001everyone as I mentioned earlier we have one board member Mr Jubilee who has an excused absence and we have three board members who are joining us remotely Miss Duffy Miss Stern and Miss Solomon I'd like to report on Executive sessions the board met an executive session on the following dates and discussed the following topics Tuesday June 13 2023 personnel and Tuesday June 27 2023 for personnel and legal and with that I'd like to turn the meeting over to our superintendent Dr Batchelor for his monthly report thank you Mrs Coleman since we have a crowd here tonight I don't usually have this full of an audience so I will have a longer presentation this is wonderful I'm joking I'll spare everyone a long remark actually tonight our our focus is not only recognizing some of our
002students that have been just excelling but also tonight is opportunity to recognize our retirees and we'll have some time to do that shortly uh even though the school year has ended the learning continues in Radnor our summer programs many of them kicking off next week you can see the dates for our extended school year program our English English language development summer program our summer STEM academy and our summer literacy Camp we're excited to have our students involved in those programs and we're so appreciative of our staff for their willingness to participate and make all of these programs possible as well as some of the the summer programming as we look at some of our math classes and courses that are happening at the high school as well so even though the school year is over
003over we still have learning continues here in Radnor moving on to the next slide I just want to say congratulations to all of our students we did a had fun with an end of year video this year where our Communications Department went out and interviewed our fifth graders our eighth graders and our seniors all those students who are on in a transition year and the Communications Department asked them what's special about Radnor and all those students were unscripted some of the students I know are with us were in the video when they were some of the seniors were signing their yearbooks they shared what's special about Radnor and I think that's one of the things I just want to highlight is in this picture of collage there's so many exciting things that happen at the
004end of the school year so many things to celebrate among our students but it's just so wonderful too to see all of our students and our staff and everyone who comes together at the end of the school year one of the nice things about education is that each year we get to have an end of the school year and then we get to take the summer we get to regroup and we get to come back and we get to figure out how can we do it a little bit better next year and that's one of the I think the wonderful things about our profession there's so many things but we had that opportunity and we always get to end the year on such a high with so many of these celebrations so just want to
005congratulate all of our students again and thank all of our staff for everything you do to make our school year possible and especially such a smooth end to the school year and then some highlights and achievements I just thought for the school board and for our community though I think at June meeting as we've discussed usually our meeting is not the last week of June It's usually the week before next year we're going to make sure that we we do this meeting a little bit earlier but there's so many things for us here in Radner to celebrate when we look at the success of our students when we look at their successes in the classroom we look at the Arts the theater we look at sports activities there is so much that is happening with
006our kids we talk about unlocking the potential in all of our students and that takes the entire community and this is just a small little piece of some of the things that again when we ask the students what makes Radnor special there's so much that makes Radnor special but we wanted to just list those for the board in community and then tonight as I said going to the next slide we're going to be recognizing retirees so I did group them you know five plus years and many of the people in this category have 15 17 18 years of service in this category but we have many retirees tonight that are five plus years 20 plus years you can see on this next slide some of those retirees are with us here tonight and then we
007have 30 plus years of service to Radnor each year when we pass our budget and you look at our budget 70 of our budget goes every year to Personnel costs it's salaries its benefits it's people we are a people intensive organization uh we you know for who we hire and then who we're working with we're working with people young people but we're working with young people from kindergarten to 12th grade and actually even even pre-kindergarten it is the people who make Radner it is those staff and their dedication and their service the impacts they have with our kids both the small little things they do each day and the large things when I look at the impacts that our staff and I include everyone when I when looking in this staff everyone plays an important
008role in our district from support staff and if I start listing support staff I'll miss a category from all of our support staff our teachers our administrative team our coaches every person who is employed here in Radnor has an opportunity to make a difference make a difference in this organization make a difference in the lives of kids by what they do and what they do each day but also in one another when you ask people what is it that makes their job worthwhile or what is it they love about their job and you look at surveys you often find out that people respond no matter what organization they're in it's the people they work with and the people you work with make a huge difference and these retirees tonight have made a huge difference they've
009had a wonderful impact so we're excited tonight to take a moment to recognize each one of them and that concludes my remarks that's about as brief as I get usually so you guys are all very lucky especially the students and we have some recognitions for the students as well tonight so thank you Dr about that and with that we're going to turn to the recognitions part of our agenda this evening and it's just so wonderful to see so many people in the room I Dr Batchelor didn't mention this but we always create a standing invitation if after your recognition you want to hang around for the boring stuff you're welcome to do that but thank you so much for coming out on a hot sticky rainy June evening to fill our room with all of
010your accomplishments and give us a chance to celebrate all of you for the contributions you've made to our school district so with that I'm going to start off with the resolution honoring our retiring employees and the recommended action is that the board adopts the following resolution upon the retirement of 24 employees after 543 years of faithful service to the Radnor Township School District and to the children of the community the board of school directors hereby records its sincere appreciation and unreserved Commendation for these years of diligent Devotion to professional responsibilities in public recognition recognition of the service this citation is presented by unanimous vote of the board of school directors at its meeting on June 27 2023 and is recorded in the proceedings of the meeting and with that I'd like to call up our
011Human Resources Director Mr Todd stitzel who will take the recognition from here thank you president Coleman I am so honored to work with the staff at Radner you know we have we truly do and I'm not just saying this is my position but we have the best staff uh in the educational field regardless of who it is whenever you talk to them it's always about the students and it's about helping other staff members and that's huge you can't always find it everywhere um but it's just we're just so blessed to have a staff that we do and as president Goldman stated we had 543 years of retired service but of that we have 250 of years of that time sitting in this room right now so we're going to recognize that we're going to ask
012Dr Boylan to please come up and she'll start the process and each administrator will say a few things about the people that they work with and then at the end we'll have Applause for everyone and we'll start with that so Dr Boylan thank you Dr Mr stitzel I forgot to remind everyone as tempted as we all are to clap for each and every single person as they come up I think just for efficiency sake we're going to hold it and then at the very end give a resounding Round of Applause for all of our incredible and retiring employees this evening all right so I'm going to ask for ithan retirees to come on up we need Eleanor ball Dana pereznik Alice hood and Donna Gola we're a team so we're going to start with Eleanor
013Mrs Eleanor ball has been more than a teacher in her 21 and one-half years at ifan elementary Eleanor has always approached learning with thoughtful research when she first suggested to me that she wanted to leave fifth grade to teach kindergarten I was really surprised because she was an amazing fifth grade teacher well she did her homework and had the opportunity to move to kindergarten where she is quietly taught our youngest children more importantly she worked closely with the families of our youngest Learners and her teammates Eleanor's classroom seems to run by Magic and laughter her silence speaks volumes and allows her children to do the talking and the thinking that is the Magic in Mrs Ball's classroom while it is so hard to see you leave us I know you have great retirement plans and
014grandchildren and you will continue to share your magic with them and maybe start a new career congratulations Dana Mrs Dana pereznik has been a reading specialist and teacher at Athen Elementary School for 39 years in that time she has taught many struggling students to learn to love reading she was a dedicated supporter of all things literacy and coached many teachers along the way in a quiet and unassuming manner Dana is a leader she leads by example does her research and helps others become better teachers her two daughters followed her footsteps and are also teachers so Dana when you think back on your career I hope you know the special impact you had on our young readers and their families your guidance was often the key to them gaining momentum and learning and having success I
015know you know how much you impact I hope you know how much you impacted the teaching of literacy at Athen Elementary Dana will continue to share all she knows with her new grandchild who is on their way congratulations Mrs Donna Gola Mrs Gola has been a teacher at Ethan Elementary for 29 years no matter what Donna does she does it with great energy Donna gets to know her students and what makes them tick she has so much energy and so many great ideas to share her colleagues were lucky to have her guidance and Leadership especially her young team this last year Donna was the mother to many the sounding board for others and work nights and weekends to plan and investigate to have the absolute best lessons for his students she worked hard to figure
016out which each student needed and taught accordingly Donna is exceptional both in and outside of the classroom she has plans for lots of reading lots of golf and being with her family during retirement so Mrs Alice Hut Mrs Alice hood has been the mayor of the hood at 8th and Elementary since 2003. it wouldn't be right if I didn't have a poem for Alice Alice is known for her creative poetry and singing have any of you heard the rhombus song anybody in here remember the Rumba song so Alice Hood as a teacher you were always particularly good for 20 years in room 28 you have been nothing but absolutely great laughing and teaching singing and learning a new Leaf you have those fifth graders turning staying late Snickers Galore you taught with passion and so
017much more our kids are lucky ice and families know you are great I know sometimes scoring those reading responses kept you up extremely late you took the job to heart and very seriously and ended each class with a little bit of glaze teaching and learning that was your game you will be remembered for changing the lives of kids who will never be the same congratulations are here for sure and wonderful happy wishes for a great future and much more thank you so together Eleanor Donna Alice and Dana have taught for over 109 and one half years in the school district think of the number of students families and colleagues that they taught in those years we all know that teachers change the lives of children forever but these four ladies are the fabric of what
018makes eifen Elementary so great they gave us their time they've seen learning Trends come and go and maybe come back again they have passion style and a love of helping students families and colleagues do things just a little bit better thank you for all you've done for the students staff families and this principal this is what awesome looks like so congratulations to the four of you thank you and now I would like to introduce Dr Nancy Young from Radnor Elementary now I'm never happy when I have to follow Dr boiler because it's so eloquent I'm not and so I'm going to ask Agnes to come up here and stand by my side just one more time so nurse the very and while she's coming up here I just want to point out Dr Batchelor um
019president Goldman and Mr sitzel when you hired me you did not tell me that I would have to replace the most beloved nurse of the district so I I might have reconsidered but thank you thank you for the trust um Agnes has just stood by me this entire my first year and I just when I reflect on her I think about how we talk about the heart of a school and especially in elementary school and you talk you think about the teachers right and you think about the children and the families and all that but Agnes has really been the pulse of Radnor Elementary School since it opened imagine this career of this incredible human being in 2001 supporting four principals including this rookie and and the career that she must have had and then
020to be able to towards that end last quarter of her career push an entire Community through a pandemic is unbelievable she has educated us she has guided us she has been by ours side and most importantly she's done it all with such Grace anything that came to her she just she she led with her head and her heart and she made good decisions to keep us all incredibly safe under a tremendous pressure so I am so sorry that I didn't get to be there all those years but I am so grateful that I learned from you that you guided me and I said to her you know one day she just came up to me and she put her hand and she probably doesn't want me telling you all this but I'm going to tell
021you anyway she put her hand on me and she said you know you're doing a good job and and when somebody like Agnes severe tells you that that that means the world I mean I I appreciate you Dr Duke and all all the encouragement you give me but to receive it from Agnes severi is is far more Superior so I'm sorry it's just the way it is but honestly I do want to share that when when I came to Radnor Elementary School a wise person said to me you will meet incredible people everywhere you go and there are good people everywhere but there really is only one nurse to very and I just want to thank you for keeping us safe for taking care of us and your incredible Grace so thank you foreign I'd
022like to have Mr Paul DeSantis Phyllis Lawrence and Jim Lyons I think everyone know me I'm not one to do a lot of writing and having a lot of notes um but I can speak from the heart for a lot of these employees that I have standing here Paul DeSantis is was a member of our security team Paul pitted dedicated 19 years of service to Radnor Township and he did it with a smile Grace and Charisma he did have me on speed dial so he did call me quite frequently on a Sunday but it worked because I knew that if I got a call from him it had to be a serious issue so Paul I'd like to thank you for your time of service your dedication and your commitment to serving the secret thank
023you thank you uh Phyllis Lawrence um a lot of you know me I used to be the building meet in the sky at Wayne for 10 years when I embarked on Wayne taking on that position Phyllis was there um Phyllis commitment and dedication to serving the students the staff and Jess all the employees was just like phenomenal um she did it with a smile she did it consistently without complaints um she didn't stay in this proper uniform all the time but but it was graceful it did work and um you know just her commitment and dedication to what she was doing and knowing that those areas that she was responsible for was basically taken care of um during the pandemic Phyllis volunteered to work the day shift as a daytime custodian on that shift because
024her goal was to make sure that every student student in that building was safe she walked around wiping walls wiping railings and just constantly saying born we need this so we need that and had myself a Duncan be able to provide those items for us so she can consent continually do her her job to the fullest of her strength ah Jim Lyons is like a big brother to me um gem lines uh been with me since 2004 when I first started and ran the Township School District um his commitment to his craft and his skill set um was top-notch um he was committed to doing things right and if we wasn't doing things right he told us everyone heard them throughout the district um but just knowing that he had a passion for the the
025skill set that he had his drive to make sure that every building HVAC was working properly and if he couldn't fix it he tried his best to repair it so with his work and his effort we will hopefully be getting a new hru one at Wayne Elementary and during his retirement once we bit the crane and put it on top of the building Jim will be standing right there basically clapping so Jim I wanted to thank you and thank all three of you guys for just being committed and given that uh that that guidance and that support um because I wouldn't be where I'm at if it wasn't for employees like this that supported me and said Von you can do this thank you Vaughn just asked me to be his understudy in case he
026didn't get through that he got through it so you're spared my words and I just Echo his congratulations to all three I'll be turning things over to Dr Scott I'd like to invite up Miss Stacy lot holds can she bring her iPad representing the technology department well and of course I did my notes on my phone representing the technology department I wouldn't so I want to share some ideas about Stacy so Stacy actually has a lot of edtech experience extending even prior to Radner prior to joining us at Radnor Stacy also worked in technology at the pendelco school district and when the opportunity came to join Radner Stacy graciously accepted the offer to join our team and really help build a really strong technology team and she served our district in the technology department for
027over 22 years most recently she served as our district Technology support specialist and she provided support to our building technicians working on the front lines as well as behind the scenes ensuring that students were ready to launch all of their software on day one and the software tools seemed to increase every single year and every year seemed like a new project and Stacy was involved in many of those projects including moving in entire Middle School's worth of Technology when the new RMS was built it's a role that required patience and problem solving Stacy always cared for others ensuring we always had an empathy mindset to any enhancement or hurdle when they did happen usually expressed through patients it was also nice to be able to occasionally Exchange in some Regional Pittsburgh dialogue together spoken in
028a dialect known as Pittsburgh ease and I'll spare everyone the Pittsburgh East tonight her passion for Ed Tech and service continue even into her retirement as Stacy remains active in the n-tech world volunteering at Statewide conferences such as Pete and c and I think you're even going to SD tomorrow as well Stacy we thank you for your years of service helping to continue our tradition of excellence in bringing technology to all of our students and our staff Stacy thank you foreign good evening I'd like to ask Mr Russell dilks to come up and I will say I'm I'm glad to see Russell Lee made the Trek up from Delaware where he's uh we're currently residing in his retirement and can't say I'm a little jealous but uh a few years left for that um Mr
029Russell dilks was our high school and District food service coordinator for over 15 years when you think of food service you know you think sometimes of the you know the Adam Sandler The Lunch Lady Land song and but our food service department does so much more than that sometimes the meals that our food service department provide our students are the only meals that they get for the entire day and that's a big responsibility and Russell was very very focused on providing those meals every day for our students he was always student-centric I would go up and visit at the high school and you know just the Rapport that he had with our students was fantastic um I only really had the honor of serving with Russell for about seven months when I got here about
030a year and a half ago and then Russell retired but he was very helpful in me getting the lay of the land here at Radnor and the one thing that I'll never forget was your awesome March Madness video that you did here last year it was a contest that Russell put together on meal choices for our students to to participate in up at the high school so I just want to thank you for helping me get acclimated to the district for everything you've done for the district as a whole everything you've done for our students just want to wish you congratulations as you enjoy your your retirement life in Delaware so thanks Russell appreciate it and having everybody stand for an ovation for all of our employees in their 500 543 years of service and
031the record recognitions will continue with our 2023 boys basketball championship team recognition and Miss Monahan will do those honors the Radner boys basketball team my son is on played on the JV team and although I missed your regular season because I had to rush to my daughter's varsity game I couldn't miss the playoff games either watching it in person or live stream so congratulations to the 2022-23 Radnor High School boys basketball team for their undefeated regular season going 22 and zero winning the central League Championship and district one 5A championship and reaching the quarterfinals in the PIAA state championships the team was the first Radner team to win the district one 5A championship in over 50 years 50 years it's pretty incredible so I'd like to recognize all the individuals on the team I will
032call out your name and as you as I call your name out if you can line up along here I'll hand you a certificate as you come up and then just line up so we can all see who you are starting with the seniors first of all glad to see that you made it back from Senior Week and uh many of you are continuing to play in college so that'll be exciting to see what you have uh hold in your future so Jackson Gaffney Jackson hickey let's go over there oh I gave you Jackson Nick Monty Cooper Miller will renfrey see here uh Danny Rosenbloom maybe we do need two people down here uh Charlie Thornton Christopher tybursky now Matt wolfington there are the seniors I'll read the Juniors next kessie Cox Jack Jordan Alex
033McFadden Henry Pierce Mike savitov Elijah sellers our student managers are Joey rigalizzo see here Jake Van Horn Weston Gallagher and Matt riam and finally the team is led by head coach Jamie chadwin and assistant coaches Josh Leopold and Mike Boland Mike if you can come up too and we will miss this amazing team of coaches next year so the superintendent along with the board and the Radnor Community congratulates these students their parents and coaches on their outstanding accomplishments congratulations I'm going to invite the board to stand if they'd like to because these gentlemen are so tall that we can't see overuse [Applause] I have do you want more pictures taji or is that good sound good you get that guys all good all right just hang in for the next recognition which is the 2023
034boys lacrosse team who has that has just won its third straight Pia double a class 3A state championship and Ms Monahan and Dr Babson will be doing that recognition okay welcome everyone and tonight we are going to congratulate yet another distinguished group of scholar athletes our boys lacrosse team and this is not just their any state championship is the third one in a row which is uh I think very impressive it's hard enough to um to win one of them let alone three in a row so um congratulations so this is for the Radner High School boys lacrosse team and they defeated Springfield High School eight to one in the PIAA class 3A state championship on June 17th at Penn State the Wind made it a three-peat for Radner after beating Garnet Valley High School
035in 2022 and Kenneth High School in 2021 for back-to-back state titles the team also captured the central League Championship during the 2023 season so the members of the team were going to call them out in the order of the certificates so it doesn't quite match what we have here in our on our paper so Ms Monahan is going to help us out so first we have uh Luciano Chada next we have Nate lucasi next we have kessie Cox and we have Bryce Cohen okay and we have Brian Henry Johnny Webb Logan montrella Matt wolfington that's here okay we have drew Knight Owen Smith Brendan Ward Cooper Miller Connor Eustis Colin French Caleb Horowitz Carter Mountain Danny Rosenbloom Evan hornbaker Grayson much Harrison Holmes Henry Pierce Jude azerano Jake Barber Jackson Gaffney Justin odorisio Jacob shaloff
036Max Goldstein Mason montrella Michael savadov Nick decane Owen Knight Pablo strid Patrick Gray Gaul Ryan McWilliams Robbie slinkert Sawyer Smith Tommy deshant Tucker Graham Tommy Goldstein Tyler Vitale Teddy hoisgaard Ryan Van Dusen Jack Sakowski did we miss anybody did we get everybody yeah because they stick yeah okay okay great so student director of operations are Ryan Van Duzen Teddy horse guard and Jack zakowski his team is led by head coach John byger and assistant coaches sorry thanks and assistant coaches Larry decipio Mike Pagani pagone Mark Patron John Sims and Cole Yeager the superintendent along with the board and the Radner Community congratulates these students their parents and coaches on their outstanding accomplishments ladies and gentlemen this is a state Powerhouse congratulations thank you three years is amazing that's all I can say but before everyone
037so students they're going to do a pictures I think in the lobby so if you can gather in the lobby basketball lacrosse team please help yourself to cake the retirees and families as well but thank you for being here tonight thank you all for being here tonight you do not need to stay for the rest of the meeting it looks like no one's looking like they're staying for the rest of the meeting but I want to take it personally thank all the families for being here tonight as well really appreciate you all being here so many things that continue to make us Radner proud so thank you all and with that Dr Batchelor I'm going to turn the meeting back to you to do a summary of The 2022-2023 District initiatives thank you and I
038think we might have just lost our presentation with the pictures so let me just see if the uh sure why don't you go to public comment first that'd be great all right so we're going to skip that for the time being the presentation until our communications director is finished doing what she's doing with the teams and as per we'll go to public comment which is as per board policy six the board provides an opportunity at each regular board meeting for eligible participants to comment on matters of concern official action or deliberation which are or may be before the board public comment can be either made either in person or by telephone recording when circumstances prevent a Community member from attending the board meeting for details on how to make public common bid telephone recording please
039visit rtsd.org backslash board public commenters should State their full name in town and may make one comment for public comment period for no more than four minutes per comment Administration will respond to general questions raised during public comment sometime after the meeting parents and Guardians with specific questions or comments about their child's educational experience are encouraged to contact their child's teacher and or building principal do we have any public comment in the room this evening Mr Conan come on up and announce your name in town and Welcome to our board meeting am I going to turn here that's the mic yep all right cool Jesse Conan Bryn Mawr PA if there is any confusion there all right my name is Jesse Conan as just stated and I'm missing a pretty good family dinner right now
040to come to the speak to the board on the merits of the high school's lauded integrated programs I'm a 2021 graduate of Radnor High School a former student in the 9th 10th and 11th grade integrated programs and I'm a current student at Duke University I'm just one of countless students who owes many of the opportunities I've been lucky to possess to the skills developed within the high school's integrated programs and in both saddened by and disappointed in the district's handling of these programs during the time I've been away from the high school I vividly remember meeting with my guidance counselor Mrs Seymour before enrolling for my junior year classes and having a lengthy conversation weighing my different choices I was either going to take AP US History and AP Lang two classes I knew I
041would do well in but were and if we're still being honest they're considered typically pretty boring or integrated viewpoints a class considered the school's most intellectually stimulating and challenging I was worried at the time that colleges would see integrated on my transcript and not recognize the value of class in comparison to two proven AP courses overlooking the work I had put in however Mrs Seymour reassured me that secondary institutions are concerned with things that stand out and we're fully aware of the rigor and reputation of the class at the time I felt like I was putting my faith in her hands but looking back now I don't know why I was ever a hard decision to begin with now with the programs not being run next school year students will not have those same opportunities
042to stand in to stand out that I had the integrated program is one of the most unique academic opportunities for public school students anywhere in the country and the decision to cut these programs immediately stifles the intellectual potential of Radnor high school and it limits the ability for our students to stand out amongst an ever-growing crowd of what it seems like our AP acolytes this decision is one of uniformity anti-intellectualism and in many ways cowardice in my opinion I'm not going to pretend to have been tapped into all the underworkings of District events in the past two years but with three younger siblings and involved parents it is hard not to hear things from what I've heard the integrated programs have suffered in recent years due to Personnel issues which in turn stem from attempts
043to appease certain sex of the Radner populists who do not like their beliefs challenged the fact that Radner has laid waste to its Crown Jewel of critical thinking to appease people who do not seem to understand the purpose of permission slips coupled with its disregard for the teachers who push these boundaries is nothing short of cowardly again I don't know everything but this is how it appears to us the General Public I can without a doubt say that I learned more about subjects such as writing Global Affairs foreign policy literature politics and poetry in my inner integrated classes than in all the others combined and the high level thinking that is encouraged puts my classmates and I ahead of the pack in terms of college preparedness AP classes in that regard are quite frankly a
044joke contingent on who memorizes facts about the Civil War better as opposed to actually unpacking the Civil War how it started and the motivations on both sides that is the difference between integrated classes and the rest they encourage you to actually think I understand the district is incentivized to increase AP enrollment but the fact of the matter is that the integrated program is a 10 times more enriching class than its AP counterparts and if its only downside is that it gets you to critically think about things you may not be typically exposed to then I'd argue that there are no downsides and that those are good teachers doing good jobs it is disrespectful to the Radner students considering integrated to cut their programs based on the intolerance and inflexibility of others and I strongly urge
045Radner to salvage its one remaining shred of uniqueness by revamping the integrated programs in The District in my time has expired it's expired all right fair enough that's a semi-piece have a good one thank you Mr Conan um is there any recorded public comment in Mr Conan I'm going to give Dr Batchelor a chance to either respond now or later to public comment um but let's first see is there any other public comment in the room this evening is there any recorded public comment no Dr Batchelor if you have any response now or perhaps later yeah um and always good to see you Jesse always good to see alumni um and uh thanks for your comments um I will just share just as a this is something that the board and the Administration has been
046looking at and been taking very seriously there was no decision to cut any program the decision has been based on enrollment the students when they have the ability to enroll in courses from grades seventh grade through grade 11 we're seeing less kids enrolled in the integrated courses and that's the reason why some of the courses aren't running is because so few students are signing up for the courses where we've seen more signing up in the past this is something that we're going to continue to look at as Administration as a school board I especially appreciate the comment about revamping or how we need to look at things this is something that we as a district in the ministry of team are taking very seriously and want to continue to look at as we move forward
047thank you Dr Batchelor and I guess that concludes public comment for this evening I want to thank our public commenters and move into the next item on the agenda which is the report from board committees and we'll start with curriculum Dr Babson chair the board curriculum committee met on Tuesday June 20th at 5 PM agenda items included the review of new student clubs contracts biennial update of the health and safety plan Etc and then following these agenda items there were presentations from our technology department and then there was a report on the homework study from Dr Kearney and Dr weidler and finally we had our high school leadership is kevgas Miss rains and Ms manukian give an update on the consolidation of academic levels at the high school our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday
048August 22nd at 5 pm thank you Dr Babson and I'll turn it over to Ms Monahan for the facilities committee and board members after we get through these reports we're going to go back to our previous agenda item which was presentations so in the meantime Ms Monahan chair of facilities facilities committee met on June 20th on the consent agenda is a contract with site logic as the ithen elementary construction Management Services which is under 12.03 also on the consent agenda is the 2023-24 capital project fund expenditures under Section 15.01 and also on the consent agenda is a level four change order for the Radner High School accessibility and wellness project and under Section 15.02 on our next scheduled meeting is August 15th thank you Miss Monahan and I'll turn the meeting over to Mr Moore
049as chair of the finance committee thank you the finance committee met on June 13th I will highlight a few items on the agenda the one priority action item we have tonight is the approval of the dciu special education intergovernmental funding and service agreement you may be wondering Mr Moore didn't we approve the dciu budget back in March that was the operating budget for the dciu as an entity this is an agreement a contract that districts in Delaware County have with the dciu to provide special education services on the consent agenda there are a number of contracts and renewals I'll highlight just a couple of those we do have the renewal of our solicitor contract which less so in and of itself but in a broader context of thinking about our Professional Services triggered a little
050bit of discussion in the finance committee meeting about how often do we go out for RFP for Professional Services and we heard a number of committee members views on that so I would encourage our board members to think about our practices in that area we've been doing those uh the way it looks now is the administration will sometimes bring forward contracts that have gone through an RFP sometimes not for a variety of different reasons if we're looking for something that's more of a regular practice in that regard that could be something to consider in the future I always like to thank our donors and the Acme nourishing neighbors Grant from the Albertsons company we we thank them for that the I'd like to also highlight something that is a great success story I believe in
051our district I'd like to thank our business administrator Mr Pauling for coming to us last year with the idea of having a tax rent and rebate program on the consent agenda tonight is a resolution for that that is a program that mirrors one and supplements one that the Commonwealth does to provide senior citizens widows widowers and disabled persons with fixed and limited incomes with a reduction on their property taxes or rent so for those who are eligible under the state program we offer a similar amount of rebate and so I'd just like to highlight that a number of residents have signed up who qualify for that and we're hopeful that we will promote this program even more so that everyone eligible is able to participate in it and finally I'll end uh with a question
052related to one of the items on the consent agenda which is the appointment of voting delegates for the 2023 psba delegate assembly on Maya board agenda there are still three blank names and I don't know Mrs Goldman if you received anyone who wished to be considered for that when we have that item on the consent agent well I would like to offer the opportunity to the board members participating tonight and if we don't get them perhaps we'll pull it and and figure something else out maybe on the in our perhaps we have a meeting in July but is there anybody on the board who would like to serve Dr Babson you've got your finger on the button so I'm I'm kind of guessing you might be one of them yep thank you Dr Babson we
053kind of go as a pair to this every year that's right because of the soup right this year it's in Mechanicsburg though it's not back in Hershey so we might call in so we have Dr Babson Ms Dunn is there a third I I was able to serve last year but I have a conflict this year so we will not be able to reunite the the Triad that served last year I'm sorry okay I'll volunteer to serve okay terrific so we have three delegates I want to thank Miss Solomon Dr Babson and Miss Dunn for volunteering to be delegates who will be voting on discussing not voting oh yeah voting on the psba's legislative platform always an interesting experience so thank you all for participating it in it Mr Moore you've got your three all
054right that concludes uh my report the finance committee will reconvene sometime in August great thank you and we'll turn to the policy committee and Ms Stern as Vice chair is going to be giving that report thank you Miss Goldman the policy committee met on June 13th and we have five policies on the consent agenda tonight for a second read and adoption we tried to tie up the loose ends of the school year there will be the title one parent engagement the policy on the personal necessity leave there is a policy on enrollment in the district a policy on coma students which I'd like to make note will have a title change with this policy adoption I don't see the exact name of it in front of me but it will it will come under we
055talk about educational instability at students experiencing homelessness and educational insta instability and then the other the other final policy is the policy on bullying that's up for a second read and read option that is has to have a three-year review our next policy meeting will be August 15th will kick off the school year at that time thank you thank you Ms Stern and I have a note here from miss cluesman that the policy committee also thanked Miss Andrea mcmenamin for her service to the committee as teacher representative and wishes her well as she is one of our retirees the school year so thank you policy committee for giving Mrs mcmenamin her due for her service to that committee and that brings us to the government relations and Communications committee Mr Jubilee our chair has an
056excused absence as I said earlier uh top I will just the government relations and Communications committee met on Tuesday June 13 2023 the topics included the Delaware County Intermediate units legislative breakfast and panel discussion covering the political landscape highlights from the DC oh political landscape period highlights from the dciu's June legislative report were given of special interest was legislation providing incentives for students to get involved in the teaching profession and the committee reviewed the psba legislative platform proposals which can be found on this evening's consent agenda which are items 11.01 through 11.03 and lastly the committee discussed possible topic ideas for next school year the government relations and Communications committee is scheduled to meet next on Tuesday August 22nd at 7 pm so thank you all for those reports and we're going to go back
057a couple pages to our presentation that Dr Batchelor is going to give us which is a summary of the 2022-2023 Radnor Township School District initiatives Dr Batchelor great thank you as it is our last meeting of the Year this this school year we wanted to take a moment to share a summary of our district initiatives from the previous Academic Year uh so the the initiatives we're going to be sharing we've been looking at as we move forward but both as we wrap up these initiatives many initiatives are multi-years initiatives that are in process and the themes of belonging wellness and achievement have been a constant throughout our initiatives this past year and as we move forward into the next school year as well on the next slide we always like to begin with again our
058what is our mission and what is our vision and core values and how that links to our comprehensive plan and together how do we work together to unlock the potential in all of our students moving to the next slide our district initiatives fell into four main themes meeting the needs of all Learners which was the implementation of our multi-tiered system of supports our student wellness which was our College and Career Readiness recommendations and also our homework study our belong our cultural dignity and belonging our implementation of belonging through a culture of dignity and the work that that has been done district-wide and then our shaping the future being very purposeful as a board and as a community that looking at all of our buildings and understanding what are our needs both in the in the
059immediate needs but also the 5 10 15 years down the road how do we tackle to make sure that all of our buildings are kept up to the standards and the quality that we expect as a district so I'm going to turn it first over to Dr dukevich and there'll be several administrators that will be just jumping in at different times to share quick summaries of each one of these initiatives and often I just want to give a reminder uh to the board and for anyone who might be watching this presentation you know each year we select District initiatives we talk about the importance of having maybe fewer initiatives to make sure that we're not pulling the organization in too many directions but we also realize that our initiatives while they while they identify important
060aspects of our program they also don't identify all that we do as a school district there's many things that happen that are so important in our district that may not be represented as the district initiative but I often look at the district initiatives as part of our continuous Improvement program how do we continually improve as a district one of those areas that we've identified that we want to make sure we're measuring as we move forward so I'll turn it over to Dr dukevich to kick us off and other administrators will be jumping in as well is Dr Batchelor mentioned the initiative meeting the needs of all Learners has been specifically focused on the multi-faceted implementation of multi-tiered systems of support this year we completed our second year of practical implementation with the mtss framework has
061become more and more integrated within our practices systems have been created and refined and we are making good progress towards our goals the following two slides provide a summary of some of the key areas that we have worked to develop this school year on Slide Five oh one back at you there you go one more back on Slide Five here there's a list of evidence of progress and I'll just name a few we've invested a significant amount of time on math professional development K-8 through consult with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit we have continued to work on tier two and tier three interventions and work to refine and streamline those specifically at the middle school and the high school team processes and referral form refinements have also been made at all levels K to 12.
062we implemented the lunch and learn midday support at the high school this year and this has been a very well received new initiative there as well as we've talked about earlier the the high school consolidation of academic levels which was recently reviewed as a summary at the June board curriculum committee meeting moving to the next slide this slide reflects some of the new diagnostic assessment tools some of our resources including Freckle fraxmath IXL to name a few the expansion of our second step social emotional learning curriculum now it's K to eight after this year and our implementation of the Lincoln data warehouse and intervention tool that we worked first this year to build capacity with our Administration our mtss facilitator coaches as well as early adopter teachers who volunteered as we transition into next school
063year the implementation of mtss continues at all levels and with specific focuses on expansion and refinement of our systematic practices use of of our adopted tools such as star and Link it and use of interventions personnel and supports of course professional development for administrators teachers and staff will be a critical and necessary part of this ongoing process as we transition to initiative two belonging through a culture of dignity and this has been specifically focused on continuing the diversity equity and inclusion work that is unfolded over the last several years at Radnor through an all district book study and implementation of staff and student climate surveys we aim to build a foundation for dignity and belonging through both a qualitative and quantitative lens on this slide here we began the year with an explicit focus on
064belonging as you can see on the slide this included elements from our primary resource the book belongs to a culture of dignity as well as visuals and quotes and a keynote speech during our convocation from authors John corn Apple pictured in person and Floyd Cobb who joined us via Zoom moving on to slide eight the focus on Dignity and belonging has been an evolving process at Radner this just didn't start this year our administrators and staff have been engaged in Dei work for quite some time over the last several years the work focused on building a foundational understanding through professional development with consultants in the field school-based teams have developed their own committees and through meetings book studies and trainings they have worked to understand and Foster belonging through their school communities more recently rtsd
065is collaborated with regional experts from agencies such as Sage Wellness to develop a common perspective through listening circles and committees Radner developed a common vision and four guiding pillars for Dei work through this timeline these ongoing efforts have led to our present focus on developing a sense of belonging for everyone in the Ryder school district community moving on to slide nine this slide just represents the implementation plan that we put in place from the start all aspects of our plan have been satisfied this year and we have ongoing next steps planned for next year and Beyond moving along to slide 10 finally this slide reflects a recent board curriculum committee meeting with the progress of the initiative was shared in full our five building principles were present to share their staff and student climate survey
066results and Associated action steps as well as next steps forward the climate survey work illustrates one of the quantitative elements of this initiative that helps to evaluate our progress and drive continuous Improvement this presentation is available on our YouTube channel if you're interested in learning more one additional element here is our human resources department has made a concerted effort to continue to investigate and focus on recruitment of hiring of a more diverse candidates to join the Radner family and that's been an ongoing effort as well so at this time I'm going to turn it over to Dan Bechtel to discuss our initiative three all right thank you Dr Duke over the last several several years the study of student wellness has been a focus in the Radnor Township School District the investigation began after discussions
067and focus groups with community members that were held in the fall of 2018. this study divided into three Focus areas social emotional and behavioral Wellness physical wellness and College and Career capacity Wellness each year the Radnor Township School District has addressed aspects that fell into these three respective Focus areas this year rtsd identified mtss implementation which was touched on earlier in this presentation the social emotional learning curriculum the homework study and digital Wellness initiatives which fell under the social emotional and behavioral Wellness Focus area the district also worked to implement the College and Career Readiness initiative recommendations which fell under the college and capacity Wellness Focus area over the coming slides we will highlight some of the work that has been done during the 2022-2023 school year we look at the collagen career Readiness study
068this year the district worked to implement the recommendations of the College and Career Readiness study that were presented last spring this study gathered feedback from various constituents and examined best practices and future Trends to reimagine the operations of our school counseling department at Radner High School the study culminated with a comprehensive report outlanding changes needed to enhance the experience for our students and their families this year rtsd worked with our consultant Mr will Yarnell from Villanova University and hired two College and Career counselors to act upon the study recommendations throughout the year the team focused on developing schoology programming restructuring departmental processes establishing Communications and building a College and Career transition Prep course Mr Yarnell Miss Goff miss mcgabbin weidlick and miss Pace provided an update to the curriculum committee as to their progress at
069the May 23rd meeting a presentation for the class of 2024 and their parents was held on May 31st to officially begin the transition to this new structure as we move forward to the next slide and we look at homework a committee comprised of parents students and school board members teachers and administrators met this year to conduct an evaluation of rtsd's homework policy and practices with the aim of identifying areas for improvement the group discussed articles about homework research and recommendations in the field additionally they reviewed the feedback provided by students parents and teachers through surveys about their experiences with homework the committee also analyzed homework policies and ARS from other school districts Dr Kearney and Dr weidlich shared the findings of the homework study and recommendations during the most recent curriculum committee meeting the next
070steps include providing an update to administrators and teachers and drafting revisions to radnor's homework policy in AR to bring to the policy committee for deliberation next year further details regarding the homework study can be found on the Radner Township School District website at this time I'll turn the presentation over to Dr hand to speak about some of the digital Wellness initiatives related to Student Wellness thank you Mr bectolton we're excited to share some of the progress that we made when we think about student wellness we focus on the very contemporary issue of digital wellness and what that looks like in one of the areas that we've continued to do has become a Radner tradition is our annual day of unplugging which occurred in March we did have to put that on Hiatus during covid but
071have brought that back in recent years um our day of Wellness uh brings awareness and some really great conversations inside of our classroom about the thoughtful use of Technology when to use it and when not to use it that day to just shut down is a really good time to be reflective and we found our teachers even continuing that maybe Beyond today and some teachers even doing that for more than one day maybe upwards of a week also we've enhanced some of our supports for families and our conversations and Communications with families about how to work with screens and digital Technologies at home providing them with resources to be able to navigate understand and monitor some of that usage that they have coming through their home internet as well at the end of last school
072year we were in the final throws of putting together our screen time position statement which was created by our technology Think Tank which is our technology committee made up of teachers and students administrators community members and parents so we were able to put that together and launch into this school year with that position statement where we're talking about the thoughtful and appropriate use of technology and how to weigh that when in instruction and one of our first action areas beyond that position statement and generating awareness amongst our faculty and staff was our device at school program which we had launched at the beginning of the school year where students in kindergarten through second grade would leave their iPads at school and actually extended that to third through fifth graders this past spring So based on
073three criteria they would take their devices home rather than going home with them every single day they would go home firstly if there was an instructional need so if there was homework they would take the device home there was the need for that or if there was a flexible or remote instruction day that made sense to have the device for those types of days or if there was a family request so if that was a device they wanted to have at home for extra supports or devices that they needed there so we're really proud to be able to be thoughtful in having that position but also looking at all areas of digital wellness and I will turn it over to Mr Dolan who is helping us shape the future thank you very much in addition
074to all these wonderful programs we want to be good stewards of our buildings and grounds and so shaping the Futures Dr Han just said has become sort of a catchphrase for a lot of the programs that we're doing um in service of um being good stewards of our our buildings and grounds in the history of the last couple of years we've taken our a really good long look at our feasibility of the feasibility of the buildings through our feasibility study a year ago at the June 2022 meeting we accepted that feasibility study and then we've spent this past year taking that information that was gathered and putting it into practice and mapping out how we're going to go forward so in addition to the accessibility and wellness project at the high school we've also this
075year focused on some of the I don't want to call them deficiencies but projected needs serious needs in the district specifically with ithan Elementary and the administration building um we've come up with plans to to tackle those and address them going forward and then also all those other things that were not part necessarily of Ethan or the administration building that needed to be put into our Capital planning for the next 5 10 and 20 years if we go to the next slide we'll give a quick update on where we are with the accessibility and wellness project at the high school this has been a very very busy year at the high school the project is just over two years and we are wrapping it up now so you see some slides here for more recent
076more recent slides a lot less dirt and a lot more finished product and students since it's always good to see aside from some material delays on the field house Nest ceiling we are really wrapping things up so this summer will be dedicated to punch lists to moving in to having final inspections and to orientation and to start to really fully use all of those new facilities the new iPhone Elementary School progress can be measured by our steering committee that was formed this past year and has moved us with our Architects and Engineers through a programming phase this is a phase where we assess the site the size of the building and our budget and we've just completed that last month approved that and we are now moving on into the summer the schematic phase where
077we get into a lot more detail of the development of the building and on our agenda tonight we have on consent agenda as was mentioned before the another team player in that project which is our construction Management Services so that new iPhone will be continuing to pick up speed as we go in the design process we talked a little bit about the 510 20-year plan we have spent this last year and I thank all the other administrators who helped with this to parse out all those other things that were identified in the feasibility study to to help prioritize them we couldn't get them all done in one Fell Swoop so we have to prioritize budget and then come up with what kind of bandwidth do we have to make repairs make improvements and maintain our
078buildings outside of any new construction and then the last thing is the administration building which was also identified in the feasibility study as a building that really needs a lot of attention whether it's full renovation um or or um phased upgrades we need to look at that seriously so this summer we will be putting together a committee to look at that and then present a plan in the fall for how we would move forward with the administration building and so I think at that point I thank you so the if you want to learn more did you have a Content go ahead no so for board members anyone watching um the last slide there leaves you with a little quick summary uh QR codes where it will take you to our website for even more
079detailed information on each of these topics and then the final slide leads us to the next steps is is the redner Township School District or draft initiatives for next year and really I don't know if I would call this draft this is something that we as a board are going to discuss you know in August and September and you know the normal timeline this is the continuation of many of the things you know listed here under belonging Wellness achievement that are already in progress and it's the next steps in achieving um on many of those items each year our district initiatives are identified through a discussion with our school board and the administrative team uh you know and feedback both from the school board and our Administration is how we develop these initiatives and we
080plan to continue that in the August September timeline but we wanted to list here just preliminate you know as a as as a little bit of a a brief preliminary look at some of the initiatives that are in place how we see them continuing uh and then but we're going to have a broader conversation on this page starting in August did that presentation it was really tremendous and to the entire administrative team and all the staff who work here in the district because it takes it's a heavy lift to do these things in addition to the day in and day out work of running a school system so on behalf of the board we extend our sincere appreciation to the presentation summary and all the work that you do every day to help do what
081we do for our students I'm going to ask board members both who are remote and in person if they have any questions or comments I'm going to start perhaps with the folks who are remote and then go to the ones in person so is there anybody who is joining us remotely who has any questions or comments about what you've just heard in this presentation it's fine if you don't but if you do this is your opportunity I I Believe Miss Solomon's waving her hand I don't know what is is present there in the room so this is Lydia Solomon I don't have any questions at this point I just want to acknowledge that I had plenty of questions and comments throughout the year and really I just want to extend um thanks to the administration
082on all the hard work that has gone into this this is a presentation that there's so much work behind what they've shown today and so really I just want to come in the administration and and to thank them so much for this work on behalf of the students in Radner who are very very appreciative I'm expressing that on behalf of students the community and obviously myself so thank you Mrs Solomon Mr Stern or Miss Duffy any questions or comments I I would like to Echo uh Miss Solomon's comments I one of the things I was struck by as you were reviewing the initiatives from this year the the administration reviewed is that's only the beginning of the work that they did this year that was that was the starting point there was so much more
083I mean you touch upon the things that their draft the draft initiatives for next year you know the Radner Academy that there's been a tremendous amount of work that went into that initiative that's going to be starting in the fall um the the the work on our facilities and wellness I mean the it's there's just been a tremendous amount of work the the conversation there's just a bullet point about beginning to talk about the conversation of investigating I you know International Baccalaureate these are just a couple of examples that you would you would not know if we didn't point it out that a tremendous amount of time and energy and effort has been put forth by our Administration and our teachers to on those initiatives this year and with Dr Batchelor so I just want
084to thank them and acknowledge them and um it we did not with a theme we talked about a couple of weeks ago we have not let up the gas pedal the the work of this District it feels like not only did it not slow it feels like it kind of picked up steam so Dr batchel when you come back with your proposed initiatives for the fall just remember see somehow we end up with extra things too so you know less might be more but you know try to streamline yourself because you all have have knocked it out of the ballpark all of you on your team and everyone under you and and we are really grateful well thank you Mr Stern and I it's a team effort uh we have a high achieving staff across
085the board in our district that is matched with a high achieving administrative team uh and even at moments when I try to slow them down it's hard um uh in any aspect but there's also uh importance to what we're doing and the work with students and when we see areas where we can approve um you know the team wants to tackle it so it's been a team effort so thank you for your kind words yes thank you Mr and Miss Duffy anything I just arguments a lot of thanks and appreciation for all those the good work and the continued work into the next school year thank you thank you anybody on the board here in the room okay not seeing any I think those sentiments from our remote board members really expressed how we all
086feel about all of you as our administer our district leader administrative Team every each and every one of you and all of the staff that go into working so hard every day to provide the best possible educational experience for our students and their families so thank you for that excellent presentation and we will move at this point into the next item on our agenda which is our priority discussion and action item it is the approval of the 2023-2024 Delaware County Intermediate Unit special education funding and service agreement the recommended action is that the board approves an agreement between Radnor Township School District and the Delaware County Intermediate Unit for the 2023-2024 school year special education intergovernmental funding and service agreement at an estimated cost of two hundred and two thousand one hundred and eighty two
087dollars the payments shall be made in accordance with the schedule outlined in the special education intergovernmental funding and service agreement and final reconciliation of payments to expenses will be completed no later than November 1st 2024. do I have a motion for that action so moved thank you Mr Moore do I have a second second thank you Dr Babson any comments or questions seeing none all those in favor please indicate by saying I and raising your hand if you're here and saying I if you're remote I that was Mr and Miss Duffy aye Ms Solomon aye that's an eight nothing from this boat okay so we have seven in favor any opposed and one abstention right seven in favor zero opposed and one abstention thank you all very much we're going to move next into the
088consent agenda although board action is required it is generally not unnecessary to hold discussion on these items with the consent of all board members they are therefore grouped and approval is given in one Motion in the event a board member wants to discuss any item the board president will move it to an appropriate place on the agenda has anybody have anything to pull from the consent agenda my apartment 11.02 11.02 Ms Stern okay Miss Dunn I think based on earlier conversation we need to pull 12.0 12.10 to put names in as the delegates done okay great super anything else all right then I'm going to entertain a motion for the approval on the consent agenda of items 10.01 through 17.03 with the exception of items 11.02 and 12.10 all those in favor please indicate if
089you're present by raising your hand and then I'll pull those on the phone so let's have one two three four here on the by I don't oh it just went up okay I didn't miss your hand five okay so five in present on the phone this is really this is multitasking folks on the phone Miss Solomon are you I I miss Stern uh Miss Duffy I that's eight in favor no opposed I it's everybody yep Mrs golden I'm sorry just to raise the point of order did we actually have a motion in a second for the consent agenda sorry I didn't think we just went right to the vote I'm thank you Mr Moore trying to keep track of everybody and those is good charging so may I have us the motion was made by
090I'll make the motion that we passed that thank you may have a second Miss Monahan I have Miss Monahan just a second thank you Miss Solomon all those in favor again now that we have a motion in a second that's five present Miss Solomon again in favor aye Ms Stern aye Miss Duffy aye okay motion passes eight to nothing going back to item 11.02 Miss Stern uh yes I pulled this because I would not like to vote for it okay um does anybody want to move this item so moved Mr Moore item 11.02 as written is there a second Ms Monahan is the second is there any discussion can I just say sorry go ahead Miss turn Miss Don no I was I was just gonna say I feel like this item was on our
091agenda last year and we had ample discussion at that time and I voiced my opinions at the time so I I'm was surprised it showed up again this year but that's fine I I also uh just want to make a quick comment that I don't believe that because these are moving moving forward that that implies the full endorsement of every member of the board you know it's it's a sort of like a you know General kind of thing no but that's a good reason if somebody doesn't agree with it absolutely absolutely but I I guess I would just sort of uh put forward there that um I I wouldn't say that I agree with that either but um I hadn't planned on saying anything but now that something has been said I would say that
092but thank you Dr Babson and Miss Stern uh yes so uh well I understand the good intentions of the notion of a non-partisan school board election um I actually I I think it's a misunder let me say this how it says it in in states where there are not party affiliations listed for school board members I believe that there is um ample uh political ideology expressed if that were not the case I think we would not see some of the um School Board strain that we've seen over the last several years over ideology in fact in some respects I think knowing someone's political party up front makes it really transparent or provides an opportunity for them to be transparent about their ideology and I I think it's a little bit naive is the best word
093I can think of but there might be a better more appropriate word to think that in states that do not have political parties listed that political ideology is not brought to a school board I think we've seen that play out amply over the last several years in particular so um that's the principal reason that I would not do not support this particular um this particular legislative proposal however I I would be wonderful if it were not the case but in fact it is the case I do however would support not cross-filing I find that process extraordinarily exhausting so that's why I'll be voting against it thank you Ms Stern and I think Ms Monahan has a comment I I actually have a question um the way and just a point of clarification um I'm questioning
094wanting a point of clarification the way this is written um it does recognize that in the state of Pennsylvania in the state of Pennsylvania that it is um the election code still calls for partisan political identification on the ballot for the election but this resolution or this this um proposal yeah proposal is basically just saying not prohibiting the ability to cross file for the primary am I reading that correctly so I don't know there are there are two parts to this okay so take a step back right now the current psba legislative platform has something in it about cross-filing what it says is it is our platform when we are lobbying the legislature um as psba what we say is part of the platform is don't take away cross-filing and the reason it says don't
095take away cross-filing is we don't want to infuse partisan Party politics and priorities into school board races what this platform proposal does is essentially amends that the principle behind the amendment is now cross filing doesn't really keep Party politics out of it what would do better not perfectly as Mrs Stern uh certainly observed correctly what would be better a better way to not have Party politics in School Board elections take party identification off altogether so there's two parts to it one part is saying that as a platform psba should advocate for no party identification on the ballots once once you're advocating for that logically you would you'd be taking cross filing out of the platform as something to maintain there's nothing to there's if you're taking away the labels there's no labeled across file about
096either so it's that is a consequence of how the platform is currently written it's currently written say keep in cross-filing this has been structured to uh take away party identification and then also take away advocating for cross-filing now your question might be is something missing from how this is written in the agenda because I am not able to read it as we're talking about it but that's that's what this is supposed to do so wait wait wait Susan I'm not um mister and I'm not I just wanna reiterate so that I understand so so the way this is written um I'm all for non-partisan and I I think we've had conversations about this as well however given so so in one hand it's attractive to me however if how it's written is to not identify
097in the existing political election within the state of Pennsylvania to not identify those running um you know it would have to be I don't want to I don't want to pull a fast one on people and you know know that behind the scenes people are being political and running and people who are voting don't know about it right and the state of Pennsylvania the way it's structured I'm all for non-partisan I think it's just a matter of rewording it in a way that encourages more not just not showing your political affiliation but more like don't have this election be political period you know like I think that's a different scenario am I am I accurate in saying that no I I think you're accurate the challenge I have as somebody who watches elections the Pennsylvania
098election is essentially run by the Democratic and Republican parties when you go in to the primary you have to identify yourself as one of those voters I guess what they're saying is put all people on both ballots or put them on neither about that's I think there's nothing fun and I understand that some of this is we're not trying to tell the legislature how to do it we're asking them to remove Party politics from this but I just think it I worry that it would get done poorly just so could I just jump in here for a second because I actually read the wording on our agenda pretty much the exact opposite of how it was just explained so I'd like to clarify what our agenda says but I'd also just like to put forth
099the notion that I would be perfectly comfortable personally if in if people who were registered as Independents or some other political party ran for party office I think the fix for that at the state level it's not our job to fix I'm just going to say I think the fix for that at the state level is to have to not have closed primaries which forces people to select a political party in order to run if we would if the if the state would have a different conversation about open primaries and letting anyone vote in the primaries then then that could that could be a different way to address that but but missile Miss Goldman I'd like to read that what our Amendment says is it proposes to prohibit the ability for school board candidates to
100cross file while the election code still calls for partisan political identification on the ballot so this proposal isn't advocating for getting rid of partisan political identification it's it is calling for removing the ability prohibiting School Board candidates to um cross file while the code still calls for political identification yes that's actually happened to agree personally the notion of getting rid of cross filing but I don't agree with the notion of getting rid of political I want to know who I'm voting for I don't want to not know or have a sense of someone's ideology their sense of their ideology yeah and Ms Stern that is exactly how I read this as well which is why I wanted to clarify like how this is written it doesn't make any mention whatsoever that um you know the
101the election code still call calls for partisan political identification which means that your political identification is mentioned on the ballot for the election but you can't cross file so I don't I don't know the first sentence yeah the first says there are two parts the first part is propose this Edition the addition is amend the election code to remove political partisan political identification from the ballot for the election of school directors right now state law requires partisan identification the first step of this proposal is um we psba are asking our legislature no amend this take political partisanive political take partisan political identification off in addition there's a second part about cross-filing but Step One is is is to remove the political identification from the ballot as as Most states have it as a reminder Pennsylvania
102our Commonwealth is one of two or three states that requires partisan identification on the ballot then there are some states who let districts kind of choose one way or another and then there are some states where it is you know truly nonpartisan there is one election there's no primary and there are a list of names yeah so I I think I think basically here if we had had a bullet point for or a number one for under and then the bullet point or a number next to the other under uh I think that we we'd have less confusion because there's really there's two parts of the proposal can't understand when multiple people are speaking I don't know if anybody else so Andrew was saying something and I couldn't sorry no I I think it's simply
103a matter of organization of the paragraph like it should say proposal like two parts or like part A under and then the it could be like Part B or part two under 2023 PSB legislative so you see that so it's actually two parts of the proposal um so then that kind of matches with the rationale it kind of links up with the rationale a little bit better I I do not know the answer to that question this is if not identical this is very similar to a proposal that we had last year that this board passed um and then in GRCC we talked about having it again since it passed the board last year and I believe that the chair of GRCC who is not present may have tweaked the wording with the administrative liaison
104for that uh committee but I I was not present in those discussions if that's how it happened got it so uh so ultimately I want to vote against it I I happen to disagree with the rationale I I don't think it's accurate I think it's an assumption that if we look at all the states across the country that do not have political parties associated with their school board members it's not like those States aren't having ideological problems at their school board meetings so I think it is a false rationale but that's the end of my comments I just wanted to pull it so I could vote against it yeah and Mr Stern I actually agree with you in I half agree with you I have I agree with you that those other states have that
105problem but I believe what I like about the rationale is I think that having the identification makes it even worse than those states that do not have the identification and I know we disagree on that point we've talked about it before we talked about it a year ago in this in this meeting last time yep Miss Duffy or Miss Monahan you had something you wanted to say um just uh I mean I I'm not again I'm not 100 against this because I just feel like school boards and it should not be political however um knowing that we are in the state of Pennsylvania which run School Board elections at election times and you know I don't feel that that's going to change overnight one thing and I can make a motion for this but one
106thing maybe that we we get rid of this first recommendation and just ask that they prohibit cross-filing which I feel that sometimes can get the political ball rolling before the election just you know run based on the the primary so I mean I I can make a motion to amend the The Proposal um and if it's seconded great if not then we'll just vote as is so I'll make a motion to amend the proposal to eliminate the first edition of amending the election code to remove partisan political identification from the ballot okay is there a second for that okay hearing none then motion fails yep um is there anybody else who wants to make a comment I have one comment to add before I call Mr Moore yeah just briefly I think this is in
107the spirit of a remark.h Dr babsonby you know we are not the legislature of the state um this is what we are asking our association psba to consider um if if passed by this board this goes to the platform committee it's really the platform committee within that structure that does a lot of what we've started doing here which is talking about language could this be worded differently should this be one proposal this should this be two proposals I served on the platform for committee one one year and that's that's what it looks like um boards submit all kinds of things they get parse the language gets changed and then really at the delegate assembly it's it's an all or nothing uh vote so we have uh people within our association who are board members who
108are our representatives to the platform committee who really do that nitty-gritty work of of changing the wording of proposals that come forward so if there is concern or distress about how this is worded this will be in good hands in the in the platform committee if if it survives as under a majority vote here and if it doesn't get set on here then it won't be considered in the platform committee Dr Babson uh just very quickly I mean I I want to Circle back to not to perseverate maybe I'm perseverating I don't know but the the first point that I was making or driving at um earlier was that so if we just as a point of order and maybe this is something to address to uh Mr christophko or whatever um but if we
109don't agree with the proposed um item to go forward to the platform committee is the correct action then to pull it and then to say I disagree because we're not really voting on on these it's it's really concern you are voting so you would not vote in support of it if you didn't want to move it forward to the platform so so what would but procedurally would what would you do would you pull it from the consent agenda it has been pulled from consent so we're voting on it as a standalone item I'm going to call for a vote on this item and if you don't want to see it move on to the platform committee you would vote against it got it okay so that that is procedurally how we go okay thank you
110for that clarification no problem um anybody else Miss Duffy it's very late where Miss Duffy is so maybe she's moved on I just want to say I admire your grit Mr Moore because I know that oh I'm sorry Miss Duffy no it's okay yes it is almost three in the morning where I am I am following along but excuse me um um yeah this is something that you know Mr moorefield's really passionate about and he has brought it up I've participated in the um delegate meeting before where we go through discussion so um I guess I have one question if you know I know these are all due on the 30th is there some discussion if we wanted to change the language that would can we still change the language before we submit I know
111they're due on June 30th that would have to be done to do that to make more people feel comfortable how do we you know how would we then approval that would have to be done tonight through a motion to amend Miss Duffy so um I don't know if you want to pursue that or not but we are here to vote on this item tonight and it will go forward as is if it passes if it doesn't pass it won't move forward if it's amended and it's approved as an amendment with the way it's amended it would go forward as an amended version so um okay are you making a motion to Amanda are you just going to leave it at that I am not right now no okay at three in the morning um anybody
112else Mr Moore like I said I admire your grit I know you feel really passionately about this I do agree with what Miss Stern said fundamentally which is that until our state recognizes that we should in my view have an Open Primary so that every citizen of Pennsylvania can participate as a voter regardless of party and if you are not registered with a party that to me is the overarching solution to this or at least a step in the right direction I sincerely hope that at some point maybe if it fits into the platform we would advocate for every voter in Pennsylvania having a say in our primary process which they don't right now if you're not a red registered with a party so and I have seen this debate go down a number of
113times with the delegate assembly and it has failed and so um I I admire your grit but I also if it if it in my view I'm I'm not going to support it because I don't believe that it is something that I want to get behind until the larger fix is addressed um and so therefore I won't be supporting it either and if with that if there aren't any other comments I would like to call a vote on item 11.02 we had a motion for Mr Moore a second from Miss Monahan all those in favor of supporting item 11.2 please indicate if you're here by raising your hand first Mr Moore that's one on the phone is there anybody in support of 11.02 hearing none all those opposed right here raise your hand that's four
114on the phone is there anybody opposed to item 11.02 please indicate Miss Stern mister I I am opposed Miss Solomon Lydia Solomon opposed Miss Duffy post okay so the motion fails one to seven unless I read that backwards Mr Christoph goes seven to one but motion fails one to seven thank you very much and we'll move on to the other item that was pulled which is item 12.10 Miss Dunn that should be a quick fix yes uh I would like to move to amend item 12.10 uh where there are blanks to include the names of Dr Andrew Babson Mrs Lydia Solomon and Sarah Dunn as the district Representatives okay is there a second to fill in those three names Ms Monahan thank you very much any comments or questions all those in favor of approving
115item 12.10 with the addition of those three names please indicate by here raising your hand that's five and on the phone Miss Solomon yes Ms CERN bye Miss Duffy yes okay item 12.110 passes eight to nothing thank you all very much for your work on the consent agenda and that will move us to give me a second to turn the page here that will move us to our reports from board Liaisons and Community announcements we'll start with the Delaware County Community College Miss Solomon no report okay Delaware County Intermediate Unit Mr Moore I will defer report we already talked about the dciu earlier today okay thank you Delaware County school board's legislative Council Mr Jubilee is absent he can update Us in August and Pennsylvania School boards Association Dr Babson uh let me just take
116our previous conversation as a proxy for um basically that is the the headline of the psba these days is the platform um conversation so that's it okay terrific I thought you were going to mention you're joining the platform committee oh well may I uh mention that I am on the platform committee um and um I also checked by the way before the previous vote just so you know that I can be on the platform committee and be part of the delegate assembly in case anyone was on the edge of the receipt with baited breath okay and I want to thank again the three board members who are volunteering their time to do the work of being on the delegate assembly and thank you Dr Babson for volunteering to be on the platform committee along with
117Mr Moore who volunteered but there had already been another appointment in the works so thank you all for volunteering I know time is precious and with that we'll move to our board announcements there are almost no potentially July meeting so we will move to our announcement of our August meetings and those will begin on Tuesday August 15th at five o'clock with policy six o'clock with our finance committee seven o'clock with our facilities committee and they will be held in the ground floor conference room of the Radner Township School District administration building 135 South Wayne Avenue in Wayne then we on Tuesday August 22nd we will have a five o'clock curriculum committee meeting a seven o'clock government relations and Communications committee meeting in the same location as mentioned previously and we'll be back in this building
118on Tuesday August 29th at seven o'clock for our regular monthly business meeting with that I'm going to turn to our second public comment of the evening although there is nobody in the room so I'm going to say that we can skip public comment for this evening since no one's here to make it and I will make it take a motion to adjourn is there a motion to adjourn Ms Monahans second Miss Dunn has a second all those in favor those on the phone are you ready to adjourn Miss Duffy at 3am are you ready to adjourn everybody yes okay I'd say motion passes eight to nothing here adjourn for the evening thank you very much