Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Equity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Perkiomen Valley supervisors outline districtwide equity work; 504 handbook and program reviews planned
Summary
Filling in for the district’s equity supervisor, Lauren Moulton described K–12 equity efforts—restorative-practices training, MTSS/PBIS expansion, 504 procedural training and a planned district 504 manual—and said program reviews (ELD, gifted) and family engagement events are under way to close opportunity gaps.
Lauren Moulton, filling in for Dr. Champagne Lee and identified as supervisor of equity and student services, told the Perkiomen Valley School District education committee that the district’s equity work is a systemwide effort rather than the responsibility of a single office. "Equity work is really systematic work. It's not siloed," she said, adding that the district is aligning resources by individual student need rather than evenly distributing identical supports.
Moulton highlighted professional learning as a leading strategy. She described restorative-practices training at the high school—training that models community circles, de-escalation language and restorative sanctioning—while younger grades use responsive-classroom approaches. She said those programs are intended to change classroom environments so that students in distress receive support rather than exclusion.
On special-education accommodations, Moulton said the district has delivered 504 trainings to counselors and staff and is developing a districtwide 504 procedural manual to make 504 identification and implementation consistent across K–12. She framed the manual as a tool so decisions are "based in law and not based on any type of bias." The manual is part of a set of procedural reviews that also include a 504 procedures review and a revision of the school counseling plan (referred to as "339" in the guide) with a spring due date.
Moulton described efforts to reduce subjectivity in classroom observations by training counselors and psychologists in a structured observation code aimed at objective evidence-gathering. She also discussed strategies for multilingual learners—shifting to asset-based language such as "multilanguage learners," aligning classroom supports to Pennsylvania ELD standards, and creating staff toolkits and scaffolds.
The district has been expanding MTSS and PBIS as tiered, data-driven frameworks, she said, with Tier 1 broadly implemented and Tier 2 in place at elementary and middle schools; high-school implementation continues. Moulton also noted the district subscribed to ValidateMe, a pay-per-use foreign-transcript validation service intended to translate and align international coursework to U.S. high-school equivalents to avoid penalizing immigrant students.
Moulton described the youth aid panel as a restorative diversionary alternative to suspension that uses scripted staff questioning and restorative sanctions—community service, impact statements or public-service announcements—aimed at keeping students in school and connected to learning.
On next steps, Moulton said the district is conducting systematic reviews of programs (ELD/LIEP, gifted, 504) with focus groups and IU (intermediate unit) participation; the gifted program review is expected to produce results in December, and she aims to complete a 504 procedural document by the end of the current school year. She also said the district is planning family-engagement events including an ELD family night and an MLK Day of Service to build connections with multilingual families.
Board members asked about expanding the UPenn belongingness survey the district has discussed; Moulton said the district is exploring membership but cited a cost that will be reviewed and discussed again in December. Several members pressed for clearer, parent-facing website content explaining 504s and IEPs; Moulton said she had begun work with district communications to post plain-language explanations and navigation guidance for families.
The committee thanked Moulton for the overview and asked staff to return with program-review deliverables and recommendations as data from focus groups and the IU become available.
