001Pete what's yours okay I'll find out and let you know we are now live thank you very much Miss fakish or call to order this April's safe schools committee meeting as always we'll start that 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 let me just change my view so I can see our agenda Mr Rhone has put together we have any students uh Representatives on panel today we have Karina hey Karina thanks for joining us all right with that we'll uh start with informational items and the High School Safety Committee report please Mr Rome so good evening everyone uh thanks for the opportunity to join once
002again uh and speaking of the high school representative um I've got to draw your attention uh to back when I was hired and and we walked through my 30 60 90 day plan and some of the work I was looking to do hitting the ground one running one of the things we talked about was uh connecting with students and and hearing student voices and so out of that work with the student government Association I met with at the high school we discussed a student High School Safety Committee and talk through um some of the the questions and concerns they may have also allowing me to keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening in a school the size of North Penn High School and so I'm happy to turn it over to our student
003representative Carino who will share about our first meeting foreign so our first meeting was pretty recent and I think a general consensus consensus is that there are a lot of resources at North Penn for both physical and mental safety however we lack conversations and awareness so many students don't value their mental health because it's not a concern that is reflected Among The Faculty of North Penn and what I mean by that is a lot of teachers don't talk about Mental Health um which makes it seem to the students that teachers don't value mental health over academic achievements and this was pretty much the main conversation that we were having at the meeting and I think um we mainly want to push for more conversations between teachers in regards to mental and like physical safety and
004making sure that students are aware of what procedures we have in place to make sure they feel safe and that they are safe thanks thanks for that report um and I will also add you know we I I learned that um you know we we kind of gauged or took a pulse of you know to what degree do we think students think about you know safety in the building um and I Karina you correct me if I'm wrong keep me honest here um I think we agreed that you know probably most students just don't think about it right they don't think about that propped Open Door uh or uh that thing that may look suspicious that everybody kind of looks at but then just keeps moving on about about the business at hand um and
005so part of the group's effort here is uh is to to have those conversations um you know to make sure that folks feel included in in the work that's being done uh in and around school safety because I think we all would agree that school safety is a really layered approach uh and there there's really no one way to to addressing the many things that that we may face and so I'm super excited about the opportunity to collaborate with this this group of students I can tell you that there are the diversity of the group of students um is is very uh very well done and so we're getting a lot of uh opinions um and and different perspectives uh about uh what what school safety really means at the student level so excited to
006continue this work we'll we'll meet uh again before the Stu the the school year the student school year is over and then obviously we'll we'll reconvene again in the fall and really going to get a full school year under our belt and and directionally see where this takes us so super excited about the opportunity I think the students are excited about the opportunity I think the students uh in Korea maybe I shouldn't speak for all but I I think the students uh really felt um empowered to be able to ask some of the questions around like drills and and training and you know when when uh an incident happens around the country and you know some some folks kind of Wonder well what if or what's this or what's that uh to be able to
007ask those questions and and get some of those answers and so uh really looking forward to the opportunity to continue this work I think the students are looking for it uh I'm I'm super proud of the students um that that are really leading this I'm kind of there as as ears to to listen um but it's really led by by the students and other things that that they uh think about or have concerns about um but to Karina's Point not really talking about um as a group or at large so super excited for this opportunity I think there's there's great work ahead of us um and and we're all here rolling up our sleeves to do that work so uh thank you for for that any any questions uh from the board or admin um
008regarding this this initiative that we have embarked on Dr Bauer yeah uh so first Karina thank you for the update I really appreciate your insights always and uh Mr Roan I think this is great I appreciate what you're doing here uh my question is one are you the only um adult in the room if you will I recognize many of our kids are adults but did anyone else attend did Mr Hassler or anyone from Administration and then what is what are you planning moving forward in terms of feedback loop so what you Garner from these sessions uh bringing it back to the building you're back to Mr Nicholson or myself or Dr Waters or just I realize like you're working on a process here and you guys are just getting started um just curious on
009those things yes so uh we we've had um both Mr Hassler Mr Burger um and Karina if you can I forget the teacher's name who was in um the last meeting if you could share that name it was Mr Evans Mr Evans that's right um so Mr Evans was in the room um and so uh Mr Hassler Mr Burger and I have have kind of just touched base briefly um about what was discussed uh Mr Burger was in the meeting before that um and and so we're kind of formulating the thoughts in the game plan and to the second question um is is to really gather the information from the student level uh and it obviously continue those conversations at the building administrative level um and certainly at the central office level as to uh
010ways that we can incorporate the students questions and concerns that they may have um a brown you know drills in in around um you know what could be potential issues or identified as potential issues um and then obviously strategizing on ways to address those those uh statements of of reporter concern so I hope that answered both questions Dr Bauer yeah um I look forward to hearing about next steps and action items as a result of the feedback and I I'm not surprised to hear that feedback um just because you know if if it's something that we want to make a priority across the board in terms of providing that PD um it that feedback is very helpful in thus developing the plan for next year you know and how to move forward so um that's
011really kids I always say to Mr Gilmer and he always jokes I I always say let's ask the kids they won't let you down right they always bring forth good feedback and insights that us adults in the room aren't quite smart enough to uh bring to the table so thank you for that thank you Dr Bauer uh Ms Wesley and then uh Mr Nicholson please hi thanks ahasa so Mr Roan um Dr Bauer asked a couple of my questions but my next question would be also around um utilizing this implementing this on at the middle school level is that something queued up as well yes so um in conversation um and I think if if you remember back in I don't remember what meeting it was when I talked about meeting with uh all the
012secondary student governments um I I pose the same opportunity um to the student government leadership about um a a student-led committee and at the time there wasn't quite an appetite for it uh amongst the students and so I I don't want to push them into something that that they're maybe not at the point where they're ready to do that whether it's they're not ready for the conversation or there's a time commitment uh challenge with you know academics and sports and family and all those other things um but ideally I I would like to duplicate this uh across the board um you know making sure that what we're doing is is fruitful um and good investment in people's time and so uh when when any one of the middle schools is ready to do that um
013I'm certainly willing to to follow the same process at the middle school level that we we will outline at the high school level and and to be completely transparent right we'll we are mapping this as we go and so we'll uh we'll figure out um some things that maybe work better do different as we go through this from the high school to the to the Middle School thank you for that because I think it's a wonderful opportunity to include the students and so I appreciate what you're doing and can't wait to hear about more of it uh next fall and what comes out of it in terms of any action items or recommendations that you want to see with your team so thank you for sure and I'll just jump in Karina I just want
014to say thank you to you and to the group that met with Mr Roan we often hear that you know students are maybe less engaged in in certain aspects of Education than they were before the pandemic I will say I've seen a lot the opposite last year as the high school principal this year in my current role I give all the Kudos in the world to you and many others uh students at the high school and the middle level for stepping up filling the void providing your voice so we can make sure we're providing everything we need for you um and in some ways reinforcing things we already knew and already have been working on uh for instance in SEO curriculum for all secondary students to to bring some of the mental health pieces to
015the Forefront um and you know Mrs Pike I know you've been active in this committee and have probably heard and know about Mrs Pike and her work behind the scenes right now that will become active next year but then also you're working through drills and making sure that we're doing things to make sure we're serving all of you to the best of our abilities so again I just want to say thank you for being Uber involved for stepping up and and really being part of um helping us provide better services for everybody at North Carolina thank you again and this is only the beginning so I just have a couple questions Karina if you don't mind uh as the student representative for this initiative it so I heard from Mr Rohn that there's uh a
016lot of involvement uh but is that a good cross-section of the grades as well representative uh of as many seniors just because I think it's mostly sophomores and juniors that are involved but as far as like um other aspects I think it is like physically a diverse group um and you have a lot of different um academics um academic groups as well um and people who do do different clubs so I think it's a good sample of the like true diversity of our school yeah that's great to hear and right with it being a bit of a late year initiative just starting I can understand why there might not be as many seniors who maybe this time next year will see a different type of involvement but I think that's an interesting lesson right that
017we see not only in K-12 but higher education there's this constant turnover which is the the it's the strength but also could be a weakness if we don't recognize that so you know you have seniors when they're involved are more likely to say whatever they feel right and there's a good opportunity to have that institutional knowledge so to speak so as as um you and your your friends uh who hopefully continue to be a part of this committee you know you'll be able to share that knowledge with those who are new to the high school in this committee so that's the continuity that I would you know we would all like to see just wondering is there anything in terms of the promotion of this or the resources you know understanding you know talking about
018mental health is one of the priorities but is there something creative that's just an aha moment that that this committee should know about now to begin the plan to support your efforts going forward in terms of um what we have planned because it was the first meeting there was it was mainly basically oh my gosh it was mainly just ideas that were discussed um and general concepts just taking a look at what the different students thought when questions were like supposed to us um and we kind of shared already what we were talking about during our discussions um so I wouldn't say if there's any big plans but I do know the next meeting should be in May I think um so I'm looking forward to sharing what we developed there yep that's great and
019we know it'll continue to evolve but know this committee and the school district is there to support those ideas and uh you know nothing is a wild enough idea for that committee right what's innovating and also do whatever we can to make sure that information is being shared that uh people understand they have a voice about their school safety so can I please ask Mr Nicholson to um at least brief your colleagues on the ECI committee um at least when it comes down to some of these points about uh whether it's curriculum based or embedded whatever needs to be done educator-wise in terms of the mental health feedback that we're hearing from from this from Karina and her students yeah absolutely absolutely I will say um actually Dr Waters Dr Hart and I spoke quite
020a bit this afternoon and talked a little bit about some of the the school safety needs for professional development and um all that so yeah we're in constant communication in the hallway with Dr Waters between Dr McKenna and I um and then obviously with Dr Hart um overseeing all the curriculum and the equity work certainly we're working closely on all that yeah thank you I know many times something will come up in safe schools but it might rise up to policy or ECI and this certainly sounds like one of those issues where we're more than happy to share that and uh you know kind of has a cross-pollination here across the committee so thank you I appreciate that any other questions insights on this topic all right seeing none we'll move on to the next
021item Mr run uh I don't have the agenda from is the next item the C stag update yep behavioral threat assessment yes perfect uh so happy to report that uh all building administrators have completed level one and level two uh C stag behavioral threat assessment training uh and we will be moving down to the rest of the behavioral BTA teams throughout the district in May uh finalizing those level twos um mostly all of those uh team members have uh started their level one which is a asynchronous training and the level two is in person with me um going through some case study review and and how to apply the knowledge from level one and some of the knowledge level two and how do we grade particular assessments so really sharpening that that skill set um
022when when using the behavioral threat assessment tool um and in particular incidents where where a threat assessment might be needed and warranted so we'll have another informational update on uh in May hopefully depending on the timing of uh I can't remember the May committee meeting off the top of my head but if not we'll definitely have a final update in in June as we're getting through the academic school year so we are we are moving along uh through the training and the process as we committed to several meetings back thank you and for those on the committee is it possible for anyone in the administration and Mr Wrong maybe you're aware can uh just educate the community on you know this is derived from state law um it's driving the training initiatives correct yeah and
023so if if you're not familiar with the acronym of C stag is it is uh excuse me I'm sorry once I know the feeling sorry uh it is the comprehensive student threat assessment guidelines um and basically it walks uh team members through uh what would rise to the level of conducting a threat assessment based on um a statement or action uh to either self-harm or harm others um Rising that you know we would be concerned about one's safety and then it helps those team members walk through uh the the necessary questions to ask uh to to draw a conclusion about next steps and how we can support that individual um and so sea stag is one of the two national models across the the country the other that some uh may be familiar with is
024the Secret Service intact model which is the national threat Assessment Center uh and so between sea Stag and intact those are basically the two uh top two uh threat assessment trainings and organizations that are used across the country both in in K-12 space higher ed and even some other professional backgrounds thank you um and that's something that uh this Administration is always and I know North Penn was ahead of the curve when it came down to behavioral threat assessment uh by years in terms of getting the proper um outside independent objective expertise but then uh continuous program Improvement not just the minimal standards and that's something that we want to make sure with this committee's oversight that we're not just checking the boxes and having a have a paper tiger so to speak where the
025policy is there but the practice is not so any opportunities for this committee to learn more about how uh you know the implementation of the laws working but you know it's such a large District making sure that each building level right that we understand the overarching district approach but each building level that we're connecting all the dots so nothing Falls between I see Dr Bauer's hand raised and I'll I'll set up a question for him as well any updates uh in terms of our records management system I don't know if that's what you're going to speak to already but feel free to throw that one to uh to anyone else as well got it um so I was actually you hit on much of what I was going to share Mr Casa um and I
026don't think well you talked about us being years ahead I don't think you gave yourself any credit which you certainly deserve um we had uh full all district administrators trained several day training in a behavioral threat assessment um professional development sessions with Sigma um we also had subcommittees and um a thorough process this was I'm gonna say 2019-ish um and then I could be wrong it might have been 18 19. um and then as for the question about um Infinite Campus and the behavioral threat assessment tracking and in in our student management system I'd have to defer to the team here Dr McKenna Mr Nicholson Mr Roan I'm not sure where that is all right I'd be happy to report on that so uh I I spoke with Dr Landis uh just last week um
027and in an effort to make sure that we we get what we're looking for again to your appointments to class and not about a check the box uh some of the custom work um that is being done for the form to to work an infinite campuses is taking a little longer than expected uh but I think once once we get it up and running it will be exactly what we want it to be and we won't have to go back and try to redo or edit or um so it'll it'll be right from from day one when it's put in the system and so that that customized work is still in progress and and just for and I know that uh Ms Wesley has informed me that she's uh she doesn't have internet maybe she
028has the same cable provider I had earlier this afternoon where I think our community lost internet so we'll see if she's able to call in um but you know with the behavioral threat assessment piece especially with Infinite Campus for those who haven't been uh who weren't at the last committee meeting a month or two ago you know this is another area of innovation where the school district is using its resources subject matter expertise to try to streamline and and help with the efficiencies but also the um the important aspects of confidentiality and protecting Student Records I always have to have this disclaimer when we talk about behavioral threat assessment or whatever it might be called this process it's it's not profiling it's not big brother it's actually uh when done properly it ensures that it
029there is not an arbitrary process it reduces profiling because it's a multi-disciplinary team with different perspectives and levels of expertise which inform a process that well over 90 percent of the time and I believe my numbers off might be 99 of the time in the c-stack model the the research with Dewey Cornell and his team who who helped uh Define and develop this uh in the state of Virginia actually uh shows a reduced police involvement more resources for students whether it's SEL Family Resources in the community that are connected so these are Upstream proactive uh elements that are part of this c-stack model so we're able to not just mitigate an immediate threat which may exist but many times it's that people need additional resources and we're able to to reduce further risks and increase
030protective factors months if not years ahead of time and then the goal within a good model is to always connect the dots so that if it's five years later and if there continue to be difficulties we have a complete picture and we can recognize patterns and trends other than maybe a record in elementary school a record in middle school and a record at the high school that might not be tied together so hope that helps the community in layman's terms get a better understanding of why we invest in this evidence-based model to proactively protect our school community any other questions or insights thank you very much Mr Rohn for uh leading this initiative and helping to continue to to advance this as it evolves what's our third topic for tonight that's our topic is uh
031uh report out an update on a tabletop exercise that was uh conducted excellent thank you yeah so uh happy to share as as we always look to collaborate with our partners and um get you know another opportunity to examine uh how we would handle a particular situation uh we certainly took an opportunity um as as cabinet and involving some of our local First Responders and walk through a tabletop exercise and so if the committee and admin was just uh allow me to explain what a tabletop is for maybe some of the community members who are not familiar or unfamiliar with a tabletop exercise with a tabletop exercise is uh it allows us to respond and walk through a particular incident in a controlled environment uh so there's you know there's no role players there's no
032uh emergency responder spawning light responding lights and Sirens but uh you you write out an incident with a location and a time and a date and you walk through to what you would do as an organization responding to that particular incident so for this particular exercise we used in elementary school and and so we walked through the incident uh how we would handle it how we would collaborate with the incident command that's on scene and the Emergency Operations Center that would be back at the Emergency Operations Center or folk personnel and you know how we would work through messaging and different responses and um you know uh handling media and inquiries and parents and so uh you know it's always good to to put your hands on uh and those type of skills and and
033sharpen those skills just to make sure that you know all the things that maybe were talked about a year ago or two years ago or three years ago or before the pandemic still hold true to some degree and to also make some changes that are needed again in a controlled environment so that God forbid that we find ourselves faced with an actual incident we're not seeing this for the first time we know who we're talking to what we're talking about who's creating the messaging and all of those things so that's what it that's what a tabletop exercise is uh and it was it was wonderful um uh I had it facilitated purposely so that I could play the role of of my role right so I don't know what's coming um I'm I'm walking through
034it as as I would be the day something happens and I don't have a a heads up as to what it is and so it was great on a number of fronts it was great for me um doing my first one with the administration and so thanks to the administration for taking their time we we carved out two hours of time which is a lot of time to to gather all the amenities administrators but I I think the administration on the the caller here would agree that it was two hours well spent um and then we're going to look to um step up our game per se um to to moving to a a full-scale exercise uh down the road but that that takes a lot of planning that's about 12 months worth of planning
035um to to now that you have a plan and you've walked through it now let's put all those moving Parts together and make sure that um you know because it's one thing when you're able to write it down and walk through it and all that kind of stuff but when you add the human factor in the human element there's always a change and so that'll that'll be our next steps for those that are thinking about what's next that that will be next as as we walk through this process again I said this earlier and I'll say it again Public Safety is is a multi-layered approach and and there's a lot of moving Parts there's a lot of people that are involved in the decisions that get made um and and quite frankly I think I
036speak for the administration when I say we will plan for the very worse but hope for the very best and um in my opinion if we never have to implement one of these plans it's a great day it's a great year um but I think the community should should take some uh pride in the work that this Administration has committed to as much as they're committed to education and Student Success they're committed to safety and there's understanding that without that that the the education and Student Success becomes compromised and Mr Roan this was also um I'm sorry if I missed this in the description but this was facilitated by a a group with that expertise that's why you didn't know what was coming it was that they prep ahead of time and then have that
037scenario unfold so that the administration can learn from the experience right that is correct um I I use one of our vendors um that we work worth work with and just basically said here's a date here's a time I need a tabletop and I want it to be somewhat challenging go um and and I learned it when when all of us sitting around the room learned it and and this um I know we we don't share what the uh what the exercises are in in specifics um certainly we we expect that this committee will be able to see uh you know under cover of um you know privilege the the after action report so we can see what the independent uh consultant uh pointed out for strengths and areas Improvement uh but but you know
038one of the uh I I can assume that this was in all hazards type of approach so we don't say exactly what type of exercise it was but the goal is no matter what the incident you're really testing the capacity of the administration to respond communicate internally externally and really see where the gaps are because that's the goal is to expose them so I just want to make sure we this was all hazards in in the approach you you are correct excellent when can we expect that after action report from uh from the consultant uh I I was told by uh our vendor that it'd be about a week okay Ms Wesley thanks Mr Casa Mr Roan um so I understand uh we're waiting for the after Action Report um without disclosing anything confidential where
039were there any outcomes that you identified that you would want us as a board or as as an Administration to implement now um by the end of the school year or early next year um in this particular exercise I I don't think so um I think you know we work through the exercise we talked through a couple challenges within the exercise but I think ultimately at the end of the exercise um we we got to we got to a resolution and for the particular exercise that we worked um the the plans um really worked out and we talked about and uh Dr McKenna if you have anything else to add there um you know I think again I think we're ready to to go to the next level with the full scale um but I
040I don't I don't think we identified a a true challenge that we needed an immediate response to Dr Bauer yeah um I was very pleased I mean first all the way from the faciliter facilitator excuse me all the way down to um the response from Mr Rhone uh the building principal um Dr McKenna was kind of so we we simulated in the room like this side of the room is the folks who are here at the ESC this side of the room is the folks that are on scene and Dr McKenna in an event that occurs at the elementary level would go to the building whereas I stay back and I'm kind of calling the shots at uh central office or wherever our Command Center would be um and it was it was really well
041done it was neat hearing from um I don't mind sharing that Mr Ernst um from Lansdale Borough was there and he participated um he shared it actually publicly in his meeting that evening he was so proud of it and the fact that we all worked together and did this practice session uh he asked permission to report out so I said yeah please do the community needs to know that we work together on these things and do such exercises and simulations we were drafting Communications to families live and in the moment um and it was just very thorough I felt we were very prepared um you know the situation that we handled is one that we've dealt with before um so it was and and our facilitator didn't know that but not everyone in the room
042had dealt with it I unfortunately have so I had experience and but it allowed me to take a step back and listen to people and hear what they think they should do and you know there was some disagreement in the room but it was healthy and we learned from it um so I do look forward to the report that's great I'm happy to hear that you know it went as well as you thought the communication was flow with all of the entities involved and I'm happy to hear from Mr Rohn that they did not identify her he didn't identify anything that he felt that may you know you want to change at this point in time so thank you for that Dr McKenna yeah Dr Bauer hit on a lot of what I was going
043to say um however the one point I wanted to add was how important um building Administration was in this uh particular scenario um we only we actually had the principle of uh the school where this event was taking taking place and uh you know I think many of us have had a little more experience at the district level in some of these incidences but I think as you know talking to Mr Roan as we move forward with more school safety uh practice and uh you know support for administration I think these tabletop scenarios would be really important to do and more of a just include more of our building Administration moving forward so they have some of that experience because I just know for that particular principle I mean it was it was a great
044you know two hours well spent for that particular principle um and she was actually a new administrator as well so I just think like moving forward um I think that's something we can continue to do with with more of our building administrators yeah and I really appreciate that uh because those are the type of insights that and I'm I'm thrilled and when we have that type of independent objective um confirmation right from Lansdale that was shared and how excited they were it's important that we're not just patting ourselves on the back which is very much um deserved to Pat each other on the back and celebrate um this type of preparedness but uh if we're not finding the potential blind spots just over the horizon uh then we're absolutely going to miss them and I
045I appreciate that explanation uh Dr McKenna because my my follow-up question just to the team but also question slash comment is right this is what I want to see for Title IX it doesn't necessarily need to be uh it doesn't necessarily mean or behavioral threat assessment doesn't have to be a two hour long tabletop all right time uh it's important how much time you have but if we're able to get this down to the building level that's something that you know we're reinforcing at the the Grassroots what we need need to have for a system-wide approach and so is there going to be an opportunity to take the lessons from this maybe not just the uh after Action Report I'm not sure um how useful that may or may not be but how do we
046share these lessons from this one building and the administration make sure it gets replicated each one of our buildings as well and right and then that's that other point I hope whether it's you know behavioral threat assessment Title IX other health and safety issues we we continue to have smaller tabletops so to speak and we don't always need a consultant for that but I'll go back to that question what from the after action report is the district's plan to um to just spread the word on Lessons Learned or best practices this is why we were successful so so I think you know we'll we'll take we'll take the feedback from the actor Action Report uh to the point you know we will we will find Opportunities um both for district administrator and I think I
047think you can dig another layer down um and something I have I have recommended to school districts all across the country is you can you know you can take six minutes you know we took two hours and this one was had a lot of moving parts and it you know it kind of dug in a little bit but you know going down to that next layer you know this is something that can be done at the building level with a principal and a staff meeting the first five or six minutes of a staff meeting just kind of walk through you know what possibly could be uh you know something at the building level so there's there's opportunity there uh to to get it down uh to to the teacher level uh but certainly that has
048to be done in a methodical and well mapped out um way but certainly can can can reach down to the to the teacher level in the building thank you Mr Roan and my my last recommendation I think my goal is Heelys on retainer just a little bit longer uh based on the contract we voted on last year uh I believe because that's where they they provide Statewide Emergency Management and other subject matter expertise Services through a state contract I believe once a month they send out to all administrators I'm not sure the details but they have like one question a month across the state that's related to to important public safety issues they use that information and aggregate it to learn right who's answering with a higher score who has a lower score which type
049of administrator and then they can customize those types of trainings but um maybe your contact there at Margolis Healey could could share some of those questions that that maybe could be utilized at uh at North Penn for some of these ideas you know it just needs to be a five minute conversation sometimes and I I think let's use the resources we have on retainer while we have them receipt thank you any other questions or comments from the team and seeing none Karina when I just have a one more opportunity for questions thoughts you have um you know in terms of other business that we didn't discuss uh before we go to public comment the floor is yours okay thank you so much um I guess I could discuss um when we toured the new school
050I believe it was upper Marion um and we are just looking at um what improvements we could make to our school if we were to renovate the whole school and when I was discussing um it with the other students I do believe there was like a concern for safety because the school was very open which is why I'm bringing it up here um and I think it did do a good job of balancing like students needs and how the building should be created for the students while still being safe which I think is something to keep in mind for um if we do decide to rebuild North Penn um it wasn't a like main discussion Point among the adults I'm pretty sure um but just the people in my group we were talking about it
051and it's just something that I wanted to like highlight for the trip so thank you thank you it's a very good point and and I I know um Mr Rowe knows about crime prevention through environmental design and I know that we have asked our we've asked Trader group as well the Architects I'm sorry I'm interested to learn from Mr Rohn uh anything else regarding that that serious concern you do have been shared yeah I'll just follow up with um so I I did go out and and spend uh about two hours um with the school safety director uh at upper Marion and and talked through uh some of the concerns that the community had and the staff and the students had originally about safety in the open space in the amount of glass um and
052how you know they address uh some of those concerns and uh after they got in the building and then there was a little bit of time there uh you know some of those concerns went away so I did spend some some time and I'll certainly spend some more time as this process continues to move through uh just to be as far as head ahead of this is as I possibly can when having conversations with Dr Bauer Dr McKenna Mr Snyder Mr Nicholson as as things begin to move um some some of the areas that we can be ahead of by being able to take advantage the intelligence thank you Mr Ron thank you again Karina to the topic we wouldn't have had on the agenda if you didn't just bring that up so thanks and
053with that we'll move on now to any other additional items other business from those on the committee seeing none we'll move the public comments I'll read the disclaimer uh if you tell me to miss Vegas uh yes we do have a hands up okay wonderful thank you for those joining us tonight 's meeting is our regular regularly scheduled committee meeting 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 ensure compliance with this requirement 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 members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to three minutes hey Miss
054fakish thank you um our first hand up is Ben hartramp so Ben I'm going to allow you to talk and then you need to unmute your mic you may unmute I I my God can you hear me yes Ben welcome okay I just want to make sure hey Benjamin heart trans Lansdale Pennsylvania I just wanted to um first of all thank North Penn School District and North Penn School Board for um doing autism acceptance month um has been a really great month so far I just wanted to thank the board for including people with special needs um tomorrow I'm actually going up to um Harrisburg um to meet with the governor's office and the senate floor so I'm very excited about that opportunity tomorrow and yeah so I can't wait to um see if I
055meet Shapiro and I'm gonna probably take a selfie if I beat him and selfie like a pitcher and um yeah so I'm pretty excited about that but um I'm ready to be North Penn proud and let you all know that I'm very excited for this opportunity so thank you again for running me be successful and I'm pretty excited for this opportunity thank you thanks for making us North Penn proud and leading the way Ben good luck tomorrow can't wait to see that selfie I just need to say Ben thank you just thank you for calling thanks for putting a smile on all of our face um you're the best I appreciate it our next Community member is Jason Lanier Mr Lanier I'm going to allow you to talk please unmute your mic state your name
056and address for the board uh Jason Lanier Lansdale um yeah Ben's awesome uh he is uh it's hard not to smile when he talks I I will say that he's uh he's a very energetic guy it's it's awesome to hear him speak and what he's been able to do um I wanted to comment uh Mr Castle brought up uh blind spots a lot and I I think I I think I've said this and I kind of touched on this last meeting the the the the blind spot is I think uh North Penn is creating problems they're creating Problems by some of the things they are allowing and I think I've you know on a macro level there's a lot of things that uh that can fall into this category but specifically in in this instance
057the the the transgender clubs and things the this is not I'm not just talking like um I'm some hater I don't want to uh I'm just trying to be mean this is real science this is data that came from Switzerland over 25 years this is not this isn't arbitrary this isn't a micro study this is huge information over years they find that the stuff out that that that that that affirmation in in hormone therapy and ultimately transitioning surgery leads to mass depression and suicide in in suicide as someone who is that who is in in that having that much difficulty isn't far from homicide and I think this creates a problem this is a blind spot I mean and I I don't know if it's fair to look at what happened I guess it was
058in in in Wisconsin but when when people are are are hold lies or are affirmed lies and it doesn't really comes to True fruition they're never what they want to be but they're constantly told they're going to do that if they just keep on uh going down a certain path and it's just not going to ever work it it creates in our mind a false narrative a falsehood that was a lie and this is going to be this could be problematic and I don't know why I mean I don't know maybe you guys are internally looking at this and and this is part of your your your threat assessment uh but it seems to me that you would want to maybe you know people who are going through this need to see see real psychological
059help this isn't something that a counselor can deal with uh this is real this is real problematic because like I said Sweden Finland um uh uh England Norway they've all found this out and they they've backed off pushing this and and doing this affirmation because it becomes disastrous in the long run for the individual primarily I'll leave it there thank you Mr Lanier I'm not aware of any transgender club we have and I think a lot of the issues you bring up Mr Lanier uh if someone needs any type of help within North Penn it doesn't matter whom they are or what it is they need we do everything we can to make sure they're connected with the right resources and I'm sure that our Administration can speak more specifically to that so when some
060of the issues that you're bringing up um and studies I think go far beyond a school and I just want to make sure that we're clear that North Penn isn't in any of the the business necessarily of the things that you're you're alluding to so I think maybe there's a more specific conversations we can have outside of the meeting because I I'm I need to understand more I'm confused about some of the connections you're making with any blind spots at North Penn has but thank you for being a part of these meetings virtually every month so uh thank you Mr Lanier uh sorry Miss fakish for pausing the next speaker um that is all the no one else has their hands up did I miss anything uh Dr Bauer and my my quick assessment there
061I think Mrs um pagiano has her hand up somebody just put their hand up um hold that thought okay uh Jessica cashione no I'm I apologize um I'm gonna allow you to talk please unmute your mic state your name for the board uh good evening thank you sorry for putting my hand up belatedly I thought there would be a longer line my name is Jessica caggiano I'm resident of town Manson Township I just had a um and I I haven't had the the pleasure of attending one of these meetings previously so I apologize if this is repetitive or was covered in your last meeting I just had a question about um in terms of the overall plan for the district and I know there was a reference earlier to obviously building level specifics whether on-site
062security which I have seen once or twice whether it's the talmudson police or a vehicle that was marked security at various times is a component of the overall you know plan for the districts and if it is at this time you know how is it how is it being utilized it just wasn't clear to me and I thought this might be an opportunity to get some clarity from you all on that part of the plan or maybe it's maybe it's not a part of the plan or it's going to be so I didn't know if you could comment on that if you have a moment too and I thank you for your time thank you for engaging us and asking those questions repeatedly we have parents who it's their first time engaging with the district
063especially on such an important topic and I I feel it's something that perhaps with Dr Bauer and others I'm also more than happy to have a a conversation Beyond just this meeting so we can share some of those details though there's only so far in what we could share in the actual plans I don't think you're asking anything too complicated so I'll hand it off to superintendent Bauer to to maybe give that high level answer and then we could follow up probably afterwards with more specifics and answer any other questions you might have yes thank you Mr Casa I'll see if I can address uh both things that you spoke to uh so in reference to uh Mr Lanier's comments um I believe you asked about clubs we do have um at the secondary level
064and uh at each building I believe uh rainbow Alliance which the rainbow Alliance um I believe is a National Organization um and it's a club to support all students um and it's uh in particular we have a lot of students who are lgbtq who participate in the rainbow Alliance which is after school um and it's really I've attended the meetings I believe board members have been invited and attended meetings for speakers or or whatever it may be and it's really just to support kids um and they get into a safe space and they talk um you know people who believe that there are nefarious intentions with such a group that is that is not the case it's really just giving kids a space our clubs are especially the secondary level are entirely student generated um
065and again I would be happy to discuss the process for creating a club and obtaining an advisor for the club uh with anyone who's interested um as for Ms caggiano's questions thank you uh please feel free to send me an email my email address is bower b-a-u-e-r-t-m as in Todd Michael at mpen.org I can put you in touch with uh the appropriate people but in general I believe our Mr own give me like a thumbs up or down here I think we have uh 16 full-time security guards is that about right yep um and a couple roaming who are about go around the district we have several security vehicles at this point um and where all of our security guards are I'd be happy to have a personal conversation with you to kind of talk
066all that through but certainly protocols uh a a big department and they provide excellent care for our students and staff um I here's a just one example but uh Mr Jones Bernie Jones is a lead security guard at the high school and I can tell you that when I was the high school principal and Mr Nicholson could probably say the same I would say of all the adults in the building if a student was having a really bad day or a really difficult situation um and I got called into it as a building principal If Ever I couldn't control the individual it was Mr Jones uh because he could had developed the relationships with the kids you stand in the front of the building on any given day and every single kid who comes to
067the door Hey Bernie what's up Bernie high fives um that's what we expect you build relationships with kids and then kids trust you and share information and are willing to you know take the interventions and the support because you've developed aforementioned relationships I don't know if Karina if you want to chime in at all um obviously I'm careful in a public forum to talk too much about our security parameters and protocols but in general I do believe we are well staffed and have the resources necessary and we are proposing actually additions to the department as well for next year uh Karina anything to add yeah I will say the security guards at North Penn are very much like well loved everyone really appreciates them there and they are very well known as well so yeah
068and and that feedback matters I I'd also like to share for you know that that question elicits a lot of different types of responses because it's um it's a thoughtful question and it relates to Mr Rohn mentioning that layered approach so we want to be holistic and proactive we um our overall strategy is thoughtful and informed by evidence-based uh practices and in that way you can look at the Secret Service report after Virginia Tech that looked at higher education and K-12 systems and and tragedies and also those which were averted and one key piece of the research was the relationship the connection that someone has a student a staff member a parent to their school or institution the stronger that was the more likely you know safe to say something as part of our layered
069approach that someone would report something that they would go to a counselor we're hiring more counselors I think it's interesting with what Mr Lanier said because our counselors are very professional caring and can handle any of the issues that are brought to them or use the resources they have if for some reason it needs more than than at their level of uh in the district that they can provide that care so I want to make sure that that's understood as well and that layered approach doesn't mean just how many boots you have on the ground for security it's your relationships with local law enforcement which when we brought Margolis Healey in to do a comprehensive assessment they met with all the police Chiefs they met with First Responders we've invested heavily in climate coordinators how
070can we get to the problems before they they you know let's get to them at a simmer before it boils up and we've invested again in this year's budget and making sure there's climate coordinators in every school I believe that's the case we'll do the thumbs up or down right Dr Bauer and that's the way that that when we mention a layered approach and we can provide more details that's the way we look at the evidence-based practices positive behavioral intervention services at all of our our schools as well the restorative justice practices and making sure that the proper trainings for de-escalation and implicit bias also occur and ultimately that we're transparent with the data that we have that we're able to put that out there look in the mirror and see where maybe it's it
071doesn't reflect what we want to see is the values of this community and then work on that and that's where if you have the communication the transparency and the data that provides parents the ability to hold the school board and the district accountable or aboard the whole the administration accountable or the administration to hold the building supervisor accountable so that's how it all fits together sorry for the big lecture but we're very passionate about these Topics in this committee so thank you for your time are there any other uh hands that have gone up Miss fakish there are not and please anyone listening feel free to follow up with Dr Bauer the administration this committee we're more than happy to have those conversations and get you the information there's plenty out there that we don't
072know and uh it takes the entire Community to make sure we have safer schools thank you everyone for attending uh tonight I know facilities and operations is next and I've lost my date for the next meeting in May does someone have the the May meeting date in front of them I believe it's Monday the 22nd okay and I know sometimes that moves in May so the next meeting of the safe schools committee will be May 22nd at 5 45 PM in a virtual format and we look forward to seeing hopefully more people there as well uh motion to adjourn