001okay mr blenberg i'm going to broadcast thank you anna and we are live okay we'll wait a minute and let the room fill up a bit okay okay looks like we're in like to call the meeting to order welcome to the january 7th 2021 board business and conference meeting of the school district of haverford township if we could rise for the plea pledge of allegiance please i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republican public for which for which it stands [Music] mr regal could you call the roll please okay dr crispin here mr fleischer i am here miss larson here miss minji ms minji here mr sinto here mr schwartz here miss snodgrass here miss wiedemann here mr feinberg here thank you bob i'll accept a motion
002to approve the official minutes of the december 17 2020 regular public board meeting cinto moves just second moved in second any discussion all in favor any opposed motion carries i'd like to just give a quick welcome to all our student athletes who have joined us this evening and uh thanks for coming and we'll look forward to your part of the program a little later before we get started with our agenda uh i'd just like to take a minute i have a statement that i'd like to read this morning dr rushi sent out a community email addressing issues at the capitol yesterday i'd like to read her email with a couple of additions we are mindful that what occurred yesterday in washington received worldwide attention and many of our students have access to in the moment
003information via social media and television as a nation we've grown accustomed to president trump's use of twitter president-elect biden tweeted the following today and i quote no one can tell me that if it had been a group of black lives matter protesters yesterday that they wouldn't have been treated very differently than the mob that stormed the capital we all know that's true and it's unacceptable end of quote events such as this emphasize the importance of reassuring our students that they are safe and a part of a nurturing school community as one of our elementary principals reminded us relationships matter the feelings of our students teachers and staff matter we remain committed to the important work around diversity and inclusion in our district i believe that i can speak on behalf of this board and our
004administration when i say that we share strong unanimous support for our basis program our goal as a district is to develop students who are able to be respectful of different perspectives think critically and function as a supportive community we also recognize that our children may have questions resources that parents might find helpful when speaking with your children were included in dr arushi's emails this morning as always our school counselors are available to support students as needed we are grateful for your continued support cooperation and commitment to growing together on this journey next item on our agenda is public comment anna how many do you have for us this evening well we we have seven but four of the comments are identical so i'll read the resident's names and addresses and read the letter okay i'll
005start with that one great so the first letter comes from maureen nguyen at 245 marple road in haverford pa from nicholas finale junior at 811 naylor's run haverfor havertown marty gordon at 229 glen guyrie drive havertown and mary finelli at 811 naylors run road habertown pa dear harford township school board and dr rushi we as parents guardians and taxpayers are kindly requesting that parents and guardians be notified the permission waiver to opt out our children when controversial materials or lessons will be presented in the classroom we ask for a board policy to be drafted by february of 2021 we ask for all lesson plans to be posted for parents to view this includes daily lesson plans in grades k through 12. anti-racism equity program and controversial nature and divisive equity means that all end up
006at the same place so every child in haverford township schools will end up at the same place we will not have students entering the workforce military service college or trade school do you expect all students to end at the same point upon graduation and then go on to have the same future the equity agenda you are implementing promotes everyone to be the same and end up with the same and devoid of individuality our children have no business being part of a social experiment that in 10 years will have failed just as many past bandwagon dragon laden based programs failed all programming public education should identify measurable goals that utilize data reading writing and math all have measurable outcomes how many times was common core restructured and re-evaluated many education is big business and this anti-racism
007and equity training is as well our taxpayer wallets will not be forever open for tax increases to fund these types of programs further you are catering to a small group of parents and guardians and completely disregarding the rest of us who have a wide spectrum of beliefs and values education is a gift of our forefathers fought for every person living in the usa to have we want 90 of our students to be on grade level reading by graduation moreover this is measurable and attainable with good research-based reading programs we expect our students to be 90 proficient in algebra 1 by graduation using mathematics and empirical data with replication we expect our children to be fluent writers who can compose short responses using rich vocabulary we desire students proficient in writing spelling and focus even if
008students are utilizing technology to assist with their skills all math reading and writing proficiencies are attainable measurable and a part of real life we need to stop utilizing our tax dollars for political agendas in an article in the washington post written by valerie strauss in 2014 said it is time for for those who fight for equity to question the very assumptions of reform the goal of public education is to enhance the life of every student we ask that the parents and guardians of this district hundred forty 6444 students should be given rights this is why we need school choice the next comment is from john bowen at 235 valley ridge road haverford i fully agree with everything presented in these letters we must make sure our young can keenly compete on the world stage we
009should never teach guide or influence our young to be average as parents we must strive to give our young confidence and strong healthy self-esteem if our kids are smart mature and properly influenced they will respect others respect for others should be the standard at all times in all grades including higher education our next comment is from alexis pasternak at 609 woodland drive habertown pa dear school board of harvard township and dr rushi this summer you all adopted a resolution supporting the development of an anti-racist social school climate for this school district only now are many parents guardians and taxpayers realizing that this occurred i cannot believe that you chose to adopt something so controversial back then during this pandemic and with everything else going on in our country i do take full responsibility for not
010really paying attention to what has been going on these last few years in our school district but now i am and so are other people my fifth grader was asked to watch the brainpop blm protest video back in september during virtual class he was distraught it was biased objective lacked context but most of all was inappropriate for a fifth grader my understanding is that it was only shown at manoa and linwood why is that you have a school policy that deals with controversial issues code 119 but it only deals with those in high school it seems please correct me if i'm wrong why i do agree that controversial issues can have a legitimate place in instructional programs of school this was out of line and the district needs to address and update this policy regarding
011paragraph two the anti-racist social school climate resolution whereas we must recognize that racism and hate have no place in our schools and society however we must understand that racism is systematic and it is unconsciously unconsciously rooted in our institutions policies and practices consequently we acknowledge that we must examine our own school policies and practices through anti-racist and equity lenses to address the racism and inequity that exists within our own school community and the system to actively oppose racism in all its forms please give examples of where in our institution policies and practices in systematic racism rooted are these american institutions policies and practices pennsylvania ones or haverford school district ones when you examined your school policies and practices through an anti-racist and equity lens what did you find which ones were racist did you write
012a report identifying them and putting an action plan in place to eliminate them have you shared that report and plan with the parents of the students in this district if these racist policies and practices have existed do you havertford township school board and dr roushy take responsibility for perpetuating them are you all racist why is it taken until now to realize it thank you for your time and consideration the last comment is from helene conroy smith at 32 west wood park drive habertown good evening dr ricci and sdhc board members anti-racist programming in our school district equity is not needed the school board meetings did not adequately address or share information specifics of the parent guardian equity and anti-racism team meeting those are to be posted as public funds were used as sdhd paid doctor
013tara dottie of sage wellness thirteen thousand dollars in a contract kristen larson commented on the 12-17-20 meeting that equity is part of the common core standards there are no standards for equity it is a feeling volunteers in a group met to discover a definition of equity is concerning we cannot implement more flawed programming into our public schools common core standards have been under fire since 2014 as school districts across the nation raised grievances the learning policy institute in 2016 has argued every student succeeds act essa can advance equity through its focus one on higher order thinking to multiple measures to assess school performance and progress three requirements of schools report on resource equity and four emphasis on evidence-based interventions haveford has yet to provide data on the specifics to the taxpayers before engaging in contracts
014with outside agencies based on essay goals important data includes children of varying levels and their instruction what are the evidence-based interventions used for the students who are behind in math and reading what metric is haverford implementing to identify the need if they're viewing the data as a whole how many students are x amount of years behind what grade the students start to fall behind when do we determine a change in instructional methods these questions can be measured however for these the basics to include instruction on learning to read writing math and importantly critical thinking tax dollars are being spent on feelings parents want effective instructional models decreasing effective instructional programs are not using them with fidelity or flaws in the school district also under federal law essa 8101 discusses parent engagement not community engagement means
015parent involvement the participation of parents in regular two-way meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities you have not included all of your school district families and your engagement limiting parent in the creation of a policy and instruction of 30 people of 600 of 6 424 students is not creating active involvement you have excluded many conservative parents as per response to a request for information on how people were chosen sarah christensen's letter to me dated november 10 2020 said this the png equity team members received 145 completed participation interest surveys the selection process utilized two methods 30 of the group members nine participants were identified using partial randomization and the remaining seventy percent of the group twenty one participants were identified using full randomization to ensure a variety of social cultural identities sci
016represented our consultant used a partial randomization process for one portion of the team this method still results in random sex selection but you pull the participants from smaller groups the data spreadsheet was broken down by sci grunt subgroups individuals selecting use them using a random number generator once identified the remaining 70 of the spots were selected by the same random number generator all the remaining participants were listed in the full data spreadsheet and the number generator selected numbers within that range parents have a right to know who are making determinations for programming policy and curriculum for the 6424 students as 30 parents is an extremely small sample administrators need support on how to manage families with differences we have to promote education on communication while having a difference of opinions in the classroom teachers may
017benefit from support when students engage in inappropriate behavior making the classroom uncomfortable more support for students who are unwilling to follow directives support students who are not able to effectively communicate in the school day by utilizing creative solutions developmental research programs have been replicated and proven effective use them programs richly rooted in reading instruction as well as coaching are effective instructional models your procedures continue to define what we know works our taxpayer dollars are best spent on effective research-based models for all learners i asked for a board policy that does not permit any questionable materials to be presented without parent consent from grades k-8 as current policy suggests it covers under the senior high school we require parent consent on such topics considered political and divisive such as social justice anti-racism and equity many of
018these beliefs are rooted in adult ideas and not child sex child centered parents desire advance notice for any questionable materials also board policy name names and home addresses for public comments right at the school board meeting on 12 1720 a group letter right at the board meeting contained no addresses and in my opinion it's showing bias board policy section 900 community title participation board meetings code 903 says addressing the board when recognized one should write status his or her name and address i asked for any public comment in every school board meeting containing both names and addresses 49 000 township residents and 6 424 students deserve to know who people are attaches a url addressed to the equity when the lens goes too far by canadian psychologist jordan peterson to consider as you as you
019add political viewpoints into our public education in this political climate in this political climate what you are bringing into our public schools considered marxism and divisiveness why allow politics into our educational process regards is that delays to them uh yes mr feinberg thank you very much anna next item on our agenda is student reports this evening we have farrah samuel from the middle school and katie bon giovanni from the high school pharah you want to start us off sure hi i'm farah samuel i'm an 8th grade school board representative and thank you for allowing me to speak tonight and i hope you all enjoyed your winter break and your holidays january is our school director recognition month so i want to thank all of you for everything you've done for our district at the middle
020school our winter sports began this monday and we will resume our in-person band course in orchestra on january 11th january 18th is martin luther king day so there will be no school and due to our current situation we hope that everyone can find a way to help someone or help our community in a safe way and thank you again for allowing me to speak tonight thank you farah katie hello my name is kayvan and i'm a senior i have a high school happy new year and thank you for having me here to present after four months of the school year no one could have expected harvard students currently enjoyed having a break to spend with family away from their screens during such a stressful and unpredictable time fearful to unwind as we reflected on the
021past year to come our first semester is coming to a close in just through three short weeks it has been marketable to see all the averages have accomplished they've run gifts and twitter promoted conservation in the school and community and showed off their h pride direct events most importantly have referred to the learning and collaborating with their own department classrooms seen students helping each other working hard all semester and know that this only continues we also know there are teachers administrators faculty continue awards many seniors like myself have now completed their college applications and many kids incredible schools underclassmen looking to college kevin busy yes sorry about that katie it's dr rushi it's um at times it's a little bit choppy and i know i've seen in some of the classes if if you turn
022the video off we may be able to hear you a little bit better because we we want to hear everything that you're telling us about okay thank you sorry about that um and also from here can you hear me now is everything working seems to be thanks katie okay thank you many seniors like myself have now completed their college applications and many have already met incredible schools underclassmen looking to college have been busy registering and preparing for the psat which will take place on january 26th school counselors have been incredible during the college process and many students like myself have gained valuables of support through this with their counselors all their sins and meetings have not been able to take place harvard high school's equity team has been working to make haverford a more equitable
023place for everyone meeting teachers and administrators and it is exciting to hear the voices of my fellow students who seek to make this community the best place it can be members of the equity team are looking forward to the rise above conference that will be virtually taking place through the university of pennsylvania on january 28th it will be wonderful to learn more about how to lead and do what we can to improve the haverford community for the better our time is able to demonstrate their musical prowess at the 2020 band showcase featuring pictures of the event set to the virtual wind ensemble's rendition of the carnival of the animals finale can be found on the haverface west it is certainly worth the listen haverford winter athletes are looking forward to come with their teammates demonstrating
024their incredible sportsmanship in the coming weeks sportswear will resume this week in accordance with governor wolf's december mitigation order the acceptance winter games imagine they are back up again there will be a completed athlete signing in the next few weeks to celebrate the hard work and great accomplishments of our senior athletes who have committed this incredible schools for the fair proud mall as we see challenges our country and world every day reminded of the importance of the haverford community and working together this includes wearing masks social distancing and following the important guidelines placed to keep us safe we admire the hard work and dedication of the school board and administrators to keep us learning and i'm great and i am grateful for the opportunity to present tonight but the exciting thing happening thank you thank
025you i don't know is it possible for us to try and troubleshoot why we're not getting the kind of throughput that we need for her we will mr feinberg we will we'll talk with our tech groups thanks to to both of our student reporters this evening next item on our agenda is the high school fall athlete recognitions we have mr donai the principal and miss robertson the assistant principal and athletic director from the high school all right i wasn't sure if mr donaghy yeah sorry i didn't unmute quick enough uh thank you mr feinberg and the board we have uh some wonderful athletes here tonight um we're glad that you could take some time to honor them uh this fall they had to deal with mass six feet apart coved sanitizer pods mass and uh
026they did it all and not only were they successful they they made all leg in doing it which is a huge accomplishment we have the largest number of all league members uh in it might be the history of haveford it's definitely in the last five years uh so it's it's a great accomplishment uh especially what everything they had to overcome and deal with and not even knowing if they were going to have a season uh one of the girls tennis team members told me that they should get the social distancing award and i said i don't think there's such a thing and she said well there should be so i just kind of walked away uh i didn't know what to do at that point but uh i i agree with her uh they did
027it they did a tremendous job uh you know making sure that everyone's safe and they and have a successful season and then it if miss robinson's going to announce the names but they do very very well off the field both as people and academically so uh we don't have their gpa but if we did it'd be in the high threes um so it's it's a great it's a great group and we're very proud of them so i'm going to turn it over uh to miss robertson uh uh to get to go over the students and students again when they announce your name if you could just say hello so that you move to the uh to the first screen so everybody can see you thank you mr donaghy uh happy new year to everyone i
028just wanted to quickly thank our school board dr rushi our district administration central league administration parents athletes officials in our league all of our game workers for creating such a successful opportunity for our student athletes to safely compete in their athletic programs this fall tonight we're here to recognize and celebrate all of the student athletes who made an all league team your hard work dedication sacrifice is what represents you as being four tough and having h pride at this time i'm going to go ahead and start announcing name students just to reiterate what mr donaghy said if um you could please turn your camera on and when i announce your name i will pause so that you can have an opportunity don't forget to turn your mic um on as well uh to just say
029hello very quickly so you have the opportunity to move to the main screen okay okay the first sport that we would like to recognize tonight is boys cross country with a first team selection sophomore patrick lawson thank you very much thank you patrick uh first team junior ethan fingerhunt hello now to girls cross country first team selection martin chimney senior our next girls cross country member first team selection as well nicole rodriguez also a senior moving forward to field hockey first team selection junior mara quail second team selection senior emilia connors hi thank you thank you second team selection also a senior lea drake honorable mention also a senior mary kate ardeezy and our last field hockey selection for honorable mention junior ella van luvender okay moving on the four uh football we have we
030have quite a list here and i'm proud to announce we have um a couple guys i'm going to read their names a couple times as they they made multiple teams for for football first our first individual first team offensive line junior mario potassium thank you thank you first team tight end senior chris dempsey first team running back senior jimmy wright first team receiver casey uh senior casey gilroy first team defensive line junior we already said his name we're going to say it again mario thank you first team linebacker senior will higgston i know he's not here tonight he emailed me he's a basketball practice first team defensive back senior this is his second one jimmy wright second team linebacker senior his second one casey gilroy second team kicker senior ryan wellington honorable mention offense sophomore
031tommy wright honorable mention uh offense junior mike powell honorable mention offense senior ryan button honorable mention offense senior liam collins honorable mention offense senior this is his second one will higgson honorable mention offense don reimer senior honorable mention senior ryan button his second one honorable mention defense junior pete corcoran honorable mention senior defense senior danny smith honorable mention defense senior brandon oddgers honorable mention defense senior george moscone and last but certainly not least for football honorable mention defense junior tom caruso and i believe he's also a basketball practice okay our next sport is golf and the first athlete is first team is a first team selection senior riley quartermaine thank you thank you riley uh second excuse me first team junior liam hempel thank you thank you liam okay moving forward to sock boys soccer
032our first team selection senior duncan riegler second team selection senior phil udo inyang honorable mention senior brady ring honorable mention senior michael de palma moving forward to girl soccer our first team selection senior brook snopkowski thank you brooke next is honorable mention junior mackenzie lacey and our final girls soccer athlete honorable mention senior jessica miller thank you thank you jessica moving forward forward to tennis and and just to echo um coach withers our girls tennis coach they absolutely should have won the social distancing award uh for the league if we were able to give that out uh so shout out to girls tennis for for that um our girls honorable mention singles senior catherine corbett thank you thank you catherine and last but not least girls volleyball uh our second team selection senior cara fredericks
033thank you thank you cara honorable mention senior elsa daily honorable mention junior macy dahl thank you thank you macy and last person to recognize tonight in our very long list but we're proud of such a long list uh honorable mention senior tess smiley thank you thank you tess congratulations to all of our fall athletes um you know you set a high bar and i'm hopeful that our our winter athletes are going to uh follow in your in your footsteps and and and create a nice long list for me to read um sometime after the winter season congratulations to everybody and thank you very much congratulations to all of you and good luck next semester in whatever sport club or activity i'm sure you're going to be participating in something next group of agenda items are
034policy related uh first is a first reading of ford policy 247 and 247 ar hazing okay thank you mr freinberg and members of the board and community as i as i may see some eyes glazing over at the mention of policy review i'll uh i'll try to keep the piece uh the pace up this evening um uh it appears to be a long list uh however i'll i'll start by saying that i think these policies in the ars have been fairly well vetted by the policy liaisons and school district solicitor in particular ed diazio each of the policies identified to be reviewed tonight required slight revisions in a continuing effort to make sure that we have recognized the terms of the new title ix regulations at the federal level and to make sure that we're
035fully in compliance and we have taken really the largest steps toward that and now we are incorporating certain provisions into the policies listed tonight to to complete that compliance as we did that of course the liaisons take a close look at the policies as does the solicitor and so we did make some other adjustments to both the policies and the ars but primarily we are looking at uh bringing everything into compliance with the new title ix regulations that said we'll start with policy 247 247 our hazing policy this policy as you know has been recently updated by the district in accordance with pennsylvania law and a couple of new changes that came along in the last few years and again as all of these policies we primarily we were looking to add the appropriate title
036ix references and i'll start by pointing out that on on page three under discrimination harassment uh the appropriate title ix references have been added as you can see there as they have been in in all of our policies including those that you've already passed in addition to that change motivated by the title nine rigs we've also added some additional language under the caption authority on page two and this was done really as a clarification so you'll see some new language over and above that which was in your original your current policy the first sentence first paragraph under authority is new language and the fourth paragraph is new language that was recommended by the school district solicitor and has been looked at and much of the language that you're seeing here tonight has been uh adjusted
037by the uh by the policy liaison group i want to mention and i'm going to invite the policy liaisons to please um comment jump in uh to this discussion because i i have become aware that some of the changes that we intended to make from the from our couple of reviews of these policies did not translate into the board doc version that we're looking at tonight i've caught a couple and i'll highlight those as i go through here but if you see any please bring them to my attention either during this presentation or subsequently through our google doc communications so that we come back with uh for the second read we'll have those all intact you'll also see that just some some stylistic changes were made such as we've now bolded certain defined terms within
038the policy as currently presented where they were not previously all right are there any comments uh from the policy liaisons or comments or questions from the board at large on 247 policy okay all right so uh i'll move then to the the the ars the administrative regulations for 247. likewise the the primary goal was to add the title ix references that needed to be added which are done on page two under the caption investigation and response to complaints you'll see the um the title line language and the uh the link to the administrative regulations that govern the title ix investigations sexual harassment investigations uh in addition uh we we made a few other changes to the ars and under reporting procedures you'll see that the group of persons to whom students may report incidents of
039hazing has been expanded over the old policy and that's an appropriate change to encourage students to have other places to report conduct that they believe may have violated the prohibition against hazing state law and the district policy this this is also one of those places where we had intended to add some language to that paragraph that is that first paragraph under reporting procedures you'll see that the sent the second sentence reads in the event a report is received by an individual other than the building principle the building principle shall be notified so that a proper investigation may begin a language that the liaisons intended to add there would read as follows unless the building principle is the subject of the report in which case it shall be reported to the director of pupil services so
040obviously our concern there was that in the case where somehow that particular identified administrator was involved in the what someone perceived to be an infraction we wanted to make sure that it was reported uh to a level beyond that particular administrator so that did not make it through from our our google docs version to our board docs but it will for the second read um uh and of course then i'll ask are there any other questions or comments comments from the board liaisons and or questions or comments from the board at this point okay yeah i'm just going to say um you you caught what i caught greg because i know that we had had a lengthy discussion on that and i think so i think that that's going to be the case in the
041other ars as well um when i had looked at them earlier i think i had come across it uh the exact same thing and at least one of the other ones yeah okay i think i think you're right and uh and i apologize but i have to tell you kathy schwartz and i were working on this and i i'm fairly certain that we saw a version that we thought was going to be presented to you that had those changes and then uh as i went through these i realized that it just didn't translate through there are still some some quirks we're working on as as we work between google docs and board docs uh it may be my technical incompetence or uh there may be some just some issues that those two platforms don't always
042communicate perfectly and or save some of the changes that get made so we'll work on that but uh you're right there is another place where that particular change needs to be made and thank you if there's nothing else on 247 or the ar for 247 i'll move on to policy 248 the harassment policy and of course any comments or questions just jump in or and even if it's going back to a policy we've already covered all right i would like to have your comments so that we can address them for the second read uh 248 harassment uh it should be noted uh that uh with the revisions that we made which really i consider the primary revisions to our policies uh as a result of title ix regs to policies 103 and 104. once we
043made those psba suggested that uh we we might want to consider retiring altogether this policy 248. uh ed diazio at whistler uh and i agreed with him i i was skeptical of that that direction from psba ed thought that it was not a good idea to simply retire this policy even though it may be somewhat redundant with policy but frankly ed's feeling was that it would be better to take this policy tweak it add the appropriate title line references and keep it in place and even though it may be it may represent some redundancy as long as we apply it consistently uh that is between 248-103 uh it won't be a problem and it provides a sort of a belt and suspenders to make sure that we are providing every opportunity to uh to address
044any uh harassment issues that any members of our school community might observe and want to report so so we went ahead and of course the policy liaisons again looked at this policy the the specific title ix reference again i'll just point out that was added to page three of the policy the first full paragraph on page three and you'll see the the link that represents the additional title 9 language i don't think anything very substantive beyond that changed in the harassment policy likewise the the ars administrative regulations associated with 248 are presented tonight and at the bottom of page one you'll see the the uh the new title nine uh language that is required uh and has been incorporated and i don't believe we made there's anything other very significant beyond that obviously these are
045significant policies i'm just suggesting that the primary reason was to add the references to title ix anything from the board liaisons or questions or comments from the board generally all right so that would take us to policy 249 bullying cyberbullying [Music] the the title ix uh edition occurs in the ears on page two in the first full paragraph on page two but in addition um i should note that this policy raised some interesting issues with the board liaisons in that there's a there's a an interesting legal issue that always surrounds not only this policy but you know other uh types of activity that occurs in the school district that has to do with um what amount of regulation a district is entitled to uh to uh to enforce uh when there is um conduct off-campus
046conduct which is where most uh social media conduct may occur but that somehow has an impact in the school environment so you can see that you know the the text of this policy is not really very much of a change if at all from the uh from the current policy but it does raise the question uh and it was raised by the liaisons and we did raise it with the solicitor for some legal guidance on whether or not the district has the ability to to regulate off-campus conduct that's represented by perhaps social media posts i wanted to note for the board and for the liaisons that there is actually interestingly from my perspective a a pending case um that is in our very own uh third circuit court or came out of our third circuit
047court of appeals which is the appeals court uh that is our jurisdiction and it is currently uh actually there's been an application uh for uh us supreme court review of that case and in that case the student was disciplined for off-campus conduct through social media posts the aclu challenged that discipline and they were they were successful on behalf of the student at both the federal district court and court of appeals level there are the school authorities frankly national school board association are all interested in this outcome and have encouraged the u.s supreme court to review this so we may be getting some guidance in the future it's not clear whether the u.s supreme court is going to accept that that case or not in which case we would be left with the third circuit ruling
048which again found that the district in that particular case and they're always fact specific but i was not able to discipline the student in that case for off-campus conduct represented by her social media posts so we'll wait and see whether the the court accepts that that case on cert uh or um uh or not and uh and then we'll we will hopefully if they accept it we'll get a little all the schools around the country will get a little bit more guidance on how much regulation is possible in this area but for the moment our policy remains as it is and where we will try to preserve as much ability to to regulate conduct that does have an adverse impact or a a very substantial disruptive impact in the school environment i can just add
049to that because because we did discuss adding um specific language about about being in a virtual environment and so um i had proposed changing the language to school setting means one in school including in a virtual environment and having that be explicit in this policy um i see that it's not in here and i don't know if that's because i was overruled or if um that was because that was something with council um that that we felt like we didn't want to add but i would just bring that back up because um a lot of folks are all virtual this year and um potentially in the future as well we've obviously had to have a friend online for a long time and we'll continue to have one so um i would propose that change to
050include that um but also uh for the um the the board's information as well um another um aspect that i had proposed was including specifically school issue devices and so that is one of the gray areas of the law right now um what can what can be regulated off campus but through a school issue device we know um through our initiative this uh or you know past year that all of our students have a school issue device now um so that is also something to consider in that school setting um paragraph whether we want to include that as well correct and i'll be guided by uh by what the board would like to do in that respect i don't think that the third circuit opinion in the case that i mentioned really addresses those particular
051issues that is whether or not just being a school issued device would allow regulation um of of the conduct obviously we're always allowed to regulate the use of the device and and set limits on that and i think mr sinto raised that point i i and there are consequences if we set rules for how it can be used and and we can enforce those rules whether or not we can discipline a student for uh off-campus conduct uh that that uh is uh own simply because uh not simply because but in part because it's being done on a school device i think it may be an open question but i'm willing i'm certainly uh i'll be guided by the liaisons and the board as a whole if if you wish to add that language um we'll
052propose that language and as long as the solicitor says it's defensible then we'll we'll leave that in on both points both the virtual point and the uh school device point uh yeah i also think that one of the things that we were discussing if i may uh in addition to what antoinette said was that with that school grounds concept with the virtual environment and the reason that we were thinking about that being explicit is because the school grounds concept in terms of enforcement is now a little bit like where does that school grounds begin and end when a particular student you know i mean clearly if there was any sort of conduct like at a football game or on school grounds outside of the school day you know but now in a virtual environment uh
053you know it it does leave some of that to to that gray area it does and i i from my perspective i i think that if if the conduct is off school grounds but it's during a time when the student is engaged in virtual learning with the district i think you probably have pretty good basis to impose discipline for objectionable conduct i i suspect that if it's not related to um to a time when they're if you will under the supervision of the of the district that you you're going to face the same questions that the district in pennsylvania faced in the case that i i've mentioned but again we can hope for further guidance it's not going to come for a couple of years even if they accept cert by the time that case
054is is heard by the supreme court enrolled upon you're going to be a year or two out before you get further guidance so if you'd like to take you know a an aggressive position if you will uh on the ability to regulate we'll add that language we'll pass it by the solicitor and we'll include it in for the second read and if that's if that's where we'd like to go i think we should add in us in a virtual environment um at the least and maybe punt on the um on the school issue device for now and and uh assume that that would include you know scholarship device within a school environment and hopefully that would include anything where cyber bullying was happening um you know in the school day i just asked about um
055uh use policy do we have a student use kind of code of conduct regarding um technology and maybe um in practice things that are part of our um you know part of this policy discussion yeah i see my colleague sarah christensen jumping at the bit there well no while you were talking i didn't know if i should jump in or not because i wasn't into the entire conversation please but a lot of what you are speaking to um shows up in our acceptable use policy when it comes to the use of um school district devices and and what's appropriate and what's not and then there are outlined consequences um that could be enacted based on the use of a school device um in our ability to monitor that through the filtering systems and and that
056type of thing so that um the discussion as it relies to the school device would be cut would be covered under the acceptable use policy that is in play right now thank you sir right so maybe there's a way to kind of cross reference that um existing practice and policy with this policy just to tie those together i will send greg um for the you know the next read the um outline and the current acceptable use policy that the students and the families engage in would that also cover um district issued email addresses as well so like if a student was harassing another student using their haverford email address would that all be covered as well i don't want to say specifically but i wouldn't i think i yes because we have access to all
057of that um information and would be we would be able to investigate it and that is um under our domain so i'll look into that before i concretely say yes but i'm 95 sure yes it's covered under the acceptable use policy the district issued email address and correspondence okay so for the for the moment we will add in the reference to the uh uh regulating based on the virtual environment and we will um come back with some additional information uh for the second read actually i'll try to bring it back to the liaisons i think we are scheduled on the uh on the 25th so i'll try to bring it back to you then if right great thank you and this uh actually is one of those policies i think at least the ars for
058uh where uh the the language regarding uh another avenue for reporting uh was not did not translate through so on uh in the ars for 249 on the first page and at the end of the second sentence we would add that same language unless the principal is the subject of the report in which case the report would be forwarded to the director of people services all right so that's the second place i think antoinette although you may have even seen more than that but we'll be on the lookout but i i noticed that that's another place where we intended to add that language and it didn't translate through okay all right any other questions or comments on two four eight two 247-24824 nine or their ars for the the bullying and cyber bullying ar um
059are we still using the safe to say something can students report that way as well because that's not included here yes that's really a separate matter the the the safe school provides that and i don't know i don't want to put her on the spot but uh is uh nicole do you have um i know your department basically enforces the so say yeah that's um the system the kids uh or anyone can use to report concerns and that information goes to the counselor principal um someone in my department and that's still in play it's it's a good point though that maybe we should just again add a cross-reference or a reference to to that um it's a related manner of reporting of conduct that you know could fall into either either place so maybe we'll
060we'll look for a place to add a reference a cross-reference to that program that should be easy enough right it makes sense so i'll i'll consult with nicole and add that reference into the to the ars all right okay and then finally uh that brings us to the the last policy which is uh policy 348 harassment uh this is an employee policy uh and at this point uh really simply has been revised to incorporate the title ix references uh uh diazio from whistler uh has looked you know at this you know these changes um and it is now consistent with uh 103 104 that we've already passed uh to come into compliance with the title ix regs and this would be the sort of the final piece uh at this point as far as we
061can tell in making the revisions to our existing policies to come into compliance so as soon as we can move these uh these policies through our our board process and adopt them then we can move on to other subject matters and and know that we at least uh policy wise have complied with the requirements that that were put forth last spring by the federal government any questions on 348 or comments okay and of course we did we added ars we didn't have ars for 348 before so we've added that set of ars that are before you which obviously contained the references to the title ix coordinator and and the reporting requirement and investigative requirements right okay any further questions or comments on any of these policies or ars sorry just one thing i think another
062change we had made to the uh 348 ar and this might be in your copy greg but it's not showing up here is in that appeal procedure we were going to expand it to be 20 days i think with um in that first paragraph there so that it's uh just an even 20 which is what we've done with other policies as well make that for the second read and i should just mention uh because the liaison group spent some time on this and i don't want to ignore it because it was a it was a substantial discussion and an important discussion as we go through all these various policies and in each one we have basically some level of after reporting uh conduct that's proscribed by the policies there obviously uh is generally needs to
063be an investigation of some sort and so the uh a point that was raised by the liaison group uh was that boy wouldn't it be wouldn't it make sense to have sort of a master investigation document uh that instead of having uh language in each of the policies uh or the ars that reference investigations you know could we have a separate uh ar there's just an investing sort of a master investigative document ar to refer to and i reviewed that uh carefully with ed diazio ed ed suggests that because the language about the investigations in each of these individual policies and remember we always carve out the investigation that sounds under title ix sexual harassment investigations because that has that has its own set of investigative ars that we've already passed and put into place
064but when when the investigation or the conduct doesn't fall into that category and there is some type of investigative process necessary ed suggested that because the language always refers to student disciplinary investigations and consequences that when we get to policy 218 student conduct and and we we do have that in queue for some time in the next several months to start looking at that we could really put together what we consider to be our master investigation policy then and all of these policies will then point toward that so he thought that was a better way to go than to try to create a freestanding investigation policy at this point in time again we'll be guided by the board liaisons and the full board on that and we can talk further about at the next liaison
065meeting but that was conclusion he also thought that we want to be careful not to create a really big bulky legalistic investigation document such as the title ix investigation policy is because uh normally you're talking about conduct that is somewhat more routine and frequent at the building level and it's difficult then for the administrators i think he makes a good point difficult for the administrators to step through all of the process that we might try to load them up with so he thought it would be important to be careful when we get to 218 to create policy that is user friendly for the building administrator so i just thought i'd pass that along i thought it was good advice that uh that ed provided and we can go back to him with any questions we
066have about that and certainly if we want to revisit the issue of creating you know a an overall master policy we can do that but uh for the moment that's where we've gotten to on the policy and ar revisions on these four four policies right anything any comments from the board liaisons on that point uh okay and any other questions from the board thank you mr parker thank you to the all the policy liaisons next item on our agenda is the board liaison report i think the only uh item that we would have is policy and correct me if i'm wrong i think we just went through that report is that correct internet do you have anything you want to add you don't want to hear more about our policy liaison meetings i'm shocked no
067that's right um i would just i guess the only other thing that i did want to add um was that the benefit of looking at these as a group and so i know that it's it can be tough um to for the for the board to get you know four policies at once but the benefit of looking at them as a group is that one of the things that the liaisons are trying to do is to make them uniform um to make sure that there's not contradictions um between the policies that do overlap so um so it can be a lot but it's um i think it's really helpful and i think what mr parker was just saying uh with not having some you know huge legal document was we also want people to be
068able to read these and understand them so that they know um you know if they if they feel like they have been harassed or or bullied or something like that that they understand how to um how to report that and how to um how to involve the school in in um uh correcting that so so that that was our main goal here and this uh but otherwise yes this this was our this is my report great thank you next item on the agenda superintendent comments dr rushy thank you mr feinberg um three notes that i want to make in particular uh we will be communicating them as well in the next issue of haverford happenings which um should be going out if not tomorrow monday i will we will have that ready i just want
069to remind folks that registration uh will be opening on monday and that's that is actually registration for any new student who will be joining our school district in the 2021 2022 uh school year we lovingly refer to it as kindergarten registration um but we learned a few years ago that uh parents who uh know that they're going to be sending their first grader to us are very willing to get them registered and it just helps with our you know our numbers um the process is the same as as it has been uh with one modification that we made to a change that we instituted last year unfortunately um but one of the changes we instituted last year which was very successful um is one that we're not going to be able to continue at least
070for this year and that is the opportunity for in-person registration um so you know we have we were able to do that to accommodate uh schedules we had evening hours we had office staff um available across the district we got a lot of positive feedback uh you know about that and we definitely will return uh to that practice uh when it is uh safe uh in a healthy way for everyone to everyone to do that um but the registration portal will open uh seven o'clock nicole do i have the right time uh seven o'clock on uh on monday evening um we have in for we did put information in our last issue of haverford happenings um you know what where uh what the requirements are for registration what information people would need to have so
071that is all available on on our website we will have uh staff in our office available for phone calls if anyone encounters any technical difficulties uh so we'll have that you know information posted on our website if you have technical if you're having experiencing a technical difficulty call this number and we will have somebody on site that evening uh taking those calls to to facilitate any problems my second point tonight is to remind people that the 2021 2022 year school calendar was already approved uh so those who you know are looking ahead to that first day of school uh for the children for whom they will be registering that calendar is approved it is on our website has been since it wasn't was approved uh we'll move that up so that it is you know
072sort of jumps out at people when they come to our our website uh the first day of school in september of 2021 will be september 9th uh with the way different holidays and observances fall so just a reminder about that and my third reminder this evening pertains to january 15th that is next friday just a reminder to everyone that that is what we refer to as an act 80 day but that doesn't mean anything to people outside of education uh that's an in-service day if children were in school that's usually a day where they are you know are dismissed early so their day will conclude early uh since they will will be at home our teachers will be assigning asynchronous work for student in which students will engage that morning allowing our teachers to engage
073in a full day of in-service um planning for that second semester uh the second half of the school year which is going to begin before we even know it it's remarkable to think that we are already talking about the second semester uh of this school year when so many of us feel like we haven't had enough kids in the building yet and just waiting for for that familiar feeling of kids around and noises in the building but that will be the approach where the january 15th day uh building principles are communicating that to families and the exact work that's in which students will engage will come from the uh classroom teachers thank you mr feinberg they're my three updates that i have for this evening just a general question for you dr russia are we
074hearing anything more from chester county health department about uh vaccination rollout and what any possible role for school districts um yes as a matter of fact there's a another meeting tomorrow that i will be participating in on what we the latest update that we have from chester county is that they're still in uh that 1a grouping uh you know first responders ems workers and and such they hope to move to the grouping identified as 1b uh and that is the group that that consists of educators uh as well um there right now they're looking at three location sites uh throughout the county uh so that we would you'd call you would schedule an appointment and go for for that vaccination but those details have not been you know been worked out there has been some
075discussion about utilizing the pods you know within delaware county every school district has been set up uh since back when we were dealing with h1n1 uh and and looking at a pod system for the administration of you know of vaccines so that's still on the table for discussion but as of the latest conversation delaware county was going to be looking to identify three locations that people would go to so when we as we get an update we're trying to keep our our staff as informed as possible as as well great thanks thank you very much for that for that update the antoinette um yeah just along those same lines i know the last time that we had gene kassner on she also talked about testing um in in the schools like you know periodic testing
076of our of our teachers have we heard any more on that we are providing our nurses with the information to have them trained the training it um consists of three parts so we're asking them to at least participate in that training because the third part the final component to it is an in-person uh training and to get them scheduled uh for that and we you know hope to be able to do some kind of at at minimum uh if someone appears symptomatic in the nurse's office that they would be able to um participate in in testing there uh so we've not done anything more with you know looking at what they refer to as surveillance testing where you know i may agree that every wednesday i would be tested no matter how i felt uh
077that's still under a lot of discussion but we feel we may be able to move forward with the testing for anyone who is symptomatic okay thank you okay next item on the agenda uh budget transfer uh i'll accept the motion to approve a budget transfer in the amount of five thousand dollars what's moved mr eagle could you just give us a heads up on what what this is entails um mr eagle i think it's our department we were just transferring it from one technology um budget to the another technology but we had it in an elementary level and we needed in a secondary level for some additional software great thank you and this one's a roll call vote yes dr christian yes uh mr fleischer yes for jen's movement of money ms larson miss minji
078yes mr cinto yes mr schwartz yes miss snodgrass yes miss wiedemann yes mr feinberg yes thank you bob nine voting yes motion carries uh i'll accept a motion to approve disbursements from the general fund totaling 590 599 and 68 cents place your moved in second any discussion i have a a question on the bill list and i guess this is for the benefit of some of the newer board members from time to time we see uh payments to uh both the delaware county iu and the chester county iu uh could you just maybe give us a a quick uh you know uh delineation of what that those are generally for okay uh we use different ius some of the the ius have different strengths for instance uh burke's uh berks county iu we use for
079uh printing our tax bills and our installment bills they're self-mailers and that they kind of do that for almost every district in in the eastern pennsylvania um we use uh chester county iu they have some programs i guess that delaware county doesn't have uh we using and i think also probably when there's an iep that says they need something specific that we we don't have a delaware county iu uh they might have it at chester county iu for instance we have advanced clinical services we have some reading specialist uh services there and learning support services and then uh delaware county iu we uh we have uh discovery education uh which i think is something in curriculum uh uh wilson uh reading instruction and some tuition and other special ed services so um a lot of
080districts do use different uh ius depending on what they have for instance other other districts might use their software they're very good at software so they might have the tax services through one of the uh like i think is carbon lehigh has a big mainframe system that they use for tax collection so uh but usually it's specialized when you do that thank you that's uh good information yeah that's my question i just forgot to ask you so thank you larry for putting that there and just did we vote on that well we had to we get a motion and a second okay all in favor any opposed motion carries thank you i'll accept a motion to approve the quote for the builders risk policy with aj gallagher and company for the rental agents and additions
081at haverford high school at a cost of 105 768 dollars worse than moved the only thing i would like to say is that half of that is for phase one at the high school and the other half 52 000 is for phase two so if we haven't voted for phase two but i'm assuming that that'll come if if we decide not to vote for it then we will not pay the second installment okay great thank you bob moving on i'll accept the motion to accept the resignations as listed moved minji wait do we vote on the last one i don't think we did we didn't i'm sorry insurance on the insurance if you don't vote that's right all in favor any opposed immersion carries you know it's this uh you're dragging me kicking and screaming
082into not having my piece of paper where i can check this stuff off you know so i apologize with that i'll accept a motion to accept the resignations as listed christian mingy second moved in second any discussion all in favor aye aye aye aye opposed motion carries i'll accept the motion to accept the appointments as listed person moved [Music] i'll accept a motion to recognize the temporary professional employee who has fulfilled the three-year probate probationary period required by law and having received satisfactory ratings during this period has met eligibility to receive a professional employee contract effective january 7th 2021. second moved i'll accept a motion to approve the leave requests as listed in second any discussion i just had a question about the um was there any extension to the ffcra for um kind of
083coveted related leave in this new year no there has not excuse me all in favor aye aye aye any opposed motion carries board reports antoinette you got anything uh no report dave yeah thanks so i have a quick statement to read it's not word for word i'm written word for word i i i i hate that somebody knows pick your husband but i just want to make a quick statement with regards to the events of yesterday with some of the comments that we have seen about our anti-racist and basis programs and how they can tie in um first of all with regards to two yesterday i might be referring to people who who stormed the capital as protesters you know they were writers so i'm using that terminology i've heard some comparisons to these protests
084are these um rioters and blm protests and i wanted to point out a couple differences first with with blm protests there were those were done for a redress of grievances they had very specific things they were asking for all leaders called for non-violence there was some violence and it was condemned as it should be yesterday in that mob when the leaders said quote that that this would be a trial by combat now they were all adults there we know better that's not we want to to teach our kids the way to handle things they're not looking for good trouble like sit-ins or non-violence they were looking for bad trouble as we saw really what what they're doing was terrorism so let's not draw any false you know comparisons between the two and i do want
085to thank um our representative mary gay scanlan senator casey and similar to me and senator tommy gave a very good speech on the floor last night actually protecting the votes of pennsylvanians and everybody in this country and they stayed there late after sheltering in place doing the people's work and certifying the election until 3 33 a.m we made it till 12 we ever quite made it to 3 30 for our for our meetings but you we all know how how painful those nights can be but anyway so how does this tie into the anti-racist policy and our basis program and kind of some pushback on that and this evening larry feinberg read a tweet by joe biden not paraphrase it saying that if the protester if the protesters yesterday had been from the blm movement
086things would have looked a lot different i'll take a step farther and say that they were if there were more black and brown individuals in that mob i think there have been more more injuries probably more deaths and probably also less self-pace now that is reality that is what happened we just witnessed with our own eyes the biggest example of white privilege in the long set history of white privilege and i'm sorry but if you do not see that this thing that i can say that you're being willfully blind that is reality that is what our kids see every day now we've been told that we should teach abc's and one two three that the purpose of schools is to teach abcs and one two threes the purpose of it of the school is to
087prepare our kids for the world for reality we are not trying to teach topics that are controversial we're addressing topics that will be addressed in the real world we're not trying to make all our kids into these same drones we are trying to teach them the same reality we have to accept that there is a truth there is there is truth out there there is reality and let them come to different conclusions i hope they do come different uh conclusions and different solutions i'm going to quote mitt romney last night he had a great quote he said the best way to respect to the voters who were upset is by telling them the truth what happened yesterday was an example of people not being told the truth so if you want to tell your you
088know don't tell your kids what you heard on hannity or rachel maddow or edward in the washington post or when you see on facebook somewhere that's not reality you want to respect education and your children tell them the the truth that's what we have been doing the anti-racist policy on our basis program addresses that reality that's why we adopted them that's why i continue that's why i support them and continue to do so so that's it i want to throw up my chest thank you very much thank you dave ari you got anything this evening no i do not know report thank you larry and thank you david for your um for your words as well as you larry thank you to our administration and athletic staff for a successful season in the fall and
089uh good luck this winter thanks kristen yeah um just wanted to congratulate all of our fall athletes on their outstanding accomplishments and their representation of haverford it's always exciting to see you know our students faces and to just learn about the things that they've been up to um so job well done um i also want to take a moment to thank you mr feinberg for your statement at the beginning of tonight's meeting and thank dr rushy for the resources that she sent out to families earlier today i would also like to condemn the violence that we witnessed yesterday as fight rioters lead siege to the u.s capitol and terrorized our elected representatives their staffers and those who protect and maintain the halls of our legislative branch the law-making body of our government i also condemn
090the unequal law enforcement enforcement response that did little to stop an angry mob of white domestic terrorists as they stormed a federal building the insidiousness of white privilege was laid bare yesterday particularly as we reflect upon the treatment that black lives matter protesters endured in many american cities just this past summer so what does this all have to do with schools public education has long been held up as a cornerstone of our democracy public schools teach our children to be responsible citizens and upstanding members of society they prepare our children to attain the skills to be lifelong learners and pursue the training in further education that will allow them to become economically self-sufficient further public schools are envisioned as a place of unity where children from diverse backgrounds can come together and learn to accept
091and work together with one another which is the specific purpose of haverford's basis program both our public education system and our democracy as imperfect as they are um they're they're intricate intricately linked to one another one prominent example of this link as i was reflecting on it earlier is the pledge of allegiance each morning our students recite the pledge of allegiance at school and at each school board meeting we begin with the pledge of allegiance it's a patriotic ritual that sets the purpose and tone for the lowercase d democratic imperative that our education system is based upon if we think about the words that we speak with our hands over our hearts it is clear that what happened yesterday at the u.s capitol violated this solemn oath rioters attempted to divide our republic and tear
092apart our nation through their violent actions so again what happened yesterday has everything to do with public schools and our community what happened yesterday was anti-democratic and anti-american and our children and our neighbors deserve better thanks christian laura kristen thank you for saying that um i think you said everything i would have said just said it more eloquently so um thank you for that um larry thank you for your comments as well and dr rushi thank you so much for your comments and for sending out resources um i know i myself am really struggling with how to talk with my young child about what happened yesterday um and what's age-appropriate and what she can understand um and it's really it's difficult um so thank you and if there are any other resources that you come
093across that you can share out with all of the school community i would greatly appreciate it um on a happier note congratulations to our athletes um it was really exciting to see so many students here today getting recognized for your wonderful fall athletic season i'm glad it was able to happen and hopefully the winter season will be on us soon um and then for those of you who are like me registering your kids um on monday good luck uh it's very exciting and also terrifying um and hopefully we will all have enough vaccine that we can go back to some semblance of normal for the fall um but who knows what that will look like until we get there so um just best wishes to everybody and uh let's hope there's no uh technical glitches
094so we're in 2021 now so i'm sure everything is going to be totally fine technology wise um so anyway that's all thank you thank you laura sal it's uh always a a pleasure to celebrate the achievements of our students but you know in these trying times and as we struggle through uh you know covid and and and our society it's it's refreshing to always be presented with our students and how they thrive in uh the school environment so thank you to our students who we uh who we recognize tonight and thank you to all of our students who continue to be involved in athletics and activities and in our our school environment to make our district uh the place um that it is so uh it truly is a privilege to and a pleasure to
095acknowledge their participation in school thanks so much susan first happy new year i think that so much has gone on in the last two weeks we forgot that we are indeed celebrating a happy new year i of course agree with everyone um everyone's opinion on what happened i would like to quote one of the senators from yesterday when i speak to all the parents who ask me what do i tell my kids how do i tell my kids what's appropriate my answer has always been for 40 years tell them the truth you have to tell them the truth they will ask you questions and you can answer them you don't have to answer them graphically you don't have to answer them specifically and you don't have to answer them with great detail but what you
096do is have to tell them the truth something terrible happened etc etc i think that's such an important piece of what sometimes we as parents are afraid to do and i have to agree with senator romney the best way to work with children when something terrible happens is to tell them the truth um the other thing that i want to tell you is that the delaware county iu board which we use a lot of mr regal we believe in the dciu here in haverford they are having all their open houses uh for the technical schools for next year and i just want to tell parents that even if your children are completely college bound there is stuff there for them to learn there are great uh great courses that's where we have our lpn course
097that's where we have our medical information we have all kinds of stuff and all of our children college-bound as well as those who are looking for a career can find what they need out there in the dciu so i just want to remind parents that it feels very weird now that i that is going on just as we're talking about registering kids for school they're talking about moving head for high school kids as well so please put that in the back of your mind i think one of the most fascinating things about tonight to me is no one talked about the pandemic very much nobody talked about what we're going through in the schools we have replaced it but i just want to remind everyone please wear your mask please social distance take advice from
098the female tennis team stay apart wear your mask thank you larry thanks susan bridget thanks um i'm my phone just lit up with a alert that betsy devos is resigning um maybe not for all the reasons that um some of us who care about public education would have wanted her to vacate the position but um we look forward to having new leadership there at any rate um i also just i'm a big fan of the fords it was so great to see the student athletes and i got to be on the sidelines for some of the fall soccer games and know what an effort it was from our administration um our athletics department the coaches the parents and the players to be able to navigate this extraordinary season and to prioritize everybody's health and safety
099and still be able to represent the fords and and have that season happen so i'm i'm proud for everybody who participated and special accolades to the students who were recognized tonight um and i do i appreciate all the comments from fellow board members i do want to just add my heartbreak about what happened yesterday and um i think chuck schumer was on the floor of the senate and saying you know our kids are watching and our third graders know that one of the hallmarks of our democracy is the peaceful transition of power um and yesterday our kids saw that failure in history for that to happen and um i think that just reiterates the importance of our public education of haverford school district's basis program and our strategic plan where we um lift up the
100values of equity of understanding of respect for differences um we are training our kids to be critical consumers of information to be able to navigate and collaborate in a complex and diverse world um as informed and engaged citizens who value and care for our country and will be the ones that will help us live out our best ideals and um our kids are watching and i i hope that our government can do better for them um as 2021 continues it's still here at the beginning of the new year it still feels really 20 20 so i'm hoping 2021 kicks in and gets better here in in the future so thanks thanks bridgette like to thank the board for their their thoughtful comments this evening in my psba advocacy ambassador capacity i'm continuing to meet with
101newly elected legislators and in the coming weeks that's going to be senator committa senator kaine and senator cappaletti so looking forward to having those meet and great meetings with them and with psba's chief advocacy officer john callahan and in each of those meetings the superintendents and school board members from all of the districts in each senator's senatorial district have been invited to participate and we've had very good meetings with house members several house members over the last few weeks so it's a good process the board met prior to the meeting this evening the board met with council to discuss legal questions related to litigation and personnel our next regular public board meeting is scheduled to be held on january 21st 2021 via zoom and with that i'll accept a motion to adjourn moved seconds thank
102you very much everybody have a good evening we're out of here edie was nice seeing you again