USC IB: The Final Chapter?

The Enlightenment wins one:

Faced with citizen pressure and a lawsuit, the Upper St. Clair school board voted last night to reinstate the district's International Baccalaureate program for at least two years.

The board voted 7-2, with members Carol Coliane and Dr. Daniel Iracki dissenting. Both were among the five board members who voted to eliminate the program in February.

The agreement reinstates the program for the next two school years, through the end of the 2007-2008 school year. Funding will come from a combination of $45,000 raised by families of the students and $85,000 guaranteed by Gov. Ed Rendell to the district, board members said. Additional money will be needed, the board president said.

OK, it's a half-win. Parents of IB students are going to have to pay extra. This is a wealthy school district so they can probably afford it. Which brings up the next part: Eddie Rendell tossing in state money. Again, this is a wealthy district. The school district in which I live is not wealthy. $85,000 sure would help.

Of course, those who voted to eliminate the IB program insist they were right:

Board President Dr. William M. Sulkowski said a lawsuit filed by backers of the program had already cost the district nearly $200,000 and could have ended up costing $500,000.

"This agreement does not imply that the board's Feb. 20 decision was erroneous," he said. "This lawsuit was about trying to overturn an election. If the special interests of this community are unwilling to accept the change for which the people of Upper St. Clair voted, costs will continue to rise unchecked, taxes will continue to rise and our property values will decline."

At the heart of the lawsuit were comments made by Dr. Iracki, head of the board's curriculum committee, that the program went against "Judeo-Christian" values. Other school board members said the program was cut because of budget problems.

"The lawsuit created a huge division in the community," said Julian Neiser, the lawyer representing school board members. "It was better for everybody involved to stop the lawsuit and reinstate the program and conduct a detailed analysis so we could move on."

It's not just a matter of "Judeo-Christian" values; the program is also "Marxist, anti-Christian, un-American..." At least according to Dr. Iracki.

One USC resident sums up the whole episode:

"This was all political rhetoric," said Vladimir Savinov, a resident whose son has a IB program diploma. "We had to get this reinstated and we did and it's a win, but it is a small win. We were working against extremists and they are determined that we were not going to win."

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