MCSD Board Meeting

001Call to order the Monday, February 2nd school board meeting. First thing we'll do is pledge the flag in a moment of silence. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> Mrs. Beach here. >> Mrs. King is not here tonight. Mayor >> here. >> Mr. Clair >> here. >> Mr. Sens >> here. Mrs. Walker >> here. >> Dr. Kiteon >> here. >> Mr. >> Here, >> Mr. Bush >> here. >> Members. >> February 2nd, 2026 school board meeting is open to the public and is also being streamed virtually. First, I'm looking for approval of the February 2nd school board meeting agenda. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> I have

002a motion and second. All in favor say I. I. >> Opposed? passes. Next, I'd like to get approval of the December 22nd school board meeting minutes. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Passed. >> Next thing we'd like to do is the recognition of learners of the month. >> All right. Thank you, Milton Bushy. So tonight, first up we have from Baron Elementary, Oliver Buouie, grade one, Miss Chasser. I am proud to announce that Oliver Buouie has been selected as Baron Elementary's first grade January learner of the month. Oliver consistently exemplifies all of the purposeful people character traits, but it is clear that he excels in the areas of responsibility, kindness, and empathy. Oliver demonstrates responsibility in many ways. He

003is always ready and excited to learn, consistently giving his best effort and approaching challenges with with positive attitude. As a reflective learner, Oliver understands that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process and uses them as opportunities to grow. Additionally, he he is highly attentive and confident enough to respectfully speak up, even when it means catching my mistakes. Oliver is a positive role model and sets an example for his peers. When Oliver walks into the room, his joyful presence is immediately felt. His bright smile, laughter, and enthusiasm creates a welcoming environment for both his classmates and myself. He shows kindness every day by helping his classmates with their work, giving them his own gloves on cold days, and cheering others on whenever they need encouragement. Oliver truly understands empathy. During Oliver's recess time, he

004even made me a book with the definition of empathy and open-ended questions for me to answer. He truly sees the good in people and treats himself and others with care. Oliver is a true difference maker who will continue to shine and accomplish great things. Congratulations, Oliver. I'm so lucky to be your teacher this year. All right, next up do run Chase AI grade one Mr. Sherwood. Good evening. I'm here with Chase Aki, the Dorun Learner of the Month. I'm actually filling in for Miss Diffendall who wasn't able to come. Miss Diffendall is Chase's first grade teacher. So, if you catch me saying I in class, I would I'm turning into my notes and I'm actually reading her words. Uh, Chase is a first grade learner in Miss Diffend's class. And she says, "What a pleasure

005it is to work with him every day and watching him grow as a learner. Chase is an all-around stellar student. He comes into school each day with a positive attitude and tries his best day in and day out. He never gives up and he's very honest with Miss Diffendall with something. It's too hard. But will always take on that challenge. There are times where he when he will say to Miss Diffendall, "I'm not very good at this or I need more practice with this." But it immediately turns into Chase attempting to show his best on that assignment. When Chase's peers were asked to describe Chase, they used words like kind, nice, friendly, funny, and smart. He's a learner that others go to for help, and Chase is always more than willing to help. Chase constantly

006participates and never complains. He takes on challenges and perseveres no matter what his confidence level is at the skill. Some of his other teachers, Mr. Frink says he is a great mo role model in both health and PE and a fantastic leader. His art teacher, Mrs. Pel, says he's a creative artist and a role model for his peer peers. I'm honored to recognize Chase this evening as Dough Run's learner of the month and we're looking forward to great things not only through Dough Run but through his whole Mannheim Central career. Congratulations Chase. >> Okay, next up from our middle school, Landon Leader, grade five, Miss Ludwig. Hi everyone. I am proud to be here tonight to celebrate Landon and his accomplishments this school year. Landon has consistently shown me that he exemplifies all the traits

007of a Baron and I have always appreciated his ability to work hard, collaborate with others, and show responsibility in the classroom. He sets a positive example for his peers through his calm demeanor, and he is someone I can always count on to be working hard and to go the extra mile to ensure he's successful. Selfishly, I love having Landon in class because he's always laughing at my cheesy jokes and sharing a smile with me. He's a wonderful friend and classmate, and I feel very fortunate to be his teacher. His other teachers sing the same praises as me. Mrs. Moyer said that although Landon has not been in art class for very long, she can tell that he is incredibly hardworking and engaged. Mr. Hardle said Landon is always interested in our science and social studies

008topics. He has a strong work ethic and participates in class and he does a great job of asking questions to extend his learning. Mrs. Vogel discussed that Landon has shown exponential growth in reading since the beginning of the school year and she's incredibly pleased with his progress. We are all delighted with his success so far in middle school. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share about Landon. And Landon, thank you for all your hard work. We appreciate you so much. >> Next up from the high school, Silus Mitchell, grade 11, Ms. Mccclure. On behalf of the science department, uh we'd like to recognize junior Silus Mitchell as our student of the month. Uh Silas is a member of the science national honor society and he's been an integral part in the science olympia

009team for the past two years. Uh he has pursued the honors science track and then jumped directly into AP chemistry this year. And here's a comment from his teacher uh Mrs. Stout. Silas is currently taking AP chemistry, which is a four-year course. He did not take the traditional route and take chemistry as a foundational course first, but instead jumped right into AP chemistry. While this should be a significant challenge, Silas has been able to meet it head-on. Silas is extremely academically sound thus far in the course, and I expect him to continue to be. While he is fairly quiet in class, he can often be heard explaining his reasoning for solving a problem in a particular way to other students. His ability to give easy to follow explanations to other students shows his excellent level

010of comprehension as well as his patience. Science Silus is uh certainly a standout student for our science department. soon enough >> and just uh so school board name to a face, Miss McClure does our science Olympiad and when she sends us all the updates on their success that comes through her. So I wanted to make sure to recognize that. Any updates on what's next? um February 14th we're at uh the University of Pennsylvania and so hopefully that'll be a good final test before we go to regionals in March and then this should be our 10th year back at states. So Silus is part of that and we've got a great group of seniors and juniors really that are holding our team together and taking home so trophies. So >> well we appreciate your success. >>

011Thank you for your support and helping it make it possible for us to get to go to the events. So thanks And we have two from the CTC, Matt Reel, grade 12, and Kayla Jones. And Dr. Whites will introduce them. >> Thought we spoke about Kayla last. >> Kayla was our last time. >> Yeah, >> we're a month off. We're in January. >> We got it. We're here. >> Um, so it's our honor to recognize Matthew Real. Matthew had an interesting path to the CTC. It really started in the agricultural program at the high school to where he found a a love of electrical work and then in his junior year went on to the the Mount Joy campus and did the con construction cluster program there before eventually winding him winding his way to

012the Brownstown campus and that's where he's a senior um in the electrical construction program and doing a wonderful job. Matthew's uh the one student I can definitely count on whenever he comes in the high school. every morning. He always greets me with a smile and hello. He is always smiling. So, I just love that about him. But, um, if you don't know anything about Matthew, he's a little bit of an outdoors gentleman. Uh, his claim to fame is, and this is quite astonishing, that he did 120 mile group hike in just 11 days. So, uh, that's certainly a testament to, um, his love for outdoors, which is he's really passionate about. He's involved in scouts and does a number of, uh, outdoors activities. He self-labels himself as an outdoor guy. Uh he enjoys traveling. He's

013been to Alaska and Arizona, just to name a few places. And he is the CTC student of the month for our Brownstown campus. So congratulations, Mandy. >> And next up, we have the middle school after school program spotlight. >> Hi everyone, my name is Bianca Palmer. I'm one of the school counselors at the middle school. Um I'm just going to highlight our Baron Connections program. Um so if you go to the next. So just wanted to tie in and start with our why. So the afterchool program goes right with our um district vision um where we want just safe places for all students and we want all students to feel valued. This also goes with our Manheim Central Middle School core value about building relationships and trust with students. Um, and again just making sure

014they feel like they belong. Who is allowed to participate in the afterchool program at our school? Any learner is able to participate in the club portion of our program called Baron Connections. Um, we do have academic support groups, but those are recommendations based on some current learner data. So, this year was the first year we did a fall session and a spring session. Usually, we do one long spring session. Um, ran into some sports, nice weather, um, PSSAs, all that. So, we decided to try something new this year and offered a fall session as well. Um it went really well especially for students that do sports in the spring, maybe have the fall open. Also, we got a different um group of teachers as well because a lot of our teachers coach um so it

015did open up um a lot of variety in the sessions. So how do we pick these clubs? Um so first and foremost, we want to do things that students are interested in. Um at the beginning of the year, the three counselors at the middle school um go to every single student in the building and do something called minute meetings where we get to hear about them and what they're interested in. We then pull that data and then we pull our connectedness data to see what really resonates with students. Um so that's how we try and get some some ideas for clubs. And then we also ask staff members, hey, these are things that students want to learn. These are these are things students want to know. is anyone interested in running this club? Um, and

016then we also have some learning facilitators that are like, hey, I would love to do like a Lego club or something that they're interested in, too. Again, to make sure that teachers feel like they belong and students. Um, so in the fall we offered fishing, cooking, crafting, active fun, racket sports, card games, and Pokemon. And in the spring, um, it starts next Tuesday. We're offering fishing, cooking, crafting, Pokemon, and our new one is Lego Masters, which here is a show on Netflix. Okay. And then in our academic groups, so we have our sixth grade and eighth grade ELA. We did that in the fall and we're continuing it with the same group of students in the spring really just to look at the data and the effectiveness of it. And then we are starting a

017fifth grade math group this spring. So, we look at students belonging all the time at the middle school. Um, middle middle development is really difficult. Um, so we just want to make sure that students feel like they can come to us and feel that they belong. They're with us for four years and we feel like it's really critical um that they feel like they're a part of the middle school experience. So, in the fall, we had 34 fifth graders. At the beginning of the year, six of them said they didn't feel like they they belonged. And then after the program, they all said yes, they did feel like they belonged. So, we really celebrated that. Same with sixth grade. We had 29 total students. Four of them at the beginning said they didn't really feel

018[snorts] like they belonged at the middle school and then all four of them after the program said they did. seventh grade, six students and two of them um same thing said that they didn't belong in the fall and did at the end of the program and then I'm a little biased. I'm the the eighth grade counselor. They all felt connected at the beginning and they all felt connected after which is awesome. Um so again, I'm not attributing to that just to the school counselor um and this this program um but we hope that that helped increase that and be a part of it. And then attendance-wise, we want to make sure that the right students are here and the right students are getting the opportunity. So, every single session above 80% except for one. We

019didn't know it was a band, orchestra, and course rehearsal. So, that hurt us a little bit. But other than that, we were above 80% attendance each time. Here's some pictures. It's on my list to get better pictures. Um, but just a few that like teachers have snapped. I've gone in the rooms and have snapped. Um, one thing in this this spring we had over 60 students sign up for cooking and we have four ovens. So I had to put all the kids' names on the wheel and just spin it and and we kind of went about it that way. In the fall we had about 10 students fish and now we have close to 20 students fishing. We had to open up two uh Lego masters club. I beg teachers like hey can we have

020a crafting club because we can't take all these cooking students. So, I just am so thankful for teacher flexibility. Teachers want to be involved. They want kids to be involved. And again, the kids really seem to enjoy it. Here's some parent feedback. Um, didn't send a survey, just some emails that we've gotten about how their kid has enjoyed the program. I like the last one that their student comes home in a better mood on Baron Connections day. And then I had to add some of these awesome funny middle school moments. Um, so we asked them what was your favorite part. Um, so ah my friends was my favorite one. >> And then what's one thing we can improve? Again, that top one I really took to heart. [laughter] I just want it every day but

021not Friday. And then here you know what what else do you want us to know? I had to put the middle school 67 at the top. Um, but again, just some positive feedback. There wasn't anything negative from the students, which feels really good. And then I just wanted to say thank you to everybody. Um, transportation, we have 63% of our kids take the buses home, so that opens up and helps with the barrier of transportation if if parents aren't able to pick their students up. So, we really appreciate that. administrative assistance, food services gives us awesome snacks, building administration, district administration, all of you for making this a priority. Like from the bottom of my heart, it's so nice to see kids being kids after school. So, thank you. >> One more round of applause

022for the learners of the month. You are dismissed. If you you want to hang out for the rest of the meeting, you're definitely welcome. >> Nobody ever stinks. >> I saw video from silence. husband. All right, we're going to do recognition of visitors and public comment. I don't think we have anyone signed up. Does anyone wish to Okay, next we'll move on to personnel. I'd like to take a D. >> I'll make a motion. >> Have a motion. Second. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> I think we should uh the retirement >> motion passes. We'd like to thank Miss Norcross, Miss Carpenter, and Miss Yazway for putting 88 years together. We wish them luck. Uh, next I'll take E through G. >> I'll make a move. >> Second. >> Have a

023motion, a second. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. I think we have Mrs. Smith here. You want to say something? >> Introduce yourself. >> Hi everyone. My name is Jacqueline Smith. I'm currently a school counselor at Lang Country Day School. I live with grade six, seventh, and eth. And I'm really excited for the opportunity to work in a public school in a different setting and with kids. I enjoy it. And yeah, I'm hoping to start March 9th. So, um, yeah, that'll be my >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And top of counseling, uh, Mrs. Smith also speaks Spanish and German, so we have a lot of she has a lot of tools in the tool belt. >> Next, we'll go >> Smith, you're welcome to leave too whenever you'd like to. >>

024We can next I'll take H through K. M. Second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. It passes. Next. Dr. >> Okay. So, we finally got to have board appreciation. We have some place mats for everybody. Everyone goodie bag. There's notes up here from the high school. We have a couple videos we'll show in a moment. Um, we also had dinner as a board before as a team before the meeting tonight. and the uh our association Kelly Hammond is the association president brought dessert for everybody. So, and had some nice things to say about the board. Uh the things that I would say uh and I'll give you some some data about superintendent in Pennsylvania that I just got from Sherry Smith at a meeting I was at two

025weeks ago. Over the past two years, 182 superintendent have changed position and only 63% make 63% leave before they're here in these roles for five years. Um, and why would I share that data on board appreciation because uh our team doesn't feel we feel supported. We feel validated by what we're doing for kids and I know our staff feel the same way and that is all a ripple effect like Dr. refinery talked about uh at the beginning of the year when that type of thing happens the ripple effect is that positive energy that's contagious and that starts with a quality board. Uh and I I can't stress enough how appreciative we are of that. Uh Steve asked me about a month ago he said what percent of your day do you like do you is

026frustrating and it's at least 75% of this job I love. um 25% sometimes a little more, a little less, but it's it's a it's just a it's an amazing job to have when you see all the things that we can do for kids. And again, that's based on what the board provides and allows and supports. So, I just want to, you know, say thank you from the bottom of my heart, from our team's heart, and from the community. What Kelly, Mrs. Hammond shared with everybody was heartfelt as well. So, I want to recognize all of that and say thank you. Um, let's you want to do the videos now and then I'll move on. There was a button up here when I had it before. >> Scroll down. Be able to hit it right there.

027Play. >> I was trying to make it bigger for you. >> Square. just respond to stop sharing and We have a mute still on. Baron. >> There we go. >> Baron happy, confident, and strong. I'll pour these all to you so you can see them on your computer. >> Leave a loyal friend and a team. Greatness today. >> Excellent. >> Yeah. And then I have another one. Mr. Ditmore, is there a troubleshooting thingy on GoPros? >> She accidentally hit it. >> Sharing sound and video. >> Yeah, but it was at 1x. >> It's playing depending on where it's playing off the internet >> driving down when I can come up. >> Let's see what happens and then I'll let you know. A message from the student of Baron Elementary. >> At Baron Elementary, we learn

028and grow more every day than you might know. >> We read and we we read and write. We count and dream. We work together as one big team. >> Our teachers help us try our best. They cheer us on through every test. We learned to be kind, brave, and strong to help each other all year long. From all of us, goes big. >> Thank you, school board, for helping us stand tall. >> We'll send those to you so you can watch them. >> All right. >> Yeah. So again, uh we just not just in January or February. We appreciate all the time that you commit and the effort that you give all year long. So thank you. Uh last week's weather. I do want to thank our maintenance team uh for an incredible job clearing

029our schools and making them as safe as possible so we could have kids get to school. Also just want to thank the Manheim Burough, Pen Township, and Rafo for their communication all last week and their efforts and, you know, trying to get it so that we could get everything passable. Uh, it takes a lot of effort and we really pulled it off last week. So, I want to thank everyone for that. So, that concludes my board appreciation and weather appreciation report. Uh, Mrs. Martin, let's go with the CTC budget first. Yes. So, tonight is the later in the meeting you will have to count to see budget. Um the main uh the bud there's an expense budget increase of about $1.2 million this year over last year. Um the majority of that increase is wages,

030health insurance, and um the Paser's retirement. And then there's some other minor increases to the budget. Um, you each should have a packet in your folder that gives you a lot more detail, but I just want to um go over a couple of the slides in your packet. Um, this one here um just gives us our market share of how much we have to pay towards the CTC. And the one thing you'll notice is it is going to decrease next year by 15% because our enrollment has dropped at the CTC. Um so moneywise for next year um this year we're paying around $933,000 to CTC. Next year our um payment will be a little under $800,000. So it'll be a savings to our budget of $134,000 which is reflected in the current. Um and then

031we of course are still uh we still help with their bond payments. Our portion of the bond payment for next year is around $75,000. >> That's the the basic highlights. I can answer questions. >> The bond part that does that change based on participation or is that >> that's a constant? you know how many years we're left on >> I do not any other questions and that will be down for approval later and then if you each have a ballot in your folder that I will need that >> so how many students do we have in the program >> in the program right now this We have about 70 74 80 as our average students. It dropped from you had7 students uh for 2425 and then 2526 it did did drop to around 74. >>

032And what does that break out to? Is it only 12 to 11th grade or how many grades make that up? Yeah. >> The the first sheet shows that the district contribution is only an increase of 54,000. Is that is that our contribution to the >> No, that's total. That's the total contributions from all the districts. >> Oh, got it. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, good. Thank you. >> Yeah, because they also receive some subsidy from the state, too. So the districts don't absorb the whole increase. >> Okay. And then I did ask Mrs. Martin to just give a brief uh budget update. We'll have obviously more details to come as more numbers solidify. >> Yes. So, um, as you remember, the district up for the budget process for 2627 was passed in the resolution in

033December. Um, and then I did present to the committee, uh, kind of a first draft budget for 2627 couple weeks ago. So, tonight I just want to kind of give an update of what I presented to the committee, which um, was a 0% tax increase. Um, which Kelly, is there any way you can make that bigger? Sorry. No, that's okay. >> That's too big. Control minus less. >> Is that better? >> Work. I don't know if people there can see it. >> That's good. That would be great if you could. Okay, >> thank you. >> Yeah, no problem. >> Um, so the first column you see here is with a 0% millage increase and that was uh around the I made some minor adjustments since I met we met a couple weeks ago, but as

034you can see right now that puts us in a deficit of around $3.5 million. The other columns um everything is basically the same. The expenditure amount is the same. The only thing that changes in um the the uh columns to the to the right are the the millillage increases. So I I gave you an example of what it would look like with 1% increase, 2%, 3% and 3.5, which is the highest that we can go. That is our index this year. And then that just shows you the the deficit of what that would look like with the different tax increases. down below here is just these are some items I've been working on since presenting that budget. Um the one thing you will see up top here with the state revenue which is around $22

035million, there's very little increase um in that state revenue over the current year because I don't know a lot at this point in time. The governor's budget um budget pro um presentation is tomorrow. So maybe we'll learn a little more after that. Um but the one thing that we have received $478,000 in 2425 for our rights ready to learn adequacy and then again in 2526 we received an additional $478,000. I'm not sure if that if that trend is going to keep up with the adequacy payments and as you remember that that came from the fair funding formula case. Um, but I just wanted to see what it would look like if we included at least half of that money in in the current in the 26 27 proposed budget. So half of that would be

036around $239,000 and that's what you see down here. >> And you see you have that reflected in your deficit numbers already there >> down at the bottom here. Yes. Not at the bottom. It's not reflected at the top because these are all kind of unknowns at this point. Um, another thing that I had been working on was the health insurance costs. In the in the budget you see above, I did in include a 10 to 11% increase in health insurance costs because looking at industry trends, that's what we're that's what you are seeing with the health insurance costs, but I did a deeper dive on our history versus the industry trends and we tend to do better than than the industry. Now, we are meeting with our insurance brokers here in February. So, I'm hoping

037to learn a little more information from them after that meeting, but I'm hoping to be able to reduce that increase to maybe around a 7% increase. And if we if we're able to do that, that would save us around $255,000. So, that's the next line that you see here. The third line that you see here, possible other savings, are just some other things that that we're investigating right now. And I'm not going to get into too much detail because those are things we'll probably present to you here coming up. Pretty much from now until June, you'll probably hear about the budget every board meeting. And as we know more information and um we make any changes to the budget um and then also our staffing presentation. I'm hoping with all that being um said and

038done that we can save maybe close to $352,000 additional money on top of the health insurance savings. And so just to kind of give you an example of what that would do to the budget currently, um let's just say if you decided to raise the millage around 2% and then we could have these possible savings, um that would give our um drop our deficit down to a $ 1.9 million deficit. So just want to kind of give you an idea. We're we're working hard to try and find um as much savings as we can in the budget. And I'm still there's a lot of still unknowns with the revenue, too. um keep an eye on our um EIT payments and our real estate transfer tax payments to see what that's going to look like for

039next year, too. So, it's it's still early in the process, but this is this is where we are right now. >> I don't know if you have this right now or you can get it later. Um on the healthc care part of it, can the last two years where did we I know we were higher than what we budgeted on both of them. We ended up spending more than what we budgeted. Yeah. But I wonder where were we in the budget part compared to what we thought we were going to be industrywise. You know what I mean? Like did we do better than what the >> what they projected or not. Yeah. >> Definitely can look into that for you and give you give you some more information on that. >> Thanks. >> And and

040Kelly, could we could you investigate EIT just to see how we compare with the county? >> Yeah. as well >> have all those spreadsheets and right now our EIT is actually trending higher for um 2526 than um we projected at the beginning of the year it's what we're bringing in >> what we're receiving yeah hopefully that trend will continue um that's with six months of data so um we are trending higher than we anticipate at this point so >> I believe we have a lower percentage than most of the districts in the county so it would be interesting to If we were to modify that percentage, what process would be to do that? >> Okay, thank you, Mrs. Martin. Stay tuned. We'll have continuous updates throughout the rest of the school year. And letter D

041is just uh distribution of policies. 1223 209.3 09.1719 815.1 for first read. And that concludes my report. >> Sounds good. Thank you very much. Now over to Dr. Plary or the assistant superintendent for board. >> Thank you. Um the first thing for this evening is just to let you know about an item that you're voting on this evening, the calendar for the 2627 school year. The calendar looks as we reviewed last year. There was no uh other changes that came in terms of dates. Just a simple change of wording to try to make it more clear to the teachers when their makeup days are now since we now have student hours, but teachers have contracted days. Um so that slight wording changes reflected on the calendar you'll be approving. Otherwise, no changes from what you

042saw last month. Um the next thing we're going to talk about, we're going to have a little presentation here by uh Miss McCully. Um as our numbers of higher needs special education students continue to arise, you know, we're continue to be faced with a problem of finding appropriate placements for them. As you're aware, IU classrooms of closed and agency placements have become higher in demand. They're also very costly. So, we uh had Miss McCauley look at planning for longer term solutions that would be able to keep our programs inhouse uh and save the district money uh from going out if possible. Um that does require considering some additional uh supports, but she's going to present that to you this evening in terms of what options we have. >> Good evening. Um thank you for listening

043to this next part. Uh what I would hope for is as you're looking at this presentation and hearing about it, two questions that I do want you to consider. If you want to go to the next slide is just how do we as a district continue to provide our students special education services with that high quality education that we all believe in. Um and specifically looking at our students with the school age disability of autism. And then secondly, how do we continue to address uh special education trends that are demonstrating an increased student needs and thus needing increased staffing needs? So, as you all are aware, special education has been on the rise. Um, just to give our audience a little bit more context, in the last 10 years, special education has increased by 25.1%

044according to the PSBA uh school report. um provided in 2025. And it's hard to see it on this um but at the top of that peak, 20% of our students across the state are considered as as to having a school age disability. Um if you're going to go to the next slide, I did break down the numbers a little bit so that you can see what it looks like by category. Um I took the 2017 PSBA report, compared it to our 2025. Um, and you can see autism has about a 45% increase in a little under a decade. Um, which is really big for us here. Next slide. And then locally, what does this data look like for us? So, you'll see that I have a wonderful secretary who takes phenomenal notes. So, shout out

045to her. um she was able to dig back into our data from a decade ago, 2014-15, we had 351 students identified as having a school age disability. Um and we're now at 512. That's a almost a 70% increase in our students population of having that school age disability. Specifically with autism, we have seen almost 182% increase of our students being identified as having a school age disability with autism. Um the other statistic that I wanted to share with you that I thought was really interesting was that in the last decade um our numbers for outofd district placements have stayed the same. Just to give you a little definition our out of district placements are considered anybody who's providing that education outside of Mannheim Central. So for example, Mrs. speech he's been in to see our

046IU13 classrooms that are run by the IU but in our buildings. We have kids that attend programs at Hempfield Manheim Township and similar settings. Um but we do also have students who go to center-based facilities. Centerbased facilities are uh entities that provide education only to those who have a school age disability. Um, and you can see that we've had a,200% increase of our students needing to go to center-based. And there's two reasons for that. One, the kiddos that are coming to us who are identified as having that school age disability, their needs are very complex. Um, you see an increase of maybe language needs, behavior needs, and sometimes those are best outfitted at a centerbased where they can really target those kiddos needs. The other thing that is happening is that our providers are becoming

047very saturated. Um because we're not the only ones in the state that are experiencing this really huge increase of kiddos identified with a school age disability. Um and so when IU becomes saturated, we're all then fighting for those center-based spots and availability has become really really hard to uh find, especially after the start of the school year. Um, it did give you two costs just to kind of give you an idea of what we spend per student. So, for a kiddo who attends our IU13 autistic support class, uh, for example, at Dorun, that cost starts at about $45,000 a year and can range up to around $92,000 a year. That is dependent on their services. So, that could include a PCA, it could include uh physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech. Um, same for our

048centerbased. This is an example of what a centerbased would cost for us. Um, with new story, it starts around $84,000. So, the cost is significant when we do have to move to a center-based placement. So over the last year, and this almost marks I'm like a couple days beyond my oneyear anniversary of um being the lead for the special ed department. And two intimate challenges that I see our department facing that I think we need to address within the next year is the fact that right now our current special education structure where we're relying on external providers um really needs to be addressed. We have had three kiddos alone this year who we were not able to place in the appropriate placements because of the saturation that is happening with our outside providers. Um not

049just with the IU but new story and other other spaces as well. Uh those outside placements are also very costly. And so what I did was starting to do some work to figure out how do we still provide that quality education and all those services for our kiddos um while also taking into consideration the financial landscape that we are currently experiencing. So my overarching proposal tonight you're going to see three different models that I'm going to share with you. Um, but what I'm looking for us to um consider tonight is opening a K to2 autistic support classroom with the appropriate staff supports increase our school psychologist team. So currently we have um a school psychologist per level, so three, one elementary, one middle, one high school. I'd be looking to add an additional support. Some

050of that reasoning is because our kiddos are becoming coming in with more complex needs. evaluations are taking uh more time do the the best served student is the one who has an evaluation that's well done um and then the IEP is built from that. So making sure that our school psychologists are in a position to do those evaluations well but also to pivot and put them in a position where they're able to do their entire job. Um a lot of us work under the notion that a school psychologist is there to do evaluations and kick out those reports. They're actually also trained to go into the classroom to help coach our teachers um special education and regular ed um to always be ensuring that least restrictive environment. So really trying to open up their roles

051so that they can work in their full capacity. The third would be um increasing our special education coordinator role. Right now we have one person who does that K to 12. Um I would be proposing that we split that into two roles. one for K26 and then another for 7 to 12. Um the reasoning behind this is that we'd be able to really start customizing our programming um at the elementary and secondary level. Um to give you an example, we're going through transition um compliance monitoring with the state and we have some work that we need to do at the high school level to ensure that our kids have more tracks to explore their transition planning beyond CTC. Um, and that's a huge change in landscape. You heard those members tonight. Um, our numbers are

052are down with being able to send kids there as part of their planning. The other piece that a special education coordinator would be able to do is to help provide um LEA provisions. Um, so currently I attend all of those 53 meetings for our outside placements. They would be able to take on some of that case load um so that I can serve as director in other areas as well. And then they would also continue to monitor compliance for our all of the paperwork that comes with special education. Another piece of this would be to increase administrative assistance support to make sure that we're maintaining our paperwork. So I'm going to take you through these three models in the way that I kind of thought about them and moved through them to come to my

053recommendation for you tonight. The first model would be a districtowned classroom. The middle one is a hybrid where we would partner with an outside contractor and the last one is not opening that autistic support classroom. So I'm going to start with the proposal C, if you want to go ahead. So, if we choose not to address the the need for autistic support, at minimum, I think what would help our um special education team best serve our kiddos would be to increase that school psychologist um role by one, add on a special education coordinator and the administrative assistant. Um the pros of this are the things that I outlined with you in that overarching proposal. Um the cons is that we're going to continue to rely on our external providers. Um and when we do that

054and when we cannot place students appropriately, one, we're not really honoring our mission and vision as a district to provide that education, but we're also putting ourselves in a position where we could be um facing litigation because we're not serving those kids in the best capacity. Um, so you can't see that number on paper, but at minimum, this plan would cost us $290,000. So, I did then go down the rabbit hole of owning our own classroom. There are several districts around us that do do um own their own autistic support classrooms. Those districts do tend to be a little bit bigger in size. Um, we're very similar in size to Donagal and Etown. Um, give you an example. Etown contracts some of their autistic support out. Donagal is in the same position where we are

055where we rely on those external providers. Um, but districts like Warwick, Epherta have built these classrooms a long time ago and part of that is their size. Um, they're a much bigger district than us and they've they've kind of met this challenge before we have. Um, as I went through this process of analyzing whether or not to open up our own classroom, um, I did look at some staffing needs. So, if we were to open our own autistic support classroom, we would need a teacher. We would, um, need a certified behavior analysis. Um, they come in and they help analyze student behavior in the classroom, develop positive behavior support plans. Um, with this plan, they would actually support our emotional support classrooms as well. Um, so not just dedicated to this room, but vital to

056this room. Um, school psych, special education coordinator. Um, in order to help the classroom run, I did budget in two PAR educators, um, and then two personal care assistants. The personal care assistants are um something that's decided upon in a kid's IEP whether or not they need that onetoone support, but I felt that two was a safe number to start with. We would also be um responsible for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech, which runs around $73,000. Um given the type of classroom it is, those kids typically have all three of those built into their IEP. We would also need to do training and set up for that classroom, which puts us around around $820,000 to open that classroom. Um, that's a huge chunk of change for us to consider um as a school and

057for our taxpayers. It's also a huge operational lift. Um, something that I'd be willing to go through, but I think it's it's something to take into consideration. Um, and the other piece that comes with opening this classroom is making sure that our staff is appropriately trained. They would need to be trained in something called verbal behavior um, training. And that does come at a cost in making sure that that is up and running. The other piece that would be significant for our day-to-day operations to consider with this is that you wouldn't be able to take a general education sub or a colleague and just throw them into a classroom if you needed coverage on the dayto-day. So, there is a resource piece there that we need to consider what that would look like on a

058day-to-day piece. Um, the pros of this, and that's something that I think we do need to work toward, um, is it does maximize least restrictive environment for our students, meaning they get to stay in their home school and be connected to their community in a way that's very hard to replicate when they're not in our buildings. Um, the cost efficiency of this model does improve over time because we're continuing to invest in our own classroom and our own staff. Um, and it also allows us to make sure that our students have spots and then we could sell seats uh to other districts while ensuring we have our own seats. So, while I do think that this is a very valuable model for us to work towards, I do understand some of the cons right now

059might not be uh where we're currently [clears throat] at as a district. Um, so this led me to the last proposal, which is what I would be recommending tonight. Um, New Story, who we work with from a center-based um they we send kids there for their center-based uh services, does have an in-classroom model. Uh most of their in-classroom model is at Boiling Springs School District. Um and they are starting to branch into the Lancaster area. Newstory would come in and staff the classroom for us. So they would provide a teacher and two paras and up to two PCAs. That cost for that is $480,000. Um forgot to mention that they will also provide us with a BCBA It won't be a full-time BCBA. It'll be a BCBA that's shared with a region. Um, you would

060have up to 25% of that BCBA and then they also provide a regional director that helps oversee the day-to-day operations and to make sure that the classroom is running running as it should. Um, what is different about New versus the IU is that we would still be on the hook for making sure that the paperwork is done, the evaluations are done. Um, so that's why you would still see a need for a school psychologist and a special education consultant built into this model. Um, as well as we would still be running for PTO and speech. As a part of this proposal, I would suggest that we would be purchasing three seats, which is $180,000 for us. Um, and then we would be partnering with our local consortium for the our regional members to purchase the

061other seats that remain. Um, so what's great about this model is we get some of those seats to make sure that we have places for our kids. Um, but it does help lower the cost because you're sharing it with the consortium. Um, within our consortium, two of the three are very interested in pursuing this model with us. Uh, so I do feel confident that we could move through this uh and share some of that financial risk. Cons of it, it's not as efficient over time. Um, this is a one-year contract, so we would potentially see an increase the following year as we do with all of our contracts. Uh, it does restrict our seats to the amount that we purchase and then share within that consortium. So, we'd still be um constrained in some ways.

062Um, and again, we're still responsible for all of those services. That said, I do feel that the consortium model is probably the best hybrid um, between the first one that I shared with you versus full district ownership. Um, I do think this also helps us pave the way to get to that full ownership model where we could say, you know, down the road, hey, it's time for us to bring this classroom back and as a Manheim Central District uh, school district classroom. So, that is my proposal tonight um, or my recommendation that we would be moving forward with the consortium model. Um, I recognize that this is a big ask, so I wanted to open the floor to you guys to see if you had any feedback or questions that you'd like to ask. >>

063First question, based on the numbers, I'm assuming your numbers were salaries only, not all of it. >> Assuming >> like for the like teachers and things like benefits, >> salaries and benefits for that. Now on the B part of it with a psychologist and special education coordinator, is that something that we would be splitting with other districts or would they all need to have their own also? >> So that would be So we have a consortium contract now, but we would be redoing it specifically to share the cost of this. Um because right now what we do is we give them the cost of what it costs for us to have those students. Because this is a different model, we would be looking at how do we make sure that they're having um some part

064in when we use a school psychologist, when we use a special education coordinator through administrative fees is is typically how it's listed. >> So, we would house it here and the other schools would end up paying a fee. That would then offset part of the psychologist >> parts of it. Yes. >> Your proposal A, how many seats did that serve? proposal A for the district ownership. Um, so these classes are staffed up to eight students. Um, and just to give you a little context, we started our early intervention meetings for next school year already. And of the five students who we know are coming in with autism, four of those kiddos will need an outside placement. Um, whether that's in a classroom that we have or through the IU. So, um I could never guarantee

065that we'll always fit all fill all eight seats. Um but proposal A does allow us like the maximum value of seats. completely off this although on this is the state are we doing anything at a statewide are we looking at this as a state because the numbers that you're showing it's almost an epidemic that we need to look at what is going on that the numbers are trending so high are is anything happening school board can we be reaching out to certain people to say to do something are we looking at this at a state side >> I mean you could certainly reach out [clears throat] to your representatives and share that. Um, right now the funding for special education really seems to be on shaky grounds because we're just not sure how it's going

066to roll out um, since the changes in the federal government. So, there is a lot of there's a lack of security in what that's going to look like. >> Yeah, I get that like >> I brought that question up before is when's the state going to fund more special ed and they they keep passing it off to the federal government. >> I'm not talking about actually even funding. I'm talking about needing to look at it and we're trending in the wrong direction with the the amount of population. What are we looking to do to actually correct what's going on, not just funding it? Because we're always going to be behind the eightball if we're not looking to see, hey, what can we do to change this? >> Yeah. Certainly when you're looking at data with

067student and things like a learning discrepancy model, there'd be things we could look be looking at with um like we have prek here for example or earlier access to education. There's other categories that are more um more subject to just the condition they have. So kids are are born or develop autism at a very early age. There's not necessarily something to be done with that. multiple disabilities categories, life skills. There's there's not areas there that that can be uh proactively >> corrected. Yeah. >> Corrected. Um so I think we do look at a lot, you know, we have our babies program here, our books for babies program. We do look at those pieces we can control within. Um but the the problem we're seeing with the placements is a little bit more of some of

068the extreme higher need category disabilities. And that's why I shared with you autism specifically has been a huge growth, but that is an a group of students who demonstrate very complex needs. It's not as straightforward as you know needing help with reading. It might be re help with developing language, addressing behavior. Um they they sometimes come in with needs of physical therapy and occupational therapy. It is kind of the population of students that really needs every support um to help them be successful. Yeah, I get all doesn't sound like we're really doing anything at a state or whatever level to see what's actually going on that these numbers are spiking at the rate that they are. >> Yeah, it is it is alarming to see 20% of our population identified. >> I have some questions.

069>> Yeah. >> Um are most of the students who are coming in, I'm just going to use autistic support since that's the focus. are they coming in with an IEP already, an early intervention type thing, or is that something that we're identifying here when they're in our district? >> So, last year when I sat through early intervention meetings, um most of our kiddos were taking advantage of early intervention services. Um they typically get connected to them through a doctor might refer them to that their preschool. Um that is helpful because it does help start services. But as always when we come to kindergarten registration, there's a few that have unfortunately seen no services. Um, and so this year I'm working with Dr. Neoth to be a part of kindergarten registration so that we can also

070see those kids from the start. Um, and making sure that we're not delaying starting some of those services. >> So, how many students do we have right now with that would need this level of support and where where are they located? Um, I don't have that number specifically off the top of my head. Um, I could tell you that we probably have at minimum six that are currently within our IU13 classes. >> So, there might not be in our buildings right now. >> We have Well, we have quite a few at Doun Elementary in those two classes. >> So, we have two I'm just trying to understand the structure. Sorry. We have two IU classrooms at Dun. >> Yes. >> For autistic support. >> Yes. And they're not only our students, they're everybody's. They could

071be from another >> correct. Okay. >> Um and then I have um at least five students that are at Newor. Okay. >> Um I would say that if I could bring back one of those, I think that would be very appropriate to bring them back. Um the other kiddos that are at Newstory are probably appropriately placed. Um you know, part of my job when I'm sitting in those LEA meetings is to see when we can bring kids back and when we can trial. um them out into the general education support or even supplemental learning support. Um but yes, we do have those two classrooms and what has happened is the IU is so saturated with students needing autistic support that they haven't been able to honor all of our requests. Um so we had two

072kiddos land in um a learning support classroom this year and our itinerant autistic support teacher actually did a phenomenal job. she received some training on VB mapping. Um, but really VB mapping is something that should happen across an entire day versus just an hour or two. Um, thankfully we just had our last meeting today to get that student appropriately placed, but it's halfway through the year too. >> Yeah. So, one of the things I think of just from personal experience is like how do we guarantee that in a situation like what you just said where you we could possibly have one of our own kids come back, but oops, now we have no seats for them because we have other districts. Well, at what point do we say our own students would trump spot in

073our own? So with the district-owned model, part of the consortium agreement that we have with the group right now, if they would partake in like say our life skills class, because we have some kiddos from out of district that are in that life skills class, part of that agreement is that they are guaranteed the following year. >> Okay. >> Um so we would have to put that team on notice of like your your student has one more year and then after that we would be using that seat. Um, with the district-owned model, we could say, "Hey, we want to bank on having this many seats, and we're going to reserve five of the eight, only sell the eight." Um, but with the consortium model, we would be limited to how many we purchase along with

074the consortium. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm sure this I think this question's been asked, but just so what you're saying is we can fit eight people in our own class, eight eight kids in our own classroom, and we have four or you say we have six? four right now that we are already putting in referrals for the IU. >> And then did you say we can get $100,000 per kid? Like I look at it like there's four there's four left to sell. That's $400,000 that we can charge other people. >> It's not our classroom. It's an IU. >> No, no. If we open our own classroom, >> if we do >> we open our own classroom, we have that can hold eight kids. We have four ourselves. We have four additional to sell. You said

075they're $100,000 a piece. That's 400 grand. >> I think the math would be a little bit different, but yes, we could look at how we would competitively sell those seats so that we're making that money back. Um the difference would be that if nobody chooses to use our seats, we're eating that whole cost versus the consortium model allows us to share the cost. That's all. It's a shared risk. >> Steve's getting at is what's the true cost? Because we're paying to send kids out now. So if we do A, B or A or B, what's the true cost compared to what we have to put into it compared to what we would put in put out? >> So if you if you saw that I the IU13 is the cheapest route for us to go

076at $45,000, that's still cheaper than owning our own classroom. Sure. >> Right. Um so that to me would be that's the preferable route if we could maintain that route. What we can't maintain is the fact that they don't have enough seats. Um, I would have to sit down and do the math to tell you what would be what would make sense for us to charge to make sure that we be in it in the, you know, at least breaking even. >> Understand? I just look at like if it's 800 for this one, 500 for this one, and we can sell 400,000, then it's really 500. >> Yeah. I mean, the cost is really kind of the same with the consortium versus our own. It's just a shared risk is the difference. >> One other thing

077to consider is burnout, right? So, um these classrooms, another issue is they often cannot be staffed, right? So, I would like to just throw that out there too because that is thing to consider. >> Yes. So, Newtory guarantees that they will have a staff member. um they will most likely um utilize our ability to emergency certify somebody. But when they do that emergency certification, they require the teacher to automatically enroll in um classes that move them towards that certification. Um in going into the classrooms down in Boiling Springs, I had an opportunity to see a smattering of their classes and I was able to see one that was opened this year by somebody that was emergency certified and they were doing a very nice job. Um and that regional director comes in to make sure

078that that training is intact and being done with fidelity. Um so there's a lift piece there that is that new story brings um to ensure that our kiddos are getting that quality. Um not that that couldn't be done in house, but it is something to consider in terms of making sure that it is a good fit for our kiddos. So, with this presentation, uh, we wanted to give you just a bit of an idea of the problem, uh, and some possible solutions. We're going to be continuing to work this through that, which you'll eventually see in the budget and the staffing presentation. Um, so she'll take some of your feedback. I think one thing that would be great would be to put some of those actual cost numbers together between the plan that would be

079ours completely plan A I believe that was and the plan that we're sharing which I believe can be B that could be great information for you guys to look at determined where the total cost effectiveness balances for this for this uh solution. Yeah, because C would be what's our cost right now if we just stayed >> sorry no I was gonna say because then the comparison C would be just if we did nothing what are we pay like each one breaking it down what a total cost would be >> another thing for your working knowledge um when we work with the IU13 I can't necessarily pull kids out of that I would have to actually decide that by the 11th of this month um which is a unique part of this problem because we're sitting

080here talking about staffing now. Um, so I would be taking any incoming kindergarteners to place into this classroom. Um, but then our numbers could increase by each year. So that's just something to >> Here would be a thought on that. >> No, >> it's always going to change, but you should be able hopefully we can see a trend of what what are the cost increases. Is it a typically a 12, a 10, a seven, or at least a trend of what a percentage increase is? and then project that out like anywhere from two to five years. So, hey, we might be behind the eightball to make the decision this year, but do we make that decision now or whatever so that the following years we can the right trend? >> I do have a follow-up

081meeting with New. Would you like me to ask them about locking in rates if we would look at beyond a a second a first year? And just so everyone knows, the numbers Kelly showed on the budget, she put in B. Like we went right down the middle. So this isn't in addition to the budget that was shown earlier. B is in this budget, >> like in the middle just to play it safe. We just went with let's look at what it would look like that way. So those numbers that Kelly gave reflect that. It's not an addition to the numbers that she showed earlier. Yeah, question for you. Going back to B or A, it doesn't matter. We'd end up having another psychologist. So, that'd be another full-time staff person. Would that person be taking

082on would that be a full workload or would that be a part like where where are we looking? >> It would be a full workload. Um, currently school year alone, I've had to pay our our school psychologist some overtime. Um, and in January, I was actually looking for additional support for them. Um, because they're at such a high capacity of evaluations that need to be done. So, I actually see that psychologist as having a full workload. Um, I would imagine that they would oversee that autistic support classroom, help with early intervention um, group, which is what we're doing right now. Um, some of those kids come in evaluated, but a lot of those kids we still have to evaluate. Um, so they would help pick up that load. and then also be pushing out into

083the classrooms to help support with behavior and making sure that our kiddos are getting some of the best instruction so they can be in that least restrictive environment. >> So what you're telling me right now is we already have a partial cost in some of these things that we're ending up paying in overtime. Can you >> ballpark it? get it close to what are we already spending in that now >> based on where where we would end up being because it sounds like we already have some costs that are there. >> Yeah. Also, as a reminder to those of you that haven't been here as long, there was a time um probably four or five years ago where we did have an extra halftime psychologist that we shared with I believe Donnagle and was it

084just Donagle? >> Etown I think. >> Yeah. And Etown maybe. So there we have had this psychological need for some time. Um we tried doing without that support and removing it from the budget a couple years ago. I think some of this is also byproducts of that as well. >> Those outside evals typically cost between $3,000 and $5,000 a piece. So they are expensive. >> When you can when you I assume you're going to share this with us. >> I can. Yeah. >> That would be great. And then um is there someplace where we could see how many students fall into these categories so that we could identify like >> visually central specifically? >> Yes, just us just so that'll help me like kind of understand where they're currently placed. >> They could be placed

085>> or should be and give you categories and then placements. >> Yeah. just like, you know, we have x amount of students with this >> di does that make sense? >> Yep. >> And I know and I realize that not everyone that has an autism diagnosis would be in an autistic support classroom. >> Correct. >> Right. >> So I don't know if you could >> that breakdown. >> Yeah, that would be extremely helpful >> by category placement in or out. >> Thank you. On top of that, the uh model C uh you had a big range for the IQ. Can you help determine what those different pushes it closer to 40,000 versus 90 just to try to understand? >> Sure. Um so sometimes kiddos are in need of a personal care assistance that might be

086medical. Typically with autistic support, it's more around prompting, toileting, u those factors. And when you're hiring that additional person, that's around4 to $50,000. So that does really make it extreme. Um, typically our kiddos in our artistic support classes um do receive kind of the maximum time in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech. That's around $27,000 per kiddo or sorry for three kiddos. So this presentation >> nice. >> And the final part of my presentation saving is just some grant updates for you. Um so I want to let you know that we did find and apply for a legislative grant through the comwalth programs. Um they are releasing their second round of brick funding this month. We have applied for the $80,000 grant to support the middle of furniture project that we've received that would help

087us u move forward and replace uh some of the funds that we have used um that we have dedicated for the from our funds. So we'd be kind of gaining on that. Uh the second one is the mental health and safety grant. We have received the amount of $152,294. That application is into the state um to offset some proposed staffing, specifically psychologist you heard about today. Um walkietalkie additions that we have done um PA speakers uh that are needed to increase sound and also a fire alarm inspection. Um so that's money that we can we're going to get. We just have to make sure that the parameters of the grant are accepted. So, that's very exciting. Um, and lastly, Dr. Neoth applied for a grant that may be able to support equipment for our A

088and tech department in the amount of $40,000. Is it $40,000? >> That one was uh $7,000. >> Well, I just made $40,0007,000 [laughter] $7,000. Um, and so finding grant money at this time of year is not always that common. So, if we're looking at all of that money together, it's, you know, well over um my new total well over $225,000 midyear. So, um thanks to everyone who put in time to write those grants and um as they come through, we'll keep you updated. >> You're on the hook for 33 more of those. >> That's right. We'll start searching for that right now. That concludes my report. >> Thank you. Now, Dr. Kraton with the treasures report. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I reviewed the financial documents and they are all in order. Last week,

089Ellie, Matt, Michelle, and I, and Dr. Axe reviewed some of the uh financial documents and uh options moving forward, some of the key budget items, and uh we'll see that coming forward in the next couple meetings that we have. So, that was good discussion. If someone would be interested in joining those discussions, let me know and we can put you included in that. Are there any questions on the financial documents? >> Good. >> I'll make a motion for A, B, and C for the bill. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> I have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. I do have a question for um $183,000 for fire protection. >> Yeah, that was from the construction for some reason never build us and so it's just a

090late bill. It was that was done last year. That's probably the last big invoice we'll have in the construction. There's still some just little ones out there, but not really sure why they never build us. >> We heard that. We heard that four or five times. Thank you. >> All right. Committee reports with business ops. All right. Our last meeting was on January 12th. Um there was a lot over the budget which we went over tonight. Just sort of where we're at. So there's a lot of discussion on that. The other issue is our auditor that we have now. um they're not being very uh time sensitive. There's a lot of issues now. Kelly has put together a team with out to find some others. I don't know what any additional information since then. >>

091No, we have an RFP um almost done and we're going to probably be sending that out here s soon to um we have a list of uh local auditors that do school district audits. So, we'll be sending that out soon and we'll bring that to the board once we decide on finals, >> which will be fantastic because I think our current auditor has switched uh ownership three times in the last like five years. So, >> I still don't we still don't have a draft report for 2425. So, it really puts puts the business office behind because we don't have those audit reports on time. Uh last thing is we're really looking at sponsorship opportunities within the district. Uh the main place that we're looking right now is on athletics and gymnasiums. That doesn't mean that

092we might not uh have some other opportunities with other things specifically that we're doing. Maybe it be a program or something also, but we want to start someplace. So that's where we're starting now and then moving and looking where the opportunities are. But at the same point in time, we don't want the whole district to just be a large billboard either. So we want to be very strategic at W. Does anybody have any questions? Oh yeah. >> All right. Academic report. >> Okay. Full disclosure, I was not at this meeting, but I will do my best. And please uh jump in if I miss anything, but I'm just going to run through the committee notes. Um but it was held on January 12th. We had our meeting and Dr. Neth just shared again some learner

093spotlight. Um those personalized learning videos have been um helpful to see kind of how day-to-day goes in the classrooms. Um she also shared about the acade architect committee um as far as personalized learning goes and continuing that work. Um she also shared principal meeting connections where leadership teams are going on learning walks um which has been great to just have discussions and questions to help teachers with their um growth and their practice [snorts] um data. So one really neat thing is our um academic data dashboard and in connection with the link it uh technology that was purchased. So with link it um each school has a dashboard and teachers can utilize that to identify academic needs, attendance and behavior needs um and things like that. So Dr. Ne shared examples of how this looks um

094some of the breakdown for different um testing assessments and things like that. And then another neat thing is the curriculum. Um so curriculum on the website you can go and you can look at all the curriculum maps and the writing process that's happening. Um STEM and science, world language, library science are all in curriculum writing this year and so the teachers have been working hard on that so far so good. Maybe >> um just looking at materials and production opportunities for some new courses and looking at some high school scheduling and selection guides with Dr. Whitel. Um anything else, Dr. Nemoth? I >> mean, you have the mental health first aid as well that was presented, but um yeah. No, you did agree. >> Yeah, there's just a lot of great things going on and

095thank you for all your work and and I really think a powerful thing has been the um addition of things on the website. So, for the for the community, there's the curriculum aspect is really being enhanced on the website, which is helpful. And I know maybe in the future someone will talk about the the financial dashboard as well, which is awesome. It's really helpful to be able to just go right to the website and get all that information. So I will be at the next meeting hopefully and that is April 13th. >> All right. Activities committee report. Mr. SN got a meeting also on the 12th. Um just a fun few highlights. Uh the wrestling team has been doing well. Uh some of the noted wrestlers Barrett Keifer, Noah Templan, and Braden Linder have been

096having success. Keep your eyes out for them as they continue through the postseason. Um, uh, Chase Book, is this correct? He made a thousand points, which is a huge milestone for basketball, for any basketball player. That's a >> Pete did a nice article about >> uh the Thespian Honor Society did a small uh show. It's it was called Miss Guest Cabaret. my uh daughter directed the show and I told her I'm probably gonna mess up that name, but I obviously was not in the theater world at all growing up. Uh but now that Lydia is going through it, being able to see like what they do and the amount of training that goes into it, like I know football and I know when I see a good football player, but now I'm starting to get

097to the point where I can see and I I talked to Lydia after a show like, "Wow, that that person was awesome." or then you can talk about what they're doing, the voice inflections, the how they pronounce because you you don't sing the way you talk like all those things. It's it's really cool to see that kind of stuff happen. I felt okay saying my daughter's name because I mentioned Matt's daughter. [laughter] Um, three new opportunities. Tyler Shaw came to the meeting and uh talked about starting a middle school uh theater program, performing arts program. Um, we have a program in fourth grade, but we don't have anything in the middle school and but we have it in the high school. It' be a nice feeder program to develop through the uh through the school.

098Uh, he he wouldn't be running it. It would be Lauren Shelley and Carly Lidwick at the at the moment. They're interested in in running it. So, that would be a great opportunity. We did vote to allow them to start. There's no budget involved. you when you start a club the first two year you have to go through the first two years to get to that point where any money would be put to it. So we don't have to vote on that. Um but uh that is an opportunity down the road. Um two that we need to vote on the ski club. They started two and a half, three years ago um with with no money, no stipen. They've had great success, three or more trips a year, 35 kids involved um and very well attended,

099parents involved, kids involved, and it's a it's a good thing for another opportunity for kids to be involved. So, we said we would like to see them get a stipen and bring that to the board for a vote. So, we'll vote on that in a second. And just a side note, last Wednesday night when it was as cold as it was, ski club went skiing. Like they skied that evening, that last Wednesday night when it was whatever it was that night, two degrees. >> So they're they're invested. >> It was Amy Cop. She took Yeah, that from the middle school. The middle school group. >> Sorry. Go ahead. Sorry. What does the stipen go towards >> copy cop for organizing the whole thing? another year >> drip standard stipen like >> well we'll that the

100next step is if it gets approved then we will work with the association of what the stipen >> okay >> what u what are we doing for the high school >> uh also Nate Campbell uh again not looking for money but needs to be approved a field trip to uh Europe a war II trip going to uh London, Normandy, Belgium, Berlin, Munich. Um so the World War II places and and the Western Front. Um and he uses the EF educational tours which been used before with all the insuranceances and they make sure it's safe. They're very well aware of the world and where things are at. Um so he's done a great job with these trips in the past. >> Yes, he's been >> that'd be June of 2028. >> June of 2828. Yeah. >>

101So, I have one more thing to say after we vote, but we need to vote on approving those two things. >> I have a question. >> Is that connected to a class or is that just like >> I don't >> summer trip >> it's not connected >> language >> and it's all they pay for their own everyone pays their own way. So looking to a motion to speed two separate. >> I motion that we approve the ski club siphon and the field trip. >> Second. >> A motion a second. All in favor in both. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> I both pass. >> One last thing. So in that whole discussion is looking at all of the stipens for all the different clubs um and making sure that we're using our money wisely like

102whenever we start something new and throw something else into the budget you know where where's that money coming from um and being prudent on how we we handle that. I mean, these are all really, really good things and obviously the statistics show that if you're involved in something, you're you're better off as a student. So, it's good. Uh, but there's a financial piece to it as well because even if we approve a club now with no cost, if they do a good job, there's there's an expectation that we would fund that with a stipen, at least my understanding. So, >> so looking at attendance on the other ones and what's actually >> Scott has been looking at that looking at how many kids are involved that type of thing how often they meet a year

103doing some more that with the administrators and Mr. Governor look at this next school year. >> One thing with Nate and his trips only costes is for us to say yes or no. Nice. That next meeting is to be determined. >> Sounds good. We'll move on to the general action items. I'd like to take A and B. I'll make a motion. >> Good. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Now I'll take C through E. I'll make >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motions pass. Now we'll take F. Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Passes. I will take J through M. Second. >> I

104have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Now we'll move on to board and representative reports. Start with Miss Vichi on length 113. So, our last school board meeting was January 14th and our next song will be February 11th and then um I wanted to share with some pictures of the things that I so on November 17th I um and I went to the three different um when was the first one we met was no run the autistic support Aaron Smith as the teacher. this first picture. Oh, it doesn't have all the pictures in >> this is one of the um glitter dance like they of their class they got a song that they're gonna sing to and dance and I believe that >> sorry I don't

105remember since it's been November I can't remember now since forgot him. Um, so I think that's Xavier. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Back to the person. >> Um, I think that's Jackson there. I don't know. Xavier. >> That is Ivana. >> That's Jackson. Oh, Jordan. Sorry. Take it back. Jordan is with um Aaron. That's Aaron Smith there on the left. And this is the next stop at Baron Elementary. Um Laura mentions the teacher there. This is Chelsea. He was the class. Oh, this back to the fact that they're running. Okay. Oh, that's Yeah, [clears throat] they're down there. Sorry about that. They got a little out of order, I guess, but these visiting the students is special to me because I love just um interacting with them and showing them that they're valued and special and I

106care about them. is that being part of the IU13 and being on board for that is more special because get to see, you know, if you go to meet them, you get to show them how much you care about them. And I'd love to go back again and make something for them just to have something for them and for them that they're important to me. Oh, I don't know if there's more. Is there more pictures there? I went to >> sorry I went on December 4th to the holiday bazaar that's out 13 on new >> and there was there that day there were 69 mini businesses and um like over 2600 stu items that were sold that day and they had gross sales were $10,125 and the one student Savannah who I met with in

107um 2024 at time and visit in some classrooms at the high school and she remembered me and like I didn't even I knew I knew I knew her but I didn't remember her name. She's like Mrs. Bey. I'm like what? [laughter] So it was a special to you know support the different businesses and buy a lot of things for next Christmas decorations and stuff. So it was a special day. Um and as others have said at the IU13 like what our school district does for all our students and what I13 does for everyone like our mindset should always be that this work this is worth work worth doing. So like everything we do is worth volunteering and serving these special precious students. So thank you everything for report. >> Thank you Mr. Marinero. We had

108a meeting on January 22nd at Brownstown. Um, first thing was to introduce Dr. Scott Long as the new administrative director there. Uh, so Scott is from Seno. Uh, but he lives right here in Manhattan Central School District. So, uh, Scott wants to get in there, do some good work. Uh, first thing he talked about is addressing expansion and weight list. Um some of the programs like HVAC electrical that are highly soughtafter might have seats for 25 kids with a weight list of 45 kids. So um that's one of the bigger problems that they're having right now. Um they are beginning contract negotiation soon. Um they talked about the co-op program. Right now they have 150 students involved in the co-op that actually go out to work during portions of the day. Uh those students are

109making an average of $18 an hour right now. Um one of the things they're starting an esports team there uh which is going to be new to CTC. No cost at all. The program students will supply everything that they need. Uh the vet program is purchasing a new X-ray machine um which is uh was a professional uh commercial grade machine that they would see out the field anywhere else. One of the things Scott sent out information is they are I guess this is to address the expansion issue. Um they have their own foundation over there and they want to launch a new initiative called help wanted which they're looking to find a ways just to remove some of the barriers of educating. So bring more professionals and find ways to give students more access um

110to those services. Uh we have a meeting February 26. Dr. Axe will be there with me at that one. Um, I actually have a new member orientation tomorrow night as well. That concludes my report. >> And just an extension uh for the expansion committee. Dr. Whitel is I'm on that committee. If you remember, Chip is part of that committee. Um, we're going to be hosting I forget the date, February 23rd, 16th. Anyway, >> 19, but didn't trust your judge. >> Yeah, we're either way, we're hosting that committee meeting. um here to find ways [clears throat] to creatively help expand the CTC if schools can be a part of that. So, uh we're definitely heavily involved in that as well. >> I can >> Sounds good. Now, the PSBA, Dr. Alex has some things to say.

111>> Just uh the worksheet that's in your folder that some of you already referenced and saw is just the updated worksheet from our numbers from last year. And thanks to Mr. Bushy for suggesting that advocacy does work. There are some things that were done over the past year that are helping or have helped or we believe will help. So, I appreciate all of you doing that. A personal example, those of you who are at the legislative breakfast, if you remember, I was asked to speak uh for the super for the superintendent group and I talked specifically about certifications and how at the time a CTC director position couldn't be filled by a superintendent. Well, that that specifically changed, which is why Mr. Long was able to get that position. and we have done there's been

112some changes in certification requirements that have made it a little bit easier to hire staff. So any advocacy helps and I know Mr. Linder mentioned earlier is there something we can do on the special ed front. So we'll start exploring those things but it it does help the more of us are doing it. So I just wanted to put that out there and thank the board for being proactive in that regard over the past year. >> Lancaster County Academy, Mr. Claire. Okay. Lancaster County Academy report I would give you tonight will been outdated this afternoon. The um it is growing and changing by the day. Uh mostly all good things. I know Dr. axe is a little bit more involved than I am right now. But uh he just said tonight that Hempfield who walked

113away from it because they could do it cheaper are probably going to buy 10 more seats. So, uh, we have, uh, we have a lot coming up and and I'd like to, you know, I'd like to do something that we might be able to have a board meeting or something in our Park City room where you'd be able to see everything and maybe get a better idea from some of the kids that are there. I think you get a big uh, understanding of what and how big Lancaster County Academy is. Do you have anything more? >> We have a board meeting Wednesday night, right? >> Yep. So, we'll have more to report next time. >> Now, I I just have something 25 30 years ago, PTO's Aaron, which was Steagel and Burgard. Every year we

114had Secret Santa and would make anywhere between 10 and $15,000. That was then. Now, I don't think that would go over now, but you're talking about thinking outside the box. Uh we have a lot of people that graduated from Mannheim that we might be able to get some stuff from and you know you uh raffle off the whatever just one thought my report [clears throat] was good thank um I guess everyone had a chance to read the remote the enrollment report. Um, the next scheduled board meeting will be held on February 23rd, 2026 at seat 6 pm in the Mannheim Central District Office. Board comments, Mr. Clarence, >> no, >> I just want to thank everybody for all the gifts and kindness and appreciations. Yeah, thank you everyone for the thoughts. >> Thank you. >>

115I just thank everybody for all they get gave us. I appreciate all that. And then really to all the staff because I know our our custodians and everything did a great job with plowing and all that. It's not just them like it's cold out there so everybody's chipping in different areas. I know it's a lot. So, thank you to everybody. I agree. Thank you everybody for everything they've done. Uh meeting a journ.