001Thank you for coming to our regular school board meeting March 25th of 2026. Prior to this meeting we met in executive session to receive information um on sensitive district safety plans matters uh that subject confidentiality including client privilege. and litigation. Let's go ahead and raise at pledge to the flag. Okay guys, we're going to uh continue with our tradition. We have two young folks here to help us lead the pledge so nobody starts until they start. Uh if I could introduce those people. Uh can I first have Caroline come on up? Okay. And then the next guy is James. Come on James. James knows some of these people back here. I I see some family back there. Now everybody can. So you know what the rules are. I'm going to give this to you at
002the end. So the rule is we have to face the flag. We know where it is, right? And then what's the What are they Tell everybody what to do with their hand. On my honor you mark and then nobody starts in this room until these guys start. So just whenever you guys are ready. Ready? I pledge So turn over here. Right? 1 2 3 So turn around John. Oh yeah, we're going to turn. Maybe he wants a picture. Okay. Turn right here. Yeah. Turn this way for the camera. Okay perfect buddy. He said he wants a picture. Come on. Yeah. Okay just right here. You guys did a great job. Yeah. James this is for you. Now listen, the good news is these meetings only last like an hour and a half so you'll be
003home. How about this? Since you guys did such a nice job, how about you go home now? You don't need to >> [laughter] >> All right. Thanks everybody. Good job. All right, thank you. Mr. uh Henry, will you call the roll? Dr. Valdes? >> Here. Dr. Cummings? Here. Dr. Ferraro? Here. Dr. Henry here. Dr. Hines? Here. Dr. Novacek? Here. Dr. Sharkey? Here. Dr. Stover? President Evans? Here. All nine present Mr. President. Thank you Secretary Henry. Uh voting procedure will be alphabetical with the chair voting last. Superintendent's report. Thank you very much um Mr. Evans. First just really quickly Easter break will be coming up. That's April 1st through April 6th so really encourage everybody to enjoy that time off. Uh want to thank all of our students. I've been able to get to two of
004our elementaries and our high school for focus groups with with students. Uh really absolutely and Dr. Perry joined me as well. Uh really just incredibly delighted to be able to get feedback from our most important um people in the district, our customers, our kids, Uh told us what we're doing well, and they told us some things that we need to work on. So, I was really appreciative of those folks. Uh, Central Elementary I was able to visit, Mount Vernon I was able to visit. The high school we broke it into two groups, the 11-12 group talked to them about a lot about moving on for their careers and and exposure to those things and and experience that they had. And then I had a separate group with ninth and 10th graders who we were able
005to talk about the beginning of their high school experience. I have William Penn William Penn scheduled next week on Tuesday. >> And then we have the middle school and then we're going through that route. So, again, just the highlight of my week. No offense to the adults, but spending time with the kids and getting feedback from them is really powerful and it's incredibly helpful. Uh, public school facilities improvement grant on Friday the 13th. I believe it was Friday the 13th. I submitted a $5 million public school facilities improvement grant. We recognize that $5 million request doesn't always mean $5 million, but we did submit that. The public school facilities requires that you submit grants for work that has not started. Uh, we've done some of that work over some of the um HVAC and mechanical
006systems in the this building and in Central. So, that grant was submitted for some of that HVAC work that would be done in this building. Like I said, for the $2.5 million. There is a 25% match for the district. Uh, again, so far we've been blessed to have $4.4 million in grants so far and we're hoping for a little bit more. Uh, this is a state level funding source. So, anybody that has anybody that they'd like to call at the state to help support us, our local legislators, anybody else that you might know, could always put in a good word for us to help us get through the finish line with that. High school musical. Uh, we have a couple people that aren't here. They're they're on their way up. Uh, you're already here. I
007figured I was waiting for Spencer. I thought he'd be here too or not. He's coming. He's not able to come. Okay, that's great. But, uh, they're really busy with the musical. It starts on April 9th. Uh, the sets are incredible. Uh, the middle school's ready. Anything to add about the you're going to talk about it during your Yeah. Okay, okay. I I won't steal your thunder. I know I always do that. I apologize. Uh, but that thing starts on April 9th. Uh, on the website, uh, theater arts, we have tickets available as well. So, please, if you get a chance, it will be well worth your time to come and see that show in the middle school. PSSA testing begins on the week of April 20th. The end of the third nine weeks is on
008March 31st. That's next Tuesday. I had the opportunity to work with the school district from New Jersey through a learning neighbor grant. Uh, the learning neighbor grant is money that comes from the Grable Foundation and Remake Learning that allows us to take some of the programs that we're having and working with a district that's a little further away and try to share some of this good work. Uh, our unified robotics program, those programs in fourth and fifth grade where we take uh, students with with with uh, differing abilities and put them together and allow them to work on robotics competitions. Uh, we've been doing a great job with that. The folks that I was over at Mount Vernon on Monday. Monday we had a qualifier. There's so many kids that we have to have qualifiers
009to see who gets to go to the big competition at South Fayette. Uh, it was very heated and exciting. Uh, but what we've done is we've worked with the Cherry Hill School District, which is in New Jersey, and we're now sharing the information and things that we do with our kids and they're going to expand that program to their high school and have their kids exposed to a very similar program. So, we're really excited. That's through the League of Innovative Schools and we're really happy to be able to be a part of that. That's all I have. Thank you. Mr. Fry. You have a question. Yes. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Two recognitions here. The first one is for and I will go with the one that's not here because he is in
010Wednesdays is youth group practice. So, he can't make it to our board meetings. I want to recognize Nathan Pazuto. Uh, Nathan Pazuto and I'm going to get up here so that the camera can see me. We'll get this out to the public. Uh, Nathan Pazuto, a student at the high school, was recognized as a 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Uh, we're really proud to announce this. He advanced to the finalist standing in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program. Nathan is extremely talented senior who is among roughly 15,000 finalists nationwide. Representing less than 1% of all US high school seniors. Who have he has the opportunity to continue the competition for 7,500 merit scholarships worth nearly $30 million which will be offered this spring. Uh, he has submitted a detailed scholarship application which includes a high
011quality academic record, a recommendation from a school official, an essay, and SAT and ACT scores. Uh, we're incredibly proud of Nathan for reaching this elite level of of the National Merit competition. That comes from Kelly Garlow at the high school. So, we want to recognize Nathan and his hard work. It's really paid off. This is an incredible accomplishment and like I said, 1% of all high school students get this honor. So, a big shout out to Nathan and I'll make sure to go up to the high school to give this to him personally. The next one is, if you guys recall, and and I'm going to steal some of your thunder, Mr. Mr. Henry, with the SHASDA report. Uh, SHASDA has their yearly uh uh, commendations for high school students who have shown perseverance, grit,
012really kind of being some positive role model in their schools. We recognize two high school students every year. Uh, what they've done differently this year is they offered gave us opportunities to present quarterly presentations to kids at at other levels. So, we pushed this out. Uh, if you guys recall, I brought a middle school kid in last time. We were downstairs. She was very graciously accepted that. But, now what we have is we have a student from William Penn. And if Cole, if you could come up here, I'd really appreciate it. Perdusky? Yes. Did I get it right? Yeah, I'm Cole. Just go for that, right? Look, look, turn this way. Look over here to the camera they're looking at. Okay. So, Cole is actually again, we we talked about the unified robotics program. If
013you guys understand anything about Elizabeth Forward, Dr. Peruski and myself, we were doing unified PE classes when we were involved in 2006. Uh, it's expanded now to be unified programs. I think we have five programs at the high school. We have a unified wellness program at the middle school, unified robotics, and we have a partners PE at William Penn Elementary. Uh, this young man next to us wanted so much to be a part of that program that he just demonstrated incredible leadership. Uh, and really kind of just persevered and and made himself a leader with that group. And from what I've heard, and I'm going to let him talk for a second if he will, that he's had a wonderful experience. Do you want to talk a little bit about partners PE or anything else?
014Or It's okay. You can talk to me. You want to talk about it? No. Talk about it? Well, good news, I'm going to talk. So, uh Uh, we just want to tell you how proud we are of Cole, the work that he's done. You have to understand that we split this out to principals and teachers and we asked folks, who is really that kid that stands out in your school as showing that perseverance, that grit, that determination, and working as a leader. And Cole has been that guy. So, we're really super proud, folks. So, can we give him a big hand? Thank you. Huh? Got it? All right, big hand for Cole. One more one. You're not done yet. I forgot. You got a gift card to Chipotle. Okay. That's all I have. Except, we
015are now going to have a presentation of one of our own. That's Mr. Peruski. You're done again. Uh, we're going to have Dr. Burns, who is the principal of Green Oak and Mount Vernon. She's put together a presentation. What we like to do is really kind of just talk about those wonderful things that are happening in the schools. Who better to do it than somebody who lives there every single day. So, we're going to have a presentation after mine. Dr. Burns, do you want to say anything? Thank you. Uh, we're going to have Dr. a little bit about what's going on this year at Green Oak and Mount Vernon. And I really wanted to take some time to focus on what we're doing to bring the community into our building this year and also to
016go out into our community and you maybe show our kids what it's like to make a little bit of an impact on their community. Um, because as important as reading and math and science are, I think some of the most important lessons that I learned in school were just those life lessons and those soft skills. So, we really wanted to emphasize that. Um, one of the things I did want to highlight though is that part of anything that we do is that clear and open communication. So, one of the things that uh, we do every week at Green Oak and Mount Vernon is we send out a newsletter. Um, and so, this is just the front page. They're usually two to three two to three pages long. But, they have everything that a parent would
017need to know about what's going on in our buildings that week. And also pictures of things that have gone on in the previous weeks. So, we want all of our parents to know what their kids are doing because parents are the most important part of our our child's team. So, this comes out at 7:30 every Sunday night. Our parents know to look for it at that time. Um, and a A of them just absolutely love seeing the pictures of the kids and the things that they've done. So and it is a collaborative effort. I constantly have teachers mean Autumn I know sent me a bunch of pictures today because I couldn't be in the building during an event. So those things will be shared out this weekend when that goes out on Sunday night. So
018it is something that our parents can count on so that they always know what's going on. One of the first things we did this year and we do every October is we had our fire department come in and they come into both buildings and they do give our students both a classroom visit where they talk about fire safety and what to do if a fire were to break out in your home. But then the part that the kids love the most is really going out and getting to be in the fire trucks in the parking lot and they see the trucks, they see the ambulances and they all get their little blue hats and I love that they get all the little kindergarteners walking around in their blue hats. But it's a really great opportunity
019for our kids to get to see some of the volunteers and and our volunteers do come in and talk about their volunteer experiences and at Green Oak every year we follow that up with a thank you by doing a hat day to collect money for the fire department. So over the last couple years we've collected probably about four or five hundred dollars that we then give to the fire department. And it's just the kids wear hat, they pay a dollar for the day and that money goes directly to our fire department as a thank you for all they do to keep us safe. The Elizabeth Forward's food drive, we do continue to keep that running every year in November. I took that that over about two years ago and so it is our warrior ambassadors
020that get to go out into the community and to collect all of the food from all of the buildings within the district and then we deliver them both to Round Hill and the Elizabeth Baptist food pantries. And it's really wonderful to see our kids out there lifting boxes even a little bit of weight lifting boxes and helping. This year we collected 1400 food items at Green Oak and at Mount Vernon alone. As a district we collected over 2300. But one of the things that I'm most proud of our kids for is that they as a student team opted this year to to use their warrior bucks from our PBIS program to buy food for the food bank. So we collected 404 warrior bucks. We learned the hard way last year that it can't be a
021one to one ratio but it was a five to one ratio this year so they bought 81 items for the food bank that they were then able to deliver. And one of the things that I had asked the ladies who run the food banks this year to do was to really just talk to our kids about what they do and it was really impactful for our kids to hear about how you know they were being asked to split needs. Because a family can't get a dozen eggs but they only get to come once a month. You have one little girl who has three brothers and sisters you know and she said my mom's a giant yellow everything. So helping them to understand those things and to come back and have lunch with them and have
022them share what they learned that day and the importance of helping out and being thankful for what they had or what they do have and to have eight, nine, ten year olds tell you those things is really impactful. So it's a really great experience and of course they love getting to go to the middle school or the high school and they're just be out there having fun. Every year on Veterans Day we do do a breakfast as well at Mount Vernon. Mrs. Novak does lead Veterans Day program at the elementary school or at Green Oak but we do bring in veterans at Mount Vernon and this year we had 28 veterans and thanks to Butler's who donates the breakfast we were able to have our students sit down, eat with their parents or grandparents. This
023is a really wonderful opportunity to to bring people into the building who might not otherwise be there for open houses and things like that. We have a lot of aunts, uncles, grandparents who were there with students celebrating Veterans Day. So they have a meal, we have a chorus concert and it's just a really great opportunity for our community to come together and celebrate people who sacrifice for us and our freedoms. We also implemented starting last year a breakfast buddies program. We do one morning in each building and we have two more coming up next month in April. I'm like once again the kids come in about half an hour before school starts. Mr. Baylock helps us and does breakfast whether it's donuts or waffles and we just have kids come in and have breakfast with
024whoever they want to bring in. And again it's another one of those opportunities because a lot of times when it comes to volunteering you see the same people over and over but parents who have to work can come in and have breakfast and then still get to work maybe a little bit late but it's really wonderful to see the dads that come in, the grandparents and the kids are just so proud to bring them into the school, have breakfast with them. Our PTO does a great job decorating and we have picture stations and it's just a really lovely morning for our kids and and the people that they choose to bring with them. Of course our holiday parties always bring parents into the buildings and we have our Halloween parties Valentine's Day, Christmas but we
025have such wonderful PTOs and wonderful volunteers and they make it a really great experience for all of our kids and I know that that's something that all three buildings do but it's really a great way for for parents to get involved in the buildings. We also do a lot with the high school middle school and and student readers and it's so wonderful for our kiddos at the lower grades to see kids at the upper grades and I know we had today we had the student government from the high school doing their annual book buddies during Read Across America Week we bring in the student athletes. We bring in the Seton Hall Star athlete bring in about 18 different student athletes to come in and read to our kids and then the seventh grade student government
026from the middle school comes from the middle school comes down to Green Oak as well. So our kids get to have that opportunity to ask questions of those students and they ask about what it's going to be like in high school, what it's like to be an you know to be an athlete. In this one picture on the far right one of our kiddos even asked the gentleman if he would be that tall like that high tall. And unfortunately I don't think that kiddo is going to be as tall as this young man was but it was a really great opportunity for our kids to just be involved with the high school students and they really look up to them. They're wonderful role models for them. And of course during Read Across America Week another
027time we do bring in parent mystery readers which the kids absolutely love and a lot of our parents get into it you know bringing in like the duck plushies for the kids that go along with the stories. But again a lot of times it's someone that might not otherwise come in and help during parties or you know fun in the sun day. But really getting those parents in and getting them to to read with our kids is wonderful. We also have great relationships with some of the dentists and orthodontists in the community. So Dr. Ragai who is a local orthodontist and Dr. Zelder come in every year to talk to our kids and he does different grade levels but they really share a lot about dental hygiene so our kids are definitely learning but then
028they also share about what it takes to be a dentist. Dr. Ragai also brings in hygienists so they get to see the various jobs that can happen in a dental office. They bring the big toothbrush, they get to floss each other, learn about all of the sugar and acids that are in you know Mountain Dew and all of the things that pop that kids love. And it's just fun and then they have the opportunity to ask a lot of questions. So it's a really great community partnership for our students there as well. Each year the US Steel Eagles the ones that have the nest, they actually have a gentleman that comes out every year to Green Oak and he meets with our kindergarteners and teaches them about the Eagles about the time of year they
029start to nest and all of our kids then get little stress balls of either Stella and I can't remember what the male Eagle's name is but they get to learn about the Eagles. They get to watch them and then it's something that they really are engaged in because they learn all about the the the whole process of laying the eggs and hatching the eggs and what that takes. We've also had the opportunity to work with therapy dogs from the Bountiful Bowl that come in. Our kids love having the opportunity. Sort of upset that this year we had a mastiff who used to come in Tilly. She was the sweetest dog in the world. You'd see kids just laying on her back and she was just laying there. But she has since retired and so we
030still have Blossom and I can't remember what the name of this thing Jim but the golden retriever. Our kids love it. You know some kids who might not have the opportunity to interact with the animals get to learn a little bit about them but they're very gentle. We also then did a community collection of dog food to to donate to the Bountiful Bowl to help them with some of the dogs that they rescue. To give back and to thank thank them for coming to us. And obviously we have our kindergarten fun nights. We had our first one last week on Tuesday. We had 41 kindergarteners in the building upcoming the most we've had since I've been here and then talking to our kindergarten teachers it might have been a record actually for Green Oak to
031have 41 families there that night. Um but we got our little ones in and got to start to see the school. Seeing their smiling faces, they were excited, they're ready to go. And we have another one coming up on April 14th. That will be the night that they get to take the bus ride. So that's always fun for them as well. Um but we know that kids need to be in the school and get comfortable before they come. So we do do the two evenings still. Um and it's a wonderful way to for us to start to interact with the kids and get them comfortable coming. And one last thing that we do is we do work with the high school student government with our fourth graders and they do a pen pal program. Uh
032we've been doing this for a couple years. So they write letters back and forth all year. Our fourth graders are each paired with a high school student. And then coming up in I think it's the end of May, beginning of June. May 26th. May 26th. I I knew it was somewhere in that week. That's crazy. Um they will go out to the high school. They'll actually get to meet their pen pal face-to-face. They have lunch together. And it's a really nice program. It gives our kids practice in reading and writing um but then also having that older student that they do that they get to have um a conversation with. So just a few things we wanted to share that we did this year. Um or our upcoming that impacted all of our elementaries. This
033year we did our first Warrior Reading Library. We did that um on March 6th. And in October we had rolled out uh this competition. We had 50 students sign up. Only 28 actually read the five books to participate in this competition. Uh but over the summer we had identified five books that we wanted all of the kids to read if you wanted to do it. And then they came together after reading those five books and participated in a competition showing what they learned from those books. And so we had uh six different Kahoot games where they were awarded points based on their reading. Um and it was students from all three buildings from Mount Vernon, uh William Penn, and Central, grades three to five. It was open to everyone who wanted to do it. Uh
034and they came together and we also brought in a local author, Lori Jones, uh who presented to all of the students at Mount Vernon because we had it at Mount Vernon and the Mount Vernon PTO was gracious enough to pay for her presents there. Um but she came in, talked about being an author, and the process she goes through writing the kids. Spent the afternoon with the Reading Library kids. They got to ask her questions about her writing process, what they need to do to become an author. Um and then she was just there as the kids competed. So it was a wonderful day. We had pizza, cake. Um and it was one of the teams from Mount Vernon. Like I said, win that tag. Um but we had a lot of kids and they
035were definitely excited uh to do it again next year. So that's how we wrapped up the Read Across America week for the elementaries. And then one final plug, uh we do have our Rotary Spelling Bee and Bobby E. Sherman Spelling Bee uh coming up on April 16th. That is a Thursday night here at the middle school. Um the last three years we've had a winner from each of the each of the elementary schools. They were one, two, three. And um last year was William Penn's year. The year before that was Central and and Mount Vernon was the year before that. So hopefully we have a Mount Vernon kiddo this year. So but I'm not biased at all. Try. We have 56 kids uh who are scheduled to compete in the annual Spelling Bee. So it
036is a wonderful evening. Thank you to the Rotary for sponsoring it. Um and so that will be there for our third graders. So just a few things that we're doing. Thank you so much for having me. That's all? That's all. Uh I want to thank Dr. Burns for coming and also as well her entire staff. just the entire you know, this doesn't happen in isolation. A lot of people chipping in. I know she made mention of that. So just a shout-out to the entire Green Oak and Mount Vernon staff for for supporting all these great things that we're doing. So thank you very Thank you. You want to go You want to go home now? And cool cool do you want to you want to leave? You can leave if you want to. I'm hanging
037out for a little bit. Okay, good. I just want to give me out. Thank you. They got bounced for bowling at the school. >> [laughter] >> I'm playing safe. They got a lot of kids. We'll we'll take that. Okay. I think I'm actually done. Are you done now? >> I think I'm done. >> Okay. Public comment. Uh so I was uh Cindy Dukeman. Just state your address. Um some of the questions into the questions I've been asked if you have a written copy of them and maybe use volume. My name's Cindy Dukeman. I'm a resident of the Half Plan. I don't care to give my address. I don't care to be doxed. Um I'm here from the Elizabeth Forward Regional Republican Committee. The committee asked me to come and ask a few questions. The committee
038had a held a strategy meeting with residents of both Republicans and Democrats were there and we collected a lot of really fantastic information. Some of the concerns that the folks in our community have are listed in these um seven questions. I'm going to read them so that the community can hear what you would like to more information of transparency from our district on. What is the current all-in project projected total cost for the entire high school project, phase one and two, including the new academic seventh eighth grade wing, site work, athletic fields, change orders, furnishings, technology, and contingency? Has this number changed since the most recent public update? How much additional annual debt service will the full project add to the district operating budget? And when will this impact begin? Once the three elementary schools
039are closed and the new seventh and eighth grade wing opens in the 2027-28 school year, what are the projected annual savings in operations and maintenance, utilities, and staffing, and any other savings you can come up with? And the board provide those numbers broken down by category for the public? When will the board release a public detailed five-year financial projection that clearly shows how the operational savings from the consolidation will translate into actual tax relief for the community? Specifically, we're looking and hoping for 10% reduction in taxes moving backwards towards the 25.5 mil. The district currently maintains an excellent student-teacher ratio of about 14 to 1. After consolidation, what does the board project the average class size will be in the elementary, middle, and high school levels? And the board commits keeping the overall student-teacher ratio
040at or below 15 to 1 to remain competitive and family-friendly? Also, not on there but I was asked to ask this. How long will the children from the schools that are closed spend on their commute to and from school on the bus ride? And I've actually had someone ask that would the school board please take a ride on that those commutes to see what it's like for those kids. Finally, how does the board plan to use the proceeds from the sale of the three closed elementary buildings? Will those funds be dedicated to first paying down the project debt faster and delivering a measurable tax relief to the residents rather than allowing continuing millage increases? And that's uh that's our time. You got me at the end of my questions. That's our time. Um I have
041a written request that you do reply to these questions. Thank you. Uh Mr. Paul Beck, Dr. Paul Beck. If you could state your address, please. Yes, sir. Paul Beck. Mr. Paul Beck, anything standing? 201 Winchester Drive. So I have a couple questions. First, I want to follow up with you. I was curious for the medication policy of the district position actually looked at. Um there's pretty significant concerns with it. Um one is parents aren't bringing an EpiPen every day if a kid needs to use it. Nor are they bringing in albuterol in the daily. And these kids need to have these on person. They can't be running to the office or somewhere else to get these if they need. If a kid has an insulin pump on them, their parents not coming to bring it
042to them every day at school. So in the in the parent part of that policy, there's a big hole there. The other part of the hole is if they have to go to a event off campus, an athletic event, any field trip, whatever, it's not really addressed how they're going to deal with medications that might be needed. So although I think there's a reasonable chance that they would have a thing with the medication policy, there's lots of holes in it. Um the second policy I'm concerned with was the search policy. I have a couple issues. One is uh uh is the um searches without individual suspicion. So those have to be approved by the superintendent. But how is the superintendent going to approve a search without individual suspicion without suspicion? It doesn't even Um the
043other part of it is um I understand we're trying to have the safety here, but uh the other thing is for consent. I'm trying to figure out how an underage person is consenting to search. I don't understand how that's even possible. So and and nowhere in here do I see where there's a debrief after the event. Why do we do a search? What do we come from the search? And nowhere in here is parental notification of anything. I'm sure none of the parents would really like their kids to be searched without some sort of notification or at least after the fact that they were searched. It's coming home to after the fact and telling their parents they got searched is going to be a thousand phone calls to Mr. Conic and everybody else who's probably
044on the board. Um and the um talking about school closure, uh we're still at the cart before the horse. I think it's at the top of the launch show and the cart is at the bottom. We we have voted to create a 7th and 8th grade situation at the high school before we even voted. We haven't had a 780 hearing on the closing of the school. We're still way cart before horse here. If you're going to sell if you're going to put out bids to see what's going to happen to the schools, you need to close the schools first. You're creating a 7th and 8th grade building without having a school closing. Why? We're not closing the school. Nobody closed the school. So, I don't understand that. Uh the last part is um in the
045agenda I found that we have a revised school preparedness plan for the district staff. Where's the plan for the district? Yeah. Buildings. We still don't have one. We've never had one. I brought it up a dozen times. Tried to reach out about actually getting helping with that cuz I have some experience. We still don't have but we have one now for the staff apparently, but we don't have one for the Thank you, Mr. Conic. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Ms. Britney Abby. Hi, my name is Britney Abby. My address is 142 Norman Drive. I'm here to comment on the K-2 reading curriculum program that is currently under consideration for next school year. I'm an elementary educator with 17 years experience, the majority of which have been in the primary grades. I believe that providing a
046strong foundation of reading skills in these grade levels is extremely important and cannot be overlooked in any way. EF is currently piloting a previously purchased program called 95% Core Phonics alongside CKLA Knowledge in grades K-2 with the plans of implementing these two programs together for the start of the 26-27 school year as there is no other reading program that's being piloted or considered. 95% Core Phonics calls itself a 30-minute a day program that adds an explicit phonics strand to the daily In 95% Core Phonics' own study for advocacy in 2021, it was added as a supplemental piece to a pre-existing reading curriculum program. 95% is an addition to reading instruction. It is not a standalone program. Additionally, CKLA Knowledge is a listening comprehension component and a listening vocabulary piece. It is also not a standalone
047component. In my professional opinion, combining two supplemental programs together does not create a dynamic and inclusive reading program. In my personal research of 95% Phonics and my experience with it at home as a parent, along with my professional experience using CKLA Knowledge, I've identified little to no evidence of instructional material that are related to the teaching of reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, writing for purpose, grammar, language arts, and or convention. These are hugely important topics, especially at these grade levels. Through our correspondence about these topics and our concerns, Dr. Perry showed that week by week skills and materials to cover these identified gaps in grammar instruction will be taught in the form of writing assignments and worksheets, which are not currently ready. They need to be refined before a full rollout next school year. I have
048not been provided with any response to my concerns about the lack of reading comprehension and vocabulary instruction and materials. I'm extremely concerned as an educator, a taxpayer, and a parent of a primary student in Elizabeth Forward that the district does not have a program to teach primary students how to read for comprehension or vocabulary acquisition next school year. This school year's implementation of CKLA Knowledge with 95% Core Phonics has been referred to as a curricular pilot program through communication with parents. However, it doesn't fit the definition of this term in the educational sense. From an article from EdReports titled Best Practices in Piloting Curriculum, it states that to ensure a complete and consistent evaluation of all materials, all teachers need to see and use all pilot options that are being considered. To This means that
049if you're piloting two programs, every teacher needs to see both programs for the same amount of time. But our elementary schools are only piloting one option. This does not provide any opportunity to compare or contrast with other options. I ask that the board extend the ELA pilot to next school year and include the trial of other reading programs to ensure that our district is truly truly taking an option or that is a program or a combination of programs that allows students to not only to learn how to read, but also to read and write in order to learn. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, all right. The next one is Beth. Uh then Mr. Kenneth Button. Uh and lastly, Mr. John Straub. If you would be kind enough to stick with us. Close. Sure. I'll be
050quick. John Straub, 104 Broadlawn Drive, Elizabeth, PA. And I'm here again talking about the same thing. Um everybody knows who I feel about what's going on. We need to consolidate. We're saying we're consolidating. So, our district's shrinking, but at the same time, we're spending a ridiculous amount of money on the athletic fields. I mean, they're student athletes. They're student first and athlete second. So, we should be putting a priority on the student end and not on the athletic end. And we never ever heard any budgetary restraints until we talked about phase two and we weren't going to do anything to the middle school or central because of budgetary restraints. Um if you look, there's a Horace Mann Law that um is with for excessive spending for construction. I don't know that our construction falls under
051that, but I do know that our athletic complex falls under that. Um we're saying that we're shrinking, our property values are going down, and we're spending more money on athletic fields than we ever did before. To get a title one as a school district, and the sad part about that is probably, I don't know all the ins and outs, but to be a title one school district, the only thing we probably needed was a girl's softball field. We had a boy's field, but we couldn't use it because we didn't have a girl's field. Um if you look at our spending and there's on the um docket tonight to um vote on, there's a um change order for $229,800. That's for the wall that personally, I think somebody besides the taxpayers should be um eating the
052cost, though. But that um item has been on the as a change order since June. That item until this meeting when we're voting on it, was $139,290.26. We bunched in a a bunch of other stuff in with that change order, and now it's $229,800 and $0.80. Um we don't see anything on the agenda. There was bids that were supposed to be back last week for a fence around the um high school field. They were supposed to be in on the 18th for that um project. That was on the agenda the last two um facility meetings, and we still haven't seen a price. And since I'm not talking about athletic, I don't get a spot under the superintendent's report. I'm on a time schedule, so I'll leave it at that. You can stop. Um Um That
053will follow public comments. Thank you, Mr. Conic. First board report, Steel Center and Southeastern Area School, Mr. Stover. Stover, anything from uh Steel Center? Nothing to report. Thank you, Mr. Stover. PSBA, Mr. Sharkey. Uh yes. I have a report that was completed and discussed uh recently through PSBA that I'd like to share a synopsis with the board. Uh the report found that between 2013-2014 and 2023-2024, so a 10-year timeframe, uh charter school tuition payments grew 190%. Federal education uh costs increased 67% for schools. Those increases were only outpaced by pension costs, which increased 152% in that time period. To add perspective to the cost of reports compares increases in mandated expenses with the increase in state and federal funding over that same time. While pension costs rose nearly 2.8 billion between that time frame, state
054and federal funding increased by 1.6 billion. Charter school tuition increased 1.6 billion between that 10-year time with no additional state and federal funding coming in that time frame. And special education costs rose 1.8 billion while state and federal funding only increased by 401 million dollars. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Sharkey. Uh shout out Mr. Henry. Uh not a report. I would like to just mention on the on the PSBA front. Um I think I sent you all the email that we're changing our agenda. Um Man with a tool. Um there is there was an email for it to everybody. There's a webinar on that on next week. If you choose to go to it. I'm sure more it will be more important for staff to go, but it will show the new program
055and how it will work. We're basically in essence changing from what we've been using diligent software and uh doing new doing new software. So Is there anything to that? I think that takes effect July 1st. I want to If If I can speak for uh Ms. Ladonna, she is very uh diligent. She's been very diligent in terms of making sure that the migration piece, any of the the information that we have in our current BoardDocs, which is now diligent system, is able to be transferred over. So she'll definitely be a part of all of those uh those webinars and she will provide us with input on how we move forward with that. She's asked a bunch of very good questions to the BoardDocs already. So thank you for your work with that. She's really on
056top of it. >> We've had BoardDocs since 2009 for those of you that been. So there's a lot of information. So I'm asking those questions because we want to maintain Just information like BoardDocs does not go dark on June 30th. It's not like it just ceases to exist. It will continue to be there. It just won't be PSBA uh approved or or whatever they want to call Yeah, but no longer be affiliated with >> Yes. So what happens is, you know, if we need to have some more time for that migration piece, we we it will still exist. It's not like it permanently goes dots but that piece. So thank you, Ms. Ladonna, for Mr. Conick, are we going to have a uh process where we back up English or documentation on the library section
057of BoardDocs locally not migrated but also stored locally in the back up. I think we will have this conversation especially I don't I mean I'm not sure we have trust 100% the migration. Well, that's kind of why the back up process is now part of the Yeah, we'll talk about that. The items in the library wouldn't we already have They they came from somewhere. Yeah, they came from somewhere. So they were documents that were uploaded to there. Uh we need to make sure we have copies of all this stuff. Thank you. We'll we'll continue to keep you guys updated. the law firm we need to visit our retention policy on some of that stuff as well. Thank you. Maybe we have uh a line item of retention for certain records that that things have to
058kept legally. There are. I mean there's there there are a host of the list of a policy. So oftentimes I mean there there oftentimes is it's not a a board adopted policy an internal operating procedure about those things. So we can take a look at that and make sure that we have a clear list of the BoardDocs. Yep. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Henry. Uh students. Um on February 25th, members of SCA and NHS attended the PASLC conference at Canon-McMillan High School. They attended student-led workshops on fundraising and organizing student events. They were also able to meet and exchange ideas with other student leaders um from around the area. Over 140 students in Ms. Kern's classes attended multiple career-focused site visits based various interest factors in their RIASEC codes. These site visits included the Douglas
059Education Center, CFS Bank, Generation Stoneworks, Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, Children's Hospital, and Aerotech. Students in the AI and Media Ethics course at the high school visited Google in Bakery Square on March 18th. While they were there, they were given a tour and participated in a hands-on activity, and they were able to have a Q&A panel with Google employees. SGA members collected thousands of plastic bags to make mats for the homeless. Members of the Tri-M Music Honor Society made those bags into plastic yarn that was then given to a group in the Pittsburgh area that turned the yarn into the finished mats that will be donated to a local group that works with the homeless. [clears throat] Many teachers and staff and members of NHS contributed to the bag collection. The Interact Club of the
060high school has been preparing for their upcoming activities. Currently, they're planning to volunteer at an Easter egg hunt on March 28th. And they will be volunteering to help on the Mon Yough Trail on April 11th and April 18th. Over the past few months, some of our students were recognized for excellent student achievements, and we have a monthly breakfast for the students of that month. Recently, the high school selected their Elite 20 for the senior class of 2026. The Elite 20 are Claire Balint, Nicholas Crossett, Dylan Cummings, Edward Dunny, Bailey Dora, Margaret Douglas, Connor Egan, Nathan Grimm, Bryce McLaughlin, Ryan Messina, Maya Morgan, Addison Niggel, Nathan Pazutto, Lillian Racunas, Julia Resnick, Tyler Scott, Mia Smith, Brendan Stroshine, Brody Wagley, and Brooke Yergovich. Partners had a March Madness event. This was paired with the middle school partners
061classes along with our high school partners classes. Both of our boys and girls basketball teams along with Mr. Larry taught the life skills students how to play through stations, and then they proceeded to run a full basketball basketball game later. Students in Dr. McLaren's Multimedia Productions recently finished a series of nine videos for a project with Terry Thorn, the former CEO of the parent company of The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. The series was about the importance of traditionally male-dominated blue-collar jobs, and it inspires young women to explore their options in vocational and technical schools after graduation. Lead animators, senior Sullivan Holiday and junior JJ Foster, completed the series that is set set to launch to 50,000 educators before spring break. You can also view the short films on YouTube by searching at EFSD Animations.
062Today, members of SGA participated in the annual Book Buddies spectrum. This project was funded by a grant obtained by sophomore member Lyric Wilson. Every first grade student in the district received a book, and SG members read with them. First grade students were also able to pick bookmarks that they colored and kept with their books. Students in both the cast and crew of the high school's musical, The Prince of Egypt, have been working very hard in preparation for the show. The show will be at the middle school, and tickets are still on sale for April 9th, 10th, and 11th at 7:00 p.m. and April 12th at 2:00 p.m. This past week, Mr. Conick hosted a luncheon for some of our high school students to discuss their thoughts and feelings regarding the high school. A few topics
063mentioned were technology use in the classroom, productivity of VID learning, as well as the accessibility in academics and guidance, among other things. Along with Mr. Conick, Dr. Perry, Ms. Garlow, and Dr. Harold participated in the discussions. It was a great experience for both students and the administration to see how the school can continue to be improved and understand the decision-making behind administrative work. Recently, the Academic League of the high school had their varsity playoffs, and that was on February 11th, and their junior varsity playoffs on February 18th, where their varsity team won and received a trophy for being second in the region. Despite a valiant effort, the junior varsity team did not place at playoffs. Currently, they are hosting their March Madness tournament where student and teacher teams go up against each other in several
064rounds of intense trivia. Our swim team had a wonderful end to their season at Whippany Hills. The girls 200 free relay placed third and Brooke Yurkovich and Sydney Boyd both placed top eight medaling in their 200 IM. At states for the girls, Sydney Boyd placed seventh at um with her 200 IM which made her medal at states which is a huge accomplishment. And Brooke Yurkovich placed 11th in her 200 IM. For the boys, the at Whippany Hills, they got third in their relay. Brody and Brody Wegley broke the 200 IM school record and at states Brody Wegley broke the 100 back school record. That's all we have. Thank you. Okay. Secretary's report. Item 6.1 through 6.4, can I have a motion? I move. Motion Director Sharkey. >> Second. Second Director Cummings. Is there any further
065discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Against? Motion carried. Yeah, I'm abstaining from 6.4. One abstention. Please see Mr. Reagan for an abstention form. Director Novotny. Section seven of Treasurer's report. Item 7.1 and 7.2. >> Separate 7.1, please. All right, I I have a question >> about I I don't know that you need to but I do have a question on it. >> Okay. We need to take the motions first. You want them separated? If that's necessary, I don't know. No, so this goes to or if you have a question on one of them. Well, they need just a motion and a second to bring it up. I have a question. Motion. The Treasurer's report for January 2026. Um general fund beginning balance $1,626,719.46. Total cash receipts $2,358,186.56. Total disbursements $3,699,101.68. Ending balance $285,000. $285,804.34.
066Now we need a motion. Item 7.1 and 7.2. Motion. Motion Director Cummings. Second. Second Director Henry. Uh questions. And my question is on the check register. It refers to the last page of the check register. It's payment ending 219 for $36,000. There's two descriptions. And I'm just There's one week ending and one week ending 1242026. So, I'm assuming this is for just two weeks. I'm just I was comparing the contract to the the amount and I just want to confirm this is only for two weeks. I know there were two check runs um because the board we board meeting was a week later. There was more in this check register than normal. It's like an extra week just because there was time to get more bills in there. I don't know what your question is
067they'll be on. So, it's on you 219. Um the math statement for $36,000, that's only for two weeks. No, we Yeah, but this is always the case. This report you can only put two descriptive items. Right. And I see that the space is being maximized but it it only references two weeks. So, I just wanted to make sure that wasn't only two weeks of Yeah, that's probably That is not Find those each and they're not That's not two weeks. More. We'll estimate five five weeks. Yeah, I like to get you those. Okay. Yeah, that's just two of like you said, probably about five. That's two of them week ending but there's another three is just you can't fit those descriptions. I mean, maybe Are we good? Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Second.
068It was seconded by Director Henry. Motion by Mr. Cummings. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Against? Motion carried. Section eight finance and technology items 8.1 through 8.6. May I have a motion? Motion. Motion Director Ballant. Second. Second Director Henry. We'll do that with the question. All right. Discussion. Can I jump to 8.4? Mhm. Yes, it's for the whole block. Okay. So, for 8.4, um does that particular model I got your email response this afternoon. Does that particular model actually have a warranty that extends well past competitors? I've got to look at that. I don't know that. Cuz I didn't see anything in the paperwork. So, I'm going to assume that it was there. I'm surely going to contact them. Okay, so that doesn't have any warranty. Um and then 8.6. In the committee of the
069whole meeting, that was for $77,000. So, what We scaled that back to instead of both screens. Only one. And just to reiterate, these are for visitors, alumni, and for me. We can put anything we want on advertisements for anything that's going on in the school. Provide information to students during the course of the day. We will have the ability to be able to have an iPad running interactive displays so that we can go through all things you know, all the all things going on in the school at the time. There's a lot of things. You can put anything that you like. You can put anything. Anything that's going on in the school. So, so as people are walking by as kids are coming into the dance, you would display advertise with your screen. You said
070that. I'm just going to ask that maybe this item be tabled. Um We need that. It's a big expense and I'm just going to ask that it be tabled um to further explore it. Is that a motion to table? Item Is that approved 8.6? >> I would like to make a motion to table 8.6 for further review. We need a second. I'll second. Motion on the table to table 8.6 approve the purchase of an electronic display boards for the new high school gym lobby from Howard Technology Solutions, 36 Hour Drive, Ellisville, MS 39437 phone 831618448 Co-Stars number 034-E23-205 in the amount of $44,733.90 as presented. As presented. >> So, a motion to table is a procedural motion. It does There's no discussion on it and so you proceed directly to voting. Is my question of
071roll call? So, the motion to table was by Megan. Seconded by Dan. Uh Secretary Henry, would you call the roll? You would one second here. Um all right, Director Ballant. Yes. Director Cummings. >> No. Director Evans. You're last. I'm sorry. Director Friel. Yes. Director Henry. No. Director Honig. Yes. Director Novotny. Yes. Director Sharkey. No. Director Stolper. Yes. Uh five to three. Oh, I'm sorry. I mean yes, I'll say. All right, so that's it. Motion passes to table. Six to three. Item 8.6 is tabled. Moving forward, do we have to re- So, we any further discussion on 8.1 to 8.5? Further discussion on 8.1 to 8.5. Motion by Mr. Ballant seconded by Mr. Sharkey. All those in favor? Aye. Against? No, it's a eight four. No, it's a eight four. Motion carried. Section nine, education and
072grants. 9.1 through 9.5. May I have a motion? Motion. Second. Mr. Sharkey. Second by Mr. Ferraro. Do we have any discussion? All those in favor? I. Against? Motion carried. Items 10. Uh I'm sorry. Section 10, facilities and transportation. Items 10.1 through 10.4. May I have a motion? Motion. Uh who is that? Director Henry. I have a second. Let me Director Cummings. Do we have any discussion? Yeah. Is it technically two is the curb, right? Not the wall. This is We have Mr. Navesky. The wall is the wall is in there. The wall is in there. But the curb is as well. It's all part of one big curb sidewalk. Wall or not? Wall. Wall or not? It is the wall. Fence is included. Uh fence is above the wall or not? Yeah, there's fence above
073the wall. The this curb is the curb. Wall. >> Inside the parking lot. The wall is in front of the building. Any other questions? All those in favor? I. Against? No detention. I'll note to the entire Motion carried. Item 11, personnel. 11.1 May I have a motion? Motion. Mr. Ballant. Second. Uh second by Director Honig. Do we have any questions? All those in favor? Against? Motion carried. Section 12, personnel professional personnel. Item 12.1 May I have a motion? Motion. Second. Director Henry, second by Director Ferraro. Do we have any discussion? All those in favor? I. Mr. Navesky. Section 13, support personnel. Items 13 Item 13.1 May I have a motion? Motion. Motion Director Cummings. Second. Second Director Ferraro. Any questions? Question. All those in favor? Against? Motion carried. Abstention on 13.1 number one for me.
074Uh abstention. Okay. Just uh I'll wait that one for you. One. Thank you, Director Henry. Section 14, EDR personnel. Items 14.1 through 14.3. May I have a motion? Motion. Director Ballant. Second. Second Director Ferraro. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Against? Motion carried. Athletics Section 15, athletics and student activities. Item 15.1. May I have a motion? Motion. Director Sharkey. Second. Second Director Henry. Give him one. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Against? Motion carried. Item 16, school safety. 16.1. May I have a motion? Motion. Director Ferraro. Second. Second by Director Ballant. Discussion. Director Honig. Uh Mr. President, I just want to add I do know that it says in here that, you know, district staff, but just uh want to remind everybody that this is a [clears throat] plan for our staff
075that are in the building whether the school was in session or not. So, it it does say a emergency preparedness plan for the Elizabeth Forward district staff, but it is to direct the children uh in emergency and in a various situations. So, it's not a safety plan just for the teachers or the staff. It is for all occupants of the educational facility at the time of emergency. Thank you for the information, Mr. President. Director, are you presenting this to somebody? Do we actually get to see it? It is a confidential document for use of staff in case of an emergency. Similar to other public safety organizations in the community, it could be negative negatively impact the effectiveness or the safety of the people being moved or evacuated if it was shared with the public. Just
076as the police department, for example, doesn't share like a deployment strategy plan in the daytime, it could compromise safety in the event of emergency. It is the same mindset. We not share We share everything but like a shooter scenario? And we share everything that's not uh protected information? No, we cannot. This is a solution. How can you do that? Thank you, Director Honig. All those in favor? I. Against? Motion carried. Section 17, policy. Item 17.1 and 17.2. Motion Director Sharkey. Second. Second Director Navesky. Yes. Do we have any discussion? Yeah, I just want to clarify because you spoke about the medical use policy at length. The students The way the policy is, there's the students are able to self to have medication on them that has been signed off, like an EpiPen or whatever or
077whatever. That is an inhaler that is doctor approved, they are able to have that on them and self-administer. It was it was in the follow up policy that was in there regarding um parents having to bring that. That was the concern that I had. Further down the policy though, it discusses self-administration cuz I actually had a thousand questions about it which were answered. Does it address off off The other question I had was like when they're at a athletic event and or if they're at a field trip, how does it cover that? It says well that's the I think under the purview of the school is included as part of that policy. So, they can carry it with them during that. And and if the and the insulin pump thing is covered because if a
078kid's wearing an insulin pump, it doesn't seem I don't know how that's covered on that policy. So, PSBA, I believe um I I'm directing to you, but to the to the board. No, that's I it there there is another policy, I believe, kind of in in the queue and this is what Don is is having giving me like this down stuff. Um diabetes policy. It's a specific diabetes policy. It's actually a new PSBA recommended policy. Yeah. And we have that coming up. You'll likely see that as the as the companion policy to address that. That's separate. But also serious, you know, health health considerations. Anything else? All those in favor? I. Against? Motion carried. Anything else before we adjourn for the good of the order? Thank you to Emma for sticking around by herself on
079that. The girls in softball they got 13 to one. >> The softball team won 13 to one. All right, motion for adjournment. Motion to Director Ferraro. Second Director Navesky. All those in favor? I. Against? We're adjourned.