West Chester Area School District School Board Meeting 4/24/2023

001good evening everyone I would like to call the order the Westchester area school district school board meeting for Monday April 24th 2023 are at the salute to the flag will be led by you from Stark weather elementary school as Melissa lay garland from Starbucks please rise to smooth our flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty good evening parents and administrators our names are about Bruce Lee we are both fifth graders in the sovereign schools are really in the business of people helping other people we decided that the best way to go will be to give you a chance to see and hear right from the people who have made made for their special places we have some interviews with staff

002who help kids make become a Bible part of stuff really we hope you enjoyed learning about how we try to give kids a lot of ways to feel like a part of the Wolfpack [Applause] thank you [Music] my name is hi um the best buddies program at Stark weather promotes friendship and education and one of the biggest goals is to introduce kids that would typically is that if that's free levels and we also Association general education [Music] hello my name is [Music] uh what kind of activity or have been organized program four best buddies we've done three activities so far we did a welcome to best buddies where we taught the kids what the program was the background the philosophy of it and that we made safety pins with the colors the three colors that

003represent best buddies program and then we did a Valentine's activity um we actually did K one and two we played Bingo and we colored in um just like Valentine's stuff and then three four and five they made hearts and different Valentine's decorations to display around the school and then our last activity that we did was a stem building challenge where we had our younger kids paired with our older best buddies and we displayed a picture up on the board and the challenge was that they had to work together to create the image that they saw and they have loved all the activities so far this year we'll do one more at the very end of the year as they come together thank you for being the part of best buddies and we don't have that

004place again thank you you're welcome [Music] an opportunity for students to form a last name of friendship relationship special bond with an adult picture sending up the chance to spend time and do fun activities get to know one another about any academic that's pretty much just an overview just an opportunity for a student and a staff to form a bond with a friendship [Music] s [Music] um one of our biggest challenges really is just we meet during the school day so I have a lot of teachers that found you out of the classroom to meet our mentors and then I just have okay we're back for those two years um so that could be challenging just as I need you know please that can be a little bit challenging um but otherwise I think we've

005had a lot of success in a lot of pastors through feedback and so thank you celecan [Music] so um some of the accomplishments for student council has been we did a drive for the SPCA where we raise a few hundred dollars so we were able to make cash donation as well as purchase items that the SPCA needed um the student council also helps in the nurse's office daily by acrylic ice so anytime there's an injury everything is always ready to go the student council coming up soon will be helping with Earth Spirits so we will help who like cleanup and finally they have a part of our kind art for teachers where student council members go around and they present items such as snacks or drinks or coffee to teachers just to let them know

006I'm Soleil I start the weather in I am interviewing with Susie Brown [Music] can you discuss any opportunities sure so birthday is Saturday April 22nd so on Monday every class in the school is going to go outside at their choice when the teacher says they can go outside and we're going to clean up the campus we're going to clean it up and eat trash and debris and just try to make our weather a little bit more beautiful outside since it's already [Music] hi everybody my name is demon for student equities how do you measure the success of the eBay leadership teams in this series and programs so I measure the success of our student Equity leadership team by your response to our meetings so we had our first meeting and right afterward um I got

007so many questions as well are we meeting again like that was so great and even at our first meeting I was blown away by how receptive your group was to the questions and the activities and to the interactions with each other so um to me I measured that success based on your reaction to it [Music] what inspired you to become a leader of the student and Community leadership team well I think seeing the leadership potential and a lot of the students that we have in store further I wanted to [Music] be amazing thank you hello my name is Soleil and I'm here with Mr beanies from Star butter Elementary and a couple questions can you tell me about the rewards students received for good behavior yes I can how are you so much so we

008have a wolf Puck system here and it is tied in with our PBIS program so when students are behaving correctly they get a wolf book and on the back they fill out why they got that Wolf book either they were kind safe respectful or responsible and then they put that Wolf book in the bin and hopefully they'll my shoes and then if I choose them they get to sign their name in the Hall of Fame and sometimes we have an extra bonus bin that could say like I think this book is spend time with this summer and get some french fries or something like that so every once in a while we have a bonus pin but yeah every week kids have a chance to put their wolf bucks into the bed to get there

009use the same behavior system in their individual classrooms for the most part yes some teachers do some things a little bit differently that their kids could earn you know a pajama day or something like that but I start whether we all pretty much use both books thank you you're welcome is that it yeah that was easy [Applause] could you come back up to the microphone now in case we care to have any more discussion this is what I noticed about that video you started out being not quite sure of how you were asking questions and at the end you owned it you definitely progressed through the people that you were interviewing and got stronger as you went that's how it's going to be for you from now until you get to be where these high

010school students are and get ready to graduate so we look forward to wonderful things from both of you you were chosen or Reason by Mr meanings he tells me that you are especially hard-working and cooperative and wanted to work on this project together because you're friends which is a very good sign um I just wanted to ask you Miss Sarah W Stark with her and she was a miss m-i-s-s-s-ss miss because back in those days most teachers didn't get married while they were working and she was born in 1843 and ran the Westchester schools not the school district but the schools from 1866 which is actually the Civil War was still happening to 1881 and then she was like a a sort of pretend superintendent from 81 to 89 when she was named Westchester School

011District's first real superintendent and she was a woman and back in those days not that many women became superintendents of anything she also ushered in and this is remarkable for her time and our time one of Pennsylvania's first special education programs so Stark weather Sarah Stark weather was a special woman and I told you I did take a picture of her her I don't know where the photos are but our past superintendents they used to be in the hall down at the old building but I don't know what you've done with all those things now but he had quite a hairdo I'll tell you and she was in the day when you were in Long clothes that went down to your feet I don't know how she did it I don't know how she supervised

012those schools or got around Westchester walking in the streets but Sarah must have been quite a woman so then your school Mr metix tells me was open in 1991. some of us were even alive back then it quickly reached its maximum 600 students they didn't know what else to do so they put those three classrooms on the back and Mr Medix tells me that they're still there so uh they were just supposed to be temporary classrooms to take the Overflow but I think you still have classes out back you also I think might be the only elementary school that has two stories is that right uh we were friends no no that's right he's Goshen yeah there's there's a few others um and currently Mr meaning says you have about 580 students I know he

013knows exactly how many but it's about that number so it looks to me as though there are a lot of caring people at Stark weather who are helping you have a good Elementary experience and where will you both be next year sixth grade that's soon thank you thank you they make a good team we appreciate your filming as you can tell this is this audience's favorite part of the entire evening and until the high school students get but uh you're definitely a great way for us to start our school board meeting which reminds us why we're all here so I'm going to come around now as I told you what Dr Reynolds we'll have our picture taken okay just stay right there ladies and gentlemen about you um former member of the wolf pack you

014did start motherferry thank you for sharing such a beautiful insight into the community for about thank you [Applause] all right all right now that's it let's take this now you're just graduate between the fifth grade excellent there you go thank you thank you [Applause] thank you thank you parents for bringing these lovely people to us thank you all right Mr chair we can have roll call vice president here director Chester here director Christie here now here director Herman here Emily mcelready here all right and now we have public comments on agenda items do we call people up yes thank you president Karen now is the time for public comment on agenda items persons wishing to make public comment are required to register prior to the designated 7 PM start time when public commenters names are

015called please approach the podium and begin by stating your first name last name and municipality public comments will be limited to three minutes per person the three-minute time clock will be projected on screens located throughout the room the board asks that all commentary be directed toward the board as a whole public comments may be interrupted or terminated if the commentary exceeds three minutes or if it is obscene and or threatening in nature all persons attending this meeting are expected to conduct themselves with decorum and civility in addition to refraining from abusive and profane remarks please also be respectful of all persons and public comments including those comments and opinions that differ from your own distracting and disruptive behavior or other actions which interfere with the orderly conduct of this public meeting will not be tolerated

016we will now call the first of three speakers hi there is Judy devonzo I'm still living in East Goshen Township places um Jeremy when it comes through the microphone you know I have an ask I explain something or something like that and I never really take the time to thank everyone who comes together to make these meetings possible I mean we have custodians who unlock the door set up the room we have people who are posting the agenda all the Departments issued reports I know Mr Elmer Dr Ulmer excuse me is hard at work this time of year and he's got lots of information for us a finance department always has you know check registers we have the student census at the end of every agenda and I just wanted to take some time to

017appreciate that so many people come together and you know just prepare the agenda and then there's all the people who attend the meetings all you people anyone who's prepares a speech to give you know to everyone I mean it's a lot of people in a lot of effort and again I just wanted to take that that moment to um to thank everyone because you know it's kind of it's kind of cool that we come together and it's all for the kids and um I think the only thing they're missing here in this room um and I missed from the from the other boardroom at the old Spelman building is the um the mission statement for Westchester because I think it's so important that we're here and we're here to educate and Inspire students to do

018their personal best and that was at the old building but it's not here so um you know let's just say I always ask for something when I come from microphones I could ask for something just go around as well so again thank you everyone and uh we'll be dark next month I'm sure thank you hi um I would like to thank two teachers who are the time sorry could you please state your name thank you um I would like to thank two teachers who are the times from the school district um Tammy Taylor was a fifth grade teacher at Acton Elementary at the head librarian for a total of 25 years in the 24 years in the district as a volunteer I saw how wonderful she was with the kids in the library she read

019the books that introduce different authors cultures topics and units she worked hard to make the library a welcome meeting place and always had student-friendly activities green scary Makerspace puzzles mini tents for solitary reading they had more than any other Library she has a huge impact on my daughters and their main characters and I don't always thankful to her for that I also want to thank Mrs Joanne Trombly she wore many hats in her attorney ideas that feel good she is the jacket educator development chair for unified Arts Science Olympiad coach GSA advisor my daughters knew her through all of these roles her hard work for scientific team deserves a huge thanks we helped lead the team to Stage multiple times and always encourage students to learn work hard and compete with honesty and Grace she

020was also the GSA Club advisor and gave my daughters and many kids a safe and fun environment to meet and talk and dispositions I hope the district will hire more teachers like them to see our kids for all that they are and all that they can be I wish Tammy turn and all the other teachers retiring the best of luck with the future endeavors thank you [Applause] foreign West Goshen Township I just wanted to express my appreciation to Mr scully's for Mr spilly's presentation on the preliminary proposed budget at last week's property and finance meeting and to make sure I understand a couple things correctly in early March of this year a member of this board's property and finance committee director Walmsley spoke in Washington DC at a press event hosted by representative Kevin McCarthy

021for hb5 the parents Bill of Rights Act she said and I quote transparency in public education especially with respect to expenses and Taxation was a Cornerstone of my campaign and advocacy within my community fiscal responsibility continues to be a priority for me as our district operating budget operating expenses have increased almost 100 million dollars in just 10 years input but director won't leave statement seems incorrect given Mr spilly's presentation of a comparable time period Mr spelling noted a 44 million dollar increase in expenditures over a 10-year time period with 37 million of that increase from state or federally regulated mandates this number excluded Debt Service and while 44 million dollars is still a large sum it is a far cry from 100 million dollar increase named by director wilmsley in this Capitol Hill public forum

022so I'm wondering do I understand the budget numbers correctly and I'm I'm just wondering for clarity why this uncertainty wouldn't be worked out within the budget committee coming forward last week's presentation conveyed that of approx of the approximately 7 million dollar increase the district has control over a large portion is due to additional Staffing it was said that the district has probably added 100 more professional or paraprofessional staff in the same time period and name specifically was the addition of staff for special education needs I want to close by expressing my appreciation for an encouragement of the district to continue fostering and strengthening systems or structures that service our students with special education needs in spending policies and procedures I hope the Westchester area school district will prioritize an inclusive environment for all students in

023the district to achieve their personal best thank you [Applause] I'd like to thank the first two speakers who did something that we're all doing a lot of right now and that is being grateful to teachers who have made a significant difference in kids lives so thank you Judy and thank you for coming forward and speaking about teachers that you have known this is a Bittersweet time of year it's a Bittersweet time of year for parents whose children are getting ready to fly to nest and for us to lose our our board reps but it is especially appropriate that on this evening of in April going into May that we start to say farewell to people that have been a real serious part of the Westchester family and have done so much good for children so

024we thank you for that um moving on public comment on sorry approval of minutes of the March 27 2023 school board meeting I seek your approval may I have a first please Dr Dietrich and a second Miss Chester uh questions or comments about the agenda from March 27th I see none so let's take the role director Dietrich yes director Chester yes vice president yes director wormsley yes attorney Christie yes director Herman yes director Journal yes president Tiernan yes thank you now we seek approval for the April 24th 2023 school board meeting agenda for tonight may I have a first please Dr Herman and a second Miss Chester thank you very much questions or comments on the agenda for this evening all right we'll take roll director Herman yes director Chester yes to rent your Journal

025yes director Christie yes director Williamson yes vice president yes yes president chairman yes and Mrs cherisher would you please add that we met an executive committee on April 8th for legal April 17th for legal and April 24th tonight for personnel and now we morph into the another happy part of this school board meeting the superintendent's report Dr Reynolds thank you president good evening and thank you for joining us tonight for the second to last board meeting during this full year for all of our parents of seniors we know that you're a little bit of a countdown and for all of our seniors we definitely know that you're on the countdown we've had another exciting month spent recognizing exceptional students and staff and the leader now preparing for not only the end of this year but

026also for the beginning of the upcoming one before we listen to our student representatives and hear from reports I do have a few special moments of Celebration to share as well as a number of students that we want to acknowledge this evening first for special celebrations our best communities in music education the Westchester Area School District was once again honored with the best communities for education and music and that designation is from the National Association of Music Merchants named foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education there are roughly 14 000 public school districts in the United States and just 830 districts in the nation received this recognition congratulations to our music team our supervisor Fine Arts Dr Kristen barnella and all the parents and community members who have supported our music education program over

027the years thank you for a all-state orchestra concert Master additionally we're we're talking about musical accomplishments and we need to celebrate one of our East High School students Daniel Chang who recently earned the position of concert master in Allstate Orchestra this is the first in our District's history so congratulations to Daniel [Applause] or we're proud to congratulate Mrs Megan stallness on receiving the Citadel heart of learning award for the Westchester Area School District as the nominations for Megan stated Mrs dalness has a truly wonderful heart and brings incredible care expertise and joy to our classroom each and every day we are so grateful for her tremendous work and that was definitely proven by the many Smiles in her classroom so congratulations to Mrs Thomas [Applause] Awards is a point of Celebration our communication Department recently

028received four communication rewards in the annual pennspro communication contest there were over 250 contest entries from communication directors teams and districts throughout Pennsylvania we are very grateful for the work that they do to share Vital Information and to celebrate our staff and our students all year long and we want to give a special celebration to our Communications manager and we have she's not here today but Mrs Molly schwendler is at a conference and we also have our extraordinaire thank you so much that for appreciate it family is that they make everything run smoothly our National Merits any finalists we would like to recognize our National Merit semi-finalists for the 22-23 school year nine Westchester Area School District students were named National Merit finalists bringing them one step closer to consideration for the 7250 National Merit

029Scholarships worth nearly 28 million dollars the finalists are with us this evening and I look forward to recognizing their achievements we are very proud of these students before we move to our student recognitions and reports the district also has some exciting upcoming events to share as we end up this week for the month of April and also for May this Friday we will have the Westchester area Education Foundation recognition breakfast and that will take place on Friday the 28th and this will be hosted as a breakfast to thank our community sponsors for their generous support the Education Foundation will recognize the community partner of the year but Pennsylvania free enterprise education and attendees will hear from Foundation board members and see the foundation funded mini Grant in action our community is welcome to RSVP on

030the district's website also upcoming we have teacher appreciation week and our district will officially celebrate and recognize teacher appreciation week from Monday May 8 to Friday May 12th teacher appreciation day is Tuesday May 9th Please be aware that our district calendar does list the last first week of May as a time frame for these the last first the last day of April I should say in the first week of May as a time frame for these important dates but as teacher appreciation week is the first full week of May it's taking place in the second week of May this year calendars we have to be so technical we look forward to celebrating the hard work of dedication and commitment of our teachers we also have an upcoming Westchester Area School District retiree event and this

031District event will also recognize our exceptional retirees for this school year on May 15th well this is always a Bittersweet event we look forward to wishing them well in retirement and we have an evening of recognition Plan before us and our first recognition is for our counselor at Stetson Middle School Ms Heather cell Grant recently at an after school event in Stetson there was a medical emergency for a family member of one of our students in this celebr move quickly to coordinate support and to attend to the family member needing treatment she demonstrated leadership calm thoughtfulness and care and we want to take a moment to recognize her for her efforts and we'll ask Mrs to come forward [Applause] credit but I want to be the first to just acknowledge of amongst our steps in

032community and our district Community as well thank you for demonstrating incredible courage quick thinking and heroic actions when a Community member was faced with a medical emergency we appreciate you and all that you represent for our school in our district foreign and now we're going to move forward to recognizing our students for their accomplishment at the state and National level we have an audience that's full of students and families and we want to begin with our celebrations to start us off we're going to begin with Dr Stephen Brown our East High School principal who will introduce students this evening one we have for All State Orchestra three National Merit finalists and our academic competition team Dr Brown foreign buttons on Dr Reynolds cabinet president Tiernan school board thank you for hosting us this evening we

033have three two physical one not here people to celebrate tonight um like I said people who's optimally that's what they are we have Daniel Chung ibhati is not here and Jefferson Cooper I'm going to talk collectively and I'll talk individually at the same time technically they're all here on some level because of how they scored on a norm test being a National Merit finalists but that's not really why they're here they're here because of their character they're here because of the values that they withhold as young people they're here because of their hard work they're here because of the many Educators who have supported them over the years and they're also here because of science yes science because of the product of some pretty good parental genes so Mom Dad thank you for all you've

034provided for your kids uh Jefferson is not only National Merit finalists recipient but he's also a significant part of our community at East High School he is a cross-country Runner if you know what that is it's 3.1 miles over the river and through the woods as fast as you can uh and many end up purging whatever they ate or drank beforehand at the end of this event I don't get it I'm not a runner I used to run and it was not enjoyable so I've stopped he's also a wrestler both of these Sports represent a unique type of metal it takes something special to basically compete one-on-one or on your own and the wrestling mat is also no different you either are twisting someone into unique shapes or you're being Twisted into unique shapes for

035Jefferson it was usually him twisting others into unique shapes and I've seen this firsthand and it's daunting uncomfortable but he was actually very good at it he's also a recent winner of the Westchester University integration B it's a numbers thing most of which I don't fully understand but there is one number literally one that is important he was the number one uh he won the entire thing with many kids from the area Daniel Chung is behind me also a National Merit finalists uh not just recognized for that but he also in conjunction with San vibhatia who's not here orchestrated Our House of Hope concert which raised in excess of fourteen thousand dollars for the home of the sparrow just a few weeks ago that was an enjoyable night it was entertaining the kids are entertaining

036and therefore pretty awesome he's also a musician specifically a violinist if you've ever been to a concert my wife and I had an opportunity to see Daniel play last year in the Kimmel Center we went down for a date night because he was playing in the city and we're going to go to dinner and watch this kid play it was pretty awesome and his level of play since last year has only grown significantly the concert Master is the person who kind of leads the orchestra comes out violin Tunes everyone else and he's done that in multiple spaces I have my list pnea concert master strings concert Master but most recently uh was awarded the title as the all straight All-State orchestra concert Master there really is nothing higher in the Pennsylvania Orchestra than that so

037a huge accomplishment on his part samipatya who's not here also a National Merit finalists she is a presidential scholar semi-finalist one of 600 students chosen for that across the country again she also helped orchestrate the House of Hope concert sambia was in UNC Charlotte for a scholarship presentation that she won not too long ago she was in DC she had dinner at the Library of Congress um you put all that together and you kind of get where I'm going she's going places they all are and speaking of going places collectively between them they've been accepted to schools such as Pitt Maryland North Carolina MIT Harvard Brown and patton just a short list these kids really make up East and who we are as a collective who we are as a society and they are reflective

038of a lot of different components of our culture but these two young men and zombies should be congratulated for their accomplishments so thank you very much impressive like I want to go back and clap for them [Applause] thank you Dr Brown next we'll have Dr Jason Sherlock our Henderson High School principal to introduce his students this evening and Dr Sherlock will be recognizing students for All-State course Allstate band and then National Merit finalists thank you members of the board members of the cabinet I'm honored uh to celebrate some of the many accomplishments of our students uh here tonight I'm going to call down three different groups uh we have some music talented musicians and Academia the first group that I'm going to call and and uh this is a record setting uh year for us

039at Henderson we have seven All-State musicians never had that many you know if you have one or two that's amazing and to go through the growing uh process of making all districts and then making uh all regionals and then go to all states it's a tremendous honor so the first group that I'd like to call up are is our underclassmen so they have they spoke a few more years left at Henderson High School I'd like to call up Molly Hopton Brooke Kaufman Daniel cruzen and Heidi karuk thank you um I'd also like to recognize uh Mrs uh Kendra what what is she in there there she is yes [Applause] I know Mr Kramer could not make it uh but our music program you know what they've been able to accomplishment is is just an amazing

040uh the first uh is Molly Hopton a soprano one she's a junior All-State choir Molly's been involved in the music musical theater since age eight and has performed in both her school and local community theater shows of course she gives her credit to Mr Kramer and her voice teacher is Kim Russell to be recognized for her voice is such an honor congratulations Molly thank you and next up is Brooke Hoffman also soprano one uh Brooke is a sophomore so she still has a even a few more years left performs in the community at Uptown Studios with some of the roles being curtains and playing Aurora in the east coast premiere of Dreamland throughout the summer she continues her theater and singing training at Broadway she's actively involved in New York City taught by Broadway actors

041and actresses Brooke would like to continue theater and music throughout college and hopefully going for music education and fear congratulations Brooke uh Daniel couldn't make it tonight he's a base one uh sophomore All-State choir he participates in our musical theater program he runs track and cross-country for Henderson and outside of school Daniel takes voice and piano lessons in his free time enjoys biking and being outside so congratulations Daniel and last but not least Heidi Cruz oboe 10th grader All-State band she's involved in Henderson's Wind Ensemble Jazz Band concert choir and chamber choir has also been involved in the musical theater both in and out of school she's interested in pursuing a career in physical therapy and plans to always have music in her life congratulations thank you guys our next group we have three seniors

042uh Allstate musicians I'd like to bring up Ryan Hughes Michael Lee and Ava Yost questions [Applause] so Ryan is a tenor one uh 12th grade as I mentioned this is his second year in a row being All State uh he's participated in the National Association for music education all National Honor Choir with the top High School singers from across the United States he's a president of our quota program and the Triad music Honor Society he recently performed in Henderson's musicals since his freshman year most recently appearing as Reverend Shaw Moore put John Lithgow at the shame I can tell you that much in Henderson's 2023 production of Footloose he went to continuous musical studies in college next year through a degree in vocal performance musical education and also plans to explore the field of psychology

043through a possible minor or dual degree congratulations thank you and next up is Michael Lee uh bassoon 12th grader All-State band Michael has been involved in Henderson's Wind Ensemble jazz band marching band and try and musical Honor Society studies of piano and music composition outside of school he has auditioned and played at the Philadelphia Kimmel Center Carnegie Hall and patagon Italy for piano performance right now he's undecided on college but thinking either robotics engineering at Purdue or computer science at Penn State congratulations Michael and last but not least avios soprano 2 senior All-State choir she's been seen in the past four years of HHS musical Productions she's ranked highly in pmea's festivals both Junior and Senior year this year making it both the districts as well as regionals and then of course States and her

044free time she likes to play soccer and sing in church even next year will be attending Honors College at the University of Vermont and majoring in mechanical engineering a lot of mathematicians up here congratulations and lastly if we have uh three National Merit Scholars uh so I'd like to bring up anch uh Elon and sojana [Applause] all right our first entrepora uh 5.03 grade point average that's pretty good uh volunteer hours with red cross boys Dennis 9-12 Cross Country 9 through 12th Red Red Cross Club Science Olympiad FBLA and deca Place both state and National FBLA outside of school participated in chin Maya's Mission throughout High School not committed yet but most likely this morning congratulations okay hot off the presses and major in computer science congratulations and Allah 4.8 grade point average volunteer hours

045through environmental Club Park and Highway cleanups and tree planting tutoring through the ymwic uh and actively involved in the environmental Club academic team Andrew Hicks Foundation played ice hockey tier one with a little little flyers and also a chesmont All-Star Boys Tennis winter track Henderson musical chamber choir we'd go on and on a lawn is going to be attending Brown University in the fall undecided major congratulations along and last but not not these sojana singhania 5.0 grade point average volunteer hours tutoring at uh come on environmental Club Park and Highway cleanups uh Earth day was the other day too yeah uh tree planning Staffing the HHS prom shop and tawali food drive sanjana has been on the academic team Science Olympiad second place at States uh physics Olympiad southeast Asia Student Association environmental Club the

046web 3 Vision girls who code and sanjana will be attending Northeastern University in the fall majoring in computer science and business congratulations once again I want to thank you for inviting us uh here tonight we're almost at the end here and just really really proud of our students so thank you for allowing us to celebrate our accomplishments [Applause] thank you Dr Sherlock next we'll have Dr Mike Morano our wrestling High School principal who will introduce the students this evening he'll be presenting Wall Street State Orchestra Allstate chorus National Merit dialysis not being National recognition and our U.S band State marching championships thank you Dr Reynolds good evening good evening everyone president Tiernan board members cabinet colleagues drummer how are you sir CJ how are you doing sir I'd like to invite all of our students

047up come on up guys so I was honored to be able to invite 13 of our seniors this evening for our various accomplishments as Dr Reynolds noted you have to excuse me I have a little call so I may have to um take a little break um thank you we're able to join us this evening so I want to begin with our National Merit finalists Nicole jacket guy Andrew we're able to be here in the city of indicates here so Anika is a member of our student council she is involved in an organization that has when Westchester votes which is a student advocacy Group which promotes voter registration in a non-partisan way unique has been active on our campus in that organization she has a youth social podcast known as PA youth votes she's still

048deciding what planes within Duke University and majoring in neuroscience not a bad fault q and Eagles [Applause] so Nicole engagement were unable to join us this evening but I wanted to also acknowledge that as well I'll move to acknowledging our musicians and we'll begin with our All-State Chorus and Allstate Orchestra students as mentioned by my colleagues earlier as a prestigious honor for students to achieve this and anytime you have one or two students achieving this as a tremendous honor and it certainly created to our our music program at the district and the support that you've given all of us and I want to thank Mr Sherman Miss Ellis and Miss Chapman our music teachers for promoting our program and for working with our our young people and their accomplishments we were fortunate this year to

049have two members of the All-State Chorus and two members of the All-Star Orchestra I know Karina well and Connor orpin are here for Allstate chorus and they do surrounding Addie Kelly for orchestra I think I think he was able to slip it thank you very much thank you for those of you who may not be aware just to give you a little background the All-State Chorus and Orchestra festivals were held recently students competed for seats at The District 12 level which is Chester Delaware and Philadelphia account piece and that the region level which also branch that into Philadelphia Montgomery bucks counties they've just recent their recently concluded this experience and achieved this all state level so I want to congratulate all of them on their accomplishments and thank them for all their contributions these are

050students that contribute music leads or community in our school Community all through the year at various events you'll hear some of them at the foundation breakfast on Friday which we're honored to host so I want to thank all of them and congratulate them we also are blessed to have members of our wind percussion Ensemble here this evening last school year our Wind Ensemble percussion section worked on several pieces and performed two pieces during their spring concert that were recorded and submitted to National Association for music educators to audition for performing Ensemble spot in the National Convention this year in August we were notified that our world percussion Ensemble was selected to perform at this National Convention in Washington DC they were selected for the main stage in the General Session of this conference on November

0513rd at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor Maryland this is the first time that any Ensemble from the Westchester Area School District was selected to perform at this convention and was one of only seven high school and college ensembles across the country that were selected to perform it's a very momentous accomplishment and I want to congratulate those seniors that are here this evening Michael mcloone Nick Picone James flood [Applause] the final group that I'm honored to acknowledge is a group that I've acknowledged before this is my ninth year here and it's the first year that I had to use reading glasses Dr Reynolds um but I was able to get through without them but I had to build a backup but on multiple occasions throughout the years I've been able to be able

052to acknowledge our marching band for their competition achievements at the state level and this year again our 2022 golden knights marching band was able to compete in Downingtown at the U.S band's state championship that came in first place once again in the group two of the winning their ninth state championship in our 17 seasons the band also won awards for best music best visual performance best color guard best percussion and best overall effect the band capped off another successful season after winning the state championship by performing at the Pearl Harbor Memorial parade at the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor Hawaii in December which which must have benefit must have been a fantastic experience that's what they tell me here this evening I invited both of our senior drum Majors to be here Sophia Murray was

053unable to be here but I want to acknowledge Sophia and I also want to announce Riley back who was able to make it here thank you just to Echo my colleagues in expressing my appreciation on behalf of the wrestling Community for your support and thanking our students for everything that you do for the district and for the school one of your parents would stop defending me at the beginning when we met for everything that I do and I can say that what I do for you pales in comparison to what you guys do for all of us and I know to speak for for all of us so thank you and congratulations and best of luck and thank you again for for having us this evening [Applause] thank you Dr Morano we want to again

054celebrate and applaud our families our teachers our administrators and all that are part of our school Community but most important we want to follow our students because it's their hard work and their Excellence that we're here celebrating them and all of their accomplishments so thank you so much and now we're going to transition to reports from our student Representatives we have Emily was not here this evening so Sean if you can start off with Henderson right um I'm pretty sure he left but one of the students who was here Brian Hughes he made it he got the Internationals for the past three years not just this year and to get them to one year is a fee in itself but three years is a week um similar topic on April 29th our sprinkle concept from

055Anderson at the church of the Naruto his space is much much better than our acoustically deficient Auditorium so I invite you all to hear what Henderson's choir really sounds like it's that time of the year when student council elections and Club elections for the other classes take place will be gone um can you believe we have less than 195.75 hours left in school so much less especially here are the essentials right plus 100 hours um as a senior this also means helping clubs make a smooth transition if most class officers are seniors that is the case for the Angel externior Foundation um I've been president for two years and I've had to hand it off to a freshman very scary um it'll be led by Evan Cecilia a freshman who can sign or volunteer which

056is also scary the foundation also had their first ever Gala the unbuttoned goodness Gala on April 22nd on Saturday it was a beautiful event and three scholarships were awarded the Michael Hackman scholarship the Angela Hicks Junior memorial scholarship and yeah one of which was received by Anderson student and the best part of the event was definitely the auctions Museum 300 going for 400 every single minute that's amazing my favorite option item it was the highest item on the silent auction and the second high side of under the line and Silent auctions and it sold for 4 500. yeah yeah Philadelphia [Music] thank you yeah I guess like um I guess that was about that is because Henderson's comp is May 12th the first day of the Philly concert for the arms tour after prom goes

057for May 13th the second night of the Phillies of the arrows tour and then I'm going to be May 14th the third night of the aristorians um you know a bunch of different cities have done different things to honor her arrival changing lamp lights maybe for mayor for the day changing the name of the stadium the name of the city Swift City Glendale Arizona and I can't wait to see what Philadelphia does It's never enough the Jade company of Southeastern PA will be competing Innovations that's their Enterprise schools their products their product UV in the world founded by Youthful thinkers which is the company name has made 471 return investment for shareholders which is yeah yeah that's it dancers oh wait I'm gonna [Applause] good evening everybody uh uh having all those students here earlier

058those amazing students make me wondering what am I doing wrong they are doing exceptional stuff and I'm like wonderful yeah uh I guess I'd like to start off with hopefully something that Mr Scully could agree with me on could we have all for tax day I gotta do my taxes then you know but still um starting off with uh we have five Russian students at the national competition for Deca in Orlando as we speak right now so now so I'm competing in second Nationals hopefully they can bring something back for us but uh or some scholarships for themselves so good luck to them uh moving on we had our student council officers elections so I'll tell you my successor is actually here tonight for long can you stand up and give everyone away [Applause] I

059will name everyone else next month I was thinking that that was all going to happen the whole student recognition May meeting like it did last year so I was going to do a thing because it's a little more fun but uh it happened this month so caught me a little off guard but yeah okay it's been perfect perfect we'll announce the rest of them next month okay best buddies did a field trip to Elmwood Park Zoo so if you guys don't know here with a body it was time to make friendships and whatnot and they went to like I said Elmwood Park Zoo where I really think that's a few giraffes cool stuff going on there rust and model us this is the third month in a row since January but uh Russia youn held

060a middle school Workshop to essentially host our own conference where we invited middle schoolers I think we got about 18 first year we did this and I would say it went off with a hit like it was really well the students were really involved in it I mean I was taken away at how engaged they were because I was there I was chairing and whatnot a committee and how involved they got so hopefully it just can Propel the ninth graders as they come in to do modeling online a lot you actually a lot was one of the people that got to speak at the unga when we went for the uh nisman concert in New York so trust me you're in good hands for next year um moving on Rust and track held the rust

061and Invitational where schools from near and far came to compete in all the track events that they are I'm sure it went to from two o'clock probably all the way to eight because there's traffic to take forever and what I mean parking was crazy parking was crazy because for those of you who've been to Russ and you know we've got plenty of your parking all around I think every spot was taken people were parking on the streets it was nuts but nevertheless Awesome event heard great things upcoming events we have spiked the rock this Wednesday Spike the rock is a huge volleyball tournament that raises money for charity bringing hope last year I believe they raised twenty seven thousand dollars and I've heard there's already 58 teams getting ready to compete so that's going to

062be really exciting more for next month all right and then the Education Foundation brunch is happening this Friday at Russ and I hope to see some of you there some of you will get to meet Phil a little more in hand next year or this Friday and yeah so I hope to see some of you there on Friday and that's what I have for you this month thank you you should just hang out now it's all right just go go don't stop now it looks like you're you've developed a friendship Beyond just two high school students do you do anything in school anymore right now no wait you should have seen this guy in my senior assassin when I got an hour he was in the comments ridiculous now Dr Almer that's the way it

063is when you're the Nana in the group you just go oh that's great that's funny all right doctor over let's have your personal recommendations you've been busy busy yes we have been busy this month I seriously I don't know how I'm gonna follow the CJ does Sean it's very difficult yeah and Sean I'll be there on May 13th so let's see about important well good evening everybody this is turning Mr revalaco members of our board our personal report for the month of April 2023 is as follows with removals from payroll we have eight resignations this month five teachers two custodians and One support staff we also have 14 retirement notifications and these things French teacher at Ruston high school and cyber program with 33 years of service these things we are going to miss you

064Miss bethan burst at your speech and language pathologist at Glen Acres Elementary School with 20 years of service Ms inezburg certified school nurse at Penn Wood Elementary School 20 years of service Mr James Bird physics teacher at Ruston high school with 21 years of service Mrs Janice Byrne fifth grade teacher at East Bradford Elementary School with 29 years of service this is Don Foley school counselor at East High School with 22 years of service this Leslie Gordon badera staff nurse at district with 12 years of service Mr Jim Morrison music teacher at starpender elementary school with 38 years of service this is Maggie Don case worker at Fern Hill Elementary School and at Exton Elementary School with 15 years of service Miss Julie Robertson math teacher at East High School 24 years of service Mrs

065Paget Smith Cater 2 life skills teacher at East Bradford Elementary School in the 22 years of service this is Tammy Taylor librarian at Exit Elementary School with 24 years of service Miss Joanne shroudly tech ed teacher at refugate middle school with 28 years of service additionally Dr Crystal dowdell assistant principal at Henderson High School is retiring but 22 years of service Dr dowdell was one of the administrators that helped me during my first internship as an administrator at Pierce Middle School in 2004. Crystal we will miss your professionalism and loving spirit I would like to thank all of our retirees for their service in our district and wish them all much happiness in the future with a combined total of 330 years of service this month I'm proud to have worked with every person in

066this list with addition to payroll we are recommending the hiring of one teacher one long-term substitute two confidential support employees two paraprofessionals one library assistant one secretary one custodian and we are also recommending the hire of Miss Kristen Olga Volga rally as principal of Exton Elementary School Chris it comes to us as an assistant principal at Adam Grove School District where she also served as the title one coordinator a reading specialist and a general education teacher we are thrilled to have Mrs bow rally with us and look forward to a start with this on July 5th 2023. Kristen could you please stand and be recognized this evening thank you the Personnel events I'm recommending stats status changes to two support staff and one professional staff member I delivered and notified 64 teachers of their involuntary

067transfers from the 2023-2024 school year this can be a very emotional time for our teaching staff and I wholeheartedly appreciate the professionalism displayed by our incredible teaching staff and specialists I also delivered a notified 21 teachers of voluntary transfers for the 2023-24 school year in Personnel leaves I'm recommending the approval of two sabbaticals in additional information we're seeking the approval of seven updated start dates one resentment of an offer of unemployment and a list of compliance of drivers and AIDS provided by cross buses and On The Go kids buses in tutoring after committing seven tutors tutoring site managers and homebound 504 or instructional demand tutoring in supplemental contracts we have two additions to the spring concert spring contracts and one annual contract in the 2022-23 school year 124 additions to The Fall season of 2023-24

068a removal from the spring season of 2223 and two adjustments to this spring season of 22-23 lastly one annual adjustment on the 2223 school year approval for all Personnel matters listed above thank you very much I read I read your entire report Dr Omer and I ran into I happened to be in this building the day that you had the event I don't know what you call it where the principals come together and look at the big big big wall of people who need to be Physicians what kids have signed up for he looked very very very tired and it was only about 11 o'clock in the morning he was It was kind of perspiring profusely it came out with a little break because this work is not easy when you're a principal and you've

069worked with somebody and you know that they're going to be moved or they're they have to to change jobs and principals know how hard it is when you Dr Doom appear in the doorway and say 61 uh people don't want to be moved but are being moved so um how this whole District works is a glorious thing when it finally happens but I know that you and your staff and the principals have put in quite a month getting this all arranged for next year and I imagine you're not getting many cakes uh sent to your office right now that's all right that's okay that will come later in the summer when we hire people that's true they make cakes do they oh yeah cookies before or after kind of both I haven't accepted before okay

070all right thank you um thank you for all of your work thank you for your recommendations and uh we're going to move on to the consent agenda no we're not um no I guess you would like to vote all right I'm seeking approval for the thank you Dr Dietrich and Dr Herman so if there are any questions or concerns do you need to voice about afternoon recommendations no okay sure director Herman yes yes director Chester yes directory yes yes president yes thank you welcome to all of you and we will see the farewells next week or two weeks the 15th right all right now we are looking to approve the consent agenda or are there any people who need to remove any items from the consent agenda seeing none I'm looking for a first that

071would be Miss Chester Mr Bubble Aqua a second uh questions or concerns about the consent agenda in case you were wondering where all that stuff went that's on the consent agenda it is available on the website I want to reassure you it didn't just disappear it did appear in our committee meetings it was discussed and we looked at paperwork we looked at iPads we looked on our computers so anytime you wish to access any of those items you can go to committee reports and the full thing is there but there is so much more on the district website all the budgets for the last 10 years more than you could ever want to sit down and read in six or seven sessions but it's all there so if you have questions as last week I

072guess we've talked about switching to board docs as our system of managing things so what we'll be able to do is look at uh property and finance click on a link and all of that information will be right there for us to see and you to see it just makes things much more efficient than having to go back and fish in the committee report pool okay so a vote on the did we vote for consent let's vote director Chester yes vice president yes director Darnell yes director Christie yes director wansley yes director Herman yes director Dietrich yes president yes thank you moving to committee reports director Darnell if you would like to tell us about what happened at the education committee meeting thank you president Tyrion we had curriculum updates a correct curriculum update on

073Mastery learning exploration presented by Dr Everly and Dr barnella Mastery learning is a teaching and learning process that allows teachers to better individualize and personalize instruction within group based classroom settings it helps teachers carefully plan their instruction to meet the unique learning needs of their students combined with procedures for identifying and then correcting students individual learning different we also had a presentation on the Steels standards which we'll be replacing the um just the instead of Standards although the revised standards won't start and officially until July 1st 2025 our district is getting ahead of the game of getting teachers prepared we heard a great presentation by Mr Carr and Dr Dorner what are skill standards science Technology and Engineering environmental literacy and sustainability we also heard a presentation on the summer K-12 programs presented by Dr

074missing Miss Clemen Dr Barnell and Dr Everly uh IT addresses things like English Learners math math support students multi-tiered system of supports or ntss priorities for elementary programming understanding Target and addressing the unique needs of the following student groups reading support students special education not receiving extended Year services tutors students so it's a programming K through through 12 that'll help meet the needs of our students we have way to the next education committee meeting which we will be held Monday May 8th at 7 thank you very concise very nice report yes well you told me right before the meeting I had to keep a choice all right a few people pupil Services director now oh I'm sorry you're boring me against my time thank you Mr Burnell and thank you Mr president Terence I um

075we met the people Services committee met on April 11th and we had a new member join us Mr Christie thank you for I'm sure that was exciting time for you um the first thing on our agenda was approving the sweet Stevens label contract which we did at the same rate as previous year so that was a win for us um but I want to ask you do you know what April 3rd is hey buddy your birthday better oh paraprofessional appreciation day oh dear and so we had a lovely presentation by Mrs Casey but in this Casey Wyatt and Miss Melissa Clement on power professionals their role and um their participation in our teaching system so the role of a paraprofessional is to be an integral part of the student Student Success team that means that

076they're encouraging Independence in our students managing uh Behavior having to manage behavior that presents barriers to learning it provides support for academics life skills mobility and social skills they also provide IEP supports in special education classrooms including helping with life skills learning emotional autistic multiple disabilities and physical learning we have 92 Elementary paraprofessionals in our elementary schools and we have 58.5 I don't know who the 0.5 person is in the uh in secondary schools across the district new to our district is the registered Behavior technician technicians I think we budgeted for 12 we currently have five so far hired they are certified in Behavior Analysis and they assist in delivering behavior and a little analytic Services Under the direction and close supervision of a board certified Behavioral Analyst the paraprofessionals to help support them of

077providing an array of professional development which they're encouraged to take and there's a new tool for evaluating the prior professionals that's in development and it's aligned to the state um State competencies of which there are 10 main 10 Core State competencies that they'll be measured against so to quote to quote Ms Kleinman in her presentation hold on one second just hold on hang in there with me hang in there I am just about there just about there hold on this is this this will stick with you so you have to hang out technology that's my fault yeah the girl falls again okay so April 3rd as I mentioned was paraprofessional appreciation day and we call them paraprofessionals because multitasking ninjas isn't an official job title so when you see a pair of professional please say

078thank you thank you and thank you thank you that's my report thank you thank you all right Dr Herman did you have anything to add to Personnel yes I do uh thank you Dr Ulmer for your personnel report I'd like to congratulate again the retirees and the new hires and I'd like to give a warm welcome to Mrs um let me see if I can pronounce her name Will gorelli okay okay um we are very excited to have you on board congratulations that concludes my report thank you uh Mr babal Aqua speak to us about property and finance please I will thank you president the property finance committee met last Monday on April 17th the first item in the agenda was reviewing the 23-24 proposed final budget it was presented by Mr Scully included in

079comparison of all revenues and expenses for the 22-23 and the 2324 proposed budget the increase from last year's budget was 5.16 million or equivalent to 1.7 percent Mr Scully then reviewed additional schedules which included 10-year history of the mandated expenditures and state funding comparison data from prior years for benefits retirement expenses and millage changes as was stated in public comment earlier Mr Scully in this department did a nice job providing a lot of detail and I would recommend to the public to take a review of the property and finance meeting minutes and look at some of those details as it was a good comprehensive analysis of the last 10 years the next item on the agenda Mr skull you presented a resolution to adopt the proposed final 20 through 24 budget in accordance with the

080ad coin timeline Mr Scully advised that property and finance committee that changes can be made to the proposed final budget up until the time of the final budget approval which is in May the committee recommended approval of the resolution to adopt the 20 through 24 proposed final budget and on the agenda if you're following tonight on the session D9 I do have a motion for this resolution approval is requested for the resolution to adopt the proposed final budget for fiscal year 2324. I solo wait a second and second we have Mrs Hillman okay questions comments about what we're doing here we're not voting for the budget we're voting to vote on the budget next month yes yes director Chester yes director longsley now sure president yes yes and again to just for clarification for the

081audience too what we just voted on as president Tiernan stated we voted to go forward with the budget and the budget will be approved at the next meeting being prior to the end of May and it's on Wednesday May 25th is the board meeting and that will be the approval of the budget so we're just approving the budget timeline based on the resolution by continuing on um the next item Mr burster our director of facilities reviewed the committee the 2223 capital reserve projects and we did have one capital reserve project and that was repaving uh Pierce Middle School main driveway and the rear of the building and we did approve uh an award to dorocco Brothers for 249 940 and the committee recommended that approval of that capital reserve project as stated Mr burster then

082reviewed with the property finance committee the 2324 capital reserve projects and we talked about awarding the following exterior doors Securities this is a district-wide project that will be done continuously through the District of all schools to AJ moral company for an award value of 29 840. we also approved coding and relining of parking lots at East High School via the vendor unitex Asphalt Services for contract award value of 105 105 000 205. we also approved arrested interior painting of the building by Van Horn painting for a total award value of 61 000. the next item was Henderson Clock Tower controls which are the clock tower you see for the front entrance of the front entrance of the school the vendor receiving the award the contract was National time and signal for a total value of

083ten thousand two Ninety Four and the last item for approval was the Henderson interior painting of the building by Castle Painting our total award value of 96 800 the property and finance committee recommended approval of these 2324 capital reserve projects as all were within the budget the next item Mr burster reviewed with the committee of the 2324 Capital fund projects and they were one project that were awarded and that's painted at Stetson Middle School the vendor receiving the award was to Rocco brothers and the total award value of 203 000 13. the property and finance committee recommended approval at this of this 12324 Capital fund project we did have one last item that we discussed at the property fines uh meeting and Mr Wegman presented to the committee information about Warren Doc's Pro Plus and

084this is a document management system that President Tierney mentioned briefly earlier I think that this will be much better for all the administration and the board and the general public for accessing reviewing documentation this board docs Pro Plus provides the ability to create manage and publish committee meetings and regular board meeting agendas in minutes the product will be accessible by all stakeholders as I just stated and the recurring annual fee is eighteen thousand dollars the property finance committee recommended approval of the board.pro plus document management system as stated the next property Finance meeting will be Monday May 15th all are welcome and that conclusion letter portrait seeking thank you very much all right tonight Karen holmey could not be here Dr decree is going to do the policy Review Committee report thank you very much

085uh policy Review Committee met on Monday April 17th the committee of reviewed policies related to the student conduct disciplinary action schedule and the student handbook in preparation for the beginning of the new school year we also continued to review policies in section zero zero zero all policies were approved as part of the consent agenda vote earlier tonight the next meeting will be held on Monday May 15th thanks very much and I just Karen was going to follow up with a just a brief comment about the school director and legislator annual briefing which we had at the IU last Thursday morning it is a it is a once in a year opportunity for Chester County School directors to meet with all the legislators in Chester County for the state senate the House of Representatives anybody else

086who cared to show up the Chester County Commissioners were represented and we had a program which was included a report from pasbow the Pennsylvania state business officials uh proposed budget and its implications for public schools so this was an opportunity for school directors who are at the just the local level and people who are meeting at the state level regularly to talk about how we can work together to support our students and their families that was the question for this year last year we talked a lot about Charter Schools we've taught no we talked about community mental health issues this year we talked about how educators and legislators can work together to support students and their families so Dr Reynolds and Dr from Westchester and Dr O'Donnell from Downingtown introduced Melissa kleiman and Melissa who

087was the person from Downingtown Megan Dennis also the director of Google exactly so that the directors of pupil Services gave us data information charts breaths gave the legislators School directors are kind of inclined yep yep yep that's the case yes that's truth legislators were listening we hope they were listening with an eye to going back and doing some of this work they told we told the legislators Melissa Dr Reynolds told the legislators that we need mental health Community Resources for youth uh more often than we know about all the time students need the kind of help that can only be gotten in another state and if that happens the parents have to leave their jobs to take their children to these places that can help them in another state because the mental health getting better

088part requires a parent to be involved so one of the things we would like to the state to be involved with us is attracting more Mental Health Specialists to the region ensuring partial and full-time placements for mental health available locally so that students don't have to leave their homes leave the state their parents don't have to leave have family behind while they go and support their child who is in need of these services uh that we would like the legislature to increase the Student Assistance Program funding because a lot of the grant money as you know we've reported regularly a lot of the grant money that was given to school districts during covet is sooner or later going to dry up and we are going to need but the need for all these Services has

089not dried up and has not magically gone away as covid has dissipated into the uh wherever it goes when it goes away we need funding support for special education programs for specialized programs suggestions were made to legislators they might consider incentives for special education teachers depending on the roles they play and we need to continue to hire more mental health staff and it just can't be Grant based because grant money comes and grant money goes and it has to be I think you use the word sustainable so the trends in mental health behavioral needs affect effect affect special education services and needs because we've got more kids who need emotional support than ever before I I we didn't try giving reasons for that we don't have causes we don't I mean you'll have causes but

090we we have needs and we are saying that we know students go into the ER when a crisis arises and sometimes they're kept there and hospitalized in a place it is really not suited to help them we saw that during covid and we're in some cases still seeing it and it's not a good place for our kids to be when they need mental emotional help eventually in addition to putting them someplace in a placement they have to come back and bring students back into the system into the schools into the classrooms takes a great deal of support a great deal of work on many people's parts and so we need help making sure that we have the help available when those kids do come back and need to go back to where they started the

091needs are on the rise uh tell me if I'm wrong but I wrote down that we have a hundred to 120 students out on full-time placement in this District but still that seems like a lot and it seems like a lot to manage when they have to come back and they are triggered by the very thing that upset them in the first place the first day back and you find them plastered against the wall saying I can't do this so it's it's a challenging daunting thing that we all face we have as you said Ford sir as as Chester said board certified behavior analyst and specialist we have 12. we have 12 mental health specialists in this district and I can tell you that's more than most of Chester County has in any one District

092but we have increases in mental health and Behavioral Health needs in addition the high school kids in middle school so that means more people are needed more help is needed and students need their education and they need both their Educators who are well aware of these challenges in the local districts and the legislators at a state district to make things happen so what do you do uh it is sometimes challenging to stay aware of what bills are actually getting onto the floor and are being debated and are being considered you can of course write to your legislators whom you elected and ask them to keep an eye off for things and work with you if you have suggestions for them and they all have staffs it seems to me they all have assistance they don't

093answer the phone much themselves but their assistants answer the phone and they do write down your name and what your what you need and things get back to those legislators we noted at the end that some things that are not in listed in this year's budget right now are Charter School Reform comprehensive Staffing shortage policy which we badly need because when you say oh we need more French teachers you look out there are no French teachers there aren't people to take jobs this is a crisis which we've seen coming but it's here and we need the state's help we have that's where Dr Shaw is right now helping us fill up that pipeline to get teachers in our classrooms and we need mandate relief we always be mandated relief because every day more mandates come

094out but no idea how we're going to fund them or who's going to do them so we're not fighting with the legislators we would like very very much to work with them we would like them to listen to us and I think we gave them a lot to think about I was sitting next next to Mr pielli who's a relatively new representative and he was taking copious notes but I told him he could get every single slide from that from that whole presentation and so he could review it three four eight times at home and I hope he will do that okay that's the end of the legislative and extraordinarily long legislative report apologize but we wanted you to know that we are reaching out beyond our borders to try and work with people who

095can make other significant changes now other reports of course Intermediate Unit that would be your director durnell thank you president Tiernan the Chester County Intermediate Unit board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday April 19th at the Technical College High School pennocks Bridge campus in West Grove as I mentioned earlier before our meeting we were able to tour at Avenue high school that was amazing tour amazing building uh administrate administrators from the IU introduced us with a number of students well one former student a student who graduated over a year ago and then some current students and we got to see the types of programs uh in action the student who had graduated a year ago was working for an HVAC company and and the type of experience he got through the IU gave

096him a head start in his career a career that he's currently thriving in we got to meet students who were in pre-nursing programs worked with electrical and and networking programs animal science and it's just amazing the programs that are giving these students real live hands-on experience the next meeting of the IU is going to be Wednesday May 17th at 7 30 at the Child Development Center in Coatesville that is my report thank you very much Dr Herman psba yes thank you president Tiernan I have several informational items to share on the psba website they have a State Legislative Edition which provides members with timely and relevant updates on important legislative issues and other news impacting public education the reports include the latest status of Bills moving in the general assembly action of the governor's office

097and the Department of Education along with other updates second item on the website in 2017 the PA 2023 they have a state of education that was incorporated and the Pennsylvania public education landscape has key indicators in this year's report the key indicators are the happenings in public education challenges School finances student mental health school Staffing and School infrastructure state of education report has served as a barometer of not only the key indicators of public school performance such as standardized test scores and school finances but also the timely challenges that public schools are facing and how they are coping with these challenges the goal of the report is to provide a high level overview of the key indicators of the state public education in the Commonwealth some data in the report examined differences among school districts

098in Royal rural urban and Suburban communities data in this year's report comes from three areas Chief School administrators from school districts analysis of publicly available data from sources such as the Pennsylvania Department of Ed and National Center for Education statistics and lastly a survey of Pennsylvania parents with children in a K to 12 school situation thank you that concludes my report thank you and on to the equity report Mr Grinnell thank you once again president here at April is World autism month and our schools have been celebrating those with autism and recognizing the month through activities Spirit weeks and presentations to share a few examples Pierce Middle School had been part heart cramps of energy one come to speak with staff and students about his experience with autism his education public speaking careers and importance

099of inclusion in schools and in life I was told that he and Dr Reynolds even took a few selfies together we expect to see them on the website if they're not already there exit Elementary School is holding their autism spirit week this week with days devoted to kindness compassion and acceptance if you get Middle School just finish up their spirit week with a bulletin board celebrating neurodiversity differences the district and our community also celebrated many wonderful holidays this month including Passover Good Friday Easter Sunday and most recently Eid al-fitor which marks the end of the month-long daunted Sunset fasting of Ramadan we hope our students staff families and Community were able to enjoy time spent celebrating and honoring these special dates to a Westchester Education Foundation mini Grant Rustin High School and the People's Light

100Theater Company collaborated to bring the history and activism of Bayern Rustin to life through the short play Illuminating fired the interactive performance is the culmination of learning experiences centered around the school's namesake and a chance for the students to connect with byard we would like to thank interim Equity director Dr Yuna Martin for her time and thought in planning the community Gathering event that took place at Pierce Middle School on April 16th about 80 members of our Westchester Area School District Community joined together to learn about and help shape a mentoring and tutoring program for Westchester Area School District students it was a wonderful event that truly focused on finding solutions to help all of our students thrive thank you to all who attended the event or expressed interest in the program in addition in

101addition an email was sent to all who gathered on Sunday for the event with instructions for next steps so keep your eyes and your ears open for next steps for that program and that concludes all of my reports thank you thank you Mr you've done a terrific job tonight thank you thanks all right in other business we have one item which needs to be voted on this evening and Mr bebalock will will be bringing that to you yes the item and discussion here is under other business 10 by the three amendment to a settlement contract the motion reads as follows approval is requested of the amendment to the settlement agreement and release and settlement sun in the amount of six hundred thousand dollars to William H Klinger Corporation we have a second Dr Dietrich questions

102comments okay let's call for the vote vice president yes yes director Journal yes director yes director Christie yes yes all right we are ready for comments from residents on non-agenda items thank you president Tiernan as a reminder when a commenter's name is called please approach the podium and begin by stating your first name last name and municipality as a reminder public comments are limited to three minutes per person the board asks that all commentary be directed toward the board as a whole public comments may be interrupted or terminated if the commentary exceeds three minutes or if they are obscene and or threatening in nature we have three speakers which we'll call them Joanne your check East Goshen a social contagion is spreading in our district fueled by the gender ideology indoctrinations promoted our schools why

103was a trans activist hired with taxpayer money to train teachers in this ideology at Fern Hill Elementary School the information presented was intended to be related to students why was it deemed acceptable for a male teacher to prance around in high heels and for pictures of drag queens to be displayed at Stetson middle school last year the list goes on and on trans students must be protected from bullying and treated with the respect that all human beings deserve they should also be accommodated to an extent that does not infringe on the privacy and other rights of the vast majority of students emphasizing gender identity I'm sorry fluidity and encouraging Learners to question their gender identities can ultimately result in harmful consequences for impressionable children who act on such promptings by trusted adults fostering these ideologies

104is not the function of our Public Schools if our district continues this brainwashing of students you must educate them as to the damage caused by the transitioning process a recent Forum innocence Under Siege addressed these concerns a forensic nurse discussed the detrimental impacts of puberty blockers and hormones on children and also describe the irreparable harm caused by mutilating surgeries that are occasionally performed on minors Chloe Cole a 19 year old female recounted the innumerable physical and emotional problems she still endures after beginning her transition to a male she took puberty blockers and testosterone had 13 double mastectomy at 15 and then re-transitioned to a female at 16. she is now suing the facility that was all too willing to profit from you hitting her body and brightly so I strongly suggest that the videos available

105from this form be shown in teacher trainings and to students to provide unnecessary balance to the proselytizing that is becoming bathrooms I have something else to say it would it would attend next month thank you Judy deponzo hi Judy defonzo still living in East Goshen believe it or not I wanted to talk today a little bit about student safety I know that um there was a recent incident of students Crossing Ellis Lane to get from the Puget East Conquest over to the um Fields across the way where there's a close call and I know that East Goshen is looking into some actually sounded pretty sophisticated from what I heard traffic control and I would encourage a school district to work with the township both proactively and financially so that we can kind of put things

106in place for for our students who'll be getting from point A to those fields of course they'll assume I also wanted to talk a little bit about student safety and paling height [Music] um this I've noticed this my daughter started with you I think this was in 2007 that she started a few years kids jaywalk across daily Pike um there's four lanes of traffic and kids just kind of Dart across the street um what happens is that the Y offers seventh graders a free um membership and um they go to pubic they cross the street they go to the line now Palin pipe is a state road and there is a very safe Crossing but in order to get there from fugit you kind of have to cross the entrance ramp um at the you

107know this crosswalk in the entrance if you get that you cross Paley pipe to where the Baptist Church is and then you have to kind of cross a airport road to get to where let kids take the shortcut and I I mean I don't know how to address this but I'm thinking that um and I know that the the principal mentions it over and over again but it still happens it seems to happen every time on in that area around dismissal time every time it's just um so I mean I don't know who we're working with policy I don't know maybe we could put like six Saturday schools in for anyone who's caught you know jaywalking across Bailey pipes I mean one of these days there's going to be a tragedy this has been going

108on for a long time and um you know in all honesty when I'm there I've seen more kids jaywalking been using the crosswalk there so again I'm not sure how to address this but I just figured I'd bring it to you to you guys and come up with a solution so uh thank you and uh you know let's keep those kids safe thank you good evening my name is Megan rykop I live in East Goshen recently Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and House GOP unveiled a parents Bill of Rights at a prep event to which director Wamsley received an invitation I'm gonna stop this I I know that people at First Amendment rights but the first thing that Ryan said this evening was the board would prefer that you come up and address the

109board as a whole I appreciate that and I am not directing this to director Wamsley I am directing what I have to say to the entire board if you attack me if you attacked Miss Chester and you would text you haven't even listened to what I have to say and you are construing it as an attack I am not attacking director longsleep I am indicating that she attended an event and I have a request which I have made many times to the board transgender is not a social contagion and I have a request please pause my Pharisee with your statement I will refrint go ahead in an article that she wrote about the event she said to all the parents know this bill is for each and every one of you and may it provide

110the cover of protection for you to speak up and speak out for your child a school board should support parental rights for all including the parents of trans non-binary and gender expansive children as I said before I asked the board to strengthen policies for these students and I do so again tonight I look forward to hearing from the board particularly the policy Review Committee on how we can provide cover protection as a guiding principle in ensuring trans students have the same opportunity for a safe learning environment as their peers what you may not be aware of is there have been around 500 anti-trans bills that have been introduced across nearly every state that's here I guarantee you trans students and their families are aware how can they feel safe when they are seen as demons

111and imps who should be eradicated measures seek to bore trans kids and now increasingly even trans adults from exercising their rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination legislators prioritize performative bills that are nothing more than manufactured moral Panic that only distracts from real issues and you the board can help protect trans kids as I've shared in the past cciu and Great Valley have policies that can be mined for ideas Coatesville has also recently introduced a pronoun policy and I will be emailing these for review I encourage clear policy not only to protect the students who have bravely stood before you asking for help but also because at least two School core candidates have documented views that are worrisome when it comes to trans students in our schools if we Implement policy before any new directors become

112members of the board it will highlight that much like the legislators who are not caring about what is best for their constituents it will highlight their priorities are indeed to Target trans kids if to solving the policy is on their agenda we do not need to become a Million Dollar Plus taxpayer Fiasco like Central Bucks I thank you for your time and consideration these are the words I'm going to end this meeting with I read them with some irony civility is the recognition that all people have dignity that is inherent to their person no matter their religion race gender sexuality or ability that is the way I would like to end this school board meeting on a note of Civility and I would like to say that when you have a school board of nine

113people and the superintendent who work as hard as we do to be a team of 10 people we have to we have to respect that other that not all of us have exactly the same opinion about things and people have absolutely the right to express those opinions the law says that we cannot go out as single board members and speak for the board on the board's behalf I do not believe that was happening so if you're coming up here if you're talking to one of us you are talking to all of us thank you very much for coming to this meeting good night II yes Mr durnell uh the meeting is adjourned