001welcome to the Wattsburg Area School District where we are student centered and future focused for a world- class education I now call to order the Monday March 10th work session of the Wattsburg Area School District Board of Directors may I have a roll call please oh pardon pledge first please stand for the pledge I pledge alance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all now a roll call please Mr Blazer present Mr brumagen present Mrs Burlingham present Mrs heatherington here Mrs Lee Mr morv here Dr push here Mr Williams here Mr Young present first item on the agenda this evening uh will we have a school report next week Dr blent thank you Mr President uh
002senica high school plans on uh presenting next week excellent well we look forward to hearing uh next on the agenda is guest and citizen comment have we anyone signed up to speak this evening no we do not moving on uh for superintendent report Dr Berlin do you have anything for us this evening and to look forward to next meeting yes I I do Mr President I'm going to uh have Mrs bendig share some information here in just a moment but briefly we've been facing uh some staffing issues with Transportation uh it's actually uh a region and Nationwide issue right now attracting and retaining bus drivers um we have done fairly well this year U but the past couple months um we have noticed um a bit of a turn downturn uh in Staffing so we'll
003get into those uh things here um I I think we we'll start with some numbers and just talk about the challenge that's developing and then um what what we can do here uh in the short term um to move forward so Mrs bendig if if you would thanks Dr Berlin uh so tonight uh just to recap the transportation issue that we have we're going to talk about the driver Workforce uh the local market and uh a proposed recommendation so we talked with with the um transportation department uh this morning and at the beginning of the year we had 24 bus runs one was outsourced because it was something that we couldn't accommodate with the current driver implementation that we had at the beginning of the school year we are now down to 22 runs so
004we're still um Outsourcing that one run and we're only having two runs at the beginning of the year we had 23 drivers uh four subs and two mechanics and the subs and the mechanics all have their CD School drivers so that they can fill in when they need to but uh if we were had 25 runs we should have had 25 drivers um so right off the bat we're using at least one sub all the time um currently as of this week we have 17 drivers four subs and two mechanic so from the beginning of the year till now we're down six drivers um since the beginning of the year they have scheduled interviews um only completed 50 of them because 1205 of them just did not show up um they made out of those
00550 interviews they made five offers and we had four offers accepted so one driver is currently driver the other three are in training that onboarding process from offer to getting them in the bus driving a route is 6 to8 weeks if everything goes smoothly so um it's not something that we can just you know hey you want to come drive a bus get in a bus drive our kids right so six to eight weeks if nothing happens to get them going um so something else that was brought to our attention by superintendent um the starting rates for the area districts Fort labuff is bumping their driver rate up to $23 an hour and and they're offering them an additional $2 per hour if they decline their medical insurance Northeast is at 23 first students 2150
006mil Creek's $21 Harbor Creek 1960 Fair viws 1950 our starting rate is $19 and then General mlan who um they and Fort lauff and Northeast are still uh self op but uh General mcan's at $1.36 so like everything else all of the positions that we've been um um you know we've been talking about local two positions we're in the middle of um teacher negotiations um we know that the rates in the area we're far behind and we know what kind of a problem that poses so um basically our um we know that there's an ongoing National driver shortage we have constant turnover that directly affects our ability to complete the routes and our Consolidated routes are making extremely long bus runs for some students kids are on the bus for well over an hour sometimes
007over an hour and a half just getting them home so uh we need to have some competitive rates for Recruitment and Retention um at least matching some of the other local rates may stop the bleeding it may not be the long-term solution but um if we can keep the people we have from jumping to a different District uh that's that's better than not being able to find someone when they leave so recommended short-term solution we did talk to um uh Dorothy today uh thinking about increasing driver rates by four to $5 an hour and um we're still waiting to see a amended contract from Durham but we're hoping to have that to be added for your um review and approval for next week it's kind of where we're at yeah so so this is this
008is an issue that um it hasn't developed overnight we've been keeping an eye on it um the the the recent urgency comes from a couple school districts bordering us raising their rates um which we just became aware of in the past week week and a half um and it's interesting I was at a superintendent meeting recently in Erie County and their stories sound like our stories uh I know General mlan and Fort Lau in particular uh are are a little worse off than us relatively they've started adjusting school schedules and creating uh cre getting creative with with runs U to accommodate shortages of drivers our goal is not to get into that uh situation um so the good news is we do have runs covered right now the the margin of operation of error uh
009if someone's sick or absent is is pretty narrow um we have drivers in the pipeline that we would like to keep after their training is over um so I I was able to um at the very end of the day get a hold of the regional manager for Durham and they they are putting together an amended rate uh costing for us uh so that's something I can share with the board um during the week I can send that out to you and then we can have some discussion next week um I breaking one of my own rules I don't I don't like to ever put something um that in that involves a big commitment like this or a decision in front of the board on a short notice um but I I do think it
010would be a good idea uh to add this to the agenda next week um the worst thing that would happen is the board talks about it and decides not to move forward it with it at this time and or asks uh us to do further research um or I at least want to give you that option to know what it what it would look like if we do want to do something um to get our rates into the range of some of these other districts that are very near to us um so I'd like to give you those options um but that one involved the board and deciding tonight as we go through the agenda that yeah let's let's put this uh let's entertain it on the agenda next week any other questions for Dr
011ber or Mrs pend Mr President yes um Waterford said $2 discount for insurance what benefits do we offer if any so there is a a health insurance package um that Durham offers its employees but they they pay into it uh I and from what I understand it is rather expensive for them for for the employee yes because if I remember if I remember my history correctly at one point in time they were all our employees they had health care and pension yeah all all public school employees pay into the the pension system um and then we got out of that to try to save funds and start Outsourcing this way um I believe was is the history is some of the history of it and so you know as an employer is it the marketplace
012is very strained but then I assume it's also the hours it's just part-time hours what hours are they averaging what what's the average bus driver hours yeah so that's that's really the challenge is the shift it's a split shift a lot of people just simply when FEC with an employment uh Choice looking at their options bus driver is no longer uh at the top of the list when you can make the same amount of money doing something else oh I I agree not everything things about the dollars and cents in fact if I go back historically I can remember small business owner saying I'm doing it for the insurance yes they drove bus they didn't care about the hourly wage they were driving bus for the access to the insurance benefit and there's no Ben
013there's no ancillary benefit like that it sounds like anymore no no it's it's not 100% paid nope that the that's correct M Mr President what did did did you say the reason why we were down six drivers was it just attrition they just left they they went to other districts did they say why they we're down six I I don't know the exact reasons but I know some of them left to go to other districts okay I don't know if all six of them if that's the reason um I just wonder with of them did with a with a CDL license that's a pretty attractive license to have and just wondering if um you know as we offer make offers and people accept and sometimes then they have training and they have other things you
014know it you don't want to you don't want to train them and then immediately lose them you know so if there's a way somehow that you could get a commitment of some kind and maybe that is in their contract when they sign on you know they they're at least a year they're at least two years I'm I'm not exactly sure how it works but I was just curious to know what the reasons were you know why we're down the six I guess you can't force someone to work for year right I mean well if you sign the contract and you say that you're committed for a year I mean I mean you sure somebody could I guess they could they could bail on you but sure I I know that they were offering um sign
015on bonuses you know as as a tool there's pretty significant bonus and they don't get that unless they're driving when when did we raise these we w we raised these two years ago yeah that's what I thought we were having sameers two years ago right after the pandemic kind of ended we had this same thing okay thank you Mr President yes Mr Blazer so Dr Berlin maybe you don't know the answer to this yet but just some kind of ballpark numbers if it's if we're looking at like $5 more an hour and we're looking at an average of five hours a day are we anticipating that the the extra cost will be directly driven by whatever we might increase our rates to our drivers or does Durham put an administr of cost it might bring
016that number up even higher do you know that yet or is that what you're waiting to hear from them that's what we're waiting to hear so they give the drivers a $4 raise for example it's going to cost more than just the $44 okay there's a variety of things that an employer has to pay on top of Mrs bendig which of the schools did you say did you say some of them were as uh Mr BR was asking in our old model where they are employed by the district yes I did say that Northeast Fort lauff and general mlan are still self off and first uh student is that who what district that's a that's a subcontractor like much like Durham is uh they uh run City ofie U Transportation along with EMA buses in
017and mil Creek too they they operate mil they do milek too so yeah first student and Durham they're are basically the largest uh two providers for school and uh Fairview uses Durham as well correct Fairview is Durham as well and so but a driver for us and a driver for Fairview might get paid different even though they work for the same company because of what their District rates are that's correct thank you any other questions for Dr bin or Mrs bendig we'll look forward to seeing whatever we come up with over the next few days and potentially an addendum for next week so uh the chair and I recognizes Mr Vicki vending for the business administrator report thank you Mr President uh for tonight's the treasures reports um general fund 12,910 3775 as of the
018end of February and um I did want to point out that with the the new um model for interest we are we received um 13 a little over $1 13,400 from uh the pled account and almost $27,000 in the sweep account at Northwest this month so um and there was only it was a short month too so I'm um excited to see how that grows over the next couple of months uh so that is general fund and then the capital projects there's $17.22 in that account currently and cafeteria has uh 738,000 uh collectively in those accounts um will have the budget versus actual and the cafeteria proit profit and loss reports for next week moving on to the bill lists uh for tonight uh checks already written so between the last board meeting and the
019work session this evening general fund $95,500 46 there were no capital projects checks and the cafeteria was $4 48,1 18880 the rest of the bills will be uh available for next week and that is all I have Mrs bendig does anybody have any questions for Mrs bendig pres just one one quick question I just want to make I if you would $17 in the capital projects historically we move things over from the uh fund balance into capital projects when we have capital projects that we have to pay out is that usually how we do that correct okay so it's it's not that's not a static value that it floats during the in the course of the year as needed so we transfer money in when we have a capital Project Check so we transfer it
020in it's paid it's back down to and then that so it's just whole it's a accounting function it was that was the collection of Interest over time 17 bucks yep perfect it's beautiful thank you thank you Mrs pending chair I recogniz is Dr Andrew push for finance thank you Mr President we'll have one item for the board's consideration next week under Finance which is 7A the budgetary transfers those would be the monthly budgetary transfers from budget to actual that's all we'll have for next week thank you Dr pusack next the chair will recognize Mr Jeremy blazer for building and grounds thank you Mr President two items for the board meeting next week uh under building and grounds a is the security glass for exterior door project uh as uh detailed in the attached file and
021uh the second one is to approve the facility use request as outlined uh below does anyone have any questions on the exterior door project or the facility use requests hearing none those will be on the agenda for next week thank you Mr Blazer thank you Mr President uh next the chair will recognize pin tonight Mr Jesse Williams for Miss Nicole Lee for personnel thank you Mr President Miss Lee will have seven things for you next week including a appointments as listed uh b resignations as listed a leave request conference request tuition reimbursement um f the cafeteria head cook position MOA uh and it looks like job descriptions does anyone have any questions on those seven items Mr President yes Dr pack um could the superintendent please um share with us the difference between our school
022police officer that we have and our school security guard job description uh okay so and I might ask Mr Engler to to jump in um there's actually three types of security Personnel outlined in school code that you that schools can employ uh there is a school resource officer uh which we have currently uh and a school resource officer is um uh a law enforcement uh worker that is employed or co-employment agency so in this instance that would be the Erie County Sheriff's Department um so we share cost um with them during the school year for the the deputy here so that's that's a school resource officer a school police officer is what we have with um officer dero over here at the elementary and to be a school police officer uh you need uh to
023have the municipal police training which that's about a six-month course or be a graduate of the State Police Academy so in Mr duro's instance he's he's a former State Trooper um so he qualified that way and uh it's interesting the school police officer is actually um commissioned sworn in by the court and Common Court of police downtown and uh that person has arrest powers on our campus they're actually a school district campus police officer with all the authority there in um and then the school security guard is a new job description that is on the agenda tonight uh so if you're not a graduate of the uh State Police Academy you can't be a school police officer essentially um and when you're no longer working for an agency other than the state police uh you
024you can't be an active SRO uh so school security guard is like a third third category um that allows schools to H armed security in a school building so in this in this case uh we anticipate officer or Deputy Bowers he's our current uh Sena res resource officer and he's indicated he's probably going to retire from the Sheriff's Office uh and he thinks he might do that this summer so our recommend and our recommendation would be um that the board consider bringing him on as a school security guard that would be the pathway uh and that's the reason for the job description on here we just kind of lining that up uh in case we want to entertain uh that particular Staffing Arrangement thank you any other questions I have a question is it going
025to be a similar setup as what's going on in elementary school with that resource officer yeah so the the job description the duties and things are essentially the same um officer Duro would have uh the police Authority on campus uh so if we needed to go to you know that level with a situation we could um most often though uh we use our school police officers and school resource officers here uh in the SRO model which is uh not a direct heavy police in um uh mitigation Force they will be an initial responder and and do what's necessary but uh if if there's charges and things and we're looking at you know something moving into the court system the state police really we have a memorandum of understanding of the State Police and there are
026there are official First Responders and they have way more resources than us and we don't want to tie our officers up here in proceedings so the state police usually handle charging if we need to get into that uh even though officer dero could for example um and then their system picks up the process from there including whatever interaction might have to go on at the DA's office any other questions hearing none thank you Mr Williams and we'll see those items on the agenda for next week any was there an additional question um no I just am trying to in my mind figure out what they what's going on but it's fine well a school security guard is uh has um lethal firearms training and uh they're certainly authorized to carry weapons they could use force
027uh in a life or death situation they do not have arrest Powers they're not associated with a police department so that that's I think that's the easiest maybe um sharpest line I could draw to follow up on that though in today's um interactions aren't we mostly a referral service to the police department anyways don't we don't we mostly just doesn't investigative and then refer that's correct yeah yeah I just kind of summed it up in my own brain as you know the the role that that officer DM has here is like the the state police feeder to that role and this role is more of a sheriff's department level feeder to this role just different background training in order to lead to that subsequent job description that was really the only way I reconciled it
028in my mind both both both ways though Mr bronen that's the best way to think of it is assess for you know immediate intervention assess and refer okay any other questions all right thank you Mr Williams and we'll see those on the agenda for next week uh next the chair recognizes Mrs Britney Burlingham for more policies then I can count well on the agenda thank you Mr President on the agenda for next week there are as you can see a lot of first reading of policies um so we will be reviewing a lot to approve the first reading of policies as outlined and attached so please see below and we'll follow up next week thank you Mrs Burlingham are there any questions on any of the policies outlined in the summary this there is an
029executive summary uh that's linked uh in front of the first readings and in front of the group of policies up for second reading from last month and I just tried to boil down the changes or revisions to each policy uh in in a in a brief paragraph I can I overall I can sum these policy revisions up more like policy maintenance uh over the past two years I've seen just an unprecedented amount of uh school code be changed um that touches all types of school policy and mandates that certain um policies and practices are in place so by and large th this round these two rounds I guess of policies um will bring us nearly up to date with the two omnic code Omnibus school code bills that have been passed um last December or
030two December ago and then over the summer in July this past July that'll it'll bring us up to Specs there now the Title Nine um policies 103 and 104 uh KNX law firm and our solicitor Jennifer gornell they're reviewing those policies we're back to the 2020 version of those and that's what's on our website right now um but there has been a few interloping uh cases U that um may be incorporated into policy as a guideline um it would be minor revision uh so that's those two really the most outstanding um policies that we have uh I right now what we have is certainly functional and compliant um but it we may be able to make it refine it make it a little bit better uh and then we we will hopefully have a policy
031before the end of the school year for first reading dealing with artificial intelligence um that is becoming a um a very integral part of Education that's starting to show up in all types of applications and uh teachers and students um need to be aware of the capabilities what it can and what it can not do uh maybe more importantly so um the recommendation that's coming uh from the academic world and legal world is you really should uh start to assemble some type of policy on how you educate your staff and students about Ai and ways that they can use it I'm sure that's going to be a work in progress the the breath the speed and the depth and the bread that that that is growing so hopefully we'll have something there before the end
032of the year we do have we do have a committee uh of folks uh looking at that in addition to the solicitor thank you any other questions thank you again Mr Burlingham uh the chair now recognizes Mr Steven morve for curriculum Mr President excuse me currently there are three items on the agenda for next week uh the first item is the alternative education for disruptive youth agreement uh between Wattsburg school district and Bethesda uh per the attachment uh for review second item is the educational services agreement between Wattsburg school district and The Meadows Psychiatric Center uh per that attachment as well and then the third item is the uh agreement to the extend the previously approved agreement for the substitute staff services with ESS uh North Northeast and the Wattsburg Area School District so those
033are the items that will be on the curriculum agenda for next week Mr President thank you Mr Mor are there any questions on the three items hearing none those will be on the agenda for next week uh chair now recognize is Mr Greg bragen for transportation Jessie I will have nothing under transportation for next I should just hit a record button for that yeah uh Mr President for transportation next week we'll have one item uh Transportation requests to approve the transportation request and rication of field trip since last meeting as listed thank you Mr bragen are there any questions on the transportation requests hearing none those will be moved over for next week uh what's that we want add yeah and per the earlier discussion just want to a affirm or confirm that we have
034consensus from the board to see a transportation request potentially next week as an addendum assuming we get the information we need from Durham services are there any objections or any additional conversation that needs to happen on that light well we're good all right excellent thank you chair now recognize miss Lea heatherington for athletic and extracurricular thank you Mr President I will have five items on the agenda for next week the first one being um volunteer list additions um approved volunteers as listed B is athletic Training Services and that is to approve the athletic training service agreement between UPMC sports medicine and Wattsburg a as listed in the attachment and C is athletic appointments as listed D extracurricular appointments as listed and E is game help list additions as listed that is all that I will
035have on the agenda thank you Miss heatherington are there any questions on on those items hearing none those will move over for next week um on chair when I recognize Mr Steven morv for the Erie County Technical School joint operating committee will we have a report for next week yes Mr President well we'll have a uh brief update for the February joint operating committee meeting thank you and I will say Mr Mor I attended the uh myself Mr Blazer uh both attended the uh lunch in for the board of 99 um it was very well done another great opportunity to tour the facilities and uh it was a great event and I'm glad to hear it sounds like going to happen next year as well so I think that that's uh this was the first
036annual Board of 99 visit yes the and the kids that presented did an excellent job um really kind of open my eyes to some of the programming that has existed there since I've left 26 years ago and the meal is all prepared by their culinary students I mean it's all the culinary student it's all in house excellent job but yeah very very nice and um you can I would Mr Blazer can I also extend uh your pleasure with the visit oh yeah yeah it was very interesting um uh amazing level and range of programs they offer um as a rookie uh in the door I was you know just impressed with everything I saw as a Alum uh you know Mr uh Mr President didn't waste any time telling everyone that he had been there
037many times before this President did 26 years ago is that what you said 26 years ago yeah thank you Mr Williams for solidifying that just wanted to confirm that inord of thyself thank you Mr morv uh chair now recognizes Dr Andrew pusack uh for the north cast Northwest Tri County Intermediate Unit uh will we have a report for next week and do you have anything to share for this uh yes thank you Mr President I'll have a brief report next week but I did did want to share tonight just a few highlevel items on the um Intermediate Unit budget uh that was passed by the Intermediate Unit board and we'll now go to all of the school districts uh for their consideration for passage um the IU budget proposed is $72,400 I'm sorry $4,280 um
038and just to remind the board and the audience the um each school district has their their fee that they pay each year and then above and beyond that school districts can purchase programs and services from the IU um the school district rates have not changed since 2004 so you'll see that same rate um just a few interesting notes about the budget um the IU will assume uh the transfer of entity for the Early Intervention Program for Erie public schools which will add 500 to 600 um mostly 3 to 5 year olds uh that are receiving special uh Services um that'll bring that program early intervention uh over 2,000 students so just that program alone is larger than most of our our school districts that addition will increase the budget um by about one to2 million
039the IU has a fund balance um the IU of course is not a school district so we don't have to maintain a certain percentage uh nor do we have the ability to generate Revenue through taxes so the pde recommends to the IUS to have a fund balance uh equal to two months of operation so the $9.5 million fund balance although it sounds like a lot um it is the amount that it would take the IU to operate uh for the two months as recommended uh those are the only highlights I have Mrs bendig can you remind us when we will vote as a board on the IU budget we would vote um after the approval of the iu5 budget so as long as that's been passed we will get that on for next month for
040next month okay thank you thank you Dr Pang uh it's now time for board correspondents and dialogue and if I may I'm going to start off this evening because I have in my hands and I see Miss Miller sitting out here this evening the uh fall issue of nutrition Inc magazine and the uh Allstar award program um and you can stand up for your Round of Applause if you'd like uh Miss Janine Miller pictured here from Wattsburg Area School District um excellent relationship with the group and it's great to see uh you honored uh in the publication and thank you for the work that you do here and I do apologize we had uh a little snack to leave with last month and I failed to thank you for that so I'll do that now
041do we have anything else for board correspondence and dialogue this evening I do if possible abely I I just would like to congratulate our girls basketball team for having a fantastic season um and congratulations to those seniors who kind of wrapped up their basketball season um our boys obviously you know didn't go as far but we have a lot of young freshmen and I am excited to see what development happens with all of them but it was exciting basketball season so congratulations for to all the them and the coaches and I love what we do with our Sports here so I'm hoping to watch our basketball program grow absolutely and thank you for sharing is there anything else for correspondents this evening hearing none I'll entertain a motion to adjourn so move push check second
042Burlingham all in favor please say I I oppose nay meeting is adjourned