PENNCREST School Board (Oct 14, 2025)

001meeting to order. >> Roll call, please. >> Miss Beers, >> here. >> Mr. Bennett, >> here. >> Mr. Brown, >> yep. >> Mr. Chi, >> here. >> Miss Crawl. >> Reverend Kuster >> here. >> Mr. Johnston >> here. >> Mr. Storski >> here. Mr. Vaski >> here. [Music] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence, please. Thank you. [Music] >> Good evening everyone. We'll begin our committee of the whole work session. First for our student representatives from Cambridge Springs Junior Senior High School, Ella Welcome. >> Good evening. I'm Ella Morant, your Cambridge Springs student representative. That is something you've heard me say since

0029th grade when I'd occasionally fill in for Audrey Bulock, Cambridge's former representative. As Cambridge Spring's only student representative, I'm responsible for standing for every student and their needs from kindergarten to 12th grade. And as of my recent evaluation of myself, I've realized I've been doing a poor job at representing the school. Instead, I've just been stating what the school has been doing, which I will continue to do, but I will start my job as a representative. So, to start, cell phones. Most students have been taking the new rule very well, and you do not see phones. The new ban has even improved communication among students. Most classes, which use phones for learning, have found alternatives. The yearbook community is struggling, though. Even though they take some of their own photos, they relied on a lot

003of student submissions. Now, since students don't have their phones, they aren't taking photos, causing the yearbook committee to struggle finding photos. Next, YouTube has been banned for all students, which is very disappointing for both teachers and students. Although there are some bad views, some bad videos on YouTube, there are many educational and useful videos as well. Teachers would assign students videos to watch along with the lessons. sometimes adding questions to answer about the video. Students also use YouTube in classes such as gym, which might sound odd, but sometimes through working out, it is nice to follow a video workout or put on music through YouTube. I do realize there is inappropriate content on YouTube. But let's be honest, you can find that all over the web and they could be looking at such things on

004websites that aren't yet blocked. So, what are you really stopping? Why punish the majority of students, which are good, by taking away a learning tool because of the few who use it inappropriately? So, please reconsider and put YouTube back on the iPads. Furthermore, other websites that students use as resources are banned. I'd advise you to look back on the list of sites that you have banned and ask yourself, why is it banned? Finally, backpacks. We understand that students have had to use our lockers for years in the past without struggle. We also understand the safety issues with book bags and gun violence. But students like carrying around their bags. It's easy and allows students to carry items besides just books and pencils. A lot of girls like brushing their hair throughout the day as it

005gets messy easily. They carry these in their backpacks. Girls also carry feminine items in their backpacks which are so it's more discreet and easier to carry. Mr. Ford mentioned carrying around clear bags. This is a good compromise, except where will students be getting these bags? A good backpack is at least $50. So, all the regular backpacks that people spent their hard-earned money on won't be used, and they will have to buy a brand new clear backpack. A solution that will allow students to keep their regular backpacks and ensure student safety will be will be to use the metal detectors that we already have. Students said that they would prefer getting checked daily rather than anything else. Kids go get to school around 7:50 and classes start at 8:17. So, there should be plenty of time

006to to check students without disrupting class time. Now, for the current events in Cambridge Spring Schools, first the elementary sixth graders recently had a great a great day of hands-on learning during their Civil War unit of study. Reenactors from the local Bucktail group visited and led interactive stations where students experienced what life was like during the 1860s. They tried CH children's game from the time period, learned period music and dancing, explored household tools, soldiers dailies routine and war and war era weapons. Fifth graders took part in the county agricultural encounter day at the fairgrounds where they learned about farming conservation and the importance of agriculture in our community. Everyone is looking forward to this week's family's activities. The district's title one family event at the fairgrounds on Thursday night and trick-or- treat with STEM activities

007before this Friday's football game, which is senior night against Lake View. In the high school, kindness is truly in the air. As you know, last month, National Honor Society sold pins and cookies for childhood cancer. Their goal was to raise $500. In the end, they raised over $700. An anonymous donor will be matching that price, furthering the help of Childhood Cancer's Patient and Research. Another anonymous donor donated $4,000 to the Caring Closet, which if you aren't aware, is a place students in need can get clothing, including undergarments and winter wear, hygiene projects, and now because of this generous donation, we can add non-p perishable food items so students don't go hungry over the weekends or long breaks. Now for sports news. Students are preparing for the powderpuff flag football game on October 25th. All proceeds

008will go to bag three time. The teams for the night will be our junior girls versus senior girls. All sophomores and freshman will be separated between the teams. Boys varsity football players will be will be the coaches. Other boys will be cheerleaders. Kids will also be announcing, handling admissions, and part of the chain gang. It is truly an event that gets all students involved. Go juniors. The girls soccer team just played Mercy Hearse Press and lost terribly 1 to7, but they are committed to get back on their feet and try again soon. On Sunday, there will be a Cambridge Springs baseball versus Cambridge Springs softball game to raise money for the softball team. Brett Kenya defeated defeated his own coach Staf Stafford and got the most rushing yards in Cambridge Springs history. Congratulations, Brett. The

009football team beat Maplewood 25 to 12 Friday night. They also destroyed Seagertown a few weeks ago. I've said this before and got some laughs, but I seriously mean it. We need to start passing around the penrest trophy again. Cambridge Springs has an empty spot in our trophies case in our trophy case where that welldeserved trophy belongs and we would appreciate bringing it home. I would tell you all about homecoming, but why do that when you can look at the homecoming edition of the pitchfork right in front of you guys? Please continue to follow up with us at Cambridge Speaks on all social media platforms. I can't wait to see you all again October 23rd for the school board forum presented by the Panther Press and Pitchfork hosted by yours truly. All are welcome and encouraged

010to go. Thank you. Seager Town. It is Megan and Marley here. [Music] >> Welcome. >> Hello. My name is Megan Urissic and I'm the senior class president. >> And I'm Marley Bidwell, junior class president. Okay. To start off, homecoming festivities have officially wrapped up and the events were a great success. They brought students and staff together to celebrate school spirit and community pride. With that excitement behind us, preparations are now underway for the upcoming junior high dance next month, giving younger students a chance to celebrate and build traditions of their own. As the fall sports seasons begin to wind down, attention has turned to celebrating our senior athletes. The girls volleyball team will host their senior night this evening, while football and cheerleading will recognize their seniors next week. The cross country team will hold

011their celebration at the end of the month, making the close of a successful and spirited season. Two leadership trips took place last week, giving students the opportunity to strengthen their skills and make a positive impact in the school community. One trip focused on athletic team captains, helping them develop effective leadership habits, while the other centered on building a welcoming and supportive environment across all of our schools. Both experiences provided valuable lessons and students are already bringing back to their peers. Beyond athletics and leadership, our clubs have also been active and engaged. Key Club and National Honor Society members are volunteering at the craft show this Saturday at SCES, continuing their commitment to community service. Additionally, several student clubs have designed and released shirts that are now available for purchase, allowing students and staff to proudly

012show their club spirit. Meanwhile, seniors are already preparing for the next chapter of their lives as cap and gown orders, senior apparel sales, and graduation preparations get underway. It's an exciting time for the class of 2026 as they begin to look ahead to the combination of their high school careers. That concludes this month's update. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And tonight we have Logan from Maplewood. Sorry, I'll be a minute. Take your time. >> So, after listening to th to those two uh I guess three representatives, I now understand what it means to be a representative. However, I still have a basic approach. Good afternoon. My name is Logan Kier. I'm a senior at Maplewood. There are many amazing things happening at Maplewood and I'd love to address a few. First of all, the

013cell phone restriction plan has been going very smoothly and has been very effective as all school members, both faculty and students, have had little to no complaints. Onto the more exciting news. On September 26th, Maplewood hosted cash for the homecoming football game. Unfortunately, that resulted in a loss. However, I'd like to congratulate Degan Moyer and Aerilyn Madden on winning homecoming prince and princess. I'd also like to congratulate Garrett Bucker and Riley Boilles on earning the honors of homecoming king and queen. September 27th, the 2025 Maplewood homecoming dance commenced from 6:30 to 9:30. Students greatly enjoyed their time. The Shirley Temples were also the cherries on top. Overall, homecoming was truly a success. On Wednesday, October 8th, the Mapwood and Cogington girls volleyball teams came together for the 16th annual Dig for a Cure match in

014which they recognized and honored individuals that have been impacted by not only breast cancer but cancer in general. On October 9th, violent blood donation paid us a visit at Maplewood. On this day, 11 students donated their blood. It is important to recognize that this is a selfless act that will save many lives. I myself donated my blood in hopes to better the life of another person. Had this blood drive been on a day with slightly less athletic competitions, I am certain that many more students would have shared their blood. Before joining you tonight, I supported my teammates of Maplewood Cross Country as we hosted Rocky Grove. Additionally, last Tuesday we were joined by Cochrington to celebrate senior night. This night celebrated three seniors, Joey Granite, Zachary McGowan, and myself. Tonight we celebrate the Maplewood girls

015volleyball senior night. Tonight we'll recognize seniors Brie Neelying, Miley Crawford, Samantha Sanford, and all state setter Maggie Means. After tonight's meeting, I plan to head back to my home at Maplewood and not not not only to support my fellow seniors, but Maplewood Junior Senior High School as a whole. Finally, this coming Saturday, Matewood will host a girls varsity volleyball tournament, and I encourage you all to be there, not only to watch some amazing high school volleyball, but also to come visit me at the concession stand. I promise you won't be disappointed with any of the Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> A joy to have all the areas Next up, we have our PAEA representative, Debbie Miller. >> I think I should bid for a different spot than following all those good

016kids. Very proud of them. Good evening, members of the board, administrators, teachers, and families of Penrest. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name, as he said, Debbie Miller, and I'm a proud president of our PAEA, which is our Penrest Teachers and Professionals Association. I'm here to discuss the new policy and the with the student cell phone usage. I know that this change is not popular with all of our students, and I understand their frustration. However, I'm here to speak in favor of this policy, not because it's convenient, but because it's a valuable teaching moment for our young people, one that extends far beyond the classroom. Life is full of rules that and policies and things that we don't like and we don't agree with. As adults, we navigate mandatory work

017procedures, community guidelines, and traffic laws. We do this not because it's always our first choice, but because we understand that structure is necessary for a functioning society. These new cell phone guidelines are no different. They serve a purpose to foster a more focused learning environment to reduce distractions and to give every student a fair and equal opportunity to learn without interruption. This isn't about punishment. It's about preparation. By asking our students to follow a policy they may dislike, we are teaching them fundamental lessons about responsibility and self-discipline. We are giving them the chance to practice a skill that they will need for the rest of their lives. The ability to defer instant gratification for the sake of a long-term goal. The long-term goal in this case is a quality education and the respect of their

018peers and teachers. So tonight, as you consider changes to the student handbook regarding book bags, we applaud a similar vein of reason. Does the implementation of such a change create an environment of safety and security for education not only to occur, but to flourish? Like the cell phone policy, there may be opposition, but is it the right thing to do? One of my favorite authors, CS Lewis, said it best. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no no one is watching. Feeling safe and secure at school brings me to my final thoughts. A fellow lifelong Cambridge Springs Blueevil and I were talking this weekend reflecting on the memories of Tom Hopson and his passing. Tom was born and raised in Cambridge, returned here to teach health and PE for the next 35 years, to

019coach basketball for almost as many, and to promote athletics as the athletic director for 27 years. He really was Mr. Cambridge Springs. On a personal note, he's the reason we expanded girls basketball. I know I'm old. Back into the day, we didn't have a senior or we didn't have a junior high program. you had to just kind of start in ninth grade. And that definitely made a personal impact on me as a basketball player and one of the games I love to play. And that was not something that Tom's full plate needed with his own kids, other teams he coached or starting the Cavis um ambulance system that helped our rural town. I bring this whole in the hearts of Cambridge because of the rest of the conversation with my friend through tears. said, "Who

020is going to make sure that the kids of today have what we had with Mr. Hobson and others? We were so blessed to have a school where we belonged, a town and a community where we were known and where we belonged. We were so lucky to grow up safe and also secure. We had a place. We had an identity." "What is going to happen to these kids if that is threatened or taken away?" said my friend. I will say it again. What we have in Penrest with our three distinct communities in which the schools are the center, the real hub, if you will, is special. And the students that get the chance to grow up here have opportunities both in the classroom and on the field or stage or even the newsroom. They're blessed and

021they know there is no way that you can put a price or say that it's too expensive. The way I see it is we can't afford not to preserve it for the next generation. Our kids deserve it. This community, myself included, were likely put here for such a time as this. Just like Esther, maybe we were afraid and thought that personal consequences might suffer. But that's not a reason to stand by and let the innocent, our children, be denied the chance to embrace and to be embraced and to be known by their community and their school. They deserve a Mr. Hobson world. Thank you. [Applause] Next we have Katie and Nicole from Nutrition Inc. [Music] >> Thank you all for allowing us just a few minutes of your time tonight. We are so excited to

022be back for another round of the nutrition group at Penrest School District. We are really excited because TNG turned 50 years old this year and that's a big milestone for us and we've been with Penrest 35 of those 50 years. That's pretty incredible and we hope that we get to spend the next 50 with you. I mean not me personally. I'm hoping I'm not working that long but um maybe 35. We'll give you 35 more years. So u but one of the ways that we stay alive and you know thriving all of this time is we believe in innovator die. And so what we have done this year is we've brought in some really fun new foods for the kids to try. You got to try some last year. You were in like on the

023inn last year, right? You tried the the woodles with our ramen salad and those will actually be featured as a ramen broth bowl this year. Uh we also brought you the tortoillini last year and that was that's new this year as well. And then today we brought you a sample of our orange chicken. This product, I don't know if who's tasted it, but if you ask me, it's just like eating the real orange chicken, right? You would not believe that this is school food. So, um, Right. >> Is it good? >> It was actually >> awesome. I love it. >> I'm glad you're back, too. >> Good. >> You guys also had Chick-fil-A last year, too. We brought those. >> We still feature that every month at the high schools. They love >> um and

024so we're doing all kinds of really fun things. One of our focuses this year is we used to have a program called TNG Global and it ran for a really long time and then it just kind of became stagnant and it needed a refresh. So we took a few years u and have relaunched that program this year and we actually launched it big time. So not only did TNG global come back out with new countries and new recipes, but we have also launched it at an elementary level with nutrition expedition. And so I just love the name. It just sounds so cool. Sounds like a TV show from my childhood. But we are doing all kinds of fun recipes that feature something from those countries. We're decorating. We're sharing a little bit of their culture.

025We have one where they get to learn how to use chopsticks. So, just really trying to open the kids eyes to what is out there in the world outside of our tiny little towns here in Crawford County and getting them to try new flavors and new spices and all kinds of things. And so, um, we have a lot in store for all of you. And I'm going to let Nicole tell you a little bit about what's coming up soon so that maybe you can get it on your calendar and join us. Hi, I'm Nicole. Um, tomorrow we're actually doing a wellness Wednesday and we're featuring carrot and raisin salad. Um, towards the end of the month on uh October 28th, we're doing our Take Nutrition Global with Thailand. So, we're going to have, like Katie

026said, the big decorations and beef bulgogi bowls. >> Um, >> don't make that face Patty. It's delicious. >> It's wonderful. Oh my gosh. >> Don't let the weird names scare you away. The bowls are wonderful. We actually um featured this. I was working one day at Bethesda and um this is on the menu and I had the same face. I was like, I can't even say it. Like I don't Right. Uh and so I had everybody try it in one bite and they were all sold. They're like, "Yep, that's what I want for lunch." So I I highly encourage all of you to come try it. We'll deliver it personally to Patty. >> We want to report on it. Um, on election day, we're doing a select and elect at Cambridge Elementary, which was a

027huge hit last year at Seagertown Elementary, and we let the students, they'll walk right past me, and they'll pick their favorite breakfast item, and then likely Katie and I will have a giant donut day because they all pick fresh dip donuts, and it's bonkers, but it's a lot of fun. Um, we're also doing on November 6th, um, Take Nutrition Global with Peru. Um, and then November 13th is Paw Patrol Day at Maplewood Elementary. And then November 18th, we're having an apple cider popup. And November 20th is our Thanksgiving harvest meal. >> So, lots of things. We hope to see you all there. Uh, is there any questions that I can answer for anybody? >> Thank you. >> Excellent. Thank you. [Music] I have a just a couple updates. I I got told my team has

028a lot of different updates tonight. So, um probably my most important one is is the book bag update. Um so, we are making a recommendation to the board. We've talked we actually been discussing this um told you we'd be bringing it to the October meeting for a vote. Um so we are recommending that all book bags, backpacks, duffel bags, tote bags, any other similar carrying bags must be stored in student lockers upon arrival at school, may not be carried by the students throughout the school day. Um they can may access their lockers between classes as needed to retrieve the materials for the next day. Um and so again, we're always looking and to continue to layer on our safety concerns in the school and in the building. Um this was something that we've been discussing

029both at the board level um with the with the teachers union. Um and and so again, continuing to look at that. Um so this is the time I wanted to bring it up for any further discussion from the board. Um, any thoughts at this time? >> You talking just on the book bag, right? >> On the book bags. Yes. >> I have something but not on the book bags. >> Uh, I think it needs to be discussed. I I'm I'm for Ella. I did hear you. I did hear what you said. Okay. But I I I think it's something that needs to be done. it it's for all the students. Uh [Music] but safety has to be our top priority. And you're right though, the the metal detectors are there. You know, maybe that's something

030else we need to look at too. I don't know. I did hear what you had to say. >> And just to I mean, we have started going random on the metal detectors. One of the one of the issues is just the staff. >> Yeah. because staffing to do that every every morning >> and that would people kids wouldn't get to class till 9:00. You're trying to do every single kid every morning. >> We did it. I was in a district that did do it every morning. We literally had 12 staff in two section two different doorways. Um so it it's very very difficult. Um >> especially if it goes off because somebody hasn't. >> Yeah. So >> belt buckle. >> I love the idea. And we are doing I think believe Rob's out here. We

031are doing random in each of the build all three buildings. We we simply come up with uh um some sort of criteria for the day and then those students go through. We don't announce that at all. Um and so we're going to continue to to do that as much as possible. Um and so that's something that we are doing. So I did appreciate those comments also. Thank you for those. Uh and if we had an ability to do it every day, we absolutely would. Um um so and and we we continually talk on how to how to get to that point. So >> yeah, I would like to add we have my concern and I know I I was a proponent for this. Um and I heard exactly what you said uh and I understand

032the concern and there was other concerns about the size of the lockers. Uh I hate to talk like this, but I mean I survived uh with those small lockers. Uh, and I think we had more books, uh, more big textbooks. But what you do have, which I think is underutilized, and this is just a word to the administrators who are listening, is you have some, uh, locker room lockers for the larger duffel bags for the athletes, uh, the coaches, the administrators need to have conversations how to utilize those lockers. This is not a you have no access to your book bag at all. Your book bag is in your locker. You can access your locker at any given uh, in between classes. Uh, I I agree with Mr. Brown. I mean, it's a that outweighs

033the s, you know, the safety outweighs all of that to me. Um, and that's on my conscience. Uh, so I think that we could have um, you know, uh, like uh, Mrs. Miller said, you know, we we have policies that at first can hit us in the face like, oh, this isn't going to work. This isn't going to work. And then we can we can navigate. we we'll we'll put it into place and I think we have a pretty open superintendent. Your teachers are pretty open. We have a pretty open board. If if there's issues that come forward along the way, we can have those discussions going forward. I don't think anytime we pass a policy like this, it's always this is the way it is and we're moving on. I think we're always active

034listening to make the students comfortable and weigh that with the student safety. [Music] My only question would be like what feedback have you got from administration? Are they ready to have this implemented by what do they say the 27th? >> Um I don't know. >> Yes, we're we'll put that out. It'll be a couple weeks. Um we've been talking about it since the beginning of the year. Um >> I mean like kids all have lockers. They know where they are, how to get into them. >> Yes. And like Brandy was saying, I know, not to sound cliche, but we we did it. I went to Maplewood. I understand the lockers are small, but I I know like, you know, with our volleyball bags, we have the opportunity in the morning to take them to the

035room to be locked up. Like if there are things that need to happen, are we giving the school enough time for those things to happen with the coaches, with whatever? >> Yes. >> We we we've been discussing it. We told them to think outside the box, especially with the smaller lockers because we do have extra rooms now also available. So, we've we've told them to think outside and uh um and we told them after the vote here tonight, we would further discuss that. So, I'm I'm very comfortable that it'll be up and ready to go in each of the buildings. I think there's another big positive here and educating the the students to prepare better and to uh make their time between classes and to better plan. Nobody likes changes, but this will force them

036to plan what books, what materials they need to bring from class to class throughout the day. So, it's it's a part of education. So to get this straight too, the the clear bags is I don't know >> the clear bags is not in this recommendation at this point and that's something that's something that we can look at in going into the future. Um but recommendation from the administration at this point is not clear bags. >> Is there a requirement to ensure that everybody has a lock or is that just their own personal risk? Um, we do not I do not believe we have locks at all three schools for everybody. So, they will have to get locks. >> Why did I say something to that? >> Is that a we leave that up to the

037students or do we require they have locks? >> What's that? >> Do we require that they have locks or is that just up to the student? >> That would be up to the students. >> They want to log it. >> That's what I they have a nice selection at the hardware. I checked this weekend. >> I was just asking. And we would um we have some like if kids come and and ask I mean we will try to help out as much as possible. We have some but we don't have enough for everybody. >> Okay. >> I think I know where y >> also and I I don't mean to interrupt your meeting with this but there's cameras now like nobody I I mean knock on wood right no one really tries it anymore because

038like the upstairs hall is all on camera. So, as soon as like if Ellis said, "Hey, my locker is U27 and I had whatever a million dollars in there, right? And it's gone." I mean, you just the principles have the ability to backtrack on the camera. >> You know, it was there first period. It's not now. And >> I'm just saying >> our schools are safer now. >> Yes. It does not like they don't even really I don't want to say they can't have a lock, but they don't really need it. >> We've used them in the past. Uh, I can verify that cuz my granddaughter had something stolen and Dr. Glass Pool went and pulled up the video and they found the individual and took care of it. So, >> it's like >> my

039only other thing is I had I just wanted to share with the board. I had the opportunity to um present um at state budget press conference um state capital building um encouraging the state legislature to please um pass a please get to work and pass a budget. um as Kristen will be sharing here a little bit here under her report um you know about where we stand with the budget but um and I would still encourage our legislative body to to do that and uh come together and and work and and see where we're getting it we're getting to that point and uh so I did want to share that also. So um at this point I'm going to turn this over to Mrs. Feelely for the education update. >> I have a few more

040things on my list. Um, first of all, tonight I want to welcome Melanie Baker. She is a new teacher that was hired earlier this year, but is actually starting with us um next week. So, welcome Melanie. Starting at Percy's house next week. So, we're excited to have you here. Um, and then we have been researching at the board's request um graduation recognition options for the district and u Mrs. Henry is going to give an overview of the results that we have found. Um, she's been working with staff, students, and surrounding districts and has a presentation. Do you want to present or what do you want to do? >> I could do that. I also emailed it to you. I thought that you were up there. So, I can find it whichever easiest way. It's just

041attached somewhere. >> There you go. >> Thank you. >> Not the whole way. Just so you guys are comfortable, we'll be doing >> Good evening. Thank you all for being here. >> Thank you. >> My name is Danielle Henry. Like she said, I'm your coordinator of curriculum services. So, one of the things I was very excited to learn was that you all are interested in student recognition. I think we're on the same page. I'm very happy to hear that you're asking about validictorian saludiatoran recognition. Um, and to that, yes, let's do it. Right. But I would be remiss if I didn't share a bit of additional research and information to give you a full picture and then we could go forward with that discussion from there. Um so Mrs. Phy, if you could go to

042slide three, I believe. So we started this process about a year ago. It was in the fall. Um the first thing that I did was talk with other curriculum directors across our um IU5 and we put out a poll and we asked what is everybody doing? Um the next piece of this was looking at college admissions, talking to universities, representatives, admissions offices, what were their standards and preferences? And then finally in October, we put out a survey to all of our faculty and our students to see where we were at within our district. Go ahead. Um, I know this is tiny to read. I don't expect you to read it, but out of some 450 student results, the it was overwhelmingly clear. Students want recognition. They want to know like that pat on the back,

043that good job. They want to stand up at their graduation ceremony and be recognized. They want to know who is the top of their class. They want to celebrate their peers. If anybody would like access to those students, um that student survey, I could provide that for you at a later time. Uh we won't get into that too much tonight, but overall, overwhelmingly when you read through them, they want this. They really do. Um go ahead. >> Thank you. So, I did put together a list of everybody around us and this is what they're doing. I'm not saying this is what we have to do, but I think that it's important for you all to know. All of these districts around us that you're seeing are using a Latin honor system for student recognition. The

044only three who currently are not include ourselves and then Northeast and Connot School District. Both Northeast and Conat are moving to this by the end of this school year. In fact, I just spoke with Mr. Jordina the other day out at Conott. They're going there. So this is where everybody around us is at right now. And I think that's important to note because there are some good reasons why. Go ahead. So the Latin honor system, which I'll get into a little bit more specifically shortly here, but I want to talk about the benefits. So not only did we say what what are you doing, but also why and how is that working? Overwhelmingly, every curriculum director superintendent said it's the best thing we ever did moving to this system. Um, it led students to take

045more classes that are in their best interest. When they were only recognizing validictorian and saludiatoran, some programs were harmed. For example, I might not take a band class because instead during that period, I would have to take an AP bio in order to get into that. Maybe I'm not going to be a biology major in college, but band got me through school. So, some programs were harmed because of that competition. Not that the Latin Honors is not competitive. It certainly is. So, to be clear, there's still competition. Um, a lot of stress around being the top and the second to the top. Um, moving to Latin Honors removes that stress is what they report. They reported that the students were more collaborative. They're competing with themselves, not with each other. And they agreed that it

046was one of the best moves that they've made. Again, I have access to that survey if anybody's interested in reading the actual responses I just summarized for tonight. Go ahead, please. So, most recently in September, I went around to our three buildings. I talked with all of our high school teachers, principles, guidance counselors, explained to them this system. I surveyed them. And you can see here by this chart that 87% overwhelmingly think that it is worth looking at the Latin honors system for our student recognition. There were many teachers that said, "Can we do both? Can we do validictorian as well?" We'll come to that in just a moment. Um, there were a couple people who said that neither of these will appropriately recognize it. Their concern is that our student information might have some

047inaccuracies. Um, those are valid concerns. Mr. Lily is going to get into some more of that later when he talks about our student information system as well. Uh, you can, um, the only thing here, I'm not going to read the definition. And that's what's on this slide. But basically, I want you to realize that this system, validictorian, saludiatoran, honors two students out of a graduating class. There's two students. Um, Latin honors will recognize many more students while still remaining competitive, having that competitive edge. Um, one of the curriculum directors, I thought this was interesting, noted that when they had validictorian saludiatoran, a lot of students shut down. Um, I'm gonna use Miss Ella, if she doesn't mind, as an example. I can tell you from experience, Ella is a top student. I' I've taught Ella.

048I've known her a long time. If it's myself up against Ella for validictorian, I quit now. She's going to win, right? I am not going to beat Ella in a graduating class. So, if we were to have the Latin honor system, Ella still gets that recognition, but I can still get something on my resume, my college application, and scholarships as well. Um, go ahead. So, the Latin honor system, this is how it breaks down. I'm not going to read this to you, but basically, we start with this chart. So, the um kum lad is a GPA of 3.5 to 3.7. Next one up 37 to 39 and so forth. Suma would be your 4.0 or higher. So we're looking at the students grade point average. We're looking at their class rank and we're still able

049to identify the students at the top if that's what you choose to go with. But in this system, you might have the top 20 to 30% of your students earning between a 35 and a 37 to graduate. What an honor to have 20% of a graduating class putting that on a college application, putting that in for scholarships. So, we're recognizing more students on that stage, recognizing more of those families and still having that competitive edge and keeping that rigor and keeping what's important for the academic side. Go ahead. Some of the benefits um we're recognizing multiple high achievers, not just one or two at the very top. We're reducing the competition among the students and more students can earn. Going back to if if it were Ella and I competing, I know Ella's going to

050beat me, but I'm still going to keep working because I could still get into those ranks. Do you see what I'm saying? I could still have something for a scholarship application. and I could still have something for college admissions. Um, more students are going to be motivated to continue earning high. Um, and more students are going to be be more willing to take those risks and take classes that they're interested in. And really, we have a lot of great programs for our kids. We want them to take advantage of the programs that we already have, right? So, that's going to help with that. Go ahead. Um, so I did some research. Um I'm looking at what our college is asking for. Um they are looking at the holistic view. They want to know what activities

051are you involved in? What volunteer organizations are you work working with? Are you involved in your local church, your community? They want to know what was your GPA? What were your rigor? They're looking at the classes that you're taking. I literally was on the phone today with somebody from Penn West University, Edinburgh, and she said that their college application does not even ask for class rank. She said, "Yes, there are some things that are tied to being the top of the class, but we're looking at that overall view. Any of those students in your 20%, they're going to be automatic admissions." So, I thought that was interesting to note. So, we're still putting that honor onto those students and helping them get into college with this system. Um, some people argue there are scholarships out

052there simply just for validictorian, but also there are scholarships out there just for um, women with a a median income level in their family. There there are a lot of individual scholarships out there for a lot of people. A lot of them are tied with where you're going. Um, what what you choose to accept. Are you living on campus? Are you not living on campus? So there are a lot of other pieces of that. Um so while that can be true, there are contingencies with that. Um very few uh schools are asking for a generic are you the validictorian. They just don't ask that question for the most part. Go ahead. So this was my conversation. I wrapped this up today with our an admissions counselor at Penn West. She said they're looking at academic

053activities. No class rank. I've already said that they want transcripts. They want to know what is on your transcript. What classes have you taken? Is this showing rigor? Is this giving you or is this showing a full picture of who you are as an individual rather than just are you the top of your class because you did school well. Um the other thing I haven't put into this slide, but we have so many programs. We have kids that are earning a CNC certificate going into machining. We have kids going through the tech program. We have kids in our online cyber programs that are on a different pathway. Comparing apples to oranges makes it difficult to really hone in on those top two. And so this is going to get all of those students and really

054honor those. And we're talking about our community. We're we we just tooured the Alex Center in Meville um with our teachers for inservice day. We're targeting those students and really recognizing those achievements just as well because those are very important too. Um go ahead. That was okay. So, the timeline, if we were to look at recognizing Latin honors system, you can see where we're at on this timeline, seeking board approval. That's that second box over. We could push that out. We could recognize many of our students this school year at the end of this year. So, they could walk out of this year graduating and have this on their resume, have this on their applications. I graduated kumlad or suma whatever that is. If we were to go with reinstating our validictorian saludiatoran policy, we

055would have to start with clean records to be fair um to make sure that everything's accurate. When we're talking about a student information system, we have some valid questions that we need to look at with that. If we were to start with clean records in fall of next year, we cannot fairly accurately recognize validictorian until 2030. So I want you to think about that. So if you really want the vow sal, absolutely. We love recognizing our students and we can talk about that. Could we possibly look at honoring both? Could we make this work that way? Or would we just go with the Latin honor system, which is what everybody around us is currently doing? Nobody around us is doing the validictorian saludiatoran. These are the reasons why. Um, what questions can I answer for

056you all? >> Not really a question, just some comments. Um, when I first got on the board, >> this was like my this was my number one. >> Yeah. >> To do this. I brought it me and Sean sort of got on the board at the same time >> and I brought this to Mr. Ford. >> Excellent. >> Um, >> and I applaud you for all your work. Thank you. Um, I'm sad that it went away for the years that it did go away because I believe in recognizing our kids. I don't believe in participation trophies, but I believe in, you know, and the top kids, you know, and I asked him about the validictorian, but I didn't know anything about this other stuff. I was definitely nowhere close to validictorian. So, >> I was

057going to ask was anybody here validictorian? >> Anyone? Saludiatorans, anybody? I was not either. Uh just curious, Mr. Ford, were you? >> No, I will comment. Go >> ahead. I I am fully fully behind this. Um I I say yes right now. I the fact that we can start it this year. I am fully behind this. This is awesome. Thank you for your work. Um yeah, I just I know me and him have been talking about it for years. sort of um just glad it's coming because it's seems like it's taking a long time but it's I didn't think it was something I thought it was something we could just say yeah let's start doing it again but didn't you know >> I didn't realize that but now I do and um but yeah thank

058you I I I hope that we just we get this going now >> Ryan are you referring to Latin or Val >> Latin >> okay yeah >> I said I didn't know about anything else >> so we were we were we were I was really surprised at this when she brought the data back I I was like, "Wow, I didn't know that." >> Yeah. Explain the clean >> until 2030. >> So, in our student information system, there have been a lot of hands over the years. There were a lot of different programs that happened after COVID. Um, student records, we have seen inaccuracies in our system. Um, for example, if a teacher forgets to enter a grade, that could affect somebody. And so when you're talking validictorian, it often comes down to a decimal point.

059U many of our teachers will tell you stories of, you know, parents coming in in tears. Why is this person winning over my son because that teacher did one thing but another did something different? And you're comparing apples and oranges. So when I look at our system, I'm concerned. The other thing to consider is our pathways. So, we have students in our cyber program. Um, to directly compete with those outside cyers, we have a different credit pathway. How do we compare a student who's earning 25.5 credits versus 21.5? That's a valid comparison. We're talking a a difference of four courses. But if they're in a manufacturing program, if they're coming out with the CNC, that's where the inaccuracies start to really. We literally just started our program with PIT last school year. We have expanded

060that this year to all three buildings, not just one. We're really excited about making that happen right now. Actually, we're in the talking process. >> The that just went into Power School last year. The the other piece to that, the reason that it pushes out to 2030 is you'd have to start with the incoming freshman next year so you get the that incoming classes four years, >> the clean record for the four years. Correct. Correct. Yeah. >> Yeah. If you throw it in now, you could have someone say, "Well, I didn't know this was a thing." I would have tried hard >> AP. I would have taken an AP course. Um, >> I agree. I I gave the anecdote. I mean, they pushed me through college to try to get that recognition. I wasn't going

061to be top of my class, but I knew if I got that label. Um, college applications, look at that. Val seems to be antiquated. Four years down the road, it may be even more antiquated. Um, I like that you brought up like tech kids who otherwise couldn't take those weighted courses or maybe their weighted courses are limited, but they can still compete to get kum laad, magnaum laad, sumakum laad. Um, I think that that that was that was a good sticking point to for me. I I agree with the Latin system. >> And going back to Mrs. File's point, we would have to start fresh next year because, for example, Ella didn't even know that she and I were in competition tonight when we walked in here. So [Music] >> she's already winning with the

062classes she's in right now. But she it wouldn't be fair, you know, from a parent perspective. How can I say, "Oh, by the way," and then suddenly next week we're going to have parents calling and saying, "Oh, we need to change all of their classes. They're in ninth grade. >> That's not fair. We can't do that to families." >> Could the administrator still talk to like the top five and say, you know, you're top of your class. Would you like the opportunity to speak at graduation? >> Yes. And and when we look at that, I've looked at other schools, other districts, what they're doing. There's a mix out there. Um I know when I graduated back in the dark ages, we had our senior six. It didn't matter where you fell class rank or val.

063There were six students that had the opportunity to talk. Um other school districts have asked for their students to vote. Some are asking for teacher votes. Some are letting students speak, anybody who's in there. So we can we could formulate that together if we come to a decision of what we're doing and we're happy to shape that policy for this school year if you all decide to make that happen. So that's a balance question as well. What what else can I >> Were they actually asked in the survey uh are you for allergy and saludiator? >> Yes. >> Okay. And parents were a part of the survey. >> So we have not yet pushed that out to parents. The the reason we were elected some of us is because parents said bring back balance south.

064Now I agree with you that having more students recognized in honors in the Latin honors is wonderful but what's wrong with having a number one and a number two? And uh when I very first came on the board and I very first met with Shawn, he gave me every negative aspect that you presented tonight. So it's a very persuasive. So I I understood that you didn't want >> Yeah. And but I was under the understanding that we were working towards balance but now on this presentation it's very negative based against balance out >> but you said that you could talk about doing both. >> Yes. >> Because I mean you're talking about Penn West. They're not really the highest school in the land. And when you get into more competitive schools where it's more difficult,

065being number one >> would help you >> in getting into a more competitive school, I believe. >> Um, and as colleges become less relative and tech schools become are rising, um, they're not afraid of competition in the tech schools. There's it's okay if you're a number one. Uh, I I fully love Latin honors, but I believe there should be only one and two. We should be able to do a combination of the two >> because what changed my mind, Brian, was, you know, and I'm allowed to change my mind. >> Yeah. um that is this an adult decision for kids or what's the best decision for kids? >> Well, it was 87.3%. Right. >> And kids have evolved in classes and what you just said has evolved. >> Less than 50% are going to college.

066>> So now they're going to programs like ALEC >> and they're going into vote and they're taking different courses. So now how do you weight those courses to come up with a vow s >> and that's when she brought the data back I was like >> how are we going to do that >> and voters who got us on board they want >> that's where that's who I'm representing >> that's where I'm involved but the parents probably didn't know >> they didn't know about the lat against Latin >> and I can tell you the parents I talked to other school districts from people I worked with in four and stuff, their kids have Latin honors and I they are so excited that their kids are getting the recognition for their grade point average >> and

067the one father that he drives mixer but he said his daughter has been so much or she's enjoying the school so much more the way it's set up with the last daughters it's less pressure and he never heard of it either but I think The Latin honors are fine. It's just why are we afraid of competition? >> Well, this is competition work. I know the administration has to do a lot of work in tracking everything else. >> You keep saying there's no competition. It is competition. >> They all get three places to compete in. >> And I for one been sitting on that low tech board for a lot of years. And I'm going to tell you right now, I've seen a lot of them tech kids uh walk away with some huge scholarships towards

068college. >> Yep. Exactly. I'm on the same board. >> But I still was on I mean there was one student out there to >> teched into cosmetology. She got over and above what she needed for a full ride scholarship just through college and the the val wouldn't help her anymore. So, are we afraid? >> No. >> To have our kids face stress? >> No. >> Because when they get out in the world, are they going to be stress free? >> No. I was stressed in college. I was trying to make Sumakun loud. I was extremely stressed in college. Um, I was a B I was BC student >> and when I realized that I can get something and I can get something for that whether I'm number one or number two. >> Supposed to hear

069that. >> Uh, no. I was stressed. And you're you're stressed at your own level. How many um going back to you you made some comments um discrepinary comments about Penn West. How many other you surveyed other universities as well applications? You talked to application boards. >> So college applications until you create accounts and register to apply you can't get access to those. So Penn West was the one I felt was the most relevant to us because it's home. It's close. It's where the majority of our students are going. Not to say that they're not going out. We do have students attending University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, some of those more elite schools like you had referenced. I felt that Penn West was a very close representative for us, so that's why I've highlighted them. Yeah.

070>> Um they have two other branch campuses. It's the same for them. Slippery Rock aligns with them as well. Um I spoke with a person at Ganon University. she stressed to me over and over, it's the holistic view. >> Um, and Ganon, as you know, is a uh private um institution. It's a great school. >> Um, and it was the holistic. So to say, Mr. Custard, I agree. Our parents, our voters, you're right. It is what they want. >> Our parents and our voters are my age. When I graduated high school, that's what we did. it was vow south and my best friend was a validictorian. I'll never let her live it down. Um, but to this day, I can't say that it matters, but until I researched this and learned what others were doing,

071I wouldn't have known. And I think it's important for us to inform our parents as well. So, >> that's probably what I'm saying is it would be great to have the Latin honors, but >> incorporate some kind of vowel. Yes, >> that's why I mentioned introducing those who finish top of their class to be a speakers because I think that's a great honor. >> Sure. >> Um >> uh I do worry about, you know, how that can kill programs. You're right. No one's taking an art class. No one's taking a tech class. No one's taking those uh unweighted courses, >> right? >> Um >> if they're in competition in the in the top, they're going to take um a lot of the AP courses. Then you worry um about kids that move in. we have

072a higher percentage of kids moving into the district. They may have had more opportunities, more weighted classes moving into the district. Um, I can imagine that's a headache. >> Mhm. >> And that's but the and the thing that you focus on was that the kids can take the arts and the music and still achieve their goals, the grade, whatever. >> And through the Latin honors, you should be able to do that. >> Add in a first and second. We don't have to specifically go by the val model. >> Any other questions for me? >> Nope. Sorry. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you all. >> Thanks. Thanks. Appreciate it. [Music] >> Great. You're also on my list. Uh you'll notice um for um action items tonight, we have some athletic travel for girls wrestling.

073We have resources for approval, a lot of guest speakers from local businesses and agencies on a variety of topics including everyday life skills like um basic car repair, types of insurance, job opportunities, supporting raven friends, safe driving choices, um typing skills, and several donated books. We also have affiliation agreements with Liberty University for potential incoming pre-ervice teachers. We have an agreement with regional behavioral health consultants to consult on an individual cases with significant behavioral needs. We have um I also wanted to invite everybody to our family expo. Thursday night, October 16th is from 5:30 to 7:00 at Crawford County Fairgrounds. Supposed to be a nice night this year. I'm excited about that. And then we had our professional development day was yesterday. So our faculty spent the day um with a focus on literacy, science,

074math and industry part industry and safety. We did take um a group of staff around to the career and tech center, the Alex Center and um hit Titusville for some tours and that went really well. >> Any questions for me? I'm gonna let Mr. Lily talk about the system even though it is under my section. >> Thank you. Um last year our current um student information system power school had a data breach and through the course of their investigation and the remediation and ultimately their conclusion of it. Uh we had we lost all faith, trust and um confidence in doing business with them. So, I was tasked with going out and finding a replacement student information system uh for power school. So, I will preface this all by saying this would not take effect till

075the 26 27 school year, but we need to start now moving forward with the new CIS. So, it's actually configured properly. Everything is put in place because my understanding is when we went from what when we went from Prooft to Power School, it was very short time frame rushed. some things weren't configured properly and we're we're suffering the consequences yearly. So I I I vetted six different student information systems from around ones that were being used around here and other ones and in the course of that I reached out to um CSIU which is central IU unit because they had they had a a a student information system that they were promoting. Well, what they were actually introducing at this when I talked to them was synergy. Okay? And that's what I'm bringing forward to

076you today because of their um met all our needs as far as ease of use. uh one platform, their support model, it really like tripped all, you know, checked all the boxes for us of what we were looking for and resolved a lot of the issues that we are seeing with P school where instead of having a lot of different um programs that P school has bought up like school messenger and chalk and they bought all these other ones and they have them all under one umbrella, but they really don't play well together. They have this background data synchronization that for lack of better terms looks like a spider where this one we're looking at is one database. So when you enter if you enter anything in the field like D kind of talked about

077like if a teacher adds a grade or you know if one one school does one thing and another school does another it doesn't always look the same in Power School just because there's different databases that are being synced in the background. Synergy has one database in the background. every information is there. Additionally, why we're bringing this forward to you is this um CIS actually has modules that can be added on it. Uh we are not what you're seeing there is the basic profit, but it does include like an e-haul pass that we all we're paying additional for. We don't have to pay that anymore. We are pay there's like a health module you could add. There are other things so we can add to this and actually save money in the future. Um, so that

078being said, we looked at all those things and when we came with synergy, cost was not a factor in anything we looked at. So when we got done and we decided this was um what we wanted to we presented it to our business manager, we presented it to principles, we presented to guidance counselors, our secretaries, a lot of the major stakeholders and all of them were very impressed with what this would do and how they felt that it would make their jobs easier. And quite frankly, I think it'll make the tech department's job much easier in trying to support it when it's one single pane of glass that we have to look at, one database that we have to try to keep straight out. So, but good news is once I ask for the cost,

079we will save year1 $15,000 on the system and that includes our startup fee. So there are some startup fees for you'll see like for spinning up a new data you have cloud storage they will take all our they will take all our data out of our current um student information system they will put it in theirs and they will run in parallel for a year while they actually do all this migration back and forth. Um next year that number goes up to $25,000 that we save because we don't have to pay that starter fee. We're paying $12,000 in fees. Um, so and I might want to add one thing to our mic my my final dig on power school. So forgive me for my what we got in what we got in exchange for all

080the heartache and grief that we think is they raised our rate $7,000 and basically you know to pay for their their resolution to their breach in my mind. That's my opinion. It's not the district's pay model. So I I reached out to them and asked them that question. Why are why are we being held with the bill for you having to pay pay a ransomware? And my my basic response from them was this is the fee. Do you want it or not? And quite frankly, they shut us off July one as we were still trying to negotiate a different price. So we had to either pay or not have assist. So that's the kind of people we're dealing with. So that's what synergy. Here's the other big the huge thing about this is their support

081model. Powers school charges us by the minute for support. So if we need any tech support for them, we buy it by the minute with Synergy unlimited free tech support. And you actually talk to a US citizen in central Sesana, one of their employees that that does that does the tech support. It actually empower Yep. Here's my little spiel here. our our you know our slogan is empowering lifetime learners. This I feel will empower our teachers, our administrators, our guidance counselors to be able to use this more and not be as reliant on us to take care of something for them. You know, they can actually there can be designated people in every building that can contact CSIU. Um they have unlimited phone support. Anybody can have you know put in a tech ticket. the

082proposal there. It says 10, but they said, you know, we can take that out if you want. We just say that so that I could if there's an outage, they don't want 100 teachers calling, but ultimately any teacher could create a pet ticket for for synergy if there's having an issue. Um, so that's my spiel. That's why we'll bring this forward. I'm very confident that it will make my life a lot easier and hopefully the teaching staff and administrators as well. and it cleans up a lot of the the discrepancies in what database it's pulling fields from. Um because if it's not entered in one and that database looks at a different field, it doesn't get pulled. It it's very convoluted. So that's why we're that's why we're recommended synergy. >> Are annual fees locked

083in then? >> There are no annual fees. >> Okay. There's nothing period. No, we pay we pay a flat rate >> for per student rate for assist. >> So, and the thing there is actually $15.99 a student is what we pay. >> Huh. >> Every year we pay every year. Yes. This is something. >> Okay. But I'm So that can't change that 15. >> Um >> do they lock that in? >> They lock that in. They actually that price is quoted as being what they see possibly being their 20. Um that's a 2627 rate. So that's locked in for next year if it goes up. Yes. It's not it's not a fixed rate for the the period of time, but neither was P, >> right? >> Um and we are currently using schooly as our

084learning management system. Okay, there is a fee for that because they will integrate that well into their system. They they have experience with handling schooly. It'll integrate with them. It'll This will give us the opportunity to clean up some of the database issues with the syncing between Power School and Schooly, but it'll make it be work much better as well. >> So, you're talking my language at least with free service unlimited and instead of spending more, we're saving 15,000 and 25,000. And so, I that's my voters's language. Yeah, they will come on they will actually through the course of migration they will actually either through virtually or coming on site say we're going to be talking about a module that's going to be attendance we they will actually come on site and they will actually

085sit down with the secretaries here's how you take attendance here's how here's how this works when we get to scheduling they'll bring the principles in when you know whatever they're not going to like day you know June 30th throw this at you and say here's how it works it's not a cookie cutter approach it's actually going to be designed how we want it to be designed. So as you said as a complement is one database but what what is the backup when one goes down when the one goes down and you have some tech problems what's >> well it it is I mean obviously there's a one database but there's actually probably multiple copy they have actually that data storage is usually in an array where there's a copies of it in there so you

086know if that database goes down there's other copies there that they can pull back you know either a backup copy you Depending how we set up, it could be something from yesterday, last month, last week, but there's another copy. There's not a single point of fail. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Any questions? >> How's the user face from the parent side? >> There is actually in the base process, there is actually a parent portal that can be run on a mobile app. >> Okay. or a website will allow parents of of students under 18 because if they're over 18 they need permission that they can actually go in they can log in they can see their kids schedule they can see their grades they can see their assignments through this portal okay >> so

087actually and then that will leverage online registration so like for kindergarten registration they'll actually can be done online they can actually we could set up a kiosk in a a building say okay if you want to register you know kindergarten they could do it on a kiosk eliminates a lot of paper, you know, because we we we burn a lot of paper here. >> So that, you know, there's and so there's a lot there's a parent portal and student portal. >> Yeah. >> A lot of other modules that we could actually, you know, in the base package we could use um e-h hall passes. Principles could issue hall passes to students while they're in the hallway with a little they had like a hip mobile printer that they could print out a hall pass and

088it would notify the teacher that this kid got a an e hall pass and he should be in his class in three minutes. >> Yeah. >> Um it it has it you know it has a messaging service in it that you know the parent it's very easy for parents and teachers to communicate with each other. Um so anyways it it checks a lot of boxes. The other thing I was able to hook up with a cyber security um expert and he gave us a list of questions that we submitted to the company and they we asked for a written response that we I sent to him and had him check on top of that just as an added added uh you could never be safe enough. Ultimately, there's no he always tells me there's no

089guarantees, but we we've done our due diligence on that, too, on that end of it because we're a little I'm a little gunshy of it. So, um everything that's happened here, we've had a couple breaches before I got here than this last year. So, any other questions for Mr. Lily? Okay, moving on to Mr. Luke and facilities. Patty, are you able to bring up that pricing matrix from a >> So, I have a lot of items to discuss to go over. I'm going to try and be as brief as I can because I realize that it's 10 minutes to eight already. Um, the first thing we want to go over is um is the pricing matrix for the Cambridge Springs Elementary School project. Um, we have worked with Mccclure. This was presented to you in

090combination with the team shrink high school. Um we've now broken all those numbers out to just represent the elementary since the project at the high school is now completed. Um I'm just going to go through these things very briefly and then if you have any questions we can talk through it. Um with the with the high school project now completed as we look ahead um especially with the change in weather, we want to kind of present to you the updated cost here. um in anticipation of a potential future project or uh plan. Um so number one A represents the the heating and plan and domestic hot water. Uh that would be about $828,000. That would be, you know, your boilers, your domestic hot water for the building. As it stands right now, we have about

091$5,000 worth of repairs we would need to make today. Um, as we go into heating season, we have two classrooms that um have unit ventilators that are um non-functioning. We have a boiler line that's leaking. Um, if if we decide we're going to move forward with this, we'll make alternate arrangements um to defer those costs for now. But I mean, that's we have we have today costs that we need to know how to plan for as we move forward. Um, additionally, we have about $1,000 worth of repairs needed to our domestics water system. We have some leaking gaskets and pump seals in the boiler room. Um, it's all just operational challenges that we're trying to work through to to keep the system going. Um 2A is the the actual HVAC controls. That would be your

092rooftop units, your classroom units. Um the building control system, temperature control system. That's uh $2 million in total. Um so that would be the the rest of the building outside of the central plan. Um the control system for that building is 20 years old. I mean, Mark, how many computer systems run after 20 years and run well? It's we're limping it along. We continue to limp it along. Um we we get by. It's just from an operational perspective, we need to know what the future is and and how we continue to fund this in this building. Um 3A, 3A4, and 3A4B. A would be a complete replacement of all of your casework in all of the classrooms. Uh 4B would be a removal. Um it would that would we would need some direction as to

093how much they're using the casework. Obviously I think in the elementary level they're using the casework a lot more than at the high school level. Um so that would be an andor we it would be either the 700,000 or the 436,000. Um 4A is the lighting. Um all LED lighting. I know that since we've done the project at the high school, the biggest complaint I'm getting is, "Wow, the elementary school gym is dim." And they're not wrong. Um, we haven't nothing's changed in the elementary gym. It's just when you go from the contrast of the lighting in the high school to lighting in the elementary school, it's it's a significant difference. Um, with that, so that cost is 491,000, there's a payback on the energy savings about about 28,000. Um 5A would be the ceiling

094removal and replacement. That's 1.2 million. That building is completely hard ceiling um throughout the building. It makes doing any projects extremely challenging. You know, um working with it, running cabling, um wireless, anything we do trying to get cables moved and wires run is incredibly difficult. Um and then 6A would be the asbestous abatement, and that is $1 million. So, um, that's something that down the road, no matter what our plan for that building is, we're going to have to address. Um, as best it's it's it's contained, but it, you know, no matter what we do, we're going to have to once we touch that, it has to be abated. Um, so you have a total project cost of um just over $6 million with an energy and operational savings of 291,000 um for a net

095cost of 5 798. Um, we're not asking you to make a decision on this. Um, this is just for you guys to see and to start the planning process of of what the next steps would be. Um, one of the options if we were to do something would be um, we could do a tiered phase approach where we do our uh, boiler plant and ancillary stuff and then you know a phase one and a phase two. So, um, just some considerations there. Is there any questions about conditions of the building, the numbers here plan for this year going forward? Uh, the only thing I I know from years past of talking with some teachers and tours of the elementary school, they do use the uh the casework a lot at that. So, I would I

096would say just from my opinion, we'd definitely have to look at it, but we would more than likely want to replace that, not remove it. I know we removed a lot in the high school, but that's cuz they weren't utilizing it and it was a lot easier and it cleaned it up and got rid of a lot of that the old heating system, but >> elementary school, they used that way too much. We would need to keep that. >> I agree. I I I think at least part of it, you know, maybe not all of it would have >> maybe some classrooms we could maybe >> a conversation to have remove some, but the majority of it we would have to keep the case. >> So my comment is uh I have to ask the

097the members of the previous board. There was a utilization report that came out facility utilization, >> right? >> That was phase one. There was supposed to be a phase two with that board in which they researched what we should do with all of our buildings being at 40% capacity. So my question would be how much would it cost to take the elementary school and put it up in the high school which is only 40% used and we have no numbers that say the population is going to be increasing. And then, well, they want a new senior center right in Cambridge Springs. We could sell the building to them, put the senior center in there, save them millions. We put all that money into the high school. Why spend again when our numbers are going down?

098That's my question to the board. We need to do that second phase after the facility utilization to see what our option should be moving forward. But there was so much infighting at that time the second phase just kind of got dropped and we need to do that due diligence before we spend another six million. That's just my comment. Rich, what you talked briefly on the boiler and I was multitasking looking at another at another item on there, but um what what was the what was the analysis of it that it could go a couple what what do we need to put into it to keep it alive for a few years or what? >> So there there's two boiler rooms in that building. There's a main boiler room and an auxiliary boiler room. um the

099main boilers, and I've only been here since January, so my history, I mean, we didn't have any issues with those boilers last year. The auxiliary boiler that heats small section of that building is a has been a maintenance issue. It's we we've got parts for it. It's the air makeup in that space is very poor. We're having a lot of problems with combustion keeping that that boiler running. and we're it's we continue to have to reset it, recycle it, you know, three, four times a day just to keep heat in those classrooms. So, um it's just it's just limping it along. Um we can probably get by another year, two if I mean I think we definitely get through this heating season >> into next, but it's it's what does it continue to cost us

100operational, right? you know, um we may put 15 20 grand in it this year, next year, and when a new boiler, you know, the plan is to abandon that boiler completely >> and centralize everything. >> So, it's just going to it's going to hurt our operational budget and we're going to continue to put bad money into an old system. So, um, >> there's only, yeah, there's only so far >> you can limp it along. And I personally >> haven't I don't know it at all. >> So, >> it's like I I get that. >> It's hard to say where critical failure is. It could last four or five more years, but it could it could go tomorrow. And we've we've explored with Mccclure um some alternatives. You know, they've done this with other schools. if

101there was a critical failure, you know, we can get temporary equipment in to heat the building. You know, we can there's things we can use within the building to >> it's just so, >> you know, this isn't meant to scare you guys or to say we we aren't going to make it through this year. It's just >> we have I mean, we we've talked about contingency plans to have in place and we have those in place. We've talked to Mccclure about those contingency plans. So, we're trying to do our due diligence because because of, you know, we don't know, we didn't know the direction of the order, >> right? So, is this is this something we have left in the bond to pay for? >> Bond money is depleted. >> So, we would have to

102take out another 30-year bond. >> And I don't think, >> huh, >> sorry. We do have that additional funding that we can take out with the original bond. the the money in the bank is gone, but you still have that $5 million that we can draw from if necessary. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, my thoughts are not popular in this room. Um, but I'll share them anyways. I think that we should have a very good plan drawn up uh if something went down. Okay. I think that we should wait one year, do a very detailed study on an an do a full analysis what it would take and whether it's worth it to run a K through 12 school or use part of the section of the elementary school and look at options. I don't

103know what makes sense if there's something that would make sense to rent out a part of it or de demolishing it. Uh, you know, I don't know. I'd like to see options. I just don't want to spend that kind of money with our population decline on top of the student count decline. I just I'm just not comfortable forking out without a long-term plan. And I'm not going to be here when that decision's made either. Um, but I just think it takes a lot of thought, um, a lot of thought on how to do this. I'm just not comfortable spending that money, uh, without having a long-term goal with it. And I don't think that this board should stick the incoming board with a whole bunch of debt or trying to do this and pay for

104it. That should be a decision of the next board. But I guess I re would reiterate too, we would have to have, you know, if if we're going to wait another year or it'd obviously be two years till you could get construction going in there. Either way, by the time you would have a a study or some professionals come in and really examine things, we would definitely need a good plan with the heat system. I mean, it's it's obviously not risking there. And there's Yeah, it could cost a lot of money if we had some room spreeze, you know. I think that would have to be very well thought out and and drawn up. >> So, >> yeah. And I would just say just keep in mind as we have those discussions that no matter

105what we do, abatement would have to happen at some point. Um, and then I mean if there was a discussion about closing a section of the building, you're going to have to reconfigure electrical, heating, get everything. >> Yeah, that I mean you're talking probably a couple million dollars just to do that. So, >> not saying it can't be done, but it's >> sure what it would be. >> I think yeah, you'd have to explore all the options and whether or not Yeah, >> there'd be a ton to consider with that. Tons. >> So, yeah. And Yes. So, I mean that that it's just at the forefront of my thoughts because there are things that I want to see happen in that building, but I don't want to put forth money to do things that we're

106going to rip out and replace or rip out and not put back. So, you know, lighting, electrical, component. So, okay. >> All right. >> Well, I'm I'm going to speak up now and I'm going to say I think the heat in domestic hot water is very important and I know this this what we've gone through in the past nine years and it's hasn't been troublefree. It has cost us money every year to keep it going and it is at the end of life. Keeping it going for two more years to do a study sounds great, but if it does go down and I chances are it's going down. It's at the end. What is going to cost us on top of repairing it? Then instead of 828,000, we'll be at a million 2, million three,

107maybe more. And if there's any damage or freezing water, you might as well throw another couple hundred thousand on there. >> Yeah, freezing water. That's the point of having a >> to to to your point. >> But what I'm saying is I don't think it is wise for us to put the heating off any longer. >> The rest of it, if you want to do a plan, hey, that's fine. You're right. There's new board coming in. I It's up to the new board. But the heating I think risking to save 828,000, yes, it's a ton of money. I know it's a lot of money, but the damage or the money it could cost us is it will be worth way more than that. So, my fear is that cuz we've been talking about this boiler

108for since I've been on the board. So, I I'm just nervous about letting it go. >> The um if we do this in stages or increments or some and some not at all, does that raise the price of any of these steps? >> Good question. I don't not not from the conversations we've had. >> Okay. >> Um it's just you know they they've they've budgeted these with anticipation that we may take this off in stages >> like line item that >> Yeah. So I mean that's why they built this matrix the way they did that if we can take stuff off and it'll adjust the cost. But that was one of the conversations we had was possibly doing this in a phase one and a phase two. So they they built those costs out kind

109of forecast out a little bit. So, >> so I'm just basing off of the conversations >> that took place here. Um, I I mean the heating I the I mean the heating the boiler >> if we were to have a major failure by the time we would get a boiler or parts in it. We're going to be through heating season. So, we would if we had a major failure in December, we're going to be temporarily heating that building through. >> What is the plan if that happens in December? I mean, we've already explored that with Mccclure to be able to rent. >> Yeah, we we have a Do you have a temporary plan with McLaren? >> Could you Sorry. >> Could you get a us a a ballpark cost of say it went down in

110December this year? What I'd just be curious, you know, if it's 800,000 >> to rent for 4 months. Yeah. It's going to cost. >> So, I I just think it would be interesting to hear a margin. We can get those you want. >> Did you have >> Were there figures on that >> plan? No. >> No. >> We said we were talking to you tonight and we'd come back >> with what we need to get. So >> they gave us a commitment they would be able to provide. >> They gave us a commitment that they would provide >> be able to come in and provide it. >> Yeah, you're right. We'd be paying whatever they say we pay. >> You can't. >> Exactly. >> I mean, I don't want to be having this conversation again

111this year. So, I'll just tell you, we we did this for all the other schools. This is not even the bare minimum that they're asking for. We just went to that school. You guys all saw it. You saw the differences. So, they deserve it. Whether we have this building in 10 years or not doesn't matter. Our kids need it now. >> Well, even if we had to sell or do something with it, having a working boiler system would increase >> the resale. >> It would dramatic. Try selling a house with no furnace and hot water and working. >> And I think the same guess what your asbestous, your lighting, I mean those are all value additives for that building >> unless there unless there is and it may not make any sense at all >>

112to level it like genuinely. >> But that's not free either. >> No, it's not. But I'm saying you don't you don't want to throw $800,000 on a boiler if you're going to level it. >> Well, I don't think leveling's in it. I think the community has made it pretty clear >> they wouldn't want that building gone whether we owned it or whether they owned it. So >> just >> but we have to face the facts of the numbers. >> Well the fact >> the next 10 years the number of students is continuing to decline. >> Actually your your numbers are off. The the the number of students has been on a very has been holding very steady. >> It hasn't been declining. You keep saying it. How many last? >> But the numbers have not

113declined maybe six numbers in the last three years. Say that again. >> How many students did we have last year? >> 25 >> 2474. >> Okay, we have 2450 now. >> Nope, we're under that. 240. >> We're dropping. We're dropping every >> But not like it was. It's been holding way more steady. >> We've got one building. We >> We know what your ideas are and I'm not going to get into it. Let's just move on. If you want you presentation, >> I very much consider a line item purchase of the boiler >> for this year. I worry, you're right, Allison. >> I don't want uh I don't want a company to have us uh up against the wall. If it breaks next year or the year after, that's a problem. And let us not

114forget that's a problem for students. >> I mean, it's a problem for us as taxpayers. It's a problem for the board. It's a big It's a problem for the students as well. Right. Well, I think I'm hearing that from everyone. So, Richard, we'll we'll get we'll get and then we'll we'll cost out what that'll look like and and get some different options. >> Besides, >> um that brought to my attention about leakage in Maplewood, too. Is that true? Or >> leakage >> water by the gym. Is there a leak in water? >> So, that that you know you're talking that's been a situation for a long time, I guess. So, we're working on some options there. Um, as far as I'm bringing a roofing contractor to look at that. I think that they've tried to

115water test that area. They I mean, it's So, you have a a a short wall that runs the whole length of that gym that they've had trouble determining where the like it's it's it's not a flashing issue. It's not a brick pointing issue. I think the best solution is going to be to cover that. Whether we do that with metal, I mean, it's going to be it's not I think it's going to be the most economical solution, but we're working on getting prices on that. So, yeah, since I've been here, there's been leaks there. The tiles have been out. I mean, it's when you get a certain directional rain, you're getting um it's coming into that hole and Yeah. Yeah. So, I know David had been through it trying to figure out what the best

116way to handle that would be. Um, I think that we're probably looking at a metal siding option there would be the most economical way to handle that. Um, but I don't have numbers to support that just yet, but it's it's something I'm working on. Okay. So, um, I appreciate you bringing that information. >> Any other questions before we move on? >> Okay. Um, I only have one item up for vote tonight that you'll see. That is the replacement of our domestic hot water system at Maplewood High School. Um, this was a project that was put into our CA capital budget for this year. Um, unlike some of the other Giza projects we've done, the the hot the domestic hot water was not replaced at Maplewood High School when that Giza project was done. Um, and

117it's in need to be done. Um, it's about 20 years old. We're seeing some iron and scale build up in the water. Um seeing some discoloration that um is contributing to that. Um and to that matter, we we're only running on a single domestic hot water boiler. So if that were to go down, we have no hot water in that building. Um all the new systems we've done, we've done two high efficiency tanks. That way there's redundancy. Um, so we're proposing um to put that forth. Um, I think the cost, I don't know if it's listed there, was 73,000. >> 77,000. Um, we had three quotes to support that. That was the that was the best quote. Um, and we think that that I mean that's going to provide, you know, 20 years of service

118for the hot water system there at the high school. Will that help with the clarity of the water? >> Yeah, that's what I just made a small comment about that. So, we've been seeing some discoloration issues, getting some complaints about that. Um, that's step one with the discoloration issue. Uh, Book and Pro is doing our water services is doing some additional testing to try and pin that down. It's it's an aesthetic issue for sure and it's it's alarming that it's an aesthetic issue. I mean, we're testing our water weekly. Um, and we've not had any any violations or any high numbers on that, but certainly this is a step. It's that's going to take care of the hot water side. We still have to do some more testing on the water coming into the building,

119but I think that's going to help significant with that. Um the other items up that are not up for voting um are we have a couple pieces of equipment we're looking to purchase um as we start working on our capital planning and I'm trying to work through a long-term planning process for district vehicles, district equipment. um what we feel is going to work best for the district long term would be to start chipping away at replacing some of the equipment with new equipment. Um, this year our focus was on tractors and lawnmowing equipment and then we would work on like vehicles like we I want to get us on an every other year cycle where um I mean I know pieces of equipment are expensive but if we buy new we get the biggest discount

120through co-stars and we have long-term use of that vehicle where we're not buying a $10,000 truck and trying to get 10 years out of it. You know what I mean? So, um, I have some costs on there that you'll see. I'd like to bring it up for a vote in November, but if certainly if you guys want to discuss it, the two pieces of equipment we're looking to purchase, one is a new zeroturn mower. Uh, cost was $24,000. There was a $5,000 tradein for a final cost of $19,914. Um, that's co-stars through Landro. The other one, um, is a skid loader. Uh, if you remember on Muny Bid, we had an old Bobcat that we sold that we made $10,000 from. We had that skid loader for 30 years and um it got our money

121worth out of it. Um, looking at approaching seeing a brand new one, it's about $77,000, but it would last the district 30 years. Um, >> if you go John Deere, >> well, we got prices from John Deere, Caterpillar, New Holland. Um, so that's something we're looking at. We just want to give you the information. Certainly, we're kind of all holding out to see what the state budget looks like and we're a little gunshy there, but we just want to get that information in front of you that we're kind of in the planning stages on that. So, um >> I'm trying not to interject a lot because on just a quick thought like on the zeroturn mower, have we have you reached out at all to like Green Hill or anyone that would be in the

122district about pricing on like a I'm sure we probably have all John Deere mowers or something. Well, and that so that's where we've kind of leaned because of ease of use of filters, oil parts, you know, >> not that we can't look at other models, but for the the lawnmowers, they've kind of same thing with the trucks. They've kind of stayed with one model to be able to have interchangeability. >> I get that. I'd just be interested to see like is it I I mean, I've priced John Deere out before. >> Sometimes they can be high. Is it worth making that switch? Maybe aren't the rest of our plea isn't close enough to that point to make it worth a switch. Maybe the switch doesn't make any sense at all. But >> when we can,

123I just like to spend the money in the district if possible, and they're pretty close. >> No, I said I would care. >> Um, other thing on my list here to discuss is the um auxiliary gym bleachers at the Mwood High School. Um, we had an inspection done earlier this year and by uh CM Iikenlob who who does all of our safety inspections. Um, it was determined that the bleachers those bleachers and this is in the auxiliary gym, not the main gym at the high school. Um, those are the wooden bleachers. They're I mean they're old. They're they don't meet code obviously. They don't meet ADA standards. There there's some structural deficiencies with that. um and they were determined that they were no longer um useful. Basically, we were recommended not to use them any

124longer. Um it's created some challenges with scheduling as we get into winter sports. Um we've been working, we got a quote to replace them. Um certainly we would go out and get three quotes, but um we we need to consider moving forward with the replacement of those. It's just whether do we look at doing that now or do we do we hold off on that till the spring and plan for that in the summer. Um either way we're probably looking at 12 week lead time on those bleachers. Uh the one quote we did have from Iikin Lob was about 47,000. So um we have to have something in that gym. You know we have volleyball tournaments, basketball tournaments. Um, but it was an unplanned expense that we're going to be up against as well. So,

125um, just wanted to put that forth and give you guys that information. So, give you guys all the good news for this month. >> We let Mark leave with the good news of money savings. So, you just blew it off. >> That's right. I think that's all I have. Thank you guys. >> That's enough. >> That's it. We don't want to hear anymore. Every time Richie's coming into the office, I like saying, you know, leave. It's just been one thing after >> my appointment. >> It's just been one thing after another. >> And having buildings, where's the money coming? >> Well, speaking of money, we'll have Kristen report. >> Okay, I'm going to follow up with more great news. Um, we still don't have a state budget. We are the only state um that doesn't

126have a state budget. We have missed three subsidy payments so far. We are 60% funded by the state. So, it's very important. Uh we are living off of our fund balance and now our tax revenue that are coming in. Um but this is this is why our fund balance to have three to four months in reserves is so important um for this reason because there's still no end in sight. Um a little bit of good news. Uh October 8th the um House passed a budget proposal which will be sent over for the Senate for approval. Um, the Senate meets again on October 20th. The House returns again on October 27th. Um, and it'll just keep going on with days in between. >> TASBO and PASA, those are our professional organizations. They will be meeting again

127um in Harrisburg on October 30th. >> Hopefully, we'll have a budget by November, but we're going to remain optimistic, but we're going to prepare for no budget. Okay. um they're going to be starting the new budget here after Thanksgiving. So hopefully they'll complete this year's budget before they start the new budget. The address is already scheduled for that first week in February. Um so hopefully we'll just continue to carry on with that. You guys all know about the cyber charter rate of the flat rate of $8,000. Um that is off the table right now. However, they are coming back with an adjustment to the PD363. that is our cyber tuition calculation rate. Um they're going to be adding exclusions to that. Um we already have some exclusions, but they're going to broaden those exclusion categories.

128Um one being the tuition we pay to outside cyber. That amount will be excluded. As you know, that's like $2.1 million roughly. Um so that'll be excluded off of there. Um some more maintenance and operations costs will be excluded. Um, and then they're also going to exclude uh tax assessment collection and some student activities like a percentage. So those details aren't worked out, but we are still hopeful that there will be some type of cyber reform. It just won't be in the flat rate which is but anything's beneficial from where we are. Um, they'll also be focusing on the special ed cyber rate because as you know those two rates are different numbers. Um, there it's about double for us. Um, so that'll either be whatever the rate is this year with no change or

129it'll be our regular rate times 1.89. Um, so that that's kind of good news. Um, hopefully that will pass. Um, but right now financially again we're on fund balance. We're going to be okay probably, you know, through January. If if we don't pass, then we're going to be in some trouble. So, starting in December, we'll probably have to start talking about taking out a bond to cover um expenses until the the budget is passed. Um so, we could get that on the agenda for January. Hopefully, we don't ever get to that point. Um but just throwing it out there just so you guys are aware, >> which would have interest on it that we have to pay. >> That's correct. And there's fees associated with taking it out the the money. So, hopefully we don't

130have to get to that. They had to do this um I believe it was back in 2015. um and it was like over $6,000 a day in paying fees and then the state passed the budget like the next day after the board did the after the action was taken. So we we don't want to waste that money. Um so it is continues to be a problem. So hopefully next month we'll have good news but I'm hoping by December. Um couple other things on the agenda. Um just your usual the treasury reports dispersements um budget transfers this month. most of those. A couple of them just to move uh money around within the building funds and to correct um funding like where mileage goes. We have to make sure the nurses mileage is coded to the

131nurses accounts for AFR, not the regular teacher account. So, it's just to correct um some budget changes like that. Uh the bond funds, as you brought up earlier, Brian, I had said before, those funds are depleted. On the treasures report, you'll notice there's $12.92, I believe, left in the bond account. Um that is the remaining funds. We're going to leave that open in the event that we do take out another bond. That fund is already open. Um we have fund 39. Those accounts are already open with pleet. So we're just going to leave that in there. Um it'll acrew a little bit of interest, but it doesn't do any harm to leave it there until we have made a final decision. It's easier just to put it into that account than close the account and

132reopen it all in the event that we would take out additional funds. Um, so that's it on that stuff. So other agenda items, you'll notice on there I am proposing um we have been looking at all of our benefits. That's a our 80% of our budget is salary and benefits. So we've been looking at um carriers. So we went out to an RFP for our vision, dental, uh life insurance, health has not come back yet. Um but we are in the best pricing for our vision and dental. So that is good. that RFP came back positive for us that we're in the best plan. So, there's no no recommendation at this time to change carriers. However, with the life insurance, there is another company out there. We're currently with Boston Mutual. We've had a couple

133of ongoing customer service issues with them. And this is not just our district, it's it's across the whole IU5. Um, so Madison Life um came back with a lower rate. It's 2 and a half cents cheaper for every thousand. Doesn't sound like a lot, but everything adds up. Um, so that would save us $6,733 annually. Um, it's a 4-year rate lock guarantee. So with that, there's no change to our our employees. Um, the the everything is status quo. For new employees, there's a slight impact, but only on the voluntary portion. So this is what they elect for additional life insurance coverage. it will be at the attained rate structure rather than the issue rate structure um issue age. So this is a common practice across the industry standard. It's unheard of to still have an

134attained rate with um rates as low as we were paying. So this will just be at the issue a issue age rate but again it's new employees coming on. It's all voluntary if you want additional coverage your basic life nothing has changed. Um, so with that, like I said, $6,700 in savings. I would like to propose to put that into our trust to help improve our healthcare balance within the trust because we are in the negative. Um, so little bit of savings. Um, so we wouldn't see those savings. We just shift it shifted elsewhere um within our healthcare. Any questions on changing life insurance? And again, this is this is part of the whole IU. We got a group rate pricing. Um so we everyone is proposing to to change within the um the IE5.

135Any questions? >> Sounds good to me. >> Okay. >> Thanks for your work. >> Thank you. Total Grant Services is on the agenda for approval tonight. You guys have heard of this program in the past. It's them going out to um get grants um and the consulting, the management of them, the research and all that. So that is on there. Um if you anyone have any questions on that? I know we've kind of talked about that. Uh Burke one, that's every year annual. Um that's for your homestead farmstead. Those applications will be going out um in December. They are due back to the courthouse by March 1st. So if you have a primary property that's a homestead farmstead, there is an exclusion amount that you can apply for. We get that revenue from the um

136gambling from g um gaming across the state. it goes back into the schools. Okay, so this is just a just a standard every year. Um you can only get it on your primary residence. Um we had a couple of donations this month. So you'll see um the SCI Cambridge Springs, the jail in Cambridge donated uh $4,192 to the Caring Closet. So that is on for approval. And then we had an anonymous donor donate $200 to various uh Maplewood High School programs, um basketball, football, marching band, kitchen, and the wrestling program. They wish to remain anonymous though. Um so, thank you for those donations. Anyone have any questions? Thank you. this point we're going to move into the voting meeting. Hey Sean, you want to do the registered comment or go down? >> Sure. >> So

137you're you're I commend you for doing such a good job. >> Yes. I mean it is >> he's done awesome. >> If you want to speak now, I think we're all in agreement. That would be fine. >> Sure. >> Yes. Is that okay? >> Absolutely. >> All right. I'm Peggy man. Used to be Peggy Whitek. I went to Sagertown right here K through 12. Lots of good memories. I have three kids that go to Faithbuilders Christian School, a guy's Mills, which is sorely uh I don't know, ignored I guess. I feel like um I'm here about busing and I think I sent an email tried to send an email to everybody but yeah we do live in the in the district in Guys Mills. The kids go to Faithbuilders and I have couple reasons for

138not sending my kids on the provided public school bus. I did have my oldest daughter ride the bus for several years going to Faith Builders and uh just because of her treatment on the bus, I'm promising not to send my 12-year-old daughter on that same bus. So, we'll leave it at that. Also, I just feel that the other reason that no one at Faithbuilders uses the public school bus system to get to school inside of Penrest is because it doesn't get us there on time or and it also pulls kids out of class early to catch the transfer bus to get back home. I'm not trying to fight for busing for faith builders at this time. Um although I do think that's unlawful. But I do have a simple solution for my family. Uh there's

139a new family just half mile down the road from me who came from Lancaster. They're Amish and they and another family build an Amish school in Guys Mills just a half mile past our school. So every morning when I leave to run my kids to school, there goes the Amish bus. Big full-size bus for four kids. Apparently they have plenty of room for my kids. And I've been asking Tony for seven weeks now. consistently. Can my kids hop on that bus? I thought this would be awesome to really help me out and I'm not getting anywhere. I've tried calling Christ busing. I've tried, you know, hailing down Ernie the bus driver. He can't do anything. Of course, has to go through Tony. >> So, I don't know if I need to make her a plate

140of cookies or there's anything that you can do. Personally, I just want to reach out and say I'm I'm struggling. We all struggle. I have nine children. My oldest went to college this year, which is great. She's a gross city, but she's my only driver. And my husband works in Pittsburgh. I have Lyme disease. I'm trying to homeschool three. I have a toddler and a baby. It would be a huge help. And the good news is I feel it would cost nothing to the district. It would be no inconvenience for three more kids to ride that bus. Um, so I've tried to be specific about the location. The bus drops off Amish kids in Cochran and then they come past our house, pick up the Amish kids, drive past our school and go on to

141the Amish school. I don't know if the afternoon times would work out, but I'm certain the morning would because I see the bus go by every day. Um, I think that's it. I just am listening over here and thinking, boy, there's a lot that I took for granted when I was going to school here. Look what happens behind the scenes, isn't there? So, thank you all. Thank you for serving. Thank you for your time and your effort for all the kids at Penris. I I really appreciate it's a big sacrifice. >> Any questions? Anything I didn't say. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. And and I did send that email with a note from my neighbors saying they're happy to make if it's an issue with missing mixing the English and the they're

142happy to do that. So, thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for recommending that. >> Yes. Thanks. >> Yes. >> I'm going to Any other citizen comments on the agenda items? Moving on to number four, approval of the minutes. Resolved that the Penrest board of school directors approve the following minutes. September 8th, 2025 school board meeting. >> Move. >> Second. Motion to second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Nay. >> Who seconded that? >> I did. >> That's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure. Number five, under policy approval result that the Penrest board of school directors approve following policy policy 718 service animals in schools. >> So move second. >> Motion and second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in

143favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. Motion carried >> with the education report number six. Resolve that the penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda education items B through G as presented. [Music] Second motion and second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Oppos. Nay. Motion carried. Number seven, facilities transportation. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the consent agenda facility and transportation items B through C as presented. So move second. Got a motion and a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none, all in favor say I. Oppos? Nay. Motion carried. Number eight, financial report. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve consent agenda financial items B through H as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> There's a motion in a second.

144Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. >> Motion carried. with personnel. Number nine, result of the Pen Crest board of school directors approve the consent agenda personnel items B through I as presented. >> So move second. Motion second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. >> Nay. >> Motion carried. >> Under new business, we'll take each of these one at a time. Under a resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the attached memorandum of understanding between the Cambridge Springs Police Department and the Cambridge Springs Elementary School and Cambridge Springs Junior Senior High School. So move >> second. There's a motion to second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Nay. Motion carries. >>

145Letter B. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the attached memorandum of understanding between the Pennsylvania State Police and each school in the Penrest School District. >> So move second. Motion and second. Any comments or questions? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Nay. >> Motion carried. >> Letter C. U. We need to resolve that we need to add the August 11th, 2025 tabled solar motion back onto this agenda tonight. >> We need a motion for that. So >> second motion and second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor? Uh let's do a roll call on that. >> This is to bring the >> Yeah. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Nay. >> Motion carried. >> Okay. Letter D. This will be the

146this will be the solar um approval. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors approve the letter of intent with US Source and Next Terra Energy Company to begin the RFP process for the solar school grant program at a cost of 42,000. $42,000 pending solicitor review. >> I think we've discussed this before. >> Very well discussed. >> Well, we have to make a motion. >> Right. Right. So, I guess I'm saying >> second. Yeah. >> Um comment. I This board did its due diligence. I appreciate us being judicious in the process. Um and those that work at it. Uh we had representation from a third local third party. Um thanks to Mike for setting that up. Um so I feel good about my decision and my conscience >> uh with this and that's because we

147were extra uh judicious. >> Agreed. Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Roll call, please. Miss Bears. >> No. Mr. Bennick, >> no. >> Mr. Brown, >> no. >> Mr. Chie, >> no. >> Mr. Kuster, >> no. >> Mr. Johnson, >> no. >> Mr. Storski? >> No. >> Mr. Veleski? >> No. >> Letter E. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors join the class action power school litigation and authorize the France Law Group APLC to proceed to file suit at no out-ofpocket expense to the school district. >> So move second motion and a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion carried. >> Sure. Before we go to letters FG and H, I'm going to have our solicitors, Mr. Schubert, speak to this. >>

148Thank you, Mr. Ford. On your agenda at FG, and H are three items that go together related to several lawsuits that were filed against the district for Sunshine Act violations. the uh motions at G and H would involve ratification of prior board action, which the board can do at any time. Um under Pennsylvania law, if there is a Sunshine Act um case that's brought, you can remedy that by ratifying a previous action. You can do that at any time. You'll note at a at item H that case spanned several years ago, but under Pennsylvania law, you can still go back and ratify previous board actions. At letter F, that is a case that I appeared on recently, September 30th, uh, with Mr. Ford and Miss Paxton as the district witnesses. Uh the underlying issue there,

149as the board may be familiar with or might be reminded of, was the decision to appeal the Bethany Rogers right to know case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by filing a petition for allowance of appeal. Um the comment that I would have there is that uh we received what I think was a very um untenable decision from Judge Yates that really puts solicitors at odds with their boards. I think that the decision is not well reasoned um in that you would have to under Judge Yates's decision and opinion have a special meeting in order to appeal um something if there's not a regularly scheduled board meeting that comes during the time of the appeal. So I think that's uh not the intention of the Sunshine Act. can't imagine that the Pennsylvania legislature envisioned a situation

150where districts would have to spend more money to add situations like that to an agenda if it arises within 24 hours of a meeting or if it's an emergency situation or if you need to take action prior to your next scheduled board meeting. Um, so with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that board members might have in public session. Thank you, Mr. Ford. >> We'll take these then one at a time, beginning with letter F. Resolve that the Penrest board of school directors appeals the September 30th, 2025 order of the court regarding case number 2025-437 to the Commonwealth Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. >> So move. Second. We have a motion in second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. Roll call, please. >> Miss Beers, >> no. >> Mr. Bennett, >> yes. >> Mr. Brown,

151>> no. >> Mr. Chi, >> yes. >> Kuster, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnston, >> yes. >> Mr. Storski. >> So, I I voted against this in May. Um, I didn't agree to the appeal. I'd like to be done with this kind of stuff. Um, but I feel that now we have an ugly precedent with our solicitor and I do think that that's worth solidifying. Um, so I'm going to vote yes, >> Mr. Vowski. >> Yes. >> Six yeses, two nos. >> This time we would not vote on letter G. Is that correct? Correct. >> So, do we need to do anything with that? >> Just do a mo so it's clean. I would do a motion to uh remove that from the agenda. >> Okay. You please make a motion to remove letter G from

152the agenda. >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any comments or questions? Hearing noted. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. >> Motion carried. Letter H under new business resolves the Penrest board of school directors ratifies the board action taken at the Monday July 10th 2023 meeting under new business including the following motions. Motion made by Mr. D. Francesco to pass a censure resolution. Motion made by Mr. D. Francesco to pass to post salaries of employees on the school district's website. Motion made by Miss Tyson Wright to propose a collaborative committee to target math schools. So move second motion and second. Any comments or questions? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Nay. Motion carried. Number 11, announcements. board met for executive session on October 14th for

153personnel and legal matters of which we talked about here this evening that Jordan explained. Any additional citizens comments on non-aggenda items? [Music] >> Good evening everybody and thank you for allowing me to speak. I'd like to preface my statements by saying that um all of this was done um through my own research. >> Excuse me. >> Before you start, you need to state your name and your township residence, please. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Sure. I want to preface by saying all of this information that I am um going to state tonight is through my own research done today through public documents. Um that being said, my name is Lisa Chsy and I am from the Round Randolph Township. So I come before you tonight out of concern for the well-being of our students

154and our schools and the responsible use of the taxpayer dollars. I'm not here to address the board per se. I'm here to address our fellow taxpayers, our students, staff, and to raise awareness of a troubling pattern, one that is draining our resources, distracting our leadership, and ultimately doing a disservice to our students. A member of this district has chosen to pursue repeated unfounded litigation against our school board cloaked in the misinterpretations of the Sunshine Act. Four separate lawsuits in under three years. Let me be clear. The Sunshine Act exists to ensure transparency and public access, not to weaponize the legal processes against individuals doing their jobs. These lawsuits are not about justice. They are about disruption and notoriety and they are costing us dearly. While the judge in the most recent case initially sided with

155the plaintiff, the ruling was deeply flawed and symbolic at best. No fines were imposed or actions voided. It was clear that this judge did not understand the school board nor the boundaries between governance and operations. As a matter of fact, our own county judges declined this case from their docket on discretionary grounds. Meaning that the judges thought this was frivolous, redundant, or lacking merit. Therefore, an outside judge had to be brought in to preside over the case. This speaks volumes to me. Every hour that our solicitor responds to these shameful litigations is a dollar stolen from our students. Every penny funneled into legal fees adds up to monies taken away from our classrooms, from our teachers, from student programs and school improvements. This is an egregious use of our funds. Funds that should be building

156futures, not inflating egos. times up here. >> This individual, your actions are not noble. You, if you care about the district, let's stop sabotaging it. Let the leaders lead and the superintendent and their staff do their job. Tonight, I'm asking for accountability for the waste of time and resources that these actions perpetuate. I respectfully raise the question, isn't our district's financial stewardship a shared responsibility? Therefore, I would encourage my fellow taxpayers to support the board should they seek recompense for legal fees. This would send a message that transparency remains a core value, but protecting our limited resources from being drained by meritless litigation will now be a priority. We should be supporting our district, not disrupting it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments on non-aggenda items? >> President for

157agenda. >> Motion to move. >> Second motion to second. Any comments or questions? All >> in favor? I comments.