July 15, 2024

Wallingford Swarthmore School District
200 S. Providence Rd.
Wallingford, PA 19086

Dear Mr. Henry (President), Mrs. Wachtman (Vice President) and all esteemed Wallingford Swarthmore School District Board Members,

The parents of the Wallingford Elementary School are writing to you after learning of our valued Principal, Dr. Savage, submitting his resignation. We know he is not the first administrator to leave for another school, but this resignation hits close to home. We are extremely disappointed he is leaving our school. Dr. Savage created a family school environment over the last six years at WES. He led his team of teachers and staff through the difficult Covid-19 years through to today all while building a deep sense of trust among the parents, teachers and students alike. Dr. Savage said, “I like to think of WES as a family school where everyone feels welcome, all opinions are heard and respected and we can use our individual strengths to come together for the common goal of providing top quality education and support for our children.” Each day, he exemplified that to everyone. Even if you saw an issue differently than him, you knew you were heard and your ideas were considered and valued.

The administration led by Dr. Marseilles is not leading with our shared values. We have witnessed a culture of support and collegiality amongst our administrators, teachers and staff erode over the past two years.

The individual school administrators are not supported in their decisions when issues arise.

1. The staff is not adequately communicated with or consulted on decisions and tasks that affect their ability to lead and teach our children.

2. The staff is ordered to do things on quick time-turn around without regard for their everyday tasks, taking away from their support of the students.

3. Teachers are being asked to work more hours and teach more students for no increase in pay and with no additional support, materials or training.

4. Teachers and staff are being asked to do more special education support after the multiple staff on the Autistic Support Team have left due to lack of district support.

5. Building space is at capacity and no movement has been made to address this even though it has been a known issue for 2 years.

All of these pressures have fallen on the principal, staff and teachers to handle. It is too much.

As parents, we are standing up for our principal, teachers and staff to say… something must change. The teachers and staff need to know they are supported by the parents and the administrators. This can be accomplished by

1. Conducting a formal, independent, evaluation of Dr. Marseilles performance with emphasis on his ability to create a supportive and collegiate work environment.

2. Designate the District’s top priority to “stopping the bleeding” of our talented, hardworking and committed administrators leaving our schools by setting up meetings with our remaining administrators, teachers and staff to discuss what can be done to course correct and address their stresses and unhappiness.

3. Work with the teachers union to approve a contract for the 2024-2025 school year that aims to alleviate their stresses in the classroom so they feel supported.

4. Move forward on budget and building decisions to alleviate the physical strains that are adding to the overall negative environment.

5. Evaluate the Special Education Team’s needs and help them become successful after their staff departures.

As proud parents of WSSD, we sincerely hope you hear our concerns and act swiftly. This is an inflection point where we can together prove that WSSD is a world class school district because we prioritize people.