With several members absent, a light agenda, and no comments from members of the public, the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board breezed through its regular meeting in less than 20 minutes on Monday, April 22.
The board approved several contracts and agreements, significantly a contract with Dell Financial Services which will fund the leasing of notebook computers for the coming school year. These will be deployed in Strath Haven High School in the next phase of the district’s Chromebook initiative, which began in fall 2018 with the distribution of Dell Chromebooks to all 9th graders. The new phase will provide a notebook to each SHHS student for educational use in 2019-20. The administration contemplates distribution of the devices to all middle schoolers in future years.
A propos of last week’s tornado warning, Dr. Robert Reiger asked Superintendent Dr. Lisa Palmer to review and comment of the WSSD emergency policy concerning such heavy weather. At the Monday meeting, the superintendent discussed the policy as specified in the staff handbook.
If the weather forecast calls for tornadoes or severe thunderstorms, Dr. Palmer said, “The first step would be the watch. We are constantly watching the National Weather Service. If it is at the ‘watch’ stage, we bring everyone in [to the building], close all the windows, and review where are the safe areas in the buildings …. Interior hallways or rooms away from exterior walls and windows, and away from large rooms with long-spanned ceilings.” At the “warning” stage, Dr. Palmer said, “We move students and staff from their rooms to those safe areas. Teachers bring class lists and take attendance, and [students and staff] remain in place until we get the all-clear, which is announced by an administrator in the building.”
