001Just like Okay, good evening. I'd officially like to call this meeting of the Mayan Township School Board to order. Forgot that part. It's my favorite part. Uh welcome to everyone here in person and those joining us online. And let me pause for a moment here to say thank you uh I've been hearing more and more uh my my time about the district connecting with people particularly parents particularly teachers uh about how much people appreciate being able to watch our meetings both online live and then recapping watching them later. Uh I know Mr. Lions in particular and a number of folks across the district put in some work to giving the dis the the school district and the school board that capacity and it does feel to me like it's been having an impact and so
002I just want to start and say thank you. Um our district's mission nurture and challenge for success is a reminder of our intent to enable every student to learn, grow, and thrive. Now, please join me for the pledge of >> allegiance. Okay, we are now on to our announcements. I would first like to take a moment to thank Dr. Ryman for stepping in tonight in Dr. Pepti's absence. And also before we move further in tonight's agenda, I would like to pause and recognize several important observances that are meaningful within our Manheim Township community. First, we recognize Ramadan observed this year from February 17th through March 19th and also the Lunar New Year which begins on February 17th. Ramadan is a sacred month in Islam marked by daily fasting from dawn to sunset, increased prayer, reflection,
003and acts of charity. For many of our students, this means balancing academics, extracurricular activities, athletics, performances, and homework while fasting throughout the school day. that takes discipline, resilience, and deep personal commitment. Ramadan emphasizes compassion, gratitude, generosity, and strengthening one's character. Families gather in the evenings to break their fast. Communities engage in service, and individuals reflect on growth and purpose. The values highlighted during Ramadan, such as empathy, self-discipline, kindness, and service to others are values we strive to nurture in all of our students. We remain committed to ensuring our schools are supportive, respectful environments for those observing during this meaningful month. We also celebrate students and families who observing the Lunar New Year. Celebrated across many Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and others, the Lunar New Year marks a time of renewal, fresh beginnings, and
004hope for the year ahead. For our students, the celebration may include family reunions, honoring ancestors, sharing traditional foods, wearing symbolic colors for good fortune, and exchanging wishes for prosperity, health, and happiness. These traditions carry generations of history and cultural pride. When students share these celebrations with our broader school community, they expand our understanding and enrich the learning experience for all. Recognizing observances like Ramadan and Lunar Lunar New Year affirms that every student's background, culture, and identity matter. Our diversity strengthens us and is something that we are proud to honor. I'd also like to recognize National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day, which is on February 15th. We are grateful for the officer uh for the service of officers Tim Linus and Officer Henry Carco, who serve our students and staff each and every day with professionalism,
005care, and dedication. While school resource officers play an important role in maintaining safety, their impact extends far beyond that. They build relationships with students, serve as mentors and trusted adults, support our staff, and contribute to the positive climate of our schools. Officer Lennis and Officer Caro take the time to connect with students in hallways, classrooms, events, and activities. They help foster an environment where students feel safe, so supported, and respected. Their presence reflects our shared commitment to ensuring that every student can learn and grow in a secure and welcoming setting. And on behalf of the board and our entire school community, we thank them for their dedication and service. And finally, I'll say that the board met before this meeting and executive session to discuss confidential personnel matters, including the terms and conditions of employment
006of current and prospective employees, and no no deliberations occurred past that. Now we're moving on to item two on our agenda which presentations. So I say for we're going to start with a presentation on artificial intelligence. And so welcome to the representatives of our artificial intelligence committee. Dr. Schaefer, Dr. Gillis, Mr. Scales, Miss Keith, Mrs. Duck, and Mr. Lions. Good luck finding room for all of you at the microphone. And welcome. >> Well, thank you. We are excited to be here. And you already did the introduction. I was all excited to introduce our awesome AI team. >> Hey, you can do it again. I I love to hear it. >> That's okay. Um, our team was uh developed shortly after the school board um adopted policy uh 815 or 8:15.2 in August of 2024. So,
007the last year and a half, we've been working to develop this plan, which we're excited to share with you uh this evening. We've had a clear focus on safety for all stakeholders throughout the development of the plan. um we're focused on our community, our students, our staff, um as well as how we use AI as a district administratively. So, we're really uh happy to be here this evening and we'll get started. Thank you. >> Thanks, Dr. Shaver. Uh so, she stole a little bit of my thunder there talking about what the AI team is and who is part of that AI team. In just a few minutes here, you're going to hear from some of our tech specialists that are back here, Ashley Keith, Jackie Jerk, Nicknik, Scales, who are tremendous assets to this team.
008So, really, this is a team that's been comprised of administrators, teachers, content specialists, tech specialists. Uh, it really is running the gambit here. We want to have everybody's thoughts, input, feedback. As I'm sure many of you are well aware and you read things that are happening daily, AI is changing rapidly and it is not only changing rapidly outside of our four walls, but it's changing rapidly inside of the classrooms as well. So, we wanted to make sure that we as a team are really working hard to be able to get out in front of a lot of this, address what's really coming down our way and really taking this as a team approach to how we address AI in our schools and how we can be able to leverage it to be able to better
009meet the needs of our students. Uh so you could see just in terms of overall what our team's been doing and what they've been up to. So we've surveyed our students, we've heard from our teachers. That's really helped to be able to give us direction where we want to be able to go. What do our teachers need? What do our students think right now? When you really step back and start to ask questions and I give the example that I was in a sixth grade debate right before the holidays and it was pro AI and con AI. They wanted to see which side of the equation they fell on. And at the end of that debate asking them so I said okay if you get to choose which side would you choose every single one
010of the students said con against AI and just to hear their different input as to why there's a lot of just different conversations happening in different households and how do we continue to help add to that and help to guide our students as well. Um, we are also looking at having an AI kickoff. So, an artificial intelligence speaker that'll be coming in for the 2627 school year as a guest presenter and we're really excited about that person as well. So, we talk about the vision that we have here and I just sort of talked a little bit about it at the very beginning here. We really want to continue to encourage creativity, curiosity, and ultimately student engagement. AI is not going to replace good teaching. Good teaching still has to be there. AI is another
011tool that we can help to use to leverage and enhance what's being done in classrooms and that's always been our goal. Whether it been years ago when it first went onetoone with iPads, it didn't necessarily change what was happening for those students specifically without the good teaching. Good teaching still had to be there. This just helped to enhance it. Uh and then additionally on top of that, we talk about our schoolboard policy right now that was adopted. The A15.2 policy is in pretty good shape right now. uh just in terms of being able to be flexible, responsive to AI and just how quickly it changes. So, we are in good standing, but it's always something we're revisiting. So, we can't sit back and say we've done a great job. We're we're all good to go.
012No, this is something that's constantly evolving and changing. And the way that our schoolboard policy has been approved right now, it allows us as a district to be able to continue to learn and grow as things evolve in front of us. So, I am going to kick things off now to Ashley Keith. >> Thank you, Dr. Gillis and thank you to the school board this evening for this opportunity to present um what we've been doing as a team with AI in the district and I'm very excited about it. [clears throat] So now that we've built this vision for what we want AI to look like in Mannheim Township for our uh administrators, teachers and students, we have to look at how are we going to support teachers with that implementation um and delivery of AI
013within the classroom. So we started with uh an a a professional development and training with whole group uh at faculty meetings we reviewed the AI handbook which we have [laughter] yes we have it in hand. So allowing us to create that professional handbook um supported in creating a common district language and consistent expectations with the use of AI in our classrooms. We started with that ongoing professional learning and we hosted an AI kickoff day uh during kickoff week where teachers were able to choose sessions based on their comfort level with AI, their skill level with AI and their interest level with certain tools with AI. So we really had that ability to personalize that learning for our teachers so it made more sense of how they can adopt AI and use that within their classroom.
014As always, we want to scaffold support for our teachers just as we scaffold supports for our students. So, the AI committee is currently developing scaffolded lesson plans that can be implemented at any grade level K through 12. We started that work earlier this year, but as Dr. Gillis said, AI is changing at a rapid pace. And after we built those lessons, we realized, wow, they are completely out of like they're they're not completely out of context, but we do have to update them because common sense media is giving us more guidelines of when do we start introducing AI to students at developmentally appropriate ages and how. So, we're looking at just those basic um introduction to AI such as Siri and and those concepts at the kindergarten level versus going up to 12th grade of
015how can you use this to really enhance your writing instruction and things of that nature. Um and through that we created an AI traffic model. This was a uh a traffic light model that was adopted uh with many of the school districts in the Lebanon Lancaster County. So we discussed this in depth at the IU and decided to take that traffic light model and make it relevant for our students and our staff here at Mannheim Township. So the traffic light model is a three tier threecolor approach with the red meaning the students cannot use AI for that assignment and teachers are looking for that authentic creation from the students. A yellow light would indicate that students are allowed to use uh AI for specific parts of that project, but they have to be transparent in
016how they used AI and receive permission from their teacher before they're using that AI. And Greenlight is encouraging students to use AI because um I'm sure Mrs. Duck is going to speak about this, but it's AI is becoming that new digital divide that we had, you know, with our iPads years ago. So we want to make sure that our students are empowered to use it in ethically and appropriate ways for their future. Um so the green light is saying yes you can use AI but also the teacher is going to have that conversation with students with the appropriate use and then teachers are going to be instructing students of how to properly site the use of AI with their work. As always student safety is at the center of everything that we do. We want
017to make sure that every app that we are vetting or website that we're vetting is protecting our student data. Um, and it's aligning with the policy 815.2. Mr. Scales is really going to go into depth and details about our app and website vetting process, not just for AI tools, but the technology tools in general. Um, so what we're looking for is that the app is not collecting any student data. Um, and some of our apps are not training those large language models. We also want to teach children and students not to share any of their personally identifiable information. And that starts as young as kindergarten when they receive an iPad. Our librarians are teaching them through their digital citizenship lessons that password should be protected. That we're not going to share our password with our
018friend. We're not going to share our addresses with our friend, you know, with strangers and things of that line. So with those lesson plans that I had mentioned earlier, it does indicate clear guidelines for ethical and responsible use for those students and those lesson plans are scaffolded to build the confidence that teachers need to teach students um how to use that that tool ethically. And then that goes into the academic integrity and expectations and teaching students how to use AI with transparency which we have outlined in the uh handbook as well. So again, our goal right now is providing those consistent direct instruction of AI use. And I'm going to pass it off to Mrs. Duck and empowering our students to use AI. Thank you. All right. So yes, the tech people come up with
019paper, but I needed my notes. [laughter] So um as Ashley Keith talked about, our number one goal is always safety, but we are really aware of modern times. We are aware that LinkedIn has said AI literacy is the number one skill when people are looking for jobs right now. We are aware that the World Economic Forum has said in 2030 the number one skill will be AI and big data. And so we know what we're preparing our students for. So we can't turn a blind eye to this. So we need to empower our students so that they are ready to enter that workforce. Um so we used a lot of work from digital promise framework. It's a national um company that's offering a lot of guidelines on what does it mean to be really strong
020with digital presence and also AI. Um and they have this three-prong approach of AI literacy means to understand, evaluate and use. So we want our students to know first what is AI? It is not a brain. It is not human. It is algorithmically programmed to give us these responses. So um in our STEM courses, we're starting to look at what is AI really? What is the back end of this? And then we want to evaluate this. So we want our students to realize there are costs and benefits to AI. This isn't just something we want to use freely, but we want to be intentional with the use of it. And then finally, we do want them to use it, especially as they get older, so they are prepared, but we want them to use it
021creatively to solve problems. Similar again, as we talked about with the iPad roll out, we are really intentional that the iPads were there to enhance, to create, not to consume, not to reproduce. Same thing with AI. We want it to be very intentionally used by our students so that we can empower them to do greater things. Um, again, we have on here that we would only use AI tools that have been approved and we will talk to our students about what that means. Um, Mr. Scales again will go into that a little bit more about the vetting process, but we do believe that that understanding that we don't just use any AI tool that's out there. We have to be intentional with what is safe. Um, we as a committee, one of the areas we're
022still working on and are going to continue to work on is what does that look like to site and disclose usage. So, we know that we have the traffic light for the disclosure. Um, but what specifically do we want to do? MLA and APA have come out with suggestions for this. So, that might be something that guides the committee, but we haven't come out with the final stance on that. Um, and we [clears throat] again really want that critical thinking and ethical use. So, again, we just really want this to be an intentional thing for students to really empower them and not something they just use to kind of replace or do something different. We want them to be this can really enhance your learning. this can bring to the table new things and that's
023what we want them to do. And then finally, we really want to be intentional about how we engage and inform our families. I stand here as a district parent so I do have that perspective as well and I know how important this is. So one of the things that we did is we have that handbook. We have one for staff and then we have one for students and families. the one for students and families will go out in the principal's newsletters uh soon so that they will be kind of looped in on what is happening, what the expectations will be so we can really start these conversations. Um we will highlight again the digital promise um and IU guidance that we've gotten that's kind of inside of that handbook as well. Uh we really were
024intentional with you know we didn't make this up on our own. We found really knowledgeable people to impact what we were going to write and what we were going to share. Um and again just focusing on providing that information. I just believe right now we are on this cusp of nobody in this room is an AI expert, but we all bring perspectives that are going to be really important. From all the teachers and staff that we have on this AI committee to the schoolboard to the community, we all have these perspectives. And I really believe that that's going to be a very important piece of this as we kind of work as this as a team. And then I'm going to have Mr. Scales come up. >> I think I've been set up to give
025you guys a lot of detail. Okay. So, um, how do we know what's an appropriate supplemental tool when it comes to AI? Well, I'm happy to say we have a very extensive vetting process. Um, and I will say that this is in heavy collaboration with Dan Lions and his team about how these work within our classrooms, with our students, with our staff. And before any gets in front for a classroom application, it has to go through this process. What does that process look like? Well, a high level overview. We have to first make sure that is aligned with our board approved curriculum and it meets all of our privacy and safety standards. From there, if approved, these have to keep going with an ongoing kind of detail and thinking about how they are changing. As
026we've all heard tonight, this is an evolving landscape. So, weekly we meet weekly, myself, Miss Keith, Mr. Duck, Dan Lines and his team, we meet on a weekly basis to go through and see about these updates. And it's very very important as well as these updates come, how do we improve and show our staff these updates as well. Well, it can come in the form of many different things. It could be professional development, faculty meetings, newsletters, emails, um, so many different things. It's trying to just get that information out there early and often for this. And staff themselves can put in any type of new AI tool as this is changing on a weekly basis. staff have the option to input a tool for consideration for use and we'll go through and we'll look at
027these policies and guidelines and we'll inform that teacher that did input that could actually come from one of us too on the committee as well and that will come out as quick as possible with the appropriate information to help enable our staff to use that within the classroom application. So where do we go from here though? I want to preface this by saying that, and I think you've heard from my colleagues tonight, that everything we're trying to do with this is proactive and not reactive. That's the most important thing when it comes down to this. Everything we do has been calculated for this to prepare our students, our staff, our families for this evolving landscape as we go through. We've adopted a continuous improvement model. As I said, that these things are ever changing and
028we want to adapt as necessary as we go through. We don't want to be stagnant and static with this. We want to keep this going and that comes heavy with professional learning. It's embedded with it and pretty much everything that we have been doing since the start of this committee, we've been going through and being very purposeful on how we're presenting this and how we're using it. I do want to say that when it comes to any kind of digital tool, whether it's AI or anything, there is that healthy balance between our strong instructional practices as we do as teachers supplementing it with these types of technologies. It's not a replacement for our teaching. As we had said here, we look in our vision, we look in our handbook. It's about responsible human- centered AI
029use with that. And on that note, I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Schaefer just to wrap us up. >> All right. So, the team is here. Do you have any questions? We were, like we said, delighted to come and share the information. Um and I know um a question from the board before again anytime we are using digital tools making sure we are balancing the use of technology in our instruction too which is an ongoing focus as well. So um you know that that's a piece that we're always continuing to examine and look at. Are there any questions for the team? >> Thank you so much Dr. Schaefer and team that was again very thorough. I really appreciate the the detail and anticipating our questions. You answered a lot of mine already.
030Uh, Miss Lamb, I think you you asked for some of this presentation, so I'd be happy for you to start the conversation off. >> Yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate the entire AI team and everyone involved in putting this presentation together. I remember the first time I spoke in the audience, it was in regards to AI and I'm sitting here bringing it up a few times. Um, I'm curious on how we will measure whether AI is approving learning things like critical thinking skills, writing, problem solving skills. Is there a benchmark in how we're going to measure how it's going to improve student learning >> because it's fairly new? >> Yes. And I think that's a very a very good question because I think we'd have to use different data points for that. So
031I think in the that would be something we would certainly be discussing as a team as we roll that out in terms of with the implementation. So whether we would look at um student achievement data as we look at different assignments um that involve AI. um really taking a look at teacher feedback as well, your perceptual data. Um our high school teachers probably the metrics are going to look different at the high school level because the types of assignments. Um our English department has had a lot of input. Um so I could see really getting some good measures from them as well. But a lot will decide on or depend on the type of assignments too. Um, and that is something that we're really working on designing and taking a look who is using AI,
032how are we measuring the effectiveness? So, I think that's a really good question and a great consideration for the team to continue to discuss and look at the professional learning side. It's a little bit easier for us to measure that because we can easily get that information from teachers. Um, and then I think to be thorough students and our families as well. How are we doing with this implementation? I think that's going to also provide us with um meaningful feedback so we know how to keep moving forward and as we're moving forward it continually changes. So it it provides good challenges I think speaking for the team on that question >> makes sense. I'll start by saying this is the type of thoroughess and high level um presentation I would expect from um all of
033you and from our teachers. This is this is what we want to be doing. But my question is going to be are you hearing from faculty um problems coming into the classroom? Um, since we've not yet introduced all of our integrity and and so forth with the usage, are you are they already seeing um difficulties um with AI coming into the classroom, classroom assignments? >> Is this addressing a need or or is it just kicking ahead? I would say we're seeing challenges, right? Um and it varies depending on the department. So the English department has different concerns or challenges that we might see in the math department or social studies might have different um challenges than you know another department. So that's where we really have to differentiate the professional learning and and why we
034surveyed the staff for that very reason because we need to know what they are seeing um and invite many rep representatives from those departments to help inform the committee and work on these resources for teachers and students because they know best. they're the ones that are actually seeing this firsthand. So, we we are aware of some of those difficulties. Um we know AI detection tools are not always reliable um tools. Um that's another piece we've really had to adjust and and not use as a solo data point. We need multiple data points um in terms of AI detection software. But even before we get that, we have to teach students how to responsibly use it. So a lot of our own challenges are coming from the fact that we need to roll this out and
035we need to be really intentional with the roll out because that intentionality will address many of the the challenges and then at the same time I keep going back to this but the plan to roll out then keeps changing because of the dynamic nature. So that's what's exciting about this um and it will be continual work and um yeah >> thank you that really supports our faculty. Um [clears throat] also are you seeing specific um I I can see the the interest across our arts music tech department. Are they coming at this differently and are are we taking taking it different direction for them? It is the number one request from our departments in terms of professional learning. Um and then the ability to you know use different apps and tools. So yes, I mean
036all content areas are using it in different ways. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr. S. Mr. Bulazar. Yeah, I think this is uh it is probably almost in my lifetime one of the most important changes that's occurring in the exponential pace at which is going which which you had talked to really I think it's going to with the focus on hey is a student using and not using it am I detecting it am I not detecting it that's going to be an almost impossible task and I think there's um a great opportunity to step back and educate on actually what's happening in AI right AI is going out and taking disperate information and bringing it together what the human the student should be doing right what the responsibility of where you find sources and how
037you pull it together and why just oh if you just go use AI it's not about you like the the detriment to your assignment but you're giving away your personal power. There's so many places in the world today where okay, somebody's telling you how to think. We get advertised and we get all this. This is just such a powerful place I think from the beginning of using it as as a really a compelling reason that that's needed to teach students what should be happening in their own mind, you know. So AI, it's like you're asking someone else just to tell you. No different than it's like you don't want to listen to us as the teachers. So why do you want to listen to AI? How about using your own mind? Right? So I think
038I I would encourage you to have a parallel as to the mechanisms and the what'ss and the wise behind AI. So it's not just don't use it, right? Only when it's the green light or a yellow, but understanding what it is and why that is. So it helps students make their own choices to like you know what I don't need to do that I understand what it is and I know I know I can find out on my own like if I determine on my own when it's a red light yellow light a green light that's so much more impactful to the development of the student and then to the adults that we will turn them into for the future. >> Thank you. We will take that certainly back to the team. I would sign
039up for that class. [laughter] >> Miss Woodberry, >> I just want to thank the team for um ironically for showing your work by by sharing with us the process by which you're going through all of this development of this rich and helpful material to help us understand and to help everyone understand how you're preparing teachers and preparing students. and thank you for widening the aperture to think of parents too because we might be the least prepared group of all three um to be supportive and to understand ourselves how we can support students and teachers. So, thanks for all of that. I really appreciate that. It's really with a high level of just integrity and I can it's so great to hear you say and we're thinking about MLA and we're thinking about all those things
040I haven't thought about since grad school event. Well, you all are thinking about right now. So, thank you very very much. >> Thank you, >> Mr. McKenna. >> Thank you. I'm going to echo my colleague support for the process that you've led. I love it's interdisiplinary. I love how collaborative it is. I love that you started with a vision that aligns with our values as an institution and also connects the policy and that that becomes the parameters with which you operate but within those parameters being very innovative and the fact that you're meeting weekly is a testament to how closely you're monitoring how how swiftly this extraordinary disruptive but powerful technology is. One of the things that I really struck out for that or stuck out to me from the presentation was Mrs. struck speaking
041about what some national organizations, international organizations are flagging. So, World Economic Forum saying in 2030 this is going to be the key skill. LinkedIn saying already it's the number one skill. We also see every day headlines around the the white collar blood bath things that are already happening in software, in legal and many other sectors and how drastically it's going to change the way that our society is structured, how work gets done, how careers evolve. And so later this evening, we'll hear a presentation about our career readiness initiatives. And I would encourage that we weave this excellent process that you have developed into that initiative as well. Perhaps it is already in there and you've been doing that collaboration, but it wasn't overt to me and I'd love to see that we're really highlighting given
042that this is probably as disruptive as the industrial revolution was as the internet was and now here we are on this another massive cusp that you all spoke to on making sure that throughout all aspects of our student experience that we're factoring this in. In addition to that college and career readiness, I would also look at at the implications for health, particularly for our middle school and high school students. There's a lot of research uh in pediatric circles that are saying we have a serious issue with students engaging chat bots as mental health providers and because of the nature of the algorithm providing types of affirmation that incentivizes a student to keep talking but actually is leading to perhaps really adverse outcomes for the well-being of that child. And many of the tech companies, as
043I'm sure you're well aware, don't yet have any type of exit ramp for when things escalate where would direct someone to a crisis hotline, for example. So, just if there's a way to integrate that into our school counseling work, into our health curriculum, um, and also our professional development teachers to make sure that while this technology can be so powerful, there also are these downsides that a student may not even realize they have gotten themselves into. Um, and so, uh, those would just be a few other dimensions that I'm sure you're already thinking about, but would encourage you to add to the list. >> We'll do. Thank you, >> Mr. McKen. I I that was spectacularly phrased. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that you put into that question and that because kind of get into
044where my mind was going is like I think that's the right size of the scale, right? And so, you know, from my seat here on the board, my wonder is my thought is if y'all are just doing this as a committee off the side of your desk, is that enough? Right? Do we have enough resources allocated internally to provide both the protection and advocacy for our students, for our teachers, you know, who have things have most a difficult enough of a job as it is. And so, I'm not coming to any sort of pre presupposition. And certainly, Dr. appreci you you know I you hold my utmost trust and and and I and that extends to your team but I would just say you know wondering if we do have enough of like does this
045need to be someone's job right like does someone need to own this process and making that team knowing how much each of you are also holding in your own individual roles and hearing the scale of where this could go you know I would urge us probably thinking about it with you Dr. Ryman you Mrs. Robins, other leaders in the administration to think about like are we giving the you all the support that you need in order to tackle this massive task. So that's also where my mind is going. I would invite you to tell us uh what you need in order to to meet that challenge. Uh Mr. Rivera, sorry. Sorry, Dr. Shaver. >> I was just going to say along that we do get a lot of support from IU13. They're great partners with
046us in terms of some of what you bring forward in in terms of providing us with some of those the supports that you mentioned. So, we're really fortunate to have IU13 as well as a partner. That's been helpful. >> I'm glad you hear that. Yeah, Mr. River. >> Yeah. Really just to piggyback off of what was already said, the one thing that stood out to me is having clear guidelines for ethical and responsible AI use on the part of students. And I think we need to explicitly teach that to them because I think quite often that they don't, you know, we assume they know, but they they may not know. Uh and I know some students using AI uh at where I teach have gotten themselves into trouble. They think they're actually talking to a
047human being. Uh and that they don't realize this isn't being recorded in a sense and there's a record of that. So I think it's important for for us to explicitly teach those guidelines for ethical use. >> We we agree. Yeah, we've had many conversations about that along with our acceptable use. It just aligns. Y >> I know I have one more question, Miss Lamb. I see you too. Why don't you go ahead? >> Um the previous two times I spoke up about this there. I mentioned there was training through PSBA because you Mr. Grer had talked about how can we support you the resources and there's two training one in the spring, one in the winter. Um, and it really is a training for administrators, faculty, staff on how to implement AI into school systems.
048So maybe that's something I could email share those resources and you can let us know how we can support you. >> Yes, we we do have administrators. Dr. Gillis is one who they are taking um advanced coursework in that very topic to be able to bring that back to the district to the administration. So that's been very very helpful to the team as well. And I'll admit my physician is also like should we be admitting AI into our our processes? Like I'm still at that point and maybe I'm a lite. I don't know. But I I'm very much uh like do we are we sure? Uh so um maybe that training will help us. You I'm going to go kicking and kicking and screaming into that. Um I guess I did have one last question.
049It's it's more of a specific issue about the the kickoff day speaker. Would that be would that be our welcome back to faculty and staff day or is that is that speaker going to be targeted toward students or both? >> You're a month ahead, but I don't mind giving you a preview for this. >> Hey, >> um those of you that are on the MTF board, um at one of the meetings, it came to our attention there was a very dynamic speaker at the school district of Lancaster's um association meeting. So, we reached out to Dr. Dion from Millersville and been having conversations with him. Um the message would be for staff and all staff. Um because kickoff obviously is all of our staff, bus driver, you know, everybody who would like to come. Um
050so it would be for all and just kind of getting to the essence of what we're talking about like like the cultural impact of AI and how it impacts all of us in different ways. So that would be the message. So, we we really appreciated that tip um from that MTF meeting and we've been talking with him and we're very interested in seeing whether he would come. He is a great higher ed perspective. He's a professor at Millersville. So, that's what we're putting together at the moment. >> Sorry to make you spill the music there. You you do have some dynamic speakers. Every year I I always hear about how awesome those opening days are. Yes. >> Uh Miss Zimmerman, I think you might have our last question. >> Just a quick question. Thank you
051again for bringing this information. and I think it's great foundational for the board to understand what's happening. Appreciate it. Um, in regards to your committee makeup, just wondering if you envision that growing, changing. Um, and you had mentioned common sense media, which makes me think about librarian, library media services. How are they tied into the planning in this? >> They're all part of the comm. We have librarians, teachers from a lot of content areas. We always are trying. Obviously, it's very inclusive committee. Everyone's welcome to join. I think where we probably see the expansion of it would be uh definitely some families and I know Mr. Rutled has worked very hard and working with students as well. So we do see the student need as well for their input and part of the team as
052well. So we we do see the expansion of it as we're you know continuing to develop it but we do see those needs as well to have other stakeholders part of that as well. >> Yeah. >> Okay. AI committee team. Thank you for joining us and thank you for all the information and for answering our questions. >> Thank you. >> Okay, that is it for item two, section two in our agenda. We are on to item or section three, which is our action for next week's February 19th voting meeting. We are going to start off with Mr. Charles to discuss recommendation to approve the agreement with RLPS architects for the Nichar Elementary School project phase 2. Mr. Charles, welcome. >> Good evening, everyone. Um, after multiple in-person meetings and uh site visits, the school district
053has concluded the uh preliminary evaluation process for the NITRA elementary study. Uh, the district is now positioned to move beyond the initial investigation phase, which is phase one, and into a more formal design and execution execution stage, which is phase two. Upon board approval, the district will enter into an agreement with RLPS for phase two. This phase transitions the project from theoretical analysis to actionable construction documents, which includes design development, which will be preparing documents that illustrate and uh describe the project's size and character um including architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical systems. Uh this phase will build upon previously approved schematic design. Uh technical documentation uh creating detailed drawings and specifications that set forth the quality levels and performance criteria for materials and systems required for construction. Uh bidding support assisting the district in obtaining
054competitive bids and awarding contracts. And last, the construction administration providing administration of the construction contract acting on behalf of the school district to ensure quality and compliance. The school district would agree to compensate RLPS based on a percentage of the total project costs, a basic service fee of 5.5% for new construction, and 5.9% of the cost for work for renovation work. Also, the agreement would include a 100% credit for previously paid phase 1 architectural service fees to the amount of $24,900. As we mentioned last week, this will be brought to you next week uh during the voting session. Um do you have any questions for myself or RLPS this evening? And I have Chris Linky here with me as well if you have any questions. >> Thanks. Yeah, I saw Mr. Linky. Thank you for
055joining us this evening. Uh are there any questions from my colleagues? >> Miss Woodbury, >> I just have a question about the structure. So 5.5% of the cost of the work for new construction and 5.9 for percent for renovations. So if we choose new construction, it's 5.5% and if we choose one of the rental plans, it's 5.9. >> That's correct. >> Yes. >> Thank you very much. And then just to be really specific, um the fees that we would pay to RLPS were included in the numbers presented at the facilities meeting last week to the school board. Is that correct? >> So what we presented as at the end of the bottom of that priority matrix, it had construction costs and soft costs. So the fees are part of that soft cost. Yes. So in
056that total number that you have. >> Thank you, Mr. I understood that. I just wanted to make sure it was really explicit. I appreciate that, Mrs. Zimmerman. Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Hence. And then I'm going to go to the >> M. Go ahead. >> Just wanted to let the community know that we're very interested in what you're hearing, uh, what you want to see the board decide or your input in regards to nitrower. And there are two specific email addresses where you can reach out to all of us. It's nitrower project mtwp.net and there's also, I'm sorry, campus master planwp.net. Thanks to Mrs. Davidson for setting those emails up for us so that we can be in communication. Um, in addition to all the other ways you can reach out to us, but we appreciate
057that. >> Yes. Thank you, Miss Davidson, for making that easy and accessible. And I hope we'll continue to publicize that. And thank you, Miss Zimmerman, for bringing that up. Mrs. Hens, >> along those lines, I wanted to ask if we've had input since the the plans, the the options have been presented. Have we had input back from parents, teachers? >> I can't speak for everyone's email, but I have not heard much. I have not >> um not through my email. I've heard people um people have approached me in public to to share ideas and thoughts. Um but uh I would I do hope people um you know, hey, if you see me, I'm happy to talk, but I I would much prefer to have it through an email that I can share with my colleagues.
058Uh >> yeah, I would love to hear from parents or or staff before I have to make a decision on this. Otherwise, it's my opinion. >> Thank you, Mrs. Huts. >> Okay, Mr. Charles, Mr. Linky, thank you. Thanks. We are on to item B, a recommendation to approve the 2026 2029 K through2 guidance plan. Welcome, Mrs. Noak, Mrs. Eagler, and Mr. Evans. And let me say before you start, I'm a week late, but happy National School Counselors Week last week. >> Thank you for all you do for our students. >> Thank you. >> So, this is one of my favorite nights that we get to share our plan with you. And it's hard to believe that we are up here again, ready and seeking your approval for our next three years. Of course, as you
059will hear our plan tonight, you will also anticipate an annual update each year as well. So, I have here Mr. Mark Evans, high school counselor, and Mrs. Elizabeth Ziggler, our college and career counselor at the high school. So within our chapter 339, we are K through 12 and we are building upon the career education and work standards crosscurricular. So we have worked really hard amongst our science teachers, social studies, English um and making sure that our academic standards are embedded as well as our school counselors um providing instruction through guidance lessons. You will see that it's K through 12 of course. So we are starting from our very beginning learners all the way up through. So as I shared before it is updated annually and we also engage in stakeholder groups every year in the
060fall and in the spring. In fact you are all invited each time um to be able to participate and that is our advisory council breakfast. We have business organization members, families, staff and students all a part of that programming. Okay. So, just to share a little bit more about our advisory council, the purpose is more than just sharing information on our comprehensive school counseling program. It's really to gather feedback from all of our stakeholders to strengthen services for all students. We really value the engagement and discussions that take place at these meetings. We have discussed ways to offer career exploration with our younger students and what programming our students with high needs might need. Secondary topics have included how we help students identify and pursue post-secary planning pathways all while we're ensuring that we meet
061the standards set by the state. Um our work is guided by the Pennsylvania Career Education and Work Standards. These standards that you see here describe what students should know and be able to do in four areas. While these standards are embedded in our chapter 339 guidance plan, responsibility for implementation extends beyond just our school counselors. As you'd expect, all educators and content areas play a role in integrating career connections and addressing realworld skills. In a little bit, you'll hear more about that. These standards were recently revised to better align with the evolving workforce and post-secondary needs. As a result, district teams have been working on adjustments to our curriculum and programming. We look forward to sharing more details with you next year on how these updates will better prepare students in these areas and ensure
062that they're equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for success after graduation. At the K through six level, we are engaging in both our content, so our science classrooms, our English language arts classrooms as well as guidance classroom uh lessons to explore interests. What are our students um seeking out to understand? So maybe it is from family experiences or friends or neighbors experiences, but also being able to dive in and utilizing our educators, our organizations that are local, as well as um our technology, which is what we use um for Zello, which um Langster and Lebanon school districts often utilize. And um below there, you'll see some examples. So career interviews at the K4 level. When we get to Landis Run, we are engaging yet again in junior achievement where our fifth graders go from
063investigating jobs that are potentially offered at JA Bistown in New York to developing a resume, filling out a job application, and then they also interview. And so we get to sign up teachers and administrators to interview our students. And it is so exciting to see this come alive from the very beginning at the elementary level. We also have exploration in STEM with local um businesses in the STEM field and working on building our portfolios as that is a requirement upon graduation. >> Rather than read what's on the slides um and being at the high school, we got to observe our middle school program in action. Uh Allison Smith, uh Charlene Campbell presented at our Whoops. Sorry, I'll stand back. >> All right, >> I'm gonna break something before I leave here. But anyways, all kidding
064aside, we got to see them in action on full display at our advisory council in November. And the enthusiasm and the excitement that they have to teach the college and career readiness skills that we have at the middle school is pretty inspiring. You know, they chose to highlight some things at the advisory council that I want to focus on is etiquette. Uh they talked about schooly etiquette, uh email etiquette, about day-to-day life etiquette. Um they talked about Shark Tank, which is her version of Shark Tank. Uh which is pretty cool. Um and then I almost did it again. Let me stand over here. Um >> my favorite What's that? >> Stand by the mic. >> So I'll talk really loud. Okay. Uh but my favorite was the career uh the major career project where the
065students had to film and research a career of interest. Uh it was pretty exciting. Um and rather like I said than regurgitate the slide to you all this evening. Um some things on the horizon for the college and career readiness program are personal financial literacy lessons which I think need to get down to the lower ages which is exciting. And to the VR or the AI stuff that's coming. Um they talked about using the lending library through the IU13 and doing some transfer VR stuff. So, it's kind of cool that they're they're implementing some of that technology in that college and career readiness program. >> At the high school, we've addressed college and career readiness largely through our freshman academy and our advisory programming. Um, again, also though with different content areas and in meetings
066with our school counseling team. Um, over the past several years, we've expanded beyond the classroom to provide more hands-on real world experiences, whether increasing internships, getting out to do workplace tours, offering pre apprenticeships, or opportunities to earn industry recognized credentials. Um, these are all within partnerships within our community. We couldn't do any of those things without those partnerships. Um, as we look ahead, we've we are intentionally examining the way we engage students in these areas, especially with the standards changing. Um, students today have many more options after high school than they really ever have. And we also have so many different avenues within our own high school curricular offerings. So, our goal is really to better inform students, engage them in exploring all of these different opportunities, and then guide them through thoughtful decisions in
067these areas so that they can navigate their next steps with confidence and purpose. >> Yeah. Elaborating on the career readiness skills, we we have taken uh the township 10. Uh part of that comes from uh Career Ready Lancaster high- five employability skills. Those five from the Career Ready Lancaster employability skills are communication, resilience, integrity, problem solving, and teamwork. And we took it a step further uh and we added growth mindset, social awareness, critical thinking, initiative, and purpose. Um and our goal is to have our students credential in these workplace skills. Uh we're constantly evolving our students. uh we're looking for ways for our students to gain these opportunities uh and to recognize students who have demonstrated these abilities. Some of the ways we are are using experience uh experience opportunities are our work-based learning program
068uh our co-op program internship the discovering paths program which is through the chamber of commerce um educators rising class the new class that that we taught this year for the first time and uh some some stuff through the LGH health careers. Uh, one of the recognition opportunities that we have at the high school right now for students that demonstrate the township 10 are our student recognition breakfast that's given out on a monthly basis. >> And just to um inform the board that we do have the MT endorsement. So the local businesses of Lancaster have said that if you are able to endorse your graduating senior then if I'm going to a job interview and so is Mr. Evans and Mr. Evans has the MT endorsement and I do not in a local business that is
069an edge for our graduates. So we're very proud of that. That was our first year this past spring with the MT endorsement. And then Elizabeth. >> Okay. And with that, like we said, we can't do this work alone. Um, so we would love to invite all of you to our next advisory council meeting. It's April 17th. Come join us for breakfast. Uh, I love the pancakes that were added to this slide. Um, come join us for breakfast and connections at 7:30. We usually start our meetings at about 8 and get you out by 9, 9:30. So, we would love to see you there. Stay tuned for an invitation. you. Any questions? >> Well, thank you so much. Let's get that on our calendars. I would love to I'd love to attend. Thank you for that
070invitation. Uh any questions or thoughts from my colleagues? Miss Lamb, I see you. >> Um I really appreciate hearing that there's a path for entrepreneurship at their tank. Uh what a great experience to get students before they're even out in the real world. Um I want a better understanding about the process and preparing every student with the Township 10. Sometimes students might be shy to come forward and ask for advice. Do students seek out the opportunities on their own or do the counselors make the effort to meet with each and every student to do a check-in, form a plan, and then follow up every year at high school? >> It really is a combination of all of those things. We're making sure that students are aware of the Township 10 and these opportunities as often
071as we can. It starts on day one of the school year with our administrative team. They're sharing about the township 10. We through our advisory period, through meetings with our school counselors, um through schooly, every avenue we can um we're sharing the different opportunities that are available. And then we're working with our juniors and seniors to just spell out in in greater detail what this all is so that they can take advantage of the opportunity and the empty endorsement in their senior year. >> Dr. McConnell. >> Thank you. Uh thank you all so much um for for everything that you do. Everyone in the guidance department. Um speaking as the parent of a recent MT graduate and a current seventh grader who just finished college and career readiness, um I can tell you that everything
072that you're doing has spurred a lot of conversations in my home um and uh helped give some direction to my recent graduate. So the work that you're doing is making a difference. So thank you so much for doing that. Thank you for keeping us updated. >> Miss Whitbury, >> I just want to thank you as well and to let you know it really is permeating. So, I have a clinical background in social work, so I love when I see growth mindset. Um, but I'll I was never so surprised as when my son said to his both of his parents, "So, do you think you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?" And of course, I wanted my husband to answer first because I knew I knew the answer. >> [laughter] >> So that was
073joyful and learning for the whole family. >> That's great to hear. Thank you for sharing. >> Thank you, Miss W. Anybody else? >> Mrs. H, >> I'll just commend you which I have already at at the meetings. But um that parents know that the community knows there is a pathway to graduation for every student and there is a pathway to post um graduation work school training that we have it all. I have talked to people who go, "School should this or school should that?" And they are always amazed with when I come back with, "Well, we have this and we have this and we do this and our kids have access to um you're doing a phenomenal job and our our district is very very lucky to have you all." >> Thank you very much.
074We have a great team. >> Yeah. Thanks for continuing to provide us with the opportunities, the ability to provide the opportunities. >> You're not off the hook yet, Miss Zimmerman. [laughter] >> Thank you for the presentation. I don't want to volunteer the rest of the board, but I know that we're always looking for meaningful ways to engage with students board members. So, if there are opportunities for us to come in for Shark Tank, I think Sydney, Mrs. Lamb would love that or other, you know, I know that maybe they're looking for volunteers for mock interviews or other things, just keep the board in mind. We'd love to have at least the invitation and the opportunity to come in and engage directly with students, be a part of the work that you're doing. Thank you. >>
075I'll close us out. I'll just say you're not Yeah, we we're happy. We want to share this because this is like, you know, honestly, this is this is I we can feel your enthusiasm and we can feel the intention that you put behind reaching all of the different types of students from all the different types of backgrounds who have all the different types of pathways that we have in this district and providing success paths, success paths and plans and assistance for them in a way that like man that feels really good. That feels really good for us and we're so proud of you and the work that you do is such a great representative of who we want are and who we want to be as a school district. And honestly that is real world
076real world impacts for kids and for families and like what do we hear constantly about you know people wanting to move to this district for the schools and this is a real pathway. This is a real tangible value beyond the it aligning with our values. It's also a value for for people who who live here who raise their families here who stay here. So thank you. That's that's an insificant part of the work and we see it. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. That means a lot. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Hollandbeck, you didn't you did not have to race through traffic too quickly to get here, I hope. But we are we are glad to hear see you now to hear a recommendation to formally approve and recognize booster clubs for Manheim Township Bowling
077and Manheim Township Boys and Girls Tennis. Welcome. Good evening everybody. Um before I get started, I just want to uh give a shout out to uh a great counselor, but also a great football coach who just walked out of the room unfortunately. Um, uh, Mark Evans was actually nominated to the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coach Association Hall of Fame. So, um, just want to give him There's only a handful of, uh, coaches in the entire state. Um, he's coming back. There he is. U,, but yeah, just a round of applause for Coach. Um, pretty big honor. Again, only a couple coaches in the entire state of Pennsylvania have received that award u while they're still coaching. So, we're lucky to have him and really appreciate all he does both as a counselor and a coach. >>
078Thank you. >> Um, tonight I'm here uh based on our schoolboard policy 915 uh to uh bring forward our uh two remaining booster clubs for our athletic programs that uh that don't have uh booster clubs. Uh so, uh last year we brought forward I believe it was uh 18 or 19 uh booster clubs across the board for all of our programs. Um, and we were we had again two programs that uh two or three programs that did not have those. Uh, so I'm here to present um bring forward uh through the bylaws uh for tennis and bowling. Uh our both of our our boys and girls tennis teams combined to form one booster club which will be awesome from a title n equity standpoint which we're we're thrilled about. Um and then uh our wonderful
079bowling team u state champion a couple years ago uh has formed a booster club as well. So, I'm happy to say all of our programs now across the board in athletics uh have booster clubs that will support them uh in extra fundraising. We we look to we look to ourselves to provide the needs and the booster clubs provide the wants for our programs. Uh so, uh it's great, you know, now these these programs uh should be able to, you know, have those extra wants, fund banquetss and that kind of thing. So, um with that, I'll open the floor for any questions. >> Thank you, Mr. Hollandbeck. Are there any questions? Okay. So, I guess uh the one now that we have everyone covered, does that include our unified botchi team, our unified track team, they
080have booster? >> Yes. So, uh same same kind of idea as the tennises. Um combining we have our unified botchi and our unified uh track and field in a unified sports booster club. >> Yep. Awesome. Thank you. I couldn't remember where we started that. So, thank you, Mr. Hollandback. >> All right, that's it for that. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. I'm gonna head back over for the LL boys championship game. Hopefully Amanda's holding down the floor for us over there. >> Go [clears throat] streaks. >> Thank you guys. >> We are moving now on to item D, a recommendation to approve the authorized official resolution formally requesting a public school safety or excuse me, public school facility improvement grant of up to $5 million. Mrs. Robins, welcome. >> Thank you. Um,
081the public school facility improvement grant is funded through the 2526 state budget. There's a total allocation of $100 million available. The funds are intended to be utilized for essential building improvements. The grants range from $500,000 to $5 million. Um, our multi-year plan, our multi-year capital plan includes $1.5 million over the next four years for high school roof restoration for a total of $6 million. We are also anticipating roof restoration at Nef Elementary in the next few years. So, we of course we are requesting the maximum amount of $5 million for roof restoration. Um, there is a 25% cash match requirement, which means that if we are awarded the full $5 million, we would have to pay a share of $1.25 million. Um, there's also a $100 application fee. We are requesting the grant for both
082the high school and NE in the event that we are awarded awarded the entire $5 million and the cost of the high school roof renovation comes in less than the award and the match. Um, a requirement of the grant submission is to approve an authorized official resolution designating two individuals from the school district to execute all grant documents. So, you'll see within the resolution that we are recommending designating myself as chief operating officer and uh Mr. Steve Brewbaker as business manager to execute all necessary documents. Happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Robbins. Are there questions? >> Mr. McKenna. I just want to commend Mrs. Robbins and her team for looking for these uh fundraising or fund opportunities to supplement our budget. Um so thank you for that and this
083seems like an excellent way to to leverage what we already planning to do um with some additional funding and controlling our costs in the process. So thank you for that. >> Miss Zimmerman, >> I'm sorry. I was quickly reading too to see if I missed this. So I apologize. So the timing on this would be when was the when would the money be um dispersed and then when would the roofs have to be completed. So um there's not a lot of detail unfortunately or there's not there's not a rubric showing any of the award criteria. The deadline for the grant is March 13th. Um there's no um PD has not released any kind of um timeline as far as when we would have an award notice. I'm assuming it's probably late summer, early fall. Um,
084and they have not given any details either on how long we'd have to we'd have those dollars for. So, we did we did apply back in 2024 and we were not awarded any money. So, $100 million sounds like a lot, but it's $5 million. It's 20 districts across the state across the state. So, we're going to be optimistic, but hopefully we'll get something there. >> Dr. McCartton, >> thank you. U, just a quick uh clarific clarification. You mentioned the 25% match. So, would that be an addition? So, the total would be then 6.25. 25 with 1.25 coming from us. >> Correct. >> Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. >> So, we just have to cross our fingers for for some time to hope we get the uh get the allocation. Okay. >> Yes. >> Any other
085thoughts, questions? Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Robbins. Okay. Now, we are on to item E, which is a presentation on curriculum proposal. Dr. Schaefer, get comfortable. And so I want to note that this is going to cover items F through J on the agenda. Mrs. Davidson, I'm looking at you in the back. I should probably read through F through J right now to let Dr. Schaefer go through. Okay. So, anyone, you need to get a drink, go to the bathroom, get a snack. This is going to take me a moment. I'll do my best to run through all this, but thank you, Miss Davidson, and Dr. Schaefer. Just a moment. So, as I said, we're going to be working now through items F through J. And so I'm going to start with item F which is
086recommendation to approve the following new course at the high school for the 2026 2027 school year with no anticipated new costs French 4. Then item G is a recommendation to approve the following new art course at the high school for the 2026 2027 school year with no new anticipated costs 3D art and design. Item H is a recommendation to approve the following textbook at the high school for the 2026 2027 school year. Psychology and Everyday Life 7th edition supplemental text with anro approximate cost of $5,280. Item I is a recommendation to approve the following textbook at the high school for the 2026 2027 school year introduction to business supplemental texts with an approximate cost of $4,635. And finally, item J is a recommendation to a recommendation to approve the following textbook at the middle school
087and high school for the 2026 2027 school year with an approximate cost of 27,76.88. Those books are Cindereo's 2023 levels 1 through3 at $74,338 for hard copy and then $98,914.50 online. Imagina level four at 148 thou $148,895.50 for hard copy and then $4,68.90 for online and then TAMAP at $7,948.50 with shipping of $1,54148 and professional learning of $2,000. Dr. Schiffer, >> thank you. I'm proud to be here on behalf of the office of curriculum instruction for these proposals this evening. Uh we're going to start off with the proposals for new and revised courses and then proposals for new or revised textbooks. So uh our first uh proposal is for a new uh course at the high school in the world language department. Uh it's for French 4. This is a new pathway for students. French
0884 is now in a combined course for IB French. Um, not all students are interested in the IB pathway. So, we'd like to offer more access to our students who are interested in pursuing uh French instruction. So, this would be another pathway for students who may not want to go uh the IB pathway. Um, also there are adjustments to the AP French course that will not allow us to combine that course in IB uh with those changes to the AP curriculum, the advanced placement curriculum. So, it will be it will need to be a separate course. The second course at the high school is in the art department. We currently have two courses with lower enrollment. Um, that's the sculpture course and the fibers and crafts courses. So our thought was to combine those two
089courses to kind of reinvent the course uh which is going to be 3D art and design. This course will focus on 3D art, art materials and traditional crafts as well as technical skills with glass, metal, wood, wire and fiber. Um sculpturing opportunities will be uh available for students and other projects will also be developed that are functional and usable. So, we're really excited about combining those two courses to kind of reinvent a new course to interest students. Uh, new uh textbooks um for um different departments. In our social studies department, we have a proposal for a new psychology textbook. Um the current textbook uh was the copyright was 2017. There have been significant updates in research since the fourth edition. So, we're proposing the seventh edition for the course that was rewritten last year. So,
090we waited for this edition to come out and we feel that this uh textbook would better support the curriculum. Uh in high school and our business education uh department, we're really excited about some new energy in the business department. Um led by our content specialist, Mr. Brener. Um we have a new textbook for introduction to business. We've never had a textbook for that course, so this would be a new textbook. Um and we are uh currently rewriting that course as well that what will come to you in April with a revised course, but we're hoping the textbook gets approved so we can use that to write the new um curriculum at the middle school and high school in the world language department. We're really excited for the Spanish alignment for all of our students taking
091Spanish in grades um 7 through 12. So realize the costs seem high. These textbooks were allocated in our multi-year plan. So, the funding is available and and has been planned for in the multi-year plan, but you can see the the levels um for each of uh the the coursework including um the advanced placement um textbooks that are needed for each level. There are hard copies for classroom use and then the online materials are so that students can access that outside of the classroom. So, they wouldn't necessarily have the hard copy textbook. They wouldn't need to be carrying that around. They would use that in class. And that's why you'll see additional costs for online materials so that students can continue to access the materials and resources they need for those courses. Here's the overview of
092proposed expenses that were already shared. Um, again, just keeping in mind with the world language textbook that that amount is allowed for in our multi-year plan. Um, the other textbooks are part of our budget planning for next school year. Um, the grand total for these proposed expenses is $217,000. 217621.88. Want to acknowledge our content specialists and supervisors that are here this evening. Mr. Rutled Ridge, social studies content specialist. Mr. Brener, our business content specialist. Mr. Jones, our um 7th through 12 art content specialist, wasn't able to make it this night tonight, but I was happy to share that information. U Mrs. Long, our supervisor of multilingual learning. And I really want to acknowledge as well the curriculum review committee um which teachers um administration are all part of in terms of reviewing the curriculum um
093as well as district administration. So thank you. Are there any questions? And our content specialists and supervisors are happy to jump in to also answer any questions you might have about these proposals. >> Thank you everyone for being here and thank you Dr. Schaefer for walking us through that process. If I do, as you were saying, I was reading I think I uh I read a wrong number at one point and added uh well over $130,000 to the total and I was thinking about the math didn't really add up. I just going to go with what I wrote. So, thank you. I should say it was $18,895.50 for the hard copy book. Um we don't all need to pass out for $150,000 book and I almost made it through unscathed. Are there any questions or
094thoughts for my colleagues? Dr. McCart, >> thank you. Um, I just had a question. You mentioned with the Spanish textbooks that you would be spending money on hard copies and then additional monies for the online access. Does that mean you're buying fewer hard copies because they would remain in the classroom so they could be shared? >> Correct. >> Okay. They're for classroom use. Great. Thank you, >> Mr. Reero. >> So, what kind of input did teachers have into picking those specific textbooks? >> So, and by the way, they are all over on the table over there. I failed to mention that. So all the textbooks that we're bringing are all over there for review. Um so what you'll see is for textbook proposals, our teachers will look at multiple copies of different [clears throat] textbooks
095and they go through a vetting process um all in the curriculum documents where they evaluate the different features that they're looking for in the textbooks. Um they do a comprehensive study. They research different textbooks, different editions. Um they compile all the information. and they have department conversation. Um, and then they make a suggestion based off of then what would best support the curriculum or if the curriculum would need to be rewritten. Did I miss anything? I Tom and Steve, Linda, anything else that the departments No. >> Okay. All right. I >> They're the ones that actually experienced that. So, I wanted I wanted to make sure I didn't >> Sounds like they're very involved in the process then. >> They are. They are the they lead the process with their departments. I would not be
096able to pick a Spanish textbook. [laughter] >> Uh, one other question. The professional learning $2,000. What do what is that exactly? >> When we get new resources, especially as robust as the Spanish series, companies offer the professional learning to help our staff know how to use those materials correctly. So a lot of times with what is offered we there might be platforms that we'll need to you to utilize and teach students how to utilize. So the professional learning comes with those products and and a lot of times we need that so we know how to teachers know how to best use those materials. >> Is that ongoing support or just like a one-time thing? >> Linda, do you recall is it ongoing? A lot of times it's when you initially buy the resources, but a
097but a lot of times if we need to reach out, you know, there might be a certain amount of hours and we'll use a certain amount of hours the first year and then we might have 20 hours left that we can use consecutive years. It it really just depends on the needs. So it might work that way. A lot of times we use them a lot in the first year. We don't need anymore. Sometimes you can purchase additional hours if needed, but a lot of times they we also can use a certain amount and then use ours later. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr. Rivera. Anyone else? Mam. >> Um, Dr. I, you you kind of touched on this earlier. I was just curious how the school district measures the success
098or evaluate the effective effectiveness of new updated curriculum. Is there a way to measure the improvement student outcomes? Do you give a certain time frame and then everyone meets up? I'm just trying to understand that process more. >> Sure. Absolutely. Yes, we use multiple data points to assess the effectiveness of our curriculum. So, student outcome data as you mentioned. Um, we use perceptual data. How do students feel about their learning? How do parents feel about their learning? How do teachers feel about the learning that's taking place? We use demographic data. Um, we use process data, observations, uh, walkback walkthrough feedback in terms of what we're seeing in classrooms. Um, so all those are taking into consideration. And we also use state achievement data and all those pieces let us know whether our curriculum is aligning
099with standards whether all students are successful with it. That's why that demographic data is important because we have to be sure that our curriculum is culturally responsive for all students. So that's a big piece that we look at as we look at all the different pieces of determining the metrics of whether our curriculum is effective. Then other pieces we look at is we look at instruction. So what professional learning do our teachers need to be able to deliver that curriculum? We can have a fabulous curriculum, but if we don't provide the support that teachers need to be able to deliver it, that's a whole another consideration. So we also look at the instructional needs. Um and then of course the resources and materials that are needed um to support the curriculum. Do we need to
100update a resource? Um so those are all the considerations the metrics that we use um as we go through a curriculum cycle and have feedback loops to make sure we don't we don't wait five years in a curriculum cycle if we need to make changes. So that's why as you mentioned those data points are really important. It's like the progress monitoring you're continually taking the temperature of the curriculum um so that we're sure that students are growing and and that we're effective in our in our process. Miss Zimmerman, >> I will admit that this question comes from a household whose child loves art in the high school, but I'm cur it brought to mind when we change a course, are they and they've already perhaps taken that course, sculptured, do how do we work that
101into are they able to take the new course or is it then off limits for kids? Well, I think any of you that know our art teachers at the high school, it it's a new course. So, we would it would be differentiated, especially if you know Mr. Jones in terms of uh his work uh with differentiation and working with his team. So, if there's a course that a student a piece of that that a student has already took, it will be a new course um where certainly can be differentiated to meet the student's needs if they've already had some of those concepts. Thank you. Any other thoughts or questions? >> Okay, Dr. Shaker, thank you. >> Thank you. >> We are on now to item K, a recommendation to approve the first reading of the
102following policies with the final approval in March. Policy 103, discrimination and harassment affecting students. Policy 204, attendance. Policy 218.1, weapons. Policy 247 hazing and policy 903 public comment and board meetings. Dr. Ryan, welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Grar. Good evening, school board and community. I'm happy to walk the uh the board through these five policies. um not an extensive amount of changes and recommendations in each. Uh these come from PSBA and a legal team uh that makes recommendations to us and uh generally we are recommending to the board to be uh to accept the the recommended changes that you see in each one of these policies. Uh beginning with 103 you can see that there was an addition of the the term religious among the reasons that students cannot be discriminated against. There is a
103definition of what pregnancy means. There is a definition added for race and the policy also now calls for if there are supportive measures being instituted in a in relation to a title n investigation that it would be required for the title N coordinator to have communication with the director of special education if we're talking about a student that has an IEP. So those are the changes associated with policy 103. Any questions on that one? I'll go one at a time with the board. >> Thank you. That is fine. I just want to specify that PSBA is the Pennsylvania School Board Association. It is a uh associative body that provides supports for school boards across the Commonwealth. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Grant. Policy 204 as attendance. Um this adjustment is looking for anytime we
104are issuing a truency notice to a family that there are now some added specifications that we have to outline the consequences that are associated with a truent student. uh it needs to be delivered in the preferred language. Um there are transfer limitations for cyber programs which is there's some additional legislation that's associated with that policy change where a student who is known to be u defined as habitually truent cannot uh transfer to a cyber program unless it's ordered by a court. So that's outlined in this policy as well. Um we need to also share uh resources or supports um you know that would promote regular attendance in this notification and we have to make sure those notices are issued to all contacts within the system so that we are reaching you know all the adults
105in the lives of a student who's um struggling with attendance. So some positive components that I see there with uh changes to 204 for attendance. >> Absolutely Dr. uh how do we collect the um information to provide notices in the mode and language that the that the parents desire? >> Soon oh I'm sorry are you good? >> Y >> upon enrollment is when all that information is collected and if there's ever any updates as we travel which this does happen you know addresses change and um acceptable contacts change. So when they walk in the door, we are we're making sure that we have all that information clear and as we go, parents are also able to update that information as well. >> Sure. >> Is this generally what we are already doing? You don't see
106any major changes that we need to >> I I don't see anything major. It's a it's a matter of taking the letter the letters that we issue for truency are very standard. Um, it's it would just be a matter of us making sure to check against the check. Are the are the notifications in there? Are the supportive resources in there? This would this is not going to be a heavy lift for us at all. Good question, Mr. K. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> What services do we use for interpretation and translation? We have um vendor contracts with at least three or four different programs that we can do for translation. If we're going to hold hold a meeting right now, we can dial an 800 number, punch in the language, and um we have a
107code number and we we can communicate with that family right on the spot. Uh we also have translation services um are more frequently used languages. Some of those letters we already have ready to go. Uh if it's a language that we have not used before, we have um vendors as well that can assist with that. Yep. All right. Are we good if I go to 218.1? Okay. Uh, so for weapons, when we ever we have if we would have a weapon in a school that is confirmed to have in some way been represented with a threat to a student or the school or an employee or a facility in some way. Uh this this policy is now obligating us to ensure that our threat assessment team is notified that law enforcement is notified. Uh the
108parents or guardians of any students who are directly involved with that incident would need to be notified. Um we've also learned about act 44 recently which requires us that if there's a weapon incident at a building uh and there are other buildings on that campus, we would need to notify all the families on that particular campus that are connected with that building. And um we also need to make sure that we report that incident to the state uh with our annual reporting. This is a to I'm going to try to beat Mrs. Hence's question because you might say are we doing that already? Yes, this is also not a heavy lift. Mr. Deetsz and principles are very ingrained with this process and uh this will not be a heavy lift or or new sort of
109approach for us either. It's just making sure that those notifications go out. If it qualifies as a weapon that was connected to a threat, we have to work through each one of those steps. >> I actually had a question from u PTO members uh at the PTO me I attended uh regarding this um if we could establish some kind of um specific notice that goes out because this is anything. This can be the meest unimportant thing that happened, but you still have to report. Correct. And what they were saying is there could be could there be a code of some sort with this is a a generally u how would the wording be? This is the you know our our usual notification to you that something has taken place or you know there a significant
110incident took place today on the camp. So that you're going through, you could get suck a lot of you know going through your email then you'd be you know what you'd be getting and they you wouldn't be worried well what actually happened and how what kind of weapon was it and so forth. So they were just wondering if something could be developed that would aid parents in that way. >> We have it's it's a great question we have worked with with Mr. Deetsz Mrs. statements on working towards some standard text and and that would come along with communications like this. Um some of our conversation has has circulated around we recognize the spirit of what the policy and the law is trying to accomplish. But it also has the the potential to oh it's another
111act 44 notice that this is no big deal. We're we're a little uneasy about people being almost desensitized to the message. So, I think the way that we're trying to avoid that is just having plain speak. Um, if there's cause for alarm, we're going to be working with law enforcement, with Mr. Deetsz, with our threat assessment team. If there's not, we still have to tell parents, we did have a weapon that, you know, nitrower today and that's our compliance with the law. >> The parents comment was um how then to address their students when they come home because it could be that the students didn't know anything about it and they'd be, you know, trying to get information from the kid. kids hadn't heard anything because it really hadn't applied. >> Um so that they
112just wanted a little bit of guidance on on how to respond in that way. So I'm just sharing that so you can continue to share it with member. >> Thank you Mr. S. And I think given the nature of our campus that has a sign our main campus which has a significant number of schools who are particularly susceptible to this type of thing. You know the guidance that that this board received in part from from an incident earlier this year and then you know from our solicitor and the other team members that Dr. Ramen named is that this is a this is potentially a kind of a threshold changing piece of legislation for schools all across the Commonwealth um not just us. So I I'd be interested to hear if we've compared notes with the
113IU or some of our other you know uh companion schools across the county to to to try to again make sure that we're comparing notes. we are identifying some sort of similar pathway of agreement. Um so that you know it it raised some pretty significant alarms last time with this we did have to issue that that that notice and in a way that did feels disproportional from what we understood about the actual event. But certainly I I think Mr. H. I've been thinking about that same thing. I mean I have I have parents and my my my my wife works in the school district. So this is certainly something that we take quite seriously, but trying to provide more public education, more standardized practices is something that I'd like to see our our administration continue
114to do both independently and with part in partnership with our schools across the our partner schools across the region. >> Yes, that is your partner school. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Any other thoughts before Dr. Ryman continues? Okay. Thanks, Dr. Ryman. Cool. Keep going. >> Okay. Policy 247, hazing. Um there's qualified language in here that speaks to discrimination and harassment. They were kind of um coupled in a way, but now you can see that they've been sort of bifurcate or split in half where we're talking about discrimination or harassment. Um and and they also have some nomenclature adjustments in there where instead of police they say law enforcement agency just to kind of generalize those terms and make them functional across all kinds all kinds of PA public school districts. So just those two adjustments with hazing
115and fifth and final um 903 public comments at board meetings. Um my understanding is the will of the board is to make an adjustment to um the five minute maximum to hold that and to um cancel the second chance at comment which you see on the bottom of page two. >> Thank you Dr. Ryman. We did uh discuss this last month as a board. We received pretty significant information in terms of practices from other schools districts across the county and region. Uh Mr. Bolazar, you brought that issue. I'm happy to make space if you have any thoughts in particular. I know a number of board members have have have uh you know engaged in a pretty robust discussion last time. So uh happy Mr. Bulazar if you if you want to share. >> No, I
116think um the change that's proposed is is fair. Takes that second part away. So it stops the pingponging dynamic back and forth and a debate going on in the audience not necessarily here. So I think that's a like given all the debate that went on I think it's a fair place to land. Thank you for that. Anyone else? Well, at lots of people. I'm going to start down Mr. River, then go to you, Miss Whitbury, then you Dr. Mardle. >> Yeah, I think when we had the conversation last time, we used the term outlier and sometimes it has a negative conic connotation, but I think in this case, I think it's good that we're an outlier. I think, you know, to provide to be known as a district that gives the most amount of time
117to a residents to speak, I think is a good thing. Uh, I looked into in a sense when somebody steps at the mic, I think they're trying to give a persuasive speech essentially to us. And so I I looked up what's the average time of a persuasive speech and that ended up being 5 to seven minutes. So I think that's good as well. And also, you know, in in thinking about being equitable, I think the most equitable thing to do would be to give the longer time period given that again some people aren't good public speakers, some people speak a foreign language. It's English is their second language. uh some people work you know two jobs and don't have time to prepare three minute speech and and rehearse it. So I think that the most
118equitable thing to do would be to provide those five minutes. >> Thank you Mr. Bear. Miss Woodberry. >> Yes. I also wanted to point out that we still are an outlier in a good way in that we we give more this five minutes that we have just the one time will still be more more generous time than most school districts. And I think we're proud of that. I think it's one of the things that we are are really um put just making sure that our policy aligns with our values of hearing from the community and hearing well from them while we are keeping a safe environment where we are are asking our community to talk to the board um and not not necessarily to debate or talk to each other during public comment which is
119what our policy says and what really the spirit of the policy has always been and I hope that that that back and forth period which can I think could be really intimidating to people. Eliminating that really is a way of keeping things psychologically safe and and really including people and who might be really intimidated to speak at all and knowing we want people we sincerely want to hear from our community. So thanks >> Dr. McCardon. >> Thank you. Um I just had a question. Um, so the the language will will read once that sentence is struck that no individual may speak more than once on the same topic. Does that mean that an individual could speak a second time if they're speaking about a different topic? >> Yes. >> Forward. My understanding would be that
120they could bring forward commentary on nitrower and then commentary on a board policy. >> Okay. But we're just limiting them to five minutes on one topic. >> On one topic. Okay, good, good point of order. Thank you, >> Mr. McKenna. >> In theory, it would allow for more than than two opportunities to speak. If you choose to speak about the agenda and then you also want to engage in public comment about any other area of concern for the board and you also had a two of those either two agenda items or you had two. So, I I think to your point around being generous with the time, I think we're still being quite generous. Um, I think four minutes, three minutes would still be reasonable and still allow for adequate participation. I heard the the
121point around equity. That's very important to me as well. I do see that there could be a possible um unintended consequence of multiple people speaking at five minutes and then someone's like, well, I I can't stay. And I think we even saw that during the debate around the track, right? We had multiple students who were here who were eager to share their perspective as student athletes and the meeting kept going and there was not actually an opportunity till very very late on a school night for them to engage. So just another perspective on how a a change of this nature may not actually be sufficient to um to accomplish what we seek. I think it's an progress from where we we had a draft last month. Um, I could see additional modifications also being warranted.
122>> Thank you, M. McKenna. I will say not not dissimilar to our AI committee, we do have both Miss Woodbury and Miss Zimmerman who have expressed interest in shephering much of our policy review process for this board. So, uh, I see this as an ongoing and iterative process where we can learn and adjust as needed. So, I I concur. If we see it's not fitting our needs, we can we can we should uh continue to engage. >> Any other thoughts? >> Can I just clarify one thing? [clears throat] Like going back to no individual may speak more than once on the same topic. There's a limit to that though, right? Like if I have five different topics I want to talk about, do I get to talk to for 25 minutes? I I would think
123I I would think we'd want to say we'd want to put a limit to that and say you can speak once for five minutes, come back. I mean, and you may speak one other time on a separate topic. If Mr. Grer, if you would like, I'm I'm happy to review a solicitor. I'm happy to take this feedback and arrange for a top an edit that's maybe takes out two words that might resolve some of what the concerns are. If you'd like me to do that, you can direct me and I'm happy to do that. >> I will say Dr. Mardle, you kind of opened a a box of worms. I didn't anticipate I didn't I didn't anticipate. So, I appreciate your your thoughtfulness on that. I I will say my impression was this policy was
124going to have people able to speak for five minutes. Um, so I'm actually Miss Davidson too. I'm wondering like can we how how much can we tinker with this before we have to restart this process >> and you I can re state what she's saying to the microphone or you can come to the microphone. Yeah. >> Okay. So what Mrs. Davidson said is we can make some some changes around the edges, bring that back for our second reading next month and not have to restart this process. Okay. So, I think uh I think that's probably what we were going to want to do. Dr. McCart. >> Thank you. Just in response to what Mr. McKenna said about um the possibility that it could just go on and on and on. I wonder if there could
125be something in the policy that would give the president the discretion to notice the number of people who want to speak and say given the high number of uh people wanting to speak, we are limiting comments to three minutes this evening. Like could there be something where you would be able or whoever is the president would be able to do that? Um I I don't know but it just you know that was just a thought that occurred to me as we were speaking. Yeah, that's a that's a good thought, Miss Woodbury. >> So, I just have empathy for the person sitting in the president's chair, and I want to just say that um my my recommendation or my hope and my wonder at the same time is about the language of the policy as it
126is, the one that we're changing. Um, there are previous iterations of the policy, I have a feeling that on the same topic is in there because the second chance had been added, but prior to that change of letting folks speak twice, I think the on the same topic had to do with the fact that they were adding the speak twice. I think I've looked at previous versions, more than one previous versions. Mrs. Davidson did not have Yes. that it did not have on the same topic. It would just say um that they're able to speak for five minutes period and that would be the end of that sentence. If that is the wish of the board, I would say to for Dr. Ryman to repeat that that that's what the change would want to be
127and then we can make that change and bring it. If we start going back and forth with different changes, it could take us back to first reading again. >> Right. That's so that's I would just say to then the sentence there that you can speak for five minutes and then just strike the words on that topic because that related to the second I'll say that that is aligned with my intention. Um, happy. Okay, I'm seeing not I think we have consensus miss. >> Okay, bottom of page two. >> We might just need to clarify this is each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration. So there might need to be some change to that statement. Also >> I think for the purposes of this we can we can express an
128intention that I believe Dr. Ryman is hearing and then Dr. Ryman can work with our solicitor at Sax and Stump um and internal team and then bring back an informed reading for us next month. Is that fair? >> If if the board likes that Mr. McKenna, >> Mr. McKenna and I also see Mrs. H. >> I that would satisfy the the questions that I raised. Um so thank you for that. >> Mrs. sense. >> I was wondering if we needed that at all. If we have each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes duration. If we're not if we're not going to add um on one topic or anything else, um each each statement made by a participant shall be limited to five minutes should be enough. So I think we
129we can't be accused of not being thoughtful on this and certainly I hope we've provided enough direction to Okay. So I think that's that's the objective here is we need to provide enough clarity for the team to give us uh a second reading consistent with what we've discussed here. Do you have something else miss? But we can remember that as a board should there be a special meeting on a topic where we know there are a lot of people who wish to speak um we can revise adjust set our policy for that particular meeting. We always have that option >> and we would should that arise. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. I believe that's it for our first readings and now we are on to item L, our recommendation to approve the second reading and
130final approval of the following policies. Policy 209.2 diabetes management policy 805.1 relations with law enforcement agencies and policy 805.2 school security personnel. Dr. Redmond. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Grunt. Yep. These three policies were presented last month for first read and as a second read this month. I'm happy to take any questions that the board might have on the updates PSBA recommended updates to these three policies. Are there any questions? No questions on this one. Okay? Thank you, Dr. Ryman. We are on to our last item, item M, a recommendation to approve the presented outofstate or overnight field trips. Thank you, Dr. Ryman. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Grer. Tonight, I have three field trips. uh for the board that require your approval per policy 121 given that they are outofstate trips. Uh these are
131all high school trips and I have verified with Mr. Mr. Hollandback and Mrs. Reneer that there is a plan in place for funding chaperon's supervision and transportation and I'd like to recommend that the board give approval for these trips to continue to be planned and ultimately taken uh this month and in April. >> Thank you. Any thoughts or questions for Dr. Ramen? Miss Woodbury, >> looks like they're all out of state and none of them are overnight. >> That is correct. >> Thank you. And thank you for the changes you've made uh to this document a few times and make it really clear for the board. Appreciate you. >> My pleasure. Yeah. >> Anyone else? Mrs. H >> have um extracurricular type things that the kids are checking. Why Why are the four students going?
132What's the purpose of of the the student athletes to the Sussex Community College? >> The third trip gives an opportunity for those students to see a college environment and um potentially be able to to both study at the collegiate level and also compete at the collegiate level. So we have a Mr. Evans is going to be able to take those kids and connect them with that opportunity. But our other athletes don't our other students don't get school authorized trips to see colleges. I'm just wondering where this pops up for 4K. >> This is less often a trip that less often than we would um normally be bringing to the board for approval, but because that this opportunity presented itself and and Coach Evans was available opportunity. >> It was a unique opportunity is correct. Okay.
133Thank you, Mr. Tense. Thank you, Dr. Ryman. Anyone else? >> Okay, moving on. Thank you, Dr. Ryman. We are on to item four, Manhattan Township community comments. Residents, taxpayers, and district district employees and students are welcome and encouraged to participate. To speak, please submit a commenters card to the board secretary as you approach the microphone. In accordance with policy 903, state your name and limit your remarks to five minutes. And the board will not uh speak once per topic unless others have finished after which an additional five minutes may be granted. The board will not engage in discussion at this time and followup will be provided as needed. Is there anyone who wishes to make a comment this evening? You're already there. Welcome. Please share your name. Mark Sellers. Um and thank you for upholding
134the uh public comments to five minutes. Appreciate it. Um, one of the items you were given to by Ree, Patrick, and Scott was in this router elementary priority matrix. I would just ask this board to ask yourselves who made it, who assigned the topics, and most importantly, who assigned the values to the priority matrix? RLPS, the architectural firm, stands to benefit the most monetarily from the most expensive option. They also dictated which two options this school board will decide, which I found extremely arrogant. If you remember, they placed two X's over option A and option B, and that should have been your decision. Uh, Mr. Boulders are I appreciate you thinking outside the box with your comments about tsing the difference by three. So if you take a 1, three, five, and seven, why stop
135at three? If you put a zero behind it, it's 10, 30, 50, and 70. In fact, why stop there? Put another zero behind it and it's 100, 300, 500, and 700. And you end up with a 600 point difference instead of a six in the original. With this mode of thinking, the highest price option in this case will always be selected. I find it interesting that when you're looking at the matrix, the side circulation, they put the status quo zero. So, I guess there's no pickup and drop off. The corridors we were told were a little small for today's building standards. Yet I saw desks or should I say tables in the hallway. Um and the status quo got a zero on that as well. It was interesting because I found my I I called
136my friend on this who I went to Nitro Elementary with and ironically and he said, "You know, those salespeople from the architectural firms, those those those architectural firm people are pretty good salespeople." I was like, "The guy nailed it." Now, he's a CPA and he works with school districts in New York, so he gets to hear a lot of that. Um, and more ironically, his father was a principal at William E. Nitra. So, I would say that when we looked at the original building and we toured, I would implore this board, if you haven't already, to go and tour the building for yourselves before you make a decision to just tear it down and build a new because we're looking at $3.5 million. And that's woefully low as far as a 63.6 6 million to
137build a whole new school. What I will say is this. If you look at the current building and you want to rebuild it, if you think educational outcomes are going to be improved by doing that, studies have shown that it's the parents and the students value that they place on education that determines how successful they are as students, not the building itself. I would also say that you you should really look at your taxpayers is not an unlimited revenue stream. Um, one thing I will say when you're looking at main township residents, Pennsylvania residences and and at large this country, they vote with their pocketbooks. So, I don't want to see the school board in four years get totally voted out because you've raised the residents taxpayers money. Um, one of the reasons why we
138were also given that the new ele the old elementary school to to be torn down was that the cafeteria and the playground were on opposite sides of the building. What I'll say is that when you're looking at that, for 61 years it was okay for the students to go from the cafeteria to the to the uh uh playground and vice versa, but now it's not. I would also say that when our our guide took us through, she said, you know, there's two maintenance uh rooms right outside the cafeteria, and I believe they have a bathroom in them. Yeah. might they be the same ones that I used as a student back in Nitro Elementary when I went many many years ago? So, I would just say that um I just hope that you guys really
139make a good hard decision. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Zers. Would anyone else like to comment? Okay, seeing no one. Sure, there's no one. Okay, that brings us to a German. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved, >> Mr. Bazar. Is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. McKenna. Thank you. Our next meeting is Thursday, February 19th, 2026 at 6 PM here in the district office. As a reminder, schoolboard meetings can also be viewed online during the meeting or afterwards by going to the district website or our YouTube page. Comment or questions for the board may be emailed to board secretary mtwp.net. Thank you to all Mannheim Township staff, administrators, volunteers for your dedication to our students and community. All in favor adjournment say I. I. >> Oppose. Nay. >> The motion
140carries. Thanks to all. We are adjourned. Good night. worked out.