West Chester Area School District Committee Meetings and Monthly Board Meeting 3/23/2026

001Good evening. Welcome to the March 23rd, 2026 policy review committee meeting. Going to start by taking role. Director Blocklin >> here. >> Director Fry is not here tonight. And Director Jackson >> here. and I'm here. So, there are three of us here. Uh, do we have any public comment? >> We do have one public comment tonight. like to come up to the podium, please state your name and your township and you'll have three minutes. >> Hi everyone, Judy Defonso here. Still living in East Ocean Township of all places and I have some comments on some of the uh policies under review for tonight. Um policy 122.1 which is activity fees. I know I saw on social media this weekend someone was confused with an activity fee versus a field trip fee. And I don't know

002if maybe we should add some clarity to the uh policy to state that this did not include field trips or something like that to kind of make it crystal clear. Um let's just say 236.1 friend of mine had a pro problem with a drug assessment policy in their school district. So I always I need to to to talk on this one. Parents aren't getting notified. I I think that if your child threatens someone, the parent should be in the loop on this. So, I mean, make it part of the policy. Maybe, you know, I mean, I'm sure that some parents will say, you know, let them deal with it. And other parents are, especially child with an IEP, they may want to kind of do a little bit of, you know, interference. to make sure

003that they don't say the wrong thing to the police, whatever. Um, policy 619. Um, I was wondering if we ever get any federal grants because it looks like, um, we would only allow, you know, the state to look at our audit report kind of thing. So, I don't know if the feds should also be included as far as, you know, who we open our books to. Um and lastly two 23 AG1 on student parking they there were changes that show that the preferred method of payment is to use pay schools which is an electronic fund transfer and then at the bottom there's a check box for like you know the amount and whether they're paying by um cash or check. There's no box for electronic funds transfer. Maybe we should add one of those to

004the bottom. Make it easy so that we have a uh a better little audit trail there. So, and uh that's it for tonight on policies. Thank you. Thank you. Um now I'm going to move to approval of committee meeting minutes. Um I'm going to ask for approval of the meeting minutes. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? That was three eyes and we will move into approval starting with policy 122.1. >> Good evening everyone. So uh minor changes to policy 122.1 that's student activity fees. I think one of the areas is we were discussing if we have a season where someone hasn't paid their fee uh season ends we see what do we do? So there is a caveat in here on the second page that we said um activity fees shall be

005paid before student receives a uniform or participates. So the idea is we want students to pay these fees. These fees essentially are generated to help fund the supplemental contract for the for the coaches. That's that's where it comes from. There is a cap. We'll talk about the cap in July because we will look to to change the the amount. But this was just a caveat that we wanted to include in here. most confusing to people. >> Any questions about that policy? >> Yeah, I just have a question in general. Is there a time by which a family needs to kind of claim a hardship for the activity fees before like the the sport season begins? >> There really isn't a timeline if they if they when the coach or the athletic director actually approaches the

006families. There there are forms we send that information out. There really isn't a timeline for that. That's a great question. because there could be a family that isn't aware of the activity fees and then when they find out they really can't afford it they could come to the coach then at that point >> and and just and if a family is and I think it might say frame red just lunches lunch families are not required to pay the fees so in pay schools it would already say paid is how it works >> okay thank you >> any other questions if not we can move to approval all in favor say I >> I any names All right, that takes us to policy 221. >> So, policy 221, dressing grooming is just an update. Uh, this

007is to keep us in compliance with the recent crown act, which just was changed here in Pennsylvania and just ensuring that we have um information in our dressing room policy uh that meets that legislation. Thank you. Any question? Any questions about this policy? If not, we can move to vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Any nays? >> All right. Then we are policy 236.1. >> Policy 236.1 has a couple just small changes uh just basically capitalizing the the actual sections. Uh the major change to it is uh language that basically requires a threat assessment team to have within its procedures and protocols consult to uh local law enforcement, juvenile justice agencies, county agencies, healthcare agencies, behavioral health providers, etc. So basically the district is now required to have within its procedures um methodology

008and practice to reach out to these other agencies which we've always worked with. >> Thank you. Any questions about that policy? >> Uh I did I I actually have the same question Mansono mentioned. Where does the role of the parents fall? If a child makes a threat, whether it's self harm or harm to somebody else, are parents notified as part of that process or where does that fall? >> So the the parents are notified as part of the process um both the parent of the student who made the potential threat and the parents of of the student who was threatened. Uh what is not done is we do not communicate specifics obviously out to protect the student's identity. beyond the actual parents. >> Should parents be mentioned at all in the policy or no? >>

009Uh I will say that it's not it's not listed in the in the updated language of the law. Um but it is always been our practice to communicate that. >> Any other questions? If not, we can move to a vote vote on policy 236.1. All in favor say I. >> I. Any names? >> That takes us then to policy 325. >> Same as the dress grooming for students. Same language is in this policy for for staff members. >> Any questions about this policy? I just want to say that I'm really glad to see us including this language because I think it's important to to spell out that these are things that people in our school district are protected from discrimination against. Any questions before we move to a vote? If not, all in favor say

010I. >> I. Any nays? And we're at policy 332. We added one word to this policy, two words, applicable loss. So, just there's really not much else in here. >> Any questions about policy 332? >> Just have a quick question just to kind of update me. Um, this almost reads, you know, very similar to like union language. Does this back up to to that agreement or is this in contradiction to any of that? >> Well, no, it wouldn't be in contradiction. It would back up to it. domain in terms of that um and and stating that we have to and and a lot of it's actually employment law that it backs up against and just ensuring that we have specific language related to um you know uh ensuring that people know that what their expectations

011are for attendance and work and those types of things. So no it does it would it would not be a contradiction language though. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? If not, we can move to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Any nays. That takes us to policy 619. >> Good evening. 619 um is policy for the district audit. Uh very minor changes. Uh what has been removed is the wording from PSBA recent or previously said the audit conducted by the auditor general's office and the auditor general office does not do school district audits anymore. So, uh, we have it listed as a state agency because we are not sure whether it's going to be PTE or another agency, but this is PSBA's recommended language that we remove the conduct by the

012order general. To answer Judy's questions, Judy, yes, we do get federal funds. Um, the majority or or the major uh funding that comes through the federal government is actually a pass through through the state. So, is included in our state. That would be medical access, NIDA. Our other funding which is title one, two, three and four is minor um in funding. So we are not required to have an annual audit but we have our periodic reviews by the federal agency. So there is no requirement for an annual audit of our federal programs due to the fact that we are low risk. >> Thank you. Any other questions about policy 619? If not, we can move to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Any naysay? Then we're policy 806. >> This is just

013language. We're changing the word school to building. Uh we dropped his or her with the superintendent. Other than that, there are no changes to the policy. >> Any questions about this policy? >> If not, we can move to a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Any names? Now our policy 913.1. So 913.1 just minor edits, no substantial change to advertising sponsorships. >> Thank you. Any questions about that policy? >> Not we can take a vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Any nays? >> Great. And then we have oneformational item tonight which is about 223 AG1. >> 223 AG1. really uh we did make some changes um where we looked to add pay schools as an option. Also, you'll notice that we moved the due date, the online beginning August 1st, so

014we have all three high schools in agreement for that. So, August 1st, everybody would get their parking pass. >> Um any questions about that. >> All right. If there are no other questions, that moves us to our announcements, which is our next committee meeting is on Thursday for us, May 28, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. And we'll conclude our meeting for tonight. >> Two minutes. Get to the and welcome to the Monday, March 23rd personnel committee meeting. I'll take role. Uh I am here. We have Dr. Campbell here, Director Parkinson >> here, and Director Long >> here. All four are here. Our first item is public comment. Has anyone signed up for public comment? >> No public comment tonight. No public comment. Next is the approval of the February 23rd, 2026 personnel committee meeting minutes. Um

015may please say I to approve. Nay. >> I took sorry I >> I sorry. >> So for nothing to approve the minutes from February 23rd. The next item. The next item on the agenda is review and approval of the new job description and position manager of data services and Mr. Per will review. Good evening. The first position is the manager of data services. This is essentially one of our team members is retiring and they have a very technical job. uh they basically their role their their role is serves to uh as the interface between the student and employee data and that level of reporting that goes to the state. And so this is an updated job description uh for that position to account for the uh increased everinccreasing technical nature of the position. >> Okay.

016Thank you. Any questions or comments from the committee or board? Okay. Uh we'll move to I will move to vote to approve a new job description and position manager of data services. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Next on the agenda is review and approval of the new job description and position school security officer. So, this position is essentially a 10-month version of what we have for the campus safety officer, which is a 12-month position and allows us to address a need in the high schools. >> Any questions or comments? >> Is this a new position or an additional position? Are we adding empty like staff to this? >> It it is a new position. Yes. And just to clarify, is this the position that will serve as more

017of a rotating position to be able to fill in when other security personnel aren't available or will this have a permanent placement? >> They will have permanent placement. Go ahead. >> So the intent of this position is is to be embedded into the high schools. So, this is not a position that would necessarily go around from one building to another. It is in essence a part-time position that would help support the schools. Um, they would work during the school year and they would be embedded into the three high schools similarly to what the readers currently are and the high school level CSOS are. >> Thank you. And will there be three of each position hired then? >> Correct. There be one for each high school. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anybody else? question. >> All

018right. So, we have this would be the school security officer. We also have school resource officers and security greeters and campus safety officers. What's the other lineup? What's the chain of command if you will? >> Sure. So, the school resource officers are actually not employees of the school district. They are employees of the local law enforcement agencies. um they are there uh as a certified school resource officer to um help with the concept of community policing. So they are they are co-paid by the district and by um by their local agencies. Um their responsibility is to basically be a law enforcement's presence within our schools. Our campus safety officer is the highest ranking person among the the rest of the folks. uh their their process is to assist the administration in um managing the um

019the safety and security of the building. So they ultimately would be the point person at the building level for safety and security. The security greeters position is to in essence uh monitor the front door of the building, monitor cameras, access control, visitor management system um and make sure that folks coming into the building uh have their appropriate credentials. This new position uh would be akin to the greeter in the sense of like pay grade and responsibilities but the biggest difference to them is that they will be mobile within the school. Uh they will be able to assist us with with lunchtime bathroom monitoring, parking lot monitoring. So uh while I don't want to say they're the lowest of them, they they are akin in in job description types to the greeter. Uh and they will

020actually help support the greater for break times and um lunch times as well. Do they see that they'll be safety care trained? >> They will be. Yes. >> And um do these the people in these new this new position will they be in a uniform like identifiable by the students if they need help? >> Everyone on the public safety staff is in a uniform. >> Okay. Including the greeters now have the uniforms. Thank you. >> Anybody else? So, we'll go ahead and vote to approve the new job description and position of school safe school security officer. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries 40. Next up is approval of vacation leave addendum to the act 93 administrators compensation plan. Mr. Bonser. >> Yes. So this is uh essentially uh functioning

021as a recruitment incentive. What we have now is a system where during your first year you don't you earn your vacation time for subsequent years and so you can take a borrow you can borrow against uh the time but then the idea is you're short the following year. This would allow you to earn time as you work which is allows you to access it much more readily and and um works then to basically uh help encourage folks to apply here. The uh Kenn has done the same. Uh we do allow folks to go into the negative balance up to 5 days even with this new plan. And this would only apply to individuals hired after July 1st of this year. >> And u my understanding is up until now an employee really wouldn't be able

022to take vacation their first year. if it you can balance borrow against your upcoming balance, but then that second year you're then short a regular allotment of digits. And so it it's pretty disincentivizing when you first start. Mhm. >> And so the employee that after the the date if we assuming we approve this the employees will be acrewing the time and can borrow against their time they're going to acrew that year which would allow them to take a week of vacation in the year that they're hired. Is that correct? >> Correct. During the summertime I mean otherwise during the school year anything more than one day has to be approved by the superintendent or their delegate. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Just a question or a comment. I think it's a good

023change to help us compete with talent recruitment in this area. And then maybe um question around the cruel cost associated with the change. Has that been built into our budget assumptions? Thank you. >> Okay. We'll go ahead and vote on approval of vacation leave addendum to the act 83 administrators compensation plan. All those in favor say I. I >> opposed. Motion carries 40. And last on the agenda is approval of vacation leave addendum to the non-bargaining support staff compensation benefits and work environment guide. I guess that's Mr. Sponsor. >> Yes. Essentially, this is uh allowing for the same type of treatment making the system more equitable for all of our employees. So, this would include our nonbar group. Uh the other change to note is I think would allow a greater sell back up to

02410 days as opposed to just five days. And again, this would go into effect July 1. And my understanding is this is to try to prevent employees from having a larger bank of vacation days that then eventually will need to be paid out. >> Correct. >> When they leave the desk, correct? Is that correct? >> It allows us to spread out the expense over more years >> by allowing the employees to buy more of their vacation back each year. >> Correct. >> Any questions? Okay, we'll go ahead and vote uh approval. We'll vote for approval of vacation leave addendum to the non-bargaining support staff compensation benefits and work environment guide. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. A motion carries 40. Thank you, Mr. Conor. And uh that'll conclude the personnel committee meeting

025for tonight. The next committee meeting will be held on April 27th, 2026. It's almost a chance. So, wait a minute. You're welcome. Who needs sunscreen at 9:00 at night yesterday morning? Yeah, that's a We'll sort of order that tonight's the March property finance committee meeting. First item on the agenda is roll call. Director Long >> here. >> Director Fleming >> here. >> Director Jackson >> here. >> We're all accounted for tonight. Thank you. Any public comments? And I just Okay. Thank you. All right. The next item of the agenda is the approval of the of the minutes from last month's February 17th meeting. Nobody approached me with any comments. We'll just look for approval. So, all in favor of approving the February 17th property and finance committee meetings as stated. All in favor say I.

026>> I. Opposed. Good for nothing on that. Um the next item is we do on a monthly basis. Mr. Scully will review the budget forecast model for month. >> Thanks Gary. Good evening to the group. Um I don't have very many changes to the forecast model for tonight. So on page five we have some changes for our 2526 projections. I would say we made no changes yet for our 20 I want to make sure nothing for our 26 27 projections. Um we will look at them for for next month which is primary budget review for April. But for the month of March for 2526 we have reduced salaries by $200,000. that is mostly in Wayne's category which is actually um either overtime and or it is vacancies within his department that are being filled in

027another capacity. So we are reducing that. That is recognized true savings so far in the year. I think we you recall we've been doing this almost every month with savings for vacant positions in Queens area. Health benefits. I reduced our medical projections by $600,000. I have increased revenues with earned income tax by $200,000 and transfer taxes by $500,000. So the net of that is a $ 1.5 million reduction in our gap. We are still sitting with a about a $1.4 4 million gap in order to get us to an act one increase for the preliminary budget. Obviously, we need to get there by next month. So, we will get there by this month. And in April, we will be doing the preliminary budget review um which will be the forecast model as well as then

028the other the presentation of the preliminary budget. So, I really didn't have a whole lot for the model for this month. My apologies, but um I don't need an action item, but there are any questions that I think we're good at this time. Thank you for the uh budget forecast model update. The next item is the parameters resolution update from last month. >> So you do have a parameters resolution included in your budget packet and I do need a review. I'm sorry, I do need an approval. Um this can come out of committee as just a yay nay vote, but I will need a full vote of the board um as a roll call because it is new money. So it is a borrowing and the board needs to do a full roll call for

029this. This is the 37. It says $37 million. It actually about a $33 million one with everything that that the state requires us to put in there. We always increase it to 375. This is extra what we reviewed last month. Um the debt service is already included in the forecast model. It's already included in next month's uh budget in next month's I'm sorry, next year's budget. Um and all these numbers have been accounted for and we will be going out for borrowing on Wednesday. >> John, just maybe an update to the board on how the the bond market looks at the current time. bond market is actually still looking very favorable. So, we're hoping that we will see uh actually better results than what we presented to you last month. Um and if not, um

030what this parameters resolution allows me to do is we can reject the bids. So, what you are approving tonight is for me to have the authority to either accept them. I would accept them if they are in line with what you approved as part of the parameters resolution, which would show a debt service increase next year about $1.4 million. If it exceeds that and if it exceeds it by more than three to 5% I would reject it and then we would go back out um at another time but as it stands the latest from PFM and I did talk to John Fry today uh looking very favorable for the bond market. Uh Moody's we did have the Moody's review and Moody's did reaffirm the district's AAA rating. Um same comments that they've had in the

031past is that we have um a good tax base that we are um conservative budgeted practices that we have a they I didn't want to call it a sizable fund balance, but they called it something similar to a sizable fund balance. Um, but they do want to make sure that we are not depleting our fund balance. That is the only thing that they caution that could have the possible chance of a reduction in the fact that if we were to draw down our draw down reserves. It is not in any of our forecast models that we would be drawing down reserves more than what you have already planned it to draw down. So, I thought that that was a really really favorable Moody's call. Thank you for those updates, John. So, as Mr. stated then

032property finance committee will approve a resolution tonight that'll go to full board approval roll call on that. So for the property finance committee tonight approval of the parameters resolution for the 2026 general obligation bonds in the amount of 37.5 million to fund the elementary and secondary renovations. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. We're good. We'll do that we'll do that as a full board approval tonight. All right. Thanks Mr. Skully. Mr. up next with the three items. First one is our 10-year service agreement with Crown Castle Fiber. >> Thank you. Uh this is the rate season uh where we get to go out and look for uh telecom services and equipment that brings the network uh the internet into our classrooms. Uh this particular motion I'm excited for. Uh we went out to

033uh scope out a more resilient wide area network. Um so Justin, if you don't mind showing the little map is probably be really hard to read. Um but uh that blue path is our existing fiber network. And the problem that we have had in the past and with that type of topology is if there's a break either by squirrel or myar balloon both of which we've had um it usually Murphy's law happens at the top up towards Spellelman and therefore everything to the south is disconnected. So the next uh what what Crown Castle is going to do for us one more >> uh you can see it's going to run the network up the right side now and come back into Spellman on a second path and what they have designed is they're taking our

034middle schools and our uh high school and they're doing clusters so elementaryaries will feed back into those points and those points will have two paths back to Spellelman. So we could we're still If we had a break between an elementary school and a and a cluster head, we have, you know, they that one school would be down versus, you know, most of the time 3/4 of uh so what's really exciting is Crown's not charging us any construction cost to do this. Uh and it's coming in right around where we're paying for what we have now. So bringing that forward for approval and then upon approval of this we will submit it for and hopefully get 40% reimbursement back on an annual basis. >> John, could you just tell them what is just the high? >>

035Yep. So uh was put into place oh goodness almost 20 years ago. Um there's a fee that they charge on telecommunications, your cable bill, uh your phone bills, and that uh goes back into a pot of money that the federal government put in place to bring internet connectivity to every classroom in the country. So uh it's um for poorer districts, they get more things that they can uh apply for. Uh but for where we stand, it allows me to charge our internet service, which we get through Chesco net and the IOU. we get 40% of that back. And then any networking equipment that brings the internet into the classroom. So that would be your switches in the closets, but then also your Wi-Fi access points for the laptops and stuff. So it's been a very

036nice program. Um, you know, networking equipment is not cheap. And that's what we've been using here in uh Westchester for for some time to uh as long as you go through their bidding process, you can uh get the 40%. >> All right. For the item Mr. McGowan just went through, we have approval uh for the property finance committee. It'll go for board approval again tonight, too. So, the approval for the property finance committee is approval of the 10-year service agreement with Crown Castle Fiber as stated. All in favor say I. I. opposed. You're there. All right, John, if you continue on with the switch network. >> Sure. So, again, this is an uh uh purchase here. Uh we are now doing uh we did two separate bids. One was for the actual switches in the

037closets. So, that's for the hard wiring, the phone system, um computers that are connected hardwire and uh replace replacing uh you know, not everything. This is a small percentage of our fleet, but we do that so that we don't have a big price tag in any one given year. So, as we do expansions in buildings or we add on to buildings, we need more access points and more network closets. Uh, so, uh, this is for the switches for the one bid and the second bid came in for the wireless access points, which are the things that look like smoke alarms up in the ceilings. uh and we want to average have one of those per classroom across the district. And again, we're refreshing uh in most cases there, but uh this will take care of

038uh some of the expansions uh with our construction projects. Optive Security was the low bid for uh both those bids. So, um it's a combined um total for $520,52.99 of which again I will apply for rate and try and % reimbursement for those purchases. >> Thank you, John. Any questions there? All right, two items then for approval. Time for the property finance committee and we'll get to the board for approval later. U approval of the purchase of switch networking from Optive Security. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. Okay. And the next approval goes hand in hand with that. As Mr. McGowan stated, approval of the purchase of the wireless network equipment from Optive Security. All in favor say I. I I >> opposed. >> Okay, good. That proves move that on for approval.

039All right. And that is the end of our items for tonight. And our next uh property finance committee will be on April. Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. Skipped right over you. I didn't see you there. No, I'm just kidding. I was trying to move this quick. All right. We got We have uh four items for for Wayne and the We have We have four items for Wayne tonight. Property advice. The first item is review and approval of the 2526 capital reserve bid awards. >> Okay. So, the first project that we have to review this evening is project G199, which was the East Bradford Elementary uh solar array project. We received two biders for this project. Uh the more responsible bidder of the two was Terasol Engerol Energies uh in the amount of $957,000. What I can

040share with the board is that um while they were the more responsible of the two biders that we did have, I would say that they were actually not a responsive bid. We did not receive uh multiple pieces of information that are required to be a responsive bid. Uh we have also done a cost analysis uh of installing the solar array and it would actually end up being a net loss to the district over the course of the 25 year window. So because of those two things, my recommendation to the board would be that we reject all bids for the solar program. >> Everybody understand there are any questions for everybody? >> So we won't be coming back to the solar project. We're throwing that out and we'll find other green initiatives in the future. Is

041that >> absolutely. So, so my recommendation um if if we unfortunately wouldn't move tonight, we would not have time to remit this project and have it done in time for any of the federal um things that available, funding available. Um which would make this still further um less appealing from a financial from a fiscal standpoint. Um we are always looking at different green options. Um we've changed some of our flooring materials and building materials over time to um be more social conscious uh and green conscious as well. Uh we we will continue to look at different things. Unfortunately, it's just this one here doesn't seem to be the best use of funds for my recommendation. >> Thank you. >> So, the item from property finance committee tonight is is for approval of the administration's recommendation

042to reject this 2526 capital reserve bid award for East Bradford Elementary solar panels. All in favor say I. I post good for nothing. And then continuing on away, we have the uh the capital project award. So this next project is project CO88, which is the East Bradford roof refurbishment project. U the most responsive bidder for this project was Jton Incorporated in the amount of $47,19. The original project budget was $975,125. Um, so we had no concerns with the actual um, bid itself. However, this project was being done to support the solar array. We still currently have 12 years left of warranty on our current roofing system. And if we're not going to put the solar array on, it just doesn't seem prudent to do so at this time. So my recommendation would be that we

043also reject this >> hand to hand as explained. So, for Property Finance Committee, tonight's uh motion is to approve the administration's recommendation to reject the 2526 capital project bid award uh for the East Brford Elementary roof. All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. All right. We're good to continue on there. Thank you. And the next item was a 2526 capital project award. >> Okay. This next project is a 2526 capital reserve projects. The first project here is G 210 which is the Rustin fieldhouse mechanical upgrade. Uh the HVAC portion of this the most responsive B bidder was innovative services contractors in the amount of $560,000 and the electrical portion of it most responsive bidder was AJM electrical in the amount of $46,560. And as you so as you can see the net total for

044this project of bid award would be in the amount of $66,560. Our original project budget for this was only $250,000. Um we believe that we could do a little better than this. Uh we need to go back as administration and sharpen our pencil and make sure that we're doing everything we can. Since this project isn't more than double uh what we had anticipated the project to be. We are again recommending that we reject all this >> and then we we'll stay tuned for you and your department to come back in a future time with an updated court closer to to the budget. Yes. Any questions on that? >> I'm just going to step back a little bit. Um is there ever an effort to keep the work local with the companies and how how are

045companies sought out for projects like this? >> So we advertise all of our projects through a platform called Penit. um we advertise out and and receive bids through that platform. So um we have a respon I mean we do certainly communicate with local contractors um but we have a responsibility to award the lowest responsible bidder which is a which is mandated by law. So um while we certainly do smaller projects with local vendors when we can keep them within the threshold um the larger projects it's really a matter of what their bid price is more often than not um Price is not always the only category for responsiveness, but it is certainly a major factor. >> Thank you. So, the item for the property finance committee tonight is approval of administration recommendation to reject the

04620 2627 capital reserve bid for the Rustin fieldhouse upgrades. All in favor say I. >> I >> opposed. All right. Continuing on, we have one other item left and that's the approval of the 2627 capital reserve bid awards for stat. >> Yes. So this project is G214 for the Stson Middle School interior painting phase one. Uh we are recommending award to Donna Rising Donald Risinger Incorporated in the amount of $62,200. The original project budget was $75,000. We would like to retain the remaining portion of those funds for any change orders or changes that are necessary. >> And we just add this a perfect example of what director Jackson just brought up. This is a Westchester firm. >> It is and and we've had very good success working with them in the past. >> All right.

047So for the property finance committee uh tonight we have the one motion approve of the 2627 capital reserve bid award for the interior painting at Stson Middle School. All in favor say I. I. >> I. opposed. We're good for nothing from there. And uh that is it for tonight's meeting and the next property finance committee meeting will be held next month on April 20th. That concludes our meeting for tonight starts at 6:30. Good evening and welcome to the March 23rd, 2026 teaching, learning, and equity committee meeting. It's going to be an exciting meeting today. Um, and we'll start by taking role. Dr. Campbell >> here. >> Dr. Dietri >> here. >> And Director Fry is not here today. And I'm here. Okay. Um, do we have any public comment this evening? >> Thank you. >>

048Okay. Next, we'll move to the approval of the February 17th, 2026 TLE committee meeting minutes. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Great. All right. And so now we'll move to our discussion item for this evening. We have one discussion item on a really important one on strengthening the high school learning experience by Dr. Connelly and team. I would say >> we're going to pass to Dr. Zig >> to start and then we'll we've seeded our time. >> Okay. Fantastic. Dr. Z, welcome. >> Jimmy, can I get that in writing? Good evening everyone. Can you hear me? >> All right, now we're good. >> Good evening everyone. I am here on behalf of Dr. Dormer this evening who was unable to attend due to a conference that she is attending. I'm here tonight to speak

049to the core instructional materials review for AP Physics 1. And this would have been presented last week. Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, we are taking two. Here we are. So, the board policy 108 AG1 specifies the process that needs to be followed for curricular resource review. And the administrative guideline outlines here the process for selecting a committee to review the instructional materials. Committee members include four teachers, one building administrator, one central office administrator, and two parents or guardians of students attending district schools. On the next slide, you can see the list of committee members that were present for the review of the physics materials. I will point out that when we went through this process, we did solicit multiple parents. However, not many parents wanted to come out to speak to AP physics content.

050Uh perhaps the subject matter scared them away a little bit, but we did we were glad to have Miss Trish Holl join us from Rustin to speak to the student experience. We considered several textbooks in this process and they are listed here for you on the screen. There's a Pearson text that's aligned with the AP College Board of Requirements for textbooks, the BFW, which encompasses both college physics for the AP 1 and two courses. And then the third text was the college physics AP1 12th edition. This is a newer edition of the current textbook that students were previously using in the course. As per policy, we solicited feedback using the rubric that's provided that reviews both the content and methodology of the text selection, the target audience as well as the activities and obviously the

051cost. And when the review process was complete and members had a chance to preview all of the various texts that were selected, they found that the college physics text, which is the same text that we're using currently, but the more recent edition, was the one that fit best in terms of the rubric feedback. having multiple representations of physics concepts to enhance student sensemaking. The sensemaking obviously is a significant component of the steels standards. The layout flowed nicely for high school students. It is a college course being taught at the high school level. There were real life examples which seemed to be more engaging to students. There's also however the math component when we think about physics and there were problems showing steps on how to solve those problems which is important as students are learning

052and applying the various formulas and algorithms necessary to solve those physics problems. It is aligned with the AP Physics one examination and we found that the examples provided and the explanations of abstract physical concepts were presented in a straightforward manner that seems palatable to a high school audience. So this is the newest edition of the textbook and this is what we are presenting to move forward with for approval at this time. Does anyone have any questions? How often do they typically release new editions of the textbooks? So this is 2023. When was their previous edition or in general? So this is the 12th edition of this particular textbook. And I would say that I don't know the exact gauge for how frequently, but I'm going to say typically a curriculum cycle is about every six

053years. And so the textbook companies seem to have that cadence to their release. there isn't that much of a difference in terms of the physical content. Uh when we look at the CERS for the AP physics exam and the college board when the college board reviews their courses for example like AP psychology was reviewed a few years back by the AP college board that's when you tend to see changes with the AP texts and that's mostly driven by that organization. Other questions? >> Okay. If not, then as we're on our discussion item number one, I will ask uh for approval requested for physics and NP physics core instructional materials. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Thank you, Dr. >> Thank you. Have a great evening, everyone. >> Thank you. And now without

054further ado, we'll jump back up to our discussion item for this evening, which lessening the high school uh learning experience. >> Well, good evening. >> There we go. Good evening everyone. Thank you for having us. So, I'm here with three of my colleagues. Um I have Dr. Jason Sherlock from Henderson High School, Dr. Sarah Graham from East High School, and Dr. Maggie Hunt from Rustin High School. So, we're really excited to talk about the high school schedule. And one of the things that we were able to do, we're going to provide you with an update tonight, but we've really taken the last year to reflect and reflect and pause over the last year and a half and some of the feedback that we received. Um, over the past year, the district's continued refining our work

055through conversations with students, staff, and families. these critical conversations with families in the spring and discussions with our high school staff uh and feedback activities with our students, we have continued refining the high school schedule for a 2728 implementation which we're really excited about. Um I think one of the things for us as a team is as we said a lot of reflection and we did get a lot of feedback from parents and students and staff and we said you know let's listen and let's share what we've learned in this past year. As we continued conversations with students, staff, families, and our community, we heard a consistent request for clearer clarity about how our schedule will benefit students, and how we would make sure we were ready to execute it. Everybody wanted to understand how

056it supports better learning, how it improved the daily student experience for all students, and how we're preparing schools and our educators for an implementation in 2728. And those questions really help guide the next phase of our work. And you'll see that spelled out on this slide. What clear benefits for students, you know, engagement in deeper learning, understanding the student experience, and then the readiness and implementation for 2728 implementation. And as we focused our work, we really looked at what is the feedback, what can we do in the past year, the past academic year, the 2627 school year, and then what was the result? Um, and and one area that I really want to really look at desire to better understand the student day. And we're going to spend some time tonight sharing about our student

057shadow days, talking about data we collected in real time with our students. Um, but that firsthand insight into how the student experience in their current schedule looks. Uh, and I'm going to talk about that in the next slide. The other thing that was really important for us is really sharing the benefits for students in this schedule because the schedule as we said is for the students and how does it benefit kids every day. So there you'll see 11th grader Liza Allen from Henderson High School. Uh she was my shadow day a few weeks ago. Uh we're in an FCS class. Uh we made a a cake. I don't know how the cake tasted. Hers is way better than mine, I'm sure. Um but my colleagues and I have spent a lot of time this year

058collecting data, real-time data with students. Liza, 11th grade student, is one of our 65% high school students who doesn't have a lunch scheduled. So, I was her shadow that day and I didn't eat lunch that day. And she is one of many students like that. Wonderful student, great day, lots of fun, lots of engagement in her classes. But it I did challenge her. I said, "You need a break at some point." And she said, "Dr. Connie, I'm fine." And she is fine. She's a great student. But having a shadow day, the opportunity as an administrator to spend the day with students. This Friday, I'll be an eighth grader at Stson. So, I'm very excited about that. Um, but really having that experience with our students and walking in their shoes and seeing what their day

059is like. It is very eye opening when you have that experience as as a former teacher, as a administrator, as a parent. It is very eye opening when we have that experience. Um, but it's an authentic experience and that's the one thing that we've talked about. So, I'm gonna turn it over to Dr. Graham to talk about uh sorry, student engagement. >> Uh thank you. Good evening everyone. Glad to be here. Talk a little bit about um the proposed schedule and uh really the student experience and the student participation in helping us uh learn more about what they need uh during their day. So, as you can see in the slide, the new schedule's designed to increase student engagement and uh really promote deeper learning. It'll allow for more meaningful opportunities uh throughout the school

060day, really more more time for learning because of fewer transitions. Um students will not only be able to explore uh content more deeply in their class blocks, uh but also engage in uh collaborative and ideally projectbased experiences, which we're looking forward to. Um the the updated schedule really paves the way for greater connections uh between students and teachers also just through increased opportunities uh for support uh feedback from them and um more time for individualized attention to meet students where they are and what they need. Um and a block of time will be available each day uh Viking block, warrior block, nighttime, whatever uh pertaining, you know, pertains to the school. um available for academic support and interventions for all students and um it'll be especially critical for students who have after school conflicts whether

061that be um athletic events, clubs or um commitments to their to their home lives. Uh so the new structure is really intended to keep students engaged and support overall um stronger student outcomes. Um it's also uh designed to support student wellness and just create um students have a more balanced and sustainable day. And Jimmy referenced this in his shadow day with a student who has a a full day and no lunch scheduled. Um it'll promote a manageable academic workload by uh providing time during the day to complete work, which ideally will reduce the stress that comes with carrying um additional work into the evenings. Um the schedule allows for smoother transitions between classes, helping students stay focused and organized. It offers flexibility for meetings with teachers uh participating in activities and the occasional early dismissals

062which will will now no longer um repeatedly disrupt the same classes like it did before. But overall, the new schedule um supports strong academic focus balanced with a healthy student experience. Now, I think my favorite uh part about being involved in this process um is that we've had students as our partners. Um each high school has a principal advisory council uh representing diverse voices throughout each school and these leadership groups meet regularly with us as principles to discuss their their experience. We've had a lot of time over the past year to discuss um how they feel in their classes and just their day-to-day lives um at East High School and Rustin and Henderson. The principal councils have also had multiple opportunities this year, which is new uh for the district to come together through the

063superintendent uh student council. Um, and these conversations have helped ensure that our most important members of the school community, which of course are our students, um, just continue to shape their own high school experience. And we've learned from students that they really do value choice. They value collaboration um, and exploration, which this new schedule will uh, allow for. Um and we've also discovered uh unanimously among all the students that lunch and learn has become pretty much a necessity for our students um for academic support, activity involvement and their social emotional needs. And finally for my portion I just want to um bring to your attention that this work connects directly to our district's portrait of a graduate. Uh the schedule really does create the conditions that allow students to build these skills of adaptability, communication,

064empathy, problem solving and responsibility really in authentic ways. Um the longer learning blocks support communication and collaboration, deeper exploration of the content supports uh responsibility and adaptability. And really our portrait just gives a guiding frame uh framework not only for our new schedule but just for our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and ensuring that all students have the opportunity to develop skills that our community values. So I'll turn that turn it over to Maggie. >> Jason I'm not Maggie. Dr. Christopher. Uh members of the board, thank you for allowing us to uh talk about uh the new schedule. We're very excited about um so one of the things that we need to start doing is is really start to prepare uh for this new schedule. Uh so instructional readiness and and I I can speak

065for the three of three principles where we've already undergone student engagement and and teaching and learning talking about student engagement. It's so important. Uh so this new schedule will will certainly we need to look at student engagement. Uh and next year uh we're going to have six designated days, professional development days uh to to uh really talk about student engagement, how to prepare uh to go from 42 minutes to 53 minutes. It does, you know, 11 minutes doesn't seem like all that much, but if you've been teaching for a long time, certainly you get into routines and you have to look at your curriculum uh and and and different strategies that we're going to be doing. So, we're going to be devoting most of our professional development uh next year to do that. We're going

066to be using our instructional coaches. We're going to be using our teaching and learning to look at the curriculum uh what what we need to tweak uh as we prepare to go to uh uh the new schedule in two years. Uh in addition uh a big one is physical readiness. Uh you know in looking at our existing spaces uh we need to look at what we need to do to prepare for this. Um you know just speaking at uh at at Henderson this year we we made some uh small adjustments. We took out some lockers uh and and really made a big difference. The kids are using those spaces. Uh they're using those spaces to eat, to hang out, to study. Uh those are and all three buildings. Uh uh those uh those uh changes

067took place. But we're going to look at library spaces. We're going to look at furniture. Uh at Henderson, for example, uh we have the um LGI uh which is a larger space and we put some furniture in there. So students are using that. We have a big courtyard uh which I wish I could put like a dome over top of it. Uh but uh that's not going to be in the cards. I'm not asking for that. But we did put some um uh furniture out there and that has been used as well. So we really need to get creative and and certainly a big one is having a second serving station. Uh having 1,400 students. Uh my you know for example my cafeteria uh we've seen about 350 right now. uh we are going to

068open that up a little bit and and look also look at a second serving station serving station at all three uh existing uh buildings. Next, I'd like to talk about the schedule itself. Um so, um the way it's going to work is is students will have the same opportunities as they do now. Uh there's eight periods, but in a given day, they're only going to go to six uh six classes per day. Uh so in the morning uh it's going to rotate uh between four blocks and then the afternoon it's going to rotate between four blocks. Uh so students will still have that same opportunity uh to take eight classes uh if they choose to. Uh this particular uh um what's up on the screen right now is a teacher schedule. So teacher will still

069teach five classes. Uh they'll have a duty. uh they'll have planning and then the other thing that that we're going to do it's a it's additional planning which could be uh uh professional learning such as common planning time. Um as someone that has done the schedule before when you schedule for 12 13400 students sometimes it's very challenging to have common planning amongst teachers. Uh so that's that this schedule is definitely going to allow for that. Uh the other thing that that we've been doing at Henderson is having peer observations. So uh my teachers actually went down to uh East Bradford and Pierce and they're going to East uh this week uh just to observe others teaching and we're going to be able to do a lot more of that within our school as well by

070having this schedule. Um so what you can see is that this is a math teacher for example uh who teaches algebra, algebra 2 and calculus. Uh so you'll be teaching three out of every four days of that class. So you'd be so to speak off one and it just rotates through the morning and a and afternoon schedule. The next slide is uh a student's day. Um so this was was really done purposely. We didn't want to um we looked at all of our programs. we wanted to make sure that we not only could do all of the existing programs but also enhance them. Um so many students although it's not something I encourage as a parent uh we have a lot of students that elect to take eight classes. Um and just as Dr. Connley's

071been uh shadowing I I had the chance to shadow one of my students and I'll tell you although I am 52 years old I was exhausted at the end of the day. Uh it was exhausting and when you have eight classes and then have to prepare and have homework for eight classes every single night, it it it is it it's very difficult. Uh so this schedule uh gives uh you would you would see six classes uh out of the eight. Uh and you know, for example, if you were a TCHS student at Henderson, we have over 100 TC TCHS students. um they would still be able to do their morning day and then go and do their shop in the afternoon. Uh and then the the big thing is now we have instead of a

07230 minute lunch and learn, now we'll have an hour lunch and learn where students can get help, you know, from possibly two teachers uh uh every single day and also have the chance to eat lunch at the same time. Um it's going to open up, you know, right now 30 minutes is it goes by very quickly. uh having that hour uh every day uh you know will just give kids a chance to kind of rest a little bit as Dr. Graham mentioned uh wellness is also a huge component to this but also interventions and getting help from your teachers in the middle of the day um and and uh other advantages all students will now have the opportunity to have a late arrival or early dismissal as it rotates on both ends. Um, and then,

073uh, from a sports, uh, standpoint, uh, our athletes right now, uh, you know, they they might have to leave at 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon, and if they have a math class, uh, you know, every eighth period, they're missing that same class over and over and over again. Uh, so that's definitely an advantage for uh, some of our student athletes, uh, that they're not going to be missing the same class over and over as it rotates through. Thank you. Now, >> now it's my turn. Um, just to to finish up, I think in my um time since I've been at Rustin, I've been able to see the work of our educators, our students for the first time, right in the seat. And what has impressed me the most is how well they work together.

074And we're constantly getting feedback to improve. Um, and that's part of this process right now. and we've looked together at um thoughtfully about the different pathways for our students. At Westchester, we have the opportunity for students to take many different pathways, and we receive feedback from teachers on how each pathway benefits their students, whether it's lab science or TCHS, um some of our exper experiential programs, um like child development, FCS, um what would work best for them. And so we've thought about each of that um in the planning. And we did have to get feedback, you know, go back and kind of get feedback from teachers and say, "This is what we thought at first, but now we know this is going to be better." And so we've thoughtfully put that into account as we're

075moving forward. Um the overall student experience um and working with the students at Rustin um this year and getting feedback from them um specifically through our principal advisory committee, what I love most is they're honest. You know, they don't sugarcoat it either. like they tell you this is what we need and this is how we think it can work. Now they're teenagers and we have to kind of reframe it sometimes. Um but they are asking for deeper more engaged learning and they're asking for that um through those relationships with their teachers. Um they're asking for that when you walk around at lunch and learn right now you see students in teachers classrooms and they might be working on an assignment but they also might just be talking to that teacher about something. Um, and I

076think that, um, creating that overall experience for teachers. This schedule lends to that. It lends to that opport that opportunity for those stronger connections in school. Um, there's a more balanced school day as we rotate through um, the schedule looking at, you know, my periods change and I have to keep up with it, but it also provides the opportunity for me to not miss the same thing, to see something different every day for our students that need that. um and preparing them for their future. Um the schedule allows for that. It allows for them to explore really what they're interested in um and help them learn. That's what high school's about. Learn what am I most interested in? Um and finally, like I talked about, we are going to continue throughout this process gathering feedback

077from students. We're doing that um monthly with our principal advisory committee um from students. Um we're doing that with our teachers. Um it's something we've talked about at Rustin specifically through our campus improvement program. Um and what is um really has been a great experience is and we talked about it Sarah mentioned it. This is you know you can see the portrait of a graduate as we're planning through this. One of the best experiences I have right now is working with our CA campus improvement team and they're asking, "Hey, can we meet again?" instead of just having our quarterly meetings, they're wanting to meet again so we can really put goals in place to make sure we're doing the best we can for the students in front of us. Um, and I didn't anticipate that.

078I didn't anticipate a teacher asking me for another meeting, but they're asking. Um, and I I've appreciated that process and I've appreciated here that you really do see how it all connects from the portrait of a graduate to the student feedback. It's all connecting. Um, we'll continue to monitor, we'll continue to provide updates. Um, public education, nothing is ever linear, right? Um, so you have to keep learning, you have to keep adjusting. And that's what we'll continue doing through this process. And we're going to continue moving forward together. We'll reflect, we'll refine, and we'll do our best to make it the best opportunity for every student on our campus. Other questions? >> I have a question. >> Yes. >> Are students still allowed to pick up an extra class during the lunch period? Because >>

079not during they won't be able to do that during lunch and learn. There's there's no classes during lunch and learn. And the idea is they like my student Liza, she already had eight periods, right? So they're not losing anything, but we're going to really make a purposeful block in the day that you are. We're taking a break. Campus is taking a break. You're taking a break. >> Currently, yes. So current >> I'm sorry. Yes, currently they can do that. >> So during there's a lunch and learn period which is 30 minutes longer. There there are no classes scheduled, but students are not required to be scheduled into a lunch. >> So right now I I mean the numbers are very high. The number of students who take eight classes do not have a scheduled lunch

080period. Use that 30 minutes which is really for all kinds of things happen during that 30 minutes. We're using it also to eat. So in the new schedule kids will still have eight eight scheduled periods they can have obviously six a day but during the 1 hour lunch and learn there will be no scheduled classes. So the kids would have the hour block. >> Okay. My thought is I was one of those students that picked up an extra class, but it's because I picked up choir and I'm wondering how many students pick up like an art or a music class because they want that, but they have to also take my parents made me take all the academic classes. So, I couldn't have taken an art if I didn't have that lunch period that I

081could have taken instead. >> So, that's the reason that we ended up going with an eight period day and doing the rotating schedule. Uh one of the other proposals would have been to drop a period to go to seven uh which a couple districts have done but then we just knowing the number of electives that kids take uh we decided that we would rather have the rotating schedule and allow kids to continue to take any classes. >> Okay. So just to confirm students will be able to take the same number of classes that they take now. >> Yeah, that's right. And they're and they and they will also have a lunch whereas now they really don't have a lunch. I have three student cities who hardly ever had lunch and that was a problem. So

082I support this and I have I have that question but I also have um two more. One is what is the thought on cell phones during lunch and learn since the idea is to increase engagement and connection between among the students and the teachers and I envision some students spending that entire hour on their phone. jump in. I mean that I I'll start and say that's certainly something we'll engage the students with. We have 17 months until we implement it, but it's something that we can talk to them. We will talk to them about that. So, you guys talk about that before. >> Yeah, sure. >> Yeah, that's a great question. One of the things that all three high schools, we we looked at our uh uh cell phone uh policy, which we really didn't

083have one. Uh and this year uh you know I' I've done over a hundred observations. I think I've seen cell phones in the instructional classes maybe seven times been great. Uh so all three high schools having a lot of success with that. I think we do need to to investigate or look at that that time period as well whether uh you know I know that the state is talking about that right now. Um and and that's something I think we need to decide as a district. What do we want to do during that lunch and learn period uh with cell phones? >> And then um my last question is I know um as a board we've discussed um increasing the educational rigor at our high schools. Do you see these longer periods being able um

084to help with that to help increase the rigor of our classes? answer that that's a key. >> Yeah, I I mentioned before the um blocks uh period of time that the students will be in class is longer than it is now. Um which just gives students and teachers an opportunity to yes explore the content of course but dig a little bit deeper and have that exploration component um individualized attention from the teachers as needed. Um opportunity for feedback. So just that longer time can incorporate all of that instead of limiting what students can get accomplished in a class period. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. It's very educational. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> I have a couple questions. Um one is kind of a comment. I'm glad to see there's

085an acknowledgement that moving from adding 11 minutes to a class does involve a fair amount of work on the parts of teachers, especially teachers who may have been teaching those same classes for years and are going back to older but effective lesson plans and now they have to adapt to that. So, I'm glad to see their support for that and I think we need to really make sure that we're giving realtime support for making that transition. And then the other um thing that I'd like to mention is that the cycle of days is something that our students have a little bit of experience with from elementary and middle school because they weren't on a fiveday cycle there. But especially as we're implementing it, we may find that we have to give extra support to some

086students just in that transition to it. Yes, it's 7:30 in the morning and yesterday you were in in algebra, but today you're in history and helping students ma make that jump to so that does become second nature, but it won't be those first few weeks. And so, and I know you are all with I know we've seen it at some of the other buildings that we've visited, but I just think it really is one of the challenges of this plan is making sure that especially kids who may have executive functioning different issues who may need a little bit more structure there that they're getting the support that they need. >> For sure. Yeah. And I think that there's a way to project them schedule on the website, the Chromebooks. I mean, there there's lots of

087ways that we can think about ways to um share the schedule, make sure everybody knows the schedule. For sure. >> Quick question. >> Yeah. >> Students have the autonomy to set up their own goings on for lunch and learn. Is that potential to have an hour of just kind of roaming and not really know what's going on or will there be some support to >> so it's a good question. So so there will be lots of support but I think the one thing that when we talk we talk to students about this is we operate from a position of trust and that has to be the message from now until August of 27. This is our schedule as as a building. Um it's very important that we trust our students and here's the expectation we

088have for you. Um I think when we go from that lens, from that perspective, students will rise to the occasion for sure. Um the one thing we see just in the 30 minute lunch and learn at each of the three high schools, if a student has some sort of misfortune or misbehavior, the last thing they want to lose is the opportunity to have that lunch and learn on subsequent day. So that's an opportunity for us as educators working with with with young people to say, "This is a priority. The next hour is your time. However, you could also lose that time because we trust each other. So, I do think it's a messaging that we have to continue in the next 17 months to talk about for sure. >> I have a sorry, I have

089Thank you. Um, I know that we're getting that extra 11 minutes per class, but now they're only going to make classes three days out of the four day cycle. So, are we overall losing time, reading time? Is it equal? >> It's a great question. So, we talked about that a lot last year. So I do think that you're losing some instructional time, but if you look at the overall schedule, right, the opportunity to have the lunch and learn time, the opportunity to be able to have more instructional time, you you lose instructional time in the period, right? So if I was an English teacher, my English class, there is some instructional minutes that I'll lose over the course of the year. However, it's what am I gaining in real time with the students during the

090time I do have with them. So, this might be maybe there was a student that needed an extra 10 minutes with a teacher that they couldn't get it in the class, but now they can get that divided one-on-one attention with the teacher during the lunch and learn to go over a topic. >> What that they might be losing that that that 10 minutes might have just been wasted for some of the other students that might not have needed it. >> Well, the one thing we find with the lunch and learn time is that before and after school opportunities where we think go see your teacher before school, go see your teacher after school. That's very, very challenging. you know, students have activities, if the teacher, you know, has has responsibilities in the morning before coming

091to work. Um, we know for sure having the lunch and learn time is time with direct time with their teacher that they wouldn't normally have. So, that is a little bit a little bit different. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Sorry, I have a question. First of all, I I want to go on there saying I like this. I think it's a there's so many pros, but anytime that you that there's a major change, there are pros and cons. Uh the presentation is great. It shows a lot of the the pros, a lot of the advantages. What are some of the cons that you've heard and how have they been addressed particularly for teachers? >> I think I think some of the cons we heard last year were we just don't know enough about it. Why

092are we doing this? You know, those are the questions that we really had to pause. One of the cons we heard too and and Dr. Sherlock talked about it is facilities. We needed to make sure our facilities were ready to handle a second food service for instance in each of the schools. That's something that we're working Mr. Burster and his team. Um I think another kind is is is what Mr. Jackson said. You know I you're going to have these kids just for an hour roaming around the building and it's like and that's incumbent upon us as educators with the staff to say no no no we need to reframe what that is and that's that's important. So those are some of the things we've heard. Um, we heard a lot of misconceptions that if

093if we have this schedule, for instance, our TCH students won't be able to have that experience at TCHS, which is not true. Um, but there were opportunities for us to have conversations with teachers, with families, with students to say, well, let me explain how the benefits of this schedule versus some of the things you're thinking might not work for your child. >> Well, I want to commend administration for really pushing this out a little further and really being intentional about having opportunities for parents, students, and uh teachers to voice their concerns and to meet and to be heard. Um you know, the principal advisory council is just such a valuable thing that we're doing and hearing student voices in those settings that I think has been really beneficial. Um I I just I appreciate you

094all, all three of you principles being here. I appreciate the work that's being done and um that you're continuing to do. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Um, can I ask one more? You said 17 months. So, the plan is not to implement this until 20 >> 20. So, so August of 27. >> Okay. So, not next fall, but not this. Yep. >> It's a whole another year. >> So, the whole other year. So, then we'll have more updates at TLE. Um, we'll be here. But, but it's an also an opportunity for us to continue to work with teachers and and Mr. you don't know with parents and certainly with our students to continue and refine um what we're doing, but we do have 17 months. So, that's really um as Dr. Graham talked about

095to the opportunity for professional development with our our our teachers this this coming school year to really work ahead of before the schedule implements. >> Yeah. And I just want to echo what President Dell said. I think um having the additional time as we're on this change journey really allows us to be deliberate, very thoughtful. Um I like how you are engaging the student voice through the advisory council mechanism as well as um the additional feedback from teachers and families and communities and um ensuring that the readiness um will be there and that there'll be no surprises. there'll be ample opportunity for everyone to have their voices heard. Um, the way you're working as a team is also important to have that consistency across the high schools. So, I applaud you for your leadership and

096your collaboration and continuing to adapt, pun intended, um, as we continue to hear additional feedback andor objections that we need to handle. So, thank you very much. And with that, if there are no other questions, move to we have two more discussion items uh as a part of our TLE meeting today. So we're running a little bit over so patience thank you um is appreciated as well. So next Dr. Connley don't don't sit down quite yet. We're actually moving for you to cover the agreement between the district and EF footwear under arour dealer. >> Thank you. So, we are uh our 5-year contract with BSN Sports has is coming to a close the end of uh this fiscal year, June 30. Uh we're going to continue with Under Armour, but we're going to move with

097a group called uh E Footwear or Total Team Sports. Uh that is a group that you'll see very similar experience, but we did uh we are going to stay with Under Armour. So one of the reasons the team the team was myself uh certainly our athletic directors we interviewed lots of lots of companies uh and one of the things that we really looked at was we really wanted that personal um interpersonal conversations uh with a company where they could be responsive to us and that was really important to our team. So, we're going to go with uh E Footwear Total Team Sports, but we're going to we'll continue. They're an Under Armour dealer. We're going to continue under the Under Armour. >> And just for the benefit of the committee from a cost differential perspective.

098>> Yes. So, we actually um I think we saved a lot of money on this this five-year deal. Save the district some money. I don't have those numbers in front of me. You're going to ask me that question. I do have those numbers not in front of me. But, uh we did we did save some money. Any other questions? Okay. If not, then approval is requested to enter into the agreement between our district and Ian Footwear. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. And our final item this evening will be covered by Miss Kleinman on the Westchester area school district K through 12 2026 through 2029 339 guidance plan. Perfect. You said it all. Um, we presented on this last month at the TLE meeting. Um, what's in the plan,

099it had to sit for 30 days for community review for any comments. We have not received any comments. So, the plan still is as it was 30 days ago. So, I'm just seeking approval of the plan so that I can submit it to the Department of Education. >> Any questions? All right. Then we'll move for approval requested for the Westchester area school district K through 12 2026 through 2029 339 guidance plan. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. And our next committee meeting will be on April 20th, 2026 at 6:30 and our meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Good evening. I would like to call to order the Monday, March 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Westchester Area School Board. Tonight, we welcome students Austin Heay and

100Tara Gilbert from Glenn Acres Elementary School and their principal Donna Ryan. Let us begin the meeting with a salute to the flag led by our students. Come on up and everyone please stand. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Now, please let the board in the audience know what's happening at Glennacres. >> Good evening, members of the boarding cabinet members. My name is Tara Gilbert and I'm a proud fifth grader at Glenacres Elementary School. I'm here tonight with my classmate, Austin E. First, thank you so much for inviting us to share some of the exciting things happening in our school. We promise we'll try not to keep you here until bedtime.

101Did you know we have a design lab right inside our school? It's not just a classroom. It's a place where ideas grow and actually turn into real things. In design lab, we use the same steps real designers and engineers use. First, we empathize, which means we step into someone else's shoes and think about what they might need. Then we define the problem and ideate which is a fancy way of saying we brainstorm lots of ideas and sometimes the sillier the idea found at first the better it turns out. After that we build prototypes, test them, improve them and test them again. We've learned something really important. If it doesn't work the first time, that's not failure. It's feedback. And honestly, fixing things is half the fun. This winter we noticed something. When Reese had to

102move indoors, it was especially tough for our kindergarten friends. Sitting inside when you're 5 years old and full of energy, that's basically like asking popcorn not to pop. So instead of just noticing the problem, we decided to solve it. Working collaboratively, which means teamwork, listening, sharing ideas, and yes, sometimes compromising, the fifth graders designed and created nearly 15 indoor games just for kindergarten. We thought carefully about the safety, clear directions, fun, and materials they could use independently. My group created a game inspired by the classic milk jug toss you might see at a carnival. Instead of a carnival worker, we designed a bright, friendly clown backdrop to make it welcoming and exciting. Players toss colored walls into different holes with different point values. It's simple to learn, but surprisingly tricky to master. At the end,

103each kindergarten student receives a prize slip with an uplifting message because we believe that kind word can be just as powerful as winning the game. But that's not the only place for solving problems. >> Good evening. My name is Austin and I'm also a proud student at Glacers Elementary School. We are solving problems in the library. In the library, I'm working with a team to design a car washing business. Yes, a real business. Our teacher challenged us to identify a problem, think about who it might, and figure out how to get. We thought about elderly neighbors who might find it physically difficult to wash their cars and busy families who simply don't have the time. That's when we thought, why not create a service to help them? Now, we're researching supplies, startup costs, pricing, and

104even marketing strategies. We're building media presentation in Canva to explain our business plan and show how we calculated expenses and set fair prices. We're even designing advertisement to share with our school community. Along the way, we're learning about entrepreneurship, economics, critical thinking, and most importantly, empathy. Because at the at the heart of every good business idea is helping. Speaking at the heart, this February our school raised over for the American Heart Association through the kids. We spent the day jumping rope, but it meant so much more than exercise. Many of us dedicated our jumps to family members and loved ones affected by heart conditions. Before that, we learned ways to keep our own healthy, too. It was powerful to see our whole school come together for something bigger than ourselves. As we look ahead into

105spring, we're excited for band orchestra and coral concerts, diversity day, track and field day, and more opportunities to collaborate with our buddies across whether we're solving a math problem, designing solutions, or performing on stage. We're constantly learning how to think, create, share, and major. We're not just students. We're designers. We're problem solvers. We're teammates. We're entrepreneurs. And sometimes we're even Thank you again for giving us the opportunity to share all the wonderful things happening at elementary school. We're proud to be part of it. >> Thank you both so much for sharing what's going on at Glennacres. I'm impressed because Are you both fifth graders? >> Yes. >> And yet you're talking about being entrepreneurs and you're talking about what's the other thing I wrote down? >> Um, yeah, just your business model. You're in fifth

106grade and you're talking about a business model. That's amazing. Um, you're going to you guys are going to be owning businesses. You're going to be running companies. You're going to be leading people. And thank you for what you shared tonight. Uh, I'm really impressed that you've raised $45,000 for the American Heart Association. That's not nothing. That's amazing that you've done that and the whole idea of the things that you're planning on doing are going to incorporate service to others. So, thank you. Now, if you don't mind, stay put. I'm going to ask your principal, uh, Miss Ryan, to come on up, Dr. Christopher and I are going to come and give you a certificate just for being here and sharing tonight. Start with Terra. Hi Tara. Nice to meet you. Mr. Here's your certificate. So,

107I'm going to hand you this and we're going to shake hands and smile camera all at the same time. Thanks for being here. Austin, come on up. Thanks for being here. Same thing. I'm going to hand you this. We're going to shake hands and smile at the camera all at the same time. >> Thank you so much for being here. >> And we're going to do a group picture. >> How are you? Good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you so much. That was >> all the I guess that was >> Thank you. Next on the agenda, special uh special announcements. I believe there are no special announcements. So we'll go on to roll call. Mr. Chair, >> please. >> Vice President >> here. >> Director Campbell >> here. >> Director Dietri >>

108here. President >> here. >> Director >> here. >> Director Fry. >> Director Jackson >> here. >> Director Long >> here. >> Director Parkinson >> here. Sheet >> here. Jackson Ogden >> here. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure. That leads us to public comment. the public com protocol. Are there any public comments this evening? >> Good evening, President Dell. No, there are not not on agenda items. We'll hear from two non-aggenda commenters later on. >> Thank you, Mr. Jennings. That moves us to the approval of the February 25th, 2026 meeting minutes. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the minutes? Uh, Director Fleming. And is there a second? Director Bever. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. See, um, we've had no executive sessions, correct? Since

109>> since last time. Now is the opportunity for board members to request changes in the board agenda. Are there any requests for changes? Okay. May I have a motion to approve the March 23rd, 2026 agenda as presented and or as presented? The first, Dr. Dietri. Is there a second? Director Jackson. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, uh, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. This leads us to our superintendence report. Dr. Yes, I'll be very brief tonight. So, one big change tonight is that we will be voting on lots of items. Normally, we don't vote on very much because we approve them at committee meetings and then they're just approved at the board meeting, but when the committee meeting happens the same night as the board meeting. Uh, so

110in the interest of ensuring that there's time for public comment, those things, we we allow the board the board has to actually approve them. So, there'll be lots of asking for your votes this evening, which will be different. I didn't want to say I was going to give Jackson a hard time because uh we I saw the musical at Henderson. Jackson was amazing in Bill Saw musical. Jackson played a character who it's a spelling bee and when Jackson would spell, he would essentially go into some crazy other world and a puppet would spell for him. And the first time he did it, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to fall out of my chair. It was actually really good. He did a great job. Um, but no, I appreciate his flexibility. I

111know this is a long evening, but uh uh we appreciate everyone working with us to get all the meetings in this evening. That's all. Thank you. Oh, one more thing I did want to say. Actually, we did release a climate and culture survey today. Uh, so it went out to the community. I'll make sure the board gets a copy of that as well. We'll be working with Hanover Research to actually go through that data and create a report uh to look at climate culture that's at the building level and then also at the district level as well. And that'll screen for demographics, all kinds of things. And we'll be a lot of data that in terms of how students are feeling, how families are feeling um you know about whether they're emotionally safe, physically safe,

112you know, how they feel they belong. you know, it's it's a nationally uh normed uh assessment instrument with our research partner. So, we'll have that data um in a couple months usually what it takes. Thanks. >> Thank you, Dr. Christopher. And now we're here. We'll hear from our 2025 26 high school representatives, Aida and Mera. >> Good evening, board members. I'm excited to share some fantastic highlights from our school community this past month. Our East High School wind ense ensemble sorry students recently delivered an outstanding performance at Westchester University and we are incredibly pr proud of their dedication and preparation that made this opportunity possible. The ensemble also had the opportunity to work with Louisiana State University's director of bands who provided valuable feedback that will support continued growth in our classroom. Our girls black

113football team had been absolutely crushing it on the field. We secured an impressive win against Shanahan on Thursday. We played our longtime rivals Henderson today with the windy weather if you couldn't tell by my frizzy hair. It was worth it because we beat them with a score of 34 to2. The team's hard work and dedication really paid off and the school spirit at those games was incredible. We also I would also like to congratulate Emily Schwarz for qualifying for the state championship in the 200 freestyle in the 100 butterfly. Emily, Grace Hurleyhy, Molly Duran, and Emmy Emma Anzac also qualified in the 400 freestyle relay. We are also proud of them. A huge congratulations to Monica Krauss on scoring her 100th career goal in Tuesday's lacrosse game. It was a big win for Monica and

114her lacrosse team who beat Valley 15 to 13. Way to go, Lady Bikes. Looking ahead, we've had some we have some exciting events coming up. Viking Slam is scheduled on March 31st and we're already seeing lots of enthusiasm from students getting ready to participate. Me and my friends personally are being Dr. Seuss themed and our captains being Cat in the Hat and we're all being things one through seven. And then later on in April on April 10th is our annual House of Hope dance or talent show competition which promises to be another great community event. I also want to give a huge shout out to Jack, Ryan, and Jaden who took first place at our recent coding competition. Their programming skills and teamwork were outstanding, and they represented our school exceptionally well. While juniors and

115underassmen took the common lit assessment, seniors sat in the auditorium and learned about civil discourse in the portrait of a graduate. I obviously know what that represents, but it was great to see my classmates and realize how it wanted incorporated into our daily lives at school. On the art side, our theater department just wrapped up an amazing production of MMA Mia. The musical was a huge success. The auditorium was packed every single night and the students put on a phenomenal show. From the singing to the dancing to the costumes, everything came together beautifully. I can't I cannot lie. I was crying when my classmates started to sing slipping through my fingers. I think it perfectly encapsulates how quickly high school passes by. I don't think I say this enough, but being able to be a

116part of the East community for the past four years has honestly been the greatest blessing along with being able to share the amazing things that happened at their school with the board. That's all for my report. Thank you. >> Good evening, board members. Um, in honor of us hitting temperatures in the 70s and finally yesterday getting that sliver of warm weather before it immediately got cold again, I can confidently say spring is right around the corner. As March wraps up and with spring on its way, student life and school events have also revitalized with new life and new accomplishments at Rustin. Uh since we last met, our school has been filled with activity, achievement, and community engagement across the academics, the arts, athletics, and student life. Um, wrapping up February, on February 26th, 27th, and

11728th, uh, Rustin students parttook in who parttook in Rustin Theater opened and performed our very own rendition of The Secret Garden, which transported the audience from Westchester, PA to the magical and of course secret garden in England, showcasing the talent and dedication of our students across the music and theater departments. Um, we also had another musical achievement where we send 11 students um to choir, band, and orchestra regions. And this past weekend, we had two actually advanced to all state choir and orchestra. So, congrats to Ella LL and Siri C for representing Rustin. Uh this past weekend, we also had our most popular studentled clubs, Maui UN, take a big trip to the Big Apple to participate in a New York conference. We had two seniors, Kell and Addison Steve, who represented Rustin Well, and

118won verbal commendations from their cheer people. And we also had a very strong performance put in by promising freshman Cooper Borman, Jackson Purua, and Ryan Roberger. And then for a final highlight, our group also won best medium delegation out of 3,000 students. So, way to go, Rustin. In addition, academically, our science Olympia team recently traveled to KZtown University for the PA Central Eastern Regional. Um there we placed first overall against 32 other schools and this included six first place wins out of 23 events. Our science Olympia team now qualifies for the state tournament which will be held in Penn State Altuna on April 24th. Um last week also in honor of the very man who our school was named after, we celebrated what would have been the 114th birthday of civil rights activist Bay Rest.

119Uh our school organized and hosted a special schoolwide bay rested trivia event encouraging all eighth period classes and teachers to participate. Winners were based on the speed and accuracy of the Google form questions and this year's winners were Miss Cromi and Mr. Dit. In addition to studentled community involvement, we also held our Rustin annual frontline dodgeball tournament, which successfully raised money for local veterans through the Wounded Warriors Project and even brought together students, staff, and members of the police and fire departments in a spirited and meaningful fundraiser. These games ran all day and the final four matches were held in our gym and included a teacher administration team, a police and fire department team, and of course the winning student teams. I will say it was very funny and very entertaining to watch my English

120teacher actually get hit in the face by the dodgeball. They're all good, but it was definitely very entertaining. And then school spirit was also on display during the annual cupcake contest with Miss Dredge. Um, students in the advanced pastry and baking classes concocted delicious cupcakes, all different flavors in an attempt to win over the judge's hearts. Um, this year was Olympic themed and we had France win with a chocolatecovered strawberry cupcake decorated with the French flag. And then also, as I mentioned, spring's right around the corner. So, with the seasonal change, Rustin spring athletics have had an exciting start as well. With multiple sports officially kicking off, I'm proud to report that our lady knights in lacrosse, softball, and of course, flag football have started their seasons off strong with wins. This year also marks

121the launch of the first ever boys volleyball team at Rustin, which this past Thursday we played. We played against Henderson and it generated strong enthusiasm and support. Beyond athletics, the Rustin Cares mentorship pro program with Miss Brian continues to make a positive impact by pairing freshmen with junior and senior mentors who help them adjust to high school life and participate in community service initiatives that strengthen our school culture. And then looking into the future, this week we actually have another principal advisory committee where the nights of our round table will have a meeting to discuss school policy and encourage our school community so we can finish off the school year strong. >> Thank you both for your for your reports. You know, every every single month we hear of so many amazing things happening at

122the at the high schools. Um, this time last month when you all were talking about the musicals, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, the musicals are sneaking up." >> I got to see all three and and they you all you all did an amazing job. I am disappointed that Jackson's not feeling well because I asked him if he would bring his sock puppet and I was going to let him spell whatever word he wanted to spell. But all three musicals were amazing. Uh, but in addition, things like the wind ensemble, girls flag, football at both schools. Uh, Viking slam, coding competitions, model UN, fire rustin day. So much good stuff going on and we appreciate you coming each month and sharing what's going on at the high schools. Thank you. >> Next, I would like Mr.

123Per to please give us the monthly personnel report. Good evening. So this past month we completed our staffing process using our new process. Uh we ended up with less than 10 staff members who were displaced that we owe positions to and they are applying to internal postings that interest them. Overall this process took a took place a month earlier. The idea being that this way we have access then and know what our staffing needs are so we have a better chance at at the bite of the apple so to speak. uh as new candidates are coming graduating uh from school and becoming available. We also have some retirements. There are seven folks I want to recognize. Uh we have Patty Kton with 13 years of service. Mary Beth Clifton with 19 years of service. Mayor

124Lee Gardinier with 26 years of service. Tracy Gomez with 28 years of service. Jennifer King with 18 years of service, Betty Nton with 23 years of service, and Deborah Whitmer with 29 years of service. With uh these these uh seven teammates getting a total of 156 years of service to our district, these are some great teammates and some just great educators, support staff. It's just a wonderful collection of folks. We wish them well, although we are sorry to see them go. Otherwise, the rest of there uh the rest of the information is there for your review. If you have any questions, please let me know. >> Thank you, Mr. Fosler. May I have a motion to approve the Monday, March 23rd, 2026 personnel recommendations as presented? Uh, Vice President Beakqua, is there a second? Uh,

125Director Parkinson. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Next is approval of the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the March 23rd, 2026 consent agenda as listed and or amended? First, Dr. Dietri a second. Director Campbell. Questions or comments? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Say nay. Motion carries. >> We have several action items to approve tonight. Uh tonight since all committee meetings took place this evening right before the board meeting. Director Parkinson, please lead us off. >> Uh yes. Um, approval is requested of the core instructional materials, physics and AP physics. I so move. >> We have a first from Director Parkinson. Is there a second? Uh, Director Fleming, any questions or comments?

126All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh, next approval is requested of the new agreement between the district and EF Footwear and Under Arour Dealer. I so move first. Is there a second? Uh, director Jackson. Questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. And approval is requested for the Westchester area school district K through 12 2026 through 2029 through 339 guidance plan. I move is there a second director. Any questions or comments? >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries and we now we're on to Director Flint. Thank you, President Bernell. Uh, the March personnel committee meeting was held immediately preceding tonight's board meeting. The committee approved the new job description and positioned a manager of data services,

127school security officer. The committee also approved vacation leave addendum to the act 93 administrator compensation plans and vacation leave addendum to the non-bargaining support staff compensation benefits and work environment guide. I have four agenda items for a board vote tonight. Approval is requested for the new job description and position of manager of data services. I so move >> first from director Fleming. Is there a second? Dr. Campbell. Uh any questions or comments? Vice President Ba. >> Oh. Hey. All in favor say I. >> Any oppose say n. >> Okay. Motion carries. Back to you, Director Fleming. >> Approval is requested for the new job description and position of school security officer. I so move. >> First from Director Fleming. Second, Vice President Ben Walk. Questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. Any

128oppose? Say none. >> Motion carries. Okay. Approval is requested of the vacation leave addendum to the act 93 administrators compensation plan. I so move. >> First from director fling. Is there a second? Uh doc. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> And uh lastly, approval is requested of the vacation leave addendum to the bargaining support staff compensation benefits and work environment guide. I so move >> and is there a second director? Any questions or comments? >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And motion carries. >> Okay. Thank you. That is my report for this evening. The next personel committee meeting will be held on April 27th. >> Thank you, director. Next up for property and finance uh vice president

129you share your report. >> Thank you president general. The property finance committee meeting was also held tonight uh prior to the board meeting. Mr. Scully as he does on a monthly basis uh provided us an update on the February uh budget forecast model. We reviewed the changes to the 2526 expense projections and revenues. These changes um of the 2526 things will reduce the 2627 budget gap. The administration continues to review the projections for potential savings to reduce millage impact from the 2627 budget going forward. The next item, Mr. Skully presented the property finance committee with the parameters resolution for the 2626 general obligation bonds in the amount of 37.5 million to fund the elementary secondary school renovation plan which the committee recommended approval. So I do have an approval item for the board tonight. Uh

130the motion reads as follows. Approvals requested of the parameters resolution for the 20 2026 general obligation bonds in the amount of 37,500,000 to fun these secondary renovations. I so move. >> I have it first from Vice President Balapa. Is there a second? Director Jackson with this. We won't need a roll call vote. So, Mr. Chair, if you call for the vote. All right. Any questions or comments? More. >> Vice President. >> Yes. >> Director Jackson. >> Yes. >> Director. Yes. Director Campbell. >> Yes. >> Director Dietri, >> yes. >> Director Fleming, >> yes. >> Director Parkinson, >> yes. >> President Dell, >> yes. >> Motion carries. 8. >> Okay. Thank you. Continuing on, Mr. McGawan, our director of technology, presented the committee of bid results for the district's fiber optic wide uh area network of

131to the current contract which is set to expire on June 30th of this year. Um I do have a motion for the board tonight for approval. Approval is requested of a 10-year service agreement with the option of a 5year one-year extensions with Crown Castle Fiber LLC at a cost not to exceed 239,400 per year. I move >> first from Vice President Bala. Is there a second? Director Fleming. Questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Yep. Continuing on, Mr. McGowan then continue to provide us more additional information and the bid results for the switch network equipment. And I do have a motion for approval tonight. Approval is requested for the purchase of a switch network equipment from Opto Security at a cost not to exceed 280,863. I

132so move first. Is there a second? Director Camp. Any questions or comments? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Say n. >> Motion carries. >> Mr. Mr. then presented the board uh property finance committee one additional bid result and that was a bid result for the purchase of wireless network equipment and I do have a motion to read tonight approval is requested for the purchase of a wireless network equipment from opto security at a cost not to exceed 236,289 I so move >> first director vice president there second questions or comments all in favor say I >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> All right. The next item, Mr. Burst, our director of facilities, and presented the committee um with an update on the uh solar panel uh potential installation at

133East Bradford Elementary School. And uh due to the fact of the uh of the amount of this contract, um the administration recommended rejecting this this uh project. And I do have a motion. board tonight. Motion reads as follows. Approval is requested of the administration recommendation to reject this 2526 capital reserve project bid award is presented. I so move first from vice president. Is there a second? Director Jackson. Questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Continuing on then I have another another item. Mr. first then presented um the Bradford Elementary School roof refurbishment and due the fact the prior item the administration recommended uh rejecting that particular bid at this point. Um so they said I do have a motion to read as follows. Approval is requested of

134the administration recommendation to reject this 2526 capital project bid award is presented. I so move. >> We have a first from vice president beala. Is there a second? Director Campbell. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Say n. >> Motion carries. Continuing on, Mr. Burst then presented to the committee um 2627 capital reserve bid uh for the Rustin High School uh fieldhouse mechanical upgrade and associated uh additional upgrades. Due to the fact that the bids came in substantially higher than the budget amount, the administration's recommending rejecting those bids at the present time and they will back out for bid and provide us an update sometime in the near future. So I do have a motion to read tonight. Uh the motion reads as follows. Approvals requested of the

135administration recommendation to reject the 2627 capital reserve project bid award as presented. I so move first vice president. Is there a second? Any questions, comments? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> And one last item. Um, Mr. Burster then presented us another bid award for 2627 capital reserve project for the painting of Spetson Middle School interior painting. And this was with the vendor Donald Risinger for a total bid award of 62,200. I do have a motion to read on that. Motion reads as follows. Approvals requested of the 2627 capital reserve project bid award is presented. I so move. >> A first from Vice President Beala. Is there a second? Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> And the next property

136finance committee meeting next month will be held on April 20th. And that concludes my reporting. >> Thank you, Vice President Bala. Next we go to uh director Dietri if you have a policy review committee report please. >> I do. Policy review committee met earlier this evening. The committee reviewed revisions to eight policies and were informed of a revision to one administrative guideline. I am seeking approval of those eight policies tonight. Starting with approval is requested policy 122.1 student activity fees first reading. I so moved. First from Director Nichi, a second from Director Campbell. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Then I'm ask approval as requested for revised policy 221 dress and grooming first reading. I so move. >> First from Dr. Dri, a second

137from director Parkinson. Any questions or comments? >> And all in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. >> Approval is requested of revised policy 236.1 threat assessment first reading. I so move. >> First from director Dree. Is there a second? Vice President B. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Approval is requested of revised policy 2 325 dress and grooming first reading. I so move. >> First from director Dree. Is there a second? Director Jackson. Any questions or comments? >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say nay. >> That motion carries. >> Approval is requested of revised policy 332 working periods first reading. I move. >> First from judiciary. Is there a second? Vice President. Any

138questions or comments? All in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose say nay. >> That motion carries. >> Approval is requested of policy 619 district audit. First reading. I move. >> First Dr. Dree. Is there a second? Director Camp. Any questions or comments? >> All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Carries. Approval is requested of revised policy 8006 child abuse. First reading >> I move first with Dr. Dri. Is there a second? Vice President Bevela is the second. Any questions or comments? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. >> Our next meeting will take place on Thursday May 28th at 6 pm. That so ends my report. >> Thank you Dr. Dree. There's one more. >> 913. Is it not on there? >> It's not on

139there, but it is probably on the agenda. >> I see it on here. >> Approval is request of revised policy 913.1 advertising and sponsorships. First reading. >> I have a first from Dr. Dri. Is there a second? Director Fleming is the second. Any questions or comments? >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. >> That will actually report. >> Thank you, Dr. Dree. Uh, next we go to other reports. Dr. Dri, will you give us the IU report for us for the the month? >> I'm back again with the IU report. The Chester County Intermediate Unit Board of Directors held held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 at the Technical College High School Pickering Campus in Phoenixville. Um the following board items were discussed. Dr. Steve Learner,

140director of career technical and customized education, introduced Chris Ketchel, principal of TCHS Pickering, presented a powerful full full circle success story showcasing alumni who returned as instructors after gaining meaningful industry experience. We met three um alumni who are faculty now and we also concluded the presentation with a short video produced by Eli Cruz, a student at LJ Roberts School District in the digital meeting and media and sound communications program that captured instructor journeys through digital storytelling underscoring student creativity and media skills. Um the other major issue that we discussed at this meeting was the Mr. Joseph Leitzky, director of administrative services, and doc and Joyce Humphrey, director of finance, presented the draft of the 2026 27 marketplace services budget to the board of members for initial review. The CCIU board is scheduled to vote on

141these budgets on April 15, 2026. Mr. Leitzky highlighted an increase of point of of 1.82% 82% in the cost of markets programs available for purchase by school districts staying well below the act one statewide index of 3.5%. School districts will only be build for the services that they utilize. Um in the upcoming school year they are projected to offer 125 programs under our marketplace services budget. And then our next um IU board meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, 7:30 at the Child and Career Development Center in Cooksville. That's the end of my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Dream. Director Fleming, you have a legislative report for us this evening. >> Thank you, President Darnell. I have a short one. Uh the legislative committee did meet last month. Um and discussed numerous education

142related bills that are currently being voted on and discussed in the Pennsylvania legislature. Um, including a possible mobile phone ban, uh, bills on cursive instruction in schools, uh, changes to the Sunshine Act, but nothing so far has been approved by both the Senate and the House and signed by the governor. So, I don't have that much of an update on any new legislation and there's the next meeting is this Wednesday, which I will be attending and we'll report next month. >> Thank you, Director Fleming. And I believe Director Fleming, you have one last tax item for us to vote on this evening. Is that correct? >> I do. Uh, under other business, approval is requested to acknowledge that the education department of Fox Rothschild LLP, the appointed special counsel to the Westchester area school district,

143will become the education group of McNees, Wallace, and NUR LLC effective April 1st, 2026. No changes are being made to the terms of the representation, current rate structure, or personnel. The superintendent and or business administrator are authorized to sign documents necessary to recognize this change. I move. >> We have a first from director Fleming. Is there a second? >> Vice President Bawaka is the second. Any questions or comments? >> All in favor say I. >> Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. Thank you, Director Fleming. And next up, I believe, is public comment. >> Yes, now is the time for public comment on non-aggenda items. The board will follow the procedures established by policy 9003. All individuals wishing to comment this evening were required to properly register prior to the designated start time of tonight's 700

144p.m. meeting by completing the information specified on the public comment registration card. Once called to the podium, each commenter will begin by stating their first and last name and municipality. Each speaker must limit their comments to three minutes or less per public comment period. Commenters may not see their time to other individuals. Individuals will be notified by the time clock when their time allotted for public comment has expired. The board asks that all commentary be directed to the board as a whole. Public comments may be interrupted or terminated if the commentary exceeds three minutes or if the commentary is obscene and/or threatening in nature. I will now call the first of two speakers, Julia Lampbert. >> Hello board members, Superintendent Christopher and other district staff. My name is Julia Lambert. I am a 12year resident

145of Westchester, West Ocean. My children are in 11th grade, 9th grade, and seventh grade. They attend Henderson High School, and Pierce Middle School. When my eldest started high school, we knew she would not continue to play lacrosse. I told her that she needed to find another activity to participate in. In December of her freshman year, she heard about a meeting for indoor color guard. Uh she noticed the guard at football games and thought it looked pretty cool. In January of 2024, she joined the team and has loved it ever since. As a parent, I had no idea what indoor or winter guard was. But of course, I was supportive of my daughter and her new activity. Over the past now three years or three seasons of indoor, I have developed a deep respect for the

146guard and the indoor programs. The competitions themselves are simply amazing. The creativity, hard work, and dedication that goes into making them are all inspiring. Henderson, East, and Rustin all have developing programs. Last year, East won their division and championships. Unionville and Downtown West locally have incredible programs. At the conclusion of last year's season, the rising juniors knew that they would have to work hard to have a program this year. It took personal advocacy with leadership and within the school, the high school, the middle school to have an outdoor guard. They grew to nine members. They had to work even harder to have an indoor team. Through that advocacy, they grew to 19 members for indoor. Having membership is not where it stops. The team has to be funded. You have to have coaches. You have

147to have practice space. You have to have transportation. You need props, weapons, and flags. Through this time, we have started benchmarking with the other two high schools. All three of us have dues ranging between $400 and $650. At Henderson, we have chosen to pay our coaches, whereas others, their staff is entirely volunteer. Each team practices between 12 and 15 hours a week. On competition days, they are 12 hours roughly. So, some are entirely volunteer. I'm not gonna get to the end of mine. I'm sorry. At Henderson, we got a used floor thanks to Dr. Otto's contacts and painted it to work for our show. We purchased our costumes from Amazon. We've worked really hard to make cost not be a barrier to entry. So, we've done that through fundraising and community support. I bring this

148to you today to advocate for greater support from the district for what I would call a performance sport. These give kids in our district who don't who can't compete on sports teams necessarily or want to to get the opportunity to compete for their school and to bring home a championship for their school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Charlotte Lambert. Hello, my name is Charlotte Lambert and I'm a junior at Henderson High School. I'm also here to talk about color guard, but from a student perspective. Most of you probably know us as the flag girls from football games. But there are two things wrong with that statement. Number one, there are plenty of boys in color guard. And number two, we are so much more than that. We are also not just flags. We have weapons.

149We have rifles. We have sabers that we spin. All of which is very physically demanding. I am one of Henderson's indoor color guard captains as well as one of the four juniors who did our best to ensure we could have a season at all this year. At the end of last season, we were left with four returning members as the rest graduated or were not coming back. And we're faced with the possibility of not having a season for who knows how long as we also did not have a returning coach outside the marching band season, which is very difficult for reasons I'll talk about in a couple minutes or in a minute. Every year we're faced with a critical question, which is will we be back next year? I personally have had 10 coaches in

150three years for a various reasons. None for more than two seasons either for payment reasons or they're moving on to other things. I am currently with five coaches but before that it was like a revolving door. Um uh I face the same problem every year as well with actual participants as every year it's hard to recruit new members for a sport no one has heard of and that people don't really know what it's about. with our current numbers were only made possible with support from Dr. De Antonio and Dr. Sherlock in principle the principles of Pierce and Henderson respectively as they allowed us to come and participate in club days and coaches days to spread awareness for our program without support at a larger level. These struggles will continue to exist as color guard and

151other lesserknown activities are unsupported by the district at large. I have already been making contacts with people like Dr. Connley and Dr. Dr. who have been giving us support and are part of why our season is able to continue as like Dr. Otto was able to get us a floor free of charge which are usually around $1,000. Um, as a team we've been working incredibly hard with each other and our coaches. Back when I was a freshman, I felt like I didn't have a place to belong and I had no idea where I was going to do. When I heard about Color Guard, it was like I learned a whole new community that I had never seen before, as it gave me a place to be both creative and physical and participate in a sport.

152I personally love color guard so much and I think it is so much more than the outdoor season. The shows are truly incredible and I encourage everyone to go see at least one. We compete this weekend at Plymouth White Marsh and then we also have a friends and family night that I encourage everyone to come to on April 6th at Henderson. I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to find a place where they belong. Whether that not be with typical performances like I don't like to sing but I like to perform. I'm not going to do the musical. This gives plenty of people a place that is very unique and not found with other sports. And I believe it deserves more support where possible, whether that be with increased um like funding or things

153like that as we are only able to exist as I and some other people reached out to plenty of sponsors within our community. We only exist because of the generosity of others and we need that from the schools as well. Thank you both for sharing and thank you for informing us about some an activity that maybe we're not very aware of. So, thank you both very much for being here and for sharing. >> Thank you very much. >> Interesting. Okay. Um, my quote for the evening, the purpose of education is to question answers, not simply to answer questions. James Baldwin. And our next meeting is April 27th. Next board meeting is April 27th at 7 o'clock. We welcome you all to attend and participate. And with that, I'll all adjourn the meeting. All in favor

154of adjourning the meeting say I. I. >> Motion carries. Have a good evening, everybody. What?