001okay [Music] so I hereby call tonight's meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the tribe of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all [Music] let me uh preface thank you tonight's meeting with this is the first night that we have our new agenda I'm missing the first page already I I'll look up a SS oh you took mine okay Ive Mr secretary can we have our roll call please yes m brown here here Mr here Mr here Mr here Mr here Mr here uh just a note um Miss Bennett did notify me that she was unable to make tonight's meeting and unfortunately unable to uh join us via Zoom or any other method
002because they have no power at their location they're out there by 2 mile run I'm not sure if anybody heard the scanners going nuts yesterday but that that area got hit pretty pretty bad so that's why I know Miss Bennett's not here tonight Mrs H is not here she has her husband is very very ill oh that's that's very that's not good to hear thank you thank you um Mr secretary can we have an executive session report from the dates and times yes uh there was an executive session held uh February 28th 2025 from 9:10 in the morning to 10:34 in the morning uh to talk about contracts another one was held March 5th from 6 p.m to 8:55 p.m. regarding uh Personnel act 93 and professionals and there was one this evening before the
003meeting March 17th from 5:15 to 6:07 regarding regarding contracts and security thank you very much are there any motions that need amended or added to tonight's meeting our first session of public comment is for either amended or agenda items only and I have one from Christy Boyd please [Music] good evening uh during the October 14th 2024 school board meeting motion e 3524 which sought approval for the district District trauma informed care plan was tabled with no action taken when the item did not appear on the November agenda I followed up after the November legal policy committee meeting by sending an email on November 15th 2024 asking about the status of the plan I was informed that it had been pulled due to concerns from some board member directors and that it was being sent back
004to the educational programs committee for further discussion at that time I was told the committee chair would be scheduling a meeting to review it at the January board meeting I inquired whether whether following the December organiz reorganization meeting the item was still under director nups perview or if it had shifted to the new committee chair director Vel I was told it was now director vel's responsibility however at the January 30th 2025 legal policy committee meeting if you watch the video at timestamp 9 minutes 25 seconds I once again asked for the status update at that time director V stated he had spoke with the superintendent and then Director of Education and was awaiting a hard copy of the policy given this timeline I have the following questions why is this issue not outlined in the
005followup on previous agenda section it was stated during the October 4th 2024 education program committee meeting that this policy was necessary for the district to apply for future PCC pccd grants if this plan is essential for securing funding why has there been no urgency in addressing it and are we at risk of losing These funds moving forward no answer no I didn't know what you want me to do you want me to answer that one and you're going to keep going okay um one that we're not in the timeline's fine otherwise I mean that was one of those things I double checked on uh two I intended in that particular meeting I you were there for um the policy meeting to get into that the policy meeting ran long my meeting by the time we
006got that up we just weren't able to do it um so I intend to have another meeting that we'll we'll go through that uh it's a relatively small it's not going to it's not a huge thing in terms of um being able to go through it resolve any of the concerns um so yeah there'll be a meeting coming up that we'll be able to do that and the timing uh is fine according to Mr caner okay um so at that meeting you had stated that you needed to get a hard copy of the policy um did you not get it in the October meeting I don't recall it I have a hard copy of in my bag I believe yeah we I've had a hard copy of I don't recall asking for one if I
007did um I have one in my bag right now okay and then I think it's here all right next question is um have you completed the 5H hour training required under act 55 of 2017 and act 2000 act 18 of 2019 per pa.gov this training was to compl be completed by the first Monday in December 2024 I have asked about this on separate occasions and in January you stated that you were working with the solicitor to complete however I must ask now and I'm not throwing daggers but um is the solicitor approved by the state to provide this training because it is a state mandated and um if you have not completed this training um I ask that because it includes a section specifically on the trauma informed care and how can you lead that
008if you haven't completed that training um I have not completed the training I started I should have probably went a little faster because when we got out of psba that I was taking it through psba um it was pretty basic Elementary stuff it's new Schoolboard training I've got far more experience with trauma based care than you'll ever get out of that training trust me um far more than I ever would want um so I think I can probably do just fine in terms of working with the board and uh talking about the trauma plan but I appreciate that uh I did talk briefly with the solicitor a while ago about an option possible there and um and that's this is on me but with everything going on I I dropped I just let that go
009so I could pick that back up and find out if that's an option uh if not I try to figure out where I get that training somewhere else okay so this policy that I'm speaking of directly impacts the well-being of our students and staff yet it's been stalled for months you say you're working on it so that's great moving forward i' would like to know if we could have a timeline for when the plan will be reviewed finalized and brought back for vote and assurance that all necessary stepss are being taken to secure future PCD pccd grant funding and then also confirmation when you complete the training chrisy can I handle that one H because I know that from policy before um this plan is nothing that we aren't already doing and if Mr Canter
010was here he would tell you that and I believe he has already said that before this plan is nothing that we are not doing in bits and segments and everything that we're doing throughout the district it's just that has never been put into one comprehensive package to be be able to to be turned in and titled the trauma informed care plan right so and and you know I I pulled that there's some things in there um I'm just going to give you one of them you know there there's a line in there that says that our bus our bus AIDS will have training and there's this whole list of things and I'm like wait a minute we number one we're not carrying that out how are we going to do that so I didn't want
011to put that plan through until I got to talk you know tweet ironed that out and we talked to Dave and and we have been trying to get other you know we have been doing other trainings we just had a two-person transfer training up at rkm on last Tuesday um we've had other trainings that you know they uh Mr Neer had down at the at the high school so we're still doing the trainings Christie it's just that we with everything that's going on and everything that we've done with we have just not been able to conel on getting the plan finished but you know like and you know Mr Maran said that we don't need that for this year because everything that was attached to that plan has been in for this year we don't
012need it till next September we will have it done by then we will have it done and finished it's just that you know we would have had it done had our meeting not run ay on the 28th with the change of status of our Administration okay thank you I I probably should have clarified the timing on it is pretty far out it's not a state requirement and it's not holding up anything in terms of Grants it's um I think at some point this does become required down the like years down the road maybe I don't know I heard I'm just concerned because it's a large Grant and moving forward I believe that um Mr Moran had said it's needed next time so you know and if you remember what he said it wasn't he said
013it's needed he said we just stand a better chance of getting the grant which I agree that everybody does right if you have those plans in place but again you know that those uh Grant companies Christy they want you to have like I said this isn't anything that we haven't been doing in each and every individual little faction it's just that they want it all conel into that one plan but again I didn't want to send something in in a plan that we weren't doing right I I wanted to make sure that it was totally covered and because it covered Transportation it covered our bus a I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay when we sent it all in okay thank [Music] you for old business I ask for a motion for
014the approval be given to the February 10th 202 five Committee of the whole meeting as well as the minutes from the February 10th regular board meeting a move second having a motion in a second I ask that those in favor indicate by saying I I are there any opposed the motion carries under new business we have a duplicate it's okay um reports Mr secretary I have to thank you uh we currently do not have a superintendent report however I will ask uh Justin do you have anything for the good of the meeting I do not have all right thank you Mr Mata solicitors report please I'd only like to mention one item um as we know there would uh we had been looking into a number of items um with our new uh director of
015special ed in the district he and I have been collaborating over the last month or maybe a little bit less than a month I'm not sure how long ago he started now um to make some modifications to the special ed Department uh because of what uh the district had had me look or the board had had me looking into previously um at our next month meeting uh the uh director of special ed and myself will be giving a report on some of the uh new uh direction that uh we're making modifications to that section of the the uh uh Academic Program here the lioner valley Education Association Miss Doris do you have anything I do I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the board for their collaborative efforts with Administration and teachers um
016we appreciate that our voices are being heard uh we also wanted to thank the ad hoc committee for spearheading the process by which the science curriculum was recently Chosen and we hope that this process continues moving forward as we choose what's best for the students so we just wanted to thank you for everything you've been doing thank you you guys are the ones that are the boots on the ground we're our report from over at ewctc all righty so we have a lot going on this past month so uh ewctc was awarded the Pennsylvania Department of education's competitive equipment Grant so they they will be receiving $85,000 that will be used to purchase an atch 670 injector fuel pump trainer and the Mustang Automotive chassis diomer for our automotive technology program and Miller Dynasty TI
017welders for our welding technology program which Donnie is really excited about the Cary these items will istant our mission of providing state-ofthe-art equipment to our students and maintaining our status as a model CTC in the state of Pennsylvania um under fundraisers on Saturday March 29th the ewctc and THS students will be sponsoring their breakfast with the Easter Bunny fundraiser besides breakfast there will be photos with the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunt kering books 50/50 face painting hair chalk and tinsil and a basket raffle tickets must be purchased in advance and there will be no Walkins this is a sell out every year so if you're going to take your kiddos you need to the tickets are $20 a person this event will run from 9 to 11: a.m. um please over call over to
018votech or email Heather CER at ewctc for that information uh then of course we mentioned the car show that's going to be coming up on when is that April 26th 26 yep um so let's see he has a note make to get your stuff in car show raffle if you're going to take any baskets over um just pray for good weather although this date this year they do have a rain date set up so that's good and they're asking for advanced reservations for that and that information is on the ewctc website as well to uh do Advanced registration right and this year so in in uh January they had the skills USA competition um and that marked the beginning of the state competitions participants had to earn a first place designation at the district level
019and I'm not going to go through we had 11 students between the three schools place out but I just want to mention um Ours from leaner Valley so in video production uh shye beard and Natalie Kels won first place so they will be going on um to States and enrollment is up enrollment is way up yep Y and they're thinking about starting a race car team over at the an automotive that would be awesome that would be awesome yeah drag racing team so well with all the good things that are happening over at ewctc I'm sure Joe has nothing to say about the IU oh well uh we did have a a meeting on on the 25th uh nothing super exciting the one thing is this whole controversy with the policy uh committee and all
020that uh was settled with a compromise there will at least be some oversight of policies um we'll see how that works out let about as good as we could do for those of us that wanted it the two of us the entire 17 people um the the other is these these go out the agendas and then the minutes and I circulate the minutes uh the board and stuff anybody ever has any questions about what's going on up the IU uh feel free to email me uh also um the other thing that keeps getting turned down up there is filming we want to have the meetings filmed so it's easier for everybody to to attend or see and they that's another thing that majority of the board for whatever reason doesn't want to do um but
021I do have one I want to share I thought was pretty cool I'm going to come out and around think everybody can hear me U so we have on the students so you all understand how the I Works number set schools and they have a school for severe special needs called CL and each of the school districts have students they they go there uh ler has one but each of those students they made some made one of these for their respective board members up there and so what I got in this was at my where I sit this is from our isab one student that we have and I don't know I just thought that was super cute and that was pretty cool so anybody wants to see it close I'll have it down just
022want to share it's very cool thank you Joe oh it's awesome um Miss Bennett's not here so uh Mrs Brown's going to do the public relations information tonight all right and again it's a busy busy month so um this is public relations for board meeting March 17th 2025 so lier Valley High School the lier Valley High School School Roc recently had a unit inspection the unit received an overall rating of exceeds standards which is the highest rating possible during the inspection the cadetes were assessed on marching Keller guard performance and uniform inspection the cadets also provided the inspector with a unit briefing the cadets to be commended for their hard work as off as off of their Endeavors as a lot of their Endeavors paid off during inspection and I don't know if you saw
023the pictures on Facebook but they were amazing very very sharp sharp sharp group of kids uh the unified bot team recently wrapped up their season at the Three Rivers unified bot Regional championships the team finished in sixth place out of eight teams and the student athletes are to be commended on a great season that was great for second year very proud of those kids the following student athletes signed Collegiate letters and we wish them the best on their future endeavors Ashlin Leon signed to continue her hockey career at Robert mois University and Gabby Palmer signed to continue her cross country and track and fill career with alany college which is just amazing good girls Jake Mand took sixth place in the wpia individual wrestling championship Jay John jablonski Hunter Carr and Sam Codwell were recently
024selected to represent lioner Valley in the 54th Ken L finest 40 All-Star football game the players will be representing lioner Valley High School on June 13th 2025 in the game that would be played at Johnstown Trojan Stadium so please mark that date on your calendars I think You' want to get there it's going to be exciting the lioner Valley Football boosters sponsored a powerlifting competition at lioner Valley high school on March 1st 2025 the event revived the rage in the valley powerlifting competition which was held annually over 30 years ago at the YMCA there were both male and female representatives from eight different school districts that participated in the event lier Valley captured the overall Team Championship the students enrolled with the ewctc service occupation program continue to expand their skills in the workplace recent
025events include a trip to Legion Keener park for spring cleaning that allowed the students to practice learn skills in a new setting while helping the community introductory lessons in restaurant and hotel industry that taught the group how to polish and roll silverware table setting and towel folding students toured the centus factory where they saw commercial laundry services in production students also learned how to properly fold an American flag and the rules for the flag and if again if you're on Facebook those pictures It's amazing And and you know sometimes I think we think that these kids you know are they love it you know they always have Smiles on their face and that's what I said to uh Mr wymer when I went to votech last month these kids really enjoy doing what they're doing
026and I know I was talking to one of the bus AIDS um she was telling me about you know running the kids back and forth and we have a boy that's in a wheelchair and I'm like well what what can he do and she said believe me or not he sweeps he does all kinds of stuff so I just think it's it's that uh service occupations is a great program over there and at the middle school lier Valley Middle School recently celebrated kindness week the sixth grade students participated in a meaningful kindness challenge because students come from two different elementary schools many did not know each other well unless they were in the same class together to help build connections each student randomly selected a classmates's name and took the time to learn more about
027them they discovered fun facts such as their favorite color whether they have pets or siblings their talents and even special childhood memories along with this activity students also participated in kindness bingo bingo which encouraged them to interact with more peers and practice acts of kindness throughout the week to conclude the event they celebrated with popcorn and hot chocolate a special thank you to leer Valley education trust latro sheets Jersey mics and P penda learning for their generous donations that made this event possible through these activities students not only had fun but also formed new friendships making our school community even stronger the kindness challenge was a great success also as we build community with school pride the middle school also recognizes the developmental importance of integrating both physical activity and social interaction to support these
028needs we are incorporating optional movement breaks during lunch oh boy the movement breaks will take place during the last 10 minutes of each Lunch Period on a 3-day rotation student groups will be offered the option of participating in a supervised movement break at the end of their lunch period to engage in light physical activities as a result we hope to foster a positive balanced school day for our students I'll bet you those lunch break teachers are going to be tired the end of day and at both the Laura Valley and Arc melon elementary schools during the month of February both elementary schools participated in the annual American Heart Association fundraiser Jump Rope for Heart students jumped rope during Mr lender's physical education classes and learned important heart health information Laura Valley and arcade melon elementary
029schools raised over $1,300 for the American Heart Association Mr lender would like to thank the lvsd community for their generous donations way to go guys it's a lot of jumping sounds good Mrs crumel building and grounds doesn't have any motions for tonight do you have any public meeting schedule uh we do not have a public meeting scheduled yet however we were discussing potential having a meeting on April 1st once the bids have been submitted I do have a message from Ed Suter who is our um building and ground supervisor and he wanted me to report that the glass Erectors repaired the window while at the middle school this is the entry near the cafe it was detached at the top and causing the doors to not close and latch properly uh they the repaired and
030replaced the stage and aisle lights in the High School auditorium ordered wall padding for the sensory room at lve it will be installed when it arrives repaired and service mowing equipment ordered infield mix for the baseball field aerated the football field in preparation for the top dressing on March 20th preparing track field event equipment and turning the water on at Weller field these are just some of the things that have been going on and wanted to let me know to report with the Community that's great thanks for that information and we were fortunate today that uh there was a staff development meeting because otherwise we would have had some major issues at uh rkm and at the middle school because of the storms uh losing power up on top of the hill and internet access
031and such so I guess we kind of got lucky so Mr Stephy finance committee please yeah okay any motions in need pulled for discussion I'd like to make a motion to approve f725 through f222 second having a motion and a second for those agenda items those who are in favor please indicate by saying I I are there any opposed those motions carry Mr V educational programs please sure um it terms of meeting you're asking I what I try to do is piggyback on another so everybody's kind of already there so I'm just like either maybe jens's or um uh Cindy's not having a policy meeting this month I try to group them together everybody's there at one time so as soon as uh soon as I can I'll get that out uh some information wow
032this is getting real real close to where I need glasses um Joe I got I can do it I can do it this probably the last one I can do Noah glunk student at College will observe Tyler kosis at lioner Valley high school during the spring semester of 2025 uh Aaron Mund men mondorf a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will observe Roger Bal at lier Valley high school during the semester spring semester of 2025 uh Lauren heisen Roth a pre-student teacher at St Vincent College will be placed with Clint Mullen at lioner Valley Middle School during the fall semester of 2025 uh Katherine Campbell priest student teacher at St Vincent College uh will be placed with Courtney Sylvio at RK melon elementary school during the fall semester of 2025 um Molly Hudson pre student
033teacher at St Vincent College will be placed with Ryan podlucky at liger Valley Middle School during the fall semester of 2025 are there any motions that need pulled for discussion I'd like to make a motion to approve e525 through e925 second which one you going to go with her okay that's fine this is good having a motion in a second for the uh items listed under educational programs all those in favor please indicate by saying I I are there any opposed those motions carry the Personnel committee which was uh Miss Bennett do you want me to do that or you want I I can take okay um are there any motions that need pulled for discussion hearing none I motion to approve p1325 through p1825 second having a motion and a second for the items
034listed 13 through 18 those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed those motions carry I motion to approve that approval will be given to appoint Emory darkangelo as interim Superintendent at an hourly rate of $150 with a daily cap of $650 effective March 18th 2025 second Motion in a second for the interim superintendent please in indicate by saying I I are there any opposed motion carries I motion that approval be given to the hiring of the following substitute for the 2024 2025 school year contingent upon the personel personnel office receiving all necessary clearance documents with no violations prior to employment with the District of Carri Wells for custodian Terry oh sorry Terry Wells sorry Terry Carol sorry Terry Kels I totally did that backwards as custodian okay we have a second by MJ
035all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed athletic committee volunteer or to I'll fill in for Arma are there any motions that being pulled for discussion hearing none I make a motion for a-4 d25 through A-5 d25 second having a motion in a second all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed motion carries I make a motion to approve A- 6-25 with the name of Victoria Krauss and Rebecca doy second Motion in a second all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed motion carries I make a motion to approve a-7 d25 with the name John and mcnalty second Motion in a second all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed motion carries I make a motion to approve a825 with the name Cassidy
036Patrick second Motion in a second all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed motion carries oops that's maryal contracts please Mary I make a motion for s625 second which one Eric okay we have a motion in a second for for the resignation all those in favor indicate by saying I I any opposed motion carries I make a motion for s725 with the name Austin stepy and may I have a roll call please second okay we have a motion and a second Mr secretary roll call please second get yes yes yes stain yes transportation and attendance uh before your motions uh MJ are there any meetings for your schedule no okay thank you are there any motions need pulled for discussion hearing none I make a motion for t425 through t525 second Motion
037in a second all those in favor indicate by saying I I I any opposed motion carries Mrs Brown all right before I get started on the Motions tonight I'm going to have uh Mr Mata explain our two um class action suits that are on the um agenda for tonight yes uh these are two class action suits that are National class action suits um one involving uh uh social media companies the other uh involving um insulin that's used in the schools I've uh partnered with these firms one of them is the firm that's handling them within the state uh Mr King's firm and the other one is a national firm there's no cost to the to the school district whatsoever um in one in the first district that I got involved with uh there was one
038with vaping um and uh that District received somewhere between 75 and $80,000 we think that these class action suits may be larger um so there's a good possibility that the district will receive some funds out of them and again there is no cost anytime that anyone from my office is involved in any of this it uh will not be charged to the district okay and just to clarify so um P 1725 and that is the class action for the overpricing of in insulin and that has to do with what you know our um our medical payment for our um employees but could you can you give us any information about like what is going on with the social media one the the the detail of them I can have for the next meeting if you
039would like um I I don't didn't bring it this evening I apologize um I didn't know that I I needed any of that but basically these are just two suits that they believe that school districts um and and some of their students are uh um because of how they were administered um have caused additional funding uh for the districts to uh have to um pay because of that the they believe that these class actions lawsuits similar to The Vaping one affected the the the students and this is the most uh effective way to get some funds back from these companies that have taken advantage of the of the student population okay thank you and um let me ask if if those were favorable and we were to receive money is there any strings attached to
040that money or would the school district can use it for whatever it wants whatever yeah it would go into your general fund to be used for whatever you think is appropriate okay thank you Mr mat all right so are there any motions that need pulled for discussion hearing none I motion to approve pol-1 14-25 through pol-1 17-25 second having a motion in a second on those four items all those in favor indicate by saying I I I are there any opposed those motions carry do you have a policy meeting date scheduled I do not I will not be having one this not a public one this month thank you for the second hearing of the citizens um Mrs sitler I have a handout but I'll give it to you after I'm done talking so you
041listen instead of read um first of all happy St Patrick's Day to everyone and what I'm about to say may require some of the Luck of the Irish so um and a little bit of a crystal ball so um I'm wondering if the board has begun to consider what federal Cuts could mean to our district um this is something that will require careful planning ahead and as I go through this I suspect that you all already know what I'm about to read but I'm hoping that citizens in the Valley can learn something and possibly take some actions we think that maybe cuts to the Department of Ed don't matter they do um so the lbsd 2425 budget shows that the district received $724,500 District this year distribution of federal dollars fell into these categories title
042one was the bulk of it over $433,000 title two well Title One covers academic achievement for disadvantaged students title two for Preparation training and recruitment of high quality teachers and principles that amount was over $555,000 title four for 21st century schools over $227,000 the American um oh gosh I'm losing it AR qualified energy the recovery Recovery Act uh energy conservation bonds over $57,000 um school-based access Medicaid reimbursement program $60,000 and medical assistance reimbursement for administration claiming program $114,000 so this adds up to almost $725,000 special note here 60,000 of this is from Medicaid a program that's definitely in the crosshairs of federal Cuts has the board started to plan for the loss of any part of three4 of a million dollars in federal funding what will be done to accommodate learning needs of disadvantaged students
043where funding of over $400,000 could change dramatically how will needs of current students who receive medicare funding be met parents of all these students should be especially concerned about Federal cuts at a time when every dollar will matter I'll reiterate christe's questions about the trauma informed plan that Grant was worth $126,000 um I thought they had been received this year maybe I'm wrong about that um on the basis of the promise of a policy being developed that won't fly twice will we lose possible additional funding in 25 26 because no policy has been completed so I'm glad to hear tonight that the board will finish that plan and have it ready to submit for that amount of dollars if that's available again um I'll close by urging the board to do these things finish the
044trauma informed plan without delay um my I had a little bit of whiplash over that conversation because I'm hearing we're already doing all of these things but yet we can't submit it because there are some things we're not doing that sounded a little bit circular to me um a second thing begin planning now for what loss of federal funding or even delayed Federal funding or chaotic distribution of federal funding will mean for the operation of this District in 2526 and finally the person who has some control over this is Guy Russen thaler our representative call him demand hands off on the destruction of the Department of Education encourage constituents of this District to do the same and I have his phone numbers on these Pages for you thank you Helen thank you I can tell
045you Helen if there's one person in this room that I trust with the money of this District he's sitting right there because if a d right right CU if a dime goes missing he'll tell us where it's at Y and the other thing is is that the funding part um of the Department of educ a lot of that money that comes out is separate from a lot of what they're taking I think they can abolish the entire thing and that funding arm is still there it's separate from what from what I understand so I'm not really anticipating a problem there and Medicaid service service yeah but what kind of chaos and delay and confusion will there be but there's I mean operate in the middle of that well there's no I mean you tell me
046but we come up with $750,000 IR but I think you need to be talking about it you can't pretend that things are going to be the same a year from now and Eric I you might not have the number right off the top of your head what percent do we receive federally well after the are G after all the EX money been spent it hasn't spent between three and a half to 4% yeah but um you know that'll be part of the budget the more I get the more knowledge I get that'll be part of the budget presentation the final will be June so hopefully we know time go be Eric can you give a little bit of an idea of what 3 to 4% looks like dollar-wise for those that might not know what
047she said the f actually there's money that passes locally the I money that's another 365,000 so that does take it over a million general fund then we also get money in the cafeteria fun fun through the CP program that's probably a little bit over $600,000 that so it's way more than I said yes okay a bigger concern there's Federal money that goes through the local part of the budget from the I the idea be that they manage or Dare they do all the compliance we request to draw money that's why we have Eric on top of that's right Eric's on it don't worry about it yeah we got it he'll go to Washington and take yes bus trip uh M Ren hello everybody uh my name is Sarah radi I'm a taxpayer and mother of
048two students in the district uh my first question um Mr Mata you said that there's no cost to the these lawsuits will you get a cut if lioner is awarded money from these lawsuits there there will be a uh fee that would come from the national firm um out of their uh amount of money that they have already um contracted to to get those funds that's correct okay so the item that I'm going to discuss is policy 003 uh board policy 003 according to this policy the superintendent and School Board president are to write annual goals seeking clarity on this matter I recently submitted a right to know request specifically inquiring about the goals set for the years 2020 to 2025 to my surprise the response indicated that no goals had been set during this
049time period this raises serious concerns about the district's leadership and planning process without clearly defined goals how has progress been measured how have decisions been made to best serve students teachers and the community our staff are leaving an alarming rate yet rather than addressing this growing attrition and the instability it creates the board seems more focused on securing personal agendas which I'm seeing through the psba lawsuit these new lawsuits which I'm glad to hear that there's no cost but still what are the goals so you know Mr Canter's satisfactory rating um how did you hold him accountable for that what what are the goals for this year I I I'll handle that one only because Mr caner and I talked about this um so he's when I asked him previously goals that's our comprehensive plan
050the the and when the board approves the comprehensive plan that is the goals that are provided to the school district for what we are going to do all across the school district so that is all contained in that comprehensive plan that we do and I know Sarah was on that um board with us when did we do that this fall I can't remember last spring I can't remember when we did that um so all of those goals now if you're looking and that is that totally covers under policy 00003 right now I know there there's been several there's been talk around the table about specific goals but that is outside of policy 00003 so if you're looking for more specific things then that might be something that to look at but as far as the
051policy and the goals of the school board that falls under that big comprehensive plan that the school district puts together every year every two years three years I don't know how many years we is that is that the Strategic plan that's the fiveyear goal um well yes I think so because that is the the Strategic plan is our comprehensive plan and Sarah is that a five year or a three five five okay so that's not what policy 003 says it says annual goals I am just giving you the answer Mr caner gave me I'll I'll try not to step on I don't want to step on anybody's to I actually really agree with I agree with you um it the comprehensive plan I like more of the idea of a a a strategic plan that
052like I I was on the board of the Y we did huge strategic plans Board of the fort you do strategic plans five years typically for nonprofits and you you determine your strengths and your weaknesses and and you you kind of set some goals and then know then to me everything kind of goes through that goal right and that is something that I've talked about since getting on the board something I'd like to be able to do um like for example goal of mine just you know not concrete but I want to get the school School academics everything to where it was before probably Dr oldum came for example like you know how do we get there we set that as a goal and then everything we do goes along that line right um how
053do we slow some of the attrition of kids moving off to cyber school which cost us a lot of money um and perhaps because of challenges in a particular part of the school district like the middle school right so how how you to me a goal would be to measure that and say I want to cut that in half and say the next year right maybe in half again the next year and put things into place to do that and and I don't know that that has been done in the in the comprehensive plan but it's it's something that I would like to get us to and I think with the fact that the leadership is Shifting quite a bit as you're probably aware um there's going to be opportunities to do things a little
054bit differently and that's one that um I'm going to be on yeah and and the breakdown and Sarah I totally agree with you and what what Joe said um I was in a zoom meeting um from the president of the of North alagan School District um and our comprehensive plan when I asked Mr caner about what our strategic plan is right he said that's our comprehensive plan and I think what Joe's talked I know Irma has talked about it several times is tying more numbers to that strategic plan so you know like we have to have this percent of growth in this school in this year right that's what our goal is that's you know and set that it is a huge plan and that is going to take work but I think we're all
055committed to working on that it's just everything explodes at the same time when we why when we think we have time to work on something something else goes right and then that takes our time yeah but I think something simpler would be more effective and I also think that any plan it coming I don't think it should come out of the administration I don't think that I don't think it's even fair for them I think a a true strategic plan needs to be a combination of the public uh the board and some and teachers which which which now I'm going to talk about that in a couple minutes um coming together to put together a strategic plan like the way organizations do or Corp corporations and nonprofits do real strategic plans they do that at
056this District already they already incorporate the public in the Strategic plan and the teachers and in in what in our strategic plan yes you said we don't have one you said we have we have a strategic plan we don't have an annual goal okay well then I don't think we have a strategic plan if we don't have goals and Sarah I'll as you've probably noticed a lot of things have changed in the last few weeks Mr Cantor is not sitting up here right now um there's other people that have announced their retirements or have left our district and I can say that in the time that I have been here as board president I was never invited by Mr canor to come up with a list of goals however in the last few weeks I've
057had more conversations with Justin about where the district should be going than I had with Mr caner in 18 months and I can assure you when Mr D archangelo comes in tomorrow for his first day he and I will be chatting immediately so this isn't just Mr cantor's responsibility it says the board president in coordination with the superintendent right I had tried to reach out several times yeah Sarah could I chime in just a minute can you hear me okay um while you're talking about goals on a districtwide those are all extremely important but I'd like to tell you what my goals are okay when I think of goals I think of board goals which should be we should be communicating we should be sharing information we should all try to come to an understanding
058before things go out in the public and we should be able to come into our meetings and know exactly what's going on with every single member in this board and that does not always happen those are my goals and that's what needs to happen um hopefully Mr di archangelo can shed some light on how we get there Mr mat excuse me Mr Mata has been instrumental in trying to help us get to that point but I can tell you it is very difficult to sit in this chair when I don't know everything going on that it other other people are privy to it's very frustrating it's very hard sitting in this seat sometimes so keep that in mind and you are correct all of the Strategic goals and all of that yes that's extremely important
059but so is sitting in this table making decisions for you taxpayers and trying to come at it from the same perspective as everyone else sitting here I know I'm not alone in this so just letting you know those are my goals okay and I will agree with what Jen said and I can say that the person that sat in the chair that I'm sitting in right now a few years ago for many many years made sure that people on this board didn't know what was going on you are correct Don but I do want to say you've been on this board for two years as our president now and we still don't have the same goals so I think we've come a long ways though and U I'm not we you know we still have
060room to improved but I think from when I first joined this board we've come a long ways we we all um are on board with a lot of the very important things um and have have worked together a lot closer I think than ever so I think we're getting better but I think that the the message is to buckle up a little bit because a lot of things are we have an opportunity right now you know sometimes when there's change There's an opportunity um and I'm excited about the opportunities that we have uh and you know and I wish the best for everybody that's going wherever you know whatever's going on but right now we have an incredible opportunity in the school district and I think the next six months you know going next school
061year in particular you it's it's uh an opportunity to do um a lot of things better differently and I think it starts with having goals and having a plan behind those goals be able to measure those goals measure against them uh having some kpis things like that um and I think that requires again that the whole comprehensive plan thing was done as far as I was concerned in a you know skiff somewhere I you know it was that I think when we do this again it needs to be done in the open with public teachers um maybe some high school students uh as it maybe like an internship type thing uh and and board members all working together I think it's going to be it's going to be awesome excited and I am really happy
062to hear about the curriculum um and the work that was done underneath with the ad hoc committee involving the parents I was um confused um why there was uh no committee meeting about it um because it seems like there's a process now with committees where everything has to go through committee to be put on an agenda like we saw with the athletic director and and his Spiel but um I just I was just curious like why wasn't that process followed for your committee for uh this this instance Sarah just hang loose with us a while this whole new committee meeting thing is all new to all of us we're still working out the bugs I I'll I'll tell you though what what the next uh well the meeting I what I intended to do in
063the last meeting that we didn't get to but we'll do the next one is this whole process and you were mad at me by the way for how the whole science curriculum went down but I'm glad you're happy and I'll tell you what I'm glad I'm glad some people were mad I was going to talk about this um it that sparked such an incredible thing that happened in this District uh because the the the big thing was you know the teachers should be the ones making decisions and while the teachers did make a decision on the first two pieces of you know curriculum that they and then twig came up here and then I trounced it because it was it was awful and um but the teachers didn't get to make a decision based on
064all of the options that were out there and what this whole thing sparked was us being able to put enough all of us together putting enough pressure on the administration to go find then they to other was total five options and the teachers went back without the administration looking over their shoulders to go and look and evaluate and the one that we shot down twig came in I think what fourth out of five or no U second out of it was towards the bottom it was fourth was way down the bottom yeah down to the bottom and so this idea of hey the teachers that was the that's it but what we didn't I don't think probably realized immed in that process was that the teachers really didn't get all the options um to make
065that decision so they they picked the best of the worst at the end of the day and now they got a chance to pick the best of everything and that's what we went with through here that's what I wanted to talk about when I at the at the comments is I'm really excited about that but my point here is that process while it was ad hoc we want to kind of codify that we want to formalize that process and SAR we are working on that as I am working I I am working to try and put polic polies which ones are they 105 106 107 108 109 because they all deal with curriculum and that you know psba did a wonderful job of making Mayhem by making a million different policies that say three different
066things so I'm going to try and write those all because it all just deals with curriculum with the instructional programs um with the textbooks with so any educational resource we have so I'm going to try and merge those all into one policy so that we have you know like our uh you know the general classification what what's going to work in textbooks is going to hit what falls in our library books our periodicals the standards right the guidelines so we're going to write that all into one policy um so that is that's a big undertaking in itself but we are also doing the same thing with the and in that policy we are working on the structure for how uh textbooks and curriculum are chosen by going through the Ed hoc and we're still working
067if we had it down to F five steps now it's expanded up to nine or 10 we have so but the idea is uh yeah so that policy gives us some guard rails gives us really power and to make sure this would stick right it's like not going to be an executive order it will actually be a policy but what I'm excited about is taking what um uh director nup did right and looking at that and say what worked what didn't you know you know what what and then kind of formalizing that process so then everybody knows what to expect the next time we're looking at other curriculums right and so it's an opportunity to kind of test out um formalizing that process a bit and then I to me anything like that should be
068able to be tweaked and adjusted but the spirit of it is that the teachers first get all the options choices to look at and second they have an ability to go through and evaluate without anytime your boss is looking over your shoulder there's pressure right so without that pressure just as teacher they a wave of magic wand and we told them don't worry about budget just pick whatever you think is the best we'll figure the budget stuff out later not that you know but we didn't want any of that stuff to be an issue yeah yeah shut that down so what I'm seeing is that there needs to be organization there needs to be goals it sounds like there's a lot of things in flux and things are coming out of whims and and not
069a structured plan um so it would be helpful to set goals so you can work towards um towards the end of the year yeah and that's what we want to do because really if you think about it the great stuff that came out of this was the deviation of the original structuring plan right this whole thing was a whim but be but it was phenomenal so now it's like we don't want to do everything on a whim let's capture this and get a process down like one of the things um we went through this whole process and end oh what's this going to cost right so one of the things we talked about is does it Mak sense to talk about the budget in the beginning of the process instead of waiting till the end
070and you pick a $263,000 curriculum and uh Mr Maran was able to to negotiate that down to what you're looking at in this agenda tonight but maybe we need to talk about that up front right and and some other things are coming out of this with the teachers um in just terms of budgeting and how they're uh trying to anticipate what their needs are going to be throughout the year just for extra supplies and things like that we're talking about that kind of stuff so a lot of great stuff came out of this because we were able to to hear from the teachers in fact um one of the meetings I was in a teacher come was the first time they ever spoke or met a board member I thought wow you know what I
071mean so it's this is so I think the teachers are excited um I know all of us are really excited about the potential now of that of not doing it the way it was before but coming up with a new way of doing things and it's going to take us a little bit to do that but my next committee meeting will be a part of what you're talking about in this process and I think you're right I think we should attach a you know have a goal why are we going to do it this way well this is the goal you know in the future we want curriculum to come from the teachers and Sarah I'm just going to say um if anybody out there you know if we're going to take goals we're going
072to take goals from parents we're gonna you know what's important to you for your kids that all needs to go into it so if you if you have those I mean we we'll hand you know email them to us you know we'll look at those all and say look this is what's important to because that's what we did in the ad hoc right we you know the the parents would say well this is what's important when my kid comes home at night I'm not home my my mom's watching them don't give them anything on an iPad because my mom can't even work with an iPad right so you know things like that that we took into consideration and the teachers took into consideration when we were looking at the different resources that we were going
073to use within the curriculum itself that we purchased so by all means please send them in yeah so a goal might be limit screen time yeah screen based stuff to whatever 33% or you those are the kinds of things I think that's what I think of as a goal I don't know sure if that's what you're thinking of but something like that as an example so overall and as students you know maybe different grades whatever let's say 50 60% of the curriculum now is coming across a screen we want to cut that down to say 30% that's a goal and then everything else gets kind of backed into that goal when we're picking curriculum because the curriculum some of them are more electronic based than others um and and and other policies and things like
074that so I think you know more to come it sounds like yeah okay I have a comment too I have a comment too please good stuff coming out of MJ's committee was fantastic you know I wish I don't understand why we did what we did but he did a great job with that um I just hope the change to Joe goes smoothly um and I'm sure it will but I what I want to say is I don't understand the logic of we don't want Administration around that's that's not the way it's supposed to be we're all supposed to be working together there are leaders yes we're the board we have the say on what goes on and that that excuse me that's what you trust us with but we also hire these administrators and they're
075good people and they have the best interest of these teachers in mind does everything always go 100% as it should be probably not do do the teachers um want changes that need to come absolutely and we're trying to give them to them but I really don't like hearing that we want to get them out of the room because that's not what the that's not the point we're not here to make it US versus the administration they drive our district and they do a great job we might not always agree but at the end of the day they're there for our students our children your your your children our taxpayers I mean we're we're doing the best thing that we can for all of them and that's I find that very um ungrateful to our Administration
076who does such a good job and puts so much time in to say that we don't want them in the room that you're not going to hear that coming from me so I just want to put that out there that is not my message thank you thank you for the conversation thank you SAR thank you Sarah any other school board member comments for the evening oh I anybody else because I talk so much I just wanted to I didn't mean to be a smart Al Christie that um I know a lot about I adopted three children two of which from the Foster system and 13 years of therapy U one of the things I actually talk about very very early on is looking at these kids through the trauma lens and all that kind of
077stuff because my two boys from the Foster system it was just it it's still a challenge um so that that's where that was coming from I hope I didn't mean to come across as a smart alec I just I do have a lot of experience with it and that's when when they started talking about that um because it was in the same same opportunity I had to hear about 339 I asked about the uh trauma plan because that was some of the other board members were asking and um and when I started to understand what that was all about I got I excit I get it you know I realize how important that is uh but there's some things that we just want to iron out and we we'll have it out there okay I
078do have one more comment um I didn't get a chance today because we ran out of time in executive session but I do want the board to discuss um the adoption of a code of ethics because I was speaking with Eric today and we don't have one and from what I was reading I could be wrong but from what I was reading in Pennsylvania every school board is supposed to have a code of ethics that we sign off on we do not have that and I also think because our par our volunteers are required to have all clearances to come into our schools I think as board members should also have those same clearances because we don't have anything and we should be say same one of the issues with the the clearance issue um
079for an elected official as long as um the elected official has no charges against them um that would preclude them from running the they may there could still be other charges that will come up on it I understand that so I'm I'm I'm just making it clear clear if I don't I don't believe that that's the situation here but I'm just saying if somebody would have one um as long as those charges do not affect you from holding office then then that's not my my my that's not my implication I'm simply saying we expect a volunteer to come in and read a story you have to have a clearance if I walk in that school I should have a clearance as well that's just my opinion yeah anybody that is spending time with children outside
080of this board meeting if if you're coming into our into even though you're a board member if you're going into the buildings to spend time with students in some other role than a board role you would still have to have those uh clearances okay the last thing I want to talk about a totally different subject here and this is because I just saw this pop up on Facebook um I know there is some confusion about where to find the meeting dates on the website and even Jen Jen and I went over this like yeah we it depends on what phone you have whether you have an Android whether you're on the app whether you're on the website you and I don't have an answer for that right now I'm sorry about that I will try
081and talk to Janine about it and see if we can't get it listed somehow I don't I'm not even I don't I don't know what to say because oh there you are okay it's really easy so when I'm notified that there's a meeting I put it under the news and events on the website news and events that little house tab thingy right where I the me a and if you download the district app you'll get a notification every day like if you turn the notifications on okay so that's just on the app it's not on the website right it's on the website say another way you download the app and turn the notification okay right I have the app up right now so if you if you have your if you get the app on
082your phone it looks like this if you can see it and at the top it says news and events so if you click on events it comes right up any events that are going on right now so it's really handy if you go to news news it tells you all different things going on in the school um if you click up in the corner you can go directly to the website by clicking the dots up in the right hand corner and go right down to the website and then you can go in and do your normal stuff and you have links to school and all of those things so it's a really great tool so spend a couple minutes you'll be able to get familiar with it so the committee chairs just need to okay
083thanks Janie okay well with that we have some more dates in April the 21st this will be back at the high school uh 5:15 is the planned executive session time 6:00 for the committee of the whole and 6:30 for the regular meeting do I have any emotions to adjourn tonight's meeting second so I have MJ and Cindy all those in favor of adjourning the meeting please indicate by saying I I are there any opposed meeting is adjourned at 7:40 thank you thank you everyone for coming thank you for the comments don't you have one you have one Thursday to Wednesday four all