The Cheltenham School Board has announced it will hold a special meeting virtually on Thursday, August 20th at 7:00 p.m. The agenda for the meeting involves “deliberation and official action on transportation, personnel, athletics, and other pandemic-related items.”
While the notice for the meeting stated all of the topics listed above, the actual agenda only has one item on it. The one item involves a recommendation from the administration that since the district is reopening under an all-virtual model that is should not offer transportation to private school students that it is normally required to offer transportation. The agenda reads:
The administration recommends the Board suspend the requirement of Board Policy No. 810 “Transportation” to provide transportation “to students who are enrolled in a non-public school which is not operated for profit and which is located within the District’s boundaries, or outside the District’s boundaries at a distance not exceeding ten (10) miles, by the nearest public road. This suspension shall remain in effect until further action by the Board or unless the obligation to transport is required by law.”
This is a growing issue across the region as districts have announced all-virtual reopenings. KYW Newsradio 1060 has a report (article here):
The meeting will have two recesses that will allow for Cheltenham residents and taxpayers and district employees to submit questions/comments to be read aloud at the meeting.:
- A 10-minute recess for agenda-related items
- A 5-minute recess for non-agenda-related items
- Submit questions/comments to csdboardmeetingcomments@cheltenham.org.
- Emails received before and after those windows will be compiled and utilized in an FAQ.
Join the meeting at cheltenham.org/zoom, or watch on cheltenham.org/stream, Comcast Ch. 42 or Verizon 1960.