001all right our webinar is live our YouTube feed is also live Mr cassa the meeting is yours thank you Mr Gilmer H welcome everyone to this March 20125 safe schools committee virtual meeting and as always we'll call to order and 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 we're just going to uh chair's actually let just go with approval of the minutes and then we'll um start with informational items uh so so we have a approval of the minutes motion February 24th 2025 so moved it's not complicated tonight um Miss rodnik chair second um any comments or questions none all right um being there no
002objections uh raise your hand to approve the minutes I and hey we could use that third pair um and so that uh approves uh minutes unanimously uh chair's discretion we'll move to information AAL items because we have some special guests from uh Montgomery Township with us this evening so uh director ran uh Mr or Dr Bower um whoever wants to kick off this important topic yeah sure I'll be happy to Mr ran if that's okay with you um so very pleased this evening Mr Casa and other members of the safe schools committee to bring forward uh Chief wigman and we also have Carolyn mccu who is the um Township manager and Audrey wear one of our Montgomery Township supervisors um oh there we go we have the camera rotating there um to present to us
003this evening they reached out to the school district um over a year ago probably a year and a half to two years ago um about some new legislation providing tax breaks to volunteer firefighters um and other Emer volunteer emergency personnel as individuals um supporting our community I think it's getting harder and harder to recruit I'm sure Chief will tell us more about uh that need so we've been talking with them for quite some time we are hoping to piggyback on other programs locally um but at this point I believe there's a desire to kind of move forward with our own program so uh without further Ado I'll introduce Chief wigman and he'll kind of talk us through the ideas here good evening Chief good evening Dr bow thank you for having us and allowing us
004to join the meeting tonight um we just wanted to talk to committee about uh act 91 of 2020 which was a legislation act to help with the Recruitment and Retention of volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania uh in 1970 there was about 187,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania and now we're somewhere around maybe 30,000 left uh depending on where these statistics come from and we know that we have firefighters that serve in multiple areas in jurisdiction so we're not even sure if 30,000 is the right number but what we do know is that uh the number of volunteer firefighter firefighters continues to decrease for many reasons um training uh affordability of homes work life balance uh businesses not allowing people to leave during the day um so there's a multitude of reasons that we continue to lose volunteer
005firefighters um North pen School District is uh serviced by Montgomery Township Hatfield North pen Volunteer Fire Company colar Volunteer Fire Company Town Minon upper gwet and lale fire company so there's a multitude of fire companies that um that work and volunteer in North Penn School District in 2016 the PA legislation passed act 172 which was adopted to help townships and municipalities create Financial incen programs for volunteer firefighters and um Montgomery Township and several of the other municipalities uh enacted some sort of stien or rebate program to help active volunteer firefighters in the recruitment of those firefighters in 2020 act 91 expanded those incentive programs to County taxes and School District taxes um Montgomery County uh started with their tax incentive program this year um this was the first year that they uh started the program
006and it's looking like less than 200 volunteer firefighters from the north pen School District um applied for any type of incentive or reimbursement through the County's tax program um we have numbers from all but two of the fire companies on the number of members that applied uh for the county tax incentive um but in rounding it out it looks to be right around 95 people that applied um for the tax incentive through the county so I'm here today on behalf of all the fire chiefs uh that represent North pen um every one of them except for the fire department of Montgomery Township is a volunteer agency we do have Career Staffing during the day uh but all of the other fire departments in in North Penn School District are fully staffed by volunteers 100% of
007the time and in Montgomery Township we we still have uh about 70 volunteer firefighters um so we are a combination Department uh this is uh the reason why I'm asking North pen to kind of take the lead on this is because they have the opportunity to be one of the first school districts in the Commonwealth to embrace this idea and it's legislated under the law but really only lower Maran and the shamony over in Bucks County are really the ones in this area that offer this incentive so um they do it all different types of ways some give 100% of the school tax back some identify a number $500 $800 a year for active um active volunteers but we already have the mechanism in place um to figure out who's active and who's not active
008because even though each of the fire departments have their own activity standards um the county has come up with a method to determine who's 100% active who's 7 25% active so that was kind of already fleshed out on the county level and the fire companies are already accustomed to that and have applied for that this year um so I'm asking the school district to consider some sort of incentive program uh tax real estate incentive program whatever it looks like um I think that this will have a positive impact on uh the firefighters in North Penn School District the the Chiefs are fully behind it their memberships are fully behind it and in a day and age where we're trying to do anything to get volunteer firefighters because in the end that ultimately saves taxpayers money
009than a full-time fire department uh we we are trying any incentive program and you know we're every mun almost every municipality has some sort of incentive program Montgomery Township we give $500 per active firefighter no matter where you live or if you uh own a home um but us and upper gwet and several others have federal grants we're doing a paid for call uh paid for training so we're we're looking at various ways to kind of incentivize volunteers to to come out and the day of um as you know uh the day of everybody dropping what they're doing to run out the door um to to help is kind of over if people don't schedule their activities they don't show up and we're trying to combat that by uh any type of incentive program so
010I'm before before you tonight to ask for your support um we started this process as you said in August of 2023 uh kind of having the conversation about it and um looking forward to getting it across the finish line thank you very much Chief and I want to thank you for your leadership and educating uh the administration and uh board members about this also uh Miss mccre thank you and uh to uh I guess supervisor uh president uh uh we thank you all um for making sure that all North pen is able to have this conversation Dr Bower uh how do you foresee uh right we we kick the ball on the play this evening through safe schools committee I'd like to know um how you see governance wise oversight were able to to um
011assess and decide what it is we should put into place if anything yeah great thank you and thank you for that presentation and information Chief as well um so I think initially uh when we were having these conversations Like Chief said a year and a half ago it was there was a lot of unknown how many people are we talking what incentive are we talking what's the county going to do um and before I finish that thought Chief do we know excuse my ignorance do we know what the county is uh doing for their incentive is it $500 or no they're doing it based on um percentages so it's a 100% tax back 75 50 25 or 10 based on the point structure that they have in place okay so they made every Fire Company
012fill out an Excel spreadsheet um determining who's at what level and then they made the fire department uh have that notorized and then they made the um the individual people send in copies of their tax bills that were notorized and then they'll give that money back but they didn't come up with a uh just an a one payment stip in or one one amount they did it based on those percentages okay got it Dr bow if I could just jump in a minute um the reason Montgomery Township went to $500 is because in the beginning we were doing a formula for earned income tax as well as property tax and the roll out did not go smoothly there was some reticence about sharing W2 information um plus the bigger thing was we have young firefighters
013who are still living at home with their parents some are in college so they don't have earned income tax or they have a minimal amount of earn income tax they certainly don't have a property tax so they were getting nothing and we have retired firefighters who for whatever reason were able to retire from their employment early um and then therefore earned income tax didn't affect them we also have firefighters who were renting and again property tax rebate didn't affect them so we wanted to be fair and recognize that the service of a firefighter is the same whether you're five years in or 15 years in so we came up with the idea of a $500 per person um payment that the lump sum goes to the fire company and then they distribute it to the
014members that they have identify to us who met the standards of an active firefighter that helps a lot okay so um thank you both for that information so Mr Casa back to your question like how do we see this playing out so initially obviously having a well staffed fire department benefits the school district benefits the community certainly a matter of uh school safety so that's why we thought the best mechanism to get the conversation officially rolling was via safe schools committee assuming that this committee is uh supportive of this and president mcy is normally on this committee she is away on vacation this week but I happen to know that she's enthusiastically supportive of getting this started um if this committee is supportive of us moving the conversation forward we would then ask maybe Chief
015to come out and present to the full board um whether that be in a work session or at a finance meeting because ultimately it's going to impact the finances of the school district as well um so I think maybe a finance meeting in April or May would be appropriate Mr Casa but I could talk to president mcer about that if that's what you'd like to see I would recommend uh that we go with a flat fee as we heard as an option uh from the chief here if we're talking roughly 200 people um at let's just use a figure that he threw out there $500 a person you know we could talk about what that impact could be on the budget or not and then have the board give us Direction and then we'd work
016with obviously Council and the proper procedures I'm sure we'd have to pass a resolution all those things so those are those are my initial thoughts this rodnick do you have any questions or insights yeah no I do have a couple of questions and thank you very much um now I'm like Mr wigman is it Captain wigman I'm sorry chief wigman chief wigman Sor I'm sorry I'm sorry uh pardon my my ignorance uh Chief wigman thank you for the for the presentation and I will continue my um just from a lack of knowledge perspective if you can help me out a little bit so we are talking about volunteer firefighters that live in the North pen School District right I don't know if you have volunteer firefighters that live outside the school district we do we
017have volunteer firefighters that live you know for us across County Line Road so they live behind the giant um and they they in bucks and they respond to our station across from Pine crust Country Club so we do have volunteers that live outside of North Penn School District but are members active members of fire departments within North Penn School District okay so just to clarify therefore when if when we're talking about a rebate though would it be scoped to Firefighters that um live within the north pen School District yeah so it would technically be from the school district it would have if it's a rebate which that's would be the recommendation from me they would not only have to live in the North pen School District but they would have to be a property owner
018in the north pen School District because they are paying us taxes and then we would rebate some of that money yeah okay so that's good clarification you've answered both my questions then thank you my pleasure Mr Casa any questions I I I think if there uh if there aren't any other reservations or um any additional feedback to change the course that you outlined um this is what we've done before when ini start it begins in one of these committees usually rolls up the policy or Finance um sometimes ECI so I I I would like to forward um with that recommendation that you know we have a vote to advance that to finance I do want to allow an opportunity for our student Representatives or any of the administration to ask questions or provide feedback if
019any yeah I just want to say thanks chief wigman for coming out that was actually it was really informative so I started jotting down some notes um I really appreciate you coming out I know a couple volunteer firefighters so I'm definitely going to be talking to them about this too so thank you you're welcome yeah you're always welcome to St by the firehouse and visit so U without hearing any um any resistance to us moving that to finance we just need to have a quick vote on that Dr b or no yeah I don't I don't think yeah we did put it on the agenda as informational um so I would say that the next time we bring It Forward won't be to act upon it it would be to move it to an action
020meeting um with the full board's consensus so um if if that's the direction I will chat with M mcmurchy when she gets back and I'll check with Chief and the team over there and see when would work well for them to come and speak to the full board in person next time yeah we would like that I have one question Chief because you mentioned um how the difficulty it seems with every passing year um making sure that you have enough volunteers are there efforts that already exist in relationship with any of the north pen fire departments are your own and U you know with our middle or high schools and and making sure we can promote volunteer opportunities or gauge interest yeah I think uh over the past couple years um we have done a
021lot to build relationships I know that we come to career day now uh we've had some kids from the tech school come in and do their externship programs at our Firehouse which we're open to um I know we had an emergency services day so uh more opportunities are always good um the ability to kind of get there and and be part of the fabric of the school district would be uh something that we would we would want to be part of but there have been more opportunities generated over the last several years glad to hear that uh certainly is new ideas developed just like this uh please reach out to us you're going to have a receptive board and administration um to do whatever we need to do um right because ultimately U it's it's
022these volunteers are the ones who take care of us and North pen we we know in particular how many years ago Dr Bower uh with the fire at the high school so um you know we have to make sure we take care of our own and uh we appreciate the opportunity to look at this in more detail uh as it moves forward thank you very much thank you thanks for having us have a good night thank you have a good night by thank you thank you so much Dr Bower um just since we're we we're already using chair's discretion here is there anything else is I know you're going to be with us but need the transition is there any other agenda item that you'd like to bump forward at this moment no uh that's
023okay Mr Kasa um I trust that you and Mr Rome can cover uh the asasa conference that's later on in the agenda thank you well with that we'll move back to action items uh if that's okay with the committee fine so uh seeing nodding heads we've got one item uh and the level three SE stag uh training contract Mr ran uh yes thanks uh chair Casa so this um for those who uh may not be aware or um may need a reminder uh last year we uh entered into an agreement for seag training uh for our behavioral threat assessment teams and so as as anything uh within the public safety space there is always updates and changes and modifications uh and so this is true for SE stag training uh which is the comprehensive student
024threat assessment group uh Dr Dy Cornell um and so seag and intac are the two nationally recognized models we use the seag model and so they've updated that to level three which mirrors the pccd um which some folks in the Commonwealth may be familiar with and so this contract allows us to uh get our behavioral threat assessment team members across the district uh the latest training that's available and also uh this contract also allows us to add um some additional team members so they would get levels one two and three uh and be able to be additional resource to the behavioral threat assessment teams across the district so uh I am uh respectfully asking the committee uh to approve uh this contract and and we can and move it from committee to full board uh
025so that we can get that training in the hands of our behavioral threat assessment team members thank you Mr Ron any questions or comments from the committee um sorry Mr rone I was just trying to so this what we are moving to full board today if you're not showing a slide right because I want to make sure I'm not okay contract in the agenda item okay all right good so what we are moving to committee today is um a change in the contract um it's not a change it's essentially a new contract that that's uh for level three so our previous contract was uh for one and two uh so this contract is for level three with the addition of some new um being able to add some additional folks uh to the team okay
026M rodnick that's in the contract I believe it's 100 at level three and then there's maybe 15 I think at the other level is that right Mr R am I interpreting that yes that is correct okay um I'm sorry I'm not as prepared for this topic I'm realizing now because it's not what I thought it was all right so I just ask a couple of questions then just fundamental questions to make sure that I'm I'm understanding so when you say add additional people uh are you saying um their people within the district that we will then add to get them further experience for the trained correct so we are not uh when I say I'm not um saying we're adding like headcounts we're just current employees uh to threat assessment teams so uh for example
027um we'll be adding some of the uh security staff to threat assessment teams so that uh they are able to be in the conversation around when a behavioral threat assessment needs to occur right we talk about um you know that that multidisiplinary team right now I'm the one who represents uh the school safety side um I don't want to do is find us in a position where there needs to be an assessment that's made and I'm out of district for whatever reason and there's there's nobody that can that has my lens uh at the table so that's uh that hopefully that helps uh be a little more thorough an explanation okay no I understand I understand okay all right understood no further questions Mr Kasa thank you Miss rodnick uh and so so I do
028understand Mi Mr Ron that that 100 does that already exist that we're using a 100 and they're just getting the level three that's correct so that's the that 100 number are um the teams made up around the district got it and which it's my understanding over the years that's expanded as we've we've further evolved the multi-disciplinary approach correct it has expanded at least twice in my short tenure here and and does this uh does this contract uh in I'm just want what's the compliance aspect to it so everyone's got this license and additional ability but we want to make sure that they uh whatever training or whatever they need to do to stay current is there an opportunity for us HR compliance wise to be able to audit that and understand that uh people aren't
029just checking the box but taking this seriously by having this there there is um and so one of the reasons why I went with this model versus the PCC model is for that reason um with the SE Stag and the intac model uh there is knowledge-based test uh and you have to pass that test with um a percentage number and it's certificated uh whereas currently the PCC pccd model does not um and so this training allows us to ensure that our folks comprehend the content uh because if they don't then they aren't able to pass the test right so uh in the other model we we don't know that right and then this is not a u a dig at the PCC at the pccd model U but this allows us to your point this
030allows us to assure that if we were ever challenged uh you know someone wants to challenge our our ruling or our decision or our process um and if this becomes a legal battle we have documentation to say that these te team team members not only should be on the team but receive the training and pass the knowledge test and are certificated to conduct that assessment okay wonderful so my understanding is the additional 15 people to have enhanced level one and level three training that's at 150 per I believe so I'm just trying to also understand the difference between enhanced level three training and the level three training so the people who have are getting the enhanced level three training are they already level three trained so no so right now everybody's at everybody has training
031is is at the initial level one training okay so there'll be those that are going to get to level three and then those that are going to get level one and then catch up to level three so they'll meet the rest of the team uh at the level three okay and this is not NE I mean obviously it's important to make sure I understand the financials the financials are pretty straightforward I just wanted to make sure I fully understand understand um what the return on investment is all right thank you very much no further questions thank you any other comments uh or questions I'll just say uh Mr Casa I I would expect uh as as long as my tenure here um and you know knowing Dr Cornell the way I do will probably be
032coming back to the board with uh updates probably every two years two and a half years seems to be the Cadence um so this will be something that we probably we will see ongoing for um you know as as things evolved in in the threat assessment world and and uh just having a foot in that world professionally it it it is constantly evolving and the models that we see especially in Florida and right how these models influence each other very happy to hear that this evidence-based model um it's there to protect students staff in our facilities more than anything it's also protecting taxpayers I I will speak to the fact that pccd effort um it's in the right place but um just like discipline data or anything else if if at the state level there
033there isn't any teeth to ensure compliance if if it's making sure that we have a paper Tiger but not an actual you know fully functioning behavioral threat Assessment program uh just appreciate this investment and the administrative capability uh it is one of the most important aspects in the prevention model um in keeping schools safe so thank you absolutely all right so with that um we'll have a motion to move this over to Action meeting out of Safe schools committee so moved all right and second H all those in favor raise your hand or say I it passes unanimously uh so we'll move that uh to the full board for approval thank you Mr Rome thank you all right and back to the agenda so bouncing back and forth then now we're at informational items think
034I'm correct we have two two to go aasa and the youth mental health correct that is correct okay all yours Mr Ron sure uh so I'll talk um uh just give the report out more of a report out for the community um the aasa uh so Dr bar and I and Mr KAS was attendants as well uh presented uh at the national superintendent conference uh along the topics of uh school safety and safe schools uh and then a pathway to safer schools and another topic was um had an opportunity for superintendant to uh really just kind of Round Table talk uh and ask questions uh and so I just would like to share with the community that um you know we have um you know while we are not perfect and and certainly we have
035work to do and we acknowledge that and we continue to strive to that work being able to um talk to superintendant and hear some of the same challenges uh that are happening around the country and uh being able to provide some uh Solutions or or resources or answers uh to be able to help superintendents for some of the things that we have done here in North pen um and the work that we do around safe schools was uh a great uh opportunity and so it was it was a great opportunity to put North pen on the stage uh around uh safe schools um and and be able to share some information and not only share information but certainly when you go to these type of professional development conferences um as a panelist or a moderator
036or or a guest or a keynote uh certainly you learn uh information um and what others are doing and things that are that are happening uh in other districts around the country so just wanted to share that information that uh uh North pen was out there um on a national circuit um talking about safe schools with with superintendent across the country and it was it was a wonderful opportunity um and thank you uh Mr ran and Dr Bower both performed U just excellent uh as to be expected but you it's difficult to explain to the community until you're at a conference with it was thousands um definitely between five and 8,000 superintendents uh Deputy or assistant superintendents and other senior administrators from across the country uh in public education it it it says a lot
037because it makes you realize right there are Lessons Learned and that's what we were there to discuss as well and never to say hey this is perfect and what everyone should do it's how can we have a dialogue and begin to move the needle by um sharing experiences good good bad and different about how um districts can make a difference and that there is hope and some empowerment and you know something as simple as having a safe schools committee most districts in this area across Pennsylvania nationally don't have one over 50% of school districts 13,000 public another 3,000 independent uh over 50% don't have someone that's coordinating or a director of safe schools initiatives they might have an athletic director but not a safety director so for North pen uh to be there and and
038have two professionals that um uh Mr ran you knew more people there uh than anyone else and it really spoke to the um level of care and expertise and how you're uh looked at by people nationally when it comes down to Safe schools so um I I feel fortunate to be able to see you in that element um thank you very much any other questions or comments yeah thank you for the report it sounds like it was a worthwhile um Endeavor a worthwhile conference I hope that there were as much as we were sharing with other school districts that um we also got to learn some best practices as well um from them maybe we can have a dialogue about that some at some point but really do appreciate um the representation and by all
039by all accounts the great representation that North Pan had thank you Miss Rudnick and and clarify so there isn't any uh miss or disinformation out there that uh I was there professionally uh on my own dollar so to speak and the uncompensated for any travel or Time by The District um it's just where career and Public Service uh intersect next item uh Mr R yes so uh again you know going back to a statement I made just a little while ago about you know things evolutions and and continue to change um uh we have talked uh many times about uh mental health and um ways to support and provide resources um so in a conversation with a couple of my cabinet colleague members uh on the uh student services and special ed side I started
040to uh look into what resources can we provide uh to to help and support um from a mental health standpoint uh excuse me so I'm happy to share um that uh there is a program out there um for it's called mental health first aid for uh youth um that really focuses on that uh 8 to 18 range and how we can not only help students uh before crisis but how we can support students during crisis um and so we are looking into there is a training and then there's a trainer trainer model and so uh last week I I spent an hour on our webinar um with some other um school safety folks and and school Educators sorry who are participating and there they call this like an informational session and then I'll particip I
041will be participating in the full training in May uh and the thought process is is that um from the training we find that this model is is what we need to help support uh our students uh then we will uh go down the path of the trainer trainer model so that we could uh inhouse be able to um have some uh supports and additional resources um and coordinate again with uh the student services side of of the the building uh where you know we all kind of meet you know one of the things that that I always say about in the in the public SA safety space and a safe School space um you know I I have I have connections to just about every Department um in one way or another uh so working
042in collaboration with uh student services uh to to bring this forward and so um I'm happy that this is an opportunity that Dr Bower uh supports um and has said go forth and and make it happen and report back um so just wanted to put this on the radar uh so that you know this is this is something another layer that I'm asking uh for we be asking for some support as we move forward um finding that this is the right fit for us here at North pen um and it's really just about equipping our our staff with the right resources to be able to do the job that we face every single day um so uh again in the world of where things are ever changing and we must try to continue to keep
043up uh this is another initiative um that I'm I'm looking to bring uh internal um so that it's at our fingertips uh when we need it uh and we and people are trained and equipped to be able to respond accordingly thank you Miss Rick yeah so my two most critical things right now are the mental health of our students and fair funding so this is not Finance uh so I so I'm glad that mental health um has come up I am curious and I don't expect that you have the answer today I am curious on the integration of this type of training with the other things that we have programs such as the therapy dogs Etc that we have um in the district in the mental health space I think it's important when we look
044for new programs that we understand the fit of programs with existing and so we're not just layering on and hoping for better outcomes the outcomes actually come in the effectiveness of uh execution of a program right and sometimes when we overlay things um that are not integrated we don't get the expected outcome so I know you're just going to learn I would be excited that when you go to learn you're going with the understanding of what we have existed and you're already thinking through how that could be integrated to make sure that we are getting value for and a worthy return on investment and that is in of course the student outcome space so thank you for bringing this up I looking forward to hearing um the outcome sure so I can say um you
045know that was so when I first was made aware of this program and lo looked into it uh I met I met with uh Dr Balden uh Dr kler and Dr Brockman right because that's kind of that's their world every day um so we we met and I I talked about like kind of what I had envisioned and what and how we can make this work and and what is already in place to your point Mrs rnck um and then so from that conversation uh uh Dr cougler and Dr Balden also uh thought it it would be of good uh good time spent if they attended the one day training um to make sure that the not only my lens and perspective Have Eyes on this but also their lens and perspective to make sure
046to your point uh that it is the right fit and it does integrate to what we're doing so um I I can I can answer your question um to to that point we we have we have done it and and that was I just want you to know that that was one of the things that I was purposeful about making sure that I con Ed with those other pieces right because we we we have different lenses and perspectives and I wanted to make sure there were no there were no gaps um that that uh could have been easily identified had the right people been in the room from the beginning perfect thank you thank you Miss rodnick U and Mr ran the area that I want to make clear for the community and though right
047if this something is going to move forward we'll have more details obviously and number of these areas uh but I've been familiar with this in the higher education space probably a decade um just about and it's an evidence-based program it's a nonprofit I don't think they've gone for profit um and an organization with a lot of um experience um advancing this right in K12 as well as higher education and U other areas this is also used um in commercial settings uh right malls shopping centers corporate and this is in no way creating counselors It's the ability for people on the mental Aid first aid side to be able to identify uh potential issues connect people with the resources identified within their own organization or without right but what's available locally or regionally and not for
048people to uh all of a sudden go in and and try to save the day it's about recognizing what's happening stabilizing um making sure the proper connections are there and handing off the person uh the individual that may be in crisis to the proper resources uh and we cut the slack and that delay and most importantly how can we be trauma informed in that approach uh and ensure that um any individual that's being handled um is going to be done so with respect and dignity while ensuring that others are protected so that that's that's the big picture once again don't want any information uh to spread across the community that that uh isn't accurate so uh please if the administration if I got any of that wrong can you please clarify just um to make
049sure what I'm defining is the correct program no that that is correct uh Mr Casa and again uh we we will come back and report on this at least one if not two other times um as as we move through uh the process uh with with this particular program so this will not be the first and final time that the community hears about this I appreciate you letting us know ahead of time is this what and I know it could change uh at the information uh Gathering but this wouldn't be a program just for our security team uh this would be for other positions across the district correct which is why um I I like the idea of the trainer trainer model um because it would allow us to um be uh really roll out
050a program with fideli versus trying to figure out like who's the handpick right per se if there's a cap or a number uh if this is internal we have some more control um and and we uh we are able to roll this out to again not only teachers but support staff right so there there are a number of ways ways that we can we can get this resource into folks' hands so that they can use it uh and and the folks who who need it right um so um that's why this particular model was more appealing to me um you know the research on the training and of itself uh was was comes highly recommended um but the trainer trainer model at an organization our size um is is what kind of made me directionally
051steer towards this particular program thanks more innovation um and equally important hopefully Innovation that really matters um so so it is in security theater uh we'll make sure our student representative um just sey any questions or feedback that you have no I will say I think that all my questions were answered by um you guys I think the discussion was really good on that um you know one thing we often see in students is mental health issues so it's always good to see us uh getting out there and helping with that you know some people also take advantage of that Sometimes some students so I'm hoping in the training that and I'm sure it does that I'm that the training goes over that so I'm excited to see that implemented thank you thank you for
052your perspective um any other comments or questions all right hearing none seeing none uh any additional business uh other items from the committee open floor all right um I I would like to mention uh April ail 2nd uh World autism day and our good friend and Eagles autism Ambassador um benergy uh Ben harra uh wants to make sure that the board and the community is aware to wear blue on that day um and more importantly um you know see what information is there so um we can become more aware uh how to be uh an even more inclusive community and uh make the type of connections that uh strengthen uh School District that's as welcoming as as North pen so thank you to anyone who gets involved in those activities um look up Ben or
053reach out to us if you have some questions or want some information uh with that Mr Gilmer do we have any hands raised we do we have one excellent uh let me get to the usual almost eight years still haven't memorized it all right individuals attending this meeting and intending to speak to the committee should be aware that they are being recorded in order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Law 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 to address the committee raise their hand electronically and state their name and municipality as a reminder the public comment portion of the meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment
054and feedback on matters being discussed uh matters being discussed at tonight's meeting or matters that may come before the safe schools Committee in the future it is not designed for debate or discussion with members of the committee when appropriate committee members may choose to respond to public comments that have been made or request a member of the administration follow up with the speaker after the meeting members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to three minutes this is in reference to board policy number 90 903 Mr Gilmer all righty up first is is Mr laner Jason I have enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin please state your name a minut record and begin your comments please Jas L Lansdale um I had a question regarding the navigate 360
055program and contracts and I say contracts because I did a uh doc search um just to see how many contracts we've had with them I I remember their names coming up a couple times and over the last two years it's been quite a few when we're up to I guess with this newest contract we're going to be up to around $122,000 in two years and I hear a lot of discussion about best practices and and what works and is there is there actual hard documented data which supports this or we just chasing something that the the the safety industry says is the best thing to do there is Mr lir there is well if that data should be in this meeting as opposed to just talking about the contract if there's just if it's just
056we're we're we're signing up for more and more protocols to to follow through and and this is going to make things better how do we know and and and if there's data that would be something that should be presented um the only question I would have regarding this is with this training and it's been quite a bit here um um what is the the uh the the turnover rate amongst people who take this I mean are they taking it as because you know like well why not they it's it's a way to spend a day and they get they get the training and and they get uh some sort of certification after it and but they don't stick around I I don't know I'm asking what the longevity of the employees who take this are
057or or whether or not we're having to retrain people because there we have some turnover uh in this Arena so those are the two things the the data that justifies doing this and the turnover rate and um how much do we look I guess the third thing is how much do we think this is going to be costing uh on a regular basis like I said we're at $122,000 over two years so I'll leave it there thank you thank you Mr lir uh I'll let staff answer the um the turnover question question I want to make sure though if there are any other uh commenters that they have the opportunity that's the end of public comment for our audience okay thank you Mr Gilmer um so Mr lanir um the this uh Administration can answer
058about staff turnover but I I evaluate and write about this in organizations and and Coach Executives in higher education uh as well as K12 it doesn't matter I think it's a great question what is the turnover rate but sustaining an effective safe school strategy means that it's why we ask the questions about compliance and being able to audit and uh infusing this with hum with HR and that way it doesn't matter if people turn over 100% every year every month or how long they're retained it's the information and the position that's so important and that's not as easy as it sounds which is why you need systems like this that are a little more sticky in order to evaluate and ensure what the effectiveness is as opposed to not having any information at all U
059if I was to infer from Mr ran uh exactly why we make this type of invest investment in administrative capability U is there anything else the Administration has to add to that or perhaps I'm I'm incorrect In in that take please CL clarify no I I can jump in that um you are correcting that information um and the the second piece about the turnover rate um while I I don't have the the numbers in front of me uh I I can tell you um just based on having to keep track of the those who have taken the course to certification and also uh delivering and teaching the Hands-On portion uh that that turnover rate is is extremely low um based on those me you know those members that are on the team um I would
060say uh of the hundred or so uh individuals who have um been certified and and are on teams across the district I would say we're probably in single digigit turnover rate so again I I I won't quote an exact number because I don't have it in front of me but I can tell you from just knowing who we need to uh get new training to um and having that kind of number um it's it's relatively low Dr McKenna yeah I wasn't going to speak to turnover but I did want to comment on um I think it's important to understand act 55 and when that was passed for all school districts in Pennsylvania uh with the passage of act 55 we're required to do three hours of uh School Safety and Security training with all staff
061in the north pen school district and that's requirement across Pennsylvania um so in addition to using navigate to um utilize that for our behavioral threat assessment training we also utilize those programs for that required act 55 training for our staff both through their asynchronous models and also through our live training as well um so you know that's a requirement through the Pennsylvania Department of Education um and we utilize some of these training programs to meet those requirements annually thank you uh Dr McKenna and it's also important Mr lanir that perhaps um you go to a lot of meetings so I I I can appreciate the fact that um there may be some things that you don't pick up um after multiple meetings but if you look at the the reporter our local journalists or North
062pen now multiple articles on behavioral threat assessment I know that Mr ran has talked about SE Stag and that model and Dy Cornell and the researcher backs it up um multiple times in a year also what we discussed during finance and budgeting um other opportunities even outside of the safe schools committee I'm rather confident Mr lanir that um it may jog your memory that when we talk about evidence-based this behavioral threat assessment model this is what we are communicating to the to the community and our stakeholders every single time and the evidence is rather overwhelming that uh about the success uh not just of averting School violence but more importantly of ensuring that the right resources are connected to the right students when they are in crisis and their families so we're actually able to
063have a holistic more proactive approach there there more often than not is able to keep someone in their educational environment so they can be a more productive not just excellent student but somebody as a member of society that is going to help pay taxes one day um and so it all fits together in the big picture and if you have more questions uh please reach out to the administration I'm very confident they can point you to all the research that exists but thank you for your commitment to showing up at these meetings and your questions Miss rudnik yeah actually let oh uh Dr Waters were you gonna say something no okay I'm okay all right no I I was just reflecting on the on the question I think um to side of Cur because I
064think the North Pan turnover rate is relatively low it's in the single digit to maybe to Any Given year so in comparison to nationally it's a low turnover rate right single digits maybe a given year you'd be at 10% so statistically you would expect the same perhaps in a program such as this and that's fine you know but I do think that just reflecting on it for myself that even if it were higher it does not mean that we do not continue to put the safety of our students and invest in the safety of our students especially in spaces such as mental health and physical safety even if it were higher like I would every day train and retrain or re-up skill uh anyone who's interested in becoming somebody who I can leave my child
065with and trust that they are safe so just you know I was trying to think through the arguments Pro and and against and I I don't really see one we we respect the taxpayers money this is important and it's a low turnover rate for North pen and I bet statistically we would find the same in in uh in these programs so it was H I'm thinking out loud mostly thank you miss rodnick that makes sense um any other comments or questions and uh as always um you just our our student rep if you have any final thoughts I have no final thoughts I think uh you know a lot of good discussion happened tonight and I really appreciate being able to be here so thank you thank you guys have any any questions too I'm
066always here about what's going on thank you keep that in mind too not just this monthly conversation um absolutely it's good idea yeah and uh with that um we'll wrap up tonight's meeting just a little bit over time but appreciate what everyone put into this um there is no facilities and operations meeting uh this evening just uh for those who might be waiting and the next safe schools committee meeting is scheduled for Monday April 28th at 5:45 p.m in this virtual format do we have a motion to adjourn so moved all right good night everyone be safe thank you thank you