West Chester Area School District Personnel Committee Meeting and Monthly Board Meeting 4/27/2026

001Welcome to the Monday, April 27th, 2020 Personnel Committee meeting. I'll take roll. I am here, Karen Loving. Dr. Campbell. >> Here. >> Right. >> Madam Wong. >> Here. >> Ms. Parkinson. >> Here. >> Okay, so all in attendance. Our first item on the agenda is public comment. Has anyone signed up for public comment? >> Let me check. Uh I don't think so, but I'll double check. >> Thank you. >> I Yeah, I don't know who >> [laughter] >> I All right, thank you. Uh next item on the agenda is approval of the March 23rd, 2020 Personnel Committee meeting minutes. A vote. All in favor say I. I. Opposed? Motion carries 4-0. Next up on the agenda is review and approval of the new job description supervisor for strategic initiatives and district partnership. Uh Ms. Rita

002Wong will review. >> Thank you. Uh so this new position with the cabinet level position a part of Act 93 and the role would really be to coordinate um initiatives across the district and really coordinate the efforts of um of the cabinet to ensure that we have aligned priorities and that we are working strategically and collaboratively to advance the priorities for the district for all teachers and students. >> Okay, any questions or comments? >> Um yes, I have a comment. So I I recognize that this position is um being proposed as a repurposed position in part based on the prior board secretary and that those responsibilities will potentially be transitioned to another member of our team who will take those responsibilities on. So my first question is in terms of the administrative requirements and support

003of Dr. Christopher as as superintendent, will all of those requirements be assumed by the work that is now transitioned to um the other resource or is there anything that is currently expected in that board secretary role that we will forego by virtue of transitioning it into this role? >> So I think the board secretary specific portions of the job really related to generation of meds, um handling things for the board meeting, um also preparing agendas, working through that. Our plan is really to have that completely transitioned off to this other individual. In terms of my administrative assistant type support, um I think we're still discussing how we would utilize other secretarial staff potentially in that the suite our cabinet suite up here for those things, but those would be very minimal, I would think, you

004know. Um you know, I really I and also certain portions of that position may still do some of those jobs like like really related to um helping me organize and plan my schedule, doing those things. That's part of the new job description as well. So, some of that function will remain in the position, you know, it'll just be a different role that we're looking at. >> Okay. So, that's helpful and and I want to be transparent in terms of some of the thought process I had as I was looking at the role. I think firstly, having a role that is focused on um establishing partnerships and helping to generate additional revenues for our district is important. I think strategically important especially in light of things such as unfunded mandates, which we've been talking a lot

005about. We also I know have school activities um and sports and things like that are sort of unequally funded, so maybe some of this can help close some of those equity gaps. But, I'm also thinking about a a couple of things. One being that this year especially, you know, we've been talking about potentially increasing taxes across um the counties that we serve. Um this is also a time where um increased cost, increased inflation, lower consumer sentiment, you know, some of the residents that we serve are actually struggling at this time. And so, um we know that we have to make difficult choices in order to fund the district. Um in addition, I think that um we have a um I don't want to to have this be misperceived, but we have a a top-heavy administrative

006team, um which I think is totally um uh well justified in light of the complexities of the district that we serve. Um I think we have a capable team that is also established very, um, credible and reputable relationships with, like, our chambers of commerce, our state and local governments. I think our district, um, I know our district spends millions in the local community. Um, and so my hope would be that we have capacity at the administrative level to leverage those relationships, to build on those relationships, in part to be able to achieve the strategic goals of being able to generate more revenue. Um, and I want to applaud the team because I did see, for example, with Giant as an example, um, that was announced earlier in the week. And I And I do think

007we have a strong administrative team that at a strategic level can help close this gap and advance some of these partnership and strategic initiative goals. Um, and I know that would be potentially a sacrifice at our level by not introducing an additional cabinet member. Um, but I think it might be one that we may want to consider in light of the times that we're in and in light of what we have coming in front of us in the next 6 to 12 months. Um, so that's just, uh, you know, something that I'm cognizant cognizant of, um, from a cost-consciousness perspective and also my desire to see if we do have additional resources and funds that we're going to expend that they be as close to the students possible. And I do believe that this role

008has a impact on, you know, student student and teachers and the like. Um, but that's my my thought and consideration when I'm looking at evaluating whether or not to, um, approve the requested role. >> Thank you. Dr. Christopher, do you want to respond to that? >> Well, yeah. I mean, I I think we'd have to do some real digging to see if the district is top heavy. I mean, I think, unfortunately, when you look at regional districts and you look at their administrative staff, we may be three times as big as they are. Um and I don't know that we have three times the administrative team in the district office that folks have. Like if I'm in a district of 4,000 students, um so I mean that that's a concern that I have. I mean,

009I also understand a perception potentially that we're going to add a capital level position. And it really isn't ad hoc capital position. It's like where where as we would if we have a strategic initiative we're working on, we bring that person in to work through that. Um I feel like we're very much scratching the surface on what we could generate uh in some revenue streams here, specifically related to advertising through uh looking at, you know, selling ads on scoreboards and doing those types of things. And I've had a lot of experience generating a lot more revenue for that. However, it's always been a staff position who's who's specifically focused on that goal. Um it it it's not an add to somebody's job to go try and sell ad revenue generally. Um because it's pretty it's

010a it can take a lot of time and you have to build a lot of relationships. Um but I I do hear you in the concern related to adding administrative staff, even though this is a this is a change in a position, you know, that we're looking at. >> And what is the um overall total fully loaded cost associated with what we're looking to do in terms of the new resource coming in, as well as the incremental um that we will have to um provide to um the resource who's going to assume most of responsibilities of the board secretary role? >> Yeah, I I think what I was thinking was somewhere between 25 and 35,000 dollars yeah, in addition to the current um assistant position I have. >> Which will be What is the fully

011loaded >> Total total total Well, that's hard to say with um in terms of just salary or benefits, all those kinds of things. I don't I don't even calculate that, you know, I would think. As as as opposed to eliminating a position, you know, which would be a reduction in costs. >> Yeah, and I'm not suggesting an elimination of the position. I think we can be creative maybe and reduce the spend on the the role while still advancing the objectives of um developing and pursuing strategic partnerships to generate additional revenue for our district. >> Yeah, and I and while that is that is a function of this position, it was not the only function of the position as it's written now. As well, which is not just developing external partnerships, but it's also helping to

012collaborate internal work. Um you know, and uh and also working directly with the West Chester Area Education Foundation, which would be a different role as well. And that's one that Linda in her current role has done a lot of. So, that would be a that would be a continuation of the work but with a very different focus. >> So, basically we're splitting the current role into two roles, but adding a little bit more on the uh role that would be focused on strategic initiatives instead of the cabinet level and take on the responsibility for the strategic partnerships. >> Um so, yes. I mean, we're splitting we're splitting the role into role A and role B. Obviously, you know, and and and really but then also adding additional things to the role. >> At an additional

013cost as well. >> Correct. >> Okay. Do we know of any other districts that have a position similar to to this that have had success with this kind of a position? >> Um I I know that the position specifically has been you I mean, I think a lot of districts have have had foundations that have full-time directors if we're being honest. Uh we don't think that's the role that that we should be looking forward to right now. Um but there are lots of districts who I certainly districts our size that would have a full-time executive director of education foundation. The Colonial Valley had three staff members who were working with the Education Foundation. Um which is >> you had a pretty different tax base as well, I would imagine. So, being able to pursue revenue

014to support the district would be rather important going outside of the tax the established tax base in Carmel Valley. >> Yeah, I I Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, we And that's one of the reasons that that was generated that way. >> Anybody else or does Rita have any comments? >> I have one more. >> I know you're not able to give a full cost of what that position would bring um to to bring on, but do you still stand by the fact that you you would hope that it would be net neutral in terms of what we're generating versus what's going out? >> Um yes, and better, you know. Yeah, I think our anticipation would be cuz these considerably better than net neutral, you know, but >> And and just last point, is there

015any estimate of how much we're currently generating through those channels today without having a resource focused on it? I know we'll be I mean >> Yeah, I don't want to speak in that term, but probably next to nothing. Um you know, certainly not anything that is regularly turned over as revenue to the school district. It's hard to quantify because we may have a booster club that's selling something or like they they may be part of that. Again, but as far as the district revenue related to sponsorship and advertisement, I would say it's it's very low currently. I'm looking at John, but I I mean I I mean we don't we don't have a revenue code specific for that that we are generating funding in currently. >> Right. Um so, I have two comments then. One

016is I mean I I think that this is a good move from a financial perspective because I my thought from I my understanding is it'll be better than net neutral. It will bring in revenue for a fairly small additional cost in staffing, which includes some higher salaries. And we there's a potential to bring in quite a bit of money through advertising and sponsors and grants etc. that we are not capturing through our current procedures and how we handle it. And then number two, I guess my question would be will a revenue code be generated for the money that we're bringing in so maybe that can be tracked so we can I see an obvious >> Yes and I think we need to report that out like to the to the board as a regular here's

017what we're generating here's what it looks like you know I I also mean there's there's going to be I mean there are also some things that we're we currently don't have like we don't have a scoreboard at East High School on on the two new fields we just put up. We didn't budget a scoreboard for that. We're currently using a like a handheld scoreboard on the two new I don't know where where there's three million dollars the fields we installed and the reason for that is because it wasn't it's not been traditionally part of what the district has done. But the reality is that we should have a scoreboard there and I should be selling ad space on it and I should be generating money off it like you know we should be looking at

018it as an opportunity as opposed to an additional cost which is unfortunately you know but without someone who is actively doing that and setting up those parameters and ensuring we have contracts and the other thing too is the district has to treat all of its all entities fairly like you know like like if you have a RFP for a a bid process you have to have somebody who can work through that process. I can't give somebody a cheaper amount than somebody else and and similar exposure like the district has a whole problem with that and not be able to do it correctly. So I mean we have not been staffed or have not thought through historically the process of the district actually managing that process and thinking about it as revenue. And that that's true

019to some extent but also I I would say maybe a decade ago the district really looked into significant sponsorship even inside buildings and things like that and the the board got a lot of pushback. I mean we were going to sell locker wraps that had like you know like on your locker whatever I don't know like a car show or something, you know. That That's not what we're anticipating doing here. We think there's enough opportunity really with naming rights and with advertisement and athletic fields, you know, those types of things to where we could generate some additional funding um pretty quickly to to certainly to cover the gap between the two salaries that we have right now. Um but I mean I My anticipation is you know, in a district with three high schools we

020should be generating a substantial amount of money on these things that we're not. >> Would this person be working on grant writing, too? >> Um maybe ad hoc, but I I don't think that's probably their primary function. I mean, I I really don't see that. Um I I think those are different skill sets potentially. >> I just had that one question that I thought of. Um the current advertising that we do see, say around the fence of the football field in North East, around the tennis courts in East, is that the revenue being generated currently going to the school district? And then how is that being accounted for or is it going to the booster clubs of those sports? >> Uh those are booster club activities. We would have to identify what booster club can

021sell, which generally would be temporary fencing signs, things like that, and what the district would sell. >> So there's a lot of coordination that you'd have to be done with all of you think about every booster club in the entire district and every sport. It's a lot there. >> Yeah, no, it's it's going to be a lot to try and manage that and and ensure that we're treating people fairly and doing those types of things. And And the district has to come up with some idea what they think is a reasonable amount of reasonable amount of advertising that we're going to tolerate. You know, at North Allegheny we were selling commercials during football games on the video board. Like UPMC was was buying commercial time during a live football game. I could tell you that

022there were a lot of people who were not excited about that. You know, they didn't want to come to a football game and get a UPMC commercial, you know. Um but that's how some of those things were being funded. So the district has to come up with what we feel like is a reasonable amount of of exposure. And I think the last time that that conversation ended because we had done exposure inside buildings with kids, those kinds of things. I don't think anybody's envisioning that. Um but there are lots of opportunities. We have lots of fields that could have names. You have uh scoreboards. You have lots of things that we have not that we have not touched yet that we would need to do. And and really some of that funding will go back

023into those programs, you know, but um we have a lot I mean we at the end of the rest of the thing we'll have six turf fields. Six, seven. Seven if you count the two D's, I guess the three D's. Yeah, you'll have the I mean when we talk about revenue opportunities, I mean we're renting these things out all the time and there is a lot of exposure potentially at those locations. So I don't know that it's going to be a challenge for us to to generate some advertisement on those areas. >> Okay, thank you everyone. Thank you for all the thoughtful comments and >> had a >> Sorry. >> I don't >> Sorry. I just have These seem like two very different roles. The kind of this addition of board secretary and the strategic

024planning piece I I feel like it's very I'm struggling to see the connection between these two parts and I'm look thinking about trying to hire for this role and are we prioritizing >> The the The board secretary is moving to another position. It's apparent. >> Okay. >> It's not the same. >> It's not in this role. Okay, thank you. >> Anyone else? >> What if they add to that? >> Well, we we recognize that. That's what we were meaning. >> [laughter] >> Good question. I missed it. Good question. >> I just had a thought on I I like You made so many good points uh Dr. Parkinson. One of the points that really stood out to me is is what are we going to do to make sure that the funds come in are closest

025to the students rather than operational expenses or that those type of things. What what mechanism will be in place or how do we monitor to make sure that the students are as primary beneficiary of any additional funds that come in. >> Well, I think if we're turning the funds around into like athletic venues and things, those are all used by our kids. I mean, I think that's part of it. Like, you know, um I haven't heard anyone complain that we have too many turf fields who was a student here. You know, like and and you know you know how that works. Yeah, I mean, I think to your point like funds are and and we can we can generate some some information for you related to how how many funds we spend on direct student

026contact versus what we're spending in other areas of adding maybe it's maybe informational that you'll find helpful. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else? Okay, we'll go ahead and take the vote. Uh all those in favor of approving the new job description supervisor for a strategic initiative and district partnership, um say I. I. Opposed? >> None. >> So, um motion is approved 3-1. And I believe all of these will be what we're voting on at the full board meeting again as well. So, next item on the agenda is review and approval of the new job description job coach. Ms. Rita will review. >> Thank you. So, this position is um a person who will be working with students in the transition house. Um so, working with them in the field to support them in job

027related skills. So, going out with them to job locations, providing training, getting feedback from managers. And this new job description um is really just focused on providing those supports for kids who are transitioning out of our system into into work roles and ensuring that they are ready for that transition. >> Um so, I'll start with a question. Um how is that being accomplished currently? >> I second. Sorry. Sorry. >> Uh so, currently we transit we have a contract with the Chester County Intermediate Unit for all of this. So what we're hoping to do is start to bring the programming back into the district and hire our own people. So our transition house is the students 18 to 22. The biggest thing that we work with them on is everyday living skills and in the workforce.

028The students in that program, some of them the goal is to be employed independently but a lot of them will need support on the work site. So we would hire our own staff to go with them as was explained to support them with whatever the job task is, work with the managers in the sites that we have to ensure that we're doing everything properly, take data on IEP goals to ensure that we're moving students forward and meeting their transition goals. It will be cost neutral or even eventually end up saving us money like right now we can't do that for every single student. We have to start slowly and build our own repertoire. >> Thank you and I just will add and I think I'm you know getting this from hearing this from all of

029our board members that when we are approving a new job position or an increase in salary for a current position, I think everyone on the board would like to hear what the um the net cost of that to the district. >> Yeah, I'm always going to ask the questions so you can just assume we'll ask if there's going to be a cost savings associated with with the new role or in this case a role that we're bringing in house that's coming from a CCIU. But you answered it so thank you. >> Um any other questions or comments? >> I have a quick question. I wasn't familiar with the program and when I saw the age group of 18 to 22, I was just curious um what the criteria is. Would they have to have come

030through the district for a certain amount of years or how how does that work to be eligible for this service? >> Um so, we are we are required to educate students right now up through age 22. There's some controversy around that that age, so 21 or 22. So, um in order to determine if a student is ready to graduate at age 18, 19, 20, 21, the IEP team is making the decision if that student is graduating based off of the courses and credits that they've taken or if it's through their IEP goals. So, students that are graduating through their IEP goals, that's when we really start to put in transition planning, is what we call it. So, we're talking about independent living skills, self-help skills, and work-related skills. So, students that we've decided are graduating

031on IEP goals, they have goals in their IEP in those three areas, and we work with them in our transition house programming on those goals, and that's what determines if they're eligible to go to that programming or not. Does that answer your question? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And this program that program through the IU, is that the Discover program that we've >> Yeah, we've been using Discover. Um like I said, we're trying to bring it back. Actually, we have enough set up for our ESY program that we will not be using Discover for ESY this year. It is a lot of work on our part for programming-wise in the special ed department trying to find job sites that are are able to work with that are willing to work with. We have to

032transport students to all these sites. We have to figure out their academic scheduling versus their job scheduling. So, it's a lot. So, that's why for next year, we're only looking to add two job coaches. And as we continue to grow the program, hopefully we'll be able to bring on more and get more students in house with us and not have to use the CCIU services as much. >> And are we having difficulties with the services that we're procuring from CCIU or what's the business rationale for bringing it >> Cost savings. Cost savings from running our own our own programming so that we can do the scheduling ourselves and not have to be held to what the C C I U is able to offer. So we're able to work directly with the different job sites

033for schedules that work a little bit better for us in house. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh thank you. Any other questions or comments? >> I just want to give one disclaimer, which is that this is a new position that would go in our support professionals bargaining unit. So um we will be discussing this with them. We would need to do a job classification and um and of course negotiate the salary, but they're aware that we're having this conversation today. I just want to leave that for the good of the district. >> Thank you for that addition. >> So we'll go ahead and vote. Uh all those in favor of approval of the new job description job coach, uh please say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Okay. Uh motion passes 4-0. Next on the agenda is

034your review and approval of the Vector Solutions contract. Ms. Rita? >> So Vector Solutions provides a training platform for our employees. Uh the current cost is about $9,000 annually. This new contract is about $5,000 more. However, um there are a few improvements that we would get with this. So currently how we So essentially people when they come into our district are entered into Vector manually by my team. So um instead of having that information be entered manually, we will be implementing an overnight upload with the uh office of information technology. That will then allow us to add people in the same record that they were added into our human resources information system and exit people in the same way. So um we currently have tens if not hundreds of people who are costing us or

035names that are costing us money in the Vector Solution because when people left their roles, they were not terminated from the solution or their their access was not terminated. So, that's a huge cost savings. We're also going to have this be a single sign-on option, which will make it easier for our employees to access. The biggest win, I think, is that the trainings that our employees take generally live in Navigate 360 and in Vector, and they're going to take the trainings that live in Navigate 360 and essentially dump them into Vector, so it'll be one-stop shopping for employees rather than them having to navigate multiple different platforms. Um So, there isn't cost savings, but it will it will result in a much better user experience for our employees, hopefully resulting in fewer missed trainings and

036fewer ladder building hearings, which will ultimately save us money. >> And I also believe we had spoken about the inefficiency of information having to be entered several times sometimes for one employee. >> Yes, it also creates issues with just like who is this person? So, in some places I'm Terry Ferraguto or Rita, in some places I'm Terry Ferraguto, in some places I'm Terry Rita. So, we want to ultimately get to a place where all the systems that people need are fed through our HRIS, which would then ensure that there is one correct record on an employee that lives within our systems. >> Any questions or comments? >> Congratulations. >> [laughter] >> So I'm tired of hearing you talk about this. >> Yeah, I mean the improvement on the data integrity and also automating the business

037process, I think is a win. >> Okay, so we'll take a vote. All those in favor of approving the contract for Vector Solutions, please say I. I. Opposed? Any motion passes 4-0. So, that concludes the personnel committee tonight. Our next committee meeting will be held on June 22nd, 2026. >> Well, that seems like a long time from now. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Good evening and I'd like to call to order the Monday, April 27th, 2027 meeting of the West Chester Area School Board. Tonight we welcome students Madeleine Conti, Avneesh Arms, Pragnati Prajwal, and Rebecca Keeler from Greystone Elementary School and their principal, Dr. Stephen. Let us begin our meeting with a salute to the flag led by our students. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

038United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> So, thank you so much for leading the pledge. Uh please let the board and the audience know what's been happening at Greystone Elementary School. >> Come on up. >> So, you're going to come right back up to the mic. >> Yep, you're going to come right back up. >> Hi, my name is Avneesh Arms. I'm a fifth grader at Greystone Elementary. I'm representing Mr. Johnson's class. Responsibility is a very important part of life. It is so important mostly everyone knows what it means. Speaking of that, do you know what it means? I think it means knowing what you have to do and doing it on time. I also think it means

039practicing to reach your goals. Let's look at the second meaning, practicing to reach your goals. I personally think that's the most important important part of responsibility, and that's what I'm here to talk tell you all about. I have a story to tell you all. It takes place last school year. One time, my parents told me that I could play in the band. I was really excited. They enrolled me in flute lessons at school. I was unsure, but then I thought, "Why not give it a try?" My parents got a flute for me. At my first lesson, me and some of the students were learning how to blow through the hole of the flute. I tried a few times, but I wasn't able to blow air into it. But at home, I practiced and practiced, and

040I got it. I eventually started learning notes and songs, and I played in the spring concert. At that time, I wanted to be really good at the flute. So this year, I decided to audition to be in honors band. And guess what? I made it. I started getting challenging pieces, and I played in the honors band concert. And that took practice. Just practice. It brought me here. Responsibility will take everyone further in life. If we all become responsible, we'll get good grades in tests and state assessments. It will help us all get into great colleges, and most importantly, help form our lives. So here's what we all should do. Be responsible. That's how we'll succeed in life. Thank you, AND GO GRIZZLIES! >> [applause] >> GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS REBECCA KEELER. I'm a fifth

041grade student from Greystone Elementary. Here are a few of my thoughts on the topic of empathy. Empathy is more than just understanding someone else's feelings. It's choosing to feel with them. To me, empathy is slowing down enough to know when hurting, even if they don't say it. It's about realizing that everyone's fighting battles that we don't see. At school, I show empathy by being aware of others, not just myself. There was a time when a student was being distant. Without using my words, I showed that I understood them. Empathy isn't always about words. It's about being there for someone when they needed the most. Empathy changes how we treat people. In middle school and in the future, life will get more complicated. There will be more pressure, more challenges, and more differences between people. Empathy

042will help me choose kindness over judgment, understanding and connection over division. It will help me build real relationships and make others around me feel safe. In the end, empathy is powerful because it reminds us that we're not alone. It reminds us that we have the ability to make someone else feel less alone, too. That is the true power of empathy. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Madeline Conti, and I'm a student at Greystone Elementary School. The word I have chosen is adaptability. Adaptability refers to the ability to be flexible, easy-going, and to adjust effectively in challenging or uncomfortable situations. I believe adaptability is a very important quality to learn, especially at a young age. I focus on being adaptive when schedules change unexpectedly, when academic tasks become difficult, when technology malfunctions,

043and during disagreements with group projects, among other circumstances. This trait will be valuable as I transition to middle school, where adapting to new environments and overcoming obstacles will be essential. For example, moving from one class to another, or adjusting to a new group assignment after having invested considerable effort in a previous group, will require adaptability. Outside of school, adaptability is just as important. With soccer being such a big part of my life, I also need to adapt there. Whether it be a position change, the elements on a game day, or the outcomes of matches, a strong athlete needs to be adaptive and push forward no matter what. These experiences illustrate how I've practiced adapt- adaptability and why it will continue to be important for my future. >> [applause] >> Good evening, members of the West

044Chester Area School District Board and everyone present here today. My name is Pranati Paswal and I'm a Greystone Grizzly. I'm here to speak about the Grizzly trait, problem solving. There's not a single day without problems to solve, but when we learn to break down problems, brainstorm ideas, think about the pros and cons, and think logically, we can move forward confidently. This year, my classmate and I worked on a sustainable house model for Habitat for Humanity. We designed a house with sustainable features that used natural resources and was eco-friendly. We used problem-solving skills to build the house. We researched, asked for help, brainstormed ideas, and worked together to build the model. We succeeded because we were creative thinkers and logical problem solvers. In the future, our Grizzlies will be equipped with problem-solving skills to help our

045community and even our world. Because of what we learn at Greystone, we are not just solving problems, we are preparing to make a difference. Thank you for listening to me today. Have a wonderful evening. >> [applause] >> I love that you all just gave each other high fives. Very well deserved. Um so [clears throat] impressed with just all four themes that you mentioned and it sounds like those themes go throughout your school and throughout your school community. Adaptability, responsibility, problem solving, and empathy. Those are great pillars. I'm so glad that uh to hear about um things like Honors Band, Habitat for Humanity. I love the phrase kindness over judgement. You all shared so much of the character what's going on in your school. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Appreciate it. If you

046all If you don't mind, uh please wait up here at the podium again for the third time. Dr. Christopher and I will make our way over to you to shake hands and to present you with your certificates. >> Photographer, where you want us? >> That's really good, but you're going to go one at a time. I'm sure nobody's going up there. >> In no particular order. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to hand you this. We're going to shake hands, and then we're going to smile. Wonderful job. You really set the tone. You got everybody to start out right. >> Thanks so much for being here. >> Okay. And then we're all going to go in the middle here. Yep, we're standing in the middle here. Okay, and big smile. Great job, parents. >> Uh there

047are no special announcements this evening. Next on the agenda is roll call. >> Mr. Sherwood, please. Vice Chairman of the Board, please. >> Here. >> Director Campbell. >> Here. >> Director Petrie. >> Here. >> President Miller. >> Here. >> Director Fleming. >> Here. >> Director Fry. >> Here. >> Director Jackson. >> Here. >> Director Law. >> Here. >> Director Parkinson. >> Here. >> She doesn't chair it. Not attending. Jackson Ogden. >> Here. >> Mayor Knight. >> Here. >> Thank you. That leads us to public comment. To the public comment protocol, Ms. Sunquist. >> There is one public comment this evening. And that is Judy DeFonzo. >> Hi everyone. Judy DeFonzo here, still living in East Ocean. Um our four youngsters um went through four out of the five portrait of a graduate words. And I'd

048like to kind of pick up on the fourth one, which is communication. I feel that I'm really not prepared for this meeting this evening for the simple reason that I did not have access to the agenda. The agenda is supposed to be available for 24 hours prior to the meeting. I had problems over the weekend trying to pull things up. I could get one um thing pulled up, one of the attachments for personnel. But other than that, I have no idea what anyone's talking about and I just kind of feel like there's a little lack of sunshine at this meeting being that there was no access to board docs. I realize it's a problem with board docs because today when I tried to open things up, I got an error message saying that they're having

049problems and actually I also downloaded 10,000 school district which is the same platform. And they kind of had the same message that, you know, nothing's happening. So, I just wanted to to say that, you know, I I don't know this meeting maybe should have been canceled because there was no access to the agenda and the other items that back up, you know, documentation for the agenda. I did pull up personnel. I did notice that one of my daughter's favorite teachers, Sandra Julia, is retiring and I also wanted to wish her good luck in her retirement. I know my daughter really enjoyed her class and it's I'm kind of sorry to see her go because she really got my daughter and she's a great art teacher. Thank you. >> I thank you, Mr. Bonzo. That moves

050us to approval of the March 23rd, 2026 meeting minutes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes? Uh director Fleming, is there a second? Uh vice president Bevilacqua. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, nay? The motion carries. Miss Chair Miss Chair Shore, please note we met in executive session earlier tonight, April 27th, 2026, to discuss a legal matter. Now is the opportunity for board members to request changes to the board agenda. Are there any requests for changes? Okay, seeing none, may I have a motion to approve the April 27th, 2026 agenda as presented and as presented. Dr. Dietrich is the first, director Parkinson is the second. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. And now the

051monthly reports. We'll start with Dr. Christopher. >> All right, thank you. It has been a a busy month. Um I'd like to start by giving an update on elementary departmentalization. So following the successful pilot this year at Discovery School and Fern Hill and at Star Lake Elementary School, all of our elementary schools will be moving to this model for the upcoming school year. Our pilot schools have helped develop strong examples and resources that will support a smooth transition across the district, and we believe this will be a meaningful step uh forward with our young learners and transitioning them into middle school. Uh we also invite families to learn more at our upcoming virtual information night, which will be on Thursday, May 7th, with registration available on our website. I want like Dr. Bisson for your

052leadership in guiding this important work. You look surprised, Dr. Bisson. We're also really looking forward to our AI and education night this Thursday, April 30th. Mr. McGowan and his team have put together an excellent panel featuring experts, teachers, and students. Uh pre-submitted questions would have now closed. So, families can still register online and can come and uh and can participate. Uh but I think the the window for actually submitting a question has closed so we can answer them effectively that evening. We do hope to see lots of folks there this evening on the 30th. In addition, we've been engaging with families around potential updates for our middle school schedule. Uh we appreciate the thoughtful feedback we've received and we'll continue those conversations including deeper discussions with our middle school staff in the coming weeks. And

053I thank Dr. Conley for supporting our principals in making these presentations. Uh it's I think they've gone well and I think we've gotten some good feedback on things we can continue to look at. Across the district, students are now engaged in spring testing. Everyone's excited. Uh APs are coming up. I see everybody they got the weight going on there and yeah. Uh we're doing PSSAs right now on K to 8. Uh not K to 8, I'm sorry. Third through 8, we're doing those. And we have Keystone exams that will happen here in the weeks ahead. AP exams I think start next week. I think it's when the AP exams start for high school students. So, we know it's a demanding time and we know it's a lot of work for our students. So, we're really

054proud of how everyone's doing and rising to the challenges. We had some unforeseen issues last week. Uh they the all students are required to take the PSSA exam online. That is a new requirement this year. Uh and the uh testing vendor DRC had a major issue during testing at the beginning of testing last week, which I'm sure no one was excited about. Uh but we persevered and made through. Our kids are continuing to do the work. Uh we recently shared information with families about summer programming at the secondary level including our summer credit acceleration program. I think the memo came out today or yesterday. Uh families can learn more about that at our upcoming virtual information night on May 4th with registration available on our district calendar. Uh I also want to take a moment

055and to recognize uh Mr. Jeff Ferguson, who's a teacher at Pierce Middle School. Uh Mr. Ferguson was named a Citadel Heart of Learning Award recipient this year. Uh we had a great surprise for him at Pierce. Uh he did not realize it was him who was going to be getting the award. He was videotaping waiting to see who would come up and they had to actually take his phone away from him and tell him, "It's you. You got to go." Like you know, which uh tells us a lot about about him. He was not He was not thinking it would be him. He was very surprised. Uh I also would like to uh mention that we have an upcoming West Chester Area Education Foundation Recognition Breakfast. Breakfast on Wednesday, May 6th. Uh the event is

056open to the community. If anyone would like to come, it's great opportunity opportunity for us to recognize donors and partners who help support a variety of learning experiences for our students. Uh that will be held at Stetson Middle School. Uh we have several big grants that were awarded to Stetson last year and we want to show them off. So, we're going to do it over at Stetson and we're going to have breakfast early so we can get there before the children because the buses can be interesting getting into Stetson Middle School. I also do want to just take a moment uh and and acknowledge that we did have some challenges with technology today related to uh the BoardDocs suite. Uh BoardDocs was down, I believe beginning about 8:00 a.m. when we realized about 11:00. We

057actually put the agenda back on our website. The agenda was posted on Friday night on BoardDocs. The agenda is always available here in the district office as well. Uh if anybody would like to review it, um and we are uh aware of that difficulty and we do apologize. However, like I said, we we just we're aware we did put it up on the website again. Uh this concludes my report for this evening and I will turn it over to our student representatives. >> Uh hello. My name is Jackson. I'm a senior at Henderson. Um, I first want to mention because Dr. Christopher talked about Mr. Berger. I don't know if the uh, the board is aware. I never had Mr. Berger, but I always heard about Berger burgers, uh, which was the system where when

058students like did good things in his class, they got this like currency and then they got to buy like prizes and pencils and then like a pizza party for the class. It was really cool. Uh, he seemed like he was a cool teacher. I was a little jealous. Um, anyway, I'm super glad that I'm back after having to miss two meetings. I was really disappointed uh, that I couldn't report on all these great things that happened during February and March like region choir, the academic CCI academic team CCIU finals, uh, the relief of the third quarter ending and the end of winter sports or the musical. But unfortunately, so much has happened in April that I I have to keep moving and talk about new things. But I I think that says something important about

059Henderson. We're always trying new things. We're pushing forward. We're keeping ourselves busy and working hard. So, I'd like to highlight those things, uh, those places that Henderson is working hard. Um, after our uh, region choir festival, uh, PMEA region festivals ended, the music department continued to work hard. We sent uh, three Henderson students to the All-State festival just this past weekend. Um, I was incredibly grateful to go on this trip, uh, both because I get to be in a district that is able to financially support those trips, but also because states was at Kalahari again for the second year in a row. So, I got to go to the water park. It's really fun. A lot more fun than driving 8 hours to Erie. Yeah. Anyway, um, we weren't the only Henderson representatives at the

060state convention. Uh, WCSD senior strings under the direction of Mrs. Kelly, who's the orchestra director at Henderson, also got to perform. They were one um, of There were over 100 ensembles that auditioned to be a part of it. So, they all got to go. I heard great things about their trip. And then also our music teachers presented a session about collaboration between ensembles, which is something really special at our music department. Uh, after the CCIU finals back in March, um our academic team has continued to work hard. They won the Eastern PA Quiz Bowl Regional Championship tournament. It's a long name. Um but it hosted the top 20% of uh Quiz Bowl teams in Southeastern Pennsylvania. They won, so that is exciting for them. Although the stress of the third quarter is past, students are

061still working hard. Well, sorry. Let me rephrase. Underclassmen are still working. Uh they're spending their warrior block study halls and afternoons studying for AP tests, keystones, and finals. 18 juniors were selected uh for the first round of the National Merit Scholarship, which is the most that Henderson has ever had. Um as for seniors, um there's been a hacky sack craze at high school, which has been really exciting. Um Achillea, who's not here, um is really into it, so you should ask her about uh hacky sack next month. Um and also I know I'm not supposed to but supposed to talk about this cuz it's not a school activity, but I do kind of have to mention senior assassin. Um it's been a good time. I'm one of 15 ready to to get $1,000. I'm excited.

062Um and what our seniors did this year that made it really exciting is we did it in partners uh for a couple rounds, so you're working with a friend uh to to get another friendship amount, which was exciting. Although our musical finished, we got to spend more time uh as a group in the musical on our trip to see uh our Henderson alumnus Dean Maupin perform on Broadway in the Broadway show The Lost Boys. He played drums and electric bass at Henderson, uh didn't even perform in the shows, but got into theater when he was at NYU and is now on Broadway and is doing a great job. Um as soon as the musical rehearsals wrapped up, Henderson's drama club has started rehearsing for the play She Kills Monsters, uh which I've loved assisting directing

063and I'm only mentioning that cuz I want you guys all to come. Please. Thanks. Um also in the arts, three Henderson students were recognized in the Chester County High School Art Show, placing first and second and second in their categories out of 100 pieces 100's of pieces. Although our winter sports ended, Henderson athletics has continued to work tirelessly over the spring season. Uh we're hosting a spikeball tournament in honor of Cannel Connor, who was a Henderson alumnus who lost his life as a PA State Trooper back in March. Uh our girls lacrosse team is currently 13 and 1 and is first seed in District 1. Zach Evans, a member of our boys tennis team, uh placed second at the Chess Mont championships for men's singles and has qualified for the District 1 championship. And then

064our unified track team has been undefeated and is headed to the county championships. Now, before I finish, I get to do everyone's favorite part, which is uh plug all of the Henderson events uh that we would appreciate everyone to go to. Now, to ease some of that awkwardness, I'm going to present them as limericks. The arts are vibrant in May with drama club performing a play. Plus two concerts and an art show. We'd love to see you, although it's okay if you just sit in the back and crochet. But, in case you're not into art or athletics, might be where you start. Come to the championship for unified track or play spikeball trying to hijack. But, with heavy skills, that might not be smart. Um if you notice, I wasn't able to add the dates

065in there because it's really hard to rhyme with the dates. So, don't talk to me if you uh want more details. Thank you. >> All right, I do not have a limerick. I'm not that great with words, but I do have a little quote that when I was writing this, I thought it kind of represented the energy of the student body of Haverford High School. So, bit by bit, blossom by blossom, April's the time that spring starts popping. Um I know that we usually hear oh April showers bring May flowers. That's something we've all heard since we were younger. But, when I think of showers, I think of like bad things. I think of rain as something very negative, which then turns into like the positive flowers that we see in May. But, I feel

066in April the energy as the summer's arriving and the school year's wrapping up after like that long cold winter, I think it's really prevalent in everything that's been happening over at Reston. Uh one major example of this was Reston's annual Spike the Rock tournament. Um it's a yearly it's a happens every year friendly competition to raise money for cancer research and help those that are going through recovery, so it's very local uh local organization. Um it was hosted by Reston's Bringing Hope Home and in total this club has raised over $2,000, $200,000 over the past 8 years with this year we raised over $60,000. So this Friday we tallied up the money and all together as a school we raised $60,000 for cancer research. And since it was a friendly backyard volleyball tournament, the event

067was complete with sunny weather, music, food, bouncy houses, and of course lots of volleyball. Um but the event is not wrapped up yet. Our winning team has yet to be determined, so tune in this Friday and Thursday this Thursday and Friday, sorry, during night time to see our final four teams play, but all in all it was another successful fundraiser. Another school-wide event was our annual film contest. So RHS students created, filmed, and directed their own short movies demonstrating not only what they learned in video production classes, but also their own individual interests. Um from a vigilante film to murder mysteries, this year's contestants were especially talented with Dreamscapes by Andrew Am being this year's winner. And then also this month, Reston Cares, a group focused on building lasting connections between upper and underclassmen, met

068to discuss several new initiatives focused on engagement and outreach, reaffirming its commitment to mentorship and school-wide community support. Um another upcoming event that we have actually this week is our career day with over 60 colleges and organizations in attendance, students will have the opportunity to explore all post-secondary and career options, also showing our school's commitment to preparing students for the future. In terms of academics, music, and sports, Westtown has been achieving and performing very well this past month. So, on the musical front, we also had the opportunity to send two students to All-State competitions. So, junior L L made All-State choir and sophomore S- C made All-State orchestra. So, well done, Knights. And this past weekend, our Science Olympiad team traveled to compete in the state competition, winning 10th place overall in the state. Um

069in sports, both boys and girls lacrosse have been crushing it, and boys volleyball, our newest sport, has quickly become a school-wide favorite. Um I'm also happy to report that girls track and field won the Ches-Mont American Conference, and our girls flag football placed first in the Ches-Mont league with playoffs beginning today and an exciting championship game taking place this Wednesday. So, good luck to them. Another highlight of this month was the Best Buddies talent show. So, our Best Buddies team traveled to Conestoga to compete, performing a dance routine to music from Zootopia. If you saw the video, the performance was very well received, and their energy was infectious. They got everybody up and bouncing to the beat, and it was an amazing way for our Best Buddies club to showcase their talents and build confidence.

070And then lastly, to end on a high note, this past month this past week, actually, we celebrated junior prom. So, junior students and their guests enjoyed a wonderful night with the theme night in the garden, hosted by the class of 2027. Everyone looked stunning from their posts. I was doing a little bit of stalking. Everybody looked gorgeous. And from all the photos and the smiles plastered on everyone's face, we can assume it was a very fun filled evening. Thank you. >> Uh thank you so much for your report. Uh I was disappointed last time that you weren't here, Jackson, cuz I wanted to tell you again what a great job you did in the musical. I'm disappointed that she is not here because she cuz she can dance. If If you were at House of

071Hope concert, she got up on stage and danced moves. >> [laughter] >> And And that group the students at East raised, I think it was like $12,000 for our Home of the Sparrow. Um if you've been in anything here I missed it, but let me know because I I bet you have the same kind of skill that these other two do. Um just going to these events, it's just really a so much fun and just to be able to see what you all are doing. Things like all academic team, the different musical festivals and uh lacrosse uh girls flag football, so many things that the best best buddies uh competition, uh talent show, I haven't heard of that. I've heard of best buddies, but I hadn't heard of this particular event. You I don't know

072how you all have time to do all that you do, but we're so glad that you're getting your money's worth out of your high school experience. Thank you so much for your presentations tonight, appreciate it. Next, Ms. Ferraguto Rita, uh please give us the monthly personnel report. >> Hi all. Um so we are continuing to see some good movement on our hiring. We've made 38 offers since um hiring started on March 9th for next year. Um we have 15 transfers on the report this month, 13 of which were teacher originated, so really delighted to see teachers having more agency and choice in their opportunities within the district. Um on the retirement report, we have 13 people who together have worked 308 years for the Woodstock area school district, 219 total years of teaching, which means

073an impact on 16,425 children's lives. So, thanks to them and their incredible contributions to the district. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the April 27th, 2026 personnel recommendations as presented? Director Fry, is there a second? Uh Vice President Bevilacqua. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. Thank you. Next is approval of the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the April 27th, 2026 consent agenda as listed? Dr. Deatry. And is there a second? Director Jackson. Any questions or comments? And all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say nay. The motion carries. We now move to the monthly school board committee reports. First up is our teaching, learning, and equity committee report from Director Parkinson. >> Thank

074you. Thank you. The teaching, learning, and equity committee meeting was held on Monday, >> [clears throat] >> excuse me, April 20th, 2026. During the meeting, in our capacity as an oversight body, the board was presented with the Collegium Charter School review for 2024-2025 by their CEO and members of their K-12 academic leadership team. This was a comprehensive review of the school's staffing, student enrollment, and demographics, state and national assessment data, an AP summary, as well as curriculum and program improvements and enhancements. The TLE committee also approved the 2025-2026 calendar closeout as presented by Dr. Missett. And to reiterate, senior walk will occur on Tuesday, May 26th. The last day of school will be, uh, for students and teachers will be June 12th. And graduations will occur on June 2nd for East, June 3rd for Henderson,

075and June 4th for Rustin. The committee also approved the resolution as required by 15-1502A of the public school code designated local holidays for the 2026-2027 Westchester Area School District calendar. The following five days will be designated as additional local holidays and adopted into the school calendar by the board for 2026-2027. Those days are as follows: Labor Day, September 7th, 2026, the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 27th, 2026, Martin Luther King holiday, January 18th, 2027, Presidents' holiday, February 17th, 2027, and a spring break day, March 26th, 2027. The next schedule committee meeting is May 21st, 2026 at 6:30 and is >> Thank you, Director Parkinson. Next up Next up is our Personnel Committee report from Director Fleming. >> Thank you, President Durnell. The April Personnel Committee meeting was held immediately preceding tonight's board meeting. The committee approved

076the new job description of supervisor for strategic initiatives and district partnership and the new job description of job coach. And we also approved the Vector Solutions contract. I do have four agenda items for the board to vote on tonight. The first is approval is requested for the new job description, supervisor for strategic initiatives and district partnership. I so move. All those in favor say I. I. >> We have a We have a first from uh Director Fleming. Is there a second? And is there a second? Uh Vice President Benoit was the second. Questions or comments? >> Okay. Okay. Um so um I So we'll take it >> now. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Nay. >> Eight to two. Uh, motion carries. >> Okay, next up is approval is

077requested for the job description of job coach. I so move. >> I have a first from Director Fleming, is there a second? Director Jackson. Any questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Exactly. >> Any opposed, say nay. Any opposed, say nay. The motion carries. >> Okay, and this is the third, so I believe I only have three. There's four, but I only have three. Yeah, so let me know if I'm missing one. Approval is requested for approval of the Vector Solutions contract. I so move. >> I have a first from Director Fleming, is there a second? Uh, Director Parkinson. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, say nay. Motion carries. >> Okay, I believe I um It's because you said four,

078but I'm I got to go back. That was correct, right? There's only three that we did. We did all four, right? So, that is my report for this evening. >> Thank you. Thank you, Director Fleming. Uh, next Vice President Ben Walcott will now give us the property and finance committee report. >> Thank you, President Journell. The property and finance committee was held last Monday, April 20th. Uh, the first item on the agenda, as we normally do, Mr. Skelly reviewed the budget forecast model. Um the net projection changes for the 25-26 report an increase in fund balance designations for future millage increase of 195,763. Mr. Skelly then reviewed the changes to the 26-27 projections and the utilization of those 25-26 savings. They result in a budget gap decrease of $1,952,250. Ms. Scully reviewed the forecasting millage

079calculations that Chester County will have a tax increase currently at 3.5%, which is under the Act 1 limit for Chester County. The administration will continue to review these projections for potential savings to reduce millage impact for the 26-27 final budget. Ms. Scully then presented the Property Finance Committee and the rest of the board uh the proposed 26-27 general fund budget, which includes an overview of the Act 1 process and taxation limits, the 26-27 budget challenges facing the district, a 10-year historical look at these mandated expenses and subsidies, a comparison of the revenues and expenses for 25-26 and 26-27, and a market value analysis, and the 26-27 per so proposed millage analysis. The 26-27 proposed expense budget increases uh from the 25-26 budget by a total amount of 10.9 million, which is 3.2% to 3.26%. The

080largest increase was staffing and employee benefits, which totaled up to 6.5 million, professional professional student services of 2.7 million, debt services and property of 1 million. The 26-27 proposed budget revenues increased by 5 million, which uh equates to 1.7% over last year's 25-26 budget revenues. Ms. Scully reviewed the budget reviewed a market value analysis schedule, which compared the PA State Acquisition Board market values for for last year's 25-26 and next year's 26-27 for Chester and Delaware County. The proposed 26-27 budget reflects a 2.5% millage increase in Chester County, and currently a 7.7% increase in dollar count. Mr. Scully then presented the uh Property Finance Committee the resolution to to adopt the proposed final 2026-2027 budget in accordance with the Act 1 timeline. Mr. Scully advised the committee that changes can be made up to the

081proposed final budget um which will be approved next month in May. And I do have a motion uh tonight to the board for formal approval. The The motion reads as follows, approval is requested of the resolution to adopt the proposed final budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. I so move. >> Made by first from Vice President Beblawi, is there a second? Director Fleming. >> I second. >> Mr. Short, are there any questions or comments? Okay, Mr. Short, this uh this motion calls for a voice vote. >> Sorry, just have one clarifying question. Um Vice President Beblawi, for Westchester, did you say 2.5 or >> It's 3.5. >> 3.5 for Chester County. >> Thank you. >> Vice President Beblawi? >> Yes. >> Director Fleming? >> Yes. >> Director Campbell? >> Yes. >> Director Parkinson? >> Yes.

082>> Director Jackson? >> Yes. >> Director Dietrich? >> Yes. >> Director Fry? >> Yes. >> Director Bond? >> Yes. >> President Durnell? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. >> All right, continuing on, I have a few more items. Mr. Scully then reviewed the as he does annually the food service program equipment purchasing and renovation plan. The schedule accounts for all equipment that will be replaced as part of the cafeteria renovation project and spans from the 2026 year, current year, through 2034. The 2026-2027 equipment replacement budget totals 734,700 and includes 400,000 earmarked for the high school lunch program. Mr. Scully reviewed the funding analysis schedule for the replacement plan and the plan will be utilized utilized existing cash within the food service fund to fund equipment replacements. Continuing on Mr. Burster, our director of

083facilities, presented the committee with bid results from a previous approved 25-26 capital reserve project and this was the continuation of district-wide floor replacement at Pennwood Elementary School. Mr. Burster then provided the committee with bid results for a previously approved 24-25 capital project which consisted of our ongoing projects for access control replacement and building automation system which will be done at multiple schools. Mr. Burster then presented the committee with bid results for a previously approved 26-27 capital project and then included the following East High School partial roof replacement and East High School masonry restoration gym rising wall. We approved those bids as stated. Mr. Burster then presented the committee with bid results for previously approved 26-27 capital reserve projects. They consisted of quite a few items here. It was the continuation of district-wide playgrounds at West

084End Elementary, district-wide floor replacements at East High School, and Henderson High School, Henderson High School dressing room roof, Rustin High School roof refurbishment, Rustin High School lighting LED upgrades, Rustin High School stadium lighting LED upgrade which is another contract from the small contract list, lighting for some lightning protection lightning protection, Stetson Middle School boiler tube replacement, and Stetson High School Stetson Middle School HVAC pump replacement. All these bids were approved as stated. And then the last item Mr. Burster presented the committee with bid results from previously approved 26-27 capital reserve project and that was Rustin High School parking lot seal coating and uh this one this one basically came in at a bit of award almost twice the price of what was budgeted. Therefore, it was recommended not to award this contract this time, and

085the facility department will evaluate the scope and budget re-advertise the project at a later date. The The next property and finance committee meeting will be held on Thursday, and it's Thursday, May 21st, and that concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you, Vice President Malafa. Director Dietrich will now report on policy review committee meeting. >> Thank you. Policy Review Committee did not meet this month. Our next meeting will take place on Thursday, May 29th, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. That's my report. >> Thank you, Director Dietrich. Uh Director Fleming, can you provide us with a legislative report? >> Yes, I can, President Durnall. Uh on uh Friday, April 17th, the ZCAIU Legislative Committee hosted a breakfast uh at the IU. All of Chester County school board directors and student representatives were invited, as well as

086the state legislators who represent our districts. There was a very good turnout both of school board uh directors and also our uh legislators. Uh we had a uh very good discussion and presentation by several of our superintendents, including Dr. Christopher. Um the topics included special education funding, basic education funding and equity, and unfunded mandates. Uh after the presentations, the board directors were able to uh speak directly with the state legislators at our table, and which led to a lot of productive and interesting conversations. So, it's a really good event, so I um Um, encourage um the all of our board directors in the future to go. I know everybody, we had a good turnout and um, everyone tried to attend. And the next CC, we did have a CCIU uh, legislative uh, liaison meeting last

087Wednesday, but I don't have anything to report from that and uh, the next meeting is the It's always The meetings are always the Wednesday before our Monday board uh, meeting. So, I'll have a report on updates next month. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Fleming. Uh, we have two other business agenda items to consider. Vice President Babula, please. >> Yes. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Director Fiori, please share what's going on. >> Um, the Chester County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 15th Child and Career Development Center, Coatesville Campus. At this meeting, Dr. Shavon Leavy, Director of Student Services introduced three principals representing the Child and Career Development Center campuses during Coatesville, Eagle and Great Valley. Um, each principal shared highlights and updates from their respective campuses providing the board

088with an overview of continued growth, student support and facilities progress of that across the CCDC program. Then we heard from Ms. Marian Linehan, Director of Human Resources who introduced members of the Human Resources team uh, to talk about the special education and teacher pipeline. Their presentation focused on how strategic partnerships and innovative certification pathways are helping to address the growing shortage of certified special education teachers both locally and across Pennsylvania. Then uh, finally Dr. Fiori recognized Joe Lubitsky, mad director of administrative services, on receiving the password Gary E. Reeser award at the 71st annual conference on May March 25th. We also approved contracts with districts for CCIU to provide services such as structured literacy, professional learning, Kim's child accounting services, professional learning and coaching services and health services. Approved a grant agreement with Pennsylvania Department

089of Labor and Industry, which will provide funding to support the launch of the next gen health career training pre-apprenticeship program through a partnership with Drexel University. Approved the 2026-2027 marketplace services budget and the 2026-2027 marketplace services pricing schedule. And we approved all other routine business. The next CCIU Board of Directors meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at the TCHS Brandywine campus in Downingtown. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Dietrick. Now, we have two other businesses in items to consider. Vice President Bebacqua, please. >> Yes, I do have a motion this evening before settlement agreement. Approval is requested of a settlement agreement with the PA Leadership Charter School. I so move. >> I will first assume Vice President Bebacqua. Is there a second? Dr. Dietrick. >> Any questions or comments?

090>> All in favor, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The motion carries. Vice President Bebacqua. >> I just want to go past the Director Parkinson. >> Okay. >> Yes, so I have a motion. Approval is requested for the reading league agreement in the amount of $78,000. I so move. >> I will first assume Director Parkinson. Is there for Vice President Bebacqua. is the second. Questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Any motion carries. Uh next up uh we have comments from residents who have signed up. Do we have anybody signed up for >> We do. We have five commenters. >> Okay. >> So, I'll read the statement. >> Thank you. >> Uh now is the time for public comment by registered residents. Commenters were required to register prior

091to the start time of the meeting in accordance with board policy 903. Registered commenters will be called to the podium to speak. Commenters should start their comments with their name and municipality. Each commenter should be limited to 3 minutes. Speakers are asked to direct their commentary to the board as a whole. Comments may be terminated if they exceed 3 minutes or if they comment comments are obscene or threatening in nature. The first commenter is Steve Sobiech. >> Hello. Thank you. Steve Sobiech, resident of East Bradford High School, former teacher at Henderson, retired. Long time no see happy people out there. Okay. I first of all like to commend Jackson and for going to the CCIE academic championship. Your reporter on the ground in person. He was there. I was alone. Okay. Also, I was at

092the April 18th Eastern Division Eastern Regional Finals where Henderson played 10 matches. First of all, they defeated Unionville and STEM in the Chester County Academic Competition qualifying them for the state competition which is this Friday. Uh and then they went to the Eastern Regional Academic Team Tournament where they had to play 10 teams. They were undefeated and defeated STEM once again in the finals. Uh also, as I said, they're going to the national tournament at the end of May. They're going over Memorial Day weekend. Uh there are three 2 320 teams that are going. Uh and there are 12 teams from Pennsylvania, and Henderson is the only school that qualified two teams to go. And so they're uh bringing their second team with them. Uh and right now they are ranked out of 350 quiz

093bowl teams in the country, they're ranked 18th. And so I commend Brian Johnson, the coach of the team, the players who put in practice time three times a week and on weekends. Uh they go to tournaments, and sometimes they go to tournaments on their own. Uh and as I said before, they always like to go under the supervision uh since Mr. Johnson can't attend with them, under the supervision of the uh Samuel Barber boarding school. One of our most famous graduates of Westchester I.S. Thank you. Oh, also, uh for all of you people that had your brackets busted in March, uh Henderson will be in its bracket, and you can follow them live. Okay? And I think that everybody should be filling in only one team in their bracket. Uh and as I said, last

094year they went through the first 10 preliminary rounds, and then they made it to the final uh semi-finals. Eight more rounds after that. It's a grueling Saturday and Sunday for them to get to perform well, and looking forward to them performing well again. Thank you. >> The next commenter is Carly Nagel. Good evening, everyone. Uh my name is Carly Nagel. Uh my husband and I have two students in elementary, third and fifth grade at Penn Wood. I'm joining you this evening to share something very important. Uh and my mother told me to never come empty-handed, so I have a gift for each of you, which is a new book. Um so when the meeting adjourns, I'd like to gift each of you personally with one of these books that I have brought with me. And

095it is a book about education. Um So, as a parent interested in providing my kids with a quality education in a safe setting, this book was very eye-opening for me. That's why I took the time, energy, and money to make sure that I could invest in bringing a copy for each of you. Um this is the Digital Delusion book. Um it was just published this year. And the message from author Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, who is also an educator and a neuroscientist, is clear. Our children are struggling at school. Dr. Horvath points out that schools were once alive with deep learning and driven by human connection. But sadly, they are now dominated by screens. If you look around the classrooms from K through 12 in our district, you will see that this is absolutely the

096case. Horvath documents the impact and says the result is unmistakable. Falling performance, fractured attention, and the slow erosion of rigorous thought. COVID opened the doors to expansive use of technology in our schools. It was necessary. It was useful during that time and those conditions. Six years ago. However, the time has come to re-examine the usefulness and the safety of the technology that was deployed and to balance the approach to screen time in our district with evidence and purpose. This is not a call to reject technology in our district. This is a a call to reclaim real learning and protect our children from the many devastating effects of excessive screen time. The EdTech juggernauts, for-profit companies, have sold us a bill of goods in the name of their bottom line. These companies told us that classroom

097technology was progress. It was not. In this book, Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath uses decades of neuroscience and education research to dismantle core myths driving the EdTech movement. He shows us that in our district, we can adopt a research-based, practical playbook to put our talented teachers, where people not programs, back at the center of our education. Now that we know better, we must do better for our children and our teachers. This book is a must-read and the time is now. I look forward to the positive changes that will come that will keep WUSD on top, and thank you very much for your time. >> The next commenter is Chris Shores. >> Good evening. Thank you for your time. Uh father of two, my daughter is a second grader at Mercy House, my son is four and

098will be a a kindergartner in a couple years. Um it's my understanding that there is no policy or guidance document or memorandum, anything written down at all about the use of uh iPads in school. Um Every teacher has an iPad for every student, but they're not really told what they're to use them for, what they're to not use them for, uh controls to put in place to make them safe and effective for the students and that not to be a distraction. It seems like it's a kind of a free-for-all. And if that understanding is correct, my biggest concern coming tonight is to be told, "We recognize that's a gap in policy. We're going to prioritize the development of that policy. We're going to get right on it." Respectfully, that is not the right answer. The

099The right answer is we need to reset. You got to take them out of the schools before the plan is in place. The plan needs to be in place before those can get out there. Right now, it's been out of order. The screens are in there. The iPads are in there. Everyone's got the technology. We don't have a plan. The time is to The time is now to make that plan and wait until that's fully developed and everyone is trained on it before they're uh implemented. And that's really the heart of it. Thank you. >> The next commenter is Julia Lambert. >> Board members, Superintendent Christopher, and other district staff, thank you for allowing my daughter Charlotte and I the opportunity to speak with you again. You may remember that we were here last month

100to advocate for color guard at all three high schools. We wanted to give you a final update on the season. We had our open house on Monday, 4/6, and it was fantastic. Thank you, President Durnell, Directors Parkinson and Jackson, for attending. The kids, staff, and parents appreciated you coming. We hope you had a great time. The kids were beyond thrilled to perform in their home gym in front of a crowd for the first time. Um the crowd was amazing and so supportive. But I do think the kids' favorite part was when they got to invite people down to learn how to spin a rifle, a flag, or a saber. It was pretty cool. We would definitely love to make this an annual event and include other performance sports in the future. Next up was championships.

101While I'll let Charlotte fill you in on that, I wanted to make um express gratitude to Dr. Conway and Dr. Otto for providing transportation. It was an incredibly long day for the kids. It was very emotional and to be to think of them driving home um at 12:30 at night in the morning was just untenable. So, we really appreciated that support. Um let's see. So, this color guard season, 19 students at Henderson practiced for hours. They traveled 304 miles for competitions. They held three dine and donates and had three bake sales and spent eight hours bonding as a team in other activities. What you can't see is the progress that they made not only as a team but as people. The confidence they gained, they learned to work hard together and trust each other and

102to believe in themselves. It was a season to be really proud of. The main reason for me coming tonight is to once again encourage you to support the performance sports, color guard, cheer, and dance. The dues that need to be charged to have a successful program like these really becomes a barrier to entry and all kids should be able to participate in these fantastic sports if they want to. Coaches and directors should be paid. They shouldn't be required to volunteer that 138 hours of their time. That's a lot. Performance sports do not get practice space ahead of outside groups. At Henderson, Mr. Fitch was fantastic to work with. He worked us in where he could. But other schools don't have a Mr. Fitch and they had to look for outside places to train. Especially in

103in colorguard, that can lead to injury because kids don't know where they are supposed to be. They need that space ahead of outside groups. So, please, as you look to next year, considering allowing that scheduling to happen. For us not to have to pay for space neither in school or outside schools. Thank you so much for your time and your consideration. >> All right. Our last speaker is Charlotte Lambert. >> Hello, again, school board members. My name is Charlotte Lambert and I'm a junior at Henderson High School and one of the captains for our colorguard team. I was also here last month and you will definitely be seeing a lot more of me and hopefully other members of my team as well. They're unfortunately not able to be here tonight. So, as my mom said,

104our season has recently wrapped up and I'm kind of going to go over the things that she did. So, we started out with our friends and family night, which was a huge success. Um we were able to spread awareness and perform in our at home gym, which was so amazing. As someone who's done three years in colorguard, I'd never once performed for people at my school. It really meant a lot. And we also raised $600, which is very important for paying for our season. Um so, thank you so much, again, to the president or not president, yes, president, to our band directors Parkinson and Jackson for coming and supporting us. And then, we had our championships on April 18th, like my mom said. Um so, our team, as well as East, compete in regional A

105as we were promoted last season because we scored so well. And then, Rustin competes in novice and since I'm here, I'm going to brag for all three of us because we have to support each other. So, Rustin got sixth out of 10 guards with a score of 81.14. East got ninth out of 10 with a score of 78.96. And our team got eighth out of 10 with a score of 79.6, which was an insane improvement from how we started at our first score of the season, which was a 56.32, which is an improvement of 23.28 points in just 3 months. And our team was only made up of four members who had completed more than one season. So, the remainder of the 19 were either rookies or had only done one season before, which is

106really impressive that we were able to learn and improve that much in that little time. On that day, we started practice at 9:30 a.m. and didn't get back home to Henderson until 12:30 a.m., which is 15 hours and a very demanding day. So, again, thank you to Dr. Conway and Dr. Auto for buses because I cannot imagine uh us driving ourselves home after all of that long, stressful day. So, again, all of this to say that I really want you all to keep us in your minds and in your hearts as a program you want to see succeed. Our ultimate goal is to have the support and the interest to become further recognized as a sport group in the future. We know the road to becoming further recognized is long, but we ask that you

107remain aware of us and track our progress because we can really make this activity that is so unique, amazing, accessible, and appreciated as it deserves to be in our school district. So, thank you so much for your time, and I also have these things that I give to the secretary. Um that that's just the graphic with our statistics from this season as like my mom stated. So, thank you all so much for your time, and I hope you have a great day. >> Thank you everybody who came to speak tonight. Thank you. We appreciate you taking the time. See you. Our next board meeting will be held on Thursday, not on Monday, Thursday, May 28th, uh 2026. And let me pull my quote for tonight. Uh as this as April is National Autism Awareness Month,

108I have two quotes. Uh first is by Greta Thunberg. Uh, she says, "I have Asperger's and that means I'm sometimes a bit different from the norm and given the right circumstances being different is a superpower." And I have a short quote from Temple Grandin who's actually going to be in town speaking this weekend. Um, the world needs all kinds of minds. And with that I'd like to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a second? I need I have a motion to Do I have a motion to adjourn? Director Fleming is first. Uh, Director Parkinson is the second. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Meeting is adjourned. Thanks for coming.