HUNDREDS have turned out to make a point with the eminent domain loving Lower Merion School District. The meeting is in progress
Photos are courtesy of the Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden Facebook page.
Dr. Robert Copeland, Dr. Melissa Gilbert and the rest of Lower Merion School District can you hear us all now?
#SaveStoneleigh
The other day I wrote a post about Stoneleigh. I said then I thought that Lower Merion School District would not settle for 6 acres, that they would want all 42. My reasoning is simple: it’s expensive to wage an eminent domain battle so it would not make financial sense to go through everything for just 6 acres. (Not that doing things that make financial sense have ever been a hallmark of this school district, right?)
I grew up in the area, and the Haas family are amazing and wonderfully inclusive generous people who thought enough to want their land preserved for all to enjoy.
Lower Merion School District is NOT entitled to this land, just like they were NOT entitled to Ashbridge Park. I lived through one eminent domain battle in Ardmore years ago, so I know how ugly this is.
Also culpable here? Lower Merion Township Commissioners for all of the years of infill development. We went to so many meetings on unwanted development and asked for YEARS about future impact on the school district. Anyone who asked this was poo-pooed as being obstructionist of the future. (Yes Commissioner Liz Rogan I am thinking of you and others. 2esrogan@gmail.com ) And the school district never,ever did a thing, never opened their mouths. The school board never did a thing. Who do all these folks serve at the pleasure of? Each other? Developers?
Arthue Wolk, Esq may be right and the entire school board should be removed. Robbery err Robert Copeland should also be removed (without his pension). Hmmm I think Robbery Copeland has a nice ring to it, don’t you?
This is egregious and unacceptable. It makes me worry for places like Saunders Woods too. Any park or piece of land, truthfully as this school district and Superintendent Copeland seem to be suffering from a GIANT misplaced sense of entitlement.
Check out www.savestoneleigh.org
Sign the petition:
Save Stoneleigh from Condemnation
Want to tell Lower Merion School District how you feel? This is what I was able to rustle up:
Comments for the Board? Your email will be distributed to the School Directors: communitycomments@lmsd.org
Here is who is on the school board:
Dr. Melissa Gilbert – President -(She is Professor
Chair, Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities. Sadly, years ago I helped her get elected to school board in the first place)
Mr. Ben Driscoll – Vice President
Ms. Laurie Actman
Ms. Diane DiBonaventuro – she is among other things a coach at Shipley (Shipley has a long established Haas connection)
Mr. David Federman
Ms. Debra Finger -also works for Shipley (and again school has a long-established Haas connection -see Main Line Media News from March 2017: )
Ms. Virginia Pollard
Ms. Subha Robinson
Dr. Robin Vann Lynch
Comments for the former 6 ABC reporter turned LMSD talking head? Amy Buckman
Director of Community Relations Lower Merion School District
301 E. Montgomery Ave. Ardmore, PA 19003 Main Office: (610) 645-1800
Direct Line: (610) 645-1978 Email: buckmaa@lmsd.org
Mr. Robert Copeland Superintendent of Schoolscopeland@lmsd.org (also this e-mail shows up on the Internet copelar@lmsd.org )
Denise LaPera Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Phone: 610-645-1930 Fax: 610-645-0703
Email: laperad@lmsd.org
301 E. Montgomery Ave., Ardmore, PA 19003
Going to Stoneleigh’s opening weekend this weekend? Either as a member for the special preview Saturday or opening day Sunday? I am sure that some of the Lower Merion Township Commissioners past and present will be there. No group of commissioners loves photo ops more than they do, so use the opportunity to give them an earful….but try to be polite as some of them are delicate flowers.
Is it polite to call Lower Merion’s School Superintendent Robert Copeland a scum sucking pig? Probably not. But I am.
This is PROOF that the Lower Merion School District does indeed intend to try to seize Stoneleigh via eminent domain, isn’t it? Do we think they will try to only take only 6 or 7 acres? In my opinion, which I am entitled to, that would not be cost effective for the school district, so instead I ask will Lower Merion School District instead try to seize the entire 42 acres?
Copeland responded to an audience question on eminent domain ON CAMERA with an “absolutely”, so will they claim this is “fake news”? It’s been in the media. Click HERE for one article. Click HERE for another article.
Photo Courtesy Natural Lands. “In 1996, John and Chara Haas placed their beloved #Stoneleigh under conservation easement with Natural Lands, ensuring this special place—the home where they’d raised their five children—would be preserved forever. We hope you’ll join us for opening weekend May 12 & 13 to see this special place the Haas family so generously donated to Natural Lands in 2016.”
Stoneleigh was donated by the Haas family to Natural Lands to be preserved in perpetuity. Not to be selected and stolen like a juicy plum so Lower Merion School District could take it. And I think Lower Merion School District wants more than a few turf fields, don’t you?
I have it on good authority that Natural Lands will OPPOSE any attempt by Lower Merion School District of an eminent domain taking. I and many of my friends from Lower Merion and elsewhere will stand with Natural Lands to #SaveStoneleigh .
This is a cautionary tale for every township approving development after development with little thought (or caring) about how this all affects school districts and school enrollments.
This serenely amazing and naturally beautiful 42 acres was donated by the Haas family so it would be protected. This is the terrifying reality of over development and communities. This is the terrifying reality that no municipality, no elected officials, no developers want you to know about.
Natural Lands Facebook photo. Carving by Marty Long of Phoenixville, PA
These developers do not give a crap about where we call home. We are just an area to make a quick development buck off of. They aren’t invested in our communities it’s all about what they can make and what the municipalities can get for the short term high of what they call “ratables.”
I lived in Lower Merion Township for over 30 years. I never once as an adult attending Lower Merion Township meetings (and given the eminent domain for private gain attempt in Ardmore circa 2005 I can tell you I attended a LOT of meetings), do I ever remember ANYONE from the school board or the school district coming to a township commissioners meeting and expressing concerns about the effect of all the development and proposed development on the school district.
And it does happen. School districts will go to land development and related meetings and express concern. As a matter of fact, West Chester Area School District a year ago, appeared at a Westtown meeting on Crebilly, expressing more that a little bit of concern of what that proposed development would do to the school district.
The only thing I have seen Lower Merion School District do over the years is raise taxes and have their hands out. And well, Lower Merion School District seems to always have something not necessarily good going on. Here is some of the not so distant past:
Doe v. Lower Merion School District
Amicus Brief Pacific Legal Foundation STUDENT DOE 1, et al.,
Petitioners, v. LOWER MERION SCHOOL DISTRICT, Respondent.
Parents file civil rights suit against Lower Merion School District (MLMN Richard Ilgenfritz May 2009)
Doe v. Lower Merion School Dist., 689 F. Supp. 2d 742 (E.D. Pa. 2010)
New lawsuit by tax activist seeks to have entire Lower Merion School Board removed
By Richard Ilgenfritz, rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com, @rpilgenfritz on Twitter (Delco Times/MLMN October, 2017)
High School Redistricting Will Sting For a Long Time
The school district gets rewarded for racist policies but the little guys learn some lessons.
By Kate Galer, Patch Poster | Jun 19, 2012 2:14 am ET
Huffington Post: TECH 12/11/2010 05:12 am ET Updated May 25, 2011
Lower Merion School District Settles Webcam Spying Lawsuits For $610,000
NBC10 Philadelphia: 56,000 Photos Taken in Student-Laptop Scandal
Parents of other students will get to view the webcam images of their children.
By Vince Lattanzio
Appeal in Lower Merion tax lawsuit tossed out, original Montco judge’s order stands
Cites district’s failure to file post-trial motions; original Montco judge’s order stands
By Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com @rpilgenfritz on Twitter Apr 24, 2017
Sued once over school tax increases, Lower Merion calls for another hike above state cap
Updated: APRIL 25, 2017 — 1:06 PM EDT
by Kathy Boccella, Staff Writer @Kathy_Boccella | kboccella@phillynews.com
Lower Merion School District: Battle over taxes, spending on lawyers and sushi continues By Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@21st-centurymedia.com
@rpilgenfritz on Twitter Nov 4, 2016
Philadelphia Magazine: Lower Merion Parents Outraged Over “Mega School” Plans
Some schools in the elite school district are bursting at the seams, and there are big concerns over proposed solutions.
by CLAIRE SASKO· 9/28/2017, 12:12 p.m
Philadelphia Magazine: Lower Merion Teachers Are Highest Paid In State, But They Want More
The average salary for Lower Merion School District educators is just shy of $100,000 – but that’s not enough, the teachers’ union says.
by JOE TRINACRIA· 9/5/2017, 4:23 p.m.
Philadelphia Magazine: Adderall Abuse at Lower Merion High School Is the Focus of a New York Times Piece
by MIKE BERTHA· 6/12/2012, 12:02 p.m.
Philadelphia Magazine: Accused of Sex With Student, Fired Lower Merion Teacher Sues District
Yes, another lawsuit for the Main Line school
by VICTOR FIORILLO· 12/20/2011, 10:50 a.m.
Natural Lands Facebook Photo. “Stoneleigh: a natural garden, is home to several PA state champion trees, including this Ironwood tree, which is number one in the state!
Located near the Montgomery Ave side of Stoneleigh, it’s a tree with grown-over scars and hollow places and yet the branches are still growing strong. It’s an old tree, likely over a century, and it’s rare to get old without taking on a few scars.
This tree is a survivor, one that’s been cared for by the families who took care of this beautiful place for generations. Maybe not every piece of it is pretty, but it’s still our champion. “
There are so many articles about Lower Merion School District issues that it’s hard to choose a select list.
Ironically, the people mentioned in the article Philadelphia Magazine from the Penn Wynne area about stopping mega schools seem sadly o.k. with eminent domain at Stoneleigh. I find that disturbing. They weren’t overly fond of me when I suggested they offer their houses to the school district if they were o.k. with eminent domain. Sorry not sorry, but I do not get people like that.
Lower Merion School District also is eye-balling another site in Villanova….also owned by someone else other than them – 1860 Montgomery Avenue. The former Clothier Estate and now the Foundation of Islamic Education. That estate used to have some sort of service driveway if I remember right that was somewhere through those interior neighborhoods off County Line Road in Villanova, wasn’t it? So this whole debacle will undoubtedly concern Radnor Township in Delaware County because THEIR residents are right across County Line Road, aren’t they?
It is the sheer audacity of this school district which boggles my mind. This is not the first bad faith attempt at a land grab. There was the whole uproar in the fall with Ashbridge Park.
Here is a snippet from the Philadelphia Inquirer article from October 2017 by writer Kathy Boccella:
That Lower Merion is considering the popular park – even raising the possibility of using eminent domain – shows the seriousness of the classroom crunch in a district that, by raw numbers, is the fastest growing in Pennsylvania. …..With the affluent Montgomery County district racing to make a decision on building a new school or adding to several existing ones by the end of the year, officials are sending mixed signals about the seriousness of the proposal to buy the 21-acre Foundation for Islamic Education for a new school and use Ashbridge Park for a track and athletic fields.
So like fleas on a hot brick they move right from Ashbridge Park to Stoneleigh? I am not sure what the end game is with Lower Merion School District, but I encourage people to take a stand for Stoneleigh and open space. It’s not the school district’s to take.
I am SO glad I no longer live in the hot mess known as Lower Merion Township. But as a member and supporter of Natural Lands, I am appalled that the school district would think they are so omnipotent that they can just steal dedicated and conserved open space.
Want to tell Lower Merion School District how you feel? This is what I was able to rustle up:
Comments for the Board?
Your email will be distributed to the School Directors: communitycomments@lmsd.org
Comments for the former 6 ABC reporter turned LMSD talking head? Amy Buckman
Director of Community Relations Lower Merion School District
301 E. Montgomery Ave. Ardmore, PA 19003 Main Office: (610) 645-1800
Direct Line: (610) 645-1978 Email: buckmaa@lmsd.org
Mr. Robert Copeland Superintendent of Schools copeland@lmsd.org (also this e-mail shows up on the Internet copelar@lmsd.org )
Denise LaPera Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
Phone: 610-645-1930 Fax: 610-645-0703
Email: laperad@lmsd.org
301 E. Montgomery Ave., Ardmore, PA 19003
#SaveStoneleigh