001Lincoln and Mr. Johnson, could you have your youngsters students please come up and they can lead us from up front. Thank you guys. Ready? Who starts? Charlie, kick it off. I aliance 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. Good job guys. Thank you Mr. Johnson. We have some friends here to share with us today. We did. Yeah. Oh, excellent. Most of you know I'm Jay Johnson, the principal at Lincoln Elementary School. We greatly appreciate you guys having us uh come here tonight to give give us this opportunity. We've had a great year at Lincoln. Uh a good run of really good years at Lincoln and a lot of that has to do with these five
002uh student leaders that I brought with me tonight as well as their awesome families that are uh sitting behind them. So we appreciate their their efforts and contributions as well. Mrs. Carella and Mrs. Mackey and Mrs. Dwey are also here uh from Lincoln as they uh teach via these students. teach 18. I add like a dramatic. You can see what my daily life is like. Uh so kicking it off for us so that they're all going to talk tonight about what it is that they love about Abraham Lincoln. And we have Charlie Connelly who is a third grade student in Mr. Yoast's classroom at Lincoln. Charlie's going to go first. I love being at Lincoln because we have many fun activities like book fairs, school stores, assemblies, and many fun field trips. Another reason that
003I love Lincoln is because all the people that work there are really kind and helpful. For those reasons and more, I love going to Lincoln. Next, we got my man Nathan Cornell. He is a kindergarten student in Mrs. Carella's classroom. Go ahead. Thanks. I'm Nathan Cornell. I go to Abraham Lincoln school and I go to kindergarten. My favorite part about Abraham Lincoln classes about I go outside for recess and I made lots of friends and I have the best teacher ever. [Applause] Next. Oh, sorry. Mave. Mave Kobage is a second grade student in Mrs. Dy's class. Hi, my name is Mave and I'm a second grader at Abraham Lincoln Elementary. I love Lincoln because all the friends I have made make our little school feel like one big family. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we
004have Lena Budasheski. and she is a first grade student in Mrs. Lucarella's class. Go ahead. Hello, my name is Lena and I am a first grader. I love my teachers and doing math. I am glad I have friends in Lincoln. I love all the crafts we make in the classroom. Thank you. And last but not least, we have Will Krueger is a fourth grade student in Mrs. Matthew's classroom. Sorry, you're fourth grade. You can do that, right? Hello, my name is Will Krueger. I am a fourth grader at Lincoln and my current teacher is Mrs. Mackey. I have been in Lincoln since kindergarten. I love Lincoln. My school is great. I love how all my teachers and helpers are so kind and always help me with everything I need help with. I play the baritone
005horn and the music teacher, Mr. Bose, is great. I have got to do a lot of fun things at Lincoln like the AR walk, Lincoln loggers, the fall festival, assemblies, and tons more. Mr. Johnson is the best principal in the world. He is so kind and he always sets up these fun activities for the Lincoln students to do. The field trips every year are so fun and good learning experiences. Lincoln is the best school ever. As I said, these are five of our our representatives for each of the grade levels and um and you can see why uh they do a great job for us at Lincoln every day. So, thank you to the moms and dads and families for bringing them out. We really appreciate it and thank you kids for coming out tonight.
006Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson, we got to tell them to come on up. Follow Mr. Cromy's lead. Mrs. Hoppy and Mrs. is headly going to have a a little recognition for them. You want us behind them? Yeah, please. [Music] Great job, guys. Try to see your face. You're killing me. two. Congratulations. [Applause] Ladies, don't go too far. I can do a little announcement here. Mr. Johnson. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Next, we have a recognition of an eighth grade student at IMS, Diana Neil. This fall, students in eighth grade and Mrs. Monaco's class at IMS were given the opportunity to write an essay about my voice in democracy for the VFW's Patriot Pen essay contents. IMS student Diana Neil was one of the lucky contestants. Her essay was turned into the VFW Post 764
007in Peters Township where she won first place. She also won first place in the district. Her essay was then turned into the state of Pennsylvania where she won third place in the state. She was awarded a cash prize and a medal engraved with her name. On Memorial Day, she will march in Peter Township's parade and afterward she will read her essay on stage along with her award presentation. At this time, we like to have her come up, read her essay to us if she doesn't mind, and then we have a little recognition for her also from the school district. In a democracy, even though I'm only 13 years old, I still have important ways to participate and make a difference. While I might not be able to vote yet, there are several things I can
008do to contribute to the de democratic process and help shape my community and country. First, I make sure to stay informed about what's happening in the world around me. I read news articles, watch the news, and talk to my family and friends about current events. Understanding what's going on helps me form my own opinions and be ready to participate in discussions about important issues. Staying informed means I'm not just a passive observer, but someone who is actively engaged in learning about my world. Second, I can express my opinions and share my thoughts with others. This might be talking to friends or family, being in student council, posting on social media, or even participating in school debates and discussions. By sharing my views, I contribute to the conversation and help raise awareness about issues that matter
009to me. It's important to me to remember that my voice counts, even if I can't vote. Another way I participate in democracy is getting involved in my community. This involves volunteering for local organizations, participating in community service projects, or joining clubs at school that's focused on social issues. By working with others to make a positive impact, I learned the importance of civic engagement and teamwork. These experiences help me develop skills and values that will make me a responsible and active citizen in future. Finally, I can support causes that I believe in. Whether it's through fundraising or spreading awareness, I can see I can take action to support the issues that are important to me. By standing up for what I believe in, I help create a culture of activism and engagement that is central for
010a healthy democracy. In conclusion, even at 13, I have many ways to participate in democracy. By staying informed, expressing my opinions, getting involved in my community, and supporting causes I care about, I contribute to the democratic process and help shape the future of my society. These actions prepare me for the day when I can vote and can take on even more responsibilities as an active and engaged citizen. [Applause] for this photo. Could we set up the flag? There we go. That's what I did. Yeah, Christie. Actually, I'm We're going to do over there. [Laughter] Okay. I know. Thank you. Diana, thank you very much. Mom, thank you very much. You you and your family. It was a great job. As we're waiting for our colleagues to get back, I wasn't the last one this time.
011Put them on crutches, too. Mr. Pishner, can we do roll call, please? Yes. Mr. Christensen. Mrs. Feice, here. Mrs. Miss Hedley here. Mrs. Hoppy here. Mrs. Janisk here. Mr. McGregor here. Mr. Scozo here. Mrs. Turner here. Mr. Modrack here. A present. One not. Thank you, sir. Motion to adopt the agenda for tonight's business items. So move. Second. Second. Moved by Mrs. Walsh. Second by Mr. Scowzer. uh our minutes. Everyone had a chance any questions. All right. And a motion to move the minutes. So moved. Moved by Mrs. Janisk, second by Mr. Scowl. All right. I believe Caleb Bush, you have a presentation for us, sir. Correct. Yeah. Thank you, Caleb. All right. So, SJA had the opportunity to attend the PASC or the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils Region B Conference where we had a
012keynote speaker. His name was Scott Coltic, a distinguished veteran who grew up in Bethl Park. He gave a presentation on leadership skills he learned in his time in the military. There's also different workshops that we could attend, some of which including using AI to enhance school culture and lead the moment crisis control and many and many more. Two of our own students hosted a workshop on the importance of social media in student government activities. SGA is also planning multiple upcoming events at the school, some of which including a staff appreciation week and a collaboration with environmental club to bring some life to the school courtyard. Thank you. Uh do we have anybody on for uh PTO PTA? Yes, we do. It on I am here. Can you hear me? Uh yes, we can. Okay, great.
013Thank you for having me. I'll read through all the board reports from each of the schools. Um George Washington Elementary, we finished our cop out perogis fundraiser and pickups are happening this week. We also had a lucky bingo fundraiser at the beginning of the month. We are currently planning our science and art fair, spring book fair, and fourth grade swim. The school's green team is going to have a recycling event on April 5th. And the Wii Run Club is starting up March 26th, and the GWPTO scholarship is also out. Ben Franklin Elementary had a fun bingo night recently and an excellent kickoff to readathon. and the kids are getting excited for the PA teacher in the face assembly and winter announcements. We have been continuing our fundraising and are working many year-end events. Memorial Elementary
014kicking off with ReadAcross America week. Our readathon is underway and kids are having a great time participating. The science and art expo was a hit with more than 55 participants and our art teachers did a spectacular under the sea glow art project with all students participating in pieces. Memorial Movers will start practices on March 24th as we get ready for the kids marathon. William Penn Elementary. William Penn students crushed their readathon goal by reading more than 62,000 minutes during readathon week. They celebrated their accomplishment with a movie and popcorn party. Later this month, students will participate in two assemblies to learn about the benefits of a growth mindset and how all animals are important in our world. Lincoln Elementary. March has Lincoln gearing up for all things spring with a book fair, science fair, and
015art expo, and Lincoln Logger Run Club. We also had a wacky Wednesday spirit day, a spirit night at Urban Air, and an assembly by the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh. Neil Armstrong. Neil Armstrong has been having a great month with just wrapping up the Scholastic Bookf Fair with over $7,000 in sales. We have continued to have great popcorn Fridays in school stores. So, thank you to everyone that volunteers to help out with everything. Independence. A lot of activities are planned for the rest of the year at IMS. We have a week-long Scholastic Book Fair in March, a young entrepreneur fair in April, as well as 8th grade move up day, teacher appreciation week, and popcorn Fridays. And just a quick report uh for the new uh elementary school PTO. The BPES uh PTO had a successful
016brainstorming session with the community as well as a Sky Zone fundraiser last month. We now have a Facebook page which is BPES PTO that you can follow for updates. Next meeting will likely be in May. So please keep an eye out for our upcoming membership drive. And that's it. Thank you, Amanda. Appreciate that. Thank you. At this time, a solicitor, we have a report. Um, I just want to announce that an executive session was held immediately prior to this public meeting for the purposes of discussing um specific litigation, personnel, and matters subject to attorney, client privilege, and confidentiality. Um, and then as another point of um point of procedure, is the board comfortable with noting the adoption of the minutes as unanimous consent? So, yes. Yes. Okay. So, we'll just direct the the board secretary
017accordingly. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Turner. You gota give me my notes better. Hey, but that one's not on me. It wasn't. Can you see the executive session on there? Thank you. Uh, next. Thank you. Committee reports. No. I like it. All right. Doc, superintendent report. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Uh thanks to our uh Lincoln folks for that uh heartmelting presentation. Uh and congratulations again, Diana. I'm proud of you. Uh I'd like to start off tonight by sharing with the board a little bit about those that are on tonight's agenda for retirement. And there are some a lot of familiar names here. uh a lot of uh of legacy experiences uh that cross generations when we talk about these names. We'll start with Mrs. Bentle. Mary um started her career at the 199394
018school year as a fourth grade teacher at Memorial and in 2008 she transferred to third grade and she'll retire at the end of this year as a third grade teacher. Uh, Mrs. Blocklin, Cynthia Blocklin was hired for the start of the 9394 school year as a speech and language support teacher at Penn and Memorial. And in 2008, she transitioned to Lincoln and she's also participated extensively in our extended school year program as our speech and language pathologist. Christopher Brickett. In April of of 2016, Chris was hired as a bus driver for the Bethl Park School District and he ought to retire uh at the end of the 2425 school year. Leslie Defrank was hired as a lab technician for the Bethl Park High School in September of 2013. She will retire in October of this
019year from that position. Rose Deg Gregorio began her tenure with Bethl Park as a sub in 2003. In 2008, she was hired as a fourth grade teacher at Franklin. And in 2011, 2010 2011 school year, she transferred to Abraham Lincoln as an MTSS specialist and where she has remained for the rest of her tenure. Victor Dampro started his tenure at Bethl Park School District as a social studies teacher at IMS. In 2002 2003, he transferred to Bethl Park High School where he participated as a teacher in our alternative ed program and as the facilitator for the social studies department. Kelly Eckert Grapham. She was hired as a half-time art teacher in 1993. He became a full-time art teacher in 1994 and will retire at the end of this year. Mr. Thomas Hair started his career
020at Bethl Park School District as a subteer in 1991. He was hired full-time as a social studies teacher in 1993 and he participated in our alternative ed program and has served as the union vice president for almost 20 years. Jackie Mali was hired in 1993 as an elementary PE and health teacher. In 94 she moved to the IMS. In 99 she transferred to Neil Armstrong and in 2006 she finally settled at the high school and she'll finish her tenure at the high school and uh retire in June. Uh Donna Tritler was hired as um substitute health or instructional aid in October of 2002. And in November she of 23 she transitioned to a noon time aid at Beth Ben Franklin Elementary. That sounds like 2003 not 23 because in 2005 she became a part-time specialed
021paraprofessional at Neil Armstrong Middle School. 2006 moved to full-time at NAMS. In 2014, she moved back to part-time aid at Franklin and she'll retire in the end of this year as a full-time aid. Uh Steven Yoast was hired at Lincoln to teach fifth grade for the 90 1999 2000 school year and through some restructuring he was moved to Neil uh fifth grade and then transition to be the gifted teacher at Neil and 2023 he tr transferred back to Lincoln to teach third grade where he will complete his tenure. So again, we wish all these folks all the best for a long and happy retirement and thank them for years and years of great service to the Bethl Park School District. Second on the agenda would be a a strategic plan update. Uh the board received
022some of that already from me tonight. This was supposed to be on HR and during the executive session I shared some updates on our progress with strategic planning goals on human resources which means then it's time for the five big things from everybody's favorite Mr. Cromy. There we go. Everyone's favorite except my wife. I'm in the top five though. I'm confident. Top 10 at worst. Um, so here are the five big things um for this week. Uh, Llaya Walsh, a Bethl Park senior, was featured on ABC's Good Morning America for earning the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, recognizing her efforts to close the gender gap in engineering. Laya led a 4-day summer camp where women engineers guided hands-on STEM activities to inspire young girls. They've continued that on into the school year and there's a
023uh girls in engineering club. Her achievement was highlighted as part of GMA's National Girl Scout Day coverage showcasing her as a role model for future women in STEM. And in the first time ever, my second slide, if it if it works, there we go. Thank you, Mr. Missionary. is also Llaya Walsh because Laya Walsh has been named the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Finalist, placing her among the top 1% of US high school seniors. Out of 1.5 million entrance who take the PSAT and NMQT each year, only 15,000 finalists advance to compete for 7,140 scholarships totaling over $30 million. This prestigious recognition highlights Walsh's dedication to academic excellence and places her nationally elite student group. This year's NMS awardees will be announced later this spring and summer. Bethl Park High School's spring musical, The Sound of
024Music, was a resounding success, delighting audiences with its heartwarming portrayal of the von Trap family. The soldout performances captivated the community as Maria and remember there are two casts. So the opening cast was done by Maria Katana and the closing cast by Joanna Little. Uh they the the spirited governness brought music and joy to the vontrap household while they faced life under Nazi control. Both BPHs productions received high praise for their talented casts and moving performances. And I cannot tell you how amazing it is to have two highlevel performances at the same time. Um, they just do an amazing job of pulling that together and I know they work really hard at it. March 14th marked Pi Day celebrating the mathematical constant Pi and its first three digits 3.14. Established in 1988 by Larry Shaw
025at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Pi Day has gained global recognition. At IMS, students and faculty continued the tradition by awarding prizes to those who can recite Pi's digits to various depths with eighth grader Abby Rashidi leading by reciting 200 Pi digits. Incredible, right? Um, students were also invited to bring homemade pies, adding a delicious twist to the celebration. And that's my favorite part of Pi Day. So, Kennywood Bethl Park students, staff, and families can buy discounted tickets for the Kennywood School Picnic on Friday, June 20th by purchasing early. Tickets are as low as $31.99 if bought by June 6th. After that, the price increases to $35.99. All tickets must be purchased online with no refunds, but the rainy day guarantee offers return tickets if the weather disrupts the visit. So, Kennywood will be on
026Friday, June 20th, one week after we graduate. And that concludes this month's five big things. Thank you, Mr. Crommy. Number one in our hearts. Thank you. We're up for the bright spots is coming from our student sports services and special education department. So, Mrs. Shu has the Dr. Shu has the microphone. Thank you. Um, it's nice to be back. We've been very, very busy the first part of the year. We met with you guys in October and we'd like to give you a quick update where we are now. Um, we wanted to highlight some of our numbers of where we are at right now. Um we have issued from the start of the school year till last week when we've calculated these numbers uh 149 permissions for full multi multidisciplinary evaluations to be completed. Our
027staff thus far we're not even three4s of quite of the year done yet have completed over 100 evaluations. We currently have 28 learning support teachers and we have an average case load of four 14.8 students on each uh special education teachers case load. Additionally, our population is growing. We have an increase of our autism um our ASD population of 16% from last December of December 2023 to December 2024. Um, currently 19% of the entire district is supported with an IEP, which is right in a line with our state average. 6% of the district is supported by a 504, and 4% of the district is supported with a GIE. And all those numbers are aligned with the district, but it kind of highlights how far reaching our office supports. In addition to servicing all our students,
028we've been very engaged in training to build our capacity for our staff. Our autistic support teachers have participated in the patent initiative establishing component skills which is part of the overall patent initiative and this is the precursor to that program. Um, one of our school psychologists, Crystal Summers, attended the 2024 School Psychologist Association at State College in the fall. We've also participated in verbal behavioral milestones assessments to again help support that growing autism population. We participated in gifted PA webinars. Um just recently we participated in looking at how we support individuals with speech language difficulties and how that looks in comparison with IDA. And also I need to give a shout out to Britney Stefanic who created a training alongside with the Alageney Intermediate Unit on reinforcement of breaks and prompt dependence for supporting behaviors
029with our students. So, how to make our students more independent when using um pair professional support. We've also held sever several parent engagement nights and I created this slide which is how I slipped Dr. Mchinion on there. Um in October Dr. Mch collaborated with office of vocational rehabil rehabilitation for services and supports. He continued up with that series um with ODR uh in November. In February, we met all our preschool early intervention transition parents. And on April 12th, we're going to have a sensory friendly movie. We're showing the Lego movie at IMS in conjunction with the interact team. Another thing that I'm particularly proud of of the state currently has six initiatives through their attract, prepare, retain repository to maintain and support students um and staff throughout the state of Pennsylvania in um keeping positions
030uh in the special services department. We are participating in three of the six. Um these are all grants that we have earned that benefit our staff and students. The first one uh is the accelerated program for special education teachers grant and Mr. Cromy has highlighted that in the past where three of our prepared professionals received grant funding for their support to go to Slippery Rock University and get their masters in special education. two of them are currently student teaching in the district right now and the one the last one is set to student teach in the fall. So, we're really excited for them to finish up as they complete that program. Um the middle graphic that we have there is Julie Hernandez in the second um in the high school have been involved in developing
031future special educators grant and that programming pairs with Carlo College for credit in schools and that has just been posted. Um it's called CHS foundations and special ed. It'll be available to students next year. Um, and it really looks at the history of special ed, legislative foundations, um, Pennsylvania disability recognition categories, models of collaboration, dives into current trends, including cultural diverse populations. So, it's a great class to introduce individuals in high school to the field of special education. Um and on Friday, April 11th, um they are going on a field trip to Carlo University to meet with staff and get a little bit more experience and exposure to what it may be like um working in the field of education and specifically special ed. And then the last grant that we're part of is the
032outofstate internship with uh school psychologist. In the past, we've had inschool um instate school psychologists, but this year we have Nate Brham who came to us from Indiana University of Indiana. And um we received a $20,000 grant to have him as a stipend to work for our district and support our students. And he's done a lot of um support helping our students observations and testing. And some of the parents, I'm sure, have gotten to meet him thus far. Inclusion is a really important component to our office. Um, as I said, we are far reaching and we have a lot of great initiatives that we're doing. Our best buddies, that's the first picture on the left is from one of our best buddies walks and we currently have 125 active participants in our best buddies groups.
033Um they've done very numerous things throughout the year including our um ugly sweater dance which some of our board members participated in. Um the picture below is a day that Best Buddies collaborated with the Interact Club and they honored our high school custodian appreciation day and the bus buddies collaborated to make the desserts in in conjunction with the cards from the interactive club. We have many students involved in any other activities, including our play. We have one student highlighted up there who's running on the track team this year. Um, again, we've raised $14,000 for Special Olympics as a collaboration. Um, just showing the unity and inclusion that the entire community came around to support our students. And last, but certainly not least, the bottom picture is our Botchi team made it to the regional playoffs.
034I know you said not yet, but hopefully in a couple weeks the burn is not there. We unfortunately lost to our neighboring district um to bring that up our neighboring district Peters Township in the regional finals. [Laughter] In addition, I had to give a plug to Jessica Mahoney. Uh Ben Franklin has a long storyried history of increasing awareness and supporting acceptance and raising money for resources um for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. She is currently um raising money for orders for um a really cute shirt that I think and I love the saying I believe in a spectrum of possibilities. So if you are interested in purchasing one, please feel free to reach out to Jessica Mahoney directly um and do that. Okay, my last slide is to highlight our upcoming um South Hills Futures
035Fair that Dan Miller, Representative Dan Miller has put on for several years. It's an absolute wonderful event. But Julie Hernandez and Dr. Mimch has specifically been very involved in the resource fair that occurs from 6:00 to 8 um to help support students. So, if you're very if you're interested, they've got a lot of great things during the day and during the evening. I'm sure we'll be talking about it more in the future. Hello everyone. Thank you for having us this evening. I'm excited to talk about our new partnership with Shim for our community-based work program. We're expanding that program. Um there our students are going to help them with the clothing closet out there. They're picking articles of clothing. Uh, and thanks to Mr. Volani's generosity with the clothing closet at school, they're replenishing the
036clothing closet with items that are not needed at the uh, SHIM organization. So, they're doing lots of things to help the community, but also restocking even our own um, clothing closets. So, we're very proud of the students for that. If you notice, they have these really slick BP shirt workbased learning shirts on thanks to Julie Hernandez. We say her name a lot. Did you hear? You know, we say that name a lot. So, Julie ordered these shirts and she's doing a great job with that cuz we want our kids to look the part because they are the part when they go out there in the community. So, they're doing a nice job. Really excited. Yesterday, we had a bunch of staff in this room uh with the PBIS initiative for the future forward thinking of
037that program and it was a really exciting day. Many very positive uh outcomes from that that discussion. Next year we're going to focus on the language in the other buildings, the teaching of the expectations, and then we're going to build forward with the collective group to this to the uh elementary school. So, we're very excited about that. It was a great uh invigorating outing. Did some CCM training with our mini drivers and aids. That was very wellreceived by our drivers and um aids. Um I think that's something that we started at the beginning of the year and carried through with uh in the February inservice. So, that was again well received and time well spent. I'm excited to tell you that our students at the high school are going to be going down to an
038ESL event on April 3rd with Jackie Barton. She's another person that doesn't um we don't hear her name a lot cuz she's an IU employee, but she does a lot for us and uh she's going to be bringing those students down where they're going to listen to people who have had a similar story and have had success and to learn about how to overcome certain barriers that they might have uh being non-native English speakers. Our Aubberly SNAP program's out going in full effect right now over at Neil Armstrong Middle School. We have uh 12 students in that program with their families and parents. It's been a great uh program. Again, Megan Matasix running that show doing a wonderful job in our partnership with Aubberly's been very uh very wellreceived uh for this program. So, I'm
039excited about that. The high school staff has worked on the partner up program, which is an eight session program for our students to help them achieve some of their graduation pathways. It's a great partnership with PNC we're doing right now that gets them um accessibility to employers and looks at the uh skills that they need and tries to pair them up with a job. Uh so it's been a program we've been participating in that I think is having a lot of good impact on our kids. the BP Connect leadership development program. If you haven't heard about it, it's a great uh secret uh here in Bethl Park. We'll try not to make it too much of a secret anymore, but um our high school leadership team, they're going up and working with our students at
040IMS developing their leadership skills. Um really helping kids that maybe don't always think that they have a voice in the in the school community to help them understand that they do have a choice. We started out with an awesome uh escape room activity. If you've never done an escape room, that might be a great board outing right there. Dr. Walsh, if you want to do something fun with the board escape room. It was great. A lot of team building there. I'd like to get cameras on that though. They might hit that like to get cameras on that. But it was great. And our high school kids under the direction of Mr. K, another guy that you hear his name quite often, doing a great job. Tracy Schuster and Crystal Summers, our school psychologist, um are
041doing a great job with that. and we really appreciate your time. We know it was precious, but uh since we only get to talk to you a couple times a year, we're very proud of what we do. And uh Dr. Shu, she does a great job and it's good working with her. Thank you. Thanks both of you. I think the board feels like this room is an escape room sometimes. It's not easy to get out of a challenge. Uh thank you both. And that's all we had for you. Thank you, Dr. Walsh. At this time, uh, public comments on any agenda items going once. Good. Let's move on to our business items. Consent agenda. Mrs. Janisac, would you be so kind to take that item, please? Okay, we're moving on. Just breaking the place. All
042right. Uh, we have 1 through 23 on the consent agenda. Does anyone need anything held out? Seeing none, I move items 1 through 23 on our consent agenda. Second. Good. Consent agenda moved by Mrs. Janisc, second by Mr. Scowzer. Mr. Pisherary. Voting is open. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I'm not seeing it either. You're the only one. All right. All in favor? No, I don't have one either. So, opposed? Your eyes have it. All right. We'll move on to personnel. Mr. McGregor. Yes. Can you guys hear me? Yes, we can, sir. Okay. Tonight, there are two items underneath personnel. Number one, acceptance of resignations and number two, approval of EDR program 2425. We have any discussion, questions. All right. Hearing none, I'd like to move these two. Moved by Mr. McGregor, second by Mrs. Walsh Turner.
043We're going to try again. Mr. Bisher, let's try. Let's try. Anybody? No. Anybody seeing it? It's voting is open. So, nobody's seeing it. Oh, I got it. Got it. Anybody else? I got it. All right. No, it's running extremely slow. Yep. Okay. Is everyone good on it? No. Buffy. All right. Got it. Motion passes. All right. Thank you, sir. Uh, finance committee. Uh, Mrs. Wolf Turner. There are six items under finance committee. Number one is the payment for the bus garage renovation project. Number two is the payment for um draw collective for the new elementary school for $38,22. The invoices for ECMS Mid-Atlantic for 19,492.35. Another one for $6,346.77. And the final one for $3,250. We have a school sponsored overnight education activity for PMEA. We have a school sponsored overnight educational activity for um
044PMEA. Again, um the purchase of wrestling mats to and the uh final cost there is $34,92541. And finally, items declared unused and unnecessary. um by the director of finance, operations and human resources. I will move one through six, but I have um a comment on number six. The um historical society has asked for one of those uniforms. Okay, I'll make sure I work with I can get something. Okay. Finance moved by Miss Walsh Turner, second by Mrs. Jen. I go do have another question. What are we doing with the un the old mats for the resting? I know they were in there were concerns that there were pencil marks in them. Those kind of things. They're in pretty bad shape. They will be disposed of. [Music] Okay, yep. Let's try it again. Voting is open.
045You all good? Uh, Mr. McGregor. Mr. McGregor. I can just mark not present at time of vote. Okay. Okay. All right. That being said, we'll go on to policy. and Miss Sopi. So this evening we have just two items. The first is a revision to an existing policy. This is the second of three readings. Uh this is policy 252 on dating violence. Um Mr. Modrack had a question last week that's been addressed and revised. Um next meeting, next committee meeting will be the third and no next voting meeting will be the third and final reading where we will vote on that policy. Um item number two is the discussion of a cell phone policy. Um that is a draft policy and it is concerning the use of cell phones in classrooms. Um and that's for
046discussion. So discussion is open. Thank you Mrs. Hoppy. I'll just put uh put that in some context again. There's my word of the night. But the uh the board had been talking about this. I know Mr. Scalzo has had some experience in his classroom with this uh and we wanted to give support to the administration and the teachers with managing what is becoming both a very useful educational tool and a very distracting educational tool. So, the current draft of the policy that is not yet out for public reading. It's still in draft form s gives the uh schools the responsibility to keep phones out of the instructional time of the day. Meaning, you put it into one of those sleeves on your way in the room. At the end of the class, you take it
047out of the sleeve and take it to your next class. There's no restriction in the lunchroom, buses or uh um study halls, that sort of thing. it's would be restricted from using during the instructional times of the day. Seemed to be a a pretty good compromise from a total ban that we hear about in some schools or places across the country to uh just an overuse or an abuse of these tools in um other places that we've heard about. And I think there's a fair amount of research out there that suggests that it's uh it is causing some distraction and preventing academic achievement from kids reaching their all-time, you know, best performance with the distractions that phones can provide. So that's where the current cell phone draft policy sits. I know Mrs. Hoppy's got some
048ideas that just came up today, for instance, about whether we put age bands on the on that policy or or not. And so I think we're opening this up for some comment from the board. Could you clarify which school? Without a doubt, it would also start to stir up some feedback and comment from community folks who have an opinion on this as well. Could you clarify the school because I was understanding that was for the high school. Yes. And you're right because that was something that came up that was what Dr. Walsh was referring to even today. Okay. separation of grade levels like um do we ban them altogether from grades K through five and then 6 through 12 have them because they currently have their own devices policy surrounding not using them. Well, the
049policy right now is really up to teacher discretion as to how it's how it can be used in the class if at all. This would make it out take sort of out of teacher discretion and make it a requirement that you can't use the phone in the in the instructional classroom unless the teacher has incorporated into the lesson plan. Is that recent at IMS because just a couple of years ago it was they must be in your locker. Yes, correct. So this policy would would I believe it includes IMS? Yeah. Yeah. I was just feeling that IMS is more restrictive than what we're currently talking about, right? And it could stay that way, which I would prefer to leave that way, right? And that's why it's up for discussion those grade levels. Um, it could
050be 9 to 12 that it's the teachers, you know, in during that instructional time, it goes into the sleeve and then on the way out because Mr. Scalo kind of piloted that um in his own classroom. Um, but that middle level, I agree with you. You just put it away altogether. elementary, just don't bother bringing it to school if you have one um type of thing. But again, it's all for discussion. It's all for um consideration for sure. Everything that I see, everything that I read, um, every video that I've watched where some type of restriction on cell phones during instructional time has been in place, the students, particularly the like the high school level students are thankful and they'll say, I I'm just thankful that I can break away from that for just this
051amount of time because they know that they're distracted. They know that it's an uncontrollable urge that when the phone dings, you pick it up. It's it's a response now. It's it's automatic. Like we we all do it too. Like adults do it too, but we don't happen to be in a classroom trying to learn something. Our lives are a little different. So the distractions again, everything I see, everything I read, achievement is higher where these where the the cell phones are restricted for at least part of the time or part of the day. in the school. That's kind of where it all started. So, I think some of the dialogue we had among us up here was um and with Dr. Walsh was to like he just said before and be repeating is get a
052dialogue here uh as the board and also give the our community an opportunity uh to get their uh thoughts on it. It was interesting is that we completed a round of interviews with candidates for the high school and um one of the candidates was from out of state and one of the questions that it was given uh with regards to cell phone technology and this candidate said that I don't have that problem because in my state the state legislature has put state law banning cell phones in the building. Now we didn't get into too much detail and this was for the high school but again it was interesting where how this state reacted is where it was no longer a local level it was a state level so there are different mindsets on it um
053one of our neighbors in Alagghany I'm sorry in Alagghany County uh there was an article in North Alagany they were talking about um their cell phone policy and how the counselors have seen improvement in the students well-being uh and how they were performing better at school and how they're and Dr. Walsh made reference to how emotionally and mentally that was the kids were responding doing better on it. So the idea was for all of us here if anybody has any other comments but also our administrators who spoke on it. Some would like to see more restrictions on it because again their time is tied up dealing with cell phone issues but again we also want to hear what our parents have to say and I imagine one point our students will have probably have a
054few things to say about it. So anybody else here at this time? I have I'll agree with Gail with especially with my own experience about kids actually thanking uh the teacher. I was actually thanked by several of my own students in my own district that uh it was a relief and I was surprised that I would have students come up to me uh just you know thanking me that uh you know in my room in my classroom placed the phone in the sleeve it was a chance for them to completely detach. Um also with you know collaboration with their peers and when they're working on things together in group activities or even individually uh you see that there's more conversation uh among the students it's good it's healthy um there would be times where there
055there you know if it's a text message whatever whatever it is all of a sudden you know in the corner of the room there's some activity happening over there and I kind of know I'm like put it away put it Okay. And then they they put it away. But I they genuinely don't realize it. They are some of them are so addicted to it that they are not intentionally trying to be disruptive or disrespectful. I they genuinely it is it's an addiction and we've all felt that um as adults too that we get addicted to these devices. But uh I think that with this policy if we have all teachers pretty much required to have the phones and the sleeves it builds consistency which is so in my my district it's a little bit different.
056It is up to the it's it's at the teacher's discretion. But what can happen there then you have one teacher that might be very lax with it then another teacher that's very strict with it or you might have one you know say period one they come in and all of them are putting their phones in the sleeves but yet maybe they don't see another teacher until seventh period that would require the same thing. So they're not there's there's not a pattern or a level of consistency. So that that makes it very difficult and then it also makes it difficult for the teachers because you have some teachers who um you know if they're a little bit more relaxed with it then all of a sudden they're favored um by students while other teachers if they're
057strict and you know those students are looking at them a little differently. Um but with this with this policy it it takes that all of that out of the teachers hands. It's pretty much a requirement across the board during those instructional times and uh that's what we're in the business of doing for they they need to be in that room. They need to be learning. They need to be you if it's writing, reading, free response questions, scenario-based, right? They need to be allin with their teacher and their peers for that period of time. So, I think this is going to be a really good thing for uh Bethl Park. Dr. Dr. Walsh, is this just covering cell phones or is it going to cover other mobile devices as an example of the watch that is
058Yeah, it it does has caused issues in many classrooms even if they do have a it does include uh the glass and any a smart device that Okay. I the the public is just seeing cell phones. So saying any kind of mobile device, correct? Um because I had heard from some teachers that the watches are more concerning than the cell phones. I I appreciate the compromise of um requiring that they don't have it during a class. Uh which I think is is a compromise to you can't bring it at all or you can't have it during the day. So I appreciate that. But I appreciate that 9th through 12th. Um, and I think currently at IMS students are allowed their phones but only during lunch and I would not endorse this policy for that building.
059That would because otherwise that that's that would complicate things. I agree because of the the maturity level at six, seven and eight. I would think you know keeping that a little bit more restrictive. I mean that's just my opinion though for that grade level once you get to 9 through 12 uh it's different at that age range. So we have administration has a draft uh we will be making it public in the next couple couple weeks coming up. Well it wouldn't it it doesn't go public until it becomes a first reading. So, at this point, we're just going to have to u get feedback from folks about what they'd like to see and then we can put a So, that's and then we would probably would not have a vote after three readings would be
060the last meeting in in April. If we put it on next meeting would be the first reading in April. It would take I'm sorry. In May. Yeah. Yeah. So point being the public get some feedback to us and uh staff good bless students uh and then we can fine-tune uh as we move forward with three ratings. Okay. All right. Mr. Dre, can you hear me now? Yes, sir. Okay. Finally. Um yeah, my two cents are on that. I the cell phones are a big issue for for special education students that on my roster. Um, now those classrooms that collect the uh collect the phones in those in those sleeves, the average participation score for my kids in those classes are a lot higher than the in those classrooms where they don't have a cell phone
061policy in their class. So, I mean, it's it's night and day of of their level of performance. So, that's all I want to say. Thank you, sir. Yep. Okay. Nothing else. Um, Miss FaZe, would you take the other, which is a student agreement, please? Oh, hold on. We still got a second on the It's a second three, but it has an action on it. So, all right. So, I'll take that off. There's no There's no action tonight. Mr. Am I right? You're right. There was an action on it. It should have been just discussion. I'm sorry cuz I made my mistakes here tonight. I want make sure I like that. Megan's like elbow me. You didn't do it. No, I'm sorry. Um, Miss Face, the other u There's only one thing under other and it's
062a student agreement. Um, and and that's that. So, I think we should just move it. Well, I'm not going to read about a student agreement. Second, second. It's a student agreement. It's moved by Miss Fage, second by Mr. Scalzo. Mr. Fisher. Yep. Thank you, sir. You would think we were on. Voting is open. anybody? There we go. This is Janis did it. Okay. All right. Motion passes. Thank you, sir. At this time, we have our meeting open for public comments on any subject. You're just limited to two minutes. Anybody? No. You did a good job before. Okay. Thank you. Uh board comments. Yeah, that's that's my comment. You're awesome. What you did is awesome. And like keep using your voice forever. This is awesome. That's all I want to say. Um, I want to send
063out a congratulations and best wishes to all of our retirees. There's a lot of names on there um that I think everybody up here recognizes. And two that have touched my kids in general that I want to say thank you to are Mary Bentel and um Tom Hair. And I just want to thank Tom Hair that I will never have to hear again how his research papers were stolen out of his truck. So, thank you very much. The retirement is over. I don't have to hear that story again. Um, and it wasn't my research paper. It was a siblings research paper that was in the truck that was stolen and still not recovered to this day. So, best of retirement. Um, and um, well wishes and consider substitute teaching or bus driving. Sorry. Maybe worth
064might be worthwhile. Might be more money. Anybody else? I just have one comment. I want to acknowledge that the board received a an anonymous letter from a parent concerned about activities in our uh sporting one of our sporting teams. And the letter was acknowledged and read. Please, we have do have a policy that if there's a letter coming from anybody in the community, we do please ask to include your name and a way to contact you so we can follow up on and get the best information we can. I just do want to acknowledge received the letter, but please help us out and our policy does dictate that we have some a name and a contact so we can at least follow up on it. Um, that's all I have. Do I have a motion
065to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? Good night. Did I get right, Mr. Thomas Pusher? I'm I'm just teasing him. I'm teasing. Hold on. Let me end the stream. We got Mr. Pushiner. Yeah. Wii coming second. What's that? Watch coming second.