{"id":16196,"date":"2015-06-10T11:09:59","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16196"},"modified":"2015-06-10T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T15:09:59","slug":"kcsd-hosts-busy-june-board-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16196","title":{"rendered":"KCSD hosts busy June board meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Budget passes, Hritz named KHS principal, MDL K-center curriculum debated<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kim Chiomento,<\/span><\/strong> News Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

KENNETT SQUARE \u2013 The Kennett Consolidated School District (KCSD) board had a busy meeting this week; with several agenda items directly impacting the district\u2019s resources, administration and curriculum. Top items included passing the 2015\/2016 operating budget, the announcement of Jeremy Hritz as Kennett High School\u2019s new principal, the hiring of Jessica Kilmetz the new Supervisor of Reading\/Language Arts\/Social Studies, and lively discussions focusing on the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center\u2019s curriculum and the merits of returning the Athletic Director position to full-time status.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"juneboard\"<\/a>

Members of the KCSD board listen to community members during Monday’s meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Board approved the 2015\/2016 district operating budget of $78,897,319; it is noted that board members Aline Frank and Rudy Alfonzo did not vote in favor of its passing.<\/p>\n

Included in this approval are the adoption of the following tax resolutions for 2015\/2016: Earned Income Tax \u2013 1% levied on salaries and wages, Real Estate Tax – 28.6017 mills on real estate, Act 544 Tax \u2013 tax of 28.6017 mills levied on interim real estate, Act 511 Tax \u00bd of 1% be levied on real estate transfers. The above translates into a tax increase of 2.37% and approximately $128 increase per household annually.<\/p>\n

As previously announced, Kennett High School Principal, Dr. Michael Barber, will become KCSD\u2019s Assistant Superintendent; effective July 1. Current Kennett Middle School Principal, Jeremy Hritz, was determined to be the top candidate to replace Dr. Barber as KHS’ principal by a review panel consisting of parents, board members and administration. Hritz\u2019 term will begin July 1, as well. Jessica Kilmetz has been hired as the District\u2019s new Supervisor of Reading\/Language Arts\/Social Studies district-wide beginning July 6, 2015.<\/p>\n

The board unanimously approved the addition of a Literacy in Literature<\/em> course that will assist in preparing students for Keystone Literature Assessments.\u00a0 The new course is designed to benefit\u00a0 KCSD students who are categorized as English as a Second Language (ESL) students.<\/p>\n

A lively\u00a0discussion occurred\u00a0regarding returning KHS’ Athletic Director (A.D.)position to full-time status.\u00a0 Alfonso said he opposes this change and indicated it is his preference to see those resources dedicated to the arts rather than athletics.\u00a0 Other board members said they disagreed, arguing that at part-time, the position is not working out well; and is not an effective use of resources. The majority of the board supports the position returning to its original full-time status.<\/p>\n

During the public commentary portion of Monday’s meeting, KCSD parent, former educator and alumna, Jennifer Manfredi-Lewis, took her concerns to the board regarding the district\u2019s youngest students who attend the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center receiving 25 minutes of \u2018specials\u2019 (art, music, gym). This is\u00a0in comparison to older students, who are attending school for the same amount of hours daily,\u00a0receiving 50 minutes of ‘specials.’<\/p>\n

Manfredi-Lewis, a former KCSD educator and alumna, challenged the board to \u201cThink back to when your children went off to the school for the first time, what did you <\/em>wish for them in their earliest days?\u201d Manfredi-Lewis noted that she appreciates the strong academic focus KCSD places at every level, but remains concerned over the pressure and the risk the district is running of \u201cburning out\u201d their youngest students.<\/p>\n

Manfredi-Lewis explained that the time allotted to allowing kids to develop creatively is a big component of their education and that the time allotted is not based on a kindergarten student\u2019s attention span or ability, but rather, staffing issues.<\/p>\n

The board acknowledged that there are challenges with regard to transportation, its impact on the Kindergarten Center\u2019s schedule, and noted they are continuing to work to evaluate and improve the situation. The board invited Manfredi-Lewis take part in a working review committee dedicated to this area of concern.<\/p>\n

Community member and interior designer, Barbara Holmes, addressed the audience and board regarding her involvement in the design of KCSD’s original k-12 building along with Pierre S. Dupont’s architects.\u00a0 Holmes provided original renderings and documents she believed would be of historical significance to the district.\u00a0 The board was most appreciative of Holmes’ historical knowledge and willingness to share these documents.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month it\u00a0was announced that Kennett Middle School (KMS) has been re-designated as a ‘Schools to Watch’ by after undergoing an extensive review process conducted by the PA chapter of \u00a0the national Don Eichorn Schools to Watch organization.<\/p>\n

This award rates how well middle schools focus on the success of every student, creative, effective and innovative\u00a0teaching methods, providing a school atmosphere of acceptance, diversity and academic rigor.\u00a0 KMS is one of only four schools in the Delaware Valley region to earn this honor, and one of just approximately 370 nationally.<\/p>\n

As a part of the festivities around this award, students and staff produced a creative video featuring clips of faculty, students, administration dancing to Imagine Dragons’ hit song, ‘On Top of the World’ while holding KMS signs, a globe and stars.\u00a0 Attendees at Monday’s meeting were shown the popular video.\u00a0 To watch the video visit KMS’s\u00a0site via the kcsd.org<\/a> home page\u00a0or click on the following link:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/connect.kcsd.org\/display\/kms\/KMS+Schools+to+Watch+Celebration<\/a><\/p>\n

KHS\u00a0commencement ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 12\u00a0– 6 PM.\u00a0 The next KCSD board meeting is July 13th – 7 PM at the District Offices.\u00a0 Board meeting minutes and additional district information can be found by visiting www.kcsd.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Budget passes, Hritz named KHS principal, MDL K-center curriculum debated By Kim Chiomento, News Editor, The Times KENNETT SQUARE \u2013 The Kennett Consolidated School District (KCSD) board had a busy meeting this week; with several agenda items directly impacting the district\u2019s resources, administration and curriculum. Top items included passing the 2015\/2016 operating budget, the announcement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,9,1],"tags":[6291,581,6289,253,6290],"class_list":["post-16196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-schools","category-uncategorized","tag-don-eichorn-schools-to-watch","tag-kennett-consolidated-school-district","tag-kennett-high-school-principal","tag-kennett-middle-school","tag-mary-d-lang-kindergarten-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16196"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16280,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16196\/revisions\/16280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}