001[applause] Good evening. This meeting of the mainland school board is now called to order. Welcome to everyone here in person and those joining us online. In addition to the live stream, both audio and video are being recorded. Nurture and challenge for success is our district's mission that serves as a reminder of our intent to enable every Manheim Township student to learn, grow, and thrive. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. [clears throat] love to see us. We are on to our announcements. Before I even start those announcements, I want to uh share that Mr. McKenna is not here this evening and Mrs. Hence is under the weather, but I am deeply
002grateful for her joining us over the phone. So, thank you, Mrs. Hence. See if she can weigh in or not. But I heard that that's good. That's enough for me. Okay, some other announcements. Uh, members of our community are encouraged to participate in board meetings in person or to view them online. In support of both transparency and community engagement, recordings of meetings can now also be watched afterwards on the district's YouTube channel. Also, before we also before we begin this evening's meeting, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our middle school triump string quartet for providing the beautiful holiday music in the lobby tonight. Please join me in recognizing Lizzie Jer on viola, Elizabeth Lee on violin, Raymond Wang on violin, and Luke Noak on cello. We are grateful for your talent,
003your time, and the joy you brought to this evening's gathering. Thank you for representing Manhattan Township with such musical excellence. [applause] [applause] You can come in if you want. Yeah. >> Another one. Yes. Thank you. [applause] >> We also want to recognize the wonderful artwork displayed in the lobby and boardroom this evening. Created by the students from Bre and Schaefer elementary schools under the guidance of Miss Tennet. The pieces on display for December and January reflect a wide range of creative learning experiences across grade levels. Kindergarteners used shapes to design snow gloes featuring themselves. First graders created textured landscapes highlighting whimsical gingerbread houses. Third graders designed expressive self-portraits with scratchaway winter scars, crayon resistant backgrounds, and contributed ink drawings of their Lunar New Year animals. Fourth graders designed vibrant food trucks exploring color schemes and
004contrasting colors. And also featured is a winter wonderland installation including a paper chain created by second graders and 3D snowflakes created by third and fourth graders. [clears throat] We are grateful to Miss Hene and her talented students for contributing such joyful and imaginative artwork to welcome everyone into this evening's meeting. Thank you. I would also say just as a personal side, I remember uh my children making food trucks uh in that program and it was I the the creativity and I I never knew food trucks could handle such variety of foods and imaginative ideas. So it was just a joy to see them again this evening. Next, uh the main township school district is proud to recognize two important national celebrations that highlight our commitment to supporting every learner. Inclusive Schools Week and Computer Science
005Education Week. Inclusive Schools Week invites schools across the country to reflect on the progress made toward creating learning environments where all students feel welcomed and valued. It also challenges us to consider how we can continue strengthening our practices to ensure that every child, regardless of ability, background, language, or circumstance, has access to meaningful, engaging learning opportunities. This year's theme, children first, aligns closely with the message of Dr. Pete. Hefty uh that with the message, excuse me, that Dr. Pete Hefty shared with staff on opening day. Inspired by the Masai greeting, Cesarian and Jerry, I hope I pronounced that right. How are the children? The theme reminds us which means and how are the children. Uh this theme reminds us that the well-being of our children reflects the well-being of the entire community. It encourages us
006to ask whether every student is reaching their full potential and whether our practices truly reflect equity, access, and belonging for all learners. Putting children first means designing schools where every student is seen, supported, and celebrated and creating creating environments that benefit all students who enter through our doors. And also, we are celebrating computer science education week, which highlights the critical role computer science plays in preparing students for the future. Held annually in honor of computer science pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper. This week underscores the importance of expanding access to high quality computer science education so that all students regardless of background can develop the skills they need to think creatively, solve problems, and innovate. Here at Manheim Township School District, we are committed to ensuring equitable opportunities for students to explore coding, robotics, digital media, engineering,
007and other STEM pathways. Those exper these experiences strengthen essential skills such as collaboration, perseverance, and critical thinking, empowering students to shape their futures in an increasingly digital world. As we honor these two important national weeks, Manheim Township School District reaffirms its dedication to building inclusive, innovative, and future ready learning environments where every child can learn, grow, and thrive. Thank you to all of our students, staff, and families for supporting this important work and for helping us keep children at the center of all we do. That's it for announcements. Thank you, Mr. Lions. Are we we're doing okay now? Okay. Thank you so much. >> Having trouble hearing you, so we just >> I'll speak right into that microphone to you. So, thank you so much. We are on to uh an exciting development number two
008on our agenda. School board organization, Mr. Raone Rivera, uh prepared to take his oath of office. And so, on behalf of the district, we extend our congratulations to Mr. Rivera, our newest school board member. We are grateful for his willingness to serve our community and to contribute his time, perspective, and leadership to support the success of our students, staff, and schools. We look forward to working alongside Mr. Rivera as he begins his term and joins us in his share our shared commitment to providing outstanding educational opportunities for every student. Please join us in welcoming him to the board and congratulate him on this important role. [applause] talk loudly. >> Just talk really loud and you'll be good. >> Okay. >> Be right up. >> Okay. I, Raone Rivera, >> I, Raone Rivera, >> do solemnly
009swear >> that I will support, obey, and defend >> the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of this Commonwealth >> and the Constitution of this Commonwealth >> and that I will discharge >> the duties of my office >> with fidelity. >> You're all set. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you so much and congratulations, Mr. Rivera. grateful to have you. >> Okay, now we are moving on to number three, presentations, and this is a budget update from Mrs. Robbins. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> This evening, I'll be reviewing two items with you. The first being the year end actuals for the 2425 budget and also the 2526 state budget update. At next month's work session, we will be presenting to you the 2425 audited financial statements. However, I did want to provide
010um you with a brief overview of how we did um with last fiscal year. The 2425 state budget was approved on July 11th, 2024, weeks after we approved our budget on June 13, 2024. Uh the members that were on the board at that time may recall that we were very unsure about the adequacy funds we may we may have received. Um since 2425 was the first year of potentially receiving these funds. Uh we didn't have any idea how much to budget for these adequacy funds. So you'll see one of the major variances in the 2425 budget um was because we did end up fortunately receiving these funds. A reminder, the adequacy funds represent the state's effort to address the court ruling on unconstitutional school funding by bridging what they call an adequacy gap. We did
011really well for 2425. The local economy remained very strong, so we received more earned income taxes, transfer taxes, and interest earnings than planned. Additionally, as previously stated, we did not anticipate receiving the adequacy funds. Um, so in total, we realized a positive revenue variance of 4.6%. We did incur some additional unanticipated costs related to special education and transportation which led us to overspending our expenses by 1.5%. Overall, we ended up with a surplus of a little bit over a million dollars. Um, and at next month's work session, we will be recommending to the board to transfer that million dollars to our capital reserve fund um in order to reduce the borrowing that will be needed for nature hour and the campus master plan. And another note is that next month we'll also have Raymond James
012here at the January work session to provide an overview of our current debt and borrowing scenarios. So here's a um snapshot of the totals for 2425. You'll see in the first column what our budget was for our expenses and revenues and what our actuals were. Again, you'll see our expenditures came in about $1.96 million over budget. We're about 1.5%. revenues came in over budget about 5.56 million or about $4.6 million over budget for addition to our fund balance or savings account of 1,52,634. And as I just mentioned, we will be recommending that a million dollars next month be transferred over to our cap reserve fund to reduce future borrowings for nature hour and um campus master plan. Um so for 2425, I just wanted to highlight the major variances there. um the debt capital reserve
013transfer of 790,000 over budget. Back in May, you approved um transfer $200,000 of energy savings over cap reserve. We had to expense that then um for future um energy savings projects and also about $310,000 um we had a debt savings due to a refinance from 2021 that the board allowed us to keep our debt level in order to be able to continue to save for capital projects. Um, our salary and wage. Um, I want to highlight that. That's an $84 million line item. We came in 0.44% under budget. So, we're super proud of that. Um, special education services and transportation. There's those are two larger variances. Um, as the board knows, we do zerobased budgeting, which means we only budget for students that we know are outplaced. Um, and throughout the year, we did have
014additional students that needed to be um outplaced and receive IU services as well. And along with that, we had additional transportation needs with our displaced students and also specialized transportation. We reflected that variance there. Um the grant piece, uh PTU makes us recognize grant revenue on the expense side and on the revenue side. So you'll see that we're going to be over in expenses and also over in revenue. You'll notice that by reviewing the revenue numbers. And finally, budgetary reserve that represents 0.3% of our budget. Um, we do budget about $400,000 that line item for unanticipated expenses. We did not need to use that. That was under budget by 400,000. So the total extension variance for 2425 is about 1.959 million or 1.5% over budget. Here's our major revenue variances. Again, we had a very
015um strong local economy again last year that um we realized $724,000 in additional earned income taxes that were not anticipated. We do rely on our tax bureau to provide us with those estimates. Um so we just were a little bit over budget there. Interest earnings, we're always looking to maximize interest earnings. So we did really well there as well. Um we're $776,000 over. Um you may know that the Fed has cut three times now this year. So we don't anticipate having as much this year but we will take the earnings last year. Um transfer taxes that's for home sales that was higher than anticipated at $592,000 over budget there because of the late passing of state budget. The next two items basic ed subsidy special ed subsidy and adequacy adequacy funds. Those are all funds
016that we did not anticipate due to the late passing of the state budget. So you'll see the biggest piece of the revenue um variances due to those adequacy funds of the 1.758 million. Uh the grant piece I was talking about you'll see the 499,000 over budget there. So total revenue variances for 2425 is uh 5.56 million or 4.6%. I want to share with you what our fund balance looks like. Again, this is sort of like our savings account. Uh we have um with that $1 million ad 22.4 4 million. Obviously, if you authorize to transfer next month, that would get down to 21.4 million. And the breakout of that 22.4 is um most of it's committed on the left side of the screen. We are self-insured, so we do recommend and this is just for
017financial statement purposes. It was a single board action for us to move those these these buckets around. But for financial statement purposes, we have to put these into different categories. We are self-insured for health insurance. We do um want to make sure we have that set aside 4.3 million in case we do have a not so great health insurance year. Um the future capital projects, that's a 3.2 million. Again, that will drop down to 2.2 if you authorize that transfer. Um I'll highlight the curriculum and technology. Those two line items are directly tied to our multi-year plan. We have a 10-year multi-year plan. We don't want our budget to go up and down. So we um we do anticipate the board authorized using 1.1 million of the curriculum money for the current year for [clears
018throat] onetime curriculum purchases that that should go down um during this current year. And then on the um right side of the screen you'll see the biggest piece there is the aside that's 8% of our budget. We did put that aside for unanticipated expenditures. That's 10.58 million for a total of 22.4 million in our fund balance. So we're in great shape there. You'll see some dates there. We're talking about three different years here. So, this is the 26 27 budget development when our next steps are. So, you'll be seeing me um next couple months um developing our next year's budget. So, moving on to the current year, um we had a very late budget as the board is aware. The board the budget was not passed until November 12th, which is 5 months after we
019approved our budget. So we do anticipate some significant fluctuations in in our numbers on the revenue side which I'm going to review with you this evening. Um you can see the different allocations there. That's total allocations for the whole state. The one piece I will um highlight is the ready to learn piece which is the adequacy piece. Um the board again we didn't know what we were going to um receive there. So we did talk about that a lot during the budget development process and we decided to only budget half of those dollars. Um so you'll see that in a couple slides here. And then the last two pieces, the safety and the facility grant. We don't have any um information on that yet. We don't know the allocations on that yet, but I will
020obviously update you as we receive um notice on what those amounts are. I just want to spend just a minute on the ready to learn adequacy piece. Um I thought this was a good representation of the good news is that bottom um total RTL number will continue to go up into the base. So they're telling us that that those adequacy net dollars that we're getting today, we will always get if it continues to go into the base, it would take some legislative action to actually remove those dollars from us. That is good news. The bad news is we don't know if we'll be getting any additional money, but we can rely on what we're getting today um in future years. And then this is what our budget looks like. You'll see the first column there
021is what we budgeted and then the next column is what the final state budget came in at. You'll see we have some minor variances in basic and special ed. Um but the ready to learn piece since we only budgeted half of that that is unanticipated for current year of $878,000. We do think bottom line we're about $930,000 over budget in those subsidies um for a current year but we do anticipate just looking at midyear numbers a lot of that being absorbed in special education and transportation costs again for the current year and also some reduced interest earnings. Then there was unfortunately three items in charter cyber charter reform that occurred. Um for 2425 they gave us um $156,000 and what they called uh charter transition funds because they couldn't agree on any charter reform for
022last year. So they wanted to give us they called them ease funds because they knew that some reform for tuition was coming. The bad news is that $154,000 is is gone. Um, and what we are understanding, we don't have any estimates yet on what this um, the revised tuition calculations will be, but we're being told that it's probably going to be a lot less than that dollar that we lost in these transition funds. So, in other words, the revisions to the calculations are probably going to be less than the $154,000 that we're losing in that um, transition funds, but we are very happy that they're they are adjusting the um, tuition calculations. You'll see there they do add some deductions to the actual um calculation. Again, we don't have that the form the form yet.
023When we do, we'll we'll make sure to inform the board what what that impact is to us. Um they did make a change to the special education cost calculation, too. They said that you could either use the current special ed calculation or you can use the new calculation at the top of the screen times 1.89. I'm not sure where they got 1.89 from, but um I'm understanding that using the new calculation times 1.89 9 will still be a less cost for us. And then finally, there's two um very welcome changes to residency piece. It's actually putting some requirements on cyberchars. We do battle this as a school district, not because people are trying to be dishonest, but a lot of people don't understand that we're only supposed to be paying for our own um resident
024students here. So, we do spend a lot of time checking residency where this would the first two bullets would actually help us um with making sure that we're paying for just the students to reside at Township. Then the last piece is the just the truency piece. It does prohibit any student that is habitually truent um from transferring from a public school into a cyber charter school without the role of a judge, which is a good change as well. So, we're getting some change there. I'm happy about that. And then finally, just there's some grant funding available, the safety grant, which we don't have our allocation yet. Um it's the same amount as last year. So anticipating we'll receive the same amount we received in 2425 which was 209 thou 210,909. Um and we will be
025presenting to you in January February the suggested use of those funds. Um and then also this school improvement grant. Um we don't have any information on that either. It is a competitive grant but I do plan to um apply for that complete use of this grant funds. and I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mrs. Stouts. I Every time you give this presentation, I'm just amazed at how uh how effectively you steward our budget and guide this board through this process. So, I know I know you just make it look easy. So, thank you very much for all the work you put in making that happen to you and your team. >> Thanks. >> Are there any questions for Mr. Rob? Regarding the adequacy funds, are there stipulations
026on how those could or should be used? >> There are, but they're they're pretty loose. We can get them into the required operating budget. >> I just have a clarification question. It's been a while since uh I looked into this, but the the general fund balance is that capped at 8% of the total. Is that >> Yeah. The is capped at 8%. >> Okay. And there is no cap on the capital reserve. >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um you mentioned that you would you would be applying for grants to apply towards the natural project funding. Will there be an update for something like that? >> That's only when um puts it out. We did apply for it um last year and we were not awarded. There was no award guidelines. I feel like
027they just gave it to them. But um and they also last last time we applied it had to be for renovation. So depending on which direction we go with NRA um might we do have other needs across the district. So if you can't use the dollar source NRA we will find something to apply for. >> Thank you Sam. Mrs. Hence I want to give you space in case you had anything. >> No I appreciate the questions and all work. >> Thank you Mrs. HS. Anyone else? >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. >> Thank you. >> With that, we are moving on to number four in our agenda. Roll call vote. Unless otherwise stated, each vote taken at this meeting will be considered a roll call vote and the board secretary will record any negative votes
028or extensions. Moving next on to item five. Man Township community comments on consent agenda and other action items. Residents, taxpayers, and district employees, districts employees and students are all welcome and encouraged to participate. The board will engage in discussion, but we'll provide followup if needed. If you'd like to speak, please fill out a commenters card for the board secretary to collect. Limit your remarks to five minutes. Now I should be specific that these comments are supposed to be related to voting items found under the consent agenda and other and in the section called other action items in the agenda and then please share your full name before you begin. Does anyone want to go back to any comments this evening? Okay. [clears throat] Seeing none. All right. So then now we are going to move
029forward into item six of our agenda. Approval of our agenda or agenda modification. Is there a motion to either approve or modify the agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> Thank you, Miss Woodberry. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Lamb. Is there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Nay. The motion carries. So now we are on to number seven, our consent agenda. Items listed under this section are considered to be routine and are acted on in one motion. There is no discussion prior to the vote unless a board member requests an item to be removed from this section to be discussed in section 8. Are there items from the consent agenda that any board member requests to be moved in order to
030discuss further? Okay. Uh I will take one moment not to move anything, but I do want to acknowledge that uh some of the committee and the committee assignments have been updated since our discussion last week. Uh specifically, Mr. Rivera is going to take on uh representing the school board uh the school district at the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center. I'm deeply appreciative of you taking that assignment. Uh and Mr. McKenna is going to represent us with the Manheim Township Education Foundation. And I should say specifically that Miss Rivera is going to be representing us at Ber Elementary. Thank you for that. So having said that, is there a motion to approve all items that remain on the consent agenda? >> Make a motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Is there a second? >> Second, >>
031Mr. Bulazar. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Nay. >> Okay, the motion carries. Sorry for interrupting you there. Now we're moving on to number nine, other recommended actions. First up is is uh item A, approval of the secretar's minutes of the board work session meeting on November 13, 2025 and the regular meeting of the board of school directors on November uh excuse me, November 20th, 25. Is there a motion to approve? Dr. Mardle. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Miss Woodbury. Uh, is there uh is there any discussion? >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. A. The motion carries. We're on to item B. Approval of resolution certifying the school district will not raise the 2026 2027 tax rate by more than the act one index
032of 3 and a.5%. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Mr. Bolazar, is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. Zimmerman. Thank you. Uh there is no discussion of this item. Uh and so uh at this moment, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say nay. >> The motion carries. With that, we are on to item 10 of our agenda, the superintendent report. Good evening. Um I would um I would first like to start out by informing you that our typical process to honor our employee of the month is typically a surprise to our employee and we have not done that yet for the month of December. So we will not announce that individual until January. Um someone will be expecting a great surprise. All right. As we
033begin this evening, um I think it's important to share with you that last week there was some confusing information presented by the public about our book review process. And I want to make sure that the board has the correct information for the process. It is important to know that it is a regular cyclicalbased process [clears throat] when we do book reviews. And [snorts] I may have to lean on Dr. Ryman this evening. Um he's actually been through some of this process in case you have questions. But it is a regular cyclical based process and it's based on a research intervention that I'm going to talk to you about this evening and it involves a multidisciplinary approach. Our librarians and staff work tirelessly in advocacy of our students through this process. This includes routine meeting to
034remove outdated, damaged, low circulating, lost materials and to consider recommended audiences. The district uses the research based method that I mentioned to you is called crew and it has a manual to guide its weeding practices and conducts fall, spring and ongoing cope reviews and weeding cycles. We allow students, employees, and parents and guardians with children in our schools to request reconsideration of instructional materials they find objectionable. and [clears throat] it must be in the building in which the student attends. [snorts] You can check our libraries when someone's mentioning public books that have been removed right here at www.mtwp.net back/ library. And there's several cataloges at each level. When we have a request to challenge our materials, complaints begin with an in-person meeting between the complaintant and the building principal. Again, they have to have children
035in our building. The principal provides information about instructional goals, relevant procedures, and options such as proving alternative materials or providing al alternative materials for the family or opting students out of specific books. If unresolved, the complaintant completes a formal request for reconsideration form. And at that time, our team initiates the formation of an advisory committee. And that's the multi-disiplinary process that I was informing you about. Once submitted, the director and instruct director of curriculum and instruction, there we are. Um, alerts the assistant superintendent, Dr. Ryman, who convenes an ad hoc district advisory review committee within 5 days. The committee may include teachers, content specialists, librarians, counselors, principles, the director of curriculum and instruction, and is chaired by the assistant superintendent. The committee reads and reviews the material in full, examines its alignment with board policies
036108 and 109, consults professional reviews, and considers its curricular value. decisions are based on principles of intellectual freedom and the material's overall educational merit. The committee aims its work to be done within six weeks, and remember they're doing that while they're teaching classrooms and running schools, and produce a written report with recommendations, which may include keeping the material in instructional use, keeping the material only for library circulation, and then recommending modifications such as instructional guidelines or alternative placement. The only step in the process that involves the assistant superintendent or the superintendent making decisions is really alone is really at this next step. If there's a final decision and appeal, the assistant superintendent would share the committee's report with the complaintant. The decision is final unless the complaintant appeals to the superintendent within 5 days. This
037is the only way that the assistant superintendent and superintendent would be involved in this process. The superintendent then reviews the committee report and this has been done over the years here from time to time and makes a recommendation to the school board which makes a final determination at that time. Only one request for reconsideration [clears throat] again for a child in that um parent or guardian school [snorts] um of the same item is allowed within 12 months. If you have questions about the process, Dr. Ryman and I are glad to take those now. >> Thank you, Dr. Cle. Are there any questions? >> Okay, thanks for allowing that to be cleared up. And then the um monthly report out on our en enrollment we have 6,020 total students 49 placed between IU Rock River Rock
038um Newtory Vista Capital Academy and Mason Children's Home and currently as of today we have two students on homebound instruction. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. P Hefty. So now we are moving on to item 11, which is new business. Items brought forward under new business will not be acted upon until the next school board meeting to allow schoolboard members to have sufficient information and to allow opportunities for public comment. [clears throat] Do any board members have new business to bring forward this evening? I'd like to bring forward that one of the three uh key governance duties of the school board is to oversee the review and adoption of the district's policy manual. And uh similar to a curriculum audit and review cycle, a clear policy cycle is critical for ongoing monitoring and feedback. And
039so in this area of new business, my request is for the administration to provide a status report of Manhattan Township School District policies with their last review and approval dates. And my hope is that using this information and coupling that with the support that we have from PSBA and their policy services team that the board and administration can establish a regular review and feedback loop that will help ensure our policies remain relevant and effective over time. Um, I was reading on PSBA this week and they recommend that Pennsylvania schools review policies annually for compliance and emerging issues revolving around laws, tech, and safety and then also have a longer cycle of three to seven years for major updates um, often guided by the school code and the PA department of education requirements. So, I think
040this will be helpful in ensuring that our policies match practice and student needs. Um, I'd like to ask if not don't need a a clear answer this evening, but if Dr. the FD and the administration team could advise if this is possible and a discussion sometime during the first quarter of 2026. >> Thank you for bringing that forward, Mr. I think it is uh well timed and and and uh well in the spirit with which is with which this board is attempting to uh move forward into this next year. Is there anyone else who has new business to bring forward? Mr. Bolazar. >> Yeah, Miss the could likely be related to what Miss Zimmerman just brought up, but I'd like to um have us look into the our policy for public comments um on the
041on the timing that is to to look at benchmarks and and things. I think it's a one of those that it's been on my mind for a while. I would like us to kind of revisit and take a look at it against other norms. Thank you, Mr. Bulazar. Dr. Bftdy, is that clear? You have what you need from there? >> We do. >> Okay. >> And all very doable. Thank you. >> Does [snorts] anyone else have new business they'd like to bring forward from the board? >> Okay. Thank you. So, now we are moving forward into item 12, board member reports. And we're going to start this month with our student representatives. to welcome Joel Francis and Sha Seville. Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Shrea, a sophomore at the high school and looking
042forward to giving you our report. >> Good evening. My name is Joel Francis. I'm a senior at the high school. I'm going to tell you a little bit what's going on at the high school. First of all, congratulations to our tons of high school students in the month of December, Leo Phillips and Leonardo Cast Martin. The student of the month program is a valued partnership with the mainstary club. [clears throat] >> For winter concerts, our high school band and orchestra ensembles will be having a combined winter concert on Thursday, December 11th at 7 p.m. The following Sunday, December 14th at 2:30 p.m. There will be the CH Chamber Music Concert. This performance features smaller, more specialized ensembles like the chamber string orchestra, trouidors, bellotech, and others. The final concert at the high school this winter
043is the coral concert. This will be held on Thursday, December 18th at 7 p.m. >> A mini thon schoolwide assembly will be held the day before winter break at the high school to kick off schoolwide minathon events. Minithon will be revealing the theme for this year and our Minthon showcase is going to be held on January 18th. where teams and individuals will perform in our auditorium to help raise money to fight pediatric cancer. And our snowball danceell on January 31st for Manahheim Township Key Club. They're hosting gift wrapping nights and cookies with Santa this month. The gift wrapping nights are on December 12th, 15th, 19th, and 22nd from 4:00 to 8:30 p.m. Enter through the high school main entrance. Cookies with Santa is in the high school cafeteria on December 13th from 12:00 to 4:00
044p.m. where we will be doing crafts, music, dances, and delicious treats. Donations are accepted for vote. >> Our high school winter sports season is officially underway and we're looking forward to see how they're doing in the competitions coming up. >> Student council recently hung up lights throughout the high school, adding some holiday cheer to the halls. Student council has also arranged a winter spirit week for the school starting next Wednesday through the following Tuesday with themes like tropical, snowman, ugly sweater, PJs, and twin day. >> Pictures of the outfits can be submitted to the student council Instagram for a chance to win giveaways and winter themed music will also be playing between classes classes in the halls. and our art art honor society added decorations in the first floor lobby just inside the entrance. And
045help us fight food waste by participating in the cafeteria's new share cooler. Starting next week, if students have unopened food, you may donate it to the food cooler where it can be taken by other students. >> Wishing everyone a safe winter break holiday season and happy new year. >> Thank you. That was spectacular the way you guys went back and forth too. That was a new addition to your uh presentation style. I liked it. Thank you very much. That was comprehensive. There's so many good things happening at the schools. Thank you, particularly the high school. So, thank you for sharing that out. I particularly want to acknowledge I just continuously feel like I'm seeing innovative ideas and new ideas coming out of our food service department. Um, and I love that idea of uh eliminating
046food waste to the school. I think that's spectacular. So, thank you for sharing that. I haven't heard about that. That's awesome. Uh so with that I understand with our some particularly some of our newer board members they are not entirely embedded in our schools or committee assignments yet but happy to open it up now for board member reports and I'm going to start with Mrs. Hence in case she has anything to share from the IU in particular. >> I did sit in one line uh for the meeting last night. We uh unanimously agreed that we would be offering a new contract to net STEM as our executive director that will be coming out shortly. We are in the process of negotiations with our staff. Um and uh and we have the ongoing issues um that
047have uh uh employment that we've been dealing with and have made the paper. So I can share that out of committee. Um however everything else is trying newly um kids presented fantastic programs that were attached to the the holidays all through fall and into current season and we're very very proud of their accomplishments. That's my report. >> Thank you so much Mrs. Sense. Even even under the weather you are bringing goods. So thank you. Thank you for that report. Uh, I can now open it up for other board reports. >> Mr. Woodberry, >> I want to thank Mrs. M Miss Zimmerman for bringing up the PSBA and their policy services. Um, appreciate that. I've been diving into PSBA, their website, and so I've mostly been nerding out. I don't have a great amount to share
048except that beyond the required training for new board members that they offer both virtually and in person, there's a bunch of things that we might avail ourselves of. So, I'll be keeping my ear to the ground on that as we kind of make our priorities for the coming year and um bring that to you in any way that's helpful. >> Sure. >> Thank you, M. Anyone else have a report to share out this evening? >> Mr. Bulzar. >> Yes. I'd like to report that I did find the Envisions meeting this week, so I was able to participate. Uh so nothing really to to report out. I would say I just got acclimated and I've got to know the uh the group, but I do want to take a minute or two to speak to something
049that's important to me. I never chose to run for the board. I was chosen and I agreed because there was one thing, well two, but one thing that continuously gets talked about at these meetings and has to do with the banning of books. I decided to run because I support books. I support reading of books. There's a a statue at an old university that says knowledge is good and knowledge comes from books. So there's a a lot of discussion on well what's the definition of ban, right? So um we're not trying to ban books but I did a Google search in AI mode and ban refers to an official or legal prohibition that prevents something from being used, done, or shown. Well, when one advocates for something to be officially taken out, sounds like a
050ban to me. So, I ran for no book ban. I support what the librarians the decisions they make. I support the way we we read books. I support the process. I'm processoriented. I don't support going outside the process. And I was so glad to hear you tonight to set the record straight that we don't go outside of the process. We follow the process. There's another piece of this that gets talked about in terms of parents rights. Parents rights are all parents have the right to make the decision for their child and I completely support that and our processes support that. One parent making decision for all parents is not parents rights. So I will continue as long as I'm here to fight and to support the fact that we keep books in the library and
051that we support those who put them there and we support those who do the process of weeding. So I I just felt it was important for me to make this statement that the thing that keeps me going and kept me here and may keep me here much longer than I had anticipated are books. Books are good. Knowledge is good and I will continue to support them. Thank you, Mr. Bozac. Would anyone else dare to follow that? Seeing no one double checking. Uh we will move on now to item 13 which is Manheim Township community comments. Residents, taxpayers, district employees, and students are all welcome and encouraged to participate. The board won't engage in discussion, but will provide followup if needed. If you'd like to speak, please fill out a commenter's card for the board secretary
052to collect, limit your remarks to five minutes, and share your full name to be before you begin. I'll also add if you don't like speaking in front of crowds, um you can always send an email to us at board secretary mtwp.net and our spectacular board secretary, Miss Marshall, will make sure that we all receive that message. So, is there anyone who would like to make comments this evening? Welcome. >> Good evening. Samantha McN. I'm speaking on behalf of the Manhattan Township Education Association. Uh, congratulations to Mr. Rivera. Very exciting to see a current educator on the school board. So, congrats. I want to begin tonight with an African proverb. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. In public education, our work is hard enough. We navigate
053the complex needs of students and families, shifting mandates, unpredictable weather, and budget pressures. Those challenges are real, and when we face them together with honest communication, collaboration, and mutual respect, we meet them with strength. But when every routine decision becomes a point of friction, when collaboration gives way to unilateral choices, and when people who could be working side by side find themselves pushed into opposite quarters, we create battles when none are necessary. And those battles drain time, energy, trust, and morale that our students cannot afford for us to lose. We are at our best when we bring people into the process instead of shutting them out. When the expertise of our staff is treated as an asset rather than an obstacle. When communication is consistent and honest. When plans are made with partners, not presented
054as disputes to be managed after the fact by an outofstate consultant. The truth is our teachers, support staff, and administrators come to school every day ready to solve problems. We are not looking for a fight. We are showing up in good faith, looking for clarity, for order, for due process, for reasonable timelines, and for respect for the work we do and the expertise we bring. So, I ask the board as the elected stewards of our schools to look closely at how decisions are being made and communicated, ask yourselves, is this process bringing people together or turning routine matters into unnecessary conflicts? Is this the environment we want for the district? Is this how we build trust? Because we know, every person in this room knows that our district can function smoothly and with civility. We
055have the talent and the commitment to our students to make that happen. Let's choose a culture where we solve problems instead of creating them and know that our educators are ready and willing to engage in that work collaboratively whenever the opportunity is genuinely offered. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. >> Thank you, Mrs. Would anyone else like to comment this evening? >> [clears throat] >> Hello, my name is Sar and um my comment is um I um bought a some artwork for my home and one of the things that I bought is a quote and it says your life doesn't get better by chance, it gets better by change. And I would like to thank this school board and welcome our new members, the ones
056who were recently elected and um who was voted in last week. Um our new superintendent as well. I think we have a strong um group here who will not be afraid to look forward into 2026 and beyond and not be afraid of changing things in this district. There are many people that do well. There are many policies that work. There are many buildings that are um producing great products and likewise there are things that are not working. There are people that are not working and we are not serving our families. We are not serving our students. We are not serving our staff. And it takes a lot of bravery to say, "I'm sorry, this isn't working anymore and we're going to change it." But fresh eyes, fresh voices, um fresh faces will help guide that.
057I'm encouraged even by Mrs. Zim Roman's um comment tonight that this is something this board wants to do. Um there are a lot of like I said great people in this district and um they are doing good work and I think supporting them putting a spotlight on them um highlighting them is also important. Some of those people who are doing really well in this district are Lizette Nerville, Tom Rutled, Laura Topping, Jen Davidson, Rachel Swank, Kim Larson, Diane Dennardi, Ryan Clark, Kate Kramer, Tiffany Willard, and also some strong volunteers that we have are Alex Massie, Megan Keller, Megan Jay, Linda Torres. There are so many people here. There are so many people working very hard, even volunteering their time to do our best by our students, our staff, and our families. And I'm so encouraged
058that this board and the superintendent want to support them and change what needs to be changed. So, I thank you very much for your work. >> Thank you, Miss Would anyone else like to make public account this evening? Welcome. Hi everyone. My name is Kyla Adterbury. I am a senior at Manheim Captive High School. Also, excuse my um slightly ratchet um appearance. I just came from a track practice. But I just wanted to come up and briefly touch on the topic of book banning that was brought up, which in my or my personal belief is that obviously if you ban a book then no one is able to access it by any means. I believe that by taking a book out of the high school library because we believe it has inappropriate pornographic imagery. I
059don't think that's book banning because a child could still go and order it online or go to a bookstore and get it. I don't think that 13-year-olds should have access to books with pornographic imagery because it can greatly affect their understanding of sexual behavior. And I don't think that a 13-year-old should be learning about that from a book at that age. So, I think it is important going forward that I'm I sorry, I appreciate that you touched on the um the book process, which I think is good. I just think it's important to understand that by banning a book, it means that the child has absolutely no way of getting it. And I know that a lot of parents place restrictions on their kids' phones, which is, I would say, similar to just not having
060a book readily available in a school library for a child to read. Thank you. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to give comment this evening? One more chance. Anyone else? Okay, that'll close uh our excuse me, our public comments and we'll move on to item 14, which is adjournment. Is there a motion to adjourn? >> So move, Mr. Bulazar. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dr. Mardo, due to the New Year's holiday on January 1st, 2026, our next scheduled board meeting is January 8th at 6 p.m. here in the district office. This will be our facilities committee of the whole meeting. Thank you to all our Manheim Township staff, administrators, and volunteers for your dedication to our students and community. I wish each of you as well as their break, peaceful and joyful
061holiday season. All in favor of adjournment, say I. I. Oppose. Nay. The motion carries. Thanks to all. We are