001Good evening. Good evening everyone. Um I am the board secretary for Gettsburg Area School District and this evening as I call the meeting to order. Um this meeting is now called to order. This is the annual regardization meeting of the Gettysburg Area School District board of directors. At this time I do a roll call vote of the holdover members. So do I have Miss Broadway? >> Yes. Here. Hello. Thank you. Mr. Dickerson is absent this evening. Mr. Moyer >> here. >> Mr. Sigman >> here. >> Thank you. >> At this time from the hold of her membership um we must elect a temporary president whose term shall exist only until the president is elected later in the agenda. Nominations are now in order for the office of temporary president of this meeting. Do I hear
002any nominations? >> I nominate Tim Sigman. >> Second. >> Any other nominations? >> All right, nominations have been heard. All those in favor of the motion so by signify by saying I to nominate Mr. Sigman. >> I. >> Thank you. Any oppose to signify? No. No. No. So as we declare Mr. Sigman as our temporary president, you may take the seat. >> Do you need the agenda to follow through? Do you need the agenda to follow through? Good evening. Um my second time in the seat, so bear with me. I better put these on. >> There we go. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Uh see uh I have received certifications of elections for all the reelected and newly elected members of the board and will now read the certificate of election. We, the county board of
003elections, hereby certify that after tabulating the votes cast at the municipal election held on November 2nd, 2025 in Adams County, Donna Harrison, Kathleen Pratt, Chestine Sig, Dave Sites are duly elected to the office of Gettysburg Area School Directors for a term of four years. Ryan Kernney uh was duly elected to the office of the Gaysburg area school board directors for a term of two years. The certifications are signed and sealed by the Adams County Board of Elections, Randy File, Jim Martin, and Marty Quali. I'm going to the oath and we're going to go to oath of office. Where is that at? Okay. Um, the next order of business is uh to the administer the oath of office to the reelected and newly elected members of the board. Would those individuals please come forward and receive
004the oath to the administration by notary Belinda Wallen. So the top part of this is the English. So I'll start off and you can At this time we'll administer the oath of the office. So if you can kindly follow after me after you insert your name say I. I >> do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity. >> Thank you very much. So, um I can if I can have you take a seat to the table then of course and you'll want to sign the document and then provide it to me and >> Thank you and congratulations. Welcome. Nominations are now in order for the office of
005board president. Do we hear any nominations? >> I would like to nominate Miss Alice Broadway. >> Do we have a second? >> I'll second. All right, let's take a roll. Cool. >> Oh, sorry. Any other nominees? Hearing none, I guess we just take a roll call vote. >> Yep. >> All right. Uh, I'll start down here. Uh, Donna, >> yes. >> Dave, >> yes. Kathleen, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >> Justine, >> yes. >> And I got to go back. Mr. Cernney, >> yes. >> And I just Where am I here? We will uh we will Where we at here? Um, uh, Mrs. U. Alice Braw is our new president. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, all right. We're moving on to election of officers 6.2. Um, nominations are now
006in order for the office of board vice presidents. Do I hear any nominations? >> Uh, madame president, I would like to nominate Dr. Al Moyer. >> Are there Is there a second for the nomination? >> A second. >> Second. >> Great. Thank you. Are there any other nominations for vice president? If there are no more nominations, a motion to close nominations is now in order. All those in favor of the motion to close nominations for the nominees shall signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed signify by saying no. Oh, >> I read that afterwards. Great. Okay. Uh we will now have a roll call vote for the office of board vice president. Please state yes uh to vote for the candidate or no if you're not in favor of the candidate. Roll
007call vote. Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. Tim, >> yes. >> Justine, >> yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. Um, Dr. Dr. Moyer is declared elected to be for B uh board vice president by majority vote. Congratulations, Dr. Wear. >> Thank you, everyone. >> Okay, moving on to 7.1 newspaper adoption. The board is going to vote and take action on the request to adopt the Gettysburg Times as a newspaper of record for the Gettysburg Area School District. Could I have a motion for that? >> Sorry, I just have one question about this. Sure. >> There's pending legislation. >> Oh, so >> can I ask the mic isn't really working. Could I ask that we have the motion and then the discussion? The
008motions on the table. >> Certainly. >> Thank you. >> We need a second for the motion on the table. >> Second. >> Thank you. All right. Discussion, Mr. K. So, uh, there's legislation pending in Harrisburg for two separate bills that would, um, no longer require districts to have newspapers of record. Um, because of the advertising revenue that districts spend, it it is reported that could be up to 23 million would be saved collectively across the state. If we adopt the Gettysburg Times as our newspaper record and that legislation goes through, is our adoption binding through all of 2026 or could we start posting things online instead? >> Can I see that? Can I see that working mic right there? My advice would be or to pass the motion and what I would believe is that
009if legislation is as you suggest is approved and passed um that I would imagine within the legislation or that there would be some guidance to say the newspaper of record is no longer required um you know as a part because it is it says to adopt the Gettysburg Times as the newspaper of record. If there's legislation that says there's no longer a requirement to do so, we would no longer like the the motion or I should say the action would end at the at the legislation. If that isn't apparent in the legislation, we could always pass a resolution afterwards to say in light of the legislation, we the district and the board is now voting in this manner. >> So this isn't some sort of binding contract. >> It well we have the board has
010to do it. So, it's binding in that way, but to the extent that it's only binding because of the law, and if the law changes, that binding effect would decline. >> Sounds we'll just share. >> Are we still are we still discussing that matter? >> Yep. Go ahead. >> Uh, Lee is if we have a viable alternative to the Gettysburg Times, uh, like the Gettysburg connection and we and Dr. Dr. Matzer, I know we have spoken uh we have discussed this in the past with some of our dissatisfaction with the times. Uh if if we I is Gettysburg Connection considered a viable alternative or is that something that we can at least look into later? Maybe maybe not now. >> I'll pass it over to Belinda because she's done a lot of the work on
011this. I mean that's it's a I don't think that there's a requirement one way or the other. Does it have to be in print? I don't think so. >> We currently Yes. Yeah, I've done research. Thank you. It has to be in print. Getts we do do business with regularly and we do also sponsorship, but the legislation is specific that it must be a print and a publication circulation, not that it's just online only. So, we do both, but we still have to technically approve a newspaper of publication. >> I appreciate that clarification. >> If I might, I don't know if I have to push this every time. Sorry. But um I think that there's a print version. I've seen the print version at the coffee shop for the Gettysburg Connection. So it may not
012um be disqualifying. Uh I don't know though if there's a requirement for it to be a weekly or a monthly and and what their current circulation is. >> It must be of regular publication. And so therefore um I've had this conversation with the Mr. staying from the connections regularly simply because um o of the disclosure of the board previously with the the times. Um so we while we approve the times we also use the connections for many of our postings and publications as as well just to get the information out to the community. Any further questions on 7.1? Okay. Uh, we'll take it to a vote then. Uh, Al, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Justine, >> yes. Dave, >> yes. >> And I vote yes.
013>> Uh, I think you might have missed. >> Oh, Donna, I'm sorry. I have a list and I didn't circle back to the top. Donna, >> I vote yes. Thank you. Best for last. All right. Um, moving on to meeting dates 8.1, monthly meetings approval. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um, being a long list of our meetings and a handful of Tuesdays. >> All right, I'm going to remember to go back to the top of the list this time. >> A vote. Any discussion on the on the dates? >> Just real quickly, Dr. Master, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but these pretty much correlate to what we have done historically. >> They do. Yes. >> Further questions. Thank you. Uh, Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes.
014>> Justine? >> Yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. Al, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. All right. Uh 9.1. The board is taking action on a request to agree to follow the state and federal laws, regulations, and standards, the Gettysburg Area School District contracts, and Gettysburg Area School District policy manual. Can I get a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Great. A vote. Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Justine? >> Yes. >> Dave, >> yes. Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Agenda item 10.1, PSBA legislative selection. We are discussing and taking action on a request to select a PSBA legislative chairperson for the 2026 calendar year. Can I get a nomination for that
015uh role? Can I nominate? Cool. I' I'd like to put a nomination for um Dr. Moyer to be our legislative chairperson. He has served in that role um for a while. >> You're not tired of me railing on cyber charter schools uh >> well well informed and good at providing information in that regard. Um in looking for a second if that is what others would like. Thank you. Any other nominations for that role? Okay, we'll take a vote. Tim, >> yes. >> Justine, >> yes. Dave, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, wait, I already did Tim. Look at that. And I vote yes. >> All right. Um, moving on to 11.1 discussing taking action uh to appoint Belinda M. Wallen as
016the representative and Thomas D. Fornham as alternative representative to the York Adams Tax Bureau for the 2026 calendar year. May I have a motion for that? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion >> and a vote? Justine? >> Yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. I think we're getting getting better at this. All right. And may I have a motion for adjournment for the rigorization meeting. Thank you. Ajourned. >> All right. There you go. Meeting in five minutes. Thank you. Uh, all right. Welcome everybody and many of you who's who've been in the room for already. Welcome back. Um, the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of
017the Gettysburg Area School District. Board of Directors meetings and committee meetings are open to the public, but are not public meetings. All school district residents who wish to make public comment should sign in prior to the start of the meeting and request to speak during citizens participation. School district residents wishing to speak to the board shall do so only during the citizen participation section of the meeting. Public comment is welcome and all issues will be referred to the appropriate board committee or administrator. Comments will be summarized in the official board minutes which will be available by contacting the business office. Please take a moment to silence your cell phones and other electronic devices. All right. And for this evening um all board members are present except for uh Mr. Dickerson who is excused. Uh please
018rise for the pledge of allegiance. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we are starting this evening with notices and communications and it looks like we have a presentation for James Gettis Elementary School. Mr. Wells, welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here tonight and congratulations to all the new board members. Um, previously I've come to this board with different faculty members sometimes with students and we've talked about different things in the past such as our warrior way PBIS. We last time I think we brought some students and Miss Noly and had a little song for you. um talked about the exciting things that were
019going on in the classroom. Mrs. Roy presented talking about all the things exciting things happen that tie-ins with our CKL unit. This time I thought I'd put a spotlight on our engagement efforts because it ties directly into what um our district um and Dr. Matsner and Dr. McFarland charged us with at the beginning of the year with their theme for the district um reigniting engagement and reimagining success. And as we were wrapping up the year, school year at James Getty's and we were talking about um a focus for next year, I was looking at and our team was talking about growth mindset, how we can impact student engagement, how we can grow together, and it kind of just tied in right together. So our theme this year for James Getty's was one school, one team
020growing together and making a world of difference. So tonight I want to f focus that spotlight on those student and staff and family engagement efforts. Um this is just I'll start off by saying I could put it was hard for me to just put a few things down because on any given day in the school if you visit our school at any time you'll notice in the classroom there are um parent volunteers. There were different activities that the teachers have extended lessons and um made it really engaging for students with different tie-ins with community agencies, organizations. So, there's a lot of activity always going on in our school. These are just some that I wanted just to to um touch base on. Like I said, parent volunteers constantly in our building and we welcome that
021and we couldn't do it without those volunteers. community partnerships. They might be in form of um members coming from the um preschools coming to a title one engagement night or for instance we've had tie-ins with ACTI our high school Gettysburg College students have come in and volunteered. some recent examples of tie-ins that just this past week or so before we um the Thanksgiving break, we had our third grade um invited ACT members coming in, students coming in from ACT to come in and work on the third grade body unit. They had the whole um classroom set up like a uh emergency room with different um stations um scrubs on, masks on, and just really different time um engaging activities that really got the kids excited and talking about leading up to it and talking about
022it since they've done that for a few years now. If you get a chance to come out next year when they do that, I encourage you to do that. Dr. McFarland was out and um joined us for that event. So, it was a nice u a nice event there. And right that same day going on, I pulled off the scrubs like a doctor and rush raced down to the cafeteria because in second grade they were working on salt maps. And we had another group of second grade parents engaged in making salt maps with their students. And so our staff really do a really good job, the teachers really good do a good job of whenever they can tying in and bringing in inviting in community members um parents um and just making it a really
023fun engaging um atmosphere for all in our lunchroom. some of the things this this recent in this past year so far this year. Um we've always done parent lunches where parents can come in at any time. Let us know, give us a heads up you're coming in and have lunch with your student. And we welcome and we enjoy seeing that. Um it helps parents see what's going on in the cafeteria, see how lunch is served and um see how we handle things. And it's a good time for them to see that. Um, this past week, right before break, we had the Thanksgiving feast and we had parents come and eat lunch, a Thanksgiving lunch with their students in every grade. Uh, it was organized chaos. It worked really well. I shouldn't even say the word
024chaos because it just seemed to go seamlessly. That's a testament to our food service staff. That's a testament to our teachers and staff who gave up their prep time and worked behind the scenes um either putting meals together or worked the front line um distributing meals. And the kids just glowed when they walked through that line seeing um their teacher, their pair professional um there's one of their staff members in the building serving them um Thanksgiving feast. So, and it was great connection that we had with students as well. So we've done that for several years and another way to connect with the families farm to school initiative thanks to our again our food services. We had a farmer come visit. There was a tasting set station for students where they could try different foods
025that maybe they would not try for mom or dad but when they saw their friends giving it a try and enjoying it they enjoyed some different foods. Um, so, um, that was another unique experience to that we had at James Gettys. Besides the classrooms and the lunchrooms, we've had different events where we've, um, had some tie-ins. I mentioned our Title One family engagement nights. Um, we have one coming up, and I believe we've invited board members, and if I'm not sure if all the new board members got an invitation, I will make sure that you do. We have a a Polar Express night coming up. We'd love to have you come out. That was really a laid-back kind of night. It's a fun night where we have different rooms of different presenters reading Polar Polar
026Express. Families can come enjoy some hot chocolate and I believe cookies. So, it's a great night and something that this the families and the students look forward to every year. But they also do our reading specialists previously did a center-based um activity night for families to come on come in and see what is going on in small group interventions, pull out interventions. They gave tips for parents on things that they could do with their students at home to help their reading um achievement. So, um that was great to see. And whenever we can, we're pulling in community partners as well. So, we had people in the lobby from um EL services. We had our family navigator, I believe, was there. We had um one of the preschools was there as well. So, we had some
027tie-ins there that night as well. Um all I've mentioned before and I presented to the board in the past about our various ways that we um that we engage our students and our families with our positive behavior supports and how we recognize those students and those celebrations that we do. So we are always trying new things. We take what's worked before and then we've got a dedicated staff of teachers that again give up their prep time, come in early, stay late, and they're working on those efforts because they just don't happen in a vacuum. takes everybody and we are looking for ways to always include our families in those. So, I encourage you if your students not recognized for recognition or board members, I encourage you to come out and see those. Um you'll be
028really pleased to see how um how it's working and I think you'll be impressed. Veterans Day and I'll let Mrs. um Daniels, she took the takes the lead on this every year. Um we had some members of the National Guard come out um and they came in the library and Mrs. Daniels worked with the schedule. I'll let her talk about that a little bit, but that was great to see. We always do something different. It was a little bit different than what we did last year, but we it was a great um event this year as well. Our PTO, I put up their Rift Days. That's the most recent thing that they've done, but they're really do a number of events for us um from it's the the Mayfair days, the things in the spring,
029the different events throughout the year. um they really um tie in nicely with and work with our staff and our students and with our classroom teachers supporting us financially, supporting us with manpower when they can. And then I again something I've presented to in the past for new board members. Something to look forward to come March is our March Madness. A lot of excitement built up around that as we build our math skills. Our students will build their math skills and we have a tie-in with the Gettysburg College. We take the whole school over to the Gettysburg College. hopefully if we re reach our read our meet our goal and that's the the desire and the plan and we hope to do that again but it's a fun culminating activity some kids have never seen
030the inside of the college have lived here they're and said I've never never been back on the campus so it's a great tie-in for us and I encourage you to be a part of that if you can and finally two big initiatives this year and what Jen Daniels is taking a lead on this on both of these initiatives so I'm ask her to speak a little bit more in depth than I just touched on those many things that we talk about when we talk about student engagement, but some two of the bigger projects are garden initiative that has started um from where um Beth Page had undertaken that in previous years and I mentioned to the board I think last time I was here that was kind of fallen by the wayside but u Mrs.
031Daniels and uh Mrs. Peterman have are have taken over that initiative this year. So, I wanted to talk about that and our one school, one book where we just met with our staff to hash out details. It's still in the planning phases, but we're excited about those and Mrs. Daniels can speak more about both of those. >> Good evening. Uh, so again, what does engagement look like? Well, when you see a classroom full of kids engaged, you you know what it looks like. It it's it's it's amazing. Um, we did a Veterans Day program where we had two members of the Air National Guard come in and they brought in stuff. They brought in life preservers. They brought in night vision goggles and the kids they hid lights around the room. When the lights were
032on, you couldn't see them and then they turned the lights off and they could use the night vision goggles and the engagement, the oo, the a's, the excitement. It was clearly um a a great day for the kids and they really loved seeing um seeing it and we appreciated the the two members that gave up their time to come in and and teach the kids a little bit about what they do and uh in honor of Veterans Day. So that was really important. Um we do have this uh this garden going on and the garden has been in in place for a while and then it kind of as you know if you don't weed and keep up with things it was a jungle and it actually started with um when you talk about engagement
033in community because I think they go hand in hand started off with a thing at at the college called PACE where members of the community got together and we worked with Gettysburg College and area schools to um it was a environmental literacy um initiative And then it was how can you bring this back into your schools? And so we brought in Ashley Peterman was one that came to the college and and saw what we did, got really excited about it. So we got into the garden and uh she had a grad class and she made a whole program based on the garden. So one thing fed upon another and fed upon another. So in that case you got some teachers who were pretty highly engaged at that point too because it's not just the kids.
034And um she had all of her science classes for an entire week digging in the dirt out there um tearing it up and we had community members donate truckloads of mulch and um the groundskeepers here where they are ripping out bushes and it was an incredible week that has continued. We've planted some things then we can reap the benefits in the spring. Um so we're really excited about the garden as well. And then the last one is the one school, one book. You can tell when teachers are excited or engaged because there was a meeting and it was kind of just, hey, if you're interested and you can give up a morning and who who can give up a morning, you know, let's come talk about this. I think every teacher was there if they
035were in the building. So, it is something that the teachers are really excited about. Each student gets a copy of a book, the same book, and we have scheduled readings and we read it throughout a certain amount of time. And the book we've chosen is called Dog Town by Kate uh Katherine Applegate and it is adorable and it um it'll bring the kids together, the school together. Um, it is a it's about a dog. Um, obviously, uh, it's a it's about a shelter dog, but in this shelter there's regular dogs and then there's robot dogs and and they're not sure that they really like each other and and they find friendship and um find ways that they are very similar as well as difference and they different and they can celebrate both. So, the themes
036are friendship and family, acceptance, courage, perseverance as they try to find their forever home. But the nice thing with reading this, it does bring the whole school together as a community and it also brings in um the community will do a service project with the SPCA and the kids get really excited about it. So those are two of the things that um the engagement is clear, the excitement on their little faces and their um enthusiasm is contagious and it goes from top to bottom and bottom to top. Thank you. So, I just want to end by saying that the like I said at the start, those things mentioned here were just a few. I'm going to quantify it um some figures and present to the board maybe in the spring as far as the number
037of families that we've had in. Um like I said, if I just look at the number of families that came in for the Thanksgiving feast, it was it was a huge turnout. And likewise for some of the other events, but these were just a few of the things that we're doing. Um, some of the other things we've had a recent PD day where we've asked staff to really concentrate and focus and really think about and put down a paper the things that they're doing to increase student engagement in their classrooms. And so we it is something we're all in on this year and will continue to be. So, um, I appreciate the time to be able to put that spotlight on it again because it ties right in with our district um, theme for this
038year as well. Um, finally, thank you for the opportunity to share tonight. You're welcome to come out during any of these events or please stop in. The one good thing if you're over at this building for whatever work that you have to do related to the board, we're right over there. So, you're welcome to come and just drop in. Um we'd love to see you at James Gettys anytime that you have the time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Daniels and Mr. Wells for that presentation. Uh any comments from the board? >> Uh Thank you, Alice. Just a couple. Uh Alice and I had the uh pleasure uh to be a part of the comprehensive planning process that was completed uh I guess that was last year, right? Dr. Matzer and Dr. Matzer led that
039entire process for us. Uh but part of that focus uh was to improve our community engagement and I know Dr. McFarland has uh given us uh updates on how we're progressing in that area. But I would just say J you know James Getty's and and the other schools are doing a really good job of helping us realize uh that improvement and our progress in that area. The title one nights, the literacy nights and all the other things that you mentioned up there I think is going to help us meet those goals of that comprehensive plan. So uh uh congratulations to you all on that. Jen Daniels and the rest of the team there and uh it's such a welcoming environment at James Gettys. I was there on Thanksgiving uh for the the feast and so
040on. No surprise, but uh just a wonderful welcoming environment. And I just want to say on a personal note uh my grandkids that attend James Gettys are just having a a wonderful experience. The only chaotics that I I remember happening was on Thanksgiving feast. two uh two servers were just a little shaky I thought behind there. Uh uh Dr. McFarland and Dr. Madzer uh appreciate uh appreciate your visibility throughout the district and something I think that's something we we've been missing for a while and your presence in the in the buildings is greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. Um and and every time I hear teachers or administrators talk about hands-on engagement, I get really excited, too. So, I'm glad to hear the rest of the teachers and staff there are looking forward to
041all those things. Lots of good like uh real real world connections for the kids. So, thank you for your work with that. All right. Um moving on to citizens participation, Dr. Moyer. >> Thank you, Alice. We have uh two groups. Uh first of all, uh the education foundation uh president, Mr. Todd Warner. >> Thank you, Al. And uh and all. Um I'm Todd Warner, 13 Pintail Court, Cumberland Township, current president of the Gettysburg Area Education Foundation or GAF. Um uh but as a recovering 12-year member of this board, um I'd like to thank those that have served and moved on. For those of you that are sticking around, thank you. And uh to uh say congratulations to the five new members, um you um I know many of you and I think you're wonderful addition
042to the board and um have fun because it's a lot of work. Uh but uh it can be a lot of fun and very satisfying as well. Um, I just want to also let you know as president of the foundation that I look forward to sharing from time to time with you uh what's going on uh with GAF and working with you individually and together uh to enrich the students, families, and classrooms of the district. And I want to uh keeping that hat on, thank Dr. Matsner for continuing GEF's access to the administration building and the technology resources. We appreciate that. and also to let you and the community know uh that of course the uh high school holiday market's coming up on the 13th, not this Saturday, but next Saturday. Uh GAF participates uh
043in that and we'll also uh along with that we'll be holding a clothing drive right at the entrance um uh for um community aid. So, uh, if you and those in the community, uh, have, uh, uh, some clothes you don't want, toss them in a, uh, garbage bag and we'll be there to, uh, take them in and get them off to community aid. So, again, congratulations to everyone, all nine of you and number 10, uh, for um, uh, for serving the district. Thank you. >> And, Mr. Warner, on behalf of the board and administration, we thank you for your efforts and everything that your team does with the foundation. Thank you. >> And now we're getting double teamed, I believe. Uh, Axa Jones and Karen Roer. to introduce. Okay. So, uh, good evening. So, I'm
044Axa Jones. I'm at James Getty's Elementary and proud of all the things we're doing there and also one of the co-presidents of our Gettysburg Area Education Association. And my >> Yeah. And I'm Karen Roer and I am at the high school. I teach English and um amison for dollars for scholars there too. >> So, um, we just wanted to to come on behalf of our members to congratulate and welcome all the new and returning board members. We look forward to continuing and developing a positive, strong working relationship as we navigate the challenges and rewards of public education. >> Yeah. And we believe our community benefits from a strong educational system that integrates the expertise of you all, of our administration, and the teachers. Um, and so thank you for volunteering your time and your energy
045so that our community can continue to learn and to grow. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Axa and Karen. And just uh just a quick note, especially for our new board members that you may or may not be aware generally during uh public comment and we really welcome public comment. Uh that is not a time for us to debate with the community, but we certainly love hearing from the community. And something that I think we're going to try I need to talk to Alice a little bit more about this, but uh something that we're going to try to do is that if uh if there are certain questions that are pretty easy to answer, if we have a member of the board or member of the team here that can answer that quickly, we're we're going
046to try to respond rather than having uh the awkward silence that sometimes we've had in the past. uh and uh if we can't answer it that night, we will uh find the answer for you by turning it over to the person in the district that's best able to give you a good response and follow up with you hopefully within 24 to 48 hours. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. And thank you both for coming in on behalf of the education association and teachers. Um and good luck in the next couple weeks leading up to another break here. Things are getting getting a little bit uh busier. December is not an easy month. So, thanks for your work. Um, okay. Moving on to routine approvals. Um, I think I can take these as a as a
047clump. Uh, unless anyone has objections to that. So, uh, looking at taking 5.1 the agenda, 5.2 the minutes for the November 3rd meeting, 5.3 minutes for the November 17th meeting, 5.4 4, approval of the Jacobe transportation drivers. 5.5, approval of the overseas trip to Spain. Looks awesome. I would love to go. Um, and 5.6, the human resources recommendations. Can I get a motion for 5.1 to 5.6? >> So move. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on those items? Great. Taking a vote then. Dave, >> yes. >> Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. Kathleen, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Justine, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Moving on to 6.1, the act one resolution where we are uh voting taking action to adopt the 2627 budget
048resolution. The number um is not to exceed 4.2. Can I get a motion for 6.1? >> So moved >> and a second. >> Second. Thank you. Um, yes, I was going to open it to discussion and I wonder if perhaps we could start with I know there's a document there, but I remember when I first joined the board, this is one of the more confusing items. So, if um Belinda would wouldn't mind giving a little overview of it, I think that would be helpful. >> Sure. underneath act one legislation um there's a requirement to either adopt a resolution not to exceed the index or to adopt a preliminary budget and have it on file uh for a long period of time. Um historically our board has done the adoption not to exceed the index. That
049way it would allow administrators to help prepare their budgets and our office to gather the appropriate documentation to review and to present to the board later in uh typically February March time frame. Um when we know the governor issues his first budget, we like to be in front of the board to talk about our budget um as how it's shaping up and how it's moving forward. continual updates will occur uh but the uh mandatory time period for um on display of the budget will not occur until early spring. So this resolution all this does is it's not says you're not committing to a tax increase of 4.2%. It's basically saying that the board feels as if they can pass a budget that will not exceed the 4.2% during its planning phases. Is that helpful? >>
050Question. >> That is helpful. Yes, Dave. >> Oh, I'm totally confused on item 7B, >> the 10 days requirement. You're exempt because of A and C. >> But how does B come into play? >> Uh it's a time table for a time frame once it's developed by the legislators. So because elections year have a certain time frame surrounding that. >> Yeah. It's 90 days before the next election. Correct. >> Okay. Plus another 20. >> Yes. It's a standard resolution that's provided to us and then we just adopt it. I mean as you see it's been since 2020 2006. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. So >> when the act came into play. >> Yeah. The qu the question I have is how do we the proposed tax rate increase is less than the index. Do we know
051that for a fact right now? We do not. >> Okay. >> We historically have never gone over the index to begin with. >> Okay. Just asking the question. >> Yeah. Um, historically, it's been anywhere from zero to 1%. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Very good. >> And and you're confident this year, Belinda, we'll be able to do that again, right? >> I'm not saying or committing zero to 1% this early in the game. I will say that the resolution will not exceed the 4.2%. Gotcha. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Well, now that we have a state budget and we've got all those monies flowing our way, it's like spoken like a true business manager. >> Any additional questions on uh 7 or sorry, 6.1? Okay, we will vote. Donna, >> yes. >> Al, >>
052yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, yes. Tim, >> yep. Justine, >> yes. Dave, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. >> Board committee reports perhaps the the dates of the Oh, well, yeah. So, we um we will spend some time giving more information to the new board members about this. But, um as it stands right now, the board committees that we have are the finance and facilities committee and the policy committee. Um and it is encouraged for board members to join a committee and um kind of serve in that regard um once once a month um to to get more information in either of those areas. Um we will be looking at the structure of those boards and the meeting times of those boards. Um, but since that is something that currently exists, um,
053do we need to do we need to vote on like new new board people for that or can we say like the dates from the people that have been doing that? I don't know how that works. >> I I may make a recommendation and that uh Allison and Jeff uh historically I'll just say we we could do a better job uh with our committee. So I'll just leave it at that. uh whoever is going to be the chair uh for those committees, we expect to work with a member of the administrative team to help collaborate on that agenda and that the members of the committee if uh you know if you're not available to meet during the designated times and I I know uh Jeff might be talking to us a little bit more about
054that, but I I think I speak for Alice when I say we'd like to have your your input on your interest whether you'd like to serve on policy or finance and facilities. uh that that would be good for us to know. And then I think over the you know over this next few weeks, the next time that we meet, we can uh form those uh uh designate committee chairs and members of the committee and establish uh dates and times uh that are most convenient for everybody to meet that especially that will allow more board engagement and participation. I I didn't want to misspe. >> Actually, we will we do have that scheduled for uh something to talk about on our next agenda uh to look at putting a chairperson for each of those committees. We
055also have to look at um having a representative for our board on the JOC for Adams County Technical Institute as well. So, that'll come up at our next meeting. >> Great. So, more information to come on board committees program reports. Dr. Masser, >> I guess that's me again. Um I I really don't have anything at the moment. Um, I hope everybody had a wonderful uh restful Thanksgiving uh break this past weekend. I would like to also extend my congratulations to uh the new new board members. I'm looking forward to working with all of you. Um, and as Alice mentioned earlier, we're kind of gearing up for the next few weeks until we're on break again and it'll be a it'll be a busy few weeks. Um, we do have our end of the semester coming
056up in January, so we'll we'll be having some uh changeovers happening there. Um, and for the new board members, um, again, uh, Mr. Wells and Jen Daniels, I think she left, um, I know they did a great presentation today, but for the new new board members just where, um, we do have a schedule. We try to have our building, uh, admin teams come in to at least one board meeting per month just to give you guys all an update on what's happening in the schools, and we'll continue to do that throughout the year. >> Uh, Mr. Master, um, I I saw it somewhere. I don't get on Facebook much and I thought I saw it on there, but uh I think it was the middle school that just got ranked pretty good in the state.
057>> Yes, the middle school was Yes. was ranked uh 74th in the state. Um they did a great job. We actually had two other of our buildings that were um on the list. I know that the middle school is recognized being in the top 100. Vanessa, what what do you recall what the other two buildings which ones they were? Yeah. >> Um, high school was I believe 149th and then um James Getty's was it was national um they were in the 600s. >> These are state assessments keystones and PSSAs or >> this is with US News and World Report rankings but it is based on those yes multiple years of those assessments. >> Thank you. read what we wrote. All right. Uh without So that brings us to our calendar of board events and our
058listed dates there. Um our next meeting will be held on Monday, December 15th at 7 p.m. in this boardroom. And following our meeting tonight, um the board will have a brief executive session for um distributing some materials that talk about the role of the board. So there you go on onboarding materials. Uh can I get a motion to adjurnn please? >> So moved. >> Thank you.