001Good evening everyone. We're going to call the regular meeting of the Brandywine School District Board of Education to order. It's 7:01 p.m. We are in Brandywine High School auditorium. If I could ask Mr. Ackerman to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Motion and second. All in favor? Aye. That'll bring us to our school spotlights. I'm going to ask the principal of Brandywine High School, Mrs. Rebecca Reggio, to come on up and welcome us. You caught me a little off guard, Mr. Heller. I thought I was free and clear after welcoming
002you once this year, but I'll welcome you back. That's just fine. Welcome to Brandywine High School. We affectionately call ourselves the place to be. I've been at Brandywine High School for the past four years, and in those four years, we've seen tremendous growth in our climate, culture, and academics. I am proud to say we're also now seeing potential growth in our enrollment, which is a nice upper trend for us for next school year. We do wonderful things here at Brandywine. We have many programs for all kinds of students. That's who we cater to, a very diverse population. So, I'm proud to have you here again, hosting at board meeting. Thanks again. Thank you. That brings us to our high school reporters, starting with Brandywine High School, Logan and Julian. Hello. Okay, there we go. Hello
003everyone. My name is Logan Scott and I am Brandywine High School Student Council President. I'm Julian, the Vice President. And today we have many amazing updates to share. Before spring break, we held our MTSS student versus basketball game, where students could attend and participate after completing a quiz about our school values. It was a fun, energy-filled way to kick off spring break with the student team winning with a buzzer-beater three-pointer. Our school celebrated many of the important staff in our building with National Assistant Principal Week and Dean Appreciation Day. We are so incredibly grateful to have such wonderful staff in our building. Two of our seniors, Cole Barnyak and Jacob Smith, were named 2026 Secretary of Education Scholars, one of the highest honors for students in Delaware public schools, and we are proud to recognize
004these brilliant students. Our marching band has announced their halftime show for next year, titled Dreaming of the Good Old Days, featuring many oldies related to dreams. Finally, we have many amazing sports wins to share. Our boys lacrosse team has having an impressive season with a 5-1 record and a notable 18-0 win over Mount Pleasant High School. Our girls soccer team also has a 5-1 record, and they are currently playing Concord High School. I believe they're five-to-one I believe what is it? One-to-one. So, let's all wish our Bulldogs some luck. Our baseball team has a four-to-one record. Our boys tennis team has a five-to-two record, and our boys volleyball team has a five-to-one record, including a three-to-nothing win over Concord High School. I will now pass it over to Julian Maroney. Sorry about that. So, yeah,
005here at Brandywine, uh we've had a lot of events uh coming up in the month of The spring concert on April 28th will be in this auditorium uh with a feature of orchestra, honors orchestra, jazz band, steel pans, and the symphonic band. The spring vocal concert will also be in here um the April 29th with um singers and a mix of different vocal groups performing. We also have a blood drive coming up, which gives students a chance to donate blood and help people in need. While the one-act festival on April 24th lets students perform short plays and show their acting and directing skills in front of an audience. On top of that, we have a lot of events coming up for our seniors, including prom and senior assassin or senior soakers. Thank you. That's all
006for me. Go Dogs. Any questions from the board? I'll just go on record and say that the senior assassin game is not sponsored or endorsed by the school district, period. Thank you. Be safe. Thank you. That brings us to Concord High School, Michaela and Molly. Good evening, everyone. I am student council president, Michaela Michaelson. And I am Molly Andrews, and we are so excited to bring you up to speed in all the amazing things that have happened at Concord over the last month. We are so happy to be back after an amazing spring break. Over the break, our phenomenal Spanish teacher, Mrs. Greer, took over 60 Spanish students across the country to Spain for 12 days. The students, including us, visited over six incredible cities and had many unique experiences, like enjoying a home-cooked Spanish
007meal in Granada, taking a Easter cooking class in Madrid, and even ziplining in Toledo. The trader or the Raiders truly got to do it all. Coming off the break, Raider sports have been staying hot. Huge shout out to our girl's softball team who remained undefeated and took down DMA 3 to 2 on our brand new softball field. The field looks amazing and we are so grateful for the update. To celebrate, some of our BSD executive members team members were even able there to throw out our first pitch. The excitement didn't end on Friday. The Lady Raiders faced off against the Brandywine Bulldogs in a girls lacrosse rivalry game. The Raider family showed up and showed out in a USA theme and incredible energy. The game was neck and neck the entire time, even going into
008a sudden death overtime. The team showed amazing resilient resilience and gave it their all in the final moments, coming out on top 8 to 7. Speaking of rivalry games, our 4 and 1 soccer girl soccer team is currently facing the Bulldogs in the fight for the Friendship Cup. We are confident that they're doing amazing. We are so proud of all our sports teams and students, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings. Just before spring break, our outstanding National Honor Society students took some time to show their appreciation for our dedicated bus drivers and crossing guards. They created thoughtful posters and assembled treat bags, a small gesture that made a big impact. In addition, our student council found another way to recognize our staff by organizing a teacher cart filled
009with goodies for everyone to enjoy. This week, our National Science Honor Society will celebrate Earth Day by sharing educational and engaging posters throughout the hallways, helping to inspire awareness and curiosity across our school. We also have a really exciting week ahead. Our spring spirit week kicks off this week, and it will build energy and school pride as we head into a fun-filled weekend featuring our prom fashion show on Friday night and our spring fling dance on Saturday night. Before I conclude, I'd like to take a moment to recognize our Raiders who are continuing their academic journeys at the university level. Congratulations to Bailey Fields, Josh Wicker, Allison Lowe, Paulina Bobko, Eric Lee, and Lucy Gray, who will be attending the University of Delaware. And we also want to celebrate Molly Falconer on her commitment to
010SCAD, Mia Henning to Salisbury University, Sammy Fredrick to Villanova University, and Max Wynn to Saint Joseph's University. That concludes our April board report. Are there any questions from the board? None? Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And Mount Pleasant High School, we have Stephen and Bridget. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Stephen Rice. And my name is Bridget Schneider. We are so excited to be here tonight to share another incredible month at Mount Pleasant High School. We'd like to start by highlighting our avid showcase, one of the biggest academic events of the month. As a nationally recognized avid demonstration school, Mount Pleasant welcomed educators from across the region to observe our classrooms in action. Visitors had the opportunity to see how avid strategies like wicker are implemented across all subject areas.
011They also participated in a world cafe where our students led discussions and presented their learning strategies. It was an amazing opportunity for our students to demonstrate leadership, collaboration, and academic growth. We would also like to highlight the incredible work of our black student union who hosted their annual visions and vibes event. During this event, students created vision boards focused on what a sociology just society could look like. The equality, leadership, and community with that was created was powerful and centered around all these things. This event and participation with the YWCA of Delaware continues to give students a space to express their voices, think critically, and grow as leaders. In addition to the impactful student-led initiatives, we've also seen students representing Mount Pleasant out in the community. This past month, our JROTC program had the honor
012to present the colors at a Blue Rocks game. Our students have also recently had the opportunity to participate in several educational field trips that connected classroom learning to real-world experiences. As such, our civics and economics students visit the Philadelphia Federal Reserve and the National Constitution Center where they explored how government and financial systems operate in real life. Additionally, students from AP Environmental Science, IB Biology, and Science Olympiad visited Longwood Gardens where they were able to study ecosystems, biodiversity, and sustainability in a hands-on environment. As always, our Mount Pleasant music program has been in hard work and preparation for their upcoming concerts and events. Recently, our Tri-M Music Honor Society had their third annual coffee house performance at the Bellefonte Cafe, representing Mount Pleasant and sharing their talents with the greater community. Their performance showcased not
013only their musical talent, but also their dedication to sharing the arts beyond our school. Opportunities like this help strengthen both students student confidence and community connections. We have also been so excited to host students from all across the district as our color guard welcomed 8th through 12th graders for their spin clinics. This event gave prospective students the chance to learn new skills, connect with current members, and experience the strong sense of community within our performing arts program. One of the most exciting moments this time of year is celebrating our senior class decisions. We're incredibly proud of our seniors as they commit to college colleges and universities as career paths. Their hard work and dedication over the past four years is truly paying off, and we are excited to see all of them accomplish in the
014future. As seniors ourselves, this is a specially meaningful time for us and our classmates. In addition to these events, we would also like to recognize several important happenings that are not pictured. These include DelTech's visit to Mount Pleasant, the start of DESSA testing, preparation in Special Olympics Unified Soccer, student involvement in the New Castle County Honor Band recently hosted at Concord, and our two Secretary of Education Scholars, Saritra Bhattacharjee and Aleah Gallamore Prado. To conclude this past month this past month has truly highlighted the strength of the Mount Pleasant community through academic excellence, leadership opportunities, artistic expression, and community involvement. Thank you for your time, and as always, we are Mount. Any questions from the board? I have a question this time. Uh, Steven, last time you were here, you told us you had a
015audition at Towson. How did that go? Um, the audition went great. So great that I got my acceptance to the music program about a week ago and I have committed to Towson University for instrumental music education. That's fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Any other any further questions? Bridget, you're a junior. I'm a senior. >> You are a senior. Where are you Where are you going next year? Everybody else has had to answer this in the past previous months. >> I actually was waiting to hear back from a few of my schools still, but over the weekend I heard back and I have made the decision to commit to Emerson College for theater education and performance. Any other questions? Uh, Jason, I had a question for you for Dr. Lawson. Um, do you know how
016many more meetings we have with with these students before they're done for the year? One? Would they have one? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> guys. Thank you. And that brings us to Dr. O'Hanlon Oh, right in front of me. My to to present our community partnership award. I'm on double duty tonight, so um, we three times a year, a few times a year we give out a community partner award which goes to an organization or business that has been helpful or and supportive of the Brandywine School District, our students, our staff and our community. Uh, this evening I'd like to ask Dr. Natalie Hess, who is our director of special education and support services to present the this month's award. Good evening. On behalf of the Brandywine School District and the Department of Special
017Education and Support Services, we would like to recognize and thank Mr. and Mrs. Walker. They have partnered with us in our three high school bridges programs at Brandywine, Concord, and Mount Pleasant High School to provide students with authentic, hands-on job training through the operation and maintenance of our vending machines located within our schools. Through this partnership, students gain meaningful experience in real-world employment tasks such as monitoring inventory levels, restocking products, adjusting prices, maintaining equipment, and practicing the professional and interpersonal skills that are essential for workplace success. These opportunities allow our students to build confidence, independence, and transferable employment skills that support their transition to life after high school. This collaboration exemplifies the power of community partnership and the impact they can have on preparing our students with disabilities for the competitive employment and greater independence.
018We are deeply grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Walker for investing their time, expertise, and commitment to supporting our students and strengthening our community. Please Please join us in thanking Mr. and Mrs. Walker for their meaningful partnership with Brandywine School District. Come on up. I'd also like to invite our school nutrition supervisor, Ms. Colleen Carter. Mr. and Mrs. Walker came to me during coffee with the superintendent with an idea to put healthier foods in our vending machines. I passed them along to Colleen Carter and she jumped on it right away. So, this partnership has been multifaceted and we really appreciate the work of these two individuals who welcomed our community partner and made a great place for kids. >> Thank you. And now it is time to celebrate the Brandywine School District Behavior Health Professional of
019the Year, Ms. McIntyre and Ms. Armor. Good evening, President Heller, Vice President Scrobot, members of the board, Dr. Superintendent Lawson, all of our members that are here today for the Brandywine community, as well as those that are joining us online. My name is Dalithia McIntyre and I'm the director of human resources for the Brandywine School District. Standing with me is Mrs. Leslie Armor. She is the supervisor of human resources and tonight it gives us great honor to honor the wonderful behavior health professional of the year for 2026. She is both the winner at her school, which is Mount Pleasant Elementary School, and she is our district winner. We're going to say a few comments about her and invite both she and her very proud principal, Mr. Matt Auerbach, up to give additional comments on why
020we are celebrating her this evening. It's one of many reasons, but uh we would like to invite you all to come up now, please, and would you all please join me in honoring Ms. Tara Lombardo, 2026 BSD Behavior Health Professional of the Year. Good evening, everyone. So, when um people are applying for the process for Behavior Health Professional of the Year, they write a why. Why they're proud to be BSD. And I believe Ms. Lombardo's is so powerful and and I'm going to read it uh for your hearing this evening. She says, "I'm so proud to be BSD because of community as a whole. I have such an appreciation for all students, parents, stakeholders, and colleagues that make up our district. Because of them, I look forward to coming to work every single day. I
021am surrounded by professionals that share the same passion that I do. I I do to support and strengthen our amazing children's lives. Through my efforts as MTSS chairman, tier one attendance leader, family engagement chair, Center for Child Development Liaison, Food Bank of Delaware Liaison, tier two and three in Behavior Health Support, I am able to assist the whole child with their individual needs both academically and personally. The fact that BSD provides a multitude of avenues for children's best interest at heart is astounding. She is blessed to be a part of such a wonderful district and can only be so lucky to spend the entirety of her career here. Again, please congratulate Ms. Tina Lombardo as Brandywine School District's Behavioral Professional of the Year for 2026. You are so welcome. >> All right. Thank you. Doctor,
022thank you Dr. Lawson, uh board members, and the entire community, the entire Brandywine School District community for the opportunity to recognize Brandywine School District uh Brandywine School District's Behavioral Health Professional of the Year, Mount Pleasant's very own Ms. Tina Lombardo. Like so many who were honored this evening, Ms. Lombardo consistently goes above and beyond. From the moment you interact with her, her genuine care for others is unmistakable. While she officially serves as a school counselor at MPE, her impact extends far beyond our building, shaping the lives and futures of some of our most vulnerable students. An elementary school counselor typically serves in three key roles, delivering whole group instruction on topics like bullying and safety, facilitating small group support around experiences such as grief or family change, and providing short-term individual counseling for students in
023need of one-on-one support. Ms. Lombardo embraces each of these responsibilities with her entire heart and being, always taking the time to listen, connect, and ensure every student feels supported. One of the most powerful examples of her work can be seen during her lessons with our youngest learners. Ms. Lombardo has introduced a character, Teddy, a teddy bear, who travels with her from classroom to classroom. Through Teddy, she teaches some of the most important lessons our students will ever learn in elementary school, especially around trust and safety. By bringing Teddy to life with a distinct voice and personality. She She captivates students' attention while keeping them deeply under Well, I'm sorry. While While helping them to deeply understand concepts like personal safety and identifying trusted adults. Even more impressive, our kindergarten and first grade students remember these
024important details from these lessons, which I'm confident that they will bring with them to their lives beyond the classroom. Beyond her work with students, Miss Lombardo is an integral part of our MTSS problem-solving team, where she brings thoughtful insight and a deep understanding of students' needs to guide team decisions. And while her professional impact is significant, it's her presence that truly sets her apart. Miss Lombardo brings an energy, a positive energy, and joy that is impossible to miss. Her laugh, as you may have heard, uh if you've heard it, you'll know, can be heard down the hall as as a way of lifting up the spirits of everyone around her. It's simply contagious and awesome that we have that positive spirit in our school. She brings that same warmth and positivity to every interaction with
025students, families, and staff. And it's true. It's real. It's not just made up. It is who she truly is. Uh as if she hasn't already made a lasting impact on so many lives, Miss Lombardo is also preparing to welcome her first child in the next coming weeks. If her work here is any indication, we know that she will be an incredible mother as well. One more time, please join me in celebrating Brandywine School District's Behavioral Health Professional of the Year, Miss Tina Lombardo. Thank you so much, Ed. And you miss Al Batky. >> Yes. You are very welcome. And so, Ms. Lombardo is competing in the state competition. Though we do believe and she did share that her little baby boy is due to arrive somewhere likely the first week of May. So, she will
026likely be watching online, but we will put up that link so that all of you may celebrate and watch along with us as we cheer her on in the state competition. Congratulations again, very well deserved, and thank you so very much, members of the board. Congratulations. That brings us to Dr. Lawson with district news and updates. Good evening, Board President Heller, Vice President Scrobot, members of the board, and our audience and community. Our deeper dive into student outcomes data this month extends beyond our Panorama survey results from previous years, which provided our school community with responses student responses to a comprehensive health check on the social, emotional, and cultural factors that influence student success in school. Over the past 3 years, Brandywine School District has partnered with an external community group Up for Learning, which
027stands for Unleashing the Power of Partnership for Learning. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming educational experiences by fostering authentic youth adult partnerships. Together with students, they analyzed Panorama survey data to make positive actionable improvements in their schools using appropriate advocacy strategies. As a result, the district has made substantial strides in cultivating student voice, agency, and engagement to improve well-being within their our school communities. For example, youth leaders at Mount Pleasant High School identified identified the need for a space at their school for students experiencing mental health challenges during the school day. They approached their principal and asked to create a Zen Den for this purpose. It was approved and now is has been created uh by students for students. To measure the impact of this work in building student voice and agency, we
028administer a 24-item pre-and-post survey each year and have done so with our students who participated with Up for Learning since the 22-23 school year. Here are some highlights, both areas of strength and areas for growth and improvement in our BSD schools. I'll start with areas of strength. Schools should meet the needs of all learners remain consistently high reaching 96% in 24-25. 96% of our students now express commitment to school improvement, which is up from a baseline of 87%. I see ways that my school can be improved achieved 94% agreement in 24-25. I have at least one adult at school whom I trust and can ask for help grew from 82% to 89%. This upward trend highlights the power of relationships and connectedness in driving school improvement. I believe in my ability to make school better
029surged from 54% to 85%. That rose 31 percentage points. Everyone at school can learn improved by 24% points to 83%. And lastly, I share my ideas with others increased substantially from 64% to 78%. And now for the areas that we plan to continue to work on and grow with our students. I feel responsible for making my school better actually declined from 87% to 69% and we're in the process of breaking that apart to see what that's about. People at school listen to and respect my ideas more than doubled from 26% to 57% but overall agreement with this statement remains well below our goal. And lastly, I have conversations with other youth about how to make our schools better actually decreased from 78% to 54% highlighting that peer-to-peer relationships are one of our biggest areas of
030opportunity for growth. Six BSD students were selected by their building principals to represent BSD as Secretary of Education Scholars for the class of 2026. Pictured on the screen are those that were selected from each of our three high schools and as you heard they were honored by their classmates here in the updates today. Please join us in congratulating Ms. Tina Lombardo, Mount Pleasant Elementary's uh counselor on being named Behavioral Health Professional of the Year. We congratulate her again. And in the next slide, we are congratulating BSD teachers Alyssa Locodamo from PS DuPont Middle School and Virginia Atkins from Brandywine High School for being named 2026 Yale National Fellows. Only five teachers from the state of Delaware were named this year. The Yale National Initiative through Yale University promotes the establishment of new teachers institutes based
031on a partnership between school districts and a local college or university to improve teachers content knowledge. Our fellows will participate in a national seminar led by Yale faculty and create a curriculum unit based on their own research to teach in their classroom. And after attending a two-day orientation session at Yale in May, they will return for a two-week intensive session in July during which their seminars will meet daily and conduct research at Yale libraries. In November, they will return for their annual conference at Yale which celebrates the fellows completing the program. Congratulations to our two teachers. And finally, our monthly video this this month with graduation just around the corner, we're excited to share a special throwback video celebrating our first commencement across our three high schools in 2022 compiled by our our very own
032Mick Austin who couldn't be with us tonight. The emotions of joy and nostalgia captured by our amazing videographer highlight the pride, accomplishment, and sense of community that define the important milestone of graduation but also the Brandywine School District family and community. As we prepare to honor the class of 2026 this year, we look forward to creating this next chapter of unforgettable unforgettable graduation photos and experiences for our students and families. Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time. Caledonia, you're calling me. Now I'm >> When thinking of the Brandywine High School Class of 2022, the first word that comes to mind is change. Everyone's lives change obviously over the course of 4 years, but what I think makes us special is the change that isn't so obvious.
033The change that we have brought about and the change that we will bring. Our experiences at Mount have allowed each of us to grow academically, but also, and perhaps more importantly, taught us what it means to be a productive member of a caring community. As graduates, we're often reminded that we are the future. I truly believe that we will each make the future brighter. I'm so proud to graduate among all of you. We have to believe in our ability to succeed. The truth is, success is all about our mindset, hard work, and dedication to the goal we want to reach. So, let's leave today and start something new and have faith in the magic of new beginnings. It's up to you on what direction you want your life to take. Today, we close the door
034to our past and open the door to our future. Today, we begin the new chapter of our lives. Everyone's path will be different moving forward, but together, we will always be C high. President Heller, that concludes my monthly report. Thank you. Any questions or comments for Dr. Lawson? That brings us to public comment. Uh just a reminder, public comment is a time to allow members of the community to address the board on any agenda item or educational topic. There's 2 minutes allotted per speaker that should be displayed on the screen behind us. And the allotted time is intended to make comments to the board and not necessarily for the board to engage in a two-way dialogue or a Q&A, but all of the board members will receive the speakers' contact info so they can reach
035out with any follow-up questions. Uh first, I apologize that I forgot my glasses, but it's uh Krista and Ed. I think the last name is Stoume. Please correct me when you get to the microphone if It's Stoume, but you're close. Stoume, okay. Yeah, that's better. Okay. Good evening. My name is Krista Stoume and this is my husband Edward Stoume. Our son attends Talley Middle School. I'm a former BSD business teacher and currently a computer science teacher in another district. I've also served as a school school G trainer and administrator and I am the creator of the AI awareness project. I share this background to show that my concerns are grounded in both professional experience and current work in AI and education. I'm here to address two urgent issues. AI policies and assignment communication. First, AI.
036There's currently, from what I can see, no clear district policy leading to inconsistent and harmful decisions. Recently, my son spent five straight hours on an assignment only to receive a zero after his teacher used AI detection software claiming 69% was AI generated. Tools used like ZeroGPT and Turnitin are widely known to be unreliable and prone to false positives. In fact, the Delaware Department of Education has advised both verbally and in writing against relying on these tools due to their inaccuracy. Despite sharing this with the teacher and administration, the concern was dismissed. The teacher then ran previous assignments through the software again and reporting reported them as 100% human. Once again, relying on an unreliable tool. This has damaged the teacher-student relationship and significantly impacted our son's motivation. We need a clear district AI policy, guidelines
037on AI detection, and professional learning for staff. Second, assignment communication. Assignments are posted inconsistently across Schoology, Infinite Campus, or only verbally, creating confusion for students and parents. Students should not have to search for their assignments. I ask the board to establish clear expectations and ensure consistency across classrooms. Because when a student can spend 5 hours on an assignment, receive a zero based on an unreliable technology, and then struggle to find their next assignment, that's not a student problem, that's a system problem. Thank you. Thank you. Um next up is Dominic D'Onofrio. Yes, I'm a retired Army Colonel Dominic D'Onofrio, and I lived in New Edgewood Hills for a 50 uh 50 years. My neighbor is Arvach uh and uh Deborah Heffernan. My My point is that uh since 2019, school districts have been shortchanged by
038the county. The school taxes due to them were not transferred to them. They were transferred to the uh land use fees. In other words, you have property, you have crossing guard, school, and vocational. Those are the fees that I paid, but they did not pay the school and the vocational. They transferred them to land use fees. So, from 2019 till today, I just found this out, that they uh are using the fi- uh the fees for uh schools to pay for the land use fines. And this is something we're going to be looking into and I have I was on WDEL with Rick Jensen today and he's going to be looking into it and I have Dan McCoy also looking into it. So I think you should know that since 2019 all the school districts
039in Newcastle County have been shortchanged on their uh school taxes. So you may want to do an audit. Thank you. Thank you. And I know Dr. Lawson and Mr. McCoy received your email from earlier, so we will um look into that and somebody will follow up. Thank you. And that concludes public comment, which brings us to uh board member liaison reports starting with Mr. Ackerman and the Delaware School Board Association Executive Board. Yes, the School Board Association Executive Board met in March. Um the one thing that I want to bring back to our board is the association changed its position on legislation proposed by Kim Williams, which would allow the district to continue to split the tax rate between commercial or I say residential properties and non-residential properties. Um at the legislative committee meeting prior
040to that, the legislative committee had voted not to support that legislation. However, in the Executive Board, it's a different system. Districts are weighed based on number of units that they have. So in our case, Brandywine has three votes. Uh myself as president of the association, I carry a vote. That makes four all together. And the other Newcastle County districts also carry significant weight based on their size and the dues that they pay. But we also were able to convince our counterparts in Kent and Sussex County that the legislation simply gave you the option to split the rate, didn't require you to split the rate. There was concern in the lower counties that splitting the rate would discourage commercial operations and that was kind of the rationale originally. I also wanted to report that the Delaware
041had three districts present at the National School Boards Association annual conference in San Antonio. Um we also had the Beau Biden Foundation come. We had 42 people from Delaware at the Delaware dinner. So it was well attended. It was a good conference. It's a little bit shorter now. So basically runs Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then Monday you can head home. But that's that's my report for tonight. Thank you, Mr. Ackerman. Mr. Lavoy, Delaware School Boards legislative. Thank you. Uh the Delaware School Boards Association recently asked for input about some bills the General Assembly was going to be considering. Here are just three that would affect our district. One, House Bill 350 asks Delaware Department of Education to collaborate with school districts, charter schools, and vocational technical districts to make findings and recommendations about allowing home-schooled
042students to participate in extracurricular activities in those students' schools of residence, either charters or votech schools as well. Those findings and recommendations would be due by December 31st of 2027. If you have an opinion about this, you may want to contact your uh local legislator. Another bill, House Bill 349, would extend the disabled veteran school tax credit to change the standard from 100% disability to 80% or more disability. And while the Brandywine School District supports honoring our disabled veterans by extending that tax credit, we will request information more from the state about what fiscal effect that might have so we can plan accordingly with with budgeting responsibly. A third Senate Bill 277 establishes comprehensive protections and reasonable accommodations for pregnant and parenting students. Among those protections and accommodations are excused absences for labor, delivery, up
043to 5 days for pregnancy-related illness, and medical appointments for the student or their child. 6 weeks excused leave following childbirth, physical accommodations like secure and private lactation rooms, increased desk sizes, access to elevators, and modified transportation schedules. It also requires extended timelines for course requirements, remote learning options, and rescheduling of examinations. Those bills are being considered. Uh these are also accommodations that Brandywine School District understand already makes for pregnant or parenting students within our district. The next meeting of the Delaware School Board Association Legislative Committee is tomorrow evening at 6:15 in Dover. Thank you, Mr. Lavoy. District Finance Committee, Mr. Scrobe. Uh District Finance Committee met on April 15th. Uh I did not have uh I was unable to attend that meeting, uh but I know they reviewed the financial position report and the March
044monthly financial report that Mr. McCoy will present, and I'm sure he will share any additional topics of interest that were discussed. Um the next meeting is scheduled for May 13th at 5:00 p.m. in the district office boardroom. Thank you. Mr. Jim E. Maintenance Advisory Committee? Yes. We had a meeting scheduled for April 7th, but because of spring break, it was canceled. So, we have not had a meeting since our last board meeting. We will be having another one on May 5th at Concord High School, where we will be discussing the playing fields and things that we will be doing with them and uh the uh status of them with regards to other organizations. So, May 5th, Concord High School. Thank you. Parent and Citizens Advisory Committee, Miss Stock. I did give a brief update on
045the last meeting last meeting when you were absent. But anything else? No. Okay. Uh Parent Council for Students with Disabilities, Mr. Jordan. Uh thank you, President Heller. We have not had any meeting since the last board meeting. We've actually wrapped up for the year, but I did want to recognize Katherine Siegel and Natalie Hess for all of the work that they did um this year to bring in outside resources for our families and to engage in with the community as well uh with their expertise and their time. It is very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. 91.7 WMPH, Mr. LeVoy. There was not an advisory board meeting since the last board meeting, but there are some some good news to share. We want to congratulate three journalism students from Super 91.7 WMPH, who won state
046awards via the Delmarva Press Association for their radio news reporting. Third place in the category of radio and podcast prepared report went to James Blier. Second place was won by Francesca DeCapua. And Dylan Serbrook Bowers was the state champ. Dylan is now automatically entered in the nationwide contest sponsored by NFPW announced on May 13th. So, good luck to him. Next meeting will be Monday, July 13th, 6:00 p.m. at WMPH studio at Mount Pleasant High School. And remember to tune in to Super 91.7 FM at home or in your car or by streaming on wmphp.net for a robust menu of student generated news, interviews, sports coverage, and a broad spectrum of musical favorites. Thank you. Uh Mr. Akerman, policy review committee. The policy review committee will meet this Thursday in our inaugural meeting. Uh we will
047be reviewing existing policies as well as the need for new policies. And frankly, I've heard a need for a new policy tonight. Um I know that Secretary um Martin does have some AI policy drafts that that she's put together. She actually did that at at done at the USDOE. So, maybe we'll be using her drafts as a guide, but I I tend to agree with the idea that teachers should not be using unapproved tools uh to review students. But um that's that's certainly an an aspect of AI that I hadn't considered, but I think it's something that uh we should look at and come up with a an approach to. So, our first meeting will be this Thursday. All right, thank you. Uh Mr. Najemy, Wilmington Learning Collaborative. We had a meeting of the WLC
048on April 1st. Uh we discussed budget and other matters regarding contracts with the WLC to help the schools in that organization. Uh we will be having another meeting, a workshop on the 27th of April, um where we'll be, you know, furthering such discussions and going a little bit more into detail as to what the plans are for the WLC going forward. So, that's where we are. Thank you. And then the District Success Plan Committee, Mr. Jordan and Lavoy. With the help of Mr. Jordan and Dr. O'Hanlon, um we have been scouring the Brandywine community to serve on a large committee to try to update our success plan. No matter how good an organization is, we can always get better. And that's what we want to hear from everybody who's involved with the district, what their
049ideas are. I was really uh heartened by the Superintendent Dr. Lawson's report about the student voice survey. And it sounds like there are a lot of students poised to give us some specific feedback about that. And I would invite anybody who's within listening distance to go to the brandywineschools.org website and look for success plan. It's on the menu there. It's a very brief survey. It's going to ask 12 questions. You don't have to answer all of them, but any input you can give us will help us in our work. We have a committee of close to 30 people of all different stripes and and uh affiliations, including some of seven uh excuse me, five different students from the three different high schools who will be uh regular voices in deciding what our measures for success
050should be in the next 3 years. And uh like the other AI report, um Department of Education has put out their own success plan that we will try to mirror as well, but keep it customized to Brandywine School District. Again, uh our next meeting is going to be with the approval of tonight's board of Art Committee uh on April the 30th at 5:30 at the Mount Pleasant Elementary School multi-purpose room. You're all welcome to attend, listen to listen in, or zoom in. And that zoom address will be posted on our website. Thank you. And then other board member reports, I just wanted to share that I had the opportunity on March 31st to be a judge at the middle school STEM Challenge that was hosted at Concord High School. This is organized by Mr. Laws.
051And I know that these teams were recognized at a ceremony last Thursday night, but there was two teams that I wanted to recognize. So there was a total of like 18 teams that competed from the three middle schools. And the top two teams were both from Tally. So I just wanted to recognize them. The team made up of Caleb and Christopher. So they they had a kit of parts and they had to build a apparatus to launch a ping pong ball the furthest. So they had a mouse trap, some popsicle sticks, string, duct tape, cardboard, things like that. So the team of Caleb and Christopher from Tally was the first ranked team. Their ping pong ball traveled 26 feet and it stayed airborne for 1 .41 seconds, which was the longest in both categories. Then
052the other part of the competition was they had to document their design process and different iterations and how they found success at the end. So that team, Caleb and Christopher, was the first ranked team for the total score. And then the second place ranked team was also from Tally, Nicole and Amelia. They were the only team with a perfect documentation score. So I just wanted to recognize them. And I know I'm going to put them on the spot. Mr. LaVoie was there judging a different part of the competition. I don't know if you wanted to share what you judged. Neither of us got to judge the culinary competition that was also happening that day which would have been wonderful. Yes, I got a chance to judge the business competition where students were given a challenge.
053They had to pick an object and then create a sales pitch in teams of four. Um and my comment at the end, I was really impressed. These were middle school kids who showed such good teamwork and enthusiasm. Uh and I I mentioned to them before, nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm. Well, they've got it. Uh so, it was very heartening both during the competition and during the awards night. Any other board member reports? That brings us to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second. >> Second. All in favor? I. >> I. Motion carries. That brings us to personnel matters. Is there a motion to approve personnel matters as discussed in executive session? So moved. Second. >> Second. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed or
054abstain? Motion carries. That brings us to student matters. Is there a motion to approve student matters as discussed in executive session? So moved. Second. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed or abstain? Motion carries. That brings us to old business in 9A, Mr. Lavoy and Mr. Jordan, approval of the district success plan committee members. The board policy when forming a committee requires that the board approves or appoints members to the committee. Um so, Mr. Lavoy and Mr. Jordan have been working for the past couple months to identify a great committee for this project. I don't know if you have anything to say before we vote? The board was provided the list. I would just echo what Mr. LaVoy said earlier about the community representation that you see on the list. It was attached to tonight's
055agenda, but you'll see we have current staff, we have retired staff, we have district alums, we have students, current students, we have community members, we have community organizations. And they come from a very wide range of life experiences as well. So I think this this list really does represent the Brandywine School District community and it's going to produce a success plan for the district and the district community. Move to accept. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. I. I. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. That brings us to new business, Dr. Rivera. Um 10A is the Boys & Girls Club lease addendum. Thank you. Good evening. Uh tonight I would like to briefly talk about conversations and negotiations we are having with the Boys & Girls Club regarding an addendum to the current
056lease agreement that we have with them at Darley Road. I am not asking for any action to be taken tonight. This is just the first introduction, first read to the conversation that we are having with the hopes of coming back as early as next month for a vote. The draft of the current lease negotiation is actually in diligent for the board to see. Um I also give a little background that we've been in conversations with them for about a year. Dr. Lawson's been part of the initial conversations, and I do want to give a special thanks to John Reed, who has been uh knee deep in this with me as well. Great. So, we are talking about uh the lease agreement at the Darley Road site. Uh Darley Road has a former school building for
057the district, and then has transitioned to supporting some district programming over the years. Um, about a decade and a half ago, we went into an agreement and partnership with the Boys & Girls Club when uh the space uh became available at that location. Currently today, we have uh half of the building is being used by district pre-K programming, alongside the other half of the building being used by the Boys & Girls Club. This proposed addendum is a uh to lease is aligning towards our current and future BSC needs, which we'll talk about. Uh it's also important to note that there are scheduled capital projects to begin this summer there, which would include replacing the chiller, rooftop cooling towers, two boilers, and associated pumps and piping. And the cost of that is going to range somewhere
058around a half a million to even up to $800,000 uh this summer. So, as I said, we went into the original lease with the Boys & Girls Club back in around 2009. Uh that's when our partnership began. Uh it included a capital reserve requirement and a 10-year term with renewal. There was an addendum in 2011, and then an amendment again in 2018 that was approved by the board that made some changes to this. Um, the reason why we're in this conversation today, even though there's still an additional year left on the current lease, is for a couple of reasons. One is that the district needs additional space as we await the new Bush School to be developed and open. So, we have a significant need for seats for that programming that we offer our community.
059And the second reason is that we have the larger scheduled capital projects that are scheduled to begin this summer. And Boys & Girls Club in their current lease is expected to pay a portion of that. So, it became a natural time for the two of us to come back together and say, before they pay a large chunk of money towards the district, they are also reevaluating how much space do they actually need to do the programming because that would be the amount of money they would have to pay us. So, it's becoming a win-win scenario for both sides right now. So, the points under negotiation, the points being discussed right now in the second addendum, are a few. Again, remember this is just first read. There's This is ongoing negotiation. A final agreement will return
060to you as early as next month. Uh the Boys & Girls Club would look at beginning to turn back over some of the classrooms they are currently using for adults, which I'll talk about in a second, as early as June 1st of this year. We found that out tonight, the date, as we were in the middle of still discussions. Uh we the space utilization by Boys & Girls Club is actually not spelled out in a current lease, which is all the more reason why we need to spell it out in a lease agreement with them. Uh they are currently occupying about half of the building. They believe they can do their programming in about a quarter, actually 24%, of the building. That percentage is important because that would be part of the calculation that's going
061to be used to charge them for the finances come up the next bullet point. Uh, it's important to note that they house a lot of adults there full-time at the Darley Road site that's not directly involved with the before and after care programming that we offer to our students through the Boys and Girls Club. It's just kind of a operation administrative site that they put a lot of their statewide employees there. Um, those employees will be removed and they will find a new location and that allows us to be able to add additional seats for our pre-K students. This is a very nice win for us as a district. With that, they do pay for utilities, they have to pay for a share of capital projects as well under the current lease agreement. They're going
062to hand um over the taking care of the building, the maintenance of the building over to the district. So, we're working out a new fee structure. They will begin to pay a lot more money than they currently pay us uh moving forward once we sign this new agreement. But, they pay for contractors come in and do the cleaning and the securities and all that. We will take that back over, which I think we prefer anyway. And lastly, this uh will define a an end date to the lease, August 2028, and it eliminates automatic renewals. Um, this allows both sides, both organizations to renew uh to review its space and programming needs over the next 2 years to make determinations what the next lease uh should be and how much space and what the financials should
063be moving forward. But, it takes off the automatic renewal so we can uh see where we at with with Bush and any other needs that the district may have at the time. Any questions? Uh, thank you, Dr. Repair. Um question I had about the operating expenses and the utilities. Um is that based off an estimate of the past year, what they will pay each month, or how is that determined? Cuz I know that that has gone up. So, um it is being negotiated. And I'll say that right up front. Um And you you don't have to reveal Okay. >> negotiations if they're high. I understand like that might be confidential, but just curious about that. It uh doesn't seem to be a point of contention. Uh but generally what we did was credit to John
064Reed, we figured out all the costs for um maintenance and supplies um of staffing for it. Um and then we did a calculation of what that is for 24% of the building, and including utilities. And then uh we added the capital projects. And so, the calculation that we did was we took every capital project that we're scheduled to do this summer. And we did what the cost of it is um multiplied the years that that product it the life of that product times 24% divided by 12 cuz we're going to do monthly for this. And added those two, the maintenance and the capital, together. That's the proposal before them right now. Thanks. Mhm. So, I guess under that formula, we have to pay it up front. Correct? >> The district when we do a capital
065project, we pay. We're not paying it over the lifespan of the >> correct. >> of the equipment. And I understand that we wouldn't want to you know, burden them with that full cost over a two- or three-year contract. I feel as though it's a little generous to stretch it out over the lifespan of the equipment depending, you know, if we're talking chillers and whatever. I mean, that's 20 20 years, hopefully. So, to your you're right. And to your point, part of the reason why they also wanted to engage in this conversation was they don't know how much longer they're going to be at this site. And all of a sudden, we came with initially a $900,000 capital project this summer. We think we're we have to scale down a little bit this summer now. And
066they said, "Well, if we're only going to be here for another 2 years, we aren't looking to pay for half of this $900,000 project when we're we may be gone in 2 years." Which I understand as well. So, their proposal is that they are more than fine with a a monthly rent type lease to pay for what they think is a fair share of the product for the years and months that they will be using the capital. Dr. Rivera, do do you anticipate a time when we would need the entire building? Or will it If if Boys & Girls Club vacate, will it be an underutilized facility? One thing we do talk about is that we do see Darley being part of our future. And there are so many different type of programming that we
067need. Um and space and capital projects at different locations, it's hard not to see Darley being used in some capacity for many, many years to come. Um Dr. Rivera, the I assume they're keeping the gym. We're sharing the gym. So, we're going to do a 50/50 on the space on the gym. Okay. So, that was like >> Because our pre-K can use the gym and they can use it before and after school. How how about for outside facilities use? Because I know we're short on gym space. So, I'm thinking I don't know how late they're there at night. Is that gym space available for facilities use? Yeah, I'm going to write that down. I Because I have to also think what time that it would open up. I guess I think they are done around
0686:00, 6:30 or so. So, it would have to be a little bit later. Which is what time we come in to That's the only time we have our cleaners be able to come in because they're right back at using the gym at 6:00 a.m. So, the only cleaning time we have right now is at 7:00 p.m. But, I'm I'll write that down. That's a good really good point. Yes, because right now it's under the gym's under lease for them and we're going to take it back as 50/50. Thank you. And next up is 10B, the Code of Conduct Committee for the Student Code of Conduct first read. Good afternoon, Dr. Lawson Board. Clarence Smith. Um just forgot who I was there for a moment. Uh the What was I saying? Transportation. >> my whole thought.
069I didn't know I was up first. Um I'm excited to say first that transportation is now being considered properly in the Code of Conduct. Students who ride the bus now will understand that the behaviors that they have are representing the Code of Conduct and they will still be held accountable for those just like they are in the school. So, we are extremely excited about that. Uh second slot. Okay. >> Good evening, Superintendent Lawson, President Heller, members of the board, and members of the in-person and virtual audience. I'm Dr. Hyland, assistant principal of Mount Pleasant High School. I'm joined tonight by Sarah Cashner, district MTSS coordinator, Warren Mays, assistant principal for Lancashire, Clarence Smith, supervisor of transportation, and Kelly Giles, BSD parent. We are here representing the district code of conduct committee. Dr. McKinney is unable
070to join us as she is a member of the BSD team presenting at the NAEP Summit in Washington, D.C. Committee members include a variety of stakeholders. They are listed on the screen there. This year we added our first parent to the committee. In response to our students needing a more flexible way to provide feedback, our student leaders were provided with a link to a Google Form to be able to share their feedback. Members also solicited and brought suggestions from the stakeholders in the areas they represent. Lists of names included only those who attended in person. More were included in the conversation. Next slide. Our committee meetings and our commitment. Our work began at the end of the second marking period. Our committee met monthly, and we solicited feedback from stakeholder groups. Our guiding principles of
071the code of conduct committee centered on creating a safe, nurturing learning environment. Please change the slide. Establishing establishing grounds for equitable treatment for all students, providing proactive supports and interventions to teach appropriate behaviors through multi-tiered systems of support, namely through restorative practices and behavior modification. Here Brandywine School District, the code of conduct is one way we create and maintain a positive learning environment to our students. Our code is restorative. It is important to remember that over the past couple of years, state regulations have mandated that MTSS and restorative practices are incorporated into our school's climate and culture. Over the past couple of years, we have added these components to our code. What this means is that students will not only receive a consequence for a significant misbehavior as a lesson learned to deter future misbehavior,
072but in addition, they will now have a restorative component that focuses on teaching the student the desired behavior and reflecting on repairing any relationship that was harmed. This added component increases the likelihood of the desired behavior occurring in similar future situations. We go back one slide, please. That'll help us out. Thank you. So, some of our committee discussions that we had um centered mainly on the feedback for new code violations and consequences. We looked at some of the new regulations that came down from the state, and then we also reviewed feedback from various stakeholders throughout the district. Um whether it was teachers, staff, if um other administrators looking at different parts of the code um to add and update what we already have. Next slide, please. So, here is one of the updates that we
073do have and this came from um out of a legal settlement um with the district and it is the wall what we call the wall language and it is um right there listed for you. Basically, students shall be permitted to object to a search pending the arrival of their parent provided there's no immediate threat to the health and safety of any person located at the school and the parent arrives no later than 4:00 p.m. that school day unless otherwise stipulated by school and staff. And I just want to speak to uh specifically being a secondary administrator at the high school level, there will certainly be times where we do move forward expeditiously uh for reasons of um for safety um when we will not be able to wait and we acknowledge that um but this
074arises out of student voice and students being mindful of their civil rights um and wanting to acknowledge students being aware of their boundaries and respecting the right and not wanting to overreach. So, what this guidance does is it protects us as a district and keeps us in line with the law that says that if we have a reasonable suspicion, then we are permitted to move forward. Next slide, please. So, we're here to talk about excused absences. So, um a number of years ago we added three we had an adjustment to the three consecutive days and we're permitted the building principal to ask for that doctor's note. We have found and this actually came from multiple places. We had a building request that we add some language that's not just three consecutive days, but that we
075could ask for multiple non-consecutive days and a doctor's note. So, we are requesting consideration for that addition today. Okay, now that I'm back and I have my wits about me. I get to talk about the bus stop. So, we've added the bus stop to the list of places that the code of conduct and carries and will enforce it. We removed the 10 school days and replaced it with each day requirement for parents and as guardian approved individual trust designated for a family to must meet kindergarten. And so, all of our kindergarten students are must meet students, which means a parent or guardian has to meet them when they get off the bus. So, instead of it being 10 days, it is now every day for our younger kids that someone must meet them so they're
076never left alone at the bus stop. Next slide. We have some There we go. Um we have some additional language around students with disability and that status and the and any behavior support plans applicable applicable to certain students. So, students who have IEPs who ride the bus who may need special accommodations, we now have language in the code to give them those special accommodations and as bus educators, so I consider all of the drivers and attendants bus educators will also be aware of those accommodations and they know how to fully support students. And just to add that language does protect students in classrooms as well. So that's the bus, but of course in classrooms. Assignment of consequences, we spent a great deal of time as a committee clarifying this language for all stakeholders wanting to
077be sure that we understood that the code of conduct is not one size fits all. There are students that are members of a protected class. Students that have disabilities come to mind most prominently. Students with IEPs, students with 504s and of course we need to be mindful that their needs and the way they're presenting uniquely are being considered in all discipline decisions. Some other notable conversations from the elementary realm came from dress code violations. There was strong conversation around this as far as consequences for our younger students coming out of dress code so to speak and trying to remove the punitive issue from those students because it's not necessarily It's not necessarily their fault that they came out of dress code. So more or less having those conversations and those restorative conversations with the parents,
078more or less um issuing consequences to students who may just be putting on what their parents have put out for them that day. Um we still had some strong conversations with that um as well. Then moving to the second bullet point was um possession or use of dangerous instruments. We added um one day suspension under optional and this came mainly from um feedback of student look-alike guns. So, helping students to understand um the importance of not bringing anything that looks like a gun into schools. Along the same lines um with dress code, again at the secondary level uh as students are reaching that age of maturity and they're able to communicate and articulate their why, uh inviting them into the conversation to make decisions and inform the code and what they are permitted to wear
079and why and uh their choices and decisions didn't always win uh but we certainly heard them and allowed them to be a part of the dialogue. So, at the suggestion of the instructional technology team, um Dr. McKinney submitted to DDOE for the review of additional terms uh around creating and the creation of when it comes to the definitions of misuse of technology and unauthorized use of electronic devices, ensuring that the use of AI language is clearly included. Um, as a reminder, as the results of the discussion and data analysis of the legislature-led school climate task force last fall, the Delaware Department of Ed established a re- visited list of violations for the district student code of conduct statewide. So, if you remember last year, that was a big overhaul to the code of conduct. The
080Department has indicated that we may not add to these violations or delete any violations they've developed. So, this we would need to go and ask for consideration from the Department of Ed. To support your communication, the update to the updates for your boards, uh, you're welcome to share the reasons below. Align the state and federal reporting related to discipline, improve data quality and reporting to by providing a uniform set of codes and definitions, create clearer guidelines for addressing behavior, move away from using crimes to describe student behavior, streamline the number of offenses, particularly for school crimes, and eliminating the offenses that were not utilized across the state. So, that was what that overhaul last year did and aligned every district across the state with those outcomes for this year. Which has gone better than I
081thought it was going to. Effective August 31st, 2026, Senate Bill 106 requires the adoption of the policy governing, um, student cell phone use during school hours. Once that's finalized, that language will be added to the code of conduct. That's being worked on by Dr. Grimes-Stewart and Kevin Paldaneti for elementary and secondary. So, we'll we're anticipating including that once that gets finished. So, the we aren't asking for a final tonight. This is the first read, gives you time to look it over, and we'll be back for a final approval on May 18th. We're happy to answer any questions tonight, or we can take questions back to the committee as a whole. I have a quick question, not on substance, but I guess usability for the online version. I don't know if it's the committee or our
082publisher, but is there a way to add live links, especially in the table of contents, that bring you to the policy? It's a long document, and it's a lot of scrolling. It would be great if you could just click and go where you needed it to go. Yes. I'll take that back, but that's a great idea. Anything else? >> Uh quick question. Um when whatever is agreed upon is finally finalized, is there any plan for disseminating not so much the actual policy, but the changes? Letting stakeholders, I don't know for sure if it's administrators, teachers, um principals, and people like that, as well as students know these are things that have changed. Just be aware. We know it's a 150-page document. You don't, you know, need to read the whole thing cuz you've been involved
083in the school, but these are the things that have changed, just so that you're aware. Especially I'm thinking the bus stop is a perfect example. Some kids goofing around there, and then they know this is something different now. This is like you're in that foyer right there. So. Typically, we use something that looks a lot like a table of contents that adjust mark new changes, um sometimes denoting in color, so we are aware of what has changed from year to year. I appreciate that feedback as well. And based on contracts, we we do send that out by a certain date each year, and we send it to all staff. I have a question. Um so, about the um the student refusal for a search, um what are you um categorizing as a search? Is it
084a search of locker, property? Is it a search of person? Is it um like can they refuse all of them? Does the person have to ask for the student's permission prior to doing it? Um what is You said that if there's reasonable suspicion that you can still um do the search. I would have thought that you would have had to have had reasonable suspicion regardless to do the search. Um so, I'm just wondering I'm I guess I'm a bit concerned about the slowing down of um um you know, events that are occurring and and trying to do investigations and um investigations in schools are you know, often times, you know, furious at a furious pace. Um I'm just I'm just a little concerned about about that. If a student I mean so, I guess the
085first question is, what what defines a search? So, is it of their person? Is it Is it a property? Is it What is it? All right. Um can I don't know if we're able to go back to that slide. Yeah, this one. Okay. So, essentially, um the wall language comes from um a Supreme Court case in New Jersey versus TLO. And TLO was a female student that was um searched. Uh she was in a restroom um and on her person cigarettes were recovered, marijuana was recovered, and um it was suspected that there was drug dealing as well. This student um alleged that her Fourth Amendment rights were violated. And so this language, the case, everything originates from this story. Okay? And the reason this is very relevant to us is because we have many students
086um that for different reasons find themselves in restrooms, sometimes making not the best decisions. Um and what I think is important for the code um to protect us and is that we do not have to stop when we have a reasonable suspicion. So, if we suspect that there is a violation, we do have a green light as a district. Um what this language is doing is it is a guardrail and a legal protection for us to keep us from overreaching um and searching a student in such a way that violates them. Um a search that would be something, for example, we would never do. We would never do a strip search. Right. Correct. Something excessive and overreach in the eyes of the law. So, this is guidance um in the forum of language here. Okay?
087But But the takeaway for this evening is if a building is in jeopardy or there is danger, we are not stopping because a student says stop if we have reason to believe that the building is unsafe. Right. And I I understand that like something like a suspicion of a weapon or something like that obviously that that would um but so this is kind of like more a search of the person. Correct. So if it's so okay. But we can certainly search a locker. Okay, I was going to say cuz a locker is school property. So >> Yes. Property and person. Mhm. Anything on the school premises. So then you're waiting for so then in that case before you do the search of a search of a person. So even something like and can you empty
088your lock can you empty your pockets? Can you you know this and that or whatever? So that has to have like uh can I ask you permission to empty your pockets to you know turn your hoodie inside out? That that kind of stuff. That is what you're saying that you have to wait for a parent to get to school by 4:00. So what this has looked like and I'll use myself as an example not universal. Right. >> Um if we suspect danger we would engage in SRO. Okay. >> Okay and that elevates and escalates the situation at that point. Um but if a student is simply resisting Right. and we don't suspect something dangerous or harmful I place a phone call to a parent. Say that parent says no I want to be present I
089can be there in 15 minutes. I wait with that student parent arrives search continues. Okay. That's what it looks like. >> So something did so would so if like you had you had used the example of a suspected drug search. So would that be considered um like you know kind of like danger like danger? Okay. I just want I just want to make sure. The difference would be something like if you suspect something like a drug deal or or dispersion of drugs or or something like that, then that would be something where you would involve the SRO officer, but otherwise your if you suspect that a student is just vaping. I'm not saying just, I didn't say just, but is vaping in the hallway individually or not in the hallway but but in the bathroom
090individually that they're but they're not dispersing it to other students. Is that what you're saying as an example of where you may ask for permission? Can we ask you to turn your pockets inside out? Can we, you know, can you open up your backpack? That that kind of stuff. So that would be I'm asking you permission to do this. The student can refuse all of that, then you would call the parent. Is that is I'm just I just want to be clear. Yeah. Uh I was not part of the conversation or this committee, but I was the one who actually submitted this concern. So the current code uh was changed back on the settlement and it says that we have to ask for at the contact the parent. We don't ask for permission to search.
091Right. We have reasonable suspicion, we search. But we have to notify the parents and give them the right and be present. My issue, putting my safety and security hat on, is that that's not what the settlement says. And in terms of safety all the examples you gave here Right. our admin are not to wait and not to ask for parents to wait to come if we have concerns of safety and security. Right. It's critical to make sure our code was updated for admin to know you're not contacting parents and waiting if there's any of those examples you just gave. Right. And we're never calling to ask for permission either. Right. You are allowed if it's something minor, like you said, then parent welcome to come and be present on the search if they can make
092it by that time. Right. I see what you're saying. So then would you So then just as as a logistics, so let's say the parent says, um, I can be there before before 4:00. Does what happens to the student? Oh, okay. All right. All these logistics and I and I'm I can imagine, you know, the slowing down of of of things and so, but I I feel better knowing that there are situations where you have to move forward because you have to have move You have to move forward for the safety of the building, so. >> Completely agree. That's why we want to make sure the code says that. All right. Thank you. What if it's a situation where those described the vaping situation, so no danger, no physical danger, and reaching out to the
093parent, they either can't be reached or they explicitly say I can't be there until after 4:00 p.m., what occurs then? >> to proceed without parent. Quick question on the updates to level two violations. When we talk about misuse of technology and on off unauthorized use of electronic devices, is that limited to school devices or personal devices on our network? Is that all encompassing? Do we need to add any language there? I'd have to go back and look at it. Yeah, we'll take it back and talk about make sure that it's all inclusive. And then also on the level three violations, possession and production of pornography. Do we need to add any language there for AI and is there Does that fall under the creation piece or production piece? Is that defined enough to capture that
094type of stuff? Great. We'll look into that as well. Thank you. Anything else? I have some questions. If we could go back to the wall language. Cuz I I actually think I'm a little bit more confused at the moment. I'm not sure what the answer was though to Ms. Stock's question. When you talk about a search, are you talking about the student's person? Are you talking about the student's backpack or the student's car or all three? So Mr. Jordan, it's really a it's on the person. It's on the person of the student. And it has actually been our misinterpretation of the settlement of the case that occurred many years ago that was a BHS case. And so basically um what came out of it is that we are permitted to move forward with a search
095in all circumstances as we have reasonable suspicion. What we're offering the opportunity to do if there is no threat to the health and safety and welfare of those around is offer the parent the opportunity to be present during the search and to come to school while this happens. If they can't meet the criteria that's listed, then we proceed as we do with all um school um issues because we need to resolve it in in a manner that we do. Our misinterpretation over the last couple of years is that we were asking permission and waiting for families and that's not actually what the settlement of the case was that occurred several years ago. So um our safety and security team brought it forward. We went back and read the settlement um within the case and now
096we're correcting our language so that we can move forward with searches um of students of their person um if we have reasonable suspicion that that there is something on their person that they shouldn't have on school premises. Okay, so this does not apply to their backpack or their purse? We we are >> apply. It does apply to a backpack. In fact, that's what the case was about. >> Well, that's >> The student had That's the problem because it's not written in this thing. It just has it under the search of the student. There's a separate bullet for search of the backpack or purse. It's not listed there and my concern is um one of the administrators may read this and say, "Okay, this is limited to just the student's person. It's not their backpack or
097purse and therefore I can search there." It's all indeed um the backpack. I Well, I I just think it should be then um incorporated to cover all of this or even be even be more explicit. Mhm. It does say the student's person backpack or say the student or the student's belongings and I think that excludes lockers and desks because those are not the student's belongings, right? Um So So that's the first one. The second one is is the student informed before the search? And this is different than asking permission, but is the student informed that he or she has the right to object to the search? And we'll take that back as well. >> think the answer should be yes. Um The The next thing I have is that language on the screen there? Um
098we're using >> say health and safety. I I wonder if a better phrase would be health or safety cuz that would be a little bit broader. I think health and safety uh the example that Ms. Dock used about a vape uh that might be health, but that's not necessarily safety and I don't think you could get through um by saying a vape is health and safety. So maybe health or safety uh would be a little bit broader language there. And they are permitted to object. That's in the language. Right, but I I specifically am am questioning if they're informed >> notification have the right to object. So before you know, so let's say Dr. Lawson, you think I'm smoking in the I understand. I believe they are. That That's in practice. So we would we
099would need to engage our administrators into current practice, but you're saying you'd like to see it in the language. Co- Correct. So that way it gives whoever the administrator is doing the search, it eliminates any ambiguity. And for the student as well um that they have that that right. Okay. Okay. I think that's the only questions I have. That's all I have. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. I'd like to employ your efforts. This is hard work and like with any legislation that makes sense, it's going to take revision after revision. Thank you for your time and your effort. Thank you. Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you, team. All right. 10C, Mr. Reed. There he is. Uh facilities assessment tool. Good evening. Um I don't know if we have the slides for this,
100but the um facilities assessment tool is a document. Uh there we go. That's required by the state by Senate Bill 270 that must be approved by the board, submitted to DOE, the controller generals, and office of management and budget by May 1st. Second page. Please next slide. Um Well, to go through the report, um there's a whole report I have to do per building a good repair. Um so, there's several pages of questions and it may state something like is a full school fully air conditioned? In the case of Brandywine High School due to energy codes back during the day, we didn't air condition the gym. So, according to this report, we're not fully compliant. Um this report was written by an out-of-state consultant. It doesn't really align with um some of the way our
101schools are built, but it goes through the the school in different aspects and we report whether or not we're in good shape or not. Uh next page. Um Okay, that's a whole document. The The next document in here is modernization. Um I'll just go on with what sections are in modernization. Um it may ask a question such as um is the building fully insulated? Our buildings are very old, so of course they're not, but the roofs are. So, we answer the question whether or not we're fully compliant, partially compliant, or not compliant at all. Um not making any judgments. Um you know, we're fully ventilated, but you know, insulation um you know, the floor slabs insulated. So, this asks many pages on that. And then the last page on this or the the the next
102page is on um Okay, that's um asset life cycle. It'll have in there um the assets are rated by square footage, um boilers by BTUs, chillers by tons, um roof by square footage, and they actually ask how many square foot of brick is there on a building. So, you plug in the number. For bricks, it has a lifespan of 100 years years, but that's hard to answer when you have Mount Pleasant Elementary, which has 13 additions. So, the bricks you know, are very many years in there. So, the report goes through the asset life cycle and then reports where a building is on its life cycle um due to industry standards. And as long with this document um I'm submitting required by the state, which is about 98 pages of information for the state on
103our buildings, but I'm also submitting a document that the Brandywine School District has put together that we feel is more useful. It gives a projected cost to maintain our buildings over the next 10 years. Also includes the cost of our CN request, and also um spells out like Mount Pleasant High's 29 roof areas. We know the age of each of the roofs, when the warranties will expire, the cost per square foot, and each roof is of a different material. So, we're submitting our own report that has all the information cuz we feel that's more valuable to the Department of Education and the office is asking. So, tonight I'm asking for approval of the document. I'll submit it to DOE, and we'll be in compliance with the code. Are there any questions? It's a wonderful read
104if you're ever looking for something to put you to sleep. Move to accept. There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Mr. McCoy, tax exemption refund. Good evening, Board President Han. Vice President Skerpon, Superintendent Dr. Lawson, board members, and audience members. The first item for your approval tonight are tax refunds to two entities within the Red Clay Consolidated School Dish. These are refunds for prior for years prior to 2025 when real estate tax payments were distributed through the New Castle County tax pool. One entity was determined to be tax exempt, and the other entity overpaid their taxes. The total cost to BSD is $181.80. Red Clay has provided all the documentation. They've approved it with their board. The District Finance
105Committee approved the refund at the 4th April 15th meeting. And if there are any questions, I can take them now. I believe you have the documents in Diligent. Just to clarify, these are unrelated to the reassessment. These are just prior errors made at the county level. >> Yes. Any questions? Is there a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation? So moved. Second. All in favor? I. >> I. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. Staying with you for the May 1st financial position report. The next document for your approval is the May 1st financial report. This is required by the state in order for districts to ensure they will have the funds available at June 30th to cover the July payroll before our tax receipts start rolling in. This is basically the state's version of our cash
106flow statement that is in the monthly financial report. It shows that we're projected to have a balance of 9.2 million dollars on June 30th, which will cover the estimated one month of local payroll, which is 6.3 million on this report. That amount's actually inflated just to be sure that we're hitting our marks over and above what's actually needed for the month. Um, and it's also worth noting that the projected salary column includes seven pays, factoring in the three pay month of May. And that has gotten some scrutiny, this report, for other districts having financial difficulties. Uh, the lines below the local expense, those are the state fund lines. These are all zeroed out by the end of the the school year because the district makes an effort to make sure that we spend state funds
107before using our own local funds. This report was also approved by the district finance committee at the April 15th meeting. Um, if there's any questions, I can take them now. I can also provide back up for any of the numbers that you see you this report. Any questions? Motion to approve the May 1st financial position report. So moved. Second. Motion a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. And now to the monthly financial report for March 31st. All right. I'm going to move through it pretty quickly. There wasn't much going on. There's one major item that I wanted to point out, but if you have any questions, feel free to stop me at any time. Uh the first page, on page one, lines one and two, we continue to collect large
108chunks of our tax receipts with $671,000 coming through in coming our way in March. Additionally, the interest received in March is likely to be the largest of the year in the amount of $236,000. Uh next month will likely be over what we projected what I projected for our budget current tax receipts, and we'll hopefully hit our mark on interest by the end of the year. In the state funds section, line 11, we received $438,000 in children services cost recovery funds, thanks in large part to the state completing their fiscal year 2023 cost settlement. And these funds are reimbursements for costs we had in years past related to services provided to Medicaid eligible students. Um I did not have anything else noted. I did want to point out uh because the head of our nutrition department
109is here and has done such a great job of upping doing anything she can to up the revenues. If you look at the nutrition line 57, it's $432,000 ahead of where it was this time last year, which is mind-boggling considering that the cost of a meal is not $432,000. Um so there were no other material changes in revenues for both page one and page two. Um so I'm going to move on to the expenditures if there's no revenue questions. So page three, the expenditures, it looks much busier than it has before because the encumbered and the expended columns are now displayed. Um they'll be displayed for the remainder of the year, which was the the compromise for condensing it for previous months was to bring it back in the later months. So our payroll is
110at 74.35% obligated compared to 74.09% for the same period last year, so we're uh pretty much in line with that. Uh operating expenses are at 72.49% obligated compared to 76.25% obligated for the same period last year. So everything in that large display of numbers is looking good up to this point. Uh it's not the same story when we get to page four. So on page four, uh when I presented the final budget, I talked about how we are in a deficit spending situation with our tuition tax funds, meaning we're spending more than we are taking in, uh and this is now painfully obvious when you take a look at line 29. So during the month, there was a $3 million purchase order entered for one of the major contractors for special education. They're They have
111our registered behavioral technicians and our behavioral interventionists. Uh the purchase order covered some prior months, so we had to pay some back bills, and we had also put enough money in the purchase order to cover us for the remainder of the year. So, hopefully, we shouldn't see any major jumps like that. Um but, it will likely continue to go up. The one thing that will help our cause are payroll funding adjustments, which has which have not been completed. And what that is, as the end of the year approaches, districts can recode um paraprofessionals into unused teacher units. Uh so, we can do that for every single pay for the school year, and this pulls a portion of the expenses out of tuition tax, and moves it to the state payroll line. In years past, this
112process has moved 1.5 to 2 million dollars out of our tuition tax line and into state appropriation payroll lines. But, the bulk of this process will happen in May or early June, so we likely won't see the impact until a few board reports from now. Uh so, that will offer some relief, but there's likely to be uh a lot more expenses to come. So, we might end up somewhere where we see now. Um with that said, our our tuition tax reserves will be able to cover the deficit for this year, but next year will be a challenge, and we'll need to um look at other remedies. Uh moving on, you'll see that there's a small over budget on line 41 IDEA 619, and this is just because I budgeted for what I thought would be
113spent, um which was not the full portion of our IDEA uh federal allocation. We've actually received a 111,000 for IDEA 619. So, while we're over what I budgeted, we have not overspent the grant. Um moving on, page five is the building level detail, and page six is the prior year appropriation expenditures. There's no items on either page that I felt necessary to call out. And finally, on the cash flows on page seven, once again, there's no major changes from last month. The projected balance is slightly less than last month because the March actual revenues were slightly less than projected. The ending balance of 9.2 million is in line with the financial position report that you saw earlier. Uh the district finance committee approved the March 31st, 2026 monthly financial report at their April 15th meeting.
114And if there are any questions, I can take them now. All right. No questions. Is there a motion? Yeah, Mr. McCoy, I just wanted Were there any adjustments because of reassessment appeals? No, there were no adjustments. Those um are taken out of the money that we receive from the county. They collect money, they take out the appeals, and then they send it to us. But there is no adjustment to our budget or anything of that nature. Thank you. Yep. Move to accept the monthly financial report. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed or abstentions? Motion carries. It brings us to general information. We're having a board workshop on May 4th at Mount Pleasant Elementary. The uh primary purpose of that is to start discussion on the 2026-27
115superintendent goals, which might be formed by an update on the district success plan committee's initial work. And then um if there's time, update on policy review committee's work. Um then our next regular board meeting is back here again on May 18th. And prior to the board meeting, we're going to celebrate our retirees. And then currently, there's a board workshop scheduled for June 1st. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. All in favor? I. I. Meeting adjourned. Good night, everybody.