School board business meeting

School board business meeting
Monday, December 20, 2010
in the auditorium [a note that the room sound was pretty bad and I missed some bit of what

School Directors present: Susan Guthrie, Gary Friedlander, Virginia Pollard, Diane DiBonnaventuro, David Ebby (Board President), Lyn Kugel (Vice President), Lisa Fair-Pliskin, Jerry Novick
Audience: About 6 people.


A performance by the Harriton HS choir

Construction update:

Administration building receiving new windows, in the same style as the old windows.

Jerry Novick (JN): congratulates Doug Young and staff for staging a great event around the Kobe Bryant Gym dedication. Raised lot of money for the Educational Foundation.

Michael Kelly re-appointed as assistant superintendent for a 5-year term.

David Ebby (DE): This was reviewed by the HR subcommittee of the school board.

Curriculum Committee report:

Announces two new courses for both high schools: Television Broadcasting and Sports & Entertainment Marketing

Gary Friedlander (GF): What is the cost of each course?
Superintendent McGinley: New new staff needed
Steve Barbado: $500 for development.
Diane DiBonnaventuro: We have a wealth of talent in the community in both these areas, and want to make these courses 'real' - encourages community members with this background to contact the schools
Lyn Kugel (LK): These courses will be offered at both high schools, designed to make use of existing resources, TV studios
Susan Guthrie (SG): The write up says that 87% of students are excited about these courses. Interested i how this poll was conducted, concerned that students will be forced to make a choice between this and other courses
SB: Not necessarily excludes taking other electives. Electives designed to be offered over years

Public comment:
R.B. from Ardmore: Regarding the new courses: What is the threshold number of students for running the courses, creating new sections?
CM: About 15. Number flexible. Can combine levels in one class when necessary
RB: Thought that schools had done away with putting different levels in same classroom
CM: Have done that for offering classes that way, not for structuring additional sections
DB: These kind of courses are project based and lend well to having different levels in same class