Parents press Neshaminy board over counselor cuts, superintendent pay and budget priorities
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Summary
At the meeting, parent David Debelius urged the board to address declining guidance-counselor staffing—saying the district went from 26 to 17 counselors—questioned why mental-health issues were not discussed in executive session, and raised budget and superintendent-pay concerns; the board cited executive-session confidentiality and did not provide numerical confirmation.
A parent raised concerns at a Neshaminy School District board meeting about declining guidance-counselor staffing, district spending priorities and the secrecy of executive-session discussions.
During the second public-comment period, David Debelius (who identified himself as a private business owner and parent) told the board he discovered that the district’s guidance-counselor ranks had fallen ‘‘from 26 counselors across the school district’’ to ‘‘17’’ and characterized that as about a 34% decrease. He said the district’s student population had grown by about 10% since 2015 and cited national increases in youth mental-health issues. "We've had 26 counselors across the school district. Now we have 17," Debelius said.
Debelius also questioned budget priorities, saying he understood the district budget to be about $226,000,000 for 2026 and asserting the superintendent received a 14.5% salary increase over two years. He asked why mental-health and counselor staffing were not discussed during the executive session the board held before the public meeting.
The presiding officer responded that the matters discussed in executive session were confidential and would not be disclosed: "We're not gonna talk about what was discussed in executive session." No district staff or board member provided numerical confirmation or a rebuttal to Debelius's specific staffing or salary claims in the public record of this meeting.
Debelius said he would return to future meetings until the board addresses the issue. The meeting record does not include any formal direction to staff to audit counselor staffing levels, provide a written report, or amend the budget; those would be follow-up actions requiring board or administrative initiation.
Claims made by members of the public in this meeting were not corroborated on the record during the session and should be verified against district staffing lists, payroll records, and the published budget for the relevant fiscal year.