Neshaminy Announces Changes to TLC Program

In order to keep The Learning Center (TLC) program intact in the Neshaminy School District, the school board approved a plan that was marked by a scaled back level of service, staffing cuts and reduced spending at the school.

However, the program is going to experience more cuts.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, acting superintendent Jacqueline Rattigan announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Education turned down the district's application in July to approve this "plan b" for TLC.

"We couldn’t have picked a worst time to apply," Rattigan said, adding that when the district applied the state was "in the midst of the state scrutinizing all of these applications."

Rattigan said that she and the district's cabinent members came up with an alternative for TLC's 29 students. She said that some of those students need full time emotional support and some need part time learning support.

She said that since TLC students are accustomed to being a small setting, apart from the high school, the TLC students will have homeroom together. In addition, TLC students will have the option to each lunch together in a smaller area.

This modified TLC program will include stronger academic interventions with increased rigor. Students will be able to learn at their own pace and after school tutoring and activities made available to them. A service learning club and graduation project club will be formed for the TLC students as well as the rest of the high school students, Rattigan said.

Tge "pilot" program, Rattigan said, will cost about $285,000 to $452,000 to run and will require the hiring of several positions, including an emotional support teacher and behavorial specialist from the Bucks County IU. Rattigan noted that the addition of these staff members will also benefit the rest of the high school population.

"We believe it meets the needs of the whole child," Rattigan said of the program. She also said that this program will go through data collection, needs assessments and parents and students will be asked for feedback to assess its effectiveness.