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- ☀️🩱Wyo Pool Hours update; School Board & West Reading Economic Development meetings
☀️🩱Wyo Pool Hours update; School Board & West Reading Economic Development meetings
Dr. Angela Adler
August 13, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
On Monday, August 12th, Wyomissing Recreation sent a notification that Wyomissing pool hours would change to 2 - 7pm, effective immediately.
The Wyomissing Area School Board and the West Reading Economic Development Committee both met on Monday, August 12th.
Note: The school board meeting ended after 6p, and the West Reading Economic Development Committee meeting started at 6p. Therefore, it was impossible for any residents to attend the entirety of both meetings. This is not an exception: all scheduled school board meetings conflict with West Reading borough committee meetings.
Wyomissing Pool Hours Change
Now, open 2 - 7pm
The Wyomissing pool
On Monday, August 12th at 11:40am, Wyomissing Recreation notified residents via email and Facebook that the Wyomissing pool would not open at 12pm as scheduled. Rather, Wyomissing pool hours were shifted to 2 - 7 pm for the remainder of the summer.
The hours adjustment was necessitated due to lifeguards beginning high school preseason practices for fall sports.
Angela adds…
Since preseason sessions for high school sports are scheduled well in advance, it is unclear why Wyomissing Recreation waited till such a late date and time to post notification about the pool hours change.
Wyomissing Recreation has stated previously that they monitor social media for reactions to changes such as this. If you’d like to get in the contact with Wyomissing Recreation, you can comment on the Facebook post or email.
For more details:
Wyomissing School Board Meeting
ParentSquare
The Wyomissing Area School Board met Monday, August 12th at 4:45pm.
The meeting was Dr. Woodard’s first as superintendent. During her superintendent’s report, Dr. Woodard shared information about using the new school communication app, ParentSquare (available on Android and iOS - log in with your Powerschool registered email). Dr. Woodard reported that so far 1000 users have registered on ParentSquare. It seems that ParentSquare may be improving language access equity in the district as well, as over 11% of district users have the app set to display in a language other than English. App users can view elementary students’ assigned homeroom teachers and junior/senior high school students’ schedules. See the school district’s ParentSquare webpage for more details and quick-start guides.
Greenworks Development CEO Doug Neidich gave a presentation on solar panel options for the school district. School board members indicated they are considering putting solar arrays on the flat roof portions of all 3 school buildings, as well as a solar panel canopy above the West Reading playground.
Congratulations were offered to B.J. Dramby, a 25-year teacher at Wyomissing Jr/Sr High School. Mr. Dramby is departing the Wyomissing school district in September to take on an administrative role in another district.
Observations Beyond the Agenda
All scheduled school board meetings conflict with West Reading borough committee meetings. This occurred on Monday, August 12th, as the school board meeting ended after 6pm, which is when the West Reading Economic Development Committee meeting started.
Wyomissing borough committee meetings never conflict with school board meetings.
In order for West Reading residents to be able to participate in school board meetings and borough meetings, West Reading and the Wyomissing Area School Board would need to coordinate their meeting schedules.
For more details:
West Reading Economic Development Committee Meeting
As noted above, I was late to the West Reading Economic Development Committee meeting due to the scheduling overlap with the Wyomissing School Board meeting.
The committee discussed issues in interpersonal interactions among business owners involved with the West Reading Community Revitalization Foundation (WRCRF). The organization’s new Main Street Executive Director Nick Price recounted having issues with conflicts in board meetings and organizational operations in general. Price reported that the interpersonal issues are so severe that another person in his position might have left the role already. Committee members stated that they have had similar experiences, some as extreme as receiving death threats and bullying. It seemed that the committee was anticipating a board meeting of the WRCRF scheduled for tonight, Tuesday August 13th.
The West Reading borough manager continues negotiations with Norfolk Southern about repainting the railroad bridge. The Economic Development Committee intends to attempt to renew the agreement with Norfolk Southern that was established when the bridge was last repainted 20 years ago.
The remaining agenda did not have many updates. It also seems that the list of vacant commercial properties listed on the agenda was somewhat inaccurate.
Observations Beyond the Agenda
The high levels of interpersonal tension among business owners in the West Reading Community Revitalization Foundation have been alluded to in multiple West Reading and Wyomissing borough meetings.
I have also heard business owners reference this in informal spaces.
These interpersonal tensions, and the unconducive dynamic in interactions, are described consistently as existing before the current Main Street Executive Director assumed the role.
I am unclear on who the involved parties are, as well as what the exact nature and reason for the conflicts and tensions is.