School Board Notes
June 2021
Meetings in Review
Full Day Kindergarten
In a vote of 8-0, the Methacton School District Board of Directors approved the recommendation by Dr. Deb Euker, Woodland Elementary Principal, and Dr. David Zerbe, Superintendent, to implement full day kindergarten for students in Methacton School District beginning with the 2022/2023 school year. Keeping with the 5 tenets of the Whole Child, the full day program will focus on providing more time to develop student’s academic abilities along with their social, emotional and behavior skills. Parents who work outside the home will benefit by limiting disruption that occurs with a half-day program and teachers will have additional time to develop stronger teacher/student relationships. This places Methacton School District in a geographically competitive position to attract new families.
The proposal includes reorganizing space within each elementary school to accommodate 2 additional kindergarten classrooms along with the reorganization of staff to deliver full day kindergarten programming and more inclusive practices to support all children. This will require a total of 2 additional support staff and 2.5 professional staff for a projected net annual cost increase of $281,282. The program was presented on several occasions throughout the school year. The presentations can be found here. More information on this program will be forthcoming in the next several months. Dr. Zerbe has appointed Dr. Euker as lead administrator for planning and implementation of the program.
Final Budget
The Board of School Directors, in an 8-0 vote, approved the 2021-2022 fiscal year budget of $114,542,098.29. This is a budget increase of $2,602,440 over the prior year budget or a 1.3325% millage increase that includes a reduction of 1 professional staff position, completion of all collective bargaining employment agreements, implementation of the R.E.A.C.H. program at the elementary level, a reduction of long-term debt service, and maintaining level operational costs. The top 3 expenditures totaling $59,294,570 include professional education, regular staff salaries, retirement contributions, and medical insurance. The district’s revenue primarily comes from real estate taxes (68.16%) with the bulk of the remaining revenue coming from State, Act 511 and federal programs. A complete overview of the process can be found in this presentation here.
Health and Safety Plan Modification
The Board adopted the Health and Safety Plan recommendation to eliminate all COVID-19 mitigation measures beginning June 23, 2021. It was shared that Dr. Zerbe will be recommending a plan for the Board consideration in July for the start of the school year. All indications at this point suggest that many of the former mitigation measures like masking and distancing will be eased or based on adult/parent determination at the start of the school term. More to come in July.
June 22, 2021 Regular Board Meeting
June 15, 2021 Work Session Meeting of the Board
June 9, 2021 Special Meeting of the Board
Board Notes
Email: information@methacton.org
Website: www.methacton.org
Phone: 610-489-5000