001foreign before I call this meeting to order I would like to call on Judge Cohen who will who will swear in our two new board members and we're very happy to have seated with us tonight great that I proceed to the elector yes please okay so we'll uh I guess there's there's Brown over here we'll do that one first Miss Brown if you could please uh raise your right hand and then uh repeat after me except for when I say state your name you actually state your name you don't repeat those words you ready okay I state your name do solemnly affirm that I will support obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this Commonwealth the constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the duties of my
002office with fidelity medical discharge the duties of my office with fidelity perfect all right I've signed the certification here you'll just need to fill out the top part of the form I'll bring that over to you okay are you ready yes okay same instructions as before all right I state your name do you solemnly swear solemnly swear that I will support obey and defend the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of this Commonwealth and I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity Perfect all right Fatima president of the board I believe I've discharged the duties for which I was called here tonight and I congratulate the uh the new members of the board is there anything else that is needed I don't think so this evening thank
003you so much we really appreciate your having made time to be with us this evening my pleasure it's uh my daughter's 16th birthday tonight and uh oh if uh if I may be excused to attend dinner with her I would appreciate it I think excuse to attend dinner with us foreign thank you so much 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 January 26 2023. prior to tonight's meeting an informational executive session was held to update the board regarding the status of District cyber security the status of discussions with the century promise Foundation in addition the board consulted with its solicitor regarding requests made by the century promise foundation and the board also consulted with Charter School Council regarding
004legal issues surrounding the conduct of ongoing Charter School proceedings thank you the board welcomes and invites public comment you may address the board on agenda and non-agenda items the first opportunity for comments is at the beginning of the meeting is limited to agenda items only if you choose to address the board please fill out a comment card and hand it to Deputy superintendent Ramos who's sitting over over there 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 please limit your remarks to three minutes we'll now have roll call Miss Brown president miss Conover Mr President Miss Harris here miss Matheson Miss Noel here miss Ortiz here Mr Palmer president Dr Santana here miss Wilt nine board members are
005present thank you they William Allen ROTC will now lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a Moment of Silence uh four armed for March Colors oh order arms ready to cut right face Terry colors ready and cut freezing colors I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right order colors Ready Cut bye thanks for arms forward March please thank the color guard for being with us this evening okay this is the point in the agenda where the board president is to share remarks frankly I'm overwhelmed um I'm just looking if you I don't know how much the audience can see but there is just all sorts of uh gifts in front
006of us January is national uh state board recognition month um these are thank yous from the various buildings I've already seen that there are a lot of notes from Individual students uh that's truly my favorite part because I get to go home and sit and read and uh and I can see the students face in my mind as as they were writing and probably maybe a little bit reluctantly doing an assignment for their teacher my years of teaching experience tell me that nevertheless it will be uh something very nice to do and I'm hoping that my colleagues feel the same way absolutely Madam superintendent good evening School Board of Directors thank you president Matheson and to our Administration and of course to our great community I just want to start by thanking our intelligent fabulous
007Sensational and talented students who joined us this evening the William Allen High School ROTC let's give them another round of applause we truly appreciate them and their leadership and like the self-discipline and the pride that they have and just think therefore of our Jewels so I'm so excited tonight well you know what but I thought about that round of applause these are our Jewels let's give them a rearing Round of Applause tonight is a fantastic night we get to honor and recognize the Allentown School District School Board of Directors that's kind of a round of applause each year during the month of January the Pennsylvania School Board associate school boards Association honors School directors for their commitment and leading schools throughout the Commonwealth on behalf of the entire Allen School District Learning Community that's 16
008300 students and approximately 2100 employees I want to extend my heartfelt thank you to our school board of directors for your commitment for your sacrifice and all the love that you show each of us when you think about this they volunteer countless hours at least 10 hours or more a week reading material lobbying as well as advocating on behalf of the children in setting policies and governance and governing our school district and hey I get to work with all of them so I'm so excited about that so I want to say I truly thank you for all your service so happy School director recognition I just want to put a little context everyone knows I'm always a teacher first so according to the psba 85 percent of school directors like I said said the main
009reason for serving is a desire to contribute to public education or improve educational outcomes for students and I know that each and every one of you are driven by that desire we have some passionate board members they are serious about advocating for children they also want to enhance outcomes so that our students can reach their Highest Potential and that they're prepared for college career and life beyond High School thank you for working in partnership with me and the entire Learning Community to create conditions that all of our students feel cared for valued empowered and loved I thank you so much for that let's give them a round of applause to add I have a little bit more to say about the board this is your time so I'm going to take a little bit more
010time to acknowledge you you're here clapping for everyone else all the teachers all the students all the staff so we want to honor you tonight by serving on a board you on our board you are a vital part of our team making informed decisions that provide opportunities for every student in every one of the the adults in Allentown School District to engage in meaningful as well as challenging experiences you focus on learning so just think about it how many people can walk around and say what do you do and what are you doing your free time you say I'm into learning distance I help people learn more than almost 18 000 more people learn every day that's an impressive job and that's an impressive responsibility again if you look here and to show you how
011much we appreciate you how much we love you and thank you for your sacrifice and commitment every one of your schools wanted to make sure and let me tell you they try to Trump each other in terms of the gifts but I'm like we're gonna do this and we're going to do that now I understand 29 more posters down here Miss Melissa and having them create a video so tonight we have a video of thanks on behalf of our 16 000 plus Learners in the district and the 2100 adults interested in their care here's two years [Music] dear Allentown School District Board of Directors January Ace School Board recognition we want to thank you for all you do in support of ASC students staff and families your dedication for this district is so appreciated as
012volunteers want to make sure you know how love and appreciated you are on behalf of our entire Island Town School District Learning Community we want to say thank you thank you thank you for all you do thank you [Music] please join me and my team would know I would be remiss you don't have to do a quick Allentown so my team would stand up and everyone else who's here because we're saying that to you our school board of directors that you are number one and we couldn't ask for a better group of individuals who work closely with us Dr Ross do you want to help me out for this year when I say students you say for your students and I say or you say oh my number one number I say Alan you say
013Tom Allen Islands when I say students you say first students students when I say number you say one number one when I say one you say team one one let's give it up for the Allentown School Board answer we thank you so much for your service and commitment we're so happy part of our team and you are number one thank you no no no no I have a few boring novels of minutes today so thank you again the second group of individuals I want to thank we have a few more I want to commit a few of our Sensational and Brilliant members of our learning community on January 15 2023 principal Cheryl Clark received the Eastern's naac pre groundbreaker Award with other individuals throughout the community we want to congratulate principal Clark for her leadership
014and service to our learning community we also want to acknowledge to other individuals Miss Kish from who is a fifth grade teacher at Sheridan Elementary School and Miss Graham who's a first grade teacher at Ramos Elementary School both teachers were selected as 100.7 wlev's teacher salute weekly winners let's give it a round of applause on behalf of all the members of our Learning Community we want to say thank you for representing us well for going above and beyond every day to make sure that your students get the very best education possible in making learning fun everyone knows that I like to have fun in this work even though we work hard we want to have a good time so I want to thank both of them for their support in closing I just want to
015reiterate you know my appreciation for the our school board of directors and I also want to thank all members of our Learning Community I had an opportunity this week to meet with our support staff members so all of our security officers all bear professionals clerical support our family and Community works and individuals who work in family and Community engagement and we had an amazing time this week they said this is the first time that a superintendent I I met one or someone that they they know my name or they touch me or they talk with me and we we had an amazing time and I want to thank them they provided me such great insights they told me what was going well they also told me some areas of improvement and and any of them
016who are here tonight and our security officers I forgot to mention them and our custodians man I had the custodians learning uh there's um something called conceptual framework it was from uh pelp which is from Harvard University and I can tell you my my custodians can explain to you that the instructional core is the heartbeat of our work and what they do everyone within this organization we're setting the expect stations and an understanding that the children the students and the content are our heartbeat and that's what we do every day in service to them so I want to thank you for sharing this with me and I know many of the um insights that you share with me excuse me we are going to act on them so when I came back with the team
017I was like let's do this let's do that and they're like oh boy but we're excited so again I thank you and I thank you our school board of directors and I have to send back to you do we have any public comments on agenda items Sarah Jane brace all right uh once recognized please come to the podium state your name and residence for the record and please limit your remarks to three minutes good evening my name is Sarah Jane brace I live in the old Allentown neighborhood 18102 I'm a teacher in the district but tonight I'm here speaking as a taxpayer and a parent of a student in the district two weeks ago as I watched the board meeting and listened to Shannon explain the new social studies curriculum I was elated finally ASD
018was presenting a curriculum change that was more than just a new textbook or new supplementary items it was an entirely new way of teaching social studies to our our kids teaching them Concepts that they were able to relate to teaching them how different events all Impact each other over time and then apply them to the modern world most importantly teaching them how to think for themselves then all of a sudden I'm hearing things like hippie dippy and backdoor critical race Theory and my Elation turned to anger I felt compelled to come and speak so that the board understands this is a positive move for the district for our children who are primarily Hispanic and typically marginalized in social studies curriculum because important dates tend to be about dead white men our students need to learn
019how to process information think for themselves and develop their own ideas while thinking about how what they are learning relates to them personally this can be done while also teaching them the dates that everyone thinks kids need to know and yet I pause and ask you how many times have you pulled out your phone to Google some kind of historical date location or name of a person I know I do it myself you probably learned about it in school but it wasn't something you used every day so it wasn't retained we live in a world where we have any bit of information at our fingertips but what many people don't have is the ability to think for themselves I urge you to approve the curriculum changes so our students have the critical skills to go
020out into the world and be the Changers that we want them to be please do the right thing for our students but are there any other comments on agenda items they're not okay thank you hey may I have a motion for the approval of the minutes Ms Wilt is our second Mr Palmer and it's been properly moved and seconded call the roll please Miss Conover Miss Harris yes Miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes Miss Ortiz yes Mr Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown which one you yes nine zero motion passes all right we have a information updates now um is there a report tonight from the human relations commission Mr there's no Port okay is there one from the public library Miss Harris Miss World okay is there a report from
021the recreation committee Mr Palmer Miss well there was a meeting um it was more perfunctory about the ordinance and what the role of the Parks and Recreation Commission is more so than Community Information but I can tell you that they are gearing up for summer programming and starting to recruit for um summer jobs in the Parks departments um as well as lifeguards so if there's any students listening this evening and would like a summer job opportunity um definitely pursue checking out the Allentown City website for the opportunities and if you're interested in being a lifeguard but don't know how to swim there is going to be programming at the high schools to teach individuals how to swim so that you can actually take advantage of a really great summer job so Ms Ortiz is our
022report from the foundation this evening I don't have a report no I have no report from lcti tonight from the safety tax task force is there a report Ms Brown has Conover Ms Harris no there isn't from the city youth initiative Mr Palmer there was the meeting is next uh Tuesday so the meeting is this Tuesday coming up we have reports from our student Representatives uh from Allen High School Jamir Chapman start us off so before giving you a report of things happening at William Allen High School I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the entire William Allen Community to thank the school board of directors for the hard work dedication and commitment to the students staff families and community of the Allentown School District as we celebrate School Board appreciation month
023now what is happening at William Allen High School many classrooms are taking disadvantage of the amazing new technology that was provided in each classroom this past four the Promethean boys in the classroom have opened the possibility for teachers and engaging students and learning in this special education department Miss Frenchman has been busy using the promethium boards with her students engaged in many different activities visit the William Allen website or social media to see pictures of her students in action also the special education department has been busy this month honoring Martin Luther King holding best buddy meetings and engaging in SEL activities miss ball is doing a been called reading contest with her students several teachers provided pictures of themselves with their favorite book and a picture of their favorite bookshelves over the next few weeks
024students will be encouraged to participate and attempt to match the teacher with the bookshelf the student with the most correct matches will receive a project basket during the past and service day many of the teachers spent time in Department curriculum meetings discussing and revising curriculum William Allen Athletics is currently in the middle of their winter sports season the athletic department is proud to report we have the highest rate of multi-sport athletes in the department than we have had in several years we also are experiencing some great academic results with our teams participating in our athlife and Nest program including our girls varsity basketball team which has not had one single student athlete show up on the an eligibility report the girls basketball team and the wrestling teams both won on their respective senior nights the
025girls be beating Lincoln and the wrestling team beating Pocono Mount West and the Thriller including a match winning pin by senior heavyweight Mason Morgan the boy basketball team is doing well and recently won a double overtime Thriller against Allentown Central Catholic and the swim team has put together some great meets this year including wins against East Stroudsburg South and West we invite you to see both Sports in action on their senior nights the boys basketball team will celebrate their senior night on February 6th during the pink out game for the first against cancer and the swim team will celebrate senior night on February 14th our indoor track team has completed a multiple meets this season with students experiencing personal records throughout the season lastly we want to thank our Allen chair team for always supporting
026all our sports teams and our William Allen pep band for their dedication to entertaining at events volunteers on motion are in the process of planning a winter coat drive more details will follow shortly on the William Allen website and social media recently our National Honor Society where Sanchez helpers as they wrapped presents for the Sheridan Elementary holiday celebration on January 12th 30 new members were inducted into the NHS journalism students are working on the second issue of the canary newspaper they also are creating videos using canvas.com and iMovie they have learned to download a video from YouTube and convert to MP4 which can then be downloaded and edited also they learned how to save audio files and upload to phone files the theater department has been very busy from the onset of the New Year
027Mr suckler and Miss Blanco along with 16 William on a High School drama club dance students helped Christ Lutheran Church launched the 39th Annual 12th night production it was a comeback show of off the pandemic and everyone agrees it was a success auditions are over scripts have been passed out and production has begun for Little Shop of Horrors we had our first read through and sing through rehearsal opening night is Thursday April 20th 2023 reserve seating available through the William Allen box office there is also a new way alumni can support the theater Department with alumni Shadow being pushed out by patron of the artist Deborah Roberson Miss Robertson is also working with the wacc to try to get William Allen High School cash and crew of Little Shop powers to New York City to
028see the Revival on Broadway black student union participated in the Allentown Martin Luther King celebration president Samuel ubin was a speaker at the event currently they are planning for small events to happen during the month of February to honor a black history month with their main event being Keystone speaker Antoine Howard on February 16 2023 invites will be sent to the school board of directors and other Allentown School District employees recently our January meeting of canary connections the parent teachers and student organization was held and discussions was held on the program of studies and act 158 Pathways also the parent group plans to hold a spring festival at William Allen High School our next parent meeting is on Monday February 27 2023 at 6 PM parents are encouraged to get involved and come out and
029hear from our monthly guest speakers last but not least William Allen High School has had some individuals receive some honors several of our students won awards for the East Central PA Scholastic Arts Awards which will be an exhibit at Kutztown University February 18th through March 5th William Allen had 30 honorable mentions 11 silver key Awards and one gold key award a complete list of winners will be listed on the William Allen website our Gold Award winner was Alexandra Ramirez for a party of one William Allen High School has earned the college board AP Computer Science female diversity award for achieving High female representation and AP Computer Science principles congratulations to Mr Joshua Banks our AP teacher and retired teacher Miss Karen comedies for helping and the recruitment of students for this course finally Michelle Clark
030was honored by Eastern branch of the NAACP with the first ever groundbreaker award for breakthroughs for African-American women follow us on Facebook and Instagram for up to the minute updates once again thank you to all our school board directors thank you come here Fabian Rivera will give us a report about building 21. on behalf of the student Representatives at Building 21 we thank the school board for serving the Allentown school district and being here as we celebrate this day so I thank you my name is Fabian Rivera and I am a senior at building 21. our regular board rep is absent today so I am here to represent our school this evening the first semester is winding down and we are getting ready to launch the second semester some events we would like to celebrate
031on January 17 I was part of a group of students from Building 21 Alan and Derek who are able to attend the inauguration of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro we want to thank mayor Matt Turk for making this opportunity possible for the state reps Peter shoair Mike schlossberg and Josh Siegel in the state senator Nick Miller for joining us for lunch after the ceremony and talking to us about their work and the ways we students can be more involved in Civic life in our community on January 19 we hosted lccc for an instant decision day 11 students were accepted for a mission to lccc at the event we continue to support our students as they explore their options for continuing the education After High School on January 24th 32 of our students visited ESU on February
0329th students will be visiting Northampton Community College this event will be followed in early March with another instant decision day where students can apply and receive their acceptance to NCC on the same day thanks to events like these we are approaching 100 eligibility to graduate under the new Act of 158 requirements today was a busy day at building 21. this afternoon was our winter Expo the exhibitation and celebration of student learning families and Community Partners visited our building as students share first semester projects from their art and business classes as well as animation from our sprawling from our fall extended learning experience with Pixar our choir that Embers performed in Fuego was on hand to entertain the crowd today we also continue with events to support students and families navigate their future education plans with
033FAFSA information night students and families receive support understanding options for financing post-secondary education on Tuesday January 31st we will be hosting it an evening event to review our program of studies as well as act 158 requirements to support students with future course selection our senior advisories continue their service to the community this month with visits to the union Terrence Elementary School two groups of senior supported activities across many grade levels and subject areas the work continues with more visits to new interns tomorrow we have a lot of exciting opportunities on deck for second semester that will have students engaging in Community Partners to connect their learning with the world outside of the classroom please join us next week on January 31st for advocacy day 10th grade social studies students will be sharing their learning about
034global issues and offering samples of free trade products from around the world please bring your spirit change a donation to the organization chosen by the student team whose work receives the most votes during the event our engineering elective will resume our partnership with Olympus as students work with industry mentors all semester under projects students from Building 21 will be joining students from across the district piloting College and Career programs in both health care and carpentry through the century promise program our students are asking their annual art show experience to the next level are taking into the next level with the addition of professional artist mentors provided by artsquest thanks to the support from the building 21st century program did you know that Pennsylvania is the second in the country for most books being challenged and
035slashed or removed from classrooms and school libraries peer representative Mike schlosserberg is scheduled to meet with our AP English language students during their reading of the novel Fair Harry 451 to talk about how the PA generally assembled will be taking up the topic of book bans in schools during this term our flag football team continues to practice with 32 regular members they are planning to begin scrimmages in March and have their first tournament scheduled in April in New Jersey they continue to raise funds through the school snack sales and are still looking for the community printers to help with their expenses we asked interested individuals groups and businesses to please reach out to to us at Building 21 to find out how you can help finally in February our school leadership will begin their recruiting
036visits to each of the Allentown middle schools in preparation for enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year thank you Haley oldendall will catch us up on what's happening at derriff good evening I'm Kelly and I'm going to be filling in for Eliana Rios tonight as the student representative for Dira this month has been an eventful and exciting start of a new year at giraffe on January 17th nayada Pimentel and Eliana Rios along with four other students from Building 21 and Allen were invited to Governor Josh Shapiro's Inauguration in Harrisburg as a guest of Mayor Matt Turk our the group was able to witness history they toured the capital and enjoyed lunch with other state officials like the former board member Nick Miller Peter schweire and Mike schlossberg over lunch they were able to discuss the concerns
037and Necessities they think are needed for the district in the city of Allentown they'd like to thank mayor turp for this opportunity and hope that many students after are able to be a part of History our indoor track athletes once again broke records at another indoor meet at Alvernia University godwina bani took first place for indoor shot put jack Sanchez took first place for the 60 meter hurdles with a new school record of 8.71 Jorge Santa plays that plays second for 60 meter hurdles and Mickey Ashby and Eli Sanchez placed second place for boys four times 200 meter relay on January 13th we held our wrestling senior night and Daniel Gandhi won the foreign Smith award for outstanding Varsity wrestler this past week Janaya staggers and Zion Chapman were nominated for the morning call player
038of the week representing our boys and girls basketball team well we are proud of all of our winter athletes this month we have started a homeroom attendance Challenge from now until May the homeroom with the best overall attendance will be rewarded with a donut party winners will be announced on the first school day following each month our National Honor Society is currently holding a sale for Krispy Kreme Donuts the more the money is used to buy shirts for next year's members and other club funds voters are being taken from now until February 3rd and they will be delivered on February 22nd spring sports are around the corner and we are pleased to announce that we are once again holding free spring sports physicals they will be held on February 21st from 12 to 2 PM
039all athletes must have a PIAA sports physical in order to participate in tryouts finally on behalf of dear students and staff I would like to thank all of the members of our school board who continue to support our education from our early Elementary years all the way to our high school events thank you for all your efforts and supports thank you unfortunately as we move to the board of directors report we must sadly recognize the passing of two of our dedicated employees Ms Donna Rice serves 27 years in the Allentown School District Child Nutrition department most recently as head cook at derriff High School we have some words in recognition it is with sincere regret and deep sorrow that we record the death of Donna s rice on December 24 2022 in recognition thereof the
040board of directors submits the following obituary minute and resolution whereas Donna s rice was a faithful and devoted employee of the Allentown school district for almost 27 years and in her position as a head cook at Louis C derriff high school she carried out her duties in a caring and professional manner and she treated colleagues other staff and students with a cheerful attitude and willingness to help and she provided the students of Louis C daref high school with a pleasant and encouraging environment and her passing is marked by a deep sense of loss across the district be it resolved that the board of directors take note of the untimely death of this faithful employee by causing this obituary minute and resolution to be spread upon the permanent minutes of the board this 26th day of
041January 2023 was a copy to be sent to her bereaved family may we have a moment of silence for Donna thank you Ms Danielle trevora served 35 years as a secretary mostly in the human resources department Danielle di travora was a faithful and devoted employee of the Allentown school district for more than 35 years and in her position as a secretary in the human resources department she carried out her duties in a caring and professional manner and she greeted administrators and other staff with a cheerful attitude and willingness to help and her passing is marked by a deep sense of loss in the district the administration Center and especially among the human resource families be it that the board of directors take note of the untimely death of this faithful employee by causing this obituary
042minute and resolution to be spread upon the permanent minutes of the board this 26th day of January 2023 was a copy to be sent to her family and it is with sincere regret and deep sorrow that we we record this death may we have a moment of silence please may I have a motion for the approval of the board of directors report this evening as well is there a second I'm sorry it's going to take me a minute to adjust the new name is there any discussion on the motion Mrs Harris yes um with the acting Executive Director of Human Resources it's only going to be acting correct and um when will we be doing the search for the executive director thank you excuse me we're in the process of reviewing thoroughly the current job
043description to ensure that it is the duties and responsibilities are captured appropriately and so and we will share with the board the new draft of that particular position and then we will post it within the next two weeks okay thank you is there any other discussion seeing none call the roll please Miss Harris yes Miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes Miss Ortiz yes Mr Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown yes Miss Conover yes motion passes 9-0 thank you may I have a motion for the approval of the secretary and treasurer's report so moved Ms world is there a second a second all right Miss Harris is there any discussion on the motion seeing none call the roll please miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes Miss Ortiz yes Mr Palmer no Dr
044Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown no Miss Conover no Miss Harris yes six three motion passes I'm going to take the superintendent's report item by item and may I have a motion or for the pebbled database I'll make that motion Terrace is there a second I'll second Miss will call the roll please Miss Conover yes Miss Harris yes Miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes Miss Ortiz yes rooster Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown yes nine zero passes the ppnl center as a location of our graduations may I have a motion so hey Miss Brown is there a second please the cloud number Miss Conover is there any discussion just want to just want to say when we put this in I'm sorry when you put it in online it's spelled
045wrong I can't hear you when you put it in online it's spelled wrong so just making sure we fix it when we finalize it yes I think I I I it's really difficult to hear you that's why I was saying it's spelled wrong online so when you finalize it can you put it in the curriculum yes are you asking what would they publicize yeah and making sure it's a spelled correctly yes I got it Mr Palmer is there any other discussion seeing none call the role please miss Matheson yes Miss Harris yes Miss Noel yes Mr Palmer yes Miss Ortiz yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown yes Miss Conover yes nine zero passes uh the next item would be the approval of the program of studies booklet may I have a motion
046was it Miss Brown yes all right is there a second I'll second Miss Harris is there any discussion Ms Harris yes um when this was presented two weeks ago it was I didn't like the way it was presented I did not and I made that very clear um and I had a meeting with Dr Raw Dr Brandy soon to be Dr Randy just waiting for him to get his and um who's a middle school and we discussed thoroughly what the curriculum for the social studies is going to be the way it was presented was not what it's gonna what's gonna be happening it is Dei you know diversity equity and inclusion it is not CRT we all know that CRT is a theory for for college for actually for law school it is going to
047be thematic and not Theory and that's one of the things I wanted to make sure because there is going to be facts behind it it will be based not defined but based on facts because I'm a history geek yes I am so Dr Roth and I was geeking out but however it's going to be and I need to let my parents understand this and our students understand this it's going to be directed and it's going to be taught in a way that they will be able to associate each time time in history a good time going forward to forward to forward so you'll be able to connect connect connect one of the things I thought about was um uh Carthage Hannibal he went over the Alps with elephants you know and beat Rome we use
048the elephants that were then this great mode of no one ever seen we use that to make our and we use that to remodel for the for the tanks that we have now if you look at a tank it does have a trunk and it's a big beast these are the things that you know that's what I'm that's what will explain to me to be associated with so our students can get the thing and understand history you know sorry y'all when you say dead white man it doesn't work for me it just doesn't because then I'm the first thing comes to my mind is when I'm going to listen to Live white people so please don't do that our history is our history we as you know we know everybody knows that the United States
049was built on the backs of slaves we all know that and so we're going to teach our children how this was done from 16 1901 you know and how you know it went from their their revolutionary war to the the to work 1812 to the American Indian Wars to all those things in the seminal Wars all these things that happened in in the United States and how it led to everything that we are now so I'm very happy very happy and I'm glad that I took the time to have a meeting with the staff to understand what this curriculum is going to be so I'm very happy to support it so I thank you um like I said you know whatever happened last two weeks ago that's not what's going to be happening what was
050explained to us it's not going to be solved it is not going to be I'm sorry in a very I'm trying to be nice it was presented in a very um condescending why like I didn't know what I was talking about as a black woman in America so that's not how it's going to be it's going to be presented correctly and our students will feel great about being here in America because it's the greatest country in the world so um I ask all my board members to go ahead and to support this is there any other discussion yes I have a question um last week or the week before in the meeting um something the test taking was described as if it would just be an essay format um is that the only way the
051students are going to be able to take the test take a test because I think about the test taking skills in Allentown and we want to make sure that we are supporting them with that so they can continue to take tests in the format in which the state does and our students do lack in that so is there a mixture of how the students will be taking the tests Dr Ross thank you Dr Burks and uh thank you for the question Ms Noel yes we're going to be burying our assessment methods with our students so it what we don't want is just one way of teaching right so there will be opportunities for I'm going to say traditional standard type you know experiences with testing but we also want our students to be experiencing the
052opportunity to write to express their thinking and also Express their their themselves in presentations and also in projects thank you is there any other discussion yes I do have a question on the pathways to graduation um I want to make sure that I understand this correctly so are we saying that students have to meet academic requirements as well as be proficient on the Keystone exams in order to graduate yes thank you Dr Burks thank you Dr Santana yes they will they will still need to have the the academic meet the the crediting and so forth um they will need to um one of the options with act 158 as you heard one of the students Express this evening is that if we have a student who is um who does pass let's say an algebra
053or biology course but is unable to pass the Keystone exams in the past that became a barrier to graduation now with act 158 the other options that they can demonstrate including acceptance into a two or four year degree program in order to meet that graduation requirement thank you is there any other discussions I have one more question a couple more questions oh go ahead I'm sorry go ahead go ahead please let me call on people go ahead um mine's a little bit different uh I believe we'd have passed the second year of dual enrollment do we know um what happened to those students that two years later um do we know if they've all finished four-year college or what's happened since then these are your questions I I do not have that information at my
054fingertips but I will get that information for you um to the best of our ability in terms of how students have been um tracked in our ability to get that information from them yes okay so we're going to go to the uh non-uh traditional academic Pathways that's on page 24. um I'm looking at the the gain program so it says 18 to 21 is that a state law did things change I used to be 17 because that's how my son was when he went so there are um thank you thank you thank you so um there are um cases according to you know regulations and so forth 18 to 21 but as we know there's always the opportunity for um what's needed in terms of meeting the needs of students so there is the possibility
055that a student who is 17 could go into the game program but again it's it's look we kind of look at each student individually so in terms of the program of study we put that out there as 18 to 21 but as I said we look at each student each student's needs and trainings so can we put in you know some kind of deception or something because people well when they see that they're going to think what they can't yeah they gotta wait yeah absolutely we can add something to that effect okay and then the next one is the re-engagement center um now where is that located where's that program located the re-engagement center is currently located um at Allen High School um with the game program okay thank you you're welcome thank you all
056right is there anybody else yes please if everybody go ahead go ahead I would like to say um I appreciate the presentation that was given on the program of studies and I'm thankful that our students have the opportunity to learn history in various ways so thank you for that anybody else thank you call the roll please Miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes Miss Harris yes Miss Conover yes Miss Brown yes Miss Wilt yes Dr Santana yes Mr Palmer yes Miss Ortiz yes 9-0 motion passes thank you all right uh the last item in the superintendent's report is the community in schools may I have a motion please uh Mr Palmer can I make a motion to table there's been a motion to table is there a second to that moment a second and there's a
057second to that motion there is no discussion on a motion to table so you call the roll please Miss Noel yes Miss Ortiz yes Mr Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss wilt yes Brown yes Miss Conover yes Miss Harris yes Miss Matheson yes 9-0 motion to table passes tonight thank you um we can move to the finance report may I have a motion may I have a second Miss Harris Miss will hey is there any discussion on the finance report seeing none will you call the role please Mr Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Ortiz yes Noel yes Miss Madison yes Miss Brown no Miss Conover no Miss Harris yes seven two motion passes right I need to backtrack because I forgot the Personnel report may I have a motion for the
058person no report so move and as well thank you Ms Harris thanks we have a maker and a secondary is there any discussion on the motion I would just like to as always um say when I read through the Personnel report I want to welcome those that are joining the AAC family and thank those that have served the district there's always names from my various years in the district of people who I've gotten to know and who have done um wonderful things for the for our village and I just want to thank those that are stepping away um for their dedication and commitment to um our students is there any other discussion Ms Conover yes I want to thank those who um for whatever reason you've decided that you're leaving the district I want to
059thank you for the time that you spent and I'm hoping that you are participating in exit interviews thank you is there any other comment call the roll please Miss Ortiz yes Mr Palmer yes Dr Santana yes Miss Wilt yes Miss Brown yes Miss Conover yes Miss Harris yes Miss Matheson yes Miss Noel yes nine zero passes okay thank you uh do we have any public comments on non-agenda items yes we do miss Matheson uh Diane Hollowell okay um please limit your remarks to three minutes I'll set this up right now so you can see and then I think Diane Hollowell I'm sorry if this might be a little repeat of my last speech but I just want to make sure that our new board members are aware of the amount of money that our Charter
060Schools take away from our Allentown School District students so welcome and thank you for your service last year the Arts elementary charter school once again petitioned the district to increase their enrollment by 50 students one Brave little girl spoke because she wanted a gym and I did remind the board that every Allentown school has the ability to hold physical education classes taught by a certified instructor adding 50 students amounts to 1 million of lost resources to our students for every non-special education student we lose to a charter school we must hand over almost eleven thousand dollars an IEP student is a little over 27 000. again these are all funds that our students lose out on and thank you very much for for that detailed financial report from last meeting and we all saw that
06118 percent of the budget goes to Charter Schools now a new charter school is petitioning the district a k-28 steam Charter who would like to cap at 800 students that would amount to another 12 million added to the already 64 million of lost resources and according to their steam mission statement our District offers everything in their mission statement and more and I made this trifold I'm at the high school so I have to do a little research so all these Elementary administrators were awesome to let me know what was actually offered there the tripod shows according to their mission statement all the sustained Partnerships with higher education after school programs non-profit programs local businesses and government agencies and after I did make this I discovered we also have partnership with Community Bike Works Valley youth
062house and don't forget that Europe has a learning Dome open to every school in the district and it is taught by someone who has a Doctorate in Education and I know I said this before but according to the pde website charter schools are exempt from many educational mandates please keep the money in-house to our students thank you are there any other parts Robert Smith Robert E Smith Jr I live at 1060 East Gordon Street on the east side of Allentown which gets forgotten welcome new board members I uh wish you good luck hard work and I'm proud of both of you for serving my first thing is the budget the file the tax increase again I heard some uh words from somebody Madam president about they're just numbers well I just wanted to remind the
063board especially the new board members that they're not just numbers those numbers have faces those faces are single moms 92 year old people trying to hold on to their homes and I have five of them on the East Gordon Street on my street so when you're raising taxes it's not just numbers they're actually people people's families hard-working Eastsiders and anatonians so please remember that when you're doing the budget the appointment process I want to apologize for all the people who had to stay past midnight for that that's the first time that I've ever seen 11 people get interviewed on the same night and then made a decision the same night I don't know whose decision that was but that was pretty rude to the people and you also broke the onboard rules you should have
064waited for the second appointment and advertise it for 30 days so you broke your own rules you should have appointed the first person and then the other first person could have helped pick the second person so I know this solicitor said he has case law on this but sometimes there's ways to do things the right way and not the right way and that wasn't the right way to do it William Allen is a power kid now I don't know the new principle I haven't met her yet and I have I just met uh Dr Burke tonight welcome also my first time speaking in front of you but something's got to be done there we're losing teachers the attendance of students is down please look into this board members this is important there's nothing to do
065with the east side durf is okay right now but I'm still concerned about William Allen we have to worry about the Exodus people going to middle schools people want out of there for whatever the reasons I'm not going to blast the principal because she's new too and she needs support maybe she's not getting enough support so please look into this students and teachers are being affected and I'm trying to be fair all around but it's not a positive situation there right now Building 21 I heard a director say uh look for the 12 million well think about building a new high school for 150 million dollars that public Building 21 our third high school we got it for 12 million it's an asset to the district it's in Prime real estate territory there's no debt
066payment on that building you have new schools that you're going to be doing you're going to have 30 40 year debts you're paying Bond issues on previous buildings there's not one debt payment on building 21. it's an asset for all of you if I may another 10 seconds I came in late and I just want to say Danielle Trevor is probably one of the nicest people that ever worked in the school district and God Rest her soul she was a friend of mine friend our children went to school together and she was so kind and she would be so helpful and confidential if everybody was confidential like Danielle there would never be a leak in this District I'll tell you that she was a wonderful person and she will be missed thank you madam president
067thank you are there any other comments there are none okay is there any old business to come before the board this evening is there any new business Miss Harris yes um what recently uh last week I called one of the um executive directors uh well the Chief Operating Officer and she gave the message to our superintendent we had this before with Thomas Parker who didn't want board members talking to employees for new employees I need you to understand something the old employees I've been on the sports in 2017. we went through 18 months of hail during the pandemic one of the things my father is for you new people one of the things my father taught me um we had to we had to do critical thinking because if I if we said I don't
068know to my father he would say um you can make a whole new world out I don't know when we went through the pandemic that I I pleaded that to that because we made a whole new world I don't know and we went through it all together together board members executive directors act 93 school principals cafeteria ladies um paraprofessionals you name it we all went through together and we made it through so I don't understand um the practice because we do not have a policy stating where we can't speak to that um if doctor if you want to speak to that I don't understand why we can't as board members when we go we see things that are happening in the community especially those of us who are really into the community and we see
069something we can't call our employee directly is there is there a is there is this a is this a practice because we've never had that we someone tried to have that practice we stopped it we I'm asking is this going to be a practice where we have to you know board members have to go through a middleman because it's not anything that's going to be asked of them that's you know behind your back no these are real questions are going on now in the community especially those of us who are in the community who see it we have questions I mean I don't know how many times I've called Tom Smith because of things that we do so I'm asking is this something as an Acting Superintendent is this something you want to do or
070Implement because I need to know I understand that before we adjourn this evening that we have another video I I can't answer you right okay that's fine well okay since we cannot answer the question the past practices are that we are able to speak to me please let me finish no um we are able to speak call directly to all at 93 people okay okay fine what we will talk about it thank you I do understand we have a closing video we do again in recognition of school board of directors month Central Elementary School Board be appreciate your time and your wisdom and your answers and we appreciate you thank you so very much [Music] so very much for the mouths of babes oh thank you an announcement before we we take a motion to
071adjourn uh the Board needs to continue its executive session we will be upstairs for a little bit but when we return we will begin the charter school hearing and uh and I would like to take is this personal opportunity to thank my colleagues on the board I understand uh the number of hours that they put in and I'm grateful for them thank you may I have a motion to adore Miss Conover second all in favor aye aye opposed thank you but let's reconvene upstairs in five minutes yeah we're coming back down I would say 30 minutes at most oh I don't know that exactly [Music] thank you adopt thank you foreign they're under their seats all right everyone we're going to begin tonight's hearing good evening my name is Allison Peterson I'm an attorney with
072the Levin Legal Group for purposes of tonight's hearing on the charter school application I will be the presiding officer under board policy 140. tonight is the second hearing on the application submitted for the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School the first hearing was held on December 16th I believe and tonight's hearing will likely conclude the hearing process we are going to resume the hearing where we left off at the first hearing so that will entail a few additional questions presented to the applicant team who is here tonight and we will have you introduce yourselves in a moment after we have the end of the question and answer period directed to the applicant under board policy 140 the School District administration has the opportunity to present their administrative review of the application uh if I believe
073they have a presentation given what I was just handed a few minutes ago we will deal with that at that point in time following the administration's presentation there may be some questions directed to the administration to obtain any Clarity regarding their report following that the applicant will have an opportunity to make a concluding presentation to the board of up to 15 minutes and then we will deal with some housekeeping items and finally we will take public comment I ask that if there are individuals here who would like to provide public comment to the board this evening you fill out a speaker's card which is in the back corner of the room by the door and you provide that speaker's card to Ms Ramos thank you for raising your hand Ms Ramos she will collect those
074cards we will call folks in order on the cards and make sure that anyone who wants to give public comment to the board tonight can do so public comments under board policy 140 are limited to two minutes and only residents of the school district may speak this hearing is being stenographically recorded the court reporter is down to my right she is the most important person in this room tonight because she needs to be able to hear and clearly understand what folks are saying so for that reason I will ask if there is a question pending the person or persons who might be answering wait to provide their answer until I am done speaking and I will try to do my best to do the same for you uh please keep your voice up and please
075speak into the microphones because I do believe we also have a board member who is participating from home via Zoom uh so she needs to be able to hear what is said as well I'm going to ask these Allentown school board members who are in attendance to State their names for the record and then we will have the School District administration also indicate their names for the record who are here tonight and then we will have the applicant do the same as Matheson Audrey Madison Lisa Conover so Tarsha Brown Patrick Palmer Andrew Noel Dr Evelyn Santana Nancy will miss Phoebe Harris Jennifer Ortiz thank you Jennifer Dr Carol D Burks Acting Superintendent Dr Michael q Roth Chief academic officer and Deputy superintendent for the Allentown School District Jennifer Ramos Deputy superintendent Rich Fazio interim business
076manager Allentown School District Brian's second executive director of special education Paul Hunter director of charter schools Dr Brandi Sawyer executive director of curriculum and educator supports Lisa greitzer director of newcomer academies Thomas Smith executive director of Facility Services Tiffany executive director of Youth family and Community engagement Dr Audrey flojo director of professional development and instructional practice thank you um now on behalf of the applicant team could you please introduce yourselves my name is Brian leinhauser I'm solicitor for the applicant my name is Carlos Lopez and I first want to begin by uh congratulating the new newly appointed board members and uh happy board recognition uh and I also would like to add that my wife and I are Allentown uh School District taxpayers I've had the opportunity not only of living in Allentown but also
077serving because this is just a time to introduce yourselves for the record please okay you just want me to end there yes okay thank you Dr James salgub a member of the application team um is that everyone who is here tonight on behalf of the applicant team welcome Dave Wright part of the application is that everyone thank you before the okay you need to come forward so we she she has to be able to hear you and as well as Ms Ortiz I'm Julio gridi I'm a president of country Guadalupe Board of the uh and by the way there's a couple of others here as well weirdos okay so just so we're clear we will have public comments tonight so if there are people here supporting you they are more than welcome to give public
078comment assuming they're residents of the district what we're trying to do is just introduce the folks who might be providing um some testimony tonight and who are here in an official capacity for the charter school applicant if there are other people who who fit that bill please have them come up and introduce themselves is everything anyone else welcome anyone else okay seeing those further hands or bodies thank you before the questioning moves forward there are a few additional housekeeping items to be addressed for purposes of the record the letter dated January 2nd 2023 notifying the applicant's Council of this evening's hearing will be marked for the record as exhibit number five confirmation of the legal advertisement of tonight's hearing will be marked as exhibit number six I'm going to ask our court reporter to swear
079in the members of the applicant team who might be providing testimony here tonight I'm gonna she'll swear you in and then we'll identify who was sworn in so anyone who might be providing testimony should be sworn in Florida yes individually or at the same time you can do it at the same time okay are the members of the school administration going to be sworn as well yes when it's their turn to speak okay um I just want to note for the record that I believe everyone uh raised their hand who was introduced other than the two board members who are sitting in the back um and can you just identify yourselves as not being sworn in thank you there was a reference in the application to parents and guardians of students who enrolled uh in
080the charter school having to complete 25 volunteer hours per school year and I believe that was also referenced in the opening presentation that the applicant gave it the first hearing um is that a mandatory requirement that's a requirement that is highly suggested and that has been used in other charter schools that we've worked with and has been successful because uh we give parents and families many different opportunities to be able to uh volunteer those 25 hours but most importantly what it does is it gets the parents into our school are or excuse me is the charter school going to be paying for parents or Guardians to obtain clearances in order to complete those volunteer hours uh it is my understanding that for short-term activities like that that there is a website that the parents can
081fill out without a post uh if parents volunteer for longer terms uh beyond what is uh required by that non-fee application the charter school has paid for it or if not the parents pay for it so just so we're clear the expectation right now is because the volunteer hours is 25 hours you're not anticipating paying for parents to obtain clearances we are not anticipating for paying for clearances for that are you also not anticipating that parents will need to obtain clearances to volunteer at least 25 hours in the charter school because of the way that it's structured uh where parents can come in uh because of the way that is structured we give parents uh credit for coming in for conferences we give uh parents uh credit for coming in to for uh extra activities
082which are normal activities uh that happen at the school so when we talk about volunteering it's not necessarily that they're coming in and spending the entire day or hours in a classroom uh if they were to do something like that then of course we would require the uh clearances is there anywhere in the application where it's discussed what volunteering means for purposes of that 25 hour component yes not not necessarily Oh you mean the application it's uh it's included in the parent student handbook and a description of what that entails the volunteering I know that it says that we're expecting parents to volunteer those 25 hours but I'm not 100 sure that it delineates it I don't know if there was a discussion in the application about security and what the applicant's plans would be
083for having security within the school and by the term security because it wasn't discussed I don't know what you're intending whether that it entails security Personnel or security systems for entry into the building could you just provide some information about that I can you check that yeah security is everyone's responsibility in the building uh one of the things that we've proposed uh in terms of security is uh potentially having uh cameras in every single classroom and every single hallway and all of the exits and entrances of the school uh just like uh you know charter schools that we've worked with um and the budget has security Personnel ability to plan okay what security Personnel are in the budget security and is that a security guard is that a person who's monitoring um the entrance of
084the building what type of position is that it would be both um it would be a person that not only helps with dismissal and the beginning of the day but then it would also be a person that would walk through the building so make sure that all the doors are secured and if we're successful in uh obtaining uh cameras in all of the classrooms and uh the the outside and also all of the Halls uh that person would also have access to uh viewing every single one of those cameras through his or her phone is there a line item in the budget that provides for expenditures for security systems or the cameras that you just referenced uh I believe that uh having worked with uh several uh security uh companies that uh we might be
085able to cover that under uh maintenance maintenance of the building or if not uh do as or try to benefit uh from some of the grants that are out there uh to enhance Security in all of our schools and where in the budget are the things that you just described those those things like I said they may be able to be covered with the amount of money that we have uh allotted uh certain items and so uh we'll have to look at that is there uh can you provide any more specifics about where in the budget those expenditures might be located not not other than uh the fact that we've identified the security guard uh but Mr Wilson so we have uh called out in the budget we have a number of equipment areas um
086you don't know right now obviously whether or not in existing funding from the state for these systems will be in place next year or the year after so we don't have the revenue budget it doesn't get so I guarantee that those funds will be there but knowing that we've built money into the equipment line item or for that at the side that ultimately is operating expense with the school which I'm sorry which is the line item you're referencing I'm looking at the budget what's the line number expenditure tabs yes the senator yes maybe we're not looking at the same thing I am I am looking at the what page are you looking at I oh I'm sorry I am on Bates stamped page 1192 which is actually the revenue section of the budget with the
087numbered line items you're looking at the revenue line items first I'm that's where that line I the numbered line items start with revenues they're consecutively numbered so I'm asking you in what's what line item of the expenditures would the Security expenses be included I have office furniture and equipment is on page 1200. in what section of the the numbered budget does that match up to then under the equipment header spline Heiser I I am aware of what you're referencing on page 1200. but I just assume that those expenses then match up to a line item in the correct so it is applying 125. foreign 125 that's F and E and F and E stands for what okay so 25 000 total furniture and equipment for year one right there is discussion in the application about
088students having access to before and after school programs would those be programs that are operated by the charter school yes they are and would those programs be staffed by Charter School Employees yes there will be and would those employees be compensated to staff the before and after school programs based upon their regular compensation as Charter School Employees or would they receive extra funds to do so They will receive extra fund to do so and is there a expenditures in the budget to cover the extra compensation for the before and after school programming yes there are and where is that located in the budget after school Saturday school and summer school it's actually three different programs after school Saturday school and summer school the U.S again I will take either at this point so on page
0891200 under the contracted Services budget line item there is a budget line item for after school programs Saturday school and summer school programs so that's in the contracted Services section are those programs going to be uh run by contractors or Charter School Employees even though it's in the contracted section the intent is that it's going to be run by Charter School Employees and would you therefore have to pay benefits based upon the um compensation that the employees would receive it is my understanding that we normally pay all the all of the payroll taxes yes there is no description in there for before school or before care programs will you also be offering those when the board has an up an opportunity to be formed there is a um Child Care Center that has already approached
090us about potentially uh offering those uh Services uh to parents before and after school so that would be a separate entity from the charter school who would be offering those services that is correct um are the before and after care programs those are separate from the instructional day at the charter school correct yes they are do you anticipate knowing or strike that do you know at this time or have an idea what type of programming would be utilized for the Aftercare programs for example the school or the daycare center that is interested in being considered to provide those Services there are actual daycare theme is stem would the parents have to pay for the before and after care that is something that we'll have to find out at a later time but potentially yes I'd
091like to make fifty thousand dollars budgeted for those programs and then we have budgeted monies for the summer program a year too uh so once the programs are up and running the allocation of those dollar of those dollars whether Personnel or contracted will be captured within that fifty thousand dollars what is the intention with respect to Saturday school did that would that be open to all students or is it targeted for specific students with specific needs normally it's targeted for specific students especially those students who we know are going to be taking uh the pssas and that are highly recommended by the staff to benefit from the extra instruction at the first hearing you were asked some questions to confirm what facility was under consideration by the applicant and it was confirmed at that time
092that the only facility that you're presenting for purposes of the board's review is the facility located at 2268 South 12th Street in Allentown does that remain accurate um I had the opportunity the answer is yes okay um the South 12th Street site had been described as needing a zoning change to operate a public school out of that facility and the representation was made at the first hearing that there was going to be a hearing I believe in front of the Zoning Board in December did that happen it's the ring question about the zoning board can you give us an update was the meeting held thank you I appreciate you coming forward so we can hear you okay are you okay there was a meeting held between the owner changed foreign letters that we supposed to
093be that beautifully Mr rank you were sworn in correct okay I I believe you raised your hand when you were when she asked great um based upon that answer does that mean that there was not any hearings that have been held by the zoning hearing board to date uh what is your understanding if you have one as to what the city is considering in the way of a change residential building apps are aware of but you're not going to get moving a portion of that I agree with it On The Wall Street rather than having five three to financially with barzone foreign known came to Resonance property that's not just because so the The Proposal as you understand it and and let me be clear I'm not saying this is a formal proposal but the
094discussion let's use that word the discussion that's happening is to potentially change the zoning designation to a B3 and is it your understanding then that a be free zone would permit the public school use for elementary school I'm just ask you to keep your voices up because we want to make sure we can hear yeah and just talking to the microphone as well too so are there any other facilities under consideration that are to be presented to the board at this time by the applicant so the the application identifies the facility that we intend to use if that facility becomes unavailable we have a plan B facility but I do not want to confuse the board about what facility we're presenting for consideration so this is the only facility that the board should review for
095its consideration uh if there's a difficulty with that facility or we lose the opportunity to use that facility we have a plan B but that's not part of the application because it's not required I believe at the first hearing there was a question asked about whether there was another facility under consideration in the Bethlehem Area School District to buy the charter school is that and the answer at that time was no is that still correct I'll object to the form of the question but we are not considering a facility in the Bethlehem School District if that's your question that is not the alternate facility we would be looking at does that help sure okay um the board is aware that there are some signs posted on I believe at least two properties in the Bethlehem
096Area School District that are advertising Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School and saying that those properties are the future Home of Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School are you aware of that and by you I mean the entire anyone on the applicant team not just you Mr lighthouse I'm aware that there's a sign I haven't seen it anybody else I am also aware of the signs okay are those signs advertising the charter school that is applying to Allentown School District so the contact information on those signs directs individuals interested in the school to our website for information about the school that we're proposing to be put in the Allentown School District I having not seen the sign I can't comment about whether it says those are the locations for that facility if you have a
097photo of it I'm happy to and we can put it in the record I'm happy to provide more info of a response is the you would agree with me that Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School is the name of the applicant correct that is correct okay um are you contemplating a facility in the Bethlehem Area School District at this time no do you know why someone would be advertising or the name of your Charter School on signs and Bethlehem Area School District and saying that that that those facilities are the future home of the charter school having not seen the sign how can I comment about what it says or doesn't say Mr Lopez I I don't know why the facility has the sign that it does you've you have no understanding as to why
098those signs are there assuming they're there which I know there's a sign I don't know what it says has has the applicant taken any steps to investigate why its name is on a sign in the Bethlehem Area School District suggesting that it's the future home of the charter school it's my understanding that there's common ownership between the landlord who is leasing a facility to us in the Allentown school district and those other facilities I don't know beyond that why the sign says that those locations to the extent that you've represented that indicate that those facilities would be used and has the applicant that has a corporation called Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School taken any steps to ask that common owner to cease using its name on signs in the Bethlehem Area School District no
099yeah okay um foreign thank you I just wanted to ask the board if there were any other questions uh there is one at the first hearing there was mention of a traffic plan or traffic review that was um completed uh is there any additional information that that you could provide to us about the status of that so in the application is the document that I referenced which shows the pattern which drop off and pickup would occur at the facility that's the we wanted to make sure that buses could come and parents could come drop off and pick up students on the site as opposed to on the road and so so I'm glad you said that Mr lenhauser because I don't think we got into that specificity at the first hearing so you're saying there
100is a document in the application that discusses the traffic flow that you were referencing at the first hearing I believe okay I would ask that you'd I've been corrected that it was in the presentation that we provided in the PowerPoint yes okay so that whatever was in the PowerPoint about the traffic flow is what you were referencing at the first hearing correct has there been any um traffic study or further traffic planning undertaken regarding the facility since the first hearing no not not on our behalf or not to my knowledge I don't know if someone else has done it so independent of us like I don't know if some other agencies you're contemplating use of that facility so if someone's driven down the road and seeing the counter bars or strips I just I'm not
101aware that we've not facilitated any of that being done okay thank you for that clarification all right um that concludes the questions tonight um in this section it's possible there could be some others if if anything is prompted but I think that will be the end of the questioning of the applicant we're now going to move on to the section of the hearing process for the Allentown administrative review I'm going to ask that anyone who is going to speak on behalf of the school district as part of your presentation be sworn in um and the court reporter will take care of that I don't how many people are going to be speaking all right as many of you as possible should come up to the table pull chairs up because you are going to need
102to speak into microphones we're going to use the podium so we'll come to the podium that's fine as well is everyone who is going to be presenting individuals who have already identified themselves for the record in the opening part of our hearing somebody has to say yes okay um so then we're going to collectively swear in all of the members of the Allentown Administration who I previously identified themselves for the record um thank you same good evening my name is Dr Michael q Roth and I serve as the chief academic officer and Deputy superintendent for the Allentown School District tonight the Allentown School District administration will be sharing a summary of the review conducted by the administrative team members of the charter school applications submitted by the Lehigh Valley steam Academy at your place you
103will find two documents the first is a copy of the slides of this presentation the second is a report entitled Allentown School District Administrative review of the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School application foreign in terms of an overview for this evening the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School submitted an application to open ak-3 focused charter school for the 2023-2024 school year the Allentown school district is required by law to execute a charter school application review process for all proposed charter schools that plan to operate within the district's boundaries the review process is Guided by Charter School law procedural requirements this presentation provides a summary of the analysis conducted by the administration of the Allentown School District between November 16 2022 and January 25th 2023 the analysis was completed to determine if the charter school
104application meets all requirements this presentation highlights the findings in the Allentown School District Administrative review of Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School report which is this second document we focused on the following areas curriculum planning instruction and assessment English language Learners professional development Special Education Health Services instructional time requirements attendance requirements Community Support business and operations Staffing location insight and policy and procedure the Allentown School District administration determined these categories as the most important and relevant to the board of school director's consideration as per Allentown School District's policy 140 charter schools the report will detail the school's alignment of educational program community support and operation to the school's Mission and statutory requirements it will provide examples where the alignment was found to be deficient or critically deficient the administrative team chose to Define deficient as
105information being incomplete or missing and critically deficient as information being incomplete or missing that has a detrimental effect on the successful operation of the school as the members of the team present their findings in each of these areas they will reference the page numbers in the administrative report provide a general overview of the analysis the number of deficiencies identified in that category and of those deficiencies the number that were determined to be critical in terms of the operation of the proposed Charter School they will then provide examples of the areas determined to be the most critically deficient in the presentation but all deficiencies are listed in detail in the administrative report foreign School application is Guided by procedural requirements of section 1717a Charter School law and found on page 3 of the administrative report these
106include the required timelines for submission and the holding of hearings the district's review process with the dates that align to the procedural requirements are listed on page three as well and have been met to date the application evaluation criteria is pursuant to section 1717-a of the charter school law a summary of which is found on page 4 of the administrative report the application must be evaluated based upon demonstrated and sustainable support of the charter school plan by teachers parents other community members and students capability of the charter school applicant in terms of support and planning to provide comprehensive learning experiences to students the extent to which the information contained in the application aligns with the legislative intent of the charter school law and the extent to which the charter may serve as a model for
107other public schools good evening my name is Paul Hunter and I'm the director of charter schools I'd like to present the general information section of the report that could be found on pages four and five that you have in front of you in this section you'll find the names the applicants along with the proposed name of the school which is Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School a location of the school 2268 South 12th Street in Allentown Pennsylvania 18103 and the proposed timeline for the school the charter seeks a five-year Charter to operate during the school Year's 2023-2024 through 2027 2028. the proposed grade levels served by the school the charter plans to open in year one with grades K through three then adding a grade per year until its final year of the charter which
108would be 2027-2028 that would be great seven the goal would then be to add grade 8 during the first renewal year of the charter which would be 28.29 the charter school tends to ultimately be a k through weight program okay on this slide you'll see the proposed it's too touchy okay there we go on this slide you're going to see the proposed enrollment projections for the charter school beginning again in great in year 2023 2024 they proposed to have grades K through three but the total enrollment of 300 students by the end of 2027-2028 that number is anticipated to grow to 600 and they would have a total number of 46 teachers on this slide it represents the applicant's mission statement for the school through sustained Partnerships with higher education after school organizations non-profit Community
109programs local businesses and government agencies the steam Academy charter school mission is to provide students with rigorous academic content emphasizing science technology engineering arts and math by doing the following providing Project based problem solving Discovery and exploratory learning experiences delivering instructions for a unique experiential and collaborative process delivering a rigorous and technologically enhanced curriculum with threads in the PA standards through all content areas inspiring creative critical and analytical thinking and utilizing community-based Partners in the instructional delivery of creative and related arts and Rich student experiences my name is Dr Brandi Sawyer executive director of curriculum and educator supports the Allentown School District administration reviewed the charter school application for elements pertaining to planned instruction curriculum and resources professional learning and assessments required by the state of Pennsylvania and offered as evidence of alignment to the
110school mission in curriculum planning instruction and assessment there have been 20 identified deficiencies in the application of those deficiencies 14 have been identified critical on this slide we're presenting four examples of the 14 critical deficiencies the administrative report provided provides detailed details on all the deficiencies as noted in Page 6 through 10 of your administrative review first curriculum planning and documentation of written curriculum the applicant did not provide a locally developed written curriculum established planning instruction in Math Science Social Studies computer science engineering Spanish music art dance or physical education as noted on page seven of the administrative report for curriculum planning and documentation of curriculum review process the applicant has no curriculum review process and or policy concerning curriculum adoption as required by the Pennsylvania state board of education for all content areas including
111steam content areas as identified on page seven of your administrative report evaluation systems for educators the metric of 90 percent retention rate for teachers rated proficient or distinguished in accordance with act 82 of 2012 and the PA educator Effectiveness Administration Administration manual for July 2014 is offered as faithfulness to the mission act 82 was revised by act 13 in 2020 the reference teacher evaluation system is no longer applicable as noted on page 8 of the administrative report curriculum planning and documentation of accommodations curriculum as presented does not meet the needs of diverse Learners including English language Learners and special education students as required by Pennsylvania state regulation no accommodations are outlined and no supporting documents are provided as noted on page 10 of the administrative report foreign good evening my name is Lisa greitzer and
112I'm the director of the newcomer academies for the Allentown School District the Allentown School District administration reviewed the charter application for elements pertaining to a language instruction education program as required by the state of Pennsylvania and offered as evidence of alignment to the school mission there were five deficiencies identified regarding English Learners three were identified as critical the first efficiency identified as seen on page 10 of the administration report documentation of language instruction education program the applicant shared that the percentage of English Learners enrolled would mirror that of the percentage of asdls however the applicant did not provide evidence of the liep or language instruction education program that's required by the state of Pennsylvania the second deficiency identified documentation of L student to teacher ratios the applicant did not outline the student teacher ratio for
113English Learners although the applicant lists two L teachers for the upcoming school year and notes the number will be recalculated based on enrollment the calculation is unclear the third efficiency documentation of instructional alignment to L levels the applicant previously shared that the percentage of English language Learners enrolled would mirror that of the percentage of asdls however the applicant did not include how instruction for l l students is aligned to their English language proficiency levels for students and that's all outlined on pages 10 and 11 of the administrative report thank you I believe I just want to ask just so the court reporter knows when you say else are you using the acronym El English Learners yes okay thank you good evening my name is Dr Audrey flojo and I'm the director of instructional practice and
114professional development at Allentown School District professional development ensures that Educators have the capacity to deliver high quality educational experience for students the Allentown School District team reviewed the application to analyze the professional development plan and its alignment with the educational program school mission and Pennsylvania requirements we found four deficiencies of which three were critical we will highlight those three here for more complete information please refer to page 11 of the report critical deficiency one supporting steam instructional strategies the integration of content and skills for steam as depicted in the description is not clearly explained the plan does not articulate how to implement steam as an instructional strategy and or the professional learning plan to implement those strategies across all grade levels and content areas critical deficiency too supporting the reading program there's no clear plan
115for professional development regarding the implementation and ongoing support for the American reading program which requires extensive professional development critical deficiency number three mandated reporter training and Title IX and other compliant training there's no clear plan that includes a mandated compliance training for all employees other than the mention of the induction training for new teachers there's no plan for Title IX or other compliance related employee training thank you special education can be found on page 12 of the administrative report I'm Brian sickett I'm the executive director of special education the Allentown School District administration reviewed the application to ensure that as a local educational agency the charter proposed Charter School provide a program for every student with an individualized education plan that analysis included schools plan to support specifically designed curriculum and instruction for the student
116with accommodations interventions and any related Service as required by an IEP we found three deficiencies however the deficiencies are truly not indicative of the overall lack of progress proposed progress or a special education plan we were not provided with the full scope of that work the three efficiencies that we found were all critical special education and other related services the applicant provide that the Special Education team in the proposed charter school is to provide a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment to students with disabilities the applicant listed two special education teachers as part of the 2023-2024 Staffing but earlier it stated that the board's intention was to contract for all special education services for the school through the carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit these statements are contradictory and make it unclear on how
117special education services will be offered no contract or proposal is included with the application nor are they there any references or listing end-of-year reports special education and other related Services the applicant does not predict a percentage of special education students nor a methodology for determining Staffing or Services required curriculum and planning curriculum as presented does not meet the needs of special education students as required by Pennsylvania state regulation 22 Pennsylvania code 4.28 no accommodations are outlined and no supporting documents are provided good evening my name is Tiffany Pollock I'm the executive director of Youth family and Community engagement Health Services are outlined on pages 12-13 of the administrative review document where a detailed explanation of the report can be found the Allentown School District administration reviewed the application to ensure that all Pennsylvania public school
118code requirements for school health services for all children of school age are met an overview of school health services that are mandated for school-aged children were analyzed in comparison to those outlined by the PA Department of Health there are a total of two deficiencies in this area and we are highlighting one critical deficiency that lacks clarity the applicant indicates that the carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21 will provide contracted services for all health related matters to the school however the applicant also indicates one nurse as part of its school year 2023-2024 targeted staff instructional time requirements are outlined on page 13 of the administrative review document where a detailed explanation of the report can be found we reviewed the application to ensure that a minimum of 180 days of instruction or 900 hours of instruction at
119the elementary level or 990 hours at the secondary level are provided this section has one critical deficiency the applicant states that it will provide 187 days of instruction and 1059 hours of instruction without sample Bell schedules it is not possible to ensure that these calculations are accurate or aligned with compulsory School attendance requirements are outlined on pages 13 through 14. of the administrative review document we reviewed the application to ensure that all compulsory attendance mandates in Pennsylvania were met there are a total of four deficiencies in this area we are highlighting three of the four critical deficiencies the applicant states that truancy is an offense that will result in suspension from school PA school code does not permit expulsion suspension or placement in an alternative education for disruptive youth program for Trump behavior and these
120actions may not be included in a school attendance Improvement plan otherwise known as a seat there is no indication or details related to the student attendance Improvement conference or plan as outlined in pde's guidelines for all schools including charter schools the parent student handbook states that the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School is required to report the student school district of residence when a student has accrued three days of unexcused absences each additional unlawful absence will also be reported to the school's school district of residence and record it as an illegal absence for attendance purposes it is the responsibility of the school district to enforce the compulsory attendance laws in accordance with the public school code charter schools are now responsible for enforcing compulsory attendance laws for their students they no longer send home District
121any attendance information foreign my name is Paul Hunter and I am the director of charter schools if you would please turn to page 14 and 15 of the report I'll present the community support section the Allentown School District administration reviewed the application to ensure that the requirements that the school convey the scope of community backing includes documented community support from teachers parents students community members and instructional leaders evidence of support can be presented through letters of support surveys or other tangible means in our analysis of the applicant's response we found four deficiencies and identified each of them as critical deficiencies beginning with the first point we found that the applicant failed to convey a breadth of community support that extends Beyond the core group of founders 23 letters of support were provided by the applicants
122seven of the letters were from individuals identified as either Consultants potential board members or founders three letters were from businesses in Allentown and only four letters were from individuals who identified themselves as residents of Valentine the balance of the letters came from individuals outside of outcome next point District relations evidence of student interest when considering student interests the applicants provided contacted demographic information for 134 students who would be eligible for grades K through three during the 2023-2024 school year of those 134 students 71 students are residents of Valentine of those 71 students 49 are current Allentown School District students 22 of those students attend other charter schools but going back to the 134 students 26 of those students are non-alentown students we could not verify the residents of 37 students based on the information we
123received from the applicant next when considering evidence of support from outside organizations the applicant failed to provide any evidence of support from any organization aligned with the proposed Charter School's mission in regards to the planning process again the applicant failed to provide details regarding Community involvement during the planning process and further they neglected to provide details as to who or what community supporters were involved in this process good evening my name is Rich Fazio and I am your interim business manager thank you for the gift of your time the Allentown School District administration has reviewed the application of the Lehigh Valley steam Academy to ensure that they will provide effective stewardship of the budget and the efficient operation of the school in order to provide a sustainable school program that meets The Learning needs of
124all students the analysis included assurances that the financial resources of the program are effectively used to support the mission of the school regrettably we have identified nine deficiencies all all are critical deficiencies I will speak to four of those critical deficiencies tonight special education revenue and expenditures the submitted budget lists special education revenues at one million four hundred and four thousand 962 thousand dollars special ed Service expenditures are only budgeted at 500 dollars this discrepancy of 462 thousand dollars between budgeted revenues and budget expenses along with the lack of clarity as to how the applicant will provide special education services raises significant concerns for the school district health insurance the applicant fails to provide any evidence of a health insurance plan which is equal to or greater than the employee would receive if he or
125she worked for the chartering School District budget to support technology the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School presentation to the Allentown School District Board of Directors on December 15 2022 indicated that the school would provide a technology-rich environment for students aligned to their mission it is important to point out that the budget expenditures for technology amount to only forty thousand dollars for the 23-24 school year this equates to only a hundred and thirty four dollars per child and does not account for teacher or staff related technology needs the budget to cover Staffing referenced in the application the application references 12. staff members throughout the materials policies and handbook provided the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School fails to identify those positions in the Staffing list nor do they appear to be included in the budget
126those additional positions clearly would have significant impact on the charter school budget good evening my name is Jen Ramos I serve as the deputy superintendent for the district our administrative team reviewed the charter application to ensure Staffing counts budget and the information provided in the document were in alignment in addition the review included ensuring Staffing was aligned to the mission of the school this portion of the review can be found in the administrative report on pages 17 and 18. our review yielded six deficiencies all six identified as critical I'll highlight four of the most critical deficiencies noted the remaining two can be found in the report the first critical deficiency identifies inconsistencies in special education Staffing the application states there will be a manager of special education and it also references a director of special
127education as the employee responsible for taking action to address students at risk for suicide or suicide attempts however neither of these positions appear in the Staffing plan as submitted the second critical deficiency the charter applicant has promoted and advertised that there will be two adults per classroom however Staffing lists do not reflect the Staffing model the third deficiencies related to learning coaches the applicant references learning coaches will stay in contact with teachers regarding attendance and will contact the teacher if a student is unable to complete a mandatory live lesson however there are no learning coaches accounted for in the applicant Staffing plan the fourth critical deficiency to address is related to staff or educational and child support teams the applicant references both an instructional support teacher and a curriculum and instruction coordinator as positions critical
128to these processes however neither of these positions are accounted for in the Staffing plan the remaining two critical deficiencies can be found in the administrative report beginning on page 17. good evening my name is Thomas Smith and I serve as the executive director of facility services for the Allentown School District as part of the administrative review I reviewed the proposed location and site which is part of the administrative review report and located on page Pages 18 through 20. the Allentown School District administration analyzed the application for required evidence of how the site was selected how this site would be a suitable facility for the proposed school and how the site meets all applicable Municipal and state requirements related to zoning accessibility for individuals with disabilities and safety the applicant must also State how the facility
129will be maintained and if and how the property may be purchased or financed as part of the administrative review We noted six deficiencies of which all six were noted as critical as follows disclosure of alternative locations for proposedly at Valley steam Academy Charter School applicant lists proposed Charter School location as 2268 South 12th Street Allentown Pennsylvania 18103 applicant failed to identify 316 East Market Street Bethlehem Pennsylvania as a location under consideration and applicant also failed to identify 1828 Center Street Bethlehem Pennsylvania as a location under consideration you can find that in your administrative report page 18 through 19. disclosure of lease agreements for 2268 South 12th Street Allentown Pennsylvania 18103 location the applicant provided a letter of intent regarding the lease for this property however the applicant failed to provide any details regarding the lease
130Arrangements suitable location compliance with codes ordinances and Zoning applicant failed to provide evidence that the location composite federal state Municipal codes ordinances and Zoning required for an educational facility suitable location evidence of traffic safety the applicant failed to provide evidence of a traffic study the proposed location ensuring safe Ingress and egress of school buses and the impact on local traffic and residents suitable location in compliance with applicable building codes Apple can again failed to provide evidence of testing for hazards materials at the location suitable location and compliance with applicable building codes applicant failed to provide evidence of Municipal approval of plans and drawings for renovations to be made to the building Dr Michael Roth Deputy superintendent I'll be reviewing policy and procedures which being found on report pages 20-23 of the document in front of
131you high quality school policies are based on Federal and State law they help a school Implement rules and procedures that will establish standards for learning safety operational expectations and accountability the Allentown School District administration reviewed the policies and procedures to ensure alignment to Pennsylvania requirements school mission and best practices that support students families and staff there are a total of 17 deficiencies in this particular area 17 of which have been determined to be critical deficiencies we are highlighting three critical deficiencies those highlighted three highlighted critical deficiencies include Suicide Prevention and post-vention plan bullying prevention Title IX requirements and protection for children in foster care key policies required to provide safety measures and Reporting structures for the protection of all children are either deficient or missing key components or process descriptions and that can be found
132on pages 20-21 of the administrator review disciplinary actions and student due process rights the applicants policies and handbook are incongruent including no details of formal or informal hearings in cases of suspension required parental meetings before repatriation after suspension and inconsistencies in alignment with school code in the case of weapons violations attendance registration and disenrollment the applicants submitted policy for attendance does not have the school take responsibility for compulsory School attendance requirements the registration policy fails to include the required parent statement as part of its enrollment packet and the policy empowers the principal to recommend disenrollment and a new placement after a fourth suspension in summary tonight the Allentown School District provided an overview of the review that they conducted of the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School between November 16 2022 and January 25th 2023.
133we reviewed the application materials plans and policies and the analysis of the application included verification that those materials plans and policies aligned to Pennsylvania state requirements for schools and the mission of the school in terms of our analysis the administration found 81 deficiencies in the application and determined that of those 81 71 deficiencies will have a critical impact on the operation of the school and the effective delivery of instruction within a sustainable and effective learning model this concludes our presentation of the review administrative review of the Lehigh Valley steam Academy Charter School application we thank you very much for your time and for your attendance attention to our presentation foreign thank you for the presentation for purposes of the record be School District administration's full report is going to be marked as exhibit number seven
134and the school district's slide deck for the presentation tonight will be marked as exhibit eight and those will be included in the record we're going to take a short break so that we I can just convene with the board to see if there's any additional questions we have for either the administration or the applicant um so let's we'll try to keep this as short as possible it'll be at least 10 minutes maybe 15 but then we will come back there may be some questions but if there are not I would just ask the applicant to be prepared to present your concluding presentation as soon as we're reconvening if if that is our next step okay thank you much foreign together yeah all right everyone we're going back on the record I'd ask for everyone to
135please sit down thank you after conferring with the board the board does not have any further questions so we are going to now turn the floor over to the applicant to make our concluding presentation thank you members of the board members of the administration I appreciate your time this evening uh as you can imagine we received the document and the critique from the Allentown uh School District administration a little over an hour ago I have not had an opportunity to read it in any great detail and so uh having not been able to read it I can't provide a comprehensive response to the document as would be requested uh I did note there were a few items in the presentation that seemed to misapprehend how for example charter schools are funded in calculating the special
136education rate it appears that the business manager did not understand that the special education rate and the regular education rate are encompassed in the special education student line item in the budget so there isn't six hundred thousand dollars or whatever the number he proposed of unallocated funding because not only do we have to provide special education services to the students that have special needs but we also have to provide a regular education and so that funding is combined in that line item in addition I noted that there were some critiques on the facilities front the issues raised are all landlord responsibilities to ensure that the building meets all codes and requirements prior to our taking occupancy of the facility so there would be items that the landlord would obviously address with regard to items like
137staffing needs for special education students and specific learning plans for students with special education needs absent knowing who the student is in front of me and what their needs are I can't provide you with a plan for that student's needs but the school has committed that it would meet the needs of every student that comes to our door regardless of what their needs are and provide them a free appropriate public education as is required by the law and so to claim that we are deficient in the presentation of material when I cannot tell you what the need of the student in front of me is going to be until they enroll in our school appears to put the card before the horse so to speak um when the student comes we'll meet their needs whatever
138they might be but until I know who they are putting a specific a list of accommodations together could never be comprehensive because the student who comes to my door the next day might have a need that's not been contemplated but would still have to be met with regard to the Staffing issue that was raised on special education and ell obviously the number of students who have special education needs and the needs that they require will drive the number of special education teachers that we have if the needs are greater more special education teachers or the number of students that have needs is greater the number of teachers that would be hired would be increased and that would be the same for any students learning in our El program as well and finally with regard to
139the community involvement uh I'll just mention that we identified a number of community organizations whether they're connected to current uh founding members or not is really irrelevant because there are organizations within this community who support the opening of this charter school and they should be given consideration regardless of who they have an affiliation with these are members of our community and organizations in our community that support the opening of this school and to dismiss them simply because one of the founding Coalition members may have a relationship with them or they may be a affiliated with that organization seems disingenuous I I can ask strangers to support the application for my charter school but none of my friends that just seems to be an odd critique of the application as I said unfortunately I've not had
140an opportunity to provide a comprehensive review there were a few items that I noted based on the district's presentation that I just wanted to get on the record this evening is is that the end of the applicants concluding presentation absent the opportunity to review in detail and provide responses to the to the information provided I cannot and don't want to compromise my client by making reference to items that I have not had an opportunity to reveal you can use the time during the concluding presentation as the applicant sees fit there is more to the applicant than simply you Mr leinhauser that I'm sure the board would appreciate hearing from the applicant um if they choose to do so if you if you do not choose to say anything further that's your choice at this point
141our attorney and therefore um okay um I just want you to understand you have the opportunity to fulfill the rest of your time if you're choosing not to that's fine um to that last point you made about responding under board policy 140 and the procedure for these hearings you have the opportunity to file a concluding document um it's been labeled as proposed findings affecting conclusions of law based upon the record if you would like to file that to provide additional input to the board you are free to do so the deadline to submit that would be 10 days from today's hearing which I think is a Sunday so we won't make you file it on a Sunday so we would make that to be due by Monday February 6 2023. well will there be an
142opportunity to receive the transcript in advance of that you can certainly make whatever arrangements with the court reporter that you would like to do so to obtain the transcript um you may use that document to respond to the administration's report if you so choose that's one of the reasons we give applicants the opportunity to file the concluding document so if you disagree for example with a finding and believe your application addresses that issue in a way that the administration disagreed for example you are free to point that out in your concluding document that is again one reason we give applicants the opportunity to do so the record is the record that has been created however so supplementing the record with within the concluding document is not permitted but if you want to point out where
143something is found in your application you may do that um so as if the applicant wants to take the opportunity to file the concluding document with the board again it would be due February 6th and it can either be emailed to me or dropped off or mailed to the district as long as it's received by February 6th it will be included as part of the record um in this matter yeah we will be providing that okay wonderful thank you um so we will now take uh public comment Ms Ramos have you received some public comment I have two uh the first one is Sarah janebrace I'm pleased state your name and your address for purposes of the record just clarify do I need my full address or just City and zip like the board meeting
144is your address on the comment card okay um what I can do is if you do not want to state your name or say your address excuse me publicly we can include the comment card as part of the record but the point is we do need folks addresses because that is a consideration under the charter school law if you're okay I just didn't know yeah okay that's fine all right good evening Sarah Jane brace 227 North 9th Street in Allentown Pennsylvania 18102 I'm speaking tonight as a taxpayer and parent but you'll hear a little bit of the teacher in me too many of you who were on the board when I was on the board already know my stance on Charter Schools however there are enough new members that I felt they needed to speak
145out in opposition of this Charter School the Allentown School District cannot financially afford another Charter School in our city you are already spending sending away over 60 million dollars a year that's 60 million dollars could do wonders for the financial issues of this District charter schools in Allentown pray on our low-income low-educated parents promising them things that they cannot actually fulfill if you look at the original concept of charter schools it was for groups of teachers to set up Charters with their local school board to try to find new ways to teach it was to empower Educators to have some Freedom with finding ways to achieve higher rates of Student Success and then take those new items back to their local school this Charter School will offer nothing new for our children in the district
146that we aren't currently offering if they really care about our kids as they like to say and not about the money then why not find a way to partner with our district sit down with our stem Department share ideas that can be started in our district that you think we are lacking one such idea so our kids get more steam content was shared with me by Sean curbin in ASD librarian put a full team of related arts teachers in every Elementary School and a tech person give each teacher a break every day this is good for teachers good for students and good for the district and the money stays in our district the district obviously pointed out so many deficiencies that you all just heard but one item that jumped out to me early on
147this evening was the discussion on volunteer clearances two of them are free but the fingerprints are not and they're required if someone hasn't lived in Pennsylvania for 10 years which refers to and you just um finish please yes which refers to many of our families because they move in from New York New Jersey and other countries they will have to pay 22.60 which could be the difference between a meal on their table or volunteering at their kids school I'm worried this charter school does not know our families or their financial situations so I hope that you will deny this Charter and turn your focus onto what we can do in our district thank you Tierra Medrano foreign [Music] I live at 836 North 4th Street Allentown PA 18102 I came here to speak on behalf
148of my support and I will say that I would love to have the school open up because we had kids and teens who wants to depend on the subject subjects we provide I will want to have these kids come to the school and feel safe and work hard to feel like they can't achieve it and fulfill the dreams to the fullest when maybe one day they will be helping us in return thank you thank you that's all the cards you received Ms Ramos okay is there anyone else here tonight who would like to give public comment regarding the application to the school board this is your opportunity to do so seeing no further hands or bodies thank you that will conclude the public comment Mr Lighthouse or any other items we need to address before
149we conclude no thank you okay again on behalf of the board thank you all for attending this public hearing we appreciate your time and efforts thank you to the applicant for providing information this evening with that our hearing is concluded