001e e thumbs up all right good evening everyone I'm going to call this work session meeting to order we are going to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance please flag United States of America to the stands na yes there's a video this evening Ethan if you could hello and welcome to this North pen news update hold on hold on what what [Music] good evening everyone I am so pleased to be interrupting your regularly scheduled program this evening to honor our final 2024 4 EAS award recipient it gives me great pleasure to introduce this recipient our CFO my colleague and friend Mr Steve scroy Steve has been with the North Penn School District for over a decade in that time the business department has earned the meritorious budget award nine times North pens 4E Awards
002recognize staff members who are outstanding examples back it up just so you can hear what people had to say about you it gives me great pleasure to introduce this recipient our CFO my colleague and friend Mr Steve scroy Steve has been with the North Penn School District for over a decade in that time the business business department has earned the meritorious budget award nine times North Penn's 4E Awards recognize staff members who are outstanding examples of the principles set forth in the north pen School District's four ease which are ensuring belonging elevating learning exceeding expectations and engaging the community Steve our final Award winner is being recognized for exceeding expectations Steve continues to keep our schools and communities up to date on our current financial status informing and educating not just North pen Community but
003colleagues around the state of Pennsylvania on school Finance Steve continues to exceed expectations at every level he guides us through major projects to help us determine the best financial path to accomplish our goals for students Steve helps to set direction for our transportation and SNS departments and through those he impacts and benefits the lives of students every day because of his efforts North pen school district has the benefit of its very own health care center that cares for our staff and attracts highly qualified candidates it is so successful that other school districts and IUS are copying our bottle he has sat through hundreds of Schoolboard meetings as Schoolboard secretary listening to public comment and answering questions a feat in itself Steve's expertise and knowledge of school finances has has positioned North pen School District positively
004to ensure our facilities are not only maintained but are transformed into learning spaces for the future he is a trusted leader and Mentor in the business office and has developed a strong and dedicated staff he is a champion for the Pennsylvania and North pen real estate tax and tax rebate for residents of the north pen School District he'll also make sure you know it's award-winning I am not only honored but fortunate to work with Steve every day he is the best there is and his commitment to North pen exceeds all expectations I am proud to introduce Steve scy as a recipient of the 2024 North Penn School District for EAS award recipient for exceeding expectations congratulations Steve [Applause] wow I am like completely blown away like I never expected this so I really really appreciate
005it thank you for the recognition and the nice words everyone thank you thank you honey for coming like wait a minute like that's my wife what are you well I I I do have to share and uh thank you everyone for your contributions to that um I'm not going to say too much about you Steve I'll save it for your retirement party whenever that is hopefully many many years but as Mr laner said in the previous public comment I think it's sooner rather than later um but miss liosi and I yesterday looked at each other and I said so is his wife Coming she goes I thought you were asking her I said I thought you were asking her so Mrs scroy thank you for being here this evening um certainly made it special uh
006Steve you're the best of the best um and people don't get to see the stuff behind the scenes about um just your character and the ways in which um you hold people like the number of times I've heard you say in a meeting I won't do that or we can't do that or that's against the law or how about this look at the school code I mean you are the moral compass of doing everything the right way all the time well don't make us look like we're always trying to do something not you guys but he he really is the guy who is the checks and balances he's literally um he's the person who um brings everybody back and grounds us he's a mentor to all of us on cabinet um if you think about
007the award-winning uh programs that we have in the district you lead most of them Steve um I am honored and privileged to work with you I consider you a great friend a great mentor um Tina said when when they got here and they started taking uh moving on to the board that one of the previous board members said make sure you hang on to that Steve scy and I I really really thankful that they did um so thank you for everything we are all indebted to you we hope to have you for many many more years and Mrs scy I recognize the time that he commits to us and that's a huge sacrifice on your part um Steve lives 90 minutes away um and he leaves here on these nights tonight he'll probably leave at
0089:00 and we have a meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30 um so everybody can kind of put that in perspective he's going to drive an hour and a half home and he'll be back in his office at 7:30 for a morning meeting so um just Steve thank you the community owes you a lot um you positioned us well to Embark upon the largest High School construction project in the state um and we are well positioned because of you so thank you [Applause] okay all right thank you very much thank you can I just say thank you for letting us be a part of this we get to watch them on video the other Award winners and it's been great to see those but to be a part of this um I'm incredibly grateful to be able
009to honor and recognize you um Steve so thank you um but I do have to say that I was really biting my tongue because you're sitting there working while everyone is filing in like Steve stop working Steve stop working this is about you this about you so that moment when you realized I think is one that reaction that I think will treasure for a very long time so it was pretty congratulations that was great we all needed that Steve I know that our northp TV students got that on camera and that will be part of how we will memor memorialize this so thank you yes it's a very welld deserved award so thank you very much for everything that you've done appreciate it okay okay Steve if you want to leave you I'm just kidding
010it should be a fairly quick board meeting thank you everybody for coming feel free to hang out in the audience or go home if you'd like okay she could have a seat next to you no have to do that all right so next up then um we're going to have the audience of citizens uh for public comment so I'll will read off the statement and then if there's anyone who wants to make public comment now will be their opportunity to do so this media this meeting is being videotaped for Community cable channels and streamed live individuals attending this meeting and intending to speak to the board should be aware that they're being videotaped in order to meet their requirements of Pennsylvania Sunshine Law it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak
011to the board during the meeting to ensure compliance with this requirement it is a essential that those planning to address the board State their name and municipality members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to 3 minutes as a reminder the audience of citizens portion of the meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment and feedback on matters which are or may come before the board it is not designed for debate or discussion with the board when appropriate individual School Board directors may choose to respond to public comments that have been made once the audience of citizens period has concluded or request that a member of the administration follow up with the speakers after the meeting this is in reference to board policy 903 so with
012that if there's anyone that wants to make public comment so yes and Madam president if I may just a quick Sunshine act announcement uh is that the board did meet in an executive session on October 3rd 20124 for the purpose of Consulting with legal counsel regarding the thirdparty investigation into the incident that occurred at Penbrook Middle School in April of 2024 uh and just as a brief update on the status of that investigation the investigator ISR Curr L working to prepare a recommendation to the board as to what information can be shared publicly without running a foul of student privacy expectations or other legal requirements uh the board did Express to the investigator a strong desire to be as transparent with the community as possible while still complying with its legal obligations and acting in
013the best interest of overall student Safety and Security uh and that concludes tonight's Sunshine act announcement thank you Mr suers Dr B yes um so I have a statement here here uh presented to me by uh one of our community members miss Patricia Houston Martinez and she asked that I read this for you Mr scy did read a statement from her at um that was at the safe schools committee Steve I believe facilities and operations it was fno that's right okay um dear North pen School District thank you for having me at your meeting my two younger children attended mpsd I have a deep gratitude and respect for our school district I think of North pen School District as our neighbor as with any neighbor when something is wrong I write a letter I am
014bringing proof that the pesticide that farmers uses on the field adjacent to my house are likely making us sick it also can cause problems up to 20 years with exposure to all of us so two things that I kindly ask number one I'm asking for you to stop using synthetic pesticides on the fields and number two I'm also asking for you to remediate the land so that I can be dug without further injury to the neighbors I have been in contact with Dr Don Huber at produ University and he is willing to help us remediate the soil below is a quote from his last email respectfully Patricia Houston Martinez and I think Steve we didn't start the timer but I think I still have time uh Patricia this is the email from dror uh Huber
015Patricia you may use my name if you would like more information in addition to Raw sauerkraut juice there is a biological cocktail of eight organisms that have fully degraded 80% or so of residual soil uh glyphosphate in 7 months it is produced by EDC bios Synergy LLC it's an alternate and ancient Organics bioscience incorporate Incorporated 1854 Castillo Court San Louis o Obispo California 93405 Ral Kano is the person to talk to his number is provided also Martha Carlin also number provided at paleo biotica uh they can respond there let me know if you need any help um so we'll wait till the end of public comment but Mr scy I do believe you can respond to some of these things because you actually talked to me about some environmental testing on that plot of land
016just yesterday so you want to talk about it now or you want to wait till I can if the board okay go ahead quick update so part of the agreement of sale with pte uh which was approved by the board last month includes a 90-day due diligence period and part of that will be Environmental Testing that they're going to conduct obviously they're not necessarily going to be interested in in building residential homes on top of contaminated soil so they're going to do the testing see if any remediation is necessary um that'll be part of the due diligence period before they decide if they want to proceed at that point or not so I just had a meeting with pte today and the farmer that we have a lease with to farm the land right now
017the 35 Acres or so he's farming and uh we're looking to see if we can facilitate the crop is still on there now it's corn and we're looking to facilitate the harvesting of the Corn so pte can start their testing sometime in early November so we'll probably have the results from those tests I would say maybe early December and we can certainly provide more information at that point in time that's helpful thank you okay would it be helpful if we spoke with with you after the meeting what is the test what is the test yeah I I don't know specifically what it what the technical term is they're going to be drilling there's going to be boring done uh to test the soil and so forth so they have I think it's 24 borings that
018are going to be scheduled throughout the entire 55 is Acres on the site thank you Mr scy okay is are there any other um audience members that would like to make public comment at this time good evening Mrs M um Shannon main toon Township I know that I can be a vocal voice at these meetings but as a parent of two daughters in the district I'm here to express my concern about the upcoming vote with the new title 9 policy I understand many of you have already likely made up your minds and plan to pass the policy at the next meeting I would like to urge you to reconsider for the sake of my daughters my friend's daughters and everyone's daughters in the school district I can't sit back and watch this policy move forward
019without expressing my concern and standing up for the girls in our school and in the sports programs we hear that the schools could lose Federal funding if they don't comply but in the past 50 years I have found no record of any school losing any federal funding Mr Summers stated that it's rare that it but it's not rare it's actually never happened rare and implies that it has happened before while funding withdrawals is the theoretically possible these cases are usually resolved without penalties and an urge to comply instead and how much are we talking about losing in federal funds about $2 million although it sounds like a lot of money our district recently received an unexpected million dollars from the state last month which Mrs ramage pointed out that was only about $40 per taxpayer
020I would gladly pay $880 per year extra to protect these female students the PIAA has not taken a formal stance on this issue yet the district is moving forward without excluding Athletics Athletics from the gender identity provision we must protect Sports where biological differences can create an undeniable unfair Advantage this is where we will see the greatest impact losing women's rights to scholarships medals Awards and even future careers in sports additionally Title 9 is meant to protect against sexual intimidation last year my daughter shared a locker room with a student at Penfield middle school with a biological male student the same student who attacked another child at Penbrook Middle School do you think the girls in the locker room felt intimidated having a male in their private spaces on page two of your own policy
021it states protections against discrimination and harassment including intimidation if such intimidation in fears interferes with a student's educational experience if you are considered if you are concerned about lawsuits if the policy does not pass please consider that our daughters feel intimidated in their own physical education classrooms and locker rooms which are directly adversely affecting their educational experience how this is in line with the protections of the title 9 was designed is not fair to females although Kyle Summers did say we don't anticipate any changes with the districts to comply with we don't anticipate any change of how the district will apply comply with the paa guidelines this here opens the door for male biological males to compete in women's sports and I'd like him to eventually explain why he thinks this will not change any
022part of the policy and I urge you to reconsider and at least take the Athletics out of the policy as of this point Thank you thank you Mrs me is there anyone else that would like to make public comment at this time Jason lanir Lansdale um we've talked about this a couple times brought it up policies 104 and 10 103 and 104 and how they will allow men in women's locker rooms I've asked Kyle Summers specifically and uh numberous times whether or not that would happen last meeting the safety meeting Jonathan cassle said it wasn't happening doesn't sound like it's true so what is the cost of doing this is it Federal funding is it the $4 million that we got last year uh in federal funding or is it that you know let's average
023that over the last 15 years it's probably less than two $2 million is what we're we're we're going to allow men into women's locker rooms for $2 million it wasn't that many weeks ago remember there was an was an officer at the swim meet in the stands off duty he was had his his uh side piece with him he was armed and there was an outrage about it everybody was up in arms about it but at that same time what if there was a man in the women's locker room what would be more problematic would it be more the the parents in the uh in the stands feel more unsafe if there's an officer with a with his gun or a man in the women's locker room with their daughter I don't understand why you
024would allow this to happen I can only come to one conclusion that it's political that's the only thing that makes sense I mean it doesn't make sense but it only the only thing that fits the the only puzzle piece in this nonsense when that attack happened last year what did you guys do you you had to get an independent investigator an independent investigator who happened to already have contracts with the north pen School District who has happened to be hired by Megan McGee Heim who is the the administrator released shortly after the attack because of their their their presence or their their proximity to allowing that person back in the the middle school why why did she let the that insist that that student go back to Penbrook or from Penfield to Penbrook why because
025you had bad policy bad policy that you knew was bad but yet you did it anyhow because again it's a political it's a political Drive it's not about making people feel bad or making people feel safe or anything else it's a political drive that cost a girl a lifetime of repair physically mentally you are going to this same type of thing is going to occur again and what are you going to do then why why would you do this for $2 million maybe you need to re-budget thank you thank you Mr lir is there anyone else who would like to make public comment at this time hello good evening Stephanie Fano lensdale Barrow I want to start off by saying thank you for addressing the investigation I have a question for you Mr Summers when
026could we expect an update we've been waiting a long time now and I think we're all tired of waiting for an update also I would like to speak on the title n policy I emailed a lot of you today in regards to this I beg and urge you to please Recon reconsider adopting this policy it's not fair and it's wrong you didn't include us parents in the decision making on the general neutral bathrooms and I beg you to please remove the sports from this policy and reconsider the bathroom policy as well you have options it's not mandate for you to adopt this policy the policy is under litigation in multiple states with some school in our own District exempt from these changes how can we justify creating inconsistencies within our district where students in one
027school have different protections than their siblings at another once again I urge you to at least reconsider excluding Athletics from this policy and wait for the legal system thank you thank you is there anyone else who would like to make public comment at this time okay seeing none we'll move on to the superintendent report Dr bow please uh good evening everyone again I recommend approval of the Personnel items as per attached can I have a motion so moved second motion by Mr fosco seconded by Mrs ramit are there any comments or questions all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries next I recommend approval of the contracts for the district as listed for October 8th 2024 copies of which are on file in the business office can I have a motion please so
028moved second motion by Mr Fusco and seconded by Mr Kasa are there any comments or questions all in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries thank you Dr Bower next up on the agenda is other business does anyone have any other business this evening seeing none okay and can I have a motion to adjourn please so moved thank you meeting is adjourned for