001Um, welcome to the May 18th voting session of the school board. My name is Rachel Gyos and I'm your school board president. Um, welcome to everybody. We will be recording this session. Um, you can view it online live. You can view it online later and share with all the grandparents for all these wonderful awards that we're going to hear about. So, welcome. And we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to theublic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, my favorite time of year, a packed house for lots of recognition. So, with that, let's get started. Um, I believe we are going to hear about the art exhibition first. Yep. We have some
002of our art teachers. You can clap for for Mrs. Stan Hagen if you'd like. Thank you for being here tonight. Oh, yeah. There it is. Thanks, everybody. Um, all righty. So, um, this year 34 artworks by Great Valley High School student artists were displayed at the annual Chester County High School Art Exhibition and PA 6 District Congressional Art Competition in April. For 52 years, this exhibition has been an opportunity for Chester County high schools to showcase their strongest student works in a professional gallery space. Out of more than 500 works on display from 16 high schools, five Great Valley High School students placed in three categories this year. So, we are proud to recognize our award winners. So, if I call your name, if you could just come meet me up here, that'd be wonderful.
003Angelina Wang, first place in photography with the piece titled Plant Life. Oh, yeah. Samantha Parson's second place in computer art with the piece titled Tissue Paper Cat. Margaret Dibble, third place in print with the piece titled New Territories. I'll hold on to that. I'll see her tomorrow. Yes, thank you. Lucas Majiano, honorable mention in computer art with the piece titled Seal. And finally, Noel Scott, honorable mention in print with the piece titled The Man on the Moon. I see them in the same class. I would love to. I'm gonna leave this here. Congratulations. All right. Environ come on down. Hello. And I have a big group. I'm gonna ask them to come join me so that and then they can go up when I call their name. Thank you board members for recognizing the 2026
004Environ team tonight. We greatly appreciate it. Um, Environ is an environmental competition throughout Pennsylvania that enables students to learn more about their natural resources and the environment. We combine classroom learning and outdoor activities. This exposure to nature and seeing how humans impact the natural world provide invaluable lessons for students understanding ecosystems and our environment. This group was fabulous. Please congratulate them because their performance this year and their dedicated hard work. It was super great. They were such an enthusiastic team. They worked together in class. They would come up with games. They would challenge each other and that included push-ups as well. So, we added some exercise as well as learning. Um, and they all worked together to learn more about Pennsylvania's wildlife, birds, aquatic insects, water quality, forestry, and soils. And they did a phenomenal
005job. Um, they tested each other, and they created new ways to improve all year. After 21 years of coaching environ, this was a great group. I've done both high school and middle school, and they just really were so enthusiastic, and it was infectious. So, I want to congratulate Great Valley Team A. that included Teddy, Ruel, Sebastian, Nora, and Lola. They won third place overall in the Chester County Environ Competition. They also won the first ever Gayen Chris Spirit Award. I think Ruell's not here. Yeah. Yep. I can hand that off. Yep. Yep. Um they they would so we also have scouts in here. So they having a little bit of first aid we needed that I think helped us win the spirit award. So that was fabulous. Also they got 100% which is obviously the
006highest score for the current issue. So they did great. So congratulate them. Team C um was Gamya, Hannah, Xavier, and Samvi. And they took the highest score overall in soils. And that's a feat because knowing Chester County soils is difficult. So go ahead up, Dr. Garfred. She's not here. Yep. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. So, they did a wonderful job. And then our Great Valley team B, they showed great teamwork and dedication. Um, they came in often a close second or third to the top other teams. Um, and the team members consisted of Anvik, Zach, Henry, Reema, and Anna. Not. Yep. And oh, sorry. Yeah, Zach. Yeah, sure. Go on up. Good job. I love that with the t-shirt. Thank you guys. All right. Swimming state championship, PIAA 3A. Hello. Tonight, I am proud to
007recognize a truly historic accomplishment by one of our student athletes, Great Valley High School freshman Sabrina Mccurio. This season, Sabrina made history as the first Paris swimmer our school, the Chesmont League, and District 1 has ever had. Power swimming is a form of competitive swimming for athletes with physical, visual, or intellectual impairments where swimmers compete in classifications designed to create fair competition among athletes with similar abilities. Power swimming is a semi-new program for PIAA. Last year was the first year that the power swimming events were competed at the PIAAA state competition. This was the first year there were female female power swimmers competing. From the very beginning of the season, Sabrina approached every practice and meet race with positivity, resilience, and an unmatched worth e ethic. She quickly became an inspiration to her teammates and
008coaches, showing what can be accomplished through determination and heart. Sabrina worked extremely hard this season to qualify for states in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle power events. Representing our school at the state level is an incredible achievement on its own. But Sabrina did even more than that. Competing against the best swimmers in Pennsylvania, she delivered an unforgettable performance in the 100yard freestyle power event and finished at the top of the podium. Sabrina placed first in the 100yard freestyle power event with a time of 123.14. Sabrina also competed in the 50-yard freestyle power event where she placed fourth with a time of 3839. Sabrina, we're incredibly proud of everything you've accomplished and grateful for the example you set for our school community each and every day. We cannot wait to see what you do
009over the next three years. I would also like to wish Sabrina the best of luck as she heads to Shippensburg University this week for the track and field state championships. Please join us in congratulating Sabrina Mccurio, PIAA state champion in the 100yard freestyle power event. All right, we're going to go a little out of order and we're going to move on to our retirees and years of service award 2.06. I'll leave that to you. Thank you, Mrs. Gigos. So, um, this is a time of year, it's always somewhat bittersweet. U, the school year comes to an end, people get excited about summer, but it's also a time where we say goodbye to some of our outstanding and excellent teachers. uh who decide to leave us and and embark on retirement. And so this evening, I'd
010just like to present the following names to the board and honor this variety list, varied list of retirees. Um and I do want to read each of their names. We will have a retiree ceremony later this week where I know many of us will be and we'll we'll honor our retirees, have a little bit of time with their family and friends and present. But we did want to make sure we did something public and front racing to really extend our gratitude. So Mr. Mayberry at the high school, Miss Freeman uh at our 56 center, Miss Search at uh it's a typo. We should have the middle school there for Miss Search, Miss Doyle at Charles Town, uh Miss Russell who is is works in all of our elementary schools, Miss Morse, our school nurse at
011the high school, Mr. Nolan at Sugartown, Britain Meyers uh at the middle school. Uh Karen Heistler is our non-public nurse. We actually support um non Great Valley schools and helping them to support their children. Um Mr. Cavario who was our head custodian at the 56 center. Donna Ahern, a teacher at the 56. Steve Orekky who was our HVAC mechanic for many many years. Donna Jerome who worked in our student services department here as a data specialist. and Tria Rpolei who is a substitute aid with Great Valley. So on behalf of the school board and you know all of the administration here in Great Valley, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you. Uh wish our retirees the best as they pursue other endeavors or if they just decide to relax on a beach somewhere. They've
012certainly earned it. So round of applause for all of Great Valley's retirees. Thank you. All right, let's move on to our student council reports. I believe we have the 56 center here. We're really excited to hear from you guys. Looking sharp as always. Yep, you can. Yeah, move the microphone to make it useful. Hello, school board members. Thank you for inviting us to your meeting tonight. We are excited to share some of the things that we have been doing at the 56 Center since our last meeting. During the month of February, our student council had a canned food drive for the people's pantry. The people's pantry is a local food bank that services around 245 families in our area. We are proud to report that we were able to collect 475 pounds of food and
013deliver it to the food bank. In February, we also had a spreading kindness activity at the 56 center. Each student made affirmations, acts of kindness, or words of encouragement. We hung them outside of each house so everyone can read them. In April, we also worked very hard on the PSSAs. We enjoyed mixing up specials during that time so we could see friends from different houses. We celebrated our hard work with a popsicle party. We have a lot of exciting things coming up this spring. Our student council is looking forward to welcoming the fourth graders in May. We will be giving the fourth grade class tours of the building and answering questions about our school. Our sixth graders were excited to visit to the middle school last week as well. Last year, we started some traditions
014that we are looking forward to like House Cup, formerly called Color Wars, and the PTO summer sendoff. A new activity for this year that we are looking forward to is the student versus staff sporting competitions where the students will have the chance to take on the teachers. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share all of our exciting updates from the 56 center. Thank you so much. And thank you so much to Mrs. O'Neal who leads this charge uh with the student council. We so appreciate your work as well. Um, good luck to those teachers. That's a pretty athletic group over there. So, Godspeed. Okay. Uh, let's move on to our student representative report from the high school, Anna. And before we get started, Anna has been coming to our meetings throughout the year
015as one of two representatives. Come on down, Anna. Come on down. Um, and has done a tremendous job and presenting to the board and the broader community about what's happening at the high school. I think these reports are really important because they show us different aspects of the school that we don't normally see and I certain I don't have kids at the high school so I'm really in the dark a lot of in a lot of ways. Your reports have highlighted so much activity that is beyond the more traditional scope of of things that we hear about and I appreciate um and I know the board does too the the time and effort that you're putting into these presentations very clearly on top of your own academics and your own athletics. Um you've done a
016wonderful job. we're gonna miss you and we wish you all the best. Thank you so much. Um, after you present, we do have a certificate and an award for you. So, yeah, sounds good. So, hope you all had a great weekend. Um, starting with sports, I know we kind of brushed off on this in the last few meetings, but I'm proud to say that our spring sports have been going really well. Most of them are finished their seasons and a lot of them had senior nights being celebrated. Here you can see there's unified track, there's lacrosse, and there's baseball and all the sports celebrating their senior nights. And 100 has also been a pretty prominent number in the spring season. So we had 100 career strikeouts for Tai Callahan in baseball. In boys lacrosse, Tommy
017Lavin has scored over 100 points in his high school career. And then in girls lacrosse, Erikica Luden also scored 100 points in her high school career. So very impressive for all of them. And I also wanted to highlight that our states girls track team is qualified for states. They're heading to states, I think, next weekend. So congratulations to all of them and we wish them the best of luck representing us at states. I also wanted to talk about a pretty wholesome club at Great Valley. So we have SPCA club. Recently last week they had their second ever pup meetup. So they brought out these adorable puppies to the courtyard and our faculty and students all enjoyed them. Even looking at these photos makes me smile just remembering how great it all was to enjoy these
018puppies. And these puppies are from To Love a K9 Rescue, which is a dog rescue in Chester County. And they're also up for adoption. So they bring these dogs out if anyone is willing to adopt them. And we also do a lot of fundraisers at SPCA. One of their biggest ones is the annual pet photo contest. And you can see in the photo this year's winners were Coco, Ditto, and then Carr. So students are able to send their own pets if they have any. And then also we all vote on which ones are the cutest and most adorable. So overall, this club does a lot and also fundraising for the Brandy Wine SPCA too. They do toy drives and also donate for the SPCA, which is really nice to see. I hope you made it
019to the spring art show last Thursday. We had a lot of pieces. I actually had I had a few pieces for sculptures there as well. But our high school students showed all of their artwork that we've been working on throughout the school year. And there was also works from the elementary schools, 56 center, and then the middle schools as well. So, it's nice to see all of the art that we do in Great Valley. and National Art Honor Society also offered some face painting for the kids at the art show as well. I also wanted to recognize the students for their art awards at the Chester County Art Exhibition as well. This year there have been some clubs started that focus on sustainability at our high school as well. One of them is Go Green
020GV and this year is your first year, but they've already done so much to really help our school environment. They organized a lot of park cleanups. So, in the fall, they did one at Park and then this spring, they did a park cleanup at Miller Park. So, it's a great way for them to beautify our spaces and help out with the environment as well. And on a similar note, another club that focuses on sustainability is the Great Valley Waste Warriors. They focus on collecting compost and they have these bins outside the lunchroom where students can choose to donate their compost instead of throwing it away and they collect it at the end of the day each day to donate to our great valley gardening club as well as other local farms and areas that um
021take these. So overall we have some really good initiatives in sustainability that have been started as well. I know I touched on this last meeting, but we had our last instrument and corral concerts where there were senior awards and recognitions for PMEA. But I also wanted to mention that we have Stringfest on the 27th. So if you don't know what it is, it's a giant ensemble that combines elementary, middle school, and high school orchestra into one giant orchestra. And we all played together. This year it's held at the Great Valley Stadium and we play some really classical pieces. It's a nice way to just play some good music and get everyone in one place and it's good for the middle school to see how music is like at the high school as well. So you're
022all welcome to attend. It'll be very great this year. And also now it's every other year. So between those gaps, we're introducing Bandfest, which is the band equivalent of Stringfest. And that'll be starting next year. So hopefully in a year's time from now you'll be hearing about Bandfest and how that's going. Also lastly, I wanted to talk about prom. This year it's this Friday. It's at the Valley Forge Sherton Hotel and our our senior class student council did a lot with fundraising and organizing these events. So props to them for all of their efforts in this as well. And on top of prom, our seniors, I believe, have eight days, eight school days left of school. So, it's quickly approaching. There's graduation and everything. They're some of the best role models at our school. So,
023they'll be really missed. But, we do have our senior awards ceremony coming up later this week. And then we have senior stroll where they go back to their elementary schools and walk down memory lane seeing all those nostalgic memories. That's happening on June 2nd. And lastly, we do have graduation on June 4th as well. Well, Anna, thank you so much for all your reports throughout the year. You've been a fantastic rep. And the board has a gift for you. Just some Great Valley sweatshirt that you can wear and we have a certificate. So, we'd like to get a picture with you as well. Congratulations. Thank you for everything. All right, we're going to go back a couple of notches. Uh, we want to recognize our years of service employees. Um, this is incredible. Um, decades
024and decades of service and we are so grateful for this staff. So, you can see on um the screens here, we have um folks with 35 years, 30, 25. I'll let Dr. Dr. Gfredo speak to it a little bit more. Yep. Thank you. I appreciate it. And again, this is our last recognition of the evening, but uh we do recognize different terms of service. So being that 25-year benchmark, 30 and 35. So at 25 years, uh Miss Streer here at the district office, Mr. Liry at the middle school, Miss Valente at the high school, Mr. Depori at the high school. Um trying to think who we have there on the bottom. Ms. Moore over at Katie Markley. Uh Miss Walton at the 56. Crystal Russell who also is retiring in her 25th year. Best wishes
025to her. Um Miss Decker at the 56. Mr. Beck at the high school. Jill Hughes, Miss Hughes and Miss Anders at General Wayne, Miss Neil and O'Keefe, Miss O'Keefe at the 56 center. So, there are 25 years of service with the Great Valley School District. Round of applause for them, please. Um, not to be outdone are our teachers with or staff members with 30 years of service. Uh, at the middle school, we have Miss McGovern and Mr. Robinson. And over at Katie Markley, Miss O'Donnell. So, congratulations for their 30 years of service. All right. and topping the list in a class all her own, Miss Over at Katie Markley with 35 years of service. Thank you so much, Jill. Uh, thank you all. So, again, that's something we do annually and um I certainly thank
026those those service members and certainly once again to our retirees. Thank you for all you've done. I hope you leave Great Valley with fond memories and enjoy a wonderful retirement because you certainly deserve it. So with that, uh, we conclude our recognitions for this evening. Miss Kagos. Wonderful. So we'll take a moment. Um, if folks want to make their way out to get on with their evening, you are not obligated to stay this whole rest of the meeting, but you are welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. Thank you all. Thank you to the parents and the teachers. We're so grateful for your time. Bye, Henry. Okay, we'll slow walk it into section five. The board did meet in executive session to talk about legal and personnel matters. Uh 502, is there any
027secretaries correspondence? There's no correspondence this evening. All right. And is there a report from the IU meeting is on Wednesday. Oh, Wednesday. Okay. Um legislative report. Do we have That's Trisha. Okay. So, we will follow up on that next month. Okay. Um, any other board committee reports that I missed under section five? Communications. Don't forget about us. Listen, uh, we met virtually on May 12th. Um the first agenda item we talked about the um district communication on the weapons notification policy and um you know just looking at what other communications can go out with you know related to safety so that parents have an understanding of what to expect as they receive ongoing safety notifications. Uh next we looked at the communication satisfaction survey. Some really great results. Um there was a 9% increase over
028um in participation over last year. So those numbers are ticking up and we hope they'll continue to rise every year um that we do the survey. Um satisfaction with the overall district communication also has improved climbing from I have to take my glasses off for this 59% to 76%. So again um just hoping to see those numbers continue to uh to to strengthen. Uh we talked about website enhancements which is something that is always on the agenda. just trying to uh make sure the website can you know parents and families can find information easily. Uh so uh Teresa has been doing a great job um and her team with uh making sure that those uh updates are made in a timely manner and the great thing about a website is it's a living breathing document
029so those updates can be made. If anyone has suggestions please let us know. We're happy to consider them. And then I thought it was important to dis to talk uh about our summer priorities for the communications team. So, uh Teresa talked about the three-year strategic communication plan. Um you know, talking about the crisis communication um framework and also a style guide for branding, which are two of the things that we had talked about tackling. Um and then also we discussed you know responsibilities for PKC members and um working on um you know more topics for the year uh that can be tailored to grade levels um writeups of the meetings um that can be shared more broadly with parents so it can be communicated out um in a better way etc. Uh so we will
030next meet in September. So happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Um we'll move on to section superintendence update. Yep. Just a brief update on some happenings across the district. Exciting time of year. You saw the recognitions here um this evening. And I'm just going to highlight a few things starting really with our middle school. And so we'll get that queued up. Thank you very much. Right. So first just highlighting our robotics club. I if you've been attending board meetings regularly or are familiar with our middle school program, uh our middle school robotics is deeply involved. Mr. Ruckle House, the adviser has done a great job. We've even expanded it due to demand. more and more students want to join the robotics team. So recently um they competed in a national competition and you can
031see that here we have a picture of some of the teams that place 12th in a very competitive division of over 80 different middle schools from across the country. So um they've done a great job. They kind of fund raise, they go out, they compete, and they continue to excel. Just as you saw Miss Lester who was here honoring our environ at the middle school, you now throw in our robotics team who's going on and and coming back with national accolades as well as our math counts team at the middle school. So, um, with math counts, um, you'll see students have competed locally and then there's a national event and they've only picked four students from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And one of our middle schoolers is uh, one of the four you see Ran
032there along with our middle school math teacher, Mr. Bernbomb. Mr. Bernbomb was also asked to coach the Pennsylvania team. So the the four students and all he went down and was able to accompany and just what a great experience and I think one of the first times in Great Valley history that we had a student compete at this level for for math counts. So they go in, they test, they work problems and um it's it's quite impressive what these teams do. So congratulations to Rayon being selected to just one of four slots for the Pennsylvania team and also for Mr. for beer and bomb stepping up and coaching the kids while they were uh in Florida. Special Olympics real heartwarming uh to watch the clapouts in all of our schools. I mean that what terrific
033pictures here to help capture just the excitement and the joy uh across all of Great Valley schools as our students went off and competed on May 1st. um just so proud and I I would say a true point of pride for our district. Just the support and care and I think those pictures say it all. So congratulations to all of our um Special Olympic athletes. Elementary field days, uh a lot of work that culminates with our staff, uh parent volunteers, it really um to run these stations and everything that goes on when the weather cooperates. just fun days and also just memories that I think children will take with them as they move into middle school, high school and beyond. Uh just to have fun with their friends and with their teachers and parents looking
034on. So, a lot of excitement across our our elementary schools as they embark on their field days and these these closing days and weeks of the school year. And lastly, as always, we'll close out with our four heart award winners. And you can see there uh a lot of the writeups that were submitted, we continue to receive far more nominations than we we can keep up with. So um I would say for launching this program this year, it's been quite successful. We are still seeing nominations from outside the district, inside the district, student nominations, collegial nominations. And so our four aware award winners um Fred Wright who's a custodian at our high school. You can read the comments there. Congratulations to Fred. Lisa Grant who works in our life school's multiple disabilities room at the
035middle school. Uh you can see what uh Lisa's submission was. Tom Brown who's a speech therapist at both Charles Town and General Wayne. So congratulations to Tom and Allison Day Meyer who works at our 56 center an outstanding teacher. So, uh, just a a great selection of four outstanding individuals who really embody all that great valley is about. So, congratulations to the hard award winners and, uh, please keep those nominations coming in. And with that, I thank you for the time and that concludes my report this evening. All right. Thank you. Um, let's move on. This is our first opportunity for public participation on voting items only. There will be a second opportunity for public participation at the end of the meeting on any topic you may feel like speaking about. Okay, I'll say that
036slowly. Okay. Consent agenda items uh section 8. Is there a motion to approve 801 through 818? Motion to approve 801 through 818. Second. Second. All right, Miss McGibney, anything changed? We'll start with you first. No changes. Okay. And is there any questions from the board based on um 801 to 818? We talked about these at the last meeting. All right. With that, um all in favor of approving 8001 through 818. Any opposed? Nope. Motion passes seven to nothing. There are two board members absent today. All right. Uh financial approvals. 901 um is our budget review. I'll take these one at a time. Is there a motion to This is This is an information item only. Oh, great. Oh, that's right. We don't vote on this till late. So, this will get voted on at a
037special meeting on June 1st. The budget is available on the website uh for public review and there is also a hard copy at our front desk uh reception area uh for public viewing as well. Is it easy to find it on the website? Like where is it? Do we know? So it's under the business department where you would find um the budget, the audit uh review for each year. So if I go under um departments and then under business right on that homepage. Great. When remind me of our meeting schedule between here and when we are supposed to vote on the budget. This is the final meeting before you're voting on the budget. Okay. And when we vote on the budget at the next meeting, will you do a run through of everything again at
038that point? I think that would be great. Um the repetition is nice. certainly will. Thank you. Okay, any questions before we get to that as we go forward? Okay, great. 902, election of a school board treasurer. We need to elect a school board treasurer. This particular position with the school board runs differently on a different cycle than our president and vice president. Um, so it runs closer to the fiscal year. Um, is there a motion to appoint a board treasurer for a one-year term? Am I doing this correctly? I'm not. Yep. Motion to elect Wendy Litzky as board treasurer from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 according to PA school code section 404. All right. Is there a second? Second. All right, Wendy, any comment? Happy to serve. Okay, I was gonna say you
039don't have to. We really just put you on the spot here. Um, wonderful. Uh, all in favor? Sure. Always vote for yourself. You got to be your biggest biggest advocate. All right. Motion passes seven to nothing. Thank you, Wendy, for your service. Um, thank you, Mrs. McGiny for all the work, the ongoing work which is daily for you on this budget to get us to a good a good position hopefully as we get ready to vote next month. Okay, moving right along. Personnel 1001. Let's take these one at a time. Is there a motion to approve 101? Motion to approve 101. Is there a second? Second. Um, any questions or revisions from anybody? Great. Again, a big thank you to all of our retirees as we approach the end of the year. We remain deeply
040grateful for your service. Um, and look forward to celebrating you next week. Um, all right. All those in favor of approving 1001. Any opposed? No. Motion passes 70. All right. 1002, director of human resources. Is there a motion to approve the new director of human resources position? Motion to approve 10:02. Is there a second? Second. All right. Um any We discussed this last week. Um as a way Dan, you want to just give another quick summary? I think that would be good. And as as we shared last week, um a lot of human resource responsibility has been embedded in the assistant superintendent position. And this is something you normally don't see in school districts. And so as we've grown in recent years, both enrollment, staff-wise, capac capacity, and the complexity, uh we feel the current
041position, which is a supervisor, um which is really within our depth chart is um is further down uh position. We'd like to elevate this to a director position, which would make it a director of human resources. It would be a cabinet leadership position. uh senior leadership position in the district. Uh and it really helps to get some of those job responsibilities out of the assistant superintendent job description. So that person can not get involved in those granular day-to-day type of HR functions and really put it with a director of human resources. I did share last week that our understanding is we're the only school district in Chester County that does not have a director in this position. So we certainly feel the times warrant it and uh that's why I'm making this request to the
042board. Thank you. And it reports directly to you, Dan. It does, as all cabinet positions. Yes. All right. All those in favor of establishing a new role of a director of human resources to replace the current supervisor of human resources position, who's in favor? Can I ask a question before we vote? Yeah. Sorry. I know we we talked a little bit about it last time about the physical requirements in the job description and I know we got a little bit additional information, but I am going to push back not just specifically on this job description, but in job descriptions in general. I don't think they're fully representing our welcoming ability of those of all abilities into the roles. The way that the job description is written is pretty off-putting. I'm going to use a strong
043word there. And so I would just encourage us moving forward to take a much better look at how we're representing ourselves in these job descriptions with the physical requirements and the necessity of those requirements and how we're allowing accommodations and communicating that to those in the broader community um who may not be able to meet the physical requirements and whether that is truly necessary if they possess all of the other skills to do the job. And if I may, just as a follow-up, and absolutely we will do that. And I know that's been a concern of yours as we've looked at job descriptions. Um certainly working with with council, they they do recommend our labor council that that we include those. U we do have language and we can absolutely look at more prominently positioning
044that language in the job description that if anyone is to have a disability, a documented disability, that would not preclude an individual who can't exceed. Our job descriptions make sure they spell out that accommodations would be made for someone with a disability. However, to more completely round out the picture of the assignment, our labor council recommends that we put those physical requirements in there. But I want to be really clear that it does not preclude anyone from a disability applying and we would accommodate uh any of those physical requirements. But they still recommend that it be in there. But certainly hearing your concerns, Dr. will we'll be sure to look at that and explore that even the summer months as we start to look at other job descriptions. So appreciate the feedback and Dan I
045would agree with um Dr. Rizo as well. I really think it has to be taken a close look at how it's phrased um and I know there's the legal part of it but um to her to your point Dr. Rizzo it's very offputting and I think that has to change. So thank you both. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Um, all in favor. All right. Motion passes 7 nothing. Okay. Uh, policies for first reading 11:01. Niha um had discussed these last week. Is there a motion to accept the following the following policies for the first reading? Motion to approve 11:01. Is there a second? Second. All right. Um, any questions about these policies that we discussed last week or any changes to anything? No changes. Okay. All right. All in favor?
046Good. None opposed. 11:01 passes. 7 nothing. All right. Uh, nothing under 1201. Um, nothing under 1301. Food transportation, food services. Um, any other public comment on anything, voting or non- voting at this time? You're more than welcome to come down. 3 minutes. There will be a buzzer at 30 seconds, but please keep talking. Um, that's just to give a rather abrupt warning. We are grateful that you're here. Hi, thank you. My name is Chelsea Jacobs. Um, I live 150 Kosoga Road in Melbourne. I currently have a first grader at KDM and a fifth grader at the 56 Center. Um, so gas prices, food increases, and climate factors have significantly contributed to rising costs, and it doesn't seem like things are going to be changing anytime soon. These are just a few reasons why I think
047it's imperative that we start a community garden. The property the district owns on Backton Hill would be a great spot for this. Uh, there's communities that live within walking distance to that area, and there's plenty of space for a community garden there. The benefits of community gardens are numerous. Not only do they bring people together, but they feed them. To help offset some costs, I have a list of valuable resources like I attend seed swaps where I can get seeds for free that we could grow. Um, as well as there are seed companies that will donate directly to um, nonprofit organizations. There's also a foundation called the Fruit Tree Planning Foundation where knowledgeable people will help start an orchard. Um, they bring the whole community in on it. They educate adults and children and they
048plant the trees for us. Um, we also have Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts that are looking for projects and we have master gardeners in our county that need community hours and would be happy to help as well as GVCO. Um, plus some of those awesome high school garden clubs that I heard about. That sounded really cool. I'm sure they would be happy to help. Um, community gardens are a way to bring neighbors together and care for one another. And the property on Backton Hill would be a great place for this. and I hope the school can take the initiative in this project to benefit our community and school district families in need of support. Thank you very much. Thank you so much, Chelsea. All right. Um, any other board comments? I just want to give
049a shout out to Mr. Depel for the uh middle school choir concert this past week. It was truly amazing and he is just seems like an incredible human being. So, um, those concerts are always great. He even brought in the high school corral to sing one of the songs with the eighth graders. He allowed a, um, studentrun club to have a performance during the choir concert, so they had a way to showcase the things that they had been working on. It was just a really great experience. Those kids did amazing. And, um, yeah, just wanted to give a shout out and say thanks for that. I love it. Um, I had the pleasure of going to the KDM spring fair Friday night. Weatherh held. It was wonderful. It was outside which just makes for a
050much better venue. So, I just want to shout out to the KDM PTO staff and administration there for making that event happen. From where I stood, it ran seamlessly. I don't know how it felt from their side. I know these spring fairs are happening all over the district and it takes a tremendous amount of volunteer hours to bring it to life, but it's my kids' favorite event every year. So, I'm really grateful in what we call Maycember when no one has a second to spare. people are finding seconds to spare and hours to spare to make these events really nice for the kid. And I walked away with a very cool tattoo from the student council. Um, which a lot of people have asked me over the weekend if it's real. So, it is not,
051but I'm still sporting it. So, thank you for that. Um, and with that, any other comments? Motion to adjurnn. Second. All right. All in favor? Motion passes. Seven nothing. Thank you all very much. Have a good night.