School Board Meeting - 08/04/2025

001Call to order for our regular schoolboard meeting Monday, August 4th. We're going to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance Dr. Roso, could you take the next item? >> Sure. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Wetszel. Um, this time I'd asked we uh take a moment of silence. Uh, a few weeks ago, we tragically lost one of our uh summer custodians at Streams Elementary School. Uh Kaylee Bas Brucius um was tragically killed in a car accident at 20 years of old age and uh our thoughts uh remain with her family and her friends. She was in nursing school, was a volunteer firefighter and by all accounts just a really great kid. And so um if we could please take a moment of silence, we would appreciate it. Thank you. >> Item three, Solicitor Kramer. >> Thank you,

002Dr. Watzel. Uh, roll call. Mrs. Bullis, >> present. >> Mrs. Hannah, >> present. >> Dr. Gans, >> present. >> Mr. Lambert, >> Mr. Mascarero, >> present. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> present. >> Mrs. Schnore, >> present. >> Mrs. Schneider, >> present. >> And Dr. Wetszel, >> present. Eight members present, one absent. >> Thank you, Solicitor Kramer. Mr. Mscar, would you read the mission? >> Developing lifelong learners and responsible citizens. Citizens for a global society is the mission of Upper Sinclair School District. served by a responsive and innovative staff who in partnership with the community provides learning experiences that nurture the uniqueness of each child and promotes happiness and success. >> Thank you. It is now time on the agenda for residents comments regarding any district related items. Do we have anyone from the public? >> But

003it's not necessarily related to the agenda. I wasn't sure if this was the time or >> it is. >> Okay. So, as per the guidelines for residents comments, please state your name, confirm you are a resident, and limit your comments to three minutes. Thank you. >> Understood. Thank you. Uh my name is uh Joseph Krebs. I am a resident of Upper St. Clair. Um I would I've timed out my remarks that I've drafted. They're right at about the three minute mark, but if you would indulge me if I run a couple seconds over, I would appreciate it. So, uh, esteemed school board members, Superintendent Razo, and other Upper St. Clair, uh, residents in attendance tonight, I would first like to thank you all for allowing me to speak at your meeting this evening. Uh, your

004attention is greatly appreciated. I come to the board on behalf of the Upper St. Clair membership of the YMCA Princess and Guides Program, a parent child program made up of over 200 Upper St. Clair families. Uh for those of you unfamiliar with our group, the Princess and Guides program was started in St. Louis, Missouri in 1926 and has today grown to roughly 900 chapters and over 30,000 groups participating in the program. The underlying purpose or mission of our organization, if you will, is that when a father takes a more active role in their son or daughter's upbringing by participation in mutual experiences, especially during their kindergarten through fifth grade years, the parent child relationship improves and leads to more positive outcomes for that child as they grow. But that's not just our belief. Countless studies

005support the notion that the greater the father's involvement in a child's life, the greater the probability of academic, mental health, and behavioral success for the child. One of my favorite studies on the topic is a 2020 article posted in the Journal of Marriage and Family, which found that for children in large cities, father involvement during ages 5 through 12 was associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing behavior problems at age 15, regardless of the father's resident. That study found that residents in the home didn't ma matter as much as just being actively involved in your child's life. So, I offer that there's clearly a need for organizations such as ours and would go so far as to suggest that the Upper St. Clair School District is a direct beneficiary of the work of our organization. For

006over 30 years, our organization had access to our elementary schools each fall for a roughly 15minute assembly with kids in kindergarten through 2 grade. We sang songs. We showed a short video and sent the kids home with a flyer saying, "If you liked what you saw, have your dad connect with somebody to learn a little bit more." Two years ago, our organization was cut off from the ability to have that assembly or send home flyers due to what we understood was a policy that limits third party organizations in our school. Now, I respect the district's right to make such a decision and understand that there are policy considerations that our district has to weigh to make such a decision prudent. However, such a decision has had a devastating effect on our ability to generate new

007interest in the organization and reach new families in our community. We have tried other avenues to generate interest in our organization, but nothing has had the same impact as that assembly. So, I come here tonight asking the board to consider potentially granting an exception for our organization this fall to allow in-person presentations at elementary schools at our principal's convenience based upon the positive impact our organization provides to the academic, social, and emotional health of our students. Again, I thank you for your time and appreciate your consideration tonight. >> Thank you, Mr. Krebs. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to move to item six for the approval of the minutes. Mrs. Bolas. >> Yes. I move that the board approve the meeting minutes of the June 11th, 2025 board meeting as attached. >> So moved. >>

008It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. The motion carries and we'll move to item seven which is the superintendence report with Dr. Vazzo. All >> right. Thank you. Uh couple items. Uh obviously this is our first meeting since June. Uh it's been a very busy summer in the district here and uh a couple things to update on. First of all, uh some some positive news to share. We recently found out the advanced placement test that our high school students take uh when they participate in advanced placement courses. We have 24 of those at at the high school that we offer to our students. Uh this year we had a record number of students who were recognized as advanced placement scholars with 166

009students which is is a tremendous accomplishment. Um we're so proud of them. Uh those exams, as you can imagine, are not easy and there's different tiers of recognition, distinction, honors, uh and an AP scholar. And it comes down to their score based on at least three or more um three or more tests taken. So there's a 3.5 average out of on a scale of 1 to five, 3.5 for distinction, a 3.25 for honors, and then three three is the score for the um advanced placement recognition. And again, that has to be on at least three of the five tests. So, tremendous accomplishment. We think about the number of kids who have taken advanced placement courses over the years in our district. Um, to say that this past year was a record amount. And those aren't

010just kids, students who graduated. Those are also underassmen that enroll in advanced placement courses. So, uh, tremendous accomplishment for our kids. I'm very grateful that we can offer that many advanced placement courses. uh and we continue to evaluate the need for for that uh for advanced placement courses in our high school and uh a lot of those courses were developed through our curriculum recommendation process um over the years. And so again, just wanted to start off with something really positive about our students because it's a tremendous accomplishment. Uh in terms of summer, uh there's been a a lot of uh hiring that's happened this summer. Uh, as I've shared with the board previously, um, since last school year until this school year, across all employee groups, we have had, uh, 30 vacant positions. Uh, so

011those are not just teaching positions. Uh, those encompass a great deal of, uh, employees throughout the the district. And so our team here, and we'll talk a little bit more about this later in the agenda when we get to the personnel listing, uh, but our team has has done an excellent job uh with spending time on the hiring process and having a lot of really good candidates that will have a great responsibility of continuing the legacy of this school district. Um, add additionally beyond that, uh, if you've been anywhere on campus, you know, we've had a lot of lot of construction here this summer, a lot of work. the the field here at the stadium actually was just had the final walkthrough this morning. So, that was opened up to our students and I believe

012we have our our our girls soccer team out there right now practicing. Uh so, the field is still settling and the the the team from that did the install said we need a good rain. Uh that will help with some of the the fill and not showing on the surface. And I thought we've had rain all summer long and and it doesn't affect the the the safety of the field or the ability for the kids to use it. It's just more for for the aesthetics. So, uh I'm sure we'll now have a 10-day drought because we want it to rain. But it it turned out very well and uh and that will be great for for so many of our our kids. Um we also just finished up uh the paving of this project which

013was also a capital project. We had uh a lot of time and energy went into planning that that turned out um very well. Uh in addition, I know uh Mr. Snyder's very proud of this. The air handling project at the high school. Uh you know, in Mr. Snider's world, a lot of the projects are kind of behind the scenes. Nobody comes into your building and says, "Well, those are really nice air handlers." Um but if the air handlers aren't working properly, we all know about it. And so, uh he did a great job with overseeing that project and that has also been completed. So good great summer overall. Uh very busy summer. It's hard to believe it's August. Um we do welcome staff back uh next week. So their first day opening day is August

01414th. Uh we have our welcome back with all district staff in the high school theater. Certainly invite any board members that are able to attend. Uh we begin at at 8:00 and in the high school theater. Certainly welcome you, invite you to attend. Recognize that may be challenging with some of your schedules. But as always, we do like to extend that invite to you. Uh then there will be a few days of professional development for the staff as there always is. And then the first day for our students is August 20th. So Thursday, August 20th, the students will be back with the exception of kindergarten. They have uh orientation the first two days. And so the first day for our kindergarten students who are newest to our district will be August 22nd. So we're we're

015excited to get started. I know that a lot of kids in this community, including the ones I live with prior, are not in agreement with me. But, um, it is exciting and it is that time of year and so we're we're certainly ready and looking forward to to welcoming students back because the reality is we don't need any of us if it wasn't for the students. Um, that's our business. And so, uh, again, I want to thank everyone. A lot of hard work went into the summer. A very, very busy summer, but a very productive summer here in the school district. And that's all I have for my update. What we did want to transition to unless there's any questions is we wanted to um Dr. Media, Dr. Fender and I and a team of

016of many others have been working on our electronic device policy regulations. We had a conversation around that in the spring and we wanted to share some information with the board. Uh certainly welcome your input and we thought that it would be more beneficial to have a few slides as we talk through this and we'll certainly be glad to answer any questions. But before we jump that, are there any questions about anything else? Any any of the projects? I know Mr. Schneider loves talking about them, so I don't want him to feel like we're slighting them. And you want to throw an air handler question. Mike, you got anything? >> I'm just curious. Is the gym complete with the bleachers? And >> thank you for I knew there was one I was skipping. Yes, the the

017gymnasium, the both the large gym and the small gym did have new bleachers put in, uh, new scoreboards put into them. And again, those those facilities just like just like the field get a tremendous amount of usage during the school day, but then with so many of our extracurricular activities and also our community groups. So that is part of um is is those facilities really don't sit silent very long. Um so yes, the gym also in great shape. Uh that project went very well as well. Thank you for reminding me. All right, then if there are no other questions, we're going to um one second here. We're we just want to go through a few slides here and and share some information and um and as I said, certainly welcome any questions or feedback. Okay,

018Dr. B. So, the development of the guidelines, um this is just some some context here. Um, you know, certainly reviewing the research in conjunction with what's happening in our schools, what's the actual practice currently in our school. Certainly considering student needs pro promoting responsible dig digital citizenship, excuse me, is is a big part of what we do, not just for what our kids are doing in school, but for life outside of school and then beyond Upper St. Clair. Certainly want to look at minimizing classroom distractions. We want to protect the learning environment and and student welfare. Uh and then the this this next bullet is one that I think we we knew and certainly recognized was where we had a lot of work to do and that was to implement consistent enforceable guidelines for each

019level. Um we we had some really great practices in place however not necessarily uh consistent in the past. So this was an opportunity that was was perfect timing to to address that. Uh and then to provide appropriate access. Our goal is not to eliminate access but to to make sure that appropriate access exists within those guidelines. >> So just as an overview, um we know we're always evaluating and reviewing policy here in the district. So, as kind of a timeline review of our existing policies and then talking about what our regulations, um, just wanted to give a little bit of an overview. We obviously have policy 8:15, which is our acceptable use policy. So, when you're on our district network or using a district issued device, what are the rules that we need to follow?

020um this one and we know we went through a major policy overhaul in our policy handbook um several years ago but was originally adopted in 2021 and we've revised it twice since then. The um electronic device policy 237 which is the one that we're going to be discussing the administrative regulations was adopted in 2020 and as part of our ongoing review there's a statement in there that says administration may develop administrative regulations. So we are at a place where we believe developing further administrative regulations supports this policy. Um and then on the next slide we want to talk a little bit about why regulations versus a policy change itself. So a regulation allows us to have some more responsiveness. It's a little bit more fluid. Doesn't require the procedural aspect of a first reading, a

021second reading um and approval by the board. This is our recommendation to do the how versus a policy is the what and then we're permitted to kind of have this ongoing review um of these consistent guidelines that we are looking to develop. So policy 237 which is electronic devices once again is the policy which was adopted in 2020. These administrative regulations which we're going to talk through this evening are the how we want to further implement this and give us our consistent guidelines. So, some some varied perspective and considerations as we work through this um as as we started to really dive into this and um we'll talk about on the next slide actually some of the work that did happen and who was involved throughout the process but as we to no surprise we

022knew we had to look at what what what does the research literature say. Um there's a lot of strong opinions about particularly cell phone usage. uh you pretty much can ask anyone in society and people have a strong opinion about it. What we found that was consistent in the research was that most and this is not surprising most device access occurs outside the school day. In fact the the lowest number we saw was 75% of a student's time. So the point being is that only about a quarter of the time approximately uh are they using their device during the school day. And that's an important point to make and we're going to explain why here in a little bit. The practical use of this when we talk about um access to devices, there is certainly

023an accessibility to tools but also a safety component to this. And so we we need to involve our school safety team getting their perspective in terms of if we have a lockdown, if we have an evacuation, if we have stu a tragedy or a tragic event that would occur in a school, what type of access do kids have? And does that help our safety response? Does it hurt our safety response? There are several incidents where um students having access to their phones in particular have actually benefited the response to a school safety matter. um limit usage but not eliminate access. That was kind of what we you know knew we were all operating from is that um we don't want unnecessary usage. I don't think anybody does uh but the goal is not certainly to

024eliminate access. The point two is the to clarify there is a difference. So, the school devices, every student in the district has access to a school uh issued device, studentowned device, and I will reiterate this later, no student is required to bring any of their personal devices to school. That was not always the case. There was a point not that long ago where high school students actually we did have a bring your own device policy and they would bring their own devices to school and that was prior to them having a district provided device. Parent choice. Um, we're going to talk a little bit about that. There are some things we think we can do to to help parents to better educate parents in terms of of what they the choices they have relative to

025their child's usage of a phone. And then certainly um educating parents on that. So the summer work just to give you a snapshot of some of the things we did is we look we looked at some of our internal data because you need to looking at our school discipline referrals looking at uh number of fractions particularly related to personal device usage and what we found is the school that had the most and this is I'm not sharing anything that's confidential was for couch and we had four infractions this year at for couch with students personal devices that was our leading school. Uh in terms of our discipline referrals, uh we benchmark against other districts, particularly districts that are in in close proximity to ours and and to no surprise, Districts that are in various places.

026I will tell you that the most of the districts um either have or implementing guidelines. There are some districts that are not doing anything uh with with establishing guidelines uh in terms of of device usage. And I'm not aware, we're not aware in our work of any district that's issuing a fullscale ban at this point in time. Now, that said, as we've talked about, there could be, and there was discussion around legislation being passed that would ban cell phones in school. That is not currently the case for Pennsylvania. However, it was discussed in Pennsylvania. And if it's something that would resurface and it would be uh passed, then obviously we we would have to comply with that. Uh Dr. M is going to talk a little bit about a big part of the work we

027did this summer and she was really uh instrumental in this was really reviewing scholarly articles. There's a lot of opin there's a lot of a lot of content out there with opinions, right? And I think what we wanted to make sure we did is opinions are important, but we want to base our decisions on what does the research say? And so Dr. Mia, I will turn it to you. >> Yeah. Yeah, and I we have a few slides a little bit later about some of the um some of the research that was reviewed. Um but we do think that that is an important part of establishing um recommended practices. Um in terms of developing regulations, um we are very fortunate here that our uh professional staff work during the summer a certain number of hours

028um and have the option to select from a number of different curricular related projects. And so we did have a project group this summer that Dr. Beck and I facilitated with any um professional staff member who was interested in coming in. Um we did a bit of a um review of what our um wellness committee book study had been this summer or this past school year, I'm sorry. And then um we also spent some time um talking about um what their experiences are in their classrooms, in their buildings. Um many of them have children in our schools as well or in a school and talked about their own personal experiences as parents. Um and then we really dug into what we currently have uh in our handbooks, what we currently have in terms of policy.

029um ask them for their assistance and input around, you know, what would be enforcable, what would be helpful for them to to have to um to point to in terms of their own classroom management. Um so we developed those guidelines by level. Um, and then district administration. Um, prior to that professional staff project group, we actually led some of those same activities with our professional sta I'm sorry, with our district administration. Um and then after the guidelines were developed, there was some um review by administration um across the district, some clarification, some tweaking um and then a final review by by level where each level um leadership team really kind of reviewed what was um proposed in the guidelines. And I'm really pleased to say that there really was no um disagreement or feeling that

030what was in there was not um appropriate or enforceable. So we were happy with that. Um we had also had some comments um over the over the years regarding um some some of the notifications um particularly in Canvas, but I think just generally notifications being pushed to students um at various times of day. Um we certainly do not want to micromanage when people do work. Um there are definitely some some folks across the district who, you know, are are prepping for the next day later in the evening or getting some grading done late later in the evening. Um and so just wanting to be more mindful of um what students are experiencing in terms of when they're being notified about their grades and when they're receiving um notifications about either um upcoming assignments or classwork

031or something like that. So we spent um quite a bit of time um looking at some problem solving around that. Um Mr. Barat, Mr. Wilson were very involved in that as well. So part of the work um that we're going to share here is a snapshot of really um how we divided this up and when we had our team not only you know look at what our current practices are look at what the the research says as we we felt and knew that it was appropriate to have guidelines um that were developmentally appropriate. So elementary we lump voice into that K to6 for a couch obviously and then some separation 9 10 11 12 um that we'll show we're going to get into more detail here in upcoming slide we have a a in the

032in the box on the bottom there we talk about um make the statement that any device whether it's studentowned device or district owned it should not be used during scheduled activity times we use some examples there recess you know advisor time which is is more of non academic time in the middle schools, um, lunchrooms, those areas. When we look at our data, we know that is when you have the most infractions. That's when you're seeing the most challenge. And it makes sense. What I found was interesting is when we benchmarked against some of the other districts. What I saw is that there was a lot of school districts that were actually permitting students to use their devices in the cafeteria or in re at recess. And so while that's not an academic time, the challenge

033with it is that is when you see the most infractions and that's when you you and it makes sense is when you have the most problems. So we did not feel we had a lot of input as Dr. Mia mentioned from all of our administrators, all of our principles and they were all in agreement and and look and referencing their own data. They know firsthand their buildings when the infractions are incurring. Plus we have all that data collected. um which is why these nonacademic less structured times um absolutely is when we should have more restrictions in place for sure. >> We just Dr. Ozer I also wanted to mentioned that um we feel that it's really important that those times be used for their intended purposes. So for recess and and some of those other

034activity times it's really an opportunity to engage socially with their peers to be physically active. Um, and while yes, there may be some students who say, "Oh, but I could probably get my homework done, um, or I could probably just relax and, you know, play a little video game." Um, what we what we know to be true is that it's important for students to interact with the environment around them. And so, um, that is a that is a a boundary that we are going to, um, to draw. Sorry, we go ahead. >> This is my slide. I apologize, Dr. M. I was pointing at her. And um so in terms of rollout plan, um parent communication obviously um is essential in this. And as we talked about earlier this year, certainly there's no exact time

035when this needs to be implemented. Um but it does make sense that you have it at the start of a school year. um we didn't feel that trying to implement changes and consistent guidelines at the end of the first nine weeks or first semester was the best way to do it. It was really put energy into uh thoroughly evaluating this and and implementing our plan for the start of the school year. So in that communication and that rollout plan, parent communication would occur uh in the letters from the principles which will get sent to all families next week. We will be dedicating time at that opening faculty uh session which as I mentioned is next Thursday October 14th. We have four days of professional development in service days for our staff. There will be dedicated

036time for us to educate our staff um not only to make sure that they understand the the guidelines by level, but to really engage with the administration to ask questions and then to present them and to provide them with concrete examples around what's acceptable, what's not acceptable to ensure that we have the greatest likelihood of success with a consistent implementation of these regulations. um ongoing conversations. You know, some of the feedback we got um is really that it's we have to continue to use our department meetings, our curriculum meetings, our faculty meetings to get feedback from our staff. And so any any major change, any change of significant, it's with this is essential to get their feedback and to continue to dialogue around it. The student education piece is obviously another part of it. They

037are our our users on the other end. So um depending on the level it's different grade level meetings, home room meetings, elementary team meetings occur at the meet middle school class meetings at the high school. Um there is pertinent content that gets introduced to all our students at the outset of the school year and this is where this information certainly u makes the most sense to be in introduced and reinforced to them. And then uh with any change, a mid-year review uh and that doesn't mean there's there'll be ongoing review of any changes we make or don't make um to make sure that we're we're reacting uh appropriately. Which is why going back to Dr. Fender's slides about um regulations, the the the strength of a regulation versus a policy change is a regulation allows

038us to respond more quickly with with change. And so having a mid-year review, we may find uh and I think we will have a good sense by then if these guidelines are beneficial, if they're helpful, do they need to be strengthened, do they need to be um less restrictive? It it just depends. Um but making sure that we're intentional about evaluating these changes is is essential in this process. >> Okay. Now, Dr. radio. >> Um, so this is a summary of the the K to6 guidelines, which is essentially that uh personal electronic devices are going to be prohibited during school hours. This is very consistent with what the practice has been in place. Um, we have actually over the last year or so seen um an increase in students wearing smartwatches. Um we have already

039um developed some practices um around those to make sure that they are not a disruption to the learning environment. Um students are required to put those on do do not disturb mode. Um anything other than a smartwatch is going to be you know stored in the backpack, stored in the locker. Um we say other designated area you know thinking about the fact that sometimes our kids go on field trips, sometimes they are um in in other spaces. we do have students who um are required to have some access to a device for um for medical support as well. And so, you know, making sure that that those expectations are are clearly articul articulated to them as well. um you know just just as they are currently. If there's a if there's a disruption caused by

040a smartphone, if an if a an an alert goes off or if they're um you know texting or calling on on their smartwatch, you know, then that would be considered an infraction and would be um you know, handled according to our progressive discipline system. um and really making sure that students are um understanding that having a having a device is a responsibility and you know helping them understand what um what behaviors are appropriate to engage with with that privilege. Um in seventh and eighth grade um we do uh we do see an increase in the number of um nonsmartwatch devices that students have um particularly a lot of students liking to listen to music, liking to listen to um audiobooks. They're starting to use their devices more for um I think some more practical reasons.

041of course they are then more entertained by some of the things. So one of the one of the um very um universally uh supported practices is that if students have anything other than a cell phone or I'm sorry anything other than a smartwatch they can bring it to school but it has to be silenced. Um all of our bu all of our classrooms will have phone caddies where they have to be stored. Um, this prevents things like students asking to get up and use the restroom in the middle of class and going and using their device in the restroom or in the hallway, something or going to their locker and using um their device at their locker. Um, they will not be permitted to be on their desk. They're not permitted to be in in

042the lunchroom as Dr. Roso said. Um, some exceptions and as we said, we would provide um some additional guidance around this. Uh if a classroom teacher allows students, let's say in art class, if they're working on some um some creative work and they are allowed to have in some music, that is something that we have identified as would be, you know, an appropriate acceptable um use. Additionally, um we do know that for some students there are some instructional uh supports that they may access via their phone. For example, some of our students who are English learners, they may use an app on on their phone um that is a little more sophisticated than some of the uh some of the the websites that website tools that we can direct them to. Um but again, smartwatches

043must be on do not disturb and if their phone, their smartwatch, anything is posing a disruption, a distraction, um then that will be, you know, processed through that that tiered referral system. um grades nine and 10 during that instructional time um those the anything other than a watch is going to be uh cattied in the classroom. This has actually been in place for the last few years at the high school. Um and our ninth and tth grade teachers um were implementing this this past year. Um the ninth grade was on their second year of that practice. Um and so students are are fairly used to that at this point. Um we do we do think that students can have access during you know an independent study during lunch during a class transition. Again, being mindful

044of the fact that, you know, if a student is walking through the hallway and is playing a video on their phone loudly and it's disturbing classrooms um or or other students or is for some reason inappropriate, obviously that would not be acceptable behavior um and would be, you know, would be dealt with in terms of that behavioral response. Um same with the resource center and library. We really think that those are places that are um we have really designated those as places for students to be engaged in academic work. And so, you know, if students are doing anything um you know, other than, you know, quietly looking at their phone, if they're with friends and they're passing a phone around, something like that, that would obviously be considered a a disruption, a distraction, um and

045would be regarded as an infraction. um for 11th and 12th grade, you know, really really the same. Although in some of those um all 11th grade, all 12th grade classes, the teacher may not require them to caddy the their um devices. However, um all of the classrooms will have them. Um for some of our coursework like electives where there are mixed grade levels um the expectation is still that students are not using their electronic devices during instructional time unless authorized by a teacher to do so for an acceptable reason. Um and then same in terms of their independent study lunch and class transition. As Dr. Mia mentioned early on in our presentation, we spent some time this summer reviewing electronic notifications um for our students and also our parents. And so we know that we

046want to create healthy habits in the management of how our students are receiving feedback in those notifications. And so we've looked at some of um these listed practices here. What can we do? We also realized that in some cases we had a feature in place which was to hide um hide grades, when to post grades. Some teachers were using them, some teachers weren't. In this particular case, moving forward, we will be having professional development on our opening days around these best practices and parameters that we will be establishing. So any grade notification, email or Canvas announcement will be sent prior to 900 p.m. or will be scheduled for the following morning. Um, so we don't have kids waiting up until 11:00 at night to see if my teacher is going to post a grade. Also

047kind of aligned with that would be all grades will be released simultaneously for those larger scale assignments and assessments. So, we've also received feedback that in some cases a teacher may get halfway through the grades before they leave, have them listed, and then a student is waiting throughout the night. And so, we want to make sure that those notifications are all received in the same time frame. Um, that also avoids kind of the conversation of, you know, how did you do? I didn't get mine yet. Um, and maybe there's also a natural accountability in terms of how grades are also managed by classroom teachers. Another area that we believe is also important to this discussion is supporting parents. Um instead of getting automatic notifications for every single thing that happens in Canvas, we want to

048work with parents and provide them information on just getting the daily digest. So you get one lump email about a student's grade, what has been updated in Canvas and establish those best practices for parents as well too because we believe that it should be a holistic approach between student, parent and teacher. Um, as we mentioned at the um, top of the presentation, um, we did just list a, and I I apologize for scrolling through quickly, but just a few studies that have been produced that, um, are either peer-reviewed or are aligned to, um, you know, major medical associations and or, um, you know, have have a a little more rigorous uh substance to them in terms of specifically looking at phones in schools and what that um what that practice means for for students. Um

049at at this point um there has not been a uh one recommended practice that has shown to be effective. Um the word ban um is used quite a bit and in many cases the word ban does not really truly mean like absolutely banned but more so some of these restrictions or um you know with instructional intention only. Um, and really the major takeaway from a lot of the research right now is that schools and families need to work together. Um, and it and what schools do should be part of a holistic approach um to helping students a learn appropriate digital citizenship skills. Um, reduce screen time um in terms of the their smartphones. Um but there has not there has not been like a a particular study that has shown like massive um effects uh

050of of a complete ban. Um there have been some um I think encouraging results in schools um for some populations and in some potential areas. for example, um it seems to be more um more helpful in terms of reducing bullying, um improving some of the the social interactions between students. Um those are some things that I think we've taken into account in producing the um recommend recommended guidelines here. Um and um and additionally the um the profile of school that where where some of the bands have shown um to be more beneficial are in schools that are not really like upper Slair um in terms of schools where there is a lot of student on student violence where there is a lot of um substance use um where their electronic devices are sort of used

051to to facilitate some of those um some of those behavioral activities that would um that would of course they would want to uh to extinguish there. Um and so we we do have some of these available. Some of these are studies that have been sent to us from um from families. Some of these are things that um are more recently uh more recently published. um some are from the United States, some are from other countries where there have been um additional regulations um put into place uh countrywide. So just you know again we continue to review what is um what is established through uh through evidence to see you know where where should we go from from here. Um but we I think are encouraged about where we're the direction that we're heading. So, as

052Dr. Media mentioned, it's, you know, really the partnership and continue working with with families is essential um particularly in this area. And so, you know, again, I had said this earlier, but I think it's worth reiterating that the students do not need to bring any personal device to school. They do not need that for anything that we require them to do in school, whether they're a senior in high school or they're in third grade. um it's the family's choice to do that. But beyond that, we realize um the majority of our students for couch and higher um if not all of them have a cell phone with them. And I that would be fair to say for just about any school district. And so, you know, in addition to it being a family's choice, this

053doesn't matter. All of our classrooms have phones, particularly, you know, our elementary age students, the majority of them do not have phones, but there are phones in every classrooms for students to use if they needed. K through 12 students can make external calls from the office if needed. Um, so phones are readily available for students. But the other piece to this is and where we think um we can help we're certainly not the answer to everything is there are tremendous resources and capabilities that that people have to control device usage and you know I've learned a lot this summer uh about that in terms of how you can manage your your child's phone and so for example um if you wanted to set your child's phone up and there are different iPhones and Androids are

054what the majority of cell phones are Not all of them, but that's what we see the majority of our students have. Um, there are capabilities in there that you can limit the access to when students use their phone. And some of people in this room, I'm sure, are familiar with them and have even used them that if you want to, for example, say between 8:00 a.m. every day and 400 p.m. that no phone calls can be made, no texts can be made off of that phone, no usage of the phone at all. You have that capability to do it. Um I was just talking with a parent today who uses this um for his child and said during the school day what I do is uh and not a child in this school district was

055actually one of our employees who lives in a neighboring district and said that I have in place every school day that the only people that my son can call or text are my wife, me and his grandparents and that's set like that throughout the school day. cannot access any of his apps, cannot access any social media um at 9:00 every night, has it set that no matter where the phone is, there's no phone access at all. And that's again that's his parental choice, but the capability to do that exists. Um if you want to where a lot of the infractions we know happen, and this won't surprise anyone, uh happen outside school and and often happen through social media. And so you can also monitor uh one the the child doesn't have to have that

056on their phone. I know that's easier said than done, but if you want to limit your child, for example, to Snapchat usage, 15 minutes a day, the capability to do that exists. A lot of people don't know that. Um and what we want to do and we're going to do is share resources with families this week. Again, it's it's their their choice. um if that's something that they would want to explore whether it's during the school day, outside the school day. I think it's really helpful for parents and I think you know a lot of us in this room are parents of children of different ages. It's it's really hard to parent today versus when we grew up as children. Um you know, my mom used to say, you know, when I wanted to know

057what was going on, I I would just pick up the phone and listen into your conversations. And most of the time I didn't even know that was happening. Well, we live in a different world now, right? No, nobody's talking on a home phone. You're not listening in on the call. Um, you're not reading, you know, that your child's notes that are on their desk. They live in this virtual space for for just about everything. So, it it is much harder. And I think what happens and I as a parent say you kind of get exhausted and think there's just so much to keep up with. It keeps changing. There's always something new. So, it's not easy being a parent and supervising this. It certainly is work. The good thing is there are resources out there

058and we are by no means experts here in the district, but we certainly are willing to and will be sharing with parents whether we were talking about these guidelines or not. It would be helpful and it will be helpful for parents to to use them if they can help them. If not, that's fine, but uh we're certainly planning to do that this week as well. And kind of in in closing, you know, um just some some takeaways that again the regulations we feel um our recommendation was they provide the flexibility needed to adapt. If these regulation changes we feel are not being successful and we need to take stronger action. We certainly can change the regulations. We certainly come back and say we need a we need a different policy in place. Um parent parental

059rights as I've talked about uh it's important that you know their rights are are valued in this process. uh and they are critical partners for us and we have a wide range of of students as we know and and a wide range of beliefs and so we want to be respectful of that but also to partner with them to help them feel as comfortable as as they can be um with their child accessing a device. Um, again, I said it earlier, but it's no surprise the majority of personal device usage does occur outside the classroom. And that does lead to a lot of challenges for us, not just here, but in schools everywhere because what happens is it you generally will carry over into the school. And if there is a nexus between the school

060and the event, it now does become our responsibility. Um, and the school guidelines, again, this this is what we felt was a holistic approach to encouraging healthier life habits. To be honest, I am more concerned about how much time kids are spending on their phones outside of school. Certainly not trying to minimize usage during the school day. Our goal with this is we don't want them using it in the classrooms. When they are using it, they are have to be in con dedicated time uh for value and for a benefit. And we also want to make sure that it's enforceable too. That's another piece of this as well. Um because it it will it is a big undertaking. And so um that we considered a lot. We know we went through this but I don't

061want this presentation to to minimize the work that was done there. This this has been something that we've talked about and reviewed um with many people throughout the last couple months. And so we feel our principles again our principles they're they're front lines and they were unanimous uh in supporting these changes and our teachers I think as Dr. media may have mentioned that student group was really help or that teacher group was really helpful and those represented teachers at all levels throughout the district and they said what they think would be the most beneficial is having consistent practices so that you don't leave it just to an individual teacher and not that those teachers are doing anything wrong but if I'm in you know Mrs. Bolas's classroom and right next door is Dr. Ganza's classroom.

062They could have two very different uh philosophies around cell phones in the classroom. And it doesn't mean one's right, one's wrong. But what this will do is there will be consistency across the levels. And uh it certainly is was time for it. And we feel that this is the next appropriate step while continuing to monitor and and as I said earlier, if there's legislation that comes out, it it could change this entire conversation because there are states who have moved in that direction. And if that happens, we certainly would have to and would comply with with that. So that that ends our presentation, but certainly welcome your questions, your thoughts. Um be glad to glad to answer. >> Well, first I'd like to thank I know how much work's gone into it, the research and

063the support of the guidelines that supports the research and laid out there. Uh I think we're moving absolutely in the right direction. I there was a couple things. I don't want to go down rabbit holes yet, but I do want to ask what measurements are we going to be using in order to shift our guideline policy, excuse me, our guidelines to say uh if we start seeing something, what are those measurables? Because you've got teachers that are going to be more lenient or more strict than than others. There's a lot of gray area in this thing and I'm I'm wired naturally wired to interpret the way I want to interpret and I think a lot of people are going to be like that. I think educators are more black and white and they see it.

064I'm I'm here to challenge those type of things and I'm not saying this is wrong but I'm asking what are the measurements? What is our standard? What's our benchmark in which we are going to shift and pivot and change in order to make these a little bit more loose or a little bit more stricter? Because you know middle school years and younger school there's different teachers telling me one thing well this teacher's telling me something what can I do what can't I do so there's a lot of measurement gray area here so what are we what are we using as Dr. Brazo said, you know, we did examine um our infraction data. Um that's certainly something that we would take into consideration um in terms of um misuse of device. Um and I think um

065thinking about like what are those what are those tiered strategies? So, you know, warning communicating with families, you know, that I think is a real um emphasis in these guidelines is that teachers are and and staff will have to communicate with families regarding what they're seeing um in terms of students use slash distractability. Um and then you know pretty quickly moving into you know removing that uh that privilege from students um and working with families to uh to to you know modify that behavior. Um thankfully as we said our infractions are already fairly low um which which we're happy about. Um, you know, I do think a lot of what we have developed has come from, um, feedback that we've received from families, feedback that we've received from, uh, from our teachers um, and even

066some of our students in terms of some of the work, some of the um, changes that have been implemented at the high school the last few years in ninth and tth grade as well. Um, so I, you know, those are all things that have sort of led us to where we are now and I think can continue to lead us um through any through any potential changes. >> Thank you. And >> I think another piece, I'm sorry to interrupt, um, is that teachers have shared they're looking for consistency. So much like our review of assessment practices at the middle school um over the last two years, we were looking for consistency because we had differences in how people were implementing or viewing second chance learning opportunities. So we embraced that opportunity to provide consistency because

067teachers were asking for it. So in this particular case, I think another benchmark would be just those informal observations of what are we seeing when we walk past classrooms? what is what's the feedback that we are gathering um because with our teacher group we know that there's been differences and how these are consistently implemented. So I think that's another piece for us to really kind of benchmark as we move forward. So just not from a student discipline lens but what is our staff continuing to need and what are we seeing to be able to evaluate the effectiveness because if they're not being implemented consistently that's also another data point as well. I also I also want to acknowledge that like what we have established in terms of the administrative regulations um is not com not

068the complete um set of of information that will be provided to teachers in terms of you know these are these are acceptable activities to permit students to use a device for these are unacceptable activities to permit a student to use a device for. So for example, taking photos and videos is is on the not acceptable use. Um you know if there is something that is assigned for um for coursework um students devices that are provided by the district have the capabilities that are needed to complete any you know to complete those sorts of assignments. um you know using social media during instructional time that again would be something that we would say is not an appropriate thing to permit students you know to permit students to do. I also think a lot of the clarification

069around you know are we are during recess are kids allowed to you know be on be on devices some of those sorts of practices as well. again, teachers looking for consistency. Um, we really appreciate that our teachers exercise professional judgment um probably hundreds of times a day. Um, and it's impossible to predict every single pos, you know, every single um thing that a teacher might be asked um by a student to be allowed to do on a device. Um but we are trying to you know provide sort of categories of activities that would be yes this would be this would be appropriate and acceptable. One of the things we said this morning is you know if a student high school student comes to school you know they have a rigorous course load they don't want

070to stay home but they say you know I have a family member who's having a medical procedure today um and my parent is going to call me when I when they're out. you know, is it okay if I take a phone call for that reason? I think that I I can't think of a teacher that would say, "No, you're not allowed to talk to your family um about a a medical procedure of a family member." I can't think of somebody who would who would not say that. Um granted, yes, we do have f we do have phones in all of our buildings. We have, you know, in all of our classrooms, in all of our offices, everyone is happy to facilitate um you know, students borrowing a phone or or using a a district phone

071to make a phone call if necessary. Um, but again, I think providing some more of that clarification to teachers in terms of what are we looking for when we talk about, you know, being more intentional about having students um keep their devices away during the school day. >> Thanks. And I I I get the, you know, the infractions and you've mentioned it multiple times that our infractions are relatively low now, which is great. I guess the bigger question is and the concerns that I've heard from phone calls and emails is the distraction itself. I've got a phone in my bag and I'm not allowed to use it. But I'm not thinking about what that my teacher's telling me right now. I'm thinking about what's going on because I'm a teenage kid trying to figure out

072who's talking smack on me or who's dating who or who's doing what. I'm not thinking about what I'm doing. Like be where your feet are. It's a quote that I Clint Hurdle told me a long time ago. Put your distractions away. Keep them out of out of the way. Like if you're with your baby, be with your baby. If you're coaching a baseball game, coach the baseball game. These kids aren't where their feet are all the time because that's the distract. That's the concern I have. And that's an immeasurable. I don't know how, but I know enough to be dangerous from what I've heard and listened to is that we're trying to get rid of the distraction aspect of it. And I don't know if we're going to come up with it tonight and today.

073And I think we're on a good stance of moving forward in the right direction with this thing. But that's the measurable that we don't have. And I I'm afraid that we don't have a formula to figure what that out. But I know when I'm having a conversation, a serious conversation with my kids and I tell them to put their phone down, they're not listening to me at the end of the day. I'm not even a teacher. I'm their parent. And the teachers provide more insight to them and have more influence to them outside of the house than anybody. And are they listening to the teachers? And I just don't know that. And so how much pressure are we now putting on top of the teachers to not only monitor and school these things, these devices,

074but also do what they do best is teach. And so that's that's kind of just my two cents on my soap box. >> I I definitely agree. It's a it's a holistic approach. I think like we said, this is an opportunity for for families and the school district to continue to partner with one another. Um because we do recognize that there that there are distractions that are created. You know, I think the other thing that we continue to continue to monitor is, you know, what are the outcomes that our students are showing? You know, we know that our students are learning. We know that they're succeeding. Um and and I think those are things that we continue to um to look to as well to make sure that you know what the there's always a

075there's always going to be a new developmental challenge, right? And so, you know, how can we help student how can we help students through it? How can we um you know, manage what we can realistically um you know, realistically enforce? Again, I don't think that I think that that enforcability was a big consideration in the um in the development of the guidelines as well. In my opinion, if if it is universally enforced and all the teachers are following the guidelines, you know, I think it does enable the teacher to say this is the rule of the school. It it takes the well I don't want you using it in my classroom. It's the rule of the school. And if the kids understand that nobody has their devices to be talking smack on them or or

076whatever, you know, I think that they will learn that looking at your phone isn't going to get you anywhere because nobody has their phone. And so I think that's what we have to hope for is that universal enforcement. >> They do have them just they're not allowed to use them in the classroom, but they have them on them. >> Yes. But well in some cases they'll be in these caddies uh which I have to come and see that I guess. Um but I think trying to make this universal enforcement that it's a rule of the school should help everybody to enforce that and I think then it'll be pretty obvious who's not enforcing it. So we'll see. >> Well, if I could just add to um you know a couple things. I think what um

077what Mr. Mascara said is exactly right. Some of this is very hard to capture in terms of measuring it. It's just a reality. Um what we are do so we have a monthly I think as everyone in this room knows monthly administrative meeting where every administrator and district participates. This is going to be a a standing agenda item for us to review this and the expectation of that will be that the principles will be coming and sharing feedback that they're directly receiving from their department heads, their team leaders. Um so that they are directly getting feedback from staff as well as their own classroom observations because a lot of this will be based on observation. What are we seeing? What are we hearing? And and what do we need to do to respond to it?

078So, I think that's certainly not the answer for everything, but it will be another helpful way for us to have a pulse on how well this is working and and getting feedback from the people who are in the classrooms every day as well. Um, as we talked about before, at the beginning of the year, uh, there will be a meeting with all the students. We'll have a meeting. The consistent message will be shared with them. We're not naive to think that that one message, that one educational session with them is going to make everyone follow the rules. It certainly will take some enforcement. And I think, you know, as we've said, we're we're really trying to balance. Okay, we we have for the most part, our students are very compliant, um, which we're so grateful

079for that. But they're still kids at the end of the day, and kids sometimes do things they shouldn't. Um, so do adults. But um for us, I think that most of our kids and staff, they really they want expectations. They want to know here here's what I can do. Here's what I can't do. And that is what we have not been real clear with so far. We've kind of just left it to this point really to a classroom decision. And that's this is in my in my opinion that's the biggest step we're taking with these regulations is is making it be a consistent expectation for students but then also for staff >> and parents. Yes. >> Because I think that's been a confusion for a lot of us parents. We don't know, >> right? >>

080We haven't known. And I I think that's something that we have to be very clear with our messaging what these guidelines mean for our parents, for our kids, and for our teachers. >> Absolutely. And that that and it's only one form, but that will be a big part of the letter next week that goes home to all families. And we are reviewing that again tomorrow. We have our half the day will be our entire administrative team uh back to school meeting. even though most everything is in motion, but we will be part of that is reviewing letters and having this conversation. So, but it will require to your point, you're absolutely ongoing communication because, you know, it's we we'd like to believe everyone will read every single word of a letter, but we also recognize

081people get inundated with with stuff. So, it'll be a continued effort to further educate parents. >> And I would just be curious for the lunchroom. I I saw in our guidelines, kindergarten through 8th grade, no phones in the lunchrooms, but 9th through 12th, they're allowed their phones. I'm curious what our reasoning was behind that or why. Well, I I think when we're thinking about developmental appropriateness, developmental readiness and growth, um we know that students in high school have jobs, have other responsibilities. They may, you know, they may be needing to communicate with somebody about logistical sorts of things. Um, and you know, I think if if students learn, hey, you know what? When I'm on my lunch break, that's an that's a reasonable time to take care of some of those other things or maybe

082just entertain myself a little bit. You know, that's a that's a life skill to learn that I think we as working adults have have learned as well. You know, there are certain things that you might tend to when you're when you're on your lunch break and not when you're, you know, engaged in a in a business meeting or or important task. I would just like that to be a continued uh discussion is is that's what best for our 9th through 12th graders to be on their phones at lunch. I have questions about it. I don't know. I don't know the answer. I'd love to hear from our high school principles and some of the kids. I just know when I've walked into the lunchroom at the high school, I don't like seeing kids not communicating

083in their head and their phone. >> Yeah, that's a fair point. And and the the feedback on that also does that came from the high school administration that they believed that it was developmentally appropriate. I don't disagree with you. I've been in the cafeteria. I've seen it, too. So, some of it is also trying to prepare them for life after high school. But it's it's a fine line we walk and um and you know we it is something we have to continue to keep monitoring. I I wish that we lived in a world sometimes where none of us had cell phones. Um and I think it would it would really strengthen a lot of human interaction. Um unfortunately I don't I don't see that happening. So we're we struggle with when is the right point

084to start to transition them and help them build become responsible with using. when we look at our data, it doesn't make people more comfortable with it, but we're not seeing infractions occurring in that space. Um, so it's something to continue to watch and monitor. And then the last piece is again not trying to push this as a a parent responsibility, but that's part of the educating parents because if I as a parent don't want my child and know that it's not good for my child to be on their phone during certain times of day and I know when their lunch period are, if not the whole day, I can restrict them. Again, that's that's a tough decision as a parent and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. I know if I went to

085do that with one of my children and not that they're well the little ones should she's not using anything but my uh son if I went to do that with him I'm sure it would be a conversation that like many teenagers would be asking why why so I get it's not easy for parents but that is an option that is out there too I think a lot of people don't know what their capabilities are as owners of those accounts and um so we're going to also try to to help better inform parents of what they what they can do if they want to do it, but this will certainly be part of the continued evaluation and it's a very valid point. >> So, I'm I'm just going to step in and say we've been talking

086about this for about 15 minutes and it's an item that we don't we don't actually vote on, but now I get to say something. Um, real quick, I it was not clear to me what is new information necessarily and what is old information like what's what's staying the same, what's different and I think in the communication to the to the parents um that needs to come out much more clearly um and uh for example the caddies I'm very familiar with them I'm familiar with certain things that have been going on for a while in the high school that have been very inconsistent and some of it didn't seem all that new to me when I was reading this, but I I had to read a lot and then read into it a little bit more.

087And I think that when you communicate to the district more broadly, um that needs to the audience needs to move away from being an administrative group that's kind of in the no to people who are not in the know. Um, and then the other the other comment, um, I'd love to see a little bit of reframing about what's the goal here. When I'm in a classroom situation, I want my students working memory to be on point. And that's what that's what the whole issue is, is that I don't have the ability to muster my cognition when I have this device here. And I haven't heard anything about that. We're hearing a lot about infractions, which is important because it's it's something we can we definitely need to deal with, but we're not talking about creating

088good cognitive flow. And in order to have students who can invent things and work on projects and make it to like really great colleges and do great research and run businesses, um, they need flow and they need to know what that feels like. And if we can't create an environment where they don't know what that feels like, I think we're in trouble. Um, and I I think in particular juniors and seniors have a really hard time with that. So, you know, there are scales out there. There's like addiction scales, smartphone addiction scales. There there are things that are already out there that we could potentially think about as assessment tools beyond inframent infractions. So, I just I wonder about that. Um, there was a study that Princeton did not too long ago about how students

089scores went up um because they didn't have a phone next to them. Uh, different things like that. So, again, cognition reframing in terms of of uh memory which I'm losing. Um, all right. Anyone else? >> I do have a quick uh quick comment. Um and that is um one area that hasn't been really emphasized and I think we need to be prepared when it's communicated to the parents is the safety and security issue and whether parents will come and say well I want my child to have a cell phone in case something happens and I know there's a lot of research on that as well. So just to be ready for these types of of questions um what happens in an emergency and why you know there's obviously research that shows that all the kids

090calling on their cell phones 911 is not the the right way to go. But I think that's a concern that every parent today unfortunately has u our worst case scenario and probably a big the biggest fear most parents have sending kids to any kind of well anywhere. Um, and so just to kind of have those types of of either as a frequently asked questions format or just to be prepared for for these types of of questions. >> Thank you. >> Anything else from the district update? That was an exciting district update. >> It was an exciting district. No, thank you for the questions, the feedback. You certainly challenged us to keep thinking and you know all of you are partners in this as well. So your perspective is important. So thank you. >> What a

091tremendous amount of work from uh you all and I'm thinking of the book group that met over the year as well. So I'm looking forward to hearing about this in the future like an update. I think we all are. So we're going to move to 7B. We have now moved to the next item uh for the approval of staffing resolutions. And we have Mrs. Mack. Thank you for being here tonight with us. And also Dr. Fender. >> I'm going to take these ones this evening. Um and Dr. Rosa, you keep saying those letters are going to come next week. They're actually coming this week. I mean, back to school online is Friday. >> Oh, so I'm very excited for my birthday. That's >> Oh, there. That's what it is. >> Birthdays next week, sir. >>

092Cuz when you kept saying they're coming next week, I was looking at the calendar and I was like, am I missing something? So, >> yes. Unfortunately, unfortunately, depending on your mindset around this, right, it is August and Friday is August 8th. So, with that said, this is also the time of the year that we have some staffing resolutions just get us uh formally prepared. Um, a lot of these are based off of um, student needs and enrollment. We spent a lot of time looking at how we can maximize our current staff this year to not have um, significant increase overall. So, I'll start from the top. We have a 1.0 streams elementary teacher which will be an increase but supported um, through funds from a decrease in a high school princip um, high school secretary

093position, sorry. Um the increases in ESL are not an increase per se to overall staff count but more about percentages and how that individual is allocated in our buildings to support um student enrollment um for our English as second language students. We have a 1.0 Baker Elementary teacher that is just a reallocation from a position in another building to show um the increase in a fourth grade um enrollment at Baker. And then we also have an increase of a 1.0 bus driver which that will be allocations for funds reallocation from a vacant van driver. This is to help us in anticipation of potential retirements um help cover maybe some contracted runs to reduce costs there and um anticipated leaves potentially as we look proactively to continue to provide successful transportation to our students here in

094the district. Oh, wait. Sorry, forgot. Turn the page. German. Um, German we know is an area, especially at Boyce Middle School, that goes up and down in terms of an enrollment. And I'm happy to report that we have had an increase in student selection. Sixth grade is always an area that we're evaluating because student choice in a language begins in sixth grade. And so this year we have had an increase in a section which supports this increase in the German teacher at Boyce from a 0.50 to a 75. >> It's exciting. Thank you. Dr. Gans, would you make a motion? >> I move that the board approve the above listed staffing resolutions 2025-18 through 2025-23 as listed above. >> And I second the motion. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing

095none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> So moved. Motion carries. And we will go to C, approval of personnel listings. Mrs. Mack. >> Yes. Before we turn to Miss Mack, no, I I will, unlike Dr. Fender, I will let you speak. Um, I'm kidding. Um, no. I I just wanted to Miss Smack has been in our HR department now for several years. She's a human resource manager and we um thought that it would be beneficial to have her start attending board meetings. She's a critical player um in our hiring process. Uh the summer is an incredibly busy time for her especially. Um she has done a tremendous job with a lot of the recruiting efforts. Um she works tirelessly, has just been a tremendous addition to our team. um even though

096she has been here for a few years and so uh I wanted to acknowledge her and and and thank her for being here. This personnel listing um as I've previously shared with the board is filled with a lot of hires for the upcoming year. Um, part of the reason we have the board meeting earlier in August is because we one want to get our staff hired and two we want to make sure that staff is in place because as a parent um it's very unsettling if you send home your child's placement and schedule and it has TBD to be determined on there for this for the teacher. And so our team works very hard to to try to avoid that and that's does certainly put a strain on the hiring process but it's essential and

097um she's done a terrific job with that this year. I will turn it to her. I will acknowledge in this personnel listing we do have a recommended candidate Mr. Mike Joyce uh for the high school assistant principal vacancy we have and then we also have uh Mrs. Chelsea Martini for the assistant director of special education. the board has previously met both of those candidates. Uh we're really excited to add them. Uh they we believe they have a great deal of potential and uh they already have exceptional backgrounds and very strong uh experiences. Um and on top of that we've have a lot of teachers and this year has been uh unique and challenging because some of the certifi some of the areas are not in areas where you have a high amount of applicants. So

098when you take subject areas of Latin, Spanish, biology, um it does present a real challenge because there is a shortage of of applicants for sure in those areas. And so I'm very glad and and grateful to say that we have either hired already earlier this summer or within this personnel listing have filled those those positions. And so Mrs. Mack, I will turn it to you now. >> Hello. Um yes. So this kind of summarizes the last bit of the contract positions that we've had. So overall we've had 12 contract professional positions filled. Um we also on this um personnel listing we have two additional paraprofessional positions that we have filled. Um and also a technical support um individual. Um so yeah and overall we've had um one area that we've really focused on is the

099nutrition center. Um we've had the opportunity to really utilize the um nutrition um bonus um as well as um had the opportunity to hire some custodian staff too as well. So um yes, so we have some we have also a career event next week on the 13th um for our nutrition center and c uh custodians um as as well as our sub pool. Also, you'll see on the personnel listing there is a number of I mean we're very fortunate that a number of our substitute teachers, substitute aids, substitute nutrition center, substitute um custodians are all returning. So, we're really excited about that opportunity. Um but yes, we're looking forward to next week. We're really advertising that event and we're hoping to be successful there as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Mack. Sorry,

100Mrs. Hannah. Could you read the motion? >> Sure. I move that the board approve the personnel listings as presented subject to all required pre-employment history reviews and clearance requirements. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> The motion carries and we are now going to D. Approval of bus stops. Dr. Razo. >> Yes. So, this is an annual um requirement for the board to approve the bus stops. And so, essentially what we have here is a listing of every bus stop in the district. And uh these are provided to us by our transportation department. And we're asking for your official approval so that we can pick the students up at these stops every day and also return them

101home. >> Thank you. That's a good plan. Mrs. Snider. >> I move that the board approve the 2025 2026 bus stops subject to any adjustments deemed necessary by the superintendent. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? >> I don't know if it's my copy, but the enclosure doesn't have the list of bus stops. >> It does not. And I apologize. We Okay. So, we don't have all the stops in there. Um, that was a separate document we had. Now the when I said that if we would have attached all the stops it would be a lot for you to look at and we did include that in the briefing. Um not that but um just a note in here we have for public know there's 3500 stops per day

102throughout the district and 640,000 stops per year. So it's it's a lot of stops. But I apologize I did misspeak there that that >> I just wanted to be sure the vote encompassed what it need to needed to encompass. >> Thank you. I appreciate Thank you. Where are we? >> Do we need Do we need to modify the motion at all or No. >> Do it. Yeah. Do we? >> No. And in fact, legally, you don't even have to approve the bus stops, but it's something that this district has always done. >> Makes us feel good. >> Does make us feel good. >> So, yes, it's a it's a it's a you know, you go above and beyond and have a very official record and it's kept in the minutes. So once they are all

103finalized, um the board secretary does keep that information as part of your minutes and so you're you're fine. >> Okay. I don't remember what we did. >> I think we all just have to vote. >> All right. So you did move >> and you did second it. >> Need to vote. >> All those in favor, please say I. I. It's official. >> The motion carries. >> I feel better. >> Let's go to E. He feels better. Dr. Razo. >> Okay. uh under um we have a few uh approval to ratify a few items from the last couple months and so uh the first one I will turn it over to uh Dr. Anler for her for this agenda item. >> Sure. This is for approval to accept the IDA funds through part B IDA funds

104federal funds that comes through the state through the Alagany intermediate unit. Uh the section 619 is for early intervention students that come into us as kindergarten students through age five. Uh we also later will do a part for part B when we get those funds later in the school year. And that's more for the full school age K12 programming, but this is specific for 619 students that are 5 years old coming into kindergarten. No, I do have another one. >> Continue with the next one. >> That's busy. >> Yes. >> So, we also have Wesley Family Services. This is to ratify for ESY programming and then going into this upcoming school year. Wesley Family Services provides a number of services for the district in different capacities. This particular agreement is for music therapy, multimodal services

105that come support our students and life skills at the high school and at Fort Couch, but also students that we have that are instructing at the helm as well. Thank you. And then Dr. Fender, >> this is an exciting um I uh sorry motion um that I have worked with Dr. Beck on and Mr. Kersner at the high school. Um Mr. Mr. Kersner took it upon himself to apply for a moonshot grant and we were awarded $15,000 and kind of thinking about um all of our student clubs and how to bring all those voices together. We have been awarded $15,000 to support what he is calling the Panther Pack. And it's a collective um student representatives from every club and team at the high school who will dream up and execute initiatives that make tangible

106impact on local, regional, national, and perhaps global um events and levels. So we had to have this signed and back by August 1st to start that process. And just given the time-sensitive nature around that um this is the request for the ratification. >> Thank you. Sorry, I lost my place. Miss Schnore, would you read the motion? >> I would. I move that the board approve the ratification of the above listed items I through I I subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> The motion carries. And now we'll have the administrator's report with Dr. Razo and Dr. Fender. >> All right. Yes. Thanks. A first

107item is a reading of revised policies. Dr. Fender. >> So this is a first reading of the below listed revised policies. Um barring no significant revisions. After this first reading, we will request a second reading and approval at the September board meeting. The first is policy 113 relative to special education and updated language regarding the process for notification and recording of both video and audio at an IEP meeting and the utilization of AI transcription tools. The second one 317 which is our conduct and disciplinary procedures policy. There's some recommended language updates relative to the code of professional practices and code of conduct for educators. Um also adding the responsibility of an investigation of allegations prior to initiating dismissal or demotion of an employee and then expectations were clarified regarding practices for submitting updated clearances. Uh

108the next two policies are relative to federal compliance and travel reimbursement. And these are necessary just as part of any federal monitoring that we may have. And so it is important to update uh those policies as the provided language has included. And then policy 717 is specific to employees and we clarified that this is cellular devices and electronic devices. And there's additional language regarding the prohibitive use of video and audio recording um with personal devices without prior written permission and reimbursement for personal use of uh personal devices. >> Thank you. And then Dr. Fender, you have um your maybe not a surprising item coming up here. Um actually this is exciting and we are a little early in the game but uh Dr. Troquado at the high school um who is officially a new dad

109if people have not heard so that's been very exciting um is requesting approval for our contract with the music theater international with MTI. We've utilized them uh almost annually at the high school at this point for a contract not to exceed $9,400. the slight increase is because of the addition of a fifth show at this point which he added the one matinea last year. So um we are excited to uh request your approval on this at this point so that he can get a start on it and I think that everybody will be very happy once we officially announce the musical. >> Cliffhanger there. Mrs. Peterson, would you read the motion? I move that the board approve the agreement with MTI for the high school musical in an amount not to exceed $9,400 for the

110high school spring musical subject to final terms and agreements acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> Miss Schnore. >> Oh yeah, I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. Motion carries. We're to see the agreement with New York Life. Mrs. Mack. >> Yes. Um, so this is a benefit uh to our whole employee population um who may be unable to purchase life insurance due to um medical conditions. Um currently this benefit is not currently offered and would be a zero cost to the district. It's 100% paid by the employee. Um it's no added workload uh to our existing staff. Um, New York Life would be available to answer any questions directly via in person or online uh, meetings with our employees.

111Um, and this makes a great addition to an already attractive benefit um, portfolio. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mscar. >> I move that the board approved the agreement with New York Life to offer whole life insurance to employees with no extra cost to the district subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> A second motion. It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Motion carries. Item D, Dr. Media. Okay, it is agreement renewal time. Um and so we have our annual renewal of our school physician and school dentist which are required under um the code uh to provide mandated exams um and consultation to um to our school health team. Um also have our annual letter of

112agreement for Pennsylvania's education for children and youth experiencing homelessness program. Um this letter of agreement indicates that we um would follow the um best practices in terms of educating um any homeless children in their um school district of origin um to the extent feasible. Um and then I have a couple of agreements related to our work um as the host district for Southwood Hospital. So um section 1306 of the code requires that um school districts that have any sort of um institution that provide the for the care or welfare of children adolescence within their district boundaries. Um basically we become responsible for the education of those students while they are there. Um that can include students enrolling with us in our schools. Um given the nature of Southwood Hospital and the types of concerns the

113children there have um instead we have um we have been operating a school program um that would be you know one to two hours of of education per day. Um and that is all funded through uh tuition payments from the school district of residents via a process called the 46 PDE 4605 determination of residence. So those children while they are there, we provide their education. Um theou with Southwood is really just an articulation of all of those uh roles and responsibilities in terms of how Southwood would provide us with the information that we need to be able to appropriately educate the students there. Um and then the other contract renewal is with um Associated Occupational Therapist Inc. or AOT. Um we do also coordinate for some related services to be provided at Southwood Hospital for

114students who require them. Um that can include um for AOT that could be occupational or physical therapy. >> Thank you. Appreciate that explanation about Southwood too. Mrs. Bolus. >> Yes. I move that the board approve the above listed items 1 through 4 subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> So moved. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> The motion carries. And now we have again Dr. Annlo. >> Yes. Thank you. I'm very excited to share this motion with you. We have a wonderful botchi United Sports program. we have at the high school and continuing that great success with Fort Couch. Uh we they've recently started a middle school program for unified sports and

115so we're very excited to bring that for Fort Couch uh expanding that opportunity. And so what this opportunity is then unified sports champion schools will provide the district with a stipen for $750 for the first year towards a coach. They provide us with all the equipment, the uniforms, and then it's up to us then to then move forward with creating the team and then setting our own schedule. And what it's a little bit different than the high school whereas the high school operates under PIAA regulations and a winter sport. Whereas in the middle school program, it operates as an intramural program and you set up your own schedule with different teams that are within the area in the region. you can do it within the school setting as well as an activity but then also

116to having some extra within the other districts as well. So very excited about that part. And then the other part we have is the Watson Institute agreement. This is for our social workers and our BCBA consultation services that we have with Watson Institute that provides support with our emotional support program and within our special education program. >> Thank you. These are exciting. Dr. Gans, I move that the board approve the above listed student support services agreements items I through II subject to final and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor final terms and conditions. Sorry, >> I second the motion. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Motion carries. We go to item F >> with Mr. Snder. Thank you.

117Good evening. Going back to September of 2024, the board approved administration to approve um excuse me, approved administration to enter into a contract with Trans Associates Engineering Consultant, Inc. to provide professional engineering services and to oversee the bidding pro process for the fork couch school zone signage project. Fast forward July 14th, 2025. The school received the district received four qualifying bids. Of the four qualifying bids, uh, Trans Associates is recommending that the district award the project to Brander Tech Technical Service in the amount of $38,64.13, which has a 5% contingency contingency built into it. Uh if approved, this project will be completed by the end of this fall. During the project, the old signals would still be in place and still be active. Um this project was also approved back in June to be paid

118from the capital reserve fund. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Hannah. I move that the board approve accepting the bid and award the agreement for Fort Couch School Zone signage to Brand Technical Services for a total cost not to exceed $38,64.13 subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Motion carries. We go to G with Mr. Burchil. >> Okay. Thank you. Um filling in for Dr. Angelo. Uh we had a two-year contract with Matthews Bus Company um end at the end of last school year. Uh so basically Dr. Angela went out and received as many quotes as possible. There's really three big providers in the area. The

119next closest one is approximately a little over $600,000 more over the uh fiveyear span of the contract. So, we're recommending that the board approve Matthews Bus Company um agreement as presented. >> Thank you, Mrs. Snder. I move that the board approve the transportation services agreement with Matthews Bus Company for a term of five years for up to 15 vans annually with estimated daily costs during the 2025 2026 school year of $4,12 subject to final terms and conditions acceptable to the superintendent and solicitor. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. The motion carries. Let's go to number 12, Mr. Burchil. >> Uh so the approval, a supplemental report is requested. Just uh for point of clarification, these are expenditures

120uh subsequent to the June 11th board meeting. Uh so we have quite a you know, it's been almost almost two months worth of expenditure. So Thank you, Miss Schnore. >> Yes. I move that the board approve the payments listed on the supplemental report dated August 4th, 2025 as presented. Fund 10, general fund 7,124,9358. Fund 32, capital reserve fund, 200 $239,91745. Fund 39, construction fund, $526,74966. Fund 51, food service fund, $21,1268. Did I need to read those? Maybe not. >> I think you did. >> Thank you. >> I second. It's been moved and seconded. Thank you. >> Any comments or questions? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. Motion carries. And then Mr. Burchil, another item here. >> Uh we're asking for the authorization to file uh annual tax appeals

121uh tax assessment appeals. Um solicitor Kramer, I don't know if you want to comment on it on the motion. >> This is just a general authorization um to carry on the annual tax assessment appeal program that has been in place for decades. >> Thank you, Miss Peterson. I move that the board authorize the filing of annual tax assessment appeals on terms and conditions authorized by the superintendent, director of business and finance and solicitor. >> I second. It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Let's go to C again, Mr. Burchil. >> Okay. uh substitute employee uh uh employee pay rates and um Amy and Amy if you want to jump in at any time let me know. Uh so we're

122recommending the pay increases uh by c job category. As you can see we have 2425 listed on the left and the new rate would be on the right. Uh the rates that are being proposed for 2526 are in the budget. Uh to stay competitive with our local schools and the local market, um we are requesting the increase as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Mscaro. >> I move the board approve the substitute pay rate increases for cafeteria workers and custodians as attached effective July 1st, 2025. >> I second that motion. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. And now it is time in the agenda for committee reports. Do we have any members who would like to share a

123report? Mrs. Bolus. >> Yes. This is report from PSBA. As most of us aware, the state budget has not yet passed. and PSBA is going to be putting anformational video together and they're asking if anyone has any questions to please submit them to the PSBA and the video will be available in our inbox on my PSBA August 13th. They are also very appreciative of the many people that have answered their call for advocacy. They have had 1,800 messages go out to important legislators about important initiatives that PSBA is involved in. In particularly, one of their campaign items is a statew state statewide cyber charter tuition rate. They also have announced their slate of candid candidates for the 2026 PSBA leadership positions. The voting will begin on August 20th and run through October 15th. our district

124will be able to cast one vote for the candidates. They're building bridges bridges webinar continue and they are having one on how to be an effective school director during polarized times. They are also having one on five principles to transform public meetings and the school safety sub Pennsylvania school safety institute school safety summit will take place September 17th at PSBA headquarters. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> All right, we're going to 14. Dr. Razo, other matters of information. >> Yes, this is just a listing of upcoming events and I shared most of these dates in my uh under my update earlier in the agenda. The only uh items I did not touch on um the August 11th is we have new teacher induction. So, all new hires come in and begin their orientation.

125And then their second day uh is August 12th. And so that's when they get assigned their mentors, um, work with their curriculum leaders. It's it's been an effective way to transition them on to the team. So that begins on August 11th. And as I said, the remainder of the dates are outlined in the agenda uh, as we get closer to the start of school. >> Thank you. I did want to announce that an executive session was held today at 5:45 p.m. That would be today, Monday, August 4th, for legal matters and for personnel matters. And I am now going to ask for a motion to adjurnn. So move. >> We are adjourned. [Music]