001good evening everyone and welcome to the September 12 2022 meeting of the Abington Board of school directors I note the attendance of all board members with the exception of Mr Allen who is expected to attend this evening please rise for the pledge of the allegiance indivisible with liberty and justice for all really cool thank you the Abington Board of school directors has convened this evening's meeting at the administration building and the public is welcome in consideration of the health and safety of the school Community this meeting is also being broadcasted live on the Abington School District YouTube channel the meeting is Will is being recorded and will be accessible on the district's website and cable channel no later than Friday September 16 2022 to allow those members of the public who cannot participate to view
002the proceeding at a later time comments from citizens will be conducted in person and by phone information regarding participating remotely in public comment will also be displayed on the screen at the time of public comment the board thanks to public in advance for your cooperation do we have any additional announcements this evening Dr fetcher no from my fellow board members excellent so this evening we have eight scheduled interviews of people who have expressed interest in serving on the Abington Board of school directors to complete the term of the vacated or vacated by Mrs O'Rourke interviews are scheduled every 20 minutes and the same question will be posed to all of the candidates a sex successful candidate will be selected by the public vote by the board of school directors at September 20 2022 at our
003regularly scheduled board meeting there is no deliberation regarding the candidates this evening the successful candidate term will commence no later than September 26 2022 upon swearing in and end on December 4th 2023. at this time I'm going to ask that we bring our first candidate into the zoom room and our first candidate is Mr Paul Morse hello Mr Morris Pete Morris please forgive me yeah if you can unmute your mic we will be able to hear you as clearly as you can hear us all right [Music] thank you does that work it does it is perfect so Mr Morris uh each candidate will receive 20 minutes three minutes per question and the questions will be asked by um of five of our board members okay appreciate that thank you excellent let us get started I
004have your first question why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community um first I want to thank you all very much for accommodating me with a zoom um I had this meeting or this trip had been planned a while ago so I wasn't able to change it but thank you very much um excuse me um I want to be able to uh serve on the school board again because I think I have a lot to offer the students the parents and the community and I want to see the Abington School District to be absolutely the best it can be as you all do and number
005one in Pennsylvania not for the glory but because I think what it means is that we are providing the students with the best possible education now you say all right Mr Morris what skills do you bring um I have been in the community for 50 years over 50 years so I think I understand the community um I have a daughter who has gone through the in school system uh and was a teacher in the Abington School District for 19 years I have a son-in-law still teaching I have a grandson in the Middle School in eighth grade and I have a senior in the high school so I have a lot of skin in the game so to speak um I did serve as the addingtons on the Abington School Board from 1989 to 1999 and
006I was um president of that board for nine years I've served on many communities committees throughout the Abington Township currently chairman of the board of the Addington arts center I ran my company uh and CEO for 30 years we had five offices in various States and throughout the world I'm currently a member of the Abington Foundation which was The Guiding Light for the Stephen Schwartzman gift and uh I have retired so I have an awful lot of time uh and energy to help the community the students and the staff thank you so much for your answer and Mr Morris thank you so much for joining us this evening what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between excuse me public education and diversity inclusion and
007equity um the purpose of Education public education is really to ensure our students can compete in the world when they graduate to help them reach their full potential that's what public education my view is and we have to provide the necessary resources to do that so that they can reach their full potential in other words we have to be sure our students are productive that they're informed and that they know how to find answers when they're confronted with a situation that they don't know because we don't know everything and there's no way and so they have to be able to ascertain how to find that we also have to provide them with social upward Mobility improve their lives essentially providing them the skills and background necessary to succeed in Abington or whatever Community they live
008in Pennsylvania and in our country evening Mr Morris uh I have your third question tonight and that is what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries this is an interesting question because I've read an awful lot of Articles over the last couple years that said libraries are passe libraries uh everything's on the internet so you really don't need libraries and you can save a ton of money without you know by eliminating libraries and I say that's categorically not true categorically not true one of the most important aspects of a school libraries are often overlooked in addition to providing a quiet place for the students of quiet and safe place for the students where they can really think outside the box without being um I don't want to use the word brass but without
009a lot of background chatter it provides these students our students with the opportunity to do a lot of research with almost unlimited information and what's important is the information is even conflicting it'll say in one instance it's this and another instance it's that and I think that's extremely important but most important is the technology that it provides them access to because a lot of students don't have access to this technology of today and I I don't care what where you are in life you don't have access to the technology is just changing so fast and I think that it provides our students with the opportunity to be see the actual real-time technology the latest technology and that's extremely important further I don't think the librarian is any longer a little old gray-haired lady that knows
010the Dewey Decimal System I think that the 21st century librarian has to be up to date on the technology it's extremely important because the librarian has to show them show our students how to use it they have to show them where the information is they have to show them that there's differences of information there's a in one hand this this opinion in another hand there's this opinion said the the librarian has to motivate the student to look Beyond just simply doing a little research they have to look at two three four different points of view and thereby enabling our students to reach a conclusion that they developed through all the information that's out there thank you Mr Moore save your fourth question what do you view as the strength of Abington School District in your
011view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today um certainly strengths of Abington School District we could have a lot of strengths we do have a lot of strengths um and I'm not going to list them an importance but I think these are all important I think the physical facilities are extremely important for our students because they provide a pleasant atmosphere in which to live I think that was really um and when I was on the board the facilities were undergoing the changes so we didn't get to see all that I think diversity of our student population as well as our staff is particularly important I think that's a real strength I think the reputation of the Abington School District is important I think that the senior requirement where students need to
012have Community Services critical I think that this sets the framework for our students as they go out into the world that they want to help others that it's not me me me is to help others I believe that there's a lot of good teachers and staff who care about the these students I think that that's a very good strength and I think the last is a relationship that the Abington School District and the Abington police have to ensure the safety of our students and our staff I think that that's extremely important and I think it's worked very well over the years those are the sects that I feel are probably critical I'm sure there's a lot more but I think those are six that are important I have your fifth question about the values I'm
013sorry I couldn't hear that can you turn towards the mic when you ask your question please yeah thank you sorry about that please share your thoughts about the value of consensus building in board Dynamics also if possible include in your answer any relevant experiences on a committee board or organization organizational bodies that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving and I know that's uh packed so I'll be happy to reread any part at some point um I think consensus building is the only way to reach an outcome obviously that the majority and hopefully unanimous everyone can agree I mean it's just there's no question about that very very difficult um but not impossible I think first it has to assume we all have to assume that no one has a
014hidden agenda that everything is out in the open because if there's a hidden agenda then it makes it really a very very difficult if not impossible to meet a uh get a consensus I think second everyone must speak openly honestly and at the same time respectfully expressing their opinions and most importantly listening listening to the other person what the other person is saying I think that's very important everyone must listen whenever anyone is voicing their ideas suggestions I think a couple examples of consensus I think budgets are a great example for the Abington School Board the Abington Art Center when people when when a team when the board reaches consensus budgets because we all have we like this we like that we like this we favor that but we have to look at the students
015we have to look at the staff we have to look at the goals what are our goals what are our objectives and where are we going and so we have to have to I will say reach consensus compromise on the a lot of the issues that we want to work together on I think that's extremely important budgets another one was when I was on the board uh Dr Hebert back in gee I don't know probably the early 90s before some of you I guess um well not some of you but anyway early 90s Dr Hebert passed away he was superintendent of the Abington School district and Jim McCaffrey was the assistant superintendent and Jim would have been a natural move up to that position but Jim said absolutely I don't want it no way not
016interested so the board went out we interviewed and interviewed and interviewed and we talked and brought people in and everything we just went through everything and we could not reach agreement on all the people we interviewed the one person we were able to reach agreement on was Jim McCaffrey and that was an excellent example because I think Jim McCaffrey was an excellent superintendent for the Abington School District he was excellent for the students excellent for the staff excellent for the community he cared about each and every one and I think Jim had the knowledge of the school district and and I think that was a great one uh where we reach consensus I think another one that's current I'll just give you one more quick example and that is on the Abington Arts Center I'm
017on the board and when I got on that we had a a cater that was an exclusive cater and they cater um wasn't doing a very good job and the board we really didn't know what to do we finally were working with the with the um caterer and we really couldn't change his method of operating so what we ended up doing was deciding how we wanted to restructure that and the board ended up bringing in a number of non-exclusive caters but a number of preferred caters and frankly it's worked out very very well I think those are three examples of I want to thank you you went slightly over your three minutes but I definitely wanted you to finish that thought okay thank you that takes us to the end of the five questions do
018you have any questions about the process before we conclude uh your your interview um was there anything that I had missed that um should be clarified or any of the board members feel that I didn't give sufficient answer or had further questions on anything out of respect for the the person who's coming in at 7 20 we've exhausted the the three minutes from question and I want to thank you for for your time and uh and for zooming in with us this evening and if there aren't any additional questions that you have thank you very much okay I appreciate it and I assume that you'll let everybody know within the next week or two uh the deliberations will take place on the 20th and uh at that point the board will vote on the candidate
019because we're not deliberating tonight nor outside of the public view we will not be able to give you that answer until the 20th okay good I appreciate it very very much thank you all thank you thank you for your consideration appreciate it night good night thank you our next candidate uh for this evening Dr Arthur and I want to make sure I pronounce Dr author's name correctly is it bear Dr Arthur bear Arthur foreign hello and welcome good evening good evening welcome I do want to make sure I'm pronouncing your last name correctly is it Dr bear that's easy just like the animal we are got it I won't forget it thank you thank you so there's a total of 20 minutes uh three minutes allocated for each question and various board members will read
020one question okay okay I have your first one why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community sure I did answer the questionnaires so uh the Abington schools I believe are the crown jewel of our community I benefit I've been a resident for 30 years my children went through the schools and um the I'd like to be part of continuing the the heritage of Excellence uh what what do I bring to the board if chosen I if you've read my resume I I was a scientist I believe I would have a lot of insight with issues related to that and not just for our academic children
021I have a lot of experience teaching mathematics to a non-college or put it this way people that take math in college to just fulfill requirements not necessarily scientists or engineers um I I think I would be able to pay attention to the uh the needs of the students and and parents and I would plan to solicit both through those populations to to get perspective on the various decisions that the board makes thank you very much um so the um thank you so much for being here this evening we're happy to see you and we appreciate you uh putting your name in the in the Hat for this position what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity equity and inclusion yeah
022um the uh I think the purpose of public education is to provide all of our young citizens with uh to prepare them for society whether whatever their decisions may be whether they be industry in the military or academic Pursuit the we have to transfer our culture to these students and subject matter um the presently the school board represents the the desires of of the of the parents and the students to accomplish those things it's um it's a tough question because it's almost like a the answer is too obvious I think you know we it you could just say oh let's say educate the children but that involves so many things and you know they're at a younger age students who are being exposed to a more societal issues than maybe they were when I was
023in high school and it and that needs to be navigated as well welcome this evening thank you for participating in the process I have your third question what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries um certainly a lot different than it was before I think the internet has made a a big difference in what's available to students and how they learn and how they access materials um I think at the library at a place as big as Abington as as we're like a library more like being a student resource doesn't have to be a particular building I I would like to look into whether uh students who have complicated lives at home have a quiet place to study maybe after hours that doesn't have to be in a library that could be in
024a class in a supervised classroom of course the library should have internet access and it should be supervised internet access should be quiet should be safe and maybe additional resources such as tutoring whether or not tutoring comes from districts teachers or private contractors or private citizens that do such such services and they could be vetted to be available during uh those hours so to me a modern library is is a resource for students not necessarily books on a shelf although you know that's part of it thank you for your next question thank you for being here what do you view as the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today I think the strength of Abington schools is the caring Community we've rebuilt essentially
025all the elementary schools when my tax Dollar by the way and I was glad to pay those taxes with the generosity of of Mr Schwartzman we've we have a crown jewel of a physical plant for a high school and I think in other Advantage is I I believe we're the second largest school district in Montgomery County second to Norristown that might be dated information but we're we're one of the bigger ones right and that gives us opportunity to um to to uh hire the professionals needed to uh to advise the students and to uh have a wider selection of course offerings for example a AP course offerings it also allows us to to have have offerings for uh non-academic Trek students I uh I really like the uh one of my son's better friends uh
026graduated with the with the Dual program between the Montgomery County Vocational School in Abington and that was a good mix of uh with his interests critical issues I have a list of them and it's in no particular order because I would have to be on the job a little bit Consulting with my colleagues to figure out which one of these are prioritized or how to how to list these maybe it's not even important to list them because you know we could walk and chew gum at the same time but um I see over overseeing I'm going to just read from my text if you don't mind overseeing academic programs appropriate to individual students within a large diverse population um it must be a headache for the guidance counselors to just look at the sweep of
027all the students we have and to just decide what's best for them or to even consult their parents to figure out what's best for them but that's a professional activity nonetheless um recently I put this on a list because navigating different interpretations of school safety which includes disease like like we just been through covet as well as traditional safety you know parents are concerned about bullying and Intruders and and just just navigating that in a fair way the I don't I don't know how much the board gets involved with this but I I consider resolving curriculum uh issues resolving involving uh controversial cultural issues as being um as being an issue to address there's there's a lot of division out there between people's different interpretations of uh of various curriculum especially as it relates to
028the uh social sciences and history um I think Fair handling of discipline is is a critical issue and um to the extent that the board gets to involved in those decisions uh that that's that's that's uh on my list as well and of course it's it's last but it might be first is responsible budgeting the board is responsible for approving budgets and uh deciding the salaries of top administrators for example and uh you know that's it's not an endless pot of money to our taxpayers and we have to pay attention to that thought value of consensus if possible include your answer any relevant experiences on the committee board or organizational body that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving um consensus is important my experience with that is um I
029I as you know I was a scientist and I I was I was the principal investigator on many large projects and we worked with different people sometimes people from other states and there were disagreements um I I worked for a federal agency U.S Geological Survey and it was a pretty uh open culture there wasn't much of a vertical structure as far as it wasn't like a military operation we were it was all pretty open and uh usually usually I was in charge but you know earlier in my career I wasn't and I always appreciated people listening to me even if my ideas were not implemented um it's better to have consensus in a group that's trying to get uh trying to get goals and you have to keep an open mind and sometimes you get
030the best ideas from the most unexpected places in the event that not all ideas are feasible not everyone can have their way and it has to be clearly communicated the reasons for discounting an approach or an opinion there has to be reasons for that and as a board member I would anticipate in writing providing a rationale for any decision I would be part of um I forgot the second part of that question I'm sorry possible includes your answer any relevant experiences on the committee board or organizational body that involve navigating opposing opinions which you spoke briefly about a moment ago also share your approach to problem solving okay yeah um I like to do my homework I am the way I solve problems in a group dynamic is uh a lot of times you're just
031solving your own problems and you know that's fine but if you're in a group dynamic I'd like to spend time allotted to me to do my own research do my own homework so that for two reasons if I have a defensible position there needs to be articulated then I have the background to do that conversely if someone has an opposing view or an opposing methodology um me doing my homework would allow me to understand something to be on a higher platform to understand what the next issue or what the next appropriate methodology would be so um the the summary of that question is I like to do my own homework I wasn't I wasn't a Boy Scout but I like to be prepared we want to thank you so much for your time and again
032putting your your name in the Hat uh do you have any questions about the process yeah I do have a question um we're two months away from the election right and I was wondering this is a temporary position right and I was wondering what the what the what the rationale was for appointing a temporary position just two months away from the election big question uh the election in November does not include School Board candidates we serve on a four-year term and they uh rotate every two years so my four-year term is ending and I will be campaigning again and that election won't be until 2023. so this uh there's there aren't any school board candidates on the ballot for this November okay okay thank you uh so that this position would be for at least
033two years it would be for uh and so December 4th yeah of 2023. sorry about a year and a half okay good thank you oh thank you thank you so much for your time thank you good luck thank you our next candidate is Miss Rachel Hartman hello Miss Hartman good evening good evening thank you for being here today thank you for having me and for giving me the opportunity to interview the interview is 20 minutes three minutes per question and the questions will be asked by various school board members I have your first question okay great why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community okay
034so um there's a few reasons why I want to serve on the school board um I've always had a passion for helping others it's one of the reasons why I became a teacher and why holds community and service Civic service so near and dear to my heart I want to carry that passion to Abington School District serving on the board is also a way for me to serve my community and I strongly believe that every child in Abington deserves an education that's rigorous inclusive and Equitable and I want to help to make that happen uh as far as my skills and experiences I live by the words of my favorite quote by Mahatma Gandhi be the change you want to see in the world here are some ways that I've let those words guide me
035I started in my own classroom I started small giving children the confidence to reach their dreams while providing them with rigorous instruction with many opportunities for creativity deeper learning and inclusivity I then stemmed out a little bit and I served on several District committees at the school and District level to improve the instruction and culture in the district after several years in the classroom I became a K-12 instructional coach and in that capacity I was able to engage in positive changes in the district where I work on a larger scale in this capacity I updated and vetted and wrote curriculum that aligns with state standards and also prepares the students in the district to be successful in the 21st century I supported teachers in their classrooms to implement instructional strategies that are engaging and meaningful
036I delivered professional development on many different topics and I also wrote a grant to develop a k-6 Environmental Education Program in the district for the past four years I've been a member of the Cadre for equity in Hebrew Horsham we work with a professional on equity and inclusion to identify ways to honor all of our students their backgrounds and their needs we talk about very difficult topics together including how to celebrate diversity in our classrooms and schools in a way that honors every student and the cultures that they bring to school with them incorporating cultural diversity into our curriculum and also creating a school community that is safe and accessible to all students um I've also served on the social justice committee where we've developed lessons and offered resources to teachers to incorporate the social
037justice standards in their teaching practices I'm frequently asked to serve on committees to Mentor new teachers and student teachers to lead professional development because I consider myself a leader in my school Community where I work as I continue to let Gandhi's words guide me I hope that I'm able to continue to be the change and influence change in Abington School District thank you very much thank you so much for being here and for putting yourself out there for this for this role what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and Equity okay so um although the purpose of Education changed over the years the main purpose is obviously for kids to learn and socialize in a safe space um
038gone are the days of you know rote learning and Round Robin reading because we know now that that is not the best way to teach our children so now we need to teach our children a certain skill set to be productive members of society which is very different than what it was in the past we've learned that learning should be collaborative inquiry based and sometimes even student driven children need to learn how to communicate problem solve and need access to the most recent technology they don't need to memorize facts anymore because they have Google at their fingertips we don't need to hold calculators back from them because they have them in their back pockets so the skills that they need to be productive members of society have changed and I think that as a school
039district and in schools we need to reflect those changes and help kids to learn the skills to be effective members of society children also need to learn how to communicate they need to learn how to problem solve I already did that one primarily our children need to learn how to ask questions and make informed decisions and engage with others in a productive way in order to help our children achieve the skills to be effective citizens in our world we need to shift our education from a teacher-led model to a student-led model students need to have say and voice in their education there they should be active participants in their learning which is very different than what we've seen in the past in relation to diversity inclusion and Equity we know that the children entering our
040school buildings come to us with varying needs whether they are academic social or economic or emotional our job as Educators is to meet children where they are and help them to achieve success regardless of what they bring to school with them it's been proven that for children to learn they need to feel safe and seen in their schools and their classrooms this can include diversity in our teaching materials intervention and extension opportunities variety and types of Assessments that all children can access student choice literature and teaching programs that reflect a variety of family structures cultures and backgrounds training for teachers in diversity inclusion and equity and a school culture of acceptance the goal of education has always been academic success but how we get there is different in 2022 we need to ensure that the
041student with diverse learning needs has access to learning materials at the appropriate level we need to make sure that our gifted students have authentic opportunities to extend their knowledge we need to help our students from diverse backgrounds see themselves in the teaching materials and feel that their own cultures are seen and honored we need to make sure that our students who have difficult home lives come to school and feel supported in their classroom environments and we also need to make sure that education is accessible to all students and consider every student's personal needs when they enter the school building finally Equity is not just applicable to individuals but also to infrastructure and resources across school buildings the populations of students in the different elementary schools is not the same and we need to make sure
042that resources are allocated based on what the kids need which might look different in different schools welcome this evening Miss Hartman thank you I have your third question it's short what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries well I think school libraries and Librarians are critical components of our schools I think the traditional purposes of school libraries hold true today kids need opportunities to read they need access to literature that is um that is diverse and engaging um School libraries are where kids learn to love to read and that still holds true given the changes in our world it's important to take a closer look at how libraries are structured and how they support children in today's world although I still believe in the importance of holding a book and turning the pages
043in our world today it's very unlikely that most people have time to sit and read a book people are listening to audiobooks they're listening to podcasts on the go while they're in the car and I think that we need to consider that for our students as well um when we have a question we turn to the internet for answers not encyclopedias and atlases anymore so we need to make sure that our students have access to Quality literature that's the current diverse and engaging we need to be building lifelong learners but we also need to make sure that our children can navigate the internet safely and efficiently that they can determine if an online resource is reputable they need to learn how to find what they're looking for as far as information goes and how to
044be digital citizens in our world foreign I have your fourth question what do you view as the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing to facing Abington School District today so Abington School District has been a wonderful place for my children to grow and learn I have a fifth grader at McKinley Elementary and an eighth grader at the middle school McKinley has been a wonderful place so is the middle school and I think that one of our strengths are the teachers the teachers are passionate thoughtful and hardworking and their dedication is the heart of Abington School District and I thank all of them I've seen stem programs at the middle school and high school grow into programs that support children to learn those problem solving and collaboration
045skills which are really important in our current world today um in Abington there's a comprehensive process for decision making regarding teaching and learning which are based on data include stakeholders and there's a robust committee-led process for making decisions I was thrilled to learn about the Raptor system that was recently installed in the schools as I feel very passionately about school safety the safety of our students should be our first priority and I feel more secure sending my kids to school knowing that it is a safer environment although I'm listing this as a strength I also want to emphasize that school safety is a critical issue every day and that it should be Revisited on a regular basis some of the issues that I see in Abington at the elementary level the curriculum is primarily teacher-led
046it seems that there's minimal time built into the school day for teachers to initiate progress I'm sorry projects that pique their students interests or highlight cultural diversity in their classrooms there's very little room for children to be creative in addition to traditional learning we need to incorporate more opportunities for inquiry and project-based learning I would like to see a more substantial anti-bullying policy with clear consequences for students who don't follow that policy when bullying occurs in a school it affects the children's sense of Safety and Security and not just the child that's being bullied but the children who are witnessing The Bullying as well when students don't feel safe their ability to learn is jeopardized and I think that we need to make sure that all of our students feel safe to be in school
047I also believe that Equity diversity inclusion needs to be at the top of the district's priorities I have seen a lot of progress over the past couple years in this by hiring an equity officer and also the district equity and advisory committee was a start but I think that we need to really have in-depth training for administrators and teachers as well as the changes in relation to curriculum assessment and social emotional learning Equity doesn't mean that everyone's equal it means that each child who walks into a school building in Abington has the same opportunity for success thank you and on that note our last and final question okay take a breath about the value of consensus building in board Dynamics if possible including your answer any relevant experiences on a committee board or organizational body
048that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving thank you so as I said before I've served on countless committees within the school district where I work I'm currently in my 23rd year of in education so I've been doing this for a while being on committees has afforded me an invaluable opportunity I've been I've learned to listen to opposing views I've learned the importance of compromise I've learned to evaluate data and I've learned to make informed decisions on committees but in all aspects of my life I believe that every human has a set of values and beliefs that carry that they carry with them that make them who they are and each person deserves to be heard and validated I recently worked on a committee at um in the school district
049where I work it was a K-12 homework committee and we were looking at and revising the homework policy for the District K-12 as you can imagine there were many different opinions on the type of homework we should be giving the amount of homework we should be giving and the frequency of the homework that we should be giving in the beginning it was an open forum for everybody to speak their minds and be heard and then um after that we read many articles we researched best practices and we looked at the data around the effectiveness of homework for children at the elementary middle and high school level in the end we did develop a new homework plan K-12 and I believe that all participants were satisfied with the outcome I don't think that anybody got exactly
050what they wanted but I think that there was enough compromise and enough research and data to support the decisions that we made and we all went into this with a an open mind and we developed a new homework plan for the district in my approach to problem solving I like to gather all the relevant relevant information which is includes and is not limited to research case studies interviews and all kinds of data I am the kind of person that likes to take the time to really sit with all of the information before making a decision I like to look at every issue from all aspects I want to think about how each outcome will affect each person who is involved in the decision in an educational setting decisions to be should be centered around comprehensive
051District goals and most importantly what is best for kids thank you that concludes our five questions do you have any questions about the process um what is the process after the interview excellent question so on September 20th the board will reconvene for a regular schedule board meeting this will be an agenda item where we would liberate in public and make a decision that evening okay great thank you so much for your time thank you so much for your time thank you Miss Rachel Thomas welcome thank you so much for being here today there are five questions 20 minutes total and each question is allowed at three minutes okay a very sport members will ask a question and I have your first one okay why do you want to serve on the board of school directors
052when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community I would like to serve on the board of school directors to serve our community a community I love where Excellence is our standard and achievement is the result I believe to live is to love and the best way to show love is through service my career as a project program manager has included overseeing multiple programs and projects within multiple disciplines all with varying budgets some even being as high as 5 million maximizing outcomes within budget constraints is one of the crucial parts of my everyday job a program that I'm currently managing head upwards of three billion dollars of Revenue just for in the month of August I have run
053a college internship for a Fortune 500 company I built a smart Garden in the neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia with the help of a local Middle School two High School interns and college interns the purpose of the smart Garden was to leverage Comcast's technology sorry technology to grow herbs but in vegetables for the local community um so giving back and volunteering is near and dear to my heart um all the way back in college when I was a member of The National Society of black Engineers I was fortunate enough to partner with some corporations and start a yearly two thousand dollar scholarship for future engineers those I'll speak to my experiences and my skills however my passion for children um and protecting them and wanting the best from them comes from my own personal experiences
054all of this benefits the community because I'm the kind of mom that when your child is with me I treat your child just as I would treat my own I would protect your child just as I would protect my own and I would want the best for your child just as I do my own my life experience is what makes me a great addition to the board eighty percent of the class of 2020 has plans to go on to higher education what can we do to make that number higher I work hard so my children will have a better quality of life than I had and I what and I would and want to do the same for the students of Evington School District thank you very much thank you so much for being here
055this evening and for participating and for applying for this position what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and equity I believe the purpose of public education today is evolving diversity inclusion and Equity is breaking the school to prison Pipeline and it is much needed this Interruption is long overdue and will only benefit the students of the future I welcome it with open arms I view education as a children as a child's passport to their future sorry I was writing down what you were saying um so I have your third question but thank you for coming out this evening um it's short what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries um I struggle with this question and
056so I was like I'm just gonna be on it not that I haven't been honest I was like I'm just gonna write what is in my head um I believe School libraries serve multiple purposes beyond the typical research and studying for some students they're a place to call home where they can get comfy with a good book learn something new and enjoy themselves for other students they may be an escape where they can get lost in their favorite book or find a new world that they feel like they belong in use their imagination expand upon their idea oh my gosh sorry expand upon their ideals and creativity creativity more importantly School libraries are a living time capsule within their walls almost anything is possible with the right book of course keeping School libraries as a
057part of the curriculum is a fundamental part of education and as a bonus it helps keep kids off technology thank you thank you coming out Rachel um I have your fourth question what do you view as the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today I believe Abington School District's biggest strengths come from within they come from the students who advocate for themselves and others the staff and administration who worked tirelessly to consistently go above and beyond to achieve our standard of Excellence our strength com our strength comes from the parents who volunteer donate communicate collaborate by filling out surveys and so much more lastly the community may be the biggest strength due to the Community Resources and opportunities that it provides for the
058district as well as the community is what encompasses us all Abington District safety especially that of the middle school is a critical issue student support is yet another critical issue what our children have experienced over the past year or two is not normal therefore emotional support will be needed is needed at all levels um and it's something that is a lifelong skill emotional well-being Wellness is critical to a child's development pandemic or no pandemic so I believe those types of programs and resources being more integrated into the school would help a lot thank you final question to share your thoughts about the value of consensus buildings in board Dynamics possible including your answer any relevant experiences or organizational body that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving value of consensus
059building in board Dynamics is important it requires teamwork participation from all opens doors provides opportunities for opposing sides to hear each other understand each other and learn from one another it also keeps the power Dynamic even in my field I am constantly competing with other PMS to have my work prioritized this may sound like a simple task however when everything is the highest priority nothing is the highest priority it's a constant juggle getting my job done includes working with multi-cross-functional teams ensuring that we are all on the same page working towards the same goal whether it be from different angles different perspectives but getting it done is the goal together I have experience on boards from college like like I said the excuse me The National Society of black Engineers um my job is a
060big one and an organizations Girl Scouts probably [Music] um so my approach to problem solving my approach to problem solving is something that I learned in therapy too often when humans have to make a decision and they're coming from different backgrounds different point of views um it's easy for conversations to get heated intense and a lot of time that is when emotions kick in and people act from those emotions on the other hand there are those who are strictly logical and unempathetic at all because doesn't apply to them they can't relate so they have no sense of emotion to the issue or subject at hand I use my wise mind which encompasses both emotion and logic I work to ensure that we are focused on finding a solution um it saves a lot of time
061and when it comes to problem solving I used my GIF of strategic thinking I always think about what if what else what's next thinking long term is thinking long term as is oh my goodness thinking long term as well as being conscious of immediate impacts of decisions or Solutions is incredibly impactful and problem solving thank you so much for your time this evening do you have any questions about the process yes ma'am all of the candidates have to come on the 20th uh the presence of the candidates is not mandatory to my understanding but the vote will take place on the 20th that does not mean you wouldn't necessarily be sworn in should you uh be the one voted in okay all right thank you thank you guys for your time and for your service
062thank you thank you thanks for coming out foreign candidate is Miss Nicole guessing foreign Hi how are you I'm good thank you for being here this evening thank you for having me there were a total of 20 questions laughter is good for the soul there are a total of five questions but within those five questions you have 20 minutes three minutes per question okay okay uh the questions will be asked by various board members and I have your first one okay why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community so I've been part of the Abington Community for the last 15 years um as I thought
063about it I have been on about 10 committees in those last 15 years as well as the Copper Beech PTA president parent council president and now the new Middle School president I feel like this is the next step for me to pursue I care very deeply about the Abington Community I'm a big supporter of the school district and the admin and the teachers that make up our community I feel like as an active Community member I am an active Community member and a parent I'm aware of the concerns of the community and I feel like being on this board I can maybe be another voice to continue to make the school district The Best of the Best the experience I bring to the table are first and foremost a parent of three children very different
064children that have gone through the school district well two are out and one is still here um and as well as having education in my family my husband's a teacher um and all the various committees and volunteer opportunities that I've done for the last several years I apologize for the interruption no that's okay that was that basically summed it up for me thank you so much for coming tonight and putting your hat in the ring for this position we really appreciate your willingness to volunteer so thank you we're happy to have you here tonight what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and equity so I believe that the purpose of public education is for our youth to exist
065Thrive and advance in society I believe that the fair opportunity of Education should be made available to everyone so that they can be as successful as possible the whole point in public education that is that it is made available to everyone not just the people that can afford it such as private schools diversity is part of public education and by doing that we make our society stronger and that ties into the equity not everyone comes to the table with the same advantages and a public education levels the playing field I believe that the inclusion is important in every population there will be people that don't feel that they are part of a community and is our job as a school board member and the school to give those people what they need to feel that
066they are included and are part of the community sorry um welcome this evening thank you for coming out I have the third question um what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries so I believe the perp I personally love a library so this question my kids make fun of me but I think the library is the best thing ever the purpose of a school library in my opinion is for our students to have access to books research material to make them a more informed student I also believe it gives them access to fiction so they can have portals to other worlds and kind of Escape reality a little bit um I believe it's the we give them the access to the most current data and primary sources that are crucial to their education
067process without it I believe that they're reading just someone else's interpretation the library has endless opportunities for our youth to explore it is a place where the student can take their education into their own hands and make it a very unique experience they can research things that might not be discussed in their classroom with the help of a school librarian in the research that's available there thank you for coming out tonight I have your fourth question okay um what do you view as the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today so obviously the first thing that is our strength is the people it's the admin the teachers the kids basically every part of that um also we are very diverse we're lucky that
068we're such a diverse School District our academics our Athletics our clubs our new building I believe they're all of our strengths I also believe that I think it's pretty phenomenal that our kids come to some somewhere and say that they're looking for something they need help with something they want something to be started like has admin and School Board were open we start committees they get to have access to Dr fetcher in these meetings I think that that's like huge I think that their voice is being heard is huge um so I think that that's a huge strength um the you know there's issues everywhere so like and various times there's different issues um I believe that maybe an issue that we could address is our break in communication between the home and the school
069and I don't think it's like an Abington issue I just think it's across the board issue and I just think that maybe we need to somehow feel I don't somehow maybe get other people involved so that they feel part of it so that they're not I don't want to say bashing but just part of our community does does that make sense please share your thoughts about the value of consensus building and board Dynamics if possible including your answer any relevant experiences on the committee board or organizational body that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving so I believe that everyone is on a that everyone has their own opinions and that everyone is on a board for or a committee for the betterment of that particular board that they're on
070I believe that we as elected officials should be respectful of other people's opinions and listen with an open mind we are not always going to agree there's a chance that you may learn something from listening to the opposite opinion however I I do feel I don't feel that it is okay to attack someone for what they believe I believe is important to address the opposing opinion with questions comments that can spark an open discussion it's important to remain civil and know that what that you may need to compromise your certain your your opinion in certain situations personally I feel when I'm faced with a problem I need to sit with the problem document what I'm feeling and listen to think about what the other side is feeling and come together in a conversation and articulate
071our points of view in a civil manner and we can probably learn from that and take it and then solve the solve it to the best of the greater not personal um I guess like one situation that came to um surface when I was thinking about this was years ago Daniel you were there when I was a cover Beach president um there was an influx of funds one year for sixth grade and somebody wanted to spend it and buy like a million one things my opinion is sixth grade is you're going to seventh grade it's not like you're graduating so we don't need to go crazy so there was a bunch of different opinions we all sat down and the decision had to be made because that was going to happen for the next several
072years so we were able to sit down and talk it out and come to a conclusion that fit everyone in the school in the sixth grade that year because just because this year had an influx doesn't mean next year is going to have an influx and we don't have to spend crazy so that was just one situation that came up it happened to be an Abington situation I would like to thank the public for your patience as uh we have overcome a technical difficulty and uh would you please finish your last comment about uh sixth grade and being the copper of each president and so so basically the resolution of the situation was that the Committees all got together and figured out the best way to be financially um I guess financially responsible for that
073year so that going forward it wasn't kind of done haphazardly so it was a good resolution all parties were happy thank you Miss guessing for your time and your patience and your laughter with us this evening do you have do you have any questions about the process I don't thank you very much thank you have a good evening have a good night our next candidate is Miss Aaron Glasser that is good player oh yeah yes maybe not at this very beginning earlier and earlier hello Miss Glazer how are you this evening um it's Glasser Glasser it looks like laser everybody says laser completely my fault I I corrected Brown I'm not going to blame her I want to thank you for her thank you for correcting me no but names are important so thank you
074Miss Glaser for for correcting me I appreciate that there are a total of five questions uh we have a lot at 20 minutes and you have three minutes per question uh questions will be asked by various board members and I have your first one why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community um so I think that the most important responsibility of the school board is to make sure that we are able to develop and maintain an environment where students can achieve and all students can achieve and so I'd really like to be a part of a community that does that the experiences that I bring
075that I think are relevant to this many many seems like a lifetime ago the very first professional experience I ever had I was an assistant volleyball coach at Connecticut College and at the same time I was going to Connecticut College to get my teaching certification for secondary education so I had the opportunity to be a student teacher in the Connecticut school district for some amount of time and definitely through that experience realize how challenging that role is and how important that role is and definitely gives me so much appreciation for what our teachers do now I also worked as an educator and coach in higher education for 15 years so I definitely think that experience helped me to understand how to work with a lot of different types of people to help students achieve I
076served on a lot of different committees and organizations that centered our students and our community so I I bring that experience um and more recently working at Drexel University I worked in the sports Leadership Institute and I was responsible for developing the introduction to sports coaching leadership program which I then used to facilitate the requirement that many PIAA coaches have in order to be coaches in Pennsylvania so I definitely had experience working with those coaches and understanding the curriculum and developing it for them to serve their needs and iterate based on their feedback thank you very much thank you so much for being here this evening and for um volunteering to to go through this process we appreciate it what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on
077the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and equity yeah so when I saw this question I was like wow that is a huge question and I don't know that three minutes is sufficient to answer it but I will try um so at a very high level I think um public education is about preparing our students to reach their fullest potential and to contribute to our democracy to be Global Citizens and um to discover what their passions are so that ultimately they can make Choice filled decisions um I think it's also about helping our students achieve metacognitive skills so that they can do the work that is required to engage and adapt in this very diverse very challenging very Dynamic world that we find ourselves in um and for all of those reasons I think
078diversity Equity inclusion is synonymous with that work because we live in a very diverse society and world and our students need to know how to navigate that and understand that there are different viewpoints and that's not only okay but it's important for Innovation and problem solving ultimately I think that there are many studies that show that a diverse classroom and a diverse Workforce produces better more Innovative problem solvings and solutions and equity and inclusion feed into that because it's not enough to just be diverse we have to make sure that our students are included and have Equitable outcomes and so that it's working for everybody not just a few I'm going to ask your third question welcome and thank you for participating in the process this is this is the shortest question of the evening
079yeah what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries yeah so this was also a really fun question to think about um I mean certainly there's a lot of evidence to suggest that a high quality Library is Paramount to better student outcomes and a student achievement um a really good Library ensures that there's equal access to information and technology and connects what's happening in the classroom to real world events and things that are happening outside of the classroom I know from my time at Drexel University I heavily utilize the library as an educator and as an advisor um certainly you know I worked a lot with biomedical engineering students and they had no idea all of the different career paths they had all the different professional development tools that they had and they were
080free in the library in a way that many of the students didn't even realize they'd had access to and that really created a lot of equity for our students who some of them couldn't afford to take a Coursera course or do an extra you know 500 certification and they could get that for free throughout through our library um so while that's at the Collegiate level I'm sure there's equivalence to that at this level mm-hmm coming out tonight I have your fourth question view is the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today yeah um so I think our strengths first and foremost are definitely our teachers and support staff um I'm a mom of a kid who's in third grade here at Copper Beach
081and in my very limited experience um the teachers and support staff have been unbelievable she has a lot of additional needs on top of what a typical student might have and the teachers and support staff have been incredible I feel so good about all the ways in which they make sure that she's successful here and certainly through the pandemic there was a lot of challenges that the school faced and while things weren't perfect I certainly felt that this teachers and support staff were always thinking about our students and sometimes at the detriment of their own well-being we're making sure that our students were okay um so that would be one I think also um our parents and our community is a really important asset that we have again I have a limited experience but certainly
082with the work I've done with the PTA and volunteering at different things at the school seeing folks who are showing up and are engaged and excited about being involved is really encouraging um and then finally our students again at the you know I last year was at the volunteer for this science fair and I came to actually an event here for the statistics poster competition announcements and seeing all the students excited about what they had done and presenting was really uh yeah it was really special to see um in terms of our greatest challenges I think um firstly the inflation that we're experiencing right now I mean certainly it's creating a lot of stress for families and disproportionately affecting our most vulnerable communities and so if our children are experiencing that at home it's going
083to be hard to come to school and be able to achieve at the highest levels they can achieve because there's a lot of stress at home so I think you know certainly that is a challenge I think the aftermath of covid-19 and the achievement Gap that we now see Across America because of that and making sure that the students that um fell behind are able to catch up and be just as successful as everybody else um and then uh lastly I would say the Mental Health crisis that's facing again America I don't think it's Unique to Abington I think or all of our children Across the Nation are experiencing it at really high levels and so just making sure that there's a support staff in place at schools that can address these very different new
084needs and the last question please share your thoughts about the value of consensus building if possible include in your answer any relevant experiences on a committee board or organizational body that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving okay yeah this one I want to think about too there's a lot in there um so you know I think when you're working in consensus building and problem solving the first thing is to start with two really basic questions the first one is what is best for our students and the second one is how best do we get there and then to assume that everybody involved has positive intent um I think ultimately we all want what's best for our students and we all want to see them succeed and we all may
085have a slightly different view of how to get there and what that is but if we assume that we all basically want the same thing it makes things a lot easier um when I uh was working at Drexel University uh this is irrelevant experience that I kind of bring to this and that kind of informs that opinion uh I was working in the Cooperative education department and uh at Drexel you have six months of Co-op where you go and you do experiential Hands-On work in your major in six months of in the classroom experience so the pandemic happened and now we have thousands of students in a panic because they don't have job opportunities and employers are not able to have them come to work and now we have to scramble and we have to
086figure out how do we get these students professional experience in a very short amount of time and so I was asked to basically create a virtual course three-month course to help supplement that profession that lost professional experience from Co-op and I had three months uh and it was just me it was just me so I said okay well what who can help me who can help me do this right and so I had a basic vision and what I wanted to accomplish but I knew I couldn't do it by myself and I was able to pull together folks from the library and folks from career services and folks from I.T and folks from the office of Engagement and all across campus and we all have the same goal what is best for the students and
087everybody had a slightly different view on how we could get there which I needed right this kind of goes back to that question about diversity Equity inclusion it's you know diversity is that the heart of human Innovation and so I certainly could not have gotten the best outcome had I not called on all these different people to help me um and there was a few stumbling blocks along the way there's a few times where the vision almost didn't get executed and people were like I don't know if we can make it work and then I said all right well who else can help and eventually we got there and it was a really good outcome and we ended up being able to serve over 500 students that were not able to go out on Co-op
088and overall um we got really encouraging results from the students and feedback from them so um long answer short that is my approach to problem solving and consensus building out of curiosity how did you supplement by way of virtual what exactly did that consist of yeah so it ended up being a 10-week uh asynchronous learning experience the first five weeks was a lot of scaffolding to help the students develop their personalized professional development plan through a series of networking opportunities through different learning really to help helping them to think about what is it that I want out of my career and where the resources available to me to get that and then the second half was them actually executing that plan and using discussion boards in various ways in which they could collaborate and share
089their experience with their peers and so there was then a lot of peer-to-peer mentoring happening as well yeah well thank you that's the conclusion of our five questions do you have any questions about the process um so what happens next on sept uh September 20th the board will reconvene for regularly scheduled board meeting where this will be one of the agenda items we will deliberate and take a vote sounds simple enough yeah thank you so much for your time this evening thank you thanks for coming out foreign is Mr Joseph Rooney my fellow board members we're okay to keep going all right how's Bonnie doing [Applause] foreign hello Mr Rooney good evening I hope I didn't hold you up and I thought I was a little early but we could have got here earlier thank
090you all for being here thank you [Music] all right you ready to start there are five questions we have a total of 20 minutes and three questions a lot three pardon me three minutes allowed it per question and I have your first question why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community thank you all for being here and for uh um inviting me to come it's an honor to be able to interview and does anybody have any questions about my resume opposed the first question for the evening and you're allowed at three minutes per question would you like me to restate it I'm allowed three minutes
091per question would you like me to restate the question no I already know it but okay this isn't a there's a question and I answer it would you like me to restate the question for your interview sir I wasn't expecting to be interrupted as soon as I started talking that's that's the surprise whenever you're ready okay first like I start the other uh times when I talk is I last seen Charles Lawanda to intercede and act as a guardian for the students of ASD protect them as you protected the other bagandan young men under your care and I assume you have no questions about my resume your flying or sailing around the world which is disappointing but not surprising I guess I had a good story about going into Fiji about a young man who
092in he was sitting at a guard house and he was reading the day in the life of Evan denisevic and I thought that was amazing because that education that he has ties the two of us to the Western Canon we think the same way we read the same books he values so she needs and just as people in the west do I thought that was amazing and there's a commonality there so let's see your first question why do I want to serve I read the next three-year comprehensive plan and I think we're in trouble our board has no intellectual diversity there is no critical thinking on any issues just the same stale focus on left-wing politics and the interests of School District employees our district taxpayers parents and students are not well served when there
093is no serious discussion of important topics where is the discussion on the errors that the district made over the last two years of government shutdowns numerous studies and reports have cataloged the educational losses our children have suffered Souderton school district and Catholic schools remained open the whole time there was no discussion of what they were doing and how we could adopt those procedures there needs to be someone with courage on the board to challenge bad decisions someone with courage to look back and see what went wrong why it went wrong and what we are going to do to ensure we don't repeat those same errors that's it thank you you're welcome thank you for submitting your application and for being here this evening Mr Rooney it's my pleasure um what do you believe the purpose
094of public education is today and can you please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and Equity yes what's perps public education we need more Todd Beamers in the world do any of you know who Todd Beamer is yes no anybody else so yesterday was 9 11. Todd Beamer stood up in the back of a 757 and he fought back I don't know what happened in the other cockpits you all know him an airline pilot it's pretty shocking because most of them were airline pilots but what's education for we need more Todd Beamers why hopefully never to use them but they have to be there when we need them and we should all know who he is I don't know what the question means actually sounds like a question for
095the faculty Lounge this District could strive to give our kids the best Educational Foundation in our 2000 plus year history of Western Civilization we need to get the most education for the money we spend the PA public school code directs how the district will be run our school director should provide valuable oversight to protect the interests of our taxpayers and students our district needs to work with the parents to educate their children public schools are not indoctrination camps for every left-wing Trend in teachers whim Governor DeSantis and Governor yankin have shown the way to keep School administrators responsive to the parents who want their kids educated not indoctrinated as far as die is concerned I'm in full agreement with Jordan B Peterson Professor Gad sad Glenn Lowry Thomas soul and countless others die is a
096scam it's an attack on meritocracy I am personally against all racial discrimination that's it thank you for participating in the process you're welcome I have your third question great what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries it's a good one all right my dad's Jack Rooney and he's dead okay my pop taught me a lot of valuable things and he was a great man one thing he told me when I was a little boy he said you know Joe the answers to almost all the questions you'll ever have have already been written down somewhere you just have to find them my pop taught me how to work hard and how to use a library because library is where those answers were now you may all know it YouTube's where I find most of
097my answers for things I'm knocking around in the house or working on my car okay my father gave me these gifts okay as we sailed around the world we both schooled our five kids we visited libraries across the globe in American Samoa our oldest daughter got her GED in the Pango Pango Library the kids used to walk by we were anchored offshore in a wave and holler at the kids from that she would meet in school they'd wave and holler as they went by and our my kids were playing on a deck all right now imagine my daughter went to the Naval Academy she never graduated from high school never went to high school a day in her life after that she's now nuclear engineer on the USS Ronald Reagan in West Pacific right now
098so if you read about Taiwan she's there we're concerned I think a lot about libraries right now they have a lot of problems there's an ASD sap governing our libraries has anybody read it I don't know I'm just asking it's not even a rhetorical question I have it's weak okay I wouldn't trust anything recommended by the Ala the American Library Association right now um there's a PA public library code and it was as of 2012. if you look up in the public school code there's a library section it's all amended amended amended or canceled whatever it says so it's a new I think it's 31 pages long talks about libraries there's no less diverse a crowd than Librarians you probably will know that it's 85 percent women it's 85 percent white and it's overwhelmingly left-wing
099so if we're all into the die that should be a concern for all of us we need to ensure that we're in compliance with the children's internet protective act that governs libraries and funding for the libraries and that our libraries protect our kids and are transparent with parents there's a great article this week in New York Post it's called Librarians go radical as new woke policies take over was that me I'm sorry I realize we're on different side of the political Spectrum but there's a great author from 2500 years ago 500 BC named Sun Tzu he's a military writer and he said know your enemy and know yourself that's not me know your enemy and know yourself and in a hundred battles you'll never be defeated so you may not agree with me but I
100do my best to figure out what you are thinking about do the same thing it's an interesting article there's also a thing called safe libraries online we need to use that as a resource to protect our kids and use libraries for what my father thought they were all used for the answers to all the great questions that are out there that's it thank you for being here my pleasure what's your view is the strength of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today Bree um what's the strength of Abington School District tradition you know if you all know what that means I'll just give you a little thing right here GK Chesterton okay in the book Orthodoxy it's in chapter four the ethics of elfland he
101uses this tradition means giving a vote to the most obscure of all classes our ancestors it's a democracy of the Dead Chesterton goes on to say tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about all Democrats object to being men being disqualified by accident of birth tradition objects to them being disqualified by the accident of death democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion even if his ears are groom tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion even if he is our father I went to kindergarten in Ardsley School now it's a community center went through Catholic school after that but I still remember Miss Lewis was my teacher I'll ask you all what did Miss Lewis do right to something
102she did right John Rohr was in my class he's now Fire Marshall for Abington Township you may disagree with it but I've had some level of success in my life and it all started right there what I worry is are we building on what Miss Lewis did right or have we thrown it out rhetorical question what are the critical issues I have a couple right here SEL in second step if you're listening to this right now or you're watching read the comprehensive plan you won't be happy so here's another letter I just got from a mom today here it is dear family this is an introduction a second step in Middle School this week we'll begin second step into Middle School a research-based social emotional learning program designed to improve students social emotional skills such
103as emotion management impulse control problem solving and empathy I like that one could you teach me about empathy you're a teacher you know it's a fake word I can't feel if you get your thumb hit by a hammer I can't feel it Second Step skills in concept are designed to help students both in and out of school these include mindset goals recognizing bullying and harassment thoughts emotions and decisions managing relationships and social conflict there's no Yvonne denisovich in there at all there's nothing about the Western Canon they're not doing this in red China right now and are not doing it in Russia or anywhere else this stuff is nothing but indoctrination crazy that's a weakness okay you all read the comprehensive plan not when did we ever have a discussion in the Board Room for
104the public to see on social emotional learning in second step three years ago it was um it was uh oh golly what was it called where's culturally responsiveness that was all the rage into one three years ago now it's second step social emotional learning it's just a whim that's all that it is okay so that's the SCP letter again if you're watching if you all are interested go to the Pioneer Institute they talk about problems with SEL this is indoctrination not education it's not moving our kids towards one of the people came in here tonight she talked about how she was a single mom I think at 22 and what she needed in high school was algebra 2. and you look at her resume it's incredibly impressive she's wonderful she'd do a great job no
105Algebra 2 in that people need more time in algebra too they may need more time with Euclid's elements you know Abraham Lincoln quit his job as a lawyer and he went back and looked at Euclid's elements because what that is is that gives us the basis for how to think critically how to move from step one through step 12 in a logical order and come up with a problem with come out the solution so it starts out with just angles and lines okay I think yeah you're a math teacher so you know that but that's what we need to do and that's not what that is um our spending's out of control our debt's crazy we borrowed 87 million bucks we got 25 million dollars from um from incredibly generous man somehow the project that
106was supposed to be borrowed money for the school and for other things and now we're up to I think over 120 million bucks with five million dollars of cost overruns so I don't know where the money's coming from I've told you before you all have a difficult job if you look at that bond issue and you look at the money that's going to be due in the last eight to ten years of that box 26 years or five years into it so 21 years and about another five to ten years those payments are crazy and like one of you brought up the other meeting now we've got six eight percent inflation rates yikes stuff is scary there's an anecdote from uh Larry Arn he's the president of Hillsdale College he talks about there's two types
107of teachers at Hillsdale but he basically said every class they go into it's like exciting it's like tingling I know Dr fetcher told me he played rugby if you're on a football field if you're playing whatever sport you may have played you can't wait to get the game started that first hit makes the game how's it going to go if you get whacked you're like oh my gosh this is going to be a long game that's how our board meeting should be you all should come in here excited you're doing an important job for everybody it ought to be like man let's get this game going let's do the best that we can let's be challenged get knocked down get back up and learn something in my opinion I just want you to know I
108extended your time but I want to make sure you get in all of your points uh your you have that's good enough sorry okay thank you takes us to the fifth and final question okay thank you here are your thoughts about the value of consensus building in board Dynamics if possible include your answer including your answer any relevant experiences on a committee board or organizational body that involved navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to progress law probably don't realize this but I could talk longer on any one of these if you are interested so I'll do the best I can mm-hmm thanks for the question um it doesn't matter all right so there's eight Democrats on the board right now there was a ninth but somehow she got frustrated and quit which is
109shocking it should be shocking to everybody she ran twice and then didn't even finish the first term so she put a lot of effort into getting on the board she also said that she could have as much effect not on the board as on the board I find that amazing I don't know if you all do either or if you even talk to her I don't know what the answers are but I did see what happened last May and there were two School directors who ganged up pretty hard on that other school director and no one came to her defense now I'm not sure about problem solving and consensus building but it certainly wasn't on display that night and there was probably a background story that didn't involve problem solving or consensus building either so
110I'm going to make a statement right now there isn't any on the board right now tell me I'm wrong that's fine you can comment that's fine also I believe that incident played a large part in her decision to leave I'd like to know the answer but I don't right now the board seems to be a little more than a rubber stamp there was actually a little bit of discussion about protecting comments which is wonderful and I do appreciate that we at least got the votes we needed to protect the comments section for the public in a meeting usually directors have no comment or they tell each other what a great job they're doing look we already sit through five minutes of little channel six videos at the beginning of the meeting then at the end
111of the meeting we tell everybody how everything's so great is going on let's get a little critical analysis of something occasionally let's have a little back and forth where two people have different ideas and then you hash them out if we can't have a meeting in private because of the public school because of the open meetings law then let's get three people and three people or whatever and come up with a good plan it's 180 million dollar business this is important it's worth the discussion it's worth the time if you have a 39 minute meeting like the last minute meeting that you could look at the agenda and go there's not much here we can figure it out you go let's talk about and then throw something in there let's propose it at the beginning
112of the meeting okay what does the board need the Board needs courage and it needs leadership the staff will be better because of it the board will be better because of it that's what I believe and I don't remember the last part of that that was enough so I'll just end it right there thanks Mia thank you do you have any questions about the process none well thank you so much for coming out this evening it was my pleasure good evening thank you for joining us this evening we're just making sure our sound is on and it is uh Mr Pennekamp I want to make sure I pronounced that correctly yep yep excellent well welcome and thank you for being here with us this evening there are five questions you're allotted 20 minutes three minutes
113per question okay and I will begin with your first one various board members will uh we'll uh read the the others why do you want to serve on the board of school directors when answering this question please highlight any particular skills and experiences you would bring to the school board that will benefit our students and the community um just uh can you guys hear me okay yes sir okay great um first and foremost uh I've been in this community for a long time on 1994 graduate of Avenue Abington High School my my children are currently in Abington High School so uh I have three children in Abington uh one in 11th grade one in ninth grade and one in fifth grade so I'm uh embedded right uh I came to Abington in second grade um
114but grew up grew up in Glenside my early years so I was on the wrong side of the tracks right with Cheltenham so um my sister wasn't happy when we moved into Abington uh actually like she was in 10th Grade but I was only in second grade didn't matter to me you know it was a little more important for her being in high school right but uh so uh just you know definitely in the community um I got to remember now too that I have three minutes for each question so how it gets to the point so I'm I'm invested in Abington I care about Abington I sit on the board for the Abington Educational Foundation I've been a board member there for about five or six years so I'm involved in kind of meetings
115like this uh on a monthly basis for the last couple years for Abington um I'm embedded from a standpoint of Abington with coaching Athletics with Youth Sports in the area my children are actually on three sports teams for the uh for the school district uh All Seasons right so when I when I'm actually connected and touching people parents on a regular basis I am so I feel like I'm a Community member that's very connected with a lot of people in the community that can actually hear and listen to their concerns to be able to pass back to the board or suggestions right you know because at the same time we sit here we make decisions for our community for our school district or we would be if I was was involved right I would think
116that's uh what you guys are focused on and I would love to be a part of that thank you very much thank you Mr I appreciate time tonight thanks for throwing your hat in the rig we're really um very happy to have you here what do you believe is the purpose of public education today please include your views on the relationship between public education and diversity inclusion and equity I feel public education is one of the most important things that we can do in our nation um myself being a public student public school student uh born and raised you know um all the way through but uh I think it's very important for every student every Community member every child that had the opportunity to to the best education they possibly can have I feel
117like that's what we have here at Abington it's actually the reason why I moved into Abington 15 years ago 15 and a half years ago actually my wife's from Upper Moreland we were living in Upper Moreland when we first got married and uh my actually my uh my father-in-law is an educator he'd been teaching it up for more than fourth grade for 43 years my mother-in-law was actually a high school secretary at upmoreland we knew a lot about Upper Moreland right you know I mean being that close to it and uh um great school but uh a little smaller and we wanted something bigger we wanted more opportunities for our children we moved into Hamilton when my daughter was one so specifically so that they could come to Abington um so I but it's it's
118really important that uh yeah you have a school that's focused on the students public education is that it gives everybody the rights to actually the opportunity to learn um gives everybody the right the opportunity to participate I think it's extremely important to have those extra programs whether it's them whether it's Athletics whether it's theater and art I guess that's part of stem right that's the a but so it's just I mean so to be able to offer that to all of our students it's it's crucial and the only way that you can get that is through public education so that's why it's really important to me uh diversity sorry I didn't hit on that fact growing up at Highland I loved the fact that I went to one of the most extremely diverse schools in
119Abington um it was it was huge uh it's lifelong friendships um of diverse Natures I absolutely love it the fact that uh my children actually are at Highland or going through Highlands and getting the same experience that I got to experience so I think it's very important that uh um all students all race all ethnic ethnic backgrounds have the same opportunity all the way through and I think it helps our children grow to actually enter the world you know and actually be successful humans and adults and you know and Thrive hopefully in Philadelphia when they get older because I found my my forever home so I want to stay here right you know so I hope my children do too and grandchildren all that good stuff but I just feel like it's uh the diversity
120the diverse aspects that we're able to offer uh our students at Abington it's uh it's very important as they grow and I think actually that's another benefit of our public education system it's people from all walks of life we're not selecting handfuls of people to come you know to come to Abington they're coming here because they live here and they want to live here and be part of this community welcome this evening Mr Pennekamp um I have your third question it's thankfully short good did I go over three minutes on that one no you're fine um so the question is what do you believe is the purpose of school libraries um yeah I mean well in the in the past I remember being the place to go and uh and be quiet right you know
121it's you know it's it's a quiet space for you to go and learn and study I'm assuming I haven't been to a school library recently um but I thought about this question just a little differently uh I thought about it in terms of where we are with technology and what we have in our hands today um and I think that all those things are still in the school library you have books or you have computers that you can do research on but I think it's it's so important we all walk around with this digital advice in our hands on a regular basis we're looking at it it's bright in our face at night you know I know it's bright in my face tonight when I'm laying in bed still looking at it you know there's
122a difference with a library then then you know libraries are for research they always were in the past that's where he went and found the information right how do I go and actually research this topic when I was in college you know I spent some time at the library not as much as my parents wanted me to spend but I was there yes I do know where the library is on campus and uh so you know but it was a spot where we went and researched right you know and I remember Nexus Lexus and that was like the start of kind of the digital age and everything else and uh so it's really interesting but now it's like I think it's a spot where actually students can learn and go back and see what it
123was like for their parents their grandparents how they learned you know and I think it's really different to be able to hold a book in your hand and hold a digital advice in your hand to tell me what Google tell me what's Wikipedia tell me about actually go and actually open up a book and flip pages and look down at that book and it's not really bright coming back at you you know I think it's an important experience for all kids so I think libraries actually give us that ability to to pass that down to our students thank you for coming out tonight I have your fourth question um what do you view is the strengths of Abington School District in your view what are the most critical issues facing Abington School District today um
124I think I probably touched base on this a little bit when I when I talked about moving into this community was that it's big I think that's a strength um and actually it's a funny I sat in a meeting last week where I talked about being big as a strength and also being big as a weakness I'll probably get to the point of maybe being biggest a weakness in a second here but I wanted to say it's a strength I think there's a lot of opportunities for our students I really like the fact that uh um I you know actually I go back to my daughter who's in 11th grade now when she entered seventh grade she tried out for what's she trial for first the school volleyball team she was actually cut as a
125seventh grader second to last person cut on the school volleyball team and uh and so it didn't stop her she she went on to the next thing and and tried something else and uh and she ended up making uh the costume crew for uh the theater which was totally different right you know I mean so it was like for one thing athletic but it didn't it's just that she had that opportunity to go on to the next thing um what's interesting fact about that now is actually the high school coach said well somebody tell the tallest girl in school to come back out for volleyball and now she's a junior and she's on the varsity and a starter on the varsity volleyball team you know so but she went back after it but one thing
126that she learned at Abington was to always not give up right to always go out and try to always be involved to always try to so that I think is a huge strength of Abington um a weakness because sometimes you can get lost in the crowd but I think if students are directed in the right way to go out and put themselves out there they can actually find the group that fits with them right so I you know um I think that's really important there's a second piece to that question that I can't remember what you asked me but I know I want to touch on it for a second okay your view what are the most credit so I think right now the most critical issue facing out of school district is probably funding
127um and I think it's every school district that has to deal with it but especially in this world that we're in right now with inflation and what we're seeing from price and dollars everything's getting more expensive and everybody's trying to find the money and trying to figure out how to how to pay for this and how to keep everything going all the programs going that we have right um so I think that's something that I mean so we'll continue to look at I do believe that there's um that we're lucky that we are in a very what I would say a good Community Township with with uh some good funds for our district but it's it's uh it's something that has to be watched over the next couple years it's going to be interesting to
128see how everything works out you know just in terms of the way uh funding is happening uh and and then the inflation is that's really causing some problems about the value of consensus building in board Dynamics if possible including your answer any relevant experiences on a committee board or organizational body that involve navigating opposing opinions please also share your approach to problem solving um it's a great question um and I think that this board here and the board's priority you all experience you know differences of opinions and different thoughts and figuring out what the right path is but uh there's there's one one important piece that I like to just start off with is that uh as a board you're responsible for policy making and decision making so and and directing the district in a
129way that's good for our Educators good for our students so you have to come to a decision right so you're forced to there's not anybody that you can't sit back and not agree right so I think it's important to listen to all all members all ideas and talk it through pros and cons you know setting it up um I I mentioned earlier that I sit on the board for the Abington Educational Foundation we're constantly trying to figure out ways to to fundraise um get creative uh have more activities more more events whatever it may be but it's a good board and it's been forever changing we've had new bodies come in I got to sit next to Dr fetcher at one point in those meetings he was part of that committee before he has an
130assistant superintendent so um it was nice class it's always nice collaborating with that group it's been different the last couple years the last two years with covid and the pandemic and everything else as you guys have experienced too but I think it's important to be able to just listen to all Community or committee members I'm in sales right so that's my profession I've been selling for 20 plus years now I'm in the security business so I sell Big Brother um you know there's a lot of Big Brother floating around these buildings right now right the old commercial based systems and uh as a Salesman you know no matter how much I like to talk and you guys can see right now that I'll probably will continue to talk and talk and talk right now actually
131it's the Emmys tonight right you know so it's like they keep getting timed out you know or it's gonna be interesting to see who wins Monday Night Football now I guess nobody gets snack that's right Monday Night Football and the Emmys who's going to win that right you know I mean that's going to be an interesting uh you know Factor there to see what actually ends up happening in terms of the ratings um but uh sorry I digress um I had a point here uh but no I mean so you really have to um listen as a salesperson I had the list I have to listen right I have to sit back and find out what my clients want um what's going to be important and then figure out a solution from there and I've
132been involved with committees I'm a member at Huntington Valley Country Club I grew up there I've swim there I was a the pool committee chairman for years I'm actually sitting on a committee now we're trying to build a new pool and um it's interesting to hear the different thoughts and processes that everybody's involved what people want you know and there's going to be gives and takes in that conversation so I'm sitting there right now in terms of what are we building better for our community for our you know our Huntington Valley family there but you have to sit there and find out whatever he wants what makes sense then what's also fits in the budget right you know so we're also trying to figure out the budget dollars as we designed this thing right now
133so I'm involved in those conversations and I'm involved in those conversations at my work so just from a solution design build with clients sitting collaborating and I have manufacturers that want me to sell their product you know over the other person's product so constantly trying to figure out what makes sense for everybody uh but but it first starts back sit back especially when you come into a new committee listen right and and and put in your input where you can right thank you so much those were our five questions do you have any questions about the process um well I appreciate you allowing me to sit um I you know I know as a late entry I think uh I mean I don't know if anybody came in after me I know I said send
134at like three o'clock point five zero and then when I sold the email back I'm like darn it it went through his 301 you know like so I know I missed out but when I hit the send button it was three o'clock and I didn't have a resume or anything and uh you know but somebody so just community members that I was sitting with over the weekend I didn't even actually know that Jenny O'Rourke had passed up or you know so I wasn't fully in tune there right so I sometimes information comes to me when when people just see me right and that's how I found out about this position is some community members talked to me and said hey Greg did you know there's a seat available you know and I said no I
135didn't know that and um you know like you got and there's just like this this was earlier in the weekend I was like Ah that's not nothing really and then I was sitting with somebody at 2 55 Sunday afternoon right you're watching the Eagles and to Greg are you going to put in like you got till three o'clock to do it I said wait what let's do it three o'clock you know so um I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to come in and talk I figured the pro I kind of know what the process is you guys have been through this one time before recently I think so um first step of the process was just the opportunity to come here and sit with you uh and say hello and where the four chords
136follow the cards fall right you know but I would love to be part of it I'm invested in Abington um I understand there's more highly qualified candidates than I am I'm not an educator I understand where my weaknesses are there but I am involved in the community I'm a coach I'm a you know I'm a loving father a loving husband I love my community I love Abington go ghosts you know so it's uh it's a great place to live it's where I you know I wanted to live in to raise my family so I'd love to be able to be a part of all this we definitely thank you for your entry and for showing up this evening thank you thank you for coming out thank you thank you that concludes our candidate pool for
137this evening which means we will go to agenda item number three which is 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 will be able to join in by calling on your mobile or landline Mr Lutz I know we'll we need to give it a minute and we'll do that and for the record there's no one physically present in the room at this moment so we will are all of our comments will come from phone lines foreign we'll give it just one more minute Mr Lutz can you confirm that there are no callers on the line that is confirmed thank you at this time we'll have closing comments from my fellow
138board members Mr Allen Miss Frasier thank you for all the candidates that interviewed this evening thank you Mr K definitely a very difficult Choice ahead of us but it was a great night and I really appreciate so many people being interested it's terrific Dr Mary um I would reiterate my colleagues comments and just thank our fellow community members for their interest in the position and their willingness to throw their hat in the ring thank you Mr Muhammad want to thank all the volunteers who are stepping up to serve the community and uh looking forward to deliberating with you all and making the decision thank you Miss Facey I want to thank everybody who came out to interview for the position um it was wonderful to hear everybody and it is going to be a difficult
139decision ahead of us Dr clyman I concur with everything that my fellow board member said appreciate everybody who submitted applications and interviewed this evening I know that it's it's a difficult thing to do to put yourself out there and we definitely have a hard choice in front of us so appreciate everyone's time and commitment to the community Dr Fletcher yes thank you on behalf of the administration I've been through the school district I want to thank all those who took the time to come out and also the interest in what is a critical position within the school district to help us as the administration lead this school district and to work together as a team to make this the best education for our students so I just want to thank all those individuals for your
140time and also tonight we heard quite a commitment to Abington School District throughout the years of many people who have participated in our committees as well as PTO PTA Etc so I want to thank them for their continued efforts and if they are not the selected candidate to encourage them to continue in those efforts because we truly appreciate it out of the school district thank you I definitely agree definitely want to thank all of the candidates who stepped up one thing that I noticed after interview interview one of the strengths where our teacher and our support staff so I'm thankful to be able to serve at this capacity to benefit our youth but to also benefit the staff who serve them with that being said this meeting is adjourned everyone enjoy the Emmys or Monday
141Night Football whatever it is adjourned thank you