001e and welcome to the August 19th policy review committee meeting uh first we will take role director Rea here director wansley here director dri and I am here obviously um public comment our first item on the agenda is public comment has anyone signed up for public comment yes there's two commenters this evening so I'll read the comment statement and then call those commenters now is the time for public comment on agenda items 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 of tonight's meeting by completing the information specified in the public comment registration card once called to the podium each commenter will Begin by studing their first and last name and municipality each statement made by
002a commenter will be limited to 3 minutes individuals will be notified by a Time clock when the 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 3 minutes or if the commentary is SE our threatening nature the first commenter this evening is Teresa Callan greetings School directors Teresa Callahan W good evening directors my name is Teresa kingan I'm West Gan I'll I'm here represent in the Chester County PA chapter of moms for Liberty to inform you that there is currently a federal district court that has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Department of Education from enforcing the title n rule changes in several States and at the schools attended by the children
003of members of moms for Liberty it should be Ned by you as public servants bound to uphold the US and Pa constitutions that this past Friday the Supreme Court Court unanimously agreed to continue blocking key aspects of the rule which would have taken effect August 1st and a 54 majority voted to prevent the entire rule from taking effect I am providing this notice that you are informed that there are many schools included within the Westchester school district and that such information was provided before the start of the 2024 2025 school year currently the Westchester area school district has many of our members children attending a number of the schools including East Henderson and Rus high schools fugit ston and Pierce Middle Schools and most of the elementary schools these schools and Westchester area school district
004schools are currently enjoined in the federal injunction moms for Liberty National will be updating the court with a list of included schools on a regular basis approximately at 2 to 3 weeks so even if the current public available list is not named schools in your District you as school board directors are noticed and advised that the many members Children's Schools in the Westchester Area School District are included in this injunction the 10th District Court ruling surrounding the Biden's Administration Title 9 rewrite which state that they are blatantly unconstitutional and unlawful will most likely be decided by the United States Supreme Court sometime in the next year the major corrup of the 10th circuit Court's ruling is that the implementation of the title n rules are unconstitutional because they will violate the free speech of the
005people and punish them for it school directors are public servants who are bound to support obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this Commonwealth as in as evidenced by their Earth of as PA public school code 24 PS 3- 321 in order to uphold your to the people of Pennsylvania it is imperative to discharge the duties of your office with Fidelity in coordinance in accordance with the Pennsylvania Constitution the people of Pennsylvania have fundamental rights which are not only secured by the Pennsylvania's constitutional Article 1 Section 28 prohibition against denial or abridgment of equality of Rights because of sex equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abrid in the common love of Pennsylvania because of the sex of the individual but also secured by the
006United States Constitution thank you all the next speaker is Stephanie lorett hi there Stephanie L with West Goan as a public servant we urge you to read and understand the Supreme laws of the land the United States and Pennsylvania constitutions which are the laws that govern you uh as this instant matter is in direct violation of the substantive and fundamental rights of the people of Pennsylvania specifically note Article 1 Section 10 1st 5th 7th 9th 10th and 14th amendments of the US Constitution and article one sections sections Pardon Me 1 2 3 6 7 12 25 and 28 of the Pennsylvania constitutions as these articles section and amendments pertain this instant matter in addition to reading the supreme law of the land we also recommend that you read and understand that the implementation of any
007of Title 9 re rewrites in a school setting appear to be in direct violation of Federal Regulation title 34 education subtitle B chapter 1 part 106 PA school code 24 PA section 7740 PA code title 28 health and safety section 1862 and and protection of people Rights Amendment 20 USC section 1,232 H please review the proposed Title 9 rewrite details and please govern yourselves accordingly yes Chester County lies under the federal third circuit and this case was decided in a federal 10th circuit will most likely go to the United States Supreme Court for final clarification it is important to note several recent Supreme Court rulings have severely curtailed the power of federal agencies some helpful recent uh scotus rulings include loer brigh Enterprises at all versus uh raino Secretary of Commerce at all and Securities
008and Exchange Commission versus J jesi I'm sorry jari at all summary of lber bright Enterprises first Rondo Secretary of Commerce overturned the Chevron Doctrine limiting the power of administrative agencies to create rules and enforce regulations summary of Securities and Exchange Commission versus J limits the the ability of administrative agencies to aducate or penalize the people for violations of rules and regulations adjudicate pardon me administrative law judges and administrative procedures are in violation of substantive due process rights and any agency seeking civil penalties from defendants the seventh amendment requires it to bring the action to a court of law where the defendant is entitled to a trial by juring feel free to reach out to the chapter Chester County chapter directly I'm sure you have all of our information thank you very much there's no other
009public comments thank you um next on the agenda is the approval of the committee meeting minutes um approval of the June 17th 2024 committee minut minutes um I hereby move all in favor hi I I allos great that passes three tonight we are focusing our attention on policies and administrative guidelines that require revisions due to the new title 9 legislation that must be in place by the beginning of the school year our solicitor Miss sunquist will give us some background information on these new laws the floor is yours all right so there are four I what I would refer to is four buckets of policies on your agenda this evening there's a bucket involving the 2024 Title 9 regulation a bucket involving the 2020 T9 regulations a bucket a set of policies involving non title
010n other protected class policies and then there is a policy on pregnant and parenting students so looking first to the title the 20 talking about the Title Nine policies the district is required to comply with comply with Federal Title 9 law the last major change to the Title 9 regulation requirements happened in 2020 the board adopted policies and procedures involving the 2020 regulations those um are located at 103 currently for students and 104 currently for staff a new set of regulations which I'll call the 2024 regulations issued in April of this year and went into effect on August 1st of this year there portions of the 2024 regulations are the same as the 2020 regulations but there are appreciable differences between the two the two sets of regulations um one set I would categorize is
011procedural there's been um changes in the portions of the policy about how like a grievance procedure is to be run that provides some more flexibility for the district and some more options for families who or employees who are proceeding through that grievance process there's an addition of provision regarding retali prohibiting retaliation in there there's also been changes to standards um for what constitutes sex-based harassment I would say the standard is now it's a lower standard to reach um there also is a change in the standard for when reporting can occur um you have to report based I would say Le on less information than under the 2020 regulations I would expect that would result that you may receive more complaints may fall under the under the policy than previously the poort the changes in the
0122024 regulations that have garnered I would say the most attention is the clarification in the definition of sex discrimination to include not just sexual harassment which was the focus of the 2020 regulations but to include discrimination based on sex stereotypes sex characteristics parental family or marital status pregnancy lactation or related medical conditions sexual orientation and gender identity there's also a related provision in the 2024 regulations that talks about separate separation or treatment of a person differently based on sex that subjects them to more than a DI Minimus harm is not permitted other than in certain circumstances but there also is a specific statement saying precluding someone from participating in an education program or activity consistent with gender ID identity would de facto creates more than a dominous harm and really those those provision areas have
013been the focus of the litigation because after the after the regulations were released um there has been a number of federal lawsuits regarding the regulation currently 26 states have challenged the regulations in court Pennsylvania is not one of the states that have challenged the regulations of court all states challenging all the 26 states that have challenged the regulations currently have a preliminary injunction or stay in place that but because Pennsylvania is not in those involved in those lawsuits there is not a Statewide preliminary injunction or stay in Pennsylvania right now there is a case that does there is a federal case that does impact those schools in Pennsylvania just like schools across the country who are in those 24 other states where there's not already an injunction in place and that is the federal district
014of a case in the federal district of in Kansas that was brought by Kansas Alaska Utah and Wyoming as plfs as well as U what I'll call organizational plfs four three groups um young Americas Foundation female athletes United and moms for Liberty and their challenge was focused mainly on those Provisions that changes or expands the definition of what sex means under under the statute and as part of their complaint they asked for a preliminary injunction for for similar to what was F in other states to enjoin the regulations during the processing of their complaint the court did Issue an injunction in that case against the defendants in the case the defendants in the case are generally speaking the Department of Justice and the Department of Education the the Westchester area school district is not a
015defendant in the case the we're not a party to the case in any of the a PL for defending capacity the injunction that was issued um enjoined the regulations in their enti well enjoined the US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice from implementing enacting enforcing are taking action to enforce those 2024 regulations in the four states and then in regard to the organizational plist for the young American foundation and the female athletes United groups for their members those organizations not entirely but generally are Collegiate level organizations and then in regards to moms for liberty for children of current or prospective members of moms for Li Liberty the court directed The plaintiffs the organizational plaintiffs to file a list of schools with the court which they did do the list has been updated
016it was last updated on July 31st the last update um did include Brightstone on the list your other schools are not on any list that have been updated that been f with the court I did check the list again today before I came to the meeting and the are not on the list on there's been no update to the list today that at least was filed as of 5:00 I do expect though that those list will continue to be updated over time and other district schools may show up on that list at some point um the federal agencies the US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice have acknowledged the order and have indicated that they'll not enforce in the schools that are included in the list but they expect other schools to
017be in compliance with the regulation the US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice did appeal that um the preliminary injunction to the 10th circuit 10th circuit's not taking action on it I do not I could be wrong but uh you can never want to predict a judge but I don't expect that there probably be a different result R reached in the 10th circuit case um I expect they'll probably uphold the preliminary injunction particularly the US Supreme Court's decision on Friday in the fifth and six circuit cases which had which basically was addressing this the same issue so that's kind of where it stands right now you have one school on the list that's been followed with the court your other schools are not on a list that's been fed with the court
018yet in addition so that's the 2024 bucket you also the 2020 regulations continue to apply to to activities that of Alle alleged conduct that's alleged to have occurred in between the period about the fouryear period that that set of regulations was in place so you need to continue to have policies and procedures in case you have somebody who falls a complaint that falls inin that time period that is also while there is no there's been no definitive Direction provided on how you are to proceed with title because title N9 continues to apply even a school on the list it's just the 2024 regulations that do not apply you have to have a policy or procedure to process a complaint under Title 9 in those buildings and so the federal agencies that enforce Title 9 have
019recommended that you use the 2020 regulations in those buildings in addition to Title 9 you also have obligations to your students and employees under other federal law um many of which have not changed at all and I would say in the last 18 months um one of those is well three of those are under federal law and primarily impact your employees there is the pregnant workers Fairness Act that generally addresses accommodations that you're required to provide for your employees who um due to pregnancy child birth and related medical conditions that act went into effect in 2023 but it has a regulations that went into effect in June of this year there's also the Pumped act that was signed into law at the end of 2022 that addresses break time and accommodations you have to provide
020to employees who um have within a year of birth of a child regarding people who would like to P or Express milk and then there's also the US equal employment opportunity commission's enforcement guidance on harassment in the workplace those items primarily address your employees and then under state law the PA human relations commission issued new regulations to entities in Pennsylvania and a public school district is one of the entities that is regulated by the phrc which um includes updated definitions for sex religious Creed and race probably most pertinent here given our focus on Title Nine is the um updated definition of sex which now includes pregnancy status child birth status breastfeeding status sex assigned of birth gender identity or expression affectional or sexual orientation and differences in sex development so that's kind of the to
021set the table that's kind kind of what we're we're looking at here so what that really means for the sets of policies before you this evening is for your for the portions of the district with the 2024 regulations are still in place you need to have a you need to have some kind of a policy and procedure um and so that and your packet are what I'm going to call the policy 103 Series so policy 103 and it's AGS it covers both student students and staff then you have also in there as we talked about that you have to still retain policies and procedures for the 2020 regulations those are in policy 103.3 for students and policy 104.1 for students those would be for conduct that happened in the four years or for conduct in
022title onine conduct in buildings that are not can't be under the 2024 regulations right now those policies do not have any substantive changes to them um than what you currently have in place right now other than there is a blur at the top explaining what they're for and then there's a couple places where there's internal policy references or a job title has changed where we have updated those so people can use them appropriately and then the LA the third bucket is all your non-title n discrimination that you have to address under federal and state law and so that was what I'll call your policy 103.2 series and your 104 series 103.2 is for students 104 is for staff and then the last bucket is for pregnan pregnant and parenting students that's policy 234 it has
023been updated to address the 2024 regulations however many of those obligations that would be owed to those students really also flow under the pH U the the pH okay so that's kind of setting the table and then David's going to walk through you know start hitting through the policies okay thanks so much right so reviewing the approval of revised policy 103 discrimination based on sex Title 9 so as Amanda said this is uh a policy that is being you know changed pry substantially to try and ensure that we're in compliance with um new title n regulations uh the policy as it is written addresses some of the issues that the Amanda has shared with you and now covers complaints of discrimination both students and staff and and that's students and staff with uh harassment or
024these types of issues discrimination occurring after August 1st of 2024 in buildings that are not enjoying the lawsuit so i' like to try and parse all of that out there any specific questions related to this that and I can answer it also describes some changes like you know our new position of teaching learning in equity is now the title line coordinator to try ensure that that information's all been updated as well so the changes here then also carry through each of the three EGS associated with us yes they okay so um we'll vote on them one by one obviously but and you'll have something to say for each one Dr Christopher I can sure I mean like if there but we we we can vote for 103 and yeah I mean this is obviously the
025biggest one and then the CH the changes to the AG's just Ure the AG is align to the new policy so I don't know that I have to go through each one of those AGS 103 ag1 103 ag2 or 103 ag3 um you know as those those are just to ensure that we're they in correct order and and the 10 103 is the policy 103 ag1 is the updated Complaint Form so that moves generally it looks very similar to your existing Complaint Form um although it does make a couple changes to align with the policy a lot of it is updating policy titles in it so when it's being used by the title 9 coordinator they're directing things to the correct place um because most comp the any discrimination complaint is going to start with
026the title line coordinator and then will be directed down the path that of the type of discrimination it is right so you have if someone puts in the complaints as they being discriminated against then we would send it to Dr Brown who is going to say okay is this a Title Nine violation pre August one you know is it an August one tieline violation if it's if it's a school Under the injunction to go that the bucket is it harassment based on another protected class that's not timeline or is it just a code of conduct violation you know and and those that will that will route it to three different um paths to try and address it so I mean really it's a it's a procedural um change there in terms of how you're going
027to address that um and so yes we we did create that that change the other big change I think for the for the board is also previously we could direct someone say if you don't make a title n complaint we can send you the form and you can fill it out and if they didn't do that then it wasn't necessarily considered a Top Line complaint now if we hear of a complaint we have to move forward and assume we have to be the the individuals who memorialize that put it in writing and then address it and decide whether it's a t of mic play because that's a big change in terms of a procedural change that's occurring with the new regulations as well so staff have to know what building at what time and navigate
028a matrix now does that Matrix change once more schools are identified if more schools are identified and then is that retroactive to August is it at app point at time we're notified at a SCH so the staff doesn't have to navigate a matrix the staff would just the same Complaint Form is being used across the policies and so they'll just fill out a policy and then it will be it'll be the Title Nine coordinator's job to if the information's been provided on the form to gather that information if it hasn't to return to the St staff member the student the parent whomever to gather that information to figure out what bucket the complaint might fall into now if a because my view would be that if new schools are added to the list that's bought
029with the court those new schools we ideally would relate back to August one there is a possibility that you could have I mean at this point at this point we don't have students back in the building and I expect I could be wrong I expect though most of the complaints are going to become out student issues as opposed to employee issues I could be wrong um if there was one in progress then we would at that time would have to figure out if we need to change our procedures it probably would depend honestly we probably would talk to the complaintants and the respondents involved in that case and make a determination on how to make sure they received fair and Equitable treatment in due process but we're relatively confident right at this point in time
030that between the current final roles the PA Human Resources commissions which is a finding regulation that we must operate on in addition to our current District policies that there would be no student at risk even at this moment right well there there's a due process procedure regardless of what what bucket it falls under so no there there would be and there similar requirements you know so I would say that that we're able to continue um it really is a reporting issue and then there are some specific things that we would have to do if it is a title n violation let's call it what it is it's an unfunded mandate right this is a try we had lots of those yeah yeah right but unlike prior situations where there was like a serious Public Health
031crisis and federal funding attached to our ability to action with a public health plan or a health and safety plan right um that I mean there's the department of Ed had the option and we encouraged and instructed to delay implementation of this or enforcement right so they had that option and we're put in the unfortunate position of trying to navigate this while it works its way through the court system I believe they requested they let the judge know in Kansas that it could be chaotic and I think his recommendation was usually delayed there's a littleit that going back and forth yes we we're in this position where where we are required under federal law to to move forward with these policies um because it will be held accountable by the US Department of Education should
032we not do so um but to your point yes like it is somewhat in flux which is why this is a little late while we're also moving forward rra it right now um the whole month of July was hard to figure out where things were going to go and what they look like and and and now we're past the deadline so that's one of the reasons we're moving forward this evening just looking back at 103 the 103 103 ag2 that's the current title my discrimination procedure it would be retired here but then it's going to resurface under 103.3 A2 just with a new blurb at the top and then 103 ag3 is an update to then to the grievance procedures because that's where the grievance procedures currently live for title line which again those them
033get moved to a different policy number there any other questions or comments the only other comment I'd just like to make for the public record is that um our approach on this is a little bit out of syn with what we would normally do we normally have a first and second reading right so I appreciate that you know you've explained the urgency with respect to the implementation of August 1 but I think the public needs to understand like they they're missing their opportunity right to contribute comment um we're in a tough position where we're having to fast trck everything in one evening where there would have been at least two maybe even three opportunities for public input um I just want the public to know that that is understood um and that we're doing the
034best we can in these circumstances so thank you do you have any any comments okay great um so let's move forward with um voting for least 103 maybe we take a pause if there's any other comments or questions at that point does that work all right so um approval is requested um to adopt revised polic excuse me um 103 all in favor say I I I all oppos n passes to one 103 ag1 I have was informational so the no vote needed there um approval is requested to retire 103 ag2 uh discrimination complaint procedure students um all in favor vote I I all opposed n passes 2 one 10383 also informational um no vote is needed there uh approval was requested to adopt uh new policy 103.2 all in favor say I I opposed can
035I ask AI question it says non tile nine so is it part of title n or not this is where I get a little confused in the which one are you're looking at 1032 103.2 103.2 is non-title nine that's different bucket I'm sorry I know and we haven't presented that one yet we haven't talked about that one yet okay well yeah asked if we stop [Music] 103 oh no I just thought you meant the regular window not the two like that aming so the 103.2 this is what I call all other discrimination um this is the not the title N9 discrimination this is other T other discrimination that you may have obligations for under the Civil Rights Act the phrc um Ada Ida for your students a student policy um it it is pretty similar
036to your existing policy that well the existing AG that talks about the Discrimination PL procedure it um the primary differences are the defin some of the definitions that have been updated based on changes to state law there in the grievance procedure I would say the primary changes to the appeal procedure um where we've made that uh align more closely to what um the T9 procedure looks like for Equity purposes so like 103.2 just references Title 9 it doesn't spit a 2020 2024 right so when that refers back to policy 103 it's whatever policy 103 we're following in that building at that point in time it is okay yeah all right so nothing in this is specific to 2020 or 2021 no 103.2 is for everybody yeah yes just B clarifying my mind and for anyone
037listening so my understanding is you we're going to have have two groups of school Title 9 under 2020 Title 9 under 2024 we gra doing right now which likely we will add schools that will be under Title 9 2020 so if there's a form of discrimination that happens at one of our schools that are under the 2020 Title 9 would be under 24 but they're injoy so they're under the 2020 we were just therefore um treated as discrimination based on one of these other U agencies or or law unless it meets definition of of discrimination under title line 2020 it meet under 2020 then it's the same across the board when we're in the schools that you know there could be a form of discrimination in a school that is under the 2020 rules that
038would be if they're under the 2024 rules um be a form of title n discrimination but we would take that particular case in those schools and see if if it was relevant under one of these other policies that we have correct so yeah you would start if it was if it was a we'll call them a 2020 school if it didn't fall within the definitions for you know quid quo pro sexual harassment are things that as defined under that law then the the title n coordinator they would look at it and say okay does this meet any of the other protected classes forms of discrimination if it did it would process under that 103.2 if it was students and if it didn't fall in any of those buckets then you would look at the code
039of conduct and see if it fell under there if that was the case it would process there or if it fell under nothing then that's where it would end thank you so 103.2 ag1 is the report form it's the same report form as the other form because they're all processing through the same item and then 103.2 ag2 is the the proc is the the grievance what I'll call the grievance process how it would proceed if there was a complaint so those are the three policies just as a reminder those are all students U not staff because staff actually has more protected classes than students so they have a different policy any other questions or comments so back to um adopting 103.2 discrimination harassment based on protected class non-title N9 students um all in favor say
040I I I I all oppos that carries 3 3 um approval is requested to adopt 103.2 ag1 discrimination harassment retaliation Report Form all in favor say I I I opposed carries 30 approval is requested to adopt um 103.2 ag2 discrimination harassment based on cored CL class complaint procedures not entitle nine students all in favor say I I oppos would we like to pause and talk about the threes sure I mean we can we can look at those I mean it's pretty self-explanatory what we're doing with point3 is really is the time between July 1st and sorry not July 1st July 31st 2024 and August 14 2020 which would be now we're going to try and ensure that we have a policy in place that that addresses those and us trying to align our policies as
041best we can can um and to ensure that we continue to have this because we have to have this policy regardless of whether we had any schools that were enjoyed because of that time period we get have a harassment that was reported that occur during that time period even now and it would it would fall back under this policy if it's a timeline violation great thank you any questions or comments from the committee from the board we'll move forward with approving those um approval was requested for um policy 103.3 all in favor say I I opposed n carries 2 one approval is requested for uh new policy 103.3 ag1 all in favor say i i oppos n carries 2 one approval is requested for policy 103.3 ag2 all in favor say I I I opposed
042n approval is requested for policy 103.3 ag3 um TI line sexual harassment procedure and grievance processes from July 31st forward all in favor um say I I I opposed n great do we want to pause and cover some 104 stuff sure we can do that so 104 as you guys can see uh is really discri other than Title 9 and how that is handled differently for staff and students so this is really the staff policy um as as Amanda said there are additional classifications of individuals that are protected under title line for staff so is this like the 103.2 version for students St great thank you any other questions or comments from the committee from the board we'll move forward approval was requested to adopt uh revise policy 104 discrimination harassment based on protected class
043affecting staff all in favor uh say I I opposed carries three Z 104 ag1 and 104 ag2 revisions are just for informational purposes only um so that brings us to approval request to retire policy 104 A3 um Title 9 sexual harassment uh grievance process formal complaints um all in favor um say I I opposed n that carries 2 one um and then we're kind of on um did anyone do you want to share anything about 104 ag4 but it just it's very specific uh to um break time for individuals who are lactating it's the federal pump act requirements okay I did have a question can you just explain what the um SE where it says a district is not required to compensate employee receiving receivable break time can you just explain what that means if
044you wouldn't have to you if you it for most of your employees it's not going to make a difference um because they're salaried employees um with under a CBA that advises what their work hours are and if they take a pump break they take a pump break and it is what it is if you had hourly employes um I I suppose you would not have to compensate them for the time unless they're CBA indicated otherwise um during the time that they're pumping okay um any other questions or comments all right um approval is requested for uh new policy 104 ag4 reasonable break time for lactation accommodations all in favor say I I oppos carries 30 z um and stop and how about you guys just stop me if you have questions got it all right
045thanks um approval was requested for new policy 104.1 discrimination title 9 sexual harassment affecting staff um all in favor say I I opposed nay approval is requested for new policy 104.1 ag1 discrimination sexual harassment retaliation staff report form all in favor say I I opposed n carries 2 one approval is requested for new policy 104.1 ag2 discrimination complaint procedures for staff all in favor say I I I oppose n carries 2 [Music] one approval was requested for new policy 104.1 ag3 Title 9 sexual harassment procedures and grievance process um for staff all in favor say I I opposed nay it carries 2 one um approval is requested for revised policy 234 uh pregnant parenting and marrying and married students um all in favor say I I opposed carries 30 z um approval was requested for
046new policy 234 ag2 uh students experiencing pregnancy pregnancy related conditions or parenting um all in favor say I I carries 30 thank you um so for informational purposes as we you know hint noted earlier we just to read this Dr Christopher reviewed the first four administrative guidelines 103 ag1 103 ag3 104 ag1 104 ag2 during our title N9 discussion uh Mr Scully will review the remaining three um okay um there's no further comments or discussion um we can call the meeting to adjourn our next meeting will be held on Monday September 16th um and that concludes our meeting for tonight e e e good evening we're going get started with tonight's property and finance meeting first it of the agenda as we always do is roll call director Christie here director Wesley here director Herman
047all right the next item was uh do we have any public comment for tonight there is no public comment for this meeting right thank you for confirming the next item on the agenda was the approval of last of the last property and finance meeting which was held on June 17th um nobody approached me with any comments at this point so we'll look for approval of the June 17th combined personnel and property and finance committee meeting minutes all in favor say I I I all post all right the next thing the agenda as we do monthly is uh Mr scul is going to review the August budget forecast model good evening har and rest of the committee thank you um very very uh very early review of our forecast model for uh 2526 um I'm sorry
0482425 school year um but I'd like to talk about some of our preliminary results of 2324 which which we had already accounted for our budgetary items and said that we RW that forward to offet f increases um and then I do have a few changes based on what we are seeing with our action results for 2324 that I believe will carry over to 2425 um again very premature numbers but um I did want to at least advise the board where we are so on page five of the forecast model um there should be uh changes for 2324 projection changes they dated August of 2024 these are our tenative year end results I say tenative I should called there are unaudited Financial results for the end of the year a will not till October I do
049not anticipate very many changes to our financials from the standpoint uh one that is still outstanding is Charter Schools we have not reconciled our charter school tuitions so I do anticipate that we will probably have additional stvs in charter schools that will be reported in the September forecast model um we had salaries and benefits of almost $4 million savings most of that came from our medical claims we actually had thought our medical claim savings would be higher we did have very high claims in May and June um so our our our savings were not what we had projected our savings to be but we still had substantial savings most of that 1.1 that is reflected in benefits is in RX which is prescriptions so we are not seeing the savings that we had anticipated seeing
050in our medical claims truly based on we had a few historically High claimants in theine that doesn't normally happen but that's why our results were not where we expected from the DAT um other than that we have minimal changes up and down throughout um other services the one mon there million dollar savings that is mostly in Transportation uh we had known that going throughout most of the year that we work see savings and transportation that is something that'll add back every year to our budget hoping that we can add once we get us drivers we can add back some routes and get our routes back to what they used to be prior pandemic job well done I'm trying now as s went out I can see the Improvement thank you that's awesome okay so um
051savings and expenses $6.9 million and then in revenues we did have some favorable revenues in our current real estate taxes and our inter own taxes inter own taxes being new properties and or changes to existing properties additions and things like that I will tell you that it's not the bulk of it the bulk of it is new homes coming in a lot of being graceone so we are still seeing graceone coming one our roles our earn income taxes about $1.2 million above where you expected to be they were um that was Revenue that came in at the April 15th timeline which we don't see until the middle May at that point we already approved our or came very close to approving our our budget and the other one was our investment earnings so our investment
052earnings about $2.5 million above again I said that all year long as we reviewed our financial results we budgeted at a 1.3% return on investment because that's what it was when we prepared our 2425 budget and our 23 24 budget I'm sorry it's when we prepared our 23 24 budget we were about 1.3% we were much higher than that once we invested our earnings so changes coming through all of that comes to about a 13.4 13.5 million change to our ending fund balance all being used to offset our 25 26 um needs for for a tax increase there any questions right now again these are un audited numbers but I think they're pretty close I think we're going to see a little bit more Savings in um Charter Schools but other than that might there
053I don't anticipate much we recruit everything that we know was out there and crw all revenue so then moving on to 2425 made minor changes in 2425 most of them are based on either revenues that we saw come in in 23 24 so if you look at our local revenues we have $4.6 million in local revenues that is an increase I increase earned incomes our earned income revenues based on last year's actual numbers and I've increased our investment earnings because we know monies that we received in July and August we've already invested in it's much higher than 1.3% that number will change throughout the year so I will continue as we make our investments the both more money will start coming in end of August through October they will all be invested hopefully the rat
054stay where they are and we'll be investing a much higher return than what be a budget so I will change those projections as we go throughout the year um Small Change in charter schools that was just based on tuition calculation that we made and salaries um small decrease in salaries that was due to a decreas in our one funding so we did have a decrease in funding so we reduce our salaries based on that so all in all um about 19 million so the last time you saw projection for 2526 we are about $19 million to the good to where you were where you had what you had seen in that one thing I do want to point out um from those especially was to have in the Delware County area um the stad ratio
055has has corrected itself um if if that's the way to to word it so we are not going to see the variance in our military between Delaware County and Chester County So based on preliminary calculations and based on numbers that I have right here right now tax increases would be the same percentage increase or very close Delaware County versus Chester County so the market value of Delaware sorry market value of Chester County has the outgrown than the market value in Del County grow so then we level back out again nothing that the board can control nothing that I can control it's all based on market value analysis that is done at the state level and dictated but I happy to see thaty has even down with as is Dr Christopher who pay taxes so um
056don't really have much else in the forecast model it's very very early to be reval a forecast model as it stands right now our millage increase if we were to change Absol abolutely nothing um is above the Act One index um estimating act one to be about 4.1 we have not got an actual number yet was 5.3 in the year that we are in I'm projecting next year to be somewhere around 4.1 give or take a little bit we are sitting at about 9% so we have a lot of work to do but very very early any questions one the forecast model from results from 2324 or projections for 2425 all right thanks John for going over that and we'll continue to look at those Trends as we continue to look at on a monthly
057basis the next item we had on the agenda tonight was uh an update and approval for the financial team to proceed with a preparation for parameters resolution John I don't you speak to the details there for funding the renovations yeah I'm going to handle this I had told Mr Fry he did not need to Comm in for pfn because he was here in March and this has not changed since when he was here in March and made the presentation of borrowings that we would need so this is a $10 million borrowing that in our March projection we expected to sell on in August we have not spent our money quite as quickly and honestly we're making more one our investments of money so we did not need our money as quickly as we did so
058we pushed the $10 million borrowing which we thought we would need to spending or we need to borrow in August we are pushing that to October um Market values are Trends right now we are doing well trending well this will be under $10 million borrowing so will be Bank qualified our Norm process is that we come to the board I advise the board of this and next month I would come back with parameters resolution which would authorize us to move it to the board the board would vote next month and then we go after our bond salale so this is a $10 million additional borrowing it is included in the forecast model the rates that are included for interest in the forecast mod are higher than what I am seeing right now but that could
059change um but we are trending very very well um if you go through the analysis of where our Market rates are we are lower last year at this time the market is the market is so the the ask here that for Mr skul was for us to uh permit the finance team proceed with the preparation for the primary resolution they'll come back forward for later property Finance meeting with the actual resolution that will review and approve at that point correct so preparation right the August 26th you would authorize to proceed so I'm ask the committee to authorize to proceed which would move to August 26th the whole board tothor for me just to move forward with the parameters resolution then you would be awarding the parameters resolution which allows me to send our bonds out
060to grab the market and to try to gain to get to so any questions on that so property finance committee now we're looking for approval to move that on then to the board for approval to put together the resolution so looking for for that to put that together accordingly as we just spoke about looking for approval then for the finance team to put resolution together all in favor say I I all oppose nay right good there John um the next thing we had is Mr Scully periodically provides us uh or yearly District initiated appeals so this is a little different than previous years normally I provide you with an update on District initiated appeals and ask for authorization to approve District initia appeals I'll jump to the last line of my my uh my uh
061M that gave the board and we do not have any properties that meet the criteria of school board policy to initiate a school district appeals although we did have many properties that did transfer last year none of them would meet our criteria um so I'm not suggest so I'm suggesting that we do not um we follow the board policy we do not initiate any District appeals there there are spreadsheets included in the packet so if you want I can review what our district initiated appeals did look and what revenues were Ned from that um in 2122 we had appealed 29 4 million and our difference uh came at about $6.8 million increase in assessed values for revenues $153,000 so that is an annual increase in revenues of $153,000 on those four properties in 2223 we
062had initiated 10 appeals of those 10 appeals I withdrew eight of those appeals what happened was is the step value or the common level ratio of Market to assess value in Chester County dropped so by the time we got to appeal the properties they did not meet our criteria and I did not want to violate our Schoolboard policy so I withdrew eight of our 10 appeals that met it just two two appeals did settle and we met $35,000 worth an additional revenue and similar results in 23 24 I um done appeals one five one sorry one nine properties I withdrew five and settled four additional revenues of $775,000 in those properties most of the properties that we withdrew some of the properties we withdrew two of the properties one turned over to the Home Owners
063Association has open space in one of the properties so I automatically withdrew that one the other one was a um a a unit that was being demolished and we be turning into the self storage unit I'm going to wait for that to self storage and then it automatically assess itself through the so there are no approval items here we will not have any initiated for any questions that was information for committee on the board the last item on here was uh Mr scul is going to provide us a right to know request update that we do in a quality fashion correct so this is just the year end results of our right to know again this is not me an approval just for informational purposes the last time we saw this was in well actually
064we saw it in May but it was the results through March so we did finish this through the end of the year so for the end of the 23 24 year we had 77 appeals and we spent about $27,000 in total one those appeals in 22 23 same time period we had 121 appeals for a cost of 94,000 roughly $94,000 you can see the categories of the appeals a lot of the appeals in beginning of the year we're related to the Charter School application so we did have some right to know um requests that came through that we needed to um you need fill the request in to those and there are some on various practices and um programs nothing went to the appeal board for the state so everything stated our local level again
065informational purposes and I'll continue to do this on a quarterly basis just so the is aware thank you John for the I just wanted to confirm we didn't have any any uh items for you this month everything else orental it yep so one question I had just going forward is for anything that we bundle under consent if we could call out anything that isig imping meaning above and beyond the approved budget right discussed yes and it would be my suggestion that if that is your request that any it that is considered an unbudgeted item will not will no longer appear as a consent item and it will come through as an action item I will say you that is our standard practice so our standard practi is I don't like to put anything in as
066a consent item that is not a budgetary item I do want to stand some much correct Mr you asked me is there anything on there that affects Village there's nothing on there that is not included in this year's budget some of the contracts especially our soft contracts are three year and five years so they are in my model but the mill has not been assessed on this so if you look on items 5 6 7 8 and N they're multie contracts but it is for a standard operating software which we always operated that way fair enough thank you if that is something in the future you would want pull off and not included okay but it is in the forecast model so it's budgeted for this year and then the same dollar now whatever increase
067we can Trash put in there would be to move forward I would only be conservative something that we improved range of what we improv so one of those multi-year contracts for whatever reason we have come back and go you know what I know this is what we sign but it actually is this sometimes it happens it's rare usually the contract hopefully holds water but um that would be the only concern I would have for future years perfect thank you and John the same thing anything that's on our agenda for property finance committee we do the same thing we don't move it forward to consent to the board budgetary item Bring It Forward as an approval item at the bo meting so we follow the same thing bothe for things that are on consent or on
068the agenda regardless yes okay all right and then the next uh property Finance meeting will be also on Monday September 16th thank you and looks like we got 25 minutes before the special board meeting at e e e good evening I would like to call to order the August 19th 2024 special board meeting of the Westchester Area School Board let us begin with a salute to the flag United States America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God withy andice we have uh no special announcements tonight uh next we'll go on to roll call M cherisher vice president here director Chris director director jell here president fing here director C here director Herman director paron director here thank you m chair next uh on the agenda is public comment Miss sunqu
069do we have any public comment today yes there's three agenda item public comments so I'll read the statement and then call their names thank you now is the time for public comment on agenda items 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 of tonight's meeting by completing the information specified on public comment registration cards once called to the podium each commenter will Begin by sitting 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 their time allotted for public comment has expired there will be a
070second public comment period at the end of the meeting for comments from residents following the same guidelines 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 3 minutes or if the commentary is obscene and or threatening in nature the first Speaker this evening is Sarah Voda my name hi my name is Sarah is that [Music] good U my name is Sarah vaka I live in West O Township and I have three children in the school district um two at gravestone and one about to start at Pierce um I am here today I believe the most controversial topic regarding Title 9 is the right of transgender children especially the right to use the bathroom of their gender identity um this
071has been brought up by the moms for Liberty lawsuit um because I believe moms for Liberty does not want to tree our transgender children with the dignity equality and respect that they deserve um I would like to share some facts with you all about transgender children uh 0% that is the amount of data that shows transgender children have attacked assaulted or harassed kids in schools especially in school bathrooms but the national Center for transgender equality has found that 12% of transgender women have been verbally harassed in restrooms 1% have been physically attacked and 1% have been sexually attacked in public restrooms the Center for Disease Control and prevention says that 4 3% of transgender youth have been bullied at school and 29% have attempted suicide the National Institute of Health has found that 80% of
072transgender individuals this includes adults and children have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide the Trevor Project has found that 38% of CH transgender children have experienced homelessness because their families do not accept them for who they are in fact school can be a sa payment for a lot of transgender children and I hope this school district will follow the new title n regulations and keep our transgender children safe after hearing these statistics I don't know why anyone would think that being that being transgender is a choice the fight for transgender rights is not about bathrooms it's about the dignity and Humanity of every person everyone regardless of their gender identity deserves to live openly and safely without fear of discrimination thank you the next public commenter is Carter Bak hello my name is
073Carter Voda um I'm from the west goost and Township and I'm going into sixth grade at Pierce Middle School I've shared a bathroom with a transgender girl many times and I've never felt uncomfortable at all I have a lot of friends who also share a bathroom of her and I've never heard them say they were uncomfortable with this we don't care or understand why this would be a problem at all I believe that school should be a safe place for all students and we shouldn't be taught to discriminate against each other thank you the next speaker is Megan Reich good evening my name is Megan ROV I live in East oan Township um I couldn't attend the earlier policy committee meeting but I did listen to it online and the moms for Liberty members who
074gave public Comm they did so they were talking about the court case and rights and what they forgot to mention when they said that there are students with parents of moms for Liberty members in our high schools in our Middle School schools and in our elementary schools is that we also have transgender non-binary and gender expansive students in our high schools our middle schools and our elementary schools I think it's disgraceful that people who believe their insecurities can outweigh the Dignity of transgender students I don't understand why they hate treating our trans students like actual human beings I am here before you tonight on behalf of many parents of trans nonb non-binary and gender expansive students who either could not be here tonight because it's a busy time of year we're all getting ready for
075school they might not have been here some of them were scared and some of them were not here because they were just frankly fed up with their children's lives and bodies being Up For Debate we should all support all students I think what it boils down to is in their letter to American parents they had a statement where they meaning those who were in support of the um title n changes push for title n language that now makes transgender a protected class and I put that in um quotation marks because they did meaning that schools can punish kids for as little as using the wrong pronoun with a pier to me when I read that it sounds like what they are wanting is the ability for their children to be able to bully transgender non-binary
076and gender expansive students and that is not okay it's been a while since I've been to a board meeting but it wasn't that long ago that many of our queer St students stood before you and I proudly watched them speak to the board and I just think it's so interesting that one proposed say Hey what if we make some of those uh bathrooms that are currently boys and girls will make this floor gender neutral and it's just so interesting to me that students came with a compromise but that their parents could not I am grateful to the board for their continued support of all of the students within this District thank you thank you everyone for your comments we'll move on to our agenda do we have uh any amendments to the agenda for tonight
077seeing none we'll vote to approve tonight's agenda do I have a first director FR and a second vice president Baka all those in favor say I I I oppose nay motion carries tonight we are here to consider and take action on several board policies and administrative guidelines associated with the new title 9 legislation waving the first and second reading requirements and allowing final board approval so that the policies will be active at the beginning of the school year we will also consider and vote on the appointment of an interim new principal for Greystone Elementary School director Christie please begin with the first time sensitive policy up for approval tonight policy 103 thank you president um I any motions for these correct I you right okay um um action item number one um I request approval
078to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval for revised policy 103 discrimination based on sex Title 9 students and staff do I have have first dror jell Dr Fry all in favor i i i oppos n 61 um approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval to retire 103 ag2 discrimination complaint procedures I so move first director Rea second director fry all in favor say I I opposed n Carri 61 I request approval to wave the first and second R requirements and allow final board approval for new policy 103.2 discrimination harassment based on protected class non-title 9 do I have a first Dr Parkinson second Dr re Aqua all in favor say I I oppos carry 70 uh action it number four I request
079approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of new 103.2 ag1 discrimination harassment retaliation Report Form uh do I have a first director Dell and the second by director re laa all in favor all opposed Carri 7 just a side note if you do have want to say something please do so but I figure we just had a long about it everyone was given opportunity to speak that so um moving on to number five approval to W of the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of the new 103.2 ag2 discrimination harassment based on protected class complaint procedures non-title 9 uh students do I have have a first director B Aqua a second director Parkinson all in favor say I I I opposed 70 approval is
080requested to the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of new policy 103.3 discrimination title 9 sexual harassment affecting students August 14 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 and or otherwise required by law do I have a first director do I have a second director FR thank you um all in favor say I I I oppose n carries 61 on to seven I request approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of the new 103.3 ag1 discrimination sexual harassment retaliation Report Form August 14th 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 or otherwise required by law do I have a first director Baka a second director Parkinson um all in favor say I I opposed n car 61 I request approval to wave the first and
081second ringing requirements and allow board approval new 103.3 ad2 discrimination complaint procedures August 14th 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 or others or otherwise required by law a first director fry and a second director Baka all in favor say I I opposed n 61 approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of the new 103.3 ag3 Title 9 sexual harassment procedures and grievance process for formal complaints August 14 2022 through in including July 31 2024 and or otherwise required by law do I have a director Dell a second director Parkinson thank you all in favor say I I oppose nay 61 number 10 approval is requested to wave the first and second ring requirements and allow final board approval of revised policy 104 discrimination harassment based on protected
082class non-title 9 do I have a first director reel Aqua second director fry all in favor opposed 70 approval was requested to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval to retire 104 ag3 Title 9 sexual harassment procedures and grievance process formal complaints um do I have the first director fry second director Baka all in favor say I I opposed n I request approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of new 104 ag4 reasonable break time and lactation accommodations do first director Parkinson a second d w um all in favor say I I opposed 70 I I request approval to wave the first and second ring requirements and allow final board approval of new policy 104.1 discrimination title 9 sexual harassment affecting staff August
08314 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 or otherwise required by law do I have a first director B loo a second director darell thank you all in favor say I I opposed N Carry 61 number 14 on your agenda approval to wave the first and second reading requirements and allow final board approval of the new 104.1 ag1 discrimination sexual harassment retaliation staff Report Form August 14 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 or otherwise required by law do I have a first director fry second director Parkinson all in favor say I I opposed N Carry [Music] 61 um I request approval to wave the first and second reading requirements allow final board approval of new 104.1 ag2 uh discrimination complaint procedures staff August 14 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 were other why
084is required by law do I have a first director Bev Aqua a second by director fry thank you all in favor say I I oppos nay say nay nay thank you we're nearly there yes um number 16 on your agenda approval I request approval to wave the first and second reading requirements allow final board approval of new 104 .1 ag3 Title 9 sexual harassment procedures and grievance process for formal complaints staff August 14 2020 through and including July 31st 2024 and or otherwise required by law do I have a first director bya a second director fry all in favor say I I opposed N Carry [Music] 61 approval to wave the first and second ring requirements and allow final board approval of revised policy 234 pregnant parenting married students do have first director Park second
085director Fred um all in favor say I opposed carry 70 approval I request approval to wave the first and second reing requirements allow final board approval of new 234 ag1 student experiencing pregnancy pregnancy related conditions or parenting do I have a first director fry a second Drell thank you all in favor say I I opposed carry 70 and I don't do this one all right thank you director Christie next up we will is the appointment of an interim principal for Greystone Elementary director Dell approval is requested of Cliff Bieber as inter room bravestone Elementary School principal beginning August 8th 2024 until the position is filled at a rate of $660 a day ISO move well I'll ask if we have any questions or comments before taking the vote okay so we have a first from
086director Dell we have a second vice president Baca so we'll take a vote all those in favor say I I all those oppos n motion carries 7 Z that concludes our business for tonight uh next up is if we have any comments from residents on non-agenda items there's no registers for this period okay thank you and uh our regular board meeting and our next monthly board meeting is next Monday August 26th do I have a motion to adjourn director by a second director Christie all those in say I may meeting is a