Meet Your Candidates

Carolyn Murphy

Suzan Leonard

Paul Edelman

Alex Ryabin

Tina Stoll

The Candidates of 1st S.T.E.P. For North Penn School District

Remember to Vote - November 8, 2011

Strong Arm Of Politics In Schools

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20110925_Strong_arm_of_Phila__politics.html

Sounds similar to another local school district.

The Election Draws Near

On behalf of the 1st STEP campaign, thank you everyone for your support.  This has been such an amazing time for us.  This past week alone, we attended several meetings and events throughout the district.

As Election Day draws near, just a little more than six weeks, you can expect alot of news from us, and alot more appearances.

Special Bus Meeting

Due to the multiple complaints that the district has received in regards to busing issues, there will be a special meeting to discuss busing concerns, tomorrow, Monday, at 7pm in the ESC.

Where We've Been/Where We're Going

We are starting to get that rush, like we had just weeks before the primary.  So much to do, so little time.  I am proud to be a member of our campaign with Suzan, Carolyn, Alex, and Tina.  We juggle our personal, family, and employment schedules with campaigning.  The NPSD is such a large territory, and we are doing our best to reach as far as we can.

We had three meetings this week; a meet and greet, a strategy meeting, and a school board meeting.  Tonight's main discussion revolved around the bus fiasco.

On to more pleasant things.  The Upper Gwynedd Carnival is this weekend with Fireworks both Friday and Saturday.  Towmencin Environmental Fest is Saturday at Fischer's Park,  Also, Knight of Sound is Saturday.  Keep an eye out for any number of our candidates walking about.  Of course, weather provided.

One final thing, if you know any families that might be interested in attending our Parent Forum on October 5th, please have them contact me for details.

Paul Edelman

1st STEP Candidate

Bus Article From The Intelligencer

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer_news/school-districts-are-struggling-with-new-transportation-plan/article_a559029c-a74f-5561-bc32-9cc0a0e06b24.html

7 Weeks To Go!

7 weeks to go until one of the biggest days in NPSD history.  NPSD is one of the largest school districts in the state, covering nine municipalities.  There is so much to do in this little period of time.  We want to meet you.  We want to know your concerns.  Please consider sending us your comments or questions (anonymously if you feel the need to do so), and we will gladly share our responses for all to see in all of our media outlets.  Please contact firststepfornpsd@yahoo.com.  Thank you.

School Board/District And Solicitor Do Not Believe In Voter's Right To Information

The candidates of 1st STEP, attempted to meet with Home & School Associations to provide an open forum, never requesting any donations from them, nor lobbying for their votes, simply to provide information on the upcoming election.  The district/school board did not like this, and had the taxpayer paid solicitor issue a warning to H&S's not to meet with the candidates.  So much for your rights as a voter to be informed.

Mr. Dooley cited an IRS code for tax exempt organizations, and threatened the possible loss by having us meet with the H&S's.  This was intimidation at its highest, and also inaccurate information.  We made sure that we met the exceptions with the H&S's that penalities did not occur.

Bus Driver Problems Clearing Up

It looks like bus concerns are finally getting resolved.  Clearly, the district was not prepared for this issue.  The district blames the problems on the consortium, but there were many other problems.  Enough to hire 5 drivers from Macungie at $125 per day.  How much did NP pay for drivers before?

Make Your Vote Count - Get Informed

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110917_Exercising_constitutional_rights_requires_much_more_than_voting.html

1st S.T.E.P. at the Culture Festival in Upper Gwynedd

1st S.T.E.P. Candidates Active In Your Area

Tomorrow, candidates from the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign, will be knocking on doors to introduce themselves to voters in Montgomery Township.  Also tomorrow, candidates will be at the Cultural Festival at Park Place in Upper Gwynedd.
Candidates will also be attending Meet and Greets throughout the area.
Finally, there is a school board action meeting on Thursday, 7:30pm in the ESC.

Fewer Teachers, Larger Classes

http://www.phillyburbs.com/ap/state/pa-schools-survey-fewer-teachers-larger-classes/article_94cdead6-eccf-5c9f-9a64-ce8d88d500c9.html

School Board Action Meeting - September 22

There is a School Board Action meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 22nd, at 7:30pm, in the ESC.

Where Can You Meet Candidates of 1st S.T.E.P.?

This Saturday, candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign will be walking around Montgomery Township.  Later in the early afternoon, candidates will be at the Cultural Day event at Park Place in Upper Gwynedd.

Suzan Leonard Bio

My name is Suzan Leonard, a 24 year resident of Upper Gwynedd and a practicing attorney specializing in Family Law.  North Wales is where I have owned and operated my law practice for fourteen years in a charming house, built over 200 years ago.  My three sons attended North Penn School District where I was a parent volunteer, serving as Vice President of the North Wales Elementary Home and School Association and as Treasurer of the North Penn Coordinating Council.  As an active parent volunteer with North Penn Theatre I helped by serving dinner for 70-80 students, the parents and teachers involved with the shows  and also helped with the North Penn Music Program.  Part of this job also involved measuring  for gowns and tuxedo's for the choruses.

I am a member of the Montgomery Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association,  the Family Law Section of the Montgomery Bar Association, the North Wales Boro Business Association and the Montgomeryville NBI.  As a member of the North Wales Area Library Board, I helped complete a successful transition from a one room library in the basement of a school into a spacious learning and community center.  After successfully chairing the committees responsible for the Annual Library Gala and Annual Golf Outing two years in a row and despite retiring from the Board, I am continuing on as one of the chairpersons of the Fund Raising Committee.  I also serve as a Democratic Committee Person for Upper Gwynedd.

Busing Issues

The Reporter recently ran a story of major busing concerns with High School students.  The fact is, there are problems at all school levels.  The following is a copy of an email sent to our campaign from a frustrated and concerned parent.  An attempt was made by telephone and email, with no response from the district.

"Marianne Cleary,

I had left you a voicemail last week, but I have not yet heard back from you.  My wife and I would like to have a Penndale bus stop added to Church Road in North Wales.  We live on Church Rd., near Kneedler Rd.  The closest current bus stop is located on Church Rd, at the Pennbrooke Apts across from Becker Rd.  The location of the current stop seems inappropriate for the location of our house.

The current stop requires our daughter,  (12), to deal with too many unsafe options.  If she crosses Church Rd at Kneedler, she is crossing a busy road at rush hour with no cross walk, or crossing guard.  When she gets to the other side, she lands on private property with no sidewalk.  If she walks down our side of Church Rd, then crosses at Becker, she is walking the entire distance through residential yards, with no sidewalks.  She then has to cross Church Rd at an even less safe location.  If she walks down Kneedler and then down Becker, she is walking about twice as far, and again, she will have residential properties, with no sidewalks, a lot of on street parking and fast cut through traffic.

I don’t know how she is expected to make this walk twice a day, especially during, rain, snow, ice, etc.  Church Rd also has multiple SEPTA bus stops between our house and the current NP bus stop.  These SEPTA stops are usually occupied by people who I feel are unsafe.  Church Rd also gets a lot of adult foot traffic due to the SEPTA train station nearby.  Since we are on the corner of our neighborhood, we are not familiar with most of the families on Becker Rd.  We are completely unfamiliar with the people who live in the Pennbrooke Apts.  As far as I know, she is the only student from Kneedler/Becker that is attending Penndale.  She has no other student to walk with in a safer pair.  I, my wife and my daughter are not comfortable with the distance she has to walk, the conditions of the walk and the unfamiliar surroundings. 
Please add a stop on Church Rd, at Kneedler Rd, so she can wait on the corner of Church and Kneedler, and safely cross the street with the help of the school bus STOP sign.

I look forward to hearing from you."

A Busy Day For The Candidates

Candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign started off visiting and meeting community members in Towamencin Township this morning and afternoon.

Later, 1st S.T.E.P. was respresented at Bike Night in Lansdale.

The day concluded watching North Penn beat Lansdale Catholic 36-6.

It was great getting to meet so many people and have so many different conversations.

The Candidates of 1st S.T.E.P.

(from left to right) Alex Ryabin, Tina Stoll, Suzan Leonard, Carolyn Murphy, Paul Edelman.

School Board Meeting Cancelled/NPEA Clarification

The School Board work session scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled.  This makes the second work session in 3 months cancelled.  The following committees have also cancelled their meetings in the last several months:

Education/Community/Policy        July and August
Finance                                     August
Support                                     May, June, July
Personnel and Safe Schools schedules are not posted

In spite of all of these cancellations, decisions were voted on at the Action Meetings, mostly without discussion or public information, mostly with unanimous votes.  ECP, Finance, and Support do not meet again before the next Action Meeting.  If you would like to know, how things are handled in the school district, without any discussion, come to the next Action Meeting to be held on Thursday, September 22nd.

Finally, 1st S.T.E.P. would like to provide this clarification: The NPEA recommendation of Tina Stoll was made to their membership. Tina went through their PACE questionaire and interview process. The other 1st Step Candidates went through this process in the spring.

School Board Work Session

The is a School Board work session, on Tuesday, September 13th, at 7:30, in the ESC. Questions that should be asked...


Why was there last minute "back door" redistricting? Affected families were given only two weeks notice their children would be shifted to other schools. This situation was known for at least 3 months.

Why were there so many problems with busing the first week of school when a consulting firm was hired and paid a lot of money to fix a system that was not broken?

A lot of taxpayer money was spent rennovating Crawford Stadium. When is it going to be able to be counted on for use reliably? Why hasn't the fallen light tower been replaced yet?

Is it true that Home and Schools, school staff and administrators are being directed to refuse invitations to meet candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign?

Tina Stoll Recommended By NPEA-PACE

The NPEA-PACE (Political Action Committee for Education) is pleased to announce the recommendation of Tina Stoll for North Penn School Board.  Tina was appointed by the North Penn Democratic Committee to replace Ashanur Rahman on the ticket after he withdrew from the race due to personal reasons.  Tina has been involved on many levels with the North Penn School District—she is the proud parent of three North Penn graduates, was active in the home and school associations at both Gwyn-Nor and Bridle Path, and served as President of the Twelfth Knight booster organization during the time that her sons played football for North Penn.  Tina appreciates all that North Penn has done for her family and shares our vision for the district’s continued success in the future.  We are pleased to recommend her candidacy along with the other four 1^st Step Candidates Carolyn Murphy, Suzan Leonard, Paul Edelman and Alex Ryabin.

Congratulations To Paul Edelman From Joe Sestak

Dear Paul,

Congratulations on your recent victory in the primary!  I believe anyone who chooses to run for public office is taking such an important step to help better his or her community, and for that I thank you.  Being a public servant takes courage and dedication, and you are undoubtedly a person that brings both the needed values and skills to the duties of public service.  I know from my recent Senate run that, especially today, our communities, state and nation need accountable and principled leaders.  Thank you for doing this service for us!

Again, my sincerest congratulations and I wish you the best as you keep working towards Election Day, and a victory for the people!

Warmly,
Joe Sestak

Allyson Y. Schwartz Endorsement

Candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign:

Carolyn Murphy
Suzan Leonard
Paul Edelman
Alex Ryabin
Tina Stoll

All are endorsed by U.S. Congresswoman Allyson Y. Schwartz.
http://schwartz.house.gov/

Josh Shapiro/Leslie Richards Endorsement

Candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign:

Carolyn Murphy
Suzan Leonard
Paul Edelman
Alex Ryabin
Tina Stoll

All are endorsed by Montgomery County Commisioner Candidates Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards.
http://www.shapirorichards.com/

North Penn Democratic Committee Endorsement

Candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign:

Carolyn Murphy
Suzan Leonard
Paul Edelman
Alex Ryabin
Tina Stoll

All are endorsed by the North Penn Democratic Committee.
http://www.northpenndems.org/

Contributions To 1st S.T.E.P.

To support the candidates of the 1st S.T.E.P. campaign, contributions are appreciated and can be sent to:

(make checks payable to "Step Up For North Penn")

Step Up For North Penn
c/o 301 South 4th St.
North Wales, PA  19454

Parents Forum

There will be a forum on October 5th, at 7pm, at the North Wales Public Library.  The topics of this particular forum will be directed towards concerns of parents of North Penn School District children.

There is no charge to attend this informational session, and R.S.V.P. is suggested, though not required.

Octoberfest - September 24

Come Saturday, September 24, from 3-6 to celebrate the beginning of Octoberfest with the Candidates of 1st STEP.  Octoberfest will be at the home of Carolyn and Paul Murphy.  There will be food, drink, music, and fun.  $20 per person/$35 per couple.  RSVP by September 19 at pmmurphy693@aol.com.