PV Board of Education Meeting 3/13/25

001call the Pleasant Valley Board of Education meeting to order if you could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and then please stay standing for a moment of silence and um we did just lose uh a retired employee uh please keep the Gower family in your thoughts and prayers and Mr krinsky would you please lead us to of the United States of America and to the rep for stands one nation under God indivisible thank you everyone again I'd like to welcome everyone that's with us on this beautiful warm day and hopefully it'll stay that way for the whole month of March um if we could have roll call please here present here here thank you I would like to let everyone know that we did have an executive session this evening March the 13th

002of 2025 immediately prior to this meeting U for purposes of personnel matters including but not limited to Performance and or discipline negotiations and legal issues um this evening we do have a Community Partnership for gun safety program presentation Mr Jake Jacobson and M and Dr toino you would please thank you good to see you again good to see you and Bill parish is also here we'll get through introductions that no back to the microphone like do it y please I'm Bill Paris I retired Chief of Police from SP Regional retired chief of police stur University and currently working with the m County District Attorney's office on a mental health uh program trying to have a unified response to individuals in crisis between law enforcement and and part of the gun VI k j um golf

003War veteran re police officer worked with this gentleman here he was actually great here um like I said retired uh from the police department um I was asked by our district attorney I was called to uh put together um this program that Dr T was about to present um got very lucky in this one um between having Dr toino and and Bill Parish here uh together all three of us bring a different Avenues to this whole program that I think is really going to be beneficial to our students here in under County so with that being said turn it over to Dr CL thank you and thanks for having this time we really appreciate it 24 years being in front of boards as a superintendent I still get nervous every time um as Jake said

004he gave me a call remember months ago and to see if I want to get involved in this program uh this is a state Grant and Monroe County was chosen a pilot the reason why Monroe County was chosen as a pilot is because we lead the state average and the national average in uh suicide deaths by gun and what we're trying to accomplish there there several several things happening in this rant I'm going to be very brief I'm not reading off the presentation and I assure you all the board members you're going to have the same copy of the presentation via email that I present to the executive committee of this group so you'll have this so please don't think that I'm you know reading things that you're not going to get so the bottom

005line is this we have what we call unexpected discharge in this country what that means is if a child goes into a house or a young adult was into a house and someone happens to handle a weapon this is why the grant is out there someone has a weapon in the house and it's not stored properly what happens is I don't care how many times you tell that child stay away from that gun don't ever go near that gun if you're the father if you're the mother whoever you are in that household at some point they're going to go near that gun and then what we wind up having is an unexpected discharge where a child is either named or killed happens way too often in this country so number one we're trying to educate

006kids and adults on the safety how important it is to properly store guns in the household and then what we're trying to do and that's why we're here in front of the schools there there's a couple pieces here we're also that's why U she parish is so important in all this is because many people many Ames have individuals that are dealing with mental health issues Mental Health crisis in their in their homes okay and some of those same homes have weapons that aren't stored properly so that's a very very dangerous mix so what we're doing as part of this grant as well and through the Sheriff's Office and of course through through our wonderful prosecutor um we will store your weapons we're not going to come and take your weapons that's not what we are

007about we will store your weapons in a time of Crisis if you have someone your home that's dealing with a mental health issue and you let us know we will gladly store your weapons and get them out of the house for you so they're they don't so nobody has access to those guns the next part is how do we find out what kids know about guns how do we find out what kids have experienced so what we're asking this all the school districts in Mono County to do for us is to allow us to do a survey that's already been nationally normed on the give you some examples of questions that are on the survey it's going to be completely Anonymous it'll be done through Survey Monkey uh we'd like to do this sometime during

008the month of May or whatever's convenient for you folks that's what we're looking to do so what I want to do right now is I'm going to switch over and get out of this one slide in a minute and then I'm going to go to give you some of some examples of what's on these questions what some of the questions are that kids are going to have it's going to take maybe 10 to 15 minutes and when I say it's been nationally normed read your questions what that means is they don't to be resarch researched any farther they they don't have to go through uh the institutional re um review board to protect individuals from the questions themselves if you're not familiar with that it's a whole process you have to go through when you're

009uh going to be surveying students or or adults for that matter so couple of the questions might be um let me go back to one the the earlier sheets your here um please indicate if you have been exposed to the following scenarios U markting or yes seen someone threaten another person with a gun seen someone hurt another person with a gun seen someone shooting a gun in public heard not seen a gun being shot in public um known someone who killed themselves or tried to kill themselves with a gun have you ever been threatened with a gun so that's just a part of what we want to find out so we can better provide the educational programming now who's going to do the educational programming we were on 103 yesterday uh 103.1 Jake and I

010and the question came up are you gonna is this going to be a class in schools no no as as a former superintendent that's not what I'm here for that's not what this is about the educational program is going to come out of the sheriff's department from the safety aspect the sheriff's department is going to be teaching the kids and adults that choose to attend these courses the educational piece it's not we're not asking the school district to have a curricular piece we're not asking the school district to edit that's not what this is about but we can't get that information as to how we should Design This educational programming without doing the survey and since we are a pilot for the state of Pennsylvania it's important that we can get that information out so

011I'm not here to force anybody to do anything we're just asking permission to do this again this is going to be run through the this is being run through the prosecutor's office they're improved by the County Commissioners we are a pilot for the state of Pennsylvania the reason why we were chosen is because of the the numbers that we have again as about State and national average with gun violence so we need to be we need to kind of tune in on this one um that's what we're here for I I I understand your time is valuable um I figured we get here tonight and talk about why we're here go go ahead I just want to emphasize one thing I heard some groon when it talks about storing individuals weapons this has nothing to

012do with the Second Amendment this has nothing to do with taking firearms from anyone this is about recognizing the number of firearms in homes and preventing tragedy preventing tragedy in this environment when we talk about gun safety a lot of times it's more like Hunter Safety it's respect the weapon and all that which is of value for young hunters and everything but when you have a number of children that don't have experience don't go hunting that is either there's a firearm in the house or they go to a friend's house who wants to show their hunting weapon or firearm it's about the responsibility of securing it to prevent accidents unattended consequences it is in no way shape to preach to educate to condone any seizure of firearms or prevent anyone from flying it's just responsible

013safety once you have one excellent points please understand that the only reason why we would store weapons for you at the sheriff's department is if you ask us to do it we're not going to come to your house and say hey by the way we're here you're having a problem with one of your kids or or an adult in your house we're going to take you that's not what we're about okay we are not about taking anybody's guns we don't want to one of the the statistic that really hit me when uh the prosecutor asked me to get involved was the 2third of every house in Monroe County has a legal weapon in it at least one two3 I was kind of Blown Away by that and and I'm a gun owner so I'll just

014put that right out there so we are not about trying to to take anybody's weapons when you hear the two-thirds so when you think about it this way you can go anywhere you want in the state of Pennsylvania you can buy a hand on probably or or a gun you can have it in 20 25 minutes as you go through all the legal processes we're not question that then you can go to the Sheriff's Department with two re two two um references and within a month you can have a carry permit but at no time in between those two processes do you have to take a course on how to safely store that gun or use that gun think about that for a second but if you're a hunter as Chief Parish brings up you

015have to take a three-hour course but if you just want to be a gun or you don't have to take anything like that so imagine the kids that get into these houses my granddaughter is six years old she's going to eventually go to someone's house house that maybe isn't that person is not responsible in storing their weapons whether they have them legally or not is is a whole different issue they're going to get their hands on that's what we want to try to prevent unexpected discharge important stuff as far as Jake and if I could just add the other aspect of this is is what Dr PLO said two third of um homeowners have registered guns in their house living really close to the West End consider myself a west ender um I'm I'm definitely

016a gun owner in many guns um so like Dr PLO said we're not here to take guns however I think it's important that people coming into our you know our area it's a lot easier to purchase a gun in Pennsylvania than it is in New Jersey and New York so I can I can buy that gun I can get my permit and so forth how do I secure it well that's another um um aspect that we're going to we're going to touch with night classes at whether local Firehouse I know your state representative Jack Raider's involved um he said at the firehouses sometimes your standing room only we're going to be providing gun safety or uh locks free of charge and teaching the gun owners some of the gun owners that that don't know how

017to secure them properly um various ways to secure that so that their you know their kids aren't in danger so it's it's a too too full process so thanks I was serving as the interim superintendent eastberg got a call from one of the larger developments up there and two 12year olds somehow got their hands on a weapon and then one 12-year-old W up shooting the other 12-year-old so again improper storage was the was the weapon legal yes it was was it not stored proper properly yes it blov not store properly so that's clearly an issue and that's that's one of our biggest missions and the mental health piece is is huge as well um there's some scenarios I can get into that have happened in this County that um perhaps could have been avoided if

018we had this this system available where the sheriff's Sheriff's Office you bring them to us we're going to St and once you're over the crisis and and uh and and chief Paris is is is part of that group that can get in and provide Mental Health servic is huge could you explain to me the process of this survey sure and what's going what age group of students are you looking that's my question yeah we're looking at the high school kids we're not looking to go lower than the high school kids at this point in time um so we'd like to do the high school kids and it would be run through whatever program whatever course um every student has to take I.E it could be could be an English class could be whatever it is

019whatever is decided within the building we're not going to determine that and it's done through Survey Monkey and it is completely Anonymous so it's not like we can go back and say oh this student mentioned that they saw a hand run it's it's we have no way of getting back to that and are the questions already formulated yes they are okay they are okay so that's something we'll be able to see yep okay I was gladice it's not included here I have this no it is not okay definitely not they weren't the survey had not been completed we have a group called um the carry group saw that in here yeah okay have the surveys yet to be implemented in any of the school districts in this area they have not because we have no

020you're the first school board that we're in front of although the other school boards know why we're coming but no none of the service have been given yet we're not at that point where we would do that now you mentioned this is being piloted here in Pennsylvania county is there other states that have done it and what are the result and not that we are aware of there's other programs out there for gun safety but this particular style of how we're doing it how it's being handled here for this grant we're not aware that anybody else is coming so we are absolutely the state ofv and we are scheduled uh we're going to be in front of East jaburg next Monday night um got to mention I'm obviously School Board president for the last three

021years 16 years so I know I don't want to pick up too much of your time you want to get out of here again I just came from a committee meeting so you guys got me out early um so and Wednesday we'll be in front of my board um and then from there and March 1st in front of Po Mountain School Board April April yeah did did you look at any other pilot programs at all or how did you decide on your structure I didn't write the grant so there there was a group of people that wrote the grant for Mono County um so I can't answer that question sir I'm sorry I did not write the Grant have I looked at other programs in other states the answer is yes and they're going down

022the same path as we are but not necessarily for the same reason why they have to and the reason why this grant was written was because what I mentioned before clearly IM and then after the surveys are finalized then what then we will develop the educational programming and get um adults there's an adult survey as well and then also um the student survey out there and develop the educational programming so that we can put programs together to better educate the students and what's the timeline it's a threeyear grant and we we started late simply because that's kind of how things work um but uh I only came on board in November and Jake same thing this November the grant started probably six months prior to that the grant was it was was awarded to to

023Monro County several months prior to that so um it's but it is a threeyear grant and I just want to add one other scary component that I've seen over I hate to say this 49 years of police work um I my instinct tells me more guns are purchased today in Monro County for self-defense rather than been hunting which would have been a past um individuals with those guns think and believe that they're at so at risk of a home invasion that they keep these guns under their pillow in a night scan drawer because access at a time of need is Paramount in their mind and you may have young kids not have kids at all yet and you get get into that habit and kids it's amazing what they hear that you don't know they

024hear it's amazing what they see that you trying to hide from them and them coming across these guns and they now have safes personal safes with a fingerprint you have it open and keep because statistically guns are more likely to be used accidentally in the home or L my train of thought accidentally in the home a gr I got say that but for reasons that they're unintended for and that's all we're trying to prevent is and as a police a young police officer with young kids I put it on top of the refrigerator for a few years became habit so I heard my son tell someone that just keeps his gun on top of the refrigerator imagine what kids do to get a cookie out of a cookie jar they can get anywhere that so

025I learned a lesson and hope to say spare others the tragedies that we see occurring on a regular basis on the national news 12-year-old little boy was um in his parents bedroom came across handgun and shot his six-year-old sister and killed her that's just within the last four months um last summer in tamaka uh an 18-year-old and a 17-year- old they first claimed that they were fooling around in a garage and the gun fell off a shelf it was it's type of gun that could not you could throw it against the wall it's not going to fire it has to be fired the trigger has to be pulled and they said fell off the shelf and it shot the 16-year-old in the chest and killed him then they finally then he finally changed his story

026said well we were fooling around with God and again these were legal weapons but the access is is the scary part for us and that's the only reason why I'm involved by the way I just felt it was a great cause I there's just no doubt in my mind it's a great cause so we're just asking for your help if you would be so kind as to go go through Dr Conrad and we can talk I don't need an you don't need an answer that's where I was going don't feel that way all right okay all right we appreciate your time thank you so much you great seeing you you're welcome to State for the business [Laughter] meeting pleas great see you we're gonna excuse [Laughter] ourselves all right um the next item on our

027agenda is a nomination for a representative serve on the colonial Intermediate Unit 20 board um we're actually going to skip over that um Mr Galler's uh position doesn't expire until June 30th and we're not sure what we're gonna do yet so we're just gonna move on all right student highlights PVE Mr pompelo and Miss Adams hello everybody miss and I took a different approach this time because I come up here every board meeting and thank the parents I tell 50% home 50% school well the West 's been really helping PB out a lot kind of like the Hub down there for the five to seven year olds the sports fields and all the community stuff we're doing so we tried to highlight some of that this time so we're going to go together um so

028that's what you're gonna see a little bit how the whole Community is helping out PBE educate the kids go ahead CH all right right so M pel actually writes this in every connected he make sure everybody knows this always it always starts a PVE um but it does take a team effort and so we try to communicate that every week um and I think that we're trying to bring the community in more and more and that's what we want to highlight tonight takes the village it does all right so one of the cool things we're doing right now Bon begals this has been a very very exciting thing going on at PBE this year brand new Candace Boos I'll give her all the credit she came to me about the idea I loved it uh

029we invite the parents in um in the morning from 8:30 to 9:00 you get a bagel and a cup of coffee or a hot chocolate you to come with your when of your parents so it's the student and the parent come and you learn about all the stuff that's available media wise in the library and I I usually go there say hello Mr Eric comes comes to Adam but what we promote is Easter break the summer slide all that there are things you can still go on to the PB Bears portal there's plenty of stuff in there keep your kid reading and you know keep up to date and everything this is currently going on so uh they just started yesterday and Miss sponsel is calling them inform formances again she came to miss Trella

030with this idea and it's kind of like bring your parent to music class so parents get to come in they get to see what their child does during music class I think it's been amazing the only thing I've heard is they're not always thrilled that a fluke goes home with their child heard some things about that but otherwise they're absolutely loving it yeah that's a parents love this this is something new we're doing but once again the cool thing is Joe sponsor the came to me this is all intrinsically by teachers coming to the principal saying hey can we reach out to community more how awesome is that that's you should be proud of that all right guest readers uh you guys are even on here I think we got the board members on here

031um we have all the we have son one of the biggest employers of room County they came to read the partnership with St Luke's there's our buddy Jake Star War fox fox 6 reporter uh pum he had all my teachers and of course he went through our system so he's going to be a big shot on the national news Sunday I think a waste management we partner with them for all our stuff so and of course Mrs Bush's she's been here miss Bush's personal home they've been here for a long time ladies come in and help out so um that's just an awesome thing we do every year too and thank you for some of you coming in past few weeks we highlighted this in the fall but our butter butterfly garden was another great

032Community project because we did have a Scout group that was helping and then also the cares program came in and we couldn't have put it all together and so quickly without both of those groups the butterfly garden is awesome the spring guys need to come out all right Veterans Day everybody knows this is one of my favorites of all time I know I really get into it but we we between like 70 and 100 vets every year from the West End mon County come it's just an amazing event brings tears to my eyes every year but getting to see all the relatives come in and be with their kids it's it's literally amazing get back pip to go in the hallways and it's just really nice thing to do to all the veterans of the

033West End the kids love it crafts and carols was awesome it was a kindergarten event uh the parents got to come in the teachers WR a story that connected that story with two different songs that the students performed and then they got to get together with their child and make a snow glob that was the CFT Toys for Tots almost 9900 toys this year everybody and the coolest thing about this event we do the parade every single kid brings a toy to the Marines but every single toy we get goes to a row County family when row County it all stays in this County which I love that so and our school always steps up the help the other Schools central office to get that many toys out of one building I mean you guys

034know John the toy man he leaves every year so emal about just another great event of giving fire prevention week uh this year we had three different um Community fires uh companies with us we had West End uh pulk and then also Jackson Township and the students were able to learn all about fire safety I think their favorite part is going through the SmokeHouse they always enjoy that every year and then getting to see a teacher climb all the way up the ladder those are their their two big highlights from that but we're so thankful to have them each and every year they do a great job and we also partnered with Maro County 911 troll Center and the second grad has learned when we call 911 when we don't call 911 you guys be

035shocked how many second have a cell phone so they get educated these are the only times you should be calling 911 right but and also they show they brought some of their machines and trucks over um so that was a pretty great day too that was another teacher brought it to us yes that's the coolest thing this is a lot of this is Teachers coming to us we also try to involve other PB students between um PBI the middle school the high school obviously we have them coming over at the pep rallies but we also have fifth graders um and other students from PBE coming over they partnered at Christmas to do um an activity where they were writing letters uh we also did a Unity day activity where they were sharing information and then

036some of our fifth graders came down to read during the uh this is the tutoring program in the morning once again another teacher Stacy mechas came to me with an idea hey what if we got together with some people in West retired teachers some of the different um Outlets here in the West End just some of those are even parents we right now we have 11 full-time tutors there that help us out um with the kids and that's all once again they don't get paid or anything just like you guys on the board they come just to help little kids learn in the West End of the county year it's just amazing and really we just wanted to take tonight an opportunity to thank all of those different groups the students all of the stakeholders

037um between the PBE Community our West End Community we just wanted to take the time to thank them for all they do and then also highlight our teachers for the awesome ideas that they've been bringing to us and the last thing I have I just like to do this for everybody really quick just so already knows a few few nuggets about PVE so you know this one of the what the second largest uh Elementary School in the Tom we of Pennsylvania right he's big uh kindergarten right now is 322 kids enrolled set to graduate 2037 okay Roman today is 916 sorry guys um so the breakfast and lunch counts we have just under 300 kids eating breakfast for free every day um just over 600 eating lunch every day those are pretty good numbers um

038Transportation interesting we have out of the 916 716 on average take the bus 200 actually get dropped off and picked up um the last thing our nurses who are such hard workers they see an average of 90 students every single day you know five to seveny Old that get Bo Boos and checked on any so proud of my staff um like I said most of interesting Miss Adams is doing a phenomenal job as the AP and thank you for all your support anything you guys do for the where it all starts K2 thank you Roger was a great presentation and thank you to the community for everything that they do for all of our students here at PB I do have a question sure so what's the incoming enrollment for kindergarten numers are healthy I'm

039about I think between 190 and 200 right now so talking to Chris K my guidance secretary we're a little above where we usually are at this and the 322k number right now I've been averaging around 300 29 we're actually higher that I thought that was high so and if you look at the stats with Monroe County there's a chance might be a little bump you guys remember the years so yeah I've got one coming next year that's a CO baby she was bored okay well thank you again it was a great presentation all right moving on to superintendent Dr Conrad any Community questions this evening yes uh good evening everyone there were six Community questions that were submitted uh three Community questions were submitted from Eevee doobo from chest Hilltown first question asked what is

040p a d LF stand for and this is the Pennsylvania School District liquor uh I'm sorry liquid Jesus all right Pennsylvania School Board we try that again Pennsylvania School Board uh School District liquid asset fund okay second question um asked where employees are traveling for the reading curriculum uh there are no employees traveling for the reading curriculum the third question asked if it is mandatory by the state to purchase new reading curriculum every three years and um the answer to that question is no it's not required however the last reading curriculum was purchased in 2018 so that was seven years ago so obviously we took a look at our data we took a look at um certain areas that we need to place a little bit more emphasis on um and that's what led us

041down the path of uh revitalizing our primary resources for uh reading curriculum for the district okay the next three questions were submitted by Denise hopley from ches Hill Township first question asked what specifically uh the travel under the procurement card is the expenses are for Tim's uh registration special education conferences nwaa conferences pasbo conference State Facility licenses and diesel additive which are all required uh a credit card payment the second question asked about the finance charges on the procurement card and how to avoid void them when a procurement card is submitted for a purchase a form must be filled out and submitted to the superintendent the business manager before the card can be approved so there's an approval process the card is held in the business office in a safe uh some purchases require a

042credit card in lie of a check the business manager reviews the request before the card is issued for use there are no charges for using the credit card the final question asked about the program of studies and what are the elective what the elective courses are what's on the agenda tonight is an addendum for the program of studies uh remember we had this on the last agenda there was a couple of things we wanted to clarify and ultimately what it's doing is providing clarification for the graduation requirements for students that are attending mcti um related to the program of studies please you know refer to uh what's posted online uh program of studies are accessible on our district website uh and there's a list of the courses as as well as the description so um

043and that was it so thank you for some M questions thank you uh moving on in the agenda um this is smil uh the secretary's report requal February 27 so Mo second a motion by Mr burer seconded by Mr Walters is there any discussion I need to abstain from the minutes from the February 27th meeting for not being here anyone same for me okay anyone else all those in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries at this time are there any Pleasant Valley citizens that would like to address the board please come to the podium state your name the township you reside in and there is a three minute limit also the agenda item you're speaking to please okay um I was just talking please hope sorry Pres just

044Township um I'm just not sure with the procurement card again with the no travel on that one nobody's traveling on that it's just all separate charges for the month procurement cards I thought had 1.5 to 4% interest okay and um you said there aren't any charges but it says for travel etc etc you five things that I could quickly write down I'm not exactly sure okay so that's that question the program study they were addendums to what was out there because it says for the graduation credits and it's not showing any of the electives for um physics for robotics for business etc etc they're not in there at all so and the health or cut or they addition it says 50 by 2028 yeah 2028 so I'm not exactly sure if you're cutting pH you're

045cutting Health you're cutting Wellness cutting business cutting some of the Sciences that's what looks like those four programs that were listed just we answered that they were addendum so it's not really clear so I don't know I'd like some clarification on that other people are asking questions and then um something I don't know what different freshman have to have 7.5 and everybody else has to have 6.5 in 2025 and congratulations to the singer scholarship righta bilian Zack PR and then the work the work Session 8 a if that's a work session question it would be there will be oh there is okay I can save those um that procurement because I'm not exactly sure with the specifics you glanced over the entire question with it and I was concerned about the charges and then um

046the expenditure part I don't know why you can't spell this out for the community it's just very confusing and vague and this is the communication we've been talking about atum it's like what is this we don't know we're 9,925 56 is about so Clarity is really important to us but we're not still getting it and then I'll just save the rest of them for uh working session all right see no one else approach the podium we will move on oh I forgot to ask someone to do Treasures Bo Mr Walters would you like to do or not um I don't right yeah go ahead go ahead yeah I'm sorry I forgot to ask someone to do this without Mrs surface being here this evening but we do need a motion to for items Four B

047through D I have motion by Mr Galler second by Mr Clark is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries uh Mr Fitzgerald unfinished business please this could be unfinished business it could be new business um it's it's generally uh with an eye towards everything going on in Washington and lawsuits that seem to be coming left and right from attorney generals from school districts from parents it is just uh you I've been I've been doing this long enough to to to be able to say this has been the craziest 90 days legally regulatory wise um that school districts have have faced with the the the irony being nothing yet has really impacted or changed the law for for Pleasant Valley I do think um

048as we watch the US Department of Education shutter itself um and in particular the um the Philadelphia office which impacts this area um that change will be coming and and what that will specifically look like is still unknown um as I've said to many school districts that that I that I represent and and have heard from many superintendents that we're keeping an eye on these things and when there is an absolute impact where whether it be legally regulatory wise or or funding wise uh will certainly be on top of that so I just want to keep you a prize of that thank you does anyone else have any other unfinished okay moving on to new business um under Career and Technical Institute uh Mrs surface's report is attached uh Colonial IU Mr G report is

049attached nothing else thank you Mrs zip BBA liaison nothing at this time okay thank you uh under education I do not have anything at this time uh excuse me Finance report again this is surface isn't with us but um there's items on our agenda later on athletic report Mr o'keef good evening I'm happy to announc that uh we had congratulations to senior greatone of being selected to represent PB at this year's Lehi Valley Football scholar athlete banck where he earned the scholar athlete award uh the event was held on Sunday March 2nd 2025 and I just want to shout out to him to keep up the amazing work and best luck in your future endeavors uh also a huge congratulations and shout out to our first ever female wrester uh Julia trout who represented PB

050wrestling at States on March 6 through the 8th 20225 congratulations on an incredible season I cannot wait to see what thank you uh policy report Mrs there are two policies on the agenda for approval this evening policy 209 for health examination and screenings and policy 85.2 school security Personnel thank you Capital Improvement Mr Burger our next scheduled uh meeting will be on the uh 27th of the month I'll have a report that thank you Mr Clark technology all right thank you Mr Walter security I actually have two things um One Security is working on operations planned for next month's Special Olympics and then two Chief Millers team is uh looking into numbering the exterior windows in the buildings to match the interior windows um this is for First Responders based off of Pennsylvania State Police

051the rvat report and that's in motion right now thank you all right superintendent report Dr Conrad uh tonight I'm seeking approval for board agenda items 7A and 8 a none all in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries Human Resources Mrs F yes evening tonight I'm taking approval of items 9 B through 9 e items 9 F through 9h are informational so move second motion by Mr Walter seconded by Mr burer any discussion in hearing of none all in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed motion carries tonight I'm seeking approval of items 10 B through 10 e items 10 F through 10 I are in MO second motion by Mr burer seconded by Mrs zip is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by

052saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries okay uh for curriculum I'm seeking approval for item 11b 11 C and 12 so move second a motion by Mr Galler seconded by Mr Walters is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries operations Mr Smith evening iing item 13 a so move second I have a motion by Mr O'Keefe seconded by Mr Walters is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries business mement Mrs Tammy SMI appr it 14 14 G second a motion by Mr burer seconded by Mr Walters is there any discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries I am also

053requesting approval so move second have a motion by Mr Galler and seconded by Mr Burger any discussion all those in favor please snif Bo by saying I I anyone opposed and that motion carries under new business Mr fitgerald there is no no new business this thank you uh Pleasant Valley citizens is anyone have like to address the board yes Dr conr did seeing no one approach the podium um Pleasant Valley um School directors anything this evening um I just want to make two statements um the procurement card Dr Conrad did give you a list of what is being paid under that with that card and there is no charges on that card Mrs surfus and I come in every Monday prior to a board meeting and re review every bill that is being paid the

054evening of the board meeting um we she takes one half I take with the other half uh Tammy can attest we've questioned many bills we've asked many questions and one of my stickling points is finance charges and Freight charges so um there aren't any additional charges on that per credit card so I just want to make everyone aware of that and as far as the program of studies these are just addendums you really need to look at the whole program of studies which is online everything is there we aren't eliminating any courses so again look at the whole thing it'll probably be easier to look at now once since the addendum is approved just go on and look at the whole program of studies so why isn't the no no no no no sorry anyone

055else Dr con not the questions won't be answered it's not right time just be clear we got actra facts okay uh this evening wanted to thank Dr Avery and the singer scholarship U PB school counselor Brian Morgan uh and the interviewing team uh last week we had uh our Pleasant Valley students uh that were awarded $30,000 scholarships this is incredible we're so proud of these students uh they they did a tremendous job um not only uh applying for the scholarships but obviously you know defending it um with Dr Avery and the committee uh this is great news for our students and congratulations to Brianna Paul Mary to lilan aart to um anniah aen and Zachary Prader so we're so proud of them and you know we're looking forward to uh next year's group of individuals

056who will be recipients of singer scholarship so thanks to the administration team and again big shout out to Mr Morgan for um you know working with Dr Avery and singer scholarship to bring it back to TV so we're very proud and uh let's go Bears that's it that's it okay have a motion to aour so second okay all in favor okay we are adjourned would you like a a break or just want to continue on here we go keep going okay have a good evening all right um we're going to begin our working session agenda and we tried something um new last meeting um and we will try it again um so I'm going to ask if there's any um questions from the community at this time on the agenda items we want to do

057it her Section then then we'll ask after we do the we'll do that okay just so that we know if there are questions okay I these questions sometimes it's just not red so a for the working session um when will you be discussing the whole budget with public did you say I'm sorry eight eight that's what I thought you said that's that's travel policies isn't this a working session travel policies okay I thought you said budget I thought you sorry Sor say budget no okay go ahead I'm sorry for clarification are you asking about the budget because that's what you had asked about or are you asking for a policy I just want to oh sorry backing it up uh well no it has to do with that the travel expenses do this is something

058a new new policy putting in is this a new policy putting in no no it's been there for years okay so yes it does have to do with the policy this isn't on or whatever not anyway so yeah it does have to do with it you're you're changing the policy no no we're just going to discuss it oh you're discussing okay so is this included in the budget the money yes but these are policies these are policies it's not budget this nothing budget I'll be I asked have this put on has nothing to do with budget maybe you could wait so M hope this I want to be informed about the policies so I asked the board to have it be put on the agenda to talk about the policies for if and when someone

059were to not about what is or is not budgeted that's what I'm Mrs hopley what we're going to do and maybe this will help after each section like section one section two I'm going to ask the community if they have any comments so maybe you ought to hold that on that on off on that one until we get to that so you hear what the discussion is I know you weren't here last meeting on at the working session when we tried this new new part get okay very good all right anyone else okay think we clarify anyone else for section one well no no no no we're g to it's for the whole agenda at this we should put we should be putting one Finance but before it goes number two there should be a

060thing there St we're gonna do that Township this is for the working session agenda item just I I did read very quickly today and this is question my error and not printing it for the 905 AR citizens advisory committee there was some rewritings and it's still seems that it's more board driven suggestion for items and I just want to ask again that we open the thought that the citizens who are participating in this committee that they can bring items to the board for this committee's discussion please just to make sure that we're making sure I'm saying this now loudly too to hopefully that people will know that this policy has been approved and that they will use the Google form to join hopefully we can get more participation from the citizens of our community thank

061you thank you all right anyone else can we do an audible to the agenda to allow 10 to go first instead of last Mr CH you don't want Mr kinsky to sit here all night I did ask him two days ago if I asked the exact same thing I said you want to be put up and you know he said we could just keep it where it's at okay I did I did do that we tried to adjust it a little we did do that one other meeting so all right well Finance good evening everybody um the first thing I'm going to go over are our capital reserve and our bond F balances at February 28th our cap Reserve account has an available balance of 15 million it's the first one check actually you don't

062it's it's not one okay it's on the agenda yeah this one y so this is the cap Reserve account um and again I'll just repeat it has an available balance of 15 million 912 519 February 28th the 2018 Bond account has an available balance of0 the 2023 Bond account has an available balance of0 and the 2024 Bond count has an available balance of0 can we just take can we just take a pause can we line up where where you're seeing this to compare to where we're seeing this right now I just want to make sure I just wanted to well this was the first one she said the cap Reserve [Music] got it got it thank you understand thank you I was just trying to um so each account um all four of these accounts

063have approved interest from January when I did the last presentation to February for the bond accounts that interest was rolled into the construction cost which will lower the amount of the final Bond we discuss that later on does anybody have any questions on the balances for those account hear you can't hear you do you have any questions on the it's not their question it's our question um the next item I have is the F report and this one's for January 31st 2025 cant Valley epte Reserve balance was $4 m969 9269 this is equivalent to 5 and a half months of Reserve we are required to maintain four months of Reserve so we're in good position at this time anybody have any questions on that um item C are our food service numbers for February February

064breakfast meals for 18746 lunch meals 4,374 after school snacks were 10,771 and our allart sales were 23,6 5425 item D is the monthly Woodson's newsletter that's also in public view so you can review that does anybody have any questions on the Food Service microphone on because it is soft take one okay okay um okay so then my next item I'm going to review Bond scenario suggestions that we've got from um Raymond James this is for the final piece of the bonding for our construction project at the high school so to start off with I just wanted to review the entire project the construction costs which includes our general contractor electrical mechanical and plumbing and environmental 72 mil 5711 194 professional fees 7.5 million miscellaneous 2.8 and our contingency of 4.7 million which came to a

065total project cost of 37 mil 683 316 at February 28th we have $9 m94 allocated to the project out of our two Bond 2018 Bond we have allocated 2,898 245 our 2023 Bond 15, 742 992 and our 24 Bond 15, 331 657 we applied and received an improvement grant for a million dollar towards this project appli for and received an the environment grant for 987 so that leaves an amount left for this project of 42 m541 335 that we need to do a bond for um there are some potential grants that are written into the governor's budget they're written in there they're going to be improving grants we will not know if those grants are approved or not until the governor budget is passed and we don't have any guidelines yet on how you qualify

066for those that will all after Governor's budget was so in talking to R and James um we came up with two different scenarios um so option one is to fund an additional 15 million that would be over 20 years it would be funded a series 2025 bond in the amount of 40 million that would yield 3.97% and then in a series of 2026 bonds for 10 million and we would do that in June of 26 it's projected that would yield 4.25% that's just a guess guess would be this would be fully funded at the end of the 2526 school year in the budget pending the ability to maintain the current schedule for 2526 and as you'll see in the budget presentation following there's a lot of unknowns in our budget at this time potential use

067of additional funds for other District Renovations and the Bond payments would end in 2046 um option two is to fund fund an additional 40 million also over 20 years this would be the series 2025 bond which will be funded on June 1st and that would Beal 3.97% we would be fully funded at the end of the 2425 school year for this pending our ability to maintain our current schedule for 2425 Bond payments would end in 2046 um we would say we could so if you go back to if you remember from the first slide for the rest of this project it's 42 million the scenario is showing 40 million we could save the funds in the cap Reserve account for the other 2.5 million um will continue to earn interest on the other bonds and

068that would make up that 2.5 million over time and the contingency funds for 4.7 million that's contingency that doesn't mean we're going to need that through this project it was built into the budget as a safy um so we may never touch that money so then we wouldn't need it so these are the two options that I discussed with Raymond James the business office and my recommendation is to go with option two it limits the amount that we are borrowing um we should be fully funded at the end of the 2425 school year so we wouldn't have to put any additional increases in the budget going forward to make those Bond payments the additional budget amount in the contingency we may not need that um save additional funds we or we can save additional funds

069in the cap Reserve to make up for the 2 and a half million that we still need for the project um the economy is still in a good place at this time to fund the 40 million to borrow the 40 million and I do say that at this time good place for it um PD can continue to invest the 23 and the 24 bonds without any IRS ramifications um and until we would fund this 40 million we could pay any of the uh bills to the general contractor out of our general fund and then when the 40 million is funded we could re pay back the general fund and continue to invest the 23 24 and earn interest on it um and we can use general fund money to pay any of those fees from

070now until that 4 million uh the 40 million would carry the construction cost through April of 2026 so we could go from now until April 2026 investing and reinvesting the 23 and the 24 funds as long as the market is suitable for it Ally from Raymond James this I'm giving you this information now so that you have some time to sit with it think about it read over the information Ally from Raymond James is going to come in April um she's going to give you the more specific interest rates at that time because they're changing every day um and then our goal would be to fund this in in June on June 1st that would be our goal to so it would be on the try to get on the agenda for May do you

071remember when we year and a half ago the board has already approved to borrow right up to 103 million which we never going to do we're not doing yeah okay but at the time that was the budget based on the market so the board has already approved for us to borrow up to that so official board approval for this other 40 million wouldn't necessarily be needed but we would need the board's input on which direction in okay is there I don't have my crystal ball I wish I did are you and Ally okay waiting until June yeah yes and I can I was at Paso conference for the last two days uh came back this afternoon and I can tell you that uh two of the sessions that that I went to they're predicting that

072it's going to be okay for the rest of this year okay 2026 not so much okay um so and right and to the bond right now it's the interest rates for us to get the bond is very good for us right now and it's going to remain that way for the next few months okay are there are there any sorry are there any grants um that what what is the potential value of some of the grants that we're waiting on the governor's budget for is there anything more significant than the environmental or the other grant for a million the the next one is the another Improvement Grant another Improvement and the the Improvement Grant from the last budget with the governor was a million dollar Max and we did get that so there has been

073some talk about giving priority to the districts townships and counties that did not receive it the first time okay um but that is all up in the air until the governor's budget passes yeah um I I think we're in a very favorable position right now uh I I I like what you told us about where we stand and and based on what I know I can't predict the future but everything from my perspective looks favorable for us to go for the lesser amount although we'll be watching it here over the next several months to see what's happening particularly with some of the uncertainty which is happening in Washington DC right now so but I I I feel by the time we get it April or May that's going to probably settle down because if they

074haven't settled the federal budget by that time we're going to be in some serious hurt so I I I I think I I I think we're heading in the right direction I would I'd Pigg you back on that and and say the contingency money I mean depending on what happens in Washington I'm already seeing on personal level at work uh last couple projects He didn't that because of the increase in tariffs and the equipment um I don't know if equipment was set at a certain price if we potentially might have some increases there but I wouldn't count on having that contingency the entire thing available I could see that eating into it a little bit some of the decisions uh we we basically got firm fixed price on the contracts we have in place and

075um the reason why we want to get the Contracting done when we did was so that our our contractors in their and the vendors they deal with could settle on the price at which they're going to get the new equipment that we're going to need for the so the burden sort of falls on them unless unless we make changes to the contract and I guarantee you I'm going to be a tough one to deal with on contract changes and I can tell you that the GC has been ordering some of the materials already yeah um we've got our first payout today oh so it's for materials they're already ordering the materials to avoid the increasing prices laging delivery time and any TS yeah you'd be surprised what comes from overseas anything as small as a

076vfd and could be really expensive all the way to stainless stealer so so the contractors are being proactive thank you any other questions next working session deines that we have to meet for the January first bance okay okay all right everybody's I'm thinking we're okay with option two yeah I'm okay option yeah okay my last item tonight is and I'm going to stress this a very preliminary look at the budget um so for the 25 26 preliminary budget the things that I'm going to review are going to be the budget process status um budget assumptions that were made to create this our revenue and expenditure summary a tax impact scenarios fund Balance review and what the next steps are going to be to finalize the budget um so the process and the status the Act

077One index that's been taken care of the board voted on that back in January um for us not to exceed the state minimum of 5.5% an early budget review is projecting a balanced budget um at this time the professional staff collective bargaining agreement is still in negotiation phase that is 35% of our budget um so that's moving along wonderfully um but at this point I we're not at the economical point to put those numbers in stone just yet um administrative review historical spending we're reviewing districtwide Staffing positions for maximum efficiency programming needs and fiscal responsibility and we're continuing to address and in our other buildings um the next one are the budget assumptions that were made preparing this preliminary budget we're going to maintain all of our programs we're going to continue to provide student

078classroom supplies for all of our students after school tutoring or lro program however that works out and our after school transportation for our students supplemental contract obligation increases funding for any additional staff when the final recommendation is determined minimal increase in state funding um at this time our basic Ed funding preliminary numbers 6% increase $162,000 just to give you something to reference that with that doesn't cover one of our veteran teachers salary and benefits um our special ed is a 1.6% increase which is equivalent to $79,000 and we about 0% increase in the tax equity and we don't qualify for the adequacy uh part portion of the formula so we don't get any monies for that tax revenue is currently below the state allowable maximum 5.5 and you'll see that in a couple of slides

079again the contractual salaries and benefits obligation increase professional contract is still under negotiation so these are estimated numbers in the Budget Transportation contractual increases and and districtwide repairs that okay so this slide shows the tax impact scenarios I did four different scenarios the first three um you can reference those there's no intention of us going to any of those three it's just for reference to show comparison this very preliminary budget was done based off of the 2% the net average assessment of a home 143 138 numers provided by the county when they send us the Assessments in November um they send us an assessment report for each Township it shows the number of properties how much each property is assessed that for and they give us the me the number to use for the assessment

080um the millage um if we went to 2 2% the millage would be 0588 that is a 0.00005 increase 2425 so the net tax would be $3,799 on the property that's assessed at 143 138 this is an increase from 2425 of $78 annually and then that would be equival equate to a $7 increase monthly for the 2% and that's what this very preliminary budget is based off of a 2% tax increase that's what's included correct okay Tammy can I ask um I guess two questions I don't know if now is the right time but so I can't remember what month The Gaming revenue is certified at what month is it CER they have to provided to us so it's May 1 why did I think it was in September and would it be possible to

081get like what that has been for the past couple of years yes I I do know that I can give that to you oh okay um in 2122 it was 4 million oh you don't know what it is per tax bill okay so that would be there's a lot of things that go into that the homestead Form application that goes into that okay um I forget I think we had over 790 taxpayers that that benefited last year oh so it depends on how many are yeah and we do a resolution with the budget that gives them exact number of taxpayers that the homestead Farmstead benefits okay that number is right in there for every year okay so if you want that I can I don't know that off the top okay I guess where where

082I was going is I think it was kind of stagnant for a number of years but yet last year it it went it went up because I know we had an increase my tax bill went down3 and 2324 the property tax relief money also known as the gambling money that's how yeah that it went up to 5.1 million from the 4 million but it stayed that way okay to the exact dollar amount it stayed that way in 2425 it did increase to 6.2 million oh okay right um I don't I have not heard anything about any projections if it's going to go up for 25 26 go down remain the same I've heard nothing this but we will know by May 1 May first they required to send an email to me certifying what our

083amount is okay y'all better go to the casino okay thank you you're welcome um so for reference I put the actual expenses from the last two years 2223 and 2324 so that there's a bit of an a comparison of what we actually spent to the budget 2425 budget is up there as well for reference which we ended up at $111 million so for 2526 again very preliminary budget the total revenue 116 million this is comprised of local of 61 million and if you compare that to 2324 it's close to what we actually collected um the state is 52,7 18952 again very comparable to the actual in 2324 and then Federal um the budgeted amount 1.5 million when you compare that to 2324 there's a $4 million difference we got we had eser money in 2324

084that is no longer um we won't be receiving that anymore so that comprises the revenue of6 186 231 for the expenses um instruction with 64 m425 996 Support Services 40 m 9693 non-instructional in operations 1,566 378 and other in financing 9,286 953 for a total of budgeted expense expenditures of6 186 230 um so go ahead okay so the the other in the financing that 9 million that would include the the new right the new one okay just wanted to make sure that would include all of our payments 2018 2023 2024 and 2025 okay okay thank you and then there's there's in that one we also have the contingency and we have there's some money in there to transfer over to C Reserve as well right the other District okay does anybody have any questions on

085this sles I I know it's a little early but uh I guess we're to keep an eye on what they're doing at the federal level I I know they latest I've heard they just they intend to take that money and push it down to the States but is it going to be the same amount of money when it gets through the house of the Senate that that'll be my my only angst if I could say that Mike from what I've understood in Pasco and they reviewed this quite a bit over the LA last two days have been very educational with all I I I I personally think my my good feeling says it's too late to do a whole lot of changes correct to it right now and until right now that number looks good

086but until it reaches the president's desk you know I'm always a little uneasy did the thought process right now is that it's not anything that's happening on the federal level is not going to affect the state level before 2527 moving forward their thought processes is that when that gets pushed down those funds are going to run through the formula oh oh well that's not good for us it is not good not good for us all right thank you you're welcome so I'm going to review our fund balance with the projection for 2526 will Mo like um we would have nonspendable 63149 these are money that are dedicated to things specific um in the previous years it was for pre diesel that we hadn't used in the current year and advocacy Alliance is the current our

087committed fund balance 17 m821 296 the assigned fund the assigned portion of the fund balance 8,666 717 and then unassigned 4,786 523 so for our general f fund balance it would be 31 m376 we have we have fund balance restricted in capital projects of 56 million and we also have restricted debt balance of 4.6 million those two items are 60 million for a total fund balance of 92 million5 648 I know that sounds wonderful um the 56 million that is that's the portion that's dedicated to the high school renovation project you're going to see that drop quickly over the next three years um that portion will drop um I did in I did include the 40 the 40 million and then the drop that we that we'll have in 2526 because there's a draw down

088schedule so the 40 million goes in but we have draw down schedule for next year so I took all that money out of there so that would be our fin balance the next steps um continue to do building and Department review continue to do Staffing review Administration and Board review of anything any of the areas identify areas of budget adjustments whether it's revenue or expenditure monitor the governor's budget recommendations um hopefully the governor's budget passes by before June 1st um if not we'll just have to go off with the estimated numbers finalize the colletive bargaining agreement with the professional staff um and the pro proposed budget adoption I'm hoping to have for May 8th 2025 the PVE deadline is May 31st and the final adoption of the budget on June 19th P's deadline is June

089Tammy do you have any idea those federal dollars if they run them through the new formula how that would affect us up the top of my head know I can tell you because of because of the way that pleasant when Pleasant Valley's enrollment went up to 7,000 students the it ran through the formula which increased the state funding the basic and the special ed funding increased it exponentially but since that time Pleasant Valley's enrollment has gone down um and the reason that the reason enrollment went up is because everybody came here from New York and after 911 right those students have since graduated um those families had Liv their mov back to New York moved elsewhere just didn't have any more children um so our enrollment has gone down but you're held harmless so it

090our state funding can't go any less right but without enrollment going up no matter how you run that money how what goes through that formula it's still going to be a minimal increase for us yeah did that answer your question it's going to hurt us if they do it that way absolutely I'm just wondering how what that amount could be that's going to hurt us that's what I wonder and our federal funds now that we get federally are the titles idea probably missing one they're the funds that are federally funded right now okay I I I'm not sure that the federal dollars follow the same funding form funding formula that state dos do but I I I will I will check on that and and you might do that as well yeah it does not

091Mr yeah as far as my understanding is it does not no but if they push the federal fund down to the St that's what she said it's and if the state requires us to do those functions and they provide funding for it then it'll be at that whatever the new formulation is which but but if they don't provide it then we're still stuck as long as we have the regulations to do the work so that's going to be a whole we need to figure out how to fail right a lot will come to light over the next year I think yeah but from your conference there you're everybody's thinking it's not going to happen 25 26 it's not going to happen for that year year that will can be affected the for the first time

092be 26 27 and there are still bills on the FL from the governor to redo the F you know that every year they put it on there and gets a little bit closer to passing every year and if that would pass then we would benefit from that okay okay okay is that everything Tammy that's all I have for this evening okay that's section one um is there any public comment on section one only okay I'm fine with you there just we as public be able to get some kind of conclusive picture of this budget before it comes out as it comes out when you get there's a document be able to see it with all the numbers and all the everything pluged in so when the proposed budget is presented in May that is put

093out in the front office and online for 30 days for public inspection and it's called the pde 2028 and it goes into way more detail than what you saw tonight Janet please Tammy what Bill specifically could people look up um doing a search on the uh the page for the state which is there specific numbered bills or you just recommend doing a general search on the state I have Bill number I do not know thep thank you okay moving on to section two um education curriculum U Middle School Furniture who's doing that one Mr oh okay I must say good evening uh so I just wanted to kind of come here and present kind of what we've been looking at for uh new furniture at uh the Middle School here you go to the next

094slide please so the purpose here we really wanted to look at optimizing the learning environment here and so uh with purchasing new furniture we're going to create that engaging collaborative and comfortable learning spaces with flexible seating that's going to really focus on um those students and hopefully impact that academic success we also want to mod modernize the instructional support spaces so that we create those physical environments that support Innovative teaching for our students so with that purpose said we looked at the justification we're going to utilize our ready tolearn Grant block funds to enhance our student learning space what's really unique about this is it is uh was reviewed by dwey uh under their um their improvements for the district on U priority list number five so the request here was uh reaching out to

095four different vendors we asked them to supply two to three different styles of student desks chairs teacher desk podiums um and uh you know some seating arrangements there and uh if you take a look at the Timeline there they all delivered uh some type of display from January 27th to the 31st then uh during that time frame of February 3rd to the 14th there the display was in two classrooms at the middle school where teachers could use their time to look at them and see what they like uh there was a survey there that was also presented and we collected feedback in the sense of kind of what vendor did they kind of like like some of the Styles flexible seatings did they like um um the desk shapes and so on and so forth

096uh then on March 4th we looked at a specific company for pre Premier environment because that was kind of the Avenue that we were looking to go with um which was also kind of um connected with Dewey and their suggestion with the high school Capital Improvement project so we took down a few teachers there to look at their uh flux space which is uh a really enhanced area that shows the unque uness of the tables the flexible seating along with new designs of a stem classroom similar to what we're going to be putting at the high school next slide please so what's on the horizon here so we are requesting that that Premier environments provide us two quotes so that we can utilize the ready tolearn block grant um obviously before the end of the

097year when we need to the first quote here we're asking them to we're looking at some high quality furniture that will use a good amount of the funds the second quote there is going to be a moderate quality and obviously that's going to utilize a little bit less but because of this we're looking for the White Glove service we want to make sure that there is a seamless comprehensive delivery and set of experience that's not putting a burden on our district our future then utilizing the ready tolearn Grant block grant in sub subsequential years here is to then look at redoing the furniture at PBE and then uh the following year PP so uh we're requested uh from Premiere those quotes March I think it's Monday um this coming Monday the 17th so we're hope

098to have those so that you can kind of take a look at those um for the next board meeting so did you take the T the surveys is that from when the teachers came in and looked at the furniture and then you shared that with premere and then well uh no we I kind of we kind of like looked at it and analyzed it what what were they looking for were they looking for uh tables were they looking for collaborative tables were they looking for standard Square desk were they looking for flexible desk that shape so we kind of then um based on that data we told Premiere what this is what they were looking for okay when you say flexible desk do you mean like you consider stand uh or do you mean like

099it's a free form shape yes free form and square depending on what they're going to come up with obviously the the ones that are a little more flexible shape they connect you can put four in a group you can put five in a group you can regroup you can uh do collaborative grouping with that those are going to cost a little bit more so this is we're kind of looking at some of these cloes what they can offer us and you said the quotes are due back on the 17th yes that's we need a quick turn around to make sure that we can use we have to have them received uh by June 30 okay all right any questions what about when we have to do standardized testing when you have to be in a

100rose and how's that they they can still be adjusted so um it's going to be up to the teacher of how they want to use those desks so there are there were a couple request from the teachers they like the standard rows um but we are looking to put a a collaborative Circle um ability in there by able to connect those when those teachers want to do those one of the style of desks that we saw it's kind of like shaped like a trapezoid so that the students can sit individually in rows for standardized testing but if you want to move into small group instruction for kids that need a little more attention what you can do with those desks is then turn them into like a half circle and the teacher can sit with

101them for the instruction so that option offers both traditional and so with the company that you're looking to go with I know we're getting quotes for them but have we had that conversation knowing that with the grant there's the June 30th deadline be a to facilitate that yes yep and the options that we're looking for it's you can do whatever you want in that classroom we're not ordering what teacher a b or c once correct we're looking for I want to be sure this is not a we get to pick what we no we're for the the uniform across there is going to be some variations in certain classes you know sence science for example I just I just hope there was here's a c no make I'm sure people wanted it but then we

102got good feedback on it that's anyone else 100% paid for through that Grant okay than Keystone testing y just I'm sorry you're already up we'll just jump around okay so um I'm here representing DHS I'll by my L some um but I'm very happy to be here um we've been working on um sort of an action plan that we're looking to put into motion um we're going to start working on some of these things at the end of this year as we head into the Keystone season we've got um spring keystones and may but then we really want to make sure that it is fully enacted for um the beginning of next school year for 25 26 so whenever we think think about putting together an action plan we always want to think about our

103why we want to focus on the fact that our school district is committed above all to our students and we want to make sure that we are always increasing our graduation rate um based on the data from last year our graduation rate is around a 90% so in addition to that we want to make sure that those graduates that we're churning out are going to be given um the credit that they deserve so we want to make sure that those diplomas presentent very rigorous standards of accomplishment when we think about the diversity of our students and their needs and all of those students being able to reach their maximum potential we want to make sure that we're always supporting our students in that endeavor and last and in my opinion the least on this list

104is that we always want to make sure that we're complying with state and federal mandates and what we're talking about is something called act 158 so act 158 um which went into full implement ation with the class of 2023 this is basically coming from so just historically we were at No Child Left Behind at a federal level and then that was replaced with the every student Su succeeds act so in addition to the regular graduation requirements they said how can we meet every student's need how can we be flexible and still hold our students um for uh a lot of accountability so with act 158 they really are focusing on making sure that all students are demonstrating postsecondary preparedness the focus here and the focus of the presentation I'm about to give is going to

105be talking about the Keystone exams which is their main measure of academic achievement that is standardized across the state and then also one of the things that Essa focused on was allowing for this idea that there are alternative Pathways to graduation where we're still able to show educational Excellence for all students so Keystone exams are Central to this because there are five pathways that act 158 um is uh willing to accept of those five pathways two of them are focused on keystones they are the primary source of evidence in order to determine those graduation Pathways so when we talk about Keystone exams just to make sure everyone's understanding these are end of course exams so whereas like a pssa is taken over three years years of content that the student then takes in um a

106future grade these are going to occur right at the end of the course so usually within a few weeks of when they would be taking the final exam typically most students will take the algebra 1 exam in nth grade there are always exceptions we have some who take it in eighth grade and we have some who take it um later in 10th or 11th grade also typically ninth grade biology and then for the Literature Keystone exam we targeted the end of our sophomore year so our English 10 course I think it's really important to discuss the fact that these Keystone exams are focused on 9th and 10th grade in order to give students a sense of security and understanding where they stand on that graduation pathway as early as possible and to allow school districts

107to address what do we do when students are struggling to meet those Pathways so again just there you see the graphics are explaining the two different Pathways and the reason why there's two different Pathways is pathway one is straight across right you are proficient at a 1500 which is the scale score that they use you are proficient in each of the three exams pathway two a little bit of flexibility and so as long as you meet these requirements it has to do with a composite score maybe you were extremely proficient in one exam but you just kind of missed it in another one so you were not proficient as long as you're not extremely non-proficient which would be called below basic and that you have these small criteria in place they will consider this a

108pathway two where you're going to graduate with the Keystone composite score that's accepted for this so we want to take a look at our data and see where Pleasant Valley is as far as um you know where we're going to make our goals and then the action steps that are going to come with this right now looking at the class of 2024 because that's the complete data had to work with we are looking at just under 70% of seniors who actually attempted all three Keystone exams now these seniors took these courses because those courses are part of a graduation requirement that are set by our credits but we're not seeing the same level of completion for the exams specifically when we broke it down and looked at some subgroups excuse me two subgroups really jumped

109out 42% of our Bears Academy cyber students so that means they had to be at least half uh or full-time uh were attempting all three keystones and 51% of students that were identified with an IEP were able to attempt all three keystones so in total we were looking at the senior class and 79 students about 22% did not take any Keystone exams at all so what is the take-home we need more support for our students we need to be able to um give them Direction and hold them accountable in order to help them achieve this graduation pathway so it's not something that's pressing on them that could potentially get in the way of them being able to graduate on time in the right way a little bit of extra data for you I looked at

110our graduation pathway breakdown and this is coming from um the graduation report that was completed uh between High School administration team and upper Administration as well 352 seniors were expected to graduate I think the actual graduating total is something around like 327 something like 327 here we can see on the blue here more than half of our seniors were able to graduate using pathway one and pathway two okay I think it was like around 53% but then when we look at some of the other Pathways that were available these other students didn't go through the Keystone composite or Stone proficiency pathway and we have to take a look at why that is so I I broke down some more data points that I found interesting I found 45 students were proficient on at least one

111or two exams but never actually completed participation in all three so simply by not even participating they could not be considered for those first two Pathways and then most likely graduated via another pathway in addition to that there were 69 students who did attempt all three keystones but they did not reach proficiency and therefore were not able to use pathway one or Pathway to yes I'm sorry do you know out of the blue how many are pathway one and how many are Pathway to for the purpose of this presentation I did not break it down but we do have that data available if you want it yeah okay want us to send it we can send it out yeah that' be helpful yeah problem okay so as we move forward we kind of break this

112down into two goals the first thing is that we need to increase Keystone participation in order to increase Keystone participation we're going to need the community to Rally behind us on this we're going to need to be able to communicate the expectations to clearly explain what Keystone exams are why they are so important to helping our students reach their graduation Pathways and we need to do this frequent ly and in a a timely manner um so some examples one of the reasons I'm presenting to you tonight is that we are planning by the end of the month to hold a parent info session for High School uh families uh and their students as well uh both in person and online in order to present this information and to um and to present why it's so

113important to participate in keystones in addition to that we realize that not every student is on the same pathway towards graduation but we know that because of our state and federal mandate and because of the fact that it's two of our five pathways moving through Keystone proficiency is our first step we're always going to attempt and do our best to get those kids to pass the keystones first so we're going to work with individualized plans we're going to think about all the different types of students um we're going to use scheduling meetings currently I think our Department's working with our sophomores this week um and during those scheduling meetings they're also pulling up their Keystone data just to review this and to say hey I know you're in this class you're gonna be taking this

114exam or you already took this exam we need to consider what our next steps are we also want to think about the fact that some groups might have some barriers to participating so we were brainstorming some ideas and we were thinking specifically about our cyber students right they were one of those subgroups with a very low uh full participation rate so we said we should offer transportation and lunch we can remove that barrier find a way to get them here so that they can take the Keystone exam in person also we thought about some incentives like a little breakfast treat or something to say thank you for showing up we're here to help you and you're helping yourself so here here's a little a little thing for you to address full participation meaning the students

115that take all three Keystone exams by the end of their junior year we've been thinking about some ways to really emphasize the importance of these Keystone exams and participating so full participation will will be rewarded with an invitation for walking at graduation in addition to that starting in uh the class of 26 uh we will be making sure that uh grant money will be paid for the Caps and Gowns of the students who were able to participate fully okay I I had a question on that last bu the second to last bullet point you're saying invitation to Walker graduation as an underclass as an underclassman prior to your senior year nope we're talking about in the senior year so these graduation pathways are so important to students we want to let them know that walking

116at graduation requires [Laughter] just [Laughter] to [Laughter] in focus on that [Laughter] OPP [Laughter] par toess theimportance taking t [Laughter] would [Laughter] inform [Laughter] biology [Laughter] um last year 32 students [Laughter] grade [Laughter] problem show up so question [Laughter] comp question so goal number two obviously once we get as Miss said their butts in the seats and we get them taking the test we want to make sure that they're going to be proficient and I'm not saying make sure they're going to be proficient but we want to give them the confidence we want to build them the skills and make sure that we have done everything we can to allow them to reach their maximum potential so we break this up into sort of before testing and after testing so before testing these are some

117things we're already doing um just so you know for example most of our PD sessions this year um when we've had Act 80 time we've been able to get together sometimes with the middle school as well to conduct a scope and sequence review to make sure that our courses are fully aligned to the Keystone standards we're looking at the breakdown of the Keystone uh data that comes back to us which tells um our teachers you know what specific components of a module are our students struggling with the most and then there were some really rich conversations about how could we rearrange things how could we get e8th grade to support ninth grade I know I was in the the math discussion for that as well so that we're making sure that the students feel fully

118supported and prepared by what their trigger courses get and that just means the course of the test we also want to make sure that we're utilizing data on a more regular basis um we're going to be using nwea from now on um that kind of information is going to allow us to adapt and you know further align to keystones and get instruction within the classroom um more in line with what's needed for that um other things like using release Keystone questions during class warm-ups we want to make sure that we're testing the students at grade level and at test level as well to make sure that they're walking into a test and they've seen questions like this before it's very familiar to them and spefic specifically we're putting some focus on the Bears Academy as

119well when we think about exam preparation you know they're working with teachers that are on the other side of the state um you know they're not in classrooms with them when we think about some of the exam preparation that our teachers take on themselves what can we do for the Bears Academy students to make sure they have access to resources and things like that so we're currently brainstorming ideas after the testing okay we've taken the test and oop we didn't make it so what is the next step we're not just checking a box to say okay the the participation rate is high right this is not just about us meeting that requirement this is about caring about the students and their achievement so we're going to really lean into those remediation courses and it's written

120into the program of studies that any student that is non-proficient after taking a keystone exam is eligible and expected to be scheduled for remediation there are obviously some exceptions to this like those who have scheduling conflicts where things can't be worked around I'm thinking specifically of mcti students um where you know we're going to do our best to get as many of those eligible students into those Foundation courses as possible the foundation courses scheduled um are going to be taught by a teacher they are not going to be on a computer I always think that's very important I think they originally were but we have a live instruction teacher we have differentiation we have um you know data informed uh lessons that are personalized and and things like that because the idea is you didn't

121pass it the first time with you know an all class instruction so now we need to be more specific and we need to be more supportive in addition to that we're going to be a little bit more aggressive also with the retesting schedule one of the things is if you've got algebra one in your head from nth grade we should not wait until the end of your junior year to test you again on algebra one we're going to strike while the iron is hot we're going to utilize more of that winter um testing session which is in between when our regular students test so like our reters will be targeted for that that way it's only been one semester since they last took their exam some quick FAQs um you know what if I don't

122take the keystones well you're gonna be rescheduled every semester that we have a testing session we're really making sure that kids aren't going to slip through the cracks we're going to inform them about graduation ceremony Privileges and how important that is to themselves to their parents to their community and also you really are not accessing those other three Pathways until you've made attempts at Keystone participation and proficiency and we're taking that at one step further at PL Valley and we're not the only District that's doing this in the area as well we're saying it's not enough just to participate and move on you're going to participate and then we're going to further support you if you haven't reached proficiency so one of the things we're going to help students comply with this making sure that

123they are fully informed they get personalized letters sent home to notify them of their Keystone schedule on the day of testing daily announcements are going out I there are teachers that walk around the hallway with a list that are going into classrooms hey you didn't report to Keystone testing you're supposed to be down there we're going to be doing as much as we can also then to make phone calls home and notify parents um and we have multiple days scheduled for makeups another FAQ um there's been a lot of talk about exemption um exemption isn't really a thing you've heard the word opt out from Dr Conrad and I'll talk about that in a second but just because I'm a mcti student cyber student dual enrollment I'm doing Co-op I have an IEP or a

124504 plan on that basis does that mean that I'm automatically exempt the answer is that is not applicable um the one caveat to that is students with IEPs obviously those are legally binding documents and if within their testing section section four the IEP team has made an assessment that the student is not required to take the Keystone exams then um that would that would be one exception to this but I have yet to come across an IEP like that so we talked a lot about pathway one and two but what about these other three Pathways once we've gone through and we've attempted to reach proficiency we've done as much as we can to support the student now we're at the end of junior year we're kind of out of options the students done their best

125here's where the flexibility of act 158 benefits our students instead of turning to them and saying no Keystone proficiency means no graduation there's saying we understand that there are differences for students we understand that there are different ways to demonstrate educational excellence and your graduation requirement so just really quickly to summarize pathway three is called the CTE concentrator pathway that's mainly for Career and Technical education so for example an mcti student puts in a bunch of um hours through their program they're going to take industry recognized certification exams and they're going to get a recommendation from their mcti instructor to say that um they have a very strong likeliness of doing well in their field they would be allowed to graduate via pathway 3 and again there's evidence um that they have to collect and

126uh be required for it it's not just an automatic if you're mcti pathway for some alternative assessments so ways that you can show other than Keystone proficiency that you are a able to achieve so um for example here's where uh the mention of the fouryear uh acceptance letter and you know an SAT score PSAT score um and they all have uh thresholds that have to be met for something like that as well um and then pathway five is really sort of the the last uh pathway that we would consider that's where we start pulling all sorts of little bits of evidence hey you know uh um how about are you holding a job right now can you get a recommendation letter from your employer um we have a couple of different courses the students can

127take if their CPR certified just different ways to show that they have um some art artifacts that are acceptable from these criteria with each um deviation uh or I'm sorry derivation of the pathway once you get down to pathway five more artifacts are needed to add together yep so just in conclusion what we're looking to do here is we're looking to increase that Keystone participation we want to give kids that leg up and show them that we're really supporting them early on in their High School career in order to reach those graduation requirements increase participation you know communicating the needs for this you might get more Buy in from the parents students from our community members we should be seeing Keystone proficiency increasing as well with that all our teachers are going to be working

128with that as well putting into place the remediation not allowing students to be part of that percentage of you didn't take any of these Keystone exams I'm gonna be calling a lot of homes I'll tell you that much um and ultimately that that will lead to graduation pathway satisfaction as intended and RPV proud graduates because % is good but we can do that is this discussed when you do scheduling meetings yes that was sort of one of the things that um proded this at this time of year one I'm setting up for spring keystones but also this is the time when students are um taking their course request and it's a great time to have that oneon-one with their guidance counselor I know there bi own Al trigger courses for literature when do you students

129you take that whate level so that would be at the end up their English 10 so end of sophomore years when they take that the Literature Exam focuses on fiction non-fiction whereas English n still has a lot of grammar and other things like that and if you complete three four or five pathways you still get that invitation to graduate you still get an invitation to graduate yes you've met the requirements of the it just seemed like in the other side was just one and two that's why it was confusing that was my initial that my initial concern when I first said was like yeah no all five pathways are acceptable in order to award the diploma with all the other graduation requirements right this this is just separate from that wa I don't I just

130for clarity what they're asking is people in pathway three four and five are they allowed to walk at graduation so that was I didn't understand that reward what you get to walk so the reward is for Keystone participation so as long as they have participated in the keystones if they're not successful but they tried all of them and then use an alternative pathway in order to graduate they are invited to walk right so so sometimes we get um students that are at mcti that are saying hey I'm just going to take the plumbing nocy and I'll be fine this is to encourage them to still take the Keystone exams um because you know frankly uh again I know that they do a great job that MCT and and high not these scores but what if

131a individual doesn't get that recommendation doesn't meet that certification criteria um you know we want to make sure that we get ahead of that in advance so three four and five will still walk three four and five will walk so long as they that makes Absolut no sense no no hold on three four and five will walk as long as they've taken the Keystone exams which they should have hopefully a chance to graduate through pathway one and two so so so essentially setting the bar that every single graduate every single student that walks at graduation must take the Keystone exams why can't we make the requirement I'm sorry why can't it be a requir no it is that's what that's what we're saying here so that's what we're proposing is that in order to walk

132at graduation we're we're looking to make this requirement within our district correct yes I support on absolutely not our students buster to go to mcti to be whatever it is Category 3 I know it involves the knocking everything and I'm seeing a slide up there that you're going to make them take the the the Keystone now and hold them back at school for a day now if they don't and what if they don't pass it now they got to take remedial courses and stuff that's going to take away from mcti time they no they wouldn't take away from for MC mcti would be a little bit of different um uh mindset because you said you're trying to Sal those that everybody across the board thing is that the students that are at mcti nth grade

133that are there the entire day right they're going to take their mcti courses they're going to be you know prepared for mcti when they're uh taking half their time courses at um the high school and then they're going up halftime for mcti that at the end of those courses in 10th Grade they would still take the Keystone for the ELA courses for the math courses that they're currently taking in Pleasant Valley that doesn't take away from the opportunities that they'll still have at mcti what we're we're ultimately trying to get at is that we have 22% of our students um that can either help our graduation rates but more importantly help themselves by having a guaranteed way pathway that they've met in order to graduate um and that's what we're really trying to focus heavily

134on is the fact that they need to um take the Keystone exams because we're finding 79 of our 300 students almost you know significant amount 22% a quarter of them essentially aren't taking the exam whatsoever um and so this isn't to punish anyone this is to say you know in order to walk a graduation we need you to take the key EXs so these 79 are part of pathway one and two so a lot of confusing stuff out there in this presentation the 79 out of what categories yes s yeah thank you yep that one right there so these students I'm not sure uh if they actually graduated or did not graduate yeah okay they were part of the senior class some of them may have been non-graduates some of them may have graduated through

135another pathway but regardless they did not take any Keystone exam in order to get to your senior year you have taken Algebra 1 as a course you have taken Biology as a course and you have taken English 10 as a course there are very few exceptions to that I'm thinking of life skill students um but every other student is taking this course they are scheduled to take the exam at the end of the course they are expected to sit for that exam at the end of that course so not partic participating in that exam is is something that is getting in the way of that student from attending school that day when they are regularly scheduled to be there and many students are choosing to skip on those days and to not show up for

136taking the exam if you take a look at the next slide uh it indicates that from last year's graduating seniors um 20 of those students uh had actually the pathway for vot Tech Career Readiness indicator so the um uh knock the exams there may be some that you know uh were taking the asab uh for that other 19 so we're seeing that they're they're able to have the pathway which again goes to um the votek and the NY but again what we're trying to do is increase that participation rate and increase the likelihood that some students um who otherwise might not graduate not because of credits because they didn't actually you know fulfill the requirements of one of the pathways um one of the things that we'll do later and I just made note of

137it too is to find out exactly what that number looks like for the number of students that were at mcti in that exclusively um with that 20 seeing if uh there were layers of individuals that passed on uh uh pathway one or pathway two so I don't know sounds like a punishment to me wa what it sounds like a punishment I'm just being transparent from what I what I'm looking at what I'm hearing it doesn't seem fair oh which part I'm just trying now that we're forcing a child to take a test like if you said they skipped school okay well that's on you but if you didn't take the test you'd get a zero score right right right so the responsibility is on our district in order to make the state in federal mandate

138it's an accountability piece and it is tied to federal funds understand we should not tie that to students graduate if that's what they choose to do you you got to be a better person right and this is about if I want to graduate be be successful what I'm doing if this is part of my Pathway to get out of school then that's what I have to do I I I just I don't agree with this at all we you'll never a true 100% of your senior class because not 100% of seniors are held to that because they're in tracks three four and five they don't need to what we're proposing here and we're making them if I can add something to that the other thing is that remember remember when we look at the five

139pathways the first two pathways are the focus for the first three years of high school those are the only Pathways that we are considering at that time all students are taking those courses all students are focused on at minimum participating but ideally being proficient on those exams it's only when we've exhausted the opportunities over those three years that we've then open up and look at Pathways 3 four and five which are all acceptable Pathways to graduation provided that the student has participated first you got that cab up there a state and federal C yes what what do other is this on par with with other districts do Moro County or is this a typical what we're doing what you're reting like what are other districts in our area do they have similar programs and requirements

140like are they doing similar things or are we being um going on a Lim here and and trying something um aggressive I I think what's happening is and and um Mr fulio just please trye in but um I think all of our districts are struggling with participation rates um and I think when we start you know scaling back and looking at the data and how it correlates to um opportunities and graduation rates I think what we're seeing in districts is that um there's missed opportunities and frankly the missed opportunities for students to be able to um you know fulfill the requirements of pathway one or two it's like if they don't even take the test you don't even have a shot to even graduate through that pathway so now having the opportunity of five you

141almost cut that in half you have three other you know uh Pathways that you can ultimately utilize um what we're trying to do and I think again I'm not sure about other districts but you know with the addition last two years we've been adding the remediation courses we've been you know trying to be specific about the trigger courses when students would take them and we're trying to drum up you know parental and student um support for doing that you know similarly has you know students are taking in grades um three through eight pssas right we have a higher participation rate in pssas uh than we do in keystones but but why is that probably because the parents are aware they're on board and then at some point you know people say hey I don't I

142just don't need to do that anymore we're we're saying that that's a bar to graduation uh for our students and and again you know the intention truly isn't to punish anyone the intention is to say Hey listen in the first few years of your high school career let's see you know with the courses you're taking regardless if you're mcti or a cyber student um we want you to see how you're performing and then again as as you know there's some students with IEPs there's other alternative Pathways uh but there's other opportunities as we get closer to that graduation deadline that fourth year and that's what we're really trying to impress upon our seventh and eighth grade I mean you have to think about the converse right so if if uh Mr fulia is going over

143to the pvm and saying listen you should take the Keystone exams but you're not really required to and there's nothing that's going to stop you from taking it I can guarantee you in four years from now those numbers are going to be at like 60% um you know we're at 60 barely scratching 70% so we're going to be at couple more years we'll be at 50% but again this is tied to Federal funding so yes there's that aspect of it but also you know we could potentially be on an improvement plan through the state because we're not as a district doing what we should to encourage our students to take the exams um we do take advantage of the winter exams we do take advantage of students um taking it again in the spring but

144again I'm not sure if you've spoken to any other uh administrators or seeing what they're seeing um from our level um the only personal story I have is I just spoke to a guidance counselor from straussburg because they were talking to me about an out of District student that we um have in the IU program student is a senior and is in algebra one at this point and I I said you know do you want me to schedule this student for a keystone exam or not they're a senior and the reply was no all students are required to participate in the exam and the student has yet to participate so the student must sit for the exam no yeah that was transfer and this just seems to got me a lot to manage from a

145Personnel standpoint it's like I'm like another headcount has to add to to manage just this task I I will tell you I've seen that I actually pulled up the tab is incredible with the number of seniors the 352 pretty much every single year and literally I mean and and Mr a actually I think you were the one that started doing this because we needed to when Act 58 came about um you know two years ago we really needed to come up with a system for tracking and you're absolutely right because it was how are we even going to manage this how do we even know so we had to cross reference DRC reports and then we had to make sure that the students you know did did they pass or they you know they took

146the exams on this date in ninth grade year but only passed two of those Keystone exams so from the counseling standpoint too again you Mrs shio is right like there's a lot of counseling um that's discussed as well to make make sure that students are taking uh courses to help support their success in these particular pths and just to add on to that the state has unveiled um a new tool that's available to us because of how important it is to track all of this information we've introduced it to our guidance counselors in October we asked them to take a second look at it again in February and starting in April we're uploading our current junior class uh their their data over the summer to see what it is like in this tracking program how

147we're going to be able to use it but it is specifically designed by PBE for helping us take all this data and figure out what Pathways is is the student working on what evidence are they missing have they made the participation requirement for the keystones first things like that is the Keystone set up on the same day for all the schools of the district yes there's a keystone window so like in the spring it's from May 12th to the 23rd and then schools have the ability to report back to to um DRC what days they're going to be testing how does that currently work with mcti students is my question so the classes since you have multiple schools go into the specific classes mcti do those specific classes can you explain that to me sure

148um so all students are expected to participate in the Keystone exam at pbhs this is one of the things that cyber students agreed to come into brick and mortar when they they join the Cyber program also all students um for mcti the mcti instructors know that our haing students are hours to test the full day students that take um their core subjects up there they do testing there but do do do they correlate so our half day students are they missing out on valuable lessons up at mcti if other schools are not doing keystones on that same day no and and are the other students that are say straussburg for example if they I see what you're saying so like if we started our Keystone testing on May 12 but another District that also attends

149MCT I started on the 14th yeah instruction as far as I know continues on that day they have to the only courses I think that impacted are the our courses okay you know can I ask this question too and I really don't know this um so take algebra one so let's say I'm a ninth grade student at PV um and I'm full-time PV I takeen out one course but since the keystones are in May do I take the algebra course for keystones I'm sorry the the test for the Keystone exam and take a final exam in that course yes exactly because the Keystone exam does not affect their course average or their course grade but the final exam does we don't get the Keystone scores back for another could and I'm just thr this out

150there I mean could there be discussion about maybe like a 10% bump for those that took the Keystone and then take the final exam as kind of incentive to say Hey you know um we're acknowledging that you took the exam there's probably s questions on the alge and keystones as there are in the final exam I'm just saying like as as a way to you know potentially like bump an opportunity and kind of put an incentive for encouraging students to take that algebra one Keystone you know and similarly with other um you know trigger classes if you will maybe that's something we could look into because I mean what if I'm a student I think that's kind of like double jeopardy right you have to take the Keystone exams and then the have to take

151the final right they take the AP exam well we just made that last year AP they only take the AP exam because because that was the problem that was another test to study for so maybe right I'm sorry if you take it may you don't get best SC back we won't get it back and that's yeah you can't use it for an average yeah unfortunately so when we have Keystone testing here at the district the non-testers of our mcti students have they provided Transportation on those days to go to mcti yes yes yeah y it's just the it's just the testing students that are held back and it it really only affects um amm CTI students because we we test our modules only in the morning and we we adjusted our window to make sure

152that we could get the testing done for our testing session by 10 o' so they can catch the bus that was a concern before we fixed that can I get a statistical clarification real quick on the next slide or the previous slide uh you no that one right here so if uh if I take and go through option one or two prior to my senior year right my senior year then I'm not going to take any of the keystones because I've already met those requirements correct right in your scenario here as a senior who've already met those requirements prior to my senior year would I fall into that 222% category just clarify that for me like because I would be Senor not taking any of those tests saying those 22% kids went through PB from

153Grade 9 through 12 over 4 years and never sat for a keystone exam over that I just needed to your Clarity on that sure no problem so where are we at with this I like to know what the other school districts are doing in the county I would I'll follow up the walking congratulation like that's my sure num congratul want know if anybody else has to okay also historical Pleasant Valley have we ever taken any aggressive steps for this in our historical past just for to to do with the keystones correct the keystones have only been around for well the participation requirement and act 158 only was fully implemented with the graduating class of 202 so yeah go back two years yeah right so I didn't really they were that's a bad question okay for

154me act8 was brought up to provide multiple Pathways recognizing that some people are not test takers yeah and I remember talking about act 158 10 years ago when it was in its just its planning phase and that was the premise behind it and here we are doing the opposite of that putting an ethesis for all our students to be testers so you guys can vote the way you want it just this stinks to me somehow somehow just you know this about your gut reaction my gut my gut reaction isn't this isn't going to be good for all of our students and somebody set it down at the other about we're penalizing I don't know who it was but that was me I I'll I'll concur with you on that I don't know how it would

155shake out yet but I just don't think it for me it just doesn't sit right because I I just know going back 10 years ago the premise behind it was to acknowledge that not everybody's test takers and quite frankly if I'm successful at mcti and I knock the noia the partment I'm coming out with not National recognized certifications and I'm landing jobs and stuff before I graduated already I'm I going be penalized because I didn't put an emphasis on taking the test which I've been I'm obviously going to be very successful what if you're not successful I'm and and I'm I don't know where I'm at with this yet but let me ask you that question what if you're not successful and that and now you're you're way behind the and and at this point

156you're not graduating is what I would hope that's where the counseling comes in at because that just didn't happen like that that was a that was a three-year progression yeah or all of a sudden you know you got a student that's an a student and barely barely pulling to see for the year there's got to be some Flags there not that's where our counseling's got to Comm in at counseling at what level the MCT live chances are if it's gonna happen there it's probably gonna happen back here too Mike so when do they take those tests like what what where are the progression CIT is it their junior senior that like wait to the senior for some reason they don't but but now this what we're saying here too is well if you're in track

157one or two and you can't pass a test well then we're going to put you somewhere else or two three or four so you're devaluing track three which is mcti now because you couldn't do one or two that's what I heard well if you can't do this we'll put you somewhere else though what are the other ones of less value that's taken back by some of that I don't think the other one in my opinion personally I don't think at all the other ones are less value I think it's a Time situation so you won't know if you can pass path and just to clarify we won't know if the student will be able to uh pass on pathway three four and five until their senior year and what we're trying to do to to

158um you know is to is to frontload that and say well if we at least have the students take the test right then we know that there's a possibility that they can pass at least one of those three tests and then if we need to remediate by let's say the end of sophomore year then we can do that right but but it's also to kind of know that information prior to and like I said with the example of uh getting into do a four-year College you won't know that until your senior year and what my concern is is again we have a great intelligent kids here but what happens if that kid said hey I'm just going to blow off the um you know Keystone exams and then they got into a two-year College you

159know and now it's like wait a minute I was banking on pathway four but now I can't even graduate from there so it just again from our perspective it it's concerning because we want all that 352 kids and I've been very vocal about this not going to be vocal we have 352 kids that you know hit our uh books that start n9th grade year we should have 352 graduates and and I'm being very honest about this when we have kids that do not graduate on time we failed as a district and we need to do something to give the students the opportunities within a timely fashion and that's really what we're trying to propose here is how do we get our students to understand how do we get our incoming nth graders our eighth graders

160now to know how important it is to take full advantage of these next four years because they're going to blow by you know and all the seniors it's the first thing every single senior says is I can't believe it's over how quick it is um I wish I did X Y andz in fact we actually have them come down and talk to some of the eighth graders and ninth graders um but again I think I think at this point a couple things I would like to see because I think this this definitely further conversation and it's good conversation I'm glad we're having it but I'd like the other two board members are not present tonight to be fully involved in this conversation um because I think it's pretty important but secondly is it possible to

161maybe get some of the data that we're looking for and additionally um can we get these slides yes I was gonna oh sure yeah yeah yeah AB can you attach it to the you know I'll send them to you guys right now um just because I you have that whole SP sheet of data I'd be interested to know though of the 79 students that did not take them how many of them were actually v t uh 20 right from the other side 20 was 20 20 20 it was just 20ch miss no that's that's 20 no it just says that that that they graduated through pathway three right I would just like to know out of that number of people that just didn't test how many of them were really V Tech people or I

162mean I just can't right and I don't think I just can't fathom I don't I don't think the the initial um Target population is mcti I I actually frankly think it's more of the um students that are in Bears Academy because we already know there's a barrier for them to even come physically to school but I think those statistic was somewhere around like only half of our students that were in Bears Academy that are taking it and and if memory serves me right I think we have about30 or so seniors each year maybe that number fluctuates um but good 60 students you know know um that that's is a little bit concerning for last year it was well we created the option because the alternative is let CCA poach our kids I mean start chargeing

163them people want to go to CCA but maybe we dissolve Bears Academy then um um I think that would be if we dissolve Bears Academy we will lose 7 million current regulations what I'm saying is we G we want to give transportation I mean that's a choice they made to be behind the computer right but we but the problem is is that we can't offer them the ability they have to physically come in even if they're taking a keystones like online they have to physically be here in a controlled environment in order to to take that uh exam so that like I said it's more of a barrier and it's not anything that's new I mean that that's always been an issue for years anybody that's been on a cyber school to to just even

164get get them to come in and that's why we're trying to say okay we'll provide you know lunch for that day let's get Transportation let's make special um you know accommodations to help pull those students in let me ask a follow up on that question sorry real quick it's just as fresh it's going away already dang it hold on okay based on based on that comment does Keystone offer anything now that is not credible to the point of pathway one and two that students can take online to take the test to Fresh because they're going past three four five and what we're saying all the students need to do is attempt at at this point you know based on what you're saying so is there a pathway that bears Academy students can do that doesn't

165count toward pathway one and two however still satisfy a state requirement of actually taking the test but not physically in that location does did I what I just say make sense I think so I think you're what you're asking is can they still take the Keystone exam but just not come breaking order here correct but not for credibil but not for credibility of passing but for credibility of taking the exam for the state for the participation for their participation in it no okay because they have to have that controled environment and you still want to you still want them to pass right you so to be I mean first step is to get to participate right because all of the people that aren't participating could very well be proficient don't know and I think for

166us in reflection I mean we our graduation our numbers again as you know won't come out until December for uh it's a lagging indicator for graduation results but the uh class of 2023 I believe or I have to double check but my point is that we were at 89% graduation rate we're now at 90.8 I believe so I would say 91% the problem is is that again going back to what I said earlier what about that extra 9% of kids 9% of you know 300 kids uh is is 27 kids right so 27 kids that you know out of a out of a large 352 students we need to figure out how are we going to work with those students were they uh cyber students that never came in and then just never way and

167then just you know never took the Keystone never had a chance uh because they weren't an mcti students so those are things that we want to really look into a little bit more so I'll definitely get to get data points but I'll certainly send this presentation out well listen we're not asking uh the board honestly to decide right now at this moment I want you to think about it I'll certainly um and I already texted a superintendent uh In Mono County to find out uh you know are they doing anything what strategies are implementing these are all great questions I want You' to all to understand that what's on our mind right now as we're getting ready for the upcoming spring keystones is that we can do better and we need to figure out some

168way some carrot not a stick but some carrot to really help our kids to have the possibility to graduate on Pathways one or two and and it's like uh you know what's the expression if if you've never even step on the field you know you're not you're not going to win right so we want our kids to step on the field be equipped uh to do well but um unfortunately they're being benched because they're not even you know taking the keystones whatsoever so now they only have three out of five possibilities to graduate and they won't even know what they are until basically their senior year quick quick question how do The Homeschool children fit into this picture the uh that's a good question home school so um I've been reaching out to the home

169school student students in our district um they can either take the test with us or they can take it with um like at another testing location like they can go through um like where you would take like your SA or your G your uh testing facilities SV like s s Learning Center I think they'd be testing for something yeah in in your statistics that you currently have how many of those homeschool children are taking the Keystone I did not break down uh homeo well if if you have those numbers could you provide those as well sure thank you I haven't said a lot out of those 79 students they just didn't take them we don't know for what reason whether they didn't show up or we just don't have any data on that right right

170okay they just didn't take them I mean for me I think that doing some of the things that you had up there like um Talking to the parents you know doing those things are fine trying to get our numbers up I don't like it tied to graduation I'm G to say that but I think it's a start by doing some of the things that you put there um you know I think also you know at the end of their sophomore year because that's when all the testing should have been done by then our counselors I think need to help too you know and have meetings with these students and find out what's going on but that's where I'm at I think at this point I like the education of the parents I mean yeah it

171blows my mind that seven night students never took any of them course of that time that actually number the more I look at it the more it blows my mind but I think parents are probably very uh accepting other student not taking the test when talking about it so changing that mind frame is a first step and I think that what I think a lot of the things that you went through today are instead of maybe throwing in all at once maybe maybe a couple steps in there but uh I I agree with Sue and what she just said about taking that those the the parents talking taking a couple first but not tying it to graduation my initial thought is however I still I'm really really on the fence with this and I do

172want to put more emphasis on students and academics and I feel like over the years the entire world has gone the other way but this is a good opportunity maybe to get back on track however I don't I don't know all right let's move on thank you very much it was a very good presentation thank you all right Bernie yeah I'm sorry Bernie I didn't mean to I don't have it on my agenda it must have just got added I pulled this I think this morning but anyway sorry that's okay um no I just wanted to give a quick update that we are preparing for implementation of the new Ela resources um by having meetings to review standards start setting up the scope and sequence um and we start on Tuesday at pde where and

173then um the rest of that implementation plan is going to be created in collaboration with the teachers and the principles so and I can get that plan written once we have it mapped out that be awesome share the goal is to have a rough outline of what the um scul and sequence will look like for the entire year next year K to 10 um and have the entire first marketing period completely mapped out that is fabulous do that that is fabulous to have it the first semester mapped out that's fabulous I think idea any questions for Bernie okay so that completes section two are there any questions from the community on section two I just had a quick question so if there's a relationship between the class grades if we're talking one two and three

174pathway um it should be it could be reflective my question so the relationship between the class grade and not taking keystones can't we grab them and have teachers in front of them even if it's cber School bar Academy etc etc and then perhaps bringing a mentor with the teacher because the kids might like better to the teacher so if we grab that data to catch it early first semester it might turn out better and the counselors can pull them in and they set up pods or pull a teacher or get a teacher get a retired teacher I'm just asking you're talking about for like when they take the test before before their grades in the classes Al bio they should be able to see if they're doing well or not doing well not taking any

175of the work not doing any of the work to do the intervention then earlier rather than waiting till the end and trying to capture my your senior year I mean yeah I'm sure that already happens it it does yes don't take test you have to be able to capture and do an intervention earlier right yeah okay thank you all right moving on to oper Rel between and long say Okay operations Mr smil anything nothing this evening okay Transportation I guess there's nothing okay do you need a five minute break now or I'm just gonna chug right I'm going all right Tech what's that we'll break individually okay all right technology everyone uh keeping the quick case here I have a quick reside presentation here to go over the proposed wireless network and he'll send us

176those or attach it thank you doing um and seeking approval for it for next okay so reason why we're doing it it's time to get ready for the future um especially with theand on State Testing um increase of devices on our Network we're currently working to get to the Wi-Fi 7 standard which is the currently up to8 standard for Wi-Fi networks um this upgrade will also help us you know finally retire some of our older access points a the way back to 2016 it will also included in the call that I'll be showing on next slide will be including the centralized Wireless management system which will give R technology department more insight and control on the access points to further you know incre increase ability and you help out you know any kind of issues

177that may be with the wireless network itself and as I've said as I said before meeting and exceeding demands for test so the cost of this project which is a e project the total is $435,900 since we are using I'm sorry 20% since we using 8% F so our overall cost would have to come out our pockets would be 87,000 9259 thus giving us a project that was 435,000 saving us 348,000 so again this will this this this cost here is also l% for five years one thing I wanted to highlight because we are using e which is federal funding there's a lot of things going on with Federal funding so being a to lock in now would just basically you know secure our future especially for 5 years when we're talking about something Wireless

178um it's something we want to make sure it's stable and ready ready to move forward with it um again we are looking to move within Aruba solution we currently use Cisco or we're looking to migrate over to Aruba because Cisco is just more expensive um by switching over we'll have a a lower yearly cost moving forward um after you know we get up and running with it will be that to move forward with unless there's other kind of savings you know in the wireless industry so again give me a short here any questions the um the upgrades in the access points for the high school is that part of the renovation project budget already so oh no because I spoke to Mr s about this the uh plan for the renovation is to take down

179the access points and put them back up once the renovations are done same ones that are currently there so this project would is there quality difference between I've used a rubo before but I is there a difference essentially for rub I mean Cisco is your stable brand again that's you know it's you know kind of like the you know Mercedes version it's not saying that rub is any worse as far as functioning wise but it's you know you're paying for that name brand because it's a industry standard um but with Ru like I said a lot of school districts are moving towards it because of the cost of Cisco has been increasing over the year each year do you um foresee any security like firewall issues with arugba versus they're all about the same okay

180and again this would be also for an on premise wireless controller so again this was one of the things during our evaluation when we were looking for different products a lot of companies are moving over to a cloud-based management wireless controller we feel like it's better to have something at least haror wise on our Network so this way event something does go down we're not just hoping somebody somewhere fixes it we can at least put some kind of hands and ey what can e rate be sorry for the all questions I'm just in the zone today no what can eate uh what can eate grant funding also be used for so E's very specific it's basically designed to get students connected to the network so when we're talking about what used for think about anything

181that's like our network access points or network switches things you keep the network up and running such as are you uh um under uninterrupted Universal power supplies things like that just to keep you keep a student connected to the networks this way they can be on the interet thank you and I just to add to a part this actually was planned because using the eate money in the construction project was going to be difficult so that's why we kept it out and did it separately that makes sense all right you you guys did a sorry a heat map type thing you have to exp there did you identify additional areas like for instance I'm look at the high school right you get additional runs right you have construction going on are you is this inclusive

182of like additional access points in different locations like where you have maybe dead spots and Stu so with that de map that we were able to do a lot of the stuff that we were noticing was just you know tweaking our system actually it wasn't physically new access points it was adjusting maybe the frequency the strength because we had overlapping access points or they weren't strong enough so a lot of them cover just need more yeah so again when we were looking into our number to come up with this proposal we were pretty safe with we s with the idea of just doing a one for one so this way it's where we're at again with the construction you know things will change with the build with the building itself but the coverage itself generally

183should be the same we're comfortable with it what if you don't why did we choose Cisco over Aruba or any other vendor prior to the last time we made a choice again this is going back pretty far five six years now Cisco again being you know a prime me in the industry and we also had many Cisco devices at the time so it was just an easier switch to just go with devices that we currently have when we got a wireless controller we could use some of the access points that we currently had on hand so it's just I think you would probably say 10 years or 12 years ago Cisco was probably at the top but over time again see the price and that's why we figur and we're not the only ones like

184I said a lot of schools are moving towards it to go to the cheaper route we don't need the Mercedes we drive tractors [Laughter] around yes very clear true any other questions yeah so we're okay putting that on the agenda for next board meeting okay last thing I have for tonight is just a quick update on multiactor authentication I'm sure this is going a bit um so our technology department have successfully tested we Bally started with a small pilot group of us being figured we the on fix it if anything breaks so we tested with us had no issues our next step is to move our pilot group to a little little bit of a larger Group which is our act 93 so we'll be moving that forward uh soon we don't have the exact

185date just yet but we'll make sure all the pieces are in play so this way we can now test with a larger group of staff to see if there's any other pitfalls we need to you know be accommodating for and then this way you can start looking at then further rolling out throughout the entire are you via app or you doing it via text message how right now we're looking at using Duo so it would have an app or you you also have the physical tee that you can use as well so we don't we didn't identify which R we want to go with but options areil just just an update um so yeah we're not going to go with this at all uh it we can't actually and and this has been a challenge

186I think for years and and it does go into um you know who's device there are a lot of concerns regarding that that and and a lot of apprehension rightfully so that staff members might not want to use their own personal device for mm uh multiactor authentic so so so what what we have decided and this just came about recently was it will be a fob like thing that they'll have in their you know ID pouch and this way they'll be able to see it now typically could you talk a little bit about when they would need use it it's for things like uh the logging into your laptop and then basically we can uh into because we're looking main reason we're doing the is to prevent any sort of you know data breaches you

187at Power multi billion dollar company and they got data bre so essentially what this would do is any kind of course systems like that so for example in my personal use testing this out I log into the laptop it asks passord gets in and it says all right what's your now you know the token that's or the the number that's on your token type it in then you're on the laptop at that point everything else works fine until I go to something like state power school power school that it's asking me to then re I'm sorry uh Google Administration so I take that back again a little different access to than the usual end user but once they get to the front door the laptop basically they won't see much of interruption at all the

188only time that they'll see a problem is it's said by default 12 hours you can now have to re put in your token or if you change you know wireless land so if you're jump to a different building it'll prompt you because notice a physical change in your IP address so so so for like if I'm using my desktop you're going to make me do it every 12 hours no no no you can set it so it lasts for 12 hours so what's your what's your what's the initial policy is it 30 days is it seven days what what's your initial like like for instance we have to log in if I'm on a desktop every 30 days my desktop or a new machine right if I hit a new machine if I could do

189it once it holds for 30 days before I have to reup it again or my or us daily currently accepted every L yeah I bless you all growing pains but you know I think Google was just hacked with two billion passwords that were just in so I mean I think it's just unfortunately a reality that it's not just power school it's literally like your own email addresses you have to be careful the thing is like when you have a laptop that's mobile that's the main concern like a desktop we could absolutely say 30 days because no one's going to be taking a desktop running away with it I would hope not but a laptop if say you know you leave it on leave it outside or you know someone gets into your car and takes

190it well there there's that risk if they somehow get the password you know for a fact it can't get any further because it won't have that M okay oh just so everyone knows too we'll have to obviously update the fob policy uh to include this so that's going to be forthcoming but I think that's more of a like summer project into next year uh we're going to test it out um but yeah we'll have a the other thing with the Bob is would it be like a a secondary authentication mode that would be my big thing like if the fob whatever I'm sick that that or I get my keys at home with my Bob can you use this is there a secondary mode you can again we're looking at I know some people don't

191want to you can in have on your personal phone or you know on the app as well make sure like two methods yeah just yeah back up so is this need approval for this no that's just an update okay all right any questions from the community on technology okay moving on to security so Mr Walter's already covered the Special Olympics uh it's a pretty big event that we host here one time of year uh consider to be a soft target so iar for that date it is the 28th and then 29th is the rain I'm sorry is 28 and then 29 yes and then 29th is the rain day one more question yes do you need fire department uh that's already in the game plan yes uh Miss Harris has reached out to Westend to

192okay just checking because they ask me all the time they going call us for the Special Olympics I'm like I don't know yeah for the L of the yeah yeah already and then for the exterior window window window numbers know you walk through the building each room has a number assigned to it emergency responders if they enter the building look for look for those identifying numbers in Holes the same thing would be for an exterior emergency if they have to enter the building the exterior that number on the window will coincide with the interior I'm going to be able to uh identify that problem area more EAS so the last thing I have is no V signs actually just came in alerting that there's teers in the bathrooms uh we will be installing these over

193the next couple days the rest rooms that have devices devices thank you for listening yes so funny story with this not Spanish too well but uh buy these online they wanted $3,000 online company for 30 signs uh Tred to have a local VOR do it never came through a quote finally found somebody from Le High Valley that came up he gave us a $1,000 price for uh 30 uh signs that have the hard back you stick on the wall there he recommended not to do that he said it's like an Overkill type of deal he recommended having with a sticker type backing on on on the on the sign itself they wanted like $500 for that uh work with Mr boand we ended up using the template that the online company sent me and we

194were able to make this for two sheets of paper rather than5 brilliant brilliant our own resources that's great I got a text message today with that uh sign I was smiling ear to ear but but I will say this we've talked about how we're going to use that as like a tempor solution we'll have more of an AIX solution once they go through each of the hallways and do the painting and then once they let's say finish the hallway then we'll be able to put the you know hard plastic professional yeah professional looking the renovations that's where most of the are exactly off wall yeah because maybe that would help another school that was here for a basketball game yeah to our advantage right how about that they knew they were there all right uh

195any comments from the public on security those security items just discussed okay moving on to policy um so first topic is travel policy and I know Mr OE you had talk asked for this I know we were asked to to support um uh training opportunities for several employees to go on and I want to make sure that one they're protected with the policy to follow and two that we're we're protected to make sure that policy being followed I did find 331 and 626 but I did not know what they are which get little more details into that um and working on federal programs myself they are very detailed of what they will will not pay for so I just want to make sure we were doing COA for us yeah um and again it's if

196it's out there we can follow it when we're not aware of it then it makes it more difficult at the end so we're okay yeah yeah I just made it more clear the I'm glad you brought it up too because I mean again you know we're always looking at you know do we have the most updated information are we following the right procedures I know Tammy is great about you know making sure that we're we're doing things the right way we have multiple eyes on it but I'm I'm glad you brought it up frankly so thanks now the ARs they're not available that's they're there they're Avail online yeah they're online yeah it's at the bottom it was a Mr R if it wasc 331 AR should be can you pull that up I need

197chance just to show just go policies yeah right just up to policy no all the way up to up yeah y up up no no oh I'm sorry that's okay just pull like 30031 331 go down that's 311 that's 311 but 331 I know and it said and it see the the thing behind that says it's there's an AR there that little whatever that is yeah tells you that there's an AR there just so everybody knows okay thank you CH all right um Item B is 905 the AR for the citizens advisory committee and um actually this was updated from the original one and I know that Mr gazis um was questioning some some things on here and the removal of some items but but truly when I compared the policy to the AR there

198and the things he wanted to a number of things that he wanted to remove are in the policy so it's it's c can I I mean can I make a recommendation at this point I mean sure we I know that we don't want to push this any further because we want to get this in place the community is at the same time I think we've gone through a couple steps to get the community more involved in our working session and I think that that holds it over until in the meantime until this policy gets goes through so since Mr gazis is going to be an integral part of this policy I think maybe tabling it one more time so we can talk and manage this to I would suggest we not table it we we

199we go ahead with it no we go ahead with it get the committee going and then and then we can adjust as needed have okay we have the ability to do that it's our I think I think as we my guess is we have a we have a vision for what's going to happen but once we actually start getting into it and me me members and really having that dialogue I my anticipation is that vision is going to be altered and change and it's going to require us to go back and change course because I think once we start hearing their voices what we intended might pivot to a more a more focused area or difference so it's going to be a Liv so this is not okay so this is not locking in specific

200structur no so ARS can be so just a couple things if you guys don't mind so ARS can be adjusted and updated at any time if you remember so we are you know so the policy 905 has already been approved and now it's already going through psba which I don't think there's any major concerns there um the AR was just literally I started off by just taking notes and so the reason I I said okay maybe we'll have this as an AR it's to capture the conversation we had the intention was never for me to tell you how to run this thing that's that's all you guys but you know again there's GNA like you know um uh like Mr Clark said it may adjust and and you know adapt I think a lot of

201the stuff that I was trying to capture here was does it relate to the um policy but the other part too and we started this conversation right from the beginning how do we organize this because here's what we didn't want is is what the notes that I have we didn't want a bunch of people coming here and saying well this is an issue and that's an issue without us having time to really like think about it and get diverse perspectives so all I tried to do is capture literally like notes I have notes from the the first time where it was just like hey and and I've given us a couple of revisions of it so to me the AR is is kind of like an AR and it's kind of not in the sense

202sense that it captures the essence of what was discussed but I guess what I'm trying to say is it doesn't lock the board into any of these things that are required because it's going to ultimately pivot the intention was also to put some guard rails in there right so you know if we're saying hey we have to address an issue I don't think there's anybody here that would say okay let's spend a couple of nights that you know to do it I don't think anybody would be opposed to it but you know what's that frequency right because we all you know have different working schedules and stuff so honestly it it's to be a as ever as as you see fit but but the other part too and I think this was really important at

203the end was basically that the um there would be notes from the meetings right how how is the the committee of Nine the committee and and with me you being the 10th uh how do we know what what's being discussed and at what depth so the idea was hey let's get some notes and maybe there's some things that are happening kind of as a um committee if you will uh like a board committee and then it's being brought back to the public you know to the the nine of you saying hey we should actually discuss this a little bit more can we get the information on X Y and Z so like I said I I think the the the intention of this is just to really you're the board you can decide however you

204want this to um operate but these are some maybe recommendations based on your own feedback about how do we want this to work asra and and just like Mr Clark said it could be a totally different document in a year from now but I think it's cool that we're getting it started you know that makes sense pushing off yeah right so that's exactly right so so I mean with that being said do we identify um a topic that needs or do we want to put that out there because I'm just saying we Kathy and I went through sorry I was gonna say I don't know if I want to set a topic yet until I have members of this committee like so okay so I mean I'm willing to that was that was where I

205was Community MERS we have that community members we still have to collect who wants to do this right I want to set the topic before we even have well one thing I'll say is so we have we literally have the link all ready to go on the website for commun under the Community page for people to articulate what they want to do and how they want to contribute but going back to the actual policy itself and what it says right up here is that the board at its discretion defines the committee's assignment so I don't think at least from what I heard that the person who's the chair picks the topic I think the nine of you all from the feedback you're getting from the community say Hey you know let's say the budget's the

206issue or security is the issue because then what I do is we go on the website and we can announce this even on Facebook if you're interested in joining the citizens advisory committee with a focus on X safety let's say um please fill out this Google form and then we can start you know kind of getting that process rolling so whatever you all think is the right then at what point sorry what point then uh does do the people in the community bring up topics that are not specific I think at the first meeting that's what I was gonna say that's that's my vision this is my vision I mean okay I first of all I wanted to name John as the chairperson Rob was willing to set on it and then we had said

207that the third person depending on the topic would be whoever might have expertise or be part of the you know knowing a certain in individual topic so the next thing in my mind would be to ask everyone if they have a topic that they'd like to start with I think we just need to put a topic out there the first time then when they meet then they can say to the community okay what do you think should be the next topic and ask you know I did and the other thing I just thought of I don't know if there's room on that Google form even to put uh is there something you would like discussed at least then we would know I don't know that's another thought I I think there should be a way

208for people to submit topics topics topics for consideration oh we can yeah we and have an online form so that you can you don't have to be physically present yeah some form Mee and then when that meeting when that topic comes up those people who are interested in that topic can attend the meeting but are you talking about multiple topics being discussed at no no we can have multiple topics that are are are possible be discussed but I my recommendation is at any one meeting you discuss one topic so you can have find a path forward right with that topic and then at the next and then at that meeting they can decide what the topic should be for the next meeting and what are the what I I I think that's going to take

209forever what are the frequency of the meetings uh what you had said and and I said the the the will of the board was monthly yeah and no no monthly I think is a great idea yeah but I mean we're gonna get 20 30 tops off the that so we might have to adjust how it let's just see you know trying to get we got to just start and and see you agree that we have to start the one thing that I want to say though based on because I did some homework on this right with some other the school districts right and and um some of the read some of the um PB um psba anyway checked out a bunch of the websites one of the like nobody's really changing the community members based

210on topic yeah right and and one thing that was important in the people that I talked to was to make sure that you had a diverse group of members so that you weren't getting a narrow view of the problem correct just let me read the questions if you don't mind because I think there's a couple what I'm hearing is a couple different ways to do it either put a Google form out there that says please submit your name Township you reside in and the topic that you think is of pressing importance that's option one or option two is the board decides at least to start off what did you feel based on feedback from the community should be the number one topic and then um and then and then we kind of go from there

211because here's what I have on the form I have the email first name last name the citizens advisory committee for and then whatever that advisory committee is for what describes you as a parent you know other support or Community resident uh your residency uh if you choose other you know please note where but they have to obviously be be within the boundaries of the district I would think that that's the M report but you guys can adjust that uh how would you contribute to the community uh committee's function I don't even think that needs to be there and please provide a list of a background about your experience and and uh be specific on the top see and this is where this is where I get concerned yeah if you have a committee I don't

212think you're swapping out members every month that's where I got I think you're picking the committee for the year or something right that's what it sound like was like it would be a logistical nightmare to try and change out B on topic so I think you have to get a sample size large enough to be representative correct I don't like the other there application which oh yeah the other I don't like the other there for Township I mean we just you have to reside in in our school dist you don't need other and take that next question out yeah my opinion we could do that I mean yeah I kind of Wonder to them like where are they other than the four right yeah other than the four because the policy didn't I misread it

213but the policy didn't say we've rotate Community M no it said board member right so I feel like um my my vision also was we have you know three board members and maybe whatever six or seven community members sit and the same the occurring cast continues to do that working through issues that's what I that was my vision because if you keep swapping out Parts you're never G to get people yeah because you're going to record reash the same thing over and over yes nobody that I talked to was swapping out I don't think that was was just the board member was going to be swapped and that's why I was say like some of them had multiple advisory committees like the one District had four different right but the committee itself like one was

214on safety right and security that committee stayed the same correct the same about talked about almost a community board yes talked about Finance talked about this and those people were then Advocates back to everyone else and then Advocates from them to us okay so but how I guess question is how does it start right that's why I would collect the people so the people then would help set so so do you want to uh you want me to just say if you're interested becoming a on the citizens advisory committee name um Township and reason want the reason yeah and actually the questions I tried to take them right from the policy is uh how can you contribute to the committee's function and then please provide details about your background and experience on um I'll say

215School related topics so it's broad scale and also I maybe throw in there about the top five things you'd want to this help maybe direct us if we if everyone says the same thing hey fin fin yeah and I did I did like the idea Mr C he left that Mr G oh you're still over there Mr Galler had I forget when he mentioned it but if it comes up to be Finance then you know initial like 10 minutes maybe you know Tammy as our business manager reviews something to do with the finance so that there's also a learning curve there you know I mean I I know the board's the top but I also want the community to be able to be have a voice of oh yeah yeah that is a that is

216a valid topic we can think it back and said it but they they have to have strong voice it's a committee you know okay so have him have Dr Conrad put this out yeah start do okay and depending on what the topic is or do we want to have the third board member or do we want to wait till the topic let's wait till we have a topic okay have a committee so so let's wait till we have a committee so please select up to five topics you're interested I would just it's it's a general credit question right is what are what are what are topics discuss comme I want the topics that are most important for the community to come to us yeah I think my only concern is and then out of those

217topics we can de that's where we decide you know where where to put the the emphasis along with the committee to go forward okay okay I know you're still I think sorry no I think I'm good topics of interest you find are the most important to discuss in this committee and then it's just open-ended okay okay all right so item C is policy 9:15 which has to do with our school district logo is that just on there for it's it's it's on their timely because of with the renovation project and actually I just met with um Daisy geneves uh for the mural that the class of 2024 is going to be dedicating on one of the walls um knowing that you know we're going to be repainting some of the walls I I had this

218you know something I've looked at I've mentioned with uh Mr ciny and also um with Mr boand as well you know about like possibly updating some of the logos um some of the logos I think you know really aren't used like the big like teddy bear one and then we have some logos like we have in the high school gym that again might need updating I I like it but at the same time I figured I would just put it out to the board to say you know are there some logos uh we obviously I think our our most traditional one which actually we're looking to trademark uh is the uh bear claw with cl with PB uh so that is something that we're going to be trademarking correct y so uh and then it

219game gave us some opportunities everybody makes a decision well yeah not okay right exactly we just need feedback but but at the same time um I just put some bears just to see if you like them and if not that's fine too but wasn't sure what the thoughts were like the growley bear yeah I like the angry bear I like the Angry Bear pull that up Chuck because to be honest with you I just so you can kind of understand my world it was like maybe there's an eii bear and maybe there's a middle school high school Bear right so I mean that's kind of where I was going with it but okay i' say it's just a standard Bea across the whole District just keep it the the original okay yeah I definitely didn't

220want to go away from that just to be crystal clear I never want to deviate from that I just thought that um if there's other things we wanted to put around the school that can actual bear would the board be interested in looking at options I mean what what let's think about what would you put on the Center Court the one on the right I mean but but you'd have I'd have beps on each of the the corners you know kind of like the Celtics so I mean I thought that wouldd be kind of cool but but but that's again it has a lot of implications yeah so and I don't want to change listen I do not want to change tradition if if everyone is happy with the upper left corner we keep it

221but again there's a lot of these Aesthetics that we're gonna have to think about um you know that's part of what we're doing we're reimaging this disre what we're doing at the high school that's right that facade everything it's got to flow all the way through yeah and it's a refresh of what PB is about so can we think about it yeah definitely not lower level I said definitely not lower left C I don't not cute I feel like the one the right looks like a traditional professional sports logo I feel like the one yeah I feel like that's the one that looks like the one people get on their varsity jackets it is yeah it is yeah jacket except with a red tongue which I don't yeah on the jacket jacket on the jack

222thank you yeah so think about it I just wanted to put it out there because I didn't want to you know go down a path that you're like absolutely not so okay okay all right do you have anything under Su oh sorry Community anything under po under those uh policy just the one question with the community comme because I felt the spirit questioning the spirit of the committee would be that we didn't lose our voices that we would open up dialogue because there' been a barrier with may do all the transitions whatever because we don't want to lose our voice and after you establish what the community and who's on the team we would like to have a a give and take with it with with issues we've been asking a lot of questions and

223we want answers so I don't want it to be filtered out or no you can't be on the committee if you can't have a dialogue it's not going to work if it's going to be dictated by what you guys want and we can't communicate with issues we been bringing up since whenever it's not going to work to make sure your voices our voices count and you might want to change experiences versus contributions because some people are going to be intimidated like you know we have a college degree I just want us to be able to heard whether I'm saying this correctly or not it doesn't matter at this point I don't want our voices don't want to be lost we want to be able to open a conversation because a lot of community members respons

224and say it's not being heard so that's what the point of the committee is that was the spirit of the committee it's a lot of people up here feel the very same way you do specifically Mr kazis is gonna be running the committee so yeah to ease your mind just all of you guys we're be told what to do two whatever we intim experien God what do that looking at well no we have to we have to make sure that we want to know what people's backgrounds are right we don't want I don't want six you don't want High School parents owners so I need a device I want a right I maybe the experience and or cont untable uncomfortable well and again this is a version one right and it's going to Evol as

225that start GR has to right what's the point having a commit committee if it's not I'll change the um I can add uh experience Andor contribution but I was I was trying to honor the wording in the policy which actually specifically says background and experience but that's fine I mean we the idea is we want people to feel comfortable that shouldn't be any intimidation to share your thoughts or perspectives and and really that's how we're going to you know look at our our you know excellence and education a community uh sorry Community commitment and and that's what really what it has to be so and and and I'm I'm happy that the board like you know really is going to get this thing moving in the right direction so um and then make sure we

226open the dialogue up for everyone regardless you don't have to have a doctorate degree to have a conversation you have a concern should be dial it so I'm looking forward to hearing all about it so I will say real quick about the committee if we get to the point where specific community members are at asking questions and getting good feedback and good dialogue about a specific subject and then going out to other community members via social media and putting incorrect information out when they were themselves the one Gathering the information at the meeting I'm G to have a big problem with that and I'm going to ask that we readjust the entire purpose of having the meeting in the first place because Point well that would probably be brought out then a a board meeting

227what was concluded what was discussed what was the relevance correct but I'm saying correct but what I'm saying is one of my pet peeves now is there are there are people that have come to board meetings and then going out on social media and put out information that was actually incorrect based on the material that they just sat through at the very board meeting you know what I mean so that is something that I want to try to minimize because it starts an unnecessary fire online when the information was literally put in front of them so that's another element of it being able to get communication out maybe you need surveys going out to the parents just need correct information to go out and and and listen if surveys are going to help we'll talk

228about that and we'll consider it I mean like part committee okay um do you have anything under your superintendence okay so Jim you're probably really sorry deal I'll give well you know I'll invite you to our staff versus student basketball game tomorrow you know participate a soccer game just like socc basketball it's our Maris Drive kick off tomorrow so but I just want to give a quick Athletics update um in regards to ending winter and starting spring uh Chuck I put a couple slides together for us uh on this nothing big uh as you know as you heard from uh mrke you know we had some great runs boys basketball got in the playoffs this year um one of our students Juliet trout made it all the way out the states um you know she

229didn't make it all the way but she made it the states in our first year as a recognized girls wrestling baring program um and the inter mural forms have been flying off the wall in the office office for girls who heard about it and want to join in and I think we're going to have a great opportunity to grow the program in the district as we move forward um and to show that I have some numbers that I put together and also cheer had a great season as well they had their ups and downs but they made it to districts came up as a runner up and then did make it out to States as well um just some numbers for you I know Mr Gaz gazek asked for some numbers pre season signups with

230Arbiter uh as you can see for our winter sports we had 30 in the boys bars and JB uh by the end of the season we had 21 with tryouts and all that um freshman boys basketball had 24 try out uh between selections and postseason we had 14 uh you'll see at the middle level uh we were keeping a lot to build our programs in the past those numbers were actually very small maybe 12 to 15 this year boys middle school basketball and girls middle school basketball kept about 24 to 26 players on their roster uh which is beneficial to us because it helps us build our program as they get up and I think within maybe next year or the year after we'll start to see a girls freshman basketball team back at PB

231uh since I came on and prior there hasn't been a girls freshman team uh but we're starting to see numbers to uh adequately uh put together a girls freshman team uh so we hope to keep that Trend going at the middle school and growing those programs you'll see um Varsity wrestling 27 preseason we had 24 wrestlers throughout the season uh girls varsity wrestling we had 19 sign up 14 who really got into the season and I will say we did a dual sport in girls wrestling too with a young lady who was a cheerleader and was also a wrestler and let me tell she cheered at some of the matches and then she went in wrestling mode she turned it on cheer and then she turned off turned on wrestling and that's a great experience

232uh that's that's commendable to both our coaches to see our kids be able to do that in the sports that we offer during the winter and we hope to see more dual sports like that throughout the year as we move forward uh moving forward one thing I did um as I put this report together uh did concern me was our Middle School wrestling we only 15 sign up uh and last year we had approximately 24 sign up uh and I don't know where if that's because of the split in the community wreck uh wrestling program if that Drew some of our inhouse wrestling away at the Middle School uh that's something we look into in the future because we really want to continue to build our program uh and then Mr Davis inur winter track

233uh we had nine participants and it's a inter mural but they have to have um physicals PIAA physicals all to compete in those winter track events and it's all clubs throughout the Lehigh Valley and the fono area and I know Chuck if you can just slide up a little bit again we went back uh I can't see it must but we also again had one independent swimmer participate uh as you know we don't offer swimming uh it's not a team recognized sport but we can offer independent uh and poo we have a relationship with them that they can go swim on their meets as a Pleasant Valley student so we did have one swimmer uh she swam two years ago as a freshman uh kind of took off last year didn't want to do it

234and then came back this year and swam independently uh for us uh she did not make States or anything but again she enjoyed the season being able to swim uh spring signs I can go back right there yeah spring signups uh so as you can see these are the numbers preliminary that we signed up we had total of 381 athletes sign up you're going to see some record numbers in boys and girls track this year uh we had 62 boys signed up for track and there are about 60 62 boys out there and the better number is the 58 girls that signed up for track uh again doing that dual sport you know uh dual Seasons uh you're seeing a lot of our athletes that need to keep themselves conditioned as we move into the

235fall season are doing ourain racken field and we saw a significant rise in our throwers this year um with our shop put discus and Javelin uh we've seen some of our freshman basketball players come out with the throwing it's going to help their uh muscle tone as they move into the uh season next year with that offseason yes where's girl soccer there Middle School it got cut off there's middle school girl soccer on there um I think it's because it's blown up Chuck can you shrink that table a little bit it's get cut off the bottom yeah there's 24 girls 24 girls sign up for Middle if you click the oh there it is 22 22 I was off by to uh we do have 22 Middle School girls sign up for soccer and uh

236one of the good things this year and I've been trying to do this with all of our middle school programs is to schedule with middle schools in the valley because that's competition we're going to go up against as we move up into the JB and varsity girl softball I was able to get two uh games with Parkland I got a game with Northampton I got a game with freedom speeder program down there so I'm trying to give us uh some more competition because the only way we're going to build our programs is that they go up against those competitions earlier in the sporting program here at Pleasant Valley uh just some uh updates uh progress um Mr schil and myself have set up a meeting on 326 here with all of our outside groups that

237use our facilities just to explain the construction coming up and the usage of our facilities and there going to be a lot of changes that may occur on a daily basis where we may need to move people we just want the community to know that we still want to host them here in our facilities but depending on how the construction's going we just want to know that we may have to change some things uh abruptly at day that they may be using it that night we may need to change them around or move them to a different building uh but we're going to meet with those Community organizations and just uh explain our um hopefully uh plan as the year goes on and just tell them just be flexible um we all have to be

238flexible we need you to be flexible as well with a lot of the changes that are going on uh in the new gym uh Mr smell and his uh maintenance group we cleaned out the mezzanine that's upstairs uh there were boxes and boxes of old football face guards and all we put them on auctions they didn't sell on auction uh we don't need to store that going into the renovation we clean that area up put a lot of the trophies off to the side that we found up there as we get those new trophy cases in that hallway with the renovation we want to put those things in there so we can display them all the hickon gym uh equipment was moved into to the fitness center that was able to be moved other was

239put in storage and we were even able to update some of the older uh equipment in the middle school so kids over at the middle school that are lifting now inter murals have some newer equipment to do that as well uh the stadium garage we cleaned that out I will tell you we found a lot of things in there tucked up into the uh top and the rafters and all actually found a brand new box of bases that were purchased in 200 n for a baseball field that was shoved up in the back corner so again uh this renovation is helping to prepare us by cleaning up and we're finding things that are usable and that we can use uh approximate schedules for inter murals have been put together uh Lisa my secretary has done

240a great job to put those uh three years out uh we ask our coaches for three years out of when they're going to run their inter murals where they need to run their inter murals and and we have that data as um changes start coming with phases that we're in we know where to move people so we're preparing for uh this as well for our Athletic program uh some important upcoming dates for board members uh I'd like to uh invite you to May 15th is our Signing Day uh we'll be having that in the new gym uh May 19th our tenative sports physicals for next year and then May 22nd are the AAA Awards uh the academic um arts and uh Athletics and you know we did it once last year Mr Bo and myself

241have been talking how we can do better this year and and change some things up so your feedback at the after that last year and you know that kind of feedback we got from parents we're trying to make it better and easier this year on folks as well uh um yes let me 19 physicals but does that cover spring Sports too or there's a so the as you know last year Pi uh changed the date for physicals to May 1st instead of June 1st right so may person now allows us especially with cheerleading tryouts to get those physicals done for those upcoming sixth graders that will be coming at the middle school and anyone who wants to do that so we can hold tryouts then uh and that was the biggest move of that and

242a lot of schools are graduating earlier now and but that's good for the year though like if I it's good for the year yes so there overlap it's an overlap yes 13 it's a 13mon physical now yes I I'm sorry I misunderstood the question at first so yes they're actually good until June 30th but you can now get them May 1 awesome mrin so the May 15th Signing Day that's typically for athletics but no again it will be like last year military and uh those have made commitments to universities and then are we doing a separate uh Signing Day for students that have committed like a commitment day or something for students we all with all the renovations and all we moved it everything it'll be throughout the day perfect okay but uh it'll all

243be on one day well I guess sorry um I tired I know I'm just wondering like so let's say a student that's not going into the military that you know is going to a four-year College do we have some sort of so yeah there'll be recognition on that same day okay sorry I so um way a hard time following along I really am I'm sorry so yeah so it'll be like all Academia and Military and then you know we'll have like little a brunch or you know finger Bo or like we did last year and then we'll transition to the athletic one you know because kids like to decorate for the athletic portion of it and the academic portion of it as well parents loved it too y That's great okay right uh so uh

244we've been working with St Luke's this year uh we got a update our vehicles that we use for that to get around the uh our campus here uh so um as you know we updated one of those Vehicles two years ago when I first came on board uh we updated to the Omaha uh we went to them again they gave us a price and you know I drive around the community looked at one of our own community members who has a business here in the community ay Motorsports I don't know if you know where they're at up on 115 and we went to him and we had shared you know what the purpose of this is and all and um he was able to give uh two machines at the price of what erle was

245going to give us one machine at um so um if you move on to the next one please uh the first machine that he uh offered us at retails for $122,000 he's able to give it to us for $9,000 uh it has the doors the front back windshield just like you see there and the bed uh and it has the support gol carts don't have shocks and all to it so that they wear out quicker um as you know on golf courses those are Fleet uh cards so they renew them every year we haven't had those golf cards for quite some time what little suspension they have is not that good anymore let's just say the bum hurts a little bit after you ride around the fields in it uh so this would be vehicle

246number one and then he had another smaller one that could offer us with that shelf on the back uh for 65 9799 these are bigger than the goth parts that we have their suspension and drive is much better for the campus that we have getting across our tur fields and all uh so um the quote I believe is on the next page there uh and again is a community based company and talking with our trainers and all um we felt that we could give that business to our community because they're here they're paying their taxes and all into our community into our our district he's also graduate of Pleasant Valley and he was really nice to talk to and we thought that he could provide us with the the vehicles that we needed and that's

247all I have um I I just want to touch base real quick not on the that um the meeting that you have on the 26th yes with Al P I'm guessing PB some so we invited everyone who is in our system who rents our buildings from the crochet Club to P to so at some point maybe this isn't the timing of it maybe it is but at some point I want to make sure that we have a conversation about putting emphasis on our feeder programs for sports um I I've been a little league coach for six years Sun plays PB basketball he's going to be just as wildly unsuccessful as I will by the time he's in high school but he loves it and uh I don't know I don't think that Pleasant Valley is

248where we're at when it compared to other areas or other schools with our feeder programs I totally agree with you on that there's G to be some change I believe in PB coming through with the with the renovations what I'm asking though when you're having these convers I know how to be fluid right now I know there's going to be some changes but I just want to ensure that these feeder programs that we are going to do our best to find these space they're they're asking me questions right now about pulk Eldred anything that we could possibly do but what I've seen and what they brought up to me is that in this past year there have been circumstances where somebody would take up a gym and a half when realistically they only need a

249half gym or something like that so I don't know who really looks into the details of that but I just wanted to share that with so I think one of the issues that we came across Mr Schell and myself is when some of these groups put in they just put their group name but they have several different sports that they cover okay and they don't put in what sport is using the gym at that time so for us we can't prepare uh them for and that's one of the things we want to bring up deta is more detail when you were uh requesting to use our facility because our custodial staff doesn't know how to set up if you're putting just a blanket name down like West End L leag they always use the old

250gym and there's a reason why because that's where the batting cages are and that's why they're going in there to use and we know that going into that but when some groups like PD they PD we don't know if it's field hockey because hockey falls under that we don't know if it's lacrosse cuz lacrosse falls under that or basketball what level and that's some of the things that Mr SM and I did talk about was they need to be more specific when they are requesting our facilities yeah that's and and we and we want to keep it to two hour blocks some people take like two and a half and it it messes up the flow of things sometimes um even with our own inhouse course I told our coaches we need to keep it

251to two hours you know not two hours and 15 minutes not two hours and 30 let's keep keep the two hours so we can give everyone ample opportunity to use our facility because as you are well aware we don't have like many other communities we don't have a community center where people can go like this we don't have a Sherin Center like Forks Township has we don't have betham Township a community center like betham Township has our buildings are our community centers here in this [Music] community any other questions any questions from community On Athletics is that the last thing okay thank you y appreciate it one other topic I think all right under other uh cell phones and water bottles um so I asked to be honest I'll just I'll kick it off all

252right thank you um and again the time we won't dive into it now but I think we we need to do a better Deep dive into this one cell phones if they're not supposed to have them on them they shouldn't have them on and end the story right if that's there's schools out there that phones are not in possession of the kids when they're walking out through the facilities they're in their lockers um we need to figure out something better and again that's not today we're not going to Sol it today I understand that 100% I just my brain that we need to we need to work on a plan are you speaking basically high school high school speak District white but you're seeing problems at the high school we just saw one in the

253Middle School well that with well yeah I mean they're everywhere I mean and I I I texted it on Friday I texted one of my daughters and I get a response right back so you know we we got to figure out that it's a problem it's a distraction and it creates problems on top of that um when all of us went to school we didn't have cell phones parents were able to call the school and get a hold of when they had to pull Johnny out so it can be done surprise but it can be done I I did just want to share Mr R too that uh so we did update this policy which is 237 electronic devices on on August 22nd of 24 of this year um and what we actually changed one

254of the major things was if you look on the second page it says the board prohibits use of personal electronic devices by students during instructional time in classrooms and including following locations not limited to Auditorium locker rooms bathrooms Laboratories health suets and other uh you changing areas at any time so you know um and I think there there probably are some differences and I know I shared that with the board you know in terms of um when I think about cell phone usage and and trying to educate our students and and and to be young you know respectful and responsible adults that there's kind of that progression right so I right now and and Mr McCutchen's here too to you know verify that the students in the Middle School like they have a a cell

255phone on them right I think a lot of parents in my opinion would probably want their children in middle school and high school to have cell phones on them just for you know responsibility high school students for work and stuff like that but in the Middle School correct me if wrong it's supposed to be like not seen and I mean they should probably put it in the locker you know some of them might have it on them personally but but again I think that that's where we need to work with our students more we need to work with our staff um because I'm sure that they're getting like write up some referrals conversely like when we go to the high school and they transition you know one of the things that we're trying to emphasize

256is because we had heck of a time with cell phones last year in classes so we're trying to get them to understand like okay in that 47 minutes I have class I shouldn't be on my cell phone but if I need to go out if mom texted me um or my work which a lot of the students were telling me like text me hey can you can you work this afternoon I want to make sure that they're accessible because you know for all of us if if we're in the middle of a meeting and we get two three phone calls from the spouse we're probably G to step out of the meeting even if it's a board meeting so our goal was like to try to transition that but I agree with you we definitely

257have like some work to do and I think the guard rails we need to make sure is that as communicating those like grade level expectations which I know they're having the grade level meetings that there's consequences that go along with it 100% because I think that it's problematic if kids can sneak you know on the side real quick text the parent back when the rules aren't to keep it away so I think we need to have more than just