001Good evening. This meeting of the Manai Township School Board is now called to order. Welcome to everyone here in person and those is joining us online. In addition to the live stream, both audio and video are being recorded here this evening. Uh you'll know once again that I am not President Sarah Woodbury here this evening. Uh but I am uh happy to reside in herstead. U she asked me to share that she was traveling and out of town last week and unfortunately has come down with a case of COVID and is uh isolating at her home in order to keep us safe. So uh she is online and also Dr. Henderson is online with us this evening. Um, and I think we are awaiting Miss Romano. Um, I will say as a point of process
002for my fellow board members here this evening, uh, I communicated this to Miss Woodbury and Dr. Henderson already. It's my intention that we will go around have our discussion in person on on uh, matters of importance that come up this evening through the agenda. At that point, I will shift over to our our colleagues virtually attending so that they can also make sure they have their chance to win. Instead of having cross talk or or navigating that in a challenging way, I'm going to settle our business in the room first and then we'll go to the virtual participants after that. 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. With that, now I'll happy to uh
003start our pledge of allegiance. I pledge 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. >> I'm so glad to see a packed house this evening. get to uh item C in our agenda, which are our announcements. Uh 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 be watched afterwards on the district's YouTube channel. Number two, uh my announcements. We will be getting a more thorough and complete athletics update next month, which I'm excited about. Uh, but I'll just uh want to offer quick congratulations to our girls cross country, girls tennis, and girls
004soccer programs for taking home leading district titles this week. Uh, finally, I also want to acknowledge that yesterday was the final day, final day of National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month, coinciding with the independence anniversaries of several Latin American countries. one of the fastest growing racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Uh these communities have long shaped our region, our history, and our Manhattan Township schools in powerful and enduring ways. While we should celebrate and recognize their legacy and impact throughout the year during this month, we give special recognition to them, I especially want to recognize our Latino students, volunteers, and staff for all they do at our schools. Now, unfortunately, as we honor their stories and experiences, we must also recognize the hard reality many are facing right now. Hate and racial profiling
005are surging. A federal anti-immigrant agenda is in place, carrying out raids, sweeps, and deportation campaigns that terrorize families, target neighborhoods, and disappear people. Children, including United States citizens, have been swept up in this cruelty. Speaking for myself, one of the main reasons that I supported Dr. Pig Hefty in taking on the role of superintendent was her insistence that all means all. Now, I look forward to continuing to work with her in months to come to make sure that that mantra holds true here uh in this special school district. Now, we are done with those announcements and we're on to two, which is our 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 or extensions. Number three,
006May 9ine Township community comments on our consent agenda. If you would like to comment on any of the matters we are about to vote upon, residents, te taxpayers, district employees, and students are all welcome to encourage, excuse me, 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 commenters card for the board secretary to collect. Limit your remarks to five minutes related only to items in sections uh five and seven for this evening and share your full name before you begin. Would anyone like to make any comments this evening? Going once twice. Okay. So, we're going to move on now to number four in our agenda, which is the approval of our agenda or any agenda modification. Now, is
007there a motion to either approve or modify the agenda? [Music] >> Move to approve. >> Thank you, Mr. Bolazar. A second. >> All in favor? >> I Any [Music] motion carries. Thank you. Now we're on to item five in our consent agenda, which is a consent agenda vote. Excuse me. 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 be removed from this section to be discussed in section six. Are there items from the consent agenda that any board member requests to move in order to discuss further? >> Hearing none in the room. Is there any requests from our uh board members online? >> No. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Dr.
008Anderson. So, can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? Mr. Landis, can I get a second? >> Miss Land. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Say n. The motion carries. We're going to move past item six. There are no items for consideration. And now we're on to item seven. Uh these are other recommended actions. 7A is an approval of the secretar's minutes of the board work session meeting on September 11th, 2025 and the regular meeting of the board of school directors on September 18th, 2025. Can I get a motion to approve those minutes? >> Mrs. Hoffman and second, Mr. Landis. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries. Now we are on to item B with it which is approval
009of the ratification of the expulsion agreement waiver and stipulations of student 2025-2026 SCA.01. There will be no discussion on this matter is it is confidential and so uh is there a motion to approve this? >> I have Mr. Bulazire with the motion. Is there a second? >> Mrs. Hoffman. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> The motion carries. Thank you. With that, we are on to item eight, which is our superintendence report. Dr. >> Good evening everyone. It's really nice to see students. It must be time for you to do your government work and get that turned in soon. >> Yep. Okay. Good. Good to see you. All right. I'm really proud to share with you that I completed my first 100 days as a blue street. This
010is with the This is truly with the help of our administrative team. So, thank you to those of you here this evening and to Colleen Marshall who was diligent in scheduling a ton and I mean a ton of meetings. Um the goals surrounding um my first 100 days were really um looking at four areas. And we first talked about community engagement um assessing our goals in culture and systems, building stakeholder relationships in the community and communication and transparency. And I'm proud to say that we've accomplished many of these things. To accomplish these goals, here are some of the activities, and it's just a summary that we completed in the first 100 days. And I truly mean this was a team. I met with our board president and each member of the board to review and
011consider our priorities for the next year and next five moving forward. I met with our interim police chief and fire chief to review safety protocols. Safety is our number one priority. met onetoone with each of the 11 members of our cabinet, including each department head, met with all nine principles, our attorney firms to review any pending litigation, I13 to review area trends and needs, city administration to discuss traffic patterns and area specifics of the schools. MTEA or the Manheim Township Education Association to discuss union relations and needs. reviewed process and procedures for continuous improvement with a focus on reading outcomes specifically. I reviewed our multi-tered system of supports and intervention for all students. Our data systems to support teachers in that process parental communication systems and we have a lot of them. Reviewed our hiring
012processes processes met with athletics. Had an opportunity to attend many athletic fall events. Thank you if any of you are athletes. set a process to meet full days in the buildings twice a year. My first one is tomorrow um at the high school and establish cycles for monthly and weekly meetings with our leaders in the district and board members. Each of you have the plan. It would probably be good to have that in front of you to click through that this evening. I won't be reading each of the goals, but from these meetings, what I want you to know is I've set a a series of priority areas that I'll go over with you this evening. I plan to focus on my first year. Um, make and making sure that all means all. That's not
013just a saying for me. I will be reviewing these goals with our administration and setting step goals, dates, and benchmarks that I will share with you and the community after our discussion this evening. I want you to know that after review of everything that we do, I believe that the overarching goal right there at the top is MTSD is an amazing place. Right now, we are ranked number 54 in the state um by US News and World Report and I believe that we need to be in the top 10 in Pennsylvania. Looking at our data and the amazing staff that make things happen, I'm confident that this is possible. But it is going to require intense support around reading. This goal is not a random pick to pick a number for us as a school
014district. But all of the formulas that rank our schools weigh heavily on indicators that support student focus groups or what they call subgroups. But I believe no group is sub. So each of these goals will address those areas. So, in becoming um one of the top 10, we're addressing all of our kids. So, one of the areas that you'll see me discuss um is initiating second rotate mine. Thank you. I'm going to be initiating a climate and culture survey to obtain baseline feedback from our staff and community. Um will include feedback around the calendar, start times, and climate and culture of our buildings. including athletics. We will be looking at um family feedback to make decisions for the upcoming calendars and then family feedback from our staff in order to make climate and culture goals
015in our schools. The next one is deeply personal and I know that we can do the work. Um I moved a school system in Wisconsin from 26% of our students reading proficiently to last year 63 reading proficiently. So we can do this work. We are currently starting with 68% of our students proficient proficient in ELA on the Pennsylvania State Assessment. When we break that down to our students and we think about all means all, that includes only 47.8% of our economically disadvantaged students, 23% of our students with disabilities, and 13% for our students with needs related to language. We have work to do. Our goal is to have 80% of our kids performing at or above proficiency in ELA. They deserve that. Um in in order to do that, you will hear me this year
016talking a lot about access to data. Um and that is not inexpensive for board options. Our teachers need easily accessible data dashboards that can help us make decisions instantly about students needs. We should not have to wait until October or November in order to make decisions and get considered intervention. That's an active process that can happen. But the systems that we have have been identified as outdated and we're going to need some work on those. Those systems will help us design what we call tier one, two, and three. You'll often hear multi-tiered systems of supports that is equitable across our schools. That means all teachers are looking at the same data points to make decisions about kids and putting them in the same interventions across our buildings, of course, elementary together, etc. Um, and so
017know that those goals have a lot of sub goals as we make plans that we'll be working with curriculum and our teachers and involvement. Um based on your feedback this evening, we also created um a goal around the importance of looking and this area addresses our district goals, our culture, our systems and operations. So you just heard me really focus on the academic side of things. Um, when it comes to operations, I would like to make us or have a discussion around our use of NEF 2 and where we go with that building considering students area growth and I hear a regular thing about traffic patterns around here. So, um, that will be an important key in collaboration with the board. Um, I'm also would like to talk about Medicaid and maximizing that service. I
018recommend that over the next year I do work around right sizing special education staffing. Um I'm concerned that we have a lot of needs related to special education. You just heard me give our data on our reading outcomes and so but I never come to you and ask for or give you a problem without a solution. We have a way to maximize our Medicaid funding that is giving estimates in the range of 400 to$2.2 2 million income for services that we are already initiating that can help us to rightsize our special education staffing and our intervention population. And so you're going to hear me talk a lot about this the next year. Know that maximizing Medicaid claims is hard on staff. It does mean documentation. It's going to mean training and work. But when staff
019understand that it can move mountains in obtaining staffing in special education and they understand the why. Um, I've seen that be very successful, but that's on my agenda this year. I'll be working with our director of security to, um, who's here this evening. Thank you. Um, to be really looking at our locked door culture. We know that is the safest way for our students, take this back to your classrooms, that is the safest way for your students to be in a school building is to have a closed locked door. And we need to create a full district-wide culture around that. Some some are that way and some need to get that way. Um, so that's a process. The other piece in safety, and I'm proud to, it's one of the greens that says already completed,
020is that we have shifted our culture around fire drill responses. The most modern way to respond to a fire drill is to pause and think. That's not always a comfortable response when you're a teacher with 25 little bodies and a very large very loud alarm going off. And so, um, we've asked our teachers to pause and consider that there's not, although we had one in the recent in the recent here at the high school. But there's not often fires in schools, consider the circumstances, pause, and make sure it's safe for you to exit your classroom. So, we've practiced that this year and created a new culture around safety. Um, so goal completed, but we sometimes you need to check things off. Um, again, we'll be comprehensively evaluating special education programming. Um, currently the federal government
021monitors school systems. So this is across the nation on the percent of our students included in general education. As it stands, we are over identified for students being restricted outside of special education and that's an easy fix because we know that that impacts our reading outcomes. Again, hard work and we need to make sure that the supports are in place. But that's something that I'll be working on this year. Uh mental health is a tremendous focus for us. Um, in meeting with our elementary principles um, and students with high needs, it is not uncommon for a student that is referred and needs psychiatric support or help and consultation to wait six months on a waiting list to get support. So, I'd like to form a coalition with your support that evaluates our ability to increase
022our school-based health clinic. I'm considering a mental health support in that clinic. Uh we're currently successfully doing an intervention like this for our staff. Different funding sources, different ways to have that paid for. But that's something I'd like to work on. Our students need access in order to access education. I'd like to work with the board on um policy around universal waiverss of fees. Um there are some difficult provisions around the identification of free and reduced lunch that very much protect our famil family's privacies but also then end up requiring our families having to ask for fee waiverss and so we can do the work around having that be a universal provision to wave fees associated with any other thing other than free and reduced lunch. I don't want our families and childrens to have
023to ask I'm encouraging our HR to re research interview processes of high performing districts to establish processes that involve uh teachers and giving instructional lens and feedback. That process will begin in a by teacher leadership teams being a part on the building level. Finally, in that category, ensuring that staff size determinations are made in response to student needs and being included uh and that includes needs related to language behavior and meeting basic needs in our buildings. Our principles are great advocates in those areas. Um I think one of the things that will naturally adjust this is our work around nichrower, but it's something we're going to have to be really conscious of so that we're not having to move and shift our neediest families midyear for class size provisions. Um in in related to board
024and key stakeholder determinations. We will be working to set four norms in December and January and working on a retreat and I'm open to your feedback about that process. Again, you heard me say that we'll be setting up um two per year in each building. Our first one will be tomorrow so that I am accessible and that's just one of many ways that I'm trying to be present in the buildings. In the area of communication and transparency, I'm asking that we review our home communication. We currently, and this is just a brief list, use Remind, Team Snap, Schooly, and Sapphire, and emails, and sometimes calls and texts um to our families to communicate. All of that seems relatively um families were not complaining about that. But my greatest concern is language access and making sure
025that communication is accessible to all families. And as a new family to the district, it's a lot to download that much information. And I'm asking that we also consider transportation communication in that. Um we do a lot of intermittent communication about buses laid or buses updates and that could be done naturally through an app. So we'd like to explore that this year. We'll be working hard with communications to have a consistent MTSD brand. You see a lot of uh Blue Street different labels out there and we're working on a consistent message with that. We've already and here's your completed completed completed uh posted reports um that the public can see what we are presenting ahead of time and increase transparency by live streaming our board meetings and having them videotaped. I will be looking ways
026to have a 360 degree feedback evaluation for myself. Um, I'm open to feedback and I want to model that behavior and I continue to do that with the board as well so that on our board reports you if I'm noticing that areas aren't helpful for you, I try to change and mold those each time and I'll continue trying to be dynamic in that way. Um, I'm going to do a lot of looking at our signage and branding. How are we as a new member of our community? We actually don't have signage outside of the high school. If you're a teen pulling up to our high school, you might not know that's actually the high school on Blue Street if you didn't already live here. So, it'll be something we're really looking at. Finally, in terms
027of training and making sure that we have everything covered this year, I'm recommending HR work with us to design a title N plan and a training that's rolled out to principles in a clear, actionable way. uh that includes childline training. Even though that's not each of my goals, that's a broad summary. I'm certainly open to your feedback this evening and welcome a discussion. This has been an honor to complete my first 100 days and I cannot wait for the rest of the year. I'm open to your questions and feedback. >> Dr. That was incredibly comprehensive and thorough. Uh I appreciate the thought and intention you put behind that presentation for us. Uh I think it's reflective of how you've approached the job so far. So uh very much appreciate that. Uh with that are there
028any questions from folks board members in the room? Any thoughts for for Dr. >> Um just I wanted to mention that many students have different needs. I recognize that even in my own household my two children are different learners. Um, and this presentation is such a good reminder to know that 32% of our students are not reading at proficient levels and some students in the different three different tiers may be overlooked. All of our students in Mannheim Township deserve to have the access to resources so that we can all thrive and succeed here in Manheim Township. And I'm just so thankful to Dr. Pafty because you've recognized this. And when everyone can work together to achieve these goals, it's like what you said, we can move mountains. So, thank you for that very thorough presentation.
029>> Thank you, Miss Lamb. Anyone else in the room on board? Mr. Sense, >> something that stood out on your resume when I first read it was your background in special education and something that I hear from community members are concerns around special education. Um I was very glad to see that you approached it from an administrative position, from a strand of teaching and class size as well as individual children. Um there is much that can be done always to streamline and and support. Uh I'm looking forward to that and you know our teachers are and our community. So I was very pleased with with all that in the report and there's so much learning. I'm not sure that you have any questions, but that does stand out to me and I I love that.
030Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Sense. Mr. Bazark. >> Yeah, I just want to thank you for uh I don't know that I've ever seen such a comprehensive um but succinct presentation from that part of the table of my time here. And it really goes to what you're you're talking about transparency and comprehensive view of of where um what you're working on, what you have your staff working on, rallying the organization. And so putting that all together in a way that has clear measurable goals. I remember the first um sat we used to have the Saturday conversations and the first one on the first ones we had my neighbor behind us that lives behind these 96 year old 96 years old comes and says what man township like who cares if they're number one in
031the county they should be much higher in the state and what you said to set the bar to something that really is it's not like a pipe dream. It's it's something that's capable to go after. Really, I think infuses an energy to take an already great school district to some other level. And I'm I'm I'm so happy you're the person that got through that process and come here. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Bazar. Mr. Landis. >> Yeah, Dr. Bey. Um, thank you. appreciate your time so far, your service, your thoroughess. Um, thoroughess of this presentation. I really appreciate that you're not just thorough. I think that's something that's kind of innate in education. Teachers tend to be very thorough, but you're also um thinking outside the box. What can we do better um
032you know, related to some financial things, but also students achievements. So, yeah, just um especially in a big organization but even the small ones it's important to always try to keep thinking outside the box. So that's great. >> Thank you M. >> Yeah thank you that that was great and succinct and comprehensive. Appreciated. Um, one comment would be or suggestion or request was when you survey um, and I think you said teachers, you said a few different um, in groups that you would survey. I would love the students to be included in that because um, they're the ones in the school and they're the ones with big opinions. Um, I went to back to school night and I haven't gone in a lot of years admittedly, but I was so impressed with literally every teacher
033that I went to. Um, and over the years that's not always the case, right? Not all teachers are made equal. Um, some are great, some are fine. And I'd really love to hear the students feedback on those teachers, the ones that are great and the ones that are fine. Um, so I would encourage to include them in that survey. >> I like the thought of using Susie voice. Thank you. I'll add that to that. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Romano. I I I am as well a a huge fan of the teachers and the quality of of the educators in our district. I think it's the the key to our success. So, appreciate that comment, Mrs. Hoffman. >> Thank you. I appreciate everything that you that you brought for us this evening. Um our as
034you I'm sure already know, our community is very engaged uh and very thoughtful and I appreciate that you're looking at the communication and transparency. actually appreciate that you're trying to streamline it. Um I am one of those parents where you get the phone call, you get the email, you get the sapphire, you get the schooly I heard it the first four times and you so I appreciate that. Um but but along those lines um really making sure that the communication is open, getting ideas. There's a lot of very intelligent um parents and involved parents in the anatomic and you and I have had conversations about this but um making sure that their input is included and thoughtful and uh respected I think is a big component. Um I appreciated you talking about scheduling times. Um
035it's not only uh impacts on parents but it's also on student teach students and when they're teachable you know it's it's very imperent I mean we've got a lot of high school students here and I can say it you probably are better after 9:00 and not 7:30. Um so you know there's there's challenges like that that a parent's going to be able to weigh in on and I appreciate you being able to follow up and get that communication from our parents. Thank you, Mrs. Hoffman. I will now turn to uh we'll go first to Dr. Henderson. Do you have anything to share, Dr. Henderson? >> Sure. Dr. Py, has it been 100 days already? Wow. Congratulations. Uh I'd also like to extend a congratulations to all the members of the board because you guys I
036think you guys I think we made a good choice. Um so, thank you. welcome to the family. I appreciate your concentration on equity. I appreciate you being proactive with families, especially family. You know, we sometimes look at um economic disadvantage in a negative light. I appreciate your efforts to um to squash that thought. Um and I think the students and family, they deserve to be a part of an inclusive community. I think you're making strides to make that happen. Uh we are we are a community. We are one big family. And yes, we have that crazy auntie corner over there spewing nonsense sometimes, but she still has a seat at the table. She still has a seat on the family bus. She just can't drive it. So I I want to once again extend my
037congratulations and thank >> you so much Dr. Anderson. Uh, Miss Woodbury. >> Thank you, Mr. Carter. You know, I have something to say. I just want to again say that this plan really shows the humble, curious, and compassionate leader committed to excellence and radical transparency. That is Dr. Bapt. I want to thank you for including the teachers in the interview process. It really shows how you and the district demonstrate honor, value, and respect for our educators. And I I'm touched by it. I think it's a a wonderful part of your um plan to take what we've got in the district and keep building and keep uh striving. So, thank you very much. And it's it's very exciting to work with you and I'm looking forward to the year ahead and the next four years after
038that. Thank you so much, Miss Woodberry. Uh, and I'll just I'll just close us out by and get to the rest of your report, but I I'll just say, you know, everything I'm hearing there indicates culture, right? It's you're creating, reinforcing, and supporting the culture that we have and building upon it with that firm foundation. I I'm a firm believer that we have the talent in in these four walls in our school district to meet your ambition. Um, and I think your your ability, your superpower of of laying out that ambition clearly in a way that people can understand their role in it is is absolutely critical. And I think that's what's going to create that leaderful team of folks uh of people of families um who are going to take us to the next
039level. Uh uh and so I just I'm I'm ready. I'm ready for the rat. I'm ready to go. Thank you so much. >> All right. Well, thank you for the feedback. incorporate all of that and buckle up. We're going to be top 10. >> So, let's do this. All right. So, um a celebration tonight. Uh we'd like to congratulate Samantha Buckwalter. Um we're trying to add to our digital tech here. So, let's see if we can get this. We had a video of her receiving her um employee of the month award at the middle school employee of the month. The middle school selected for October for the month [Music] of the month. This person does not know about [Music] the teacher we are recognizing special shared that she's amazingly teacher that embraces out of the
040box and constant learning. She supports her students in a way that not only learning but is respectful and she is always positive, calm and caring environment that needs to meet with all her students and staff. Thank you. Smart is an exceptional special educator who embodies dedication, compassion and professionalism each and every day. She creates a classroom environment where all students feel valued, respected and supported. Creativity and patience. She finds innovative ways to meet the unique needs of her students while celebrating their strengths and successes. Her student colleagues and her commitment to student growth makes her a true role model. She's an advocate for her students ensuring they are given every opportunity to both thrive academically and personally. We are grateful for Sy's hard work, reliability, and the joy she brings to our school community. She
041inspires not only her students but also her fellow educators with her passion and dedication. Thank you. Okay. So please join in just giving her in case the community is curious. Uh we have really we're really working on our process and procedures to make sure that our employees are taking care of themselves. One of the things that I'm working on this year is honoring the people um that become employees of the month with their family in their schools who nominated them. Um but also saying I want you home at night with your family, not at a board meeting uh when possible. And not that because we don't want to honor you here, but because I want to take care of you as our employees. So we're trying to make that shift in case you're wondering why
042she's not here. and we've shared that with our employees as well and we'll see how that goes and if they are asking for uh changes in that we'll c certainly be cognizant of that and finally for my presentation um just some data here uh enrollment as of October 1st and you'll notice that this number went up from last month is 6,31 total students that includes 52 students who are being who are currently being served at IU13 River New Vista and the Bradley Center and then one student was homebound on October 14th and that is the completion of my report. Thank you so much. [Music] >> Thank you Dr. Kepi. >> Okay, we are moving on now to item nine in our agenda which is new business. Items brought forward under new business will not be
043acted upon until the next school board meeting to allow schoolboard members to have sufficient information and to allow opportunities for public comment. Does any board member have new business to bring forward starting in the room? >> Seeing none in our friends online. Is there anything you would like to bring forward? >> Item nine. >> No, not at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we're moving on from item nine. We are now on to item 10, board member reports. Uh and I am thrilled to welcome uh this evening our student representatives who we will start with. So welcome Joel Francis and Shrea Sadel. Thank you for joining us this evening. >> Hi. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Shrea Seagel and I'm a sophomore here at the high school. I'm really excited to be
044one of the school board representatives this year. I'm involved in HOSA Key Club student council and soccer. I'm looking forward to sharing exciting news with you all. >> Hello, my name is Joel Francis. I'm a senior at the high school. I'm involved in soccer, student council, main God, and I'm the secretary for the class of 26. And I'm looking forward to telling you all about what is happening at the high school. And I'm going to start about our fall sports teams because all of them had have a successful season but all teams making it into postseason play. Our boys golf our section one champs and they were the league runnerups. Girls golf golf was league champs and they placed third in districts. Our girls tennis was section one and league champs and they're moving on
045to states right now. Our girls soccer are section champs and is home yesterday night and boys soccer are section and league runnerups. For field hockey, district's play begins on Wednesday, October 22nd. And for girls volleyball, they're currently co-champs in LL section 1, currently tied first with Hempfield, holding the title for the first time since 1996. Tonight, our team is playing the semi-final game of the LL League tournament. Winner advances to play in the finals on Saturday. District play starts next week. And for boys cross country, they are section one champs and LL League championship runner-ups, and they go on to districts. For girls cross country, they are section one champs and LL League championship champions, and they go on to districts. For football, we're currently a seven to one and we're third in district 3
0466AG. Our our marching band and cheer squad have been performing at our home and away football games, providing the great atmosphere which makes Friday night lights so special. Our marching band show is it's about time. They performed in several showcases and parades this fall. At the Eastern York Showcase, our band earned a superior rating at this competition, which is the highest possible. Recently, they performed in the Africa Fair Parade and received the best band award for the third consecutive year. Our cheer team will be competing in competitive cheer competitions, which start in the upcoming months. So, a few weeks ago in our school, our students attended Rachel's Challenge Assembly, which is a powerful program promoting kindness, compassion, and a safe school culture. Our speaker shared Rachel Scott's story and encouraged positive action through acceptance, empathy,
047and connection. And recently in our high school, we had our homecoming and spirit week. Student council held a homecoming probably the day before the homecoming football game where the homecoming court and their dates competed with each other in fun games. Vinnie Allen was elected homecoming queen which is announced during halftime of the football game and the theme for homecoming this year was outer space with an attendance of about 1100. In an attempt to involve the community in their fundraising efforts, the high school Minthon's second annual trunk or treat event will take place at the high school. Kids from the community are welcome to come to the main lot of the high school and trickor treat with the with their bags of various cars from clubs, sports teams, and faculty members on October 25th from 5
048to 7:00 p.m. Participating trick-or-treaters are asked to donate $5 to be involved in the fund. And all of the proceeds benefit children fighting pediatric cancer. And then lastly, mark your calendars from November 20th to 22nd for the fall play, which is Murder on the Oregon Express. Show starts 7 p.m. in the auditorium, and a schoolwide assembly will be held prior to the fall play to kick off the performances. Sharing, thank you. Uh I'm so glad our student representatives are back and that is very comprehensive update going on. So, thank you. Are there any other updates from other board members from either their member schools or their community leaison? [Music] >> No one in the room. Anyone online? >> Not for me. >> No. >> Okay. And we are done with board member reports. And we
049are moving on to item 11 in our agenda, which is Manheim Township community comments. Residents, taxpayers, districts, employees, and students are all welcome and encouraged to participate. The board won't 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, and share your name after you begin. Who would like to make comments this evening? [Music] Hi, my name's Mark Diner. I went to this school. I graduated class of 1989 and I had five daughters that also went here. So, I did a Google search in AI mode. Thank God for AI. That's pretty cool. Uh, is the book The Art of Racing in the Rain for Young Adults? The Art of Racing in the Rain
050by Gar Stein is not a young adult novel. It was written for an adult audience. The Art of Racing in the Rain in our middle school. See the nice little puppy. Kind of interesting. We got a dog tonight. Cute little book, The Art of Racing in the Rain. Got a little puppy there. Amazon said, "The New York Times best-selling novel from Gar Stein. A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope. A captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life as only a dog could tell it. The uh Destiny Discover online says, "Interest level, adult." All right, let's find out what the dog gets to see in his life. On page 17, they fell onto the bed and he mounted her and she said, "The field is
051fertile. Beware." And he said, "I embraced the fertility." And he plowed the field until it grasped the sheets in its fists, arched its back, and cried out with joy. Puppies watching the dog endo or I don't know, so I forget his name. But the dog watches these sex scenes. Of course, she had the advantage of her tongue and her thumbs. And when I watched her kiss and fondle him, sometimes she would glance at me and wink as if to gloat, "Look at my thumbs. See what they can do?" So the dog doesn't have thumbs and the girls knocking the dog. See, I have thumbs as a human. I can do things with this guy here in bed that you can't do, little doggy. There is something about the effort it took for her to lie
052down on her side to rest. Having removed her shirt and undergarments, the way her breasts fell just so across her chest as she lay on the bed, and the dog chimes in, "The smell would have given me an erection if I had if I still had my testicles." Page 106. The poor dog has to watch another sex scene. She shrugged off her robe and stood naked, her large breasts with their brown nipples pointing at him. She was or he was unconscious, asleep. She reached down and slipped her small hands into the band of his sweatpants. She pulled his pants down to his knees. She pulled his pants down to his ankles, then lifted one foot and then the other to remove them completely. She looked at me. I growled and I snapped. And Denny suddenly
053awake. Woof woof. The dogs trying to stop the groping scene. And she crawled onto the bed, reaching for him. So I barked again. Make the dog go away, she said. She dropped her hands, which were clutching the crumpled robe to her chest, and suddenly her massive breasts, heaving with grief, were exposed to him, and he had to retreat. He approached to comfort her. She dropped her hands. Her breasts shot out at him, and he flew back. It's possible this is a dog talking now. It's possible I was witnessing a living interpretation of an antique pornographic penny bank similar to one I saw in a movie called The Stunt Man, which depicted a bear copulating with a girl on a swing. So, the dog in the book knows what porn is when he sees it. And
054he saw this sick memory in his head, the poor doggy's head, of this bear copulating with a girl on a swing. These are disgusting things in a book for seventh graders. $60 million middle school, but we put trash in the library with my taxpayer money. Not cool. In closing, I will say this. The myth of banned books, the whole banned books narrative is a flatout lie. By the way, L&T, when you put that little heading in the story about tonight, you have that section book banning. It's not book banning. No books are banned. You can buy all the books you want on Amazon and read them to all the little kids you want. You can put a heading in there that says book burning. I'd like to burn the books. It is a weaponized talking
055point used to shame parents into silence. No one is banning books. We're asking a simple question. Everybody listen up. Should graphic pornography, scenes describing rape, incest, and oral sex between minors be sitting on public school library shelves paid for by hardworking taxpayers? That's not censorship. That's basic decency. There's a world of difference between protecting freedom of speech and handing explicit sexual material to children under the banner of education. Let's be clear, a line like quote, "As his penis twirled in my mouth, thoughts of the popcorn he promised me ran through my mind. afraid of your your time is speaking. Thank you. >> Can we get the extra four minutes? >> We're going to see if other people would like to speak first. >> Are there other speakers who would like to make comment this evening?
056>> Good evening. >> Welcome. Please share your name. >> Thank you. I'm Dr. Jessica Mardle. First thing I'd like to say is thank you to the student representatives for your report. I appreciate that very much. I just wanted to add since I'm a marching band mom that the marching band community night is on Tuesday the 21st at 7 p.m. in the Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. 7 p.m. um in the stadium. Love for everybody to come out and it's kind of their last performance for the community. They have one performance after two. I think there's a football game and a showcase after that, but it's just a lot of fun. Um I'd like to take the last excuse me, the next few minutes to speak to you briefly about books. Books are tools for learning. Books
057challenge us. They show us experiences and feelings that we may never have had. They make us think and consider perspectives and beliefs that are different from our own. They can promote understanding and a broader view of our society and world. When a student encounters a book or a topic in a book that they don't understand or that seemingly contradicts what they have been taught to believe, the hope is that they will talk to a parent or another trusted adult. Books open up dialogue. I want to thank our Manhun Township School District librarians for all of the work that they do that perhaps goes unseen. These people care deeply about their students and I am grateful for each and every one of them. I also want to remind Manhattan Township parents that they always have the
058ability to opt their child out of reading any book that they deem unsuitable for their child as per as per policy 105.2. There also exists a process for formal review of any specific book according to policy 109. There will be an advisory review committee that can consider a book and use guidelines um outlined in the request for reconsideration of instructional material and they will determine if the book should be removed. Additionally, there is a weeding process whereby books with low circulation are periodically removed from the library. I will end by saying that more books are always better than fewer books. Libraries and schools should be places where curiosity is nurtured. Efforts to limit books based on content or viewpoint deprive young people of the opportunity to engage with complex issues in thoughtful ways. Thank you.
059Thank you. Are there any others who would like to make comment this evening? >> Welcome. [Music] When you're ready, please share your name. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sora Hints and I'm a taxpaying parent of five students in MTSD. Sorry, I forgot to bring a tax bill to prove it. I did remember to wear a shirt which supports the points I'm going to make. My school taxes support facilities, staff salaries, and resources that benefit all students. Considering how many people work in MTSD, how many buildings we have, and how many students we serve, I think my taxes would be a bargain at twice the price. I'm especially glad that my taxes pay for librarians and books. Last week, I had the privilege of substituting as a library aid at LIS. Previously, I substituted for
060a class inside the MTMS library, and I was fortunate enough to be in the MTHS library during a free period last year as a substitute. Also, I have happily volunteered in the elementary school library many times. In being in these various rooms, I was able to witness firsthand the unbelievable events that occur among the shelves. students reading voluntarily, all ages and all reading levels, even up to adults. For those students excelling in reading, they had so many books available to them, collections that were curated by carefully selected and vetted professionals with qualifications in library science. There are books about joy, hope, and love, even more about silly hygiinks, engaging shenanigans, and daily adventures. There are also books on murderers, thieves, fearmongers, tyrants, and criminals. There are fiction and non-fiction books involving torture, cruelty, and pain.
061I won't force a public reading on you because as mentioned before, library reading is voluntary. As a former English teacher, present avid reader, and future book author, I would never call any of these books trash, even if I disagree with or don't believe in them. I don't think it's valuable for my children to only have access to ideas that we already support. No surprise that I'm a chatty mom, so we talk about a lot in my home. Even still, in these libraries, I bet there are topics my children may be encountering for the first time, and I welcome that. When they read something new, they may be left with unanswered questions. Questions like, "Was Christopher Columbus worthy of a holiday?" "How many world religions are there? What would American politics look like outside of a
062two-party system? What does non-binary mean? Why did this passage make me feel a certain way?" As a parent, I welcome these questions and all of these books. All kids should have the ability to read books that challenge them along with books that encourage them. Books give an opportunity to help my children develop critical thinking skills, further dedicate themselves to our shared beliefs, and even possibly learn something new, change our minds, and grow together. Books, all books open minds, open doors, and open us up to the world of differences around and among us. Historically, isolation, suppression, and restriction have not been the tools of the commendable. As families, we have the individual opportunity at any time to ask our kids what they are reading and how they feel about it. We get to debate with them.
063We get to have teachable moments. We get to show them how big the earth is without ever leaving our homes. Libraries give us these chances to engage with our children in meaningful and impactful ways. And the books within them should be diverse and inclusive so we can reach as many corners as we can before our students graduate MTSD and live as wellstied citizens of the planet. I think we should encourage all our very qualified librarians to get even more books on even more topics. I also also think we should pay them more and reward them more. April 4th is National School Librarian Day, but it's a Saturday, so we'll have to celebrate on school day. so all their beloved students can join in. What important work these librarians do. Giving students so many options and
064giving the adults at home so many options for discussion. Parenting is hard and the internet is wild. But it's fake news and false resources. Books are here for us. All of us. If your blue student kid is reading, you are welcome to engage with them and it will be worthwhile for both of you. You can thank an MTSD librarian for that. If you want to join me in a pledge to read and read it all, you don't have to sign up with me, but you can expand your reach even further and go sign up at your local library for a library card. Call it a literacy oath if you want, but students make sure to take your adults with you and sign up. [Music] >> Thank you. >> Are there any others who would like
065to comment this evening? [Music] No others. [Music] Mr. I believe everyone else. All that stuff's all fine and dandy. What I was talking about earlier was that this book I've been talking about tonight, The Art of Racing in the Rain, it's an adult novel. It's in our seventh grade library. I don't think seventh graders need to hear about a dog watching two people's have a climax, sex climax. Last week, I read from the uh last night at the Telegraph Club, two lesbians having an orgasm. That doesn't need to be read about by seventh graders. If you want to read that stuff to your kids, buy it with your tax money. You buy it with your money, not my tax money. You can read it to your kids all you want. I don't think you should
066think it's a bad idea. >> Uh, Mr. Deer, please direct your comments to the board and not to the audience. >> Sure. >> Let's be clear. A line like quote, "As his penis twirled in my mouth, thoughts of the popcorn he promised me ran through my mind." That's in the Freedom Writer diary uh diary in our high school library. Nth graders, 14y olds can read about this. Uh, this is filth masquerading as education and it never belonged in a public school in the first place. If adults want to read it, they can buy it themselves, like I was saying. But forcing taxpayers to fund this kind of filth and exposing it to minors, that's government sanctioned grooming, not enlightenment. And the real question everyone should be asking is this. Why are these adults so desperate
067to keep this kind of material in front of children? Like I said, seventh graders, middle school, 12, reading about lesbian orgasms. What kind of person fights harder for a child's access to sexual content than for their safety, literacy, or moral development? Protecting kids isn't book banning. It's moral clarity and it's long overdue. We must protect the hearts and minds of our children. Thanks for your time tonight. Uh Halloween came early. I have a bag full of chocolate candy bars and I also have my free no porn shirts for any of these young men and women that want to take my purity pledge. Thanks everybody. Mr. Deer, we've expressly asked you not to interact with our minors following the board meeting in the case that they're 18. Otherwise, they need to speak with their parents. Thank
068you. Is there a motion to adjourn? Mrs. Hoffman, is there a second everyone? Uh, I'll say Miss Lamb. Uh, our next scheduled board meeting is Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 6 p.m. here in the district office. Meetings will be live streamed and recorded for viewing purposes. Thank you to all Mainheim Township staff, administrators, and volunteers for your dedication to our students and community. All in favor of adjournment, please say I. I I >> All oppose. Nay. >> The motion carries.