001Good evening. Today is Monday, February 16th, 2026. We are in room D205 at 7:37 p.m. Before we have roll call, we have some very important guests here this evening from Lincoln Elementary School. If you would like to come on up and lead the pledge. We're ready whenever you are to start the pledge of allegiance. >> Sure. >> I aliance 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. >> Great job. >> Good job. >> Are we okay to introduce some friends? So, >> thank you for having us tonight. Uh we have some friends here that are going to share with you some things about uh Lincoln as we are celebrating a hundred years and having an
002event later this spring. So, with us tonight, I have our friends Kyle Milbour, Luna Rigger. She corrected me because I kept mispronouncing her name earlier this week, uh, Max Schmidt, Aubrey Lino, Junior Nuser, and Calvin Schmidt. I'm going to turn things over to Kyle to get started. >> Good evening, Dr. Dr. Freeze, Dr. Davis, and Dr. Shulo, and members of the Mount Lebanon School District Board of Directors. We are kindergarten, third, fourth, and fifth graders students from Lincoln Elementary School. Thank you for allowing us to be here this evening and take a few moments to talk to you about some of our Lincoln history and our upcoming 100th anniversary event which will be held on Saturday, April 11th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. We hope you are able to visit Lincoln on April 11th. The
003land for Lincoln school site was acquired on November 26th, 1923 for $14,500. On March 5th, 1924, a $180,000 bond issue was voted to pay for the school's construction. Did you know that Lincoln first opened for students in September of 1925? This makes Lincoln the second oldest Mount Lebanon public school still serving students today. The second floor classrooms were completed in the summer of 1927. A three- room wing edition was completed in the fall of 1936. And in 1955, the gymnasium and stage area was added to the building. In 1966, three more classrooms mirroring the 1936 edition were constructed. The level of playing field was raised. The tot lot was added. Tennis courts, shuffleboard courts, and the horseshoe pits were constructed at the rear end of the school in the north meadowcraftoft park area in 1966
004too. 1994 brought a new addition of nine classrooms in our school lunchroom. The summer of 2004 was used to provide the first complete renovation of the interior of the building. Lincoln has thrived under the leadership of nine building principles since it opened. Did you know that Lincoln's first principal was Mrs. Robera McConnell? Miss McConnell served as a principal from 19 1925 to 1932. Her daughter, Miss Robert, Miss Robert McBall, still works as a substitute teacher at our high school. Here's a photograph of Miss McConnell. As Dr. Kitskco recently learned from her daughter, Miss McConnell was inspired daily by the quotes from Abraham Lincoln and James Freeman Clark inscribed on the front of the school. On Saturday, April 11th, 2026, we are hosting a 100th anniversary celebration event. The event will begin at 100 p.m. with
005a brief program to welcome our guests and set the stage for the event. From 1:30 to 400 p.m., the guests will be able to walk the school halls, visit selected rooms, see a variety of artifacts on display and add to a time capsule that will be sealed at the end of the event. A group of Lincoln staff members and Lincoln community members are working hard to make this event a wonderful celebration. We are honored to be here tonight. Thanks for letting us lead the pledge of allegiance. Take time to tell you about Lincoln and our upcoming 100th anniversary event. Have a great evening. >> Thank you for us being here this evening. We appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. You all did wonderful. >> Is it okay if they turn and get a quick
006picture? >> Oh, absolutely. >> Turn around so your mom's a dad. >> No worries. It's a It's a nice graff. >> Yeah. my friends. >> Thank you all again. Now, Mrs. Connley, Dr. Freeze, you have to find us some $14,000 land here. $180,000 building. >> Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, >> here. >> Dr. Campanero, >> here. >> Mr. Clocky, >> here. >> Mrs. CrarAel here. Miss Fleer >> here. Mrs. Gellman >> here. >> Miss Given >> here. >> Mr. Hoffman >> here. >> Reverend Dr. Strauss >> here. >> Mr. Adams >> here. >> Miss Antonunes >> here. >> All members are present. Thank you. I move that be resolved that the board approves the minutes of the policy committee meeting held on January 12th, 2026. The discussion meeting held on January 12th, 2026. the special
007meeting held on January 26th, 2026 and the regular meeting held on January 26, 2026. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Next, we will go to board reports. As we begin this month's meeting, I am pleased to officially welcome our newest board member, Reverend Dr. Laura Strauss. We are grateful for her willingness to serve and for the perspective, experience, and thoughtful leadership she will bring to the board. As we observe Black History Month and its hundred year of observance, we are reminded that the strength of our community and our schools is rooted in the richness of our collective voices, lived experience, and ways of thinking. Though each of us comes to this work from different paths, we are united by a shared responsibility to serve our community with care, integrity, and
008purpose. In recognition of President's Day, President Barack Obama's words resonate deeply. Democracy requires a basic sense of solidarity. The idea that for all of our outward differences, we're all in this together. That spirit continues to guide our work as we move together forward. In our inclusivity calendar, tomorrow, which is February 17th, 2026, is the Lunar New Year. So, the Chinese Lunar New Year begins February 17th and starts the 15day spring festival that concludes with the Lantern Festival. In the Chinese zodiac 2026, it is the year of the firehorse. It will also begin Ramadan. Ramadan is considered one of the holiest months of the year for Muslims. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate one of their major holidays, festival of the breaking of the feast. In district highlights, Mount Lemonan High School students recently complete
009or competed in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science, PGAS, a statewide science fair designed to spark curiosity, innovation, and deeper engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among Pennsylvania students. Students in grades 7 through 12 also participate in regional competitions held January and early March. We are very excited to recognize all of the students with a first or second place finish. So, congratulations to all of them. The Mount Lebanon Black Student Union is hosting a book drive from February 2nd through March 2nd. The group is collecting books that feature characters of color. Dropoff locations include all Mount Lebanon elementary, middle, and high schools. cannot believe we're here already, but kindergarten registration is open for students entering the 2026 2027 school year. For more information, please visit our website under enrollment. March 11th through 14th, the
010Mount Lebanon Evening Theater presents Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. All shows will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theater. Tickets are $8. And also the great alumni award established by the Mount Lemonan High School student council in 2004 recognizes outstanding alumni who have made a significant impact in their communities and professions. Honores are selected based on their exceptional contributions in at least one of the following areas. Improving the lives of others, community service, volunteer work, or professional achievement. Nominations for the 2025 Great Alumni Award are being accepted through April 15, 2025, 2026. Winners, I was like, "Nope, I'm going backwards." Um, winners will be recognized at a special lunchon in honor during the homecoming football game this fall. And then for more information, please visit our website. We are very
011excited to announce that tonight our girls high school basketball team has won. So, they will advance. And as I am speaking, yep, go ahead. Let's che up. And as I'm speaking, our boys are on the court right now. So, let's go, Lebo. And that is all I have to report. Dr. FZ, >> thank you so much. I'll wait for Mr. Stangle to put up my presentation. I have a short one um this week because we had a very long one last week um when we were giving updates. Uh today is um President's Day and on President's Day we have the opportunity to hold a professional learning with our staff members. So today was a professional learning day for our MLEA group, administrators, secretaries, specialists, and pair of professionals. Each of those groups are a part
012of a planning committee that helps us to plan the libo summits based upon needs within the school district, whether it's demonstrated by classroom observations or by individuals being willing to share their practice with others. So it was pretty exciting day. We had 46 total sessions that were offered that individuals could choose from. We started the day um in the auditorium all of us as a full staff meeting where we gave updates on the strategic plan. Um talked about the preliminary budget that we passed um last month and then some other um fun things that we'll talk about in a couple seconds. And then after that they had the opportunity for a morning session that they could choose from, an afternoon session, and then we ended the day with a collaboration and implementation session. So one
013of the pieces of feedback we receive from staff is we're learning all these new things. We'd really like the opportunity to sit down and collaborate with our peers at the end of the day so that we can plan how to implement. So these are the list of sessions. This is in like ninepoint font because there were 46 options. So this will be available. It's already available on board docs if you're interested in seeing what we had to offer. And then um in the morning, like I shared, we had some, you know, pretty important information that we needed to share, but we do believe that it is important for us to have fun as well. And so we did a team building activity um named the Freeze Winter Games. Again, with my last name, I will
014never give up the opportunity to have a little bit of fun. And it is the Winter Olympics. We will have another one in four years. I'm just saying just keep it going. Um we had four teams each with four competitors. Um we had an MLEA team, we had an administrator team, we had a specialist and secretaries team and then we had a pair of professionals team. Everybody readily accepted the task of participating, right? They were excited. And um basically what we had them do was participate in three different games. The first one was Mittens Madness. So, thank you to Mrs. Kramer and Mrs. Walters. They had um a very high stack of mittens that we were permitted to borrow. And we had staff members log into Lebo ID using mittens. So, we know that when
015we're logging in sometimes it can be challenging, but imagine wearing mittens. Um Mr. Stangle was not excited about this play on Lebo ID, but it was totally fine. People got in very quickly. Um, the second game that we did was guess the game. We had a charades where they had to act out the Olympic game for a winter sport and the team with the most correct guesses were the winners, you know, gold, silver, bronze, and then ice dancing. And I will say that the level of creativity that came with ice dancing, there is a video. I will share it with the board. I did not want to publicly um share this without permission. And so we will share it in the board update. Teams had to choreograph their own winter ice dance routine. They had
016two minutes to do it and they had 20 seconds to perform. >> That's a photo. >> And so there's a photo. Next, which is amazing. Um these are um the teacher group one. Frank, Adam, Jason, and Bill were very good sports. As you can see, there was a lift. No teachers were injured in this situation. But for the first freeze winter game, it was pretty it was pretty amazing. Um, and it ended with um the freeze winter games um I I wouldn't call it like a national anthem, but I would say like an anthem, which was um too legit to quit because if you've started, you must continue and you you know too legit to quit. So people actually stood for it. I I actually had the best morning. I'm not going to lie, 35
017minutes of just having fun. We have an incredible staff here who is really willing to have fun, which I think um is the best part of what we do, right? It It's good to have fun. So, okay, now we're on to more serious things than the freeze winter games. Uh last week on February 12th, the unified partners in sports hosted the basketball tournament. Uh we talked about this in the fall. We had the opportunity to do a soccer tournament with these schools. Uh we did the basketball tournament this past week and this is a picture of our students who participated. They had a great time and they are looking forward to the track and field invitational that will be happening in the spring. Lincoln Elementary, they already told us all about this. This is pretty
018exciting to celebrate 100red years. They've been doing some great planning and we hope that everyone in the community could come out to support them because it'll be a great day. And then upcoming events. Uh just a reminder, February 24th, we have a special election day here in Mount Lebanon. It'll be a remote learning day. No in-person school that day. March 11th through the 14th, Mount Lebanon Evening Theater presents Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. March 19th through the 21st, JMS's musical for High School Musical Junior will take place. And then Melon's musical, The Little Mermaid, will be taking place um the same time. And then March 25th, Lebo University at the high school. April 14th, we have a superintendence coffee at 7 PM here at the high school. And then April 30th, May 1st,
019and May 2nd, we have the High School Musical, which is Shrek. And that's all I have for this month. >> Thank you. And the communications update is next. >> Need to borrow a bit quicker? >> Oh, sure. All right. So, thank you all for having me for the communications update today. Works. All right. The role of the Mount Lebanon communications department. Um, I mentioned this earlier. So, I led a session today in Libo Summit on classroom communication and newsletters. And I feel a little funny saying the communications department because I might want to rebrand it to the communications office um department. I don't know. It's just me. So my state department in here just feels better than saying communications. I haven't rebranded it yet, but you'll see why. It's been a little bit busy around
020there, but that'll be maybe on my next year goals to to come up with a rebrand. Um, but overall the role of the department is to maintain and build the reputation of Mount Lebanon School District, highlight the district's excellence in academics, activities, arts, and athletics, and share news from the administration, share stories about our students and staff's experiences and achievements to generate positive awareness for the district, which is honestly the favorite part of my job. I think we have 5,500 students here. Um, another additional almost a thousand staff members, and that means that's almost 6,000 7,000. I'm really bad at math stories that I'm able to tell of people doing awesome things around the district. Um, and that then intertwines within the community as well. So, it's really fun and it gives me a lot
021of um ideas to be able to share those stories. Um, but sharing information about how the district um is to our broad community that includes students, staff, alumni, media and the community and develop and maintain a strategic communications plan to support this goal. So, the key communications responsibilities a lot of things on this slide. Um, I say strategic communication planning because that involves when we do communicate to our audiences and then sometimes when we don't. Um, and how we do communicate sensitive topics. So, it's all strategic. There's a strategy behind everything we do communication wise here. Um, internal external communications, communications training and support. Um, website management. There's some fun stuff coming there in the upcoming slides. um social media engagement and monitoring, proactive and responsive media relations, issues management, newsletters, event and meeting planning,
022speech and presentation development, marketing and branding, and then photography. So that highlights um the broad areas of of the department. Um lots of fun things. Um you know, any given day you could touch a lot of those areas, some of them, some days more um so on others, but those are the key communication responsibilities. um communication by the number shared some of this last month. Um but overall these are some numbers to date just for this school year. So we've shared out 336 social media posts across Facebook, Instagram and X. Um our district um news open rate on the weekly district newsletter sent to families, staff and high school students which are also on there has an impressive 86% open rate. Um I think I may have mentioned in past previous um presentations that when
023you industry standard for corporations and brands I think is about a 10 to 15% open rate on newsletters and even when it comes to school districts that number is still around I think 30%. Um so for us to have an 86% open rate is pretty awesome. I can't guarantee that they're reading everything in a newsletter but it's pretty it's pretty high open rate. Um, I did learn another stat today based off my earlier presentation that parents spend one minute reading emails from their student school district. Um, but if you think about it today, even I think from our staff watching people do their dance in 30 seconds, 30 seconds feels like a long time. So if they're spending a minute with our communications, that's that is, you know, it it sounds a little bit crazy,
024but once you're actually, you know, timing it out, a minute is a long time. So when we divide our newsletter down into different topics, if they're skimming and they see that there's athletic registration, but there are students in second grade, that might not be of an interest to them. So they may skim that. So if we can keep them there for a minute, I'm happy to take that minute from them. Um, and overall about over 125 requests to the communications department. That could be anything from updating the website, help with um photography for an event, it could be um you know teachers having an awesome idea that they want to spotlight. So request has just come into our department or the department the office to me. Um communications goals for the year. There's three main
025goals. Number one is communication. Um that's to ensure consistent, clear, accessible, and proactive um communication across the district. Two, family engagement and community partnerships. building meaningful relationships with families and the wider community to support student success and three transparency and feedback to provide opportunities for two-way communication between the district and the community. So these goals align directly from the strategic plan. I won't read through all of these um under there, but when there is a goal, there's tactics below that um to maintain a comprehensive strategic communications plan, streamlining our communication. And I'll dive into these in the other slides, but lots of tactics underneath them. Um, this is an eyesore slide, I know, but it's it place in one place where you can see an overview of the communications plan that I maintain every year.
026So, at the top is the three goals that I mentioned, communication, family engagement, transparency, and feedback. And then the audiences that we communicate to. So, staff, parents, and guardians, students, community members, and then media and local partners. Um, the platforms where we communicate. There'll be more on that in just a second. Um, and our messaging cadence. So, my goal is to put out at least two to three social posts a week. Sometimes we have more, sometimes we have less depending on what's going on. Um, our messaging cadence, parents and guardians, that newsletter is weekly. Goes out every Sunday at 2 p.m. Um, staff newsletter that's bi-weekly. Fridays at 400 p.m. Um, both of those times, you know, when you first hear them, you're like, is that the right time? But staff and and families were
027surveyed and that's the time that they had preferred to receive them. Open rates are going great on both of those. So, we'll continue unless we see otherwise. Um I do monitor those stats on a weekly basis. Um and I look at it on a monthly basis as well. They stay pretty consistent. There's some times in the area um throughout the calendar year where they'll tend to dip. Maybe holiday weekends um or if we're communicating other things out, sometimes there is a little bit of a dip in them, but then they tend to come back up as we end the school year, too. But it's just something we watch and look for trends for. Um and then media outreach, that's monthly. Um we do work a lot handinhand with Mount Lebanon magazine. There is Levo Beat
028that has entered the community. We've met with them providing a lot of information to them. Um handling media requests tend to get it from the almanac. have some um reassurgence in the Post Gazette right now. Sometimes local television news stations, but we do work with local media outlets on um stories that they're planning communication tools. So, as one of the goals is to really look at our tools and to streamline them and putting this together too. I think this is one this supports another goal of helping new families get accumulated to the district and I would also say new staff members. So, we mentioned a lot of tools that we have here in the district. So really just putting together this slide was looking at the tool, what is the main function and what's available
029here. So as we onboard, like I said, new family and new staff members, having them if they say, "Oh, well that's an atlas. What's an atlas? That's curriculum. Where do I find there? It's a curriculum resources." So this is a list of all the main communication tools that we use. Um, as we move through years on the strategic plan, I think we'll continuously look and evaluate to make sure that these tools are still effective for our families. Um, before we either add or streamline any of the tools on that list. Newsletters, like I mentioned, um, our parent guardian newsletter, the average open rate is 86% and our bi-weekly staff newsletter, the average open rate on that is 76%. One thing that we did um to you know make it easier to look at our newsletter
030archives is add a button to Lebo ID for both staff and parents and guardians. So within one click when you log into Libo ID you can find all past newsletters. Um district newsletters are there and then there's a button for staff newsletters as well. The district website. So this is pretty exciting. Um they say the shelf life of a district website is about three years. We launched the district website here in 2021. So we're approaching about five years on that site. So we were are have been working with um our website provider, our final site to launch in the new website in July 2026. Um the reason we did pick July and looking at website statistics that is a month where it is a less visited month on our website. Um surprisingly I think it
031might be on the next slide. August is the busiest month and July is the lowest month. But if you think about what's going on then, I think that's when a lot of families are like, "Okay, I'm not going to think about school for the month of July." Um, and then they pick it right back up in August. Although, they do tend to think about us a lot. I think it's early July when um those back to school deals hit Amazon or maybe you start seeing school supplies in Target. They want to know what they need to buy. So, we see some clicks there. Um, but that's a time when we're looking to relaunch the new website, having it ready, working out any kinks for August 1 when a lot of families will be going to
032it. But, um, overall for the district website, um, redo, we're looking to simplify the user experience, um, where things are located, making it easier to find, streamlining, um, the content that is in the navigation bar, and then improving visual consistency. We have a lot of great visuals we can show around this district, really adding, um, im imagery to it. Um, this will be working with a photographer to take updated photos of our district buildings. We started engaging with a photographer on this one. Um, but then fall started to happen. The leaves started to fall and right now it's a little bit snowy out there. So, hoping um for some beautiful spring photos um of our schools. Um, but we've already started updating administrator head shots, which is a really fun um day. Um, but continuing
033to again update all of our photos to improve that visual consistency. And then again also working with some of our students. We have some really talented students, especially at the high school level, that are taking photographs out at events. So, collaborating with them on district photos. Um, and then updating the website content. Um, really looking, you know, to refine the information that's on the website, looking at all of our pages. I think we have some areas that are pretty wordy. Looking again to break those up for parents that are skimming it, looking for information, making sure keywords are there. I think overall within any of this, just adding personality to it, making it really feel like Mount Lebanon. Those are the goals. So, we've had two rounds of feedback, one on the district website and
034one on the school websites. And we've sent surveys out to our um PTA groups. The board has been able to look at the website, provide feedback. Our district administrators had some really really great feedback in those that we were able to take and and incorporate into the website. Um I will say we're now in a fun phase of looking for things. Um as of Friday when I met with them, we have a little button that's on the website, the the new website right now. So, I'm able to just add in feedback right away for them to be able to change things. So, overall, you know, it's been a really great process working with our vendor. Um, but they are getting close to be able to hand it over to me. So, start updating um all
035of the content. So, we're kind of simultaneously working through two websites. I will say if you do see something on there, we did have a parent see Washington Elementary twice in the drop- down menu. There might be a little bit of that going on right now. So, if you do see something looks a little bit funky, just let me know. Um, but overall, you know, again, we're working towards taking everything that's on the website, looking at the content, streamlining it, and transferring it to the new site. Um, I will say that we're targeting late May, middle to late May of having things on that site, and I will be able to share links to be able to get feedback. Um, that is when I in my timeline, I want to be able to streamline it
036so that we're able to, um, get some of parent feedback before the school year ends. Um, >> sorry. >> That's okay. I'm at a loss. Um, yes, mentioning that July release date for the site. Another very important thing, um, our website right now in the top right hand corner, you are able to translate our website, I believe, through Google Translate and that is the best option and speaking with our website vendor. I think that, you know, we have over 30 different languages that families are using to access the site. So, just making sure that that's able to be translated. Um but the next big thing is coming up as you may have heard us mention is ADA compliance. Um so there is a deadline you may hear about in April where schools need to make
037sure their digital and their website um properties are up to ADA guidelines and compliance. Um but that deadline is for communities that are larger than 50,000. So when you look at Mount Lebanon, we are under that 50,000. But what I am doing is working with our staff right now when I'm receiving flyers or receiving photos to make sure that they are in that ADA compliance if we're transferring everything over to the website. PDFs is another area for that. So starting to roll out that training as we create anything new for the website. Um but we will have until spring of 2027 to be compliant on that. Um but again, it's always good to have that up to date now and to know what the new guidelines are. Um they do seem overwhelming because there's tons
038of pages of a lot of information. And I believe I'm getting emails about at least one to two trainings a week just about this. And it can seem overwhelming, but once you dive in, it's very easy to be able to add just alt text to photos and little things that we can be doing to make sure our website is accessible for everyone. Um so Mount Lebanon, um our website too, it averages about 22,000 unique visitors a month. Um with August being one of the most visited and again July typically the least visited. Um holiday breaks too, a little bit low. Take a dive in in website statistics during those too. The next goal um is family engagement and community partnerships. Um so looking to onboard new families and increase outreach to community members without children
039in the schools. Um so doing that through newsletters, town halls and local media. The next slide is so we launched um within having enrollment go through powers school. Um once new families are enrolled in the district, they receive an email that welcomes them to the district and they are given this link. This is not something you can find on our website unless you have the URL to it, but it is a new family website. And under each of these dropdowns, it mimics sort of our back to school email that we send in July. But if you're joining the district and say September, then we send them to this website. The reason we're keeping all the content there again is because you can easily translate the content on our website. So families can translate here. So
040there's um information under every subject here for new families. So we have a new family website working to do something very similar when we onboard new staff as well. That's part of our strategic plan goals for the future too. But so we started out with new family so they're directed to this site. The next thing for community engagement um in partnership with Dr. Freeze we host a business roundt. I believe that's twice a year. Um we had the first one. I think the second one is coming up next month. So working to invite businesses in. Those have been fantastic events. our community um members, a lot of our local businesses do come out um engage with us, have thoughtful questions. Um it's been it's been a really great event. Um we did launch steps with
041the superintendent. I think Dr. Freeze has talked about that one a lot. Um she's been put to the test with a workout here. Um you know, and I'm looking for opportunities. I mean, there's a lot of people you'll see walking the track during the day. So to get Dr. Freeze out there, um they are excited about it, too. So that's another um way to engage with the community. And then we do receive a lot of requests from class reunions that um would like to come back and it it's an awesome thing just because they love to see the high school. They get together um it's a moment for them and that is a lot of walking for a lot of our classes that do want to come back but they are very excited about it.
042It usually kicks off the reunion weekend. Um so that is one of our class reunions coming back. Um and again we have a partnership with Mount Lebanon magazine where Dr. freeze has um ongoing articles within the magazine but also working with them to publicize what our students are doing. Um the last one is transparency and feedback. So providing opportunities for two-way communication between the district and the um community. So again hope we also are hosting um I'll go to the next slide. Superintendent coffees. So we've had two so far this year. We'll have one more. The last one was a virtual option and we've had one in person. So, inviting people in to have coffee um with the superintendent um to engage. We've had some really great conversations, really great ideas during those events. So,
043opportunities for two-way engagement just so we're not always talking to parents that they're able to talk back to us as well. Um and another aspect of this is making sure that the parents know about our board meetings. So, adding into the district newsletter when board meetings are upcoming um is is a way to to make sure that that people know that they're able to join us here in person or dial in. um additionally sharing the president's report out a link to it so that they could easily see that and then in the last month one we also shared a link to the superintendent's report as well. Gonna go back and make sure I cover it on here. So yeah and and then just looking for other ways for people to provide feedback. I know that
044we're in the process of hiring a new athletic director and that is something where we sent out a survey just last week to all parents with student athletes. Um it was a pretty big list. So we asked anybody I think it was grades six through 12 on that one um to provide feedback and immediately we had some some great you know comments put in. So looking for ways to communicate um looking for more opportunities for two-way communication but something always just getting feedback on whatever we're doing. And I know I talk fast um but I tried to summarize it as best as we can. We just had an update last month, but if anybody has any questions, happy to try to answer them. >> Yes. >> Did you have a question? >> Go ahead. >>
045Um, the new family website, is that is that currently live or that's going to be >> hidden? I know you said that it was hidden and that was my question which is um is there any plan to share that link with um community partners who might have um hight touch interactions with potentially new people to the community like there um I haven't seen recently but international families um group or even real estate agencies in the area >> same thing that's been something we wanted to talk about too is just a one pager about the district facts and I think that there'll be actually a new page on the website will just be quick facts of the district that we can make sure but real estate agents they do engage with us every once in a
046while I think we have invited some of them to the business round table, but that's a really great idea. We'll make sure that they have this new families page. I think even too just because first the first thing on there, it's a little bit hard to read. Um, but it is find your school and so that's a big thing too if you're buying a new house just to know where your school is located. >> Thank you. Okay. So, you are a extremely small but mighty power of one department and I would just like to say that you do a phenomenal job, Miss Smith. I know the work that it takes to put all of this together and taking the pictures and making sure that we're streamlined and you make us look amazing. So, thank you
047very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. I mean, again, it's easy to do here because there's so many great things happening. So, it just makes my job more fun. So, thank you all. >> Thank you. And then who do I >> That's it. All right. >> All right. Next, we will have our student representative report. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Um first of all, as always, thank you for having us here tonight. Um it's been both a cold and unusual month, but we're excited to share what we've been up to. And so to start, uh, many students thoroughly enjoyed their snow day on January 26th, taking time to relax and enjoy the chilly weather. Um, and furthermore, we also want to highlight several student led events tonight. So, um, including the Blue Devil Marching
048Band's annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser, which raises money for student performances and musical supplies for the summer season. um as well as daffodil days which advocates for medical research with all proceeds from flower sales benefiting the American Cancer Society. Additionally, uh as mentioned before, several high school students earned top honors and perfect scores at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science, otherwise known as PJOS. >> And with the help of the class of 2027 student council, the SEC revealed this year's snowball theme, which is Marty GR. Uh, the dance will take place on March 7th at 7:30 p.m. in the high school. And an attempt to break the Satie Hawkins dance stigma surrounding Snowball, we'll be selling tickets for just $10 for students who buy them in groups of three or more. And we're excited to see
049how that affects ticket sales this year. >> Additionally, the election process has begun for the class of 2027 senior executive counsel. This year's SEC vice presidents held an information meeting last week to brief the potential candidates on the election process. schedule is still tentative based on whether or not an additional primary election is needed, but eligibility to run will be determined by the end of this month and the final election will take place by the end of April. >> And then finally, um we want to preface that uh of course we recognize that our role we sit in policy, but we also feel that it's our responsibility to recommend some. And so we're really excited to announce that over the past few months we've been collecting student opinion and feedback regarding student mental health. Um
050and we've compiled a potential recommendation for the board to consider. And so we plan to review this with a few teachers and administrators beforehand. Um but hopefully we should expect to have a copy for all of you at the next discussion meeting. So we look forward to sharing it with you all. Thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you. Very excited to see that. This makes us excited to have both of you on the board. All right, next moving on into our board member reports. Um, since we do our policy committee a little bit different, uh, just to double check, Miss Fleer, did you have anything to report out? I mean, we were all there, but just just to note that we're um revising our public comment policy, adopting several new um student centered
051policies, and then retiring the old policies that would be duplicative. Uh it's great. Thanks, >> PSBA. Uh Miss Gilman, >> thank you. Um I just wanted to make a note that for our new director um new directors there is the PSBA is offering a new director monthly meetup series through June. Um the next session is Thursday February 18th and will focus on board policy. Registration is available through my PSBA. >> Thank you. MLF Mrs. Berdick. >> No report this month. We meet um this week on Wednesday. So I'll have more next time. >> Awesome. PTA Dr. Campaniro. >> The PTA council met on Wednesday, February 4th at 9:00 am in the cafeteria at Markham Elementary School. Um, President Stacy Carlson thanked the school district administration and the municipality for their extensive and collaborative efforts during
052the January snowstorm. Um, earlier this year, the PTA council put out a call to teachers across the district to submit applications for enrichment funding to support classroom needs. And um the council announced in January um I neglected last month to mention this um that they were able to fund about 50% of the overall requested enrichment. And in addition, individual PTA units were also able to help fund some of the additional requests. Um PTA council organized a food and supply drive to benefit Arlington Elementary School. Um I guess elementary is a misnomer. Arlington is a neighborhood school for students in preK through 8th grade in the Pittsburgh public school district. Um they recently opened a food and clothing pantry and like Mount Lebanon, most of the students walk to school because busing is limited. Um collection
053boxes were placed in late January at each of the 10 schools across Mount Lebanon. The Mount Lebanon library also generously offered to host donation boxes for the drive. Online donations were accepted via PayPal and Amazon wishlist purchases. And earlier today, members of the PTA council delivered dozens of boxes of items including toothpaste, canned goods, cereal, and snacks. And the council hopes to continue this partnership in the future. This year's national PTA conference will be held in Pittsburgh from June 18th to 20th. Volunteers are needed and the PTA council hopes to have volunteers from each of our PTA units. More information on the convention and volunteering is available on the events page at PTA.org. Um the council is seeking nominations for the council board. Interested candidates should email ovp at mtlcounsilpta.org. Um and a slate of
054candidates will be presented at the March meeting. annual uh they hosted annual meetings between PTA leadership and MLA representatives on January 8th and in small groups with members of the school board. Um the council environmental sustainability chair is coordinating with individual PTA units to prepare for hosting tables at the Mount Lebanon Earth Day celebration which will be held on April 26th. and a couple of announcements from the presidents. Um, we've already heard a few times tonight, as a reminder, Lincoln's 100th birthday celebration will be held on April 11th. Um, Jefferson Middle School is hosting their International Heritage Night on February 19th, and Melon Middle School is in the middle of their new readathon, which I think is the first middle school readathon in the district if I recall. Um, the next council meeting is on
055Wednesday, March 4th and 9:00 a.m. at Melon Middle School. >> Thank you, Mr. Clark. municipal lead. >> Sure. So, I had a meeting with Andrew Flynn about other ways to we that we can collaborate together. More on that is coming. Um, also he informed me that in addition to having seats available for schoolboard members on civic engagement boards, they actually have seats available for all of their boards. So, if anyone is interested in getting into more engagement with the municipality, there are seats available. >> Thank you. Oh, I am up for Parkway West. Um, you will see later this evening we will be voting on the Parkway West and Technology Center general operating and Georgia budget. So, that was our biggest primary focus and upcoming getting ready for graduation. So, and Pathfinder, Miss Given. >>
056Sure. So, uh, like Mrs. Berdick, we have our next meeting on Wednesday of this week. Um but just an update from last month. We are still looking into the let me get the acronym right. Department of Community and Economic Development grant from the state. Um it's unfortunately a question of eligibility for the grant because Pathfinder is sort of a unique school um through the joint board and so we're looking into with a very supportive person at the DCED whether we would be eligible to move forward with that grant application. So hopefully more to come in short order on that. >> Great. >> Thanks. >> I want to chime in one additional um item. The AIU strategic plan um is soliciting feedback from all of us as board members and all board members across um the
057county. And so if you would um scroll back through your emails to I think it's February 8th or 9th and take a look again at their strategic plan and offer your feedback. I think it's important to give um a critical look at that like a positives and um give them some good input on their strategic plan. >> Thank you, >> Miss Yman. Back to you, Civic. >> Thank you. So, civil engagement board had their last meeting on February 4th. Um couple highlights from the meeting. Um we discussed MLK Day of Service back in January. It was a big success. There were over 270 individuals registered. Um, high school student involvement was a major highlight, raising over $700. The high school, as many of you know, served as one of the several service sites, and I
058know they they would love to continue that. Um, students assembled about 45 health and hygiene kits um that were distributed to um global links. So, really successful, positive community feedback on on that day. Uh, residents academy um in second the second month. Um, feedback is also very positive, especially for last month's high school session with Dr. Davis. Um, and I know those participants will go through a graduation on March 5th in the commissioner's room if anyone is interested in participating. Uh, they are discussing scheduling this spring's coffee with a cop. Um, and outreach is has been made um to begin planning it. It's a event to support continued community police engagement. And then last um the community service award um which will be presented at a dinner scheduled on April 30th. There has been about
05910 individuals nominated and the committee is working on recommending somebody by the next meeting. Next meeting will be on March 4th at 6 p.m. Thank you. >> Great. Thanks so much. And then I know we have mobility. We'll get you connected to the right person there, Mr. Hoffman, for next month. All right. So, comments from residents and taxpayers concerning action items for this missing for this meeting. Do we have anyone? Nope. Great. Uh, questions or comments from residents? Nope. Unfinished business? Nope. Rolling right on through. All right. down to policy. Miss Berdick, would you like to read the resolution, please? >> Sure. Just a minute. Let me get there. You went so quickly. >> I know, right? >> It's packed house. >> I know. It really is. I move that it be resolved that the
060board approves the revision of policy 9003, public comment and board meetings, the adoption of policies 204, attendance. 208, withdrawal from school. 212 reporting student progress. 215 promotion and retention. 217 graduation. 219 student compliant process. 224 Care of School Property. 232 Student Involvement and Decisionmaking. 235 Student Rights and Responsibilities. 235.1 Surveys. 250 Student Recruitment from the Retirement of Policies. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. 250 student recruitment and the retirement of the following policies: JED student absences and excuses, IKE promotion, retention and grade assignment, and IKF graduation requirements, diplomas, and commencement exercises. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? I just want to acknowledge and with gratitude the adjustment to 2351 uh laying out the members of protected classes. >> Feels good. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Campanero, >>
061I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gilman, >> I >> Miss Given, >> I >> Mr. Dr. Hoffman >> I, >> Reverend Dr. Strauss, >> I. >> All right. Moving into the resolution for finance. That will be for the treasures report, monthly list of bills, budgetary transfers for February 2026. Parkway West Career and Technology Center general operating and jointer budgets. Miss Given. >> I move that it be resolved that the board approves the finance agenda items. >> Second. Any questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Campanero, >> I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I. >> Mrs. Crabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I >> Miss Given. >> I, >> Mr. Hoffman. >> I,
062>> Reverend Dr. Strauss, >> I. Okay, moving into human resources, we have two with an extra that would be our personnel report and our appointment of assistant superintendent for secondary education. >> Okay. >> Do you want me to read it? >> Yes. >> Okay. The board has asked to approve the appointment of Dr. Natasha Dera to the position of assistant superintendent for secondary education and to authorize its appropriate officers to enter into written contract of employment for a term of 5 years that includes terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor and complies with section 1073 of the school code. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Dr. Campanero, would you like to read the resolution, please? I move that be resolved that the board approves the human resources agenda items. >> Second. >> We also
063have the two personnel >> items as well. Sorry, hold brain for it. >> It's okay. Um Dr. Gina Mahowski from interim principal to principal of Melon Middle School effective February 17th, 2026. and the uh Mr. Dan Ridge from substitute principal to principal of Markham Elementary effective February 17th, 2026. >> So excited. I just was like, let's go. Okay. All right. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Campanero, >> I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I. >> Mrs. Crabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I. >> Miss Given, >> I. >> Mr. Hoffman >> I >> Reverend Dr. Strauss >> I >> congratulations. >> We could not have a better team. So thank you and we are excited to get you here. >> Do you want to say anything?
064>> Yeah. Sorry. >> No pressure. >> Good evening everyone. Um Dr. Freeze, Dr. Davis, Dr. Schulo, board of directors. Um, this is a full circle moment for me. Um, I cannot thank you enough for your support in me. Um, to join Dr. Schulo, Dr. Freeze, Dr. Davis, like 12 years ago, I sat in this room with you, Dr. Brian Mcily, who I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for their belief in me a long time ago. um honored, blown away, cannot wait for July 1st um just to get to work. Seeing the le um the Lincoln students and hearing Mrs. Roberto Campbell's mother or um you know was the principal at Lincoln Elementary School just goes to show what an incredible school district Mount Lebanon is. I'm honored beyond words. I
065can't wait. Um need to wrap up work at South Fet before I can officially join, but just super super excited. The deepest thanks. I don't take this um lightly. It is a huge responsibility. Um I look forward to working handinhand with all of you to best support each and every one of our students. Thank you deeply. Thank you. I told Mr. Ridge I got to go next because I'd be last earlier. Um, so last week, this is a little bit off the cuff, but last week, um, it was a sad week at Melon, but there was a bright spot. Um, I went K to 12 through Mount Lebanon, and, um, one of my very favorite teachers, Mrs. Gretchen Warbine, um, came over to Melon to help support our teachers. And this was the first time
066I've seen her since I returned to Mount Lebanon as an employee. And it was like, I mean, you talk about full circle. When I heard her voice and heard her laughing, it was like I was transported back into the corner room at Markham. And um it was just it was it was so nice to see her and for her to see me and just have that moment and realize and I shared memories with her and it's just a really special place to be in to be able to give back to um the educational community where I grew to love school and love education. So, um you know, it's it's just I'm so grateful and I feel so lucky and no matter what challenges tomorrow throws my way at Melon Middle School, we will um persevere
067and um I'm just really grateful. So, thank you so much for this opportunity. This isn't a little bit off the cuff. It's a lot off the cuff to expect this, but um I'm again very humbled and thankful. Not quite the wordsmith as Dr. Dura and Dr. Mahowski, nor did I go to Mount Lebanon, but my kids did. Three of them graduated. One of them hopefully will graduate next year. And uh it it has been a humbling experience and I'm very thankful for all the faith in us, the three of us. I know we spoke about this quite a bit prior to you entering the room and I'm very thankful for the opportunity and it's been a wonderful experience so far and I hope it continues and I know that it will tomorrow and beyond and
068as Dr. Mahowski said whatever tomorrow brings we'll be ready. Thanks so much. Like oh now we got to go back. I know right. I'm like ready to no it's okay. Got me all excited over here people. Okay. Curriculum and instruction. We have our PTE comprehensive plan and the 2025 2026 ready tolearn block grant. Um Dr. Schul, is there an update with that? I see an astray. >> Yeah, I believe the update was that we removed STEM and and put back in the web program. We'll be we will not be funding the STEM portion. We will be funding the where everyone belongs transition program for fifth to sixth grade. >> Okay, great. Is that um the total amount of that block grant? Uh I know we had to apply for it. Was that the amount that
069the state had allocated? I was looking at the financial report and there's like $600,000 under um I think other state funding. I was I'm assuming that includes something besides the block grant. >> Uh it does. and we got an additional $50,000 when the um state budget came through. But so we this would have been about $410,000 or 4 418,000 and it's now 468,000. >> Thank you. >> All right, Miss Fleer, would you like to read the resolution, please? >> I move that it be resolved that the board approves the curriculum and instruction agenda items. >> Second. Any other questions, comments? Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Campanero, >> I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I. >> Miss Given,
070>> I. >> Mr. Hoffman, >> I. >> Reverend Dr. Strauss, >> I. >> And we have facilities, the resolution for the Mount Lebanon Soccer Association. I know you, Mr. Hoffman. I move that it be resolved that the board approve the facilities agenda items. >> Second. Any questions or comments? >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Berdick. >> I. >> Dr. Campanero. >> I. >> Mr. Clocky. >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel. >> I. >> Miss Flecher. >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman. >> I. >> Miss. Given. >> I. >> Mr. Hoffman. >> I. >> Reverend Dr. Strauss. >> I. Okay. Uh, any questions or comments from our residents? >> No. Okay. Our upcoming meetings will be held on March 9th, 2026 at 6:30, which will be our policy committee meeting and shortly thereafter at 7:30 p.m. we will have
071our board discussion. And March 16th, 2026, 7:30 p.m. is our regular board meeting. Um, meeting to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Second.