Board Tables Calendar Discussion, Eyes Elementary Reopening
At Monday’s Wallingford-Swarthmore school board meeting, in celebration of Pennsylvania’s School Director Recognition Month, board members were presented with photographs taken by students in Kathleen Plows’ digital photography class at Strath Haven High School. The students’ assignment had been to create a “flat lay” still life composed of meaningful objects and shot from directly overhead, using natural light. Student Georgia Gianopulos wrote about her piece, “I tried to put the sense of comfort within my flat lay, making the plants surround the items like an embracing hug. I found the brightest light in my house and chose a wooden floor for a sense of home.” More “flat lays” are below.
Next year, Wallingford-Swarthmore students will likely begin school after Labor Day. This marks a change from the 2021-22 school calendar proposed to the board on January 11. At the board’s January 25 meeting, Superintendent Lisa Palmer reported that many families contacted the administration with objections to starting school a week before Labor Day.
“We listened, we heard, and we brought back a revised calendar for the board’s consideration,” Palmer said.
The revised calendar, which assumes students will be back in school buildings full time, maintains an asynchronous day on Election Day, November 2. This would be an in-service day for teachers while students learn independently at home. This drew strong objections from some board members.
At the January 11 meeting, board member Jennifer Lentz had expressed concern about setting a precedent for asynchronous instruction. At the January 25 meeting, she spoke forcefully against substituting an asynchronous day for a day of in-person instruction. She called asynchronous learning in the absence of a pandemic “not an acceptable form of education.”
Lentz also questioned the legality of an asynchronous day counting toward the 180 instructional days mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. “How do we get away with that?” she asked.
Ferg Abbot, director of human resources and operations, said he believed the substance of the education on an asynchronous day would meet the commonwealth’s requirements.
Kyle Berman, solicitor for the school district, said the education department sometimes counts remote participation as instructional time, but that he has not researched the Election Day proposal. He offered to bring more information to a future meeting.
Board members discussed giving students a day off on November 2, as in the past, and starting winter break a day later, on Friday, December 24, instead of Thursday, December 23. Board president David Grande expressed reluctance to disrupt next year’s winter holidays, when COVID-19 has made the recent season difficult for many.
Board member Marylin Huff remarked that she and others had recently heard from families who prefer a pre-Labor Day start and suggested that more discussion was needed. Whatever happens this year, she suggested that further conversation could clarify whether to begin school earlier in the future and give the community time to prepare.
The board tabled consideration of the calendar for a future meeting.
New Plan for Elementary Students?
Grande announced a special board meeting for Monday, February 1, at 7 p.m., to consider bringing elementary school students back into school buildings full time.
Several factors make this option possible, Grande said. He cited new research from Harvard University, Brown University, and other sources, showing that elementary schools have not been a major source of COVID transmission, particularly when mitigation strategies like masking and distancing are in place. New information also suggests that current 6-foot distancing requirements can safely be reduced to 3 feet for elementary students. Grande noted that the district would soon have access to a new rapid testing program for staff and possibly for some students.
Palmer said that a transition plan and possible timeline for returning students to schools will be presented at the February 1 meeting. If the board accepts the plan, students will still be able to choose to attend school virtually via the Online Academy.
Proposed Preliminary Budget
Board members got their first look at next year’s budget in a presentation by Business Administrator Martha Kew. “There are many unknowns,” Kew said, noting that her presentation marked the beginning of many months of revision as more information comes in.
Kew warned that the ongoing pandemic makes projecting both expenses and revenues extremely difficult. She noted that state and federal funds may or may not be forthcoming, and that the effects of Delaware County’s 2019 reassessment are still being calculated. The proposed preliminary budget assumes that all students will be back in school full-time next year, another condition that could change.
Of the total budget of $89 million, almost 70% goes to staff salaries and benefits, including mandated pension benefits. Kew reported that over 81% of revenues come from local taxes, with most of the rest (approximately 17%) provided by the commonwealth.
The school board will vote on the proposed preliminary budget on February 8. The final budget proposal will be presented to the board on May 10 for a vote on May 24. The final budget will come to a board vote on June 28. Adjustments are expected at every step of the process.
Testing and Athletes
The board approved the adoption of a new rapid testing program for staff and the possibility of extending it to students. Assisting Childhood Education Through Increased Testing, or ACE-IT, is intended to offer schools more information as they assess the safety of in-person instruction and extracurricular activities. The federal government provides the tests at no cost to schools. Palmer estimated that the new program will be up and running in a matter of weeks.
In an 8-1 vote, the board reversed its November 23 decision to require athletes to attend school online.
Board member Matt Sullivan suggested that circumstances have changed, noting that the policy had been implemented when COVID rates were rising steeply and a post-holiday spike was anticipated. Huff, who voted against the change, advocated maintaining the requirement until ACE-IT testing is available to student athletes, who have a higher COVID exposure risk than other students.
Vaccines and Black Lives Matter
The board unanimously approved two resolutions. The first calls on the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Department of Health to secure enough COVID-19 vaccine to immediately vaccinate all district teachers and educational staff.
The second resolution endorsed Black Lives Matter at School: A Day of Understanding and Affirmation, to be held on Friday, February 26. The purpose of the day is to “explore and confront the past, present, and future status of Black lives in our society, and to affirm that status as equal to, and not secondary to, the lives of others.”
The next board meeting will be Monday, February 1, at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held in person at the Strath Haven Middle School library, 200 S. Providence Road, Wallingford. It will also stream live on WSSD’s YouTube Channel.
