Rock Bottom Podcast : "Suburbs, Sarcasm & Shenanigans" - If You Can't Take The Heat, Go Back And Get Another "Pumpkin Spice Latte"
04/23/2025 “Currently in contract negotiations. Social media activity is paused during this transition—updates will resume soon. To be continued. 😁🙏"
Produced In The 18940
Newtown, Pennsylvania
Covering My Town & Surrounding Areas
Welcome to the Rock Bottom Podcast, a platform where we delve into local news with a no-nonsense approach. From schools to transportation and the pulse of the community, we cover it all without the fluff. As my mom used to say, I speak my mind without a filter. Transparency is key here - no sugarcoating, no spin, just the unvarnished truth. That's our ethos, plain and simple. And remember, authenticity rules the day - just as Eric Scott Gold dictates. 😁
Rock Bottom Podcast : "Suburbs, Sarcasm & Shenanigans" - If You Can't Take The Heat, Go Back And Get Another "Pumpkin Spice Latte"
Tonight @ 7PM Is Your 4.24 Board Of School Directors Meeting Council Rock Parents And Here Is Your Pre-Check Cheat Sheet
The financial crisis brewing in Council Rock School District has reached its boiling point. With a jaw-dropping $15 million deficit looming over the community, tonight's school board meeting could be your last chance to speak up before decisions that affect your children's education and your tax bills are set in stone.
We're diving headfirst into the fiscal emergency that's unfolding right before our eyes. The district is simultaneously claiming poverty while splurging on questionable expenses - 17 new kindergarten teachers based on enrollment guesses, hundreds of new computer monitors, GPS systems for buses, and a complete overhaul of lunch payment software that adds processing fees to every transaction. Meanwhile, teachers wait for fair compensation, and students make do with broken chairs and outdated technology.
The Chancellor Center situation perfectly encapsulates the budgetary chaos. Should taxpayers fund a temporary relocation costing up to $855,000 annually, patch the building for $6.5 million, or go "full HGTV" with a $15.6 million renovation? This decision sits alongside numerous other facility challenges across the district, including a floated (and quickly dismissed) $107 million middle school reconfiguration plan. These choices aren't just about buildings - they represent fundamental questions about educational priorities and financial transparency.
Tonight at 7pm at the Chancellor Center, community members have a rare opportunity to demand answers before these decisions become irreversible. Come armed with questions about teacher compensation, technology expenditures during a deficit, and whether there's an actual plan beyond "hoping and praying to the ghost of Milton Hershey." The board needs to hear your voice - because if decisions continue to be made in silence, next year's budget explosion will turn your child's school into "a big self-funded escape room." Will you speak up, or will you be home watching reruns while your tax dollars go up in flames?
Peace, Love & God Above! :-)
What's up, guys? This is the final Rock Bottom podcast before your big meeting tonight at 7 pm at the Chancellor Center. And I'm telling you right now if you don't go and you don't speak up, fuck off. I did my due diligence for you and if that's the case, I'll be sitting home watching reruns of the Masked Singer, hoping and praying that everybody that's out there that has said something to me, you know, gets a chance to speak up tonight and find out what's going on. You could, out there that has said something to me, you know gets a chance to speak up tonight and find out what's going on. You could be part of the solution or you could be part of the problem. Today's episode district dollars and nonsense. Why you need to storm the school board tonight with passion and possibly pitchforks. Introduction the pipe bomb begins. Cm punk, my man. I'm sitting down on stage right now delivering this one in indian, reporting live from the bottom of the budget barrel, buried under a $15 million deficit and 17 kindergarten teachers. Nobody can guarantee that we even need.
Speaker 0:Welcome to the Rock Bottom Podcast, where every episode is a fiscal emergency and every board meeting feels like watching your money light itself on fire in slow motion. Let me ask you something, council Rock. Are you tired of showing up to these meetings just to hear the word preliminary 348 times? Do you enjoy the soothing sounds of this is common practice, while your kid's classroom has one working Chromebook and three broken chairs? Do you get a little tickly in your tummy when you hear that the state gave us more money but it doesn't actually help? Well then, buckle up, because tonight's school board meeting might be your last stop before the budget train hits the fiscal fan. What's the situation? Let's recap the greatest hits from the past month of finance nonsense $15 million deficit, but don't worry, it's only 5% of the budget, which, if you said that to a mortgage lender, would get you evicted in 11 minutes. Full-day kindergarten we're hiring 17 teachers for it, based on guesses, the number of kids registered still unclear. The cost fully baked into the budget pie, the flavor uncertainty a la taxpayer.
Speaker 0:And if you got what I got the other day, that little flyer in the mail, I'm surprised it even made it to my door. That thing fell apart the second I touched it because they delivered it when it was wet tech overload. We're buying hundreds of new computer monitors because apparently, budget crisis or not everybody gets dual screen setups now. But don't ask for raises teachers. That's just selfish Security devices, gps and cameras in vans because the kids might not have functioning library programs anymore. But at least we can livestream them being driven to school like it's a surveillance team reality show.
Speaker 0:We live in Bucks County. This ain't broad and fucking. Jfk. Lunch software overhaul. My Payments Plus is out and my school Bucks is in. Want to pay for a cookie? That'll be $2 plus 3% processing fee, plus your soul, plus your kid's embarrassment for the next three weeks. Also, good luck remembering your login. We'll figure it out later. Budgeting Every meeting includes the phrase we haven't reviewed that yet.
Speaker 0:Translation they're actually gambling with your tax dollars and haven't decided which chips to throw away. Yet. Tonight you speak. Here's what you say Parents, teachers, community members tonight is not for polite nodding. Tonight is for public comment, microphone mic drops and, like I said, I wish I could be there, but they banned me from all school activities and properties.
Speaker 0:Questions to ask why are we hiring 17 kindergarten teachers when we don't know if we need them? Is this education or a 2.4 million guessing game with crowns? Question two how are we buying new monitors, gps systems, lunch software and cafeteria scanners while we claim we're broke. Is this the fire festival of school districts? Question three what happens if we actually do end the year with a $15 million deficit? Is there a plan? Beyond hoping and praying to the ghost of milton hershey? They just actually built a brand new building. I cannot wait to go down there. It's going to be amazing. I love hershey park.
Speaker 0:Why aren't teachers getting paid what they deserve? Are you negotiating with educators or trying to buy them in bulk like office supplies? Why does a community never hear about these issues unless they read 120 page transcript or listen to this podcast or your youtube channel, which only averages about 100 views per post? Is there a reason we're budgeting like a reality show and communicating like it's a haunted house? Things to demand Transparency Start with plain English, accountability, name names, hold people responsible, actual priorities.
Speaker 0:Spoiler, it's the kids and the teachers, not cafeteria software or smart bus GPS systems. A cap on nonsense. Limit the phrase preliminary to three uses per meeting or you buy everyone pizza. So closing message call to action. Show up tonight if you care about education, if you care about waste, if you care about your taxes being spent like it's Monopoly money. Do not let these decisions get made in silence while you're binge watching Netflix, missing out on your kid's actual future. The board needs to hear your voice loud, clear and preferably with sarcasm, because if they don't feel the pressure from you tonight, they'll sure as hell feel it when the budget explodes next year and your kid's school turns into a big self-funded escape room. This has been the rock bottom podcast, the only place where your budget confusion becomes content. Oh wait, a minute. I totally, totally forgot something. Oh my god, it's been a rough week.
Speaker 0:The facilities meeting one bid for oil, bold. Two bids for propane, groundbreaking riggins and sharp energy got the honors. But hey, we've got a 30-day breakup clause, just in case our side piece, the ui bid, turns out to be hotter. Diversified refrigerations back same price, new boilers, and over in the natatorium you chopped 33k on some mystery valve that decided to give up on life. Surprise and a damper and a loop while you're in there, because redundancy is fucking sexy baby. Custodial chaos six bids, one winner abm, because who doesn't love an 8.5 increase? It's not inflation, it's collective bargaining and supply chain vibes. 5.5 million for one year. Don't worry, they're adding a full-timer at the star building, so it's totally worth it.
Speaker 0:Chancellor center, the money pit, huge, huge, huge thing to talk about. Move to rich barrow middle and roll the dice, the hvac dice. Lease a space for 637 to 855k a year. Burn your money and light a cigar with it. Patch the building building for $6.5 million or go full HGTV for $15.6 million. Either way we're packing up the Chancellor like it's going off to college. Six to nine months of rent-a-purgatory and here we come when you guys can just all move into a small classroom somewhere in each of the buildings and everybody can work what we call hybrid remote, like most people do these years, and that's talk to people on the phone or talk to people on the computer and not have to sit through meetings on meetings and meetings and meetings and meetings all day long.
Speaker 0:District policies the real housewives of renovation, marine welsh newtown elementary are basically falling apart in high def. Chancellor's trying to hang in there. North's halfway to rock bottom. And just when you thought it couldn't get any more expensive, someone floated 107 million middle school reconfiguration. That idea got laughed off faster than your uncle's pyramid. Holland's too crowded. Cr. South wants a stadium. Glow up, lunch lines are wrapped around the cafeteria and the stadium is giving me hands down energy. A 12.5 million addition might help if we don't get distracted by another boiler in distress. We got so many boiler problems. My god, if you guys just stepped up when you were supposed to years ago. Can't really blame the current board on that one, but just understand that if you're still around in council rock you fucked up. Next steps consultants are cooking up some refined numbers that will age like milk when inflation hits.
Speaker 0:Priorities newtown, welsh chancellor, holland. And see ourselves, see ourselves. Didn't that just get built like 20 years ago? Order may vary, but the price tag sure won't. And public comments parents want art rooms, garden space, foundation fixes that cost a kidney. Everyone agrees students should come first, somewhere between the hfx system and a six hundred thousand dollar lease. Will never own. I don't know what to tell you. I'm dj esG, the best thing I can say somebody. Please call Tom Smith over at Penberry, the superintendent over there, and have a long talk with him, because he will tell you how he takes absolutely nothing every year and takes water and turns it into wine and while they're doing fantastic over there at Pensberry, because he knows how to turn a penny into a dollar. One phone call done, tom Smith Pensberry. Call him. Talk to him, he will tell you how he does it. It is amazing Once something's done right, call somebody from Jersey. I'm DJ ESG. Peace, love and God above, and I'll be home eating Haagen-Dazs. Talk to you later.
