Four depart school board
Four members of the Daniel Boone Area School Board who did not see re-election ended their tenure on the board.
Members Carol Beitz, Region 2; Rich Martino, Region 1; and Scott Potts and Tamara Twardowski, both of Region 3, were thanked at the Nov. 20 meeting for their years of service to the Daniel Boone Area School District and their constituents.
Region 1 is Amity Township, Region 2 is in Union and the eastern side of Amity Township, and Region 3 is the Borough of Birdsboro.
Four new board members who represent those regions will be welcomed and administered the oath of office at the board’s annual reorganization meeting on Dec. 4.
Martino read some “parting
remarks” at the end of the Nov. 20 board meeting.
“I never intended to run for the school board, but with no other[Daniel Boone] Taxpayer Activists stepping up as a candidate, I felt I had no other choice.”
“My first two years were very gratifying; being instrumental in establishing At-Risk Kindergarten, and increasing the number of AP (Advanced Placement) courses, while, at the same time, not raising school property taxes.”
“The last two years, sadly, seemed to be a return to signing labor contracts we couldn’t afford, and spending money we didn’t have, then raising taxes to cover the resulting deficit.”
The board approved in June the district’s 2017-18 budget with a half-mill tax increase.
Effective July 1, taxes increased from 29.70 to 30.2 mills.
Property owners now pay $3,020 on every $100,000 of assessed value.
Prior to approving the tax increase, board members said the five-year budget numbers indicated a $2.4 million budget deficit in 2018-19.
A majority of board members said that deficit would be prevented with $1 million new revenue from a tax increase in 2017-18.
“[A remaining] $1.4 million deficit -- we can’t cut enough staff to reduce that,” said one board members at the June 5 Finance Committee meeting, referring to the projected $2.4 million deficit in the 201819 budget.
Martino reflected Monday night that although he supported the two classes of full-day, at-risk kindergarten -- and recognizes the benefits of full-day kindergarten for all students -he could not previously approve a tax increase in order to reinstate the $450,000 full day kindergarten program.
He said after the meeting that he fears the new board will reinstate the program and raise taxes in an effort to ultimately increase the district’s School Performance Profile (SPP).
The district’s five school buildings all received “failing” grades on the SPF, recently released from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Daniel Boone schools were five of 42 schools in the county’s 92 schools that didn‘t reach the benchmark passing score of 70 percent.
After Board Vice President Jeff Scott asked on Nov. 13 if the board was going to “discuss the problem” of why all of the district’s school buildings are now “failing,” Chief Academic Officer Michelle Cinciripino said the causes would become evident.
She said the district was at a fork in the road and administration is developing long range, intermediate and immediate academic plans to provide future student success.
Long range plans include full day kindergarten, continuing the partnership with the BCIU for the Pre-K Counts program, and examining curriculum writing.
Intermediate plans include all high school students taking the PSAT, constructive feedback following twice monthly classroom walk-throughs, monthly teaching and learning meetings, addressing teacher attendance, and writing “sound” IEPs.
Immediate solutions include retesting at the High School, ensuring priority of instruction time, verifying academic standards during walk-thrus, and progress monitoring for kindergarten through fifth grade.
The At-Risk Kindergarten teachers Johanna Latimer and Kimberly Murgitroyde presented to the board their students’ academic progression and other benefits received, such as improved socialization skills.
“I implore the district to reinstate full day kindergarten for all students,” said Lori Hoag, Douglassville, who had a child in full day kindergarten and two in the half-day program.
“The biggest thing is social skills, as well as critical thinking and writing skills.”
“[without the full day program they were] frustrated, quickly overwhelmed, and they need that time in all day kindergarten to develop skills to get them through twelve years [of school],” said Hoag, adding, “start at the bottom and bring back full day kindergarten.”