By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com

POTTSTOWN — In a town with no shortage of organized citizens' groups, a new one has coalesced in recent weeks, largely in opposition to several proposals now being considered by the Pottstown School Board.

Called "Code Blue," the group describes itself as "a fiscal watchdog group with decentralized leadership that meet and agree on positions and actions for the betterment of the education of Pottstown's students."

The group has a membership of about "two dozen people," according to Jeff Leflar and Amy Francis, who regularly attend school board meetings, identified themselves as being Code Blue members and agreed to be interviewed.

Francis, a former school board member, said other Code Blue members include more former members of the school board — including Robert Morgan and Judyth Zahora, who is currently the school board's treasurer.

It is a group that exists as much in cyber space as it does in the physical world.

"Most meetings are virtual," Francis said of their electronic nature.

Although the group has had several meetings, Francis said much of their communication occurs via e-mail and the anonymous blog site named Save Pottstown.

The authors of that blog, as well as most of its commenters, do not disclose their names; although, Francis, Zahora and current School Board Member Michele Pargeon are among the commenters who have.

Begun in December by vehemently attacking the author of the school proposals, board member Thomas Hylton — even mocking his wife's regular attendance at board and committee meetings — the Save Pottstown site has more recently focused as much on Hylton's proposals as the person.

Hylton declined to comment for this story.

The prepared position papers Francis and Leflar provided make no bones about aiming at the person they believe to be controlling the board.

"We believe that the Pottstown School District is being led by Mr. Hylton and the current school board majority toward a catastrophic financial crisis with the current policies and intent to adopt plans driven by a personal agenda regardless of the disastrous consequences," reads a Code Blue bullet point on a sheet titled "Mission and Beliefs" and provided by Francis and Leflar

The mission paper adds, "We believe that the Pottstown School Board, a public governmental agency, should NOT be used as a vehicle to further the private agenda of one controversial Pottstown planner."

Hylton is the only member of the Pottstown School Board who is also on the borough's planning commission.

Leflar — who serves on Pottstown's Historic Architecture Review Board, the Vacancy Board and the Cable Commission — insists Code Blue is not "anti-Hylton." In fact when Hylton first unveiled the proposal during a March 1 Neighborhood Schools Committee meeting, Leflar's first reaction was one of cautious consideration, saying he wanted to look more closely at the plan before either endorsing or condemning it.

Hylton's proposal calls for "making the most efficient use of what we have" by moving the fifth grade into the middle school, moving the 4K into the PEAK partners, closing the administration building and making space for it in the high school, and redistricting so that only children in the south side of town need to be bused.

Leflar said last week that he has since read the plan, which is posted on the school district's Web site — www.pottstownschools.com — and he's not crazy about what he sees.

"There are some good parts and there are some parts we don't care for," Leflar said.

Both said they support the idea of moving the administration into the high school and closing the energy inefficient administration building on Beech Street.

Both also said they like the idea of the pre-K students being taught by the "PEAK partners," as the off-site pre-kindergarten elementary programs are called.

Nevertheless, the prepared materials call the plan for the elementary schools "unaffordable by the public and offering no educational advantage to the children of Pottstown."

Leflar, who grew up walking to a neighborhood elementary school in Norristown, said Pottstown is not the walkable district Hylton promotes.

One reason fifth-graders should not be walking to the middle school, Leflar said, is because "we have a lot of registered sex offenders living in this town," an issue he raised again during a contentious board committee meeting on March 10.

At this point "our primary goal is to not just jump into this plan. We need more input from the community," Leflar said.

The rolling out of preconceived plans at public meetings is nothing more than "the illusion of inclusion," said Leflar.

He correctly predicted that the Neighborhood Schools Committee would unanimously recommend applying for a federal stimulus loan to pay for work at the elementary schools at its March 10 meeting, and further predicted the school board will vote 5-4 to do just that at its March 18 meeting.

Francis said she, too, has procedural objections. She said she was shocked when The Mercury reported that school board President Rick Huss had several board members at his home for a meeting after the election but before new members had been sworn in.

Francis said while it may not have been a violation of the Sunshine Law, "it was unethical. At the every least, the leadership of our town needs to be ethical," she said.

She said she never participated in any similar kind of meeting when she was on the school board.

Francis also objects to the way "there has been a piece-meal introduction" of the plan.

"It certainly suggests that the plan has been around for a lot longer than last week," Francis said.

The plan and its presentation "insults the intelligence of this community," said Francis.

Further, the group believes that "the current direction and leadership of the school board majority will lead to uncontrolled tax increases in Pottstown, a town that is already saddled with the 11th highest property taxes in the state of Pennsylvania, and could also lead to further loss of outstanding administrators." This is likely a reference to the pending departure of Superintendent David Krem, who has accepted a job to lead the Wyomissing School District in Berks County.

In addition to losing administrators, Francis said the adoption of the plan now on the table could result in massive cuts to the educational program, such as "the music program and the entire athletic program."

She acknowledged that those programs do not cost enough to produce the savings required, adding, "positions would have to be eliminated for sure."

Francis acknowledged that it is a continuing frustration for the group that more residents do not attend school board and committee meetings to make their voices heard.

"That is why we formed this group, to get the word out so people get involved," she said.

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