001[Music] mrs denny here mrs ellis here mrs essler here miss hilfreddy this is jones here this is powell here mr seashop here mr tinsley yeah mr ron here 2.01 is approval of minutes motion to a further minute to the regular meeting august 18th and a special meeting on september 5th so moved second questions or comments is in favor opposed motion passes 2.02 is the invoice listing motions go prove the invoice listing for august through september 2021 by this motion questions or comments all those in favor opposed motion passes 2.03 treasurer's report thank you as of july 31st 2021 pandoca's balance was 33 million 549. during august 2021 local state and federal revenues totaled 30 million 863 000 disbursements were issued in the amount of four million five hundred four thousand four hundred and thirty five
002dollars as of august thirty first twenty twenty one pendlecos balance was fifty nine million three hundred sixty five thousand one hundred and thirteen dollars the motion is to approve the treasurer's report for august 2020 second questions or comments all those in favor proposed number three tonight is the student representatives report to the board let's see we have john alex here yeah so i'm gianna ellis last time you guys saw me in person i was a sophomore now i'm a senior yeah my uh fellow representative is playing a soccer game right now so i'm sure you guys are going to meet her meetings to come but yeah so we started school this past seventh and i think i speak for everyone when i say that in person school has been such a relief of course we're
003dealing with like two grades of students who don't know how to walk in the hallways and it's become a bigger issue than it needs to be but i hope they learn soon uh undeniably the biggest talk in school right now is homecoming week followed by the homecoming game and the homecoming dance obviously no one at the school knows for sure if the dance is even happening hold on one second so i'd like to let you know dr steinhaug october 9th right october 9th we will have the homecoming dance on the tennis courts underneath the tent it needs to be outside we can't put 500 kids in the gym i was going to announce that during an announcement from the board but dr steinoff did confirm it will be october 9th on the tennis courts for
004the price that's very excellent [Music] [Applause] [Music] sorry about that you know you're good that's fine well our 2021 homecoming court was announced last friday and it goes as follows maura williams and tyler koenig caden myorini and alyssa creep brooke allison and ricky swallow lily egbert and zach taylor connor day nina mclennan kaitlyn riley ryan snyder and me gianna ellis and andrew comet so i say congrats to the court and good luck there's a very wide spread of kids on it this year so i'll be sure to update you guys on who wins uh nexus school is looking forward to hosting its usual fall itinerary back to school night will be tomorrow at 6 pm virtually we encourage all parents to visit we'll also be holding our psats for 9th through 11th graders on october
00513th so don't forget to have your kids charge their calculators and finally the fall sports season has brought a lot of height back into the school year the football team is currently 2-2 which doesn't sound like much but it's given the student section something to cheer about more than it is combined i'd also like to point out which congratulations to the sun valley volleyball team is currently 9-0 shout out jenna jones for a triple-double yesterday i'm also excited to congratulate the band on placing first in their first competition in almost a year and a half this except the success of the band is something that the school's always been able to count on so having it back again this year is something we're all looking forward to field hockey both soccer teams already well into
006their seasons girls tennis have their senior night earlier tonight feels like not having a real season last year brought a sort of excitement back into the sports this year i know i heard great things after cheers cheer with us tonight getting to connect the community again so we leadership we wish every team luck in their seasons and we wish volleyball team luck and staying undefeated tomorrow thank you thank you we appreciate your time and we'll have you back thanks four dci report report thank you number five superintendent supporter dr stone thank you for john it goes i have to say john that was excellent because you showed a lot of personality in your presentation truth it was great and uh and you stole my thunder because i was going to share some good news about
007undefeated teams but you're doing much better than us we're glad to have you back and uh you know enjoy this year thank good you good evening everyone else thank you for attending the september board meeting of the pendleton school board of directors pleased to begin this report by noting that the 2021 2022 school year has in my view just gotten off to a really fantastic start particularly with all the things that we have to keep considered been impressed with how well the staff and students have quickly returned to an academic rhythm after a year plus of hybrid blended and remote learning as we work our way through the pandemic adelco begins this year serving 3 294 students in all grades this enrollment reflects a continued trend of lower grade sizes in our primary grades for
008instance while we have nearly 300 students entering sun valley as a freshman a very large class we have less than 220 entering first grade but for these 3 300 students we expect nothing but a great year as we look ahead academic preparation will always be our priority it's the heart of what we do however i've also encouraged our entire staff to intentionally focus on quote reconnecting and re-engaging with students and one another as we gradually pull out of the limitations of schooling that we had to face in the last almost year and a half in simple terms that means let's make school fun again for students because we know that students learn best when they feel welcome and engaged in a classroom community that's safe supportive and personalized there are three prongs to our mission
009statement will cause us to enable all students to achieve succeed and excel that third part excel at an area of interest or talent is one that can easily be overlooked but again i've encouraged our staff to revisit that and explicitly make connections with students to help lead them to develop personal interests that are unique to themselves our efforts to promote increased personalized instruction will also help us meet those aims on the health and safety front students reported the school and they followed the statewide mass order without issues baskets are substantially but not entirely limiting the number of students and staff who might need to be in quarantine and the district's exceptionally high vaccination rate among employees is also playing an important role in the improved school environment compared to last year districts across the nation
010are increasingly pursuing the potential of an optional test to stay strategy that would limit the number of forced quarantines of asymptomatic close contact individuals and i look forward to sharing developments in that area with the board as i receive them it's a promising possibility which will enable us to keep close contacts who are asymptomatic in school rather than in quarantine we'll see how that develops those of you who follow some of our staff on twitter you may have noticed some pictures of our interactive math lessons being delivered by the elementary teachers who wasted no time diving right into bridges math program i want to thank the board for approving the purchase of that curriculum for our staff for adopting it with fidelity with bridges students learn more than just math facts they gain a deeper
011understanding of numerical concepts elevated proficiency and algebraic skills and also improve their ability to solve complex mathematical problems with a real understanding of how it works it's an ideal problem to make sure that math is more than just mastery of facts and figures the next school year is also bringing some new efforts to continue to broaden our district outreach next month as an extension of our comprehensive plan goal of promoting the pandoco proud campaign we will be expanding our posts to the pandelco proud instagram account as we are seeing a large number of users move from twitter and facebook into instagram the fact there's already been some terrific new photos that have been posted already we'll also be sending a quick read pandelco proud monthly update that will be primarily photos of the great things
012happening in this district we know the trends in the data less and less people are reading long format stories and they are relying on images to get perspective we will continue to capitalize on that as we have so much to share regards to social media we've also recently been using that more aggressively to promote job opportunities in our district the labor shortage that's affecting so many professions has reached an acute and critical level in education across the country a national worker shortage in our field is revealing incredible stress on bus drivers food service workers school nurses administrators aides teachers and substitutes you name it so i ask members of our community who have considered part-time or full-time work and careers in public education to give that some honest reflection everyone who works in our district
013shapes lives they save lives and they have a chance to make an impact so many people feel that the jobs they do lack purpose it's our hope that people will begin to see how service in this district can provide the purpose that you might be looking for anyone's read the book thrive by daniel pink he mentions three things that motivate people to work it's autonomy mastery and purpose and all three of those areas can be met in public service work it's time for us to rally behind the nobility and honor that comes working to help and serve others so if you're a friend of pandoco please spread the word we are looking for dedicated people who want a wonderful place to work and want to be a part of a special professional family where they
014can serve others i have to give a shout out in fact gian already did to our undefeated nine and oh girls volleyball team and to our boys football team that are surprising teams with a sudden and renewed vigor already have a few wins in their column as well pendleton teachers and administrators are happy to be a part of the upcoming community days again we look forward to the homecoming as well in just a few weeks finally i want to thank our supervisor curriculum dr danielle mary who is being recommended tonight as the interim principal of penal elementary for the remainder of this school year dr murray agreed that it would be best for panel students and staff if she would provide stability by serving as an acting interim principal through the entire school year and
015help us avoid an administrative change in the middle of the year so if dr kamek and i work closely with pair we are especially grateful and i know the staff will appreciate that kind of real-life dedication as well this time i also need to note an agenda edition so that we can comply with updates of sunshine law i am asking the board to add to the personnel report the proposed appointment of mr jeremy travia as professional employee effective owner before november 22 2021 for a english position at the high school we conducted final interviews just this afternoon we wanted to make sure that that could be added to the agenda and that will be recommended to be added to the agenda and just noted why that was not on the agenda uh prior to this
016meeting so if if mr president if i may interject at this point the the reason for that is there was a change in the sunshine law that was effective at the end of last month and that change requires that all agendas be posted online here at the meeting place on the door in certain various other places for all business meetings the one meeting a month not work sessions not special meetings not not executive sessions and it then discusses how there can and cannot be changes to the agenda so the goal is to minimize last-minute changes to an agenda that the public may not have been aware of example we're going to buy a board member x makes a motion that they want to buy ice works for a zillion dollars at the board meeting there's
017a second and everybody says yes it was added that night and no one had an opportunity to see it or discuss it beforehand that is just an out of the out of the box not real example of things they are looking to make sure do not happen so unfortunately it will impact some minor issues that take place like the hiring of an eighth grade teacher that the vacancy is there it's a brutally short labor market as ms tyre has explained the candidate apparently the administration has the candidate they want they interviewed him this afternoon so the procedure for any additions to an agenda under the new sunshine law will require an announcement the reasons why which i just provided the reason why is that there is a vacancy the employee was the potential employee was
018interviewed and recommended just today and there is an urgent need for it the board will then prior to public comment have to make a motion to add that to the agenda have a vote on it and then it gets added to the agenda prior to public comment so the public may comment that's sort of the sum and substance of the changes to the sunshine law exactly how they're how they will work like any new law or any changes to a law there are different interpretations to it and if folks disagree as to what an interpretation is it will generally result in litigation which a court will then provide the answer to say school district a you interpreted that correctly school district g you did not interpret that correctly you have to engage in a different
019procedure so as this is a brand new law august 29th i believe it was uh it was made effective and it will have some interesting impacts on some minor issues for for boards but this is a perfect example great opportunity for the first evening to show you it's the hiring of an eighth grade teacher it wasn't on the agenda last night by 7 30 pm and therefore there has to be a motion to add that to the agenda reason stated wide the reasons kept in the minutes and then a full board vote if the board approves by a majority of those present the item could be added to the agenda and then voter upon that evening thank you dr steiner thank you i concluded my report so mr we need to vote on that correct
020so i need a motion to add uh jeremy trevera to the agenda under 10.01 questions or comments i would like to note we are not voting on the actual item it's voting to put it on the agenda and it'll be part of it all those in favor opposed motion passes so it will be part of 10.0 announcement for the public tonight the board met in executive session to discuss personnel and litigation matters number seven on tonight's agenda is comments by members of the board i'd like to start by saying thanks to a few of our well-known community members for stepping up and helping us out with some of the northly sports jobs without that we probably wouldn't have had a few northerly sports one of them being a football team so mr duper jetta from
021brookhaven's a baseball coach and very big in the brookhaven community he stepped up and he's going to take over the football team over at north there are a few others on tonight's agenda and i would also like to make note i know i started the meeting with a little bit of sour note with the tasks but we have as a board always follow the direction of the health and safety of the state mandated them we're following that direction october 1st we're looking for possibly an update they may require a mandate to keep them they may go back to optional none of us in my opinion are doctors in the medical field and we're following the medical advice i don't my opinion on whether they work or not or whether we should have them on is
022irrelevant i have to follow the mandated estate otherwise i'm voting for personal litigation as well as the district so anybody else comments by members of them he did bring it up too and i i also just wanted to address it as well as i think we have a very invaluable team member on the you know employee and dr barry i'm blessed to i'm blessed that it took to noah for almost for a long time as well as her to continue to perform it as a whole so i i appreciate it i thought dr raggy you know i've already set my opinion and also to president we also have an agenda item on on the agenda that we kept um that we discussed we had a very good working session last week and we just didn't
023want you know to our chickens be before they hatch so i'm glad that we were able to have a very good working session last week um that i know you're going to talk about it when we get later on but as far as further the comments they have to be done by the web honors for more information tonight we have on the agenda there are three school board policies for first reading we're going to remove 903 from the agenda that is something that we need to dive into a little bit longer before we get into waiting for legal advice from the state so policy 904 uh first reading of public attendance at school events and 916 is first reading of policy for volunteers we went over them in length last week in our study session
024it's dr scott hall brett number nine is comments by members of the public on agenda items only that come from the podium please state your name address and what agenda item you are required uh hello my name is nicole boyer 108 east sheldon avenue in parkside and agenda item is you can push the button in front of your test call sure that'll work thank you do you need me to repeat once the agenda item would be 10.07 penn delta school district cares committee charter i had a chance to look through it and refer back to some prior emails that i had had with um with leon yourself and dr steinhoff um when this was originally kind of it has continued to be a very heated topic and in an email from leon armor it says
025the committee is to address internal issues that are not necessarily governed by law so i have an email there but in looking at it it seems to go outside of the scope of internal issues it seemed like we were led to believe that this was going to help with like hiring you know a lot of parents are concerned that they want a staff and a teaching staff that reflect the makeup of our children that's great but it seems that you know we're getting into creating events and activities so on page one of of this charter item two encourage the participation of students and staff in activities that support and promote equity and inclusion so that doesn't sound like internal issues this sounds like we have a committee that's going to encourage outside activities it's always
026been my understanding that any kind of political or social issue if it's going to be something in school it comes generates from the students themselves but this committee is going to be mostly adults handful of kids mostly adults so for example like national day of prayer when the kids go to meet at the flagpole for prayer adult staff teachers aren't allowed to generate that it has to come from within the kids to do at like recess or lunchtime or something like that promote the recruitment support and retention of teachers and staff from diverse backgrounds so that's actually there it's actually five number five of the ten items but this one gets me two number six communicate diversity and inclusion initiatives actions outcomes and results to stakeholders so how are those communications going to be done
027are these posters in the school you know what i'm saying it's like is this social media again this isn't internal now it's becoming external children are part of the stakeholders and the students so this isn't a matter of just job openings for staff um number 10 or excuse me seven lead the process of developing a collection of dei diversity equity and inclusion those buzzwords resources suitable for staff use as needed lead the process of developing a collection of dei resources so all this fear about critical race theory there it is those are the buzzwords and no one can say that it's anything different you're basically saying like a dog you know a dog is not a canine you know you're putting a different name on it but that's where it's going to lead number 10
028provide guidance and feedback to the administration and school board on the identification and selection of resources that can assist the district with dei related needs and interests so again it's like it seems like the committee has gone beyond the scope from the emails that i had gotten from you um steinoff had said reference to critical race theory as being any part of the work that is contemplated would be way beyond anything intended the resolution asks the board to approve a committee to develop a charter for a committee nothing more i suspect any such committee would work to address low participation in ap classes by economically disadvantaged students below average academic achievement growth from our special education students help for teachers who want to learn how to respond to questions by students on current events that
029could be politically sensitive the low participation ap class is absolutely great that is definitely something that we need but again social issues and politics don't belong in academics reading writing arithmetic i just want my daughter how to learn how to read okay this stuff has no place in in in the school um and on top of it it's like uh let's see this was page two back on the charter page three is how it's it's listed when it's done at the end it says refrain from using the committee to advance a personal and or political agenda that could serve to obstruct the proper nonpartisan work of the committee this whole thing is partisan this whole idea is a is a politically and socially charged thing so to say it's nonpartisan it's not going to be
030because again the committee is supposed to be made up of a diverse group but everybody has to follow whatever the decision is or they're required to resign so if you make up a diverse group and you have people that are politically polarized then you're basically already leaving out someone um so my point of reviewing this is is just to consider what the scope is and that this really hasn't been presented as the truth you know you're putting i don't know what you want to use say lipstick on a pig or whatever but it really is turning out to be or could lead to be something of critical race theory and it will um selectively deny you know when you're focusing on special groups you know it's not inclusion when you're making certain groups special and
031that's all i have to say about that thank you [Applause] hello everybody um i'm heather kabundi i live at 14 colonial circle um same agenda item i'm going to talk about the dei um good evening i want to say thank you to the board tonight for taking the time away from their families for the future of each one of ours tonight you are going to vote for the dei committee as a parent i have concerns i would like to first address the misunderstanding that us parents who speak out and question the dei committee that we are against or do not appreciate teachers in the school district this could not be further from the truth and it's twisted that way it does not make us racist it does not make me a bad mom or anti-teacher
032to question the agenda of this committee i myself work in a school i've worked with autistic children for over 10 years acceptance and inclusion are 100 of everything i stand for i fight daily for the rights of students that i work with no one in this room can deny the division within our country town school district on these recent sensitive topics this is what parents like me in the school district are against we want the division to stop we are all fighting for the same thing we want every child included to learn be respected and have support and opportunities they need at school but not at the expense of others honestly isn't this what each administrator teacher parent and staff board and board members in this district have already always been trying to reach implement
033and teach i also think that everyone who has a child right now our kids are accepting look at social media look at tic tacs look at tv look at how truly diverse everything is for our children it's the adults talking about this i believe continuing to focus on race and sexuality versus character will only teach the opposite of what you are trying to achieve with this dei committee i do hear and respect every parent and teacher suggesting but if this could help just one child that i do understand but if there is a child in the school district that feels this way why are we waiting for a committee to fix it i 100 believe there is no teacher in this district waiting for this committee to address it the overall concern from parents that
034continues to be not addressed is that this committee will lose sight and allow the push for political agenda there's no transparency into what this committee really will be i want every student to feel accepted learn and have opportunities but not at the expense of other others i want every child respected what's not being addressed is the hypocrisy of the situation like in the school you can hang a black lives matter flag but are you hanging police lives matters plans next to it represent all students like you say you're going to or not at all take it out in closure tonight i'm challenging the board that if you vote for this committee if you create it do not consider race and agendas build build this committee representing true diversity build up parents board members and teachers
035who are passionate about this topic i would like to be a parent on this committee i believe this committee should be represented by the parents who have come and spoken to the board both in favor and against the creating of this committee this would represent the diversity of our community and no parent or family is wrong for teaching their values in police the school should stay out of it if the committee is handpicked by those who think and believe a certain way it will 100 show diversity equity inclusion is not your goal and mark by words if the agendas continue the politics continue to be pushed you build these more family to pa charter school thank you [Applause] so that will move on to that there's no rush to process i'm sorry hello my name
036is uh leah squittier and i live in brookhaven from cambridge rick and i'm just going to follow along the line of the same topic um i was here in june and spoke to the board about it and i'm against critical race theory but my big question here is i don't know how the board works but i wonder if you guys all are here i know because you care about our kids and why couldn't something like critical race theory even masks i don't know um cameras in schools sex ed why couldn't they be brought to a vote to the parents because i am sure the majority parents don't want this they just want their kids to be taught math history reading arithmetic all this is political even these masks i'm not going to get into them
037but even these masks my kid can't go to school you can't wear a mask he has down syndrome i know he wouldn't be required to wear it but he would see everybody in this gets freaked out he cries he he can't he feels like he's in the twilight zone like i feel like right now um and i'm sorry i'm just so nervous it's it's so upsetting um but i just wishes that if you guys could consider bringing this to a vote to the parents and including the students as well especially the high school kids they all have a right to an opinion and to to the education you know they're the one we're the ones paying for this the taxpayers and we're sending our kids and entrusting them to you guys and i'm sure these
038teachers don't want to do this either and i love our teachers my son had the best experience of panel and earthly the best teachers so and i know that's because of a lot of you guys and all your wonderful policies but this politics stuff cannot be you guys got to get rid of it please let pem delco maybe be the one that stands up and says we're not going to do the masks because it's a recommendation it is not a law we're not going to get arrested by the police if our kids don't go to school without masks it's not a reality thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh the gentleman just walked in we have to require the aquarium basking in the building under what state ball sir there's a requirement of a penndot
039coast school district in this building that you're required to wear a mask or so you're going to throw me out yes i will you're going to throw me out okay i'll put that is our that's our rule call the police we're behind the sergeant right there that's time to go you don't want to put a mask on it's time it's a private building what is what is the law that states i have to wear a masking tape it's a government order that government or what government i'm not going to argue with you that's our law all right whatever thank you chunk size thank you for nuts once again i will state it's a state mandate whether i agree with it or not that's what we're required to do we're we're open to personal litigation if
040we don't reinforce my name is sarah constand i reside at 15 hoagley in austin i'll keep this short and sweet um i just want to share my appreciation and support for the trump point zero seven for the cares committee as somebody who is an educator in the district and also a community member i was very interested to see how this committee could be formed and where it could go someone who sat in on the call i do not believe that we ever discussed critical race theory it was truly an open and honest discussion about how this committee could help support our children outside of what we do in the classroom but we never talked about let's push this political agenda it was what are our experiences and how can we make sure that every single
041child is represented and appreciated and respected and that's the only conversation that we have we can get any further and there are many ways that that can happen in the classroom and at home and in the community and this is just one avenue this is just one way that we could at least try to see what it looks like it doesn't have to be set in zone forever if it doesn't work or if the community doesn't appreciate it but we won't know unless we try and that's why i support the committee and also all the teachers and the community members who want to be a part of the community as well thank you [Applause] [Music] references the penducal budget 2021 2022 act 93 plan pdea agreement pdespa agreement pdsspa agreement pa school code section 1108p
042is the administrative recommendation to approve all personnel in adjustment questions or comments mr president this is the section where the eighth grade teacher was at a high school teacher excuse me that's correct uh so this is the section uh it's not written on the agenda but this is the section where that person is now on that agenda will be voted upon along with everyone else on this motion thank you thank you motion to approve number 10. it was it was moved in second so we just have to take those questions or comments all those in favor post motion passes tonight the board will administer a consent agenda from 10.03 through 10.12 excluding 10.07 the sessor has made it known she would like to vote on that separately so with that i would like i need
043a motion to approve those 10 dollars 10.03 through 10.12 excluding 10.07 please note all contracts preparation and solicitations of bid are subject to the review and approval of ourselves questions or comments again mr president one of those at 10.12 or the listing of the tax appeals and if you'll take a look down at the last one for example 5000 edgemont avenue that's the shop right here and reassessment had assessed that building somewhere around 18 million dollars which we sell which we felt was grossly undervalued and in a reassessment year the district has an ability to file certain tax appeals uh we were very successful it was improperly valued it was way undervalued and we were able to get that value up to 26 million for this tax year and then 28 million for tax year
0442022 and moving forward so just an example of some of the problems that existed with regard to the reassessment uh that were forced down onto the district forced the district to deal with uh but we were very successful uh in that item so you had to move you had a motion in a second be appropriated to vote at this time sir i'd like to also say i did question that last week in our study session um and spoke with mr pupil and found out that it actually worked in uh in our favor of an excess of eight million dollars of additional taxable product so with that questions or comments all those in favor opposed your taxes 10.07 is emotional approved to conduct the school district cares committee charter as presented questions or comments mr zelda
045real quickly this is danny no this is ellis yes mrs sessler yeah mrs jones no this is powell no mr c sound yes mr kinsley yes mr armor 4-4 motion fails [Music] members of public name is sue k schaefer i reside on derby lien in aston i want to also thank the board for all of the time that you donate to the district and to our community and i also wanted to apologize for comments that i've made in previous meetings that i made in anger and that tone was inappropriate and i want to apologize for that i appreciate that all the word is actually showing support for teachers i think our teachers have had a very difficult year as this board has had and i appreciate you showing that support um one of the things
046i wanted to my comments tonight are really a request to help parents like myself community members like myself who are trying to follow the decisions being made here in the district and on the board it's difficult to follow decisions that are being made and what those decisions are based on um the uh i think there are some things that could happen that could make that a lot easier some simple things it wouldn't cost any money like we could have this meeting just as it is tonight but also allow people to join via zoom so that they could listen in if you know parents are putting their kids to bed or can't we don't feel comfortable in this room um that zoom meeting could also be recorded and can be posted i know you post this
047meeting on youtube but sometimes there's issues with the sound and other things and they get edited those recordings could be transcribed and that could help add detail to mr zedley's units he can't possibly capture everything that's being said or discussed and the minutes really do lack the detail and occasionally they're incorrect which i'm sure is just human error but occasionally they do not reflect what was said and there are also the i'm sorry is there a problem there's a problem when you attack one of our members with his minutes so let's leave that out i just i it's you mentioned that there are a few mistakes keep that to yourself there's just there are mistakes i'm just saying it's hard to follow i'm sure you make mistakes as well i do i do absolutely their
048mistakes by someone else mistakes in the public record are mistakes um but it's i'm sure not intentional um my point is if if the recordings were transcribed and those could be made on uh added to the public minutes um that they could be more accurate and more detailed and it would be easier for parents like myself to follow um it is very important that we understand the decisions that are being made and what those decisions are based on and the sunshine act in fact does require that there be public discussion and that of course it allows for discussion in executive session for or litigation or personnel issues but um for issues that are of public record they need to be discussed publicly and it's important that voters understand we have an election coming up on
049november 2nd thank you the more we'll discuss if we're going to live a stream or something i don't know whether we will or not but that will be something to discuss in our next steps not a reasonable request but i'm not sure uh nicole boyers 108 east shelton road and parkside this is basically on on the masking issue um i really respected you guys for your vote you know in taking care of our school district and voting for masks optional basically putting the power you know of our children's care back in the parents hands you know where honestly it belongs um and we understand what you guys are dealing with and then governor wolf overstepped his reach and put down this mandate um and really a lot of this masking it is political it's virtue
050signaling okay um i i watched your meeting last week and i'm watching everybody's masks i've got screenshots you know all of us as adults this is irritating let's just be real let's live in reality okay before this meeting began we're all sitting around talking no masks on okay we go home no masks um and then all of a sudden oh you know the cameras are on we got to put our masks on we got to look the part you know it's it's just kind of ridiculous the children are masked they're segregated by class they eat lunch supposedly six feet apart all facing the same way and segregated at recess outside civil rights act of 1964 i think segregation ended but yet we're keeping all these kids separate um and they spend recess you know what
051they do they spend all of recess trying to talk to the other class you know before school and after school they're all like in each other's faces within six inches lollygagging you know healthy social interaction oh but we're going into school now got to put the masks on virtue signaling we got to look the part you know it's doing nothing because you know what i went outside today because i'm only two blocks from parkside elementary and i'm watching recess and i watch the kids after school they're all sharing swings i know they're not cleaning each swing in between each kid getting on and off of it or the slides you know masks are flying they're coming off they're being kids they're being normal they're acting the way that they're supposed to um they share toys
052they share bikes they share scooters they're sharing snacks they're sharing jokes and gossip you know all the kids play together in the neighborhood and they're running around in between everybody's houses no parent is asking them to put masks on so what they're doing for that short amount of time in the school is doing nothing it is not achieving any perceived safety it really is just a sign of control by adults and i really hope you guys take back what is yours as a school board your sovereign immunity no one's going to take away any licenses or certifications no one's going to take away your insurance you don't have to answer to the governor you don't answer the governor you answer to us you know sovereign immunity and and i'm saying god that you know we
053all like the lawyer jokes right we hate lawyers but at the same disrespect but right now they're jumping all over this because they understand that this is great overreach so i really do look forward to getting back to normal that come october 1st if that's the magic day we reassess this and realize that the only place i can think of anybody's wearing masks is the kids and they're the least likely to spread or catch this we're the ones that are actually at risk on them so thank you [Applause] so it might be appropriate to address some of the mask issues and some of the massive topics right now um i have the privilege of representing a few school districts who all have done different things different virgins no mask cdc says recommend we recommend them
054other school districts prior to the edict younger children they all did some things differently um whenever as i said earlier there's an unfortunately an executive order or an order of a health uh secretary or a new law or a new interpretation of the law there is significant disagreement currently there are multiple cases that are in the court system that will hopefully yield answers to everyone everyone especially myself as you say the lawyer jokes i'm good with a lawyer joke they're a good one i'm not good with being told that i'm dictating someone's policy i'm the lawyer i represent represent the district without passion or prejudice this is not my issue i have to tell the district what i believe is currently the situation i believe at this current time under this situation that we are
055unfortunate depending upon your position fortunately or unfortunately under a mass mandate there are three or four cases that are ongoing and i would anticipate some decisions soon there is a case in the commonwealth court where the judge has indicated that she does not need any evidence she knows the case it's a legal issue does the acting secretary of health and virtually the governor and the 1950 it's either five or nine communicable but communicable book 55 things sure communicable disease statute applied or does it not we will get those answers i anticipate those answers and are ruling fairly quickly fairly quickly for courts hopefully in the next few weeks after that there's an appeal period so again for every person who is on a different position or belief there is no logic there is no ration
056okay we need to stop looking for that it's unfortunately the law sometimes there isn't logic or rationing the advice i've rendered to the school district is that i do believe that they are bound at this time by that mandate until we are provided with some different guidance that guidance will be coming there are cases in the federal court system true different east town and a number of parents brought suit against te for their mat for their health and safety plan you could see the complaint was amended and added to discuss whether a school district could have it that's in federal civil court they already had a series of testimonies day or two of testimony the judge denied the emergency temporary restraining order that the parents had requested but there is still ongoing testimony to take
057place there are a number of other cases with regard to special needs children and things like that there will be decisions and guidance that will tell us what an exemption is does it need to have a doctor does it not need to have a doctor the order says you can have an exemption for medical reasons well it doesn't say you need a doctor well what do you mean medical reasons who gets to say metabolisms um you know we don't know so as we did through much of last year you know i render the advice that i believe is the best solid advice that i can provide we will be guided by other things changes in the law the legislature is in session currently i believe this will be a topic for them so we may
058find direction in multiple different places but as we find that direction you know and the guidance and the law becomes clearer we'll provide that to the district and we will go from there you may be right i'm not telling you that you are wrong in the constitutional or legal issues that you have presented i am not telling anyone who is in favor of masks that they are wrong about their position we don't know we will see okay i know it's passionate on both sides but respectfully as i said that's not my job my job as a represent the district without prejudice without passion provide with legal guidance so that's kind of where we are on the mass mandate so it is a wait and see at this point legislatively and port wise to see to
059see what the outcomes of those cases are i pray there quickly i really do um so so everyone understands where they are and how to move forward with a year and we'll see but i wanted to address your your comments because i thought it was an opportunity to just address where the entire mass situation works um and i know it is a passionate one for folks all the way around appreciate it thank you thank you man that's my member of the board i would like to say you know appreciative mr gave that a little bit of clarification everyone that's sitting up here has a different opinion who knows what's right whether we wear masks outside this room you know how is it right that there's 80 000 people football games someday they don't wear masks
060but they have to in school i'm personally not putting myself financially and legally responsible to go against the manual i'll walk away from it all this is a volunteer position and i'm not it's just something that i'm not willing to do i'm either going to follow it or you know i don't know the rest of the board we've tried to follow it if they come back and say optional we'll reconvene and say it will be optional again but at this point i think we need to follow our legal advice and hopefully we get some clarification here in the next couple weeks so i appreciate everyone's time any other comments phone numbers on the board future meetings are wednesday october 20th study session here at the service center as well as october 27th the business meeting
061here concerns you