December 15, 2025 LASD Board Meeting

001as our pledge this evening 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. Please uh remain standing uh to observe a moment of silence. Thank you. Thanks guys. [laughter] Evelyn, Dean, and Weston, thank you so much. And we will not be insulted if you decide to depart at this time, but you are certainly more than welcome to stay as well. And welcome to grab some cookies on your way out. Thank you. Happy holidays. You too. All right. So, let's um call this to order. Um begin with some meeting announcements. Uh an executive session was held on November 24th, 2025, uh between 7:03 and 7:58 p.m. for legal discussions in the administration conference room. A reorganization meeting

002was held on December 2nd, 2025 at 7 o'clock in the boardroom. That was followed by a workshop meeting held here at December 2nd. Uh in the boardroom as well, uh an executive session was held prior to this meeting at 6:00 for some personnel and legal discussions in the administration conference room. Uh and as you see, a board meeting is being held now, December 15th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the board. Uh, can I please have a roll call? Miss Joy Beers. [clears throat] Mr. David Bradley, here. Mrs. Lorie Fry, present. Mr. Jeremy Glow, present. Mrs. Denise Hartley, present. Mr. William Howland, here. Mr. Alex Matika, present. Miss Heather Met, present. And Mr. Timothy, present. Thank you. All right. Uh so first things first we have a couple presentations some recognition. We do not do we

003do it's just a a procedure false alarm. We do not. [laughter] Um at this time uh we will open it up to public comment. Um, as a reminder, this is permitted to discuss whether or not an item that's currently listed on our draft agenda that has been posted should be on or off the agenda. There should not be any discussion about the agenda item at this time. Um, since this is limited exclusively to whether or not it should be on the agenda. So, any public comment? All right. Hearing none. Um, so next, approval of the agenda for this evening. Um, can I have a motion to approve as presented? Some move. Second. All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. Public comment. Do we have any public comment? This is the traditional public comment

004period on the agenda items. All right. Uh, reports. Um, I doesn't look like we have one for the student board representatives tonight. Um but does look like we have a superintendent here. So [laughter] yes, so at the last meeting I was asked for two results, two two two reports and some information. So what I wanted to do was provide this publicly as well but review it again uh in person with the board. So if we go down through here, uh the first thing is our safe to save tips from the beginning of the year through December 5th. From this point forward, we will give you we will provide a monthly review uh as well as a cumulative. This is cumulative from the beginning of the school year until now. And what you see uh are

005the types of issues, types of concerns, types of things that types of matters that our school personnel need to work through. Jason, what's handle with care? A handle with care is basically a tip saying this kid's going through something right now and we may or may not know exactly what, but that they're basically being the school is basically being tipped to be very cautious with said student and you know be aware that they may need some support throughout the day or coming days. Okay. It sometimes isn't very specific, sometimes they are. Uh I've also not only the overall count for the district but also uh the building breakdowns for each type of tip that we get. What's important to understand with safe to say tips is that some of these they get explored. I mean

006all of them get explored. Some of them go unfounded. Some of them go, you know, there's not really a lot there, but many of them lead us to understanding that there is a student or students that are going through something for which they need a good level of support. Uh I would definitely classify 66 from the beginning of this year through December 5th a as being um I don't like to use this term with some of these results but you know a fairly stable healthy number and it's not um you know I think that there are sometimes when you see numbers exploding and you're going oh my gosh there is you know sort of an outbreak there's something going on. Um, and [clears throat] that's not to downplay the ones that are here because all

007of these are incredibly important. So, I don't want to take in that way. Um, but when we as we work through these, you can see what the most common things are um what we have to work with work through uh with students, sometimes with parents, sometimes it leads to working with other students, working with teachers, etc., etc. uh and kind of get a sense of what the major concerns are to some degree in our buildings. Um the fact that you know I look at seven bullying cyber bullying that is you know bullying is always something that schoolwide we have a level of we do have a level of control and responsibility over making sure that we make our environments as supportive as possible for students. And believe me when I say that there's not only

008seven instances of bullying throughout the district from from the beginning of the year until you know that that [clears throat] we have to work through whether whether they're real or not. Um but that is what has come through safe to say. Jason, what's the unknown? I mean that's an odd one question. It it's it's unknown in the it comes up as unknown in the system when you run this report. So often times what that means is the person who is making the tip Didn't click a button or it's a concern that is um general in nature because a lot of times those get corrected. Okay. But maybe doesn't fall any under any of the other categories that are kind of standard standardized in in the system. And we could pull a comparison from last year

009at this point. We could yes probably should have for tonight. I guess I should have mentioned something before now. But yeah, if you do that, that would be great. I mean, if it's down, that's even better. If it's up, you got to figure out why. Sure. And certainly on a on a month-to-month basis, we can begin to see how that goes. So, Chase, yes. Are these only from students or is this from students or staff? This is everything everything within the system. I did I did not I did not segregate them out by any other by any other category and the offense basically was egregious enough that someone finally took the time to do it. Some of them I mean some of them get unfounded and so there are things that you know there are

010times where you know people will use the system trying to inappropriately but it it kind of gets vetted out usually by quite honestly by the investigators. Um whether that's a safe a person on the safe to say side or somebody from our internal team, they get vetted out pretty quickly. Um but some of these are incredibly serious. Absolutely. Um and yeah, so some of them we don't have some of them are not even about school. Many of them are not really it's an instance that's going on, but it's information that is useful for us because we we gain a good deep understanding of what some what what trouble some students are facing. Do you remember the date that we did the safe to say training for all of our students and staff? I I did

011it happen yet this year. The safe to say training did happen this year. Yes. I don't remember the date though often. It wasn't a collective training. It would have been done individually at the buildings. Okay. Did you require Yes. We have to do it. I was just wondering if it got done yet. We have that posted on website. What's that? But the training video I mean should we have that? people. I think it'd have to be a new one because the one that they would have had would have been the students that would Yeah, but I mean maybe we should put something out there. Definitely think that access to the training throughout the year would be beneficial and if it's just a separate independent training that's just a either video and or written would be

012very helpful. And then when we tried it out there, put something on the quick splash on the main page saying, "Hey, here's a new way to figure out how to use safe to say that." Well, thank you. Um, the other thing, there was some talk about our state schools report at the last at the last meeting. Uh so I kind of captured a snapshot of some of the things that I think would be uh healthy for people in the public to understand. Um so the first thing and again I did not break these down by school but you'll see later on I do by grade level. Um the types of so state schools report is through pins. Certain certain offenses in student behaviors are mandated to be pins reported. Um, so it it not all

013student code of conduct violations show up in this report. Um, but but there are certain things that that do. And the categories that you see here are the infractions that that do get reported and you see the different types. This is from 2425. Uh, this is a report that is submitted at the after the school year is over prior to July 1. Um, and you see what happens in terms of what types of infractions and the number of incidents associated with each type of infraction. Student code of conduct. Again, that's not all violations of the student code of conduct. Those would be the ones that fall under that are that are at a serious enough level to be reported on the state schools report. I do not have comprehensive list of what they would be.

014Um, but it gives you a general idea. I would say [clears throat] they're not hitting the necessarily the other ones. Um and and so you see possession, use or sale of vaping materials is probably, you know, that's one of the biggest challenges that all schools are facing right now quite frankly. Um with them being sold just about everywhere and student access to them. Um it it is a significant problem that we that our administrators, our teachers have to have to try to manage and pay close attention to uh at all times. Any questions about that slide one? So behind each of these reports is a piece of paper where it gets reported. Yes. A piece of paper where it gets recorded. Someone had to someone had to say yeah. So they they're this person has

015they are logged in our student information system. Okay. And then when the pins report gets run it draws automatically out of that system to dig in deeper to the incidents behind those incidents who has access to that within our school district within our administrators. What? Okay. Yeah. So, everyone asked the question that if you're seeing that the possession of and use of uh vapes and vaping devices is at 11, do we know where they were getting them? Like which building? Well, a which building are they in? Like you'll find out in the next slide, I'm sure. But I'm worried. In the event that someone was pulled aside and you had this fake device and they were interviewed as to, hey student, you bought this into school. A, you should know better. B should have been

016here. See, who' you get it? Who sold you this? Where' [laughter] you get it? Yeah, that information. How did you get this? So that information would certainly should be should be captured captured and logged in the student information system under notice which then becomes board then gets informed as to what's happening we can then engage with our constituency and community to say hey guys we're finding that and certainly if there's a pattern pattern here of instances and I do believe that a couple of years ago there was a pretty maybe within the last two it was within the last two years there was a pretty concerted effort uh to there was actually a a sting operation where to deal with the root cause of specifically with vaping materials where one of our students was actually

017one of our students actually participated as the person as the student going as the child going in and trying to buy and and then not not on the school's part please I hope but on the police's part and and they actually kind of nailed a couple of places that were selling clearly selling vapes to underage underage people. We made a plea to the burrow to please try to do something that effect and amazingly couple months later there it was and that that's great. I hope they continue that and I hope they start it up again. Well, the same thing on the weapons to understand how three people a got into school with a weapon would be important or b why they thought it was necessary to bring one if that was the case or how

018they forgot to leave it at home if that was the case. I mean, we live in a rural area. I'm sure we call just about anything a weapon anymore, right? Honestly, one of the challenges with the new school with the new school code law where you know call home for everything. I know. I'm not opposed to it in in theory. In practice, you have to parse out, well, what's a weapon? I mean, there are literally like little devices that are being used for eyebrows that are really that are as sharp as a razor blade. Is that a weapon? Well, can be a weapon. Technically, yes, it's a weapon. But, uh, so that's one of those challenges. I was gonna make the comment. I still haven't seen those. The the next slide is uh incident, place,

019and time because this is also incredibly important for us to understand uh because again, if something sticks out here as an outlier, okay, what's going on? Now we do we also do this through our discipline tracking system where we can say the most common time and place or place location in the building where something occurs is at this time and then if you see what that time is you can go oh that's over the lunch period and so or location is it in a general classroom is it in a study hall is it in whatever so to to Mr. Bradley's point about digging deeper into that data. We have had those conversations and start to pay close attention administratively to how do we better how do we better prevent those issues in the first place.

020Is the number for after school I'm I'm just looking here after school hours at five and then you know school sponsored events at nine. So that seems low to me maybe and I'm not saying I want more things to happen. What I'm saying is it just seems like a low number. Yeah. I I would say that one of those things that you have to consider uh a school sponsored event or at an event within the school's jurisdiction could be a field trip because they're under our they're still under our supervision. Uh so it could be something that is off school grounds, but we're still responsible. So, you would hope that that number is not too high because that means we're sending kids out and they're doing pins reportable actions during field trips. Major concern. Um,

021I was looking more at the on school property grounds where children or students um are not as in, you know, there there's not as many teachers and faculty in in the evening. And I just was thinking that the number five seemed low. That's all. I I think the number five is low, but again I would say re please remember this is not just all disciplinary infractions. This is pins reportable infractions. So they would fall under that level of that that pretty serious level of of infractions that get reported. Um does that make sense? Yeah. No, it does. And I that's why I was just just wondering. Yep. Plus, Denise, you know, kids are monitored a lot more than we were during our day. You know, there's a camera on every corner. Um, so the kids

022know not to do things on school grounds mostly anymore. They want to resolve difference, you know, in another way. Next slide shows our grade level breakdown. And quite frankly, I I don't think there's a lot surprising here. Uh you see sort of an increase in in percent of the total offenders once you begin to hit adolescence. The only outlier in my mind is grade three. I was just going to say don't [laughter] I'm just I mean truthfully having five offenders in grade three and and any offenders in grade one to me is those would be outliers to me. Yeah. I I mean maybe I'm you know and once again depends on what the searity is but still when you go from 13 and in 12th grade which I would expect to see more in 12th

023grade but then you go to two and five in third five in third grade just seems shocking to me. Yeah. To me that was that was the one that I saw here that I went whoa. But isn't that the co year? Grade three. If we go back, I'm pretty sure that's if you go back to when they were in kindergarten. I remember kindergarten numbers were high the one year and it was that COVID year 2021 which now would put them at third grade this year. You have to remember too that some of these is the same offender doing it. Correct. Or some of these could be handled with cares instead of actual offenses, right? Because I mean if you go back to the first page the hand of care was you know nine with one

024in the EC and um some of the other ones there's only a couple in the EC different things and inappropriate online communications of kids having cell phones and yeah but if you look I I don't know because if you look at sharing inappropriate photos disturbing to me three is from the EC and one is from the high school. I'm sorry, that's disturbing to me, too. I mean, I think there's a lot of to me looking at the numbers, there's a lot of areas to areas of opportunity to focus on when it comes to poor decisions or areas to improve that that the elementary students are making because I mean, you have two elementary students making inappropriate online communication. Yeah. That I mean, you know, that's a lot. Yeah. And and we you know, one thing

025that and I'm not sure I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but we did we did at the beginning of this school year implement the second step counseling program uh curriculum at at the elementary center, which we had data to suggest we we needed some sort of systemic program there that was regularly delivered to students. Uh and we have we have school counselors who were actually going into classrooms and implementing those lessons and having those conversations. Um, not that that means you're going to stop at all. I would also say that the number of instances I would wager a guess that it's more accurate at third at first, second, third grade, sharing inappropriate photos or texts is probably a more accurate count than at the high school where students a little are a little

026more savvy and don't tend to get caught. Look at the 11th grade to 12th grade. It's either they're more brazen by the time they become seniors or they're better at hiding it in 11th grade and give up and just do it anyway. Senioritis as well, right? You got a bell curve which I knew existed in almost every school in the state of Pennsylvania due to the compiling of all the data. Our bell curve is very similar to theirs. And my goal about bringing a lot of this information up is I think we can focus some attention on education between that 8 to 10 grade level that we should be able to um steer individuals into making better decisions and learning from other people's consequences of their decision making to reduce those numbers. that if you

027look at the breakdown you got back in the beginning when these cutting and self harm I mean you got two in the high school nine in the middle school handle with caris four so I mean those numbers it's better to look I would say at the breakdown pins on those breakdowns than it is to look at that breakdown those are two different reports though I just they are yeah that the first the first one you're looking at is safe to say so those are the tips that come through the program This the this data is based upon known infractions. Safety safety report the school safety report. Yep. Safe schools report that that's submitted every year. These are actually known infractions and not hey we think I think I'm logging in and saying I think that

028you need to be concerned about this. That's the first stage which may or may not be right. There may be some. These are actual coded for pins violations when they arise. Now looking at that, Jeremy, the five is is scary. It is. And that's what I I I mean, it's one thing to report a potential, but it's another to have it occur and be an actual, but it's good to hear that we're being proactive in in offering that reference. We having so many questions, we should be better informed with each one to understand where it's coming from. so that uh we can help the administration have the resources they need to best educate these kids to not have any suppression not not getting caught not having the impression and right now Jason in his first

029year is building a case working with the administration and I think there's some changes that he's talking about that may help him even further to to gather this information and implement [laughter] change I think I think the number one thing. Kids tend to act out and do things that, you know, they make decisions when they do not feel connected. When they do not feel supported, they do not feel connected. And I think those those have to be regardless of what we do, those have to be our starting points. Get kids connected, get kids supported. And if if students feel connected and feel supported, they're far less likely to make the decisions that end up on this report. That's [clears throat] a challenge in today's day and age, right? But at the same time what we've

030talked about new groups, new student clubs, new organizations, um leadership leadership group at the elementary school which has been supported. All those types of things are in an effort to get kids connected and hopefully build build some relationships with their peers um that are positive and you know kind of giving them something positive to cling on to so that [laughter] the the temptation of making those decisions or the environment is shifted a little bit. So I I think from K to 12 we have at this level had those conversations administratively had those conversations and some you know innovative ideas have been brought forth and supported by the board over the last year. And so I think those are really important steps. They're not the beall endall. They're not the cure all. We got to continuously

031monitor the data that's coming in. And I think that's where that that's where the proof of our effectiveness and the efficacy of those things that we're doing is going to bear itself out to see if we we are effective. So on that hypothesis that if they're more connected in clubs and sports and things that they have less chance of being on this list, has that ever been checked here? Yeah. Have we found that out for sure that these people that are on this list were not part of extracurricular? I think that's a good piece of data that we should probably verify what you're thinking which I agree with. I would agree. Matches. I mean it goes to say that more well-rounded students usually aren't on these list. You would think let's find out. There's no

032reason to contemplate it if we can just look it up. Yep. Okay. Um, there's certainly more information that's in those reports, but I I didn't want to elongate necessarily the superintendent's report. Uh, I wanted to take a minute and talk about winter weather procedures and processes for everybody at home uh, and everybody who may be paying attention. And I'm sure when we talk about this, this is probably the [clears throat] part of the superintendent report that'll get talked about the most in the public. Um, You know, obviously we did not call a delay this morning. Uh and and there was sound reason why. Now, the biggest complaint that I I got or that I heard about or saw was really about why it was that came last night as to why we were waiting until

033the morning to make a call. Well, we had already decided that we were not going to make a call and so there was no call to make that evening. What I want to assure all families is that uh there is there is really a methodical process that we do the best we can uh in in making these decisions. And the number one thing I want to respect as somebody who's had to make last minute arrangements when a school delay gets called at six o'clock in the morning. Uh, I want to show families the utmost respect and do the best we can that if we know there's going to be a delay or closure, do it the night before so families have the ability to make those arrangements. I will also and I will not I

034will unapologetically say this. I am not one that is prone to calling delays, early dismissals or closures. I think that the best place for our kids [clears throat] to be if they can safely be during the school day is in school. Um, you know, we I take the I take the task of providing the educational environment for our students very very seriously. Um, two-hour delays are not very effective instructional days. And I'm saying that as a lifelong educator, it's just the environment gets weird. It it shortened periods. all these things, all these factors and really what we're doing is filling out hours and filling out things and checking the box. So if we can avoid that, I try to avoid that. Um the process generally the procedure that I take first of all when there

035is weather pending or when weather has occurred I first and foremost talk to our transportation provider because if our transportation provider has serious concerns about sending their employees out with the incredible responsibility of safely transporting our students from home to school or from school to home then I have to honor and respect his concerns. They usually have their drivers call in from different areas to say, "Hey, it's pretty bad out here." and stuff like that. When it's an early morning, um I am I don't go out and drive the roads. I will never say that I do, but I am up by 4 and usually in communication with Mr. George by 4:15, 4:30. I set the alarm if I know there's a pending storm. I get up incredibly early just so we can have his

036communications and I get an update. He does go out and check. Um and and so we're we're kind of crafting that whatever it is that we think it's going to be um when it's one of those overnight deals. Um so that that communication takes place regularly and Mr. George it's honestly fantastic at that communication. Um, and that's but however, even if he feels comfortable, the next line that I honestly think about is our student drivers. And I think oftentimes that gets that gets forgotten that we have students driving from those same locations that were worried about bus drivers who are hired and have a level of training to do so safely where our 16, 17, and 18 year old drivers, let's face it, they do not have that same level of experience and they have

037to get from home to here and we're we're asking them to do so. So that take that that comes into account as well. Um and then obviously you look at sheer temperatures. Um if it is a dangerously cold temperature or wind chill effect then that also plays into a determination. The one thing that I have a hard time and I'll be again I I will just say this philosophically um if the temperature change is going to be one or two degrees because of the two-hour delay. I'm not sure you're gaining much out of that if we're being honest about it. Um, now if it's the difference between 30 deg 3 31 degrees and 33 degrees, you might gain something out of it because the ice the salt might do its job better and the ice

038might not from 10 to 12 degrees. Probably not going to make much of a difference. Either it's safe or it's not. It's not going to be safe for two hours later. Um, right. And I think we also reasoned out that the kids will still get breakfast if they have a delay. It delays. Yeah, delays create a situation where we can give them breakfast, but then we're going to turn around and they're going to be eating lunch literally an hour later and they know a lot of kids are going to skip lunch. And and so we can ensure on a full day that all children have the ability to have a healthy breakfast and a healthy lunch. And and at my core, our most vulnerable students depend upon that in some circumstances. And the last thing

039I want to do is jeopardize that if it is safe to get kids to school. But I will make the promise to the community and to families that if I know the night before that we are definitely facing a delay or closure, I will call it the night before. We don't always know that. Um but it is a constant collection of the best information at hand every time we make one of those calls. And sometimes you get it right. Like the early dismissal the other day I left going, "Hey, let's take the win." And we nailed that one. Last bus pulled in 10 minutes later and was laying on the ground. Um, but sometimes sometimes sometimes you look like a as well. So, um, you know, I ask for grace and just know I hope

040everybody knows that it it is a really important decision-making process. it's not taken lightly and I do want to be respectful of uh families and the situations that they have to navigate when those early morning delays or closures are called it it it is effective and I can promise you that not calling a delay today I was the most unpopular person in my own house [laughter] I'm sure there were some complaints in my shoulder as well [laughter] that is all I have for Right. Thank you. Um, next we have um the business administrator report. Thank you. Uh, so over the past month, the business offices been working with our auditors in the final stage of their audit. We anticipate having a final draft from them in the beginning of next year. Um in particular, if

041you follow the federal level, the final yellow book guidance was released um towards the end of last month, which is the basis for their issuance of federal um components for the audit for our compliance. We we did [clears throat] complete the annual financial report for the state and also begun looking closely at that data meeting in particular with departments um such as special education which we met at the end of last week to look at key trends um to see how last year's performance will impact this year's uh budget and then also planning for the subsequent year's budget. So more to come on that um when we get to January. Thank you. Will the report be done on time for December 31st? How soon do you expect to have it in your hands? I have

042to ask a lot of folks for an update. They drive at this point. They have to go through the review process on their end to provide that back to us as a final, but we'll get in next two weeks or I don't have a reason not to think so, but again, the district doesn't drive that timeline. It is driven by the auditors at this point. And once we get it, how are we planning on approving it so that we can give it to him so we can turn it into the state? We don't have it for this meeting, right? And at the end of the month, we'll we'll call for it. We'll get an update. We'll get an update and get it by the end. It will be submitted. How are you going to submit

043it without us reviewing the first? AFR just curious at the end of this month. If it was in our hands now, we could move to have it sent in, but the board should be reviewing the annual financial report that we're responsible for turning into the state by the end of this month. And if we don't turn it in on time, the penalty is $300 a day or $600 a day if we know, you know, egregious in our ability to get them. So the AFR compliance is actually on the auditors to audit attestation that's part of that to ensure the AFR ties to the audit. Right? So traditionally it's the audit report that comes back comes to a board with the the approval of that audit because that ties back to AFR. So the the source

044document for the district is the audit. The auditors certify that the AFR data is what's what's in the audit. Excellent. Who hires the auditor? The school board. The school board. So, we need to talk to our subcontractor, the auditor, to make sure that we get it in time for this meeting in advance so that we can review it so we can make any changes or anything because if he decides that the auditor finds a finding inside that audit, we want to deal with that. Of course. And that's a so we're being near being handcuffed to not be able to have the advantage of seeing it before it's going to be. And I think it's going to be required that we get it in the next two weeks and somehow you're going to have to convene

045this short review to make sure that we can submit it in my humble but practices are are the way that people have been uh doing things for a very long time. So we want to try to change some of that. So I think also the path forward would be that we make sure that our auditor provides our audited AFR report sometime in November October. It used to be due in October 31st. Certainly delays because of the perhaps for review at the in December and then preferably a day before it gets reported so you can see it first. But if there's findings in there, we need to help you. Yeah. I can correct that one. Get it by the workshop. You have two weeks to review it before [clears throat] the the aging of that audit

046and report was finalized on June 30th of 2025. They have six months. So the main so so from what I'm hearing is once Matt reaches out to the auditor and give can give Jason or Alex or or the board however you look at it a time frame of when you can get that then you would would ask for a special make a date and time to review that prior to the 30 December 31st deadline. Correct. You have to see it first. Right. So at this point we have to wait to see when when they're going to kindly provide it to us. Great. So, so, so last year the audit presentation to the board was um in March. That was the the timeline for that that um took place for that. In the previous year, it

047was also it was also March. Three months after it's been reported and done with the findings, it handcuffs the board by not having the information in in advance. And then you're going to have to make a tax decision as to how you change either the income side or the expenditure side of this small business that we're running. It's $50 million a year because we're not given the information in advance. Six months. The government g the state gives you six months to collect this data. And we can actually get it on a monthly basis which we can talk to on because we'll have an updated review prior to even getting to that audit on June and then six months that they're going to play with it. But as of June 30th, no numbers change. The books

048are closed, right? You're literally waiting six months for someone to review closed books. Well, right. It is, but I think from what I'm hearing is it's an error that we're looking at collect correcting, sorry, by finding out when the audit information is available and then setting a date to meet prior to December 31st. Is is that my understanding? For now, we'll try to correct the current one. Correct. But we really this next time we offer a contract to the auditor, we give them a we will all but the fact that they are going to get it to us. Yes, you can you can set up a date. Perfect. If you said look Matt, is there a particular obstacle preventing or lacking the amount of time they need to do this? Yeah. So, um the audit

049actually looks back and someone mentioned charter school bills. uh teachers get paid in July and August. They don't even begin there necessarily complete fieldwork until that is complete. Um and then it's the review cycle this year. We received several notifications that the final yellow book guidelines were not published. So they couldn't do a single audit. [clears throat] motion and I've been working that we're ahead of last year and coming to at this point to say we anticipate [clears throat] having the final audit to the board in the January meeting. Um so I understand the teachers the books close on June 30 teachers getting paid in July and August that shouldn't be relevant to that report. No it is based on your accounting standard. Yeah, it's a modified. So teachers have worked their time in the

050prior school year. The salaries and benefits get accured back to that. Same on on revenue pieces. So if you think of earn income taxes, um you get those filed quarterly. So those are getting filed in July for the private quarter. They get sent to our income tax collector. They then get dispersed. So we have to wait for for those components to to come into the district. Um, also there's reconciliations on the um, benefit piece because your teaser and social security is reimbured what you've expended. Um, so that's also another factor. There's a number of other considerations as well that are part of it. But um there there is um work that is still done on the June 30th numbers that takes place based upon transactions that take place in July and August and moving towards

051the auditor's work. Right. Plug in the rest of the numbers and just leave those missing data points. Yes. plucking plan. So it sounds like possibly for January or to have that provided for January. Is January reasonable? No, you have to make a decision of what you're going to do for tax year and you have to put in your report. You're obligated to tell the community if you're going to either meet the limit of the tax rate or not. resolution resolution act one resolution has to be done. So you need this information. That's why they used to have it required to be done on October 31st, right? And if you were late on October 31st, the board still had two months. They could look at it before they do direct one resolution. So just I'm willing

052to meet on the 29th if we can get the information somehow next week. I know I don't want to be reading on Christmas, but you know if we can get that I'm willing to meet on 29th to you know but to prevent all that now in advance let's make sure that we're proactive with getting the information to the board as this is the first time I'm going through it. So then we should ask barbecue to see if they're willing to try to hit at least the beginning of December date so we could review it in our workshop. Okay. All right. Um next we have LRYC Dave Cross. Yeah. Uh, President Bieber held a meeting for the school districts on the budget. Did you attend that? Yep. Um, most schools attend that just to give them

053an update on what we're going to be presenting. So, if they have any questions, u, our budget for 2627 shows no increase for like the 13th or 14th year in a row to the sending school. So, uh, each school is a little different. I think ours is going to be down slightly, but it's all based on the headcount. So, um, that's a good thing. They're trying to hold hold the line and make up those increases through other revenue resources. We had a presentation by one of our professors uh, reviewing our sociology curriculum as part of their sabbatical on Latino goals and studies. A couple things of interest out of that why I mention it is that her research showed the median age in the Lehigh Valley area is declining. So it's cohorts getting much younger

054and also um onethird of the Hispanic population do not speak English or speak poor English. So I think it says a lot about the the importance of ESL programs. I know we're we're not Allentown, but we certainly um feel a ripple effect as those people move in and out of our area. So, um we're looking at ways that that we can provide some kind of outreach to the community, whether it's working with the parents or, you know, years ago people assimilated and learned English and for some reason that has really to me, my personal opinion has really dropped off. So, uh, that that presents a lot of challenges. If you can't read or speak, makes it pretty pretty tough on our instructors. LRYC hosted a legislative retreat on higher education and the state budget. Um,

055one of the items brought up by the PSBA is that the past five years, uh, to no surprise, I guess everybody seen it, our state is down 140,000 students in public education. So, I think we've been pretty flat up and down, but it shows a decline aging population. Um, the representatives also indicated that future budgets are going to be challenging, no surprise, and more colleges will probably consolidate or close. We've had a number of them uh this year. And an important thing really for our school is that the budget for will require students to fill out a FAFSA form as a graduation requirement. So they're trying to get all the students to get in the loop and report that financial information whether they attend college or not. And lastly, the foundation put out a new

056brochure I have here. If you like one, I'd be glad to get it to you. It highlights the uh history and mission of the foundation. I thought I'd mention that especially for the the newer board members. Uh the foundation was founded in 1975 with donations from three board members of $1,000 and two community members of $30. And today or this past year, the foundation provided 100 or 1,089 students with 1.2 million dollars in scholarships. So, they've done a tremendous job over the years and I know the heighten has their own foundation and that's that's doing quite well as well. But, uh, they've raised a lot of money for LRYC students. So, and that concludes my report unless anybody has any questions. Feel free to reach out any time. Thank you. All right. Uh, next we

057have CLI. Uh, can I give a report on that because that meeting happened tonight. Nothing to add. Fair enough. Thank you. Um, CCTI, I have nothing to report this evening as my meeting is Thursday night. All right, there you have it. Uh, library Denise, have you had a chance to make it over there yet? report the day I planned on the wonderful snow decided to dis but anyway fair enough otherwise relatively quiet. Um all right so next on the agenda is the minutes. Um, so I guess I have a question. Uh, are the new members able to vote on approval of previous minutes um with for which they weren't seated? That's okay. All right. Then I didn't remember it from over there as opposed to over here. Yeah. Or I mean you're talking about How

058would you do that? I guess before you can watch the video. Yeah. [snorts] All right. Um, so with that, um, can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the November 24th, 2025 board meeting as well as the, uh, December 2nd, uh, reorganization meeting and workshop meeting? Second. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. All right. Next we have financial matters. The first being donations and local grants. Um may I have a motion to approve and accept the following donations and local grants. First we have a $25 donation from the heighten area uh early height athletic booster club uh for usage of the high school field. Uh and we have a donation of books from Mr. Jeremy Lush to district libraries. I'll second it. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have What points

059did you go? Uh, elementary and middle school. Um, didn't hit any of the uh, high school booksh all the kids are growing out of those. And then there were some activities books for like, you know, maybe preschool and such. I even have coloring books that probably come in next. So, that'll be coming as well. The entire library is working. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Um, next up we have budget transfers. Um, we have a couple here on the list. Um, one is for um a laptop for the director of student services uh valued at $600 and another is for high school debate which was $578. Um, can I have a motion to approve uh those budget transfers? Can I ask a question first? Motion first. I apologize. That's okay. I'm just you're new to it. So

060just you want to make a motion then we can discuss it. Second all in favor since he's here. So obviously these are placed in the wrong line item when they were requested to be paid. So where and who makes those who who gave the wrong I guess bequeath the request I guess is the word or is this just something that occurs? So the state updates the chart of accounts every year and give us more information as to where things should be classified. So for the first one it's going from a function that relates to students to a function that relates to the director's services that support students. Okay. So that's what it is taking place there. It's still a a supply account is what was considered for the other one. um it's the exact same

061function object um for it it to change again from being an athletic function to being an activity function that's so these come up um routinely to make sure that we have the expenditures to the right areas because that's what impacts your reporting to the state um at the end of the year. Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none. All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. All right. Next on the agenda is food service transfers. Um there are five here on the list for November 2025. Um uh see to see them on the screen. Um uh so with that, can I have a motion to make the following transfer from the general fund to the food service fund uh as per the reimbursements from the commonwealth? So move. I'll second that. All in favor?

062Opposed? You guys have it. Okay. Next up, we have the CLIU. Um the IDA IDA part B section 611. This is from individuals with disabilities education improvement act. Um can I have a motion to approve the CLI uh number 21 2023 to 2024 use of funds agreement um IDA part B6 section 611 in the amount of $488,5761. Can I ask a question on that? I was going through that last night. We should we should have a motion. Sorry. I'm sorry. So move second [clears throat] discussion. So is this actually money that's given to us by the IU that we have to use a certain way based on their guidelines the way I read that or is that money we're paying out? So the IU gets [clears throat] is the distributor of those funds. Okay. It's

063actually federal funds that through the IU and then we're bound to spend them on specific special education expenditures which is where the the allowable versus not allowable with again the fact that is main preceding is that they cannot take the place of local resources supporting uh your special education programs. We call that supplanting. So like what you can't do is say an individual or position was paid by the regular education with the regular taxpayer budget. Now we're going to pay it by these what you could say is we need to add a division and that position is paid by by the fun. we need to add services. That's what these funds pay for. And is this a constant? I mean, does this change annually or? It changes, but it's relatively consist. Thanks. Just understanding. So,

064so again, once you create a position position at some point in time, you [clears throat] can continue to have it sustained by that was never part of your try not to because you have to rely on So it is federal money there there is there is I do want to point out there is a typo in it should be for 25 to 26 did feel a little strange but a little robotic so what do we have to We should we should probably amend the motion [clears throat] to say 2526. I make a motion to amend this motion to change the year from 23 to 24 to 256. 25. I'll second that. All in favor first. We have to open up the floor. Be on the safe side. Does anybody have a comment or problem with

065that? Okay, there. Thank you. No problem. Trust me, I sat in my seat before. I've been yelled at for Oh, yeah. Um, all right. So, all in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. And now we make a motion. Now we make a motion to approve. Reflecting the change to 25.6. Yes. Um, can I have a motion? So move. Second. All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. Did this need to be a roll call vote? Ma'am, we're accepting money. It's not a contract. Yeah, it's not a contract. Just checking. So they agree that it's All right. Uh next up, we have the Carbon County Tax Collection Committee. Um uh can I have a motion to approve Mr. Matt Lz as the Carbon County Tax Collection Committee delegate and Mrs. Amanda Roco as the

066Carbon County Tax Collection Committee alternate delegate. Second. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Next, we have JMSI Environmental Corp. Um, and so, uh, can I have a motion to approve JMSI's proposal for $2340 to complete a physical inventory of all chemical products throughout the district, establish, uh, safety data sheet files for each area inventory, complete proper paperwork, and provide PA, Department of Li training for employees handling chemicals, as well as $950 for six month periodic surveillance inspections and two hours asbestous training with a JMSI designated as the asbesus. coordinator. Second. Call for a contract. Um, so I know this is already, right? Yes. [clears throat] Um, can I have a roll call vote, please? Uh, Mr. Gears. Hi. Mr. David Bradley. Yes. Miss Glory Fry. Yes. Mr. Jeremy GL. Yes. Miss Denise Hartley.

067Yes. Mr. Mr. William Howland. Yes. Miss. Yes. Mr. Timothy Tech. Yes. And Mr. Alex. Yes. Yes. Thank you. All right. Uh, next we have the activities fund. U. So, can I have a motion to approve the Heightenary High School and the Heightenary Middle School activity funds for November 2025? Second. All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. Next up, we have the per capita occupational tax exemptions. Um, can I please have a motion to approve the exemptions from per capita annual occupational tax as attached? [clears throat] Second. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Uh, next up we have a slew of reports. We have the condensed board summary, the expenditure report, revenue report, tre treasures report, and the fund summary. Uh, can I have a motion to approve uh the aformentioned reports?

068So move second. All in favor? I opposed. You guys have to bother this, but just um maybe ask if anybody wants to come. Okay. Because I mean if we're not doing a um you know consent agenda that no problem. Thank you. All right. Uh next we have the payment of bills. Um, as you can see here, um, just over four and a half million dollars. Uh, can I have a motion to approve, uh, following payment of those bills? Second. Comments or discussion. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. All right, moving on to personnel. Um, first we have uh candidates for athletic coaching. We have uh Cody Sher uh who's uh up for volunteer boys wrestling coach, DJ Rosino, who's up for volunteer boys basketball coach, and Steven who is up for winter game

069manager at a rate of $1929 per hour. Uh can I have a motion to approve uh the affformentioned request for athletic coaching manager candidates at the contracted rates uh pending any necessary paperwork comments discussion? All in favor opposed. Uh next we have professional development. Uh and so uh can I have a motion uh to approve the following professional development opportunities for staff? We have two employees 656 and 1816 who are will be attending the BDA data summit in Harrisburg uh on March 30th and April 1st, 2026. They cost no more than $2,000 for travel, lodging, and registration. Second that. I can just interject. I'm sorry. I'm just realizing it should be her CPA. Is it $2,000 for both employees or current employee? Both. So then we need to amend that as well. So what do

070we need to amend that? That's what I was going to say. We need to amend that for make a motion for amending from Harrisburg to Hershey PA for those employees. Second. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. All right. So with that, can I have a motion to approve the affformentioned professional development taking place in Hersa? So move second. All in favor? Opposed? Yeah, I have it. All right. Uh, next we have candidates for employment. Um, can I have a motion to approve the following candidates for employment in accordance with the respective contracts? Ashley Baron, health and physical education long-term sub at the middle school. add a bachelor's degree step one with an annual salary of $53,35 prrated for the 2526 school year and effective December 16th 2025 pending any necessary paperwork June Pototts

071winter credit recovery adviser at $37 per hour and Patrick Hoff part-time district cleaner at a rate of 1296 per hour seconded comments just to note that literally all of those rates and salaries These are contractual. They're not arbitrarily set by anybody. [laughter] All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Candidates for the substitute list. We have uh Paula Euing support substitute and I have a motion to approve the aforementioned candidate uh for the 2526 substitute list pending. any necessary paperwork. Second. Questions? All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Extracurricular activities advisor. Could I please have a motion to approve the following extracurricular activities advisor? Um, we have one Doug Bowman, winner weight training adviser, a sniper of 1,02165. Second comments or questions? All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Next, we have pre-approval

072of employee continuing education courses. Um there are 16 uh individual employees. Um I won't read through these one by one but they are here on the screen. Um can I have a motion to approve um the affformentioned requests uh for pre-approval of courses uh and programs of study for employee continuing education. Second. Any comments or questions? I think it's great as usual to see the amount of employees or you know that are actually taking advantage of continuing education and it's actually nice to be able to approve this. I see it. Any other questions, comments? All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. All right. Um, next we have acknowledgement of FMLA leave [clears throat] uh for employee 1813. Um, we'll be partaking in FMLA December 5th of this year through January 30th of 2026. Um,

073can I have a motion to acknowledge the FMLA leave for the affformentioned employee not to exceed 12 weeks? So, Stephanie, questions or comments? Just so everybody at the table is aware, because we've been through this million times, we're just acknowledging the lead. It's not like this vote is actually saying whether or not they can do it. So, I didn't know if you guys had seen this in other meetings, but this question's been brought up a million times. I figured we get it out of the way now. So, who makes that final decision? Doctors. Once the doctor signs off, it's almost impossible employee contract. Um all in favor opposed the eyes have it. All right. Next we have um programs. Um first we have consent agenda. These are to uh uh well can I have a

074motion to approve uh consent agenda items 4.2 through 44. Um those are Red Cross facility use agreement. Um wait I don't know if those are Oh yes I'm sorry. um first reading of policies and second reading of policies. Second, uh any questions, comments, discussion. Um so one thing I was thinking about this is uh policy or item 4.4 the second readings. Um so looking at both both policies I I think they those again are the curriculum review by the community parents guardian students. I think the big uh amendment to that was including community on curriculum review which I certainly think is a good idea. Um I don't know that I personally had enough time to review the fund balance and referendum approval. Um I don't know if any newly elected or appointed members feel the

075same. Um, I was going to suggest um possibly tableabling this uh for now um just to give us sort of more time to review. I don't know if anybody shares any similar sentiments or final normal. Well, I think if you're not secure in in that you haven't had an opportunity, I think it would be beneficial to have a conversation with with the whole board. So I think tableling it until you have that opportunity to see if you have any questions. You may you may find something that the other board members may may have missed. So I think it's I I would agree with tableling it. Okay. Thanks. I'll second that. Do we have to point that out? 1051. Yeah. So then I will make a motion to remove 4.4 from consent agenda. Second. Any questions

076or comments? Again, all in favor? Opposed? Okay, the eyes have it. Thank you. Um, so now going back to 4.1, this consent agenda would now include items 4.2 and 4.3. Um, and again, 4.2 Two is the Red Cross facility use agreement and 4.3 is the first reading of four policies. Tobacco and vaping products, controlled substances and paraphernalia, tobacco and vaping products, and controlled substance abuse. Um, can I have a motion to approve the amended consent agenda? Second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? opposed. The eyes have it. So now we have a motion. Oh, so now we make a motion separately. Okay. Right. To bring back the first reading maybe. Um, no. I think he just wants it to be next month. Yeah. discussed maybe at the next workshop and then I think stay

077at second 105.1 approve that we don't so I mean I guess technically we could make another motion to take how you want to do it say you want to approve 105.1 but table 620 can you put that all in one motion I would not no separate I would Um, [clears throat] do I have a motion to separate the two items? Make a motion. Oh, second. I'll take second. Any comments or questions? All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have. All right. So, these are now two separate. Um, and so we'll go in order starting with policy 105.1 for second reading. Uh, can I have a motion to approve that? Uh, 105.1 for second reading and final approval. Second. Questions, comments, discussion. All in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. And finally, uh, we will focus on

078620. Uh and I would like to make a motion to table uh 620 uh for the upcoming uh workshop and legislative meetings in January. I'll second that. [laughter] Questions, comments? All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. That was quite an obstacle course of legislation. So we made it rules. Robert's rule. He sure does. [clears throat] All right. Um, so next, um, we have policy 4 point item 4.5, policy 012. Um, and so at this juncture, do we have a motion to approve motion to approve the following policy? uh for first reading. It was it was supposed to be for first reading first. Well, this would be for first reading, correct? That was what we had discussed the previous one, but that's not how it's appearing on the agenda. Yeah, it's appearing as a

079new policy as a discussion item only. So the original intention at the workshop was that it would receive for first reading and then that we would work on it at the workshop in January. But since it's not on here as a motion, I don't think that we can actually create that motion for first reading because it would be a sunshine act violation. At least it's anonymous and you're not spending any money. That's true. benefit as long as the board approves that the board wants to add it because an error was made in the agenda and correct that error without it being a sunshine violation if you wish [clears throat] and give the public the opportunity. So, I'll make a motion that we move forward with 0.12 for this first reading. I'll second that. Right. I

080was actually um so at this time I'd like to open it up um to the public for any comment regarding policy 012. hearing none. I want I think we should correct it before the next reading to get rid of this Fisher Schoolhouse and other clerical items that don't pertain to site actually and wasn't on the most recent one that came through when I downloaded it off the We can at the next workshop. It's only first reading. I was going to say, but before it gets to the first reading, we should they were stricken. Oh, yeah. This schoolhouse is in the under. Well, it didn't print the stricken maybe. I think I wore you. Well, thanks. Um and so wait just to clarify so then the motion you made Denise was to move it for first

081reading to approve for first reading. Yes. Okay. Um, all in favor oppos. Let's just procedurally I think for this. Okay. Sounds like the eyes have it. Um okay, next we have policies 4.6 um LVHN EHR systemic. Uh can I have a motion uh to approve the EHR system authorized users list and the EPIC sub participation agreement with Lehigh Valley Health Network for district nurses uh to access read only viewing tapping for healthare purposes. Any questions or comments? Um I do have one question I guess regarding this. Um, so is do we have I mean obviously and and again speaking covering my shirt, but do we have this opportunity for all of the local health systems that serve our students or or do we only have something? I believe right now it would only be the

082high ball. This is new. It was brought to us by Okay. And I'm just curious asking the question. I I think for expedite critical information sharing. Sure. Yeah. But if another if another institution brought us the same agreement. Sure. Just asking a question. But I think if I'm not correct and I know a little about the epic system is the epic system is intreated. So if Lehigh Valley if you went to another facility, it should be an epic because it intricates, right? Another epic using facility. No, you're correct. I use Epic every day. I know it's definitely a lot easier to get information from other health care systems when they are using Epic. Um, so again, I just think it certainly would be beneficial if we would have this for all. I would be willing

083to pursue there's no cost. Okay. Just because I think it would be. All right. Just a question. Um, all in favor? I have it. Next up, we have 4.7 uh school enrichment journeys. Um so, can I have a motion to approve the following school enrichment journey requests? Uh we have we had middle school Tiffany Strawberger um who had already this is retrospective but this I believe was approved separately previously street farm for trees for troops. Um theary high school band headed to PV for the Carbon County Band Festival High School agriculture science and agriculture club headed to the farm show in Harrisburg. This one's in Harrisburg uh to experience Pennsylvania agricultural industry. um the high school agricultural club um to also go to the farm show and the height area high school technical education um

084to go to Williams the Williamson College of the Trades to attend required applicant day. I would just like to note that we received information that number three is not going to happen. I do not believe you need to amend the motion because you can approve something that that doesn't take just trying to expedite that process. Is there a is there a single representative that is in these parentheses that are responsible for you got two down low Jim on number four you have two people listed you have Jordan and then Jim and then the other ones are individuals are they only person or is there more than one person that go on these field trips with these students I I would almost guarantee and without I see Tiffany in the audience but I believe that yes

085there would be an appropriate amount of depending upon the number of students that that ratio the preferred ratio is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 to one. So there could be other chaperons other chaperons along this is the individual who the trip who submitted the form. Yes. Okay. And if there are two people they they jointly submitted the form. Correct. Okay. Thank you. How did that trip go back on December 5th? Is it nice? Oh yeah. Yeah. Thanks. just like every other year. A lot of people donating, a lot of nice to see the kids seeing where it goes and hearing from veterans and good. Thanks. Um, all in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Next, we have item 4.8, use of school property. Um, there are actually none for approval for the

086board at this time. U so next up we have miscellaneous. First we have uh a motion uh to approve the waiver of expulsion for a student student 58301 table. I second that. Yeah. All in favor? I oppose. Okay. So, we will table that. All right. Next, we have 5.2. Uh this is the April 2026 board meeting. Um so, uh amongst amidst all the madness of the reorganization meeting, uh we noticed that there was the actual date missing from the April meeting. Uh so clear there uh but that date is aiming to be uh the fourth Monday, April 27, 2026. So can I please have a motion to approve the Titan area school district board meeting in April 2026 as April 27th, 2026 at 7 p.m. in the boardroom of the administration office at 1000 Union

087Street PA 19235. Second. Any comments or questions? All in favor? I opposed. The eyes have it. All right. Uh, next up on the list, we have um committee appointments. Um, so I first want to thank everybody uh again who reached out and expressed interest in participating in our uh committees in our internal councils. Um, I was honestly overwhelmed with the amount of people who uh volunteered their time to serve on these committees. So again, thank you very much for that. Um there are a few that remained uh unfilled uh from the the workshop meeting just to discuss some of those. Now um we have the wellness advisory committee, the advisory council of title one, uh the career and counseling advisory council, the legislation legislative policy committee of PSBA and the PSBA leison. Um, so I

088wanted to first, um, again, I taken volunteers for these positions. Uh, and so, uh, I wanted to sort of go in, uh, a somewhat, uh, chronologic order, but, um, Denise, you actually were the first to to come to me and volunteer for one of these positions. I know in a recent communications, we had emphasized either wellness or career and counseling advisory. So, I want to give you first dibs at either of those. I'm gonna go with the career. Grant you're appointed. I guess you're appointed. You're to the to the um [laughter] All right. Um next up, um Bill reached out about title one. Are you still want to do title one? All right. [clears throat] Um Joy, so you had mentioned about previously serving on um legislative policy committee of PSBA as well as PSBA

089leaison. Are you interested in continuing both of those? Yep. Okay. So um you will be a partner though it looks like for both of those. Um I received interest from all over the place on these two. Um so is there anybody who's particularly interested in joining Joy uh for one or two of these [laughter] I don't think we have to have to have some optional are they optional delegate assembly They asked for two, but only one. Yeah. Can I join? Can I? Okay. Um, now the question is I guess I have my actually our policy says he can't he can be an ad h person that shows up and he's on all committees. I don't think these are committees. These are liaison positions to PSBA. Then how about we had those conversations before. Correct. They're

090not committee. But you're you're correct. Legislative policies. Will you will you have me? Yes. All right. [laughter] Um can I have a second for the PSBA liaison? Spark some interest. If nobody's going to volunteer, I'll continue to carry on with this. Oh, I think I forgot that. Yep. Are you willing to carry on? [laughter] All right. Thank you. Um Wellness Advisory Council, um Tim have any interest in Well, I know that you have interest in it, but would you accept the appointment? Great. Um and then negotiations committee which isn't listed on this but again is ad hoc. Uh we have Jeremy you're willing to continue? Heather willing to continue as well? Yes. Great. Uh or are you willing to join them? I volunteered and I'm being excluded from my volunteerism. I think I put mine

091right behind others. No I I didn't I didn't send a submission because I was already on it. No, I agree. And he mentioned that two people were on it. He was looking for a third. So I jumped on that opportunity to volunteer for the third. So he did and I definitely appreciate your willingness to participate. Lori reached out um although not an email um in person first. [clears throat] Not that I think chronologic is the best way to solve it but again Lor's experience in the district certainly not her experience as treasure hopefully will serve her well. I was just hoping so one more respect will they be uh will the meetings be publicly known so the other board members can participate as a member but not on the committee so I I don't know

092the answer to that traditionally I don't believe that to be the case so I think probably is what the last we met it was just the three members okay so I don't know how it was hired then because I wasn't on it. I respect that. I think we should look up the rules under the sunshine act that those all committees Mr. Lush is here. We can ask Mr. Lush for his but it doesn't matter what is not. The point of the matter is that if it's a committee that's assigned by the board, [clears throat] those meetings are public and board members can participate just like the president board is an adopot same for all board members can participate. Can I ask a question? Sure. So I understand the committee typically have to repeat as we

093have so much interest. Is there anything that says we can't have four? Just a a question. Nobody except we can't have five. Correct. Well, I wasn't planning on adding a zoo. I just figured maybe an extra be a quorum, not a zoo, but it's okay. [laughter] Anyway, um but that but that would alleviate the question. It would involve all parties that want to be involved. Yeah. I I'm just I'm making a motion if if it I don't even know if it requires a motion, but to change the negotiation committee from three people to four so that those involved, those expressing interest can all be involved. Can we look into that? Yeah. Why would you have to do that? Yeah. No, it's it's at the discretion of the board president. They they tick the members of

094ad hoc committees and like they said, as long as it's less than five, it's fine. Then I'll second Heather's motion. It's [clears throat] you can't it's Denise and you can't make a motion. She can only make a suggestion to appeal to the How do you guys what contract to present to the rest of the board? We basically go have been going through you know what points are what and we haven't reached the spot where we're talking numbers. So we we sit in the meeting and discuss with our counterparts what where we're all looking to get. I think I'm getting at is an even number or an odd number easier to work with in that setting. Well, see and that's what I was about to ask Mr. Lush. How many representatives do you have? You four.

095Four and four. We have four. You have four. Yeah. And Jason's our four. So if we did that, we added five. It would only be fair to ask Mr. L to another person. That's not according to our bylaws. So several years ago when we had negotiated the other contract [clears throat] um we did allow other board members to sit in at their discretion. So the committee the the personnel committee or the negotiation committee was three people but we made it known to the entire board when the negotiations were happening and other board members if they had the time they could sit on that and participate. Did you have a lot of interest during that time or I'm just curious? Yeah, I mean I myself I was the board president but I was not on the

096committee and I occasionally did sit under negotiations just to see what was going on. Once or twice [laughter] it wasn't that often. Any other questions discussion? There's value to having more eyes on the table. I don't disagree. I think especially I mean you have experience negotiating with you know like you said labor different labor contracts of different sizes um volunteers right and I and I think your experience is valuable um I think at this time we're going to stick with three keep things even um is that a permanent decision maybe not but to stick with keeping negotiations even one to one we'll see where it goes three to four at this Well, he said there's four. We have Jason as a board technically. Well, he's not a board member. I know, but he's still sits

097on our side. [clears throat] Yeah, that's I'm a non board member. Yeah. So, in that case, yeah, he still wants to sit on every meeting, right? And he has an audience every meeting just as the president has to build the under our policy that audience. I'd rather have his spot and he can still sit in. It doesn't hurt. And he's non voting so you don't have a quirm issue and there's still value to the community to have a knowledgeable experienced person on the committee. Is there is there an opinion we can get from a solicitor? Just a quick ask. Do we have one on the meeting tonight? No, no, no. Just opinion on on changing that or how that will work. This is something we can ask tomorrow. This isn't a decision that has to

098be made right now. Right now, we stick with what we have and then we ask about that tomorrow. And that that's one of the reasons we didn't have solicitor. What's the question you're going to ask the solicitor? Whether you can that's what we're working on now. The answer is you can. Yeah, that's not an issue. You can have a very it's not a legal right adop committees before. Um, for example, when we had the the other personnel uh committee that was like observing the interviews a couple years ago, that was a four person group. So, basically then we have three board members and we have Jason as kind of like the middleman. [cough] We're going to leave these negotiations with an open door for the the remaining board members. Why don't we just have the

099entire board negotiate with for the contract? At that point, if it's open door with participation that it's not participation, if it's only three people on the committee, the committee meeting is announced and then the extra board members can be press the term flies on the wall. If they're not participating, the way committee works is the board is authorized committee to make decisions and understanding as a committee. That's why they're open to the public and to the except for the uh personal stuff that they're open and they are using the authority that the board presented them with. That's where all the notes come from and then all that comes back to the board. They can participate as spectators, but they won't have they won't be part of the two to three people that are voting to

100say, "Hey, we recommend this. Our committee said this is what we want to do." Now, I've never been in on a negotiation like this, but it seems like it could get a little erratic in there when you have multiple people chiming in. Not that the person doesn't chime in if they're external to the committee. They can just sit there and watch then they can negotiate with the board and talk to the board and share their experience and knowledge with the board. So, the board can make the best educated decision with all the data that they collected by attending all the committees. So then we we could go back to what Alex stick with the original three. Yeah. And then just any of us could pop in at any time 100%. But they have to know

101that the meeting's occurring and have to be invited and opened and we're not part of it. We can just sit stick our head in there by the wall. Exactly. Right. The wall. We definitely have to move it room or a better room because we use the back room there. Whatever you want to do. It's thousand degrees in there, doesn't it? Mr. I thought you turn on the negotiation tactics. Yeah, we shine a flashlight while the heat comes on. I guess theoretically that could be done virtually. I I would not like to go virtual in terms of I know I would I think there should I think there's value to sitting at the table with people and having conversations and the risk of uh security in a virtual meeting would be difficult I agree nothing precludes

102any of board members from providing input to the committee members on the contract So they get copies of the contract. They have contracts now say, you know, this would be something I'd recommend or I'd like to see. They can provide that information to the committee and then the committee negotiates and then they present that to the rest of the board and update the board on where they're at. So there's going to be that exchange. It's just minim minimizing the number of people that are sitting in that room is beneficial. Agreed. So I'm hearing a lot of things but [laughter] so for now sticking with three but having potential opportunity for members to sit in as silent observers restricting their right to do their job. Right. Exactly. Exactly. I told them if he wants to be

103a blind truster that's fine. I don't I'd rather be involved and try to help out with the community the best we can. Sure. And we can then after the meeting have that discussion with individual committee members and say you're right. Here's my ideas and here's my thoughts. Absolutely. But have there's not five at one time sitting in that room. No, you can have five five sitting there. They just can't participate. Just saying you could have nine in a in an audience at the town hall and everybody can show up and we can learn whatever they want to learn. You can't make decisions. You can't have a part make decision. You can't deliberate without having public. Okay. Can we just information is very important with with the solicitor and then if so then I don't I

104actually don't call for that. Right. Um the key is actually when I believe the qu the better question is can you deliberate post meeting because it's negotiations and I believe that you can actually I believe that once the meeting was over that the board sitting there if there was a forum could actually deliberate over the but it's personel it's personel so it could be considered the executive session. Yeah, it's an Yeah, it's an executive session. You would have to announce it. Announce it and have one. But if they wanted to do that, yes, I don't think you're going to need to do that. Yeah. And if you make me a committee member, it's way smoother and easier. And there's nothing wrong with doing it. You can ask the solicitor. He's not going to do that.

105And you can still participate as an ad member, as an observer. Can't be part of the process. Okay. And then same with Jason is always invited. and any of the union members can always show up and attend. Okay. Maybe we have no control over them nor would you want to. Okay. So, let's move forward with that. So, you're gonna put me on the committee or not. So, we're going to stick with three for now. Okay. And announce and what's that? You're going to announce when they're meeting. Okay. And you're going to permit board members to attend. That's correct. Is that correct, Jason? Yeah. Thank you. I'm good with that. And I I have just for the record I have informed the entire board prior to us pausing because November and so it was like yeah

106we're not have one in November and December. I informed the entire board when those meetings were already. So and that should be for all committees. Yeah. That that we all know when they are and then you can show up to any committee and participate as a plan not be part of the committee or authorized by the board to act in that committee. Question. Uh so moving forward the expectation is the board will be the chief negotiator for the process and the superintendent [clears throat] will be an observer. No the process is staying the same. Yeah. So the process itself there was there was talk for both during that conversation. I just want to be make sure. Yeah. So the process itself is staying the same. three formal negotiators and Jason and then an opportunity for

107other board members as plainly observers but no actual process change and then um I'll be looking for feedback on how this is on how everything's going. All right, I think that's it on committees. Um, old business, we have none. I have one. Oh, it came up during this meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. Right there. If I can be so bold. So, the question is the treasur report that we're given, who physically creates or signs this report? Who's who's offering our treasures report that's given to the board as part of the agenda? Is that you or so? the accountant and business office this one. Okay. So, we should definitely sign the report. But on this report that we received, it says, and I'll ask you the question then, Matt, it shows the beginning balances of each of

108the accounts. Then it shows receipts for November, which is money coming into the school district, $10,800,000. that shows dispersements in November. And this one shows $8,163,42411. That's how much money, if I'm reading this properly, that the district gave out through the month of November. Is that correct? Okay. Leaving us a balance of X $23 million in the account. How did $8 million leave the district in November? If when the agenda for November's meeting was a motion to spend $6 million, where's the other $2 million that left the district? So, [clears throat] it disperses on a cash basis from from those accounts. So, those checks cleared. They're saying 8 million cleared, but 6 million was spent. No, it's not just checks. is that we move money for every payroll money moves from like one account on

109there to another account. Well, this is a total roll account. Correct. But you have accounts that are specifically just for for payroll. So you move from the general account to the payroll account. And then so that's the dispersion out and then you process payroll which comes out of the payroll account. Do you have money that needs to general fund account and goes over to the payroll account for that payroll for example? So, um, correct. We had 23 $20 million at the beginning of November on the 1st. Right. 23 20,358,881. We had that at the beginning of November 1st. And then on the ending balance of November 30th, we had $23 million. Okay. So, we gained $3 million. So, that's the 10 million that came in almost 11 minus the eight is the three that we

110have different. So, we definitely took in 10 and spent eight. We only authorized to spend six. I think the other two is somewhere in this. It might be our mortgage. It might be. It might be correct. Yeah. It's got to be, right? It's got to be Yeah. $2,17,000. Got to be something, right? Okay. So, we should record that in our treasure. Whoever authors this treasures report should make sure that the beginning and the end match and the amount that was approved and the amount that was spent match. And we should just add in a line item that says bond service or whatever you want to call it. actually had a separate approval of that because that went out as a separate wire that sort of wired money the the reason that um that was actually

111taken care of um this be actually once you authorized that signed off on that slow down in November we're saying that the board authorized a wire transfer of $2 million. So there's a there's a debt payment and required debt um payment that goes out for for the bond funds there. And how did that leave the district without going through a meeting? No. So it went it goes through but I'm wondering if that's not on these dispers. It's not I checked [clears throat] on December even. So I'd have to check. Yeah. some somehow $2 million left the school and we would like to account for it and I think it's the bond and that makes sense that it is we like to make sure that the $2 million that's missing from the reporting is literally found

112somewhere identified and in the future if we just make these reports accountable that they they match mathwise would be helpful and it's probably you know just add a line item says bond payment 2.1 million Is it is it a consistent number every month? Twice a year. But it also depends upon some of the interest that's generated off of the um the fund that is used to pay the bond. So it does vary for each payment for certain issues. Okay. I would like to make a motion under old business and we're going to call it new business if you want that the treasury report that we instruct our treasurer and our business manager [clears throat] to work together to ensure that there's an accountability of beginning balances and end balances and dispersed checks because that way

113we had this much, we spent this much, we have this much left. that should be able to be closed out by anyone in the audience, the room or anyone just like you would do if you balance your checkbook. And the fact that this $2 million is missing, not missing in that respect, but but not accounted for should be identified and we will any way we can, but we want to make sure it's right, [clears throat] especially if it's wired or whatever is happening. We've had other wires that were warned against and it sounds like um that might be the right think. I have to get your answer again. I can't give you a specific actual answer right now. I have to follow that. Okay. Who's Mr. Rock? Miss the accountant that prepares the report. She's

114the accountant that she works for you under under [clears throat] this report. Correct. Okay. We should have whoever's making the report should identify themselves and sign it. I would have been able to do it earlier. So, should we just ask for that information for the workshop or motion? But I'd like to make a motion that the beginning balance and the ending balance for a given month [clears throat] are clean in the fact that they should show all deposits and all withdrawals and the balances between the two start and end should match. Are we able to add that motion? Well, is that a process? I was just going to say is is that a process that has been Matt? Do you typically reconcile every month? Yeah, everything's reconciled. Okay. So that treasurer's report really if if

115I'm understanding Dave correctly is he's looking for a reconciled report. Correct. To show that it it goes where if A goes to A at the beginning of the month, it goes to B at the end of the month and they match. They should the total should match. I agree. Is is this is there a way to ascertain right now that this is in fact the debt service payment? Okay. Let's clear this out. That would happen twice a year. member of May. Am I right on that? I don't know. Member of May is going to get service payments. I believe um so is it is it simply a matter of making sure that well it's two things all funds dispersed in a given month appear on the report. Correct. Because if you think about it and

116in all due respect to Lori not want to have to sign every check and make sure two things happen. She gives her authority to use the check according to the document she provided to us that this is how the treasurer works within our district. They they they relinquish her signature to the administration who prints out a whole bunch of checks. Those checks get reviewed. Yes, these are all good checks and then the treasurer [laughter] says mail them out. They're all good. But nobody can identify if there's any other checks being printed with that person's name. They never even see them. They're gone. Good luck finding them unless, as Matthew does, which is wonderful. He reconciles the account and make sure that these checks came in and they did. That should match. But right now, when

117you look at this report, if we spent $8 million in this month and you multiply by 12, we're so far over budget, it's crazy. So, it's got to be something. And I was assuming it was the the bond, but I ain't assuming other just look it up. Yeah, I'm I'm asking Janine right now to pull up October. October. You think six months? You're saying it was twice a year? Six months. What's that? But does it reconcile? No. the I did the last the month before and the it was off by a little bit. Apparently things are clearing that we're not really identifying on the report. That's why I was asking who authored it and we can just sit down and figure it out. But the report should match. I don't believe you guys need to

118prove it now. I'm not I'm not trying to prove I'm actually just looking for my ownification. Yeah, [laughter] I'm not trying to approve or I'm making a motion if I can get a second that the report that [clears throat] this report should reconcile in and of itself and I'll second that move. Thank you. Any more comments or questions? All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, thank you. Sorry. Any comment from the public? I think part of it is just accounting versus reporting, you know, understanding the numbers. Ours, we have a report that does exactly what what Dave says. I don't know if you want to reach out to another district, but there's a lot of reports there. I think one that would reconcile everything for the board members in layman's terms would probably be very

119beneficial. I think Matt can figure that out. Complicated. I mean this to my knowledge I mean since I've been here and probably answered the individual before I was here I don't think anything about changes that I think it's just been been the report I think it's just a matter of with that request making sure that that's there which is the right they should check it before evenation yeah everything gets reconciled everything gets matched and that's fact why we report voided transactions to you because that's part of that which I noticed which was wonderful by the way I was gonna make the comment of that There should also be a checklist that goes back more than just one month cycle because that's what I was also thinking is did these is this anural or cash basis

120and you you identified this is a cash basis report right okay so that should also be identified in the report so that we all know right so again so again that that's another example where if if checks are cut but they don't clear right they're going to show for the expenditures the prior month but they're not going to get the cash correct but a person with a series of the actual bank statements like we have online which is what I was asking for earlier uh identified as such we should be able to see every check clear and normally you know end of a bank statement or if you have to do it internally we can missing checks from a sequential number should be identified or in the rare but it happens a check goes out

121the door with some crazy number on it because someone else wrote a check because everything is there to be able to disperse funds without any oversight that can happen. So therefore usually trigger and even then the bank normally identifies that out of sequence check and makes a phone call out of their fraud protection. We should be able to do it internally as a board as an individual as many eyes as we can looking at every dollar collected and every dollar dispersed should be done. that would be a good thing to put in place to help Laura as you're learning ropes of being the treasurer and I think it would help any treasurer in the future to be able to look at it and say, "Oh, hey, that's where that money is." And that way there's

122no gotcha moments, you know, when people see things, right? And if you see either dispersement that's being approved that's greater than the average of whatever the monthly budget is, we should kind of like put our ears up and say, "All right, we budgeted or 48 out of 12 is 4 million." So if we see 4.5, we say, "Where's the other $10 million? Why do we ever this month?" Because it's a pretty consistent school dispersement between salaries, which is the bulk of the expenditure. Okay. So that's the motion on the floor. Motion to second. Make everything reconciled. reconciled. All in favor? Opposed? Yeah. Author. Yeah. Author reconciled and [clears throat] identify this guy's faces. All right. New business. Uh we just have one item on here. Um, in the interest of time, I'm not going to

123read through all of this, but essentially this is recognizing the multitude of various educations that are um required for new uh newly elected uh school directors as well as those who um have been reelected or reappointed. The uh criteria is slightly different. There are virtual and inerson options available. Um, and there are al there are also self-paced, excuse me, self-paced online courses um that directors may choose to uh participate in uh that are outside of the times and dates listed above. And just uh for warning, just just make sure you get it done because people will use that and [clears throat] reason why our votes will not be counted. Get it done. And if you ask the Pennsylvania Department of Education, they also have a list of other providers of this education, not just the

124PSBA, which should be highly advised. Yeah. Any extra education outside of the PSBA rigid thinking is actually encouraged. um because you're going to see as you look at the PSBA models and the PSBA cookie cutter doesn't always fit in the hype. So, your best bet is to, you know, think outside the box when it comes to that. I mean, PSBA is a good guideline, but there are things and there are school districts out there that may have experienced some of the things that we may be experiencing and we can utilize them as a template for something that we might like. And in the best interest of the community that we serve, there's other organizations that are not privately held corporations, non-government entities that literally they collect hundreds of thousands of dollars that they provide to

125their employees and millions of dollars. You can pull up their 990 form. It's very enlightening and it is a cookie cutter and you can search almost any policy or within a district and they've unified it. And our district is special in the fact that we have an opportunity to provide for these students a safe educational experience and not all those policies match that. That's why we keep correcting all plus the policies from the PSBA that have been found to be constitutionally unacceptable should be removed from our system. we're working on. [clears throat] Thank you. Um, any uh additional director's concerns at this time? It's not a concern, but I'd like to wish everybody a happy holiday and a good new year for 2026, both students and and of course faculty and staff and everyone. Just

126happy holidays and good health. And good health. Yes, absolutely. Good health. Um, any comment from the public? Hearing none, I will we have a motion to adjourn this meeting at 9:04. So move second. All in favor? The eyes have always goodies.