001I now call the April 27th, 2026 meeting of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board of Directors to order and opening as you are willing and able. If you would please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Ms. Mosley, would you please take the attendance roll call? Dr. Crawford. Mr. Dibble. Here. Mrs. Dolaway. Here. Mrs. Holbert. Mrs. Livingston. Here. Mr. Miller. Here. Mrs. Witzig. Here. Mrs. Williams. Here. Mrs. Kowski-Smith. Here. Nine voting members present. Thank you. Next, we move to our student representatives report and we have Ms. Nair here to tell us the happenings of our district this month. Good morning, everyone. As
002the school year draws nearer and nearer to the end, WSSD students are still going full steam ahead. With that, let's see what's been happening around the district. First up is speech and debate. Speech and debate's newer team members have been showing off what they have learned. Congratulations to Michael Chen and Shaksham Chawla for placing top two in JV Lincoln-Douglas debate at Newtown Middle School. Additionally, congratulations to our middle schoolers for placing in the top three for middle school pros at the LaSalle Grade School Invitational. Our school also sent three teams to the Tournament of Champions, which is a highly selective tournament based on the results of the past season. Congrats to all of our participants. Also, congratulations to the middle school and high school Science Olympiad teams. The team spent Saturday competing against 35 other
003schools up in Altoona and came home with many medals in events like material science, code busters, disease detectives, experimental design, and more. The middle middle school team even managed to place ninth overall in the state. Over in music, congratulations to Madeline Garson, Joya Duninger, Sonya Blum, Elsie Staylor Bishoff, Frankie Griffin, Marcus Johnson, Sophia Shao, Juliet Lloyd, and Lewis Lonza for being chosen to attend PMEA All-States, a prestigious music festival consisting of only the best of high school musicians. These nine students from SHHS's chorus, orchestra, and band got to spend time at Kalahari Waterpark playing music and also having fun in the water. Additionally, they set a new record for the highest number of Haven musicians sent to PMEA All-States. Spring season means frisbee season. Congratulations to Strath Haven Ultimate Girls for winning the Spring Fling
004Tournament. The Haven boys track and field team went undefeated in the Central League dual meet for the second year in a row. The championship title will be decided at the championship meet next week on May 6th. The team also had junior Derek Bradley achieve a new school record in the 100 meter and 200 meter events. Speaking of setting new records, the softball team also had two new records set. Senior Annika Slutemaker reached 400 career strikeouts, which is the most in school history. Additionally, senior Avery Smith achieved 100 hits, which is another first for our school. Girls lacrosse celebrated their seniors on April 17th before a competitive match against Garnet Valley. Boys lacrosse has yet to hold their senior night, but has recently participated in in a charity match for the nonprofit organization Hope for Haley
005in memory of Haley Jackson. Despite an increasing increasingly hectic schedule, SHHS juniors were still able to find the time to dance and hang out with friends during junior prom. Junior Logan Mitchell even had the opportunity to show off his DJing skills with the performance that got everyone onto the dance floor. The high school also hosted another wellness Wednesday event where students were able to participate in coloring, bracelet making, and speaking to representatives from the SJU Prevention Academy and psychologist Dr. Charlotte Markey. As for elementary schools, SRS hosted their annual art show at the beginning of this month. Each student had at least one piece of artwork to show the community, and everyone had an amazing time looking at all the creative and colorful drawings by the students. Last Thursday was NP's annual STEAM night. NPE
006students got to explore and learn about cool science topics while also having a chance to earn prizes. In addition, elementary students also exercised their critical thinking skills in a friendly chess competition hosted by SRS. Students from all three elementary schools and from all grade levels got to have fun playing against their classmates and new faces from different schools with the tournament being enjoyed by all who participated. And finally, West recently held their international night, which is a great opportunity for students to share and learn more about each other's cultures. Families shared food, artifacts, and photos, which all made for a fun night of community and culture. That concludes the April student board report and only one report left to go. Joy and I are excited to share the last few weeks of happenings this school
007year at the next meeting. Thank you. Thank you so so We can't wait to hear about it. Looking back, so thank you. Um all right, next we have Dr. Johnston's superintendent's report. Thank you, Ms. Williams, and I just want to note that um Ms. Williams and I were just looking at our agenda real quick, and I want to just call out for tonight that unfortunately the system that we use for um you know, organizing our board agendas is called BoardDocs, and it's down nationally, probably internationally. Uh and so this the agenda that you have before you, we had to kind of re-create today because we couldn't rely on the online system that we pay for, by the way. And so very vexing that this isn't here. So as we go, there might be some things
008that we have to point out on the agenda a little live on the spot and work with our attorney uh Kyle Berman to just, you know, get some advice on how we handle it given how it's um appearing on this agenda that we have tonight. So bear with us, um beyond our control. Um you know, technical issues, please don't bite type of thing. So let's jump in. So as always, I love to begin with an uh just some images of our students uh because these are let's put the students at the core of what we do every time we come together. I like to imagine that the students are right in front of us, um and some of them are tonight, which is wonderful, from SRS. Um I want to take you over to West
009actually for the images that I have to share with you tonight. Uh Principal Krawl sent me these pictures of technology-free indoor recess. Why is this important? Well, I recently had two parents who are also researchers at Penn and Swarthmore College respectively, came and met with me, and they said, you know, we'd love to see you getting more focused on recess just being a time that is unstructured, where students can really get that brain break, but really it's so important for their development. Play is just so vital for child the development of our children. And I thought it was just such a really strong suggestion that I um then turned around and went to our elementary principals. I really appreciate that Dr. Tuck is here tonight. And they were so ready and game to take this
010on to say, we can make this change this year. We don't need to wait on this. This is something that we can, you know, work to improve right away. And so as of May 1st, we will not allow any technology during recess. Sorry, students, if that was something that you enjoyed, but we think that you can really very much enjoy the time learning and playing together learn playing and learning through play together with technology-free indoor recess. And so, that really takes me to my upcoming community conversation, which is tomorrow. I know we announced it with about a week and a half or so notification. And that's really because the spring is always so busy. It was sort of the one night that we could pick where we knew that we had hold this community conversation
011and have folks come in and really just tell us anything that's on their mind. Keep in mind that I do this twice, once in the morning at 9:00 a.m., once at 6:00 p.m. to accommodate family schedules. And as always, all questions and ideas are welcome, but we are going to have a focus on technology to kind of build on that last slide that I just showed. There are different, you know, kind of concerns right now about the use of technology in the classroom, so I'd really love to hear directly from our families, from our community members about that. I'll be joined by our director of technology, AJ Citroni, as well as our director of K-12 technology learning. Oh, boy. This is >> [laughter] >> Technical issues, please stand by. It is the 28th, Mr. cuz
012right now is the 27th. That would be really awkward. Yes, this is my mistake. I'm going to blush readily here, but it is tomorrow. So, yes, tomorrow 9:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m. Thank you, Ms. Albertson. This is what I get for doing this over the weekend. What a I was a little bit distracted. So, for budget planning, I just want to talk a little bit about you know, continuing on this topic of how we are addressing the challenges that we face, right, together and very transparently, very thoughtfully, and very in a very persevering and committed way. We're not not to give up. We're going to stick with this, and we will find our way continually through this. Um and really keeping again student learning at the core of what we're going to do. So, um tonight,
013of course, we are hearing the proposed uh budget for next year. Ms. Mosley did a uh in-depth presentation at our finance committee meeting. And um next month will be back for the final budget review and hopeful approval for fiscal year '27. I just want to give you a heads-up that I'll also be talking about a little bit going back over how we got to where we are so that we can continue to plan for how how do we address how do we continue to address this budget challenge. So, in May, I'll be doing a little bit of a like let's look back at some of our expenditures, at our student enrollment, so that we can continue to look ahead in June when I anticipate bringing forward the strategies that we will continue to employ next
014year, right? So, we took on certain strategies this year. They have had uh a strong effect, and there's more that we even need to do next year, and we just want to be very clear and up front about that as we move forward. And related to that, of course, uh when we try to make sure that we balance what we can afford along with our priorities, of course, is our capital plan and the work that we're doing on the high school. And it's really a a place where those two um values really intersect. Uh what are our priorities and what can we afford? And so, I'm really pleased that we have representatives from KCBA Architects with us here tonight, uh and even though there's no presentation, I appreciate you being here, going out of your
015way to be here um since you did present it our facilities meeting last week. But this is really a point where we need to make sure that we're giving the right direction to our esteemed architects. And so, what I anticipate is in June, uh we've asked them to come back and maybe show us um what a different scale of project would look like. At the facilities committee meeting last week, we saw what an $80 million in construction cost project would look like, $99 million overall. I think it'll be important for us just to make sure that we give them the right direction to move forward on to just reconsider is there anything else that we would ask them to do differently perhaps scaling that back because like I mentioned as we started the meeting last
016week the facilities committee meeting that any addition that we put into the capital plan really requires a reallocation elsewhere within our budget and that's mainly personnel costs because the main driver of our budget of course is personnel. And so finding that balance I think will be really important and I want to make sure we have that conversation very clearly now as opposed to sort of getting into deep and then regretting something later. Let's make sure that we're doing this really thoughtfully really with eyes wide open right now. So I look forward to having that follow up with you in June and like I mentioned more information coming in May too about just sort of a bigger picture with our budget as well. So what I now want to just talk about though is related to
017budget. I'd put out a the last the last meeting when we were here together I shared some information about some of our budget realities and made a commitment to saying every position that we have as a vacancy we need to continue to examine and even do more to examine about whether or not we would backfill that position and I said I'll be clear with you and very transparent with you about any position that we will not backfill and so I do want to share that with you tonight. We really are guided by these principles that we would work to avoid eliminating specific programs or services though some might some programs and services might need to be reduced. We will maintain class sizes at or below the established limits that are in our collective bargaining units.
018The collective bargaining agreements and then looking to see if there are alternative ways to deliver services and supports particularly for administrative positions or other non-teaching roles. So again just to be very clear and upfront with you uh have confirmed three positions that we will not backfill uh because of resignations and retirements. Uh they are two at NPE and one at SRS. We have communicated with the families in both schools to let them know this. And in both cases, we are maintaining class sizes below guidelines. Um these were the three smallest size cohorts of students within the district where we are making that adjustment, bringing class size into alignment with um you know, where other school especially West or or elsewhere at NPE or elsewhere at SRS uh where we have more similar uh class size.
019And then I just want to be up front with you that under consideration is the uh current opening for a high school science teacher where we might look for a partial reduction, um an elementary MTSS/special education teacher, and then very near and dear to my heart, um the executive assistant to the superintendent, Debbie Elias. She's on the agenda for tonight, uh is has announced her retirement. And so, uh if I'm going to ask the schools to take this as a consideration, I I'm I'm taking the same I'm taking the same discipline to myself and considering whether or not I need to backfill that position. And of course, I will bring you more information as we go just to make sure that this is always updated. I have already prepared this information for my community newsletter
020that will go out no later than Thursday this week. So, I just want to make sure that we're just always looking at this together. This is a problem for us to solve collectively. Um this is something for us just to make sure that we're all really aware of how it's moving forward and and the decisions that are being made. So, I do have some good news though. Um I feel like I I walk around and everyone's like, "Oh, here he comes with his budget saga." Uh but uh we're that's the budget saga is our our challenge, right? And we can we can rise to challenges. We are strong. Um we're strong together. Um and then good news comes, too. And I really appreciate uh the work of our transportation director, Allison Sloat, putting together the
021uh grant proposal for us, the automated school bus enforcement grant, the ASBEG. Uh it rolls off the tongue. Uh but uh what I really love about this is uh providing more funding for training drivers, that CDL license that our drivers need. Uh so that would be up to eight drivers uh that we could get funding to have trained and the associated costs that come with licensing. And then uh as we um adopt the new buses, we need to upgrade the interior cameras inside those buses that we that we lease. And so this would also help to pay for the upgrades to those cameras. And the requested amount would be $80,584. Um the grant deadline is April 30th, and I am I know we're right on track for being able to uh submit the grant on
022time. So I'll keep you posted on what we find out about that. Uh my last piece of good news is actually appreciation for Swarthmore College. Uh Swarthmore has uh appro- provided to us two very recent donations that really I think really show um good faith towards working with us, working with the school district uh in a very collaborative way. The first are the bleachers that they donated uh that I can see from my office. So when uh the lacrosse games are happening right now, girls lacrosse games, I can look out and see those bleachers being used, which makes me very happy. So uh great appreciation for Swarthmore for um sharing uh bleachers they no longer needed with us and helping to have them delivered and installed. And then on the agenda for tonight, uh we
023have uh consideration for the board to approve the um uh the um contract for commemoration. And Swarthmore College has waived the fees that have every year been associated with uh using the beautiful amphitheater there at Swarthmore College for commemoration the night before graduation. And again, uh what a great show of good faith effort to work with us. And really appreciate everything that Swarthmore College has done recently to uh to support us here in the district. And we'll keep at it together. So with that, um that is uh the end of my report, and I'm really glad to bring up Dr. Tuck because, uh, we have a real focus on SRS this month, and Dr. Tuck, uh, really coming up with a a note of gratitude from myself and the board for your 15 years of
024service at SRS. Your recent announcement of a retirement, as I've said to you many times, is bittersweet for us, uh, but we just are so excited for what the future holds for you, that next chapter, and again, deep, deep gratitude for every child you have touched at SRS. So, thank you. Thank you, Raymond. Betsy Johnson, Mrs. Williams, and the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to share some of the highlights of SRS, the things that we have accomplished, and I'd like to thank all of the parents, also, for joining me this evening, as well as two of my students from SRS. We have Lincoln Purdy, and we have Mira Mira Silverman, and they're going to join me at the end as a wrap-up for our presentation. So, this is
025going to be one of my last presentations to the school board, and I am thankful and grateful for all the years that I've had at SRS. Before we began, we need to look back to see where we've come from. Leaving SRS, graduating middle school, high school is calling [music and singing] me. All this SRS life, thank you for raising me. Goodbye to Dr. Tuck, and >> [music] >> now we're going to >> [singing] >> dream of all that we've done. I'm an SRS kid and going to stay straight, [singing] mama. I'm just having fun as I walk across the stage. I'll always belong here at SRS. I'm graduating from SRS. I'm going to keep on dancing out to middle school. I'm going to keep on dancing at SRS. SRS, I love >> [music] >> and
026draw on the [singing] floor. My parents and my teachers waving from outside the door. Walking and our murals on the wall. Everyday was so much fun. I'm sad to leave it all. We've done African dance. We went to Stone Harbor. Oh, it's a lot more fun than school. When [music] they say to go to me, we'll make our family proud. It's [music] fun to call to sing when we walk off the stage. I know they're going to sing, "Oh, look what we've done. I'm an SRS kid and I'm going to stay straight, [music] mama. I'm just having fun as I walk across the stage. I'll always belong here [music] at SRS. I'm graduating from SRS. I'm going to keep on dancing out to middle >> [singing] >> school. I'm going to keep on dancing at
027SRS. >> [screaming] >> SRS. SRS, we have a number of SRS songs. That's just one of the songs that we have and our students, we are so proud of our students and just wanted to look back at the many years of SRS and this is from last year's uh fifth grade presentation. So, we're going to look at words matter. Last year we talked about our theme words matter. We indicated that our words have power. Our words give life and our words unite individuals together. And last year we had a successful um campaign of words matter. We had students participating, staff participating, writing shout-outs to the individuals and to our counselors to thank them for all of the things that they have done to help SRS be successful. And this year we wanted to continue along
028the theme of words matters because words are actions and we wanted to ensure that all of our students realize that their words have power and the words they lead to actions. So, this year we have actions matter as one of our focus. And we have five key areas that we wanted to talk about this evening, academic excellence, student growth, culture and community, professional development, and looking ahead. And for academic excellence, we are proud of our students how they have achieved on the PSSA. We had 92.5 was our building score this year. Dr. shared with you some of the information from PSSA as well as our map data for our district and for SRS. And this year we wanted to strengthen our core, to strengthen the tier one instruction, and we have implemented arts and letters
029for language arts and we have implemented math in focus. I'm I'm sorry, not math in focus, Reveal Math. There we go. For our students. This is our second year of Reveal Math. And I also we wanted to um thank Dr. Johnston, as well as Dr. Batic for their monthly visits through the buildings, and that has been a powerful tool for our staff and our students to get to know Dr. Batic and Dr. and Dr. Johnston, as well. Due to the fact that they were here as we implemented Arts and Letters, and also continue with Reveal Math. This is an opportunity This was an opportunity for them to see the instruction and how students are engaged with the curriculum and with the teachers, also. For some reason, I'm a little nervous here tonight. This is my
030last slide, so it's like, "Make it your best, Angela. Okay." >> [laughter] >> And here we have our student growth. We wanted to ensure that we not only educate the academic side of the child, but really the whole child, the social and emotional piece, also. And we have implemented PBIS. We are continuing to be safe, respectful, and responsible. And it's so important that our students understand that these are just common courtesies, things that we do in order to be successful at SRS. And they have Actions Matter. We worked We moved from Words Matter to Actions Matter. And there are few um comments that we select from our Actions Matter bulletin board. We had someone say that it's important to say hello to individuals as you're passing by. And so many times, although we are school
031of 563, but it's so important that we say hello, even if you do not know the person, but to greet those individuals. And then we also have um Actions Matter. If someone is being bullied, how to stand up and be an upstander, and to ensure that you get help for a friend or someone that is being harmed or hurt. And then at SRS, we are definitely civic-minded. We are we indicate we lead by our actions. And we have a number of drives that we've done throughout the year. We've had clothing drives, coat drives, food drives. We had a number of drives. Our students they are definitely um concerned about not only the environment, but for students all around this area. Then we have culture. A cult- uh excuse me, culture and community. I'd like to
032thank our SRS Home and School for doing a marvelous job um at Everybody Everybody Plays. And that's an initiative that they started many years ago where every child has an opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities regardless of social economic status. And they wanted to make sure that everyone is included and has and has an opportunity to experience what their peers are experiencing. We do a walk and roll to school. We have Dr. Battaglia in one of our pictures. She joined us for walking to school that morning. And our students are really encouraged by the leaders that we have in our school district and also in our schools. We also have professional development. We went through an extensive in-services with Arts and Letters and also with Reveal math for our students. And we're grateful for a
033just the opportunity to have our teachers not only um have grade level sessions, but to have district-wide um in-services where they are communicating and collaborating with teachers from NPE, West, and also West. And this has a great impact upon our teachers due to the fact that Arts and Letters was a new curriculum uh program that we have uh purchased and we're implementing this year and they have an opportunity to plan and to plan different modules, to plan lessons, and to see and to share also the things that are working and the things that they are hoping to grow. Then we have our SRS instructional leadership teams and we're thankful for the centers for model schools for helping us and to support us as we've analyzed our map data and to build consistency and to build
034a strong tier one our core instruction. We focus on how do we support our students and how do we support our staff members as they're implementing our core instruction. Our teachers on the ILT committee, they created a survey and from the survey they asked their their their colleagues, what are some of the instructional strategies that they utilize in order to support students and we use that data to share with them and to see how we can strengthen our core to reduce the achievement gap in our building and to look at different um subgroups and to make sure that we're meeting the needs of all of our students. And this was I'm really proud of the work that they have done and they're continuing to work and they're continuing to read articles about direct instruction and
035how we can implement different strategies and various strategies to support student growth. And these are just some of the areas that we've worked on with our ILT data analysis, looking at the map data. We've had lots of data for many years, but how are we using that information to truly drive instruction and to look at our day-to-day, our daily strategies that we utilize in the classroom and how that's going to support students and to have a focus and we have with the articles that we're reading and how the teacher leaders are sharing that information with staff and to see how we can support our students and we have a number of initiatives but we really want to stay focused on the students in the center our instruction on making helping them make progress. And we
036have the Reveal math that we are continuing. This is our second year and we are our students that are continuing to have meaningful lessons and engaging lessons through that our teachers have created and we have the various areas of just being curious and noticing wondering also with our teachers and students. We have as they have activity based instruction, independent practice, exit tickets using those exit tickets to guide our next steps for instruction to see if the students are comprehending or if they master that particular unit of study and if not, how do we go back? How do we reteach some areas or how do we enrich areas in which children need to have that extra engagement in the lesson. So therefore, we're looking at using the exit tickets to guide our next steps for instruction
037for our teachers. Looking ahead. We are going to continue working on arts and letters. We're going to continue using our Reveal math. We're going to continue being safe, respectful, and responsible and our students and our teachers are wonderful. Our teachers are We have some strong instructional leaders at SRS and I can see the work continuing next year and years to come. And our teachers are committed to ensuring that every student receives a quality education. And actions matter. These are the things that people are going to remember us by. The things that we do. We say so many things, but it's your actions that truly matter. It's the actions that's going to um leave a lasting memory upon others. And we've had experiences such as our Veterans Day program, the car wash. Um although the students
038look pretty wet, but they were really washing cars. So, therefore, we had an opportunity to wash cars and the funds or proceeds from the car wash went towards or will be going towards a field trip as well for our fifth grade students to the wetlands. So, they are they're really eager at two fifth grade students now who will come join me shortly. We've had a pajama day drive where we have collected pajamas for PJs for students who are may be in foster home situations and may not have all the comforts of home, but we wanted them to have a pair of warm pajamas to have at their new setting. And of course, we have band and then the orchestra as well. And I'm going to ask Lincoln Purdy to come up and he's going to
039talk about actions matter. Lincoln's one of our fifth grade students. Okay. Hello, my name My name is Lincoln Purdy and I'm a fifth grade. Actions matter to me because if you do something kind, it like help somebody move something, it can make their job easier and have make their like life easier and sometimes just saying hi could brighten somebody's entire day. Oh, and um my mom had surgery in her nose is so um I made a poster for her that and I got think 50-ish names, maybe more. So, yeah. Thank you very much. I wanted Lincoln to be a part of this celebration and to realize that actions matter and he took it upon himself to gather those to create a poster and to ensure that everyone was well. And now we're going to call
040on Mira Silverman. She's going to share her actions matter and then we're going to hear from some of the students. Mira. Hi, my name is Mira Silverman. As a fifth grader my actions matter from helping my teacher and saying the right things to being a role model for younger students. By me having these things in mind I create an example for younger students in my building and I also create expect an expectation for myself to follow throughout my school years. Thank you very much. Awesome. Thank you Mira. Thank you Lincoln for doing a wonderful job and for helping me with my presentation because actions matter. Hi, my name is Caroline Gladney. I'm in fifth grade and to me actions matter because it means that you're showing respect and doing the right thing. Hi, my name
041is Hanif Pitts. I am in fourth grade. >> [music] >> Actions matter. Actions matter means being nice to people and showing that you care. Hi. I'm Kennedy and I'm in fourth grade and actions matter means to me that you should always be nice to others and care for them. Hi, my name is Ms. Erin. I'm the SRS librarian. To me, Actions Matters means that the actions that I take have an effect on my community and my students. Hi, my name is Lincoln Laporte. I'm in fifth grade at and the Actions Matters to me because if you do something kind it can brighten somebody's day. I'd like to thank you for allowing us to share some of the highlights from SRS and I'm grateful that I had this opportunity to spend nearly 15 wonderful years at
042Swarthmore Rutledge School. It's been a total of 33.78 or 75 years in education and it's been many years, but I'm grateful to spend at least almost part of my uh time in education here at Swarthmore Rutledge School in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District. I'm grateful and I'm thankful. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Tuck. And I made it. I had some tissues here. I was trying and I thought Not done yet. Okay. Oh my goodness. I'll keep them just in case. I would like to thank first of all Lincoln and Mira. You did an excellent job and it's really hard to get up and talk in front of a group of adults. You were excellent, so thank you for your time. Um Dr. Tuck, as I was preparing like the agenda and I see your
043retirement, it gave me a chance to one think about how coincidental it is that you're we're voting on your retirement tonight and you're giving your last presentation to the board, but then I was also thinking I have I've known Dr. Tuck for the past 14 years because this is the first year I've not had a child at SRS, which is frightening. Um but you have become kind of the face of SRS, so you will be dearly missed, and we thank you so much for your service. Um in terms of your presentation, I love the words matter, the actions matter. Like, I think that that is just a core message that so many people um could use, adults included, all of us. So, thank you for reminding us of that. And uh as I said, best
044of luck, best wishes on your retirement. You have It's well deserved, well earned, and I hope you find many, many things to keep you occupied and happy. So, thank you. Um I will And we'll we'll celebrate your retirement again with all the retirees in June. So, we'll you'll we'll see you again. Um all right, so I'll comment. Ms. Dolly. Yeah, so I'll just say that um Dr. Tuck, yours was the um first smiling um district face that our family met when we relocated at the beginning of second grade. So, I'll always remember you fondly, and thank you for all of the um the work you're doing and all of the students and families you're you've touched. Uh thank you so much, Dr. Tuck, for a wonderful presentation and for 33.78 years of service to uh
045SRS, a wonderful school. We're lucky to have had you. And uh Mr. Purdy, Ms. Silverman, thank you for fantastic presentations uh echoing um Ms. Williams here. Uh it's hard getting up in front of people and talking, especially about something that you care about, and the two of you clearly care about what you said. So, thank you for doing that. Yes, and I thank you as well for your service to the district. Thank you so much for being one of our leaders and setting the example that you just showed us with your students. So, thank you. I thank you. It was really great. I I really just gotten to know you since being a board member, honestly, because my kids started in middle school and high school, but um it's been really great to get to
046know you and I just want to thank you for your the past you know, four What is it? 15 years of providing a steady hand and creating such a a great culture at SRS. And I wish you the best. Thank you. I don't know you, but I've heard about you a whole bunch of times. [laughter] My kids went to West, but I always heard about Dr. Tuck, so it's nice to finally see you in person. Um I won't get to know you very well, but thank you very much for your service and thank you Mira and uh Lincoln for your remarks. I know it's hard to get up and talk. Cer- certainly nothing to add to all the great things, but congratulations and thank you very much and and again great job, guys. Awesome. I'll
047just be echoing what everyone else said. Um SRS and you, Dr. Tuck, will remain near near and dear to my heart having had um two sons, a nephew, and one nephew left um at SRS. So and I love the idea that words and actions matter. So thank you for raising up good citizens and um stewards of responsible behavior in the world. And Lincoln and Mira, thank you for modeling courage and poise today. I know it's hard to get up there, but you guys did it beautifully. I I just like to thank you um for your service and for being an example and representing the black community as a as the only minority woman of color and and principal status, it's sad to see Lee. Um and the mark that you've left on SRS and all
048the students, your humbleness, your poise, your integrity, your your kindness has all given all these children all these years such a fun memory to be proud that they went to SRS, and I'm sure they're all going to remember Dr. Tuck. So, congratulations and thank you for representing well. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you so much for being here with us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. We'll give them a chance. All right. Um, next we will move on to audience recognition, response to items for actions on the agenda. This is the time for public comment on items on the agenda. There will be time later for topics not on the agenda. Public comment is a time for district residents and taxpayers to share their perspectives and experiences with the board on
049an issue that is before the board. It's the time for us to listen. While we are not able to respond to questions during the meeting, there's always an opportunity for follow-up after the meeting if there's a specific question for the district. Each speaker has a 3-minute time limit. We will give you a reminder when 1 minute remains so that you can begin to wrap up, and at 3 minutes we will ask you to finish your final thought so we can move to the next speaker. Please remember that this is not the appropriate venue for discussing matters that relate to any individual student, whether your child or not, or any concerns about an individual staff member. When speaking, we ask that you state your name and the street in the in the district in which you
050live before beginning. Is there anyone here tonight who would like to speak about a topic on the agenda. All right, seeing none. Um the next item on the agenda tonight is the approval of the minutes from the March 23rd, 2026 regular board meeting. Uh do I have a motion for approval? So moved. Thank you, and a second? Any discussion left or right? Seeing none, Ms. Mosley, will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Crawford. I. Mr. Dibble. I. Ms. Dolle. I. Ms. Holbert. I. Ms. Livingstone. I. Mr. Miller. I. Ms. Whitsett. I. Ms. Kasky-Smith. Ms. Williams. I. Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. Next, we will hear updates from our board committees. As a reminder, our educational affairs, facilities, and finance and policy committee meetings are available to view on our YouTube channel.
051As such, we will begin with the wellness advisory and Dr. Crawford. So, wellness advisory committee met last month, and that was my first time joining the group. We focused on priorities for the upcoming triennial assessment of our local school wellness policy, which is being presented to the board today across three areas: health and physical education, nutrition, and behavioral health. In health and PE, we reviewed our K-12 drug and alcohol prevention efforts. These are evidence-based programs, including Botvin LifeSkills curriculum at the elementary level and healthful living courses in high school, supported by a multidisciplinary team, including counselors, nursing, and community partners, with an emphasis on prevention, decision-making skills, and parent education. On the nutrition side, we discussed strong student engagement through initiatives like global nutrition, along with anticipated updates to federal dietary guidelines. While details are
052still evolving, potential shifts include more emphasis on protein and healthy fats and less added sugar and artificial ingredients, and we'll wait for those adjustments. Um and we reviewed the Panorama study data for grades 3 through 12, um which is a student survey measuring social and emotional well-being, which shows in our district strong results on supportive relationships and senses of belonging, while highlighting areas like emotional regulation as ongoing priorities. Um and that's all that we covered. Quick reminder to the public that the district is also offering parent education series um with expert-led sessions on topics like neurodiversity, digital balance, drug and alcohol prevention to help support families and strengthen the home and school partnership. Thank you so much. Uh next we'll move to our representative for the PA School Board Association, Ms. Ms. Witkowski Smith. PSBA
053is urging all school boards to call on their lawmakers to to deliver an on-time 2026-27 state budget that prioritizes public education. While recent budgets have included historic investments and long-overdue reform, public schools continue to face rising mandated costs, staffing shortages, student support needs, and aging infrastructure that require sustained state commitment. The WSSD School Board will be adopting a resolution calling for adequate and equitable funding relief from cost-driving mandates and continued investment in education programs and facilities. Members of the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board will also be attending the May 4th Advocacy Day, where members of the board meet with our legislators in Harrisburg to discuss commitment to an adequate and timely budget. Members of the community may demonstrate their support by contacting their state legislators and demanding an on-time budget for the the school year. Thank you.
054Thank you. Uh there's no update from the Delaware County Community College, so we will move to the DCIU and Mrs. Holbert. Thank you. The DCIU Board of Directors has voted to hire our very own past interim superintendent, Dr. Scanlon, as interim DCIU Executive Director until we hire a permanent one. We expect a new search to take 6 to 9 months. Um I'm very much looking forward to working with Dr. Scanlon again. Um also, the Delaware County Legislative Council will be hosting its annual legislative breakfast at the DCIU Morton site on Friday, May 15th. The theme will be unfunded mandates. Impact, challenges, and solutions. And I hope to see all my board colleagues there at 7:30 a.m. sharp, and I'm saying that because I was late last time. Um and finally, I wanted to note that
055tonight we will be voting on two DCIU-related items, whether to approve the terms of five members from other districts, and whether to approve a resolution calling for increased and sufficient funding for both basic education and career and technical education. That's it. Thank you. All right, next we move on to personnel. Um we have nine items listed for action in personnel, but we are Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Christine. Um Mrs. Holbert, Delaware County School Board Legislative Council is what I meant to say. I apologize. >> It's okay. Um there is, I believe, an attachment to the agenda with, you know, that outlines, you know, much of this update, but I'll just give some highlights. So, uh Senate Bill 128 was reported from committee and received first consideration by the Senate. It would require schools
056to publicly post all textbooks, course syllabi or summaries, and state standards for each instructional course. House Bill 1752 was reported from committee and received for first consideration by the house. It would commission an independent feasibility study on replacing the Keystone exams with the SAT, ACT, or smarter balanced assessments. And Senate Bill 378 was reported from committee and received first consideration. It establishes a comprehensive framework for student data privacy and security, including limiting the collection and use of student data, requiring parental consent for disclosure, and prohibiting the sale or use of data for targeted marketing. And then, amongst the newly introduced legislation, House Bill 2275 changes the initial would change the initial IEP evaluation timeline from 60 calendar days to 60 consecutive school days. House Bill increases the portion of the state special education appropriation allocated
057to extraordinary special education expenses from 1% to 2%. And House Bill 2285 reduces the maximum student-to-school student-to-school nurse ratio from 1,500 to 1 to 750 to 1. And also increases the state reimbursement rate for school health services. The bill also requires, rather than allows, the Department of Health to allocate up to $3 million annually for grants to provide free feminine hygiene products to students. Thank you. My apologies again. All right. Now, we are going to move to action items for action and personnel. Uh, we have nine items listed, but we are going to be pulling one, so we'll act on eight. Um, and the one that we are pulling is letter D, change of position. Um there is no name listed there for the substitute bus driver, so we will wait on approving that until
058next month. Uh so as such, uh we have the eight items listed in personnel. All items in the section are as attached or as described in the agenda. Are there any items on the list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? All right, seeing none. That Oh, sorry, Mrs. Whitsett. I'd like to um acknowledge that we have Alice um ready ready Your Can you turn your microphone on, please? I'd like to um hold Debbie Elias um resignations so that it'll allow us to publicly thank her for her service and commitment to um keeping our superintendent organized and together. Okay. And so We'll pull that and we can talk about it when we get there. So as such, then we'll have seven items. Is there any other items that anyone would
059like to pull? All right, so the items we'll vote on first will be appointments, leave of absence, um change of position No, not change of Sorry. Appointments, leave of absence, direct payment, 2026 extended school year program, 2026 kindergarten screening, revised calendars for the 25-26 and the 26-27 school years, and adjustment to personnel items. Um do I have a motion We're just going to pull letter A, resignations and retirements, and then we'll come back to that. That work? Okay, perfect. Um so again, appointments, leave of absence, direct payments, end of school extended school year, kindergarten screening, revised calendars, and adjustments to personnel. Do I have a motion for >> Thank you. And a second? Second. Thank you. Uh, any discussion? Mrs. Doley? Can I just ask Dr. Johnston with regards to the um letter H, the
060revised calendars? Would you mind just briefly sort of highlighting what the changes are for the community? Certainly. I appreciate that, Mrs. Doley. So, um, first of all, we needed to make sure we have a vote from the board on this year's calendar because of the snow days that we had. Uh, this is important for the dates of retirements and resignations and whatnot. So, um, adjusting the calendar given the adjustments that the snow caused is the first thing that we um uh that comes up in the revised calendars. The second is for next year, the change that we had to make relative to the primary election that happens in May. So, we needed to make sure that we uh moved the day from Monday to Tuesday, which is the actual date of the uh primary next
061year. It's really important to note that that actually those dates fall during Eid al al Eid al al-Adha. Sorry. I practiced it before I came to make sure I didn't stumble, and I apologize that I just did, um, to make sure that I could get that down, uh, and make and anyway. Um, just uh wanted to acknowledge that um that is a 3-day holiday, and so by moving uh the the day by 1 day, we still fall during um the Eid window. And so, uh we consulted with a community representative who's been very helpful with us on our calendar, and um uh making sure that that is ac- that is accurate. By making this change, we aren't um disrupting the Eid holiday, and so pleased to say that um this is how the um the
062calendar will fall for next year. We'll have primary election day, and we'll um still have a day during uh the Eid celebration in in May. Any other comments or questions, comments, questions? All right, seeing none, Ms. Mosley will you please take a roll call then. Dr. Corbett Aye. Mr. Dibble Aye. Mrs. Dolle Aye. Mrs. Holbert Aye. Mrs. Livingstone Aye. Mr. Miller Aye. Mrs. Witzig Aye. Mrs. Bukowski-Smith Aye. Mrs. William Aye. Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. Next we'll vote on resignations and retirements listed under personnel. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Thank you. And a second? Second. All right, and I'll go left left to right. Um, comments or questions? Yep. Nope. Oh. Yep. >> [laughter] >> I want to um publicly acknowledge um Debbie out out Elias for her commitment
063to the district and the service that she has provided to many superintendents and it's sad to see her resigning. But she is just going to be sorely missed. Um she has helped me in so many ways and she's always been open to any question anytime and and responds in a timely manner and I just I'm going to miss her. And Ms. Witzig, I know you know this, but just so we to make it clear for the public, she is retiring not resigning. That's it. I know you but yeah, others might not. All right, Ms. Mosley will you please take a roll call, then? Dr. Crawford. >> Hi. Mr. Dibble. Hi. Ms. Dolle. Hi. Ms. Holberg. >> Hi. Ms. Livingston. >> Hi. Mr. Miller. >> Hi. Ms. Witzig. Hi. Ms. Malkowski-Smith. >> Hi. Ms. Williams. Hi.
064Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. We have two items for action and policy. All items in the section are as attached or described in the agenda. As a reminder, the administrative regulations are attached for informational purposes only. Are there any items on the list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? All right, seeing none. Uh, the items for approval are policies for first reading and policies for second reading. Do I have a motion for approval? Motion for approval. >> Thank you, Dr. Crawford. >> Second. Thank you, Ms. Dolle, and any discussion? Um, I just wanted to quickly highlight that under first read, so 605.1, the tax assessment appeals, this was, um, followed up on during our Facilities and Finance Committee meeting this week. Now, for members of the community
065who want to learn more about it. Any other comments, questions? All right, seeing none. Ms. Mosley, will you please take a roll call, then? Dr. Crawford. >> Hi. Mr. Dibble. Hi. Ms. Dolle. Hi. Ms. Holberg. Hi. Ms. Livingston. Hi. Mr. Miller. Hi. Ms. Witzig. Hi. Ms. Malkowski-Smith. Hi. Ms. Williams. Hi. Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. We have four items for approval in curriculum tonight. The items in the section are as attached or described in the agenda. Are there any items on this list that anyone on the board would like to separate? Yeah, yeah, kind of running. Uh, we're That's Oh, uh, yes, okay. Sorry. All right, this is where the War Ducks got me. Uh so, we are Although this has nothing to do with War Ducks, does it? We're pulling the Panorama
066Education Agreement letter C. Um we are going to pull that for a future meeting. Um so, as such, we have three items for approval tonight. Um they are listed or attached, and is there any that anyone on the board would like to separate? All right. Uh do I have So, the seeing none, we will >> [laughter] >> We have uh approval of the Swarthmore College Commemoration Agreement, the Future Think Award letter, Demographic Study, and approval of the Flexible Instruction Day or FID program submission. Do I have a motion for approval? So moved. Thank you, Ms. With Housewright Smith, and a second. Second. Thank you, Mr. Colbert. Any discussion? Mrs. With That, turn your mic on. Could you um kind of briefly explain um what the Flexible Instruction Day is and how it affects our students
067and teachers? Certainly, I'm very happy to. So, next year's calendar has one day built in for inclement weather. This year we saw we had 3 days, and extending the school year becomes problematic on many, many levels. There's no easy answer there, right? So, there could be an argument to say let's go more days in June, um but we start running into things like, you know, we already have a trip arranged for our French students in the middle school. That's about 60 students who'll be leaving now before the school year ends uh to go on that trip. So, there's no When you start getting into rescheduling makeup days, we see how many challenges come up. And so, many districts have adopted FID or Flexible Instruction Days to be able to offer learning when students can't be
068in school. And so we do it anticipate using this in a very limited basis. Taking this year as an example, no more than two days. Wouldn't even necessarily been full days. It could have been. Uh but we need to see what the circumstances are like that would lead us to determining whether or not we would call a FID day. But if we do, we would announce it very publicly to say, you know, families, students, staff, we're going to um a form of learning at home for our youngest students. So I guess I should say overall, uh we are choosing to submit this application to the state. It has to be approved in order for us to offer a flexible instruction day. Uh and we're asking it to be um asynchronous learning as opposed to synchronous
069learning. Uh we know that I was even this year when some families were concerned about the second snow day that I called in January. Uh we're talking to me and I called them back if they reached out to me to express concerns. And I heard from families who said, "I It is really hard for me to, you know, work from home and, you know, also manage child care." And I said, "Well, if we'd had a a FID day today and there was synchronous learning and you had to get your child online." They said, "Stop right there. Uh we do not We that is not something we want to imagine for our home life if there is a snow day in the future." So what we are envisioning and what we are proposing is asynchronous learning,
070meaning that our students in grades K to 2 would have um perhaps, you know, we'd have to prepare for this. We can anticipate that it's coming. But we would send uh learning materials home with our students in grades K to 2. Grades 3 to 5 would be more technology-based, uh so that their assignments would come through the devices that we would send home with our students in grades 3 to 5. Keeping in mind that our students in grades 6 through 12 already have a device that they're able to bring home. So again, there would need to be more preparation, our you know, devoting teacher time to preparing for such a day. But I think having it as an option is just a really good idea. Also, there are just so many unknowns. Things can happen
071that could require us to shift to a a different mode of learning and I think it's just a good idea to have this application in at the ready and it's a framework. It's something we need to build out more details around but it's a beginning point and I think a way for us to approach the calendar just a little bit differently next year and perhaps put a little less pressure on having to give up professional development days or days at the end of the school year to make up the days that we might lose because of weather. And you know, I'm excited about moving forward on this and seeing where it can take us but we'll do it very thoughtfully and again, the final thing that I'll say is I just really want to push
072express appreciation to Dr. Baddock for her work on this. This is really something that she put a lot of effort behind in preparing for us for fortunately. And I think it's great because um we have never taken and or since I've been on the board taken advantage of asking the state for the um the time and so it's um a wonderful thing during your first year that you have implemented um in a positive way and brought new and in in inventive things to the district. All right. Thank you. All right. Uh Ms. Mosley, will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Crawford? Aye. Mr. Dibble? Aye. Ms. Dolle? Aye. Ms. Holbert? Aye. Ms. Livingston? Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Ms. Witzig? Ms. Okalski-Smith? Aye. Ms. Williams? Aye. Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. Uh
073in student services, we have three items for approval tonight. The items in the section are as attached or as described in the agenda. Uh is there any item that a board member would like to separate from the rest? Seeing none, uh we have educational service agreements, approval of effective school solutions agreement, and approval of CritiCare Home Help and Nursing Solutions agreement. Do I have a motion for approval? So moved. Thank you. And a second? Mrs. Whatley Smith. I second. Thank you, Mrs. Dole. Uh any discussion? All right. Seeing none, uh Ms. Mosley, will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Crawford. Hi. Mr. Dibble. Hi. Mrs. Dole. Hi. Mrs. Hulbert. Hi. Ms. Livingstone. >> Hi. Mr. Miller. Hi. Ms. Whatley Smith. Hi. Ms. Whatley Smith. >> Hi. Ms. Williams. Hi. Motion passes 9 to
0740. Thank you. Uh tonight we have 16 items for approval under finance and facilities. All items in the section are as attached or as described in the agenda. Are there any items on the list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? All right. Seeing none, uh the items for approval are bills paid to vendor March 1st through 31st, 2026, financial statements March 1st through 31st, 2026, treasurer's report March 1st through 31st, 2026, budget transfers, new student activity account, approval of food service agreement, approval of campus services group custodial services award agreement, approval of KCBA architects agreement, approval of DWD mechanical contractor Inc. award for HVAC repairs, approval of CM3 for HVAC maintenance agreement, approval of Everon agreement, approval of IM Pools Management Inc. agreement, approval of VoIP Networks eGoldFax agreement,
075approval of VoIP Networks Cloud 9 agreement, approval of Dell Technologies computer lease agreement, and the 2026-2027 proposed general budget. Do I have a motion for approval? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Miller. And a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Gibble. Um I'll go left to right with discussion. Mr. Gillette? Yeah, just just a couple things. So, um for item F, the food service agreement, um this is feels like such small potatoes right now given all we're taking on um and our contacts, but there has been mention of looking at the cost-benefit analysis of disposable versus reusable costs, and specifically around trays, and you know, my guess is this would be some kind of an increase, and now is not the time to explore something like that, perhaps, but um I'm hoping we can revisit it at
076some point. Um and then with item L, the IM Pools contract, so um there's no question we need a contract to maintain our pools. I think for me, I just want to make sure that we are um we're ensuring it includes what we need it to include. And and then that we have mechanisms in place to sort of evaluate the quality of those services, and you know, what happens if we're not pleased with those services. Um this is all in the context of we've heard mixed reviews about um the cleanliness of the pool, um including the deck and the mezzanine. So, I think I'm just sort of wanting to talk a little bit more about that. Mr. If I could just um I appreciate that um discussion around IM Pools, and it actually it actually
077intersects with the approval of the contract for campus services as our new cleaning service because the cleanliness of the deck and the mezzanine is actually responsibility of our custodial firm or custodial services. And I'm really pleased that we are moving ahead with campus services group and I have a real hopefulness for what that can mean for the entire school building at the high school or really all of our buildings but particularly the deck and the mezzanine. In addition, I know that Mr. Maloney will continue to do regular walk-throughs with representatives from IM Pools to make sure that the contract is being filled and we know that with the procurement process that we have we can look to you know a way in which we can procure these services in the future through a competitive bid
078process and this really this by approving this contract tonight that would be for this year and for next year would give us the opportunity to then go through that procurement process again you know if we deem it as a priority but I think that we would to determine what are the best sort of collection of services like you mentioned are we getting what we really need and I think that's really the beauty that our procurement process this year has really shown us is that we're able to get the services that we need at the most competitive price to deliver the quality that our students deserve. So I'm excited about what this can mean for the future by taking this step but knowing that there are additional steps to be had in the future as well.
079All right, any other comments or questions? I don't Just real congratulations to you Dr. Johnson on the campus services group contract. I know it's been very important to you since your arrival the condition of our buildings and the description of this group and your optimism for them I I think is really great. So congratulations. All right, Ms. Mosley will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Crawford Aye. Mr. Dible Aye. Mrs. Dolle Aye. Mrs. Holbert Aye. Mrs. Livingstone? Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Mrs. Witzig? Aye. Mrs. Kofsky-Smith? Aye. Mrs. Williams? >> Aye. >> Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. Uh we have three items for approval under other. All items in this section are attached or described in the agenda. Are there any items on the list that anyone from the board would like
080to separate out from the rest? Being none, the items for approval are election of Delaware County Intermediate Unit board members, Delaware County Community College trustee reappointments, and the Pennsylvania state budget resolution. Um do we have any Or do I have a motion for approval? So moved. Thank you, Mrs. Delay. A second? Second. Thank you, Mrs. Holbert. Um any uh discussion? All right. Mrs. Mosley, will you please take a roll call vote? Dr. Crawford? Aye. Mr. DeBow? Aye. Mrs. Delay? Aye. Mrs. Holbert? Aye. Mrs. Livingstone? >> Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Mrs. Witzig? Aye. Mrs. Kofsky-Smith? >> Aye. Mrs. Williams? Aye. Motion passes 9 to 0. Thank you. Uh next we have a time for comments from the audience for items that are not on the agenda. The same rules apply here as they did for comments
081on items on the agenda. We have a 3-minute time limit and we will give you a reminder with 1 minute remaining. You're also reminded that this is not the appropriate venue for discussion discussing matters that directly relate to any individual student, whether your child or not, or any concerns about an individual staff member. Is there anyone who would like to speak tonight about an item not on the agenda? Yes, please. If you would state your name and the street on which you live in and if you go to the podium. Yes, please. Thank you. All right. Good evening. Um my name is Lucy Klingensmith. I live on Strathhaven in Swarthmore. Um, and I want to preface that I understand the budget constraints, but I feel this is an important issue. Um, uh, I, like I
082said, I live on Strathhaven, um, and I am a Pennsylvania certified special educator, and I will have three children at SRS next year. Um, looking to return to the workforce after taking time off to raise my children, I was offered a job substituting here in the district. I want to serve my community, but the current compensation for our guest teachers is a crisis of priority. Right now, if I stepped into the classroom as a substitute, I would be paid $105 for the day. To be clear, WSSD is the second lowest paying district among the 79 serviced by Substitute Teacher Service, our external staffing provider. $13 an hour to be the primary instructional backup for the district's heavy expenditure on curriculum. While the pay rates vary among some of our, among districts, some of our neighbors
083pay nearly double. For example, Upper Darby pays their district substitutes $175 a day, and most Chester County schools pay their substitutes $200 a day. But perhaps the most glaring disparity is here at home. In an email sent out on April 20th, the district offered to pay its bus drivers $33 an hour. That is nearly three times the hourly rate of a substitute teacher. Furthermore, while a substitute is committed to a full day in the classroom, bus, uh, bus drivers earning that $33 an hour have the flexibility to supplement their income during the midday hours. Now, our bus drivers deserve every penny that they earn. We have had the same driver, Donna, for years. She has become a vital part of our family's mornings and afternoons. She is reliable, kind, and trusted, and a perfect example
084of how the district investment leads to long-term retention of staff who really care. But once our children are inside the building, we are telling our substitutes responsible for their education and safety in the classroom that their time is worth a fraction of that. At $105 a day, WSSD is not paying a livable wage and we are certainly not paying a professional one. When we fail to pay a fair rate, our children pay the price and I want to know that when my children have a substitute, long-term or short short-term, that they have a high-quality professional who is invested in their success, who is an educational bridge that keeps the curriculum moving. Despite being a certified teacher and a resident here, the pay gap is so significant that I'm incentivized to take my skills to another
085district. I fully support the $33 hourly rate for our bus drivers, but this district needs to close the gap for our substitute teachers to ensure we feel equally valued for our contributions in the classroom. We have a month before the budget is finalized. Let's treat our guest teacher Let's treat our guest teachers, the people standing in front of our children, with the same investment we show our drivers, an investment that matches the weight of their responsibility. I appreciate the opportunity to provide input and look forward to a formal response. And while I have the podium, I want to say Um your time just expired. Um our family will miss you dearly um and you have such a gentle presence and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you. Yes. Is there anyone else who
086would like to speak tonight? All right. Uh so, any old business then? New business? And if not, thank you. This meeting is officially adjourned.