001Mr. Minion >> here. >> Mr. Francis, Mrs. Irwin Adams >> here. >> Mrs. McGinness >> here. >> Mr. Cook >> here. >> Mr. McCully >> here. >> Mr. Romanoitz. >> Mr. Pacificico >> here. >> Mr. Papus >> here. >> Thank you all. >> Thanks. I'd like to announce that prior to this meeting, we did have an executive session in which we discussed personnel issues. Um next, uh we have some special presentations. Uh first, the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. >> Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Um with me tonight, I have Melissa Crraer and um uh Jamon Dong was to be here, but he wasn't able to make it tonight. So, I have Melissa with me and Melissa is one of roughly 34,000 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Scholars from across the country. Um, so these
002students show exceptional academic promise and these students are among the top 50,000 students that took the preliminary SAT exam. A lot of people know that as the PSAT. Um, so congratulations Melissa. And I'm going to read to you directly from the M National Marsh program. um a quote. So those being named commended students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success. These students represent a valuable national resource recognizing their accomplishments as well as >> as well as their schools >> and their academic development is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities, encourage and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success. So Melissa and Jamon both represent um some of the best that we have here at Altuna. And so
003we're happy to have Melissa here um with us to recognize. So congratulations Oh, you just have your upper Okay. So, we'll move it. All right. >> So, our second presentation also involves Melissa Craner. Um, she was a student at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences. And I'm going to introduce Mr. Borst, one of her teachers and one of the adviserss of Junior Academy of Science. We also have Miss Megan Katruff here with us this evening who's also one of the adviserss. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Borst. >> Good evening. As Miss Foreman said, my name is David Borst. I co-advise Junior Academy Science with Megan. And uh what do we do in our club? Well, Melissa has been a member of our club since 9th grade. And this is of
004course her senior year and she is actually president of our club this year. Um what does our club do? Our club attends science career exploration events. We'll be going up to St. Francis University Steam Day uh in about a month. In fact, I think you're approving that trip tonight. So, thank you. Um we also encourage elementary students to get excited about science. We were at um Ebner's Fall Fest this past week, uh making slime with the kids. So, that was fun. But the main goal of the club is to prepare students to do their own research. So, it's taking it beyond what you just do in the classroom and they do their own research project and then present it at the regional meet. uh for this uh we're in what we call region six which
005is Blair and the surrounding counties and then if they do well enough at that meet then they can go on to the state meet which is at Penn State University Park. Uh last year we took uh 13 competitors to regionals and uh 10 of them made it on to states and of course Melissa was one of them and so was your school board member Miss Krug here. So we're proud of both of them for that. Um Melissa has done a research project every year advancing to states each time unsurprisingly. Uh her first two projects were on advanced mathematics and then she has now fallen in love with chemistry which as a physics teacher I try not to take personally but >> uh so her uh her project last year and her project this year will
006be on that subject. Um, so last winter Melissa came to me and said she was looking for something really challenging and to do to kind of up her game in science uh this past summer and so she applied to several different programs. Uh the governor's school being one of them and as you know she was admitted. It's quite an honor. Um only 70 kids from across the whole state uh get to go to the governor's uh school for the sciences. So it was quite you know it's quite a thing to get into. We've had several students here from Altun over the years go. Um so uh Melissa was allowed to invite one teacher to attend the closing banquet at Carnegi Melon Cargi Melon and uh I was honored that she uh asked me to do
007that. At the banquet it was obvious that she had met her goal. She found the academy very challenging, not a lot of sleep I don't think there and uh very rewarding and it was just great to see her uh with her new friends that she made from all over the state and also to hear you know all the different things she learned about while there. So, um, what was kind of a bonus is her mentor there from the academy, the the team that she was on, uh, had to do with astronomy, and we got to visit a observatory in Pittsburgh that I never knew was there, and, uh, because that's where they did some of their research. So, we got to take a little tour of that, which was extra fun. So, I'll let her
008tell you the rest. Here's one of, uh, Altuna's finest scholars, Melissa Craner. Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for having me. And as Mr. Bor said, I'm here to talk to you about the Pennsylvania Governor School for the Sciences, which I had the honor of attending this past summer. So PGSS is a residential fiveweek program at Carnegie Melon University and last summer it lasted from June 22nd to July 26th. So, a little bit about PGSS. Okay. So, as Mr. Boris already hinted at, the program is in place to encourage rising high school seniors to pursue careers in STEM. And they do this by giving an application to juniors during their junior year that they can fill out, which is really similar to the college application. So, I had to write two essays and submit
009activities and achievements and awards and that was during December of my junior year and the application was due in February with decisions released in May. And I was lucky enough to be one of the 15% accepted and then I was able to attend the program at CMU. Yeah, thank you. So, as Mr. Bor already said 72 students out of Pennsylvania are able to attend this program and they have an acceptance rate of roughly 15% and approximately 93% of PGSS scholars go on to attend institutions and earn degrees in STEM. So while I was at the program they exposed all 72 of us to college level STEM courses. So we took five undergraduate STEM courses in the fields of math, physics, chemistry, computer science and biology. So a typical day, five days a week would start
010off with from 8 to 12, we would have core lectures backtoback. After that, we would have lunch and then there would be an elective block which if you chose to take an elective during that time period, you could go and attend that. All taught by college professors and faculty. And I ended up taking the science and music elective where I got to learn about sound waves which directly connects to my experience in the orchestra here at AHS. And I also took a mathematical finance elective which was really interesting. Then all scholars also took a laboratory course and I was put into the physics laboratory course which was really interesting. about two times a week we would meet for three hours during one of the days and just do experiments and write lab reports and just
011really get the college physics experience. And finally, the last element of the program was a team research project which I got selected for the astronomy team research project at the Alageney Observatory in Pittsburgh. And I was really fortunate to be a part of a team of five other PGSS students. And we got to do nighttime observing and look at different galaxies in our universe. And the culmination of that research project was a written paper and also a presentation at the research symposium at the end. And we detected dark matter in all of our galaxies, which was a really incredible experience. So, as I already kind of mentioned, my experience was absolutely lifechang life-changing, excuse me. I could not even imagine before I went to that program what other students that are passionate about STEM in
012the state of Pennsylvania were like. And just to be in that environment with academically driven students like myself that are passionate about science was just genuinely transformative. And it really changed my outlook on everything. It gave me a broader horizon and perspective and it really fastened my goal to pursue a career as a chemist. And the best part, it is free. So here is a little bit of my experience at PGSS. So in addition to the rigorous coursework that we were exposed to on a collegate level, we also were a part of social activities. So every night um some of the teaching assistants would organize a social activity and here you can see the 4th of July we celebrated on the CMU campus. We went hiking. We went to Kennywood. I went to my first
013Pirates game while I was at the program. So it was incredible. And here as I mentioned my physics lab team in the center there is the group of three incredible ladies that I got to work with as well as two of the TAs. And on the left we have some pictures from the symposium. And in the bottom center is tiny is my roommate Grace and I um on one of the last nights of the program and she was a whiz at biology. So she helped me out with that homework. And finally the research symposium. That is the team that I got to work with and observe at Alageney Observatory with and they genuinely from late night crunches trying to get everything done. It was just an amazing experience to work with all of them. So
014I would not be here right now if it weren't for some people that I would like to thank. I would especially like to thank Miss Kra and Mr. Borst for running the PJS club at the high school. if I if they wouldn't have to be doing what they're doing, I wouldn't have been exposed to research before. I wouldn't have been interested in science, let alone applied to PGSS, let alone get accepted. So, thank you to them. And I'd also like to extend my gratitude to Mrs. Dum, my APM teacher in 11th grade last year. She helped me with the recommendations. And I would also like to thank my family for all their support and everything that I have done. So, I'd just like to close by saying that it was an incredible opportunity and any
015high school junior that's interested in science should apply. Thank you. Brother, good luck. Good luck. So Melissa did just mention that she's applying at Penn State and MIT. So we wish her the best as she uh completes her senior year and looks at what's next. So congratulations and thank you to our staff members. Um the amount of time and dedication they put into working with our young people uh is really unprecedented. So Melissa, congratulations again and thank you to all of our staff. >> Okay. Um moving on a few resolutions. Uh the first um is a debt resolution. Um before I proceed, I should mention that there is a a gentleman here, Mr. Brewer, uh, who can answer any of our questions when we get to the discussion portion of this motion. Um, administration requests
016approval of the attached debt res resolution to refund a portion of the 2018A bond series if a net minimum savings of $1 million can be realized. Um, seeking a motion to approve Do I have a second? Are there any questions for Mr. Brewer before we proceed with the vote? Anybody? Your job's easy tonight. It looks like your predecessor did a good job of explaining it. I guess so. Okay. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I opposed. >> Abstension. >> Okay. Do we noted? Okay, motion is approved. Thank you for uh attending, Mr. Brewer. Next, under uh 3B, um we have a a resolution upon the death of uh Mr. Richard Wigle, Jr. I I can read it. Um, whereas on October 2nd, 2025, death claimed the life of Richard Waggle Jr. Am I
017saying that right? Wagle. Okay, thank you. Whereas he has served the Altuna Area School District as a custodian since December 30th, 2015. And whereas his com care, compassion, and commitment to students has enhanced the quality of our education programs and mission. And now therefore be it resolved the board of director board of school directors of the Altunerary school district of Altuna, Pennsylvania at the regular meeting held October 20th, 2025 duly notes the death the death of M. of Mr. Richard Wagle Jr. with deep regret and hereby extends sincere and heartfelt sympathy to his berieved family and further directs that a duly executed copy of this resolution be recorded in the official minutes and a copy delivered to his family. >> Okay. Just add briefly, we are uh recording a district-wide dress down day for Mr.
018Wiggle's family um later this week. So, I'd encourage as many of our staff members uh to participate as possible uh to help support his family in this time. Thank you. >> Also, I think we'll address this at a at a future meeting. Wanted to uh note the unfortunate passing of uh Mr. Ted Beam. Um a former instructor in the Altun area school district. Uh I went back to I think I attended Keith in 1977 with Mr. Mr. Beam and later attended the Belmar when I turned 21 many more times with Mr. Beam and uh just a tremendous man and uh we we'll we'll recognize him on another date. Um next it's that portion where we have the opportunity to hear from our citizens and if we do please step to the microphone and uh share
019your name with us. Is this Aubrey? Okay. >> Um, >> hi. My name is Aubrey Mlen. I'm a freshman here attending the high school and I'd like to bring one of my concerns up to uh representatives. Um, I originally came to talk about the check lines in the morning. Thank you. I originally came to talk about the check lines in the morning and how long they were taking to get into school. I was starting on many occurrences due to these check lines. But as of recently, I've seen they've upgraded the security system and have has increased the productivity of getting into school and there's almost no lines when getting in. Um, but this does bring a new concern to my attention. Um, as of now, they're not checking backpacks. So, I believe that um students
020could smuggle contraband into the school a lot easier. And I feel like this would be a big problem uh continuing later into the year as it could hurt other students or the student could get hurt themselves and I would just like to um bring it to attention so this matter can get addressed. Some ideas I had to fix this matter would be continue checking bags. We could still go through the security system, but we could make more entrances open or we could open more entrances so students can get in the building at different ways so they can get to their classrooms faster and more or faster. Yeah. Um allow more time or allow more time for students to get into class. They could open the school earlier. So students can start coming in and they
021can add more teachers to the check lines so it will go faster. Um, thank you for having me today and I hope you guys will take my ideas into consideration. >> Okay, nice job Aubrey. Way to step up there and did a tremendous job. >> I I'll just respond real brief. First of all, Aubrey, I want to commend you for your your courage to attend the meeting. I know that this was part of an assignment um to come and present a concern or a problem or an idea uh to an elected official body. So, we do appreciate that. And just so that you know and all of our students know, we are here to listen. So, if there are ideas, I know I I'm over here frequently and talk to representatives from newswriting or just
022kids in the hallway, whatever it may be, we want to hear from students. So, I appreciate you acknowledging some of the efforts um that we have made at improving the the efficiency of arrival and lines. And just so that you know that that safety and security always at the forefront. So, even though we're not checking bags, I can promise you that the new enhanced system is checking those bags. So, even though you don't have to take your bag off and run it through like a separate check, the new metal like the the new weapon detector systems are actually they're made so that you can walk through with all of your items and it will detect any any alarming, you know, contraband or any any weapon. You know, that's always our main priority to make sure
023that we have a safe learning environment so that those are actually built to do exactly what you're asking for. But your ideas are excellent and we appreciate you bringing them to us. Thank you. Do we have any other citizens here that would like to address the board? >> Hi Karina. >> Hi guys. It's Karina Griffith. Sorry to bug you again. Um I had a parent reach out to me recently. I remember when I was in school that we had to go through all the nurses checks, the scoliosis, the physicals, the life checks, you know, the fun stuff. Best part was when they got your scalp real good and helped itch. Well, I had a parent recently reach out and they were really concerned why they weren't notified the physicals were going on for their sixth
024or seventh grader. Um, I wasn't sure if there is any permission slips that have to be signed for that for the student or not. I was looking in policy and it sounded like it did, but the parents said they didn't have a physical one that they ever signed. So, I wasn't sure what the policy was on that nowadays with the physicals in school because I don't remember my parents doing it, but also I'm a bit older than these kids. So, I wasn't sure what I could tell this parent. >> So, there there are health screenings. Um they're they're not physicals per se. Um we don't you'd reference a couple like scoliosis, like we don't do those. Okay. >> Um but we do do some general health screenings that are required at different intervals in a
025student's career. Um if a parent for whatever reason would like their child offed out of that, they just need to simply notify us. I would assume that that information goes home in like our beginning of the year packets um that kind of indicate what all of those things are and there's a process and procedure for you know >> communicating with us if there's a concern or if there is you know an opt out for >> whatever the reason may be you know philosophical religious whatever it may be u there is a process for that Haley do you have any is that that that's it yeah >> because I know um he had stated to me that his kids get their physicals every year and he was like why am I doing this out in my
026pocket. Then they're also doing physical goals at school. I'm like, I can ask. I have no problem coming and asking for you. I'm not sure. >> So, it's not a physical per se. So, like PIAA requires you have to have a physical every 12 months in order to be eligible for uh PIAA sponsored activities. It's not it's a health screen. It's not really it's not a physical per se, right? >> Um it's just it's a health screening. So, there would be um weight, eyes, dental, and and vision. >> The usual. Okay. >> Yeah. It's the the the basics. It's not a like a true physicianled health screening. >> Gotcha. Okay. I'll give that information >> conducted by our nurses. >> Cool. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thanks and good luck in the uh upcoming
027election. >> Yeah. >> Um anybody else like to address the board? >> Okay, we'll move on. Um, under five, we have uh minutes for approval A and B. Approval of the regular board meeting minutes for September 22nd, 2025 and approval of the committee of the whole meeting minutes of October 6th, 2025. I will entertain a motion to approve these minutes. Mike, do I have a second? Would anybody like to uh offer any changes or have a discussion? Right. Seeing none, all in favor of appro approving items 5 A and B, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on, we have uh finance. We have uh under 6A to approve a following list of payments. The cafeteria, student activities, general fund and budget transfers. Um under B, we have uh approved the
028following financial reports. The cafeteria income statement for July and August. The cafeteria balance sheet for July and August. The tax collection report for July and August and September. and uh an investments update for September 2025. And under C, administration requests approval of the updated creative kids contract to correct the rent payment schedule. Um I will seek a motion to approve items 6 A through C. Do I have a second? Okay. Would anybody like to discuss any of these? I'll save the bulk of uh of what I'd like to share for the president's report at the end. But as I look through the list of payments, it sort of struck me that um the total payments for that period of time, I think it was September 18th through October 15th, the total payments on that general
029fund were like $2.8 million. cyber charter payments were $732. $732,000 of that total. Um, and in a landslide, we paid Commonwealth Charter Academy $539,000 for three months, I believe. Um, pretty significant amount. Again, I'll save some more for the for my president's report, but just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention that it continues to be a huge problem, especially as they plan on building the uh 40,000 ft facility here off Sheran Drive. So, anybody else like to discuss anything related to these three items? All right. All in favor of approving items 6 A through C, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to seven policy. Uh we have several policies. We have policy 209.2 diabetes management. Policy 317.1 educator misconduct. Policy 700, I'm sorry, 709.1, metal detectors. Policy 718,
030service animals in schools. Policy 17, 718.1, therapy dogs in schools. Policy 8:15, acceptable use of internet. Policy 9007, school visitors. Policy 213 AR, student evaluation system. The following policies th those policies were reviewed by the policy committee on September 17th, 2025 and they are presented to us this evening for a first reading uh on September 22nd and are now presented they were presented to us September 22nd. They are now presented for a final reading in adoption. So I'm seeking a motion to approve item 7A. Do I have a second? Mr. Papis. Thank you. Would anybody like to discuss any of these policies listed? Okay, seeing none, all in favor of approving item 7A, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on. Pretty long list here. Under eight under education under a
031administration recommends the board of directors board of school directors approval of the Altuna area junior high school ATSI plan for the 2526 school year. Under B, we were provided a list of volunteers to approve. Under C, we were provided a list uh to approve of elementary field trips. Uh I think this specifically for Mclliff Heights. Um under D, elementary field trip approval. I'm sorry, item C was a retroactive approval. That's why it stood out. D is element elementary a list of elementary field trip approvals. E is secondary field trips. F is a Satan Hill University observation request. Uh G administration requests requests retroactive approval of the attached memorandum of understanding between AASD and the Penn State Center for Childhood Obesity Research with revised funding language. The agreement was originally approved on the August 4th, 2025
032board agenda. Under H administration recommends approval of the memorandum of agreement establishing a communication sciences and disorders affiliation agreement between the Pennsylvania State University and Altunary School District. Under I administration requests approval of the proposed athletic rates for grades uh 3 through 7 basketball league event workers. Uh under J Altuna Area Junior High School requests approval for the newly created AAJHS Jam Club. The bylaws are attached and the jam club advisor non-paid will be Jaden Tornator. Um under K, we have a new committee, the afterglow committee. The administration requests approval of the bylaws for the Altuna area high school afterlow committee and under L an expulsion request. The administration recommends expulsion of a secondary student as outlined in the statement of rights waiver of hearing and agreement. So I am seeking a motion to approve
033items A through L under eight education. Do I have a motion? Anyone like to second? Okay. Would anybody like to discuss any of these items? Okay. All in favor of approving items A through L under section 8, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to nine. Personnel administration recommends approval of the attached personnel agenda. Um, under B, administration recommends approval of the attached director of human resources professional agreement. Under C, administration recommends the following language be added to the Act 93 professional middle management compensation plan. the central office administration staff compensation plan and the special education aids collective collective bargaining agreement. In the case of jury duty, the employee will be compensated his or her regular wage for the time involved. The employee will keep their allocation compensation card from
034the court but submit proof of attendance. Um, under D, the board of directors conducted performance assessments and the superintendent, Mr. Hatch, assistant superintendent of elementary. Miss Flegel, assistant superintendent of secondary, Mark Harrington, met the agreed upon objective performance standards of the district for the 2425 school year. Lastly, under number nine, uh, recommendation to approve the AEA MOA to edit article 31, parent teacher conference 6 through 12. Uh, I will seek a motion to approve items 9 A through E. Do I have a second? Michael, would anybody like to discuss any of these items? Okay. All in favor of approving items 9 A through E, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to 10. Uh, business operations. Uh, under a, capital reserve list of payments. uh administration is asking us to
035approve the attached capital reserve list of payments and under B uh they're asking us to uh approve a repository bid. May I have a motion to approve items 10 A and B? Do I have a second? Anyone like to discuss either or these items? Okay. All in favor of approving items 10 A through B, please signify by saying I. I. Uh 11. Administration recommends approval of agreement with Gloria Gates Care to provide direct primary care services part of the altunary school district medical insurance options. This agreement replaces the services formally provided by people one health. Do I have a motion to approve that agreement? Do I have a second? Any discussion? Okay. I will have to recuse recuse myself as an employee of Gloria Gates Care. So, um, all in favor of approving item 11A,
036please signify by saying I, anyone opposed? And I'm not voting. Motion is approved. All right. Um, committee chair reports under 12. Do we have any? Okay, board president's report and I said I would get back to the topic at hand which was uh cyber charter and I'm not picking on any particular charter school but since they were the largest and we paid them the most I I sort of uh picked them out. Um, in February of 2025, the Auditor General of Pennsylvania audited five cyber charter schools and put out a tremendous report that's largely gone unnoticed, I believe, but it's about 50ome pages. Um, I'd first like to say until this budget, and I and and this isn't my idea. I saw another school board member somewhere else recommend this. I would suggest we don't
037make any more payments to the cyber charter schools until the budget issue in Harrisburg is resolved because why would we put ourselves in a position to have to borrow money and pay the interest on the money that we would use to pay them? They could borrow money like we may have to in the future. So, um, we'll put it in a motion maybe in another meeting, but it would be my preference until this budget thing is settled for our taxpayers not to bear the burden of paying these cyber charter schools. Um, because again, we would have to borrow the money to pay them. We will not be reimbursed for the interest that we incur to pay them and and they don't get there's no harm to them at all. So, we've already implemented that practice.
038>> Thank you. That's terrific. Um, so that's off the table. So, um, I took a look at, uh, Commonwealth Chart Charter Academyy's uh 990 form, IRS 990 form. It's publicly available. um they have a fund balance of $445 million that uh that was filed in May of this year for the year 2023. So I could only imagine that fund balance has grown significantly. It was a $84 million increase from the previous year or a 23.4% improvement. Again, that's taxpayer money. That's nobody else's money. Uh when you query what is the largest fund balance of any school district in Pennsylvania, the answer I came up with in my query was Westchester area school district with a fund balance of $91.7 million. This school district has approximately 12,000 students. Commonwealth Charter Academy enrollment is approximately 34,000. If
039you look the respective fund balances on a per student basis, Westchester is 42% less than Commonwealth Charter Academy. uh third they they essentially their fund balance represents 13 thou over $13,000 per student and Westchester is like 7,600 per student. Um our local newspaper reported that uh Commonwealth Charter Academy purchased land here on Sherton Drive for $3 million. They plan to build a 40,000 foot building which I would assume is going to cost 16 to $24 million to build I would think. Um, and again, as I stated before, we have our local school districts making very difficult decisions to improve old buildings while the charter academy is building new buildings in our backyard. It's a joke. It's ridiculous. The state auditor general conducted this audit was released in February in which five charter schools were selected
040for the audit. Uh and as I said, Commonwealth just happened to be the one. Uh and they are the largest and they're coming to our area physically. Um the audit showed that uh their capital projects fund expense increased by 299% from 1920 through 2223. They plan on having what they call family service centers, physical locations within 45 minutes of any family living in the communities most served by their school. They have, I think, 20ome of these family service centers, which is I don't think any of these other cyber charters are doing. Um, they spent $8.9 million on advertising in 2023, $646,000 on lobbying. Um, and when you when you read the audit conducted by the the Pennsylvania state auditor, um, their unrestricted general fund balance is approximately 11 times less than the recommended amount. So,
041they're taking all their money and buying all this property and building these buildings and renovating these buildings on taxpayer dollars. Not because they're great business people, but because they're taking taxpayer money from around the state, not just Altuna. I think they serve over 460 school districts. Um, they're taking everybody's taxpayer money and building these buildings across the state on our dime. So, I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention. I will, as long as I'm on this board, I will continue to bring it up. It's an embarrassment that we haven't addressed this in Harrisburg, as much as it's an embarrassment that we don't have a budget, and I hear it's not even close. So, um I don't know, something's got to change in Harrisburg. And um you know, I know that's as uh up
042for re-election. That's this is one of the questions that are asked of candidates as you know and um I'll have to temper my anger when I provide my answer. So um that's it for me but I wanted to share some of that information with everybody. Thank you. >> I've got to commend Val. you know, really he's been on this fight for so long and he's been he's been so articulate explaining everything and and it's unfortunate that uh nothing's being done. You know, and you're right, the people in Harrisburg should be embarrassed and they should be fighting for their their their taxpayers and uh and so the taxpayers should be upset. I'm surprised there's not more of an outcry. There should be an outcry what's going on. But I commend you and you know We should
043as a board take some sort of action. I know we're not paying them. Correct. We're not. Okay. And and I don't know what else we could do, but uh you know, the taxpayers in in this school district should be aware of who's running, you know, what they're doing to your money. That's all. Congratulations. I did a good job. >> Cyber charter reform was one of the the negotiating pieces um that wasn't at handed legis legislator level. Um all indications are that there will be no cyber charter reform part of any any agreement is our indication. That was as of last Thursday. >> And if you if you look at it's cso is that charter school law I think is the term they use. It was written in the early 2000s, I think, and and it
044hasn't changed at all. And it just grants them so much leeway in what they do as compared to what Brad and his team are required to do. It's an absolute joke. And I and I I I guess their lobbying dollars are going a long way down in Harrisburg because for them not to take any action on this and you know, I know there was a protest this weekend and that's fine. This is worth protesting about. This is BS and everybody across the state. This is their money. This impacts everybody in the state and there's no outcry. There's no movement to change this stuff. I wish somebody would rally around and may maybe I should be the guy, but I my wife would kill me, but um >> if I may, Val, thank you. >> Okay.
045>> Well said. >> Thanks. All right. I'm sorry, Camil. I took I stole your thunder. You have a much better report to provide than me. Thank you. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Good evening. With the first marking period coming to an end, students are closing out the marking period strongly with an abundance of club activities and school events. Two weeks ago, we once again had a successful homecoming week with students participating and dressing in the themes throughout the week, raising money for Special Olympics, and around 1,300 students attending the homecoming dance. On October 10th, Julian Pringle was crowned the first ever homecoming king with runnerup being Zalen Win Moore and second runnerup Kenzie Wilt. On October 21st at 7:00 p.m., new members will be inducted into the National Art Honor Society. The induction ceremony will
046be held in the Blackbox Commons. National Art Honor Society also took 11 students to the Edenboro Art Day on Friday, October 17th. Students had the opportunity to attend presentations and participate in demos on animation, ceramics, painting, and drawing. National Honor Society is set to begin tutoring again. All AHS students will have the opportunity to request a tutor via Google form and will then be paired up with an NHS student. Haunted Hallways will take place on October 27th here at the high school from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. for school district employees and their children. The kids will have the opportunity to get candy and participate in various crafts and activities set up by 15 clubs at the high school. Haunted hallways is run by student council. The annual haunted Fort Roberto trail and trick-or-treating took place
047last Saturday. 115 students from astronomy club and FLC and lioners dressed up to hide on the trail. 192 people came through the trail. Starlate Astronomy Club members also showed guests the skies of early fall, a comet, the planet Saturn, and the Andromeda galaxy through the telescopes at the Mountain Lion Observatory. The annual Bandorama concert took place on Thursday, October 16th. The concert featured both the high school and junior high marching bands. I had the opportunity to attend and it was very, very good. The student council will host a blood drive tomorrow on October 21st during school in the Blackbox Commons. High school students and staff were able to sign up last week to donate blood to the Red Cross. There will be an inservice on Tuesday, November 4th for election day. And finally, the AHS
048fall play Monty Python's educational show will be performed on November 7th and 8th at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. Tickets will be available for purchase online or in the AHS student store. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you for reminding us of all that's good in what we do. Much appreciated. Okay, Mr. Hatch, very briefly to kind of piggyback on Camille's report, we have two staff members here tonight and they're two of many, um, Miss Klein and Mr. Krug. Um, you had mentioned the Mountain Line Observatory and and the planetarium and all of the amazing things that Mr. Krug does with our students and the community and everyone else. And we're we're expanding our elementary program um, with the planetarium again this year. here. And I know
049Miss Klein, if you've ever been to any of our events, um, is is a club adviser for the Mountain Line Maniacs and all of the school spirit and the things that they bring to our athletic events and other activities here at at at the high school and throughout the district. Um, we have almost 600 instructional staff members here and that their their duties and days don't end at the classroom. Um, most of them most of that 600 are doing things outside of the regular school day and they're spending time with kids in molding young lives. You saw Mr. Boris and Mrs. Kutruff here earlier today with with Junior Academy of Science. Um the things that our staff members are doing to help provide our students with opportunities and experiences is invaluable. So, thank you for
050what you are doing with our staff. Appreciate it. Okay. Do we have a an employees union's response to tonight? No. Middle management? No. Mr. beard solicitor. >> I'm going to dispense with the typical law stuff. I I would just implore as Val did for state legislators to to work on the budget. Uh we represent a large number of schools and we see unfolding and we have uh Mr. Brewer here and you know he does this for a living but you know schools are having to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars. I mean, there's no relief in sight. The intermediate units have no source of tax revenue. They're dependent on the uh participating schools. They're requesting revenue anticipation notes and they've gone to the well once. They're probably not going to get them the second time
051around. And we're going to start to see hundreds, if not thousands of people being laid off due to the inability to provide uh subsidy to fund our schools. And so we're the last state in the nation not to have our budget completed, which is somewhat of a major embarrassment for the state. Uh I'm just praying, I'm allowed to say pray occasionally, just praying that they're able to bring it all together in a shorter time period than what is believed it may unfold to get this done. And that's my comment for tonight because I I feel sorry for the kids that will be impacted. Special needs kids all across the the Commonwealth uh will have their programs reduced early intervention, you know, the various programs. And it really is a travesty and that's my message. You
052know, if anybody's out there listening to uh do what's right for kids all across the board. Thank you. >> Thanks, Carl. Okay, I will seek a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? Is that Bobby Justin? All right. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Meeting is adjourned.