001Try to do this. Now our technology is working. So it seems everyone's microphone's on. >> Good evening. This meeting of the Manheim Township School Board is now called to order. Welcome to everyone here in person and those joining us online. In addition to live stream, both audio and video are being recorded. Recorded. Nurture and challenge for success is our district's mission. It serves as a reminder of our intent to enable every Manheim Township student to learn, grow, and thrive. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. For announcements this evening, I want to share that members of our community are encouraged to participate in board meetings
002in person or view them online. To support transparency and community engagement, recordings of our meetings can now be watched afterwards on the district's YouTube channel. The entire board can also be reached by sending emails to board secretary atm mtwp.net and that will get to all four members. Um the board met in executive session on October 23rd following our facilities committee meeting to consult with attorneys to discuss business which if conducted in public would violate a lawful privilege or lead to the disclosure of confidential information. The board also met in executive session at 5:30 p.m. today to receive information from our solicitor about board policies and protocols. No deliberations occurred. Now that the work of the law firms engaged by the board last March has concluded. An update will soon be posted on the district website
003that provides information on key findings, recommendations, and next steps from their work. Fourth and last announcement I have tonight is that the state budget has passed. [applause] I want to briefly acknowledge and celebrate the passage of Pennsylvania state budget. Its completion provides much needed stability for school districts and allows Manheim Township to move forward with clearer financial footing. At the same time, the significant delay created uncertainty for districts across the Commonwealth, including ours, and underscores the importance of timely state action to support students, educators, and communities. We appreciate the work of all who advocate for strong public education, and we will continue to plan responsibly now that the budget is in place. I think we're going to hear more about that next week from Mrs. Robin. Thanks. All right. Now we are on to item
004number two which is uh Manheim Township community comments on action items listed in uh section number four. So residents, taxpayers, district 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 related only to items in our voting section for tonight. um and share your full name before you begin. You know what? I think this is a wrong script. So, I just want to back up and say the public comment period is about anything for the for the board tonight. If I have that correct, >> oh, we do have that item. So, yes, it's correct. Don't trust my own script. Uh
005so just for that that item tonight which is we have one voting uh item which is we'll be voting on accepting the resignation of Dr. Tan center. So are there any who would like to make comments this evening? >> Good evening Dr. Jessica Mardo. Good evening Dr. Henderson. I want to thank you for your service on the school board, for the time and energy you've given to our school district and to our community. As a member of that community, I have appreciated your quiet leadership, your thoughtful engagement, and your willingness to ask the tough questions, your voice, and your presence will surely be missed. And I wish you all the best. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. >> [applause] >> Do we have others that would like to make comment this evening? All right. Thank you, Dr.
006Mardle. All right. On to item three in our agenda is for approval of agenda or agenda modification. Is there a motion to either approve or modify the agenda? I'd like to make a motion to modify the agenda to delete item 6A since we have a budget. >> Thank you very much. We have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. All oppose? Nay. >> The motion carries. Now we hear item number four which is a recommendation to approve the resignation of Dr. Terren Henderson director. Is there a motion to approve it? >> Mrs. Romano, is there a second? >> Mr. Grunter. Now I'd like to begin discussion because I know we're going to have some discussion. I'd like to begin it with Miss Lamb.
007I'm so thankful to have met Dr. Henderson through our work on the NTF board first and then later on on the school board and from day one we shared a vision of creating an inclusive all environment for every student and family no matter their backgrounds and upbringing making sure that all trans have the opportunity to thrive here at Vanheim Township and for every voice of representation to be heard and honored. Dr. Henderson understands how educational equity uplifts student opportunity and achievement and that is a valuable voice that we're going to miss on the board. It's been such an honor working beside you for that mission. Thank you for your leadership and your service on the school board. Thank you for your guidance as a colleague and a friend. And thank you for your heart and
008passion to speak up for those who may not be able to because you understand that every voice matters and we're going to truly miss you. Do we have other discussion? >> Mr. Bulazar. >> Yes. I am very disappointed in you, [laughter] Dr. Henderson. I uh I appreciate uh your passionate voice spoken in your way advocating um for all the things that are important to you and so many others in in this district. Um I think that independent thought um delivered in the straightforward factual way I I will greatly miss and I know this board um will miss and um I wish you all the all the best as you move forward but I will miss you here as part of the board. >> Thank you Mr. Bulazar. Are there others? >> Mr. Dr. Anderson, it's
009been a pleasure serving with you these last two years. Um, yeah, we've gotten to know each other on the board. Didn't know each other previous to that. Um, but really appreciate you, your perspective, and um, yeah, just able to frankly ask good questions, which um, sometimes can be difficult to do on a board. um we'll be stepping off at the same time. Um so yeah, thank you for your service and u blessings on your journey ahead. >> There's not a lot to add. I I agree with everything that's been said. Your conscientious accounting of of detail and your ability to ask a question that I thought I should just ask it that way. I just appreciated it always. I remember that I was here the night that you bumped up to the mic for the
010first time and that you would take that um that desire to serve and we look forward to be on the board and and to work to to take the seat on the board. Um I've always appreciated that in you. stepped up in that manner. Love getting you doing your voice. Phenomenal. Um, and I do wish you well and everything. >> Mrs. working with you on the cold side of the room, as we all know over here. Um, but I appreciate your your soft demeanor with everyone. It's it's very much appreciated. Um, and it will be fun to get into the next in your life I'm sure as you you depart from the area. >> Yeah, Dr. Henderson, I'll I'll share uh and echo what all our other colleagues have shared about you. Um, I also
011just say you're kind in times when it's not that easy to be kind and you're conduct yourself with a clarity of purpose and vision that I see from you that it seems like you know who you are. You know who you're about. You know what you're about. You know who you're accountable to. You don't stray from that. And I think that is an admirable quality that I've long respected in you. uh you know, from the campaign trail when we first met to to to this time now, I've uh appreciated your wit, your humor, your clarity, your work ethic. I I highly admire it. Uh I wish you and your family all the best and you'll continue to do great things. Thank you, >> Dr. Dr. Henderson. Um during my hiring process, I um want to
012remind you that you pushed me intensely on making sure that I continue to be the voice for the voiceless. And I'm committed to that work even with you gone. So, thank you. Yeah. >> Any other [clears throat] remarks before I wrap this up? >> Oh, yes. You go right ahead, Dr. Henderson. You're you haven't really decided yet. >> Let's see. I um my birthday was on November 1st. Um so, but I won't tell you how old I am. Old enough to have a 21. Um and as an old person, I'm not really into AI, but I got on chat GQT and I typed in a prompt to give me to produce a farewell speech. Oh, that's the thing. I'm not using it. [laughter] So, my wife and I when we were pregnant with our oldest
01321 years ago, u moved to Manhattan Township, I was at Harrisburg Hospital. She was at Reading Hospital. And it's Manhattan Township has just been a great place to raise kids. say that about a lot of places, you know, across the country, but um we really had a great experience here. I I appreciate um going to the different schools from Mrs. Mack and I remember she was our first princip um uh to the middle school to land to middle school and then to high school. Um, and when I was brave enough to shakily come to the mic after, you know, trying to participate in this wonderful community that we all have and should appreciate after coaching boys basketball, being drafted to coach boys basketball because there was a need. Sometimes you just step into the need
014and I I'm glad Cindy stepped into the need. I'm I'm glad um a bunch of our newly elected officials stepped up. I'm sure I know they'll do a great job. I appreciate the kind words. Um I have lived in Mantown for 21 years consecutively and there's no other place in my life that I've lived that long. So you know this is this is this has been home and it will always um reflect kindly in my memories uh and being a part of this board has been a great experience. It has pushed me uh to find my voice and I I I love advocating for the people who don't have voices. We suffered through a spat of self harm with our students because of I think in part because of the politics that was going on
015in the country and it seems like we are revisiting those same issues. So I I will be listening. I it sounds like we're all in a good space as far as advocating for those um among in our community who need a voice. Uh and I'm going to stop babbling. I I hope I push uh to Dr. Big. She has been a wonderful addition. I am going to stop getting with you. I'm sure you will be great. Um I will leave it there. Thank you all for >> and before I call for the vote, I would like to say that um Dr. Henderson, you um don't know what you meant to me personally as a scared mom watching online in the pandemic when you were appointed for your first stint in board service. Um when I
016saw that a physician was appointed to the board, I worked in healthcare and was working on the front lines and with a glow kid in school and uh I was very relieved and very pleased and very gratified and very calm by your calm leadership and I appreciate your persistence and your advocacy and your accountability to your constituents and your reminder to all of us that we're who we're accountable too. Thank you for being a model and showing us the way. It it I'm full of gratitude for that and I wish you well in your next chapter. And with that, I will say all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Nay. >> The motion carries. And we have a gift for you from the district. And a round of applause. [applause] >>
017[applause] [snorts] >> All right. And now we are at item number five on our agenda which is a discussion regarding the process for um replacement of Dr. Henderson. Not that we will be replacing you but filling the board vacancy. So quick I know got to get ready for rapid change. So I'd just like to share that the process will be open. We'll be transparent and we encourage u folks to apply for this board vacancy. Um, you'll apply by sending our board secretary, board secretary at mtwp.net a letter of interest and resume by Friday, November 28th at noon if you would like to be part of the process. Um, you will um set time aside on your schedule to be interviewed. Public interviews will be held the evening of December 1st. Monday, December 1st will be
018uh the night of our regular board meeting. Um we'll we'll likely tenatively set a time of 7 p.m. for those interviews to begin. We'll have some board business prior to that. Um [clears throat] all of the details will be posted on the district website. Uh the board will vote on the night of December 4th. Candidates who are um applying for appointment to the board do not have to attend on the night that we vote unless they would like to. and then their board service will begin and they will be sworn in on the evening of December 11th which will be the next uh regular board meeting. So set aside the nights of December 1st and 11th if you're interested in joining us on the board. You can contact any board member here to ask how
019what board service is like and what their experience is. We're all happy to talk about it. Um, and that letter of interest uh and resume will be due by the day after Thanksgiving at noon, which is the business day before December 1st. All right. Does any board member have anything to add about the process or any questions? This is a discussion item, so feel free. >> Could you clarify the remaining? >> Yes. >> Anyone know? >> Thank you, Miss Lamb. It's half the commitment of of a regular term which is four years. So it would be for the remainder of Dr. Henderson's term which would be the Monday after uh the next election which is December 2027. So the first Monday of December 2027 is when the term would end. It would start in this
020December 11th. So twoyear term. Any other discussion, questions, concerns? comments. Mr. >> I'll just uh thank you Mr. L. I would say I I hope we do get a broad uh set of applicants. Um I I'm certainly uh you know think that uh it's going to be impossible to to fill Dr. Henderson's shoes. But I I personally um you know I'm thinking about someone who you know first and foremost is going to be dedicated to the operations of this district uh and committed to that. Uh and uh you know I I don't think there's any sort of traditional background that's required or anything like that. You know I think lived experience is is very much as valuable as any other type of experience academic or otherwise in my opinion. And so certainly uh you know
021my my door is open to anyone who has questions about what it is to serve or and and certainly uh I'll speak for myself there and would be happy to have coffee or schedule a phone call with anybody if they have questions. Uh but don't be shy if you're if you're not sure apply. You can always say no later. Uh we would uh I hope we get a broad set of of interested people. >> Thank you Mr. Granter. Thank you, Miss Lamb. >> All right, if there's no other discussion or comments on that, we'll move on to our next agenda item, which will not be 6A, it will be now 6B. Um, so 6B is a recommendation to approve the contract with Mile 2 Consulting LLC for school-based access program consulting services for the Manhattan
022Township School District. Mrs. Novach, director of student services, and Mrs. Mens, director of special education, and Mrs. Robbins. Thank you all and welcome. >> Thank you very much and good evening to the school board members and to Dr. Kate Hefty. This evening we are presenting to you seeking approval for this contract, this partnership with a consulting firm to be able to expand and optimize our current reimbursement systems. So overall, just to do a review of medical access, the Pennsylvania Department of Education along with other governmental department agencies support districts within the state to be able to seek reimbursement for services that are designated on an individualized basis through individualized education programs, which are known as IEPs. billable billable services uh include an a very long list of related services that are on your slide here
023tonight. Um the ones that are highlighted, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech and language therapy are services currently that Vanheim Township uh seeks reimbursement for. But there are other things such as social work services, psychological services, transportation, personal care, and also nursing services. We started this programming in the fall of 2022 and from there we hired an administrative assistant part-time of her work is done through medical access by um sending authorization to our district physician to ensure that our services are verified as well as managing our staffing logs and training requirements. So each staff member that seeks reimbursement for their services have to be certified in CPR and also mandatory trainings on the system. So our staff members input specific information about the student about the service that they are providing on that day. That
024information then gets approved or disapproved by the state. So there is um very detailed information within a student's IEP that needs to be defined in order for these services to even be considered for reimbursement. So there is quite a process and when we began we looked at uh occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and then physical therapy to just get started with our system. But we are ready to tackle on more. So you'll see here on this slide is our neighboring district data. And you might be thinking to yourself, Pegway Valley and their size is a little bit smaller, but they are re receiving reimbursements at quite a higher rate than we are. Each district sets which services they are going to seek reimbursement for. So those entities may be looking at transportation and nursing
025services and so forth. [clears throat] So the more that you're re seeking reimbursement, the higher the return potentially for medical access. You'll also see comparable districts. So on the slide prior, you have all the Lancaster districts lo um listed, but on this slide you will see sizes of districts that are comparable to us um with some bit of a range. And then on the other part of the slide in the uh chart next to the graph shows the um total costs. So you'll have how much a student may get based upon their medical assistance eligibility and then that overall reimbursement number. Mrs. Robins, >> thank you. >> Um, so as of this event stated, we have um we have been building but not to our fullest potential. Um, since 2022, we've built approximately um $193,688.
026Those dollars have gone directly to fund new teaching positions. Um, and as previously stated, our reimbursement is significantly lower than comparable districts, and there's tremendous opportunity um for us to go for significantly more. As you can see an example that we reviewed at the last slide, we can anticipate um anywhere from $68,000 a year um at the central levels or $2.2 million a year at ply levels. So to address this and to increase or enhance our medical access billing, we are proposing to contract with Mile 2 Consulting for a three-year service agreement. Um they are a company in Pennsylvania that specializes in this very um task. So they are experts in this field in school-based medical access and they have studied this in great detail in how to enhance for school districts how they can
027um maximize this effort. So, a couple of things that they will do for us if we should have this approval is they'll look to optimize and really analyze and dig deep into our data and see where they can pull um those reimbursements and where they can really look at um you know how to maximize that revenue out of our IEPs and our medical access opportunities. In addition, they will look at monitoring for us and they'll report back. We'll look at the progress that they make throughout each quarter and report back to us, you know, how they're doing, what can we be doing better, and what can we do to continue to enhance that um that process. So in addition to those pieces, they'll also be managing that documentation that's required. As Courtney shared, there are
028very specific compliance pieces with school-based medical access billing, um the IEP component. There is also cost settlement reporting that is done on a regular basis, administrative activity reporting and RMTS which is um random moment in time studies. We love acronyms. Um all of those pieces are required by schoolbased um access and though they are going to be helping us in that compliance piece. They are um going to be also helping with the parental consent tracking. So parents have to consent in order for us to actually do this billing. Um so not only do students have to be eligible under Medicaid, but they also have to consent for us to be billing. So this is not something that is done um without transparency and without parent consent. I'm going to start on the right side of
029the screen there. Um we feel that this is a zero risk high reward financial model for the district because we're only getting charged a percentage fee on the additional revenue that this company would bring in for us. So obviously they if for some reason they couldn't bring any money in for us so we wouldn't pay them anything. Um the left side of the screen there shows the cost structure. Um again it's only on new reated new revenue generated by the district's current baseline. You'll see year one is 36% of the additional revenue. Um 33% year two and 30% year three. Um I did a little bit more research here and the consultant is considered a Medicaid administrative activity. So therefore the fees associated with her support would be partially refunded as well. So be piece
030to that. We're happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you for that thorough presentation and exciting opportunity. Mrs. Hoffman, >> thank you. It sounds like a great idea. I do have one question. Um, with the mile two group, it sounds like they're doing a lot of the analysis and data collection. Is there anything that impacts our teaching staff? Will they have to report more? Are there tasks or time that they will have to put into this? And how will that affect um like what they're doing now? What would change on our teaching staff? [clears throat] >> So, I can um share first to answer that, Mrs. Hoffman, and then uh Mrs. can add anything if I haven't captured that. Uh there is specific wording that our related related service providers must include
031in the IEP. So as they are writing their sections of their IEP, we will be giving them the scaffold of that checklist. So you must have that. So that's very minimal minus just the information upfront for them and it then becomes second nature. they will become more comfortable with um some of the verbiage change. Um so that component is rather simple but is something that we need to be doing. The other component for the related related service providers, our nurses, our psychologists, our social workers, they will need to have an opportunity to log their work. So right now they're documenting in their own personal systems of how much time they've seen a student was an individual or was a group and so they will need time to be able to navigate that situation on that
032platform. So that will take um some training, minimal training but time uh for us to sit down with them in that interface and then be able to shift you know some of their personal documentation will now be able to be in that platform. Um so there will be some time to be able to get comfortable with that interface. um but looking to replace, you know, where am I charting right now versus where I'm charting on the state system to cut feeling like they're going to do double work. Um so that's something that we are going to navigate and work with them to do. Um and so we've been able to do that with occupational therapists, our physical therapists, and our speech and language pathologists. So, we've been through this, we've [clears throat] learned a little
033bit, and now if we're engaging with those other stakeholders, um, we'll be able to replicate that and be able to support them. >> Thank you. I think Dr. Pton Hefty has a comment, too, and then I'll go to Dr. Henderson. >> I just wanted to add to that um, in sharing with the board that um, I've worked with companies such as this in Illinois and Wisconsin. Um, it's a lift. It it's an ask for our staff. Um, and I want to be fully transparent about that. You heard in my um initial plans from the 100 days that to rightsize special education and I think that is a key component and student services um in support of mental health and all of our students needs. That's a key component of the messaging to our staff that
034this this funding directly impact staffing uh for special education and student services. And so I think that's a critical part of the communication in this process and that helps with the willingness to learn this new process. It's not something additional on what we're doing, but it is a lift and so we're going to support them through that process. [cough] >> Dr. Anderson, thank you Dr. >> This Okay, first of all, my resignation is dated tomorrow. >> [laughter] >> So noted >> um so this is in the wheelhouse of my my household. Um so I I see the opportunity to bring a district significant savings significant income. Uh this company 36% is a big chunk. I I see that it goes down. Is there any thought to producing with the savings a permanent position? uh someone
035who's trained and is integrated with the district to carry this forward after that um third year. >> Yes. Excellent. Thank you so much, Dr. Henderson. That is our thought day one working in partnership with mile 2 consulting. Our goal is not to just have three years and sort of say okay they are working on this. This is a partnership. So, we are going to be leaning in and taking note and adjusting and pivoting where we're putting our energy and making sure that we're efficient with the staffing that we have to be able to do this. And then a consideration is um right now one of our staff members is um half of child accounting and half medical access. And so, as we always do each year, we look at staffing and we look at what
036are the needs in order to be efficient and be able to support our students, right? And so that's going to need to be in our for forefront to see is there anything else that we need to be able to continue this work as mild to consulting is starting to fade. So not to give the range to them but to actually work side by side so that we have a system that is the most efficient. So that is the goal. We may we may need to be looking at this and communicating with the board that we might need um additional staff to be able to support a robust medical access. Right now, we're only scratching at the surface with a part-time administrative assistant who works tirelessly and make sure that we hit those marks. We're partnering
037with our business department already to do those other mandates of um making sure that we are clarifying and working through the business side of it. But yes, I really appreciate that question and I I hope I answered that thoroughly for you. >> Thank you. >> Do we have other questions or comments or discussion? >> Mr. the uh staff members who are already using this, what kind of comments have you had? >> So, um the one is just being able to ensure that we are able to catch all of the students that are eligible and maintain that parent uh consent. So, um they are seeing all of our students that um are eligible for those services, but sometimes we're not able to bill for those particular students because of it. Um, other nuances are sometimes if
038your IEP is written as individual, but you pull a group of students because that's not written to their IEP, sometimes those services are reimbursible, which, you know, is okay. But those are sort of some of the things that we hear is that we wish that we could have more students um being able to be on their roster to fill. Um, but we're working on every time we have an IEP meeting, communicating with families, talking to them, it has something to do with their private insurance. um it is about the rain person side. We deliver the services and we're able to then get funds back to turn around to you know provide more programming for students. So um I comments from staff are mostly um identifying obstacles to getting this process working. >> The only thing
039else that I hear here is I would hate to see any savings that we see go into another salaries and say mine doesn't seem like that would be meeting our goal. So >> and that's why we need to become it becomes flawless within the system easier. >> Thank you, Mrs. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you. I have I have questions that kind of follow the line of what's been been asked. Uh yeah, my first one is about specifically with what Dr. Henderson said about uh an offramp for the consulting, right? and having that expertise in house. And so I guess I have a couple questions related to that. The figures that you shared from comparable school districts, do we know are those school districts utilizing the same consulting firm or are they operating that
040in house? Do you know? >> I do not have an answer for you about how many are accessing mile to consulting but their structures of the staffing that they have for their MA or may not look different than ours. So Mr. Bretner, I most definitely give you that information so that you have that. >> Yeah. Grener, sorry. It's okay. And then, um, I guess the last thing would be I guess concerns about student privacy, right? I mean, uh, can you just talk to me about what steps we're taking if we're having outside people not part of this district and just the steps we're going to take to make sure that all of our those uh the private data is is is maintained safely. >> Yeah, absolutely. So by signing a contract that person becomes that
041extension uh to us. So they are following the same uh regulations as we are as staff members. Um and also to okay um and so making sure that again only the individuals that we are contracting with is sharing that information and it's between the two entities. um we are the ones that are submitting to the state. So our system um is run by the state. So all of that person personal identifying information is only going to be housed in that in that state format. >> Mr. Yeah, I think actually it would be very interesting to know what these other districts are doing and how they're doing it. Um, but I got to imagine knowing that we have a start that we could peg some kind of estimate of what we think the number out there
042is. Do we have an idea of what that number is out there that you know we would it's sitting on the table for us to go out there no matter how we get out there? >> Yeah, I mean we like I said when we had the presentation from them they they just did it based off of comparable districts. Um, so until we really get into the into the data of that, we don't have that information as far as how much we can. They just gave us that range between 600 and 2.2 million. >> So we have no idea what we're going after. >> Well, and that's why it's a percentage of what they bring in in additional in addition to what we're currently um bringing in. >> The reason I think that would be important
043to know is if it's going to be a heavy lift and we're going to have to put a you know this significant amount of work in, it really matters whether you're going after 2.2 10 million or you're going after 200,000. >> Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Just working in the healthcare working in the healthcare field myself. I understand that the that the there's a terrible amount of complexity when it comes to billing, coding, billing, and reimbursement. And so, I can appreciate um the need for these services. um big big big entities that I like I work for have in-house staff but we didn't start with in-house staff we started with external folks helping get that expertise ramped up before we transfer that in house so it sounds like that's a comparable strategy and I
044appreciate that >> thank you so much >> we're on to item 6 now which is a recommendation to approve the contract with Donovan good Communications Dr. Py good evening again this proposal from Donovan Group social communications uh firm outline services to support us related to various forms of school communication coaching on strategic communication and community engagement services. The cost structure is $4,500 per month invoiced on a monthly basis. I wanted to share for you that while the contract uh runs from November 20th, if approved, through June 30th, we negotiated that we can cancel that within a 30-day notice as we're building capacity with our team. Um, additionally, I added into the suggestion that as part of this contact tract and my commitment to transparency to the board that I would re-report on our progress with
045the firm in April of 2026 to let you know where we're at. Our goal is to build capacity in communications, develop a dynamic new annual report. Our current structure for an annual report um we have historically paid $14,500 for this will eliminate that need. And we are shifting some duties around allowing our director of communications with this process to support some of us um to support us as a board and a team in working on some policy work that is convened. Thank you, Dr. Payton Hefty. What questions do you have and or comments or discussion? The attachment um provides some detailed information about the contract. Dr. Henderson, >> going back to your interview, um [clears throat] I appreciated uh you raising people up from within. So, I appreciate uh providing the support to the staff
046that we have here to give an opportunity to grow into this position. and I overall. >> Thank you. Other questions, comments, discussion? Yes, Mrs. Romano. >> Just looking at the services that are provided here and that um kind of large amount of $25 per month. To me, it seems excessive um for a school district, especially considering we um have a full-time staff member for communication um and staff members doing some of these other things. So, thank you, Mrs. Romano. Other questions? Miss Lamb, sorry, this there's a camera right in front of me between Miss Lamb and I. So, thank you. >> Um, so going off of off of this Mrs. Romano's um comment, is there flexibility in picking and choosing the services that we would need um to lower that amount? >> Kind of like
047the menu of services. Um, as I've been looking through these, I just want to make sure there's no need efforts in some of these services that we already have in the school. That's a great question. Um, I think the focus on the services is about building capacity in communications and strategic planning so that we have a long-term strategic communication plan that really um is laid out with the vision of our board and our district. And so I even though it may look like there's some crossover in my opinion it's more about the coaching and support in the position and additionally uh leveraging some time that we need to dedicate to policy work. >> Continue. So would this include collaborating and training our internal staff, working with them, teaching them so that eventually it's all on
048the school district? >> Yes. And that would be my goal by presenting to the board in April to let you know the status of that update. >> Mr. Bulazar. >> Yeah, I think you hit on the key word there for me, which is strategy. I think sometimes we can think well we have and you can take this in any um organization out in the world well we have somebody in that role all right well that person in that role may be developing that person in that role um may not be the strategic part or they may not um be as easily able to see on to fully function without the bigger picture in the strategy. So I think we've we've lacked a strategy. We are we we take it as it comes. And when you
049take it as it comes, you generally when you're reactive, we're generally not going to do as well as if you you're proactive and going out. So the part for me that I see the support is that we're building something proactive that when it's done, we've developed people. We have a strategy and it's a lot easier for for everyone in the district to plug in where it makes sense within the strategy. And I I think this this approach of strategic thinking we need to do more of in in in many other areas other than this one. So I'm I'll be very anxious to see how this turns out as a model for for other areas. >> Thank you, Mr. Bulazar. Mr. Grer. >> Yeah, thank you uh Mberry and and I uh I uh support what
050Mr. Bazar said 100% and share those sentiments. Um, this is a bit of a pop quiz, Dr. Bey, but our right now we have how many communications staff in the district? >> One. >> And how many total staff do we have in the district? >> 900 employees. >> Okay. So, and and 6,000 plus students. Uh, I I think I think this is long overdue quite frankly. I mean, I think we need more communications capacity here to tell, you know, there's there's constant there's constant stories happening here. And I think in as much as we can lift up the excellent things that our teachers, our staff, our buildings, our students are doing, I think that is is well worth it because we know those incredible things are happening and we're running into, from what I've understood,
051we're running into capacity problems. And so, in as much as we can create um communications that show who we are, what we're about, what we stand for. I think along with the strategic lens along with the plan, you know, not reactive but proactive. Uh that is a a sound investment and I would support us, you know, thinking long term of adding more capacity there in a full-time staff position. Um because those things are happening and so it's it's we we we should honor that work. Um, and you know, one of the services listed in the contract that I think that that definitely caught my eye, uh, was was multilingual services. and and I certainly hope that we lean into that to continue to offer multilingual products and communication um to uh the the stakeholders, staff,
052students, community members, families who uh who attend and uh use this district or care about this district to make sure that we're reaching everyone. So, uh I I I would encourage us to continue to expand our offerings in that that space as well. others. Mrs. H, >> you referenced policy creation. We have always PSBA and our solicitors. Uh, in what capacity policy? >> Sure. I'm record. We do use PSBA. Um, those updates come in um, frequently for us to do updates with policy, but it also takes a tremendous amount of time. Um, and as you know, we have a new board secretary who's fantastic. Um, but we're just learning in the process. So, that's a part of this coaching piece that would allow other people to kind of support her in that process as we
053get up to speed on our policies. >> Okay. And a question was posed to me. Um did we consider uh other communication groups something local um like in particular this one brought to us for our attention? >> Sure. Um the Donovan Group is a nationally uh schoolbased communications provider. Um and so they have experience across the nation um with many of our um administrative associations additionally. And I think after we build capacity and discuss through April of 2026, then we could look at uh other local providers that could support us if we need them. But right now it's really about um looking at schoolbased strategy and communications. >> But that is their focus. >> Correct. >> And have you worked with this group? >> I have. I worked with them in Illinois and Wisconsin. >>
054I have you have confidence in the work that they do. >> I do. Thank you. >> Mrs. Hoffman. >> Um I just want to thank Dr. Py for bringing this forward. I completely agree with Mr. Baldazar on this one. It's a strategic move on our part. Um, if we really think about how the the world has changed over even the last 10-15 years, students, parents, community members receive their information a lot faster, a lot quicker and we need to be on top of that. We're one of the top school districts in this county and we have to be on the forefront as opposed to trying to catch up. So I appreciate that this is a strategic move to make sure that we're at the top of our game and providing the information not only to
055our students and parents but the community at the speed that everything flies in in the in the world today. So this is a very important move. Um and I also know like myself from doing surveys and focus groups and graphic design there is so much uh to to Mr. Grant's point is people are good certain things are good for certain people. You can't be jack of all trades because these are so specific items and even one word can change a whole servant. Um so I appreciate that they have a school focus and can bring that expertise to our team. >> Thank you. Are there any other comments discussions? Um I want to just share that I'm looking forward to supporting this and voting for it next week. There's a few reasons. One of them is
056that um in your in this detailed description of the services they'll provide. The survey and f focus group piece talks about community and staff surveys along with f focus groups that'll offer us valuable data and insights that goes along with um things I'm reading on your 100 day plan about making data driven decisions, listening to our teachers, listening to our community. So that transparency and accountability piece along with data driven decisions I think are valuable pieces of this service. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I thought of what I heard you say was this is a $4,500 a month contract uh that we can um suspend at any time with 30 days notice when we feel ready to fly. Um and that we paid $14,000 to an external agency annually to
057do our annual report. So, sounds like that's three months of service that we can trade out and then stop paying for $14,000 annually. So, I think it's sounds like again what I've heard you this is a theme tonight about how do we do um good strategic financial management as well as other kind of strategy planning. So, I'm looking forward to going forward next week. All right. So, we'll move on to our next item. Uh, item 6D is a recommendation to approve the proposed care club at Manner Township School, including a student activity fund for the club, Mrs. New House. >> Um, I actually I will eventually have four um clubs to propose tonight. So, we have a lot. Um so per schoolboard policy 122 extracurricular activities and the corresponding administrative guidelines we are bringing the
058curing with care club to the board this evening to recommend for approval at MTHS for which students are requesting to add a student activity fund. The primary purpose or function of curing with care is to raise awareness educating students and our community and supporting research efforts for all types of cancer. CARE is an international organization dedicated to cancer awareness, research, and education. With more than 40 chapters worldwide, the organization hopes to raise community awareness of cancer, how it affects everyone, and how equity gaps in treatment can be closed. Through fundraising and communication, CARE will actively work with, support, and learn about cutting edge research to help them find more sustainable and less damaging treatment options for cancer patients to prepare the next generation of leaders fighting cancer. The organization hopes to engage peers with guest
059speakers and industry experts. We have confirmed that the Curing with Care Club has a willing faculty adviser. This club is going is brand new to MTHS, so advertising and recruitment will begin upon approval. Participation in the care club is open to all MTHS students, especially geared towards students interested in community service or other healthc care professions. The curing with care club wishes to establish a student activity fund which court approval would allow them to establish with funds that are donated and/or raised through fundraisers like big sales partnership events, things like that. Club members will make donations to cancer nonprofits, purchase materials or fundraisers event and events, examples like flowers for cancer patients, um, and donate 20% of unspent funds each year to the larger care organization. The club bylaws will include compliance with all school
060board policies. Thank you for your consideration. We're happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mrs. New House. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor and I appreciate that. Next up, recommendation to approve the pro proposed DECA Club. Did I say it right? DECA Club at Manhattan Township High School including a student activity fund. Yes, this is >> so DECA um stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America. And so also along with schoolboard policy 122, we are bringing DECA um to the board this evening to recommend for approval for which students are also requesting to add a student activity fund for the club. The primary purpose or function of DECA is to help students develop practical business marketing and leadership skills through competitions, projects and community involvement. We have
061confirmed that DECA has a club has a willing faculty adviser. This club head began last year um meeting during club period and has a small membership so far of about 10 students um but they hope to grow that club this year. Part participation in DECA is open to all MTHS students and the club wishes to establish a student activity fund which board approval would allow them to establish with funds that are donated and/or raised through fundraisers. Club members will be able to use funds to cover competition fees, enrollment costs, and additional operational expenses. Thank you very much. We should also just pause to say thank you to all of the people that are willing to be faculty adviserss so our students can have this broad um variety of experiences and for that we're really grateful.
062Um any questions or comments for Mrs. New House? >> Otherwise she has two other clubs to tell us about and I'll just let her tell us the names of the clubs. >> Sure. So the next one um is for Science Olympia. Um so again with schoolboard policy 122 uh we are bringing science olympiad to the board this evening to recommend for approval at MTHS. They are also requesting a student activity fund. So the primary purpose of this science olympiad club or team at the high school um is to provide students an opportunity to compete at sea level science olympiad competitions and regional tournaments. We've confirmed that science olympiad has a a willing faculty adviser. The club is brand new to MTHS. Um, but they have been starting to meet during club period just recently. Um,
063they also have gone through the extracurricular um, review committee so that they can hopefully get um, do a pilot year this year and um, get a stipen for the coaches next year. Um, they also so participation in science olympia club is open to all students who are interested in accelerating and applying their scientific knowledge in a supportive atmosphere. The [snorts] Science Olympiad Club wishes to establish a student activity fund, which board approval would allow them to establish. And with those funds, um, club members will pay for tournament registrations, and the money will also allow for the purchase of building materials and official science olympiad study materials that allow for students to be competitive. >> Thank you very much. Any questions or comments from the board? Dr. Anderson, [clears throat] >> uh, is this club growing
064organically in the district? Is is there an offshoot in the middle school and those students are metriculating through, so they're interested in continuing this? >> Yes. So, we did not have a science Olympiad team at the high school um, until just this year, we had an upcoming ninth grader come to me um, and ask about starting a one at the high school. And so, we went through that whole process of finding willing adviserss or coaches. Um, started, you know, asking around for for interest and um so it kind of grew from there and now we're going through all of the processes to make it official um the schoolboard approval and also hopefully eventually get a stipen for the advisor as well. >> Sounds like our students are nurturing us as much as it's nurturing the
065district as much as it's nurturing them. That's great. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Henderson, for bringing that up. >> All right, you have the next one. Yes. So the next one um we are bringing to the board for approval is the MTHs tri chapter 8657. Um so the primary purpose or function of this chapter of the triam club is to provide an opportunity or an appropriate method for recognizing the musical achievements of our members. Strengthen our school's music program. Help our members reach their full musical potential. motivate and recognize our members musical and personal achievements, credits, and grades. Encourage our members to work together towards the same goal. Inspire and challenge our members and focus public attention on our school's music program through community service. I have confirmed that the MTHS
066Triumph chapter has a willing faculty advisor. This club has been running um without a stipen or without an activity account since 2018 and a stipen was requested for the 20 requested in 2024 and approved for that year. Mr. Eric Schawer, a high school music teacher, is the adviser for the 2526 school year. Participation in the triumph club is open to all MTH students who meet the following requirements. They must have enrolled in a music ensemble and/or class for at least one semester of the current school year at Manhattan Township High School. They must exhibit leadership, service, and character in their activities while at Manhattan Township High School. And they must have maintained for the previous semester at least an Average grade in music courses and hold a cumulative grade of a B for all subjects.
067The MCHS Try Club wishes to establish a student activity fund which board approval would allow them to establish. The funds will be that will be donated or raised through fundraising. Um club members will be able to promote the Triam mission of music advocacy service through music and bringing music performances opportunities into the high school. >> Thank you very much. We have any questions, comments, discussion. Mrs. Let's have one. I I approve of all kids wanting to be in any club that is a special interest. What I'm hearing, we've had a lot of clubs come forward and each one wants a student activity fund or fundraising. I'm asking is does this fundraising occur during the school day outside of school and at some point does it become disruptive? >> That's a really great question. Um so
068it is a combination of all of those things. So, a lot of times as groups are getting started, our suggestion for them um is to do like a restaurant fundraiser. So, they'll go and ask a restaurant, you know, can you do a fundraiser here? And then, you know, on a certain evening, certain um like percentage of the profits will go back to the club. Um so, that's how a lot of them get started. Um there's not a lot that usually happens during the school day because we follow all the guidelines as far as like not selling food and, you know, things like that. Um the most that usually happens during the day is at during lunches they'll sell like t-shirts or um some groups will do pins and things like that. So up until this
069point um we've really have been pretty strict on those the guidelines for fundraisers. So it has not become disruptive. >> Anything else? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Now we're on to item 6H, which is um a recommendation to approve the plans to construct and donate a memorial bench to the Mannheim Township School District in memory of Mr. James Mashad, Manheim Township Middle School teacher. Mr. Pot, welcome. [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. I'm pleased to submit for your approval a request pursuant to schoolboard policy number 702.2 two for the donation of a memorial bench in remembrance of Mr. James Bashad, a Man Township Middle School teacher who passed away in October of 2023. The bench is being donated by an 11th grade high school student, Tim Spielman, who wanted to be here
070tonight to present this himself, but he's has play practice. So, as part of his Boy Scout Eagle project, Tim has personally designed the bench and will be constructing it to fulfill his Eagle requirements. Upon approval, he plans to immediately begin construction and aims to complete the project sometime this summer. The bench will be installed in the quad area between the high school and the middle school. With that said, does anyone have any questions about this generous gift? >> Mr. grandparents. >> Thank you, Mr. Kosh. I I don't have any questions. I'll just say Mr. Mashad was a a friend and neighbor of mine. Uh a uh I know an exceptional teacher, a real force in the community, a talented uh carpenter and iron work or metal worker uh who had a real incredible talent for
071design and and construction. Uh so I was thrilled when I saw this. Um you know, his losses still felt to this day. Uh and I uh in full support of this and and what a what an honor this is. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Director. Thank you, Mr. C. Are there any other questions, comments? Mrs. Hen, I did not know that because given that information, um will the plans be submitted to you? >> Yes. Uh plans have been submitted. Uh we've vetted them. Uh they are drawings and Tim will be working on them. Uh once the bench is completed, uh it will be uh brought to our maintenance shop or our carpenter to uh to make sure everything is correct and to place it permanently in the >> so >> and thank you
072for providing I think the plans are attached and provided to us. So that's great. Um um one of the things that um maybe we can do as a board is have some special recognition when the bench is installed should it be approved but I'm looking forward to and I many of my fellow board members are looking forward to approving this and a wonderful recognition of folks uh going after that Eagle Scout and uh a special member >> it's a great honor >> thank you so much so now we are on to item six I a recommendation to to approve the presented out of state or overnight field trips. Mr. Rot, >> as Mr. Relat comes up, I just wanted to point out to the board that I am working to make this field trip form
073consumable so that it's easy to read and with just the right amount of information that you need to approve for trips. I had one point of feedback that it would be helpful to have ratios back in this chart. And if there's other point of feedback, I didn't want you to think Mr. Verlott made these changes. Uh, so let me know following if there's things that you'd like to be included. Um, I just I'm trying to make it a little more consum consumable as you review it with. Thank you. Thank you. >> Good evening. Tonight I bring seven field trips to the board that require your approval per policy 121 given that they are overnight and out of state trips being proposed. These are all high school trips and I have verified that there is a
074plan confirmed for funding chap rooms and transportation. The column overnight procedures are in progress because some of these trips are weeks and months out as we get closer to those dates plans will be solidified. I'd like to recommend that the board give approval for these trips to continue to be planned and ultimately taken in 2026. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Are there any questions? discussion. Mr. Bulazar, >> no questions, just a comment. When I saw the the summary, I'm like, "Oh my goodness, this is so much easier to follow us out." Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Wonderful. So, we're all about continuous improvement as a whole team of 10. And thank you, Mr. Alas. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we are on to item number seven, which is for new
075business. Uh, new 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 allow opportunities for public comment. Does any board member have new business to bring forward? All right. If not, we will move on to [snorts] item number eight, which is Manheim Township of Community Comments residents. And this is the one. We're on to our second public comment period. And thank you um so much to Mr. Lions for making us have a visual reminder of our policy. Um I appreciate that very much. It is not meant to make anyone nervous. It is just meant to have transparency and accountability for us all. So um residents, taxpayers, taxpayers, district employees, and students are all welcome and encouraged to participate. The
076board 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 to collect. Limit your remarks to five minutes and please share your full name before you begin. Who would like to make comments this evening? >> Welcome. >> Hi everybody. My name is Mark Deer. I graduated here in 1989 and I had five daughters through the school as well. Uh two are married, two have boyfriends and one's holding now. Um I'm glad when they came to the school um they didn't get some of the books that are now not in the school. I'm thankful for that. I want to big shout out and thank you to the administration for some of the books I'm going to bring up tonight were weeded
077out and I'm grateful for that. Um, we weeded out this book here that I talked to you about last year, the little black book for guys. Guys talk about sex. Um, talked about getting creative and trying phone sex or have the safest possible experience with anal sex. Um, it was checked out once, I think, in 15 years and then it was determined that that book was no longer needed to be in the high school. So, I'm thankful for that. You can do a Google search in AI mode and ask the question, "Do high schoolers need more hormonal temptation?" And the answer to that is obvious. I'm glad my daughters didn't read this book here. Um, this book is gay. Um, that was decided to be weeded out of the middle school and high school. There
078were some totally inappropriate topics in that book like licking buttholes, eating feces, u where to meet people uh for sex, like the Grinder app. You could find out where to meet up with people for sex. I don't think seventh graders needed to know anything about that. So, thank you to the administration for removing that book. I'm glad when my daughters were here, they did not get a hold of this book. identical about a dad that rapes his 11-year-old daughter and there were scenes in that book and I read them here and they described the orgasm climax that that father had. Glad that book was weeded out. I think it was checked out once maybe in 10 years. So, The Art of Racing in the Rain, the book that I read to you last month about
079a dog who watched humans have sex and have orgasms. And I told you and showed you that that book was not even recommended for middle schoolers. And so, I'm thankful to the administration that that book was gotten rid of out of the middle school library. I also read last night at the Telegraph Club another book that was in the middle school library and it had the steam yeah steamy sex scenes that ended with climax. That book also when you did an AI search it was determined was not recommended for middle schoolers. So I'm thankful to the administration for reading that book out of the library. I had also read two years ago from the book Man Without a Face, page 147. There was a man in the story that sodomizes a young boy and there
080was a climax described as quote, "The golden cocoon had opened and it was spilling in a shower of gold." I want to thank the administration for removing that out of Atlantis Run Intermediate School. I don't think fifth and sixth graders needed to hear about that stuff. The book that I want to bring to your attention this evening is called A Scatter of Light by Melinda Low. It's the companion book to Last Night at the Telegraph Club. It's in the middle school library. It is a book that has very inappropriate material in it and you can't find a review on planet Earth that says that the recommended audience is middle school. I did a Google search in AI mode. Is the novel A Scatter of Light appropriate for seventh graders? No. It is generally considered more
081appropriate for older teens and is not the best choice for the average seventh grader. The book is officially recommended for a reading age of 14 to seven years old and a grade level of 9 through 12. The majority of publisher and professional reviews place the book firmly in the mature young adult category, suitable for older teens in grades nine and up, or more specifically 11 and up. Here's why. Ara describes her brief sexual encounters. quote, "Her tongue climbing the swollen ridge of nerves at the cleft of my body, her fingers inside me, that exquisite friction. She made me feel transcendent, exceptional. She tasted like saltwater oysters. I was in love with all of her. I was not myself anymore. I was her." >> Sorry, I have to set your five minutes. >> No problem. Thanks.
082I'll finish up then. >> Thank you very much, Mr. >> Are there others who would like to make comments this evening? Okay. Um, hello. My name is Elanor Solah Hints and I'm a sophomore at the high school. I've had the pleasure to come to the past few schoolboard meetings and I think that the transparent way that the school board makes decisions is very helpful. I'm excited to see how our new school board helps us to continue to be the number one in the county and grow to be at least number 10 in the state. I did also notice that over the past few meetings, there has been some demand to discuss banning books in student libraries. So, I thought it might be helpful for everyone to hear a student voice. As a 15-year-old, I'm frequently
083exposed to ideas that I'm not very familiar with yet. And these ideas often leave me with questions. Whether they're coming from social media, everyday conversations, classrooms, or my personally selected reading choices, I recognize that I'm still very young and I don't understand many things about the world. Fortunately, I've been giving many resources that can help me to better understand these topics. My mom and dad, my aunts and uncles, my parents' friends who are like aunts and uncles to me, and even some teachers. The theme here is that after learning a little bit about something new, I know I have trusted adults to help talk me through finding the answers I need and drawing my own conclusions on these topics. I often go to both the public library and the high school library. And I feel
084so lucky that I have so many books available to me on so many topics. I think that the Mannheim Township High School Library is wonderful in the way that it has such a wide range of books to ensure that all students are engaged, entertained, and can have all their questions answers. Books tell us everything from the past, present, future, facts, feelings, and many other diverse topics. They open us up to figuring out who we want to be in the world. I also think it's so important to keep books with potentially sensitive topics in libraries because these books are a way for students to educate themselves on more serious issues in a way that's safer than just random internet sites or strangers with a microphone. Educating students early and often will keep them out of potentially
085dangerous situations in the future. In the last meeting, a taxpaying citizen said that banning books wasn't an effective measure to keep potentially sensitive books out of libraries and also added that I quote, "I'd like to burn the books." And to that, I'd say, "You might find the commonly banned book Fahrenheit 451 quite interesting. And if you want to read it, there are multiple copies of it in the high school library." As it contains some themes and elements that people might get upset or disturbed over, it would be inappropriate for me to read an excerpt here, but I do suggest reading it. As my time is finishing up, I just want to thank all the adults who are fighting to keep the books in my school library. I want to thank the librarians who have created
086such a safe space where children are comfortable reading books with sensitive topics and sometimes even asking follow-up questions on them. I also want to thank the school board for continuing the fight for me and my peers education. And I want to say that if your child is checking out books that don't align with your set of values, rather than getting angry about it and amplifying the lines that you don't think should be read, I suggest looking into one of the already available possible measures that can be taken to keep your child from checking out these books. But even better, just talk to your child if you care about them so much. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss H. [applause] >> Are there others who would like to make comment this evening? Hi, I'm
087Sorness. I just want to say the previous speaker was just incredible. A hard act to follow. Um, so I just want to say all this talk of banning books, I would encourage the school board to support staff in delivering the message to our students to read the books. Read all the books. As you read, when you have questions, when you're curious, when you're confused, when you feel a certain way, go talk to a trusted adult. Someone who loves and supports you. Someone who makes you feel seen, valued, heard, and understood. Find that trusted adult and talk about them with what's on your mind and your heart, and figure it out together. Books are not the enemy. Information is not dangerous, but it does need to be validated, and vetted. so you can decide how it
088will land on you. I hope we could also encourage the parents and guardians and trusted adults to please talk to your students when they are presented with information they are curious about. Love them, support them, make them feel seen, valued, heard, and understood. Allow them to be curious. Books are not the enemy. Information is not dangerous, but it does need to be vetted and validated so you can decide how it will land on your children. Banning books is not a viable or lasting solution. Communication is key and parenting is key. Kids will always, always, always have access to new information. And it is up to the adults who take their role as adults seriously to help discuss it all with them in a personal setting. I thank you for all you can do in supporting
089communication with and among our families. Thank you. Hence, are there others who would like to make comment this evening? >> Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Julie Dean, Mark's mom, and um I also reside here in Man Township and I want to thank you for giving me a hearing here tonight. As Mark, I also have grand graduated here. So, I've been attending your board meetings now for several years and have listened intently to comments in support of the library books that I am here to adamantly stand against. I reject the slander of being labeled a book banner. I am not a book banner, nor am I criminalizing book owners. What I am, however, is a staunch proponent willing to fight unashamedly for age appropriate books for our kids and to protect parental rights and critique
090where needed the progressive agenda in education. To prohibit by legal means is how Webster's dictionary defines book banning. In other words, they are made inaccessible. The books in question are not inaccessible. They can be obtained at public libraries and purchased at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc. So, you see, they are not banned. And I might add, the media has twisted the meaning of book banning. No surprise there. We are demanding the school board reflect our values, whereby empowering parents to be the best advocate for their kids' education. As it stands, books we have brought before you are obscene and fully lacking any standard of decency. Parental authority is still alive and well, and I would argue the book content in question is a politicized curriculum rather than traditional valuebased education. Parents have a right and
091are duty bound to stand against decisions in favor of graphic, perverted sexual content in school libraries paid with by their tax dollars. Parents must have a say in this. Mark has brought several books to your attention that perfectly describe pornography. According to Webster's dictionary, printed or visual, I'm quoting printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings." unquote. Most recent comments I heard here at these meetings that appear to be in favor of keeping all library books available are as follows, and these are direct quotes. Books open up dialogue. I'd like to remind you, Manheim Township parents always have the option to opt out for their child. More books are better than fewer books. A library should be a
092place for curiosity and nurture to deal with complex issues in thoughtful ways. Kids should have books that challenge them. Isolation, restrictions, and suppression have not been the tools needed. They show us experiences and feelings we may never otherwise had. End of quotes. These comments sound benign, but when you dig deeper, you see they don't begin to address the issue at hand. In fact, to the contrary, they very subtly add fuel to the decline of traditional values and morality in our school system. I understand the leading out policy and I thank you for those that have been removed. But what I am referring to is your school policy where there is a process of formal review with your advisory review committee for reconsideration to remove a book brought into question. I am aware this process is
093done using their guidelines to make a determination. And with porn creeping into our schools, parents are having to fight back and stand up for traditional culture in an effort to make known their guidelines for their kids. My argument here tonight is in support of the right of parents to challenge and remove materials from public school libraries they find unsuitable for their kids and we must not forget paid for with their tax dollars. This is the most worthy cause to stand up for and I am honored to stand shouldertosh shoulder with those who will stand with me. Simply put, we cannot and will not stand by and do nothing. I've been encouraged seeing um some of the young students come forward and ask Mark for his t-shirts that you can see he's wearing no pornography in
094township schools and I've seen the looks on their faces and the it's just encouraging to see that they're willing to take purity pledge no drinking no drugs um and that's been refreshing for me to witness that. So again this is a worthy cause and I'm honored to stand here and speak to it. Thank you. Thank you. Are there others who would like to make comment this evening? Any others? All right. Would anyone who has spoken already like to make additional remarks? >> Yeah, I just want to finish up. Okay. So, that book I read, A Scatter of Light by Melinda Low, that's the book I'm challenging tonight. Uh when area I read the quote area with her girlfriend and I described for you a climax orgasm. That's not appropriate for seventh graders. It's fiction. It's
095nobody's lived experience. Somebody dreamed it up in their mind and wrote about it. Put it in front of seventh grade. I did a Google search of the quote out of the book. The AI overview said, quote, "I cannot respond to this request. The input is sexually explicit and violates safety policies against generating sexually explicit content." In AI mode, it said phrasing like quote, "Her tongue climbing the swollen ridge of nerves at the cleft of my body," unquote, which uses highly descriptive and explicit anatomical language is typically found in context intended to be sexually arousing. Examples of where such phrasing might be found include erotic literature and romance novels. [clears throat] Explicit descriptions of sexual acts and sensations are common in erotica where the goal is often to evoke a strong physical response in the reader.
096Sexual health and erotica websites. Online platforms often feature a wide array of sexually explicit content, including detailed, descriptive narratives and shared personal stories. Specific song lyrics that these were the results of the AI search in AI mode of the quote out of the book in the seventh grade library, A Scatter of Light. While many songs use innuendos, some modern or niche music may contain highly descriptive and explicit lyrics about sexual acts. Another category was user generated content platforms. Forums and writing communities like some subreddits for erotic authors may contain such phrasing as part of stories or discussions about writing sex scenes. So, thanks for giving me hearing tonight. These phrases I read are totally inappropriate for seventh graders. I would hope the administration would do the appropriate thing and read this book out of the
097middle school library. And it's obvious I'm passionate about this topic. Um I came in before and handed out t-shirts and I guess last month a little bit of a May. I was not trying to clog anything up. I'm sorry about that situation. Um some of the students, some of the parents are pass are passionate about it as well as me and I offered the shirts. I have some with me. I'll be leaving right after I'm done speaking. I have some really good books, a bestseller, 100,000 copies sold. It's called Wait for Me. It's a book about a young female musician who decided she'd wait till marriage consmate become involved sexually. So, she got married, she kept her word. And if even if young people did mess up, got sexually involved before marriage, there's still hope.
098There's still plenty of redemption. It's a really good book. I have free copies for anybody who would like one of those. And that's about all I have for tonight. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. That brings us to item number nine, adjournment. >> I'm so sorry. >> Hi. I just want >> I should I Thank you. You're correcting me on policy here, which is would anyone else like to speak for a second time? >> I would love to. Um, I just want to add that um, Banny Books doesn't work and it's a big waste of time because uh, they always come back. Uh, we were very privileged to serve in the military in my family. We spent six years in the service and uh, we lived in Texas in San Antonio and um,
099we were on an army post there and there are schools and libraries on this army post. And one of the things that happened this past January when the federal administration uh changed hands uh there was a sweeping ban of books among many military bases and books were removed for sharing ideas about equity and diversity and inclusion and uh they said that they didn't want that to be available to students on um these military bases. And so those books were removed and the families gathered and they uh challenged it and all of those books were recently required to be put back because they did not have access to the books at those libraries. Even though they did have access to Barnes & Noble and other places where they could get those books, it was found to
100be unconstitutional for them to be taken away. So, I know that this board is very excited about keeping things efficient and making sure that we use our time and our money and our taxpaying dollars very well. So, I'm sure that you will um stay encouraged to not waste our time by banning something just to have it be brought back. And uh I thank you for your efforts and I hope that being that the government of the United States was stopped from doing that that would be a good example for us to follow here at Thank you Mrs. Hint. Now I should ask again now that Mrs. H is reminded me would anyone who has already spoken like to make additional remarks? >> Thank you. I would just like to thank you the young lady and
101her family that just spoke for um your service to our country. That's quite honorable and admirable. But I want to go back to the book banning what I just said. I'm not a book banner. We're not looking to ban books. Um they are available on various sites and so we know according to the constitution how all that works out. So banning books as opposed to age appropriate books are two different things and I couldn't be more clear about that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else who has already spoken that would like to make additional remarks? All right. Well then that brings us to adjournment which is number on our agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Mrs. Hoffman, is there a second? >> Second, >> Mr. Bulazar. Before I call for
102the vote, I'll say that our next scheduled board meeting is Thursday, November 20th at 6 PM here in the district office. Meetings will be livereamed and recorded for viewing purposes. Thank you to all Manheim Township staff, administrators, and volunteers for your dedication to our students and community. makes a difference. Please, I encourage you to all join us uh next next week for it'll be the last meeting for some of our other board members. So, it'll be a special time of recognition as well. So, all in favor of adjournment, please say I. I. All oppose, nay. The motion carries and we are adjourned.