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06/01/2026

This week the 25/26 school year ends but a new School Board calendar is just beginning for June.

3️⃣ Tomorrow is a triple header with Budget & Finance at 6pm followed by Special Voting Meeting at 7pm, then Committee of the Whole.

Topics across the 3 Agendas include:
💰 The 26/27 Budget
👩🏽‍🏫 Collective Bargaining Agreement
🔍 Policies updates including Board Organization
🚧 A HS Construction Project Update

04/30/2026

The May Calendar is posted for Warwick School Board.

⚠️ Take note of agenda item 5️⃣ for the Special Voting Meeting on 5/5/26 as the board will consider the 9th grade ELA curriculum updates MINUS the book Speak.

04/22/2026

Jeff and Kimberly were among several community members, educators, parents AND students that spoke in support of approving The 57 Bus as an independent study selection for AP English and for Speak among the 9th grade ELA updates.

❌️The 57 Bus was not approved by a vote of 7-2. It almost didn’t even get a vote when there was a delay in a 2nd motion to discuss the agenda item. Mr. Landis and Mr. Steinman voted yes.

❌️The 9th grade ELA updates that included Speak were unanimously NOT approved.

⁉️However, it wasn’t until a Warwick educator asked for clarification in public comment at the end of the meeting that it became apparent some board members did not realize they had voted against ALL the 9th grade updates - not just Speak. A vote to separate Speak was either overlooked or intentionally not planned. It is uncertain where this leaves the 9th grade curriculum for next year other than to remain as is with no updates.

Concerns about trauma, age appropriateness and ideology in the books were voiced in reference to how board members voted.

✅️The board voted 8-1, with relatively little discussion, to approve the proposed 26/27 budget with a 2.55% property tax increase. This is still a proposed budget and it won’t become final until June.

Mr. Steinman voted no and requested info on what spending cuts can be considered along with the tax increase to help the district save money.

🗓 A new meeting schedule was approved for board committees. It can be found in the meeting notes and reduces the number of committee meetings and moves them to occur before Tuesday board meetings.

👮🏽‍♂️In personnel an additional School Security Officer was hired for next school year.

🚍Two parents raised concerns about the recent decision not to bus students from Lititz El to afterschool programs within a 1-mile radius of the school.

The meeting recording is available on the district website under the Board tab.

‼️Please listen to it yourself, especially the public comments from staff and students, and the closing comment from Superintendent Reifsnyder in response to the board’s decisions.

04/20/2026

⚠️ Buckle up! The agenda for tomorrow's April Voting Meeting is a long one.

🔄 The board will revisit the recommendation of The 57 Bus as an independent study text for AP Language & Composition that was separated and tabled due to community concerns.

📚 They will also vote on a number of Education Committee recommendations, one of which includes the graphic novel version of Speak.

💰 The proposed 26/27 Budget is also on the agenda so it will the first opportunity to hear the board input on this budget.

🗓 The board is also expected to approve one of two options to streamline the Committee Meeting schedule.

🎤 If you plan to give public comment, remember to email the board secretary by 3:30pm tomorrow to sign up.

04/08/2026

Last night Warwick held a Budget and Finance Committee followed by the Committee of the Whole (CoW).

💻 The CoW meeting recording is available under the Board section of the District Website.

💰 The proposed 26/27 District Budget was reviewed in Budget & Finance as well as the CoW and includes:

💲Total budget of roughly $91 million

💵 A capital reserve transfer of just under $1 million to manage debt service & maintain a favorable bond rating as recommended by financial advisors from Raymond James

2️⃣ new positions for next year:

🎼An additional elementary music instructor

👮🏼‍♂️An additional school security position to bring our school security offers to 3️⃣. (This is not a Resource Officer as previously explored)

🩹 Anticipated increase in healthcare costs. (The district is exploring ways to reduce health care costs but those interventions likely will come with initial increases in cost before savings are realized.)

💸 The budget amounts to a 2.55% real estate tax increase (17.1349 mils) that would maintain Warwick in the same relative position when milage rates are compared across districts in the county.

In addition to the Budget review the CoW included a review of the Warwick Virtual Academy, a proposal to change board committee schedules and several policy update first reads. More to come on those in a separate post.

🎤 Public comment can be reviewed at the end of the meeting recording and included 6️⃣ educators from Warwick and those that live in Warwick but teach elsewhere. All in support of approval of The 57 Bus and Speak, the graphic novel.

🗣 Several board members responded to indicate they value the educators input and are looking closely at the books in question before a decision is made. Mr. Landis, Board VP, raised the possibility of looking at a process for Board Members to review resources and gather input on them sooner.

🗓 Next meeting is Education Committee on April 13

🗳 A vote on The 57 Bus is expected at the April Voting Meeting on 4/21/26 at 7pm

04/06/2026

👀 The April Warwick School Board schedule is available along with meeting agendas on the Warwick School District website under the Board heading.

💻As a reminder, Committee of the Whole and Voting meeting are livestreamed and recorded.

🎤 Email the board secretary by 3️⃣pm the day of the meeting if you plan to give public comment at CoW or Voting Meeting.

03/18/2026

Since we're talking books at Board meetings again, here is the district post on how to go about scheduling time to review items currently under consideration.

These items will be put to a vote at a future meeting.

Warwick Community,

As part of our curriculum review process, Warwick School District has a number of proposed instructional materials for Middle School and High School ELA classes available for community review.

These materials may be reviewed by appointment only from March 11, 2026, through April 11, 2026. Stakeholders interested in reviewing the materials can visit our website for more information, including a list of materials and instructions on how to schedule an appointment, by clicking here: https://www.warwicksd.org/website/news.php?id=3820
👉

Thank you for your continued support and partnership as we work to provide meaningful learning experiences for our students.

03/18/2026

🍀 Here are your March updates from meetings held by Warwick School Board including the return of the book debate.📚

At Committee of the Whole, attended by Kimberly, the Board saw a presentation from the Future Cities team just back from competition in Washington D.C.

🇪🇸 Students presented their solutions to the housing, agriculture, transportation and energy problems of Barcelona

🧢 Hats off to our Future Cites team!👏

💰 The Board also heard from financial advisors at Raymond James about Warwick’s financial standing (which is very good) and recommendations for managing debt service for the next several years to maintain a good borrowing position.

✅️ On advice from Raymond James, The Board put forward a motion to allow the CFO to refund a 2023 series of bonds early in order to save on interest. The decision to actually do that will be made closer to the date those bonds are eligible to be called back (August) and will take into account interest rates at that time.

🚧 Building and Property Committee met and reviewed bids for the Lititz Elementary fence repair. They put forward a motion for one of the contractors to complete the work that was approved by

the Board at March voting meeting.

Education Committee was attended by Jeff and included reviews of:

📰 a proposed Journalism class at the High School

📓 updates to the 9th and 8th grade ELA curriculums.

📒 A 7th/8th grade Reading Intervention Course was also introduced.

Texts and resources related to these new courses are available for review by appointment in the district office.

🔎 Jeff noted that one text for the 9th grade ELA course, Speak (Graphic Novel Version) by Laurie Halse Anderson received some attention from the Board Members.

Which brings us to the March Voting meeting attended by Connie and Kimberly tonight.

3️⃣ recommendations from the Education Committee were put to a vote

Approval of resources for Advanced Placement Language and Composition

Approval of a Graphic Novel version of The Giver for 8th grade ELA

Approval of updates to ELA in the middle school

⚠️ Mr. Landis motioned to separate approval of one title for the AP Language and Composition class so it can be considered and voted on at the April Voting Meeting. The Board approved that motion and the rest of the recommendations above minus that one title.

📙 The text in Question is The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater. It appears in the course as a potential selection for independent study.

Other titles for the course that were approved tonight include:
For class reading:
Textbook Anthology with excerpts from multiple books
The Crucible, Arthur Miller
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Night, Elie Wiesel
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
Excerpts from Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Independent Study Options:
Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green
Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt

Mr. Landis noted that the Board received concerns about The 57 Bus from community members.

❓️In addition to a closer look at the book the Board is asking for a better understanding of how the book was selected for the course and how parents are notified about the text as an option for independent study.

(The Board has existing policies that cover requests by parents to limit access to library material and exempt them from course materials)

🎤 3 people signed up for public comment but only one person actually spoke to express disappointment in the selection of The 57 Bus due to the content of the book.

📣 You can express your views on this or any topic by emailing individual board members or by signing up to give public comment at an upcoming meeting.

We’ll share next month’s schedule when its available and don't forget that recordings of board meetings are available on the district website.

03/03/2026

📰 Update on the attempt to secure funds to hire a Resource Officer

When: Lititz Borough Council meeting, Feb. 24.

03/02/2026

☘️ March is here and with it a new meeting calendar.

Visit the Warwick School District website for meeting agendas and live stream options when available.