West Chester Area School District School Board Meeting 2/27/2023

001evening everyone tonight before I hit the gavel to officially call us together I'm asking for a moment of silence about a week and a half ago we lost an active employee Mr John Bell who was a custodian and Puget and he went into the hospital and he died so we want to have observe a moment of silence for Mr Bell and his family we could do that right now thank you very much good evening I'm back I hereby call to order the February 27 2023 meeting of the Westchester Area School Board tonight it is our honor to welcome two students from Seton Middle School Gracie Hawes and Tommy Hawes who are here with their mom and dad right back there and with their two principals uh Miss Mrs fuchella and Mr DeWitt so Tommy and

002Gracie if you could uh come up and lead us in the salute to the flag we can't start until you start I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for Elizabeth's hands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right so the easy part yes it loves you think that you're going to have to tap them on the shoulder yep they they are self-sufficient I can tell it right now sometimes the elementary principles have to stand with their children because the kids sometimes just stop and they don't realize everybody's waiting but these two look like they can handle this now you are brother and sister who are twins yes twin Falcons and we've gotten that out of the way and you twins that wrote

003your own remarks tonight that's my first question we always have to ask that Mr Boss Sometimes they come with speeches written for them it's not nearly as entertaining so I would like to hear from you too what is happening in Stetson good evening my name is Chrissy Hawes and I'm an 8th grader at Stetson Middle School I'm here to talk to you about how inclusive Stetson and his community is due to coven my first year at Stenson was last year I was nervous about going into Middle School I didn't know anyone since I attended an online school in sixth grade when I first walked in the students were Advocate on learning my name and so were my teachers as for your own I got more and more comfortable in my surroundings and decided to participate

004in sports and clubs I joined the field hockey team in the fall in the track and field team in the spring they're both a great way to interact and make new friends with students and also get to know some of the teachers on a different level although my coaches wanted the best for me both on and all for the field they were understanding if I had to be late to practice in order to receive help from other teachers all of my coaches pushed me to become a better athlete and a better person in addition to sports I joined the Stetson student council as the co-chair of the community community outreach committee they are pushed to make a difference in our school environment at Stetson and helped establish better relationships within our community my committee was

005able to get the West Town East Ocean Police Department to come out for an annual food drive in the fall we also raised money by selling candy grams to help support our local Safe Harbor shelter the community outreach committee was given the opportunity to hand deliver the truck to Safe Harbor and we were also given a tour of the facility and able to ask questions in my final year at Stenson I'm a proud member of the of the student council board and have helped to make decisions overseeing all the community committees sensor has many opportunities for students to get involved and not only to help school but to enhance our local community impressive and thank you now will you let Tommy say something okay good evening my name is Tommy Hawes I'm an eighth grader

006at Stetson Middle School during my time at Stetson I've been a part of the cross country team student council and best buddies Club I made friends in built relationships with many teachers this has made my experience since that's been more enjoyable there are many ways our students can get involved and participate in school sports are a great way to meet friends in middle school spirit student council has helped me feel as if I'm making a difference in my school and the local community for example we've collected stockings for soldiers Toys for Tots and organized food drives for the local homeless shelters this has shown me how small actions can have a large effect in our communities communities in this spring student council will continue to vote on our Stetson community and school spirit by hosting

007spirit days every Friday in the month of March students will compete against different home rooms in their grade to see who wins the March Madness bracket the winning program will get a pizza lunch in addition to being a member of the student council I'm an avid member of the best buddies Club and best buddies we develop relationships with our buddies through activities and arts and crafts I was fortunate to attend the best buddies event at Henderson High School last year and it was an experience I will never forget it was great seeing the local community come together to show support for his wonderful organization being a part of the best buddies has shown me how kindness can really make someone's day Stetson has been a great experience these past two years and the teachers have

008prepared me for my transition into High School I am looking forward to attending Morrison high school and becoming more involved in activities and clubs such as Deca cross country lacrosse and model un thank you wait go away look do you see the guy over there in the middle ncj McCune you know he is a senior at Ruston those were words to his ears I could see him smiling big because it was in all the magic words you're raising money you are in sports you're in student council you guys you don't have a shot when you get to Ruston they're going to snatch you up from the first day March Madness stockings food for shoulders you've been to Safe Harbor and you've made those contacts yourselves so the two of you have done what it exactly

009what we want high school kids to be able to do right we have somebody from Henderson somebody for me and you too could perhaps as a senior there are two of you I don't know how that'll work but we have a representative from each High School who is on the school board who comes every month and talks about what's happening at their school and how it feels to be a senior in the school district and the fact that they only have tonight and two more meetings and then they're done so the time is rapidly coming when you will be one of them um Gracie you didn't say what Athletics you do um I'm part of the field hockey team and track both yeah so you're both runners oh boy that's that's a lot of running

010in that that's a lot of sneakers in that family there's a lot of running shoes so we very much appreciate the people from the community very much appreciate your Poise and your speaking ability and all that you are doing to make your school a better place and our community better place and that's huge for somebody who's in eighth grade but just wait till you get to high school the world is going to be yours and I guess you probably do okay with your studies as well and I was just going to give you a fact I did ask you if you knew how fast a falcon could fly and neither of you had that answer so I looked it up of course 240 miles an hour a falcon can fly when it is swooping down

011to get its prey you want to get out of the way you don't want to be that prey they have built airplanes around how a falcon flies it's that fast faster than an eagle so make no mistake to our Falcons and not Eagles all right so we want to give you a round of applause and then wait a minute um Dr Reynolds and I are coming around for a picture [Applause] if we make it if we don't drink appreciation congratulations of many I'm quite sure okay thank you thank you next on the agenda is the roll call the security here director Chester here here director General here director Fleming director Herman here director Shaw here president here in here director here Emily mcelry here Sean Joseph INE here thank you that leads to public comments

012on agenda items if you filled out a card at the table in the back Mr Jennings will call you to the microphone or Mrs chairs for thank you president Tiernan when public commenters names are called I ask that they please approach the podium and state Begin by stating your first name last name and municipality public comments are limited to three minutes per person and the three minute time clock will be projected on the screens 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

013remarks 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 we have five registered for agenda items public commentary and we will now call the first speaker Simon muchteam Maine municipality and what first name right so I'm Simon rupke I am from West Goshen and my printer broke so so my name is Simon rupty my son is a student in the district my daughter will be in a couple of years I'm a professor at Westchester University where I teach on other things of course for first year students of the many things we cover in that course we teach students the importance of learning to

014not simply tolerate but Embrace diversity we teach this because well we want to make the world a better place but we also do it for a more practical reason our future employers demand it I tell you this because I am very concerned by what our school district is doing in terms of meeting this educational need my concern was heightened when I learned that the school board is considering changing the director of equity for the cabinet level position to a contract level by changing this position to a contract position the school board is signaling their lack of investment in this work you are signaling to school staff that is okay to ignore bigotry in their schools and even engage in it themselves because protecting marginalized students is simply not a priority by making this change you

015are doing nothing to solve the problem of bigotry and instead perhaps making it worse and let's be clear we have a problem with bigotry in our schools instead of this problem getting even slowly better it has been getting worse so far I have seen very little being done to address bias in our schools in fact I've seen work done did you see more of an effort put in the making the biggest feel safe and heard that in addressing the harm of their bigotry you are hurting students in our school district in terms of their future careers and not just marginalized students but also white straight Christian able-bodied students employers today increasingly demand employees work well with and in diverse communities in our global economy you are going to be working with people from different values

016from different cultures with different skin colors but all you can do is tolerate those differences then you will not succeed even if we graduate students who go on to study an ultra conservative and racially segregated colleges once in the workforce they won't be able to hide from their from diversity anymore by shielding our students from difficult conversations about things like race sexuality gender disability and so on we are setting them up to fail as adults we will be helping them to develop deep-seated biases that they will struggle to get rid of uh once their careers demanded so for the sake of all of our students we have to start excuse me stop dismantling the efforts to create a school district that values diversity and inclusion we have to actually work to make our students less

017pivoted not more thank you [Applause] Michelle good evening my name is Sam Michelle I live in the borough of Westchester I am here as a representative of the Westchester branch of the NAACP I currently hold the position of Education chair for that organization as representatives of the Westchester NAACP we are in support of and concerned about the diversity equity and inclusion program of the Westchester Area School District we are fully supportive of the equity mission to eradicate institutional racism and inequities through social justice promoting the emotional development of staff and students and embracing diverse populations diverse perspectives the Westchester brand to be NAACP has supported and many of our members have participated in the equity work that the district has done over the years we were very encouraged in 2020 from the Westchester Area School

018District to created the cabinet level position of director of equity and assessment and hired a director with excellent qualifications and a strong commitment to equity work on behalf of all of our students it was a signal to our community that the Westchester Area School District values diversity equity and inclusion and was willing to create the administrative position to better implement the equity mission we saw a great promise in the work that was done during this period of time many of our members were part of the community conversations and were greatly appreciative of the strengthening communities Symposium that brought Dr Bernice King to the Westchester school district and community most of all we appreciated the strong advocacy on behalf of all the children of the district well we were distressed with the loss of a very

019strong advocate for equity in our schools and because of the many unanswered questions that officer have surrounded the resignation of the director of equity and assessment we do appreciate that the district has appointed an interim director for equity we are concerned however that the work of diversity equity and inclusion in the district continue to be as rigorous as required to eradicate systemic racism and inequity we are awaiting specific information about when and how a search for a new director of equity will be undertaken as well as what rural community members will be able to play in that process it is our expectations that the Westchester Area School District's commitment to diversity equity and inclusion will require that that position continue at the cabinet level we look forward to being involved in the selection process in

020any way possible the Westchester NAACP continues to support the mission of equity diversity and inclusion in the Westchester area school district and the efforts on the part of the board the administration and the staff room implement it thank you very much I'm going to leave copies of this comment for the members of the board thank you Melissa then Elizabeth West Goshen Township I sent an email today and I'm not going to read that email here but I have a couple other questions about the director of equity position um the recommendation for Dr una Martin Consulting LLC gives a daily rate but it doesn't say if this is a full-time or a part-time position how many hours per day or how many days are expected each week and so I'm wondering if you could clarify that

021contract is there a job description that the community can see in sort of what's expected given that it's an independent contract position and I see that the pay rate has increased from 540 a day to 700 a day and I just am interested in some reasoning for that increase finally I just would like you to reconsider why an independent contractor is better for the director of equity position than a cabinet level director I know it could be at this time it might be for the future um but I just would like some more information about where we're headed in the midst of this I asked this question last fall and I'm going to ask it again why are we treating this position differently than other director positions which we are posting for and hiring for

022in the midst of a superintendent transition and so I'm just curious as to what the decision is and the reasoning behind that thank you so much Alfonso hi everyone Judy defonzo still live in East Goshen um I kind of wanted to talk a little bit more about policy 200 that I talked about last week and I was going to use the concept of Faith which is from special education free appropriate public education which is in my opinion even though it's a special ed turn it applies to every student in the district and it applies in a lot of areas it applies in academics that applies for social emotional growth it applies for things like equity and inclusion as well and again I would go back to the gifted students you know it we've got the

023two ends of the uh the valve curve and I'll tell you the specialized students have an advantage because everything is a challenge for them and when things are a challenge they learn how to learn and what happens with some gifted students is that things click too easily and they really don't learn how to learn but eventually at some point in their career they're going to have to learn new material and that's when gifted students tend to have mental health issues is when they have to you know they've made it to say 7th or 8th grade and they've never had to learn anything new because things were too easy and that's why I kind of want to come back and say that we need to provide an appropriate education for our gifted students so that they're

024appropriately challenged I know there was a newspaper article up and I forget the little boy's name his name I believe is Brian and he's from Bucks County and he's nine years old and he just high school education his goal is to get his PhD by the time he's 13. and one thought is there's a brine in some place here in Westchester School District these kids don't come along too often these are the kids who have an IQ like you said three standard dediations that would be above 145 IQ and we really need to consider them with the policies that we have that we have to serve them there's also some statistics that show that younger students try harder like if you were born like more in the summer rather than like being the oldest in

025your class the younger students tend to have a little bit better work ethic because they have to try a little harder than their older peers and again I feel that that's a good reason to bring in potentially not a whole lot maybe a dozen four-year-olds into the kindergarten program so that we can have an appropriate education from kindergarten through graduation for every student in Westchester School District thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Megan reichaub I live in East Goshen so I'm commenting tonight to ask that there be some clarification on the final item under other business regarding extending Dr Martin's independent contractor agreement when this matter separated from the district as director of equity and assessment the board and Dr Assad golowsky indicated that Equity mission was important and there would be a

026place in the cabinet for a future director of equity and I'd like to know is that still the case please know none of what I'm saying is a castigation against Dr Martin but me imploring the board to understand this decision is not made in a vacuum as an example this past Shabbat was marked as a national day of Hate by the white supremacist propaganda group going on defense lead States like Michigan and Texas have introduced legislation that could send parents who affirmed their transgender child to jail and it was only a few months ago our very own Westchester Area School District students stood before the board and shared how they have seen Nazi symbols like swastikas on School surfaces I promise you Jewish students trans students students of other marginalized groups are holding all of

027this in their minds and hearts as they come to school I know I'm tired disheartened by the state of affairs so when holding on to the weight of harm perpetrated in the name of bigotry it can be easy to fear the worst and I'm not sure how to interpret Contracting this role out compared to hiring a permanent director please take the opportunity to discuss the whys of this decision when you reach this point under other business and share when a search for a cabinet liberal director search might be taking place thank you that concludes public comment on agenda items thank you thank you for everyone who spoke um the step stencil contingency by now the elementary people have left the building so I'm going to give you a choice and I'm not calling you out

028on anything if you have homework to do it's okay if you are interested and want to stay that's great so I just thought I'd let you know that we're going to go for a while here thank you thank you thank you very much for coming will you please just as a point of follow-up for the many folks that came before us and presented public comment we do want to acknowledge that two things one will be speaking more about this specifically at the end of our meeting in this time for the agenda item we also want to note that anyone that comes before the board and asks a question for public comment either myself or a member of our team who follow up with you which are specific specific questions that you ask so you can

029have that answer thank you thank you um this will move us to approval of the minutes for the January 23rd 2023 board meeting a motion to approve Dr Herman and a second Dr Shaw thank you so much questions or comments no uh moving on thank you very much do we need to take roll let's do that tractor Herman yes director show off yes director 103 yes yes [Music] next we seek approval for tonight's February 27 2023 school board meeting agenda may I have a first for that that would be Dr Shaw again and Mr Block book thank you very much for the second Mrs Jerry Shore would you call for the vote please call the vote oh is there anything we need to discuss here in the matter of tonight's agenda no go ahead director

030Charlotte yes vice president yes director Chester yes director warrensley yes director Dietrich yes director Herman yes director General yes president Tierney yes uh Mrs Church would you add to the meeting minutes for this evening that we met as a board and executive session on each of the nights that we met as a board this month so for every about personnel and so if you would just add those dates in for the Ed committee pupil services and tonight we meant to talk about Personnel thank you um this leads to the superintendent's report Dr Reynolds take it away thank you president Tiernan good evening and thank you for all of our community for joining us this evening I'm looking forward to the reports of our student representatives and our school board directors so I'm sure we'll be

031sharing some of the deciding reports that highlights Black History Month all the activities that have gone in our schools some of the other wonderful recent events that have come before all of us and before we go through them I want to share some highlights for some moments of Celebration first February as we come to the close this month is Black History Month and it's also Career and Technical education month and February is a point of focus I know that directors are now will be sharing more highlights in his Equity report so I won't share his Thunder but I just want to just one applaud the many many well student-led or activities that are schools that they had going on this month for the point of learning showcasing leadership and also highlighting representatives of our community

032was just a wonderful upon the Showcase one other point of showcase I want to highlight is I want to thank the leaders at Henderson High School for the black student union that had a wonderful scholarship luncheon this past Saturday I attended 39th Annual Henderson High School black student union banquet along with a number of other board members which focus on the theme of moving forward in unity and the Westchester Track Club they were recognized in memory of Dr Hewlett who was the HR Director here for many years that was a point of recognition in recognizing the athletes that demonstrate character in our community that Saturday afternoon we had Dr Davenport who's the vice president for University advancement and external Affairs at Westchester feed the guest speaker for the day and it was a moment of

033Celebration and connection we were so proud to see so many students that were present particularly our seniors in celebrating and highlighting the day we also recognized it earlier this month as a district we recognize National School counseling week and that was held during the first week of February the district recognized school counselors career counselors Mental Health Specialists psychologists crisis Specialists our apt teacher all during National School counseling week and I hope that you got from the list of individuals that I just shared that we are well staffed in Resource as a district over 75 staff members receive special certificates and we're honored as a staff get together and held at each high school and I want to thank Mrs Kate Holter who sponsored those events thanks to all our mental health staff and team for

034hard work and dedication for all of our students nothing was up here earlier but we do want to recognize a middle schooler from the sentence that is going to the Scripps National Spelling day so we're proud to share that stepson Middle School Christian Miller took home first place in the 20 20 23 Chester County Spelling Bee on Tuesday February 7th to compete at the Chester County Spelling be he had to win this building being held at Stats middle school he then conceded against 37 students in grades three through eight until he was the final student remaining with the word formulaic in addition to the competition prizes Christians qualified to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee which will take place in May in National Harbor Maryland we wish Christian the best of luck and it's

035musical season there are lots of different performances that are being organized and people about to be showcased in our school which is exciting as a district to be able to relish and just appreciate the many gifts and talents of our students we have many musicals to look forward to in the coming months The View that you don't want to miss that are upcoming we want to note that rustin's High School production of Les Miserables is this coming weekend we also East that's producing anything goes from March 9th to the 12th Henderson High School will put on Footloose from March 16th to 27th March 16th through the 17th excuse me dugett middle school productions of Newsies Junior will be held later in the month from March 24th to the 25th and Stetson Middle School will put

036on a production of Seussical JR which will take place as we end the month of March and April 1st and speaking of which we're only a couple of days away or March is here so it's just around the corner and we want to note that our second trimester at our elementary level comes to close on Friday March 3rd conferences for students in grades K to five we'll begin next Wednesday I want to close this report with a reminder that while we're fully enjoying spring and all that is in our offer we are also preparing for the upcoming school year that's right it's just around the corner so if we had any family members any neighbors or community members we want to get the word out that we're registering our incoming kindergartners and we want to

037let you know that if you were not able to attend our kindergarten 101 or our Middle School 101 sessions that were held earlier this month please know that you can find these record sessions on our website and now I'm going to turn it over to our student Representatives so Emily if you can get us started with the RC report hello thank you for having me tonight February month here at East High School starting off with some in-house items our student council has their hands full this month starting off with our student interest meeting that was able to help place on February 8th where myself accompanied by four other student officers were able to educate the underclassmen on the responsibilities that it takes to run a student council at a high school level in order to

038raise participation as all five of us will be graduating this year in addition to this we also held our annual sale of candy grams our student council was able to sell candy grams through all lunch periods and our biking block period to give us vouchers to students and staff for the first two weeks of February leading up to our hand delivery process of a little sweet treat on Valentine's Day and a message for Valentine's Day from Pierce I would also like to highlight the 400 donation that our student council was able to make towards Chester County Safe Harbor this month as we used our profits from our holiday photos that were able to take place in December we were able to use our student council fund to match this with another additional 200. it will

039be taking place on Wednesday where we will be able to present a check to the Safe Harbor in order to support homelessness in our County it was thrilling to see the positive aspects that we can bring amongst our community due to our dedication within the policies High School and lastly our student council is currently vigorously planning our annual Viking Slam Tournament where students can join up in teams of six to eight to compete in a volleyball tournament taking place of March 16th where all proceeds will be gifted back to our student council able to fund and offer more events for our student body in the future in addition to this we are also playing our most ambitious activity this year being our annual blood drive that will be taking place in the month of April

040today our student council participated in an informational meeting with a red clock a Red Cross representative in order to better HP us on how to make a blood drive most successful within the halls of our school next looking at our music department our band Orchestra and choir were able to participate in the pmea music festival two choir members Emily Humphrey and Shaban badava were able to participate in The District 12 choir at work at Octorara this previous month in addition to this we were able to have seven other Orchestra members participate in The District 12 Orchestra Festival where six of these students were able to advance to the regional six Orchestra at Boston high school that will be taking place March 9th and 11th and lastly our student band members our student band member Chloe

041Bedford competed in the district 12 band festival and was able to advance to the regional level as well and will be holding place at the end of March in Pennridge High School our music department as previously stated is also having numerous thrilling events leading up to the springtime starting off with our School Musical anything goes that will be holding Place March 9th and 12th offering four showtimes we are thrilled to see that our drama department has been able to achieve achieve in this year in addition to this East will also be holding our 12th annual House of Hope in support of a local origin organization home of the sparrow House of Hope is the display of the many musical talents within our school where all the proceeds will be donated to a local non-profit combating

042homelessness in Chester County the most unique part of this event is that it is a completely student ramp and completely voluntarily yet sees exceptional success every year and we are thrilled to see what our students have planned this year looking at my personal favorite part of this report we would like to take a peek at our business department as we are able to have 146 members compete at our Deca state competition last Wednesday through Friday holding place at Hershey PA throughout the competition students attended a career development workshops in which in their desired fields of business and participated in business role plays in hopes of taking a State win home we would like to congratulate all 30 International Conference qualified who will be able to compete in Orlando Florida at the end of April thank

043you to advisors Ms Lowe Mr Cotter and Mr Halloran on making this year's state competition a success we would also like to address the Say Yes to the Dress campaign that has been held annually for all of my years at East in the oncoming year months of prom teachers parents and students have donated progresses to act as a pop-up shop in our library ensuring that all students can have the dress of their dreams at no cost we'd like to thank our library department for making this wholesome event occur each year and lastly taking a peek at our athletic department we would like to highlight that both the void and girl basketball team were able to qualify for our district competition and a congratulations to senior Jack Kushner on getting his ten thousand point this now

044concludes East February report [Applause] we're going in our normal order yeah um good evening so first on the my agenda is to talk about 39th iteration of the ivy league body United Nations conference that was in January um we had a lot of fun but I want to like kind of explain this a little more so that you get kind of like get the feeling of what we were experiencing at the time so the first night we check in we go to conference training workshops we go to a three-hour confidence session and then that's like kind of a kickoff on two of two topics that are pre-assigned to our committees before the conference we write a position paper one page online about both of our topics the next day we have two or three committee

045sessions depending on the conference each two to three hours in left sessions and the last day Awards versus fun run which is like kind of like a fun audio and session and then you get importance but that's like kind of what we're going through it's like a debate negotiate have lunch sleep for three hours policy making you know running around in central Philly I mean in the hotel but also like okay going back to your room writing a paper really quickly going back to the conference presenting it really quickly going back and forth like in the moment you maybe you might not like it but the second you get out of the conference you wish you could do all all over again for that I thank the board for all they let us do and

046the enriching experience to provide us also on the same note we had someone from Henderson who got an award which makes her concerned a three-way tie to be the most awarded student in two decades the class of 2019 had two students who were in a tie she has now joined that to make a three-way tie between them she is also the most award student in the district as of the moment the two other Henderson graduates went on to college so she's the most important student in the district um another topic you'll hear about one more time Deca States I would like to congratulate you some of their many many awards suggestion integrated about product marketing and campaigns several understands will proceed to the international Career Development conference in Orlando Florida from April 22nd to the

04725th from going to the choir and the musical Department from the 22nd sorry for March 16th of the 18th we have the musical production of Footloose some of my good friends are in that production and I invite you all to see it the entirety of the front is kind of booked out so like good luck but this is another thing I want to talk about is that the entire auditoring has been closed for renovations just for families so when I was in elementary school you could like hear stuff about Hunter Smith it was like really really big here's some photos like you've got invited to these events but in Henderson like since I was in this District we never heard of the audition closing before a play to renovate and like you know really like

048ramp up production efficiency and the quality of play so I think I'm a bit excited to see that we went to all nights so I hope to see you okay um also the Boston trip for music department from March 30th to April April 2nd it is a kind of a four-day trip with three nights um we'll have a performance at the FanDuel Hall the site of the first public school English church and the USS Constitution for life science a day before we'll have a tour of the Salem Bush Museum concert and you know Henderson's music department never fails to put on performance so I would encourage you all to come out and and I went to the sports um good evening everyone uh today I'm going to start off with our eighth grade orientation that

049took place January 27th and kind of disappointing Miss Terry you sent away the 8th graders I was going to ask them traditionally uh what happens is the eighth grader or not eighth graders Rustin students head back to Stetson to talk to eighth graders about some of the options that they have as their into rust in as freshmen but this year was a little different we brought them two rusted so all the eighth graders came to us and we bust them over and what was really neat about this is a lot of students their first time in Rust in this orientation it's one day right before their ninth grader they don't get to really see Russ and experience Russell whereas here they got to come into Russian they had basically a pool day there they made

050it their way through all the Departments and all the electives so they got to see these electives in their classrooms to really see the strong suits of them so I was really hoping to hear what they liked it it went really well unfortunately I was not there because I was at model un at ill monk in Philadelphia then so Ruston model un Club brought 63 students down to Center City Philadelphia to experience the ivy league Model United Nations conference uh I'm not going to harp on this because Sean did a very good job explaining it um there's a great experience we really enjoyed it unfortunately we didn't get anyone to get an award good for you celebrating Black History Month Rustin BSU put on a presentation by student members this past month and in addition

051to that they had a display that students and staff could explore on their own at their own pace as well as some traditional uh cultural dishes which I heard from my sister were very very good very good moving on for the third time tonight you're going to hear about Deca no need to explain it again because both ECU did a great job explaining that took place in but uh what I would harp on is there we had five students from Russia that are going to be traveling to Orlando academic team closed off their season they they put up a good fight they were able to best uh Oxford and Avon Grove in the semifinals but unfortunately came up short against Downingtown and uh nevertheless uh here that East is actually going to be going to

052the finals so we wish them the best of luck Eleanor Rustin Bocce rust and Bocce it's a really unique program because it's a Special Olympics program that takes place with best buddies and so I believe it's four students and four of their bodies go and competing about you but they're Chester County Champions so congrats to them uh they'll be heading to Regionals on March 7th and I I also I was told to know so listen I was told to note that Henderson came fourth out of four and uh and what was what's being called inflate game flaky yeah I was told that you guys brought over inflated balls that make it easier no I'm not saying I'm just saying yeah you can't have that yeah the girls basketball team went on a roll in the

053month of February chessmont Champions whether it be uh Bishop Shanahan in the finals also this past week tough week for Eve says both the boys and girls basketball team beat East and back-to-back knights in the district quarterfinals unfortunately the boys fell the number one Radner in the semi-finals they put a great fight but the girls would be going to the final at Temple this Saturday girls track girls indoor tracker state champions this year this year go there go then and uh overall in the past two months both both the boys and the girls team have broken countless school and State records too much to count if I went through all of them I'd be here all night so I won't congrats to them though spring sports are kicking off this week so toward it comes

054soon uh the play Dr Reynolds mentioned our play this this month uh it's French I don't really want to try to pronounce it but uh lesmeralda you did a great job okay and that's that's second place this year and uh from what I hear about our theater Department I'm sure they're going to put on an amazing show our Auditorium is closed this week too but for different reasons so they're set though yeah so that's why yeah okay also coming up on the seventh uh we have our career day it's day where local professionals come in to talk to students and stuff more on that next one and lastly I remember at the beginning of the year Miss Tiernan you wanted us to talk about the senior experience applying to colleges getting accepted into colleges and

055choosing colleges I'm waiting oh yeah so I think everyone I think these students agree we're at the point where most decisions have come out unless you're waiting on regular decisions still but I'm here happy to say I'll be enrolling next year at the University of Pittsburgh so thanks study abroad program looks amazing so I think it's gonna be amazing you're going to Germany hopefully yes they have a couple to Berlin so yeah that's in Germany too I guess yeah or if it's injured yeah so out of the United Nations how many went from Henderson un 63 what did you say we had a smaller throughout delegation there we go is it 20-ish people they had a really large foreign [Music] when you went to the UN conference were there people from all over the world

056there yeah there's uh there we had kids in our delegation from uh Venezuela yes were there others I don't think this one's as big as on International the New York one which we're headed to uh in March it's really big and they'll be there'll be a lot more International so you've been busy with you when you've been busy with Deca you've been busy with sports and I have tickets to two schools performances but I don't have tickets to Henderson now I'm hearing that they're all sold out they're really hard for you guys okay she's the president don't let me come in and stand in the back coach it's a big month this March it's it's musicals every weekend and then you go to the middle school musicals it's big all right well we thank you

057all three but I don't think I heard much about your personal except getting accepted that's pretty big but um you feel like are you tired now are you happy are you excited are you looking forward to next year any news you can share that with us in April how about that that's what I'm talking about what's it like to be a senior in in Westchester School District okay thank you all for [Applause] me all right we have to see where we are I don't know where are we we're finished with that report well Dr Ulmer it's time for the Personnel recommendation it is time thank you Mrs members of members of our school board our Personnel report for the month of February 2023 is as follows with removals from payroll we have five resignations one

058teacher one long-term substitute one lead HR generalist along the grounds mechanic and one custodian we also have eight retirement notifications Eric Albert HVAC supervisor at our warehouse with 22 years of service Patricia Barr special education liaison and Spelman education center with 25 years of service Donna Burgess third grade teacher at Hillsdale Elementary School with 30 years of service Carol DeMarco school counselor at Pierce Middle School with 24 years of service Thomas Tosh social studies teacher at Rustin High School with 18 years of service Mary Pitt secretary to the principal at Stark weather at elementary school with are you ready for this 40.5 years of service we're going to miss Mary we're also honoring two administrators that have retired from the district Mr Ken McCormick athletic director at Henderson High School with 26 years of service

059and work closely with Ken over the years in Henderson's Athletic program will not be the same without him also Dr Terry Lynn Alston principal at Exton Elementary School with 24 years of service I've had the honor to work with Terry Lynn since we were assistant principals together at Pierce Middle School back in 2005. when you work with someone who Specialists Terry Lynn for six years as an assistant principals together she became my family to my sister you will always have a special place in my heart I would like to thank all of our retirees for their service to the district and wish them much happiness in the future with a combined total of 209.5 years of service for this month alone I'm proud to have worked with every person on this list additionally I'm sad

060to report the passing of Mr John Bell second shift custodian at Duke of Middle School John served 11 years in the district and his positive spirit and strong work ethic will be missed with addition to the payroll we are recommending the hiring of three teachers two long-term substitutes three power professionals five custodians three registered Behavior technicians and two substitute Associates in Personnel events I communicated one status change in the professional staff four status changes in a confidential and supervisory staff three status changes in our support staff and one status change in our custodial staff I also communicated three involuntary transfers in our professional staff and one in our support staff and Personnel leaves I am recommending the approval of two sabbaticals in additional information we have approved we're searching for the approval of Dr Cheryl

061Newton Woods as an insurance assistant superintendent we have eight updated start dates one last day of date one salary and start date update and the list of compliance of drivers and AIDS provided by crafts classes and On The Go case buses we are asking for the approval of nine tutors and homebound 504 or instruction in the home tutoring personnel to supplemental contracts we have three additional additions to contract contracts for annual supplementals two additions to winter season supplemental contracts 112 additions to our spring season supplemental contracts and lastly for adjustments to annual contracts and respectfully request import approval for all Personnel matters listed above thank you all right thank you Dr Armor that's a lot to approve for did you get all that all right I need a first a motion to approve Mr Beval

062aqua and a second Mr durnell questions or comments from the board seeing none we will take the vote vice president yes Mr Darnell yes director bonsley yes director Chester yes director Charlotte yes director Dietrich yes director Herman yes yes thank you next is approval of the consent agenda for this evening no one has approached anyone to ask about removing an item from the consent agenda do I have a motion to approve Chester and Dr Herman is the second questions or comments on the consent agenda no questions or comments saying none we will take the vote Chester yes yes thank you we move now to the school board committee reports the first is education committee with Dr Shaw thank you Mrs Tiernan um the education committee met on February 13th we had a long and very

063interesting engaging meeting during which time we had a presentation about Esports we also learned about some research regarding sixth grade English and reading and some of the things that we're talking about with regard to that topic and agreed at that time to engage in a longer term exploration over the next year where we can engage parents and community members in a conversation about how best to structure Ela in sixth grade Dr Reynolds also gave a presentation that helped us understand how we have been using our federal government her funds and that was very informative we got an equity update from Dr Martin that helped us to understand what her work has been like and we also approved a before and after school program another part thank you very much second is pupil services with Miss

064Chester thank you Mrs Mrs Tierney first of all I'd like to um give my stamp to Dr Reynolds mention of the recognition of student council of school counselors week congratulations Melissa you don't recognized we had the reading and approval of chapter 339 K-12 is comprehensive counseling plan this past meeting that was presented by Dr Warner we reviewed that the assigned counselors for K-5 for grade six to eight and for grades nine to twelve and it was quite a comprehensive list we reviewed the intervention Specialists that provide Direct Services to high school and consultative services to middle and elementary schools Career Education Services review included opportunities for students to learn more about the workplace observing and exploring firsthand and connecting the links between learning in school and presenting to careers for Success so we're talking about

065counseling from kindergarten through high school and preparation for the work Beyond High School the counselors provide a broad array of services there's so much work done in that realm including counseling career coaching helping with the development of artifacts for graduation developmental programs and um and programs that support Career Success they have their own mission statement which I was pleased to see that ties into the school's General mission statement but the the mission of the counseling department is it serves the need of a diverse Community to council educate and advocate for all students as they pursue their individual academics personal social and career goals by delivering a proactive comprehensive and con a consistent program in partnership with teachers administrators parents a caring Community who are all stakeholders in this Mission the school counselors help to students

066achieve their personal best which you know time's in to the general school mission which is extremely important this interdisciplinary Focus includes the work of our Dr Martin and the work of equity that we're doing with equity and inclusion and um so we have the system in place we have the stakeholders in place and it's up to all the stakeholders to manage this Mission and to help support that mission there is a very comprehensive schedule for the counselor and the counseling department I would recommend that you go to the website and review it and bring any questions to Mrs Clements cat pretty much ends my report thank you so much Mrs Tiernan thank you and Personnel Dr Herman thank you president Tierney um Omer did a very comprehensive job uh congratulations to the retirees congratulations um

067Dr Martin also and anyone else thank you property and finance Mr Beverly yeah thank you good evening Department of Finance committee event last week on February 21st Mr Scully reviewed the February budget forecast model the net savings for the 22-23 school year is 615 000. the savings resulted from changes to the 2223 projections and will be utilized to reduce future millage increases as the Scully then reviewed the changes to the 2324 expense projections which included an increase of 10K in salaries and an increase of 50 000 for legal expenses which are due to the the increase in right to no requests being received by the district at this time at this point of time the 2324 Chester County tax increase shows at 0.5 percent half a percent and Delaware County tax increase at 0.6 percent

068the administration will continue to review these projections for potential savings to reduce the millage impact for the 23-24 final budget so we're in very good shape at this point in the in the budget planning process Mr Wegman then presented the committee with technology projects in the 23-24 technology equipment budget the budget represents the district's ongoing commitment to keep Technologies approximately four years old or newer and to maintain the students one-to-one program that we operate with K-12 what this includes the technical budget includes switch gear wireless access points staff computers laptop computers for grades six and nine iPad devices for Kate a kindergarten and third grade it also consists of power conditioning and uninterrupted power supplies and security cameras the classroom AV Equipment also is included the committee recommended approved in 2324 technology projects in this

069technology equipment budget we do have an approval item for tonight and it's item D5 approval of the 2324 technology equipment budget approval is requested for the technology projects in the 2324 technology equipment budget and the amount of four million and 557 591 ISO over uh we need a second sorry Dr hurry my head was in the wrong direction so we have a second questions or comments about the motion on the floor technology to the equipment budget seeing none we will take the vote Yes director Herman yes director Chester yes director loansley yes director of teacher yes director yes director Darnell yes president Tierney yes all right and the fifth committee report we have is excuse me okay thank you a couple of the things in the property finance committee last week Mr Wegman reviewed some

070results of the results of mini bids her e-rate rules for Network hardware for the 2324 school year Mr Weber recommended approval of the following bids and vendors up to security for Uber switch gear for a total price of 249 000 and I remember the wireless access points and mounting mounting hardware for a total of 191 000. these pricings listed above is pretty e-rate so releasing discounts assigned to them the committee recommended the e-rate bid approval for the recommended vendor Mr burster then reviewed with the committee the bid results for the following previews of approved 2223 capital projects they consisted of installing fiber optic cable in the stadium at East through a vendor Excel communication for a total award value of 14 460 which is under the budget forecasted completion of the project will finalize the

071connection portions of bringing Wireless connectivity to the stadium area of East High School campus Mr burster then advised the committee seeking more approval to use the balance of that particular Project's budget that was on your undergraduate to the project budget to install fiber optics at the Ruston stadium with a budget of 34 000 and also the Henderson stadium for a budget of thirty six thousand five forty the committee recommended approval of the bids for the 2022-23 capital reserve projects to excel communication in the amount of the Fourteen thousand four sixty previously stated and the addition of the two capital reserve projects for both rusted and Henderson stadiums a few more items Mr bursteros who reviewed the committee bid results for the following 23-24 capital reserve projects they consisted of district-wide fencing and we're this is

072basically for Fern Hill with the vendor fenced for total award value of 8500 upgrading the PA intercom system at Stetson Middle School through innocon systems for total award value of 37 850 and Pa intercoms with the same company they'll come systems for total award value of thirty seven thousand eight fifty the committee recommended approvals of the bids for these 23-24 capital reserve projects has briefly stated the last item Mr versta discussed with the committee the need to review the thresholds for approval process related to construction change orders Mr burster then provided the committee and the board updates on a change order for thirty nine thousand dollars related to The Glen Mills construction project which is common that nobody needed to be approved to continue progress of the project the committee reviewed and agreed to review

073the process and discuss any changes in a future meeting the next property Finance meeting what we'll welcome to is going to be on Monday March 20th and that concludes my report for this evening thank you thank you Mr beverage now I think it's safe Dr Jeffrey for you to substitute for Miss Fleming in giving us the policy Review Committee reports thank you director Fleming is not because I'll give the report on the policy Review Committee that went last Tuesday February 21st the committee reviewed District enrollment policies that were revised due to legislation regarding student educational instability the committee also began to review section zero zero zero local board procedures they were approved as part of the consent agenda vote earlier tonight the next meeting will be on Monday March 20th that is my report for

074tonight thank you thank you very much and in other reports we have the Intermediate Unit director Darnell take it away thank you president Tiernan the Chester County Intermediate Unit board of directors held its monthly meeting on Wednesday February 22nd at the Technical College High School grade one campus on boo Road in Downingtown the following items were discussed Mr Joseph lubisky director of administrative Services reviewed in first reading the draft 2022-23 core occupational education and had horrible budgets and answer questions keep keep pointing to the presentation were as follows no increase in proposed core budget contributions from the school districts no increase in the current occupational education tuition rates for students the goal for the marketplace program prices for Chester County school districts is live is to limit to the actual and index 4.1 percent categorical

075budgets do not require local school district funds and represent alternative sources of revenue to deliver services the marketplace budget will be reviewed its first reading on Wednesday March 15 2023. as was mentioned earlier tonight February is also career in technical Education Month which highlights the valuable role of CTE programs playing in preparing young leaders for college and careers the Westchester area school district has over 180 students involved in the cciu's technical college high school programs and 74 students participating in the Allied Health Program additionally students throughout our high schools have the opportunity to to participate in job Shadows Company tours and more through our Career Education Program just recently visited the Westchester Police Department to learn about careers and policing and ifm program and effector where they received a tour of the manufacturing location and

076traveled to the ifm headquarters to learn about the many roles in manufacturing Dr Joseph Fullerton director of Career Technical and customized education and reduced his team to help celebrate ctce month and present highlights of the ctce program their presentations shared success and opportunities of all students who attend tchs Dr Hughes spoke about the Cooperative education opportunities for all eligible students at tchs students report to their job site to serve customers and learn about their prospective trades on the job students are very successful in this program and many are offered employment by The End by the end when they graduate Dr Steve Gerhard assistant executive director gave a presentation on improving access and expanding opportunity he shared enrollment data for our student services and ctce programs which is showing a strong need to improve and expand

077access and opportunities for students both in county and out of County a a approved a memo was approved approved a memorandum of agreement with the cciu educational support Personnel Association to add Juneteenth as a paid holiday for all 12-month support staff in addition juneteen Teeth Teens has also been added for 12-month administrators project staff and confident confidential secretaries beginning June 2023 the next cciu board of directors meeting will be held Wednesday March 15 2023 but finally I also wanted to mention uh the spelling bee was mentioned earlier and that a student Christian Miller from from one of our schools from Stetson was the winner I wanted to mention that because the spelling bee was organized and facilitated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit and that concludes my report thank you Mr Grinnell um psba report

078Dr Herman thank you president um I just want to encourage and remind everyone to look at the psba website there's lots of information on what is happening in public schools one of the latest things that has been has been talked about is a summary of the PSS data and what public schools are doing to help students to get a book back on track after the pandemic with achievement and social skills and it was stressed that the pssa data is very important but school districts really need to look at the daily assessments that are going on not just the pssa because it is scores that hold down across the country thank you that concludes my report that's where we're going with that okay and the legislative report from Dr Shaw yes um the legislative liaison group

079of the Chester County intermediary unit met just last week I believe and discussed just a few things there's not a lot of active legislation being proposed right now but the big news of course is that there is a court case that found that our schools are funded inequitably and require the legislature and the governor to take action to remedy that situation it's becoming clear that it's going to take quite a bit of time to determine how best to do that many states have tried to do that with mixed results and so I think that's going to be a big focus of the Department of Education and the governor's office in the next easily the next year the governor himself is going to be giving his first budget address on March 7th um and people are

080waiting to hear what he's going to say he's keeping it really close to the best right now certainly with regard to education but I think it's pretty clear that some element of a public school funding will be part of that budget address and the only other major action that's happening right now is that there's just a growing movement to enact some kind of Charter School Reform legislation I think 491 of the 499 school districts in the state have school boards in the state have signed on to a petition to reform the way that charter schools are overseen and also the way that they're funded so I think there might be some action there that we'll see the playoffs over the next months and with that I completely thank you Dr Shaw um oh it's director

081Grinnell again Daryl would you update his police on equity I'd be happy to president Tiernan Westchester Area School District High School and Middle School students visited Lower Merion High School to attend full day leadership training facilitated by the Delaware Valley Consortium for excellence and Equity equity on February 15th and 16th in celebration and recognition of Black History Month many of our schools participated in projects held presentations and hosted events commemorating black history achievement and and individuals we heard about some of these activities already tonight I would like to share just a few of the examples of our students that our students and staff created Fern Hill Elementary transformed the cafeteria into a Black History Month Museum students shared some of their projects they worked on to honor black history with their peers such as biographies

082historical timelines and Events books and more Mr McCune spoke of Ruston High School celebration of Black History Month with live presentations from students in the black student union informational displays for students and staff to explore at their own pace and by sharing delicious traditional recipes with fellow students Mary C house also turned their school into an interactive Black History Museum that they open to their families for an evening last week visitors took a tour through the hallways to learn about historically black colleges and universities local and national black lingers and more students volunteered to present what they learned to visitors throughout the night and we would like to thank the Westchester Borough mayor Lillian debaptiste for visiting Greystone Stark weather and Mary seahouse elementary schools this month to connect with our students mayor D Baptiste

083who is the daughter of westchester's first black mayor talked about what a day is like in the life of the mayor she she also answered student questions and even took some fun selfies with students and staff on Thursday February 23rd Dr Tony tonikea Orange from the Howard group facilitated a workshop Workshop titled relational trust with the equity leads from 8 A.M to 12 noon the workshop explored the following concepts relational trust is rooted in personal exchanges respect and personal regard confidence responsibility and personal integrity evidence shows that schools with higher levels of relational trust among teachers between teachers and students between teachers and a principal are more likely to have improved student outcomes over over time this Workshop Focus focused on building relational trust among staff to create and support the conditions to tackle inequities

084in schools and create spaces for change to occur the professional learning will help staff uh understand how to build relational trust through their interactions conversations and through tension and critical collaboration in order to create an atmosphere where participants are empowered to battle inequities by exploring their identity positionality and making connections and Partnerships through critical reflection and Equity focused conversations the next Workshop will be March 16th entitled an instructional approach to safety utilizing content instruction and practice to buffer the effects of stress and Trauma on students that will be presented by Dr eliani Edwards Dr Yuna Martin The District's interim director of equity would like me to mention our top priorities moving forward number one working with HR to increase hiring staff representative of the Westchester Area School District students updating the equity page on the

085district website Community Gathering to organize school Partnership of mentors and tutors further details about this event will be distributed later this week also Implement implementation of root cause analysis train and Implement a restorative approach to discipline lead and facilitate the dealt teams the diversity Equity leadership teams in each School work with other Consultants to provide specific content area and district-wide professional development coordinate and approve Equity goals for each building Dr Maury it sounds like you're going to be very busy and something you have been very busy we commend you for the work that you're doing that you continue to do for the district uh finally in the spirit of supporting diversity and Community involvement the Henderson High School black student union held its 39th Annual Alice Thomas scholarship banquility this past Saturday February 25th the

086Alice Thomas scholarship banquet provides an opportunity for District employees students parents and community members to interact as a group and recognize those who have contributed to the current and future success of Henderson students the theme for the banquet this year was moving forward in unity each year BSU faculty advisors and students honor individuals who have made an impact in the Chester County area for 2023 the BSU recognized the coaches of the Westchester area track club for their efforts in developing athletes of character in our community Miss Chester and I attended the scholarship banquet and enjoyed it very much the audience enjoyed inspiring remarks by Dr Sherlock principal of Henderson High School doctors everyone Davenport vice president for Westchester University advancement in external Affairs at Westchester University and I really substitute superintendent Dr Khalia Reynolds congratulations

087to Henderson High School senior Janae Davenport for being this year's recipient of the atlas Palace scholarship that concludes my report Mr Grinnell you went to Henderson I went to Henderson a number of us had been around here for quite a long time the the report you just gave didn't happen without a full-time albeit interim Dei person and that was Dr Martin so we we've acknowledged that she is working 40 50 60 hour weeks has been since she came on so it's a it's a very important job but what I think that report reflects is such a difference from the time that we started Black History Month and we would have the kids called down to the auditorium for a report or a recitation of facts about an important black person that lived in the world

088we have gone way beyond that and so this month's efforts took principals teachers parents students being active proactive and enthusiastic about organizing these kinds of activities and that's what I think we need to recognize that this is going on not just in February it's going on all year long so it is certainly one of the basic concerns of this board we've made that clear it is the concern of every single one of us and will continue to be so whether the person carries the title of full-time Dei cabinet or as we have with Dr Martin a consultant to the district so I want to commend Dr Martin for the work that has been going on but she didn't do that alone she didn't do that alone she had the backing of the cabinet she had

089the backing of the superintendent she had the backing of the board and certainly the cooperation of the people out there in our 17 buildings so thank you for summing that up this is Tara yes I attended the BSU event and I just wanted to add this was the best events and all the years that I've attended the BSU luncheon and I was really impressed by um Chanel Dorsey one of the teachers and her growth and her ability to just command a room for all students I think it was such a wonderful asset and I just I felt so proud of the work she did to pull together we had we had legislative legislative legislators yes we've had the mayor was there attended and I my um I met Mrs Sherwood who I I've never met

090Dr Julian she sat at the table Jason to mind and it was just so wonderful she brought history to present yes and it was just a wonderful wonderful experience so I appreciate the work that went into that Dr Reynolds and uh thank you for your wonderful words and again the message was moving ahead in unity what what the message can you have than that thank you Miss Chester I appreciate you mentioning Mrs Hewlett uh John Hewlett head of HR for a number of years for the district African-American teacher teacher teacher a chemistry teacher I believe yes and track coach he got so many people involved and so many students have stated stayed in touch with him long after they graduated high school and many of the students pay in touch with Mrs Hewlett long after

091his passing she was sitting at my table and I didn't know who she was at first but what I realized who she was I just kind of got all Miss Seattle almost because I knew her husband and I know the wonderful work he did for the district um it's a great event for those who haven't been able to experience that event next year please know it's not just an event it's sponsored by the black student union but it's not just for black students it's not just for black leaders it's really for all of us and so if you have the opportunity to participate next year please consider being there thank you both thank you for attending this was my first time I had to go see my grandson swim this weekend and I'm sorry I'm

092sorry to miss it but um I think we're alive and well here and moving and moving forward in other business we have several more items before us two items are on the consent agenda the third item is for Mr bevel Aqua to put forward yes yes okay I'm ready because I have emotions for for approvals requested for the final payment in the amount of 500k to William H Klinger Corporation in accordance with the terms reached during the mediation session so and a second thank you thank you Miss wansley and um questions comments all right let's call for the vote yes director Darnell yes director Shaw yes director Chester yes director Herman yes director Dietrich yes president Tierney yes and the last two Dr Herman will present as the head of the Personnel committee thank you

093approval is requested of the independent engagement agreement with RL Copeland Associates LLC to provide mentoring services to the substitute Superintendent at a rate of 175 dollars per hour ISO move second Chester thank you questions comments seeing none will take the vote director Herman yes director Chester yes director General yes director Shaw yes director Dietrich yes yes vice president yes president Karen yes Dr Herman thank you item number five approval is requested of the independent contractor agreement with Dr Yuna Martin Consulting LLC to provide services as acting director of equity at a daily rate of 700 effective February 2nd 2023 until June 30th 2024. ISO move and a second Miss Jester again questions I would like to make a comment okay um I am going to vote no on this issue and I would like to

094explain that my reasoning for doing this is not an objection to the contract itself or the work that Dr Martin is doing I'm voting no because I believe that we need to have a cabinet level person in this position which I know we are intending to do eventually but I think we need to live with more Pace I think we've already been a fairly long time without a person in that position it's an important position doing important work and we need to show our commitment to it thank you thank you anybody else all right we'll call for the vote director Herman yes yes director Charlotte yes director Dietrich no vice president yes director wansley yes director now yes yes all right now comments for residents on non-agenda items here we go thank you president Tiernan

095the rules mentioned for public commentary at the meetings outset still stands as a reminder when a public commenter's name is called please approach the podium and begin by stating your first name last name and municipality public comments are limited to three minutes per person please be sure to refrain from abusive and auditory family marks distracting and disruptive behavior or other actions which interfere with the orderly conduct of this public meeting will not be tolerated we will now call the first of two registered speakers thank you Mike winner of Wes Whiteman I'd like to briefly take you back to October's school board meeting that night results of a right to note request were made public proving that third Hill Elementary brought in a trainer to instruct teachers on how to discuss gender identity to students kindergarten

096through fifth grade on the same night former superintendent Dr Bob sokolowski disclosed that he had previously kept the student's desired gender identity from her parents while principal of Henderson High School I'm not sure if the awareness but Patterson Elementary School in Florida did the same thing for the daughter of Wendell and Maria Perez and she ended up trying to commit suicide anyway back to the October school board meeting that same night I offered to bring in Chloe Cole and Sarah Higdon to our district free of charge to speak with staff and or students about their complete experiences with gender transition since the district has an obvious interest in the transgender experience who better to learn from than to people that have actually lived in you know what I was told by the director of equity

097no thank you I offered to discuss their concerns with her but I never heard back so I'm left to wonder was it no thank you because we don't care to hear from this particular segment of the trans community which wouldn't be inclusive or was it no thank you because our union bosses wouldn't approve nevertheless thanks to no left turn in education Chloe and Sarah are coming to our area Malvern to be exact on Saturday March 18th and I would like to invite all of you to attend members of the board those in the audience teachers parents anyone at home as I mentioned back in October the detransition community is growing and they have a very important story to share with us all as do members of the transgender Community like Sarah Higdon who recognize today's

098transgender movement for what it is a lucrative industry that creates lifelong patients for pharmaceutical companies it's also a movement that sacrifices the health and development of our children at the altar of post-modern theories developed by academic experts these theories were developed not with health or safety in mind but for the purpose of reshaving Western Civilization well I'll tell you this gender studies professors are not the experts Chloe and Sarah are so why don't you come out and get some expert advice with that said I have some flyers that I will hand to your solicitor thank you [Applause] more of peace good evening to the board Mark D's East Bradford to the board faculty parents and student body first time long time excited to be here in person to speak to the student body who month

099in month out gives us all hope that the future is bright regardless of your age or field of study the courage you show does not go unnoticed despite watching at home or like tonight in person continue the hard work the creativity passion you have as a phenomenal student body Dr sokolowski know this we all hope that you're doing well and we wish you a speedy recovery with illness that led to your early retirement on the flip side is package excites me it shows financially we are a stable school district and can bring in the best possible replacement it highlights that you have the means to fund so many of the things we as a district need to continue to improve such as additional staff new technologies different technology offerings extracurricular activities and any other items

100required to ensure our student body continues to excel that said I hope the board will concentrate their search on candidates that will focus on helping to raise the academic standards across the bottom student body with that candidates in this room this evening or not Rising Tides lift All Ships whether it's grades in the classroom involvement in clubs standardized testing scores the Arts or any Progressive form of testing that our new governor May Implement so please we parents implore you as a student or as a as a board to seek out and bringing a candidate that helps student body achieve new academic Heights thank you kindly see I think I lost this time if I did that on purpose tonight tonight before we adjourn I am sharing with you the news that we have received a

101letter from resignation before a letter of resignation from board member Dr Kate Shaw who has informed us that her last day on the school board is tomorrow February 28th Kate has served the Westchester School District as an elected board member for eight years her work ethic leadership superb communication skills and sense of humor will be deeply missed she has served our community in ways they may never realize I would like to invite Dr Shaw at this point to share her thoughts with us about the fact that she's leaving and then give the board members a chance to speak to her be kind thank you thank you president Tiernan and thanks for the opportunity to to speak to everybody tonight I uh first and foremost I I want to say what an honor included it has

102been to serve with this school board with this Administration and for this community and the school district it has been an honor like none other that I have experienced and we have certainly had our differences we have certainly had both publicly and privately but one thing has always been true is that we have been committed to a common goal to do what's best and right for all of the children in this district and I believe our Administration has consistently joined with us in that commitment and it has been an honor to serve with them as well I would like to say a few words to the community as I depart after eight years some of which have been more exciting than others um over the last year a few years in particular we've seen a

103significant uptick in the amount of community involvement in our district and certainly at our school board meetings this level of involvement I think is a very good thing and the vast majority of community members who have become more involved have done so in constructive ways certainly the past few years have taught us that we do not always need to agree we don't always agree debate and discussion are important and is my colleague Joyce Chester always says constructive struggle polishes the diamond and I can think of countless instances in which this has been true in our district the most recent example is the district's recent decision to establish a year-long exploration of how to structure sixth grade English language arts this decision was made in response to parental and Community concerns and what the district will

104do moving forward will deepen Community engagement in the direction that our district takes it's a great example of the benefit of constructive engagement and criticism but criticism has unfortunately not always been constructive some of the criticism that we have received has done real damage there's lots of examples of this but one particular example stands out to me and that is the fact that a year ago a petition signed by 10 community members was filed to remove five Westchester Area School District board members including myself in this petition we were accused of child abuse battery Suffocation and forced participation in medical experimentation these charges stem from the petitioner's disagreement with our decision to require that students with staff be masked during a global pandemic that killed over 1 million people in this country while ultimately the

105petitioners did not Prevail both the reputations of my colleagues and I and the reputation and well-being of this district and the community were harmed the good news though is that many community members from across our district some of whom have stood at this Podium and criticized the district for other things recognize the threat that this petition posed to our district and they took action they spoke out and they made it clear that they did not disagree with or go along with this petition they understood that an attempt to remove duly elected board members via the court rather than at the polls because of a disagreement with on your mind rather than strengthen our community and our district the reason I'm drawing this contrast is this now more than ever it is incumbent Upon Our Community

106to continue to pay attention to what is happening in our district and to get involved there will always be disagreements and tensions from time to time but it's a community we need to understand the difference between constructive disagreement meant to strengthen this district and words and actions that are not meant to strengthen this District I want to close with this public schools are the Cornerstone of our democracy the Westchester area school district is a treasure it is one of the highest ranked districts in this state and in this country it draws people to our community people who want their children to have the benefit of our amazing schools and our teachers it is in fact the foundation of our vibrant and healthy Community but we cannot take for granted that this will always be true

107again my thanks to everybody for the opportunity to serve while they won't any longer have the opportunity to contribute to this process as a board member I hope to continue to support the district um as I leave for other opportunities and joining with many of you as we support our wonderful District thank you so much thank you CJ yes yeah yeah I have to extend a big thanks to Dr Scholl because I've known Dr Scholl much longer than I've been Ross in school where I'd be sure of six years with my dad on the board and I've gotten to know you I mean maybe a little bit better than Sean and Emily here oh my goodness it's no it's not about that it's just about about what saying thank you thank you very much and

108we wish you all the best anybody else over there okay you and I haven't worked together that long but I've really gotten really enjoyed getting to know you over the past a little over a year and I wanted you to know how deeply I respect all of the work you've done before and we work together before I was on the board I respect how much thought and attention to detail you put into everything and I really miss working with you I'll use the term I shared earlier when I first heard this I'm a little heartbroken I wish you all the best in your future endeavors you're going to shine just as you shine here on the board I have such respect for you Kate if you are so great you know in education we know

109it's not just about students giving the right answers but it's about students asking the right questions and you you asked so many good questions and you have such a a respect for the process of getting to you know to that Final Destination and pushing us forward your thoughtfulness and your your experience has really moved the district ahead uh I thoroughly enjoyed working with you let's keep in touch and all the best to you in the future hi Dr Shaw I know we didn't necessarily expect to agree as many times as we did over this last 14 months um I know Daryl still were trying to recover from it himself um I know from the outside it probably seems like we come from very different formless but I think we both um have shown Arkansas District

110and you have been a shining example of what it means to ask the important questions to give thoughtful analysis to look at the objective information and try to come to decisions that are really in the best interest of the whole picture to that end I I regret I won't get the opportunity to learn more from you and from your experience over these last few months but wish you the best in your next endeavor okay then I enjoyed working with you and serving on the board together for the last eight years even if we agree or disagree I think he always had very much bluntfulness strategic thinking your analytical mind will be missed and we wish you the best in your future endeavors good luck I don't know Kate if I can say anything else because

111I've just done dealing well with this departure but you know how much I respect the work that you've done and respect you and I will say this often Kate and I will talk at 7 30 8 o'clock in the morning and we are not always on the same page but by the time we hang up we've reached some kind of accommodation to each other's viewpoints and Kate will say yes but I have more questions she's not finished so you take that toughness and that questioning mind and do good in the next thing you do thank you this is difficult this is so sad but I wish you all the best thank you for the eight years in the school board I can't believe the team Learners um you've been very dedicated you've been a lot

112of fun I've enjoyed your energy your your intellect and absolutely your expertise in data you've been the best again I wish you the best and I will miss you and I hope all of us kind of friendly and in the future but so good luck thank you so everything they said um you are such a master negotiator Edward Smith you and I have agreed many many times we have doesn't read sometimes but have had robust robust conversation and discussion what we did and I think we both learned from that from a very personal standpoint Kate I will miss you tremendously I can't tell you how much proud to call you my friend proud to call you my colleague love you to pieces this is diversity and action kid I I do love Kate shawl and

113I wish you well wherever you go whatever you do I know you're going to polish it and make it a diamond thank you for everything you've given us board appreciate you so much you're amazing thank you thank you everyone and I I have no meaningful quotes for tonight I think we said it all so this meeting do I hear a motion to adjourn emouth yes questions or concerns take the vote we're done