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Upper Darby SD adopts facilities report that could allow sunsetting of Charles Kelley Elementary in 2025–26
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Summary
The Upper Darby SD board adopted a facilities report that includes language allowing the district to sunset Charles Kelley Elementary at the end of the 2025–26 academic year; an emailed public comment opposed any sunsetting without new facilities in place.
The Upper Darby SD board adopted a facilities report during its meeting after a voice vote that the chair declared carried.
Board staff presented the facilities report and moved for its adoption. A board member sought a clarity: "To be clear, this resolution isn't to sunset Charles Kelley Elementary School at the end of this school year. It is to potentially sunset it for the end of next school year. Is that correct?" The chair replied, "That is correct," clarifying that any sunsetting in the measure would be timed for the end of the 2025–26 academic year and would depend on subsequent decisions.
Before the vote, a staff member read an emailed public comment from Joe Clark and Sadie Thomas (dated April 29) opposing the sunsetting "without new facilities in place." The comment raised concerns about ongoing crowding and the use of trailers at Stonehurst, student safety near local activity and 9-1-1 dispatch locations, worsening busing issues, and what the authors described as long-standing unmet promises of better facilities for neighborhoods east of Lansdowne Avenue. The email also criticized district spending priorities, citing a $12,000,000 pool and other past facility projects as examples.
The board proceeded with a voice vote on the facilities report. Multiple members responded "aye," and the chair declared the motion carried and the report adopted. The transcript records the adoption by voice vote but does not provide a numbered roll-call tally in the record.
The meeting then opened a public hearing period and explained the three-minute limit per speaker under policy 903 and a one-hour total for general comments. The chair announced there were no in-person or submitted commenters for that hearing. The board moved to adjourn and the meeting ended.
What happens next: the adopted facilities report includes a provision that could allow the district to sunset Charles Kelley Elementary at the end of the 2025–26 academic year; any formal change to the school's status would require subsequent board action and public notice.
