2025-11-17 MTLSD School Board Regular Meeting

001Good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the Mount Lebanon Board of School Directors. Tonight is Monday, November 17th, 2025. It's 7:31 p.m. and we're present in room D205 of the Mount Lebanon High School with public participation also available via Zoom. Uh we have some friends from Jefferson Elementary who I heard saying Jefferson is the best. Jes is the best uh to lead us in tonight's pledge of allegiance. >> Thank you very much for having us. Uh Brett Ellawitz. I'm the proud principal of Jefferson Elementary. Um we brought some of our our JES superstars tonight to lead us into the pledge. uh and then to share a little something that they put together that uh helps to share what they feel about Jefferson Elementary and why they feel JS is the best. Um so

002we welcome Nina Mackey. Come on up. Nina, Avery Campbell, Maddie Flynn, Isa Panzic, Estelle Da Silva, Eddie Song, and Amaly Duddy. We lost a couple superstars to illness and uh baseball tonight. So, all right. Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. So, at Jefferson Elementary, our schoolwide initiative is the JS superstars, and it exemplifies being respectful, responsible, and ready each and every day in all of the different ways. Um, every week we acknowledge one student, K through five, who has exemplified that. And tonight, we have um our fifth grade superstars who have been acknowledged thus far this year, each of being the lucky superstars. Um, they spent some of

003their own time during lunch and recess putting together a little something to share how they feel about Jefferson Elementary. Um, and they certainly have the reputation and the responsibility as as the leaders in the school and and they certainly don't take it lightly. So, here we go. Nina, >> we come to school to learn and grow. At JS, we are the show. Every day is a learning class where superstars do their best. helpful, smart, and always kind. You'll never leave your memories behind. A school like JS is hard to beat because everyone is so sweet. Be respectful, responsible, and be ready. Those are things that makes JS steady. >> JS teachers are so cool. They bring the joy to the school. >> Also helpful, and full of cheer. They're the reason we are here. >>

004Jes is the best. spoiled wine. Thank you guys very much for kicking us off. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, >> here. >> Mrs. Crabel, >> here. >> Miss Flecher, >> here. Mrs. Gellman, >> here. >> Mrs. Gensel, >> here. >> Ms. Guth here. >> Mr. Hoffman >> here. >> Ms. Johnson >> here. >> Mr. Wland >> here. >> Mr. Adams >> here. >> Miss Antonunes >> here. >> All members are present. Thank you. I move that it be resolved that the board approves the minutes of the policy committee meeting held on October 13th, 2025, the discussion meeting held on October 13, 2025, and the regular meeting held on October 20th, 2025. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed or abstain? Okay. Thank you. Uh we are up to the board report section

005and we're leading off uh with two of our middle school leaders from Jefferson, Judah Rogers and Henry Zedeki presenting on behalf of student council. Good evening. My name is Judah Rogers. I am here as an executive board member of the JMS student council to give you a glimpse into the start of our year as an organization. We have begun our year strong with 14 eighth graders on our executive board. This board group represents a diverse group of amazing leaders. Our job will be to organize and facilitate the efforts of our general student council members to help each project and event run smoothly and successfully. We are committed to meet every Monday after school to make that happen. The general student council consists of 73 members including 28 sixth graders, 28 7th graders and 18 eighth

006grade and 17 eighth graders. We meet as a large group every other Monday to discuss updates on events and ongoing up or upcoming projects. The executive board determined five committees and co-chairs for this year. Our committees will include spirit, random acts of kindness, service, advertising, and filming, and a brand new committee called activities. The activities committee will focus on planning small events and games that will happen during the student day to make JMS a more fun and welcoming place to be. Each committee has two to four co-chairs to lead meetings and guide members in planning and executing projects. Our committees began meeting once a week after school last week. Once the ice breakers have helped us make connections, the planning will begin. In order to fund our projects and attendance at at leadership events, our

007council sponsored at a nothing but takes fundraiser. The student council members took orders for bundlets and vouchers. At last week's meeting, 117 vouchers were distributed. And last Tuesday, we took delivery of 889 buntlets to organize for distribution. The fundraising event culminated in a pop-up bun buntlet sale after school last Tuesday. Through this fundraiser, we raised $2,416. Thank you for your attention. I would now like to introduce one of my fellow executive board members, Henry Zedeki. >> Thank you, Judah. Good evening. I'm here tonight to fill you in on events our council has sponsored so far, as well as our experience at this past year's PASC state leadership convention. The month of October was very busy for our organization. We started the month's festivities with our pink out Wednesdays. We encouraged students to wear pink on

008Wednesdays to support breast cancer awareness. We sprinkled positive announcements to encourage awareness throughout the week. To make an impact on this cause, we also sold bandanas, bracelets, sunglasses, lip balm, and stress balls supplied by St. Clair Hospital to students and faculty. Through these efforts, we were able to donate $691 to finish off the month for our pinkout. We sponsored an all pinkout on October 29th, the last Wednesday of the month. We awarded two prizes per team to those students who showed the most pink spirit that day. To finish the month of October, we also sponsored a Halloween costume contest. Students were encouraged to show off their creativity by coming to school in costume that Friday. The the creativity and imagination that day was amazing. At the end of the day, two winners per team were

009announced. We are proud to report the participation in all these events was inspiring. To get membership or membership motivated, all the executive board members attended a PASC state leadership convention hosted at Union Area High School sponsored by the PASC executive board. On November 7th and 8th, we travel to Newcastle to experience studentled studentled leadership workshops, roundabout table discussions with student council members from all over the state, and two speakers. The main motivational speaker, Go Scott Bakovich, was truly inspiring. His presentation truly helped to change the way we think about student council activities. His fresh and thoughtprovoking presentation will help us design more engaging activities that will encourage more student participation. Overall, we soaked in the inspiration and enjoyed the opportunity to meet and connect with other student leaders. Our council's off to a great start

010and we as an exe as executive board members are thrilled, energized, and ready to lead. Our goal at JMS to do our part to make a difference both inside and outside of our school. Thanks for your attention and good night. Thank you very much. Next up is the board president report. Uh I have a few district highlight more than a few district highlights to share this month. Uh the first thing is that 24 of our high school students have been recognized with letters of commendation for their exceptional performance in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition based on their October 2024 PSAT results taken during their junior year. These students placed in the top 50,000 scorers or more than of more than one and a half million students who took the 2024 PSAT as a junior.

011In recognition of their exceptional abilities and potential for future academic success, the NMSC will honor these students by sending letters of commendation. While commended students do not advance in the competition for national merit scholarships, some may still be eligible for special scholarships sponsored by corporations. N sorry, Mount Lebanon High School's NMSC commended students are Henry Asbury, Anna Bailey, Owen Burn, Sohan Dam, Elizabeth Divine, Edward Ursugovich, Alexander Fair, I scooched too quickly. Molly Molly Gil, James Harbaugh, Caroline King, Isabella Lombardi, Santiago Lozoada, Evasovich, Adam Melheim, Anna Mamaroski, Aiden Osba, Anul Purdep, Eleanor Schulty, Albert, Samuel Shaw, Lyra Stiglets, Jacquellyn Tang, William Thomas, Suan Yang, Maline Zapco, and Michael Zoo. Congratulations to all of them. The Mount Lebanon High School class of 2027 is collecting non-p perishable food, hygiene items, and monetary donations for the Greater Pittsburgh

012Food Bank from November 17th through the 21st. Families can participate by donating online. There is a link in the district's newsletter and on social media, bringing items to the athletics building adjacent to the high school in door A7. And for high school students, they can bring non-p perishable items to school for collection at home room. The 29th annual holiday bells, mallets, and drums concert series is returning this season. These concerts showcase the extraordinary talent of our students and the strength of our nationally recognized percussion program. Tickets are selling fast, so purchase yours today at mtlperccussion.com. I'd like to highlight some of the items from November's uh inclusivity calendar. November is National Family Caregivers Month, which honors the more than 40 million caregivers across the country who support aging parents, ill spouses, or other loved ones

013with disabilities who remain at home. November is National Native American Heritage Month, which celebrates the heritage and culture and honors the contributions of Native Americans. November 11th was Veterans Day, which is a federal holiday honoring military veterans. The date is also celebrated as Armmesus Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, commemorating the end of World War I in 1918. On November 20th is Nan November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia and draws attention to the continued violence endured by transgender people. On November 27th is Thanksgiving Day, which is an annual national holiday in the US and Canada celebrating the harvest and the blessings of the past year. and my kids are celebrating a half day and a four day weekend.

014Uh, a few updates about the Mount Lebanon School District Board of Directors. Uh, on behalf of the board, I'd like to thank the following members who are concluding their term of service at this meeting. It's been an honor and a pleasure to serve alongside these directors and to count them as both colleagues and friends. Erin Gensel began serving in 2021. served as the vice president of the board in 2024, has served on the policy committee on the board of the Mount Lebanon Foundation for Education, and as the board's PTA council representative. Claire Guth began serving in 2021, has served as a member and the chair of the policy committee, and as a member of the Parkway West CTC joint committee. Anna Maria Johnson began serving in 2021, served as a member and the chairperson of

015the district's DEI committee, and has served as the as the representative to Parkway West CTC joint committee. Uh, thank you all so much for everything you've brought to this board and the district uh for the past four years. It's honestly been a pleasure. Um, and I wanted to open the floor if anyone else would like to share any words for our girls. Well, what a ride it has been. Uh, I don't think the three of you were expecting CO or any of the other things that hit our doorstep, but each and every one of you handled them with such care and in great stride. and you never gave up and you always tried to find the best solutions for not just the district but the community as a whole and you will be missed greatly.

016Um Anna Maria, thank you so much for being my mentor. Uh it has been such a journey starting here not knowing anything um when it came to like how do you even sit and like hit the gab? What happened? Um you always made sure that I was I was together. I knew where to go and what to do and I will definitely miss our rides in the snow parkway. Claire, thank you so much for stalking me for a couple years. I got to tell the story. So Claire and I um have known each other for years and she was like, "You would be great." And I was like, "Yeah, sure." And she never gave up. And finally one day I was like, "I think I'm ready." She was like, "Wait, what?" And here we are.

017Um, you are you're an amazing you're an amazing woman for all the things that you do and we will miss you. And Aaron, thank you so much for some of those days that I was like, I have no idea. I'm going to call Aaron. Uh, and she was always there willing to help. And now that you are retiring from the board, I feel like we could go on a little road show and do some Sia Humba. So, thank you all so much. You are great, amazing leaders and we will miss you, but you're not going far. So, >> see you soon. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, that concludes my report. Uh, next up we have the superintendent's report. Thank you so much, Mrs. Berdick. My report is short this evening because I have

018um two of my peers that will be presenting a fairly large report and I don't want to take away from their time. Um just a few updates from this past month. It has been a really busy fall. Um I completed the Mount Lebanon Fire Academy about a week ago. Um they talked me into putting on a mask and strapping on an oxygen tank and going into a burning building. Um, we truly are very fortunate to have the firefighters and um, first responders that we have in our community and I learned that firsthand. Um, I don't think that they're going to sign me up to be a volunteer or a paid member of the fire department, but I did learn quite a bit during my time with them. In addition to that, we held our business

019roundt, the first one of the year. We had about 13 people in attendance. It's an opportunity for us to share with the community, the business community, the things that we're doing here within the school district. It's an incredibly supportive group of people that keep on coming back and so we're thankful for their time. Veterans Day was a busy day. I spent the morning at Foster Elementary School for their event that honored our veterans here in our community. There were over 25 parents and grandparents that were recognized. It was really nice. And then afterwards, I had the opportunity to read to the first grade classroom classrooms at Foster. And we read about um Veterans Day. And as you all know, first graders always come with very entertaining questions and comments. So, we had a really great

020morning there. And then later on in the week, um last week we had Washington Elementary School's life skill classroom and ABA classroom. They hosted their annual Friendsgiving, which is a beautiful event in which families and students um come together and staff to celebrate Friendsgiving. And then finally, last week I was invited to the marching band banquet, which was a beautiful event with over 200 people celebrating our marching band, which is a group that we're incredibly proud of as a school district. So, it was really nice to be able to see all the students in one room and celebrate the accomplishments of this past year, which was quite busy. And then the last thing that I have is really um upcoming events. We have Thanksgiving is here half day next week on Wednesday and then we're

021out Thursday and Friday. We'll return that following Monday. December 4th, we have our next superintendence coffee from 1:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the central admin building. December the 19th, we have the Libo Stars Legacy Games, which are this is the third year that we will be pay playing botchi. Um I haven't heard if any of the administrators have signed up yet. Dr. Thompson, I see you in the audience. Um hopefully he will sign up. Maybe we can compete against each other. You'll beat me and our team. We I'm just saying we have not won yet. Maybe maybe one of these years we'll win. Um and then we begin our winter break on December the 20th and it runs through January the 4th. We hope that everyone obviously has a really nice break. It's a

022long one this year. And then just some concerts. Our elementary winter concerts are on these dates. All of them will take place at 2:30 p.m. So, there's a lot of great music to be heard. And then for our secondary winter concerts, we have quite a few of those as well that'll take place over the course of the next um five weeks. The final thing I wanted to say was thank you to Anamaria, Claire, and Aaron. It has been a pleasure working with all of you. You were on the board when I started, and for that, I'll be forever grateful for your um willingness to believe in me to lead the school district. and you can't get away from us that easily. Two of you still have children in the district and we will see you

023all hopefully very very soon and you won't forget about us. Thank you. I'm >> now going to turn it over to Dr. Davis and Dr. Schulo who will go through our student outcomes report. So, good evening, Miss Flecher, Miss CrarAel, Dr. Freeze, members of the board. Thank you for this opportunity to present a number of aggregated data sets relative to our student performance and more importantly, thank you uh for your service in helping us achieve these goals. Uh it does not go unnoticed the amount of time and energy and work you put into being members of the board to help provide us with direction and support as we're working to support our students. So on behalf of the admin team that's here with us, we want to thank all of you uh for your support

024as we're working to make sure that our students are successful in the classroom. I mentioned the admin team in the back. Really, uh, our instructional leadership team is here with us and these results couldn't happen without their leadership and the work that goes on inside our schools every every single day. Uh, they lead our teachers and between those and our teachers, uh, we have a lot to celebrate tonight. Um, obviously this wouldn't happen without our parents. Uh, parents that support our children, support our schools, support our teachers, support our administrators. Uh so definitely a special thank you to the partnership that we have with our families. Uh and obviously this is a celebration of our students and we should be congratulating them uh throughout the course of the night. Uh overall uh you're going to

025see uh we are continuing to maintain our status as a very high performing school district. Uh one that is uh known across the state and one that is looked to uh for how student success occurs. So I shared this analogy with you last year. Um this is Sarat's pointalism and Miss Rodriguez was very proud of me for using this analogy last year. You know where we take a a small dot and over time those distinct thoughts of color applied in a and a pattern emerges. But that that dot tells a story, right? And this idea of a story is particularly uh important tonight. Uh as we shared last year, there are thousands and thousands of stories behind this data set. Uh and we want to recognize and celebrate each one of those stories. Uh that

026happen to be um the the reason that we have the results that we have. What's important to us and the theme behind each of these stories is that we meet kids where they are and we help them grow. We try to help them achieve their goals. Uh, and I know I shared this analogy with you last year, uh, but I wanted to repeat it this year because of that word story. Um, and if I may, Miss Saltunis shared a piece with us back in August when she, uh, welcomed us, uh, as a student speaker. Uh, and I'm going to capture just two or three of her sentences uh, where she told all of our faculty about the importance and the power of story. I'm going to quote. Um, and so if you ask me what's

027the importance of sharing our stories, I would say this. Our stories light the path. Not just for ourselves, but for those who come before us, for those who walk beside us, and for those who come after. Because behind every light, every voice that has been found, there is an educator who lift them out of the shadows and ignited fire from within. These students stories have our educators walking alongside of them and have been um the success that we're going to talk about tonight. Thank you for allowing me to quote you. Um Mr. Adams, I'm going to quote you here in a minute, too. So stay tuned. >> Get ready. It's going to be awkward. >> So you you saw this analogy last year. uh this singular individual represents a data set and as we start

028to aggregate that data that individual's data set with their class impressions about our academic program become a little clear and as we take a class and we start to aggregate that data we make it into a grade level those impressions about our academic program become even more clearer and as we take a grade level and we make it into a building the impressions about our academic program become more and more clear and from the building we move to this district level which is this highle overview or as Schmoker would say the balcony view as it is called in the literature which helps provide us some organizational perspective. The entire report again this is a highle presentation tonight but the entire report is on our district's website under the academic tab for any individual who would

029like to take a look at it. So we talk about our mission to provide the best education possible for each and every student and that mission means a lot to us as we welcome our kindergarteners into the school district. Uh and then we uh assist them as they move through the organization. It is our goal to help them reach their full potential. We provide them with a variety of programs, a variety of curricular programs, a variety of extracurricular programs. All of that is intended to help meet them where they are and help them grow and help them achieve their potential. Now, if I may, I'm going to quote Mr. Adams. He he too spoke to us in August uh and his words were equally as powerful uh as it relates to this idea of meeting

030people where they are and helping them grow. I'm going to quote Mr. Adams as he said, "Mont Lebanon has prepared me not to just handle change but to coexist with it. I was able to take so many risks and try so many new things. Not just because Mont Lebanon provided me the opportunity to, but because the environment, the passionate teachers, the supportive administrators, the welcoming staff, they encouraged me to evidence that we try to meet students where they are. It helped them grow along their path. And for that uh this should be common knowledge uh for you and for our educators. It is the things that we deeply believe in in our organization. It is our moral purpose. it as our north star as we try to make sure that we provide a quality education

031to the students here in this organization. Let's get going to recapture some of those. Every individual has a unique combination of attitudes and attributes that when recognized, nurtured and challenged help them achieve their full potential. Core value to us. This we believe each individual has worth and deserves dignity and respect. This we believe all students can be successful learners. Successful learner building builds self-esteem. This too we believe excellence in education is worth the commitment of time, effort and money. This too we believe learning is the most effective in a safe caring environment taught by highly qualified teachers. This is evident in our strategic plan. High expectations directly affect performance. Absolutely true. This is what we believe. An educational citizen citizenry is valid to a strong foundation to a democratic society. This becomes part of our

032moral purpose. These items that we believe in so dearly and we hold so true is surrounded by the things that this organization values and espouses to its students, to its teachers, to its administrators, and to its parents. Uh and our core values are are listed here for you. Dr. Dr. Scholo and I talked about, you know, so what does the data tell us? And we affirmed again, uh, that we believe that this is pointing to what the data is suggesting to us, uh, that students are prepared for a broad range of post-secondary interests, meeting their individual needs at locations not only around this country, but around the world. That's a powerful statement for a high school. Student career interests are addressed in part by the partnership with Parkley West Career and Technical Center. We heard

033from Dr. Copeland and the powerful programming that goes on out there. Students experience a rigorous academic experience aligned to the college board curricular standards through our advanced placement program and is it is expanding and our students are finding great success in it. Student diversity is increasing within the student body and you heard from Dr. Schuman last week and she illustrated some of that data that articulates that as well. And then student academic performance remains strong and it is facilitated through our teachers teaching methodologies, our curriculum that is rigorous, rigorous and well aligned to the standards, developmentally appropriate, engaging with students, and that we have instructional resources that support what goes on inside the classroom. Dr. Schuman talked about this uh last week, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this slide,

034but you can see the trend lines as it relates to this the composition of the student body. It certainly is uh growing in terms of its diversity, but we are committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming school environment that recognizes and celebrates this diversity. Uh as this is one of those things that we believe in as an organization. All students, regardless of their background, their identity or their ability are supported. We want every student to reach their full potential. So this is the screenshot that Mr. Stangle puts together every year about where our students are declaring that they're going to college. So this is the class of 2025. As you can see, our students are spread out amongst around the country and places in the world. And our emphasis is to make sure that

035these that our students are prepared for life after high school, preparing them to pursue whichever post-secary interests they are interested in. If I may, I'd like to quote uh Emila Favorver who who is our graduation speaker uh who I think illustrates what we try to do with kids. Although the high school experience was unique for each of us, I truly believe that we all take away many lessons from the light shed upon on the unspoken standards set for Mont Lebanon students. Keeping keeping up with your work is the bare minimum, but applying your knowledge outside of class is expected in order to understand why we learn these concepts. Teachers assign challenging work, but it forces us to collaborate with each other in order to solve problems and cultivate innovative ideas on our own. I'm going

036to repeat that sentence. Teachers assign challenging work, but it forces us to collaborate with each other in order to solve problems and cultivate innovative ideas on our own. That is what we strive for here. No matter what subject I'm back to back to the speaker, no matter what subject you are uh learning about in class, you're simultaneously learning skills that are necessary for life outside of the classroom setting. The faculty has molded us into driven people rather than simply successful students. And all of us have gained a great understanding of ourselves through the work ethic we have all developed in order to able to attend this ceremony that she was referencing the graduation ceremony. She was a dynamic speaker last year. Uh but I think those words about what we strive to accomplish and hearing

037it from a senior really makes all the time, effort, and energy that goes into the work that goes into each classroom in all of our buildings every day worthwhile. As I had mentioned, this data is available in greater detail on the web. Um, but just to highlight some of the information for you. So, the percentage of our collegebound seniors, uh, our data continues to reflect a community that values the majority of the students are pursuing a post-secary academic experience. 95.9% of our students are pursuing college either two or four years. When you look into our uh student data, you'll see that the remaining students, 2.3% are going on to employment. A half a percent of our students is going to the military and 1.3% of our students declared some o other activity after uh after

038high school. As you know, we use Peterson's book uh to talk about college attendance by difficulty. Uh and as you look at the top three tiers of difficulty, most difficult, very difficult, and moderately difficult, that represents 88% of the students who have declared a post-secary interest. Most difficult is 6.5%. Last year it was 5.8%. Very difficult, 39.1% and last year it was 34.9%. Moderately difficult at 42.4%. Last year it was 48.2%. 2%. Minimally difficult is 2.6% and last year it was 4.3%. And non-competitive is 9.4% and last year it was 6.8%. I'm actually really pleased that that last number is growing as we heard from Dr. Copelan and in the value that our students are placing on the the trades and the skills in the programming that's available. our our society needs students that are

039in the trades or that are in the workforce that are in technology, career education. So, I'm so glad that we're starting to see a little bit of a climb in our students finding interest in that. And I think you heard and you've seen over the years that this the I think they joke now we have two buses going out in and maybe in years in future years it'll be three buses, but ultimately our kids gaining some interest in that area. Hopefully, you'll see those numbers kind of grow a little bit over time. Um obviously this uh Peterson's report does not reflect all of the students. It is just the students that are going on to two and two and four-year colleges. Last year I mentioned that I had an a um a mistake in the

040book where I just talked about it being just four-year colleges. I didn't fix the mistake this year, but I guarantee you it's fixed for next year. Um so if you look at the book, uh it still says four-year colleges only. Uh I think it's on page six or something like that. Everyone's checking my work now, but next year I I already fixed it. I fixed it in the program for next year. Um, so there is a footnote in the guide. I just want to be clear with the community. Uh, that is a two and four year number. Um, but I promise it is fixed for next year. I'm going to uh just mention this because you've seen this information last month from Dr. Copelan when he spoke directly to you about this. 100% of our

041students who took the NOCTI exams at Parkway passed. 70 83% of them with advanced rankings and 17% with competent rankings. Not only did they pass their NOKI exams, you can see 72 portable industry credentials were earned last year by our students. Uh that's outstanding. Uh so we're really pleased uh about our students uh not only interest but their success at Parkway. Uh going to transition to AP uh ACT and the SAT. So work by the College Board. Uh these are some of the standardized tests that we look at uh in terms of determining our students progress. Uh and and we've had conversations at the in the boardroom about kids take AP exams for various reasons uh and then they actually sign up to take the test for other reasons, you know. So there's a lot

042of uh personal variables that go into this experience by taking an AP class. But I'm pleased to say uh that our efforts to have kids engaged in a rigorous quality educational experience through our AP program has grown not only in the number of courses that we've offered, but the number of kids that we get enrolled into the classes and actually take the tests. We're up to 25 AP uh advance AP offerings from uh AP African-American studies all the way down through uh US government in politics. Uh the full list is in the book. This past year, we had 1,251 AP exams taken. 1,251 AP exams. That's 73.8% of those enrolled in a course took an exam. Um, how do our students fare on these exams? So, we've used I've about six or seven years ago

043started presenting the AP Scholar data and you can see the definitions of the AP Scholar, the AP Scholar with honors, and this AP Scholar with distinction. a really really positive trend line in terms of how our students are performing uh on AP exams. Not only on one AP exam, but on multiple AP exams. Uh we're at a 7-year high with 304 AP scholars. And I only say seven years because that's as far back as the data I have. Uh so our trend line continues to be moving in the right direction and we continue to set new standards every year. So 304 AP scholars in 2025. Um, as for the AP Scholar, that's a student who receives scores of three or higher on three or more AP exams. Last year, we had 87 students uh do

044that. AP scholars with honor receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams and scores three or higher on four or more of the exams, seven-year high last year with 77 students doing that. An AP Scholar with distinction receives an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams and scores three or higher on five or more of these exams. Last year, we had an all-time high again with 140 students achieving that distinction. This 304 students, if you go back to the data that I have from the beginning, is a 96.1% increase from the 2018 2019 school year. It really is moving in the right direction. >> So, about AP students that are scoring three or above, this is a non-duplicated number of students who scored three or better on at

045least one AP exam. It is a 63.8 in 63.8% increase from the 201617 school year. And you can see the positive trend line that we're having. And this is probably a good opportunity for me to pause and really celebrate the curriculum council process because this is where we have had the conversations about uh making sure that AP the AP experience is right for all students. We want all kids to engage in that process into that experience when they're ready. They might not be ready in 10th grade. They might not be ready in 11th grade, but before they get out of here, we want them to have some college level experience. and our our curriculum council and our department chairs and our principles and our counselors have all talked about trying to make sure that these

046courses are accessible and open to all students. And I think that's part of the reason that you see these inclines over time because it really has been a collaborative collective effort to make sure that our students find success. The number of AP exams that are scored three or above uh 1,178 exams. So remember I said two slides ago 1,251 students 1,700 yeah 1,251 exams 1,7878 scored a three or better that's a 94.2% success rate scoring a three four or five. Uh our our program is really strong and we have lots of kids engaging in it. Uh, and our teachers are really skilled at having our students find success. Um, yes. Um, our mean scores on 24 of the 25 exams exceed the national average. I've had conversations with you in the past about the one

047uh content area that we know is not meeting the national exam or the national the national mean. Uh, we continue to work with that department with that instructor, continue to provide professional development. I am pleased that our our mean average is 3.06 06 this year in that particular subject area, but we're not there yet. And we've got more work to do and we got to stay focused. You know, we have to stay focused on what our uh our goals at hand are. Some context about our AP students. Uh in relation to all exams that were taken, males took 565 exams with a mean score of 4.08. females took 680 exams with a mean score of 4.1. And as you can see, the the college board uses the the the descriptor another which I don't know

048that is appropriate, but that's the one that they provide us with. Uh and we did have 10 students uh with uh a mean score of 3.8. Uh remember our our uh threshold, we used the college board's threshold for sharing data. On this screen, if there's a dash mark, and this is for all the screens moving forward, if there's a dash mark, there wasn't data available. And if the box is darkened, uh that means it was a N of less than 10 students. Uh so we don't show it. Um uh this is also probably a good juncture to update you about our engagement with under reppresented students in our curriculum. I shared with you last year some of the uh the work that we're doing where we're trying to identify a student population and making sure

049they're engaging in higher level curriculum. Similarly, uh we're considering our rising nth graders for this 25 26 school year. We look at students who historically have earned an A or B, students who are enrolled in Mount Lebanon since at least sixth grade, and students who are historically an underrepresented population or economically disadvantaged. And for the 2526 school year, we had 23 students match this profile. Of those 23 students, 19 selected one or more honors classes. And I'm pleased to say 16 of those 19 selected more than one honors class this year. If you remember last year, the majority had taken just one. Uh this year, the majority are on now taking multiple honors classes. the other four students. Again, it's appropriate for them not to be engaged when you think about their profile and where

050they are in their educational program right now. That doesn't mean in their 10th grade year, 11th grade year, 12th grade year, we won't get them engaged uh in some higher level programming. As we think about uh AP performance by identity group, um students who identify as Asian uh accounted for 135 of the exams with the highest mean score of 4.33. Students who did not identify their race or ethnicity accounted for 70 of the exams and had a mean score of 4.21. Students who identified as two or more races accounted for 51 of the exams and had a mean score of 4.14. Students who identified as Hispanic or Latino accounted for 103 of the exams and had a mean score of 4.09. Students who identify as black or African-American accounted for 24 of the exams that

051had a mean score of 4.08. and students who identify as white accounted for 872 of those exams and had a mean score of 4.04. Every single one of those groups had a mean score above four. Uh that speaks, I think, to what what goes on inside our classroom. And as you can see on the screen, it's been a number of years before I uh since I've had enough students to present to you uh the the mean score for the black and African-American population uh in their success on our exam. So, I'm very pleased uh and proud that we're seeing those those numbers emerge a little bit further. Migrating to the ACT. Um uh you can see our scores on the left, Pennsylvania is in the center and the uh nation is on the right. Uh

052just for the audience at home, uh you know, English our our score was 25.9, math was 26.8, reading was 27.8, science was 27.1, and our composite was 27.0. zero. I sat before you last year and we had all-time highs on ACT. We're not quite all-time highs this year, but we didn't miss much of a beat when you look at the numbers that are on the screen. Um, again, as you as you know, we've had these conversations in the past. You're well aware that about 2007208 the a prior to that the ACT was considered a Midwestern test. Wasn't really accepted by all colleges or universities. Then it became more widely accepted. It became more interested to our students. we saw students becoming more interested in taking it. Uh and then the whole uh test optional movement

053happened. Uh so currently or in this particular grouping we have 97 students accounting for those ACT uh scores. It's important to note and our counselors are are well aware uh that we still have more than 2,000 four-year institutions that are currently test optional and 85 of them are test free. Uh but it's all and some of those are are pronounced universities. you know, Duke, Northwestern, University of Chicago, uh, Swathmore, Williams College. Uh, but what we have to be mindful of is there's starting to be a little bit of a pendulum swing back. Uh, those that have reinstated exams include Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Caltech, Texas, University of Texas. And with this graduating class, the class of 2026, our graduating class of 2026, you're seeing uh schools like Carnegie Melon, Johns Hopkins, UPUPEN, Cornell, these are

054schools that our kids go to are starting to see testing again. Uh so this is again the pendulum is starting to swing a little bit particularly for our our our most difficult colleges. Uh and again it'll be important for us to might be mindful of this data and how our kids are performing on those exams trend data. Uh what I really appreciate by using this slide is just to reinforce the message about annual variability. We are going to see a little bit of variation in data from year to year. That is natural. Uh really what we are looking for are trends or themes or patterns. Uh that's that's what we're looking for over time. As you're well aware, one data point or two data points is really not a data set. We're looking for three,

055four, five data points. It really then starts to show a trend. Uh, and that's what we're looking for. And this, I think, as an ACT kind of shows our consistent performance, but then some trend lines. Uh, I already indicated what our performance was, but just repeat it again for this particular slide. Uh, English 25.9, math was 26.8, reading was 27.8, science was 27.1, and our composite was 27.0. 0. So, let me give you our 10-year averages. Um, so you can get a sense of how this year, this past year, compared to our 10-year average. Uh, 10ear average in English was 26.46. So, we were slightly down. So, a little bit of variability. Math 25.68. Again, this year we were 26.8. We were we were up. Uh, reading 26.98. Our score is 27.8. Uh, science 26.07.

056And uh, this year's or this past year's 27.1. and our composite 10-year average is 26.44 and our composite is 27.0. So, we're really kind of looking at those, you know, trends. Obviously, we have to look back in history to learn our lessons. Uh, but we want to be present in what's going on in our classrooms and and look look towards the uh towards the future. Uh we talked a little bit last year about how the ACT exam as a format is changing uh and some of the options that are becoming available to students uh relative to online uh paper pencil testing and the design of the test uh is is coming into effect particularly with this September test that just happened um this particular school year. Talked about 97 students accounting for the ACT exams.

057uh some uh demographic data for those 97 students. Again, our composite score was 27.0. Uh males was 26.4, females was 27.6. And then the other responses we had fewer than 10. So you'll see either see uh a blank in there or um I just the data is not presented. Uh students who identify as Asian have the highest composite score of three 30.9 and students who identify as white have the second highest composite of 27.0. zero. Uh again, we don't have enough of an end count for their other groups. Uh again, we had 97 kids take it. Uh so I don't have an an end count more than 10 to be able to share the rest with you. Moving to the SAT, similar to the ACT, uh it's it's intended to help college admission officers assess

058the students likelihood of success in college. Uh the data presented on the screen, our mean scores are above the state and national averages. Uh our combined score is 1215. That's 162 points higher than the national mean and 131 points higher than the Pennsylvania mean. 5-year trend data. Um so as you know the SAT changed from a three-section test to a two section test 201617 and at that point it also moved to kind of more logical and reasoning skills. Um, in our student outcomes report, the book that you have, the one that's online, we were showing all of the sections until we got to a point every year we phased out the previous year. So, we're at the point where we phased out all of the old SAT uh, presentation data. So, now we're just all

059the data that's in there is the current test as we're moving forward. I talked about 97 students taking the ACT. We had 352 take the SAT. Again, some performance by identity groups. Um, males had a combined SAT score of 1193. Females had a combined SAT score of 1238. Students who identify as Asian had the highest combined SAT score of 1291. Students who identify as Hispanic or Latino had the second highest combined SAT score of 1225. Students who identify as white had the third highest combined SAT score of 1218. and students who identifies two or more races had the fourth highest combined score at 1166. And students who did not provide a response had a combined SAT score of 1153. Uh the other groups did not have an N of more than 10. Now I'm going

060to move to some more local tests uh talk about the Keystone exams and then I'll turn it over to Dr. Scholo to talk about PSSAs. Uh so I talked with the board two years ago about act 158 and how we were migrating to this idea of parents having the opportunity to consider pathways. So this chart should be familiar to you. I shared it with you last year in terms of what pathways our parents are declaring. Uh so as you can see with the class of um the class of 2025 uh or what we're anticipating with the class of 2026 332 students who are taking the proficiency pathway and then you can you can scale on down through the other pathways that are available to families and students. Uh board policy you have to take the

061test and you have to retest at least once if you weren't successful. Uh state law requires us to offer remediation. We can't mandate it. Uh so we do that. I mean we work with families. We work with our departments. We try to remediate students that are not successful. Uh and then we give them the opportunity to retest. But parents are becoming more and more aware of these pathways and the the implication about them needing to pass a Keystone to graduate or not uh in finding an alternative pathway. So you I think over time if I'm projecting into the future, you're going to see these numbers these pathway numbers continue to climb a little bit. So I shared this with you before our comparator um IDEX was a tool that you've heard me mention in the

062past. Idex was a tool that we had available to us. Uh it is no longer in operation. Uh so I don't have I'm not able to continue this particular graph as we move forward with our comparators. Uh and they did a nice job of coming up with a compositive score with a composite score. Uh so I'm setting the stage for moving forward where we will break them out um by subject area. So I can't give you a composite score but using uh this year's data uh looking at the keystone exams for algebra 1 the Mont Lebanon performance was 81.2% our comparators is 74.6% and then you can see the state number is not in that same range of performance. Uh so I'm proud that we continue to be in the mix uh of where our

063comparators are performing and not only in the mix but I think doing slightly better. Uh so that's algebra. Moving over to biology, Mount Lebanon was 82.6% and our comparators are 78.8%. Again, pleased that we're in the mix and pleased that we're continuing to perform well against our comparator group. Our comparative group is listed in the book, I think on page two or three. Uh there's 15 schools from across the Commonwealth that we look at. Some schools in the east, some schools in the uh center of the state, and some schools in the west. Uh if you get if you want me to, I can there's a song I can sing for you to list all 15. Uh please don't take me up on that. >> We would love to hear you sing. >> Yes. Yes.

064>> Save it for the retirement. >> Yes. It starts with Central Box. It'll go from there. uh when you look at the um comparator for ELA uh our performance for Mount Lebanon was 94.1. Our comparator group is 85.9 and obviously I'm you know I don't need to mention the state performance is well below where our competitors are. So I'm as you move forward with these graphs over time, you'll start to you can now you'll see each one of these exams or yeah each one of these exams have this correlary number from year to year to year to year because with IDEX going out we had to go into the state system and and pull out the numbers off of their spreadsheet. Uh so these hopefully will be graphs that you'll see moving forward. And then

065the last piece, you know, this unfortunately is going to be my my last student outcomes report with you. Uh I say thank you again. And I said it at the beginning, but thank you to you. Uh thank you to our leadership team that's sitting with me. Not only people that are here currently, but you know, past and present. There have been a lot of educators over my career who have made a positive impact on kids. Uh and that can't be understated. Uh and just to show you the illustration of trend data, this is our so that you go back to when I first moved into this role. Uh I I I have a couple of graphs from the time that I moved into this chair as the assistant superintendent and you can see that this

066trend line is slightly down just it's a hair to the it's heading down. I would ar I would argue that that's a good thing. This is the trend line about our two and fouryear data applications. But I truly do believe that we're getting some separation from that 100% is our kids that are declaring more going to Parkway or finding more more value in the trades. I hope you continue to see a slight a slight decrease in this trend line. The culture in this community is always going to be post-secary education. That's not going to change. Um but I hope you start to see more value provided uh by students to this experience. And I think they're going to find that the employability in these fields and the ability to make a living in these fields

067will make it more uh appealing as they move forward. So this trend line obviously is a slight slide. I would ar I would argue that I think that's a good thing. So, here's AP uh from my time in this role. Um you can see in the top left uh the number of kids that were enrolled in our AP courses. Uh I would acknowledge that we've we've added courses over the course of my tenure in this role. Uh but again, as I shared earlier with our conversations with curriculum council and making sure that the culture is one that is encouraging kids to get involved in our AP program, but to have that college experience before they're out of here is one that has grown over time. I mean, I I certainly can remember some conversations that

068were to the contrary. Uh but I certainly believe that the the culture and the leadership and the uh the desire to make sure kids have these experiences, the one that grown over time. And I think that's a very positive trend line in terms of our kids enrollment in AP courses. Um I think this is a good slide that it shows variability year-toear, you know. So that's my point that don't look at just one data point in a given year. Uh that one data point could be misleading. Don't look at two data points. You need you need a trend uh to kind of see where the you know where the you know what the patterns and the expectations are. So on the left is AP course enrollment. On the right is then our test participation. I'm

069very pleased again that we're seeing significant test participation and it grows over time. Every student that can pass an AP exam and their college accepts that AP exam, they've just saved themselves some money. Uh, and they got into college with, you know, one whether it's an elective or it's a course applied to their program. Uh, it's one less college course they have to pay for. So, I think this is a great opportunity for kids not only to be enrolled in our course to participate in tests. And then the bottom graph is the non-duplicated number of students who have earned AP credits from us. Uh so I really again it's a testament to our AP faculty not only to our AP faculty but all of the faculty that support our kids because some of our kids

070take some really uh pressing uh course course loads uh which then other faculty then support them you know as they're moving towards these uh these uh um high demand uh educational experiences. ACT and SAT. Uh you can see the ACT composite from the uh time I moved into this role until now. Again, a very positive trend line. Uh I think in terms of again, this goes back to I think some of the things our students spoke about this this idea of uh our teachers are driving us. They're not we're more than students. We're given problems. We're collaborating. We're problem solving. It's those transferable skills that I think we see on these types of exams. Uh the the content that they have uh is more it's not necessarily the content but the skills I think that

071they develop. Uh that shows a positive trend line. And as the SAT as we talked about it's shifted midway through my time here. You know the top trend line is when we were operating under the three sections of the SAT. The bottom trend line is under the two sections of the SAT. Um and again I you know I would put the you know the point on this that if you look at those first three data points under the two section it's heading in the right direction and then this thing called co happened. I I wouldn't look at those middle two data points. Uh but if you start looking at the next four I think if we start to see those go out over a 5year time I think you're going to start to see a

072positive trend line again. Um, so truly has been an honor to to kind of lead the academic program here and uh helping our students find success and prepare them for uh entering into their world that they want to pursue. Uh so at this point I'll turn it over to Dr. Schulo. >> Thank you Dr. Davis. Good evening. Something we added to this year's report is our PEOS data. Dr. Davis opened the presentation commenting that we meet kids where they are and grow them. So it's really important for us to look over time from a single point of achievement to the next to see if we are growing our students from where they are. PEOS uses a growth indicator. You'll see the visual representation on the screen. And what it means is that we look every

073year to see if our kids are meeting standard growth and we look for the dot to fall in the green section or right on that dotted line. The more positive you go, you move into the blue and if you were not showing growth, we move down to the yellow or the red. When we see a little extra comma at the end, it shows that our students have a growth index that's greater than a 3.0. Oh, thank you. >> You got it. Okay, I got it. I can get it. Yeah, thanks. So, what did the colors tell us? So, again, the the growth standard is between a negative one and a one if it's green and it moves up to a two. If it's greater than a two, you'll see a little comma at the end

074with um a little indicator that shows it's greater than. So when we look at our PEOS growth in grades four, five, six, seven, and eight, you'll see that we were well above our growth expectations in almost all grades. Um, and we meet expectations in seventh grade. That's really positive news for us that we are meeting kids where they are and we're growing them within. Same thing happens with ELA. Uh, we are well above or above growth expectations across the board in grades four through eight on the PSSA as well. Jeez Louise. When you look at Keystone exams, you'll see the same thing. We are well above growth expectations on our Keystone exams for all three tested subjects, algebra, biology, and literature. Our PSSA results are shown on this on the screen. Comparing our local scores

075to our state, we again are exceeding our state scores uh by a measurable amount. You'll see that our overall ELA score is an 80.5 where our state is falling at a 48.5. And for math, 73.3 is the Mount Lebanon result with a 41.7 in math. This year, there was not a science test, so that's why there's no uh results shown. It was in a pilot year. We will see results after this year's assessment. For grades three through five, Mount Lebanon is in blue and our state comparators are in yellow. Again, we are exceeding our state uh results uh uh very well in all uh both ELA and math in grades three, four, and five. And you'll see the same thing with grades six through eight. Mount Lebanon in blue, the state in yellow, where we

076are exceeding our state uh scores in both ELA and math as well. When it comes to looking at our comparators, uh adding that into the mix, uh we see again similar trend lines. We are still keeping competitive with our comparator districts. Uh we have been monitoring closely what those uh results are looking like. When I look at our ELA scores and what our comparators are, the distance between the highest um performing group and us is less than four points. So we are not far away. Uh we could do it. If we want to stretch a little bit more, we could do it. When we look at math, again, we are seeing similar trend lines with our comparative districts. The the gap is a little bit more with about an eightoint difference between the highest uh

077district and us. Uh but we are that's not far that's not far away when you when you consider um those tests. And then our last is when we're looking at subgroups. uh we look at subgroups to say where do we have to kind of focus our attention and and what area can we look at to see um where performance could be achieved or improved and we again notice that our English language learner group is our group with the biggest area of need. We did put some emphasis on that program. We're working with EIU to supplement some more programs and services to what they already provide. Uh it's a slowmoving change but we're hoping to see some big impacts over time. And the same thing is true for our math performance. still showing our English language

078learners as the subgroup needing the most attention. So our guiding philosophy when we when we sit back and review all of this data and say where do we need to go from here? Uh it's continuous improvement, right? We can be achieving higher than our peers, we can be achieving higher than the state, but we always there's always room for growth and and there's always room for improvement within our district. So, we uh have implemented a comprehensive curriculum review cycle that will put our eyes and our hands at work on our all of our programs over a six-year cycle to keep us fresh, to keep us relevant, to consider our resources, do we need to update, change, etc. Uh we are expanding interdisiplinary learning and performance-based assessments, more hands-on, more performance-based assessments over um traditional testing.

079We're examining the role of AI and how that plays a part in K12 curriculum, how that plays a part in K12 teaching, all the things that that could implement or or help with. We continue to implement the principles of UDL to support all of our learners. We're going to continue to use data to refine our curriculum, refine our instructional strategies, and resource our materials. We want to continue to deliver professional development opportunities for our staff, our teachers, our administrators to become more proficient in instructional leadership. Our key areas of focus will be to develop a high quality innovative education to meet the unique needs of all learners. Provide rigorous and re relevant curriculum to empower students to reach their individual full potential. Cultivate an environment that prioritizes leadership development by strengthening our programs and equipping

080all learners with future ready skills. Very evident in our strategic plan. And create a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment by prioritizing physical and emotional well-being in building a positive culture while every student feels respected and inspired to grow. And lastly, we always appreciate the accolades, right? Uh, as we shared earlier in the year, Mount Lebanon was voted the number one district uh with best teachers in Pennsylvania according to Nich, number two best school district in the Pittsburgh area, number three best district in athletes in the Pittsburgh area, and number four best school district in Pennsylvania. And of course very proud that Mount Lemon High School is number one in Pittsburgh from the metro area in US News and our rail accreditation um in 2024. >> Thank you. Any questions we can answer? Thank you. >>

081Questions? >> Yeah, thank you both for the thoroughess of this report, all the details that you provided. Uh I want to go back to PEOS and um you know I'm a big fan of of metrics on on growth. I think it's a very important thing to to focus on. Um can you just describe how PEOS works? Is it a pre-post assessment? Is it year-over-year? Can you just describe how that evaluation takes place? Yeah. So it does take into account it does take into consideration um uh the group the growth measure by looking at the standard error and applying um a reliability factor to the data. I I could look up the methodology and get that to you for certain. But what I shared tonight was solely based on the PSSA data. So looking at achievement

082from prior to achievement in the spring to say if we grew it year over year. >> Okay. So that grade looking at the previous year and then looking at it again. >> Yes. And I call out PSSA because we did start to upload some aims and math data in that and eventually we would be able to use all of the data in that system to calculate that growth. It would be more than just one measure >> because then you're getting quarterly marks as opposed to >> we would get three times a year. >> Yeah. With with the added of the PSSA. We did not look at that in this report. this was only one assessment from we uploaded one time last year so we didn't mon >> so not so much of a question as

083an observation um but I would just like to point out that when you you you started the presentation with the statement that when you set high expectations you receive high outcomes and that's evident on every slide here and having listened to several of these year by year I see the trend. I also for the positive and I also see um and recognize that where we've asked questions particularly for the disagregated data and some of the other things um you've been responsive and put that information in here. So I want to um recognize that um and I appreciate it. And also um I think we have just so much to be proud of and this is tremendous data. It's backed by um every possible measure that you could have here is showing a positive trend. Um

084and Dr. Davis, I like uh your charts at the end that specifically show over the course of your time in this role the growth that you've brought to um to our students particularly by your leadership and then the leadership of your um curriculum council and the leadership of our principles and the leadership of our teachers. So from a top- down approach, we're seeing so much progress. So, um, thank you to everyone who's involved in, um, claiming a piece of this progress for our students. >> All right. Thank you both. Uh, and thank you to our administrative team. We now have our uh student representative reports from Mr. Adams and Miss Antonet. >> Good evening everyone. It's been another uh great month from us, so we're excited to share what we've been up to. Uh last

085week the SEC held triyouts for the Libo's Got Talent talent show which will take place on December 3rd. We received numerous in-person and virtual auditions, so we're excited to see everyone perform. We're also hosting the annual winter blood drive. This will take place on November 20th, and anyone 16 or over can sign up to donate blood. Uh the third annual Lebo Legacy Botchi tournament will also take place next month on the 19th. Students and faculty can sign up by November 20th to play on the team, referee, or volunteer to help. The junior class council is hosting its November food drive from today until the 21st. Students can bring in any canned goods, hygiene products, dry goods, and other non-p perishable items to their home room will they'll be collected. SEC has also decided to push

086back the snowball dance to March 7th due to a significant number of students being unavailable in the earlier weeks because of team and other club conflicts. To continue, on Friday, November 7th, and Saturday, November 8th, 20 students from our high school, including Henry and I, had the privilege of attending the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils, or the PASC state convention. This annual convention connects student leaders from across the state through service projects, student led workshops, and leadership training. We were honored to hear from Mr. Scott Bakovich, a youth motivational speaker who engages teens by speaking at their level. He emphasized that our council should be giving just as much as they are receiving. We also had the opportunity to network, share ideas, and discuss schoolwide initiatives and concerns with more than 500 delegates from across

087the Commonwealth. We're also very excited to share that in partnership with the PA Board of Education and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association or PSBA, we'll be hosting a schoolboard representative training. It'll include a brief presentation on what a school board is and how it serves as a powerful tool for student advocacy, followed up by a Q&A with three school board representatives from Pittsburgh, Philly, and State College. It will take place tomorrow virtually and will be open to students from all across the state. Thank you all so much for your time tonight. >> Thank you. I hope that you're not invoking snow in March though by that move. >> That would be a bummer. >> Uh we're now moving on to board member reports policy committee. Miss Guth? >> Sure. One second. For some reason I

088can't find them. Okay, sorry. Um, this month we discussed numerous policies uh in retiring a couple we are going to vote on tonight. 223 use of bicycles, scooters, motor vehicles and other micromobility, 100 comprehensive planning. 113.3 screening and evaluations for students with disabilities. 117 homebound instruction, 122 extracurricular activities, 123 intercolastic athletics, 123.1 concussion management, 123.2 setting cardiac arrest, and 124 alternative instruction, 138 language instruction educational program for English language learners, and uh 913, which is non-school organizations, groups, and individuals. and we will also be retiring KFA, IHBA, IHBF, and IHBA. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, PSBA and board development, Miss Gellman. >> So, Miss Berdick and I wanted to give a quick update in regard to the PSBA school leadership conference that we attended. Um, I'll let you go first and then follow up.

089And we do have an attached report that kind of just has more detail in regard to the sessions that we attended. >> Yes. Okay. So, um we appreciated the opportunity to represent Mount Lebanon. Um it was important to us to be advocates to our uh PSVA on behalf of um our value system here and to um participate in the voting at the 2025 delegate assembly um that was held adjacent to the learning um conference. There were 140 people in attendance and the reason um that we chose to attend is to direct advocacy to the state legislators on issues of public education. um advocacy being one of our key responsibilities as board members. There were several items that we voted on um proposed changes for the 2026 PSBA legisl legislative platform and all of the motions

090that were brought before the delegates passed. Um they included limitations um to the use of AI and scoring student written responses, language changes to the inclusivity statement to better reflect the priority that school personnel reflect the full diversity of student body and not just in race but in other broader range of identities to include language, disability, religion, and other backgrounds. Um and there were several sections that because specifically of act 55 in 2024 they were redundant and so they um elected to be removed from um the legislative platform. So that is concludes the part about the delegate assembly and then um regarding the conference um Mrs. Scaleman and I attended um at the um at the general session um and several then elective courses that we were able to take throughout the time and we

091greatly benefited from that but our whole board would benefit um the purpose of our sharing some of what we learned there is that um that it would benefit the whole board. Um the general session was brought to us by Christine Porath who's the author of Mastering Civility, a manifesto for the workplace and she has written this book and done um a great deal of research in terms of positive personal outcomes among teams such as ours or such as teams who um exist in the workplace. And she found um and addressed headon that a byproduct of our rapid communication patterns um has unfortunately led to rudeness and incivility has become um part of a a problem that teams sometimes encounter and that that can be um contagious. and that she found in her research that positivity

092and civility in terms of communication is equally contagious um as well. So she has a number of pointers. I put in the um YouTube summary of her book because I doubt very much that all of us have time to read her entire book, but there's an 11 minute encapsulation of um her findings. So I would encourage you to um click on that. she did develop a civil behavior test and um for individuals and um found that um so I highlighted on here that um 80% of us think that we are self-aware in terms of our interactions and um encounters with our fellow board members but her uh her test shows that uh 30% is actually a more accurate number and identified some action steps like hi honing in on blind spots. Um establishing some folks

093who can give us loving criticism and accurate um goal opportunities and to develop a users's manual as a board or as a team um for concrete ways on how um how to interact with one another and develop like how we think and respond. Um that was the that was the overview of the of the general session. Um, as you scroll through the document that I put together, um, you can see some of the ones that I went to and some of the ones, uh, that Eva went to. The first day we primarily addressed communication and, um, team member interaction. Everyone likes to be heard, but can you listen? Um so they were suggesting that um school governance is an act of civic engagement and to remember that um a board table is a micro view

094of the democratic process and that we are as Americans designed to exist with two opposing viewpoints and to live within that um tension with grace and grit. That was a quote that I uh wrote down that I benefited from. I thought a lot about that one. I attended a policy and governance um summary uh just to remind us as a board that the PSBA has uh resources available to us to assist other uh local boards with policy revisions. They help us answer that question. Uh do our local values are represented in the policy? Do they have a legal precedent? And that is continuously updated uh by the PSBA. I went to several of the workshops on um finance and the economy. Uh at the time of this presentation, we had not yet passed a state

095um budget and so there were uh some of that is is hopefully uh resolving at this point in November. But um one of the presentations that I went to was the state of the economy and its impact on investment rates particularly um varying debt structures and when to renew and restructure debt to the advantage of the long-term investments for capital improvement projects and we um discussed advantageous bond restructuring for cap yeah I just said that capital improvement loans um I also went to a workshop Um that was specifically so school governance financial concepts. Uh the presenter was an assistant superintendent out in Bristol Township School District. Um he indicated and I I think we've discussed this at our table, but um really brought home the idea that the impact and the delay on that state

096budget getting passed resulted in accumulating less interest here um on the local level. um brought through the point that schools don't have a rainy day fund. That's a misnomer um that's often discussed. We don't have such a thing that that is u all of our dollars are accounted for and taxpayers are supporting at the time when there was a big zero from the state and from the feds. Taxpayers were supporting schools entirely at the present time of that uh presentation. They reviewed the act one index and how it's calculated. That was um a review but helpful and um indicated that um if your local economy is not growing and state funds aren't coming in at an increased level then the school district either has to raise property taxes or cut products pro programs and services.

097Uh so in other words, if last year's taxes paid for last year's expenses, but then wages increased, inflation increased, then last year's budget is not going to cover future needs. So they were advocating for making sure that one of our essential roles is to fund this industry. Eva, thank you. All right. I also attended several sessions. Um, and I'll just add one quick note to the keynote that Melinda mentioned or Miss Berdock mentioned. Um, she shared an example from her brother. Um, his name was Mike Porath who founded a site called The Mighty and I would encourage everybody to look it up. It's one of the largest digital health communities in the world supporting millions of people with chronic illnesses, disability, and mental health challenges. Um, its mission is to help people feel seen, heard,

098and supported, which reinforced her core message. When people feel acknowledged, they thrive. Just a cool cool site. Um, I also attended the listening skills session that Miss Berdock referenced, um, which examined how boards can ensure that every voice feels heard even when perspectives are different. Another session explor explored board superintendent relationships and reinforced the importance of role clarity, shared goals and consistent structured communication practices essential for stable student centered leadership. Um and then I participated in an e-colors leadership workshop which um we're hoping maybe we could bring to our own full board development but it looked at how different communication styles influence teamwork and decision-making. Uh the se the session emphasized how greater self-awareness and understanding of each other's styles can help boards communicate more effectively especially during complex or highressured moments. Um all participants

099got to complete the e-colors assessment. Mine came out as red over green. I got a two-page assessment if anybody's interested in what it means. Um but it was useful to see how understanding our own styles and each others can help us work more effectively as a governance team. Um, my favorite session was led by the Governor Mifflin School District Superintendent and Board President. They shared practical strategies for strengthening board culture, aligning leadership around shared values, and engaging community partners in meaningful ways. They presented their version of a portrait of a school board member, a framework that defines their behaviors, commitments, and values expected of board members. Um, I just thought it was something that we we could possibly consider as we we do also do full board training. Um, and the closing keynote was from

100actor and advocate Sean Aston, which you may remember from Rudy, um, from the Goonies and from L the Lord of the Rings. Um, he was awesome. He spoke candidly about resilience, humility, and leading with authenticity, drawing on his own personal challenges and lifelong mental health advocacy. um really reinforcing the many themes that were throughout the conference. Lastly, I just I apprec I appreciated the opportunity to meet and network with school directors, administrators from across the Commonwealth and enjoyed hearing about their experiences, challenges, and innovative practices. So, all in all, it was it was very good. >> Thank you. Thank you both for attending and representing us and for bringing back your notes and um fruitful thought for uh future board training this spring. Um MLF Mrs. Gensel. >> Yep. Uh the MLF um will be

101meeting December 4th to review the grant applications. Um I believe the grants are due November 21st and um we have a good number so far that have been submitted. So, we'll look forward to seeing those. Um, and then PTA council, I just direct all board members to the most recent board update where Dr. Fes really reviewed most of what we talked about. But the other thing that I wanted to highlight, and forgive me if I'm getting any of this wrong, but before um the pandemic, uh, the district would do a district-wide food drive, and we're bringing that back. Um, and it's going to benefit the Arlington School, which is in the Arlington section of Pittsburgh. Um there's a large portion of students there who do not have weekend food access. So we'll be helping them

102out and um felt like it was a good choice because um the community is also a walking community and um yeah so that'll be great to bring that back. That's all. >> Thank you very much. Um municipal liaison and parks and recreation, Mrs. Crarapel. >> Sure. Short report but hopefully exciting for everyone. Um, the municipality has completed and passed their budget and they will not be raising taxes this year. And some fun coming up. So, Beverly Bright Night is on Thursday, December 4th, 7 to 8:30 and the Uptown Winter Market is Saturday, December 6th from 12:00 to 5:00 with the tree lighting at 5. So, that's it. A lot of good news. Thank you. Uh, Parkway West, Miss Johnson. So, the Parkway meeting was moved due to election day to Friday morning um November 7th.

103And um just as a note because I know we're dealing with the budget now, um Parkway Joocc approved the PSBA resolution concerning the ongoing state budget and pass for the 20 2025 2026 school year for career in tech education. Um, we also recognize two students of the month from Canaan McMillan and Moon Township. And that is it. And I'm going to turn it over to Brena in December. >> Miss you. >> Yeah. Just as a note, um, Mrs. Scalman did bring forward a a model resolution from the PSBA um to encourage the passing of a state budget. But since that finally occurred between our discussion and regular meeting, though we are in full support of it having passed, um we did not bring it up on the agenda. Uh the Pathfinder School, Mrs. Berdick, >>

104very brief update. Um there are two new employees hired and there are still open positions. Uh there are 84 students enrolled at the time of our meeting last month. Uh we refinanced a bond in order to take advantage of the better rates um earlier this fall. Uh and the students have had a lot of fun this fall um highlighting their apple festival, their costume party, their botchi team tournament, and an upcoming Friendsgiving event. >> Thank you. Um, for Chazda, I will say that Chazda did have a professional learning opportunity uh last week for school directors and administrators um focusing on uh first amendment principles as well as um some uh how how a legal update on how courts are um I'm sorry emerging challenges posted by a AI generated images. I was unable to attend

105because I was traveling, but I know that several at least three or more of our um directors were able to attend that professional development opportunity at Upper Sinclair High School um civic engagement. Mr. Hoffman, >> no update this this week. >> This month. Excellent. All right. Now we are up to the point portion uh for comments and residents from taxpayers. This is concerning action items for this meeting. So the voting items that are coming up on tonight's agenda. Um nobody has previously requested to speak. Um as a reminder um we are not able to accept um comment online. So those wishing to speak either on action items or following the meeting should do so here in person. We are looking at various ways to resolve that issue and um I believe our January policy committee

106and then board meeting will look to changing our public um comment policy to accommodate um public comment from folks who are not attending in person. Um, at any rate, if there is anyone who wishes to comment um on action items from for this meeting, please approach the podium. Okay. And we have no uh unfinished business for board consideration or action. So, we'll move on to new business. Um, all items of new business have been discussed except for those marked uh with an asterisk at our discussion meeting last Monday. Uh, the first section is policy. Um, Mr. Hoffman, would you please read the resolution? >> Sure thing. I move that it be resolved that the board adopts policies 223 use of bicycles, scooters, and motor vehicles and other micromobility. 100 comprehensive planning 113.3 screening and valuations

107for student with disabilities. 117 homebound instruction 122 extracurricular activities 913 non-school organizations groups individuals 123 intercolastic athletics 123.1 concussion management 123.2 two, sudden cardiac arrest, 124 alternative instruction, and 138 language instruction educational program for English language learners and retires KFFA KFA use on school property of bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades, and other devices. IHBA, Independent Educational Evaluation, IHBF, >> Homebound Instruction, and IHVA, English Language Learners Program. >> Second. >> Okay. Um, any questions, comments, or discussion on the policies up for uh adoption or retirement? All right. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick >> to item 223. I vote no and I vote yes to all the rest. >> Mrs. Crrael I. >> Miss Flecher I. Mrs. Gellman. >> Uh, I will be voting no for policy 223. And I'd like to um explain why. Um, I do not

108believe age limits belong in this policy, and the current language creates ambiguity for families and principles. The policy states that travel to and from school is a family responsibility, yet only permits grades 6 through 12, which conflicts with that purpose. I would support discouraging language for younger students while allowing families to make that decision, but the policy is written does not provide the clarity or consistency with its own stated intent that I believe is necessary as we pass policy. I also believe that we should revisit this once the municipality releases its updated active transportation plan and I vote yes for the rest. >> Thank you. >> Mrs. Gensel >> I. >> Miss Guth >> I. >> Mr. Hoffman >> I. >> Miss Johnson >> I. >> Mr. Wland. >> Hi. >> Okay. Uh the next

109section is our finance section inclusive of our treasurer's report, our monthly list of bills which have been um updated to add a second list of bills for November, our list of tax refunds for October 2025, our budgetary transfers for November, our AIU joint p purchase and consortium agreement for 2026 27, and an Holly Consulting Group agreement. Mrs. Gman, can you please read the resolution? >> Sure. >> I move that it be resolved that the board approves the finance agenda items. >> Second. >> Any questions, comments, or discussion on the finance items? >> Okay. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Mrs. Crabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I. >> Mrs. Gensel, >> I. Miss Guth. >> Hi. >> Mr. Hoffman. >> I >> Miss Johnson. >> I >>

110Mr. Wland. >> I. >> Excellent. Okay. Our next uh section is the human resources items, including an updated personnel report. Um would you read the resolution, please, Mrs. Gansel? >> I move that it be resolved that the board approves the human resources agenda items. >> Second. >> Okay. Any questions, comments, or discussion on these items? Excellent. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel, >> I. >> Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I. >> Miss Gensel, >> I. >> Miss Guth, >> I. >> Mr. Hoffman, >> I. >> Miss Johnson, >> I. >> Mr. Wyland, >> I. >> Okay. The next section is curriculum and instruction, including the 202627 school calendar, the approval of graduation requirements and course offerings, a college and high school enrollment agreement with Point Park, a boys

111basketball trip to Jefferson City, Missouri, a Mount Lebanon High School association trip to Culver, Indiana, and a girls basketball trip to Crownsville, Maryland. Would you read the resolution, please, Mr. Wy? >> Sure. I move that it be resolved that the board approves the curriculum and instruction agenda items. >> Second. >> Excellent. Any questions, comments, or discussion on these uh curriculum and introduction items? >> I just want to, if it's okay, I'd like to say just a couple things um in regard to the CHS partnership. >> Yes, please. >> Um I support expanding our CHS partnerships and I appreciate the work that goes into creating these opportunities. Um, my comments tonight are really just about ensuring that the families clearly understand what they are paying for with this particular CHS option. Um, the credit is tied

112to our very rigorous honors linear algebra course, a course typically taken by our strongest math students in 11th or 12th grade, which must be taken concurrently with or after CELK AB or BC. However, the proposed college designation attached to it is prelinear algebra, which doesn't seem to function as a prerequisite for linear algebra even at Point Park progs like Pit or Penn State where many of our graduates apply. So, I wasn't able to find any prelinear algebra course at any other local university. Um, again, just just looking at my searching. Um, several neighboring districts offer CH credit for fully catalog linear algebra courses. So, um, before we ask families to pay for the credit, I think it's important that we understand its actual academic value and what the math 12 195 prelinear algebra credit would

113realistically count for. Um, and I could tell you what some of those those courses that are in neighboring schools that do count for actual linear algebra class, not prelinear algebra class. Um, two last points. The sliding scale cost model, which I know is is a thing, but um, I just wanted to make reference to it because it it basically dictates where the price changes based on how many students enroll in the college credit course. Um, it's it's a little different than the flat pay credit pricing that families are used to with a PIT or Penn State type of place. Um, so it's I'm not sure if that's in the benefit of our students. And then lastly, I'm not saying we shouldn't move forward, but I'd like to see clarification on how this course, prelinear algebra,

114transfers at schools like a PIT or Penn State since we do have so many students applying them. Um, so they understand it and I understand that they don't have to do it, but that it would count towards a required major course or prerequisite course um and not just a general extra course that doesn't count for anything. Um, I fully support offering the course, the honors linear algebra course. I just want to make sure that it's that it's transparent. I also noticed that the contract says linear algebra and not honors linear algebra and so I thought that I'd point that out because shouldn't the agreement list that the courses rather at Mount Lebanon High School >> and that's it. Can I just add something because I think it's important since you brought that up that we

115they have the other part of you know our response to your questions. Of >> course. Um so for these courses there would be a disclaimer that is not guaranteed that a university would accept the credit. This is the same process we use for students who take AP exams. We inform students that each university has different standards they apply and we also can't guarantee how they will apply the course as credits. Universities generally determine eligibility by considering the student's intended major and then can apply it as a direct equivalent credit, general elective credit which counts towards graduation but not a specific requirement. Subject area credit which counts as a humanities credit or will not accept it is the other option. At Point Park, the same process applies. It will be applied as a direct equivalent or

116general elective credit based on the students major and no matter what it will be applied as a credit towards graduation. Um I contacted Rick Mishler who is our contact at Point Park um which is where this course is being offered. He did also explain that they're a part of middle states so that the other local universities like the University of Pittsburgh or Penn State would apply it in the same manner. We hope to add college and high school courses as options for students who want to explore college level courses without being tied to a single exam. One of our goals in the strategic plan is to offer more dual enrollment courses. Um, the courses follow a college syllabus which offers them the ability to explore college level work before they commit to a college. And

117college and high school courses strengthen a student's transcript and apply less pressure due to the lack of a single exam to determine success. Um, linear algebra is the first course that we secured with a partner. This course is currently not eligible for college credit because it's not offered as an AP exam. And if a student chooses to take the linear algebra class, they can still engage at the college level course experience without paying for the credits. Um, Point Park does offer this course at a much lower rate than um the other universities that we've been looking at, which is like the University of Pittsburgh as another example. >> All right. Other questions or comments on the curriculum and instruction items? Excellent. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Berdick, >> I. >> Mrs. Crrabel, >> I. >>

118Miss Flecher, >> I. >> Mrs. Gellman, >> I. >> Mrs. Gensel, >> I. >> Miss Guth, >> hi. >> Mr. Hoffman, >> I >> Miss Johnson, >> I >> Mr. Wland, >> I. >> Okay. Um, that concludes the voting portion. So now we are open to questions or comments from residents. Presentations or comments are to be limited to three minutes. If anyone would like to offer comment, please approach the podium and state your name and you'll have three minutes. Uh Bruce Slater from 140 Skylark Circle. Uh, I'd like to uh commend the the three that are retiring and for uh diligence and and putting up with everybody. And uh uh one thing um I I just to add a little humor u my daughter teaches out in Las Vegas and um couple years ago she

119did parent teacher conference with two kids from GM of the Raiders out there in the same session same time head coach's kid one one one kid and also the head trainer's kid but she asked them to um if can you bring in some players to talk to to the students? And then she went on ahead and got some police also and got some players and two authors uh children's books authors to come in to talk to the kids. One came flew in from Florida to do it and um but you're too young to art link letter show on when I was little. kids will say the darnest things. And uh when the players are there, yeah, they're huge. One one guy about the same size as a Watt on the Steelers and plays the same

120position. Actually, I saw them standing side by side and they're about the same and the kids are looking like this. How big are you? you know, and and uh it reminded me of kindergarten cop, you know, and uh they they would ask, "What's all those tattoos or or your arms are so big, you know, and they just ask the darnest questions?" And it just added humor to to for everybody. And then about a week week a couple weeks ago, a kindergarten uh one of her students in the library libraries came up to her said, "Boy, you're a you're a giant." My my daughter is like 411 and but the but the kindergarten boy is about her height. So, but any she she gets she gets a lot of humor being around kids and and I

121guess that's one of the reasons I officiated swimming for so long. Kids from 5 years old to 90. Um I I've done and colleges and a lot of stuff it just fun to be around people, you know, and I'm helping out at basketball games now because my knees gave out on me. But, uh, I just like being around people and and, uh, h having fun with everybody. All right. Have good luck. >> Thanks. >> I think that's just what the first graders said to Dr. Freze when she read to them on Veterans Day. >> They're so cool. >> Since the a lot of the elementary principles are here, maybe they can offer a couple antidotes. Look at the time. Look at the time. Uh, anybody else wish to offer comment? Okay. I'd like to announce

122our upcoming public meetings on December 1st at 7:30 p.m. We'll hold the board reorganization meeting at D205 of the Mount Lebanon High School and via Zoom. And on December 8th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m., we'll have a joint discussion and regular meeting in room D205 of the high school and via Zoom. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you guys.