Last night the new school board was sworn in after a scheduling snafu where Judge Stephanie Klein had to step in at the last minute to swear in the board. Kelly Wachtman and David Grande swapped places with Kelly becoming board president and David Grande becoming vice president. Appointments were made from the board to the district’s various committees.

The board also approved a meeting calendar for the following year with only one meeting a month instead of two with the expectation that more of the district’s business is now happening at the committee meetings. It has been noticeable this fall that there have been fewer focus topics at board meetings. This is something of a concern, as the Swarthmorean and this blog largely only cover the main legislative meetings. These meetings are increasingly becoming ritual formalities as the substantive discussions take place at the committee meetings, which are not streamed on Youtube and do not have detailed agendas and minutes posted to the website. As I said at the meeting, I believe this represents a step backwards for the community’s ability to follow what’s happening in the district.