Pleasant Valley School District’s Comprehensive Plan was one of three plans approved by the school board last week.

The other two plans were the Special Education Plan and the Health and Safety Plan. Both the Comprehensive and Special Education plans were on the school district’s website for public review for 30 days prior to the meeting. The Health and Safety Plan is reviewed every six months as required by the state.

Comprehensive Plan

Some parents were also unhappy about the school district’s Comprehensive Plan, in particular the use of an education program called iReady especially for math.

Ron Reynolds of Chestnuthill Township said he has a petition with 55 signatures on it asking to get rid of iReady. He said his research about the program assesses a student’s answers based on what it thinks a student should know, not on the answers the student gave to specific questions.

“We are paying money for a program that is flawed,” he said.

According to the Comprehensive Plan, the school district intends to use the iReady program for three years ending on June 26, 2025. The goal is that after using the program for three years, students who take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams in fourth through eighth grades will have higher proficiency levels in mathematics and English language arts.

The Comprehensive Plan listed some of the pre-pandemic results from the 2019 PSSA exams for students in third through eighth grade.

The results for English language arts for the group that included all students in third grade showed they did not meet the interim goal for performance in that subject. The proficiency level was 64%, which was lower than the previous year, but there was better results in the middle and high school.

The middle school students had an interim proficiency level of 67.7%, which was higher than the statewide average of 62.1%. And the high school had an academic growth score of 100 on the 2019 Keystone Literature Exam. The state wide average was 75.

The 2019 PSSA results for math showed that the academic growth score for students in fourth through sixth grade among all student groups was 53. The statewide average was 75.3. The students did not meet the standard for demonstrating growth.

Similarly, the 2019 math/algebra results for seventh and eighth grade students was 52.7. The statewide average was 75.3. The science score was low as well for the middle schoolers. The Pleasant Valley Middle School students had a growth score of 50, while the statewide average was 75.1.

Superintendent James Konrad doesn’t think there will be a problem with iReady. “We have amazing teachers and support staff,” he said.

Parents were also not happy with social and emotional learning being in the Comprehensive Plan.

Konrad said that there is much misinformation out there about social and emotional learning. This is not critical race theory, he said, and he is willing to talk to parents who have questions.

The school district is using the CASEL framework, which stands for Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning. Konrad said the CASEL is based on self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.

“We all know them as soft skills,” he said.

The website casel.org explains the education as helping students to understand themselves and communicate better with others. The education helps students collaborate better, reduces students’ anxiety, improves how students get-along with each other, increases empathy, and helps students find a sense of purpose.

One of the concerns stated in the Comprehensive Plan was the “ever changing and increasing student mental health needs.”

Konrad said he wants the students “to be the best versions of themselves.”

Special Education Plan

As far as the Special Education Plan, Julie Harris, the supervisor of Special Education, said the area noted by the state for improvement was that a disproportionately large number of students have been identified as needing special education services.

“I would rather the state flag me for over identifying students and being cautious and taking care of our kids, than under identifying. I just think it’s better that way,” she said.

As a department, Harris said they exceeded the goal for academic growth and reached a proficiency level of 80%. The goal was 65%. They also created an emotional support program at the middle school and high school, created a life skills program for Kindergarten through third grade, and added a physical support classroom at the high school in 2021.