Our teachers at Delaware Valley School District do a great job!
On Apr. 23 I questioned the superintendent on introducing four new programs in grades K-5, which I personally feel it will be ineffective for our students and staff. Yes, I do believe we need to update our Science and Social Studies textbooks ASAP they are outdated books. I have not found one teacher that has shown support for scripted teaching the "new method" suggested by Diane French. We have creative intelligent teachers! I feel scripted teaching is an insult to our teaching staff. When you look at the history of scripted teaching, you will see it was first implemented in areas were schools could not find great teachers like we have at DV school district. What we need to do as a district is identify our flaws and weakness. We need to give our teachers the materials and tools they need to fill these gaps. The scores from our PSSA's at the secondary level shows a need to enhance our programs. We need not to be afraid to ask ourselves, What did we do right? What did we do wrong? How can we make it better? Our administrators do a great job hiring good teachers. The board should be taking more advice from our principals and teachers who work with our students at Delaware Valley and not from board member (Diane French) who has never had her own classroom. The boards job is policy, procedure, and budget. Board Directors should not be micromanaging our teaching staff, that is why we have a Superintendent. I respect Dr. Finan very much but there will be times we have different opinions on issues. The way Ms. French conducted herself at the last school board meeting was an embarrassment to our entire school board! The letter to the editor written by Diane French this past week was full of lies as evidenced by those who attended the Apr. 23 school board meeting. Board members must set the right example for our students! We should follow the same policies we set forth for them. We should always be honest and have integrity and stop the bullying. The school board directors should be on the board to serve and support the students, administrator, teachers, staff and taxpayers. They should not be on the board to stroke their own egos. Our board president Bob Goldsack has poor leadership skills when he allows the shenanigans to continue. Transparency in our district is extremely important. Our community has many individuals that truly care about the Delaware Valley School District. We should give every parent, taxpayer and student the opportunity to know what is going on at every board meeting, word for word. I strongly support the idea of having our school board meetings on web-cam. Everyone can have the opportunity to view the board meeting at their convenience. Having transparency, along with family and community involvement, will have a profound impact on our students achievement. Susan Schor, Delaware Valley School Board Director Milford