WSSD School Board 9/26/23

001I now call to order the September 26 2023 meeting of the Wallingford Swarthmore Board of school directors as you're willing and able please rise and join me in stating the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you great uh Miss Elise could you please take um the attendance Mrs delay here Dr Grande yeah Mr Henry Mrs Holbert here Mr cudas Mrs Miss Whitsett Miss wikowski Smith and Mrs Walkman here we have nine voting members here tonight excellent thank you uh first up this evening we have our student Representatives report uh Aditi and and help help uh if you could uh please give us this uh your report for

002the evening thank you good evening my name is Aditi healthy and I am one of the two School Board representatives for the school year with my co-representative Morel De Palma I want to express our gratitude for the opportunity to sit here amongst the board this evening and have this platform to advocate for our fellow students at Strathaven over the course of our high school careers we have both been involved in a variety of groups which have demonstrated the importance of student advocacy as involved community members we hope to provide A New Perspective to our future discussions as representatives of our school we would like to bridge some of the information gaps that goes both ways between students and the school board through two key initiatives our first initiative is to increase student involvement in our

003board meetings in order to do so we plan to organize an open forum for students at the high school before every meeting Marella and I have worked exclusively with students from neighboring school districts through a forum at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit this has allowed us to discuss meaningful topics in an inclusive environment and we plan to implement this at our own high school along with the assistance of our principal we hope to have open forums and opportunities for discussion two weeks before every school board meeting students will come to us with both positive ideas and concerns that they might have these topics allow us to bring the student voice directly to our school board meetings after we have brought the student perspective to you we would like to bring information from the school board

004directly to the students parents and The Wider community Through social media we will be posting on the student council Instagram that will present the major to read infographic most students follow this account so we'll update it to show when the open Forum will be or when an upcoming meeting will be we understand that most students are busy and school board meetings are pretty long so we hope that the community and especially students understand what topics and issues are being discussed overall our goal as your school board Representatives is to build a better connection between the students and the board we look forward to working with the board students and The Wider Community thank you thank you so much for that report and I really really like both of those ideas very very much um it

005we don't have a ton of student involvement in the board meetings and and I think just not only the information sharing um but simply the the community service side of what it means to be on a board what it means to be a board member um anything from parliamentary procedure I think that's a little boring probably but um it's it's a great learning opportunity too so I'd certainly you know as a board member would welcome those opportunities to build um more connections with the students and I know uh Dr Marseille is probably our top component uh proponent of student voice and so we welcome we welcome students um here as well and I hope to be able to learn some things uh from you that we can do on the communication perspective um the infographic

006thing sounds very very interesting um so thank you so much for that um and thank you for for being here and joining us as members of the of the board um business not quite members of the board but um as our Representatives we really appreciate it and the time that you put into it thank you all right uh with that um our superintendent's report Dr Marseille thank you um I do want to um Echo and thank adidia Marilla for their uh commitment to this uh to this work um if I can throw out an idea which they probably thought about um as we try to bridge those gads um it'd be great if we could with uh Miss Riley Mrs Riley um uh our Communications Department to find a way maybe um the both of

007you can do a short podcast with the president and uh vice president just an introduction about your role what you do what does the board do and maybe that could be a way in which you can push out some of that information but I know both of you throughout like 50 million ideas when we met so I like to add that one if it wasn't on the list of ways in which to uh which to engage yeah um so thank you uh both of you appreciate that look forward to the uh the collaboration um so I um I want to go through uh my superintendent's report uh because I uh uh I am going to deliver the focus topic as as well so I want to run uh through some preliminary information um and uh

008I said this before that there's a lot on this agenda um and but at the same time we've created the space where we really spend a lot of time unpacking so much of this conversation our committee meetings and I think this is uh to a Deedee's point that we are trying to streamline our meetings so maybe individuals can come out and don't have to sit for three and a half hours for those uh types of conversations um but um though there is a lot to um to highlight I did want to highlight these two board actions there's a lot of board action uh on this agenda but I really wanted um to specifically uh thank the office of teaching learning Innovation specifically uh Dr Pratt's office and all of her teammates and her Educators for

009really uh for her creating the space um uh and you know um no mystery I'm a big fan of a Dr Pratt we go back but uh creating the space for staff to really unpack and think about the resources and the way in which we uh are thinking about the experience that we want children to to have and how those resources can help support those particular experiences and um on tonight's agenda the board who had time and I thank the board for finding the space to really dive into some of those bodies of literature we've been giving you periodic updates for some time now but uh man if you had the opportunity to go through um the resources ask those deep deep questions and clarification we also obviously had that conversation at a fair so

010we have these wonderful six seven eighth grade social studies um curricula that we're going to provide our students through a six-year uh licensing that is digital licensed as well uh we have our AP World History um resources that we are updating so um again thank um the tli office specifically uh Dr Pratt and all of the Educators she brought together uh to bring this Rich resource to the uh to the district um so I want to transition and the board has been made aware um and uh of some new changes that has occurred uh within uh pde and um the office of student services um has been providing updates we met with you to kind of unpack that so Dr Samberg provided some additional updates with respects to um this new development that came out

011of pde and uh on August 30th uh pde sent a letter to every single CEO slash superintendent uh director of schools indicating to them that they are reinterpreting uh the language of idea as it relates to chapter 14 and this idea around what is the age in which students age out and normally that was 21. uh recent litigation has forced them to shift the way in which they've interpreted that and now they are mandating um that every school district by September 5th now they sent the communication August 30th that was a Tuesday and they said by Wednesday you need to implement this new um this new requirement that um mandate school districts to ensure that we extend that aging out to 22. this is not just about um prospectively what that looks like in the

012future it is also about the ability for families who did age out under the um the old language if I may use that term and now can bring their child back until that birthday of age 22. um so as you can imagine uh across the Commonwealth there uh has been significant um challenges to the implementation I want to say this and I want to be clear as I share this with the board and I want to share this with with our families that um this Administration is not opposed to the new requirements from 21 to 22. um we want to be able to provide those Services uh to our most neediest students what um many of my colleagues across the Commonwealth as we collaborate and talk and we recently met um with PA Secretary of

013Education um doctor will mean to talk about what does this mean for us um our concern was a uh the manner which was communicated the short amount of time that districts had to really pivot uh I as I said August 30th was a Tuesday September 5th was a Wednesday um and the fact that there has been no dollars in March for this transition uh so there are expenditures unforeseen that this District did not budget for we did not anticipate um and as a result um uh there are families who um as part of this new process and we welcome that who will be returning their child to the district and we are in the process of trying to work out what that that looks like um and supporting those families until that child reaches 22.

014and one of the things that's also disturbing is that on the 22nd birthday wherever that day Falls the next day that child will not be permitted back into the district so it could be a Wednesday um October uh October 4th and if that's your 22nd birthday um you uh the statutes requires that you are not to come back on October 5th right um so that also has some challenges with that family as well in terms of that process but we are talking about um for our district um some significant dollars um I have to say that um there are times where um the pain and suffering were not alone but I'd rather have our number than the numbers that my colleagues are struggling with which is a significant amount if you think about those uh

015those particular school districts um so we are going to uh obviously comply uh we're going to support those particular families but it does mean that the way in which we Budget moving forward has to look very differently um so that we can anticipate that those families will stay until the age of 22 when we have normally budgeted for that age of 21 right so we're going to have to make um some adjustments there as well as we um uh identify how we pivot during the school year which we didn't budget for but then think more critically as we are in the budget season how we're going to better be better prepared for um those Services as well uh then I want to just give a uh our enrollment numbers um as of September 25th and

016Isaiah as December 25th because you know that these numbers uh really fluctuate uh so if you take a look at our numbers you'll see a plus or minus Delta depending on the on the school uh our overall uh District enrollment as of the 25th is 37.39 um uh plus six more students than the previous time this time around last uh last calendar uh last calendar school year uh it was interesting because I um I went back to the demographic reports that if you recall um the PA economic league in 2022 October gave us some some preliminary projections on where we are and there is a Delta of 60 um 60 students that's different we're less than the numbers that they had originally anticipated um from that uh overall right so um we'll keep monitoring um

017that but it I say that only to say that um some of our biggest challenges is uh the inflexibility with space and not having enough space to be flexible with the way in which we're thinking about uh uh instruction but I'll get to that in a little bit in my uh in my focus uh topic um I also want to highlight really quickly because we I could not I'd be remiss not to say about the first four even though we discussed it um at our at Affairs and our principles came out I see one of the print one of our principals in the audience I'll thank Dr hilden and the rest of the team for uh for the fact that what they do and what our staff has done for the first four we really

018put our staff to the test and they Rose to the occasion when we said we want you in addition to all the wonderful things you've already done already do and opening day you have permission to extend that experience to build strong communities and across every single building from the high school to the Middle School um to our elementary schools um they capture the essence of what does it mean to be a wsse student what does it mean to be at npe what does it mean to be a student at SRS and obviously MP is the place to be um and the idea that we hear it over and over again from the West Community is that they create a peaceful learning environment where all students are safe respected responsible and helpful and you see that

019echoed um throughout those four days and that continues throughout the uh the calendar uh school year and some of the highlights of uh SRS as well where everybody belongs so I do want to um thank uh our staff um for extending what they already do and just extending a little bit longer in terms of what it means to build a community because that goes a long way when you're able to appreciate and better understand the stories of our students and they can better understand and appreciate your story as as well so we're excited the uh the tradition that we uh that that we are starting even though it's year two uh we continue um uh to do that and I um happen to see the um smiling face of Dr McCullough over there and I

020think it'd be remiss not to talk about how this Blends so seamlessly with the work that's already been done on our positive behavior intervention um system right and our mtss so we're trying just to connect the dots uh strongly so individuals don't think that they're doing separate things and this is all uh one in the same uh one in the same work so we're really excited um about uh the first four days and we're happy um it's been going so well I can't believe it's it's been 19 days and I can't believe September we're closing out September we're about to head into uh October um I didn't expect to be so chilly so early uh now I'm literally I do have a jacket now standing outside um yes I started this morning um so last

021thing before uh I transition I do want to thank um uh student services um uh and Dr Sandberg and welcome our families for a wonderful opportunity that we are presenting to our community writing out the store managing the emotional needs of gifted um uh kids so we have a great presenter uh that will be coming to us and providing uh a workshop on gifted education and some of the ways in which to better uh inform and support uh our families which is uh really um a sign of many things to come as part of the work that we started last calendar year but a double down on some of the work that you'll see reflected in our strategic plan efforts as well and um we encourage you as always um to mark your your calendars

022for some upcoming uh upcoming dates I also want to share that you know we have so many things happening in the district so many things happening at the building level we really encourage our families to visit our district webpage the building web pages so that they can stay informed with uh some of uh the activities that are that are taking place so that uh Mrs Walkman concludes my superintendent support thank you Dr Marseille I wanted to just really briefly comment on follow to two of the things that you mentioned first on the um the gifted uh uh speaker who's coming in I'm really excited to see that and it it dovetails really nicely when we had our two teachers who are gifted coordinators come to one of our meetings speak to our committee and talk

023to us very specifically about those Choice exceptional children and the support that is necessary so it's really nice to see um what they shared with us and some of their concerns being brought back through resources for our families so thank you for that um to our student services second uh with respect to our special education students and the decision by the Department of Education I did want to note that I know that you have been in conversations with some of our local elected officials as have others um on several others on the board about the fact that we do need the Department of Education to the state to step up with uh funding that supports um the requirement and the needs of our students both on a prospective basis and I'm told that there is

024some conversation relative potential for some grant funding in year for the um impact that this will have in the in the current budget year um I will believe that of course when we see it but um they're very aware that um of the concerns and as you said this is it's it's a very big concern just financially speaking um for for the Commonwealth um and for school districts and um certainly we all want to support our children I've spoken in the past about the fact that there's very very little support in the state for students when they age out of school so it's an important transition year we understand that um we're just looking for our our state officials to recognize that through funding and with that I'll turn it back to you for um

025the focus topic this evening uh thank you um if it's okay normally the focused topic is that that podium back there um it's okay if I say seated here and present my focus topic and says of doing it there either or I'm fine but I didn't want to know if there was a preference and I'm going to touch up a little bit on the transition year um in this uh in this conversation um but the topic I want you to have um with the board um today and I've shared some of this with you um so um a good portion of it may not be new um but new to some of those individuals who may be tuning in um uh tonight um or maybe I should say a refresher of conversations we've been having

026in this in this District just in a very different way so as I thought about how close we are to the finish line and and the Strategic plan um and there are two zones and two artists that came to mind right um one you should um know because I've shared with you um my love of of Nina Simone um and um and though Nina uh uh and her Soulful Blues voice did not write this song but when she uh was released in 1965 or her version of it it's um is solidified that that that song in a very different way and it speaks to it's a new dawn it's a new day it's a new life for me and I'm feeling good right I think about uh how good I'm feeling about this journey um

027about the progress that we've made and our destination the other song that I think about um is of course Sam Cooke right um that A change is coming uh there's so much excitement um as it relates to what the next steps are so as I head through my next couple of slides I set the premise that I'm feeling good about the change that is coming uh we should all feel good about the change um that is is coming but in order to realize that the idea is how do we keep our eye on the prize how do we make sure that we stay grounded in the work that really matters right where are we going to spend the most of our time thinking and discussing and not being distracted by so many other things that

028come up as part of this as part of this work but before I go any further I'm going to take you back and I'm going to see if you remember this because I remember this right because I go back to these things right um I don't know if you remember this so um in July I sent out an entry plan and I spoke about the change that was coming and that we were going to reaffirm our commitment to the pursuit of Excellence and to position ourselves as a world-class District those are not my words those were the words that this community has echoed for a very long time so I'm using those to um to remind individuals of our overall commitment to the direction we wanted to go to we also said in that plan

029that we were going to collect a lot of data we said we're going to collect data on student achievement on student growth Equity curriculum finances communication um and that we're going to see guidance from experts to chart A New Path um we have set the stage for that Journey um where on October 18th this board will be presented with our comprehensive uh strategic plan several days later on the 23rd you will be asked to take action on that strategic plan and that all really comes down to this vision for impact this language that was crafted um and I know I might sound too extra when I say Blood Sweat and Tears but that terminology speaks to the amount of time the amount of effort that went into soliciting and receiving feedback from our Collective community

030uh and that is grounded on those true fundamental truths um nine sentences 172 words that will shape collectively what we'd like to see by 2033. from there we developed the simultaneously these five pathways directions in which we want to move in as a district each with its own stance um and as we move forward with that uh you will see the 23 24 strategic plan deliverables that we will share with you with the hopes that they will be adopted on October uh 23rd it is a bold plan um I'd like to think it's a Visionary plan it's a flexible plan it's inspiring it is to be admired but not on the Shelf it is a tool that we don't put in a glass box it is what is going to give us direction that will

031allow us to Pivot as um the times call right because we all know about the best late plans with my cement uh but that is our Collective commitment um and it won't be easy and it's not for the faint of heart based on what we um decide to do but I believe this quote captures it all that you've seen before that your dreams must exceed the capacity to achieve them right and we know that there are times where we're going to have to to Pivot to make room for other things but all of you and I've shared this before when I've said that um much of this is not new to you uh or new to this community it is a reminder of our Collective commitment and to know that um sitting in every administrator's

032um book read is Jim Collins concept of good to great thinking about the idea around what is that breakthrough moment and our breakthrough moment comes with the way in which we are going to um with Fidelity Implement that that plan um and as we move forward with that plan remind you of quotes that I've shared before with this board and we share with this community collectively um and uh the first one speaks to who we are as an organization we are extremely proud of the growth that we see throughout the district right um this was built on years and years of commitment [Music] um I though there are many ways to measure um this both quantitatively and qualitatively I want to stick to one piece of the pie not the whole entire body not what

033actually truly defines us um but it provides context to our work um and those numbers have meaning whether we like them or not in terms of how they were crafted so what you will see in this one static report other ways to measure progress and Improvement um about um systems are designed to get results they're getting right so we're seeing significant growth in particular areas in consecutive years of growth in particular areas um you are going to see more of this in the coming months as the team will unpack some of our achievement data and break that down for you uh even more but then we know that there are areas and opportunities for growth and we know um there are particular subgroups in this District that um the definition of success so in which

034we are quantifying in multiple ways that it's disproportionate and it has been for some time and that has eluded many of many school systems and what I want to share which everyone here knows and this goes to where we spend most of our time is the fact that this Gap that we're talking about starts early and as it starts it progressively gets wider and wider and wider um which is why then um if you think about and you've seen this and I've shared with you the Marion right Edelman quote it's not weather it's whether we can afford not to uh in terms of our commitment and keeping our eyes on the prize I shared with the board over the summer uh sometimes um how torn I am between the way in which I look at

035this work times where I say to myself not all problems are yours to solve but in the next breath I'm like all of it is for me to solve in the current position I'm in every child who is not finding success the way in which this District embodies that I need to think differently about what we are doing as a system what is it that I need to do to provide for my faculty and staff who are burning the candle at both ends um and trying to reach every single child but I say that because there are times where I think about this work and we've talked about sometimes I wanted to be a Sprint right I want it today we all want that today um but understand that some of this takes time but

036then I think about that parent who says how long right when parents say my child only has one experience in second grade one experience in third right and you have to kind of take off your hat as an administrator and put on that parent hat and say I see you I I get that um but for me I think about this quote you never know how much time we have left until how much time we have left um and I share with you my countdown the board knows my countdown because I'm really sensitive about okay um what's my value added how much have I really done um with this but I do believe um that with the decisions that this board is going to be asked to make you see it every single time you

037come to the Middle School you know Amanda forman's quote if you're brave enough to be it and the way in which we want to move forward with this work so the Strategic plan um is the bulk of our work but it's not our only work right so though I said there's these 15 deliverables it's not the only thing um because this is a sample of items that administrators are deliberately thinking about and actively working on pursuing when I said it was bold and aggressive that's a lot of stuff a lot of people hours thinking differently about the way in which we want a better support the way of the experiences of our staff in the experiences of our students then I think about that marathon in Sprint um so think about that as we wrap

038our work around these deliverables I also want to share with you that it's not the only conversation in town those things right if I listed everything we'd be here all night and I'm already getting funny looks from Mr cutis uh he's thinking that okay um how long is his brother gonna go long I promise um there conversation we have which is going to take up um a lot of bandwidth and we hope um I look forward to sitting down with members of the board and the teachers union to negotiate a successful agreement as that contract expires June of 2024 the previous language indicates that that meeting will take place on or about that but a lot of um just a sample of some items within that uh document uh we're gonna meet collectively and um

039and remain competitive as we sit down with our with our teachers um to talk about that that's going to take some bandwidth and uh and some in some time then the 24-25 proposed budget the extent in which the boards do roll uh ensuring that the financial resources are available to meet the district's Mission envision but simultaneously understand the tax burden on our community so I remember uh Miss Whitsett at one of our meetings and I listed all the things are our priorities and Ms which said Dr Moore say I see this laundry list but there's not one thing that says how you're going to reduce the tax burden on our community and that especially to our most vulnerable population for those who are on fixed income where um the price of everything goes up but

040not necessarily the check in the revenue that they are bringing in and I said you're absolutely right and I said it's not that I'm not thinking about it um hence why the board is in the position that it's in is I think from the perspective how do I put the things into place that I believe our faculty will need in order to realize some of the goals and the objectives the board will come back to me and say have you done this in a financially responsible way are there ways in which you can go back and think differently about being um more uh efficient can we be more efficient absolutely um can we look at other ways Absa absolutely do we need to provide those services to all of our students yes um so I

041want to say that we have that dual role of thinking about the ways in which we are providing those services but also share that for me as I think about this budget I think about what is it that we are going to need to effectively launch all the deliverables over the next two years I've shared with this board the first two years of any strategic plan is the most important two years of the plan right I go back to what my teacher and Miss Mackie said to me if you go out strong you more likely than not will finish strong right so we really need to put resources in place to launch this plan we need to draw a line in the sand deeper than we've drawn it and say the disproportionality and the outcomes

042of some of our most marginalized students we are going to stop it right here and we want to see stronger significant improvements in data that keeps repeating itself when you fall within that particular uh category or particular subgroup and as such as I think about some of the things that I'll be talking to the board at a later time and thinking about how I'm building the budget about the need around some additional student services uh support from counselors to nurses to response to instruct to intervention and instruction to literacy Specialists Mass Specialists Secretary of support the custodial when you think about what ways in which other departments are providing service to our strategic uh our strategic goals and our strategic initiative so that's going to take a lot of bandwidth the other conversation um is

043the decision we need to make about a three five ten year Capital plan um we need to decide um and this Board needs to give direction to the extent in which um we have aging infrastructure um and we have some high priority needs I mentioned to you Earl um a few minutes ago uh Miss Walkman I was going to bring back this conversation about transition um we have infrastructure needs that is not realizing the potential of our life skills program in the way in which we need to provide those services to our students in the 21st century so we need to create life skills program in terms of infrastructure that adequately prepares our children to transition post um High School into uh the real world specifically into apartment living or living on your own and

044some of those as well we also know that we need to think and redesign the way in which we are providing uh our media center and our Guidance Center as well you know that those modulars have been out there longer than they need to be out there they need to be incorporated back into I joke about this and I been in other communities where I said you've fared very well by putting them in the back because people don't see them they were in the front of the building um they would have been removed a lot quicker based on other communities I've been but joking aside they've exceeded their shelf life and they no longer fits the way in the direction in which the district needs to move in and the way which women provide instruction

045to our students so they have to be brought back into the scope of the redesign of the building we also know and long before I arrived here this board somewhere not on who are not on aboard anymore but conversation that you knew that there were multi-million dollar repairs to that pool at the high school there was commitment to move in that direction all right um there was facetious when I say um to the extent that you shouldn't be leaking like a suit and deferred maintenance has required a multi-million dollar fix what I say to this board deferred maintenance will cost you significantly more in the long run so in 2019 it was a two million dollar price tag what do you think is going to be in 2024 2025 when we make the decision it

046will be significantly more right especially when you've committed to what this needs to this needs to happen right um we have a locker room that dates back to 1970. that has not been touched in quite some time we've shown that um and we need to think differently about that we also have some fields that we shared with you from an infrastructure perspective that is going to take a significant amount of dollars to renovate those fields we have challenges with the current fields are not suitable for the amount of time that individuals need to practice on them that's the reason why that and I know I say this going back hindsight's 2020 why it's more economical to get a second tour field than it is to fix all the grass fields the numbers are just the

047way the numbers are and it provides you with the flexibility that you're going to have that you don't have on a grass field right so I say this um as we think about our life skills our modular classrooms our library our counseling Suite our locker rooms and our fields and that um this work has to begin this calendar year and we have to commit to okay um we can't do all 95 million right but there are some low hanging fruit and there are some commitments we have to make and this is why the condition assessment report that we're going to present uh to the board at the end of the year will help capture some of that um as as well so um I uh want to end um by sharing that I understand that

048there's a lot on the table a lot of decisions that need to be made um but we need to focus on those that we believe to be the most important um and commit to those which is why then why I will end the way I started we have to keep our eye on the prize with respects to um our Collective goals moving uh moving forward and um I'm excited about the conversations that are to come and the commitments that we're going to uh to make for um our students our staff and our uh and our community it's the end of my report thank you Dr Marseille um we have an awful lot of work ahead of us um in these first two years um as you said they're the most important to um impact and

049finish strong on a on a five-year strategic plan um the I've when I first ran for the board it was just a matter of public service but when I ran for a second term it was because we were going to be engaging in the strategic planning process and I felt that both the opportunity and what we needed to do was so significant and I really wanted to be part of that um and you talk a lot at the beginning about changes coming change is coming and there is this will drive change it's it's not just for no purpose if we aren't going to do something with it and um continue to build better um continue to improve there's always an opportunity to continue to improve um and I think we've actually I was I was

050organizing my files over the weekend and my entire file drawer fell over because of the weight of all of the data points that we've collected and that we've shared that have informed the plan um so I know we're going to talk about this a lot more at the um at the next meeting um we'll have more time to to to offer feedback but I I do want to thank the administration the teachers and many members of the community more than I thought would ever come out for many meetings that we had on strategic planning long meetings um with thoughtful dialogue some agreeings um not necessarily agreeing and and kind of coming back to what makes sense to all of us so I'm really excited about where we landed um I'm anxious to be able to

051share more of it in the in the next meeting with the community but I'm really excited about where this can take us um if we stay committed if we stay focused and not distracted it doesn't mean we ignore everything else but we need we are going to have to make some really tough decisions we don't have unlimited dollars um and we have big big um aspirations here uh so let's uh let's get ready it's going to be exciting um does anyone um have any other uh comments or feedback um questions in response to Dr Marcy's Focus topic all right um thank you again I appreciate it so we will move forward then um in board announcements we do not have any uh board announcements for this evening so that will take us uh to audience

052we sure was this um was it an executive session or information session okay we did consider that um uh I apologize um so we did meet an executive session uh just prior to um to this meeting um we then moved to audience recognition so this is for response to items that are on tonight's agenda for Action voting items on tonight's agenda uh everybody's heard me say this and I see familiar faces in the audience but this time for uh residents to address comments to the board uh we will continue to follow our three-minute time limit uh and anybody that wants to address the board if you could please just see um your name uh in the street on which you live so uh does anyone this evening wish to um speak nope all right thank

053you for joining us um we will then continue moving forward uh next we have the minutes of the August 22nd 2023 regular uh board meeting uh do I have a motion for approval uh thank you Mr vote do I have a second uh thank you Miss Whitsett any questions comments seeing none Miss uh Elias if you could then please take a little while though Dr Grande Mr Henry hi Mrs Holbert aye Mr Kutis aye Mrs dolay aye Mrs vote aye aye Ms Whitsett hi Miss wikowski Smith aye and Mrs Walkman bye the minutes past nine to zero thank you uh next up we have committee reports um we've said this multiple times the committee reports are all um live streamed and available to watch uh for anybody who's interested and always welcome folks to come

054to the meetings as well so I'm going to move right to you I don't think Wellness advisories had a meeting um correct no no meeting uh psba mrkowski Smith thank you hi at this time psba is uh really focused right now Pennsylvania School boards Association is very focused on their fall advocacy weeks and then they're going to be a whole thing virtual and in-person meetings with Pennsylvania lawmakers so we I have an opportunity as well as other members of the board to either in person or virtually meet with our state senators and representatives to talk about issues that impact school districts uh as our work gets underway this week uh in the state senate and crafting funding formula for Pennsylvania schools so that is the number one big topic that we're going to be talking

055about is is funding schools and talking about shortcomings uh in the funding system and what the courts have mandated that uh Flint state does to fund schools of course there's been a testimony being provided and some testimony provided by Matthew Kelly a professor at Penn State uh is uh saying that just to meet needs that the state needs to provide an additional 6.2 billion dollars to adequately educate students so that at the bare minimum that that is what needs to happen another issue that is going to be included in these funding issues are taxpayer funding of private schools voucher plans and other school choice options are coming into those talks so uh hopefully we will be able to uh represent us well and talk mostly about funding for schools and make sure that we are

056included in part of those talks thank you thanks very much um the uh the the fair funding uh formula and and the plan that are coming forward was another topic that a few of us spoke to one of our state legislators about very recently and made sure that she understood the impact in our district where we are so highly reliant on property taxes and what that means here and folks would not necessarily um expect that we are a district that struggles but our per pupil funding compared to the districts that we compare ourselves with and that we compete with essentially um is is significantly um the amount available in our budget is as much as 20 million dollars less than um annually than the districts that we compare ourselves with because of our Reliance on

057real estate individual real estate taxes and no no other uh form for the most part um so it was informational to her um it was not something that she understood and is taking that back and making sure that folks understand them so I just wanted to share that as well um doc uh Miss Whitsett Delaware County Community College yeah I am going to happen to burn my update until the next meeting because unfortunately it is living on it um significant amount about the enrollment okay and other things that are going on with Delaware County Police okay hope everybody does today we'll ask you okay yeah two two for one next time so okay um then uh Mr Kutis uh Delaware County Intermediate Unit just a couple good news stories um CTE programs uh run under

058the auspices of the dciu um have compiled information from last year uh and what they have reported is that 99 of the 12th grade students at at the Aston facility completed in Industry recognized credential prior to the end of the last year's school year a hundred percent of the 12th grade students at Folcroft completed an industry recognized credential prior to the end of the school year now these credentials are they they are certificates they could be licenses uh they could be an even number of things in in so many different categories to include Health Care first responder automotive services uh Building Trades food handling uh and um the the examinations could be could be written or could or they could be demonstrations of of of um of how well students have learned and and how

059they apply these the learning to actual practice um so that that's a good news story uh the only other thing to report is that pre-knocked one testing is uh taking place in the beginning of October at both places uh no this is actually industry certifications and licenses I've got it so what it does is it uh it makes a student much more attractive for post School employment it's really good um that's they I know that the team that's running that um from the time that I was there has been really really focused on that so it's really really good plus the dciu pays for all examination of course yeah testing costs awesome thank you for that update uh and finally uh Miss Holbert we have the Delaware County School Board legislative Council thank you the

060um DC svlc met on September 13th it discussed several items um but some of these topics have already been covered by Dr marsay and um Miss Cassie Smith tonight so I'm just gonna um just talk a little bit about the basic education funding commission that's working its way around the state to gather testimony related to how to best carry out the directive set by the Commonwealth Supreme Court to equitably apply the basic education funding formula um it has been in Philadelphia Lancaster and Allentown with more stops this fall in Hazleton Pittsburgh and Bedford um infrastructure funding which used to have a state reimbursement mechanism called plan con which is for planning and construction will likely be part of this discussion since many districts have buildings that need a great deal of work so one of

061the items that we discussed thank you that last part is especially good to hear given what we just talked about all right excellent um that then takes us uh to Personnel uh we have 13 items for action and Personnel I have had a request from a board member to separate item M and take uh that one separately is there any other item in this list that anyone would like to separate from the rest okay so then I'm going to first take up um items a through L we have item a is resignations and retirements as uh stated we have Item B appointments also as uh stated in the agenda we have item C leaves of absence as stipulated item e change of salary status as stipulated item F direct payments as stipulated item G payment

062of unused sick days as stipulated and attached uh item H 2023 2024 conference request as attached item I teachers eligible for tenure and we congratulate those who are eligible for tenure uh item J or 2023 2024 mentors appointments as attached item k fall athletic supplemental is also as attached and item L 2023 2024 curriculum supplementals um also as attached do I have a motion for approval of items uh a through m M I'm sorry a through L I'm looking at M A through l so moved thank you Miss Holbert second thank you Mr Kutis uh any questions or comments okay I've seen none uh if you please take the roll call vote Mr Henry Mrs Hobart aye Mr Kutis all right this is delay hi Mrs Miss Whitsett hi Miss matkowski Smith aye Dr Grande

063aye and Mrs Wolfman aye personal items a through L passes nine to zero thank you uh and then we'll take item L uh sorry keep doing that I'm sorry item item M I can't tell the alphabet today I item M Saturday detention program um as attached uh do I have a motion for approval uh thank you Dr Grande do I have a second uh thank you Kevin I need to tell Jenny to work at me today uh goodness thank you Mr Henry um do I have any uh questions or comments on item M I have um some comments I was the one who asked to set it apart um and I'm I'm I guess I'm not comfortable voting um to support um funding towards Saturday detention program um until I understand more about why this

064is being brought back I know it was in place before covid I want to know more about how it's being monitored um what are the outcomes I want to make sure that there aren't certain groups that aren't being over represented um with those who are in Saturday detention so that that those were the sort of thoughts I had in asking to have it set apart that's that yes [Music] um so so your concerns about the disproportionality of representation and Saturday detention that and also just what are the outcomes of it I want to understand sort of who gets referred for Saturday detention are you aware that we offered detention yes after school yes are you concerned about the disproportionality of those students after school yes I am so would you like information about detention period

065yeah okay but in this case I'm being asked to vote on resources that would be going towards this and so I just want to know but there's resources for the teachers who stay for detention I understand but okay right now I'm being asked to move it on this and those are my concerns and I want more information so tell me exactly what it is that you're looking for for the just you would like Administration to provide you what because detention in this district has been going on for a long time in lieu of in-school suspension in lieu of out of school suspension and keeping kids inside the classroom we've deferred to a Saturday so that it minimizes instructional laws I hear that yeah I want to understand how kids are getting referred to that specifically

066I I just want to hear I want to see what the representation is within it I want to see what kinds of outcomes you've seemed had after that that's just the information I want okay where I were to vote to support it that's all okay so the board so that I'm one person yeah so I'm trying to figure out what is it that you want what is this would you what the is the board want Administration to provide analytics on um disciplinary outcomes in this District because the attention is part of a disciplinary experience whether it's after school or we decide to do it in the morning whether we decide to do it on a Saturday I think to the extent that um you know Miss Miss vote has has raised the questions um I

067think is it clear what she's asking for I just want to make sure I'm clear so I know I go back to my team in terms of I can dig real deep um or is it specifically for Saturday and how students um are assigned as Saturday compared to if they were given a um and after school detention does anyone on the board um request uh the further information that would go beyond the Saturday detention program I did okay that's what I would like that as well because um in in going with the Strategic plan and and the equity base and the disc proportionality of of a certain sector of students they tend to be the students that are on detention and and their and their some of it can be because they're they're in the

068teacher's Loop of being disruptive so they're not given any Grace in any classroom so um they tend to be the ones that are repent repeat detention and I think that in light of the Strategic plan we need to come up with with what are better how the student is better served um does does the action that they did Merit A detention or does it Merit a a written or a counseling so um I think that there should be uh since you brought it up a a deeper dive in the whole disciplinary systematic system that's within the district okay so um I would acknowledge and confirm that um the audit findings did identify the disproportionality and disciplinary referrals in the district um and identified it was extremely disproportionate to particular subgroups um as part of the

069that statement um two board members have requested additional disaggregation of that data the administration would report back to the board on uh on those points um I also want to share with this board um in the curriculum audit which I've told my teammates I've read backwards and forwards more times that can count one of the um recommendations from a Governor's perspective um that the board hasn't brought up that was recommended was that they recommended the board develop a policy that requires specific disaggregation of the data so as opposed to these Singletons that we need to go back um and so if that is the case then go back to the 61 um recommended board governance recommendations in that plan which is why I talked about the nature of this work and how we need to

070stay focused because there's a lot of recommendations one of those was the board should should consider adopting a policy that requires Administration to disaggregate data based on disproportionality so that is a much larger request that will satisfy um a larger number of data points versus the um though those are single terms are very important that we should move in that direction but it seems like there's as part of the Strategic plan um the board wants that report it's being collected uh as we speak since day one so when we get enough information to share with the board we will tell you where we are two months in school started whatever that window is in terms of that but I also want to say that part of our PBIS program and part of the work we're

071doing about restorative practices is specific to that are educators um when they are helping students manage behavior and expectations contrary to what some may believe and unfortunately some of the data shows but I also want to share with this board it's about it's about numbers we have 219 students in this District who identify as black or African-American it doesn't take much from a data point to show disproportionality on a statistical level not wrong or right but just want to show that so when individuals talk about disproportionality in this District I want to tell you where it's ugly head appears in one area it will appear in 17 others all right as this natural result of what happens when there's a disparity right um so um this is why when you only have 18 students in

072your building who identify as black or African-American those individuals get four discipline referrals proportions of the population when you look at the data is going to show a significant disproportion because of the sample size I'm not making excuses for I'm just telling you that the way in which the math is going to work out but I uh applaud the recognition of what is in the curriculum and the equity audit right and the fact that if that is the case then the bigger ask of the audit was a board policy that requires Administration to disaggregate all those disproportionalities and the board will determine what periodic um reporting you would like Administration will say well I can't give you a report every three weeks the guy give me some room we we will have that conversation but

073um we will gladly share information that we've been um already discussing and uh and and collecting okay um so thank you um Dr Marseille and and thank you for the the comments and the questions so I think to um in the context of the broader recommendation from the audit um and I know that um we've already talked um in the the policy committee uh about a number of curriculum related policies that will be undertaking um in in this particular calendar year um so uh Miss Holbert as the chair of the policy committee I'd like to talk um you know offline and we can talk about how we make sure that we we are um thoughtfully bringing those policies forward making sure that we're opening the dots there and since we're I want to say this

074um this district is not the only District that has outdated policies right um that requires a significant amount of overhaul the commitment that this Board needs to make which other board member um other districts have made when we're in our we find ourselves in the same situation is there's not enough time in the day to review all these policies that have not been then there are those that rise to the top so we have to find efficient ways to navigate through our policies and if we're spending uh three and a half hours on three policies and we only have nine meetings and we have 168 policies then that's a significant problem we dealt with this previously and previous boards made a commitment that there are these items that through our solicitors are just routine processes

075that we have to get through statutory requirements here is the language then there are those that you really want to spend significant amount of time uh unpacking but it also requires the board's commitment that you can't um get everything done with the standing policy meetings so there has to be a commitment are you going to add additional policy meetings to rectify policies that have been outstanding and or to identify policies that are in impediment to the launch of the Strategic plan right so this board has to make that decision um I said before in exact executive session my problem is is that I burn both candles at both ends I'll show up wherever you want me to show up and however long the meeting needs to get done in order to do that but we

076have a laundry list of policies that have been identified um that we prioritize that we need to get through if we do this and an effective in a public way have community members come in but we need to run through particular policies faster than we've done that or um I don't know um Cheyenne will be married come back to this uh yeah district and live here right and her dad's still going to be around but not sitting in this chair so that's all that's how long it's going to take with the pace that we're going to do it hence the reason why um in the previous slide deck I shared with you and this is also in the curriculum update I'm sorry in the two numbers that you should memorize 37.93 37 93 the audit

077said if you continue at the pace to address the inequities in your District based on historical data it will take 37 years to reach this point it will take 93 years to reach this point so like you said before we have a lot to do right we have a lot to do we have to do it in a focus um offline uh to prep the committee um and what we're going to focus on and seeing what we can do to help stream we will pull the disability data for the board we welcome thank you that uh on that conversation and that data point okay thanks very much uh are there any other questions or comments before we take the World Cup uh Mr Lee can I ask a question specifically yeah so so I understand

078this is being reinstated yes so is it worthwhile to talk about you know so obviously we haven't had it for the past couple of years sure so what is it what is it you know circling back to what's been asked what is it adding you know what what has taken its place what what what was previously happening well you know and what yeah what value is it at I can't speak to what was really easy happening I can tell you how Saturday detention worked in every other District that I've been sorry previously by that I mean in the past two years that we did not have it previously we've had outer school suspension and we had in-school suspension yes so Saturday detention was an attempt for um for a number of students that were chronic

079um offenders or school policy and we realized not here talking about other places that their time out of instruction was significant and was doing more harm um and that those uh uh we realized that well if we kept them in school tried to keep them in the classroom and in lieu of removing them for those x amount of hours from the instructional space that that Saturday would be the space and that Saturday would serve as an additional opportunity to extend some learning experiences and get some additional supports that normally you wouldn't necessarily see in a standard detention because of the length of that detention so Saturdays were reserved for I'll give you an example a student had a 45-minute um detention they don't show up you schedule another detention now there's a two is a

08090-minute block right they don't show up to that one um then you um go through your Progressive discipline process and say this is your second show we're adding another hour to this it goes beyond the traditional length of time after school that we have monitors to do that you have a Saturday from nine to eleven or you have those students who I said earlier um are violating or consistently violating their school policy and you realize women and Wagner's been out of English class x amount of minutes this entire week um let's try to find ways to um keep him or her engaged without disrupting the other 22 students um inside that because you don't want to disturb The Learning Experience of other students and Saturday was a way to offset some of those longer um

081removing from instruction is the way in which um we previous districts have used Saturdays to compensate for that so since we had a period of time recently where we did not have it and we've now reinstated it do we have any data on is it having the impact that we're Desiring it to have on student Behavior I don't know the uh the data from last year on Saturday I have no idea so and I guess the other thing I'm wondering well the principles here you can talk about Saturday detention so Dr hilden you can come up to uh the microphone and talk about Saturday's attention good evening everyone how are you uh so Saturday I think you were you really knocked out of the part actually inside you're knocking out the parking at night now

082so I should have worn my dad jokes um so I really think you did a nice job of it's a progressive process and so why I don't have the hard data in front of me either I can say that the majority of our Saturday detentions result from a class cut so students who are skipping instructional time they've met with an administrator often they've met with their counselor teachers have tried to put interventions in place in the classroom to keep them in the classroom and we're trying to increase the motivation as you will for them to stay in class and so you know the first thing you don't want to do is if you're missing class time have a student Miss more class right the ideal is for them to be in the classroom learning right

083and so anything you do to remove them from this instruction is significant right and in our discipline manual there are levels of offenses one two three four and I won't get into each level but the significance of the disciplinary consequence along with the restorative piece corresponds to what level of disciplinary infraction has occurred right so for example if you're disruptive in class you don't get a Saturday detention teachers don't assign Saturday detentions the Saturday detention is only assigned by administrator right and they're only assigned after you've tried to put some other interventions in place right and the goal is as you say to not have them repeat the same behavior right and I often say that students listen you know our goal is to build you back you have a safety net here with us

084and our goal is to help you learn from your mistakes pick you up thrust you off and get you back into the game right so you've made a mistake we don't judge you based on the mistake right we want to see how you respond get you get you to make a better decision the next time you're faced with the same decision so how many students end up back in Saturday for a repeated class cut I don't have that data it happens right um students will push their luck and say well what happens if I don't come on Saturday you're going to suspend me right and so you know you know they're raising the anti well maybe we'll make it two Saturdays as opposed to a suspension or um we actually have a student who we

085said to them listen you have a Saturday detention but if you can stay in class the next two weeks without missing any time then we'll take that to Saturday off so you don't have to report because Saturday doesn't happen every week right it's happened usually about twice a month so right so you try to create that atmosphere where they're motivated right because that's that goal right to keep them in class it's not about just Doling out consequences great thank you students that parents are shift workers and they work Saturdays or they're forced into overtime to make ends meet and there's only one car and this student can't get to Saturday detention is that is that a consideration for offering if another way of handling the behavior I like the idea that you said if you

086stay in class for so many times then Saturday this detention is taken away that seems to be more positive approach to the work more with the PBIS that than than the punitive of of of of a detention I'm off for restorative practices but there's some point as a former classroom teacher or discipline is a discipline right we don't that's not the first um option we have as Educators and I want to tell you that um being in the classroom it's not the first the second or fourth the fifth or the sixth or the seventh time you spoke into that particular student and reminding him about that so I think that the way in which our educators are processing um are doing a very good job in managing and trying to address that um I'll let

087Dr hilden speak but I want to tell you as a former building administrator I never had any issue with a parent with regards to Saturday detention right um uh and parents would tell me oh don't you worry Marseille um he'll show up I don't care if you have to put on his roller skates and show up he knows better right and if there are which we always do miss what said that we're extremely mindful um of the stories of our families and that we would never impose such a restriction when a family says hey we understand can we try to work something out because I can't get that individual here or um that individual plays a much larger role in our family in providing support systems and you are taking that away so that's always

088been the lens of the way in which we've looked at these particular uh experiences but having been in the building for quite some time I want to tell you when it came to Saturday I never had any issue with the guardian or a parent with regards to uh the need for it or how we make adjustments as a result of uh their lived experience or their or their conditions right I I would just confirm that communication home and partnership with families is an integral part of the process right so it's not a you know a list of students and you just hand out sorry attention there has to be communication home there has to be conversations about what's best for the student and you know there are times where there are Creative Solutions to when

089when students aren't able to live up to their end of the bargain but I would say 99.99 of the time parents are asking me well they need more or you you weren't hard enough um you know so I you know I really think I haven't seen the that issue as well and students who do have jobs again that's the idea we have it twice a month I've delayed it you know if you have a job this Saturday and that's going to affect your family you know I've delayed it in enough time for them to get a substitute of work or to fulfill their obligation thank you all right can I just ask a real quick follow-up question so since there has been a request for data what would it look like if we were to

090table this until the data is provided I mean is that something that um I mean is there a let me ask it this way is there is there a harm in doing that to the disciplinary program or you have to put a motion that you want to there would have to be a motion to table um I mean it can happen at any point I'm not sure if the I mean it depends on what the board wants to do as far as voting on that motion to table and what it wants to do as far as moving forward tonight um I think the motion before the board at this point is simply to pay individuals who are already performing a service for the district um I I would say um I I personally I know

091I'm the one who raised it with the commit with the stated commitment that the data will come forward I'm okay personally vote I mean I can't speak for everybody I'm okay personally voting on it tonight I just want that data um I just you know yes that's all I wanted um I support that statement to say that I think there is a program that exists today that needs to be funded um there's a larger conversation to be had and I think um that shouldn't hold up this decision all right with that I'm going to ask uh missile is to to take the Roll Call okay Miss wikowski Smith aye Dr Grande aye Mr Henry all right Mrs Holbert aye Mr Kutis hi Mrs dolay aye Mrs vote aye Miss Whitsett hi and Mrs Walkman aye

092personal items M passes eight to one thank you I want to say Saturday's detention was longer than my focus topic yeah no it's Focus topic is it I it was a good an important conversation and it brought up a really important Point um too that brought us back to the recommendations for the board with respect to policy um so so all all very good conversation albeit a little long um yeah it is it is it's our job um uh next uh we have um so we have two actual voting items um for uh in the policy section item C is informational only the administrative regulations uh so um I'm going to we have item a policies for first reading and um as listed in Item B policies that are being rescinded also for first reading

093and as noted and attached in the tonight's agenda um is there any knowing that there's multiple different um policies here and in the interest of being able to move as many forward as we can is there any an item a that anyone would like to separate from the rest uh and I'm going to ask the same about Item B okay it's a good uh seeing none then do I have a motion for approval of items A and B yeah so moved uh thank you Miss Kowski Smith and do I have a second second uh thank you Dr Grande uh any questions or comments on these uh sorry um so just a real quick comment um given what we just talked about with regards to policies I hesitate to make it but [Laughter] um so at

094our at our August committee meeting there was um discussion around adding language that speaks to both to balancing both physical and psychological safety and um you know which which in essence would be reflecting really what our current practices seem to be um but we talked about the value of including it so I'd like to just suggest that we Circle back to that for further discussion when we take a look for a second read and that was all okay thank you very much Mr I appreciate that um any any other comments or questions okay uh Miss Alaska please take the World Cup Mrs Hobart aye Mr Kutis aye Mrs doullay aye Mrs vote Miss Whitsett hi Miss wikowski Smith aye Dr Grande aye Mr Henry aye and Mrs Walkman hi policy items A and B passes

095nine to zero all right thank you next up in curriculum we have uh five items uh is there any item that anyone would like to separate from the rest seeing none item a is the 2023-2024 memory memorandum of understanding with the dciu as attached Item B is a contract with Brooke Williams Wilkins and independent contractor um as attached item C is an independent contract with uh Dr Cheryl or C also is attached item D is the approval and please correct me if I pronounce this incorrectly um it's Savas since resources for grades six seven and eight social studies also is attached item e is BFW resources for AP World History modern world history also as attached do I have a motion for approval I um I heard Mr Henry first um any questions or comments

096particularly in support of D and E and I wanted to uh compliment Dr Pratt and Dr mozikowski as well although her presentation was slightly different uh and every I encourage people to look at the latter part of the educational Affairs committee meeting where a lot of this stuff was discussed and I just uh it was a great illustration of why we have professionals look at these kind of things and I'm happy as part of a board to support the investment in our kids uh into kind of updating all of these things and it was it was it was an impressive presentation by both administrators on on their process of looking at uh all the different companies that Supply educational materials and how they narrowed it down and all this all those things that really they

097think of things that we as late people wouldn't think of uh and I really appreciated that so I'm happy to support it because I think it's a great and the numbers are right here this is it's not cheap but it is an investment in our children and I just wanted to compliment them and encourage those watching at home to watch if they were interested in that presentation educational Affairs Community thank you yes um and I just also wanted to thank Dr Pratt for her time to allow some of us to come in and look through the books that were proposed for all the middle schoolers and the teachers and you know I I just and some of the digital resources but um really got a chance to look through the books and live with them

098for a few minutes and very much appreciate your time I also want to iterate what Miss Hobart said to thank Dr Pratt very much for allowing us to come in it was a large expensive money and I I thought that it was time well spent to take a look at a program that we are um you know going to be providing for our middle school students that you know we were able to see that it uh actually was representative of all of our students and um had lots of opportunities to modify the instructions so that it could be read out loud for some students have different kinds of responses for other students and it was and it allowed teachers to actually have these tools at their disposal with a list of resources and make differentiated

099instruction uh easy for it not not easy but easier to allow them to reach the needs of all of our students so I think it even though this is a large expense and we did spend some time looking at it very seriously and I think that it is a wise investment for our district at this time thank you Miss wikowski Smith um Miss Whitson I too want to thank Mrs Pratt for um allowing us to come in and for her having her stickies in preparation for the questions that I was going to ask I was impressed with her willingness to take extra time to find supporting data within the books to um help me better understand um the rapid representation that was being offered and that the cost is justified by by the learning experience

100that the middle schoolers are going to have and I think that it's going to turn social studies on its head um in the way that it's taught in this district and I look forward to seeing the data that shows the Improvement in our social studies program I can see you wanna you wanna talk now to doctor if you liked your stickies um you should have seen her when she was inside the classroom you would have been absolutely amazed um right before I promise we're going to take the vote here in a second um I I just I do want to call out that we were reeking a lot we're putting a lot of effort into teaching and learning and the the conversations we have in that particular committee are just amazing and the the work

101that we're doing is work that I have not seen um I want to be really careful how I say this we have been doing an awful lot and asking a tremendous amount of our teachers to deliver the um the educational experience to our students and I don't think that until recently with the support of of Dr mosikowski and Dr Pratt I'm not feeling I did not feel that we were putting the the investment into that that we needed to um we weren't providing the right resources necessarily to make that easier um it's never going to be easy but I really really appreciate the work that we're doing in teaching and learning and I you know since since we've shared our love here for for Dr Pratt in the the social studies curriculum um let's not

102let's not forget the whole uh work on Elementary reading um and and your work um Dr masikowski um you know if the kids can't read They're not going to be able to engage in social studies when they get to Middle School right um and I've had families call me directly um to let me know how pleased they are about the um the reading support and the work that's happening in elementary um on reading so thank you very much with that um shall we please take the roll call vote um Mr Lucas is here thank you Mr Lucas it's like Chris and Maria too all right um we I think we're Punchy at this point uh missile obvious to people please take the World Cup all right dot Mr Curtis hi Mrs dolay Mrs vote hi

103Miss what's that Miss wikowski Smith aye Dr Grande aye Mr Henry all right Mrs Hobart aye and Mrs Walkman aye curriculum items hre passes nine to zero right thank you student services student services we have nine items um for approval in student services is there anything in this section anyone would like to separate from the rest seeing none uh item a Educational Services uh agreement uh as attached for two students uh Item B 2023 2024 contract with Holcomb for our Student Assistance Program also is attached item C 2023 2024 contract with Matthew Z independent contractor also is attached item D 2023 2024 contract with CIS also as attached we have item e the 2023-2024 contract with credit care as attached uh 23 2024 contract with the mazoni center as attached item G 23 24 contract

104with bayata for an individual student is attached item h23 24 contract will fulfill also is attached item I 2324 contract with the dchd also is attached um that is that complete section uh do I have a motion for approval oh thank you Mr Kudos uh do I have a second second thank you Miss Holbert any questions or comments on this section nursing is that just for one particular student that contract yes that's correct so how much is it costing us uh do you have with the number in front of us pull it up you can pull it up Rihanna there and open that yeah sometimes they need students I mean um so so um I'm sure our student services can speak more directly to this but this would be one of those situations we only

105use biata for our most complex members I'm thinking about work our most complex students uh and this is a student that has special needs in special Healthcare needs that requires a one-on-one support foreign [Music] I'm going to go go ahead and ask if we would take the roll call vote they're not on the structure back uh Mrs delay hi Mrs vote Miss Whitsett hi Miss wikowski Smith aye Dr Grande aye Mr Henry aye Mrs Holbert aye Mr Curtis and Mrs Walkman aye student services items a through I passes nine to zero thank you uh facilities and finance we have three items uh for Action this evening any item that anyone would like to separate from the rest seeing none uh we have item a in finance bills paid to vendors August 4th 2023 through August

10631 2023 is attached Item B financial statements August of 2023 uh as attached and finally items uh see the treasurer's report for August of 2023 is attached uh do I have a motion for approval thank you Mr Curtis second thank you Dr Grande uh any questions or comments seeing none uh Philip please take the World Cup Mr wise Mrs vote Miss Whitsett hi Miss Makowski Smith aye Dr Grande aye Mr Henry aye Mrs Holbert aye Mr Kutis aye Mrs doullay aye and Mrs Walkman aye Finance out of eight items a through C passes nine to zero okay uh in the other section of the agenda we have four items for approval anything here the name would like to separate seeing none item a we have approval of a settlement agreement as attached this is the

107settlement with uh Altria you know uh Dr Grundy if you'd like to imagine you might have a comment on that one when we get to comments um Item B uh we have the Delaware County Community College uh trustee reappointment as attached item C 2023 2024 Consolidated application resolution e-signature uh as attached um item d The District's voting delegates at the psba legislative delegate assembly uh and that closes out that section um do I have a motion for approval uh thank you and thank you Ms Holbert uh comments questions um Dr Grundy would you like to just mention that Ultra I'm putting it totally on the spot but I think a fat sure um so this uh is the result of uh National litigation related to Jewel and um the team vaping epidemic uh triggered in

108part by Jewel and so there was a national lawsuit against Altria who now owns Jewel and uh this represents some settlement Dollars around some of the uh impact that was born by school districts as a result of the aggressive marketing on the part of jewel I want to thank Dr Grande for um encouraging us to participate in that um it's not a ton of money but it is um dollars that we can put um to use because we do do a lot of Education around vaping um and uh and other health issues so I I want to thank you for uh for encouraging the district to do that um any other questions I'll make sure you get that check um I was looking at you and I know she goes I have a number of

109resources and programs it's yours all right I saw one on the wagon in the Middle School right bring that back yep she'll put it to good use any other questions or comments on this section okay uh if you'll please take roll call Miss Whitsett owski Smith hi Dr Grande aye Mr Henry all right Mrs Holbert aye Mr Kutis aye Mrs dolay aye Mrs vote and Mrs Walkman aye other items eighth receive passes nine to zero thank you um this brings us to audience recognition um for response times not on tonight's agenda for uh action um I know I feel terrible that uh but appreciate that you've sat through all of this if you could just please state your name and uh my name is Rhoda O'Donnell and I live on McGill Road and Swarthmore and

110actually what I have to say um is very relevant to the conversation tonight I bet you are surprised to see me since my last child has now graduated from the school district I have one last thing that needs to be said and I made a promise to my child when he was seven I would not say it until he graduated I am here to talk about the importance of a diversity equity and inclusion changes that the district is making and specifically to address the importance of the board and especially of the office of the superintendent getting involved in getting down and dirty when it comes to these matters that affect children that are related to a diversity equity and inclusion my son that struggled with grades and getting work done from second grade to graduation

111is now a straight A student in college and talking about his goal of making a Dean's List all four years what changed he feels safe and cared for where he is and he did not feel safe in the wssd school district in second grade my son looked like this he was amazing and full of energy and was incredibly popular at his Elementary School SRS in fact he was so popular that one day I dropped him off late and the kids were on the playground in the entire playground of children cheered for him when he arrived I've never before or since seen anything like that and if I wasn't there myself I would not have believed it happened my second Creator told me it was a normal occurrence my second grader loved school did very well

112always scored high-end tests but was a mischievous little soul in the middle of second grade something happened that changed my family's life but especially affected negatively my seven year old second grader's life he was a target of six months of discrimination and an active tried to push our family to move out of District by the SRS principal some of the crazy things that happen to us are that when my son brought a birthday candle to school and the kids played campfire on the playground with sticks no lighter no matches no fire my son was accused of trying to burn the school down I had a call with Dr tuck where she asked me if I knew how dangerous it was that my son tried to burn the school down I replied that I was educated

113and I had to assume that she was and did she understand that she was currently under investigation by the U.S Department of Education for discrimination against my son she kept my child back from a field trip and he was not allowed to attend because he made a pile of sticks on the playground and he had a birthday candle with him another inappropriate and highly discriminary conversation that happened when Dr tuck told me it was inappropriate for me to have my middle school child in my elementary age child both boys sleeping in the same room both are Eagle Scouts she highly advised I consider getting a three-bedroom apartment as a single mom working both full-time and part-time to pay for my apartment while I was going also to get my Master's Degree in this District I

114understood this to mean that it was her opinion that we should move out of the district where we would to where we would better fit in the district psychologist was asked to observe my son by Dr tuck and then called me to have a conversation about how they were concerned because my son was quote the most active child on the school playground I told her that if she ever went near my child again I would turn her into the licensing board and have her license pulled I also reminded her that she worked for my child not the principal she never stepped the foot near my son again I could go on and on for hours with a story similar to this that happened in six months I do tell these stories to anyone that will

115listen to me and everyone who hears them is as appalled as I am I am here because before reaching out to the U.S Department of Education for assistance I both went to the school board and the superintendent's office which are different now to ask for help and no one not a single person stood up to stop this Insanity in fact I believe that your lawyer wrongly advised the school district that ignoring me would be the best approach boy was he wrong I want to talk about the import importance of feeling safe at school something my child never had the opportunity to from second grade until he graduated once you break that chain of safety with a child and do nothing to repair it it does not automatically return there must be some sort of common

116sense when it comes to dealing with children because the mistakes you make cannot be undone every mistake made with my child was Amplified by poor prior mistakes if my child had a different mother there's no doubt in my mind that he would have dropped out of school halfway through high school and been lost in the mix the amount of effort I'm sorry I your time limit is up I'm always wondering how long I have like four more sentences actually yeah you can finish thank you the amount of effort and parenting on my part to keep my kiddo on track was significant all to repair an incredibly bad misstep by the district what a shame that would have been for a student that a fifth grade teacher once said I I've been a teacher a long

117time and I've never said this but if any give my students that has been through my class ever graduates from an Ivy League College it will be your son one less point to make it is my opinion that any individual who goes after and abuses a child in a family the way mine was verbally attacked and abused has absolutely no place being in charge of small children thank you foreign thank you any other comments for this evening okay do we have any old business this evening any new business this evening okay then uh this meeting is adjourned