001I will let you know when we're live. We are live. Meeting is yours. Hello everyone. This meeting is now in session. Please everybody stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And I have a motion to approve the minutes from the last policy meeting. So moved. Second. Uh any comments or discussions? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Uh items recommended for work session are um policies 105.2, exemption from instruction, policy 140, charter schools, and policy 810, transportation. Um Would you like to take over, Dr. Waters? Sure, I would. Uh good evening, everybody. Happy Tuesday. Hope you're all having a great day. Um
002tonight, as Mr. Rush shared, we have three policies that we bring before you um for recommendation to move to an action meeting. First is policy 105 uh point two, policy 140, which is charter schools, and policy 810, transportation. Um at this time, Mr. Summers, if you could please provide an update of each. We'd appreciate it. Sure. Thank you, Dr. Waters, and good evening, everyone. Um so, the three policies that are up for review this evening are all based upon uh Pennsylvania School Board Association PSBA recommended revisions uh to existing policies that the district had previously adopted. Um, two of the sets of changes in terms of uh policy 140 charter schools and policy 810 transportation are kind of related to each other and and very similar. Um, so we can kind of group those together.
003Um, but first we'll talk about policy 105.2 exemption from instruction. So, um, this is a a policy generally that provides that there are circumstances in which students may be exempt from certain elements of instruction that the district otherwise would require them to receive. Um, so it's it's a policy that that has been in place. The reason why it is being uh revised is largely because of a uh a case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court called Mahmood versus Taylor. Um, and that case involved uh Montgomery County, Maryland schools and students within those school within that school district brought a lawsuit against that district for not allowing them to be exempt from certain instruction uh and instructional materials that their families believe conflicted with their religious beliefs. Um, and so initially uh the
004school district in in Maryland was permitting these families to exempt their children from certain instructions, certain books that were being utilized that they um found to be in conflict in conflict with their religious beliefs. The school district then um changed its position and said, "No, we're not allowing students to be exempt at all from these uh books." And that led to the lawsuit which ultimately made its way to the United States Supreme Court. And in uh the case of Mahmoud versus Taylor, the the United States Supreme Court found that parents did have a right to uh based upon their religious beliefs to have their children be exempt from specific uh instruction that um they believe conflicted with their religious beliefs. So, as a result of that um decision, PSBA has made a couple of updates
005to this exemption from instruction policy. One of the changes is that they uh have made it so that this is a policy that the district would notify all parents of on an annual basis. Um that's something that exists in a number of policies that we have, but it was not part of the the current or prior version of 105.2. So, just to make sure that parents are in for and guardians are informed of their rights relative to their children's education, PSBA is recommending and and the district has included in the draft that's that's before you um a requirement that this policy that parents be notified parents and guardians be notified of this policy on an annual basis so that they are aware um of their rights. Other than that, the primary um difference or change
006or update to the policy relates to whose obligation it is to exercise the religious right to be exempt from instruction. So, um in the policy that the district has had in place previously, which was based on the PSBA model, it essentially said that it was not the school district or district employees who were responsible for making sure that students uh were excused from instruction that conflicted with their religious beliefs. The The obligation was essentially on the parents and the student to um alert the school when there was instruction that conflicted with their religious beliefs. And in coming upon the student essentially to say, "Hey, this lesson that's coming up is is against my religious beliefs. I have an excusal for this period time. I I need to, you know, have my alternative setting worked out
007for me to go to during this time while that instruction is being presented." I think in light of the important parental rights that were recognized by the Supreme Court in its recent decision, PSBA recognized that although that might make sense for older students, certainly high school students, probably even middle school students to be able to recognize, "Oh, this is that lesson that I'm being exempt from." It's not realistic to expect elementary school, particularly younger elementary school students to to take on that responsibility on their own to be exempt from instruction. So, that language that was in our our current policy has been removed. Essentially in recognition of parents do have to alert the district that they are wish for their children to be exempt from certain instruction. They have to tell us what that instruction
008is. They have to go through, you know, certain steps to to notify the district of that. But then there would there will be an expectation that the district administration, the teachers work with those students to say, "Okay, this is the instruction that your parents have exempted you from. So, we recognize that that's coming up and we're going to take steps to have you not need to participate in that lesson or whatever it might be." Taking some of that responsibility, certainly for our younger students, off of the students themselves. I'm sure that in practice our staff were working with students and families to help them recognize when they they were to be excused, but it brings our our policy language um in line with sort of the realities of of younger students being exempt. Um I
009will say that that it is certainly not something new though for the district to be allowing parents to have their children be exempt from certain instruction that conflicts with their religious beliefs. And in fact the the United States Supreme Court in issuing its decision pointed to Pennsylvania and regulations of the State Board of Education that have been in place for years that already provided parents with the rights um in this state to have their children be exempt from instruction that conflicted with their religious beliefs. So um the case is certainly significant, but it didn't really lead to uh a huge change in in Pennsylvania in terms of the rights of of families and and to have their children be exempt. Um So any questions on on that uh policy before we talk about the other
010two? Yeah, thank you Mr. Summers. Um to your point about this not being a new concept or something that Pennsylvania as well as North Penn have been doing, can you give us a sense or you or Dr. Waterski for the sense of how many families or and students typically avail themselves of the instructional exemption? I don't have an exact number, um but I can tell you that for sure in elementary schools there's usually at least one or two families in some of our schools every year. Particularly, it's usually music um where some of our families will kind of um need to opt out of some of the music lessons and there's typically just an alternative assignment. Um secondary, there's some students that maybe a certain novel um they may not, you know, want to read
011or for whatever reason. Um I don't hear many cases of that though at all, but I know that happened, but I know from my elementary principal days for sure and knowing in my current role and just working with curriculum that we do have students, like I said, it's more often in either um it's either music or sometimes it's even health. Um for example, human growth and development, things like that. And parents do um get to come over and preview what we're doing. Um and they may decide, you know what, I want to talk to my child about that myself instead of following up after the lesson. But again, there's typically not too many and I don't it's not even every school, but several have had that. Thank you, Dr. Waters. Any other questions? I have
012nothing. Thank you. Thank you for the great explanation. Sure. Um so the the other two policies, policies 140 charter schools and 810 transportation, those uh the changes to those two policies actually are also based upon a court decision. Uh in this case, a decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court um uh back in January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was asked to look at the um exact nature of the entitlement of charter school students to be transported to and from their charter school by their school district of residence. And in that case, um the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that the transportation that is provided, the free transportation that needs to be provided to charter school students does not need to be identical to the transportation that the school district provides to its own um enrolled students or
013even to students attending non-public schools um who reside within the district. That essentially, as long as the transportation is free, um that that that meets the entitlement of charter school students. So, in the the school district where the case came up, they were uh contracting out their own transportation uh and and arranging for buses for students who are enrolled in the district schools, but for the students who were attending the charter school, they provided free um public bus passes for those students to utilize to get to and from school. And the Supreme Court said, "That's permissible. The the law doesn't say that the transportation needs to be identical um to that which is provided to school district students." So, PSBA just recommended adding language to um both policy 140 charter schools and uh policy 810
014transportation that says that transportation provided to charter school students need not be identical to transportation provided to traditional public school students. Um just making it it clear through policy um what the standard is that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has set. Um uh Mrs. Hauser can certainly speak to this a little bit more, but but my understanding is that um this provision is is a impacts a a kind of a limited number of charter school students here in North Penn that most of the charter school students um who most of the North Penn students who attend a charter school attend a cyber charter school, which they're not receiving transportation to or from. Um and so as as compared to some other districts, the number of students that are transported to brick-and-mortar charter schools is is relatively
015small. Um much more of the district's transportation is obviously to its own students and then also to students attending non-public schools within the district's uh boundaries or or close to the district's boundaries. And those students do receive like transportation. There's an entitlement to like transportation. So, uh similar bussing as as students enrolled in district schools receive. Um any questions on on those two policies? Dr. Tia. All right, thank you, Mr. Sherman. You said a few students or a small number of students. Would you say that this is less than 30 students altogether that are impacted by policy 140 and policy 810? I would from from a transportation's perspective, yes, and we transport the same way that we transport our students and our non-pubs in our district. We don't have We don't avail ourselves of public
016transportation for our charter kids. If the charter school is within the 10-mi radius, we transport. Great. Oh, sorry. Thank you, that's really helpful. Yep. Hi. Uh are there any questions from the board or the student reps? Seeing none, I recommend the following uh policies for first reading. >> Mr. Rush, we do have a our a student rep does have her hand up. >> Oh, sorry. You might be muted. We can't hear the question. For some reason, we can't hear you. Mrs. Fakish, are you able to help out? I know the question is fabulous, but I just can't hear it. Oh, yeah, you're you don't show that you're muted. I just don't >> Yeah, she's she is unmuted. I I did hear her before. I'm not sure. Okay. Just She's putting her question in the chat.
017Yeah, I was going to say try the chat. Are you still typing? Nope, um she has submitted the question. So, the question from >> Oh, I didn't see it. Okay. >> submitted is um when we're talking about policy 105.2 exemption from instruction, I mentioned um that parents and families would be notified under the new policy revision annually about their rights um to be exempt from certain things in the curriculum that they might uh have a religious objection to having their children um participate in. So, the question was, is that information about the exemption rights going to be available or is it available on the North Penn website or is it sent out in emails from teachers or something else? So, um certainly this policy itself will be on the district's website and available. Um but
018beyond that, I um that will be something that the administration will need to work on and and that actually happens whenever there's a policy revision or certainly a new policy or or something is changed in a policy, the district administration looks at those changes and says, do we need to do anything to follow those policies or to implement them? Um and so in this instance, they'll have to make some determinations about how to your great question, how are we notifying families about this? Um and and like a lot of things that if the answer might be or probably will be in different ways. So, certainly I would expect on the on the website, it's kind of an easy and quick way to make um families aware. There's an even a four families section of the
019website. Um but probably also in things like a student handbook um that are distributed Um but that's that is something that will need to be worked on is is with that requirement going into the policy, how exactly where will parents uh and families be informed of that? And certainly if anyone has suggestions about what are or are the best ways to reach families, um I'm sure the administration would be open to to hearing them. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Summers. I just want to say thank you for that. I was about to unmute, but then you said what I was going to say and certainly the handbook is one of the places. Um we review that every summer and we always make some additions, revisions, take some things out. Um so that is definitely one of
020the ways that we can do that in addition to think pretty much everything else you said. So, thank you for that. Thank you very much. I I always just assumed that this stuff went into the handbook. Uh so Uh thank you. It was a good question though. Uh I recommend the following policies for first read, policy 105.2, policy 140, and policy 810. Do I have a motion to approve the policies? So moved. Uh Do I second it? Do I have any questions? Seeing none, uh all those in favor say I. I. Uh are there any information items for discussion? Ready. Seeing none. Does the student rep have anything for the committee? Seeing none. Does anyone from the community wish to speak? No, we have no one. Okay. Uh Is there any other business? Seeing none,
021summary items for work session or uh policies 105.2, policy 140, and policy 810. Uh I have a mo- motion to adjourn. So moved. Everybody have a good night. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, and great job, Mary. Have a good night.