2026-01-26 MTLSD School Board Regular Meeting

001I call to order. Uh today's meeting uh it is January 26, 2026. Uh we're meeting virtually due to the weather. Um we going to stand for the pledge remotely, I guess. Yeah. I pledge allegiance 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. >> Okay. Roll call, please. Berdick >> here. >> Dr. Campaniro >> here. >> Mr. Clocky >> here. >> Mrs. Crrael. >> Miss Flecher >> here. Mrs. Gellman >> here. >> Miss Given >> here. >> Mr. Hoffman >> here. >> And our student represent, excuse me, Mr. Wland and our student representatives, Mr. Adams >> here, >> Miss Antunes here. >> We have seven members present. Okay. Thank you. I move that it be resolved

002that the board approves the minutes of the reorganization meeting held on December 1st, 2025 and the joint discussion regular meeting held on December 8th, 2025. >> So move. I second. >> All in favor? >> I. Those opposed. Okay, we will move on to the board reports. First section is the board president report. I have Miss CrarAbel's president report that I will read. I hope that everyone enjoyed their snow day with their families and loved ones. As we step into a new year, I remain deeply encouraged by the commitment, engagement, and care demonstrated across our community. Prior to this meeting, the board held a candidate held candidate interviews for board appointment for the vacancy of Mr. Wyland's resignation. Mr. Wyland, thank you for the years of service you gave to our district and community. You'll be

003greatly missed. The board will deliberate and vote on the appointment of a new board member at the February 9th meeting. Board committee assignments. Each year, the the school board establishes committee assignments that allow members to engage more deeply in the work of our district. These commitments create space for focused collaboration, dialogue, and partnership with administration and community stakeholders. I'm grateful for the willingness of our board members to serve in these capacities and to and to contribute their time, expertise, and perspectives for the benefit of our students and community. Reports for each committee will begin in February. Policy committee is co-chared by uh Val Fleer and Todd Hoffman. PSBA board development liaison is Eva Gellman. MLF is Melinda Berdick. PTA Council Dr. Becky Campaniro Municipal Liaison Financial Management Tim Glock Tim Clocky Parkway West Career and

004Technical Center Brena Crrael is the main and Dr. Becky Campano uh is the alternate Pathway School. Joy Given is the main and Melinda Berdict is the alternate. Shazda is to be decided at this moment and civic engagement is Eva Galman. Oh, and Mobility is Todd Hoffman. Uh, some district highlights. Congratulations to Jefferson Elementary principal, uh, Dr. Belowitz named a uh 2026 Pittsburgh Penguin MVP, most valuable principal. This honor is awarded to 15 administrators across Alageney County by the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Greybel Foundation, and the Alagany Intermediate Unit. Recognizes exceptional leadership and commitment to student success. Jefferson Middle School has been designated as a Pennsylvania Don Iicorn school to watch. This honor highlights JMS's dedication to fostering a supportive and innovative educational environment. The school will be celebrated on a local and national level in the

005spring of 2026. Mount Lebanon High School has been named to the 2025 AP school honor role, earning an overall silver designation. Launched in 2023, the AP school honor role se celebrates schools that are delivering meaningful outcomes for students while expanding participation in AP coursework. To earn recognition, schools was must meet or exceed researchbased benchmarks tied to college tied to college success for their most recent graduating class. and the inclusivity calendar for January 2026. January 19th, 2026, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday in the United States, marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., is observed on the 3rd Monday of January. As Dr. King said at the March for Integrated Schools in April 1959, make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make better

006You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in. January 27th, 2026 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day held on the anniversary of the liberation of Awitz to honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides. We join those around the world in saying never again, including when never again is right now. Next is the superintendent report. Dr. Freeze. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Hoffman. This evening, the superintendent report is going to be a combination of two things. One is an update related to weather and the second one is going to be the executive council giving an update on their departments as well as the goals for this

007school year. So, the first thing that I wanted to say to everyone is thank you all so very, very much for your patience as we work through this winter weather. I'd like to send an especially thankful I can't even begin to say how thankful we are for this. The road crews and the municipality, our facilities and maintenance staff, the emergency responders who have been helping us throughout the course of the weekend to prepare for this week. We know that it is very challenging to get roads cleared and they've been doing a really great job of taking care of that. During winter weather, it's important to know that we look at two different things when we're making a call in regards to either closing, doing a delay, or doing a FID. Um the first is road

008conditions. During winter weather, the superintendent, which is me, consult with local weather reports, the National Weather Service, and police reports to stay informed. We also consult with the municipality road crews and district facilities department to determine whether to delay, cancel, or utilize a fid. We also drive around the community to take a look at sidewalk conditions. We do know that it can be very challenging to keep up with sidewalks, but we do take that into note as we're making decisions. In addition to that, we know that the next few days are going to be incredibly cold. It's important for the community to know that we look at the National Weather Service and how it sets windchill criteria for each county in Pennsylvania. In Alageney County, a windchill advisory is issued when the windchill is um

009which is the combination of air temperature and wind speed reaches a -10° F or colder. And so we do anticipate that the next week and a half is going to be borderlining that -10°. If we are able to, we would love to be able to have a two-hour delay rather than doing a full fid. Our priority is to get kids to school, but to make sure that they get there safely. So, I just wanted to provide that quick update because I'm sure it's on everyone's minds. I hope that everyone had a great snow day today. I know that having the opportunity to drive around and see kids playing outside was probably the best part of my day. We're now going to transition to our presentation which is our midyear update in which you will get

010to hear from each of our executive council members. I'm going to start us out by kind of um level setting and giving an update on my specific goals and then I will turn it over to Dr. Schulo who will do the update as it relates to elementary schools. Mr. Stangle is going to be manning the um clicker. And so Mr. Stanco, can you please advance to the next slide? Okay, as a reminder, I'm the superintendent. Our assistant superintendent for elementary education is Dr. Schulo. Our assistant superintendent for secondary education is Dr. Davis. Our director of special education and student services is Dr. Schuman. Director of operations is Mrs. Connelly. Director of facilities is Mr. Kaiser. Director of technology is Mr. Stangle. And the director of communications is Mrs. Smith. Next slide. Okay, so a couple

011of months ago, we gave an update on our strategic plan year goals. Um, for this first year, we announced that we have a dashboard that's keeping track of all of our work. As a reminder, yearly goals focus on new initiatives aligned with our 2025 2031 leading the way strategic plan. The status for each tactic or goal is listed on the dashboard available on the strategic plan section of our website. And so far to date, we've completed six of our 32 goals, but all other goals are in progress. In the board folder for this evening, under both the superintendent as well as this presentation, you will also see an update for our annual goals. We decided that it would be best to stay focused on these yearly goals rather than doing yearly goals and annual goals

012because we might be here until midnight. So, there is a document that gives an update on the annual goals as well. Mr. angle. Okay. So, first things first, you're going to notice that these are not in order. They are organized by the individual that is assigned this goal for the year. So, our first one is related to engagement, increase outreach to community members without children in the schools through newsletters, town halls, and local media. As you can see on this slide, this is the variety of activities that have occurred so far this year. It's in progress because we still have another half of the year for us to continue to include activities to this list. Next slide. The next area is 2.3 host annual forums and quarterly superintendence for open dialogue with families and residents.

013This one is also in progress. These are the most recent activities that we've had for the first half of the school year related to this topic. Next slide. 2.3 Create a plan for summarizing board meetings to be shared with the school community. This one is complete. Uh what we did this year is that we have regular board meeting reminders and weekly district newsletters. We have board meetings um are recorded and available online and this is pointed out in our newsletters as well as online on our website. A summary of board meetings shared in newsletters after approved at the board meeting are also included. And on the right hand side, you can see an example of one of those updates. Next slide. 4.1 research, evaluate, and implement a district uh digital districtwide volunteer clearance system. Year

014one is research and evaluate options. Uh I'm here to say that this will be completed in year one all parts because we were able to select Raptor as the system for our volunteer management system. We're currently performing data conversion of current data to upload to Raptor. Our target implementation for the new system is spring 2026 and then training will occur for all staff member members that will handle volunteer management. So this goal is in progress was supposed to take us a couple of years but will be completed by the end of this school year. Next slide. The next top or the next goal is 4.4. evaluate, research, develop and implement district procedures for communications, registar, contributions and facilities and then train staff and have a designated place to find the procedures. We have draft procedures

015for registar and communications and now we're working on contributions and facilities. Once those have gone through many rounds of viewing, we will then um train our staff on it and make the documents available to staff. Next slide. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Schulo who will give us an update on elementary schools and the goals that he is assigned. >> Thank you, Dr. Freeze. Uh good evening everybody. Uh thank you for the time tonight that I can provide you an update of elementary schools. First and foremost, we're celebrating in elementary programs. We've had successful implementations of our reading and our science programs. We have uh shared publicly before that we're celebrating our midyear map results. Uh and then Mr. Dr. Hoffman mentioned about Dr. Bellawitz's award, but I also want to mention that

016we celebrated Rebecca Shoalter as a teacher of the year finalist in December, which was very exciting for us. Next slide, please. In addition, uh we worked this past fall on restructuring the parent teacher conferences really based on scheduling was our focus. Uh we also began to form a grading and assessment workg group to readress or reintroduce how the elementary program does report card and grading. Uh we did streamline all teacher schooly pages so that they are all at the same spot so that when we grow and expand our use of schooly we have all the same beginning. In addition to that we're working on policy update materials and administrative regulations. Uh and we began working with the MLPD on the efficiency use of crossing guards. Next slide. In terms of strategic goals, uh plant goal

0171.3 to design an induction program for all staff roles. We do have a committee working on this goal and there is a draft orientation program in under review that we would apply to all staff groups. We essentially would do a reoccurring be it quarterly or semesterly meeting where new staff members hired within that time period would come and receive their orientation to the district. And then we would provide hiring managers with an outline of different uh topics and suggested activities that new employees within their department should do to orient them to their actual work. Uh in addition to that, our induction plan for teachers has been drafted and is currently under public review for submission to PTE with our comprehensive plan. Next slide. Goal 2.1 was to develop a comprehensive onboarding program for families considering

018those with limited English proficiency. Our greatest step in this was to streamline centralized enrollment, which we initiated this fall with success. We also are pushing out expanded use and information about talking points where our staff can text with uh families who don't have English as their first language in their original language. We also promoting the use of the PTE translation library which has uh uh all required school forms already translated in major languages. Um, and then lastly, we've developed a kindergarten web page specific to new families and new enrollment for next school year that will launch on February 2nd when we open the 26 27th school year registration. And then lastly, we're really paying close attention to the accessibility standards that are um new for our website. That will change a lot of how our

019stu our families can access information and it should give them the ability to use the Google translate feature to translate all information that would be on our website. Next slide please. Goal 3.1 is relative to our comprehensive curriculum reviews. We are in a cycle with ELA for grades 6 through 12, social studies K through 12, uh math K5, health and physical education K12, and we also are looking at MTSS at the elementary level. All of the corre all of the reviews that were done in the past, ELA and science are complete in atlas for public view in stages one and two. Stage three is the real meat and potatoes for our teachers to do the teaching so that it's consistent across all seven buildings. Science is complete. ELA should be complete during the third quarter

020this year. Uh, as I've shared throughout the last couple of months, social studies is in review K12. Uh, K5 is going to try to pilot a resource to see if we want to purchase one for the fall. That pilot begins this third quarter as well. And then lastly, the high school engaged in Middle States essential learning experiences protocol as well and their 612 atlas audit is complete and revisions are currently occurring. Next slide. Uh goal 5.1 is to develop effect intentional transition supports between levels fifth and sixth and eighth and 9th. Uh we did identify as an elementary team what important information we felt we could share with sixth grade teachers. uh and that is in the form of like a one-page document that outlines grades, behavior, etc. We also worked with elementary middle school

021administrators to document and timeline what the current transition processes are. And the one piece that we felt was missing was something that would start to build relationships and lessen anxiety between students and among staff. Uh we value and we wanted to replicate the link crew that happened between 8 and 9 and the same company that developed link crew has a a component program for fifth to sixth grade called the web program where everyone belongs and we have identified that as something we wish to implement in the this coming fall as students transition from fifth to sixth grade. So we're very excited about that as well. Next slide. Thank you very much. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Davis. >> Thank you, Dr. Schol. Good evening, Dr. Fes, Mr. Hoffman, members of the board.

022Thank you for the opportunity to talk a little bit about the secondary program. Mr. Sangle, if you'd advance the slide. A couple of these were already announced a little earlier. Uh thank you, Mr. Hoffman for doing it and Dr. Solo. But we are certainly proud, a couple highlevel updates. Certainly proud of Jefferson Middle School uh receiving the schools the watch designation. Uh and uh as Mr. Hoffman also indicated the high school has received that silver designation for the 2025 AP school honor roll. Uh as Dr. Scholo talked a little bit about our high school has been engaged in uh the Middle States Association's essential learning experiences with AI. Uh it's an opportunity to kind of do a deep dive about our instructional practices and where uh AI may fit into that process. Uh it's um

023it's an ongoing conversation and we're hopeful that by the end of this school year uh we'll be able to submit our credentials and u receive endorsement from the u middle states association. And the other piece high level piece I just wanted to mention because it is one of the goals uh that we've talked about is to continue uh providing training for staff relative un universal design for learning. Uh we're certainly pleased that we have a presenter coming in for Lebo Summit. Uh and then right behind Libo summit by about a week or so we're going to do a half-day training uh with our administrators so that they are continuing to improve their knowledge as well relative to the implementation of UDL. Mr. Stangle, if you'd be so kind relative to the goals, uh 1.1 is

024developing a clear vision that defines the skills, knowledge, and mindsets for students should have when they graduate from high school to guide instruction culture and student growth. Uh as the community is aware, we've been engaging in this process of trying to define a portrait of a graduate. Uh it started with our internal K12 curriculum council. Uh we've uh um evolved that process into talking with PTA leadership and then we talked with high school students. Uh we talked with the board of school directors and most recently if you as you saw in the district newsletters, uh we've been asking the community for feedback on uh version four of our document. Uh so we're in the process of compiling the community feedback and trying to make updates and create version five. Uh so we should have that

025available to the community very shortly. Mr. Stingle. Uh the next piece uh 3.4 research develop implement standards for developmentally appropriate technology and device use including iPads, laptops, cell phone guidelines by gradespan. Uh in year one there's research and develop. Uh I I think the board is aware and the community is aware. Uh we implemented in year one as well. Uh the graphics that you see on the page are graphics that were provided throughout the elementary, middle, and high school buildings kind of talking about the expectations relative to phone use. Uh and then on the left hand side, the language talks um about some of the language that went into our handbooks relative to technology use or the computer use. I'm going to expand upon those in the next couple of slides. Uh Mr. Stango, if

026you'd be so kind. So when we look at K5, uh you know, certainly um all technology devices are placed in lockers upon arrival at school. Uh additionally, school issued laptops or iPads are not used during lunch or recess and uh instructional free time or as a PBIS reward. Uh the middle the elementary program is reviewing all software for developmental appropriateness uh and their their intentional use in the classroom. Uh and I also know that the elementary program is currently looking at um iPad use uh and what you know what kind of resources and tools might be available uh relative to iPad use. Uh so stay tuned for more on that. As we move to the middle level uh we're talking about personal devices again to be turned off and stored in their lockers as they

027arrive at school. Uh the personal devices, bring your own technology or district issued Chromebooks uh may be used for learning purposes within the classroom at the discretion of the individual teacher. Uh and the district issued in personal devices are not being used during lunch, recess, instructional free time or as a PBIS reward. Uh and part of this uh education process is not only informing kids and talking to them in grade level assemblies and in in home rooms and classrooms. Uh but there is a a component to it when students violate the expectations. Uh and as you saw or as you can see on this slide, uh we've had had some conversations with students uh relative to violations of the uh uh cell phone policy. Uh at Jefferson, we've had 29 violations to date. Uh and

028at Melon, we've had 27 violations to date. So uh there is reinforcement and expectations being set and followed through uh at the building level. Mr. Dango, if you'd be so kind. The last level is the is the high school. So grades 9 9 through 12. Uh so those personal electronic devices are strictly prohibited in our activi in our activity areas andor during instructional time uh unless that staff member has provided explicit permission for uh such use to complete an instructional task. Uh students are permitted to use cell phones uh smartphones, earbuds, uh in our hallways, between classes, in center court, in the activities office area, but all these all these electronic devices are placed into a phone holder that exists in every class uh during the lesson and then students are permitted to get them

029as needed. uh personal devices, bring your own technology, district issued Chromebook devices uh may be used for learning purposes within the classroom again at the direction of the teacher. Uh and similarly to what you saw with the middle level program, uh not only were we doing the educational piece with high school students, uh but there is a reinforcement piece occurring. Uh and as you can see, we've had 39 violations to date at the high school. Uh so those are being followed up on. Uh Mr. Stangle, >> M. Um, Dr. Davis, I'll take this one. Uh, this part of this particular goal. Uh, web filters. We utilize GoG Guardian as our web filter service. When a teacher, student, or a family shares a concern with a website that has not been blocked with the filters, we

030review it and remove it if needed. In the 2025 2026 school year, we updated the following filters in GoG Guardian to limit student access in different topic categories. When we move on to the chart, you'll see that the navy blue is where there's no access and the gold is access. Next slide. And so you'll notice that the categories are broken down. On the left hand side there is academic dishonesty, aggressive behavior, archives, artificial intelligence, um business, controlled substances, educational and entertainment. And you can see that across the different levels, high school, middle school, and elementary school. This is the breakdown of the access for each of these. Again, uh the navy is the no access and the gold is the access. Next slide. The next categories are educational games, um gambling, betting, fantasy sports, gaming

031information, government, online games, malicious sites, news, and pornography. One caveat to these is you're going to think like, oh, educational games. Why are we letting educational games take place? There are some applications that we use that need to have that filter on in order for them to work. We've reached out to those different apps to see if they can change that. But you'll also notice that there are educational games that are um basically filtered out that we see kids using. Like for instance, last year there were a couple of different ones that families came and shared at board meetings that are now blocked. Um, we do have to keep this open just so that we can access some of the applications. Next slide. Shopping, social, sports, time wasting, translators, and YouTube. Um, one of the

032biggest changes for us this year that really helped us was when we moved to the single sign on. With the single sign on, we no longer need to use YouTube as a pass through to verify credentials. So, in elementary school, they have no access to YouTube. and at the middle and high school they do have access but we did block YouTube shorts because those were very very popular amongst students to waste time throughout the day. So those were removed this school year that they cannot access them. Next slide. The district implemented one edtech this year to vet reports for data privacy, accessibility, security practices and compliance with furpa and copa. A list of apps reviewed using one edtech for the purpose of data privacy can be found at this link. I'm not going to click

033on the link, but this is available on the board docs where you can so that you can see all of the apps. Please note that some of the apps that are listed there are used by adults only to do their jobs. When a staff member would like to add an application, we change that process. that has to be submitted as a work order to technology and the technology department uses one edtech to vet it for data privacy, accessibility, security practices and compliance with Furpa and COPA and then next it goes to the assistant superintendent to evaluate it in relationship to other tools already in place and the connection to the curriculum. >> Thank you Dr. F. Uh 3 3.5 is talking about prover provide learning opportunities focused on digital wellness and tech integrated instruction to

034students staff and families. Uh and year one has been research and develop. Uh so as you see the graphic libo summit a lot of our educational programming occurs through libo summit and we have the upcoming parent university uh where we'll have additional uh training and opportunities. Um the te libo techch university was an opportunity at the beginning of the year uh where we had some training available for families and then you saw a number of other items that are listed there that have occurred uh through libo summit. So I grabbed a sampling to show you uh and then as we we'll have libo summit coming up here in February. Uh and then March we will have parent universities. So we'll continue to build out this list as we provide learning opportunities for our um students,

035families and staff members. Mr. St. uh last last I think under my um list here is 5.5 expand access to career and technical education. Uh for example, Parkway West in dual enrollment in year one is expand dual enrollment. Uh, as the board is aware and the C believe the community is aware, at least the high school families are aware, we've had a a a relatively long-standing relationship through Parkway West Career and Technical Center, uh, with, uh, CCBC, uh, their aviation academy. Uh, and it's an opportunity for students to study aviation, uh, but they do it through going to Parkway. Uh, and most recently in October, uh, we're working to expand our dual enrollment opportunities or of college and high school opportunities. Um, and we have a partnership with Point Park University. Uh, the board uh

036kindly approved our first program uh in October. Uh, we've already submitted another course to Point Park for their consideration and we have two or three more uh that we would like to get to Point Park before the end of this school year. So, this is in progress and will be in progress probably through the end of this school year. Mr. Stingle, thank you. I'll turn it over to Dr. Schuman. Okay, good evening. You can go to the next slide, please. Thank you. All right, so we did a brief update on this um previously at one of the board meetings, but the goal to establish an emotional support elementary classroom has been successfully completed. um we have uh designed that classroom to support students with social, emotional, behavioral needs and direct instruction or instruction in the

037regular classroom is all based on the students IEP. I will say that even though this is marked as complete, um it is a new program, so we're always refining our process um and we are working collaborative collaboratively with Dr. kits go to establish some guidelines for recommendations or referrals to the program. So we plan to present that to principles in the coming months. Next slide. Uh research, develop and implement ways to increase inschool enrichment opportunities for gifted students. This would be our enrichment and beyond activities. Uh we are currently in progress for this goal. Um the gifted coordinators met in November to create a comprehensive list of activities K through 12 which did not exist before. Uh we are collecting data on these activities um based on you know number of students participating subject areas

038um how many times they're meeting to determine the strengths and needs of our programs. Uh we are researching other offerings from the AIU and beyond. And um previously uh the library research project was discussed on how to make improvements and this year they are implementing uh their new library research programming and projects um at the elementary level. Um I will say that even though this goal is gift targeted towards gifted students um our enrichment the majority of our enrichment opportunities are provided to high achievers as well. Um so improving you know this goal will improve academic instruction for uh additional students as well. Next slide. So we wanted to make sure that our students that may be placed in schools that are not their neighborhood school or in schools outside of the district would have

039the opportunities for inclusion with events with their home school um and also special activities that go on districtwide. So, I met with the PTA council president in August to develop a plan for this school. Um, PTA announcements are available without a paid subscription. Monthly special ed and student services newsletters are distributed districtwide monthly. And then we have a list of parent guardian emails that were collected to make sure that we are communicating with families that may be outside of the district but still a Mount Lebanon student. And I have given communication to principles that you know should a family or student request to participate in an afterchool club, a specific sport, anything like that, we are allowing them to participating, we may have to organize support or plan specific accommodations as necessary. So I will

040say that even though this is in progress, we do have students that are currently participating activities that are outside of the district. So that is a nice update. Next slide. Uh we are looking at uh evaluating and updating the procedures for 504 evaluation documentation and case management. Attorney Har Eagle presented a training to administrative staff in September. We updated and presented administrative procedures for 504 students to the administrative staff all principles and we are currently looking at uh procedures to transition individual health plans which were a separate document into section 504 plans. Um both are you know legally bound and you know to be compliant in terms of um school teams. However, we are looking to to transition those over to section 504. And we are also reviewing case loads for case management recommendations. So

041that one is in progress. I think that may be all for me. Next slide. Yep. Thank you. Hey everybody. So w good to see you all. And I'm sorry you can't see me, but the the complicated wiring that's going on right now at my office precludes a video of me. So uh you'll just have to take my icon. That's exactly what I look like. Anyway, uh hope everybody's staying warm. Quick notes about technology. Uh since uh our last update um in September, I believe, uh we built out a Libo ID list of applications. Uh in line with that list of approved apps that Dr. Freeze mentioned that's available on our website under the technology section. Um we are preparing for a uh phone conversion for uh our middle schools. Uh we have digital phones right

042now in all nine of our buildings except everything except the high school uh that are converted at the building edge to IP phones. Uh and that has held us for decades. We've done very well with this technology but it is it is time. So uh we are preparing for a conversion project at our middle schools which will bring those phones uh up to IP phones uh and then presumably thereafter uh roll that out to the elementaryaries as well. um also has done very well for us for a very long time when we upgraded the high school in 2013. Uh some of you will remember we uh got new networking systems and that included a new core switch which is the big big switch the main brain uh and it has lasted us for a very

043long time and it is about to go out of support. So, we need to uh prepare for a switch replacement this summer. Uh, and we are working right now to get a bid done for that so that we can get the lowest price possible and incorporate that into next year's budget. Uh, as Dr. Freeze mentioned before, we're rolling out a new volunteer management system through our existing Raptor system, which uh is currently deployed to do the door uh securities when you visit our buildings. Uh, we've completed an upgraded sound uh project in the Melon Auditorium. Hopefully, if you've uh attended some events there recently, you've noticed uh better sound. Um we have finished phase three, I believe, of an LED retrofit in the fine arts theater. There are a lot of lights in the fine

044arts theater uh that I'm sensing a theme have uh lasted us a very good long time and they're at the point now where when they break or stop working uh the cost and the ability to replace them is uh challenging. So we have been slowly uh retrofitting them with LEDs. Um and we are finishing or have finished uh this year um phase three. So almost done. Um we are working with the facilities department to uh implement panic buttons um for all our staff uh through navigate 360. Um, we continue to create help documents on the district website and every opportunity I have to talk to families. I will say that if there is anything um that someone wishes there were a help document about to just let me know because I am happy to create

045new ones uh on the fly and get them out there. So, um we have three main support emails. We have remote support for our student devices. We have Libo ID support for our newly rolled out Libo ID this year and dashboard support the old triedand-true uh for power school um questions um goal sheet on 1.4 engaging students in conversations about data privacy informed consent and algorithmic bias. Uh we are going to be creating content uh and affirming it within the library's digital citizenship curriculum. there is a component in our library curriculum that uh addresses digital citizenship and we felt that uh this is a good place to to tuck it in. So we'll be working with those librarians and the uh administrators in charge as well as principles uh a committee of interested administrators, teachers

046and students being put together now. Uh that committee will review the current curriculum pieces um because we do address this in some sense uh and pull out the pieces that are relevant to data privacy, informed consent and algorithmic bias and then we will bolster it with additional content uh to address gaps that are identified by that review. Uh and our plan is to have that new content ready for delivery in the fall. Um as we've mentioned in previous uh meetings um goal 4.5 is to expand centralized student registration using the student information system P school uh to streamline the experience for families and staff. So we have rolled out a centralized enrollment uh which went live to families on August 11 uh of this past year. Parents and guardians can enroll their students online 247.

047Um the process allows them to upload documents. Um and we customize the process to mirror required enrollment information and document documentation and students uh will move through the powers school for further processing on the school side. Um so building secretaries as they did before or in the case of the secondary students the the school counselors um will continue to handle homework assignments and scheduling once students are enrolled in powers school. Um, so that part hasn't changed. Um, and school secretaries are always there with a bright smile to welcome new families. Um, and there is a email for enrollment support at mtsd.net for families that have questions about this process. But, uh, we're going bigger and better on it. We are going to use it for kindergarten as well this spring. We're very excited. Uh it

048uh is going live to families. Uh I guess that's next week. Very exciting. Um parents and guardians are going to be able to enroll their uh incoming kindergarten students uh online. There's a customized Mount Lebanon website for kindergarten families to get step-by-step enrollment information, other information. Um elementary secretaries will still work with families throughout the process. Uh we have a website mtlsd.org/kdg. /kdgreg. Uh, and again, families uh, wanting a little bit extra help or just have questions can email us at enrollmentup support mtlsd.net. Okay, going to turn it over to Mr. Kaiser. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Stangle. Good evening, Dr. Freeze, members of the board. I'm excited to talk to you about what's been going on in facilities. Next slide, Mr. Stangle. So some of our recent projects include a repair of the

049main water line into the Hoover Elementary School. This actually occurred the day before Thanksgiving. So that was a lot of fun that evening. Uh we also replaced four communication cards and an interface of the high school PA system. We replaced fluorescent lighting with LEDs and house auditorium and cafeteria. We're also going to be replacing additional LED lighting in the larger spaces as the year progresses. In fact, we're 90% through the process at the Jefferson cafeteria. And I want uh I want to note that those LED lighting panels were purchased for a dollar a piece and we purchased 300 of them. And we're only about a third of the way through those for uh those projects and they were three of the larger ones we're planning on doing. We installed two new cameras at the high

050school, one at Melon Middle School. We removed tree roots from the storm water drain at Melon Middle School. We purchased two new transport vans for our district trades. We replaced obsolete door operator for the Jefferson Elementary School elevator. We replaced the failed high school emergency generator transfer switch uh that occurred uh one evening when we had a power storm. So, it was quite the uh quite the job to do. Uh but excited to get that replaced. That, as Mr. Stangle has mentioned, was another piece of equipment that we've had for quite a while. And we were able to save that piece of equipment by just replacing the switch itself. And we've also winterized the district exterior sprinklers, restrooms, fields, and miscellaneous equipment. Next slide, please. Mr. Stangle. As a staffing update for the facilities department,

051we've replaced the following positions of recently retired employees. the Jefferson head custodian, a high school general maintenance worker, our high school pool CPO and grounds worker, a district rental secretary, and the high school assistant head custodian. We currently have three open custodial positions and one bus driver position. We anticipate an additional bus driver position and custodial position will open due to retirements before the end of the school year. Next slide, please. As for our district systems and supports, uh, goal 4.1, create a 10-year facilities capital improvement plan align with district priorities and fiscal management. Year one, identify projects. This will be, this is in progress. It'll be presented during the February 9th board meeting. Next slide, please. Also uh 4.1 partner with the municipality and other community assets to explore opportunities to grow and advance

052the district and our community. Year one identify mutually beneficial projects, needs, areas of concern and partnership opportunities. This is in progress. Some of the things we have done uh this year, we have co-applied for an alternative fuels incentive grant or aig with the municipality for the purchase of a Ford E350 transit van. We were the site location for the municipalities Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. We recently had assigned an MOU, I believe it's going to be voted on tonight, with the Mount Lebanon Soccer Association for TUR service at Markham. We added additional permitting for gym usage for community groups. We worked with the Mount Lebanon Fire Department to review and upgrade their pre-planning noted and data for each school. We worked with the Mount Lebanon Basketball Association to host a youth basketball tournament.

053It's upcoming uh in a couple weeks time, February 6th through 8th at the high school. And we also hosted uh the Mount Lebanon Police Department their connected car workshop in October in the high school southwide. Next slide, please. 4.1. Also establish clear procedures for the use of facilities by community partners, including a modernized application for permits and a scheduling process for use of district spaces. Continue positioning school facilities as a valuable community asset through after hours use. Year one, explore means to move our current facilities usage procedures to an online platform. Evaluate cost versus functionality to determine the best way to move forward. Consider how much of our internal booking system should be available to the public. This is in progress. Uh we have used Docuare to create an online form for for facility requests

054and permits. We're currently conducting a trial run of this new process with some community groups. Last Thursday we had our bianual field meeting and the Mount Lemon Baseball Association has agreed to uh use the online platform to submit their uh yearly or seasonal uh permits for this year. We're expecting a full launch will occur in June of 2026 just in time for the July field meeting and all permits going forward will be done via this online process. So I expect this will be completed in June of this year. Next slide please. Okay, we're turning it over to uh Mrs. Connley for the operations portion. Miss Connelly, you are on mute. We can't hear you. Should be an audio button down at the bottom of your screen. >> Got it. Sorry about that. >> Thank you,

055Mr. Hoffman. And thank you, Mr. Kaiser, for keeping us uh safe and secure and your team this weekend during the horrible weather. Um I'm going to talk tonight about human resources and the um business office. Uh we're in re human resources. We are constantly recruiting, interviewing, and assigning staff created by resignations, retirements. We're managing the communication of these intermittent leaves that come in periodically from all the employees. Uh we have permanent and long-term subs covering sbaticals and other leaves as absences. We just went through a big uh surge in January uh because people were coming back from sbatical, people were going on. We were also processing the 26 27 sbaticals of which we have nine and we are processing retirements throughout the year. We have seven teachers who have submitted their retirement thus far for

056a 25 26 retirement. Some will be approved tonight. uh over to the right part of that slide, you will see the current vacancies. In addition, we are focusing on professional development um within the human resources department and that we are focusing on the PA teacher shortage. That impact has not really reached Mount Lebanon yet, but we want to learn about it and be prepared. So, we participated in a conference through the University of Pittsburgh and Tri-State and a recent webinar with Spotlight PA. We're also partnering with FIA to process eligible student teacher siphons and student teachers are invited to substitute teach with us. So, we really value those relationships and um it's a great great opportunity for our student teachers to stay in Mont Lebanon and we're so happy that they are able to be

057paid for their student teaching through FIA. Uh we are continu continuously reviewing our act 48 credits of our professional staff certifications in TIMS employee clearance renewals tuition reimbursement and PIM staff reporting. We are currently working on budget uh the 2627 salary and wage projections is a huge task and we will have that done within the next week or so. We are currently collective in collective bargaining with two employee groups, both facilities and cafeteria, and we're collaborating with school and department administrators on employee issues as they arise. We continue to outreach to our community and attend local job fairs. The post gazette is closing in early May, but we are attending their last job fair that they will hold in March. Um, also one big task that we collaborated with the technology department on was updating

058our HR internet homepage. It's refreshed and it's updated to ensure current information is posted and available to our employees. The business office is uh busy also with 2526 budget projections, meaning where we're going to end at the end of the year. And we are looking forward to the PA um to the we're we're catching up on the after that PA state budget impass that ended in mid November. The 2425 unassign unassigned fund balance increased to 5.99% and so we're heading towards our goal of 8%. We did institute a mid-year budget freeze and we issued that on non-essential services and supplies to support rebuilding of our unassigned fund balance. The completion of the 2425 annual comprehensive financial report was done. It will be final voted on by the board this evening. We are re reviewing residency

059of our charter school enrollment and new enrollments with Mount Lebanon School District through Enrollment Express. We renewed our food service wellness committee and we have a meeting scheduled in April. We just had one in December. We are doing multi-ep department collaboration addressing student student negative balances for food service and fees related to technology and library and communicating to families um as a group. And we're collaborating with facilities on the disposal of um and the auction of the end of life vehicles. Some of our vehicles were over 15 years old and we were able to auction them with the high school activities office last semester. We researched a point of service system for vendors and with some vendors and we selected Goofan as a cashless system for students to use through the activities office and we're

060in the middle of our zerobased budgeting staffing meet staffing meetings with um all budget managers and the administration. Uh Mr. Dr. Stangle already talked about Enrollment Express, but I do want to emphasize that it was a multi-EP department project and it did roll out in August and we continue to refine it. We're looking forward to the roll out for the kindergarten registration. For our district goal 4.2, we are developing a 10-year financial plan that supports a long-term district health and Moody's rating improvement. We uh in year one we're establishing an unassigned fund balance target of 8% of budgeted expenditures and uh re we revised or adopted policies pertaining to budget planning, preparation and adoption and communicate management changes and strategic objectives to Moody's. Moody's is like our credit rating. They're our credit bureau. They will

061uh establish the credit rating every every spring. The board adopted policy 620 fund balance in February of 2025. In that policy, it states that we will strive to maintain an unassigned general fund balance of not less than 5% and not more than 8% of budgeted expenditures. After the audit, the 2425 fund balance is $8.1 million. The unassigned is $7.5 million and that is now 5.99%. So, we really want to try to get to 8%. The annual Moody's update is in the spring. Uh we did not get a change at the last update, but we also didn't have a downgrade, so we uh those downgrades have ceased. We also interviewed and selected a bond investment banker through an RFTP process and we uh awarded that the board appointed PNC capital markets 4.2 is also in process.

062We are rebuilding and preserving the district's fund balance while investing in high impact areas aligned to strategic priorities. Um we have addressed the pre pressing financial issues. We have established transparency. We are building a foundation for long-term recovery by aligning the zerobased annual budget process to strategic priorities. Um, as I said, our fund balance has increased to 5.99%. We did the mid-year budget freeze. Budget information is committed monthly to the school board. We provide detailed budget reports to budget managers and assist them with projections. We have a very rigorous internal control with four approval levels on all purchasing. Um, and we've set that up so that there is no negative balance on any of our accounts. Lastly, 4.5. This one is also in process. We've established a system for ongoing and communic ongoing and communication

063for newly enrolled families to ensure smooth transitions into the district. So that included the enrollment records um coming through enrollment express. They're analyzed and verified to ensure compliance with district policy. We are reviewing all of the um documents to through this enrollment procedure, birth certificates, legal guardianship, residency, and medical compliance. Uh as Mr. Stangle said, kindergarten enrollment will open on February 2nd. Communication with school level personnel helps to ensure proper onboarding at the school level for welcome, scheduling, and building a partnership between home and school. Each new family receives a welcome email that contains resources um at the start of the school year or if they are enrolled midyear or at any time during the year. And now Mrs. Smith will give you an update on communications. Thank you, Miss Connelly. Your slide there was

064a great uh great uh segue into talking about communications. So Mr. Sangel, if you can advance to the next slide. Um, next month in February, um, communications department will be highlighted more in full, but here's a quick overview of what we've been up to. Um, for the midyear point, we've had 291 social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, and X. Our open rate on our weekly district newsletter that is sent to families, staff, and high school students receives an 86% open rate average. Um, and thus far we've had over a hundred requests to the communications department from um, our internal staff, community members, and media. Um, some of those media requests highlighted here. Um, we had WCAE come out and cover the first day of school in Mount Lebanon at Lincoln Elementary. Um, we chose Lincoln

065for the spot for this because that school is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Stay tuned for more details on that celebration, which will be Saturday, April 11th. Um, we've had some other media requests and been able to feature all of the good news happening in Mount Lebanon School District like this placement in the observer reporter of our mini majong club um at Foster Elementary and the students are playing a mini game of the popular game right now um that was created by a Mount Lebanon alumni um in our mass maker space. So, a lot of synergies there that we were able to promote. Um, next slide please. if Mr. Oh, there we go. Um, the exciting news coming out of the communications department is we are working on a redesign of the district website.

066Um, there are four goals in mind with us updating the website and that's to simplify the user experience, improve visual consistency, update the content on the website. Um, sorry, those were three main goals of the website. I'm sure there's a lot more. Um but we're working towards and we're on track for a goal of releasing the new website in early July. Um looking at past statistics that is a time of the year where um there aren't as many people visiting our website and so we look to relaunch it then um so to work out any kink so everything is ready for the back to school rush. Um again we're working on an update to the site framework and flow updating the consistency imagery and branding and the tone of voice of the overall website. Um,

067this was mentioned earlier, but ensuring that that it is translated into multiple languages. It's available now, but it's just something that will continue within the new site. And then looking to ensure that we're with um up-to-date standards on new ADA compliance. Next slide, please. Um for overall goals um tracking towards the strategic plan under engagement 2.1 streamlining communications towards a consistent platform for families to access essential information. As I mentioned um we are streamlining all communication into our weekly newsletters. We publish two newsletters. A bi-weekly staff newsletter during the school year um and then during the school year a weekly newsletter to parents and guardians. The open rate averages are there right now. So 76% from the staff newsletter and 86% on the district newsletter. Um we collaborated with the PTA this year to ensure

068that there wasn't too much redundancy between the school newsletter and PTA newsletters that are sent. So we put together this handy guide um in collaboration with the PTA elementary presidents and then PTA council um just to ensure clear communication and being efficient for our parents and guardians. Next slide please. Um 2.1 under engagement to reinforce and reintroduce staff and families to communication tools, newsletters, social media alerts with clear expectations of their purpose and how to access them. Um, this goal is still in progress, but really working to ensure that um, if a new family is coming to the district and we start mentioning things like Atlas, Powers School, Dashboard, MTLSD, Home, all of the the communication tools that we have that parents understand what the function of that platform is and what is available on

069those sites. So, really looking to to ensure that communication is going that way. and then also reintroducing some of these tools to our staff to ensure that they know what the tool is, what's available at that tool and what information to make sure that you keep there. Um, when we talk about streamlining communication, um, we have very successful open rates on emails that we tend to send um, in late July that is from the district that highlights um, key things to note for the the new school year and that's followed by individual emails from each of the schools. I believe that open rate was about 97% across the board on those emails and that is extremely high. So, um we'll keep that going um knowing that that's something our parents and guardians value and a

070lot of them reference that throughout the year when they go back to that because it has a lot of good information in it. Next slide, please. So, maintain consistency and communication with archives of newsletters and notices available online. So, we maintain an archive of our 25 and 26 newsletters. There's actually newsletters from last year on this site. It's updated each Monday morning and that's available on the district site. We also have a link to our district newsletters and that's via a button on libo ID. And we did the same for our staff bi-weekly newsletters and that is um on the MTLSD homepage. So easy access if you miss a newsletter for some reason it may not have come to your inbox. um easy ways to find it and then um people are notified on the

071district website to reach out to me with any problems and we can troubleshoot. Next slide please. So we mentioned launching a redesigned user friendly district website um that will happen you know working towards that goal of of July 1 um or early July. We are partnering with a web development vendor, Final Site. That's who our website has been hosted with in the past um to ensure an updated design. And this is a little bit of a preview of the homepage here. Um we have been engaging with a small group of parents, staff, students, and our board of school directors um on feedback on the new site. And that's really helped us um with the navigation, the overall look and feel um and you know making sure that it's more visual and showcasing the smiling faces

072of all of our students on the site. So, I thank everybody for their feedback. It's been very valuable. Um, and there will be more opportunities for the community to provide input. Um, as we work to, you know, transfer the information from one site over to the other. Again, there'll be some opportunities to help us and, you know, provide feedback. Um, we've established a homepage, a homepage, standard homepage structure and layout across all the school websites for consistency and undergoing accessibility review. Um, we really worked with our vendor to ensure the colors that are chose at least on that main toolbar and the font um is ADA compliant and um userfriendly for those using a visual tool to to review our website. And next slide. >> I think this is Dr. Scholo and I >> Yes,

073that is you. So, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Stango, if you can advance. Thank you. So, uh, we thought we would just do a reminder of the motion that happened at the discussion meeting, uh, uh, two weeks ago. Uh, as as a reminder, uh, we are in the process of having this the comprehensive plan, uh, sit for its 28 days, uh, before the board will see it again in November. Uh, and this was the motion that the board had seen back uh, at its discussion meeting in October. Mr. Stingle. Uh just a reminder that the comp plan when we built it, we used the uh the 2425 commu uh community strategic planning process, but we're overlaying it into the PTE system. Uh and the PTE system is in

074essence a roadmap for schools to articulate our goals, our needs assessment, our action plans very similar to what you see in our strategic plan process. Uh it has a focus of continuous improvement uh just like our district strategic plan does. Mr. Mr. Stingle. Uh, and I'm not going to read all four of these to you. Uh, but ultimately these are very comparable to our district strategic planning process. Uh, we're looking for opportunities to approve. Uh, what data is going to suggest that improvement? How are we engaging our stakeholders? Uh, and then there are some other plans that are associated with the comprehensive plan as Mr. Dr. Scholo indicated earlier like our induction plan. Uh, that goes for review as well. Mr. Stangle, >> if you are looking at the comprehensive plan, it is broken down

075into three parts. Uh ready, set, and go. The ready section contains our profile, vision, mission, and values. Uh the set section is a needs assessment. And then finally, we set goals and action plans in the go section, Mr. Stangle. And lastly, the comprehensive plan covers student achievement. It covers curriculum instruction, professional learning, and of course, compliance to state accountability measures. And Dr. Freeze, that concludes our report. Thank you all for your time and attention. >> Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Hoffman. That is the end of our report. >> Thank you. um to the public. Uh in recent years there's been a you know a big emphasis on on transparency um and really just getting things done. This is this is a great example of that effort. Uh high expectations being set by uh not

076only the board but but Dr. Freeze and her team. This uh report is available this whole presentation that was just shared is available on board docs as was mentioned. I just want to highlight that because there's a lot of excellent information about progress towards the the identified goals. Uh very useful for those of you who are interested in in learning or or sharing with with your neighbors. Next up is our student representative reports. Uh Miss Antonune, why don't we start with you this evening? >> Good evening everyone. Um thank you for virtually having us here tonight. Um, first of all, we'd like to congratulate all schoolboard applicants. It was both meaningful and interesting to hear your experiences and motivations for applying. Um, and of course, best of luck in the upcoming selection. Um, December and

077January are very busy months and we're excited to share what we've been up to in that time. To start, on December 19th, the third ever annual Libo Legacy Games took place. During the half-day, 32 student teams played botchi while many others assisted in refereeing. This event is done in partnership with Libo stars um formerly known as Best Buddies and aims to bring disabled and non-disabled students together for lifelong friendships and inclusivity. Congratulations to the freshman team seven ballers who took gold this year. >> Thank you, Mr. Adams. Okay. So, as for the senior executive council, we hosted our second general student council meeting of the year where we got to work with the underassman student council officers on developing important leadership skills. In this meeting, we specifically focused on several activities that help develop communication

078skills. Additionally, our Libo choir students put on their annual Broadway cabaret show featuring dozens of performers songs like What Dreams Are Made of in a variety of fascinating characters. All revenues will be reinvested in the Mount Living Choir program. Finally, students enjoyed a lengthy winter break and recently concluded their final exams which took place on January 13th and 14th. Thank you for your time. Thank you both so much for your contributions. Next up, our board member reports. Now, uh we'd mentioned earlier that there are new assignments for this year. So, there may be updates, there may not be depending on the category here. The first one is the policy committee. Uh Miss Flecture, do you want to take this? Do you want me to? >> Sure. Yeah. Um so the uh policy committee which is

079now a committee of the whole co-chared by Mr. Hoffman and I um met for the first time on January 12th. Um we will continue to meet monthly uh for policy meetings at 6:30 p.m. prior to that month's discussion meeting. And those meetings are also open to the public. Um, as we're working through the transition to uh the PSBA standard for policies, which this year included more than a dozen, it's just more efficient to do that as a committee of a whole and um it's better to have full board discussion on some of the issues that are coming through policy. Um this month we had a great discussion about a policy on um public comment at board meetings. Um we are looking into different tools to allow expanded comment both digitally and virtually. And so look

080for that policy to be um revised and reviewed at the upcoming meetings in February. Um and then tonight we will take action on 15 policies from the 200 suite which are all student centered policies um and retire three of our related former policies. >> That completes my report. >> Thanks Miss Flecher. Uh next up is PSBA. Uh Mrs. Galman, do you have any updates for us this month? >> Sure. So, uh, thank you. So, for PSBA, um, just a couple takeaways. Uh, fe on February 3rd, Josh Shapiro will present the 2026 2027 state budget and PSBA will host a member webinar on February 6th at noon to review the funding and district impacts. Um, PSBA's spring legal roundup will be held March 20th offering key updates on school law and governance. Advocacy Day is scheduled

081for May 4th in Harrisburg with a focus on mandate relief, school funding and infrastructure. And January is also as PSBA highlights school director recognition month highlighting board service and effective governance. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Looking forward to hearing more about that budget process as it moves forward. Um, next is MLF. Mrs. Berdict, do you have anything for us this month? >> Yes, I do actually. Quite a few things because I can summarize um for everyone the um recent grants that were that were delivered in December. So, um by way of uh remembering the MLF is a nonprofit 501c3 which funds innovative projects that enhance the student experience through um grants. And that committee is open to the public and there are um a few seats um remaining if someone would be interested in

082considering um being involved in uh in December. Well, twice a year they award grants um and they're highly competitive. There were 17 applications um and five awards um in this uh first semester um in 2025. Um, there was one for designing the universal dwelling at Mel Melon Middle School. There was one titled Little Free Lebo, um, submitted by the art teacher at the high school. There's one called, um, choicebased art centers submitted by the elementary school art teacher at Markham. one for a very significant grant for VEX IQ robotics robots and one Battlefield submitted uh by a teacher at Washington Elementary School. And the last one was um amplifying student voice podcasting um submitted by a teacher at Jefferson Middle School. So, um, in the next upcoming meetings, they're considering rephrasing their mission statement, um,

083building upon, um, advancing kind of what better words for more of what they do. Um, there will be more to follow on that and, um, exciting ways of expanding their funding potential in the future. Uh, they're rolling out applications for, um, new grants to faculty and staff in April. And that's my report. >> Thank you, Mrs. Berdick. Lots of good stuff happening there. Uh, Dr. Campanero, do you have anything from the PTA council since you were appointed about five minutes ago? >> I do. Um, I wanted to take a minute because um, we've long had a representative from the board coming to PTA council meetings. Um, probably for as long as the PT PTA council has existed, although I can't say that for sure. Um, but it is recent that um, the council has uh,

084the board representative has come back and reported out to the board um, about those meetings. So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk a little bit about um what our PTA count PTA council is and what it does. Um so, uh across the state, the PTA PTA uh Pennsylvania PTA website is currently down under construction, so I wasn't able to verify. Um but there are a limited number of uh councils across the state. I want my recollection says that there's 13. Um and so we have each individual uh school here in Mount Lebanon has its own unit and then we are fortunate to have a PTA council um with its own elected um board members that uh helps to coordinate across the units um and make sure that you know uh there's

085uh training uh for for treasurers and um as new presidents step up etc. um also helping units to get um different committees going or just shared information, shared resources across the different units. Um unlike uh the individual units that meet with their um their principal, um we meet monthly with or the PTA council meets monthly with um the administration, the superintendent administration. Um Dr. Fes has been phenomenal bringing her entire team um to those meetings. And so um very similar to the information that is shared out in the superintendent report. Um in fact it might be almost exactly the same as what's shared out here in the superintendent report is shared out um at those PTA council meetings. Um there's also updates um that occur from individual units. So I wanted to share um that

086Lincoln of course is uh having their 100th year celebration this year and that's been mentioned a few times but that whole um process is really being led by their PTA and by um you know individual members who have stepped up to um make that happen. Um how elementary also recently was awarded um a grant from national PTA. Uh 75 local PTAs were selected to receive um $1,250 each sponsored by the New York Life Foundation to build the knowledge and skills of parents and caregivers to support and strengthen their children's mental health and build their children's social and emotional skills and resilience as part of the national PTA's healthy minds program. The goal of the program is to empower families to make mental health an everyday priority. So congratulations to how um for that award. Um

087and in addition, another thing that occurs at the council meetings is um that we have uh community partners that um report report to um the council um on what's going on and their interactions between the community partners and the district. So um the council hears from um the library, a representative from the Mount Lebanon Library on all the goings on there. um we hear from the police department and the fire department on a monthly tip of what's going on as well as um what what those entities are teaching our students in the classroom. Um we also hear from uh Mertza is a new a new representative as well as um outreach teen and family services and then there's a representative from the municipality. Um, occasionally there will be representatives from um, our commissioners um, when

088they when they have things that they feel are needed and important to share out um, to the PTA council. So, a lot of information is shared there. Um, anyone who is a PTA member is welcome to come no matter if you're if you're a member at any one of the units, you're welcome to come to council meetings. Um, and so I just wanted to kind of take a moment to highlight all the things that the council does, um, as well as all of the wonderful things that our PTA units do, um, that really enhance the educational experience of our students. >> Thank you so much. A lot of good detail in that report. Uh, next up, uh, Mr. Clocky, have you been able to uh work with as the municipal liaison or financial management? >>

089Yes, absolutely. So, um we had in this past month um we've had two new commissioners sworn in. Those are in W 2 Margaret Iso. Ward for Nick Petty. They both replace longtime sitting commissioners uh Steve Silverman and Craig Gerella respectively. Um, the commission has appointed Andrew Flynn to be the liaison with the school board. He and I have had initial conversations on how we can collaborate and we will be having some more discussions as the month goes on. >> Thank you. Uh, Parkway West Career and Technical Center. Um, Mrs. Crrael is not here. Dr. Campanero, do you have anything for us? >> Uh, I do not. I I'm not sure if they've I'm not sure if um Mrs. Crarabel has has attended a meeting recently or not, but I'm not aware of any update. >>

090Okay, no problem. Thanks. Uh, Pathfinder School, Miss Given or perhaps Mrs. Berdick. >> Sure. Uh so I was able to attend uh my first meeting with Pathfinder um last Wednesday um and get to know the lovely board of folks there. Um so the updates that I have are pretty brief uh this time around. Um they're looking into some uh different investment options for uh for school funds. Um they are going to be conducting lead testing at the school relatively soon. They're just looking into cost estimates on that. Um the big update is um in terms of many uh facilities and capital needs at the school based on a facility study that was completed last year. Um we're looking at some funding opportunities. Uh big uh bigger uh grant to hopefully um is a statewide grant

091due in March. Um so we have to move a little quickly. We have another meeting coming up uh this Thursday evening. We'll be meeting virtually as well. So if anybody has any uh money trees they'd recommend we shake, please let me know. Thank you, Miss Given. Uh, Shazda, we we don't have a current rep for Shazda. Um, civic engagement, Mrs. Gellman. >> Thanks. Uh, well, I attended my first meeting as the civil engagement board liaison on January 7th. Um, the board welcomed new members and reviewed committee roles and procedures. Um, community engagement remains strong. Um, for the first time, a community manure was st installed and lit at Clear View Common where hundreds of community members gathered on December 17th to commemorate Hanukkah. The board also reviewed planning for the MLK Day of Service this

092past week on January 19th held at the high school um, which involved more than 120 volunteers and multiple community partners. The board continues to encourage high school student involvement through volunteer opportunities. Nominations for the community service award closes today actually um and are open to individuals, groups, and organizations demonstrating outstanding service to the Mount Lebanon community with recipients to be recognized at the board and authorities dinner on April 30th. And the next meeting is scheduled for February 4th. >> Thank you so much. Uh the next one is mobility. That is that is me. I have not yet um attended a mobility meeting. So hopefully I'll have more for you next month. All right. Our next step is um we're doing this a bit differently tonight because we are virtual. I've got a statement to read

093here. In order to comply with the sunshine law, because we are not in person, we will take public comment on agenda items only before we vote. Uh confirmation of your residency status uh should be mailed to uh Kim Walters. This is only due to extreme unique circumstances. Um, first, do we have any comments from residents or taxpayers concerning items that have uh previously requested to speak? As far as I know, we we don't. Okay. Comments in uh from residents and taxpayers concerning action items for this meeting. And just let me clarify uh we are not taking action items or we're not taking action on uh the uh board member uh seat that is open that occurs in February. Uh the items that are up uh for discussion are on the agenda uh below that includes

094some of the policy decisions, finance, human resource, curriculum and instruction and facilities. Mr. Stangle, do we have any people wanting to make comments? >> We do not. >> Okay. Thank you. Unfinished business for board consideration or action. There is none. Uh Mr. Cloerty, would you please take us through the policy section here? Uh you are on mute. still on mute. >> Sorry, I was having trouble with my mic. >> There we go. >> Okay. So, I'm sorry. I'm still trying to find uh I'm having some computer technical difficulties this evening. Had to reboot twice. So, if you want, could you get someone else to do this one? >> Sure. Absolutely. Uh Mrs. Berdick. Sorry, unmute. Um, the screen that I'm also seeing does not have the motion on it. So, I also apologize. Are we

095>> actually If you want me to take it, I can. I've got to that page. >> Now you have it. Okay. >> I have it. >> I'm looking at the screen online that doesn't have it. >> Yeah. Okay. So let it be resolved that the board adopts policy 203 immunization and communical diseases 203.1 HIV infection 209 health examination and screenings 209.1 food allergy management 209.2 2 Diabetes Management 210 Medications 210.1 Possession and Administration of Asthma inhalers and epinephrine auto injectors 228 Student Government 229 Student Fundraising 230 Public Performances by Students 231 Social Events and Class Trips 236 Student Assistance Programs 236.1 threat assessment u um 23 so threat assessment um 251 students experiencing homelessness foster care and other educational instability 254 educational opportunities for military children and retirees policy uh JLCC communicable infectious diseases and

096bloodborne pathogen JLCD, administering medicines to students, sun protection uh measures for students and JF AD, admissions of homeless students. Those last ones were what we were retiring. >> Second. >> All right. Thank you. Are there questions or comments from the board about this resolution? Okay. Roll call, please. Do we have a second, Mr. Hoffman? >> Um, I seconded, Miss Walters. >> Thank you. My I'm getting a mess. connection is on. >> Oh, yeah. >> I can do the um roll call for you, Pim. I'll do the roll call. >> I can do the roll call. I think she's having some technical issues. >> Um if you can you hear me? >> It's in and out. I'll just take care of it. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. Roll call vote. Mrs. Berdick. >> I. >> Dr.

097Camparo. >> I. >> Mr. Clocky. >> I. >> Mrs. Crabel. Miss Fleer. >> Hi >> Mrs. Gellman. >> Hi. >> Miss Given. >> I >> Mr. Hoffman. >> I >> Mr. Wland. Okay. Resolution passes. Um 70. And there are two individuals not present. Miss Fleer, can you please take the finance >> on? You're on mute. >> Great. Um, I move that it be resolved that the board approves the finance agenda items. >> Second. >> Questions or comments about anything here in the finance section? Okay. Roll call then, please. >> Mrs. Berdick. This is >> everybody can probably come off mute for the rest of the meeting. >> I don't know, Todd. Bedtime's still happening at my house. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> we got a thumbs up. I Is that acceptable? Are you not able to

098come off mute? >> Okay, we can come back. >> Sorry, so much trouble toggling between the agenda and the mute. My vote is I >> Dr. Campanaro >> I, >> Mr. Clocky, >> I >> Miss Fleer, >> I >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I >> Miss Given. >> Hi, >> Mr. Hoffman. >> Hi, >> Mr. Wland. The action item passes 70 with two um not present. >> Okay. Human resources, Miss Given. >> All right. I move that it be resolved that we approve the human resources items on the agenda this evening. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. questions or comments. Okay, very good. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Camparo, >> I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I crel. >> Miss Fleer, >> I >> Mrs. Gellman, >>

099I >> Miss Given I >> Mr. Hoffman, >> I >> Mr. for Wland. This passes 70 with two people not in the me at the meeting this evening. >> Okay. Curriculum and instruction. Uh Dr. Campanero, please. >> I move that it be resolved that the board approves the curriculum and instruction agenda items. again. >> Questions or comments. >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Camponaro, >> I. >> Mr. Clocky, >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel. >> Miss Flecher. >> I, >> Mrs. Gellman. >> I, >> Miss Given. >> I, >> Mr. Hoffman. >> I, >> Mr. Wland. This passes 70 with two people not um in attendance this evening. >> Okay. And uh facilities. Uh Mrs. Galman, >> I move that be resolved that the board approves the facility agenda items.

100Second. >> Questions or comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Dr. Camponaro >> I >> Mr. Clocky >> I >> Mrs. Greybel Miss Fleer >> I >> Mrs. Gellman >> I >> Miss Given >> I >> Mr. Hoffman >> I >> Mr. Wland >> passes 70 with two people not in attendance this evening. Okay, last item is our resignation of a schoolboard member. Um, I'll go ahead and read this one. I move that it be resolved that the board accepts the resignation of Jacob Wyland as the director as a director of the Mount Lebanon School Board. >> Second. >> Well, Missy Jake, thanks for your time. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick >> I >> Dr. Camponaro >> I >> Mr. Clardy >> I >> Mrs. Crabel >> Miss Fleer

101>> I >> Mrs. Gellman >> I >> Miss Given >> I >> Mr. Hoffman >> I >> Mr. Wyland >> passes 70 with two people not present at the meeting this evening. >> Okay, thank you. Uh, our next meeting will be held February 9th, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. That will be the policy committee meeting. As Miss Flecher mentioned, that is a committee of the whole. Uh, that will be in room D205 of Mount Lebanon High School and also available via Zoom. Uh, also on February 9th at 7:30 PM will be the a board joint voting and discussion meeting uh held in the same location D205 Mount Lebanon High School. And then February 16th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. is the regular board meeting held at room D205. >> Mr. Hoffman, quick question. Um, we in my

102on my schedule I had a board retreat originally scheduled in February, early February. I just wanted to kind of throw that out there that is that something that we're going to reschedule. >> Yes. In one of the board updates, we stated that we would reschedu it just because we don't have all eight or all nine members yet. So, >> I missed that. >> We will schedule it. >> Thanks. Y >> do I have a motion to adjourn today's meeting? >> So second. >> All in favor? I I Right. >> Thank you everybody.