001e e e good evening the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg arey 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 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 alpur or disruptions nor will it tolerate comments made outside a citizen participation portion of the meeting public comment is welcome and all issues will referred to the appropriate board committee or administrator comments will be summarized in the official board minutes which will be made available by contacting
002the business office please take a moment to silence any cell phones or any other electronic devices Brooke uh everybody's president except for Mr Morris who's been excused this evening please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible andice okay I believe we have two um uh SOC match you want to go first sure uh just wanted to say that I had an opportunity this weekend to attend the uh High School Musical uh the production of into the woods it was fantastic and I just want to congratulate all the staff and students involved in that production and then a similar line uh just wanted to thank the uh FFA uh group at the high school for inviting us
003out to their breakfast on uh Friday morning um Dr match not were able to attend uh number of the students and officers their parents um they spoke a lot about um kind of what what FFA has done for them and uh really incredible public speakers the students that are involved with that program so um so it was it was great to be there with them on Friday so that's it thank you that brings this to Citizens participation I'm going to turn this over to Mike Mike yep thank you Mr Mr President um we have eight speakers this evening our first speaker will be uh Miss Joe Grim whitmyer thank you good evening School Board the policy of making our coaches go through this every year needs to be reworked I'm coming to you today as
004a mom of an eighth grader that is involved with the football and wrestling programs our coaches are dedicated ated to our kids you hired an unbiased athletic director and superintendent that should be making these decisions with the stamp of approval from the board school boards should not be interjecting their biased opinions in the hiring process what is the purpose for having an athletic director princible and superintendent if you're not going to allow them to do their jobs coach Heiser has already planned his offseason and preseason you have allowed him to get to March March it is March and now you're doing this to him that speaks volumes that the board is not here for our children this is unnecessary to do to our coaches everyone is impacted by this process the coaches the players and
005families the coaches of our wrestling and football programs are dedicated to our children their Sports and to our community every year you are taking time away from our athletes because you make the coaches go through this process of the unknown fulfillment of their contracts these coaches continue to work for our children knowing that there is possibility ility that they may not be honored their contract this speaks volumes on their dedication to the athletes coach Heiser has already made contact with players of the co-op and those players are impressed that he has reached out to them so now you're thinking of cleaning house as some members of the board have stated in the community is this an unbiased statement from the board members I don't think so the Board needs to be unbiased and do what
006is in the best interest of our athletes and our community coach moer you were a coach when you coached at Fairfield Bermudian Southwest W and I think New Oxford unless you violated your Conta contract you probably were awarded it I know you worked for the students during school or during the season and I know you worked for them in the off season I played during that time I watched you now put yourself on our coach's shoes and our players and our families coach Heiser has not violated any policy coaches hasn't violated any policy and you made him go through this last year he brought you a district champion ship he's going to have to go through this process again I leave you with this you're here for our program to be successful or you're not
007it seems like some biased opinions are being interjected coach Heiser is a dedicated coach whether you like his philosophy or not his players work for him his players show up for him his players like him his players play for him and that's the bottom line it's not us the parents it's not you the board it's these guys sitting right here they're the ones that play for him no one else thank you thank you our next speaker is Justine Sig good evening I am here again tonight to express the ongoing concern conerns many parents have for our student athletes and coaches I am addressing these concerns because it's been two weeks since the last board meeting and the coaching staff for the football team is still in limbo there's been no communication to let the student
008athletes or coach Heiser know who will be coaching them next season as you may know a petition supporting coach Heiser and urging the repeal of the 2023 board policy mandating the annual posting of coaching positions has garnered over 500 signatures from our Community this policy has raised concerns about the morale of our coaching staff and the ability to retain quality coaches I have talked to several coaches in this district and not a single one of them support this policy why would they they work their hardest to build strong programs and solid culture and then have to see that their position is open it's sad I would like to remind you of the board policy stating that the primary function of the board is to establish policies while leaving the administration to the superintendent and staff
009it is concerning that despite hearing from many student athletes at the last meeting there has been no communication regarding Coach heiser's position for next season here are three comments that I pulled from the petition comment one the gasd School Board needs to take an honest look at what this ridiculous policy is doing to players students and coaches there are many great coaches within the district unless there is blatant reason the district should renew contracts without forcing them to reapply yearly what is the common sense where is the common sense and regard for the best interest of the students you serve stop this demoralizing practice now second comment after listening to the last school board meeting it's very clear what a positive impact coach Heiser is having on his athletes and it would be a disservice
010to them to lose such a positive role model in general it's odd to me that the board is involved in such Personnel matters rather than focusing on broader issues as budgets policies Etc it seems that board Personal Agenda that board's personal agendas are negatively impacting students staff and the district families as great Educators and coaches are leaving for other districts being forced out or in some cases not hired and a less qualified candidate is selected please do better our kids deserve it and the last comment I pulled Matt Heiser is a wonderful coach and it would be foolish not to keep him I urge you to reconsider the 2023 policy as it contributes to a climate of uncertainty among our coaches the athletic director should conduct annual reviews and determine the coaching staff not this
011school board it is extremely important to the student athletes and parents of football players that you communicate with Coach Heiser and all of our athletic coaches thank you for your attention to this matter [Applause] our next speaker is Jamie Gart all right I have uh three comments that follow the petition one is from Susan she states the football program is fortunate to have such an asset like coach Heiser the board should not have a say in who gets hired to coach the children in our community the man has coached all my children in some capacity throughout his coaching career at ghs he has never shown anything but pure confidence in me as a parent I cannot imagine the program not having him involved we are taxpaying members of this community and our voices should also
012be heard Jane writes I know the hours and personal sacrifices Matt has made over the years in order to coach and Mentor the Young men he cares about what is occurring is a travesty and should never even have happened Ben writes I have personally seen the effect he has had in shaping my nephew into the young man he has become coach Heiser is not all about winning on the field he's about winning in life it would be foolish to replace him now on a side note on a personal note my son's got a broken elbow he had to go through four hours of surgery to get it fixed he's determined to get better to play for Coach Heiser he only wants to play for Coach Heiser so please reconsider opening up this position it's not
013just him it's the rest of the boys that I'm worried about I think they all want to pay for Coach Heiser and while I understand Fairfield wants to come over here during negotiations you have to remember they came to us didn't go to them it should be about our kids not their kids it feels like you guys are putting their kids ahead of ours Gettysburg first remember they came to us we didn't go to them thank you our next speaker will be jod ladyy I have the shy eighth grade group uh my name is Jody Ley I'm a parent of a rising freshman Brett ladyy this one uh he he's here with tonight with his eighth grade classmates and teammates Kane Sig Jaden Spencer and Reed whitmoyer this group of young men started integrating into
014the high school program the spring of their seventh grade year when they started going to coach Heiser after school lifting they then continued with the program by playing up this year to the ninth grade football team as eighth graders they have had nothing short of an amazing experience acclimating themselves to the high school program were they nervous last year entering the weight room as lowly seventh graders absolutely but those nerves quickly went away thanks to the welcoming culture and team atmosphere created by coach Heiser and his senior leaders last summer during sports physicals that were held here at the school I witnessed firsthand this welcoming culture there I sat with Brett as a rising eighth grader and Reed where is he he was there inw walk's senior quarterback Brady Heiser along with I think it
015was Preston and maybe a few other uh teammates what happened next stunned me as a mom and spoke volumes to me as a fine young man on this football team and the overall culture and Leadership of the program they fist bumped these younger boys and talked to them about lifting and talked about them coming to lifting I was shocked and super impressed that upper classmen would be so welcoming to these younger boys half their size because that wouldn't have happened back in the day wasn't cool for the upper classman to talk to the low low man on the poll these boys have continued to be welcomed and encouraged by the older players in the wait room and this past Saturday at the first spring throw around practice they had a lot of fun they got
016in some practice they continued to be welcomed by the upper classmen but at this practice there was one thing that remained on everyone's Minds well coach tier still be their coach it seems you delayed or changed your mind in posting the football coaching position yet no one knows where it actually stands we all ask you to please communicate the status of the football coaching position will it still be open or is it coach heiser's because these student athletes deserve to know who will be their coach next year and we all commend coach Heiser for his continue continuing his commitment and dedication to this team by organizing School lifts in this Saturday throw arounds and more to come in the spring I'm sure even though he really doesn't truly know where he stands with all of
017you we ask you to please make a clear decision and hope that that decision is for Matt Heiser to remain his head coach so we can put this uncertainty behind us and Coach Heiser can continue leading this group of fine young men to be the best leaders and teammates they can be and carry on with all their spring and summer preseason activities thank you our next next speaker will be Rees Sig hi I'm here tonight in support of Coach Heiser here are a few comments from students that signed the petition in support of Coach Heiser from William in middle school and into freshman year I was dealing with a lot of mental stresses including my parents getting a divorce throughout freshman year I had coach heiser's class almost every week he'd make a comment stating
018that I should try out for football at the end of freshman year I did I went went to the weight room all summer and started to feel a sense of community in the team all LED and held together by coach Heiser throughout my 3 years of playing under Heiser I knew I was not as good as people in my grade or even the younger kids but Heiser would still give me opportunities to play and would not treat me or any other players different taking Heiser out of gburg football is like taking flour out of a cake it will simply not work Heiser isn't just a coach he has cared for and an admir member in our community from Garrett coach Heiser was my coach at Boiling Springs High School no other coach believed in my
019abilities more than him I owee a lot of my confidence to coach Heiser even to this day and by Dakota coach Heiser is the best coach in the state if not the nation when I was in Gettysburg I always had coach Heiser to talk to so let him keep his job please don't remove coach Heiser from our high school football team it will ruin the entire program for years to come we all need coach Heiser in this football program thank you thank you ree our next speaker is Logan Sig I don't have any notes I'm going to wing this um as you can see uh if the board doesn't like outside speculation on topics like this um then there needs to be better communication and better transparency um rumor is that this is an internal
020matter but as you can see it's quite external by the amount of people that have showed up in support for coach heer now twice uh um I volunteer as the strength coach for our district three champion wrestling program both the girls and the boys sending four boys and six girls to States this weekend and uh during the entire season I get the luxury of being up on the track waight room with the wrestling team and from that vantage point I get to watch this group of guys train off season the amount of work the planning the timing the the programming in the waight room is this just a small fraction of what goes into running a successful football program to try to say that in March we're going to upend this and bring in another
021coach to organize football really displays the fact that whoever came up with this policy or this exact decision truly is not qualified to hire a high school football coach so consider that then [Applause] our next speaker is Wade ladyy good evening I'm here once again to discuss the possible opening of the gettsburg area head football coach position at this very moment the job has not been posted on the district website or on indeed after it was alleged to be posted on Friday February 21st and then again this past Friday February 28th it has been three weeks since the news of opening the position broke and two weeks since the last board meeting a meeting where this room was filled with current players and parents some of whom spoke in support of Coach Heiser and what
022he means to them I stood before you all and warned of the consequences that opening the position at this time will have on the 2025 team and those student athletes here we are two weeks later and nothing has changed I am happy to see that it has not been posted but no relief has truly been felt because it seems no one has any answers on whether or not the position may still be opened or if coach Heiser should continue acting as head football coach I'd like to point out that the lack of communication by the board is only exasperating these consequences and are causing questions and concerns throughout the community that no one has answers for and frankly it's a pretty bad look for gettsburg as a whole is coach Heiser going to be retained
023or his position is or is his position going to be reopened as previously stated without knowing if coach Heiser is being retained or not those in the community are questioning if the youth flag football program will occur this spring this is a program that coach Heiser created during his time here and is staffed by assistant coaches and players if you do not know this program typically has participants typically has about 100 participants that ages that age from 7 to 12 and it gives high school players a chance to volunteer their time to become mentors to the youth Additionally the spring recruiting day set to be held on May 12th at Warrior stadium is also up in the air I'm Shing I'm sure the neighboring schools who attend are one ing the status of this event
024as well if you're unfamiliar with this event it's an evening organized by coach Heiser where other local and semi local college coaches are invited to the stadium to meet with and Scout any players that wish to continue their football career past High School this is a great event to get our players exposure to college coaches but is also just as valuable to the neighboring high schools and players who attend the evening as well lastly there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not the head football coach position was open and closed in November I saw the petition advertised with my own eyes in fact I'm holding up a screenshot from the district website of a completed application for the position of head coach dated November 5th 2024 as you can see the position
025was advertised and it was closed without any changes being made to Staffing there is absolutely no reason to reopen this position again at this time and doing so will only harm our student athletes it is time to end this sh grade let Coach Heiser know he is indeed the coach for 2025 and allow him to move forward with all necessary preparations for the 2025 season thank [Applause] you our next speaker is Dante Howard my name is Dante Howard and I am currently a sophomore at Gettysburg Gary high school today I'm speaking not just as a to an athlete but it's someone whose life has been profound my God but as someone whose life has profoundly been infected by coer I know there's been talked about his position POS possibly being in Jeopardy and I felt
026it is crucial to share my story and hopes you will reconsider last summer I receiv received lifechanging news that my family would be moving and at first I wasn't sure where I was going despite the uncertainty I continued sending workouts to get better so my father told me where I was going he told me get I instantly researched the football program and saw potential and what I can do and be a part for two months before I I was even able to move and I was where I originally lived I would travel each day an hour just to attend the workouts just so I can get get an opportunity to show my face and get better and get to know everybody it was exhausting especially for my father who drove an hour every day after
027work coacher knowing this and very little about me stepped in to help me and offered to help me and my father get up and down each day that simple AC kindness changed everything for me coach haer didn't just coach coach haer didn't just help me through football he sat me down and talked me about life college and what I wanted to do in my future he made me feel valued not just as a player but as a person from that moving on from the moment I arrived in Gettysburg he and his family welome me his son Brady made sure I felt included and introduced me to the team on my first day coach got me a helmet in Jersey right away making me feel like part of the film the first practice I made a
028breakout in interception and the team chers made me feel like I finally belong Beyond football Beyond football coach Heiser even offered me to walk walk me to every class my first week of school that level care is rare it shows how much he cares about his players as young men do his athletes coach Heiser built a culture of trust leadership in family within this program he's more than just a coach he's a mentor role model and the Heart of the team if he were to leave it wouldn't just be the loss for team it would be a loss for us all as individuals I said you reconsider the incredible I ask that to reconsider the incredible impact coacher has had on me and so many others please reconsider any decision to remove him he deserves
029to continue leading lead this team we as players need him thank [Applause] you thank you Dante that wraps up our participation from the public this evening that brings us excuse me routine approvals there's been a um a request to separate one of the uh items from the bundle so 5.1 through 5.4 will be uh one motion 5.1 being the agenda 5.2 the regular board minutes February 3rd 2025 5.3 regular board minutes February 18th 2025 and 5.4 the approval of jacobe uh Transportation Drivers may I have a motion please so moved second question hearing no question roll call Cindy yes Al yes Tim yes Mike yes Michelle yes Alice yes Jeremy yes and I vote Yes 5.5 is the last of the routine approvals it's related to the HR um Human Resources recommendations may I have
030a motion so moved second question uh not a question but just a quick comment I I believe Mike rup is on this one as a resignation am I right I I just wanted to say I I think he's been in the district about 15 or 16 years and I think he's done a great job uh and I think we're going to really miss him at the high school and I wish him the best as the new principal at the intermediate school at kaga Valley uh thank you Mike in case you're listening tonight that make a difference go ahead go Ahad Jason also in the HR report uh we have uh Dr matzner uh going to be uh voted on for uh Superintendent of Schools starting July one I've worked with him closely since he've been
031here District's fortunate to have him here um break guy and things will only get better um and also happy happy birthday thank you thank you yeah Dr maxer or actually to follow up on Al on U Mike rup uh Mike Mike worked in the math department at the high school before transitioning to an administrative position if you haven't had a chance to uh know or work with Mike whether you had kids in a district or from whatever other perspective you certainly missed uh missed a gentleman um both a teacher and administrator that was deeply committed to the district so l him uh is not going to be an easy task to to fill in my opinion and of course we announced uh Dr pin would not be with us at the end of last weeks
032or two weeks ago's meeting and uh but the board is equally excited and happy that Dr massner has uh agreed to the contract uh that's going to be voted on here this evening and we certainly welcome a board and believe the district's in the right hands moving forward thank you I appreciate that are there any additional questions on 55 HR report hearing none roll call Jeremy yes Alice yes Michelle no Mike yes Tim yes Al yes Cindy no and I vote Yes brings us two items for board action this evening the board only has one item it's 6.1 it's the Gettysburg area school district school board if you recall this was discussed at length um two weeks ago uh both from the financial aspect of it and from the uh PowerPoint presentation um by our
033illustrious business salesperson blinda uh blinda is there anything additional that the board would need actually let me have a motion and we'll go that direction may I have a motion please so move second okay question uh question for uh Cody uh Cody how uh confident are you that through fundraising efforts we'll be able to recruit the vast majority of those funds or or or to who or whoever I should be asking that question to Dr perin uh Dr Mater um if I may behalf of Cody he's done a lot of our leg work so to speak is to um touching base with WellSpan WellSpan is one of our top um contributors and they have already agreed to contribute uh 50,000 10,000 a year for the next five years so we are in the uh a
034midst of reaching out to the other uh sponsors that we've had with the present scoreboard and and once we do so of that based upon the board's approval then we'll be also reaching out to other community businesses to see about so we are fairly confident that we'll have the reimbursement and or the advertisements um before the five-year Mark um to be fully reimbursed thank you and uh fantastic that's fantastic are there any additional questions before the vote roll call Cindy no Al yes Tim yes Mike yes Michelle no Alice yes Jeremy yes and I vote Yes Kenny can I just say something yes about my vote Yes it's not that I don't want to see a new scoreboard there because I hate seeing that scoreboard that we have there it's broken it looks like crap
035but I can't with a good conscience vote to spend money without having knowing that we have the the fundraising done UPF front so that's where I'm at thank you brings us to our informational items 7.1 the Gettysburg Middle School mathematics resource uh yeah I have that on as an information I to begin this week as a reminder to the board that I have samples of the new resource we're hoping that you'll approve at the next board meeting um for middle school math grade 6 to8 so if you'd like to check those out just reach out let me know and that's just a reminder this is uh vetted and recommended by the middle school mathematics correct cor correct 7.2 ask first I'm sorry go ahead can I ask some questions um Dr massner do you have
036a cost for this program uh for yes I do it's uh $53,000 for three-year purchase and and this is just for Middle School correct grade six through eight so last meeting Miss kwood was here and she was talking about I mean she said about the math program and how the kids there's whiteboards and there's kids up and out of their seats and they're doing great in math why do we need a new program if she's tting how great that one was uh part of the reason is um our current contract with everyday math for is ending um for sixth grade and the middle school math team as a whole was looking for something uh that would show some more continuity across all grade levels six through eight uh right now they use their their piece
037milon things together and use different um seventh and eighth grade uses something different than sixth grade so they wanted to search for something now that we have an opportunity with the contract expiring to show more continuity across grade levels so uh the committee all the math teachers got together we um went through three or four different programs and and they all agreed that this one was the one that was best for what the Middle School wants to do uh it does still include um a lot of those things that Miss kwood mentioned last week um with some of the um anlay materials and a very strong online component as well and will definitely benefit our middle school students is there any reason why we can't write our own curriculum it just so we keep talking
038about how great our teachers are and and they can do all this so I'm just wondering agreed and the program can we do that the program that we're using that we're going to be purchasing uh is basically a resource for our teachers to use so the teachers are still going to be teaching the standards this is just the resource that they'll use to teach those standards it'll allow our teachers to have some um some creativity and flexibility in the classroom while teaching the standards that they need to teach plus more importantly whenever you're purchasing uh curriculum and primary resources not only were not only were the programs written uh but they were tested over a period of years so they're so they're research based so the materials show growth in students and growth in learning
039so that um you know if you write your own material by the time you would test validity and to see if it might actually work be four years down the road um plus it'd be pretty expensive to release five teachers for two years to write the curriculum and then um probably another another year so basically we're we're benefiting to a degree from a lot of work from other from other people that have already done the leg work um trying to pick a program that is going to help us uh increase achievement um you know growth scores have been good but we still want to increase um achievement so um this is what the teachers uh felt would be the best program to help us increase achievement so that's the that's the direction that we're recommending
040that the board approve and just one last comment on that um our curriculum cycle is basically every five or so years we look at renewing resources or curriculum for each different subjects the current um books that the seventh and eth grade middle school math teachers are using our 2015 books so it was time to upgrade them anyway did math change since 2015 did math change yes the the resources have changed some of the standards have changed yes instructional strategies change constantly the way kids learn change the way we teach kids change um certainly the math classes that I sat in out in dorville Pennsylvania in 20 in 1976 are different than the ones these kids are sitting in um so yeah the the resources change um the the ideas the big ideas and the concepts
041might not change so you might still be learning um you know systems of equations or solving for multivariable fractions or whatever the content might be that that might not have changed but the way that we deliver it um and the way the tools that we give our our teachers in their toolbox to deliver it is really kind of Paramount to what we do if you strip it all down there's nothing more important um actually I want to make a comment because I had a friend of mine actually has a third grader and she gave me a one of her homework assignments um her mom couldn't help her do it and it's not because she's stupid or she doesn't understand math um but I got to tell you we're we're missing the boat with these kids
042not learning how to do their multiplication tables off the top of their head and I know everybody's like oh we you don't have to memorize things you really do so that's all I have to say about that but one more question you said this is a threeyear correct contract but then you said we do things every five years so are we going to are you going to tell me in 3 years that we have to renew this contract or or can we continue to use it how's that going to work oh we should be able to continue to use it and we would like to renew it in 3 years once we're done depending on you know hopefully we'll see the growth that we hope to see uh again we're replacing everyday math in sixth
043grade which I know has been around for a lot longer than three years uh and we're currently we have a committee of of uh K5 teachers looking at what we're going to use next in uh elementary school because again they're using Everyday Math K through five as well um and everyday math is is an old curriculum that we need to replace and and we're looking at something to speak on what you're talking about with with fact fluency that's going to be very heavy in fact fluency because that is important I agree any additional questions sounds like you taught math before you got here a long time ago okay I was getting that Rhythm no additional questions we'll move on 7.2 the administration building renovation uh and design proposal are there any questions on an informational
044item hearing none 7.3 is a 2025 2028 District comprehensive pan any questions I have some go ahead Michelle that's me once again okay so I was I read the comprehensive plan actually read it um couple questions so how do you pick the people who are on the steering committee so I did send an email out uh asked for some volunteers I went to the building principles uh and asked the principles as well for uh some volunteers from to get some volunteers from their building both uh you know teachers and different staff members uh invited both um Al Moyer and Alice Broadway to be on the committee as well so the committee was comprised of uh board members parents staff we had a few students on the committee as well and the student recommendations are made
045by the building principles all right so as I went down through that the Future Ready index um one of the things for challenges was that no groups at at the high school met the Target in any of the Keystone subjects no groups in the Middle School met Targets in in ela or math but then that was followed by a next box that said um eighth grade scored well above in math and science so I'm just confused on what there was a bit of a difference in some of the data between achievement and growth which you know we talked about um during our committee and we talked about that actually at a previous board meeting when I went through the data last April uh the difference between achievement and growth the achievement is uh basically how
046the students do on the state assessments and then when you're talking about growth you're talking about the students progressing from the beginning of the year to the end of the year okay and then I noticed on there under career and Technology Ed um it said that only 19.7% scored um competent or Advanced on the nocti test but Mr Lusk was here the other couple meetings ago and made it sound like we were doing really great with those scores the data that we had when the committee started on the comprehensive plan was the 2223 data so when Mr Lusk was here a couple meetings ago may have been more recent data okay and then um just a couple more I promise sure um it said that we were going to partner with local businesses employers Community
047organizations and agencies to meet the needs of the students um can you tell me what type of needs you're referring to and how do you see the community in helping to fill those needs well one of the things that came up in the um in the needs assessment that the committee conducted was just a need to um basically be more out in the community and partner with our local businesses for anything that we need you know we talking about scoreboard uh anything that we may need here in the district we have resources in the community that I feel and Community Field are untapped resources and we want to make sure we include those people can you just give me an example I just did I mean if we're talking about you know fundraising for different
048things um you know even as far as job shadowing local businesses job and again even I know our elementary schools do some things with Junior Achievement where they're looking for volunteers to come into the buildings and and reaching out to communities to get volunteers to come into the buildings as well okay that's all I had just wanted to make sure I was clear on what I was reading I do not have a question related to that but um more towards Belinda and Belinda I apologize I need to ask this in public because there was one or two emails that came to the board um and they went to at least on my end I thought it came to the whole board but it came to me and it went into a junk file and it
049was related to demographic study and I think you and I spoke about that so for for transparency we we hear that word the demographics study was um initiated and is initiated by the district that looks out five a five and a 10year marker correct that is correct we reached out to stman and asked for another demographic study to be done um we have been in contact with him um last time was two weeks ago right before the board meeting and um he and his wife have had several medical issues and you know just delaying the project and of itself um he indicated that he was going to be hopeful by the end of this month of course again the end of the month came February is gone so we need to reach Ro out to
050him this week to find out if there's an additional update because I do know he had several appointments and he was uncertain if he could finalize it by the end of February so um it's we haven't paid for anything at this particular point in time we're just waiting for him to issue the report so we can have the report as well as um issue payment for any services that he's done yeah and I don't I don't mean to it's not driven by me and I don't know if it's even driven by the board but I won't speak for any other board members it's definitely not by me but I know that we've had comment uh to the board both publicly and through email and I think and I don't want to speak for them but
051I got the impression it was more related to the unrealistic idea in my opinion that we have a lot of empty rooms and empty space within the district because our demographics have changed and I think the suggestion there is is that as we look out five years that our demographics are lowering therefore we don't need certain space and certain expenditures um that we're that we that we're voting on and I don't want to put words in their mouth but that's what I took from that so having said the de the demographic end of this I would just ask that we reach back out and see if we can't we can't get an answer and if they're not able to do that then we need like if you recall the account I'm sorry the Auditors if
052you recall the audit the board remembers it it got pushed out each year an extra month later later later and we were all we were right into voting on the first round of budget and we still hadn't seen the audit yeah we're kind of finding ourselves in the same place with a demographic study and each board member or public can put whatever they wait day want on the demographic study to me you know it's Hocus Pocus you're looking out there saying this might happen in five years yeah I do know in speaking with him he indicated that there's AB and flows with the demographic study um but nothing that he noted offand that would be a a drastic drop in enrollment that we would need to look and address our facilities so I I do
053know that we're looking for that report to make decisions on eisenh hour uh so um more to come and I'll update the board as soon as I hear from him yeah like I said to you I understand the medical end of this if you could just follow up and see if we can get a timeline and we get it posted on the uh posted on the website and yes you know the citizens can believe or the community can believe what they want to believe and take whatever they want from it the report will come before the board before we post it to the website okay thank you yeah and and I'll share that I've been in in schools for 31 years and a building building principal for 10 um assistant superintendent for six um I've
054never been in a building that has an empty room in 31 years I promise you all the all of our rooms are used so I would suggest if if there were if there are folks out there that can't sleep at night because they think that there are empty rooms in our buildings my suggestion is call the school and get a tour it's the easiest way to do it um but simply don't sit and try to compare 1965 programming with 2025 programming and think that they're equal um there are programs and and services offered to kids now in schools that weren't around just 20 even 25 years ago so um it's an Apple store in just comparison so uh we keep track of all that and uh utilize the space instructionally the best we can thank
055you Jason Mr President if I could just make one more comment about the comprehensive plan um it is posted on the website the plan itself is about 40 pages long so we do have a very short summary uh page that's also on the website posted for um the community anybody who wants to review it we did send a Google form out to all the parents once it was posted um inviting them to read both the plan and the summary forth wanted and provide feedback I did get feedback from eight different stakeholders just uh some comments about the plan um it does have to be submitted to the state um in their portal by the 31st of March so we plan to have it on as an action item for approval at the next board meeting
056uh and I just want to take a second to thank the 20 plus members that were on the committee that met for once a month for five months to create the plan and especially um Al moer and Alice Broadway for representing the board so thank you both thank you that brings us to board committee reports yeah Mr President we have a policy committee meeting which will be on March 11th always the second Tuesday at 4M here in the administration building thank you Mr President uh regarding the legislative report I would just piggy back off to Dr parent's remark though uh I'm reading tomorrow at Franklin Elementary and U anyone who has questions about our demographics I'm pretty sure when I go to Franklin Elementary and roam around there's not going to be any room that's
057not being uh used for a great purpose uh I did want to report uh that Vanessa and I recently attended the Adams County Council of governance and uh Dan ma was there in person and Doug mastriano and torren eer their offices were represented uh the focus was on the Adams County Technical Institute and where things stand right now and I know Mr Davis has been representing us on that group and doing a great job in that regard uh the thing that I want to bring up that Dan brought up that I'm hearing for the first time is that there has been some push about the possibility of repurposing the north Handover Mall uh that's pretty much vacant at this point and from what I understand it's going to be even less occupied in the very
058near future uh that possibly uh also the idea of satellite campuses where each of the schools in the county would have a certain couple of Trades that they would host and they would be using some existing buildings or buildings that could be repurposed that aren't being used anymore I'm I'm I'm assuming Mr Davis that you and the rest of the committee have looked at that but what what concerned me the most though in hearing from the legislators from Harrisburg unless we have fully uh evaluated at those things uh before we build a 70 or $80 million billing that's going to really impact property taxes uh I think it's going to be important that we meet with those legislators if we're going to get their support and have them work with Governor Shapiro and and I
059think all of us are on the same page and want to support uh the Adams County Technical Institute and we all believe that the trades are really important and that we're turning kids away right now that would really like to go and get involved there so uh so I'm just you know challenging all of us across the county that uh and working with the legislators we have a little work to do with them to make sure that we have vetted those things uh can I just respond to that real quick you certainly may so I think that uh that we've shared with uh the legislators that um all the plans for act that are in place right now in terms of uh future programming uh future instructional space future sites those are those all came
060out of a year-long feasibility study um so so the data that we're utilizing to to kind of you know move those ideas forward were was the data that was uh collected over that period of time taking a look at um like livable wage um occupation areas um that that are useful for uh the county in terms of programming that the students might benefit from so the feasibility study is kind of the The Benchmark for the future programming um we we're certainly as a as a county have are considering some vacant sites for um construction and one of the one of the biggest things that we have to consider whenever we're looking at those sites is kind of the geographical center of the member districts so for instance um the Handover Mall might be a great
061spot for kago Valley School District not so much for Fairfield um so we found kind of a geographic center of of the county and uh it really kind of rides um almost really along Route 15 just east of just e east of gettyburg not far from where the current acti building is actually um in terms of uh geographically so um so as you stated we're looking at all of those variables um and with student programming student programming driving any type of facility discussion because the programming and and what the students need instructionally is going to is going to create the facility um versus the other way around and Dr Baron I appreciate everything you're saying uh but I would also say that I think there's some work to do with our legislators and if we're
062going to get some support from Harrisburg uh the the other thing I would say uh you know Fairfield is a I'm a big fan of the knights and I realize that may not be that convenient for them but the possibility of recruiting Hanover School District and Southwestern School District away from the York School of Technology also offers some possibilities and and I I would just say again just Again Vanessa and I just met with them very recently there's some work to do there uh so I I I I I think somehow some way we need to uh recoll collaborate more with those legislators and and if we're going to get support on grants and some subsidy for the a building or for our programmatic issues uh we've got some work to do thank you yeah
063absolutely I played Powerball tonight just in case I'll build it uh Jeremy yeah well Al you sort of beat me to it and you kind of a little bit ahead of yourself here with some of these things I want to give a quick overview there's a lot of things flying around people think it's really farther ahead than what it is um with act TI we're really behind the eight and I think everybody knows that there was an authority put together 50 years ago which is done expired there's been another Authority put together um we're doing a big Injustice to these kids um 2022 they started kicking around the idea or we started kicking around the idea of what it would look like to have a Standalone act they got under the blanket or out from
064under the blanket of Gettysburg um did a feasibility study um in 2023 they presented that I think the fall of um they created an authority which they would have to have if they were ever to do some kind of a land purchase um they we are not anywhere we are are simply looking at what this looks like and we haven't even had a chance we haven't even had land brought to the Joc yet to even look at to even begin to put numbers together so whether it's a 50 70 80 million project I couldn't even begin to tell you that we don't even know what the five districts could could afford the Joc has been taking their time with this because they're trying to cover all aspects and you're 100% correct there's a lot of
065lot of pieces of this need to be looked at there's a lot of misinformation flying around the they were given a $500,000 Grant by the county commissioner specifically for the purchase of land that wasn't to buy a building if that was to buy a building then that Grant would have to be Rewritten it was simply a land purchase to do a standalone acti because in the beginning that's how that that's where it came from that's how the whole thing evolved no decisions have been made the superintendents do not run Adams County Technical Institute it was run by the Joc the Joc ask the superintendent who gather once a month for their opinion on things that's strictly where we're at at this point in time there is there is nothing more there is nothing less we
066have public meetings every month and I would recommend that if you have questions you have concerns before you go and write stuff in the paper and write stuff on social media come in and ask some questions it's an open book we're glad to answer anything that anybody has we're there for the kids we're there to try to build something better for this County for this community and we're trying to do it so where it doesn't kill our taxpayers we have five districts that we have to look out for when we were doing this uh it's not an easy process we have spent a lot of time kicking around ideas it's a drawn out process so I don't want anybody to think that we're farther ahead than what we really are because we're not we're not
067anywhere we're kicking around ideas we haven't even had a chance to put anything together once we do that then we will make presentations to the five districts on what that looks like the districts can ask questions the districts can give you know the boards can give their input and so on and so forth but all the stuff I've been seeing in this past week like it it it's absolutely ridiculous it really is just just come to a meeting just ask questions I mean I've had one board member attend a meeting that's it so before we get up here and we start talking why don't you find out what it's all about first why don't you ask the pever what it really matters first and don't ask Dan ma Dan ma thinks that's a great idea
068I think Dan Mal probably the only one that thinks that's a great idea I don't think anybody else thinks it's a great idea I don't know about that well then you know more than I do Al so know by what the legislators are telling me I don't care what the leg that's it's good that's all right we're gonna we're going to move we have kids in the room right now we got uh we're going to move uh we're going to move forward with this there's going to be more to come with this as we get some land brought to us there will be a plan put together to not purchase anything but a simple plan to bring to these boards these boards can take a look at it and the boards can collectively decide what's
069best for our students moving forward so hey Jeremy just to help out the interested public who might want to attend said meeting do you know the date and time off the top of your head uh you have to get on and check it it does change sometimes it's the third sometimes it's the fourth Wednesday the 26 sticks in my head for this coming month but don't don't honestly God don't hold me to that um more than welcome we we would love we get nobody to attend those meetings I mean these are our kids we'd love to have people come and ask questions we really would we openly want people to come and ask question so and just say something about that so I was the one that went to the last j meeting and Jeremy
070what I'm hearing you say is that you guys haven't seen anything about ground any land any any different properties not yet they they are yet to bring that to us we asked them to find it and to bring it well that was going to be my question because at that meeting what the superintendent from Fairfield had said was that the the superintendents had been meeting with Crabtree and warball and the question was brought up who authorized them to speak to Crabtree and worall I think it was collectively done probably back in 22 or 23 I don't CRA rbau is the group that worked with uh the superintendent and the director and the J on the feasibility study yeah Crabtree warau has been a partner from the feasibility study on up through well the the answer
071that was given and it was really an answer but it was well we're not obligated to continue to work with them which I was like well so it was very confusing who authorized the them who authorized the superintendent to speak to crab tree and rball and who's paying for that because they're not doing that for free actually they are are doing it for free they're doing it for free then that needs to be said that they're going to do it for free because that would be surprising to me that they're going to do it for free they they don't think that they're going to get the contract yeah they they're not they're not guaranteed a building like if we would find a piece of land and create a design and build there's no guarantee that
072that they're a part of that project they simply were part of the feasibility study we have we have most of the people in the county have great relationships with them because they're extremely prominent in building school facilities and uh they're just good people they want to help so that's why they're there one other thing North Han mall is actually in York County I don't think we should be putting Adams County dollars into York County I think there's a lot of people that agree with you on that yeah I I think me being one of them I'll just tell you right out I'm not a fan of that so that would be crazy but doesn't sound like we're anywhere close to that anyway no unless I social media maybe okay anything additional if I may the
073next meeting of acti is March 26 at 5:30 p.m. your wish might come true and the the only other announcement I had was just a reminder that this Friday is early dismissal for professional development secondary the normal 11:00 Elementary noon third quarter ends March 25th the uh next meeting will be March 17th at 7 o'clock May I have a motion to adjourn please so