001i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right i would like to start by asking miss fegora to take the roll call mr ballas here miss amino you're dr downey dr downey michelle you're on mute dr downey i think she's having trouble with her audio because she's not muted right now why don't we continue the roll call and come back to michelle dr house here mr cutis here mrs lentz yeah mr sullivan here mrs walkman here dr grandy here mr berman here dr palmer here miss patel here dr downey i think dr downey is having trouble hearing us there we go all right yes yes we got you now nine voting members present all right
002thank you miss baguera um before we start with our student representatives report which we'll move to in just a moment um i just want to say a few quick words to kick us off this evening first i want to thank everyone in the district for all of the hard work of bringing our elementary students back full time last week i heard a lot of stories of very excited kids going back to school a lot of them i think felt like it was the first day of school it was an important milestone for our district and our students and in three weeks we'll do the same for our middle school and high school and i know those students are just as excited this is also our last board meeting before spring break i hope all of
003our district families have a wonderful break it's been a long year and i know many are starting to feel the optimism and hope of spring as the weather warms and with more and more members of our community starting to get vaccinated including our own teachers which is welcome news while we want to say goodbye to kovid i hate to say it but we can't do that quite yet i hope that our families have an opportunity to enjoy the upcoming break but i also would ask that all of you help us keep our schools safe we know coveted rates are rising again in surrounding states and other parts of the country variants are more common and can spread more easily it is too soon to abandon our safe practices so if you travel please please please
004continue all the same precautions we have been practicing all winter and consider getting a test when you return now that the weather is warming help our kids avoid covet exposures by keeping activities outdoors and of course keep on masking we've come a long way over the course of this school year and we are certainly getting closer to resuming some of our normal activities but we are not yet through this and so please do everything you can to help keep our schools safe and keep our schools open and i do hope that everyone does get a chance to have some relaxation with their families over the spring break so that takes us to our student representatives report i'll turn things over to ms patel thanks dr grandi at srs excellent adventure is a new home in
005school event and part of our srs care celebration its goal is to get students outside and moving the spring and raise funds for the boys and girls club of chester and the srs sparrow house renovation it incorporates 5k courses and scavenger hunts across all four neighborhoods that comprise this srs community srs homeman school provides the maps and scavenger lists and you can choose your own adventure srs excellent adventure takes place from april 10th and 30th and sr students should consider getting involved those who register by march 31st also score a new bandana in addition to supporting the srs community the srs homeman school also strives to offer support to our larger community and to foster opportunities for kids to do the same srs home and school as part of our dimensions and service and civics
006programming has been compiling a list of local organizations charities and service projects that can use help from the srs community including hands-on help from students the list is now on the home and school website so that families looking to volunteer on their own can also draw from the list also there are still ongoing supply collections for the foundry church in wallingford as well as the boys and girls club of chester these are some easy ways to give back this spring at mpe students and staff were excited for their return to full in-person instruction last week principal heinle reports that there was an atmosphere filled with smiles and excitement in the hallways as all of the students returned together last thursday students and cohorts a and b had the opportunity to see all of their classmates
007in person for the first time this school year making the day extra exciting the npe staff is busily preparing for the upcoming parent teacher conferences which will be held later this week all conferences will be conducted virtually and if a family still needs to sign up they can reach out to their child's teacher to arrange a time for a conference students and staff at west were also thrilled about their new return to school and the school welcomed back over 400 students to in-person learning on march 18th principal savage thanks the pbis team who prepared lessons on how to be safe respectfully and responsible using our new safety protocols and procedures moreover principal savage reports that breaks and snack and lunch periods are all running smoothly thanks to the hard work of the students and staff
008at west he also gives a special shout out to west families for their patients at the car line over the first few days of school so far so good finally west will also be having care and teacher conferences for all elementary students on thursday and friday this week please reach out to your child's teacher to sign up for a time slot while students at chatham are excited to finish up this last week of school before spring break they also can't wait for the upcoming events planned by different organizations at our school students are expected to return to school in the new model on april 12th but before that the student council at haven is hosting a safe socially distanced movie night for all four grade levels tentative dates are april 9th 10th and 11th and
009students can use their grade level google classrooms to access the form and indicate their interest in attending plans are subject to change in the interest of safety but this event will be a fun way for students to connect before the start of the fourth quarter also haven will be having another coffee house on april 21st at 1pm students are free to perform music dance drums and poetry and they can or they can just watch and enjoy their peers and teachers performances thank you that's it thank you miss patel so next up we have the superintendent's report dr palmer thank you dr grandi and i have a number of items to report on this evening the first the dciu held the first delaware county student forum on march 18th this is part of the work that
010the dciu has engaged in with school districts when the delco equity coalition was launched this year dr mundy who is spearheading the initiative from the iu stated that the delco equity coalition grew from conversations happening in school districts on diversity equity and inclusion the student forum evolved from the desire and need identified by all educators and administrators for student voice and agency on these topics the student forum is geared for students in grades 10 and 11 to ensure continuity through the upcoming years angelique robinson leary and issa takone were the wallingford swarthmore student representatives to the student forum and dr ashwina mosakowski has been attending the delco equity coalition since its inception dr mosakowski helped with the planning of the student forum that was held on march 18th first on the agenda was a message
011from the superintendents of delaware county school districts i and my colleague superintendents welcomed all participants to the forum explained what equity meant to us personally why equity is important and how it is envisioned in the wallingford swarthmore school district there were two breakout sessions moderated by the dciu and school district staff where students had the opportunity to interact with students from other school districts in the first breakout session students interviewed each other and when all participants were back together they introduced each other in the second breakout session students brainstormed words they associate with equity and they found an image that expresses their understanding of equity they also came up with a hashtag name that represents the goal for equity work in their schools the next student forum will be held on april staying with the
012theme of diversity equity and inclusion i'd like to highlight the wssd dei student design contest wssd students in grades k to 12 are invited to participate in a contest to create a logo and or a catch phrase to help promote diversity equity and inclusion in our schools and our community the dei action committee is excited to have student representatives on our committee and is looking for more ways to involve student voices we would love to hear from our talented artists writers designers and visionaries the winning creations will be used district-wide to help promote the values mission and goals of the dei committee and wssd they will be featured on the district website and in other ways and the winners of each category will receive a prize so students can submit one or both of the
013following a logo which is a design drawing or an image that can inspire our community and will be recognizable as a symbol of dei in our district and the community or a catchphrase which is a tagline a sentence or phrase that can complement the logo you can go to our website on the dei webpage for more information and learn how you can submit your entry please note that our deadline has now been extended to friday april 9th and everyone who has already submitted their entry thank you very much on a different topic i'd like to update our community regarding litigation brought against the school district by one of our neighbors on april 14th a hearing on the permanent injunction sought by that couple's name couples lane neighbor related to the school district's use of the
014king field athletic complex will start although we have tried for years to accommodate this neighbor the neighbor continues to press claims that our athletic and band activities violate pennsylvania law related to trespass and nuisance and local ordinances we continue to believe our curricular and extracurricular programming at king field remains in full compliance with all state and local law as it has for pat for the past almost 40 years in short this neighbor seeks to end or severely limit our lighted spectator events including football and marching band on friday evenings as well as other evening sports and band activities as well as non-school organizations use of the field we were previously prepared to go forward on this matter a year ago and were literally sitting in the courtroom to do so as our neighbor moved for
015a continuance we remain prepared to defend in court our uses of our field and will be doing so starting on april 14th we anticipate that our presentation will include our athletic director pat clancy our assistant band director henry proberg nether providence police chief dave splain and may on friday night our friday night marching band and football at king field as well as other community uses of their field remains a key feature of the fabric of our local community and we will vigorously and appropriately work to ensure it continues and finally next week march 29th to april 2nd will be spring break and i mention this to you for two reasons first to remind you that there will be no school although i anticipate that your children will remind you that there will be no school
016and secondly we ask you to remain covered vigilant as you may be gathering with your extended family or traveling during the break coveted 19 is far from over and we cannot let our guard down as dr grandi said we ask you to wear a mask practice good hygiene avoid crowds and physically distance to the greatest extent possible your health and when your children return to school our health all depends on it dr granty that concludes my report thank you dr palmer um so that takes me to uh board announcements um i have two announcements um the first um as we've been doing at the meetings i just want to provide a quick update on the superintendent search process this will be a slightly longer update but just a quick summary of where we've been and
017where we anticipate to be going for the past four months the board has been fully engaged in the search process for the district's next superintendent this comprehensive process has led us to an anticipated appointment of our new leader at the april 12th school board meeting the process components for input along the way have included surveys of parents employees and community members including community members without children in our schools with about 2800 response responses from various individuals two community forums one staff forum and more than three dozen one-on-one interviews by our search consultant with administrators board members and district leaders the search and interview process included a period of heavy recruitment and outreach screening of more than 30 formal applicants first round interviews with 12 candidates second round interviews and writing samples with five candidates and
018third round interviews and presentations with three finalists the topics for all three rounds of interview questions writing samples and presentations were drawn directly drawn directly from the input provided by faculty parents administrators support staff and community members and while there were many hopes and expectations shared with the board via surveys forums and interviews the most prevalent and pressing themes were and these aren't in any particular order in terms of what people were emphasizing wanting an educator and someone who understands the art and science of teaching and learning a systems thinker who can maximize talents and resources of our k-12 community and create a shared vision an excellent communicator transparent leader student-centered leader who builds solid relationships with staff leader committed to the district's work on diversity equity and inclusion a builder of trust and confidence
019in the district a leader who will embrace the wallingford swarthmore family and take joy from being in the classrooms and schools a leader who will look forward to build capacity for all through learning innovation and planning all nine board members have been fully engaged throughout this journey we had a deep and robust pool of applicants and a set of finalists who brought great talent and experience to the table as i mentioned we're in the last stage of the process and look forward to a public announcement at our april 12 board meeting and a start date as i've mentioned for the new superintendent on july 1st i am going to ask miss fagor to just afterwards i'll just provide you a copy of some of these comments so that we can enter them into the minutes
020i do have a slightly longer attachment with some of the report that was prepared by the search consultant with a more thorough outlining of the input from from all the surveys and we'll just include that with the minutes from this meeting so people can have access to that my second announcement is that the board met an executive session prior to this meeting to discuss personnel negotiations and also on march 18th to discuss issues related to administrator compensation um so that takes us to our time on the agenda for our focus topic which we have won tonight and i'll ask dr palmer to introduce the topic and our speaker thank you dr grandy this evening dr grandy mentioned that we have had our elementary students come back to school and we are actively planning for our
021high school and our middle school students to come back on april 12th but during the same time we're already looking ahead toward the summer and the next school year this evening dr ashwina mozakowski will be presenting what we're considering for our elementary students for our summer program that we've not offered before the summer program would be our community of explorers and she is now at the podium and i'm going to let her take it away good evening um we were brainstorming in the curriculum office about what we can offer to our students having difficulty hearing you [Music] now okay okay so good evening uh we were brainstorming in the curriculum office about ways that we can help our younger learners because we know this has been a very atypical year for all of our learners
022across board and we are very proud and impressed of how everybody has rose up to the challenge and have you know done the best that they can but we also recognize that our especially our younger learners need some additional practice especially with the essential skills that you know they've been doing this year and just some review and maintaining of those skills so we are going to offer what we're going to be calling the community of explorers and this this is some of the information from the program we are offering two sessions that are in person monday through thursday from july 12th to the 23rd and this is offered to students grades k through four which means rising grades um those that are entering those grades students have a choice to attend one or both sessions
023ela will be from 8 30 to 11 30 in the morning and math will be from 12 30 to 3 30 pm students who decide to attend full day will be provided lunch at no cost and transportation is also included in the program including those students that want to leave midday so that transportation will be available there too we are choosing to hold this session this this program at west because they have a playground and we figured you know with lunch we can also offer recess the details of the program is really like as i said we really want to make sure that they are reviewing and practicing those essential skills those foundational skills that they need for this year that they've been taught this year but that we really need to reinforce we also
024want students to have fun because this show has really been a challenging year and to have some social interactions in a safe environment and we also want to stay focused on the curriculum registration information the flyers will be available to parents on parent teacher conference days the link will be embedded in the flyer as well as a qr code that parents can scan and they can register there principles will include the flyer in the e-blast and the information will be posted on the website registration will be from march 29th to may 12 and there will be a parent information session on july 8th so this in a nut this is the program that we have created two weeks two sessions ela and math thank you questions from board members oh did you go for it
025dr muscat thank you so much for for presenting this tonight um uh one question that comes to mind right away um in terms of who's teaching it will be our own teachers who are uh are staffing this this year yes we are posting for teachers and we are posting for a director for the program and uh ferg has told me that i we can also posting for aids so i'm hoping because of the lunches and arrival and dismissal and bus so we are hoping to have aids teachers and a director for the program and is it uh available in person only um at this time yes it is available in person we really want the face-to-face time for the students we we will maintain all the safety protocols but we really want students to be
026in person thank you so the uh when you say grades k to four you mean current grades k to four yes not rising into yes okay right other questions jen hi so for parents that are hearing about this new program and they're not sure if their child is a child that should be attending a program like this um what do you recommend they do to find out if this would be a good fit for their child they could contact me or they can contact the principal but really this is open to all students okay all students right no i understand that it's open to everyone but for the parents that are kind of hearing this and assessing well should i do this i'm not sure i didn't think i should but now that it's being
027offered perhaps i should do this i'm wondering how i guess talking to their teachers as well would help them to make those decisions because i know the flyer is available at the conferences at the conferences the players will be available teachers are aware of the program principles are where the program and teachers will be able to explain the program and i will provide additional information to the teachers to explain the program okay all right thanks matt i didn't see anything on this uh about the cost what what is the cost of students we got lucky there is no cost this year for students and and what's the cost to the district the teachers dr palmer will be able to answer that better than me and have you worked out what the cost would be to
028the district uh just the teacher salary and the transportation i've spoken to the transportation department but you don't have that with you this evening okay in terms of formal proposal for this mr sullivan we anticipate bringing this back at the april meeting so the board could see exactly what's involved with us great others okay thank you all right um that takes us to our first audience recognition time on for response to items for action on the agenda and as a reminder public comment is a time for district residents and taxpayers to speak to the board about an issue that is before the board or may come before the board it is a time for us to listen and hear perspectives and experiences from our community while we can't answer questions at the meeting there's always
029an opportunity to follow up after meetings if there's a specific question for the district we continue to have two methods to comment in person and by phone for members of the public wishing to address in person we have space in the room as well as overflow overflow space if needed and when it's time to speak we'll ask audience members to be guided up to the podium and everyone must wear a mask at all times members of the public wishing to address the board can also call 610-892-3470 extension 1102 to leave a recorded comment for the board subject to a three-minute time limit any comments left prior to five o'clock on the day of our meetings are transcribed and made available to the board anything left after five o'clock prior to the end of the meeting
030will still be transcribed distributed to the board and made a part of the record but not acknowledged during the meeting and as indicated on the agenda we've allocated up to 1 hour and 15 minutes during this portion of the meeting for topics on the agenda and later on during the meeting a half hour during the portion set aside for topics not on the agenda just in the interest of maintaining an orderly and efficient meeting and we'll allow three minutes per comment um in the interest of always giving as many people as possible the chance to be heard and we'll alternate between in person and phoned in comments um is there any i don't think we have any funding comments for anything on the agenda correct just for an item is there anyone who has a
031comment they would like to make for an item on the agenda so if you could just go through that door and you can walk up that hallway there so that would come later yeah hello good evening good evening um just state your name uh for everyone watching as well as your street uh my name is henry stockman uh south chester road okay the podium is yours uh i'm here to ask you to please delay voting on adopting the new schedule until more data can be made available on it um i am not aware that there's publicly available survey data on whether students and staff and parents prefer the current hybrid model or the proposed in-person model i understand that there was a survey conducted earlier for people to determine whether they wanted to stay on
032the online model or go in person but that was not directly comparing the current hybrid model with the proposed in-person model uh i have attempted to try to create a survey for all the students to participate in but there has not been enough time for me to complete that survey when i do complete that survey i will share the results with you guys um i think it's important that all invested parties be given the opportunity to speak on the matter of which schedule we are to adopt i'm asking that you guys also please conduct the survey for the parents and the students and the teachers and the administrators and that you grant the teachers and students anonymity so that they may speak freely without fear of repercussions and then after that survey if you can
033make uh the results of that survey publicly available so that everyone can see the feedback that was done for it or sorry the feedback that was done on the in person schedule um then i think you know you guys who can look at that survey and then do what you think is best i think it is because the students and the teachers are the ones in the classroom i think it's really important that they are given a voice and they are allowed to say directly between these two the hybrid model which they're currently in and the model that we're going to which one they prefer um and that because because the earlier survey that was done was sort of phrased in such a way that people thought if they said they were going to pick
034online they would be forced to commit to that decision i think it may have potentially inflated the numbers of in-person people who now are reconsidering whether they're actually going to go in person i know many people who i have talked to already do not want to return to the in-person school and they are currently in the hybrid model and they will leave i understand that as anecdotal and then please conduct a survey to figure out whether that is just a few outliers or whether that is a general uh trend if that is a trend i think it would be preferable to stay in the current hybrid model where you have as many students as possible in the classrooms learning in the way that they are most comfortable with at this time thank you very much
035for keeping an open mind on this and please please get more data before you go forward with the decision because if it's wrong it'll be very costly to all of us thank you very much great thank you and just a quick thing just to let you know so we don't actually have um anything on the agenda this evening no no no i wasn't that's not what i was saying i just checked clarify the board has um taken action already and the the administration is implementing currently um so it's certainly and we can i appreciate your your comments to the board for for sure um but another option available if you have concerns is to also um contact the high school administration directly um but but we'll certainly take into consideration your comments thank you very
036much thank you was there an is there someone else in the hallway or was there anyone else for an item on the agenda well i'm also speaking uh regarding the correct the it's up to you you're welcome you're certainly welcome to speak to the board this evening if you don't mind just holding it um for right now just because we're not actually voting on on that this evening great thank you is there anyone else involved okay all right so um that takes us to our first item for action which is the approval of the march 8th regular business meeting minutes and i so moved do we have a second second thank you kelly any discussion okay mr gore can you please take a roll call vote mr ballas miss amino i dr downey i dr
037huff aye mr cutis aye mrs lentz aye mr sullivan aye mrs walkman aye dr grandy aye the motion passes nine to zero all right thank you miss figura um so that takes us to personnel uh we have nine items for action are there any on the list anyone would like to separate from the rest okay uh first we have the approval of three retirements uh anna marie finley special education teacher at npe laura dubrow home and school visitor and social worker and norma long executive administrative assistant at west we have the approval of three resignations marquisho substitute bus driver marvel lopez substitute bus driver and vincent shakura building substitute teacher at west we have the approval of one appointment cura brown spanish teacher at the middle school with the approval of five leaves of absence
038as listed in the agenda we have the approval of one change of salary status as listed in the agenda with the approval of an addition to the 2020 2021 activity supplemental appointment list as stipulated with the approval of one change of assignment for the 2021-2022 school year as noted in the agenda we have the approval of additions to the 2020-2021 spring athletic supplementals as stipulated and we have the approval of one conference request for the 2021-2022 conference request list as stipulated and all items in this section are as attached or described in the agenda do i have a motion thank you jerry we have a second second thanks larry any discussion okay mr gore can you take a roll call vote miss mino aye dr downey aye dr huff aye mr cutis aye mrs lentz
039aye mr sullivan aye mrs walkman hi mr ballas dr grandy aye motion passes nine to zero all right that takes us to curriculum we have six items for action in curriculum are there anyone any items anyone would like to separate okay first we have approval of the 2020 2021 related services provider contracts as stipulated with the approval of an educational services agreement as listed in the agenda under item b similarly for item c and similarly for item d we have approval of the revised 2021-2022 school year calendar which makes only one change which is movement of the observed july 4th holiday from july 1st to july 5th to be consistent with the federal holiday observed schedule and with the approval of a professional services agreement with effective school solutions to provide specialized clinical therapeutic services
040for the period july 1 2021 to june 30th 2022 and the amounts listed in the agenda these items are as attached or described in the agenda do i have a motion so moved thank you kelly do we have a second second thanks jerry any discussion okay mr gore can you take a roll call though dr downey i dr huff hi mr cutis aye mrs lentz aye mr sullivan aye mrs walkman aye mr balas aye ms amino aye dr grandy hi the curriculum items pass nine to zero thank you miss magura so that takes us on to finance we have 11 items for approval and finance are there any on the list anyone would like to separate from the rest okay we have approval of payment of invoices to vendors from february 17th 2021 to march
04116 2021. we have acknowledgment of the receipt of financial statements as outlined in the agenda for february 2021. we have approval of the treasurer's report for february 2021 with approval of the 2020 2021 budget transfers as stipulated approval of the dciu general operating budget for the 2021-2022 school year as stipulated with approval of the delaware county technical schools budget resolution for the 2021-2022 school year as stipulated the approval of the dciu special education funding and service agreement for the 2021-2022 school year is stipulated have approval of the interim agreement with the pennsylvania association of school business officials at the rate of seventy five dollars per hour not to exceed forty thousand dollars to provide support to the business office due to a family medical leave we have approval of the e plus quote for the
042purchase of the wireless access points contingent on receipt of e-rate funding and inclusion in the 2021-2022 district budget as stipulated if approval of the rico usa lease proposal is stipulated and we have authorization for the board president to execute a letter of support for the delaware county community college redevelopment assistance capital program all items in the section are as attached or described in the agenda do i have a motion thank you larry all right do i have a second second any discussion okay mr gore can you take a roll call vote dr huff aye mr cutis hi mrs lentz aye mr sullivan aye mrs walkman hi mr ballas miss amino hi dr downey hi dr grandy hi the finance items pass nine to zero thank you mr goran so that does take us now to
043the time for audience recognition for response to topics not on the agenda um so i won't reread the long description since it wasn't that long ago um but i know there's at least a couple in the audience that want to comment and then in between those comments we'll mix in one called in comment that we have all right good evening so just uh name and street and then uh podium is yours uh joan o'brien christian lane in wallingford thank you for the your time this evening let me begin by saying that i do appreciate the time the effort and the expense that goes into bringing our kids back to school for in-person learning i work in a school a school that has been in person full-time five days since september 8th and i know first-hand
044the challenges that are involved although my school population is small compared to the high school we have multiple classrooms with 20 plus students we've had to deal with the same difficulties and complications that the district has in bringing the kids into the building and keeping everyone safe it is working we are making it work i have been very vocal over the school year about multiple aspects of the former and current hybrid schedule for the high school and like many i was thrilled to hear two weeks ago about plans to open the high school to full in person on april 12th however after seeing the schedule that was released on thursday i could barely contain my disappointment and frustration i have two major objections with the proposed schedule the first being lunch i don't understand how
045the district cannot figure out how to offer lunch to our high school students i think if you do the research most districts in our area are offering their students an in-person schedule that includes lunch and many of these districts have more students than we do why can't the students be spaced out in the cafeteria the auditorium the library and the gym the weather is improving spring is here can the kids eat outside is that an option for them i believe it is mr king's intention to utilize the gym for the middle school lunches i think he mentioned this in the last board meeting a few weeks ago can the district implement four lunch periods instead of the three that they've had in previous years can the students eat in their classrooms during either second or
046third block by not offering lunch we are denying our students the social interaction that would take place during lunch interaction that many of these kids have been lacking for months one of my second my second issue uh and had has been an issue since the beginning of the school year is the asynchronous wednesdays throughout this year i have been especially critical of asynchronous wednesday it's disheartening that the district is not more concerned about the loss of instruction with the hybrid schedule now that we're bringing the students back into the building full time you are continuing to reduce their academic instruction hours by delaying the school day start and reducing the block time to 65 minutes the new plan also still includes a half day of asynchronous on wednesdays devoted to clubs and meetings i've struggled
047with this decision since the beginning of the school year clubs should be after school activities they should not replace two full blocks of instruction every wednesday so then why when teachers still have this half day of asynchronous learning on wednesdays and the new schedule that was proposed last week why they need meeting and planning for an hour and a half every morning the kids don't start school until 9 15 with this schedule that's being proposed i'm not really sure why we need all this meeting and planning time in the morning certainly by this stage in the school year the teachers should be familiar with the schedules i know that this was a huge a huge uh action to start school in the midst of a pandemic but by now i feel like the schedule should
048be set teachers should know what to do finally i'm baffled by the fact that the district is choosing now in the middle of the school year when our children have lost countless hours of instruction to implement the delayed start because of the findings of a sleep study conducted i'm not even two years ago i can't remember exactly when i don't think this is the time to do it i think the kids need to be back in school for a full day it seems to me that from the beginning of this school year the district has not always put the needs of our high school students first when implementing the hybrid schedules i ask that you reconsider this proposed return to in-person model and give these kids you have the opportunity to give these kids some
049semblance of normalcy for the remainder of the school year you can bring these students back for a real full day and please try and figure out lunch for them thank you for your consideration have a good evening thank you kelly do you want to go ahead and read the called in comment while we wait for our next speaker um this is from eve buckley um south chester road in swarthmore i have three children in the district two in the high school i have two concerns about the proposed high school return to school plan which was announced recently one is i'm curious whether the board has any idea how families feel now that we have an actual plan in front of us how many how how families feel about this arrangement versus the current hybrid model
050i have to say for my family the hybrid model has worked quite well we were willing to go in we were willing to go in fully in person but the plan that involves five hours or something like that without a normal lunch break is pretty unappealing so it would be very useful to have a clear comparison between these two actual plans now that there's more detail and to see what the community feels about that secondly i just want to note a lot of high school students have various nutritional issues that are part of their health i certainly have one for whom you know trying to get this child to regularly eat three meals is a very important part of their health regimen so going into a schedule that's not really allowing for any normal sort
051of lunch schedule jeopardizes a lot of progress that we've been trying to make i don't think that's unusual for teenagers so i hope the board will take that into consideration we're also concerned about the teachers not having a reasonable lunch break but for a lot of students it's just not particularly healthy thank you for your consideration thank you uh do we have another speaker hi good evening uh if you could just state your name in your street hi i'm olivia fox i'm a senior at the high school i live on yale avenue in swathmore um i just wanted to share with you guys real quickly my experience with online school as of now i am in the marching band symphonic band and i play lacrosse and frisbee at the high school there's a lot of
052other students who participate in fifth block activities and who have sports after school specifically track as of now if your student is enrolled in some sort of fifth block activity and does track they will have no time to get a good meal in yes this 10-minute wellness break will be time for a snack but is it not it's not enough time for them to get an entire meal and eating before track maybe during fifth block is still not a valuable option if they have to play an instrument or singing the choir the last thing i wanted to bring up is the students mental health there is no way our students are prepared to sit through all four blocks with simply a 10-minute wellness break as of now my lunch breaks are not just lunch breaks
053i have time to meet with my teachers if they're busy during fifth block i also have time to work on homework please reconsider this decision thank you thank you we have any other speakers okay um so thank you to those who came out to speak tonight we certainly heard what you have to say and may take that up in the future but i would also encourage individuals to reach out to the high school administration as well if you have concerns um so that takes us to school board reports as our next item on the agenda does anyone have a report from a district subcommittee or out of district role yes i have a report for the uh subcommittee okay thanks jerry uh this uh last week we had a meeting with the big idea leadership
054group this was our third meeting with the group uh we've met regularly with them since they are pursuing some of the same goals and objectives that we are and are working together to help one another move things forward discuss a number of topics we discussed uh a uh zoom incident that occurred a couple of weeks ago and they voiced the desire for greater transparency more details and prompter and broader communications of these type of incidents and hate incidents in general and we had a very good discussion on it i think they had some very good perspectives we had some uh information regarding our legal responsibilities uh and i think both of us came out with uh some better understanding and certainly uh will consider their thoughts and as we move forward we talked about the
055uh where we are with the equity audit and what our next steps will be uh we discussed uh black live matters at school day and we're pleased that it took place but there's a general desire for feedback more to understand what went well what did not go well and how can we learn from it and do it better they provided some feedback from some students and the administration will pursue feedback from teachers to get that information so can we better prepare for next year we had a discussion about an idea of having a workshop in elementary schools on the topic of how to talk to kids about race and uh both groups felt that was a worthwhile endeavor the big idea group expressed in a desire to co-sponsor such a workshop and we will work
056with the di action committee which we are meeting with on wednesday of this week about how we might move this forward that's it thank you great thank you for that update uh any other reports on district subcommittees or out of district rules okay i'll just mention um psba had organized today virtual advocacy day uh and so uh there was some meetings set up um with representatives and state senators from the area so i was able to participate in a discussion with the state senators today representing delaware county and had some some useful conversations about some of the challenges facing uh public schools but that's all i have anyone else okay do we have any old business i have a question sure so it is really exciting that many of the elementary students have returned to
057the buildings this week and i wanted to ask the administration if the numbers of students that we expected to remain in the online academy if that if that number stayed the same or if it changed one way or the other and approximately what fraction of the elementary students are in the online academy dr huff i don't have the specific numbers with me but what was presented initially at our focus topic we are pretty close to what we have there was some fluctuation both ways and a few more children were added but for the most part they are what you saw and one way to express what the numbers are is we do have four elementary schools and i believe our largest elementary school is still the online academy but i don't know the specific numbers
058off the top of my head so it's so it's at least more than 25 percent of the elementary students are participating online thank you very much all right any other old business any new business all right