001good evening I'd like to call to order the May 23rd 2022 special school board meeting we have one agenda item the first thing we will do is stand and salute the flag I pledge allegiance repairs thank you Mrs character if you would take role for the board please vice president here director Chester here director Dietrich here now here director Fleming here director Herman here director Charlotte here president Tiernan here all righty we are here tonight to discuss and approve a proposed health and safety plan I want to thank everybody who came tonight for meeting with us and letting us know what you are thinking at this time we will listen to public comment and Mr Jennings will remind us all and you'll do it again Mr Jennings of the expectations for civil comment as well
002as for civility displayed by audience people here in this room for each other as we speak thank you presidents here and good evening now as the time has indicated for public comment on the loan agenda item being a revised health and safety plan a person's wishing to make public comment on the agenda were required to properly register prior to the designated start time of tonight's 6 30 PM meeting when public commenters names are called I ask that they please approach the podium and begin by stating their first name last name and municipality public comments are limited to three minutes per person with the three minute time clock projected on the screens throughout the room the board asks that all commentary be directed to the board as a whole public comments may be interrupted or terminated
003if the commentary exceeds three minutes or if they are 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 comment including those comments and opinions that differ from your own distracting and disruptive behavior or other actions which interfere with the orderly conduct of the public meeting will not be tolerated we will now call the first speaker West Ocean Township and I concerned that the Westchester area school district is going to begin with the part to acquire universal student mastering again there is no significant evidence but the kind of non-medical medicine that's common in schools is worth it and Arizona studies frequently cited by CDC director Rachelle wilinski
004as evidenced for continued magazine schools have been thoroughly dismantled there are several studies that show a minimal production of coca-19 transmission with Maxine schools but the results were not statistically significant and moreover mostly studies not account for covid-19 vaccinations and adults and none of them take into account vaccinated children a study from Brown University analyzing 2020 2021 data from schools in New York Massachusetts Florida found no poor leaking from student cases and Mass Community needs but did see decreased cases associated with teacher vaccination Additionally the risk of severe disease from covid-19 to help the children has always been low CDC status shows 863 total pediatric deaths were rated the program 19 since beginning with pandemic Which is less than 0.001 percent of the coca-19 desk and this does not specify either from covid-19 versus with
005codeine 19. U.S policy in itself is an outlaw the World Health organza can advise with Advanced massive kids Under Fire only selectively for kids under 11. many European nations have kept schools open without requiring Mass U.S schools that remain open with or without masks have not seen major outbreaks over the past two years many students wear cloth masks that provide little to no production to no protection public health expert in CNN medical analyst Dr Nina Nguyen says they are quote little more than facial decorations yet we've had low spreading schools with facial decorations only isn't it possible that kids don't eat masked at all masking kids not simply an inconvenience it negatively affects learning and causes significant social and emotional harm masking appears verbal and non-verbal communication between teachers and students who limit speech identification
006and has occasional physical side effects visualization of the entire face is a crucial importance to social emotional and speech development this non-verbal feedback is how they often weigh their actions and behavior against those available developing social emotional intelligence that is crucial as our educational development if Mass was clearly proven the work to prevent transmission perhaps it would be worth it but they aren't have you ever tried to work teach or learn in a in a hot classroom a whole day while wearing a mask that's a teacher I am I can tell you that even with Mass Community students do not wear masks correctly most of the time so maybe mandating them is really about theatrics and not about safety or science we need to take into account the lack of evidence of for mask efficacy
007and reevaluate our policies parents should be able to follow the signs properly evaluate this and have the choice of mask or not mask their children [Applause] Christopher Manos hey guys how you doing this is for you Mr solicitor to distribute and don't worry it doesn't have any sexually explicit content that you find in our libraries Christopher Manos East Bradford Township uh the global covid Summit just ended and declaration four is restore scientific integrity 17 000 Physicians and medical scientists declare that the state of medical emergency must be lifted scientific Integrity restored and crimes against humanity addressed we the Physicians and medical scientists of the world united through our loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath recognize that the disastrous covid-19 Public Health policies imposed on doctors and on our patients are the culmination of a corrupt medical
008Alliance a pharmaceutical insurance and Health Care institutions along with the financial trusts which control them they have infiltrated our medical system at every level and are protected and supported by the parallel Alliance of big Tech media academics and government agencies who profited from this orchestrated catastrophe we declare and the data confirmed that the covid-19 experimental genetic therapy injections must end we declare doctors should not be blocked from providing life-saving medical treatment we declare the state of National Emergency which facilitates corruption and extends the pandemic should be immediately terminated we declare medical privacy should never again be violated and all travel and social restrictions must cease we declare masks are not and have never been effective protection against an Airborne respiratory virus in the community setting we declare funding and research must be established for vaccination
009damage death and suffering we declare no opportunity should be denied including education career military service or medical treatment over unwillingness to take an injection we declare that first amendment violations and medical censorship by government technology and media companies should cease and the Bill of Rights be upheld foreign Tech Jansen AstraZeneca and their enablers withheld and willfully admitted safety and Effectiveness information from patients and Physicians and should be immediately indicted for fraud we declare government and medical agencies must be held accountable thank you we need because I was hoping I was going to be a little later in the next Judy defonzo here I still live in East Goshen I want to talk about traditions when we have a transition in like our human lives we like a wedding a funeral a right of religious initiation
010we had these Traditions that we do and graduation is Big transition for students it's something they've been preparing for for the last 13 years I know my twins are graduating uh in in gosh uh fall school days they'll be they'll be done we actually have 13 school days left this year and um I'm going to talk about a little age of History 2020 everyone remember air on the side of caution that's what I'm asking for um anecdotally since the mass mandates been lifted my kids have gone to sick a lot they haven't found copy but they've been sick with um upper respiratory pigment sick with GI issues and at this point I'm going to link pull them out on vacation because I've run out of sick days and I I'd like to see them have
011that prompt and circumstances I'd like to see them have their gown their mortar removing the tassel I forget which way it goes but we'll figure it out but we have to be there we have to be healthy to do this so with 13 days of school left for this year I'm not I'm kind of thinking leaning towards like maybe we should be mandating Ness [Music] safe so that they can have their Traditions we've got new student orientation for um you know our incoming freshmen going into college we want them to be healthy for this and like I said anecdotally my house the mass seem to be helping maybe that would come in but with everything else and for 13 days for 13 days Judy could you stop I'm going to ask those in the audience
012that are yelling out screaming out and disagreeing with the public comments that are being made please refrain from doing so at the outset I made an instruction that disruptive and distracting the behavior will not be tolerated please be respectful of those that are giving public comment thank you like you said we've got 13 school days left can we do it for our seniors so that they can have their their family and friends uh attend the graduations the parties the get-togethers let's keep everyone safe they seem to be working at least in my house maybe not with code because we didn't have Kobe come through my house uh background Thanksgiving but um with everything else that's going on I'd like to see as many people as possible I forgot to look it up we have on
013the next last page of every uh agenda a census and I believe there's 1000 students I'd like you and every one of them to be able to have that tradition if that's what they choose to do and they can if they're not sure if they are so thank you [Applause] very much [Music] I understand having to mask the end it's not something anyone wants to do but following the reported numbers means knowing the field is high right now and there are many people who are not testing because the symptoms of this new strain are not the same streams some people just refuse to test and others have tested at home and have forgotten to report it I fall into the last category I recently had covet I knew I was a close contact so I
014decided I was able to mask and isolate I had fished those four days later I took a test and it was negative two days after that I took another test and it was positive I could have been infecting people for days and wouldn't have known it after a few days a friend reminded me to report the positive so that numbers could be more accurate I am well aware that numbers are not accurate you are too it's the end of the year these kids have a ton of fun things to celebrate if our school wants to take a stand for kids they want us they should want them all in Mass so they can enjoy the activities it would be terrible for kids to miss out on field days and end up in your field trip
015an end of the school party and yearbook finance and five graduates and grad party and Elementary School Visitors by the seniors and graduation that's only naming the ones that I'm aware of with the kindergartener I don't think catering to a side that is never going to be happy with your choice is helpful they're still angry there's any sort of health and safety form so if you're actually worried about the health and safety of students then I would suggest a better plan on that one that follows metrics if we all wear masks we can all get through the end of this year [Applause] Melissa Bennett West Goshen I imagine no one wants to be in this room tonight talking about coveted cases on the rise we are all tired and want this pandemic to be over
016but wishing it to be so deciding it is so declaring it to be so does not actually make it so the reality is that covet cases are on the rise again and Chester county is in high transmission I also understand the desire to create a new health and safety plan one that gives you some legal room for the superintendent to make decisions without always needing a board vote I completely get that and I'm glad you will continue with the health and safety plan and I'm uncomfortable with the amount of wiggle room found here while I trust this Administration and board to make decisions with the best interests of the students in mind this plan opens the door for some not so trustworthy players to run in life these are my questions is this plan intended
017to get us through only this school year or to be for future years who gets to decide when or what conditions necessitate further mitigation while I wish it were not true we know covid-19 mitigation efforts have become very political a metrics-based approach helps decision makers from yielding to pressure or following a political wave and I know you're trying to name care for vulnerable students by working with those needs through IEPs and 504s but what about the students who do not need IEPs or 504s but who have medical conditions that warrant further protection the general approach to covid-19 now has basically thrown medically vulnerable people to the wolves how will you stand with this those students while making this policy I have been clear all along that I believe with the exception of medical exemptions we
018should still have our kids masking in schools but more than anything I want a plan based on metrics where the school Community understands the expectations based on the numbers it's less confusing less time consuming and less vulnerable to leadership just doing what they want based on pressure give us something with clear measurable guidelines thank you [Applause] thank you I think we all view ourselves as reasonable people here and so I want to try to take that same exact approach and so actually just like the previous speaker my quick I don't even know what's being proposed technically there's this like one pager is are those going to be the new rules to the old health and safety plan like when you propose when you make what I have observed what the board makes changes to policies
019right their strikeout marks there's addition marks I have no idea if it's being proposed or not proposed so for me to feel comfortable with the decision that you're all going to undertake is to is is to hear a level of transparency from the board to right there's checks and balances everywhere in our society right in our government that's how it's designed the administration proposes and then the board decides and so I would love to hear rigorous conversation and questioning around yeah what are the metrics how do we determine mitigating effects if it mitigates one percent is that good enough does it need to mitigate 99 percent what necessitates what are the triggers that would necessitate respiratory etiquette like a breeding system it's an involuntary muscle that says like yeah we can take control over from
020time to time but we're not full control over that what does that look like so what I would love to see and what would instill confidence back in a lot of parents and taxpayers is to is for the board to not view itself as a rubber spam of the administration but to engage in a rigorous conversation around what are we changing why are we changing and what do those you know what are the metrics for those changes if we're added driven Society how are we going to measure that so because what's happening here you know this the covet thing here and and all the other issues throughout the entire nation have exposed that there is a big gap between what the administration wants and what parents want and the only defense the only line between
021those two is the borders elected officials so I'm turning to you to really take up to regain our trust to regain our confidence through maximum transparency and I don't see that here at this proposal because I don't know what to technically being added I don't know what's being technically being removed so in lieu of that a rigorous conversation would be incredibly helpful tonight so I hope when they propose if you have a lot of questions and they're very clear metrics of what it includes and what it excludes and how long is this for one week is this for 30 days and what happens if the next virus is not you know SARS Kobe 2 is that included is that not included I understand it makes a reference to the communicable diseases you know policy 203
022but that's also Pandora's Box so it'd be nice to have some clear terms some specific guidelines as opposed to opening this up and empowering the administration with unlimited power thank you for your time foreign Katrina Nolan West Goshen Township good evening as a virologist and mother of three I have been vocal about the importance of a layered mitigation strategy to reduce the spread of coca-19 in our schools and community we're all so tired of these conversations about masks to be clear I do not want masks forever in fact numbers went down in March and we took an overdue family vacation to Florida guess what I brought back as a souvenir covet my unvaccinated young daughter had a fever and congestion for five days and is fine thankfully I was very sick for 10 days luckily
023avoiding hospitalization and I'm still suffering from long-haul symptoms two months later my husband and boys all vaccinated tested negative the entire time it's not a fun game of roulette I'm speaking tonight because when the CDC changed their guidance in February the school district immediately followed suit just like that masks were optional after our experience with covet in March I let my boys decide one of them masked for a few more weeks and then stopped and the other stopped immediately but now here we are again as every scientist predicted in another Surge and I asked them to Max mask up this week we know case counts don't mean much on their more on their own anymore in fact they're grossly underreported due to the availability of Rapid tests and the absence of testing altogether for asymptomatic
024and Mild cases as science evolves guidance changes and in February the seasons change to account for hospitalizations a more relevant yet lagging metric here we are back in red according to the guidance the guidance is clear in times of high transmission quote where a well-fitting mask indoors in public regardless of vaccination status or individual risk including in K-12 schools and other community settings end quote I urge the district follow the same logic you did in February follow the guidance the current Provisions to the health and safety plan do not align with the CDC guidance and contain no metrics at all let's all do our part to ensure that our children don't miss out on graduation and fun end of year activities covet's here to stay we know that we must be willing to modify our
025Behavior based on the Peaks and I urge the administration and School Board to consider a metrics-based approach if not aligning with the CDC guidance thank you guys Sarah please refrain from screaming out yeah but it's still disruptive to the orderly conduct of this meeting I would like to not have to ask you again all right now thank you all for listening uh like a classroom we are asking we can't hear everything that's happening all the way three rooms back but we know that there are people talking we can hear you speaking right out loud we're in a business meeting we're not at a tennis match we're not at a football game you're not at home in your living room we people need to speak without interruption and they need to knock your fluttering at the
026back from anybody anybody so we're asking you to observe our request to act as though you ordered a business meeting and we will get through this Dr sokolowski will explain now and then we will have our rigorous discussion about what our intent is here tonight thank you Mrs Tiernan I also want to thank the school board for coming out tonight and holding this special meeting I think is extremely important at this time and as we have been throughout the pandemic that we are responsive to changes in conditions I think it's also important to hear from our community I know that the mass conversation has never been anybody's favorite conversation but it is necessary that we have these discussions and tonight what I would like to do what we're planning to do tonight is I'm putting
027forward this document Mr Oliver this this entire document would be the health and safety plan the health and safety plan that is currently in place that has been placed since August would be replaced by this health and safety plan I would like to though before getting into the details and some specifics here with this plan I do want to explain a little bit as to why why now why we're here right now and in order to do that it's important to go back in time and if a lot of our community members remember that back in January we took the opportunity to review our health and safety plan and part of the reason for that we hadn't scheduled that because the governor had announced that it was back in November that he was looking at
028lifting the Mandate sometime at the end of January so we were in that process but everybody knows that at that point in this time December and January we saw perhaps the greatest surge in cases so it was not appropriate at that point in time to make any changes to the health and safety plan with our students and our staff being masked through that month of January which was an incredibly difficult month we did come to a point in February where we did see a rapid decline in cases and that put ourselves as a school board put us in a position where we began to consider what was spoken about tonight a new health and safety plan that involving local metrics it would not ignore those metrics that are provided by the CDC in the Chester
029County Health Department but they would be metrics that would be more local here in Westchester and what we were looking to do at that point in time as well was with time our health and safety plan to our communicable disease policy because covid-19 is now recognized as a communical disease look we all remember and this does seem to happen a lot on my watch that Friday afternoon at about three o'clock on February 25th the CDC not only put out new guidance but they shared with us new metrics and some of our community members tonight mentioned those new metrics involved hospitalizations because the concern especially in the latter part of the fall and the Heart of the winter was the strain that covet placed on our health care System so those metrics were put into place
030and we that evening for February 28th we pulled our health and safety plan but moving forward we had had discussions as an Administration and with our attorneys and so far as it is required that we have a health and safety plan in place it's required at a minimum that we review that every six months so we began to look at the latter part of March and April at a new health and safety plan that would be again more tied to our communicable disease policy so just sharing with everybody that we are tonight considering a news health and safety plan that would replace the current health and safety plan this health and safety plan I think it's also important to have in place as we move into our summer programs because we will have a lot
031of students we'll have a lot of Staff in our schools so enabling us you know as a as a district responsible and to be responsive to covid-19 this policy this health and safety plan would be very helpful so I would like to at this point to kind of just go through the health and safety plan as would be prescribed but I do also want to preference that I'm very proud of the Westchester Area School District a lot of my colleagues in Chester County we have been the superintendents in school districts we've worked together in close coordination but Westchester Area School District was one of a few school districts in Chester County to put out any information regarding the fact that the county had moved into a high level a high Community level we also put
032out that we are recommending but not requiring masks and so other than what I am speaking now you will see me as the superintendent of schools that when I am out and about the buildings I will be wearing masks for the remainder of this week but I also can share that last week as I put in that email sorry I sent it out at 5 15 on a Saturday that our case counts for students actually declined last week uh and we do have some early indications this week that that decline uh is uh still happening uh but it's important to assess things week by week but I am being very transparent uh with everybody at this moment as I always will be um so just to go through uh we do have just general updates
033that started today we have moved to mass recommended but not required if necessary in the future and this is based upon consultation with the Chester County Health Department and this is exactly what the school district did on Friday when we learned it was confirmed by the Chester County Health Department that we were in a high Community level I did speak directly with the director of the Chester County Health Department I shared specifics of our data talked about okay do we move to a status that we're requiring Mass and one of the pieces that it was mentioned tonight that historically we have always looked at layering in mitigation strategies or withdrawing layer mitigation strategies and even when back at the end of February when we moved to mask optional it still was about a two-week process
034for the schools to transition and a large part of that would have been the one directional seating that we had in our classrooms and in our cafeterias so the recommendation is simply a layered mitigation to address the rise in community level here in Chester County and then moving forward and it was mentioned that superintendent has the authority but the superintendent I work as a team I work with Mary Lee Jordan Air who's our coordinator for Health Services I work closely with Chester County Health Department I work closely looking at the data here in the school district in order to inform decisions that are in the best interest of our students so while that that Authority does rest with me it is something that is absolutely a team effort so moving through just the area here
035this is not really any change but talking about physical distancing and doing our best except possible to maintaining three feet and in cafeteria settings maximizing the distance there so as I mentioned before if it's the case that things don't improve in Chester County and in the Westchester Area School District then we could see the next mitigation which might be moving back to one directional seating in the cafeteria a hand washing and respiratory etiquette this is otherwise known as universal precautions and this really isn't any change to as we've indicated throughout our schools with a lot of signage reminding students of Staff of you know just simply hand washing and best practices within our schools cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities this is just continuing to address that area of proper ventilation and the district has done
036a very good job of ensuring that all of our buildings have proper ventilation and then as I mentioned earlier this next area regarding collaboration and coordination this would be in conjunction with our various Health departments so certainly the CDC certainly the Chester County Health Department and the PA Department of Health the next section Diagnostic and screening and testing this does mention here again specifically our cuticle disease policy number 203 our prior uh health and safety plan did not have a reference to the communicable disease policy and this just simply stipulates the requirement for staff to report cases and this would go directly to our human resource office this requires students and staff that if you are sick you should remain at home and reporting of cases of of students and staff to School nurses or
037to direct supervisors and that is our current practice and our efforts to continue supporting vaccinations I know not everybody in this room may agree with that but the Westchester Area School District we have had vaccination clinics before coming for the flu and we are continuing to do that and in fact I believe we already have a date set up in the fall for the Chester County Health departments who once again offer a flu clinic at Fugate middle school and that's not just flu vaccine but that would also be covid-19 vaccine and booster so also happy for board members just to share as well that we now know that students between the ages of 5 and 11 years old are eligible to receive a booster so that's certainly a positive development and I'm very hopeful that
038for the ages of six months to four years that that will process forward and perhaps will be in a place where younger children will be available will be able to get a vaccine for next school year and then certainly the last section there that for students with that needed individual accommodation we would continue to work through 504s and IEPs so Mrs Tyran I've then I turned it back to you for any discussion questions or comments from the board and I do have Beverly Chardonnay here to see we have support answering any questions thank you all right I think I'll wait until the last uh if you don't mind Dr Gentry if you would just ask any questions or any comments that you have at this point yeah um honestly so one of my first questions
039relates to the issue of vaccine clinics we did partner with the health department to do that so you put it when vaccines first became available to the 5 to 11 year old now that they are eligible for visitors is there any discussion about doing that potentially over the summer as a way to you know just make it an easier process for families who want that I I would certainly you know be open to doing that uh and there was a time actually in the summer of 2020 when the East High School fugit complex was actually used at the testing site so we certainly do have a history of doing work uh to support the health of our community over the summer I don't know though merely if there's been any specific conversation we haven't had
040any specific conversations about that the one nice thing would be five to 11 year olds because of the type and the diluentive or the amount that it can stay and refrigerated a lot of large Pediatric Group have availability for adults they just didn't yeah so it is very available certainly willing to have that conversation but we also partnered with not only uh the health department but also the Chester County Hospital and we could certainly um the partner with them again and open up some vaccine clinics be very willing to to explore them another question that I have is the document mentions that any faculty staff students who appear to be ill can be asked to go home um how are we assessing that and also as a kind of twirler that do our School nurses
041still have test kits um as far as it is a nursing decision when they come into the office because of the spike they are generally airing on the side of caution um especially you know we had some cases that were related to big events problems things like that we did notice that we had a spike in that in a certain grade level and whatnot um and just being aware of that so uh yes we are still sending them home um I will tell you right now this week we're finding the less coming back positive so that's the good news but that's good news on our on our part as well um and as far as test kits we have had test kits available we saw them if you've left if we have some of them
042they're still available right now we just haven't purchased anymore but then we do still have some available foreign another question that I had is there anything that we can do as a district to partner with the health department to help improve reporting of numbers make it easier for families who do have a positive test to get that number into the official system that's up to the health department yeah yeah that's kind of interesting um I got some other questions I have for now I may come back but I'll pass it on to so I guess um my one they've probably got for this the disc like we had the old plan the new plan is that we know that the plan is only as good as we are at um you know the application of
043what's in the plan so how can we assure that we are keeping on top of what we need to to make sure that we're watching out for who is not well who um you know just some of the some of the mitigation strategies that we're trying to have in place who will police that to make sure it happens uh so that I take that responsibility in terms of being responsible for assessing our data uh as something really since a few weeks after spring break uh right right after spring break uh merrily and I have been in constant communication regarding cases wear cases in some buildings have climbed whereas in other buildings they have remained rather flat so that I honestly I take that responsibility to look at that data on a daily basis take that
044with respect to okay and maybe in that specific building we need to consider further mitigation strategies for that specific building that's what this policy does by tying it back to the communicable disease policy that rather than you know saying to an entire District that a mask would be required it might be in certain cases where if you have an outbreak at a school that maybe for a period of time we would need to require Massacre and I guess my other question would be how do we protect those students that are most uh that have other underlying conditions that you know need to be maybe they need a layer of Extra Protection how do we make sure that they stay protected and that is you know as many as what you're through IPS and 504s but
045if there would be an immunocompromised student uh looking at okay how can we maximize social distance for that particular student in the classroom so that's something that we have done uh really since we've been back in person uh in the fall of 2020 and I guess that would have the same would apply to teachers in the classroom yes so there still are teachers who do have shields you know at their desks because that allows them to feel most comfortable and you know we would certainly in terms of PPE you know applied that we can you know provide it's very easy now with my understanding to obtain a kn95 mass so my last question yes so how what do you what do you attribute to the fact that our numbers in our schools were lower than
046those in the community so that looking at the the last report for when the Chester County Health Department puts out the weekly data something I've shared with the board every single single week this week can be a little bit differently with this announcement uh but that is something where looking at the local incidence rates for the Westchester Area School District so it's not just students in our district but it's anybody who lives within the imprint of our school district and what's interesting is that last week that also came down in conjunction with numbers here that came down in the Westchester Area School District and that's just showing you again detail to which Mayor Lee and I and our team look at the data as it becomes available I know that if you go down that
047list of school districts in Chester County there were other districts however that move very much in the opposite direction I know the name of high school but I do one local high school that has over 100 high school students test positive the last week but you feel confident that we have a handle on our data that what our dad as well reflection was like yes the the data it is reported to Merril Lee I'm sorry Marilyn pretty much 24 7 and that is information that she's collecting on a daily basis and since that time in February we also improved our our dashboard in terms of how it looks aesthetically thank you and we also important numbers not just on Fridays but Tuesdays and Fridays parents are going to pass the Baton if you look at
048just though our curves our curves even though our numbers may not exactly be corresponding or always are developerable always follows what's going on in the community as well so does that mean we're going to go up at some point we did go walk it I think we're on the downward Trend right now so I think probably the community with me as well I expect to see some of them there's something for a moment I wonder just because I have these no dates in my head if our community number is going down correlated to the end of the school the traditional school year at Westchester University did hold commencement exercises that move forward to on Saturday the 14th as we know anybody who who travels through the borough some of our our college students were moving
049out of their apartment however their dormitories during the last week I in fact actually will leave on Wednesday driving through the university noticed that there were students that were still opposing with their cap and gowns and grabbing photographs with their classrooms but their their spring semester has officially ended graduation all the commencement exercises have also I you know I'm really concerned about the end of year activities uh particularly for the senior class you know they you know it's been such a challenge for everybody in the district but I think with them graduating I sure would hate to see them miss out on on the festivities that are coming up um as you all know I'm a teacher I teach you know currently and it's been a back and forth at my school not a district
050school but um it's a challenge today we went back to Mass and then a letter came out saying that that's kind of being walked back a little bit um I like being able to see my students faces I like being able to see my co-workers faces um but more important than that I want everybody to be safe I think my my main concern with the current plan is I would like it to be as objective as possible and as clear as possible when we would go back to to mask I think the previous plan had very specific metrics and I would like to see this plan have very specific metrics as well to that Mr Journal that this is again you know moving towards that cuticle disease policy uh and in the past when we've
051had instances of pertussis at schools we have taken you know preventative action to be able to respond to that I've been with the district for about 18 years and I can't remember exactly when I was probably in the 2006 to 2008 era and if you remember a very bad flu season and I do recall at some point in time during that one of those Winters that we one of our schools did not have school in order to provide that uh so that students wouldn't be coming together in an environment where they would be passing the flu to one another so metrics are still involved because we are still looking at data on a daily basis we are looking though very specifically at each school and at each program in order to inform those decisions and
052as I said also metrics in terms of what we're seeing in our community being in the high level I felt that it is at the least it's very responsible to share with our students to share with our staff that masses are recommended because previously we had left that as mask option part of that today just in walking in and around several buildings I can tell you that I did Witness more staff members wearing masks and I think that was a commitment to their students to express to them that they too can feel comfortable wearing masks conversations with elementary teachers today did share that they did see an increased number of students who came to school wearing masks put a comment that I did receive Back At One Elementary School was well but after they came
053back for lunch we didn't see quite as many students wearing this and today again it was this was the first day of recommending uh that we would recommend mask wearing in our schools since at that time back in February hope that's helpful now thank you you have to review the health and safety plan and details and Dr salowski's updates on your specific questions I think the key is continuous monitoring and evaluating of the situation and I think we do a good job that we'll continue to monitor that we make adjustments accordingly I think a little good shape going forward so feel comfortable as stated Mr Bella thank you Dr zaklowski into the administration for coming up with this plan pretty quickly even though I know it's been in the works yes this was something that
054was in the works in terms of Our intention as to as we would have to be revisiting this at least by a period in July and nor August was the direction that we were thinking about then but you know our our position has always been we're going to be responsive and we are going to be responsible for our students and staff and other questions that I have are really along the same lines as Mr durnell's I think you answered them as far as under what metrics or circumstances could masks become mandated again or even like a school having to close for a day or two but you you ever it sounds like you have a good handle on what numbers you're looking at or for additional mitigation strategies yes and there was too just to
055reflect to that proposed health and safety plan that we had coming into January 25th we did have a metric system there that was based upon a percentage of staff and student population combined not just staff and students separately but totally what was happening at his school and if that threshold hit five percent or greater then it would require that school to wear masking for at least that one week for until that that threshold would come down so that is a metric that's in mind but I also think that honestly that if it because looking at our history here uh that if we have either had a school that was you know posting cases that would be above two and a half percent or three percent uh uh that would be cause for concern okay thank
056you please list my questions have been um we do things very well in Westchester include transparency and also informing the staff teachers administrators school board members like to know to know when would the staff and the teachers be informed and with this key reoccurring like if you 've been there was much in it would they be reminded like we need to do these things but yes absolutely and that is also just part of my leadership style that I like that everybody here knows that really my best days are the days that I'm out and about in the building and I'm visiting with with our teachers and with our students and being able to share with them you know my observations of things and getting their feedback and their concerns in order to inform those decisions
057but you know an example would be this this past weekend you know that communication uh who shared with the school board in terms of having this meeting tonight that information went to you and started from disturbing your Fridays but on Friday we then used more time to be able to assess and to think about our Communications and I'd like to thank Molly shebler and Beth Hayes for all their support but that communication that went out on Saturday about an hour earlier it did go to our staff were a few staff members that emailed me back and supported the decision a few that just simply had some questions and so that that communication well those Communications are lines are very much established uh Mrs Herman and that multi-permanent and they are also just going back to
058our time here with having to handle this Pandemic those communication lines have been now you know very very well established for that are part of it over two years we have watched the administration go through this it has been and there's unusual time in education um it's unusual in my lifetime and the entire time for the past two years the administration and only needs to be commended have been working basically around the department any hours you have told us exactly everything has been very thorough very impossible and the bottom line is always very concerned about the students staff and teachers we have had all types of mitigation throughout this past two years one thing I really like about the soup plan and mentioned the layer of the creation says the case is rise or they
059they're low again you can change and I think that's very very I think you're listening to what our community is saying whether people read or disagree I think that you are doing the very best that you have to make noise do things a little better but I think that we have moved a statistic to what the needs are and I really appreciate it I really appreciate those comments what kind of answer questions thank you a copy of the communicable disease policy I believe is on our website it it is on our website if you look under School Board go to policies it's policy 203 yes now I don't consider the communicable disease policy to be a can of worms I actually like it very much and I would I have been eager since covid since
060the CDC said go go and unmasked that we move it we move covid and that is what the CDC has told us we should do to a communicable disease policy and the reason I like that so much is that it puts control back in our district if we have an outbreak of flu it is dealt with because you know on a daily basis who in what grade is sick with what that is communicated to the superintendent and it's not just a secret that Dr sokolowski gets to say whoopee I am going to shut this place down you will not see that again now I know in Law and Order they tell you never make promises a good can't keep them we are not looking to to mask the entire District we are looking to specifically
061work with the children in a building in a grade in a classroom where there's a problem that is what we have always done with communicable diseases sometimes it's head lice I don't know if any of you have been treated to that that possibility of communicable disease or measles or or whooping cough or pertussis as you call it or a flu but there have been times in our district and I can remember that we had only 70 percent of the children in the building and and that number of teachers because the flu was bad so what happened did we shut the district down no we went to the school the classroom the parade and said these are some changes we need to make the next day or two until we think we can clean out the
062building and open the windows and get this back in shape so to me this is a very reasonable way to deal with a virus that we cannot control we can't fix it we can't control it we don't you know that was a good question that you asked about how come the school districts in Lancaster County aren't having much outcome in Lower Merion School District they went Kaboom like that is it because they're bad people they did they pumped on each other what happened we will never know we just know that that many kids were sick and if our if we can't trust our School nurses when a person walks in and you've got one of those 12 symptoms of covid then we might as well just pack up and go home anyway so I think
063moving to communicable disease policy and putting this back not on the health department that they tell us at four o'clock on Friday afternoon guess what you're back in high and we're going to tell it no we're going to tell us I would think that this would be a relief to people instead of waiting for an agency in Washington DC to decide what every County in this country is right now oh Jessica you're high oh Lancaster County you're low please let us find out as we can with our computers just like that how many kids are sick today and how many stand around and what do we need to do about it then we say okay East Bradford problem out there or Henderson problem at in there there is no way though we pray at night
064there is no way to guarantee we will get to graduation and somebody's not going to get sick but doggone it the numbers keep going down yeah is that going to change over the weekend yeah good we can't control this and giving people a recommendation to put on masks if that's what they're comfortable doing is a sensible and viable thing to do requiring every single little kid to get back on the bus with those masks on three weeks of school left uh I I don't like that option how long will this be in effect you asked Mr Oliver we have to review according to the federal guidelines we have to review our health and policy plan every six months that if we can agree on this thing tonight then we don't have to look at it
065again to make changes to it until or unless if the worst thing happens the worst thing happens in the federal government by August says that's it we're going to shut down again do you think that's going to happen I do not I do not think so I think we have seen how hard this has been for our kids and our parents and our teachers and everybody else so I say this is where it belongs it's not making Dr sokolowski the coveted God it's making him the responsible person at the top of the at the top of the district who can look at the numbers and make a decision to deal with children on the most immediate level that's what I think we're trying to do here tonight just be sensible and so we would be
066sticking with these and I don't want to get caught up I don't want to get caught up with a number I don't want to get focused on here we go we're almost at five percent because it's Dr sokolozzi said it could be two percent it could be a class that's in deep trouble then deal with it but don't start making pronouncements that are going to affect 12 000 people we want to get to those graduations we want to be there at those graduations as much as you do for your children believe me the greatest joy that any school board member gets out of this wonderful job is to see those kids in their caps and gowns graduating and so that's exactly where we want to go all the After parties I don't care so much
067about but the graduation the ceremonies I really want and so that's where we're going with the best intentions that we can possibly muster here um and there was one request I had for you Dr stockles under this line that says modifying facilities to allow for physical distancing you have a strange statement that I just don't get EG use of cohorts potting could we just take that out I don't know where it came from it sounds like an outer space thing just is it meaningful to you well EG is the example product I don't hang up yesterday but just to be clear with that that is sort of an example of when we were in hybrid learning that we had an A and A B cohort um but this is turning before board procedure if you
068would like to propose an amendment that we strike that line we would well I would like right now right now I would like to propose an amendment then I do too I know you like that line you're all right with it yes thank you so much for that line at home throw some more lab in all right okay other than that I would like to take this policy as strange or Vegas it may seem to some people because you really really want numbers but I really don't care for them myself so much I mean I want to be exact I want to protect the kids that we need to but I don't want to set ourselves up for another big pronouncement so if we could uh take the vote and that's it then we can
069vote after proper Motion in seconds I make a motion that the Westchester area school board approved the suggested uh health and safety plan the updated Monday May 23rd 2022 version of the health and safety plan for the Westchester Area School District that would in essence move cobit into as the CDC has required has suggested into our communicable disease policy and that's how we proceed second exactly uh seven all right is there any more discussion or final comments that you have after I have laid it down it was all his final comments I just want to you know this has been a lot of um head wrestling thought on masking versus not there and I I see so many reasons I know that kids want to be back to normal we want the kids to stay
070well I do applaud Dr sokolowski for listening to the community and trying to Encompass everything in this um in this plan and I and you know we're again as long as you know the plan is being this plan is being you know monitored so that we make sure that our our children are safe in particular our most vulnerable children I actually prefer having a plan that's where local lives where we are looking at things from and I've been asking this forever from our point of view not just the county because the County government can sometimes be very long so I do appreciate a plan where thought is given to looking at our community specifically and reacting to that Community even as we go forward if you find that we need to change then we change
071correct you are correct and that's something as Dr Herman had talked about before just this Administration this school board this community we have been responsive [Music] and we will continue to do so however conditions may or may not change I never knew coming on the school board we would talk about masks so much as we have in the last two years it's an important conversation and um it's an important conversation so I I still wrestle but I have confidence that um that we're moving in the right direction Dr Shaw Dr Shaw any final comments over the vote please yes yes director Fleming yes Dr Herman yes director Chester yes director y yes yes vice president yes I do believe thank you very much thank you all very much thank you all for the time that
072you took over the weekend to deal with this make phone calls talk to Dr sarkolowski ask questions I think we have we have done our diligence in trying to keep our kids as safe as possible are there go ahead sure so we have uh we're at the portion of the meeting for public comments on non-agenda items we have one registered commenter I'll just reiterate a few instructions public comments are limited to three minutes per person public comments may be interrupted or terminated if the commentary exceeds three minutes for if they are obscene and or threatening in nature I ask that everyone conduct themselves with decorum and stability with that David Gibbs uh let me turn this off uh Dave gears West Goshen um in this day and age thankfully mental health has been brought to
073the Forefront of conversations and no longer kept in the shadows for the most part unfortunately there's still much work to be done in this area as five Collegiate athletes have committed suicide in 2022 and there's still an average of four athletes committing suicide each year since 2012. I'm here to go in public to get on public record the unhealthy mental environment of new girls abortionally lacrosse coaches fostered this year in her very first year as head coach at Henderson the beginning of April during a meeting I had coach Emily to discuss some things that were going on with my daughter she owned three different occasions talked about another player's mental stable issues which obviously was not appropriate I went through the proper channels which I thought at the time of Ken McCormick and he responded
074back to me in 24 hours when he believed the coach right away that in turn I went to Dr slocalowski which all I think worked very well which happened to uh education however in the meantime coach Emily took it upon herself to lie about my daughter and call into question her character in the email to myself but we asked to address these allegations with the coach she refused to have a meeting not once but on several occasions for one second uh Mr Jennings I'd just like to clarify is this formidable permissible comment as we are talking specifically Mr Gibbs about an employee in the school district hey I would I would recommend not but the choice is ultimately you or sir if you want to render your public comment well yeah I'm going to render
075my public comment just because all of it's backed up through emails that I have through you know conversation with everything so nothing I'm doing is making up it's all valid and it's not I have emails that comments I can send to anybody you may proceed if you wish thank you um so coach himself that I said that uh the only way the meeting would happen they would have this meeting with my daughter alone uh would have to be alone with no parent and with the school administer my daughter is a minor only 14 years old and she's not comfortable with that so I do not know one parent I don't know one parent that would be so we went on with the meeting the coaches in those shows so my daughter could read a handwritten
076three-page statement to Steakhouse and feels it's been treated by the current first-year coach um basically um you know this has been very very disappointing to myself and my wife and the family my daughter um you know loves lacrosse wants to play in college and we're not really sure how she can continue to move forward and play at Henderson with what has occurred the fact of the matter is that the HR investigation we know people talk and not every single player is actually uh questions only the people that were actually Pro the coach were actually questioned um and we also know that um that there are other people that have voiced opinions but they don't want to go to Kevin Corbett because they said that they'll tell the coach and then they're afraid of Retribution for
077their daughter so since then um there will be uh two others and um another one that will actually be coming forward um and in closing you know I just like to state that this is not about playing time you know this is about a coach who has created an unhealthy mental environment and when I see something wrong that I'm just going to voice my opinion and make sure that it's on public record because it's not right what is going on and I don't think that I will actually um you know stop until it's it's actually done correctly so thank you foreign thank you the meeting therefore this evening is adjourned and we will see some of you on Wednesday evening when we have our festive almost last board meeting of the school year yes we're
078going to be honoring several of our seniors uh uh may I have a first and a second to return um Chester thank you I think we're ready the meeting is