001Good evening and welcome back. It's been what, six weeks? >> So, the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg Area School District. Board of director 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. 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 made available by contacting the business office. Please take a moment and silence any electronic devices. We are missing Michelle. She is excused. We're missing Mike Dickerson. He is excused. And we're missing Jeremy Davis. He's excused. Please stand
002for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge 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. Belinda, under notices and communications, I'm going to go just not out of order, but was my understanding you had an update related to the Lincoln project or what >> would you like to do that first? So um to provide you the board this evening an update to our facility projects in in general. So Lincoln Elementary um the equipment and the systems start up and testing the week of 84 through 811. The building is 50% cleaned. Furniture movein is scheduled 87 and 88. Testing and inspection by the bureau and the certificate of occupancy is scheduled for 8:13 and staff
003occupancy for 8:14. So, we are kind of right on target. Franklin window replacement, um 95% of the windows are installed. Cocking and painting is ongoing and should be substantially complete by 8:4. The high school greenhouse that was in effect, um physical work is substantially completed. Irrigation and ventilation controls to be programmed between 8:14 and 8:19. Update for the Warrior Stadium scoreboard. First, I'd like to say a shout out obviously to Vanessa for all the hard work she has done working and getting many of our anchors and our sponsorships, but the work is physically complete. The startup testing and training is completed by 8:15. Um, and uh we have all anchor spots taken and we are working on other uh sponsorships. So, uh, we are well on our way of recuperating our investment on the Warrior
004Stadium and, uh, if you haven't been out yet, it is up there. You know, obviously we're addressing some of the things that we've seen with the process of being up, but we are headed towards having that operational by uh, one of the first games. And then lastly, the Warrior Stadium team room update. We're having our pre-bid meeting on 8:5 and the bids are due 8:26. So, we'll provide more updates to the board as those bids come in. >> Thank you, Belinda. >> You're welcome. >> That'll bring us to uh citizens participation. Al, please. >> Thank you, President Hassinger. Uh we have two people that have asked to address the board this evening. Uh first, we'll go with Tammy Piper. Good evening. >> Press the button. There we go. Thank you. All right. Good evening. Um
005so, um as he mentioned, my name is Tammy Piper and I'm here to discuss um morning child care. So, Franklin Township Elementary School is in need of before school child care. And here's why. Currently, children may only be inside the school from 8:20 a.m. until 3:20 p.m. And this does not align with the schedules of parents who work full-time. Our bus in particular picks up at 8:08 a.m. Again, this does not align with the schedules of parents who work full-time. The Gettysburg YMCA buses kids to the other elementary schools in our school district in the mornings but not to Franklin Township. Other neighboring schools have before school care and we do not. Chambersburg provides school child care onsite at their elementary schools. I feel compelled to emphasize that this is not a want. This is
006a need. I actually lost my job last year because I arrived late to work every morning due to inadequate child care in the morning. My current sitter, a neighbor doing a temporary favor, will probably be unable to put my kids on the bus in the mornings after this year. This leaves an immense amount of uncertainty as to how much longer I'll be able to keep my current job. I have asked all trusted neighbors, my church congregation, and even posted an ad at the local post office seeking morning child care. These efforts were all unsuccessful. I called a few inhome care facilities, but spots are limited and it's tough to place multiple kids. We are in an unfortunate position where relatives have either retired and moved away or have substantial health problems that restrict them from
007being able to help us out. We are alone in this challenge. But we shouldn't have to be alone. More importantly, how many Franklin Township parents are also alone in this challenge right now? I have shared this concern multiple times over the last couple of years with Dr. Lappy, Dr. Matsner, and other school officials, and nothing to my knowledge has been pursued. I am requesting before school child care for Franklin Township children. And not only am I making a request this evening, but if I am able to attain any needed approvals, I am also willing to help you develop a program to address this critical need, which by the way does not necessarily need to be free of charge for parents. There are parents who are willing and able to pay for this, including myself. So,
008um, I I close with, is this school board willing to support their Franklin Township community by working on establishing morning child care? And I'll also add that I do recognize the afterchool program and we do utilize the afterchool program. However, my husband leaves the house at 5:00 a.m. and I leave the house about 6:30 a.m. and we don't get home until way after your doors close at 3:20 p.m. at Franklin Township like most working families. So, um that's what I'll close with. Thank you for your time and consideration. Appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Tammy. Next, and finally, we have Mr. Todd Orner. Uh, thank you so much, Todd Orner. Um, president of the Gettysburg Area Education Foundation. Just want to give you a couple of quick updates. Shouldn't
009take more than two minutes. Clock me. Um, want to remind everybody that our fundraiser at the totem pole is coming up on the 20th. I know it's the first day of school and uh, we apologize for that, but the 13th wouldn't have been any better. Uh, but we encourage you if you can uh, tell your friends, tell your neighbors, come on up. I'll leave these on the table back with Dave. Um, we would love to have you. We have a uh, uh, the show starts at 7:30. We have a pre-show reception that starts at 6 o'clock and it's sponsored by Members First, uh, Federal Credit Union, uh, who've been a great partner for us. So, if you can make it, awesome. Uh, another thing to highlight is our partnership, our nonprofit partnership with Community Aid,
010um, to where you can donate clothing. This is what they especially need. Uh, you can, uh, make arrangements with me and I can pick up and take down or hand over any one of their locations. uh we get a f monetary uh donation from me uh from community aid. In fact, the check for the last three months came in today and it's $1216. That's $100 more than we've ever received and it's because of folks in the community taking items for us. Item last, I want to thank Dr. Matsner and Dr. McFarland uh for allowing uh GAF to for the third year in a row participate in the all staff opening day activities on the 14th. Uh we're looking forward to ringing in the new school year with all of you. And like other years, we'll
011have some fun gift cards for the free drawing. So, thank you for your time. Thank you for your service. Todd, uh real quickly, you said uh the totem pole uh program was uh August 20th, first day of school. There was something preliminary before that. Uh which I didn't catch that. >> Oh, we have um uh I think that was all I had mentioned with the totem pole. Uh but we have a pre-show reception that starts at 6:00. >> Okay. >> Um we have adult beverages, uh non- adult beverages, some snacks, uh and a couple of drawings we're going to do there as well. Um again, no ch everyone everyone who comes that's 21 or over gets a ticket for that drawing as well. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you, Todd. That brings us
012to routine approvals. Uh you'll see that it's 51 through 513. I am going to separate out 513, which is the HR report. I'm not doing that for any other reason than I have to abstain from that particular vote. So 5.1, I'm going to go down them real quick and then I will ask for a motion. 5.1 is the agenda. 5.2 is a regular board minutes from June 2nd. 5.3 the regular minutes from June 16th. 54 is the elementary school student handbook. 55 is the approval of the middle school stu student handbook. 56 is the high school student handbook. 57 is the athletics handbook. 58 is the athletic admission prices. 59 is the approval of meal prices. 510 is a family navigator independent contract agreements. 511 is the approval of title one's uh schoolwide plans for
013elementary schools. And lastly on the first motion 512 is the approval authorization to execute documents related to the sale of Franklin Township elementary sewage uh treatment plant that we have spoken about um not only publicly but in in executive session. So may I have a motion for 5.1 through 5.12 please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Question on the motion on the floor. Mr. President, I don't have a question, but can I make a statement? >> Yes. >> So, regarding 5.11 the title one reports, I just Oh, >> there you go. >> Hello. Thank you. Now I'm on. All right. So, uh 5.11 title one. I just want to say that I appreciate the level of detail that's been given with the demographic data because it really paints a clear picture of who our students
014are and how they're doing related to the title one benchmarks. And what seems true for all three schools is that our students who live in families that have been identified as economically disadvantaged may be struggling academically. So, as we look to the future, we don't have a crystal ball, but as we look to 2026, 2027, and the probability that we may lose our our Title One funding, I'm deeply concerned for these students, and I am most grateful to our fantastic teachers and building administrators who are keeping an eye out for these students and creating opportunities for them to learn. So, I want to say thank you to our building teachers and administrators. >> Thank you, Kathleen. Any additional questions on the motion? Hearing none, roll call. Ryan, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Al,
015>> yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That brings us to 513. Um, and everybody's had an opportunity to look at the HR report or I'm sorry, the HR recommendations. Again, I need to abstain when it gets my time just because I have a family member that's listed in there. It would be improper for me to cast a vote. Although, uh, we're we're as a part of this, we have a new elementary school principal that unfortunately my vote would be yes. However, I cannot vote this evening. >> So, may I have a motion for 513, please? 5.13. So, >> move second. That was aim. We never have HR. We never have an HR vote like that. >> Mr. President, time quick comment. Yes, not a question, but a
016comment. >> Uh, Dr. Kathy Schiffer, Gettysburg grad, 21 years as an outstanding elementary teacher, earned doctorate at a very young age. I I personally think uh she's going to do an amazing job uh having been part uh and invited to be part of that hiring process for Lincoln Elementary Principal, which I have several uh grandkids that uh go there. I think uh Kathy has a tough act to follow and Dr. McFarland uh but I I think she'll live up to the expectations. I just want to say a big congratulations, Kathy, and what a pleasure it is to promote someone who's so deserving. Uh I wish you the very best. Thank you. Any additional questions or comments related to the motion on the floor hearing? None. Roll call. Kathleen, >> yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >>
017Al, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> And I abstain. The motion carries. Congratulations. >> Uh yes, I would like to take a minute, although Al did steal my thunder to uh That's all right. Welcome, Dr. Sheer to our staff. Uh we're very excited to have you taking over Lincoln Elementary School. We know you're going to do a great job. So, welcome. Items for board action. We only have one this evening. 6.1. It's policy 620, the capitalization of assets for Gettys area school board statement uh 34. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Oh second. All right. I didn't hear it. >> So I have a motion. May I have a second, please? >> Second. Wow. Several people at once. Question on the motion on the floor hearing.
018None. Roll call. Al, >> yes. >> Alice, >> yes. >> Tim, >> yes. >> Ryan, >> yes. >> Kathleen, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. That brings us to ourformational item, and there's only one this evening. It's the food services high school uh cooler and freezer maintenance. Um, it's pretty self-explanatory, but in a nutshell, um, it's replacing a very aging piece of equipment, um, that the recommendation is is desperately needed. Is there anything, Jeremy, and I know I can't see who's behind. >> Nick, I I saw you earlier, but I wasn't sure where you went. You were blocked out. Is there anything that you want to add before uh to to this particularformational item? >> Um, no. I I don't think so. I think it's it is pretty standard. It was routine uh to
019look at it from a uh perspective of how old the the units were. Uh we started with the freezer and um established that the refrigeration uh was next. Um so uh these type of pieces of equipment uh have a pretty long shelf life, but uh 25 years plus is usually uh you know where we stand with things like this. So >> thank you Nick. Is there any questions on theformational item this evening? Okay. Board committee reports. >> Mr. President, as our legislative liaison, I do have just a couple quick remarks regarding the pause in the federal funding uh for title programs. As a former assistant superintendent who dealt with title funds directly, I do believe that there are a number of people at the federal level in the federal department of education, at least they
020were there, uh that did a lot of work to justify their existence. I I don't necessarily believe the f the pause in federal funding to evaluate how that money is being spent and being spent efficiently and and purposefully in the right way is a negative thing. I think it's a temporary delay and my hope is eventually with a lot of those high salaried positions out of the way that the money will be funneled directly to the state department of educations so that we may get more funding in the end for our economically disadvantaged our ESL kids our literacy uh acquisition kids and so on. So, I can't say that or promise that tonight, but I'm cautiously optimistic. That is the plan and that's a little bit of what I'm hearing and reading and I hope
021that's the case. Thank you. >> Any additional board committee reports? >> Hearing none. Program reports, Jeeoff. >> Uh yeah, just a few uh important upcoming dates as we get ready to start the 2526 school year. Today actually kicked off our new teacher induction week. Uh we had 11 or 12 new teachers here uh this afternoon, this morning. Um they got their computers. They were with Dr. McFarland for a while. So they'll be in training all week. Uh opening day for our entire staff is August 14th and opening day for our students obviously is August 20th. Uh just going to put in a personal plug on the evening of August 13th from 6:30 to 8:00. If anybody's in the mood for some ice cream during that time, Dr. McFarland and myself um are going to be
022celebrity scoopers and Mr. G's. So come on out and say hi. Thanks. >> I don't know that you can rise to Dancing with the Stars. >> Hi Jeremy. >> No, absolutely not. >> I'm not sure that's even something we're trying to do. We're going to start with Mr. G's as celebrity scoopers and then go from there. I I could not resist. Okay, next is a counter events. Um, our next meeting will be August 18th here in the administration building. Um, does anybody have anything further before I ask for a motion to adjurnn? I'm sorry. I >> Sounds like >> Nope. I just wrote it down and I didn't even I looked at it and I didn't say it. Just as a as a note, the board held executive session this evening before our meeting. It
023related to a legal matter and a personnel matter. Personnel matter wasn't anything bad. It was a meet and greet with the new high school or I'm sorry, elementary school principal. Legal matter obviously was executive session. So, may I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> We stand adjourned. Thank you.