[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6627913,"mediaKeyId","2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c","parentId",2723085,"title","Pennsbury High leaders point to falling disciplinary hearings and wider climate efforts; security upgrades and PBIS cited","audioSeconds",433,"startMs",1518000,"endMs",1951000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c&start=1518&end=1951","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c/thumbnail_1518000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6627913/Pennsylvania/Pennsbury-High-leaders-point-to-falling-disciplinary-hearings-and-wider-climate-efforts-security-upgrades-and-PBIS-cited","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6627913-1141766aef7a2d4c53560395561d846d/orig.mp4?Expires=1770978579&Signature=gq-65nezp0EUh9SQyb0cH7CQURUlsZKDZdVEckaN~OLBKpi~nj12Mg9pXVeBtqC7tRykfA23YpQuv3eSeFAi7NvDH5Z7ByGai4ldKKKKYaPkgSMs~zreYD1ZCpDr2ybeapg4Tw8tueS-q~YdVtSaEO8nZBnzwoO~xkXjPBsjDNQRcc8P7CQsQn13V-4RpOdpQRYT5efHXXj60dR2TmFbKc2jPT04VzXcX-H2PSwa-SaAJFuPb~nWnfeiJap6~SSE25nblHrmJECZu5uJDok6gFOaYMs52JLgZdaL8TTRf8bYCAvqfC3VOmxQh1QSyfzXD1xNHdsUIc5zjX4cxRF3xg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Pennsbury School District","date","2025-03-21T03:42:04.86Z","article","Pennsbury High School administrators told the board March 20 that a sustained, multi-pronged effort to improve school climate and culture has coincided with a sharp drop in informal disciplinary hearings and growing staff and student engagement in positive-behavior incentives.

Campus principal Reggie Meadows, assistant principal Ryan Regensburg and climate-and-culture specialist Pat Bowser described a set of steps the high school has taken since the 2022–23 school year: regular round-table meetings with staff, a Principal-Superintendent Student Advisory Committee (PSAC) of roughly 30 students from grades 9–12, classroom visits by administrators to solicit direct student feedback, and a visible administrative presence in hallways and dining areas. Meadows said administrators set a goal of becoming “80% proactive, 20% reactive” and that a central aim was creating more structured channels for student voice.

Regensburg described changes to security staffing and behavior systems. \"Our security team has undergone job specific training while prioritizing alignment with district initiatives like positive behavior intervention and support system, also known as PBIS,\" he said. The high school rebranded the campus-wide behavior program as \"Keep the Peace,\" introduced digital recognition (peace points) for staff to acknowledge expected behaviors and expanded student leadership through a Keep the Peace student team that runs restorative circles and nominations.

Administrators highlighted data the school used to measure change. Meadows said informal hearing counts used as a proxy for serious incidents have declined: \"If you look at the graph here, last year, we were at 56 in January. This year we were at 20,\" he said, and later comparing year-over-year counts told the board informal hearings fell from 77 a year earlier to 33 at the time of presentation. Meadows and Regensburg cautioned the trend was fragile: \"We're on a razor's edge with this,\" Meadows said, emphasizing continued enforcement of discipline for serious offenses while promoting proactive recognition and supports.

School leaders also described operational changes: a transition from a school-aid model to a dedicated security team coordinated by the supervisor of safety and security with employee training, and upgrades to security cameras at PHS West and across campus. Participation in the digital recognition system grew from 13 faculty issuing roughly 1,400 peace points in the first marking period to 29 faculty issuing larger counts in the second marking period, administrators said.

The board's wellness committee had invited the high school team to present because the committee monitors wellness and culture work districtwide. Administrators said the work at the high school included restorative practices, attendance incentives (for example, Falcons Fridays and Keep the Peace Wednesday), and a multi-tiered approach to interventions via grade-level and advanced tiers teams.

Administrators asked the board and community to treat the improvements as evidence of a broader strategy, not as a signal that enforcement had been relaxed. Meadows repeated that the district still enforces discipline for non-negotiable behaviors such as fighting, weapons and drugs.

Board members thanked the high school team for the presentation but did not vote on any new policy or funding at the March 20 meeting.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Pennsbury School District Board Action Meeting - Thursday, March 20, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Pennsbury High School administrators reported March 20 that a combination of student advisory structures, a rebranded PBIS program, a dedicated security team and upgraded cameras are part of a climate-and-culture push; administrators said informal hearing counts have fallen substantially year‑over‑year while urging continued enforcement of serious-discipline rules.","taxTitle","Pennsbury SD , School Districts, Pennsylvania","taxId",72575,"location","Pennsylvania","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6627917,"Pennsbury outlines middle school schedule changes; parents and students warn reduced chorus time will harm music access",869,2475000,3344000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c&start=2475&end=3344","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c/thumbnail_2475000.jpg","/articles/6627917/Pennsylvania/Pennsbury-outlines-middle-school-schedule-changes-parents-and-students-warn-reduced-chorus-time-will-harm-music-access","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6627917-6a07a351b8b9aafd919ba8da0b63dc85/orig.mp4?Expires=1770978579&Signature=AQeEWIzBdIKwdyUOH-2197i3rAG7PLr3yM2BK-raq8e9mIecuSqnzrIlqIad25vz4Rofhvv~6nGgvcuGwq9Lw0O-~ViOayOemXRuLyhN1RXF6YnZ6BMOC79biGQHbrCD2pfuRpDGce3h8w-supVxZ5TorjylS1~dYJGALsdkUNetwECalsQ~9jEQV~mUrX6Q8BCCv1Z4vwA7sln5CAdldlum7HroNAlFm1QR1rL7xkVmaAKsGqqmSFf7qTQxYNDU5MK0g~kYnu8CXzaQZzOshY2YP9XMyZUcrqDyRoer4SKkXuTxq10dekKLOE8tlus6jIdnfQoWivjG07t3vJsg9w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Pennsbury School District administrators presented a revised middle school schedule March 20 that shifts class times to increase eighth-grade English/language-arts minutes, create a dedicated intervention-and-enrichment period and expand access to world languages — changes administrators said are needed to align instruction with new standards and the updated middle-school start time.

Administrators said the redesign was intended to address several goals at once: respond to a later middle-school start time, give eighth graders roughly double the daily reading/ELA time they previously had, create a predictable intervention/enrichment block, and expand STEM and world-language opportunities across sixth through eighth grades.

District officials said the changes also respond to state testing and standards changes coming for eighth grade, and that the schedule work began last school year with a committee that included teachers, principals, parents and students. \"The second goal was increase our time on reading English language arts instruction in the eighth grade,\" Doctor Ricci said while describing the committee's work. Administrators also said the district will keep STEM and combined health/physical-education requirements in place for all students.

Under the revised model, the existing 30-minute opportunity period — previously used for a mix of enrichment, interventions and building-level activities — becomes a structured six-day-cycle period that guarantees dedicated intervention days and separate enrichment days. World-language offerings were initially proposed as a survey rotation that risked limiting access; after analyzing student selections, administrators said they will continue rotating French, Spanish and German at each middle school.

The schedule also required elective choices. Administrators said electives will include art, family and consumer sciences (FCS), digital literacy and media, fitness and wellness, band, orchestra and world language. Students will be asked to make selections during an elective window; school leaders said they reopened that window in March to respond to enrollment patterns.

The change drew broad public comment during the board's public-comment period. Multiple parents, students and community members told the board they support the district's goals but raised sharply critical concerns that the new schedule substantially reduces guaranteed choral rehearsal time compared to instrumental ensembles. \"This limited choice for music students put them at a disadvantage,\" said Dean Pesci, an eighth-grader at Charles Boehm Middle School. Parents and students said choir will meet far less frequently — a single day in the six-day rotation in the version many speakers criticized — while band and orchestra would retain more frequent meetings.

Several parents and students detailed the role chorus has played in their children's social-emotional development and urged the board to restore additional choral rehearsal time. \"Chorus is a safe space for them,\" parent Chad Smith said. \"We're taking away something that we know is proven for generations to increase mental health and well-being for something that we don't know what it is.\" Other parents pointed to concrete impacts: declines in middle-school chorus enrollment after the elective-selection window opened and concerns that required course choices could force students to forgo both music and other specials.

District staff acknowledged the trade-offs and said choices were made to balance competing priorities. Doctor Ricci described the new opportunity block as a way to deliver MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) with fidelity: \"By establishing a dedicated intervention period, students have opportunities now not only for academic support, but also for enrichment opportunities,\" he said. Administrators said there are still scheduling and operational constraints — once a master schedule is built, changing many student choices becomes difficult because of staffing limits — and that they would monitor enrollment and adjust where feasible.

Several current and former district music staff and community music educators urged the board to preserve more frequent choral rehearsal. Caleb Trezise, who works in the district, summarized a commonly voiced request: \"We need at least 2 rehearsals in the 6 day rotation,\" he said, arguing that one rehearsal every six days makes it difficult for amateur student choirs to learn repertoire and retain skills.

District leaders said some changes were already reversed after analyzing the elective selection window (for example, continuing world-language rotations at each middle school). They also said the elective window was reopened and that there will be post-implementation evaluation: \"We're always going to continue to evaluate the model of our service delivery,\" Ricci said.

Board members and administrators acknowledged the volume of public testimony and said they would take the feedback into account while finalizing schedules and staffing. The board did not take a formal vote on the schedule itself at the March 20 meeting.

ACTIONS AND NEXT STEPS: Administrators said the elective selection window was reopened after the March analysis. They also said schedule-building is underway and that building-level principals will continue to analyze enrollments and make assignment adjustments where possible. No final policy or formal schedule adoption vote was recorded during the meeting.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE: Dozens of speakers used public comment to urge the district to preserve more choral instruction time, citing social-emotional benefits, academic research referencing arts participation and concrete declines in chorus enrollment during the selection period. Students and parents asked the board to guarantee additional chorus days in the rotation or to restore parity between choral and instrumental contact time.

IMPLICATIONS: If chorus contact time remains substantially lower than instrumental ensembles, community commenters warned music enrollment and participation could fall in coming years, which district leaders said they will monitor.

","Pennsbury School District administrators presented a revised middle school schedule March 20 that shifts times to expand eighth-grade reading instruction, create a dedicated intervention/enrichment block and expand world-language access — changes administrators said were needed to meet new state standards, but which parents and students said will reduce guaranteed chorus rehearsal time and could shrink participation in vocal music programs.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6627908,"Board approves consent agenda including iPad purchases and technology renewals; tables settlement agreement",2652,4358000,7010000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c&start=4358&end=7010","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2723085-1be673aa871789711f23050b5a9f3b8c/thumbnail_4358000.jpg","/articles/6627908/Pennsylvania/Board-approves-consent-agenda-including-iPad-purchases-and-technology-renewals-tables-settlement-agreement","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6627908-cf214b15e70921c3742995086159a5e5/orig.mp4?Expires=1770978579&Signature=ocZ12Z1G5UzoZmo4YxQF7nASbPkamE82xwMJNjmTP-IbKEY-5Xv3U3gwkoTElsSXKCRc-7ArZYzxtscEKsa4~vjjWZxoPfNLT09KZjmtNehnkMkI3eIXa1Yp6c1a2Qe3dboH2j8aRUvWwMvu-GDVUOSRkGffqrNe-KZXZAnf2fLxdtylnlSFIS2vpqv5yJTu08bkLWxp0gHACdnPDZWWnjZmMeY6nJoi-k9wmw-kpgXK-gzdvR7uXDN9W5bdFT0HBjN~odDlOXcNCXzGkkFjFw3F0aAXn8RWH4pfaB4LAa1L8LMAlT6IXkQEPar97E6kXvbQ~8SV41c~taPNRNJakg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Pennsbury School District board took several formal business actions March 20 during the meeting’s business portion.

The board voted to table a settlement-agreement item (item 10a) and then approved a consent agenda that included items 4a through 9d. The consent agenda covered a range of administrative and operational items presented at committee and carried forward for board consideration. The board chair called the roll for the votes; the board recorded the motions as carrying.

Notable items included in the approved consent agenda:
- A donor gift of art supplies from Fusible Glass Studio (Nancy Allen) valued at approximately $26,465, which the board accepted with appreciation.
- A purchase approval for an iPad trial: 240 iPads with keyboard cases and four-year accidental-damage coverage not to exceed $120,708 for elementary students, plus an additional 10 iPads for art classes and ELL/training use (costs in the agenda). District staff said the rationale includes reduced breakage rates and buyback guarantees.
- Renewal of Incident IQ, an asset and incident-tracking system, not to exceed $26,145.70 for the coming school year.
- Authorization of several travel and conference attendance requests and a revised international trip contract for a previously approved 2023 Germany trip that required cost revisions.
- Approval of a prom entertainment contract for Wasserman Music LLC at a cost covered from ticket sales.

Committee chairs summarized discussions that led to these items. Finance and partnership committee members identified expected healthcare cost increases and recommended continuing to monitor self-insurance readiness. The facilities committee reported ongoing capital projects including stadium concession building inspections completed March 3, progress on a second synthetic turf field, and continued design-development work for a new high school building.

Legal counsel and board members discussed a draft policy (Policy 3-26) presented for a first reading; during discussion some community members raised concerns about historical posting of earlier policy drafts on the board’s BoardDocs portal. Administrators said the agenda item was properly advertised for a first reading and that staff would continue to address posting concerns.

The board did not vote on the middle-school schedule during this meeting; that item was presented for information and public comment.

","At its March 20 meeting the Pennsbury board moved to table a settlement agreement and approved a consent agenda covering a mix of routine items and contracts, including an iPad pilot purchase for elementary classrooms, a donation of art supplies, an incident-management renewal and prom entertainment contract.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Pennsbury High leaders point to falling disciplinary hearings and wider climate efforts; security upgrades and PBIS cited

Pennsbury outlines middle school schedule changes; parents and students warn reduced chorus time will harm music access

Board approves consent agenda including iPad purchases and technology renewals; tables settlement agreement