could learn from actual nature, not what is projected on a screen as they sit growing like mushrooms while they are looking at their phones anyway. Nature gives kids room to be kids.

Middle school kids aren’t competing for the Heisman Trophy or Soccer World Cup, maybe less playing fields and letting kids still be kids at that age would be more productive? But then the soccer moms and dads in their expensive athleisure wouldn’t be able to drive their giant gas guzzling or environmentally appropriate SUVs through the Starbucks drive thru with casual disregard for other drivers and pedestrians only to scream and yell at the side of a field and because it’s Lower Merion expect others to clean up their Starbucks cups, right?

Hell yea I am on a rant. This is ridiculous. I don’t always agree with Lower Merion resident Phil Browndeis, but his thoughts posted with his video shared above, struck a chord:

This is the last winter for a stand of old growth trees in Lower Merion. The Lower Merion School District plans to clear cut the trees to build new athletic fields for the new middle school. So much for carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat and all the other good that trees provide us.

Allow me also to share verbiage from a petition about this (and sign that too while you are at it!):

THIS PETITION IS SPONSORED BY CLIMATE ACTION LOWER MERION (CALM) https://www.climateactionlm.org/ contact us at climateactionlm@gmail.com

Lower Merion Township is facing a great challenge which must be addressed with urgency: the Township is under tremendous development pressure which is being allowed to continue under old building and development and land use codes that do not protect and preserve the Township’s shrinking remaining environmental assets. This is a matter of grave concern: our tree canopy is under attack. Our waterways, already polluted, are being further compromised. Our cost to correct the adverse impacts of this type of development may greatly exceed whatever short term benefits may be derived.

An environmental tragedy is unfolding. Over 482 trees over 6” in diameter (which probably understates the number of mature trees) including 26 giant oaks, a magnificent oak savannah, and a densely treed mature woodland are slated for removal according to a proposal before the Township for their approval. It would be hard for this proposal to be enacted under the current zoning code, but this proposal is sadly grandfathered under old rules.

Due to an unfortunate set of events that occurred a few years ago, a wooded parcel was acquired by the School District for playing field development. This parcel is located at 1800 Montgomery Avenue and 1835 County Line Rd in Villanova. The plan involves an almost complete deforestation of the parcel including a clearcutting of vast swaths of trees. Neighbors say it is a stopover for migrating birds including snowy owls.

At the same time that this project is moving forward, the Township is in a planning process to write and implement a Sustainability/Greenhouse Gas Reduction plan and is considering adopting a Net Zero Carbon Emission resolution. The destruction of the woodland would be a self-inflicted wound making it far more difficult and costly to achieve the sustainability and carbon reduction we so desperately need. In addition, the children cannot walk to the proposed playing fields. They will have to be bussed. So we hope another site could be equally viable.

We are simply asking the Township authorities and the School district to work together to exhaustively and completely explore all other options. We must be stewards for our children and our children’s children. We can do the right thing, its not too late.

I don’t hold out great hope here, I am a realist and this school district is always selfish and so are the majority of their narcissistic blind faith devotees. However, you just don’t know and if we can save these woods, it is so crucially important to the are and to nature herself.

Thanks for allowing the rant, you know I love my oak trees and owls and woodpeckers and other critters. Visit Save Oakwell Sister to Stoneleigh on Facebook to keep up with what is happening. I guess I am a tree hugger after a fashion. And I definitely don’t agree with yet another bad plan by Lower Merion School District.

Maybe this in the end is just another Don Quixote tilting at windmills issue, but I still think it is something to talk about, and why not object to the plan? After all WHY couldn’t they preserve these woods and use other open space on property for fields? Why CAN’T they be part progress part preservationist? These trees are actually important and I am completely unapologetic to those who cannot see that.

Photo Courtesy of Save Oakwell Sister to Stoneleigh.

Interesting reading on Lower Merion School District:

Inquirer: “Stoneleigh garden may be saved from Lower Merion school district by new law”
June 25, 2018
By Natural Lands

WHYY ‘Disconcerting to be a taxpayer and not be heard’: Lower Merion residents rebuke school district in open space battle
By Kenny Cooper October 14, 2021

6 ABC Save Stoneleigh supporters storm Lower Merion School Board meeting
By Annie McCormick
Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Philadelphia Magazine: Lower Merion Schools: OK, We’ll Leave Most of Stoneleigh Alone By Claire Sasko 2018

Inquirer: “Is Stoneleigh safe? Lower Merion district buys nearby property for middle school”
July 20, 2018
By Natural Lands

LMHS Newsroom
UPDATE ON PROPERTY ACQUISITION (2019)

UPDATE ON PROPERTY ACQUISITION (2018)

MOI: A Closer Look
The Moment of Integration – Project Description

http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/photos/wynnewoodnew.html

Lower Merion The First 300: Public Schools

Postmortem: Redistricting battle in Lower Merion
A week ago, the Supreme Court declined to hear Students Doe v. Lower Merion School District, ending the legal debate over the Lower Merion School Board’s redistricting plan.

by Adam Bredenberg
Published Jun 28, 2012

NOVEMBER 16, 2021 Lower Merion community wants new middle school named after late principal Sean Hughes
Students and parents have started an online petition to honor the longtime educator, but district policy explicitly prohibits naming buildings after people
BY HANNAH KANIK
PhillyVoice Staff

IT run amok: Pa. school allegedly spied on students via webcams by Bill Detwiler in TR Dojo, in Hardware on February 19, 2010, 6:03 AM PST

Great Horned Owl Nest. Photo Courtesy of Save Oakwell Sister to Stoneleigh.

ciao 2020. may you be a year not to be repeated.

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I can’t take credit for that funny cartoon above as it is circling the Internet. But it is too perfect to ignore and just sums up this strange year we’ve survived.

Yes I thought about a week ago I had written my last post for 2020 and then things happened. I learned those who claim to be Christian and pious aren’t always pleasant on social media. And while I really appreciate the pastoral leadership at Covenant Presbyterian Church sending me an email to acknowledge my concerns, well, some of us discovered that we got word for word as in yes verbatim the same email. That made me a little disappointed in them, but it also made me realize that they just don’t get it (or don’t want to.) I still hope they abandon the fakakta idea for a 12 foot high LED sign in front of a historically charming church on Lancaster Avenue in Frazer. (And isn’t fakata just the most perfect word to describe so many things in 2020?)

And if we’re going to talk about giant electronics signs that look like movie screens and giant TVs come to life, it is worth remarking that West Whiteland has a planning commission meeting next week where yet another one of these giant digital billboards is being proposed. Yes, January 5th. And I predict much like East Whiteland and their “settlement agreement” which will face East Whiteland with a Sophie’s choice of where to put signs residents don’t want. And then there is Upper Merion Township. They have their own giant digital billboards issues. Same billboard company and same solicitor as East Whiteland. There is still a petition circling for them if you agree with all of the residents who don’t want zoning changed in parks to accommodate billboards. And in West Whiteland what is with the other billboard related LLC very close by to the one being discussed January 5th?

Other things on the hit parade of 2020 include another year of unending issues with the pipelines. Energy Transfer, Sunoco Logistics, pick a name they spent another year making a mess, putting residents at risk. One of my late fall favorites? Was seeing photos on social media of workers’ trucks parked in fire lanes at local shopping centers like they were big important people that couldn’t park in a spot, and what’s up with that FU to the community?

As we head into 2021 there is a story out of Lower Merion that no one’s talking about. It’s about that property adjacent to Stonleigh that Lower Merion School District “acquired” for playing fields after they bought the property on Montgomery Avenue (what once was the Clothier Estate) for the new school. OK so everybody knew that the County Line Road property was going to become playing fields. That’s not news at this point. But what bears pondering is exactly how many hundreds of trees is the Lower Merion School District going to take down in the end for these fields? This is a sizable property and it has heritage trees doesn’t it? It’s over 10 acres isn’t it? So that is a big chunk of property to deforest isn’t it?

Now I’ve heard neighbors over there in both Lower Merion and Radnor Township are very concerned about the trees of it all because this road straddles both municipalities in spots. Lower Merion School District’s Superintendent should give a rat’s fanny about the environment as involves the future of his students, right? One thing I have always wondered about this set of projects both for the school and the playing field is how is this going to affect skinny hilly windy County Line Road and some of the surrounding small streets near these projects? And aren’t first responders a little far away from both of these new education locations? So what does that mean in the future? Once again I reiterate how glad I am no longer on the Main Line and feel for my many friends who are still there.

Other things I won’t miss in 2020 is the conflicting ways people treat each other online in the same communities. Maybe it was because so many people were home and they spent way too much time on social media, but I think people have spent a lot of 2020 being miserable to each other in as much as others also have tried to lift each other up. I can tell you personally I am closing out 2020 feeling completely less patient with people. It is something I am going to work on for 2021, but I’m telling you right now it might be a struggle at times.

So how about the mask of it all? I am not going to get into the argument that has been almost the totality of the year of what stays open and what closes due to COVID-19 (including schools), but I am going to comment about what crap it is I think the people complain they have to wear a mask. I live an immunocompromised life. Elderly relatives live immunocompromised lives. I know so many people at this point personally and indirectly from all over the place (as in just not this area) who have gotten COVID-19 in 2020. And these were all people who were careful and wore masks.

I also think it’s crap with regard to the people who can’t keep their kids at home who then turn into super-spreaders of coronavirus at all ages and stages of life. No one has liked feeling as confined as we all have during the year 2020. No one has liked how it has affected our economy, our personal psychology, our sense of freedom. It has been a difficult year emotionally for everyone. Some people feel so isolated and alone. Even those of us who live with our families can have different times during the year where they could pinpoint feelings of loneliness and isolation.

We close the year with vaccines….finally. That will start up all the anti-vaxxers I’m sure, but I would remind them gently that this is no ordinary virus. And we have already seen in the past few years what an uptick of measles and other childhood diseases has done across the country. All I’m saying is, people please try to keep it together so we can get out of these various stages of quarantine and get back to life. It won’t be life as we once knew it as we are forever changed by 2020, but hopefully we can get there.

Another thing I will be glad to see in the rearview mirror is the ugliness of politics in the United States of America during the calendar year 2020. We have a new president to look forward to and that serial narcissistic sociopath who’s been living in the White House the past few years? I guess he’s going to be Florida’s problem isn’t he? He has continued throughout the holidays (including today) to try to make his case for anarchy and civil war while he discusses his imaginary voter fraud and “rigged elections”. Dude doesn’t get it that he was FIRED by the American people. FIRED. Here’s hoping that America’s political parties get their crap together so we don’t come this close to a dictator ever again, especially the Republican Party because they ALLOWED this to happen.

2020 was also the time of no longer tolerating racial injustice in this country and great sadness and anger as a result from coast to coast. People came together in the midst of a global pandemic over it. We should all offer up a prayer for a peaceful 2021 and meaningful resolution to some of these weighty issues. We the people as in all the people deserve as much.

2020 was a year of personal sadness for me. I said goodbye to people I really didn’t want to say goodbye to. And they didn’t lose their lives to COVID-19, but because of COVID-19 you couldn’t see anyone to say goodbye to those who were dying.

Other friends of mine faced heath crises that had to have been extra stressful every time they had to go in and out of a hospital setting. I know the two skin cancer procedures I dealt with had me holding my breath in and out and through the COVID tests before each procedure.

Now 2020 wasn’t all bad. I got to garden a lot and work on restoring my old quilts and that makes me happy. Fortunately for me I am more of a homebody than not so I have gotten through not seeing a ton of anyone at all but I do miss my friends and my family. FaceTime and Zoom just isn’t the same, but I will say I am grateful for the technology because being able to see someone when you’re catching up is a wonderful thing.

In 2020 we saw extremes all year long. Exhausting extremes at times. But hey, you know what? We are still standing. And that’s a good thing. We can do this. We can survive and get past this. We can see 2021.

For most this year, it will be a quiet New Year’s Eve. For us, pretty normal as we generally stay in. I keep seeing reality TV stars like Sonja Morgan flitting across Twitter and Instagram asking what we’re wearing for New Year’s at home. Not sequins. But I live in Chester County so I don’t think it would be sequins ever…haven’t really seen any live sequins since I moved here.

In my final reflection of 2020, I will freely admit that if we are honest with ourselves, 2020 taught us all things about ourselves and others. Some good things, some unflattering things. It’s all about human nature.

As we bid adieu to 2020 for sure it won’t be a fond, lingering goodbye. It will be an enough already move along nothing more to see here kind of goodbye.

Pope Francis said something this afternoon which has stayed with me: “We thank Good for the good things that have taken place during the pandemic, for the many people who, without making noise, have tried to make the weight of this trial more bearable.”

And for something else fun, click HERE for a lovely rendition of Auld Lang Syne from my lovely friend, Mindy Rhodes.

Wishing all of you a peaceful and happy New Year’s Eve as my 8th year writing this blog draws to a close. Cheers to 2021 and new and healthier beginnings for this country and around the world.

thanksgiving miracle: stoneleigh is finally safe

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This afternoon we found out that Stoneleigh was safe. It’s like a Thanksgiving miracle of the very best kind. Finally, after months and months, the evil yes evil Lower Merion School District let go it’s death grip on the property they had no right to ever.

Here’s hoping that next time Dr. Melissa Gilbert is up for election people remember Stoneleigh when they go to the polls. Here’s hoping Dr. Robert Copeland will eventually be replaced.

Lower Merion School District has a crowding problem because of the infill development in Lower Merion Township. This is why more people wherever they live need to remember Stoneleigh and realize this is a cause and effect situation. The cause is development the effect is overcrowding. Maybe that’s just my opinion but I don’t think so.

(This is why we have to push our elected officials and our sorry excuse for a governor to do things like protect us from pipelines and while they’re at it update the municipalities planning code. The MPC as it goes by has not had a comprehensive update and decades! )

The MPC has to be updated for many things including how they view and guide municipalities regarding suburbs and exurbs. It needs to be updated with regard to open space and land conservation, historic preservation, and much more. The MPC is what guides municipalities, cities, boroughs in Pennsylvania and all of the planning and zoning and comprehensive plan processes.

What happened at Stoneleigh is going to continue to happen other places if the pace of development is not checked. Some may find me to be an alarmist, but it is in my opinion, the simple truth.

If it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of every day people who joined along with Natural Lands and Lower Merion Conservancy, we might not have had such an outcome.

What a wonderful thing for us to learn at Thanksgiving.

If you wish to support Natural Lands or Lower Merion Conservancy please visit their respective websites. We are so lucky to have them in our communities.

lower merion school district is having stoneleigh sunshine issues?

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Oh CBS3 I think I love that you love “sunshine”.  What am I talking about? Oh my, check out the CBS3 video about Stoneleigh in Lower Merion.

I am going to let CBS3 tell the story:

CBS3 Emails Reveal Private Tour, Internal School Board Conversations As Stoneleigh Gardens Controversy Continues
By Joe HoldenAugust 1, 2018 at 11:36 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Those set on preserving Stoneleigh Gardens versus the Lower Merion School District: It was a boil over this spring that has since simmered in the quiet summer months. But a final decision has yet to be made on the Main Line property that school officials identified in April for possible seizure under eminent domain. The announcement came at the same time the Gardens opened to the public and whipped up a firestorm.

“The Lower Merion School District still hasn’t taken Stoneleigh off the table and until and unless they do so, it’s still at risk,” said Oliver Bass, who is with Natural Lands, the non-profit organization responsible for preserving Stoneleigh.

On June 18, CBS3 filed an open records request with the Lower Merion School District for all emails about Stoneleigh between the superintendent and school board. A month later, the district responded.

It’s unknown how many emails traveled back and forth, but Lower Merion decided to keep virtually all of the electronic correspondence secret, based on attorney-client privilege and a real estate exemption, the denial read.

“Any time in the USA when we hear of government taking property, it strikes right at the core of our fundamental principles.”

Terry Mutchler, former head of Pennsylvania’s Open Records Office and a national transparency lawyer said Lower Merion has an obligation to be open — especially given the Stoneleigh uproar.

“I would think the district would want to be more in the sunshine than behind the curtain on this,” Mutchler said.

CLICK HERE TO READ EMAILS OBTAINED BY CBS3

Here are the emails released by CBS3:

The released e-mails are naturally not earth shattering (but still interesting) , nor am I shocked that Lower Merion School District finds itself above sunshine. They have always flet themselves collectively superior to everyone.

Soooo, how would more people like to submit Rights to Know on Lower Merion School District? (Follow this LINK to files a right to know on super secret and unpleasant Lower Merion School District.)

Stoneleigh is NOT safe although Lower Merion School District bought or is buying the Clothier Estate. Don’t be lulled into complacency. They are greedy snakes in the grass and until there is a public and irrefutable statement that Stoneleigh is off of the table, it’s just not.

Governor Wolf signed the Stoneleigh eminent domain bill into law because he’s up for re-election , BUT again, Stoneleigh is NOT off the Lower Merion School District dining table.

If you live in Lower Merion Township, it’s time to dump the latest bad school Superintendent (Copeland) and it’s time to dump Dr. Melissa Gilbert and her merry band of Stepford Board Members off of the school board.  Once upon a time I had high hopes for Melissa, but now she just believes her own press.

Support Natural Lands. #SaveStoneleigh

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#savestoneleigh : the school board meeting and more questions

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As I mentioned last evening, hundreds showed up for Stoneleigh last evening at Lower Merion School District.

Now is it just ME or are others in the know wondering why Lower Merion School District shoved people into small rooms with crappy air-conditioning instead of the auditorium? Was the auditorium actually booked for the same time frame? People I know who were there found that information confusing since all they saw was the auditorium was locked up and dark and that is not very hospitable if true, is it?

It is my opinion, if this is true, that the Lower Merion School Board and Lower Merion School District wanted to make supporters of Stoneleigh as uncomfortable as possible. After all people do all sorts of nasty tricks to psych out people on the other side of an issue, right?

We all know where I stand on Stoneleigh and yes that was my column in the Sunday Inquirer and running  in the Delco Times.

As I said in my editorial, and have said many times before, eminent domain is an ugly business. It is defined as the right of a government to take private property for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of the sovereign power over all lands within its jurisdiction.

As a community activist, I was one of many who successfully stopped an attempted eminent domain for private gain taking in Ardmore years ago.  This would not be eminent domain for private gain at Stoneleigh; it would be eminent domain for public purpose, except Stoneleigh already has a public purpose.

Stoneleigh’s public purpose is preserved open space.

My next question may seem strange but  is the Democratic party of Lower Merion and Democratic Party of Montgomery County FOR eminent domain here? I have not fallen and hit my head, the question is prompted by an on camera interview given to 6ABC and reporter Annie McCormick last night:

marie beresford“While I appreciate how precious Stoneleigh is, I believe really strongly in a public education and that we provide the kids with the facilities they need,” said Lower Merion Parent Marie Beresford.

So, the reason I am confused is was Ms. Beresford speaking solely for herself, or in her positions (plural) within the Democratic party? Yes, she holds a position on the Lower Merion Democratic Party as Regional Vice Chair – Central Region (Wards 3, 4, 5, 8 and Narberth) and as First Vice Chair of said aforementioned party in Montgomery County?

Now  I knew Ms. Beresford back in the day (and she and Dr. Gilbert were always tight as ticks, weren’t they?), and liked her immensely…enough even to give (not sell) her furniture (including an antique 3/4 bed) when one of her kids needed a bed and they had just moved into a new house in Ardmore. (But I digress)

But sadly, I guess I do  NOT really know either her or Dr. Melissa Gilbert any longer.

Now Dr. Gilbert has risen in her world. (Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University no less?) She was just starting out when I met her years ago, and again, I liked her very much.  Sadly, I liked her enough to try to help get her elected to the Lower Merion School Board in the first place. Her letter co-scribbled with Dr. Robert Copeland the Autocrat in Chief of Lower Merion School District just doesn’t sit right, does it?

Dare I say it that they sound like communists here?  Why does it also sound like they are shaming the memory of Mr. Haas because he was successful in business? Are they even aware of all of the philanthropic deeds he and his wife performed? That their children continue to perform? So their pretzel logic is such that because Mr. Haas did well and had a large property, it should just be available to Lower Merion School District for the taking? I swear that sounds like communist and “take for the state” doesn’t it???

And they refer to being “rebuffed” at their attempt in the fall of 2017 to steal Ashbridge Park? It is a park. A park with deed restrictions and oh yeah some other generous person’s final wishes that went along with it too, right? Ashbridge Park wasn’t Lower Merion School District’s to take, was it???? Allow me to quote an article written by a friend of mine, Cheryl Allison in 2014 for Main Line Media News:

The 29-acre Ashbridge Memorial Park, including the 1769 stone farmhouse, was left to Lower Merion Township by Emily Ashbridge on her death in 1940 to be dedicated for passive recreation. The grounds include a number of specimen trees that the Ashbridge family intended to serve as living memorials to World War I soldiers from the community. Later, the Rosemont-Villanova Civic Association installed the first walking trail as a tribute to those who served in World War II.

Is this to be a recurring theme? Someone dies in Lower Merion Township and the Lower Merion School District thinks they can just take land? The precedence this would set would be dangerous.  People would cease all land and historic preservation efforts and land conservation efforts in my humble opinion because why donate, why preserve if some greedy school district or other entity wants to take it?

And let’s talk about the private school property, shall we? As in Friends Central on 228 Old Gulph Road in Wynnewood? They do not wish to sell to Lower Merion School District and well one educational institution cannot take another educational institution via eminent domain, can they?

Seriously, this whole thing gives me a headache.  The meeting went until nearly midnight and supposedly Lower Merion School District has not announced eminent domain as in starting  a formal taking yet.  But can it be said many of us still believe it is in the offing?

The Lower Merion School District is out of control.  And must be stopped legally.  I think lawyer Arthur Wolk is right. Lower Merion School Board should be removed. And Dr. Robert Copeland.

Sign me disgusted with these people.

Photo Courtesy of Natural Lands
Photo Courtesy of Natural Lands