Credit: Souderton Area School District
Souderton Area School District parents Thursday evening reiterated their requests for increased transparency surrounding school board proceedings.
For several months, parents have been urging the school board to facilitate access to information through more detailed agendas and minutes, recordings and livestreaming of board meetings and indefinite storage of meeting recordings.
In response, the board approved a policy in February to begin recording committee meetings alongside board action meetings and to extend the video storage time from 30 days to one year. But at Thursday’s full board meeting, parents continued to characterize the changes as insufficient, repeating their aforementioned requests.
“The administration and board refuse to attach documents to agendas and minutes of the action and committee meetings,” said Alex Wisser of Upper Salford. “We are entitled to see those documents and policies that are impacting our kids and taxes.”
“There’s a lot of stuff missing on the agenda that I think the public should be able to see prior to the meeting so that they can come in and give feedback prior to it being voted on,” said John Waldenberger of Telford. “This is stuff we need to see, as taxpayers and parents who can be affected by these votes.”
“I am asking for an indefinite archive of all meeting records, not just for one year, and livestreaming of all meetings,” said Corinne DeGeiso of Upper Salford. “Please reconsider and make these changes to the policy so that more people are informed in the community.”
While the board took no immediate action on the parents’ requests, board president Ken Keith thanked them for their comments.
District events
In their report, student representatives Emelia Messina and Colin Hughes rattled off some recent school events, including the beginning of the high school girls’ flag football team season and the team’s touring of the Lincoln Financial Field, Athletic Signing Day, where prospective college athletes were recognized, and the high school’s performance of Les Misérables. They also listed some upcoming events, such as Keystone and Advanced Placement (AP) testing, the high school’s art show and spring music concerts.
In his report, Superintendent Frank Gallagher highlighted some additional happenings, including a $14,000 donation from Giant Foods in Harleysville to help families cover their school lunch bills and the beginning of PSSA testing for grades 3-8. He noted that this year’s tests are exclusively online, which has helped to bolster test security.
The board played a video about Generations in Ink, a high school creative writing project in which students conducted formal interviews with residents at the Peter Becker retirement community over two meetings to serve as inspiration for creative writing pieces.
MCIU renovations
Board member Janet Flisak reported that the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (MCIU) is renovating space in the Early Learning Center for autistic students and toddlers. She said that the renovations should be completed by next school year.
The board also hired Joshua Klimovich as the new principal of Indian Valley Middle School at a salary of $150,883, hired Jeremy Miller as the new Assistant Principal of Souderton Area High School at a salary of $139,500 and recognized the girls’ wrestling team for winning the Suburban One League and District One Championship.
The next Souderton school board meeting is on May 23 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit soudertonsd.org.
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