Dear Parents and Community Members,

As we begin the new decade, we are urgently working to make important programmatic, academic, financial, and physical improvements to the Coatesville Area School District. I am writing to provide an update on the state of the district.

This District is filled with caring, dedicated employees, and the community has a great deal of pride in our schools. The academic performance of many of our students is exemplary. Our high school offers 17 different Advanced Placement courses and has helped students earn acceptance to prestigious Ivy League universities and many excellent state and local ones. We offer many strong academic and extra-curricular programs and are routinely recognized for our outstanding athletics.

Despite these positives, our District is facing a number of prominent and pressing challenges. We are grappling with a $14.1 million budget gap for the 2020-21 school year, and must find ways to reduce that deficit without jeopardizing the education of our students and further over-burdening our taxpayers. Our School Board has committed to not taking any Act 1 exceptions and instead limiting increases to no more than our state-mandated Act 1 limit, which can range from a 0% to a 3.3% increase. At this time, no decision has been made on any tax increase.

Our finances are driving our ability to make much-needed programmatic changes. During numerous staff and student focus groups and meetings with our administrators, we have heard, and agree, that our District must make improvements to:

• Special education services
• Academic programs and supports
• School climate and student discipline
• Facilities cleanliness and maintenance

We believe that these areas are critical to our district’s success and future. We are working collaboratively with our faculty to develop a plan to systemically address each of these areas of concern. That plan will be presented publicly on January 28, at 7:00 p.m. in the CASH Auditorium.

As you may be aware, charter school tuition payments are placing a significant drain on our school district. We have seen a dramatic surge in the number of students attending charter schools; and are currently fighting a demand by two charter schools that we pay them an additional $3.8 million in tuition from the 2018-19 school year. We will continue to work to fight to keep local funding in the Coatesville Area School District to strengthen our own school system.

As I’ve spoken with many of our school community members, parents, and staff about our current situation, the question I often hear is: How did our District find itself in a financial and operational crisis?  There are many reasons, including increased special education costs without any additional state or federal funding; a lack of effective and consistent student discipline guidelines; a lack of meaningful, necessary, and required training for staff; concerns about facility maintenance; a lack of collaboration between faculty and administrators. Ultimately, parents and staff have expressed a lack of confidence in district operations.

Many of the solutions to our challenges are simple and easily achieved. Others are much more complex and require a long-term commitment as well as financial support.

My commitment to you is transparency. As Interim Superintendent I have done my best to communicate in as forthright and thorough a manner as possible. In the coming months I will be sending you regular updates and information about our path forward.

In the meantime, I hope you will mark your calendar to join us on January 28. We’ll have a link to our plan for a path forward posted on our website, with a high-level summary, after the meeting.

I’m confident that if we work together with an open mind, placing students first, that we can achieve our ambitious goals. I appreciate your partnership.

Sincerely,

Rick

Richard F. Dunlap Jr., Ed. D., Interim Superintendent