001I don't think they need this first. I enjoy And I came from that way for some reason. So I was I don't know. We're going to have Good evening. I would like to welcome everyone to the board business meeting for the Colonial School District. It's Thursday, September 18th, 2025. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America updates and upcoming negotiations were dismissed. And now I will make a motion to approve minutes as presented in items 3B through 3G. May I have a second? Yeah. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. This is a motion to approve financial reports as presented in items 4B through 4L for August 2025. You have a second. Rashidita, any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. And this is
002a motion to approve the August 2025 treasures report. We have a second, please. Rick, any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. Um, and now, is there any public comment on any items on this evening's agenda? >> Seeing none, I will turn the meeting over to Dr. Christian. >> Thank you, Mr. Pato. uh items uh 7A, 7B, 7 C. Motion to approve the personnel report and extracurricular contracts as outlined in items 7B and 7 C. Board action is requested for recommended personnel changes. Appointments for promotion, deployment, or transfer are subject to the presentation of valid credential, employment verification documentation, and statemandated requirements. >> May I second, please? Gail. Any questions or comments? All in favor? >> Thank you. >> As we move on to the next agenda item, I would like to welcome our
003student board reps to their first meeting. If before you guys doing your uh report, if you wouldn't mind introducing yourselves to the board and the community. We are excited to have you be members of the board this year. >> Hi, thank you. Um I'm William and I'm a senior. >> Thank you so much. I'm then and I'm also a senior. >> So for our report for PW, it's homecoming week. Students have been enjoying a variety of after school events like Wing Bowl, Powerpuff, and Color Wars and participating in spirit days throughout the week. The dance is this Saturday, September 20th, and tomorrow. Students will wear yellow during the school day at the homecoming football game in support of Alex's lemonade stand, childhood cancer. Seniors commemorated their final year at PW during a senior sunrise on
004the first day back to school. Fall sports and the arts are underway. PW sports have had a strong start to the year and students have been attendingformational meetings for the many clubs that PW offers. All right, next up we have Colonial Middle School. So the sixth grade open house is August 26th. Seventh and eighth grade open house will be August 27th. Um and we had incredible attendance at both of these. The TSA Technology Student Association kickoff meeting will be September 8th. The school spirit rally by grade level will be Friday, September 19th. Um, there are excellent class visits to all sixth grade science and history classes and all seventh and eighth grade history classes by principles to talk about creating a welcoming, inclusive environment and addressing hate speech, slurs, and bias. Fall athletics are underway
005and we're very excited to see um our CMS teams competing soon. So, thank you very much to faculty department for getting us in great shape to start the year. And lastly, chorus, band, and orchestra are all rehearsing and working on their musical talents. We're also very excited for the sixth grade musical chef to begin rehearsal soon. for CES. New music parent information night along with both fourth and fifth grade open houses were held in the last two weeks. All were very well attended. With Plymouth Elementary, um on August 25th was kindergarten orientation and the first day of school. On September 10th, the open house grades for first and third grade. On September 12th, PTO ice cream social. And lastly, on September 17th, open house for grades kindergarten and second. Next up in early September, Plymouth
006had received the bikes for the kindergarten all kids bikes to learn to ride program. Students will be working on learning how to ride during gym classes with PE gym teacher Mrs. Rebenda. Thank you so much the foundation for sponsoring this opportunity and thank you to Joe Lowi and the facilities team for their help putting the bikes together. We are excited to continue Panda Press where third graders will act as hosts for school news highlighting special events, cultural celebrations, and classroom happenings. It's sent to PE teachers each Friday to share with their classes and with families through our E Friday newsletter. We're looking forward to a wonderful new school year for Ka Hawin Elementary. C welcomed 80 kindergarten students. our largest grade ever and the teachers and students are doing great. The PTO hosted popsicles on
007the playground on September 4th from 3:50 to 5:15 and we had a terrific turnout of staff and families connecting and reconnecting. All classrooms had special meetings with Miss Mars and CE counselor Miss Neans to learn more about using kind language at school and No Place for Hate. CE held open house on September 10th and as always we had a huge turnout. Third grade walked to the Ka Haken Elementary School plot at the community garden to do some weeding and pick remaining vegetables. Over the summer, families tended the garden and donated vegetables to the Colonial Neighborhood Council. Third grade will begin their community service club helping hands on Friday, September 19th. >> All right, next up, Rich Park Elementary. The PTO there held the annual ice cream social on Friday, September 12th. Um, we had an
008incredible turnout and many happy families. Families attended back to school night on September 10th and the 17th. They're able to meet with teachers and learn about the incredible things happening this year. Lastly, for White Marsh Elementary, in early September, students and staff participated in a schoolwide assembly focused on reinforcing expectations and recognizing positive behavior. During this assembly, students learned about the importance of using kind and respectful language with an emphasis on green light, yellow light, and red light words. Families were also introduced to this framework during open house sessions to encourage consistent conversations at home. On Thursday, September 11th, White Marsh Elementary hosted its annual Patriot Day ceremony to honor local first responders. Community first responders join staff and students for patriotic songs and receive thank you cards from our students. Special recognition is extended
009to our music teacher, Chrissy Langes, for organizing and leading this meaningful event. >> Thank you. Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Are you finished? >> Yeah. >> Uh I'm going to put you on the spot. Uh I'll be sharing your resumes with the board, which are extensive in the music, athletic, and service arenas. But would you each just take a couple moments and share some of the clubs and activities you're involved with senior year? Um, some of the clubs I'm involved in is the technology student association. So, this year I'm serving as state president. Um, I'm also involved with the PW Orchestra Chamber Ensemble. And I love volunteering. So, I volunteer with a club I started called Crisis Care Club as well as USF. >> Um, I'm the captain of track and cross country here at
010PW. and I'm the co-president and co-founder of a club called Hope for the Homeless, which volunteers with local homeless shelters and donates supplies to shelters in our area. And I'm also an ambassador of the Key Pennsylvania Beautiful program, which aims to create a more beautiful and safe environment for our um residents. [Applause] If there is any way the administration and the board can help support your efforts, particularly in the service arenas, please let us know. And welcome to the new school year. Exciting time for our seniors. Thanks. >> Right now, um, moving on to new business, Anna. Yeah. >> Okay. In accordance with board policy number 004, two students, Willie and Mariani, have been nominated for the positions of student representatives to the board. Interviews have been conducted and related information has been reviewed. Motion
011to accept the administration's recommendation for student representatives to the board. >> Appreciate it. Any questions or comments? All in favor? >> Thank you. >> And thank you guys for serving. >> Thank you so much. >> This is a motion to approve the board policies outlined below on a first week basis as presented. These policies were reviewed at their respective committee meetings held on September 2nd and September 8th. Policy number 101, mission statement, vision statement, shared values. Policy number 330, overtime and policy number 702, gifts, grants, and donations. Second, please shar. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. This is a motion to approve a revision to the K12 calendar for the 2526 school year to designate August 20th, August 21st, and November 4th as act 80 days. >> May I have a second,
012please? Any questions or comments? >> Is it important to just share for the public what an act day is in case there's any wonderings around the calendar changes? >> Sure. uh act 80 days are days that can be counted towards instructional time where uh the district conducts things like parent teacher conferences uh curriculum writing and other staff development. Uh we fully intend to meet the 180 days and 990 hours. Uh but in case anybody was around in 1995 in this area and we had the ice storm of the century where a week and a half school was missed, it would allow us uh additional instructional time in our calendar to prevent us from going to school until June 25th. >> Thank you. Great. May I have a second, please? Will. Any other questions or comments?
013All in favor? Thank you. Appreciate it. This is a motion to approve the educational services contracts outlined below for the 2025 2026 school year. The first one is the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to provide special education services as needed. The second is Martin Luther School tuition for 33 returning students at $75,592.98 per student. U the next item is a personal care assistant, also known as a oneonone. 41 per day. Occupational therapy at 12 $121 per hour including initial screening and evaluation. Physical therapy at $121 per hour including initial screening and evaluation. And speech and language therapy at $121 per hour including initial screening and evaluation. The district will recruit these slides. May second, please. Yeah. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. >> This is a motion to approve the transportation contracts as
014outlined below for the 2025 2026 school year. Uh this includes uh St. is preparatory school for the transportation of Colonial School students at the rate of $11.7 per student per day uh for the 2025 2026 school year ending u June 30th 2026 and an arrangement with Carolyn at Eisner to reimburse mileage at the current IRS rate of 7 cents um a mile uh or established IRS rate per mile from August 25th through uh 2025 through August 31st, 2026. >> May I have a second, please? Rick, any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. >> All right. Um, this is a motion to uh to approve the transportation contracts for Superior Bus Service and ALC School LLC to provide uh supplemental bus services. Due to the nationwide bus shortage, uh uh administration has recommended contracting
015with two additional companies to provide transportation. Superior Bus Service and ALC schools will be utilized to supplement the school district's primary bus contracts for uh after school, athletic and other transportation needs as required. Contracts do not commit any upfront costs. The district will be, excuse me, the district is build only when uh services are used. >> May any questions or comments? All in favor? Thank you. Appreciate that. >> This is a motion to approve the PW High School orchestra students trip to NYC to tour Carnegie Hall and meet with members of the pit orchestra for the musical wicket and to attend a performance of the show. >> Any questions or comments? boards. >> Um, all in favor? >> Thank you. >> Motion to accept a donation of $1,000 from Bergie Chevrolet to support the Colonial
016Middle School Athletic Program. >> Second, please. Any questions or comments? >> Exactly. Thank you for that donation. Um, all in favor? Um, is there this evening? >> No report this evening. Thank you. Um All right. Uh I know there's no um student life uh report this evening. Is there a curriculum report? >> Uh yes. So the board received updates on several different initiatives um at our committee meeting uh this next Monday. So the committee reviewed summer academy for grades 1 through eight as well as the extended school year program for students with disabilities. Uh we discussed successes, challenges as well as future considerations for possibly rethinking summer learning. Um so more to come on that. Um Colonial School also welcomed 27 uh new teachers through a three-day induction program with ongoing mentorship and professional learning
017plan throughout the year. So welcome to our new teachers. Um staff also participated uh in August in professional learning sessions that were aligned with the future ready comprehensive plan focused on data use, student supports, leadership development, and sense of belonging, particularly student sense of belonging. We also discussed plans that were underway to pilot a new K3 math resource this fall uh with the final adoption next year. We also dove into a new maps K5 premier delta maps RTI which was also introduced and the board also um reviewed policy 101 align to mission vision and shared values. >> Great. Thank you. Uh will anything for facilities? >> No report. >> Rick finance committee met on Tuesday September 2nd. The committee introduced new policy governing gifts which we just did the first read on grants and sorry
018gifts grants and donations a donation from Burger Chevrolet for CMS athletics which we just put on as well and review district 2025 versus 2024 financials district is still waiting on state budget to pass in order to receive state revenues. One additional item of note is that the act one index for 2627 has been set at 3.5%. >> Thank you. Gale HR >> no report. >> Um the tech school um Chris isn't here to give a report but if um you have been over to the tech school at all this year you'll see all the parking lots have been redone and it is it it looks great. Um and I think it'll help a lot in the winter time with um bad weather and rain. It's definitely worth taking a look at. >> Internally, they expanded
019the salon to increase enrollment and the barber uh mentorship or apprenticeship that they're starting uh with local businesses. Uh they also did some uh reading of other areas uh to get them up to date. They um I met with Dr. King last week. Uh they will be approaching Mr. Vig and myself as well as Dr. in Narstown to talk about some projects of the future. The most pressing of which is the auto body shop, the floor and the ceiling. So, they'll have a presentation ready for us in the coming months. Uh hopefully have it done next summer. Um but we need to work out what needs to be done, the expansion that they're hoping to do. uh because it's a popular area, they want to add a couple lifts uh and do some uh remediation
020and renovation there. Uh but also need to plan for it. So that'll be probably introduced in two months and then in January, February working with an architect. And also I believe they also started a breakfast program there which was something that was very hard to do with the three districts and where kids were coming from in the morning. So this is like the game changer. So we're very excited that that um has taken off this year. >> All right. Um can I ask question? >> Just going back for a minute to the um student life meeting. Is it possible for us to just share with the public um a little bit about the conversation that we had last week at the curriculum meeting? >> Sure. >> Yeah. So, I mean just want to I want
021to um thank Lester uh who talked about the adult evening um program and the new platform and um how that's working and the suitability there. Um so, thank you for that and just um if anyone wants to chime in, feel free. But we did have a really good discussion around um our equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives and a lot of the training um that our staff has taken this year u related to um uh what we're calling level three offenses. And if you want to, you know, feel free to take this over and just do a little snapshot. I think it would be important for the public to know some of the things that we are um focusing on this year and a lot of the training that you and your team, Dr. Fish, are
022um taking ownership of. But if you have a moment to share that, that'd be great. Certain uh as required by the state, we track all of our uh discipline data. So when you reference level three and level four offenses at the middle school, high school, those are the more serious offenses. More importantly, we're taking a specific interest in identifying and addressing areas of incident bias. Um this past summer, the entire administrative team, not just principles in central office, but every administrator in the district, uh and all of our departments worked with the anti-defamation league for a day and a half long um uh professional learning opportunity. And then most recently this past week, um we had worked with the NAACP over the summer to schedule uh professional learning training for working with students of color.
023Um as we situations as they relate to potential discipline issues. Uh and they put us in contact with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and we participated in training this past week. Uh all all what we're doing is to identify how to support students and how to minimize uh incidents that take place. How do we solve things as well as possible? How do we resolve conflict uh between students or between adult and student before small and understanding that every student comes from a different perspective. Um, and then also our uh at the middle school and high school and the elementary school, our student uh I'll talk about elementary first. Our student reps talked about it. Our elementary principles uh and counselors are using the same vocabulary talking to students about the text how we teach about
024hate speech and how we teach about being kind. They're using developmentally appropriate terms such as red light, yellow light, and green light. Um, and we think that's important because our K to3 schools all funded into the four five. Obviously, at the middle school and high school, uh, we have made it a point not to just have class meetings in the beginning of the year to address our stance against hate speech in any and all forms of it, but how to be proactive and prevent it. Uh, and so the principles and counselors have not doing class meetings with 400 students in the meeting. I don't know if you guys have had this yet, but they're visiting our English classes and our history classes where we have groups of 20 and 25 students to reinforce the concepts
025that we've learned from uh PHRC and from uh middle schools doing that as well. And then at back to school nights, we've been introducing parents and this is a point for this year. We have always believed we have wonderful students and wonderful families and despite some outlier circumstances that have happened in the past, it is our collective responsibility as students, teachers, administrators, and families to protect our children and to protect each other and to continue, you know, all the great things that happen in Colonia on a daily basis, which are wonderful. So, uh, happy to speak with, uh, any resident, any about our efforts. Um it's it's a start. Uh it's a point of emphasis and we continue to track our our data as it relates to it. And there may be situations that pop
026up that we have to address, but that's what happens when you have 5,700 students in a school district and almost 800 employees uh and we will address that uh with keeping our students safety and welfare in mind. >> Thank you. So thank you. I just want to say thank you to you and your team for your very proactive approach and um your transparency around the work that the district is doing to continue uh this work. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, just one update. uh the MCI's unit executive director uh Virginia Speaker sent a letter to Governor Shapiro and the members of the Montgomery County legislative delegation um advocating for a quick resolution to the growing crisis that is the budget impass and and the impact uh that that this impass can have
027at least on on some school districts and eventually uh more than some. And so I can share that and maybe I think it's on the NCI website, but certainly we can put that in the notes and I can share for those who might be interested. >> Thank you. >> Um Sharon, anything legislative? >> I said yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. >> Um any community reports this evening? >> Township Dutch Truck is this Saturday, September 20th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Miles lower and the fall day is Sunday, October 5th, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. or until trucks are full uh lower parking lot. Uh more information on White March Fun Fest is this Saturday from 12 to 8. Um please come out and join us. Love to see you. >> Yep. Um so
028Pl Township, we got a couple things going. Um, so they have a fun bingo at the Greater Ply Women Center from 12 to 2 on September 29th. Uh, also a Halloween bingo on October 3rd, uh, at the Frederickland Community Center between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Um, there's also going to be a, um, campfire in Hayide at Harriet Weather Park uh, between uh, 700 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on October 18th. And what a lot of folks want to know about is October 13th at 6:00 p.m. there should be a decision uh rather about re um categorizing the parcel between um Plymouth Road and North Lane on that evening. >> Thank you. Um and Jeremy the foundation. >> Uh it'll be a busy day at PW's campus on Sunday, October 5th. Please come out for foundation
029day between 11 and 3. Tickets are um after September 27th, which I believe is next Saturday. Tickets will be $15 uh for kids five and up and $10 for prek, but $2 off, like I said, until um the 27th. uh uh plenty of games for um kids, young and old, food trucks, all sorts of activities to help support the foundation, as well as the first annual um PW Alumni Association Cornhole Tournament, which is also on Sunday the 5th, uh starting at 11:30. Uh tickets are $25 per team, two people uh two people per team. So please ask for foundation for the work that uh they do providing grants and funding back to um various colonial stakeholders. >> Great. Thank you. Um attached to this evening's agenda for your information are the activity accounts for CMS
030and PW, the athletic accounts for CMS and PW, a curriculum report. Um, and now is there any public comment this evening? Seeing none, is there any board comment this evening? All right, seeing none, this meeting's adjourned. Thank you.