001Good evening and welcome to the March 24th, 2026 meeting of the Abington Board of School Directors. I note the attendance of all board members. Uh The Abington Board of School Directors has convened this evening's meeting at the administration building and the public is welcome. This meeting is also being broadcast live Wait. We skipped the pledge. That's not in here. Okay. I'm going to read this part and then we'll go to the pledge. I apologize. The meeting is also being broadcast live on the Abington School District YouTube channel for those members of the public who cannot participate this evening. This meeting is being recorded and will be available on the district's website and cable channel no later than Friday, March 27th, 2026. Uh Let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag
002of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Comments from citizens will be conducted in person and by phone. Instructions for calling in to each public comment section of the meeting will be displayed on the screen during each segment. The board thanks the public in advance for its cooperation. This is a place where we hold dignity in high regard and everyone's voices are respected and welcomed in this space. Dr. Fecher, do we have any additional announcements or additional agenda items? Uh not at this time. With that, we will move on to opening comments of board members. Mr. Allen. Good evening, everyone. Mrs. Brown. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. Mrs. Eisenhart. >> Good evening. Welcome to the meeting. Mr. Muhammad.
003Good evening. Ms. Baldi. Good evening, everybody. Ms. Hartman. Good evening. Ms. Fraser. Welcome. Ms. Fletcher. Hello, everyone. And Ms. Lee. Good evening. Good evening, and welcome to the meeting. So, that takes us, because we have no board orientation this evening, we go directly to the first section of comments from citizens. Correct. >> Okay. All right. Comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate in public comments is 267-715-3717, and is being displayed on the screen at this time. You'll be able to join the meeting by calling in on your mobile or landline phone. A citizen will be recognized once during this period of the meeting, and each citizen's comments will be limited to a total of 3 minutes, except at the discretion of the president. Time may
004not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to another for purposes of extending a given speaker's time allotment. If there's anyone present in the room who'd like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right. Yes, hello. I don't I'm not sure is this turned on? Yes, we can hear you. Okay. And no, can everyone hear me well? Is it turned >> Mr. Cargas, yes. Yes, I want to make sure. My name is Adele Cubbage, and I am from Abington. Now, I keep up with the pulse of Abington, as you know. Dr. Swift is widely viewed as an asset to the senior high school. She's acknowledged for her ability to listen with a balanced point of view. Many know Dr. Swift's ability to engage positively with students
005and staff. Dr. Swift is very much trusted and an excellent principal. Why the school board led by Ms. Maury, Mr. Muhammad, and Ms. Brown would run to mass media media to report alleged unsubstantiated allegations is senseless and disturbing. The Anti-Defamation League spent weeks investigating Dr. Swift's personal accounts and found nothing. I am certain that every pebble was turned over more than once to look at. This board, with no evidence, utilized vague alleged allegations to incite rumors. High school rumors spread faster than forest fires. Clearly, the intention of this board was to undermine Dr. Swift. Employees describe the working environment created by this board, and these are their words, "toxic, cesspool, harassing." Students and adults signed this welcome back Dr. Swift poster with sometimes first and initial names and initials. Why? Many people are afraid of
006retaliation from this board. The Abington School Board is considered nasty and oppressive. It is an open secret that this board is purposely undermining schools to usher in charter schools. You can say you're not, but we're going to get the charters, and it's going to be you brought them. Ms. Maury talks talks of the process of restoring trust. Ms. Maury is a Ms. Maury is a manipulative speaker. Ms. Maury, your actions have destroyed trust. People that do not agree with you are afraid of retaliation. Parents, teachers, and students are not describing an inclusive environment here in Abington schools. I am Jewish and I am against false accusations of any kind. This board cannot be trusted. I brought some things for Dr. Swift and I can can I leave them with you, Dr. Fletcher, because I trust
007you to make sure that Dr. Swift gets them? You can Can you Trish, can you grab Excuse me. Thank you for your voice. Good evening, everyone. My name is Jessica Esther Eads and I'm a sophomore at Abington Senior High School. I'm a member of multiple clubs, most relevantly the Jewish Student Union. I would like to discuss a major issue I found in this administration at my school. Prior to recently, I've experienced little anti-Semitism at the high school and I found a really welcoming environment at ASHS, especially in the JSU. However, in the past week, I've already felt the effects of the return of our principal, Dr. Alice Swift. I've received three unprovoked anti-Semitic comments from my own classmates in only the past few days. The empowerment of discriminatory conduct tells students that hate and bigotry
008is allowed and tolerated. Her return is, whether intentional or not, a statement saying that this administration condones anti-Semitic, even plainly racist comments when it comes from their own members. If a a were to say something prejudice, they could risk losing their job. But, the second it's someone higher up, all morals are erased. Your job as administration is to ensure that it is a safe and comfortable learning environment for all students. Allowing her to continue running our school has made me, my fellow Jewish students, and many parents uncomfortable with the climate our school possesses. I do not wish to have my principal fired, and I'm sure that many Jewish community members would agree that one mistake does not define someone, nor does mean their life should be destroyed. Nevertheless, adequate repercussions need to be put in
009place. This would reassure the members of the Abington community that our diversity is appreciated, and that you will not allow behavior like this in our school district. Thank you so much for your time. Good night. Thank you for your voice. Good evening. My name is John Karn, and I have had children in this school district consistently since 2002. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Could you give us your address? Uh I live at 323 Meeting House Road. Okay, thank you. Um and I too would like to talk about Dr. Swift. Can you explain to us what the rationale was for reinstating Dr. Swift? So, we typically answer questions that we can answer at the end of the the period for public comment. Then I guess the the comment I would like on the record is you attached
010a letter written by Dr. Swift to the email that went out to the parents. That email was embarrassing. You've had your your your chance. Um she basically implied that she didn't make that post. I mean, it's that's something a 7-year-old says to their parents. I think it's ridiculous that you reinstated her, and I'll wait to hear your explanation at the end of the night. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Go ahead. Of course. Uh Joe Rooney, I live in Ardleigh and uh it's wonderful Dr. Swift is on the minds of everybody this meeting. So uh I too I'm here first, welcome back Dr. Swift. I'm glad that uh that uh this has seen its way through and you're still working here for all your great work and I'm sorry for what
011you've been put through. Uh I would like to talk about the uh letters that I received from Dr. Fetcher not I that I was given from Dr. Fetcher and Mrs. Mowery. Um First, as far as I understand, Abington School District says personnel matters are not discussed. So for 3 weeks you relieved Dr. Swift of her duties and then rumors were rampant. People are talking about whatever they saw or didn't see, the rumors that have been forwarded on to me, none of it is substantiated. So uh Dr. Fetcher wrote and said one contained an anti-Semitic stereotype. So first off, we're not supposed to discuss personnel matters and then he throws this out there from the administration. And then the report's recommendation says she should be returned, therefore she was exonerated. Nobody knows anything, we have no
012idea about any of the details of all this stuff. Then the third is a a personnel matter not able to share any more information. That's followed immediately by Mrs. Mowery writing with more information and it doesn't actually agree with what Dr. Fetzer said. So, it adds more questions to a investigation that the person being discussed has already been exonerated from. So, Mrs. Mowry then shares um alleged anti-Semitic posts, and that's important because that's plural. And Dr. Fetzer had just said there was one with an anti-Semitic stereotype. So, now we've got additional accusations against Dr. Swift. Where's Dr. Swift's defense in any of this? 1 minute left. Yikes. Okay. So, anytime you tar people with anti-Semitism, okay, that's called character assassination. And I have a minute left, so what we're going to end up with now
013is we're going to have people coming up here. It reminds me from my history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and they had what they called struggle sessions where students and parents and whoever they were, farmers came up, and they basically accused people like this with finger wagging in public. And you said that Dr. Swift is going to get, if I could get it real quickly, and I'll talk again in a minute here. What did you say? She has to have additional programming. I'm sorry, but there's already been an investigation. She has already been exonerated. You've already told us that there isn't additional information that's going to be handed out. You can't keep doing this character assassination. >> You shouldn't do more on this. Please take a seat. Okay. Thanks. Anyone else in the room? Okay,
014Mr. Cargas, do we have anyone on the line? We do. Okay. The next citizen for public comment, phone number ending in 4437. Please state your full name and full address. It's uh Connie Briggs. Uh 2953 Susquehanna Road, Abington. Thank you. Go ahead. Hi. Um I'm giving a comment tonight about um a concerned resident speaking about the preliminary 2026-27 budget and the growing tax burden on Abington households. Uh I respect the district's educational mission. I know educating children as well well is difficult work, but I hope the board will keep in mind that residents are living with real financial limits. Not every increase in spending is automatically manageable for the people who have to pay it. Uh the district's presentation showed back in February that for a median home homestead assessed at 127,450, the proposed increase
015would be about 1433 per month from the 3.5% Act 1 increase, plus about $27 per month for a middle school debt, for a total of about $41 more per month. I recognize part of this is tied to the middle school debt that the community already approved, but that uh it becomes even more important to show restraint in the rest of the budget and keep ongoing costs from rising faster than residents can absorb. The preliminary budget still relies on about 2.4 million from fund balance to close the gap. This is a big concern. So, my question is what specific steps is the district taking in the parts of the budget it can control to keep future tax increases as low as possible while protecting educational quality? For example, how is the district using attrition and careful
016vacancy review while also controlling outside service costs, improving contract efficiency, and examining debt structure and project phasing? Uh because the state's The on the district request to exceed the allowed tax cap is due tomorrow, the March 25th. I would ask whether the district has heard anything from PDE yet, whether the district can clearly separate for residents the tax impact of the voter-approved middle school debt from the tax impact of ongoing operating cost growth, and if the result or if the request is not fully approved by PDE, whether any portion of the proposed tax increase would go to a voter referendum. I believe residents can support the schools and still ask for restraint, prioritization, and transparency. Thank you, and thanks for everybody for your hard work. Thank you for your voice. Uh Dr. Fetzer, is there
017anything you'd like to respond to? Oh, we do have more. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Next caller, Mr. Cargas. Next citizen for public comment, uh phone number ending in 3984. Please state your full name and full address. Uh hi, I'm sorry. Uh uh this is Michael Snyder. I'm calling from uh or my address is 1267 Rosemont Lane. I'm just calling to thank uh Dr. Fetzer and Dr. not Mrs. Mallory for their due diligence and attention to everything they do, and I do appreciate it my fellow citizens would address both the doctors by their title doctor and not Mr. or Mrs. Everybody seems comfortable calling Dr. Fetzer doctor and not Dr. Mallory. So, thank you. Yes. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else, Mr. Cargas? There are no more callers. Okay. All right. With that, Dr. Fetzer,
018is there anything you'd like to respond to? Um I would I would like to ask uh Mr. Adonizio if um there are a lot of questions about what can be released information-wise, and um as much as um we want to share and what we can share and and can't share uh about the process. So, I would I wanted Mr. Donahue to review that for for the public. Okay. Sure. Under Pennsylvania law, personnel matters for governmental entities like school districts are confidential and that's why you're permitted to discuss them in executive session and not in public session for the interest of the employees privacy. And as a result Can you talk up? Sorry. Or the microphone. The I will start again. Pennsylvania law establishes that personnel matters of governmental agencies are confidential for the protection of
019the employees and therefore government entities like school districts are not permitted to discuss them publicly. The district has gone through great to great pains to try to to release what information it can to keep the to be transparent and keep the community informed while respecting the privacy and confidentiality rights of the employees and that's the balance that we've that I believe that has been tried that the district has tried to strike in this situation. Thank you. Do you want to add anything else, Dr. Fecher? I do want I do want to just talk briefly about um some of the conversations that have been going on um with the staff and and students at the high school and I want to take a moment to thank all the individuals who've reached out to me and regardless
020of you know, their position on this, but um just as a desire to make sure that our community heals and works um you know with each other and I have spent some time um with members of our Abington Senior High School staff and I appreciate their insight and the ability for them to um talk about uh the impact of this on our school community with in mind that our whole purpose in being here is for our students. And the the whole purpose of all of us and what we do on a daily basis is for our students. And I think that at the heart of um any discussion that we have, we have to keep that in mind. Um we also have to uh ensure that we have the proper programming for all of our
021students in place for our staff with through professional development and you know, individual professional development as well. And I think that um this is something that will be a journey. It will not um take place overnight, but I sit within 1 week have had a significant amount of conversations and will continue to do so. Um I will you know, we have a student this evening that spoke uh from the JSU and I will be attending uh that meeting as well um uh tomorrow and I look forward to hearing the students' perspectives and also um you know, some of their suggestions for how we do move forward and how we do heal from this process. So, uh that being said, a- as uh Mr. Donahue has has spoken um we have shared or I was I'll
022personalize it and say I have shared everything that I am permitted to share uh with this and we'll continue to do so um and and make sure that we can give as much information as possible out there. Um I also feel that um we have uh some work to do as a district because whenever there are incidents that occur um and regardless of what people feel about you know, this particular post for example, uh it has hurt a portion of our population and we as an educational institution need to deal with that. And we need to ensure that those types of hurt and pain do not occur in the future and we have to engage in prevention in order to do that. And the best way for us to do that is through good solid
023conversations. And I I just thank everyone who so far has reached out to me. Um you know, people have been critical of me, people have been supportive. I I thank everyone for that because that feedback and it will help us will help us heal. So, I appreciate it. All right. Um thank you. Um I want to thank the community members as well who have reached out. I think um you and I were included on a lot of those emails. Together, um and I'm remembering, I hope Mrs. Brown doesn't get mad at me for saying this, when she and I first began to serve on this board together, there was a meeting where she remarked that no student should go home feeling less than. And that if that is happening, it must be addressed. Um I
024know that Dr. Fetzer and his staff have worked hard, are working hard to put in place um opportunities that will address that. Um this is I agree this is likely to be a long process. We're just taking the first steps now. Um and I'm glad to know that Dr. Fetzer will be meeting with the um with the JSU and um hearing their suggestions for how we might proceed because students need to remain centered always in the work that we do as a board and in the work we do as a district. Um with that Oh, Mr. Allen, would you like to Thank you, sir. >> add something? >> Uh Mr. Donahue, in terms of like point of order, if those that are were privy to this investigation or any employment investigation were to break the
025the law that you know you you kind of said that you're navigating or the district's navigating that, what is the repercussion of violating an employee's privacy or or whatever the laws are that you're you're citing? Sure. It it would potentially create a cause of action for the employee against the employer for for violation of their right to privacy. Oh, just cause of action. Layman's terms, what does that mean? Sue you. Sue the district. Yes, it would it it would potentially result it could potentially result in damages. And payable by the district? And the individual? The like let's Sure. If an individual who was part of the investigation were to reveal it, they would be potentially subject to employment consequences from the district as a result of violating uh an employee's confidentiality. So to your point,
026you're walking a fine line respecting everybody's rights uh without consequence. That is that is the challenge. That is the challenge, yes. Cuz I I understand frustration and not this topic, but many topics. Even student discipline, if a kid's getting a fight, the other parent wants to know what happened. But there's those privacy laws that you're bound to. And um it's unfortunate that to some degree that it is what it is. Okay. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay. With that, we will move on to our first agenda item, which is personnel. Ms. Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation to approve the personnel addenda? That the Board of School Directors approve the changes in personnel as reflected in personnel addenda numbers 4.1 and 4.1a and confidential addendum number 4.1b. Second. We have a second, Dr. Fletcher?
027Thank you, Dr. Maury. The personnel addenda begins with the request for leaves of absence for one professional staff member and compensation for interpreter and translation services. I bring your attention to the retirements of Mr. Dave Dobbinsback, the business and technology chairperson at Abington Senior High School, who has served the district for 36 years, and Ms. Katherine Catania, a paraeducator at Abington Middle School who has served the district for 17 years. I've had the opportunity to work with both individuals and I just want to wish them the best in their retirement. Absolutely. Uh questions or comments from the board? Um just Can I say something? Sorry. Go ahead. Um I had Dobbs last year and Mr. Dobbs was one of the best teachers that I've ever had. Um like I meet former students all the time
028who've graduated for years and they still talk about him. So I'm really excited to see him move on and I also wish him the best. Thank you for that. >> Awesome. 36 years, that's impressive. Yeah, no kidding. Anyone else? A compliment from a student goes a long way and sometimes teachers don't get that until the student comes back as an adult. So those words to his ears are a blessing. Thank you so much for sharing. Okay, this is Flanagan. Mr. Allen? I. Mrs. Brown? I. Ms. Eisenhardt? I. Mr. Muhammad? I. Ms. Balding? I. Ms. Hartman? I. Ms. Frazier? I. Ms. Fletcher? I. Dr. Mowrey? I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Ms. Eisenhardt, can you please read the recommendation for approval of the financial report for the period ending February 28th, 2026 as
029reflected in addendum 5.1? That the board of school directors approves the financial report for the period ending February 28th, 2026. Second. Dr. Fletcher? Thank you, Dr. Mowrey. Uh I would ask Ms. DeNicola if you could please review the financial report for February 2026. Good evening. As of February 28th, 2026, the district has received fiscal year-to-date revenues totaling 159 million, 141,494 dollars compared to 156,182,451 during the same time period last year. This represents an increase of approximately 2.95 million dollars in large part due to local earned income and real estate tax collections. From an expenditure standpoint, district expenditures as of February 20th, 2026 totaled 111,429,721 compared to 112,443,472 for the same period last year. This represents a decrease of approximately 1.01 million or 2.89%. This is in large part due to a decrease in purchased professional
030services, a decrease in salaries related to additional savings. Um, additionally, the district has initiated a spending freeze only allowing um, actual needed expenditures. So, we're really putting um, you know, a challenge to our buildings and to our team to control the spending and not have any unnecessary spending. Okay. Questions or comments from the board? I just wanted to thank you for pointing that out. Earlier, we heard a community member ask what is being done and there is a two-year plan to cut down costs and this is one of those ways that um, that the district is doing that. So, thank you for highlighting that. Anyone else? No? Okay. Um, I think if I remember correctly, the community member who called in asked also specifically about additional savings and that is one of the ways that
031we are cutting back on expenses. So, the balance between the additional revenue the district is taking in and the decrease in costs is positioning us well. Okay. All right, great. Mrs. Flanagan, if you do a roll call, please. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Ms. Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. I. Ms. Balding. I. Mr. Hartman. I. Ms. Frazier. I. Ms. Fletcher. I. Dr. Mowery. I. The eyes have it, the motion passes. Ms. Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation for permits for use of buildings and grounds? That the Board of School Directors approves the financial report for the period ending February 28th, 2026. Um This is item seven, I'm sorry. Item six? Oh, well. How did that happen? I'm sorry, I apologize. Payment of bills, that's an important item. Okay. Okay, my mistake. That's okay, we
032can do that or do I need to approve the one you motioned first? Uh You can proceed with the one that >> Seven, and then >> You can You can just go back to six. Okay. Go back to six. Okay, we'll go back to six. Okay. Do I need to repeat it or are we good? Uh I So, it's the recommendation for the payment of bills for the period ending 20 February 28th. Okay. All right, second. Okay. Uh Dr. Fletcher. I would be happy to answer any questions that you have regarding the payment of bills. Questions from the board? Okay. Now we can do the roll call vote for agenda item six. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Ms. Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. I. Ms. Balding. I. Mr. Hartman. I. Ms. Frazier. I. Ms. Fletcher.
033I. Dr. Mowery. I. The eyes have it, and motion passes. Now we'll do seven. Okay, great. Which follows naturally from six. Miss Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation for permits for use of buildings and grounds? Yes, that the Board of School Directors approves the applications for permits of for use of buildings and grounds as reflected in addendum number 7.1. Second. Dr. Fletcher. Thank you, Dr. Murray. The permit addendum continues to reflect requests for buildings and grounds for meetings and other school events and activities for this time of year. Okay. Questions and comments from the board? It is always worth saying thank you whether it comes from me or another board member. Thank you to our staff, to our community members who volunteer their time to create spaces for students to feel a sense of
034belonging. It really does go a long way. Thank you for all your work. Absolutely. Um and I did want to note that a number of community organizations are using our facilities as well. Including the Old York Road Symphony, uh the Roslyn Boys and Girls Club, Penn State Abington, and there was another one. Among others. So. Good good to see that we are providing that service for um community organizations as well. All right, Mrs. Flanagan, if you would, please. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Miss Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. I. Miss Balding. I. Miss Hartman. I. Miss Frazier. I. Miss Fletcher. I. Dr. Murray. I. The eyes have it the motion passes. Miss Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation for advertisement of bids and that would be agenda item number eight. That the Board of
035School Directors approves the advertisement for bids as reflected in addendum number 8.1. Second. Dr. Fletcher. Thank you, Dr. Murray. This evening we have one request for permission to advertise, and that's for printers for a printer consolidation project. Okay. Can you say more about >> Sure. I'm going to ask Mr. Carges if you could speak about what that means to consolidate our printers around the district. Yes, sure. This is a project to strategically modernize our printing environment across the district. This this project will start with elementary, and we requested to go out to RFP to um get responses back to for what we call multi-functional printers. We're looking at retiring about 65 legacy devices across all of our elementary schools and replacing them with 23 multi-functional printers. Okay, these are printers that can scan as well
036as print. Correct. >> Okay. And currently there's a there's a cadre of scanners and then printers. Okay. Okay. Other questions from the board? Ultimately the consolidation is to for cost as well. So we have some cost avoidance by doing this. With our current model, we should see some some cost avoidance in in the first year. >> with printing toner um and also electronic uh being able to scan to email and stuff like that. Okay. >> Secure print. Great. I have a question about What happens to the 65 existing printers um once they are replaced? Since this is an old >> printers, if I could just add, as as we would deplete our toner supply for those individual printers, we would no longer be utilizing district resources to buy that toner because it comes at a
037very high cost. >> Right. Um these machines will will bring um lots of technology and will improve the print capabilities. It'll just be a different way of printing and it will allow us to have a more constant um expenditure related to the toner and it won't be the one-offs for like the um printers like you would have at your house where every time a color goes down you have to purchase a new toner. So it would be um a much more economical way of printing. I was just curious what happens to the actual printers. Um yeah, like what do Are they donated? Are they recycled? Is there a cost benefit of releasing I don't I more in the actual physical um in individual units, yes. We investigate to see if if they can be um
038recoup some money from them. Um if not, they're then they're they are recycled. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Does it come out of the general fund? Once the bid is Okay. Going once, going twice. All right. Mrs. Flanagan, if you do the roll call, please. Mr. Allen? Aye. Mrs. Brown? Aye. Ms. Eisenhart? Aye. Mr. Muhammad? Aye. Ms. Balding? Aye. Ms. Hartman? Aye. Ms. Frazier? Aye. Ms. Fletcher? Aye. Dr. Mowry? Aye. The ayes have it, the motion passes. Ms. Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation for awards of contracts? That the Board of School Directors approves the awards of contracts as reflected in addendum number 9.1. Second. Dr. Fetzer? Uh thank you, Dr. Mowery. Um tonight for your consideration we have two awards of contract, and that is for student Chromebook devices and switches
039and management software. I'm going to ask Mr. Karges again if you could review uh these two items. Sure. The uh the Chromebooks, as you see uh on your screen, um the the lowest one that came in was uh from Bloom, uh just a little over uh we're we're asking not to exceed 1 million. Um we've seen a a serious uptick in costs for these uh Chromebook devices because of all the AI data center construction going on. Um and it's taken us a a while to um get these quotes in because the prices continue to keep changing. Um this year we're looking at uh getting 2,000 uh Chromebooks across three grade levels. Mhm. And switches and management software. Okay. So, then moving on to the switches, um a few board uh meetings ago you approved switches
040for the elementary. These switches um will go through our federal program E-Rate, uh and these uh switches are designated for this building and um for our middle school building as well. Most of them will be uh applied to the middle school building, and we uh look to get about a 50% uh rebate from our federal program on these switches. >> Mhm. Thank you. Questions or comments from the board? Yes. >> Which three grade levels? I'm sorry. Which three grade levels? >> Chromebooks, it would be third grade, um sixth grade, and ninth grade. Does the amount shown on the screen and in the notes reflect the 50% or is that So for the switches, that is the total cost 306,000, but we anticipate that when we go to purchase them, it'll be 50% of that. Okay.
041Thank you. Sure. So In in as this is a reoccurring cost in terms of the life expectancy of the Chromebooks, how many years are you getting at on a on a large scale out of the Chromebooks? I understand one-offs break and whatnot, but The two grade levels that are handing their Chromebooks in now are going in their seventh seventh year. Oh, wow. Okay. That's remarkable. That's great. And and and with these we get a three-year accidental damage protection with that as well. Okay. Thank you. Can I ask what happens after the three years if a child breaks it or it accidentally falls and the accidental um guarantee's over? When what happens then? So your question was after the the After the warranty is up. Right? So that you said three years, right? We we look
042to try to fix that in in house and if we can't, then we have to send it out for to for repair. Okay. And is that cost to the district? Yes, all this is cost to the district and if it's intentional damage, we send out a damage letter to the parents. Oh. Okay. And then in what's the time frame for replacing other devices for other grade levels? Like we're only doing it for the three grade levels now, but I anticipate that we're going to have to replace them for other grade levels in the years to come, correct? Yes, you're you're speaking into our replenishment cycle. And so, um we look at each year introducing new Chromebooks to the same grade levels. So, you're you you come into third grade, you would keep it to fifth
043grade. Um and then you would get a new one in sixth grade. Mhm. And so, on. Okay. You would get a a new device. My understanding is a brand new. New to you, cuz if you're getting 7 years out of it, third to fifth grade. Yes, but And and so, like last year we only did two grade levels. So, we continuously reassess and look at inventory and how much inventory we're carrying, how much damage. Um and what we had to really look at this year was all the online testing with PSSA's and making sure that we had enough coverage um for for Chromebooks because one of the big things is is that when you send Chromebooks out for repair, you need to have spares for the students to use while they're being repaired. And that
044takes two to three, sometimes even four weeks before we get them back. Mhm. Thank you. Sure. And just to to make a comment about the the state testing requirements, um this is the first year that Pennsylvania is requiring all all of the state tests to be done um on a computer So, they're all done online. And if I could connect to that, that's another reason why we need to upgrade our switches. Um but also to to to stay compliant and and security purposes as well, too. I I have a question. You mentioned that you're seeing significant escalation in price for the Chromebooks. Compared to last year, how much more are we paying? Do you know? So Um last year we purchased uh 1,555 units at a cost of about 600 and uh 600 and $50,000
045uh I think was the the award. And so the the same exact unit that we bought last year is uh 48% more in cost this year. >> Wow. Um last year's Chromebook cost was $295 a unit. This year's Chromebook cost is right around $376 a unit, which is like 28% increase. But that's that's that's going back to the ASUS vendor. Last year we did Lenovo. This year we're doing uh we're going to be seeking going with ASUS. Okay. Um So when you when you first started your explanation, you mentioned that the escalating cost is tied to the um increased use of AI, which I I assume will continue to grow and therefore these Chromebooks are going to become increasingly expensive. Is that accurate? That's an accurate assessment. That's what we've been hearing from our vendors.
046Are we looking at 48% increase next year, too? It's too far out to tell. That's not reassuring. Um, I can say that the for the also for the E-rate switches um that we got for 306,000 quoted that they have also gone up significantly but because we're doing this through the E-rate program, we're locked in with that pricing. Okay. And not only that but the the switches that we're ordering um we won't see them in probably until January 2027. Because of the high demand. Speaking of the cost, um with the cost I'm curious about the cost for the Chromebook itself. Is it the cost of the Chromebook that's gone up up to let's say 48% or is it the programs that are run on the Chromebooks themselves embedded with the AI or other advantages? No, um
047this is strictly Chromebook cost. Um the the reference to the AI construction build that's that's the data centers that's being built across the nation that's Right. >> taking all of the the memory and the hardware and processors. Thanks. >> Um a lot of these manufacturers are devoting their their builds Okay. towards those construction centers and leaving little for K-12. Wow. Can you uh you referenced this several times but just again in layman's terms so the E-rate program, all right, can you give just a a general overview of what that means and and why that is significant? It's significant. It's a it's a federal program um by the FCC um where you that it it covers two categories. Uh one would be like our fiber connection, which we did a couple um 2 years ago, I
048think. We we did that one. And also then that's category one, and then there's category two, which would be your servers and switches that it covers. And that is um based on um free and reduced lunch counts within the school district um is how they evaluate what percentage you get back. And and we fall in the 50% category. So, it's a reimbursable program from the federal government for eligible devices, right? Is that Correct. Yes. And it's good for 5 years, so that they just started a new program for 5 years, and Abington School District was um allotted $1.7 million worth of funding. And this price is the net price after the the E-Rate um No, this this is the cost without the E-Rate. The 306,000 is the the the cost. Once once this would be
049approved tonight, tomorrow um we would submit a form 471 through the E-Rate program to um get our forms to get the 50% reduction. Okay. And at at that time then we would um use that with the purchase order to the vendor. Um and then they would go get their 50% from the program, and we would only have to pay they would reinvoice us for just 50% of that cost. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. I have one more question for Ms. DeNicola, if you don't mind. Um so, these increases are really steep, and our instruction is increasingly tethered to technology. So, how are we What's the plan? So, we always look to get multiple quotes even if it's from a state contract. We will um evaluate those state contract pricing against multiple vendors. Um
050in the past school districts really didn't do that. Um it's become ever more important to do that. So, we will look at multiple vendors. We will look at the actual state contract to make sure the price the vendor is giving us is actually the price that they quoted to um the state. So, we hold the vendors to the price that they've quoted. Um and we just look to make the most efficient use of our devices. So, it in the future as prices as prices may increase, we may look to say, "How many um spare units do we need?" We might cut back on that cuz we do currently have spare units available for students. Um so, we may have to make those kind of decisions. Um and then always actively looking for potential grant opportunities.
051Um a lot There's a lot of STEM opportunities out there. So, looking for ways to create funding streams um that we don't currently have. Okay. All right. I I appreciate that resourcefulness. Um cuz that's a 41% is a little eye-popping. Mhm. All right. Any other comments or questions? No? All right. Mrs. Flanagan. Mr. Allen. I. Mrs. Brown. I. Ms. Eisenhart. I. Mr. Muhammad. >> I. Ms. Balding. I. Ms. Hartman. I. Ms. Frazier. I. Ms. Fletcher. I. Dr. Mowry. I. The eyes have it and the motion passes. Ms. Eisenhart, can you please read the recommendation for the BSI corporate benefits agreement? >> That the Board of School Directors authorize the administration to enter into an agreement with BSI Corporate Benefits. Second. Dr. Fletcher. Thank Dr. Mowry. going to ask Ms. Taylor if you could please review
052this item. Thank you, Dr. Fletcher. This evening we are recommending to the Board of School Directors a partnership with BSI Corporate Benefits for consultative services in the strategic financial and employee service aspects of our employee benefits program. As the trend of rising health care costs is felt across our nation, our district and our employees have also been greatly impacted by these rising costs. Over the last four years, the district has experienced a 150% increase to our health care budget. Through this partnership, we believe that we will be able to effectively address the rising costs for our district and our staff, thus fulfilling our fiduciary responsibilities to act in the best district interest of our district and our employees. BSI will provide services such as thorough financial reviews, market evaluations, performance reporting, analytics, as well as
053risk mitigation, carrier, and plan optimization. Additionally, our staff will benefit from enhanced and new services such as a dedicated district customer service team, access to programs such as HealthiestYou, a 24/7 uh site where you can access primary care, mental health services, physical therapy, and nutrition, as well as a new platform called Benefits App, a fully customizable portal that will provide our staff with immediate access to information regarding their benefits. The administration believes that this partnership will result in many measurable positive outcomes for our district. We are recommending this evening a 3-year contract with BSI. Okay. Questions or comments from the board? Can you talk a little bit or speak to how um progress in the cost-saving initiatives will be monitored across that three-year process and also communication with um staff and families that will be
054utilizing the service. We will be meeting with BSI on a quarterly, monthly, and likely informally quite daily, and we will be able to capture the metrics on the initiatives that ultimately the district decides to put in place and reporting back to the board as well on our progress. We will be working with BSI once the partnership is formed to decide how communications will start with employees. I envision a general announcement letting employees know that this new resource is available and then from there we'll begin to do communication flyers about here's how you contact the advocacy team. Here's access to this website. So it will be a continual roll out. Don't know exactly what it looks like yet cuz we have to start to meet with the team. But I know that Ms. Denicola and I
055have you know some vision for how that will look. Is it often does it often take place that with a company like this or consulting company like this that employees benefit from more direct access to assistance when it comes to navigating health care and all the questions that we have as families and just individuals? My experience with services such as this, not with this specific company, is that it is a great benefit to our staff. The one of the very big benefits is that confidentiality. If you're calling about a claims question or a line of benefits question, you have an outside customer service rep who you're talking with instead of maybe your colleague down the hall. Additionally, the level of expertise that they have as well as the access to the information exceeds that which
056we have here in-house. So, when you present an advocacy group, especially a good one, with a problem, normally it is resolved quickly and without you as that you having to navigate the complexity of calling the carrier and trying to explain, "This is my problem. This is my plan." So, I know that I think it's going to be such a positive impact for our staff and their families. Thank you. Could you explain how um this particular partnership and what it brings to Abington differs from the work that is done in the HR office or the work that's done through our financial team or the work that's done um when we engage with the bargaining units um and how this enhances what we're doing um in what ways does it add to to the district? Sure. I
057would be happy to. So, currently we we do our due diligence, we do our best, but this is access to a team of true experts in this arena. So, you're working with actuaries, uh pharmacists, you're working with long-time professionals in the healthcare arena. So, they understand the healthcare marketplace, they understand the laws that govern what we can and can't do, for example, around open enrollment, laws around um life events. They can help us with our compliance uh for the IRS like 1095s. The actuarial and the strategic knowledge is something that we don't possess. We're not actuaries. So, the ability um as well for this group of experts to to really dig into our claims and understand where are we vulnerable, where can we put strategies in place? There There are so many things that having
058expert services will enhance what we do here. Okay. Um and there is a fee attached to this this partnership. Um do we foresee that fee um yielding savings, and to what extent do should we expect those savings to materialize? Uh we we do believe that the expense of the consulting services will be far exceeded by the cost avoidance or cost savings that we'll see to our health care budget. Um now, this is a 3-year contract. Is Is the goal to have these 3 years and then separate from this partnership, or are we thinking more long-term? I think if this partnership is is as successful as we believe that it can and will be, um then this could become a long-term partnership that we form. Maybe not with this company, maybe maybe they'll be so fantastic
059that we'll want to keep working with them, but we would you know, if if this turns out the way that we hope, this could become part of our fabric, but I think that remains to be determined as we go forward um from my previous experience, health care consultants are often a long-term part of a district solution. Your health care budget is one of the biggest expenditures to the district. So, having that level of expertise to help us make sure that we are conducting ourselves and putting forward um the best work that we can for our taxpayers, for our community members, for our students, for our teachers. You know, this is an area where you do want that level of expert service. And And if we don't see the cost avoidance that we foresee, um, are
060we locked in for 3 years? No, I do believe there is there are some language within the contract for how we may exit. Thank you. Ms. Taylor, could you, um, speak to the impact of escalating health care costs on, um, district employees over the past few years, and and what that does to the cost of living increases that we negotiate in the contracts? Yes, um, so each year our health care costs have increased for our employees by double digits. So, over the last 3 years our employees, uh, pay a portion of our health care costs. The portion is a percentage of the total premium. Each bargaining unit has a different percentage amount. So, when that total cost rises for the district, it rises for the staff members. And because we're having double-digit increases year after
061year, what's happening is that amount that is coming from the employee is growing, and in many cases it is either meeting or exceeding their raise. So, employees are going home, you know, after they get a raise, hardly seeing that raise or not seeing anything at all. Some employees have a backward trajectory, which is so hard, especially in an economy where we see the price of everything going up and the burden on our families, you know, to be great. Right. Okay. And so, this, um, the kind of efficiencies that BSI will help us implement will the expectation is it's going to hold those increases in check to some degree so that as employees um as cost of living increases go into effect for our employees, they're not going to see that increase consumed by what they
062have to pay for towards their health care. That that's the hope is that the increases to health care will fall more into a a lower percent of a 6% or a 7%, which would be more, you know, uh more bearable to to our to our overall budget as well as to our employees. Okay. I mean, I certainly it's it's important um in the kind of economy we're all in to give our employees as much of a buffer as we can. Um Okay. Other questions or comments? So, just a comment Mr. Allen. Just a comment to that point, just publicly thank uh you, your team, and that have done this cuz I know it's so easy to rinse and repeat the same thing that's happened year and year uh because it's just less work. So, I
063I know that this was a massive undertaking and putting out RFPs and doing this for um savings for the district, but also an increased service for our staff. Like that's really appreciated. Uh and I'm sure our our employees will uh be grateful for that, too. But, thank you. Yeah, to echo that um you know on multiple items in this agenda, we've had a conversation about increases in district spending based on external factors. Uh and so, thank you for trying to be proactive and stemming some of the >> Yeah. um for lack of a better term, damage that is being caused by external factors. Um and we know that ends up impacting our schools, our our employees and our students. So we're trying to serve the people we've been brought here to serve. Okay. Anyone else?
064Okay. All right. Mrs. Flanagan, please. Mr. Allen. Aye. Mrs. Brown. Aye. Mrs. Eisenhart. >> Aye. Mr. Muhammad. Aye. Mrs. Spalding. Aye. Mrs. Hartman. Aye. Mrs. Frazier. Aye. Mrs. Fletcher. Aye. Dr. Mowry. Aye. The ayes have it and the motion passes. That brings us to item 11. Dr. Fletcher, are there any additional reports or recommendations by the administration? Yes, Dr. Mowry. I provide the conference attendance and professional leaves for your information. As always, we're grateful to um our staff and faculty um for representing the district at conferences. And the college tours, it's exciting to see those back. Yeah. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Actually, I'm curious about something here. Took a little note earlier about the conference attendance. Um it says observed implementation of the open science ed uh science program and I was wondering
065how that was related to amplify by I think you got I'm not sure if we purchased it or not, but there was some talk about it. So I was just wondering if there was a connection between the two. Dr. Vela. Yes, um K5 is currently um involved in a superintendent's committee for the adoption of new science materials. So our committee has been visiting various districts who have the products that we'd like to review. Mhm. This is one of those products. We have seen um This will be the third. So, you've you've approved three visits. This is our third visit. Thank you. Mhm. Anyone else? Okay. That brings us to our final section of comments from citizens. Once again, comments from citizens are being conducted both in person and by phone. The phone number to participate
066in public comments is 267-715-3717 and is being displayed on the screen at this time. You will be able to join the meeting by calling in on your mobile or landline phone. A citizen will be recognized once during this period of the meeting and each citizen's comments will be limited to a total of 3 minutes except at the discretion of the president. Time may not be yielded or otherwise transferred by one speaker to another for purposes of expe- extending a given speaker's time allotment. If there's anyone present in the room who'd like to make a comment, please use the microphone either to your left or to your right. Adele Cubbage Abington. Last May, immediately following the vote yes vote, I attended a board meeting and I asked you, Mrs. Mowrey, why you decided to put an
067emoji heart next to divisive and horrific marks posted by a vote yes supporter. I had emailed you previously and not gotten an answer. You refused to respond to the question. Not one board member asked you to respond and that's very telling. I pointed out that many votes vote yes supporters last May posted derogatory vicious statements on the internet. So often, it actually appeared to be their job. I also pointed out a first-grade teacher posted ages nasty hate on a community site. Another Abington teacher marked the hateful statement with an emoji heart, just as you had. Ms. Mary, it is clear that you encourage verbal assault. These two teachers knew that vicious words directed towards specific groups or people are welcomed and might even further their careers. Mr. Spiegelman and Ms. Brown proclaim that posting hate
068was moms getting things done. I couldn't believe it. Moms getting things done was the answer to posting hate on the internet. Michelle Cooper, president of the Human Relations Commission, called in with congratulations. The hate from vote yes was posted in so many multiple sites, Ms. Cooper couldn't have missed it. She had no concerns, and she's with Human Relations. A librarian, also with the with the township, had no concerns about all the hate that was generated from vote yes. It was shocking. Diversity and inclusiveness got their standard mentions despite all the hate that was used by vote yes. Ms. Mary told me 3 years ago that the middle school is gone, just completely gone at the car show. This school board has no members willing to hold each other accountable, not any. All you do is
069quietly compliment each other and agree. Workplace harassment must stop. Those that care are afraid to speak out. When I just discussed workplace harassment, people calling this a cesspool, toxic, harassing to work in the schools, whoop, right over your head. Vote yes is a billionaire charter and developer back movement. Absolute 100%. We are going to get those charters because you're taking the school down. We're going to have no public education. Billionaires will control schools. The situation is tragic. Unfortunately, in Abington, jumping on the bandwagon first. >> Your time is up. Let me finish the sentence. Please take a seat. Your time is up. You interrupted the last sentence. How polite. Anyone else in the room? Yes, John Karns, 323 Meetinghouse Road. So, back to Dr. Swift. This is from Dr. Swift's letter of explanation. I want
070to be clear that this content does not represent me, my values, or anything I would ever choose to share. I recognize, however, that regardless of how this content came to be shared, it caused real distress. And I accept full responsibility for not ensuring appropriate safeguards for my social media account. She can't even admit she did it. She can't even She's implying she wants us to believe that she was hacked. Is what she's saying. Is that the explanation that this that we get? Nothing else. Apparently, that's the case. That does not address what I understand to be many, many more TikTok postings over the last year or so. Anti-immigration posts, pro-Trump, pro-MAGA posts. And it's And it's also my understanding, Dr. Murray, that this was brought to your attention last year. And your response to the
071person that brought to your attention was she can do whatever she wants on her personal time. Not acceptable. This is not a personnel This This is not a personal issue. She's making public posts on social media that students see, parents see, and nothing happens. Nothing. Yes? No explanation. Thank you. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Um I just want to say that I really respect the board for um the way that you've been handling this issue, but I really think that more needs to be done. I mean, what I know you said you'd answer questions at the end of the commentary section, right? Um so, my question is what is your plan for healing the school community because of this hate that was spread and because of the hurt that many
072Jewish students feel, including me, especially the JSU. I mean, I was sitting there yes like a few days ago at a meeting and seeing how much that this was hurting people, it was heartbreaking. Um and it's kind of hurting me as well because I really respect I respected Dr. Alice Swift and I feel like she has let us down. And I want to know what is the school district planning to do to get past this? What are we planning to do to heal the community and make everybody feel a little more safe and a little more comfortable with our um principal. Um okay, that's all. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else in the room? First um next week is Holy Week and also Passover. So, for our Christian
073and Jewish friends, I hope you have a blessed Passover and a blessed Holy Week and Easter. Um, and for all of you also. Second one is, um, from Mr. O'Donahue and from everything I understand, the only facts that we know is that there was an investigation and Dr. Swift was exonerated. And she's back at work. She was thoroughly investigated. Everything else is people acting on rumors. Now, I don't think anything's been released unless you all have done it. So, we're looking at a classic case of a struggle session right here where there's rumors people are acting on and they're demanding this and people are claiming whatever to be upset about her political positions or whatever. I don't know. I I don't see how you all are comfortable with how she's been treated. Even afterwards. The
074second one is, um, what Mrs. Mowery and Dr. Fetzer did was character assassination in that letter. >> Mrs., not Dr. >> there's no other way around saying that and that's shameful and I believe you opened up the district to a lawsuit. Uh, second one, um, for the for the Chromebooks, you all ought to look up Moore's Law. I'm sorry the prices went up. There's a high demand on technology equipment that traditionally has come down. I thought it was kind of funny that the a school director talks about how we got a two-year plan of cutting costs. We're up to $210 million a year. You're increasing taxes by $500 a house this year with more coming in the future. So, um, I like that. And the third one, uh, Dr. Allen was very kind and he
075acknowledged some questions I had about the MCIU. I was thinking maybe you all would address it at some point. I I I admit I didn't know very much about it until I hear about $40,000 in costs and I'm still trying to understand it. But, um, I found out it's a $200 million budget. Wow. So, Dr. Allen's in charge of he is a director for the school district at $210 million a year, a $285 million construction project, and then a $200 million budget on the MCIU. That would be a lot of studying for me to be able to talk wisely on all that stuff. Maybe you could tell us, does Abington School District pay the MCIU? Do we fund them? I just don't know these questions as to where they get the $200 million. And um
076if you could discuss that, that would be great cuz it's obviously in the news. Thank you for your voice. Carol Godfrey, uh 1021 Devon Road, Jenkintown. Um I don't like to complain. However, tonight I was really having trouble hearing everybody, and I noticed um Mr. Garges, I could definitely hear him. He was like 3 in away. And I see up here some people are 2 ft away from the microphone. So, going forward, could you pull the microphones in? I don't think I'm the only one in the room that couldn't hear some of the things. So, just a suggestion. Thanks. Thanks for your voice. Anyone else in the room? Mr. Garges, we have callers on the line. >> We do. Uh next citizen for public comment, phone number ending in 4437. Please state your full name
077and full address. Connie Briggs, 2953 Susquehanna Road, Abington. Go ahead, we can hear you. Hi. I know you all get up very early in the morning. So, I'm just going to ask two questions. One of them wasn't answered in my first comment. Um the one about the um the Act 1 cap, um the PDE's decision on that, whether uh this part all of it or part of it will go to referendum the proposed increase tax increase above the 3.5% cap. And the second question is uh where do I get that two-year plan that for cutting costs that uh one of the board members discussed? Please. Thank you for your voice. Anyone else on the line, Mr. Cargas? >> There are no more callers. Okay. Dr. Fetzer. Uh I first want to um address the question
078about uh what are some of the uh things that will uh occur within the um within the school uh in terms of the healing process and having students um who are upset and giving them a space uh for us to listen and also plan to move forward. So, um the beginning of this process as I alluded to in the first portion of comments um has been beginning the listening of this and um also with that process of listening looking at what is needed uh for our school, what is needed for our professional development. And uh we intend to work uh with some of our uh religious leaders in the area as well as um the Anti-Defamation League uh to create programming specific to what uh comes out of these facilitated discussions that are current currently
079um happening. Um that being said, we will need at at once we go through this process to map out uh what that full scope of our training and program would be and uh we will be communicating that to our students, um staff, and our families at Abington Senior High School. Okay. Anything else? That's That's all I Okay. Um Mr. O'Donoghue, can you explain what right, if any, the district has to inquire about employees' political views? Uh none would be the simple Yeah, that that employees are entitled to their to their First Amendment uh rights, their their political beliefs. They cannot be discriminated against on the basis of of their political leanings. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. With that, I think we move on to closing comments. Mr. Allen. Nothing, thank you. Mrs. Brown. Thank
080you, everyone, for your voice. Uh blessed Passover and Easter to those who are observing the holidays. Okay. Ms. Eisenhart. Uh thank you for everyone for coming and engaging tonight. I especially uh wanted to acknowledge and appreciate uh the student voice that was shared today. I think that takes a lot of courage to come and speak upon um yourself and also the voice of other students that you're concerned about, and I appreciate um the administration in uh creating avenues for that to discussion to continue with more construct ways to address needs and concerns as they arise. Um so, thank you for that, and good evening to everyone. Mr. Mohamed. Uh Eid Mubarak to our Muslim family members and a blessed holy week and blessed Passover to our Christian and Jewish family members. Good evening, all. Thank
081you. Ms. Balding. Um, well, I guess I could say happy Easter, happy Passover, happy whatever you celebrate. And I'll I'll see everybody in 3 weeks, not 2. Thank you. >> two? Mhm. I didn't know that. Um, thank you to everybody who came out tonight and spoke. Um, especially to our student who, um, spoke out. I agree with you that that takes a lot of bravery and, um, you know, we love to support our students in everything that they do. So, thank you. Um, and have a good night, everyone. Ms. Fraser. Thank you, community. Have a good night. Ms. Letcher. Yes, happy happy season and to whatever you celebrate in the next couple of weeks. And, uh, check out the art show next week. That's right. The art show is next Art show is next week
082and I got a sneak peek and it looks good. It always looks good. It's always amazing what our students put out. Ms. Lee. Good night, everyone. Okay. Dr. Fetzer. Good night, everyone. Thank you for coming out and, um, I would also, uh, appreciate, uh, that the students, um, voices uh, not only in school but, uh, in our, um, community meetings as it such as the board meeting as well. So, I appreciate that and, um, I think that's, uh, important for our, um, students to learn and, um, be engaged civically, uh, as well as the example of our, um, residents who come out and, um, have the opportunity to express their thoughts and uh, ask questions. So, thank you. Okay. Uh, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Passover, happy Easter, um, to our Muslim families
083who have just concluded uh, Ramadan. Happy Eid. Um, and thank you to the students, um, who attended, who spoke this evening. Um, I think it's important that the district continue to center their voices and their experiences. Um, it it takes courage to speak up. So, I applaud you for that. Um, and also hope that you recognize that the willingness to speak openly and honestly honestly is a critical part of civil society. So, thank you. Um, with that, this meeting is adjourned. Have a good evening, everyone.