WSSD School Board 4/28/25

001I now call the April 28th Oops, there we go. I now call the April 28, 2025 meeting of the Wallingford Swathmore School Board to order and opening as you are willing and able. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, moving on to roll call. Miss Mosley, would you please take attendance roll call? Mrs. Delay, here. Dr. Grande, here. Mr. Henry, here. Mbert, here. Mr. Miller here. Mrs. Watman here. Miss Woodet here. Miss Williams here. Miss Wakowski Smith here. There are nine voting members present. Thank you. Now moving on to uh student representatives report and Miss Wang, take it away

002please. Hello. Good evening everyone. I hope everyone had a lovely and restful spring break. As the weather gets warmer, our community has been busy with fun events, activities, and achievements. So let's take a look. On April 3rd, students, parents, and volunteers from all around our community joined together to celebrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math, otherwise known as Steam, night at MPE. With educational and hands-on visual demonstrations all around, every corner was a fun opportunity to learn. Then, on April 9th, students at NPE participated in releasing approximately 9,000 ladybugs around the school grounds. The ladybugs served to support the surrounding community and environment. Then last Thursday, SRS celebrated Arbor Day with guests from the Scott Arburedum and Gardens, the PA Bureau of Forestry, the Swathmore Tree Committee, and the Swathmore mayor, Marty Spiegel. Over at

003West, Miss Gar's Lemonade Stand did something absolutely incredible. They raised over $2,000 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to support funding research to fight childhood cancer. Thank you to the volunteers, donors, and everyone that contributed their help in achieving this amazing feat. At the middle school, a group of Stratha Middle School eighth grade students competed in the art of math competition hosted by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and won their division. These students were tasked with building and designing a three-dimensional model of art using mathematical principles and their art will be included in the Barnes Foundation collection on display. Congratulations to the members of the Waxel Yach Club still at the middle school. The German program continued its annual exchange of the Dante Gimnazium in Munich in Germany. A tradition going for over 20 years. Just

004two weeks ago, 16 students from Munich visited the US, staying with the Strath Haven Middle School host families, and getting a taste of life as an eighth grader in the US. They dropped by the Strath Haven Middle School for classes, explored Philly with stops at the Franklin Institute, Constitution Center, and Betting Terminal Market, shopped at the King of Prussia Mall, caught a Philly's game, and even took a whirlwind trip to the Edge in New York. Despite the chilly spring weather, their week was packed with fun and new friendships. Next month, it's our turn with 14 Stratha Middle School students heading to Munich to experience Germany through the lens of a Dante Gimnazium student, and they couldn't be more excited for their own adventure. And finally, at our high school, despite the emergency school cancellation on

005April 4th, the Strath Haven HighQ team right here uh won their national championship via a Zoom call. Uh last Wednesday and Friday, the high school celebrated International Day with performances and vibrant dances led by our students that highlighted the rich diversity in our in our high school. After the Wednesday night performance, families shared food and information from their culture, sharing their unique, unique, and I can personally confirm absolutely delicious uh traditions. On April 24th, this high school held its annual varsity arts awards to celebrate the incredible arts around the high school. Students were acknowledged throughout all the categories of art and expression from dance and ceramics to photography and instrumental music. Congratulations to all of the artistic hard workers around our school. As we look towards the rest of the year, time will fly by

006with all the upcoming testing around our district, but we will continue pushing along because the end is in sight. Thank you everyone. Thank you, M. W. Appreciate that. Uh, okay. I'm moving on to uh superintendent report and Dr. Scandal. Sure. Yeah, Tinra, thank you so much. The end certainly is insight and I feel the same feel the same as comment about that a little bit. Uh let me start with ap the month of April uh is autism awareness month and our schools have hosted many activities to celebrate u the great things that our that our children with autism are doing. Uh SRS hosted an assembly with uh with Ben Hartrant, a public speaker and autism advocate who returned to the district with his message to children about kindness and following their dreams. Uh the Wellingford

007Elementary staff uh wore celebratory shirts every Friday this month in celebration of the month. All schools incorporated facts and education about autism in messaging to students throughout their buildings and also during some of their announce their regular daily announcements. Um unified the unified handball team and you may have seen this on the Nether Providence Township website. Uh they will be playing the Nether Providence Police Department this Friday, April 30th at 6:30 PM at Strath Haven High School in the gymnasium. So that should be a very entertaining evening. I hope they go easy on the police. So uh please consider coming to that event if you're available. Um um autism is the autism spectrum disorder affects one in 36 children in America. And many people with autism spectrum disorder are successfully living and working and contributing

008to the well-beings of others in their local communities. Uh this is most likely to happen when the appropriate services are delivered during a child's educational years. And there it's it's these many great programs such as those that are offered in our schools that help children develop their strengths and celebrate their differences so they can lead successful and rewarding lives. Thanks to all of our staff, our parents, and our community for supporting our programs for children with autism. And thanks for celebrating this month and and every day with all the children in our classrooms. Last week, as Tienro mentioned, uh SRS had an Arbor Day. I had the pleasure of attending that Arbor Day celebration uh at uh at at SRS Elementary School. Dr. Tuck and her students and staff had a beautiful day outside to

009celebrate uh to celebrate the day. The mayor of Swathmore presented a proclamation uh to the students about the importance of preserving trees in our community. Uh and Miss Williams daughter kicked it off. Harper uh kind of let it off to represent the student body over there as well. Uh this marked the 40th celebration of Arbor Day uh in Swathmore. So it's a long-standing tradition. Uh I too had an opportunity to go to the Varsity Arts Award last uh last Thursday. Uh had the pleasure of attending that. Uh the event marks one of the uh first awards ceremony in our march to commencement and then and the end of the end of the school year. This also is a 40-year uh celebration that recognizes students for their high level performances in the area of art, theater,

010music, uh woodworking, robotics, writing, and dance. And it was a very exciting evening and uh and great to see all the all the recognition of the students and the work that they're doing. Uh this is also my final report as the interim superintendent uh and I'll begin my new role as acting director of curriculum in a few days. Uh and it has been my honor to to be part of this outstanding team of 10 at the board level. Uh and to get to know many staff and community members throughout this this school year. Uh this board has been among the most cohesive that I have ever seen. The questions are all student centered and everyone on the board is here to first ensure that excellent programs are in place for the student academic, social, and

011emotional achievement and secondly to ensure that tax dollars spent are focused in those areas. I've enjoyed the student reports at our at our board meetings and Lyndon Corbett and Tinyu Wang have kept us informed with what's happening in schools all year long and they've done it from the student lens. So, so Tinu, thank you so much to you and Lyndon for for all of those great reports this year. Uh, and that's why we're all here because of the students. Um, so again, thank you for for all of that. Spent a lot of time with our cabinet members. uh we have our weekly cabinet meetings that to make sure that we're all on point and and on touch with what's happening in the in the school system and of course uh they are they are the

012the focal point out in the schools to help be the contact and support our principles and our staff and everything that that's taking place out there. So truly it does take a team effort and you have a you have an outstanding team here. Um we look forward to welcoming Dr. Johnson to the role on May 1st and Dr. Johnson is is here this evening. So, we welcome we welcome you to the to the to the party, so to speak. And um uh and it and it's a and it's a great party at that. I know that he is uh he has been uh actively meeting with people already before he officially begins this Thursday. I know he's excited to get to know all the students and staff and the parents and the community members uh

013as he begins his tenure as a new leader. I would say that every time I've spoken with him the past few weeks, you can hear the passion in his voice. I think Wallingford will be in excellent hands with Dr. Johnson at the helm. One of the first people I met to to go back to to the beginning of my time here back in back in the fall. One of the first people I met uh when I was touring the high school was uh Mr. Bill Rothenbach and he's a science teacher at the high school. And uh and Bill invited me to the first academic challenge competition with the Strath Haven High School highQ team. So I went to that first competition and I think it was against Rner and Penrest if I if I remember

014and they won that match in a very convincing fashion. Now those are two really really excellent high schools in this area. Uh Strath Haven is also an excellent high school and I remember saying to Bill I think that you got a state championship caliber group of students in your group in your on your hands this year. Now while that was meant to be a compliment I think Bill took that as a challenge. So here tonight we have members of that academic team, the HighQ team, along with their coach, Mr. Bill Rothenbach, not as state champions, but as Tenrew said, national champions. I'd like to ask Bill to introduce the team and ask our board president, Mr. Henry, to provide each team member with a certificate of appreciation and accomplishment uh from our school board. Bill.

015Thank you, Dr. Scannon, members of the board. Uh we're very humbled and grateful to be here tonight. Uh again, uh this is the Strath Haven HighQ team, uh part of the oldest continuous academic competition program in America. And like Dr. Scanland, Tanu said, we are uh this year's national champions. And I could not be prouder of the work that uh this group did. Uh uh not just uh as students but also I couldn't be prouder of the young men and women that they are. They're just uh every moment I have spent with them has been uh has been incredible because they are incredible. So without any uh further ado uh let me start introducing the team. Thank you very much. Uh, Olivia Heisy Terrell, Jaden Hunter, Simon Kaplinsky, Clark Kirkstra, Ravnne Cower, Yihong Lee, Tanish

016Talikar. Sebastian Reid, two of our student athletes couldn't be here this evening. Colin Jarvis and Ella Liberia, our student council president. Uh so I would just like to recognize them. And I'd also like to uh thank uh again uh Dr. Scanland, Dr. Badock, Mr. Benzing, uh the entire Wingford Swarmsmore community for your support. Um, I guess one last uh honor that we will be uh taking part in this year. Uh, we look forward to traveling to Harrisburg in June to be recognized by the PA State House of Representatives. Thank you very much. And for you as well. Thank you very much. Great. Thanks, Bill. And earlier tonight, we did get a a picture with the whole team. And that hardware, I mean, that that looks like pretty heavy stuff. You guys got to get a

017workout carrying that around. Uh, so congratulations, uh, Bill. Congratulations, Mr. Benzing, Miss Lepier is here, uh, and some members of our staff. Uh, congratulations to all the work that that that you've done to support this group of students and thanks for representing Strath Haven so well. Uh, and good luck out in Harrisburg with the legislative group. see if you make sure that throw a little word in for budget while you're out there for school budgets. But but thank and congratulations. Uh at this time and we're going to continue with a high school theme. Uh I'm going to turn it over to our our high school principal uh Mr. Andy Benzing. Uh he's joined by several students. Uh he's got Davis Fairbanks, Josiah Robinson Liry, and uh Manny Pickup, I believe, are out here this evening.

018Uh and they're going to speak about some of the great things that are happening this school year uh at the high school. Andy Excuse the hyping team to go. You supposed to stick. Mr. Keven, if you want the you and the gentlemen can go up here right in the front row and sit and join us. So then when the time comes, you can pop up. Uh while that's warming up, I'll just open and say uh thank you very much to uh the board u and Dr. Scalin for inviting us here uh this evening u as a high school unit to overview um our year thus far. Uh we're thrilled to present this hourlong presentation to you um with everything we've been working on and look forward to uh taking up lots of your time this

019evening. Um I'm joined today with Miss Andrea Lira um who is here as the assistant principal that many of you may know was the interim principal at the start of the year who um along with Miss Tabitha Duffy and Mr. Tom McGlaughlin when I say set the table and made me feel welcome u uh in my new role I couldn't understate that enough. um they've been a tremendous support and resource and I've made many many mistakes which none of you have seen largely in due part to their efforts to support me um so far since January. Mr. Keven is here as well as well as three members of our brand new uh Strath Smash team and we'll talk a little about uh them a little bit more sports me sports media at Strath Haven. Uh

020Josiah, Manny and Davis are here as well to share a little bit about um some of their efforts to get that up and running. So uh let's get started here if we could. This picture, by the way, is one of my favorites. It was early on. This is the first day that our flowering cherry tree was in bloom um that day. And it was only in bloom for about two days because it was that same week that we had that awful storm. Um and I was so moved by it. I went out uh and just was enjoying it in the morning. And as the as the children were coming off and crossing the street, said, "Come here quick. You got to take a look at this." Uh and next thing you know, we had a

021whole crowd. And I was really impressed with myself as the principal. Look how motivated they are. Look how I inspire them. And then I looked down at the clock and I realized we're like 5 minutes past the late bell and they were milking every opportunity for the rookie principal that they could to miss some time for class and they said go back to class. Um so we're here to talk a little bit about a lot of the programming that we've been running this whole year. Um one of the big changes we've made when we when we launched and got together as a team was to really take a look at explicit efforts to build community in particular our PBIS tier 1 programming throughout the course of the year. We work really closely with a lot

022of our PBS coaches and directors to help us really get a shot in the arm towards building community. So, we're going to highlight a few things. You'll see here, this is one of our efforts to uh refer to as wellness Wednesday. Our third Wellness Wednesday is actually coming up the day after tomorrow. We encourage you to come on campus, but these are sessions we're running during lunches for all students to have access to learning opportunities. Um, you'll see and I'll mispronounce it. Uh, uh, we have Kong here, Kong Kong here in a class, a form of martial arts. Um, we've got some smoothie station here with Miss Harris. I My eyes were this big. And she said, "We're going to we're going to deliver about 300 of these per lunch." I said, "What?" Yeah. 300

023per lunch. So, 300 smoothies laid out on all these tables. Kids came from all over. Not a drop of sugar in them. Kids loved them. Oh, we'll have this next week. I was like, I don't know who's going to pay for this. um you know buddy bracelets here as well as we have some partnerships that we're going to talk a little bit about. Um this partnership here you'll see is an educational uh partnership we have with St. Joseph's University and prevention of of substances that are damaging for our students. Um so this is a direct effort to try to educate our students in a way in a back end way that they wouldn't even see it coming uh during a time that's really social for them outside. Um stall stories. This is an attempt too

024to try to get kids um to look and think and and give some reflections on um each month on their own social emotional learning. So these are articles for them to review, to consider. Um you know, we post them everywhere. They're called stall stories, but they're really wall stories. They end up anywhere that's a vertical surface. Um and we have a part of our PBIS team uh with Mr. McLaclin kind of leading this charge here. You'll see there's fun things here as well to kind of get a measure for how effective they are. Does the straw have one hole or two? Yeah. Long pause there. Yeah, Mr. Henry's putting his fingers. Yeah, one hole or two. So, for the students that respond to that survey, it gives us a sense for for our outreach in

025that regard. So, this is a real creative way we're trying to reach the students and just try to get them thinking about social emotional learning. Um, these are plastered throughout the building. Um, in that regard, you see advertisements here, but all these, by the way, are posted online for you to view um and linked closely to. So, also we try to expand and continue the Chris King student games. Um, you see Josiah is up there that we invited the Smash team to come and provide that sports commentary. Um, I'd like to say that the the events aren't competitive. Some people said, "Oh, they're not really going to try their all." I would refer you to this picture here. Um, the intensity of the Chris King game. Um, that's actually uh the Turkey Bowl, per se.

026And there's a link here to um the resurgence of that game from our very own Panther Press. Uh we're also taking a look at a lot of our living spaces in an attempt to beautify and really uh push forward some of the branding and uh beautifification efforts that we have as a district. Um you'll hear this is going to be a 4-footer that we're going to order here. Big Strath Haven Panther as soon as you walk in, bing boom right there to greet you. Uh Miss Lapiro is working with a a vendor. Imagine this. Do you know those stairs? We have like literally everywhere throughout the building cuz it's a Frankenstein. It's been renovated like 17 times. Um so we have stairs everywhere. We're going to decorate those um with our Mamaro here for PBI

027safe, responsible, respectful. So, it's a common language that all of our students have. We're also taking a look at some of our furniture and the board might get a look at this too. We got some proposals coming our way to try to outfit some of our classrooms with real modular thinking. Some of you, you know, remember me speaking about this with Dr. Pratt in my old days in in the former office about ways to get, you know, different modalities and flexible learning with our students. High desk, low desk. It's not it's not appropriate just for elementary school. It's appropriate at Streath Haven, too. Um, so Miss Mosley, it's coming. Get ready. Um, next month. Um, in that regard, I'm gonna uh invite Miss Lepira up. But in that transition, I think we've taken a this

028section. We kind of broke this presentation into four sections. This the intent here is to think about ways we can engage our own WSSD community to engage our student community. So at home baked ways we can try to get uh our kids involved. And in this picture, I'll turn over Mr. Lar. is um and you're here. Tonra mentioned it earlier, our international night last Wednesday when the families came out. Man, look at that. It's packed in there. Um this is one of the more heartwarming things. We had three generations of families come out for that night all throughout the district. It was a wonderful night. But I got a little excited. I'm going to I'm going to stop now and turn over to Miss Lepier. I could click her if you want or you click.

029Why don't you click? Great. Okay. So, uh, one of the things that we're also working on is, you know, sort of inspired by the school calendar for next year is the religious holidays and observances. You know, bringing some education to our students. And I'll use Lunar New Year as an example because we have a quick little video that we can show you of student what students created. You know, we know that some of our students celebrate Lunar New Year. We also know that some of our students don't know what Lunar New Year is or why people celebrate it or how people celebrate it. So we have a group of teachers and more importantly students who are working together to kind of uh use from the basis of the calendar identify ways to uh make daily

030announcements, the morning announcements, the afternoon announcements. We have the TV screens up around the building. So you'll see Ramadan uh this is one of the people who is better people who are better at Canva than I am put that together. Um but we have those for some of the different celebrations and um and then the you know we're trying to get students to generate uh videos to sort of talk about what their experiences are. Do we want to show we might want it's about two minutes long but we'll just give you a flavor of it and then uh just uh oh um so we'll let you see what uh our student Manori uh initiated this uh with some of her peers. [Music] Hi. What's your name? Hi. My name is you. What are you doing

031here? Uh, I'm not a junior. What do you and to celebrate? Um, basically we just gather together and eat dinner together. Also, we will watch the TV show. That's the first and Chinese culture is just a time for uh family members to gather together and celebrate a new year and to pray for a good we could stop it here but but Manuri goes on to interview a number of different students and it's fun to see the the similarities in their answers and the differences. is and and how they respond. Um but I think you know we are we're posting these things on schooly. We're asking teachers to share them in the classroom and um you know we are going to continue to do that for a number of different uh religious and cultural celebrations uh

032different celebration months autism awareness I know Dr. Scandlin mentioned um so there's a lot of opportunities for that and we have a team of people who are excited about creating that and we're working to you know generate some excitement with with students. Um, and I know International Day has been mentioned a few times, so I'm not going to belabor it too much. But what Tamara didn't mention was that she sang beautifully on stage in front of, you know, uh, 500 students twice and she did an amazing job. It's one of my favorite days of the year. I think students would agree that it's one of the favorite days of the year. Um, but, uh, it's it's one of the things that really helps us stand out and we're really uh, proud of our students and

033I'm happy to be able to do that. So, I'll turn it back to Mr. Benzing. Uh continuing in the theme of engaging our community, um there was a a shopping uh shopping spree in in Acme and Jane Billings approached me and said, 'You know, would you have any students that you think could go to Ria? I thought this is pretty innocuous enough. What's the harm here? Um next thing I know, those same students were knocking on a door saying we'd like to start an interact club. I says, oh, and now I see where the shoe drops. Um but this is the kind of partnership that we're talking about with our community. And um I really want to invite anyone at home to think is there a resource uh is there is there something in the

034community that you could bring to our school that we could leverage and you know that started the resurgence of this Interact Club and here's Kate Fox the president of our current our newest reestablished interact club at the Rotary meeting um going and launching that. Um sure enough these things build to build to build. Rotary then suggested hey you have a wellness day. We have a connection at the Delaware County to tobaccof free zone. Um and they showed up on our wellness day. just happens through conversation when we invite invite that. So similarly haven hold the phone who we've heard a lot about they came into the office we started talking they said we want how how can we move forward I said I'm so thankful for you to say that so we are engaging with

035with them in partnership to talk about kind of a tier one that's approach for everyone to say let's go ahead and look at that in our health classes what could you bring to our health classes then what perspective maybe that we're not already considering they're thrilled they're involved in that now they're working with Karly Reid and M and Dr. Pratt uh to try to find ways to build those in health classes. Similarly, not every child is uh is is is largely a tier one and only a tier one. There's additional restorative work that we need and they're helping us with that too um as we moved up. Um one such partnership came at one point uh uh Miss Lepier and I were meeting with a member from the HSA and they they had said home

036and school association for strate how could we help you I said you know that's a good question if there's any partnership or any way he said you know what I happen to be a lot of connections at Temple University um in their sports me sports uh media department you have any any groups by chance maybe that might be interested in that I said whoa in fact we do uh newly fledging and and folks if you guys don't mind coming up fell if you don't mind coming on Um, in fact, in fact, we do. And Michael Gart said, "I think I could set that up with you." Um, so I'd like to introduce Mr. Pat Keveny if he could, who had this idea early on. Josiah, don't break the place. They're not going to invite us

037back here. Um, uh, early on to this idea of uh, sports media at Strath Haven. Um, it was just an idea, an infinite idea. Then we paired that with Mr. Gart's idea. Next thing you know, we've got a really great opportunity for our students. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Keiny. Thank you. Um, yeah, sports media at Strath Haven, which, uh, originally was going to be the Strath Haven athletic media, and Miss Lepira said sham wasn't a very good acronym for, um, for the group. Um, we started it really, we kicked off in February, and we now have 30 students who are actively involved. Um, and we're trying to get it off the ground and our hope is that in May we will actually broadcast um, a couple of athletic events. Um,

038we're aiming to be a title n compliant um, uh, outlet for students who are interested in media and broadcasting to showcase their talents. So, people have asked like, yes, we're going to showcase the athletics here at Strath Haven, but more importantly for us is to to showcase the talents of people like uh, Josiah and Manny and Davis here um, both in front of and behind the camera. Um, these are three of our founding members. They have been working really hard and I will point out that Josiah and Davis have been working really hard on this with no uh guarantee that they're even going to be on camera. They are seniors and really our kickoff will become uh full swing in in uh August when we come back. Um, and we're very thankful to Mr. Benzing

039and our athletic director, Miss Lenel Mosley, for their support um in getting this off the ground. Uh, and so I want them to talk a little bit about uh our trip to Temple last week where I will say our students were outstanding and were complimented by the Temple staff and I think Temple really showed very well um and helped our students see what the future could hold for them. So I introduce you to Josiah and Davis and Manny. Thank you for having us here. Um, I'm Manny Pickup, Junior, co-executive director of sports media at Seth Haven for this and next year. Um, Eddie Gart, who's our production director. Um, and his dad, Michael Gart, who's on the school board at Temple, wanted us to visit Temple and see their sports media resources and give us

040tips on how to get the club started. They have a lot of great resources and people that can get us there. Um, Mr. Kevney connected and reached out with John D. Carlo, who's the managing director at the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple, and they scheduled a visit for last Thursday, April 24th. I met John quite unorthodoxly at Sheets in Harrisburg at the um Keystone Media Awards and we continued to talk about the planning for the trip and some resources that they have and just keep talking about the trip and how excited we were. When we arrived on campus last year, we met John at the uh student center south and the 17 of us who came on the trip walked over to the student media center shortly after and checked out WHIP

041which is the student radio station. That's where I'll give it to Josiah. I'm Josiah Robinson Liry, uh senior director of Smash. And to continue what Manny was saying, um once we got once we got there, we were able to get a in-depth look that look at uh some of their studios and what the students uh for WHIP do and they and John de Carlo showed us a lot of the resources that Temple has while also giving us practical advice about what we should do and some of the things we should prepare once we uh eventually go on air. And I think this was a very strong and very important trip just because this was able to give us kind of an insight of what a future in this field could look like for us. And

042it kind of and the Carlo and a lot of the other people we talked to during this trip kind of emphasized the importance of like learning through experience which um we actually got to do because three of our three of our people who came on the trip with us were able to go on air with WHIP. three three different students, Luca, Arian, and Maya, were interviewed live. So, that was very cool to see and very cool to hear that while we were just on the trip, we were able to kind of showcase what we really want to do. And we were able to ask a lot of different questions to students and um Mr. D. Carlo himself about how we balance this with school, how students should interact with athletes, and how journalists get their

043stories. So while he was showing us what Temple has and kind of promoting Temple in a lot of ways, he also gave us a lot of uh practical advice that we could carry on. And I think overall since their program was more student ran, it kind of was a very good large scale model for what we want to see for Smash in the future. Now, uh continue this Davis. Uh yeah, hi. Uh my name is Davis Fairbanks. I'm another senior director here. Um, and the last thing that they showed us, which I thought was one of the coolest things of the entire field trip, was this picture right up here, which is their uh news broadcast room. So, it was pretty interesting when we got there. I believe they were around half an hour out

044from uh doing their uh sports show, their Temple sports show. So, you can see kind of in the background uh they had two anchors up uh preparing for their show. And I thought that the coolest thing about this was we got to see kind of the the whole scale of the production. Not just the three people in front of the camera, but um you know, and this picture doesn't even do it justice, but just to the left, there's a whole control room which controls, you know, what's being shown on screen, audio, sound, and I think uh being able to see that firsthand for all the members in the club, I think it shows that we're going to be able to get kids involved. you know, there's going to be a lot of spots for everybody

045for each, you know, we don't need just two people talking in front of a camera. We need people that are, you know, can operate the camera, can switch uh can switch which angle um and so on. So, I thought that this gave us a really kind of good perspective on, you know, how we're going to be able to get kids involved in in the club. Um, and yeah, another thing that I like that they mentioned was uh kind of the amount of viewers. I think that this was they brought this up when we were at uh WHIP, but they talked about how they get listeners from all over the world that they can see and that's from the uh family of maybe let's say there's someone from Spain playing on the soccer team. They're going

046to be able to tune in and watch that game. And that kind of made me think of you know the local area. There probably are countless parents that can't make it to the game that would like to throw some, you know, throw it on and be able to watch it. Smash is going to be a great outlet for that. Um, I know I've got uh a family friend who they've had four kids come through the district already and they still asked me about uh, you know, the baseball team cuz most of their kids were involved with that. And I think being able to for them to keep up with the team that they had, you know, three boys play for uh, would be something that would be very beneficial to our um, you know, our

047kind of local community. So yeah, that's that's what I got from the temple trip and yeah very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, it's tough to follow the students when they talk like that. Now nobody wants to hear the So we'll move this along a bit um and just talk a little bit about some of our service opportunities here this year. Okay. Um, so we started the year in terms of service with MLK Day of Service. And what we're really working to do is is develop a partnership with the Access Community Center in Chester. I don't know if you're familiar with the Access Community Center. And I could talk about it all night, which I won't, but there are two women who run it. They serve a thousand guests a month.

048And what's really nice when we bring our students there in they are former principles so they know how to talk with students and they've done a really nice job of explaining to our students sort of how their service really benefits you know how people in the community deserve dignity and regardless of their mental health status regardless of their homelessness status regardless of their poverty level. And it's been really meaningful I think for our students. So we went on on MLK day of service uh and and prior to that did a clo clothing drive sort of clothing drive. Socks, gloves, and sleeping bags uh were things that we uh brought with us. And last week, just last week we were there. Uh the the surrounding area had gotten a little dirty with cans and bottles and

049things like that. So our kids put their gloves on and and went out with wheelbarrows and cleaned up many many many wheelbarrows worth of trash. and um the the women who work there, you know, said not only did they appreciate it, but the neighbors who surround that community really appreciated it. Um we have students looking for service opportunities all the time. I think one of the things we're hoping to do is build opportunities in the summer to get over to access and uh give students, you know, some who are maybe are not working or are looking for those opportunities. You know, sometimes it's hard for teenagers to find those things. we'd like to um create some opportunities and and Maggie and and Kathy will take our students one at a time, a hundred at a

050time. They're thrilled to have us. So, um that partnership is is going great and we're really uh happy for it and uh it's a great place. I we also did some food service at with the Chester City team, but I just happened to be a little bit more connected to Access, so that's why I talked about that one a little bit more, but great work by our student. Mir's been a great resource in that regard in connecting with Access. And I just went up how amazing our students are. This is a day off for everyone else. Most of the teenagers are home sleeping and you know Miss Lupern and Alex Andrea said, "Is anybody going to come?" Uh we filled the bus and I'm glad Allison Slo's not here. May have had people like sitting

051on laps to get there uh for service which has been great. And this is you know last literally last Thursday we even had kids go out there then. So we're really thrilled. I'm going to zip through this next part but these are all the different service things that we're doing here at the school. This in particular is a live link that our interact club is running. tips for kids. Um that's a a nice initiative they're running right now to try and raise uh those those resources for people in need. Um time to celebrate. Uh a lot of these celebrations, some of these you've seen, we just celebrated the highQ team. These are the infamous Smarties. You may or may not have read in the Sworthmore andor the Panther Press. Um, our team, uh, as customary

052brings these Smarties and these become, um, chips, I'll say, for, uh, Texas Holdem after the match against all the teams that are there, and they they all teach each other how to play Texas Holde and play, per se. You've heard a lot about our soccer team from this fall, state champions. This is hot off the press as of two, three days ago. Our Best Buddies program, and many of you may not even know this, Best Buddies program at Strath Haven High School, which is relatively new. I think Dr. Connley brought that in maybe two, three years ago, um, was just recognized. What day was it last week? this past weekend. Today's Monday, these these this new job, the days are very long. Um it was just this past weekend on Saturday, um both Lar Bruno

053um and Josie Tolson were recognized as the Pennsylvania best buddies in the state. Uh number one best buddy pair in the state. So that was that was up in King of Prussia. Um and that literally I had to change it. I'm worried about the Sunshine Act, but hopefully won't no one will notice that I swapped the picture out. Um in that regard, you know, our French program has been identified as an exemplary program in the country. We're very proud of them. Many of you know the great achievements of our print or press. Um both not only the online, the newspaper, the yearbook. Uh we're continuing to celebrate them as well. Um so questions, we're not done yet, but questions Mr. Per come up in case they ask me something I don't know the answer to.

054U being as I'm only on the month a job about 3 months. Uh but if any questions or thoughts, but you know, thank you very much for the opportunity for us to share a lot of what we're doing tonight. U and appreciate the time. Thank you both. Uh let me see if does anyone on the board have questions, comments? I'll start down with uh Nette. Um I just want to say that this was a wonderful presentation. I always like it when the schools come and share what they're doing. And kudos to you and your new position. Hey, thank you. and and you you you you hit the ground running. And uh congratulations to the high school, the HighQ team, the girls, soccer, and all the athletes and academia students that performed so well this year.

055And I I want to second all of that and just so nice for us to be here and this is this is why we do what we do and so I appreciate you're presenting all of this and it it really makes us feel like uh we're making a difference through you. So thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks. Uh, I really enjoyed hearing, you know, everything that you presented about today and a lot of it is great, but I did I did want to uh particularly say that it was great to hear about the ways that you're recognizing the cultural and religious holidays and celebrations. I feel like that is making the changes we made to the calendar that more meaningful for for our students, which is the point. So, thank you very much. I will

056say uh we literally remember that meeting. literally printed out the school calendar and took out the new school calendar and took a look at all the religious holidays and said here's our target. This is what we want to represent. We played that Lunar New Year video to our faculty and as an example of this is what we're trying to do uh to refocus our gaze towards students and their holidays. And um at that faculty cleared out and then two members of the of the staff and the faculty came up to both of Asian descent came up to me with literally like beaming and said we thank you so much for doing that. Was amazing. Their shoulders were dropped. They were comfortable. They felt valued. Um, so we hope that our students feel that way too.

057Thank you for an energetic presentation as always. Um, and um, for everything that the high school does. I I I really loved the presentation um, about the sports media. I just think that that has so much opportunity. I know when my kids were in school and involved in sports, you know, there we actually had, you know, people would just talk about like, why don't we have this this thing, you know, why don't we have more students involved in like reporting on the field or just reporting in general, sports, there's just so much of it. So, um, how wonderful that it's really coming to fruition and so so quickly. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Benzing and Miss Lepira. Your excitement is palpable. Um, and I particularly look forward to how you sign off on your principal's

058newsletter each week. Now, my favorite thing in my inbox now. That's great. Thank you. Um, again, and thank you. um that though I was on I don't to talk strategic planning is like really boring when you think about it but you I was on the the group that was about like culture uh culture and community or I forget what we called that that particular thread and we really had a hard time like trying to like put that into something that was meaningful that people would understand like what we were trying you just did it like it's it's all over in this and I'm so excited to see that because we couldn't explain it well but you really really captured it and all things you're doing and the way you're working beyond the walls of the

059school. That's what we were trying to get to. So, that's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Um I just wanted to comment on um you made a made a small comment about the physical space in the school and and um some of how students feel in the space, the social environment that it can create. And um I just you you've mentioned that very quickly and um it's something that I think as we embark on some of our discussions around potential renovations to the high school I think is something we really want to think about which is how do you align the physical space with the atmosphere that you're trying to create for learning as well as the social environment you're trying to create for students. And so it's very uh it was a quick point, but

060I just want to put a pin in it as we move those conversations forward um about how we can create those kind of environments in the high school. Sure. Much like the Academy Awards, they took control of my slideshow away from me. But if you go back to the slide um with that same there's a link in there to a Panther Press article that speaks directly to what you're saying and I encourage everyone to read it. That's from the students perspective to say where do we go at 2 o'clock? There's no place for us to gather. There's no and it's it's linked in here in case you're interested to see that at home. So, thank you. Well, uh, Mr. Benzy and Mr. P, thank you so much for that. Um, Mr. Pier, I'm so happy

061to see you here because you're such an important part of our community. So, I'm glad you're here. Um, one, first, I have two things. One, uh, a straw has one hole. It's the whole way through. I just want to be clear about that. Uh, Mr. period. I had a question for you about access about you you were talking about that it it as with all things that are successful my my brain goes how can how can that be expanded and I wonder if you had any thoughts about expanding uh how who who goes and if you I was even thinking like could the kids parents join them and could staff join I do you have any thoughts about expanding that one of the things I I sort of meant to say and I didn't and

062I'm glad you brought it up is you know the nice thing about oh I'm sorry you not everybody That's right. I forget. I don't like microphones. Um, one of the things I I sort of failed to say but had thought about earlier is that, you know, you don't need to be, you know, a national champion or a captain of a soccer team or a straight A student to go to volunteer. You just have to have willingness. Um, Maggie and Kathy over there are very willing to have have um our partnership. They'd be happy for groups of students. They'd be happy for families. I know Mother of Providence down the street also has a partnership with them and do a lot of work with them as well. um they can't survive without without their volunteers. So,

063if anybody's interested in learning more or having me connect you with their volunteer services, I'm happy to do it. They are they are they are not shy to say they are 60 and 72 years old and they are mowing the lawn and they are cleaning the bathrooms and they are doing everything over there and um and they they thrive on on volunteers and so they are happy for whatever um service we can provide. And so we've talked about it not only from a you know the opportunity to do service but also there are times when we have a needs for restorative practice where students need to do some community service and it's it's nice to be able to pick up the phone and call them and having two former principles who get kids and get

064students that's such an amazing connection that I think is sort of an intangible that you don't necessarily you know can't necessarily put a a measure on but um so anyway to answer your question yes families can go uh They have a great website. They have lots of different opportunities. But I'm happy to have you know conversations offline about that so that you know we can make those connections if needed. Great. Thank you. And and those skills are uh you know we see as public servants up here uh anytime we can teach our kids the value of public service lifelong skill. But thank you both. That was amazing. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Great. Thank you. All right. Uh, Dr. Scan, do you have any more for superintendent report? Wow, you're all done. Thank

065you so much. And and one thing I always think about when I when when I working with Dr. Scanland over the last year, everything he he he he leads with what does it do for the kids? What does it do for the kids? I always have you in my head. What does it do for the kids? So, thank you for that because that's that's brought that forefront. All right. Um, moving on now to board announcements. The board did meet in executive session prior to uh the board meeting. Uh now moving on to audience recognition. This is in response to items for action on the agenda. We will have an opportunity later for uh public comment for items not on the agenda. Um as a reminder, public comment is a time for district residents and taxpayers

066to speak to the board about an issue that is before the board or may come before the board. It's a time for us to listen, hear perspectives and experiences from our community. While we can't answer questions at the meeting, there's always ample opportunity for followup after the meeting. Uh we want to give as many people as possible a chance to speak. So we're going to continue to follow our three minute time limit and we'll give you a heads up when you're uh about one minute out. So is there anyone here would like to speak tonight about a topic on the agenda this evening? Okay, moving on to the minutes. Our next item for action on the agenda tonight is approval of the minutes of the March 24th, 2025 regular board meeting. Do I have a

067motion for approval? Miss Wet. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Miss Wowski Smith. Thank you. Um, any discussion about the minutes? All right. Seeing none, Miss Mosley, would you please take a roll call vote? Mrs. Ble, I. Dr. Grande, I. Mrs. Mrs. Hbert. Hi, Mr. Miller. Hi, Mrs. Watman. Hi, Miss Woodet. Hi, Mrs. Williams. Hi, Mrs. Wakowski Smith. Hi, Mr. Henry. I Motion passes 9 to zero. All right. Thank you. Now, moving on to board committee reports. I want to remind everybody here and then watching at home, our educational affairs committee, facilities and finance, and policy committees all are available on our uh district YouTube channel. So, you can watch them uh as many times as you like. and uh as slowly or as quickly as you like using the little 1.5 thing

068that Dr. Grande reminded me is so important uh to you. So um I did want to ask Mrs. Wman if she had any extra comments that she wanted to make now or later during about policy. You don't have to because we're going to do a vote on it. Yeah, that's fine. I just want to double check with you. Okay, moving on to the wellness advisory. Mr. Le or Dr. Grand, do you have anything? Y Mr. Le, please. So the wellness advisory committee met um on March 24th um and again today but we'll hold on that till next time around. Um so we had an update on the feeding schools feeding school kids program through giant and this is where you could round up at the register at the Brook Haven Giant from January 1 to

069March 31st. And the monies were used to fund overdue lunch balances for economically disadvantaged students. And last year we apparently received $7,622 that went towards negative school balances. Our focus topic was the talk lesson on puberty which was held on April the 9th and uh this topic was presented by Kari Reid, our health and PE department chair. and she uh detailed the work that went into reviewing and revising our um our lesson to be inclusive and this was done in consultation with the Mazone Center. So, a letter went out to parents on April 1st, and then 20 to 25 minute lessons were caught taught co co-educationally by the health and PE teacher and the school nurse to all fourth grade classes within students classrooms on April the 9th with a 15minute video also shown. And

070then students were given index cards to write any questions afterwards. And then lastly, there was a trienal assessment of our wellness policy. And this is required by the USDA. Um so small groups met to discuss and take notes on the following components of our policy. Public involvement notification and assessment, nutrition education, nutrition promotion, physical activity, physical education, other school-based wellness activities, and nutrition guidelines for food and beverages at school. And then today we met to review the results, but we'll hold on that until um until next month. That is all. Sorry. Thank you. Uh moving on [Music] to the Pennsylvania School Board Association and Missy Smith. Hi. Thank you. Uh the PSBA is uh working very hard on charter school reform and the PA House Education Committee will host uh its first three separateformational hearings

071across the state on cyber charter schools. These hearings are happening as the state considers additional cyber reforms. The hearings will be held in three separate regions across the Commonwealth and PSBA will be testifying during the one scheduled for May. um unfunded mandates. PSBA is encouraging district leadership, their communities to ask legislators to relieve the stress of unfounded and underfounded underfunded mandates. The latest example, Pennsylvania legislature now requires that high schools provide a financial literacy course that students must take in order to graduate. This unfunded mandate requires districts to provide space and instructors for every student to take this class. Foundational AI in schools. Uh the PSBA institute and Millersville University are pleased to offer foundational AI for school leaders, an asynchronous learning course introducing school leaders to the fundamental concepts and practical applications of artificial

072intelligence in educational settings. The cost is $400. the PSBA site for registration. Advocacy Day. Okay. May 13th at the state capital. This complimentary event will bring school directors, school business managers, and superintendent together to advocate for key education issues. PSBA will schedule your meetings with legislators and provide you with the resources and messaging to support your advocare advocacy efforts. Uh it's on uh PSBA's website and please sign up so that uh you can attend. Thank you and that's all I have. All right. Thank you so much. Now moving on to Delaware County Community College leaison and Mr. Miller. Do you have anything? No specific report. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to Delaware County Intermediate Unit. That's me. Uh nothing to report other than the next meeting uh is on May the 7th. And then finally,

073Delaware County School Board Legislative Council and Mrs. Watner. Okay. Um pardon, just a couple things. Um the uh from a government affairs update uh we're whoops anticipating a cyber charter bill from House Democrats that may actually be out at this point um for a flat rate of 8,000 uh dollars for cyber charter tuition. Um also working with the House and Senate on certification bands to align grade levels better within building structures. Um federal updates anticipate the president's budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 as early as May. Final budget um goal is for October. Uh let's see. Schools are still working through a number of different federal issues uh from esser liquidation and what that means uh for many schools DEI title 9 verification and guidance around that voucher expansion bill. Um and then a uni

074I don't know the u universal I can't talk tonight universal service fund and e rate there is a scotas ruling coming on that that's likely to come out in June um there's a summary of some different um legislative updates and action at the local level at the Pennsylvania level um that it will be provided in the uh attachment with the um with the information for tonight's meeting uh the the continued discussion about charter charter schools um and advocating for both the brick andmortar charter reform alongside the cyber charter reform was part of what the group talked about. Um and then the legislative breakfast, the Delaware County uh legislative breakfast meeting is on May 16th in person at the DCIU in um Delaware County DCIU. So more more information will be forthcoming. That begins at 7:30

075a.m. And they are actually still working about um on the focus for that breakfast. it was going to be AI and education. It may change to uh uh what's what's happening in terms of federal and legislative updates. Um that's it. Okay. Thank you. Now, moving on to personnel and we have 33 items. Looks like the staff was busy this month. Uh for action and personnel, are there any items on the list that anyone would like to separate from the rest? Okay. Um, seeing none, um, I will read I'll read down these. Uh, all the items are attached as I'm going to read quickly down them. We have, uh, resignations and retirements. We have appointments as listed. We have leave of absence is listed. Changes of position, changes of salary, 2024, 2025. Change of base hours

0762020 2024 2025 spring athletic supplementals 2024 2025 activities advisors appointments behavioral health counselors school psychologists school counselors IEP development staff GIE development staff guidance instructor curriculum writing home and school visitor PBIS planning and training school nurses Summer curricular work literacy literacy specialists summer curricular work elementary reading specialists summer curricular work K through8 reveal curriculum writing teams summer curricular work K through five science curriculum writing teams summer curricular work French teachers grades 6 through 12 summer curricular work Spanish teachers grades 6 through 12 summer curricular worksh newly adopted courses summer curricular work eighth grade ELA team members summer curricular work grade 9 ELA summer curricular work SHMS science teachers summer curricular work course design bid recruiter contract compensation plan act 93 administrators amendment to employment contract for business administrator amendment to employment contract for director of

077human resources Lancaster Lebanon IU13 contract And lastly, trustee appointment for Delaware County Healthcare Trust. And somebody had it out for me with the word curriculum because that is the most difficult word for me to say and I just said it 52 times, I think. Do I have a motion to approve uh items A through I? So move. Mr. Miller, thank you. Do I have a second? Second, Mr. Hbert. Thank you. Uh any discussion on those 33 items? I'll start on this end of Dr. Granny and go down. Okay, great. Um, M. Mosley, can you please take a roll call vote? Mrs. Delay, I. Dr. Grande, I. Mrs. Hullberg, I. Mr. Miller, I. Mrs. Wattman, I. Mrs. Witet, I. Mrs. Williams, I. Mrs. Mckelsece Smith, I. Mr. Henry, I. Motion passes nine to zero. Great. Thank

078you. Moving on to policy. We have two items uh to start for actions and policy. Um are there any of them on that list? We we do have uh item one item separated already. Are there any of those first two that anybody on the board wants to separate? Okay, seeing none. Uh policies for first reading. We have on there we have policies and administrative guidelines to be repealed. Uh, do I have a motion to approve items A and B under policy? Miss Williams. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Mr. Ole. Thank you. Uh, any discussion on those first two uh, policies for first reading and policies of Okay, seeing none, M. Moses, would you please take a roll call vote on those? That's how it's we have it set up. Mrs. Dole. Hi,

079Dr. Grande. Hi, Mrs. Hbert. Hi, Mr. Miller. Hi, Mrs. Wattman. Hi, Mrs. Witet. I Mrs. Kelsece, no, Mrs. Williams, I'm sorry. I, Missy Smith. I, Mr. Henry. I. Motion passes 9 to zero. Thank you. Now, moving on to policies for second reading. Um, do I have a motion to approve policy for second reading? So moved, Mr. Walkman. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Uh, thank you, Mrs. Williams. Uh, discussion on policies for a second reading. I'll start with Mrs. the the Mrs. W because she she uh moved first. Okay. To approve. Uh, so the um we've had lots and lots and lots of conversation about the um the electronic device policy. I'll again thank uh uh Dr. Skinland and our administration for supporting us in having a really um robust approach to this

080um surveys, feedback, lots of public conversations. Um I'm missing lots of things. There were some community forums and so forth that went into this. Um I don't I don't know that you you thought you were going to take this one on maybe in the middle of everything else, but um it was important to our community. um they came um and uh visited us to talk about this in a in a manner in which which itself was incredibly collaborative and um we've come to a spot where we've got a policy that is I think enforceable as it's written which for me was incredibly important that um particularly at the high school level that we had something we felt we could enforce um and I I think this does that it doesn't go um all the way

081to a full complete ban of electronic devices in the high school. Um there are still an opportunity to be able to have a device and use a device at lunch um if one should choose to do so. Uh but I do I do think we're in a we've moved the ball I think pretty far honestly in a in a pretty short period of time. Um the feedback that I continue to receive is that the work that's gone in in anticipation of change um has been very positive. Um that it's making a difference in the middle school and at the high school is what I'm I'm hearing from the community. Um I'm I'm looking at our our high school uh team here, administrators, and I want to thank you very very much for the time that

082you put into this too and um the approach that you took in how to implement it also and spending time with us when we came to visit you at the school. Um I think that's a it's um I think it's a a move in the right direction. Uh we did incorporate some of the feedback that we heard at the last meeting. Thank you again, Dr. Scanland for um being responsive to that feedback. One of the things that was really important to us and to members of the community was to make sure that we had a period of time in which we were going to revisit this to see is it working and check in on that. And so you have written um elements of that into the AR and then in the motion it's the

083way it's set. You might describe this better than I would uh if you wouldn't mind. I it's set up in such a way that we're committing to uh every six months. Um yeah. Uh and yes and and this is uh electronic devices includes cell phones which was a big centerpiece of the discussion. Uh the the the pol or the motion itself uh is approving electronic devices policy 237 as a second reading with an assessment of the policy completed after the first semester and then again at the end of next year. So uh much like Mr. Benzing and Miss Lepira did as we ch as we changed classes at the high school we revisited some expectations set them this is now part of the motion so we'll do a you know formal assessment gathering uh halfway

084through the year and then at the end of next year we need to make changes with the administrative regulation while does not need board approval we can make those changes administratively we if we think that make some additional changes yeah thank you very much um I think I think that's all for member Um, Mrs. Williams, will you have the second on that one? Did you second that? Then you would have you can speak next if you want to. I don't have. All right, I'll go to the rest of the board members. I'll just go down. Mrs. Hbert, please. I actually on the policy committee when we first tried to do this. Oh, thanks. I was on the policy committee when we first tried to do this a few years ago. Um, at least we we

085got, you know, something in there. But I do think that this is better. Um, I want to say we have all listened very closely to all the speakers. We've read all of the letters. Um, and I've all I think we've all done sort of outside research and reading on this topic as well. Um, so I just want to say as a as a district I think we we're usually proud of making decisions based on research and um, you know, honestly to to me one side of this one side of this discussion is based on research and that is the side the group promoting the bell-to-bell ban on cell phone use. Um, so I have to say that given the quality of the reasoning brought up over the past several months, I'm personally inclined to such

086a ban. But given that, I'm completely willing to move forward with the compromised policy. Um, so I am going to vote yes. I've been really quiet about this thus far, but um but I will be intently following the um your the high school's progress um not only in implementing it, but of course, you know, assessing it like you just said. Um I also so I'm hoping to hear regular updates you know through the year on the development and also the implementation of that not exactly a curriculum on cell phone use policy but but we sort of talked about educating students kind of K through 12 about you know um cell phone electronic uh device use so I'm hoping that that also you know gets implemented in some way and we can in a way that

087we can assess it and see how things are moving along and if they need some tweaking. So again, thanks so much to this community for um its honest and forthright discussion and allowing for differences and um we'll see where this goes. Thanks. Okay, please. Yeah, and just to briefly follow up on that, so at the at the second read, we talked about setting goals and kind of pushing those out there publicly and then, you know, particularly looking at measuring a decrease in classroom redirection. Um, so, you know, look forward to seeing that and um, yeah, and thank you for highlighting that it was in the resolution as well. So, that's part of the what we voted on tonight. Thank you. Great. Miller. Yeah, just for the community to put a finer point on what Dr.

088Scanland said, the board is passing a second read of a policy that sets forth what we want to accomplish as a school district and then the administration can move within that policy within the administrative regulations without going back to the board and changing the entire policy. So it's important to understand that distinction and why we have a policy reading and administrative regulations reading which gives the administration the ability to alter as the the test pilot at six months and a year come in. So that makes me also very comfortable. So thanks please. as part of the policy committee. Um, I just want to personally thank Dr. Scandlin and um, for your leadership and your guidance. And I don't know if you thought about this when you took this position, but um I think that um

089we were able to have a civil discussion um and between the community and the board. and we came to to allow our differences not to override what we were trying to do on the students behalf. So um although everybody didn't get everything they wanted, we we have a good starting point and the fact that we are going to assess it and six month intervals to see the progress uh or non-progress um and the fact that Mr. Benzing and Mrs. Liro are working um at the high school to bring about change that I know since Mr. Benzy took the position, a lot of support went into educating students where it was minds on, phones off, screens off, minds, but that works too. Anyway, and and when we toured the school, it was nice to see that

090it was posted around the school in classrooms and in talking to the students to get their perspective on it was a wonderful experience for the board and it I know it it helped me in coming to terms with my decision. to support the policy as it's written and the AR as a living breathing document. All right. Thank you. U and I just wanted to uh wrap all the discussion up by thanking everyone I know uh that was involved. Dr. Scan of course our administrators are here. Many are sitting over there did a lot of work on this. Um Dr. Mansena worked a lot on this. I also want to thank all the members of the policy committee. I know you worked really hard on this. Uh uh Mrs. Wman in particular, if you ever want

091to watch somebody how to how to handle a committee and how to work through all the different angles and work with the superintendent, you watch Mrs. Walkman. That's the way to do it. So well done to you. So with that said, uh if there's any no more discussion. Nope. Okay. Uh Miss Mosie, would you please take a roll? Yes. Mrs. Dele, I. Dr. Grande. Hi, Mrs. Hbert. Hi, Mr. Miller. Hi, Mrs. Wattman. Hi, Mr. Witet. I Mrs. Williams. I Mr. Wesky Smith. I Mr. Henry, I. Motion passes 9 to zero. Oh, great. Thank you. And uh just to to just to finish up under uh policy, you will there are the administrative administrative regulations of first reading are listed there. Administrative regulations for second read reading are listed. And there's an attachment. It's for information

092only about uh naming rights is also listed on that. Uh moving on to curriculum, we have three items for action in curriculum. Are there any items on this list anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? Okay, seeing none, we have I tried to pronounce this earlier today. Is it news? Nella. Nella. Thank you. Nella. Thank I was definitely mispronouncing it. Um, NWA map and world language Spanish resources. All uh, do I have a motion to approve items A through C? So moved. Mr. Task Smith. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Mrs. Wman. Thank you. Uh, any discussion on items under curriculum? Start now. Okay. Seeing none, Mrs. Mosley, would you please take a roll call vote? Mrs. Delay. Hi, Dr. Grande. Hi, Mrs. Hbert. Hi, Mr. Miller. Hi, Mrs.

093Watman. Hi, M. Woodet. I Mrs. Williams. I Mr. Kelsey Smith. Hi, Mr. Henrik. I. Motion passes nine to zero. Great. Thank you. Uh, now we go on to student services. We have four items for approval of student services. Are there any items on this list anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? Okay, seeing none, we have educational service agreements as listed. We have for the love of black girls contracts 2025, criticare contract 2025 2026 and effective school solutions contract 2025 through 2028. Do I have a motion to approve items A through D? So moved. Mrs. Smith, thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Mrs. Hbert, thank you. Do I have any dis discussion? I'll start on this end on these. Okay, seeing none, uh, Miss Bos, would you take a

094roll call vote? Mrs. Dele, I. Dr. Grande, I. Mrs. Hullberg, I. Mr. Miller, I. Mrs. Wattman, I. Mrs. Woodet, I. Mrs. Williams, I. Mrs. Klowsky Smith, hi. Mr. Henry, I. Motion passes 9 to zero. Thank you. Moving on to finance and facilities. We have 12 items for approval in finance. Are there any items on this list anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest? Okay, seeing none, we have bills paid to vendors March 1st through March 31st, 2025. Financial statements March 1st through March 31st, 2025. We have the treasures report March 1st through March 31st, 2025. We have budget transfers. We have a contract for Tom Josiah Consulting LLC. Contract for CISCloud, contract for Lincolnit, contract for Daniel Walsh, contract attached, uh contract for Honeywell, uh safety security navigate 360, a receipt

095of donation from the West PTO and the uh Strath Haven High School Booster Club, uh naming of the basketball court at Swathmore Elementary School. That's it. Do I have a motion to approve of items A through L? So moved. Dr. Grande. Thanks. Do I have a second? Second. Mr. Miller. Thank you. Uh any discussion on items A through? I'll start uh on this end with Dr. Green. Yep. Mrs. Williams, please. Uh I would just like to thank West PTO and the booster club for their donation. Um, I know that Wes is donating for the basketball hoops and then the booster club is doing some, it says minor upgrades, but you know, there's a significant amount of money that they're donating to the district. So, on behalf of the district, thank them for that. Um, and

096then I'd also just like to point out that um, we are going to be naming the basketball courts at SRS in honor of Kevin Newsome um, who I had the pleasure of working with as in my capacity as the home and school president at the time. Um, and he worked tirelessly to get those basketball courts in. Um, they were old tennis courts that were in horrible disrepair. Um, so such an improvement and I think that that's really an honor for him and I think he'd be really proud. So, thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Williams. Oh, going down. Um, Mrs. Obert, did you please? I was just going to thank the um the parents who brought up the idea of naming the basketball court. I just I think it's a great thing for us to do

097and I'm glad that they brought it to us. Agreed. Mrs. Dol, please. I'll second that. Um and then also just real briefly regarding item J, the navigate 360. Um I wanted to um for those who maybe didn't get to tune in to the facilities and finance committee meetings. So this is going to be covered under an emergency preparedness grant. Is that correct? Yeah. And and then just real quickly, so when you kind of I I wasn't sure what it was, so I was looking into it a little bit online and the website mentions Alice training as part of the bundle, but it's my understanding that if we were to go that route, that would be a larger conversation with the board. Correct. We Yeah, we are not uh we have not approved Alice training, which

098is again emergency response for active shooters at schools. We have not done that. Navigate 360 is uh something that I believe most of the districts in the county are already moving toward that. The county put a a notification system in 13 years ago and paid for it. Those those systems are breaking down. The county is not going to replace those systems. So, school districts are finding notification systems for emergency that it's really becomes an app for not notifications that we can use. Yeah. And I I saw a mention there of of drills and I know this came up at policy when we redid our uh our security or safety policy. Um just the idea of having behavioral health staff at the table when we talk about drills for kids. So um I'm assuming it would

099be the same for any kind of services that we utilize through Navigate 360 as well. Yeah. Yeah. And tabletop drills and uh the the active uh shooter drills that were required to the active safety drills, lockown drills required to that has nothing to do with Navigate 360. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Okay. I did want to just take a minute uh going back to naming the basketball court. I appreciate uh comments made here by the board. I just wanted to read what we have in the for the people watching home and a few people here what we have in the in the uh in our in our agenda tonight just to give them a little background. U a large group of Swathmore citizens came to us uh to the board school board and the facilities committee to

100asked us to consider naming the basketball courts at the Swthmore RLage Elementary School after the late Kevin Nuome who passed away on February 7th, 2023. Um Kevin and his wife Karen were married in 2001. They had two children, Andrew and Ellie. Kevin loved being a husband and father, and nothing gave him greater joy than watching his children play sports. Whether it was watching Andrew, now a junior at University of Vermont, play soccer and lacrosse at Strath Haven, or Ellie, now a senior at Strath Haven, play high school or travel volleyball. Kevin was also very involved in the sophomore recreation association, earning the 2016 volunteer of the year award for conceiving, and then leading the fundraising, planning, and building efforts that brought brand new basketball courts to the sophomore Rutled Elementary School in 2015. Kevin also

101served on the SRA board and coached countless children in SRA youth sports. Financial contribution to the community uh and and his well his contribution to the community. Kevin's efforts to convert the old unused tennis courts at SRS Elementary School into new basketball courts were herculean. He raised all of the money from the project. first convincing some local businesses and other donuts donors to contribute to the project and then organizing a golf outing at the Spring Haven Club to raise the balance of the money required and then his charming nature enabled him to convince 20 to 25 sophomore dads to volunteer numerous summer and fall Saturdays in 2015 cleaning up the site then black topping you installing the baskets and putting the bleachers in place. It was a labor of love that was completed by the

102first Saturday in November 2015 and by mid-after afternoon that day the courts were buzzing with activity and have been ever since. So, uh, that's just a little background and I can I appreciate those parents and those committee members reaching out to us. Uh, and I appreciate the board supporting it as well. Uh, if there's no more discussion, Miss Bosie, would you please take a roll call vote? Mrs. Dole, I. Dr. Grande, I. Mrs. Hullberg, I. Mr. Miller, hi. Mrs. Wman I Miss Woodet I Williams I Mr. Wowsky Smith I Mr. Henry I motion passes 9 to zero. All right. Thank you. Now moving on to audience recognition uh for items not on the agenda. Um I won't repeat myself earlier but I just this is a time for uh district taxpayers to speak to the

103board about items not on the agenda. I'll remind everyone we're going to keep you to a threeminut time limit and we'll remind you when you have uh one minute left. Is there anyone here? And actually I'll uh when you do go up there please state your name and the street you live on within our district. Is there anybody who'd like to speak about a topic not on the agenda? Sir, hey. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, my name is, uh, Dean Dennis. I live on Emerald Lane at MediaPa. Uh guys probably remember me from last month and the month before. It's been 95 days since my uh son was assaulted on the bus and I've been awaiting some sort of action specifically from you Scalen about what will be done. Um you know I had offered

104a a suggestion as one way we could remedy this sort of situation but it saw on on deaf ears. Um um you know it's funny I'm conflicted here because you know my son sees all this great things that everyone is doing here and it oh my gosh it gives me so much pride to see what's happening in our community. My gosh outstanding job. That's fantastic. But it doesn't square with with with with the the with how he's been treated in terms of how he's not been given a sense of selfworth or dignity in terms of what had transpired on the butts. It's it's it's like we live in two worlds and I'm trying to, you know, educate him about being a good citizen of the community, volunteering. Um, you know, he sees this. I want

105him to see this. I talk about, you know, donating, giving time, giving heart, giving soul, but it doesn't square when the action is directed at him. And I find it somewhat disgusting, despicable that no one in this board has done anything. You scale have not done anything. And that's totally unacceptable. I mean, it's great when we talk about all this other great stuff. I love I think it's great. I think you guys, you know, do come from the heart, but for some reason there's like some sort of lack of willingness to engage this sort of topic. Um, earlier when I first presented this, I I I talked about a mitzvah of forgiveness and how important it was. And I wasn't only just thinking about my son Alex here, but I was also thinking about the

106aid who had uh had assaulted him. Okay, there's two side or there's two, I guess, sides to this coin of of forgiveness here. There is the one that, you know, restores dignity and faith uh to the person who um um uh had a wrong done to them. But there's also this sort of um um um um issue of um um um of uh restoring the the the right and purpose of the person who did this, the aid who did this. I just don't understand why this can't be done. I had um trying to think here. Okay, this is what I wrote in letter. I I thought it was a simple resolution to sort of the issue. I wasn't any looking for any sort of tort. I wasn't looking for some sort of you know criminal

107sort of uh sanction. I wasn't looking for the only remedy I was looking for I I I this is what I wrote. I said going forward how best to resolve this. I'm hoping that the aid can privately privately sit down with Alex discuss the event and hopefully apologize thus setting a good example to Alex on moving forward resolving issues and working together. This is an important step to undertake. I'm hoping this can occur sooner rather than later. It's been 95 days. Give me a break. This is ridiculous. I've discussed with Alex that this aid is an important member of our community and we are thankful for his involvement and the time he takes to improve the lives of others and that he is well deserved of the respect he is due. Now, how is it

108that I'm able to try to get my son to understand that even though this assault has occurred, okay, even though this assault has occurred, that he too should try to understand the process and the engagement that this aid did, but yet the school board and members of the school board, they're reluctant to encounter. All right. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you. Is there anybody else here who'd like to speak uh regarding a topic not on the agenda tonight? uh Bridget me Harvard Avenue and sophomore I want to start by expressing my gratitude for the hard work and dedication that has gone into the selection of a new literacy curriculum. It's clear that a great deal of time, effort, and expertise has been invested in this process. So, thank you to the administrators, uh, the

109teachers on special assignment, the TOSAs, and you, the board, for recognizing the need and rising to the occasion of making a change. We are poised to make meaningful impact on literacy outcomes, and that is something that we can all be proud of. However, I want to voice a critical concern regarding the proposed school year 2526 budget, which includes the elimination of an elementary ELA TOSA position. um a position that is central to the successful implementation of this new curriculum. This role is not just a support position. It is essential to ensuring that teachers receive the training, guidance, and ongoing assistance that they need to effectively execute the new curriculum in their classrooms. 50 plus classrooms will be implementing this new curriculum next school year. As we all know, successful curriculum implementation requires more than just

110providing materials. Even the best curriculum still requires continuous support, professional support, and a system for troubleshooting and refining teaching practices. And without the support of three elementary ELA TOAs, we risk not only diminishing the potential of the new curriculum, but also overwhelming our teachers who are already working tirelessly to meet the very diverse needs of their students. Uh Dr. Scanlin, Dr. Johnston, this is not the p time to pull resources from this literacy initiative. The map data that was presented at the educational affairs committee meeting regarding the challenges of our K to5 students speaks for itself. We need a new curriculum. We're zero we're close to zeroing in on that and now we need to give our teachers the support with implementation. Thank you for your time and consideration. I do appreciate the work that

111has been done and I urge you to think carefully about the implications of eliminating the TOSA positions at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to speak about a topic not on tonight's agenda? Please. Hi. Uh Mandy, Cameron Drive in Wellingford. uh and I am also um wanted to share my gratitude related to uh the literacy work that has been done uh in the district as of late. Um I also wanted to just share um what possibly could be an update um a legislative update that you were speaking to um Mrs. Wman related to Act 135 in the state of Pennsylvania. Uh I wanted to bring this to your attention because it will greatly impact um the new literacy uh structured literacy implementation next year and going forward in the

112district. Um so act 135 is already in place in Pennsylvania related to structured literacy. There is however a trailer bill um that is going to be voted on in June, hopefully June. Um, and this goes to the point about um, funded mandates and um, so I encourage you to please stay up todate on what's happening with the trailer bill uh, of act 135 and just a very brief overview. There are four components that are addressed in act 135 related to core curriculum for K3, intervention for K3, um, screeners and professional learning. those four pieces. Right now, a reading leadership council has already been established made up of educators and school leaders across the great state of Pennsylvania. They have been working tirelessly at committee meetings um to draft guidance documents to put out to school

113districts for review of curricular materials, intervention materials, proper screeners as well as professional learning so that districts can make these decisions um well-informed decisions. I think in the past we have all seen that um there has been misinformation or not proper guidance given by former district employees and uh I'm excited that we can now lean on the state um for that guidance with members from the Pennsylvania Department of Education who are the experts in this work and who are trying to create equitable conditions for all of the schools in not just our district but across the state. I invite you to go to paliteracy.org. Uh this is the Pennsylvania Literacy Coalition that is trying to drum up support uh to get funding for this uh trailer bill. And I hope our district could become members

114of the coalition um to really support this and continue to push the awesome literacy work that we're doing in our district. So, thank you. Thank you. And is there anybody else who would like to speak on item not on the agenda? Uh hello board members uh and thank you for providing the opportunity to speak at tonight's meeting. My name is Jason Van Holtz. I live been living on Scott Lane in Wingford since 2022. Just wanted a chance to add my voice to a very important mission that is uh stepping forward. I have a first grader Noah at NPE and a four-year-old Thea who will be attending in the coming years. Uh I have been an educator in Philadelphia for the past 15 years. I've taught many literacy class instruction to grades uh K through eight

115in some of the most challenging neighborhoods in the city. And to keep it all brief, I worked very hard for a very long time became one of the few teachers in either public or charter districts to close the achievement gap between my students and their more affluent suburban peers. Um because of these results, I've been given the opportunity recently to have a much larger impact on students education by acting as a teacher leader and coach at Eliza Kirkbride School in South Philly. Uh it's through this work that I've spent much of my professional time in the last decade learning, implementing, and then improving literacy curriculums. Uh I've seen the good, I've seen the bad, and I've seen the truly just strange and confusing. Um which has brought me to this board meeting tonight. First, I

116would just want to commend the board and the district for the positive progress that has happened to move toward a curriculum that is based on the science of reading and best practices of knowledge instruction for students. Uh to be overly simplistic, a strong literacy curriculum has roots in explicit instruction and phonics, phmic awareness, and morphological integration. This foundation is paired with a continuum of texts and experiences that expose students to rich and complex topics that are systematically planned to build deep and nuanced content uh over their entire K12 experience. uh the Wallingford Swathmore School District's adoption of found uh foundations and he instruction in the lower end elementary grades and their current search for a knowledge building curriculum are hopeful signs of student first decision-making and I want to just commend everyone for those decisions.

117Uh in my short time remaining, I just implore you the board and any other decision makers at the district to realize the importance of the curriculum decision and its implementation. uh literacy instruction has largely been ineffective for many students over the last three to five decades but research research has shown what needs to be done to make it effective. Uh please I know you have already begun and continue to do your due diligence to make sure that the upcoming curriculum is welldesigned um and ensure that teachers are trained to implement it with fidelity while packaging it in their own unique and brilliant ways. um this adaptation, no matter how well it is rolled out, will be a mindset shift for many teachers and administrators. Please support them as they take these steps and then also

118hold them accountable for doing what is best for students. Our children are worth it and I know you know that. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else who has uh would like to comment on items not on the agenda? Okay, seeing none, do we have any old business? No. Uh do we have any new business? No. All right. Before we adjourn, just had a couple comments I wanted to direct towards Dr. Scanland sitting next to me here. Um, I just wanted to uh on behalf of the board and me personally, thank you uh Dr. Scanland uh for your service to our entire school district and our entire community because this is one and the same here. uh when uh you came to us uh last fall, you came to us in

119a time of need and uh your your uh welcoming personality and your calm demeanor and your confident leadership was was exactly what we needed. Uh and you didn't miss a beat, which I really appreciate. You got right in and you did not just uh you didn't just like, you know, keep the school district running, you pushed us forward, calmed everybody down, went right the word. Um, you advanced a lot of these initiatives. So, you just you didn't just sit back and look around. You really pushed us forward. Um, advanced a lot of initiatives. You cleaned up a bunch of messes, which I really appreciate. Thank you. Um, and you set up our district for success with our new superintendent who's sitting over there, which I really appreciate. We all do. Um, you really kind of

120paved paved a good path for him. Um, you made us a better better board, which I appreciate, and better public servants, which I'll take with me. uh every day you were here, I felt confident, the board felt confident, we talked about it a lot, how confident we felt, how uh how the school was being run, how the staff was being treated, how the students were being treated. We were just confident that the advice you were giving us was accurate and responsible and I thank you for that. Um I've been the beneficiary of your experience, uh your advice and your friendship. Um so our school district is lucky to have you. I'm glad you're going to be about around a bit longer. So, we'll be lucky to have you in our curriculum office um and help

121with our new superintendent transition. And I just want to thank you for your your work, those long days and nights. You were at all the committee meetings that were late, these meetings that were late. Um and thanks for our help with our transition of our new superintendent. Uh and I'm forever grateful for your help. So, thank you. Uh with that, uh you go ahead with that. Go ahead, please. And I I appreciate all the comments, but but I would be remiss. I mean, I just came in. I I I'm just steering the ship and all the people that you hear from every month and all the teachers in our classroom and our administrative team, they're really doing the leg work and and where the rubber hits the road in the classrooms. They're the kudos to

122that. They deserve all the kudos getting all the work done. The board set the the vision strategic planning. One of the first questions I was asked when I met with this board was I think Mitset, you asked this. How are you going to keep these strategic plan initiatives moving? Well, we're going to follow the plan and we did, but everybody in this in this system in this community had to do the work. So, kudos to to everybody and kudos to the board for uh having great vision to to set a great plan and u Dr. Grande capital plan is up next. It's part of the strategic plan and that that that too is in the works. So, kudos to all of you. Thank you. Back fingers.