Pennridge School Board faces angry public over curriculum, rescheduling issues [View all]

At another contentious Pennridge School Board meeting Monday night, Bucks County residents pressed board members on issues ranging from the school curriculum to the last-minute postponement of last week's meeting.

During Monday's initial public comment, many attendees took issue with "Policy 109," which the board passed last fall to regulate use of reading materials in school libraries.

According to the district's communication office, the policy is designed to establish "comprehensive, varied, and age-appropriate resources" for students, and it includes a review process for challenging materials that do not meet these standards.

Later during the meeting, attendees also took issue with the district's contract with Vermillion Education — a consultant with ties to Hillsdale College, a private Christian school in Michigan — to revise school curriculum for K-12 students. Transparency was again a major issue, as several residents expressed displeasure with both the content and the vague terms of the contract.

Speaking in opposition to the contract, Foster said the Vermillion deal amounted to an "indoctrination of religion" into Pennridge schools. She accused the board of following a political agenda promoted by "DeSantis and Abbott," referring to the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, respectively.

Levy called the contract "fiscally irresponsible," due to the lack of a clear compensation amount for Vermillion.

"How can we possibly be hiring someone with no responsibility?" Levy asked the board.


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