ETSD School Board News
August 4, 2021
On Tuesday, August 3rd, the ETSD School Board held a Special Voting Meeting at 6:00pm to approve several personnel items including resignations, appointments, and leaves of absence. The Board also voted to approve a contract to conduct an audit of energy savings to be realized from facilities upgrades.
Following the short voting meeting, the Board held its regular Committee of the Whole Meeting. This is the workshop meeting of the Board where all of the Board Committees can discuss items that are purely informational or that may be moved along for a Board vote at the next voting meeting. The next voting meeting will be held on August 17th at 7pm.
The meeting began with a presentation given by Pamela Shupp-Menet, the Director for Economic Development for Berks County about Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) programs. LERTAs are designed to encourage business investment and growth by providing tax incentives to businesses over a multi-year period on improvements and construction projects. The Board decided to move this item forward to the voting meeting where the Board will determine if they will or will not have a LERTA program and if they will, under what conditions.
Next, the Education Committee presented the 2021/2022 changes to student handbooks. Board member, Dr. David Hemberger along with Pupil Services Director, Mrs. Dawn Harris acknowledged that the handbooks will need to be revised further throughout the year to ensure that the handbooks align with policy. In the event that there is discrepant information, the Board Policy overrides anything in the handbook.
The Athletics Committee asked the Board to approve the establishment of a High School Girls Wrestling team. The Board agreed to move that item to the voting meeting for approval.
During the Finance, Facilities, and Audit portion of the meeting, Communications Specialist, Mrs. Jen Breton, shared information about Parent Square, an app that the District believes will improve communication with families. That item was moved to the voting meeting. Dr, Minor updated the Board on ESSER grant expenditures to date as well as the District’s ESSER grant application process. Finally, Mr. Brian Feick, Business Manager, and Mr. Ben Berhardt, Transportation Director, updated the Board on changes to transportation procedures.
The Policy Committee presented two policies for 1st reading by the Board.
At both meetings, the Board heard public comment. Questions taken from public comment are addressed below.
To watch the meeting, please click on the video below, or to learn more about LERTA, please click HERE.
You asked, we answer!
Q: What portions of the map attached to the Board Agenda are being considered for the LERTA program?
A: The green represents existing LERTA areas, the pink is possible future areas. Only the Township can designate LERTA areas.
Q: Will Schoology and Skyward send notifications through the ParentSquare app?
A: If approved by the Board, the District will encourage the use of it by all teachers, coaches, club leaders and administration officials to create a consistent delivery method for parents to find information easily and quickly. Some functionality of Skyward and/or Schoology, however, may need to filter through those platforms.
Q: What will be the procedure for students who need to quarantine during the school year due to COVID-19?
A: The District will need to see what the PA Department of Health requires in terms of quarantine during the school year before making plans to deliver educational services to quarantined students.
Q: What will trigger a meeting of the pandemic taskforce if COVID-19 transmission increases in the area?
A: The Health and Safety Plan approved in July and linked here outlines the provision for a Pandemic Task Force meeting.
Q: Does the District follow CDC guidance in relation to the pandemic?
A: The District is committed to adhering to PDE and PADOH orders and directives. The Pandemic Task Force considers information from a variety of sources including the CDC when making recommendations to the ETSD Board.
Q: What is the District’s strategic plan and how is the plan aligned with the academic needs of students?
The District’s Strategic Plan (also known by PDE as the Comprehensive Plan) was presented at the April 6, 2021 meeting of the Board by Dr. Eric Flamm. The plan articulates the academic focus of the District and our action steps.
A. How will the District’s newly purchased literacy materials improve student’s reading proficiency?
Q: The District has purchased Fountas and Pinnel Classrom (FPC) which is a comprehensive set of literacy resources written by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell for students in grade K-6. They are widely regarded as top reading researchers and their products are of extraordinary quality. You can learn more about FPC here .
Exeter Township School District
Email: communications@exetersd.org
Website: https://www.exeter.k12.pa.us
Location: 200 Elm Street, Reading, PA, USA
Phone: 610-779-0700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExeterTownshipSchoolDistrict
Twitter: @ExeterTwpSchool