001Welcome to the Watsburg Area School District where we are student centered and future focused for world-class education. I now call to order the regular board meeting for Monday, February 16th, 2026. And I'd like to invite my elementary friends to come on up and lead us in the pledge of allegiance for the board. Please rise. Pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Miss Pensac, if you could keep the kids up here. What's going Well, I just want to say a big special thank you board of directors for coming and leading us this evening. It's an absolute pleasure when we have our students here with us, especially to do one of the most
002important things we do when we open our meeting. It's a pleasure to America. So, we thank you for being here with us this evening. Thank you. [applause] >> All right. As they come down off the stage, I did want to recognize each of them by name because in fourth grade, how cool is it to hear your name spoken over a microphone. So, with us tonight from fourth grade in our fuel up toplay 60 group, we have Eleanor Gabbard, we have Reagan Staser, Wyatt Chapman, Jackson Sers, Andrew Kinzig, Riley Beis, and Tyler Giwant. And then, of course, Mrs. is Bethany Pinzok um leads that group and I don't want to spend more time talking than they do. Um they a few of them at least have some uh prepared words to share um the opportunity they
003had this December to visit the soldiers and sailors home here in Erie. So I will turn it over to these boys and girls who is up first >> Right here >> we'll stand behind you. All right, go here. >> Hi, my name is Wyatt Chapman and at the soldiers and sailors, I had a lot of fun. It was really fun playing bingo with the veterans. We re we recently visited the soldiers and sailors home and we played bingo with the residents. It was a lot of fun to see their smiles when they won. We learned it is important to care and serve others in our community. Hi, my name is Andrew Kinzig and I had a great time walking around and playing bigo at the soldiers and sailors home. I'm so glad that Mrs. Pingok
004was able to set this up for us. I also enjoyed meeting and talking to the veterans. Hi, my name is Dragon Staser. I like going to the soldiers and sailor's home. It was fun and we learned a little history about the soldiers and sailor's home. It was fun because we played bingo with the veterans. We played bingo and I learned about how many people were there and how there was a lot of people than I expected. We took a tour of the place. When we took the tour, I realized how big it was. And we also learned some history. Hi, I'm Riley Vimus. My visit to the soldiers and sailors home was amazing. We played bingo, got a tour, and gave away thank you cards. It was all so fun. Overall, it was a blast,
005and I had a great time showing appreciation to the veterans. Hi, my name is Tyler Giwant. It w and it was really it was a great experience at the soldiers and sailors home to see the the history there and to see some of the everyday lives of the people. Here I have Jackson's mom, Kristen Sers, because not only was it for our team at Fuel Up, but it was also um open to their families and siblings as well. So we had 68 in attendance, ages four all the way up. So I'd like to give a little parent perspective because Kristen was able to join us on our outing. >> Hi. Um my name is Kristen Sers and I was one of many parents that went that night. Um and I just want to thank you
006and Mrs. pins off not only just for this fuel up program that you have at the elementary uh but it's a wonderful opportunity and experience for these kids. Um they learned that to give up their time that night and what an opportunity it was just to see them interact and make those connections with the residents there. There was a lot of laughs. A lot of laughs happened and they had a great time. Um but just what a young age, you know, the greatest age to teach them to give of their time and to care for others. It was really remarkable. So, I really do hope this program just can continue for many years because thank you to you and to Mrs. Pensog for giving of her time and to teach these kids because it really
007was wonderful. >> Well, well, thank you very much. >> I'll share a little bit more too. The activities director was just wonderful. It was the perfect setting uh for that large amount of group and 10 year olds um for it. But we were given an opportunity to have a guided tour around the facilities and learned a lot. And I don't know if you've ever had the experience to go there or get the tour. They have a church inside a chapel. It's very rarely used now because it's not very handicap accessible, but they have a stained glass window in there worth $2 million. Um, which was pretty incredible um to learn that as well. So again, I want to share my gratitude with my school board and my administrators uh for continuing to support this program.
008Just a couple fun facts was started in 2009 2010 school year and I am going in completing my 16th year as adviser for this team and it brings me absolute joy to provide them with additional opportunities for service and develop their leadership and confidence. And it's opportunities like this that we can give our students and I really do believe when we continue to provide them as they get older. I have seen middle school and our high schoolers continuing on those service needs. And although the program has changed a ton since there, the mission has always stayed the same down here is to provide our students with more opportunities for activity and to have healthy bodies and not just physical We're talking all the dimensions of health. They're emotional, their social, their intellectual health as well.
009And thank you for letting us speak today. >> Absolutely. And uh I I think this is one of the rare circumstances. I think I can go ahead and speak on behalf of everyone uh on this board uh and say a couple of things. I mean, first of all, to our students, um, we're not just thrilled to have you with us this evening, although I will say that every board meeting where we have our students in the room are the best board meetings. Um, but to know that you all are engaging with the program and in acts of kindness and service in your community, um, that's one of the most important things our students can do uh when they leave the halls of these buildings. So, uh, we are especially thankful for you and the effort
010that you put in individually and to all the parents and grandparents and loved ones out there. Um, for you to be cultivating this and your children, uh, not only must make you so proud, but I must let you know it makes us very proud as well. Uh, we are absolutely thankful in how many 16 years now, Miss Pensac. >> Yes. So 16 years as a as a parent of former Fuel Up uh participants. Um wonderful program. We appreciate it very much and Mr. Gman for cultivating that as well inside the building. Um we are thankful for all of you, students, parents, staff, administration. Um it's a great way to bring our kids up, not just in this building, but in this community, and we appreciate your words this evening. >> Thank you guys. I just
011I could not sit down tonight without making sure we had a little extra recognition of Mrs. Pensok. I know you know your words were saying that, but um having the opportunity to um the last few school years greet her incoming students to this program, I I just want to make sure it doesn't go unspoken. The amount of dedication that this woman gives this community, I know it's always said, but she truly pours a piece of herself into every group of students that she serves. um and it really needs to be valued. It is um 16 years we we don't see that um to be committed to a club like this and she truly gives her love and joy to these students every day. So again, thank you Mrs. Penins. Thank you. >> Absolutely. And thank
012you Mr. Gman. [applause] >> And the exciting part's next. So, everyone is welcome to stay for the board meeting, but if it's bedtime, then I guess you could go too, but but we would be thrilled to have you stay if you choose. So, uh, may I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Blazer, >> present. >> Mr. Bumington, >> present. >> Mrs. Heatherington, >> here. >> Mr. Morve, >> here. >> Dr. Pushjack, >> here. >> Mr. Snippert, Mrs. Will >> here, >> Dr. Williams, Mr. Young >> present. Thank you. I'll now entertain an uh motion to approve the agenda for this evening. >> So move, Blazer. >> Second, Heatherington. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. Nay. Motion carries. Uh now I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the personnel committee
013meeting on January 19th. >> So move Blazer. Second will >> any questions hearing? None. All in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. Nay. Motion carries. Uh now I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the regular board meeting on January 19th, 2026. >> So move push check. >> Second. Heatherington. >> Any questions or comments? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Name. Motion carries. Uh now I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the personnel committee meeting on February 9th, 2026. Blazer second. >> Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. That motion carries. Uh, now I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the work session on February 9th, 2026. >> So moved. Heatherington. >> Second. Push check. >> Any
014questions or comments on those? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Oppos? Nay. That motion carries. We will now turn our attention to school reports. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I I wanted to bring u some more good news and we actually we were talking about this just a little bit beforehand. Um, but the wrestlers our wrestlers had a great weekend. Um, particularly Avery Brahmagin, District 10 champ, which is tremendous. So, that's pretty awesome. [applause] >> Mr. Brain Jim, would you like to stand up and No. >> So Avery is going to be moving on and also uh Paige Buskerk will be going on as well. And that's two female um wrestlers. And of course, we got that going um just in very small pieces and now it's it's starting to
015gain some traction, which is really great to see. Uh then we have six male wrestlers that are going to move on to the district 10 tournament, but I wanted to mention that Caleb Kamasari was a section champ. And the others going on would be Kale Hedland, Colton Kamaseski, Connor Neuer, Jonathan Aean, and Paul Spires. Um so that's uh really encouraging to see. Uh we have a wrestling program um that's uh starting to really uh reap some benefits of the younger programs that are pretty active in the district. Um and all the kids benefit from that, the community, the kids, everybody. Um so job well done to the wrestling team. >> Excellent. So, the second um the second item we're going to talk uh about uh school cell phone policies at the high school level. Um
016and I had sent the board some information in the weekly update. Uh just a survey um that I had sent out to all of the 17 um superintendent in the IU5 area. Uh so I I wanted you to have that background. Originally, we thought we would present some of that and and we can double back uh if we need to, but um Mr. uh Hudnull and Mrs. Fi have have been starting the whole policy review process trying to engage stakeholders. Uh so, we're going to talk about some of that information tonight. So, I'll turn over. >> Thank you, Dr. Berlin. As you stated, you know, one of the most uh hot topic issues in terms of education right now is is cell phones. And Mrs. I ending last year started having discussions about what cell
017phone use looks like at the high school level particularly is it benefiting our students. Is it are they their ability to access their phones? Does it lead to other problems? Does it lead to benefits? So uh what we did right out of the gate was we created a uh survey for our our teachers to take um and I'm going to discuss those result in addition to Dr. Berlin surveyed IU5, all the superintendents to see where they were at with their schools in terms of cell phone use. So, I'm going to share the the the IU5 info and the teacher survey info. Mrs. Fi will then jump in for the parent and student survey info as well as where we stand currently with legislation. So, we'll go ahead and dive right in here. As uh Dr.
018Dr. Bland indicated he sent this survey out to all IU5 superintendents and this is a summary of what their districts do in regards to cell phone use at the secondary high school. So, as you can see, limited use is uh at 33% off and away. Now, what that means is off and away. The kids are still in possession of their phones. Okay? So, they still have them phones, but they need to be off and away. And the next one is bellto bell which means upon entering the building the students put their cell phones in their lockers and they cannot access those until the completion of the school day. So as far as the percentage that's how the IU5 superintendents break down cell phone use at the secondary level. For our teachers uh we asked them
019several questions that I'm going to review with you now. Students uh should be permitted cell phones in classrooms. As you can see, overwhelmingly our teachers said absolutely not. 90% of our teachers said they should not be able to use cell phones in classrooms. The next question was, cell phones are an effective educational tool. Our teachers say no, they are not 70% but 30% think they are. All right. So, uh, while 70% think they are not effective, 30% say they are. And you know when you think about students cell phone use in classrooms, there are things that they can use for educational purposes in classrooms. Okay? So they can use them to scan QR codes. They can use them to take notes of things on the boards, things of that nature. Moving on, students should be
020able to use cell phones in common areas, hallways in the lunchroom, and it's split right down the middle. So how that would look would students would not be permitted to have cell phones in the classrooms. However, once they exit the class, they could take their cell phone out in the hallways and as they get to the uh during lunches, they could access their cell phones as as well. Do the teachers want discretion over whether or not the students should have or use or access their cell phones in their respective classrooms? 67% say no. 33% say yes. Okay. So, uh no, they do not want discretion over the students ability to access cell phones. And then the other one was they they uh think that uh it should be removed altogether. And one of the issues
021that teachers have with students with cell phones in classrooms is when they enter the classroom, it is tough to get them to put them away or secure them without being a distraction. Okay? So, that's one of the challenges. Now quite frankly we have other teachers that say that's really not a problem. You know upon prompting with the students they readily put them away and they move on with the lesson. There's very very minimal disruption with that. So how's it look? We we defined it as we basically have three options moving forward for Sagal High School. A hybrid cell phone policy would be the students would not have access to phones in the rooms. However, they could access them in common areas, whether that was a lunchroom or the hallways. A complete removal would be they
022would enter school, they would place the cell phones in their lockers, and they would not access them till the end of the day. All right? And then full access obviously would be they would have access to them in the hallways, the lunchrooms, the classroom, and they would use them at their discretion. So, just to review, hybrid, right? Hybrid is you limited access, basically common spaces, no classrooms, complete removal, uh would be lockers all day long. And then uh 7% said that we should the students should have access to their cell phones all day long. So we're going to transition now to Mrs. Fi who is going to review our parent survey results. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so parents generally have view cell phones as a mixed tool I guess. um where you know they
023feel like they would like the students to have access to their phones throughout the day. They feel it's a a good communication tool. So the majority of them feel they would like them to have access to. However, if you look at the the right side, they do think it can be a distraction. So occasionally a distraction 26% um yes it's a distraction 34%. So overall distraction yet a a good tool for communication. Um however about twothirds on the lefth hand side you can see 65% think that phone is not necessary for instruction. Um and on the right side again about 2third 62% when they were asked if they feel like their child or their student um spends enough time on their phone, not enough time, too much time, just right, uh about twothirds feel that
024it is too much time. That is not just inside of school but outside of school. And then when we asked the parents what policy they felt was best again about 2/3 right around that mark again 64% feel that hybrid. So not during instructional time however possibly during um in the lunchroom or in the hallways. Um full access 22% and then complete removal phones not at all throughout the day would be for at 14%. The students though have a pretty different um opinion on the phones. Maybe not so surprising. Um so they feel that they need access to their phone um throughout the day. Only 11% thinking no I don't need my phone throughout the day. Um, as far as it being dist a distraction, only about 16ish percent I think that little purple one was
025about two students that said it was a distraction, but overall 81% is saying no, it is not a distraction. And then they do find it to be a helpful educational tool. They do think it helps them to learn. 85% of them said yes to that one. And very different than the parents point of view as far as like how much time I spend in my phone. Is it too much, not enough or just right? 84%. You know, just about all of them felt it is just the right amount of time inside and outside of school. And again, you know, they had a different point of view. About 68% of them, about twothirds would prefer to have full access. So fewer restrictions basically. And then we have just a comparison of that final question about that
026best policy whether hybrid complete removal or full access. We just see that our stakeholders it it splits really. Our adults feel that overall that hybrid would probably be best. Students are on the other end where they would like fewer restrictions and full access. So, you know, we know what our stakeholders are thinking now that we have surveyed them, but what's what's the state thinking? Uh, so recently, um, the senators have passed a bill, um, to urge for a bell-to-bell ban of phones that would prohibit cell phone use, um, during the school day with the purpose of reducing distractions and then improving academic focus. Um, so although I guess if we had to categorize all of our stakeholders, the majority would say hybrid would be best, this uh the state may influence that decision and and
027how Senica is going to look moving forward. Um, but you know that that's really all we have for tonight. We we appreciate the time to allow us to share the input that we gathered. Um, and you know, this is going to be an ongoing process, obviously, and determining what is best for our students, uh, with that number one goal, you know, of keeping them, uh, focused and and without distraction during during their, uh, lessons in in the classrooms. Um, so, thank you again, and if you have any questions, we'd be happy to try to answer them. >> Mr. President, Dr. Um, from both of your perspectives, what do you feel the cell phone provides that the Chromebooks don't provide as far as taking a picture of notes on the board, scanning a QR code? My
028understanding is we have a onetoone um setup with our technology. Could you speak to that please? >> Yeah. Well, you know, I think you make great points there, Dr. push because really the Chromebook would or the laptops would offer the exact same features as the cell phone. I suppose you could make the argument that the cell phone because it's on the student person all day and all night probably in most cases the access to material will be more readily available on a cell phone than it would be a Chromebook or a laptop. But certainly all those things you mentioned could be completed and uh through a laptop. >> Thank you. >> I have a question Mr. President. >> Yes. Um, can you tell me the number of people that were represented in the survey? >>
029Yes. Hold on. Sorry. >> Um, as far as the students go, um, actually, let's start with the teachers. So, 27 of our teachers completed the survey. So, we gave it out to all staff. >> Um, but 27 completed it. As far Sorry, this is really teeny tiny. Um parents were at about 140. So 140 of our parents. Again, that was sent uh that was sent out to all 9th through 12th grade um parents and guardians. And then studentwise, apologize, we are at about 100 of our students completed the survey. Okay. So it's not a full representation of of everyone, but that that's who participated. Mr. President. >> Yes, Mr. President. >> Um, rules, bans, one thing, but uh, as a concerned citizen, as an employer, do we have any education on, um, proper use or
030phone etiquette? Are we teaching about personal devices at all in our building? You know, I go to Wendy's, everybody's got earbuds in. Is that appropriate? My order got screwed up. The person was staring at their phone the entire time. You know, I could sit there and watch them. you know uh I have college students now coming into do internships personal device you know at all times. So where are we going to be teaching about etiquette with personal devices because could you imagine a board in 15 years I'll be up here with earbuds in listening to their phones or whatever they're doing. You know, I'm concerned about I'm happy about the cursive potentially coming back because could you imagine a president not being able to sign his name in 20 years, but where are we with
031cell phone etiquette? You know, that's a great question. We we offer instruction on digital citizenship to our students. A portion of that is cell phones. Could we do a better job with that, more explicitly outline those things to our students? Uh, probably. Um, because I think you're right here. Here's the balance. The balance really is we take them and don't allow them to access them, but we also know that they're going to have to use these tools and learn how to use these tools the rest of their lives. Right? So, if you ban them bell-to-bell, an argument to that would be that exact point. Are we really teaching them digital citizenship? Are we really teaching them the ability to manage having that cell phone in their pocket but still be focused? So, if we were
032to go to a hybrid approach, that would certainly be something we'd have to look at curricular-wise and incorporate into our classes and make sure that the students are aware of our expectations. Uh, Mrs. Fi and I, we do grade level meetings, the teachers do rule reviews and procedure reviews, and that would be a really important component to that if we were to go to a hybrid approach is laying out those exact expectations for what should this look like with cell phones in the classrooms, hallways, and lunchrooms. >> Mr. President, I have a question, comment. >> So, this is our, excuse me, our [clears throat] own individual survey, and Dr. Berlin has put out the uh the district-wide survey, which seem to be have more of a bell to bell from what I recall or or
033a hybrid at at minimum. the outcomes of those folks that have done this for a couple three years now. Um, and and articles and other, you know, published literature seems to indicate that there's benefits to each version of this. Um, and at least the articles and things that I've read seem to have the benefits, whether it's academic, whether it's behavior, whether it's uh, you know, attention, whether it's all of those things seem to favor the bell-to-bell. And I just didn't know if that component or that literature and published, you know, information is going to be considered as part of the the discussion process. >> Yeah, absolutely. I think um anecdotally with the other secondary principles I've talked to, to be honest with you, at the meetings, the schools that have banned them bell to bell,
034the principles just sing the praises about how effective it's been. >> Um quite frankly, I'm a little surprised by the surveys to be completely honest with you. And I just say that because when Mrs. is fine and I started discussing this. My initial thought was remove them. They need to be removed bell-to-bell. That's the direction we should go. However, I think we see indication that the community seems to favor a more of a hybrid approach uh to that, which I'm certainly open-minded to. Hybrid approach comes with more moving parts. My sole concern is are they going to be a distraction in class? Uh so if they're not in the classrooms and we can manage the students entering the classroom and securing their cell phones and leaving the classrooms without an issue, you know, that's certainly
035something we'd be capable of doing and looking at, you know, as we move forward. Although one key point, we did pull discipline data on this. So we said, well, what percentage of our office referrals were cell phone related? And Mrs. Fi, tell me if I'm incorrect in this, but I believe it was 11%. So 11% of our office referrals were cell phone related. really not a substantial number. Although I can tell you from working in buildings over the last decade and managing buildings and running buildings that uh I've always felt like when we have a big issue whether it be a fight or something bad that occurs at the high school level a lot of times a cell phone is linked to that. Right? So if it's a bullying situation or it's a fight, it's
036recorded or something in regards to the cell phone plays in in in part uh to the situation. Mhm. I I just find it interesting too that if the state senate is leaning towards the bell to bell that there's obviously either statewide data or whether there's other data that's involved in that decision-making process that got them to that result that that would have a u you know a a weighing factor and it's you know I wish I wished all teachers you know completed the survey. I would have liked, you know, that would have been nicer. You know, a little larger representation even of the of the public, you know, would kind of be interesting. And it just, you know, do they do are those things an educational uh item or opportunity where, you know, maybe some
037of those reports and whatnot aren't out there, you know, without having that background knowledge and say, well, yeah, of course, I want to have my opportunity to call my kid if I need to, or vice versa. So, that's kind of the hybrid discussion. But I know a lot of the discussion, and I know you guys are going to work on it. And I won't beat this horse anymore, but the social interaction side of things, you know, where everybody's to uh Mr. Bumman's point, everybody's on their phone. You know, any kind of free time, you're connected. So, is there, you know, is there a an environment that fosters personal communication versus electronic communication? Is that our responsibility to look into that as well? So, thank you, >> Mr. President. If I could just add something. So,
038I have read the legislation that is being proposed in the Senate right now and a lot of the um data from that comes from the book The Anxious Generation. Uh so, I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with that, but just to put that on your radar, that's where a lot of um not only our state legislature, but other state legislators are pulling their information from. >> You know, it's interesting because the one question I have in mind, if I asked everybody on the school board right now, maybe everybody in here that has children, if I said to you, do you think your kids need more screen time or less? I feel like I could predict that answer pretty well. >> You could probably guess >> and the answer would probably be less. So,
039I feel like that's the direction we're moving in. We're moving in less. What degree of less is what we need to figure out down the road. >> Well, and ultimately the, you know, the Senate did pass their version of the bill. Um, it is in the House Education Committee right now. Um, it's anybody's guess what the education committee is going to do with their data sets and whatever revisions that they might propose and if that's even palatable to the Senate for a redraw before it may or will potentially end up on the governor's desk. So, um, hopefully we see our state legislature move faster rather than slower so that not just our district, but all districts in the state of Pennsylvania who are considering policy changes uh in and around this issue uh don't really
040sit in limbo too long before we start another school year uh without a substantive change. So, um we'll have to keep an eye on that and track it moving forward. >> Yeah, I I could just add to that. Absolutely. I was reading some some articles about this and what's going on in Harrisburg uh that this the Senate version of this uh is a little on it, you know, it leans towards bellto more literally. Um, but what we're hearing from some of the lobby groups like PSBA and the superintendent's lobby is there should be some degree of flexibility in there for schools to decide, boards to decide um, you know, what the enforcement level is or just like Mr. Hudnel said to what degree you go less. Um, so it'll be interesting to see how that
041plays out. Uh I I I think we need to go on this path and continue looking at this as as if something's going to happen. And even if it doesn't, we know doing something is the right thing educationally. Um so that bill might help us. It might set the stage. Uh at worst, I think if it passes, and at best it would give us some pretty clear bumper points. Um but it that remains to be seen. >> Any others? >> We thank you for coming and sharing with us this evening. >> Excellent presentation. >> We now turn to guest and citizen comments. Is there anyone signed up to speak this evening? All right, moving on to the superintendent report. Dr. Berlin. Uh actually y >> actually what I was going to share was what I
042just shared which uh was the um the bit on where that bill is. So that's all I had. >> Excellent. Thank you very much Dr. Berlin. Uh we will now turn again to Dr. Berlin as he as he did send out a uh the update in the weekly update this week. Uh we know Mrs. Bendig is not here with us for the business administrator's report but Dr. Berlin if you want to touch on it real quick. >> Uh sure. So last week when Mrs. Benig was here. She had reviewed everything uh except the last portion um the uh checks or bill list for approval and the cafeteria report. And uh I we I talked with her before she left uh for her um vacation here and I um put together some comments in the weekly
043update. So I hopefully that was uh explanatory. Mhm. >> Um some some I I think the most significant uh area is the transfers and what's pushing some of those transfers this month is trying to align our accounts with uh newly revised accounts from the state. So the state of Pennsylvania has what's called uh the book of accounts. Pretty clever name, right? Um, and they uh that's how they collect all their data. They want their they want the AFR annual financial report in that format. Um, and so they're constantly making adjustments uh to that. So that's what a lot of those transfers are related to is is is creating new strings and making sure that we can report that where it should be. And that's all I have. >> Excellent. Thank you. So, I'll now uh
044entertain a motion to approve the business reports, payments, and invoices as presented. >> So, moved. Heatherington. >> Second. Push check. Any additional questions, comments, or concerns on those? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. For legal advisement this evening, I'm going to move these separately. Uh the first one or I'm going to ask someone to move separately. Pardon me. Uh the first one is a stipulation to settle and discontinue an assessment appeal. This is uh for the one we talked about last week. This is approved the stipulation to settle and discontinue assessment appeal for the property at 10545 Plum Road in our district. Could I have a motion, please? >> So move, Blazer. >> Second, Heatherington. >> Is there any questions on this one? Hearing none. All
045in favor, please say I. >> I. Post. Nay. Motion carries. Uh the second one under legal adisement this evening is uh a student discipline uh motion to approve a resolution regarding a student discipline as outlined. Uh this involves a safety contract. Could I have a motion please? >> So move push check. >> Second will. >> Uh any questions on this one? Hearing none. All in favor please say I. >> I oppose. Nay. And those two motions under legal adisement have carried this evening. The chair will now recognize Dr. Andrew Pushjack for finance. >> Thank you, Mr. President. We have one item for the board's consideration this evening, and that is to approve the monthly budgetary transfer from budget to actual as attached. >> Okay. So, move. >> Second, Heatherington. >> Any questions? Hearing none. All
046in favor, please say I. >> I. Nay. Motion carries. >> That's all I have for finance, Mr. >> Thank you, Dr. Pushjack. Uh there are no items under buildings and grounds this evening. Uh the chair will now recognize Mr. Jeremy Blazer for personnel. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Under personnel, our first item to consider uh is a motion to approve the use of the Tri County Northwest Tri County Interme number five for superintendent search services. So moved. >> Second. Push check. >> Any questions, comments on this one, Mr. President? >> Yes, Dr. Pushchek. >> Um I just wanted to just make a comment. Um I was unable to attend the personnel committee meeting last week, but um I feel confident that um any issues that have been brought up by any board member has been
047um responded to in a timely fashion. Um I thank the IU team for being willing to shape the search to meet our needs and to answer questions that we have so people feel comfortable uh moving forward. Um so thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Pushchk. Any others? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. Oppose. Nay. That motion carries. Uh >> the next six items uh I'll move as one motion without objection. Uh B is resignations uh to motion to accept the resignations as outlined. Uh there's a list as well as an addendum. Uh C is appointments. Uh again there's appointments as listed and additional from the addendum. Uh D is motion to approve the additions to service substitute list for 202526 school year as outlined. E is the to approve motion to approve
048the conference request as outlined. F is to approve motion to approve the leave requests as outlined. And G is a motion to approve the additions to the ESS substitute list uh as uh as outlined. So moved. >> More second. Any questions on those six items? >> I just have one comment and I am sad to see Mr. Ford's on this list of resignations. >> Yeah, I I he wouldn't mind uh me sharing this because he sent a message to all the faculty, but he started his own business and it's it's >> my my kids and I were just talking about this. I'm like, I can't believe he's not he's still teaching if he's doing this other thing. And then this was like last week I said it. >> Yeah, that really burning the candle at
049both ends. He's just been a great influence on the kids. It's sad to see him go. Uh but we wish him well. Uh very very ambitious and that's why we liked having him around as a teacher. >> But Donna Banks is coming back. >> Yes. and we're very appreciative that she's >> absolutely >> able to fill in short notice. >> Any other questions, comments, or concerns on those six items? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Opposed? Nay. Those six motions carry. Thank you, Mr. Glazer. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Chair will now recognize Mr. Steven Morve for policy. >> Mr. President, there are no items under policy this evening. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Morve. Would you mind pinch hitting for curriculum this evening as well? >> Mr. President,
050uh, there currently is one item under curriculum. Uh and that is the uh motion to approve the homebound instruction of Watsburg Area School District as outlined uh for a 10th grader and a ninth grader as listed in the agenda. So moved. >> Second. Push check. Any questions on that one? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I oppose. Name. >> Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Mor. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> The chair will now recognize Mr. Greg Bumagen for technology. >> Mr. President, there are no items under any technology for this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Bumagen. The chair will now recognize Miss Veronica Will for transportation. Thank you, Mr. President. There are two items under transportation this evening. The first one is the transportation request for field trips as attached
051and then the second one is the Durham renewal contract also as attached. >> We will uh accept your motion on the A transportation request as a single movement and then we will do the Durham renewal contract as a separate line item for this evening. >> So, second on transportation requests. Any questions or comments, concerns on the transportation requests? Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Oppose. Nay. Motion carries. On the Durham renewal contract, I'm going to ask for a roll call. Uh, if Mrs. Will, if you would like to move that first, please. >> So moved. >> Second. Push check. >> Roll call vote. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Any questions, comments, concerns? I'm very happy that we finally got through the review process uh on this Durham contract. Um if anyone has any
052anything else further on it before we go to the roll call vote. >> All right. >> Mr. Blazer, >> yes. >> Mr. Braumin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Heatherington, >> yes. >> Mr. Morve, >> yes. >> Dr. Pushjack, >> yes. >> Mrs. Will. >> Yes. >> Mr. Young. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you very much, Mrs. Will. The chair will now recognize Miss Leah Heatherington for athletic and extracurricular. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have two items for this evening for the board. Um the first one is um a volunteer list additions as outlined and the second one is athletic appointments as outlined on the agenda. So moved. more second. >> Any questions, comments, or concerns on those two motions? >> Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Oppos? Nay. Motion carries.
053Thank you, Miss Southernington. >> Uh, there are no items that are miscellaneous for this evening. So, the chair will now recognize Mr. Steven Mor for the Erie County Technical School Joint Operating Committee report. >> Mr. President, this is a report of the Joocc back uh in January 22nd. That was when our last board meeting was. uh a couple of items that I'd like to always present uh which would be students of the month and unfortunately they are always a month behind. So uh but in any event we'd like to recognize them. Uh so this was the December student of the month from Watsburg area school district is John Fidali Fideli Fed Dle E. He's an auto technician and so he was recognized in the uh by the tech school as well. Um other item to
054note uh which will be uh next week uh next Thursday actually is the board of 99 lunchon. So again, we're extending out our invitation to every board member to come to a lunch at the tech school. Uh and then there's the uh the Joocc meeting which will be happening after that. Uh but again, anyone that's a school board member is allowed to attend the lunchon and there'll be some other little tools and tours and some speakers and whatnot that will happen that day. Um uh also we the the tech school has also applied for a grant to replace the roof at the skills center. Um and that was uh I think it's called a facilities improvement grant. Um, and that would with be uh 75% would be the grant. 25% match uh which uh equates
055to basically uh it's a little over a million dollar uh project. So uh 800 some thousand would be the grant hopefully if we get that. And then the uh tech school would be responsible for the other 275. And if you recall that 275 is coming out of our newly installed capital improvement fund that has been continuing to be fed since the uh inception of the uh last renovation project. So that is being built with capital funds that are already inhouse and therefore um you know wouldn't have to go to any sort of additional vote you know uh for additional funds from the district. So that's uh a good thing that uh is is now happening within the the tech school. Uh as well as also the um the budget again was presented which I believe
056Dr. Berlin also had included in his last in one of his previously months uh u superintendent reports as well as we talked about it as well I believe last month as well. So that uh will be coming up for a vote here in February. Y >> and so uh that was um uh presented again to us and and again I think every board member here has the detailed information that was there and I tried to explain a little bit of it on the last board meeting as well some of the data uh based on our enrollment our percentage. uh don't get too hung up into the percentages wise. It's all a function of our enrollment and again we want to try to uh encourage um attendance in the uh tech school. So uh that'll be
057coming up again for a vote a vote uh here next week and then uh lastly just a quick item or update on the solar project. Uh in short, it's now in permitting and with some deed consolidation discussion that uh Attorney Kennedy has been working on so that it would then uh work through the um permitting process at Summit Township a little bit more smoothly. So uh those are the quick uh very simple report this month, Mr. President. And that's all I have unless anyone has questions for me. >> Thank you, Mr. Morve. Did everyone get their invitation for the board of 99? If you've never attended, um I know Mr. Blazer and I last year were hanging out together. That was your first experience at the tech school, right? Yeah. >> Um and I believe
058there's tours available the half hour preceding uh the presentation. Um and then there's also tours afterwards uh even while the uh >> JC's meeting. >> The JC is meeting. So I'd encourage you if you have the opportunity and you can do it, um it's a great way to get out there and see what some of the projects Mr. Mor's, you know, talked about over the last number of years with improvements and expansion and and some of the lab spaces. Um, and also, I mean, it's a great opportunity if you got students coming up through, uh, to see what the tech school has to offer. So, any other questions for Mr. Moray. >> All right. Thank you very much for your report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Uh, the chair will now recognize Dr. Andy
059Pushchack for the Northwest Tri County Intermediate Unit Board Report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, brief report. Um the agenda was very short when um in January for the IU. Um since reorganization and ensuing board meetings in January has resulted in a net five new board members on the IU um which have all gone through their orientation and I welcome them at the meetings they were able to attend. The board IU board has to approve them before they are seated. So, we will have a full complement at our February meeting. In addition to the board meeting, um last week on February 11th, the board had their budget presentation and I know the superintendent and the business administrators had their presentations. Um I will send a executive summary to Dr. Berlin and ask him to share
060that uh in this week's update. I didn't want to send it out until the superintendent and the business administrators had the chance. But just a brief overview. Um the district contribution hasn't changed in 13 years. Now that that's not the amount of money, but the district contribution um formula hasn't changed for 13 years. And my understanding is that money goes directly off our uh basic ed funding right to the IU. Um the budget total proposed is just shy of $79 million 78,99,222. Uh just a little bit different breakdown since we don't have the ability to uh have taxes. Um 28% is federal, 30% is state and 42 is local. The unassigned fund balance for the IU is 9.3 million. Uh that equates to 1.42 42 months of expenditures. Um the finance committee would like to
061have two months of expenditures in our fund balance. So that is what we are working towards. And then as with most budgets, 63% of our budget is salary and benefits for all of the programs. And then the um budget presentation concluded with a summary sheet for each individual district uh which will be included in the executive summary that I send out um asked Dr. Berlin to send out. So that'll conclude my report for IU. Thank you, Mr. President. Are there any questions for Dr. Pushjack? Hearing none. Thank you for your report, Dr. Pushjack. It is now time for board correspondence and dialogue. Is there anything for the good of the order this evening? >> Mr. President, I have a couple items. >> Um, we heard bellto bell several times tonight and so I was thinking
062of uh Mrs. Pensac earlier and even good programs can fail without great people, great leaders, great mentors. So, uh, outside of the bells, having somebody like Miss Pins who can come in and do those things really allows for great program. So, I just wanted to reiterate that again. Teachers that go above and beyond all the time. Uh there's a little bit of scuttle in the community about the Act 44 notices. They're very vague, very general. I don't I assume there's a lot of uh confidential stuff in those, but I don't know if there's anything that we can do to give a little bit more direction on those. Uh might even limit some phone calls coming into to the building on on questions and concerns. So, if there's something we can do on that, great. I
063understand the confidential nature. I understand that the state changed the laws on it, but uh very vague opens up a lot of questions on things. Um and lastly, again, thank you for acknowledging the wrestling program and the recent success that they're having. Um 3 four years ago, this board, prior to many of us being on here, prior to myself being on here, did vote to approve the the girls wrestling team, which was an awesome step forward. Uh locally you have Ganon, you have Edinburgh, and uh Mercier just announced a D1 women's wrestling team coming uh as well. Uh unfortunately, we do not have a girls coach. We also do not have a girls budget. Um I guess I'm not big on procedural and knowing everything, but I would have assumed when the board approved something
064that those would have been natural dominoes that would have fell in place. So, I want to give a little bit of a shout out to Stephanie for who's actually considered one of the boys coaches that the boys share and allow to go with the girls and the boys also share their budget with the girls team. So, uh I want to give a shout out to her. There was six varsity wrestlers this year for uh and we did not have a coach this past weekend. Four competed. Two were on medical injuries and did not compete. But if you know anything about wrestling tournaments, your number, your name, your weight can get called at any given time. And so if that coach has to coach four girls at once, it can't happen. It's impossible to happen. Uh
065and so you can run into some issues with timing, especially when you get to the PIAA level because they're not just going to stop the match and and let it go. So, uh I believe the athletic director is working on something. I look forward to hopefully having a full coaching staff for next year and possibly their own budget as well. Uh again, I kind of would have thought that would have followed the approval, but hopefully for next year we'll have that stuff. >> Thank you, Mr. Bagen. I'm going to make our solicitor sweat a second here. Um because I'm going to I I want to make a comment on the the Act 44 notifications because this one's been, you know, kind of bothering me all week. I know there was some Facebook is the root
066of all comments, right? Um, how did we communicate before Facebook? Does anybody remember? We used to pick up the phone and it was attached to the wall with a cord. Um, but we still ended up talking about >> the president was called the grapevine. >> Grapevine. Yes, he [laughter] heard it through the grapevine. Um, and this is something that it's really really hard, especially when there's changes in in legislation and school code um and things that go on that we have to respond to as a district. Um and then it leaves parents, students, sometimes even our educators confused about why are we doing this? What is happening? Um why did I get three act 44 notices this week? Um the first thing I just want to note is you know the definition of a weapon
067in school code I think 1317.2 I think. Um is very very broad. Uh it does can uh encompass a lot of things. uh even things that are in our daily lives that can be used as a weapon if we so choose. Um and when we identify those on school property um it's interesting because I did do a little bit of research to see the notification process. The old section 1303 is from uh which was the parental notifications piece um of that of that uh weapons on school property code. Um so the revision that occurred in act 44 was legislation last year um which was basically considered to be a transparency uh attempt on the behalf of uh our state house uh our senate and ultimately when the governor signed that into law in November of
0682025 which was then uh enforced as of just a couple of weeks ago. Um, and what it does is is while we may have the definition of a weapon, uh, that that makes it onto our school grounds, whether it's a squirt gun, a plastic knife, a little Suz's crafting kit that she came to do, you know, bead bracelets with her friends at lunch and it had an X-Acto knife in from the last project and she self-reports. Um, you can have all kinds of things that happen. Um, but what it really comes down to is a threat assessment. And when we have a negative threat assessment prior to the act 44 enactment, um we were not required in any way to send out a notification. Now, if there was a positive threat assessment, then obviously we're
069going to take into consideration uh what we need to inform our parents and our students to ensure that everyone is not just informed, but also ultimately the goal of everything is that they remain safe on our school campus. Um the caveat of all of this becomes um another piece of legislation. Now we'll go to the federal side. In 1974, uh the Family Education Records Privacy Act, also known as Furpa, uh was passed. And that's not just the educational records of a student, but it's also the disciplinary records of a student. So in a small town like this, it wouldn't take much to tie a child to details that are put in an act 44 notice. and then we could potentially depending on how those details are disseminated in a communication um violate that uh piece.
070So there's a lot of moving parts that go into this notification process and why we have to do it the way we do. Yes, they are extremely vague and we will obviously have a discussion after this which discussions have already been being had not just in our administration and other school districts across the state of Pennsylvania uh with trade associations, everyone involved in education because it really comes down to we do not want to dilute uh any potential severity that comes with an act 44 notification if there is a positive threat assessment that comes with that. Um, parents get a act 44 notice once a week on their phone. They stop reading the email after like week four. But currently as a district, we can't do anything until we have clarity out of state government
071about the intention of the way that that that Act 44 notice has to be carried out and with what circumstance. Um, so I just wanted to say publicly this evening, you know, I do hear you. Uh, we hear you. uh this is not something that's that's easy to dive into when it's enacted. Um and if there is more detail that can be included that does not violate FURPA, then we can look into that. Uh but for the time being, there's a lot of districts scrambling right now to find out what are we truly required to do and how far can we dive inside and outside of those lines to ensure that our students, our parents, our educators, um our boards of governance, that everyone understands what's going on inside the district and that transparency is
072truly beneficial. Um and that will, you know, be evolving over time. So, I appreciate you bringing that up this evening, Mr. Bremagen and I just wanted to address that briefly uh as well. >> Yeah, I I if I could piggyback on that. Um I have gotten uh three emails. Three. So we've had uh three of these notices and they were um clearly violations of our weapons policy. What you know what what the students had with them. um was it was not done intentionally, but uh it met the definition of a weapon or our policy board 218.1 uh which declares anything that is a lookalike be treated the same as a weapon. Um so the as it's written right now, it is pretty tight. there's very little wiggle room um for an administrator, principal or superintendent
073to say, "Well, you know, I know that's only a razor blade and the student didn't think they should bring it." Um and that's a good student, so we're not going to put that announcement out. So that that will that drive I mean, in my experience, that kind of thing can drive distrust, too. I am a fan of transparency and when this law came out I did send a letter out to the whole district um uh kind of giving them a little bit of notice that this was coming and I did and and I said in that letter I do think that it's a positive thing um that parents know what's going on um now that we're seeing uh how this looks in action. I totally understand the concerns. The three emails that I got from
074parents, I I responded to them in detail and let them know um that I understood their concern and what the mechanics of this are. Uh I actually worked with our solicitor Jennifer Gour to put that notice together. And when you put and Mr. Young started talking about it. When you put all the bumper points and restrictions in that law, what you have to report and how you what you can't report um confidentially confidentiality is is at number one. It kind of le it it locks you into this generic letter. I mean it's there [snorts] you really can't say more than it says. Um because if you start to do some of those things that people would want, you know, I want to know who had the knife, what bus, you know, were they special ed,
075are they in trouble, what's their discipline record, what building are they in? And you can see how um that's really not the way we run public schools. We try to respect students confidentiality because that's the law. Um and it it above all it's the right thing to do is to deal with students on a case-byase basis. So that's the one thing um that's at the top of my list is there's there's not flexibility in this law right now. Uh if you look at it, if you have one campus, you have to announce it to everybody, all three buildings. If you only had a building, um you wouldn't have to announce it to the whole district. So it it wouldn't be as impactful. But the thinking is, you know, when you announce this thing um uh
076on a singular campus that there's the potential that it's going to be very um revealing who might have been the offender. That was, you know, that was the argument that was going around when they put this law into place. I would hope that they revisit it. Um I think a very simple solution would be to key in on the threat assessment process in 2018 after the um shooting down in Florida. Uh I think it was Stonybrook. Um yeah, I think that was the name. Uh after that, uh legislators, including Pennsylvania, went into high gear with all the safety and security, uh uh rules and resources to make schools, uh more secure, uh and more safe. And part of that was every school district had to train a threat assessment team and that threat assessment team
077evaluates each and every threat. Uh I believe that that's where the flaw in uh this law or the fix rather could be. If it's a negative threat assessment, um there's really no reason to report it. You know, it it it could have been a student that had a pocketk knife and maybe they were cutting their wrist or something. a threat assessment that that's an emergency for that student, a threat for that student but not a threat to others. Um, and that example, you know, that I gave there, I mean, that's generic. We any principal or teacher would tell you we do have, you know, students that will engage in behavior that's not healthy for them and we try to help them. But I I think uh that's the most glaring piece if and I guess
078I understand to some degree the logic of saying and the law says this even if it is not a threat it must be reported. Um that thinking right there is transparency. Um, we don't want any administrators, school personnel, trained threat assessment teams making school psychologists making a judgment on if something's dangerous or not. Um, and you know, maybe that's just a misunderstanding on the legislator's part that we have a multidisciplinary threat assessment team that goes through training every single year. So that's where I think the fix is. I understand what the fr frustration is. Um, so I'm going to keep an eye on this and I have written many letters and visited with many politicians in my career as superintendent and meeting with uh Senator Laughlin and House Repata is at the top of my
079list. I want to talk about this law and making it more functional. Um, I I worry that it right now, and I'm kind of repeating some of what you said, but I worry about the chicken little factor. When everything's an emergency, nothing is. And if there is an emergency, it it's not going to be a generic phone call. You are going to get a specific message uh that tells you we have had an incident here of this nature. do not come to the school. It has been secured by the authorities. Uh we will be in contact with you every half hour um on the hour to provide you with information on uh what is happening and when you might uh uh come to the school for drive-through reunification. That's our plan. If if it's a
080serious threat, that's what's going to go out. If a if if a student is running around with a knife hurting people, uh you're going to get a notification that's, you know, pretty pretty specific and you'll know because there's been a lot of police here. Um, but if a student brings a a pocketk knife given to him by his grandfather, even though it's been honed to a razor sharp edge and is only 2.5 in, we have to report that. Um, the student likes it because they're a young student and I mean, I remember when I was little, that's what I wanted was a pocketk knife at one point. and and you you know they want to bring it to school, it's in their pocket, they forget or they want to show it off to their friends.
081That's the extent of their um particular uh reason for bringing it. Uh if they even have one beyond this is really cool. I like this pocket knife and it was my grandfather's. Um so those are the that's the main piece that I think needs to be addressed. Let's make sure the threat is an actual threat, not something that meets the definition of a weapon or a lookalike weapon. There's really no wiggle room there. So, uh, that's all I had to say. Thank you. Um, and I I'll keep you updated. >> Any others? >> Hearing none, I'll now entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved Heatherington >> second Heatherington >> second promo. >> All in favor please say I. I oppose nay. Motion carries. We are adjourned.