School Board Meeting - 01/12/2026

001meeting January 12th. Put this on. So, good evening everybody. Uh, we have a few guests we'd like to get started. We got some rigging going on. Okay, I'll try that again. Okay, we're good. I think we're good, Mr. Miller. Uh so welcome to this uh school board meeting for January 12th. Uh first and foremost, we would like to set some ground rules for this evening is that tonight is a very big night because we have curriculum discussions uh and recommendations for tonight and as well as a potential football game at 8:20. So let's be precise. Uh let's be true Pittsburgers and get down to it. Uh get everyone ready. Mr. Lambert, I see you're ready for already. Uh so we just want to keep things in perspective. Uh let's be as efficient as we possibly

002can, but obviously we don't want to skip over anything that's really important. So uh first let's uh call the meeting to order and uh stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh, please stay standing because we have some uh some guests tonight to sing our national anthem. Some students from Streams Elementary School. So, would you guys like to introduce yourselves first? >> Can you tell us your names? >> Um, I'm Haley. >> I'm Andrew. >> I'm Sabrina. >> And I'm Satie. >> Well, welcome. We're the Upper Sinclair School Board. >> They're not too scary. >> We're looking forward to your to your national anthem. So, whenever you're ready, let's get started. >> One, two, three. Oh, say can

003you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we held at the twilight last gleaming ooze stripes and bright stars through the perilous all the parts we watch were So streaming and the rock is clear. The bones bursting in air gave truth through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangle banging and w the land of the free and the home of the brave. >> All right. >> Can you guys give me a Here we go. Steelers. Well, thank you guys very much. We really appreciate it. You did a magnificent job. Those high pitches are hard, but I think you guys hit them. I know we can't. >> Uh, do you guys want to share who you came with tonight and brought to the meeting? >> You guys

004just waved to your families and you guys can just wave it where you are. >> Well, thank you for uh allowing your children to come in today. They were great job. We really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Uh, Mrs. Kramer, would you like to start with roll call, please? >> Sure thing. Mrs. Bolus, >> present. >> Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Hannah, >> present. >> Sorry. Mr. Kyle, >> present. >> Mr. Lambert, >> present. >> Mr. Mosscarero, >> present. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> present. >> Mrs. Schnore present. Mrs. Snder >> present. >> And Dr. Wetszel >> present. >> All members present. >> Uh, Mr. Snder, would you please read the mission? >> Happily. Developing lifelong learners and responsible citizens for a global society is the mission of the Upper Sinclair School District. served by a responsive and

005innovative staff who in partnership with the community provides learning experiences that nurture the uniqueness of each child and promotes happiness and success. >> Thank you. Uh now is the time we turn it over to our trusted student representatives. Great. Thank you, Mr. Mascaro. Good evening. Happy new year, everyone. It is it is great to be back with you. I'd like to take a moment to welcome Mr. Kyle to the board. He was one of my favorite football coaches and I'm glad to be around him again. The winter sports season is well underway and several teams are deep into their schedules since my last update. Girls basketball currently holds a record of 5 and seven and are playing Mount Lebanon this evening. Boys basketball is off to an outstanding start with a 12-1 record and will

006host Mount Lebanon tomorrow night. But before the game, a tailgate will be held in the cafeteria from 5:00 to 7 pm. The tailgate will raise money for Warren Timco and his family with 100% of all sales going directly to support them. Boys ice hockey stands at 4 and 11 and will face North Alagany on Thursday. Boys wrestling has a record of 6 and four and will compete next against Mount Lebanon on Wednesday. Girls wrestling holds a 1-1 record and will also compete against Mount Lebanon on Wednesday. Rifle is currently 1-5 and will host Plum in their next match. For swimming and diving, the boys team is 5-1, while the girls team is two-4. Both teams will compete on Wednesday against South FET and Unified Botchi will be back in action this Thursday with a match

007at South FET. Turning to academics, our high school students are currently doing one of their favorite things, taking final exams. Finals began last week and will conclude tomorrow. Just before finals began, students in Mrs. Picani's culinary art classes sponsored a sip and study hot chocolate fundraiser that benefited 412 Food Rescue. Friday is the last day of the first semester. Many students will begin new classes on Tuesday, January 20th. Some of these new classes represent courses that will be taught for the first time at USC High School, such as Dr. Funfar's college and high school foundation of education course meant for students who are interested in learning about how schools work and becoming a teacher as well as our new partnership with CCAC for a dual enrollment introduction to accounting course. High school juniors are currently

008participating in ini individual meetings with their parents and school counselors. These meetings are designed to provide personalized guidance and support for college and career planning. Now on to Bella. Hi everyone, happy new year. As Anthony said, um I'm going to begin with the art section of our report. Although this decision was made earlier, I would like to formally share that the high school's um spring musical will be MMA Mia, which is exciting. And then um after a long weekend of rehearsing, the 2025 PMEA Honors Orchestra had a wonderful concert at Carson Middle School on Sunday, November 16th, which seems like a little far back, but we haven't been at a meeting since. Um Mr. Lord and North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics directed the group and then the ensemble was represented by 23 schools

009in Alageney County. And um we're really proud of the amazing musicians who represented Upper St. Clair. Um Arts and USC will host their annual contest in February, but the submissions will be due at the end of January. Um specifically the 19th through the 30th. Um, for those of the of you that don't know, Arts and USC um contest aims to provide students in kindergarten through grades 12 with accessible opportunities for artistic expression um while ensuring they gain meaningful experience by participating in a formal contest and the flyers and more information about the contest will be released um in this next week. And then the final report is for the activities. So, at the end of December, student council hosted a Home Alone themed movie night for our elementary school students. Um, welcoming 65 um students

010took crafts, games, hot chocolate, and of course the movie. And um we nearly raised $800 in support for our spring ethon that will take place in April. Also in December, uh students participated in a kindness week by visiting all three elementary schools and leading lesson plans centered on spreading kindness. Um and then currently a select group of juniors are planning our surfs up St. Clair themed Sades winter dance that will be on January 24th. Um, and then the last thing is that before the break, um, our high school senior executive board toward potential prom sites and they once again decided on the, um, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Um, that will be scheduled June 2nd, 2026. Um, thank you for your time and attention and at this time I would be happy to answer any

011questions if you have them. No, thank you both for your report and I think as a responsible parent, I will think that you guys can be able to depart a little early tonight because it is final weeks and I know you have some finals to get to. So, you don't have to stay tonight. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Miss >> Tongate. I'm going to study for that English final right now, Miss Tongate. >> Definitely. >> I do want to report on what your grade was, Anthony, by the time you get back. >> Hey, I only need a six out of 45 to get an A. I'm a good >> high goals, high rewards aim higher. I'm a >> I'm a good student. >> Thank you both very much and good luck with the rest of

012the semester finals. >> Uh Miss uh approval of uh December's board meeting. >> Oh, thank you, Allie. Uh do we have any residents present for any comments? Okay, we'll move right on. Uh, approval of the minutes from December. Mrs. Bolus. >> Certainly. I move that the board approve the meeting minutes of the December 1st, 2025 board meeting is attached. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any naysay? Pass. Okay. Uh, I would introduce the fasttrack curriculum recommendation presentation. So, the floor is Dr. Fenders. We got a lot of names on here. >> Thank you. Um, this is a really exciting night for our curriculum leadership team. I'm thrilled to see our group here in the back. And as we know, we've had a restructuring over this past year with Dr. Bleso's retirement.

013And so, um, this evening, I will be kind of MCing the the night, but want to acknowledge Mr. Miller, Dr. Overwork, and Dr. Wagner for their work. and prior to getting started, thank our leadership team for their amazing work that they are about to share with you. We know that our curriculum process here in this district is the cornerstone of the great work that we do and we are very unique in the way that we handle our curriculum and share this with you twice a year and we know it's an investment and we thank the board for your time this evening. Um, and though we are to be concise and focus on a clear time to get out of here, um, we don't want to minimize our process either. So, we're very grateful to all

014of our board members and to our community for continuing to invest in this great work. Um, as a reminder, this evening you are hearing the presentation of the curriculum recommendations, but we will not be voting on them until our February meeting. Um, so once again, thank you to everybody. And tonight our order um is a little adjusted. We will start with high school math and then we will move to elementary reading and then we will follow the order in our packet as provided to you. So I'm going to ask Mr. Miller to come up to the podium and his wreck is on page 33 if you are following along electronically in our packet and give him the opportunity to share his high school math wreck with us. Thanks Steve. >> Uh thank you everyone. I

015just want to start by um just expressing gratitude for the opportunity to come and share this. I know I speak for all of us um when I say that it means a lot for us because a lot of work goes into these recommendations and it's um it really is our pleasure to get to share them with you uh and not just the people behind me but um people behind the scenes as well. Uh and so um teachers and other people that have worked on these recommendations. So um thanks for giving us this opportunity. Uh my recommendation is just one. It's to rebrand and reorganize um two of our courses at the uh junior level. uh conceptual FST and academic FST. Now FST stands for functions, statistics and trigonometry. Uh and just as some background um

016that FST course has been around for a long time. We added the conceptual level of FST around eight years ago uh pre-COVID and we've had um a good number of years now to kind of watch how that course has uh evolved and and you know who's taking that and what they're doing after taking that course. uh and we've come to the conclusion that it would it's time to change the names of those courses for a number of reasons. And so we want to rebrand those two um two different courses, pre-calculus and algebra 3 with statistics. Now the academic FST will become the pre-calculus course and the conceptual FST will become the algebra 3 with statistics. Uh I want to give credit where it's due. Um the idea for this wreck came from Mrs. Emily Aloway

017and Mrs. Stephanie Fischer and they put in a lot of hard work and thought into this wreck and so they deserve all the credit for it or at least the majority of the credit for it. Um and so the reasons that we want to make these changes are um you can tell just from the name FST. It's it's not very clear what those courses are are meant to do. Um and so students leaving the junior year typically take either a calculus course or a statistics course. and um what we're trying to do is provide more clarity for students and parents um and also for colleges looking at transcripts as to what the courses are that align with the future studies. So, you know, I'm a junior. I want to take a course that's appropriate so

018that I take statistics my senior year. Which course should I take? We found that over the past several years, um 95% of students who have taken conceptual FST move on to a statistics course. Uh, and so we've noticed this and so what we want to do is optimize that course to have students be as successful as possible in statistics. And so we're changing um slightly the the units of study in those courses to match what those students are going to be doing in their senior year. And then likewise for the academic FST, the majority of those students move on to a calculus course. And so the changes that are happening as you can see in the wreck um pre-calculus which um is currently academic FST will focus on advanced algebra and trigonometry in preparations for

019calculus courses primarily while uh the conceptual FST course which will become algebra 3 with statistics will focus on essential algebra skills along with an introduction to statistics to better optimize um the course for those students who are moving into a statistics course in their senior year. Uh and so um we're hoping that this will provide greater clarity for parents signing up and students signing up for courses and also um when colleges look at transcripts they can see they won't see FST anymore. They'll see oh this was a pre-calculus course or oh this was an algebra 3 statistics course and so those are the goals of uh of the the change and um I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you Steve. Um, next we will have elementary reading with Katie

020Kzik and Dr. Lindseay Clausnitzer. And that was on page 28 in your packet. And we are a group that we go big or go home. This is Katie's first official um opportunity to present a wreck to the board. So, we welcome her to the podium with >> Thank you. I'm excited to especially with Lindsay. she's been super helpful um really like taking the lead on this for me which has been great having another building admin support this. So our recommendation is to conduct a review of our current K through4 ELA instructional materials to make sure they're aligned with state standards act 135 that was just passed and as well as evidence-based practices. Um, we also have a recommendation to explore and compare alternative ELA programs and also pilot a standardsbased assessment tool that provides more

021actionable data at the K through4 level to also have consistent data from the K through four level. Um, so like I said, one of our main reasons to have this recommendation is due to new evidence-based practices that have come out as well as act 135, which was just recently passed that the state will require districts to have evidence-based curriculum in reading. Um, and then as well as we want to make sure our vertical articulation is strengthened at K through 4 so that we do have more consistent instruction and we don't have any gaps. Not that we currently do, but just to make sure there's more consistency across the grade levels. And we also are going to look at aligning tier one, tier 2, and tier three ELA supports again for that cohesion and consistency across

022all areas. And then as well as the data tool, this standardsbased data tool that we're looking at just based on the um reports we've already seen is kind of clearer for teachers to read and then use to again just support our students and make sure we are identifying the areas where they might need more support. Do you want to add anything? Uh I I think you did a great job, but I mean really just looking at um vertical articulation. Middle school has already begun a lot of um their process as far as looking at instructional strategies and evidence based um materials and programs. So it's really timely too that elementary does the same. Um so obviously this legislation that has just come across um is timely but then also just making sure we're aligned with

023the middle levels. Um, in addition to that, >> any questions? >> So, you you you're looking to increase text evidence-based learning. Is that correct? >> That would be a portion of it. Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. And is that reflective on any of the PSAs or the standardized testing? Is that is that changing so that the students will have um more testing along those lines? um it's not changing but it's just it's a heavy part of the testing currently. So if you look at our current PSSAs at the elementary level 25% of it is based on text dependent analysis which is your text evidence. So there's definitely a heavy weight in that area and quite honestly it's a good weight because essentially we're teaching them how to write properly as they move through the grade

024level bubbles. >> Great. Love it. >> Yeah. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. Going back to the beginning of your packet. Um we will start with Mr. Costgrove, art department chair. >> Thank you all. Um this evening I am we have a pretty simple uh curriculum change and it's it's really just to change in the program of studies the name of the three-dimensional uh studio class. So the goal for for this evening's recommendation is to uh adjust threedimensional to sculpture studio. Uh it's it's a simple um it's a simple change uh but it will help with counselors in um you know helping students uh adjust their schedules as they need to. uh it aligns with the um uh the the other two courses with um art in painting and drawing as well as ceramics.

025And so it it just kind of alleviates any confusion between counselors and students and parents uh when they go to schedule. Any questions on that one? >> No. Thank you very much. And this is a good example of a wreck that we would provide now because we are getting ready to have those scheduling conversations at the high school as we look at our program of studies. So good example of a January wreck. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Next up is our new business department chair, Nikki Kala. And Nikki, this is her first time with us at the podium here presenting. Um and >> she's busy with three recommendations to provide to you this evening. three this evening. Um, okay. So, the first is uh the state mandate for personal finance. So,

026beginning next school year, um, Pennsylvania is requiring that all high schools offer at least a one credit course in personal finance to um a class of their choice. So, our recommendation is to offer the course to junior students. Right now we um have financial literacy and practical living and those courses are offered to juniors and seniors but under the new recommendation we would be offering our personal finance class to juniors so that starting with the 202728 school year all students graduating from upper St. Clair will have had a course in personal finance. Any question on that one? Okay. Um our second recommendation is in regards to the college and high school um marketing in an interconnected world course that we have been piloting for two semesters now. Um we have taught two sections of the

027course in the spring of last year and then this fall currently and our recommendation is to formally adopt the course. >> Any questions? I do have a question on that in terms of do you know what colleges are accepting that? >> So the um credits are through Robert Morris. >> That's through Robert Morris. >> Yes. Right. So um I am not positive exactly which colleges are accepting of it. But um >> I'm just always curious having gone through this. I think Ohio State accepted it because I have a kid there and she took it. But I was curious because we send so many kids to pit Penn State Ohio State before you sign up for this class. If you have a kid wanting to go to one of those schools, I think that's important information

028>> for our counseling department to have. >> Absolutely. And when my stu I teach the course and when my students um ask me about their credits transferring, I always advise them to talk to the admissions office at the colleges that they're looking into to see if it has been accepted before. Um, >> and just one um small detail to to add to that um as well. Robert Morris um their business program ends up being a great partner for us because Robert Morris has an accreditation um that makes that course much more portable than colleges and universities that don't have this business accreditation. Um and so there would be a higher likelihood that that the course would be accepted outside of Robert Morris because of the particular accreditation that that Robert Morris has has attained. Um,

029so those are things we're definitely from the big picture mindful of as we look at these CHS courses. Um, but then at the individual student level, just as yeah, Mrs. Kala said to to check with with your admissions offices. >> Definitely. >> Okay. And then the third recommendation that we have um is in regards to a new course being offered by College Board. Um so college board is currently developing courses that they're calling um career kickstart is the initiative. So the first two courses that they've developed in their career kickstart program is um a business with personal finance course and a cyber security course. So we um our recommendation is to pilot the business with personal finance course. It is um intended for 9th and tth grade students as it was developed. So it is

030like an introduction to an AP course but also an introduction to business programming. So it flows nicely into the courses that we are currently offering. Um the business course with personal finance through uh college board touches on entrepreneurship, marketing, accounting, um business finance and then it also has the personal finance component. So with this course um we would be offering it to 9th and tth grade students but it would also fulfill the personal finance requirement for them. So then those students would not be taking that junior year. Do you have any questions about that course? Anything at all? Okay. >> Thank you Nikki. Great job. >> Thank you. >> Um next up high school English with Melissa Tungate. We're excited to present these recommendations to you. Melissa's been hard at work as always for the

031English department at the high school. >> You know, it's a good night when I have to bring a bag to hold all my books. That's all I'm going to say. Um, so Dr. Fender mentioned earlier, um, typically fasttrack recommendations affect the program of studies, so they're presented at this time. So those revisions can be made prior to course selection. Um, we often save resource changes for the spring process. However, tonight, three of my four high school English recommendations are being presented in the fasttrack process because they call for implementation of new resources early in the second semester. So, I'm going to walk through those three together first. Um, they might be slightly out of order of what's in your actual packet. Um, and I always like to show you the books. So, the first one

032is a revision to the um ninth grade honors. I'm sorry, the English 9 and the NYP English 9 non-fiction unit. Um, we're revising the unit to include an additional text which will give students some choice in the unit. So, currently right now in that non-fiction unit, the students read um bomb uh the race to build and steal the most dangerous world's most dangerous weapon. And we're proposing the addition of this text which is radium girls. This is actually a young readers edition. Um so that students would have a choice to read either or in um in that unit. This text uh is on the same reading level. It can be accessed much in more independently just as bomb. It does continue to highlight the role of science and technology in shaping history. But it also

033gives the perspective of women at that same time period as it follows um the young girls who were the radium girls. uh during that time. So, um really we're just trying to enrich the unit and give students some choice. Any questions about this one? It's a great read if you haven't read it. >> No, Miss Tang, I'll just quickly add on um Bella and Anony's um behalf, this is a great moment. they uh the student board reps review all the recommendations um as part of this and and be part of Bella's feedback was um having choice when you pick a book uh feels great. Um and so it's always great to have the student perspective. I won't comment on all the the um comments that that Anthony and Bella made as part of hearing all

034of these recommendations, but that was a helpful part of the way we continued to develop these recommendations. Our second recommendation for a change of resource is to the AP um English language course and the synthesis unit. Um currently our synthesis unit um doesn't have a core text because it focuses on the writing of synthesis. Um so we're proposing the addition of the devil in the white city as a text into that unit. um which really is um a great example of how a an author weaves in pieces of non-fiction to tell a narrative. And that's really what we ask them to do in the synthesis writing that they do. So in the synthesis unit, the students write to the synthesis prompt, which is one of the three essays the College Board requires, but they also

035write an extended research paper. Um during this unit, they're not reading an actual text. uh this text will fit into the unit because it um Eric Larson uses additional sources to weave in and tell his story as one does in synthesis. So, it's a really great example of studying that as a writer's craft. Um and I have listed in the recommendation the objectives um that and skills that it meets for AP English language as well. Um so, uh as well as the accolades that the text has received. So, we're just proposing that we add this text into that unit. >> Yes. >> Uh that is one of the most exceptional books. I've read it twice. It is probably on my top 10 list. Um I'm elated that the kids are going to be reading this

036book for several reasons. not only from the historical facts that um were involved but from the fact that it is so intricately written in detail. Um my only concern was it is so detail oriented and there are so many different things that you can miss along the way having read it twice. um how will we be able to capitalize on that as a learning tool for >> yeah that's a great question um because it is a complex text um so during this unit um first of all I was looking for something to complement the fact that they were going to be writing in this similar fashion so because they're not going to be reading anything else during this time I think it will give us some additional time to focus on that. Certainly, I'm going

037to chunk it um into the parts. Um and I think the important piece for me, keeping track of the characters is the toughest piece initially. Um so I'm working on some tools and strategies to help them keep track of those details. But I also think um we're not reading the text for details of plot so much as we are the writer's craft. So I certainly don't want to say it's okay if they miss a couple of details, but um we're not studying it as literature in terms of plot elements. So I think the way in which we tackle the text and the way that I chunk it um I hope will make it more accessible. Um, that's my plan anyway. >> I I look forward to hearing about the discussions. It's a fabulous book. >>

038Thank you. Thank you. >> Good choice. >> Thank you. >> Oh, I have one more question. I'm sorry. >> Um, I noticed that we were going to buy them for $1,080. I found them on Amazon for 14.87. Is there a reason that we're not um it would be $594 versus,080? Um because the permabound edition has a a sturdier cover that's not paperback that is um usually lasts longer. Okay, >> that's why it's usually sturdier. The last resource text is for a creative writing resource for our elective. Um it's for a consumable workbook. Um I know that it looks a little bit elementary. Um, however, if you wanted to to look at it, I'd be happy to leave it for you. Um, it really gives some structure to creative writing and it gives the students um

039some prompts they can work through that will then also leave them with something more tangible to take with them at the end of creative writing. Um, so it is a consumable we would have to purchase every year. Uh, we do have um a semester elective in creative writing. So we have like 10 to 15 a semester depending. So we'd like to try this in the second semester with students. So those three recommendations really um affect initial um resources for the start of the second semester. The final recommendation in the English department is a revision of the communications pathway. Um, and this does impact the program of studies for next year, which is why it's here tonight. You may remember that um, this communications pathway has been a little bit of a passion in the last

040few years as we're trying to create a cohesive plan for students who are interested. Um, so what we're hoping to do with this recommendation is streamline that. Um, and we're actually proposing sort of collapsing one course into another. So right now we have what's called multimedia journalism. And now that we have intro communication arts and intermediate communication arts, we believe that the objectives in intermediate communication arts and multimedia journalism overlap in a way that it would make most sense to collapse multimedia journalism into intermediate communication arts so that that pathway is a little bit clearer for students. um intermediate communication arts which will be taught for the first time this second semester is going to focus on content creation in a similar fashion to multimedia journalism. Um we also have a reference in the recommendation

041to some additional supplementary supplementary resources um as we try to again get students to sort of advance their journalistic skills in the area of communication. Any questions on any of those? >> No, but I still reference this. You gave this to us and so if this needs to be updated, >> can you share it with us because people like me that are very visual parents love this? >> I act I actually revised it this afternoon, so I will send it along. >> Thank you. >> I have to go revise Anony's final now. His is now all essay. That's all. >> Thanks, Melissa. We really appreciate your work. Um, now representing middle school ELA, Sherry Garvey. We welcome her back this evening to us. Good evening. Um Melissa didn't tell me that you're supposed to bring

042the book when you come. So I don't have the book with me, but u middle school ELA is obviously always in search of new titles to add to our core text. Um as you've probably heard a million times, finding a book that's rigorous, engaging, and appropriate is not always an easy task. But we feel very fortunate that we have found Force of Nature by Anne Berg. Uh Force of Nature is a novel written in verse. Uh, it tells the story of Rachel Carson, who obviously is a Pennsylvania born scientist and writer who had a great impact on environmental studies. The book traces her journey from a young child growing up outside of Pittsburgh, um, who loved to learn and explore about nature in her very own backyard to a determined scientist who used her love

043of writing to share the wonders of the natural world. The novel meets a variety of our ELA objectives and exposes students to a new type of text structure. Um, additionally, the novel, the content of the novel aligns beautifully with our sixth grade Deer Valley experience as well as our steel standards and has a specific focus on environmental stewardship. Um, the text lends itself nicely to um, opportunities for non-fiction text layering and obviously some crosscurricular opportunities. So, we will look to pilot this text in the fourth quarter to all of our sixth grade students, which again aligns very nicely with their Deer Valley trip. Any questions? >> A comment. I appreciated the review of the team um of teachers including those um surveys in the recommendation and would love to have those included in the other

044recommendations. Um, I loved reading the teachers comments and that was very helpful um in analyzing whether or not this would be a good book for the students. So, thank you for doing that. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Sherry. Excuse me. Um, Dana Melinger for High School Wellness. >> Hi, everyone. Good evening. >> This is your first rep with us too, Dana, isn't it? >> For sure. >> Okay. Hi, I'm representing the wellness department K through 12, but this focuses on the high school just adopting the Glenco textbook. It's a great resource. It really does help um them construct different lesson plans, assessments, and this all started when Betsy Hes was retiring. There was a separate health class and a help separate fizzed class. So, we just wanted to integrate both and make it wellness

045because it's just not about playing our sports and it's just not about the health component but the sportsmanship, the cooperation, collaboration plus just bringing it all together in one course and it's been great addition. There is a digital that they can use obviously to help build the canvas pages as well. It just it helps build but obviously we add our own little touches. It's scientific. It's age appropriate. It differentiates between different reading levels. So overall, it's a pretty good resource. So we just look for your approval and would appreciate it. Any questions? Nope. Simple as that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I think she should try to be less enthusiastic. >> We're an intimidating bunch. She brought her energy. Um, next up is Dr. John Cybert for performing arts and music at the high

046school. >> Good evening. We have three recommendations in music this evening for the high school. So, it's a very exciting time, especially for our string program. Uh, some of you may remember a couple years back that we hired Miss Karen Chisum to lead the secondary uh, strings program here in Upper St. Clair. and it has been a great success in many ways. Uh the thing with our orchestra program as some of you may know who've played with it back to the days of Mr. Fox and the idea that there was always one orchestra and one orchestra only. But we found that in the last couple years our orchestra program string program is growing which is great especially since Miss Chisum has the opportunity to work with them in grades seven and eight then she also

047works with them in 9 to 12. And as with anything else, as we all know, in multiple activities, you have students that live with string instruments and you have those that enjoy playing the string instruments. We have we have so many students that uh play in every acronym known in Pittsburgh in all these various whether it be the Pittsburgh Symphony Youth Ensembles or the Pico Ensembles or I could make a list of them for you this evening. And they are looking for a class that has a a lot of rigor. they want to be challenged and that's what we would expect and that's what we offer. Uh and then we also have students that are still developing and they enjoy playing in the orchestra program. And so our goal is to do what we have

048already done really with our band program in many senses to offer a a more advanced class which in the band equivalent would be our wind ensemble. And so here it would be just the orchestra class that we currently have now. And then Miss Chism has worked and we worked together on the fact of um developing this prelude ensemble class. And so what this will serve as will give an opportunity for those who have a are building their fundamental skills which we all know since they've been playing string instruments in fourth grade. There's a lot to that and that will give those students a chance to have their own class specified time to work on individual skills and again building in smaller groups. And then we'd also have the orchestra class, which I know that you

049can read on the recommendation there that we have big plans for that class, such as the fact that the orchestra class could possibly become the pit orchestra for our musical, which would be great. And any students at that level to be able to to read that level of music would be fantastic for them. And with the prelude orchestra, I think it's important to note that we just like the bands and the choirs, there's opportunities for them to perform together. So this is not like one ensemble is by itself, another ensemble is by itself. they will have the opportunity to work together. And I know that Miss Chisum has already talking about that as far as through various concerts and festival programs. And you'll note there on the wreck that we've gone as far as looked

050at the number of students that we have. I've asked Miss Chisum and we went through looking at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association guidelines on where our students are. And you can see that it's it's about a 50-50 split that we have that we can grow the program right now based on the numbers that we have. Does anybody have any questions on this, Rick? Okay. Excellent. Next, we are um planning to remove the music theory and technology course from the high school program of studies. Um I I must admit that I'm coming from the old school because back in the day, you know, if you wanted to learn to play a music instrument, the first thing everybody told you was you had to learn music theory. You know, I had that piano teacher that you got

051the piano book and you also got the music theory book. So you were studying everything the whole way with it and there was homework every week and it was very exciting times. Um but some of you have done that are laughing with me right on that. But um gone really are those days in many senses where students want to enroll in a music theory class as we see in the research as we see with modern music pedigogy. We want to provide students the most up-to-date options for them. So the students that you really want to learn music theory, we have an AP music theory class and there are multiple options for them and we've gone back and looked at the uh enrollment data which tells us that as that as those numbers are decreasing that

052the best thing for us to do is to continue and what we've seen in the class and speaking with the students as well is to um move forward with the 812 class that I'm going to introduce in just a second just because the 812 class will um provide all all the things that the students also are looking for but what we see happening in the music profession today. Does anybody have any questions right now? So, let me go right to 812 if that's okay. So, Mr. Deutsch and I high school band director and I have worked on a a class of renaming. So, we're rebranding but at the same time we're also uh working through what this what this class will be. The um district has uh invested in uh uh new digital workstations. Uh

053we have four new computers that we added this year on top of the fact of workstations that include a variety of what's cons what's you'll see in the recommendation there that says digital audio workstations. The workstation we use is Ableton Live. Um but our students are well-versed in a variety of um these um different online programs but software programs where they can make music. Gone are the days where you have to be able to read notation. I'm sorry to be able to say that but it's the truth. We have composers, performers, we have singers that can't read music at all, but yet they are working in the profession. So when you can point and click and all of a sudden begin to write all of your own music, this class will now begin to provide

054opportunities and real life experiences. And some of you who um definitely enjoy music in the 70s and 80s and earlier, right? And notice the name of the class will go from music technology and digital production to hopefully something that I think that Mr. Deutsch agrees, right? uh to music technology and digital groove lab. So by calling it back the term groove right there for a second but the idea is for students that this is a lab class it instead of the being a specified course by course you must do this or uh objective by objective this is an opportunity for them to really get to write you you'll note in here the different aspects that I've included both with sound design the opportunity for them to loop music to remix music which has become a

055really big thing with artificial intelligence right now what the students are able to do with with um different tracks. This gives them the opportunity uh to do that. And within the class itself, we're hoping that the name lab will help students to really gain at least an interest in and we are really truly trying to reach the non-traditional music students in the building, giving them opportunities because there is a group of students that aren't in band, choir, and orchestra, but love music, want to explore it in different ways. and we're hoping that this investment in this class will provide opportunities for them. >> Any questions on that? Okay. All right. >> Thank you, Dr. Cybert, for these really thoughtful Rexs that will get our students excited about music theory again. >> Oh, yes. Imagine that.

056Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um, next is high school science with Dr. Collins. Good evening. Um since AP biology is already groovy uh uh uh I just wanted to present h a revision of the curriculum uh to reflect college board changes. So during the school year uh the college board has introduced revisions. H it's really to the benefit of both students and teachers uh because it provides a logical sequence and uh removes some some of the redundant material. Um so it allows students to kind of gather knowledge that will prepare them for college readiness. Um so I listed some of the things that the changes will entail. So clarifying essential knowledge language uh merging or moving some topics uh updating science practices to provide a clearer set of skills students will need for college courses

057which that very much aligns with a steals uh curriculum in terms of these science practices and reorganization of several units uh to create that logical sequence. Uh so unlike physics that I presented couple years back with the college board updates, there is no revisions, no changes to exam format. Uh it's literally just sequential uh kind of logical changes. Uh since this was introduced at the beginning of this school year, this is something that we are currently actively working on and going to continue to do so over uh the next few months and into the summer. Any questions? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Colin. Next, we have a recommendation regarding shop at USC and Michelle Zern. >> Hi, everyone. It's been a while. Um, my first time too. Just saying. >> All those years. Well,

058the podium is yours. Um so we are just looking to open enrollment in the partners and shop class at the high school to include nth graders. Um it's the high schools shop at USA is our 12th year um in business and then shop at boyce happens soon after um but we were having some scheduling glitches with Fort Couch and I'm very happy to say that they've incorporated into their caps class and so for the past two years two and a half years um they've been going with shop before couch. So now that the program is kind of known beginning in fifth grade and continuing through 8th grade, there's no reason to skip 9th grade. So we were just looking for approval to open up enrollment to give kids more more opportunities. Any questions? >> What

059elective requirements does shop fill at the high school? >> Do you know what is that for? >> Um, you know what? Counseling. We were just talking about a tech credit. Um, it is listed with uh Dr. Simon as a tech class and so they're talking about letting it be an MYP approved tech credit. >> I know uh students have you can take it, you know, two consecutive years, possibly even three consecutive years. So I was just curious how we're you know how do you motivate kids to do that if they want to do that to keep them on track with whatever requirements they need to fulfill >> every I mean there's there's always news machines in shop which is really fun. So um the the magic in our room really is our kids from life

060skills support. So I don't as much as I'd like to think I'm the reason they come back in the machines. It's not. It's >> you're a big reason they come back. You're a big reason they come back. >> Um but the machines I think um the more the longer they're there, the more they can do their own design work. It's not just the machines, it's the programs that run those machines. Um and then the designing it takes to get to that point. >> Right. Running a small business. >> I can't say enough about your program. >> Oh, thanks. And they just opened the storefront, too. So, we're going to be able to offer some work experiences to to other kids who who need credit. >> Okay. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. >> Very very briefly,

061as a a quick followup, that certainly the the people are the heart um and soul of shop at USC from a very technical perspective. Over the past year, we've begun to designate the grade level um on the transcript when the student has taken a course that they can take more than once. Um this is helpful just to clarify things. We hadn't been in the practice of that. So for instance, students have taken Pantheon Choir um in 11th and 12th grade. Now the transcript will say Pantheon Choir 11, Pantheon Choir 12. So to colleges and universities, it appears as if it's a different course and not just the repeat of a course. Um and so we would do the same for for shop as well. So that that distinguish uh is distinguished on the transcript as

062well. >> Okay. Middle school world language, Mrs. Angie Tenna. Hello. Um, thank you for being here so late tonight. Um, my recommendation for middle school world language is the culmination of many years of big curricular changes for our students and for our staff. There's been a lot of um training and mindset changing and um just um growing as a professional department to offer age appropriate proficiency based literacy based language instruction for our students that we know um they are capable of achieving proficiency in another language in a way that you don't often see in other districts. So, I thank you all for allowing us to have this curriculum recommendation pro process so that we can explore um our own growth in our in our department and our um professional development to make sure that we're

063offering the best of the best. Even though what is publicly available um and sold as curriculum for world language coursework is not necessarily age appropriate for um the best interests of our kids in USC in grades 6 through 8. So the goal of this curriculum recommendation is really it's really complex because it's kind of the end cap of this whole process that's taken the past seven or eight years for us to shift through with the support of administration. I know Dr. Fender has been hugely supportive for the past eight years, Dr. Bleso as well. And um now we're at the point that we're ready to start um implementing common proficiency based assessments across all nine world language courses in grades six through 8. Um we have a commonality and a thread that we've never had

064before between all the languages so that each teacher who's teaching a standalone course doesn't feel like a lone wolf anymore. they have the support of their department and people are teaching similar things with similar goals and objectives. So that we can also share that with the students that it feels more um unified in like a a um just as the whole school is working together towards the same goal and not competing against one another in in language development. So um the pieces of this program under my reasons for recommendation probably the first four are the most important to glance at. Um we have developed a whole new curriculum over the past seven years which encompassed both COVID and my own medical leave last year which is the reason this is all kind of coming together

065in this one single um document for us but it's many pieces included in it. Um the commonality in number two of our curriculum is that each language in grades six, seven and 8 are presenting um units from the comprehensible classroom which is a proficiency based uh comprehensible input created um curriculum that we purchase. Um also storytelling units that are developed by individual staff as as the year progresses. uh one novel per year per grade level which is specific novels that are right now they're the same in each language. So every student is reading the same they're developed for early language learners at their language ability level and they also approach topics that um used to be thematic units used to be like chunks of language um that were taught separately. For example, in sixth grade,

066we're using a book that encompasses family and pets and likes and dislikes and having dinner together. And so instead of talking about pets today and, you know, food tomorrow and family next month, it's kind of all encompassed in a much more natural way. Um, and we're using language the way it's used in real life. And also supporting literacy development in their native languages at the same time. Um we also have weekly routines and then write and discuss is what we we use to refer to to build literacy where after we've used a lot of um immersion based instruction in the classroom, we then talk about what we've done and ask students to co-create with us what we talked about in the language. We write it together as a class and then the kids can read

067something familiar. And so that's the foundation of our core curriculum at this point because it is a curriculum that is developed and unique to Upper Stair. We don't have an outside vendor who can provide for us assessments that will give data that will help us follow our students across the grade levels. So we're creating it ourselves with this recommendation. Um, also number four under reason for the recommendation is world language in grades 6 through 8 is an every other day course that leads into hopefully all students are as many as possible are heading into level two language instruction in the high school. And so we need to make sure that we're cognizant of what time that we have, what we're doing in the classroom to maximize every moment so that we can enter them into

068high school at a proficiency level that can be built on. And so the proficiency levels um are identified also in this um curriculum recommendation. So that they're founded in um the the American Council for Teachers of Foreign Languages, the National American National Body for the United States for um nationwide um information and best practices and proficiency goals um across the nation. So we found our proficiency goals um through actful standards. But if you are looking at the second page of my curriculum recommendation, there are six major parts to this piece that we are putting together this year. Um it's going to be more than one year, but the foundation is set and we have been working on it. Um and it's time to identify what we've been doing and where we're heading with this recommendation.

069So every teacher is identifying at least four reading proficiency assessments and four writing proficiency assessments, one per quarter. Um the hope is that eventually those will be very similar assessments. The writing proficiency assessments already are so that we can compare the the data not only within a particular language but also across the grade levels. Um the second is to adopt rubrics that are consistent across every language and every grade level. We have nine different courses, but all proficiency rubrics should be the same um with increasing level of complexity and difficulty as we progress through the eighth grade. We also have adopted um a portfolio template. Um we're we're needing to work with the technology department to decide determine how best to create and store our own um samples, our proficiency based samples because that's the

070foundation of what all the data is being collected from. we will need to have a way probably through canvas maybe um so that all teachers who have uh are teaching the students have access to all the documents going backwards. So if they would like to um just check and see what their progress has been over time and also to provide a foundation for um justification for why a proficiency level was reached or not reached for a particular student. Number four is we're adopting proficiency targets. grade six is expected to be novice mid. That's the formal term for students. We're tying it closer to what they're used to with PSSAs, which is proficient. The key um language there is using familiar language in context. So, we're not asking them to be novice mid or proficient in

071the language across the entire language, but with each um unit or topic that we progress through that they're showing proficient um proficiency at at the proficient level at that level. and then we progress through through eighth grade. Um we've also started a data collection worksheet um which stores all of this information for each teacher, for each grade level, and for each language so that we can compare and make sure that every language is reaching proficiency targets that match for the grade level so that students are arriving at high school prepared. And then the last piece, and is the reason this is a fasttrack recommendation for the fall, is we really need a flowchart and a um a process for our eighth grade teachers to appropriately identify um students um for whether they're going to our

072passport language course or our level language or level two language course at the high school. And I just really have to thank um Dr. Wagner and uh Mark Andre Claml, my my cohort at the high school for their constant support on this and meeting with our middle school staff multiple times through the summer and fall to discuss um you know when you don't teach in a building and you're identifying students to go to a particular course that you don't teach and have never taught nor will ever teach and you're the only one doing that. It's a little intimidating. And so there have been a lot of questions um as we formalize this process and sparse it down to what the main points are. Um it's helpful for our staff. It also provides information for parents

073and families if they need it and administration if they need it as well. So there's a lot of work to be done, but um I think we're on a good path and it's really new for us. We've never um we've never had a way to collect data that's comparable across languages and grade levels in middle school world language before. So, it's really exciting. It's also going to be useful for our high school um staff to understand exactly what they're getting. And it's not just, you know, oh yeah, they completed the verb to be in grade seven, so they should be good, right? It's um much more complex than that. Language is very complex. And I think this represents what our students need at this time. Thank you, Angie. We really appreciate the work of the

074department. We rec recognize how much work goes into a recommendation like this and the years that it's taken to get here. Any revision 6 through eight, but really five through eight as we think about middle school is heavy and now thinking about really getting that data >> um to a place that it's usable and deliverable in terms of recommendations. We appreciate that. >> Thank you. I just wanted to say that this is a really gamechanging assessment plan and I I I see how thorough it is and I just want to thank you for it and everyone who's been working on it. >> Thank you. It's a little intimidating. Um it's a lot of work and I think it over time will cement and solidify um what we're doing in the classroom. Languages support one another.

075So what we're doing in world language is supporting what everyone's doing in ELA as well in a different way. And so this is um a way for us to show the kids as well. Um we tie it we tie it to their native language all the time. Um and they help one another. So thanks for recognizing that. >> Thank you. And our last recommendation this evening is Mr. Brad Wilson. >> Okay. Okay. So, I just have to be done before 7:30, right? Joke. I'm good. I'm good. That was a joke. Um, okay. So, my wreck is about AI. So, let's make this really brief. No, I'm kidding. Um, it it is amazing like looking at AI and how much things are changing. And even since the new year, I just keep seeing things that are

076that are new and and crazier and crazier by the day. It seems like I was actually over at Boyce today, and this is going to fit in with the recommendation, so I'm not just at living off script here. Um, but we were doing AI literacy day at at Boyce today. We're doing that at each level on different days. For couch will be next week and we did the high school back in December. And Dr. Aor and I and Mr. Kaminsky were talking about one of the lessons. And what the teachers did is they took a a presentation we made for them. They put it into this AI tool and it turned it into a video with great inflection and great everything else. And when I say they turned it into a video, I mean they

077uploaded it and pop comes the video that explains it. It's amazing to think about how how far and how fast some of these tolls are moving. And it really is important for us to um to continue to evaluate, you know, what's right, what's best, and where are we really trying to go with these things. So, this recommendation, to be clear, is a study wreck. This is not about making any changes at this point in time. It's about really evaluating at a deeper level the tools that we're using and the capacity that we have. If you go back in time and if you think about our our tagline, you know, of customizing learning uh nurturing potential, delivering excellence, but the customizing learning piece, we used to be a part of a of a consortium of schools

078uh that was there was a local group then there was also a national group that was called mass customized learning and we presented at their national summits and we were part of this for years and years and years and the one thing that I always felt like when I left was that I believed in it wholeheartedly but the technology just wasn't there right so the scalability was always the challenge and And we're now hitting a point where I don't know how much longer the scalability is going to really be the challenge. Um it's a matter of, you know, finding the right tools that are that are accurate, that are effective, and that can do a lot of these things that we've been really trying to do for quite some time in terms of meeting every

079child's needs um based upon their readiness, their their rate of acquisition, their interest, and all of those different things. So um the point of this recommendation though is is to really delve deeper into this and just start exploring what um what is out there, what can we do so that we can make appropriate recommendations moving forward. This recommendation started as something at the middle school level, but as we really delve into this um more deeply, it'll turn into teams at multiple levels here. So just as this is evolving, that's what we're um we're planning for. So really the goal of this is in the near future to establish a few different work groups by level that we can start exploring um in three key areas. So number one, what is the PD that we need

080to provide for our teachers in these areas? Number two, what are the tools that we really need to explore in greater depth in terms of you know the most appropriate things for us to be um putting our time and effort into uh into gaining uh capa capacity and competence with. And then uh also in terms of AI literacy training for our students, what are the what are the new and evolving trends in that area? It's interesting because as we've been doing our AI literacy training, it's great because at this stage it's really general informative. Let's start making sure you have a baseline, but as we get further and further into this, it is going to continue to uh to change and the needs will change. And and quite frankly, I think it's impossible for us

081to even predict what it's going to look like in a year, let alone in 5 years in this world because it is so rapidly evolving. Um I just saw a Neurolink release from uh from a week ago about mass production of Neurolink. And if you've never explored that, that's something you probably should explore. Um but it's amazing to think about how quickly the world is moving. So um again, this is about studying. This is about just making sure that we're we're um doing everything we can to keep at it the most appropriate pace and to make sure that we're maximizing learning for our students in the most appropriate ways. >> I appreciate everything you and your team are doing and believe me, I I know that this is in the most competent hands in the

082country right now. I know that you guys have every um indication of wanting to get this right. My thought process on this because it is moving far and it is moving fast is that if you feel as a team that you feel a consultant in this area would be um thoughtful, please bring it to the board and let us take a look at it because your hands are in so many different honey jars and this is a big deal and we need to get this right and we need to get it right fast. So, um, I just want to make sure that we are keeping up to date with this and implementing it with our students as as well as we can and that we give you the resources that you need to get this

083right. >> Yeah, thank you. And and that actually has been one of the big things we've been talking about a lot is where do we need to visit right now? Who do we need to start talking to more directly once we get in with this first round? The first round is more of the let's make sure we're level setting. for getting everybody kind of to a basic starting point. But that is going to be one of those things that that comes out of this for sure. >> Well, and you know, we've always been a district that spearheads um success and this is an impetus for us to continue along that slope. Um and if we don't do it correctly, I think we could be imperil. So please, you know, whatever resources you need to get

084this right, please let us know. >> Thank you. Thank you everybody. Um this is once again a really exciting night for us um to take time to present these recommendations. Very very proud of the work and our team in the back here. So if we could just give them a little bit of an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and at this time you are welcome to stay for the rest of our exciting agenda or you may go home. Um and thank you again for everything. >> Okay. on on on on your way out if you're not staying. I just wanted to say uh it's amazing to watch each of you come in each year and you're constantly challenging yourselves to challenge the students to learn and I think that's what makes this district an amazing district to have our

085children in the school district. So I want to thank you guys and girls very much for the continuing dedication and the passion to educate our children. And I don't want to belabor it and I know we have a tight meeting, but um every time I sit through these curriculum recommendations, like I'm so proud. I'm so proud of our teachers and I'm so proud of our administration and I'm just like filled with pride every time you come and present. So just want you to know that that's how I'm feeling every time you're talking. So thank you. >> You make school boards fun. >> Actually, they make us want to go back to school again. No, don't don't push your luck there, Barber. Okay, moving on along, Dr. Razo. >> All right, thank you. Um, I'll be

086brief. Uh, just a couple quick updates, some good news to share. We were recently informed by the college board um that it kind of fits its timing perfectly with a lot of the recommendations were discussed. Our district is recognized as a gold district, the gold standard. Uh, and that's based on performance. Uh, our district has a 91% pass rate. Um, kids took over 700 exams last year. We offer 24 AP courses. So, um, just to be simplify that, that that's not the norm in most districts and we're very proud of our students and a lot of the offerings we have in place are because this process that you just saw unfold here tonight. So, uh, congratulations to our entire high school and most importantly to our students. Uh, another additional update, our parent teacher council,

087next meeting is February 10th. Um, we've done a lot of things to um, as you may know, the parent teacher council has been meeting virtually since before the pandemic. This year it went back to having it as a hybrid in person and virtual. So, we give both offerings. It seems to be working well for people. And, um, we've also started to engage them more in terms of what would you like to hear from the district? What are areas of interest? Um and what is always timely and is always an area of interest is safety and security. And so um at the February 10th meeting, we will be presenting an update on safety and security in the district. Uh Chief Bryson, Dr. Media, um we'll play a large part in that as well as Dr. Fender

088and the and uh we look forward to to sharing the great things that we're doing here. Uh as well as giving our parents and families the the confidence that we are doing everything in this district to to keep our our students and staff safe. So that will be February 10th. Uh as mentioned the student board report tonight, the first semester uh which is the second nine weeks of school ends this week. Second semester officially begins uh January 20th which is next week. Report cards uh it's always a great day in Upper Slair January 30th. They'll be re released for the high school students. Remember they're on semester uh schedules. So it'll be their first report card of the year. Uh they'll be mailed home and so look forward to seeing what that English final uh

089yields in my house. Um, no, he's fine. Um, and and the last thing I'll mention, um, is last week, some of you are probably aware, um, in our, uh, district messaging to families when we produce announcements, whether that be a school delay, cancellation, or anything that we need to timely communicate to families. Um, we have done so historically through phone calls and emails. And last week, we started the piloting of the texting feature that's now available. And so um we will be using that as we move forward as well to communicate pertinent information to families. I think we all know we live in times where where a large majority of of our our families uh and and our community are are most responsive and most readily look at text messages. So it doesn't mean that

090the phone calls or the emails will will uh not continue. It's just now we will also be adding text messaging to that repertoire of communication. So, um, that said, that is all I have for my report and happy to answer any questions if you have them. >> Okay. Uh, keep moving along. Schoolboard recognition month. Um, I will certainly be uh succinct here, but I don't want to um to not acknowledge that this is uh January is schoolboard recognition month. And as we often say in district, we are so fortunate here to have such a great uh school board. and we mean that sincerely. Um, school district, we're in this community, in any community, we always say great dis great schools make great communities, great communities make great schools. And the school district, it does start

091with with a school board. And so we're very grateful for all of you. Um, it's always I make a point of reminding it's the only elected position in Pennsylvania that are not compensated. So essentially while they're elected positions they are volunteers and the people in this room put a lot of time in throughout the year and it is very much appreciated and as a small token of our appreciation and I should have mentioned it while uh Mrs. Zern Gibble was here we have a gift bag for you most of the items in there were made by our students and shop at USC. So I hope you find them extra meaningful. There is a proclamation attached to the agenda. I will not read it, but it will be part of the official minutes. But on behalf

092of the entire district administration, thank you for for all you do and for being uh such great advocates for our students. >> Well, thank you, Dr. Roso. It's much appreciated. Uh we don't need a month. We've got 12 of them that we appreciate you and the administration. So, thank you very much for that. Uh >> you're welcome. >> Like to move on to approval. Uh, Miss Hannah, would you like to go move on to the approval of school board committees and assignments? >> I move that the board approve the 2026 board committees and representatives as attached. >> I second the motion. >> All in favor? >> I motion pass. All right. Next. Okay. Uh, item C's, first reading of our school calendar, which is a common practice in January. Uh, we provide a reading of

093the following school year calendar. So, what we're presenting tonight is for the 26 27th school year. Um, we're provided for review. We will not adopt this calendar. We not seek to adopt it until our next meeting in February. We're sharing this with the board tonight, but we also share this with the public as a reminder. And it's with our practice in the district. Um, we will share this to all of our families um and staff for a two-eek period. Uh, Mrs. VOCCO is very helpful in collecting that feedback and then our administrative team looks at that feedback, analyzes the feedback and patterns, make any recommended changes as needed and then we would come to the board with a recommended calendar for adoption in the month of February. Uh and so uh the feedback is very

094helpful that we receive and the form the medium which we've used to collect that has also worked. So we will continue with that. This calendar um not a whole lot to stand out. Um, I will acknowledge the first day of school would be August 19th for students and the last day of school because of the way uh some of the breaks fall is actually June 3rd, which is helpful because I think we all know the longer you go into June, the more more challenging it is for students for sure. So, we we would finish a little bit earlier with this calendar. But again, this is the first reading. If you have any feedback, any questions, please let us know. And we look forward to presenting a second reading to all of you in February. >>

095All right. Thank you, Dr. Brazo. Uh, moving right along to you again. Approval of personnel listing. Mrs. Mack, please. >> Yes, Mrs. Mack. Go ahead. >> Good evening. Um, yep. So, this is the first um for 2026. Um, most of these on here are the exciting um ECAs for the upcoming musicals um for couch musical as well as the high school musical for elections and for reappoints. Um, and then additionally, we have some retirements that we're announcing as well. Other than that, let me know if there's any questions. >> Okay. More, would you like to make a motion, please? >> I would. I move that the board approve the personnel listing as presented, subject to all required pre-employment history, reviews, and clearance requirements. >> I second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Uh,

096any nays? Okay, moving on. >> Miss Max, you're still up. >> Yep, I am. Thank you. >> Um, so this is for the approval of the following spring musical contracts. Um, first one is the independent contractor for Mr. Sebastian Sevelia. Um, he'll be the scenic design for the High School Musical, a total cost not to exceed $2,000. Um, the second one is the independent contractor for Mr. Tony Clayton. uh lightning uh lightning design services for the fort couch musical at a total cost not to exceed 2,000. And then the third one uh music theater international MTI agreement. Um this is for the music um licing licensing for the for couch musical a total cost not to exceed $2,000. >> Okay, Mr. Kyle. Uh, I move uh that the board approve the above listed contracts items

097one through three for the high school and Fort Couch spring musicals subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> Uh, any comments, questions? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? >> Okay, moving on. Dr. Fender, please. I'm requesting um adoption of the policies that were provided to you at the December board meeting for first readings. There were no requests for any changes. So given that there were no substantive changes to these policies after the first reading, this would be the second reading in approval this evening. >> Dr. Wetzel, could you be so kind? >> I move that the board approve the above listed items 1 through 11, new and revised policies as presented. Second. >> Any questions or comments? Okay, that's a vote. All in

098favor? >> I. >> Any nays? >> Okay. Motion passed. I'm assuming Miss Fender, is that you still? No, Dr. Media. Sorry, I don't have my cheaters. I can't see. >> That's okay. Uh, good evening everyone. Um it is just about to be kindergarten season and um it's a very exciting time in our office as we um begin to welcome uh our new friends. So this is the annualou with the Alagany Intermediate Unit. This uh for um the Head Start PreK Counts program that supports transition um for kindergarten. We get a little bit of grant money. we purchase um some transition books. Uh it's a it's a lovely pro it's a lovely program. So this is an annual um renewal of that. >> Okay. Uh Mr. Lambert, would you like to make a motion, please? >>

099I sure would. I move that the board approve the memorandum of understanding with the Alagany Intermediate Unit Head Start and PreK Counts program to support best practices in students transition to kindergarten subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> Any comments or questions? All in favor? >> I. >> Any naysay? All right, Dr. Mia, you're up. Um I'm requesting approval of three agreements with Southwood uh behavioral healthcare. Um there are three different programs on the campus that's uh just off of Boyce Road. And so these agreements articulate the um education provision of education in each of those programs. Um I want to give a a shout out to Mr. Burchil for his help. Um and also to um Anmarie Har Eagle from Mrs. Kramer's office um who

100who worked with us in developing um in developing these agreements and also fun fact Mr. Kyle worked at Southwood Hospital before he was a teacher with us. Um so >> a lifetime ago as he says >> the circle of life. Uh, Mrs. Peterson, would you mind reading the motion, please? >> I move that the board approve the above listed items one through three subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> Second. >> Comments or questions? Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any naysay? Okay. Much pass. Uh, Dr. Handler. >> Good evening, everyone. I am requesting approval of the special education services agreement with Beller GCB Monarch School to provide special education and related services for students. Okay, Miss Leutter. >> I move that the board approve the special education

101and residential services agreement with Belfare JCB Monarch School to provide special education and related services for students being served under an IEP at fees and expensive listed on the agreement subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? All in favor? >> I. >> Any naysay? >> Okay, Dr. Angelo. >> Yeah. Good evening. Happy new year to everyone. I'm recommending uh the renewal of theou with the South Hills Special Olympic Swimming Outreach Program. Um our Special Olympians come to the high school each Sunday for about two hours. About 50 of our Special Olympians swim in the pool and practice learning the special skills needed um to enjoy the sport. It is for a five-year term and um this would be the second time that we

102would be doing this uhou with them. So it is a renewal. >> Outstanding. Okay. Mrs. Bowus. >> Certainly. I move that the board approve the renewal with South Hill Special Olympic swimming out relief for the use of the high school pool on Sundays to provide swim instruction to Special Olympians for two hours each Sunday from October to April for a term of five years with automatic renewals upon the re written mutual consent of the parties subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and the solicitor. >> I second. >> Okay. Any comments or questions? >> If if I could just say >> Sure. >> I don't really hear from very many of our taxpayers, but I do hear from people about the fact that this happens in our pool. So, I really appreciate

103it and it means something a deep something to a lot of people. Thank you. >> Yeah, it's pretty special. >> Do we vote? Yeah. Do we vote? vote. Did I Did we not vote? I just went right down. >> I second it. >> Okay, we have not voted yet. >> She called. Now we vote. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Yeah, you took me back a little bit. All right. All in favor? >> I. >> Any nays? >> Okay, we move on. Mr. Burchil. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, this evening, the financial summary for the period ending November 30th, 2025 is presented for your review and approval. Um the general fund uh we're slightly behind in state revenue about 14% because the state is still trying to catch up from the budget that was

104just passed in November. Um they did hold on to a lot of money for quite a long time. Uh so that interest income at this point I stayed with the state and I don't know if there's been any discussion with PSBA or anything you know Barb you've heard related to that but um I'm going to I'm pushing hard with PASBO to do something about it in future years uh because that money should have been in our bank accounts for our investment opportunities as opposed to uh the fighting at Har in Harrisburg and you know basically them making the investment income from that fallout. So, um, keep you up to date on that moving forward. Um, general fund expenses are slightly higher than the previous year, mostly related to we're no longer, um, borrowing money to

105pay for technology leases. Uh, we spend between 900,000 and 1.2 million a year in technology replacement um, devices. And so, we made the decision not to continue that cycle. Uh, the only way to get out of it is to buy your way out. So, it'll be a a four-year buyout as those leases fall off. Uh the food service, uh nothing to note. Um pretty stable compared to last year. Capital reserve fund uh and construction fund are there for your review. Budget transfers in the amount of $93,71725 are presented for your approval and the bill list is included in the financial report for your review and approval. Any questions or comments? >> Mrs. Hannah, would you like to make a motion, please? >> I move that the board approved the treasurer's report, including approval of total

106bill list and check file listing as attached and as follows. Follows fund 10 general fund 2,753,9486. Fund 32, capital reserve, $247,18143. Fund 39, construction fund, $79,412.50. Fund 51, Food Service Fund 180 128 do sorry 128,763.72. >> I second the motion. >> Any comments, questions? I put up for a vote. All in favor? >> I. >> Any naysay? >> Okay, Mr. virtual. Next up again, >> uh the uh requesting the approval to solicit bids for the athletic supplies related to next year's budget. I I know we're talking about next year's budget and that's we'll leave that for another night. >> Commissioner, >> yes. I move that the board authorize the solicitation of bids for athletic supplies for the 2026 2027 school year. >> I second. >> All right. All in favor? >> I >> Any. >>

107All right, Mr. Burch. Last one. >> Uh last one is uh we did this last year. Um it's related to a tax equity supplement that is going to be dispersed next year. We're required to re uh approve a resolution. Um the resolution is basically related to um the tax equity and the inequities uh related to local tax effort effort. We have a high local tax effort here. So, uh the anticipated distribution for us next year will be 179,272.88. So, slightly up from last year, about double, but um falls far from my expectations related to, you know, we're at 80% local effort. So, um it's something, but you know, still somewhat disappointed. Anyway, um so just asking for your approval so we can submit the um information to PDE. >> Mr. Kyle, >> I move that

108the board approve resolution 2026112A to receive the ready tolearn tax equity supplement, which sets forth the district's intent to receive funds that may be used uh for statutoily allowable purposes subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> Any comments or questions? All in favor, please signify I. I. I. >> Any nays? Okay, passes. Uh, committee reports. Mrs. Bolus. >> Um, I just have a very brief one from PSBA because the leaison are making their transitions now. So, the report isn't as long. Um the big thing that they had in their news update was the meet Franklin which is PA PSBA's AI powered assistance for school leaders and that's available on my PSBA. Um there's going to be liaison quarterly meetings. One is going to be on January

10922nd and I'm not going to be able to participate in that because I have um Pennsylvania school district liquid asset fund meeting that day. So, um, Jen Schnore, I don't know if you're available and can check on that and see if you can tune in. Otherwise, I'm sorry I missed that. Um, and back to the issue of um that I mentioned that I will be attending the Pennsylvania School District liquid asset fund. Um, Mr. Virtual, as of yet, I have not heard from PSBA as far as what what they're going to be doing as far as hopefully lobbying lobbying to get some of that interest payments back. I know for us on the board of trustees, it's significant because we cannot return the higher level investments that we typically do to the school districts because

110there's been less money invested because it did not come to the local school district. So, I'll follow up and see if they bring anything up at next week's meeting when it when that's when we hold it. >> Yes. The only thing that was distributed was the um related to the um was real estate. Um, anything else was held by the by the state including reimbursement for peasers from last school year. >> So, which significant dollars? Yes. >> So, and if you have um specific numbers that you want to share with me, I'll bring that up at the meeting to so that we can talk about it. Hopefully find something else. >> The only thing that was distributed was a homestead farmstead exclusion money. That was it. the rest of it they held everything including reimbursement

111for piecers from the prior school year. >> Yeah. >> And specific numbers on >> and that for us I mean across the state but $3 million something like that just for that one payment >> right and then when you think of extrapolate that out to how much >> 500 school districts and IUs and techs and >> it's a lot of money they made a lot of money by >> a lot of money in the budget process. >> Did I say that? You may, but um yeah, it's just >> and they get paid, by the way. >> A lot of schools could have used the money. We can always use the money, but there are a lot of schools that get a lot more reimbursement, high percentage of state funding, and they didn't have any they

112actually a lot of them had to borrow, >> Right. And that's going to impact long term to the programs that they can offer for the students, especially those in the ready tolearn programs and those are that are struggling learners ear early on in the schools. So, yeah. Yeah, we don't get paid. We have to do our job. We have to pass our budget by June 30th. The legislators get paid and they don't have to pass their budget. And not only that, they can hold it until after we pass our budgets. So, we don't know the money we're going we're we have so that we can better budget. And Mr. Virtual, you've done an excellent job. I know it takes a lot of attention to details and where the finances are going, but when things like

113this happen, there's only so much individuals and school districts can do. >> Yes. >> So, I I thank you on behalf of the board, >> Mr. Snider. Go ahead. >> For the high school PTSO, they have two vacant positions. They need a vice president and a secretary. And if the candidates, if you know of anybody, talk to people in your community, in your neighborhood, if you could help put the word out, and if they would um apply now, or you don't have to apply, but volunteer now, they would retain their positions for the 26 27 school year. So, if anybody knows anybody that would might be interested, they asked to pass the word along. >> Okay. Uh, anyone else? We're good. All right. Matters of information. Mr. Burchil again. You have Do I ping pong,

114Mrs. Kramer? >> Um, as always, every year the um competitive bidding requirements for the school district are increased slightly based on the consumer price index. So, when we're purchasing supplies, anything over 24,500 requires competitive sealed bids. Um, three quotes are required for 13,200 through $24,499 and then under 13,100 or 13,200. There is no statutory requirement, but we still do our due diligence to get the best price for the district. So, those are your 2026 bid limits. Something Okay. All right. Well, thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Uh do want to announce executive session was held today at 5:30 January 12th, 2026 for personnel and negotiation purposes. Uh would anyone like to make a motion to adjourn this evening? Thank you very much for your time. >> So moved.