Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Parents press Great Valley board on TCHS grading, 5–6 center transitions and iPad/AI concerns
Loading...
Summary
During public comment, parents asked the board to include technical-program grades in GPAs, described communication breakdowns over the 5–6 center, and urged limits or stronger safeguards on iPads and AI use for younger students.
Several residents used the public-comment period at Wednesday's Great Valley School Board meeting to raise policy and program concerns.
Brandon Gray of Malvern asked the board to change grading practice so that grades earned in Technical-Career High School (TCHS) and allied-health programs are calculated into students' GPAs rather than recorded only as transfer credits. "Students in these programs complete Great Valley academic coursework each morning... Despite this level of commitment and rigor, these grades are not reflected in students' GPAs," Gray said, urging that career-technical coursework be recognized alongside traditional academic courses.
Parents also expressed frustration about communication channels. Jen Adams of Charlestown Township described repeated attempts to use the district's Parent Key Communicator (PKC) process to address concerns about students feeling isolated at the 5–6 center. Adams said her group waited weeks for answers and felt "detoured" by the PKC process, adding that parents wanted opportunities to correct misinformation and receive timely responses. Another parent, Sarah Silverio, described her son's difficulty in a self-contained house structure and asked the district to review opportunities for movement and social mixing to ease the transition to middle school.
Concerns about devices and AI also arose. Marie Carbo urged the board to reconsider sending iPads home with younger students or to enforce stronger restrictions such as blocking app downloads; she said the devices have created "conflict in homes." Sherry Lawrence warned of AI inaccuracies and "hallucinations," citing an example in which generative output created fabricated legal citations. Lawrence urged caution in how AI is used and taught in high-school settings.
The board acknowledged the comments; administrators said some topics were already on staff radar (including the TCHS grading issue) and that staff would follow up. No formal actions were taken in response to public comment during the meeting.
