September Start, No Asynchronous Days for 2021-22

arthmore School District will, as usual, start after Labor Day next year. The school board approved the 2021-22 calendar at its February 8 board meeting by a vote of 7-1. Marylin Huff voted against the proposal, and Michele Downie was absent.

The first day for students will be Wednesday, September 8, two days after Labor Day and one day after the Rosh Hashana holiday. The last student day will be Friday, June 17. Election Day, November 2, will be a day off for students and an in-service day for teachers. Winter break will begin on Friday, December 24, and run through Friday, December 31.

A month earlier, at the January 11 board meeting, Director of Human Resources and Operations Ferg Abbott presented a draft calendar with an August 30 start date — a week before Labor Day — and a June 10 end date. Abbot said this departure from past practice would prevent the school year from running into the second half of June. He suggested that students learn better earlier in the year and noted that some other school districts start before Labor Day.

But emails and phone calls from district families caused administrators to reconsider, according to Superintendent Lisa Palmer. “It seems like everyone is divided in their opinion on almost every topic these days,” she said. “The calendar is certainly no exception.”

A second draft of the calendar, presented at the January 25 board meeting, used the later start and end dates. That draft also included asynchronous student learning on Election Day, November 2. Some board members and families objected to any asynchronous days appearing on the calendar after a year in which many complained that little if any learning takes place on the schools’ current asynchronous Wednesdays. The final calendar nixes the asynchronous day, pushing the start of winter break to Friday, December 24.

Huff voted against the calendar because it starts school after Labor Day. She said she understood why this might not be the year to change this tradition, but she encouraged the administration and board to start communicating to the community the advantages of an earlier start.

Preliminary Budget Passes Amid Concerns

The board unanimously adopted a preliminary budget of $89,100,693 for the 2021-22 school year.

Business administrator Martha Kew presented the proposed preliminary budget at the board’s January 25 meeting. At that meeting, Palmer had said the budget — which assumes all students will be back in school buildings full time next year — did not include funding for an Online Academy. At the February 8 meeting, noting that it was very early in the budget planning process, she amended her statement, saying, “I should have said ‘not yet.’” 

“We will have to make a provision for online learning,” Palmer said. “What I can’t tell you at this moment is what it’s going to look like.”

Kew’s presentation highlighted the district’s use of its fund balance for ordinary expenses. She compared this to an individual using a savings account to pay a routine monthly electric bill rather than saving it for a rare expense like a new roof. Even if the district raises taxes by the maximum amount allowed by law next year — 4.34% — balancing the budget will still require using $1.3 million from the fund balance, Kew said. 

She added that the current 2020-21 budget does not include extra expenses associated with COVID-19. “The fund balance has a potential to be even further diluted,” she warned.

Some COVID expenses will be reimbursed by government grants. Kew reported that the district has already received some COVID relief monies from the commonwealth, and will continue to apply for state and federal funding. But it’s uncertain how much it will receive.

Board member Kelly Wachtman noted that many school districts are having to dip into fund balances, and that many are in far worse shape than Wallingford-Swarthmore. But, she added, “This is not a good position to be in.” 

“When we think about what this is going to mean as to how we spend our money moving forward,” Wachtman said, “we are going to have some very difficult decisions.”

The next board meeting will be Monday, February 22, at 7 p.m., in the Strath Haven Middle School library, 200 S. Providence Road, Wallingford. If you prefer to watch at home, go to WSSD’s YouTube channel.