001e e e KS you guys ready that's Rockit you want to hit it hard all right well that's that's the best part of the job it's the best part of the day all right I now call the March 24th 2025 meeting of the Wallingford swathmore School Board to order in opening as you're willing enabl please join and R rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance fl's over there pledge allegiance all right Miss Mosley would you please take attendance roll call Miss Dole here Dr Grande here Mr Henry here Mrs hbert here Mr Miller here Mrs watman here miss Woodson here Mrs williamss here Miss wowski Smith here nine voting members present thank you moving on to student Representatives report and Miss corber please take it away good evening everyone as we make our
002way through the final stretch towards Spring break our community has been bustling with activities events and excitement all around to start this month both SRS and npe proudly participated in Jump rot for heart where students jumped skipped and had a blast while supporting a great cause their hard work and dedication helped raise awareness and funds for heart health through the American Heart Association it was an amazing success at both schools promoting heart healthy habits and encouraging everyone to stay active eat well and keep moving then Wes's very own Melissa H who teaches third grade has been recognized as a delor valley excellence and teaching award recipient awarded by the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union Foundation this honor provides outstanding Educators who make a positive impact through their dedication and Innovation congratulations and thank you to
003miss Hab for your hard work and dedication also this month shms student council partnered with teachers teammates a local organization who collect suitable school supplies to distribute to students and teachers in underresourced schools in Delaware County PA the student council committee fundraised and packaged over $1,000 worth of school supplies to donate meanwhile across the bridge the high school student council held its annual blood drive on February 25th the blood drive was a great success with over 80 pints of blood donated to the American Red Cross every donation could could save up to three lives so thank you to everyone who do who donated and volunteered also on February 25th the Strath Haven highq team competed against rner high school and penist high school for the semi-finals round at home and won with a score of
00444 in winning semi-finals the team moved on to the state championship for the first time in 11 years to compete against marel Newtown and Delaware County Christian school on March 12th held at marel Newtown the highq team ultimately won the state championship by a one point and a double overtime tiebreaker with a score of 56 to marle new Town's 55 marking Strath Haven's first haq state championship title in 20 years Strath Haven will now continue to compete at haq Nationals on April 4th against teams across the country the following Friday on February 28th students and teachers across all of the grades came down to the gym to play basketball to honor the memory of Chris King all the donations collected from the benefit goes towards the Chris King scholarship the scholarship is an award given
005to Strath Haven seniors who have overcome great challenges and are pursuing further education providing support to our students and their future future endeavors then that Friday was also the opening night for the Strath Haven High School's production of mam Mia with performances throughout the first week of March students in the cast crew and pit brought beautiful Greek Islands to life in the High School auditorium with a fun plot full of twists and turns along with great music the show was an incredible success keeping it on stage last Wednesday March 19th the high school hosted its seasonal Bandon orchestra concert the symphonic band started the show followed by Wind Ensemble and then wrapped up with a string and symphony orchestras also congratulations to the Strath Haven High School students who attend the Delaware County Technical High
006School for being inducted into the National Technical Honor Society these students have demonstrated a strong commitment and dedication to Fields involving teacher preparation Academy Medical Careers and emergency Technical Services programs overall March has been a month filled with excitement and hard work as we leap into spring as the end of this week marks the end of this marking period let's keep the momentum going as we move into the final quarter thank you thank you Miss cor I appreciate that uh congratul ulations to the highq team that was amazing overtime win and also the cast of Mama Mia uh I know many of us saw the show it was awesome it was super fun um Miss hbert I believe you had someone you wanted to thank as well kids yeah yeah I do um first I
007do want to say another thank you to the students who uh donated blood um the first time I ever donated blood was also at a high school fund drive or High School blood drive um and I have semi kept up with it over the years so it was it was something that started a habit I hope some students will do that too I did want to also mention and congratulate um our high school wrestling team men's and women's we had um Michael Spielman and lay Harrington both go to States this year um which is just incredible because it's actually the first year of our women's wrestling team and we've already sent somebody to States so I just wanted to congratulate them as well thank you m hbert and now moving on to superintendent report and
008Dr SC sure yeah thank you uh lynon thanks for mentioning the uh the SRS uh jump rope for har Hart I was actually over there to do some jumping and Dr tuck and I were were jumping in the gym together we couldn't get anybody to Double Dutch jump with us though however that something we got to work on but I did not have a heart attack although I thought I was at a couple times with some of the some of the fourth graders that I was jumping with that was a lot of fun and for a good cause uh the month of March is uh is disabilities awareness month and our schools have been educating students key facts about people with disabilities and just give you a few facts here about that uh disabilities can
009be seen like someone using a wheelchair or they could be unseen like a person who who learns in a different way more than one billion people worldwide have a disability it's about 15% of the global population so disabilities can be visible or they can also be be invisible the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 to protect the rights of people with disabilities and work and education and also so in public spaces disabilities can be requ uh can be acquired at Birth or they can be developed later due to an injury an illness or just for some aging people as well uh using respectful language is really important when you're when you're working with people with disabilities so instead of saying a disabled person uh many would prefer say a person with a disability
010to emphasize their Humanity first uh not all disabilities are the same they can be physical they can be sensory they can be intellectual they can be developmental they could be mental health related as well so we here in Wallingford Embrace and accept all students and staff regardless of race gender religion or disability and we appreciate the support uh from uh from our community and and our staff and working working with uh with students with disabilities uh this month uh is ending Ramadan Ramadan began at sundown on Friday February 28th and it will end on Sundown on Sunday March 30th uh during Ramadan on Muslims fast dur during the day all month long and the final evening of Ramadan consists uh of a celebration called eat alaer uh when the traditional month of fasting uh comes
011to an end uh with a feast uh on that day uh the student Keystone press awards were recently announced and congratulations to the panther press for bringing home 12 Awards this year uh for the student Keystone press Awards sponsored by the Pennsylvania news media Association a couple of first place awards that it got was for its editorials that it writes first place in the state Evelyn Lynn class of 25 placed first in a sports photo for unified basketball fostering inclusivity and a faceof against Marvel new town which was the same team we beat in the highq finals they're having a Marvel's having a tough tough month against the against Strath Haven Caitlyn ho the class of 26 was first place excellence in reporting on diversity Equity inclusion her featured club that she reported on the
012black student union providing a safe open environment for all uh so congratulations to the panther press for the award that that they received this year uh and the and the writing talents of of all of those students uh on that that school newspaper uh the highq academic team we heard from lynon about that again congratulations to to that team I I will say that Dr btic and I had the pleasure of attending that that finals competition that was at marel Newtown and it was double overtime it was the first time we were in the finals since 2014 and as Lyndon said first time in 20 years that that we were able to come away with a state champion a state championship but it was it was pretty intense and the parents who were there watching
013because it it was double overtime I don't think they've ever had a double overtime in 78 years of this competition and if you get to the end of double overtime and it's tied you have co-champions and it came down to the last two questions where it was tied in the second overtime Strath Haven got the second to the last question correct then in the final question Strath Haven got that question wrong and marel got that question wrong and it looked like it was going to be a tie and then we ended up ended up winning it so it was it was pretty intense and congratulations to uh uh bill rothenbach and the entire team uh the coach of the the academic highq team and good luck to them on April 4th as they uh in
014their quest for a National Championship uh the girls basketball team also I'm gonna I'll say that sticking with the overtime theme here and I think they have created a new definition of grit I want to congratulate the uh the Strat Haven High girls basketball team for a successful year this year they made it to the state quarterfinals and they lost a heartbreaking game to Crestwood last week but the team had grit uh because as as the game prior to Crestwood they were facing a very talented rner team who had beaten them in the school year three times the first time they lost by nearly 20 points to rner so when people thought that they didn't have a chance against this team uh they brought some excitement back to the school and they beat rner in
015overtime to advance to that state quarterfinal game so congratulations to coach Brandy Johnson and the entire team uh the girls basketball team for an exciting season and and again another another overtime overtime win wasn't against marpel though yeah we we also learned today that uh the American Association of teachers of French has awarded the exemplary with honors to Strath Haven High School for its French program this award recognizes the outstanding quality of the French program Strath Haven High School is one of n nine programs in the nation to receive this award in 2025 so thanks to the excellent program Strath Haven High School has increased its enrollment in French throughout the past three years congratulations to our French teachers and our students and our parents for supporting their children uh with with World languages here
016at Strath Haven High School and congratulations for an outstanding French program in this recognition uh finally I'd like to uh turn it over to students from swathmore Rutledge Elementary School and their their principal Dr Ang tuck is here uh to tell us a little bit about what's what's happening over at SRS Angela they're all yours thank you for coming out thank you very much Dr scalan and Schoolboard members thank you Mr Henry and Mrs Williams for allowing and the entire Schoolboard committee for honoring us this evening and this is always a wonderful time for SRS to shine and we also known as the shining stars for many years before we became Panther Cubs so we're still shining and this is an opportunity for us to highlight some of our students and the work that they're
017doing tonight we have so many initiatives that our teachers are implementing now we have 95% group we have the foundations hegr reveal math and we're piloting various programs such as arts and letters and we're also Pro um piloting The Benchmark Advance program our teachers are dedicated to making a difference in our students lives and to ensure that they have the necessary skills to be successful so we are continuing to work diligently every day that they arrive and I like to thank also miss Adams she has joined our staff this year and fifth grade and she has joined us this evening to support our students so tonight we're going to talk about words matter this is our theme for SRS and as I think about our words every day and I want our students to realize
018that it's so important how you treat one another and the words that you say and how they make a difference and when I think about words matter I started thinking about Vince Lombardi I know we are so happy that we have the Lombardi trophy back in Philadelphia once more however this is an opportunity for us to for me to reflect upon something that Vince said doc uh Mr Lombardi said he said watch your actions they become your habits watch your habits they become your character and when I think about words matter the things that we say it's not only we say it for the moment but it stays in the hearts and The Souls of the people that may hear it so we want to be known for doing our best and for being kind
019and considerate and I wanted to uh share with you how we're going to spell out the statement words matter so our students this evening I have several students that will join me and our presentation I will call them up uh when it's their time to to shine and tonight we have RJ canra we have Mara Henderson Cecilia Orlando Franny young lib Halprin Isa ricean CC Wes wisley and we have Emily rmo so they are going to help me as I present and the first letter that I'm going to share is our web presence we have a new website for our district and we also have it for our school so all the schools we are consistent and using the s'mores format for our web presentation and I also like to thank uh Lisa Conway who's
020our new assistant or executive assistant who has helped us with implementing s'mores so we have a new look with our weekly blast and I'm very appreciative of her expertise as we gather all the information for our presentations every week then oh I'm going to have Franny come up because o originality you may come forward Frannie and she's just going to share share a few words about o hello everyone my name is freny Young and I'm a fifth grader at SRS tonight I'm here to talk about the fifth grade art art art project perhaps you've noticed the beautiful artworks on on on a visit to our school for for decades local artists working in different mediums have helped graduating fifth graders to create a special installation that shows the character pride and individuality of each fifth
021grade class this your local artist Alexis Young AKA my mom is working with our fifth grade class to create a mural titled rise and shine trust and fly it features bright colors and elements of nature like many fifth grade art projects before it I'd like to um I'd like to tell you that when I walk down the halls of SRS I see artworks um I and I see these artworks sorry I feel sad that I am leaving soon but I but I'm also happy that my classmates and I will get to make our own mark on this beautiful school just like many fifth graders before us thank you thank you very much thank granny thank you very much for represen the own our next one we have our reaching excellence and we have kindness is
022our Cornerstone and we have lots of activities that we have implemented at SRS various projects and today we had benergy who had a lot of energy today came and he visited SRS and that was for autism awareness and we have we have inclusion we had inclusion week last week but I was thinking we have inclusion every day so it's not just one day out of the month or one month out of the year but everyone is welcome at SRS and we have our books we have um presentations all are welcome so each classroom has a book that's title are all are welcome and um Mrs Williams met beny Ben today and experience his energy and it's amazing just to see how with support how students and how they grow into adults and make a successful
023career and we also have demonstrating Deeds so we are continuing to implement our positive behavior support system PBIS we have be safe be respectful and be responsible and our teams tier one and tier two they've been recognized by the state also for their implementation we have S we have school spirit and we also have support for I would like to thank Jackie Hepper for implementing or for organizing our school spirit online store and we have a new logo so we still have the panther Cub Paul print however she created it and redesigned it and with a group of SRS staff members and now we have the new logo for our spirit wear for our school store and I also want to talk about the support our home in school they have done a marvelous job
024in supporting all of our students no matter what side of the railroad track they come from or no matter how what their needs are they are able to participate in every activity we do something that is called SRS Everybody Plays and we want to ensure that every student at SRS has the same opportunity as someone else and I think my home in school Organization for giving up their time their talent and their Treasures just to ensure that not only their students benefit but other students also benefit so if a student is in need we do not want the student to not have the opportunity because of a financial um situation or because of whatever the circumstances may be we want everyone to succeed and to be successful then we have making readers SRS we have
025lots of readers at SRS and last week when I saw the reading Olympics team and they were in the library after school they each had a book and they were just talking about the plot the theme figurative speech or figurative language and they did an a marvelous job in just preparing themselves for the upcoming reading Olympics Challenge and I want to show you that our home in school they were able to purchase The iny Bookworm V vending machine so our students they are able to earn coins gold coins in order to utilize our vending machines and when you um place the gold coin inside the vending machine you're going to notice that it'll speak to you it'll talk to you about the selection that you have um have purchased or through the coins and the
026coins are given to every student our goal is to give everyone a coin this year and it's going over and Beyond not just being safe respectful and responsible but for helping students for example a student earned a coin I gave a student a coin last week because I noticed that a student was crying in the hallway and so I as I approached the area I was just listening to the conversation and the student said what could I do to help you how can I help you and here the child was going through she was getting braces and she was upset about the fear of getting braces and what's going to happen to her and one of her classmates took the time to just find out how can I help you and that's what we want
027our students to be kind empathetic and to be considerate of their classmates and going the extra mile then we have achieving safety I'm going to ask R.J to come up and he's going to share with you some points about achieving safety at SRS hi my name is R.J krati I'm in fifth grade SRS and I'm a school safety we've not had a school safety program since 2017 and this year we decided to bring it back and that's what I'm here to talk to you about one of our goals at SRS is to keep our students safe and make sure they're being respectful and responsible this program encourages leadership and responsibility among our students one of my favorite Parts about being a safety is making sure everyone is following the school rules s RS is a
028very safe environment and I plan on keeping it that way I've been a safety for most of the school year I love doing it thank you thank you then we have tea we have two te's for matter so we have a talented team we have one of our team members here we have um Melanie Adams who has joined us this year and we're so happy that she has inspired her students to write and to express their feelings and so forth so we're going to ask Mara Henderson to come up and she's going to talk about part of being a team and our theme of words matter Mara hi my name is Mora Henderson and today I'll be talking to you about the impact of kindness at SRS kindness comes in many different forms some being
029just doing something nice for someone or just giving support to someone in need kindness has had a positive impact on thousands of students being kind can make someone's day or life better that one time you held the door when you were in a rush or when you let someone borrow your pencil could have changed their whole day it can't even just be letting someone borrow something maybe it's letting them in your group for the project or playing with them on the playground that's also kindness sometimes you might not be the one being kind but the one receiving the kindness there are about 500 students currently at SRS and that's a lot so one small act of kindness can go a long way if every student at SRS did a small act of kindness every day
030it would make the world a little bit better there will be about 500 acts of kindness daily picture yourself having a really bad morning but then someone just asks you if you want to hug that small act of kindness could change your whole day if you take time out of your day to be kind to someone else it could start a chain reaction of kindness if you're kind to them they might think well that person was kind to me so I will be kind to someone else then hopefully they will pass it on and the person after that might think the same thing and it will keep repeating when you think about it there are eight B about 8 billion people in the world if everyone took time out of their day to be kind
031our world would be a better place every day kindness isn't something that you should feel like you're being forced to do it's something that should make you happy or make you feel like a good person when you're are kind it should make you feel good about yourself if you don't feel good about being kind then you might be forcing yourself to be kind when you wake up you could think to yourself I'm going to make someone happy today or I should make someone smile that could give you the motivation to make someone else's day and if you make someone else happy it might make you happier too knowing that you were kind to someone think about a time you were kind to someone or someone was kind to you how did it make you feel
032I would hope it made you feel good either way I know that when I'm kind to someone or someone is kind to me it makes me feel good when I was having a hard time for a little while SRS was almost like a place where I could Escape some of it SRS had so much kindness and support from everyone it made me feel good about having to go to school because everyone at SRS is so kind I hope my story inspires you to be a little kind every day thank you very much Mara excellent wonderful I'm so proud of my students they are they are definitely the win Beneath My Wing and they're the reason why I smile so much exciting future and we have lots of upcoming activities at SRS we have our Spring
033Book for fair thanks to our home and school Representatives our parents we have our Arbor Day coming up we partner with swathmore college they come to us or either will go and have the swathmore um the presentation at the Arbor Day and there cherry blossom area but this year we're going to have it at SRS on our back field and we do have a writing or actually it's a art project and students from kindergarten through fifth grade will have an opportunity to participate if they desire we have our moving up ceremony we have our globe triers we have lots and lots of wonderful things occurring at SRS and the final letter and words matter the statement we have remarkable scho and I'm going to call up the following students Cecilia Orlando Randy Young Liv Hain
034IA ricean CCE wisley Emily [Music] rmo and they're going to present the last slide only elementary school left in the district to still have chalkboards only Elementary School to have three separate learning spaces Auditorium C cafeteria and gym SRS has 55 art installations only District school to be located on a historical site we will celebrate our Centennial anniversary in 3 years only District building located what close to college campus we are the only school to sing Our Song Our I can't see we are the only school to sing Our Song school song every Friday three two one oh moral schol we think that you are cool we come to you each day to learn and laugh and play and when our time is done we'll know that we had fun as more school where pan
035through i' like to thank our swore ret singers our entire Committee of presentation individuals or and they present it tonight so I thank you very much for doing such an awesome job I'm just choked up a little bit but I thank you they when I hear that song I think about how it came about and we had a family years ago and their grandfather as they drove to school every day he made up this song and so he he shared it with me and their the grandchildren were like so embarrassed but I said no I want to hear the song and I said I like the song and then he had someone to compose um the music and we then once I found it again we've been singing it ever since so that song has
036a special meaning to swore Ry school it was created by a grandparent and how he felt about coming to SRS and when you come into SRS you're going to feel the presence of all of our students and everyone is welcome thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to present tonight thank you Dr Tu that was that was amazing I want see if anyone at the school board would like to comment Mary Joe please you know it is so wonderful for uh us to all uh to hear from you and to see you this really is the highlight of what we do and I think when children come uh to us uh it it makes a big difference in how we think and what we uh are decision making so thank you for being
037part of uh all of this because it makes a big difference thank you Dr tuck thank you so much thank you like please you guys did great I mean nothing we're going to do or say for the rest of the night is going to top that so thank you so I'm so excited to some see some of my neighbors here super cool you guys did such a great job thank you and I would say uh when you talk about uh kindness and whether or not it benefits you there is actually whole reams of data that show that indeed gratitude and kindness when you give it out benefits you even more than the person that you did it to so that's very exciting thank you all so much and also thank the parents for coming out
038on a otherwise likely busy night to bring your kids here to share them with us and as always thank you Dr tuck um I have known Dr tuck since 2012 sitting in a kindergarten orientation and she flashed up welcome to the class of 2025 and I remember thinking that that was a madeup number but in the 13 years that I have known you I've never seen you not calm not with a SM you always have a smile on your face you were always um on top of things and I really appreciate what you do at SRS for the kids so thank you thank you very much Dr Tu thank you very much kids thank you for coming um I always am very impressed because I know how difficult it is Dr tuck makes it look
039easy but it's difficult to get up there and speak in front of all these faces and some of them some of us look pretty serious really not Dr scandin M mainly he's pretty serious but thank you for getting up there I know it's it's a it's a gutsy move on your part Dr tuck thank you so much really appreciate it it's really great great to have you here thank you very much SRS and SRS families thank you for coming out and for celebrating and sharing and giving us the time to shine thank you very much have a good evening everyone thank you waiting the s all right let's get started we now have uh all these people looking at me yeah if if if you would like to move you could you can I mean
040there's plenty of room I don't mind thank you thanks Lyon you you got it you go all right moving on uh we move on to a board announcements the board did meet prior to this meeting in executive session uh moving on to audience recognition and response to items for action on the agenda we will have uh time later in the agenda for act for actions uh not on the agenda um as a reminder public comment is a time for district residents and taxpayers to speak to the board about an issue that is before the board or may become before the board it is a time for us to listen and hear perspectives and experiences from our community while we can't answer questions at the meeting there's always an opportunity for followup afterwards uh because we
041want to give people as many uh as many people as possible that wish to speak a chance to be heard we will continue to follow a thre minute time limit uh to help members of the public that are making a comment will give you a heads up when you have one minute remaining so you can wrap up your thoughts uh and when you uh go up to the uh Podium please State your full name and the name of the street on which you live in our school district is there anyone here who would like to speak about a topic on the agenda this evening please good evening uh I'm really impressed because this is very intimidating and I'm not even gonna tonight um good evening my name is uh Janna Garland I'm on Harvard Avenue
042uh I will be brief tonight since I know a lot of you have heard from me already thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight uh I just have two important questions that I'd like to pose to the board and the superintendent regarding the cell phone policy under consideration tonight the first question is I'd like to discuss the idea that parents and Guardians should not contact their students during school hours per your updated policy if I read that correctly however um that's sort of contradictory to the many parents and Guardians that have argued that their students need phones to be reachable uh for items like forgetting their soccer cleats or picking up uh another child Etc so I'm just trying to how to Circle that square are parents aware of this policy change
043and additionally I know that enforceability is is particularly important to this board particularly Mr Henry so how would that point of the policy actually be enforced that was my first question my second and final question is at the last policy committee meeting the superintendent and I thank him presented survey results particularly around the question I quote some districts have considered policies that require students to secure cell phones and pouches lockers or out of sight throughout the whole school day is that something that we should consider end quote this question was asked posed to parents and Guardians as well as students uh you presented that data at the last policy committee meeting my question is was that question posed to the staff and teachers if not why not and if it was posed to the par
044to the teachers could we please see the data thank you so much I appreciate all the work that you've done around this subject have a good night very much is there anyone who' like else who' like to speak about items on the agenda no okay moving on to the minutes our next item for action on the agenda tonight is approval of the minutes of the February 24th 2025 regular board meeting do I have a motion for approval so moved Mr Miller thank you do I have a second second Dr Grandy thank you uh any discussion on the minutes okay seeing none uh Miss mosy would you take a roll call vote Mrs delay I Dr Grande hi Mrs hbert hi Mr Miller hi Mrs watman hi Miss whitet hi Mrs Williams hi Miss wowski Smith
045hi Mr Henry I motion passes nine to zero thank you moving on to board committee reports uh we have I I'll direct anyone watching or watching later that uh educational Affairs facilities and finance and policy committees reports are all all the committee meetings are online on our YouTube channel so feel free to watch them uh and the updated uh I will uh defer to miss miss wman for a moment on policy if she had a comment she'd like to make um sure so there's there's a pretty detailed policy update that will um be uploaded with the um the material for tonight's meeting and available on on board docs there's um just a couple things I'll call out um uh Governor Shapiro recently appointed a new secretary of education Dr Carrie row um Dr row previously
046served as the deput secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U the Department of Education uh where her leadership's focused on structured literacy Workforce Readiness teacher Recruitment and student mental health there are some interesting updates in here about um some ongoing litigation that's impacting um uh these some are about the um laws baring discrimination on the basis of disability um Coming um back to the conversation we had to start to today's conversation um in April the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will be hearing a case about whether school districts are required to provide transportation to Charter School students on the same terms and conditions um that's a quote from the legislation um as traditional public school students um Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled last year school districts do not need to provide busing to Charter School students
047in accordance with 2002 language in the current state law um but there's again there's open l ation making its way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court here in April on that um there's more going on um at the federal level than any of us can keep track of uh but certainly there's um you know one thing that that everyone is watching um amongst many others uh in terms of Education uh budget resolution um that would set the fiscal year 25 Congressional budget and budgetary levels for the next 10 years um the resolution directs the committee for education in the workforce to cut at least 330 billion in spending over 10 years this could require Cuts nearly to nearly half of all spending on programs that that committee can consider the biggest category of that spending
048um is the school nutrition program uh the budget document suggested Some Cuts to school breakfast to school lunch programs for schools that serve low-income children Pennsylvania districts receive about $1.6 billion annually from the US Department of Education and about 762 million of that 1.6 billion that comes to Pennsylvania is Title One funding to support lowincome students and those in underperforming districts uh house committees were directed to finalize their proposed cuts by March 27th so we'll see what comes from that um and then there's some uh details uh also in the in what's been uploaded about some bills that are moving through in the state of Pennsylvania in our legislature uh some of those are newly introduced um pending Committee Action there's a whole list of those for anybody that might be interested um you know
049that anything that hasn't been considered yet is is who knows what will happen a lot of these die and don't go anywhere um but you know as we as we know more about which ones seem to have legs as they say we'll continue to um bring those updates here and that's all okay thank you and I just I just want to be clear Mr lman that was your that was the County School Board Association report what did I just provide did I go totally out of order that's all right I just it's fine we were at policy I was so excited yeah I know you were I didn't want to interrupt you're doing such a good job so I just want to be clear for everyone watching that was the Delaware County Schoolboard legislative legislative
050Council report thank you for that um going back to policy is there any comments you'd like to make under policy or anything you'd like to add other than encourage people to watch the policy committee that's all right um on policy I would definitely I'm so sorry do 10 times better than I did um the on uh I would say that we've we've continued to have um a a robust conversation I would definitely encourage anybody that hasn't watched It's really interested in this topic please watch the um the uh last policy committee meeting um I want to continue to thank our community for being able to have a conversation in which people feel differently about what we're asking for and do that with a tremendous amount of respect and civil discourse which is not very common
051anymore so congratulations to our district on being able to do that um we will be voting on a first read of that policy I want to be really clear what that means when we're looking at District policies they get a first read in a committee meeting they once they're passed out of committee at first read it comes to a board full board meeting like tonight for a vote on first read it will then by it is required to go back to the committee again for what's called a second read that's a second opportunity for public conversation and public discourse um if passed out of that committee it comes back to the full board um for a final vote and things can move back and forth in all of that um but that's that's the required
052process that we go through uh and so I'll hold any further comment on that until we get to that item on the agenda I imagine we'll have a little bit of conversation there all right thank you okay moving on to Wellness advisory Mr or Dr Grandy Mr please so we met about three hours ago so I think the idea is to hold until the um notes have been kind of formally written up and then we'll present next time around okay great thank you uh Pennsylvania School Board Association and Miss Mrs wowski Smith thank you uh the uh psba has just published its annual state of education report and this year's uh report comes from two primary sources first a survey of Chief School administrators and secondly the compilation of analysis of publicly available School data
053so for third year in a row the biggest challenges faced by school leaders continues to be student uh mental health needs budget pressures and Staffing shortages so those are the three biggest areas um other challenges facing school districts include uh 20.1% of public school students receive special education programs and services and this represents a 25% increase over the last 10 years uh also the English learner population is almost doubled to 5.9% in the last 10 decade and uh schools want to provide the services but sometimes struggle to get there um mental health needs two-thirds of survey respondents reported that Co is still impacting learning however this number is down that 16% uh less than last year saying that Co impacts learning um schools do not have the capacity to address uh the breadth of Mental
054Health Services needed they feel like they don't they don't have uh the supports they need and that Community Mental Health Services are also severely strained so kids are falling in the cracks um top budget pressures uh this year uh the Pennsylvania is still one of the states with the lowest contributions to school district spending um even though it's improved we're still in that low area increases in mandated expenses outpace state federal revenue increases uh most District spending is on instruction pensions remain a large cost to districts spending on Charter Schools is increasing faster than enrollments uh special education costs out outpace the state revenues that uh support special education and uh school facilities need repair and replacement state reimbursements for construction have been halted and districts need to raise cap their own Capital also Staffing
055shortages uh remain across the state the greatest Staffing need is in the area of special education and act 55 mandates Career and Technical Schools uh to include education is one of their areas of study some schools are uh are having shortages in finding people to uh train students at the high school level in the area of Education it's not a certified all right thank you that's thank you so much thank you moving on to uh Delaware County Community College Mr Miller yep no report other than to say that the report from the president will be attached to the minutes and we have a bunch of procedural votes at the end of the meeting that relate to Delaware County College great thank you um moving on to the Delaware County uh Intermediate Unit that's me the
056next uh I don't have a report to to attach but uh the next meeting is April 2nd next week uh and then we do not have to do the Delaware County School boards legislative Council because we're on top of that all right okay moving on to uh Personnel we have um 15 items for action and Personnel are there any items on this list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest okay seeing none we have resignations and retirements appointments we of absences changes of position curricular supplementals 2024 2025 conference requests 2024 2025 spring athletic supplementals 2024 2025 winter athletic supplementals 2025 summer school program memorandum of understanding CC Rees agreement amendment power school system Integrations Power School Time Clock Plus and school operation services do I have a uh motion to
057approve the items a through n thank you m Mrs Williams do I have a second second Mrs delay thank you uh any discussion on items under Personnel a through n I'll start it down here at this end of the table and you discussion I'll get to you one sec I was going down sorry just to make sure still L Sor no okay please so I just wanted to note that um Kevin Clancy is uh retiring and but I understand he will still be our football coach uh he has a few more records to to set break to break Mrs Williams please go ahead I was just going to say that we got the chance to meet Kevin Kelly who's the new assistant principal that we assuming we approve the vote and it's out in the
058audience with us so that was great and we look forward to hopefully it all goes well working with you all right thank you I did want to uh congratulate uh those on on our Agenda night who are retiring uh Mrs Knight Mr linky and and uh Mr Clancy I personally uh I remember my I think it was one of my very first what's that oh Mr Pon as well I'm sorry thank you for I didn't want to miss somebody I I don't I put my glass on and miss miss Pon as well uh I remember years ago it was one of my first parent teacher conferences I had with Mrs Knight I was so nervous as a parent didn't know what what to expect and uh and she was couldn't have been nicer and I've
059see her every once in a while I I saw her recently in the parking lot and just just just the nicest person in the world and I wish her personally all the best I'm sad that she's leaving because every time you see you can talk Eagles uh biggest Eagles fan on the planet so I wish her and all the retirees uh uh I wish them well and also uh Mr Kelly Welcome to our school district um assuming that we vote in the in the affirmative uh so everyone knows here he is a local student here and we love having our people come back to us so uh welcome back so which is really nice so if there's no more discussion uh Miss Mosley would you please take a roll call vote Mrs Dole I Dr
060Grande hi Mrs hbert hi Mr Miller hi M watman hi Miss woodset hi Williams hi M wowy Smith hi Mr Henry hi motion passes nine to zero great thank you and welcome Kevin congratulations we look forward to your transition uh honor about May 12th and uh I know the middle school is is uh anxiously awaiting your arrival to to start your work here back at back at trat David middle school so welcome back all right moving on to the next item under personel letter P which is the WSPA collective bargaining agreement do I have a motion to approve is that mrowki Smith oh miss wet thank you do I have a second second Mr Dole thank you do I have any discussion I'll start on this end discussion n seeing none uh Miss Mosley would
061you take please take a roll call vote Mrs do hi Dr Grande hi Mrs hbert hi Mr Miller hi Mrs watman hi Miss whitet hi Mrs Williams i m Kowski Smith I Mr Henry I motion passes nine to zero great thank you I do I do want to thank um all of the members of the administrative team and the uh the staff team uh everyone involved in in the in getting this agreement together and I just want to thank for everyone for the hard work thank you I appreciate that and Dr scan you in particular sure yeah uh yeah hey well I I appreciate the the work of our Sports staff and uh this contract is a five-year contract we have some members here tonight so uh thank you so much for for your patience
062and time um you know bringing this to the finish line and congratulations to everybody the board and sports staff uh and and for good for the students here in the district too as well so congratulations well said thanks everybody all right moving on now to policy we have two items for action and policies is there any policies on this list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest okay uh seeing none we have policies for first reading and policies for second reading you will also see administrative regulations on there but those those are not a voting item uh do I have a motion to approve uh items under policy so moved Mrs wman thank you do I have a second Mrs Williams thank you um any discussion under policy I'll start
063at this end of table okay moving on down M please yes so you know as Kelly mentioned it was a robust conversation um you know we obviously won't rehash all of it here but I did want to just mention that these uh first readings as I understand it they don't include necessarily all of the changes that we you know discussed making um for example part of our discussion included um crafting language that would speak to prioritize other available tools that are um you know that can be used for legitimate educational purposes we talked a lot about an equity piece there and you know the percentage of our students that don't have cell phones um so I believe we're going to be revisiting that um and then also we talked about adding language uh that spoke
064to sort of revisiting and taking an additional look at updated data and any evolving research just to make sure that the direction we're going is still kind of you know still tracks with that and still makes sense from from an updated data perspective just to add that to the conversation thank you moving on down Mrs Walkman please sure um I think um I I want to make sure everyone is clear to you from a public perspective and even though it says it on here we we vote on the the policy itself um the accompanying regulations are not actually a voting item a board voting item but it is something we had a lot of conversation about and Christine some of your your comments are um will end up um probably being reflected in the AR
065and perhaps the policy also right um so I I do um I do want to be clear that we still have that opportunity as you said to um to continue some of the dialogue to follow up to some of the requests that we had received um both at that meeting and again this evening too in terms of some of the questions that were asked um I've noted those questions we'll make sure we bring them back I had set up the policy it it was it was a three-hour policy meeting um it was very robust uh but what I I what's one of the things that's really important um to me to me and speaking only as one board member not as not on behalf of the board was that I do believe that we've made
066um some important progress and U much needed change uh with what is being proposed thus far um I don't want to see us lose some momentum on that especially um as we near the end of the school year new superintendent will be coming on who will have a lot of priorities that um that he needs to take u under his wing um I want to use that momentum that we have behind this right now um and not stall momentum so that was why we wanted to bring it back tonight even though we know we still have some work to do so I just wanted to share that um and and I do have um personally a couple more questions that I'll I'll share later around um some of the things regarding the AR I'm still
067thinking a lot about that AR too uh but I think that's more appropriate for the conversation at the at the committee meeting that's upcoming so again do want to um thank the administration too for putting a ton of work into this doing a lot of research and to my fellow committee members too who have done a tremendous amount of their own um with the help of our community research into what's been shared um and so forth a lot a lot of time that's been going into it that's that's it for this thank you anything okay all right uh Miss see there's no more discussion Miss mosy would you please take a roll call though Mrs do I Dr Grande I Mrs hbert I Mr Miller hi Mr watman hi I miss woodset i m Williams
068I miss Wy Smith I Mr Henry I motion passes 9 to zero all right thank you uh moving on to curriculum we have five items for Action in curriculum are there any items on this list that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest okay seeing none uh we have approval of the 2025 2028 comprehensive plan we have English textbooks jwm entertainment field trips as listed Student Activities in active accounts and that's all of them under curriculum do I have a motion to approve the five items under curriculum so moved mrsi Smith thank you do I have a second second Mrs wman thank you uh any discussion on any of the items under curriculum I'll start down here with Dr Grandy work our way down Mrs tski Smith please yes uh I
069would like to uh thank Dr badic and uh you know uh comprehensive plan is an extensive uh uh document that reflects uh very much how our district is functioning and it includes uh really all the things from you know that you would expect in curriculum and instruction but also in what our nurses are doing and how psba is functioning and it includes all of the schools it measures our strengths as well as our needs and uh it is a a a very big broad look at how we are doing and I think that Dr Baddock did a really good job of reflecting us I think that the comprehensive plan demonstrates uh very much the strengths that we have and uh some of our talents and what we show to the world and also reflects a
070little bit of where uh we have room to grow so I I know that she worked with her team of uh administrators and uh you know spent some time really uh making sure that this really was reflective of us so thank you Dr badic thank you mrsas Smith any other discussion uh I was going to add and actually I can't say it any better than Mrs vaski Smith so thank you for your comments because that is spot on uh there's no more discussion uh Miss mosy would you please take a roll of it Mrs do I Dr Grande I Mrs hbert I Mr Miller I Mrs watman hi Miss whtat hi Mrs Williams hi Miss wowy Smith hi Mr Henry hi motion passes 9 to zero all right thank you moving on to Student Services
071we have two items for approval in student services um is there anyone on on any item that anyone on the board would like to separate from the rest your student services nope okay we have uh homebound instruction and uh benergy one and do I have uh a motion to approve so moved Mr Tas Smith thank you do have a second second thank you Mrs hbert uh any discussion I'll start down there that t when discussion com down seeing none uh miss m would you pleas take a roll call vote Mrs Dole I Dr Grande hi Mrs hbert I Mr Miller hi Mrs watman hi M wet hi Mrs Williams hi M psky Smith I Mr Henry I motion passes nine to zero all right thank you moving on to finance and Facilities we have seven
072items 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 uh we have bills paid to vendors from February 1st through February 28th 2025 Financial statements February 1st through February 2025 Treasures report February 1st through February 28 2025 budget transfers contract Eagle Wireless uh contract of with triangle triangle Communications uh contract with uh Rico I think that's how you say it Rico Rico copy people and I think that is all of them um do I have a motion to approve the items under finance and Facilities Mrs Williams thank you do I have a second second Mr Miller thank you uh any discussion on anything on financial facilities Mr do please just just a quick um sort of clarifying point I
073think this Rico contract it's marked on the agenda as new but I think we discussed that's a um a renewal of an existing these are existing contracts for copers that's I understood it from the meeting I mean 15 coming off and 15 coming onally it's a new it's replacing new but but it's but it's an existing need right it's an existing need that we have that has been that is being fulfilled in another way is that right or okay thank you we talked at the committee meeting about designating these not just new and um renewed but um like I think we we're gonna say replacement or something like that so get a little bit more granular thank you anybody okay seeing no more discussion uh M Mosley would you please take a roll call vote
074Mrs delay I Dr Grande hi Mrs hbert hi Mr Miller hi Mrs watman hi Miss woodset hi Mrs Williams hi M wowski Smith hi Mr Henry hi motion passes is 9 to Z all right thank you um under other we have three items for approval under other are there any items on this list anyone on the board like to separate from the rest okay seeing none we have under other the 2025 2026 Delaware County Intermediate General operating budget the Delaware County Community College trustee reappointments and donation from the forced Foundation do I have a motion to approve uh items under other this what's it thank you do I have a second second Mr wman thank you um discussion I'll start down this end any discussion okay Mrs hbert please um is it that the forest
075Foundation is giving us funds through the wssd um yes Foundation Foundation okay so it's just it's like a mechanism yeah they and they've designated specifically for literacy if I'm right yeah yes the answer your question is correct okay yes just double checking that thank you anybody else so so um actually uh Miss hbert I just wanted to to piggyback on that yes uh the force Foundation gave a 5,000 donation to the uh foundation for wallington's swathmore school so I want to thank them for that and Franny Riley as a president has always been a big supporter of ours I want to thank her so uh I just wanted to thank them for for the donation um see no more discussion uh Miss Mosley please uh take a roll callot Mrs Dole hi Dr Grande hi
076Mrs hbert hi Mr Miller hi Mrs watman I miss wet hi Mrs Williams hi M wowski Smith hi Mr Henry hi motion passes 9 to Zer okay thank you now moving on to audience recognitions for items not on the agenda uh um remember what I said earlier that all still applies U we'll stick to a three minute time limit we'll let you know when there's one minute when you go up to the podium please state your name in the street on which you live in our district is there anybody who'd like to speak about items not on the agenda sir please okay uh my name is Dean Dennis uh 200 Emerald Lane I'm back again go figure who to Funk it okay so basically when I was here about a month ago there was an
077issue that I wanted to bring to the board and to the uh to the public uh that you know how my son had a complained of being assaulted on the bus and that there was no followup there was no accountability and he was just looking I was just looking just for an apology I know things get hectic and everything and so um uh I wasn't looking to pursue this any further but no one really came forth Now scan I gave him credit he approached me after the board meeting good for Optics must say definitely good for Optics contacted me I guess maybe about 10 days later we had a phone we discussed some things um not that substantive in terms of the actual issue for which I called which I had to remind him which
078then he said well I'm calling to see what your concerns are so forgive me I did not articulate my concerns my concerns are is that basically my child but a child in general was assaulted on a bus and there's no followup there's no accountability I was just told it was going to be handled internally and that was it nothing nothing nothing whatsoever and all I was seeking was just an apology so I don't know if that's going to be forthcoming but it just strikes me odd that you know we talk about all this other stuff that the school board and the school district is about and so forth but I'm just thinking about just in terms of Basics that sort of rubs me the wrong way and it rubs my son the wrong way too
079especially when I'm trying to learn teach him how to conduct himself in this world and um you know um he said made a comment to me you know um you know when I I was talking about you know certain people he encountered in the school I talked about the superintendent you know I said no no you you know these these seem like nice people and then he brought up and he reminded me well it seems you've been wrong about this on countless occasions and I have nothing to say I have no no push back the other issue don't know how much time how much time do I have left all right cool thank you right the other issue is cameras okay there are no cameras on the school bus and I don't know if we
080have a policy going forward to immediately Rectify that situation we should okay it goes to the general sense of accountability and making sure that students are safe in the school oh gosh in that light it's come to my bingo touche and that light has come to my attention that the cameras in the schools do not work now I've noticed that in school shootings there cameras seem to work but God forbid we have an issue like that in our school we have no functioning cameras I hear that a vast majority of our cameras are not working how does that square with school safety I just just boggles my mind okay so I think we need to focus on that we have a we should have a policy for you know uh addressing issues that happen on
081the school bus where parents are involved and also just some sort of policy look in terms of our safety in the school and um I think that's it all right there you go cameras safety accountability that's all I'm looking for thank you very much thank you is there anybody else here like to speak about on items not on tonight's agenda no okay great all right moving now on to Old business do we have any old business we have any new business all right uh thanks everybody the meeting is adjourned