May 27, 2025, 7:00 PM - Regular Board Meeting

001[Music] Good evening everyone. Thank you all for coming tonight. I would like to call to order the school methan school district board of directors meeting for 27th May 2025. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. The public is hereby advised of audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting. By the way of attendance, we have Miss Cananko participating virtually. We have Mr. Glenn Murki and Miss Aston. Both are excused. And next, we have guest and scheduled speakers. Dr. Zerby. Thank you, Madam Vice President. This evening we have quite a number of scheduled uh guest speakers, but nonetheless we have our outstanding uh high school principal Dr. Deb Uker to come forward and help us introduce the pack champion boys varsity team. And before we start, can I just announce that on

002um the board met in executive session on May 1st to virtually for virtually for the annual safety and security update as required under act 44. The board met in executive section on May 5th virtually to discuss matters associated with contract negotiations with the methactin education support professional association. Dr. Yugger and Miss Taylor, our athletic director portion to Can you hear me? Am I going to pick it up again? Here we go. Um, I'm going to turn it over to uh Mrs. Parker for the athletics portion of the excellence award. Hello. Uh, thank you school board and Dr. Zerby for having us today. Uh, I would like to introduce our 2025 pack champions tennis team. Uh, coached by, uh, Jill Walker and Valerie Dans. [Applause] [Music] Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. And then guys, if you just

003want to come, can they just come right down here? just go right in front. There we go. Well, first of all, thank you again for having us. Um, it's certainly nice to celebrate the boys and the accomplishments they had this season. Again, we had a great season. Uh, the boys, for the third year in a row, have won the pack championship, so that's very exciting. Yes. Yes, obviously as a coach, as a coach, I'm super proud of them. Um, we've had a really good run. They're also an extremely nice group of boys. They're extremely respectful and have great sportsmanship out there. Um, they will be truly missed. We're we don't have everybody here. We have 11 total varsity. We are missing a couple that unfortunately couldn't make it today. But luckily, we have a lot

004here. So, um I'm just going to start um by recognizing our number one singles player, uh senior Dylan Wen. There you go. Come on up. So, I can say a lot about Dylan. Uh Dylan has been a tremendous tennis player. You know, every now and again you get an all-star on your team and you really look forward to having one. Dylan has been that form of actton for the last four years. couple accomplishments. Um, for two years, he actually won and was a big part of us winning the team championship, but he also won the pack singles championship and won the doubles pack championship with a partner. So, to do that two years in a row is awesome. So, good job, Dylan. Um, and just a side note for Dylan, just he's he's very talented

005in many ways. He's going to be moving on. He's going to Princeton, so he will do many other good things in the future. So, we will miss you, Dylan. Um, and then secondly, we had uh Karun. Karun couldn't make it today, but Karun played doubles with Dylan and won the pack doubles championship. Um, an amazing player again. We're going to be losing him graduating. He is going to move on and go to the University of Pittsburgh. I just recognized you there. And then um our third singles player, another senior, Nadish Chintella in an amazing season. This was his first year playing singles with us. Nadish was also undefeated uh for the league. So that was amazing. And he's going to be going to Indiana University, the Kelly School of Business. So very good, Nadish. All

006right. Next we have, let's go with Ian. Ian Wang, another senior. Uh Ian's going to be going on to Penn State. This was Ian's uh Yep. Amazing. He had an undefeated season. Uh pretty much most of it, I believe. And you played with uh Kyle, who we'll get to next, but Ian, best of luck to you. Good job. And his partner was Kyle Kim. Kyle Kim is a junior and we are very excited that he is back next year. We will need him. So, um, good job to him. And then moving on next, we have, let's see, we're missing his other half right now, but Alex Webb, another junior. Alex was also undefeated in the pack. Um, so for tennis, you play each individual match and you have a run, but then you have your

007whole team. you add up all seven of those matches to win. So each individual that I've pointed out so far, not only did they have an undefeated season, but the whole team as a whole, they won 11 and0. They beat every team in the pack to win the championship. So that was it's just it's a nice to have us here to celebrate. They did a great job. And then next we had Aiden. Aiden Bordick. Aiden is another junior. We're very excited to have him back next year. You will see big things from these guys. And then moving on, we have two sophomores here. We've got um Justin Yu and Jeremy Wang. They were together at fourth doubles undefeated. And that's our our next crew leading us. And hopefully we'll be back here again next season

008for another pack championship. Those are the future. But good job, guys. There you are, the 2025 pack champs. And thanks again for having us. Perfect. [Applause] Good job. Dr. Uker, you're back up for the Spirit of Mactton. Dr. Uker, Dr. Zerby, and board members, thank you very much for having us tonight. The Spirit of Mactton Award celebrates the students, staff, and volunteers who exemplify the nine core values of a Mthactton School District. These are individuals who consistently go above and beyond employing the very best of our school community. This year, we introduced a new approach at the high school to better reflect the size and spirit of our community. Rather than recognizing just one person, we believe that a single name could not fully capture the breadth of excellence we see every day. So, we

009started a new tradition, one that invites the entire school to participate in the selection process. Students cast votes to recognize teachers, support staff, volunteers, coaches, adviserss. Meanwhile, staff members nominated students from the junior class. This process resulted in four honores in each of the four categories, a total of 16 outstanding individuals. To celebrate them, we h we held our first ever kickoff to summer somr, the spirit of mthactton rally on Thursday. While we originally planned an in-person event, the weather had other plans. Fortunately, the Mthactton community has become quite skilled at pivoting to virtual platforms. We seamlessly shifted to a virtual rally, ensuring that the entire school community could watch and celebrate these honores together. It's a good thing we did. Many of our spirit of mthactin recipients weren't able to be in here person

010tonight, but thanks to the rally, their recognition was still shared and w was shared widely and was still very meaningful. So, our first category is our uh teachers. Again, our teachers were voted upon by our student body. And the first one is Marilyn McCully. You can clap. She's not here with us today. Uh Marilyn just had a baby a couple days ago, so she was uh so she's um honoring her own family growth. Uh Miss McCully is an incredibly spirited and enthusiastic teacher. Her upbeat and positive outlook is noticed by both students and staff. Miss McCully is an adviser for the National Art Society, which supports the annual art show. One of the fun events they run is the Merry Market, which invites all clubs from the high school to participate and happens before the

011holidays. Students feel comfortable and creative in her room while also feeling supported. Way to go, Marilyn. Mr. Muscleman, who also can't be here. He's for not not as happy of a reason. He's having a root canal right now. But, uh, Mr. Mr. Muscleman is a dedicated health and PE teacher who consistently puts students at the center of everything he does. He is flexible and responsive, always adapting his teaching to meet the needs and interests of his students. His positive attitude, encouragement, and strong sense of integrity have made him a trusted role model for many. Whether in the gym or in the classroom, Mr. Muscleman leads by example and inspires students to live active, healthy, and balanced lives. Way to go, Mr. Muscleman. Uh, Mr. Erbasic's daughter is receiving an award at Boyertown tonight, so he

012can't be with us today. But Mr. Orbasic is a mact business teacher whose dry wit and subtle humor make his classes both engaging and memorable. He has a talent for turning everyday lessons into real world learning experiences, guiding students through the fundamental fundamentals of entrepreneurship with insight and authenticity. His nonsense approach paired with his sharp humor challenges students to think critically while keeping them entertained. Under his guidance, students gain not only an understanding of business concepts, but also the confidence and creativity to apply them in real life. Way to go, Mike. And last, but certainly not least, Miss Aaron Kavanagh. And she is here tonight. [Applause] Miss Kavanagh is a dynamic Spanish teacher who connects effortlessly with her students, creating a classroom environment that is both welcoming and inspiring. Her enthusiasm for language and culture

013is contagious, and she brings energy and creativity to every lesson. Beyond the classroom, Miss Kavanagh is deeply involved in the school community, volunteering her time to support a variety of extracurricular activities. Her dedication, warmth, and ability to build strong relationships make her a valued and beloved member of our staff. Congratulations, Aaron. All right, our next category is our support staff. Again, voted upon by our student body. Our first um our first nominee is uh Gabby Winters. Are you here, Gabby? Yes, she is. Gabby Winters is an instructional assistant at Mthactton High School and is a reliable and supportive presence in the classroom. Her strong organizational skills help keep lessons running smoothly and efficiently. She works closely with teachers to support instruction and ensure every student has what they need to succeed. Always ready to lend

014a hand or offer encouragement, Gabby brings out the best in those around her. Her dedication and helpful nature make her an invaluable part of the school community. Way to go, Gabby. Our next is Denise Naylor. Are you here, Denise? Oh, what? Not another one here. Good job. All right. Denise is an Denise is an incredibly passionate person. As an in as an instructional assistant at Mthactton High School, she works tirelessly to advocate for any person, club, or group that needs it. Whether it is a student she works with directly or spark that or spark an idea that they could use a hand to grow. The heart and dedication that Denise brings to each project she works on and the student she cares for knows no bounds. She is an incredible mentor to those around her

015and the fact is a better place with Denise Naylor as part of it. Way to go, Denise. All right, Pam Lynn is uh our next person, but she is in a different country at this point. So, Pam, congratulations. Uh Pam Lynn is the front desk assistant at Mthactton High School and is known for her warm smile and kind heart. She greets every student and teacher with genuine friendliness, creating a welcoming atmosphere from the moment they walk in. Always willing to go the extra mile, she helps solve problems quickly and with care. Her thoughtful gestures and positive attitude make a lasting impression on everyone she meets. Students and staff alike are grateful for her presence and the kindness she brings to the school each day. Way to go, Pam. And lastly, we have Mrs. Parker. I

016don't believe Mrs. Parker is here. Miss Parker? No. Um Sandy Parker. Um we are honored. We are proud to honor Miss Sandy Parker as an exceptional instructional assistant at the high school. Miss Parker's dedication, compassion, and tireless support have made a lasting impact on countless Mactton High School students and staff. Whether working one-on-one with students, managing small groups, or supporting teacher, she brings patience, positivity, and a deep sense of purpose to everything she does. Her contributions reflect the very best of our district's core values, and we are grateful for the difference she continues to make every day. Miss Parker shows an unwavering commitment to the Methactton community. Way to go, Sandy. All right, our next category are our coaches, advisors, andor volunteers. And I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Parker because I'm tired.

017Hello. Uh, our first person is Coach Reeri. Coach Reeri is here. Eric Reeri stepped into his first year as the head football coach with confidence, but his roots in Mthactton athletics run deep. As he is also an alumni of Mthactton, he has made a lasting impact on students in the classroom and on the field, leading with integrity and purpose. Coach Reeri is the kind of leader people respect. steady, committed, and always focused on what's best for the kids. His athletes and students look up to him, not just for what he teaches, but how for how he carries himself every day. Good job, coach. Our next coach is Chris Torpy. He could not be here because he is actually coaching right now. Um, Chris Torpie is the kind of coach every team dreams for. He puts

018in endless hours and never hesitates to give all for his athletes. His time, energy, and effort are always focused on helping the kids succeed. No matter what, the team always comes first for him. Over the years, Coach Torpie has led countless athletes to pack championships, districts, and even state level. He has gone or his impact has gone above and beyond the track. He builds confidence, drives ambition. He helps his athletes see what they are capable of. His results speak for themselves, but the respect of the athletes he has of the athletes says even more about him. Congratulations, coach. Our next coach is Jim Hajins, who again can't be here because he is coaching. Um Jim Hajins is con constantly demonstrates full dedication to every endeavor he undertakes. Over the past four years, his impact as

019a coach has been clear, reflective in both his enthusiasm and measurable growth of our athletes. He brings a high level of energy, expertise, and commitment to the high school boys track program. He contributes, His contributions have been invaluable, and the program is fortunate to benefit from his leadership. Good job, coach. And our last one is Bruce Atlan, who could not be here because he is at AP testing. Um, Bruce is a dedicated educator at Mthactton, who also serve as the adviser for the academic dathlon team. Under his leadership, the team has constantly advanced to the region regional and state level competitions. This past year, the team placed sixth at the state competition with several students earning individual medals for outstanding performance. Mr. Outland's men mentorship has built a program known across the region and state

020for its academic excellence, competitive success, and the remarkable achievements of its students. Congratulations. And now back to Dr. Uker. All right. Probably the most important of our groups right now is our students. So we will choose we will uh talk to you a little bit about our students who achieved the spirit of mthan award. First, Will Christian. Will is an amazing example of what a methactin student athlete should strive to be. He is a good student and a key leader in our outstanding varsity baseball team. Will led the baseball team to the conference championship in 2024, throwing a complete game shutout in one of the biggest games in school history. While he will graduate in 2026 as a decorated Methactton athlete, what he brings to our school every day as a person is what makes

021him stand out above the rest. The same qualities that make Will an outstanding student athlete also make him a great mo model role model off the field and outside the classroom. He is an excellent representative of the Mthactton School District. Congratulations, [Applause] Will. All right, next we have Ardan Heartraft. Are you here, Ardan? Oh. [Applause] Ardan is kind and has the perfect blend of integrity with a laid-back demeanor that makes her friendly and approachable. Ardan greets everyone she meets with a smile and a kind word. When anybody needs a little bit of motivation, Ardan is right there to offer encouragement and support. Teachers describe Ardan as a team player and the football coach is too tall. Thank you. And a delight to teach. Sorry, Ardan. Um, students view Ardan as a role model because even

022in the most difficult times, she shows respect, perseverance, and inner strength. Ardan embodies the true spirit of Mthactton, and we are lucky to have her represent Mthactton High School. Congratulations, Ardan. [Applause] All right, Alex L's. Alex, are you in here tonight? Alex L's is a standout student who exemplifies the spirit of Methactton through his remarkable dedication, leadership, and involvement across the high school community. Alex is highly involved in high school activities, participating in the TV studio, yearbook, and newspaper, and is a proud me member of the unified track team. This spring, he also took on the role of the district's communications intern, producing social media content, capturing highquality photos, writing articles, and even contributing to the creation of a new high school website. He consistently displays an eagerness to learn, thoughtful curiosity, professionalism, and an

023impressive ability to balance multiple responsibilities. Congratulations, [Applause] Alex. And last, but certainly not least, Janet James. Come on up. [Applause] Janet James is a bright and motivated student who has a deep dedication to the Mthactton community. As a district communications intern, Janet showcases both her photography and writing skills while also demonstrating professionalism and a positive attitude. She is always willing to learn and grow. at the high school. She is involved in the TV studio, the newspaper, and is a member of the student leadership for the class of 2026. Janet is a wonderful role model, showcasing the true spirit of Mthactton. She has a bright future ahead of her. Congratulations, Janet. All right, and that is our 16 Spirit of Mactton award winners at the high school. Very good job, guys. Thank you. [Applause] Congratulations. Congratulations.

024Special thanks to our cheerleaders for making [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Uker. And and next on the agenda, oh, again, is Dr. Uker, the Emma Woods. And you thought I was sitting down. No. All right. All right. We are proud of the Oh, thank you for having me today. I'd like to I'd like to uh introduce our M award winners. Uh we are proud of the achievements of all our students. This year, 139 members of the class of 2025 have earned the M award for academic excellence. These members of the class of 2025 will receive an M award in their graduation packet for achieving a 93% or greater point average for the 2425 school year, demonstrating outstanding academic performance. Following uh following graduation, these students will attend various higher education institutions such as Villanova, Georgetown, and

025Princeton. or they could plan to serve our country in the military or go off into the workforce. Congratulations to these annual award recipients and the entire class of 2025. Great job. [Music] Next on the agenda, uh the ceremonial signing of the high school diploma. What we'll do first, if we could, as we typically do, we'll take a motion by the board followed by public comment as required under law and then uh we will then proceed with the ceremonial signing. So with that um I ask madame president to uh call for a motion as outlined on the agenda. It says as per the annual ceremonial signing of the high school diplomas authorize school directors with a child graduating in the class of 2025 Miss Purdue and Miss Graph to sign their child's diploma in the location

026otherwise reserved for the president of the board of school directors. All right. With that, may I have a motion to authorize the school directors with a child graduating in the class of 2025, Miss Ferdo, Miss Graph, to sign their child's diploma in the location otherwise reserved for the president of the board of school directors. Can I get a second? All right. Now, I at this time I will we will take public comment on the board action item. This is an opportunity for residents to comment on matters that are to be decided upon as outlined in the agenda. The board asks that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to the matters following conclusion of the um comments. Madame President, if I may, uh we

027are only taking public comment on this particular motion at this moment in time. We will then reserve another portion of the meeting for public comments on the remainder of the items on the agenda. Is that correct? Yes. So with that, I note no person's desire to speak and then I will ask for all in favor. All right. And the motion carries. Six. I Oh, okay. zero. Thank you. So, the first uh diploma that we will have signed uh we have Madame President and Samantha Rose Canro uh at a virtual location here this evening. I think we're seeing them up on the screen. Is that correct? Yes. All right. You really It's like I'm standing right in front of the TV. I can barely see you. Uh but but this is awesome. Um first of all,

028before we proceed, we'd like uh Principal Uker to come forward. Uh we'll ask Miss Purdue to hop over one seat. We'll put Dr. Uker in the middle chair. And we have Dr. Uker currently has Samantha Rose Canro diploma in in her possession. Um she is going to sign under where it says principal Miss Canro or Miss uh uh Dr. Uker please. Now I'm [Laughter] nervous. Congratulations, Samantha. Thank you. Congratulations, Samantha. I'll sign where it says superintendent. And as part of this ceremonial action, uh, President Kro, would you please sign where it says President? Yes, I am signing now. signed. Samantha, Samantha, congratulations. Congratulations. I'm leaving her here in Central Florida. Thank you everyone. I appreciate this. Thank you. Next, uh we have Victoria Fan. She is one of our senior representatives. Victoria, we have you

029come down behind uh Dr. Uker. Thank you. And madame president, if you could sign uh where uh it says president for Victoria. I am signing now. I have signed it. Victoria, congratulations. Thank you. You cannot. Congratulations, Victoria. I'm so proud of you signing it. Next, we have Soul Elizabeth Martin. Dr. Uker is signing. I'm signing where it says superintendent and President Krell. Sign where it says president. I have the I'm signing it. It is signed. Congratulations, sir. Congratulations. I'm so proud of you signing your diploma. Best wishes to both of you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Canro. Next, we have we have Elijah Purdue. Elijah, would you come down here uh and stand behind your mother, please? [Music] and we'll wait till we have Dr. Eucharist sign under principle. [Music] And please give it back

030to Miss Purdue. As per the motion, she will sign under the the position of president. Congratulations, Elijah. And certainly last but not least, we asked uh that Miss Purdue and Miss Graph switch seats here. And we ask that Hannah Graph come down and stand behind her mother. There's a lot of giggling going on up here, but it's all good stuff. This is really an extraordinary time. It's one of the I I think someone said to me it's it's one of the few perks as a board member that you get. And uh I I I we'll just we'll just we'll just leave it there. Yeah. Yeah. So, Dr. You go sign in the principal. Under the principal. Yeah, I know. I might have said a number of things over this last couple. I'll sign in as

031[Music] superintendent and we'll give it to Miss Graph as per the motion to sign into place uh reserved for president. Hannah, congratulations. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Uker. So, in one sitting, Dr. Yugu, you were you were athletic director, principal, uh I think you were board president at one point. I I might have mentioned your name. I enjoyed it. Okay. Uh next on the uh and what we will do, Madam President, if it's okay, I'll just make an announcement that if uh people want to leave at this point, they they can do that. Okay. U so yeah, we'll give it just a brief intermission. Anyone that wants to leave at this moment in time can certainly do that. Thank you so much for your attendance here this evening and congratulations to all of you that have

032received rewards or uh were a part of the ceremonial signing. Congratulations and thank you all. Thank you all. I'm going to dismiss myself. And before we start, I would just like to make note that Miss Cananker has left the meeting at 7:37. 7. Thank you. Next on guest and scheduled speakers this evening, we have the district math program overview. Dr. Walsh. Hey, thank you, Dr. Zerby. Good evening, everyone. Here with me tonight is Dr. Gora, supervisor of secondary ed, Miss Ricky, supervisor of the 58 level, Mrs. Strauss, supervisor of the elementary ed curriculum, as well as Miss Amichi, principal of Warcester Elementary, and Mr. file instructional coach at the Mthactton High School. Joining me to celebrate math matters here at Mthactton. So, couple of things we're going to go over tonight is our professional learning

033things that we've taken in our journey to get us to this point with our math success uh student and teacher engagement as well as stories of success. So, kind of go through this journey if you will. So, let's start at the beginning. Um, as part of our math curriculum review cycle, if you recall there, it's a part of a six-year program. And one of the things we always do during a math curriculum review is look at our uh program, our resources, see if there's gaps in our programming and how we can fill those gaps and how we can extend the learning that takes place. So, first thing we do during any curriculum review cycle, which started about three and a half years ago, was examine our best practices in math instruction. And that includes a

034windows and mirrors exercise. That means you look at yourself and you look out to other districts and you find stories of success and see if we can replicate them here in Mthactton. Then we identify a pilot team as well as resources. So the pilot team looks at those resources that are being recommended not only from the state from from the IU as just as well as our own research. And we identified two programs and we narrowed them down at one point after doing a site visitation to a neighboring district to one program and that teamed with math coaches as well as um writing curriculum and we had a curriculum writing team and the recommendation for two years ago was to adopt the I Ready math program at the K to8 level as well as new

035resources new textbooks uh for grades 9 to 12. So again we with the support of the board with the support of our students and our teachers and our pilot program uh that was a strong recommendation to go with that program and we saw great success. So then after we adopted the program we revised our curricular documents that are aligned to the PA core standards um to make sure they're in alignment with what we expect a mthton student kindergarten through 12th grade to learn and do. And as with any new resource, any new program, we make sure there's embedded professional development and ongoing training, not just for the first year of implementation, but all the way through out the entire launch of the six-year curriculum review cycle. So, I'm now going to turn it over to

036Mrs. Strauss, who is going to actually employ some of our mathematics and action. Okay. So the problem of the day here in front of you is an example of a third grade problem which could be part of an explore day lesson. The I Ready program has three different types of lessons. There's explore where students try and solve a problem just based on their own knowledge and skill level. Then they move to a develop lesson where there's more in teacher engagement and uh direct instruction. And then there is the refined lessons which give the students an opportunity to revisit some concepts that may have been tricky or to have some differentiation occur where their lessons are extended. So this ex is an example of an explore lesson and we're going to explore together. So last time

037I was here for science and I did all the work. This time we're gonna share the wealth and give some give you an opportunity to play. [Music] Did you bring us cookies by any chance? There are no cookies. But oddly enough, that was Dr. Regina's first question, too. What's that? It's all good. [Music] Okay. So, you've had the question in front of you and I've just passed out. Uh there's you have a clipboard. Um, there are markers in the bins if you need them. So, if you want choose to write something down, there are also manipulatives in there if you choose to solve it this way. But before we get to solving, I know we tend to want to rush there, but the I Ready problem um, and mathematics approach res wants the children to

038resist that. So, we're going to work together in what is called the three read strategy. And this is a common one um that is used in instruction. So, we're going to read it together. You don't have to read it. I'll read it. Um, and then we're going to talk first. We're going to read it for what is it about. We just want to know what it's about. So, you're in charge of packing cookies for a school bake sale. Each box must contain the same number of cookies. You start with three trays, each holding eight cookies. A parent donates two more dozen cookies. Then, eight cookies crumble and can't be used. So, what is this math problem about? How you're packing cookies. How you're packing cookies. Anything else? Have you ever baked cookies? Do we have

039some background knowledge to draw from? Right. These are things that real world connections which I read does really well. Okay. So, it's about baking cookies and packing them up. Um, what are we trying to solve for would be our next one. So, I'm not going to reread it. In the classroom, you would reread it, but I'll move on to the questions. How many total cookies are available to pack? If each box must contain the same number of cookies and hold between six and 10 cookies, what are your packing options? So, now what are we being asked to solve for? Two parts. Total number of cookies and how we can pack them. What are our options? All right. So, I'm really done as far as the teacher's concerned. I'm finished right now and I'm turning it

040all over to you as the learner to use what's in front of you. You can solve it with an uh just a math equation. You can draw a picture. You can pull the blocks out. I'm just going to give you a few moments to go for it. Oh, I forgot the third read. Hold on. And I need to make sure that we all have the information that we're ready for. Sorry, I got too excited. Third read is, is there any information in there that we really need to make sure we pay attention to? What information is really worth knowing? The cookies that are crumbled, right? What happens to those? Can we use them? No. They're My mom always said the best cookie was an ugly cookie because then you could eat it. All right. All

041right. Yes, we need to know how many are in a dozen, right? So, that's important for a student to know. So, we'd revisit that. All right. We're eager to solve. Go ahead. We finished it. We're those two people that said earlier this was her example at That's great. Okay. So, I have to tell you this is like No, this is perfect. This is exactly what happens in a classroom. As I walk through, we've got um boxes and circles. We've got math numbery things. We had manipulatives out. We've got numbers. They're up here, I think. Yep. numbers, tally marks and arrows and cross outs. That's what kids do, right? So, what the important part of the teacher then is to carefully sequence who I'm going to call on. So, I might start with the tally marks.

042Talk to me about what you did. What does the crossout mean? That student would have an opportunity to share what they did, come up to the board or have it on the document camera. So, there's a lot of questions and conversation happening. students are explaining their thinking, right? Then I'm going to go over and I'm going to ask you to show me what your pictures represent. Right? It's a different representation, but there are similarities between them and differences and students begin to talk about that and engage with it. Then I'm going to jump over. Are you ready? No. Yeah. You want to give me your mat? Like, so you have so an equation, right? So that's I want to draw upon that because it's moving up where we want students to go. But I'm gonna

043have to call Miss Graph because hers has a she has a little bit of the out of the box thinking and I went there too. So I have to Can you give us your answer? So my answer was you could either do four boxes of 10 or you could do six boxes of six and then each of us could have two. [Music] Right. So we're getting into all kinds of math here and conversation and this is a really important piece of the eye ready. So you've got the real world connections. There's a lot of discourse. Students are talking. There was laughter happening. All of that is happening within the math classrooms right now thanks to I Ready. And it's really done wonders for how students are thinking about number approaching math problems and feeling good

044about themselves as maths. We talk a lot about readers, but we're developing strong maths as well. clicker. All right, thank you for playing. I will uh clean up in a moment. All right, so just to uh circle back and highlight our I Ready classroom classroom mathematics. It really does encourage opportunities for productive struggle for students to persevere, really deepen that foundational understanding that they have about math. there's tons of real world uh connections that they're making which really brings math to um a real world connection that it's meaningful to them. I remember so often asking like why do I have to learn this? Am I ever really going to use this? This program really shows students every day how it applies to their lives. And it does promote a lot of collaboration, a lot of

045thinking, explaining, talking about strategies, which is wonderful to see. And that foundational conceptual understanding is one of the best things about I Ready and the main reason why we had a 100% of our pilot team recommend this program. The other one that we piloted we could have gone with but it would not have shifted our practice. Every one of the pilot teachers recognized that the shifts they would make using I Ready would really elevate our students understanding of math and take them to great places. Good evening everyone. So we approach professional development for this new program in several different ways and the first being our work with the I Ready representatives specifically. So when we implement it, we of course brought on our representatives to train teachers on how to use the program. And when

046we looked at that, we talked specifically about that productive struggle. Previous programs were very teacher centered. Teacher taught the material, teacher asked questions, teacher gave a test where this was really a whole new concept. So being able to work with teachers on really kind of giving that control over to students and releasing that urge to help you. I'm going to jump in. I'm going to give you the answer. We're instead encouraging students to try. Right? Which um helps to build their understandings. Also helps to kind of uh keep away that I can't do it. Can you help me? Right? that perseverance is built that way. Additionally, we worked with those collaborative conversations. So, instead of teacher asks a question, calls on the student who raises his or her hand, teacher says yes or no, and

047we move on, we're now asking students to turn and talk to one another. We're asking students to work together in small groups. We're asking students to look at the different ways that others are solving problems and think about how that might work for them or think about that how that helps them to see it in a different way. And then we also talk about that discourse. How do we disagree with one another? How do we say I understand what you did however I would do it this way and be able to explain those things. Right? So these are not only skills for building matters but skills for building lifelong learners and for building um students who are able to work with one another. We also did that I Ready uh professional learning year several times

048throughout the year both years. So it's not just the one time when they came in at the beginning. We've we've brought the I Ready representatives in several times and have had a lot of great feedback from teachers on the work with those specific representatives. Additionally, we looked at professional development that crosses subject areas. So thinking about math but also knowing we can apply this in other areas that intentional planning. What is it that we want kids to know and be able to do? What are the things that we have to put into place to ensure that students of varying levels are able to participate in that and access that? And then how do we scaffold questions throughout our lessons so that we're building that understanding with students, not giving them the answer, but not leaving

049them hanging or needing more either. How do we help them generate questions that they ask of one another to help everyone build their thinking? And lastly, we brought in our coaches. We had our math coaches at uh the K4 level, the 58 level, and at the high school. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. File to talk about the work that the coaches did with professional learning and our staff. Thank you. So that third one over the building thinking classrooms. First of all, I would love to be able to do two activities with you all, but we don't have time for that. the tax collector and the painted cube activity is really really cool. Um anyhow, I've worked the last few years as the coach with um teachers and train them on specifically

050this building thinking classroom. Um Peter Lilia Hall is the author. He's the one that did the research on this. I think he's got 15 years worth of research and the practices that I I worked with the teachers actually through some of the activities that I'm mentioning. And it starts off very basic. Um, you know, it's it's the when, the where, and the how you deliver the tasks. Um, it's the visible uh random grouping. It's working on vertical non-permanent surfaces, so like whiteboards and defronting the classroom. And for some teachers, that's what they did for the entire year when they delivered their tasks. That's as far as they got. But after doing I guess probably six different pop-up PDs, at least three different inservices that I had led on furthering some of these tasks, we did

051have some teachers try some of the other tasks. So what are some of these practices that increase the student engagement? Well, in addition to the ones that I just mentioned, um we talk about the types of questions that teachers ask. We talk about answer or answer rather only keep thinking questions. Um in addition to that the students what we call they mobilize the knowledge. So in the classroom we're very much used to these times particularly in math where you're not allowed to look at somebody's answer right don't look at my answer now it's they're in groups of three. Um and by the way he found that three is the optimal grouping better than four or two but if you had to pick between the two you go two before four. Um, but when they're up

052there, not only are they they allowed to talk to each other in the groups of three, but they're allowed to look at the other board space, they're allowed to converse with other group members if they want. So, this collaboration is encouraged again, hence the engagement. Um, some of the other components of it, you you have um there is what did I say? Oh, ex hints and extensions. So, when you're planning these tasks out and planning the lessons, the teachers are planning out the hints and the extensions to give the students to meet the kids where they're at. Some are going to be moving faster, hence you have the extensions ready, some might be moving slower. So, you've got hints that you might want to give them, but they can all move at their own pace.

053Um, and then as you get further on, we get to the consolidated the sorry, consolidating the learning. And that's probably the trickiest phase. Consolidating the learning um is more or less where the teacher is going around and boxing the information that the students are putting up there which they're going to talk about and highlight as they consolidate the lesson. Um and then the final piece that some of our teachers got to is this. It's a four quadrant approach to note takingaking. They call it notes to your future forgetful self. So Peter developed a notetaking quadrant where in the top left it's more of like a fill-in- thelank. In the top right it might be three example problems. But where the real power comes in is in the bottom right and the bottom left. In the

054bottom right they create their own questions. And then in the bottom left, they're going to create what would be like suggestions that they would need or maybe specifics, notes that they would need so that three weeks from now when they see similar content, they could access their notes and would help them to get through those types of problems. Um, so he did that for a while and that worked, but it wasn't good enough. What he found was that if he sent the students to the boards to fill in as a group those four quadrant notes so that now the boards were filled with the different groups four quadrant notes. The third and fourth quadrant became exponentially more powerful because now they were able to look at for instance what are some of the other uh

055examples that students came up with besides the ones in the group. Oh look that's a pretty cool example. I think that's better than the one that I want. Teacher hands out the note sheet, four quadrants for the students to fill out now individually. They look over the other side. Well, I didn't take that. That's a pretty good note. I didn't take that note. Add that to their list. So, again, you've got this collaborative nature. So, a lot of increasing of the student engagement happens with these practices. Um, and then with the the small shifts comes big rewards. You have students who are more engaged. They're looking forward to this. I talked about the how, the when, and the where. It's different. When you're delivering a task, it needs to be within the first five minutes.

056Okay? Research says that's when you've got their attention. So, you've got to hook them in that first five minutes. Um, from there, the where well, you're going to be standing along with the students. They're up. They're huddled around you. Um, if you need to provide background information, you provide background information. Um, and then the how. Again, research says that when you're delivering math tasks, delivering it verbally is most effective. If you need to supplement it with some sort of maybe there is, let's call, let's say there's data and it's data related. You might have that as a handout, but they say that you want to eliminate the number of distractions. So, you want to create a task that's simple enough, low floor enough for everybody to engage and to deliver that particular task um to

057deliver it verbally instead of okay, well, I'm going to write this up on the board. I'm going to give this handout. The students get too distracted. Um so, the practice is I'm a hu I could listen I could go on and on and on about this and I won't. You all have families and whatever else to get to. Uh, but I am a huge fan of the building thinking classrooms and that's I mean really I Ready lends itself beautifully to to the building thinking classrooms. Um, and then as far as we get into the coaching portion of it. So building the relationships. Well, I can tell you right now that the number one way to get math teachers engaged in professional development is to have them do math. That's number one. So it was in

058terms of getting them like building the relationships with the teachers. I was always at any learn professional learning opportunity for them whether it was inservice whether it was popup PDS I was always doing problems with them and then I was just modeling the building thinking classroom so they were engaged from the jump. Um and then of course food doesn't hurt right like if you're supply a little food break some bread that doesn't hurt either. Um but in the coaching we're constantly building relationships. Uh the current pos my current position as an instructional coach for the building um is me building these relationships because there's some teachers that that I don't know where when I was the math coach I knew them all and it was the same type of process but took a shorter period

059of time. As far as the coaching cycles go, um the coaching cycles usually our coaching cycles consist of you have a pre-conference where that's very much a kind of getting to know you type of a deal. Uh enhancing that building of the relationships and then hopefully you're coming out of the pre-conference with a goal. Ultimately, that's the deal is the the teacher to provide some sort of a goal or goals so that the two of you can partner and work towards those goals. Um as you get to the next step, the next step is the planning, right? So you're working with the teacher as a coach. I'm working with the teacher to plan the lessons. Uh and then from there there's implementation. And as far as the implementation goes, sometimes it's myself modeling a lesson

060and the teacher is taking keeping data on that or sometimes it's vice versa or sometimes we're team teaching. Okay? So there's different strategies within that implementation. And then the last phase which is really crucial is the reflection phase. That is really really important as as instructors as coaches. The reflection piece often gets left out because that's time right the ultimate resource is time. And some may think of it as being time consuming. So, one of the things that I did this year was to try and provide the teachers with some quick strategies, some one to two to three minute strategies that they could use for reflection purposes. And then, and then the last piece, the data analysis piece. Um, I every to me decisions should be grounded in data. Okay? Most of the decisions should

061be grounded in data. And it's no different um when I'm working with teachers is this this data analysis piece whether it's me tracking or the teacher tracking. Okay, we're having a discussion based off of the data. Um you know and and we have linkit to be able to help us with that. We've utilized teachers have utilized linkit and now we can have discussions far beyond just the grades. Now, we pull up the data, we look at the data, and we're having conversations about skills, topics, right? Maybe where they excelled, where they need support. Um, because the grade doesn't always tell the story. So, now that we've got questions in in link that are tied to this data, we can have you have deeper uh more meaningful conversations um not only about whether it's instructional practices,

062student achievement, student engagement. Those are the three main ones that the coaches focus on. Um, but that data helps us to have deeper, more intuitive conversations. Good enough. Thank you. Thank you. He's very passionate, isn't he, about what he does. Great job, Jay. Uh, so I just wanted to talk a little bit Oh, hold on. Let me about how we are increasing student GA engagement and with our I Ready math lessons. This has really helped all of our teachers with strategies that they use within their classrooms to help um to build these thinking classrooms like Jay was talking about. Um and through our coaching sessions, we have been able to do that. Our students have been um practicing their try, discuss, and connect routines. And there's been increased rigor and opportunities for written responses. Um,

063also just like you had today, you had the use of some manipulatives that you could use uh to help with any foundational skills that you might need assistance with in order to figure out a problem. Um, and also our math specialists have been very instrumental in helping to identify where our areas of need are within the foundational understanding of some of the mathematics at the elementary level. So, it's been going very well for us all. As we've looked to increase engagement, this goes throughout the district, and that includes our work with our instructional council, which is our group of administrators. You've heard um sporadically throughout here, our focus on 3B questioning and 3C engagement. Those are our components of the Danielson model for educator effectiveness. And really, this ties back to all of our standards

064for mathematical process. In the very beginning, uh Tara had you all walk through a problem, and that required emphasis on making sense of problems. um looking at constructing a viable argument, modeling with math, attending to precision. There are eight different standards for mathematical practice and our focus on that questioning and engagement allows those to really naturally come forth in our in our interactions with students and in our lessons and classrooms. But what it also does is we focus on that as an admin team is we look at what we do as supervisors and evaluators and honing in on helping our teachers to craft their own teaching to allow for focus on those areas on questioning and on engagement. When we look at I'm going to just share a quick visual with you about engagement. Part

065of what Jay said was the importance of reflecting. And this is actually a um a visual that Jay has in his office that he's you worked with a number of teachers at the high school with on really reflecting on what is your engagement level when you're in a lesson because sometimes thinking and pausing and thinking about okay where am I at? Am I checked in? Am I checked out? Am I leading something? Or am I making things difficult for other people because I'm not engaged? Right? These are things that, you know, we think as adults are things that we think about as we're learning or we're involved in a meeting. But this is also something the idea of reflective practices is a strategy that we've talked a lot about with our admin team, with our

066coaching team on how do we do these small shifts in practice to help our students to be cognizant of where they're at with their learning as well. Okay. So, we have come far in just two years, but we know that we have a lot more to do. So, um we have already seen a significant upswing for all of our student subgroups at our elementary level, and we are expecting that to grow as students who've been introduced to I Ready move through um the upper grade levels, but we know we need to keep working with our trainers and our coaches, making sure that teachers continue to get the support they need, continue to build their skills. We've added first in math to support fluency. So while we're helping build the concepts of math, we also know

067we need that automaticity and helping students learn their facts. We're helping to increase the understanding of how to use the IR pathway. So that's an u an online tool that allows students to practice skills at their own specific level, but also be extended and enriched. So making sure our teachers know how to program for students appropriately and use that to the best that we can. We're looking at adjusting our pacing, making sure that we're leaving time for those refined days as uh Miss Strauss talked about with the different sets of days that we do so that students are able to practice what they've been taught, expand upon their skills. We're also making sure we expand teacher knowledge of how to use manipulatives. As students get older, manipulatives tend not to come out as frequently, but

068there are still some who need those, and you saw tonight ways that you could use those and help you with your lesson. Um, we also want to make sure that we have those common an uh common assessments for that data analysis that Jay referred to. Making sure that we're looking classroom by classroom, child by child at how students are doing, how they're achieving towards the standards, and being able to intervene when we need to. Also, transferring practices for engagement across content areas, right? There's strategies that are good strategies, whether it's math, whether it's ELA, whether it's science or social studies. And that's why that focus of instructional coaches has turned from away from math coaches and literacy coaches. Practices that everyone can use that students then become used to and are then able to better

069apply in all situations. And then finally continuing those coaching and collaboration opportunities, whether it be for teachers in a building planning, teachers across buildings, working with coaches, specifically supervisors, or again any of those experts that we're able to bring in. We know that we're going to be able to really keep moving forward with our math practices, with our math achievement here in the district. Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Walsh, and curriculum team for your review of our math program here in Methactton. Uh, are there any questions from members of the board to my right, Miss Graph? Yeah, thank you very much. I I I have to say I love to see people who are excited about math. As an engineer, it is a really important thing that our kids really understand math and um learning it

070in some of this way is is really impactful. You know, if kids get to fifth, sixth, seventh grade and really love math, it it makes a difference. It makes a difference in their career choices and we need more kids in engineering and math. So, I appreciate the work that you're doing. Um I just had a couple of questions related to this seems this seems really great for the teachers who are interested in learning more and doing more and engaging more. So how how do we identify teachers that need more support and in order to bring someone into the classroom to help work with them? That's a great question and uh it's something that we continue to to identify teachers who need that professional learning. We have summer offerings for teachers who want to grow their

071capacity and learning and understanding for math. We also have, as Mrs. Ricky announced, we have that ongoing training that takes place. So, every teacher moves from one level to another using our coaches. our coaches can actually tailor those teachers who may need a little more scaffolding, a little more conceptual understanding to build their understanding on how to teach a math program. And we also have some teachers who are high flyers and we continue to grow them. So, it's not a one-sizefits-all for our professional learning. Um, also feedback that our administrators give to teachers through their walkthroughs, through their informal observations, as well as formal observations because every teacher is on their own pathway for instructing math. And so, we provide those supports for those teachers. So, so would you say that teachers are identified for

072additional support by the administrative walkthroughs? Not necessarily. Sometimes it's selfidentified. If they're coming to a a concept or a an area that they just need to grow more, they have resources whether it's through the I Ready resource, we have consultants or through our coaches. You want to say something too? Hold on one second. Good. So, I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about um an exciting professional development session um series of PD that was happening at the K to4 level with our instructional coach Lisa Larkin. She was doing a building thinking classrooms PD. Um it was held via Zoom um throughout the year and it was all voluntary and we had a number of teachers attend regularly. um and then reach out for more information and a person from each building accompanied her

073to the middle school and Sky View to watch a teacher use these practices. So, there's a lot of energy around math right now and around this type of thinking that is really stretching people and I just want to commend our teaching staff for really um buying in for doing the heavy lift of making these instructional shifts. And I think they're seeing the benefits of that. And so there's this natural willingness, you know, success breeds success and they're seeing it and uh really diving in and seeing where they can make those transfers as well. So there's a lot of good momentum around that started with I Ready and the work that was done there and it's continuing to grow. So, I guess I I I love that and I think that teachers who are interested are

074probably better teachers to begin with. So, when you have teachers who are willing to take go the extra mile, take the extra professional development, they're always going to be the teachers that are at the top anyway because they have that natural bent towards doing that work. I guess my question was more what data are we analyzing to determine that hey you're not getting the results that these other teachers are we need you to do this differently that's really my question like do we have data that we use sure we have uh multiple data points that we are using and with any new program we look at the program but we also look at instructional practices because a program may not increase instructional practices it's that feedback that we give to our teachers that ongoing feedback

075back that meaningful feedback. Uh Miss Dr. Gorlick talked about that 3B questioning. That's something we focused on in all classrooms this year. The level of questioning, the depth of knowledge questions that are being asked. So yeah, the feedback that they're getting is specific and it's tailored to what we're seeing through those walkthroughs and through those observations. Okay. And then the other question I had was I heard the comment that, you know, we've seen a significant upswing at the elementary level. Um how are we measuring that? like what's the standard we're measuring against and then like how is progress evaluated in terms of success. Sure. So the one data point we use are our PSSAs. Um and you know it it sometimes when you implement a new program you prepare yourself for that implementation dip. We

076saw the inverse. We saw actually a climb in our PSSA scores and we're also just seeing better results in our I Ready pathway at the elementary level. So when these students who have a few years under their belt get into that middle level and the upper level, we anticipate seeing that continued growth. So, I I guess I would just ask maybe and I I I certainly wish you well in your retirement, but you have coaches standing behind you and people behind you who are going to be here next year and and I would invite them to come back with the data to show us sort of the outcome and some of the results that you've had and the success because I think that what you're doing is fantastic, but we do have to be able

077to sort of show progress. Absolutely. And so, if you guys could come back and show us that, I'd be really happy to see that. So, thank you. be our pleasure. Thank you. Any other questions? Miss Clary, just a quick one. How often is the uh review the math assessment review cycle? How often does that happen? It's it's every six years or if the standards change. Um so we're now at starting year three of a six-year implementation. Um so this is when we're actually part of the stage three or year three is we're looking at common assessments. We're looking at revising assessments. Um having quality assessments across the board. So that's the next phase. Thank you. You're welcome. Any questions to my left? Um, Miss Theo, thank you for this. I um and I I guess

078I just more have just comments rather than questions, but I just I heard so many good things to take notes that I don't want to forget um some of the pres present some of the parts of the presentation. First, I was so interested in the four quadrant note-taking that you shared cuz it sounds so much like the Freyer model for vocabulary and I was like look at that cross over there helping the brain but adding discussion and that's beautiful. So, I just wanted to say that I got very excited and for anyone the Freyer model is if like draw a picture of a vocab it's a vocab word learning um strategy. Um, so that's the first thing. And the other thing that I just wanted to make a connection to that I was very excited

079to hear is the the building thinking classrooms in mathematics and um the conversations and that rich professional development and that growth that's happening there. Um, it actually speaks to some some some of what I've been hearing and I know the on the literacy end of things, right? And and I just love the connections that I'm hearing because the more I learn about the importance of language and the more of supporting language and the impact and over and crossover that has to every single other content area, I I actually was just listening and doing my own reading of um a book called Academic Conversations by Jeff Sireers and Marie Crawford that discusses I'm so sorry for I'm have a wonderful night. Um um but uh the academic conversations by Jeff Sireers and Marie Crawford does the

080exact same thing but in um in a more outside of math classroom conversation. It's building that rich classroom conversation. So I was just really excited because that helps language and people who struggle with that. Yes. Sorry. So one of the things um Jay did earlier this year is actually took his building thinking classrooms PD and did a cross-curricular session because Peter's work Peter Lojad Doll's work is actually expanding crosscurricular. So definitely something you know to think about because again that talking and discussing and engagement level is important in all of our all of our subject areas. You actually read my mind because I what I was trying to get I'm sorry I was very that was fantastic. Everything's great. Um, but one of the things I was thinking of is I know science, which is

081learning like I know that all of these things you're talking about in math is really big in the steel standards. Correct. And I'm hoping that you'll be invited into math classrooms and math PDs and I'm looking directly at you as the instructional coach leading this, but all of this conversation. I'm hoping that that grows exactly what you're saying. So, it sounds like it is. So, that's great. We know that speaking and listening were a big part of the ELA standards. It's part of the math standards, part of the new steel standards. Giving the kids that opportunity for discourse, collaborative conversations, and just listening to one another transcends all subjects. It does. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions to my left? As you know, Dr. Walsh, thank you so much. And team, well done. Thank you

082so much. You passed your math class for the day. Oh, we got to collect the manipulatives. Here we go. Well done. Great. While the curriculum team is trying find their way out, uh we do have one other guest and scheduled speaker uh item uh for tonight's uh meeting. We have the Mthactton Education Support Professional Association tenative agreement. Uh Dr. Regina is going to present uh the contents of that agreement. Um as you heard earlier this evening, there were uh there was an executive session uh that the board had w with respects to contract negotiations. MESPA again stands for back in education uh support professionals association and they are are uh uh supported by PSEA the Pennsylvania state education association and this was a result of the current uh collective bargaining agreement ending on June 30th

083of 2025. Dr. Regina. Thank you Dr. Zerby. Uh good evening everyone. Let's see if I can get this up a little bit. There we go. Uh what we're going to go over quickly uh with you in the presentation are just the items that would be changed in the new ratification of an agreement should the board choose to vote on it next uh this evening. June 30th of 2025 would have been the conclusion of the MESPA current MESPA agreement. And so as you know we typically start to engage in negotiation strategies after the first of the year and uh doing so we are able to reach uh an item in which both parties had a tenative agreement and then we'll be sharing those items with you this evening. So on slide one what we're going to

084do is go over some of the language changes and you will see some of the numerical or quantity changes as opposed to some of the financing when it comes to benefits and to salary. Um but to start with some of the language items, the first one will be the probationary period under 12.1. Um the change here is shifting the probationary period from 60 days to 45 days, which is now consistent with both teamsters and MESPA when it comes to their probationary period time. Article 15, hours of work. Uh we no longer have to have the two and a half hours per week. they do work a 40hour work week during the school year and so this language actually is against what the Fair Labor Standards Act says so we need to remove that. Um if

085they work anything in excess of 40 hours they do receive overtime for that. There we go. The next item is just a few editing changes. uh one some clarity around what a fulltime employee is with reference to the 12-month employee as well as spelling insure properly uh in there and how it's being referenced in the document. Article 17 uh this really is when we utilize paraprofessionals or uh aids in a um in the substituting of of a classroom. So, if we're going to be utilizing them in that space, um there is some language around how we pay them and we were changing the uh regular daily rate to $50 or whichever is higher of the sub rate. And so, uh just trying to stay competitive with that amount for 20 article 23 looking at comprehensive

086medical over the three years of the agreement. We're looking to increase th increase this uh by 1% so 21% next year which would just be a carryover from this current year's premium share 21.5 and then 22 for open choice one and again open choice 2 poss and open choice 3 those rates are comparable also only increasing 1% over the lifetime of the contract article 24 uh we do have those same adjustments there is a little bit of a shift here if you notice we go from um if we go back to the last slide this is the premium share contribution um in both our MEA and MESPA agreements for for some reason it does shift uh into what our contribution is so you have to look at it in reverse order if you go back

087to the previous slide it is increasing this slide is decreasing that's because you're talking about different contributions and so this is our contribution but again increasing the rate at which the MESBA staff would be contributing to their premium share for dental by 1% over the term of the contract. We're going to have the same rate change for prescription drug insurance and for vision care, all changing 1% over the lifetime of the contract. For payroll deductions, for US savings bonds, uh we do not do this, nor have we done this since I've been here. Um and uh we are going to both parties have agreed to remove this from the contract. Article 32 looking at increasing the benefit for sick day payout from 115 days to 120 days. This does run consistent now with what we

088do in the teamsters agreement as well and the same rate 32.4 uh just clarifying the fact that that payment shall be made in the form of a non-elective contribution employer contribution to a 403b account. This is not taken as cash. We don't do that. that is not something that we permit but it is something that we're going to put in the contract was requested by the association to do so for sick leave. Uh there was one request here this was made by the MESPA group um was to add four sick days per year for care of ill family members of the immediate family. This does not increase the number of sick days that they get each year. It just allows them of the allocated amount that they do receive to use four of them to

089care for the immediate family members. Article 35 holidays. This is removing the language that does not allow them to receive holiday pay over the probationary period. Uh this is consistent with Teamsters. So now when they're on their probationary period, uh they can receive uh holiday pay during that moment in time. There is a moment uh in the contract between typically what is considered winter break uh between December 25th and January 1st. Uh there is a moment that we do consider work days that the mass association can bank hours for. Uh we do allow that before that time occurs. Uh and it does start July 1st. That is our current practice and this is just reflecting what our current practice is. Moving Article 36, vacations. Uh, just get let's let's cut through all the green and

090red that you see on the screen or on your paper. Basically, what this says is it allows a person to start utilizing vacation time when we employ them. Currently, what happens is when we employ an individual, they cannot use vacation until they earn it. And so, when they come on and they're hoping to be able to take vacation, if they're a 260day employee, they get none when they start. and they can't start using it until the subsequent year. Um what ultimately happens is we pay out people when they retire whatever they have left in vacation. And so we actually pay more for it at the end obviously. And so what we have done with Teamsters and we do with our administrative staff, they receive vacation when they're hired. Uh you know, I'm sure if I

091asked Dr. Sereni on probably the number of applicants that we lost by saying that they get no days when they come here on vacation, um he probably could could describe quite a list for us. So it is certainly a recruitment strategy and it is something that we believe benefits the district and and their members and so uh we would be uh through this language they would be allowed to utilize vacation upon entering the district. Article 36 36.4 again is just removing the line between earned and acred uh just allowing them to use it the moment they get here. Article 48 is notifying you that the lang the uh contract would be for three years. So from July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2028. Addendum one, we do have some additions when it comes to employment

092classifications. These are additions or removal of some of the titles that exist currently within the group. Addendum two, we are removing the language that sunset which is the 85 90 95 100% changes which was in the last agreement that we made. This sunset on July 1st, 2023. So this is now being removed to reflect that. Addendum three, um we had a reference to the guide that you just saw there with the 85909 95% number. So we removed that line since again it's sunset July 1st, 2023. Addendum 3 also has compensation guides. Uh we had shifted from a 2.5% increase in 2021 to 2024 in the previous agreement um which was reflective in that agreement. Of course, we did do an addendum to that at that moment in time which had increased those rates. The salary

093increases in this current contract would be a 3% increase each year of the agreement. So 2025, 2026, 2026, 2027, and 2027, 2028 with a 3% increase each of those years. On this slide is the pay scale for each. The classification references uh may be a little uh confusing because they just say A's and C's. Essentially, if you think of it, the A's are typically the aid positions that we have in the district. Everything from recess aids, bus aids, instructional aids, uh PCAs. The C's are t typically are clerical positions. Uh they can be anything from an office assistant up into uh an administrative assistant for a director uh in the district or a benefit specialist or or things that that have a required skill set uh payroll specialist. And then addendum for the annual contracted

094days of the bargaining unit. Um we did eliminate the 11-month employees. So we would be eliminating that reference as well. Ultimately the recommendation for this evening is to approve the ratification of terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the Mthactton School District and the Mthactton Educational Support Professional Association effective July 1st 2025 to June 30th 2028. And I believe that is item 3H in the agenda this evening. Thank you Dr. Regina. Any questions for members of the board to my right? Miss Clary. Uh Dr. Dr. Gina, no questions, but I did want to make a comment um on behalf of probably Miss Purdue, Miss Graph, and myself. Um to you and Dr. Sorgini, just thanking you guys for the amount of hard work that you put into this. Um the professionalism that you brought to

095the table. Um it was really it was just very nice to see. the attention to detail um was amazing and leveraging the relationships that you have. I mean it was just a a smooth process for the most part and um it was a pleasure doing it with you. So thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments? So right to left Miss Purdue. And in addition to that, I do want to thank the members of MESPA that sat at the table with us. Um, same goals on both sides. Um, they were they were well well represented and I appreciate that time and effort in advocating for um what was right for their group. So, thank you. But I do appreciate the work um you and Dr. Sini put in to

096get us this far. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Regina. Madame Vice President, that does end the guest and schedule speakers for this evening. I'll now turn it over to you. Uh we're going to be at reports and the committee reports are attached and I will start with the MCIU. Um the MCIU held its May meeting last Wednesday and I I wasn't in attendance for that meeting just because it conflicted with this um our work session. But I did have a few updates pro provided to me by the board um secretary. Um they celebrated several retirements similar to what we did last week. And one of note is Dr. Brad Brad Landis who served um completed his 41 years with the um in education. So, a a very well um very strong connection to

097the MCIU and um I'm sure they're going to miss um him at the MCIU very much. Another thing I I think I brought up last time with the MCIU update, they were having some issues with funding and we received news that the Head Start program will be fully funded. So, they were very happy to receive that. and the office of early childhood services shared a report of the most recent headphone policy committee meeting which included approval of the Headstart financial report um year five grant and then there were a number of bud budget approvals for the um following year including prek counts office of technology services and summer food service program of note is um a program that the MCIU is starting called um leadership mono which is an executive program. They are currently looking

098for sponsors and um and also applicants to start with their inaugural concept. The program is designed to empower professionals and emerging leaders to drive progress through collaboration, learning and community impact. Interested candidates or sponsors can check out more information on the leadershipmonco.org org website and that will provide more information and that will be my update for the MCIU. Um for North Monco Mr. Miss Austin and Miss Murki will provide an update in June. And then I do want to say special thank you to our student um high school board representatives um today and congratulations on receiving your um ceremonial signing today. We've been fortunate to have you um sit at this table with us and providing us um updates from the high school and we really appreciate all your time and effort and keeping the

099board informed and also the community informed and the high school events and activities. So, I'll turn it over to you both for your updates. Okay, so happy last board meeting together. Um time does fly pretty fast. It's been an amazing two years together. Um, to start off, all AP and Keystone testings did go smoothly and kids that I've talked to felt very positive about their scores, so that's good. Um, that happened May 12th to the 15th. And to add on, finals are to start soon. For seniors, it's June 3rd to June 7th. And for underclassmen or seniors who weren't able to do it at this time, June 9th to June 12th, um, as the end of the year creeps up, so does graduation. So, rehearsals are set for all seniors starting June 10th to graduation

100day, June 12th. Um, many students like ourselves are having our senior parade, which is walking through our elementary schools with a with our f fellow past schoolmates on June 11th, which I'm excited for. Um 12 Best Buddies athletes were also sent for the third year in a row to the Special Olympics to compete at Springfield. Um many students are excited to have our senior trip and senior breakfast this Friday. Um we're going to be at Six Flags this year and the signup list was completely filled. Um everyone wanted to go which was really nice. On May 16th I had the pleasure of watching Mr. Mthactton. It was an amazing show. I think best that I've seen so far. Um the choreographers did great and so did the boys' attitude. Um I'd like to congratulate runnerup

101Jack Bradford and winner Tommy Kratz on that win. Um baseball and softball have worked really hard this year and they even made it to districts. And lastly, we had our art show on May 9th and 10th and the art pieces this year were incredible. If you have not got have not gone to it before, I recommend taking the time next year because these artists put a lot of work and are extremely talented. To continue, um, on May 2nd, Mthan held its 18th annual film festival, which featured awards for different categories, um, such as best music score and best writing. Students had a lot of fun watching each other's produced films, as well as many experiencing their actoral or directorial debuts. Boy Nesa brought home four Emmys, taking home best directors, cinematography, writing, and use of

102prop. For the music department, the spring orchestra, coral, and band concerts were held on April 30th, May 7th, and May 22nd, respectively. Additionally, um, as one of the Triumph Honor Society presidents, we invite you all to attend the Trivi night on Thursday, May 29th, which is a mix of trivia and karaoke to help fund raise for Triam, Gay Student Alliance, Black Student Union, and the theater company. On May 16th, I got to attend the physics day field trip, which was at Dorne Park. Unfortunately, it did rain for a bit, but it was still a lot of fun. In other exciting news, esports has qualified for stage, which states, which is the first time since the team has been established. A huge congratulations to the team. Um, Will Sinsky was runner up for the PIA Super

103Smash Bros. D2 East Individual Championship. And the Valerant and Overwatch D2 and D3 teams, made the conference finals. Um, also, as mentioned earlier in the night, congratulations to the varsity boys tennis team for being PAC's champions. um an effort spearheaded by captains Dylan Wen and Karun JROM. Um looking ahead towards the end of the year, tomorrow, May 28th, will be the annual staff lunchon headed by my peers and I from the National Honor Society. And in the evening, Mthactton will hold its annual awards night. Soul and I are both seniors and we're so excited to graduate soon. Um on behalf of myself and Soul, we wanted to thank all of the board members for your guidance and support in our positions as student representatives these past two years. um from coming in having no idea

104how to turn on these mics to now um we've learned a lot and we want to shout out Dr. Regina and Dr. Cookenower for their efforts. So, thank you all so much for this opportunity. Thank you. And we wish you both the best as you embark on your next steps. Um we are looking forward to seeing you march across the stage on graduation day. Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. And you're welcome to hang out with us or leave and enjoy your night. It looks like they're staying. I know. Next, we'll have the foundation report. Oh, it's it is on. Okay. How are you? Thank you for your time. Um, first off, please mark your calendars for June 6. We're hosting a free alumni event at the Eagleville Tap

105House with live music and mingling. All alumni and friends are welcome. So, check out our alumni page for those details. Next, we're looking for nominations for the 2025 Apex Awards. This award rec recognizes outstanding actton educators, staff, alumni or community members. If you know someone deserving, please submit a nomination on our site. The award event will be play will take place on November 19th at Jeffersonville Golf Club on a Wednesday night. No Eagles. And lastly, get ready to lease up your shoes. Our race back to school 5K will be Sunday, September 21st at Heedener Park, and you can sign up on our website. And lastly, I'm thrilled to share that MEF has proudly donated over $200,000 to the school district this year. Most recently, we approved funding for a significant bio biology lab upgrade. This

106means students in AP bio, environmental, anatomy, and physiology, and honors bio will get enhanced hands-on lab experience with cutting edge equipment like wireless sensors. this upgrade will deepen their understanding of scientific concepts and allow them develop critical skills like problem solving and collaboration. So all of our events and your continued support help fund raise and make programs like this possible. So thank you. Thank you very much. and I was happy to attend the um incubator um final presentation and I was told to attend just because we were in for a treat and it it really was a very well um participation. I think we had a lot of students participate and it was nice to hear some of their ideas that they've been working on all throughout the project. So, thank you for supporting that.

107It was great. Yeah, they had two classes this year and Soul actually won. She left but she was the winner. and I had to leave before the winner could be announced. But yeah, congratulations and thank you and then we will go to communication. Miss Scrollback, good evening. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback and shared their thoughts about our new Mythactin websites. We officially launched those on May 12th and have since received a lot of positive comments about the navigation and layout. If you haven't explored the new sites yet, I encourage you to take a look at the new features. We will continue to work on these sites to ensure that all the events and information you need are accurate and upto-date. I want to again thank our wonderful student interns, Alex and Janet, who

108were here earlier tonight. They worked really hard on these sites and they have been an incredible help to our communications team this spring. I'm very grateful for their efforts, not just with the website, but with our social media and event coverage as well. This month, our team also launched a new social media initiative to hire instructional assistants in partnership with the HR and labor relations team. My team and I filmed interviews with four of our current instructional assistants and created videos highlighting what they love most about working at the district. We posted one of these short videos on our Facebook page this month as a boosted post that allows us to reach an audience outside of our normal Facebook page followers. And since that post went live, we have reached more than 5,000 unique accounts.

109The post also included a link to our careers page on our website. So far, we have received more than 580 clicks on that link. And finally, I'd like to remind everyone that registration is still open for our community education summer camps. We have a lot of offerings to choose from. You can sign up for those at mthactton.org/2025 summer camps. And if you're interested in running a course yourself this fall, you can submit a proposal on our website as well. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you very much. And great job on the website. I it do look great. I've been on there several times and I know it's still there's still a few things that you're working on. So looking forward to it and hopefully you get feedback from others as they um start

110to use it and provide other ways that we can um improve it. But it looks great. Thank you. And then with that we'll have the superintendence report. Dr. Zerby. Thank you madam vice president. Uh this evening uh there's the right to know monthly report and then two adisements uh for the board's uh information needs. And that ends my report. All right. All right. So, now we'll do board action. All right. Perfect. So, now we'll have public comment on board action items. The board will now take comments on board action items. This is an opportunity for residents to comment on matters that are to be decided upon as outlined in the agenda. The board asked that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to matters

111following conclusion of the comments on board action items. Please remember to state your name and municipality. And noting no um person's desire to speak, we'll move on to um to the board meeting minutes. May I have a motion to approve the April 22nd, 2025 work session and April 29th, 2025 regular board meeting minutes as attached. Miss Chander second, Miss Clary. And then can I ask if there's any um discussion from the board? Okay. Noting none. Can I have um all in favor? All right. 6 0 think we're through. Yep. Six. Perfect. And then we'll move on to fiscal items. May I have a motion to approve all fiscal items that's presented? Miss Graph. Second. Miss Clary. Oh, we're on. Yeah, that's personal item. Yeah, we'll come to um I'll remember that. All right. And then

112can I ask if there's any um discussions on fiscal items? Nope. Okay. With that, can I have all in favor? 6 [Music] All right. And then with that, we'll have personal items, some updates. Yes. So then, may I have a motion to approve all personnel items as presented? Madam President, let's have Dr. Sugini add the items on from the work session to now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice President. There are several additions from the work session. There are two resignations. Professional Valerie Lochnne, grades seven and eight, gifted instructor at Arc Colola. Resignation for retirement after 30 years of dedicated service to the students of Mthactton. We are grateful to Val for her three decades of dynamic instruction. And the Mthactton family wishes her all the best in her retirement. And there's also the

113resignation of Anita Ralph, French language instructor at Arcola. We thank Anita for her service to Mthactton and we wish her well. There's one resignation classified. Nah Smith, secretary for central reg registration, resignation for retirement. After 20 years of dedicated service to Mthactton for many years, Nenah has often been the first contact that our new Mthactton families have with our district. Her superior knowledge of the district and her kind and supportive manner have made families feel welcome and appreciated as they joined our district. We thank Nenah for her exceptional commitment to our community and the Mthactton family wishes her the best in her retirement. There are three changes of status classified. Amy Stratton from office assistant at Archola to secretary secretary to the counseling office at Arc Colola. Stephanie Michael Cavage from par professional at Sky

114View to pupil services office assistant at FINA and Melissa Nicolage from part-time office assistant at Warsester to secretary to the principal at Warsester. And we thank Amy, Stephanie, and Melissa for taking on these new positions. There's one uncompensated leave professional, Rivka Milrod, third grade instructor at Eagleville for the dates listed and the addition of supplemental contracts for the pupil services department. Thank you. Thank you. And then with that, I will go back and ask for a motion to approve all personal items as presented. And if and then maybe I'll just check if there's anyone that wants Do we do the motion first and then All right. Can I just ask if there's anyone that want to take any of these items separate? 10 C 10 C 10 C 10 Yes. Okay. So then can I

115have a motion to approve all personal items as presented? Um all with the exception of 10 Cy and Miss Graph second. Are there any um discussions for any of the items? Yes. Yeah. So, I'm seeing item uh 10 A3 with the the French instructor at Arc Colola resigning on top of the two Spanish resignations that we approved last month. Um, I don't know if we're having an education meeting in June or not, but I would like in some type of update on I know that the Arc Colola language program is something that we're looking at and the scheduling is something that that Miss Coral I think mentioned before that things that it's sort of in the works that it's being evaluated, but it seems like a very critical point in the in the in the

116process. Now, if we're going to make a change in our call, whatever that change might be, that uh at least there's some type of discussion of where the administration sees us going with three uh professionals leaving our call for languages. So, it if we're not having an education meeting, just some type of update in the uh board uh in June, that would be great. I I'll ask Dr. Sugini and Dr. Walsh to combine uh efforts in the Friday memo to get an update for the board. Thank you. And I do um for the resignations um I know we just had the um retirement celebration, but I do want to um say with in reference to um Miss Nina um Smith. She's definitely like the first person I mean I think she was the first person

117that I met in this district before I knew anyone else here. and she's definitely one that many um when you think about what methacting um represents, she definitely strive to like when we talk about the spirit of methacting, she definitely makes all parents feel welcome and her support that she provides to the registration process whether you've registered a kid at another school before, it's your first time ever with checking on you with documents and everything else. So I do appreciate all her time and dedication to Missacting as with all the others. Thank you. And then with that, can I ask for all in favor of all items and personal except for 10 C right 6 and then we'll come to we'll come to 10 C. Can I have a motion to approve um 10 C

118job description uh approve the job description of chief of police as attached Mr. Winters a second miss and then can I ask if there's any um discussion on this item? Okay. And then with that, can I ask for all in favor of um 10 C? All oppose. So that 42 Now we will go to curriculum. Um, make sure I didn't skip anything. Okay. So, may I have a motion to approve all items listed on the curriculum and programs that's presented? And if there's anyone that need to skip anything. Okay. Okay. So, motion Miss Clary and then Mr. Winters. Okay. So, with that, I will check if there's any comments from the board. M. Yeah. I just want to take this opportunity to um thank um Representative Webster's office and mission kids for the community cares

119program and for for the work that is going to be done in Methactton. I think it's going to I'm very excited for what we are going to see come out of it. And I just wanted to take this opportunity to say it's a fant it the plans are fantastic. it. I have no doubt that we're going to see wonderful results. So, thank you. Thank you. And I also agree. I think this is a great opportunity for the district. Um, Miss Graph. Yeah, I on the community cares program. I I would I'm curious to just confirm that there is no cost associated with this program and I I know that's what I heard last week, but that is not reflected in this motion. Um I mean I I sort of wonder if we could amend the

120motion to say something like authorize the administration to implement the community cares pilot program for the 2526 school year at no cost to the district. Um, I don't know what everybody else thinks. I I mean, I think that's what I heard about the program. So, I don't think that's anything different from what we understand it to be. And if it is different, I'm open to hearing if it's different. So, so, and I can start and then maybe I'll have Mr. Regina um just because I know we talked about this at um at at committee. I think the program as it is is no cost to the district, but we're also aware that we may need some um sponsors and teachers to support um us with the program. And I think what we're thinking is that

121may come in the form of what do we call supplemental contracts or something of that capacity. And I think until those gets we work out those details, we don't have that information yet. But I will let Mr. Regina. No, thanks Miss Purdue. That that's accurate. We also don't want to hold up or create any limitations if we want to utilize our liaison in the district and might need a substitute to cover. Um there's things that we naturally would have embedded and things that we cover naturally for professional development or for professional day. Um and we wouldn't want to have to keep tapping into the group to say, "Hey, it's at no cost." Um and we have a substitute coming in. So those are natural occurrences on a day-to-day basis. I don't foresee them, but I

122also wouldn't want to limit the capacity to run a successful program because we couldn't get a substitute or something quite minor. So, so I'm not I mean, okay, I'm a little torn. I love this program. I think it's fantastic. I'm concerned that the district is entering into a program that we don't know what it's going to cost. And I maybe I need a cap number or maybe we need to think about if we have x number of classes and x number of teachers that get trained, we have an idea of what it's going to cost and that's what we're budgeting because right now there is nothing in the budget for next year to cover this program. So, I'm a little concerned that we're in the process of getting ready to approve a budget that we

123know is deficient in any funding for this. So, if it is, I think we just need to make the adjustment now if we can. Yeah, I can say I'm not anticipating any cost uh for the program to answer that question. And I mean certainly if there is something that would come into play, we certainly can probably be creative in the district to not have any cost. Um, but yes, last week what you heard was that we're working with the community cares group to be able to supplement the supplemental contracts that we might have uh the work that we have both at Sky and Arcola and at the high school whether we choose to do supplemental contracts or sponsorship uh that would be covered uh by the individuals in that program. So, don't know if that

124answers your question, but that is the what we understand it to be. So, so if we did a sort of worst case estimate, could you give me a ballpark figure? And I it's just sort of for my own like I just know where we are on the budget and I know we've done a pretty tight look at every little number and I'm thinking here's something that is it a is it a $20,000 cost or are we talking about it could be a $250,000 cost? Keep in mind I love this program. So I'm really going here, Miss Graph. And that's that's the challenge for for for us. We the moment we heard about this program, we knew we needed it here in the district. Okay. And typically we would come to you with all the details

125before we'd say, "Let's jump in and and do something." We're we're work because this is a pilot program. We're actually working with those groups to develop it the way that it needs to develop so that it not only becomes a a one-time pilot program, but it's something because we believe so strongly in it its value that is bringing can can grow within the district. So, while we're developing that, there may be things that come up. I mean, there there's I mean, if I if I tell you that there was no cost in this, there there's there's already cost. We already we already sunk cost into it. We have PE personnel uh people's time that we're involved in in the first couple discussions of the matter. But when we start talking about are there other costs

126that that you know we might incur? Well, if we wanted to be successful, we might have to make that recommendation that either it's going to be funded through the third party support uh from the community or it might be something that the district might have to entail. In all in all fairness, I can't answer all those questions for this evening. So your comment about possibly putting a cap on the matter is a reasonable approach to saying hey you know we'll we won't it won't be more than $10,000 otherwise we have to come back and ask for additional um authorization. So that is one way to think about it. Um and and I understand your concern. I just want to try to approach it in a a thoughtful way. um as as much as you as

127the group uh appeared to and uh you know buy into what was what was shared, we too equally are in the same position. We just don't have all the details and we want to work through this. In fact, we want to work through this as rapidly as we can but with a with a forethought of making sure that we do this well. And the and the problem is I can't sit and wait until we have it all organized. But because there's c certain things we want to if you heard about the uh the leadership training and all those types of things those are critical elements that we need to schedule for we need to kind of get in front of uh as as part of that process. So that may not have answered your question

128completely, but I do believe that um if if it does make the board feel better in terms of uh authorizing this and it's not going to exceed value, otherwise we have to come back, we can certainly do that and then we can reflect that uh change in in the uh in the in the budget presentation uh to the finance committee in June. So, I would say a number not to exceed $10,000 to start. Miss Theo, yeah, I just have a question to go off of that because some of these questions did not come up in ED committee because it was discussed that this would not be an additional cost to the district. Um, but in all that conversation, one of the questions um that I do have is um for the supplemental contract, and I

129know I could probably go through some things right now, but I don't have it. Um, if we were to if we were not to put that dollar amount on this, um, and an adviser was needed for this club at the high school, right? Then that would be a supplemental contract. Well, how much is a supplemental contract? Is there a given? Isn't that a a number in ballpark? I mean, I'm not going to be like, what is it to the nickel? That makes sense. Yeah. So, so that would be further discussed. Uh okay. So, they are different cost. Yeah. But but to your but I think to your point that would be a cost like we any other supplemental contract we would come to the board and say listen uh we with the development of this

130pilot program um there are we want to hire four uh sponsors at $1,000 each or whatever the number is you would have to approve those you know incrementally and any other cost incrementally. So those would th So even if we are saying um you know up to even if we were to say up to $10,000 that approval of those people chosen for advisor or whatever if I'm just saying this that would still be come up to the board for approval. Um would that delay anything? Would that cause a delay or could that be after the fact if if an advisor is needed like starting in August? And does that make sense? No, it it wouldn't necessarily delay it. So, okay. So, to to answer there's a lot of different pathways that we can take to

131acquiring advisors. And the reason I'm not coming out and saying exactly what we would choose is because it's it's an internal conversation also with our bargaining unit to discuss that. And so whether it's an adviser position, whether it's a stipen position, whether it's a volunteer, there's a lot of things that go into these conversations. Um, and so it's tough to speak through that without ever having the conversation with the association. That's all. That's fine. It helps me better understand this conversation. Um, I think I had more questions, but I don't have it right. So um are we retaining the motion as it is or are we adding Yeah. There's the motion that's on the table is the approval of all curriculum and programs items. Um and there was a second to that and there was

132no subsequent motion made. So that's you've had discussion. You can ask if there's any further discussion. Um or you could call the vote on those items, Miss Graph. Okay. Then I would like to amend the motion to include at the end. So it'll read authorization authorize the administration to implement the community cares pilot program for the 2526 school year at a cost of up to $20,000. I I don't I don't want to hold up the program, but I want to sort of create a cap that we understand what we're getting into and if there's additional cost, we we talk through it. That's sort of my perspective. Does anyone wish to second that motion? Okay, you do have a a second on the that So, that is the a motion to amend item 11. Uh, and

133it's a amending 11 item B to add a cap of a cost of up to $20,000. So, you have a motion to amend that and a second. You can now have any discussion you'd like on whether to make that amendment and then concluding any discussion on whether to make the amendment. You'll vote on the amendment itself first and then the underlying motion. So, if anyone has any discussion on on the motion to amend, now would be the time to discuss it. Anyone have any points on the motion? It's the amended motion. Yes. Um, so I'm just thinking through things because this is how I do it. um when it comes to like that $20,000 um gives is that and and that's needed. But let's say buses are needed to move people back and forth over

134somewhere or something like that and there's a need for transportation to do something then that would be something that could come to the board. If it does not fit in that $20,000 um does that make sense? Am I asking a clear question? Yes. But but I just want to kind of go back to you know we all heard this the same thing of it was going to be covered. So like I'm not anticipating that but if there's anything that would happen in excess of that that we we would need the 20,000 that would be there. Is that how I understood it? Great. Okay. Just want to check that we're have any concerns any other I I just want to state this for everyone's uh you know information needs uh all of the costs whether it's

135covered by the third party or covered by the district will likely be shared with you you know in in in the future once it's planned so that you know exactly what is being accounted for and how it's being accounted. The problem we we have we just don't have all those plans in place at this moment in time. and then you're going to need that uh to determine whether or not we move beyond the pilot phase along with you know the data and the other feedback that was shared. So, uh, we do appreciate your consideration as part of, uh, you know, not having all the information up front, but and your willingness to, uh, jump into this program as we are, uh, to make this, you know, an opportunity for our students, not only leadership opportunity

136for our students, but a learning opportunity for our students in grades six and seven. And I think we discussed that this will probably come to at committee hopefully as you know with the start of the school year and then we can bring more details to the board on this. So with that do we So now you'll vote on on just whether to amend the motion. Um so you have a sec a motion and a second to amend item 11B by adding at a cost of up to $20,000 to the LA to the language there. So, first you'll vote on whether to make actually make that amendment. Um, and you can do that now. All right. Can I ask for all in favor of amending 11B1 um to authorize the administration to implement the community cares

137program for the 2025 2020 2026 school year at a cost of up to 20,000. Okay. And I'm in favor. So 6. So, we're okay to amend the motion. So, the motion will be amended as that. Do you need me to read it back or do you have uh So, you're now you're just voting on item all items under 11, including 11B as was just amended with the $20,000 cap. Perfect. Okay. So, let me just see if there's any further discussion on any of those items. All right. So now, may I have um may I get all in favor to approve all items under curriculum, including the amendment to 11B1 to include a cap of up to $20,000. Okay, that carries 6. Thank you. All right, so moving on to policy. May I have a motion

138to approve all policies listed under second read as presented? Miss Clary, Miss Chander, any discussions? All right. Then with that, can I have a motion to approve I'm sorry. Can I have it? All in favor of approving all policies under second read. All right. 6. All right. And Miss Purdue, can we take 13H separately, please? Perfect. I made a note of it today. So, we'll have 13H separate and then are there any requests for any other items separate? Okay. So then with that, can I have a motion to approve all items listed under other as presented with the exception of 13H MEPA agreement graph Mr. Winters? All right. Any discussion? No. Seeing none, can I have um all in favor of approving all items under other with the exception of 13H? Z. All right. All

139right. Now, can I have a motion to approve um the MESPA agreement as presented tonight or the tenative agreement? It's clearing second Miss Chanda. All right. So with that, can I have do you have to provide? Okay. Yeah. Uh under the ethics act at the public meeting today, it's my intention to abstain of the vote for item 13H1 which involves the approval of the Methactton Education Support Professional MESPA uh due to a conflict of interest under the ethics act. The nature of my interest is follows. My wife is an instructional aid at the high school and is paid via this contract. Okay. Then with that, can I have all in favor of um approving 13H? All right. So that's five and I guess one extension. Is it 5 and then one extension? Okay. Okay, perfect.

140Okay, so now dates for board members calendars. The upcoming board meetings dates are listed on the agenda and also on the methactin website. I believe just finance is meeting in May, I'm sorry, in June. And then we'll have the work session in regular board meeting. So now I will ask if we have any um old or new business. Yes, Miss D. I just meant to I just wanted to say good luck to the esports team at states. Yeah, exciting time. And then I do want to say just because we had a a very big group here today um from Boy Scout Troop 267. I do want to thank um the Boy Scouts for coming in today. They were here to observe a public meeting. So, I really do appreciate their time and um sticking it

141out with us. I know our meetings tend to run late and many of them had to get back home to get some homework done and also meet with their troop just to um talk about some of the things they saw and heard here tonight. So, I really do appreciate them for making the time to attend this meeting today. And with that, I will check if there's any other old or new business. And then we look forward to um there was a lot of celebration here, especially from the high school today. Um but I know it's a bigger excitement coming up in a few weeks for the graduation. So we look forward to congratulate congratulating all our graduates, upcoming graduates. And I know it's a very exciting time at the high school for many of our

142students. So, I'm looking forward to graduation. And then with that, I will turn it over to courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comments on matters that may be before the board. The board asks that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to the matters following the conclusion of the comments. You can also submit questions via email to informationsacting.org. Please state your name and municipality for record. Jim Warcester. Kyle, I think you had to do public comment after the amended motion, but I would check that. Um the um amended motion what what scrutiny on a $10,000 possibility? Where was the scrutiny on the $440 million high school? Where was the scrutiny on the

143$1.5 million that was wasted on the high school? But 10 grand, oh my god, imag apex awards coming up soon. Are we going to be spending taxpayer money buying tickets for the Apex Awards this time around and making an inind contribution? I think I raised this issue before, but unfortunately, courtesy of the floor wasn't taped, so I'll try it again so people can hear it. Uh, I've got a invoice for 32 tickets at 85 bucks a piece, 2,700 bucks. 11623 Apex Award tickets. You guys bought them mactton. Paul, you're ahead of the finance. You see this? Do you guys look at your invoices? This is an invoice. Does this board up front look at their invoices? Here's here's a $2700 inind donation with taxpayer money. I asked it a month ago. No response. No response

144again. Um, I would not do that again because uh we may have to go to an outside agency to get some help. Stuff's not good. Um, your right to know uh summary. Who put this thing together? This right to know chart. It's ridiculous. Look for the current month. You got one appeal, one fulfilled request, but 11 grand for the month. This is your problem. It's crazy. And you won't answer questions. That makes it even worse. Look at the third quarter. 27 appeals, 17 fulfilled requests, and 17 new requests for a grand total of 80 grand. You make it appear like there were 27 appeals filed, but you know what these were, Dave? These were all the appeals that we settled up in that agreement. 27 appeals got settled up from 2019, 2020, 2021, and you

145bring it all into the third quarter. That's the problem with your accounting. So, you need to scrap this and start from scratch. Thank you. Any other comments, Karen Smith from Lower Providence. I am here to draw attention to the continued racism and bullying at Sky View. Since I last addressed the board, I received no follow-up, nor have I seen any change in the school. I need to ask again, is our current policy sufficient for the needs of our district? If so, why is the administration unable to effectively manage these situations? In my home, I am continually asked why I need to go to a place where no one cares and why no one will help. That motivates me to come back here. I have seen no change in the school. We continually have incidents going

146on. It is simply not enough for each of us to think we have done enough when this is the experience for any of our students. This environment has left a mark on my son and my family that will not be forgotten. The reality is that our district has a problem that requires more attention. None of our students should dread going to school each day or be told they are less than. If our policy is sufficient, more would be done to address the bullying. If our administration was effective, our students would receive more protection. If our staff were better trained, they would intervene and report incidents on a consistent basis. If students could see that the adults in charge were responsive and measures are retaken to protect them, they would feel safer. Instead, each time I

147call to report yet another incident, no one is aware that anything has yet happened. Teachers are unaware of students that should be separated. Administration has no knowledge of the incident and are unable to share information to provide any reassurance. Dr. Zerby, I consider you to be accountable for this and your silence is disturbing to me. I know that Mthactton is better than this and it is time to reflect on what needs improvement and making it happen. I request that each of you please consider what more can be done to better protect our students. And as always, I will make myself available in any capacity that would be helpful or appropriate. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Amy Smith, Warcester. I just wanted to take a minute. Um, last week we honored at the work

148session multiple retirees and now I see that Val Lochnane is retiring. She was science teacher to one of my children and um did gifted instruction with another one of my kids and she's just phenomenal person. Um everything that we look for or hope for as parents um in a teacher. She took my child who was not interested in science and made her interested in science and with my uh my son in the gifted program, she really really ran an amazing amazing program at Arc Colola uh for our gifted students. So, I'm sad to see her go, but I wish her well and I just wanted to publicly acknowledge that. I also uh wanted to thank you for your vote on community cares. Super excited to see this take root in the district. There's a lot

149of buzz today about the program uh with at the high school. So, um really looking forward to seeing what comes of that. Thank you. Thank you. And then with that, I'll see if any board members have any final comments. Miss Theo. Um yes, thank you. And uh thank you for the all the public comment. And I did just want to address um I don't have an answer, but um address the the comment regarding racism and bullying um at Sky View experienced by the family as well as um continued requests that I hear from many people in the community. Um and I've heard it since I knocked doors. uh when um when running for the seat um that there there is a a a population and a large a large community in in our school district

150that feels as though they really struggle and don't have a place to fit in in our community and I heard that a lot at the doors and um I don't have an answer. Um it is a complex question. Um but I know that and many of the conversations that I've had are people are looking for that answer. And um and it's one of the reasons why I am so excited just for two things that I'm looking to for hope. And um uh it's one of the reasons why I'm so excited for the initiative that we are doing for literacy because literacy from grades K on up while it does sound academic and not community-wise kids and students who finds success um creates a positive learning environment and it sets a stage for positive learning. Um

151and that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited that that is happening. It's also one of the reasons why I did not articulate it well, but the community cares program um and piloting it here in the district and again why I thank Representative Webster's office and um Miss Smith and um Mission Kids is because is because of the I'm I'm not going to come up with the right word right now. The arms that it has. Nope, not the arms, but the the prongs of reach. Yes, because it not only because the community within a school is really you can't do one thing to fix it, right? We have PBIS in Sky View, but it's not one thing. It's so complex. And you know, you could have a great working PBIS, but then if one

152other thing is falling apart here, and if there's other elements in the community that's falling apart, then it's still you're not seeing all of the growth. So, um, it's one of the reasons why I'm so excited because of the reach of the community cares program because it's pulling down. Not I mean, I am an educator. I'm also a mother. And when I'm like, "No, you shouldn't do that. That's mean." The eye roll that I get from some people of some ages is pretty significant because I'm old and I'm not their their age. But high schoolers bringing the high schoolers in and the community in and creating those connections could be extremely powerful. and I know it's going to be powerful and Mission Kids has a track record as does uh Representative Webster's office a track

153record of some really wonderful work. So, I'm really excited to see what that can do. Um we also do have a new curriculum that we approved a few months ago for SEAL with um the guidance counseling. Nope, I'm saying that incorrectly. Um but we did approve something. Yes, character strong. Thank you. I'm like words just But we approved that as well. But the pilot was really really wellreceived. Um none of these are answers and none of these help the pain that is being experienced now. Um it is a hope for the future that it does make things better incrementally and exponentially next year as all of these things implement as every learns and works together. Um but I do want to recognize the pain that is being felt now. So thank you for your comment.

154Thank you. Thank you, Miss Graph. Yeah, I you know, as as Miss Theo was talking, it it sort of occurred to me that um you know, we've heard a couple of comments that have come before the board in the vein of, you know, parents struggling because their kids are struggling and and I think we can do better. Um, so we're currently thinking about our board goals for next year. So I would like to challenge the education committee to, you know, the way we're going to develop these goals is going to be through our committees. And I think, you know, the education committee could potentially undertake an opportunity here to focus on creating an environment, taking on programming. Um, I I think the community cares program is one of the things, but I think the education

155committee could establish a goal that is to address these things in a way, track and pro to show progress and hold the district accountable, right? Um, I think there's there is an opportunity somewhere in there and I'm not sure what that goal looks like and I'm not sure what the tools are that we use and I'm not sure there's a lot of things we'd have to think about. Um, so I just I want to take a minute to think about it. So as we're getting into these goals and planning, this is a great opportunity for us to set a goal that can actually make a difference for our kids. So maybe you guys can take that on. We will certainly take you know I'll let com ed committee chair speak to it but I know

156um sitting on the ed committee is definitely this is something definitely that we can look at as most of those programs come through us is definitely as we are planning our goals and we haven't had a chance to discuss those yet but it's certain something that we can consider including yeah I agree I just took down a note to I think um I I would like to I think there's some more conversation to be had about how the tracking and and what what what success looks like um and and then I think that we can have that conversation. So absolutely. So then with that I will um ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Winter second Miss Graph and then um the meeting is adjourned at 8:27. Thank you all for your time.

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