Submitted by Andrew Bowman
While LGBTQIA+ rights took center stage at the West Shore School District this month and grabbed all the headlines they were far from the only topic up for debate. Far from it actually, as May, like any other month, featured two school board meetings as well as multiple committee meetings, all of which dealt with the necessary tasks of the continued operation of the district. And while these issues may not stoke the same sort of flame, they are no less important, and are therefore no less deserving of our attention.
The first of these items is the approval of the annual budget for the 2025-26 school year, which occurred late into the meeting on May 8th, 2025. This specific topic was discussed and debated at length at the April 10th meeting, where three budgetary proposals were presented to the board, each one using a different combination of tax increases and spending cuts to close the 7 million dollar deficit that the district was facing for the upcoming school year. After last month’s discussion, the budget proposal dubbed the “Two-Thirds Tax increase Plan” was advanced to a vote. This plan includes a tax increase of 3.2%, roughly 2/3 of the maximum annual tax increase the district can enact, a short but significant list of spending cuts, and support from the general fund to close the deficit and keep the school district in a sound financial state. Of these three tactics, the one discussed the most was the cuts, which mainly revolved around deferring equipment purchases, redistributing responsibilities among existing staff, and staff reduction via attrition. Crucially, the cuts do not include any layoffs, which the board was worried about. Debate surrounding this budget was mainly led by Heidi Thomas, who questioned Superintendent Dr. Todd Stoltz over the increase in administrative staff while overall staff was set to decrease. According to Dr. Stoltz, these administrative staff were hired as they are necessary for the continued operation of the school district in response to the rise of digital programs, increases in homelessness and ESL needs among students, an increase in the usage of IEPs (Individualized Education Plans), and mandates by the state for positions such as head of security that the district is required to fund. Another sore spot for a board member in this budget is the lack of any sort funding allocation for full day kindergarten, which was brought up by board member Adam Trone. Unlike most Pennsylvania school districts, the West Shore School District does not offer all-day kindergarten to all of its students, instead offering an all-day “Kindergarten Acceleration Program” for 24 kids per school for most of the school year. According to Trone, full day kindergarten should be a top priority for the school district as it translates into better academics outcomes for students and helps parents maintain their careers without leaning on exorbitantly-priced daycares. Starting full day kindergarten would take around 3.4 million dollars according to Trone, which he believes that the budget should start saving for as soon as possible. In all, the budget passed 6-3, with Brian Guistwhite, Heidi Thomas, and Adam Trone in opposition.
A week later, the Board Policy Committee and the West Shore School Board itself met on Thursday, May 15th, 2025. The Board Policy Committee met first to discuss proposed revisions to Policy 109, entitled “Resource Materials”. These revisions, which are available here, seek to update the language that defines material that is appropriate or inappropriate for minors. Two versions of these revisions are under consideration, one from the district itself, and one from Bermudian Spring School District. Both seek to more concretely define the criteria that would make resources such as books inappropriate for minors, focusing mostly on sexually explicit content. According to the participants at the meeting, much of this new language is based on PA state laws such as 18 PA CS 5903 “Obscene and other sexual materials and performances” and 6132 “Sexual abuse of children”. Much of the debate at the meeting surrounded the exception for classic works, which the committee felt is left too open to interpretation by the arbiter of the rules. Suggested changes to this definition by committee members included adding a provision for award-winning works and including language defining classic works as those that are widely studied by scholars. The committee also looked at the process for challenging a work’s appropriateness, which has only been initiated once in the experience of those present, with the result being the abandonment of the challenge. The changes would add two additional teachers and an additional member of the Parent Advisory Council to the review committee for the challenge. In public comment, Sandra Gonzales, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination in Region 3 of the district this year, lobbied for a board member to be added to this committee. Following Sandra, Heather Keller expressed concern that the revisions do not reference the Library Bill of Rights and refuted the presumption that parents have easily-accessible non-district avenues to teach their children about controversial subjects. The meeting ended before the committee had time to fully review the policy, and work will be resumed at 4:30 PM on June 19, 2025.
Following this policy meeting, the board held its second meeting of the month, with the agenda largely focusing on end of year business and appointments to positions with expiring terms. Such appointments included the reappointment of Stevie Boone as treasurer, Dr. Ryan Argot as Secretary, and the reappointment of Tucker Arensburg as solicitor, which passed without opposition despite the controversial circumstances under which the firm was hired last year. Additional business items included a contact with Family Practice Center and CPRS Physical Therapy for their services for Cedar Cliff and Red Land, a letter of agreement and business associate agreement with York County Children and Youth Services to promote educational stability and success for students in foster care, and the approval of a revised Special Education Program to be submitted to the Department of Education. The only item that elicited any at-length discussion was the adoption of the HMH science curriculum for K-4. This was due to a concern from Sandra Gonzales during public comment regarding the 1.2 million dollar price-tag associated with the program, which one could argue is quite steep given the district’s finances. Fortunately, according to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Matthew Gay, this program will only cost $311,000, and will be included in the 2026-27 budget, not the 2025-26 budget.
After this measure passed, the board moved to information items, which notably included proposed revisions to Policy 801 “Public Records”. These revisions consist of grammatical corrections, the movement of language informing the records requester of any necessary payments, and outline the grounds for the denial of a request and the appeals process. The revisions to this policy come on the heels of a recently denied Right to Know request for the depositions of the board members in an ongoing lawsuit over the level of transparency exercised in the firing of the board’s previous solicitor. What effects these changes would have had on that request are unknown, but it is rather that even though school is winding down for the year at the instructional level, the administrative side of the West Shore School District is still moving forwards.