School Board Meeting: February 20, 2025

001e e e y so and it's kind of a small table like I wish it was just like like wait can okay how do you want to do this do you want to switch with you're going first right it's nbit 12 11 10 so do you want to change it up okay so can I switch to okay are we all switching wait do you want to start out with freshman first or something we have a this one still good evening everyone it is Thursday February the 20th this is a meeting of the Council Rock School District Board of school directors would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the national anthem may I ask uh Megan speak would you kindly lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the

002flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all can you [Music] the Twilight last and [Music] theing the [Applause] [Music] rock the BS thiry through the night our flag still star [Music] the of [Applause] [Music] the the we're going to sing for you one more song you can have a seat this time we are going to perform for you our version of God Bless America that I arranged after the 9 attacks this is our of God [Music] God Bless America [Music] through night the above the [Music] godess [Music] my godess [Music] Amer sweet [Music] God Bless [Music] America love stand beside and gu the with light the [Music] the [Applause] bless sweet God [Music] bless thank you Mr axler

003and thank you Council Rock South appreciate you being here tonight very nicely done thank you ladies and gentlemen Adam secretary could we have a roll call please Mr Tate present Mr hialgo present Mr Roosevelt here Mr hickey here M Miss paully present Miss oaki here miss con here miss Stone here miss Herer here thank you thank you Mr Ric would you introduce your students please absolutely good evening everyone thank you for inviting us to join you tonight members of the Council Rock South student Advisory Board are here to update you and the community on various events and happenings at Council Rock South High School presenting this evening are nbit rep Jamie Gman 12th grade rep Steven belder 11th grade rep Ur kiss 10th grade rep Daniel Thomas and Ninth Grade rep Mia lafredo well most

004February is Career and Technical education month and the goal is to bring public awareness and celebrate the value and achievements of CTE programs across the country CTE schools across the Commonwealth fulfill local Workforce needs provide students with opportunities to learn alongside trained professionals and support the valuable role technical education plays in our educational system mbits support the trades t-shirt initiative and fundraiser during CTE month will directly support our students attending skills USA Nationals next Wong's Family Home Center recently visited our Building Trades program to present an extraordinary donation of battery powered tools valued at $5,000 this generous contribution equips our students with cuttingedge tools while supporting the industry's transition from corded to cordless equipment prioritizing modern safety and efficiency standards additionally the skillsusa PA District 2 competitions are in full swing and we proudly recognize

005all our medalists including Kelly AA who earned first place in cosmetology under 500 hours and several other commendable students who place in the top three in their respective categories we continue to commend our students for demonstrating excellence in their fields lastly the HOSA blood drive is happening on February 20th and 21st from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. right here at middleb Institute of Technology thank you for taking the time to stay updated on all the exciting happenings at middle bucks Institute of Technology good evening everyone my name is Mia afredo and I'm an Sab representative speaking on behalf of the nth grade class our class has continued to push forward in our fundraising efforts we've done an iron Hills restaurant dout a hot cocoa and candy cane sale and a Valentine's candy gram sale We

006are continuing continuing our fundraising efforts with a Chipotle dout and an eggy own yard event this spring besides fundraising the class of 2028 has been keeping up with school spirit recently we decorated Dr Murphy's door for our door decorating contest and we had when we were festive during our winter Spirit Week in other news our band choir and Orchestra program has placed many of our students into Regional ensembles being in a regional Ensemble is no small feat with multiple counties competing for a finite number of spots continuing with accomplishments one of our very own students has held an instrument donation drive to help kids who can afford musical instruments coming up soon we have our marching band uh trip to Puerto Rico and they will be performing Puerto uh Puerto Rican pieces thank you very

007much for your attention have a wonderful [Music] evening uh good evening Schoolboard I am Daniel Thomas the 10th grade representative and I'll inform you about our recent events in our current school year to start off I would like to talk about the multiple fundraisers that the class of 2027 has been working hard on firstly we hosted the second top gol night this Monday from 6 APM where all the spots were sold out also there will be a second bomit Taco fundraiser from 4: to 8:00 p.m. on March 11th where we will expect a big turnout lastly we will be holding one more clothing drive on April 12th the class of 2027 has been working hard on the the Spring Fling our student council has met with the DJ for the dance and figured out our

008food service in addition our FBLA Club will be hosting our first in-house competition this was made so that all members could compete and participate in the fbaa the final decision to sign up had just ended on February 19th finally for art we have participated in January the emerging artist high school art exhibition at the art center in Yardley and in the Phillips Mill youth Art Exhibit in both events we had multiple first places and other various Awards but mainly they are really looking forward to the district art show on the 4th and 5th of April thank you all for listening and have a good rest of your night good evening Schoolboard members I'm my name is ariss and I'm the 11th grade representative for the student Advisory board for news regarding the class of 2026

009preparation is already underway for our Junior Prom which will be on Saturday April 5th at shington Valley Forge envelopes can be picked up at the main office starting on Monday and all information will be listed on the envelopes all forums must be turned in into the main office between February 24th and February 28th Golding theater company is ecstatic to announce our production of our winter show SpongeBob SquarePants the musical the cast and crew have been working tirelessly the last few weeks getting ready for the performance which is already fast approaching the show dates will be on Thursday March 6 Friday March 7th and Saturday March 8th all at 700 p.m. and there will be a special Saturday mat at 2 p.m. tickets for the show have just now gone live and are now available for

010purchase to purchase the tickets for the show please visit our website at Gold links theater.org tickets for more information we hope to see you there in addition we also have some important calendar dates coming up on March 10th and April 7th we will have our late PLC late arrival days where high school students may arrive to school an hour later than their normal time while our school buses will still be running on the regular schedule additionally there will be SAT exam on Saturday March 8th and act exam on Saturday April 5th both at 8:00 a.m. March 25th will be reading Olympics at South and the end of the third marking period will be on Friday April 4th and not to mention April 14th to 17th will be our weekl long spring break followed by the

011senior Disney trip that is it for me from today may you all have a wonderful evening we'll be back soon for another round of of updates and events good evening Dr Seno the school board of directors administrators and all those listening at home my name is Steven belder and I am the student advisory board's representative for the senior class to start us off tonight with Athletics Council Ro South's athletes are finishing up the winter sports season with many notable achievements the girls basketball team was crowned the so Patriot division champs for the first time since 2014 uh they had a regular season 18 game winning streak they Advanced to the semi-finals of the so tournament and did this with four all league players after clinching a first round byy they are competing now in the

012district one tournament for a chance to secure a state tournament birth the boys basketball team finished their season with a 13-10 record qualifying for the district one playoffs for the second consecutive year the girls bowling team finished in fourth place with it in fourth place in the with lla Hess being South's only Council Rock bowler to qualify for the eastern PA Regional Bowling Championship there she bowled a perfect 300 game becoming one of the youngest Bowlers in Bucks County History to do so the boys bowling team finished in seventh place in the National division of the so Championship the boys winter track team will be awaiting to compete in the state's Championship still to come March 2nd the team has put together one of its finest seasons in school history the team has had 18

013individuals qualifi 18 individual qualifiers and three relays qualify to the meet of Champions with seven athletes medling at the Championships the team has four athletes and two relays who have met the PA state standard for the state championships the team also set three new school records in high jump the distance medley relay and the mile the girls indoor track team had 17 girls qualify for the meat of Champions and one athlete has met the Indoor state championship qualifying standard two freshmen broke the class record in the 400 and pole vault respectively previously held by former state champions the boys wrestling season followed the program's tradition of Excellence they won their fifth consecutive so league title and had a dual meet record of 20 and4 they placed third in The District 1 duel tournament and finished

014fifth and sixth in the state duel tournament this year they had three wrestlers achieve 100 career victories Anthony mutarelli Pat Wallin and Ben brilhart the girls wrestling team kicked off their inaugural season in traditional CR wrestling fashion the girls had a 5 in1 dual meet record and finished second in the so with ianka chernovsky becoming the first League champion in South's history the team finished fifth at The District 1 and District 12 combined tournament and had two wrestlers qualify for regionals the girl swim team ended the Dual meet season with a six and3 record and placed third at s sols this weekend the girls team will have a relay and two individual swims at the district one meet in York Pennsylvania the boys swim team finished the Dual meet season at a at four and

015five and placed second at s Sol's only three points behind North this weekend the boys team will also have a relay along with seven individual races at the district one meet in York for girls diving Tessa Savage won first place at the so Championship placed sixth at the PIAA District 1 championship and is advancing to the PIAA state tournament in March now for an update from the student body the class of 2025 student council was part of a massive schoolwide effort that organized and facilitated our blue white and gold night the student council then held their cookies and Coco bake sales and most recently celebrated the halfway mark of our year by of course checking off the massive poster in front of our library for St Patrick's Day they will be holding a shamrock shake

016sale and for CCO de Mayo they will be selling churros by far the most exciting news of my report we are just 61 short days away from the smiles and sunshines of Orlando's Disney World our senior trip will be kicking off promptly after returning from our spring break and our senior prom will follow soon in May with our next presentation to you being the same week as our Disney trip I will see you all in May for the final report of my high school Journey thank you all very much and see you soon thank you Mr bilder thank you ladies and gentlemen and uh wish you all the best between now and May thank you Mr [Applause] radic and now it's time for the solic the superintendent's report if you would please Dr s thank

017you Mr Tate thank you Council Rock South uh welcome and good evening to the board of school directors to the staff and community members joining us tonight and those of you tuning in on the Council Rock YouTube channel thank you to the Council Rock South Ensemble directed by Mr Corey axler for kicking off our meeting sharing their musical Talent with us tonight and thank you to Council Rock High School South principal Mr buff rck and the Council Rock South student Advisory board for their reporting tonight we begin the sixth month of the school year in a deep freeze but keep in mind that spring is only 27 days away uh while we are all looking look forward to warmer weather we should acknowledge the growth and Mastery of our students and what they are acquiring

018whether it's in academics the Arts Athletics or service to the community our students continue to rise to the occasion demonstrating resilience creativity and a commitment to learning as we move into the second half of the school year let's celebrate these achievements and remain focused on fostering an environment where every student can Thrive than thank you to our Educators our staff our families for everything you do to support our Student Success every single day tonight we will be asking the board of school directors to consider the appointment of Dr Alvin Oberman as our next director of special services Dr Oberman is currently the director of special services in the Bristol Township School District and with him he will bring along two decades of experience in special education instruction and Leadership Dr OB Dr Oberman sorry Al

019do Dr Oberman began his career as a special education teacher in the reading School District before joining Council Rock in 2016 when he joined Council Rock he was a special education teacher and Department coordinator in the intervening years Dr Oberman has supported students in the the Upper Dublin school district and most recently in the Bristol Township School District so this appointment is a homecoming of sorts should the board approve his hiring we proudly welcome Dr Oberman to our administrative leadership team and back to the Council Rock Family Dr Oberman is here tonight with us but unfortunately his wife Shera is out of town on business and is unable to join us we're excited for Dr oberman's arrival and look forward to the good work pending board approval tonight recently you may have heard the term

020mandated reporter in stories relating to schools across the country and possible issues of child abuse the Council Rock Community should know that every employee of the district is according to the department aand the to the Department of Education a mandated reporter the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services and the Department of Education Define a mandated reporter as someone who is a person who is legally required to report suspected child abuse or neglect in our district this duty is taken very seriously and our teachers and staff are required to complete training so that signs of child abuse are not overlooked as such mandated reporters are required to make a report of suspected child abuse if they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child is a victim of any kind of abuse if a mandated reporter suspects

021any kind of abuse they are obligated to file a report to child line either electronically or by phone you can learn more about mandated reporting and read guidelines for the reporting process at www. keepkidssafe.pa.gov HR department because we routinely run checks on all of our employees to ensure that all of our employees regardless of their role have all the necessary clearances and I'm happy to report that 100% of our employees working with our children have that everyone has man mandatory uh and necessary clearances as a small part of our overall safety plan aeds can mean the difference between life and death in a critical situation an AED is a medical device that can help restart the heart rhythm of someone in Cardiac Arrest these devices are sophisticated but easy to use and can significantly improve

022the outcome of any cardiac emergency I can happily report that all aeds in the Council Rock School District have recently been replaced we worked with the vendor to ensure that the new devices were integrated with those used by area First Responders in addition to updating our equipment we continue to prioritize training for our staff so they are prepared to respond swiftly and effectively in an emergency many of our teachers coaches coaches staff and administrators have undergone CPR and AED training ensuring that these life-saving devices are in the hands of individuals who know how to use them and use them with confidence we hope these devices will never need to be used but we take comfort in knowing that Council Rock is equipped with the best possible to tools to protect our students staff and visitors

023each year on Martin Luther on the Martin Luther King holiday there is a tradition in Council Rock and it focuses on giving back to the community in Council Rock the MLK holiday is also celebrated as a day on CR carees Day of Service as the name indicates this is a day when students teachers and staff from across the district volunteer their time and gather to cont contribute to a CommunityWide service project that benefits local families in need another part of this day is our MLK a day on essay contest which allows our elementary students to share their interpretation of Dr King's call to service on CR cares day winter share their winning essays with volunteers that are assembled this year however the winners could not share their essays due to a weather cancellation so we

024have invited our winners to join us here tonight to share their winning essays with the board of school directors and our community at large there are four essay winners three are here with us tonight unfortunately Aaron topper grade six wown Elementary is not able to be with us us tonight three other winners include Olivia gaana Olivia did I say that properly say it again got it thank you from Churchville Elementary grade six Olivia will be sharing or Olympia will be sharing with us tonight Brooklyn Stewart grade six Richboro Elementary will be sharing with us tonight Albert Chan grade six good Elementary will be sharing with us tonight we did bring a step stool in the event you need it Mrs Crawford is prepared to help you if you want to use it and we're going

025to ask you to come to the podium so Olympia if you would be kind enough to be the first one to come up in share and then I would ask that you stay up here till we have hear all three essays a day on on April 4th 1968 a hero left us because of a cruel assassination but Martin Luther King Jr's death was not in vain he has inspired many and taught others and he had an important role in the civil rights movement and many others could have been lost to us without him we thank him Martin Luther King Jr saw what many others didn't he saw Injustice and cruelty and he stood up for people when many others were too scared his speeches his sacrifices and his bravery made us see things that either

026we didn't want to admit or say like the march in Washington for jobs and freedom I strongly believe that this day that celebrates this hero is truly deserved really we should be celebrating all Civil Rights Movement activists but King's speeches sacrifices and his bravery have been touching and inspiring to all Americans his beautiful speeches of Economic and employment inequalities were inspiring and motivational Martin Luther King Jr's last speech over the Mountaintop says I may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land this quote from Martin Luther King's speech over the Mountaintop tells people that he saw a Mountaintop or Society where black people can have peace and equal rights we have all heard of Martin Luther King Jr's famous speech

027I Have a Dream but do we really know what it means the speech I Have a Dream represents what Martin Luther King Jr believed fought and died for Freedom what we take for granted what we fought for centuries back but not freedom of England or other countries but of the cruelty of other human beings a day on means that we honor some someone who really deserves it Martin Luther King Jr he fought not with fists with something better he fought with his words to our future a day on means to celebrate the one of many people who saw what we didn't but didn't just see it but did it Martin Luther King Jr speech I Have a Dream taught us that we have a day of living the world that people in the past only

028dreamed to come true we have a day on of living in the world that we should all be thankful for Martin Luther King Jr was a hero that played an important role in our society he changed not just the world but our hearts he changed our perspectives and society and his speeches and marches United us changed us and inspired us we honor Martin Luther King Jr he fought for something that changed the way we view other people he fought not only for freedom but for the future that is why we honor Martin Luther King Jr that is why Martin Luther King junor is a hero and he and he is an example we thank him and now I will read an excerpt from his speech I Have a Dream I have a dream that one

029day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its Creed I we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal I a dream that on the Red Hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of Brotherhood I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi a state sweltering with the heat of Injustice sweltering with the heat of Oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and Justice I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character I have a dream today thank

030you Olympia may I ask Brooklyn to join us at the podium on make a career for Humanity commit yourself to the noble struggles for equal rights you will make a better person of yourself a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in Martin Luther King Jr made this reflection on the March for integrated schools on April 18th 1959 this quote tells people to help the world and others it's a contribute to the fight for equality you will find that you feel like a better person and live in a world with freedom equality and a better place to live your life and Thrive Martin Luther King helped people every day the service that we do also helps people by using his legacy to have us help and save more people and his

031life help people so it is only right that we follow his legacy Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4th 1968 for peacefully protesting and speaking his words to fight for all people Martin Luther King's Legacy impacted the way we live every day what if Dr King never spoke his voice we may have never gotten this far and live in a world with equality and fairness for people with all SK skin colors Darkness cannot drive out Darkness only light can do that hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that the quote tells you don't fight people with anger but to retaliate with peace and love that is what he did and he sacrificed himself and his family for equality Martin Luther King Jr's house was bombed but he still tried all to make

032sure his four little children and everyone else in the world were treated based on the content of their heart not by the color of their skin Martin Luther King made his legacy important he contributed to all causes to help all people you may think Martin Luther King only participated in civil rights and only worked on that you thought wrong Martin Luther King did many acts of good he made the Poor People's campaign at March and fought against the Vietnam War to help all soldiers Dr King made it his work and dream to help people people he did not know but knew they were worth fighting for Martin Luther King day is now considered a day on instead of a day off people in communities volunteer their time for other people to do jobs or to

033raise money for less fortunate people community Ser is a volunteer service where people contribute their time to help others in the community or to help the community when people contribute to community service it makes the world a better place just like Martin Luther King did you can make the world a better place there are many types of community service for people to do you can pick up trash and recycle raise money for cancer awareness or for needs like everyday stuff that some people can't buy you could also have food drives and many other services when you do community service you learn the importance of helping the less fortunate and how to work with people who are different from you you may think you can't help the world like Martin Luther King did but by doing

034community service you are helping the world and its people just just like Dr King did Martin Luther King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for leading peaceful protest he spoke for many people and he told people he want people to stand together not against each other because of the color of their skin Dr King loved everyone helped everyone and will forever be remembered for his legacy that he left behind for us Martin Luther King would have wanted people to volunteer to help others when we do community service it's like a part of Martin Luther King's Legacy is tring in us from one generation to another spreading until we crush the world with equality and love Martin Luther King made the Montgomery Bus Boycott to show the world something that's not fair and not right

035we now have to follow him and stand up for others and realize what's fair and not fair doing community service helps everyone and teaches you how to be a better person and one day because of the volunteer service we do and the Legacy he left justice and fairness love and equality helpfulness and kind people will be everywhere flying around and on us like snow in the winter now on January 20th we completed community service and created that world that We crave all thanks to Martin Luther King [Applause] Jr thank you Brooklyn is Albert here with us tonight you ready Albert it's your turn thank you what do you think of Dr Martin Luther King Jr maybe he was influential inspirational generous motivational well he was all of those things darker Mount Luther King Jr's Legacy

036is so important and valuable because of this people should honor him by taking the time to give back to their own Community just as Dr King did for his community Dr Mar Luther King Jr is an honorable person because of his legacy his want for the nation to give back to their communities and the pride he would have for people carrying on his legacy today many people have left behind great legacies but one of the most important and known of those people was Dr Martin Luther King Jr he always supported Racial equality peace and service which influenced the US many decades later when Dr Martin Luther King Jr was born segregation stopped blacks from being with whites black side less opportunities and privileges as whites which made blacks restricted from White schools bathrooms restaurants Etc

037this influenced Dr Maring Jr to change with the ways of segregation so he fought and protested for all the people to be treated fairly Dr Marther King Jr was different because instead of promoting the idea of having riots and dangerous protests he had peaceful protests he had once said Darkness cannot drive out Darkness only light can do that hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that a famous example of one peaceful protest was on March of Washington when over 200,000 people marched to peacefully protest against segregation this event was also when he gave his famous I Have a Dream speech many people believe Dr King was imprudent for doing this but he still kept doing despite the fact that he and his family would be put at risk Dr Martin Luther King Jr

038did a lot of service for the good of the whole nation he was willing to put himself at risk by having speeches and knew that by supporting the idea of racial equality he was putting his family friends and everyone he was close to at risk he sacrificed his life to support change and by doing this he persuaded the entire nation to change our ways all in all Dr Martin Luther King Jr left find a legacy that the nation will never forget he inspired great change and affected the whole entire nation he always supported Racial equality peace and service the nation will never forget the footprint Dr Ming Jr and the people will be motivi him for many years to come some people may wonder why people celebrate Dr mther King Jr and why many people

039do community service on this day when it's a day how many people are off from work or school while people want to keep his peaceful beliefs clean our communities and come with new solutions to make his vision a reality Mar thir King day is a holiday dedicated to commemorate the changes and some people might wonder why the nation is dedicated one day towards person well the citizens celebrate him because he was one of the most influential people in the history of the United States of America an example of what you can do to celebrate this holiday to do service such as clam your community for instance you can clam your community by planting trees clean up trash has been left behind or anything that can make your community a better place another example is to

040come up with solutions for problems in your community to strengthen it for example you can solve problems such as pollution and littering to benefit your community this makes Dr King's Vision come to life to summarize the United States celebrates Dr manand Luther King that Cate the actions and Chang that Dr King brought to the US by cleaning up our communities and strengthening your community Dr Marther King Jr didn't just change a country but a whole world he influenced the world today by having peaceful approaches to problems being a leader in the civil rights movement and inspiring others to make a great change Dr Martin Luther King Jr changed the world by promoting peaceful protests instead of having riots he famously said in the quote hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that Darkness

041cannot drive out Darkness only like can do that this shows that Dr King wanted to make a world a better place by teaching everyone to be peaceful and to show love instead of showing more hate Dr King was also a key leader in the Civil Rights Movement as he organized many speeches and peaceful Pro protests he made way for the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Dr King inspired many activists and even Ordinary People to start fighting over equal weights no matter the race religion or beliefs he inspired people to continue his vision of equality all over the world a reality by working to better their communities all in all Dr King influenced many changes in the world such as people protest of problems being a leader and civil rights movement and inspiring

042others to make great change in conclusion Dr Mar K is and his Prim person because of the lasting impact he made his desire for people to help their community and the Gratitude he would feel saying others carrying in his important work today Dr King chose to be different from everyone else by having peaceful protests because he believed hate canot about hate but only love could although he was hated by many people he was also loved by many people this shows he was a respected man because of the risk he took to contribute to the Civil Rights Movement the nation can continue to carry on his legacy by doing community service and cleaning up our communities to honor the things Dr King did for the nation Dr Martin Luther King was one of the most influential

043people in the world and without him the world would be way different than it is today Albert Albert Brooklyn Olympia thank you for your skills and talents and for your courage to stand up there don't leave yet I'm going to ask Mr Tate to join me we have a little something for you and then we would like to get a picture with you then Albert if we could we'll get you to stand up here leave your essay here we'll get your picture then you can take it Olympia culations great job [Applause] congratulations again to our essay winners some important dates to mark on your calendar please Thursday February 27th is an education committee meeting here at Chancellor Thursday March 6th is a facilities committee meeting 7 p.m. at Chancellor Thursday March 20th is a school

044board meeting 7 pm here at Chancellor Thursday March 27th is an education committee meeting 7 PM Chancellor Thursday April 3rd there is a facilities meeting at 700 p.m. Chancellor Center Thursday April 10th is a finance committee meeting at 70000 p.m. at Chancellor Monday April 14th through Thursday April 17th is spring break schools will be closed offices are open please note Friday April 18th schools and offices are closed and on Thursday April 24th is a school board meeting this is a reminder that for Reliable accurate and upto-date information about our district please refer to resource websites and social media platforms managed by the Council Rock School District we urge the community to be judicious in choosing where to obtain information and to be aware that several on several unauthorized social media accounts use the Council Rock

045name to post inaccurate or misleading information regarding District matters if you question what you see need additional details or need a reliable fact check please contact the district directly our contact information is readily available on our website at www.crsd.org this concludes the superintendent report thank you thank you very much Dr Sano appreciate all the news and information and the next segment of the meeting is public comment uh solicitor's report would be next thank you um I'm sorry uh Mr muso thanks um so as part of our solicitors report I mean the board received the solicitors report uh in writing but um right we had an executive session before this meeting to talk about uh litigation matters um so in October uh the board asked us to to do a breakdown of our legal fees as

046compared to the uh the previous solicitor and at the time a lot of the board members asked uh could we do a real Apples to Apples comparison after uh after 12 months and so uh Tony has always works hard and and uh got the books closed and was able to provide everyone kind of the togal settlements attorneys uh uh cost for the 12 months for our firm compared to the previous solicitor and I'm happy to report that the pattern that we saw in October continued out through the rest of the year uh as you can see from this slide um that the uh the total amount of special education uh settlement cost for the whole year when we were your solicitor and are your solicitor was $ 5,877 and that compares uh to your previous

047solicitor where you paid over $2 million uh over a one-year period so we're very happy to have provided real savings to the district of 1.5 million uh but as we talked about um those lower costs are the result of more work uh and we really put the effort into each case when we're representing the district and so you can see that uh the special education fees charged by your previous solicitor was uh$ 26,22256 billing for May of 2023 but you know it'll be would be more but it's it's 256 and for us it was it was $4.89 right so that's an additional $230,000 uh but again you saved $1.5 million uh in in settlement costs uh and then you can see the uh previous elicer charged $232,900 22,00 , 380 over 12 months of course

048we provide additional legal services for the district then your old solicitor in particular labor negotiations which I know that that you had a separate firm doing that and we handle the labor negotiations of course we're in the midst of negotiating the teachers contract um and then if you just want to look on the second slide I don't know who's um the second slide just kind of breaks down again the the special education cost which I know was was the concern last time there you go so again you can see that that with r firm uh the settlement cost again this is a 12mon the 12-month comparison was $5,895 and with your previous solicitor it was over $2 million um sorry to make actually go back but if you look back essentially you know you've saved

049about $1.2 million with our firm uh and again we're very very proud of the work we've done particularly in special education um but really in all the matters that we've been working on and as the board knows uh we've discussed in executive session some some a lot of things going on um and we were very happy to provide a representation of the district in all of those areas uh but again we had this conversation in October you wanted to see the 12-month comparison so I'm very happy again to report that the the savings Trend continues for the school district thank you Mr amo you're welcome Mr hickey not related to this I'm not sure why we um sorry uh when in your report when you first gave your report you talked about executive sessions did

050you only mentioned the one this evening I did um because didn't we have one a couple weeks ago as it related to labor matters we did I I couldn't remember which which period so I apologize we have had a couple nego uh executive sessions as involves to to labor negotiations thank you Mr Mr Roosevelt thank you for continuing the request of this board to make a comparison Mr amuso um however the board has been briefed with other this represents effectively one maybe two categories of all the comparisons that solicitors both current and previous charged the other comparisons um reflect different numbers um in this case with a settlement or a suit that comes against the district the solicitor can impact to a degree which you've done a good job of to a large degree yes

051can I continue thank you um to a ler you can you can impact that as far as what the award is but you have no control over who sues and for how much and for what issue so while I think this is an interesting comparison um it it may not be complete Optics so the one area that you can control are the other areas that your firm provides billing for that continue to reflect a uh a multiple of increased billing um anywhere from magnitudes of um two all the way up to about 14 times differences which results in a total of about $300,000 above what has been budgeted and uh at least two times as much as the prior the prior solicitor charged so I I I think just for the public to understand this

052is but one of maybe five different categories that are looked upon yeah so this is this is a complete capture of your of your legal fees um and as you point out we certainly charge more in legal fees than your prior solicitor but again as we talked about in length in October and and again now we do put more work into the cases and again you can see uh the results and you're right you can't control who sues the district District um but you can you can control your approach to the litigation and again I think that's that's the result here where uh you know we've you know by orders of magnitude decreased the uh the cost of the district and I think that's very much uh how we approach litigation and putting the work

053into the litigation upfront so that uh things can be resolved in a in a way that's extremely financially uh beneficial to the district thank you Mr M yes Linda uh yes I had a a question did these numbers include the tax settlement that we that was made no and and well I mean I guess that's a good point so so uh we also put a lot of work in it certainly results the the fees that we've build you to put into the the tax settlements but you're right this is not a chart of increased tax revenues to the district based on our uh property assessment work um we can certainly put something like that together I don't know we can certainly do that um but again I think our proactive approach right so uh it's

054not been before the board yet but there is an upcoming significant tax settlement to the benefit of the district um and that's something that just uh you know no action was being taken and then we came in and and uh you know I I will put my partner Alex glasman against anybody when it comes to tax assessment so I think you're right the district's going to see even more financial benefits from that and that's something we can put together for you if you'd like thank you thank you Mr Amo we'll move on then uh thank you Mr oo yeah thank you so much um I appreciate the the transparency on the fees and all that um the other chart you provided the board were were very thorough I mean Mr uh rap thank you for

055providing the a thorough uh uh sheet for us to look at so when we talk about the fees I'm just we're throwing in settlements so that asked I want to get a clearer picture of the settlements because I I think they're kind of uh separate and I just want to get a clearer view so Mr rap if you could because I doubt you'll have it now you don't have to do it now sir thank you thank you sir um but what what what I'd like to know is the number of cases that where we derive these numbers from um because you know there you know it's been 12 months to throw in settlements it's not like day one January or whenever the new firm came in that these cases weren't already been worked on and

056stuff so the number of cases will be be important to when you say 4 point I mean 1. 4 million versus 500,000 the number of cases that make that happen uh and there's more I would say also um like were was were we build by the previous firm for some of the uh settled cases in 200 you know these cases were overlapping so actually we would have been I just can't imagine that um this is could be for next time it doesn't have to be tonight um and then basically I'd like to just compare the the you know the number of hours Al together between the two things if we're going to bring in the settlements let's look at how many hours were charged in 2023 versus the hours of 2024 billable hours um in

057general and then also you might want to look back you know at settlements in general for the next three or four years so we can see some Trends and the number of cases because I think there's a also cases that settle for zero so having an average case of settlement I don't know if this is even worth it but at least start with if we're looking at a lot of cases settling after the pandemic in 202 2023 maybe they were pushed out and then it's been a dry year um but I mean because if we're going to compare the settlements say hey we saved you this this money I want to say thank you so much for for doing that okay thank you Mr Rago um I think we're done with the slides are we

058not I am yes thank you all right thank you Mr Amo if there are no further questions we'll move on to public comment I we have two people signed up if there's anybody else you can speak after the two who are signed up sir oh thank you for correcting me yeah two people are signed up for non-agenda items so um the public comment period for agenda items uh is now non-agenda items comes uh at the end of the meeting so if there's no one here to comment on agenda items then we're moving on to approval the minutes of the meeting of the board on January 16 Miss ply would you read the motion please sure I moved to a the minutes of the meeting of the school board directors held on January 2025 second please

059I second any objections questions comments none Madam Secretary would you record that as passing unanimously please and we move on to the education committee oh we're moving Personnel up thank you for reminding me Dr Seno and um and the addendum so I'm going to ask Miss Khan to read those two agenda items they are under finance committee uh items J and K please miss Conan I'm reading those separately correct um you can combine them or read them separately your choice okay um item J I move to approve the personal actions as entered in the attachment to this agenda do we have a second thank you questions comments objections none Madame secretary that's unanimous uh and K thank you I move to approve the personal actions addendum as contained in the attachment to this agenda and

060that is item K second thank you comments questions um I think we can record this is passing unanimously did you record it Cali I did Dr Overman welcome back to Council Rock welcome home thank you I just wanted to uh thank Dr Sano the entire School Board and uh the interview committee uh for this amazing opportunity um having spent nine years here at Council Rock I know what an excellent District it is um support great staff and great community and I'm really looking forward to getting started here and uh working with everyone in the council ra ra Community to make sure we have the best programs and services available for our students thank you Mr obman on behalf of the school board we welcome you and it was great to meet you the other day

061and we're very glad to have you thank you I can't wait to get started thanks Al I'll see you at 9: tomorrow morning terrific that's a very important position so we'll move on to education committee um the last education committee was on January 23rd of uh 2025 and tonight on the consent agenda we have the approval uh for the dual enrollment with bux County Community College for 12th grade slan students this is supported by a grant from C I believe and it's going to be free this year it's also a great graduation pathway for our students um we had some teachers on special assignment and athletic directors that came to talk about their jobs and accomplishments and we get frequent updates about the accomplishments of our teams but what struck me and I want to

062highlight um from that some of these presentations was that both North and South South have added two new women's athletic programs wrestling and flag football and we heard from the update today from South that the wrestling uh female team has already done quite well so congratulations go girls so our nights for knowledge program continued and has expanded to the secondary level and um I it I think it has ended now or maybe there's a couple of weeks left but it was offered on every building after school for all grades for about an hour every week uh we got a presentation of 2024 PSS say and Keystone scores councel Rock continues to be one of the higher scoring districts in B County because during that presentation we compare the district with other districts in B County

063now this doesn't mean we cannot do better but I think we are still on the top of uh the rankings and um this is true for both general education and special education students we also got an update on uh special education initiatives and um I want to report that last night there was another meeting with parents to create the special education plan for 2026 through 2029 I understand that this plan will be made public on March 25th it has to remain public for about a month before it comes to the board for approval um the next special education par advisory committee is scheduled for April 30th and this is open to all parents with um that have students with IEPs finally as Dr Sango said the next education committee meeting is Thursday of next week

064thank you and I move to approve consent agenda items B and C as contained in the attachments to this agenda second thank you comments questions none this is passed unanimously thank you and we'll move on to a report from the Bucks County Intermediate Unit please okay thank you um the Box IU met on February 18th they are currently working on their comprehensive plan I believe it's 20 I'm sorry 2025 through 202 28 it is available for public viewing for the next month and they'll vote on it at the next um IU meeting each time that I have the opportunity to visit an IU facility or hear about the IU programs I'm always amazed at the reaches their programs touch we are so lucky to be served by this amazing organization I wanted to share that

065in 2024 the IU served 18, 298 individuals um the breakdown I'll share is was um 37.9% supplemental services to students in non-public schools 27.8% was things like Early Head Start Head Start prek counts early intervention uh and almost 25% was schoolage children classrooms and related services and then you know it's things like um transportation adult programs and institutionalized children's programs that just a small portion but it's really amazing it's really an amazing organization and and the number of people I mean 18,000 people is it's amazing uh and we're really lucky because not every IU participates in the way that the Bucks IU does and lastly I want to remind everyone that the IU has amazing summer camp opportunities promoting steam education so if that's something that your child is interested in uh they're facilitating at

066the Fab Lab in Warminster definitely check out their website thank you thank you very much M oi middle bucks Institute of Technology me thank you February is Career and Technical Education Month we celebrate and recognize both the students who attend a Career Technical Center and the value of Career and Technical education I wear my shirt proudly as there are lots of great activities happening at mbit we all can support the trades these trades are not just carpentry Plumbing and Electric but programs such as Public Safety early childhood education medical and Health Professions and so many more mb's budget has just started making the public aware that there are four total school districts New Hope Central Bucks Cent Centennial and Council Rock who contribute to the funds at MBI funds are based on the number of

067students who attend mbit we will keep m to wrap informed as the budget is finalized The Advisory Board is starting an education fund to expand throughout all four districts to allow the communities to assist in the programs and the students in all 21 programs there is also an alumni association being created to expand the reach and opportunities inside and outside of mbit connecting our community with mbit has been a growing Focus recently I connected with one of our Northampton neighbors who is a physician who sits on the PA medical society board to work with the health and medical program for Education as well as the co-op opportunities and to our public if you believe you can engage with mbit in any fashion please do reach out to mbit as we need our toilets repaired our

068cars fixed and our teeth cleaned remember to support the trades as these people are all amazing people thank you thank you very much Miss Herer and a report from the Council Rock Education Foundation I get to do that um it's a privilege I'm on the foundation board um and serve as liaison which is a real pleasure um there's a number of things to talk about which I'll do quickly first of all Miss P mentioned the really Nifty new program um the dual enrollment agreement with Bucks County Community College Council Rock Education Foundation is supporting that new Venture which is really exciting um coming up uh let's see next week is the second SMG Leadership Summit this will be held on the 27th at Council Rock South um it's an internal program for high school students

069um talking about opportunities for leadership and what leadership looks like and it's named in honor of Sue Gormley who who was a terrific assistant principal at uh Council Rock South so that's another uh Council Rock Education Foundation program two events I want to point out um the Monte Carlo night is coming up on February 28 it's a lot of fun and this year it's moved back into the district it'll be at Northampton Valley Country Club from 700 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. it's on the cff website and I encourage you all to sign up it's a lot of fun uh and and secondly is the Council Rock 6th annual Golf Classic it'll be held again at Jericho National Golf Club and as I've talked about before that really is a premier golf course that a lot

070of people don't get to play except this opportunity every year that's on Monday June the 23rd and that concludes the report for Council Rock educ Foundation I will turn it over to miss oi for policy committee please thank you the policy committee met on February 10 to review several policies which are on the agenda for first three tonight they are policy 211 student accident Insurance 212 reporting student progress 215 student promotion and retention policy 2117 graduation policy 252 Dating Violence policy 203 uh immunizations and communicable diseases I will note that policy 212 and 215 are on the agenda for a first read but they had no changes when we reviewed them in committee uh as a reminder we are reviewing all the policies in our policy manual beginning with the 200s because those are student

071policies then we'll move on to the 300s which are District employees because of this uh thorough review there are policies that sometimes we look at and there are no changes needed and that that's where why 212 and 215 are on for tonight um Mr spring did you want to speak about the kind of military and uh undisplaced students at all yes particularly for policy 217 graduation um some of the policies we've had in the past you'll see a theme that there's we're addressing um the need needs of students experiencing educational instability as well as students of active duty military parents um and that's really based on in new laws that have come out over the past several years but really just to do the right thing to support students um whether they are dealing with

072um educational instability or students who are of active military families who could be deployed and and basically moved from Base to Base to make sure that they have a continuity of Education as well as support to make sure that they could be um B put into the schools as quickly as possible provided the supports to be at grade level and to be able to move ahead as any other student thank you it's terrific I mean you know if a family has to move you know for any reason but particularly children of military amilies we want them to have as little disruption to their education as possible so I think that's terrific and with that I will move to approve a consent agenda items B through f as contained in the attachment to this agenda I

073second comments questions concerns hearing none Madame secretary please report those as record those as being passed unanimously that concludes policy committee I have uh we're going to do 203 as an uh non-consent and Mr hickey did you okay policy yeah yeah okay 203 203 thank you if you just come back to me Mr Tate I'd appreciate I will okay uh I move to approve uh item G um the the wording isn't correct here but I move to approve item G um as contained in the attachment to this agenda second second second confusing it's item G on mine policy 203 it does the the verbiage does say I moov to approve consent agenda item that's incorrect but yeah that's incorrect so yeah thanks for catching that so I move to approve consent uh I move to

074approve it's not consent I move to approve item G as contained in the attachment to this agenda uh for second read second okay second oh sorry all right comments questions this is policy 203 immunization communicable diseases Mr Roosevelt sure I I think that this is just worth noting for the Public's understanding that this is an item that has been debated discussed um that there has been differences of opinion um and that this item here incorporates some of the items that Mr spring referenced as far as new laws that are requirements while I don't think there are many of us on this board that agree that the language is perfect I believe that this represents a good opportunity of this board working together and where the goods outweigh the imperfections so while I'm not perfectly comfortable

075with everything as I believe many around this table are in the same boat this is incorporating new laws that are being updated um and uh I I expect some of us are still thinking about what I said and and our own Thoughts with it but that's what I was sitting here thinking about as you're looking at me Mr Tate thank you thank you Mr Roosevelt anyone else um if there are no objections we'll record this as passing unanimous unanimously Please Mr secretary all right we'll move on to I just I'm sorry I'm sorry before we move on um yes I told I just wanted to to to no and be sorry I wanted to just say for the public that you know we've talked in policy meeting a number of times about the cell phone

076policy and the electronic device policy and I believe we had our pre- meeting today and Mr spring I believe that is going to be uh on our next policy agenda what we hope will come to the board you know next month for a first read after we discuss it at policy meeting but if you are a parent who is concerned about electronic devices in schools um or if you're teacher uh you know please come forward with your comments because we're going to discuss it hopefully what will be close to the the um complete wording before it goes to uh for first read at our next policy meeting so thank you Miss eki Mr hickey also at the policy meeting um I at one point and I just want to do it publicly since I said

077it publicly at the policy committee meeting I kind of intimated that a previous board did not follow policy as it related to Sunshine laws um relating to voting on the turf at Council Rock South I said that it was not on the agenda at that time and it was just kind of thrown in there at the last minute by Dr thorwart and it got approved and it was never on the agenda um I've since heard from previous board members and I would just like to say that I stand corrected especially to Mr Tate and Mr hiago who are on this current board but also to the other board members who voted on the south Turf uh they did indeed follow policy and follow the letter of the law as it was written uh I said

078they did not and I stand corrected thanks all righty great thank you does that conclude our conversation about policy committee all right we'll move on to facilities I was looking forward so excitedly to reporting on the facilities committee meeting um there are two items on the agenda these are consent agenda items that you can see uh these were discussed at length um but the bulk of the meeting and it was a long meeting we started early um on February 6 we started at 500m so we could have a lengthy discussion about the facility study that is currently being conducted by two Consultants um shreder architecture and Dewey engineering which is now cha and um the master plan that will emerge once this facility study is concluded um it was a good long healthy conversation about

079all of the challenges facing the district with its facilities and we talked um really with a A View to the long range and it was a healthy conversation um I urge anybody who's interested to view the video um it's very informative I'm sure particularly to those who are not familiar with some of the projects and considerations um I will say that we made no decisions other than some um some additional items that we were asking the Consultants to review um we did not decide about the future of Chancellor Center contrary to what um some people have have thought um and uh there's a whole lot of decisions that have to be made moving forward and um it's a very complex Matrix of decisions and uh we'll be resuming that discussion when we meet next on

080March the 6th so I will move to approve consent agenda items B and C as contained in the attachment to this agenda second thank you questions comments hearing none I'll ask SEC Madame secretary record that is passing unanimously and we'll move on to finance committee please okay um the finance committee met on Thursday February 13th we had an update on our investments from Cornerstone Investments and we heard from the administration about several items we'll vote on tonight including the approval of a new dri GPS program for our school buses a technology update at our Network Operation Center and an agreement with the bu IU to assist Council Rock with the hiring process for a new IT director although that title is going to change among other things we also had an update on our substitute

081budget uh versus actual substitute spending so far this year so with that and I have to pull out J and K yes yes okay so here we go I move to approve consent agenda items B through I and L as contained in the attachments to this agenda second thank you comments questions anyone no then let's record I'm sorry do we want to wait for Mr Hodo to return we can wait two minutes the Motions on the floor we'll wait for Mr hiago's return um Mr R Mr hickey just pointed out to me that the GPS isn't on here yes that was a a a a contract that was already in existence and it was budgeted for so that was brought to you for information not for approval thank because I did want to comment on

082it I'm like where's it at U no actually because I believe it was mentioned that the person who brought that up was a parent who brought it to the attention of the board and it was acted upon you know solely to you know from this parent who acted you know contacted the board and said we can do this or how come you don't have that and now it's a part of the system so I always say to people you know uh please contact the board reach out when you ever have any questions concerns or input and uh we do act upon them so uh thank you to that parent whoever it was and that was an enhancement to the software used by the bus drivers no it's an an enhancement use it's an enhancement to

083the software used by our our staff for planning routes and then our route information goes into that software um and also I'd like to note that this is not something that is widely used um and we're kind of on the Cutting Edge with this so um when when when that parent brought this to our attention I went to Matt and we spoke about Matt did a lot of work with this um and we spoke about you know and his that that you know what what we could do and and we researched several companies and this was definitely the best to the point where it was recommended by other companies that did it horrific great is just for the public I so it's an upgrade our drivers were using paper maps to you know turn here

084turn left you know when they're doing their routes and so this is you know it I think it's probably more comparison comparable to like an oldfashioned Garmin than like you know your iPhone but it's it's definitely an upgrade okay thank you Mr Roosevelt just quickly the main benefit of this upgrade is for substitute drivers so so the substitute driver is a Durham employee that may be employed running a different route that is filling in for a driver who is absent or sick or something and with these paper routes as Missi demonstrated sometimes this creates a uh a confusing situation we'll say for the the driver employed by durm who's filling in so this new system enables the substitute driver and the main driver to be following the same route with the same stops which the

085hope of is going to be um better timely pickups and deliveries from school bus drivers instead of maybe a parent would be wondering where the bus is one way or the other calling into transportation and may be met with a response of it's a substitute driver we're in communication this main benefit of this is to remove that as much as possible is that right Mr rap that's correct but I would also add that it it it um would help out at the beginning of the year when drivers are on their new on their routes for the first few times to cut down on any problems caused by that and over the last two years we've had really excellent openings um with with Transportation I I get that there's problems and and there you know but

086hopefully this will make make next year is opening even better all right thanks that was an interesting discussion and we have um on the floor with a motion and second the consent agenda items are there any questions or comments further hearing none please record this is passing unanimously Madame secretary that concludes the finance committee and we move on public comment we have two signed up for public comment and if there's a third or fourth you're welcome to join us public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to address the board when speaking to the board we ask that you limit your comments to no longer than three minutes please consider the fact that there may be young children in the audience are watching this broadcast Live on crtv YouTube your ideas are welcome

087and will be considered in deliberating an issue the board typically doesn't respond to comments or questions in real time and the two people signed up in alphabetical order are Aiden arbitman of Northampton Aiden thank you for waiting patiently good evening my name is Aiden Arin and I'm a sophomore counsil Rock South I was here last February to share my thoughts on the on this board and since there hasn't been much change I figured I'd come back again I had hoped by now that we'd see some real collaboration on this board however after the reorganization meeting it's clear that nothing has changed the same people are in leadership roles just swapped there was a chance to move forward to show that this board could put their differences aside and truly work together but unfortunately this did

088not happen if this board is serious about working together leadership should reflect that a fa choice would have been to appoint someone with seniority like Mr hadalo as vice president not just because he's in the minority but because his experience should have been recognized instead of sidelining him to keep the leadership within the same Circle the board has a responsibility to serve the community not personal or political interests right now the actions taken don't reflect a commitment to collaboration teamwork or transparency but I would like to say that I do see how this board does work and I've seen it myself as I was in the cafeteria a couple months ago and I actually ran into Mr tapate Mr rap and Dr Sano and I did say hi um so it is nice to know

089that there is actually work getting done but just the transparency and putting the politics aside should probably start happening thank you thank you the second person signed up is Joshua Morris of Northampton hey guys um Josh Mars from Northampton um I'm a sophomore at Council Rock High School South I'm also attending my first year at mvit um the previous year of watching these board meetings it is very sad to see how dysfunctional this board has became last year it was Madness you had the B solicitor changed that you're that you know really didn't make any sense and it's crazy that we're still on this topic right we were just reviewing payment information but you know every meeing it's like let's move on let's move on we still haven't moved on um because clearly you know

090there was a reorganization meeting and all it was is that two individuals just swapped roles and you know what I would really wish to see is that like the politics you know being kept out of the board and you know it's been nothing but political and um just straight up like arguing and um you know with the phone situation of the last board meeting I think that's a great you know thing to be broughten up um but you know it's like you know like if somebody's talking like just go get off your phone like I'm in high school and this is what we argue with in high school and it's crazy that we you know we see people arguing about phones in the school board meeting um and yeah so I mean if we're going

091to be a bipartisan position um we need to stay bipartisan basically and um you know the way that some of you guys treat each other is kind of upsetting and you know if you guys want a good example on our children you know you you guys just got to you know change the way you guys act so you know that's my advice and yeah thank you so much for all you do thank you is there anyone else who wishes to comment from the public if not we'll move on to new business does anyone have new business to bring before the board Mr dager sure um just a real po quick maybe a public announcement and also to Dr Seno please to um I saw something today from the new town athletic club that they are

092offering seniors who have signed their contract to enlist free membership through the through the time now until they go to boot camp and I think it was in coordination with uh Congressman Fitzpatrick that that happened so I thought maybe there's a way for me to ask you to if we know students that are committing uh that they can uh get a nice membership to a really nice club uh and it's not just for our school district it's for any enlisted uh person uh thanks Mr you know recruit yep I I not heard about that but I'll certainly take that up with Mr Funk who unfortunately we to send home today because he's sick as well as uh take it up with Mr Funk and the two High School principles thank you thank you is there

093other new business no just something for old business all right we'll move on to Old business um I'm going to begin with a statement with considerable hesitance excuse me Mr Tate are you going to read the statement that I sent an email objecting to and not in the best interest of this dist Mr Tate I'm I'm sorry I'm not I haven't recognized you I'm going to read the statement thank you with considerable hesitance the leadership of the Council Rock School Board and our Administration feel that we are obliged to respond to a claim of a student assault made repeatedly during public comment by a student's parents first and foremost we are deeply concerned about the well-being of the student in this situation as we are with the well-being of all of our students because of

094federal and state laws principally the educational rights and Privacy Act called furpa and our ethical commitment to our students best interests we will not discuss details and we will not identify the student when the district first learned of the claim which has never been supported by any evidence our administrators began their own investigation and immediately reported it to the state system for handling child abuse allegations Dr Sanko talked about Mand mandated reporters that's the system that he was referring to we immediately reported it also to local law enforcement the investigations by state officials local police and our district ended with no finding of any wrongdoing and their work concluded our administrators have met repeatedly with the parents and their attorneys and through their legal coun Council the parents have made significant monetary demands to our

095school district please know that this school board has been kept informed of this matter over the past two years and we have spent hours discussing it we and our Administration have offered many options to the family to support the students education and we will continue to do so but our fiduciary duty to our school district precludes us from paying taxpayer dollars as compensation for an event that three separate investigations could not substantiate thank you is there other old business Mr Roosevelt thank you just quickly in the effort of full transparency from this board I was able to pull up the 12-month comparison um between solicitors fees not to belor it we went through this at the six month I just wanted to continue it um the categories of billing are General open records special education

096tax assessment as Miss Stone indicated special education due process and of these special education and clearly special education due process were Primary in the fees that were shown from earlier slides so compare under or uh General the prior solicitor submitted 557 hours vers the the current solicitors 984 prior solicitor build 130,000 current solicitor 216 next category of open records prior solicitor submitted 64 hours um current solicitor 391 cost from prior solicitor for this car category is a little over 13,000 to current 78,000 special education prior solicitor build 20 54 hours at a cost of 62,000 current solicitor 6 1,660 hours at a cost of 330,000 tax assessment we have 17 hours at a cost of 3,825 compared to 151 hours with a cost of about 275,000 from the current solicitor special education due process which

097was discussed and reflected in the slide power prior solicitor 354 hours with a cost of 56.5 th000 vers current solicitor 1,870 at a cost of almost well 159.5mm to the current solicitor a little over 5,000 hours at a cost of 8121 194 for the year thank you I just want to be clear all that was reflected in the slide although not the breakdown which I appreciate uh and I think there's a couple categories one in particular is open records you simply use a different system now so your old system as we know there was someone else handling open records I not sure how much they involve the solicitor Mr rap appropriately very much involves the solicitor um again we have the finest uh open records lawyer in the state and my partner uh Nicole fight

098uh she works very closely with Mr rap I think that was different than your previous system um tax assessment again we have the finest tax assessment lawyer in the certainly in the Philadelphia area and Alex glasman and as Miss Stone alluded to uh our additional work will will uh end up with benefit so listen there is no doubt we have worked a lot more than your previous solicitor I think you're seeing the results thank you thank you Mr muso good yeah is there additional old business in response in response yeah um so Mr roselt I was trying to follow along because I have the print out but and my numbers match up with what you read but this is just for if if I'm correct maybe you have an updated version but I think the

099numbers were all were all consistent with this this is January of 2024 through December of 2024 for Rudolph Clark but the for eurn and gray the numbers you were reading were January 23 through August 23 is that correct I'm reading from the most recent report and I did do some rounding this the top left columns for uh current solicitor reads january/february 2020 24 and the top left from the prior solicitor reads january/february 2023 and they both continue well the bottom one does continue to August right for obvious reasons and um and then the top one has 24 so there there is a slight date range but this was provided as a as a 12 Monon I think we got an updated version yeah what we I mean again our slides was the full 12month comparison

100um this is yeah this is only through August for Rudolph for eurn and gray so it's so it's 12 months versus 8 months are are you both looking at the same spreadsheet yes I'm I believe so I'm looking at the most recent one sent and I just wanted to include that for the presentation that's fine um so if we're talking about the same spreadsheet let's just make sure that's in the in the minutes please or board docks and I think there was a 12 to 12 was there not yeah so let's include that one in the yeah so so the multiples will be different over 12 months it will be lesser but again there's certainly a multiple we do work and we're very proud of it okay Miss ply yeah I believe Mr Rob sent

101the updated version last Monday and I do have it in front of me I printed it out so uh the numbers are a little different so the the comparison there were like two different spreadsheets so um we can I guess print out the actual table and put it in the um in the minutes if you want to um but it's the one Mr Rob sent uh I think it was Monday of this week or Friday of last week something Friday of lastek Friday of last week yeah thank you yeah I I think if we're just including this as Mr Tate suggested that's fine I do see uh you know I was trying to pull this up when we were dealing with it and not trying to bring it into into into Old business I just

102wanted to include that so um I can see that there some slight differences uh and as long as we're including that I'm satisfied yeah I I think what's uh also very important is to see the number of hours that is required of legal counsel in order to effective ly um deal with all the issues at hand and make those savings so I think it's a great uh way to see how we need to budget going forward Miss Warner I agree with for the budgeting and I think that's a great lead on the invoicing we should all be clear on how you're how you're invoicing us and we need to to have that Clarity and exactly what is going on and being invoiced well I will say we are you I'm sorry no I have two

103things but that's my first okay well as far as the invoicing we have had I believe two executive sessions during which we discussed uh the legal billing and the fees involved and you know we can have additional if if we wish um but uh I think the system has been pretty transparent um and if you if you need additional information just let us know and we'll discuss itly and then miss py I have another thing I'm not done on the legal no on not on the legal oh no okay um I also think it's very important to uh look into our administration because I assume when they get invoices they check to make sure that they are accurate and um I don't know if there's a suggestion underlying suggestion that somebody is gaming the administration

104and cooking up hours because that what it sounds like but uh I think doc Dr Sango and Mr Rob and whoever else gets the invoices don't you check to make sure that the hours are what you anticipate in this so we uh each member of cabinet reviews the bills to check to ensure that everything that's on the bill is related to a case um we don't know the billing practices of of uh Clark Gallagher so we do we don't um anticipate how many hours something should take that's not we don't have any expertise in that so but we do make sure that every every item on the list pertains to a something that they worked on for us okay okay any other additional comments or questions about this issue none okay Miss Herer thank you

105you know I find it interesting I had to come back here under old business to speak about being blocked from doing my official Duty I would like to bring to the attention how on 116 board meeting I bought bought forth a motion under new business the motion was quickly pushed off including trying to push that I wanted to take people's phones away the motion was pushed to the policy committee even though under Sunshine Law exception C and Council Rock policy 006 under number two number four this could come forward because we did actually receive an email 24 hours before that meeting on 1:15 2025 at the policy committee on 20 on 210 2025 it was requested that I make my motion clearer and send it back out I did send an email to all the

106board members individually on 216 2025 I received two emails from Mr Tate speak to speak on the phone I replied any concerns questions can be discussed in email I never heard back this past Tuesday 2:18 20125 I sent an email to Mr Tate copying the board and sent a copy to Mr amo in the morning of 219 2025 I'd given four options to discuss and or move my motion forward and I never heard back board members do not have the lawful authority to block a motion or agenda item when properly before the entire board in fact under policy 06006 the president of the board and the superintendent prepare the agenda they do not determine the agenda the agenda may be changed modified updated deleted hence why there are exceptions to the Sunshine Law and the

107and Council Rock policy 06 nowhere in these policies does it State a board member cannot bring a motion or agenda item forward just yesterday I requested to add something to the education committee that was being held next Thursday 12 2725 I was told the agenda is done planned and that I should just bring up my concerns at the end of the meeting bringing up the my concerns that's just like now it's just kicking the can bringing up it putting it on an agenda it basically makes the public aware and you're bringing forth something I am being block from being doing my elected official duty to investigate matters as well as to get anything that I would like on an agenda and this has all been case law that already that under palm versus Center and

108Smith Richmond I have the right to do and investigate matters there's no other recourse for me at this time but to do an injunction to the courts I look forward to being able to do my elected official duties that the people of this Court Des this District deserve if one is nothing to hide and nothing is to fear thank you miss horer any comments questions I'll say that first of all um we had an extended discussion about your intent of of the motion um and what you're trying to accomplish at last month's board business meeting um and then we conclud included that conversation by saying let's take it to policy committee uh we did and had an extended conversation at policy committee I I think in excess of an hour um about the issue and

109um there were not five board members who felt that this should move forward there was also not Clarity on exactly what your motion would say um indeed you did did send um a revised motion but I I you know asked you if we could speak about it on the phone to try to clarify and ask some questions and you declined um perhaps it would be helpful for you to share this moment exactly what it is you're trying to accomplish with this motion and we can have a little further discussion if you'd like so your motion is that you want transparency and truthfulness um Mr muso do you have any comments about the proc process uh I mean again I I don't I mean no one board member has a right to to put anything on

110the agenda as you say that the practice has been here to see if something has support in the board to go on the agenda it's just not one person um I think as we talked about last time you know the sunshine Act was was changed a few years ago certainly uh before that somebody could make a motion to add something to the agenda done somebody could second it but you you can't do that anymore um so there's there's no right to to have something um I know I know Miss horer has has cited a couple cases uh Township Smith versus Richmond Township I mean that's a case that stands for the proposition that boards can can have meetings um private meetings that don't really fall under the executive session um exceptions to the sunshine act

111if you're simply receiving information generally not um you know a practice that we recommend but I I don't think that's what Miss horer is asking for um I mean the case just doesn't apply to what we're talking about and the uh the Palm case um it does talk about a board member's right to investigate something if they'd like to and and certainly Miss horer is able to do that um but I I I mean her motion I think was about text messages with the solicitor and those are covered by attorney client privilege so it's palm versus Center doesn't doesn't violate you know doesn't get you around the attorney client privilege so I mean it's just not an appropriate motion but you can talk about it more at policy and obviously if at some point most

112of the board wants to have this motion you can certainly have it although again I mean it would violate you know my eth but I don't have a vote so thank you Mr muso Mr hickey I I can't recall and maybe we did I just didn't pay attention at our policy committee meeting did we go around the room saying whether or not and do we Okay so we said yes or no whether or not to proceed well you I think you said you wanted to defer yeah and I don't know that we came around to you a second time but regardless there weren't yeah no I mean because the way that the system works is you know we have a policy you know and and I do agree with Miss Herer when she talks about

113things that we would like to see on the policy agenda I think that's a little different like I've requested things to be on certain agendas and like miss her said I end up having to bring it up at the end of the evening and then it's it's just a discussion item as opposed to something that we want to advance or not not so I do agree with her on that point as it relates to our committee meetings um however like I said it the other night I I I don't see the issue of whether I agree or not of of making a motion she can make the motion it doesn't even necessarily have to be seconded if the motion's not seconded it dies right there if it is seconded then you can have discussion on

114it or lack of or no discussion if I have questions about the motion that it was raised um if it doesn't make any sense I just wouldn't I'm not going to discuss it so then once again it would die so I mean to miss herner's case who she feels that she's being slighted I thought the easiest way to do this was to give her her chance to put it out there and then the nine of us could decide whether or not to second the motion Advance the motion or vote down the motion or vote up the motion as the case may be like I said I just couldn't remember if we did go around the table at policy and say yes no yes no and obviously you know I must have missed that because I

115do remember deferring when it was asked of me a first um so you know I I think in that case that it was followed that the at least five members of this board decided not to advance what you were requesting at the meeting however I do agree that it should have been put on not necessarily this agenda but on the agenda at the committee level thanks M oi yeah um well so it was it was an item on the agenda at the committee level that's why we talked about it um and then additionally I wanted to respond to your I've been chairing the policy committee for you know a year and a half now uh first with Ed and now with Linda um and so I just I kind of wanted to address your your

116comment because I I can think of two policies that you've brought to my attention or May and Ed or me and Linda and said like hey I would like to talk about this further um one was the uh student I don't know Library code or something you know something about like um academic instruction uh books and content and then the other was the cell phone policy and so you know I I think the reason that cell phone policy got on the agenda was because Mr hickey said you know we're getting a lot of feedback about about um about cell phones in schools and I said you know what I agree and I think we should talk about this and then there's there was this other situation where you know I looked at the the last

117time we had discussed the policy and the the policy number Escapes Me So forgive me but um I I said it had just been looked at in 23 I think again you know I'm going off memory here but it had just been looked at and I said let's finish the 200s and then when we get to that we'll look at it again so I I just want to say you know we try to make I try and I think Ed and Linda also try to make informed decisions about what we put on the policy um committee SCH agenda and you know in this case Ann had come to us as committee chairs and asked to have this on the agenda I tried to accommodate her by putting on the agenda it wasn't the exact wording

118she wanted she sent me a nasty email about you know the wording not being exactly what she wanted you know I feel like I am really trying to accommodate people here and you know it just never seems to be enough I'm going to uh recognize Miss Khan in a second but Mr ruso uh wanted to comment on I believe was it Mr hickey's um suggestion about adding the motion sure you just you just can't add aemotion to a meeting like this it just sh act flat out says you cannot add something to the agenda so it's it's not even worth entertaining I I didn't imply that we should have I I was strictly speaking at the committee level being put on the agenda and I do remember which one it was I I had asked

119because I was getting approached by numerous parents as to our library policy and our administrative regulation as it pertains to to reviewing our books and materials in our libraries and the appropriateness of such material to me I thought that was an important enough item to supersede having to worry about going through well we're going to go through the 200s and we we'll get to that one when we get to the 800s well by the time we get to it I may not be sitting on this board or you know whatever so I thought that the fact that I brought it up okay we're not going to you know maybe we'll cut out some of these polies that we're talking about now that really don't need any work and we can talk about some that actually

120are affecting our students with the here and now because the answer I had to give to this parent when he asked me about the books and some of the questions that he had was well we'll talk about that policy when we get to the 800s you know that was the answer that I got and the only way that I could probably try to advance it would be as at the end of the meeting when it's more or less new old business that I could say hey I'd like to talk about this administrative regulation or this policy as it relates to the library and that was the specific one and there was I mean and I also asked another one I I asked one the other day to be put on the next education committee at

121the policy committee I talked about a graduation requirement and at the policy committee I was told that it would be put on the agenda for the education committee and I got the agenda today and it's not on there it was we can talk about it at the end that discussion so once again next week at the end of the meeting I'm going to say hey I would like to have a graduation requirement for our graduates but instead of doing any action on it we're just going to talk about it and then it'll be deferred and that's my point it's not so much what happens here and as I said I agree with M we and and I said that and I apologized earlier for it because we can't just make motions here on the Fly

122and vote on them that's what I talked about and I actually apologize for my for accusing board members of doing exactly that but at the committee level I feel that that's where the meat of the work gets done that we do and we should be able to introduce anything that we have and if Miss Herer has a concern and and I and it was it was talked about and five people said no so I'm I'm okay with that but that is where the other eight board members should have an opportunity to have equal input into what we're doing because none of us are more powerful than any of the other ones you know and as I said as it relates to committees you know we should all have equal input because that's where our work

123gets done Point well taken thank you Mr hickey Miss Khan thank you Mr Tate um I just wanted to I guess reply specifically to miss Herer and I guess now Mr hickey in regards to an addition for agenda items for our education commit committee um next week um just clarification a little bit of background how this typically works for the board um there are pre- agenda meetings that happen for all the committee meetings we the chairs or the co-chairs meet with administrators um you know usually about two weeks ahead of time and then once the slide deck the presentation um they kind of present to us Administration um the first like rough draft version of the um the the committee meetings presentations um usually there's a little bit of discussion and then that moves on

124so then every board member here uh typically on a Friday a early afternoon we we receive the agenda and a deck of slides for the next week's committee meetings so it's about a six day um lead so that gives the opportunity for every board member the weekend in additional days to review the deck to review the slides if they have questions they can reach out to either um board members chairs uh or administrators and I know that has been done in the past um in terms of adding items to agenda items I know I Mr hickey we've talked about that in the past um even in the response I believe to miss Herer we had stated to her at this time um since the items went out the agenda went out for the Board review

125and also for the sake of respecting the administrator's time since they are the ones that create the slides the information in the presentation that be an item that can happen at at discussion at a committee meeting um and I agree with with Mr hickey that often times that's where the meat of all of our discussion of policies of different activities um uh programs initiatives that that are that are brought forth which starts in committee and it starts with a discussion sometimes it's a discussion sometimes it's a presentation that administrators bring to the uh the board for a presentation and discussion um and then I know in that email I Believe Miss paully followed up and I followed up specifically to miss Herer uh when she emailed yesterday to state that she can bring it up

126under um the agenda item that was under I believe specifically special education there's already an agenda item line line item there for every education committee she could bring up um what she was looking for that gives ample time for the administration to then collect the data that she was asking for for the next and I know Miss Paulie specifically said which I didn't repeat because she had already stated it that we could then after discussion put it on to the next month's committee meeting so the term saying blocked and unable to get things on the agenda items I don't think is a clear statement to the public of what happens and same thing with Mr hickey that was exactly my response to you as well that we can discuss it under um the education committee

127and then after discussion if there's further uh discussion that needs to be had or wanted we can definitely have it on an agenda item in March um but again this is all planned out well thought out and we have to give everyone ample time not only to review but also to prepare um so we can have this committee meeting let and have it be effective and communicative and productive so thank you thank you Mr Hildago thank you Mr Tate uh Mr thank you so much I appreciate your uh ethical uh awareness here in not wanting to break client attorney privilege one of the you know cornerstones of of the legal uh World um but I want to play kind of devil advocate here because the whole situation and the way you are perceiving client attorney

128of privilege when it comes to the agency which is the school district and it's represented by nine board members equally it's a tough situation that you find yourself in when you start to honor a client attorney privilege for each little Slither of that representative board I and so I just you know cuz for me I'm thinking heck I mean I have some experience with Reg ulations and laws throughout through two different careers so I've I've kind of just you know this just doesn't sit right with me I think there's a little bit of because my understanding is completely different versus the other uh solicitor we had under basically giving equal information to the board because you could end up in in a situation where you find yourself um in in in trouble or people not

129happy with the way you did or didn't share information so like what I would say is there's definitely some language out there about board members asking well am I entitled to um you know the the information from the attorney or only certain board members there's definitely information out there I'm not an attorney I'm not going to spend the time uh to do it but just wanted to say hey this this this is something that that um concerns me so because you could have a board member thinking that they're uh that they're you know that you disclosed information to another board member that they perceived as privilege but you didn't so then now you're you're upsetting board members there uh also other board members could perceive if you gave some information to some board members and

130not others they could think favoritism or that you are um not allowing them their right and obligation to be fully informed when they do their their their their decision making for the school board and then also um you know if you give conflicting advice to one board member versus another that's not a good place to be in so that's why I thought if you're going to provide advice to the board that you should try to be as consistent and as transparent as possible if it's is agency business if you're talking about something that's private and it's nothing to do with the school business or our decisions then absolutely I I'm not not saying I'm not an attorney so I don't have that obligation right Mr Tate but um that was a joke but uh but

131you do and you're in you're in a situation where I don't want to see you you know get wrapped up in in nonsense because um because you're giving attorney client privilege it just doesn't sit right with me so I just wanted to put that on the record I mean thank you Mr adago um I don't really think it's a joking matter um I know Mr muso we've had conversations about this takes attorney client privilege seriously and it is clear that each board member has access to our solicitor and with that access has attorney client privilege and that enables us to do our work and I admire Mr amuso and his law firm's adherence to that principle I I don't think a whole lot more needs to be said about it Miss py yeah I just

132want to go back on setting the agenda and I understand that um maybe if someone is newer on the board they they don't understand the process very well but um we do not really set up the agenda the administration sets the agenda so when we meet with the administration for the pre meeting for before the committee they usually come with a list of things that they consider priority and then we discussed that um and it has been in my experience times that sometimes I wanted to add something and Dr s would say do you think you have enough support from board members to include that and if I know for sure I if I think I do I can say yes and if I don't say I don't know so but during whatever is on

133that agenda during the committee meeting is discussed and then there is a nod of heads like do we have enough support we have at least five people that want this on the board agenda so whatever comes from the committee gets on the board agenda and um that agenda is primarily created Again by the administ ation so it's not that anyone can add anything to the agenda at any time there is a process that is very structured and we follow that process because we have to follow the rules that's how it was done when I joined this board four years ago that was my experience when I was president and I understand this continues now so I don't don't like to be accused of not being transparent or trying to shut somebody down because that's not

134the intention the intention is to get things done focus on education and take the time we take so many hours in these committee meetings we discuss about so many things and still if someone really wants something that is not on the agenda they can always bring it up and there I mean we've stayed like how what was the last time was like six hours in meetings trying to like get through things so nobody shutting anybody out we are just trying to follow a process and we never I never and I think it's the same for pretty much everybody we never told somebody that um they cannot bring something up uh but you cannot create emotion at the board meeting out of the blue without just because you want to it's not possible thank you all

135right I think we've discussed this sufficiently and uh I look forward to getting back to the business of Education in the coming weeks with our committee meetings and the next board meeting if there's no further old business then we are adjourned thank you for