Just how tough are the choices local school boards are facing as they try to balance the books?
In the Ridley School District, there is a long list of extracurricular programs being cut.
But one of them stands out to me.
Ridley is slashing its Hi-Q team. The Green Raiders are one of the founding schools in what started 64 years ago as Scott’s Hi-Q, founded by another Delaware County icon, Scott Paper Co., and is widely believed to be the nation’s oldest scholastic academic quiz competition.
Back then Ridley Township, Ridley Park and Eddystone high schools, which would eventually merge into the Ridley School District, were all part of the original competition.
Now Ridley will have something in common with Scott Paper. Neither of them will be around anymore, at least in terms of Hi-Q.
The school district indicated they spend $1,200 per competition, including transportation to and from the event, the fee to participate and the coast of the faculty adviser.
Just two years ago, County Council Vice Chairman Christine Fizzano Cannon, a proud Ridley grad, was inducted into the Delco Hi-Q Hall of Fame.
Hi-Q wasn’t the only victim of budget cuts in the district.
Superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel indicated some middle school and 9th grade sports were slashed, along with more than 40 positions either by retirement, shifting duties, or layoffs.
That won’t make the Hi-Q hit any easier to stomach.
Just another lesson in the school of hard knocks.
In the Ridley School District, there is a long list of extracurricular programs being cut.
But one of them stands out to me.
Ridley is slashing its Hi-Q team. The Green Raiders are one of the founding schools in what started 64 years ago as Scott’s Hi-Q, founded by another Delaware County icon, Scott Paper Co., and is widely believed to be the nation’s oldest scholastic academic quiz competition.
Back then Ridley Township, Ridley Park and Eddystone high schools, which would eventually merge into the Ridley School District, were all part of the original competition.
Now Ridley will have something in common with Scott Paper. Neither of them will be around anymore, at least in terms of Hi-Q.
The school district indicated they spend $1,200 per competition, including transportation to and from the event, the fee to participate and the coast of the faculty adviser.
Just two years ago, County Council Vice Chairman Christine Fizzano Cannon, a proud Ridley grad, was inducted into the Delco Hi-Q Hall of Fame.
Hi-Q wasn’t the only victim of budget cuts in the district.
Superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel indicated some middle school and 9th grade sports were slashed, along with more than 40 positions either by retirement, shifting duties, or layoffs.
That won’t make the Hi-Q hit any easier to stomach.
Just another lesson in the school of hard knocks.
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