001Good evening. We will now start our committee of the whole meeting at 6 pm. We have three pres presentations this evening starting with the facilities update from Eric Kosix and Ed Sutter. >> [laughter] >> Ed'll start out and give you an update on the ERU project and then uh uh one thing that's definitely on the board meeting tonight is the to move forward to accept bid to put that out for bid for the paving project at RKM and LVMS. So you'll see it on the agenda tonight for approval and we will advertise that in February for 3 weeks and then uh the bid opening will be in March, first week of March to go from there to put it right in timeline. So I'll let Ed talk about the ERU project next. >> Good evening
002everybody. Uh >> good evening. >> The erus are well actually they're called doazes now do a s um I don't know why but that's what they call them. uh they bring in outside air into the building and we use that air for cooling and bringing fresh air into the classrooms. Uh our the ones we are currently running do not have any kind of dehumidification on them. So, I think a few years ago there were uh potentially some mildew and mold issues here in this building, and I think they had to have, you know, a company come in and help them uh mitigate it. Uh but these units have uh a natural gas heater in them. So, even in the summertime, uh, when we're running, you know, the chilled water, uh, when we're bringing outside air
003in, we can heat it slightly to dry it out a little bit. So, this is going to be a uh, a really good uh, project for the district, and it's been going on, I think, pretty much since since June. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, >> and remember this is the one we get the million-dollar grant from DCD school facility improvement and our match is 25%. >> So, we have one unit completely installed although they have not uh started it up yet and we have three remaining and there's some supply chain issues. Uh they're not they're held up in manufacturing or tariffs or for whatever reason. We haven't really got a good reason other than the company doesn't have them yet. So, but all the control wiring has been installed. Uh they're hooked up to the fire
004alarm system. Uh because obviously they have a fan in them that could send smoke out into the duct work. Uh and one is set. And that's that's kind of where we're at. We're kind they they come in. We had the OZ systems in this morning. They were pulling some more control wire and wiring in some additional controls. So, uh, we're 25% >> there. So, >> Ed, which one is it that's done? Where's the place of it? >> Uh, if you go back around to the rear entrance by the kitchen, if you if you look up on the roof, it's that one. And that that brings air into the boiler room and into some of those spaces in the back of the building. Any other questions? Okay, real quick update. We'll both share this one on
005the fitness center in the back. Uh that's moving along. They did get the brick work up to uh about 3 ft uh on that and they're keeping on moving uh on the inside as well. Um their expected completion is the middle March 20th right now. So it's it's going on as it should be. So um the space looks really good in the back. Um hopefully maybe in the February meeting we can take you in for a tour. They have they'll have the permanent lighting and hopefully then maybe before the board meeting we can walk you back there and show you. It's going to be really nice. Uh baseball field. Uh they poured the last of the concrete except for the stairs. They connected the crosswalk down to the plaza. So that's been completed. Uh good
006news today. The bleachers were delivered today. So they got to put them together now. And I know that the dugouts have been ordered. We're waiting for them to deliver and uh getting the post up for the netting. So, as the weather keeps when they get to break snow weather, they'll keep on working on that. Uh you can see from the field though when there's no snow on it, the field's ready to play. It's it's ready to go. Uh the drainage is great. Um can't say enough about that. >> Is the grass ready to play on? >> The grass is ready to play on. Yeah. >> They will be uh Hummer. Okay. you >> Hummer will be in in the spring and they will do the initial uh fertilization and you know maintenance uh chemicals on
007it and we are kind of looking at at them to give us a price to keep it you know uh I said give me the cocktail and we'll see if our if our current company can do it and if not we may get a price for them from them to come in and and maintain it. treat the grass like the chemical treatment and all that. >> Yeah. Pre-emergence, postemergency. >> So, how much more money do we need for stage two before we get that started? >> Depends how stage one finishes. [laughter] Um, but uh as we get through here, I I mean I I uh we'll have better numbers as we get through March probably when we get this finalized the phase one of it done. Uh but tonight tonight is a good example of
008phase two starting a good good portion of that. So yeah, we'll we'll keep the board informed as we go along here and finish now phase one. >> Okay, >> I think that's it. >> Okay, thank you. Thank you. >> Uh the next two presentations are going to be combined with the school resource officer report and the Swiss program. >> Thank you, Mrs. Boyd. Um so at your tables, I've shared with all of our school board members, uh we have had a renewed emphasis on data in the school district over the last year. And at the beginning of this year, we rolled out a couple new things to really track student academic performance and uh to track the behaviors and discipline referral data from our students. We started off with a cadence testing and we're doing
009that for kindergarten through fifth grade and reading and math. And uh the other thing that we did which I shared with you uh is a system called Swiss. Last year uh in the spring, we presented on a system that would include us into the national group of schools that uh collect data on office discipline referrals which looks at suspensions in school suspensions out of school suspensions and it looks at also the total number of discipline referrals within the school district. Um at your seats I shared with you each building and um I shared with you first the elementary buildings just as a summary uh of what's in your packets. Uh the diff discipline referrals vary a little bit building by building. Uh but if you look at RK Melon you're looking at um through September,
010October, November, December, their discipline referrals per day uh have been under a half. So that's uh they're receiving about one discipline referral per every two days. If you look at uh LVE, it's a little bit over a little bit under one on most months. There was a one month, it was over two. Uh going on to the middle school, we had uh about one and a half two. And it's typical when you look at the school districts across the country and we have the national averages. It's pretty typical to see the numbers go up by level. So, elementary numbers are typically lower than uh that of the middle school or high school. High school numbers, I'm still looking at less than one per day, one discipline referral. Also, in your packets, um you'll see on
011the first page, it goes through by behavior and been and having done this for a while now, I've seen uh multiple school districts use this same system. And one thing that I've noticed um from elementary to middle school to high school a trend not just in our building our buildings but it is a trend across the country is that at the elementary level there's more physical verbal aggression which leads to the middle school which is more verbal aggression and then at the high school your highest number of uh discipline referrals is typically attendance related. So either skipping class tardies that sort of thing. Um, so if you look at our second page, we are looking at location. And one thing that I always look at when I look at the school buildings and look at
012discipline referrals by location, um, the you want to see classroom being the highest one. Uh, in comparison to cafeteria, bus, playground, hallway or bathroom. And the reason why I say that is students spend the majority of their time. They spend more almost 80% 80 90% of their day inside the classroom. So that's that's probably where it should be. And our discipline data is no different. Uh you'll see that the referrals by time um and by student with with no names included. And then finally on the last page, you'll see discipline referrals by grade and discipline referrals by the day of the week. Uh we've always laughed um at buildings. So I want you guys to be aware that each building uh has a team that they are looking at this discipline referral data on a
013monthly basis to examine the trends to look at what can we do as a school building to reduce discipline referrals. So for example if we have you know high amounts of discipline referrals in the hallways we're going to do probably two things. We want to make sure that we increase supervision and we also increase the positive things that are happening in that place. So, if I if I know that hallways are a problematic area, I want to have more adults in that area and I want adults being positive, uplifting, um supportive of students. Um, one thing we've always joked about um kind of in in our uh grade level meetings and our our building level meetings is um by day of the week, it's interesting and and it's not that common in our buildings, which
014is surprising to me. Usually discipline referrals have lower numbers on Fridays. Um and we've always wondered why is that? So um one theory is people are generally happier le and and le less likely to to have a discipline referral on a Friday than a let's say Wednesday. But if you look at the trends in our buildings, you'll see some trends. You'll see you'll I I want you to know also that we have teams at each building that are working through this and uh they're looking at this on a monthly basis. And um some good news to note with the discipline referrals from our Swiss system is um majority of our buildings are in the lowest 25th percentile um for referrals which is an incredibly positive thing. So while um while we have this renewed emphasis
015on data um we'll be sharing more with you about this this system. If you want to know more, I'll be I'll be glad to talk with you. Um, but we'll be sharing more with you in regards to our academic data. We have some really positive things coming from our cadence assessments. Um, but there's also another opportunity uh in that um our school resource officers, safety officers are new in each building and um there's an opportunity for for some programming there that will help us collect data. Maria's going to share a little bit about that. >> Sorry. Good evening. I will be giving just a general overview of the SRO app our current um school resource officer uses at the high school. So, our SRO has been utilizing a web-based secure application um tailored to school
016resource officer activities to help track and manage day-to-day interactions and duties. Our SRO at the high school has been using this since September 2024 after realizing that like the traditional police reporting system doesn't really tailor to the unique responsibilities of a SRO officer. Um so looking at that, we just kind of um are thinking about is there a way that we could track um now that we have a security officer in each building um we're looking at, you know, kind of looking at that app if we should extend that to our other security officers. Um and we can have more information at the next board meeting for you. And thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other reports from any other administrators? Committee of the whole will adjourn at 6:14 p.m. I hereby call
017to order the regular board meeting of the Ligonier Valley School District on January 19th, 2026 at 6:14 p.m. Starting with the pledge of allegiance. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Secretary, may we have a roll call, please? >> Yes, Mrs. Mrs. Boyd >> present. >> Mrs. Brown >> here. >> Mr. Fitchwell >> here. >> Mr. Fryman >> here. >> Mrs. Hutchinson >> here. >> Mr. Nup >> here. [snorts] >> Mrs. Croml >> here. >> Mrs. Rabadi >> here. >> Mr. Stephy >> here. >> Nine present. Uh I need to make a small announcement that uh we are changing one thing with the board. When we are making a motion or
018a second for clarity clarity and transparency, board members will now say their last names so that it is clear for the recording for those in the audience and when we're taking meeting minutes. With that being said, um could we have an exe are there? >> Uh yes, I do have executive sessions to report tonight. Um the first executive session was held um December 2nd, 2025 from 7:10 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. after the reorganization meeting and legal uh legal matters and personnel issues were discussed that night. The next executive session was on January 12th, 2026 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 [clears throat] p.m. Uh, personnel was talked at that executive session and safety. The next executive session was held the same day, January 12th, 2026, from 6:35 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. regarding safety and legal issues.
019And there was an executive s executive session held tonight, January 19th, 2026 from 5:14 p.m. to 5:55 p.m. regarding safety, personnel, and legal issues. That's my report. >> Thank you. Are there any motions that need amended or added to the agenda? >> Hearing none, there is no need for public comment in this section. Moving into old business, I'm asking that approval be given to the me minutes of the November 17, 2025 committee of the whole meeting, the November 17th, 2025 regular board meeting, and the minutes of the December 2nd, 2025 reorganization meeting. >> Move Brown. >> Second. No. >> Having a motion and a second to approve the minutes, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Are there any items that require followup from previous agendas? Hearing none, we will
020move to new business. Hearing of the citizens, we have one starting with Mr. Nate Sylvester. All right. Good evening, members of board and superintendent. My name is Nate Sylvester and I'm the president of the Laurel Highlands Youth Cycling Organization. I'm here tonight to formally request your support and approval of the memorandum of understanding regarding our mountain bike partnership. For the past several months, we have worked closely with your administration to ensure the agreement is thorough, safe, and aligned with the district's standards. By voting to approve this MLOU tonight, you are providing a new and unique platform for student growth. I urge your support of this partnership for three key reasons. First, expanding the athletic landscape. While many of our riders are already dedicated multiport athletes, mountain biking offers them a unique way to build endurance,
021focus, and grit. This pro program doesn't complete compete with traditional sports. It complements them helping us develop more versatile and resilient student athletes. Second, it's a turnkey partnership. We provide the coaching, the training protocols, and the structure. Thisou simply allows us to bridge the gap between our organization and the school community, ensuring the program is accessible to all students. Lastly, it leverages our region. We live in one of the most beautiful areas for outdoor recreation in the state. Approving thisou allows our students to use the lower highlands as their classroom, building character, resilience, and respect for our local environment. We believe this agreement protects the district's interest while providing a high value opportunity for our youth at no direct cost to the district budget. On behalf of the coaches, parents, and most importantly, the students
022ready to ride, I ask for your vote yes tonight to officially welcome Laurel Highland's Youth Cycling into the Ligonier Valley family. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our youth. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to reports. Mr. Secretary, >> this evening, >> Superintendent BS. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, Madam President. Thank you. Um, first an announcement piece. As most of you, I'm sure, are aware, we had to uh pivot our instruction tomorrow to remote learning. Um, while the um double digit uh wind negative uh double- digit negative uh wind chills are not unprecedented. It is somewhat even unusual for this area. And uh the reports we're getting is that it could be uh doubledigit negative wind chills as late as uh 10:30, 11:00 tomorrow morning. So, we appreciate the um the
023community's willingness to uh uh compromise our learning to a a a virtual realm um to maintain our instruction and uh more importantly the safety of uh children who might be outside for uh waiting on a bus. [clears throat] Next, um a prepared statement I have um uh happy new year to everyone. As we as we begin the new year, I would like to welcome our students, staff, and families back from winter break. The return to school has been positive and productive with classrooms quickly reestablishing routines and a renewed sense of energy across the district. I want to commend our teachers, administrators, and support staff for ensuring a smooth transition back for students and for maintaining a strong focus on learning safety and the well-being uh during these winter months. I would also like to reaffirm
024our district's commitment to on ongoing professional learning. On January 5th, our educators engaged in professional development focused on letters training and curriculum development. This work reflects our continued investment in strengthening instructional practices, deepening our understanding of literacy, and ensuring our curriculum lines with the needs of all students. I appreciate the dedication of our staff to continuous improvement and their willingness to engage in a meaningful professional growth that is a benefit for all students. January also provides an important opportunity to recognize and celebrate our board of school directors as part of school board appreciation month. I ex I extend my sincere gratitude to each of you for your dedication, leadership, and service to our school community. The role of a school director requires significant investment of time, thoughtful decision-making, and a commitment to doing what is
025best for students, oftentimes in complex and challenging circumstances. Your willingness to serve, engage in meaningful dialogue, and guide the district with care and responsibility, is deeply appreciated. As we move forward into the second half of the school year, I look forward to our continued collaboration and support of student success and district improvement. Thank you to our board, staff, community for your ongoing partnership and commitment to our schools. Please join me in a round of applause for our board of school directors. [applause] Madame President, that concludes my report. >> Thank you. >> Solicitor's report. >> I have nothing for public session, Madam President. LVA. My name is Linda Calp and I'm a teacher at Melon and I'm here representing the Ligonier Valley Education Association and we have some good news to and good things to report
026that are happening in our school district. At the elementary level, Mrs. Altimus and Miss Leier and their students at LVE have been engaging with the Discovery Dairy program. They built a barn in their classrooms to house an adopted cow named Daisy. It's really just a plush toy. The students take Daisy home each weekend and they record their interactions with Daisy. Discover Dairy is an interactive cross-cultural crosscurriculum multi-level lesson that meets Pennsylvania state education standards and anchors for science, math, and reading. The program also incorporates social studies concepts to show students where milk comes from and how dairy farms contribute to our world. And then Mr. and Mrs. Rensco have teamed up. Mr. Renco is an art teacher here at the high school and Mrs. Rensco is a kindergarten teacher and they teamed up on a
027project and it's called the monster exchange and it involves students from RK Melon and the senior high and the kindergarteners and Mrs. Rensco's room. They drew pictures of various monsters that they created and that they did that I think in October and and then the class the art students from the high school took those monsters and turned them into 3D objects and real monsters and then they got back together and they the children were very excited about the monsters that were created from their drawings. And at the secondary level in Mr. Blasco's AP government and politics course, students were offered enrichment opportunities to interact with their government and related linkage linkage institutions. Nathan Beachch had an op-ed published in the Tribune Review regarding the changes that were made to the food pyramid. Planning is underway
028for the prom. Students have been very busy and excited about springtime fun. So, even though it's subzero windchill, the prom is coming. And students have been rehearsing tirelessly for our high school spring musical, the Spongebob Squarepants musical, and it's sure to pack the house. And that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That is great. >> Director Brown, do you have a report on EWTC? >> Uh, yes. So, um it's been a cold couple of months, but um to start with, we had in of course this has to go back to November. Um one of our students was actually named um student of the month, Lucas Kger, who is a senior from our high school. He credits his successes to his family support and positive influence. The automotive technology student wrestles and plays
029football for the Ligon Valley Rams. He is a Ligoner Valley senior class president and this year's homecoming king. Lucas is a member of Skills USA and National Technical Honor Society EWCTC. He works at Patriot Village Nursing and Rehab in Somerset, PA, and worked as a lifeguard at Idawa Soak Zone last summer. After graduation, Lucas intends to join the Marines and become an aviation technician. A very impressive young man. Um, and of course, probably everybody knows him. He is in so much. But it really as our students from VOTE hit student of the month, it amazes me how much they do. These kids are busy busy busy and they lead in everything and I think that's a wonderful thing. Also, uh EWCTC earned the second and third places in linear spice it up competition. There were
030six competitors in the savory division. We won second place and 12 competitors in the sweet division and we won third place. So congratulations to the culinary team. And I don't know how many of you realize that we tried to get the information out as much as we could. Um the spaghetti dinner with Santa fundraiser that had been scheduled in December had gotten postponed. So they had two weeks ago they had the dinner with Frosty and I went over that. It was wonderful. They do such a good uh job at decorating. They had Frosty, they had face painting, um a very good meal, very good fundraiser. So please um just watch for the upcoming fundraisers and and be a part of them. It's if you haven't been to the vote to see what's happening over there,
031it it's an amazing thing and they're doing amazing things over there. So, please um support them and go and take a tour through the vote school. Thank you. Uh for the intermediate unit, uh there was no board meeting held in December. Uh but there was an executive session held on December 15th regarding a special education personnel issue. Uh I don't know if people remember but in November there was a board meeting. They came into the meeting and then they we left the meeting. We tabled everything. There are several ongoing issues. So the next meeting is on January 27th. And now we have this evening's public relations comments. Good evening. My name is Tyler Jones. I am a senior here at Ligonier Valley. I'm here tonight to talk about public relations within our school district. Three
032students re at LVHS recently taped hometown HighQ KDKA's televised quiz competition. Students Evan Lamont, Leam McCall, and Genevie Oggera competed against teams from Dair Area and Steel Valley High School. Their match will air on KDKA's channel 2 on Saturday, February 7th at 11:00 a.m. and again on February 14th at 11:30 a.m. Ligonier Valley High School's Interact Club had a busy December with many different activities. First, the students volunteered to ring the Bella Giant Eagle for the Salvation Army's red kettle bell program after school in two days. The students also visited Bethlin homes where they played games and interacted with the with the residents through sharing stories. In both elementary schools, the Interact Club created a Polar Express Day with many different activities for the first grade students. Finally, the students created over 200 Christmas cards
033for local veterans and nursing home residents. 32 members of the FBLA club completed the regional conference at IUP in December. This year we had 29 members qualifying for states. This is a record number of students. Many of our members not only complete competed by taking tests, but we also had a strong standing in the performance events. Some highlights include first place in the event planning presentation, first place in social media strategies presentation, and second place in broadcast journalism. We'll be attending the state competition in April and Hershey. LV Botchi update. Team black is off to a strong start at at three and 0 and currently sits alone in first place in the West Mormon North Division. Senior night is scheduled for January 22nd versus River Valley at 4:00. Now for Ligonier Valley Middle School. Ligonier
034Valley Middle School students participated in the annual fallathon to raise money for project gifts. Students raised almost $4,700. Student council members took this money and shopped for local assisted living residents for the holiday. The students provided snack baskets, toiletries, and insulated cups to the residents. The best part was the delivering of the gifts, and residents were treated to a few holiday songs sung by the student council members. Trooper Tristan Fay visited LVMS and spoke to the students about the risk of social media and how to stay safe. Her presentation included the effects of bullying and how being kind to one person c can be the support someone needs since you never know what someone is going through. Trooper Fay explained the legal ramifications associated with cyber bullying and how to appropriately use safe to say.
035LVMS students had some fun before leaving for the holiday break by participating in Minute to Win It Games, making a craft, and cheering on the teachers in the gym during the teacher games. After returning home for the holiday break, the LVMS cheerleaders hosted the winter dance, which was held on Friday, January 9th at 2026. Now for RK Melon. RK Melon Life skills students have been extending their classroom learning through CBI, community- based instruction trips. These trips held the students practice level help the students practice level or practice real world skills in the actual environments that they may encounter. The goal of these trips is to help students build independence, improve social and communication skills in the community, and practice safety skills in the natural environment. The RK Melon Life Skills students had have visited K's
036Farm to select pumpkins for Halloween. Ligonier Giant Eagle to purchase food for a class Thanksgiving meal. The Dollar General to practice thinking of others needs by purchasing a gift for a peer within a set budget. And the Diamond Theater of Ligonier to practice purchasing tickets at a movie theater and building independence through you through using local community resources. RKM fifth grade students participated in hands-on gingerbread house project that integrated creativity, problem solving, and collaboration through planning, building, and decorating. The students applied math skills such as measurement and spatial reasoning while practicing preservance and attention to detail. The project also encouraged creativity and self-expression as each designed reflect on the individual ideas and throughout or thoughtful craftsmanship along with research. This engaging activity fostered a joyful learning environment while reinforcing academic and social skills aligned within
037our curriculum goals. RK Melon students who earned enough RAM bucks will be able to participate in January's PBIS reward at the end of the month. The theme for this reward is Blizzard Bash. Students will rotate through various activities such as an indoor snowball battle, snowball target toss, and a musical a musical snowball game. To earn enough RAM bucks, students must exhibit qualities of RAM promise, respect matters, act responsible, act responsible, make honest choices, and show cooperation. And finally for Laurel Valley Elementary School, LVE was excited to have visitors from the high school for numerous activities through January. First graders were able to participate were able to enjoy Polar Express activities with the Interact Club. Spanish students led by Senora Fry got the students in the Christmas spirit by joining our students at lunch and singing
038Christmas carols with the students. The students want to send a special thanks to Jada and Simeon Pope for sharing their Christmas story, Chaos for Christmas. With them complete their own illustrations, Mrs. Krauss at Mrs. Krauss and the LVE PTO are grateful for the help of the Linger Valley High School and NHS students, council members for the help at the PTO Christmas store. Our high school students were great leaders and friends to our students or were great leaders and friends to our students helping them, wrapping their gifts and entertaining any conversations that came their way. Multiple students com commented on how much fun they had spending with the big kids. This was the second year LVE used merchandise from our local crafters selling at the store, furthering develop our relationship with community and supporting small businesses.
039All proceeds from the Christmas store go right back to the students to provide them with fun, engaging experiment experiences throughout the school year. LVE participated in the book blast for the second year and had their launch day before the winter break. Students earned rewards for inviting friends and family to donate to the book blast. At the end, each student receives at least one book regardless of how many donations they received. Our goal was 55% participation and we were able to reach 49% with numerous student receiving 10 numerous students receiving 10 books. The book blast has been a great program that helps support literacy at both school and at home. Mrs. Oats and the PBIS committee would like to thank Ligonier Valley Education Trust for providing a grant to allow the teacher or to allow the
040opportunity for teacher-led sessions for the November reward. Children were able to sign up for a session of their choice. This was so much there was so much positive feedback from this event that we are able or hope to do it again. Connections were made between the students and staff. One student discovered that she loves to crochet and was able to learn from Mrs. Columbus. The K4 students had different stations from had different stations from which to choose. These fifth graders volunteered to host the sessions and be role models during this time. One student and his father even built a special puppet theater for the children to use. These connections are vital to school success and principal Marabida would like to take a moment to share and thank the entire staff at LVE for being so
041positive on this adventure. A huge thank you goes to the Ligonier Valley Education Trust for their support as well. We could not have done this without the generous grant. LVE had dancing, an escape room, and various craft drawings and fishing, yoga, and Buddha boards, games, tie-dye, and trick shots and exercise. This was literally something for everyone. LVE would like to thank the following groups for their help to make a make Christmas a special time for some of our families in need. Sheets, the New Florence Lions Club, the Brandon J. Boyd Memorial Fund, First Baptist Church in Seward, Faith Lutheran Church in Clyde, and the Ligonier American Legion, and multiple staff members. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We are now going to move into our regular agenda items for this evening's meeting, starting with building
042and grounds from directors Fryman and Nup. Um, >> do we have any motions that need pulled for discussion? Hearing none, I make a motion for BO126. >> Second. Brown. >> Having a motion and a second. All those in favor of the building grounds agenda item BO26, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Agenda item passes. Finance Committee directors Rodotti and Brown. >> Are there any motions that need pulled for discussion under finance? >> Hearing none, I motion to approve FO1-26 through FO6-26. >> Second. No. >> Having a motion and a second, all those in favor of finance agenda items FO126 through FO726, please indicate by saying I. >> I. Any opposed? Finance agenda items pass. >> Mr. Secretary, I'm going to ask for a roll call vote on the next one. I
043make a motion to approve FO7-26. >> Second. No. >> No. Mr. >> No. >> Mrs. Hutchinson. >> No. >> Mr. Nup. >> No. >> Mrs. Croml. >> No. >> Mrs. Robotti. >> No. >> Mr. Stephy. It's on motion 4 F-07-26. >> No. >> Okay. Motion does not carry. There's no nine. Nine. No votes. >> Educational programs directors Fryman and Nup. >> Are there any motions that need pulled for discussion? >> I'd like to pull E-4-26, please. >> Any other motions? Okay. I make a motion to approve EO126 through EO326 and then EO526 through EO626. Second >> Brown. Sorry. [laughter] >> Having a motion and a second. All in favor of items EO126 through EO326, EO526, and EO626, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Those education item agenda items pass. >> Are
044we going to meet? >> Okay. Um I I apologize for this. I told Chris yesterday I apologize for this coming in late. Um it had to do with the holidays and um the confusion of the committee the whole meeting. Um as the EO4-26 is to approve um the new two courses, cyber security 1 and cyber security 2 and I had to go and I I know we carry those programs over at VOTE. So I sent the I had to wait for the agenda to become which is this is why I had to wait for so long. I had to wait for it to become public so that I could send it to uh Mr. Wymer so that he could send it on to the professor at WCCC who teaches cyber security. Um so that's why
045I took so long um and found out that this course totally duplicates what we do at VOTE. Now I'm not saying that we don't need to do this here. What I'm saying is that I think I'd like to have a little bit more time um because of course there are costs. uh it is a duplicate program and I think we need to seriously concentrate a little bit more on getting um alternate math and especially science courses in the high school um for the alternates for our CTC kids and our non college um going um students. So uh with that I'm asking if we can I don't know table it for a month or two and then have a presentation or or something. She'd like to make a motion to table. >> Is that or do
046we what if other people have comments? >> Well, go right ahead. >> Okay. Well, will this impact scheduling uh decision making? >> It's a fall class, so I wouldn't know how. >> Okay. >> I mean, I might be wrong. Anybody out there have a comment who's here from the Okay. So, if we would have a decision for you by February. >> Yes. Okay. Okay. So, we can't put off till March. So, that means we're Okay. All right. Got it. You could either table or take no action. And we no action, we could put it on for next month. >> Either way, >> what? Whatever you need to do. >> Probably easier just to take no action. >> Take no. >> Next, we'll move to personnel with directors Fitchwell and Crumbl. >> Are there any motions
047that need pulled for discussion? Hearing none, I make a motion to approve items P 0126 through P0726. >> Second, Robodati. >> Having a motion and a second, all those in favor of personnel agenda items PO126 through PO726, please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Are any opposed? Education agenda items pass. Supplemental contracts. Directors Fitchwell and Crumbl [clears throat] >> I'd like to bring up so >> that was >> 126 so 326 for supplemental contracts for assistant boys track coach Roger Beetle marching band director Austin Stephy high school varsity football coach as a renewal Roger Beetle and uh High School Musical Kelly Steffy and also High School Musical Allison Stephy. >> Okay. I believe we need to do motions SO126 through SO326 >> first. >> Second, Hutchinson. >> Okay. Having a motion, a second on
048items SO126 through SO326. Please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Agenda items SO126 through SO326. Passes. [snorts] >> Madam President, we could probably do 60426 and 602526 with the same first and seconds. I know there will be an abstension. That's all. We need to note there. We only have to do roll call. We could just note it on each one. >> Okay. Do they need to make the motion? >> Somebody has to make the motion. >> You can't do it. >> Five. >> Somebody else from that committee has to do it. >> I don't have those. >> Jen, can you read them? >> Jen. Yeah, I'll read them. Okay. Okay. I make a motion to approve SO426 through SO526 with the names Austin Steffy man marching band director Kelly Stephy and Allison
049Stephy High School Musical. >> Second [clears throat] >> having a motion and a second. All in favor of SO526 and SO626 please indicate by saying I >> I >> opposed. >> And there should be an obception. >> Should be statue. Yeah. >> One obception. Okay. Education agenda items pass. >> Athletic committee directors Hutchinson and Stephie. Okay. Are there any motions that need pulled for discussion? >> Hearing none. I'd like to make a motion for A0126 through A0426. >> That's different. >> Second. Brown. Having a motion and a second of items AO126 through AO426. Please indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Items pass. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve A0526 in the name of Allison Stephy for marching band. >> Second. No. >> Having a motion and a second. All
050those in favor of item AO526, please indicate by saying I. I. I >> there should be one. >> One extension. Second. >> Any noted? >> Item A526 passes. >> Transportation attendance. Committee directors Hutchinson and Stephy. >> Are there any motions at NEO for discussion? [cough] Hearing none, I'd like to make a motion for TA0126 through TA0226. >> Second up. Having a motion and a second. All in favor of TAO126 and TAO226, please indicate by saying I. >> Are there any opposed? Items TA126 and TAO226 passes. Policy legal committee directors Brown and Rody. >> Okay. Are there any motions that need to be pulled for discussion? Hearing none, I make a motion to approve P0726. >> Second and up. >> Having a motion and a second, all in favor of item P7-26, please indicate by saying
051I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Agenda item P726 passes. >> No one signed up for the hearing of the citizens non-aggenda items. Is there anyone who would like to speak? >> That's okay. >> Good evening. My name is Mark Hamilton. I reside in Cook Township. My apologies for not recognizing that there's a sign of procedure. I'll keep my uh comments brief. We have a national football game to all watch at 7:30 tonight. So, I'll get out of your hair. We were all treated to a uh modern-day version of A Christmas Carol at the reorganizational meeting of December 2. Mr. Fitchwell provided uh his view of Christmas's past with snippets from the past, most of which were directed to our police department. Mr. Fryman gave his vision for the future, which was basically a very positive
052one, uh signaling his intent, and I'm sure the intent of all of you as you begin these new terms, uh to enhance the educational experience of our children. Thank you for that noble effort. I wanted to just make a few observations tonight. Uh continuing in the vein of what Mr. Fryman offered. First, an observation that I think we all share. We live in a very unique and a very special community. And one of the features that makes it so special and so unique is what a great place it is to raise children. Next, on a broader scale, we live in a very mobile society. Unlike our parents and grandparents who lived and grew up in the same town or burrow or city, this population due to a number of factors makes choices. Makes choices of
053where they live and uh that does not confine them to where they work. and uh they make those choices on a number of uh levels and with a number of factors and one of them is what's going to be a great educational environment for their kids. And so I'm just asking that as we go through the year that we don't follow the example that we see so much on a national basis and that is that public forums are used to divide people to argue to be divisive in in a number of ways. I just ask that as you pursue your noble um callings here on behalf of our children and on behalf of our community, realize that with the social media that we have and that every comment publicly made, whether it be at a
054school board, a burrow, or a township meeting made on behalf of elected officials, is looked upon by people who have that mobility and can make a decision and a choice of where they want to live. And the continued success of this community to be unique and to be special for our children, I think depends in part on people making a choice to make Ligonier their home. Finally, just sharing from a personal point of view, my family was fortunate enough to be able to make that choice a few years ago. Although we've had a home here in the valley for going on 40 years, we only made it our permanent home in 2018. And we did that at a time that coincided with our daughter going into the ninth grade. and my wife made the wise
055decision that summer to involve her in the girls volleyball program knowing that was her interest. And so I'll share with you a uh quick story that came when she we were at the dinner table that uh first day after her first day at school uh that fall. How was it? Well, you'll never believe it, Mom. Some of the girls from the volleyball team met me at the front door and welcomed me to the school. And then some of the other ones met me at the lunch table and showed me where their lockers were and told me if I needed anything that I could always go there. And some of those girls were even upper classmen. And then she ended with that would have never happened in Mount Lebanon. Now, as we all know, Mount Lebanon's
056a pretty darn good school district, and that's where we came from. And that was not meant to criticize Mount Lebanon, but rather to showcase what a unique and special community we have here in Ligonier. So, I just wanted to share that with you. I've never been in front of this board before and I thought the new year gave me that opportunity to share that and uh and to thank you for your service and have a good evening. >> Thank you. So now, um, we're going to move on to school, uh, board director comments, but we're going to start off with something that I'm happy to inform the community that the board has established goals for ourselves for the 2526 school year. And I will defer to the individual committees to report on their goals themselves,
057starting with the government's committee. >> Okay, [laughter] so goals. Um, hold on. I just had it in front of me here. Okay. So, Cindy and I met uh last week and we decided this is um our two goals is to establish a routine policy review and legal compliance updates. So, what that means is on a regular cadence, we need to be looking at our policies based probably on a riskbased approach. Which ones need reviewed annually annually or every couple years? So, we're going to develop a policy for reviewing all of them. There's there's a lot of how many policies would you say? >> 315. >> Okay. [laughter] And then the next one is board oversight and approval procedures. So, since we no longer are affiliated with PSBA, we need to establish a system of policy
058review and what that looks like. In addition, that process may in involve exploring diligent communities andor PSBA. So, we're looking for data when we are looking through this policy approval process to see, you know, what makes sense um based on qualitative and qual quantitative information. >> Thank you. Next will be human resources committee. >> Sorry, you just making a note here. Okay. So, Robert and I met I forget when it was a few weeks ago. >> I'm sorry. >> Ignore me. >> Okay. So, we met and we discussed um several human resource um conversations or issues that we had felt were important to address. And we came up with two um guidelines that we wanted to work on. one was to develop standardized um procedures for administration to follow whenever they're creating a process um
059to basically when we're talking about accolades for employees. Um we'd like to see some sort of recognition whenever there's um good things to celebrate instead of always the bad. And we also talked about um being board members being able to submit personal accolades as well or concerns that we wanted to talk about. Um we both have something that we wanted to we felt that we both had something that we wanted to really um focus on. Um, mine was specifically that I'd like to see um administration um and put something so that there's an evaluation from the top down. So for Mr. Moles, he evaluates his staff and on and on and on. But I'd like to see it go all the way down to even our janitorial staff just, you know, everybody needs to know,
060are you doing a good job, are you doing a bad job, thank you for what you're doing, or let's try to improve on this. Um, as I understand it, I don't think that happens all the way down. So, that was just something that we were discussing that we'd like to try to implement to include everybody in that process. That's what I have >> to go [clears throat and snorts] along with that. Uh, I think we need to establish a a job description for all employees. Uh, that's a tool. Then uh as far as making evaluations, um secondly, I'd like to uh establish getting involved with exit interviews. If an employee is leaving the district for whatever reason, I think we need to know that and that may be giving us guidance either with uh in
061a positive manner or a negative manner, but we need to know those things. That's that concludes what we were talking about. >> Next is the student success and facilities committee. >> Okay. So, our two goals that Dr. Dr. Fryman and I have established our the creation of a long-term facilities and capital improvement plan. And I know um Eric and Ed have been working diligently on this over the last several months and hopefully we can get um a preliminary uh presentation next week. >> Probably want to present it to you uh the committee first this two and hopefully we can get a date next week. I talked to uh Mr. Sutter and uh Mr. Mole so hopefully we can get a date scheduled next week. >> Okay, perfect. And then our other one is the creation
062of a district assets list for building and grounds. So an example of this would be um back in October the district was going looking to buy a lawn mower and a lot of board members had a question of you know what we have and what we don't have. So this asset list will hopefully um provide clarity for that. So thank you. And also um Miss Boyd at the end um Dr. Fman has a comment too. So I don't know if you have are we doing board comments? Go ahead. >> Okay, you can go ahead now. >> So far uh it's the student um success of facilities. You've heard facilities uh what we're looking at here for success as a goal with what uh Eric has been talking about with MTSS uh which I spent a
063good bit of time over the weekend reading up on. But I really were uh excuse me uh MJ and I are looking forward to looking at the data to see what has been gathered so far particularly in regards to reading. Reading is a fundamental uh element in the school district which we as a um committee want to enhance and looking at the MTSS data and looking at what patterns you have you have seen will help us uh develop plans to find out what programs we need to enhance and what types of personnel positions we need to provide funding for so that we can get our students up to that level of reading that they need to be successful. What is >> multi-tered system? >> Multi-tered support system >> support system, right? And basically what it
064looks at is uh how do you it's really a very interesting uh um system from what I've seen where you're looking at how do you uh are providing to make sure that 80% of your population is actually at the level that you want and then uh the u remaining 20% in smaller groups are the ones that you reallocate um additional resources and time and and and commitment to which is actually I think a very very good uh good uh good program from what I've seen so far. And Eric, since you're nodding your head there, I'm assuming that I gave the correct u the correct summary. Okay, thank you. >> Next is the student success committee. >> Okay, the first one we're going to be working on is to develop a procedure and the criteria for
065families requesting exemption from the participation fee. um the particip I can't remember when the school district adopted that, but from the time there were participation fees um as part of a part of what we do here, um it was underwritten by the Ligon Valley School District Foundation. So, in looking at this uh procedure and so on, we need to also talk to the foundation to be sure they're willing to continue underwriting those fees when it's necessary to do so. So, that'll be part of the process we we follow. And then secondly we will be to develop a policy defining the selection process for coaches, assistant coaches and volunteer coaches because we have the three categories within within our um athletic process. Thank you. You >> are there any other school board director comments? >> I
066have one. >> I just I just want to make comment we lost a uh good friend Darwin Campbell this week. So this past week and some of you may remember that he was a middle school basketball coach quite some time ago. He coached our youngest son who will be 38. Yeah. Anyhow, so I just wanted to let you know he he was part of the community and he he coached basketball. So that's all >> I would I have a comment and Mr. Sylvester, thank you for coming tonight to speak to us. uh thank you through the process of requesting the cycling to become part of the program of the Lunar Valley School District that it doesn't cost us anything but it provides a great opportunity for our student athletes to do that and also your
067expertise in putting together theou that clearly defined all the uh bits and pieces. I don't think our legal council had to do anything to except rubber stamp it. How about that? So, thank you very much. We appreciate that. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay. Uh I would just like to make a comment that I am very impressed with all the board members reaching out and working with one another. It starts with us and I hope that by us working together and leading by example, it trickles down. I will say um I would like to thank the principles for taking us on the tours of the schools. Um the buildings were I was extremely impressed with the um elementary school classrooms didn't look like that when I went to school and it was they were inviting
068classrooms. It's nice to see the students decorating here in the high school. It was just very refreshing to see. It's just not what we're all used to and it's something new and inviting. Um in addition now I'll say the future dates and activities. February 9th, the Ligoner Valley School District Administration Building will be our committee of the whole agenda setting meeting. I promise you it will not be as long as the last one. February 16th here at the high school 5:15 executive session 6 pm committee of the whole immediately followed by the regular board meeting. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move second. >> Meeting adjourned at 7:06 p.m.