001e e e good evening good evening everybody thank you and welcome to the February 24th 2025 Personnel committee meeting uh we'll start by taking role director Dell president director FR here director Herman is not here today and I our first agenda item is the public comment has anyone signed up for public comment [Music] was residents wishing to make a public comment on the agenda items must register prior to the start of the meeting public comments on agenda items will be taken at the beginning of the meeting prior to voting policy 903 public participation and board meetings governs public comment the committee chair design will call residents in the order in which they are signed a three minute timer will be projected on the screen and will start after the speaker gives their name in Township
002and burrow today's comment will come from Miss Judy defonso I'm sorry I think I may have messed up I had meant to sign up for public comment on non-agenda items at the second meeting and not this meeting did I mess up or we may have just grab it it's okay no we may have messed up our apologies and we will see you in next meeting sounds good don't show all human here absolutely all right all right our next item is we will I ask now for approval of the February 26 2024 committee meeting minutes all in favor I I any oppos all right uh that's for in favor um and now we'll get to the review of our agenda item for this evening which is the approval and review of the job description and position
003of assistant director of teaching learning and Equity uh by Dr Brown good evening good uh so tonight I would respectfully request the addition of a assistant director of teaching learning Equity as we proceed as we go through our work here in the teaching learning Department uh we find ourselves with uh a lot of work to do and not quite enough uh bodies to do it I think the addition of an assistant would Aid specifically in professional development and also in supporting our instuctional coaches uh structional coaches have proven to be super valuable at the elementary level ideally uh we may be looking to add instructional coaches um to our Middle School level in the near future and we have them at the high school level uh at this point currently because of the supervisor's role
004uh and in my role there's no person for them in addition to that the the professional learning piece ideally we want to be able to incorporate professional learning at PLC time better utilize our instructional coaches to Foster some of that learning during PLC time at all three levels uh so for those reasons in addition to helping our supervisors collaborate and create a more cohesive vertically aligned K to2 uh curriculum uh I'm requesting the addition of an assistant a director assistant are there any questions from the committee board go ahead director just speak because it seems like my microphone isn't working but it says it's a 12 month position does that mean it's for only one year that's just it like renews every year uh it's a 12 month position meaning that work 12 months instead
005of 10 months it's not a renewed position it's just a full-time position but they work 12 months instead of 10 okay thank you any other questions all right with that we'll ask for a vote all in favor of approving the director of teaching equity and learning assistant director my fault any opposed motion passes our next committee meeting will be held on Monday March 24th 2025 and that concludes tonight's meeting thank you e e e good evening I would like to call to order the February 24th 2025 meeting of the Westchester Area School Board tonight we welcome students Molly tager and Sebastian Abu Maru from Pierce Middle School and the principal Dr D de Antonio let us begin the meeting with the salute to our flag led by our students Please Stand United States of America
006the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all for thank you uh oh go ahead Dr de I wasn't looking good evening Christopher members of our board greetings from Pierce Middle School uh greetings from Pierce Middle School I'd like to uh welcome two of our fantastic students here that deliver report Molly tiger and Sebastian hello my name is Sebastian ofar and I would like to talk about the school sports program at PE the sports program at Pierce are great they are a fun way to connect with teachers and other students in the school using teamwork to defeat other schools and and the district and playing the sports you love some of our Sports programs include soccer football Jack Field baseball wrestling field hockey and Lacrosse these Sports programs also
007provide time and grade management when with peers you feel welcome in the peers Community hi I'm mly tager and I want to talk about what we're currently learning as a student in E grade in English we're talking about Greek mythology Greek mythology is full of gods Heroes monsters and magical stories that have shaped literature art and culture for thousands of years currently at Pierce we are having a fundraiser for the Westchester food coverage called baskets for birthdays this is for the money raised in the student faculty basketball game in the event we are raising money for people who cannot afford to buy supplies for family members birthdays people will bring ingredients to make a birthday cake this is so people can celebrate their loved ones birthdays family food and finance is one of the classes
008you can take as an inor this class teaches you about kids from newborn to 5 years old we learn how to take care of them how much they cost in different foods they're able to eat you'll also have the chance to take a baby doll home that impersonates a newborn baby taking the baby home gives you a perspective on what it's like to be a new parent one of the unified arts classes at Pierce is transportation engineering and design in this class you learn how to use Workshop materials to create drag racers boats and model rockets first we sketch our designs out then we test them on a program called white box Le to see if they are suitable and lastly we build them out in the workshop we use materials like wood cardboard Nails
009hot glue and lots more we are able to use the laser cutter and the wood shop to cut out pieces for our designs this class is very fun and it gives our minds and hands moving towards the end of the year e8th grade is heading to Pocono Valley for a field trip while we're at poono Valley we have the opportunity to go on boats go fishing play basketball beach volleyball and Tenn you could also go on inflatable attractions challenge coures go swimming and zip lining students will be able to have access to a barbecue lunch buffet and later be treated to an ice cream bar law eth gr will also have the opportunity to go to a dance the dance will have a set theme a DJ and a buffet of food the students get
010to dress up and the PTO arranges a class picture before the dance I'd like to thank everyone for the opportunity for our peer students and myself to be here to present the report this this month thank you thank you Molly and Sebastian thank you so much for coming out tonight and updating us on what's happening at Pierce if you can hold on Dr Christopher and I will present you with a certificate and get some photos practice getting your diploma at graduation and then can we have Dr Antonio chistopher [Applause] okay moving on uh we have no special announcements this evening next up is roll call M cherish here director Christie here Director D here Dorell here presid here director here director Herman here director Parson here director lley here Matthew here pet Kennedy here here
011thank you Miss chair short and next up is public comment protocol Mrs sunquist do we have any public comment tonight there is no regist for agenda item public comment okay thank you assume that means maybe we have some for non-agenda items at the end great thank you next we will approve the minutes from the January 27th 2025 board meeting may have a first to approve the minutes from the January 27th 2025 board of directors meeting Dr dri do I have a second director Beva all those in favor say I I I opposed okay motion carries uh we had no executive sessions held since the last board meeting we'll now approve tonight's agenda may have do we have any questions or comments or on tonight's agenda okay seeing none may have a motion to approve the
012February 24th 2025 agenda director dnell I have a second director fry all those in favor say I I I opposed motion carries and now Dr Christopher will give us his monthly report good evening everyone um this evening I have several items to report uh first I would like to um talk about our comprehensive plan draft which is now open for Community review so that is on our website uh the district engaged in a large stakeholder um you know organiz organized uh feedback related to creating the the draft um Dr RS LED that work here in the district and we had parents and students and staff members uh involved in that process the draft will be available for 28 days um for public review and then we'll be voted on at our March meeting we also
013this uh last week uh updated our 2526 school calendar um the calendar made some changes that we made based on conversations with our teachers um related to our first draft one of which is that we uh have our first day of school um on the 25th and we do have a four day week that week anyone who's taught kindergarten understands that 4 days is a long time at the beginning of the school year and actually works out really well um to roll through that in that process another change is that in March the elementary parent teacher conferences are going to shift to invite only as a format parents are always invited if they have any questions to actually meet with a teacher they certainly can schedule a meeting with the teacher they can also schedule
014a phone conference and our staff members remain committed to ensuring those things are happening we are moving to a new standards based report card at the elementary school which we'll be working on through the spring we are hopeful that will provide family with more feedback and and better feedback about their child's progress than what we currently have been doing uh we also are working on family and parent engagement as part of our work with our administrative team this year uh we're working with the Schley Center for student engagement one of those big pockets is really looking at parents as um you know as as as co-workers in all of this work that we're doing you know ensuring that parents feel engaged in it and so we are we're focusing on that this spring as well
015we did also update the the calendar next year because of um all of the days that we have actually off for religious holidays we only have one flexible instruction day built in next year I'm sorry one standard snow day built in and then we'll be moving to flexible instruction days this year we had two built into the calendar so that is a change many districts in the county move right to flexible instruction day we still believe that that snow day is important we'd like to ensure that we do have that at least one of those built into the calendar we do appreciate the feedback from families we've received about these and we're glad to provide additional comments as we move forward the Harlem Wizards are returning to Westchester if you haven't heard uh this is
016a great event for our foundation um The Westchester area Education Foundation it will be on March 28th at 7 p.m. tickets go on sale on March 8th at 8:00 a.m. and they only sell out that day so we anticipate a families want to be to go watch the Wizards that they are ready they sell out very rapidly it's a it's a great event it's a lot of fun uh to be there I also want to take a moment here in February and celebrate Black History Month um our schools have engaged in meaningful activities to honor Black History Month throughout the month uh celebrating black excellence and recognizing the profound contributions of black individuals in our local community and Beyond one highlight of the month was attending the Henderson High School's black student union 41st annual
017Alice Thomas scholarship banquet which was I can't remember I think two Saturdays ago they learn but yes it was it was this month certainly where we were able to really look at this year's theme the power of our labor and reflect the dedication perseverance and impact of those working to advance equity and opportunity here in Westchester I was glad to be part of that across Wester our schools have hosted buddy reads black history museums and visits from local and national black leaders including our own Westchester mayor authors and professionals from a variety of exciting career Fields have also been here these events have been powerful opportunities for learning reflection and celebration thank you to our student staff and Community Partners for making this month a great month for celebrating black history and making it meaningful
018for our students this month we also celebrate the Arts we have musical it's musical season if you did not know that I didn't realize it was a season but it is it's right before spring apparently uh but we have uh East High School will be performing Singing in the Rain that actually is this week starts on I believe Thursday night 27th through March 2nd Rustin High School will be performing jackn Hy which is also this week stsa middle school will be performing Shrek on March 13th to 15th Henderson High School will be performing anything goes from March 27th to 29th and fug middle school will be performing crazy for you from March 27th to 28th I believe Pi side there is in the fall Le when they do their musical tickets to these Productions are
019either available on available now or they'll be available online on school websites social media and our district newsletter I hope you join us in celebrating the hard work and dedication of our students I'm really looking forward to going to several of these Productions tomorrow night we have we're excited to have kindergarten 101 which is a night where we host incoming kindergarten families last year I don't know how many we had 400 people there I think probably at Hillsdale this year we moved it to Fugate so we will be at Fugate middle school tomorrow night um trying to dispel some fears that people have as they're sending kindergarteners uh to us and to also talk about what their process looks like so that's always a great night uh we we always have some nice presentations for
020families there as well I would also like to take a moment and recognize our first Westchester Way makers um one of the things we're doing this spring is to try and celebrate staff members who go above and beyond you know really to um to to you know live our district Mission um you know to support our students uh this week had we had the opportunity uh actually last week to um our first two recipients which were guis Mundell is the head custodian at ex Elementary School it was quite a quite a good time we had all the kids in the the gym she didn't know we were there and we brought her in and that was quite a big surprise for her but she does an awesome job there and Kelly Bruner who is a
021second grade teacher GL Elementary School it wasn't quite as big of Fan Fair but she was still surprised and it was it's always great to walk into somebody's classroom and give an a word in front of the students they work with every day so that was it was a great time appreciate our cabinet members being available to do those things we will continue to try and do two of those a week uh for the remainder of the school year so we're excited to keep working on that we look forward to continuing that program each month and highlighting more of outstanding staff members they also be highlighted online as well last thing I would like to just take a second also to address is that we are working on a new high school schedule um the
022high school schedule uh committee started in 2017 2018 uh actually has been running for quite a few I I think the schedule would have changed pretty rapidly if it were not for co uh but during the um you know period we stopped work on that and just rebooted that here about a year ago um seven eight months ago actually Dr Conley has been working really hard on that with a a group of teachers from each one of our schools and students and we have a draft that we presented to the education committee we will be working on Communications out to families uh about what the schedule looks like and what our goals are for that as well as creating a frequently Asked question page uh to address some questions that we've had from from folks
023so I'm looking for forward to working continue to work on that uh we did share it with the board last week and also with faculty members at each one of the high schools on last Wednesday and Thursday so we continue to move forward with that that time I would like to turn it over to our students so thank you [Music] all good evening everyone I hope you all have had a productive month and have been able to stay warm in this wether let East has had quite the month filled with many events and accomplishments from students and staff so I'm excited to share with you what we've been up to please bear with me as this report is on the longer side to start wrestlers Zach McFarland and Justin Williams are moving on to Regional
024championships this weekend they will look to qualify for the state championships as more results come in this week swimming should also have a few swimmers advancing to the state playoffs you've seen the commercials you've read about it in the news girls FL football is coming to East this spring we're excited to bring this opportunity to our female athletes here at East athletic leaders from East joined headers and arrestan athletes at our first athletic leadership conference led by the Karen foundation and Super Bowl champion Cliff Crosby participants engaged in team building and Leadership activities and we look forward to more events like this this month former EHS athletic director Sue Cornelius was inducted to the chesmont Hall of Fame current Anders wcasd staff members coaches family and friends joined together at a lunch in to recognize
025Miss cornelius's accomplishments over the years coach Gallow spoke on behalf of our school community and stated su's most important Legacy was her pioneering ways as a female athletic director and a constant advocate for girl Sports and sports as a whole she truly had a Hall of Fame career I'm excited to share that East new turfield will be named the Sue Cornelius deals a huge thank you and huge congratulations to Mrs Cornelius did you know that every tues seconds someone in the US needs blood the annual Red Cross blood drive was held this past Friday the event organized by the student council was a success many staff and students donated blood throughout the day to come together and save lives a big thank you to all of our donors and to those who put their time
026and support towards the drive February is Black History Month East BSU organized many activities throughout February including the black history fact of the day bulletin boards spirit week and a culminating party next week last week 146 East students competed at the DECA state competition in Hershey with many qualifying for ICDC and Sh special shout out to three specific East Deca members Jimmy Hy fulfilled his duty as our current PA Deca District 9 representative NAA will take his place as the District 9 representative next year and was inducted into her new role on Friday anduo was elected to the executive Council and will begin her duties this June speaking of Jimmy Hy he's a regional finalist for the co Coca-Cola Scholars Program a highly competitive national scholarship this is the first time in years an e
027student has been recognized he now moves on in the selection process where 150 students will receive a $20,000 scholarship good luck to Jimmy AP Capstone seminar students recently competed their team multimedia presentations a major component of the program requiring in-depth research analysis and compelling multimedia presentations we're incredibly proud of these students are and are excited to see how their skills will continue to grow the nahs uh hosted the annual copy house this month the evening has something fun for everyone art fashion music food and friends thank you to the National Art Honor Society for organizing such a fun EV next I would like to congratulate a few individuals and groups of people for their accomplishments this month science teacher Anthony fro will be recognized with the Donald gese excellence in Science teaching award this award
028is presented by the Pia Science teaching Association and is very competitive Mr prinzo's impactful work and his profound leadership in the science department are certainly to be celebrated this month a group of incredible computer science students went on a field trip in norst toown to compete in a girls hackathon they ended up being Victorious for the second year in a row congratulations to Hansa Isabella Bry debica Frankie and hini on February 18th our academic team competed against 23 Chester County Schools in the three team championship match next month they tied their highest score of the season and secured a dramatic overtime win against Conestoga thanks to Elliot ru's Final Answer congratulations to our students and coaches another congratulations to the several students who participated in the pmea district 12 Coral festival and to Andrew bisik
029Ryan bisik and Rebecca neart for advancing to Regionals in March additionally D denth halog earned a string bass chair in the all State concert band congratulations to our student nominated teachers of the month Mr Bond Miss Flynn Mr geralda and Mrs Brennan thank you for all they all they do to make EHS better congratulations to Jada Cooper Sophia Fu and SN Madan who have advanced to finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship program by demonstrating distinguished performance and high potential for f future academic accomplishment lastly Dr Grim continues fostering a positive School environment through her ipal Advisory Group which meets monthly to discuss improvements around their school their feedback on biking block instructional methods and cafeteria choices will be shared with staff additionally she partnered with Penn State's ham family initiative to provide East teachers
030with strategies for tackling classroom challenges now I know this was a bit of a lengthy report but I recently realized that January was school board appreciation month so I know I'm late but I just want to take a second to express my gratitude um and I think I speak on behalf of my fellow Representatives when I say that your dedication and Leadership truly makes an impact and we appreciate all that you do for our students staff and Community thank you all for listening uh good evening everyone I hope you're doing well this evening February has been a stellar month here at Henderson uh despite the frigid temperatures that we've all been enduring as for sports this P this past weekend at the York YMCA our swim and dive teams competed at the PIAA District One
031championship the girls took home Ninth Place overall and the boys team uh took home fifth place overall I'd also like to give a shout out to two seniors who did exceptionally well this weekend Paige fiser who placed second place in breastroke and fourth place in the T freestyle and Edward stz who placed first in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 100 backstrokes congrats Paige and Eddie this weekend at Oxford Area High School the boys wrestling team competed at the PIAA District 1 championship where the boys came in sixth overall additionally five of our wrestlers fison Ahmed Hayden Baldwin Jackson mcmonagle Alex beler and Charlie Ball qualified for regionals with faon taking home first place in this weight class congratulations boys as for the music department this past weekend in Philadelphia three Henderson musicians a
032JM Charlie Platt Nate meerman competed at the pmea region 6 Orchestra Festival on top of that basis Charlie Platt qualified for the pmea All State Orchestra congratulations boys on your hard work the Henderson Jazz Ensemble also put on a marvelous show this month at the collegium Jazz Festival where they earned first place overall and won Superior rating best trumpets and be best Rhythm awards for their performance on top of that seniors James White and Leo Dugan earned awards for their solo performances congratulations Henderson Jazz finally Henderson's clubs Henderson's clubs have had a busy month of competitions guest speaker events and service activities that have given students countless learning opportunities beyond the classroom this past weekend in Hershey Henderson entrepreneurs and future Business Leaders competed at the DECA state tournament competing in events such as Hospitality
033marketing Finance business law and ethics and accounting the students also had the opportunity to network with students from across the state and meet with business professionals Henderson science Honor Society also hosted several NASA Engineers this month to discuss careers in stamina AOS space with students as well as getting some cool Nas and merch and finally during the finals or during the annual staff versus faculty basketball game the staff once again beat the students and while the game was by no means close the staff had us by 27 points everyone had fun and the proceeds of the game were used to fund scholarships for seniors thank you and have a great February everyone I hope you're all doing well and excited for some warmer weather this morning I woke up and I didn't need to my
034bulky jacket and it was let me tell you it was a great feeling on February 7th Russ and held their second annual winter formal in our cafeteria there was music snacks and students were able to bring in guests from other schools it was basically like a mini homecoming and it was such a fun night and they gave something for the students to do this past week our Deca group traveled to Hershey for states where they got to compete in several role plays seniors Drew gaffy Nick glenor Jake Lewis Isa con and Emma Skinner were finalists and a huge congratulations to Juniors Maddie Kates Amelia bar and Melanie veres who will be going to Nationals which is in Florida this year they're very lucky for the warm weather um also for the third year in a
035row seniors Evan chapel and Aaron Gar will also be going to Nationals so good luck to them Deca members Nick lingor Drew GNE and Jake Lewis organized a color run and a basketball tournament at the beginning of this year recently they were able to donate 100% of their proceeds to the Westchester food cupboard they had opportunity to give um $1,200 to help alleviate food insecurity here in Westchester we're so proud of what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time on Friday our BSU Club held their annual Black History Month exhibit where they got to Showcase important historical figures and sell baked goods it was a great way for R students to learn more about black history and black Excellence especially because our school is named after political activists who focus
036on social movements for rights our theater um department has been working extremely hard and they've been um having some rehearsals after school I have no idea how they have the energy and I don't understand how their voices aren't gone um their current show is jacquel and high high which will be starting February 27th through March 1st it will be full of mystery drama great music and talented performers our BSU and student counsel are joining forces and working together to bring back our talent show which will be held on March 18th we're all welcoming any talents ranging from singing who who's bang and maybe if you want to bring um your pet that might be allow the top three performers will be receiving up to a $300 Amazon gift card we're wrapping up Winter Sports Seasons
037with some amazing highlights our cheerleading team recently qualified for um and won all divisions at the Ridley High School competition and qualified for Nationals where they got to travel to Orlando Florida they performed in the semifinal where they had their best routine to date the wrestling girls swimming team uh were the chesmont American Conference champions this winter members from the boys and girls swim team competed in the district one swimming championships this past week our girls 200 IM am medle um team placed third and even broke a School record which hasn't been broken since 2014 sophomore CLA rascus took fifth place in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 100 backstroke both the boys and girls basketball team made the chess League playoffs and the girls Advanced to the final four and qualified for states
038in a huge win against marel New Town 46 to 33 on Tuesday they will play for the fifth seed so good luck to them thank you and have a great rest thank you Diana Peter and and Madison it sounds like it's really been a really busy month at the high schools and very successful also that's all very exciting to hear and it's winding down for you all couple few more months but an exciting time so thank you for coming out we appreciate it now we'll move on to Dr hmer and the monthly Personnel report thank you good evening Mrs Fleming Mr Baka and members of our school board our personel report for the month of February 2025 is as follows with removals from payroll we have four resignations one assistant principal one teacher one certified
039school nurse and one custodian we also have four retirement notifications Mr Vincent selini par professional in Henderson High School with 16 years of service Mr James Lin head custodian at Glenn Acres Elementary School with 32 years of service miss Connie Rosenberger School librarian at Pierce Middle School with 21 years of service and Mr Earl Warren custodian at Greystone Elementary School with 17 years of service We wish all our retirees this month a happy and healthy retirement and we are thankful for your service we wish you all the best in your next exciting chapter in your lives with additions to payroll we're recommending the hiring of two teachers additionally we're also recommending the hiring of a staff nurse two custodians a registered Behavior technician a secretary a par professional and a substitute custodian in Personnel events
040I communicated and delivered one status change in the support staff furthermore I communicated and delivered four involuntary transfers in the support staff I also communicated and delivered one voluntary transfer also we are recommending the approval of three sabatical in additional information we seeking the approval of four advanced placement honorariums from the College Board three updated start dates and one salary adjustment I'm also seeking approval for two drivers from on Theo kids busing we also seeking approval for additional four tutors on the tutoring list in supplemental contracts we're adding 17 annual contracts for the 2425 school year one addition for the winter season of 2425 eight additions for the spring season of 2425 three contract removals from 2425 and 12 contract adjustments for the 2425 school year we're also bringing in three game help contracts I'm
041respect questing board approval for all Personnel matters listed above thank you thank you Dr rmer I have a motion to approve the February 24th 2025 Personnel recommendations as presented I have a first from vice president Baka do I have a second I have a second from director chrisy all those in favor say I I I I opposed motion carries uh next up is the approval of the February 24th 2025 consent agenda may I have a motion to approve the February 24th 2025 consent agenda as listed I have a first from Dr diet I have a second uh director dnell all those in any questions or comments on the consent agenda seeing none all those in favor say [Music] I opposed motion carried we will now move on to our Schoolboard committee reports first up is
042director Darnell with teaching learning and Equity thank you president Fleming the teaching learning and Equity committee meeting was held Tuesday February 18th uh we had four action items the first was approval of some special education service contracts the second was approval of the calendar for the school year 202 2025 2026 and its final read uh third uh action item was approval of the rocket PDA contract for professional development and then fourth uh approval for the contract to support the development of a portrait of a graduate uh we also had two discussion items one was a review of the comprehensive plan that was shared by Dr Reynolds and also there's a presentation on the high school schedule by Dr Cony our next teaching and learning and Equity committee meeting uh will be on Tuesday March 11th
043and everyone's invited to attend that ends my report great thank you director Darnell uh next up is the Personnel committee Report with director Parkinson thank you the February Personnel committee meeting was held immediately proceeding tonight's board meeting the committee approved the new job description and position for the assistant director of teaching learning and Equity as presented by Dr Brown I do have one agenda item for tonight's meeting for approval approval is requested for the new job description and position assistant director teaching learning and Equity ISO move thank you director Parkinson do I have a second director bevera any questions or comments seeing none all those in favor say I I opposed motion carries and now Vice President Baka will give an update from the property and finance committee yes the the property and finance committee
044met last Tuesday February 18th the first item that we went over in the agenda was a financing Plan update John Fry from pfm our bound our bond counil uh provided an overview of the financing process and timeline and based on our current drawer schedules the district will need a $30 million of new money in the spring of 2025 to fund uh new construction projects in addition to the new money the district has the potential of savings of 300K from refinancing a portion of an outstanding Bond Mr Scully asked the the property finance committee to allow the district's financing team to proceed with a preparation of a parameter resolution for these 2025 General obligation bonds to fund the elementary renovation plan and for the potential partial refunding of the bonds as was stated the committee recommended
045approval and uh we'll move forward with the uh the parameters resolution the next thing Mr Scully as he does on a monthly basis reviewed the February uh budget forecast model the net of all changes for the 2526 projections was a reduction of a little over $744,000 which will be utilize to reduce the 2526 budget Gap the administration as always will continue to review the projections for potential savings to reduce the millage impact to the 2526 budget the next item Mr Scully discussed the possibility of replacing styr trays with uh uh new trays in the elementary middle schools these High School uh high schools currently do not use trays of any type in the food surface area although there will be an increase in cost the shift from styrofoam trayes is a step towards reducing our
046environmental footprint and promoting sustainability efforts the district was to switch to these trays the new trays the cost of the meal would need to increase to offset this additional expense beginning in the following 2526 school year as we do on a quarterly basis Mr Scully reviewed right to no request rtks and were processed by The District in October November December and uh that was information only that we provide to the committee and to the board the last item of the agenda spoke in the high school reports today from East High School there was approval of the dedication plaque for Su our retired athletic director Mr burer reviewed the process of naming District facilities in December the property and finance committee haded the application for naming the school district's facilities at East High School which are
047the new artificial turf fields at East fi we know as field 221 and 222 um it's name to be named the Sue Cornelius Fields uh the facility and operations department is seeking was seeking approval for the design and uh from Lucky sign shop in the amount of $3,690 to provide this dation signage that will be mounted on those two tur Fields the committee recommended approval of the design the quote for the signage for the Su Fields I guess more to come from East High School in the near future on on the the naming on one that'll be presented at the field the next property and finance committee will be held on Monday March 17th and that concludes my report for the Eventing thank you vice president beaka and Dr D will give us the policy
048Review Committee report thank you policy Review Committee met this past Tuesday February 18th we approved a new ad administrative guideline regarding Pro regarding protocol for surveying students as well as policy 351 drug and substance abuse the committee then continued to review policies in section section 600 finances finally policy 823 was renamed opioid antagonist and definitions and terminology for drug overdose medication were updated to reflect the state statute act 135 of 2002 20 22 our next meeting will be on Monday March 17th that is my report for tonight thank you thank you Dr dri and we're move on to other reports and I'm just checking director Christie do you have a legislative update not this month okay thank you and we'll move on to Dr uh director derell with uh his update on the CCI thank
049you president fling the Chester County intered unit board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday February 19th at the E ESC Technical College High School brain wine campus on Boot Road in Downingtown Mr Joseph lisy director of administrative Services reviewed in first reading the draft 2025 26 categor categorical core and occupational education bu education budgets and answer questions key points in the presentation were as follows no increase in proposed core budget contributions by districts proposed 4% increase in occupational education tuition rate the goal for our Marketplace program prices for Chester County School District is to limit to the Act One index of 4% and Cate categorical budgets do not require local funds the February 2025 tcsb HVAC board presentation highlighted the growth and success of the HVAC program at tchs Brandy Wine the presentation
050outlined the school's history emphasizing its 202 relocation from catville in his ongoing efforts to expand career Pathways and student opportunities Miss Danielle Hawkins Assistant Director of Human Services provided an overview of the cciu comprehensive plan for the 20125 2020 uh plan for 2025 through 2028 with uh which outlined the organization's strategic goals and priorities to support Student Success and continuous Improvement in teaching and learning required every three years by the Pennsylvania Department of Education the plan aligns with the cci's mission and vision addressing strengths and challenges identified through a data review key focused areas include coordinating support for students and families managing fiscal resources ensuring school safety and providing local Education Agency Services the federally funded programs presentation led by Sam ying and Tamara auno uh provided an overview of Key Programs supported by federal
051funding totally totaling over $60 million it highlighted major initiatives such as migrant education Head Start and Early Head Start 21st century Community Learning Centers and the education education uh leading to employment and career training programs each program focuses on essential services including academic support health and developmental screenings science technology engineering arts and Mathematics steam enrichment career Readiness and family engagement the presentation emphasized the importance of staying informed about potential federal policy changes that may impact funding and program prior it concluded with a showcasing of the number of uh a number of students served across multiple counties the next cciu board meeting will be held on Wednesday March 19th at 7:30 at the Technical College High School Pickering campus in Phoenixville and that concludes my report thank you thank you director Darnell and that brings us
052to comments for residents on non-agenda items and I believe we do have at least a couple we have three this evening and considered read the statement at the beginning of the me I'll read it now thank you Now's the Time for public comment by residents the board will follow the procedures established in policy 903 all individuals wishing to comment this evening were required to properly register prior to the designated start time for tonight's meeting by completing the information specified in the public comment registration card once called to the podium each commenter will Begin by stting their first and last name and municipality each speaker must limit their comments to 3 minutes or less per public comment period commenters may not seed their time to other individuals individuals will be notified by the time clock when
053their time alloted for public comment has expired the board asks that all commentary be directed to the board as a whole public comment may be interrupted or terminated if the commentary exceeds 3 minutes or if the commentary is obscene and or threatening in nature the first Speaker this evening is J aonso hi Judy defonso still living in the all places East scotian Township um in the past I've come up to this Podium and I've talked about um uh reading it's one of my passions I feel that every student I mean it's one of the three Rs it's why we send kids to school and and it's really a skill that is just in this day and age is just so so necessary I mean I think of all the things that I read on a
054daily basis it's like I don't think I go an hour in the course of a day without having to read something and um I was looking at some numbers before I uh came to uh here tonight um uh 52% of students in pennia or partion at reading that's pssa a data um the district is doing a lot better with 71% but I feel we could do a lot better and um there's um a podcast that I've been following it's kind of talked about over the course of time where teaching reading has gotten off track and their last podcast came out a couple weeks ago and it blew me away it talk about a school uh in Stubenville Ohio it's um on the other uh right over the border from uh Pittsburgh um and uh it's
055a small school district about a third the size of Westchester School District but they have a huge success rate of with teaching kids to read and um I'd like to send a link to the board and uh maybe a couple administrators as well uh just to read it's a about a 30 minute podcast um rated G you know there there might be there might be an off color work here or there but I didn't really notice it uh you know it's not something glaring um but it's a program I could see us piloting in Westchester and um the beauty of this program it's it's basically um requires thinking and executive functioning and rearranging the schedule and um um what they do is they have a reading block at the same time in the school so
056every student is getting taught reading at the same time which means that any certified individual like um you know the math coach or the gifted teacher they're teaching a small group the PE teacher is teaching a small group to read and it's been very successful and I'd love to see um my sister pilot it again it's it it shouldn't be an additional cost to to to do a trial of this and uh thank you and I'll probably back next month with something new and different okay the next speaker is Nancy wood hi um my name is Nancy wood and I live in East Bradford um I watch watched the recent presentation for the proposed new high school schedule and just wanted to share some feedback and I know that a lot of work has gone
057into the plan and I I really appreciate the administration's intention to make things better for our students and teachers however um when I did the math I was really surprised and concerned to discover that the new schedule will actually cut instructional time for all courses by 5.4% and I'm here today because I haven't heard any acknowledgement or justification for such a significant reduction of instructional time in the meeting one board member even seemed to be somehow misunderstanding and commented that the new plan increases instructional time so I'm worried that the true impact of The Proposal might be getting lost in the details here's the math while it is true that each class period in the new schedule is 11 minutes longer each class only meets 3 days out of each 4-day cycle so the 33
058minutes that we pick up over those three longer class periods doesn't offset the loss of an entire 42 minute period per cycle and that loss time adds up assuming a 182 day school year that will be almost 10 whole days the equivalent of two weeks of school of lost instruction time is it really your intention to cut two full weeks of instruction time from each class and if so what content is being cut from the curriculum please take the time to do the actual math on this there may indeed be issues with the current schedule that need to be fixed but I haven't heard any that justifies such a significant and harmful cut in fact the proposal outlined new problems that will be introduced by the change and I didn't hear any details about how
059those new problems will be addressed many of the concerns with the current schedule can be addressed with no loss in learning time for example the benefit of a rotating schedule could be accomplished by simply rotating the existing schedule we already have both a lunch and learn and a formal Lunch Period that is simply not broken and the need for special ed students to have more access to electives can be accomplished through team te work and creativity by each student's IEP team I know that challenge well because I had a child in that exact situation and we were able to work together with the amazing team at Henderson to find a plan that allowed him to take all the classes that he wanted while still receiving the support he needed I urge you to really crunch
060the numbers on the net loss of instructional time in the proposed plan and reconsider it it will harm every student I'm sure you will agree that in this stay in age with lower test thank you the last commenter is Steph Anderson okay there are no further comments all right uh thank you Judy and Nancy for coming out tonight and your comments and we'll close with Dr dri and a quote thank you I have a quote from sing one glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person perhaps someone dead for a thousand years to read is to Voyage Through Time thank you Dr diet our next monthly board meeting is on Monday March 24th 2025 do I have a motion to adjourn vice president Baka do I have a second director Dell
061all those in favor say I I I as a jur