Great Valley School District Board Meeting - November 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM

001Welcome to the November school board meeting. Uh first thing is the pledge of allegiance. Everybody please stand. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. you're up first. Okay. All right. Good evening. Um, welcome everybody. One of our early agenda items here in today's meeting is the recognition of two of our current school directors who uh will be completing their terms. Um, Miss Samantha Jewan and Mr. David Barrett. Uh, this will be your last formal meeting as members of the Great Valley School Board. And uh we want to thank you both for your service uh so many years right that you've put in and time that you've sacrificed with your own family

002to support the great valley family. So uh we do want to open up as a as a board uh with just some words of gratitude and I think Miss Joan we're going to start off with you and Dr. Ma has some comments and then we'll we'll open it up. So um Samantha thank you for all you've done and let's honor your time here with us. Samantha, I'm I'm going to start by saying I blame you entirely for my being here. Um because honestly, from the first time that I even considered, you know, this role to being my next seat neighbor and like literally my right-hand woman from the time I started on the board, I've looked to you as the paradigm of what it means to be on the school board. Um, you've made such

003an impact in this district with your presence. You ask the hard questions. You keep our students and teachers at the center of every discussion and decision. And you honor every voice in the community. And you do it all with so much humility, compassion, passion, and of course, the best jewelry of everybody on the board. Um, one of our previous board members also shared with me that she would have been okay losing the election because she knew the SE seat would go to someone smart, assertive, and driven by conviction and a strong moral compass. All the things you'd want in a school board leader. And luckily, it went to both of you. And she's proud, as we all are, to have served with such an awesome steward of the district. You're certainly leaving some big shoes

004to fill. Thank you for the gift of your leadership, your mentorship, and your time. I personally will miss you and you, Dave. Um, so I'd be lying if it didn't make me just a little upset. The wide grins that you two have been walking around with. Um, as you prepare to step away, but honestly, that is the kind exactly the kind of joy that we are wishing you as you reclaim your Monday nights. And we wish you lots of luck and fulfillment in your next endeavors. Yeah. And Smith, we'll we'll open it up, but you served eight years on the Great Valley School Board in two terms and um we we had a lot of positives and a lot of great accomplishments. We had some real challenges. Um let me just open it up to

005your your colleagues. Are there any other comments regarding Samantha? I'd like to second that I fully blame you for being here. Um, but also thank you because you taught me everything I needed to know about an election and you did it with grace and compassion and just conviction as Nha said for what the right thing for students and families are. So, thank you. So, now we'll put you on the spot. Is there anything you'd like to share? Uh, thank you. It's it's certainly been a journey. Uh, it's a lot has happened in eight years. When I started on this board, we knew our district was growing and we didn't know where we would put all the students. And here we are a year after having opened a new 56 center. There was a lot of

006thought that went into that. Um I I you know, one of the hardest things was was managing through the the pandemic and all all of the controversies around that and making sure our students were educated. Um you know, we've we've had other you know, we've had changes in in our demographic makeup here. We've had lots of things happen in these eight years and I've been really proud to serve alongside all of you and and those who came before you who were in my first term as well. Um I I think we're lucky to have I'm lucky to have served on a board where we have such strong people who are rational thinkers who all have everyone I've served with on this board has had the students and the teachers first and the community first which

007is great. You know there's been a lot in the news about boards but I say to people I'm on a school board they say oh and I said no we already have a really good board. It's it's yes we have hard decisions to make and u but but we have great people and I'm sure I know that the people who are coming you know after us will be great also and thank you to making this such a a pleasant and rewarding experience to to all of you to the board members to the administration and and to the community at large as well. Thank you and Smith. It just says tokens of our gratitude. There are two gifts there at your table. one. Yes. The the small bag is a token. It just memorializes your time

008at Great Valley. You'll see it's a it's a star with an engraved name and your years of service. Something that you can display and think of us in years to come. All right. And the other item, I'll let you um I'll let you be surprised as you take a look. It's a picture of all of us. [laughter] Yeah. So, every Monday night I'll take this out. Yeah. Yeah. And put it on my Yeah. Yeah. No, but this is great. Glass of wine. Your glass of wine in the picture. But it's been fun. And you know, I'll miss all of you and and working through everything we worked through together. So, thank you for this. This is a great memory. A Thank you, Samantha. Thank you to your family for you spent a lot of time

009with us uh when you could have been with your own family. So, uh very grateful. So, thank you again. Um if there are no other comments, let's address Mr. Barrett. All right. So, um, Mr. Barrett has been on the board since 2009, right? You were vice president coming in in 2011. Up into the present, you've served as our president, our steward through a lot of years. And I know Dr. Rizzo has some comments, so we'll let her lead it off this evening. Yes. So, I will start off the comments. So, Dave, you served this board and community as and a district as a volunteer for 16 years. And as Dan said, 16 years as a member of the executive leadership team, um 14 of those as the president. And you did it all while you

010held a successful career. You raised two boys, graduates of Great Valley, and you played pickle ball seemingly every day. Um because that's where you were every time I would call you. Um your deep understanding of operations and finance and historical knowledge about the district will be greatly missed. um along with your ability to see long and short-term impacts of all of our decisions. I personally will also miss the opportunity to laugh every time you say sharpen your pencils. Um and not just because I sit next to Sheree and I know she uses mechanical pencils. So that's you know and I also will Yeah. Yeah. They're for you. Um and I will also miss the opportunity to respectfully call you a grump every time we have playground discussions. Um, [laughter] while our routes to decision-m were

011never quite the same, our decisions always convened in the same place. And that's what was best for students, staff, and the community of Great Valley. I, and so many have served with you on the board, appreciate and acknowledge the insight you brought to every conversation along with your patience, mentorship, and humor. From a distance, you can be a somewhat easy villain to cast. However, after just one conversation with you, it was even easier to see your vast knowledge, your dedication, and even your heart. Um, so a great big thank you on behalf of myself who has learned so much from you. On behalf of my two children who are thriving at Great Valley because of the decisions you've made throughout the years, as well as behalf of this board and past boards that you've served

012with, I think you said 28 board members you have served with throughout the years. and also on behalf of the 4,952 students who graduated during your tenure. So, thank you to your commitment to this community. We will miss you. No, great great words. Thank you, Dr. Rizzo. And and I know you know, Mr. Barrett, you and I spent a lot of time talking, times where you call me, where I call you. And I think, you know, as a rookie superintendent coming in right before the pandemic, I think we had shut things down in March, even though I'd been in the district, uh, I became superintendent a few months later. And, uh, just your support, guidance, when things got tough and, um, it just means a lot to me both professionally and personally. And whenever I

013needed some advice or we needed to discuss something, you always made yourself available whether you were here on vacation, uh, and again, or at pickle ball. Right. Right. And I know I know Dave's family is here. I think his his wife and maybe one one of your two sons. So, uh, thank you. I know he spent a lot of time with us and, uh, we appreciate you letting us have him for all these years. So, thank you. Uh, Claudia, Jeffrey, thank you very much. Um, let's see if there are other comments from your colleagues. Anything uh, anybody else regarding Dave? Because I do have some statements from some past board members, but before I do, or maybe I'll hop right into that. Um okay so um you know reaching back as Dr. Rizzo shared you've

014worked with over 28 different board members. I just reached out to two that I know um you know I know you respected uh all of them for their time their service but I thought in particular I reached out to Amy Chain and I know you and Amy worked very closely. We had some economic times and here's what Amy had to say and I'll try to do it justice. She wrote, "Serving on a board is often quiet work, rarely in the spotlight, but critical to our community. Sometimes it's the opposite. It's at the forefront of community consciousness, solving seemingly solvable puzzles. But the work is always there for doing. It doesn't rest, and neither do the school board directors who volunteer their time to make the best decisions they can on behalf of the community they

015serve. Tonight marks the final meeting presided over by someone whose dedication to our schools has spanned more than a decade. Even after his own children graduated, he continued to serve even through the unwinable challenges of a global pandemic. He continued to serve through leadership transitions, dramatic growth and change in our district, highs and lows, and countless moments that shaped our district's future. He continued to serve the community. Dave, your steady presence, thoughtful leadership, and unwavering commitment have made a lasting impact on our community, on my family, and on me. It was an honor to serve alongside you for a portion of that time. Thank you for your service and for always being willing to do the hard work on behalf of our community. Regards, Amy. So, very nice comments from Miss Jane. And also, I

016reached out to Miss Gunderson who served eight years with you. eight of those those years. Uh, and I know Steph is very active in the community. And here's what she had to say. She she shared that she served for eight years on the board with Dave. Serving on a school school board is often unseen, sometimes unpopular, and always important. Tonight, I want to thank Dave Barrett for giving so many years of steady, principled service to Great Valley. We didn't always agree, and I'm grateful for that. David's questions sharpened our thinking and and [clears throat] yes sharpened our thinking and his civility reminded us that disagreement can still be respectful and student centered. He prepared thoroughly, listened carefully, honored the process and kept fiscal stewardship and educational quality in view at the same time. He supported

017our staff, mentored newer members, and offered a calm, thoughtful voice in challenging moments. Public service asks for time, humility, and heart. David offered all three. Thank you, David, for your dedication to our students, family, and educators. I'm grateful to have known you and hope that you enjoy your well-deserved retirement from the unpaid volunteer job that took up countless hours of your free time. Signed, Steph Bunderson. So very nice comments. Thank you to Amy and Steph. Right. Um a few things Dave for you. We have a similar item here with your name and engraved like what we have for Mishwan. Nice. Let you reveal that so you can display that and think of us when you're relaxing after a good pickle ball game. And then lastly, because of your years to to be a board president

018for four terms in essence, right? A long time. that's almost unheard of in this in in this day and age uh as an unpaid volunteer and you did great work and the district is poised in in the position it is because of your leadership. So to help memorialize that I don't have it but we did get a brick through our foundation and we're going to engrave a brick. It'll be deposited in the walkway outside our stadium and the brick will say David Barrett School Board and it'll commemorate your years and it'll be there for years to come to honor your service for us and uh that indelible mark that you left and it'll be forever uh acknowledged in our our walkway. Thank you. Thank you, Dave, for everything. And the real the real ice. Oh,

019we can't forget the pencils. And you know, anyone who's attended a meeting, especially budget season, so we have some very sharp pencils that you already sharpened and a great valley mug. Uh I do think Dave, you know, we all kidding aside, it's a bit of a legacy. I wish there was eight here. I could hand them out as I leave. only five, but we're going to give you that Great Valley mug and some sharpened pencils. Uh, just a small part of your legacy. Um, anything you'd like to share, Mr. Barrett? Uh, well, first I want to thank my wife and my family. Um, she's only here to make sure I don't keep going. Um, I told her at the beginning it'd be eight years. Um, so here I am at 16. So, I really think

020she's here to make sure I was not kidding her that I was going to step aside. Um, but um, as um, Andrea mentioned, I've served with 28 different board members. Everybody's been great. I've been worked with four different superintendents, three different business managers. Um, I think every principal's new since I've been here. Um, so you know, it's been great to work with everybody, teachers, staff, uh, two union leaderships, I think, since I started. Um, it's all been good. [laughter] I've always supported them. She doesn't believe me, but no. Um, but I think, um, you hit the nail on the head. Everybody that, um, I've ever worked with here, it's always had students in mind. um making sure that students were getting what they needed and that included the right staff um and everything else that

021goes along with it. So, I just want to thank everybody for allowing me to do this. Thank the board for allowing me to be president and serving you. I appreciated it and I'm going to enjoy retirement [laughter] for you. Yeah, well deserved, Dave. Thank you for everything. And the real of all the gifts, they keep coming. Uh you do get to take your name plate at the end. Leave the wooden base please for your uh those we don't have but please uh as a momento make sure you take your plate and we'll remind you. Uh but thank you both for for service. Mrs. Gyos couldn't make it here this evening due a prior commitment but she did give a statement and Dr. Ma is going to share that. So from Rachel I'm so sorry I

022could not be there tonight to send you off properly but send my best via this message. I so appreciate working with you both on this board for the past few years. I've learned a tremendous amount from each of you and it has made me a better board member. Dave, you have demonstrated a firm commitment to getting board input on various issues. You've spent countless hours talking with each of us and working hard to build consensus and understand where people stand on each issue. You're quick to say, "I'm one of nine." And actively seek other thoughts. Your opinions are strong, but you want to hear from others and push the conversation forward. You've led this board through a lot of change during your tenure, and yet you've remained the constant through various superintendent, board members, cultural

023shifts, global pandemics, and opening new schools. You've seen it all. You've remained steady, unflapable, and always with the clear goal of serving our students in the best possible way. I promise to make sure we always sharpen our p pencils and remain true to our fiscal responsibilities. Thank you for your leadership and thank you for your service to the larger community over the years. Samantha, I wouldn't be on the board without you. We met at a local event and it was there that you encouraged me to consider school board. I also had the pleasure of meeting your wonderful mother at that dinner. You were my champion during my first run and showed me the ropes. You answered my endless questions and made introductions. You climbed the ladder first and then turned around and reached back to

024help other women achieve their goals. I am so grateful to call you a friend and mentor. I've learned so much from you during my tenure. Your attention to detail and nuance help us make informed choices. You ask challenging questions and push for clarity. All of this with the clear goal of supporting our students and teachers. You have served the school district with integrity and have demonstrated over and over again your commitment to your community. I am forever grateful. Dave and Samantha, thank you for your service. Thank you for showing up year after year and for caring so deeply about our district and our community. All right. Thank you. My one last meeting. So here we go. Samantha's last one, too. Best part. Student council report. Yeah. General Wayne's on the list first, so let's start

025there. Come up to the podium. Good evening. My name is Dina Sri and I am the president of the General Wayne Student Council. With me tonight is our vice president Logan Ludy, treasurer Lily Reese, and secretary Adriet Roy. Thank you for inviting us to share some of the wonderful things happening at General Wayne Elementary. The General Wayne community continues to be more than generous. We have been very busy for the past several months. October 8th, we held our annual soup night. Soup night is held to raise money for nonprofit organizations or families in need. Our teachers and staff make yummy soup such as creamy tortillini, Italian wedding, cheddar broccoli, and of course, chicken noodle. We also served casserole, casserole, Caesar salad, bread, and desserts to feed great valley families. General Wayne. Many businesses donate rolls,

026ice, and soup. The lemonade club students from high school, Miss Radcliffe and her son Logan, Miss Wolf, and her daughter TA donate their time to help our teachers and staff serve clean and restock. It's a fun night to get to get together with all the our current families and past families from General Wayne to help others. So, are you ready to hear what we did? Drum roll, please. This year, we fed over 400 people in two seedings. We raised $4,000 which will go to the Charlotte Grace Fund which supports children who are going through treatment for cancer. Miss Radcliffe, her husband Brian, and her son Logan began the foundation in honor and memory of their daughter Charlotte Grace. We supported Weed Valley High School during the week of homecoming by joining them in spirit week.

027The week looked like this. PJ Day, Crazy Hair Day, Charlotte Grace Day. We wore purple and lime sports day, and Patriot Pride Day. We also celebrated our bus drivers. Each student made cards for their bus drivers. Miss Ro Miss Regula made a beautiful sign we each signed. And we, as student council officers, greeted the bus drivers, and served them donuts and coffee. We even were able to hang out with them for a while. It was so much fun. Lastly, we are getting ready to say yay to PJs to raise money for the children's fund at CHOP. On December 8th, everyone who wears PJs will donate a dollar or more by making a donation in person or online. We are hoping to raise $1,000. Can I get a Oh, yeah. Thank you. Throughout the month of

028November, we are focusing on sharing our gratitude through kindness. November [clears throat] 13th was National Kindness Day. Whenever we find ourselves [clears throat] being grateful or see someone who needs a kind friend, we show it. For example, [clears throat] we may help someone pick up their glove that fell, hold a door, ask them to play, or help them with their work. Many people often are surprised to find out how many others are so kind. It's [clears throat] the simple things that make you smile and warm your heart. And it [clears throat] doesn't cost anything to be kind. In addition to showing kindness daily, we are c we celebrated how to be thoughtful, [clears throat] kind, and responsible digital citizens. We reminded our general Wayne friends how how they can do that through our spirit week.

029Lastly, I'd like to ask each of you as our school board members and as administrators, can you please vis visit our classrooms to see how we are working towards being community leaders just like you? Thank you for inviting us to share our general pride this evening. We are honored. Have a fabulous week. Thank you. Yep. Good job. And thank you, Miss Sonico. I know you support our students. Oh, was there another comment? Oh, okay. All right. One more. Thank you. Uh, good job everyone. Good job. All right, Sugar Town, you're next. Good evening, members of of the school board. My name is Emma Helan and I'm the president of student council. Thank you so much for giving us a chance to speak with you tonight. We're really excited to share what Stu Sugartown student council

030has been has been working on so far this year. This year, our student council has nine fourth grade members and 10 third grade members. All of our officers are fourth graders. We are proud to represent our school and help to continue make Sugartown the sweetest place on earth. Hi, my name is Nolan Kushkin and I'm the vice president of student council. I would like to share a little about our holiday food drive. We are currently collecting canned goods, box foods, and gift cards to help families in our very own Sugartown community who may need a little extra support during the holidays. We are encouraging our classmates to donate whatever they can because even small things can make a big difference. Our goal is to spread kindness, generosity, and make sure everyone in our community feels

031cared for. Hi, my name is Chase Buchanan and I am this and I am the secretary of student council. I am excited to talk about our new program called Bobcat Buddies. This program lets us let student council members visit kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms. We will help younger students with activities, read to them, and bring lots of school spirit. We can't wait to make new friends, be good leaders, and show the younger kids what it looks like to actively show our positive school values of respect, responsibility, and kindness. Hi, my name is Lily McGillian and I'm the treasurer of student council. I want to share our fundraising plans this year. We'll we'll be raising uh we'll be using the money we we raised last year to buy to buy brand new recess equipment for

032all the students at our school to use and enjoy. We're also excited to to say what what um that this year we'll be teaming with the PTO to make our fundraising efforts even better than before because at Sugartown we know that that teamworks teamwork makes the dream work. Um, [clears throat] thank you. Thank you again for listening listening to us and supporting our student council. Thank you again for for allowing Sugartown Student Council to speak with you tonight. We want to remind everyone here that at Sugartown together we are Bobcat strong. Have a great rest of your night and an even better week ahead. And just I want to thank Miss Hornberger and Miss Walters for their support. Thank you so much and good job students. Very well done. All right, high school report. [clears

033throat] Tough act to follow. Good luck, Justin. Hi everyone. It's Justin again. It's good to see you all and I'll be sharing everything that's happened at the high school over the past week or so. Oh, all right. There we go. Um, so starting things off with the marching band and the GV marching patriots won the PA state championship in their group group one and that's their fourth straight time doing fourth time in a row doing so dating back to 2022. And they also won the caption awards for best music, best overall effect, best color guard, and best percussion. So, in my experience with marching band, which is very limited, they looked great when they presented to us at the pep rally, and those awards seemed welld deserved because it the music sounded amazing. So, take

034that with a grain of salt because they they really are amazing. All right. Um, up next, the Hispanic National Honors Society, which inducted 42 new members, and the selection on that was based on the top students in Spanish class. So, there's a requirement that you have a certain grade in your years in Spanish, and then a GPA requirement overall. And when you're a member, it's a two-year commitment. So, you're expected to help out with the Spanish club, and you must take Spanish next year. So, the goal is just to encourage learning about Spanish language and Spanish culture as a whole. So thanks to Miss Bryman and Senior Berryman and Senior Cat Catalano for their help with that. Uh then we have the National Honor Society as a whole. So 103 new members were inducted on

035Tuesday which is 197 total in our chapter and that's seniors and juniors. And then to be selected you have to meet the four criteria for NHS which are scholarship, service, leadership and character. So for scholarship there's a GPA requirement as well for that. And then service and leadership, you're required to demonstrate those both in the school and in the community. So you share how you've done so. So for me, I can say, well, I've done service by coming to you all. So that was that was my example there. Oh, sorry, this clicked. All right. Um, and then character, you have to get teacher recommendations. So they solicit those from the staff and the teachers say who the people they think that are the most deserving of that recognition. And again, a huge thank you to

036all the teachers and students who helped put both those inductions on. And then congratulations to everyone who was accepted. Now, the gardening club project. So, I don't know if you know this, but there's a senior garden at the high school. So, since 2020, every graduating class has had plants donated by SER's nursery, and they're put in an area in front of the lo the school name out on the front. And what the gardening club did was they expanded that area and mulched it to make space for other plants that will be donated hopefully in the future. And then there was a bunch of volunteers for that. So students, teachers, and administrators, I know Mr. McClusky's over there. He was getting his hands dirty with the rest of us helping out with that. So thank you

037to everyone who did that. And thank you Mr. McCcluskey for being out there with us. So then one other thing that's been happening, this is a big program. It's the Denmark exchange program. So before I get any further, I do want to thank Dr. Morbido and Mr. Morbidito because they put up with me pestering them for questions and they let me join a meeting with all the people from Great Valley and Denmark in this. So I got to ask them some questions and I'll share that in a minute. But overall it works in two wings. So the first is when the students from Denmark come to the high school and they arrived Wednesday night and then on Thursday they took classes at the high school and on Friday they went into DC to tour some

038of the monuments, tour the capital and they'll also go to Philadelphia and New York before they leave which is in a few days. So then the second leg is when Great Valley students go to Denmark and while there they'll tour the the school Helzinger Gymnasium and the town of Hellzinger and Copenhagen. And one cool thing about Helzinger is it's the c it's the setting of Hamlet. So the Shakespeare's Hamlet. So they can tour all the really old buildings there. And that's something they enjoy. And then as I said, I did talk to the students who go on this from both sides and the teachers Denmark and Great Valley. So they shared the reason they do it is overwhelmingly because a friend or a sibling did it and they heard how great it was. But the

039real reason they heard it was great is because it's a once in a-lifetime opportunity opportunity to take classes at a school in a different country. So I mean I've I've never taken classes in another country. I don't think anyone really has. It's a select group that get to do that and you get to immerse yourself in that culture which is a really cool thing to do. So it's a great program overall and we'll be able to report in March the Great Valley side of that in Denmark. Then one final thing on Veterans Day, the I want to thank the social studies teachers for bringing in Commander Keith Miller of the United States Navy. He's been serving for 20 years, over half of those in active duty, and he's currently a reserve officer, but he came

040in and shared two things. His personal story, how he's traveled across bases on the East Coast, and how he's um also served in submarine and gotten education in nuclear um reactors and stuff like that. So he shared about that and he also explained what we can do to support military service and personnel and the big thing wasn't actually helping the military themselves but just doing good in your community. So whether that's helping out at a local organization, helping your neighbor, all that contributes to making the community a better place, which makes the veterans feel a little more meaning with what they're protecting. So then finally, some upcoming events that we have. The winter door decorating contest is being brought back for another year. So, we'll be able to share with you in a few weeks

041the teachers and how they what the home rooms what they did to their doors and we'll show you the winners. You can see if you agree with our decisions. And then the winter sports are starting up soon. So, we'll be able to present on those. And then there's two concerts, the instrumental and winter coral on the 20th of November and the 11th of December. So, you're all welcome to attend those concerts as is everyone. and we'll be able to present how those went in the future as well. So, as always, thank you for letting us present on the high school to you and special thanks to Miss Schwan and Mr. Barrett for your service to the Great Valley community. Um, I haven't been here for any of or most of your tenure, but I've definitely

042felt your impact and um, thank you both and good luck with what you choose to do in the future. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Great job, Justin. Great job. All right, all the student council people members can grab your parents and you can leave at this point unless you want to see a lot of exciting stuff. Thank you for coming out. My wife can leave too because I really am not going out again. [clears throat] Get this. They're staying, Dave. I think they really are worried. She's going to walk you out the door tonight to make sure you I didn't mention that I convinced her to join the school board indirectly. You should. Yeah. See, we all pass. I tried to talk her out of it. All right. Um board met in executive session to

043go over a personnel and some personnel issue and some information. Secretary, correspondence. No correspondence this evening, Mr. Barrett. All right. Uh, Chester County Intermediate Report meeting is Wednesday. I was so looking forward to hearing one more. All right. Legislative report. Well, the big news is that the state budget pass which includes includes school funding and also some changes to school code. And so, um, Dr. McGibney is going to speak a little bit about that um a little bit later on, right? Isn't it? Yeah. [clears throat] Doctor, sorry. Doctor, Mrs. Do Mrs. I don't know what too long doctor for me. You are professor McGiffy. For me, [laughter] she's the professor. Um she'll speak a little bit more about that. Uh and uh there wasn't we haven't had a uh a legislative council meeting since then,

044but we were all awaiting this with baited breath. And I know there are some districts who are still trying to push back because the ones who had to borrow money to cover their budget are now pushing the state legislature to try and get some kind of um reimbursement for the interest they had to pay. So, thank God that's not us. But all right, foundation report. foundation met on this past Thursday. Three main bullets. uh discussion on their annual campaign working on their venture grants and I know Dr. Gfredo talked about um I guess early interest with the activity bus um that's in their plans for the coming year uh the spring in the spring. Correct. Yeah, that's what we're hoping for. Correct. So I I did uh if that concludes I appreciate the report uh

045and I know the board has asked before about the activity bus. So the foundation the better part of two years ago uh raise some funds. So we are looking we'll be doing a survey in the very near future. We have designated dates for some of the schools and we'll get a survey and we'll we'll see how it goes and if not you know we're going to target the elementary grades and by elementary I would include the 56 in that. Uh we'll see how that works. If we can get it up and running in December, maybe January at the latest. Uh we'll see how that support goes. If that doesn't work out we can always try the middle and high school. So we do have some funds and the foundation will be arranging uh that bus.

046So we're we're working on those arrangements as we speak. So, thank you for the report and please give to the foundation especially if you are in favor of the activity bus. So, I know the high school one years ago, we used to have a high school one many years ago. See, it's a history here. Yeah, it is. Um, the struggle with high school age kids is they typically find a ride home with their friends. Um, so it's very underutilized. Um, but with elementary or middle school might be a lot more um interest. So, yep. All right, moving on to committee reports. Um, instructional technology and curriculum committee. Yes, we went on November 10th and we discussed a lot of things um especially around the work that our um ELA teachers are doing with word study,

047instructional planning, um vocabulary, morphology work. So, a lot of really great things happening. We spent a little bit of time talking about grade seven accelerated mathematics. So our middle schoolers have the opportunity some of them to enter an accelerated math course in seventh grade that kind of combine seven eth math and then maybe a little bit more even and that can keep them if they choose on a pretty accelerated path through high school. Um so the team has been working very hard on kind of laying out those options to students and families effectively communicating that to families and then also ensuring that students have that that the teams have all the the information they need to recommend students for this accelerated class. Um it is high school program of studies time again. So an updated

048program of studies should be coming our way in January and we'll see what cool offerings they have there. Um the student information system, we are joining the 21st century with our updated system hopefully. Um and we'll hear a little bit more about that later on. Um professional development has been happening. Principal meetings have been happening. Um family conference time is happening. So those will take place next week. Um so if you haven't already, please Oh, I think the link closed actually. So if you missed it, but you still want um time with your teachers, I believe you can reach out to them. And then one interesting thing that I learned is that prior to this year, our um specialist schedules, like our literacy specialists, our um gifted support teachers, our band orchestra teachers did not

049enter their schedules into a master scheduling system. They were using spreadsheets kind of going back and forth to people. Um, so now we are finally in the the master scheduling phase that will help us kind of utilize their time more effectively and also more effectively plan students schedules who need one or multiple supports from these specialists. All right, thank you. Uh, facilities has a meeting on Thursday and that concludes that. Uh, superintendent update. Yep. Thank you, Mr. Barrett. Uh before I begin, I I believe Miss Schwan mentioned about the budget. Uh I'd like to devote a little bit of the time to Mrs. McGibney to just talk about highlevel overview of the budget, what that might mean for Great Valley, and then we can certainly come back in subsequent meetings. But with that passage, we

050we wanted to share some information with you. So, Miss McGibney. Yes. Thank you, Dr. Gfredo. Um yes, exactly like Mrs. Jwan said, after four and a half months, the state budget has passed. Uh that budget does total $50.1 billion. Um and it was passed as of as of November 12th, last week. Um Great Valley has already begun receiving some of its funding. Um so we've received our transportation funding. We've also received some of our social security funding and uh we're looking to continue to see funds as of as early as continuing next week. Um, so we're starting to see some of that funding come through the PTE payment portal is how we receive it. Um, we've also been notified that we will be receiving an additional estimated funding of $215,059 uh which is a a

051small increase um from what we were receiving before. We will receive funding, additional funding totaling that 215,000 in the areas of basic education, special education, our ready tolearn grant, and some cyber savings. Um, and with that, we're looking at maybe about $75,000 in just cyber savings just from some of the policy changes and the cyber reform um changes that they're looking to make coming down the pike. Um, we will continue to keep you a breast of the different policy changes associated uh with the passing of this budget. Um, and continue to give you updates as we get that information throughout the budget process as well. I appreciate that update. I know there were also a lot of changes to school code. Superintendent and districts are still unpacking that. The list that I got of school

052code changes um compiled 21 pages. So not all of those and really the majority will not have a direct impact, but there are some. And so as I get more clarification, I do plan to come back and possibly the December or January meeting to talk about some of those those future implications with changes to school code. But I thank Sheree for for getting you some of that fiscal information. All right. Um with that, I'd like to segue if we can bring up my my presentation, my report this evening. Uh knowing that we only have one voting meeting in December, I'm going to use some of tonight almost as a work session. So um two things that I'll cover over the course of the the presentation. Um one, first I'm going to share some good news.

053Justin stole a little bit of my thunder, but I I have a few slides that I want to share. Um, secondly, I do want to talk about uh a contract that will be up for your approval on December 1st, and that is uh a new third-party provider to handle summer camp responsibilities and before and afterare. So, I have a presentation for you. I welcome your feedback. I welcome your questions. And there is no voting action on this particular item this evening. However, on December 1st, I'd like to put that up because our summer camps, we need to get the catalog out in December. So hopefully um I we feel really good about the recommendation we're making, but I want to see what questions you have. And then secondly, I'll also present a draft of the

0542627 calendar. Also seeking your feedback this evening. You do not need to vote on the calendar, but we normally historically have voted on it in December, sometimes in January, but I'd like to get your feedback on that calendar as well. So we're going to use the superintendence report as a quasi work session to to vet a few things. Um, let me just share some some good news first. Um, one, this week commemorates American Education Week. So, thanking all of our of our teachers, our support staff, our admin assistants, our administrators. Um, when you add it up, we have 7 to 800 employees who are here serving in, you know, eight nine buildings if you count our warehouse and our district office. So, it really is a large enterprise and it takes each and every one

055of them to make it happen for our kids and our families. So, it's just a week to express our gratitude and thanks. I know we put some things out on social media. We had some light snacks today delivered to all the buildings just to show our appreciation and and gratitude. So, highlighting American Education Week. Also, our marching band, Justin alluded to this. Uh we know they're very talented. They win awards quite regularly. Uh we do have a slide up for them. and just sharing their accomplishments. But as Justin alluded, they won the state title and then they went on to get second in their national title. Uh here's a picture as well. So congratulations to our marching band and the whole network of parents and community members who are behind them supporting their efforts uh

056because they don't do it alone either. But uh we're very proud of our student musicians. Um, moving on, uh, shifting, we had a team from Charle Town go out to Harrisburg. There's the Pensy, it's the Pennsylvania Safety Institute. Uh, if you look closely, I'm the guy at the top of the step, so I had the opportunity to go out. All kidding aside, this is probably one of my favorite days of the year. I got to spend an entire day with the team from Charles Town. In the front of the picture is our trooper who is assigned to Charles Town. As you know, Charles Town School District is not with a local police municipality. at state police and Pensy Trainers. They've been operating for years and years. They said this is the first time they ever

057had a state trooper attend. And she attended with the Charles Town team. We have a counselor there. We have par profofessionals. We have teachers. We had the nurse front office staff and we worked through safety scenarios. They have simulators. We learned about best practices. Uh it was just a great day for the Charles Town team that they're going to take back and apply in Charles Town. Andrew Thirstston, our security leaison, is working with our other schools and our goal is to get other people out there throughout the year. We did get an assortment of people to go out in the summer. It's a little harder in July with vacations. That was our first blush with the Pensy Institute and we're looking and there might even be an opportunity to get a board member or two

058out for one of these future trainings. So, I'll keep you apprised of those. They do say that board members attend and you get a look at some of the inner workings, you know, as far as making our schools safe and and best practices. But thank you to all those Charlestown teachers who gave up the day to attend. Uh it was just a real pleasure to be with them all day. It really was a a great day all the way around. All right, so I wanted to highlight that for you as well. Um Learning by Design Magazine awarded our 56 center its 2025 outstanding project award for its uh innovative design for education. So a nice accolade. It took a lot of years to develop that and then two years to construct it. Um, we're still

059working through things in year two. It certainly isn't perfect, but the potential and the opportunity within that structure is very promising. And I know Dr. Hammond and Mr. Bray and the whole 56 center team uh in year two is a a a much calmer year as people settle in and make their transitions. Just nice to see that recognition from an outside group uh acknowledging the the work there with our 56 center. Here's a teacher. This you don't see every day. One of our elementary music teachers, Caitlyn Reichel, was nominated for two country music awards in October. They were the country female vocalist of the year and country female emerging artist of the year. And you'll see out of 86,000 independent submissions, she was in the final 2.8% to be nominated for the award. So, not

060only are some of our staff doing great jobs in the classroom, yes, they do have lives outside of school and they have passions and and uh wonderful abilities. And so, we just wanted to share that with you. I think that's a a point of pride for Caitlyn and and all of Great Valley. So, congratulations to her. Dan, we should have her perform at graduation. Oh, all right. [laughter] We'll make a note of that. And one of the um monthly report items that I'm going to include is going to be our heart award winners. And it's great. It's exactly what we set out to do. We are getting lots of nominations from families and community members. You saw last month we had bus drivers honored. Uh we even have some student recognitions this time around where

061our kids are weighing in and sharing. So um first is Mr. Depel. He's a music teacher at the middle school and I'll I'll read what was said if we click one more time. Mr. Depel devoted himself to the string orchestra and chamber all year long, both during the school time and after school. He also brought back the longlost quartet and sought any possible opportunity for the students to showcase their skills and gain performing experiences. He led the chamber to win the first to win first place in musics in the park. In his first year, he transitioned to the middle school. Mr. Depel's passion for music teaching and efforts of discovering students music talent are impressive to both students and parents. And that's a quote that came in. So these are some of the things that

062we're receiving on our staff. It's just it's wonderful to see. Next is Corin Gerber, one of our teachers at Charles Town. And Miss Gerber embodies everything that you could want in a teacher for your child's first experience in elementary school. She is kind, patient, creative, thoughtful. The list could go on. Not only did my daughter adore her as a teacher, Miss Gerber did a fabulous job communicating with families so that we always felt in the loop with all things school related. We were so thrilled with everything about our experience in Miss Gerber's class and my daughter often talks about how much she misses having her as a teacher. So nice to get that type of feedback from a parent and congratulations to to Karen. Bernie Panzerella is one of our aids at Sugartown. And this

063was a student nomination. So, this is what we hope to see, too. So, one of our elementary students wrote that Mr. P is always nice and helpful. He knows all the kids at Sugartown and is in a good mood. He likes to run with the kids at recess playing soccer. So, our kids are even understanding how our our staff go above and beyond. And last is Py Sajeski. She's one of our ELD. She works with our multilingual learners at Katie Markley and we got a report that says she has been tremendously helpful in making our days better in this country. Without her help, my kid could not have accommodated easily to the new change in the country, the environment and the school. We are forever grateful to her support, love, guidance and care. I mean

064that really touches you at your core. So, uh, a lot of our staff going above and beyond. I love taking time each month to share these. Please keep the nominations coming in, students, parents, staff. Uh we appreciate it. Um so thank you for giving me your attention there. What I'd like to segue to is the u the first part of that work session here, which is about our before and after um care along with our summer camp. Just as a quick refresher for the board, uh last year I came to you and really asked for for your support and giving the district administration a reprieve from planning summer care. Uh it is a big task. Although we value it, it takes a huge amount of administrative time in the middle of the year and I

065appreciated you giving us some leniency and we did not run summer camps last year with the understanding that we would put it out to bid for a third party. Unfortunately, we put it out to bid and it we didn't get any takers the first time around, which isn't totally uncommon when going through the RFP process. So, we decided to also couple it together, both our before and after care, which is currently run by the the YMCA with the summer camp, hoping that the same consistent staff. And when we coupled that and put that out in the RFP, we had about seven people, seven companies reply. So, we're able to kind of package it. And so we have a little bit of a of a process here for you. I'm sorry, it was five vendors. So

066we issued that RFP this this fall. We had five vendors come in. We had some criteria which I'll talk about. Um the panel then evaluated some of the the vendors. We narrowed that down. I think we went from five to three. We had them come in and do presentations. And then we will have a a final recommendation for you. Um the goal here is really to get a summer catalog up this month. We'll do three weeks of summer work and then this organization will do our before and after care. And the company that came out on top is on the center slide. It's a company called Right at School. Uh they're the recommended vendor that I'll bring to you on December 1st uh and ask for your your consideration so that we can we can

067move forward uh with this. Some of the considerations I know the board will want to know why this vendor as compared to some of the others and we have some of that shared on the next slide. Um, so affordability was really at the top of the list. How much is this going to be for families for both the summer camp opportunities and also for before and after care? And so, uh, right at school, although they weren't exactly the cheapest, they were the next in line and they had a high quality program. And so that family affordability, uh, was really key. And I'm looking at the point where if we priced it out for before and after care for a family, um it would be $1 to $2,000 less than what they're paying this year to

068use right at school. And so that we had to weigh very heavily in making the decision. We had great people throw in. This was a tough decision to make. Uh but obviously that really uh helped us. Program quality was really key. One of the things that resonated us with us about right at school is their ability um to be flexible for families. If you want one day of before and after care, they'll give you one day. Two days, three, four, five. Uh they're also willing to work and support and build off our existing curriculum. Some organizations come in and have their own program. They're willing to partner with us to do extensions and reinforcement of existing Great Valley curricula. So, uh that was pretty powerful. And again, others were willing to do that. We we

069certainly like the way uh they approached it. Staffing is very important as well. One of the things that we've really probed with each group is how stable and consistent their staffing will be. You've seen a lot of turnover even here within the great valley school district, right? We're seeing a lot of turnover in a lot of positions. We've been seeing that a lot in the child care realm as as well. Right at school really gave high levels of assurances though we will see almost all of the same staff that start in the summer continue in our schools with the before and after care. So you really start to develop relationships with these consistent employees who are supporting both the summer and then the uh before and after care. So staffing and consistency and retention of

070staff was another cons uh key consideration. Uh logistics and safety we talked about their certifications, their ability to address inclusive teams. Uh I know on on their interview team they had two former superintendents. They talk about MTSS and levels of support. they really stuck out in our minds as far as supporting students, working with them individually both to keep them safe if there's special accommodations, but also if they need academic pieces and support, uh we liked what they had to offer. And then lastly, the communications and partnership. Uh they will completely take this burden off of the administration, which is why I came to you in the first place. Uh everything will be set up in the month of December. We'll get people signed up. They'll do the recruiting. Um, and then we should be

071ready to offer a catalog to our families in the month of December. I know that's important to the board. And so we made that a really a prerequisite as we went down this process that all of the vendors needed to be able to turn this around in December. So putting all that together, it was a really tough decision. I was glad that we had uh good work. So for this remaining year, the the local YMCA will continue out with our before and afterare. they will still offer summer programs and they'll have other camps and opportunities too in addition to what we offer. Uh and I really want to thank them, but we we did have to make some some tough decisions and so right at school will be the the recommended provider for you on

072December 1st. Um let me stop at that point and just see if there's any additional questions or feedback. I have a few just to clarify your very last statement when you said the YMCA would continue and they would offer summer camps and things that's on their own, right? That's at the Y. Correct. You're just saying they still exist out there if they want to go there. They could still rent our facilities and do it. Uh in addition, if some parents might not want the depending what the offerings are and we've always allowed that that anyone in the outside could render one of our facilities and host a camp. a question I had. I remember it wasn't that long ago that we chose YMCA for afterare and I understand that it benefited us for the RFP

073to have one vendor. Probably benefits the not probably benefits the the school district as well to have one vendor for everything, but that was just a couple years ago, wasn't it? So like how is that I I just wonder do we lose anything by having one vendor do both versus have I know we couldn't find a camp vendor though but by having an experienced after school vendor continue with the after school and and and are we concerned in any way about the the turnover for the parents who just made a I remember it was a big deal that we were moving to you know to YMCA just a few years ago. Maybe it was more years ago than I can remember. I thought it was about two. Um, but are we was that a concern

074and and how are we going to handle that when parents say, "Well, I just figured out YMCA, you know." Yeah, I believe it was a little more than two years ago when we transitioned from Warick to the YMCA, maybe four or five. I I agree. But the board too long. Sorry. But it's still a still a transition if they had multiple children. We we definitely looked at that. But I think even the sport and this board has asked us every now and then after so many years, are you looking at things? Is that the best practice? Fresh eyes. And that's kind of what we did. Now, you're right. We did it somewhat out of necessity because we couldn't get uh the provider, but it did give us that opportunity to just kind of open it

075up and look at it. I will share too um a factor I didn't have up on the slides is we wanted the groups to also be based in Pennsylvania public schools and right at school is also in some comparable districts. You'll find them. They partner with Rner, Lower Marian, Upper Dublin, Hford. they had some long-standing recommendations there with what I would say is similar expectations from the community and families. Um, and that helped too. But, uh, it is going to be another transition, but we're going to get on that right away and support families very early in the process. In those other districts, are they also doing both after school and summer? Because to me, I was just surprised that those two things are coupled. I mean, you talk about some they do and even

076Wright School has other devant like they do mentoring programs. They they have other um, they're really multifaceted. We're just looking at this narrow slice of before and after and summer camps, but I think some of the other districts even use them for other services that they provide as well. My concern also is YMCA is a nonprofit and this is a for-profit and but obviously you did all the all the investigations. So, thank you and I'm glad to hear other districts are using them. Yep. Thank you for the questions. Um, how long would you be looking to write the contract with with this group and what kind of oversight or kind of management will you be doing both early on and then kind of as maintenance? Yep. So, we're looking to to bring a three-year commitment

077and we are going to smart start small with the summer camps. We're only going to do a three-week window. We want to make sure we set it up for success. You all know that if it's if we bite off more than we can chew or it's not supported, that's half the battle a lot of times. And so, we want to make sure it's going to be a tighter 3-week window. Um, there was a time when some of our before and after care, believe it or not, was assigned to our food service department and the administrator. I've now taken that into the superintendent's office. So I'll be personally involved working with right at school uh supporting the implementation of course with members of our team. So uh if there is alignment with curriculum obviously Dr. Oul

078and Dr. Beck and if we have to work with facilities Mr. Zapone. So we'll certainly have that oversight. We're working on a plan. We'll have several meetings to set up implementation. Uh they're also going to offer they're welcome if there's anyone who's with the YMCA and they want to move over. much like at the time when we transitioned from Warwick, many of those employees went to the YMCA because they enjoyed being in Grey Valley schools, right at school would love to entertain that. So, um I love that there's going to be that outreach. So, we'll be keeping a a close work. Uh I know Miss Marson has been involved too as our communications director and it's a little beyond our scope, but because we're dealing with community engagement and how we message this, that's really

079important. So, um although I'll be very closely involved, we got a really strong um team to to support it. And to Mrs. Schwan's point, we've transitioned before. There are some lessons learned, mistakes we won't make this time around. So, I I feel pretty confident moving forward. Does that help, Dr. Rosette? Okay. All right. So, um you mentioned [clears throat] before and after school and then also summer. I was just looking through their website and like um over in Ratner they have like a spring break camp and things like that. Will will all that be part of it too? Right now we're just looking at three weeks in July and before and after care but we are very interested in some of these other aspects. If if there's a more in-depth opportunity we're really satisfied with

080this company and the services they provide to that end. Um we're very open and that would be something I would bring back to the board for consideration. But I don't think in year one. I think we maybe not even maybe at the end of year two, but even that I'm not so sure. I think it's um it's my just looking at the website because it's 8 to five. My guess is it's more of a it's not just about being a spring camp, spring break camp, right? It's about someone taking care of my kids while both of us are at work, right? So true. So, you may want to um consider that as you get rolling, especially if you have time through the fall than to say, "Hey, guess what? In the spring, we're going to

081offer this for anybody who might be interested." So, yep. No, I we're certainly not opposed. I've heard very good things. You know, I just read some of the schools that they're in pretty demanding. They've been in their long-standing relationship. So, um and um so we'll absolutely keep an eye on that, Mr. Barrett. Thank you. All right. So again, just to package that, that'll be brought for your consideration on December 1st with that three-year contract. All right. Okay. To transition to the calendar. All right. Yeah. Open this one up. Yeah. Here we go. We I know Mr. Barrett, you you love the calendar discussions, right? So, uh, if we could display I think we have a a I really have no vested interest now. [laughter] All right. It is in board docs, but we'll also display

082it here. So, this is a draft calendar for next school year again for your consideration and approval next month. Uh, what I would frame the the main thing that's going to jump off is Labor Day is very late next year. So, if you look, it is September 7th. So, if we do our traditional start, we could get two weeks in before Labor Day. Now, right now, the way this draft is presented, I just we're diving right into two straight weeks. Um, there is some concern. Do we need to have a day off in there? Do we transition or do you dive in and say summer's over, let's, you know, let's let's get back to work. So, I want to frame that. I think that's something you all would need to discuss. Uh, also, the half

083days are really the same. Um, for the most part, there are no changes. The holidays are consistent. We haven't added any holidays on this calendar that don't already exist on the current calendar. uh by starting and and kind of getting so many days in early, we do end a little earlier than we have in some traditional years. So, I do like that idea of ending in the middle of that second week in June, but I think the calendar speaks for yourself. There really aren't any large twists, but that opening is something that I I wanted to highlight and just get your feedback on. What is the last day of school this year? I believe, who can help me on that? the 15th maybe like that 14th or 15th of June I believe because I know

084if we were to add three traditional I want to say the 14th oh all right that was close [laughter] thank you I also wanted to point out you I'm sorry go ahead Russasha happens to fall on a Saturday this week this year and you actually have it off on a Friday that's not a religious holiday the religious holiday doesn't start until sundown way in the past the board this the district sometimes made the mistake of doing it that that day which isn't a holiday so now I'm just saying like it's nice to give an extra day off but that's not the holiday doesn't start till sundown so if you needed to get a day back okay have you done that historically is this I don't think you fall on a weekend in a long time

085okay but I remember once when my daughter was little you probably heard me say this before they gave off the different administration all they voted and had it was the day they had given that day of which isn't the day because it doesn't start till sundown people celebrate anything or go to synagogue or go to their families until the evening. So, if you needed that date for something else, um it's important that we recognize it at the time. Recognize it. Yeah, I I just whatever you want to do, but just I'm not the one voting on it, but just that saying it's not actually the holiday happens to fall. I I can't remember since I've been on the board and when it fall on a Saturday and if we gave it off. And I think

086that's what we did is we looked at that old calendar and said, "When did we do it? Last time it was on a weekend." So, yeah. I mean, it's always nice, right? can prepare for the holiday if they're going somewhere, but it's it's not the holiday. Yes. Normally with other religious holiday, depending when they fall on a weekend though, we don't do the day before. So, I I do want to look for some consistency. And I also want to have I want to make sure we do it the right way. That's really important. So, thank you so much for framing that. And um if there's any other feedback on that, let me know. Yeah, I don't remember the which of the two, but I do remember years when there was only one of the two

087Jewish holidays because they fell on a weekend. They fell on a weekend. Court was on a weekend last year. What did you do last year? I mean, this this actual year, 2025, I I could double check, but I think it may have been I think it may have been on a weekend. I mean, remember, too, that even though it's on, like you said, starts at sunund down, right, there won't be any sports that night because they're always held Thursday night. Correct. Yeah, that we have honored, but um it's important that we get this this right. And so for this year, um, yeah, I'll have to bring up you could look that up before just, yeah, I think to Dave's point, consistency is or your point, consistency is good. Just wanted to point that out to

088you all. Thank you. Also, you know, I mean, you can give it back as a inservice day. I mean, a school day, right? That week becomes a 4 day week, not a three-day week, which is kind of tough, too. Um, and makes your end of the year sooner. I mean, I think I mean, personally, I think you ought to jump into the two full weeks and get out as early as possible in June because I think most people would recognize that come Memorial Day um everybody's burnt and any day after Memorial Day is not a lot of value. So, um and even when you look at the AP tests, AP tests are in the beginning of May, right? So the more time you give kids to be prepared for those, the better versus, you know,

089running into the late June. I did just look this year, both of those holidays fell on weekdays. It might have been last year, but there was re there was a recent year when one of them was on the weekend, so you could check out and see what you did. Yeah, absolutely. We will do our homework and I'll be prepared to um make a solid recommendation on the first. Well, you've got Samantha and I's input. So, [laughter] yeah. Can you can you remind us about how the um the snow days, the virtual snow days are going to work and if possible the status of kind of where that application is right now? Yep. So, uh we're approved for the next couple of years. So, we're good with the fid days, the flexible instruction days. This year,

090our approach because we had to do a lot of training for the staff. We didn't want to have to use a day early and not be prepared. So, we still been doing a lot of training and working forward. So, our approach this year is to do three traditional snow days first, then add FID days. We'll see whether we're going to use any or not this year. For this draft calendar, if you look at where the school year ends, if the staff are going to wrap up on the 9th, my recommendation for next year would be to only add two traditional days. This way, we're not having staff come in on a Monday. That gives them that extra week. So, um my recommendation would be just add two additional days. That means the kids would end

091on the 10th, staff would come in on the 11th, and then everyone's free that following week to enjoy a vacation. So that would that's my rationale, my my thinking on that. So I I welcome other viewpoints, though. And you're going to say you had enough of me, but it's okay. I'm going away. Two years a I found the calendar from two years ago. Yumapur was on a Saturday. you recogn you made it blue. You recognized it on the side and put it in parentheses because you didn't have a day off because it was on a Saturday. So, okay. Thank you for that. I appreciate the help. Thank you. It's important that we get it right. Um I I just one other thing, Dan. Um and I don't know the answer for sure, but just to

092check that the sundown um into the next day celebration may also impact Eid in March because I think it's it works the same way. Um so just Monday I think it starts sundown Tuesday into Wednesday. I don't know for sure, but something to check it. We did do some calling with some religious leaders, but let us double check because again, it is really important that we have it 100%. So, thank you. Uh I circled that and we'll look into that further. The other the other thing is like for that day because I know there's been some discussion around that coordinate with the other school districts around because I know there's I think Downing Towns was different this year or last year than ours. Yep. It should be the same. Yeah, the superintendents have already I

093want to say in our last meeting last month, we do meet once a month. Uh calendar came up. So, we are sharing. They're not going to be identical. There are some some communities are saying they don't want their spring break week near the Easter holiday. Some are looking to have a designation, but we are looking to try to be consistent. Uh, and so we've already started to share our calendars with one another, but I mean, Samantha and I won't be here for the vote. And as she said, we'll give our peace of mind now. You're welcome to come for public comment. No, I'll say it. I'll say it now. um you know the the snow days. I mean we and I was always against the um fid days fid days because we you know we

094we said we were going to service children and therefore be in school for those children to be serviced and if we're not in school then those kids aren't going to get their services. And now we're like half pregnant, right? Sorry about the analogy, but um so we're like it's okay for a couple days, but if it goes too long, it's yeah, we'll just you know, they don't get their services. And you know, last this this year, I think it was three days. Next year we're saying, well, we're only going to do two out of you know, two snow days and then we're going to go to fit days. I we're trying to we're trying to accommodate a calendar and say, well, we don't want people to have to come in on Monday just in case.

095That's to me that's not a good reason to adjust your calendar. you know, either you're going to take these days or you're not. And if you said it was three, it ought to be three. Not cut it to two just to fit the calendar so people don't have to come in Monday. I just think that's a lousy reason to to now say two days is okay. If you're going to go down to two days, then just make it all make all your snow days be fit days. I mean, like I said, I won't be here to vote. No, but I I respect your opinion, but I think we're we're talking out of both sides of our mouth where we want to service students, but then we don't want to service students. The only thing I

096would say and I do appreciate is we're trying to strike a balance, right? We have a lot of things to contend with and even to your point that when you add days to the end of the year, you question the value, the consistency. So, you're right, but I agree with you. It is it is complicated. I will say though, looking at schools that have been doing these for years, I do see a lot of variation. Some schools are doing them up front, then they're not doing them at all. But there there's absolutely truth in what you're saying. I do understand that. So, thank you. you and we'll well and if you get um Rostashana back as a school day you get one more day at the end of the year to move back and therefore

097you get three days back we could do the three correct yep yeah thank you [clears throat] um can I ask how the conferences have been working I know we talked in the past about kind of cutting down time at the secondary um level and so this is my first experience with middle school conferences and I kind of forgot about it and then on Wednesday morning when I went to sign up I already missed two two teachers had no more openings And so both of them, one was accommodating and one communicated via email. But I am a resourceful, persistent parent. So I'm just curious if we've had parents who we don't know are just looking at being like, "Everybody's booked. I can't get it this time around." And wouldn't know that they have the opportunity to

098reach out to a teacher. So I would just love to see the data on um how full those calendars really are. Um I know we can't say well parent couldn't make it but but if there were literally like I was shut out no matter what I wanted. There was nothing available for two out of the teach the main core teachers. So um and that was only two and a half days into to calendars being opened. So I'd like to see the data kind of on how many of those are being filled up and if we need to reconsider if we're giving teachers enough time to meet with families. Um because one of the teachers did meet with me this week already so he he took time out just to meet with me after school. Um,

099so just kind of would like to see the data on that. Yeah. And we do we review those those figures. I'm happy to share those with the board after we we get through the conferences and we finalize the figures. Um, a few years ago, we did limit the high school fall conferences based on the data. We had multiple years where the overwhelming majority of staff conference slots at the high school weren't being used. Like, you know, we had that breakdown and that's why we paired that back. And really, we haven't heard from parents. It seems to work out well. If you're a teacher, a freshman, they seem to have the highest, but then the numbers kind of dip. At that time, when we made that change, Dr. Rizo, we did look at the middle school.

100They weren't quite where the high school numbers were, but we had a lot of staff that weren't they were like half utilized, and I contemplated recommending trimming that back, but we wanted to wait. It's middle school. There's a lot to go on. So, we are going to look at those figures again this year and I'm happy to share those both fall and spring and then we can take that into consideration moving forward if if we want to do anything at all. Our grades have increased in size probably since we've done that a few years ago. So, um you know, even adding 20 30 students to a grade adds some additional spots. So, let's we'll look at it and I'll I'll report back to you. And this was also the first seventh grade class coming out

101of the 56 center. So maybe for the next couple of years, you might need a little bit of a buffer as our kids kind of get their heads around what it means to be a middle schooler. Um and and that. So just keep that in mind as well. Yeah. And also your point that hearing that as a parent yourself not being able to get access, are they filling up, do we maybe see a reverse problem happening this year that we didn't see two or three years ago? So uh we're going to look at the figures. We'll see how many we even look at the breakdown. How many are in person? How many are remote? So, we we break all that down and I'll share that with you probably after the new year. All right. Anything

102else on the calendar? Can I ask one question just about um referencing back to the uh two full weeks before Labor Day? Um is there a reason or is it helpful for um staff and administration to have that shorter week um at the start of the school year? like aside from just you know the the oh it's two weeks before Labor Day is there a purpose in having those shorter weeks as we gear up towards probably just more easing that transition back as you're shaking off summer hours and then getting back into the routine. Um we've certainly had times where we've we've dove right in. You might have one day off, you get a three-day weekend and then you're you're right at it. Um I mean I you know I've gone back and forth. I

103mean the count I present it this way because this was more my recommendation is to just dive right in and let's get the transition. Let's start our relationships. Let's build our classroom community. Let's not have interruptions. Let's get that established. But I do recognize it could be a transition for some of the kids and yes even the adults. Um that would be the benefit I think of just having that shortened week. But we weren't really turning around staff development time or something wasn't working. It's not like we had it was time off for everybody. So it wasn't like we could repurpose, reload, come together, reccalibrate and fix something. So uh but that is why we add the half day in early se uh October which is let's get four or five weeks under our belt

104and then take a half day to assess how things are going. So that's the rationale. What's worse, one day there or one day in June? You know what I'm saying? I mean that's the trade-off I think, right? I don't know the answer. I'm just saying. And I just Googled when Eid is and it says evening of the Tuesday, March 9th through Wednesday, March 10th. Okay. Thank you for doing that. And we'll confirm on both of those and um have that ready to go for you on December 1st. If you have other items, again, we have some time. Email me. Let me know if there's other info that I can clarify. Can I just ask I know just looking at April and May on the long stretch without any without any break. Um historically I can't

105I don't remember from when my kids were in school. Um if spring break fell so early that we had that really long stretch through April and May without anything. I think Easter is as early as it can get there uh that in 27 right and then it goes six more weeks. So sometimes it's six weeks later and anything in between. So So how when we have years like this with the really early Easter that way, how how do kids and and teachers tend to fare um during that time? You know, off the top of my head, I got to be honest, I I'm I'm not sure. I'd have to go back and look when that was, and I'm not even sure if I I remember. I do know we have had long stretches. I've done

106that as a building principal and so on. Um it does get a little long as you go through, but at least we have, you know, we have spring break. We go for four weeks, we have a half day, we go for about four four weeks, three weeks. We have uh the day off for uh election day and then we have the holiday. So, you know, probably the most consistent one, two, three, you're going about four weeks and then it's broken with just a half day on a Friday, right? So, uh it is a bit of a stretch, but I don't think it's out of the norm. I believe we've done it before. No different than Oops. It's no different than um from the end of September all the way through the basically middle of November.

107Y only one half day. All right. Well, thank you. I appreciate your flexibility. I know this is a voting meeting, but uh with just one meeting in December, these were things we needed to discuss a little bit tonight. So, um I believe that ends the report for me, Mr. Barrett. Thank you. Your last superintendence report. Thank God. [laughter] I'll sign a copy of my PowerPoint and send that to you. It was a lot shorter last week. Thank you, Dr. Oul. All right, that ends the superintendent reports. Now, I'll open up the podium for anybody who has any public comment on any voting agenda items. Welcome to come to the podium at this point. All right, seeing no one, we'll move on to the voting items first. Are there any changes from the work session? Mr.

108Barrett, there are no changes, but I would like to highlight two items uh from questions that were asked last week at the work session. Uh the first question was regarding the student information system. Uh some key factors and highlights to Infinite Campus who is the uh recommended vendor uh for the student information system. Uh it does offer intuitive streamlined interface that makes navigation simple for both staff and families. It consistently received outstanding feedback from district evaluate district evaluation teams. Uh it includes robust options ensuring scalability as needs evolve. It also maintains a high standard of data protection and compliance safeguarding sensitive student and family information. It was it has been adopted by many local districts providing us with support and network from local experts and also considerable cost savings when all components are implemented. Uh

109that would also be inclusive of special education e-haul pass and any payment processing systems such as school cafe and the student activity uh payment process. Um, and then the second question was around Bloxilles. Um, and what that cost was associated with. Uh, the purchase price is $2,550. That does include the school bundle of 300 license plus uh 325 license. That brings it to a total of 375 for all of our second grade students. Uh and just to give a little bit more clarification and detailed around what Bloxle does, uh it is creating uh programming, allowing the students to program their own games and having the students the ability for logic, mathematical reasoning and narrative techniques, reinforcing academic connections to reading, math, and digital literacy. uh and it also gives them the opportunity to foster creativi

110creativity, collaboration and uh computational thinking serving as a scaffold between storytelling and coding. Uh so just to give you a little bit more information around that, it would also replace another program similar to that called Wonder Workshop which currently is costing us approximately $1600. Uh so to kind of trade that off um would be the difference for Blox. So those would be the only two highlights that I have for voting agenda items. All right. Thanks. All right. First thing up is the consent agenda items. Have a motion for approval for 801 through 813. Motion. Motion to approve 801 through 813. Thank you. A second. Second. All right. Any questions or comments around any of these? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor? All right. Motion passes 8 to zero. Next up is personnel items.

111Have a Motion to approve 10.01. Let me second. Motion in a second. Any questions or comments? All right. Uh, seeing none, all those in favor? All right. Motion passes 8 to zero. Uh, policies for second reading and adoption. We have a motion for 11.01. Motion to approve 11.01. Thank you. Second. Second. All right. All those are any questions or comments? All right. I know these were discussed a lot last couple meetings. All right. All those in favor? All right. Motion passes 8 to zero. Let's see. That was everything. All right. Any now um open up the podium for any additional comments on any other agenda or any other agenda. Any other subject? You're welcome to come to the podium. All right. Seeing none. Any other board comments? Um, I just want to pass along that

112former board member Pat Gillespie passed away the other day. Uh, visitation is tomorrow and Wednesday. Tomorrow and Thursday. Um, Pat was a great person on the board for four years many years ago. So, and when I when I was running, she I I spoke to her. She was just super helpful as far as encouragement and explaining how things worked. That's sad. Thank you for letting us Good person. All right. Motion to adjurnn. Yeah. Motion to adjurnn. Second. I don't want to go. Let's use the gavl. Mr. Gary, you got Mr. Bar one shot. You can use the gavl. Motion passes. There you go. Thank you everyone. All right. Thank you.