001I'd like to thank everyone for joining us this evening and I appreciate your patience as we get used to having these remote meetings we're streaming our meetings live on the district's YouTube CITV channel you may also listen to any of our meetings via telephone by calling 1 9 2 9 4 3 6 2 8 6 6 the webinar ID number and password for each meeting is listed on for docs page of the district website in an effort to make the meeting go as smoothly as possible we have asked the public comments be emailed in advance we will try to address as many comments as possible during the course of our meeting if you have a question or comment that arises during the meeting we ask that you email that to public comment at Colonial SD
002org please include your name and the area in which you live again we thank you for your patience and understanding we are trying to learn how to do this and we will now begin the business portion of our meeting me pledge allegiance yes aye we could now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the Republic I do announce that the Board met in executive session on March 23rd to discuss employee contract negotiations the meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes the board also met virtually in executive session on April 2nd to interview for Solicitor candidates the firm's included rudolf clark sweet stevens hats and Williams that's all one sweet Stevens Katz and Williams box Rothschild and Whistler Pearlstein that meeting lasted three hours and 15 minutes
003the Board met virtually an executive session on April 13th to discuss current collective bargaining unit language substitute contracted services and support staff negotiations and that meeting lasted about 25 minutes we also met an executive session prior to tonight's meeting we reviewed tonight's personnel report and the status employee contra contract negotiations that meeting lasted about one hour and now like to make a motion or ask for a motion for the approval of minutes the minutes in items 3 B 3 3 D board business meeting of February 20th the curriculum meeting of March 9th and the community relations Student Life Committee meeting of March 9 is there a motion Cathy I'll second that this is Cathy I'll second that okay so I'm eight I'm looking for a motion if somebody can make a motion I'll make the
004motion all right Cathy and a second please okay second by Beth's Ashland I'd like to ask for a motion to approve all of these mrs. more we need to do the roll call vote so go ahead mister session first discussion than the roll call okay is there any discussion on the approval of all of those minutes okay could we have a roll call mr. chairman this is Dale mrs. Epstein aye mrs. Franklin Becker hi this is more this is Northcutt aye this is for true no mrs. Pedulla hi mr. Shue Peck and mrs. such 'ln missus ashlynn sorry I said I motion approves nine zero okay I'll get better at this next time financial reports I'd like a motion to approve the financial reports as presented in items for be through for M for February
005and March of 2020 foodservice bills and cafeteria report outstanding investment report cashflow summary comparison of taxes collected real estate tax escrow report trust fund report reconciliation of passion counts budgetary deficit status report general fund and general programs bills capital reserve fund bond fund and the budget transfers and I'd also like to include a motion with this emotion for the treasurer's report of February and March of 2020 would someone like to make that motion Chris Epstein makes that motion may I have a second rosemary Northcutt would like to second is there any discussion on any of the financial reports or treasurer's report okay hearing none could we have a roll call mr. Sherman this is Dale hi mrs. Epstein hi this is Franklin Becker hi this is more hi mrs. Northcutt I this is for Trina
006mrs. Pedroza hi mr. Shue Peck Oh mrs. such Celyn i motion approves nine zero okay now is the time we would have public comments on the agenda dr. Christian do we have put or mr. Sherman do we have public comments that were presented in advance we do have two comments I have one Dave if you have two the one comment that I have is about an agenda item and the other comment is for they are both on the same agenda item yes all right I'll read the one I have and then you can read the other okay very good comment I have is from Marlo domin 19 East 11th Avenue in Conshohocken she's her question is two of the firm's Fox Rothschild and Rudolph Clark being considered for board solicitor gave donations in past elections
007to the majority of board members including the board president and vice president protecting colonials future ran a campaign decrying conflicts of interest and pay to pay pay to play politics given the verdict of the voters and the promises made by protecting colonials future to avoid conflicts of interest shouldn't we choose a firm that has not made contributions to any board members Thank You Marlo dohman 19 East 11th Avenue conshohocken PA Dave guide with yours this is from an artist Lukens address not provided same agenda item L the law firm Rudolph Clark and Fox Rothschild contributed thousands of dollars to school board candidates sue more best such hland Adam shoot back rosemary Northcutt Jen Dow Kathy badoosy and Eunice Franklin Becker this has been and continues to be a prominent issue I would like to know
008if the board there or if those board members will remove the aforementioned law firms from consideration for appointment tonight again that is from artists Lukens hey this is that such line can I can i address that am I allowed to respond now or no it's the board's pleasure okay I'd like to address that now because we've gotten a few emails about this so I was going to talk about this when I get to the item but I'll just do it now so that others can ask questions if they want to when I ran in 2008-2009 I had never run for a political office in my life and had no idea how any of this worked I was a PTO parent who just wanted to do something more what sorry oh okay so we did take
009a contribution from Fox Rothschild at that time it was given to us by the head of the practice who was also the head of the Democratic Party and Montgomery County at the time and I am a Democrat um I didn't think anything of it we had a lot of donations the day after we won I got a call from a neighbor who I had actually never met who was local in the party as well as the head of the local area Democratic Committee for colonial the colonial district and I was told that day that I had to get a new solicitor and I didn't even know what the solicitor did and I asked why and I was told that's just what we do the five of us who ran together didn't understand that they wanted
010us to make that decision without even telling the other because we were a majority they wanted us to do that on the first night that we came on the board and they didn't even want us to include the board the holder of her board members in that decision myself and Alan tabachnikov EOCs Baran felt very strongly that that was not the way to go we let the other board members know we were going to interview board candidates and we were interviewed three or four Foxx was one of those Clark was one of those and there were a couple others that I can't remember I had no idea at the time what a solicitor did I had nothing to gain other than to hire the firm of Clark Rudolf Clark which at the time awesome at
011Bradford was part of that firm so if I were going to be doing anything at that time to pay back any kind of political donations it would have been to put Michael Clark's firm on the district I didn't do that I didn't do that and the rest of us didn't do that because at the time Fox Rothschild was way and above the most qualified and most impressive I had never met Jeff Saul tannic then and Jeff's all tannic wasn't even at that interview the and I think so I think them I don't think anybody on the board decided to do anything but I can't recall at the time I don't even think it ever even went for a boat though or maybe it did but so that was the first time so as everyone knows
012two years ago was I was asked to do did happen the very first night that a new group of board members were on and it was a result of political contributions we all know there was a lot of money there and that was what we ran on so tonight when we discuss this going further I am making my vote and I was on that you know I I ran because of this and my vote is not because of anybody's donations we didn't take any from anyone this time zero I'm hoping that we move for a policy on this board to prevent that from ever happening again for any people that are on the board when they run again I'm hoping that we can do that I was actually going to talk about that tonight as
013well but I'm attending one voting on the person that I believe and the firm not even the person the firm that I believe is the most qualified to help this district now more than ever on a myriad of issues thank you I'd also like to respond I think it was made very clear during the last election that this was a real issue for our community and I think being a being responsive to that we have four excellent candidates for Solicitor it would be very easy to rule out those who've made contributions to any of us and still have excellent candidates to choose from I can't speak for how other people have voted in the past I have not voted based on political contributions that I've received however recognizing the concern in the community I think
014it would be appropriate and responsive to our constituents our neighbors our colleagues our friends to take that into consideration and make that not after we vote on tonight solicit or vote but do it going forward right now for votes on solicitor well Eunice if that's the case then why did you make the motion five minutes after you were put into the board to change solicitors if it wasn't because of a political reason why did he do that without ever ever meeting the solicitor or even sitting on the board I had attended meetings I had seen the way things had operated and what we were asking for was not to what we did not decide it that night was to vote on a new solicitor we said let's put out an RFP there hasn't been an
015RFP for some time let's do an RFP and get bids and consider who would be the best representation and the solicitor at that time as well as several other firms were able to come in an interview and a big fan of the RFP process so I think that was an appropriate thing to do at that time can I just ask why you didn't tell the other board members who were gonna do that ahead of time what do you mean why didn't announce ahead of time that I want to do that at that meeting yeah so right after you were sworn in and you made that change and if it wasn't for our political reasons but because you were watching and that's how you felt at that time okay but then why didn't you include the
016holdover for board members in that decision and talk to them ahead of time instead of catching everybody surprised at that moment if it wasn't for any other reason it seemed like an appropriate time to do it coming in you know you work in HR coming into a new organization it's okay to look at things and take a fresh look at who your representation is and so that was my reason for doing it at that time I get that I'm trying to understand why you didn't want to include the whole port board in that at that time I guess it had been uncomfortable enough with the current board during the election that I maybe didn't feel comfortable and in retrospect you know I think that's a good point perhaps I could have done it differently but
017that's what happens at the risk of interrupting you both this certainly appreciate the dialog probably should take place during the discussion portion of motions that are forthcoming are there any other questions from the public all right say any minute / me or not okay seeing none we'll move on to the superintendent's report dr. Christian thank mrs. Moore I'm sure there's many questions out there okay sorry screen just changed you know governor Wolf's decision to close schools certainly was a significant one I want to thank all of our parents and guardians our teachers our support staff especially our food service workers who have been providing thousands of lunches for families in need we also had several restaurants several weeks ago and we will be mentioning each of those restaurants at our Community Relations meeting next Monday
018night who stepped up that first week we were closed when nobody knew that we could be potentially closed for the remainder of the year and they delivered food the st. Mark's and the pastor there put together lists and routes for us to deliver many board members teachers administrators community members delivered lunches to our families in need that week and then Lori McCoy and our food service folks took that job over we are while its secondary to our cause we are getting reimbursed by the by the state for the free and reduced lunches that we are supplying but I know this community please know we would do that regardless but it's good for our taxpayers to know we're getting reimbursed so delivery takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays and we cover families for lunch and breakfast
019for all the days of for all the weekdays so just the other day we handed out over 2,000 lunches and breakfasts to our families and the parents the parents have been great I've probably received 20 to 30 emails of parents asking if they can come help volunteer while they're receiving lunches they want to park their cars and come out and help distribute we've had to respectfully decline because of social distancing requirements but we'll continue to do that through the remainder of the school year as far as curriculum is concerned you know we're using a variety of toys a tool not toys tools for remote learning including zoom screencastify flipgrid Google classroom show me and mathematics it's created a whole new vocabulary for learning for our parents and for our kids it's not the same as
020our traditional face-to-face environment for teaching I've said that in communications to families multiple times it does not replace the value of being in a classroom with your teacher with your peers and learning it's perhaps most difficult for our kindergarten to third grade grade span for teachers and our young learners it's that's because young kids simply do not learn this way they're not going to sit at a lecture to talk about reading and mathematics via zoom they certainly can participate in morning meetings and some Google classroom environment but it's very challenging in all 500 school districts for our youngest learners you know that being said you know we'll continue to build upon the interactive nature of what we're doing and we will push forward so we can help students our teachers are going to make mistakes
021our administrators are going to make mistakes but they're going to be made in earnest and we will learn from them and we'll keep moving forward and when I say mistakes I mean technology mistakes things happen we see that tonight in tonight's meeting but it doesn't mean that your teachers don't care for you it doesn't mean that your administrators don't care for you and we will continue to try to improve and we appreciate your patience probably our biggest concern right now is our seniors we have kids that are about to graduate with the class of 2020 and this is a landmark year for them and it's a challenging one it's toughest on them they've dedicated 13 years within the district and we're going to do everything we can to recognize them during these tough times we've
022already scheduled multiple CITV events where we're replaying historic events whether it was a concert when they were at White Marsh or a promotion ceremony when they were in fifth grade a variety of things and so we'll continue to do that I know banners are starting to appear in lawn signs recognizing the class of 2020 and dr. Bach Ani is meeting via zoom with student senior leaders on a weekly basis to generate ideas to recognize our seniors we're working on rescheduling the prom we'll have an alternate date for this summer we hope that that can take place or also we don't have an exact answer on graduation right now because we have to remember the social distancing regulations and the restrictions for stay at home orders not only have they been distributed to all 50 states
023but there are different measures within each counties within those states depending upon the severity of this pandemic so we'll have an alternate graduation date and we'll have an alternate prom date and we will do everything we can to pull those off however safety will continue to be of paramount importance and if we cannot safely have them we simply won't be able to but it the kids are the seniors are contributing great ideas and dr. Beck Connie and I are talking about them and we will have some dates to announce in the coming in the coming days so we appreciate your patience and we look forward to a return to normalcy thank you that concludes my report dr. Christian do we have so we need a motion to approve the personnel report as outlined in 10
024B that board action is requested for the recommendation of personnel changes appointments for promotion employment or transfer subject to increase we have any you actually want to have a regular board meeting you just don't want to hear me pontificate no I think we better get this approved but we appreciate all of your very kind and thoughtful comments a motion to approve the personnel report as outlined in 10 B is requested for the recommended personnel changes appointments for promotion employment or transfer subject to the presentation of out credentials employment verification documentation and the state mandated requirements obviously we have very few changes on the personnel report is there a motion to approve the superintendent's report to pack makes a motion Sara second especially seconds any questions or comments for dr. Christian on the report seeing none
025could we have a roll call mr. Sherman this is Dale this is Epstein I mrs. Franklin Becker I this is more hi this is Northcutt hi this is patroon oh this is petuzi hi mr. Schue Peck and mrs. Sussman I motion carries okay thank you mrs. Doyle the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit budget report wait a second it's okay motion to approve the 2021 mci you membership service budget as presented the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit mci you membership services budget in accordance with school code requires action by our pictures are over that though the local school districts serve by NCI you the 2021 membership service budget was reviewed and approved by montgomery county superintendents council at their meeting on january 9th 2020 the budget was reviewed and approved by MC iu board of directors at their
026meeting on January 22nd 2020 and by the Finance Committee on March 2nd 2020 I'll second that this is Cathy petuzi discussion mrs. Moore you need unmute sorry mr. shermin I'll get the hang of this eventually there were no comments or questions I don't believe so we can do the roll call this is Dow Epstein all right mrs. Franklin Becker aye this is more mrs. North Scott I missus patroon Oh mrs. fiducia hi mr. Schue Peck mr. Shue Peck and mrs. Sutton i motion carries okay thank you the central Montgomery County Technical High School budget unis at the joint operating committee meeting held March 4th 2020 the attached budget was approved to be sent to the sending schools for board approval this budget was reviewed at the Finance Committee and is recommended for adoption I'm sorry
027motion to adopt the proposed 2021 central montgo Technical High School budget as presented is there a second I second it rosemary Northcutt any discussion on this ok mr. Sherman Joe mrs. Dale mrs. Epstein aye mrs. Franklin Becker aye this is more hi mrs. Northcutt hi mrs. patroon Oh mrs. fiducia all right mr. Schupak hi and mrs. Sussman right oh she carries Thank You Northeast Revenue tax collection extensions Adam sure this is agenda item C the colonial school district is exercising its option to extend the tax collection agreement with northeast revenue to collect the real estate taxes in both Plymouth and White Marsh townships an additional year through June 30th 2021 the Finance Committee has reviewed this action it recommends the approval of the extension so this is a motion to extend the tax collection agreement
028with northeast revenue to collect the real estate taxes in Plymouth and White Marsh townships through June 30th 2021 is there a second I'll second it this is Cathy any comments or questions okay roll call this is Dale mrs. Epstein all right this is Franklin Becker aye mrs. Moore hi mrs. Northcutt hi this is patroon oh hi mrs. Pedulla hi mr. Schupak hi mrs. Sussman my motion carries all right Adam you want to continue please with C I'm sorry do this is agenda item D so in lieu of not paying for student for transportation services since March 13th and through June 30th 2020 the Finance Committee has recommended the waiver of the monthly rent charge for the use of the bus depot at 1065 Belvoir Road so this is a motion to waive the monthly rent
029due from her students for the use of the bus depot 1065 for Road for the months April through June 2020 Chris Epstein seconds dr. Pinner mr. Sawatzky do you just want to clarify for the public what this is about because this is you know obviously directly related to the pandemic and the closure of schools certainly Dave all comment if there's anything I'm missing please fill in the missing pieces first student has contacted all the districts in the area with whom they have contracts and have asked them to continue to pay a portion about 87 percent of the contract which would cover the wages of their drivers certainly appreciate the work that our bus drivers do it's a challenging job and and bus drivers are not easy to find that said we're not receiving presently any
030services because students are home so districts have been confronted with a challenge as to whether or not to pay there's also some legal ramifications to this so we've checked with our solicitor request to the requirement and while we're choosing not to pay for this service right now we thought it would be best since we now own the bus depot to relieve first student of the cost of leasing that renting the space to us for the next three months in an effort to assist them during this financial time financially challenging times so I don't know Sara Rothman or Dave want to add to that but that's the that's what we're proposing this evening I would add would be that the the monthly rent is approximately $21,000 are there any other questions or comments from the board
031okay mr. shermin mrs. Dale hi mrs. Epstein aye mrs. Franklin Becker aye this is more hi mrs. Northcutt aye mrs. for true no I mrs. Pedulla hi mr. Shute back i miss such 'ln aye motion carries okay mrs. patrina professional services this is a motion to approve a service agreement with the private vendor to conduct evaluations were three evaluations for early intervention students for the 2019 2020 school year at a rate of $75 per hour is there a second to that motion this is rosemary Northcutt I second that motion and is there any discussion just dr. Christian do you want to explain what this is or I'm gonna turn that over to mrs. Burke please okay this is a contract with an outside vendor in case we have so many evaluations that need to be
032done that we won't be able to get them done in a timely fashion this will allow us to use this vendor to do that we are still beholden to all laws and regulations related to special education and that includes a 60-day limit for evaluations is that correct mrs. Burke that is correct I'm just curious is there a reason we don't list the name of the organization we're contracting with and the agenda that's really a point of information I thought I'm asking Wow I I don't know why I mean he's a it's a private psychologist no we agreed mrs. Burke you can share it it should be listed I apologize for that I I know her first name I don't we will we'll post it as part of the minutes but it's a commonly used vendor
033for supplemental services so we'll share it with the public and with the board thank you certainly any other questions or comments okay mr. Sherman this is Dale hi mrs. Epstein hi mrs. Franklin Becker hi mrs. Moore all right mrs. Northcutt hi mrs. patroon oh right mrs. padule-- all right mr. Xu Peck hey mrs. Sullivan I oh she carries okay missus patroon are you want to continue with F please yes um this is a motion to approve agreement in lieu of a due to student confidentiality this agreement was reviewed in the executive session on March 23rd 2020 is there a second this is very smearing Northcutt I second it any comments or questions for the administration are from the board okay mr. Sherman this is down mrs. Epstein aye mrs. Franklin Becker aye mrs. Moore aye
034mrs. Northcutt aye mrs. patroon Oh aye this is padieu see why mr. Schupak hi mrs. Sussman hi motion carries okay thank you Adam G yes this is a motion to approve the stipulation to settle the assessment appeal for property number 4 9 - 0 0 - 0 1 7 7 8 - 0 0 - 9 located at 2025 chemical Road limit Township and the approval of the sod agreement limiting any assessment challenge for a period of three years all right is there a second I'll second this is Eunice thank you any questions or comments okay mr. Sherman this is Dale aye mrs. Epstein okay mrs. Franklin Becker aye this is more all right mrs. Northcutt hi mrs. patroon oh all right mrs. fiducia hi mr. Xu Peck I miss is such fun it's a such
035one I thought I am here today sorry oh she carries okay approval of memorandum understanding missus such hland okay can you hear me sorry yes we can okay this is a motion for the approval of the administration's recommendation of the Memorandum of Understanding dated March 23rd 2020 between the colonial Education Association and the Colonial school directors specific to online instruction during the pennsylvania mandated school closure period in the 2019 2020 contract year is there a second Kris Epstein seconds and do we have comments discussion or questions from the board I would just like to you know I start to Christians talked about and I think we all understand what the teachers have been able to accomplish in a very short amount of time is really incredible and I just want to thank them for all
036that and through this time um I think we all we all can agree on that this is not something that they ever expected to have to do on a day-to-day basis and it's greatly appreciated all the effort they put into this mr. Sherman this is Dale this is Epstein all right mrs. Franklin Becker hi this is more uh mrs. Northcutt I missus patroon Oh mrs. fiducia hi mr. Schupak all right mrs. Ashley I motion carries okay I would like to make a motion to appoint Jennifer Dallas the colonial school districts representative to the MCI you board for the period of July 1st 20 22 June 30th 20 22 is there a second this is rosemary hey rosemary this is rosemary Northcutt and I would like to second that motion are there any comments or questions
037okay mr. Sherman this is Dow mrs. Epstein hi mrs. Franklin Becker hi this is more all right this is Northcutt hi this is patroon oh hi mrs. Pedulla hi mr. Shue Peck all right mrs. eshton I motion carries okay contract approval for substitute teacher services Beth such hland yes this is a motion to approve the administration's recommendation of an agreement with substitute teacher services for continued stubs this is repetitive for continued substitute services dr. Rodriguez could you just talk about the history that we have with STS and and what and what we're doing here sure we began with STS in 2014 and they hired all of our substitutes at that time we contract with them for substitute teacher services and instructional aide services so we do have several years with them and that's why we're
038recommending that we continue okay so motion I'm sorry I made a motion we need a second back on that Petrino has the second okay any other any comments questions mr. Sherman this is Dale I mrs. Epstein I was Franklin Becker hi this is more i missus Northcote i missus Petrino i missus fiducia hi mr. Schupak all right mrs. such lon hi motion carries okay mr. suckling yeah Hey yep appointment for special education council as everybody knows we went out for an RFP and so there's two pieces for this the first is a motion to appoint sweet Stevens Katz and Williams LLP to provide special education services to the colonial school district that is a motion is there a second mrs. patrina yay any questions or comments on the appointment of special counsel a special education
039council III do what's the effective date of the appointment they are currently our special aid counsel so it will continue mr. Shute back but if you'd like an effective date in there it would technically be I guess July 1 but there are current there are current specialized counsel thank you any other questions I just what I think it would be great if we could ask mrs. Burke to speak to her work with this firm and how she feels about continuing working with them absolutely I have worked with sweet Stevens Katz and Williams probably for about 25 years I worked with them in my previous school district and I have worked with them since coming to a colonial school district during the 910 school year I have found them to be extraordinarily professional extremely knowledgeable very
040well-versed they are very very quick turnaround time when I have a question and that probably is because their knowledge base their wealth of knowledge about special education law is rival to none in my humble opinion and having known the attorneys as well as I do I have them on speed dial so they really do get back to me very very quickly and they've got an excellent excellent job for us I believe and for our families thank you thank you are there any other questions or comments mr. Sherman mrs. Dale hi this is Epstein whoops all right it's just Franklin Becker hi this is more all right mrs. Northcutt I missus patroon oh hi mrs. pallucci all right mr. Shute back oh and mrs. Sussman i motion carries ok now that's right ok all right so
041else ok so the next is the appointment for solicitor services I would like to make a motion to appoint the firm of Fox Rothschild to provide solicitors services for the Colonial School District I second that motion Beth patrina comments and discussion for questions from the board will there be time for another nomination no we vote on this nomination you can make comments or questions comments right now but we vote on this if it if it passes that's the end if it fails then we get a second nomination but Jen if you if you firmly want another firm you can speak to it right now right now yes absolutely okay I would like to nominate sweet Stevens well you can't nominate gently i would like i prefer sweet stevens for solicitor okay claudia has used this
042firm for special education services and has been very happy with them for many years there are three districts that use them for both special education and general solicitor services they are general solicitor five districts in Montgomery County which are Upper Moreland lower moreland upper Park North Penn and my factum in addition to many others across the state they have experience in transitioning into new districts and will have ideas that pertain specifically to our district a few of the things some board members were concerned with quick response to questions the board president for each of the boards Kyle summer is a solicitor for has a solo number and he gets back to them immediately the firm cries itself when always having attorneys who can be available in the moment for questions that need immediate response speed
043and researching information the background for many of the attorneys in the firm are based in education for example they have worked in school - the Philadelphia special education unit Pennsylvania State Education Association US Department of Education in Washington DC New Jersey Department of Education Office of Special Education and Sylvania Department of Education there are certified teachers and Diploma in special education certificate in reading and elementary education the firm's existing expertise will reduce time researching information that another firm may not already have coded 19 information the suite Stephens website has 59 Oracle's about coded 19 and how it relates to education for example truancy during the pandemic parent joining video conferences zoom and board meeting security guidance on leave requests gifted and 504 obligation Senate bill 751 and the cares Act PSSA and Keystone testing paying
044for private school virtual permit gramming due to the closure the evaluations re-evaluations and IEP meetings during the closure no other firm have these articles on their website labor and relations sweet stevens has negotiated over 600 collective bargaining contracts and they have over a hundred years of labor experience there are other reasons I think sweets teams will be the best solicitors typically for colonial school district policy development policy is a high priority for sweet stevens tilaka policies every three to five years and are heavily involved in the policy committee and will attend every policy committee meeting they recommend the policy committee meet every month not only as needed during the interview process they said the worst thing a district can do is have a policy from the 90s and never look at it war council sweet
045stevens offers a subscription-based title cool council taken from their website with the service members are pooled on the email distribution of on-demand answers to various operational questions from subscribers in the areas of labor and employment special education and technology pool council services are delivered for a single flat annual fee to school entities know their full budget investment up front in addition sweet stevens has the lowest per hour fee of all four firms political contributions there have been several discussions in the past concerning solicitors making campaign donations to sitting board members members of the public were concerned with this practice and lost confidence in the district because of it Lee Stevens has a policy of not making any political contributions at all to any candidate or political party they consider it a good business model and
046are viewed as honest by their clients their advice is for the good of the district not a political party or candidate for these reasons I believe sweet Stephens is the best choice for colonial school district this time we have an obligation to the public to restore faith in our district and to be fiscally responsible right now is not the time for tenacity and combativeness is the time to act responsibly and do it as best for the parents teachers and taxpayers of this district which is why I would nominate sweet Stephens for Solicitor are there other comments or questions from the board at this time I mean I appreciate generating that we we can read something extremely similar for for the at least two of the other competitors with regard to their extreme experience and breath
047of knowledge because Whistler Pearlstein as well as Fox Rothschild would be very similar in their explanations so I'm not going to go through and and read those because I know that all of us have done our homework and looked through these firms and we had our interviews but I do just want to say to any members of the public who listen to that yes that does sound amazing and and sweets would be great and I wouldn't necessarily say no to them but they may not be all of our first choice and if we were to read their résumés you would be very similarly impressed so I just want to just put that out there before any further discussion let me just say one thing um you're right they're all qualified and that's you know of
048course as far as policy development well we had policies from 1965 up until two years ago I think that is a big thing yes but that change happened because of PSB a board Doc's that was going to happen because our superintendent changed that was simply not happening because our prior superintendent did not want to subscribe to P SBA's board Docs yeah I just I'm sorry Kathy I would just like to echo that that um Jen before you came on dr. Christian had already identified that you know like within a month of coming onto the board and was pushing us wait a minute wait a minute guys one person at a time the players are trying to listen I go mad if I can all talk at once Kathy you finish up thank you I just
049wanted to respond to what Jen was saying I hear you I you know older policies our previous superintendent have their way of doing things and you know we as a board worked in conjunction with our superintendent but when we hired after Christian that was on our list of questions for him that was one of the things we were wanted to to handle and to tackle was how are we going to update these policies and he was 100% onboard with board Docs so that was going to happen regardless irregardless of whether or not we changed our solicitor so if fox Rothschild would have remained our solicitor two years ago we would have been continuing we would have continued to use board Docs and our policies would be similarly updated as they are now if not faster
050because we wouldn't have had it any law with our solicitor so I just want to throw that out there and give all those kudos to dr. Christian because he is my Superman dr. Christian but that's exactly my point why I every superintendent before that said now I find that hard to believe and I think a solicitor should be a little more proactive if that's the case then try and convince the superintendent or the one before that or the one before that or all the board members that have come through for the past twenty years that this is ridiculous 1965 the fox restaurant did not do that I know dr. Christian was part of it but what about the 20 years prior to that but do you remember his response though working I had this connection
051he was working the discretion of the board which is what a solicitors should do a solicitor should be looking and making sure that we're following the laws and things that are happening at the state legislature just because our policies were referring more from 1965 they weren't necessarily out-of-date it was referring to what the state was mandating us to do one person at a time sorry let me just it's not that we weren't updating policies we were going we had at committee meetings the administrators were coming and we were starting to go through that process it's not that we were ignoring everything that being said well whatever we just want to I just want to say you know yes we don't want our solicitor to be reactive but also we don't need them to be proactive
052where their make decisions that aren't coming from the board so I tend to think that decisions were being made over the last couple years that we're not coming down from the board from discussions in committee so I want a solicitor that yes is going to advocate and give us good advice but it's also going to work with the board as a whole and take what the board as a whole directs them to do and not go off and write policies and bill us for things that is not coming from the board as a whole and somebody that works for everybody not just a few single people all right mr. Schupak you wanted to speak I had information I wanted to know when like like with sweet stevens is the this appointment effective again on July
0531st that's corny good question I think that we can make we can make the start date whatever we choose to make it and I think once we decide on which way we're headed then we can have a conversation about the start date or allow our superintendent to chime in on when would be a good date for transition if in fact we're making transition doctor question do you have a date in mind there's always a transition process if this motion is approved number one I would recommend that all existing cases that our current solicitor is working on stay with that solicitor so that we are not paying for a potentially new solicitor to be caught up caught on so to speak considering the fact that we're in this new pandemic environment I I'm not really sure
054how many new things are going to come up between now and the end of the school year so you know the board has a discretion to assign all new cases immediately I don't think there'll be many so I think you have some flexibility there but I think the I think it's important to keep current cases with the current solicitor just like you did two years ago and as those get finalized then you move on and new cases go with the new solicitor situations cases things like that I just have a second question and that's I was looking in agree marry the proposal by Fox and I couldn't find an hourly rate for Assessment Appeals and that's obviously a major a major part of what the solicitor does and I was curious what Fox's hourly rate
055would be for Assessment Appeals because obviously you know I think especially with the pandemic that's been there's gonna be a lot of that work coming up and it would you know it just concerns me that it didn't seem to be in the proposal if somebody else can find it great I look through I just wasn't able to I'm looking right now at the mr. Schupak I'll ask mr. Sablan ski and mr. Sherman to look at that during this discussion period I think you would have to go with you know based upon what's in the RFP what the current hourly rate for Solicitor Services is if there's a different rate and and I can find it in the next couple of minutes we'll share it yeah I had another question this is for a period of
056one year as the previous contracts have been you know it would be what agile June to July well whatever start date we we decide on its then a year from that date usually they're what June June 30th is the start date or June 1st I prefer the July 1 to June 30th start date that prevents a situation where some districts still do a December 2 December start date but with elections you have the potential for new board members coming on voting on an item if you have three or four new board members they're voting on a solicitor you know without having worked with them so my preference is the July 1 to June 30 I have a question can I speak sure bet you know that's alright that's right and I'll go next okay so
057I have a question about that so the last time that this happened I don't there what the new solicitor did start working before right because that happened in like December January or February so it's professional services so you don't need to wait till July 1 right right but there would I guess what dr. Kristen the way I'm reading is we could could choose to start whenever we wanted but generally the contract which would run from July 1st to June 30th okay so how does that work if you start using the solicitor ahead of time like how did that work two years ago when you started using a solicitor in the middle of a contract period dr. Christian I was just commenting on my you know when you approve them somebody had asked you approve it
058annually and I said my druthers is to do it annually from July 1 the June so you avoid the new board members having to assess the situation of which they've had no experience at any time aboard its a professional service at any time the board can say hey listen we're going to new solicitor we're going with another new professional service that's my understanding if I'm wrong Sarah Dave King correct me but I believe the last time we did we did approve rid of Clark and then reprove them again so you know you think that's right I think three approved them again for a year's contract so it was a shorter term and then a year if I remember correctly but I'm not I'm not positive Sarah the rate for Assessment Appeals by the way is
059the same rate as listed former Solicitor Services and Fox Rothschild is one ninety five per hour to Sue's point right the way it works with professional services you don't really have a contract what the letters are is essentially locking in your rate for that time you don't you don't have to wait to any period of time to start services so what happened a couple of years ago soon is that the solicitor appointment was made Rudolf carp came in and became your solicitor so that's standard what happens because there's not like I said it a contract that you're living up to it's just that you've locked in the rate for the law firm for that period of time okay thank you Sarah mrs. Pedulla did I see you trying to get on now mrs. Becker Franklin
060Becker you wanted to speak again yes I I had a question and a couple of comments so within this you know we've broken out the the special ed services is it the intention for us to do an RFP for the bond counsel work to bring the bond counsel work to Fox to keep that with the existing about bond counsel because I think part of the intent of this was to look at you know different ways of packaging our solicitor services as I recall it's a good question in my view bond counsel has always been separate when we've contracted with the solicitor has it is not included bond counsel when we need bond counsel we've gone out and gotten rates or made a decision at that point so I would assume we stay with the bond
061counsel that we have we're currently in fun doing bond work dr. Christian any anything different that's currently currently with Cagle Kelvin all me and Lord and you guys you guys the board received multiple proposals for that and they were the the lowest of proposals all right so if we if we go out for more bonds that we haven't already you know locked into we can so we were doing our mission then or we just stay with with the one we have are doing our new RFP but I don't they the bond is not locked into our solicitor services thanks and then you know I guess back to the motion at hand I I do have reservations before discussing that about Fox we've talked about the political contributions issue I think you know an easy way
062of making that not be a concern for the community is is not considering those firms that make political contributions that's a way of doing it I do have concerns and a despite you know others disagreeing that they did not advocate overtime strongly enough for the board to look proactively at policies over many years they were our Council for many many years I also believe that they were our Council when the west gym was built and the decision was made to proceed with that work as an obit contract and they were involved at that time so those are all those are all red flags for me for continuing to work with them and I think we would find excellent counsel is and this is described with sweet Stevens or with Whistler Pearlstein if we're removing folks
063who make political contributions from the mix okay does anybody else have any other comments to make mrs. Epstein I do I have several first of all I just want to say that I have definitely been a proponent of pay-to-play I mean I'm an advocate no against Peter play sort of pay to play and that was one of the many things that got me started in following school board issues the with respect to the West Jim the solicitor's job is to look at what the board asked them to and let the board know what is the law regarding that issue and what is within the law and what was handled the way the Western was he and although many people you know have stated that they were disappointed with it it was totally within the law
064and that is the job of the solicitor not to advise us whether he thinks it's a good idea or not but whether it's legal or not and that was completely within the law and that was their job and they did it the way they were supposed to have done it I am going to make a vote based on the merits of the law firm regardless of any factors which they've made political donations and I want to say that I you know when I ran in this past election we took we are beholden to nobody and I continue to be beholden to no to no one but I am going to make a decision based on the merits and I do believe that all you know all the firm's three and three of the firms were
065definitely outstanding in their overall services in their RFPs and I will though according to who I think will do the very best job for for our school district mr. Schue pack yeah I have a just a few comments to make first is you know and I think preface is with with two comments and one is that it's obviously you know in the board's discretion to take up this issue at any time that it that it chooses I personally don't feel that this is you know this is the appropriate time to be discussing this issue and we spent three hours and 15 minutes interviewing solicitors we're discussing it again tonight I feel like our community is dealing with a lot of other more pressing issues these of the curriculum visibly the impact of this pandemic these
066would be the financial issues and the unemployment and the things that people are dealing with and I think they you know we should be laser focused on curriculum and curricular delivery and not on this issue so I you know I personally disappointed that the board has spent so much time on who it's lawyer is going to be and not on the education of our kids which i think is more important on turning to the you know the merits I think all four firms are great firms and all four firms would do would do a fine job for for the district you know I think Fox which is obviously the subject in the mou shinai I have I mean I share some concerns that have already been mentioned with regard to the 13 million dollar no
067bid construction contract that they that they green-lighted the district to engage in I think that one of the fundamental jobs of a solicitor is to reduce risk for the district to make sure the district does not face lawsuits and I think having updated policies having update administrative regulations is a great way to do that I think it's a really important way to do that and I think the deficiency there on the part of Fox who were so sore for 18 years and somehow across multiple superintendents and somehow didn't you know didn't suggest that we should have you know updated policies I think that was a glaring deficiency and I don't know why it didn't happen I know people want to make excuses but it should have happened and it's the solicitors job to tell the
068board it should have happened the campaign contribution issue is certainly something that I you know think seriously about I think we had you know we just had an election where one of the slates ran on a ticket of ethics matter and I think of ethics matter then that dictates that it's time to put an end to pay to play politics and it means we should be hiring one of the two firms that as a policy doesn't make campaign contributions to the school board candidates or sitting school board members I think that's what our community is overwhelmingly said it wants and I think and I think it would do a go go to great lengths to restoring trust and and in credibility if we were to put into place either Whistler or suite who obviously are
069very very highly respected education law firms with deep benches and who have not made any campaign contributions which we've you know we've heard on this session tonight it meant to having taken from Fox and then voting for for Fox's solicitor I think you know my other the other point I just like to make is I think Fox is the most expensive of the firm's considering the retainer is $22,000 a year Whistler is fourteen thousand four hundred the retainer suite Stevens doesn't charge a retainer the hourly rate for fox is 195 for Whistler for instance it's 185 for its most experienced lawyers and 165 for its other lawyers the board has hard decisions financially coming down the road and I think going with a more cost-effective option that it you know has equal experience in education
070law I think that just makes a makes a lot a lot of sense to me and I think to our taxpayers as well this is the doozy the hypocrisy that just came out of your mouth is numbing to me so I'm just going to breathe for a second before I respond you do not know what happened in the board meetings when we voted for the the no bid contract when we had hours of conversation with Fox Rothschild at the time about that decision you don't know what happened you weren't there it's so that's a doozy could you just explain that it was not a no-bid contract it was a change order I appalling his language there it was a change order which was legal and we were told about any risks that there may have
071been we've tried to make the most educated choice we could with also being fiscally responsible as well as worrying about timing don't want to get into the details this is going to be too long of a conversation but please do not speak like you know what happened in that meeting and please do not be such a hypocrite into talking about anything with regard to pay to play politics nobody on the five of us who got re-elected or elected from protecting colonials future took one penny from anybody other than people and we had taken contributions from attorneys in the past we didn't know any better rookies maybe that's why you guys did and voted for it you learn and grow and you act differently when you know better so we learned by the past and decided
072to change our behavior so we didn't take money so none of us believed in pay to play politics now I don't Foxx Rothschild and Whistler Pearlstein are about equal with me I'm not a hundred percent convinced Fox Rothschild is worth a little bit of extra money so I'm happy having this conversation but Fox Rothschild is phenomenal and they never provided us with bad advice and they also are old policies is not their fault so I just please stops trying to speak like you know everything and I don't I don't know everything I don't know hardly anything but I do know that I'm not a hypocrite so please please please try to respect the fact that we've all done our best and and and this should not have been confrontational at all it just should have
073been let's pick the best firm and stop with all this crap because this is it's just patrina I think also as someone who is new to the board and new to this entire environment that I am highly offended that one of my fellow board members would insinuate that any decision I would be making would be based on any type of contributions not one of these candidates ever contributed a dime to me or to my campaign and I am basing my vote tonight on the interview process that I sat right and the research I have done since that process it's very important for us right now to have a solicitor who I have met and who I have interacted with our current solicitor I have not met since I've joined the board and to me that's
074discouraging I want to know who is representing us and that they're going to show up and come to our meetings and with Kovac 19 going on and state that we are in right now it is more important than ever to have a solicitor who we can trust who we can turn to and to say that we aren't putting our community first mr. Schupak by doing this this process was started long before this pandemic and now it is just proven more and more why it's important to have good counsel and so my vote tonight will be on the research that I did and the interviews I sat through and to think that it's anything less than that is highly insulting does anyone else have any comments I do I also want to along with what Petrino
075just said have done a lot of research and I've looked at the proposals I've looked at the references that were given and the reports and I've just done a lot and now more than ever it is important with this unprecedented pandemic it's more important now to make sure that we have the council going forward that is going to lead us in the right way the ripple effects of this pandemic are way beyond even people losing their jobs in their lives which is tragic and it's just the ripple effect to us in educating our students goes through every administrative department that we have and it will for the next two to three years at least and we need to make sure that the advice that we're getting is spot-on and it's proactive and that's all I'm
076gonna say oh yeah actually um so I mrs. Moore you know you've been on the board for almost twenty years you have experience with foxed with all of the solicitors that we've had involved you know who are you supporting and you I think you know other people can say they they weren't familiar with the process they were naive to how things worked but you've been in it for twenty years you've got contributions from attorneys you've made votes who are you choose and why okay I'm more than happy to tell you that I have been part of a ticket that has accepted money in the past both when I was a Republican and was when I was a Democrat that got contributions from assorted law firms I never asked for them I was not happy about
077it but I was part of a ticket I'm not excusing that but I made the decision when I ran last year that I would accept not one penny from anyone but private citizens because of what happened two years ago that you and mr. Shue PAC and mrs. Dale were at the 4th at the front line on I made the decision that I would not play those games I would not take any money from anyone I don't blame law firms for donating money when their arms are twisted what I what I blame is people who take the money and I think at this point we've all made the decision and I think it sounds like you guys have come to the same conclusion that it looks bad and the public does not appreciate it so I'm
078all for passing a policy that says we can I think it would be in the best interests of the board and of the school district and my decision has nothing to do with finances or contributions I think to try to blame Fox Rothschild or are out-of-date policies is ridiculous last time we interviewed solicitors two years ago every firm that we interviewed except for Rudolph Clark talked about their role in policy was not to propose policies but to just do what needed to be done to make sure policies were handled legally so law firms should not be there telling in my view they're not making the policy the Board makes the policy and our solicitors should tell us whether they're correct or not I can tell you that our solicitor tried to get you know I
079don't know what conversations he had with our past two superintendents but they wanted to go about producing policies in a different manner than using PS be a that was their their recommendation and the board vote we had a policy committee we introduced new policies and keep saying that the policies were from the 1960s I find offensive because some things like policies like the Constitution do not have to be updated all the time but they do have to make reviewed that meets sure let me finish our administrative regulations need to be updated and if our policies say that we are following the guidelines of the state of Pennsylvania on emergency policies or whatever and we will continue to update based on on their recommendations there's nothing that's wrong with that policy that was one of the
080ones that was used against us was that that policy was was so old I didn't find anything wrong with it I think that we have overstepped we need to do policies and we have bought P SBA's policy package we are updating it we are moving forward mrs. Dale did you know her committee did last year we are doing it again this year under mrs. Epstein and we will continue to move policies forward so I don't consider that to be something that any solicitor we hire should do what the board directs them although give us advice as to what's appropriate and the firm's we interviewed all talked about what they considered their role in policy to be so I'm not going you know I'm not blaming Fox Rothschild for that at all I don't think that
081had anything to do with it um I also would just like to comment that mr. Schue Packer I understand and you mentioned that you didn't like the timing of doing this I think mrs. Epstein made it very clear and correctly that the time we right now absolutely positively more than in my years on this board need strong proactive solicitor opinions advice and and that's where I am right now does anybody else want to comment Mrs Dell just to wrap it up Karen Burke gave sweets theme is a glowing review we've used them for years we all know they're qualified they have that controversial component taken out because of the donations why would you not want to go with somebody that has all those qualities the people clearly people are writing in they care about that
082Chris you said you weren't beholden to anybody I think you're beholding to the people that voted for you who don't want any donations and who don't want that so sorry I I believe I believe misses the doozy made it a very valid point mrs. Davitt you are you're cherry-picking sweet Stevens and talking about their wonderful resume and they have a wonderful resume and all four of these firms got great recommendations and they all have wonderful strong qualities but we could all sit here and talk about Fox Rothschild Whistler Pearlstein that they have the same amazing qualities and have very strong very strong leaders and lawyers in their firms so you know I think that everybody has made their own decision done their own research we all sat through the interviews some of us think you
083and I included sat through the same firms interviews twice two years ago and again this time so I think at this point unless anyone has something new to add we should be able to move forward and and vote missus Northcutt or anybody who hasn't spoken you have anything you want to say anybody else want to speak mrs. Pedulla I think mrs. Northcutt was about to I was trying to pow I didn't see that mrs. Northcott did you want to say something yeah I was just done muting and no I don't have anything to add at this time thank you so I guess my last because this is a process of these parliamentary procedure that frustrates me that there has to be a motion on the table I just wish there couldn't be discussion and then
084someone makes a motion but so as of right now the motion that's on the table is to have Fox Rothschild be our solicitor so if we were to take a vote now there is a motion there's a motion and a second right I'm sorry so if we were to take a vote now and there's at least five eyes then they would become our new solicitor if there were not five or more then that motion would pass and then somebody else could make a motion for somebody else so with that being said like I mean I mean I heard what Jen said and as I said earlier I'm pretty torn between Whistler and Fox and as as angry my heart is at some of the things that were said this evening and about grudges and things
085like that like I would love to just say I really want Fox because I'm angry but I can't let that be part of my decision-making I have to make sure that I'm doing the right thing because it's our job so if I'm at a tie between Fox and Whistler in order to try to bring us together as I been praying for four years I do think that having Whistler Pearlstein be our solicitor having them be our solicitor would be a benefit sweet Stevens I do like sweet Stevens I don't like that they don't have a retainer I don't like that there's not sort of a more concrete cost or understandable cost at least to me I think Ken who presented is a great guy he's 30 years experience they have there a one-stop kind of
086shop they are very proactive with regard to Kovac things as well so I love me some Jeff satanic I think he is a brilliant brilliant man and he did us many years of good but I so the reason I'm saying this is if there are other people who feel the same that could affect the way other people vote so I just want to make sure we really talk this out before a vote has had so if anybody else wants to add anything to that um I would vote for Whistler if that's if it was between Fox and what's there I would vote for Whistler I would agree with you Kathy if it brought us together I can't vote for Fox but I could vote for Whistler I also am very supportive of Whistler and I
087look at the districts they've represented and I think there are a lot of districts we compare ourselves to and there's some of the best districts in the state including Trevor in East Towne and Upper Dublin and Abington and Lower Merion and their Costas is lower which which at least I believe so and I asked dr. Christian to help me you know anything to consider on the cost on that was what I found interesting is that they're there their retainer is lower in their hourly rate is lower but it's only good for one hour that's the thing that I was which so if you go past an hour they start charging by the hour so it may not be it may they may not be as less expensive as okay yeah I think I my guess
088is they all come out pretty much the same financially depending on what kind of works being done so I don't know that it cost although we always want to be careful about cost I'm not considering that because if you have a much lower cost but you take much longer than the rate goes you know the bill goes up if you can answer questions immediately then the charge is lower so I'm not going you know that's just the way I'm looking at it personally I think it's also worth noting that both Whistler and we proactively addressed the challenges of our board dynamic and made a good-faith effort to talk about how they could work and well with boards that have challenging dynamics and I think that that's that's an important consideration alright you asked me mrs.
089Becker Franklin Becker and I'm just gonna say I know Whistler Prost knowing very well and I have been very happy with sweet Stevens for our special ed work I think it's important to note that mrs. Burke's recommendations were only for special ed work because that's what she does and I don't think anybody tops sweet Stevens when it comes to special ed work I think that at this point and and because of my experience I'm I'm in favor of Fox because I think that right now we need a very proactive and strong firm who will see us through this crisis if things had not turned the way they had with Kovac 19 I may feel differently but that's my opinion at this point does anyone else have any comments or questions or are we done Jen
090one last thing my favorite part of all of the interviews was when Ken from Whistler said sometimes everybody's second choice is the best choice and I think this is that exact situation right now but mrs. Dowd you've been pushing sweet Stevens you know but clearly a you know I'm in the minority for sweet Stevens I know not and I know I would be and Worcester is my second choice and that's everybody's second choice I just think that on behalf of the public we owe them the best solicitor we don't owe them anyone second choice we as a board are here representing the people in our community and just because we have issues with each other has nothing to do with the public and what's best for them and I just feel like I can't in
091good faith vote for my second choice because some of us aren't getting along and seeing eye-to-eye on this I think we have to do what's best for our district and our community this is such 'ln yeah hi I just what mrs. patrina said I was actually going to echo as well we are all grown adults raw professionals and we're responsible for and behavior and we should not be choosing I I liked what he said to when I thought about that because I thought he made a really good point but the bottom line is we're responsible for how we deal is a board and our responsibility is to hire the best firm for this job at a time when we need it the most so Jen I hear what you're saying and that did actually resonate
092with me when he said it but I don't want the second choice I'm gonna vote for my first choice and if that's not how it goes when we go with somebody else okay but um you know we we should be able to all be grown-ups and work collectively every day for what's best for this district and so I just echo what mrs. Pacino said anybody else all right we have a motion and a second on the floor mr. shermin do you want to do a roll call please for this is a vote for Fox North trout as our solicitor mrs. dal-rae mrs. Epstein hi mrs. Franklin Becker nay mrs. Moore hi mrs. Northcutt aye this is patroon oh hi mrs. Pedulla I'm struggling I want it to be a group vote I wish it was
0939l well you know it's not gonna be mrs. Pedulla make your make your call no mr. Schupak no missus Ashland yes motion carries five four all right thank you everyone and thank you for the very frank and open discussion I think that a decision like this requires that we get it all out there and I think we did tonight after that Sarah however you like it so listeners report yeah well since I'm not your solicitor you are you still are okay why just want to thank you for the opportunity to work with you for the last two plus years now you know I've had a really positive experience working with the board the administration and especially dr. Christian so you know I just have a lot of good wishes for the colonial community going forward
094and Sarah I want to thank you it's been a pleasure working with you I would echo Sarah's efforts have gone above and beyond and I think no matter what firm she worked for or is associated with she will be successful because of her earnest efforts on behalf of the families and the school board and the cloning of school district thank you Thank You C committee reports community relations rosemary yes at our March 9th meeting mr. McNeil of Lakeside's neurologic Institute discussed the training being provided to staff on trauma-informed care a one-year project to enable staff to better support students impacted by trauma of various kinds we looked at the draft bylaws for the proposed Athletic Hall of Fame those were discussed and will be revisited in May policies regarding the enrollment and admission of students
095to be added revised and deleted were reviewed dr. Christian explained the district's ongoing monitoring of and response to the Cova 19 outbreak as of that point in time and it feels like that was a long long time ago we invite you to attend our next meeting on Monday April 20th okay thank you mrs. Northcutt miss Trina curriculum hi the curriculum committee met on Monday March 9th a couple days before the closure and ironically the focus of the meeting was to highlight online resources that are being used to support teaching and learning across the district the meeting started with Colonial Elementary School assistant principal Kylene Phillips providing an overview of the role of Technology within the classroom she pointed out the importance of using technology to promote academic growth and social equity miss Phillips also shared
096how various technology tools and applications are being integrated into lessons to individualize instruction notes of every student also during the meeting we had an opportunity to go around to different learning stations at each station classroom teachers from elementary through high school demonstrated how technology is being used in their grade level and content area we learned about guided reading and interactive math programs we also learned about software being used to help students navigate the web and conduct academic research and had the opportunity to practice interactive tools as well not only as a board member but as a parent I found it really helpful and interesting to see some of the things that my kids were working on in school and to be able to come home and ask them about it we also had a summary
097of the district's diversity equity and inclusion committee and we also began looking at policy 121 and clearly so many things have changed regarding curriculum since that meeting so I want to invite everyone to our curriculum meeting on Monday April 20th this coming Monday at 5:30 the focus will be on our current online learning and I just want to reiterate what's already been said tonight just a huge thank you to dr. Christian from Keaney their administrative teams the principals absolutely our teachers for being able to you know deliver education and this curriculum in a new way to our students and I also want to say just thank you to our families and our students for being so flexible we're really all learning together and it's really appreciated how how well everybody is you know giving and
098taking so please join us on Monday for our curriculum meeting at 5:30 thank you okay thank you facility is miz's badoosy underneath there we go lot going on with fmt the good news is it looks like we might be getting some paving done in our much dilapidated parking lots but I am going to ask if dr. Christian could give an update on the construction at the middle school because with the different things with closures in this state there have been some back-and-forth with work and if you could just give everybody an update on what's currently happening and what things are looking forward to that would be great I'm happy to so as of this past Monday construction has resumed at the middle school but on a limited basis that's based upon making sure we have
099a safe environment for the employees who are working there social distancing is taking place the governor lifted restrictions and allowed local entities such as school districts to make the decision to continue construction I would estimate that we're getting between if on a normal day a hundred percent of progression is the norm we're probably getting 50 to 60 percent right now with all the rain we've had it's been a lot of removal of water I joked with our I didn't choke but I surmised with our Joey and our construction management system if we had 10 to 15 pieces you know erected a day how much are we gonna get erected and they said probably between 50 to 70 percent so yeah wear em I can tell I want the public to know while we want people
100on the site working and and moving forward that is secondary to making sure they're safe and Penn Builders has done a great job with that Dewey is doing a great job of that Mico is starting to do some of the underground plumbing work that will take place the good news is is that while we were hoping for this project to be finished in the December of 2021 range we have about five to six months of latitude so if it gets delayed and it probably will be we're in good shape to house our current students we really need it to be completed by September of 2021 so it's it's a fluid situation but I appreciate the work depend builders and Maiko or doing windgap our electrical contractor are not there yet but I will tell you
101this Plymouth Township and they're all the required work they have to do to observe this to make sure we are code compliant everybody's focusing on safety of employees first and if it means we get delayed a little bit then we will have to live through it but we need to make sure we're safe and practicing good social distancing and that's what's taking place right now that's thank you and then if you want to speak to a little bit about the paving and what you think I mean I know they're still we have to go out to bid and all kinds of those processes I guess I can just give the update we're looking to do some paving and the PW high school lots and the drive through to Colonial elementary school so that's something that
102we're working through right now looking to go out to bid soon and getting off those papers ready but hopefully that would be something that would be finished by the start of the school year next year and it it shouldn't and wouldn't impact any summer programs that we hopefully will be having on our campuses that's all I can think of as a report dr. Krishnan anything else that I'm missing no very well said we will balance the ability to get some of our physical plant needs with the ability to maintain a responsible budget keep people safe but it doesn't it does not hurt to go get the bids or paving and for generators and all the different things we do but we'll balance that with being fiscally responsible thank you okay Thank You mr. Schupak yes
103the Finance Committee met remotely on Monday April 13th we held an extensive discussion about the impact of koban 19 on the district and its taxpayers mr. Sablan skee stressed to us that endemics are expensive and the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy will have far-reaching impacts to our schools we discussed the painful choices that likely lay ahead as we confront declining revenue due to the recession a growing student population contractually mandated increases in salaries and benefits and uncertainty about so many things including when schools will reopen we understand that many of our taxpayers have suffered a loss of a job and loss of income during this economic downturn as a result we discussed how to reduce the amount of any tax increase in the 2020 2021 budget as well as potential changes to
104school property tax collection periods into the discount amount to assist our taxpayers during this difficult time colonial maintains the third lowest property tax rate in Montgomery County and a triple-a bond rating both of which will assist us as we navigate this unprecedented downturn although the challenges ahead are immense we will continue to employ smart financial management for our taxpayers and in order to deliver the high-quality education our families expect and I would just like to thank mr. Sablan Ski and his team for making sure that we can continue that we that we have continued to pay to pay salaries to pay bills to operate and do all the things we need financially as a district to to function during during this difficult time is there anything I missed Dave anything you want to add oh
105very well said okay that's Human Resources and no report okay Chris policy okay we will be announcing policy meanings in the coming days and we will take this opportunity to review policies particularly those that are outdated or need to be deleted so that is my report Thank You Eunice checks cool so central ma Co is operating remotely as we all are educating students there are additional challenges to educating kids in our technical programs because of the very nature of those programs we're very fortunate that much of the taxable programming already embedded some online and distance components so students were familiar with that and able to apply that the joint operating committee and the tech school staff are actively working in committee meetings to make sure that we're planning for the remainder of this year including
106how we'll handle graduation how we'll handle returning all the equipment that students had at the school this tech school has been wonderful along with their alumni about supporting community organizations and donating supplies including hospital beds and and masks and gowns and food to various community and healthcare organizations and then looking at creative ways to plan for next year depending on how we're able to bring students back either in person or remotely so those meetings are ongoing Jo see meetings are the first Wednesday of every month and are being held remotely and so we invite you to attend our May meeting as well those are available online much in the same way that colonials meetings are and the links are on that website and I do want to thank everybody at the tech school because they
107are working incredibly hard they're you know they're reaching students from three districts and there are some attendant challenges with doing that and they're going to be impacted by the budget cuts or the budget challenges that we'll see in colonial in Upper Merion and in Norristown and those will not be insignificant we think and they you know we'll have to deal with some very different challenges and bring them all together in one place and there they're already being very proactive and I thank them for that work okay thank you Janne Intermediate Unit yeah the the March meeting was cancelled because of the corona situation and the April meeting is next week and of course we'll be through zoom okay thank you does anybody have a legislative report Kathy yeah um the Legislature's and budget discussions right
108now that's anticipated that there'll be a 1.8 billion dollar deficit because of the lack of tax revenue because of all the Kovan 19 stuff and that that could potentially be 3.9 billion for the following year it's really crazy so currently they're talking about doing two six months budgets but we still and you know Dave the Bosque knows this better than us we still have to provide a full year budget even though the state might not be doing it so you know lots of fear that education will be cut and we'll you know we don't get a ton of funding from the state we get 23% did I make that up Dave Lasky funding from the state most of ours comes from local real estate taxes but obviously we don't want to lose that funding so
109one of the things that could help is what the Charter reform so keep trying to send out some legislative advocacy things for us to be reaching out to our legislators making sure we're demanding cyber charter reform especially because I can really affect us and we might be getting Pennsylvania we'll be getting some money from the federal government as well but how much of that comes to us is undetermined as well so it's it's a scary time lots of things happening thankfully we did not lose our property taxes there was discussion about doing a property tax freeze but with some advocacy to our legislators legislators they understood that our costs were not going down just because we weren't in the buildings so that didn't happen so at least we we still have that to work from
110and that's all I got okay does anybody have a report for municipal or community liaisons this is rosemary Northcutt for Conshohocken and I don't know if my video can be turned on I don't have it stopped the borough of Conshohocken extends its most sincere gratitude to the community for banding together during this difficult time because of community cooperation Borough Council bro administration police fire and EMS have been able to focus on protecting serving and meeting the needs of the community last night the contract in Borough Council had it held its first virtual council meeting and details regarding participating and the next virtual meetings can be found on the borough website thank you okay thank you anyone else I'll throw in something real quick for White Marsh Township the White Marsh Township Parks and Rec board
111I just love them they do such a great job but they if you're not on their email list now get on it they send daily activities if you're home with your kids especially little daily activities that you can do they have different virtual events that you can sign up for they had a virtual tour of the reserve the preserve the other day so follow white March Township Parks and Rec I think they're on Facebook and Instagram too but I do know they have emails that go out so thank you to White Marsh Township for providing that for us and I had one thing to the community relations I'm sorry tomorrow morning Andy's diner in Conshohocken is offering a free print pancake breakfast for students and anyone in need they basically will be from 9 a.m.
112to 2 p.m. you pull in you stop by the diner and they will just be handing out meals so I just want to put that out there to anybody that and thank you to Andy's for providing that for us we we advertise that as well Laurie McCoy and responded to the owner and made sure that we got that out we certainly appreciate it ok education found colonial school district education foundations I have no report rosemary do you yes I just want to remind everyone that the colonial school district Education Foundation funds many extra activities for our students proposals offered by our teachers and they've been very involved in supporting food services for different programs for our students and one very easy way to support the foundation is by designating the Colonial School District Education Foundation
113as your charity with Amazon smile so with any purchase you go through Amazon smile and which is part of Amazon and a donation is made to the foundation great thanks rosemary there is information in board Docs if you're interested in looking about school activity accounts financial accounts and the curriculum report before we go to come public comments dr. Christian I think you have something to say I do and I was remiss in mentioning this and the personnel report but you know what it requires a separate discussion item it does we received a letter of resignation for the purposes of retirement for dr. Liz makini from the Colonial school district so Liz has been the director of curriculum for many years I've only had the opportunity work with Liz for three years but I could tell
114you within three weeks of meeting her I saw somebody who was completely aligned with my vision for how school districts should operate and very simply is I can describe Liz as a person who would roll up her sleeves and be the first one in the fray of any situation that required helping students that is her mission that's what she lives by and that's what she is demonstrated in my time with her I am certain that there are many principles that would echo those sentiments and many teachers and families that would - when we've had times of transition and I asked for support Liz is the first one who says I'm on it and when she leaves my office I don't need to question what's going to happen I know that the job will be done
115the job will be done and done with an earnest effort and with integrity I'm gonna and now let the board to make any comments they would like and I think it's important because Liz is on this zoom which does not dignify the importance of your retirement Liz but unfortunately it's where we are we'll certainly have you back when the public can come back and your colleagues can come back so know the fact that we're in a pandemic does not diminish how much we respect you and admire you but I'll open it up to the board to make any comments and then I'm sir I'm sure Liz will make some comments and I can already I'm looking at her right now she's my Hollywood center square and she's so humble she won't want to say anything
116well I would like to say something I Liz has been here as long as I've been longer than I've been here but I've known her for a lot of years and I don't think there's anyone that works harder and just has such an incredibly pleasant demeanor day in and day out no matter what kind of chaos is going on around her Liz it's been an absolute pleasure and we're gonna miss you terribly I also want to add is that I don't but when I first moved to the district in 1998 Leah wasn't my oldest was in second grade and although Liz wasn't her second grade teacher she was a second grade teacher and she and I go back all the way to 1998 and she's just an amazing advocate for the students and just such
117a wonderful work ethic and just a wonderful human being all around and I just want to say wholeheartedly that I will really miss you one of the things I was so excited about what being on the board was I would get to work with you and I'm self being selfish right now I'm really going to miss you and that opportunity to to continue to work with you but man you are the best I just want to wish you all the best moving forward - congratulations and I'll just quickly chime in I I loved meeting with you one of my first few weeks on the board and you just I just remember leaving your office thinking holy crap like all of the stuff that this woman and her department has to do to make all of
118the schools in our district run and you just like Chris just said you're just always so calm and cool and you just know things and you know when when I would ask a stupid question or a question that I what for whatever reason you just always would explain things so well to me to people at the parent council kind of meetings or coffee community coffee hours you've always just been wonderful and I know you have some grandbabies you want to go spend some time with and and you deserve every moment with your to spend with your family in your retirement so yeah please don't be a stranger come back and and come back and hang out I don't think that's gonna be optional dr. Christian we need to have something when we're allowed to be
119together again and drag Liz back one one more time we will and she'll have to write some current to them while we're recognized well thank you so much I'm incredibly touched really em and it really it's just it's really been an honor and a privilege to serve such an amazing amazing community and it just really has been a collaborative effort we have just an incredible incredibly talented you know teachers staff it's just the administrative staff teaching staff and this job is not done we all know in isolation are alone so together we really have an incredible community and it really has been an honor to serve all the students and parents of four so thank you very much okay any public comments do we have any dr. Christian or Dave Sherman we do I have
120two Dave do you have any there are three now actually yes okay I'll read the two I have and by the process of elimination you can read the last one first one I have is with the district I'm sorry this comes from Joel back over 333 West Elm Street conshohocken PA with the district transitioning to distance learning I want to know why the curriculum committee did not meet on its regular schedule before tonight's full board meeting and why no curriculum committee meeting was initially scheduled for April why did the board set aside a night to interview attorneys but not a dedicated night to curriculum so I'll take responsibility for that Jill it's an excellent question we do have a curriculum meeting set for next Monday night and we'll talk about all the efforts that we're
121doing for remote learning which we certainly know is a challenge it was not scheduled with malice aforethought as we're in this this new environment that we're in but certainly my responsibility and we'll we'll have curriculum meetings for the next three months I also have an email from I'm reading from my phone I apologize this is from Christian Joukowsky 108 Kings Road Plymouth Meeting I am appalled at these comments from Adam Schupak it is hypocrisy at its finest I was impressed with Genda bringing information to the table I disagreed with Eunice's remarks but I was not feeling completely upset at you in and you and arms after Adams remarks Adam this is upsetting to me to insinuate that these peers of yours would be anything less and make the most appropriate decision considering our state of
122affairs you've learned you've learned nothing and to use PFC and to say ethics matters and twist is really distasteful where were your questions and facts about suite on Monday nothing was raised this seems like a Hail Mary to throw tomatoes you're looking for fireworks but faking flat please do better I'm so disappointed Kristen Moffat Jack Jackie Kowski Dave did you say you had another yes there's a comment from Sarris tereus I appreciate the board appointing a new solicitor we absolutely need the best experienced and brightest firm to lead us during this pandemic also moving forward I hope that there will be more opportunities for interactive live virtual learning for kindergarten students during this school closure time frame I can comment on that Dave I actually commented on the earlier tonight's meeting we're trying to increase
123the number of interactive learning we do particularly with K to 3 students and their teachers want to be with their students I probably get two or three emails a day from KK to five teachers expressing how much they want to be with their students so we're going to try to increase the number of live interactions zooom interactions but I will say like many businesses and educational institutions we have been hit with some of the zoom interferences that have taken place so we're putting safeguards in place training our teachers with a multitude of mediums in which they can communicate with kids that's safe but we have had to shut down a few like many districts have because of inappropriate activity that said we'll continue to move forward teachers with teachers will use Google classroom and a
124variety of things to reach kids because we know that's important but please know that our staff wants to be with their kids teaching them and that's why the best part of Education is face to face in school so we'll keep we'll keep improving and if you have challenges please email me or our administrative team and we will address them as needed are there is that the end of the public comments that's all I have yes okay thanks Dave are there any board comments missus such length hi so I just wanted to say that you know I know that every family has a story and we're all dealing with this in our own different ways but as a school board member and and hopefully I can do this without crying and the parent of a senior
125it was a week ago that these kids found out that school was cancelled and their Disney trip was cancelled and I have watched not only my daughter but her friends and I've heard them on you know all these different social media groups and all this different stuff and the difference between last last week and this week is incredible and I'm hearing her laugh and several times when I'm hearing her laugh it's because she's in a zoom with her teacher and the kids in the class and I just want to say again how incredible these teachers I know that we you know we all have different expectations and we all are you know nervous about our kids learning but this class of 2020 is handling this with incredible grace and the school district is doing I
126am you know I've had a lot of parents text me and say they're so glad that I'm on the board because I have a parent of a senior and so I understand and what I'm saying to them all of them and I get a lot of text we're emails is the entire board the entire administration once these kids to you know have whatever we can salvage and and so on I'm happy that I'm in a position where I can talk to the parents about that but these kids are really incredible and I just want to thank when I have the opportunity on zoom' our teachers because I can hear them on these calls and it means the world to them and so I just want to thank them and I know we're doing the best
127we can but just you know keep I noticed we don't so we don't have I guess the student reps on this call but I would love that for next month we would include I know where they're going to college but you know we do that every year we ask the kids were you know the student reps where they're going to school what are they're doing and I don't want to take that from them so I I'm hoping that next month we can have them on the zoom cause so that they can maybe talk about what they're going to do and maybe talk about what some of their other friends are going to do at the same time and thanks yeah that's a great point Beth we absolutely will I should have had them on tonight
128dr. burr Connie is meeting with student leaders on a weekly basis and they're generating ideas for our senior class to recognize them and we will try to fulfill each and every one of them but we'll have students on the on next month our student reps and I want the public to know too that there's not a day that goes by that I don't get a text or an email from a board member that says what can we do for our kids so please know you have nine board members who are dedicated to the over 5200 children in the district so there always may be disagreements on certain issues but they're committed to one thing they they certainly take care of your children if I could know I just I just wanted I thought that was
129that was a great point mrs. Arlen hearing your kids on a zoom call with their teachers and I have an elementary school kid and a high school kid and it makes a huge difference and you know when we were sort of on spring break and there was less happening they were more they're more they're more grounded when they had that connection with their teachers and their classmates and so and you know in the face of all the things and I'm you know see what our seniors are going through it's awful but they're very resilient it's wonderful to see what they're doing I thought the district's decision to start broadcasting all of the wonderful moments of the class of 2020 s career on CI TV whether that's kindergarten concerts and fifth grade graduation and third grade
130all of those things it's not a replacement but it's a wonderful celebration of their entire academic career here in colonial and you know we're blessed with a wonderful district and so you know we are all constantly worried and thinking about how we can serve the students here so thank you any other comments those were excellent comments and I you know I just want to add I mean we've talked about the I think the food services team and just again express our appreciation to them for all the great work they're doing and making sure that our you know that our kids are fed also the technology team drew boogly and and his team for you know distributing the devices and making sure that you know that that we can reach our kids through zoom through through
131other technology we really really appreciate that because this is certainly an unprecedented unprecedent at a time the other thing I just want to bring up you know knowing how stressful that this is a stressful situation for you know for so many of our kids and our families I don't know dr. Christian or mrs. Burke if if if any any of our students you know felt like they needed some help some assistance I am a generic disruption in kids lives right now we still have all of our Student Assistance gram teams in place and counselors available many have been contacted with questions and they're there to provide resources I'll it's not the same impact of having a face to sit in front of but all those that all those resources are in place and will continue
132to be and how would families go about our kids go about getting in touch with those people through through a principal or many of many well I won't say many some direct contact counselors directly but certainly they can reach out to building principals and then it counselors will reply but if they reach out to me or anybody in central office we'll certainly direct them to the appropriate resources thank you certainly if I could add there are also resources available and posted on our website for families to contact if they need support thank you very much anybody else have any comments Kathy nobody nut nut shouldn't say that how come how about we all give a round of applause for our fearless leader dr. Christian and all of the work that he has been doing to
133help keep us afloat since all of this crazy stuff has happened I know he gets uncomfortable when these kinds of things are said and I apologize for that dr. Christian but thank you for your leadership thank you for you know grabbing this pandemic just by the neck and and and and taking it on and taking it down as best you can and and serving our students and our families as best you can so thank you for your leadership that trickles down to all of the administration the cabinet level the teachers and all the work they do so I know that comes from from you so I'm sure you have and you also have your own family so thank you for all you do thank you for all your hours and your commitment and our district
134is very lucky to have you so just wanted to take a second to say thank you just like to reiterate I think that if you don't if people don't know all of our cabinet people mrs. dr. Rodriguez mrs. Burke mr. Bogg Lee mrs. McKee dr. makini Joe Lally and facilities have all been working tirelessly to get everything done to keep the grounds up and to keep the kids fed and to keep our special ed programs moving and and our HR moving and it's just the hours that you've all put in sitting at home in front of a zoom computer I have no idea how you do it dr. Christian you must have it like attached to you the computer but we appreciate everything everyone's done and I think all of us can agree on that
135that we have an amazing staff and an amazing ministration and thank you for everything any other comments before we adjourn very nice of everybody to say I've always believed that superintendents get too much credit when things go well and probably a little too much blame when things don't go well but yours the people that you work with and this is a strong community we work with good people that starts with the board and strong families and we always have room for improvement I mean that sincerely I forgot Dave said blouse key sorry no we like it we like Dave too but all that said I would have preferred about 15 snow days than what we're currently going through I'd go for 30 but we're going to work through this we're going to continue to improve
136and we're going to help kids grow all right thank you meeting adjourned