001e e e call to order the February 6 20125 regular board meeting of the school board of the school district of haford Township would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge ALG 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 he um I'll ask my colleagues to read the district Mission and District goals the mission of the school district he Township is to educate and to inspire a community of lifelong Learners who become well-rounded Global Citizens the district goals include social emotional Wellness to produce a community of empathetic and resilient Learners with skills to socially and emotionally flourish to prepare contemporary citizens to modernize and expand learning experiences to prepare students as critical
002thinkers problem solvers innovators designers with a com complex Global Society diversity and inclusion establish a culturally diverse and inclusive educational experience that develops social cultural proficiency thank you I'll ask Mr Testa to call the role please Miss Lee here Dr McKay here Mr Schwarz here Dr Shelton here miss SNR here miss vital Miss Weedman here Dr lson here Dr King hey Dr King um is out tonight for a personal matter and Miss vital had a scheduling conflict okay moving on to our official minutes from the January 23rd 2025 regular board meeting I'll accept a motion to approve those official minutes jolon moved okay second motion passes that's are approved I did not ask for a Bo a vote thank you or boote okay okay um so we have a motion and um all in favor
003I any opposed motion passes thank you for that okay moving on now to um section two of our agenda for to our student reports we have our um haford Middle School student representative CJ Lynch hello oh hello everybody thanks for inviting me my name is Christopher Lynch I'm a seventh grader at haford middle school I'm excited to share some updates about what's happening at the middle school as we celebrate Black History Month our school is recognizing the achievements resilience and contributions of African-Americans while this month is dedicated to the reflection and learning we are committed to fostering inclusion and appreciation for black history and culture culture all around all your long sorry we have some excited events coming up as well our Middle School theme concert is scheduled for Thursday at the haford high school
004school at 700 p.m. we are looking forward to an amazing per performance the haford high school singing Valentine's will be visiting our school on Wednesday bringing some fun and music to our hallways winter Athletics are going strong and our students athletes are work working hard as they wrap up their Seasons our theater program will present Beauty and the Beast for February 6th through 8th our cast crew have put in a lot of e effort and we're excited for our community to see the show on February I mean on Friday February 7th 8th grade will take part in career day exploring different professions and career paths sixth and seventh grade will participate in Wellness day focusing on health and well-being it's allows our red out day it's also our red out Day red out day sorry
005and we'll have an early dismissal at 11:20 a.m. the 7th grade dance is coming up on Friday February 21st and we're all looking forward to a great time there's no school on Monday February 7th in honor of President's Day and no school for students on Tuesday February 8th as our teachers will be involved in a professional development that's all for my update thank you for your time and I appreciate the opportunity to share what's happening at haford middle school thank you have a good night [Applause] thank you CJ um next we have our high school representative Austin McConnell good evening everyone I'm delayed to be here tonight to share the latest updates achievements and upcoming events from Harford High School our community continues to thrive with academic Excellence artistic expression and athletic prowess just to
006recap those events those dates are February 17th and February 18th for those days off yeah um in the realm of academics yeah in the realm of academics this past Monday the 27th marked the beginning of the second semester for students with this new wave of classes students often feel refreshed and excited for school due the changes of pace in education Community engagement and classroom populations tomorrow during fourth block we'll be hosting our annual Wing Bowl featuring students and teachers alike who will compete to see you can eat the most Wings in a set time period the format is a student round across 10 minutes then a teacher round across 10 minutes and then a final round of the highest totals across 3 to 5 minutes in the realm of Art and music our high school
007hosted our annual bands and Jazz Winter concert last night at 700 p.m. in the auditorium our talented musicians showcase their skills in a diverse program that allowed for enjoyment across all age groups our 42nd annual evening of jazz is scheduled for March 4th at 700 p.m. this event will feature performances by the hord middle school and high school jazz ensembles the high school jazz combo and our 2025 jazz artists and residence is most definitely an evening not to be missed onto Athletics our winter sports team are demonstrating exceptional dedication and skill as they round off the end of their seasons and move into playoffs to start off indoor track continues to run all over Pennsylvania and Delaware County this season just this past weekend have sent 20 athletes across 11 different events to upen to
008compete in the pen relay's winter showcase the track team looks forward to racing in five more different meets throughout the month of February as he prepare for the Pennsylvania track and field coaches association state championship on March 2 at Penn State University the girls basketball team finished their dominant season on Tuesday of this week the girls team finished with an impressive record of 17 at four with at one time holding a seven game win streak including their senior night on this impressive run the boys basketball team is also closing out their season with the game tomorrow night against Octorara High School I good luck to them and they currently hold a record of 9 and 12 swimming and Diving both the boys and girls teams have shown a remarkable performances this season the boys teams
009are currently ranked second with a record of six- one with the girls teams being ranked fifth with a record of four and three the boys team has also shaved and dyed their hair yellow to show some extra school spirit as they prepare for the upcoming district and state meets wrestling is still in first place in the central League impressively they beat Heron this past Wednesday sorry past past Wednesday with a score of 68-4 which may be a haford margin of Victory record for wrestling more recently haford dominated the haford boys school last night in their senior night with a score 47 to 27 and the team will travel to Strath Haven this weekend to compete in a duels tournament at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday Bachi were big winners in their senior night this past week
010against marel and continuously they have one team advancing in the Del championships hosted at HHS on February 19th at 2:30 p.m. our competitive Spirit team the how for the lady Fords just competed this past weekend in the PIAA 3A state championship finishing second overall for the large Varsity event continuously they departed yesterday and are currently at the Walt Disney Resort in Florida where they will be competing in the 2025 National High School cheerleading Championship tomorrow at 7:45 and 9:00 p.m. the event will be live stream on vars .c under the National High School cheerleading Championship heading good luck to them lastly the boys varsity ice hockey team has maintained a strong Presence at top to centeral League Central League they currently sit with an impressive 9-2 record following their senior night triumph over hariton with
011a score of 13 and3 and will begin their playoffs in the upcoming weeks spring sports are continuing to get underway with our spring Sports informational meeting being hosted on February 20th with trials for spring Sports also being scheduled for late February and early March continuously for any family looking to participate in Spring Sports the family ID portal just opened this past Monday so make sure you register um our second semester's back to school night was held this past Monday on February 3rd and this event provided parents and Guardians with insights into the second semester's curriculum and expectations it offers a valuable opportunity for parents to really meet and get to know our teachers at haford scheduled for February 25th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. we will have our Junior College Planning night in the HHS
012r Auditorium the session will offer juniors in their families guidance on the college application process including information on the Common App Naviance and securing letters of recommendation as they transition into their senior year next Thursday we will have our annual singing Valentine's event where student Coral members will go around the high school giving many performances dedicated to any Valentine amongst our students and faculty as we continue through this semester I encourage everyone to participate in these events and support our students Endeavors Harford High School thrives because of the collective efforts of our dedicated staff talented students and supportive Community thank you for your unwavering commitment to Excellence and together we make aort to place of Pride and achievement and to round off my speech our school has spearheaded a special secret initiative run by principal
013Dune that I Overjoyed to share with you tonight this initiative involves the replaying of the Eagles fight song around three times a day in hopes of giving them extra luck for their Super Bowl game this weekend thank you and go Birds [Applause] thank you Austin and thank you again CJ okay I'm going to hand it over now um section three of our agenda to Dr rushi for the superintendence report thank you Dr Larson um it's always refreshing to hear from our students about the many exciting happenings uh that you have opportunities to be involved in at both our middle and our high school um and an additional um highlight of our meetings when we have opportunity to recognize uh students in our district and staff for their accomplishments um and this evening we are going
014to recognize three of our athletes uh who have attained the status of All State uh team members and in addition uh we are extremely proud to recognize our football coach uh who has achieved the recognition of Pennsylvania football coach of the year so we'll turn it over to you Mr dinina for some introductions first can we please give it up for Austin McConnell make sure if you make sure to join us in the spring Austin is a phenomenal volleyball player and from his recap can probably be the ad himself um also girls basketball about six minutes ago just won the first round of the central League playoffs so give it up for girls Bas thank you um all I broke props tonight it's my central League Championship P sorry it's a football thing so uh
015what an unbelievable week to celebrate football Eagles and Ford so right we're here to celebrate the central League championship football team and the individuals from that team who received all state accolades the play the three players and coach in this room are the leaders responsible for pioneering one of the most significant Redemption stories in Harford Athletics history this has been confirmed through tedious research in our yearbook archives and independent historians uh the group turned a one in N season in 2023 with zero Central League wins to a historic 8 in1 central League season the first home playoff win in school history multiple haford records PIAA District 1 records a final uh season 11-2 record and they brought back the Thanksgiving reneer trophy a lot of people in the community were stunned at this year's record
016but the student athletes present today the coach myself were not surprised in the slightest I had the luxury of seeing them plan and prepare on paper in the wait room in the field on the field every day since November 28th of last season working hard in their free time to guarantee the results that we're celebrating tonight they've also already begun Lifting for next season as well uh more importantly this team cheers on the marching band after every game they volunteer to organize meals for the needy families around the holidays they are contributors in their classroom they are AP honoral students they are kind they are from wonderful htown families sons of teachers and coaches and parent volunteers tonight's celebration is just as much a celebration of when a community of people rally around to support
017a group of student athletes and coaches tonight we honor four individuals who were leaders of the community on and off the field and who were acknowledged as members of the PA Football news 6A All State football team I will introduce them individually along with their accolades so guys when I call your name just come up and Dr R will hand you your certificate our first student athlete Alex C come on up Alex Alex uh is a team captain first team central all Central League anchor of an offensive line that rushed for a School record and second Team all state Alex clay um yep um our next student athlete Jake leiki come on up Jake Jake is First Team all Central League uh had 15 sacks which is uh he is the leader in 6A in
018the state this year and the most in Harford football history uh Jake is First Team all Pennsylvania our next student athlete Liam Taylor Liam is First Team all Central League he is the central League MVP he is the Delco football player of the year he rushed for a County record of 3,06 yards and a School record of 35 touchdowns Liam is the all-time rusher in every category for Harford high school as a junior Liam is First Team all state finally uh coach Luke doerty coach Luke dockerty in his fourth year coach dockerty Pioneer pioneered an 11-2 Central League co- championship team this season coach doerty was honored as the 6A PA Football news coaches select coach of the year to be honored by your peers in the coach of Select category for a coach is
019a very big deal and a true Testament to the kind of recognition he deserves more importantly coach doerty spends just as much time with the kids carrying the water than he does with the kids carrying the ball he is the haford school district definition of a warm demander holding high expectations for his student and athletes and providing unwavering support he's a stable constant and a safe person for many of the students at Harford High School whether they are a football player or not he is a cheerleader and supporter of every kid in the building and that's why for us he deserves Coach of the Year congratulations Coach dockerty Alex Jake and Liam go forwards sure yeah it's okay no think I need a hand congratulations thank you conrat guys conrat guys the next item on
020our agenda is a a summary of a presentation that was provided to our curriculum and pupil Services Committee of the board highlighting the work of um a group that we have taking a look at artificial intelligence and its implications for teaching and learning um in our classrooms so I'll invite uh Mr Rob Anderson our director of technology and Meredith Hearn uh to come to the podium and share that information with this group to do good good evening um thank for having us back tonight to uh give our update on the AI working group that we presented before um I'm Rob Anderson I'm the director of Technology um and as Dr isi mentioned uh with me is Meredith Hearn our technology integration coordinator um so we're going to go over a few things with um with
021you guys tonight um we'll talk through kind of the working group and how we formed it um the work that the working group's been undertaking um some training that we've uh started to deliver um some information for students and then at the end I'll give a little update on the progress of the instructional technology plan um we were lucky when we put out fers for people that were interested in joining our working group that we got uh 30 volunteers that were interested in working with us on kind of shaping how haford would apply AI across the district um we tried to to make sure it was a diverse group between teachers administrators and some support staff um Jack who uh video works at our board meetings many nights uh was also part of our our
022working group there um so the working group was kind of just looking at again how we wanted to look at uh how we wanted to use AI within the district um moving forward so kind of First Steps were to start joining some other groups so um again most uh school districts are in the similar position that we are where they're just kind of exploring Ai and trying to figure out how it fits in with everything else um so the dciu runs an administrator's AI Network that we attend meetings once a month um with them where they have presenters from uh that are experts in the field of AI that share information and we get to kind of interact with other districts around Delaware County um the same day uh Miss Hearn takes some students to
023a student Forum that they hold in the morning that's uh students from a number of districts that kind of again very similarly share ideas and thoughts and and get some presentations on how AI can benefit them um we're also part of the cciu as an AI leadership group that we've been part of for a little over I guess almost a year now um between Delaware County and Chester County Schools again just Shar mostly that's sharing information about progress of how people are implementing AI within their districts and then um DVC has some presentations that we've attended as well um that focus on kind of applications for AI within education um there was another uh Miss sax and I were lucky to also go to another presentation that was hosted over at marpel um Mr AJ
024J juliani there's an agreement later on tonight for having him commit and speak um that was where we got to see him speak and he again gave a lot of the uh pluses and minuses of AI and it was a really great presentation that we think would be valuable for our staff and with that I'll let uh turn it over to miss Hearn for a little while thank you hi so I want to talk to you a little bit about um what our working group has been doing so far starting in the fall um and continuing really up until very recently uh before I turn it back over to Rob to talk about what we're going to continue to do uh throughout the spring so the AI working group began to meet um early in
025the fall and the first thing we wanted to do was we knew we wanted to take an intentional approach to unveiling AI um in Herford so we decided the first step was to come up with a mission statement to kind of guide all future work with AI so this is the mission statement we came up with you can see here how we've talked about leveraging this emerging techn ology for our students and staff um we wanted to align all of our AI goals um with our pillars of academic Technical and social emotional learning in order to provide our students personalized and student- centered learning experiences our aim here is really to kind of modernize education while remaining uh grounded in those values that are so important to the haford community as we were talking about
026this Mission and crafting the mission statement we kept coming back to these three kind of ideals that we decided to create as our core beliefs about Ai and the first one is really kind of the the most important um and that is just that AI will enhance but not replace human centered education the teacher will always be the heart of the classroom and we will never have ai replacing that in any way um our Educators and their knowledge and expertise and relationships with those students are invaluable and uh it's really the foundation to all classroom learning that's happening the second core belief was that knowing that AI is constantly evolving and changing that we would be in a continuous cycle of feedback and auditing in order to address these these changes um we want to
027make sure that the AI tools and programs that we're using are aligned uh with our educational goals and values as that changes with new tools that we we decide to implement and our third core belief is that we want to use AI to Foster responsible ethical digital citizens we are preparing our students for a world and careers that do not exist yet so it is so important that we teach them how to critically use and evaluate Ai and the output this includes discussions on uh the ethics of ai ai bias and the environmental impact of AI and so we're going to make sure we address those directly with students centered lessons once we had our mission in core beliefs we created a training program for all faculty and staff we're calling AI 101 as of
028this week Monday all seven schools the faculties have had their AI 101 training what we talk about in AI 101 is what is artificial intelligence what can it do what is it not what are its limitations and then we go into these District guard rails kind of those safety nets to um protect us from false outputs of AI or hallucinations BL the ethical concerns and biases inherent in in AI um and so we do that by using something called the humanin the loop framework and this basically says that there will be human oversight in all aspects of AI um and I kind of broke that out into different sections for teachers so they could see exactly where that human oversight should be everything from the input what they're putting into um monitoring the output for
029those ethical concerns or biases um modifying the output so that it's meeting their specific student needs their content and then um kind of that feedback loop again of going through it with revisions so we wanted to make sure that there was human oversight in all areas of AI usage we also talked about not that haford will not be using any AI plagiarism detectors and at this point there is no tool that is 100% effective in identifying AI use right now many of them are reporting up to 4% false positive rate and a lot of those false positives are coming from multilingual students and neurode Divergent students because their manner of speaking and writing is sometimes misidentified as being computer generated so until we have a tool that we can guarantee is 100% effective and that
030will not falsely identified certain populations of our students we will not be endorsed one um to use in hord we also go over these Mission and beliefs that I've just shared with you and then we wrap up AI 101 talking about our student AI usage levels which I'm going to share in just a second we will continue to work with our faculty and staff with specific Flex trainings throughout the spring and summer these Flex trainings may be on generative AI specific tools like magic school and defit um and different ways they can use AI in the classroom so one of the most recent things our working group has done is come up with a student AI usage level framework that we're calling uh the traffic light protocol so we have a red a yellow and
031green this is optional for teachers to use but when they prepare an assignment and post it on canvas or on Google they have the option to direct what level of AI usage is acceptable so they can start with red if they're not comfortable with AI or if this is just an assignment where they truly need to measure a students's understanding of the material they can just say no AI usage at all if they want to allow some usage of AI they could badge it as a yellow level assignment what this means is that the AI can assist in the process but not the product there can be no content created by the AI but an AI tool could help a student brainstorm some ideas create an outline come up with a working timeline for them
032kind of act as assistant throughout the process if a teacher chooses to go with the green level that means the AI can direct some of the content creation but not all of it because ultimately it should be the students work when the yellow or the green level is used teachers will give clear and specific directions on what is allowed and what isn't on the assignment and then students will have to include a disclosure statement stating specifically how AI was used what tool they used and in what parts of the assignment so there's some transparency there between the student and the teacher and the AI usage and so moving forward Rob's going to talk about more about uh what we're going to continue to do into the spring thank you um so as as we mentioned
033we we were members of a number of groups so a lot of those groups were providing guidance about kind of best practices and implementing AI so uh we took that and we developed kind of a timeline for haford for the school year of how we were going to kind of uh uh address some of those things so we started with as as Meredith said started with why like why we wanted to use AI in the district um and those kinds of things um we then moved into what which is where we started developing some of that content and the trainings um and things like and things like that um we're currently in that how state where we're providing those trainings and starting to figure out how how teachers feel comfortable with it we're starting to
034move into developing some student trainings as Meredith mentioned to kind of address some concerns and and give some benefits and pitfalls um to the students um everything from the ethical to the biases to um the the benefits and the environmental concerns and and kind of all those things um wrapped into some small lessons um that'll be easily digestible by them um so that when they do start using it as a student with those usage levels we just talked about they kind of have a baseline understanding similar to what we've given our teachers um kind of our next step that we haven't moved into next but we'll be kind of looking at when we might as a district want to start whittling down the number of AI tools currently we're letting teachers and kind of explore
035and use AI tools as they um find them and and see them as beneficial and at some point similar to how we use some of our curriculum tools we may start endorsing one or two that are ones that the district's kind of providing most of our training around um and and kind of encouraging our staff to kind of more focus on using those tools in particular side um as I mentioned uh since we were here we'd kind of give like a little bit of an update dat on the instructional Tech plan since that process has been underway um we have again another group um obviously there's some uh crossover between the AI working group and the instructional Tech plan group um but they've started meeting we started meeting uh prior to winter break and and
036broke into some subcommittees with a couple of focus areas um as you recall we had the cciu instructional Tech audit in the spring um and as we reviewed that there was a couple of kind of big areas that we thought needed to be addressed through the the development of a plan um they weren't just things we could kind of ad hoc throw out um so those three things were instructional Tech tools and software which is you know kind of what our selection process looks like when we're looking at tools how do we reevaluate whether we're keeping tools how do we uh develop professional development around those uh tools both initially and an ongoing um the other one area that was identified was uh screen time usage and we have a group looking at uh purposeful
037screen time usage is what we're calling it um it kind of Falls in line with the new recommend ation from the Pediatric Association of quality screen time over quantity of screen time um so we're kind they're working on a plan of how to kind of communicate that out to teachers with some guidelines around that um and then last was digital citizenship and literacy so that's just looking at all of our students and and classes K through 12 just to make sure that uh the lessons that are being delivered around digital citizenship and the tech skills that they're learning are appropriate for those grade levels that we're making sure they're getting everything they need at that level and and and again that that continues all the way from K through 12 so that all our students
038benefit from some digital ciip dzen that's a tongue Tire sorry um digital citizenship and literacy lessons um and then similar to what we've mentioned with the a working group uh technology just moves so fast so there has to be a build-in process to kind of continually evaluate that Tech plan um the work that we're doing is it still meeting the goal we had originally intended um I think I mentioned last time we were here if we had done a tech plan three years ago there would have been no mention of of generative AI anywhere in it um so we would have definitely had to modify our plan in this third year of that plan so um right up front we're setting up some uh metrics about how we're going to kind of evaluate that and
039get feedback from teachers and students and everyone just to make sure that what we're providing is still the right thing um for hord in that year as opposed to just 2025 um to give kind of a little bit of an update on the timeline as I mentioned we've had committees formed they've been meeting and working on content we just had a meeting um this past week where those groups started to share out some of the uh information that they've generated already um some really great stuff that's that's going to be in this Tech plan from that um we have another meeting in a couple weeks where hopefully they'll have kind of some finished content that we'll then start building into our Tech plan um the goal is to have the tech plan document itself completed
040uh later this month and then we'll be back um I believe March 13th to the uh people Services committee meeting to um along with some of the members of that committee to present that Tech plan to the board um and the community and then after that we'll start the actual implementation of all the great planning that's been going on um thank you thank you Mr Anderson and Miss Hearn are there any questions from the board um I just would like to note that this presentation was given at the curriculum committee meeting and there was a robust conversation so it feels a little odd to reiterate all the things I already said to you um but I appreciate that you Incorporated some of what we discussed into the conversation tonight um but those comments still stand
041so I would encourage people to go back and look at that discussion I had a question about um are we thinking about implementing AI you know for the community like you know you know like a chat for example a chat bot that lets them find resources and gives them guidance on um aspect of that I I know I've I've I've looked at a few I know there's some districts that have and some vendors that are definitely pushing those kinds of products um I don't think anybody's really uh you're giving them a lot of information so I I I think it's something that's going to take some time for us to really look into and feel comfortable with um providing those kinds of tools I agree the emphasis on the educational piece but just one okay
042I have a couple questions and I'll start in reverse order um of the presentation for the tech plan I appreciate the timeline here and that before implementation you'll come to the board um and I believe that our programming around like typing and general computer use is all in our Middle School is that right um there so there is um there's the tech ed classes in the middle school where they teach uh typing and they do have some other uh more stem focused uh tech ed classes yes there's um but there's there's also our high school obviously has some more technical classes as well um and the elementary many of our libraries have some stem equipment in there like robots and I believe there's still some 3D printing in some of the libraries um and then
043our counselors deliver some digital citizenship lessons across um K through 5 for sure um as part of their curriculum that they deliver Rob I'll just jump in and just add that um we are I believe it's second now starting in second grade we do typing without tears so they do have access to start to learn to type we wait till second grade because their hands aren't big enough until second or third grade is that new this year that is I think I think we started it last year but yes relatively new relatively new to do that uh Librarians do have digital citizenship U lessons as and media literacy lessons as well as the school counselors for sort of responsible in cyber safety and that kind of thing I'd love to know what like percentage of
044our students and like fifth grade can actually type like can type well um because I I think it's very low and I would honestly love that number even for our eighth graders like how much the the classes are actually like that's a fundamental skill to be able to type very quickly and without looking and I just worry that some of these like really interesting skills are getting are overshadowing that and and the different tech ed that's happening um it seems to me like some of those really fundamental skills might be getting um pushed to the side and so like I'm not expecting an answer tonight but just that's a question that um I'm I'm thinking about with this Tech plan and if if that is a consideration at all um so then on to the
045AI I what are are our students currently using AI on their projects is that allowed um I think the correct answer would be that there's not correctly like the teachers haven't as of yet I'm sure some teachers have said absolutely not um most of our students do not have access to the AI tools on our district equipment but we acknowledge that students can use devices outside of ours to generate some of that content so um um I think the safe answer there is while it may not be teacher directed there is definitely students using AI yeah okay that's interesting I just was confused by the presentation with like the stoplight and and where it says where we are um it just seems like it is being more implemented than I thought that it would be
046at this stage and I'm just saying that because when we implemented this policy and when we discussed this policy it really felt like the working group was going to do a lot of internal working before pushing it out and would come to the board first before that got pushed to um to the teachers and students so I'm just surpris this is obviously really fast moving and I feel like even in the last six months AI has kind of exploded in obviously personal life work life Etc um but I'm just I feel surprised at how far along it is and that this is the I know it was presented at the ccum committee two weeks ago but this is the first time that the board is really hearing that um that all this is happening I
047I would also say my answer about the students would be true last year as well even before the policy was adopted we had students that were using AI to generate content so most of what the working group's doing is trying to create um the correct environment around using AI within the school and with while acknowledging that we do have students that even though we haven't said start using AI necessarily are in fact using AI on assignments so trying to catch up to them in some ways um but first we had to get the teachers up to to where they were comfortable with it um to be able to deliver the like what they can and can't do with it okay um so right now there's nothing specific offered by the district to the students like
048um like a chat GPT type um function I I don't believe so I believe that we still sit in a place where they're they're blocked on the district devices for them okay and is that true for staff too no um so for staff we with with the um at the end towards the end of the summer was when we opened up the AI tools for staff to start kind of exploring and and kind of feeling their way around okay so staff could be using AI within their lesson plans this year is that they they they could yes but yes um okay like I said I'm just surprised I felt like the discussion that was presented to policy um and that we had had was that it was going to be um discussed further before it
049was going to be implemented and I understand that we can't stop students from using their own devices and that that's happening and I certainly really appreciate the work of the group putting you know trying to work really hard and and and put guardrails on something that's already happening and is happening really quickly um I just would say that I would look forward to further updates of the board for when more um is implemented yeah and if I could just offer some student input in response to that question um with like AI in the classroom I found it kind of depends on the subject for example if we're in like an English class obviously you can't really use it to create your typed out answers and so canvas has a plagiarism screener on that that also
050has an artificial intelligence like basic screener on it so if you were to use it to write an essay for example it would get screened and the teacher would be notified of that um I know for example in our past English class this last semester we were given an assignment with the Great Gatsby where we were supposed to make a um poster board and on the poster board with several different paragraphs where we were explaining different thematic events in The Great Gatsby and our teacher wasn't really worried about the artistic part of it so she allowed us to use artificial intelligence in that sense to just kind of create a background and then everything else where it was typing it was all completely all student driven then if you looking more towards like the math
051section for example I'm with my physics class currently if Dr T isn't available Dr tamasy our physics teacher at the high school if he's not available students will often go to artificial intelligence for extra explanations when it comes down not necessarily solving problems but it can give you like detailed explanations of how a problem might be solved upon really struggling to get past a certain point so it's students have access to it on personal application obviously um and it can be used but our teachers do not will know if it's being used most definitely especially in the um English and literature classes I appreciate that those are my questions thanks I just want to add maybe additional comment I think this field is moving so rapidly I welcome your efforts you know to try to
052you know establish a framework so I look forward to seeing how it matures thank you just want to thank you all from for coming back I know you were here a couple weeks ago for the um curriculum and people Services committee but because the work is moving so quickly because it is so impactful because it is setting up some guard rails and framework for the implementation of AI in the district and with our students and staff um just want to thank you for coming back and allowing the board access to the full presentation and opportun you to comment publicly thank you thank you both um moving on the next item is a first look at our 2026 2027 school calendar um Nicole bastelli will take us through that again this was shared with the curriculum
053and pupil Services um committee and uh Nicole will also incorporate into her discussion this evening um some of the feedback that we got from that from the the committee that evening I'm not sure everyone can see it but yes it's fine I have it printed out for me so um on the screen if you can see it there are two versions of the 2026 2027 school year calendar um when we start to develop this calendar there's a lot of things that have to go into you know our um process we have 183 school days built in the calendar so that we have three snow days built in um 192 Fe days there's contracts that require 12 paid holidays we look at the holidays for um if we were here no one would be here like
054Thanksgiving um and we look at the elections so that we have uh inservice days so there's a lot that kind of goes into getting this calendar together so I prepared two options for the board option A is um representative of a calendar that starts after Labor Day unfortunately in 2026 Labor Day is on September 7th so um the first day of school would be September 8th um because of that there is a shortened spring break in that calendar um and the last day of school would be June 17th option b which is what was recommended to the board at the pupil services and curriculum committee meeting uh would start before Labor Day on September 1st this would allow for a full week of spring break and the last day of school would be June 16th
055when I presented this I spoke about um holidays that I've been monitoring over the last several years such as e alatar we have students um taking uh the religious exemption absence days on that holiday and over the last several years that number has grown so um as I presented before um in 2019 there were 22 students and then the following year 45 65 89 111 so um I was asked to look at what other District use as metrics and unfortunately other districts could not give me metrics that they used to identify when they would take that holiday I reached out to many districts um and not one head metrics but what I did um want to offer as an option is if we did want to look at um taking that holiday I would recommend
056um because Staffing is not an issue on that holiday I looked at both Staffing numbers and student um absences moving the February 16th professional development day to March 10th um so that schools would be closed but the profession um staff would be here and that would allow for um you know schools to be closed but to not interfere Not to cause any change to the number of student days and staff days so that is an option that's not reflected on this calendar but that was um after the questions um from the last meeting an option that I thought would probably um meet the needs if we were looking to um have schools closed that day and that is an approach taken by some other yes so the some of the most of the other districts
057that do take that holiday it is a professional development day in that District so schools are closed for students but staff are in one question what would happen I mean at this point in time you haven't heard from any staff member that that is a holiday that they would want to take off if it gets moved into a a teacher development day does that then mean that they have to attend and they wouldn't be able to take that holiday if if we hire someone who that is an important holiday for them no and it's not that no staff members would take that holiday it's that we are able to staff our buildings that day without an an um a problem but that no that would not be the case so teachers can miss those yeah
058I mean I would have to ask HR how that works but yes religious for religious reasons yes I have a couple questions um the two options that you're presenting other than the first day and the last day the only other difference that I notice are the January High School exam days is that right no the um option A has a shorten spring break right okay the first day last day spring break and then so then the other than those it's the the high school days the high school days and then the parent teacher conference days at the elementary level in March are different because of the week later start okay and that's just right because that's where like the semester Falls um so was a calendar tried did you try and make a calendar where
059Labor Day started where we started after Labor Day but there was still a one we spring break I've probably made like seven versions of this calendar so there were many many many different versions of this calendar so yes um but the way the last day would fall would not we don't want students coming back on like a Monday or a Tuesday for the last day of school we try to end it towards the end of the week because we don't want to have students come back for one day um and so that's why these were the two options that we presented so I guess the way that I'm looking at it the one the calendar that starts after Labor Day which I think is option b b y okay um looking at option b the
060last day for students is a Thursday um it's a Wednesday the Thursday is a teacher and service day the 17th yes on option b calendar B is the start before the Labor Day okay sorry I'm looking at the calendar that starts after oh I'm sorry I have mine on the wrong side of my okay okay I don't have the a the A and B isn't clear on my computer so um so looking at the calendar that starts a first day for students on September 88th and a last day for students on Thursday September 17th right that's where we are that's calendar a okay regardless of whatever letter it is can we all just agree we're looking at that calendar so Thursday the 17th as the last day I'm sorry am I that's the last student
061day right yes Thursday the 17th in pink yes I'm sorry yep okay and then if we're looking at keeping this calendar and trying to figure out how to have a full spring break making the last day for students on the 18th would obviously add another day and then we would have one day left to try and figure out round out that full spring break is that am I right about that moving the last student day to the 18th so teachers moving the last teacher day to the 22nd right and I guess what um what I would look at for reference and what I sent by email to board leadership and to Dr rushi and Miss saxa is if you look at our calendar from uh the 2122 school year we the first student day was
062September 9th and the last student day was Friday June 17th and we were able to have a full spring break for staff and students and the way that that worked was that the next week the uh again there was the juneth holiday on the Monday but Tuesday and Wednesday were were professional development days for staff and so I guess I'm it just seems to me I mean I I think that I sent an email actually have it I sent an email over a month ago asking to see a third option where we could have something like that and so I'm just I'm not really sure why these are the only options that the board is looking at um and again I'm thinking about this in the context of as long as I've been on the
063board um I know that it's the community feels really strongly about starting after Labor Day and we've done a lot of things like with that 2122 calendar to help that happen um and I remember that the one year the only year that I've been here that we started before Labor Day was when Lynwood was being constructed and I remember being up here at the board table and promising the community that this was not going to become a norm and that it was only because of the Lynwood construction and so again I just um I'm I'm I'm just wondering why we couldn't have seen a third calendar where this could be just a little bit more creative I would say this is not becoming the norm this is because this is the latest time Labor Day
064can possibly be in a year so that's why um we made this calendar and one of the considerations was camps for parents for students that the first week of September is going to be a very difficult week for families to find camps that are open so that was our thinking of option recommending option b as our calendar and I I think for me one of the things about option b that makes sense to me is that for me when I think about the start of this school year it's not so much the day after Labor Day it's the first Tuesday of September and this continues that pattern of being the first Tuesday of September and that's why we picked Tuesday and not the first that the Monday in August August um we picked Tuesday because
065it's the first Tuesday in September and we thought that that was the best option for the district and I I just know as I mean obviously my children are older now but I know from my own experience finding camps and other kinds of daycare options during the first week of September if school is not happening it I agree with you they're very hard to find at that time so it seems to me it's better to be able to follow and start school the first Tuesday of September so that we can get started on the school year rather than add additional days in the middle of June that just extends the school year into the summer so for me I'm very comfortable with um option b okay I would just like to second that as a
066a sped parent um and so when your child has special needs you know it's even harder to find the camps that are open with the accommodations that you need so if we could be consistent with that second Tuesday in September um the first Tuesday you know what I'm saying that makes the the most sense for those of us with children who have complex needs seems that this one also provides a bit more flexibility if there are snow days or if there are some some things that occur there appear be a couple extra days that that could be kind of well both have three snow days built in three snow days built in I'm just saying this one I also agree with the issue with with the camps camps are impossible to find sometimes even even
067during last week of August I mean I know that a lot of States they actually they they they're starting by late August or even mid August so I mean this is starting the first first week of September does feel like when school begins for most people so yeah and also the issue with with spring break I know a lot of people are very feel very strongly about having a full solid week of spring break I think people need that re that bit of recharge I guess I guess my point is is I just think that the board could have had the opportunity to look at a third option and see what that would look like and I hear the the child care concerns I've also heard the administration admonish parents for bringing Child Care concerns
068over um policies that are made I mean um I know Child Care can can obviously be an issue but it's it's I've heard many times it's not the responsibility of the District to have child care so I guess what I what I'm saying is that we're doing this you know well over a year and a half in advance um I don't think that we're going to hear about it anytime soon I think that we're going to hear about it next year next summer the end of next year and um to give the opp the community more opportunity to to weigh in on this and and because it is a really big departure from what we've done um I mean I'm on the board I look at these calendars and I just realized that we have
069Monday and Tuesday off after President's Day it's not something like you can do it three years in advance um and say that it's for planning purposes but people aren't going to realize what's happening unless we plan on actually advertising it I know a board member at the curriculum committee brought up doing some sort of survey about what would be important to the community and that was said that it shouldn't happen but again that would be a way that the community would understand that this is a really big departure of what's happening and feel like they had a voice and could be involved in this decision so um I I just you know I I hear what what the what the administration is saying and this was a really difficult calendar year but I would have
070just liked to see a little bit more creativity and speaking of snow days I know that we're we have policies for flexible instruction days and even just taking out that Friday and adding a flexible instruction day would get us those two days of spring break and leaving everything else the same um um so I I just I'm I'm disappointed that that the board couldn't have seen a third option and and had that consideration I'll just chime in um so this was first presented in curriculum committee um Miss nass I know you sent some emails to board leadership and to Dr rousi about examining a third option we we I think as a board we have to be careful when individual board members are making requests for an administrative recommendation to be redone um because then
071we are potentially overtasked doctor RI and her team and trust their judgment to um come up with these things I this is an opportunity for that feedback if there is a majority of people at this table who would like to see a third option I think we can discuss that um but as of this this moment I'm not hearing that um I also think that you know it's important to remember and I'll defer to Dr RI just all that goes into creating a calendar it's not just when can we take our vacation um how long can our spring break be it is um staff contract hours it is state required hours for instruction um all the professional development that's required holidays that need to be accounted for um the list goes on so I I'll
072stop there and I would just like to say as a sped parent I absolutely um would like it to be known that I am not the only one who looks at the calendars two and 3 years in advance because they won't create a computer camp for my kid right and so I absolutely am planning for 2026 and 2027 so I appreciate option b and I also appreciate the flexibility of being able to acknowledge Eid alfit thank you yes I made this request before and um I'll I'll make it again is that I think that because this is a really big departure um and the community needs an opportunity to make comment on this I would have this up for discussion again at least one time for review and if and if the the final review
073is just going to be the one calendar then that's what I would have at the next meeting for discussion again um and not for adoption because this is just seems like something that the community should be able to weigh in on and and fully understand again as a departure of What's um of what's been past practice just to clarify this is on the agenda as an information item right and so what I'm asking is for it to be on the agenda as an information item at the next meeting as well so that it can be for discussion and that the public can comment and then have it uh voted on at the meeting after that if necessary ask maybe a more mundane uh question when is the athletic schedule how's that factor into the start
074so the athletic a lot of our Athletics start in the summer so that's not the football schedule's going going to be it's not effect I guess I'm thinking of the band you know like a lot of the auxiliary they're here way before we are yeah that doesn't impact they're usually here it's usually in around 10th 11th 12th of August sometime in around yeah they're in here I know they have band camp I'm just wondering if the athletic schedules shift or you no they're here in the summera establishes that independent of our calendar one thing that um Miss Snodgrass uh comments do make me recall as um some of us on the board uh when there was that discussion about starting before Labor Day uh that was maybe one of the first uh topics some of
075us experienced that did cause you know some public outcry and and concern um and now it it seems maybe quaint compared to what we experienced in later Global events but um that uh consideration for how how families in our community plan their Summers think about the start of school um probably does warrant an opportunity to hear from um from the community and um the idea around you know the camps and how much that weighs into that week of of September any other questions or comments related to the um proposed calendar review right thank you my uh final item Dr Larsson is uh just uh for information purposes um you know back in 2017 uh as a an administrative team um we started trying to focus on our schools being welcoming safe learning environments for all
076of our students um and about 2018 we brought um a resolution before the board referred to as our welcoming schools resolution we would like to put that on the agenda on the 20th um and ask the board to recommit uh to that welcoming schools resolution it has resided on our website um but we would just like to bring that forward uh that evening okay moving on now to section four of our agenda for this evening we have public comment for items on the agenda um this first public comment is reserved for um community members to make a comment or statement about items that are on the agenda for a vote this evening um we do not have anyone signed up for this first public comment moving on to section five board reports um I'll turn
077it over to our representative from the Delaware County Community College no report thank you um our representative for dciu Miss very briefly um as the board meeting was yesterday and I was just appointed to the board um I don't have a detailed report but I would like to give a shout out to the students of the options program uh they were creating buttons and selling buttons all over the IU and they gave the board Eagles buttons um so definitely go Birds if you're not familiar with the options programs it's one of the Fantastic programs in the IU that help students with disabilities students and adults transition into meaningful work skills things that they will make them employable so I got my Eagles button and I thank them for that and I'm sure my next report
078will be way more detailed thank you for that um report for legislative Council yeah just a couple items to um relevant to AI uh the there was a charter school I mentioned at a board meeting from the previous meeting that a AI charter school had sought uh to be approved in Pennsylvania this is where they would AI would essentially provide instruction um and uh PD has declined to accept that um to approve that um Charter School uh the second thing is uh uh Governor Shapiro presented the budget with a substantial increase in education and the next meeting of the legislative Council will be next week uh February 12th and uh I hope to bring back to the board an update on that budget thank you thank you Dr Shelton um next psba hi for um
079Pennsylvania School boards Association on Friday January 31st they send a communication to member districts and solicitors regarding recent executive action and uh here is that communication this week the new Administration issued a series of executive actions on a wide range of matters including diversity equity and inclusion immigration Federal funding school choice and Title 9 for instance within a 3-day span a membo was released by The Office of Management and budget ordering a pause on quote dispersement of all federal financial assistance unquote a stay was issued by a federal judge suspending the implementation of the memo and the memo was rescinded by OMB highlighting just how rapidly issues are arising and changing psba staff in conjunction with state and federal Partners including the Consortium of State Schoolboard associations are analyzing the flurry of actions that have
080taken place over the past few days to carefully understand how any proposed changes could impact public schools in Pennsylvania and are actively developing tools resources and supports to ensure members are equipped to navigate the changing landscape PBA says it's our priority to share information that is not only timely but accurate to prevent unnecessary confusion frustration or concern please continue to watch um their regular channels of community communication for updates as these issues are evolving uh and they further say as a nonpartisan membership organization psba remains committed to supporting our members to lead exceptional Public Schools our Focus will continue to be on ensuring that every child is provided with resources and an environment that is conducive to learning then another part of my update is that um psba is a resource for school board and
081Schoolboard members um they regularly publish guides and um Publications to on better practices for school boards and recently five new resources were released um several of them include ones on social media guide uh executive session 101 advocacy and a closer look at understanding the School District budget process I will access and download those and share those with our board members thank you m mman um finance and Facilities uh the next finance and Facilities committee meeting is next Thursday February 13th at 6:30 and on the agenda is an update of our ongoing uh construction projects at chadam Park in the middle school and a discussion of the plans that are developing for Cooper town we'll be looking at the summer 2025 capital projects the preliminary budget for 2025 26 will be presented and there will be
082discussion of the Food Services management review process thank you for that Mr Tessa would this be would this be the time to identify a potential volunteer for that committee or that Comm I put that as an information item on the finance facilities committee meeting so I thought that would be an appropriate time to open that for discussion right thank you okay um and then for curriculum and pupil services say there is no update um for our policy meeting update Miss nass the next policy committee meeting is February 27th and it should be a packed agenda so see you there thank you okay um for board president's report um I will open it up now to the board to share any activities briefly share any activities that you've engaged in in your role as a board
083member since our last meeting beyond what we all just discussed I have big couple of things um on Tuesday January 28th I attended the Lynwood family Festival their first ever um I understand that this was an idea from a fourth grade student something from a raffle idea an opportunity for a Heritage activity um they uh shared some thinking around that and inspired teachers in the PTO to uh help it grow into a whole festival of cultural traditions and and fun um families and staff shared food recipes memorabilia there was music and dancing outfits uh language games uh maps and all kinds of information that were shared about places that were meaningful to families in the lywood community they had a great turnout and I would expect that that is the beginning of a new favorite
084tradition for the school um nice to see something that started with a student idea um and then yesterday morning I uh went to the cougar breakfast at Cooper town uh this is an offering that they have uh at times throughout the year for families of Cooper Town students and um there's some siblings future CPS to um come to a pancake breakfast uh chef chef Josh was there uh with the pancakes and uh the cougar mascot was dancing with um the students and uh it was nice for uh families to interact with each other and get a chance to talk to uh principal Master Cola some of the topics uh I was in some discussions was were about the future renovations to Cooper town and um everyone got to hear about some upcoming events like the
085science fair and a dance that are happening thank you uh very briefly I would just like to mention the community conversation on January 30th we had a very robust Community conversation um we talked about things that were um important to a lot of folks topics included Transportation peos scores um it's always good when the community comes out and interacts with us directly so we can kind of hear what they're interested in hear what hear what's going on and so that was a great time um other than that I am currently even though I'm sitting right here attending the Pennsylvania Department of Education uh special education conference um I did make the trip to Hershey today because there was not a weather problem right so I look forward to reporting some learnings at the next board
086meeting thank you any other updates on activities moving on now to section six of our agenda for financing facilities uh item a I'll accept a motion to approve dispersements for payment totaling 9 $3,000 $930,000 that's a skill $930,000 $24.45 shelter moved motion a second all those in favor I any discussion back it up rewind L's having a fit over there any discussion um all those in favor hi any opposed motion passes okay Item B I'll accept a motion to approve the ACT 34 booklet on the proposed additions and renovations to coopertown elementary school okay moved second okay Mo mov in second any discussion somebody um speak to the purpose of this document and its role in our consideration and approval for grp Down based on the amount of Renovations that are being done that the
087percent of U building that's being impacted this is just a process that PD requires us to go through to let the public know what's being done to the building gives them the opportunity to ask questions about what's being done to the building so just to kind keep that process moving even even though there's no plan con reimbursement that exists any longer this still is part of the process those and Mr tester that hearing date is March so that's on Thursday March 6 and that'll be hear in in the board in the poont okay um reading through the publication I assume a lot of this is scripted or you know is outlined by what is required by the state um I was curious in the description that it doesn't mention how we currently operate some classrooms
088in modular units and um I know that is was important for the board's consideration for parody in the facilities we offer across the district and for safety concerns and when I didn't see that as a kind of a justification a rationale for the project and the Modell weren't on the site plan for the existing facility I was just curious was there a reason why we wouldn't mention that as part of the project so that was actually um we had to we had to revised the ACT 34 Bulet which we did um end up uploading so on page nine of that document it refers to the existing modular classrooms in fact that they will be removed from the school campus okay okay good thank you what is one of the key factors you know in the
089renovation was removing those and bringing those students back in page n any further discussion all those in favor any opposed got you okay motion passes thank you moving on now to item C charitable donation I'll accept a motion to accept the charitable charitable donation listed below M moved Shon second any discussion is there a little bit of background on this or the district chair or that's a scholarship that has been I know our the gym the high school gym is in have younger you and is it a scholarship fund for like seniors applying for college or is it yeah okay thank you comment would just be thank you very much for the donation any other comments um all those in favor I any opposed motion passes moving now to second seven of our agenda Human
090Resources I'll accept a motion um for the following retirement and res resignation as listed below moved any discussion years of service uh Christine McCormack at the high school we're talking to her many times calling in somebody's sick so yeah PR well all those in favor any opposed motion passes okay section B appointments I'll accept a motion to approve the following appointments as listed below contingent upon receipt of all necessary clearances including act 168 of 2014 moved SCH second any discussion all those in favor any opposed motion passes letter c um I will accept a motion to approve the following leave request the K moved F in second moved in second any discussion all those in favor I any opposed motion passes moving on now to um there's nothing for people services on Section 8 so
091moving to section 9 curriculum and instruction I will accept a motion um for letter A to approve an agreement with AJ Giuliani to provide full day professional development sessions and workshops on artificial intelligence and education in the amount of $7,500 okay moved sh and second moved and seconded any discussion okay all those in favor any opposed motion passes okay letter B I'll accept a motion to approve the student educational excursions listed below okay moved second okay moved in second any discussion wish them all well he all those in favor I any opposed motion passes okay um there's nothing listed under Section 10 policy or section 11 other items so moving on now to section 12 public comments for other items on the agenda um this portion of public comment is rever is reserved for um
092comments or statements about any school related topic um that is not on the agenda for this evening um we have one person signed up to speak um if you could please come to the podium I have John Flagler listed here if you could state your name at the podium confirm your residency in the township you'll have 3 minutes to speak um and at the end of three minutes you'll hear a buzzer and be asked to conclude your remarks evening everybody I'm uh John Flagler um did I miss anything I think you said just confirm that you're a resident of H oh I'm a resident of Hab for Township here yes um so excuse me um I have four children in the district one's in high school one's in kindergarten and the other two were making
093their way through um my wife and I who love the travel could have gone anywhere and we decided to stay here in hord Township um we love it here I love what the school does um I mean K to 12 it's it's wonderful uh the one thing that I wanted to comment on is uh it's funny you brought up earlier I was looking at the welcoming schools uh resolu excuse me resolution and uh all of it's it's wonderful it's detailed um really focuses on I think everything we need to bring compassion and empathy and understanding to uh to the district and the students the one the one concern that I have as a resident um is uh is what what policy would be in place and then I'm not looking for an answer but my
094concern is what policy would be in place when students kind of go against what is there what's written about um not promoting uh compassion not comping not pro um when they're not promoting acceptance and respect among all students I've heard a couple stories of of a students who did not feel safe and a couple stories of students who did not feel welcomed and um it wasn't necessarily um it was by other students in the district and it wasn't by teachers teachers or Administration the experience that I've had so far in the middle school has been extraordinary I just I couldn't have a better experience um with my child in with the administration in the Middle School it were just so wonderful um but when when sometimes those comments from other students may be overlooked by
095people and um that's my concern is when students don't feel safe is how do we when when they break the policy what would be a consequence of that and I know you can't tell anybody what you know consequences are for individual students but what's the policy for not creating like a safe place um and how um a little bit more maybe uh examples of how teachers would be kind of promoting that in the classroom so that's all I have um I guess I'm under time so all right thanks thank you um we do not have anyone else signed up for public comment um in the second portion of the public comment is there anyone else who would like to speak and um similar to Mr Flagler if you could state your name please and confirm
096your residency in the township you'll have three minutes certainly Todd Hall I reside in haford Township I'm here tonight to discuss the school calendar although the addition of any days off with a connection to a religious holiday is not on the propos proposed calendar so far um it's been discussed in recent board committee meetings for future calendar considerations it was stated by the board president at the committee meeting at some point we are going to be intentional recognizing this holiday to allow our students to celebrate let's take a step back here is the school district being intentional with recognizing other religious holidays we have winter break not Christmas break or Hanukkah break religious holidays currently aren't being recognized in our schools in our elementary schools there are no holiday programs that explain and recognize the
097various holidays there were back in ' 83 I'm not Jewish but I enjoyed being a minora candle our students currently allowed to celebrate the proposed additional religious holiday absolutely an absence from school for a religious holiday is an excused absence as I mentioned in a prior meeting any Public School District calendar operates without regard to celebrating or recognizing religion schools calendar scheduled days off for reasons and it was said this evening for when there would be days that it would be apparent that many students would be absent if School were in session um in the discussion of the holiday at the last committee meeting there was a discussion about other districts when we think about looking at other districts we can look at today for example our school prudently decided it it was acceptable to
098have school in 35 to 40 degree rainy weather others did not um we also talked about absence numbers of the proposed holiday a board member wisely alluded to the fact that the number of students absent that day should be compared to the number of students absent on any day the number of students is growing in enrollment logically the number of students absent would be um growing according with that there were some uh more numbers mentioned this evening and I would I guess look for clarity in a future followup as to if those were days for religious exemptions specifically being requested or if those were numbers in those days of just absences on that date one thing we didn't hear in the meeting was news of any requests from people who observed this holiday asking for
099the day off and then finally we can't forget and another item not discussed is that the district students and faculty would like a long as long as the summer break as possible if we were to add holidays we'd be closer to the end date of the school in our close to July and the end date would possibly again possibly there were some good Solutions mentioned this evening as far as in service days but would have to be after juneth uh if we were to add more holidays we should rotate which religious holidays are off each year possibly even if school would be in session on a Federal holiday such as uh Christmas as a way to accommodate this thank you would anyone else like to speak okay seeing none I'm moving on now to section
10013 of our agenda item a report on Executive session um the board met before tonight's meeting to discuss with Council agency business that if discussed in public would violate a lawful privilege or lead to the disclosure of information protected by law um section 14 our next public board next regular public board meeting is scheduled to be held on February 20th 2025 at 7:30 p.m. here in the boardroom of the Oakmont Administrative Building okay and with that I will accept a motion to adjourn second second