During the past year, there have been a handful of administration departures at Pennsbury. But none of them received them received the attention of the press until the notice that the Director of Special Education went on administrative leave in May 2023. First reports appeared on May 14, 2024 at Patch.com, a fledgling blog that typically does nothing more than regurgitate press releases that they receive from organizations seeking free publicity. But on this day, Patch.com released a breaking news story about Regina Rausch with the concerning headline:
“Special Education Director At Pennsbury Placed On Administrative Leave“.
On September 6, 2024, RTKs were submitted to obtain email communications of Ms. Rausch’s final days with the district. Pennsbury responded with the following communication from Ms. Rausch to Superintendent Tom Smith regarding her concerns about her working environment at the district.
As can be determined in the email communication, Ms. Rausch was assertively advocating on behalf of Special Education students at Pennsbury and submitted complaints to Dr. Smith regarding non-response to emails she had sent to her superiors related to Special Education services. Further, she informed Dr. Smith that the non-responses were impacting the delivery of required services and how these ongoing non-responses fuel further issues at the school district.
Previous to this RTK submission, a copy of the separation agreement between Rausch and the Pennsbury School District was obtained to review and discern reasons for her departure. Terms of the agreement detail that Rausch would receive her salary and benefits through the end of 2024 as well as being allowed to attend awards and graduation ceremonies. The following is a copy of the Separation Agreement:
So what were in those 11 unanswered emails noted in Rausch’s email to Dr. Smith? How serious in nature were some of the concerns that Rausch relayed to the Superintendent. Stay tuned, as there is more to come on this matter as we have obtained those emails and they will be released in the coming weeks.