001[music] >> We're going to call the meeting to order. Roll call. Mr. Radcliff Grove. Here. Dr. Weir. Here. Dr. Wiley. Here. Mr. Brophy. Here. Miss Connor. Here. Miss Kratz. Here. Miss Diamond. Here. Mr. Radcliff Grove. Here. Mr. Pennarella. Here. All present. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence. There's no previous executive session. Recognition showcase. Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome to the podium for our recognition showcase, Mrs. Allison Moyer to introduce our showcase program for this evening. Good evening everyone. Tonight we are proud to recognize Middle School East Trout in the Classroom Project. This project brings together Middle School East staff and students across multiple disciplines including ELA, math, social studies, and more. Who then work with and in collaboration with the Foundation for Boyertown Education to promote fun
002hands-on learning and demonstrate the clear impact that our schools can make in our communities and on the global environment. We are pleased to have Shawn Burks who teaches Western Civilization and Brandy Solomon who teaches science with us to highlight this incredible program. Welcome. Thank you for having us tonight. Uh we wanted to take an opportunity to talk about what we do as far as Trout in the Classroom goes. Um There it is. We'll advance to uh our situation here as far as getting uh we got 154 eggs for each of our tanks. We have two tanks this year uh with the help of the foundation. And with those 154, we are down to 124 trout in each one, but each is about an inch to an inch and a half in length. Uh they were
003shipped from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in uh in January, and they arrived to us on the 14th. So, since that point in time we've been nurturing them from eggs. They've hatched, and then we had the students help us out with counting them in the in the initial part, and then weeding out any of the shells cuz you can't leave that in. It changes the water quality, which Mrs. Solomon will talk about with you in a moment. And uh last year we were able to successfully release 112 trout into the Perkiomen Creek. So, it was exciting stuff, and uh all sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Yeah. All right. So, as you can see um elements that this hits covers a lot of the things that you see on that portrait of a graduate. You know,
004we have a lot of real-world activities that the students are participating in here with that meaningful watershed educational experience that aligns very nicely with the new PA steel standards that we have. Um also, it goes with that human environment interaction as well as just the math and doing chemistry with what we're using. Additionally, another thing that's not featured up here that I find really connects with students, they are so proud to go to the tank and help keep these fish alive and take care of them and problem-solve issues that are there. We are not standing right next to them when the students are at the fish tank. They are given directions of what needs to be done and what needs to be checked, and they take great pride. I don't know if I've seen a
005project, I've been with the district over 20 years, that students connect with as well as this Trout in the Classroom program. All students will approach at various times during the day to ask, "Is there any help needed with the tank? Do you need me to check on this?" Um they really connect with the tank. And when we go to release it and release our fish, they were took a lot of pride in raising these trout from eggs. You know, we got the eggs in January, but the maintaining and establishing that cold water fresh water ecosystem >> [clears throat] >> starts in the beginning of October where we're trying to incorporate the bacteria into it to establish a healthy ecosystem for them. Additionally, this year we partnered with um the art students. So, you can see
006this is a picture of a mural. So, the tank is a cold water tank and it has insulation that goes around it. So, students created a mural for the front of the tank because we have to keep it during those early stages covered so that it's not exposing the the eggs to any UV light. So, it's kind of a nice connection that we had made. All right. Looking at this then, um I just want to add one thing. >> Yeah. I did talk to the students today about, which they had no clue about, the uh meaningful watershed experience. I talked about that being a graduation requirement. They were excited to find out that they could actually take care of that and check it off in seventh grade. So, >> [laughter] >> yeah. >> [clears throat]
007>> All right. So, um here are some elements that the students are taking care of. So, throughout the week students are visiting the tank, different students each time, collecting water samples and then running various tests to check for different levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, the pH. They are troubleshooting because as the fish grow, it's a self-contained system. So, they need to troubleshoot how we're going to maintain healthy levels within the tank. So, again, that problem-solving PSBC. Um they also had to craft some different devices that we use. So, it was great to see that that hands-on piece and the problem-solving skills that are there. The interesting thing to go along with that, I threw the number out of how many fish are alive. It's actually we got the same amount of eggs for both tanks,
008and we have the same survival rate at this point, which in the wild is about 4%, and we're running at about 81% right now. So, it's much better. Yeah. All right. So, students, as we look at this, we're going to do our release dates. We actually have two release dates because of the the two tanks. So, the Adventure team will go on the 28th, and they'll go through the activities that we did last year. And this year we have some more community involvement that we'll talk about, but we'll be looking at the life cycle of the trout, macroinvertebrates. We have a specialist that will be working on that with the students. Stream ecology. There will be someone doing some some fly tying. I'm hoping, I know on the Thursday it will be an expert. He's
009like he's got a degree in it. Uh he's pretty impressive. I got to meet with him last year, and uh if he is not able to come on our day, it will be me. So, I've got some work to do. I I'm nowhere near as good as him. You have time. You have time. Yeah, I have time, right? I can I've got two months to prepare. Uh All right. And then connecting that idea of human environment interaction, that's something we definitely talk about in social studies, and you know, that life cycle that we can see how we connect to the world around us. And we have other environmental science activities. So, All right. Which I referenced here. So, these are our people that came last year to uh the session that we had, and we'll
010be doing something similar. Um but the second day will be a little different because we were able to make connections with uh other people that we know from from our team. So, um we do have fly casting lessons as well that will be led by Trout Unlimited. Uh and the the guy that's going to uh the gentleman that's going to run that, he was actually a science teacher at Upper Perk. So, um you can see his name up there, Jim Coffee. He's good. Yeah. So, you'll see that uh we have a list that we're going to Camel Lot Park. So, we have a nice release set up over there. They permit us to use their pavilion area. So, we do the release in the morning, and the students rotate through to the various stations, and
011then we have a picnic lunch afterwards. All right. So, and this year for the uh additional things I was able to secure uh a game warden. It just says up there, Alex. We have two Alexes from Montgomery from Montgomery County. I'm not sure which one is going to come yet. So, the lines were just redrawn for the district, and so uh we may have Christofaro instead of Cook. We'll see. To be determined. Uh one of our parents is from DelValle College. She's a professor there. She's going to be speaking with the students about uh macroinvertebrates. And uh one of my roommates from college is actually going to join us, and he's going He works for Penn State, and he's going to be joining us and talking about connectivity and transporting uh allowing fish to be
012able to spawn more easily, uh and having larger, as you can see that larger culvert, that's what he does throughout the state. He designs uh things like that that would allow for uh the movement of different species throughout the waterways. We have uh someone from New Hanover Township. It's another parent of a student that we have, and he's going to be leading the students through construction of birdhouses that we can then put up at East and also on site at Camelot Park. And students will be again going through fly casting techniques and hopefully the master fly tire and if not, like I said, me. So. All right. And we just wanted to take an opportunity to thank you guys for allowing us to speak about what we do. Uh it's it's been enjoyable. I know
013when I started teaching and I heard about this, I thought it was really neat. I didn't really know how to get involved, but I knew it was expensive if you started it up on your own. So, we thank the foundation for that. And two, it's it's time consuming, right? If you're trying to do it on your own. And when I heard that Mrs. Solomon wanted to jump on board last year, we we formed a team. So, it works really well because we've been working together for Yeah. however long you've been um here first. >> years. Um and I do think too, you know, when you think back and students think back on their time in school, this is one of those experiences they're going to remember. They're going to remember having eggs that they had
014to take care of and they raised they have to teach the fish to swim to the surface to eat, you know, so things they wouldn't normally think of like when they hatch out they don't have mouths and they have to teach them to surface to eat. So, I think it's something they definitely connect with and will remember as they long after Boyertown, one of those experiences from their childhood. So, thank you. So, I just want to take a moment and thank you both for being here, for making learning fun and showing the impact that you're having on our kids and that our kids are having in the community. Thank you. And on the environment. So, um we are hoping for bright sunny days on May 28th and 29th, but just in case >> Those the
015fish are released >> [laughter] >> So, thank you for being here tonight. All right. >> [applause] >> Student representative report. Good evening, board members and meeting attendees. We're so excited to be back this month for our March board report. The school year seems to be flying, so we like our report to be a little nice reminder for students and staff alike to slow down and appreciate what each month has to offer. On March 16th, members of our school's SAD club attended Teen Talk conference at the Berks County Intermediate Unit. The event brought together students from multiple schools and districts to participate in a student issue round table focused on the impact of social media on teen mental health. Throughout the day, students engaged in icebreakers and collaborative discussions with peers from other schools. The Pennsylvania
016Attorney General also attended the event and led a session that encouraged students to think outside the box by asking questions about their experiences and perspectives. A close friend of mine who attended shared that the event was both both engaging and informative and she highly recommends others to consider SAD in the future. Seniors are finally getting back in the groove of things after their senior year Disney trip. It's a part of high school that many of us wait patiently for and look forward to and prospect for we may never get to hang out with so many members of our class ever again. I personally did not attend the trip, so I asked a few of my friends for their final thoughts. Positivity was one thing that was unanimous among them. They described the playful atmosphere and
017nice weather as characteristic of their amazing stay at the resort. They did mention some lines got long, but never never enough to make the ride not worth experiencing. I'll speak for all of us when I say I hope all the seniors who attended made memories they could cherish for years to come and hopefully after the eventful week, they're continuing to channel their excitement back into the classroom. A big thank you to the class of 2026 officers, Ms. Benning and all other teachers and advisers who made the trip possible. As an addition to our board reports each month, we have introduced a new topic of discussion, monthly student surveys. These surveys will act as a bridge between students and board members so that students' voices can be heard in a structured fashion. This month we conducted
018a student opinion survey to gather feedback on two heavily debated district topics, full day kindergarten and the potential reopening of the planetarium with updated software. Responses were collected from students across all grade levels with participation fairly evenly distributed. When asked about support for full day kindergarten, 30.7% of students said that they support the idea, while 54.4% said that they did not support it and 50 Oh, sorry guys. 14.8 indicated they are unsure. Students were then asked about restarting the school's planetarium using updated software. In this case, 73.1% of students supported the reopening and 10.5 did not with 16.4 being undecided. Among those who did express interest in the planetarium, the most popular program was space science shows selected by 17 I mean 717 students or about 76%. Other options included family community nights at 54.9%,
019student projects at 51.5% and curriculum based lessons at 44.6%. Overall, the results showed strong student interest in reopening the planetarium, particularly for interactive community driven activities. Considering these results, we'd like to acknowledge that students were not given explicit costs and or other important district considerations before making their choices. And as we continue to hold these surveys, we will be attempting to implement a fact sheet so that students can report more informed options that consider the pros and cons cons of specific projects. On to our next topic, BASH's spirit week. From March 16th through the 20th, the SAD club presented a spirit week in which students and teachers alike could dress in a certain theme or color each day to support for kindness and compassion for all. It may just seem like dress up at first,
020but it's truly a memorable display of school spirit and unity in education. BASH will be host hosting culture day on Monday, March 30th organized by our student diversity union with great support from the No Place for Hate initiative. The goal of culture day is to celebrate cultural diversity, promote cultural awareness, and encourage students to learn more about different perspectives. Students create booths to share their cultures, often using presentations or trifold displays, and many also include interactive elements such as traditional games, saying sharing phrases from different languages, displaying traditional garments, and offering some pre-packaged snacks from their culture. Students who attend are encouraged to see as many booths as they could as they can filling out a {quote} passport as they travel around the diversity of Boyertown. >> [snorts] >> Spring spring break is on the
021horizon and that means a lot of things for many different people. I know that spring break personally is AP exam cram time and unfortunately, my out of school activities will consist of a little bit more than school. But while I chose that fate myself, many students have plans to travel, pick up some extra shifts at work, or simply spend time with family and friends. It's a time of relaxation, celebration, and starts the fourth quarter of the year of the school year on a lighter note. I would also like to take some time to highlight something our school should be really proud of, our wrestling team. This season, four wrestlers qualified for the state championships in Hershey, the highest level of competition. Caleb Duman, Liam Diamond, Boden Weid, and JD Heiser. Senior JD Heiser led the
022way finishing with a 29 to 3 record and placing fourth at states for a second year in a row. Both Heiser and Weid also reached 100 career wins, which is a huge milestone. At a district level, the team dominated. All 13 wrestlers qualified for regionals and Boyertown brought home the team title with multiple first and second place finishes. Even more impressive, Boyertown was the only team to have wrestlers in every weight class at regionals. In the state duals tournament, the team continued to shine earning big wins and bringing home their second straight state medal. Overall, this team continues to show consistency, toughness, and a level of success that represents our school extremely well. That concludes our report for this month. Thank you for your time and attention. Wishing everyone a safe drive home and having
023a great evening. We look forward to keeping you updated on more school events next month. Thank you. Public comment period number one. Let's see here. Jennifer Thompson, full day kindergarten. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is Jennifer Thompson and I'm here to speak about full day kindergarten. I have three children in the district, one at Gilbertsville, one is at East, and my oldest graduated from the high school in 2023. They received and are receiving a great education and their teachers do what's best for kids on a daily basis. Even though my kids are past kindergarten, I'm here tonight because being in public education for 18 years, I know the importance of early education. Foundational literacy occurs in grades K to 2 where students learn to read. In grades 3
024and 4, students are reading to learn. Full day kindergarten would support early literacy. It will also support the district's comprehensive plan that includes a goal of increasing the percentage of students to 65% of proficient and advanced. The district's vision is to empower all students to thrive in future career paths and contribute as engaged informed citizens. Continuing the conversation of full day kindergarten aligns with this vision. I believe I heard at one of the meetings that we are the only district in Berks with half-day kindergarten. This, along with the survey data, is obvious that this is what's best for kids. 90 more days of instruction in kindergarten means 90 more days of phonemic awareness and phonics. This supports oral reading fluency, which eventually supports reading comprehension. One suggestion I have that I have not heard yet
025is if you haven't asked your first grade teachers already, I'd be interested in hearing the challenges that they experience now with half-day kindergarten and how maybe full day could potentially support them also in their work. Something else I'd like to emphasize to be considered is how transitions impact students. And if you continue to discuss full day kindergarten, I think another priority should be to choose the path of least resistance. And what I mean by that is the less disruption as possible. Research shows that when there are a lot of transition in a student's educational career, they're not as successful. There have been a lot of discussions about social emotional learning and transitions. And I'm sorry. There have been a lot of discussions about social emotional learning and transitions impact students social emotional well-being. I know
026putting fifth grade in middle schools has been mentioned, but something I haven't heard mentioned yet is that I think should be considered is that a lot of curriculum resources are designed for a K-5 band or and a 6-8 band or a 6-12. The new science standards are like this. So, having fifth grade in middle school presents some curricula curriculum implementation challenges. I remember moving to this area in 2008 and speaking to Jill Denman about full day kindergarten. She was the only one at the time supporting this initiative. Full day kindergarten is a long time coming. In closing, I encourage you to do what's best for our kids, continue the conversation. Thank you to the board members who have come with open minds and curiosity each time. I see this as an opportunity for kids and
027it's in their best interest. If you vote to continue to explore full day kindergarten, you're voting for an opportunity for students. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we're looking for the approval of the March 10th, 2026 Committee of the Whole Meeting minutes. I'll motion. I'll second. Mr. Roger Upthegrove. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Diamond. No. Mr. Brad Upthegrove. Yes. Mr. Pennarola. Yes. I have it. This takes us to our discussion and information section. We have two items for this evening for you. The first is an overnight trip, again through the competition series of state competitions as it relates to all of our musical um activities. We do have a student that has qualified for the PMEA All-State Orchestra Festival and Conference, which
028will be hosted in April um 22nd through the 25th. Um this this trip would include one staff member and student attending that. So, you can see the details listed there for you in regards to that. I am going to ask that you consider this this evening in a motion. Our second item under item B is full day kindergarten. Mr. Stout, our assistant superintendent, has a final presentation with regard to full day kindergarten. So, I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Stout. Thank you, Dr. Davidheiser. I uh would like to far start off by saying that um I am incredibly proud of this school board and the opportunity that it has provided uh me as an individual for the 16 years that I've spent in this district and um trying to truly work and do
029what is best for all of our students. So, I'm asking each one of you to consider a decision that is going to provide every student from the 2027-2028 school year with the power of what a full day kindergarten program will provide. So, I'm asking you to to take that into strong consideration when the motion comes up a little bit later on. So, as we look through our administrative recommendation, we saw four different options that were considered in our feasibility study and um it is very clear to the district level administration that we are looking at option one. And the information that we have shared over the past few board meetings has really looked uh to provide the uh details and the uh um opportunities that that will provide for our students. And it really is
030um creating the the scenario where Boyertown Elementary School is going to need to provide uh portable classrooms, which I'll show in a few minutes. But, most importantly, we need to remember our vision as a school district and we need to remember our mission. And the vision is really the why are we doing this and the mission is the how. So, my hope is tonight in this very brief presentation is to provide those opportunities for you and to really have you take that motion into consideration to move forward with uh the planning process that is going to be the implementation of all day K for our 2027-2028 school year. So, reiterating the why that we are looking at, it is really looking at the enhancement of instructional structure and quality. It's looking at curriculum redesign to
031meet the needs of our students. It's looking at deeper, not more, deeper instructional time with our students. And it's also looking at increased physical activity that's going to allow our students to have be here for a full day and provide a more broad-based full day kindergarten program that will engage students in more physical activity. Continuing with our why is addressing family and logistic logistical needs. It really is thinking about child care. I am already fielding questions for the upcoming school year about parents that are struggling to figure out where they can have child care provided to them for the second half to the second half of the day since we only have half-day kindergarten. Transportation would be more fluid where we would have our typical transportation runs that would be morning and end of the
032day runs. We would not have our midday runs. Nutritional support, we would have our reliable breakfast, snack, and lunches for all of our kindergarten students for our full day program. And um something that you may not realize is that because of our numbers across our attendance areas, all day kindergarten would provide the opportunity for more of our students to stay in their home attendance area and um really have the opportunity to attend their building that is their home building. Currently, if we have overcapacity in some of our buildings, we move students to neighborhood neighboring elementary schools for their kindergarten needs to be met. More of the why, you saw this information in the feasibility study. Dr. Kokenauer from Steps to Achieve shared that she was so impressed by the Boyertown Area community when we had
033almost 1,500 respondents in our survey. We really specifically surveyed three groups. It was parents, community, and staff. And overwhelmingly, 89.1% of our parents, 83.6% of our community, and 90.7% of our staff was in favor or showed neutral sentiment for um all day kindergarten moving forward. For each one of those categories, I presented the two key areas that were the the strong considerations, the highest level consideration for the survey results. The how. Key. As school board members, how are we providing this opportunity for this to take place? I've been in the district for 16 years and I believe our our community speaker stated that it has been a conversation that has been around for a long time. It it truly has resonated for a long time and this is the furthest that I've seen this come.
034And I am excited. I'm proud to say that um we are on the cusp of making a decision that is going to meet the needs of our incoming kindergarten students in the 2027 school year. How did this financial and implementation road map take place? Staffing, we are accounting for 10 new kindergarten teachers, 1.5 specialists, and 10 new paraprofessionals. Budgeting, with the work of our district level administration, we've projected one-time and recurring costs that have been proactively calculated over three budgetary cycles. So, this is not something that is going to be a once huge impact and looking at the cost that's involved with this. This has been considered over three budgetary cycles over the previous year, our current year, and the upcoming school year that has been taken into strong consideration to meet this need. And
035finally, the other consideration in all of the uh options that were provided through the feasibility study, the the the Boyertown Area School District administration is making the recommendation to go with option one. If you have questions about that option one scenario, you can go back and look at the feasibility study in the presentation that Dr. Kokonauer and myself presented to you. And it really is looking at adding six more or six not more, six modular classrooms at the Boyertown Elementary School. Uh where um that is currently the only building that um doesn't have the overall space to accommodate the expansion um in its existing space for all day kindergarten. So, the final thought that I have in the process of considering full day kindergarten is success in this endeavor depends on shifting our focus from
036instructional minutes to instructional quality. By approving this recommendation, you are choosing to provide our students with the academic, social, and emotional academic growth they require to remain competitive and prepared. The evidence is clear, the school community is ready, and the road map has been set. It is time for the Boyertown School District kindergarten to be in alignment with needs of the 21st century student and allow our students to be as our strategic plan states, future ready by design. I thank you for the consideration for the motion tonight. Thank you, Ms. Sacks. Treasurer's report. Good evening. Tonight, I will be presenting to you highlights from the February 2026 Treasurer's report. Beginning with our local revenue from tax collections, delinquent tax collection was $151,200.70. Earned income tax collection was $779,939.79. [clears throat] And transfer tax collection was
037$79,433.03. For state revenue, we received our retirement subsidy, which was $2,361,528.82. And for February expenditures, in the category of salaries, benefits, and professional services, they accounted for approximately 88% of the total expenditures for the month of February. And that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you. At this time, looking for a motion to approve the February 8th, 2026 Treasurer's report as is presented. We'll hear motions. I'll need a second. Mr. Rothenberger. Yes. Dr. [clears throat] Weir. Yes. Dr. Wylie. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. Yes. Mr. Bradway to Grove. Yes. Mr. Panarello. Yes. >> [snorts] >> Under item nine, Superintendent's consent agenda, I just like to summarize briefly each of these areas as we go through and for your consideration of the consent of these items. Under item
038A, the property tax rental rebate program resolution, again as described um by Mr. Lentz at our last meeting and explained this it would be our second year um which we saw as a very very s- first successful year for many of our uh community members who took part in this program. The 2026-2027 Berks Career and Technology Center budget, again this is a budget that has increased by 4.15% or $539,000 and it is um your consideration. Again, we are the largest um uh provider to the BCTC in in terms of our student population and sending uh of students to it for their services. Under items C and D, these are both YMCA before and after school program lease agreements and the summer camp program agreements. These both increased by 3% from last year. Uh we have
039two uh confidential settlement agreements under item E. We have the listed overnight trip that was described uh approximately 5 minutes ago um with regard to the orchestra student who qualified for PMEA. And we have a donation list um of two additions to um our last Committee of the Whole meeting. We do have monetary uh donations um by the Boyertown Elementary School PTO of $75, which was on our uh last purchase or excuse me, our last agenda. We do have two additional uh items. This is the Boyertown Music Area Schools Music League who are making a donation to the West uh excuse me, to Washington Elementary auditorium sound uh system as well as the Washington Elementary School PTO with a donation of 11,000 for um some very needed upgrades to the auditorium sound system there. So,
040we are uh highly recommending the acceptance of those donations. Under [snorts] items H all the way through item uh T are all of the policies that went went through our policy committee um a month ago. They were brought through the Committee of the Whole meeting and are now here for you the first read of this and are under your consideration this evening. So, under item U, approval of the consent agenda, the administration is recommending approval of the consent agenda as presented and listed. Panarello moves. You can question after the motion. Looking for a second. On the rent rebate, you said this is the second year. This is the first year. We did this program last year. Mhm. I don't think anybody was allowed to go for it last year. It was just brought in. We
041utilized it this past year. We went through one full cycle of that. This will be this is a annual what we're bringing forward to you is an annual resolution for your consideration and we went through this same approval process last year and um we had and the data that was listed in our Committee of the Whole meeting uh by Mr. Lentz at our last meeting, he described how many applicants we had and um such. So, this is our second year for your consideration for a second year of this program. You can take the vote. Yeah, I'll go ahead. One uh wanted to voice a concern that came to me about um the school program, the um YMCA, that apparently they're not um receiving the air conditioning. The air conditioning cuts off before the end of
042their program. I don't know if it's on a some kind of sensor, uh but there's some concern that they're not getting, you know, the kids are coming in uh toward the end of the program and uh the gym in the facility is is not the air conditioning is not continuing to the end of the Is there a specific uh building we're talking about? It might have been >> We host this at multiple buildings. >> Elementary. Uh Boyertown Elementary. At at Boyertown. I'll I'll look into that. It's the first I'm hearing of that, but certainly we can adjust that to Thank you. make sure. Yeah. Call the roll. Mr. Rothenberger. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wylie. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. Yes. Mr. Bradway to Grove. Yes. Mr. Panarello.
043Yes. Eyes have it. Under Superintendent's itemized agenda, we'll start with item A, full day kindergarten program. And the administration is recommending for authorization to proceed with the planning and implementation steps necessary to establish a full day kindergarten program, the goal of launching the program beginning in the 2027-2028 school year. Administration shall develop and present any required plans, timelines, staffing considerations, facility needs, and budget implications necessary to support the the successful implementation of full day kindergarten. Panarello moves. Do I second? Anybody can I second? Sure. Discussion, questions? I have a lot of concerns. First of all, that survey that was done was screwed. Uh you can't put the positive and the neutral combined. That's false information. Second of all, I have heard many people that did not receive any information that we were doing a survey.
044So, apparently we picked and choosed who we wanted to send out surveys to. And that's not the proper way to do it. If you're going to survey people, you're going to survey everybody. Well, that's inaccurate because what we put out was put out for anybody. We put it out on our webs- >> didn't people would it? Excuse me. I don't know. People have an opportunity to gain that information. There's many venues to which we put that out. No, we did not send a postcard in the mail to everyone of our home of our homes because the price tag to do that would have tripled the cost of the study itself. So, what we did was put it out on as many venues as we did. We placed an ad that ran in the paper for
045Mr. Stout, how many weeks? Um I think the week is three It was over the course of a long week. >> Over the course of a long weekend. It was on our website. It was communicated through social media. It was communicated through emails of all the people that we had emails for. So, yes, to be able to send any communication out to 22,000 different residents is near impossible to do. So, yes, there is not a postcard that landed in each and every mailbox, but there are multiple opportunities just like there was when we did the strategic plan, and we did the same exact communication plan for communicating out to those individuals to to anybody in regards to feedback as it related to the strategic plan. So, please do not suggest in any way, shape, or
046form that we picked and choose. We did not. Then why am I hearing from people that did not get it? Anybody else hearing from anybody that didn't get it um notified of it? >> [snorts] >> So, okay. So, there's a lot of people out there that didn't get notified. >> A lot of people have an opportunity to find that information out. We can't notify every single individual that exists in this community unless we >> good survey. Well, first of all, it is a it is a collection of information that we utilize. It is one point of service so that we can understand opinions with regard to it. We have a lot of factors that we would ask a school board to consider in its consideration of the extended research that exists with an all-day kindergarten
047program. I'm sorry, if you're going to do a survey, you survey everybody. You don't pick and choose. >> Okay, so you would have approved a Mrs. Moyer, how much would that have cost us for 22,000 residencies? Off the top of my head, I don't remember what the quote said, but what I do remember is that we mailed postcards to 300 families, and there were concerns over the cost and how that postcard mailing took place. The other thing that I would like to point out is um I have some concerns about the fact that board members are stating that they didn't receive the um survey information. I personally mail my newsletters to you every time I mail out a newsletter. The board is included in that message every time it happens, and we referred to the
048survey in multiple newsletters this year. So, we covered our bases, and we've talked about since strategic planning that it is difficult to reach our community. We have also offered our community the opportunity to sign up to receive our newsletters, and they have chosen not to do so. We have 19 people who have done it. Do you know how many people do not have emails or internet or don't get papers? Know how many? There's a lot. A lot? A lot. About how many? So, then I would ask what would you your suggestion then to to to communicate with those individuals? If they don't receive newspapers, they don't have technology to which they that assists them, what would you like us to do? We could do 30 and 40,000 dollar mailings to to those individuals. We could
049do that. >> you can do? We with considerable cost, the same cost that we're talking about. But if you want to talk about a fair survey, then everybody needs to be included. I think we're you I think you're missing the point of >> that some of the parents didn't put two, three, four things in? Hm? As with any survey, anything can be that way. So, and and again, the surveys are to give you some indicators of that information. So, all I'm saying is these numbers are not accurate. Not at all. Okay. Well, unfortunately, unless you want to spend enormous amounts of money, much more than the study would have cost to reach every single home and put something in the mail that I'm not sure every single person would get as some of that gets
050thrown out anyhow, we don't have any other way to do that, nor does any other school district have a way to do that. We tried to use the resources that we had to make contact as with as many individuals as we could. >> hearing from my constituents that they didn't have a chance to reply. Well, then why didn't they seek out that information at that particular time? They obviously knew of it was go They knew it was going on at the time. So, why hadn't they taken that active approach to some of that? They took the approach by asking me what's going on. And did you provide them with the survey? I said I didn't know about it until after you did. >> Well, then you haven't been paying attention to your information to which
051you were given. >> I thought it was going out to everybody. But there there's no fairness to that survey. So, putting that aside, uh we're going to go and vote on something that we don't even know Coopersdale Township is going to allow. So, we're putting the cart before the horse. We don't know if Coopersdale Township will allow is based on I We certainly are going to work and do everything we can to allow it to occur, and we'll work with the Township to seek out that. But yes, unless we actually put a formal permit in and have the planning and all of that done in advance of, we can't seek that approval until the approval of a kindergarten program is authorized for us to begin on, and we will bring back updates to the board
052as to what the status will be with regard to that. We also have other options that would include a change of location for that program, which is across the street, which is not the option to which we selected as the number one, but it could be used as an alternative option. And then again, I'm going to ask you, where is the proof that this is going to work? I don't want opinions. I want physical proof that all-day kindergarten is going to be worth the millions of dollars we are going to put out. Okay. >> Proof. Any other questions? You have anything, Mr. Brophy? I know what I'm ready to move forward. So, do you have any questions? Oh, of course it does. It does. Yeah, I run the meeting. Call for the vote. Mr. Rogers,
053you're approved. >> Dictator. Okay. I I I have numbers. Mr. Brophy, you haven't been recognized, Mr. Brophy. You haven't been recognized. Do you have something you want to say? You got to be recognized. >> Yes. Okay. Go ahead. We're going to go to that? >> Yeah, we're going to do that. Okay. So, I want to thank Audrey and Allison cuz they did more work than the district did. So, we're saying like 80% of the parents agree we should have all-day kindergarten. Yet their survey said 30.7% of the students that are in there that actually are in the middle of education that think it's worthwhile. So, that's that's that's a pretty interesting difference in a stat. So, I evidently evidently the children and the parents aren't talking at home. Cuz there's a disagreement There's a big
054disconnect there. Uh so the Mr. Stout, I'm going to go The purpose of your presentation is to convince or lead the board members along to agree to pay millions of dollars out for all-day kindergarten. Is that Is that pretty much sum it up? District recommendation. Yeah, I mean that's But that's But that's what you That's what you want from us. Do you want us to to get to to give the approval to spend millions of dollars to go forward on that initiative. So, I think that's a fair That's how I understood it, yeah. It's fair. So, what are what what Board Town Area District issue is that money going to solve? Okay, we've had behavioral issues. We We've hired a lot of a lot of different counselors and all for that. And that's still an
055ongoing issue. Our scores are low. They're still lower than they were before COVID. But yet we're going to take millions of dollars and move it toward something that's going to have nothing to do with those problems that we need to address. So, in my mind, what we're doing is we've come up with a solution in search of a problem instead of taking solutions for a problem. So, I I don't know and I've not seen in anything put out that there's anything definitive or anything concrete that says, "Once we spend this money, we're going to get better because I'm supposed to feel good that if I go all day kindergarten, it's a good feeling that we've done it." No no no concrete evidence. No numbers. Like I've got numbers for the where our schools are down.
056I don't have any numbers given to me that says, "We're going to get better just by doing this. We're going to solve our problems if we spend a couple million dollars and put in all day kindergarten." That's a problem to me. The a lot of the issues you put up there that I saw were more parent issues than they were solving educational issues. And I'm ver- I'm very sympathetic to the issue of uh you know, child care for parents. That is That is a big issue. It's been getting kicked down the road by our legislators for the last 50 years. It's not new. It gets kicked down all the time. And now, since they don't want to take it up in the state and federal level, they want me to now go to my constituents
057and say, "You're going to subsidize other people's child care costs." That's what you're telling me I'm going to do. And no, I'm not going to do that. I'm already telling they're going to put us a turf field in it and getting nothing out of. So, I'm not going to go and do do a second thing for them and add millions of dollars on to the millions of dollars we already spent. So, I'm a definite no. I'm not going to change it. That's all. You could have just did that in the vote. Instead of wasting our time. Oh, so my what I had to say is a waste of Your time. You could have just did that in the vote. No, I can say why. That's your problem, Mr. Paternella. You don't want to You don't
058want to say why anything. You just want to say, "I have five votes I can >> you said was relevant. Was it? No. You said there's no there's no pure there's no empirical evidence out there. There's no reviews or studies. Of course there is. The studies are feel good studies. There's no numbers. They're not feel good studies. What? I'm I'm glad that you are the genius you feel you are. >> Yeah. Let's move forward. Watch your mouth. Okay. Yeah. We're try- We're supposed to be respectful here. Gentlemen, gentlemen. We're supposed to be respectful. Gentlemen. >> Now, let's go. Mr. Raj Updegrove. No. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Resounding yes. Mr. Brophy. No. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. No. Mr. Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Six eyes. Did we get five? You
059had five before this meeting was over. It's needed. Under item B, comprehensive plan, administration recommends the approval of the 2026-29 comprehensive plan as presented. Again, this plan sat for its required 28 days under review. Uh we did not receive any um feedback from the community um before we go out to this and we are asking for your consideration of it this evening. Penterella moves. I'll second. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item C, the 2024-25 audit, um administration recommends the Board of Directors accept the independent auditor's report and financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 as presented by the district's independent auditing firm. The board acknowledges receipt of the audit including financial statements, notes to the financial statements, and any accompanying reports on internal control and compliance in accordance
060with applicable auditing standards and governmental auditing requirements. I'll move. I'll second. Mr. Raj Updegrove. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. Yes. Mr. Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item D, administration recommends the board motion to acknowledge that the Education Department of Fox Rothschild LLP, the appointed solicitor, will become the Education Group of McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC effective April 1st, 2026. No changes are being made to the terms of the representation, current rate structure, or personnel. The superintendent or interim chief financial officer are authorized to sign documents necessary to recognize the change. I'll move. I'll second. Mr. Raj Updegrove. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. Yes. Mr.
061Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item E, the administration recommends the approval of the employment of Mr. Michael R. Stout as assistant superintendent pursuant to a three-year employment agreement beginning July 1st, through June 30th, 2029 with an initial salary of $172,650.91 as presented. I'll move. I'll second. Mr. Raj Updegrove. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. No. Mr. Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item F, the administration approves the employment uh recommends the appro- approval of the employment of Mr. Bradley S. Hahn as chief human resource officer pursuant to the to a three-year employment agreement beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. Initial salary of $145,369.82 as presented. I'll move. I'll second. Mr. Raj Updegrove. Yes.
062Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. No. Mr. Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item G, personnel, administration recommends the Board of School Directors approve the following personnel actions including the resignations, appointments, change of statuses, leave absences, and supplemental contacts contracts as per the attached. >> [snorts] >> I'll move. I'll second. Mr. Raj Updegrove. Yes. Dr. Weir. Yes. Dr. Wiley. Yes. Mr. Brophy. Yes. Ms. Connor. Yes. Ms. Kratz. Yes. Ms. Nyman. Yes. Mr. Brad Updegrove. Yes. Mr. Penterella. Yes. Eyes have it. Under item 11, there is no old business. There's no one signed up for public comment period number two, board comments. No. Ms. Nyman. No, I think enough has been said and disrespectfully by some people. Ms. Kratz. Um Thank
063you for your board report. Nothing at this time. No. No. Mr. Penterella. I was elected to this seat by the voters of Region 2. In that such, when I had when I do a vote for have to say something, I owe them an explanation. You don't get to say when I can talk and when I can't and when I can give an explanation. Stop. Don't even start. >> you could have made those comments right now during the comment period. That's when they're for. >> they're for that time before the vote. >> For discussion. For the vote. For discussion. >> No, they're for the vote. They're Like I already knew I already knew the numbers when I came in, but that doesn't mean I can't try to sway somebody. And you can't sit there and say
064I can't. That's not part of what that job is. You can't Go. >> You told me I was irrelevant. Shut up. >> irrelevant. >> Shut up. >> That doesn't mean I never told you shut up. Yeah, it's No, it is very relevant. Anytime I speak or anybody in here speaks, they're allowed to do that. It's not at your discretion if somebody can voice an opinion or what they're talking about or what stand they're taking. Your continued continued belligerence of your opinions on top of the board members in every single meeting is getting old. So, I disagree with you. you need to let the board members speak, have what they say, and you sit back. You've interrupted me many times when I've had stuff to say here with your I'm going to say sarcastic comments. So,
065if you want to talk about respect, give it, then you'll get it. Mr. Rothrock? I'm good. Mr. Robin? Yeah, I have a meeting at the BCTC tomorrow night, and we're going to discuss some stuff, and I'll bring it to the board at the next meeting if if anything positive comes out of it. I just want to say it's very rare that we have an opportunity to do something that's actually going to make a difference in the community and to the kids. And tonight the board did that, and I'm very proud of you guys. Well, the ones that voted. That's all I have. Do we have upcoming meeting dates? April 14th, a finance committee here at 6:00 p.m. And a committee of the whole meeting at 7:00 p.m. I would just like to uh congratulate uh
066both Mr. Mr. Stout and Mr. Hahn on their 3-year extension to their our new contract for their employment here as they've provided very good service here in the district as has been shown. So, thank you and for your continued service here. Motion to adjourn. Nyman moves. Brofy seconds. Any discussion?