001Welcome everyone to this October 27th meeting of the Whistle Hickham School Board. Uh first we list out our upcoming meetings. Uh tomorrow we have our facilities committee meeting. November 3rd we'll have our next regular public board meeting. November 10th will be policy. November 20th, our board educational equity oversight committee. That's our community listening session. December 1st will be our annual reorganization meeting as well as our work session. And December 8th will be both audit and regular public board meeting. Then we start out our prior meetings. We met on September 29th for a work session. October 6th for regular public board meeting and October 13th for both health wellness and safety and our board educational equity oversight committee meeting. And now we'll move into our presentations. Uh first we've had our weekend high school monthly highlights.
002Okay, so Miniathon is doing a pink out t-shirt sale to support the football team as well as raise awareness for breast cancer, which is a great initiative on their part. Additionally, this Wednesday, the 29th, we have the Autumn Voice Rehearsal Recital in the auditorium, which is where music students will sing solo pieces that they've chosen and prepped for the past month. And it's just gonna be a great way to show support for the music department and see the many talented people we have at Wissa Higen. >> And I'm actually gonna have a presentation with Miss Lour about Hispanic Heritage Month. We'll be doing in the district as well. So stay tuned to that. We also have a lot of our sports teams have been really doing well recently. Um four players on the golf team
003have qualified for the district 1 championship which is really exciting for them. And then for cross country, five of the girls have gone to well the alltime list and three of them actually going to states which is really exciting. We have a senior, a junior and a freshman. So we have excellence here. Oh, and then town hall. Our next meeting is tomorrow and we're actually focusing on advocating for school sphere. So, we're going to talk about all the clubs that we have. So, hopefully more school member or students get more involved because after freshman year, they might not know so many things about the club. So, we're hoping it's all for the best and having a lot of clubs signed up for. So, it's going to be really exciting. Thank you so much for those
004updates. questions. >> Thank you. I will turn it over to Miss Lator, our director of equity and cultural responsiveness. to highlight the amazing district in recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Um, as Isabelle said, she's joining me this evening to help me present. I'm so excited about this. Um, it will. We're going to ensure that we have students presenting at the Heritage Month presentations going forward and so I'm looking forward to that. September September 15th to October 15th and across the district we had a wonderful opportunity to learn and to celebrate. So at lunch we had an opportunity during learning announcements to have students learn facts about Hispanic Heritage Month. The library will also feature books written by and about Hispanics and Latin Latin Americans. Um, we also have a bulletin board highlighting famous Hispanics
005and Latin Americans. In music class, students performed a dance to los a popular folk dance from Mexico. And we also learned a dance from We have the opportunity for students again to learn about the history and so they learn specifically about the history of the products um which is paper and banners which are decorations from Mexico. Students also look at many other cultures around the world and how they make artwork from paper. We to have a collaboration between our ERP teacher Mrs. Hocher, our social marine wanted to showcase individuals throughout the world who have impacted history and the way of life. highlights of Hispanic and Latin objects, writers, scientists, activists, athletes and artists and their home countries. From tradition temps have fun learning and performing songs and dances throughout the time that we have from
006September 15 October 15th. students in school learned about Mexican such as and they also created their own self portraits heritage month and had the opportunity to delve into some and so recent biographies and reading about inspiring exploring the culture, traditions and geography of Spanish speaking countries. So you're going to engage in the same project opportunity to learn about leaders each day and so learn about that and make connections between their own life and the life of that specific transition selfis. She stands by Spanish classes. All across the station really Some fashion students German. So princess was They're not super questions. >> No questions, just a comment that I really do appreciate the just voices on the president's. Thank you >> that. And I look forward, sorry, I'm trying to navigate this. I'm looking forward to
007having more of our students do these presentations. What a great addition. A great idea, Isabelle. Good job. Thank you. >> That as well, including our students. That's great. Love these presentations and getting to see what's going on in our schools and um how to incorporate activities throughout the month. So wonderful. So thank you so much for sharing everything. Thank you so much for participating. Thank you. Thank you. So then that brings us to our first public comment period and I don't have anyone in person. Amanda get to proceed. Anyone online? There are no hands raised online. All right, then we'll move on to the board president report. And this evening, I have noformational or action items. We'll move on to our superintendent report. Good evening. This evening, I have noformational items or action items. Thank
008you. >> Thank you. Our assistant superintendent report, Dr. Gardner. >> Good evening. I have noformational or action items as well. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Jeff. solicitor. >> I do have two items on the agenda for action um um next week. Uh and they are both approvals of special education settlement agreements. One for student K25, one for student L25, uh calling for settlements in the amount of $46,292 and $40,650 respectively. Uh these items have been reviewed with the board in executive session. Uh and as a matter of um disclosure, we cannot disclose the substance of these agreements publicly as uh these agreements are covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and they involve student special education settlement agreements that are duly negotiated. uh between council for the family and council for
009the district in the process. The board has been updated by the administration in this process and the board is aware of the settlement proceed uh the settlement uh terms and um are supporting moving forward. But we cannot have a uh community and or board public discussion on the subject. Great. Thank you, Jeff. And were there any comments or questions? Thank you. And we'll be voting on those next week. Board secretary report. There's four um agenda. I'm sorry. There's four minutes. There's December 29th work session minutes. The regular meeting on October 6th, the approval of the October 13th health and wellness safety committee meeting and then the October 13th educational equity oversight committee meeting. >> Great. Thank you. Any comments or questions? >> Um just just a question about um 11.2 the minutes for the October
0106th board meeting. Uh within the minutes document itself, there are a few spots where there's a notation that says not specified in quotes. And I was just curious as to what that um signify. Um it's more just out of curiosity. I'm happy to respond to that. We um we noticed that and we investigated that it's a a feature of board docs. It's not something that is intentionally input into the minutes. It's an automatic default. So, we were um working with board docs to see how to mitigate that matter u moving forward, but it is not um there's not a code it's not code for anything. It's just a simple sort of default for for some of the items there. And we recognize that it's not consistent for all of those um notes in the in
011the minutes as well. So, we're working with the representatives from board docs. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Were there any other questions? >> Thank you. And treasure report >> this month for approval is the September 30th, 2025 treasures report. >> Thank you. Were there any questions or comments about that report? >> Thank you again. HR report. >> Good evening everyone. Uh for your re review tonight, uh there are seven items under section 13 of the human resources report. The first two action items include resignations, a retirement, appointments, extracurricular changes, and volunteers. Item 13.3 is an inductee mentor list for the school year. 13.4 are winter extracurricular activities um assignments. and 13.5 is for the approval of anou with the WA um the Hicken Education Alliance. This is to clarify some contract language around the
012um professional 16step bonus uh that was um that was bargained in good faith. This is just to clarify that language um going forward. It just wasn't quite clear in the contract. 13.6 is for a conference approval. And then finally 13.7 is for the approval of a hearing. Um it's the approval of a hearing officer Brook's recommendation in an employee um with a hicken v with a hicken uh district case. Uh this was reviewed in executive session this evening. >> Thank you comments or questions. I do. And although tonight we will not be voting, I did want to indicate that next week I will like us to separate 13.4 for separate voting as I will continue to vote no. I understand that we're still in the process of um re-establishing how we look at our athletic
013uh coaches. And until we're at a spot that uh feels right, I will continue to vote no. So I do ask that for next week's meeting uh we will pull out 13.4 for individual voting. >> Thank you. Comments or questions? >> I I have a question more out of curiosity regarding 13.3. Um Danielle, can you tell us how mentors are selected for um teachers? Sure. Um our our teachers have to be uh tenure teachers. Um and then they're selected by the building principal. So they also volunteer. Um so we find out who in the building wants to be a mentor. Uh and then um sometimes we have to tap some shoulders. Uh but again they're they're some of our best teachers and um people who want to um you know give back to the profession.
014Um and and that's all part of being a mentor here in in the induction program. So >> cool. And um are mentors all are they in the same building as the inductee or >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any other comments? Thank you so much for that report. We'll move on now to um our communications committee report. >> Good evening. Thank you. I just have well I now have twoformational items. Uh my firstformational item is about our yearly newsletter which went out to everyone who lives in the district regardless or not if they have students in our schools. It went out uh last week. I received mine the mail as well. This is mine from the mail. Um and um it's it's done a little differently this year. Uh the communications team has worked
015really hard to also make some really nice videos and audio clips that go with this newsletter. And the intention is for all of this not only to live on our website, but we will push and pulse out throughout the year some of the key things that came out of this newsletter so folks can get reacquainted with all the wonderful things that are happening within the school district. And then the second thing which I totally put Dr. Dwan at the last minute but as you all know that there is a lot of efforts throughout our street and throughout our district and throughout our community to help with food pantries. Um as many might know uh we're having some concerns about whether or not folks will have access to food and food insecurity is a really hot
016topic for me. So, what I've asked Dr. Further is that even though we do have bins here and at all of our schools to post out more information on how to get uh non-p perishables to donated within the school district to help um if anyone in our community or beyond um have access to those foods for the food banks that we support. So, um, hopefully we can do that for the remainder of this year. And, uh, any questions? Just a comment on the annual report. I did like the inclusion of some videos. That was kind of fun. And it was also nice to see one of our student board reps featured as well as um, you know, the son of a current board member. That was nice to see. Thanks. Yes, I loved the annual
017report this year. And um I think we have copies in the lobby for anyone that didn't receive a copy, right? >> Yeah. Don't we usually have copies out there? We will. Okay. We don't have them yet, but we will. I usually see them out there. All right. Great. Well, yes. Beautiful. I loved it. Any other comments? All right. Well, thank you again. All right. Cricut technology. Sorry, that's me. Um, okay. For your review tonight, there are two items under the curriculum uh curriculum technology committee section. The first item is a review action item for the anticipated costs for the MCIU age of beginner services for the 2526 school year in the amount of $28,39. The MCIU age of beginner program costs are for students who are school age but their parents have decided to retain
018their child for another year in the early intervention program and not send them to kindergarten with hiken yet. The second item is um a review action item approving 380 students who have met the requirements to receive Mexican high school diplomas for the 2425 year. This is an annual item each year in the fall. Thank you. Are there any um questions or comments? Just congratulations to our 2435 graduates officially. >> Anything else? All right, thank you so much. All right, we'll move on to facilities and transportation. Joe, >> thank you. Um we have one item for review this evening and vote next week. It is just the approval to discard or sell obsolete equipment according to board policy 714. There's an attachment in the agenda which gives more details about the items, some furniture, books, maps,
019etc. Athletic and music equipment and some technology equipment. >> Great. Thank you, Joe. Any questions or comments? >> Of course I do. Um, so I ask I make this request every year. In fact, I think we need to change this memo to address that we will try to sell, donate, and then discard any objects, especially when they're um electrical technology items. These should not be hitting landfills. I know our community does two electronical uh recycling events a year that I'm aware of. I'm sure there's many others. I want to make sure that we're full as to how we're discarding items, especially things that are bad for our environment. Please get in touch with Senator's office and find out when the next upcoming event will be discard. >> There's actually a process has to be followed
020with regards to those or they're approved and or so we are actually process. Next week, we'll list a ban that we'll be putting up for all municipe if they are such as technology items to a vendor that purchases them. >> I can't say nothing. That's not realistic. Do our best not to >> by some of the items that we still find in our buildings like the DCR. I feel like we've been seeing that on here for years. All right. We'll move on to the next. >> Yeah, we'll have three items for vote uh next week. Uh the first two 17.1 and 17.2 are the normal monthly reports finance report and the payments report. 17.3 is to approve uh the acceptance of a donation from the music current group um to allow for a wraparound on
021the new trailer. >> Any comments or questions? >> Thank you so much. Thank you, Amy. Uh, I have no information on four action items this evening. Our first policy committee meeting will be coming up on November 10th. >> Thank you. Committee. >> Thanks, Amy. Um, tonight I'm going to be sharing twoformational items. Um, number one will be the report of the October 13, 2025 board educational equity oversight committee meeting. The second will be the uh information about the upcoming community listening session which is going to be November 20th. So on the 13th uh we had our first committee meeting of the year focused on disciplinary responses. Uh during the meeting district presented discipline data from the 202425 school year and explored the next steps identified in the equity indicators action plan. presentation aimed to highlight
022the district's ongoing efforts to develop and implement proactive, preventative, and responsive practices, procedures, policies, and programs designed to address the to address and reduce racial disparities uh in disciplinary outcomes. as well attended. We had a a very great back and forth with members of the committee and want to get once again want to encourage others to join remotely to hear our committee meetings as they come up. The second item uh is the upcoming session of our community listening events. It's an ongoing series uh that we started last year that we'll be continuing. The session will be held Thursday, November 20th at Blueboro Hall at 7 p.m. So, we invite all to come out and join us. Um, we hope to have a robust conversation and input. Um and it will uh be the district's version
023of continuing to address the needs of students to identify the key topics that focus. So hope that all can attend and that is November 20th and all comments or questions. Thank you so much on to health and safety. >> Thank you Amy. The uh health wellness and safety committee held a virtual meeting on October 13th and Mrs. Lour, director of activity and cultural responsiveness behind McCloski, director of student services delivered a presentation on culture, climate and mental health in the West School District. Their presentation provide comprehensive overview of the gist of approach approach to addressing bullying the implementation of intervention strategies within the multi-tered systems of support uh framework and the array of programs and services available to support studental health. Additionally, they emphasized the various initiatives designed to empower educators and families to foster
024a positive, inclusive, and supportive school environment. >> Thank you, Jean. Any comments or questions? >> Thank you so much. We'll now move on to our report of board representatives. Um, extracurricular Marshall, >> there was an extra uh curricular committee meeting last week. We are finalizing the minutes. So, I actually have full report next week once it's complete. >> Thank you. Um, and MCL does not hold a meeting in October. So, our next one is in November and our next legislative meeting is also in November. So, the meeting last Monday involved a presentation on IT security for the school uh but also went over possible uh financing related to a seven-year plan to uh both update the facilities and increase uh size for enrollment uh on the second floor of the facility. Um and both of
025those plans were reviewed. Uh they were not put up for a vote uh but they appear to be financially sound. So we are happy to see that. >> Great. Thank you. Any comments or questions? >> Thank you again. PSDA. >> Hello. So the PSDA sent out um an urgent memo to school districts asking that they pass a resolution that all boards pass a resolution. Um, as some of you know, there's it's been uh over a hundred days since Pennsylvania was supposed to pass the state budget, and it's leaving $3 billion in education funding withheld from public schools. Um, this is no longer just a cash flow issue. It threatens program staffing and essential services across the Commonwealth. So, the resolution that they asked to pass, and I believe we're looking at this for next week,
026um it calls for full funding for public education, release of all federal funds owed to districts, compliance with the Commonwealth Court ruling, repayment of interest in fees incurred due to borrowing during the impass, and then the cyber charter funding reform. So, um I do believe this is something that is important and I think we're looking at it for next just to encourage the state resolutions. It's just saying, "Hey, we want you to do this and if all districts do it, I think it sends a message. >> Thank you. Comments or questions?" >> Yeah. So on Tuesday, October 7th, um we met as a committee. It was decided that we will be recommending to the board that this committee move forward as an offer committee. Um this will be presented for approval in December as part
027of the annual approval of committees. Um the committee has allowed the board and the WA to engage in timely discussions and we have really appreciated this opportunity because we've got some great insights from the deputy members and personally I've really enjoyed getting to know them. It's been really great. I think the adhawk committ better because we'll just be able to call a committee meeting on a coordinated basis. Um there's times when we need teacher input on certain subjects and then there's times when we don't. So we don't want to waste any time but as needed either side we can call um a meeting. So I think that would be the best. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. Thank you. Then we will move on to our second public comment period and um
028the board appreciates hearing from the community. A maximum of five speakers will be heard on the same topic. Please limit comments to three minutes in the interest of fairness and in order to treat all speakers equally. It's not the board's practice to engage in dialogue for speakers when appropriate followup responses will be posted on board docs. members and members of the public who are attending in person uh wishing to public comment should complete a blue secret form and submitted when approaching the podium please announce your name your municipality of residence um and your affiliation with the district and um if you're on Zoom please raise your hand and um when you're called upon please do the same state your name municipality and affiliation to the district so first person that's You're the first one. You're
029the first one to recall. [snorts] Cut to the chase. Got lots of questions and I noticed that you finally responded to my questions on October 6. So number one, when did the Q&A board responses get placed in the library tab of the on your website. Number two, um what was the justification for the business manager and the facility director to um go to the superintendence conference? Don't understand the correlation there. Number three, how many special ed staff have resigned from the district in the last two years? Number four, when are the cultural heritage month activities going to be partnered with community members and stakeholders? It would be a good thing because then you could break down barriers of non-cultural understanding. Um, number five, what was the date that Mr. Bricker found out that the high
030school home school association was not the 501c3? I missed the first part, but I wanted to point out that the wellness committee and the board equity committee met on the same day with an hour apart. And if the wellness committee meets quarterly, that's such an important um committee, why would you have them an hour apart on the same day? And then my question would be, do people outside of the committee on the equity committee get to ask questions? From my understanding, when they're on Zoom, they just have to sit there and listen. I don't think that's inclusive. Um, where are the presentations for both committees? Why wouldn't they be in the agenda so people could what was discussed before Paul or or Eugene spoke. Um the other thing that I wanted to say is that
031there was an incident last week at Blue Bell. There was a shutdown. Turns out that the child is a foster care parent. The foster care mother reached out to me for help. I know a lot of it is confidential, but one of the things that um I think is really important is that we have a lot of kids in this district that have mental health issues and um trauma issues. And um essentially this boy has had multiple issues in the last two weeks, but finally he was sent to to a psychiatric hospital. And in both cases where I was involved in terms of having an >> let's not talk about anything specific to the child's health. >> Well, the bottom line is that there was a comment that the school is responsive to special needs
032and there was a case where it really isn't. And when we make statements that we are responsive, but then you have $7 million in lawsuits, I just wonder. And one of the parents said to me, "Where's the empathy? Where's the compassion for kids that are struggling?" So, I what was discussed at your mental health committee, but I think that we have to dig deeper because there's kids that are really hurting and still hurting and there's no real support for them. So, I hope all my seven questions get answered. I have them written so I will follow up with my hands on >> Okay, >> maybe Mark Township my pay tax. Uh, show of hands. How many Democrats on the board? Show of hands. How many Republicans on the board? Show of hands. How many independents
033on the board? One. So, we don't know the rest of the board's situation. That leads me to my point coming up here. Um, if a child in the district tells an employee of the district that they want to change their gender or their name and they don't want their parents to know, will the district tell the guardian or the parent about this situation? Question two, if a child or children are found to be having sex acts anywhere on the district grounds by an adult that is employed by the district, will the district notify the parent or the guardian? Yes or no? If I want to ask questions in the board meeting, I was told by that guy right there, the assistant superintendent on the telephone that it's state law that you all can't respond. I've
034been told different. What I've been told is online you have to respond in person. You choose not to respond. You choose you're choosing not. Uh another question is I heard a lot of equity at the corner down there. If my kid doesn't want to participate in any equity lessons, any of the schools, I don't want him any coming from any can of any kind of equity lessons, anything to do with anything my child. Um, if a child is claiming to be a different gender than the gender they used to be, do they have access to uh sports teams, locker rooms, and bathrooms? just want someone I know just so understand all they think that gender is gender is not it's just too gender too that's it Just 2 + 2 is four. It will always
035be four. If you want to be five, if you think it's five, still isn't. So my question is if if if hands in a text is 2 plus two puts five tells you he thinks he's right. Is he right? Is he wrong? Too generous. That's it. Please keep your personal opinions out of my kids ears. systemat science reading that basis enough is this liberal nonsense prison on his children paying taxes so you can define me Hi everybody, Stacy Dit. I am in Blue Bell. I have a child over at the high school. First thing I wanted to bring up is to the board regarding the density of the agenda. I posted today, I used a little AI on this on one of the schoolboard district family pages, a two-page summary. I think it would be
036a really great idea for the district to put those out just to help digest some of the more dense information that is being sent out. Number two, I would also like to thank the board for protecting my kid and my kids friends and everybody who's a little bit different. Um because there's obviously a lot of people who may not agree with their life, but we are a community and we should be looking out for one another. So, thank you. And that's it. [snorts] Good evening. Several weeks ago, I stayed before this board and raised serious concerns about the images displayed in the social studies classroom. One of those images was of an enslaved black man receiving lashes. My son, the only black male student in the class, was expect to sit beneath that image daily,
037while the teacher herself stated, "Slaves receive these letters for not listening." I also raised concerns about the join or die snake poster, a symbol historically tied to violence against native people, and my son is Native American as well, Edra. When I spoke up, I pointed out that while the graphic trauma was plastered on the walls, there was no images of the Holocaust, no depiction of Jewish suffering and no presentation of other communities pain, black bodies only, and trauma were on display. Here is what troubles me deeply. Prior to my comments, the board was presented with concerns about a Jewish related curriculum issue. That concern was taken seriously, given immediate attention, and even warranted an extra board meeting at the end of the school year. Ultimately, the curriculum was removed because parents did not find it
038appropriate. In contrast, since I raised concerns about the treatment of black and indigenous history and its harmful impact on children, there has been silence, no additional meetings, no acknowledgement, no accountability. Instead, the social studies teacher, who is also the department chair, asked that my son, the only black male in her class, be removed. It's just retaliation, not resolution. And when I pushed back, stating that her fragility not supersede my son's comfortability. The district retracted that decision and kept him in the class. That alone proves the issue is bigger than one teacher. It is systemic. The instinct was not to hold her accountable but to display my son the child most harmed by this imagery. But by removing but him does not remove the problem. As department chair still oversee how the curriculum is taught. The
039decision to plant the images on the walls communicate superiority for whiteness and inferiority for me people. That is not education. That is indoctrination. I'm here tonight to fall firmly and without hesitation for the immediate removal of these images. They are not neutral. They are not harmless. They are they retraumatize black and indigenous children while reinforcing racial hierarchy. So I ask this board, why is there urgency in decessive action when one community's concerns are raised? But silence when it involves my son. His humanity and his dignity matter. Silence is not neutrality. Silence is complicity. Remove those images now. Thank you. Yes, we have Jason here online. Oh, Jason, you need to unmute yourself. >> Hello, my name is Lorenzo. I'm a resident township for over 30 years. I have four children. Three of them have um
040gone through the school district system. The um questions that I'm bringing tonight are well, let me just preface this a little. Uh I worked for 10 years in the school district as a special ed support uh person and the community that I most often represented was the nonverbal students in our district and I was the proverbial fly on the wall because I was within every single grade level and throughout the district and really got to see firsthand how every classroom, how different teachers interacted with students. And all the students know the best teachers. All the teachers know the best teachers and all of the parents know the best teachers. My question is, does the school board know who the best teachers are? I'm currently running for township supervisor in the township and as such I'm
041being exposed to a lot of different um information with regards to the school district. I'm seeing a lot of information about how our proficiencies have dropped. What are the proficiencies that we're using and how and how are we measuring it? Another concern that's coming up very frequently is what is the communication protocol between parents, school board and administration. Um my final concern has to do with administration over. So just recap the from the education system. It's unwielding to have parents who have non-elected members. The nonelected members instruct our administration. the administrator. She then gives the marching orders or the um provides or strategy for our teachers. So that the ultimate outcome is that students are educated. So that as well you were me and you then direct our administration the administrator instructs our teachers students
042that are well educated proficiency. Thank you. Um, can you hear me? >> Yes, I can hear you. >> Okay. So, my name is Jason QU. Um, I reside in Amler. So, I'm a student at the Whisten High School and what I would like to talk about is the budgeting and I do would like to appreciate the school board in the district for adding a security guard from the Cardinal Point security group. It is, it makes the school feel safer, but I think the budgeting isn't equal when it comes to providing updates for the bathrooms, for example, like vape detectors because people freely vape in there. Um, and the safety specialist, they don't really care about it and I've heard them say it. So, yeah, that's like one of the things. My second thing is um
043the art department is being defunded constantly. Um I see the budget slowly decreasing each year where there's not enough supplies that last the entire year. And if we're going to keep on diverting money to turf fields in the back of WHS, then I think we can also raise the taxes on the wealthy families of Wiz Hicken. Now that is my only thing and I yield back. >> Thank you. to see. >> Thank you.