Board vows to be as transparent as possible
A long-awaited report into an April assault at Pennbrook Middle School is being finalized and school board members were to receive the findings in an executive session Thursday, district officials said at a recent meeting.
“We are going to see the report for the first time, in an executive session, on Thursday, October 3rd,” said Superintendent Todd Bauer.
Parents have grilled the school board and administrators over safety and security since April 18, the day after an alleged attack by one student on another at Pennbrook Middle School that left the victim hospitalized.
The next night, students and parents grilled the board on what they saw as failures of the district’s security efforts, and asked for immediate steps to increase school safety. In subsequent meetings, the district and board vowed to take steps including hiring an outside investigator to examine the incident, the district’s response, and any shortfalls or recommendations for further action.
In the school board safe schools committee meeting on Sept. 30, Bauer gave an update.
"As has been well-documented, following some incidents in the spring at one of our middle schools, we employed the services of an educational law firm to do an investigation of, not just the incident itself, but also our referral procedures, and documentation, and just a thorough audit of the situation," Bauer said.
"That process took several months. It was extremely thorough, and there was some hangup due to some legal things that were going on in the court system, waiting to speak to certain people," he said.
North Penn administrator Neil Broxterman, then-Northbridge school Principal and since reassigned to be Interim Director of Secondary Special Education, speaks during a school safety forum on May 14, 2024.His interview took part in mid-September, Bauer told the committee, and the original timeline called for the report to be done around the end of August, but was subsequently delayed, yielding a new timeline for the board to hear the findings this week.
"I would fully anticipate that there are aspects of that report that would be protected information," such as information regarding minor students, "so we'll have to unpack the report itself, see what the findings are, and then report back out, but certainly there are going to be some nuances to it, of what can and can't be shared," Bauer said.
Committee chairman Jonathan Kassa said he thought the full school board would seek to be as transparent as possible.
"Working with legal counsel and administration, it's the board's intention to share as much as possible that's relevant for the community to understand lessons learned, and how we continue to move forward," he said.
North Penn's school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8 and the safe schools committee next meets at 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 28; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
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