Residents raise alarm over spike in expulsions and bullying; administration says discipline code enforced

Public comment at the Souderton Area School District meeting highlighted what residents described as a sharp rise in expulsions this school year and raised concerns about bullying and student safety.

Alexandra Wisser of Upper Salford told the board that agenda item 7.17 would approve expulsions for three students and said, "This brings the total expulsions for this school year to 10 and we still have 5 months to go. By comparison, only 5 students were expelled last year and 3 the year before." She asked what steps the administration and the board were taking to address the trend.

A district speaker who identified himself as John Waldenberger responded, saying, "There are years in the past that we've had this many expulsions back 15 years ago, maybe. It ebbs and flows. The fact of the matter is we are enforcing our discipline code," and added that students who reach expulsion-level discipline are placed in "appropriate placements" to receive support.

During another public comment, a resident described an alleged incident in which their child was targeted and called a racial epithet in a hallway and said the school's prior responses had been limited to advising the child to "just ignore them." The commenter tied the classroom and broader community climate to public figures and said the incidents left children feeling unprotected.

The transcript records the public questions and the administration's general reply that the district enforces its discipline code; no additional remedies or specific new initiatives were announced in the meeting record.

Item 7.17 (three expulsions) was part of the consent agenda approved by the board later in the meeting; the transcript does not include a separate roll-call tally for that item.