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Superintendent credits new cell‑phone policy with sharp drop in high‑school failures
Summary
Superintendent Jose told the board the high school’s failure rate fell to 3.6% in 2024–25 from a long‑term 10.3% baseline, a change he described as a 37% decrease and attributed largely to a stricter cell‑phone policy and use of pouches, while cautioning the correlation with statewide test scores is unclear.
Superintendent Jose reported to the Montoursville Area SD board that the district has seen a marked decline in high‑school course failures since adopting a stricter cell‑phone policy.
Jose said the district’s long‑running average failure rate of 10.3 percent (drawn from the 2017–18 baseline cited in the meeting) fell to 3.6 percent in the 2024–25 school year. "We concluded the 2425 school year with a 3.6 percent," he told the board, and added that the district had "a 37 percent decrease in failures." He attributed much of the improvement to the cell‑phone policy, including use of pouches that limit device access during school time.
Why this matters: Course failure rates affect student promotion, interventions, and resource needs. A sustained drop in failures can reduce remediation load and inform disciplinary and instructional policy decisions.
Jose acknowledged limits on drawing a firm causal link with state assessments: statewide scores also fell in the same period and the district shifted to online testing formats, making direct comparison difficult. "It's hard to know what it's done with state testing because we switched to online at the high school," he told the board.
The superintendent also outlined staffing updates and training plans: the district has seen significant student movement during summer enrollment, with 22 incoming students with IEP or 504 plans and 13 students leaving; staff are working to transfer records and match services, and high‑school learning‑support teachers will provide training for classroom accommodation and differentiation.
The report concluded with an acknowledgement that the state budget situation remains unresolved and could affect district planning; no policy changes were proposed during the meeting.
