UDSD School Board Meeting & Work Session: January 2025

001Welcome to the January 14th combined work session and regular business meeting. The first item on the work session agenda is the pledge of allegiance by students from Beverly Hills Middle School, Tanisha Sultana and Muhammad Al-Mumen, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The second item on the work session agenda is a presentation titled the importance of the foundational skills of literacy every second counts by the kindergarten center principal Miss Anna Marie Dasi and assistant principal Mr. James Gallagghan. >> Good evening school board president Desoyer's fellow school board members Dr. McGarry, administration, community members, and a special thank you for my kindergarten family that is here tonight and watching at home. My name is Anime Marie Dassi. Alongside me is James Gallaghan and we have the privilege of serving as the administrators of the Upper Derby

002Kindergarten Center. Tonight, I am honored to highlight the incredible work happening at the kindergarten center and share how our teachers and students are building the essential literacy skills that form the foundation for lifelong learning. At the kindergarten center, our mission is to nurture a love of reading while meeting and exceeding the rigorous expectations of the kindergarten standards. Our teachers are the foundation of our literacy success. They work extremely hard to implement evidence-based practices while fostering a love for learning. Their dedication and creativity ensure that every student, regardless of their starting point, receives the support they need to succeed. Whether they are using engaging activities to build phmic awareness or incorporating technology to enhance learning, our teachers consistently go above and beyond. And of course, I must highlight our incredible students. Watching their progress is one

003of the greatest joys of our work. Their confidence is growing as they master the foundational skills and they develop a genuine love for reading. Literacy is the cornerstone of education and at the kindergarten center we are deeply committed to ensuring that every child leaves kindergarten with skills and confidence to they need to thrive. By addressing foundational literacy skills early and fostering the love for learning, we are setting the stage for lifelong success. Thank you for your continued support to our kindergarten center and our students literacy journey. Together we are building a strong foundation for their futures. Welcome to the Upper Derby Kindergarten Center. My name is Gina Applegate. In this video, you will see some of the amazing ways in which our teachers are helping our students to build strong foundational skills in early literacy.

004Every student at the kindergarten center participates in our core phonics program foundations. In Miss Gman's class, to begin her foundations lesson, she first establishes the learning target with her students. Say, wait, you know what this word is? What is it? >> I. And we learned this word on Tuesday. >> Can. Say, I can >> I can >> write my letters >> on. >> What's this word? >> the say correct lines. >> Correct. >> What does correct mean? >> Right. That means you do it right and you do it neatly. Every Foundation's lesson begins with drill sounds in which students use mama echo, the foundation's al to echo the letter, keyword, and sounds >> e >> Yellow U Xbox. >> Xbox. >> After drill sounds, students will practice skywriting, which uses gross motor skills to form

005letters in the air. Point to the plane line. Go down to the grass line. Curve up to the plane line. Trace down to the grass line. Say qu. [Music] >> Then students put their skills to practice on whiteboards while they do echo letter formation. [Music] In Miss Gearhol's class, students have letter races to practice fluency. Students use letter naming and letter sound fluency to gain automaticity in their letters and sounds. But F [Music] m is a A. >> We look for every opportunity to incorporate literacy instruction throughout our day. During dismissal, Mrs. Hov's parent pickup friends illustrate their own foundation's large picture card crowds while they wait for their parents to arrive. >> What are you going to draw right here? A up for up. >> Okay, >> Joseph, what is that? >> A up

006for a >> That's right. Good job. >> Every day, Mrs. Mau uses her morning meeting as an opportunity to embed foundation skills such as identifying letters and keyword sounds. >> What letter is this? >> Y. >> What's my key word for Y? >> In the middle. >> What sound does Y say? >> This one. >> B. Remember, imagine that belly on top. It makes an uppercase. It's your B. What's my key word for B? >> What sound does B say? >> Who can tell me what is a sentence? Langston, what's a sentence? A group of words that tell us something. And what comes at the end of our sentence? >> A punctuation mark. How many punctuation marks are there? >> What do punctuation marks tell us to do? >> They tell us to stop, right?

007In Miss Ganam's class, her students are working cooperatively at their literacy centers while using a variety of instructional materials. [Music] Mrs. Super's autistic support friends utilize the clear touchboard for a fun way to engage students in literacy instruction. So here at the kindergarten center we have about 475 students and of those 4757 of them qualify for ELLL services. Since there's only three ELELLL teachers here we have to try and be creative with how we service our students. So sometimes we will work with them one-on-one whenever we have a chance to. We will do small groups with them, but we try to be creative with it. We try to uh collaborate with the reading team. So they're not only getting our language services, but they're also getting the reading support as well. Um, it's definitely challenging

008sometimes, but just being able to see them succeed and and get that gotcha moment where that light bulb goes off is just it's a really heartwarming thing to see. And all the teachers are trying to achieve the same goal, which is just to see them succeed. I hope you enjoyed our video and were amazed at some of the wonderful things that our students here at the Upper Derby Kindergarten Center are doing this year. >> Thank you very much. First, I do want to also thank Jason. Um, but I also want to thank you. I know this month is um schoolboard appreciation month and we do have a small token of our appreciation for you um for you just to look at every day as a constant reminder of um why we do this and just

009for it to bring a smile and to show you what I think or who I think the most important grade um in our district is. Um because after all every grade after is building on us. Um, also I'm sure he'll get upset with me, but one I put Dr. Manfreyy's favorite song in the video for him, and this will probably be my only time to talk address that in front of everyone else before you retire. So, I just want to say that I thank you for being such an incredible friend, a leader, and a mentor. As you step into your retirement, I just want to take a moment to say how much your friendship and leadership have meant to me. You've always been a constant source of support and encouragement, and I am so grateful

010for your loyalty and encouragement. You have touched so many lives with your kindness, vision, and dedication. While while your daily presence will be missed, the legacy you leave behind will continue to inspire us all. Thank you for believing in me, for cheering me on, and for being the kind of leader who lifts others up. I feel so fortunate to have had the privilege of learning from you and calling you my friend. Most importantly, I'm going to miss when I call complaining to you. I'll take care of it. Click, you know, his head is like, we're not going to hear the end of this now. Thanks. I appreciate it. Checks in the mail, too. >> Thank you very much. >> The third item on the work session agenda is a presentation titled PBS Rewards Day by

011Beverly Hills Middle School Principal, Mr. Wayne Remy. Good evening, board president Desawyers, members of the board, Superintendent McGarry, Central Administration, staff, students, and community members. My name is Wayne Remy and I have the honor of serving as the principal of Beverly Hills Middle School. At Beverly Hills Middle School, we are deeply committed to fostering a strong positive behavioral intervention and supports or PBIS program. Central to this initiative is our what we call our royal roll call which emphasizes four core values of be safe, be responsible, be respect, respectful, and be gritty. One of the key elements of our PBS program is the incorporation of rewards. We strive to recognize and celebrate positive behaviors as often as possible. These rewards come in various forms, some small, others are more significant, but they all serve the same

012purpose to acknowledge the fact that most of our students cons consistently embody the world roll call values. This evening, I'm excited to share with you our PBS rewards days, which we implement throughout the school year. And these events are designed to reward students for adhering to the royal roll call, strengthen our school community, and provide opportunities for students to enjoy engaging, fun experiences. One of the challenges we face is selecting rewards that resonate with middle school students. To address this, we focus on providing student choice, ensuring the activities and rewards align with their interest and preferences. PBS are the lessons we do during citizenship. They try to get the kids a little bit centered. We focus on making sure they're being good citizens and and they're behaving themselves in the school. >> It like tells

013you about like different topics that like the school should work on. >> We're seeing those kids doing those things and you know observing that growth and that kind of uh behavior in the hallways and the classrooms and the lunchroom. At the end of the marking period, we usually have some kind of event. Say, "Hey, thanks for paying attention, doing your best, giving us the best version of you, and here's a little something to say thanks." >> For a few years, we've been doing sort of a rewards day every quarter. I think >> it's important to have the rewards day to help students with responsibility. >> Everyone should get like a chance to do something fun. Even if you're not the best student, you should still like do something fun. >> The biggest challenge we always

014face is finding things to do for 1500 kids all at once on the same day. last year with the new field. That was the first time we thought we can get all the kids on there. And so that's what we've been doing. This is our second fall rewards where we got out there and we did the track and field day type of thing. >> We had the three-legged race. >> There's like a ping-pong ball on a spoon sack races, >> a lot of relay type things where we can get as many kids involved as possible and then it culminates with the the big event of the day is always tug-of-war uh which ends with the winning grade versus the teachers. So in this year we lost. It's really nice to just see everybody doing all

015the activities, having fun, playing around, interacting with everybody. It's nice. >> When the weather is a little colder, like winter time, you know, winter break, uh we did something all over this building >> for the winter rewards, everyone like got to pick a um a reward that they want to do, like an activity that they wanted to do. >> It's like an activity system. You get to pick the activity that you want to do on a Google form. The kids choose what they want to do and teachers choose what they want to lead and we match those things together. We do have some big activities. So in the gym we have like a big Star Wars game going and you can choose to just spectate in there. We have Minute to Win it in here.

016>> Minute to win it that I ran this year. They were all kind of holiday oriented. Unwrap a package with oven mitts on. There was one where they had to drop candy canes on garland and gave out prizes and candy canes and had a great time. >> And then we have small individual classroom things going on. We had quiet rooms. We had movie rooms. We had board game rooms. >> We do like a coloring room, a quiet reading room. We do a cards for chop kids at Chops. We do like holiday cards. We had someone do henna a henna room this year. >> I participated in the henna room, which was really fun because you just people did your henna and it was like really nice. >> We got Christmas caroling around a hallway. >>

017Me and Miss Peterson take kids carolling around the halls. We do all the floors. We try to find where the activities are going on in the rooms and when we see the kids coming out, we'll stop and sing a couple songs to them and then move on. >> This year we did a different thing for winter where we were trying to promote uh being on time. >> Students, they sometimes need to start learning how to be on time to class. >> So, every kid that was on time for class, we gave out thousands of these. >> This is a royal crown. >> Yes, this lovely little royal crown. You get these if you're like on time to class, do all your work. We started off with every class. If they were on time, their teacher

018gave them one. And then the second week, we tapered it off where it was maybe four or five classes a day, but they didn't know which ones. So I would come on right after the bell and say, "Teachers, anyone who was on time for this period, give them a royal crown." And then you fill out the name on the royal crown and the period that you got it from. And so then at lunch, you got to put it in like a box. We got to have a raffle of $20 gift cards, including Wawa, Chick-fil-A, Target, Roblox, and Amazon. >> And we wheeled the carts around with the big boxes where they could put theirs in, and they could choose which one they wanted to win or spread them out. Uh, and then the kids would

019come up and put all their things in. And then on rewards day, we pulled the winners. >> They have a Google Meet that all the teachers join. And in Miss Hie's citizenship, she has her students pick out a royal crown from each box and they read it out loud and they say the student's name. If they won, they get a gift card. It gives the students something to look forward to. It helps them develop and it helps them like be a responsible student. >> When you have 1500 kids in here and most of them are doing the right thing, we want to reward that. [Applause] So, I just want to thank you, Jason, for putting that together. Um, he always does it better than I could ever do in words. Um, so I'm happy that

020he was able to do that for us. Uh, as we move forward, though, I look forward to continuing to build a a strong community of royals who are safe, responsible, respectful, and at BH most importantly, gritty. Thank you for your time this evening and for allowing me to highlight some of the incredible things that we're doing at Beverly Hills. >> The final item on the work session agenda is a message from the UDA president, Miss Linda Fox. >> Good evening, President Dooyers, board members, Dr. McGarry, central administration, teachers, faculty, and community members. In January, we come here to celebrate National School Board Appreciation Month. I've been told before that if you have an appreciation month, you know you're not getting paid enough. In your case, as volunteers, the work that you do, which is so

021incredibly important, you are paid in the currency of appreciation. It doesn't pay your bills, but it does give something to your heart. It's the same that you give to all of us with your time, your experience, and your expertise. Thank you for taking care of our students, our teachers, our community in Upper Darby School District. The work that you do is greatly appreciated. I hope that you enjoyed the dinner that we shared with you. That was a collaboration between UDA and UDESPO, which is our our um our building is sorry, our building uh assistance uh union. And we do have a little gift for you from our union. Um Nick Kums, our second vice president, Gina Applegate, who is our secretary. And we have two reps, Paige and Molly, who will be sharing a gift

022from us. Thank you so much. And just know that we don't just appreciate you in January. We appreciate you every month and every day. Thank you, [Applause] >> Miss Fox. If I can tell you the uh the dinner for our executive session was appreciated and uh u a few board members were seen um taking away packing up leftovers. The regular in-person and virtual meeting of the Upper Derby School District board of school directors will please come to order. There was a closed session this evening from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. for matters to be discussed within the limitations for closed deliberations as prescribed by Pennsylvania Act 93 of 1998. For this evening's meeting, there were personnel and litigation matters. Before I ask the board secretary, Mr. Rogers, for a roll call, I will make a

023note that um Director Wars Savage uh informed me that he is unable to attend this this evening's meeting and he is excused. And likewise, uh, Director Hussein, uh, notified me that he is unable to attend this meeting and therefore excused. So with that, uh, roll call. Board Secretary, Mr. Rogers, please. Miss Britney Williams, >> present. >> Miss Ko, >> present. >> Miss Deborah Williams, >> present. >> Mr. Fields, >> present. >> Miss Glenn, >> present. >> Miss Murphy Mercy, >> present. >> Mr. Desires >> present. The district posted this evening's agenda to board docks at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of this meeting. Is there a motion to approve the previously posted agenda? >> So move. >> Second. >> Are there any amendments to offer? >> There are no amendments. >> The agenda

024has been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please signify by saying I oppose. >> Those abstaining, please signify by saying I abstain. Motion carries. The minutes of the reorganization and regular meeting of December 3rd and the voting meeting of December 17th, 2024 are in the hands of each board member and have been made available to the public. I move for their adoption. So move. Is that a second? >> Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppo. I I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carries. The report of the secretary, Director Murphy Moresy. >> The report The report of the secretary

025is in the hands of each board member and has been made available to the public and I move for his adoption. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Are there are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carries. The report of the treasurer, Director Brittany Williams. >> The report of the treasurer is in the hands of each board member and has been made available to the public. I move for it adoption. >> Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say

026I abstain. Motion carried. We will now have the report of the student representatives, Tasnim Yasmine, and Timothy Beiju. >> Good evening, board president Desawyers, Vice President Murphy Morsey, members of the board, Dr. McGary, and our wonderful community. Happy New Year. We're starting off 2025 with a short but important report on Charles Kelly Elementary School. Charles Kelly's environment is truly magical. An immediate sense of community and joy for everyone who steps through its doors. The teachers and staff go above and beyond to create an amazing learning atmosphere, ensuring that every child feels valued and supported. Their dedication to education and personal growth shines in their interactions, bringing life to learning with creativity, patience, and enthusiasm. It's no wonder the students absolutely adored them. Eagerly engaging in their lessons and activities. Although small, Charles Kelly buzzes with

027positivity. I recently had the chance to see my first grade teacher again for after almost 10 years, which is crazy. Mrs. Johnson is a teacher who made me understand how much of a blessing it is to be in the Upper Derby School District. It was such a heartwarming experience to catch up with her after all these years. She was just as kind and inspiring as I remembered and it brought back so many memory memories of my early days at Charles Kelly Elementary School. Even though I was only there for 2 years, I spent time there even before I was in elementary school as both my brothers went through that school. I will always remember Mrs. Williams because she uh taught my brother in fifth grade, but now she is the principal of the school and

028right by her side is Miss Millard. Transportation at Charles Kelly has reportedly gotten much better since the beginning of the school year. The school has included late buses on certain days to accommodate for after school programs. Speaking of after school programs, Mrs. Williams introduced us to Charles Kelly's new after school STEM club. Right now, students are working towards learning some coding basics. And as two STEM Forward students, Tim and I are excited to see how this program will take off throughout the rest of the year. >> Hearing that Charles Kelly might be closing doors in the future truly breaks my heart. To me, it was more than just a school. It was where I spent the first two years of my academic journey, surrounded by a warm and supportive environment that shaped me into the

029person I am today. While talking with Mrs. Johnson, I realized how much she loves the school, its students, and that family environment. And it's not just her. Our district is so lucky to have so many wonderful teachers and staff who bring their passion and dedication to everything they do. No matter what happens, we know their talent and commitment will continue to make a difference for students across the district. >> To clarify, Charles Kelly is not confirmed to close. When Charles Kelly first opened, it was used to fill the overflow of Stonehurst Elementary School and Highland Park Elementary School students. However, the building's lease is up and the district has to decide what will happen to the school. There will be a hearing soon on January 28th about the options the district has moving forward. From

030that hearing to April 29th, there will be an open email address for public comment. >> And that concludes our very first report for 2025. Thank you, the board, our community, for your time. Have a wonderful rest of your evening. TNT out. >> The timing. >> Sorry. >> The budgeted personnel and enrollment reports have been made available to the board and the public and are recorded as part of the record. No vote is required. We will now have the report of the superintendent, Dr. Daniel McGary. >> Good. Good evening, Board President Dez Neyers, Vice President Murphy Morsy, rest of the board, administration, everybody that's here with this evening. I'll try to get you out of here as quickly as I can. Um, it's always great to have a captive audience. I do want to echo again

031uh Dr. Fox, uh, Senor Kums, Miss Applegate, everybody in UDA and UDESPA. Um, I'm not one who usually eats before board meetings, but I am a chicken parm guy. Uh, so I appreciate it and and the gift that you gave uh the board this evening before was was outstanding. There are some harsh critics on this board about food. Uh, and it was wellreceived. So I won't name names, but they were very appreciative of this meal. Now that a lot of criticism on me because previous meals are not as not as positive. So So I appreciate that and I you thank I thank you as well. and to Udasa the gifts that the board received um as Udasa President Mark Comfort. Thank you uh for what you do and thank you for the administrators in this

032district recognizing uh what the board does do here and and I I bring this up every year but when whenever we have a captive audience I think it's important uh especially if you're a child uh in this in this district or a young adult I think there's no greater service that you can do to get involved on a school board if you have the opportunity to run as an elected official. Um now important some important numbers uh as Dr. Fox pointed out that they're not paid. None of these um elected officials here are paid. In some states schoolboard members are paid and paid pretty well. In California and other places they are they are paid. Here in Pennsylvania they are not. Uh they don't receive any compensation. It's an elected volunteer position which is important.

033In Pennsylvania there are roughly 500 school districts. Again Pennsylvania is a little unique in that way. Other states have more larger uber sized school districts. Here we have 500 which is pretty sizable. Um in in the Commonwealth there were also an estimated 4500 schoolboard members. So there are 4,500 volunteers in the state of Pennsylvania who give up many hours here in this situation at least two public meetings uh a month on top of numerous hours of reading and homework that they do in preparation for these meetings. I can't tell you how many board members when they get here didn't real didn't realize as much as they thought they did how much work goes into being on a school board. So much like was shared this evening um by the administration and Dr. Fox for UDA.

034I want to uh say also thank you uh for the family-like atmosphere that you've created here in this school district. The love and the care and the dedication you show the the the students here in the community and all the improvements that we have are the direct result of your courage and leadership here in the district. So, I want to say thank you for your dedication and your volunteerism. Again, it's it's not a job that's a paid job, but it is an important job in many communities. So, thank you again for your leadership. Board President Deser, members of the board, administration, teachers, and staff and students. I also want to say thank you to Wayne Remy and to Anna Marie for your leadership. Again, we're not Wayne. You you probably could have done something for

035Greg tonight. Uh you know, he did he was your boss at one time, too. I'm going to hear about it. you're going to hear about it that you left them out. Anna Marie one uped you a little bit. So, good job, Anna Marie. Greg's very sensitive, as you know. Um, but congratulations to both of you for your work [Laughter] and your dedication out of the district. There's no doubt that the foundational literacy skills are so important. The video was great. And then obviously re rewarding kids. For years, Wayne, we've always heard about what do we do to recognize kids who are doing the right thing. So, thank you for carrying on that work at Beverly Hills Middle School. And obviously Jason who's in that room back there. Everybody looks around the room. We mention Jason

036Taylor, but he's in a secret room back there. Uh he's really a talented individual and works with Aronda out of uh Miss Buford's office to put on that great work highlighting the school district each month. So thank you to your leadership and what you do and thank you for leading us in the pledge this evening as well. Just a couple updates before we get into recognizing what we really are here for this district. What we do every month is celebrating kids and recognizing kids. But some important housekeeping, budget timeline and reminder. Whenever you have a captive audience, you know, you want to make sure the work of a school district is also about how do we fund what we do. And so over the next couple of months, we'll be having budget updates and conversations.

037In those conversations, we'll be talking about tax increases, staffing, and facilities improvements and updates. This year, the board, much like it did last year, voted an accelerated opt out. Uh here, ironically, in the Upper Derby school district where we're one of the most under 100 underfunded school districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we can raise taxes higher than a wealthier school district. You would think that would be the opposite. They would cap taxes. That's not the case. So, this school board year in and year out has to really weigh what can the community afford by way of taxes and what programs are important important to keep. every single year too without failure. We really don't get an opportunity to make that decision before the state tells us what our funding is going to be. So

038oftentimes school boards and school district administrations are left with determining how do we figure this out without an understanding of what the state is giving. It's even more complicated this year because obviously coming up soon there's been a lot of talk of what will happen in the funding federal funds of public education and we don't know what's going to happen here in the state. So once again, we're up against it in the Upper Arby school district where we're trying to figure out how are we going to balance a budget and do the best for our kids with uncertain funding streams coming to the school district. So some important timelines I want you to be aware of. First, the board opted out to increase taxes as high as the adjusted index of 5.8%. So the school

039district will not, you should clap at that, should not be raising taxes to the highest allowable amount that they could. they voted to go come in well under that that amount and we'll be processing through what that tax increase would look like and some use of our fund balance to make that happen. The process the next process will be in April. We'll have a conversation in April at committee meeting explaining staffing, explaining the budgetary asks. Then we'll have a conversation um in May. Again, another update refining the budget. There'll be a preliminary budget approval in early June with a final adoption of the budget sometime June 17th. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we have to have a budget approved by June 30th. The Commonwealth rarely passes their budget. Again, Pennsylvania is a little bit more

040rare than other states. Other states prioritize education. Here in the Commonwealth, we sometimes don't get an update on our budget until winter break. Um, so we're building next year's budget right now and by June 17th we hope to have a final budget update. I'll continue to give updates as we go and we're working again on facilities improvements and staffing needs here in the district. It wasn't lost on me and Marie and Greg shouldn't get off the hook that the individuals who spoke from the kindergarten said that they have three EL teachers for over 170 some odd students and that was like hurt my heart uh hearing about that. So, every year we try to add EL teachers in the budget. Um, it just becomes harder and harder to find certified EL instructors. So, I'm sure

041that'll be something that coming up in the next part of this. Miss Applegate, I see you smiling. I know I know who you are. I know the players. >> I I know the players. I know the player. Thank You're welcome. Um, so we'll talk about that process. More importantly, we're here to recognize teachers and kids. Um, we have an unbelievable music program in here in the district. And I just want to quickly recognize Mr. Doug Ballard is here in the audience. Brian Bochure is here in the audience. Kristen Nelson, and I also want to recognize Salinto, who is our new supervisor of the art, theater, and music program, humanities here in the school district. Sent me an email. Miss Nelson, if you could stand up just very quickly. Kristen, you were over there a minute

042ago. you're now you moved, but I heard you did an unbelievable job this past weekend co-hosting uh PMEA in Hfordford Township School District and Sal sent this email saying you got to recognize how awesome you were carrying this behind the scenes. So, I just want to give you a round of applause thanking you for what you do. You know, the the music teachers in the high school do an unbelievable job and I want to say thank you for your for your dedication and your hard work. Um, with that talent comes the talent of our kids. Um, and there are several of our students who are recognized at this year's Pennsylvania Music Educators PMA District 12 um, in band, chorus, and orchestra. Again, the dedication of our teachers that are here with us. So, when we

043call the children up, hopefully you guys won't be shy, but if you can come up and get in that photo photo because you're a part equally as a part of that. And then what if parents are here, we'll try to work that out as well. But I want to take a moment again to recognize that talent and say that, you know, we're backtracking a little bit because there was an event recently and then in November, we didn't have a report in November, but on November 23rd, 2024, 30 students from Upper High School music department, traveled to Westchester East High School, a place where I worked and Mrs. Simone worked at one time, believe it or not, to audition against students from 46 schools in Delaware, Chester, and Philadelphia counties. There were 400 instrumental auditions and

044331 coral auditions. Of our students who went, 17 were selected for PMEA District 12 band, chorus, andor orchestra. So when I call your name, if you can come up, we want to get a photo of you, recognize you, and the talented staff and your your two of your I think three of your administrators are here. Dr. Parkinson, too. Uh you should get in that picture as well. Thank you for your leadership there. Um, and so here are some of the students we would like to bring up. Brihan Amadia, clarinet. Ryan Andrix, bass clarinet. Benjamin Davis, French horn. Sarah Gentiel, you can come on up. Bass clarinet. Steven Guard, flute. Chris Christian Lugian Vargas, trombone. Katherine Reyes, clarinet. And then we'll go into district chorus. Mia Lazar, Alto 2. Josiah Marker Marker base two. Cole Macintosh

045base two. Michael Ana base one. Cayar Ofer base two. Jin Hunam Rye Alto 2. James Winningington bass 2. And then district orchestra Bhan Amadia clarinet Martha Rose Brown viola. Benjamin Davis, French horn. Matteo Fontino Wong, bass. Emily Fishbach, violin. Steven Guard, flute. So, let's give it up to those students and the staff. We also have some uh outstanding athletes uh all central whether it be first team, second team or honorable mention. So there's if we could hold our applause there's quite a few which is awesome. So thriving academically in the arts, theater and music. It's just it's just wonderful to hear. So girls soccer second team all central Aubrey Patterson. Girls soccer honorable mention Kylo Ward. The girls soccer team also was recognized for first team sportsmanship, which I think is really awesome. Compliments to

046the team and the coach for that. Boys soccer, second team all central, second, um, Abner Perez. Boys soccer, second team all central, Romel Tom. And boys soccer, honorable mention Randy Nola Tito. For volleyball, honorable mention Kendra Dale. For volleyball, honorable mention McKenzie Dale. And for volleyball, first team sportsmanship. So the volleyball team and soccer team both won the sportsmanship award in the Central League, which is awesome. For field hockey, honorable mention Sue Nini Heler. Field hockey, honorable mention, Mariana Riker. I see the Riker are here. Come on up. You can't be shy. Field hockey, honorable mention Binn Zimmerman. And then field hockey, again, first team sportsmanship. So that's three consecutive teams that won the sportsmanship award. Football first team all central Justin Baitman. Justin heard a lot of good things about you Justin. Congratulations. Football

047second team all central Jaylen Johnson. Football second team all central Azim Spicer. Football second team all central Usman Daffy. Football honorable mention Salah Houdin Abdur Rashid. Football honorable mention Milan Jernigan. Football honorable mention Jawan Jawan Sudler. Football honorable mention Aiden Cis Cicero. I think Aiden you're here. Football honorable mention Zahir Robinson. Football honorable mention Samir Mosley. And then two uh cross country girls cross country first team won the sportsmanship award and cross country boys uh second uh team sportsmanship award. So, let's get a picture. But congratulations to all of you to to the coaches and to Russell Russell Bennett at the athletic director who I'm sure is at the high school right now doing something with the athletic program. But congratulations will come up. [Applause] >> Want to also recognize uh two other wonderful teachers.

048I don't see both of them here. I see one of them here, but Miss Roseanne Burn, Miss Burns, I see you're here. Sue didn't make it. Wasn't able to make it out tonight. Miss Beck, just want to say thank you to Sue uh and to you, Miss Burns, for all the work that you do at the high school with the kids because the next group that we're going to honor, Dr. Parkinson was raving about them, you know, this year at the high school as well. Um just going to give a little information on the Upper Derby math royals team. Um, so the Upper Derby Royal Math team had an unbelievable season in the fall math madness, winning four matches in a row and making it to the semi-finals. They're the only Pennsylvania team left in

049any of the brackets at that time. So listen to that. They were the only Pennsylvania team left in any of the brackets and they lost a close match. Regularly, they were studying, putting their time in. In fact, we we had some students up there tonight working on their math uh probability and stat for tomorrow, and that's why we let them go home early. But just an unbelievable amount of effort and time went into that. And again, just much like the athletic prowess that we saw tonight and the music, it it's not for a lack of teachers and the work that you guys do at the high school is unbelievable. Um hopefully you like the new space in the library up there that you guys work with. But just going to recognize the students and if

050you want to come forward and be a part of that, we'd appreciate that because you know you're the one who really does a lot of that work with those kids and makes them so so successful. So thank you. Albert Hung, ninth grade, if Albert's here. Um Sam Lee, ninth grade. Safilin Salma, ninth grade. Mid Arid Assir, are they here? Anybody here so far? Not not yet. Jason Clarici, I recognize a Clarici. Dad's in the back. There he is. Muhammad Sami, Terrence Pikney. I get Muhammad's in 10th grade. Terren is in 10th grade. Neo Neo No, 10th grade. Levy David Zephrin 10th grade. Nick Fitzpatrick, 11th grade. Kandakar Mahin, 11th grade. IFAR Toronto 11th grade. I feel like whenever math is up or a science project, IFAR Toronto is amazing. I mean, I feel like we've

051given him recognition all over and over again. Akim Udin, 11th grade. Jacob Aaron, 12th grade. Abdala Eloqui, 12th grade. Sophie Damat, another outstanding student, uh, 12th grade. Katib Ashraf, 12th grade. And Ridwan Muntasir, uh, 12th grade. So, we're going to come up and get a picture and thank you for that work in those 18 students. Board President Deser, as I as I go to conclude the report for this evening, I appreciate you providing me this opportunity every month, the board to do this. And the students and the families that are there, we would love for you to stay, but if you have to go home and study for your exams, you're more than welcome to leave. You don't have to stay, but we do love an audience. So if you're interested to stay here for

052the rest of the meeting, you certainly can. Otherwise, we will not be insulted. Uh thank you so much. And to the board, that concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you very much, Dr. McGary. We will now have an update on the December 17th, 2024 Education and People Services Committee meeting. Director Brittney Williams will read the summary. A detailed summary of the meeting, including public comments, can be found on board docs. >> Thank you, President. Uh on Tuesday, December 17th, 2024, there was a education and people services committee meeting. Um there were two textbooks discussed uh that do require board action tonight. Um both from the middle school, one both for the middle school uh one for social studies and one for mathematics. um for both district administration, building principles and assistant principles, teachers

053were selected selected the curricular resource following the guidelines in policy 108. We also for that was for agenda item 1 A and B. Uh for agenda item two, we had a presentation on the 2025, 2026, and 2026, and 2027 district onepage calendars, which also require board action tonight. Um Dr. Christine Kelly presented the annual Oh, that was the next one. Uh Dr. Christine Kelly um presented the calendars and reviewed them as well. Uh item number three was the Keystone exams winter administration window. This was an informal presentation. Um for this one, Dr. Kelly um presented the annual Keystone exam window, testing requirements, and information for parents and guardians. Uh for agenda item number four was the proposal for the athletic program for UDHS girls flag football. This also requires board action tonight. Uh Dr. uh

054Kelly Simone proposed the addition of girls flag football as a high school spring sport for the 2526 school year. Um there was a presentation as well that you can go back and look at. Then uh item number five were the policies that also require board action tonight. Policy 113.1 discipline of students with disabilities 113.2 2 behavior support 202 eligibility of non-resident students 236.1 threat assessment 252 dating violence and 254 educational opportunity for military children. There were no public comments. And that concludes the reading of the report. >> Thank you very much, Director Brittney Williams. We will now have an update on the December 17th, 2024 finance and operations committee meeting. Vice President Murphy Moresy will read the summary. A detailed summary of the meeting, including public comments, can be found on board docs. >> On

055Tuesday, December 17th, a meeting of the um finance operations committee was held. All board members except uh Miss Ko and Mr. Hussein were present. The short and long-term restrict redistricting redistricting of elementary and middle school um planning wasformational. The district reviewed short-term and elementary short-term elementary redistricting and future middle school redistricting. This was the first oh during this presentation. The district also reminded the public of the plans of the future middle school and it would take place in Clifton Heights um once that opens. The second item was the closure and timeline procedure for board action. District administration reviewed the required timeline and and procedure related to the closure of the school building. If the if the board decides to move forward with this process, a formal resolution would be presented for the vote of special

056for a special voting meeting immediately following the committee meetings tonight. The third item was the USS UDHS Nattorium renovation which isformational. The fourth um thing on the agenda was the policies requiring board action which was um 607 tuition income and 805.2 school security personnel. There were inerson com public comments. There were many in um public comments that night. It was a long night and there were also online comments that night. And we also received other questions regarding um this closure of the pool. And that ends the report. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Vice President Murphy Morrisy. And I should note there were uh some um submitted comments from the Finance and Operations Committee meeting that did not get read >> at the meeting on December 17th. They will be read at

057the conclusion of this meeting. Okay, moving on. Uh the instruction and curriculum report uh in uh Director Hussein's absence. Uh Vice President Murphy Morsey, could I ask you to uh read that report? >> The instruction and curriculum report is in the hands of each board member. It has been made available to the public and I move for its adoption. >> Second. Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carried. The personnel report. Director Psitini Ko. >> The personnel report is in the hands of each board member and has been made available to the public. I move for its adoption. >> Second. Are there any comments

058from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carries. So, Dr. Ashwina Mazakowski is joining the team tonight. She's here with her daughter. So, we want to recognize you. Stand up. We want to get a picture with you, too. If your daughter wants to get in that picture, that'd be great. Thanks for joining the team. And look, guess what? You made it. [Applause] Dr. Mazakowski will becoming the new director of elementary education here in the school district. So, congratulations. [Applause] Okay. The uh the policy report first reading. In um Director War Savage's absence, I will uh I will read the report. Uh although no vote is required, I do have a

059a summary of of the updates, the policy updates. And the uh the policies being um considered for first reading this evening are 610 purchases subject to bid quotation, 611 purchases budgeted, 801 public records, 807 opening exercises, moment of silence flag displays, and 823 opioid antagonist. uh policies 610 and 611. Um as required annually by PA law, the dollar amounts at which the district is required to get quotes and bids is being updated. And for the other policies being updated, uh the there is a summary of policy changes first reading posted to board docs with a description of the changes. And moving on to the policy report second reading once again in Director War Savage's absence. Uh I will read the report. The policy report is in the hands of each board member and has been

060made available to the public. I move for its adoption. >> Second. Uh before I ask for comments from the board, I will say that uh there are eight policies being updated that are up for a vote this this evening. And if the report is adopted, these policies um the changes to these policies will be adopted and implemented. The policies undergoing a second reading this evening are 113.1 discipline of students with disabilities 113.2 behavior support 202 eligibility of non-resident students 236.1 Threat Assessment 252 Dating Violence 254 Educational Opportunity for Military Children 607 Tuition Income and 805.2 two school security personnel and uh because uh the summary of the updates is lengthy I will just say you can find it posted to board docs as the uh summary of policy changes second reading. Uh with that I

061will ask if there are uh any comment any other comments from the board. Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carried. The supplies report. Director Fields. >> The supplies report is in the hands of each board member. Has been made available to the public. I move for its adoption. >> Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I >> I those opposed please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carried. The facilities report, the use of facilities report, and the donation report. Director Glenn, >> the facilities report, the use of the facilities report,

062and the donation report are in the hands of each board member and have been made available to the public. I move for their adoption. >> Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carried. The food services report. Director Deborah Williams. >> Thank you. The food services report is in the hands of each board member and has been made available to the public. I move for its adoption. Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. >> Those abstaining, please say I abstain.

063>> Motion carries. The finance and budget report. Director Deborah Williams. >> Thank you. The finance and budget report is in the hands of each board member and has been made available to the public. I move for its adoption. >> Second. >> Are there any comments from the board? Are there any comments from the public? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Those opposed, please say I oppose. Those abstaining, please say I abstain. Motion carries. We are now at the time for the collateral reports. and my laptop wasn't uh giving me a little difficulty, I would uh have a list of collateral reports in front of me. Delaware County Community College. So, there was there was a uh interview process to replace uh members of the board of trustees for the community

064college and Michelle was just being assigned and Desire was just handing off and um I was available to kind of get in there and help with that process. So, I went to that. >> Okay. Um there were uh six individuals interviewed. Uh we had two people from Upper Derby apply. So I was really happy to see that. Um uh three uh three seats were filled. So that so that was good. A lot of lot of really a lot of really good talent. So the board of trustees for the community college is kind of like the school board is for the district, right? Right. And so they're just kind of general direction of the um community college whereas the day-to-day running is done by the community college president and her staff and and and that and

065that sort of thing. So very similar to school district. They're not paid either. Um but is it is a nice way to give back. Uh uh the people that wanted the appointment were it was um Gail Hine Heinmire. She's from Ridley Park. She was a school district administrator in Ridley Park. Um, and I may be not saying her last name correctly. There was a Tiffany Bowen from Lansdown. Um, she had a uh, psychology background, children's advocacy background and that kind of thing. So, it was really nice to see her. And then local boy does well, Alex Brown, who was just here a few minutes ago for for his daughter. Um, he had applied. He had graduated from their police academy and so was really excited to go back to the place that had given him

066a second career um, and and help out. And so those were um those were the vacancies that were filled. Those were the folks that filled the vacancies. Really good group of people. And um I for me I was just thrilled that enough people in Upper Derby had heard about it that we had two applications. We're one of the biggest constituents and so it's great to see that representation from Upper Derby on the board of trustees. So back to you guys. >> Thank you Director Fields. The Delaware County IU Board Director Deborah Williams. >> Yep. Thank you. Uh we had a meeting last Wednesday and um just a few highlights from that meeting. Um the IU just approved wide earn students complete student teaching placements um at the IU early intervention uh program this spring um

067which was really great. um the DCTS, which is the technical school. Um they'll be sending students to the Skills USA regional uh competitions um at the Bucks County um tech high school as well as western and northern um Montco County Tech schools um for competitions in late January um and at the end of February as well. Um also just like us, the IU is always hiring, so just put that out there if you can. Um and our next committee meeting is tomorrow night. um at six o'clock PM if you're interested. Thank you. That concludes my report. >> Thank you very much, Director Williams. The Legislative Council, Director Glenn. >> Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Our meeting was held on January 8th. Um just two um legislative updates that I wanted to give. Um the PA

068House and Senate convened um the 2025 2026 legislative session on January 7th. Governor Josh Shapiro will present the 2025 2026 state budget on February 4th. Um and then the legislators have begun introduced have begun to introduce um co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation intended to be introduced to the 2025 2026 legislative session. The key proposals include teacher shortage, charter schools, and intermediate units. And um there's our next meeting is February 12th and our legislative breakfast will be on May 16th. And that concludes my legislative council meeting. >> Thank you very much, Director Glenn. Uh the Men and Hall Tyson Scholarship Committee, Director Brittney Williams. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, we will have a winter board meeting on February 14th at 8:30 a.m. Um, it will be in person, but I am very happy to announce they will

069also allow for a virtual um, attendance as well, which I will be attending virtually and then I can bring back um, updates. >> Great. Thank you. Home and school vice president Murphy Morrisy. >> Thank you. Um, on uh, the 13th, was that yesterday? yesterday. Yesterday, >> um I attended my first district-wide home and school um as the home and school collateral assignment. Um and it was great. It was great to see a lot of staff as well as parents at the home and school meeting. Parents asked lots of good questions. Some of the questions were focused on um our facilities and the concerns with the elementary school facilities. Dr. McG Dr. McGary gave a good uh fe comment back or feedback to the parents letting them them know that there are there is an improvement

070plan in place for the elementary schools not just the middle schools and high school. Um other things that were discussed were the protocols for fundraisers um the wellness policy um how food cannot be consumed during big sales um during the day which I think that's important for parents to know. Um there were questions also regarding um if our schools could be um could could apply to be a nonprofit organization individually so they can fund raise. Um policies that were shared um the district's uh proposed calendar was shared. Lots of good feedback about the snow day. They were happy for the advanced notice so they can get childcare and other things. Dr. McGary explained the difference between an FID day and a snow day and why we made that call. parents was receptive of that. And

071Dr. McGary also discussed the proposed closing of Charles Kelly. I have to get the next meeting date, but I will be at the next meeting. I would like to see more parents. I was a little discouraged when I attended one other schools. I'm not going to say what school's homeless school and there were four parents and the school has about 1,200 kids. >> So that was a little discouraging. >> Okay. Well, thank you very much for that report, Director Murphy Morsy. >> Uh, okay. Next, PSBA. Uh, myself and, uh, Director Fields. Director Fields. Director Fields, do you have anything for PSBA? >> No. Uh, thank you for appointing me as PSBA liaison. And, uh, uh, I signed up for the, uh, virtual training today. >> Excellent. I did as well. That's what I was going

072to report. Uh, let's see. Policy. >> All right. policy liaison. Um, director War Savage is the new policy liaison and unfortunately he is not in attendance this evening. But uh we have I have begun the transition um the policy leaison to him and look look uh for more information from director war savage ne next meeting. Uh President Des on that just one important announcement about policy if you don't mind. >> We are going to have to as the I guess the latest ruling Kyle on Title 9. >> We've had several iterations of Title 9 most recently in August. We were living in two worlds. >> Yes, >> we're going to have to come back and rework the Title 9 policy again. I just want to make sure we make that announcement publicly. We'll be going

073back to prior >> we're going back to Title 9 process and procedures before August of 2024. >> Right. So essentially the courts have vacated the 2024 rules. As a result, we're going to roll back but probably re-examine the um the rules that were in place prior to that. >> Okay. Something we really need to be doing. >> More fun for everybody. >> Yes. More fun for everyone. Thank you. Uh communication and I apologize. Uh, director Pentini Ko, I think I might have inadvertently removed your name from communication. Um, so uh uh I director Glenn is communication and I we have traditionally had two representatives for communication. So I will add you back. >> Thank you, >> Director Glenn. Um, I don't actually have any updates other than I'm currently working on the new the January

074uh newsletter and I'll be sending it to Aronda soon so that we can get it out to the parents. >> Great. And uh, Upper Derby Arts and Education Foundation uh, Director War Savage is is not present. So, unfortunately, we won't get an update from for that. uh except I do know we are continuing to work on the uh theou with the foundation. >> Oh, okay. Go ahead. >> I also wanted to discuss if anybody wants to join. Um I will be meeting with Dr. McGary soon on advocacy efforts. ah >> as we approach the budgeting well we end in the budgeting season now but you know as we approach things and how we can maybe you know rally the troops or something um so that'll be coming up momentarily I can send out the invite

075as well the dates and then share any information that we come up with >> will we be sharing that with the parents and students as well >> oh yes I I thank you so much >> excellent excellent all right uh so I believe that finishes our collateral assignment reports. Is there any old business from board members? Is there any new business from board members? >> I just want >> Director Deborah Williams. >> I'm sorry. That's >> um the only new business I have is I just wanted to um express my uh sincere thanks, gratitude for the dinner tonight from our unions. Um it was wonderful and thank you for the gifts as well. Um, and to the schools, thank you for the um, wonderful gifts. Mr. Comfort, thank you for that. And to the kindergarten

076center um, for principal Dasi, thank you so much for the gifts tonight. Truly appreciate it. >> And Director Brittney Williams, >> I'm sorry. I I also want to echo uh, board member Williams um, thank yous as well. Um, I also would like to thank our families because I know for me personally, I cannot be sitting in this seat right now if I didn't have a co-parenting person who was helping me with the kids at home. So, I I think we should all we have all have a family member that's probably helping us at this point. So, um, they are just as much a part of this as we are. So, just thank you to them as well. >> Okay. Thank you. We are now at the time for the public hearing. We will call on

077Upper Darby School District residents who signed in to address the board in the order in which they signed in, followed by emailed and phoned comments. We would ask that you come forward, give your name and address, and present your comments in the 3minut time limit. In accordance with policy 9003, the time allotted for general comments, both in-person and submitted comments, will not exceed 1 hour. Uh, my sign-in sheet for in-person comments is blank. I will ask uh, Miss Buford if there are any submitted comments. >> There are no submitted comments. President. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, that takes care of comments for tonight's meeting. Uh we do as mentioned earlier during a committee meeting summary um we will now read the emailed comments from the December 17th meeting that were deferred to tonight's meeting. Miss

078Buford, could you please read the comments at this time? >> Yes, sir. We received a comment from Maria Hark Harkness Nest located at 904 Corell Avenue in Drexel Hill. uh quote unquote I am a district mother with three children at Drexel Hill Middle School in Hillrest. Questions pertaining to the quote unquote re-imagine proposal for the pool. Number one, how much will this new center construction and demolition of the pool cost? Number two, when would it be completed? Number three, who would staff this mental health center? What would their qualifications and salary be? Number four, how could a student access these services? Would insurance be build? Number five, would this proposal this proposed mental health space be open year round? Number six, how many homeless students are currently in the district? Number seven, how many technology

079hubs currently exist and what does this mean? Each student in already is already equipped with a laptop. What is the role of a quote unquote hub? My family has benefited from the use of the UDHS pool. Each of my children took lessons at the pool prior to the disbanding of the recreation center. We also paid for the membership for access. It was never clear to my family why this was eradicated. My two sons swim currently at the YMCA for the Marlins and practice at the pool. One of the most wonderful things about the program is the access to all in caps abilities. If the pool closes, that may include cuts on the on the team. It seems that if low numbers on the swimming team are a concern, then development is important in your young

080years. Lessons and access are crucial. Finally, when presenting information that is based on research for a presentation to the public, it would be more profession to not include ex exclamation points after totals for various projects, i.e. 12 m exclamation point. It is also worth mentioning the age of the pool and if renovated, how long a new pool will be in use. If the pool was kept to standard, um, all caps, all athletic programs could have use of the pool. Thank you. End of comment. The second comment was received from Dr. Shantara Smith located at 256 Woodbridge Road in Clifton Heights. The comment reads, "My name is Dr. Shantara Smith, a parent to recent graduates of Upper Derby High School school, the Upper Derby Swim Team, and the Merlin Swim Program. I am a current district

081resident and am deeply concerned about the implications of the pending proposals regarding the upper derby pool. I write to you as a black single mom whose son almost drowned at age five, but eventually became a competitive swimmer, lifeguard, and junior coach. Over the years, I saw very little diversity in competitive swimming until we joined the UD and Marlins programs. The Upper Derby pool has been a sanctuary for my three sons, Jordan, class of 22, Gabriel, class of 23, and Brock, class of 24. All swam at UD and Marlins programs. Brock and Gabe went to districts with Connor Hunt and Luke Olmsteed in 2023, and Gabriel broke pool records and was the first to go to states for swimming for UD in over a decade. Before that, they gradu graduated from silver to gold as Lance

082Down's Landown Marlin several years earlier right in the UD pool. Some of the fondest memories were made in that pool. Furthermore, UD swimming has greatly benefited my son's mental health, physical health, friendships, and camaraderie. Swimming for people of color has long been a challenge, and the Marlins and UD programs are among the few accessible, diverse, and financially feasible options between Philly and Delo. This is not the case in other areas of Delo and in Philly public pools are either closed or only open in the summer. At one point we moved from Philly to Clipton Heights for to just to swim for UD. Competitive swimming for people of color is just as important as everyone else. My sons became role models in the community as standout black swimmers thanks to the support of Tara Katie and

083the UD pool access. We want the next generation of swimmers to know that swimming is for all skin colors and socioeconomic statuses. If you close that pool, kids of color will have to go further into less diverse areas to swim, making them feel like the sport isn't really for them. My oldest, Jordan, and my middle son, Gabe, are now college swimmers, D1 and D3, thanks to the Marlins program and UD swimming. They are the only kids of color on their teams. The diversity of UD as a school can help combat the idea that swimming isn't affordable or accessible to all. We love the UD pool for being accessible to all so socioeconomic levels and races, which is not the case with other burrows of the Central League. If you take if you take away that

084pool, you will see fewer and fewer workingclass and brown swimmers. Let the sport represent what upper Derby looks like. Everybody, black, white, Latino, Asian, and everyone else be a sanctuary for all the kids. You helped baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z. Now you have Gen Alpha coming into your school. Don't let the UD pool access stop with my kids. Let the next generation benefit as well. In solidarity with the Marlins and UD pool staff, Dr. Shantara Smith, Jordan Green, Gabriel Green, and Brock Caleb Green's mom, excuse me, delete mom. The next comment was received from Megan Rabbino. This comment was uh received from located at 912 Alexander Avenue in Drexel Hill. Uh the comment reads, "I am as you know an ardent proponent of redistricting whenever necess and would have liked to see

085a plan such as this proposed when the ironic and seno merger were being negotiated. As it is, I believe that it is better for students to be able to walk to their schools whenever possible and this plan seems to accomplish this. One question is if the changes are meant to reduce the impact to employee retention, how many teachers at the elementary schools that will be affected have K12 and or 7 through 12 certifications that would allow them to be redistributed to the middle schools as I believe is proposed. Another question, when will the children who live in the former Senko catchment area be redistricted so that they can also benefit from the ability to walk to their schools? If not a date, what other dominoes need to fall in place for this to trigger such

086a redistricting? Lastly, will the classroom stool the classroom student limits increase in any of the schools that are affected by the proposed redistricting? If so, how much of an increase will be seen? End of that comment. And our final comment was received from Tina Chambers located at 94 Lamport Road. The comment reads, "I know it is costly for repairs at Charles Kelly. I don't think sending these kids to schools where there is already no spaces is ridiculous. This is falling. This is failing the students there and incoming students. Where is money to build another school for an elementary school? Please do not close Charles Kelly. Charles Kelly is the overflow for overcrowding of Stonehurst, Bwood, and Highland Park. To put the kids in these schools would be a disservice to the to the kids and

087totally unfair to the kids who are already at these schools. Now there are already 25 to 35 kids in one classroom. Charles Kelly is more like a family. We all love the small atmosphere and the school. I understand the repairs are costly, but have the considerations have been made the the church to ask for repairs. It's the church's building. Shouldn't they be responsible for repairs? That is the end of that comment and the end of all comments. President Desawyers. Thank you very much, Miss Buford. >> Board board presidents. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Since those were uh deferred committee comments, uh I think it would be okay for administration or board members to respond to those >> since that's what we would have been able to do in the committee meeting. >> Yes. So, um Dr.

088Margari, did you want to respond now or did you want to respond via email to the uh submitters? >> I I I respond to all the the folks that sent these in that night, but I'm happy tonight. Typically in this process, we would make comments. I'll try to make them okay >> as quickly as I can. I do think we answered a lot of these that evening, but I I'll go through the pool comments first. >> You know, first and foremost, again, as I said last evening during the district home and school meeting first, I just want to get this out of the way. Wasn't part of the comment or the question, but I think the engagement from the community that night was awesome. I think the way that our kids presented themselves was amazing

089that night as well. So, compliments to the kids. We did get a chance to go to the latest swim meet. It was pretty cool to be a part of that. So, uh, I know several of us were there, um, and board members were there as well. So, that was nice to see. Um, but the kids presented themselves so well. They advocated so well. So, that that was awesome. That engagement was great. I'm happy to say to to both those parents, there will be a pool. Um, the lengths we can go, what we can afford to do to fix that pool at the level that we need to. Um, we're going to have to take small chunks and we will provide an update on what we're going to do. Uh, the board did give us direction

090to talk about short-term and long-term planning on that. We will certainly provide that update as well as what we can do to improve mental health services. So answering all the other questions about how we would fund salaries of what we are going to propose is probably not the answer right now because the the board was clear that they want the pool to be kept and they want the pool to be improved uh within financial reasons. So we'll provide updates and how we can fix that pool u moving forward. That was message was delivered loud and clear. I have followed up with some of the swim coaches and I'll be having some meetings with them as well. I'll report back to the board on some of the requests and some of the things that they that

091they see are going on. So, I'll I'll keep you posted on some of those updates. I'll I'll meet with the high school administration, the athletic director as well. I know they're doing a lot of hard work to to try to make all of the all of that work every single day. Regarding Charles Kelly, Mrs. Rabbino's questions, I did try to provide an answer via email that night to Mrs. Rabbino because I know that her we couldn't answer all the questions, but I do want to make sure I answer as many as I can publicly. So, I'm going to go through quickly as I can. Um, first I appreciate the idea of recognizing that our plan is to try to get students back to home schools. That is what we're trying to do. As I've said

092in my meetings with Charles Kelly staff, and I have a meeting this Thursday morning with Charles Kelly staff again, and then on the 23rd of January, I'll meet with the home and school to have a conversation. This is not an adversarial situation. Charles Kelly, no matter what in our facilities planning, the plan is to move away from leasing a non-district-owned building. So, for those who are newer to this and those of us who've been here for a while, the district set goals and those goals were to eliminate all modular classrooms on district property and to get all students back in district-owned schools. So, keeping Charles Kelly open for the long t term was not ever part of our long-term planning. Um, we hope to have been further along in building a new elementary school and

093as we explained last meeting, there are combination of things that are going on. uncertain funding. Now, we might be in competition with the township for the similar spaces where they're looking to build a community center. We need to build a school that wasn't on the radar just a few years ago and now it is. Marshall Road happens to be that location that was mentioned. There's an lease agreement that we have where we lease part of that property. So, hopefully we can work something out. That is the last hope that we can think of right now to build an elementary school in the district. With that in mind, as we're looking for this lease to come up and financially trying to figure out, okay, if there might be not as substantial funding streams that we need

094to fund our schools, what do we have to look at to make things happen? We also looked at enrollment. We look at enrollment every year for staffing. Stonehurst Hills Elementary is down over 140 students. So if you go back to 2006207 when this originally happened, if we redistrict students and the board does approve this, the enrollment at Charles Kelly will be under the enrollment the year we decided to move the Charles Kelly students out of the Stonehurst place. So it'll still be less students going to Char to Stonehurst when we redistricted the the Charles Kelly kids back to that area. There are a lot of issues that we deal with here with the district. We appreciate the small school. There's a lot of positives there to that. We heard that from the faculty. We heard

095that from students tonight. No question about that. But the reality is it's cumbersome transportation wise. We can't make the improvements in the facility because that we don't own it. We have had conversations. I don't want to bismerch the arch dascese, but they're not going to fix it. And if we fix it, it's theirs, not ours in the long run. So those are considerations uh for us to to look into. Regarding um class sizes, Stonehurst class sizes are in the teens. They're very low right now. If we do make this redistricting, we'll have another hearing on the 28th. Again, it won't be approved until the 29th. The students captured that very well this evening. Class size averages for Aronomic, Hillrest, Highland Park, and Charles Kelly after we redistrict will be 22.7 on average. So, the class

096sizes will still remain relatively low here in the school district after we redistrict those students, which I think was a good question that Mrs. Rabino asked um to answer her question. Stonehurst obviously would be one whose class sizes would go up out of the teens but still be within our class size guidelines and still low relatively low in public education today at 22.7 in a in a classroom. As far as staffing and redistricting is concerned I think there might have been a misunderstanding about what we talked about that evening. So I'm going to try again to do this and education is known as an FTE a full-time equivalent. Right now, we are b we have budgeted 32 teachers, 32 staff at Charles Kelly. We know and we believe that when we redistrict, we definitely will

097move eight of those teachers after we shift students around. Eight of the 32 will have to cover the needs of students that shift boundaries. Whether it's EL or special education or class size reasons, we'll have to use eight of the 32 no matter what. We believe after having done this with Aronomic to Senko and having um retirements being announced by February 15th and just natural um attrition, we believe the remaining 24 Charles Kelly staff will fill in to other vacant elementary school positions. That would be the game plan that we would have happen. As a result, there still would be 24 FTEES in the budget. So those 24 FTEES mean we can have that to cover Clifton when it opens and not have to add that to the budget, which is a huge deal. That's

098not meaning we're going to take Charles Kelly students, teachers, and move them to Clifton. The game plan is that Charles Kelly teachers will go to elementary schools that are vacated from now until August and then those positions that are in the budget could be available already and not have to increase the budget. Um, and what we were thinking is going into next school year, we can use th that money either to offset taxes this year or for facilities improvements that would not have to go above and beyond. So, it's not meant that we're going to shift Charles Kelly teachers to Clifton Heights automatically. Now, could there be people that have middle school certifications? Of course. Remember, sixth grade requires an elementary certification. That might happen. Special education, it might happen. But our goal is to

099get elementary teachers who want to teach elementary in elementary schools after this shift to word to occur. So those are important points that are there. I think Mrs. Rabino's other question was when are we going to redistrict Senko? And uh this will tie into Miss Chambers comment that she made very clearly in the maps point this out. Charles Kelly comes from three different neighborhoods. Two neighborhoods that historically go to Stonehurst back in 2006 and one neighborhood that went to Highland Park. Senko students are redistricted from Biwood. Biwood is still very very large. So we couldn't redistrict Senko students to go back to to Bwood at that time or we would have done that. This made sense because these students would have were originally from Stonehurst and from Highland Park. And as we heard at the

100Highland Park meeting this year for coffee, they had expressed some concerns about class size averages in the district. they had expressed some concerns about their building. I will say that that Highland Park conversation really made us go back and really look at this. Um, and so Highland Park will lose 60 students. So, we're going to redistrict. Highland Parks actually will go down by 60. Might not sound like a lot, but that that's a positive. Um, so when it's all said and done, Stonehurst will go up by 100 roughly. Um, Highland Park will decrease by 60. Um, Hillrest will only go up by 20 and Aronomic will go up about 92 to 100 students, keeping class size at about 22.7. Elementary school teachers will go back hopefully to elementary schools and we'll be in a positive

101situation there. Senko will only go back to its neighborhood to be very clear if we can build a new elementary school. If we can't build a new elementary school, we're in trouble. We have a we have a tough situation. But we at least got to the goal of getting all students back in district-owned facilities as close to their home schools as possible. Another question to that came up with that um from a board member that I think answers this question, Mrs. Pasentino Calo, after we redistrict on average in the four schools, all of the students will be going to school closer after we redistrict to the school they'll be going to than the current students going from Charles Kelly to Charles Kelly. So, if we do this, on average, all the kids will be going

102to school closer than what we're currently asking Charles Kelly to do to go from where their neighborhood is now to Charles Kelly, which I think is another efficiency and important point if we approve this process and we approve we make changes to policy to 06. And we'll provide those exact mileages uh to everybody uh when that opportunity uh presents itself. Um, Miss Chambers, I want to just make sure I appreciate her engagement. Again, as a clarification, Charles Kelly students originally were from Stonehurst and Highland Park. Senko students were from Bwood by not not from Stonehurst. I think that's an important piece. Also, Miss Chambers, I believe uh Rhonda said 35 students in a class currently in the district. We don't have any elementary schools. I would not be happy if we had that. We've done

103a very good job keeping class sizes in the elementary school low. Now, I don't want that to boomerang back on us because someone's going to say class sizes than student achievement should be better. We recognize the challenges in our schools. You heard tonight aboutund over 100 e students, special education uh and classroom needs that are there. So, we're still keeping class size. If these class sizes went above 30 or above 28 on average in the district, we wouldn't be recommending this. Uh keeping them relatively low still is a key part of this plan. So, I want to make sure that everybody is aware of that. And again, if we could if we own I saw this last night with um Miss Murphy Marcy on the district homeman school meeting because I got questions about why

104are you willing to fix the pool and not willing to you can't win. Why are you willing to fix the pool and not willing to fix Charles Kelly? We own the pool. If we own Charles Kelly and we could keep it and use it, uh maybe it would be a different conversation, but the bottom line is we don't own own that facility. So, they're the best answers I can give. I'm happy to follow up with any board members if you have any questions or comments and feedback back, but I think I tried to capture those questions the best way that I could. >> Thank you very much, Dr. McGary. Okay. Is there an is there a motion for the adjournment of the meeting? >> So moved. >> Did we get a second? >> Second. >>

105Thank you. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Meeting adjourned. >> Have a great night everybody. Thank you.