Hello and welcome!
Learn about our mission and vision, blog posts, and foundational pillars.
We ❤️ teachers!
Our Mission & Vision
The mission of Back to Basics West Chester is to educate the public on school-related issues facing children and families in the WCASD, financially support and elect new school board members in 2023, and provide a framework for bringing educational excellence back to the WCASD.
The vision of Back to Basics West Chester is to bring balance back to the school board in the West Chester Area School District by electing board members who closely align with the ethnic and social demographics of our district, and who also:
-
are parents of school age children;
-
represent a variety of political ideologies, ranging from conservative to liberal, with a majority of board members “in the middle”;
-
focus on academic excellence above all else.
Every child deserves to be physically and emotionally safe while at school. Parents and taxpayers are concerned about bullying, violence in schools and on buses, vandalism, vaping/drug use, and the possibility of school shootings. School safety is our candidates' number one priority.
Address Academic Decline
Test scores were in decline before Covid. Our school board kept schools closed for a year and our students are struggling as a result. Standardized test scores have declined by 48% over 5 years. In 2022 only 25% of 8th graders were proficient in math.
Trust through Transparency
Our community deserves access to academic outcomes, teacher training, curriculum, finances, and safety plans without delay or costly legal reviews.
The PA Auditor General reported WCASD raised local taxes unnecessarily in 2018 and 2019.
The annual budget has increased by 52% in a decade and has grown to over $300 million.
Parents as Partners
Parents are essential partners in their child’s education, parental engagement is fundamental to a child’s educational success.
No Politics in Classrooms
Public schools should promote learning of core subjects and critical thinking, teaching children how to think, not what to think.
We ❤️ teachers!
We have all had our lives touched by teachers --past and present-- and we believe that teachers are vital to a successful society. Every child deserves a world-class education that will academically prepare that child to succeed as a productive citizen, and teachers play a critically important role in each child’s success. We absolutely believe that teachers are our district’s most valuable resource, and in the coming months we will make a case for paying teachers MORE because we believe that teachers are underpaid and overworked.