ASD Committee of the Whole / Regular Board Meeting 04/24/2025

001That's That's That's What's this? Audrey. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to forward the finance of the meeting of the board of directors of the school district of the city of Allentown for today, April 24th, 2025. Dr. testing. Testing Good evening. Good evening, everyone. We're turning it over to you to introduce the [Music] students. Before we get started with our formal meeting, I am so excited this tonight and I bridges is hippity hoppers. Woohoo. Welcome to the Ruby Bridges Early Childhood Center, where we learn, we grow. Welcome to the Ruby Bridges Early Childhood Center. where we learn, we grow, and we discover what it means to be brave. Respectful and very responsible every day. [Music] Ruby was a very brave girl. Even though some people were not happy to see her, she went to

002school every day. She was strong and she show us that it's important to keep learning even when things are difficult. Ruby kept going even when it was scary sometimes. I'm scared of the dog, but I try to be brave. I was brave today when I take a deep [Music] breath. I feel brave when I make friends. Feel brave. I make good choices. I feel brave and snow gets in my face. Brave and I see spiders. [Music] I can be brave at the airport. I like to to be brave in and zoom. At Ruby Bridges, we believe in a future where all our children can be brave and create a better world. As the poet Amanda Gorman reminds us, "For there is always light if we're brave enough to see it. If only we are brave

003enough to be [Music] it. Give a round of applause of Ruby Bridges. They did an amazing job performing at the You Are the Light ceremony. So, you are in for a treat. Let's give a round of applause for Ruby Bridges. Want to thank Principal Senica. One, two, ready, go. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Another round of applause for Lehigh Park. Great job. I love the fact that our students are able to engage in the arts. The arts is such an amazing tool. they're able to use up all the tools that we've been able to provide them. And back to Miss Madison, prior to tonight's meeting, anformational executive session was held, the purpose of the executive session. Hold on for a second. Yeah, hold on for a second. And thank you to all the parents that

004came out to support your children. We really appreciate you. Give another round of applause for Lehigh [Applause] Parkway. Lehigh Parkway was named on the US News and Worlds Report one of the top schools in the nation and the top school in Allentown. I want to thank the entire LR Parkway leadership team as well as families and students and staff for all your great work. So, we're really proud of you and thank you so much. So tonight I have a few remarks and I think if madam chair if it's okay um I will talk provide all my remarks in the beginning if that's okay with you. Yes. All right. Thank you. So we've had several celebrations this week this past month of April which we're really proud of. Uh we want to commend our school bus

005drivers for a job well done and thank you our friends at STA for their commitment to our overall learning community. Uh we they've been really great partners to us this academic year and I want to thank uh Mr. Krue Knapp and our entire transportation team for recognizing them uh for the great work that they're providing. During the month of April, we're also celebrated assistant principles week. So we want to commend all the assistant principles for their hard work and we know that they uh don't have always the glamorous roles in our organization and they really support our principles and our families every day. So I thank you and commend you for all the great things that you're doing. Uh later this month we will also well during the month of May we will we will

006u celebrate our families. or I'm excuse our teachers and it will be teacher appreciation week. So again, you know, having served as a teacher and an assistant principal, uh the sacrifices that you make for us all every day and all of our learners is very commendable and so we look forward to celebrating you on May 7th. um as a district we're making a lot of progress and um in our o in my opening I didn't say um I um I want to thank the board for allowing me to and I said this to the board uh earlier this evening to going to feed two birds with one seed and to be present here in our meeting but I'm having a unique opportunity now I'm representing um I've been asked or selected to serve on an

007international advisory board in order to help influence education as well as uh explore possible additional resources to support our district as well as the work within our strategic plan. So people said, uh, I've been told that I'm leaving and I I'm not leaving. And so I'm just here ensuring that when opportunities become available to us, I take advantage of them. And so again, I thank the board for allowing me to be present both here at this international meeting as well as present with the we do tonight. I want to thank our family and and community engagement team for our launching our series guiding lights empowering families from within. And last month we had more than 100 families join a webinar that focused on bullying. And we invite everyone uh within our learning community to join

008in this month uh May 7th where we will have our next topic a focus will be on depression. So members of my family advisory council had asked us to provide additional supports in my conversations with them, our survey of them. They wanted more tools to help them to support the social emotional wellness of their students. And as we know embedded within our strategic plan, we have a focus on students social emotional learning needs. And so again, I want to thank all the families who have joined and we will continue on with this series. We will offer uh six sessions this year. So we've had our second session uh a couple of weeks ago. And again, if you could please join us on May 7th um on it's you can join from your homes and this

009webinar focused on depression. Some amazing things are continuing to happen as I mentioned here in the district and I want to congratulate uh the cast and crew of William Island High School for a hilarious performance of Avenue Q earlier this month. And tonight there's a kickoff opening night for Dar High School's performing Hello Dolly. So be sure to catch one of their shows this weekend and you are going to be in for an amazing treat. We had a preview at the foundation gayla as well as at our you ceremony. So you are in for a treat. Additionally, as an organization, you know, we at our last you are the light ceremony, we recognize, well, actually the past 3 months, we've been recognizing people who have been part of our learning community for more than 40

010years. So there are people who have been a part of our learning committee anywhere between 25 to 40 plus years of service in all levels in our organization. So we are happy tonight um to commend them and thank them for their commitment and there are 191 people who really love our learning. I know everyone else loves working and learning here but uh often times you don't get people to commit to more than 25 minutes of a job or 15 minutes of a job. But to have people really sacrifice 40 years and 25 years I just want to say thank you. We thank you for your service. We thank you for your belief in our learning community and I know that some of you have expressed that you are going to retire. So we look forward

011to seeing you in May and we ask we're inviting everyone to come and join us in that celebration and we say again thank you. No, over the past few years as an organization, we have grown as an organization and we have had we've hired more than within the past 3 years an additional 151 members of our learning community. So, we're happy that we're growing as an organization and given the state of where we are in public education right now, um we are up in line. you know, the studies show that we are aligned nationally of where uh school districts are as it relates to retention and attrition within our organization. So, I wanted to just share uh with the school board of directors a few facts and highlight some of these things for you. We

012as an organization have um we outsourced our FMLA administration process and we survey and the as part of that process the organization surveys and provides uh us with data as relates to our staff and what they're saying about um their experience within the district as it relates to FMLA. And so when I want to provide some transparency and some efficiency as an organization, we are trying to find uh transparency and efficiency so that we can best serve the members of our learning community who are experiencing uh matters in their lives where they require FMLA. So, of the 365 calls that we received since August, 93% of the employees rated their customer service experience with the FMLA call center as excellent. And these data we can provide to the board um the analysis and 98% said

013their questions were resolved. Again, this reinforces our commitment to treating every employees medical and family needs with care and professionalism. The data also suggested that there was a slight decrease in total FMLA usage and and denial rates indicating stronger clarity in the process and fewer questionable claims. So on the staffing side, our exit survey detail data tells a more balanced story among those who departed the district. So the top rated aspects of employment in Allentown were healthcare, retirement benefits, our PTO policy, and receiving consistently strong marks. Qualitative feedback received also indicated that their favorite part of working here was the connections that they made with our students, staff, and families. So, we always look to research and data when we make decisions. And I wanted to provide just some clarity and I want to um

014invite the board into this conversation about national trends. So nationally, urban districts face high attrition due to burnout, inadequate support, and working conditions, especially among new educators in high need schools. Our exit survey results do not suggest mass dissatisfaction or disloyalty. The most common reasons for leaving were family and personal reasons, better opportunities, and retirement. These are typical personal or positive transitions across various industries. So people leave organizations, people organizations have life cycles. So it's important to note that the district's turnover rate for all employee groups has declined steadily or over the last 3 years, matching current national urban trends and falling be below the 2122 peak of 13.48%. This trend reflects successful district efforts to stabilize the worst workforce post pandemic. And I want to commend our talent team for many of the aggressive

015recruitment efforts that are underway. The district's rate for all employee groups currently is 9.44% as it relates to attrition through today, April 24th, 2025, and is in line with the national average. Additionally, we have and as I mentioned, I misspoke, we have 152 more employees now than we did during the 202122 school year. And that's because we've made heavy emphasis and focus on the arts and restoring the arts back in our district and other more favorable courses that students have said that they wanted as relates to electives and what families have expressed to us. So, we needed to hire staff. We've bolstered our our staff that supports our students social emotional learn learning needs by adding school social workers in which when I started uh in the district uh 2 and 1/2 years ago man

016it's been that long uh we only had one social worker and today we have budgeted for about 18 of them and many of those positions are filled. As an organization, we know that we have many areas of growth, but we are doing some great things. And I want to commend again everyone, all our members of our learning community, our administration, staff, students, all the teachers as well as our families that we are moving on a path of continuous improvement. You know, there's research that suggests that districts like ours that have had transition and leadership at the central office letter, particularly in the superintendent seat, it takes 7 to 10 years to make significant improvements. And so, we know that it's not going to take 2 years for us to make substantial progress or 3 years,

017but we are on the right path. We've created theme-based schools. We've uh generated more revenue. We're in a better fiscal position than we've been in many years. As an organization, we also have a robust strategic plan that was recently highlighted by the American Association of School Administrators. They've contacted us uh being me, the superintendent, and asked us to uh contribute to their blog post and which we will share with the school board of directors as well as everyone in our learning community. and they highlighted our video as an exemplar of how you engage a community in strategic planning. So I want to thank everyone for your commitment and later uh in the during the spring semester so a little later in May we will provide an overall overview of where we are where it relates

018to the strategic plan on a weekly basis. We provide updates to the board of our progress toward meeting our goals with the strategic plan, but we will highlight for the public and offer you more opportunities for engagement as I meet with our advisory groups, our student advisory group as well as our family advisory group. We've repli reply supplied them, excuse me, with updates on our strategic plan because as mentioned as part of our strategic planning process, we will continue to provide updates to our advisory board members as to where we are and making progress towards those goals. So, as a district, we are hopeful that Allentown School District will become one of the highest performing districts, but it's going to take the collective strengths, as I always say, of all of us to continue to

019move our district forward. So tonight, as we begin our finance meeting, we're going to talk about our budget and the decisions that we're making as relates to our budget, underscoring the initiatives that are aligned with our comprehensive plan as well as our strategic plan. So, thank you uh very much, Miss Mat, and back to you. The purpose of engage matter update charter The first opportunity for comment is at the beginning of the meeting and is limited to agenda items only. Comment cards must be received by the start of the meeting which we will not be receiving public cards once the meeting begins. A copy of the public comment policy is located on the table next to the comment cards. According to our board's policy, any person may address the board in accordance with the procedures

020and limitations of this policy, either on issues presented in resolutions being considered or on other matters affecting the administration, management, or operation of the district. Remarks of a personal nature directed against any individual will be ruled out of order. If you choose to address the board, please fill out a comment card and hand it to board secretary, Mr. Simson. The comment cards are located at the podium near the door. Once recognized, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record. At this time, we are taking only public comments on agenda items. Do we have any cards? Okay. So, we will begin tonight with a budget discussion presented by Mr. C. Good evening everyone. How are you? Okay, so I will give you a quick um update of where we are

021with our budget for the 2526 school year. Um, as we've been doing in a lot of our presentations, we base a lot of our budget structure and a lot of our work based around our mission, our vision, and our core values of honoring each student's unique qualities, ensuring equity of access and opportunities, nurturing the pursuit of lifelong learning, strengthening partnerships with families and communities, promoting cultural responsiveness, building trust, and mutual respect. And you don't have to worry, I'm not going to read everything, but I just want to certain things I think that we need to touch on. And you'll see a lot of work that we're doing this year is centered around our budget goals, which are tied to our strategic plan that Dr. Burks uh just mentioned, which um I'll just touch on a

022few. increasing student achievement in reading and math, increasing graduation rates, aligning our priorities that emerge from the strategic planning process, and creating multiple pathways through theme-based schools. You'll see here we are currently in the April of 2025 on our calendar. Today we obviously we have our committee the whole meeting for budget discussion. We're waiting for our property tax relief fund distribution from uh the state. Next month we will have a budget forum on May 20th at Hayes Elementary School. I want to repeat that. That will be next month, May 20th at Hayes. This will be a great opportunity for those of you and we'll give a little more um bite and a little more information on what what's entailed in a budget, what makes up our revenues, what makes up our expenditures, what are we

023spending our funds on, and it's a great opportunity for anyone in listening audience. If you have any questions, hey, what happens in the budget? Why don't you guys do this or why don't you guys do that? So, I think this is a great opportunity that we can share with our community of what it takes to build our budget and what it takes um what we're looking to do for our students. So, I'll quickly touch on our revenues. I I've done this several times, but I'll give you a synopsis and I'll give you a summary of our revenues. Our revenues are composed of three different areas, which are local, state, and federal resources. And you'll see here these are our local uh local sources which are our real estate taxes and those are primarily the taxes

024that you get on your property and your assessment and other major portion will be your delinquent real estate tax. Your delinquent real estate taxes are made up of for those taxpayers who are unable to pay their taxes on time. They get rolled over to delinquent status. Other local sources are our 511 taxes which are your earned income, your LST tax and your per capita tax. And there are other areas that we have money for local revenue which are interest our donations and rental for our facilities and so forth. We also receive a money for IDA which is the Individuals with Disability Education Act due to the the PTE's code. It's actually money that comes in through a federal source but it comes in under local revenue. And you'll see here the this is a summary

025of all of our local revenue that we have proposed um for next year. The bulk load of it you see is is centered in our real estate tax um that comes in the act 511 which I just covered um interest donations and IDA. So total for local we receive approximately $124 million in local real estate and local taxes period. The next area is going to be our Sorry. State revenue. The bulk load of our state revenue comes through through basic education, FICA reimbursement, special education, transportation subsidy, and our pension reimbursement. Recently, we've and included in the basic education is our ready tolearn block grant. This up this that first line is the major source of our funding. It's the major source of our funding and period. So if you ever look through our budget, approximately

02667% of our budget comes through state funding. So we've been very um fortunate to have a strong support from our legislators. They give us a lot of state funding and it's very beneficial and helps us to control our local revenue requests and local costs for the Allentown School District. And I'll show you a quick summary of what it looks like. As I stated, basic ed funding for this year is roughly $200 million. Our ready tolearn grant is approximately a little shy of $50 million. And you'll see the other state subsidies listed down, special education being one of the heaviest. And our return for our pension and pasers, which is our pension reimbursement. So total for state revenue, we're collecting a where our projection is that we're going to collect approximately $333 million. The last of

027our revenue is going to be our federal sources. And what I have here are the major what we call the major block grants which are title ones through title four. Title one happens to be the like BF was the heaviest for our state. Title one is going to be our heaviest for most school districts. And you see title one funding or programming for students for lowincome families to improve academic performance. Title one funds to eleas use formulas that are primarily based on census data. Again, this is very beneficial to our district and we're able to do a lot of programs that support learning of our students. And you'll see here what we've done is we've kept our federal money flat from prior years. There's a lot of conversation going on in the new administration. So,

028right now to be safe, our recommendation that we've been receiving from other areas is to keep our our federal program safe. And you'll see here we have our total of about $23 million in federal funding. So to summarize them all, you'll see here as I stated the state revenue is our primary source of revenue as we go forward. Um the second is the local revenue which and is our third is the federal which makes up approximately 3% of our budget. So next year our proposed budget will be $481 million 54 481528215 for the 2526. This is our revenue side. So I will show you what the expenditure side looks like. So in the school district which it should be our primary source of expenditures should be our instructional cost is that's what it should be

029and that's going to be in salaries and benefits to instruct our children and provide a great instructional service. We also have support services our non-instructional service our facility services and the last area is going to be is our debt service. Your debt service is basically like it's your home. It's your it's your credit card is what it is or the money you owe for for your house or things of that nature. So you'll see in the next slide where basically I took the main categories instructional and I wanted to show you what comes under there because a lot of people say okay Jeff you said instructional instructional is going to be our regular education services special ed voced and postsecary. This is all expenses that are directly related to putting resources in front of our

030children. Second are our support services. Again, we have a large district. This is what it does to support all of our operations, be it student services, counseling, your public health, your maintenance, your transportation, your IT departments. Also, non-instruction are going to be our student activities and community services. And I already touched on our debt service. that is going to be what we pay for our loans and our bonds that we have out there currently. So you'll see here the major again bulk load is coming in salaries and benefits and this is the norm for a school district. This is the norm for Allentown and you'll see as we go down um our total is going to be roughly 481. So I say that to mention that when we construct a school district budget, your revenue

031and your expenditures have to meet. They have to equal. So right now we are currently equal. Doesn't there's still some work to be done because we're still waiting to hear a lot of information that's coming out of Harrisburg regarding funding. If that changes, that will also change our reporting here for revenue and our reporting for expenditures. Currently right now, I will touch on this. I know we talked about it before with the local budgeting, the money that we have now. This is this is not including a millage increase. I know we had several conversations about that, but currently right now, we've decided that we think we're in a good situation. It does not mean that we won't look at it later on. That may be an option that we have to do in future years

032as we continue to build certain properties and and incur more debt for our facilities. Well, we think this year we should be in a good situation that we should not have to increase the millillage. So, I'm going to stop there before I go into what we have future. Is there any questions from anyone? Okay, good. Madam chair, may I just add something before and may our community budget? I would strongly encourage everyone if anyone has any questions. I'm I'm sure in your your homes, your communities, your churches, people raise a lot of questions. I think it's a good opportunity to come out and learn. so they can hear exactly what it is we're doing, what we're doing for our children, and how we have to fund it, and what we're doing to make steps go

033forward, and how we're actually achieving some of the goals for our strategic plan. And then, so next May, there will be a presentation for our community forum. There'll also be a presentation from PFM. They will come out and provide a five-year budget as um projection as they did last year. There will also be at the committee meeting um an extra board meeting, we will actually vote on the preliminary final budget. I know it sounds like an oxymoron preliminary final, but we will vote on our preliminary final budget and that will be posted for review on our website for for everyone to and that's mandated by the state and then come June, we will actually vote on the final budget at the June business meeting. So, I know I covered a lot and if I anyone

034has any questions, please let me know. Um, Madame Chair, may I just add Thank you, Mr. Cuff. Um, I just want to again, I would remiss and I know I say this often in the public, but I want to commend our elected officials for their advocacy in Harrisburg so that we have received additional resources to support our overall learning community. So, I want to thank you very much, especially if you're listening this evening. And also, I want to invite everyone to our community forum, which will take place on May 20th. We're going to discuss our budget. And here, you'll have an opportunity to engage with the budget and ask u lots of questions as well as it will be an interactive session so that you can fully understand the decisions that are made to support

035our overall learning community. So again, I invite everyone, we will uh promote this particular forum. So you'll receive communications from us, but we invite everyone to participate. And we'd like to hear your voices uh as a part of decision-m process. And each of our schools are sharing their school budgets with their their school teams, their advisory councils at their schools and getting a commitment to their families and from their families and stakeholder groups at the school level as to decisions that should be made and their recommended decisions uh as it relates to school level budgets. So, and we've just concluded our school quality review process with all of our schools at which as I mentioned previously, our school leaders and their school leadership teams uh have been meeting with us the uh central office sharing

036with us their data, their academic as well as behavioral data and also making requests based on the information they have that's aligned to their their school improvement plans or continuous improvement plans. for decision making for the next year. So I just want to make sure we underscore that and I looking forward to seeing everyone on May 2020. So thank you. Uh Mr. Cuff, will you tell us a little bit about your request for a tax assessment settlement? Sure. Thank you very much. Um, we're looking for approval from the school board of directors to authorize Fox Rothschild to enter into an agreement for the property located at 15 North 7th Street in the city of Allentown and further identified by a part the parcel number setting the assessment of the property at 1,955,100 for the tax

037year 2025 for each of the subsequent tax years until the change in property assessments pursuant to applicable law. This is a dis this was a district initiated um assessment. Um the result is additional revenue for the school district for this year and years going forward. Is there any discussion or question? Seeing none, may I have a motion to move this item forward to the meeting later this evening? I'll make the motion. I'll second. We've got a maker and a seconder. All in favor? I opposed. The motion carries. Dr. Wharton V is requesting approval from the board for a softball scoreboard at William Allen High School. And while you're at it, uh there's a second item that's related. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. So, tonight I'm coming before you to approve two items. They look virtually

038the same, but being that the scoreboard needs electric, it has to be a multi-prime contract. So there's a general contractor and then the electrical contractor. So the first one for tonight is uh requesting the board of directors the approval of bilitary electric to perform electric contracting services associated with the installation of the softball scoreboard at William Allen uh J Bernrum Stadium. And the second one is we are requesting the school board of directors for the approval of professional construction contractors to do the general contracting of the installation of the scoreboard at William Allen High School J. Bernie Coming. Is there any question on the scoreboard item? Seeing none, without objection, I'll ask if we can move both of these items forward as action items later tonight. May I have a maker and a seconder? I'll

039make the motion. Second. Thank you very much. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Opposed. The motion carries. Miss Monley is requesting approval from the board of directors for parent square platform to two-way communication. Good evening, Dr. Burks and school board directors. The district is requesting the board's approval for parent square, a two-way communication platform at a cost of $65,130 for the first year over a three-year contract. This platform supports clear, collaborative, and culturally responsive communication among all district stakeholders. To identify an effective solution, the district initiated a procurement process through a formal request for proposals for communication services. Parent Square was selected through this competitive process as the platform that best meets the needs of our learning community to the district will use this platform to advance our goal three of the strategic

040plan lighting the way a blueprint for innovation and excellence in 2030 to strengthen two-way communication with our families. As a part of this effort and to promote shared responsibility and student success, we are investing in a unified pre kindergarten to 12 to um grade communication platform. This will streamline the various free and paid tools currently in use and ensure that all families have consistent meaningful opportunities to engage with school leaders, teachers, and administrators. Additionally, adopting a unified platform will help to ensure that staff um compliance with several key district policies, including policy 824, maintaining professional and student boundaries, which which will be up for consideration this evening. Policy 830, security of computerized personal information and breach notification. Policy 8:15, acceptable use, and policy 918, title one, parent and family engagement. This approach and reinforces our

041commitment to safe, secure, and professional communication across the district. A representative from Parent Square is available on Zoom to provide additional information and answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Yes, I have a quick Go ahead, M. So, how does this improve from what we have before? Because we know we have before was a bunch of gobbly goop. We did. So, how is that helping? How is this, you know, making it unified? I I can step in and answer this question, Miss Stevie. Thank you. Um, right now we do have one paid service that allows us to communicate districtwide with families. Um, our schools have expressed some dissatisfaction with that and as Miss Monley mentioned, there are a number of free and paid subscriptions that our schools have

042decided to use instead of our current contractor. So, this will bring everything together. K12. No matter if you have a child at Muenberg, Trexler at Allen, every school will now be using the same platform from myself when I send the uh virtual day notifications at 5 in the morning to a principal notifying their child's school about something else or their teacher uh contacting a parent directly about a behavior incident or student of the month or you are the light. Thank you. Of course, my question is about um products and services. When I look under the itemized um It says engage premium 2025 and then when you go scroll down it says engage premium 2023. What's the difference? That would likely be a question for Miss Amy who is on Zoom. Hi. Hi. Can you hear

043me? We can a very little bit. Amy Amy, can you try again for us? Sure. Oh, is that better? Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Sure. Um, it it's actually just a um naming convention that we use for our package. Um, it includes all the same features each year. Um, and also enhancements that we provide are also included in the year. The naming convention is just an internal package that we assign for accounting purposes. Um the quote that was provided details all the different features that are included and you'll note that they're the same year over year over year. So there's not a difference between like a 2025 model and a 2023. No, there's not. You get all those features as we re-release them. Um it's just like an internal accounting practice that we use with the

044different line items for the years. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. May I have a motion to move this action item forward? I make that motion. Second. All in favor? I opposed. And the motion carries. Thank you. At this time, we are taking public comments on non-aggenda items. Do we have any cards? We do, but Miss Masses, I I think you missed number five. Did I? Yeah. This is not Oh, it's not here actually. All right. Yes. Then let's have Mr. Cuff talk about SMJ communications. We're requesting the board's approval to renew the contract with SMJ Communications to serve as a district's political public relations communication firm at no increase in cost at $12,000 per month for one year. There any discussion about that? Seeing none, may I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Second.

045We have a maker and a seconder. All in favor? I opposed. And the motion carries. Sorry about that. Thank you very much. So now we'll go back to non-aggenda items and discussion. Comments. Yes. Uh we have one um April Riddick. April Riddic. Sure. We can add her to a non-aggenda. She went to another meeting but and will be back and I guess we have enough meetings to make public comment in that case. Is there any old business to come before this board? Yes. Um I want to look at number uh item number three and number four the scoreboards. Once again I know I talked to Mr. Cop about this. Um that should be under buildings. um that has to do with something that you know he said that you know they've been doing it since

046he got here but before he got here that would have been under buildings. So I'm asking um I don't know if it's administration or whoever I have to ask or my superintendent anything that is physical is under buildings and facilities and we like I said we have not had buildings uh committee meeting I don't know why not but that's something again should be under buildings. Thank you. Anybody else? Is there any new business to come before us? Then may I have a motion to adjourn the finance committee meeting? Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. [Music] I'd like to call to order the policy committee of the whole meeting of the board of directors of the school district for the city of Allentown for today, April 24th, 2025. The board welcomes and invites public comment.

047You may address the board on agenda and/or non-aggenda items. The first opportunity for comments is at the beginning of the meeting and is limited to agendum items only. Comment cards must be received by the start of the meeting, which is now. We will not be receiving public comment cards once the meeting begins. A copy of the public comment policy is located on the table next to the comment cards. Per our board's policy, any person may address the board in accordance with the procedures and limitations of this policy, either on issues presented in resolutions being considered or on other matters affecting the administration, management, or operation of the district. Remarks of a personal nature directed against any individual will be ruled out of order. If you choose to address the board, please fill out a comment

048card and hand it to board secretary, Mr. Simson. Comment cards are located at the podium near the door. Once recognized, please come to the podium, state your name and address for the record, and remarks are limited to 3 minutes. Do we have any remarks from our superintendent? Thank you, Mr. Nicoloff. Just briefly, I just want to again commend the board as well as my team for all the great work that's happening as it relates to updating our policies. Thank you, Mr. Nicoloff, for your leadership and helping to keep us moving forward. and to the school level teams who will actually after the board passes the policies we have some protocols in place in which they share with their learning community so that we are working as one team um implementing our policies. So there are

049members of my team here this evening that will review the policies that we're preventing presenting to the board tonight. So thank you Mr. Nicolov. Thank you Dr. Burks. At this time, we are only taking public comments on agenda items. Once recognized, please come to the podium, state your name and address for the record. Please note, remarks are limited to 3 minutes and the microphone will be disabled at the end of that time. Please also be informed that school directors appreciate public comment. However, we are not able to respond to these comments. Administration will address your concerns and update the board on the status of your concern. Do we have any comments? Okay. Tonight, we have three policies to present. Mr. Delphin will present our first policy. This is policy 800.1 on electronic signatures and records.

050This is a first reading. This policy on under certain conditions electronic records and signatures satisfy the requirement of manual records and or signatures. Uh this policy allows for the use of acceptable of electronic records and signatures and to establish guidelines under which electronic signatures may be utilized by the board. Uh the main one of the main reasons why we want to push this policy forward is because we want to ensure that we start uh moving towards an electronic signature. uh and most most specifically a lot of companies are now moving towards electronic signatures. So we're working to make sure that we are in compliance with local and federal laws. Uh when it comes to electronic signatures, one of the thing uh one of the delegations of responsibilities uh we will develop administrative regulations to direct

051staff on the parameters uh for authorized use of electronic signatures. uh we will also uh keep our records electronic record keeping and we we will also maintain a log of uh all the electronic signatures. In addition to that one of the things that we're going to do uh ensure that the per the people that sign electronic uh or use electronic signatures are authorized by the board or by the administrative staff. Any questions? Seeing no questions. Can I make a motion move this policy forward to our regular board meeting? All in favor? I. Thank you, Mr. Dumpy. Next, we have Miss Ramos. She will present policy 802 for a first reading. Uh, good evening everyone. Policy 802 is a new policy for the Allentown School District. It's on school organization. And basically, this policy outlines our

052school structure, which um would currently be prek to 5 at elementary, 6 to 8 at middle school, and grades 9 through 12 at high school. Um it also delegates oversight to the superintendent to continuously monitor those structures. So, if we change grade bands to K to 8 or whatever the case may be, we would come back before the board and present a change in our school's organizational structures. Do we have any questions? Seeing none, may I have a motion move this to our regular board meeting? All in favor, please say I. I. So moved. Okay. Last up, we have policy 8.24. This is a new policy on maintaining professional adult student boundaries. Mr. S. Good evening, school board. Uh, Superintendent Burks. So, this is a new policy, policy 824, maintaining professional adult and student boundaries.

053Uh, you have it there. Um, it's also being broadcast, but I'll um hit some highlights. This policy applies to district employees, volunteers, student teachers, and independent contractors and their employees who interact with students or are present on school grounds. And for purposes of this policy, such individuals are referred to collectively as adults. All adults shall be expected to maintain professional, moral, and ethical relationships with district students that are conducive to an effective, safe learning environment. This policy addresses a range of behaviors that include not only obviously unlawful or improper interactions with students, but also precursor grooming and other boundary blurring behaviors that can lead to more egregious misconduct. Moving forward, this policy is not intended to interfere with appropriate pre-existing personal relationships between adults and students and their families that exist independently of the district

054or to interfere with participation in civic, religious, or other outside organizations that include district students. Under definition, for purposes of this policy, legitimate educational reasons include matters or communications related to teaching, counseling, athletics, extracurricular activities, treatment of a student's physical injury or other medical needs, school administration, or other purposes within the scope of the adults assigned job duties. Under guidelines, adults shall establish and maintain appropriate personal boundary with students and not engage in any behavior that is prohibited by this policy or that creates the appearance of prohibitive behavior. Under uh Roman numeral 5, the first uh topic there is romantic or sexual relationships. Adults shall be prohibited from dating, courting, or entering into or attempting to form a romantic or sexual relationship with any student enrolled in the district, regardless of the students age. Students

055of any age are not legally capable of consenting to romantic or to romantic or sexual interactions with adults. There is then a list of prohibited uh behavior by our adults. Moving forward, the next subtopic is social interactions. In order to maintain professional boundaries, adults shall ensure that their interactions with students are appropriate. There are then examples of prohibited conduct there. The next subheading is electronic communication. For purposes of this policy, electronic communication shall mean a communication transmitted by means of an electronic device including but not limited to telephone, cellular telephone, computer, computer network, personal data assistant or pager. Electronic communications include but are not limited to emails, instant messages, and communications made by means of internet, website, including social media and other networking sites. As with other forms of communication, when communicating electronically, adults shall

056maintain professional boundaries with students. Under the exception section, an emergency situation or a legitimate educational reason may justify deviation from the rules regarding communication or methods for maintaining professional boundaries set out in this policy. The adult shall be prepared to articulate the reason for any deviation from the requirements of this policy and must demonstrate that they have maintained an appropriate relationship with the student, but under no circumstances will an educational or other reason justified deviation from the romantic and sexual relationship section. As the policy moves forward, there's a section for reporting inappropriate or suspicious conduct, a section on investigation, disciplinary action, and training. I have a few questions, comments. Um, let's start with um section five um prohibited conduct, ro romantic or sexual relationships. Um, at the end of that area, it says, "Students of

057any age are not legally capable of consenting to romantic or sexual interactions with adults." Mr. Sultanic, if you can elaborate on that because I want to make sure that area is clear because usually you would think as long as someone is 18 years or older that they can engage, but it literally says students of any age are not legally capable of consenting. So, I just want to make sure that area is super clear. I believe the district has the prerogative to uh create standards of not having any romantic or sexual relationships with students regardless of their age. And actually this is consistent with a um change in the law that occurred a number of years ago um that there used to be uh limitations of criminal prosecutions for individuals having uh sex only with students

058uh under the age of 18. Uh but there is now a criminal violation what is known as I believe institutional sex violations that regardless of the age of the child you can be criminally prosecuted if they remain a student of the district. So um this boundaries policy seems to be following that particular requirement. So should it just say students and not have age there? I think that's the part that should it just say students period. Uh I think having of any age makes it clear because people many people are under the misperception that you are once you achieve an age of majority the age of 18 that okay that's okay. I think uh you're probably right that it is a little bit redundant, but on this issue, redundancy is should be an argument. I just

059want to make sure it's clear like it's just super Well, I think it's it I think it's made more clear by virtue of any age. Okay. I think the word capable when you say capable it to me it sound like I mean this is a boundary policy and I'm sure we all agree with it but when you put the word capable that sounded to me as if you were taken away you were saying that a kid is not capable of making a decision it's a boundary issue. It's not. It seems like it was you were taking the right away from someone who was of age by using the word capable. I'm checking the statutory reference there because I think that may be also incorporated in state law. Okay. The citation is 18pa 3124.2 and I

060am pulling that up right now. Okay. So while you do that I'll move to the next one. So also say the legally capable I don't think it's taking the capability of the student but legally saying that the student couldn't choose to enter into that and avoid the policy. Okay. I'm okay. I'm not the legal. It was the word capable that it sounded the way that I said it. But if that's the way it's written then that's the way it's written. So the next area is I think it's still under five but um it's under gifts from gifts with students and adults or adults giving students gifts but there's no there's nothing clear there about students giving adults gifts. So, that's the part I'm like, I think it should be a two-way street there where if

061we're prohibiting adults from giving students gifts, we should be prohibiting children from giving adults gifts as well. And is that written that's part of the law? Did we make that up? I just made that up. I mean, I'm just I'm just thinking about it from the standpoint of covering all our bases. Yeah. Yes. But when you we regulate this is in this boundaries policy is part of our 800 operations policy and it deals with our employees. Regulating student conduct would be in our student disciplinary code and would not be part of policy. So I guess I need to inquire if this is actually in our student policy then if I could chime in on this. The intent of the policy is to dictate the behavior of the adult our employee toward the students. We would

062have something separate like with the student conduct to address proper conduct of students toward the adults. I get that. But reading it brought that to my mind. So now I want to check to see if in our student policy if this is there. Okay. So you don't want to add that language? No. No. This is just something it just came came about because as I'm looking at that I'm thinking about it from from both standpoints like if adults can't give gifts to students students should not be able to give I have to tell you I have to tell you that um I've had unfortunately all too many cases involving uh grooming situations with faculty members or other employees of an organization and giving gifts is one of the uh trigger elements for determining whether or

063not there is grooming going on. I have never read a situation where it has been inappropriate for a student to give a gift to a teacher unless it is mandated in some in certain respects. So I just view that as a different kind of situation. I don't think we should allow our professional staff to um use gifts because of the boundaries issue. So and and and I think uh when we deal with the student disciplinary code of conduct which is not contained in our board policies that is a separate action that we take that we're supposed to adopt the student code of conduct which deals with violations of all different sorts. If you want to debate that as part of that, that's separate. But I do not believe you should as a school board, given

064the history of grooming that exists, uh, sanction those behaviors of your faculty. So I'm just I'm thinking about it from the standpoint of teachers in their classroom and they have certain students and the students are doing really well and they have decided that hey today you get a star ball or something like that that is considered a gift. So when we it gets a little tricky here is what I'm trying to point out. We weren't intending to subvert the ability for a positive behavior intervention system and uh students to earn um whether it's points or prizes or whatever within that. The key word there is the personal gift cards or letters specifically addressed to a particle gift for the class. Yeah. But if you're just starting to identify a particular student and start giving them

065gifts, uh that should uh precipitate certain questions being asked unfortunately in today's world. Okay. Well, shouldn't we have some processes in place to be able to avoid that? Because in my um since I've been on the board, I know when I came on the board, we had students that didn't have uniforms, they didn't have shoes, they didn't have um gear to participate in certain activities or programs. And we had very generous teachers as well as administrators as well as board members who actually jumped in and gave the kids things because there was a need. And considering where we are without labeling Allentown, I definitely would not be in support of putting a policy in place that puts our kids further and further behind. I think we should focus more on the process of giving instead

066of saying it just can't be done because we've come a long way but we have to consider what we did to get here. And I do understand that people groom people, but we're not grooming in th these instances. And we need to put, I think, policies in place that would actually um protect that, but at the same time, we need to be more vigilant in identifying who we're hiring. I I I won't go into the specific elements of the case, but I had to handle a specific case for a district where the teacher started acting out of which I'll use a fancy word, automotinary considerations, charitable considerations, and was giving clothes and space for somebody. In fact, the teacher did that for about 6 months and then the child became uh homeless and the child

067uh then ended up in the house of the teacher. And uh it was not uh too much longer thereafter that it became known that the um teacher was a predator of that child and indicated that which is why I believe that this ended up getting included in the policy. What I would suggest to address a balancing of those concerns is perhaps that a teacher can't give a gift, a personal gift to a child unless it gets specifically approved by a member of the administration. They can't do that unilaterally. That language exists in there currently. As it's written, it does say without written approval from the building principal. We've taken that into consideration. Okay. If that's if that's in there, that's how it should be. But unilaterally, somebody shouldn't do that. And I and that is

068not unfortunately an isolated situation. Um, but I think there's more success stories than there is situations like that. And cuz I know myself um for being fully transparent, I would be one to take someone in my house and I'm not Chester the child molester. So I think that we need to be very again we need to look at that a little more closely to ensure that we are providing for our children because what just a few years what we had 900 homeless children and so you know it's unfortunate that people do pray on on um students who are you know at I I think I think the issue is um you can certainly do that as a board member. you're not an employee of this organization. Let let me let me continue. But I do

069not believe that an employee should have the unilateral right to start gifting children because it can cause a lot of dynamic issues in the classroom without some kind of express permission from management. If there is a good case for it, I'd like to think our administrators would allow it and that we don't uh regulate it, but it should precipitate concerns on the part of the district for the safety and welfare of a child. What about the parent? Does the parent lose the right? So, if does the parent get the right to say it's okay or you still have to go through the Well, we may the building administrator if there is a parent involved uh can go and talk to the parent. Do you think there's a problem in so- and so giving a gift

070to your child? And uh because because what if the gift I am aware of a situation another situation that a teacher gave a child a gift and the teacher was not aware of the child's intense allergy to uh the particular substance and the child became uh grievously ill as a result of it. So, I'm just saying that there needs to be some kind of process to allow it. I have a question. So, I feel like we're getting I think the word gift is what's messing us up here. Would we be able to use the word incentive instead of gift? No. No. I think the romantic part I think that's what is going to bring everything to focus because that brings me to the grooming part because it's not romantic. I mean it's romantic to the

071adult but to the student is not and so saying that that you know it's it's saying that it's going to be that's a grooming process. So I don't know you know because of romantic is there unfortunately grooming doesn't take a one particular path there are many different paths and you don't always know it's grooming grooming at the beginning and it could be grades right could be gifts but I just want to be clear that I don't want us to put a policy in place that's going to put our kids further and further at a disadvantage because I know you know there's teachers you know I I was a busy parent and I've had um people buy my kids stuff, you know, and I know I can buy it if I need it, but I was

072grateful and um I know that there are other parents out there that need a a a hand. And I don't want there to be any barriers so that they cannot receive. And I know also from sitting on this board that there have been people in administrative positions who feel like they have too much power and our kids have missed out on things, trips, opportunities. And I'm not saying everybody's doing it and I'm not saying that we're not changing. But I don't want to put a policy in place that's going to again put them at further and further at a disadvantage. So that's just my position. I'm going to vote no just to be clear. We're not If I may answer another question. I think there was a question on um the legal capacity on the

073part of the student that that is addressed in state law. That's where that came from that language. Okay. I would just call attention to social interaction where we're talking about that gift. It says giving personal gifts. I think that the word personal is uh important there. Cards, letters to a student without written approval from the school principal. So, I still think it allows that helping and that philanthropy. Um, but it creates a system of checks and balances as far as the administration being involved. Okay. Okay. I'm at I'm at seven now. Um, reporting inappropriate um or suspicious conduct. I'm wondering if we need to add um anonymous reporting in that section. I know we addressed um retaliation in the policy, but I'm also wondering if we should add anonymous reporting as an option in the

074policy. So if something is happening, someone witnessed it, if you know, they might feel intimidated to report it. Mandatory reporter point mandatory reporters. We made it reporters. Yes. Is everyone? Yes. Power professional. Every everyone. Okay. And and if if it were someone that wanted to come forward and notic, it makes certainly makes it harder to investigate or get to the bottom of it certain times. But we do have Let's Talk. It's safe to say that are systems that would also allow for reports. Okay. Madam chair, I I think that was I think that was it. Last question. I'm sorry. Last question. Now, this is a a general. Didn't we buy a new system? So should we get the we did the the people that like facilitate the system to come out because like every meeting

075we're going through this and it's getting frustrating. Sorry. Um okay so when we go through and this is just for my brain when we do onboarding and say for instance we have a policy like this that's super important. Are they signing off on one document that says that they have read every single policy that we have or is it like they're signing off on each document to show like they've read the document they they're aware of it. So as a part of our onboarding all employees are responsible to know and follow all policies. Um we do have the policies on our website. we do refer to them and then we have certain policies um that we highlight um as a part of the onboarding and utilize the supervisor of the employee to call um specific

076attention to them. Um in our back to school um slide deck that we uh mandate that all of our employees uh go through um and there's a a system uh safe schools that signs off that they have viewed it. Those policies are um highlighted there as well. which makes you legally respond. So once you once it says view, it makes you legally respond. Not the fact that you signed off on it. The signing off. Yes. That you have you haven't lied. You and as we pass good policies, we do send them out to uh our staff as well. Okay. I just wanted to know like what what's the checks and balances of making sure like it's like if I sign something that means like I'm going to adhere to everything. I don't know if can

077you be legally bind to just view. Oh, Jeff, that's where you come in. I want to hear your question again. I'm sorry. Yes. So, it's asking about signing off on the policy during onboarding. If it's just like that if you know onboarding, they read through all the policy and then they're signing off that we've read the policy, we're going to adhere to the policy. Miss Madison is saying the system and and I'm sorry, Mr. % I'm sorry said that they they view the policy and it just says viewed that they view the policy but they're not signing off on it but is that legally binding just the fact that it says viewed I I believe that uh the current state of the law is independent of employees signing off on policies policies they're presumed to

078know them especially since our policies are outward-f facing and public and it would not be a successful defense of an action is oh I didn't know that policy. Okay. And and as a practical matter because we're obligated for most of our unionized staff and everybody else to follow progressive discipline. Um uh if it is obviously not a grievous issue and uh they miss a policy usually then uh they get a reprimand for that or some kind of written warning but if you do it again then you get some kind of penalty associated with that. So that's that's how it works in practice. Okay. And just to say I'm happy that we're putting this policy in place. This should have been in place years ago. I just want to make sure it's ironclad and tight because

079it's an important policy. Understood. And uh many districts already have this PSBA policy variant in place. And um when we have issues when there are unfortunate bad actors uh employed by school entities this policy becomes very significant and important. I unfortunately had to use it in you've seen our charges document in those charges documents all too frequently. Okay. And similar to attorney satanic, I too as an administrator has I had to uh deal with these types of matters in which students were not safeguarded. And so this is a measure to safeguard students. And I understand the board's position about wanting us to build relationships with families and provide those resources. And this is not something to put in place to deter building these kind of relationships and and being generous in giving to our families.

080However, we have to put some safeguards in place for the children as well to protect our organization and everyone who works with children and I just want to underscore this. We are mandated reporters and so and people who have luriers within the state of Pennsylvania is part of your lensure to also safeguard children. So for people to say I didn't know or I'm not aware as as uh attorney Sultanic mentioned is not something that we can use that would be you know a justifiable response but we have to safeguard the system. Having worked in districts with this has happened it also causes the districts lots of legal liability when people engage in students in inappropriate ways. So we have to say our face and I am too like um was mentioned by attorney satanic I'm

081surprised that we we did not have this policy in place and I'm glad when it was brought to my attention we said we have to do this immediately. So, I'm hoping that the board will uh have faith in the administration that we're not going to try to combat, deter, or any of those words building relationships and helping our families. And we also have family and community liaison. We have social workers. We have administration. So, when families do need resources, we have um staff who also could be supportive and community partners to help build those relationships and help get students what they need. But again, I don't want the message to be um for us to walk away with the message that we don't want children and uh teachers to build relationships. But again, unfortunately, as

082attorney satanic said, there are some bad actors and again and I lived it. It's not a hypothetical thing. I've seen it happen. They start off with gifts. They start with all this praise to students and then, you know, students were hurt. So, we have to safeguard the kids and the system. Thank you, Dr. B. I do have one further point to make because I know Miss Conover, you voiced your intent to vote no and I think this is a very critical policy. I just want to make mention that if in our pursuit to provide more leeway for charity, we create an environment that can possibly subject students to this type of predatory behavior, that would be a staggering failure on our part to provide a protective environment for these kids. And to follow up on

083that, uh, Miss Conover, I think it would be if somebody really wanted to help a child and motivated by pure intentions, I would like to think, as Dr. Burks indicated that they would go to their administrator and say, you know what, why don't you seek out the resources that we do have as an organization to provide support for the family and work together with them, but not individually take it upon yourself to do that and that protects the organization. I understand that there's a fine balance on all those issues, but I would like to think that the organization would respond that way. And I like to um think that the organization will respond that way too. But I can't negate the fact that I've been here for many years and I've seen the organization fill

084our children while I remain optimistic. And I know for a fact that even now as we speak, there's a lot of things that we should be doing that we're not doing. and I'm trying to be good tonight. Um, so I'm going to vote the way that I'm going to vote and I realize the majority is going to vote the way that they're going to vote. Um, but I'm I understand protecting the organization, but my first priority is to protect our children and also to get our kids what they need. And I spoke about the language. I didn't say anything about ma we all mandated reporters. even before it became a law, we're mandated to report when our children are being um abused or they're being put at risk. So, I don't want anyone to walk

085away from here when I vote the way that I vote feeling that I'm not for kids or I'm putting myself or putting our kids in danger because it's the language and I know that our kids get a lot of things from our teachers, our community. They get rewarded when they don't. Some kids don't go home to what all of us go to to mom and dad. And so when they cross our doors, we're that we're the ones who they lean and depend on. And so when we put a policy in place that says no more gifts because you might um you know there's predators. I have a problem with that because there's always going to be predators. You know, my mom didn't let me go to the mall because she told me real clearly. And

086I tell kids today, we get up to go to work in the morning and there's predators that get up and that's their job to to kidnap you or do whatever it is to pray on you. So, I get that part. I don't I'm not I'm I'm not confused. It's the language. And I have a problem with the language. And PSBA is giving us some stuff. I'm listening. You're the solicitor. So, you're legal. I'm not legal. But I stand firm in what I believe in and I know um that I'm always going to put myself in a position to be able to give to children that are in need and I would encourage my colleagues to do the same. So your vote is your vote and mine is mine and I yield the mic. Any other

087questions or comments? All right. Uh may I have a motion to move this policy forward to our regular board meeting? So move. Any second? All right. All in favor, please let me know by saying I. I. Any opposed? I. Motion carries. At this time, we will be taking public comments on non-aggenda items. Again, once recognized, please come to the podium. State your name and address for the record and please note that remarks are limited to 3 minutes and the microphone will be disabled at the end of that time. Please also be informed the school board of directors appreciate public comment. However, we are not able to respond to these comments. administration will address your concerns and update the board on the status of your concern. Do we have any comments? April Riddick not back. Okay.

088Any others? Okay. Any old business? New business. May I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. All in favor, please let it be known by saying I. Meeting adjourned. You you want to take a three minute break? You good? Go for it. Okay. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the order of the education meeting for the committee of the whole for the Allentown School District in the city of Allentown today, April 24th, 2025. I will tell you the board welcomes and invites public comments. You may address the board on agenda and or non-aggenda items. The first opportunity for comment is at the beginning of the meeting and is limited to agenda items only. Comment cards must be received by the start of the meeting which is now. We will not be receiving public cards

089once the meeting begins. A copy of the public comment policy is located on the table next to the comment cards. Per our board's policy, any person may address the board in accordance with the procedures and limitations of this policy, either on issues presented in resolutions being considered or on other matters affecting the administration, management, or operation of the district. Remarks of a personal nature directed against any individual will be ruled out of order. If you choose to address the board, please fill out a comment card and hand it to our board secretary, Mr. Simson. Common cards are located at the podium near the door. Once recognized, please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record. Dr. Burks, do you have any comments at this time? Thank you, Miss Connover. This

090is the best part of the meeting. Uh we are excited this evening to talk about academic programming, specifically our summer program. members of our team will um talk about all the details of literacy and math and all the social emotional and extracurricular activities that will occur this summer. Yes. And so, um we're excited and that's all I have to say. It's the best part of the night. Thank you very much. At this time, we're only taking comments for PE for P taking comments from the public on agenda items. We don't have any cards. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Tonight we have eight agenda items. I'm going to ask the ask Dr. Malikica Seavoi to come forward and you can do the three items while you're here and then don't go too far cuz you'll be coming

091back. Right. So you just do the top three. Do the top three. Okay. Unless the board doesn't mind her doing everything while she's up here. We can go out of order. Is that okay? Fine. That's fine. Okay. So do everything you got to do while you're here. Got it. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you. Thank you. The first item on the agenda is for Smile Dental. So, we are requesting that the board approve theou between Allentown School District and Smile Mobile Dentist. Smile Dental is a mobile dental program that brings dental care into our schools. They are providing dental services to schools in Pennsylvania since 2006. They can see up to 20 students per day and they can provide dental services to prek students who are pre kindergarten through the age of 18. They

092are planning to service us two to three service teams. There are two to three service teams in our area which mean they can provide services to a few schools at a time. So they they have additional funding and wanted to support Allentown School District. The next Does anyone have any questions? Okay, so you go on to the next one. The next item on the agenda is for our students. St. Luke's Career Linking Academy is providing opportunities for our students in hospitality, career pathway exposure, mobile sim simulation center labs and collaboration with career link. This is for the 2025 2026 school year. They will provide students with hands-on healthcare career exploration opportunities. Do you have any questions on this one? Okay. And the one that I think we're it's lighting the way to summer learning and

093exploration. Yes. Okay. So, we are lighting the way to summer learning and exploration 2025. This is our summer program for this year. The information that you have in front of you, we will have transition to kindergarten. We will have summer learning. This is for our rising first through fifth grade students. We will have summer learning math and English language arts success labs for our students who are rising to sixth and seventh grade. We will have summer school for students who need to recover grade andor credits for grades 6 through 12. We will have summer bridge programs for students who are transitioning from fifth grade to sixth grade and 8th grade to 9th grade. We are also providing act 158 credentiing which is a graduation requirement for our seniors who need that credentiing in order to

094graduate on time. We have two programs for our English learners outside of our regular our general program. That's the language intensive program and our refugee impact grants program. We have something else this year that we haven't had in summer program and that's the summer arts academy and that is for rising 6th through 12th grade students. We will have extended school year 21st century programming and student internships. The dates for our summer program are June 30th to through July 25th Monday through Friday. There are some exceptions. 21st Century will run 20 June 23rd to July 31st. and the transition to kindergarten for all enrolled registered and enrolled students will occur the week of July 28th and August 7th. You also have um in the as part of the um approval a list of partners um that

095we have met with or have joined our two summits summer summer summit partnership meetings and these are potential partners every partner in every partner on the list and during our summer summit meetings we have communicated that we everyone has to comply with district policy as it relates to clearances and expectations. in protecting our students. Thank you, Dr. Seo. Do you have any questions? Miss Conover, may I Excuse me, Miss Conover. I I just want to just correct the summer programming is Monday through Thursday with the exception of the 21st century programs. Extend it. Yeah. But programs are Monday through Thursday. I apologize. All programs are through Thursday. Thank you very much. I just Thank you. At this time, we'll do Valley Health Partners. Yes. Valley Health Health Center at Sheridan. Yes. So, the we are

096requesting the board's approval for the renewal of the memorandum of understanding between Valley Health Partners Community Health Center, which is a nonprofit a Pennsylvania notfor-profit corporation and the Allentown School District to provide school-based health services directly through providers located at Sheridan Elementary School. We do have the um clinic healthcare location at Sheridan. This is theou for that to continue those services. Thank you very much. Do we have any questions on that? Hearing and seeing none. Well, let's go on to number seven which is no number. Yeah, number seven which is international student travel. May I go to number eight and then Mr. Weiss is going to come up and um focus on international student travel. Weiss. Absolutely. You going to the sales? Yes, I'm going to go over the sales university/Allentown District Summer AI Institute.

097Yes, this is our second year in partnership with the sales university and the artificial intelligence institute. We have 20 students who will participate in a um 7-week program and it will focus on also giving students um six credits from the sales university. They will focus on um technology Python C Jupiter um and other technology um using technology to access data. It will be projectbased learning for students. It will be um information that will support our community. It will also students will also experience um credentiing with in the Allentown School District and they will also be a part of our internship. This is the second year and what we're planning is um that year one and year two are it's a two-year program but they are independent of each other. So we are asking our students

098and requesting that our students who participated last year come back and participate in year two while we pick up some other students to participate in their year one. Thank you Dr. Seavo. Are there any questions? Is any Madam Chair? Just want to if I could um just add that students are going to receive Google certifications as part of that process. I want to underscore and other micro credentials and will be paid as interns to collect data and research aspects of the community as part of this experience. This is great news. I think we we well we always had interns since you've been here, Dr. BS. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. So now they're going to get applications. So they last year I I just wanted to expand this program. Uh last year was

099our pilot year and students did receive six credits as well as industry certifications specifically and Google uh certifications and other micro credentials. But we're building on this project for the summer. So as Dr. Sway mentioned, it will be two cohorts. So students essentially were able to earn uh now 12 credits from the sales cuz they would have received some of six credits last year and then other credentials as we uh are using this particular initiative to build on our work on integrating AI across the district and as what we're learning of the knowledge capturing that we're doing from this experience to inform our new reimagining of our AI an Allied Pathway High School. And yes, students will have an internship component. So that program is extended so that they can not just learn the theoretical

100aspect aspects of data science and research, but they're actually putting into action and engaging in authentic learning so that they are contributors to their community or our community. I wanted to also highlight that we will continue to have internships like we did last year and the previous year outside of the sales program too. Is there any comments that want to be made or question? I want to make a comment. You know, I'm always that person that goes back has flashbacks and I remember in 2017 2018 and I'm just being transparent. you know, when we we're not here at this day and we're in other spaces, right? People told us that our kids couldn't learn and they couldn't do all the things that we're doing under the leadership of Dr. um Cal Burks. We don't always

101see eye to eye, but I believe that we're always on the same page because our kids are at the forefront of our minds, and that's what we all should be working for here. So, I just want to say as the education um chair and as a board member that I'm excited and I'm grateful for the things that we are doing and I will remain optimistic. So, I want to thank you Dr. Burks and I want to thank you Dr. Seavoy because you've been here what long now? Since November 23rd. Since November 23rd and you hit the ground running. So, I just want to say thank you very much. Thank you. Don't go nowhere. Thank you, Miss Conover. Pass to the next meeting. Um, I want to do a flashback too as well from when we

102got that first meeting we had. We were s when we were sitting down there and seeing a um a production of the fact that our students couldn't even pass nth grade. Our children were failing nth grade. This is amazing. Who' have thought? But we knew we had to. And I thank God that it happened. It took me putting rollers in my head. Right. Right. But at any rate, but it it took a lot. Yes. And then you know, Dr. Burks and Dr. Davoy, I want to thank you and your team, I want to thank you very much for this because this is amazing. I could cry right now because I remember feeling so defeated. 2017, December 7th, and now I'm so elated. Thank you. Thank you. So, at this time, don't go anywhere yet. We're

103going to take item number one, two, three, six, and we're going to um and eight. And at this time, I'm going to ask May I have a motion to move these. It's number three. Number three. I'm going to abstain from summer. Oh, okay. Because Fine for the Foundation is a part is partnering with ASD. are going to provide free summer programming to South Mountain Middle School and ASD will be providing lunch to the students. So, can we do that separate, Lisa? We could do it separate. So, we're going to take one, two, six, and eight. That's four items. Second. I have a motion. Okay. First and second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none, this moves on to our next meeting right after this. At this time, we'll take number three. Mhm. So move

104second. All in favor, please let it be known by saying I. I. Are there any that opposed? Hearing say none. One abstension. One abstension. Thank you for that. So this moves forward to our next u regular board meeting which is right after this one. Thank you very much Dr. Seo. At this time I'm going to ask that Mr. Brian Sik come forth. He's going to speak on our 2025-26 carbon Lehi Intermediate Unit 21 facilities plan. We're requesting the board's approval for the facilities plan from the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit. This is an action item. PACO chapter 14 regulation describes comparability and availability of facilities for students with disabilities. As we are part of the fair share responsibility, a committee of district representatives reviews all the availability between Carbon and Lehi County and all of the

105different schools. Um the proposed plan has no direct impact on the Allentown School District students. Any questions? Any questions? I have a motion to move this item forward to the April 24th meeting which is right after this one. I make that motion. Second. All in favor? Please let let it be known by saying I. I. Are there any that opposed? Hearing seeing none, it moves on. Thank you very much, Mr. Sik. May I have now u Miss Melissa Smith to come forth? She's going to speak about AVID membership library package and professional learning for middle schools. Good evening board. Good evening Dr. Burks. In December, you approved as part of our 6 to2 program of studies an AVID course at the middle schools. What this request today is for the AVID membership, the ongoing professional

106development, including the summer institute as well as the library package that will support the instruction. AVID is again an ESAT tier 2 moderate evidence that shows that AVID students graduate high school and enroll in college at higher rates. Um, AVID does stand for the advancement of individual determination. Schools as part of their training will learn about the wicker strategies which means writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading within content areas. The cost of this is $71,556. It comes out to $17,889 per middle school. Any questions? No questions. Thank you, Miss Smith. May I have a motion to move this to our next regular board meeting, which is directly after this one? Second. All in favor, please let it be known by saying I. I. Are there any that opposed? Hearing and seeing none, this moves forward

107to our next regular board meeting. At this time, I'm going to ask this is our last is this our last item? Yeah, this is our last item we have. I'm gonna ask Mr. Weiss, how are you? How are you? This is You're going to speak on international student travel for 2026. Yes, I am. I have brought with me two proposals today. Um, and I have a presentation that's loading about global travel based learning in the Allentown School District. So, I'm going to provide with you a little overview. There it goes. And explain the alignment between the district's goals and its policies and requests board approval for two different trips for um the two different high schools. So, all the vendors that we've looked through have been vetted and have their reference check. They all comply

108with their district travel policy 121.1 and insurance requirements. and they've all started their pre-travel parent meetings, risk assessments, and emergency protocols that they have in place that we have with our administrative braggs with our policy. And they also plan to train the staff chaperones and they will also be vetting them as well. Some of the benefits of international travel in that it aligns with the strate district strategic goals is global competency, language proficiency, cultural competency and some impact on student learning is that it's authentic real world application of world language skills. It's increased engagement and retention of the language and cultural knowledge and opportunities for future and career pathways. So I'm excited to say the first proposal is for Costa Rica for deerf high school for the grades 9 to 12. It is in going

109to be in July of 2026. They are with the American Council for International Studies and the curriculum connections are the Spanish classes are going and also astronomy and biology. They're going to study some um an astral astronomical phenomenons that are in Costa Rica and also bi biomes um also with Spanish at the same time. So it's like a trifecta of how they're going to be studying there. It's estimated cost is about $3,500 per student and that includes travel, lodging, activities, and some meals. The only meals that it doesn't include is lunches for them when they're out that they would have to pay for on their own. Uh the chaperon ratio is 1:5 and the reason that we're bringing this now is so that students can start fundraising because it's going to take a long time

110to fund raise this much money for them to go but we really want them to have the opportunities. So the proposal number one ties to world languages and science. It brings language acquisition and real world application of what they're learning in biology and astronomy classes. It is a development of post of global competencies and intercultural skills. And then some of the post-trip activities, they're going to be doing travel, storytelling, and blogging and community engagements. They want to have community fairs where they're going to show off what they learned to the board. Basically, that's what they would that's what they wanted to do. My second proposal is for William Allen High School, grades 9 to 12, for an educational trip to Europe, which includes Rome, Madrid, and Paris. And that is um for students in Spanish,

111French, and 10th grade European history. So all students in 10th grade, we take European history. This is where this epicenter of all of this is happening. This is a little more expensive. It cost us about $4,500 per students. And the chaperon ratio is 1:6. And again, we wanted to get these as soon as possible so that we can start the fundraising policy or the fundraising part. All right. So, this one here, they're going to be doing a project-based learning component after the travel through the travel company. They have a a learning project based learning where they actually earn high school credit. And that is how they are going to be doing their service learning for this project. And those are all I have for Do you have any questions for me? Any questions? No, I'm

112just I'm just going to make a comment and the comment. I'm just gonna make a comment and the comment is really to the public or anyone that's watching. I'm going to put my fundraiser hat on right now. We need people to at least sponsor a child, right? So, anyone out there, if you support ASD, you support our students. Let this fundraising be very simple for our students. They deserve this experience. So, whatever you can do, please sponsor a child so they can go on this amazing experience. I'm telling you, travel should be a part of everyone's life. It is lifechanging. So, I'm excited about this. So with that, you're on the ASD Foundation um board. It would have to go through the the the um the foundation to get to them. Correct. We'll talk about

113it. Robert Mariah, I see you in the audience. Okay. Um so I mean we're going to talk about it. Okay. So if someone is to sponsor a child, they'd have to go through ASD Foundation. Yeah. Or they can just go through ASD. They can contribute to the district directly. Yes. Okay. I just want to make sure. Yes. I madam chair may excuse me. Um I'll defer to Miss Brown and then I'll make my comment. Miss Brown, please. Okay. I have two questions. So my first question is um how are passports provided for students or are they they're not? Okay. I don't think that was mentioned. And then my second question is um we know that trafficking is a massive issue throughout the world and we have had our own issues within Allentown. What safety measures

114are in place for students to protect them from trafficking? I will get with the tour companies to and get back to you on that one. Thank you. So the Miss Miss Brown, did you have any more questions? Before I respond, I wanted to make a comment on um one the the insurance the we'll find out the answer to your question and the EF tours the company that we're proposing to you they have a history they've been in business for like a hundred years and so but we will find the answer to that question but they also assume the liability for this and have put several mechanisms in case to safeguard students, but we will find out if they have something writing about your question, but I want to um go back to the fundraising aspect.

115And so I I want to commend the foundation um because they did. We asked them to support this effort and they did. They did not hesitate. They said that they will help us in supporting kids and we thought we would be able to uh actually have students take trips this summer cuz everyone knows the superintendent's personality. It was like let's go let's go and so and so in the foundation so I want to thank you Re Mariah I know you are in the audience and we have other partners including United Way and others who said that they will help us in our fundraising efforts. So just to underscore what Miss Brown Noel said everyone who's in the sound of my voice if you'd like to sponsor a student you want to give them a gift

116this gift we will we will happy to take your money Mr. the cuff. I have three interim CFOs, so you can write a check directly to the Allentown School District. And if you also feel like you want to give to the foundation, I'm sure Reverend Mariah and team will be happy to take your check cuz we want to make this um avail our students with every avenue for success. And I'm so excited today that we're able to get this to you so that we can begin to really um in within our strategic plan, we say we want to create multiple pathways of success and learning for our students and we want to demonstrate to our students and families. We're definitely enacting and executing on that. So, it's a great day in Allentown and I'm really

117happy and proud and thank you, Mr. Weiss, for all the back and forth of the superintendent, having you go research a whole bunch of things. So, thank you so much. tonighting the two trips, the one for deer of high school to Costa Rica and the trip for Allen to Europe. So then my next question would be um how soon do you need this answer? Do we have to approve this tonight? Because there's some questions that were asked and we don't have them in terms of the safety of our children. Um, I know that this this place for EF tours has been around for a long time and I'm not against travel. You know, my kid went to um Alaska when she was in the fifth grade um with the program, but um can we consider

118getting this information? Does it have to be approved tonight? It doesn't have to be. It just pushes fundraising back. Yeah, I'd like for it if we could. Um, respectful Miss Conover, if you could approve it with the condition that we will give you that we can continue to fund raise, form the students as well as the staff and the company because we are also getting a discounted rate if we commit this month cuz they're having a special. So, if you would please and we'll come back with you for the answers cuz we've got until July of 2026 essentially. So, Thank you. I agree. I will personally vouch for EF and its adult arm. Go ahead because I have done I have worked with both organizations. Okay. Thank you. So is there any uh other further

119discussion? All in favor please let it be known by saying I I I. Any that opposes going to our next regular board meeting after this? No. No opposes. So, it moves forward to our next regular board meeting. That was the last item that we had on our agenda. Um, do we have any comment cards from the public on non-aggenda items? April Riddic, she's here. I don't know. I've just keep I don't think so. Not yet. Okay, I'll keep Is there any old business? Any new business? Any grass sketches? May I have a motion to adjurnn? Some moved. All in favor, please let it be known by saying I. I. Are there any that oppose? Hearing and seeing none, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. We'll take a quick 5m minute break and then

120we'll come back for our regular um scheduled board meeting. Thank Come on, Miss so we can get up talking on the mic. Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the meeting of the board of directors of the school district for the city of Allentown for today, April 24, 2025. The board welcomes and invites public comments. You may address the board on agenda and or non-aggenda items. The first opportunity for comment is at the beginning of the meeting and is limited to agenda items only. Common cards must be received by the start of the meeting, which is now. We will not be receiving public comment cards once the meeting begins. A copy of the public comment policy is located on the table next to the common cards. Per our board's policy, any person may

121address the board in accordance with the procedures and limitations of this policy, either in issues presented in resolutions being considered or on other matters affecting the administration, management, or operation of the district. Remarks of a personal nature directed against any individual will be ruled out of order. If you choose to address the board, please fill out your com fill out a comment card and hand it to the board secretary, Mr. Simson. Common cards are located at the podium near the door. Once recognized, please come to the podium and state your name and address for for the record and kindly limit your remarks to three minutes. We will now have the roll call. Mr. Secretary, please call the role. Miss Brown, present. Miss Connover, present. Miss Harris, here. Miss Mat here. Mr. Nicoloff here. Miss Noel

122here. Miss Ortiz here. Here. Miss Sierra here. Merscio here. We have eight members present, one member virtual. Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And now for the board president remarks. So we have moved into the final lap of school and I know we only have around two more months left. So I just want us to to finish strong. So I encourage us to keep going. You know, we're making some amazing progress in the district. And I know as we're preparing to close out one one um period, we're preparing to start another one. So, I do want

123to say as we're getting ready to slow it down, remember to take care of yourself, team. Please remember self-care is key. So, I just wanted to make sure um that I express that to you guys tonight. And I also would like to congratulate um all the recipients of the you you're the light awards. It was amazing. It was beautiful. I love the fact that we're doing this, that we're recognizing our students and our faculties and, you know, everyone that's just shining a light in the community. So, I'm really excited about that. Give that give them a round of [Applause] applause. And finally, I wanted to get the public's attention on a matter that's very concerning to me. Um there was a report that came out um through the Allentown Police Department and it showed that

124there were over 3,000 violations when it came to our school buses. So that means people are driving and they're not adhering to the rules and the laws of the roads. Our children are precious cargo. And I am making a plea to the public. Please, when you see those flashing lights, when you see the stop sign go out, it means stop. It does not mean go. 3,000 violations since January. January. And just recently, you know, we've seen a couple of um accidents happen with um with our school buses. So, I'm asking please as you're driving on the road, please protect our children and protect yourself. Um, and that concludes my board president's remarks. Um, Dr. Burks, thank you and good evening everyone, school board directors, members of our team, uh, members of the publics, all the

125students and staff. Thank you. I'm honored to serve with you. My comments are brief at this point in the meeting because I've said a lot earlier, but I just want to again commend everyone for their hard work and commitment. And I was just want to underscore three matters that are three great events that are happening. One, it takes the collective strength of everyone. So my assistant informed me that the date for our our budget form has changed because it was scheduled for a day off for um that we're off from school, meaning the students are off and we have professional learning. So the budget form is May 15th. So, please mark your calendars for May 15th. We'd love to have you all come attend the budget forum. We will begin to promote it publicly with

126all the details of time and date. Um, well, the date time and location. So, it's tenatively scheduled at Hayes Elementary School. I hope we told them. So, Hayes, please, we we're happy that you're going to host us in advance. And we are really thrilled as part of our membership with the League of Innovative Schools, we were able to partner with 17 school districts in the Pittsburgh region. And as part of that partnership, I'm so excited about this. Central Stream Academy, oh well, I got the wrong school. I'm sorry. Dodd Elementary School is going to be a part of the Land of Oz premiere. So, it's called the Land of Oz. and students from our learning community will participate. And what makes this really exciting is that the producer of this particular film. He is the

127creator and the producer of the Rugrats as well as the Simpsons. So our students are going to be a part of this national, you know, international uh movie. So we are excited about that. So I want to commend Dodd Elementary School. hopefully if the board approves it officially in the meeting, but D Elementary School and their families will be able to travel to Pittsburgh as long as with school uh teachers and staff to see this premiere of their movie along with other districts in the Pittsburgh region. So, we're excited about that. Job well done. And now on May 21st, we will have our in district premiere with Central Elementary Stream Academy as well as that elementary school with the same uh producer. His name is Terry Thorne. Again, he will travel to Allentown. So, we'll

128have our red carpet premiere. So, we're inviting everyone on the sound of my voice to take part in this great celebration. And Central Ele um Elementary School, I'm still looking cuz I'm finding out the name of this. Um the name of their is it's uh entitle movie is My Culture, My Story, How to Be Me. So, and it's in Spanish. So, we're excited about this animation movie that's produced by fifth grade students. So, we invite everyone to come. We will publicize it. So, some great things are happening. And then finally uh tomorrow our friends uh for uh at Google education they will host 25 members of our learning community and teach them various Google products as well as expose 25 members of our team to the newest innovation and AI and technology. And so we're

129excited and I want to commend the members of our learning community who were able to go through this rigorous process to be named Google ambassadors within the district and our aim is that they will also go on to secure uh Google certifications. They're working on Google certifications right now and that they will be able to be identified as Google champions in which they would join a national group in some of them anyway in uh the summer and perhaps some of them they have an international cohort. So I just want to make sure we share that publicly. Again I want to commend everyone a job well done. Thank you. Exciting times in ASD. At this time, we are only taking public comments on agenda items. Nothing. Okay. Thank you. May I have a motion for approval

130of the minutes? Make that motion. A second. Is there any discussion? Please call the role. Miss Connover? Yes. Miss Harris? Yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolof, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Mr. Bersio, yes. Miss Brown, yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. And now for our information updates. We'll start with um Allentown Human Relations Commission. No update at this time. Thank you. Any update from the Allentown Public Library? At the moment we don't have they had technical difficulties so the next meeting will be next week April 30th. Thank you. We still have a phone call with we are the town library is still need $280,000 to meet our budget for this year. Um we are we are under that. Um no at the moment they were um I believe Mr.

131cuff. Okay. Send in some information. So, yes, ASD did help him out at this time. We're still waiting for the information of the estate they supposed to be receiving. Okay. So, that's in the works with the state at the moment. Okay. All right. So, we will know more April 30th. Okay. Thank you. Any updates from the Allentown Recreations Commission? Yes, I have an update. So, so far in 2025, the Allentown Recreation Commission has been actively engaged in enhancing recreational opportunities and creating safe, inclusive spaces for our community. We kicked off the year strong with a successful 3rd annual mayor's Easter egg hunt and continue to build momentum with well-received events like the 2025 Yoga Fest and the launch of our Movies in the Park series. We look forward to seeing our movies in the park,

132pool and park, yoga fest, youth basketball turn tournaments, turnouts, and more. We've made tremendous progress on park improvements, including accessibility upgrades and public engagement through active transportation plans. I also had the honor of attending the ribbon cutting for the newly renovated basketball court yesterday at Cedar Beach Park where the courts were painted blue and green to symbolize mental health awareness and suicide prevention which is an important message for our youth and community. I'd also like to take this moment to sincerely thank our city partners, community organizations, and volunteers whose dedicated and whose dedication and collaboration make this important work possible. We are proud of the progress we've made together so far this year and look forward to the continued impact of our efforts. Thank you. Thank you so much. You go, girl. And now for

133Allentown School District Foundation report. I have some really good news. The ASD Foundation board of directors voted earlier this month to increase our support of the district's multidisciplinary project expo with a $10,500 sponsor sponsorship. This will help cover the cost of project supplies, venue rental fees, and awards for the April 29 event at Miller Symphony Hall. Additionally, our executive committee approved funding for a field trip for Dodd Elementary School students to go to Pittsburgh for the premiere of an animated film that includes the portion created by the students through the Wonder Media Story Maker program. The foundation is supporting the Allentown Drive Middle School baseball program through a $10,000 grant from the Justin Sheffley Chefel. I want I don't want to butcher the name. the Justin Sheffle Memorial Fund. Approximately 100 students from ASC's four

134middle schools began practicing in early April and the first games of the season were played yesterday. Drive baseball will culminate at Coca-Cola Park with playoff on the event with playoffs on the evening of May 28th and the championship game due in the afternoon of June June 4th. Spring visual arts residencies coordinated by ASD Foundation will begin in May at Hayes and Ramos Elementary School. Over the course of six weeks, participants will complete several art projects led by professional teaching artists and some of the projects will be selected for display at at public events such as Mayfair and Art in the Parks. I'm sorry, my phone my phone is acting up. This program is offered in ASD elementary school on a rotating basis and is funded by EITC contributions to the foundation. 64 achievementsbased sol um

135scholarships administered by ASD foundation are available to ASD graduating seniors this year. Any Allen, DERF, or building 21 C um seniors interested in applying for these scholarships should contact their high school guidance office this month as the recipients will be announced in late May or early June. I want to repeat that again. 64 achievementbased scholarships administered by ASD Foundation are available to ASD graduating seniors this year. Any Allen, Dir, or building 21 seniors interested in applying for these scholarships should contact their high school guidance office this month. This month as the recipients will be announced in late May and early June. I really wanted to repeat that because I want to make sure that our students are applying for these scholarships cuz college costs, but we want to make sure that we're providing the support

136that they need. to please um make sure that we're getting the information to the schools and the guidance counselor so they can distribute that information to the students. And that ends my report. There's no report from the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit. Any reports from LCTI? Yes, this is the time of year for various student organizations at LCTI to attend national competitions. Uh they have been competing all year and as they win they get to go forward to nationals. Uh first to travel will be 11 LCTI students for who are members of DECA. That's an organization that prepares students for various business careers. They're heading to Orlando, Florida to compete. One of them is Bosshak Bon Bonia from Allen Educators Rising, which is a fairly new organization that encourages students to select teaching as a career.

137Good for them. Won a chapter award after only two years of existence. This educators rising is a pretty new organization uh all over the state. Uh the award recognizes the organization's visits to they these uh students went to 50 elementary classes in the area and then they distributed 500 books so that the students would have something to read. Noctti scores good that's an abbreviation for the national testing that happens for vocational students and is admin but admin administered by the state of Pennsylvania. uh these students LTCTI's scores for the third year in a row have shown growth. This year 88% of the students who tested were ranked competent or advanced. This next year the goal is 90 plus%. And eighth graders should know next week what their tech program will be if they've been considering

138going to tech. The goal is to give each student their first choice and to avoid weight listing, which I know has been an issue in the past. To accomplish this, LCTI will have an addition will hire an additional full-time cosmetology teacher and a vette teacher, which turns out to be a second extremely popular program for students from Allentown. These are two of the most popular programs. And that's my report. Thank you so much. And now for our favorite time. Okay, student representatives Alicia Rodriguez from Allen. Good evening. Congratulations to Fian Santiago, a William Allen LCTI student who recently competed in the FBLA state competition, an introduction to informationational technology and placed 10th in the state. A congressional art competition is in its 44th year and three Allen students are among the winners this year. Congratulations

139to Jayla Walker, Dwang Taillou, and John Kingsley. A huge shout out to the cast and crew of Aven Venue Q for another fantastic William Allen musical production that had you laughing from the start to finish. It was a final curtain call for Mr. Seckler and Mr. Hissum and a great show to end on at William Allen. The Canaries want to thank all the staff, students, alumni, and community members who supported us in the Sports Illustrated National Mascot Competition. The Canaries made it all the way to the Sweet 16 and racked up an amazing 34,000 votes. Once again, thank you for their support. Our third year on our entrepreneurship series came to a close today with an amazing panel. This has provided the opportunity for some of our young entrepreneurs to connect with mentors and be

140directed to the proper educational path after high school to be a successful entrepreneur. A huge shout out to alumni Paul William and local business owner Brian Roth, who has been the organizators for this event for us. Julian Ayala was recognized last night at Lehigh University as our student of the year for SAD. From day one, he has been committed, passionate, and completely dedicated to making this club the best it can be. Julian isn't just a leader in title. He shows up, gets involved, and makes sure everyone else does, too. Whether it's organizing events, helping new members feel welcome, or bringing great ideas to the table, Julian leaves with heart and energy. Because of his efforts, our club has grown stronger and more connected. Mark your calendars for some upcoming events within our arts department. Our

141fabulous William Allen Dance Academy will make headlines in their upcoming dance show on Friday, May 2nd at 700 p.m. and Saturday, May 3rd at 2 p.m. Don't miss these amazing performances. On Thursday, May 15th, our talented students in our arts department will have their work on display at the William Allen High School Student Showcase starting at 6 p.m. in the Allentown Art Museum. In addition to the art being displayed, there will be performances from the theater, dance, and musical department. Then to top it up, top it off with the spring season with our spring concert featuring our concert band, orchestra, jazz band, choir, coral, and dance academy on Thursday, May 29th at 6 p.m. Cost $5. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you so much. Now from for my next report from Kimberly Arise, building 21. Good

142evening. There's a lot to look forward at building 21 over the next few weeks. Next week on Tuesday night, we hope everyone will join Allentown community at Miller Symphony Hall as projects from 11 different Building 21 spaces will join others from throughout the district at the multidisciplinary project expo. And if you ever wondered what learning at building 21 looks like, this is a great opportunity to find out. A week from tomorrow, Friday, May 2nd, there will be the 7th annual Building 21 fashion show. This year's event, titled Bloom, will take place at Building 21. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. for a 5:30 p.m. start time. The event will not only feature the work of building's talented student artist under the direction of art teacher, Mr. Ward, but will also include food from Amigos Mexican Grill.

143And there is no cost for admission. We hope to see you all there. Speaking of things we've done for seven years in a row, Building 21 will also be celebrating its seventh consecutive Governor's Engagement Award. This recognition goes to schools in Pennsylvania who register at least 65% of their eligible students to vote. At Building 21, we have earned the gold level each year by registering over 90% of our elig eligible students. In addition, we will once again be training and deploying students to serve as pole workers and translation translators on election day, which is Tuesday, May 5th. And if you are not yet registered to vote, you have until May 5th to register to participate in the upcoming primary elections. As further Oh, yeah. That's important. As for the recognition of the work that our

144school has done to promote and celebrate voting over the past decade, the Pennsylvania Secretary of State has invited a delegation of building 21 students to Harrisburg on May 29th to represent schools across the Commonwealth as part of this year's governor's civic engagement award celebrations. Students accompanied by our teacher, Miss Salter, will accept awards on behalf of student voters and pole workers across Pennsylvania and B20 students. Janessa Claudio will deliver remarks as part of the formal program. Students and community partners will be joining Miss Justice's sociology students on May 7th for mental health matters day. Student led projects will give our community the opportunity to explore mental health related activities, participate in some self-care, and learn about mental health resources available in the Lehigh Valley. Finally, May will be full of opportunities for students to step

145out of the building for authentic learning experiences. Students will be adding to their classroom learning through trips that include a job fair for seniors hosted by the Lehigh County Workforce Board at Arts Quest, a walk up to the Lehigh County Courthouse for Law Day, and a trip into Philly where our students will explore Philadelphia Art Museum. And that's all for building 21. Thank you. Thank you so much. And now from our friend Cadence Spayberry at Deer High School. Hi, good afternoon. Um, first off, in the arts department, uh, Hello Dolly is airing this weekend, uh, tomorrow and Saturday times at 7 p.m. and Sunday is a mat show at 2 p.m. Our musical theater department was able to win three Freddy's at the Freddy Awards last year, so we're hoping to break that record this

146year. It would be amazing. Please come see it. The musical people are incredibly talented and they deserve recognition. In terms of sports, after a year away, our boys volleyball team is returning to districts after a win yesterday over Lincoln Leadership Academy. um and their win against Pocono Mountain East today um means that we are in the right spot in the table to qualify for EPCs assuming nothing changes. So our boys volleyball team is in an amazing place. Uh very proud of what they're able to do. Boys and girls track and field both on fire. They have won two meets so far and several athletes are competing this weekend at the uh pen relay. So please go wish them the best of luck. Uh, in addition, sprinter Annayiah Holder was featured in a morning call article

147profiling her excellence as both a student and an athlete. Uh, we are all very proud of Annayia. She is phenomenal. Uh, and as for our regular update on our rivals, uh, we beat Allen 10-4 in softball and don't even ask them what happened in boys volleyball. If you want to see us run it back, senior night for boys volleyball is at Derf April 30th. We'll hopefully be beating them three nothing again. Um, in terms of academics, uh, the National Honor Society, this one is a little bit more personal. Uh, we raised over $3,000 to fund gravity water systems for schools in rural Vietnam that do not have access to clean drinking water. It is the second consecutive year we've been able to raise that much money and fund that program. So, we're all very proud

148of that. We held our second annual blood drive, uh, collecting over 38 units of blood, which is over 60 pints. Uh, second largest in the Lehigh Valley, second only to Lehigh University. So, we'll take that. And finally, induction. We held our induction earlier in April. Uh the largest national honor society in deer's history, standing at a strong 89 members. It was amazing. Uh it was great. Very proud. Very proud of the NHS. Uh junior Gage Riker, close friend of mine. He won the Da Vinci Science Center Steam Student Award, which is a mouthful. Uh it means he gets a large scholarship to help fund academic opportunities. He balances academic interests with leadership roles in both debate and theater. Again, hello Dolly. Come see him. He's phenomenal. um he is passionate about physics and calculus and

149would like to go to Carnegie Melon University to study engineering. So phenomenal work that Gage is doing. And finally uh a close friend of mine, Benjamin Katoskeo, was recently accepted to the University of Pennsylvania. Uh one of very few deer students to ever go to a Ivy League and the first deer student to ever go to University of Pennsylvania through regular decision. So amazing work by Ben. Uh good things happening at TER. Thank you as always. Thank you. We always love your spirited reports. Okay, back to business. May I have a motion of approval for the board of directors report? Second. Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the role. Uh, Miss Harris, yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolov, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Mr. Berscio. Yes. Miss Brown,

150yes. Miss Conover, yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. May I have a motion of approval for the policy agenda? I make that motion. May I have a second? Oh, you just want to go through the motion? The policy. Did you want There's three. Pull the one cuz you know I'm going to vote on that. Oh, okay. No problem. Um, do you remember what letter it is? It was number six. It's the last one on that page. What's the number of that policy? So we can vote on that one separately. Mr. Noloff, it's right here. It's 8:24. 824. Okay. So what are the other two? That was See, the other ones was um 800-1 and 802. 801 and 802. Yes. 800-12 and 802. Okay. So we're going to vote on 800-1 and 802 together and then

151we're going to vote on 824 separately. So may I have a motion of approval for 80 800-1 and 802? I'll make that motion. May I have a second? Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolof, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Mr. Bersio, yes. Miss Brown, yes. Miss Connover, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. Now, may I have a motion for approval for um policy number 824? I make that motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolof, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Miss Tersio, yes. Miss Brown, yes. Miss Connover, no. Miss Harris, yes. Motion passes 81. Thank you. May I have a motion of approval for the secretary and treasurer's

152report? I make that motion. May I have a second? Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolof, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Mr. Tersio, yes. Miss Brown, yes. Miss Connover, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. I'm going to ask that we vote on item C in the superintendent report separately and then we vote on the rest of it all together. So, may I have a motion for approval for item C in the superintendent report? Motion. May I have a second? Any discussion? What is it? It's a summer leaf. Oh, okay. Any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Noel. I abstain from that vote. Okay. Abstain. Miss Ortiz. Yes. Yes. Miss Sierra. Yes. Miss Tersio. Yes. Miss Brown. You're voting on item

153C. Correct. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Sadly, no. No. Miss Connover. Yes. Miss Harris. Yes. Miss Mat, Mr. Nicoloff, yes. Seven. Seven. Yes. One abstension, and one no. Thank you. May I have a motion of approval for the rest of the superintendent report? Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. One second. I have discussion. Um, again, the update is going to be provided in reference to the field trips. Yes. Yes. So, we're we're voting with the intention that there will be an update provided about the safety concerns for these field trips. Traffic safety concerns. Yes. Traffic safety concerns. Yes. Any more discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Yes. Miss Sierra, yes. Miss Tersio, yes. Miss Brown, yes. Miss Conover, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicoloff, yes. Motion

154passes 90. Thank you. May I have a motion of approval for the personnel report? Second. Can could we separate um the resignations? What item is that one? So, we'll vote on the resignation first recommendation. Um could we also vote on a separate? So give me the numbers that that way it's clear or the under under recommendations is A. Okay. A under recommendations. I want to vote on that separate and also the um resignations. Yes. Okay. So let's start with recommendations first. May I have a motion of approval for the recommendations under the personnel report? I make that motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. Wait. Did you separate a Yeah. Okay. Voting on the first. So, we're voting on that first. Okay. Yeah. Any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Ortiz. Yes.

155Yes. Miss Sierra. Yes. Mr. Bersio. Yes. Miss Brown? No. Miss Conover, no. Miss Harris, yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicolof, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Motion passes 7 to2. Thank you. Now, may I have a motion of approval for the resignation portion of the personnel report? I make that motion. May I have a second? Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. Miss Ortiz. Yes. Yes, Miss Sierra. Yes, Mr. Tersio. Yes, Miss Brown. No, Miss Conover. No, Miss Harris. Yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicoloff, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Motion passes 7 to2. Thank you. Now, may I have a motion for the for approval for the rest of the personnel report? Make that motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the role. Miss Ortiz? Yes. Yes. Miss Sierra? Yes. Mr. Berscio? Yes. Miss Brown? Yes.

156Miss Conover? Yes. Miss Harris? Yes. Miss Mat? Yes. Mr. Nicolof? Yes. Miss Noel? Yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. May I have a motion of approval for the finance report? Second. Is there any discussion? Please call the ROE personnel. Madame Madam President. Oh. Oh yes. We welcome members of our learning community, our new members of our learning community. My apologies. Everyone, all all members of our new learning community that just joined us, if you can please come to the front or Mr. and our team just assemble, please. Thank you. Miss Pollock, I'm just ready to go. I know that was right. I'm getting ready. Could all members of our our administrative team, Miss Pic, can you arrange for people to As our team assembles, I'm really excited to welcome new members of our learning community.

157Uh we're we are looking forward to you sharing your collective gifts and strength with us for the benefit of our 16,000 students. Um some members of our team that are joining tonight, they've had the longest interview ever. They've been acting since the beginning of the school year. So, I want to say thank you for your commitment uh and hard work, Mr. Singh. Thank you. Uh so, as we have uh the tradition of our receiving line for our new uh administrators joining our team that are here tonight, uh we'll start as they appear in the board agenda. So, please welcome Dr. Alicia Noff, who is our 9th grade freshman academy principal, William Allen. [Applause] approved tonight as our executive director of financial planning, Mr. Jesse Wal. [Applause] And we're excited for four of our team members

158to ascend to the principal ship again as they appear in our agenda. Mr. JP Crescendo at Muenberg Elementary, principal. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Roosevelt Elementary Principal, Miss Vishana Frasier, [Applause] Ramos Elementary Principal, Miss Telsa Sparks [Applause] and Miss Kristen Senica, Ruby Bridges, early childhood principal. If members of their families or their school communities are here, if you could just please stand and be recognized. We're going to say thank you for giving us a lot more of their time. and we know they're going to need your support to continue to build on the great work that they're doing and that they intend to do for the benefit of our children. So, thank you so much and thank you all for joining our team and we looking forward to continuing to support you in your

159leadership growth and development. Remember, we get better together. All of our strengths are needed. Let's go Allen [Applause] Town. I was feeling like we were missing something. Okay. So, let's backtrack. May I have a motion of approval for the finance report? Second, please call the role. Miss Sierra, Mr. Berscio, Mr. Mr. Berscia, Miss Brown, yes. Miss Conover. Yes. Miss Harris, yes. Miss Mat, yes. Mr. Nicoloff, yes. Miss Noel, yes. Miss Ortiz, yes. Motion passes 90. Thank you. At this time, we're only taking public comments on non-aggenda items. Once recognized, please come to the podium. State your name and address for the record. Please note, remarks are limited to three minutes and the microphone will be disabled at the end of the 3 minutes. Please also be informed the school board of directors appreciate public comment.

160However, we are not able to respond to these comments. Administration will address your concerns and update the board on the status of your concern. Mr. Secretary, do we have any comment cards? I'm going to ask April Riddick one last time just to make sure. Um Leslie Franklin. Good evening. Lesie Franklin, Allentown Education Association President, 21101 Mac Boulevard. Uh I am here tonight because I wanted to tell all of you that I had a wonderful opportunity to visit A.E.A. members in all school buildings over the last six months to engage in lunchtime talks. These talks have allowed time for me to connect with members of A.E.A. and discuss union questions, employment concerns, and clarify systems and procedures already in place to support the hard work of our unit members. The union questions are easy for me

161to address. Um, also clarifying the systems and procedures are easy for me to address, but I do need support and assistance in regards to navigating employment concerns. Monthly meetings to present and resolve many of these issues are currently being held. While talking to members over the past 6 months, many reoccurring questions and concerns around expectations from the district, directives of implementing new curriculum and reporting increasing student behaviors have come up. New expectations are understandable when there's a change in leadership at the building level and above. We as professionals acknowledge this change with courtesies given in the capacity of support from administration and time to adjust to the changes that affect our daily responsibilities like planning time, implementing lessons, and managing classroom behaviors. Consistency of these expectations is key in a successful teaching and learning environment.

162When expectations change frequently, feelings of frustration and concern arise. The introduction and implementation of new curriculum has impacted all school levels in different ways. First and foremost, new curriculum presents challenges in regard to the teacher evaluation process. Understanding that teachers are still becoming familiar with the new curriculum through ongoing professional development is important for evaluators to consider when observing and documenting and providing feedback. Uh, also our elementary teachers had to implement more than one curriculum this year, multiple curriculum this year. So that's something else that I want everybody to understand to keep in mind. Uh, classroom teachers are also experiencing an increase in student behaviors that go above and beyond their level of discipline. at the at the classroom level, they they identify low-level incidents and take care of them through their classroom management behavior

163systems. Um, but other times, uh, it rises to a higher level, and they definitely need support from administration. My hope is that the district's expectations, new curriculum, and the behavior management process can be communicated and implemented with consistency to all A.E.A. members. And this will foster a positive and any other comments. Is there any old business to come before the board? Is there any new business to come before the board? May I have a motion to adjurnn? Second. Second. This meeting is adjourned. Everyone have a great night. Hallelujah.