Members of the Council Rock community are invited to a free public forum hosted by Citizens For Education (CFE) on Wednesday, March 28th, from 7:30-8:30pm in the Northampton Township Library Conference Room.  Refreshments will be served.

The forum provides an opportunity to share Council Rock-related ideas and concerns with the board members of CFE, learn about district issues, and find out more about the organization.

CFE is a non-profit, non-partisan community group whose objectives are to ensure a quality education for all students of the Council Rock School District, to better inform the Council Rock community of educational issues, and to increase the involvement of the community in the decision-making processes affecting the quality of education in Council Rock.

CFE’s Web site is www.citizensforeducation.com and they are also found on Facebook as Citizens For Education.

For over 20 years, CFE has been a strong voice as educational delivery evolves and is deliberated. The officers and board members are volunteers who care about the quality of education in Council Rock. Membership is open to the public and a $25 subscription fee per household covers the cost of four years of timely and relevant CFE e-newsletters. Some of the causes CFE has researched and advocated for include:

Weighting of High School Accelerated Classes – CFE successfully advocated for the district to weight Accelerated high school classes when calculating the weighted GPA. Starting in the 2012-2013 school year, all accelerated classes will have a weight for all grades. CFE continues to stay current on issues involving all areas of curriculum.

Math Specialists – In 2010 CFE advocated for reinstatement of a math specialist position that had been cut at the elementary level due to budget pressures, and an additional half-time position has been funded since fall 2011.

Counseling – For many years, CFE has advocated for and kept a strong focus on strengthening all areas of counseling. Many improvements have taken place, including the addition of counselors in the elementary schools. CFE remains committed to promoting a full-time, full-year College Placement Specialist to aid both students and current counselors in navigating the ever-changing admissions criteria so CR students are better poised to gain admissions into the competitive colleges for which they are qualified.

Class Size- CFE continually highlighted the issue of growing class sizes, resulting in a Class Size Committee being commissioned. Two of the committee’s recommendations were implemented as District policy. Though mainly concentrating at that time with the elementary level, CFE continues to track class sizes and their educational appropriateness especially at the secondary level.

Voter Registration – In collaboration with the high school political science clubs, CFE conducts voter registration drives every year at each high school. This service helps students who turn 18 during the school year easily register to vote and pick up absentee ballot request forms.

Building of Council Rock High School South- Despite the recommendation that a second high school be built in the mid-90’s by both an independent demographer and a community-based Growth Committee, the school board at that time ignored the overcrowding at the high school. By constant leafleting at events, attendance at public meetings, speaking out at School Board meetings and lobbying of elected officials, CFE persistently educated the community about this issue and in turn, the construction of CRHS South was approved and completed in 2002.

Elementary Music- In 2001, the District appeared intent on moving elementary instrumental music group practices and chorus programs from the instructional day to before/after school or during recess. So that parents could be part of the decision process, CFE distributed 3000 flyers at school concerts detailing Council Rock’s music education curriculum and participation. This helped to keep the music program offerings as part of instruction during the school day. 

Citizens For Education realizes that success of these and future undertakings are a result of not just the due diligence of its board, but also its members, and school directors and administrators who are willing, despite possible opposition, to advance the cause of quality education.

In today’s difficult economic climate, when the Administration and the School Directors have to make tough decisions about the prioritization of expenditures, CFE not only thanks their members for their past support but also asks the community to help them continue to be a strong advocate for quality education by becoming a CFE member, reading and redistributing CFE’s information, writing letters, and lobbying decision makers.

For more information or to become a CFE member, visit www.citizensforeducation.com or email Citizens4ed@yahoo.com.