001at the comments the majority of them are on one subject so while it's important to everybody if you can keep it two minutes be greatly appreciated good evening everyone uh so uh near the end of the two minutes i believe we have another board member amy beth who will give you a heads up when you're nearing your time i apologize in advance if i mispronounce anyone's name uh some of the handwriting is even worse than mine that's believe it or not but so uh all right so uh first up uh lynn aaron good evening board of directors administrators and community members i am lynne aaron a retired guest for gary school district teacher i taught in the district for 40 years everyone who knows me my family friends past students their parents and colleagues know
002how passionately i feel about having had such an amazing opportunity to teach children in the gettysburg area school district i involved myself in every aspect of teaching that gettysburg had to offer i was one of several teachers and an administrator that created our own after school program at lincoln elementary for all children i found gettysburg school district during my 40 years to be a school district that was constantly searching and open to new programs to help every child in the community to learn throughout my career i taught elementary curriculum to fifth graders including social studies during my time at gettysburg i was proud to serve in the district's strategic planning committee which included teachers administrators and parents and i hope to serve again as a community member as a team we updated and revised the
003gettysburg social studies curriculum to include the teaching of diversity which met the pa standards it is time that the gettysburg area school district posts all of his curriculum i've always felt the support of the school board members administrators and parents recently i was saddened by the gettysburg times article that attacked the gettysburg area school teacher that i served on committees with all gettysburg teachers are evaluated by gettysburg area administrators administrators to ensure that the gettysburg curriculum is being taught gettysburg school board member last month excuse me president last time said this teacher has an impeccable career i was hoping that the gettysburg administrators and school board members would immediately inform the gettysburg times that this teacher is an asset to the district thank you so much for your time thanks lynn [Applause] next we have
004amanda grant good evening my name is amanda grant and i'm a parent of a student within the district i'm a gettysburg graduate and a secondary level teacher in another district i would like to thank the members of the board and all who are here tonight for their commitment and dedication to our students tonight i am asking you to continue supporting our community's right to choose whether our students and staff wear masks in my 12 plus years of teaching in public education the last few years have been the hardest i will not tell my students what to believe but instead teach them sorry i get to a part that's hard but instead teach them to think critically about the information being presented and to analyze it based on their personal morals and standards i am not
005used to sharing my opinions in a public setting but there comes a time when we must speak out in the past year i have seen firsthand an increase in the number of the students suffering with depression anxiety and suicidal ideations as well as the attempts at and even tragically the completion of suicide more and more young adults have been hospitalized or needed counseling services this is reaching a desperate level and it is my belief that we need to dismiss terminology that feels hopeless to our children such as the new normal and work to return to normalcy for the mental health of our children for some students masking causes anxiety and panic attacks but to share that information puts them in the spotlight exactly where those students do not wish to be for others not wearing
006a mask causes them to feel exposed to the virus in all situations fighting for and preserving the rights for families to choose whether or not to wear a mask should be paramount while health and safety encompasses many aspects i believe the mental health piece must be the most important when we consider that according to webmd's article coronavirus recovery the overall covid19 recovery rate is 97 to 99.7 everyone here this evening has their own beliefs formed by their own experiences in no way do i diminish these but i prayerfully ask you to continue to support the option for families to do what they believe is best masks such masks seem like such a small issue but what they symbolize and the power of the mandate represents so much more i pray that you have the wisdom
007and discernment to make these decisions thank you [Music] thank you amanda next we have jenna scott good evening my name is dr jenna scott and i'm a graduate of gettysburg district and currently reside in the district first i'd like to thank the administration for adhering to the state masking requirement knowing that our educators students and community will have additional safety measures prevent the spread of covet as comforting as we know covet is not only a health safety issue but is one that magnifies equity gaps students learn best in person especially those most underserved including students with disabilities english learners homeless students and more broadly students from economically disadvantaged families as a result of being less likely to have a parent who is able to stay home during the day for online virtual learning further and
008importantly students suffer much less social and emotional trauma as proven through the us department of education research when they are able to learn in person therefore preventing community spread of covet is essential in addition to the equity issues created due to covid gettysburg continues to have growing equity gaps in achievement this is particularly illuminated when reviewing federal and state data for achievement and growth scores i would like to better understand how the board is supporting the district administration and his teachers to address these achievement gaps most importantly what is the overarching district comprehensive plan including title 1 plans to close the gaps and create an equitable learning environment for all students how are district plans incorporating evidence-based practices from the us department of education's institute of education sciences and office of elementary and secondary education
009in my review of the plans i saw very little documentation of evidence as specified in the federal every student succeeds act as an example of a best practice to close achievement gaps documented by the us department of education is using culturally responsive and sustaining curriculums that focus on student assets and cultural capital how is the district incorporating culturally responsive and sustaining curriculums as of now the district administration does not publicly post its curriculum and watching what my daughter was learning last year as a second grader at lincoln it did not appear that the curriculum was embracing such pedagogy but again since it was not posted or communicated to parents i'm unable to truly know i asked that the board hold the district administration accountable for implementing evidence-based culturally responsive and sustaining curriculum that will lead
010to better outcomes for all students the curriculum should incorporate professional learning for educators including central administrators principals and teachers as the district considers how to strengthen its plan both comprehensive and title ones to best leverage federal money for important sources such as title one and two as well as local tax cut tax dollars i also asked the board better assess how the district is leveraging thank you jenna we we need to move on thank you you can put we'll uh put the the if you have it in writing there we'll take that and put it into the records there but we want to make sure and give everybody an opportunity i understand i do ask that next time it's communicated early how long people have to speak that would be amy beth if you could
011give everyone a 30 second uh heads up that would be good do you have do you have a do you have something that you want to finish yep thank you very much yes um just speaking now from not reading as fast as i possibly could i'm very concerned that we have plans in place in this district and stakeholders are not engaged in the process that is not what the federal requirements state i am not seeing that at all and it very much concerns me i understand that we have different different perspectives and incorporating different perspectives in the development of plans particularly those that are using evidence-based practices as required by essa and as required federally it's essential i do this for a living i work with state education agencies i work with districts we're not
012doing it here and we need to start doing it yeah and i didn't we're not trying to be heavy-handed that's why i asked you if you had something you wanted to wrap up or finish yes that's not our goal here this evening we just wanted to try to move because we understand some hot topic items i understand i understand so administrations here i'm sure they've they've heard what your request and i see jason taking notes so hopefully you'll get an answer i mean obviously the board can't provide you that answer that would come from that no but i will say i have spoken with administration and i do think it's important for the board to have oversight that this is actually taking place okay thank you thank you next we have pamela keller good evening
013so i printed out this order this order is not an order of law it is just an order it is a strong recommendation that we wear a mask and this morning my son was denied his education and was not permitted into the building because he would not wear a mask so what are my tax dollars paying for secondly i think we all need to read the constitution article 1 section 27 lastly how many of us signed in tonight using the same pen touch that same door handle out there or sitting in a seat with somebody else that maybe was sick a week ago [Applause] think about that for a minute it's not wearing a mask it's touching things if this covet was such a big deal why isn't the school shut school isn't shut because
014then we won't get the funding this isn't an order of law it's just a recommendation and i do not appreciate my son being denied his education this morning because he refused to wear a mask [Applause] [Music] thank you pamela next we have suzanne seibel i like jenna prepared and read your policies and there's no time limit in the policies so i know i'm going to go a little bit over two minutes i am the center director at st james lutheran church early learning center and i have been there for 23 years we've been told over and over that the goal this year is in-person learning however the current health and safety plan that is posted on the website in the most recent agenda item added to the website makes me wonder if that's truly your
015goal i had the pleasure of attending meet the teacher night with my great niece yeah i'm that old i have a great mix i was really upset with what i saw because i know what the current guidelines are desks we're not three feet apart they're one foot tiles a monkey can count to two i barely fit in between the rows i'm not a huge person that should not have happened ninety-five percent of the grown-ups weren't wearing a masking doors which disappointed me because they're the role models for these children that we're raising disturbed by these observations i tried to rationalize things in my head the grownups weren't closer than six feet to us they were in and out of the classrooms yadda yadda that's when i went to the health and safety plan first i
016was concerned with item one paragraph three it states that the gettysburg area school district is considering the recommendations 30 seconds not adhering to the recommendations i further was shocked to read in 3f one word was changed students and employees are encouraged to report a positive case they're not required that is sad i'm so disappointed i called the representatives at the department of health and they said their response was this is how school districts are getting around things they're changing one word and they're hoping the community doesn't read it and doesn't know any better now we've been in school for two weeks first one child care center that has three sites closed for the first week 250 children had no care for the first week of school right now another center in our county is closed
017while a staff pen person is hospitalized and three other staff have tested positive code leaving a hundred children without care describe the kova guidelines as a puzzle we need all the pieces for it to work we're not doing any of it we're not social distancing where students are traveling the hall crossing each other we're not wearing masks i don't think everybody has to wear a mask this is one piece of the puzzle but if we put all the pieces together we have a better chance of remaining open and reaching the goal of in-person learning for the school year i'm speaking from experienced we opened our program in may 2020 and i've only had to close three classrooms i haven't had to close my entire building and yeah i'm not gonna so i think the agenda
018item to take the time of our solicitor is a waste of time because it's a waste of financial resources it's a waste of our energy because we're going to be denied three other school districts in this county have already tried and their solicitors have said it's a waste thank you but you have doubled your time well like i said it needs to be in the policy that's posted on your website thank you suzanne next we have siri phelps good evening i'm here as a parent i have two children in the district uh first i just want to thank dr perrin for the email that was sent last week i was very happy to read it and see that the district would be upholding the state's mask mandate i was also glad to see that there
019was an faq page posted and that there was a coveted chart on the website similar to the dashboard from last year i think it's really important for the district to have transparency and communication with parents so i was very happy to see that in looking at the chart today it was last updated last friday it said that there were 17 positive cases within our last 14 days um so i figured with excuse me 17 positive cases um looking at that so if we take a positive case we figure that that then leads to the quarantine of say five to ten additional students who were exposed and within proximity to that positive case we're talking about just within the first two weeks of the school year 100 to 200 students being quarantined and that worries me
020as we continue into the year if there's the discussion of masks not being required that that number is just going to multiply and if we want to talk about students being denied their education then that applies to students who are being forced to quarantine because they're exposed to classmates not wearing masks and potentially bringing covet into the classroom um our students were required to wear masks last year and i think we did a pretty good job with that i think that our closings luckily were very limited i think our quarantines were limited and i would like to see that continue this year um i think it's important that we also focus on what dr parent said about putting our differences aside and realizing that all of us here want kids in school all of us
021want kids learning in person with their teachers that's how students needs are met that's how students who have special needs or are lacking things at home can get those things by being here in the school where they can be supported by our wonderful faculty so i ask that you uphold the mask mandate which will allow students to be here and hopefully limit the number of quarantines throughout the year thank you thank you siri next we have sarah and sarah i apologize i'm having trouble making out your last name sarah from friendship lane unfortunately i didn't hear that i'm reminding everybody but i'm not going to go back and forth we're all grown adults in here we can have a civil conversation i shouldn't even have to intervene so i'm going to remind everybody again agree
022or don't agree allow whoever's speaking to finish their comments i'm doing the best we're doing the best we can up here we're taking that into consideration and let's move forward thank you thank you mr president and sarah uh what is your last name help me out it's okay dr moyer it's breakful and it's difficult and you coached my son max and it was hard then too thank you for coaching him well he asked me and i couldn't read it so hard i mean i did not marry up in the last name department um i feel that it's likely i will get booed i'm totally fine with that but i would also like to echo what miss phelps said in her thanking you for the support of the mask mandate i would like you to also
023i would encourage you to continue to enforce the mask mandate i did not come with anything prepared i just want to share with you i am a family that has been impacted by kovid we've lost two family members every time we tell anybody that they're very sorry for our loss they ask if there was a pre-existing condition in both cases there was not right now i would not like to rely on webmd and everyone else's feelings and i understand that it's hard that a child is turned away but i also understand that there are several things that the school does to make sure that our children are safe including enforcing dress codes which are also i believe in violation of our children's first amendment rights so i would ask that you keep our children safe
024that you keep them masked and that you do everything you can to keep them in person thank you thank you [Applause] thank you next we have christine hopkinson hello um thank you for letting me make a comment my name is christine hopkinson i'm the parent of two gettysburg area school district elementary school children when i saw the email from dr perrin last week i originally planned to come today to thank him for sending that out for saying that we were going to adhere to the mask mandate and also for putting up the covid dashboard again it's something that i think is helpful for us to have just to have data to make our own decisions as parents or just know what the general coveted situation is in the district so thank you dr perrin for
025that then last night i looked at the agenda for tonight and noticed this item regarding the possibility of challenging the department of health's mask mandate i was shocked and so i wanted to come express that i support the mandate and i'm surprised that you all would even spend your time challenging this i assume the majority of you disagree with it since you did not want to have a mandate you didn't want to make one yourselves but the mandate was implemented statewide because of rising coveted cases and i would expect the district to follow that think about the lesson that we're setting for our children by saying we don't we don't have to follow this we don't have to do what they're telling us to do again you have a dress code for people for children
026there's behavior rules about behavior that children have to follow i don't get to make that choice for my child and we shouldn't get to make the choice for this either it can be temporary that's fine but i expect i would hope that you all would adhere to that mandate um i believe that you have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all of our children in the district regardless of political affiliation or personal views and so i would ask that you take this responsibility seriously and follow the mass mandate thank you [Applause] thank you janine weaver hello my name is janine weaver i am the parent of four children in the district i have two in james gettys one in the middle school and one in the high school first i'd like to say thank
027you for following the masked mandate as everyone well so far has and for having the coveted tracker up that gives me a peace of mind when i can know that okay there's only one case in james getty's and that makes me feel comfortable to send my child masked to school now to move on i'm actually disappointed to see that we're not enforcing the mass mandate here at this meeting if we look in the in the audience the majority are not mass what happened to the mass mandate then also and more disappointing are the school board members that are sitting up there without masks it's a mandate we're telling our children we have to do it what kind of example are you setting for the children now next i would like to remind you of a
028quote that's in um your oath of office you are oath to us to do certain things first of all it says that the future welfare of this community of this state and of this nation depends on the largest measures upon the quality of education we provide in the public schools to fit every learner the quality quality means in person in person school is where we have quality teaching i have a child someone was talking about suicide rates um i have a child that tried to commit suicide at the age of nine i spent months in the hospital with him and let me tell you having him at home closed up with a computer and no other students and no teachers to teach him was way worse than what it is having a mask on his
029face in school i'd like to go on that um to res another statement in the oath of office is to resist every temptation and outside pressure to use my position as a school thank you for your member to benefit you let everyone else go i'm going to continue speaking please thank you so much you let everyone else speak now actually actually i'm actually i'm controlling the meeting you can finish your thoughts yes but she didn't do that to anyone else that needs to be acknowledged we're not going to argue back and forth your thoughts please so outside pressure to use let me start that over so it's clear to resist every temptation and outside pressure to use my position as a school board member to benefit with myself or any individual or agency apart from
030the total interest of the school district you are being faced with anti-masters that are moms of liberty that is an individual organization that does not have the focus of our children we are here to focus on our children not this political thank you that they have caused thank you thank you [Applause] next we have uh chris chris sites good evening my name is chris seitz i'm married with three children all seven and under i have a teaching degree in health and physical education i'm a veteran and a local realtor and resident of gettysburg my four-year-old daughter will be attending the preschool program this fall without a face mask although i've been vocal privately and online i've never been to a school board meeting here i am um it's better to be sorry lose my point
031there are three points that i'd like to talk to you about regarding face coverings point one i will not mask my four-year-old daughter by now i'm sure everyone is aware of the exemption available online of this so-called mandate section 3b the department of health school mask order grants the option to uh you know get rid of the mask as a parent you should not have to consult your doctor to get a note for this or fill out special paperwork but i guess everybody's going to do that we're going to fill out some special paperwork and and we're going to uh you know go at it at that route i printed out some something that i'd like to send to each one of you i'll probably send this out to you tomorrow morning 32 adverse health
032effects that have been noted uh regarding wearing face masks masks physiological psychological and other health consequences i'm not going to get into it because it'll take too long point number two i will not mask my four-year-old daughter there's no face covering protocols that i'm aware of last year received no pamphlet regarding instructions on how to a child should put on a mask give me one more minute please take the mask off clean it store it my nephew uh indicated last year that he sneezed into his mask he flipped it inside out that's great point number three i will not be masking my four-year-old daughter we are not created to breathe our own exhaust and hide and what hide behind what makes each of us wonderfully unique one of the school board members and i talked
033about this this past week um losing funding the the superintendent could lose their job i don't want to see anybody lose their job or lose funding but but we need to get above the money and do what is right for our kids in summary i'd just like to say anybody guess i will not be masking my 40 year old daughter thank you [Applause] thanks thanks chris on a side note we can you can slow down we're not going to go heavy-handed we're just trying to keep it to two minutes i'm allowing people to finish their comments so everybody can take a deep breath while they're speaking they don't have to rattle through yeah thank you mr president thank you chris next we have michael flaherty hello this is also my first time at a board
034meeting and i do carry my own uh pen and my own hand sanitizer and it's a pain in the butt but it works although we do know that covet well i'm i'm deferring to the cdc the center for disease control is one of the most reputable respected agencies in the world and i mean the world not just the united states why does that matter because the pennsylvania department of health follows the center for disease control guidelines and the board is following or the school district is following those guidelines i understand the passion here i get fired up too it's one of the reasons i wasn't even going to come here and and i really understand where everyone's coming from i just want people to be practical i'm the parent of three kids in this school
035district three students and uh i also have a master of public health degree from the university of north carolina at chapel hill but i'm not speaking from a public health perspective it is one of the greatest disasters in in our country's history we're not going to be talking very much about the the spanish flu which actually didn't start in spain but we're going to be talking about what did we do about it the board has such a tough decision and and i understand it's really tough my kids are all in high school it's really tough with parents that have those young kids whether it's a four-year-old or or kids in middle school or whatever i mean the kids in elementary school really tough for them there are some alternatives but let's be practical the one
036thing that we really want is to keep the schools open we want in-person education and the way we can do that is by having the mitigation by center disease control guidelines if someone is is uh near someone that turns out positive and they have a mass and the person that turns out positive have a mass they don't need the quarantine they don't need to shut down the classroom they only need to remove one student they keep it open so let's be practical if you want to if you want to fight against mass we need to take it to harrisburg not to this board that's only doing what they have to do thank you michael next we have jeremiah light hello everybody i've been here a couple times to talk to you guys and uh glad
037to see at least one other person you know uh out here talking against uh you know child abuse that is putting masks on young children i have three children that are in elementary school and frankly i'll just say that putting a mask on them for eight hours a day is child abuse there's no reason that they should be doing this i think somebody came and talked at the last meeting and said they were a college professor or something along those lines and that uh you know it was fine wearing masks all day for them but of course they're leaving after every class and going out to the quad or whatever they want to do go to them going uh walking around they can take it off these kids are stuck in a room for eight
038hours a day with a mask rebreathing their own exhaust uh their own carbon dioxide their own bacteria i think it was found that a group of parents sent masks that had been laundered off to a lab to get tested a couple months back and it came back with tons of different types of bacteria on these masks um even after the mass had been washed the bacteria was present so our kids are going to be wearing these masks potentially causing other issues like hypoxia bacterial pneumonias from wearing masks all day it's completely pointless you know the master worn last year and there were still quarantines of different grades so how did that happen uh the mass didn't stop it it's a joke in 30 seconds basically the the point of the mask mandates is because eventually
039they want to have vax mandates that's what it's all for so you gotta have mass candidates wear your mask so then later oh you gotta get your back so you can't come to class you gotta get your vex that's what it's all about and i'm not gonna submit to either one of these things it's ridiculous and the governor doesn't have this authority he didn't get his way from the school boards the majority of school boards so he decided oh well i'll just mandate it this roundabout way from some law from 1929. now let's let me let this last thing i think acting secretary bream that isn't even that has no medical background at all she's a lawyer uh instituted this because she said there was a viral outbreak it's only from one confirmed case in
040anvil cleon school district and that school district advised it was one case and they decided to cancel a football game that's what she's using as the basis for this it's absolutely ridiculous and i hope you guys fight back because if not you know i think it's basis for some of you to lose your positions and other people to come in and fight for our kids thank you [Applause] thank you jeremiah next we have caitlyn rickard good evening i have two students in the gettysburg school district i am here to extend support for continuing the mass optional plan after all i'm the one who signs the permission slips i provide permission for things to be administered at school i provide permission for my children to participate in school activities not the administration not the school board
041nor any other person in this community or the department of health or government entity why because they are my children i disagree with bringing mass back into the school as a mandate not only is it detrimental for health reasons but mental health as well for some on the board who did not wish to hear the statistics last summer regarding the mental health but rather told the school board member to choose which student died from covid mental health is just as important as medical according to the american foundation for suicide prevention suicide is the second leading cause of death in pa from ages 10 to 34. covet isn't even in the top 10. according to the cdc beginning in march of 2020 the rate of mental health in emergency department visits increased 31 percent occurring in
042that was adolescents ages 12 to 17. in may 2020 during that time frame the rates went up in girls suspected side attempts 50.6 during february during that same time frame the ages of 12 to 17 from adolescent males increased 3.7 percent last year it was made pretty clear from those who were pro-math that if i didn't want my child to wear a mask to school i had other options well this year for those who want every kid in a mask that is not yours you have other options as well i've watched kids over the summer be able to pee to be together play and learn together some with and some without mask they did just fine according to the pa constitution article 1 section 27 the rights to clean air and pure water is equivalent
043to the right of speech with a mask on my child that is not receiving clean air at all but rather breathing and moisture particles that gather in that mask over the course of the day i have one one more remark go ahead and finish we are told that masking helps others and ourselves it becomes a psychological warfare wearing a mask is no different different one loses their identity by covering their face they lose their individuality last year my elementary student was made fun of due to the type of mask that she was wearing that prompted her to change what she wore all because of kids saying stupid stuff so no i don't think it should be in mandy i will continue to fight for kids around this district and anywhere because it should be a
044choice i don't parent with any other parent except for my husband my children are my responsibility and nobody else's what happens to them is my responsibility it should be a choice to the parents [Applause] thank you caitlyn next we have jason hellsley hello i'm here i have a son that goes to the school i'm here to oppose the masked mandate um let's just get to the real we've been lied to by the cdc all year long these these dr fauci is a liar simple as that there's red states florida texas are bigger than this state bigger than that they have no more covet problems than states that are locking locking us down like prisoners locking our children down like prisoners it's more risk for them to be wearing them stupid masks they're breathing in all
045their carbon dioxide like we've said um but also let's talk about the lunacy of the crt also that they're bringing to our schools where my son for being a white kid is an oppressor he he's never earned a slave in his entire life neither has anybody in my bloodline so there's more lunacy and we got people like tom wolf that um put this mass mandate in effect that was asymptomatic and was spreading it all around for how many days eight days and he had two more days of uh quarantine which i've had coronavirus my son had it i'll tell you how serious it was they told my son not even to be tested because it's not that serious for kids and that's why doctor hope zogan jaeger which i know many of you all also
046use he had a fever for three hours um everybody that called it we fought your the mass mandates everything it still hits your home that stupid little cloth isn't going to protect you from coronavirus i hate to break it to you once it's there you're not going to run and hide from it we have to live with coronavirus you know and uh learning to live with it and being locked down like prisoners and putting a stupid cloth on your face that isn't going to help you anyway um and probably damage these poor young kids as they say way worse you know and um the best way to keep our schools open is like the power has i thought was stripped away from tom wolf that he can't make these stupid decisions you know we need
047to it doesn't help you know the bottom line is master it's it's it's like he said next thing is going to be the vaccine mandate it's one thing to another what when's it going to stop you know it's been two years none of their little experiments have worked you know so if you want to put a mask on your child and you think it makes them feel safe god god gives you that right go ahead and do it but as far as somebody else's child don't make a decision for us over 99.8 percent success rate that you will survive from the coronavirus common sense people it's not thirty percent ten percent it's it's not even one percent just use your heads [Applause] thank you jason uh next we have marianne and marianne i'm uh apologizing
048in advance i think it says uh ockers you may have to help me out on that uh from stratton street uh marianne ockers i think join the club okay pronounce your last name foreign thank you um and thank you for letting me speak i'm a grandmother excuse me my husband and i retired here from the philadelphia area in 2009 our grandchildren are back in the philly area so we obviously don't have any children here in the school district this is my second time here at a school district meeting board meeting and i was really interested last month and i wasn't even thinking about making any comments but i have a couple things that i'd like to ask about that concern me as a uh as a parent a grandparent uh as a person of gettysburg
049as a person of the world you talk about achievement gap and um we do have achievement gaps on the local level obviously there's a lot of achievement gap that we we see on the streets every day when we see children and we hear children and we interact with children we know there's a big achievement gap there's also a huge achievement gap between american children and children of other countries in the world and i think it's really really disgraceful okay but um the big thing i'm concerned about is reading i'd like to know how we find out where the children are throughout their school experience in terms of their reading levels we hear that you know kids aren't even reading at you know third grade level or fifth grade pardon me thirty seconds oh oh okay
050um you know where i would go to find out where how our children are doing in the schools from elementary through high school how are they doing reading because if children can't read if adults can't read they're doomed so where do we go to find that information can you tell me jason i'm sorry mary ann we will have one of our members of the administrative team probably our assistant superintendent follow up with you on that there's a lot of information regarding state assessment scores and things like that regarding reading and other subject areas on our website as well as the pde website and i'm sure you know dr perrin and dr lay and others would be able to provide that for you and i think we have your contact information yeah sure but just off
051the cuff where do we stand with when kids graduate from high school when they graduate from the middle school how how are they doing in reading anybody know that's something to be interesting to find out so i'll look forward to hearing about that the other thing is this is the second meeting i've attended and i've also for the second time heard this culturally responsive curriculums i'd like a definition of what a culturally responsive curriculum is and i'd like to know how it would be implemented by the teachers and how it would be presented and how it would be monitored because i too i'm concerned about this critical race theory and i don't have any huge objection to having making sure children learn history and all aspects of history but i think it's important how it's
052taught and how our children are feeling about themselves when they leave school okay so those are my two um concerns as a concerned grandparent okay marianne thanks for passing along your concerns thanks for coming tonight and on behalf of the board thank you to everyone who chose to speak tonight and everyone who chose to attend i'll turn things back over to president hassinger routine approvals first off for the board i did not receive an email but i did speak with one board member is there an item under routine approvals that a board member would like separate separated right now prior to any motions mr president kathleen pratt kathleen pratt i'd like to request that 5.2 work session meeting minutes august 2nd and 5.3 regular board meeting minutes august 2nd are removed i will remove 5.2
053and 5.3 from the routine approvals one vote and we'll take those two items separately after well we go through routine the regular routine so i may have a motion on routine approvals specifically 5.1 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 and 5.8 the 5.4 the regular board meeting minutes um there are two items uh to to be adjusted um and that would include so you you want to remove 5.4 because i don't i don't want to lump them together so 5 5.2 we can we can remove it or um i suppose it could be edited and that's accepted but if you prefer i remove it i can do that i think i have to only because if you're going to make them you would make a motion to adjust or to modify or to correct any inaccuracy in
054the minutes which would be a separate motion before we would go move forward so i'm going to re restart this 5.1 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 may i have a motion for for those routine approvals please mike dickerson so moved i think we're still i still do want to ask a question i know we're going to remove those items but you did ask for discussion i am i'm coming back to those after this particular one i have a motion please mike dickerson sum moved tim's signal second question on the items up for a vote 5.7 this is amy beth hodges i was hoping to get a little clarification what we have in front of us here folks is the licenses and nursing services and the agreements i was hoping for a little bit more information before
055i was able to vote on this i didn't feel like we got a full picture as to where we're at with our nursing staffing and what we would be obtaining so i guess probably best for you dr perrin i don't know who i would ask other than you at this point belinda sure we uh doing contracted uh a contracted service to to assist with the growing number the growing need of our students we have students either through individualized education plans or through 504 accommodation plans that require sometimes individual nursing services and our nursing staffs obviously are supporting full buildings so at times it is uh to our financial benefit to contract the services out as needed and as those as those different things arise do we currently have a number of nurses that are needed
056for our district i'm sure do we have currently have a number as to how many nurses are needed for our district for our current need um i think it's one or two okay thank you question uh is that um the nurses is this contract just through the end of essers and if it is would we come back and then discuss it as a an entity for a contract for a normal budget item i believe um i know bob worked on the contract with the with the agency i believe it would be a yearly is it yearly approval enough for the [Music] yes it's a it's a yearly approval i'm looking for don't see it right away but i know that there's a provision in the contract that either party can pull away without cause i
057think with either 30 or 60 days notice something along those lines okay thank you dr perrin um are the positions tied to this contract listed as a health ring nurse on the human resource um document or a family navigator um which one are they referring to dr soliday as i understand it is for several special education students that need additional services that our current nursing staff cannot address or handle so from my understanding it is normal nursing services but it is it is not specific to um day-to-day activity it is to address several students that are special needs so a follow-up question on the human resource document the family navigator positions are in addition to those that would be covered by this contract hi i'm tam mcconaghy hr coordinator um the position that's in here
058um to fill the classified health room nurse that's a position we've been trying to fill for the last several months it's a district-wide position and to go to some of our non-pubs the family navigator paraprofessional we're just going to hire with esser funds a one-year position and it's to help with our social worker our plan is to hire five of those [Music] and just to clarify then what would the job title be for um related to this contract um i think it's just a contracted nursing staff i don't think we have a particular name for it the ones that the nurses that we hire in the district are either health room assistance or health room nurses or certified school nurses i don't think anybody in the contract is going to fall in under one of
059those names just like a traveling nurse a traveling nurse okay thank you thank you additional questions i don't know if you get them or somebody else does um in the contract um it does reference that after the first four hours um the district needs to let usa staffing know whether or not they want that person to continue and if they don't that they are pretty much stuck with that person also it does reference overtime which it seems a little unusual for a school position that's designated time on the second page uh under item 10 there is a d uh excuse me let me go down here to where's the one oh no it's e not entrust usa employees with any vehicle mobile equipment keys merchandise confidential or trade secret information unattended premise cash checks credit
060cards negotiable instruments or any other valuables without usa's express prior written consent or is strictly required by the job description provided to usa staffing but yet we can allow them to have access to student records it seems contradictory i think there was one more oh also it does also um i'm going to use the word sniff test for uh whether or not this person is employee because the district is responsible for the uh evaluation of the anyone under this usa staffing they're also giving directions and they are at the working at the gettysburg site and expected to follow those guidance as uh policies and whatnot so it does seem a bit strange that we're using temporary staffing when a lot of what's in here looks like employee so how are we protecting the district from
061the diff when uh the difference between a temporary staff person that could be within four hours knowing whether or not they are of quality but yet they aren't trustworthy enough to handle certain items as mentioned in 10e and yet not considered an employee that how's the district being protected from that situation bob is there anything you wanted to add since uh you reviewed the contract the the contract in my opinion is i would not be before the board if i had not approved it we made extensive changes to it this the contract that was offered initially was very different than what you have in front of you these people are not employees of the gettysburg area school district and i don't think a court would find them to be employees of the gettysburg area school
062district the in terms of liability and supervision and control we would have the same supervision and control over these people as we do over any employee and therefore the same liability uh and in terms of being satisfactory um if an employee proves to be unsatisfactory there are other provisions in the contract where that person can be exchanged right up front i believe i mean i'm not if you want to i wasn't prepared to go line by line and debate the contract but if you want to i can it would just take a few minutes to do so it says in in paragraph one that the usa staffing services which purports to be a licensed staffing agency shall provide employees to be temporarily placed and assigned to the gettysburg school district if the employee assigned to
063the district is unable to complete the specifics assignment or proves to be unacceptable to the gettysburg area school district usa services will find a replacement in a timely manner i the the contract is not perfect it this this came in a rush about a week or so ago with a very difficult um search for nurses and this kind this firm was presented as an alternative my understanding in speaking with brandy glenn acres who was the one who bird dogged this that they have a couple of people on their roster that that the district found to be quite desirable and so it was a last-minute push to get this agreement into acceptable form uh so if you would look at item 13 on page two where it does reference um yes i say i say that
064that's what i said a minimum and that's satisfactory i see that yes you read that i see that and and i saw that uh before um i it i'm recommending as solicitor that this agreement is acceptable it's not perfect but it's acceptable and it is a hundred times better than what was presented to us and i was told don't let this contract go by we must have these people so we only had so much leverage to deal with this but if an employee proves to be unacceptable and in the future and the district can't get rid of them because of the interpretation of the contract then come to me and complain to me uh about it then and i'll apologize but i don't think that's going to be the case um you mentioned and i
065don't i'm not trying to debate with you but you mentioned there was a rush timeline which doesn't really feel like a routine approval also it feels like that rush timeline may be what's the determining factor is there any advantage to waiting until the next meeting to see if there's any additional language changes that could be made to benefit the district i don't know i don't know what language changes i would raise um uh i i would the the areas that i would address more than anything else would be indemnification and insurances they started out with the school district indemnifying them in effect providing insurance for them and for their malfeasance i refused on behalf of the district to accept that and decided we would be we as an institution would be better off with no
066indemnification at all either way but in terms of you know i'm i i don't know that i would i would materially change this agreement anyhow thank you and i i respect your uh forthrightness are there any additional questions on the motion on the floor hearing non-roll call tim yes kathleen yes sylvan yes mike yes timmon yes carrie no amy beth yes mike you already got me yes who did i miss me yes and i vote yes sorry about that al no problem that brings us to the three separate items that were uh peeled off we're going to do those individually the only way they move forward is if there's a motion to amend the minutes we're going to start with 5.2 kathleen pratt so moved why didn't make the motion you can make a motion
067sorry about that mr president kathleen pratt i'd like to make a motion to amend the minutes of 5.2 board of school directors work session august 2nd 2021 a second terry satellite is there a question on the motion on the floor for an amendment of 5.2 hearing no question roll call amy beth no timmon no carrie yes mike no al no kathleen yes sylvan yes tim no and i vote no 5.3 kathleen pratt i'd like to make a motion to amend the minutes of 5.3 board of school directors meeting august 2nd 2021 kathleen if i make a mixed suggestion would you let us know what the change would be because i think some of the board members may not have picked up on that so oh sure and actually to my colleagues on the board you
068should have in front of you um a duplicate of what i email to all of you that shows the recommended changes do i have a second i'll second carry solid question on emotion on the floor [Music] roll call kathleen yes mike no al no carrie yes timmon no tim no sylvan yes amy bev no and i vote no 5.4 regular board minutes do i have a motion i move to amend the motion and then the minutes of 5.4 kerry where did you or is the board aware of what you want to actually amend yes uh i sent an email but i can reference it it was stated that the liu was providing the um online learning curriculum i believe it was but i believe it's capital area iu is that correct doctor who's providing the
069online um mm-hmm it's capillary i you not link in an immediate unit is there a question on emotion on the floor could that could that be repeated i had trouble hearing that so um there was discussion concerning the memorandum of understanding between the district and gettysburg area education association discussion was held considering the cyber classes and who would be teaching them it was noted that the teaching is being outsourced through the liu that part is incorrect it is through kaola which is out of the capital area intermediate two different entities so i'd like to strike liu and replace it with capital area intermediate unit and the gettysburg teachers will be the evaluators thank you thank you kathleen pratt i will second that motion a question on the floor i do have a comment i don't
070know that it's a vote up or down i and i know i've talked to uh board members the minutes are summarized by our secretary the board and i understand their official minutes but we're also live streamed and we're also taped so members can obviously go back if there's a glaring misinterpretation of what the minutes say and i think that's might be where we're at but anyway roll call on 5.4 mike no tim no amy beth yes kathleen yes sylvan yes al yes timmon no carrie yes and i'll vote yes on that with the minutes reflect the change of carry liu to capital area we're just changing the name [Music] items for board action 6.1 boardroom technology and infrastructure infrastructure upgrade may have a motion so moved second hershey second questions [Music] mr president i i
071may have missed that but i think you need to now once uh oh i apologize you did miss that and i moved forward uh folks we have to go back and accept 5.2 5.3 and 5.4 on a on a separate vote may have a motion for those three amy beth hodges i'll put through a motion for 5.3 and 5.4 to be approved tim a second question mr president kathleen pratt can we separate those three please so that we vote on each individually i can separate them thank you 5.2 you have a motion please i will put forth a motion for 5.2 to be approved second time question hearing none roll call carrie no al yes kathleen no tim yes timmon yes amy beth yes sylvan yes mike yes and i vote yes motion for 5.3
072amy beth hodges i'm going to put another motion through for 5.3 to be approved tim in a second question hearing non-roll call kathleen no mike yes al yes sorry carrie no timmon yes tim yes sylvan yes amy beth yes and i vote yes motion 5.4 minutes amy beth hodge is up with the motion through for 5.4 to be approved have a second second carrie soliday question roll call tim yes kathleen yes sylvan yes mike no timmon yes carrie yes amy beth yes al yes and i vote yes items for board action 6.1 may have a motion on the boardroom technology and infrastructure please amy beth hodges again i'm going to put through 6.1 to be approved a second tim sigmund questions not a question but a comment uh when we went through a renovation project
073when i was the superintendent at south middleton boiling springs we had a very very similar situation where we upgraded our administrative room for professional development and also for board meetings the types of improvements that we're looking to make here are very similar to what we made there the feedback that we got from our audience like the people that are in the crowd here today made it a lot more user friendly a lot more customer service oriented and it was very much appreciated that uh in the long term as this when we are all off of this board uh future boards will i think appreciate and thank us for these uh renovations and for these strategies to really improve the services that we can provide to our audience and to the general public so i wholeheartedly
074support the action here in 6.1 i i'll take a moment i actually support it also and i think more so because i'm a firm believer in transparency if anybody's watched this on live stream uh i defy you to tell for me to tell you who's sitting at this table and if you don't announce your name people outside either got used to your voice or they don't know who's talking and i don't you can't even see it so the the technology has passed us the stuff that we have right now is plus 20 years and replacement parts cannot be even found to change stuff up we have no ability to go back there to live stream and allow the public to see our meetings for those that unfortunately can't have the pleasure of attending these meetings
075so i do support that mr president sylvan hershey i don't mean to be critical of anyone in the past who has gotten what they've gotten to improve that facility by piecemealing it but i think it's now time to do a one time unified update by professionals to accomplish our mission thank you are under any additional comments or questions hearing none roll call amy beth yes timmon yes carrie no mike yes al yes kathleen no sylvan yes tim yes and i vote yes 6.2 the solicitor advertisement it was outlined in the uh on the agenda mr president this is amy beth hodges i'd like to put through a motion at this time the board of directors of the gettysburg area school district direct our solicitor to implore the potential lawsuit or whatever he has deemed appropriate
076including but not limited to joining an already existing class action lawsuit seeking an injunction the department of health and the governor will current mandate overriding the approval of the district health and safety plan second mike dickerson motion on the floor question not a question but a comment um i am a substitute teacher for the district uh and i help out because there's a real need not because i want to take work away from anyone else i was very impressed with the way that our school day got started today i was at the high school and i want to commend the principals and the administrative team and the staff and frankly our students for a very positive and productive day despite this district and many other districts being put into a very difficult no-win situation the
077students and the staff handled it well the administrative team handled it well frankly i hate wearing a mask but i do not trust the media or politicians frankly i do trust my friends and acquaintances in the medical field including medical doctors pediatricians and so on they have shared with me that when you cannot distance mass do help to some degree to curtail the spread of the virus therefore i choose and as i substitute and when i can't socially distance inside and so on i will wear that mask as much as i hate wearing that mask i'm hoping it's a temporary situation and i'm hoping this virus is curtailed soon and we get a handle on it but in the meantime i would just say we are off to today was a good day for the
078warriors and i commend our administrative team and our entire staff and i and frankly i commend our students but the vast majority had a terrific day thank you mr president sylvan hershey recognized having two granddaughters in the school district it is my belief that our students are put into a position where they cannot meet the six feet they cannot meet the no mass and those environments are such that i believe our students are put at risk by having the opportunity to not wear a mask so i am concerned about the health and well-being of all our students who might be in a facility that does not permit without a lot of effort and money to change the structure of it and i think mass would certainly be the way to go mr president kathleen pratt
079um miss hodges can you please repeat that motion absolutely the board of directors of the gettysburg area school district direct our solicitor to implore a potential lawsuit or whatever he deems appropriate including but not limited to joining an already existing class action lawsuit seeking an injunction on the department of health and the governor wolf's current mandate overriding the approval of the district of our health and safety plan all right thank you mr president you know i think there's a lot to talk about and you know we've got so much disagreement in this room among our community on this board but the one thing that we all agree on is that we want to keep the kids in school their mental health depends upon it sometimes the very food they eat in a day depends upon
080it and of course their learning depends upon it and i'm uncomfortable frankly with bucking this masked mandate that truly has the backing of law behind it thank you gary mr president i'm i'm confused because what's listed on the agenda item is different than the motion that's on the floor which listed on the agenda item is that the board discuss and takes action to direct the solicitor to advise on the appropriateness to challenge the order of the pennsylvania department of health regarding masks and advise on the best way to proceed which is far different than the motion that was made anyone who is certified to work in pennsylvania schools would have to follow any pennsylvania provided guidance mandate law constitution school code in order to retain that certification so the motion on the floor is different
081than what is here i i i firmly disagree with you um the motion of that it actually correlates right with it and if you look at the motion i believe the motion represents the board of directors turning this over to the solicitor for his opinion as to whether or not that this district has legal standing on a cl either in a civil suit standing alone or in a class action lawsuit i disagree with you we're going to argue words here but i disagree with you i didn't realize the board i'm sorry i i believe it's fully within uh when you open that door when you look at the agenda it's it's proper that if a board member wants to make a particular motion like that you're free to vote on whichever direction you want to
082go but i am missing something bob i mean i i'm interpreting them to be similar and my interpretation is that if the board were to vote in the affirmative it would simply be asking the solicitor to provide an opinion as to the best way forward should the board choose to take action to seek an injunction or something along those lines thank you so challenge has been defined as that perhaps the board wants to join a class action lawsuit that's not been something that's been predetermined well i read the motion and i think it was broadly broadly stated that allows um and i'll make another comment here in a second on the overall thing allows our solicitor to do to look at this from a legal perspective to see if where the district standing is with
083this particular mandate that that's that's what i believe that motion represents thank you for explaining mr president i'm concerned about that to challenge not knowing whether our children in the gettysburg area school district will continue to be masked until a decision is made whether the governor has the right to recommend or to approve children wearing face masks well that's so when i understand your question but we're going to go a different direction now because that's not actually what's on the floor right now the decision and i'll go there i once again we're put in this unattainable position we can't win we sit up here and we volunteer and we passed a health and safety plan that by all accounts when you looked at the school you saw compliance or masking choices by parents where the
084vast majority of the kids came in without a mask parents made the decision please please because i'm real i'm really not taken aside this isn't about master me we sit and listen to people talk and we hear emails it's about democracy and democracy says that we can challenge particular mandates that come down and challenge other things to see if there's legal standing i believe that that motion does exactly that it allows this board it directs a solicitor to look into that and if it deems it necessary either gettysburg would stand on its own or we would join the all the other school districts that have filed in on this class action lawsuit i believe that's what it is and i think our health and safety plan while we're at that directed jason and if i
085remember there were board members that complained about the health and safety plan we got a ton of nasty emails but aren't you lucky that we allowed our superintendent to make those choices to make those changes he deemed necessary maybe not in the spirit that is happy for it makes everyone happy but it allowed him that if he saw a huge cluster instead of coming back to the board he had the ability to mitigate and put mitigation measures in there so we can argue about mass or not mass but for me it's not about that it's about it's about us self-governing we have had one second sylvan we have had unfunded mandates we've had budget issues we've had a whole host of issues that get shoved down on us we're elected by the people right here
086in this school district not in harrisburg and we make those make those decisions we didn't come in here and say forget democracy forget everything else this motion says let democracy work let's just see if he stands up to that is where i'm at so i'm not sure [Applause] i don't think i don't think i disagree with what you just said my concern is that the governor of this state has said all public schools will have their children masks because of health risks if this is if this board agrees to have bob look into it and to join all those districts that believe the governor doesn't have the right to do that i'm fine with it if that's the decision but i do believe that until that decision is handed down our kids should be following
087what the governor recommended through his health department that our kids wear mass if i might if i might just jump in that that issue is not before the board and there is no question that this solicitor has advised the superintendent and is advising the board that unless and until that mandate that order is rescinded changed somehow by the legislature superseded by the legislature or it is declared to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction it must be followed by this district that's exactly what i just thought i said i'm i'm what i'm saying is you were questioning whether the board would whether the school district would do that in the interim and i am affirming that that is not the intent and in sylvan again i gotta come back you know we're not gonna
088there's a whole host of issues that go with this and for me it really does come down to democracy and i don't believe that this i think this motion that's been put by uh amy beth allows us to ex to move forward and let's see where it falls out and i'm in agreement with that and and quite honestly if you look at this plan there are exemptions out there for parents feel free mr president i would just like to add and we talk about democracy and letting the system work so there's some data out there and you can fact check it so roughly 500 school districts in pennsylvania only about 50 percent of them even submitted health and safety plans to the governor's office 12 of the ones that did submit plans voted in favor
089of mass mandates so the people of this commonwealth we are in a commonwealth not a monarchy um decided what was best for their children and they weren't going to send their children to school in mass so i think the motion on the floor is going to let this district find out in a court of law if there is any legal standing or merit to this order when i was elected to the school board and i took an oath of office i i swore to uphold and defend the constitution and i think that that's what we're trying to do let's see what the constitution says and let's see what the courts say [Applause] mr president kathleen pratt this will not get collapsed but i'm going to say it anyway democracy absolutely period democracy yes anarchy is
090something all together different if you'll indulge me for a moment the definition of anarchy is a state of disorder due to non-recognition of authority so is that what we're suggesting we do kathleen and i don't really want to debate but i understand your point but it's no different if you got a speeding ticket okay did you were you speeding you could still have you can still have a hearing that doesn't make you an anarchist and i'm certainly not sitting here and i take exception if that's what you think what i'm saying in democracy is that i'm an anarchist i'm a believer in the rule of law i've spent 35 years defending this place and i believe that please please i believe that we have a responsibility to our voters not all of them this is
091not about politics republican democrat independent whatever you are it doesn't make a difference to me this is about whether or not this mandate holds the legal test and i think we're in full right of asking that question mr president [Music] scary solidarity just a comment it's hard to know the intent of the motion when there may have been discussions prior to this sitting at this table today and it it just feels like there's gaps in understanding and um it's unfortunate so kerry kerry there may have been discussion and quite honestly there's discussion amongst board members you and i've had discussion on various topics we're not violating a sunshine vlog oh i wouldn't say that oh okay okay whatsoever if a member picks up the phone and contacts me and says i want to add an
092item to the agenda in the old days they could bring it in here and they could put it on there unfortunately the law changed according to our solicitor and now it has to be put on so that the public has an opportunity to see it and i know this public saw it because i answered the emails so are there any additional questions on the motion yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna continue to harp on this it's very simple in my mind if we vote for what amy beth put forward when will our students be allowed to choose whether they wear a mask or not i think i think i can answer that the motion on the floor does not go to that direction dr parent has a health and safety plan that was approved by this
093board and any board members i'm misspeaking but i think it's a very simple question but it's not a simple answer because i i don't have a really simple answer i can give the simple answer the mandate the order will be in place and will be enforced by this district until such time as it's rescinded or it's declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction that's what i said before and i'm saying it again i appreciate that and i agree with it and that's what i was looking for and i guess i need to have my hearing checked one more question um please mr president this is carrie silva so uh the words class action lawsuit uh also imply that the district would be um paying for the solicitor service to join this class action also
094join in any meetings discussions and whatnot is that correct i don't know there's no way to know that until we explore it again the one thing the one thing that the board would be obligating itself to do is to pay for the time that i or others in my firm would invest in doing the appropriate research to come back to advise the board but the board is not obligated in any way to join in any lawsuit or can or to start a lawsuit or whatever thank you for that clarification pardon she said i said thank you she actually said thank you my ears are old it's okay i have a soft voice carrie i don't have the timetable but i will tell you that it's my understanding that this suit is being heard on the
09516th uh the 16th of this month yes i will be offering clarification to most of your questions in my legislative report to follow the end of the meeting are there any additional questions mr president tim i just got on one other thing and and i do believe in the democracy end of this whole conversation i understand you know kathleen was thinking it's more of anarchy and to me anarchy would be if the district decided just not to follow the order in general today that would be anarchy us going through the proper channels in the court system is democracy it's not anarchy and i think that we as a district need to follow the constitution the laws and take every bit of that opportunity at our discretion to do that are there any additional questions hearing
096on the motion on the floor roll call amy beth yes timmon yes carrie no mike yes al yes kathleen no sylvan yes tim yes and i vote yes motion carries [Applause] as a point of transparency for the board in the audience i will be working directly with mr mcquaid on the timetable in the information and as soon as i have something i'll have it back out available to them board would that be correct bob you're my leader thank you informational items do you have anything jason or was it just all included on friday yeah the only thing i would have if you look at your budget timeline and i mentioned that earlier in this it's the hopes that we can get through this because we're going to come to budget time again and i'm a
097strong proponent i believe other board members are that this district needs to start to look to a five and six year balanced budget plan and that we're not spending what we don't have each year and i'm coming back to the taxpayers because it's clear to me we're not going to get any relief from harrisburg or anybody else it's going to be on the backs of the citizens having said that board committee reports i'll start down do you mind i i did have comment um related to 7.1 which is the budget timeline it's more for belinda if you don't mind um can we please know if the administration's going to commit to when the audit for the past year will be made public or made apparent to the public is that something that we can count
098on and do you have a timeline on when that would be up [Music] so the question specifically belinda is is will the audit for the past year be made public and when would it be made public so that people can view it yeah so our goal is to have the first review and final form to facility finance committee in december and then the board would see the final budget final audit complete in its final form in the january meeting of 2022. and i believe that's listed on the timeline and that is what we've given our auditor instructions is to do is we're trying to meet that goal if not before okay thank you very much i appreciate it you're welcome board committee reports can i start down at the far end kerry did you have
099anything this evening i do not okay and then if i come back up through amy beth i do um members of the state senate group and parents filed a lawsuit friday seeking to overturn wolf's administration's new math mandate for pennsylvania schools the mandates date started today september 7th the governor's spokesperson dismissed what she called the gop's effort at undermining public health the suit filed the commonwealth court asserts the action of health health secretary alison beam failed to comply with the state law that she had ordered the mass mandate to be worn in all pennsylvania public schools and private schools and child care facilities the lawsuit looks to prove that the masking order is valid because is not valid because it does not go through the state regulatory review process it also accused wolf administration of
100trying to circumvent newly approved constitutional amendments limiting the governor's emergency power back may of this year the parents said in an affidavit that they intend to send their children to school without masks claiming bream's order is illegal the lawsuit seeks an injunction against the mandate order and the court scheduled a hearing for september 16th wolff said this week that the universal statewide order was necessary after most of the pennsylvania's 500 school districts did not impose their own mass mandates masking has been a subject of he he had a debate like tonight here at this school board meeting with parents arguing for and against it as the gettysburg areas district legislative liaison i have had the opportunity to speak with state representative john joyce representative dan mal our 33rd district state league leader doug mastriano all
101three local leaders have directed our district with the main focus for us to stay steadfast and choose choice for their constituents after my thoughtful discussions with these three leaders i reached out to the board leadership and their with their words along with the superintendent dr perrin i look forward to updating you as things progress and develop thank you thank you are there any additional board committee reports hearing none building and program reports jason i would only ask you one quick question and i saw jeremy had to depart where are we at on the status with the hvac system at the high school um are we still on target are there anything that substantially has changed either on the financial end or timetable i think that the uh the phasing still uh on target um let
102me see if jeremy's here no he's not here i don't see you there um yeah he had to go it's still you know we got through phase one we got school started on time so we're in you know we're in phase two working through that but um but every everything that i've heard um we're still we're still on time are there any any additional comments or questions under under building and program okay calendar of events unless something changes our next board meeting is scheduled for september 20th at seven o'clock we made an announcement we were moving back to the administration building but recognizing actually let me step back jeremy you came into the room and i apologize i asked jason on the hvac system is there anything from your position as as the district principal
103i mean the high school principal that we should know about related to that first excuse me because someone said earlier that someone wasn't allowed in my school this morning pretty sure that that didn't happen so i was just trying to seek clarification because they were all allowed in today um and it was a pretty good day thanks for noticing dr moyer hvac it's coming along bit by bit we were just happy to be back in school for the first day um kids were excited and uh you know you can as they start to tweak in tune systems which has taken a little while we had some really really chilly classrooms um the first couple days of school but they're making adjustments um the system is settling down um the lighting looks great still plenty of
104work to to do still construction zone cafeteria kitchen is now open um the first week of school was a lot of prep work in the middle school kitchen thanks to everybody involved in that effort because the folks in our food service area are incredible so hats off to them so opened up the kitchen this past week that's um going really well um lots of great food and again a great staff serving it and it's great to see kids cooperatively moving through a line and acting like um acting like civil citizens it's it's really impressive when you throw a thousand of them together and just all happens fairly well for the most part but you know the work will continue our auditorium is closed our music wing is closed so the work can continue there throughout
105the fall and it's it's give and take everywhere in the building which is where you need collaboration and cooperation and respect because we have orchestra going on in the library we have band going on in the auxiliary gym that moves the wrestling match into the regular gym we have a chorus in the cafeteria so it just takes a total team effort and everybody looking after each other and treating each other well and it is possible when we put our minds to it and i'm just i'm just happy that i work in a building where everybody tries to care for each other um as well as possible so what other specific questions you about do you have about the project itself and i think we wanted just to see how we're progressing along if you had
106any concerns it's on on schedule i just want to keep it on schedule and keep doing school as well as we can and keep kids healthy and in classrooms appreciate it thank you jeremy indeed thank you um one last thing before we uh the counter of events we made a notification that we were moving back to the admin building but we recognized um that we may have a few people at our meeting tonight i think we bet right and i did not want to force people out in the parking lot that's never my goal so we will be here at the middle school auditorium through the month of september and we'll reevaluate where we're at with the administration building after that in addition to where we're at with the number of people that's going to
107occupy one space on a closing note i mean if a board member wants to add anything please feel free and i don't want to take anyone anyone else's time but we always talk about communication and lack thereof i just want to make a note to the people that are here and maybe listening or watching this i'm responsible for responding to emails collectively for the board it's not my personal opinion when i respond to emails i have to respond representing all nine members and what all my members voted on whether i agree or don't agree so if my emails are a little short and to the point it's because i can't comment on some of that and i know some people email 10 11 questions i am not going to answer 10 or 11 questions you
108can attend a board meeting watch the board meeting or go to the administration or your administrator and quite honestly a lot of the questions you know nancy or jeremy or somebody could circumvent right from the start and get a clarification and we'd be good to go having said that does any board members have any closing comments yes you said that i do okay last board meeting i recommended that we have a new number 10 and that is board member comments where do we stand on that sylvan i got caught up with a i got caught up with a change that came from harrisburg and i didn't get to that yet well i do have that noted my my knowledge and and dr parent may be able to either agree or disagree on this one as
109board president you would have the authority to add a number 10 as to board member comments it doesn't take the voting of the entire board for the board president to do that no sylvan i can do that and match my intentions and if you notice i just gave everybody an opportunity to say something because i recognize that it's not actually listed on here but i am trying to honor your request from last i just you're going to have to give us time the start of school and all the other factors i just you know i understand what you just said and i still am the type of learner observer is when i look at a board agenda on friday i was hoping to see what i recommended and i didn't see it but i did
110hear what you said and i appreciate that but i still would be nice to see it on a board agenda um i'll make i'll make a note of that and hopefully you can remind me also as it gets closer because i got a little bit on my agenda too but yes sylvan i'll take care of that they have a motion to adjourn so moved second we stand adjourned thank you