001Mhm. >> pledge of allegiance and a moment of silent meditation. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Okay, we had an executive session tonight from 5:00 till 6:17 to discuss legal and personnel issues. Susan has done the roll call. We have everyone here tonight. Do we have any public comments? >> We do not. No public comments. Okay. We had the student board report on Thursday. Beth gave that. Do you have anything to add tonight? There was something I forgot to mention. Oh, Tri-M had their So, Tri-M is a music honor society, if you don't [snorts] know. I forgot to mention they had their induction like 2 weeks
002ago or something and they inducted I think like We inducted like 17 new members, so that's really good numbers cuz usually it's a little bit of a smaller group, so it's really nice to see some younger students coming up through the music department and kind of wanting to take that leadership initiative, so that was exciting. Great. 25, did you say? I think like 17 or something. I mean, I'd have to check to be exact, but it was close to that. Okay, and we have you and Gemma are going to give a update on DECA. Hey. I'm going to speak on behalf of Mrs. Here this evening. Yes, so um after the incredible experience that was afforded to us after these ladies qualified for ICDC. Um on the way back traveling we just kind of got
003to talking and it was such an incredible experience. It's really hard to put into words. Um watching these ladies go and represent Punxsutawney so well just made me so very proud and I'm so grateful to um you know kind of be brought into this and and be with these young ladies and and with our high school students as they continue to propel this forward. Um I wanted them to have a chance to come and talk to you about what the opportunity has meant for them. Um and uh what they envision for especially Gemma who is going to be continuing on that is headed to college in the fall. Um so her DECA journey is coming to an end. However, these ladies have um really charted a path that's been um through the brush here in
004Punxsutawney. So um I just wanted to give them a chance to kind of speak on that. Ladies. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you so much for taking the time to allow us to share with you a little bit of our experience in Atlanta. As Jody said at the International Career Development Conference. This was such an exhilarating and rewarding way to end our inaugural year of DECA. And it was monumental in more ways than one. But having the honor of competing at the international level was such an incredible and unexpected experience for us. Our Our organization did face many challenges this year especially financially but the support from all of you as well as teachers, parents, friends, and various community members and business owners made this year and ultimately our trip to ICDC possible. Because of
005this community we were able to compete among 17,000 students from all over the world as well as network with as many as 25,000 students that attended the conference for workshops, competition, and fun. From testing and role plays to trading pins and trying to build up our collection to get as many states and countries pins as possible. With as many people as as there were it got to be overwhelming at times. Almost everyone that we were competing against had many more years of experience than either of us did. However, experiencing the feeling of the DECA community at such a huge scale gave us all opportunities to learn something new or to see things from a different perspective. Though neither of us were finalists and neither of us placed, I'm still proud of all of our accomplishments
006this year. And I feel honored to know what it's like to compete internationally. It made my love and passion for DECA grow even more and I can't wait to see what this upcoming year holds. Now Beth is going to share a bit of her experience, too. Okay. Um I feel like the first thing we should preface with for ICDC is like it was awesome. Like I like it was really good. Like it I don't know. Sometimes you go to things and you're like, "Well, that wasn't what I was expecting." Or like it's kind of a letdown and we just spent all the time and resources to do that. But like this definitely was like not one of those things. Like I think it's kind of like realistically it's almost once or maybe if you're lucky
007two or three times in a lifetime that you go and you're with 26,000 other people who share a passion and a commitment for something that you you've found like love and connection in. Like I don't know. It's It's not something you find every day. It's also like I think the thing that really sets us apart is you're you're surrounded by people with the same ambitions as you. Like you're sitting in a room full of people who like they they have the same drive. They have the same passion. They have the same motivation. And that's really encouraging because I think it's really easy to get stuck in this thought of like I'm not going to do things or I don't want to do things because nobody around me wants to do things and that's not the
008norm. So I think being surrounded by people like that is is really encouraging to see because you know you're not the only one in the world who has that same kind of drive and commitment and passion. And I mean I think just life experience, you know, like how often is it that you see a school district sending students to a different state on a plane to go and compete and you know meet all these new people and have all these experiences and they can come back and say it was awesome. We learned a ton. I mean and it's real life networking. I think that was also like the coolest part because you're meeting all these people. Like this is the real world. This isn't Oh, these people are just here to do this to simulate
009this for you. Like you're meeting with real business owners. You're meeting with real CEOs. Like like it's serious and you network and you make connections. Like you're meeting people from what? Five different countries? >> Different countries. Every state. >> Every state minus like two. Like >> for Vermont. Like these are friendships and connections you make for a lifetime. Like if I'm a CEO of a corporation and I need to make a phone call to Hawaii and I know six people from Hawaii working in another corporation, like like that's crazy. I don't know, I think it was a really cool opportunity. Definitely a learning experience. It was just awesome. It was really >> It was truly awesome. It was great. Well, that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Congratulations on your accomplishment. Yeah, thank
010you. And I'm glad you do your networking and I'm glad you're going to be here next year to do it, too, and and I know you'll do awesome in college, so. Thank you. Gemma, are you um anticipating an influx of students now that they have a grants fund, how it works, and how well you all did, and I mean, the banquet was phenomenal. Um Susan and I went and just hearing your experience then and now, um do I let me ask this, do the other kids get to hear this on some level from you? Do Yeah. Everyone asks you? Yeah, I would say definitely. All of my close friends and teachers definitely ask me and I got to share pictures with them and tell stories like what I just told all of you guys. And
011they were all very excited for us and proud of us. I feel like that was like the first thing when you get back everyone was, "How was it? What was it like? What did you do? Who did you meet?" Like you kind of get to be like, "Well, we met all these people and here's what they've done and they're really cool and here's what we did and like everyone hears about that and they're like, "I want to do that. Like I want to have a shot at that." >> Right. I hope I hope Everyone was interested after We've already had a few people join just since we got back. >> actually I think like three or four new people have joined. Yeah. for next year. It's super cool. And I think it's really exciting to
012kind of pave the way for younger people cuz I think like we kind of set a standard. They say, "Well, they can do it, so why can't I?" And they kind of go out and reach for that, which is really cool. Yeah, now that we've done this, it definitely makes it a much more reachable goal for everyone, especially in our little community. Mhm. Okay. Well, congratulations to you both and we appreciate the uh representation that you gave our community and our school district. You're both uh good examples of of our finest students. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you so much and thank you for ALL YOUR SUPPORT. >> [applause] >> OKAY, BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO OUR unfinished business, I forgot to read our disclaimer once again. So, I'm going to read that.
013Uh just a reminder that all or a portion of the meeting may be live streamed, recorded, and posted on the district's YouTube channel for the purpose of public broadcast and according to board policy. The district disclaims any responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public. Any unauthorized recording or rebroadcasting of any video, audio, and or still image of this meeting is strictly forbidden without the written permission of the board or superintendent. Okay, we don't have anything under unfinished business. Uh we have the minutes from our April 7th voting meeting. I will ask for a motion to approve those minutes. >> So moved. Motion by DD, seconded by Doug. All those in favor? >> Aye. Motion carries. Under athletics reports, we had Mr. Goldin. Uh we have three
014items to approve here. We have um three resignations. Um we also have a request from Emily McMahon to complete her internship in the athletic department. And we have permission for swim team members to use the pool during swim hours free of charge. Um any questions on these? Can I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion by Trevor, seconded by Katie. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Under transportation, we have three items for approval. The first is a new bus stop in Reynoldsville. Um pardon? Oh, sorry. Page two. Okay, five items here. First is a new bus stop in Reynoldsville. Uh the second is extended school year routes. Item number three is Camp Kindergarten routes. Item number four is the seventh grade welcome day routes and item number five is the elementary school summer
015routes. Any questions on these? Can I have a motion for approval? So moved. Motion by Allen, seconded by Didi. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under buildings and maintenance, we have uh three items under purchase order. Um can I have a motion for these items? >> Motion. Motion by Cindy, seconded by Jessica. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under cafeteria, we have two items here. The first is for a purchase order for uh an open PO for food uh with US Foods and the second item is for permission to issue an RFP for a food service management consultation. Any questions on these items? Can I have a motion to approve? Motion. Second. >> Motion by Trevor, seconded by Jessica. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I'm sorry, that was
016Trevor and Jess. Thank you. Okay. Letter E under federal programs and curriculum, Dr. Gaston had two items uh for approval uh that she'd requested here. The number one was purchase order for some safety uh grants under the COSTARS contract. And item number two are supplies for kindergarten uh that are that are title funded. Can I have a motion to approve both of these items? >> Motion. Motion by Cindy, seconded by Didi. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under the superintendent's report, we have um um approval requested for eight items here. Um item number one is for conferences and field trips. Item number two is an agreement with New Story Schools. Item number three is an agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services for school-based access programs. Item number four is an agreement
017with Adelphoi for the 2026-2027 school year. Item number five is to award the RFP for ESY speech and language services. And item number six is to award the bid and approval purchase order for a weapons detection system. Item number seven is a the purchase order for metal detectors and item number eight is the PSP a proposal for services for the 2026-27 school year. And before you take the motion, I'll clarify that number five for speech would be awarding it to Soliant. Number six for the weapons detection system will be Zero Eyes and number seven the metal detectors will be to Mobile Communications. Thank you. And number six and seven are grant funded? Yes. >> Correct. >> [clears throat] >> Any Any other questions on these items? Can I have a motion to approve items one
018through eight? So moved. Second. >> Motion by Doug, seconded by Didi. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under building and principal reports, we have five items here. The first one is for um at the elementary school, um we have Okay, yeah. At the elementary school, um item number one is the dates for the summer school. Item number two is the approval for the staff for summer school. Item number three is kinder camp staff or dates. Item number four is the kinder camps camp kindergarten staff. And item number five is to accept a donation of a three-day 3D printer from the IU six um for steam class. Any questions on items one through five? Can I have a motion to approve? So moved. Motion by Trevor. >> Second. Second by Jessica. All those in
019favor? I. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, moving on to the high school request. We have item number one is to approve donations for um the DECA Club. Uh there's three donations there um from Lindsay Fire Department, uh the FOP Eagles, and Conjersty Insurance Agency. And the second one of item number one is for a uh class of 2026 senior account, a donation from Steve Weaver. Item number two is stipends for the graduation party. Item number three is updates to the curriculum guide. Item number four is the seventh grade welcome day for Tuesday, August 18th. Item number five is to approve up to 11 individuals to work on that seventh grade welcome day. Item number six is for high school summer staff. I Item number seven is for summer instrumental programs and stipends. Item number eight is
020for credit recovery classes. Apologize, I think I said there was eight items, but I think there's 12 here. Item number nine is for field trip chaperones, uh volunteers. Item number 10 is for the purchase of new band uniforms. Item number 11 is for the purchase order of two um 3D printers from the Weber grant. And item number 12 is for the uh permission to dispose of uh equipment from the kitchen. Are there any questions on these items? I have a comment on one of the >> Comment, Alan. >> On number three, I had some concerns last week, and I did some homework over the weekend. Unfortunately, uh [clears throat] uh when I went into the uh into the PDE site, I could just get what is currently being tested on and what's happening. So, uh
021you know, as a I was concerned about our uh ninth graders all taking uh biology and testing at the end of the of that. And uh uh as you know, I I I put some concerns out there. And uh Dr. Gaston was kind enough to give get me uh a link so I could get in and she explained that there's going to be a complete change in the in the testing. And so, um like I'll try to make a long story real short. Almost every item that I was concerned about uh in like pre-preparation of someone take taking that test and uh in terms of life science, uh there I'll just read a few and I'll send them to you later because it's just informational. But there are assessment boundaries. Maybe we used to call
022that uh you know, eligible content or what whatever. But the boundaries all address the issues that I was worried about. For example, I'll just I'll just read about three. Assessment boundary B. There's uh 24 of these, but not the first eight address what I'm worried about what was worried about. Assessment boundary uh B. Assessment does not include interactions and functions at the molecular or chemical reaction levels. So, there's not going to be any of that on this particular uh test uh the new test, okay? Uh assessment boundary C. Uh assessment does not include the cellular process involved in the feedback mechanism. Again, this is uh you know, this is chem chem chemical based uh materials. Assessment D. Assessment does not include specific gene control mechanisms or rote memorization of steps of mitosis. E. Assessment does
023not include specific biochemical steps. These were all the concerns that I was worried about, you know, taking a a ninth grader and putting in them every fourth had any chemistry uh very difficult. It's something we've always been up against in the in the biology test, but that if Dr. Gaston wants to talk about the new test just a little bit, but I couldn't get into it. I kept seeing it, but I so I had to go by the old information. So, there's a whole list of these top eight, and it really solves the problem that I was concerned about. So, I appreciate that material. So, that's that. So, I don't you know, I just Thanks for sharing. Cuz I was like trying to figure it out, and I'm like, "What's going on?" It's always been
024too much chemistry for the younger students, particularly if you don't have, you know, if you weren't if science wasn't your thing or math wasn't your thing, adding all those terms onto math or excuse me, the chemical equations that make that biology test difficult for a freshman. Yeah. Whereas, if they get chemistry in 10th grade, and then they have it. So, it's it's changing completely, which is what Dr. Gaston told me, but I could not get into it. And so, she said, "Well, yeah, it's hard to get into it." So, she told me about it. She get sent me a link, and I appreciate that. Um so, if any of you are curious, um if you go to PDE's website, you can do a search for STEELS standards, um two E's. Um but essentially, that that
025will help give you some information about how the content of not just our science, but technology and essentially, the way that we teach all of those interconnected things has shifted. Um so, the test it is, Mr. Nickel pointed out, was um at one time required a lot of rote memorization. The focus now is on critical thinking and students' ability to interact and discover phenomena. So, they're really um leading their own learning in a lot of ways and investigating, which is what science is all about anyway. This year is the first year that the questions were aligned to those standards, um because of that, we can expect biology results um not to be released until September. So, we'll get our normal um ELA and math in June. Student release will be sometime early in the fall.
026This week can expect students won't get their individualized results until January. So, there's definitely going to be a delay in how all of that occurs. Cut scores for that exam won't be established until minimally September of next year. So, we've a lot of curves coming. And we have a lot of work to do to make sure that our content is aligned [snorts] and so that we're making sure we're hitting all of those steps so that when our kids do take the exam, they're prepared as we can be. And so, it does put us along with other schools in a transition period to begin with. And so, you know, when Dr. Smelko was talking about these changes without that background, you know, I immediately worried about well, you know, I'm a classroom teacher and I got
027these young people that we're going to but all that was all she she was aware of that, of course. So, it all fits in for a good time to go back and set things and align the curriculum with what what we're doing the whole way through. I think one additional point just to make sure that everyone has all the information. With the schedule change and the work that Dr. Smelko and her team have done on the master schedule, our students who are enrolled in that trigger course will be able to have more seat time. So, we're working to balance things off so they have a period and a half of instruction every other day and that should for most students balance with their math course and provide a little bit of a window of time
028to get them some remediation when they need it to prepare and better look at what our students are needing in real time. Thank you, Alan, for digging into this. Certainly not many of our wheelhouse, but I but I do think it's important and thank you Dr. Gaston for addressing the concerns that were laid out there. Does anyone need to pull any of these items out, or would you like to vote on items 1 through 12? Good. Okay. I will ask for a motion to approve items 1 through 12 under the high school report. Motion. Motion by Didi. >> Second. Second by Jessica. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Okay. Moving on to the financial report. We have seven items here. We have the financial summaries and board reports. Item number one. Item number two
029is the approval of purchasing the following 2026 for the 2026-2027 school year from Costars. Art supplies, general supplies, janitorial supplies. Number three is the election of a member of the board to serve as the board treasurer for 1 year. That would be Didi. She has agreed to to continue serving in that position. Item Item number four is the agreement with Infocon for the preparation of the 2026 Jefferson County tax bills. Item number five is the agreement with RBA for the preparation of the 2026 Indiana County tax bills. Item number six is an increase to the meal allowance by $5 for overnight travel. And item number seven is a transfer of $250,000 to the capital projects and reserve fund. Any questions on any of these items? I was just going to add one comment. The question
030came up in the last meeting about number six. Our our policy right now is written and it's one of our federal program policies that day travel does not include meals. So the the short answer to this is this our our policy as it's currently written is for overnight trips only. Okay. Thank you for checking into that. Any other questions on these items? Seeing none, I'd ask for approval for items number 1 through 7 and the financial report. So moved. Motion by Doug, seconded by DD. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under personnel, we have items on here. So, if anyone wants to break any of these out, just just call her. I'll go through them all and then we can pull them out if you need to. Item number one is the deletion
031of substitutes as of June 30th. This is for the removal to the ESS substitute services. Item number two is a letter from Kyle Gordon to move from his assistant principal position to a teaching position. Item number three is to hire individuals. We have four teachers here. Physics teacher, reading specialist, special education autistic support teacher, and a high school life skills teacher. Item number four is permission for two library instructional assistants to work up to 10 additional days to prepare iPads for distribution. Item number five is to hire two individuals for summer workers in the IT department. Item number six is to is for the extended school year program with regards to dates, times, staff hours, and names. Item number seven, we have three resignations. Item number eight is to permit 180-day support employees to work
032extra hours in the summer in the building grounds department as cleaners. Item number nine is to set the substitute pay rates, employee rates for ESS for professional subs and support subs. Item number 10 is a memorandum of agreement with the Punxsutawney Area Education Association for both metal detectors and the professional development day. Any questions on any of these items? I'd like to have number two separate voting items. >> Okay. We'll We'll separate item number two. Any other questions? Okay. Um I will ask for approval for items number one through 10 on this list with the exception of item number two. So, can I have a motion to approve all of those items except for item number two? >> Motion. Motion by Cindy, seconded by Jessica. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Item number
033two. This is the letter from Kyle Gordon to move from the assistant principal position to a teaching position. Um can I have a motion on that? So moved. Motion by Doug. Second. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Okay, there's one opposed, uh Katie. Motion carries eight to one. Okay, moving on to item number eight. Uh we've heard from our uh special committee reports, both the Jeff Tech and the IU 6 report. Any additions from either of you on that? Nope. No, okay. Um I don't believe we have anything under communications. >> can we take a vote for Jeff Tech, please? And also we need to record that in our minutes as well as doing the ballot. Oh, I'm I apologize. I skipped right over that. Okay, so under the Jeff Tech um
034score report, we need approval for uh the board members receive Okay, so this is for the uh general fund budget. This is for the um committed fund balance and cash flow resolution and nomination of officers. So, you received all three of these at your uh place mat here this evening. So, can I have a motion to approve these items? So moved. Motion by Trevor. Second. Seconded by Didi. Any questions? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Susan, for the minutes. Still need your individual ballots, but we like to keep it in our minutes, as well. Okay. I don't believe we have anything under communications. Uh under payment of the bills, we have three items here. The first is the general fund, second is the cafeteria fund, and the third is for
035the uh construction projects. This is for the um two items for the roof replacement project, and one is for the stadium walkway project. Can I have a motion to approve those items? So moved. >> Motion by Heather. Second. Seconded by Didi. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Under new business, we have three items here. Um the first is to increase the uh summer community pool hours, um Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This gives an additional 2 hours per day. Uh number two is for two new community pool programs associated with these extra hours. Um one is for youth swim lessons, and the second is for adult scuba lesson or um yeah, well, lesson certification, adult scuba. Okay, and item number three is to appoint two board members to
036serve as voting delegates for the 2026 PSBA delegate assembly. And we have Didi and Jessica have agreed to do that. So, um any questions on those three items? >> I just have a question. How How are we uh getting the word out, advertising about the swim lessons and the scuba? Well, I know they have a separate uh page that is uh affiliated with the pool, which is I think it's Swimmers of Punxsutawney Area School District that they um I think uh Wittenberg and his wife, I think they they both maintain that. So, I'm sure they will be posting something on there, but we can probably also, once they get uh some firm dates and lesson times and uh details on the scuba program, they can probably give it to us and we can post it
037on our page and probably get uh Mr. Maguire to write a story in the newspaper about it. So. He assured me he would be watching later tonight. >> [laughter] >> Put the full story in in the paper tomorrow. So, that's fine. Uh any other questions on items 1 through 3? Okay, can I have a motion to approve these items? So moved. Motion by Jessica. Second. Second by Trevor. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I believe that's everything unless anyone has anything else. I would ask for a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. Motion by Cindy, seconded by Dove. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Have a good night, everybody. This meeting is adjourned.