001foreign good evening everybody I'd like to call to order this special meeting of the metactan board of school directors here on November 2nd please rise for the pledge thank you the public is hereby advised of the audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting by way of attendance um all all board members are here with the acceptance exception of Ms cancro who will be arriving shortly um and now to talk about the school board director vacancy I turn it over to Dr Zerby thank you madam president this evening the board of school directors will take nominations among the three candidates that they've selected that will be interviewed here this evening in the public and they will appoint an individual fill the unexpired term of Mr Greg Young Who provided his resignation
002to the board on October 10 2022 and as as such the board took action on October 25th 2022 and therefore this evening we are going to proceed in the following fashion uh we have three candidates we have Kate Graf Kathleen Thiel Bill Delong all from Lower Providence Township uh they are select they were the three selected candidates among eight that applied and the uh the process will go like this each candidate will be provided a total of 15 minutes for the interview they will provided a two-minute opening statement a one-minute closing statement and two minutes for each of the six questions I will ask all the questions and um my assistant superintendent uh Mr Regina will keep the time for this evening so in order to get started we need to pick the order of
003the interview process foreign before we begin board members is everybody ready okay so this evening we have uh uh candidate uh I'm sorry uh Kathleen Thiel he's from Lower Providence and uh we'll start uh with the two-minute opening statement Ms Steele what's that with me my fault was mine I was supposed to do this sorry much louder you may begin okay my husband and I moved to Lower Providence 10 years ago part of the reason we moved here was because of mythackton's reputation as a great School District all three of my children currently attend Beth Acton schools I have worked in various education settings for the past 16 years during that time I have worked as a teacher a social studies Department lead an English Department lead and a secondary literacy coach I have worked
004in small parochial schools diverse brick and mortar schools and Cyber Charter Schools serving over 7 000 students across the state of Pennsylvania I have a deep passion for literacy and I believe learning to proficiently read is a fundamental right of all children as a parent I have experienced many frustrating and difficult situations along with some of the amazing situations that happen when with actin teachers work together to support my own childhood child both actually my children sorry a school district's success does not rest on one focal point success is built through Community Teamwork communication compromise and the driving goal that all students can succeed this success rests on a supported staff a clean and safe working environment and an active involved community I appreciate your time to consider me for this open position and I'm
005looking forward to your questions thank you the first question why are you interested in serving on the board of school directors as a community parent I care about the 6 staff in our schools and our students a great school district has a positive ripple effect on the entire community as I stated before my husband and I moved here because of the reputation of the district I knew Miss Acton we knew mathacton was where we wanted to raise our family I'm interested in serving I'm interested in serving on the school board because I believe I can contribute to the success of the district I am passionate about education and literacy I can't help myself I want all students to achieve Proficiency in reading and that doesn't happen due to one single aspect of a school every
006aspect of a school district from the buildings to the budget the curriculum the safe support the safety it all supports our students success when discussing School Board decisions and policies there can be any number of possible outcomes depending on the focused decision the focus of the decision and the variables this job isn't easy but it is vitally important to the lives of our students and our community my experience and knowledge will help me contribute to the conversation to support our students and our community in whatever comes up this coming year thank you question number two what do you perceive to be the responsibilities of the board the school board responsibilities focus on maintaining and establishing policies that support an efficient School District importance responsibilities include approving the School District budget determining and addressing maintenance needs
007of District buildings and Facilities approving contract renewals with the mea and approving School District goals and instructional programs that are discussed and presented by the school district superintendent and administration these decisions involve identifying supports and removing barriers to so that the school district Administration staff and teachers can work effectively while these are only a few of the responsibilities of the board at the heart of this work is a focus on our students and our community and their success and their needs thank you question number three what qualities skills and experience would you bring to the board I've been a teacher for over 15 years in that time I've worked in K-12 parochial schools public brick and mortar school districts and Statewide Cyber Charter Schools I've experienced many different education instructors diverse student bodies and communities
008and various effective and ineffective education structures I earned my masters in literacy from Westchester University in 2011. since then I have spent countless hours following the latest research best practice and known researchers along with patan trainings on how to best support the literacy of all learners I approach my work in education with the belief that proficient reading is essential and 95 of all human beings can learn to read with structured literacy and science of reading supported instruction I am beyond excited for the Pennsylvania structured literacy competency framework that was just released by the pde last month that's not ill as my work as literacy coach which is my most recent position I have written needs assessment surveys I've analyzed and communicated results and I've collaborated with administrators and staff to plan and deliver professional development
009and coaching to build affecting effective and Lasting change woven into my experience in education are hours of professional development diversity equity and inclusion social emotionally learning and Universal Design for Learning training my role as a literacy coach has forced me to understand these and how they affect the literacy development of all children finally I recently completed my graduate coursework in administrative one certification from Eastern University my coursework spent time and valuable experience analyzing leadership structures and the complex complexity of the school system I'm proficient in analyzing different sources of data various federal and state laws impacting our schools such as Essa and the idea and the importance of supporting our principals and staff in creating and maintaining a safe and clean learning environment this is some of the experience I think is great sorry thank
010you sorry question 158 sorry question number four if you were faced with a tough issue as a School director such as raising taxes or cutting programs what kind of data would you need to help make your decision um for this decision making I would need as much data as possible from what I've seen there's not usually one given possible response or possible decision there's many so for each of the possible decisions I would need the financial cost the benefits of that decision as well as the negative impact of each one also I'd like to see what it how it would affect the district in the future 5 10 20 years down the line because the decisions we make today do not just impact the students in our school district they affect the students that will
011enroll in our school district next year and in 10 years if also possible and if applicable I would also want to see the researchers and what researchers say about certain um decisions because there's a lot of Education research out there and there's going to be education research that gives a negative view of something and a positive view of something if we see both of these then that helps us make a better informed decision and finally because of the impact and the importance of the community I'd want to see just as I know you guys already do I'd want to see the community surveys and Community input as well as what the teachers have to say with their survey in involves and what their goals are and what they think about it thank you thank you
012question number five what are the strengths of our school district it was hard to know where to start on this one um as so many other people before me have said the teachers is where I want to begin I have yet to meet a person who cannot list at least one if not three or four teachers who have made a positive impact on their students and on their family I can rattle off a million right now not a million but at least 10. um as well as the counselors because every counselor has who has worked with my students my three children and with my family has been absolutely amazing along with the teachers our music program is special it's fabulous my son learned how to play trumpet over the internet on Zoom during a pandemic
013I'm still amazed how that happened but we also know how important music is to the development and to Learners and to building background knowledge that helps them to succeed later on whether they become a musician or not music can be the first thing that's cut in so many school districts and I am always grateful Miss Acton has never cut the program um along the same lines are the other resources that methactin has are Hydroponics system our planetarium the way that we've fund School field trips for our students um they're wonderful and they help our students see beyond Lower Providence and Beyond West Worchester to see that there is so much more out there and that also builds background knowledge those experiences help them succeed beyond what we see that certain day it can Inspire them
014and it can also prepare them to know and understand the world last but not least because I recently became aware that there are school districts around us that don't have this we have wonderful libraries and I'm always grateful that my students my own children can go and bring and just when he finishes a book he reads another I have a student who eats books and another one who doesn't not actually eats them but reads often and I'm really grateful that my students and my kids can go and select that be because that helps broaden their understanding of the world and it's great thank you you're welcome question number six what are the biggest challenges facing public education today this one was hard for me to narrow down as well because I don't think I open
015up a newspaper app or a blog or even scroll through my Instagram feed or my Facebook feed without seeing an article about how hard education is right now I think they're all connected though you can't talk about the challenges without the complex funding issue and the changes in funding that have come from the state and the federal government in recent years in recent decades and the impact that that has had on how school districts manage their funds and their budgets along with that the impact of the pandemic on student States on state testing scores particularly in math and reading um I haven't seen withactins but I know across the state of Pennsylvania it's gone down and when you have complex funding um and you have increasing student needs with mental health needs and increasing student
016needs with reading or math and teachers who are facing burnout and there's High teacher turnover and there's substitute teachers which are hard to find how do you address all of these and how do you how do you wrestle with them um it's really complicated and really hard um the growing student needs is another one along with mental health needs I know that there's also a growing student there's a growing population of students with IEPs and 504s and students who and executive functioning skills and how much can you ask of one person and a teacher and a school district building at a time and but also how do you address all these needs at a given time those are some of the challenges that I see I think they're all connected and it's just a matter
017of prioritizing how you help manage that um to help the school district move forward and continue to improve and grow thank you and now you have one minute for a closing statement thank you thank you for your time and for your commitment to the district this job isn't easy I have watched many of the school board meetings over the past few years and I have spoken at some of them and I just want to thank all of you for being here I'm here today because I believe my background my knowledge and my passion for literacy can support the conversation compromise and decisions needed to support the continued success and growth of methactin's at North Acton School District in our community I'm grateful for all that methactin has offered for my children and my family partially
018because of the decisions you make mostly because of that um and our teachers and I just want to thank you so much for your time and your consideration today thank you thank you very much and you can now take a seat in the audience and we will then move on to uh candidate number two Mr Eugene is going to bring that candidate in thank you line it up good evening Miss Graf thank you for joining us this evening uh members of the board of School director we have Kate ground from Lower Providence Township she is candidate number two and uh Mr Gina are you ready Ms Graf are you ready I am okay we will start with the two minute opening statement please begin so this is my second time sort of putting in my
019name for a seat on the board that has opened up sort of not in the traditional way um and I just it was a hard decision to put my name in in this situation but I think it's really important that our school board has parents and community members who are willing to give their time and make the effort to contribute in a way that's meaningful and I work full-time and yet I think that this is something that's really important to me it's a critical part of you know the school being successful our children having the things they need and making sure that there's a diverse group of people who are working to that end I think that everybody on the board having different opinions and coming together to reach consensus and to put forth the
020best ideas for our children is really really important and so after giving it some thought and definitely considering not putting my name in and saying you know it's just easy to just keep walking and not worry about it I really made the decision to come back and and put my name in again and see if there's an opportunity to provide the support to the board and to really contribute in a meaningful way to the community thank you question number one why are you interested in serving on the board of school directors so I understand that there's a need for the group of people that represent the board here to have a diversity of opinion and to come from diverse backgrounds I'm a an environmental engineer I don't think there's another engineer on the board most
021of my work involves doing project management and client interaction public interaction at public meetings and that sort of thing I think that it's important that in the board we have a diversity that that lets people understand each other's perspectives and the perspectives of the community um the other thing is I'm a first generation college student and so for me being in high school being in grade school and having teachers and people give me guidance to say Hey you know here's some opportunities for you to get to college to take these courses to do these things that really made me more well-rounded and helped me to get into college and see opportunities for myself was really impactful and I think that the board makes decisions all the time that help our students to make those choices
022and if the board really wants to give students the opportunities that they need to get ahead and to be successful I think that's something I want to contribute to I think that I have always wanted to give back I give my volunteer in the community in other ways I do other types of things with my work life that's volunteering and Community related and I think this is just another way to give back to the community thank you question number two what do you perceive to be the responsibilities of the board so to me the board is really focused on the planning and the development and execution of policies that support the education of the children in the district um I think that the planning for the future is a really important part of what the
023Board needs to be doing all the time I think that we need to be cognizant of not sacrificing today for the future and not sacrificing the future for what is needed here today I think that the board is often required to do cost analysis and budgeting but also looking at what's the payback on the things that we're investing in how long will it take what's the impact to our programs building an athletic field sounds like a great idea but if we don't build the athletic field does that mean that team doesn't get to practice and if that team doesn't get to practice do they not get the opportunities for the children to participate and I think those kinds of trade-offs have to be evaluated all the time by the board I think that the board
024really is focused on balancing the public concerns and a strategic plan and putting that strategic plan into action thank you question number three what qualities skills and experience would you bring to the board um well as I said before I'm an engineer I am a fairly logical person who makes decisions based very much in fact and numbers and that sort of thing I think it's important to really evaluate things from a cost perspective I understand that um you know it's great to do all things all the time and everybody wants to do what they want to do but I also think it's important to weigh the costs that are going to come with those things and I think it's important to look at what's going to have the most impact in my regular world I
025often look at Cost analysis for my clients to say if we add this piece of control equipment we can reduce the impact to the environment but it's going to cost six million dollars is it worth six million dollars to reduce the impact to the environment by a very small amount probably not so sometimes it's the incremental analysis that needs to get done and I'm very good at doing that I um I'm a very effective project manager I work a lot with clients who are in adversarial relationships with the community or with the Regulatory Agencies and I can find the middle ground and reach resolution and reach a solution that's satisfactory for everyone and I think sometimes the board is put in positions where you you're doing that same type of work where you have to
026find some sort of Middle Ground that people can be happy with the result even if it's not exactly what they wanted and finding that middle ground and and working towards understanding what the underlying concerns are rather than just sometimes what people voice is a concern isn't really the underlying concern and so I think I bring that skill set to the board thank you question number four if you were faced with a tough issue as a School director such as raising taxes or cutting programs what kind of data would you need to help you make your decision I would want to look at well recently when the board did the analysis to increase the starting teacher salaries it was a great example in this for me anyway because I think looking at the data it was
027really easy to understand when when it came down to it's going to be 157 dollars per household or per person as a tax increase to me 157 dollars a year is a very reasonable cost increase for me to raise that starting teacher salary and I think that's an example of the kind of data that makes it reasonable for people to understand not just me but the public to be able to understand what we're doing and what what the impact actually is on each individual person in the district so I think taking complex data and charts and all of this analysis and Distilling it down into something that's really simplified is really really helpful I think you have to go through all the details and I think you have to do all the research up front
028I think the Board needs to sort of Wade through that but at the end of the day I think that it's much easier to have a conversation when you can explain exactly what the impact is to the individual that you're talking to thank you question number five what are the strengths of our school district strength of our school district is the engagement of our parents I have a student who plays a sport and I can tell you that every time that team is playing there are a number of parents that are there supporting that team every time whether it's cold or rainy or terrible hot weather they're all there they're all cheering that kid those kids on and they're cheering them on from the beginning until the very last minute of the game um and
029I think the same is true what I experienced in the elementary schools was the parents that were involved with the planning events and organizing and participating in activities for the kids they showed up all the time um and I think that the parents in the district want to be involved you know I'm involved with post-prom in the high school and the parents really make that happen the community getting involved is the only way that event would ever come off the way it does and that event is an amazing event that many other schools don't have the same type of thing and I think that one of the advantages of the district is that our our parents are well engaged obviously a second thing that is really important to me is the quality of the teachers
030in the district and I think that we have really highly qualified teachers who want to engage the kids on a level of you know making sure that they make a difference in their lives they're not just standing up there talk talk talk Talking they're trying to make it real to these kids they're trying to teach them in multiple ways so they can reach everybody in the classroom not just the 80 who understand when they do a presentation slide deck they're doing the effort that they need to do to make sure that the kids are truly learning from the experience and I think that's something that's really really important to the district thank you question number six what are the biggest challenges facing public education today I think one of the biggest challenges facing our public
031education is mental health issues I think that there's a ton of mental health issues that come up from um you know trauma events that happen at other schools and other that they're exposed to on the news or through friends I think that social media has a huge impact on bullying and and awareness of what's happening around school I think that um the stress that our children are under can cause them to have significant impacts on their mental health I think that teachers are under a lot of stress trying to manage their own work-life balance you know back to school after the whole covid situation um just like many people who are working outside of school districts are experiencing workload stress and trying to balance home and their work life um so I think that's probably
032a big thing I think for the district specifically I think that the teacher shortage is probably the biggest thing and I think that's driven by choices that teachers have made to exit the profession because of the stress the pay um and feeling like they don't if their work is not as appreciated as it needs to be thank you and now we can take your closing your one minute closing statement so [Music] uh as I said you know this was a sort of a well thought out decision to be here today and I appreciate that you know I put forward my um credentials and I appreciate that you allowed me to come and talk with you and you saw some opportunity there um so I do want to thank the board for that and I just
033I think I just want to leave with a statement that you know I'm not a halfway kind of person I'm just not my husband would tell you nothing in our house is ever halfway if I am involved I am involved from the start to the finish right I have a hard time not getting things done um I like to have a plan and I like to execute on the plan I like to put together a program and see it come to fruition I think that the board has a ton of initiatives in the Strategic plan I think that the board is looking for people who are going to take the bull by the horns and run with these things that you want to do I'm that kind of person I am definitely the kind of
034person who is going to get it to done um in my work life people will say you know there's different personality characteristics I am characterized as a driver because I get it from start to finish and I think that's important for the board thank you very much uh that ends and concludes uh interview for candidate number two Kate Graf okay you're welcome to take a a seat in the audience foreign members of the factors Board of school directors we have with us uh candidate number three Bill Delong from Lower Providence Township Mr Delong welcome and um we if you're ready uh you can start with your two-minute opening statement there you go all right thank you testing thanks Martin Luther King Jr once said the function of education is to teach one to think intensively
035and to think critically intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education good evening my name is Bill Delong and my curiosity has inspired me to come here tonight I believe a quality education is the foundation to develop essential decision making skills skills that are crucial which will assist students in their personal and later in their professional lives I look forward to tonight's conversation and good luck to my fellow candidates thank you thank you question number one why are you interested in serving on the board of school directors I have two children in the school district I believe there's an opportunity for myself to help influence decisions which will impact the lives of current and prospective students I believe that quality education is the foundation to develop those essential decision-making skills and I believe
036that my experience in the financial services industry allows me to analyze sample sizes of data discern what is crucial to make positive decisions which will impact various departments in the school district whether this teachers administrative personnel and most importantly students and their parents thank you question number two what do you perceive to be the responsibilities of the board I believe the responsibilities of the board is to assist decision the assisted decision-making process that will shape the school district's policies and procedures whether they are educational Financial or operational thank you question number three what qualities skills and experience would you bring to the board I have over 20 years of financial services experience working with businesses municipalities and non-profits to help them maximize their working capital which is the lifeblood of any organization within those 20
037years I had a role um as an ethnographic analyst ethnography is a qualitative research method predicated on the diversity of culture and why do these cultures Drive the decision-making processes I analyzed Fortune 100 clients to help them create and understand their current state environments why they do certain things as well as provide a blueprint for future State opportunities the future state would help them eliminate wasteful steps which would help improve their financial and productivity standpoints thank you question number excuse me I have one more to add I apologize uh I would also use my communication skills to help identify the root cause of problems and issues and get all key stakeholders and decision makers to buy in to solve these various problems and issues thank you thank you question number four if you were faced
038with a tough issue as a School director such as raising taxes or cutting programs what kind of data would you need to help you make your decision I would need some type of p l statement a profit and loss statement to identify which departments or programs are profitable and which are not from there I'd have a conversation with the key decision makers and stakeholders to understand why there is no profitability during the conversation just try to understand the reasons why it's not profitable and most importantly is there an action plan to turn around its performance from there I would work with my colleagues to achieve a consensus to make the decision to cut or further evaluate thank you question number five what are the strengths of our school district I believe it's a commitment to
039methacnet school district has a commitment to improve facilities which will help retain and attract quality Educators and administrative personnel which will help shape our student body and their ultimately those critical decision-making skills I also believe in the diversity of the student body as well as very involved parents that are empathetic and care for the students as well as the faculty thank you question number six what are the biggest challenges facing public education today I believe you have to be an efficient and effective Steward of taxpayer dollars I believe that you uh cannot allow outside political groups to influence the decision-making and then finally um address gaps in learning due to covid thank you and now you can deliver your one minute closing statement I'd like to thank the school board uh for thank you for
040the opportunity to interview and allowing me to Showcase my skill set here tonight uh which would help you know improve our school district so thank you all for your time and good luck in your decision making thank you Mr long you you're welcome to have a seat in the audience thank you members of the board of school directors that ends the interview process here for this evening I'll turn the meeting back over to Madam president foreign okay thank you to our candidates um for taking the time to come out tonight to interview uh now it's time for public comment on the board action items this is an opportunity for residents to come comment on matters that are to be decided upon as outlined on the agenda the board asks that you keep your comments to
041three minutes or less we may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of this comments on board action items Sheila Smith Lower Providence I've reviewed the eight responses and applications of the potential board candidates through right to know tonight I request the board reconsider the three candidates chosen tonight reflect on how you challenge communal norms and expectations of favoritism that were clearly utilized during the selection process there are several actions this board could have taken to remove unconscious bias from this election the number one action was to remove the name and the second was to focus on a job job competencies knowledge skills and abilities it does not appear that either of these best practices were utilized after reviewing the application it is clear that the bull the board did utilize the following three
042criteria to select the candidates candidates must be a liberal Democrat or Rhino per their voting registration and public statements prior to care our scoreboard elections were nonpartisan care advertised they were nonpartisan yet every single action or statement of care board members aligns to left-wing ideologies which is why we have pornographic reading material in the library increased bullying and stalking with no consequence chronic Board violations which I have an extensive list as well as rules for thee not for me mentality out of control spending inability to stay within budget increase taxes year over year and a broken right to know process that is costing us over a million dollars each of these candidates have spoken up publicly in previous board members praising and justifying the board's actions and condemning the public for disagreeing or criticizing the
043board and candidate must also be friendly with board members outside the meetings on several so that's another one that I've noticed what other criteria did you use how did you consider the majority of the voter what the majority of the voters wanted last November we have a candidate with an elementary and special ed teaching degree none of that happens on the board a master's in educational Administration print a principal certification a supervisor of special education with 30 years experience this candidate has the students in the districts as well as the home and school board president no one on this current board or these three candidates have this background especi and special education is an area where we have so many challenges to overcome and we are not meeting the needs of the teachers or the
044students let's talk about criteria you did not use diversity and inclusion once again we have minimal diversity on this board where's the diversity of thought diversity of thought is when the reality that there is more than one way to look at something it's the understanding that the way each person interpretates and interacts with the world is reflected on their unique identity culture and personal experience a diverse team challenges each other and through that challenges a team ultimately grows and excels what diversity of thought is do these three candidates bring to the board in Reading their applications not much we already have a board member that is a reading teacher over and over again and others share the same mindset in fact she couldn't even bother to be here for this each of you on the
045board took an oath you have a ethical obligation to ensure all individuals of the community are represented how do you preach a culture of diversity when the board is not willing to embrace it thank you for your comments [Music] thank you foreign [Music] I imagine if we wanted to hear from the candidates we should have everybody here to hear foreign I'm sure that's not it's not necessary Jim Malik or sister um my theme Here is more of the same because that's what we've got is more the same um the number one problem here and I'll answer the question is academic proficiency as a consequence of social engineering and indoctrination that's the answer to your question the solution is not what we just heard I didn't hear anyone mention taxpayers zero mention of taxpayers no mention
046of the methactin private school rate of 23 000 a year for pupil costs that's that's private education here why is that there's no fiscal restraint there's no fiscal responsibility now my understanding is that there are more than three applicants how'd you guys go from eight to three seems to me it happened in the back room in secret another problem with this board transparency secrecy guys did it in secret tell us tell us why you cut these other qualified people I'd love to hear the answer um you didn't make the decision in public it had to be in private so let's hear it I'd love to hear it um tell us why the other applicants were excluded was it because of their political ideology as suggested by another person in the room so take a moment
047to reflect on what the democrat-controlled school board has given all of us we get board members attacking members of the public profanity lewd gestures we got a million dollars in right to no fees used to keep information out of District residents hands we got a disastrous management of covid-19 including Force masking social distancing contact tracing quarantine lockdowns and virtual learning all of which have been shown by Johns Hopkins and the CDC not to work and you won't reevaluate it we've got plummeted State rankings higher taxes increased debt we even had black lives matters protests on school taxpayer property anybody read the news about the indictments coming down about BLM or the BLM Mansion multi-million dollar mansion guys should be ashamed of that BLM stuff then we have Dei well we don't have any diversity up
048here we get the climates are um I suggest my question would have been how are these people any different than this they're not it's more the same so you're just giving us a reason to go elect new people come next may I think it's going to happen [Music] Joe writtenhouse lower province hope your hands are clean uh I'm gonna talk about some important details um thank you Dr Zerby for all the information related to the answers posed to the eight different candidates that were originally uh came forward to put their names out there um there are some very qualified answers both in the applicants that apply today and the ones that were cut um this is all available online again uh careformeth acton.info in case anybody would like to see it um the list of
049people that were cut however seem to be highly qualified yet they are not here I mean we have the time it doesn't seem like there is a vast group of people here and the reason I think that is because nobody thinks anything will change nobody thinks that people on the board listen to them and that's sad um but there are some things that I think should be relevant to the decision making which I think the public should be aware of as well uh nothing that a single person says here tonight will change the vote in any capacity um but things that weren't brought up were special relationships between certain candidates and members of the board currently including a long long social media history between members of this board and some of the candidates including endorsing
050political opinions including how the policy was being done I assumed that was brought up in the conversation the relationships the board has had with the candidates if not why secondly um like I said I don't think parents trust the current board so regardless of any opinion brought forward tonight I don't think will change however I do believe it should be set on the record that because parents are frustrated they don't feel that they have any other Outlet other than The Ballot Box things will continue as on with the same ideas the same people endorsing those ideas making a mockery of the system um talking down to parents things like that I hope that whoever the board selects is uh qualified ready for the district and I hope that the district is ready for them and
051the scrutiny that will come with it um I look forward to hearing about the relationships between some of the candidates and members of the board thank you okay so um now we're ready for the board action um having interviewed the three candidates may I have nominations to appoint a candidate to the unexpired term of the resigned Board of School director post um yes Miss cancro I nominate a cake graph for candidate second okay are there other nominations I nominate Kathleen Thiel second Mr Winters um any other nominations Bill DeLong foreign okay well I'm going to close the nominations um and thank you for that so now let's take comments um and then we will discuss we will discuss and then we will move to a roll call vote Mr McGinnis um first and foremost thank
052you all for applying um and there was a very deep application pool and if anyone has gone through hiring you know you have to whittle it down somehow so um I appreciate you all coming out I sincerely do especially in this environment to even want to throw your hat in the ring is deeply appreciated um I'm going to vote for Kate Graf for two primary reasons um one is her background as an engineer there are a lot of very key decisions that we have as a school in the next call it three to five years um and a lot of them center around facilities and what we do and which obviously ties directly into the financial aspect of it um and candidly I think people who are going to be on the board longer um
053than some of us myself included should have that opportunity to make that decision uh I don't I don't feel comfortable making a decision and leaving and saddling the next four eight years worth of school boards with decisions that I make so that's where I'm coming from that's my one of my reasons and very candidly my other reason is that she came back twice when she said she's a I forget your word Miss Graf I apologize a finisher a doer anyone that was sitting there Jet Chair twice as my respect so that's the direction I'm going Mr Winters uh yeah I want say a couple things uh I think the process that we went through is the same process we've gone through before there is no closed room discussion about these individuals I think Dr Derby
054has posted this process online and doctors are we could explain a little bit more what we went through in case there's any questions I asked Dr zubri to do that before we get too far in this process but I am additionally going to support um Miss Graf um I I think it's good that we have three qualified candidates and there were additional candidates that I considered there was additional candidates that through their answers I did not consider um so I I do not feel that uh thinning it down to a three year in the last time four because there was a tie um provide us a an understanding at least um how to get to a reasonable number of candidates to discuss um I think Miss Graf provides that engineering and that project skills that
055uh I think would support the um we've been beat up about uh not looking at facts and numbers and obviously that's a ground she's uh shown uh that she's been involved in community service but I also want to speak to miss Theo and Mr Delong again appreciate um the participation and you know there is obviously a passion for Education public education which I think is a Cree a key attribute uh and honestly when I'm looking at the written conversations and you're not SP you're not a proposal proposing um supporting public education you're not going to have my support I'll just tell you that straight up um so I can see that with these three candidates uh that they do support public education and their heart is in the right place but I feel like Miss
056Graf is the right person for us at this point thank you other comments Miss kanker again I want to also thank all three of you I think you all have shown job competency above and beyond um and I thank you for for coming out you're a very strong assets to the community and I want to see all of you still stay involved in it because we want parent involvement especially with the level of of knowledge you have in your careers and what you could bring to mathacton would be amazing um but I would say that I just go to k-craft because right now engineering her background is really key for us with our facilities plan that's coming in recently we're looking at resetting our districts for the next five to ten years of our planning
057and that's a high focus for me so but thank you all Miss Rocco um thank you very much all three of you I know it's not an easy thing to do especially in this forum um I I support cake graph I did take extensive it did take a lot of notes I'm a big Note Taker and I I have a few things here bulleted um but I think that when you really spoke of a real example of how we just had to really evaluate the teacher rates and you gave a real example you were actually the only candidate that that didn't give sort of a hypothetical and gave really something concrete and I think that just shows your engineering background your risk analysis that's critical um the other candidates I mean I know the one
058strong passion for education but I I wasn't feeling as much of the business and project management side and all of those other critical skills and then the other candidate heavy on the finance background which is also critical but I think that Miss Graf really brings sort of the the combination of of all of those things um and I think that there was passion behind the answers they weren't so scripted they were really I think true and and from the heart and um and I appreciated that because it is certainly easier to read something than it is to to be able to speak to something so I would support Miss Graf other thoughts a couple um first um to address the process um I'll say I must be a bad uh candidate Chooser only because we
059uh Mr Malik in response to your concerns we are asked to call Miss Rutledge with three choices and I called with my three choices and one of my choices is not here this evening no offense to any of the three of you um and last time I believe the same thing happened even though we had four candidates I think one of my candidates that I chose was not here because the numbers last time I think were all over the place there was a lot of people um and um I am shocked by the um negativity that was shown here this evening at um during this time when so many nice people came out to apply to our board and the Venoms towards this table was was shocking when all we're doing is appointing appointing a
060person to fulfill a spot that's all we're sitting here doing unexpectedly on a Wednesday evening on a night we all work sitting here giving our time so to those of you who are angry at any of us I deeply apologize for anything that um for some reason offends you um I'm quite offended to be sitting here quite frankly because I wasn't expecting to be sitting here but that's our job and that's what we're here to do and I having said that I do want to thank all the people that applied and it wasn't easy to narrow it down to three um just like when I applied twice I never made it here like uh Kate Graf made it here twice so that's awesome in fact when I applied I was told you're a teacher I
061couldn't talk the board into calling you in so I was elected twice um so anyway having said that any of these three candidates would be a pleasure to sit up here with um I'm still gonna stand behind my first nomination um I hope we have six positions up um so I hope that all three that are here this evening and others that have applied come back to um you know put their name on the ballot because that would be great the reason I'm uh nominating uh Miss Thiel is because a lot of people have um come at us because of rankings and everyone's upset about rankings I'm not as upset about rankings because I live in this District I see the wonderfulness of this district and I know that rankings go up and down and
062don't always put the whole picture in but I'm in a minority in that case so I have embraced the rankings so next to us at North Penn there are two Educators on the board at least very well ranked very respected school district and at Springford there are two Educators now they just appointed their um an educator over the summer when they had a resignation um all of these people would bring amazing things to the board but I felt Miss Theo's passion I will only be on the board for another year although this position only is for a year I think we need someone with that passion to sit here and give it their all um as a member of the north monco nmciu board I know how important it is to care about education um
063I felt her passion I will say I didn't I wrote extensive notes as well but I certainly didn't write down everything but I will say um Mr Delong you mentioned the taxpayer I believe there was a member of the public who felt nobody mentioned the taxpayer I Believe Miss Graf also mentioned the um the increase that taxpayers would see on for you know because that's part of the school district um and I wrote down things that Miss Thiel said as well including 16-year educator Community person teamwork that all students can succeed that she appreciated our library is and things like that and also had a master's degree in education which I think another member of the board was thinking that we overlooked people with a master's in education so that is why I will be
064voting for Miss Thiel okay Miss Perdue I do want to say once again um I think we just went through this process a few months ago I do thank all the candidates um even the ones that are not here today just because even after the interviews today and hearing the comments it takes a lot to even consider applying for this position in these times that we're in the last two years have been tremendously hard hard on our teachers our students parents everyone and so to take the time out knowing we all have busy schedules I appreciate everyone that I apply in general or the candidates that take the time out to put an application to sit down process it and give us content to evaluate because every time I think when we went through the
065first process I was we were very happy to get a number of applicants that we received going through it the second time I was worried because knowing that someone put their heart out there put their time in and willing to sit up here you wonder whether they will apply again or even what applicants will come out of the process considering everything that's going on so I do appreciate everyone opportunity um taking the time out to apply to the three candidates that I made it up here today I know going through the applications I feel like these three candidates definitely had the skills that the passion that I think it takes to be a board member because it's not just the skill set that's going to bring you here day in and day night the amount
066of hours that it requires the time that it takes from your family time also in your personal lives there's times that we have to miss work because we have to be here we have to support the district but the passion and dedication is what's going to get you through and returning day in and day night and wanting to commit to this position for now it's two years but generally we take on this position for four years so it's a big commitment that we make a commitment that we um we make with our family so I do acknowledge you all for being here we had three very good candidates I believe tonight we saw Katie Theo I admire your passion for education and I know it's one of the things that drive you to be here
067having been part of this district for as long as you've been having children in a district and your support for um public education I know you meant mentioned contributing to the success of the district is something that we need and then identify and removing barriers it's definitely great um things that you mentioned in your interview and all things that we need on this board then we had cake Graf coming and this is your second time here so I know and then you sit through and you hear comments of it I appreciate your time and I know there's a lot of things that you bring also I and I look at it as far as engineer right you're looking at um decisions in a logical decision manner I like how you finish with the fact that
068I'm not a halfway person I'm gonna do what I'm here to the finish and that's what we need on someone from the board someone that's going to commit to the duties of a school board director commit to serving with acting and continue to go because it's not going to be easy it's going to be long days long nights and there's some days that you're going to want to whether you'll show up to a meeting or not so I appreciate that and I believe you also have Planning and Development um that will be helpful to the board so thank you also and I go on to Mr Delong and I second him I actually put him through for for this position just because sitting here on the board I know a lot of things we hear
069about is finance Finance is a big part of what we do here for the district and I feel like a candidate with extensive amount of years of financial service experience will add a tremendous value to the board as far as the skill set that's already here on the board and what they will bring and so that was my um decision for wanting to put um him forward just because I feel like he holds a certain skill set when I think about what we have here on the board I think will bring Great Value to me so I do appreciate all the three candidates I think you each have something great to offer with acting I appreciate you for taking the time out to be here and I hope you are the best thank you other
070comments from board members Mr roxtel yes um I just first off would like to Echo what's been said and just um you know share my thanks to everyone that has applied for this position and for our three candidates that came out tonight um as someone who recently sat in that chair um 10 months ago and went through this process uh to be appointed uh I know how nerve-wracking it can be uh to sit up here in front of the board and in front of the community uh and really kind of put yourself out there and share your experiences and your passion uh and I know how you know that how difficult that decision can be to throw your you know your hat into the ring um because it is a difficult job and it does
071require a lot of your time and your energy so I really thank everyone that um you know went through that effort went through that process and decided to come out here to you know help support methact and and give you know what you offer uh to make our district better so I really do appreciate that I was torn during this process look you know reviewing the candidates I had all the candidates that were here tonight I had you know really looked over extensively you know the responses to their questions and was really torn now listening to the responses tonight um I thought Miss thiel's educational experience uh especially in many different educational structures uh experience you know things like Universal Design learning and charter schools and really all different segments of Education would be really
072valuable uh Mr Delong the financial services that extensive background knowing as part of the finance committee everything we do with the budgeting process how valuable that experience is but ultimately I'm going to support Miss Graf I think her passion for people from the fact and public education really showed through with her responses I agree with what was said earlier about the experience in environmental engineering um and how valuable that will be as we move forward with our decision making and one of the things that really struck me was her answer when we talked about kind of balancing the how the board has to balance their responsibilities and you know not sacrifice the needs of today for the future not sacrifice the needs of the future for today and that's you know part of that Balancing
073Act and part of that decision-making process that we weigh um you know every every week every month you know as we're meeting and I think that that approach is you know is is what's needed to kind of make you know good level-headed uh decisions for the the betterment of the district um and so I think that that will really help us thank you does anyone have anything to add at all okay I also want to Accu Echo the thanks um and to say thank you to all the applicants who took the time took the energy got to know what the district's position was got to you know answer the questions came here um we really appreciate all of that effort um before we move to the roll call Boat I would like Dr Zerby to
074just talk a little bit more um to clarify what our process was for um for this replacement as it pertains especially to our current policies we have in place thank you madam president so um just to be clear on October 12th uh I placed a notice on the methactone school website uh on that website um and I have two pages of it here in front of me actually there's three pages of it um it includes the timeline for the process it includes all the steps in fact it outlines in big bold letters is a two-step process which would include taking an online application process it talks about the requirements of the applications including uh the board selecting the top three candidates through reviewing the six questions that were completed by all the uh candidates online
075and those candidates obviously have to be appointed uh and they would take the oath of office they have to be 18 years of age a good moral character a resident of the school district at least one year apart to appointment must have no record of conviction uh or felony offense and and so forth uh Hatch Act does not apply to holding elective offices appointed to fill a vacancy uh active duty military including resistive uh a reservist uh serving an active duty are prohibited from federal law from serving and School District school directors cannot be employed by the school district during the term which they elected and the office of the school director is designated as incompatible with most other local government offices and incompatible offices cannot be held simultaneously with all of those requirements uh
076the two-step process uh outlined and posted on the district website beginning on October 12th uh I'm I'm confident that this process similar to the last process for which we had and similar to many times prior to that the district provided not only a clear concise but transparent application process to fill the vacancy and I could be corrected by the solicitor if he so chooses to but these are actions that the board is not required to take in fact this board chooses to take a thorough and transparent process by which to appoint an individual from the public it is under the law they could just simply appoint someone so uh you know you must recognize that effort by the board as part of this process Madam president I think that concludes if there's any other questions
077I'll be glad to answer them thank you Dr sorby does uh are we ready to move to the roll call vote does anyone have anything else to add thank you um so what we're going to do is take a roll call vote on the first nomination and proceed in order until to the next until a nomination gets five votes so the first nomination was for Kate Graf when I call your name please signify the nominee so a yay or an a for Kate Graf is what you're answering um and if we don't get to five then we'll move to the next candidate um so by roll call um Miss cankrow yay and Mr McGinnis yay Miss Perdue yeah Miss Reese nay Miss Rocco yay Mr rookstall yay okay that that's five um right uh should
078I Mr Winters yes and I'm also a yes from a graph so um Miss grapp is the candidate selected tonight um she was selected seven to one yes so the next step in the process I'll ask Mr scrap to come forward she will need to provide me her a statement of financial interest we will then ask our notary public to come forward and also Ms graft if you'd like you can bring anyone from your family down to when you do the oath of office and before we do that I just want to say a special thank you to both Ms Thiel and Mr Delong for taking the care and being with us and applying please know that there are other volunteer opportunities for you here in mathakne school district and we look forward to your
079participation on those in years to come thank you so much Mrs Thiel Mr Delong for coming out tonight all right hold on okay craft do selling we affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support that I will support obey and defend obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this Commonwealth and the constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will discharge the duties and that I will discharge the duties of my office of my office with Fidelity with fidelity congratulations [Applause] press that button and when you when all right thank you to everyone all the board members all the applicants to who helped us through this process and welcome to miss craft to the board um and now it's time for Courtesy of the floor where we provide an opportunity
080for residents to make comments on matters that are or maybe before the board the board asks that you keep your comments to three minutes or less the board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of the comments um or you can submit questions at information.org thank you Jim Malek Worcester congratulations new board member I have a question for you already off the bat do you know when the high school was constructed 1961. is that High School obsolete that's my question for our new engineer because you said Arrowhead was obsolete at 50 years well High School 60 we're going to tear it down food for thought I'm gonna let the engineer handle it I think she'll come up with the right answer I gotta thank Miss Reese for giving us the
081information that I wanted your decision to cut five people occurred in private by email everybody according to her sent in their picks and somebody tabulated those picks and came up with what you came up with didn't happen in public behind closed doors happened in secrecy maybe you want to give everybody the emails from all these folks I'll request them to find out what the story was just food for thought um are board members allowed to address members of the public I mean you said we can't address them can they address Us in the public well you're wrong about we can't address them go read the Pennsbury School case it's illegal to tell us we can't um but again my my point is if you can't take criticism don't be on the board if you can't
082take criticism don't attack members of the public attacking members of the public is a losing strategy I just advise against it now the last time I was here I asked you to reevaluate your coveted response any plans to do that the reason I ask is in addition to all the things I said about Kobe that were wrong I'm going to start and give you a little help your pandemic team zero Physicians on your pandemic team zero none you got to put a position on the pandemic team at least one maybe two number two do you know guys how much money you spend on disinfectants and that machine that was dispensing them in all the classrooms it's money how many hundreds of thousands of dollars did you spend because the virus was not Airborne it was
083Airborne it wasn't contact you couldn't get it from contact it was Airborne you wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars because you didn't understand the science there's the problem and also some of those disinfectants and I don't know whether you use them I'll have to check have carcinogenic carcinogen's in them that can cause cancer you need to go back and reevaluate your coveted response thanks [Music] Joe Rittenhouse lower Province congratulations director graph uh thank you for being a part of the process I look forward to you being a member of the board um I I just wanted to say that I thank you Dr Zerby again for explaining the process um thank you for the board for the vote and I look forward to you know seeing where the future holds uh just to Echo the
084comments of the person who came before me uh there are multiple schools who are also doing a pandemic review of how they handle the pandemic from start to finish a lot of them start are starting more on the western side of our state um but it's becoming a very very popular thing and I think that it would behoove us to kind of see where we failed see what we could do better at I brought this up in a policy in a committee meeting I think about six months ago and it was seemed like it was received well so I actually Echo the comment that I think that it would benefit us to see how we would respond in the future by seeing what we did in the past and what we failed at thank you
085[Music] thank you any other audience members okay hi again I'm here as a community member now um Katie Theo Lower Providence and one of the things I'm not sure I made clear and I just want to share not as an interview thing but it leads up to what I'm going to ask um I spend my days coaching teachers how to help students who have weaknesses in their literacy skills in middle school because they come to middle school and they struggle in their content areas but they haven't been identified because they can hide their literacy weaknesses there is a podcast that is currently being released by Emily Hanford and I I firmly believe every single person involved in the education system should listen to it parents board members teachers administrators because if you are not looking
086into the current literacy researchers and what the literacy reachers are kind of bickering about over Twitter to be very honest then it can be missed and I spend my days looking at it the podcast of soul is called sold a story and it highlights some flawed theory of teaching reading at the elementary level for the past 60 years and I really think it's important when addressing a lot of issues including the pandemic deficiency nope that's wrong including what happened with the pandemic where kids reading skills went down but also our kids who are struggling at the middle school honestly there's trauma when kids are learning to read around you and you're not learning it because the structured literacy that is needed is not what's being taught that's important to know again it's called sold a
087story and it's by Emily Hanford it's she has three episodes right now the third episode highlights fontus and Pennell and I really think it's important that every person in this District listen to listens to it because it it's I mean if our kids are if 95 of our kids aren't learning to read proficiency at proficiently at every grade level when we know because neuroscientists know and so do education researchers 95 of all people can learn to read but that's not our data right now and I care very deeply two of my kids can read another one of my students had to repeat kindergarten because she wasn't following and she was demonstrating strategies that indicate that she was not learning the way that is shown by the science of reading and neuroscientists because we know that
088the brain rewires to read I'm really passionate about this I could talk about this forever so I'm just sitting here as a community member and as a concerned parent and who was someone who wants all of our students to succeed please listen to the podcast it kind of sums it all up because there's a lot behind it 60 years thank you so much for all you do thank you thank you any other audience members for Courtesy of the floor all right seeing none may I have a motion to adjourn Mr McGinnis in a second Miss cankrow thank you so much for coming out tonight meeting adjourned thank you