001All right, we are calling our meeting for February 19th, 2026 to order. So, let us stand for our pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God. Liberty and justice for all. >> All right, if we can have the roll call, please. >> Yes, ma'am. >> President Amanda Johnson. >> Vice President Beverly Harris, >> present. >> Treasures, Dr. Morales, >> president. >> Director, Reverend, that is Reverend Kirkland. Absent. >> Director Lawrence Ham. >> Director Betty McLaren. Present. >> Director Kh. >> Director Tequila Rice. >> Secretary Lorraine Lavender Sams. Present. Solicitor Al Jacobs. I >> board member Superintendent Dr. 10 10. >> All right. Thank you for that roll call. So, we're going to go ahead and have Dr. Morales go
002first with her report. >> Um, yes. So, first I'm going to report off the treasures report. It's not physically. There's no physical copy here, but um it's >> I had my first meeting with Dr. Mumi and Mr. Ham, Mr. Laram um out of the business office just to set my goals for um myself as the treasurer of chest school district and my priorities um with the business office so that everyone is able to hold me accountable. I don't want anyone to have any expectations that are unrealistic. So my my role is not oversight. oversight and fiscal stewardship resides with the receiver and the administrative team here. My job is support and advocacy and um ensuring that the business office has uh the resources they need. When we have budgets that are passed, those budgets sometimes
003include amendments to our school code that impact our fiscal um offices. So ensuring that they understand what those changes are, making sure that if we are supposed to have savings such as our cyber charter savings as a result of changes to the um form PTE 363 that those savings are actualized and if they're not actualized, what advocacy needs to be done to ensure that we retain our um cyber reimbursement that they are trying to replace that with and just making sure that we are in communication Right. So, I just want to be a a vessel to communicate to the public and the community, but I do not want you to have expectations of me hovering over the fiscal space of the school district. For that, you can come to the receivers's meetings and you can
004ask some information and questions on public comment out of the business agenda. So, so right now our priorities are um identifying three unfunded mandates that are currently causing the school district undue burden. So, an unfunded mandate is a um a direction that comes down from the Pennsylvania Department of Education that does not have any funding following it. So for example, uh us having to transport students within a 10 block radius whether they go to our school or not that that creates a undue funding risk for us. So um identifying three so that we can see uh what the savings would be if certain legislations were changed. Also focusing on cyber savings. Last year 2025 budget we had a 1 point a little more than $1.6 million provided in the form of a line item reimbursement
005for cyber savings. In the 2026 budget that was just passed or approved in November. We did not receive that dedicated line item. Instead, we received um a reform to our tuition billing form, which is PTE 363. That allows us to deduct more, which the powers that be is saying it should give us more than a $2.6 million um savings. We have to make sure that that's what we're getting because if not, this is not a good tradeoff for us to have a reform form to submit versus the actual line item. So those are the things that I'm working with Mr. Ham and Dr. Mine on currently. Now I'm going to switch to my legislative p. So >> let me put that over here. >> Yes. >> Okay. So legislatively um the governor gave his proposed
006budget address on February 3rd. And so now we'll begin what we call advocacy season where the side will go back and forth about the things they want, the things they don't want. And hopefully this won't result in us having no budget until November. Hopefully we'll have a ontime budget in July. But I just want to point out um a few things such as the $565 million increase in basic education funding. I don't want people to get um hyped up over some of these numbers because these are things that basically they are mandated to do as a result of uh court as a result of court court rulings. So, we had a decision that came down now three years ago that said that our the way that we fund schools is inequitable, fiscally inequitable, right? And
007so this $565 million, we have to be wary when we are in election years that people will tout things as, you know, something that they're doing for the greater good. But basically, this has to be in here. The problem is that it it's to fun and and equity that we have for Chester Upland School District and other school districts is over seven years they are supposed to give us an increase in our basic education to close the adequacy gap. Right now we we won't know if by the year seven we'll have all that money that they're saying we need to close the gap because we can't ask for a lump sum. We cannot ask for the lump sum of money or they won't give us the lump sum of money. So every year we have
008to ask for the increase and so if a year happens where they decide they don't want to give it to us then we we're not clear because this as it was written the basic education committee said that the adequacy gaps had to be filled over seven years. So that's something we have to fight for. The $75 million in cyber charter savings again do not get hyped over that number because it legitimately is the changes to the form. So while they say it may be $75 million, it could end up being less. It could end up being more. And this is not just for Chester Upland. These are totaled overall for the state of Pennsylvania. So when you take that into consideration, these are actually drop in the bucket numbers, especially when you look at $125
009million for school facilities. So advocacy season has started. I will be sending out my messages per usual for work to be done in Harrisburg. Please look out for that. We had legislation passed um on cursive writing. I do want to say again this is not something that is new. Most schools teach cursive writing. This is so that it is you know leveled across all fields and is required. The requirement is on elementary school. So it's not middle school, it's not high school. is ensuring that both private and public elementary schools are teaching print and cursive. Um, and while there's a lot of things listed here, the only other one that I want to bring to attention, um, is the phone ban because we have two entities right now that are influencing this decision. PSBA which
010is the school board association is not in agreement with the bill as it's written because they feel that it takes um at at a local level it does not give us much wiggle room. So they are under the um impression that the local school board should be the ones implementing any type of phone ban because again it will be an unfunded mandate. there would be no money to come down to help execute a ban that comes down for cell phones. And then you have PSEA who is in favor of this ban. But again, like I said, the school district will shoulder the funding for this. So if you have questions about anything else that is listed here, you can email me at that email that's at the bottom. And that's my report for tonight. >>
011Thank you. Put this hat back over here. >> Very good report. >> All right. We want to acknowledge um Director P on the >> Director P >> present. >> All right. So, we'll have a report from Director McLaren. >> So, um for DCIU, we're still playing with with regards to replacing the executive director. So, more to come. Our um expenses toward them will be reviewed and voted on next month. So, they had to come to the district in next month's um agenda for DCIU. They have a couple of events that you're invited to if you want to attend. just have to let them know. And that's the um employees success recognition or appreciation. You know, they have their annual golf um outing for the foundation fundraising, the county foundation fundraising. I think that's it for
012DCIU. And then I have um pupil services. And looking at the agenda, there will be a ay will speak to our new Miss Irving. I think her first name is there. she will be attending a um conference which is focused on um state college readiness for African-American students and provide a forum for um sharing best practices and he has here that it could be up to um 1,500 but he believes it'll be I'm saying he Dr. Wilson believes it will be under $1,000 because um it's really her necessities. I think her um lodging is free. >> Her lodging is taken care of, right? >> Registration is taken care of. So lodging and incidentals and they do have a um allowance of I think was $68 a day for free. So the transportation >> and lodging
013issue stays that's from March 16th to the 18th. So online registration begins Monday so that students parents who want to register their students for school do not have to come into the building unless they want to. they can actually go online and register their students. Dr. Wilson and I talked about having something on a card or visible so that parents who are not technology savvy would be able to still use that um option of registering on um line. You have a question? >> Oh, >> yes. I see. >> Yes, I do. I do. >> Okay. So, um, in pupil services, charter school oversight is a part of that and they're working to, um, get that set up. I asked about mental health inquiries and is there a way that they would know if the servicesers
014are being rendered because our um, behaviors have a lot to do with things of that nature. and he said that he could actually give us the number of inquiries and there is outside support. Dr. Wilson, I'm going to ask you to speak to that. They do have vaccinations that's coming up for seventh and eighth grade for March 5th and sixth that are coming to the building because they're the ones needing vaccinations. Am I talking low? You can hear. So, I'm excited about charter school. >> Oh, because we haven't had it. >> Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening. >> Uh, so just really quickly, there are uh vaccination clinics scheduled at the middle schools and high schools and so we've partnered with Delaware County Health Department. There are flyers that have gone home to families. Uh,
015is also being posted on the website. I also have uh copies of flyers for board directors who would like uh physical copies uh this evening as well. Um but that'll be an opportunity for students who need uh immunizations to get those done. Parents just have to have the signed consent forms returned and the Delva Health Department on those two dates will come out and administer the vaccinations. And so that was one of the partnerships that we worked on. >> And you said they were going to career link. There was something happening at Career Link. >> Yes. So that is the first week in March. Uh students in CT programs will have an opportunity to attend career link. They'll receive some uh speaker presentations. They'll get support in terms of resume and college readiness opportunities as
016well as research and career paths. >> And I asked him about the um our behavior concerns, students not going to class. and he mentioned >> so we do have a lot of supports for students who uh need mental health support uh both through external partners and also internally. We do track that through uh one of the platforms that we use which is Panorama which gives us support notes and opportunities to see what students are receiving supports as well as our surveys which provides information about what additional supports are needed for students. And so we do have examples of flyers that students have received that are posted in our buildings regarding how students can either refer themselves for those supports or teachers and parents can sign up for those supports as well. >> I was excited
017when he said that they could also grow outside the building. We have um partnerships with other organizations. >> Yes, that is correct. So there's opportunities with some of our partners in terms of uh specifically around mental health. uh we are bringing some of those partners into the buildings, but then our social workers have specific sites uh that students can receive those supports and these parents can walk in the same day and be able to be seen and treated for mental health supports. Um so again, those are part of those partnerships that we have developed. >> Thank you. I'll take that. I mentioned being able to post these things at city hall and other >> okay >> areas. Thank you. Thank you. I I do have a question. My my question is as far as reg
018registering online >> about um they can they still can come into the the school to register. Correct. >> Yes. >> Now about how come registering online how would you back that up to make sure that this parent lives in that home that they said they are? you know, there's a lot of uh people signing might be signing up for children that don't even belong to that. >> So, the process currently when school secretaries verify that information, that's same process will still apply. It's actually a pre-registration that parents are doing uh online and then they will get confirmation that their child is registered through the phone call from the school. And so once that parent and student is cleared, then the student schedule can be generated. And so a combination of the school secretary as well
019as central office uh uh registration uh person Miss Bonapart will also support that process to make sure that verification has occurred. >> And my other question for the charter post how is that going to be? >> Thank you for that question. So for um C7, thank you for C7 uh approval of W Pearlstein that is the uh legal firm that is going to be supporting us with the development of the plan. As part of that process will include the feedback around a committee. So Ellie Peterson is the attorney that uh it will actually be working with our district. As you recall, I put out an initial plan around what that would look like. She's going to take that plan. she will uh take our job descriptions, look at what our goals are, what we're seeking
020to accomplish, help us to develop that office, and as part of that uh we will improve that information as well and make sure you're you're updated. >> And that's C7. >> That's C7. >> So once this is actually approved, then we can engage and actually have someone come out to uh present to the board. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss K. Did you have more? >> No, I'm I move. Thank you. >> No, I was because I had a question, but I did want to ask. >> Oh, yes. >> So, it's about C7. So, I'm just at um >> mic. I'm sorry. >> It's a lie. >> It's not doing Um so the C7 the budget source says ready to learn grant and so everywhere else where ready to learn is listed as the budget
021source it has a disclaimer that the allowable use for the grant includes programs for continuing professional education. I just want to understand how this pause is this an allowable use for the ready to learn grant and if so can we just put the disclaimer of >> absolutely >> the we can confirm that miss I don't know if you want to come up but we did follow up that line item around charter school tuitions did follow up to to find out if this is where that line item can go she confirmed that before we did this but >> yes we did reach out to good evening >> we did reach out to uh our point of contact on Ready to Learn. And there is a specific line item in the Ready to Learn grant that addresses
022charter school um either increase or support and this this particular office will fall under that. >> Okay. Is are we if we can just amen so that we put that there because everywhere else that the budget source is listed as where the allowable use is coming from. >> Okay. Okay. All right. So, from our IT department, um, just want to share that they're implementing the no before cyber security awareness platform districtwide, launching an ongoing fishing simulation and security awareness campaign for all staff because this spam is getting out of control. So, um, staff, please be aware that those things are coming through. I'm pretty sure you already had a couple presentations on that. Um, and the media team, um, is continuing to update the website and working with school leaders to conduct audits on every
023school level page. So, if you haven't been contacted, they will be reaching out to you um, as they continue to work on updating the websites. So, those are our reports for today. Um, but I also want to just acknowledge that um, if anyone is being bullied or feel unsafe in any situation, doesn't just have to be in school, please be aware that you can use the safe to say line. And the phone number for that is 1844 SAF, the number two S A Y. So, if anyone is um feeling that they're they're in a situation and they're feeling unsafe, please please please no matter where you are, where you go, you can use that um line for to report. Okay, so um just know that. All right, we want to say that we are going
024to have our board retreats on February 28th at 900 a.m. at 13:50 um Edgemont. So, we're excited about that. Um we are moving forward. Um so and also Heritage Ballups today um we had our elementary schools and ESA middle school come to city hall to celebrate that and they did a wonderful job. The pictures are going to be coming to you to be in your presentation next week. So you can see all their smiling faces and they had a great time. So thank you for everyone who came. All the teachers and staff and even parents came to support the kids. So, we're looking forward. We'll see that in um Dr. Mumine's um report next week. So, that is all that I have. You guys have before we have any presentations coming from our staff. Y'all
025kind of already came up and talked about some topics. Anything outstanding? We good. All right. You come on up. Miss, you covered pretty much all of them. The only one that I do want to bring to your attention because we do have to have it on record is, and I'm not sure because I don't have the number in front of me the number, but it is the public school facilities improvement grant. Uh we are submitting an application in March for to the Commonwealth Financing Authority in the amount of 3,582,000. This would go for improvements at our STEM Academy. So, we're looking to improve C15. >> C15. >> What did you say? >> C15. >> We're looking to uh do roof replacement, preparation for new HBAC system, and also windows replacement. And that will be going
026in that will be submitted by the March due date. this uh the Commonwealth Finance Aid Authority requires that we have a resolution that is signed by our poor secretary and I know we're in receiverhip and we have to give the district has to authorize our receiver uh to be able to um facilitate all contracts. So that has to do with our submission. >> Thank you. Well, in our conclusion, I just would like to acknowledge our chairs for our committees. Director Rice will be over human resources. Director Vera will be policy chair. Director Ham will be curriculum chair. Director Khalif will be facilities chair. Director Harris will be our new wellness committee chair. I will be IT and communications chair. Director McLaren will be pupil services. Thank you. And DCIU leazison. And I say director Morales
027would laugh cuz she got director Morales will be our finance chair, our PSBA advisor, and our legislative liaison. So we thank you. I said I think she was an accountant part time but she rolling those numbers. So we want to thank everybody. Thank you guys for coming tonight. That will conclude our meeting a journey. Whatever.