Hello and welcome! This is where you'll find our mission and vision, foundational pillars, and our beliefs about the role teachers play in the lives of families and children. Blog posts can be found here. Voters, we hear YOU and added School Safety as one of our foundational pillars.
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:
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are parents of school age children;
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represent a variety of political ideologies, ranging from conservative to liberal, with a majority of board members “in the middle”;
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focus on academic excellence above all else.
Our Foundational Pillars
Transparency
Transparency refers to how forthcoming our district is in their communications. This covers everything from what is stated at board meetings to communications between the district and individual parents. We believe that the district should be as transparent as possible, in as many areas as possible, from curriculum to finances, and from discipline to school safety, to name just a few.
School Safety
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. Safety should transcend politics. Every parent --no matter the political affiliation-- wants to know that their children are safe when they go to school. We cannot wait for politicians in Washington or Harrisburg to solve this problem, WCASD needs to prioritize safety NOW and our Back to Basics candidates are ready to step up and lead in this area.
Fiscal Accountability
Fiscal Accountability. Have you ever tried to read through the board packet that accompanies a school board agenda? These documents are hundreds of pages long, and the financial portion of the document is cumbersome and difficult to understand, even for those who enjoy financial challenges. We intend to examine the district’s finances more closely in an effort to help all of us better understand how and where our tax dollars are being spent.
Keep Politics
Out of the Classroom
Public schools exist to educate children. How much of the school day is devoted to education vs the teaching of political ideologies*? We’ll examine the trend of politicization of education, and we will continually call for our classrooms to be apolitical spaces for our children. *Discussion of political topics has a time and place within schools, such as within Civics of Government classes.
Academic Excellence
We believe that the WCASD is equipped— with excellent teachers, and ample funding-- to provide each child with an excellent education. In the coming months we will examine academic standards and metrics, and whether or not our district is meeting those metrics. We'll also take a look at national educational trends and we’ll explore how these trends relate to WCASD's pursuit of academic excellence.
Parents as Partners
Parents should be valued partners when it comes to the education of their children. Are you familiar with the phrase in loco parentis? It’s a Latin phrase that means “in place of parents”. When our children walk into a school building, the school is functioning in loco parentis throughout the school day. Where is the line between parental rights and in loco parentis? Do parents abdicate their rights to the school under in loco parentis? We will be exploring this topic in the coming weeks and months.
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.