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Tom Borthwick – Page 2 – Author, Teacher, Blogger
All Politics Writing
Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Buildings
July 28, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

The Plan calls this section “Capital Planning and Facilities Management” but what we’re talking about are buildings and building closures.  The problem is that the buildings in the district are ancient.  The costs to upgrade and maintain them are massive.  Cutting buildings saves on their regular maintenance costs, but also removes future improvement costs.  That’s […]

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Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Transportation
July 27, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

This is all that most people want to talk about.  It’s the issue most blown up by the media, it’s the one I heard most about while running, it’s the one Chris Kelly leads off with whenever he calls. As Directors Duffy and Popil, in particular, have pointed out, the $18.9 million that the state […]

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Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Human Resources
July 27, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

Everybody, at some point, has complained about district hiring.  There are some oddities there, but it isn’t so bad as it once was.  Some might recall that directors got “picks” for jobs.  That hasn’t been a thing while I’ve been there.  That said, shortly after I was appointed, I had to interview candidates for coaching […]

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Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Admin & Governance
July 26, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

It’s always good to have an outsider’s perspective.  One interesting thing about my Board service is that Dr. Finan and I came into this at the same time.  So we learned about the inner workings of the district together and both of us noticed that the way the district is run isn’t efficient or even, […]

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Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Special Education
July 26, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

Right off the bat, I will point out that Special Education has been a disaster in the district.  Why?  We get sued straight to hell.  It’s partly our fault, and we’ve drastically reduced lawsuits, thankfully.  And it’s mostly a cultural problem in the world of lawyers. Why?  Well, students in Special Education programs have individualized […]

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Politics
The SSD Recovery Plan: Academic Achievement
July 26, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

The Scranton School District’s Recovery plan is a monster of a document.  Small font.  214 pages.  Lots of jargon and lots of data.  It’s a lot, even for the initiated. I’ll try to break down the plan generally for everybody.  There are 11 areas that the plan covers (Academic Achievement, Special Education, Administration and Governance, […]

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Politics
I’m Worth Your Vote
May 19, 2019 By Tom Borthwick

Part of the process of getting elected is talking about accomplishments.  It feels a lot to me like bragging, and I’m not a particular fan of that. But I need your vote.  I’m worth it.  And I’m going to tell you why. In three months on the Board: I became the most transparent member.  It’s […]

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