GASD School Board Meeting - 3.18.25

001e e e the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg Area School District Board of Directors meetings and Community meetings are open to the public but not public meetings all School District residents that 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 citizens participation section of the meeting the board will not tolerate public outbursts or disruptions nor will it tolerate com comments made outside of citizens participation portion of the meeting all public comment is welcome and issues will be referred to the appropriate board committee or administrator comments will also be summarized in the official board minutes which will be made available by contacting

002the business office if everyone please take a moment to silence your cell phones and electronic devices um Miss secretary everyone is present with the exception of Mr hassinger um Cindy and Jeremy Davis who are all excused if everyone would please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance all right um this evening under notices and Communications um it looks like we have uh James Getty's Elementary School update so we're looking forward to that thank you okay there we go good evening members of the board thank you for the opportunity to come share some highlights from our school Community this month I'm excited to be here with you to share some very wonderful events that have going on at James Gettys um when giving reports to this board in the past um I've talked to you about one

003time I was here I talked about the PBIS initiative and how we're doing the warrior way at the elementary level and how that was going last fall I brought a number of kids and uh a couple staff members who talk to you about how the implementation of our new reading series is is going in the classroom and really sharing with you different activities at different grade levels um for tonight I wanted to share with you the initiatives that we're trying to initiate and things that are going on this particular month of March to help build the more involved um School community so I'm going to highlight a few of those events and then I have some very special guests that youve probably seen over to my left here um who are going to um I

004think it be a very special treat for the board tonight first um this month we're in the middle of math Madness now everyone in the communities are in the middle of March Madness we're in math Madness where um at this time of the year it's our biggest fundraiser for our PTO um to help support our school and our students um we have it as a two-way um program that's going on one is the fundraiser that the PTO puts on and help supports their efforts in supporting our school while at the same time the teachers in their classroom are building up um math fluency fact fluency doing games and activities that really get the kids excited for um increasing their math scores and their math proficiency at the same time we have a funly friendly competition

005where we're collecting donations for each grade and we have a sort of bracket similar to the NCAA bracket where the classrooms are competing against one another when one class gets knocked out the others can still continue and share with the other buckets and the other classrooms it's been a really fun event they're really excited for it um the building really buzzes with excitement this time of year it's our second year doing it and they partly for the friendly competition but they also know what they as part of the reward that we want to give them at the end for meeting goals and they've met a lot of goals so far we're still collecting but they've met a lot of goals um is we're going to take a short trip over to the Gettysburg College we'll

006have a chance to meet with the Gettysburg um um basketball teams male and female they'll talk to our students about what good sportsmanship is like what got them to that level of Collegiate Athletics and what they need to do to stay on track if that's something that they're interested in so um they help our Positive Behavior Support initiative the same time the kids they really get um to interact with the students and staff and the kids and the kids really have a blast doing it um some of them their eyes are just wide open first time seeing a facility like that um so it's a really great experience for them um at that event we'll announce the the winners of the March or the math madet currently we're down to our finals we just announced

007those today and it's Mrs Grover's class and Mrs focus's class the final tally will be announced that um that afternoon and we'll announce the winner and then we'll also um have a chance at that to to recognize the class that's most improved in their math proficiency so we give out a little trophy they have a little fun we get back and we um there's a number of Staff Miss Noy may be one I'm not sure but she wants to be we have a number staff that also at different levels of achievement um some staff have graciously um said they want to volunteer to get a pie in the face so that's something that the kids really look forward to as well I don't know why Miss ni is looking forward to it but she is

008so that's a little fun activity but like I said it really build builds a positive School Community really school is really buzzing with that talk about that this month um also this Thursday um an upcoming event that we'd um like all of our families to participate in is our family engagement night that our reading Specialists and classroom teachers are putting together this is a night for families to come out and work with some really fun reading challenge um type activities and they can do them together as a family every student that comes is going to it's self-paced you just go from room to room we have staff members with different activities in each room um they will have a chance to have a photo session at the end and every student will leave with a

009book um for that night so it's a really fun activity and kudos to our reading staff for organizing that but really all the other staff that participates in that volunteers their time um it's a really looking forward to a really great event finally um our school just recently had our Fine Arts event where we have um well I'm gonna let Miss Niti talk about that in a little bit but um she'll give you more details about that it was I just want to say from uh president principal's perspective and really looking out into that a that cafet or excuse me that gymnasium and seeing two packed houses both nights standing room only um I don't know how we would do an all School event for all grade levels just a couple grade levels but it

010was the support that we get from our families is just wonderful and the kids are really excited to show off their artwork we had the book fair going on that night it was just a really fun event and I think you're going to be pleased with the group that we brought to here Mrs going to do the introductions but we wanted to since that event's passed we wanted just to share a taste of it for for those who weren't able to attend I know some of you were in attendance those nights so miss noly at this time I'm G to let you do your introductions hi everyone I'm Crystal Noti the general music and choir teacher at James Getty's Elementary School March is music in our schools month and the Fine Arts nights at James

011Gettys were the first of many performances happening throughout the month districtwide in our building specifically Fine Arts nights connects art library music and physical education and an immersive experience for kindergarten through third grade students and their families our theme this year was based off of a popular children's book titled The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew daywalt the basic premise of the book focuses on a boy named Duncan who opens his crayon box talks one day to find out that all of his crayons have quit and as each of the crayons are airing out their grievances based off their colors Duncan ultimately decides to solve his problem by coloring a big picture and creating a Rainbow Bright and colorful artwork created by kindergarten through fifth grade students in art class with our teacher Mrs Savannah

012manetta filled the lobbies and hallways and it's still hanging up to this day if you ever want to swing by and check it out our librarian Miss is Jen Daniels led a successful book fair throughout the week where families and students could interact and purchase books on their way out of the event additionally she worked with our student speakers who retold the story for audiences each night Mrs Pelle picus our physical education teacher and I worked together to assign each class of color and then we brought their colors to life with a variety of songs and motions students were encouraged to wear their class's color which then created a gigantic rainbow when all six classes were combined together for a finale song we thank you all for your continued support of the Arts here in

013the Gettysburg area school district and my friends and I hope that you enjoy our rendition of the Rainbow Connection representing kindergarten we have Ari serer can you wave your hand beautiful representing first grade we have Jaylen West Nolan Gaston and Quinn Gaston representing second grade we have Elizabeth Hiller and representing third grade we have Kaden Gaston and Roman serer and [Music] many vision [Music] conne the dreamers and all of us [Music] call [Music] the connection [Music] [Applause] nice job everybody thank you so that just shows the talent that we have in the in the district but also James Gettys they do a wonderful job our teachers and staff and and specifically for this music tonight under the direction of Miss Niti what a wonderful job um she has these kids well prepared and excited for

014music and all the special teachers excited for the Arts I want to thank this board for your support over over the year and encourage you to come out to the buildings and I know some of you have been out to our performances like Miss Niti said if you want to see a little bit more of the Fine Arts night the artwork is still going on or still over there displayed um we had that reading night coming up on Thursday and there's other events um throughout this spring so just encourage you to come out thank you nope thank you very much it looks like the kids already left we were going to excuse them from the the tax presentations but I think they I think they didn't want to hear about the budget so be sure

015to tell them that we enjoyed it and thank you very much V VP Mike would be okay to make a quick remark uh principal Wells Miss Niti again a big thank you for everything that you do I've participated in many of these events literacy nights Fine Arts amazing Warrior programs and much more uh the staff uh at James Gettys uh I think does a fantastic job and uh that doesn't happen by accident uh it takes leadership so so principal Wells I really uh uh thank you and so on and I have two grandkids that are attending over there and uh I do a a little high low at the end of each day when I talk with them and they rarely ever have a low it's all about High stuff and it's they're having a

016great experience and I I and and I think that's indicative of about everybody there thank you thank you all right um looks like we'll move on to Belinda looks like she has a budget presentation for us good evening so for this evening we have a first uh look at our 2526 budget um and our process so when we begin our budget I just wanted to provide a board update because I don't know that we've ever really covered this uh in the past just a you have an idea of the length and the the timelines that we begin so technically we'll begin November 1st we issue our budget prep memo out to our prospective building departments and our principals and the budget's head secretaries um we ask that that come back um December 13th and then

017of course over the holidays we work on that regularly we give guiding principles we tell them basically um it's the actual cost or the prior budget whichever is lower um and um all the misss need justifications if there are as well as um we uh we review those at our meetings so come January we review the period it's a complete review period with our departments and January is our timeline to for the board to adopt the resolution not to exceed the index now what does that mean of course if you adopt the resolution not to exceed it means you can take additional time with the budget otherwise we would have had to have an approval um in December if we did not do the resolution to exceed all that really says is the board will

018stay below the index that is developed by the state come February we Governor's budget is developed and presented um we wait for those numbers to hopefully capture any additions to our budget as well as H the County assessment report uh is first issued uh based upon the December 31st changes and assessment that we evaluate during the budget time frame come march here we R our audit was issued and it was presented in a summary fashion by our Auditors I will say um as of today we received it and it is posted to our website so anyone can go out there and view the uh um the final audit ended June 2 of 24 and and also as well as we begin the review of the budget in March before we move along or just quickly

019the budget process when we we begin to develop the budget process we use uh multiple factors as which we you know used the timeline before but we also take a look at um you know the board budget resolution that we adopted um it's a management resolution with a five-year goal and that goal basically says that we are intent to balance the budget without Reliance on fund balance by the year 2627 so we were hoping and go goal is to have a revenue expenditure balanced budget um and this continue is challenging um like every other District in the county in the state um but we you know we try to build the budget in regards to using that as well as making sure we're presenting a budget and maintaining fund balance according to our fund balance

020policies our Revenant consar comparison overall from current year to next year on a pi level shape it doesn't look like it changed very much we are still so locally dependent upon local sources of revenue 68% current year as well as what's projected next year State funding is 31% at one point in time it was 40 42% but overall um the changes with special education funding it is is remain consistent for us that we are locally funded more so than we are state funded here's a look at our preliminary Revenue there we go thank you was there's one more there we go thank you I appreciate it um so this side and while the numbers are difficult the presentation also will be available tomorrow on the website um you could see uh we like to present

021what our actual costs were for 2324 and we present what our 2425 current budget situation is as well as our projected 2526 budget we are at this particular stage in time we are presenting you a budget with a 0% tax increase of course we can only go up at this particular point this is the first View and snapshot of the district's budget so of course as we move forward you will see we do have a deficit that we need to um address um in order to have a balanced budget by the timeline that is takes to adopt it some of the things I i' like to point out here our actual numbers of course to the audit total revenues were 77 million and while our 25 26 revenues are 75 million the largest contributing difference

022is we were still in Esser in 24 23 24 so you can see a large number of federal Source funds of $5.5 million whereas for the next B next excuse me next budget cycle we are down to 92 8,000 and that is mostly covering title one two three and four so esm funds have gone away and so that is why the difference you'll see more actual Revenue received in 23 24 versus 25 26 um likewise you can see that the state sources have remained consistent over over the actual to budget to budget um and uh in in essence then really with the numbers that are presented here we have a to revenues of $ 75.5 million along with um planned committed use of Pacers funds that we have P's money set aside that we look

023to um provide additional resource income towards the budget so overall our total revenues are million 75.9 million which in the s in the end it's a 2.7% increase in total revenues Belinda is there a way I could ask a question now so I don't forget my question is that okay um so looking at The Source Federal sources so all of those sources listed um in terms of the time frame for the budget I'm thinking particularly Federal sources is that a number obviously it's different without Sr but is that a number for this year that we can count on does that change at a certain point it does very good question okay so for example for the 2425 school year that number that's presented was based upon the anticipated revenues expected for title one two 3

024and four for the 2324 school year come February March time frame the um State comes out with revised Federal numbers um and typically they come in lower so you can see that the budget is slightly lower presented for the 2526 simply because the numbers have dropped and again they will likely um probably change before we come to a finalization again um but we anticip we try to do the federal revenues as what we received the year before simply because the total allocations are never completely known until mid to late budget cycle thank great question moving along so um our preliminary expense we have um just is a quick review here obviously we can see the actual numbers again in the column of 23 24 our current budget of 2425 which in fact included a 1%

025tax increase on our Revenue side um it will not affect expenditures but uh for the 25 26 we'll see our expenditures listed just a quick rundown our expenditures for salary wages are 27.3 million employee benefits 20 million for a total of salary and benefits of 47.5 million which is overall a 3.8% increase over budget uh the salary wages are largely the increase of the $1 million largely is attributed to um settled contracts so and moving along forward our 300 purchase of Property Services this mostly is other Professional Services as well as Liu services for special education the Liu special education is a large contributor here and you can see that we're $6 million with a 10.2% increase over current Year's budget for additional levels of services and needs that were added to the budget 400

026of purchase Property Services is pretty much M&R and um that's a 17.7% increase um going from 751 312 to 884 480 500 other purchase services and this is a very fairly fairly large number and typically in the 500 category the two largest drivers in the 500 category are Charter Schools tuition as well as uh Transportation cost and so we are budgeting $1.9 million of $589,000 increase 5.2% our supplies uh supplies range from typical building level supplies as well as technology and uh software supplies uh our budget for the 25 26 is 3.9 million a 17.1% increase we have property and Equipment listed there of course um it actually has gone down slightly other objects the 800 3.3 million doll G up 17.1% increase this is the account that additionally uh attributes to uh another level

027of funding for the acti bound funding and then 900 again is our um Bond payments um that we have presently in place that is slightly gone down a little bit due to uh some payments being attributed but overall our expenditures are 80 million um and that's an overall increase of 5% I'll go a little bit further into some more detail as we move forward through the slides but overall we have um for the budget uh we have an unreconciled difference of 2.5 m million doll with the Belinda would you again repeat what else included in the 500 category yes the 500 category the largest drivers in 500 category is Charter Schools transportation cost as well as other tuition cost um now I know Mr Moyer you're going to ask me next right off the tip

028of your tongue how much is our Charter School cost so we ended um our Charter School cost at the end of 24 with $4.9 million as an actual cost um our current level of budget is 4.8 so we've already exceeded our Charter School cost from actual to budget and we're anticipating it to be just F A little over $5 million for the 25 26 school year and that includes Cyber Charter with uh brick and mortar Charters VA Charter School the montauri yes is uh almost $5 million correct gotcha correct if possible if if you could break that down for us at some point I I would appreciate that you're looking for just the Cyber versus the bricks and I'm meeting with legislators on Friday and it would be helpful to know uh especially the Cyber

029thanks okay sure okay any other questions on that slide before okay great thank you um so what's it going to take to balance our budget um just in a snapshot here we have revenues with without fund balance utilization 75.5 million our expenditures are 80 million so we have a gap or an unreconciled difference of $4.5 million so we are at this stage we are proposing to use some of Pacer's commitment fund balance of$ 30 45,9 and we're also proposing the unassigned fund balance that is available through the course of our audit of doing a better than projected job during the course of the audit um so it's $1.5 million that we plan to use of part of unassigned fund balance so again our total available funds to use $1.9 million so we have a $4.5

030million deficit we're going to use $1.9 million towards that deficit which means we have a gap minus available funds we need to find a balance approach to $2.5 million now our policy states that we must maintain 6% fund balance unassigned fund balance at all times so that equates that number $4.8 million listed at the bottom of that slide um that is the minimum fund balance that we need to carry as per our policy some variables um that we have of course on Revenue side uh we already took a look at the basic Ed subsidy um it's a minimal increase it's actually less than a half a percent uh historically we would get any anywhere from 2 to 2 and a half% uh or less than half a percent increase as least what projected with the

031governor's budget there's no adequacy supplement there's no tax Equity supplement coming to Gettysburg it is pretty much the a small portion of basic Ed there is no change and our ready to learn and our special education cost subsidy increased about $100,000 while our costs continue to rise over and above what Ida has helped in the past for us so um and again I just want to mention that our adjusted index not to exceed is 4.8% that is our adjusted so we're able to raise taxes if the board so chooses to address a deficit by 4.8% again our the variables of Labor um on our expenditures it's the largely portion of a $1 million is attributed to laser um excuse me labor cost increases due to tr contracture obligations our benefits follow the labor cost you

032know of course we have our Pacers Medical and uh we are seeing an uptick in our workman's comp insurance benefits as well so those all are attributing to the increase in benefits again our transportation cost is rising as well um because their the transportation contract is a factor of an index and so if that index Rises then our expenditure costs rise up as well again our cyber T Charters continue to climb utilities natural gas and electricity are up um we are in the process cess of negotiating and so um a Consortium and so they they may come down but at this particular point in time there's an anticipation of them Rising now Athletics in the course of the audit of course we have transportation uniform and other program costs um that are a part of

033the budget uh we have our seconde support in the acti bond funding which is consistent with other County districts so um we've put a second year or supports into the expenditure side and then of course other factors involved that are in the responsibility basically du as a result of inflation we're seeing inflation in our households we're seeing inflation in our general fund budget as well so if you'll recall the previous slide I said we were $4.5 million this is kind of like a higher level of where those funds are residing with the end balance being $4 million so $4 million is attribut here with another $500,000 in other accounts not necessarily worth um combining and um providing that information but there's $500,000 yet in addition to but the most all of what you have mentioned

034and seen before you have your labor your piecers all other benefits is assigned special education and other Professional Services um the the numbers are all in addition to the current Year's budget as you can see the Charter School tuitions are five $465,000 is what the increase was and our acti bond funding for the second year is listed there as uh 371 so areas that we need to address yet obviously with the considering of how to balance 2.5 million so we're going to really need to take a look at Revenue funding for second year of acti um if we build expenditures are in to help support a bond for acti we're going to need to have a revenue stream as well um I know the current Year's budget we did a 1% strictly for acti I

035would recommend that early again for um act as well um because ultimately we need to build in a million dollars worth of funding to help support act's initiatives as they decide to grow and to build and to expand their their programs are we also need to address Revenue funding to address the negotiated contracts um I'm unable to present to you a million dollars worth of cuts to offset a million dollars worth of salaries um so again we'll need to address Revenue funding to address that uh our County real assessment data that'll come out again with another update probably coming up here in May right before we propose a final budget so we will update the budget at that particular point time for the assessment data that has uh been provided to us um student support

036cost will'll take a look at um and we need to support that so our comprehensive plan as it is is uh the initiative to support special education um is really student support cost as well as um in terms of um providing additional level services for students we want to continue that but we also need to address um how we're going to continue that with Support Services um again any expenditure reductions as directed by the board would be somewhat something that we need to address yet um if anyone has any questions or ideas uh as to where I'd be happy to share um but obviously any directive by the boards we would need to go back go to our administrators and um look at the budget closely as well as we continue to Monitor and update

037the revenue and expenditures as for items that we know or not know we will project the um Development coming in as well along with the assessment data so it's still much a work in progress this is the worst case scenario at this particular Point um a worst particular Point 0% increase from $2.5 million to balance that's the worst case it can only go up from there so um but so I just wanted to outline what those variables are um as for a timeline now our next slide um we're going to be coming back before the board a April 7th to discuss more on the budget we going to be reviewing and proposing a final budget we need to have a proposed final budget approved um it's not saying it's done a done deal it's basically

038approving it for advertisement so it sits for 30 days before the final adoption therefore we're in May then we'll recommend that proposed final budget and continue to discuss the budget again May 19th and our goal is to have an approved final budget by June 16th so it'll be an action of vote item for that that board meeting and of course then our deadline to file with pde is June 30th as always one other quick question for you just to make sure I understood it correctly um when looking at the variable item on student support costs this slide prior you had mentioned something about idea funds and think have we lost funding there or you're just saying there's also an increased need no Ida was to help support special education funding needs uh for different levels

039of student needs um there are tiar and uh while we do receive revenue from Ida um it's not clearly quite enough to cover the services that we provide for our students and for our and money to add to it okay yeah there was I mean when Ida was first issued back whenever I was still a student um there was at least a commitment on the federal government's part to fund idea um and for a while they underfunded it at about 50% and that number continues to decrease um so the numbers the numbers of identified students continue to grow the number of students with more significant needs continues to grow and the costs grow but the uh federal dollars that support it uh continue to Wayne therefore you you supplant other local and State dollars to

040try to continue to do what the law requires you to do um without the funding um necessary um yeah it's unfortunately trending in the wrong direction because you're going to you know it's like going to a restaurant I have a little little brother that brings $5 to the restaurant and orders a steak you know what I mean and um I still let them eat um but you know there there there are things that uh you're going to do just because the law the law dictates that you have to do it and it's also just the right thing to do um but it's severely underfunded and it's going in the wrong direction um I think more because of the costs Rising than the support waning um but if if support doesn't grow exponentially the growing costs

041are just outpacing it um to a significant degree got it that's what I assumed I just wanted to check thank you sure Belinda um I'm assuming that you're planning on uh because of the timeline of Harrisburg letting us know our subsidy compared to when we have to have our budget approved I'm guessing you're planning on level funding from the state uh what I have planned in this particular budget so it's already in the budget is the proposed Governor's starting point for this current year so anything that is prepared by the governor for increases for 25 26 year is not included in this budget because there's no guarantee that you're going to get it um so when documents come out and indicates how much you're getting they basically start at your current level of funding that

042current level of funding is always different from what we have so I'm using that which is already equated into it I appreciate you doing that I think that's smart uh over the years that I've been on the board there were times where our projections of expenses and revenue um were uh fairly significantly off compared to the actuals and I think that's something Dr parin and you have done a good job of getting it closer so Chances Are by the end of this school year uh what we can add to our fund balance uh probably is not going to be all that significant uh you have any read on that at this point um very good question I know Miss Myers has asked me a similar question um we have our uh budget projected forecast that

043we provide to the board on an ongoing basis so as of the recent report I think it's January 31st there are several Cate ories that we are negatively running in the red um so projections it could very well change month to month year toe um will we meet our Revenue projections that's our goal um our goal is to always try to do better than what we've planned for um which means not only my office but all the other departments are running fiscally or being prudent and running fiscally sound they may or may not have ordered the supplies or the equipment or taking into account things that they had planned on budgeting so it's not just my department that's you know gaining in revenue and so forth it is a combination across the district but the

044goal would be to make sure that we're getting to that um balance uh and yes it's great to have um to do better than what you expected simply because in our district we roll that into the fund balance and then we're using that again to balance the following Year's budget so it's not lost it is put it like you earn additional money from a spare a part-time job you're putting it into a savings account or you set it aside so once you have it there and used you can use it for something else until it's gone and then of course you got to build up that balance again but um there something very similar um I'm hoping with the uh acrs that we need have at the year in I'm hoping that we are right

045on Target but I at this stage we have six more months of reporting and so um our goal is to remain fiscally Sound by all means simply because if we're less than that means we have less funds to carry us over during the summer months to make our our bills until the tax revenue comes in and then finally you you mentioned that uh you're going to post on our website the audit uh results and whatnot uh was there was there a presentation already to the board I know I missed one about a month ago that's probably the time uh yes yeah so I I can look at the findings on there there were really no significant findings as usual I'm guessing it no significant findings but the audit is available and summaries on on the

046website thank [Music] you and just to go back to the previous Point uh on the second point on your question now um you know obviously when when building budgets before we get before we get too accurate with having revenues and expenditures kind of pan out and zero out we've got to get rid of that need that we have on the back end because if you know if we're using a million and a half of fund balance to to plug a gap every year um you know we don't want to we want to make sure that that's that's that that that's there so um that's just adding that piece to Belinda's comment we'll be back before the board on April 7th to discuss more on the budget and so there's more to come any questions feel

047free to touch base with me and or let me know in advance for the next meeting and we'll definitely cover it as there as well thank you thank you Belinda that wraps up notices of communications so next we'll move on to Citizens participation looks like we have seven speakers this evening and our first speaker will be Mr Hunter Arison is this thing on is this on do the right thing hire Heiser thank you Mr Arison um our next speaker will be Miss Jamie Gart okay so as you guys know everybody knows what's going on here in Gettysburg it's all over Facebook um and of course everybody's talking about it so we have a friend whose son's played whose son played football for the Chambersburg Trojans during his time there he started for two years and

048played against many future D1 and D2 players he could have played at the next level however he approached his coach about fi about helping with finding a college to play at he was told that's not my job it's no secret that in the eight to nine years as a coach he was not respected by his players parents or the community he only had two winning seasons that they were early on in his career a lot of the athletes stopped playing when they hit ninth grade because of the coach our athletes however love coach Heiser and he'd never tell a player that's not my job as evidenced by the many stories shared by his current and past players my point here is a coach is more than just checking the right boxes it's about commitment to

049the team and its athletes on and off the field and the guy you hire to replace coach Heiser M might just be a coach like they had in Chambersburg if you truly care about what's best for the Gettysburg football program then stop pointing fingers and listen listen to these players rehire coach Heiser and end this madness thank [Applause] you our next speaker will be Miss jod ladyy I'm here this evening because of after seeing the Cooperative uh sport agreement of football between Gettysburg and Fairfield I think the public should understand that this new program for the football Cooperative head coach is extremely concerning nowhere in this agreement does it say that a new position should be created for this Cooperative to exist in fact in the definition section Administration is defined as the superintendent of

050schools business manager athletic director High School principal and other employees necessary to fulfill the administrative responsibilities contemplated under this agreement on page two of the agreement establishing Cooperative Sports the name of the sport is football and the host school is Gettysburg area school district where does it say this is a new program on page three team names and uniforms it states The Cooperative sport shall compete under the name of the host school and its mascot and logo that would be Gettys book football and that is not new at what point did this make the school board think they needed to be a directive to create a new program and new position next in the coaching section it states each coach for the Cooperative sport shall be appointed by the host school subject to concurrence by

051the administration of the non-host school Gettysburg has a football coach Matt Heiser and according to the news and parents that have been sharing their concerns Fairfield has been in support of Coach Heiser the entire time finally on the last page of the agreement under the miscellaneous item letter D it states this agreement has been approved by a vote of the school board directors for each party at the meeting duly advertised to the open and open to the public Fairfield open hosted its own Q&A session for the public to attend did the general public in Gettysburg have that same opportunity the micromanaging that some members of the school board have been doing is not beneficial to our school district and students in fact it's quite embarrassing we hope Fairfield can join this co-op with Coach Heiser

052as their head coach as they expected when they voted on the co-op you have already heard from many of the athletes how important it is to see coach Heiser come back as their coach imagine the hostile environment you create if this Co-op were to start with a new coach because of this deemed new program in posting if you're doing what's best for our students which is your job then you still you still can make this right and I hope that you [Applause] do our next speaker is Justine Sig good evening I'm here again to express my concerns regarding the football team's head coach and the policies and procedures of the school board it remains unclear where the breakdown in communication is occurring despite numerous phone calls emails and meetings aimed at addressing these issues there

053appears to be a reluctance to take responsibility for any shortcomings while Personnel matters are handled by the athletic director and not accessible to the school board it's important to remember that personal grievances should not be addressed within the board's role your role as elected officials requires objectivity the policy committee convenes once a month and after voicing my concerns about certain board policies at the last two meetings I'm perplexed by the cancellation of the meeting that was scheduled for March 11th I was informed that Administration and the solicitor are reviewing updated policies for the April meeting however when I reached out to a board member regarding specific policies they indicated that no new recommendations had been presented this lack of new recommendations is a significant issue when the policy chairperson should hear the concerns from the

054community but has done nothing to report it indicates an even larger problem I must reiterate that local board procedures need to be reviewed our district is investing over $90,000 annually for an athletic director yet it appears that the school board is not allowing him to fulfill his responsibilities why is this the case if we have an athletic director why is he unable to fill positions conversations with another athletic director and superintendent in surrounding school district have revealed that only open positions are posted at the end of their seasons and the athletic director supervises all coaches and supplemental contracts if this school board is wanting to open positions at the end of each Sports season which is a demoralizing practice to the coaching staff in our district then there should be a policy added to number

055308 that requires coaches to be approved immediately but beyond policy we are still being told that this is a new position that raises even further questions why didn't we have a Q&A session like Fairfield did why was information not shared with the public at the school board meeting on March 3rd as requested by our president during the prior meeting why wasn't there additional information presented but instead approved as an action item is this a violation of the sunshine act the community deserves transparency regarding how policies are managed and the rationale behind any perceived misme management as I stated in a previous meeting and will state again this school board must improve its support for staff coaches and our students personal grievances are not objective and have no place in executive session meetings which have ultimately

056led us to this discussion tonight I urge you to work diligently to resolve the internal problems and avoid projecting a negative image on our school district which many of us are proud to represent this situation is unfair to our district and the community thank you our next speaker is Miss Jill Whitmer good evening board members I come to you tonight as a request to read an email to the board on behalf of Mr Chris Thompson who had a work conflict Mr Thompson is the newly elected Gettysburg Football president Mr Thompson would like to notify the board on additional details this is Mr Thompson's email on Thursday February 13th I saw the Facebook posting about heiser's job being reposted so I texted Mike Dickerson of why and I was told it was an HR issue that

057couldn't be discussed but it went on to conversation I wasn't comfortable with in talking about how we would make the new coach be part of the youth program as a board member and turning it into a true feeder pattern or feeder I tried to stay Mutual in the conversation but he was insisting I come to the board meeting to speak on reasons why to get rid of Heiser with all of the other stuff coming out and how this situation was handled I feel like there is an agenda behind the the whole thing when I saw all the information over the next few days it was clear what his intentions were the night of the last board meeting I was contacted by Sigman he congratulated me for being elected president of the youth league and went

058directly into talking about how it was time to move on from Heiser and when I was qu questioning his motives about a valid replacement or question the timing of everything and how it makes everyone look bad he basically said I have to go to a meeting and hung up and texted me time to move on I feel both these gentlemen were trying to abuse my friendship to try to fit their narrative Mr Dickerson also has reached out via phone call to me on March 5th in that conversation he agreed that the situation of hiring a football coach should not be taking place at this time it was evident during our conversation that he was directing these mishaps towards the Gettysburg Administration in Dr pin he also stated that it was an HR issue and that

059he could not legally talk about the situation in regards to Mr Thompson's email Mr Dickerson and Mr Sigman sought out and solicited Mr Chris Thompson when Mr Thompson was contacted and requested to attend a board meeting to speak out against coach Heiser he was being solicited to speak on their behalf this seems to be a violations in the ethics policy two number three and five when he did not agree with either of the board members they continued to contact him via text and on the evening of Friday March 14th a family member of Mr Dickerson Dickerson continued to try to contact Mr Thompson well into the late hours of the evening I received a text from Mr Thompson at 11:37 p.m. that this family member was bombarding him with phone calls according to the PA

060statutes titled 65 PA in regards to public officers in section A no public official or Public Employee shall engage in contact conduct that constitutes a conflict of interest since this appears to be a conflict of interest section J of that statute is a voting conflict I would hope since the board has been enlightened of the above factual information that Mr Sigman and Mr Dickerson are removed from voting on any agenda item that has to do with the hiring of any football coaching staff and they should also be removed from any committees that has to do anything with Gettysburg Fairfield Co-op this also correlates with the board's policy O2 conflict of interest number nine thank you and if any board members would like Mr Thompson's email I have copies [Applause] available our next speaker is Wade

061ladyy I'm standing before you once again to discuss the circumstances surrounding the opening of the head football coaching position here at gettsburg it is very evident that there was a coordinated effort by certain members of this board to use the excuse of the football Co-op agreement with Fairfield to fulfill their long-standing goal of removing Matt Heiser as the head football coach for years these individuals have publicly stated their dislike of Coach Heiser to anyone who would listen in fact both myself my wife and my daughter have had numerous personal conversations about this subject with one or both of these members dating back to 2021 over the last two weeks I have had discussions about this subject with other board members the conclusion that can be drawn from these discussions is that these specific board members

062through the use of lies and exaggerations have manipulated the opinions of other members who were not familiar with Athletics or football to believe that there was something inherently wrong with the leadership and culture of the football program this couldn't be further from the truth you need to look no further than the student athletes and parents who showed up and spoke in support of Coach Heiser at the last two board meetings for further proof the football team was the only false sport to not receive any negative feedback from the end ofe parent surveys this year in the athletic director's end ofe evaluation of Coach Heiser was satisfactory I am asking everyone in this room right now to believe what you saw with your own eyes you saw the players here in attendance you heard the passion

063from those who spoke and you've seen the outcry in the community about this decision if something was so wrong with Coach Heiser where was the public support for his removal again believe what you are seeing with your eyes not what someone else is telling you for the last 3 weeks we have been told that this is a Personnel issue if this is truly a Personnel issue then surely it is documented surely it is documented in this folder because this folder contains copies of records that exist in coach heiser's athletic and HR files coach Heiser has given me permission to share the contents of this folder with any board member that wishes to view them please see me after the meeting if you would like to see them but I'll save you the time now and

064let you know that there is nothing in this file that warrants his removal I also want to make it perfectly clear that this is a personal issue not a Personnel issue if it really was a Personnel issue then why are certain board members calling and texting the president of gettsburg Football and asking him to show up at previous board meetings to show support for getting rid of Coach Heiser I have been given permission from the gmf president to share these text conversations right here you'll see them to share these text conversations that I'm holding up these text conversations took place between the gmf president and two board members one conversation is in response to the gmf president submitting a letter to the school board detailing his view about the opening of the head football coach

065position and the other is with a different board member right before February 18th meeting both of these conversations illustrate that this is nothing more than a personal issue for them please see me after the meeting if you wish to view copies as I said in my opening statement it is very apparent that there is a coordinated effort by certain board members to remove Matt Heiser as the gettsburg football coach the proof is what lies in the Personnel files of Coach Heiser and the text messages between two board members and the gmf president it should now be clear to everyone in this room that these two members have abused their powers as Schoolboard members to remove a coach who has served this district for 13 years and has done nothing to Warrant removal while no laws

066have been broken it is obvious that the two of you are ethically corrupt and morally B rupt and in the end your actions have done nothing but harmed the student athletes that you have promised to serve you have violated the trust of the voters you have violated the trust of the GD community and you have violated the trust of the students in this district and that is why I'm calling for the immediate excuse me the immediate resignations of board members TIG Sim Tim Sigman and Mike Dickerson thank [Applause] you our next speaker is is Miss Kathleen [Applause] Pratt our next speaker is Miss Kathleen Pratt of language you can leave I I saw you I my lips use it again and you're outting we're going to maintain order or I'll suspend this meeting I'll go

067on to adjournment sorry Mrs Pratt M FL is yours floor is yours my name is Kathleen Pratt I served as a School director from 2017 to 2021 I know that most of us who serve on the school board do so because we care deeply about the kids in our community we now know of the deep Cuts faced by the US Department of Education I'm sure you share my concern about what these Cuts will mean to our school district in our current budget we rely on just under $1 million in federal funds the majority of these federal funds support Title One efforts that provide educational opportunity for our most vulnerable students at Franklin Township James Gettys and Lincoln Elementary schools these federal funds also support out of our budget students who live in our district but

068attend non-public schools as you know our district uses Title One funding to pay for our reading specialists in our K through five buildings their salaries and their benefits instructional supplies to support supplemental reading Services parent and family engagement and contracted services with the Liu to provide Title One services to students who live in the district and attend non-public schools our C our current budget allocation to accomplish his very important work is just under $650,000 I look forward to learning from the board as it moves into this budget season how it will navigate Federal funding Cuts without sacrificing our families to those cuts thank you thank you Mrs PR so we're going to move on to routine approvals um I do have a request to separate one item which is 5.5 so I would like to

069motion um to separate and approve uh 51 which is the agenda 52 which is our financial report 53 which is the approval for jacobe transportation 54 which would be the approval for EMB transportation and 5.6 are human resources excuse me vice president uh Dickerson is it possible again since it's three times in a row that we've had a number of people with the same issue without divulging Personnel issues or or confidential information that Dr parin or someone could at least give uh a report of where we are in the process for the selection of our fall athletic coaches can we at least give people that much information yeah we can wait we can wait until we get to notices and Communications okay thank you program reports so can I get a motion to separate 51

07052 53 54 and 56 so moveed second do we have any questions so we're voting on those four correct yep that's a motion to approve and separate separate and approve there any questions on 51 which is the agenda 52 which is the financial report 53 and 54 our transportation approvals and 56 is our HR recommendations hearing no questions roll call Al yes Michelle yes Alice yes Ryan Yes Tim yes and I vote Yes Yes um so that is leaves 5.5 which is the approval for our solicitor can I get a motion to approve 5.5 so move second question um I was the one that asked has to separate it and um I'm just kind of disappointed that I'm finding out that this is happening I mean mergers don't happen in a few days or even

071a few weeks so obviously there was some talk about this and I'm sure that somehow the administration knew that there was a merger coming and I think it would only have been fair for them to talk to us and see if we wanted to look at hiring somebody different what would it be appropriate to give Brooke a few minutes to share a little bit of what's Happening yeah I'm happy to um I uh we informed all of our clients at the same time um gosh you're going to test my chronology here would have been three weeks ago or thereabouts um the exact day is is is uh um not coming to me and we made a public announcement all at the same time and all of our clients received um inquiries relative or or updates

072relative to the transition from our firm to joining this other firm um we're very excited about the prospects here um we will double the size of our education law practice which means the capacity to address things more efficiently um and have broader-based support and more detailed support when we need it um for purposes of this community kind of getting to know know that firm um many of you may know the former School law firm of um Keo Kell and Aly and Grim longtime School law solicitors some of them were practicing when I was a young lawyer 20 years ago um great friends with our firm they joined this firm about two years ago so they were a practice not unlike stock and leader uh joined a bigger firm and we utilize part of their experience

073as certainly a way of of judging whether it would be a good fit for us in school law um so we feel really confident they're a lot like us many of you know them within the school law Community they're friends of ours they're trusted colleagues they're excellent advisers um and we feel like the framework and the platform will allow us sort of enhance our our ability to support additionally what you'll see in the engagement letter um is is the capacity to do things a little bit more efficiently we've added some additional rate cuts for our pargal which we're really proud of because we've got excellent pargal but they're not lawyers and we want to make sure we're using them really efficiently so um from a capacity perspective as well as I think the financial end

074we're really sensitive to our school district clients and want to make sure we hit that on the nose um we're excited about this we think it's good for our school law clients um and we certainly provided that information as soon as we could publicly provide it which was coordinated with this other firm and sort of subject to those requirements so that's the snapshot but I'm happy to take questions there's a lot more in detail I could give you any additional questions uh not a question but a comment I've uh worked with stock and leader for a long time in my previous uh roles in school leadership and uh the fact that they're expanding even more and adding more expertise uh to their team uh through this collaboration I think can only be benefits to the

075schools that they serve so I I I would suggest strong support uh for maintaining their services thank you and Dr doton is not here today but she wanted me to express how much she's appreciated working for this board she is home with the flu um and I will pass that along to her um but she is also very excited about this opportunity I know that from her personally and we've had many hours of discussion about it um and she looks forward to serving this board for as long as you will thank you all right thank you any additional questions all right hearing none roll call um Al yes Ryan Yes Tim yes Michelle no Alice yes and I vote Yes so moving on to items for board action 6.1 which is the Gettysburg Middle School

076mathematics resource can I get a motion to move 61 forward so moved second questions on 61 I have a question sure Michelle um Dr bassner we had to talk last time ma math still hasn't changed just put that out there that's good to know um so this is for the Middle School correct and I didn't come in and review what you had I went online and I went you know talked to some friends who have used this program in other districts too um when are we going to be looking at the elementary school so the elementary um actually has narrowed their options down to two we have some uh presentations happening within the next few weeks we're going to look at piloting a program K through five um either for the entire school year school

077year next year year or for part of it with an implementation for the 26 27 school year and is that program going to push Basics multiplication tables we actually are are both companies we're talking to we are uh expressing a need for um support and fat fluency so yes any additional questions on math all right hearing none roll call Ryan Yes Tim yes Michelle yes Alice yes Al yes and I vote Yes moving on to 6.2 administration building Renovations and design proposal I get a motion to move that forward so moved second any questions on 6.2 all right hearing none roll call Al yes Michelle yes Alice yes Ryan Yes Tim yes and I vote Yes moving on to 6.3 the 2025 to 2028 District comprehensive plan I get a motion 6.3 second any questions

078on 6.3 not a question but a comment uh once again I want to thank Dr matzer for him facilitating and uh leading us through that whole uh process uh thank you thank you I just wanted to say something question Michelle me again actually I want to thank Mr Lusk because I had had some questions about the plan and actually went to Mr Lusk and he clarified so it made a little more sense The Noy question yes yep The Noy question so thank you of course any additional questions all right roll call Ryan Yes Tim yes Michelle yes Alice yes Al yes and I votee yes that moves us along to our informational items which there are none I don't believe this week no information items so we'll go to board committee reports um we do

079have a policy committee schedule for April 8th at 4M in the administration building um anything for you Al you have a meeting com up this Friday you did say yep uh uh thank you president vice president derson uh I am meeting with legislators on Friday morning I have several questions and concerns uh regarding them but related to this whole issue with uh uh policy though here I I would I do think it would be moving forward uh for us to uh look at our policies and practices for approving co-curricular supplemental positions including athletic coaches I think we really should stop saying or or the rumors out there that the Fairfield Co-op has anything to do with not renewing our current football coach I just think that that just causes animosity among the kids that's unnecessary

080I think selection of personnel outside of key district office positions should be the sole responsibility of our admin team who we pay well for those for those jobs and every coach or supplemental position needs to know within two weeks of the end of their season whether they are coming back or not and the reason why thank you anything in faciliates and finance Tim believe uh I believe our meetings just Thursday this Thursday the 20th at 4mm yes um all right so that brings us to program reports a three requ of uh Dr Moyer of Dr manner um give an update on the uh process for filling the position so we um understand the the time of year that we're in and the importance of it is it relates to the head football coach the position

081uh has been posted it comes down midnight tonight um it's the deadline to apply we're looking to conduct interviews very early next week and we'll move on from there all right so that brings us to our calendar of events Mike hold on I was say I'm sorry yeah that's okay I didn't know exactly when to say my stuff but I'll I'll I'll add it to items from the floor so kind of carrying along with um what people are already talking about it is mid-march and on a Tuesday night nonetheless so I wrote stuff down so if I'm not looking at people that's why I'm going to try and keep myself a little bit more honest um I I want to start by saying thank you to the community for the past three meetings now this

082one included for coming and speaking I think it can be difficult sometimes when there's a lot going on for people to feel like you know speaking to the board of directors and for for hearing whatever is happening in the Community but in my opinion having people involved and sharing their experiences is a big way that the board can know how issues are impacting parts of our school Community I don't think that that can be assumed so thank you for your time coming in to talk to us about it all um I also just want to take a second to share a little bit about this POS this position um as I was thinking about the last couple meetings so as I see it as an elected official it's my goal to continue learning about all

083the topics that come across our board action and a agendas and to be transparent with all of you the reality is that I don't and won't know everything but the way that I look at it is the best I can do is to ask questions to learn more and to make sure that any new information that is presented um that I receive is taken into consideration moving forward from that point so to me kind of carrying the through line of the policy that's where my head is um the to me it's crucial that board policies we have in place and the ways that we carry those out are done in a way that meets the needs of our students and programs in the school district and I know that a couple of community members have

084spoken about this I also know that Mr Moyer just talked Dr Moyer sorry just talked about that as well um so I'm I'm specifically looking at policy 308 for those of you that haven't read policy 308 or don't have it in front of you I'll read the parts that are written down that apply to our supplemental contracts it states that all supplemental extracurricular coaching positions shall be filled by persons appointed by the board on an annual basis and that supplemental contracts for each position shall be issued upon appointment by the board so our current practice as it stands right now and you can correct me if I'm wrong um is that for the fall coaches at least this year this is what we did it was to issue those appointments from the board in August

085so despite applications closing at the end of the sports season whatever that sport was coaches then according to that policy written the way it is wouldn't officially be hired until August so to me in my opinion uh I view that as a large liability issue for our coaches not just a football coach but any coach in that position um because there's this this kind of limbo um for months before August um what post the end of the season till August um so our fall Sports programs as our football Community has brought very clearly to our attention do have more than that they have spring training summer sessions preseason camp and many other things happening before that August approval um it's it's my opinion and I'll share a personal thing as a person who holds my

086own supplemental contract for marching band uh athletic adjacent if you will in my district um that coaches should not have to wait for August for approval when the season starts well before that I wouldn't do that if I were teaching my marching band students over the summer without a contract so now looking at the actual policy um I did notice that there aren't currently any administrative guidelines for it dictating the specifics of when we approve coaching contracts so my wondering and this might be a solicitor question but just in general just saying it out loud my wondering is if we can simply give a directive as a board to our administrative team in the meantime to send us coaching contracts for board approval as soon as our athletic director and his team have their recommended

087candidates for any contract at the end of the their season so this is not exclusive in my opinion to football this is any coaching that goes on um I'm not sure if that's something we can do but I would rather do that than wait until the April 11th meeting to get it written down since we currently are kind of just saying we get them in the fall and it's not written down as it stands so um in addition before somebody answers that question um not to add too many but this is my last one I promise I would like to add this item kind of like what Dr Moyer said to our next policy meeting so that we can get a more official wording written down for the administrative guideline moving forward um I this

088shouldn't need to continue to be an issue since we now have that information and it's negatively impacting our kids um it should be something that we address I'd like to interject here I think everyone in the room is forgetting something you weren't a part of the board when we had coaching issues um and with that being said these policies were changed because of situations that this board was presented with based on lack of administration's help we enacted some things to protect our students I'm not going to elaborate on that I'm pretty sure everyone in the room can figure it out but the bottom line is there was a reason why these things exist now so you should kind of think back to what took place here sure a few months ago that turned out certain

089members of this board voted against some coaches that turned out those people did things that were inappropriate around our you know our children just remember that when you're all coming in here complaining remember that we are here for the safety of the kids so Mr Morris I'm going to point to a specific thing that I said um just to clarify what I mean by this I think if if I'm I'm not talking about football I'm just talking in general here y absolutely um so from it is my understanding and you're right I was not on the board the time that that policy was looked at last it is my understanding that the the change to the policy was to make it an annual renewal I'm not advocating to change that language at this time I'm

090advocating to change the practice of if we have an application open for a coach and it closes which happens two weeks after it's posted at the end of the season that then it is brought to the board for approval at that time rather than about four or five months later just so that that coach can then start working with like liability free with students um because of that official appointment fair enough but at the same time how long do it take to do the surveys anyone who can answer that in the room the end of season how long does it take to return those and how many surveys constitutes an valid survey by the school I believe the fall surveys we give about two weeks once they're sent out to get them back in just

091for the record how many were received uh um I don't know off the top of my head I want to say between parents it dep it depends on the it depends on the sport if we're talking specifically about football how many people play football how many the how many athletes are there how many are on the team so say we had 22 return their surveys is that a valid survey yeah yeah I mean 22 out of 60 mathematically it is it's more than it's you would it would be the player and the parent so if there was 80 80 players it would be 240 potential respondents okay thank you so to get at a couple of different points that people are discussing I'm just going to throw out uh this um what what folks are

092talking about in terms of um there's policy and then obviously there are are procedures um so I would I would always want procedures to come from um the administrators that are in charge of those of those programs so if there's something that the board wants to consider or see differently then I would rather charge um you know the the ad working with the assistant superintendent to bring a draft that the board could consider um as opposed to that to to clarify I think what what Alice was asking though is is not so much as changing the policy but drafting an administrative guideline to execute that policy is that something the administration that your your team could could prepare and yes that's yes okay yeah it it's something that we could that we could work on

093it wouldn't be it wouldn't be for the next meeting but it would be for this we could do it this spring yeah okay the way that I the the time sensitive nature of it to me is is more why I'm bringing it up now in the sense that I don't know what timeline that looks like for you guys but if this position is wrapped up so if we tonight know what I mean I mean the as uh as Dr Master mentioned the position closes tonight correct and then the interview process there'll be an interview process so our our uh our plan would be that when someone is selected for that position that we bring all of the Fall coaches forward and not not just not just a football because that's what they're working on you

094know what I mean which would be way earlier than August yeah okay great yes I think we're saying the same thing so that the like lining that up with the end of your particular search that you're conducting now correct okay thank you I appreciate that sure does that work for you Alice is that yeah yeah I just see it as a need that you know when this position is closed and we have a recommended candidate that we can approve it then so that they can get started yeah there's I mean just from from being in like four school districts in two states um you're always going to have outliers like you're still looking for an ex coach you know when when fall rolls around so it's best to it's best to do it as early

095as you can and then for sports where they haven't found anybody yet you just put TBD and then add those folks as you know as you find them yeah and the way I see it too which I think this goes hand inand with that working pretty well is that the the lead person responsible for what's happening with kids at that time is the head coach whomever that may be so anybody working with that person can certainly be approved more efficiently at a later date as well okay thank you thank you for your time so the bottom line is 30 to 60 days we'll know what's going on it's at the bottom line whoever the administration picks and so this can all go behind us I mean this is ridiculous I mean we would I mean

096we would like to uh we we would like we would like to uh to get interviews completed so that we could bring all the fall coaches forward for the next board meeting if possible so the next so okay I'm hoping all right that's the plan are we good on all the other sports yes so far so this is our last thing and we're good all right hold on okay Michelle um so I think I think we all know that I'm pretty much the reason we had the issues with the coaches 2023 and I think I had some pretty valid reasons to be concerned by that coach then and to be perfectly honest with you I don't think I was always given the absolute truth by the administration and I wasn't always given the absolute truth

097by members of this board and in 2021 when I joined this board my opinion of Coach Heiser was tainted by a whole lot of emails that I very first emails I ever received and so I just wanted to say I think I made a mistake originally in just taking the word of a few people here that told me I should do this or do that and then I heard heard kids and granted I heard kids when we were talking about a tennis coach but this is completely different because I read those kids' emails I read a lot of those emails and I reread them I read emails from kids who don't even play here anymore and that's what got my attention and that's what made me think that you know what we need to start

098listening to these kids so I don't really know what's going to happen here I'm really disappointed in some of these board members after hearing some of the things I've heard tonight I'm disappointed and Mike you can sit there with a smirk on your face all night I don't care you guys got to be quiet too um can anybody tell me how much is this training from WellSpan costing us uh the training is $350 per session well I can tell you right now that um Miss Broadway and I had actually talked about exactly what she had just asked about and making sure that all of our coaches I didn't realize I I never I never had kids to play football for me I went to a band performance in a football game broke out okay I

099was I'm a band parent I was a soccer mom for years I was employed by the district as the soccer mom um I didn't realize how much time and effort went into football in the off seon I thought you guys showed up in August and that was your thing so miss Broadway and I were actually in agreement that yes we should be making sure that um once the coaches are recommended hired whatever at that point we should probably do a rolling ongoing hiring of coaches because there is a liability issue and we didn't do that with soccer you know we had Open Fields you show up if you show up if you didn't didn't it was no big deal finding out how much the football team actually participates and does in the off season and

100how many kids show up it's pretty awesome and quite frankly regardless of how many evaluations came came back there weren't any that came back that were bad Dr matser agreed with that he mentioned that a few board meetings ago I really can't see why we're here other than I think a few of us were played into thinking there was something going on when apparently there wasn't so for me I apologize to all of you for getting you all this mess because you shouldn't be herebody so let's get this solved and let's get somebody approved and let's get that person hired so that whatever training goes on um they're covered under liability and fairfield's happy we're happy hopefully and we can all move on I have a question what about the assistant coaches are they in

101place uh usually the head coaches are the ones that hire the assistant so I would say until we have a a head co coach then no my question is this wait room thing I I want the weit room open for the kids so um what can we do in the interim what athletic what can Athletics do to keep well that's why we have uh we have well span coming uh twice a week to run sessions for our kids Mondays and Thursday evenings we I I disagree with this from a point of view that we pay we pay people here to do this why are we hiring outside entities to do this we no no one's being paid as a coach right now I I understand that but at the same time this is ridiculous you

102see our budget I mean I I don't agree with this um we all right I I what can we do two days a week is BS guys come on I my my kids do are there's no kids going to show up hold on hold on hold on all I'm saying is is I have kids in sports and they're using weight rooms and they're active all the time and I know they're in it right now but at the same time they have organized stuff off season we you mean to tell me that we can't have someone in a gym someone anyone I don't care we we'll figure it out we'll budget it but someone in the gym every day so they can use the weight room if they want any student can that should be a

103policy when I I went to SC in Jersey we always have the wait room open after school always why can't we just do that and make it easy at least for right now is that something we can we can do no be wanting it to happen and finding the actual individuals or or two different things that's that's why we went to the that's why we went to the well span thing okay that's great I'll do it I'll donate my time I mean come on you're talking about an adult with clearances to go in there and just monitor kids working out at least at a very minimum is that that unrealistic I'm not putting be on the spot but I mean come on this is frustrating now I'm tired of the emails I want something done

104so that the kids can go to the gym and they could get ready for next year while we figure out this coaching thing and that's what we tried to to figure out a way to get the wait room open we could not find people willing to do it so that's why we went the path we went so so for preus it for any other job right if you come in and you do do things to get that job why wouldn't a coach that's going to be coming in next year most likely will be coming back next year right uh the assistant coaches why wouldn't someone step up to that so I li come on you can help us out with this right liability if they sign whatever they have to sign with the school district

105can they not be in there so I me as a parent can I not do that I they still have to be supervised right so so the respon and wait rooms are are unique part of with any school district relative to liability so you can't you know we we're not asking anyone to wave all their rights when they're in there we have to be reasonably responsible and not negligent when we host people in our facilities and make sure they're up to up to date and we need to have supervision by someone who understands the environment that's the basics so part of part of the issue that's Arisen through this which I'll make that I know we're working on the policy I don't need to plug the policy again but I think part of that issue

106of the we've been operating on the good faith of the coach in place who is assumed to be the coach in the future to be doing some of these things before we officially approve the contract so yes I mean as as a teacher myself if my students need something then yes I'm going to go do that but my contract in my school district is year long so whenever mine's done I sign a new one that means that I then have the right to be with those students doing those things in off school time so I I think it's wise not not to be doing those things without that coverage from the school district as an employee okay I I hear you what you're saying there but at the same time what I heard a few

107board meetings ago that these kids were actively engaged in getting ready right they were they were training those coaches were coming here and doing that they didn't have a contract so now we're screaming liability but we weren't doing that a few meetings ago so I actually mentioned I did mention this back in August when we first approved the fall coaching contracts I was at my um band camp requirements in mechanicburg and I called in and I said that I thought that was a liability concern so now we're finally moving forward to do something about it um I I can't answer to what every coach does but I think some of that is important again now that we have this information that we change it um yeah I I appreciate the fix in the meantime I

108I don't it's a frustrating situation that is partly caused by us so I appreciate the fix I also think that um I I don't place any blame for a second on on coaches that took a step back when they realized that that existed kind of in a weird limbo um but I appreciate the fix and I do think for a certain extent you did just say too that ideally this would only exist for another couple weeks correct so that's what we're looking at I think it's a little bit late to fix that now in a different way but um appreciate the proactivity of of our athletic director and assistant superintendent there I also received an email I wanted to answer to were the the uh summer camps canceled uh I believe that um I to

109be perfectly honest I'm not 100% sure I know I believe that coach Heiser may have cancelled at least one or two I know that um our athletic director has reached out to those places to make sure that we get those scheduled back again okay is there was there a reason he canceled them [Music] I maybe just remind the audience that this is not an interactive meeting and we will have order well my my question is is um is this a retaliatory thing or why why were they canceled the kids are still that I that I can't answer I can't answer it's it's a it's a question that's all I'm getting I'm getting emails saying things are cancelled and I'm just wondering is that a school thing that that that that uh the district did not

110cancel those no okay that's what I'm asking there there are also things put in place by the active coach correct correct so so again when in an absence of one officially being approved I think that then goes to the athletic director so thank you for stepping in to try and reorganize those things but that would be under the same umbrella then of any other um coaching duties for that contract all right I'm just I'm asking questions because if we're getting fired emails all you know constantly daily I want to be able to answer stuff sure no the district did not cancel any of the camps over the summer um and I know that we did reach out to at least one assisting coach about the weight room and we're told that we were told from

111him that he did not want to do it that brings us to our calendar of board events our next board meeting will be April 7th 2025 at 7 p.m in the administration building can I get a motion to adjourn Mr jerson if I could she's sorry real quickly just to report two things um one um about the update to the board to the negative account balances for Food Service uh approaching 25,000 and the other one of good news is the Steve liton memorial fund has now reached $6500 I get a motion to adjourn so moved this meeting is adjourned