December 1st, 2025-Annual Reorganization and School Board Public Meetings

001Good evening. I'd like to welcome guests and visitors this evening. The purpose of tonight's meeting is the annual board of reorganization. I would like to call this meeting to order. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. I will certify results and verify certificates of election of the municipal general election on November 4th, 2025 in McGomery County for the office of school director for Amy Ginsburg, Eugene Goldson, No Kelly, Dian Morris, and Daniel Strauss. Amanda, please call the role. >> Mr. Antonio >> here. >> Mr. Badger >> here. >> Mr. Goulson >> here. >> Miss Kenikas >> here. >> Dr. Morris >> Mr. Walker >> here. >> Mrs. Ginsburg >> here. >> Kay Morris >> here. Picata >> here. >> First item on the agenda is the administration of the oath of office to the

002elected school board directors. The honorable judge Douglas Levvenberg will administer those tonight. Thank you, Judge Levvenberg. >> Okay. Just hang tight there. No, stand there. Stay cool. There you go. This is the oath of Deian Morris, director in the Waken School District of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on December 1, 2025 for a term of two years. Please repeat after me. >> I, Dan Morris, >> Ian, >> do you solemnly affirm >> affirm >> that I will support >> I support, >> obey, and defend >> defend >> the Constitution >> Constitution >> of the United States >> and the Constitution >> the Constitution >> of this common law. And that I will discharge >> I will discharge >> the duties of my office >> duties of my office >> with Fidelity >> transition. >> We're all prepared.

003Here we go. in the team that all this went up. This is the oath of Amy L.B. Ginsburg, director in the Wisen School District of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, December 1,25 for a term of four years. Please repeat after me. I, Amy L. Ginsburg, >> I, Amy Ginsburg, >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support >> I will support >> obey >> and defend >> the Constitution Constitution >> of the United States >> and the Constitution >> of the >> of this common >> of this >> and that I >> that I >> will discharge the duties >> of my office >> with fidelity >> by Mr. B. Mr. Gold, do you have family here tonight? I do. Can you bring them up? This is the oath of Eugene Bolson, director in Waken School District

004of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on December 1, 2025 for a term of four years. >> Please repeat after me. I Eugene Goolson Ian >> do solemnly swear that I will support obey and defend the Constitution >> Constitution >> of the United States >> and the Constitution of this common and that I will discharge the duties >> the duties >> of my office >> with fidelity >> with graduation. I can be joined by Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly, you have present. Okay. Can we have a volunteer from the audience? All right. This is the oath of null. Kelly, director in the Wizaken School District of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on December 1, 2025 for a term of four years. Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I N Kelly >> I N Kelly >> do solemnly swear >> solemnly

005>> that I will support >> I will >> obey and defend >> defend >> constitution >> of the United States >> state >> and the constitution >> of this >> and that I will discharge the duties >> discharge the duties >> of my office >> with fidel with congratulations Hey there. All right. This is the oath of Daniel Strauss, director of the Wishah School District of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on December 1, 2025 for a term for four years. Please place your left hand on raise your ranking. Please repeat after me. I, Daniel Strauss. I DR do solemnly swear solemnly swear that I will support that I will support obey obey and defend and defend the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of this of

006this I will discharge the duties that I will discharge the duties of my office with Fidelity with Fidelity. feel like your wife was turn. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is anformational item which is the board membership list. Names and emails of the current board members can be found within the public content area of the agenda. The next item on the agenda is the selection of the temporary board president. We will now accept nominations for the temporary board president. >> I nominate Dian Morris. >> Second. >> Hearing no other motions, we'll now accept a motion to close the nominations. All in favor? >> Nominations are fully closed. And I have a motion to accept and a second to accept the M. Morris as a temporary board president. >> So moved. >> Second. >>

007All in favor. >> Congratulations, Dr. Morris. >> It is an honor to serve as your board president and this will be going on my resume. The next item on the agenda is the selection of board president. We will now accept nominations for the board president. I'd like to nominate Amy Ginsburg for board president. >> Second. >> Any other nominations? Hearing none, we will now accept a motion to close. Nominations. All in favor? >> I. >> Nominations are duly closed. Can I have a motion and second to accept Amy Ginsburg as board president? So moved. >> Second. >> Favor. I >> Congratulations, Mrs. Ginsburg. >> Thank you. >> Next item on the agenda is selection of the board vice president. And first, thank you to Deianne for serving as our temporary president. Um, so now we

008will accept nominations for board of vice president. Do we have any nominations? >> Like to nominate Joe Antonio as board vice president? >> Second. >> All right. Do we have any other nominations? All right. Hearing no other motions, we'll now accept a motion to close nominations. All in favor? Nominations are duly closed. And I have a motion and a second to accept Joe Antonio as board vice president. >> In favor? >> Congratulations, Mr. Antonio. You are vice president. >> All right. Now we'll have public comment on the annual board of organization. The board appreciates hearing from the community. A maximum of five speakers will be heard on the same topic. Please limit comments to 3 minutes. It's in the interest of fairness. And in order to treat all speakers equally, it is the best practice

009not to engage in dialogue with speakers. When appropriate, we will follow up with responses on board docs. And I don't believe I have any Tim. Is that correct? And Amanda, none for the reorganization. >> Okay. Then we'll close public comment on the reorganization. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor >> I reorganization is adjourned. Um and we're going to take just a short break for any families that wanted to take pictures before we um clear the room for reorganization. Um so we'll come back in like five minutes. Please. Okay. Mr. Antonio >> here. >> Mr. Badger >> here. >> Mr. Golden >> here. >> Miss Marian >> here. Mr. Kelly >> here. >> Dr. Morris >> here. Mr. Strauss >> here. >> Mr. Walker, Mrs. Ginsburg

010here. Isabelle Daka >> here. Tatum Morris >> here. Great. Thank you. Will everybody please join me again for the pledge of allegiance. Welcome to all of our guests and visitors this evening for our December 1st uh 2025 meeting of the Pacific and Schoolboard. At first, if you look at our uh agenda, you'll see our prior meetings. On October 27th, we had a work session. October 28th, we had a facilities committee meeting. November 3rd was a regular board meeting. November 10th was a policy committee meeting. And November 20th was education equity oversight committee meeting, community listening session. And next, we list out our upcoming meetings. On December 8th, we'll have our committee meeting followed by our public meeting. January 12th will be our curriculum and technology committee meeting. Uh January 20th will be communications committee as

011well as our board of educational equity oversight committee meetings. January 26th will be our work session and then February 2nd will be our regular public board meeting. And now um for presentations this evening we have our Hickin High School monthly highlights. Thank you. So I want to start off with the fall drama was actually recently. I feel like probably a week ago or two. It's called Skid RT. I've heard it was pretty good. I personally did not go, but I know a lot of work went into the presentation, the acting, memorization. They had like a lot of long lines. So, I don't know how they do it, but that's really awesome and inspiring. And then another interesting thing in acting nth grade history, we had a guest speaker. They had a guest speaker whose name

012is Mr. Zimagel, which I said wrong definitely, but he was born and raised in Ethiopia, and they were actually learning about Ethiopian history. So having that guest speaker come in, one of the reason Ethiopia sharing about these interesting cultural facts coming from firsthand source is really awesome. So I'm glad they had that opportunity. And then outdoor club, they actually planted some native plants nearby the natorium. So it's actually helping the colonization efforts. So it's really nice to have to finally use that green space more efficiently instead of just seeing that kinds of ugly sad dirt all the time. So it's really nice to see some new colors and some fresh green. Thank you. And just last week at the high school, affinity groups as well as language societies were able to host a cultural fair

013where clubs were able to showcase their cultures with food and games. Besides educational, it was very enjoyable. I went and as students got to eat new foods and build connections. Another highlight from November was a food drive led by Mr. Bean and help with the interact club. They worked to collect food for less fortunate families and they actually exceeded their goal and were able to help over 200 families this Thanksgiving. Great. Thank you for those updates. Uh, does anyone have any questions or comments? No. All right. Well, thank you again for those updates. All right. So, we'll move into our first public comment period. The board appreciates hearing from the community. A maximum of five speakers will be heard on the same topic. Please limit your comments to 3 minutes. In the interest of fairness

014and to treat all speakers equally, it is the best practice not to engage in dialogue with speakers. When appropriate, we'll follow up with responses on board docs. And uh also we would like to note that uh board meetings are official public proceedings and we expect speakers to maintain appropriate decorum. Please refrain from using profanity or language that is disrespectful, threatening or disruptive to protect the privacy and dignity of uh students and staff. Please remember that you may not use any student names or sharing a personally identifiable student information. We also ask that you avoid using individual staff names whenever possible. We value hearing from our community and these expect expectations help ensure that all voices can be heard in a safe, respectful and orderly environment. A first person assistant in person is Beth and Agents.

015Hi, good evening. My name is Beckan Ais from Whitney Township. I wanted to address uh agenda item 10.1, the professional development and service day for November. Specifically, I'm curious if anti-semitism training was part of that uh inservice and if not, what the plans are for anti-semitism training. Um several of us have come up here month after month. We've asked about it. Um, appreciate the Q&A answers that have been given, but they just say training is coming. Um, we want to know when. We want to know what the content of the training is. Want to understand if it's the um mandated training under section 1554, which is just Holocaust training, genocide training, and and human rights. Or is it actual current anti-semitism training? And here's why. There's a systemic problem of anti-semitism in the district. It

016can't be ignored anymore. Just in the past year, last November, the Thanksgiving video with a map listing Israeli occupied territory was shown. It was taken down after we completed January of 2025. Middle school virtual museum celebrated anti-semitic figures. We had to bring it to the attention of the principal and the admin. It was taken down. Spring of 2025, the WA Hickin Virtual Academy history class had inflammatory material about Israel. Again, we had to bring it to the attention of the administration. It was taken down. August of 2025, students brought to their parents' attention a mural at the middle school celebrating anti-Semitic and anti-American figures. Again, we had to bring it to the administration. Wasn't fully taken down. The anti-semitic figure is covered up. TBD and the anti-American figure remains. October 2025, shady grown email went

017out, PBIS email celebrating an anti-Semitic figure. Again, parents brought it to the administration. That figure was removed. Just as recently as last week, the culture fair at the high school that included fifth graders, sixth graders, middle schoolers, high schoolers had a booth with inflammatory and illegal content. Again, parents had to bring it to the administration's attention, students as well, staff as well. Uh, social media posts containing some of the content were quietly removed. There's a systemic problem. We're not addressing it. And I want to know when the anti-semitism training is happening and what the content is. Thank you. >> Thank you, Isa. Yes, we have one hand raised. We have saya, you can go ahead and unmute yourself. >> Hi, good evening. >> Am I able to be heard? >> We can hear you. >>

018All right. Good evening. My name is SA Settles and I'm here from Lower Gwenn Township and I'm speaking tonight because the district's approach to equity, historical accuracy, and student support needs serious examination. I want to begin with critical race theory. For years, CRT has been used as a scare tactic, a term people throw around without understanding what it means. The truth is CRT is not harmful. It is a framework that helps >> One second. I'm sorry. Which agenda item is this related to? 10 one. >> Okay. So, put that field development. Okay. >> You can continue. >> Yes. This is again I'm being stopped in the middle of but okay. I want to begin with critical race theory. For years, CRT has been used as a scare tactic, a term people throw around without understanding

019what it means. The truth is CRT is not harmful. It is a framework that helps students analyze how laws, systems, and historical structures have shaped racial inequity in this country. In fact, it is something that should be incorporated into our upper level social studies curriculum. Students should learn how policies shape opportunities, how race plays a role in early American government, and how inequities were built and can be dismantled. You cannot claim to teach American history while [clears throat] avoiding the parts that make some adults uncomfortable. Education is supposed to expand critical thinking, not restrict it. This leads me to the issue of the join or die culture. Months ago, families raised concerns about the display. The district chose not to remove it. Instead, you remove only the image of the enslaved black man, stripping away

020the original context and sanitizing the violence of the era. If the imagery was too oppressive to display, then the entire poster should have been re-evaluated. Editing history to make it palable is not equity. It is censorship. And what is most prevalent is that the equity and inclusion department promised follow-up and then provided none. No email, no plan, no transparency, nothing. During the recent equity meeting, students themselves expressed concern. One student shared that they were deducted points for creating a Palestinian flag for an assignment, while students who created an Israeli flag received full credit. That is an example of political bias. Entering the classroom, it sends a message that certain identities are accepted while others are penalized. That is the opposite of inclusion. These incidents, the alter poster, the lack of follow-up, and the biased grading

021form a pattern of selective sensitivity. Certain narratives are protected, others are ignored, and meanwhile families and children are left without answer. Tonight, I am asking the following. A public update on the equity and inclusion department promised followup regarding a join the die poster. A full historical review of classroom materials, not to sanitize history, but to ensure it is taught accurately and responsibly. Written grading guidelines to prevent cultural or political bias and assignments. A timeline and process for responding to students. Shared in equity meetings. Consideration of adding CRT informed concepts to high school social studies where students are developmentally ready to analyze history at a deeper and more honest level. Equity is not a buzz word. It is a responsibility. And right now the district >> and thank you. And the last portion of what I

022stated, I was muted, but I just wanted to unmute and just say that I was muted, but during the course of me speaking when I was cut off and removed some of my time just to just know just to have um fairness and equality. Thank you. >> Thank you, SA. Okay, next person is Sophia Chang. >> Good evening members of the board and the Pacific community. My name is Sophia Chong and I'm currently a junior in the high school. I was born in Manhattan, New York. And when I was nine, my family and I moved here to the Witzah Higgins School District. Growing up in New York City, Lunar New Year was always a special time in my family. Every year we celebrated in Chinatown, where the streets were filled with music and lion dances,

023traditional clothing, and cultural performances of every kind. The entire community came together, and as a child, I felt deeply connected to my culture. But when we moved here, Lunar New Year just became a regular school day. Instead of celebrating with my family and my community, I sat in class watching the day passed by. Something that once made me feel proud and included. Suddenly, I felt invisible. And in the seventh grade, I joined ASA, Asian Student Association at Wizen Middle School to spread my culture. However, I felt that the impact was little. When I entered high school, I continued this work and for the past three years, I helped with our annual Lunar New Year celebration party serving food, preparing the activity table, and organizing other tables. Along with that, our culture fair celebrating AsianAmerican Heritage

024Month where I represented China as one of the tables and helped set up that festival. Within both these events, I was shocked by the sheer amount of people who attended. Little kids beaming with excitement. Fellow high schoolers who are genuinely eager to learn. Parents and grandparents smiling as they recognize traditions from their own childhoods. Seeing people of all ages celebrating together made me realize how powerful it is to share my heritage. It made me realize our community wants these spaces, values these traditions, and is eager to learn and connect. At Wahhan High School, we celebrate Lunar New Year through after school studentled activities. But celebrating the after school is not the same as having the spell officially having the day officially recognized that students still face the challenge of missing classes to spend time with

025families. Adding Luna New Year to Lisa Hickens official school calendar would show students like me and our entire Asian community and everyone else that our culture does in fact matter as much as everyone else's. It would allow families to celebrate without stress and it would reflect the diversity and values that make a hicken such a strong district. I urge you to implement this change and help make our school calendar more inclusive, more representative, and more connected to the students who call the sicken home. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sophia. There are no hands raised online. Okay, next in person is Bradley Choplin. Good evening. My name is Brad Chaplan, a junior at Wicken High School, and tonight I'm here to advocate for making Lunar New Year an official school holiday to foster inclusivity, cultural awareness,

026and well-being for all students. I moved to this district last year after spending my freshman year in the North School District, which observed my new year as a holiday. As an African-American student who's experienced both districts like to offer a unique perspective and pen like many other neighboring districts having didn't just acknowledge the holiday it sparked genuine cultural curiosity. I remember a friend asking why we were off school and I tried to explain to him what lunar year was and I didn't know much about it myself. So we went to another friend who actually celebrated it. He held up and he asked eagerly sharing what the holiday meant to him and his family. What made it even better? When another student overheard and joined our conversation, my first friend might have had it just 5

027minutes earlier and explained it to him. Explained it himself without Asian friend having to butt in. Changed how I think about cultural awareness. As a black student, I know how meaningful it is when people engage with my background and identity. And being on the other side and learning someone else's culture show me how powerful these organic moments are. Our school needs to create more opportunities like this. Giving students the day off for Lunar New Year transforms a simple calendar break into something more meaningful. When students touch the day off, they naturally get curious, start conversations, learn from each others in ways that classroom lessons can't replicate. The day becomes a catalyst for building cultural awareness in a more inclusive environment. This directly supports our district's proud model of showing students that cultural identities are valued.

028Students see their traditions on the school calendar and reinforces the message. You're an essential part of this community, not an exception to it. The student body also agrees. All science collected over 900 student signatures from students of different diverse and racial backgrounds in support of this proposal. Recognizing the new year from this personal understanding of upcoming our district's values of belonging. It shows our identity in our community matters. Equating this day off is a meaningful step toward a more inclusive school environment and the overwhelming student support shows that now is the right time to take this step. Thank you. >> Thank you Brad. Anyone online? >> There are no hands raised online. >> All right. Then next we have Raymond Laauo. >> Hello members. My name is Raymond Low, a current freshman at Rosa Aken

029High School, and I'm here to advocate for Lunar New Year as an affiction holiday. I was born and raised in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, but Chinese pressure has played a big part in my life. Every Sunday, I attend Chinese school, learning about the language, the calligraphy, the different tones, and the culture I come from. But I've always wanted to share it beyond just my Asian peers. During the Lunar New Year festival that ACC hosts annually, I discovered that numerous peers were just as curious and passionate as I was. This realization showed me the potential impact of making it an official holiday. We could reach even more people and create deeper connections. That's when it clicked. If Lunar New Year became an official holiday, it would create similar opportunities for everyone, allowing non-Asian peers to deepen their

030cultural understanding while giving Asian peers the space to celebrate their heritage. For students like me and adolescence, a critical period for identity formation whose recognition would be transformative. Unfortunately, this is only a vision. In middle school, I actively participated in ASI to advocate and spread awareness, attending every meeting and event. Despite all my efforts, nothing had really changed. Our communities still lack Asian representation. Asian stories, traditions, and contributions were rarely highlighted in our schools or public spaces, making our experiences feel pushed to the sidelines. This gap is exactly why official recognition matters so much. Personally, I've always admired celebrating the many for already recognized on the West calendar. When I heard about the Lunar New Year tradition, I saw a chance to create the same kind of inclusive gatherings for Asian culture. When I told

031my grandparents who were born and raised in China before moving to America, they were deeply moved and incredibly supportive. Their reaction confirms what this means. Not only would it promote Asian culture, but would also make us feel proud of what we can achieve together. This excitement isn't mine alone. The school board itself said, "The current calendar is out of date and doesn't reflect the diversity of our community. Without this recognition, we risk losing the community sense of pride and the hope of being heard. Many students are ready hopefully for your decision. So, I strongly urge you to take action and vote in favor of making this holiday a reality in our community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Raymond. >> Yes, we have one hand raised online. We have Levi. Levi, um just when you do

032speak, mention your name, your municipality, and also the item on which you're speaking. Thank you. >> Uh yes. Okay. Um hello, my name is Levi Zalis, and I'm speaking on issue 10.1. Uh do you need me to say anything else? >> Your municipality >> uh to the board, the MS the MSA's uh culture fair booth was not anti-Semitic. I was it was brought to my attention that the uh booth um apparently was found to be anti-semitic. My name is Levi Zalis and as someone is a part of the Jewish faith, it is apparent to me that the bigoted person at a bigoted person is attacking the Muslim community and their right to free speech in America. First of all, anti-semitism is defined as hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as religious, ethnic, or racial group.

033I would please ask you to look at the booth and find anything attacking or discriminating against Jewish people. I can guarantee you will not find it. However, you will see that one of the goals of the MSA, as written on the board, is to break stereotypes. The hanging of the Palestinian flag and calling them anti-Semitic is unfortunately a stereotype. Many people hold a prejudice against Muslims as a whole from Palestine or not, and it is unfair that any club is to claim that the MSA are attacking them or their purpose. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Levi. And just to be clear, um, for everyone, 10.1 is regarding professional development. I think it's sort of gotten a little bit off of that, but just to be clear, moving forward, it is regarding professional development. Um,

034okay. Um, I apologize if I mispronounce this. Yang Yansia Xiao. Okay. Good evening members of board Dr. Dan and fellow Wikin Wikin community members. My name is Sin Shia. I live in Empler. Uh I'm speaking about item 8.3. I have one child who graduated from Wikin High School and another currently attending. Tonight I respectfully request that the district formally include Luna New Year as a designated school holiday in our school calendar. Over the past several months, our API parents and and students and allies have spoken at both May and June board meetings. I submitted a detailed proposal. We appreciate the supportive conversation and engagement we have received from board members and Dr. Dwans. As outlined in our proposal, neighboring districts including Upper Dublin, North Pan, Central, Great Valley, Lower Norman, and Philadelphia already recognized Lunar

035New Year either as a day off through creative scheduling adjustment such as swapping with an inservice day. These inclusive calendar options adoptions show that this change is practical and achievable. Our community has raised strong support. More than 1,200 signatures have been collected across all school levels, students, parents, faculty, and community members. This include more than 900 student signatures and 200 B signatures from this parents. We also want to highlight the strong student voice behind this request. A number of AAPI student representatives including a few students who spoke tonight have explained the very real challenges they face when Lunar New Year is a regular school day. They have to choose between family tradition and school, often returning to face hours of makeup work that turn an important holiday into a stressful experience. These students, representing 16%

036of our student body, deserve to celebrate their culture without academic penalty. We're grateful that the board is considering multiple culture holidays tonight, including Lunar New Year, Diwali, and eat all vigor for the school calendar. This demonstrate your commitment to our community's diversity. We respectfully urge urge you to appro approve the inclusion of Lunar New Year as an official school holiday. This action will align us with neighboring districts, honor the strong and unified voice of our students and families, and strengthen our commitment to inclusion and belonging for every family. Thank you for your time and leadership. >> Thank you. There are no hands raised online. Uh Jesse Klein Thank you. >> Hi, Jessie. Fine. I spoke at the November 3rd meeting. For anyone who wasn't there, I raised concerns about the lack of checks and balances

037in this district and about the inappropriateness of the mural in our middle school. My purpose that night was simple. To make sure this community and especially our leadership understood how unsettling that display was and why certain symbols should never be present in our public. >> I'm so sorry to interrupt. I hating anyone. You put 8.2 which is standing committees. Did you have >> back into that? And then 19.3 as well. I'm going to start clock just just start to the middle of my my speech. Just go back just back for a second. Okay. My purpose that night was simple. to make sure this community and especially our leadership understood how unsettling that display was and my circumstances should should never be present in our public schools. That message was not political. It was about American

038values, the safety of our students and the responsibility of leadership to protect both. So why am I back tonight? After all of the controversy surrounding the mural in the middle school, leadership somehow decided it was appropriate to allow something strikingly similar to be displayed in our high school. This time not as a mural, but as an interactive booth. And even more alarming, elementary school children then bust to the high school to potentially interact with it. Let's be clear about what this display actually was. In theory, was supposed to be a display by the Muslim student group highlighting Muslim culture. If that were true, that would be perfectly fine and should be celebrated. But just like the explanation given for the original meal, the reality told a very different story. What students encountered was a large

039Palestinian flag placed alongside an American flag, suddenly suddenly alluding to a shared set of values. Children were invited to try on guard that today is widely associated with those who supported and celebrated the atrocities of October 7th and to post recruits in front of a flag that is inseparable from those events. After learning what happened at the high school, many parents spent the night asking themselves a frightening question. What if my 10-year-old child was busted to the high school, dressed up in a photographed in front of the Palestinian flag without the knowledge or consent and all with the support of school leadership? That is not education. That is a subtle attempt to influence impressionable minds and has no place in our public schools. Words alone cannot capture the raw emotion many in this community are

040feeling. So, I will repeat the most basic standard we should all agree upon. If a symptom is questionable, divisive, tied to violence, it should not be displayed in our public schools. This is a call to action. Dang, members of the board, do you believe it's acceptable to have someone dress my 10-year-old child in a black and white and photograph her in front of a Palestinian flag without my do better. Thank you. Irene Lewis actually is anybody online? I'm sorry. Okay. Irene Lewis. My name is Eileene Lucas and I live on Montgomery Road in um Amler. I'm here to comment on agenda item health, wellness, and safety. The noise is still coming from the middle school Hback chillers. It is not good for the health, wellness, or safety of its students or neighbors in the community.

041As you know by now, the acoustic blankets did not work to reduce noise coming from the chillers from under the school. And now I'm sorry, we're going to put this to the second comment period. There's nothing specific to this particular item on the agenda. So we do need to the first comment period is just for agenda items only, things we'll be talking about as a board. the chiller and there's no specific health, wellness, or safety items. >> I thought number 21 was health, wellness these days. >> It is, but there's no report addressing anything with the chiller in there. >> Back. >> So, we'll put it to the second comment period. Um, Eric Middle School. In the background, you can hear Middle School. It runs from a.m. to 700 p.m. 5 days a week from

042April to November. And it's so that we've lost our >> name. It runs from 6 a.m. to 700 p.m. 5 days a week from April to November. And it's so loud that we've lost the use of our door. >> That's our house this past summer. 6 am to 7 p.m. 5 days a week. >> It runs from 6 a.m. to 700 p.m. 5 days a week. >> This is not healthy. This is not safe. >> It gets worse as you get closer to the school. Irene will talk to you about that later. >> School of Township. >> I've lived here. You probably want me to tell me to turn that off because it's annoying. We would like you to do the same thing. Um to date 33 complaints have been filed with the lowered township

043police while five additional complaints filed September 2025 after the sound fence installation. >> These reports we asked that we pause the timer. >> Is this related Madam President I don't see how this is a related topic today's agenda? >> I was just about to ask is this related to 17.1 related to boilers? Absolutely. Because the boiler rip is going to impact this. >> Okay. Well, let's speak to the boilers and not to to the the sound issue. >> We've requested that the chair be turned off during the upcoming summer. However, this was denied on the grounds that the summer events and programs cannot be relocated. We ask this decision to be reconsidered. This could save an estimated 77 $75,000 over one summer while also reducing energy use and environmental impact. We notice that on the

044agenda item for tonight's meeting to approve CHA for consulting work regarding two boilers at the middle school. Please confirm that any work done in the mechanical room preserves the option to relocate the shower to the mechanical room where it resided for decades. If the boiler work is performed next summer, please make sure that this work doesn't necessitate that the entire middle school chiller system be on all summer. Thermal AC may be used for works. Note that CHA was the engineer for the 2018 chiller project as well as for the sound abatement. Both of which did not solve the problem. Others should be requested. Thank you, Eric. We have one hand raised. Um, please again state your um name, municipality residence, and the topic on which you're speaking. >> Hey, how are you? My name is

045Wid Hassan. I am a current senior at the Waken High School and uh I am the president of the Muslim Student Association over at the high school. Um, I just wanted to make it and and I'm addressing uh point 19.3 about discrimination. Um, I just want to make it very clear that um the defaming statements made at the beginning of this meeting are nothing but false. Um, nothing anti-semitic was at the stand. Um, no illegal substances were at the stand and nothing was quote unquote taken down quickly. um as a response to the harassment that we've been facing online, specifically on Instagram by um mothers quote adding asking the FBI to get involved in the MSA saying that we are frauds and Jew haters and then reporting me to the to the lower Gwenned Police

046Department. These are all defamed statements made as to to uh tear to tear down the Waken MSA. And I'm here to say that the MSA is going nowhere. We will continue being strong and loud and proud about our culture and our heritage and how special it is to be a Muslim American specifically now. And I just wanted to make sure that we all that we all agree what anti-se what anti-semitism is. Anti-semitism is hostility, prejudice or discrimination against Jewish people because they are Jewish. And the watering down of the term anti-semitism to just throw it around at at children representing their culture is harmful because now people will no longer believe that anti-semitism is a real concern when it is. So I would just like to, you know, address the uh the lady who made

047the initial remarks at the beginning of this meeting that no, nothing was anti-semitic and please reserve that term for something actually serious and stop throwing it around like it's meaningless because it is meaningful. And now people will no longer take the term anti-semitism seriously when it should be serious. Thank you. >> Comment is directed to the board. >> Comment on that actually and you cannot speak out and actually I'm going to comment that all comments should be directed to the president and not the other community members. Um so please again as I mentioned at the beginning you shouldn't address any sort of you shouldn't mention other student I asked you not be not engaging with me in this manner um but again you should not speak directly regarding any individual you shouldn't mention a teacher

048you shouldn't mention students and also you shouldn't be directing any comments to other public commentators >> as a as a point of order Amy I think that they can speak at the second comment topic or a public comment topic. If you'd like to like respond, that's okay. Then you can again you should be speaking then directly to the board, not to other commenters. You're free to speak to the board but not to other commenters. All right, moving on. Amina Taylor So, Taylor, I am a graduate of the school system, so that allows me to speak at public comments. First question, um, when was today's agenda posted on the website? This is the first time in 20 something years that I've ever noticed that the agenda was 21 pages, 44 attachments, and 26 policy updates. So,

049I was just curious because people were looking for the agenda before Thanksgiving and it wasn't up. So, I found it was yesterday and I just thought it was really curious that the needy agenda would be close to the day before meeting. My comments are related to 14.3. Um, just wondering why this memorandum of understanding has a start date on July 1st. We'll be voting on the front uh next week. So, just wondering why it was backdated 14.4. Just wondering why the current descriptions for the administrator to send them to the business director and I guess the new position to the director of facilities had so many strike marks out. Um I learned that position pretty well and it seems like it's been muted down. So just wondering about that in terms of 19.2 2 just

050wondering why this policy is coming up now policy 102 and then for 19.3 wondering why the non-discrimination in school and classroom practices are being redlined is that an answer to not having an achievement gap plan does that mean that black students that are not in AP and honors classes now have the option to to select AP and honors and does that take away from the fact that their reading proficiency or math proficiency needs won't be accounted for. Um, I have one. So, I guess overall there's 26 policy um updates that their dates for submission were uh November 10th. If Marshall's last day as policy chair was November 4th, today is December 1st, who who brought up these 26 updates in between? And if you already have committee chairs, were they doing that before they were

051sworn in? I think that's a very serious thing. And to have this document available 24 hours before the meeting for people to not even digest it was math breaking for me. So I can't imagine for other people that aren't aware of when and how deep these policies are. So I'll send you my questions just in case you want to stick, but I think it's a really big deal. So, I really want to know who's the policy chair and who initiated these 26 policy updates on November 10th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Terina. Anyone online? There are no hands raised online. All right, then we'll go ahead and close our first public comment period. All right. And we'll move on to the board president report. And um as part of the board president report this evening,

052we have five items for review. Um there will be a for vote on December 8th. The first item will be to appoint a board representative for the North Monco Technical Career Center for a three-year term from December 2025 through December 2028. U Miss Keranakis' term on the um North Monco is set to expire in December of 2025. So we'll be appointing um you'll be up for reappoint um at the next meeting. Uh second item is to review the list of standing and ad hoc designations for board committees which are outlined in agenda item 8.2. The next three items are part of an ongoing effort to ensure our school calendar reflects the diversity and needs of our community. Uh the board is presenting for discussion and potential action the matter of including additional student days off

053to observe certain cultural and religious holidays specific or considering lunar new year and eel fitter as student holidays beginning with the 2728 school year. And before I open up the floor for discussion on these items, um I just wanted to share a little bit more context with the community. Um in exploring this matter, the board administration have reviewed several key areas. Uh we've considered other district practices including calendars from other Montgomery County school districts to understand local norms practices and comparable districts and those with similar student demographics, regional trends and how holidays are observed, statewide practices reviewed through publicly available district calendars. We've also considered community input, including emails and direct communications from families and community members, public comments shared during previous board meetings, feedback gathered at community events, including outdoor office hours, community conversations,

054and community listening sessions, petitions submitted to the district, input from parent groups and community organizations, themes raised through district and direct outreach to the district administration office. And as we look to potentially include additional student days off by observing these holidays, there are a number of practical factors the administration um and our team will be need will need to consider which include how adding these days would affect transportation staffing and building schedules. Making sure we still meet the state's requirements for instructional days or instructional hours. Coordinating district events on the calendar. considering the impact on athletics, extracurricular programs and after school activities, planning for assessments, marking periods, and reporting timeline so that students and staff are supported. Uh if the boards to include additional days off for students, those are just some of the areas

055that the board will consider as part of the implementation process uh when the administrative team develops the 2728 calendar. We want to ensure that any potential changes to the calendar are informed by and carefully balanced community input best practices from other districts and the operational and instructional needs of our schools. Uh Leslie's intended to understand that the board votes to include additional school closures. Schools will only be closed for these holidays when they fall on a school day. If a holiday falls on a weekend, there will not be a school closure. As a reminder, we are not voting this evening. for tonight. We're reviewing these action items and the verbal vote next week. So, at this time, I'll open it up for more discussion. So, there's a couple items there to discuss. Are there any

056comments or questions regarding those items? >> Um, I have a question. If you would if we would add these three um days to the student the calendar that the students have off, would the teachers also have off or would that be an inservice date for them? most likely. >> Um, that's not something that's determined at this time, but that'll be a part of the planning process with administration and certainly keeping the board and working with WEA to keep everyone informed and in the loop as a as that process develops. Um, this evening's conversation is really centering with student calendar. Um, because because of that reason, our WA group is a it's a unionized group and so there are some complexities around that part of the conversation. Um, so thank you for your question and we'll

057keep the board and the community and the WA informed as we work to develop the 2728 calendar um, which will be later in the spring and throughout next fall and be looking at that timeline for board approval no later than December of 2026. So we have some time to to work through those details. Thank you for your question. I noticed that we have um indicated the dates or the schools that correlate with the North Monco um schools. Uh I'm holding it the wrong way. Um how about our athletics? Do we have an in do we can we delineate which schools also are part of our league? So we understand that impact as well. >> Thank you. We can provide that information to the board. Absolutely. Thank you. >> Uh just a comment regarding the the

058wording of that of the action items 8.3, 8.4, and 8.5. I think it might be helpful if we specify that we're considering voting on adding these as student holidays to the calendar. Um just to clarify, it's not a commitment for staff holidays. necessarily something to be determined in implementation. >> Thank you for that. We'll make that revision to the board agenda for the December 8th board meeting. Thank you. >> Um the other thing I wanted to add is that um we're specifically talking about the inclusion of these holidays for the 27th and 28th school year. So it's not next year's calendar, but the calendar afterwards. Um the reason for that is that Lunar New Year and Hawaii, I know those two for sure, I believe. um will be falling weekends in the 2026 2027 calendar

059year, right? So, it won't actually be on a weekday until we get to the 2728 calendar year. And that's why um we're specifically talking about that year's calendar and not the one next upcoming. Um, I also want to make a comment and commend um the Asian Students Association as well as our um Asian-American community within Wah Hicken for their outreach and advocacy for adding Lunar New Year as a student holiday. Um, it's been going on for I think two three years at least. I know it's something that's important to the community and something that we've heard a lot about and I'm excited that we're finally at the point where the board is um reviewing this and going to be taking formal action on whether or not to add it to the calendar next year. Um

060I'm hopeful that we have majority support on the board and I just want to state publicly that I'm in full support of adding Lunar New Year. Um in addition um the inclusion of Dvali and Eid as uh holidays as well is something that we haven't gotten as much outreach about. But I think um if we're looking at Lunar New Year as a way to recognize the the increasing diversity of our student population, it makes sense to take into account those other important holidays for those groups as well. Um, as part of the sort of vetting process, behind the scenes, the administration has done some research on what other government county school districts do. And it's a bit of a mixed bag. Um, different districts uh recognize one, all or some, or none. Um, it's kind

061of all over the map. But the thing that jumped out to me is that there are actually I believe four school districts that have um well three school districts in particular, Abington, Nefactton, and North Penn that actually celebrate all three of those um holidays and incorporate them in their school calendars. So um to me that's I think a a sign that it is feasible and possible with the right will and support to make it happen. Um, and so that's something that I think uh, you know, makes me feel good about supporting those other uh, holidays as well. Um, so those are my initial thoughts. Thanks. >> Yeah, I just want to jump in. I agree with Joe on that. Um, especially with North Pen, they're the biggest uh, contributor to North Monco. So I feel

062like if they can make it work, we can too. I am in support of um, of adding these holidays. I said before, I think it's a little outdated that we follow like a Christian holiday calendar, but I don't think that's a true representation of our community. Um, so it's nice to to recognize all religions. >> Any other comments? >> Is there a reason that we are considering this only as a student uh holiday versus more globally? >> Thank you for your question. Um it's not that we're not considering it for other groups such as our WA members and our Wizaken administrative school administrators association or act 93 group. Um we're also considering that but the manner before the board is for student days specifically because we have an act 93 agreement and we have a

063a a contract with the WA membership. So pathways for conversations for what those days look like for those groups looks different than a public board discussion and a and a public board vote versus um during the times when during which we would be having conversation about their the days. Yeah, thank you for your question. >> Okay, [clears throat] great. >> I would imagine that um there may be others that have family members or that may affect them directly that they may be interested in celebrating as well. So that's what I ask and I'm sure that you will take proper considerations. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? All right, seeing none, we'll then be voting on that next meeting. We will move on now to the superintendent report. >> Thank you. Good evening. I

064just have one item for review this evening. Um we're be seeking a motion for the board to approve the 2627 school year calendar which is linked in the board agenda. Um this draft of the calendar is for review for the board tonight. It was provided to the board a few weeks ago for early review. Um and you'll notice that the dates align closely with the current calendar so that there's consistency at this time. Um, and we are well aware of the conversation about the inclusion of additional holidays, which is for the calendar. So, I'll open the floor for any questions from the board at this time. I'm happy to see we'll finally get an answer to what's going to happen with Labor Day because I do get a lot of questions about that. Any other

065comments or questions? All right. everybody on the calendar at our next meeting as well. >> All right. From the assistant superintendent report. >> Thank you. We have oneformational item for you tonight. A big thank you to our office of teaching and learning for providing a rich day of learning on November 4th. That professional development day was filled with multiple workshops to support growth and learning in multiple areas. Our teachers collaborated during sessions that included math implementation planning for our new math program at multiple levels, organizing and interpreting data using data dashboards on Lincolnit, strategies around questioning and student discourse, use of technology tools to support differentiation, and multiple sessions at our buildings led by our principles and assistant principles. We appreciate the opportunity on each of our professional development days to learn and grow as

066teaching professionals. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Any questions or comments? All right. Then we'll move on to Brown Center report. Thank you, Sh. >> Thank you. Just one review item is a um next week to be voted on is approval of a settlement agreement between a family student and this district for the terms that are laid out here. All right. Thank you, Michelle. Any questions or comments? Thank you again. And information was provided to the board in advance. Correct, Michelle? >> Correct. All right. Thank you. All right. Secretary report. >> Okay. This month for approval, we have four agenda for four uh meeting notes. We have the work session on October 27th, the property and transformation committee on October 28th, the regular private board meeting on November 3rd, and the policy committee meeting on November

06710th. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions? Right. Seeing none report. >> This month we have the treasury report for October 31st, 2025. >> Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we'll move on to the HR report. Tim, you're covering that too, right? >> I am. So, good evening. For review tonight, there are eight items under section 14 for the human resources report. The first two action items include retirements and resignations, appointments, leave of absences, change of assignment, extracurricular changes, postseason payments, and volunteers. Item 14.3 is anou between a district and WEA to define the role of special education assistant with RBT role. 14.4 are revised job descriptions to better reflect the current job duties and updated titles. Items 14.5 and 14.6 Six are the new extracurricular job descriptions for the activities and sports approved through

068the extracurricular committee sports community for students interested in both competitive and recreational gambling gaming. AI club helps students develop fluency and hands-on experience with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science tools. The WHIS book club promotes the love of reading, enhanced critical thinking, building community, improves communication skills, and expanded cultural awareness. WISE focuses on supporting and inspiring students interested in science, particularly women, but open to all genders, by creating a community that highlights opportunities in STEM. The job description for unified track and field is clarifying and better defining the duties and responsibilities for these positions and adjusting the associated points assigned based on these changes. And finally 14.7 additional mentors for approval for inductees this school year. 84.8 is an amendment to the power school contract for software programs used by HR development for applicant

069tracking, interviewing, onboarding, and recorded storage. All right, great. Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. Well, thank you, Tim, for going over all that with us. All right. We'll now move on to our communications committee report. Um Bevy, >> thank you, Amy. Good evening. Um we have no items um action items um for this cycle, but I do have an informal update. As you know, we're continually trying uh through the communications committee to help trans uh help strengthen our transparency with the community. We're working on a new project um where we will be uploading when it they're approved um a board FAQ resources page. Um, so, uh, Kristen and the team are work are are putting together a first draft that I will be reviewing shortly and that will be once we get through

070the first round of those, you'll be, uh, getting um, that information that you can review and comment on. So, that should be coming in the next couple of weeks. Thank you. No other comments. >> Thank you, Zabi. Anyone else have any comments or questions, Brenda? All right. Um, curriculum and technology committee. >> Thank you. Um, for your review tonight, there are three items listed under the curriculum and technology committee section. The first item 16.1 is anformational item that occurs annually in December with updates about our risk and high school program of studies. Every January, our students begin their course selection process for the new school year with the program of studies listing courses and requirements. The 202627 program of studies is available on our high school website. In the 2627 program of studies, we have

071a new course requirement, a few added or updated courses, and a few courses that will no longer be offered. Starting next school year, all Pennsylvania students are required to take a half credit personal finance course during high school. I'm happy to say that we have been offering this half credit personal finance course for a few years. Our high school students will be required to take this course at any time in 10th, 11th or 12th grade. Courses that have been added or updated include mindful movement, learning the game, basketball and football, fitness and strength training, music studio lab, and music pals, which is an adaptive music class. Courses that will no longer be offered, dance fusion, elite competitive sports, fitness, and web design. content from based courses have been incorporated into either existing courses or new

072courses. The second item for review 16.2 is a review action item of outplace educational service and tuition costs for 2526 school year for three students in the amount not to exceed $137,000. The outplacements are identified by the district because a particular program at another institution is determined to best meet a student's unique individual needs. The third item 16.3 is an annual review action item for the purchase of Crowdstrike Falcon Complete which is a cyber security system from E+ using the Coast purchasing contract in the amount not to exceed $132,000 and change. This is a complete software package for providing active uh protection from computer viruses such as malware attacks and breach control. It's part of a package that includes 247 365 monitoring of our servers and staff uh devices by a team of cyber security

073experts that will respond to alerts from sensors on our system. Thank you. I will open it up for board questions or discussion. >> Don't go. >> I have a question regarding AP European history. This course has been listed on the study program program of studies for a couple years now and I've been wanting to take it since the 10th grade and over time I've told my counselor about this. She's always said that we never offer it and never runs. I believe Mr. Smith is the one who officially teaches us on paper. However, it's offered through the virtual high school program which does cap it and they do give preferences to seniors. I've not been able to take the course. I do know students who want to take it and have had to study, self-study it.

074It's really inconvenient and I know there are students who do want to take it, but there's like not enough interest. So, I want to know why do we keep listing it on the course of studies if it never runs any single year. >> That's a great question. I will defer to Drs. Dan or go ahead, please. >> I can get back to you with the response about that. Thank you. >> I appreciate it. I >> just wanted to make a comment on the personal finance course. Although we've been offering it for many years at the high school, which is great because it was an elective, there not actually a whole lot of students that were able to take advantage of it any given year. So, I'm really excited to see that it is now going

075to be a required course for um all students to take before graduation. So, that's very exciting. But I am sad about the loss of dance fusion. I have a question. I was wondering if there was any additional details for 16.3. No proposal, no um kind of additional details around that purchase. It seems like everything else seems to have an attachment but this. So, I'm just questioning whether or not we just didn't have it here >> as an annual purchase. Uh so that's the reason we don't include the contract. >> It's renewed. It's a renewal of the previous. >> We should have renewal language that we should be reviewing, I would believe. >> Yeah, we we can provide that. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? I'm seeing none. Thank you so much, Dian.

076Facilities and transportation. Joe, >> um thank you. We have um two items on the agenda this evening and one is a proposal from CHA consulting um to uh put together a a plan for uh middle school boiler replacement for $60,000. And then the second item is um a contract with Pavon uh for our intrusion detection based our burglar alarm systems um or cost not to exceed 57,495. Any questions? >> I have a question for 17.2. It seems like we're getting updated hardware. Um, but nowhere in the proposal do I see anything about warranties or any types of services that were are rendered to ensure that these hardware have some sort of duration that we're covered for. So, can we look into that, please? Okay, >> I'll look into that. I'm sure that it does because

077it's going to be brand new equipment with regards to accessing the building. So, we'll make sure there's a warning. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions? >> All right, seeing none, we'll move on to the finance committee report. Thank you, Jeff. >> Yeah, we'll be uh seeking approval next week of two items. the regular uh financial reports for October and the list of payments for October. Any questions? >> All right, seeing them. Thank you, Steve. That's why we're looking down this way now for you. I was looking this direction. All right. Um this is policy committee and um I actually chair this committee since Marshall was unable to attend. Um but Jean has agreed to provide the report. Uh Jean, do you want to provide that for us? >> Absolutely. Uh good evening. This

078evening we are we're reviewing the first reading of the policies uh that are listed in the agenda items 19.2 through 19.16. Uh the board policy committee met on November 10th to review policy updates across several areas to ensure policies reflect current laws, regulations, and district practice. The work focused on modernizing language, clarifying expectations for academics, attendance, athletics, and employee conduct and streamlining procedures or student activity funds. The committee also updated federal compliance requirements, travel reimbursement procedures, and guidelines related to gifts and donations, service animals, opioid, opioid, antagonist use, and conflict of interest to ensure clarity, consistency, and effective implementmentation across the district. Any questions? Go ahead, Steve. No, >> next. >> Just as a reminder for the community uh and the board um given the uh comment uh previously from the speaker at the podium

079regarding the time to review these documents. Um could you just remind us on uh first reading, second reading, the opportunities for comment on policies? Again, this is the first reading time for the policies, so it continues. >> Michelle, why don't you lay out for us what that whole procedure looks like with regard to the policy readings? >> Sure. So, under the board policy and the law, um the the board has a first read and a second read of the policies. The first read is usually the one where either their new policies or their existing policies that you made changes to. you can see the highlight and the potential strikes. So you can discuss that and then next week you have your second voting. You have review it and decide to whether you want to approve

080it as it is. I don't know if that explains it if you need any more information. But that's what the um district policy permits and the law of the board to have two readings of the policy and this is the first one. >> Thank you Michelle. Just confirming that the public doesn't have an opportunity to review those and comment. Thank you. >> Sorry. Yes, thank you. Um the agenda um and they do have the public does has the opportunity to review and open each one of those policies to see the changes that are being proposed. Um or if it's in SSI, if it's a new policy, the new policy in its entirety. So they'll be able to see what is being considered by the board and subsequently voted on. >> Thank you. >> I want

081to comment to a lot of these changes I think like for example the it's just like updated language that's suggested like the Nlloxxone policy. Nlloxxone is a brand opioid antagonist that's used as like a rescue if someone would overdose on an opioid but like there's others available. So they're taking out the language of nox nlloxxone and they're using instead opioid antagonist. So it's just like an update of language a lot of times too. I can add that. And a lot of time, sorry, I was going to say truth. A lot of times the changes and I think that you both made that comment. um changes to the law that um or uh not even changes to the law but um things that we've learned through cases that subsequently come down that determine that when we

082review the policies or discuss the policies um make recommendations that things need to be changed based on changes to the law or revisions to the law and case cases that come down and that's why you see depending when I have a few policies or we may have many policies. >> Thank you for that clarification. >> Just one thing I want to add in terms of like the opportunities for the public number one to be aware of what policies are being considered for revisions and changes and then an opportunity to weigh in. There's actually like three opportunities. The policy committee meetings are public open then they're open to anyone to attend. So that's the first opportunity for review and discussion of which policies are being revised. Um and then usually a month later they get presented

083as a first reading at a full board meeting which again is all also public and the materials are um provided in advance and then the following month after that is the second reading and then a vote for adoption by the board. So in all those three stages policy committee meeting first reading and then second reading there are opportunities for the public to engage and provide comment before the board takes final action at the second reading. Thank you, Joe. And I would note also that our meetings for policy are conducted virtually. So the public is able to join us virtually for those meetings. >> All right. So if there's no more comments for policy, we'll move it to >> Oh, yes. Actually, I I wanted to ask if we can re uh reinstate. A couple of

084years ago, we did have like uh a document that traveled with our policy updates that would outline key changes or edits. Um I thought that document was super helpful cuz at a glance you can very easily pull out exactly what um changes are are being addressed in these policy updates. Um, I don't know how that fell off, but can we relook at potentially getting that back in as something that uh helps us with these policy reviews? Thank you. >> I agree with Zepy. The policy summary was something that back when Katie was here, she would she would sort of assemble it. It was like a cliffnotes to all the changes that were being done to all the policies. I mean, you could open up them individually and look at all the red rounds and kind

085of tease out what's being changed and why it's being changed, but having that one cheat sheet that essentially summarized what's the impact or what's the purpose for all the changes was super helpful. Um, and I would love to have that added back in as part of our materials. Thanks. And I do just want to point out for board members that if you look at executive content, that information is in there, but we can certainly look into providing something similar to what Katie used to provide um with those policies. But that executive content does provide that update, the couple changes. >> Understood. But it's just one sentence. It was a lot more detailed the one that Katie used to provide for us. And I felt like it was very easy for us to kind of digest

086the changes and understand what was being changed and why. So I feel like we need maybe a couple of more sentences. Maybe we can do that. Right. Absolutely. Thank you. All right. Any other comments on policy? All right. If not, then we'll move from board educational equity oversight committee. Paul, >> thank you, Amy. Uh, we have no items. Uh, however, I will mention that we did have a community listening session which was held on November 20th at Amler Burough Hall. Uh, there were two topics that were discussed that evening, belongingness and district responses to racial disparities and discipline. Uh the meeting was very well attended. We had a very strong cross-section of the community which included board members, students, alumni, faculty, administration, um parents and guardians and I think that was it. Um but that

087was a very robust group. Um it led to very uh strong discussions. People shared their experiences as well as ideas for improvements. So, I thought it was a great meeting. Um, I'd like to thank um Dr. Dwan, Dr. Miss Cassur, as well as the rest of the uh faculty and staff that helped to put that together. It was a a great event, and we look forward to uh additional people attending our upcoming community listened sessions and offering your input, hearing firsthand what others are feeling. And um we want to see that continue. So, thank you. >> Great. Thank you for that update. Any comments or questions? Is there a way we can somehow like sum I don't know if you can even summarize those community sessions in a way that like when I attended when

088I heard the stories firsthand it was very impactful and I just like I don't know how to sh I wish we could share that somehow to a broader audience so that more people even if they couldn't attend the session could understand some stories that are told like I guess my question is What actionable things can we take away from these listening sessions? >> Thank you for that. Um, we often say in our group conversations and when we have small group engagement experiences that we take the lesson and leave the story because people's stories are for them to share firsthand. But your point about taking the lesson from it and how do we carry that forward and how do we see a through line um that that travels from those experiences. So what will typically happen

089is Miss Lorra will take those lessons and she'll bring them to the district equity planning committee as a next step to share with the members many of the members attend or help to co- facilitate um small groups. I'm pointing and thinking about some of our board members who are part of those small group conversations as well. Um, and so that'll be a part of her process in terms of taking the lesson forward. Oftentimes the lesson also has a throughine to our board educational equity oversight committee conversations as well um as those topics cycle through um throughout the year. what we can do is make sure it's explicit. Um because oftentimes a lesson is is learned and that carries through, but we could do a better job of labeling that and saying this is explicitly a

090lesson that we learned from the community conversations event so that we can make that um transparent and clear to our community members and our board members. So, thank you for that. >> I would just add that the best way to really receive those experiences as you said is to be there to actually hear them in person. So, you know, as much as necess much as possible, if people can make it out and actually participate and experience, then we we appreciate it. and Paul and team I I try to attend every time and um last session like many of the other sessions I've been to I was very moved by how candid and how open folks are willing to share their stories and I do think it's a great way to listen to our community. So,

091I do encourage if you can to come. It's great. >> Any other comments or questions? >> All right, seeing none, we'll move on to uh health, wellness, and safety. >> Yes. Uh there are noformational items or action items at this time. >> All right, then we'll move on to our report of representatives. Um, we're going to be appointing someone for extracurriculars, so we'll cough up on that. And CIO will hold off until next week. Uh, North Die. >> So, right. Um, board meeting that occurred during November um, talked about the fact that there was a Montgomery County public safety training campus openhouse. So, uh, the North Monaco Tech Center is forming a relationship with other tech centers to use that Montgomery County, um, training center for students to get certification in things like firefighter one,

092uh, emergency medical, uh, responders, stuff like that. Um, which I thought was quite interesting and a number of students attended uh, along with their parents. Um there was also uh over an agreement uh following a meeting of the five sending district business managers on the plan for renovations um and um building upgrades for the MCO Tech Center. Um so the the board was very appreciative uh of the business administrators helping with that. Stephie, anything you want to add? Um there was a big farewell for two of our members. One who had served on that committee for I don't remember it was like 22 years. Bill. Yeah, Bill Brown was on that committee for 22 years. So we had some long-standing um members who are stepping down. Um, another thing to note, uh, you should have

093gotten an invitation in your inbox for the North Monco, um, holiday dinner that they host once a year. It's not for just the Joocc. It's for all board members, for all the incoming districts. I've gone every year. I love it every year. It's fully all of the the meal is done by our students that attend North Monaco. It's served by students that are in the hospitality um division and it is a wonderful event. Um I hope you guys will go cuz I will definitely be there. Um I'm sure Steve will be there but uh it's open to um all board members. So hopefully you can RSVP. That's it. I think Steve any questions or comments? >> All right. Thank you both. PSBA. >> Um in the interest of time, I'll give an overview next week

094of state budget stuff and then nothing for ERC. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Well, that brings us then to our second public comment period. And um during the second public comment period, we allow maximum of five speakers um to be heard on the same topic. Please limit comments to three minutes. This can be on any uh school related topic. And note that South Dakota's uh practice to engage in dialogue with speakers when appropriate. We will follow up with responses on board docs. And our first speaker will be Lynn Simon. Township. I think it is becoming even more clear as if it wasn't clear already why we need to do anti-semitism training in this district. Unless you are Jewish, unless you have had members of your family be slaughtered in the Holocaust,

095be slaughtered in October 27th, 2023, or killed just for being Jewish in any other sense. You do not get to determine what is and what isn't anti-semitism on our behalf. So, have to stop. I want to read um in response to the cultural event that my child was brought to and asked to try uh politically charged scarves on her head without me knowing, without me signing up, without me signing a permission form. This is in response. Um we sent an email to Dr. the school board on the 24th expecting how disappointed 46 families were about this event. We have yet to hear back. We followed up today. We have yet to hear back. Not one response. However, it did get a whitewashed response from central office that was sent out on behalf of our school

096principal, but it was clear that it was made clear that she didn't write it. Good evening, Mrs. Simon. Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns about the high school language and culture affair, specifically the impact on our Jewish families. Our school and district leadership team are working together and reviewing matters that have been brought to our attention and we want to ensure families to reach out to express concern reviewing receiving accurate and consistent information to support transparency and consistency administrators who are responding to parent inquiries with this part of our parenting method. I put that information below. We understand these concerns for federal students and families feeling unfairly, upset, and unsafe. And I want to assure you that we are taking all reports seriously, especially those that may relate to student safety, may

097have caused multiple harm or expressions that could be deemed discriminatory or anti-semitic. As a result of these concerns, um investigation was launched immediately. This work involves gathering facts, speaking with the individuals involved, and following our established procedures for assessing any potential impact on student well-being in school climate. Um, please know that there is currently no indication of an immediate threat to students or staff. Our district takes semmitism and discrimination and bias of any kind seriously. We are following our investigation procedures and understand the situation fully and will respond appropriately. We're not going to learn the rest. The reason that this doesn't make any sense is because Dr. You were at the event. you were standing there as this all went down and you had all the opportunity in the world to put an end to

098it to stop it to say this isn't appropriate for a school setting. You're going to discontinue this. Instead, you all stood there. There was teachers that stood there, administrators, principal that stood there and allowed it to continue. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for that. Sending me an email saying that you're going to investigate something you were actively at is >> [bell] >> Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone online? Yes, we have one hand raised. SS uh SS you can unmute. Hi, how are you? My name is Sita Settles and I'm from Lower Guennet Township. Non-discrimination clause for AP classes. Recently, the district added non-discrimination clause for AP and advanced coursework, stating that no student may be denied enrollment due to race, identity, or subjective bias. My question is, how is the

099district enforcing that clause? What training has been provided to counselors and teachers? What data will be tracked whether black, brown, neurode divergent, Muslim, and marginalized students now have equity access to advanced classes? and what protections are in place to ensure students are not subtly discouraged from enrolling training on racism, bigotry, and cultural sensitivity. What specific mandatory training is provided to staff on racism, bigotry, implicit bias, and cultural competency? Who creates the curriculum? How often is it delivered? And how does the district measure whether it is working? When a student experiences racial or cultural bias, whether through comments, grading, or materials, what is the district's formal investigative process? Who reviews the report? What is the timeline? And what consequences exist when the same teacher repeatedly demonstrates culture insensitivity? The join or die poster. Regarding the join

100or die poster, why was the enslaved black men removed, but the poster left on the wall? Who approved that decision? And does the district understanding that altering the image rather than addressing it fully removes historical truth and sends the message that uncomfortable parts of American history should be hidden? The equity and inclusion department promised followup after the issue was raised. Families are still waiting. What where is the followup? Why were parents never contacted? And how will you ensure transparency moving forward? Students recently shared that they lost points for creating a Palestinian flag for project while others received full credit for creating an Israeli flag. What steps has the district taken to investigate this incident? And how will you guarantee the assistance, assignments, and gradings are free from cultural or political bias? Does the district plan

101to incorporate frameworks such as critical race theory principles into upper level social studies so students can analyze how laws and institutions shape racial inequity in America? If not, what is your alternative for teaching the full, accurate, and unfiltered truth of American history? These questions come from a place of wanting transparency, consistency, and fairness for all students. I look forward to clear and concrete answers, not general statements. Thank you. Thank you, SA. And next is Eric Gard. My name is Eric from Lauren Township. I'm here to talk um one about safety and also introducing u the health and safety issue associated with the chiller that we've talked about and then specifically about the testing. The testing is numbers. Okay. Um and when you're dealing with the general situation, it's more than numbers. You can hear the

102voice middle school alert. It runs from 6 a.m. to 700 p.m. 5 days a week from April to November and it's so loud that we've lost the use of our yard. Thank you. >> So, this is this is an issue that we've brought up, you know, a year ago, August, last August. And in October, the school district had informed us that the findings for both its sound study and the township study confirmed that the chair complies with all applicable noise ordinance and that they considered the matter closed. However, we've identified multiple discrepancies in these reports. In September 2025, the school district installed sound sound fence intended to reduce the noise. The fundamental issue is that the district's own expert found no measurable change in the sound levels and after the fence was stalled installed. Harrison

103acoustics own testing shows no improvement in the noise levels. This is their report from August of 2024. The base graph overlaid on it is their data from September 15, 2025. If you would note, the green dots match up and fit within the previous data, which would indicate there's no improvement attributable to the fence. Okay? Leaving us with the same sound you heard that we're living with in our yard. And it's not just us. It's our neighbors up and down Montgomery Road. Okay? It goes down to Cedar Road. It's very offensive. And it's actually dangerous when taken and extrapolate this back and you go to where the source is or where the chiller is at these levels that chill will reach 100 dB. NAOSH says you will lose hearing start to lose hearing within 15 minutes

104with that type of exposure. That's in a critical juncture. Okay, where buses unload, trucks unload, people have to walk by. So we have several questions regarding the methodology. city sound studies. When was the chiller tested at worst case condition? Was it defined as 100% full load amperage? Units are important. We don't have units in capacity. We need to understand if it's full load amperage. That would be worst case. Um why was the testing conducted at 5:00 a.m. at 58 degrees? That's not relevant. That's not a relevant test condition. And you can't you can't fake it. Okay. Thank you. Anyone online? >> There are no hands raised online. I'm Lis and I live on Montgomery Road. As you know, the noise is still coming from the Pacific Middle School chillers. And um you also know that

105the acoustic blankets that were put on in 2024 recommended by Harrison acoustics uh did not work. And so this year in 2025, uh you put up a fence, an acoustic fence that also has not worked. Um, you've relied on a flawed sound study. If we had more time, we could explain further about why this sound study is flawed, but um, you you relied on that sound study to close the case for Mr. Brook. Um, uh, the sound is still audible in the fields, in the parking lots, in the woods, and even on Houston Road. And I like to make my point by playing this video that I took um when I'm walking along the school entrance in front of the handicap parking um and then in uh in front of the playing fields where children

106are playing after the fence was installed. This is in front of the school after the fences is gone. People going in and out of the school will hear this and drivers as they walk through the car. They have to get out of their car and hear this. as students are going to steps from you. This is after the fence was installed. So whether you have a study that says um the case should be closed, we still have ears and we still hear this noise. And I I beg you to uh reconsider um the the safety of this situation and reconsider uh how we should move forward to solve this problem because it has not been solved. And meanwhile, we're considering Dick Beauty, who was changed their name to now CHA, to design some boiler room

107and also to include Harrison Acoustics in on this design for the after they gave us bad advice. They gave us um a bad design in the first place in 2018 when they in when they installed this uh system and now we're going back to them again to pay them more. >> Thank you. Anyone online? Yes, we have one hand raised. We have Mark Cayman. Mark, you can go ahead and unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. >> Great. Um, someone who is not on the receiving end of the hostility does not get to tell us what anti-semitism is. I just want to reiterate that point that Lynn made earlier. Uh, I couldn't agree more. I also want to echo uh the comments by Beth Anne and Jesse. Anti-semitism refers to prejudice,

108discrimination, or hostility directed at Jewish people. It's generally based on negative stereotypes, myths, or misinformation about Jews, Judaism, or Jewish identity. At the MSA table, a scarf that was displayed, read in Arabic, Jerusalem is ours. When messaging like that is displayed, that alone is a huge problem. It is indeed anti-semitism. And the failure on the part of the board and our superintendent, Dwan, to see this is just as alarming. This is how impressionable minds are influenced. I am so sick of the trickle of incident after incident and then the administration just corrected after the fact. I'm also sick of telling you that you must do better. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mark and Carina Taylor. So I want to talk about um the differences between policy 903 and 906. You made an amendment to the policy

109in May to add alumni to speak at public comments at your board meeting, but an alumni or a community member that doesn't live or stakeholder that doesn't live in the district cannot um ask for an investigation on a complaint for policy 9006. I'm pretty well known in the county. My countywide group that oversees and advocates for all the school districts in the county was the was the lynch pin as to why you denied my third attempt to submit an investigation about the disparities for black children. And so I had a conversation yesterday with the state representative because my frustration is that our Pennsylvania school code has no provisions to have any accountability on school board members once they're elected. We keep talking about all these cultural problems that we're having and we know that the

110academic deficits in this district are primarily with black kids. And I asked somebody that doesn't go to school here that's not from Wik. I said if blacks make 9% of the population, why can't there be something done to help them thrive even further? So by denying me for 906 even though I have a community group when your current language says a community group and not a district community group, then that's prejudice against me. Everyone that comes to this meeting, everyone on Facebook, they know that you guys can't stand me and you continually block me. And that's a bad thing because now the Wizard School Board has developed its own reputation under the leadership of all of you in the last four years about how you discriminate against me. There's a problem with black students in

111Mrs. Hickin. They are over represented in discipline in fractions and they're under represented in academic performance. There is no mechanism to force you to investigate to tell the community why this exists. This happened before you became president Amy. It's a systemic issue in whicken. By now adopting policy 103, you've opened the floodgates. You say, "Okay, black students, you you may not be on grade level, but you can go to an A and honors course, and it's on you." Instead of having a plan, Jewish people are constantly telling you how they feel about how they're targeted. Black people have been telling this district for years and decalized. So I want to challenge policy 9006 again because the current language does not specify that a district community group can submit a complaint. Thank you. Thank you forina.

112Anyone online? Yes, we have W Hassan. Okay. Uh you can go ahead and mute yourself. So, just to respond to some of the claims made um saying that I am twisting the definition of anti-semitism, I actually pulled that straight from the Oxford English dictionary. That's number one. Number two, the phrase Jerusalem is ours is not inherently anti-semitic. Jerusalem is currently a conflict zone in which two parties are actually fighting over it. I'm not sure if the gentleman knew that uh based on the genocide. Please make sure you're directing comments directly to me and not to other speakers. Okay. >> All right. Sounds good. Um, so yeah, so just to address a claim that was made in public, not directed to a specific person. Jerusalem is ours is not an anti-semitic statement. First of all, second

113of all, that statement was written in Arabic. So none of the Jewish students could actually understand that and take that as anti-semitic. So that is actually just something that you are that an individual is saying to tear us down and paint us as anti-semitic, which is actually just going off of my previous point that anti-semitism should not be watered down. We should not throw that term lightly here and there just to other minority groups. We are both the Muslim community and the Jewish community are both minority groups facing discrimination at this time instead of attacking instead of I was about to say attacking one another. It seems like the attacks are very one-sided to the other side. Instead of one side attacking the other, we should actually stand up to these to these prejudice to

114these prejudices. First of all, second of all, yes, I and one more thing, the scarves that were worn, you know, those politically um charged scarves are actually historical scars dating back hundreds of years that Palestinians wear. And um an individual said that her daughter was quote unquote asked to wear the scarf. Yeah, that probably did happen. She probably said no. And then we left her alone. Like I don't get what this is. It's the culture fair. You're asked to try different cultures. If you don't want to, you're not forced to. like like what is the problem with being offered something and saying no? There is nothing wrong with that. Second of all, I would like to thank the board for, you know, accepting the Muslim tradition and culture. You know, I know that um they

115were painted as quote, I'm not going to reiterate this nasty language, but as BS, which I completely disagree with, they are actually embracing all cultures and they actually went to every single stand and had a conversation with the students running it, which I believe is very considerate. Second of all, um I have the constitutional right to my freedom of speech. So I can actually say whatever I want. That's number one. Number two, I will not say whatever I want if it is infringing on the rights and of others and if it is offending anyone, which I don't. So this notion that I'm constantly going around and spreading discrimination and racism is completely false. I don't know where you're getting that from. Quite frankly, is very defaming and I do not appreciate it. So for once

116and for all, please drop this little thing that we are spreading anti-semitism because because we are not. You actually just proved my point by saying that my daughter was offered to wear it and then yeah, nothing. >> Comments jump forward, please. >> All right, sounds good. Well, I'll go ahead and wrap it up there. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you so much for comments. Anyone else online? There are no hands raised online. Okay. And we have no one else in person, so we'll close our second comment period. Um, any board comments this evening? >> Yes, Steve. >> So, uh, I'm sure that every member of this board as well as the administration, uh, would not want anyone to feel unsafe at a school event or a campus event. We also heard from the high school

117highlights that the affinity cultural fair was a highlight, an event that was celebrated. I don't want to lose fact that uh there were efforts by the students and the affinity groups to try and celebrate diversity and show that across the community. Um so I just want to call that out uh among many of the conversations that there was an effort to do that. We appreciate that. Thank you, Steve. Any other comments, Stephie? >> Thank you, Steve. That was very well said. Uh, I feel like we did not have a moment to congratulate and celebrate our newly reelected and our new board members who are here today uh for the first time and wanted to welcome them to the board and look forward to having them be on the board with us. So, welcome. Thank you.

118Welcome to our new members. Um, any other comments? All right. Um, and we'll take a motion to adjourn. Do one of our new members want to make that motion? >> We'll second it. >> All right. And all those in favor? I >> All right. We're adjourned.