001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mrs. Ellis >> here. >> Dr. Huber, Mrs. Jones >> here, >> Mr. Mansinelli >> here, >> Mr. O'Brien, >> Mrs. >> Mr. Sees, Mr. Chisler, >> Mr. Armor. >> Number two is a monthly minutes. Um, motion is to approve the minutes of the February 25th schoolboard meeting. February 25th. >> Questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. 2.02 is the invoice listing. Motion is to approve the invoice listing from February through March of 2026. This motion. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All those in favor? Opposed? Motion passed. 2.03 is a treasures report. Mr. Twizzler. >> As of January 31st, 2026, Pendelo's balance was
00259,163,472. During February 2026, local, state, and federal revenues totaled 3,672,636. Dispersements were issued in the amount of 5,246,19. As of February 28th, 2026, Pendulko's current balance is 57,590,89. Motion is to approve the treasures report for February 2026. >> Second, >> questions or comments? >> All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. 2.04 is the budget transfer report. Motion is to approve the budget transfer report for March of 2026. Do I have this motion? >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Number three, student representatives. Report to the board, please. >> Good evening. There's a lot going on in the valley, so I will just get right to it. First off, winter sports were finished off with wrestling as Jacob Carr took home first in the state. Jameson Strickland second
003and Darren Minanzi had a wonderful run. Spring sports have officially started as games and scrimmages have already occurred and the teams are excelling greatly. For PBIS staff member of the has PBIS has staff member of the week where staff member nom nominees another one for showing some valley values. The valiant vanguards which is PBIS student team has launched a monthly initative called some valley shout out to focus on students recognizing their peers. In the first month the student team selected five students who amplify the expectations outlined in the PBIS metrics. Team members team members wrote short blurbs about each student and along with their photos and their these were displayed in the case outside the band hallway at the entrance to Sun Valley. Each recognized student also received a congratulatory card and $20 in Sun
004dollars. These five students will then nominate another student using a Google form keeping the PBIS matrix in mind and explaining why they selected that individual. Postcards appraised. These started this year and have been growing throughout the year. This is where staff members and students can both give praise to one another. Huge shout out to PTL because they have been super generous in sponsoring the Sun Valley Shindig, the Holiday Hoot Annie, and the donation of gift cards for the PBIS to use as incentives throughout the year. Student Senate had a blood drive with 32 units collected and 96 lives saved. A ton of new donors. We have spirit week this week before spring break. Monday, Wrong Place, Wrong Time. Tuesday, twin day. Wednesday, Vanguard Day. Thursday, spring sport jerseys. Friday, pastel color wars. Cultural Alliance is
005hosting a gratitude activity where Austin Valley students and staff could share something they're grateful for to be displayed on a bulletin board in the hallway to create a wall of gratitude and positivity. There will be a Europe trip in the summer of 2028. Will the will there will be a tour of Ireland and the UK where students will learn Northern Ireland history. see the Scottish Splender Splender and London landmarks and go across country on a cross country adventure. They learn they have limited spots. The earlier you sign up, the cheaper it is. So students are encouraged to talk to their families and sign up ASAP. Thank you. This month we also have a very long list of exciting events coming up. So first up we have both our senior and junior proms. Junior prom will
006be held at Drexelbrook on April 17th from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. Any student wishing to leave early at 11:00 must have a permission slip sent in by April 16th at 2 p.m. For senior prom, tickets are being sold from March 23rd to April 7th for $70. This prom will be on May 8th from 7 to 11 at Dupont Country Club. For both prom, students must be academically eligible, have no outstanding fines, and have good attendance and discipline. Along with this, the student senate is organizing the mock crash where students will have both an assembly and a mock scenario of a car crash to learn about the very real possibilities of driving unsafeely. This will be held on Wednesday, April 8th. Next, Sun Valley is hosting the rain rally on Friday, March 27th from 12 to
0071. This is an event where students run through the water coming from a hose from a fire truck and can run for through the rainbow run where colorful powder will be thrown on them to create a rainbow shirt. This event helps to us support our unified botchi and track teams and our entire unified program. Donations are being accepted from the 18th to today and ticket sales stopped today as they were $10. Next, the math honor society held Pi Day on 313 as 314 was a Saturday where math classes that were deemed eligible by their teachers were invited to participate in pi centered activities such as coloring the digits of pi, learning the line of best fit, being in a mathematical experiment, and more. Last weekend there was another amazing musical performance sung by Sun Valley
008where this year's play was less m le miserable. This play was heavily attended and an incredible success. Students not only from the high school but also the middle school did a wonderful job at telling the story of redemption, poverty, and injustice through an entirely different time period. We were so excited to see these students hard work pay off. OSO students from different honor societies volunteered to greet and usher the guests showing how the musical brings together so many people for a great show. Lastly, the Sun Sun Valley has started another massive event this year, the Minithon. This is a seven-hour dance marathon organized by the National Arnest Society, where the money goes to Four Diamonds, a nonprofit organization that supports the families of pediatric cancer patients. They cover not only medical bills, but also housing
009for families to stay with their children, meals, and more. They have a theme of neon, and students raise $50 on donor drive to register and then purchase a $15 ticket to attend. National Honor Societies would like to thank all the sponsors who have supported them throughout this process and helped to start off this event with such a great foundation. This event will consist of dancing, games, sports, raffles, movies, and more. The total money raised will be announced at the end of the event. Thank you. >> Thank you, ladies. >> Maddie and Maggie, I'm going to put you on the spot because I didn't prep you for this, but we were talking as a school board about potential legislation in Pennsylvania that will ban cell phones in schools. So right now it's not yet a law
010um but it has passed the senate has the support of the governor and will be taken up by the house. So your perspective as high school students what is the impact of a law that says you cannot have a cell phone from the beginning of the day to the end of the day? What are the things that the adults should think about? >> Um I've like kind of thought about this a little. The only thing that kind of makes me upset by it is that I feel like in the high school we already have like like a system set up, right? So if you get caught like we have like different like levels like like first you get told to put it away then it can become a school problem then you can do it
011at home, right? Like you guys can call home. I feel like that's not used really at all. So I feel like we're kind of going from nothing to everything. Like it's kind of just right now you can have your phones whenever you want it. Teachers get upset by it but they kind of just get mad. they don't like ever like give you any actual consequences for it and now it's basically just like well you can't have it at all because we're mad about it and it's happening. That's just kind of what it feels like as a student. Um I know some teachers like um like the Spanish teachers especially like some of them have already those phone holders in place and like that like I can appreciate like obviously that's fine as a teacher. I
012just feel like the teachers who don't have that in place aren't putting in consequences already. And I know like it's hard because if we're all on our phones, how are you supposed to give consequences to everybody who's using them? But it just kind of feels like as students, it's going from zero to 100. That makes sense. >> Oh, it definitely makes sense. So, they're working on uh regardless of what happens with the law, um some consistency uh potentially where in every class during the instructional period, you may not have phone out, right? Similar to what you guys had in middle school, but potentially in between classes or potentially at lunch, right? That to me seems like a happier medium. Now, we'll have to wait and see what the law says, right? Because we have to
013obligate obviously follow the law. But regardless of that, we think that that would make classes more vibrant >> and and I mean, would would that sound like a better happy medium if there was consistency? >> Yeah, I agree with what Maggie said. Um, I think that going from like having phones all the time to just like cold turkey, no phones is like kind of a bad idea. But I think if there was like a balance, then it would be like better. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, I know Mr. Ross has been speaking with, you know, some students in the student senate working with teachers um to put something in place, right, so that we can have some assistance for you guys because the phones could be so distracting for all of us, for adults
014and students involved. I also think like sometimes like the what you were like explaining how if we still had them like in between classes or at lunch like that would be beneficial just because I know like this sounds like silly but like because like like you know like I have a busy schedule I'm like like and in hard classes like sometimes in between um classes literally that three minute walk like I'm studying or I'm doing my work and like that literally sounds like silly but like it's true. And during lunch like that's a big time where like I'm doing my work and like I use my phone for that too. Like there are many times where um also me and Mr. Henning were actually just talking about this today that like one of my YouTube
015videos was blocked on my computer so then I use my phone you know what I mean like sometimes like phone is used for ed education too which obviously in the classroom there's nothing you can really do about that but stuff at like lunch or in between classes like I actually do use my phone for school you know what I mean like in a beneficial way. So sometimes I think like maybe we should focus better on like implementing like instruction on like how to use your phone and how to use AI and things like that rather than just taking it away from us because we need to learn the responsibility as students too like as high schoolers. You know what I mean? >> Yeah, I think so. I think u phone etiquette, right? Responsibility, responsible screen
016use is all part of that. So we we'll have to monitor and see what comes out of Harrisburg. But in the meantime, I think we're going to prepare you guys by having something in place. Won't affect you as much, Maddie. Uh but having something in place so that we don't jump from that, you know, nothing to everything that you mentioned. So, thank you for the feedback. Any questions that the board members might have for our student reps on that topic? >> I think it's important to to say that the administration, the board, we we do feel that just having them put aside during the classroom will be enough, right? Okay. They let you have your your phone during not recess for you know recess but during you know if you have a study hall it
017might be good a good resource for you to use um or at lunchtime or between classes. >> Hopefully we can >> we have the permission to do that. Right now the legislation says >> from bell to bell your phone will not be even in the building >> right it's not not allowed on your possession. So, um, not a lot we can do with law. U, but for now, we plan on getting it to where, you know, just a little bit more organized that, >> you know, you can have it in between classrooms, but you're paying attention in class to what the teacher's teaching. >> So, I think it's important to to know that we're trying that direction. What the government tells us to do is going to be what they tell us to do. So,
018um, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully sometime this summer we'll probably get some kind of ruling on it. >> So, >> thanks for feedback. >> Just gonna follow one more point. Um I my took my two youngest to attend the science night at Sun Valley and Maddie was there volunteer. It was a great night. So, thank you for doing that. >> Um number four tonight is items for board review. Um we're going to have some student athlete recognition by Dr. Steinhol. Yeah, thank you um Mr. Armor. Much appreciate that. So, we have 22 board meetings a year and very often we just do legislative work. We review data. We talk about policy and from time to time though we stop to kind of memorialize great and really impressive accomplishments and we're doing that tonight. Um,
019we recognize that handing a certificate to a student um to is is in some ways a token. Um, but we hope that students recognize that as representatives of the community, our school board is taking a moment to stop the work that we do to acknowledge for the record so that these students will be recognized in our minutes and in the record for years to come. um for our board to say job well done. We have talked about a commitment to excellence in our school district all year long. In fact, uh our administrative team has spent every month we spend a little bit of time of our meetings saying what does it mean to be committed to excellence? What does excellence mean? And we talk about how it is not a place that you arrive but
020it's a habit and it's a state of mind and it is something that is persistent and it's something that you are always working towards and in our wrestling program uh it comes real close to being committed to excellence. I have superintendents in the region who will say like man what is going on at Sundawa your wrestling program is year in and year out is phenomenal. And tonight we have two representatives who showed what it means to be committed to excellence. And I am really, really proud to have Jameson Strickland and Jacob Carr here tonight. We want to present them with certificates for being committed to excellence and for doing something that is just really so impossible to do, which is to meddal in the sport with thousands of other athletes competing for the same accomplishment.
021And here we are in Little Sun Valley, right? It's like the little engine that could shows that when you make a commitment, doesn't matter the size of the school, doesn't matter the size of the athlete, you can be the best at what you do. And if you're not the best, you're in the top three. And we have a number one and a number two that we are so proud of. So, I'd like to ask ladies first, if we could have Jameson Strickland come up uh to please receive a certificate of recognition FOR knows a little about wrestling is equally impressed. We want to present girls wrestling so great. >> Congratulations Next up must be something great. What does it feel? Oh my god. the biggest factors as to where I am right now. So, I
022wanted to celebrate that with >> Well, I got the text message from Mr. So, the whole school, whole community is really excited and we're just really proud of you. We're really proud of this whole team. You guys have a phenomenal culture and uh you really humble us and you really show us how it's done. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Steel. Congratulations to the entire wrestle team for wonderful season as well as two state medals. We will not have a DCI report tonight. Mr. Right. Everybody, you're welcome to stay. >> I know it's uh pretty boring. Thank you, Mr. Ar. So, really appreciate the opportunity last week. We had great turnout meeting at Coburn last week and it's important to review for the public at least what we've accomplished, some of the things
023we accomplished. Really fantastic. outstanding overview of all the great things that are happening at Coburn. Much like what we heard from Penel Elementary, from Mrs. Paladino, we had an opportunity to hear from principal small about what's happening at Coburn. What a great night it was. I went home from that presentation feeling really proud of the district. So much of what we saw at Coburn is in place in all of our elementary schools. that program um is exceptional in terms of the curriculum, in terms of what we're offering kids in the leader of me program, in terms of the activities. Um I just really felt my goodness how lucky you are to have your kids attend elementary schools in Pandelo. We had the opportunity to get those student led tours, fantastic work, leadership development. We discussed
024summer programming. Mr. Dr. K also talked about additional duties at the high school that related to dual enrollment and the growth in our advanced credit opportunities at the high school. We discussed the LOD lighting program for the Sun Valley High School field improvements and that'll be a great uh new asset. Uh we continue to make investments in our facilities. The community appreciates that and shows our commitment to excellence and we'll have that uh for again better lines of sight, better vision, better opportunities on that Sun Valley High School field. It was the talk of the district this past weekend. Uh the lay program of some people who really know performance had said to me this may have been one of Pendel's best musicals ever. And that is saying something when just a couple years ago
025they actually won the award for best musical in the copies. Um but this was just incredibly impressive. Such a difficult show to put on where you're singing the entire show and you didn't many performers that felt like, well, let's give them some grace. They're only high school. You didn't have to say that. You felt like you were seeing a Broadway production. It was great to have middle school kids involved, elementary school kids involved. Um, just really, really impressive. And I had uh parents reach out to me by email and it's just a compliment to our kids, you know. I mean, the kids make the commitments. We saw wrestlers here who make the commitment to excellence. If you saw that show, you saw Sun Valley students, you saw Pendula kids making a commitment to excellence because
026it was just absolutely incredible. And thank you to our school board that continue to support the arts of Pendulk. We just had our wrestlers here. Of course, it's important to mention in this PowerPoint for each month, state medals. I can tell you that's something you never forget. You win a state title, you get a gold medal. That's that little thing that goes in that box and you never get rid of that because of all the efforts that went into earning that accomplishment. It was great to have the community turn out for their arrival back to sundown in the United States. We had a big win at the Pensburgh conference. So the Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association gives awards out every year. We had seven awards this year. We never had that before. Uh an award
027of excellence uh which is the highest level of recognition that they offer for the photography that we have had which people have been raving about. Award of excellence for social media, award of merit for our news release, award of merit for a video that we put together and honorable mention for our digital newsletter that goes out every six week or so. So I've added at the bottom there. Thank you Allison Gangle who gets the credit here our communications coordinator Alison but a lot of great things happening as well uh Northley students third at the Keystone STEM competition so we're looking at excellence in academics as well geocond accounting at DCIU science fair grant advances to the regionals based on the highend technicals of her project student reps about pi day at the high school which
028is fantastic you know an academic themed activity that kids have participated in all day long DCIU STEM design challenge we had students from our schools participate in that and do well and get awards have not forgotten about our character type based activities the rock your socks world down syndrome day a lot of participation in there we had students again make fifth and sixth grade van fest students again make elementary course fest they're really pleased that we're seeing the arts activities, athletics, and academics doing well and thrived in Pendel. Um, really happy to mention to the board, just as an FYI, tomorrow we expect about 25 superintendents from southeastern Pennsylvania to come to Sun Valley High School for a presentation. So, study council that I'm a part of. Every so often, every few months, one of
029us hosts and we share good things that are happening in our district. And tomorrow, really excited to share what's happening with leader and me. Uh we will show off our updated planetarium as well. Uh we'll be talking about how our elementary teachers use data and then take it from data to decisions using a system that makes interventions work. Teaching how we you know do something with the data that goes into link it putting the data in and doing the assessments. It's tedious. It's time consuming but it doesn't mean much unless you do something with the data. We're going to talk about that. Um Dr. Ka and John Paul Ross will talk about our advanced credit opportunities. enment, how that has exploded with students at the high school that have taken college level courses and leaving
030with college level credits. And then we'll also share uh about how our middle school has gotten the third school's the last award that process and how it can really drive change. So I'm just proud to put some of our administrators before some of the regional leaders tomorrow. We'll have them in tomorrow morning at Sun Valley. And then what a month we have coming up after spring break. We're really thrilled about the kindergarten signing days. are getting excited about how that's coming together. You know, having uh a little a little little Tommy sit down and say, "Hey, I am committing to Aston Elementary. I am going to sign my name and commit to Parkside." Uh those signing where they get to meet the mascot, see our teachers, see the schools, uh visit our buses, uh do
031a lot of fun things. We're going to celebrate kids when they come into Pendel as much as we celebrate them when they leave at graduation. as well talk about the mini that's student driven this is something no said let's do this the student said we want to do things because we're committed to developing character and doing things for others so we've got the minon that we talk about mock crash we continue to do every other year we'll have that again really important message that kind of message has changed I can remember when we first did it was about don't drink and drive and now it's more don't be distracted right don't be on your cell phone don't be text messaging there's that other about it too. Very compelling. Really sends a deep message to all
032of our students who participate in that. And then we also have fifth grade parent information night coming up so very soon like tomorrow night. Uh so we're really excited to host them. The middle school will do a great job. You see a lot of things happening. This is a this will be about like nine nights out in April and they'll all be great events. Really happy. That concludes my meeting tonight. I will tell you I think our staff well exceptionally hardbed and our staff. >> Thank you Dr. Stinhoff. Number seven on tonight's agenda is announcements for the public. Tonight the board met in executive session to discuss personnel and litigation matters. Any comments by members of the board? She has none. Any comments by members of the public? None. Items for board action starts on
033page five goes through six. Seven, eight, and ends on the top of page nine. Is administrative recommendation to approve all contracts as presented. Do I have this motion? >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion passes. Uh, tonight's consent agenda goes from 11.01 through 11.13. Uh, does anybody wish to have anything pulled to vote individually? With that, I need a motion to approve 11.01 through 11.13. Please note that all bids are subject to solicitors review. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Mr. President, just briefly, if I if I may have one second. So, your uh motions concerning the tax appeals, there were two motions there. One that is uh important to just point out to the district that uh the
034third uh 3330 conquered road was a district appeal uh resulting uh that goes back to 2020 and 21 when the reassessment was done. The district had at the time a reassessment is done the district has more rights than they do at a regular year. we took the appeal right uh and we were finally able to settle it five or six years later at a significant increase. So, it's additional revenue coming in. Um the other tax increase, the other tax uh assessment appeal results in a decrease. Um, when you dive deep, not to dive too deep into tax assessment appeals, it's it's pretty simple that the longer the period of time between a reassessment uh and the current date, the data becomes stale. Property values increase. Some people the uniformity meaning the tax rate which is
035supposed to be uniform for all taxpayers commercial and residential becomes out of whack and it's significantly out of whack now and it's and it's most likely time for another reassessment. It's a reassessment the word scares people. It's not a bad thing if they are done fairly frequently. That's how you keep everybody in check. That's how you avoid in check meaning discrepancies and folks are not subject to large changes then versus a 20-year reassessment process. But the common level ratio is at 57% five years out from a reassessment. That's a sign that it's skewed. It is off. Uh and there's been a wide fluctuation in assessments versus market value. So something to keep an eye on um and something to pay attention to in terms of district finance. I know any one of these that comes
036in, our office reaches out to Eric uh fairly promptly to make sure that he has it on his radar screen uh and what it means, you know, plus or minus for the district. So So tonight that motion was a a net plus for the district, which is rarely the type of news that an attorney can bring to the board. >> So thank you, >> Mr. Poopy. I know you you represent a lot of districts. Are you seeing a trend in uh more of the large corporations and the large properties in moving forward trying to get a reassessment? >> Yes, I am. And and it's again it's a reflection of the value. Commercial prop uh residential properties are are best valued at an arms length transaction. What would somebody buy and what would somebody sell? There's
037some factors that go into it, but that you that's usually what sets your number. For commercial properties, there are multiple ways that you can value the price. It's not just what somebody sells and buys a parcel of property for. There's an income approach, there's a value approach, there's just a pure real estate approach. So, there are a number of things that can go into that, but the skew in commercial, as everyone read in a in a neighboring district, uh, when their largest pro one of their largest property owners came in and filed an assessment, it was a big hit. They were entitled to the district got the best number that the district was going to get. The county assessment was off and it was off because of the change in the common level ratio. Simple
038as that. You know what what is the assessment and versus the relationship to whether property has increased and decreased is is where we are as where we are currently and we're skewed right now in the county. So, thank you. Net positive for the district this evening. Thank you for the opportunity to make a comment. >> Thank you, Mr. Pia. Any comments by members of the public? >> Comments by members of the board. Um, one thing I'd like to bring up, uh, tonight on tonight's agenda, we, uh, last month we approved some improvements over at Northley, um, getting the, um, final stage of Northley done, getting their their, um, auditorium up, and, uh, we have some stadium lighting and some other stuff on this week's agenda that just shows our dedication to keeping our facilities well.
039and uh moving along. >> Yeah. And we we were talking today uh Mr. Zley and I used about the the costs of the work that we're doing this year. And then there's some projects that people no one ever thinks about but are pretty darn important like the rooftop at Sun Valley. You know, it's kind of like you get transmission fixed. There's nothing special about that. Your car keeps running but you have to just keep doing it and it adds up. Um, so I I think the board's decision several years back to make sure that um, you know, we weren't wasteful with some small surplus money and moving that aside to be able to do these improvements. The Northley Auditorium, the field lightening the roof at Sun Valley um, has has really helped, you know, without
040having to build that into a tax increase for next year. And I was just going to mention real quick, I noticed Penel's in attendance and I was able to attend their career fair and I wanted to say hello and thank you for that. It was ran great. And I did get a tour of Miss Kirk and Mrs. Irvine's uh kindergarten classrooms and I saw a lot of smiles in there. So, thank you for that. And um Mrs. Irvine was uh I had my teacher in seventh grade. So, it wasn't that long ago. So, but I just wanted to shout that out. Thanks. >> I hear I hear Dr. sign off told us you rescended your resignation or your retirement. >> September. >> Yes, you are. >> Right benefits of turn turning that special age. And
041I my husband every morning as a retired teacher says, "Don't you want to travel?" And >> it's time to enjoy life. Thank you. >> I think you're going to enjoy it with your children. >> Thank you. My best years, my best I'm going to get emotional, but thank you. Love Pendo and I always will. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> I should note we will have you back since you know gave us notice and at the May board meeting at the May board meeting for a recognition of our retirees. It's a small group. It's a small group but we'll be there. >> May I make a motion to get that shirt? Can we get them? >> Which ones? >> Strong. >> Pendel Strong. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> We'll find out. Okay. >> We got
042you covered. You better have more than one. >> All right. Future meetings. Uh, next month, April 15th is here at the service center at 6:30 and April 22nd once again here at the service center at 7:30. Motion for German.