Souderton Area High School (Credit: SASD)
The board also shared a video of E.M. Crouthamel Elementary School’s new outdoor classroom and garden
The Souderton Area School Board Thursday, February 26 approved an overhaul of the district’s middle school world language curriculum.
The new curriculum will offer a 6th grade exploratory world language course, providing a general overview of world language and culture, 7th grade French and Spanish courses and 8th grade French, Spanish and Mandarin courses. The district currently only offers French and Spanish language courses to eighth grade students.
The changes are designed to give students the opportunity to explore all three languages prior to high school and align the Indian Crest and Indian Valley middle school schedules, said school officials. Implementation is planned for the 2027-2028 school year.
Meeting minutes
The board narrowly approved the minutes from the November 26 and December 18 board action meetings after Democratic board members Corinne DeGeiso, Alex Wisser, Andrew Souchet and Rosemary Buetikofer characterized the public comment notes as incomplete.
“For some people, [public comment] is a very stressful and important milestone for them,” said Souchet. “And we owe it to them to make sure a comprehensive summary of their comments are included.”
“The minutes are the official legal record of our business,” said DeGeiso. “I’m asking that they not be approved as written.”
However, other board members described the minutes as sufficient.
“[The board] did as good of a job as possible,” said board member Kim Wheeler.
Following the discussion, the minutes were approved by a vote of 5-4 along party lines.
Montgomery County Legislative Committee meeting
Buetikofer, the board’s representative to the Montgomery County Legislative Committee, reported that the committee’s last meeting was attended by state Rep. Joe Webster, who stressed a need for additional tax equity and tax adequacy funding and cyber charter funding reforms and highlighted a pending bill to ban cell phone usage in schools. Buetikofer noted that the school board representatives expressed a preference for local control over cell phone usage policies. She committed to keeping the board updated on the committee’s progress.
New elementary garden
The board shared a video of E.M. Crouthamel Elementary School’s new outdoor classroom and garden, built in partnership with the Indian Valley Education Foundation and the Almac Group, with funding from Moyer and Son. The space includes a pond, bird feeders, butterfly bushes, a sensory garden, a vegetable garden and chairs and benches.
“Through a team of hardworking people, we cleared the ground and replaced what was once overgrown into this awesome classroom which can be used and easily maintained for years to come,” said Souderton Mayor Dan Yocum, who also serves as Moyer’s marketing and communications manager.
Upcoming events
The meeting highlighted some upcoming high school events, such as a blood drive on March 3, the Men’s Symposium on March 4, the “Newsies” musical performance from March 19-22 and a Mental Health parent event on March 25. The board additionally announced that student artwork will be displayed at the Indian Valley Public Library and the high school throughout March as part of Youth Art Month.
The next Souderton Area School Board meeting is on March 26 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit soudertonsd.org
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