LANSDALE – “It’s not getting any easier,” said Dr. Curt Dietrich on Wednesday, April 11 at a budget meeting with the North Penn community. held at Penndale Middle School. Dr. Dietrich meant that after this year and all the controversy and debating surrounding the budget cuts that it is just the tip of the iceberg, and the coming years might be just as rocky.

The message was not delivered to scare the community but more to warn them to say this , but to be prepared and know that cutting the budget is not just a one year activity. Thouugh cuts and constraints may not always reach the same magnitude, there are certain to be continuing challenges ahead.

The meeting mainly focused on an interactive program that allowed community members in attendance or watching on NPTV to text in their responses to questions concerning the budget. The questions posed were mainly about possible advertising in the district and possible transportation changes. 

Dr. Dietrich rhetorically asked the crowd “are there any alternatives?” and followed up by saying that the district “can’t do it by just raising taxes”

A portion of the meeting was spent discussing Pennsbury School District and their implementation of advertising in their district. Pennsbury expected the ads, which have been put up this year, to raise approximately $400,000. Being a larger district North Penn would expect higher numbers if advertising were to be approved. 

“We need community feedback” said Dr. Dietrich. The text polling system gave the people viewing the meeting the opportunity to do just that. Most decisions had a hefty majority supporting advertising. Questions includied topics such as “do you support advertisements on the website, in stadiums, during games, and selling naming rights?” 

One aspect of advertising was met with strong opposition; those who voted showed a 66% opposition against products being advertised in school, but a strong 86% for ads that promote reading, eating healthy, and exercising. 

If the community thinks similar to the committee who will approve advertising it would seem to indicate that North Penn School District may indeed begin placing advertisements in the district in some fashion in the coming years.

The other item community members voted on was possible changes to the NPSD bussing and transportation programs. 53 busses leave NPHS everyday and $14 million is spent per year on transportation. Opinions of community members ranged from favoring cutting the transportation system entirely, to making high school students pay a much higher fee to park, and treatng the bussing system like NPHS treats parking- pay a fee to ride the bus. 

The main question that was asked was related to the consolidation of bus stops. In simpler terms it means that there would be less bus stops, but with less bus stops comes more walking. Many parents were concerned about the safety of their children and if due to consolidation their child would have to walk in an unsafe area. Dr. Dietrich pacified those fears by saying that they would limit consolidation to residential sidewalked areas.

Dr. Dietrich also made the announcement that string lesson cuts, barring the purchase of science textbooks, and the releasing of middle school librarians, have been stricken from the budget cut list.

If you have any input, questions, or comments for Dr. Dietrich or the alternative revenue committee feel free to express your thoughts by emailing [email protected]