Laurels & lances: Superintendents and cyclones
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Laurel: To the next step. First Hempfield Area School District got an architect for the high school renovation. Then it got a project manager. Then it got an owner’s representative. Then it asked for bids, which went way over budget. Then it threw the bids out and went back to the drawing board.
And then the superintendent resigned — followed rapidly by the architect. Then a new architect was hired.
Now, there’s a new superintendent. The board hired Beaver Area School District Superintendent Mark Holtzman on a five-year contract starting July 1.
Holtzman will step into a chaotic project years in the making. A building project for a school is always a contentious thing, with the multimillion dollar price tag giving residents understandable concerns about a long-term tax burden. They can become a train wreck.
But, at Hempfield, Holtzman will be at the controls of a train threatening to jump the tracks while several of the cars are detaching themselves along the way.
Perhaps having a permanent person at the helm rather than an interim superintendent will make a difference. Good luck.
Lance: To something in the air. Remember when tornadoes were that unusual summer phenomenon in Western Pennsylvania?
Not anymore. Halfway through the month, the region already has had more tornadoes than any May since 1985. That year had 11 in May. We’ve already had six with two weeks to go.
The U.S. is known for twisters. With more than 1,200 a year, it tops the list worldwide. Canada is a distant second with about 100. But Pennsylvania has always been one of the less active states. Texas averages 124 per year. Kansas gets about 87.
The Keystone State typically sees about 16, meaning we already are more than a third through our average for a whole year.
Climate change might be a hot-button issue for some people, but there is no denying the winds blowing in Pennsylvania weather are different than they have been in years past.