Superintendent: district reports 4,364 registered students, hires and technology ready for start of school

Superintendent Dr. B. Coats told the William Penn School District Board that the district is prepared to open schools for the 2025–26 year with staffing, technology and transportation largely in place.

Enrollment and staffing: Dr. Coats said as of 3:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting the district had 4,364 students registered and had processed 379 student enrollment packets for 2025–26, with about 240 still in the queue. The district’s projected enrollment is about 4,500. The superintendent said the district onboarded 24 new hires on Aug. 21: two certified school nurses, 21 teachers and one secretary; additional school security officers were in the process of onboarding. Districtwide vacancies reported included five regular‑education teachers, eight special‑education teachers, four instructional assistants, three school safety officers (SSOs) in onboarding, and one secretary.

Technology and materials: the superintendent said the district has over 5,000 Chromebooks available to ensure a 1:1 device distribution. Devices were cleaned, refurbished and redeployed to several schools, with remaining schools to receive Chromebooks that week.

Transportation and SEPTA: Dr. Coats reported no current vacancies in the district’s transportation staffing and that buses should be operating with drivers in place; the district also secured 10 standby drivers. He noted service reductions from SEPTA had impacted about six routes but that SEPTA had posted new schedules for families to plan around.

Food services and vendors: Food service staffing is an outsourced service through Aramark; food services staff were scheduled to complete training and be in place before students return.

School calendars and events: Dr. Coats said school opening events included leadership summit Aug. 14–21 and staff convocation meetings that morning and afternoon. He gave opening-day details: Sept. 3 is the first day of school for grades 1–12 (half day); kindergarten orientation is in September and Sept. 8 is the first day for kindergarten. A district back-to-school kickoff with state House Representative Joanna McClinton is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 27, 5:30–7 p.m. at the Penwood Middle School gymnasium (enter on Seventh Street), the superintendent said.

Partnerships and programs: Dr. Coats recognized two summer enrichment partnerships — Camp Rock and Camp Kaboom — led by district teachers Nicole Miller (an alum of William Penn) and Britney Lawrence. He said both programs operated free of charge to families, hired district students as summer counselors and partnered with organizations such as the Franklin Institute to provide science programming.

Communication: the superintendent reminded families that ParentSquare is the district’s official communication tool and asked parents to register. He also reviewed back-to-school night dates (Sept. 8–18) and school-specific schedules.

Board follow-up and questions: board members asked for benchmark data on ParentSquare usage over time; the superintendent said the district could provide three-, six- and nine‑month comparisons and would follow up. Board members also asked for clarification about where school improvement plans were posted; staff said they would check broken links and follow up before the end of the meeting.

Provenance: report delivered during superintendent’s report section of the meeting and followed by board Q&A.