001Okay, you are now live. >> Thank you. This is the ECI meeting for November and we will begin with 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. Okay. So again, I'm calling to order the meeting of the ECI. And can I ask for a motion for the approval of the minutes? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I minutes approved. We will move on to secondary program of studies. >> All right. Good evening everybody. Happy November. I cannot believe we're already in November. Um but at any rate um each November we are excited to come before you to share the secondary program of studies. And so
002tonight my friends from the curriculum department are here to talk to you about some of the courses and I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Pam Hart uh so that she can kick things off. Thank you so much Dr. Waters. Uh happy Wednesday night everyone. Uh Mary, if you um wouldn't mind bringing up the slide deck. Uh we as Dr. Waters has shared, I'm really excited to have an opportunity to share um some of the proposed changes to the program of study that we're recommending for the 2627 school year. Uh next slide, please. Um I um want to sort of provide a frame for the considerations um that we have when we are making updates, changes, and additions to course offerings. Uh we always want to make sure that we have really high expectations
003for all of our students. Um our goal is to really expand opportunities and to increase um accessibility and I think you're going to see that in a couple of the uh program recommendations this evening. Uh we're always balancing rigor with support. Uh we want to have students have opportunities in high school to take some risks, take classes that they might be interested in. Um might be a little bit of a stretch or reach, but make sure that there's support there for them to be as successful as possible. And ultimately, um all the courses are really designed to provide a really strong foundation for students to be transitioning out of our high school and into college or career readiness or whatever they would like to do once they leave school. Uh, and so we're going to
004spend some time uh this evening beginning uh with um Donna Dome um and I think Rachel Early as well talking a little bit about personal finance. Uh while it's not um going to be a course that we'll be actually like offering um in the way that it will be um you know eventually kind of set up beginning for the 20 um 627 school year. we do want to provide a little bit of an overview of kind of our goals and then we'll shift into uh the courses that we'll be proposing uh for next year's program of study. Um so I'm going to turn it over to you uh Mrs. Dome and Mrs. Early. Thank you Dr. Hart. Uh next slide. Uh this is a really a big point of information here is the personal finance
005course that is now becoming a high school course graduation requirement and also has new academic standards with it in the 2627 school year. Next slide. Um so as it says there with public school code of n um section 1551 um the Pennsylvania is now requiring all schools entities to provide a mandatory personal finance course uh by the 2627 school year. Um as you'll see soon we fortunately already offer that course. Um what is changing though is students will be required to complete the course while in high school and PTE has provided curriculum updated standards for this as well as those who can also now teach the personal finance course. So to add a little more clarity to that on the next slide we currently have a personal finance course in our program of studies as
006a semester course. It is currently an elective. uh the change that is going to happen is with the class of 2030. So those are our current eighth graders. So all students in that class starting with the class of 2030 would be required to take uh the mandatory personal finance course in grade 11 or 12. Um we will continue to offer this course now. Uh students graduating before 2030 may certainly complete the course as an elective but would not be required to do so. So the requirement does come with the class of 2030. One other change that PTE is providing not only the standards of which they are updating but are the certifications that are now able to teach the personal finance course. As of now, it's just usually a business certification, but as you can
007see there, uh we will also be able to train and work with not only our business teachers, but our family consumer science, mathematics, and social studies teachers as well. Next slide. Um obviously with this and we have a we still are in the planning stages uh to help meet the needs of the class of 2030 and beyond. Uh we do have some future considerations listed here. Um obviously teachers outside the business department will need professional development to teach the personal finance course. We're continuing to work and partnering with our EL department to support our multilingual learners. Our special education department as well has been a part of these conversations and obviously ongoing professional development for all teachers of personal finance. We've been lucky to have a partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and
008the economic education division of that bank. So, we continue to work with them and are looking forward in the years to come to provide that professional development uh for all teachers who will be teaching this. Next slide. Um so, off of the personal finance, uh this is an update. We're very excited uh to add this piece. AP environmental science is a course we currently offer um and have offered it, but we were lucky enough to partner now with Gwen Mercy University to offer a dual enrollment option for those students who are enrolled in that course. Um so it's only $400 for three credits. And so we're very excited that now this helps to round out uh our major subject areas and offering dual enrollment uh for students. Next slide. And also another uh update uh
009in the STEM areas is now AP cyber security. We currently run a cyber security course. Uh I want to thank Mr. Ryan Culp who currently teaches that course at the high school. uh he looked into the offering of AP cyber security, went and got trained and brought it back to us and found that what we currently do very closely aligns with AP cyber security and now gives our students college credit and industry credentials in the cyber security field. Uh so I wanted to just thank him for that and let you know that we'll be upgrading that or course adjusting that course next year to provide those opportunities for students. I'll hand it over to um Miss Giam Marco. >> Thank you. Um over the last year or so, the high school art department um has
010been undergoing some curriculum review looking at programming. And so as a result of those conversations, we have we are hope to introduce a couple of new courses and adjust some other offerings uh to ensure that the program continues to meet the needs of students and have a well-rounded offering in the art department. So, the first new course uh would be a graphic design 2 major. We currently have graphic design 1. Um, and we've consistently had students interested in uh graphic design 2 who have completed it through an independent study. Um, and so that number has grown and so we're just going to be offering that as a course now. Um, and naturally a prerequisite for taking this course would be graphic design one. Um, and this is a, you know, full credit course. Um, so
011that's the first edition there. Um, will allow students to continue their learning in graphic design. Uh, Mary, if you could go to the next slide. The second new course that we hope to add is unified art. This is kind of in alignment with um, unified PE that we added about two or three years ago. um it's a smaller setting and really pairs students together for an inclusive art experience. Uh where they'll kind of partner together to create 2D and 3D artwork. Uh it it's kind of like a peer partnership where we pair students with disabilities and without disabilities for a really inclusive art experience. Um and really again to appeal to all um provide access for all students uh at a various levels and um really looking to kind of um you know continue to
012add and and contribute to our unified program at the high school. So really excited about this offering and what it will bring uh for our students. And the next slide um this is just some credit um adjustments. So, we currently offer ceramics 2 and ceramics 3, which are currently um minor offerings. Um, and we're looking to adjust those to semester electives, which would be a 0.5 credit. So, we're looking to change both of these courses from.3 credits to 0.5 credits. And really through those curriculum conversations, this would allow students some additional instructional time in these areas. Um, more consistent access to um projects. It'll improve some of the timelines for projects. So, they'll probably be able to do a little bit more just uh not having to worry about clay drying out, things like that
013um that they do in ceramics 2 and three. Um and really hopefully increase engagement. So, again, students will probably be able to do a little bit more uh while meeting more consistently. Um, and again, I think part of this was the renovations happening at this high school and um, looking for what the program looks long term uh, to meet the needs of the students based on the facilities that we will have in a couple years and being able to transition to that. So, looking forward to um, you know, transition those to um, you know, semester electives. I will add that these changes it I don't anticipate any staffing changes. We plan to kind of do this within our current staffing of the art department. It will change slightly what people's schedules look like, but those
014are conversations that we're currently having with the art department that we're preparing for. Thank you. Those are our recommendations uh for next year. will be very happy to entertain any uh questions that anyone has at this time. >> Um I will jump in with a um just a quick comment that um I've appreciated that we've continued to expand our offerings. Um one of the things that I always say about being in North Penn when people say, you know, oh my, it's such a big high school. I said, yes, it's a huge high school that offers everything that you could possibly want to take. Um, and so my children were um, fortunate. I especially um, have been really um, impressed with how we've pushed dual enrollment forward. When I think about several years ago when we
015first started talking about expanding dual enrollment up till now, um, I'm just really appreciative of that. And so for families that are um that are going to be going through that course selection process um I just you know want to encourage people to look at those dual enrollment opportunities because they really can have an impact later. I feel like my kids are definitely a success story. My older one graduated a full year early and my youngest is on track to graduate a four year four full year early because of North Penn's dual enrollment options and partnership with Montgomery County um community college. Um Dr. Bower, I wanted to ask you um if you could kind of just provide a brief overview of kind of where we what we what we are able to offer now.
016Some of those quick highlights. I can. Uh, can you hear me? Okay, Dr. G. >> Yes. >> Um, so over the last six years, uh, we have expanded our, uh, dual enrollment offerings from two, uh, this would now make 14 courses. And as you heard from Mrs. Dome, we have dual enrollment offerings in all of the major content areas and many of the minor content areas. So, no matter what kids are interested in, uh, subject-wise, we do have the opportunity for them to get college credit while in our building. And this doesn't include those courses that we accept when kids go outside um, of our building to take additional classes off campus. So, um, really proud of the fact that we've gone from two to 14 in just a few years here. >> Thank you,
017Dr. Bower. Um I am interested in here in us continuing to explore now you know we have the path towards co college college but there is also other paths and so how do we continue to explore some of those trade options um and I know we didn't see a lot of those in in what's being recommended for approval now but I hope to see us start to expand more of those options. I know that's conversations that we're all having as we talk about college and career readiness. just um something else that I'd like to see us begin to expand more of. I know that we have offerings, right? But um we know that um North Monco can only take so many students in the that's area that we have to just address ourselves. Um that's
018all for myself. I believe I saw our student rep's hand up and I'm pretty sure I saw Mr. McBain's as well. So Celia, did you have your hand up and you put your hand? >> Yes. I didn't know if this was a raise your hand type of meeting, >> but I [laughter] >> I just wanted to make a quick comment on how incredibly thankful and I know I can speak for a lot of my peers on how many opportunities we have at North Penn. I know in 9th grade when I went to the high school, I would scroll the whole long booklet of course offerings, that big long Google doc, and I was so amazed that I had so many different opportunities to take. But I did have a quick question about the required personal
019finance course. Is there a specific reason that it's only for the 11th and 12th graders to take? Celia, that's a great question. Um, and there has been a lot of work and back and forth on that. We have found in all the schools that currently do it uh including ours that in 11th and 12th grade is where it means the most to you to students. It's when students are getting jobs. It's when students are driving. It's when students are planning for beyond high school. So that is uh that is the main reason where it means the most. >> See I'll just add too thank you for that um Mrs. is don't but Celia several of us on this call actually attended a meeting with neighboring school districts actually districts all in Montgomery County and 11th
020grade was probably where most school districts if they aren't already doing it felt the same way as what Mrs. Dome just shared that that was most appropriate. But yeah, very good question and Dr. Bower's daughter and my daughter will be doing it. My daughter is a junior. She will be doing it next semester in our school district. So, >> Dr. G, you're muted, but I think Mr. Fusco's next. >> I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Fus. Mr. McBain, did you and then Mr. Fusco. Okay. >> Yeah. Thanks very much. We're We're all just learning how to raise our hands here. It's fine. Um, I have a couple pats on the back for you guys uh that I didn't expect would would come up so quickly. Last summer, I was at the Federal Reserve uh for some
021teacher training and their programs were unbelievable. It was shocking uh how good they are at helping teachers uh acquire resources, see how it's done, practice it with them. I was just down there for one day uh and they gave us a book full of world history and economics. It was tremendous. So, uh I'm really glad that you're uh working with them. The AP cyber security course, I believe, is so new that it's only going to be in its second pilot year. So, kudos to our educators for looking out for new opportunities to uh match what's available to to student needs. That's tremendous that we would have that available uh so quickly. Um and then finally on the area of graphic design part two um I know our North Monco Tech School offers graphic design uh
022as a series of courses as a program of study. Uh they include a number of certifications. Um there is a bit of a difference in what we're going to offer uh versus what they offer because they have a a printing uh establishment there as well where uh printing and binding uh will also be offered as uh certifications for students who wanted to go down that a little bit more specific route. So I don't believe that these two programs are are overlapping so much that we need to be worried about that. But I did want to ask would the graphic design 2 course uh have any kind of industry certifications available? And if I missed that during the presentation, I apologize. >> No. Um that's a great question. Uh it's mostly like software design um you
023know kind of that um path if you will or focus. Um, but that's definitely something we can look into as well to see if that's, you know, something that meets the requirements and things like that. We're always looking at aligning um, our courses and and will be a great part of the conversation as we continue, you know, curriculum review. >> Right. Thank you. And I don't see that as a problem right now. You know, like like I said, there's a lot of different options available to our students and if they wanted to have certifications, they can do that now at the tech school. and if they were looking to move, you know, as you said, take more of the art the artistic approach um uh for what that field is in a different way, they
024can do that as well. So, that's so great to see us filling in the gaps and uh and being right on the cutting edge of what is available for students. That's really exciting. Excellent work, folks. Thank you, >> Mr. Fusk. >> Yeah, thank you. Um okay, thank you for the presentation. Um, so I'm kind of wondering, uh, you know, we're in a weird like interesting time now. It's a paradigm shift in the labor force. We hear an awful lot about careers that AI is going to be supplanting in the future and whatnot. And you know we do have a lot of offerings and we put them in tracks and we put them in you know career tracks and kind of wondering like you know from the curriculum department what do we do to have the
025discussions about the potential careers and like outlooks on the future for some of these things you know so like when I think of graphic design I know that's one of those areas that I hear sometimes mentioned as you know the a landscape you know changing possibly quite a bit in the next five years and you know I also don't want to like set students up too much. Not with the whole field of it, but like, you know, to have a better idea of like this particular conversation that's being had, you know, sort of um across the country right now about these changes in the labor force. So, is that something that's built in to these curriculums? Do we ever have professionals that come and and are at to do like Q&A about specific fields that
026are in these tracks that students, you know, kind of want to hyperfocus on when they're going through course selection? So I think I can chime in on this and and try to answer to at least some extent. I I think the answer to that is yes. We're always taking a look at the landscape and what student interest is but also what uh that leads to in the end. Um through this committee and through a lot of the work we've done over the years specifically with Mr. Fry and the CHIP program um we are definitely plugged into the the local industry to um secondary or post-secary education. Um, so that is something that we can glean from from him and from our industry partners as well. So it's a point well made. It's something we always
027keep our eyes on and something we'll continue to into the future. >> Okay. Thank you for that. I just one last uh comment is just as you were making the presentation. I want to give some kudos to the curriculum department because you talked about personal finance and okay it's mandatory now. we already have an offering and you talked about a cyber you know and you already had something that closely aligned so it was a good transition which you know I think it just demonstrates like the attention to the best practices the data decision you uh the data driven decision- making that you all do the eye on what's best for kids and you know I think that it's a real um it really deserves kudos for this department that you know because we do have
028so many offerings and it is complex um and you're always you constantly thinking about how to improve these programs and and align them with the code and and all the other requirements that come into it. So, I just wanted to take a moment and and you know, thank you guys for the work that you do because it's very impressive. There's I can't even imagine if I had had opportunities like this when I was in high school. You know, I'm so thrilled that my children do and it so much of it is because of the hard work of you guys. So, thank you. >> Okay. Thank you everyone. We certainly appreciate it. Um I think we just need a motion to uh move this forward. >> So moved. >> Second. All [snorts] in favor? >> I
029Okay, we will move that forward. Thank you. Okay, next on the agenda, I believe is the shield update. >> Um actually, Dr. G first. Is that okay if I do that quickly? >> Okay. And and I just also want to um thank the curriculum department and all of the teachers who um helped make this possible. I too I mean I know that where my daughter is I feel like she's got some good choices too, but when I hear you know all of these additions um in North Penn sometimes I'm like ah should have stayed and living in North Penn. Um but anyway, so great job. Um curriculum, you're welcome to stay or or go. It's up to you. Um all right, so for student travel, we just have one um item to actually it's a
030ratification that we're recommending. So our uh future business leaders of America, they've already gone to uh Kalahari in Pocono Manor, PA. They were there November 1st through 3rd and the cost to the district was $1,829. So, um, for these 32 students that I'm sure had a great time, we just recommend, like I said, that you, uh, recommend approval on this ratification for this trip that already took place. >> Hey, can I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> All in favor? I. Okay. Motion passes. Okay, next on the agenda is the Shield update. >> Yes. So, the Shield update, um, our, uh, Rebecca Russo, one of our instructional coaches, and Dr. Sean Arie, uh, one of our curriculum supervisors, joined us, I guess maybe in August, I think, um, and talked about Shield and,
031uh, just the kickoff for Shield. and um it was very exciting to hear. It's going really well and we thought this would be a good opportunity to come back and give you an update um on how the students feel about it as well as uh just how things are going and some next steps. So, I'm going to turn it over to Rebecca and Sean for their presentation. >> All right. Good evening everyone and thank you Dr. Waters. Um Mary, if you could set up the slideshow for us. Thank you very much. So um we are uh I think about week nine into implementing the shield program into five of our elementary schools. Um I think it's important Rebecca and I think it's very important to start with our why in this program and that is
032uh the shield program is solving hypothesis through innovation environmental literacy and design and like Dr. Waters had mentioned um I think between Dr. Hart Mrs. Jamarco and Mrs. So we have been out and about in all the schools and watching the kids um and supporting the teachers as they've implemented the program. So our why is really to build the capacity uh love, curiosity and innovation for our students as we implement the new shield program. >> So if you could move forward um the next slide. Yep. So, we wanted to give you kind of where we've been in this fall of 2025. We had outlined some of the ways that we were breaking down our trimesters um at the beginning of, you know, the school year at our first presentation. So far, grades one and two
033have completed design challenges. Um, grade one was all focused on creating like a water raft and students worked in teams to design a raft and then actually test their designs and make adjustments as needed. Second grade worked on a zoo animal challenge where they were tasked with actually transporting uh tiny figures of zoo animals um across their their classroom. And then they moved into using Lego science kits which is a new this is actually the first year that Lego has offered their science kits which is a version of some of our other coding kits that we've used with Lego. So in grades three through six they did use the Lego spite kits and that was Lego builds in coordination with a coding platform so that the Legos actually moved. Um and students again worked in
034teams and they were really focusing on group roles and how they could work together and adjust their designs as they worked through those kits. Uh we are starting our second trimester uh resources in the middle of November. We're going to be using our project lead the way kits and those are ones that we had purchased for grades one to um actually grades one through five and but grades one and two and four are going to start with project lead the way in trimester 2. Grades five and six are going to be starting with code.org and micro:bits. There's a picture of a microbit there in the middle although it's much smaller than it appears on that slide. um and they light up based on how the students code them. And so those are some of the
035resources that the students are going to be continuing to work with. From the teacher side, they're going to be getting continued professional development. We meet with them very regularly, but we're partnering with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit to get training specific to CO.org or in the micro:bits for our teachers and then ongoing training and support with project lead the way. Mary, if you could go to the next slide and see some pictures of our classrooms and you can see students again working together that teamwork and those group roles are a big piece of the shield program. And so in the pictures you can see we've got a bucket challenge that students started working with. in the middle there. We have Lego spike kits at the bottom uh right and we have some of the Lego
036science kits there on the left as well. And it's it's written on the screen, but we did get some quotes from our students um all across our five pilot buildings. And you can see students think it's really fun. They really like coding and how they can be interactive. They like everything about Shield um especially the Legos. And if you walk into almost any Shield classroom, you'll hear this is so fun and you know, wow. So, all great things happening as our students are accessing these engineering and uh design projects and working together. Mary, if you want to go to the next slide, I'll let Dr. Arie talk about our next steps. >> Thank you very much, Mrs. Fuso. Um yeah, I can't underestimate the amount of energy and excitement that you um see in the
037classrooms when the teachers are teaching the shield. I think sometimes they are just as excited as the kids as they explore. So um Mrs. Russo and I have been meeting all year um about implementing um the shield program for the 2526 school year. So, uh, we're also planning to continue for next year. Um, what does that mean? So, she and I are developing a budget to expand from the five buildings to all 13 elementary schools with all the resources that we purchased uh to expand our programming with Project Lead the Way and and um Legos and uh hiring additional teachers because we'll we know we need more than five to support all 13 elementary schools. Uh we've created master schedules to ensure that all of our students um are have an opportunity in all 13
038buildings from kindergarten through sixth grade. Uh working with um uh Mr. Liberals and the principles to create a communication plan so uh everybody understands how to utilize space, how to utilize resources, where to store resources, um you know, how to communicate with families on um what the shield program is. And uh last but not least, uh is material management. Uh as you can imagine um with when you implement a new program with project lead the way um code.org microbits legos it comes with a lot of stuff. So we're currently working with um our warehouse um science center um clerk Shan Wyn in trying to figure out how we could uh have him support us with the ordering of all the materials, storing of all the materials, inventorying and whatnot. So we we are in the
039thick of um planning for next year. Uh it's really exciting u especially considering you know building upon what we know and see is a a great value to the district. Um just other other considerations and I kind of talked about this a little bit. We feel strongly that uh we want everybody to understand uh what we're doing, why we're doing it and getting their input. Um, so we know that when when we expand it to all 13 elementary schools, it goes off very smoothly. I think we have the benefit of five wonderful shield teachers that are living this right now uh that can you know support us with their grows and glows um so we can even build a better program for next year and um continuing with how we're going to support our kindergarten
040students um with exploration stations grade level buddies and um you know how we could help um just enhance the shield program for them as well. So, a lot of work to do in the winter of 2025 to make sure that the students, teachers, and staff are ready for 2627 to welcome SHIELD across all 13 elementary schools. And that concludes our presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Arie. Are there any comments or questions from the committee? >> I I just want to say it's all right >> that um of course kids love this. You know, they're problem solving. They're they're using their imagination. They're building things. They're collaborating with each other. Like this is how kids want to learn. You know, I mean, the the harsh reality about public education is they don't want to sit at
041a desk for hours on end, right? And I can't tell you that after eight years of sitting on this committee just how thrilled I am that this is the last presentation that I will see in this seat, at least as a sitting board director. So, thank you. I am so excited for the future of this program. um and uh hopefully the innovation that it can spark in the other things that we do as well, particularly in elementary school where these kids need to be up more and doing exactly this kind of thing. So, thank you. Great presentation. Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Just very much shared shared sentiments. I know that it's uh quite a new thing to have Legos in the classroom, but that should not have been the case.
042So, here we are doing those things and like Mr. Fusco said, I appreciate it. >> Um, my only comment is, you know, I'm fortunate enough to um get to be as being an elementary principal. I get to see this all the time. I get to see this every day. Every single one of my students um has um steam every every day. So, um or once a week, once within a cycle. And so, um, I really see how impactful this can be. And so, I'm excited to see this expand to all of the elementary schools next year. And I thank you all for your leadership, um, and your planning because it's a huge undertaking to um, to fully flesh this out and get this ready for 13 elementary schools. Um, so, thank you for that. And
043honestly, and I know I've said it before, but it's worth restating the the turnaround time on this that you was put on you guys, like very well done. Thank you for what you've done. Kids are benefiting from it. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Arie. Um I am hoping to move to our student representative update if there is any update from our student reps that you would like to share. I don't have a specific update. >> Everything's going well. >> Great. Good to hear. [laughter] Okay. Um, let's see. Miss Fakish, do we have um I do have one additional topic, but I am wondering if we have anyone for public comment. >> Um, yes, we do. >> Okay. Well, prior to public comment and me reading the form, I just want to take a moment um
044Mr. Fosco has been on this committee um well from the very beginning. He was chair of the committee before I was and um this being his last committee. We just want to thank you for your service specifically on this on this committee and the work that we have all been able to do myself, you Tim as educators um with that lens on this committee was like a perfect storm of of of people and um I have really appreciated being personally being able to work with you and the students in North Penn have been able to benefit from your leadership. So just thank you Mr. Fusco for all all of your work on this committee. Thank you, Dr. G. I I've I've found this to be the most important part of my service on the board
045as being part of this this committee [clears throat] and working with you fellow educators. Um all of you, not just Tim and Alicia, but all of you, you know, your your vision, you know, to be to have these conversations and to be just a part of helping to shape, you know, um this program, these programs for these kids. Um it's a work of my life. Thank you. Dr. G, can I just make a quick comment because I was hoping to have an opportunity to also just thank you so much um Christian just for your leadership, for pushing us, um for asking the hard questions and just for how much you care and advocate for all students. Um it has been a real pleasure to work alongside you and um on behalf of North Penn admin,
046we appreciate you and wish you the very best. Okay. Um, [laughter] uh, I need to read the next, uh, statement before we move on. Um, in order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Law, it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the committee during the meeting. To assure compliance with this requirement, it is essential that those planning planning to speak during the meeting and I lost my spot. It is essential that those planning to address the committee state their name and municipality. Members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to no more than 3 minutes. This limit will permit time for all those who wish to speak to the committee. Whenever members of the audience exceed this time limit, the committee chair may ask the
047individual to yield to the next speaker. Okay. Um, we have uh Mr. Laneir. No. So, Mr. Laneir, I'm going to unmute your mic and at that time you may be allowed to talk and you may state your name for the board. >> Uh, Jason Landdale. Um, so I like the the person ju just quick uh note on you know looking at at the the offerings here what you guys talked about today most of it seems pretty pretty positive meaning uh personal finance absolutely 100% I love the fact that that's going to be a requirement now it seems like there's a lot of you know in the general there's a lot of uh financial ignorance that that that needs to be addressed and I think that's it's excellent that we're going to start doing that in
048school as a requirement as opposed to of an elective. So, that's that's, you know, awesome. Fantastic. Art, great. Um, not as fun as art as I am in other things, but I would say uh it's really good uh to have that exposure and I'm going to kind of dubtail with that with the second part of what I was thinking about and the shield program. Uh like Fusco was saying, that's a good thing. kids love Legos and using it to educate them on science and and understanding uh is is awesome and I think kids that excel in that uh you know I think everybody enjoys it and I think there are kids that will accelerate and they'll get further into the STEM fields. uh just as a as a point uh I would say that somehow
049integrating that into the the literature uh areas or the sort of the softer sciences um or anything you know not the not the hard sciences would be a good thing because I I from personal experience in knowing people in the hard sciences sometimes they sort of lack uh the the literary skills if you will and it would be good to integrate those if you can which sort of bringing this all together. Uh I like these changes. What I'm what I'm concerned with and this is not a joke and I want to know what the plan of this committee is to do to to address the issue of the dropping proficiencies. And I know I sound a little bit like a broken record, but it's I mean it's really kind of jarring the the trajectory here.
050And it's and it's straight sloping straight, you know, it's sloping. You know, math is going down very quickly. Uh biology is not quite as fast as math and literature is is the least steep, but they're all going down. So, what is the plan to address that going forward? And it's really important. I don't necessarily mean for anybody who's going on to college, but just knowing this this having these basic understandings so that they can exist uh in in in the the adult world, if you will. You can you can you can communicate, you can uh advocate for yourself, and you can do these sorts of things uh if you have this skill set. And I'd really like to hear feedback from the committee on what the plan is to increase proficiencies. And I'll leave it
051there. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Laneir. Uh, Dr. Bower. >> Yeah, good evening everyone. Um, and I I do want to say quickly to Mr. Laneir's comments, I'm glad he brought up math. Um, so just to speak to deliberate information and data. Uh, there are we test math PSSA in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. And we also have an algebra 1 Keystone exam. I believe that is seven tests. In on six of the seven tests last year, proficiency went up um across the school district. So I'm not sure where that data is coming from. Additionally, in all marks with the Pennsylvania value added assessment system, the PES growth scores, um as a school district, our scores were off the charts, which I'm really thrilled to share. um
05282.3% of our classrooms met or outperformed their anticipated growth in the value added system. Um and all but one area uh they were at met or above and exceeded or um uh far exceeded the expected growth. So really proud of that as well. I'd be happy to go over any of that with Mr. Laneir or give a presentation to this committee if you'd like at some point, Dr. G. Um, lastly, I just want to end with uh some appreciation for Mr. Fusco. Um, appreciate the opportunity to get the last word here. And Mr. Fusco has been serving on the board for eight years. When I uh was high school principal actually when he started and I think the two of us have actually grown together. Um, Mr. Fusco, you've been a great advocate for all
053kids all the time. I really appreciate that. I really appreciate your leadership. Um, I think at one point you were the policy chair committee um or the policy committee chair, excuse me, um, and your leadership here with the ECI for the artist formerly known as ECP. You're probably the only one who remembers it. Used to be called ECP um, but we separated policy out. So, just want to thank you quite frankly for your leadership um, and your fortitude through some of the most challenging times in public education in the history of the world. um and to serve your community in a volunteer position for eight years is just to be commended. There will be other times to offer appreciation to you over the next couple weeks. But this being your last committee meeting, I just
054wanted to say thank you. >> I appreciate that, Dr. Bower. And I actually do think uh Dr. G was on ECP with me for time. So, I'm sure she's she's been a longtime, too. Uh I'm I'm super proud to have worked with Dr. G. I have to say like we've worked very closely together and uh she really has been a force [laughter] for change. Um and uh it's been an honor to serve with her. It's been an honor to work with you, Dr. Bower. I I do appreciate those words and I I agree. I I do feel like there's been an evolution over the last eight years. It sounds old when you say that we uh we started when you were the high school principal. Um but the gray hair, you know, sort of backs
055that up anyway. So, uh, been a pleasure and, uh, yeah, thank you. >> Okay. With that, Mr. Fusco, would you make like to make a motion to adjurnn? >> I would. Uh, so moved. >> Okay. [clears throat] All in favor and meeting adjourned. >> Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful >> night everyone. Thanks, Mary. I do.