SCHOOL BOARD MEETING - June 15, 2020

001ey and I'm a resident of Hilltown Township I sent an email to the board a little bit earlier this afternoon and I would like to echo the comments of the two previous constituents and I'd also like to ask the leadership of the team of the school district to please be respectful and pay attention to the comments so that way they can make important decisions and not have a video showing them listening or talking on a phone that just shows a blatant disrespect for any of these issues and I think that as the president I would like to ask you to ask all the board members to pay particular attention to help give a name in a face to some of the racist and homophobic remarks I'm gonna read part of my email that I sent

002to the board good evening my name is Lenny greeny and I am writing as a proud member of the LGBTQ community and also a resident of the district who was in an interracial marriage to come across the racist homophobic hateful words of Joan Cullen who currently serves as vice president of the school board district is disappointing I am interested in learning more about how the leadership of Penryn school district will be responding to such repulsive words coming from a quote unquote leader of the district who was tasked with representing all members of the community in CUNY including residents of color and the LGBT community were here and were part of the community were not going away what makes this even more troubling is that my understanding Joan Cullen was trained as an educator what an

003embarrassment to the profession in to the local community having an educator serving in a leadership role on the pen with school board Joan color needs to be censured by this board Joan Cullen needs to be removed from any and all leadership roles representing the Penn Ridge School District community immediately Joan Cullen needs to resign from her position as board member to allow the district to move forward and heal professionally I also am an educator I serve as the director of special education with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and we partner with Penn Ridge School District I struggled with this relationship personally and professionally knowing that we work to support inclusion for all people are dying people are being killed because of ignorance that miss Cullen demonstrates continuing to listen on phone and not put the

004phone down and be respectful of the constituents if she's gonna say she's listening in to the call because she's having trouble that's an embarrassment also that should be worked out beforehand thank you for listening and I wait to hear what the district is going to do to address such a horn behaviors greenie I just would like the whole group to make make them aware that Miss Colin has texted the board to let them know that her computer is having audio issues and so she's able to watch on her computer but she's not able to hear so she has also called into the zoom video so thank you for asking a question and not making an assumption in terms of what she was doing thank you for your coming I have a comment your heart hi

005Tina Gerhart Bedminster Township there's something wrong with the audio uh is there hold on you know let me switch I'm watching with my kids let me switch over real quick I can for you I can hear I believe your audio is fine here's your now new did miss Gerhardt can you hear me now yes okay Tina Gerhardt said mr. Township my kids are watching with me I'm happy to see so many people on it's been a long time that you know I've been trying to make the meetings off and on for several years now and often times they're empty so this is very exciting but I'm going to bring up again what I brought up two years ago I was wondering if the board has made any progress with a social media policy for board

006members we have it for teachers we have it for students most places of employment have it the one place we do not have a social media policy is for this board and from the comments today it seems as though it is very much needed so I was wondering if there was any policy or any at least talk of writing a policy for that I just find it I find that lacking from our district there should just be a policy if there's a policy for teachers there should be a policy for people picking our curriculum so that's my comment and I look forward to a response public comment Dillian yeah I just want I live in a Perkis Ibero I have three children that have graduated from the School District and I have two grandchildren coming

007up I just wanted to config command the school district and making some really good financial choices there that the school district is in good shape to meet the CDC guidelines that need to be put in place for the kids to go back to school so I just wanted to commend the board on that a lot of school districts I've heard from are able to do that and you know that's great and I also just want to thank the board for giving voice to everyone everyone's opinion is important for hearing both sides of the argument not what's kind of in vogue right now so I don't want to get specific but I'm just want to come in the board for your willingness to hear both sides or all sides of an argument and that's it I'm

008sorry that's okay so my I am live in Sellersville my child is due to begin kindergarten soon and I'm very concerned about sending her in a brand-new school environment and her being met with mass faces unnatural distancing and over sanitization in school I don't want that for her or for any child I worked very hard to keep fear out of my house and to maintain a normal environment for my children I want my child's school experience to just be just as normal and as fear free that's what children need I want normal school I support a dual enrollment option so that parents can choose to send their children to live in person school or to keep them home for distance learning as of today over 240 residents of Penn Ridge have signed a petition saying

009the same thing lastly I'd like to my support for VP John : she's an empathetic leader she's a person of conviction she truly values all voices and I know that anyone who imparts anything other than the best intentions on her has not made an honest attempt to know her I can say that with great confidence I also don't support censoring dissenting views as a matter of practice in our district and I'm proud to call Joan a leader in our community thanks 1 I have two things I'd like to thank everybody that mentioned I'm just learning about the the callin thing but I do agree an echo with no 13:13 sizzle that there need to be something stated about racism in our district that has to be and it cannot just be about black history and

010to be about racism in America because that education is important but the reason why I really wanted to speak right now is because if we're going to do these schools change whatever for next year there needs to be a system in place for difficult children which I have one do not learn well at home and this has been a nightmare for it hmm so I just I'm that when new whatever happens that I don't know hyperactive kids behavior problems there's got to be a different some type of system in place for these kids so we can get so they can learn and three as a nurse for 20 years I 100% percent support cleaning and doing the sanitation anything you need to prevent the spread of kovat because it is not a nobody deaths in

011the last two months that I would never support not sanitizing our schools because the benefit of which is I understand that some kids have asthma just for both sides of the argument like somebody had already said you need the Kobe was serious and I support that but that's what I want to say okay is it oh yes can I go oh that's okay I have a brief comment partially any response to Kyrie Kyrie I grew up in her Cassie and I was a graduate of Penn Ridge High School let me see just as a response to the defense of Joan Cohen I have this tweet right here if it has has already been read I apologize but I'll add to this there's also no systemic sexism homophobia etc those who try to convince you you're

012being held back by someone else do not have your best interest in mind they need you to be a victim so they can control you break3 the only one holding you back is you and I think it's very ironic that a school board menu a school board member at Penn Ridge High School which is known in the Philadelphia area for its treatment of a student in 2017 I have the Enquirer article right here a black student who was harassed and called gendered and racial slurs on a daily basis and the administration specifically mr. Schoonover suggested that she go to alternative school rather than taking just an area on the students so excuse me was i muted on purpose mr. Dougan you can be heard okay all I had to say was if systemic racism and

013discrimination are not real then was the treatment of that student at Penn Ridge her own fault was it her fault that her high school experience was ruined by racism which was not handled adequately whatsoever by our schools administration that's all I have to say thank you thank you very much Wasserman yeah I can't hear me hi I'm Joe Donna Wasserman I'm from Bedminster Township sorry it says Jack Jack is my oldest he just graduated thank you very much for the very nice celebration that we had at the high school on Thursday it was great when Jack was in eighth grade he went to North middle school and one day when we were I was dropping him off he saw a confederate flag in the in the parking lot of the high school he was really

014upset about it and this was the 2015-2016 school year I wrote to principal of the principal of the high school who was mrs. de Bona at the time and we had some conversations back and forth about it it was right after the AME asked shooting in South Carolina and there were a lot of Confederate flags coming down at the time but Penn Rangers response to me was it was a student's First Amendment right to keep that Confederate flag I would like to propose that the Penn Ridge School District put in the standard Student Handbook that no Confederate flags are to be flown or worn on property I think that this is a very wise move for our own sake you know lots of different organizations including Marine Corps and NASCAR are making these policies in

015effect currently so I I would really like this will work to consider this to add it directly to the to the Student Handbook to make it clear that this symbol of hate is not to be worn or flown on our school property thank you I have a public comment generally yes thank you bill three things very quickly just to follow up on his Wasserman's comments the confederate flag is the flag of treason it was the battle flag of secessionist state who were traitors to the Union secondly to have a member of the school board claimed that there is no systemic homophobia transphobia or racism in the pendrick School Chris district is ludicrous and should disqualify miss Cohen from her position immediately and thirdly the whole idea that my third point just left me I'm so

016sorry okay if I think of it again I'll come back at the end oh the cleaning the cleaning and disinfecting I remembered my third point and and this was just announced today I believe but there represented one of the representatives from South Carolina who paraded around the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington DC without a mask mask claiming that he was perfectly fine because he was social distancing as announced today that he is infected with kovat 19 as well as his wife and his child so clearly he did not do everything he could to protect his family and I think we need to not be so foolish as to fall into that same trap that's it I just want to also say that I have two kids I'm Sellars old sorry I have

017two kids that go to Penn Ridge and I just want it to be known that I do not want any kind of mass or anything like that if I have to I will leave the district over thank you hi I've been hearing a lot about the mass and I'm sorry Rachel Nolte Bedminster Township I agree with the gentleman who spoke earlier I think that we have to trust in science and do the things that are going to keep our kids healthy especially if we want them to continue to be in a school environment in the fall the pandemics not over and if your kids not comfortable wearing a mask I hope there are options for them to go on Virtual School however I would like to have my kids be safe the staff should wear

018a mask the kids should wear a mask until it's safe to go to school without them secondly if we're talking about freedom of speech you do not have the freedom of speech to be hateful and to be homophobic and to be racist so those kids who fly those flags I agree with that person earlier they should not be able to have those at school it is hate speech it is hate insights more hate and causes problems also and there should be no social media platform as a school board member or as a staff member where you're allowed to be in any way racist especially if you're serving the community is ridiculous that's all yes Stephanie Regina East Rock Hill okay I I guess I have two points one is regards to the Falk ovid I

019was looking at the survey and kind of assessing the questions a little bit feeling a little questionable about the idea of asking people what they support and don't support it seems that simply the safest measure should be taken regardless of what people prefer yes we want to not traumatize our children but I think we need to accept that this is a traumatizing experience for everyone in the world and we can't hide them from that we need to protect them we need to protect their parents we need to protect their teachers that said I felt that none of the questions reflected what the district is using two-way like what kind of science is the district using to weigh what measures will be taken I mean there's the possibility that depending on whether the state of emergency

020is lifted we don't know what kind of guidelines are going to be set they may not be requirements in which case the district has a lot of freedom to essentially not do anything if people were to demand that they want nothing done they just want normal school I am hoping that the district is looking at scientific things like viral load and considering what amount of time students can safely spend in a building together in an enclosed space with probably limited ventilation each to each building might even have different ventilation so some buildings might actually be safer or less safe and other buildings in the district but the fact is the longer they are in a building together for how many hours the more viral load is released simply from breathing the same air and I

021hope that that's being considered so I wanted to put that out there because I felt that that wasn't reflected in the survey at all and also just to tack on to comments regarding the handling of racism right now I just want to support all the people who have said that the district does need to step up and kind of let go of this colorblind policy that it seems to have followed colorblindness is really kind of color color ignorance it's just trying to ignore a problem that is there and I also support establishing the Confederate flag as a hate symbol because all of our students of color should be able to feel safe and that symbol absolutely will not make them feel safe and I believe that's it now I'm unmuted now it's maddening McKeown I

022would jump Matthew McEwen East Rock Hill dialer elementary we've had three children that have graduated from Penn Ridge our latest graduated last week so we've been in the district while and I have my youngest daughter now is going to go to middle school next year a couple things that I just wanted to bring up obviously I don't think that anybody's gonna feel safe and secure and so there's a vaccine but I think that we need to do everything possible to make sure that we limit the possibility of transmission of this disease at our school level not only that because you also then limit the possibility of transmission at a home level with older adults people with other you know the immune systems that are compromised at home I'm disabled so for me it's you know

023it's kind of like you know I'm trying to avoid everything at a high cost so I think that it is probably you know I think that we do need to keep everything sanitized I think that everybody should wear masks including the teachers students depending on how we are going to go back to school whether or not we're going to be there full time we're whether or not we're going to be part time but I do think that while they're at school we need to do everything that we can to not to make sure that we're not you know enhancing the possibility of you know spreading this virus or this disease throughout our schools other than that honestly I have known about Joan Colin for a while I've seen the post that she's put up on

024Facebook social media I honestly believe that she should be she should resign immediately from her position based on her beliefs in the world that we live in today it just doesn't mix with you know what we should be doing as a school district or as a human being so I do think that caution resignation for Joan Collins should happen immediately thank you my eye thing the same its Janelle Mantegna I have two children entering second and fourth at Siler elementary and I have a couple topics one I do support banning a confederate flag I support increasing our anti racism education in our schools but back to returning to school in the fall I support science I'm a pharmacist everything I think about do is based on science and I feel like the to option system

025is what we need to go with if you have pre-existing health conditions and you're scared you want to stay home that's fine but the science tells me that children that are at very very very minimal risk with this disease less than the actual flu there's no rienne fact putting masks on children is a higher risk and I've looked at studies I've looked at data putting mass on our children for 78 hours a day is absurd they have I taught my pill and pediatricians office said they've had zero significant cases there and they're extremely busy we should not be having our children wear masks bringing all the carbon dioxide rebreathing plus on top of that small children elementary school children are gonna be touching their masks getting germs on their fingers they're gonna be it's gonna

026be pointless to have these masks on these children's faces and then on top of the other social things that the first kindergarten first graders emotional choose it take from smiles and expressions I just think it's it's there's no medical need to do this to our children to have a a - oxygen system where if you have family members that are at risk fine you could do the homeschool option if you don't have down there without risk and you feel comfortable sending your children you could do that if your children one wear masks go ahead but for the majority of us that do not want our children masks there's already a petition going around the house over a be two hundred forty or fifty signatures a people that don't want their children write masks all day

027I mean these small children elementary school they're not gonna do this they're gonna be touching the masts taking them off playing with the masks I just think the whole thing is is crazy and the numbers don't support it the numbers do not support it there's there's very very many data showing any problems at children so to do this to our children is ridiculous so I I hope and pray every day I will take my children out of school if this when it comes to my children are not wearing masks seven hours a day five days a week so um I believe it and one more thing the World Health Organization released a statement a few weeks ago saying that they didn't recommend they only recommend wearing masks for healthy people unless you're in contact with

028COBIT positive patients that's the World Health Organization they released a statement saying that unless you're doing with COBIT positive patients they don't recommend healthy people wearing masks so that's that's my perspective I feel like giving everyone the option to home-school or go to school where a mass or don't wear masks that's your prerogative if you want to stay home that's fine don't punish everyone else and that's all that I have to say thank you please consider that thank you I see Kristina's optimism music Dena are you there yes I would oh it's actually really gonna echo a lot of what Janelle just mentioned as well I am a nurse for 12 years in the emergency room I believe that cloth masking really is a very false sense of security and a really horrible visual for

029our children I do not want them masked in any way shape or form these cloth masks are not going to be washed by their family members every day I can guarantee you that they will be dropped on the floor and picked up then our children will have all those germs all over their hands and then they'll be all over the school I think it is a highly highly increased infection risk by having these small children try and wear a mask plus your teachers are going to become mask police Billy pick up your mask off the floor Billy don't slingshot your mask across don't hit your mask don't hit your neighbor with your mask it's I think we need to really think very critically about the practicality of that and that that's just not even elementary

030like like I have you know I have a middle school boy that be going into sixth grade I can guarantee you he's a really good kid but he's not going to appropriately wear a mask for seven hours a day there is your chance of that so I absolutely do not want my children masked in any way shape or form and I also support the dual option that we can send our children to school full-time normally I want normal recess normal lunch I want them to have the social interaction with their friends with their teachers any folks who are who would rather mask their children absolutely have that right the teachers should have that right if they would like to wear a mask that's fine I have no problem with that the number one best thing

031that we can do is increase the hand-washing for our children make sure they're clear they're washing their hands early the method of infection control is really to prevent and between myself and I would suppose I would this is my words hi my name is Ruth fields I am a member of the hill town township my son goes to grass elementary I will have another son coming into Penrith school district and one immediately afterwards and I have to say I'm not gonna reiterate a lot of the statements that many have made regarding John Cullen but I was very appalled very hurt shaken called my husband about this because as a person that is sitting on the board a person that is supposedly looking over the curriculum of our students a person that's supposedly saying that she

032cares about our students and to write such appalling appalling things about racism sexism homophobia how are we supposed to trust and I've written the school board many a times how are we supposed to trust that the curriculum is going to be changed how are we supposed to trust that the curriculum is going to be diverse how are we supposed to trust our kids in your hands so if you do not get this woman Joan Cullen off the board we will not trust a school district and we will continue to fight and be on this call every time until you make this change get her off the board like to make a comment my name is Bethany 20 we live in perky C borough but our children have gone through and are going through Sellersville Elementary

033in central middle and I am a teacher I do not teach in Penryn School District I teach internet private school and I teach pre-k through eighth grade as a music teacher and also teach second grade math and I will say that from the teachers perspective as teachers have been doing through this entire unprecedented crisis we are very aware of the challenges of having safety protocol in our classrooms that is nothing new now this level of safety protocol absolutely and you can be sure that teachers are going to take this on and do their very best to make sure that students staff faculty can be in school and be safe that being said masks are an issue of mitigation I fully understand that children are going to be masks i 100% know that to be true

034we have seen it with our own children however this is something that we will need to learn it is something that teachers are going to take on and teach as far as I have children to children with IEP and absolutely absolutely social cues are huge for them they are young they are learning and even middle schoolers adolescents need that as well however I think it is important to remember that this is part of what teachers have been taking on this whole time we're gonna find ways to do it and we can do it with planned distant learning we can do it with a hybrid model we are going to have to do it it's in this for the long term since we are still finding new things about this virus and it is wonderful that

035children are not highly affected negatively by this virus so far however this is not just about our children this is about our community and so when you have the teachers going in think about how many teachers are in a risk group or have autoimmune disorders we need to keep them safe as well and you cannot give somebody a teacher a binary choice to stay in or to leave if they're not comfortable so I think it is worth considering a hybrid model I also think that saying you choose to send your kids to school like with increased hand-washing but no masks or I'm leaving or to say you do distance learning if you don't like it that is an incredibly nearsighted narrow-minded choice that's coming from a place of privilege there are people in our community

036that somewhere in the middle may be the best option and that is valid too so I do appreciate the fact that we did have those three choices obviously things are not worked out right now but teachers are working on it I also want to say thank you against I'm sorry man but this is a sister you've run a little bit over three minutes and everyone's been very patient and kind and I'm I hate to interrupt you but I apologize like to keep it fair for everyone I'm gonna have to ask you to understood I'm done thank you hi I'd like to take Bobby I'm sorry mr. Hogan I recognized Bob and Vicki you would you like to make a comment you're talking about sellers right not to me I've been Vicki sellers from east Rock

037Hill Oh when I do really what I really wanted to say before this meeting started was I read an article about how prepared Henrich was with distributing laptops and I really just wanted to share a positive comment about thank you very much for doing that from my understanding the students appendage were had a head start by receiving these laptops which from that they've always have had in the last year's so I just really wanted to thank the board and thank you but as I listening to the discussion I know a little bit about all the sensitivities that are going on right now but I I do I do want to let people know I picked up the Confederate flag personally I don't like the Confederate flag but I do want to share a story with

038you that I've lived in this area since the 80s and my wife and her family since the 50s and I always had put an American flag and I normally put the American flag with god Bless America and I just want to let you know this is the first time in the last three weeks that someone vandalized it and it was something it's in my family we're very patriotic and it was hurtful and I wanted to share that and as far as the board is concerned I support the board the reason I supported the board was because of how they were fiscally sound and how they were able to use the money wisely not continue to borrow for capital investments and that was I truly appreciate that as it relates to what I'm hearing tonight I

039have to tell you this this sounds like a very political meeting and the lines are so evident to me and as far as Joan Cullen is concern I know you probably value free speech because you are definitely getting orchestrated bullying tonight so I just wanted to share mine my opinions and thank you very much yes thank you Joshua Hogan from West Rock Hill township before I start I want to express that Joan Cohen has my full support I know her to be an upstanding member of the community I'd also like to point out that her tweet was in direct support of something that a black man had tweeted she was retweeting a black man simply put this board has done a fabulous job for our district and community and I support them 100% now I'd

040like to address the board about the pandemic in consideration of the fact that we adults must at all times make decisions that are in the best interests of our children and their well-being I'm asking you to do your elected duty and protect the students of print pen Ridge from the madness that swept across so many feeble minds in our society I urge you to reject any idea of any Penn Ridge student of any age being forced to wear a mask against their will or against the will of their parents I also urge you to give teachers the freedom to choose whether or not they will wear masks and to strongly consider how an entire school full of mass adults will improperly work a young child's mind away from what is normal and good and healthy

041and instead turn that child towards fear paranoia anxiety and stress they clearly already have plenty of that in today's crazy world as this board meeting is evidence you don't need us to add any more I also urge you to consider the long-term effects the over sanitation will have on kids kids are by design very dirty creatures they have an immune system built to handle that they are practically unaffected by SARS co2 it's my sincere opinion as a proud parent of three very robust and healthy children that our children absolutely should not be shuttered away from all possible germs just to keep them away from coronavirus yes the virus can be rough on the elderly or on the unhealthy but we as a society should not make children pay for that it's critical that we keep

042our children as healthy and strong as possible the way we do that is providing them with exposure to normal life which includes human contact exercise sunlight and of course the occasional germs that their bodies are so robustly designed to handle if we remove their ability to maintain a strong immune system more of them will become sick with basic illness such as influenza as the winter months go by lastly I urge you to consider a to solution approach which would simultaneously provide fully normal schools for those who are ready and also provide fully virtual cyber schools for those who aren't I can guarantee you that a solution of abnormal schooling without any viable option for normalcy will lead the significant enrollment in cyber charter the default should not be to bow down to those who are

043afraid the default should be to stand proud and strong and to show those living in fear that this too shall pass free and it will be a part we're going to move into the agenda we're not ignoring you we just on that period so that we can see so I see Megan Isla muted yes that's me hi good evening everybody my name is Megan Brady I have four kids in the district three in middle of three in elementary one in middle school I'm active in the schools and in the community and I appreciate the time to speak tonight I'll keep it brief I just want to say the tweet from Joan call was extremely upsetting to me embarrassing to me I'm a graduate of Penn Ridge as well as like I said having four kids

044here and I've there are wonderful things about Penn Ridge and there are some things that are great unfortunately this is completely unacceptable and embarrassing there is systemic racism sexism homophobia in the district it is there maybe it doesn't expect her so that's why she's putting something like that out there but it is here and it does affect others so I'm not I'm not sure that she should have that platform to be putting things like that some somebody mentioned something about this being political I think that she made it political when she posts things like this so I don't think that she should have a platform to be doing so also as far as and I do think that she should just resign this is embarrassing at this point I'm also as far as the Kovach

045I certainly would love to have my kids back in school in the fall and like some people have said have it be a normal situation for them unfortunately in the district hands are tied somewhat I mean this isn't a normal situation and no matter what happens you're going to have some people upset either way so I don't envy the position that the school district has and I appreciate that the length of discussion and agony over making these decisions I just want to say that I do believe wholeheartedly in what Bethenny said if there's got to be some other way it can't just be oh I don't want my kid to wear a mask so I'm gonna go to school and everything's gonna be normal I don't think that that's fair to say because maybe kids

046are not affected by this but there are other people in the community besides the kids and kids pass terms and other things so I'm no scientist of no pharmacists or not a nurse or not in the medical profession but I do sure we believe that there's got to be a some way we can meet in the middle somewhere and and if it's you know wear a mask it's where I mask you know whatever these are not normal times and I don't think that things are going to be normal or should be expected to be that's all thank you for your time I'd like to comment I Kevin Foster hill town Township um I just wanted to address first of all just a comment he made earlier there's a hundred and fifty-eight people on this call

047and you know as elected officials you guys have a responsibility to listen to them so you know ending the public comment period early is is unheard of so I don't think that's even appropriate and I think that uh dr. Bolton should weigh in here as should mr. Miller I will weigh in mr. foster and I will hold your time while I do so the policies of policy 903 makes very clear that there are there's a 60 minute period to speak on agenda items at the beginning of the meeting additional period of time up to 60 minutes to speak on any items that a qualified person can speak on the board has allowed people to go beyond the agenda items limitation on the first period of speaking so that people can be heard I appreciate what

048you're saying but the board does have rules which are published and are clear for everyone so I think the board is doing its very best to get everyone's comments in and still do the business of the board that has to be has to be taken care of so I want to be clear that the board is not acting in any arbitrary where anyway that's not consistent with the the rules that are set forth by the board I'm going to resume your time mr. foster I've died I Paula so I would also mention that the 2017 Activities Committee meeting in March was allowed to run longer than a one-hour comment period so I think it's convenient that you guys have chosen this woman a couple of 16 minutes that being said 159 participants now that I

049think you have an obligation in conformity that being said you know I haven't said much publicly in the last you know two or three weeks I've just been listening to you know co-workers friends family members about you know some really horrific instances of racism that I that I've heard of not just in this community but also you know in my networks outside this community and you know it's really concerning and then I've heard instances I've heard students speak publicly in front of their peers Henrich students about racist incidents in elementary school in the high school in the community and then you know discovering that essentially and I'm paraphrasing a sitting board member essentially has said you know what that doesn't really exist and people just need to buck up and toughen up and I think

050that's just disgraceful and I'm really interested what the other board members have to say about that you know I know this is not your time to respond but I'm gonna pay really close I think everybody on this call should also as to what the other eight board members say in regards to mrs. Collins statements so that's all I have to say thank you make a comment Bradley yes hi I'm Lauren Bradley and I'm in Bedminster Township I have two students at the elementary level and one in high school and I wrote to the district today about Miss Collins tweets and um basically it the her tweets about the non-existence of systemic oppression it's just one of many appalling tweets then miss colin has made in recent years and I did receive a response from her

051which I initially appreciated but I realized then that it was just a canned response that she had sent to multiple people and in her response to me miss Collins stated that systemic oppression is a matter of opinion which is absolutely wrong and I think this attitude of ignorance towards very real problems in this country has no place in the district and I think miss Collins should resign and I also think that you know we're sitting here talking about protecting students from from kovat and from you know the virus but who's who's standing up for students of color and and or or minority students in this district especially when someone sitting on the board has such appalling views I think she should resign comments mr. Krause it is now 8:00 o'clock it is the chairs prerogative

052we will have another comment period at the end of this meeting which I know the chair will allow people to speak we do have an agenda to get through and it's consistent with rule 903 a policy 903 to start the meeting now and then take comment at the second time period so I mentioned that for you to make a decision on how you want to proceed Thank You mr. Miller one more comment before we move on okay mr. Krauss I'll speak Lee rush mr. Ross how are you Lee rush perco see mr. Miller of course is quite accurate around policy and I think that it's an important decision that you're about to make as chair the board dil or mr. Krause I'm sorry dissent dissent is obviously the healthiest thing that our Constitution protects and

053the discretion that you hold as chair is a pretty critical position and you know you know as well as I have been to hundreds of meetings like some other folks on this call we've been to many meetings over decades and this is a pretty pretty important time you know in our country or our little tiny district here in Penn Ridge though I encourage you to uh to make an exception tonight and just you know let things unfold if people have to leave if people can wait till the end of the meeting what you know what's going to happen if you cut off public comment now a lot of people are gonna you know take off you know take themselves out of the meeting perhaps come back so I just think that you know whatever people's

054opinions are this is the place to just listen to the community we always talked about wanting more engagement and people showed up tonight so I really think that uh the wise move would be just open it up for another half hour forty minutes see where things go and then you know you got to get your business tonight but give it some time I think you cut off this conversation now it'll send a really they'll send a an S it'll send a message and I encourage you just to leave it open a little bit thanks for listening thank you mr. rush I think good points here so I mean this on my period extend Daleks I'm going to extend it for another 30 that wants to know well thank you for that mr. Russia anybody else

055would like to make a comment I have a comment yes my name is mone Jones I live in Perkis eberle I am a 1996 graduate of Penn Bridge and I currently have two students that will both be in middle school next year and Joan Cullen needs to resign and if she chooses not to resign the other board members and dr. Bolton you need to call for her resignation have someone as a vice president that overlooks our children's curriculum who cannot understand that there is still racism of people of color of people with different genders of people with different socioeconomic backgrounds how can anyone have faith in someone to look over curriculum and change your curriculum to meet in the needs of what our children or a population is showing us there's no question that this

056woman should no longer have a place on this board I've written to each board member two times within the last two weeks and unfortunately the vast majority of you chose not to respond to a simple email detailing some of the concerns I have had myself as a high school graduate of Penn Ridge as a member of this community of the racism that I have experienced and now that's being passed down to my children the fact that you're voted in to be a voice of these people that you can't take five minutes to simply acknowledge receipt of an email even if you don't have answers you want us to go out and vote for you and support you yet you can't take five minutes to respond to an email all of you absolutely Oh everyone that

057has emailed you that you have not responded to an apology I want to know what this board has planned to address the racial disparities that are happening in our community our curriculum clearly needs to be changed our staff clearly needs to be educated and learn how to appropriately handle when children are being called out of their names by their peers and by their teachers because when I was in high school I had a teacher who currently still teaches in this district who refused to call me by my name you had a different name that he preferred to call me and that teacher was never reprimanded and continues to teach to this day and my daughter has this person as a teacher though I need to know what are you going to do to handle all

058of these racial disparities in this district it needs to happen immediately I understand Koba 19 is a major concern but racism has been happening in this district far too long and you have sat way too quiet and done absolutely nothing to address it thank you Miss Jones hi my name is Jodie Stewart Moore and I'm a Penn Ridge resident I live in / Cassie burrow and with regard sexual racism and um I want to speak that schools have a responsibility to be a place of comprehensive and inclusive learning and I if structural racism is something we're going to address we need to address it within the structure in the curriculum of Penn Ridge so you kind of ensure that all of our students are fully supported and so I do believe in structural racism and

059so I have specific questions I'm happy to email them to you as well because there's a number of them but the questions are number one where can we find a complete list of approved reading texts for English class 2 how many teachers of color are on staff three what resources exists for teachers and staff who wish to explore issues of diversity or how do you handle situations where Penn Ridge staff use social media to encourage violence against protesters which has happened in the past month or make statements that are available to the public that are hurtful to children or parents within our school district five do you have a list of in-service and trainings that have been offered over the last several years and what specific topics have been covered six what specific courses and

060training do members of the school board have on issues of race and diversity seven what social studies courses are being offered outside the European and North American context and eight final question is there currently a task force or committee with the specific charge of doing anti racism anti oppression or diversity work within the school district thank you for your time mr. Krause before you move on I would simply ask the speaker to make sure that she does email those questions to dr. Bolton so he has an opportunity to respond thank you yes I would my name is Emily guide I'm in East Rock Hill township I'd like to thank the board initially for its fiscal responsibility and thank those who have been respectful of others opinions I want to say that I support free speech

061for everybody on all sides I'm a little dismayed at the acceptance and support of the bullying responses to some of miss Cohen's views there's a Google Doc on one of the Facebook pages entitled quote Joan Cullen harassment in it that includes screenshots of her asking for a young man to get some supportive help and it's all been twisted and turned around and it's a little unsettling to feel that that kind of bullying response is supported on the widespread level and if people want her out they need to vote her out and not bully her out so I want to just say that I support free speech for everybody and I'm also against requiring masks for school and students for students and staff in the fall that's all I have a comment Samantha others I'm Hilton

062Township I'm also a 2017 Pine Ridge graduate last week we had protests I know a lot of people knew about it and it was a time for students who went to Penn Ridge to just share their personal experiences that they've gone through for some of the white students at Penn Ridge to share things that they've witnessed or things that they've seen their friends deal with that pen Ridge which in my case was under the previous administration of dr. Radigan and mr. Bona at Penn High School however I also have siblings who are class of 2021 who are coming up and there have been some incidences that have taken place at the school for example some stuff was stolen out of the locker room during football season last year and the assistant principal called in all

063these students of color and not a single white student was calling in during that time even though those students who had stuff taken knew that it was most likely one specific student however nobody wants to be the snitch when you're 17 years old so I guess my comment would be that what is the board doing to prevent situations like that from happening again how are your administrators being held accountable when situations like that happen and so I guess the question that would be asked back to me would be well did was this reported and what I can say is my senior year we did send an email to the principal and to the school board when there was a similar incident where a black student was asking my mom for a ride home and a

064security officer came up and said to that student are you bothering her which we took to be racial profiling especially with this specific student because this had happened multiple times with him and his group of friends who are all black we made a report we were basically told not that nothing would be happening to the security officer and that this wasn't because of that and that if we wanted to take it up with someone else you know we would have to you know take it up with someone who wasn't part of school district so I guess my question is as you know new board members most of you and as a new administration what is being done to prevent situations like that what are the responses that are being given to students and parents when

065they come to you with these issues and just what type of policies are being enacted where students are being educated about these things that are going on in their world because systemic racism systemic homophobia systemic sexism are facts that have been proven in history they're not an opinion and to say that they are an opinion is a privilege that you have because you haven't been affected by them so I'm just asking what the school district will be changing in the future to educate their students I'd like to make a comment to Jay Jones see borough education and curriculum I'd like to share a brief story you know I am a firm believer that you know education is the great equalizer however when kids are not given a proper education like ours are not at Penn

066Ridge School District that creates a major problem one of my daughters were told that no Pharaohs in Egypt were black our teacher completely ignored the 25th dynasty which by the way we're called the Nubian Pharaohs does the term Nubian have anything to do with European examples like this are the reasons why we have such issues in this country and in our community the good news is Penn ridges up for curriculum review I believe this year I am asking you I am begging you for the sake of our children in this community and their futures to give them a fair and true education that is not political that is their right thank you [Music] used rock Hill I'm an alumni of Penn Ridge as well as have siblings and nieces and nephews in the school district

067I just wanted to say that in the very obvious there are opportunities for change that are being pushed from all something of any political spectrum we are in a moment of radical change that we aimed to take a look at the systemic racism and disadvantages that people have faced for thousands and thousands of years it is indeed a privilege to be able to ignore such things which has been done at Penn Ridge for so long Penn are prides itself as being a high standing institution that teaches fairness and equality and it states diversity on its page but it does not actually teach those things which I can attest to through my time being in Pendred for my entire 12 years of education um and I think this movement is such a great opportunity and it

068would be quite a shame if the school board and the Penn Ridge did not take this opportunity to make a change in the curriculum as they have the opportunity to do so right now so I just hope that the school board takes this opportunity to sit and listen and learn then use our privilege as a very white community to teach our children fairness and equality as it should be taught thank you thank you for your comments unlike anybody this time I'm going to move into the agenda oh thank you for all the public comments president's report so this is this is my report we're all appalled and saddened by the brutal events in Minneapolis in Atlanta they're led to the tragic senseless deaths of George Floyd and Rashard Brooks no human being deserves to be

069treated in such a manner I watched the memorial service for mr. Floyd on tooth work and was especially moved by the passionate and emotional speech given by mr. Floyd's brother Rodney who said we didn't have much growing up but we had a house full of love the Declaration of Independence reminds us we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it is clear there is much work to be done on a local national level to implement meaningful change such that all people are valued and viewed as equal in all aspects Henrich community is a loving caring community who welcomes all people of all colors Creed's and sexual orientation with

070open arms these open arms extend our schools that bordered the administration educators and support staff on a vast octave hoping to share again the work of the diversity and equity working group in their superintendents report that will will expand to include parents and students in the fall and will continue to develop initiatives to ensure our policies and curriculum continue to provide a loving supportive and safe environment for every hundred student to reach their and achieve their full potential mr. cross thank you for the opportunity I'm so appreciative of the number of community members who gathered tonight and wanted to take an opportunity to share some of the work that we've outlined through the district's Diversity and equity workgroup we shared last sleep but it was a much smaller group so it does address some of

071the questions not all of the questions but some of the questions that were asked tonight I'm so as you referenced mr. Krause the district's diversity and equity workgroup began in the fall of 2018 it began my first year as superintendent and was an outgrowth of our most recent comprehensive planning and it is this group that will continue to leave our lead our initiatives through the summer and into next year and beyond this group has already delivered multiple diversity trainings to all administrators it has planned a training in November for all professional and support staff it has discussed educational opportunities for our students it has investigated our discipline data for both gender and racial discrepancies it has looked to increase the diversity of candidates that are considered for all positions and has examined our curriculum for

072diversity of content characters and authors I've held multiple conversations over the last two weeks and have continued to say that we are proud of this work but understand that the work is not finished we will expand this work group as mr. Krause said to include student and parent participation as we move into next year and should have done that previously - now we will continue to improve through listening to and learning from the input and ideas of all members of the Penn Ridge community one example is here tonight Thank You mr. Preston now I'd like to turn and say a few words to the class of 2020 you did it it is bittersweet to say that because I know many of you are disappointed this is not the graduation you imagined you did not get

073to experience several classic high school experiences you miss out on graduating alongside your friends on senior prom you miss out on senior skip day and you missing out on playing jackal it is easy to be disappointed with all these changes cancellations and delays however I want to remind you of all the accomplishments of this class that make you stand out you are among the first classes to have laptops as part of your entire high school education you are the first class to learn remotely you are the first class to take a pee it sounds online this class graduated the early in the school year of any class and you are the first class to walk across the stage in the high school building this class is truly full of trailblazers innovators team players and you

074display the unique ability to overcome adversity and the challenges you faced it is this spirit that will allow you to tackle and overcome any challenge in the future whether you begin working and off to college during the military or whatever path you have chosen in this spirit with you after seeing the tackle challenge you have to challenge together I am confident you will be able to overcome anything you may face in the future coming forward and engaged in your community bringing not only your concerns but also in your ideas and together the pendrick's community will continue to grow and be the loving caring community we all love becoming always remain pendings Brown good luck and congratulations to the class of 25 dr. Bolton that's the end of my president's report I'll move on to the

075superintendents report mr. Crouse thank you I want to add my congratulations obviously to the Penn rich class of 2020 I know that loss remain congratulations to Jack I feel like there was one other graduate on the phone call and I apologize for not writing it down but a congratulations to all of you in connections to any seniors the past three months were not the way than anyone but one good thing is it did force all of us involved to find creative ways to hold on to not just the many traditions that normally happen at the end of a senior year but also creative additional celebrations for the class before I share some of those images I want to publicly thank dr. Cashman the high school principal mr. Lebowski to the house principal for the class

076of 2020 miss Cuthbert and mr. Behrens their guidance counselor's as well as miss O'Brien and mrs. Baker their classic advisors these were some of the adults and individuals who worked tirelessly on behalf of our seniors I've asked mr. Cooper if she would put together and share a brief video of some of the events over the past two weeks so that you can just enjoy some of the sights and the sounds of the last two weeks so mrs. Miller if you could give miss Cooper ability to share her screen thank you miss Cooper you [Music] mr. Cooper thank you for putting that together I hope that you could see some of the wonderful events that were held on on behalf of the class of 2020 as one school year comes to a close obviously many families

077and even some tonight are asking about our planning for school in the fall as I've reminded the community multiple times I continue to meet twice a week with representatives from all of the 13 school districts as well as the three centers for technical education and the intermediate unit across Bucks County we also meet weekly with representatives from the state and county health departments and we are working together develop health safety and instructional plans that will be required by the state for the Fall we have created a planning team that will be working on various possibilities for the Fall we all hope for a full return to face-to-face instruction that would include options for families who are not comfortable with that but in Penryn we will need to be prepared for any changes that might require

078either a blended model or full virtual instruction at this point as some speaker said tonight we just have no way to know exactly what August and September will bring let alone November and December and we need to prepare for all of those options the district is fully committed to a full return to face-to-face instruction for those families and my hope is that we will be able to do that and that the year will go beautifully as most of you know there are currently surveys that are being completed by both parents and staff two separate surveys and that will provide important information from our community regarding their thoughts on the fall the next update that you'll receive for me will be in either late June or early July is that group assigned opportunity the workgroup is

079an opportunity to interact survey information as well as we are expecting any day now guidance from the Bucks County Health Department with some specifics in terms of what the fall can look like that obviously then will allow us to plan for specifically what our classrooms can do and how we can accommodate all of our students so you'll continue to receive updates both through emails directly for me as well as through our social media and web site for those of you who do not have children currently in the system Thank You mr. Kraus that is the superintendence report for tonight thank you dr. bold move into the consent calendar with that I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar items listed as a through I second it Thanks seconded by mr. rice any

080questions or concerns from board members mr. Krause I just want to clarify two items one if you've looked at the personnel report you will see that we have some er helpers that are hired and they are at different rates even though they are side-by-side in the report so I just wanted to clarify for board members as well as the community our summer helpers are hired based on age there's one rate for students who are currently in high school and another rate for high school graduates as well as longevity students who are working with us for multiple years do receive an increase over the previous year but I also like to remind the community that voting will look a little different in a virtual format instead of having tonight we have eight board members here instead

081of having eight yeses mr. Crouse yes for any knows or extensions that is generally just to limit the chatter and the over-talking of the important mr. rice questions or concerns for board members there are none anybody opposed their abstaining hearing none motion passes 8 0 moving on to the committee reports mrs. Walters activities mrs. Walters on the lawn with him here you mrs. Walters okay all right so in light of mrs. Walters can you all still hear me okay all right I'm filling in for mrs. Walters and go through the committee report the committee did weed on June 8th and there is a motion to approve the amendment 2019 2020 school district calendar the changes in this calendar are reflective of the days which we were closed right right before the governor arrived first in

082schools so there's a motion second seconded by dr. Thompson questions or concerns from board members any body opposed or abstaining hearing none motion passes a 0 and the next Activities Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday August 3 next committee mrs. Dimas comments finance Thank You mr. Krause the I'll make a motion to approve the final general fund budget second it ok motion seconded by mr. Royce questions or concerns from where delivers believe that this should be done with a roll call vote mr. cross mr. Krause before the vote I just want to publicly thank mr. dobbert and the building administrators and the board for their development of this budget it is an uncertain financial time coming out of kovat and what that will look like financially across our district as well as the entire country

083and it is a tribute to the financial stability that this board and mr. dobbert department have established that we are able to offer for the second consecutive you're a balanced no tax increase budget independence work so I just wanted to congratulate all of its involved that was not a small task to get that done so thank you to the administration yourself it's truly an uncertain time I'm very thankful for the work that each of you have done to bring this budget forward mrs. baños Clemens yes mister Cormack yes mrs. Cohen yes mrs. Dolan mr. Gerhardt yes mr. Krauss yes mr. rice yes dr. Thompson yes and mrs. Walters was a yes mrs. Chan with she's actually but difficult if she gives a thumbs up thank you next I'll make a motion to approve levying taxes

084which include the one percent earned income tax half a percent real estate transfer tax and $5 local services tax I'm not mistaken mr. Miller this also needs to be a roll call vote correct I was gonna say get ready mrs. yes okay on motion so motion seconded by mr. Krause questions or concerns by board members seeing none this is general sure it's as bad as Clemens yes mr. Cormack yes missus : yes Sterling's absent mr. Gerhardt yes mr. Crabb yeah mr. rice yes yes dr. Thompson yes and mrs. Walters this is excellent make a motion to approve the 2020 homestead and farmstead exclusion resolution seconded by mr. Kovac questions and concerns by board members none anybody opposed or abstaining hearing none let me check with mrs. Walters you most are abstaining you're good this is

085a tiara next I'll make a motion to set the installment dates of August 31st October 31st and December 15th 2020 second it guide bill questions and concerns from board members right and the bunny opposed or abstaining hearing none mrs. Walters this is 8 0 thank you I make a motion to approve the commitment of funds a through C for year ending 2019 2020 second questions or concerns from board members make a motion to approve renewal quotes a through G presented by Willis Towers Watson mr. Kraus questions or comments from board members seeing none anybody opposed or abstaining you're none mrs. Walters you're good all right thank you motion passes e0 this is famous violence I make a motion to approve contact contracts a through our I'll second it go ahead Johnson questions and concerns for

086grid members anybody opposed there are staining I apologize again I just went just for the community's sake I just want to let everyone know that is we've been negotiating contracts for the fall in the next school year we have made sure we've included clauses so that if the event does not happen or it has changed any way the district will not be responsible for the funds being expensed so that is one of the changes we obviously made go into next year to make sure their contracts have thank you suppressed thank you that's important clarification okay so questions and concerns for board members we vote on those guys yeah anybody else dating or opposed seeing none mrs. Walters for your thumbs up thank you very much motion passes eat 0 misses famous promise I make a

087motion to renew PSP a membership 2020 2021 in the amount of fifteen thousand eight hundred forty dollars and 42 cents second it seconded by mr. rice questions or concerns from board members I see none anybody opposed or abstaining okay motion passes Ichiro thank you make a motion to accept an award finance bid / RFP results a through K thank you make a motion to approve the following Bank depositories a through F tell yours pill [Music] make a motion to approve the cooperative purchasing participation for the 2020 2021 fiscal year items a through I second emotion motion passes thank you I make a motion to seek bids for new school bus replacements for 2020 2021 seconded by mr. Kraus questions your concerns from board members none but abstaining or very none mrs. Walters how we doing

088thank you okay motion passes e0 misses famous comments thank you a motion to review end-of-year payment of all bills received and payable through June 30th 2020 as necessary bill lists will be forwarded to all board members prior to the release of checks any checks in question will be resolved before they are released for a second thank you make a motion to approve settlement agreement relating to litigation captioned as goodwin vs. Penryn school district Jacqueline Ratigan and Gina de Bona case number 17 - CV - 0 2 4 3 1 in the United States federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as well as a motion to approve the settlement agreement relating to litigation captioned as Jane Doe vs. Penn Ridge School District Jacqueline rhadigan and Gina de Bona case number 17 CV - 3

0895 7 0 in the United States federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania I'll second lovers anybody opposed or abstaining Walters thank you listen passes each 0 across may I make a statement regarding those settlements the Penn Ridge School District and the National Women's Law Center has agreed to settle two lawsuits that are on the board motions this evening these litigation matters involved allegations of the district and former administrators failed to adequately address former students reports of sexual harassment including sexual assault and dating violence and failed to train school employees on how to properly respond to sexual harassment please see Goodwin vs Pendred school district Jacqueline Ratigan and Gina de Bona as well as Jane Doe vs. Pendred school district Jacqueline Braddock and Gina devote while the district has denied liability in both cases

090the district has worked together with the National Women's Law Center to bring resolution to these matters and to ensure that appropriate actions are being taken including by providing regular education and training on harassment and bullying for both staff and students Thank You mr. Kratz the next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for August 10th thank you mr. Krauss I'll make a motion to approve contracts a through D independence Blue Cross renewal contract the Delta Dental renewal contract the Penn Ridge stop-loss renewal contract and the Safe Schools contract second net seconded by mr. rice questions or concerns from members seeing none anybody opposed or abstaining thank you motion passes e 0 thank you I'd like to make a motion to approve amendment to the flexible benefits plan by mr. cross questions or concerns for Horta members anybody

091opposed or abstaining seeing none mrs. Walters okay thank you motion passes each 0 the next Personnel Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday August 3rd thank you very much I you missus famous opponents Thank You mr. Krause I'll share a report from our last are you meeting believe it or not we still have so much going on it was still difficult to narrow down what to share tonight first we'll start with the continuity of Education through the ooh Andrew Coonrod teaching and learning specialist led an effort on behalf of Pai u in concert with PDE to create a continuity of Education document that has been used statewide to support districts as they transitioned to providing to provide planned instruction Andrew also supported many districts in consulting and reviewing their continuity of education plans also with the

092need to pivot to online learning many programs and services team members have been recording WebEx how-to videos and supporting the implementation of seesaw through the first few weeks of online learning the team is enjoyed collaborating with new colleagues across the I you and counts that as one of the silver linings in this pandemic the programs and services division oversees multiple advisory councils throughout the school year these councils help to guide the intermediate units decision-making in key areas they have been an essential tool for districts across the county to meet and share ideas especially concerning the navigation of this crisis there are groups for all superintendents assistant superintendents and curriculum directors and high school principals to name just a few graduation and grading have obviously been two hot topics at the high school level but it's

093definitely helpful for all of those groups to meet together and discuss all of those things to be on the same page and help each other and share ideas our esteem mobile Fab Lab is is obviously not not mobile bright panel but the Bucks County IU is still figuring out ways to to bring steam to kids the Bucks County IU team is purchasing key week rates for students to use for some fun steam activities at homeless shelters over the summer since face-to-face instruction will not be possible the mobile Fab Lab team has also been publishing free steam Energizer's every day since Monday March 16th steam Energizer's are based off of scholastic education free learning at home resources which are a collection of nonfiction articles that are perfect for learning each energizer focuses on one theme such

094as chocolate rollercoasters or springtime each listing offers no and low tech options allowing allowing for more students to give these a try by utilizing items commonly and easily found at home all of these can be all of those activities can all be accessed on the I used website beef for the second year in a row Robin gross the Bucks County IU educational marketing lead has won a top award for her work for the Bucks County IU the Pennsylvania schools public relations association holds an annual contest for everything from graphic design to social media and print publications last year Robin won the top award of excellence for the website this year she won a top award of excellence for her design of the mobile fab logo the United Way of Bucks County and the Bucks County

095Intermediate Unit are teaming up to move Bucks County's annual ice team conference for students online ice team which is organized by dr. Lindsay sides connects Bucks County seventh and eighth graders to mentors who work in science technology engineering arts math and manufacturing and is the biggest student conference in Bucks County over 800 students typically attend this year it will be hosted online on May 21st 2020 starting at 9:30 a.m. students can register and access the program which will be about an hour via a private link available through their science teacher Miss America 2020 Camille Schreyer a Bucks County native who made history when she presented a chemistry demonstration as her talent during the Miss America competition will be presenting she is a biochemist pursuing a doctor of pharmacy degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in addition

096to sharing what live science demonstrations Schreyer will talk about the importance of STEM education and answer questions submitted by students every school that participates will be in a raffle to win $5,000 to put towards their school's STEM education or a one-week residency of the mobile Fab Lab at their school these prizes were made possible by generous there's including pico Comcast Langan engineering Penn Community Bank ppl electric utilities Solvay Suez Water Technologies and solutions and UGI electric utilities also pleased to announce that our own dr. mark Hoffman executive director for the Bucks County IU will be the new president-elect for the PA iu Board of Directors effective July 1st so congratulations to him and to us for having him there as that voice students in residential and tential and detention facilities are also receiving instruction through

097WebEx and see-saw students who are working towards earning credits in specific horse areas and towards gaining mastery with specific learning and behavioral goals are able to receive continuity of instruction to be successful at meeting their goals judy Hodnett a captionist in our hearing support program and an accomplished seamstress started production of masks with a clear panel in the front to assist those who are hearing impaired and need to watch your mouth movements to interpret what you're saying judy is making these with materials that she has on hand work is underway to also develop a protocol for sharing with families of our children with hearing loss judy is happy to share the pattern she developed with other crafty folks should a larger need develop the Bucks County Intermediate Unit has district support teams to work with

098districts on their individual needs so every year those needs are identified and shared from each district this year at Penn ranch they facilitated a technology PQR which is a program quality review conducted paraprofessional trainings hosted k12 counseling planned trainings to support the development of a revised plan and provided Pennsylvania Institute for instructional coaching monthly network meetings the Bucks IU also provided CDT implementation support and consultation on the act 45 application process the next Bucks County Intermediate Unit meeting is actually tomorrow evening so feel free to do and that is that meeting is held via WebEx and the link to that is provided on the IU's website the upper box protec miss no one is is absent from the meeting so I will continue on this the next you are about to protect word meeting is

099scheduled for Thursday June 18 on moving on to is there any old business where members and the old business mrs. Cohen I would like to speak and if my computer goes lackey I'd rather use the computer than the phone but if I'm wobbly please just raise a hand and I'll pick up my phone and and use it instead and what I'm going to say is going to sound pretty much exactly what I said in my email I know that it was described as a canned response but it's going to sound the same because this is my position that I have I believe that in justices of any kind should be confronted and dealt with appropriately in my role as a school board director I am committed to help make sure that every Pendred student is

100loved valued respected empowered protected and heard I would never and have never suggested that discrimination based on race sex gender orientation and religion doesn't exist in this world although it would be wonderful if it didn't however speaking specifically to the topic of systemic discrimination there are vastly different views held by people from all walks of life which don't fit neatly into preconceived notions people might hold it's one thing to say that discrimination exists but to say that an entire country or community is systemically racist is a different thing altogether and there are many people even in minority communities who are speaking to that right now and providing research to support it including the gentleman whose tweet I shared and many others in other underrepresented communities of all kinds who have different views what they're expressing

101isn't hateful it's their own beliefs and experiences as members of those communities and their perspectives are valid as our mind and everyone else is in this community because no group of people is a monolith that much must speak think and feel in a uniform way I've developed my viewpoints on life through my own personal relationships and experiences as well as through research and reading and listening to the thoughts of a diverse group of people I'd be happy to share those sources with those who are interested in hearing different perspectives it has been enlightening for me and I think every one of those voices deserves deserves to be heard in any discussion that is to be had I hope you would agree thank you is there any other new business boldness or anything you would like

102to add other than a reminder to everyone that public comment the second period of public comment is still governed by full policy 903 for anybody who wants to comment and we will continue to keep time and ask everyone to make their comments comment ok my name is Lawrence Ryan I'm in Helltown Township sorry I'm a little nervous um anyway so in regards to their going back to school I just wanted to reference some signs that I've been reading in regards to Cove in nineteen read a PubMed article that said asymptomatic expose - 455 different people and there was zero transmission rate I also read a excuse me a science mag article from the American Association for advancement of science and it was a study that was claiming corona virus can be transmitted by people without

103cyst symptoms was flawed I will try to summarize Anthony Fauci said there's no doubt after reading a paper from the New England Journal of Medicine that asymptomatic transmission is occurring but after they followed up with the actual person that they were talking about during her stay they said during her stay she had no sign or symptoms of infection and had become ill on her flight back to China however after speaking with the woman who had infected four people in Germany they found out that she did in fact have symptoms she felt tired suffered from muscle pain I was taking paracetamol a fever luring medication as well as another article that I read from the American Institute for Economic Research by a statistician not was count wits hausky he said with all the respiratory diseases the

104only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity about 80% of people need to have had contact with the virus and the majority of them won't have recognized that they were infected or they had very very mild symptoms especially if they are children so it's important to keep the schools open and kids mingling to spread the virus to get hurt immunity as fast as possible than the elderly people who should be separated in nursing homes should be closed during that time and can come back and meet their children and grandchildren after about four weeks when the virus has been exterminated so again I support dual option and if that does not happen and my child cannot return to school as normal they will be pulled and we will be moving our money from the district

105to cyber school thank you have a comment hi Adrian king hill town towns hill hill town township so so first I think I'll start with a thank you to the board I think that you know you've taught me as a parent that I have to be just as engaged with my children's learning what's going on with the school board as I do with my everyday job but so I appreciate that I'm happy to hear that finally you know I came to the board first in February asking about the diversity and equity planned for the district and it's taken until June for me to get what you provided today which you know as a surface response but it's it's a start what I would I would what I would like to understand more of when you

106typically when you call something a workforce or a task force it's something that's for a short period of time so I'd like to understand what the long term plan is is there a plan like a longer term solution such as adding a diversity and inclusion role to the administration or to the board that's going to continue to keep this moving this is not just something that's in vogue and a hot topic for someone that said that for people who love color it's something that we live with every day I am now a parent myself and my husband that have an eight and a seven year old that we have to reinforce daily that they do not look like a monkey that they are not dirt and that their life has value because of what they've

107experienced in this district and it is your responsibility to make sure that we shouldn't have to do that and so I want to make sure that there is a long-term plan to keep this up and that you're not just being reactive so what's popular right now because the tone death responses that we've been getting from this board shows that you have blind spots that you need to fill by making sure that your board is more diverse and has more diverse voices around the table I wish that my only concern as a parent in this district was around keeping the tax lo it it goes so much further beyond that and that we need to really focus on what is good for our children and making sure that they are really equipped and well-rounded for the

108future that they are going into and not just for our children but for all children within the district thank you Michelle I'm an alumni of Penn Ridge and 2014 I don't live in the area anymore but I'm very interested to hear what resources and what research mrs. Cohen has done to come to the conclusion that systemic racism doesn't exist I'd love to get those resources and take them down you don't live here get off I'm excuse me I'm I'm an alumni of Penn Ridge and I'm still active in the community because I care about that community it's where I grew up so here you don't pay taxes I'm Michelle we apologize she was go and finish your company yeah I am mrs. Cohen had said that she would be willing to give those resources so

109I would I'm very interested to hear what they are confirmation of Alton you scream Michelle we're all first name first initial last name of hemorrhage jerk okay okay Thank You Lindsay McNair from Hometowne Township good evening so just very briefly on this one specific topic you know I had two young kids they're in elementary school and one of my concerns going back and fall is if we're fortunate enough to have kids actually in the classrooms with their teachers is the possibility of a requirement of masks I'm wearing them at work for eight hours and we have air conditioning and it's very very difficult and I do have concerns about having the kids go back and then having to wear them especially since many of them elementary schools at least our school we don't have air

110conditioning so I just can't imagine that being a possibility and I am concerned about it I know there's a lot of other things going on in the world that are also you know certainly problematic but this one particular issue props because we everywhere we go we have to wear masks now just everyday it just you know it is something that I do worry about with young kids so that's just something that you know I'm curious to see how you're going to respond to that and is my hope we'll be able to work something out where it's not it's more optional or it's not mandatory for at least elementary school kids so that's all yeah my name is chip 2014 graduate high school alumni and first and foremost I would like to you know demands the

111respect and you know hopefully apologetic attitude towards Michelle you know she does not live in this community right now however she is an active member and she this cause is very near and dear to her heart and I personally high classes with her and again graduated with her so we have kept this forum completely respectful and the disrespect that she had gotten was absolutely unacceptable and mrs. Cole and I speak directly into you right now we have seen you for the first hour and a half be on your phone not look at your monitor and direct concerns to the you know the concerns of the public and you know ironically you got on you know you were able to you know respond and speak through your monitor for the last what was it 20 minutes

112there are more concerns than air conditioning and you know the coronavirus going on right now in terms of the safety of students well-being and emotional well-being of this district that has been going on for two to three generations and right now I would like to pass the platform up to my esteemed colleague right here because he also has some thoughts that I believe that will really help this entire district and understanding that children know that they can speak their minds freely but as parents one thing we should also do is let those children know that consequences come with free speech that isn't acceptable consequences come with free speech that is rude disrespectful dehumanizing to many people within the community itself I wanted to speak earlier and I was really patient because I wanted to hear

113Joan's response to the other people of the community here and seeing as the response was purely hey my opinion can be what it wants to be um as an educator and as someone who has influence over the curriculum of children your opinion doesn't really matter to that regard your job and your soul a purpose in this community and this committee is to work with your community and if your community feels that that is not a view you should have and that is a view that they do not want their children to experience and that is something that you must acknowledge and so maybe you won't step down from the board but something that you should do is really retract all of those words um also pass out those sources that you were Odin so that

114people could actually have open and honest conversation with you about why you're incorrect about those things because these are things that the children that you guide and the children that you were creating the curriculum for will have to undoubtedly learn and if there's an implicit bias on how they're going to learn what their community has gone through and that's going to be directly impactful to what their view of of the world is because it will be unrealistic as they go through those processes thank you very much like more transparency from all aspects we just went through half an hour of things contracts agreements of eight to zero agreement of you know things that we don't know and we have to dig and dig and dig to understand what those things mean it would be a

115great community initiative for you all to keep that Trenor just to start the transparency of keeping all of us involved and that is our job as citizens to remain active on I just did best for mr. president I just want to remind all the speakers we've been pretty we've given a great deal of latitude again policy 903 requires everyone to address the chair and not individual members of the board I believe miss Cullen has been addressed several times of course she has not objected and we have tried to provide that latitude but again the word policy requires all statements to be made to the chair I just want to remind everyone that as parliamentarian thank you and may I just say something I have had and I still have my phone on my computer on

116and I have been trying to switch to the most reliable Wi-Fi that I could have and I did that throughout the meeting that's why you've seen me looking down at my phone I've been taking notes on what people have said so I just want to address that that what you're seeing isn't necessarily what you perceive and I've had to listen to that a couple of times now tonight that I'm rude and disrespectful and I don't think that that's a fair statement and I would just like to to say that thank you in regards to the information for the board meeting that information is posted on the district website you can reach it generally three days before the meeting so the information for tonight's meeting was posted on Friday so you can get to the information

117right from the district website so thank you for those comments anybody else would like to make a comment I'd like to speak okay this is it Renee Thank You Katie Renee fricassee Barone is my audio okay I tend to echo in this space no your audio time thank you to peaceful protests were recently held in Perkis E in response to the murders of George Floyd Brianna Taylor and Ahmad augury it was moving to see hundreds of people from our community come together to send a clear message that black lives matter I hope some of you were there to hear the stories of Penn Ridge School District students and Families past and present who have experienced racism in our schools if you were not it was truly a missed opportunity after hearing about children who are

118regularly called hateful names by their peers teachers and coaches who act on conscious or unconscious bias and administrators who ignore requests for help and fair treatment from black and brown families in Penn Ridge I believe the district must take immediate action love commitment wisdom compassion these are all words used in the email sent to the district by dr. dr. Bolton and mr. Krause as suggestions for how we should react to the two incidents of injustice if that's the case I have to ask where is the love from pen Ridge for a child who is called dirt or worse because of her skin color while riding the bus to school where is the commitment to regular diversity education and training in pen Ridge for students teachers and staff where is the wisdom in having a curriculum

119committee chair who flatly denies the existence of systemic racism where is the compassion for the students and families in pen rich you have to repeat themselves time and again about unfair treatment and who are left to handle incidents of racism or bias without the support of our administration I am a Penn Ridge graduate taxpayer and parent I along with hundreds of others stand at the ready to support the district with the implementation of an anti-racist education I believe that black lives matter and I think it would go a long way to hear the same statement without qualification from dr. Bolton and the members of the school board thank you I'd like to speak my name is Steven 2011 Perkis Ibero I have three children who are part of the school district I am NOT a

120parent alumni I moved to this area from a southern state south of the mason-dixon line with the promise that the Penn original school district would provide an equal to or better education than the school district in which I grew up shortly after moving to this area five years ago I was given pause due to the regularity with which I saw prideful displays of the Confederate flag it is there is ZERO question in my mind that Penn rich should take a strong stance against display of the Confederate flag that should be banned across the board this is not a matter of history not hate this is hate outright furthermore the presence of racism needs to be acknowledged I was floored when I attended the peaceful protest and learned of how recent outright racism is shown in

121the school district and it is nothing short of it it just generated outrage in me that is unspeakable we need to do better we owe it to our children we owe it to our community we owe it to ourselves this community is is just absolutely deserves better and direct action needs to be taken thank you thank you um I just wanna say we are currently living in this incredible moment in time where we have this pandemic we have armed the economic crisis and on top of all of that there was that death of George Floyd and that just brought all of this unspoken racial tension to the surface and now I feel like we're standing at a crossroads and now it's the time to do something and when mrs. callin tweets things like there's no

122such thing as systemic racism I I get upset we're at this crossroads we can do something now and I'm calling on Joan to resign her comments have done irreparable damage to our community and I don't think we can move past it until she is no longer on the board um I have many concerns about her picking curriculum for my children and I feel as though you know racism is certainly fad this is something that's been happening forever and we need to address it we need to address it head-on and possibly increase our the diversity group that you have working we need to do many things as we possibly can to make sure everyone in our community feels as safe and secure as possible at school they should never be called at the kids should never

123be called anything any racial slurs or anything negative at school terrible thing that I hear happening if you want to yeah so good evening everyone I'm not taking town Township I have two daughters and thank you for it for I'm loud but also that's when I think the young lady too just spoke and she gym it to something that really just struck a chord with me she said it took her eight years eight years to get one or two days changed when that day has been reserved in in other school districts many bigger school districts and smaller school districts you know even banks you know some banks recognized so the fact that it took eight years for this board the school board to recognize that it's a little bit horrible right that sounds a little

124bit as the nose also sounds like it's it's also reactive my wife spoke earlier about us reaching out to the school board in February we had a meeting with with members of the school board and dr. Bolton and we hadn't met we had I mean with you less than a month ago when we asked a similar question nothing came of that so here it is today that over a hundred and seventy people joined us call the community whether it be to talk about Kovac whether to be talk about racism whether it be to talk about members of the school board the community is here and they're speaking to you and we got a response today again it was very surfaced very disappointing but it was very surface and I think it has a start but

125when are we going to see real action when are we going to stop being reactive to a situation and start being proactive you know this if I'm not mistaken everybody keeps mentioning a comment that a school board member me that wasn't recent is it was some while ago right so what but why are we being reactive to it it should have been dealt with when it was when it was released so I employed a school board whether it's helping to deal with a situation with the school with with it with the board member whether it's dealing with this with whether is dealing with holidays whether it's dealing with Kovac you know our school I understand you want to to measure twice and cut once I get that but you're measuring 20 times and still not

126cutting so I need you all to act a little bit more stacked a little bit more quicker we've heard so we've heard testimony and children that alumni that a better graduated in the 90s and mention that they had issues it is 20 20 my daughters in the second grade I would love to see her not I would love to see a curriculum change I would love to see a diversity board not just again a task force because when I hear the word task force look it up temporary team to solve a particular problem and young lady is right there this book before me we can't just change it here but guess what this it has to be a start here and it can't be a temporary team it needs to be something that is woven

127into the fibers of the school board of this district so that one's good you may not be able to control what the student comes in with but you know what you can control what they go out with and it has to start at a younger age look it's a lot of time they get to high school it's a little bit harder to fill that bucket but we're there in elementary school you can fill that bucket they are sponges and if the curriculum is not there if the tone of the school board is not behind truly behind diversity if it is a if it is a true mission of this school board your your vent your mission and vision need to state that all of you to actually go and look at the statement on the

128school board and address that I yield my time thank you very much thank you sir yep thank you again Joshua Hogan west Rock Hill township you know despite all the other stuff going on I just want to thank the board for again balancing the budget believe me I'm in touch with the other districts and what's going on and there is some rough times coming for other members of our community who are in this school district when it comes to their property taxes and so that is much appreciated the fiscal responsibility of this board the whole board I'd like to reaffirm my support for Joan : just say again the way I said earlier I found nothing offensive about her tweet I didn't find it offensive as she tweeted it I didn't find it offensive that

129Allen Sutton tweeted it it was black man that she retweeted coming back to the Colvin pandemic what I want to do is read an excerpt from words that were sent out by the superintendent of souderton Area School District I consider this to be the gold standard of a district's response and I'm hoping that Penn Ridge will do something similar so again these are the words of Frank Gallagher superintendent of savage an area while summer has just begun the start of school in the fall is on the minds of many in our community we have much work to do to prepare for a safe return to school and this is where our energy is focused while the health and safety of our students and staff is paramount our goal is to get our students and staff

130back into our schools with as close of a return to normalcy as possible we also understand we'll need to meet students where they are assess what they've missed and pick back up with positivity care and optimism we can't wait to see our students again on the first day of what we hope will be a very positive school year for all on September 1st s ASD schools will be open and prepared to welcome the return of all students barring any unforeseen closures or restrictions on in school instruction a comprehensive health and safety plan is under development which will drive our actions and responses to ongoing issues related to the pandemic I know that parents are eager eager to learn what returning to school will look like and what modifications the daily routines can be expected by

131utilizing guidance from multiple sources and choosing what's best for our school community we will be opening school with the fewest restrictions on students as possible SAS DS current plan for school reopening does not include a requirement for students to wear math we will make classroom and building configuration changes where applicable to promote social distancing and safety without compromising the learning environment or incurring unnecessary spending Frank T Gallagher superintendent of schools again that's available in the superintendent's corner on their website thank you I would stephanie Lenina Sellersville I have children that go to grass elementary and central I I just think it's really important to know it's been mentioned times how many people have attended this board meeting tonight and I think it's clear why we are all here and what we are all trying to

132accomplish clearly this is a huge issue that has not been addressed in the pattern school district that needs to be addressed I work in a district that has been working on enhancing their cultural proficiency for 13 years we have been working on it for 13 years I have been on the committee I have trained teachers I have done the work I have read books I have educated myself my students and my peers 13 years we've been working on it henrich has not done enough henrich needs to start immediately they need to get committees other people had mentioned it needs to be a long term committee this is not something that is going away this is something that needs to be dealt with you need to create committees and you need to hold people accountable you

133need to hold teachers you need to hold parents you need to hold administrators and board members accountable I would volunteer my time I would volunteer my services to be on one of those committees but you guys are called upon to make this happen and it make it happen immediately thank you I do and it's totally off topic of everything that's been discussed tonight I just wanted to take a moment to thank the entire school district for making what was actually I should say what my name is I'm Jennifer Glendenning I'm from hill town Township I have a son who was a 2018 graduate and a daughter who was just a 2020 graduate and I just wanted to express my heartfelt thanks to the school district for making something that we thought we weren't going to

134have anything for these kids for graduation and ended up being actually kind of almost better than what a normal graduation would be in the sense of that it was a way that the community came together and supported these kids and you did more than what other school districts had done and I really just wanted to thank dr. Bolton and dr. Cashman and the rest of the faculty for really doing a spectacular job in making this a great thing for these kids that's it Thompson I am from Sellersville I'm a 2011 paired graduate I moved out of the area within the last couple of months but I just want to echo a lot of the sentiments that have been stated tonight that ten ridges backwards it is behind in what any type of credible high school

135middle school elementary school education system curriculum should be doing I'm actually a called that in almost 10 years things haven't changed things are possibly getting worse in terms of the curriculum in educating systemic on systemic racism and while I think there's a lot of progress in terms of recognizing holidays and opening voices up to the community it should not take this long and the district is really far behind a lot of other places within the entire country my name is Charles I graduated from Penn region 1994 my children go there now I realized that there is a tolerance on bullying in the school but I think something has to happen when it comes to race and when kids call brown kids the n-word I think if you treat it just like bullying because ssstop is

136bullying I just sat I just I I grew up here I just that through public speaking where a lot of who went to our school you know we're called that it doesn't make me proud at all I think energy to do something into seeing it moving that's what I want to say that I'm going to announcements an executive session was held on June 8 2020 to discuss the legal matter and following tonight's board meeting to discuss a personnel matter the next school board meeting is scheduled for a Monday August 24th 2020 thank you all very much I just want to remind board members that we do have an executive session you were sent a separate link I'm gonna suggest that we take a 9 minute break and we gather at 9:40 on the second link

137again see at 9:40 thank you good night you