While the Franklin School District hasn’t been approved to receive a Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts grant, Franklin superintendent Eugene Thomas said at Monday’s school board meeting the district is looking at other potential alternatives for funding a preschool program.
Thomas also said the district would talk to the Department of Education in another attempt to acquire the funding.
“There is so much need in communities right now,” Thomas said.
Phipps said this month the preschool program, which would have 18 full-time slots for children four years old and would focus on economically-disadvantaged students first, is more or less ready to go, but is currently “on hold with the budget because we are waiting for a funding source.”
Thomas said the preschool was one of the district’s 2023-24 goals, and coupled with kindergarten transition programs, it would bring more things in-house and “claim back dollars from outsourcing.”
District business manager Kimberly Eaton also told the board that Gov. Josh Shapiro had signed in the $45.5 billion 2023-24 state budget Aug. 3, and “money is flowing to the districts,” she said.
Eaton added that about $1.1 billion is still being discussed, which includes several grants including a mental health grant, and those grants are being held while debate continues.
In other business at Monday’s school board meeting, Thomas told the panel that 13 district staff members once again traveled to the Pennsylvania School Safety Institute (PennSSI) earlier this month and went through training simulations that help attendees learn how to respond to safety threats at school buildings.
The institute’s simulated-threat training system is one of only three like it in the country, Thomas said.
Thomas said he will be giving a presentation in October at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association/Pennsylvania Association for School Administrators School Leadership Conference.
The presentation will be titled “A Bona Fide Account of a School Shooting Event” and is described as dissecting “a real-life series of events during an actual school shooting and the prevention, the reaction, what worked, what did not work, and the aftermath that will shape a school community and region for generations.”
In another matter, the panel discussed one of next week’s voting items which would move the 2024 graduation date from Sunday, June 2, to Friday, May 31, at 6 p.m. at the high school football stadium.
High school co-principal Tom Holoman said the high school had received feedback from teachers, families and the community and was responding with the proposed change from Sunday to Friday.
Some board discussion took place of the advantages and disadvantages of both days, such as families maneuvering around work schedules on Monday and Friday.
“There are pros and cons to doing it Friday, Saturday or Sunday,” Holoman said.
Another item that was discussed and will be voted on next week is a 9-day field trip to France during spring 2025 for eighth- through 12th-grade students, plus chaperones.
Board members discussed whether a cap ought to be put on numbers if the group ended up getting too large, although high school French teacher Jacki Keller said currently only 8 students are signed up, with three adult chaperones including herself.
The field trip will be voted on next week, along with a Target Support and Improvement (TSI) Plan for the high school for the 2023-24 school year.
Curriculum director Christina Cohlhepp said a TSI plan supports performance for “a group of students who aren’t where we want them to be,” which in Franklin’s case is students with learning disabilities, she said.
The state determines school districts every year that would benefit from the support of a TSI plan.
Other voting items for next week include 2023-24 student handbooks, payments for grounds projects, a dual enrollment agreement with the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, several agreements, parental transport reimbursement approvals, and several employment, volunteer and supplemental contracts and some resignations.
Thomas presented school board president Sabrina Backer and board member Erin Leccia with certificates from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association honoring them for their long-time service and adding them to the PSBA Honor Roll of School Board Service.
Backer has served on the board for eight years, and Leccia has served 12 years.
