By Heather Michon
Correspondent
The School Board’s final meeting of 2024 on Wednesday night (Dec. 11) began by honoring this year’s recipients of teacher and staff awards.
Teachers of the Year included Kristen Pittman (Central), Julie Carrier (Carysbrook), Melanie Kennedy (FMS), and Carol Rich (FCHS). Staff of the Year were Jon Lane (Central), Chuck Tayler (Carysbrook), Angela Hall (FMS), and Gerald Martin (FCHS).
Josh Bowser of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates gave an update on the Abrams Academy renovations. This project will fix structural issues with the building and create a more modernized interior space. Final drawings will be completed in January, and work is expected to be completed over the summer of 2025.
The conversation briefly turned to the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget. To bring teacher’s salaries up to the median for the region, members are tentatively looking at a six percent increase in teacher salaries, with three percent coming from the state. Health insurance costs are expected to increase by 12 percent, and a dozen full- and part-time positions are losing federal grant funding as COVID-era programs expire. Work on the final budget will resume in January.
The Learning Resources Review Committee (LRRC) wrapped its work on more than a dozen challenged library books in November. Superintendent Peter Gretz said they would be making recommendations for how to handle any future challenges in the coming weeks.
Of 16 books reviewed, the committee recommended 15 of them stay on the FCHS Library shelves. Only one book, Elana K Arnold’s award-winning What Girls Are Made Of was recommended for removal from the library to the counselor’s office due to sexually explicit content.
“This book has been removed from the general library shelves, and therefore, it has been banned,” Cunningham resident Georgianna Joslin said. “And for the teens who may have wanted or needed to read this book in the safety of the school library without having to check it out. I am so sorry that that option has been taken away from them.”
“Let’s talk about the slippery slope we’re on because it’s not just about this one book. Book bands don’t stop at a single title. They metastasize like a cancer,” said Ashleigh Crocker. Today, it’s an award-winning novel about a teenage girl. Tomorrow, it’s biology textbooks because evolution is controversial.”
Two members referenced the issue in their closing remarks.
“I appreciate all the work the Learning Resource Committee did,” said Charles Rittenhouse (Cunningham). I’m proud of the work they’ve done.”
“I’ve looked at some of the information. Some of the books are so disgusting that they won’t read them in the group themselves,” Rittenhouse added. “They have to take them individually and read them.”
It is not clear what Rittenhouse was referencing. The LRRC broke into small groups and were randomly assigned titles to expedite the review process. No member declined to read a title because of its content.
“I just fundamentally believe that it sets a bad precedent and says something about who we are and what we want for our community and for our students,” said James Kelley (Palmyra). “I do thank the committee for their work. I know that reading all of those books and grappling with some of the difficult subject matter, to be honest, even for adults, this is difficult subject matter. It’s a difficult job.”
