Jul 8 2026
Board Meeting

1. Board Committee Assignments
   ⏯7:11

• During board committee assignments, Najma Landis and Susan Sander volunteered to serve on the Attendance Zone and Restructuring Review Committee.

2. Public Comment
   ⏯25:02

• Brenda Steffon (Friends of AI) urged the Board to think about a Plan B to address AIHS enrollment. 

3. FY27 Preliminary Budget Presentation
   ⏯52:39

• Dr. Ted Ammann explained due to lower enrollment numbers at AIHS, the district will face decisions regarding staffing.

⏯25:02 Brenda Steffon: Hi there. Good evening, Dr. Green and board members. My name is Brenda Steffon and here on behalf of friends of AI and also as a former AI DuPont High School alumni, I want to welcome Jenny Howard to the board to give congratulations on Vic Leonard's retirement from this. Also to acknowledge Dr. Green's departure after leading this district since 2019. Your efforts will be greatly missed and we wish you the best on your next adventure in Norristown. 

But I have to come back to why I'm here tonight. As an advocate for AI DuPont high school, we still come back to the same issue that enrollment at AI DuPont High has been declining for years. A fact raised by advocates, including myself, for so long, it feels like the same script in front of a new board. Enrollment has dropped from the mid 500s to below that mark. And as we begin to look at fall of 2026, it's also encountering lower enrollment as well as fewer staff members at the school and the district's one proposed answer, the Innovation Center, is paused indefinitely with no public alternative even as work continues within committee. 

So our question tonight as an advocacy group is direct. What is the public plan B for AI DuPont High? This district has always competed with private parochial, charter and magnet schools with generational family loyalty. John Dickinson and Thomas McKean are our other two public high schools who have had administrators actively building new programming to compete and that effort has not shown to be effective as much in AI DuPont High. So we have to ask why?

Is there enough of an initiation from administrators to get it off the ground? So the harder question that I bring up is if we cannot fill sports teams, provide band programs, support clubs, or create a picture where families feels like it's high school, are we still offering a competitive comprehensive high school or just the bare minimum with a name on the building? 

This has to be a defining requirement in lieu of losing our superintendent that we have a fulfilled position here that has an equally committed demonstrated commitment to public education and not to manage its decline. So, we're coming back to the same question. The board, you are the people. We need to have answers on where this direction is going and you lead us. 

Thank you for your time. Congratulations, Dr. Green.

⏯7:11 Beth Twardus: All right. Thank you. All right. We are ready for um school board committee assignments. The first school board committee is the Attendance Zone and Restructuring Review committee. We can have up to three board members that will attend these meetings. Is there anyone who is interested in sitting on this committee?

⏯7:31 Najma Landis: Najma Landis, I would be interested in continuing to serve on the committee. 

⏯7:43 Susan Sander: I'll continue to serve on the committee.

⏯7:50 Beth Twardus: We do have um one board member not present tonight. So, if we have two, that would probably be enough. Correct?

⏯7:59 Jose Matthews: I just wanted to take a moment. I am getting text messages from Board Member Hynson. He is having trouble getting into the meeting. Um, tech. Are we able to get Mr. Hynson into the room? He's not on? And we can always circle back to if there's any vacancies. 

⏯8:30 Dorrell Green: Well, you currently only had two.

⏯8:30 Beth Twardys: Two. Yeah, two for that one. We can move forward. Okay. So Attendance Zone we have Landis and Ms. Sander. 

⏯52:39 Ted Ammann: Certainly enrollment continues to be a concern. Most of our enrollment is based on the number of students. Your enrollment drives the amount of funds that we get from the state. And when enrollment goes down, we certainly have to make some decisions about how to fund staff and you've certainly heard that for the last couple years relating to AI High and declining secondary or not necessarily declining but lower secondary enrollment. So that's something to think about and I think the last thing to think about is certainly that balance is great right now but as we move forward if budgets continue to grow or if they grow more than we plan for or if there are too many pressures to increase various components of that that budget that balance goes quickly. I mean, all of us looking at 12 million seems like a lot of money. It is not a lot of money when you're looking at a $400 million a year budget.

🌐Jul 08 2026 Board Meeting Agenda

🌐Attendance Zone Restructuring & Review Committee Webpage

📁Attendance Zone Restructuring & Review Committee Rolling Slides

📁FY 2027 Preliminary Budget