001streaming. We're just going to wait for our YouTube feed. Okay, looks like our webinar is live and our YouTube feed is live. Mr. Rush, the meeting is yours. Meeting is now in session. Please stand for this 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. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from the last policy meeting? So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any comments or discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. I. The items recommended for work session or action meeting are um policies 801, policy 804 and I mean 904 and policy 909. Uh would you like to take over Dr. Mortis? Sure.
002Good evening everybody. Happy Monday. Um as Mr. Rush stated tonight we have three policies to bring before you. The first one is policy 801 which is public records. The second p policy 904 public attendance at school events and finally policy 909 municipal government relations. And these policies um are just some updates from PSBA as we continue to make revisions. So at this time I'll ask Mr. Summers to give you an overview of each. Thank you Dr. Waters. Um and we should be relatively brief um this evening. These are are pretty quick updates to these policies. Um, as Dr. Wer said, they are all PSBA uh proposed revisions. Probably the one that is the most substantive in nature is the first one that we'll talk about, policy 801, public records. Um, as we as the board
003is well aware, um, and certainly many in the community are aware, we are subject, the school district is subject to the Pennsylvania right to know law, um, which provides, uh, members of the public with the ability to request, uh, public records of the school district and and to obtain uh, copies or to potentially inspect those records. And a record is uh something that documents a transaction or activity of the district. So on a daily basis the district generates many many records and those records um by and large are accessible to the public uh through the Pennsylvania right to know law. There are a number of exceptions um for in the law for a variety of reasons like student confidentiality uh personnel issues other legal uh justifications. But by and large, our records are available to
004the the public. Um, and so we have a policy that that essentially adopts and incorporates many aspects of the Pennsylvania right to know law. We have had that policy on the books. Um, but one issue that has come up over the past, I would say year or two statewide, uh, is what has led to PSBA recommending a revision to this policy. And that issue is um the issue of anonymous requesters. So under the right to know law, you do need to be a citizen of the United States in order to have a right to access records or request records. You don't need to just live in the school district. You don't need to just leave live in Pennsylvania, but you do need to live and reside within the United States of America. Um, and so
005one issue that has come up is that certain individuals were were attempting to submit right to know requests to school districts anonymously um through third-party services that you could essentially go online, fill out a form and it would the service would transmit that form to the school district and or other entity that you wanted to file a right to know requests for. but it would keep it would omit your name, your address, and other information identifying you. And so, one of the issues that's come up is that um it's been impossible with those anonymous requests um to show or for the school district to know that the person is in fact a resident of the United States. Um, and so there have been a number of right to know determinations from the office of open
006records over the past year or two indicating that schools and other uh entities do have a right to deny requests that are made anonymously. We can require individuals to list their name, contact information. Um, but the office of open records recommended that entities make it clear in their policy that they would not process anonymous records. Um, so putting essentially the public on notice that of course you can make right to know requests, but you need to list your name, contact information so that we're able to verify um that you are in fact a resident of the United States. So that's um what the policy revision does is it adds in the guidelines section that the district the board authorizes the administration to deny anonymous requests. Um and we had received a number of anonymous requests
007um previously all through this same um thirdparty service uh that had been involved in a number of other uh school district right to know requests. Um and so it's really just reiterating the law that we are permitted to deny anonymous requests. We're putting in our policy and making the public aware of that that's the expectation. Um certainly um you know the district it uh conforms to the requirements for accessing public records. We will continue to do that. Um but we don't want to to have to spend administrative time and and money responding to requests that that we don't even know if the requesttor has a right to access the information that they're seeking or if it's some sort of spam effort. Um, so this just tries to make sure that that district time and resources
008are spent on processing requests that are legitimate and and providing records to people who have a right to access those records. Um, before I move on to the other two, any questions on on that policy update? No. Okay. Um, so the other two policy updates, 904 and 909, are really just language updates, um, referencing local law enforcement instead of police departments. I think we've talked about that update for the past number of policy committee meetings. Um, this is just, you know, kind of what you see from PSBA is they work through their policies and update language. And so we tend to have a lot of the same updates uh to different policies at at meeting after meeting. Um so that that those are really the the substantive changes to 904 and 909 is just language
009updates referencing um local law enforcement instead of using the word police. Um 904 for example, public attendance and school events. We had just looked at that policy back in June um of 2024. So, it's it's a policy we've we've, you know, um consistently revisited, updated recently, and so this is just a a minor language adjustment. Um and municipal government relations, um we I think last looked at maybe in in 2022, I think. Um but that policy, you know, essentially just talks about the um way in which the school district interacts with local municipalities. Obviously, we have a number of them in North Penn that we we have, you know, good working relationships with. Um, and the policy just kind of generally talks about that. So, those are the updates um for this month. Happy to
010answer any questions, but uh that pretty much summarizes it. All right. Do we have any questions from the board or the student reps? Mr. Rush, our student rep was unable to attend this evening. Thank you. So just I'm going to repeat so I'm I'm clear. We have three policies. One of um policy 801 is with regards to right to no laws. My clarification on that one is in current state you do not have to live in the district or the township to request the right to know. And in current state you could be anonymous. So right now the policy is being updated to give us a flexibility to deny anonymous requesters because at minimum you have to be a citizen of the United States and we want to verify. I would say that that's correct.
011The only um piece I would say is is we have in prior instances denied anonymous requests, but the Office of Open Records, the state entity that oversees and implements the right to know law, just recommended that if you're going to be denying anonymous requests, that you put it in your policy to make it clear to anyone who would be looking at our policies to know that we don't accept anonymous requests. It's really just clarifying how we handle those. Okay, perfect. And 904 and 909, the only changes is a reference to law enforcement. Changing police to law enforcement. Okay. Local law enforcement. All right. Perfect. Thank you. Understood. Um recommend the following policies for first read. Uh policy 801, public records. Policy 904, public attendance at school events and policy 909, municipal uh government relations. Do
012I have a motion to approve policies 801 904 and 909? So moved. Second. Any comments or discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Do I have any nays? No. Um, are there anyformational items for discussion today? Seeing none, does anyone from the community wish to speak? Yes, we have one person in the audience tonight. Okay. Individuals attending this meeting virtually 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, 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 to address the committee raise their hands electronically and state their name and municipality. As a reminder, the
013public comment portion of the meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment and feedback on matters being discussed at tonight's meetings or matters that may come before the policy committee. It is not designed for debate or discussion with members of the committee. When appropriate, committee members may choose to respond to public comment that has been made or request that a member of the administration follow up with the speaker after the meeting. To allow time for all those who wish to speak to the committee, the chairperson may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker. Thank you. All righty. Up first is Jason. Jason, I've enabled your microphone, so when you're ready to begin, please state your name and municipality for the record and begin your comments, please.
014Uh Jason Laneir Lansdale. Um uh I'm glad Mr. Summer's on the line because uh I I' I'd like to get his interpretation of what this means because I've asked this question of the board I don't know how many times and nobody seems to be able to answer. being that this is part of um the language used involved with with hiring uh I think just about everybody on in the district. Uh the the requirement for um a a requisite skill of of supporting uh a culture of diversity, equity, equity, and inclusion. If that's a requirement, how does one know whether or not they meet that requirement? And and I think I mentioned this before. It seems to me that you're using that language because does nobody on the board seems to be able to answer it.
015Uh Mia Kim doesn't be able to isn't able to answer it legally. What does that mean? And at what point does it become clear that you're using it as a as a basis of discriminating based upon a political affiliation? Uh and and as you know uh that that's illegal. You you can't use it. But this is really seems to be what this language is all about is to is to find people who will who continue the the the uh sort of the leftist mantra of of uh diversity, equity, inclusion even though all this federal nonsense is going on about it. Um, but whether or not this school district, North Penn, is opening itself up to lawsuits because of of the fact that you are discriminating uh based upon political affiliation. And uh if you could
016actually address that question, I would appreciate it. And I'll leave it there. Thank you. I I know for one thing, Mr. Laneir, I I Dr. Um Bower said that we are going to discuss the hire the way that we hire people in the districts at an upcoming meeting. Um I I have looked at the pro I've looked at the process that Dr. Kim has set up and I am satisfied that it is fair and equitable to everybody involved in the process. Uh, I'll leave it at that. I don't know if Dr. Bow wants to speak to that or I I'll be happy to, Mr. Rash. Um, I it seems and I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but it based upon Mr. Laneir's comments, it comes across to me that he's implying that
017when you say a support a culture, uh a diverse and inclusive culture, uh that it means we are hiring someone based upon a certain characteristic or criteria. And that is not the case. Um I have never once, I've said this to publicly multiple times, I've never once sat in an interview. Um usually in the final round, many candidates go through three rounds of interviews. I would be included in the final round primarily for administrative positions. But Mr. Rash, I can tell you and the rest of the board members here, I've never once sat in an interview of a final round candidate where we did not hire the best candidate. Um, having a a diverse and inclusive culture means we celebrate our differences. Uh, we support all children and all employees. And that's saying that you
018want people who work in your school district who are supportive of that diverse environment. I I think anyone could get behind supporting all children who live in the North Pan community and go to our schools. So, uh, with that said, that's what it means. It does not mean that people are hired in a way that is discriminatory in any fashion. That is not the intent of that language. And what it means to me basically is that we try to get as many candidates into a position into the hiring process as we possibly can. We don't exclude anybody for race, color, creed, or anything because we want to get the best candidate that's out there. And so we make sure that everybody has a right to be in the process. We don't guarantee anybody the right
019to a job once they enter the process. U so thank you very much for that Dr. Ba. Yes Mr. Ash Mrs. Stole has her hand up. Thank you. Yeah I just want to also add that we never ever have asked anybody their political affiliation in an interview and Mr. R or I'm sorry Mr. Mr. Laneir Mr. Lir is once again making uh accusations that he's just, you know, with facts that he's just pulling out of thin air. And I I'll keep saying that over and over. If he's going to keep doing it, I'm just going to keep saying that's what he's doing. Right. And I believe we m Mr. Summers, I believe that's against the law to do that, isn't it? Yeah. the district cannot discriminate on a on any on the basis of any
020protected characteristic and and certainly political affiliation is is one of those characteristics and I I certainly agree with Dr. Bower that um indicating that that an employee or prospective employee would support all students regardless of their background um is is not a a political position. It's it's one that's expected of all employees and and certainly I think supported by multiple uh political parties and and you know regardless of your your personal political belief. Yeah. Is there is there any other business before the board? Seeing none, uh the summary of items for for work session are items 801 public records policy 904 public attendance at school events. Policy 909, Municipal Government Relations. The next meeting is on April 28th at 5:00 pm virtually. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Thank you. Have a
021good night every