001All right. I now call the October 27th, 2025 meeting of the law school board to order and opening as you are willing and able. Please ride and rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one indivisible and justice. >> Thank you. Miss Mosley, would you please take attendance to Mrs. Ble? >> Here. >> Dr. Grande >> here. >> Mr. Henry >> here. >> Mrs. Hbert >> here. >> Mr. Miller >> here. >> Mrs. Wattman >> here. >> Miss Witet >> here. Mrs. Williams >> here. >> Miss Wowsky Smith >> here. >> Nine voting members present. >> All right. Thank you, M. Mosa. Thank you, Miss Moy. Now, moving on to the student representative report and I want
002to welcome Miss Nyer. Welcome and please take it away. >> Thank you. Hi everyone. My name is Doc Shire and I'm excited to be working with Joy this year as one of your school board representatives. Start with an introduction. I'm currently a senior and I'm already sad about it being my last year in Strath Haven. I'm involved in our school's amazing band and orchestra programs, outdoor adventure club, and speech and debate. October is National Principal Month, so we want to start by saying thank you to our amazing WSSD principles for the dedication and support they give to the students and staff of their school every day. Now, moving on to our school's achievements this month. Strath Haven hosted their first speech and debate tournament in six years and dominated the home field with five first
003place finishes. The team kept the momentum going at the Bronx Invitational tournament with Ottawa Singh making it into the semi-finals for congressional debate and Urban and Vincent Zoo making it to the quarterfinals for policy. Our athletics were just as successful. We won our homecoming football team against Lower Marian. So Haven's football team is still going strong with eight out of 10 wins. This impressive record has gotten them into playoffs and we wish them the best of luck this week at their first playoff game against Parker Morland. The girls tennis team fought hard in playoff matches with Manori Sedo and Lexi Glass winning their ver winning their matches in the first round. It's only the second time in history after last year that Strath Steven has won a round in playoffs. The boys and girls soccer
004teams vote celebrated their seniors and a victory over Marble New Town and Ridley respectively. And the girls soccer team just won the district quarterfinals game with a 2-1 score in overtime. And the senior celebrations just keep coming with both the boys and girls cross country team also celebrating their seniors this month. And of course, our school isn't short of academic achievements. Congratulations to Ricky Hei, Shrihari Gap, Pande, Vincent Zoo, and Maya Hartang on qualifying as semi- finalists for the annual National Merit Scholarship Program due to their outstanding scores on the qualifying test taken in 2024. Additionally, congratulations to the 15 other students who were recognized and commended for their test scores. On October 22nd, students were inducted or reinducted into the National Honor Society, making the NHS program at Haven grow to an impressive 138
005members. Students were admitted to the program upon completion of a certain number of service hours, upholding a 3.75 GPA, holding impressive leadership roles, and displaying great character. And WSSD isn't just excellent academically and athletically, but also artistically. The district has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association as an outstanding visual arts community for 2024 to 2025. We've definitely had a busy month over at the high school. Strath Haven celebrated their golden hour themed homecoming dance with over 800 students in attendance. The much awaited homecoming court was announced with seniors Sonia Blum and Mark Ball taking the crowns. DJ Salvo played all of the fan favorites and guest artist Logan Mitchell, who is currently a junior at Strath Haven, DJed a great set at the end. Everyone had a golden time dancing the night away
006under the tangled themed decorations and awesome disco ball. As for the marching band, they've been slowly they've been busy showing why they're the pride of Haven. At the Penrest Festival of Bands, they put on a spectacular performance and left the event with high praise from the panel of critics. Finally, just last Saturday, the band hyped media up for Halloween with their media Halloween parade performance, dawning masks and performing a spine chillingly epic rendition of Can't Hold Us and Ghostbusters. Strath Haven also said bonjour to 15 French exchange students from Vaughn, France this October. These students were able to have fun at the homecoming football game and dance and also enjoyed field trips to Philly, New York City, and Washington DC. Haven students were able to learn from them as well as they gave presentations at
007the middle school on their lives in France. This past week was October Tech Week where high school teachers and students discussed electronics usage. Student council members announced fun facts and tips over the announcements each block throughout the week. On Wednesday, the school participated in tech bingo at lunch. And on Friday, a debate between teachers and students fostered a space for conversations about tech use and social media. And we can't forget about our amazing elementary schools. Despite the rain, SRS students and families still had a blast with their walk and bike to school day, learning about safe routes and getting in their steps at the same time. West students, on the other hand, were busy with all things fruit. The students celebrated their annual Apple Crunch Day with plenty of apple sampling. And the second graders
008got to watch record holder Steven Clark carve a pumpkin in less than 12 seconds and beat his own record. NPE will be having a Halloween costume parade, and we can't wait to see all the fun and speedy costumes the students will be shown off this Halloween. The first quarter isn't even over yet, and the district has already had so many amazing achievements and fun activities. Joy and I are excited to see what happens next and can't wait to report back to you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for that excellent report. That's great. Well done. Welcome again to uh boards. Uh now moving on to the superintendent report and Dr. Jones. Oops. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Henry. And just a few things for me to update the board on tonight. I do
009have a PowerPoint that I'll get queued up here, but uh my topics span everything from where we are within about our our budget and our work for to um start a high school renovation project to some updates for our community and then really um an opportunity to honor an amazing teacher here at the middle school who has an international award that we just want to call attention to and celebrate this evening. So with that uh just to kick things off um I do want to start by uh building on the report from the great things happening at Strathan High School. Um to start with uh as you know I always like to begin with the images of the students who we serve and I want to bring you images from our dig digital citizenship week
010last week at Strath Haven where we had a variety of activities for students that included on wellness Wednesday a bingo game. So, in the lower right hand corner, that's me calling out uh bingo numbers for our high school students because we had uh a very clever theme that the high school developed. Um disconnect to reconnect and that was happening through just activities that students could participate in that didn't, you know, that that kept them connected, kept them away from a device and more into what they could experience and have fun with together. um our teachers and students engaged in a debate as you can see on the left side of the screen uh where we had teachers and students debating about healthy tech habits um that they could use and so it happened during our
011uh three lunch periods. So, three different groups got to debate uh our teachers and uh I heard it was just a great week of learning and experiencing and building on uh the the embracing that I see of the policy that the board voted on last year to um better enhance connectedness, better to enhance joy, better to enhance the um the real world experiences we want students to have which are not happening on their phones. So with that uh that's how I really want to ground ourselves today. And you know thinking about digital citizen citizenship week it wasn't just a high school event. We also had a family information session last week at west and uh it was hosted by Christina McGarvey and it really helped parents think about that how do they teach their children
012uh you know responsible technology use at home. uh well received by the parents who were in attendance and we just appreciated uh our ability to make sure that we are bringing that educational component to the new policy and really helping to support our families adopt those healthy habits at home. Turning then uh into uh thinking about our budget and the high school renovation. I'm really just staying on message with what I discussed last month, which is that we know last month I said that we anticipated that the act one index for next fiscal year would be 3.5%. We now know that that number is confirmed. So the maximum that taxes could be increased is to 3.5%. Of course, we want to stay within that uh as best as we possibly can. However, we do know
013that there are some real pressures on our budget for next year and I have them listed here. are fixed costs such as the salary increases that we know we want to be able to that we are obligated uh to provide our staff based on the re uh updated contracts that were finalized last year. Um essential costs such as the uh we will be rebidding the contract for cleaning our schools and so we want to make sure that we have you know available funds to to keep our buildings running well and have safe and clean environments for our students to come into on a daily basis. In addition, we know that we always have to invest in educational improvements. For example, the curriculum uh materials that we want to make sure our teachers have to reach
014our students well. And so that is, you know, a budget pressure. And then finally, of course, our capital improvement and the high school um renovation project that we also need to make sure we have funding for. So when we combine those together, it's putting quite a lot of pressure on the uh our budget for next year. And I will continue to to bring up this point. We will delve into this further at our facilities and finance committee meetings as we always do and as we really get into a a really, you know, important discussion as this year goes on about how are we making sure we balance um our budget well to live within our means and to provide our students the very best education we possibly can. So, I anticipate more conversations with you
015about our budget for next year. And um remembering that our budget uh as Miss Mosley has put in place goes uh through four phases. And we are right now finishing up our the phase of looking at our mandated or obligated expenditures. Moving into the phase looking at our strategic plan expenditures and then beyond that as we go into the new calendar year uh Miss Mosley will guide our team looking at our general budgetary requests and then finally any remaining personnel requests is the fourth phase of our budget development process. It's important for you all to know that we are looking to improve the timing of the finalization of the budget. Uh, Miss Mosley has set a goal of creating that that budget for board approval by our May board meeting which would then really help
016us with um finalizing the hiring that we need to do for next year and putting contracts in place if we can bring that budget to the board for the May board meeting. So, that's where we're going right now with our budget. Uh let's look at what does that mean for the high school renovation project. And I'm really excited about the work that's being done for us to have a firm, an architectural firm who can support us as we envision what do we want that will be different and better for our students. How can we create a high school that is warm, safe, and dry for our students so that it lasts well into the future? and that we address some of the structural concerns at the high school like the uh modular classrooms that we
017do need a plan for their future. So, we've gone through a very uh uh sort of rigorous process of exploring the firms who will be uh available for us as architects. We put out an RFP. We had nine firms that responded. And I'm I'm I'm hesitating over my words because I realize I don't have the word architects up here. So, I was like, great, Dr. Johnson, you have two firms for what? All right, so I'm just going to cut through the tension on that. It is for an architect and uh we have so we are down to two finalist firms. I'm really excited to say that we are um in the phase of going on site and today we went to one of the sites and I do appreciate two of our board members Mets
018and Melsey Smith were able to join us as we went out to look at two schools designed by one of the finalist firms and we brought along with us faculty members obviously administrators but also students and it was really great to see how the students interacted with the building and what they thought. they actually had a chance to debrief afterwards and I I felt like we were all hinging on what the students had to say and that's really what it should be right that's who the building's for and so I think that the students really helped to kind of shape our thinking about what we're looking for in the way of our architect and engineering firm and so uh just a really positive experience um I'm in the process right now of checking references and
019what I anticipate and I stress the word potential because we want to make sure we do this well is that we would bring a recommendation to the finance and facilities meeting or an architectural firm at the November meeting. However, it's important to note that I would look for that to be a very limited contract. That contract would not actually be for the full scope of services because we really do want to work through some of those budget concerns for next fiscal year before we identify what size project for the the high school renovation we will undertake. And I just want to remind you that when we put out that RFP for an architecture firm, we included an addendum to ask the firms who apply to show us what their cost proposal would be if this
020project is a $50 million project, a $65 million project, or an $80 million project. So by design we have approached this with we want to make sure that we are being responsible with what size project we launch and we need a little more time to continue to work that through. So we want to get going on this work but we want to do it in a thoughtful responsible way which means bringing a smaller contract before the board in November. That contract would allow us to begin a more in-depth community engagement process so that we can hear from more community members about what we want that building to be for our students. I think that engagement is really important before we settle on again, is it a $50 million project, a $65 million project, is it
021an $80 million project? Really bridging together the needs of the community with what we can afford for the future. So that's what I anticipate happening in the future. But if anything gets off track, then we'll be looking to the December meeting or beyond if there's any reason that I don't feel ready that we don't feel ready to bring that contract before the board in November. So that that is really my update on budget and the high school renovation project. Just a couple of other quick updates for you. Uh at the policy committee meeting in earlier this month, we finalized the equity statement. So I brought forward uh my proposed final version of our equity statement, which is a commitment in our strategic plan. And I'm really happy to see that through to completion. We went
022to several different external stakeholders after the policy after the statement had been developed internally to get that sort of external lens on how can we make sure our statement is as uh strong as possible and received [clears throat] some excellent feedback. I will go over what I talked about at the uh policy committee meeting. It is available for review if anyone was interested. did appreciate uh the small bit of feedback that I got from board members that is reflected in our final in our final version and I think that really it's because it had been looked at before. It wasn't brand new and so the the final version was meant to hopefully just encapsulate the the last bit of changes that we needed to make. The statement is now posted on our website and really
023importantly what it feeds into is an equity policy. [clears throat] So, we will be bringing a draft equity policy, I believe, to the November meeting or soon thereafter so that we can begin to talk about what does this mean in action, how policy really promotes the equity based actions we want to see in our schools. And I'm really excited about that evolution in this work. I just wanted to mention a few things that might be relevant to family members and our community. And uh so just bear with me as I go through a few important things, but they're they are really I think uh hopefully informative and something that families can act upon. And so first we have the AED survey which is a survey that u our students complete every two years. It looks
024at issues related to school the sense of belonging and school culture. Uh very important and vital information really for the state and the county in particular. You can see who it's sponsored by there and why I want parents to know about this. family members, caregivers, is that uh our family members can ask to see a list of the questions because sometimes parents are are questioning, they're concerned about what is this survey that my child is going to be asked to take. And so, uh I made sure to include that link where parents can go. We've emailed this out to our families as well so they can be well informed and support their children in taking this ser survey seriously. families can opt out if they request to do so, but really we want to make
025sure that we understand um our students uh feelings, their attitudes, what they're experiencing in school so that we can continue to make school healthy and a productive place for learning uh for each and every member of our learning community. Um I also want to mention that we have a uh seminar for elementary age parents of elementary age children on drug and alcohol prevention. Uh why now? Uh I encourage parents who might be interested in hearing the answer to that question to attend this session. As the parent of you know my child who's now 20. Um I just know that you know for all of our children we worry so much about what's going to happen when they get older. When our children are in elementary school this is a great time to come and learn
026about how you can uh support your child even from a young age at drug and alcohol prevention. So that meeting is on the 11th of November at 6:30 at NPE run by our very own Dr. from Mola and Nishan. Um, and I'm sure it's going to be a very thoughtful and informative evening. So, I'm going to be encouraging families who are interested uh to please attend. Um, I did also want to mention that tomorrow I will be hosting my first community conversation. So, this is just a really open-ended gathering where I can provide some information. Really nothing that I haven't already shared publicly. So, you know, way to maybe drill down on some of the things I've already talked about. Um, but to come and hear more about what's happening in our community, everything from
027curriculum, maybe the high school renovation project, anything that community members are interested in. I know I have some board interest in attending as well. And I I hope it's well intended. I hope that we have just a great two-way conversation, right? Because this is very one-way anybody's tuning in right now is listening to. And I think that uh, you know, community is built on on two-way dialogue. So, if you have questions, please come. I really do want to hear from you and I really want to engage. and this is our first one and we'll figure out what works, right? Do we need to make adjustments to the time, location? Do we have enough space? Um, do we have enough snacks? Uh, we'll continue to make sure we work this out for the future. Then I
028did also want to mention that registration is open for kindergarten for next year. So, uh, hopefully we'll get, uh, lots of good takers to come on in, our youngest learners. Uh, I can't wait to see them at the start of next school year. So with that, I am now really pleased to honor my instru [clears throat] uh we call her coach in this school. When I walked through this school in March before I started, uh Dr. Scan was bringing me down from our office area to B226. And as I walked down the hallway here in the middle school, I looked into the gymnasium and I turned to him and said, "Jim, what is this fencing in other middle school?" I've never seen such a thing. And he said, "Oh yeah, no, Pixie, she's been here
029for a very long time. We are so lucky to have Coach R here working with our students, Miss R here working with our students. But that's not the name she's known by, not just nationally, but internationally. Her name internationally is my Esther. And we are so honored to have a master fencer working right here in our school that this award of the the master of a paye I looked it up. I even had [laughter] it pronounced on my computer and I'm so pleased for I looked to you to say help me here. Help me here. Uh I don't want to minimize this honor though, right? This is a distinguished honor uh that was awarded on December 12th a diploma. uh was conferred on December 12th to my master and we have the diploma here on
030uh view and uh really just want to acknowledge the rigorous requirements master that you completed in order to earn this is uh very significant uh that I have listed there that the exams the master thesis but what does it mean it means that myestra can work with any student learning fencing from a beginner to the most advanced professional It means that she can train future masters of FA. [laughter] Uh, and that is a significant. >> Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. So, I wonder if we could all celebrate and honor uh Maser with a a picture by the diploma, but I just wonder if there are any board members that that might have any comments or questions for first. So, uh, my son Owen, who is a now an eighth grader, was a sixth grader, and one
031of his very first experiences a sixth grade was with you, and he loved it. Like, you know, he in elementary school, he was uh a kid that kept within himself, and coming into middle school, you were one of the first people who really influenced him. And so, thank you very much and congratulations. Oh, Miss Ran, Mr. Ran, um, and we go back a very long way and as a new teacher in our district, Miss Ran marches into the principal's office desk and says, "We need a fencing program and we have nothing. We don't even know what it is. We don't think anything." And she persisted. I mean, it was persisting. and she has reached our students have gone all the way to the Olympics under her direction. So we have Olympians here because of Miss
032Ross. So the influence that she has had not just on our middle school kids every day but also all the way through. And I think that it's it is amazing at how many students Miss Ran has reached students who have not been comfortable in other parts of our community. This they have found a niche in fencing and I think the rigors of fencing. I've gone to your competitions and it is amazing what our kids uh are able to do and I think Miss R even if she has to go outside of the building I know she goes over to the synagogue to practice at night and find space wherever she can has made um a huge contribution over many years 30 years >> year 28 I knew it was close so for 28 years uh
033Maestra Ron has influenced our children and this community in the most positive and wonderful way. I think our our children have really benefited from your presence. So I thank you for your persistence. I thank you for your insistence and [laughter] it wasn't always easy. I know it was not easy starting this program and and the equipment and space and time and and what we're going to do. and uh I thank you for ever all of your contributions over this long period of time. So, thank you so much from my heart. >> Thank you. I would like to echo um some of the same uh sentiments and and share a story that I think I shared with you at one point, but um so my daughter also participated and we're trying to get her back in
034there um uh in in um in fencing and I did one of those motheraughter dinners one night. It was just the two of us went out. I thought this will be a nice opportunity, you know, for us to connect and all I heard the entire time was about Miss Rum. Miss Run did this and she said that and we should do this and we should do that. [laughter] I got to meet this lady. It was amazing. But um as uh as Mary Joe said, you've touched so many so many students and even those that maybe kind of came in and then went their way over here. Maybe they'll come back again. Um I still I still hear about you all the time. Thank you so much for everything you've done. of payback and I think
035it it speaks volumes that all of us have personal connections to you. Um, two of my three kids have gone through fencing and my youngest, this is honestly the truth, last night was dancing around in our kitchen and she's teeny tiny and she was saying how excited she was because she's transferring in you know how they treat. So, her next class is yours. And she was like practicing her fencing moves in our kitchen last night. And she was very excited about the the prospect of of learning fencing. And it's just it really is an unusual and completely unique and and very cool opportunity that most school districts don't have. So, thank you so much for all of the time and energy. Mr. I um I was walking out um of a board meeting and I
036bumped into Miss Rowan. I I can't pronounce my Anyway, she was telling me all about her. She was so animated. I'm like, "Wow, she's got like energy." because it was like in the evening and [laughter] um she was telling me that she was going up to be um to take this this course and do this program and that she was the only black woman that's ever achieved this honor. And um I was like, "Go ahead, mama." And um so I I I just want to congratulate you and I am I am proud as a black woman to a black woman for the achievement that that you have been. And um I have a funny story. My son had fencing with her and he is a little like clumsy about it. He he has asberers and
037and so he's awkward and she she like stayed with him and and he really loved the fencing program. It was like one of the bright spots of his education. And um I I can't tz Jacobs. What's her name? Inz. Inz. Yes. They're my neighbor. And she and she she went to the Olympics. She >> she done junior Olympics a couple of times and she is a multinational >> medals fencer. >> Oh, okay. Well, they're my neighbors >> and um she she trained under. [laughter] >> So congratulations. Um, anybody else? I just want to make sure we um before we go and have a picture, uh, coach, both my children had you as were lucky enough to have you in the classroom, which, uh, I still remember in elementary school your reputation preceded you. So, the
038elementary school kids would talk about having Miss Ran and middle school and fencing and to use Michelle's term, very cool, really unique. So, very cool. I just want to thank you for all your years of service. our district is lucky to have you here and big congratulations. That is an amazing accomplishment. So, thank you. Congratulations. And and let's uh [clears throat] congratulations. That's it. Okay, that's the wagon shot then. Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. So the final part of my presentation tonight is actually a presentation that will be made by Miss McBride, our director of safety and security for the school district. And we are very pleased to provide an update for the board and the community about our the the ways in which we continue to improve safety and security for
039our students in our buildings. And I think it's important to know that um when you hear this presentation, it's not every detail of what we're doing to improve safety and security in our buildings because of course there are things that we need to not make public in order to actually maintain that safety and security. So I think it's important that uh you you know uh m much of what we're doing, but I won't say it's all of what we're doing. Uh and with that though, Miss McBride, please uh take it away and uh certainly we will welcome any questions from board members and members. >> Thank you. As Dr. John said for the public, I'm Dan McBride. I'm the coordinator of safety and security for the district. Um, and I'll just be walking you through
040some of our safety plans for the 2526 school year, highlighting a few initiatives, improvements, and collaboration efforts that support safe learning and trauma invested environment for our staff and our students. So a comprehensive approach to school safety um a safe school environment is built on a foundation of preparedness, compassion and collaboration. The approach, our approach integrates both national safety frameworks and trauma invested best practices to ensure that the physical and emotional well-being of every student and staff member is met. looking for a dental war. So, our approach um includes trauma invested in practices, recognizing that crisis crises and drills can trigger emotional responses, prioritizing safety and emotional recovery during and of course after incidences. Um empowering staff to respond with empathy, consistency, and care. um promoting a culture of trust, connection and resilience. National guidance
041integration. We align with NIMS, the National Incident Management System for clear roles in communication and coordination during emergencies. Applying the best practices from the National Association of School Psychologists, NASP, to support prevention and prevention, intervention, and recovery. um continued collaboration with law enforcement, emergency management directors, mental health partners for unified response plan. Our prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery are um is really ongoing staff training and student education. um continuous improvements through drills, um feedback from those drills and feedback from um our our partners in that and reflection from those drills and of course following what guidance comes down as far as you know governmental policies and and procedures and all that guidance that that should follow. Um really keeping a balanced focus on proactive prevention and pos um excuse me and postintervention supports. Uh we
042continue to conduct regular fire and safety drills across all buildings to ensure preparedness both for students and staff. Uh collaborating with building administration to incorporate out of ordinary scenarios during these drills such as blocking a hallway um during a fire drill. So, um, folks would have to use an alternate the alternate route, the fire exit route. Um, another one would be, you know, a lockdown drill and having kids out on recess and keeping them out there so we can practice another way, another alternative to out of the ordinary scenario. We have strengthened our partners with our first responders who have actively participated in these drills. Uh we value the feedback that they have given us um from the drills and can we'll continue to work together to make the necessary adjustments and changes to refine
043our procedures. Some planning improvements. Um of course our emergency operations plan is a living document. um and is constantly being reviewed and updated, but it is is really currently reflects our best practices and our feedback from audits and of course the guidance from you know our state partners at puma and our federal partners at FE. Um we also implemented as you know our um new visitor management system with Navigate 360. This is to enhance building access control. Navigate 360 was purchased from a PCCD grant and this will allow us to build our emergency communications visitor and volunteer man monitoring and student traffic. Additionally, we have invested in safety related upgrades including infrastructure improvements and updated security technologies. Our professional development remains a cornerstone of our safety strategy. Staff safety presentations were presented at the beginning
044of the school year to ensure that all personnel are informed and trained in our emergency procedures as related in our emergency response plan. The navigate 360 emergency management program once complete is another part of the visitors program. um will allow for staff to access our emergency operations plans, um emergency flip charts, sight specific uh safety plans, building maps, and of course have that emergency alert feature. Um so I'm really excited about that part because that that brings a lot of um a lot of uh safety related items at the hands of our of our teachers instead of um looking through papers or fumbling through that. really, you know, digitally. Everything's digital. Keeping the cell phone policy in luck, of [laughter] course. So, our family and student communication is really key. In November, we plan to
045present um teachers with student safety presentations to educate students on protocols and empower them to act responsibly. The planning was done with immense help from student services department to make sure the lessons are trauma invested and age appropriate. School messenger, we continue to use that to um keep families informed about safety updates and drills and any urgent alerts as of course our social media and website as well. Continue communications to the family families and students about safety related information is important and and will continue. Um, just to add it, this is another part of the Navigate 360 emergency um, management program that will also include emergency alerts. With that, as I said before, collaboration is essential to our success when it comes to safety. We have conducted building tours with our emergency personnel and our
046first responders to familiarize them with layouts and access points of our buildings. Building tours allow us to to familiarize them with the terminology we use in schools to describe certain locations within the building. For instance, the Green Mile. If there's an incident at the high school and we say, "Oh, he's in the Green Mile." Well, not everybody's going to know what the Green Mile is. So, that's why these tours are important and that we share information like that with our first responders. We've updated our memorandum of understanding this year with the Nether Providence Police and Swathmore Police to make sure that we have our um we clarify our roles and responsibilities. Our building safety teams and our newly cardiac emergency response teams continue to meet regularly to coordinate efforts and share insights. And I really
047would love to give a huge shout out to the nursing department for their continued work with CHOP Children's Hospital Philadelphia and for the district to become a heart safe school district. Um next steps looking ahead and continue enhancing professional development efforts for staff and learning for students related to safety and security. Maintaining um the trauma invested lens of course with all trainings and presentations. Building and implementing the navigate 360 emergency response uh emergency management program. uh maintaining the collaboration and the strong um supports that we have with our police departments, fire departments and of course our community. Um we also we have incorporated recommendations from our safety audits past and some coming in the future. Finally, uh we are working closely with district lead well I'm working not we I'm working closely with district leadership
048to make sure that um safety is a priority in our future projects such as you know our capital plan and our building res uh excuse me renovations and that's all I have >> I do want to say thank you and maybe if you could just in there in case any questions. But um our meeting to we have a meeting tomorrow actually for you and I with Chief Spling. Uh when Ms. McBride says collaboration is ongoing, it's as soon as tomorrow appreciate. Yeah. And that's just, you know, just continuing to work the the foundation that we've all set together for our how we want to keep students at the center of what we do. >> Does anybody have any anybody on the board has a question, please? >> Um not so much a question, but I
049I just wanted to say thank you as well. Um some of my our friends are on the um uh township commissioners and uh they have noted um spec very recently as a matter of fact um the increased collaboration um since you've been here and uh uh you know really building on that even very much in the past year. So thanks so much for that. Appreciate >> you. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'll just say real quickly uh that I enjoyed hearing about the trauma informed approach, the holistic approach to to school safety and uh the fact that you're collaborating and pulling on guidance from trusted organizations. That's really great. Totally. Thank you. >> Yes, of course. Megan and Leslie are are great resources. Um and they've been give them a shout out, too. Nursing comes
050under them, too. But they've been a great help with making sure that everything keeps that keeps that light. Uh, Mr. Brown, I just wanted to comment. Uh, the navigation 360. I come into the school a lot and it's the the whole signing system is much much more professional. It's much safer. The staff knew what exactly what to do. It really works well. And I do remember a few years ago when you first started, we you know, our biggest issue was propping doors open, you know, and and I've seen this just just like that minor change makes such a big difference. And every time I've come around, it hasn't been an issue. you know, it just was a matter of education and so well done on that. That was good. So, anyhow, I just want to
051let you know the new the new uh system from my limited viewpoint looks like it works well. >> Yeah, I mean it's it's really it's really a great system. It it we can really build upon it. Um as a district, um just right now with the visitor management, um we're already am talking to incorporate volunteer management to trying to streamline the volunteer um clearances part of it. Um, and it really is a great program. There's a lot of pieces and I'm really excited to to bring forth at least the emergency manage the visitor management but the emergency management part of the district. Great. Um, all right. That's all from the board. All done. Thank you. All right. All right. All done with the super report. Yes. >> All right. Dr. Johnson. Thank you. Okay. and
052say we are now moving on to uh board announcements. Uh the board did meet in executive session prior to this meeting. Also uh the uh organizer of the Panther Pajama Run asked me to make sure uh I let it be known that it is coming back. Most of you here will remember the Panther Pajama Run is coming back Saturday, November 8th at 9:00 a.m. at at George King Field. Information is all over the place wherever you get your school information. So, uh that is an extra announcement. Moving on to audience recognition. Um I know we don't have anybody here, so I will condense that that uh this is the time of our meeting when we do have uh opportunity for public comment on items on the agenda. Then later there's a opportunity for topics not
053on the agenda. Um we keep it to three minutes. Say your address. Is there anybody here who has public comment? So, just moving right along from that. Um, all right. Now, we move on to the minutes. Next item on the action for the agenda is approval of the minutes of September 29th, 2025 regular board meeting. Do I have a motion for approval? >> I think I have a second. >> Thank you. Any uh discussion on the mints? Okay, seeing none, Miss Would you please take a roll? >> Mrs. Mr. Delay. >> Hi, >> Dr. Grande. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Holbert. >> Hi, >> Mr. Miller. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Watman. >> Hi, >> Miss Witet. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Williams. >> I >> Missy Smith, >> I >> Mr. Henry, >> I >> Motion passes
0549 to zero. >> Okay, thank you. Now, moving on to uh committee reports. Uh just a reminder that uh educational affairs, finance and facilities, and policy committee uh all have their meetings on our district YouTube channel. They've all had recent meetings. So, uh I would direct you to those to get the latest updates on that um on our YouTube channel. So, moving down now to wellness committee. Uh Miss Dele or Dr. Grande. >> So, we literally just met about two hours ago. So, u I think we're going to hold on presenting those minutes until next next time around. >> Yep. Fair. Thank you. Uh moving on to the Pennsylvania School Board Association and Mrs. is with Towski Smith, please. >> Yes. And uh our annual convention, Pennsylvania School Boards Association conference uh along with the
055Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators uh held their annual convention with Dr. Johnston attending and Miss Olay, Miss Olberg, uh Miss Williams, Miss Woodset, and myself. Uh we participated in sessions on school communications, legal updates, construction management among others. The event also provided networking opportunities with other schools and vendors including uh the architectural firms that are finalists in our search. So we we actually got extra meeting time and which was very helpful. Um uh following that was the PSBA delegate assembly. Following the convention, I along with other PSBA delegates from around Pennsylvania gathered to determine legislative priorities for the school year. And they are uh PSBA believes that the state must provide significant and continued financial investment for school districts that is distributed using a fair and equitable funding system that provides districts with the greatest
056flexibility to use their resources. The SBA uh believes that the state must enact comprehensive and meaningful charter school reforms that reduce the financial burden on school districts and require the same standards of academic performance and accountability. The SBA believes that the state must prioritize the mental health needs of students by providing schools with a permanent funding stream and assistance for such purposes as well as flexible options that best meet the needs of students and communities. And PSBA believes that the state must continue to invest in school safety improvements by providing with schools with flexible, locally controlled, and permanent funding streams to assist schools meeting the needs of their students and communities. And uh next month, I will present uh PSBA's 2025 state of education report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Smith. And thank you
057to all the board members who attended the PBSA conference this year. We had quite the turnout, so we were represented well. So, thank you all for going. Uh, moving on now to Delaware County Community College Leazison and Mr. Miller. >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Moving on to the Delaware County Intermediate Unit and Mrs. Hbert. >> Thank you. The DCIU search for an executive [clears throat] director continues in earnest. Um, as a board, we interviewed several candidates for the first round last week and we um will be interviewing for the second round this week. We are on track to vote on a final candidate in November. Um, I also attached an official something officially produced by the DCIU about the executive director search. Um, and I had a chance to attend last week's PSDA
058uh, conference as actually as a member of the DCIU board. Um, so I saw my compatriots here, but um, but I also got to spend some time with um, DCIU board members as well as going to the sessions. >> All right, thank you. Uh, moving on to Delaware County School Board's legislative council and Mrs. Walker. Um just a few brief items. Um this one was sort of interesting. The um US Department of Education um announced that it's ending its national blue ribbon schools program. Um but fortunately Pennsylvania's announced a statewide program to continue to recognize uh schools in the Commonwealth. So uh we will see that continue in Pennsylvania at those. Uh mo a lot of the conversation uh revolved around the the continuation of the the federal um uh government shutdown and then the
059state budget. Um continued delay on the state budget. Uh key sticking items at that time on the Pennsylvania state budget uh were around overall spending, use of reserves, um regulation of skill schemes, and cyber charter uh regulation. Uh so we're still here with no state budget at this point, but hopefully soon. Um and then the minutes will show the a legislative snapshot um focusing on areas of newly introduced um legislation, one that I thought might be interesting um in particular knowing that we have a lot of students that participate as EMC's. There is a house bill that's been introduced that would permit credit bearing firefighter and EMT training for eligible students. Uh so that's that's that would be quite interesting I think for our students. Uh the rest are are more of the same uh
060things that get introduced on a regular basis. So that's about it. Um and this will reflect a little bit more. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Walkman. Uh okay, moving on to personnel. We have 12 items for action personnel. Are there any items on this list anyone on the board like to separate from the rest? Okay. Uh all these items in the section are attached or described below. We have resignations and retirements. They have appointments as listed, leave of absence, change of salary status, direct payments, 2025 23-26 mentors appointments, 2025 2026 conference requests, 2025 2026 curricular supplementals, 2025 2026 activity supplementals, 2025 2026 winter athletic supplemental, homecoming chaperones, and 2025 2026 activities advisors appointments. Do I have a motion to approve >> Mr. Miller? Thank you. And I have a second [clears throat] Smith. Thank you.
061Uh do I have any discussion? I'll start with Dr. Grandandy at this end and go down. Discussion personnel. Okay. >> Um Miss Wood, you have a question. um with the mentors that there's no money attached to the approval of of their positions because there there's we don't know the amount of for the clubs amount of students that are going to be in it and the amount of time >> so Mr. Philian confused. >> Uh this is mentors for new teachers >> and so they do actually receive a site. >> Okay. >> But what is it for the clubs? Isn't >> that sometimes referred to as advisors for the clubs as opposed to mentors for the teachers? Yes. I know. >> Any other discussion item of the personnel? See none. Mr. Ros, would you please take
062a roll vote? >> Mrs. Delay, >> I. >> Dr. Grande, >> hi. >> Mrs. Hbert, >> I >> Mr. [clears throat] Miller, >> hi. >> Mrs. Wattman, >> I >> Miss Woodet, >> I. >> Mrs. Williams, >> I >> Mrs. McCy, >> Mr. Henry, >> I. >> Motion passes 90 to zero. >> Thank you. Uh we do have under uh personnel one item just for information only hand teachers eligible with companion and miss uh Diana Harris is on so I want to congratulate her that's not it no information so uh congratulations to her moving on to policy we have two items for action and policy uh any items on that listed anyone on the board like to separate from the rest okay we have policies for first reading and then policies for second reading uh
063that are attached or been in described in the agenda. Uh do I have a motion to approve? >> Second move. >> Mrs. Walkman. Thank you. I have a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on items of personnel? I'll start chairs. Thank you. I'll start. I'll just quickly just just to close the loop on uh 903 public participation. So um you know after much discussion at committee level and research into sort of legal parameters and how other districts handle uh this particular policy the committee decided to keep the time limited as as it is for now. Uh, and then also just regarding 222, the tobacco and and vaping policy, I did want to note that the committee had questions about and wanted to better understand exceptions for medical marijuana. So, that's going to be
064an ongoing conversation when we revisit it. That's all. >> Thank you. Uh, any further discussion? Okay. Um, Miss Mosen, would you please uh hold a roll call vote? >> Mrs. Dole, >> I. >> Dr. Rambeck. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Hullberg. >> Hi, >> Mr. Miller. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Wattman. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Blitzet. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Williams. >> I >> Mr. Kowsky Smith, >> I >> Mr. Henry, >> I. >> Motion passes 9 to zero. >> Thank you. And under uh policy, there is uh letter D, administrative regulations for information listed there. Moving on now to curriculum. We have two items of action under curriculum. All the items in the section are attached described. Are there any other on the list? Anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? Okay.
065We have under curriculum we have Newman University facility temporary license licensing agreement and uh arrowhead agreement. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> This is Py Smith. Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Stole. Thank you. Any discussion on uh items under curriculum? Oh, sorry. This is what's >> I might have missed something, but what is the arrow head? Is that a class trip or freshman, junior high, middle school? >> Middle school at the end. It's an end of the year trip. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Any other further discussion? Okay. Seeing none. Uh, Miss Mosley, would you please hold a roll call? >> Mrs. Delay, >> I. >> Dr. Grande, >> hi. >> Mrs. Holbert, >> I. >> Mr. Miller, >> hi. >> Mrs. Wattman. >> I.
066>> Miss Woodet. >> I. >> Mrs. Williams. >> I. >> Mr. Wowski Smith. >> I. >> Mr. Henry. >> Hi. >> Motion passes 9 to zero. >> Thank you. Moving on to student services. And we have four items for approval of student services. All the items in this section are attached or described in the agenda. Is there any items on uh under student services that anyone the board would like to separate from the rest please? >> I'd like to separate deobian associates contract. >> Okay. Anybody else in the pool? All right. So, what we're going to do, we're going to uh we'll move back to uh do I have an approve? Do I have a motion to approve letters A, B, C? ABC. Motion to approve AB. Williams. Yes. Thank you, >> Mr. Miller. Thank
067you, >> uh, okay. Any discussion on items A, B, and C? Please, A or C. >> Um, I just had a question about C. I just wanted to to make sure it's it's clear. there's a a giant attachment to that one and it's it's not super clear as to what exactly this you know this is getting us into or what what we're agreeing to here. Um can you just explain that? I'm sure it's a short happy to do so. Uh so this is a services agreement which locks in the rates that are included in that large spreadsheet that was included with the actual contract such that when we are not able to meet a students free and appropriate education needs in special education with our services here within the district or within the Delray County
068intermediate unit. we can turn to the Chester County Intermediate Unit for those rare services, those students who maybe have low incidence needs that can't easily be met in district or within our own IU, then we turn to a neighboring IU to receive those services. And what this vote would do is uh lock in those rates so that when an issue comes up and we need to turn to the Chester County IU, those are the rates that we would pay. And so we do for example uh right now pay a tuition that's included in that rate uh for a student who goes to a program that supports students with disabilities uh very appropriately within that program within the intermediate unit and it couldn't be done if we didn't have the super button. >> Thank you. >>
069I apologize in advance I didn't read the three that we were voting on but they are the educational service agreements Macardu presentations and the Chester County intermediate unit. Thank you miss for pointing out. Uh any other discussion on the AB or C? Okay, seeing none. Mosing, if you please take a roll call vote. >> Mrs. Dele, >> I >> Dr. Grande, >> hi. >> Mrs. Hbert, >> hi. >> Mr. Miller, >> hi. >> Mrs. Watman, >> I >> Miss Witet, >> hi. >> Mrs. Williams, >> hi. >> Mr. Kowsky Smith, >> hi. >> Mr. Henry, >> I. >> Motion passes nine to zero. >> Okay, thank you. Moving on to letter D under student services. Uh Brett Denovian and Associates. Do I have a motion to approve and then we'll discuss how I got? Okay.
070[clears throat] Do we have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Mrs. Wman. Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Mr. C Smith. Thank you for second. Uh now discussion on letter D. Britability and Associates. Please go ahead. >> Yeah. So there were some questions asked internally sort of about um you know what data or information we have about the effectiveness of these services. Uh and so I was just hoping to you know have that in something shared in a public forum uh you know just to make sure that we're ensuring these services remain effective and are meeting our students needs so we can >> happy please. So uh appreciate the question Ben and particularly wanting to make sure that we are I would only I very much appreciate the extra
071deliberation. This is a sizable contract and one that we need to make sure that is really meeting the needs of our students. So keeping in mind that what Brett Denovi Associates provides are ABA services of five behavioral analysis services for our students who require those services. Many students, for example, with autism require ABA services and the staff they provide are those who are trained in ABA. So, it's not a general staffing solution. It's really the way in which the district has contracted with a vendor to provide those direct services for students who require ABA services. And what Brettovi Associates provides to us are what are called clinical associates or CAS. And those clinical associates are trained by Brettonovi before they come on site so that they um aren't walking in off the street and asked
072to do something that's very technical. In fact, they are trained before they arrive. They are trained when they arrive uh to make sure that they understand our internal procedures. And they receive 20 hours of ongoing uh um training throughout the remainder of the school year. They're overseen by what's called a board certified behavior analyst at DCBA. And so there's a a very strong um onboarding training and oversight model that's provided by BDA. And it's really important though that though that foundation is strong, there needs to be ongoing evaluation of their services to make sure that they are providing what we need. And so our special services team under the leadership of Dr. Samberg have instituted um two ways of continuing to check on the performance of this key partner that we have. And the first
073is that they have identified with Fredonovia Associates key performance indicators that the leadership of BDA and our leadership team meet with on a monthly basis to review and then they meet on a weekly basis. Both Brettonovia Associates leadership and our leadership meet on a weekly uh basis to review the performance of those CAS, those clinical associates and they look at um every single CA working in our buildings and they rate on a weekly basis those CAS on a fourpoint electric scale. They look at particularly um uh performance indicators that measure professionalism, fidelity to behavior management techniques, overall engagement and fidelity to instructional strategies. So, uh, you know, making sure that they are in an ongoing way evaluating the staff who we have in front of our children from their agency and making any adjustments that
074they need to make to make sure that our children are are afforded the best level of support uh that we can provide for them uh from this uh from this key partner. And so during last school year this uh earlier uh we had had as you mentioned Miss Dole a conversation about this and so I'm pleased to follow up that this has been in place since September of 2024 and for the 2425 school year the average score for um a CA was 97% on that Lyker scale. And so, uh, I am pleased that we continue to receive a high level of support from BDA and a willingness to make adjustments as necessary. Uh, that they have, if we've asked to have a staff member changed, uh, they have done so without without blinking. Uh, they
075they know that they need to make sure that they provide us with the best possible services that we are can be afforded for this contract. And so that two level of oversight, one looking at key performance indicators on a monthly basis and then looking at the staff members on a weekly basis has I think really improved the contract oversight for this model uh instruction that we are providing. >> And actually one one quick one quick follow-up question. So the the the fourpoint scale does that include the fact that you know they're extending they were >> that's a great question. Thank you for that. Uh it's actually separate. So that is also examined and the indicator that we have for that is similar to our own staff where uh we are granting up to 10 days
076per year to say that it might be that a staff member is about out one day per month. >> And so where are there cases where that is going beyond that one day per month average for staff members? And so the I appreciate you asking that question because in addition to the four point liker scale for those four performance areas that I mentioned, they are also looking at attendance separately and the metric they're using is again one day per month. Uh anything higher than that is question, examined, explored to see what they can do to improve. Any further discussion on letter D? >> Okay, see none. Uh, Miss Miller, would you please take a roll call vote? >> Mrs. Dole, >> I. >> Dr. Grande, >> hi. >> Mrs. Hbert, >> hi. >> Mr. Miller,
077>> hi. >> Mrs. Watman, >> hi. >> Mrs. Woodet, >> I. >> Mrs. Williams, >> I. >> Mr. Cassman Smith, >> I. >> Mr. Henry, >> I. >> Motion passes nine to zero. >> Okay. Thank you. Moving on to finance facilities. We have seven items for approval under finance facilities. Are there any items on the list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? Okay. See none, we have bills pending to vendor September 1st and September 30th, 2025. We have financial statements from September 1st through September 30th, 2025. The treasures report from September 1st through September 30th transfer purchase of an operations vehicle new and in student activity accounts Horizon NASCO agreement. Do I have a motion to approve items A through G of our facilities? Some move. Thank you. Do
078I have a second? Second, Mr. Miller. Thank you. Any discussion on these items? Seeing none, Miss Rosie, would you please take a roll call? >> Mrs. Dele, >> hi. >> Dr. Grande, >> hi. >> Mrs. Holberg, >> I. >> Mr. Miller, >> hi. >> Mrs. Watman, >> hi. >> Mrs. Woodset, >> I. >> Mrs. Williams, >> I. >> Mr. Ky Smith, >> I. >> Mr. Henry, >> I. >> Motion passes 9 to zero. >> Thank you. Okay, this is the part of the meeting where we would go to audience recognition for comments uh for items not on the agenda, but I don't see anybody in here. So, this is where we would do that. Um, since there's anybody moving on to any old business, any new business?