{"id":33990,"date":"2017-03-01T09:21:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=33990"},"modified":"2017-03-01T09:21:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:21:25","slug":"county-school-of-government-announces-spring-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=33990","title":{"rendered":"County school of government announces spring session"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>WEST CHESTER \u2014 The Chester County School of Government, a free course open to all county residents, is scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the Chester County Library in Exton. This year\u2019s \u201cschool\u201d includes an overview of Chester County government\u2019s services and responsibilities, followed by three further evenings that include panel discussions on topics affecting all county residents \u2013 managing growth, jobs, and the overdose epidemic.<\/p>\n

Chester County has hosted four prior School of Government courses for citizens, highlighting the differences between services provided by county government compared to local municipality, state and federal government services. Since the first \u201cschool\u201d in 2007, more than 400 citizens have attended one or more of the courses.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s School of Government will make a slight change, choosing to focus on issues identified to be very important to residents that involve County government.<\/p>\n

Mark Rupsis, Chester County Chief Operating Officer said, \u201cOur School of Government classes have traditionally been designed for citizens wanting to know more about county services and the responsibilities of Chester County government. The classes were presented by our elected officials and department directors who gave an overview of the County\u2019s budget process, as well as topics like courts and the justice system, health and human services, emergency services and planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be covering some of that information in the first week of this year\u2019s School, but have chosen to be more issues-led and interactive for the subsequent three classes. These evenings will begin with comments from panel members who have tremendous experience when it comes to the development of living and working spaces in urban areas, job creation, and addressing the increasing number of opioid and heroin addictions, overdoses and deaths that are happening in Chester County. These three evenings will be an open class forum for questions and answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

All four spring 2017 School of Government classes will be held in the Struble Room of the Chester County Library, 450 Exton Square Parkway, Exton, PA from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. The weekly courses are:<\/p>\n