001You're class. >> We are live. So it is 7 o'clock. >> Start the meeting. >> Yeah. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Davis >> here. >> Mr. Toma >> here. >> Miss Allen >> here. >> Mr. Golden >> here. >> Miss Juliano >> here. >> Miss Oriente >> here. >> All right. Can I have a motion and a second to approve the um action meeting minutes from December 18th, 2025 and the reorganization meeting minutes from January 8th, 2026? >> Motion. Second. All those in favor. >> Opposed or abstain? >> From the January one, right? Both of them. >> And Sarah's here as president. >> Okay. >> All right. Mr. Le, you're
002up for best part of the meeting. All right, everybody. We are going to start our meeting this evening like we do every month with recognizing our students of the month. These students were chosen by their teachers for being hardworking, kind, great students and great kids. Uh which I know is no surprise to to any of you. So students, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to I'm going to say your name. You're going to come up and stand next to me while I read a whole blurb about you that your teacher wrote. Then you're gonna stay up here, which is real awkward, but you're gonna stay up here. And then once I've read everybody in your school's name for the award, we're going to go back and take a picture together. Deal. >> Deal.
003Okay. Our first our first student of the month is for uh for prek, and that is Lily Keller. Congratulations, Lily. Stand right up here so everybody can see you. Our preschool student of the month for December is Lily Keller. Lily is such a great role model for our younger students and reminds her classmates of the daily expectations of our classroom. She is always following our classroom rules, treats her classmates and teachers with respect, and is always treating everyone in a kind and caring manner. Lily has also been working very hard on her handwriting skills, and has mastered writing her first and last name. We are so proud of the progress she has made thus far this year and we are so excited to see where the rest of the year will take her. Congratulations, Lily.
004>> Our kindergarten student of the month is Christopher Chaffen. Get your certificate. >> Hi buddy, how are you? >> Congratulations. I'm so pleased to nominate Christopher for student of the month. He is truly an amazing part of our of our team and deserves this recognition. Christopher comes in happy each and every day. Clearly so excited about learning. He is a role model for his fellow classmates and is always looking for ways to help others. Christopher is kind and follows our classroom and school rules. I am very proud of him. Keep up the good work. That's from Mrs. Alisandrine. Congratulations. Our first grade student of the month is McKenna Lee. McKenna works hard and always tries her best in the classroom. She is a kind friend and always helps others. McKenna has a positive attitude throughout
005each and every school day. So, congratulations to McKenna. Our second grade student of the month is Amamira Scarret. Congratulations. >> Uh, Amamira. Amira or Myra. >> Amira. Amamira has shown amazing growth in her learning and always tries her best even when work feels challenging. She is eager to learn new things and is not afraid to try harder tasks. She works hard every day to make good choices and show positive behavior in the classroom. She is always very kind and helpful, often volunteering to help with jobs and tasks that make our classroom a better place for everyone. She is a wonderful role model and a great member of our class. I am proud of the growth she has shown in every area this year. CONGRATULATIONS. Our third grade student of the month is Leo Schwarz. >>
006Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Leo has improved since October. He always completes his homework. He's very kind to his peers. He works great in his group. And he is always sweet and bonus, a great dancer. >> Congratulations, Leo. And our fourth grade student of the month is Antonio Worthington. Antonia Antonia is a true gem. She is always pleasant and kind to everyone she meets. Antonia encourages others to do their best and genuinely wants the best for others. She has a wonderful sense of humor. At the beginning of the year, Antonia could get easily frustrated or upset when concepts were challenging and or new, but she has matured greatly and handles more difficult concepts with perseverance. She is comfortable with making mistakes to help her grow. Antonia should be proud of her positivity and caring spirit. CONGRATULATIONS. All
007right, guys. You ready for our picture? >> Follow me. >> Let me unless you guys want to be >> You guys can stand right in front of me. All right. Make sure your certificates are pull your certificate up so everybody can see it and not in front of your face. Come over here, guys. Over here. Over here. for our dancer. Squeeze in the front here. >> Come on. Come on. >> Go ahead. Good. Awesome, guys. Congratulations. >> Great job. to announce our students of the month for the middle school. Our fifth grade student of the month is Hava Rustelli. The fifth grade team is proud to highlight Hava Restelli. Hava is a hardworking and dedicated student who consistently puts forth her best effort in everything that she does. She approaches each day with a positive
008attitude and a genuine kindness that lifts up everyone around her. One of her greatest strengths is her willingness to help others. She is especially supportive of classmates who may be struggling, offering patience, encouragement, and a calm presence that makes a real difference in our classroom. Thank you, Hava, for being a shining example of perseverance, compassion, and leadership. We are so lucky to have you in our class. So, congratulations to Hava. Our sixth grade student of the month is Alyssa Whan. Congratulations. Alyssa is a cheerful, hardworking student who always gives her best effort. She works well with her peers and is always respectful. Alyssa is a joy to be around and a great member of our sixth grade community. Congratulations. >> Our seventh grade student of the month is Brandon Sebastian. Brandon has been nominated to
009be student of the month because he consistently demonstrates organization and preparation in all of his classes. He demonstrates responsibility by coming to class with all of his materials ready and completing assignments on time. He treats everyone with kindness and respect. Congratulations to Brandon. And last, but certainly not least, our eighth grade student of the month is Jack Kelly is an extremely polite and respectful student who is an active and positive member of our DDE community. He consistently demonstrates leadership through his involvement in adaptive physical education, student government, and National Junior Honor Society. Jack also represents our school with pride as a dedicated student athlete, participating in soccer, basketball, and baseball, and modeling excellent behavior both in school and in the community. Great job, Jack. I'm sorry. You get the solo picture. Come on back. >>
010Sure. This is just what you were looking. >> All right, everybody. This is the part of the meeting where you get to take your awards and go home and celebrate them because I wouldn't make you sit through the rest of it. Have a great Have a great evening everyone. >> Stay warm. Survive the snowtorm. I mean, if you listen to them, I should have done it a week ago. >> Have a great night. Congratulations. >> See, dude, congratulations. I saw you on YouTube. >> YouTube. >> You saw me on YouTube. >> I did. Famous. I was watching it. Have a good one. >> See you guys. Have a great night. >> Have a good night. >> The best part. I know. Seriously. All right. Um, so at this point, we'll skip over the district board
011goals. We need to We don't need to go over those. Um, public comments. Motion and a second to open the meeting to the public for the discussion of agenda items only. >> Motion. >> Second. All there's in favor opposed or abstain motion and a second to close the public portion of the meeting. Please >> motion >> second. >> All those in favor or abstain. >> All right, Mr. Lane, you're up. >> I'm up. Okay. Uh to start here in my section, we have the safety and security drills for both JFK and DDE in the month of December. Uh item C is the monthly administrators monthly reports uploaded to the portal for your review. Item B, we have no we had no reports of uh HIP leading up to this meeting, which is always good. Uh
012uh E1 is for the board to affirm the decision that was made uh the previous month with no appeals to date. F1 is the uh second reading uh the three policies that we spoke about at last month's meeting. You had a change to the school volunteer policy and then also two brand new uh title one policies. Item two in that section is to approve a fundraiser. Item three in that section is to approve three guest speakers. Uh G1 is two field trips. That is the first grade to Philadelphia Zoo, third grade to Franklin Institute. That I believe rounds out all of our field trips. They're all scheduled and and on the books, which is positive. Uh under H1, we have a lot of new hires. We've been we've been very busy uh filling some positions
013recently. So, you'll see the names and positions listed there. H2, we have one resignation. H uh three, we have uh some board approval of a minimum wage increases for the school year. H4, we have board approval of the spring uh music siphon position. H5, we have a staff renewal that we needed to take care of here. And that's it for my section. >> Yeah, five was they were prrated. they were only doing um four days per week, but with the new semester starting for this staff member, they were able to do five days a week as an instructional assistant. So, we just have to renew that um full amount instead. Any uh let's do a motion to second first. Motion, a second to approve uh superintendent uh items XA to XH. >> Motion >> second.
014>> Any questions? >> All right, Mr. Golden. >> Yes. >> Mr. Allen. >> Yes. >> Miss Row, >> yes. >> Miss Toma, >> yes. >> Miss Juliano, >> yes. >> Miss Oriente, >> yes. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. On to business and finance. So um A through D is just our um financial reports for November and December 2025. No line item has been overexpended. Um there are sufficient funds available to meet our financial obligations. Um the treasur's report and secretary's report are in agreement and there are no changes in anticipated revenue amounts or sources. E is to approve um payment of the bills which our finance committee reviewed. We just had two members but Scott and Michelle powered through and got all the bills reviewed and signed off on.
015F is just to approve our January 2026 listing for source for teachers and the um coordinating rates are listed below. G is to approve the cafeteria dispersements for the month of December in the amount of $105.39. H is to approve the care dispersements for the month of December in the amount of $583.60. I is to approve um a uh out of district tuition contract for a new student that transferred into the district. Um this was not budgeted for. So um we will have to take a close look at uh that line and see where we land. maybe have to make some transfers for sure. Jay is just to approve um some Mckin Vento contracts between Berlin Township and Clement. This is from last year, but there was some discrepancies with some paperwork. So, we were
016kind of going back and forth with the county office to just make sure that we were um responsible to pay and based on um you know the law and the regulations that follow the Mckin Vento, we are responsible. So, we are paying that and approving that contract this evening. Um K is just to approve some travel and professional development for some of our staff members. I'm going to start with a motion in a second and then I'll ask for any questions. Motion >> second. >> Any questions? >> I do. >> Yes. >> The source for teachers amount. >> Source for teachers amounts. Yes. >> That's is that like normal? >> Yeah, >> it is. >> The the pay rates. >> Yeah. No, no, no. I'm talking about the amount of this money that's in here.
017>> Is that source for teachers right here? >> No. The badge not where you at >> what what number >> on page four >> page four >> not on the agenda on the on the bills I'm sorry the bills >> oh yes yes that is source for yeah >> that's normal >> really I guess nobody noticed that >> several thousand I don't know I mean I don't have my bills list >> 44,000 >> oh for a source for teachers >> probably because sometimes it comes in at several thousand dollars just for a week. So, if we didn't have all the bills paid in December, yeah, it's a lot. And we have some subs that we're filling because we don't have like we have the job, we have the vacancies, but some are just filling in
018as a sub every single day because we have vacancies for instructional assistance or something that could not be filled >> in house. So, we have to we have to fill them because they're IEP driven. Um, so yeah, it's a it's a big it's a big ticket item. I say all the time, I definitely got in the wrong business. I should have been owned a sub company or an out of district school. For sure. >> Um I definitely or a bus company. I definitely made some poor choices along the way. >> Um any other questions? >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right, Mr. Golden. >> Yes. >> Miss Allen, >> yes. >> Miss Row, >> yes. >> Mrs. Helma, >> yes. >> Miss Juliano, >> yes. >> Miss Oriente, >> yes. >> Mr. Davis, >>
019yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. Um, find out where we left off. All right, old business. Um, I don't think there's any old business, though. I feel like there was something I wanted to bring up. >> Um, new business negotiations. Uh, BTEA, we are meeting with them I think February 17th. 17th. Um, so we're moving along with that. Uh, finance committee, we did meet this evening. Um, like I said, they went over the bills. I did talk about the additional special education placement that transferred into the district. We do have one additional placement that's kind of in the works with relation to some early intervention eligibility. Um no doubt that our tuition lines are going to be overextpended this year. Um I will have to transfer money in there. So um I don't know if that's
020going to mean freezing spending or or whatnot, but I'm closely watching those numbers. Um budget prep is underway. Our stated figure should be released around February 26, but there's a chance those numbers are going to be delayed because we have a new governor. Usually, if there's a new governor, um there will be some delays in them getting us the numbers. >> They pretty much said as much. >> However, the crazy thing is that I we don't have an extension on the deadline of our budget. So, the submission to the county office is still the same. We're still within those same guidelines. So, depending on when the um state gets the numbers out, we might not have a huge turnaround. My budget will be built. we'll know kind of where we need to go, but at
021the same time, it really doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room. If they I it's only still only three weeks, and if they push it off a week or so, it really doesn't give us much time. Um but they will not move that date. So, um more information on budget figures hopefully at our February meeting. Um watching salaries, benefits, those are all going to be increases. Special ed uh tuition costs are definitely up for next year. Um benefit increases are high. We're exploring uh new prescription coverage potentially even though it'll be equal to or better then. Um with all the new GLP medications that are being widely used and prescribed, it's a 30% increase for next year for prescriptions alone. 19 projected so far for health um 6% for dental. So um we only
022get 2% increase on our tax levy. So guys, it's not looking not looking so good. Um grants, there are some glitches with the new um ESDA application. And that's all our title one, title two, title four. Um just working on some things with the state side so I can get those um resolved and get that finalized. Ethics disclosure um instructions were sent to all board members. Quite a few have already taken care of it. So I appreciate that. Um I'll send you weekly reminders as we move forward. School bus inspections in March. And then just a little shout out to maintenance custodial so far for getting all of our lots salted and cleared for snow and ice and making sure that the staff can enter safely. Um and then obviously we're watching for the potential
023this weekend. So um for more for more weather >> salt is becoming a little harder. >> Salt is Yeah. >> Yeah. Salt is definitely Chuck has enough to get us through this storm. Um and he does have an order on standby for next week just for anything future. But it's definitely he's caught a lot of his suppliers and um it's bare bones. So that was finance committee um school boards association. I think I sent something out. They're having a virtual meeting February 5th. If anybody was interested in going, just let me know. I'll register you. Uh, ed services. Nothing yet, right? Nope. I did let them know that you're in and we don't want to be on the executive board. >> Okay. But they'll email me for anything. >> Yeah. Yeah. They'll email like agendas,
024meetings, the whole nine parts, but I just sent them that last week or it was shortly after the reorg meeting. >> Okay. >> Um, Pineh Hill, we didn't have anything. You're just appointed. So, um, you'll get information on that because they have your information. Cam County School Boards. I haven't seen anything. I knew there was something else I want to talk about. I don't remember. So, we're just going to move forward. Um, anybody else have anything for new business? >> Anybody apply for uh >> Oh, thank you. That's what it was. Oh my goodness. That's what it was. Thank you for No, we didn't have anybody apply for our board member vacancy. So, if you all know anybody, please get the word out. >> Ask a friend >> and tell them it's a lot of
025fun. >> It's so much fun. This is where all the cool kids come. So, yeah, if you could kind of get the word out that we really need to um to fill that vacancy, that would be great. Um we'll probably roll it out again in another newsletter or an announcement or on the Facebook page or something, but we have to >> we have to fill that we have to fill that spot. >> Um All right. Thank you, Brian, for bringing that up. Um any other new business. >> All right. Motion a second to open the meeting to the public for the discussion of non-aggenda items or agenda items? Motion. >> Second. Motion and a second to close the public portion of the meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Opposed or abstain.
026We do have an executive session. So, I'm going to tell Mr. Cunningham that we need to shut down. You all need to stay here. You are free to go. Um there will be action afterwards. Um >> so once I hear from >> Okay. Once I hear from Mr. Cunningham, we'll be able to go into effective discussion to discuss um personnel and legal How much snow does? I don't think we're going to get too much inches. >> How many? >> Too much. >> 100 inches. Then whatever else is probably good. >> I think it's going to be less than two. And we're back. >> We're good then, right? >> I'm just going to take the message off the screen so they can see. >> Perfect. All right. Great. We'll wait a second. Thank you. I don't
027think we have a lot of followers on tonight. Chunk and Jody. >> Good to go. >> We're good. Thank you. All right. So, coming out of executive session, we do have one item of action. Um, we just need to recommend that the board of education um approve the separation of employment for employee number 1740. Um, can I have a motion and a second? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. U, Mr. Golden? >> Yes. >> Miss Allen? >> Yes. >> Miss Row? >> Yes. >> Miss Helma? >> Yes. >> Miss Juliano? >> Yes. >> Miss Oriente? >> Yes. >> Mr. Davis? >> Yes. >> All right. And then can I have a motion, a second to adjourn the meeting? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Opposing. All right. Have a great
028night. Have a good weekend. >> Thanks everyone. >> Stay safe in the bad weather. >> Probably get an email from me pretty soon. >> We won't be seeing you.