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Student alleges inequitable dual‑enrollment changes as board considers revised Moravian agreement
Summary
A senior, Madeline Dillard, told the board she was mistreated during a school investigation and is being denied promised dual‑enrollment opportunities; the board was set to consider a revised dual‑enrollment agreement with Moravian University (item 2.4) and the superintendent said the district is following up on a Cedar Crest MOU.
Madeline Dillard, a Salisbury High senior, used public comment time at the Nov. 19 meeting to press the district for a public response after what she described as an unresolved, inequitable change to dual‑enrollment and independent‑study credit weighting.
Dillard said she raised the issue at a prior board meeting and has received no substantive district response. She said a principal called her “snotty and demanding” during a meeting with school staff, and that she and her school counselor had not been interviewed as part of a follow‑up investigation. Dillard described how independent studies are excluded from a student’s NGA (numerical grade average) under current policy and stressed that dual‑enrollment classes historically had different credit weights (AP +10%, honors +5%, dual enrollment +5% if tied to a higher category) that affect GPA and college credit transferability.
Dillard flagged agenda item 2.4 — a revised dual‑enrollment agreement with Moravian University — and urged the board to delay approval until the district provides assurances that changes to curriculum or evaluation methods will not deny students equal access. She cited PA Title 22, Chapter 32, Sections 1(b) and 2, on equal opportunity in educational programs, and asked for a public plan to resolve the situation for “the 45 students” she said are affected.
Jennifer Dillard, her mother, publicly supported her daughter’s account and accused the principal of abusing power in the earlier meeting. The superintendent (speaker 2) responded in public comment that the administration had followed up with Cedar Crest regarding a memorandum of understanding and was awaiting an update.
On the agenda the board did take up a group of curriculum items that included a Moravian affiliation and a revised Moravian dual‑enrollment agreement. The board moved and adopted items 2.1–2.6 by voice vote. The record shows administrators are pursuing the Cedar Crest MOU and that the Moravian agreement on the agenda was approved that evening.
