NPSD School Board Action Meeting 2-17-22

001[Music] good evening welcome to tonight's action meeting we're going to start off the meeting with the pledge of allegiance please is just a reminder that there is a mass mandate in effect this evening from the north penn school district so please be sure to wear your mask appropriately all right next up is the audience of citizens tonight's um hold on one second all right so before we call people up i just read off the statement 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 are being videotaped in order to meet the requirements of pennsylvania's sunshine law it is necessary to record the names of all citizens who speak to the board during the meeting to ensure

002compliance with this requirement it is 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 allow time for those who wish to speak to the board the board president may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker as a reminder the audience of citizens portion of this meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the districts 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 directors may choose to respond to public comments that have been made once the audience of citizens period has concluded or requested a member of the administration follow up with the speakers

003after the meeting and this is in reference to board policy so with that we will start with our first speaker and that is mr vincent altieri mr alteary are you um whichever one number one and then next up will be mrs um pauline brocco so you can go to number two i'm like you're already there so all right that's fine good evening mr altiri mensah terry lansdale pa this is my fourth consecutive school board meeting shame on me for not getting involved sooner in order to beat the enemy you need to know the enemy so what is north penn school district biggest strength the strength is that politically based school boards and superintendents know that they have a relatively small window to indoctrinate our children they bank on the possibility that the parent will just

004go away and accept your indoctrination during this time you ignore deflect and do what politicians do best take our money and do what you want with it well i believe there's hope for us ignored and concerned parents not because you kurt dietrich the 270 thousand dollar man is leaving but because parents are waking up the parents woke up in virginia the school board in new orleans pa woke up by removing cnn from the classrooms the bluest of bluest states in california recalled three board of directors because their draconian ways cannot go on and on i only have three minutes so now you kirk dietrich the 270 thousand dollar man hear the footsteps and you're moving on to other victims i've done my research you have four goals with 15 bullets one of the goals is

005for expansion efforts to provide for mental health needs for our students you get an f on all of them and an f plus on putting diapers on our children for two plus years in fact you want to build a covert clinic i have a much better idea for that money build a psychiatric ward with about 10 beds in it because that's what we need let's move on north penn north penn north penn north penn ridge school district dr bolton okay let's talk a little bit about him if i was in better shape i could jog to their school district okay these are his goals dr bolton what dr bolton believes in is he believes in stressing relationships staff wellness quality instruction and meaningful learning okay by the way for the past two years penridge gave

006the parents and children options you haven't i wrote a letter on your behalf to dr bolton and that reads as follows unfortunately for my child i'm a north penn school district resident i understand from parents and teachers in your school district that you epitomize what education should stand for meaningful learning and quality instruction just to name a couple i've become very vocal with these board meetings i'm not going to stop i'm a tax paying parent and i'm an american that's being violated and ignored out of respect for your position dr bolton i wanted to give you advance notice that i will bring up your name and your work during my next opportunity you should hire dr bolton you don't have the leadership courage to do it so i know you won't as a side note

007you are probably aware that kurt teacher quit he calls it retiring in june i call it quit likely to pursue another political position selfishly i will i am i encourage dr ball to take that position i am going time's up you're welcome [Applause] another yeah and if we could refrain from personal attacks on people that would be appreciated thank you well they have to make my name is pauline braccio and i live about a couple miles from here i went to this school can you excuse me could you just state your municipality that you live in oh gentleman i like you and uh i came to this school when it was still penfield junior high and i wish i could go back to that name but anyway um i just want to because of that

008lawsuit that's going on in programming valley i want to read what i found actually yesterday there was a new study quietly published in january's journal of infection headlined immunocompromised children and young people are at no increased risk of severe covid19 no risk the researchers studied immunocompromised pediatric covid patients for a year between march 2020 and march 2021 they compared those kids outcomes with non-immunocompromised kids including that the study shows coveted infections have occurred in immunocompromised children and young people with no increased risk and no children died how about that this study effectively rebuts the chief argument pro masters are making these days to keep the masks on school kids they've been whining but what about immune compromised kids i guess we don't need to worry about it the other thing i'd like to talk about

009is the special needs children we know we had that big thing and when the teacher aaron van casella put the tape on the child's face with the mask and i wish she would be here to apologize to everyone but that was not an isolated incident when my daughter was coming to school kindergarten i observed a woman who was in charge of three severely autistic boys and they were probably about fifth grade age and she would walk them through the halls and she would smack them if they didn't do exactly what she wanted them to do they were non-verbal so they couldn't go home and and tell their parents what was going on um so that she brought them into my daughter's kindergarten class and i my daughter told me what happened she and another little

010girl started crying because they were afraid they had never seen boys you know that and they were acting erratically and this woman mrs moore was her name and uh she said when when your mommy went to mcdonald's that's how she treated the two little girls one of them being my daughter so this has been going on we're talking 22 years this the way north penn school district has been treating well special needs kids and i think with that money that you're getting you need to put a camera in every single room where there is a special needs child because your time is up i know you turned off the mic [Applause] thank you ma'am mrs ferry man that does conclude your comments mrs ferry thank you [Applause] samantha ferry hatfield township uh i would just

011like to make a statement regarding the voicemail sent to the district and i think i can speak for all of us as a community that in no way shape or form do we agree or promote violence i'm glad that the police are taking the steps to investigate this matter i just wish that the same steps would have been taken by you know and the same outrage and by the board members to have the police investigate the woman who was up here speaking at a board meeting and then later on threatened a child in the audience but instead you guys sat there and did nothing then you adjourned the meeting and blamed us for causing an uproar i'd like to think we are all here for the best interest of the kids but those sitting on

012the stage do nothing but putting politics before people again where is the same outrage and investigation pertaining to the privilege walk segregation and child abuse child abuse for not only allowing to continue this insane belief that mass are protecting the kids but also for the special education teacher who taped a mass to a child's face this is also not an isolated incident as she just said the taping of a mass to a child's face is happening all over this district and all grade levels having said all that i am glad that north penn is holding the spotlight across the nation for the corrupt child abuse and mistreatment that has been going on here and continues today parents do not be fooled if they decide to lift the mass mandate it was never about your child's

013health and safety this was about money and abuse of power also don't forget midterm elections are coming up your agenda is failing and the world is waking up do you feel the walls closing in it's happening and i promise you you will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law i highly advise every one of you to follow in curt detroit's footsteps and resign immediately because you will not get away with what you have done to these kids i'm a mom and it's my job to protect my children from people like you you absolutely disgust me mr lombros you're next mr lombros mr lombos did you want to make a comment next up then would be mrs anime johnny potemsky lansdale i want to start out by saying we come in peace i

014want to start out by saying we come in peace we are here or why are we here we are here because it is our right to be here we are here because we are concerned for the children we are concerned about the neglect of special needs kids we are concerned about the misuse of funds unnecessary masking pornographic books within the libraries and overall lack of empathy to parents students and taxpayers exhibited by the board you have been gaslighting the public against anyone who speaks out against or questions um your policy creating the same division that you keep using to save your own political clout instead of working with us you brush us off pick fun at us for watching fox news and judge us on who we vote for your supporters also spread slander and

015lies about people who oppose you calling us white supremacists among other false hurtful names moms for liberty has been relentlessly attacked and i have a question for you as leaders as people who want peace do you disavow statements like that coming from people who support you anybody or is it okay is it okay to call anyone who disagrees with you a white supremacist or a nazi or a bigot with no founding behind that simply just disagree now for the record you say we are not here in hostility and we do not support violent rhetoric or actions or threatening voicemails we will never be afraid to stand up for our rights and those of the children many people are afraid to speak out due to fear of cancer culture attacking their lives jobs businesses due to

016a difference of opinion be the leaders that you claim to be and stop the hateful bullying cancel culture and woke policy where the community will stay divided and that's your choice there's no reason for it and we can cancel too have a good day is mrs potemki here hi i'm anna mae patemsky i'm from hatfield township two years ago a north penn employee was fired after she posted a political opinion on her personal facebook page a day after the post was made the district was quick to issue a statement condemning the teacher the district had no issue with telling the public at that time that the teacher was placed on administrative leave while an investigation was conducted she was ultimately fired over a month ago now another north penn teacher went viral for taping a

017mask onto a student's face the district was slow to issue any comment in fact the picture was only released because of a lack of action of any kind by the district once forced to make a comment we were told that all personnel matters are confidential the actions taken thereafter by the administration were not equal that special education teacher is still employed by north penn she is still in the classroom with our children members of the board seem to have been more upset at the public release of the photo than of the actual incident itself on your north penn neighbors for progress facebook page you were outraged at the what you called exploitation of negative news for political gain where was your outrage at the what you call negative news itself there was no condemnation the

018stark contrast of how the board handled each of these incidents speaks volumes if not a reflection of your political ideologies then what is it thank you mrs potemsky uh dana blaso is next mrs blaser are you resident of the north penn school district i am in a group you're allowed to group it before so i'm allowed to be here no you do need to be a resident or taxpayer of the district i am a moms for liberty yes i was in here before i've been up here many years you're welcome to attend the meeting you're just not permitted to i've always spoke at every meeting before before i begin there is 45 minutes reserved for this it is reserved for taxpayers of this community you are not among them you are wasting their time so

019you know [Music] ma'am you are disrupting utilizing the 45 minutes by the way and ah you're applauding security can you excuse me we need to do something about this lady thank you thank you all right mrs gad you're up next and then mr lanier you are required to be a resident of the district or a taxpayer mrs gad go ahead roseanne gad lansdale on february 1st excuse me ma'am you are disrupting the speaker who's at the podium on february 1st i filed a right to know which allows we the people to have access to specific information i was given a 30-day extension which is irresponsible and unacceptable so with this lack of leadership our con our children continue to suffer for what another month year under the freedom of information act it states we have

020the right to request access to records from every federal agency every public official is bonded through a bonding company and we the people with that being said each one of you are personally responsible for any violations under the united states constitution and state laws we the people give the opportunity for you to do the right thing maybe your solicitor can help you understand the ramifications of all your decisions from the last two years here are some laws that have been broken and i'm only touching on a few broken law number one title 21 united states code 360 bbb-3 emergency use authorization also known as eua products are by definition experimental and thus require the right to refuse under the nuremberg code the foundation of ethical medicine no one may be coerced to participate in a

021medical experiment a consent of the individual is absolutely essential a federal court held that even united states military could not mandate you eua vaccines to soldiers this means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent and able to exercise free power of choice without intervention of any element of force fraud deceit duress overreaching or other ulterior form of constraints or coercion broken law number two regarding child abuse title 23 chapter 63 6303 intentionally knowingly or recklessly doing anything to endanger a child or interfering with their breathing of a child broken law number three title 22 chapter 14 deprivation of basic human rights such as withholding meals water or fresh air or treatment of a demeaning nature the united states constitution and specifically the due process clause of the 14th amendment protects and

022fundamental rights of parents to direct the care upbringing and education of their children people in power don't listen to their constituents are just tyrants this should be your oath to we the people if i am a public official then i am a public servant if i am a public servant my boss is the people mrs god your time mr lanier mrs gad your time is up not one moment the the limit is three minutes i'm going to point this out again folks there are 45 minutes allotted for this process we are not going to extend it because people want to go beyond their time [Music] mr lanier no i'm good with it [Applause] sir you need to sit down you are out of order my right to speak now i'm a taxpayer and a homeowner

023for 31 years my kids have been through this school from 1992 to 2018. and i'd like to speak that's fine but and then mr lanier you're up after that what side are you on this board has this notion that they run the show news flash we the people have the power as i see at the walls of jericho are crashing all around the foolish ones if you have been complicit and can't think for yourself follow the rule of law then you too are foolish let me explain every public official has a bond or liability policy that ensures the constitution of the state's laws are upheld to the highest regard we are not run by a corporation any longer but by the constitutional republic for the united states of america if you are found guilty of

024any of the following laws you should be shuddering i can't read this anymore all i really want to be here to say is it breaks my heart to see these kids in masks it is child abuse it is just wrong and you know it's wrong tina your kids went to school with my kids every one of you people up there who who were making these rules are making them wrongly the law shouldn't take precedent over our kids our kids our your mandates your mandates should not take precedence over our kids i live next to an elementary school i see the school buses going by those kids are sad they're they're just broken and you're just breaking them more every day i see a little less of them every day i see their smiles taken away

025from them because none of them are showing them anymore because they're all being forced to it's just wrong everything that's going on right now is just wrong please stop this please for the sake of our kids this has to stop please [Applause] mr lanier is next and then it is mrs renner karen renner jason lanier lance dalburo first want to say that i completely completely uh condone the or excuse me object to any kind of phone call regarding um rachel uh i'm sorry here uh we're gonna terroristic threats i can't i um dumbfounded that that happened i'm sorry it happened that aside i'm really surprised but still you brought it up as spoken before here there are a number of investigations going on that you would not involve one word about but for this you

026guys went and spilled all the beans you talked about everything you doxed the teachers you told us their race i'm not sure what the significance of all that is other than to say it seems quasi-political from my angle but here this is the problem i see you guys did all that but you didn't apologize you did not apologize for what had happened and i blame you guys because back a full year nearly a full year it was brought to your attention that this privilege box were happening and yet you did nothing i have the entire timeline i'll go through it as quickly as i can here uh on the 21st of of uh april last year i was actually talking i was here to talk about mass and somebody brought up equity in education i

027asked what that meant on the on the 4th of may i asked why uh what is why is critical race theory being adopted you guys denied that was happening uh again on the 11th of may same thing you guys refused to acknowledge it 20th same thing on the 20th also board member campbell said we're not teaching critical race theory no school in this country is okay on the 21st i said uh on on on june 21st i said uh the why are you doing pccy implementation agreed this is also uh a race walk or privilege walk ms stoll you said at that point there is no crt being taught in the school which never said i said it was being implemented and no matter how often you say it this is you speaking we'll not

028we're not separating kids promise race walks will not be happening in this school that's what you said on the on 8th of june um fast forward 15th uh it was brought up again you said it's not happening in this school you said this to me personally ms dole at the action meeting on 15th where's your evidence that uh on the 15th of september uh board member g and fusco both rejected anything that was said about privileged walks they said it doesn't happen in the school stop watching fox tv fusco you said it's bunk i'm tired of hearing about it yet at this last board meeting that you guys had you acknowledged it has been happening and you're proud it is happening my question is what other schools are at what other schools are is it

029happening in is it happening in montgomery elementary how about now that is three minutes time's up mrs renner sir mrs renner here and after mrs renner is mr stephen reinhardt okay i'm from the karen renner from the heifer hatfield borough karen renner from the hatfield borough i'm here with several concerns that i have the first one was brought to my attention an incident that occurred recently in in a nearby elementary school in north penn a friend of mine whose son is 10 years old attends a north penn elementary school relayed to me an incident in the cafeteria where her son was confronted by another boy in in the cafeteria and who made a threat to both him and his family to kill them the person in charge of the seating arrangements in the cafeteria told

030my friend's son that he had to forgive the child and that he didn't know what he was saying because english is his second language he even admitted later saying it to the teacher so i would say if that he has a pretty good grasp of the english language when the parents spoke to the principal and stated you seem to have a zero bullying tolerance the principal replied that it wasn't bullying because it did not involve race religion or gender this is appalling that there would be no punishment given to the boy that made the threat this incident happened two weeks ago another concern i have is sexually explicit books in schools example gender queer is the name of a book a story and the author maya kobe coming out as queen and non-binary and asexual

031the story contains graphic texts and illustrations children engaged in sexual acts in the sexual fantasies of the then 14 year old author vowing to prosecute texas and south carolina's republican governors are demanding statewide probes into how books like these got into school libraries in virginia a kindergartner brought home a book on transgenderism from school i feel very strongly that this book and others like it not be allowed in schools because of the negative effects it will have on our children and and the implications the last concern of mine is the mask the mask restrain communication they separate our smiling faces more than a six foot imaginary distance ever could it divides americans by being a visible mark of compliance and therefore a tool for discrimination based on vaccine status religion cultural norms and political speech

032constantly changing roles from officials regarding wearing masks have been a yo-yo effect board members continue to think they have to bow to rules from the federal government when we are are uncertain scared or angry or when we are concerned for ourselves and others we are at our most vulnerable but we are also mrs reiner your time is up mrs renner your time is up thank you next up is mr reinart okay okay um i'm going to be completely different here um i just take a few seconds to even think um first of all can you start with your name and music i'm sorry steven reinhardt lansdale barrow i want to say you guys all do have the patience of saints and i want to specifically thank um mr costa who i don't see here um

033and dr bauer uh for for their um just consideration and and compassion and you know sincerity uh for all my questions um i thought i find that uh i think my you know i would i would like to see people everyone take a step back make sure you have the facts whatever they are and you know if you're right you know fine um just have the facts and be able to provide them um you know it and you know so the you know i you know i think you guys you guys have so many accusations level against you and you know you you can't answer them all um and uh well okay um and i just want to again uh thank dr dietrich for his service over these many years um we haven't always agreed

034but uh i i want to i respect your service and i want to thank you very much um so anyway thank you all and uh good night thank you mr mr reiner [Applause] next up is um mr james def stars have started good evening jim sascha montgomery township post office thinks it's lansdale i didn't come with prepared speech as i see many people have i'm concerned about a lot of things i had two children who went through north penn school system and i have grandchildren i find it difficult to understand the objection to masks kids go around playing at least my day playing cops and robbers or putting masks over their faces and i let's respect the man's time please we respected yours thank you and i wonder how much children are encouraged to object

035to the mast as opposed to explaining to them i can remember probably most of you are too young when scarlet fever was a problem and people would be quarantined much more severely than they are now i'm all for freedom as long as it stops before it hits my nose or hits my lungs i don't understand the objection i came here to try to listen i've heard a few things on an individual basis which should be taken up individually rather than by a crowd so i want to compliment you for doing the best you can under these situations do the best you can and i hope people will listen rather than quote what they've seen on tv or this evening there was even a program saying watch out for some of the home health channels which

036apparently are spreading some disinformation don't anticipate problems when they're not there except for the possibility of infection thank you mr spotlight [Applause] next up is mr tom bourneman it's mr bournemouth here and then is mrs um susan gordon my name is tom hornaman i live in upper clinton township which is part of excuse me part of landsdale borough i've lived there in lansdale for 72 years next or will be 72 years next month my wife kathy and i raised two beautiful daughters here my brother and i had a long-standing remodeling business here for many many years now i have two young grandsons in this school district i find the curriculum that this board is bringing to these schools to be reprehensible and destructive changing its name from critical race theory which it is to diversity

037equity and inclusion doesn't change a thing other than the name it's still the same thing and i feel like that you folks assume that i am an ignorant person that i don't understand this and i am deeply offended by that i would also like to tell you that the cur this current board meeting format does nothing to further dialogue with you on the issues all these parents who have come out here to state their objections over the last many months get no response from any of you except a blank stare from behind your barely visible eyes behind those hideous black masks favored favored i might say by the man who calls himself the president of the united states what an embarrassment he and all of you are to me as an american citizen and the

038fact that you are following these stupid rules that have no sign you're all you're the people that are always talking about follow the science follow the science well the science that i've seen over and over and over and over again these masks do absolutely nothing except the press my two grandsons who don't smile anymore because they have to get on the bus and come to school and sit in school all day with a mask on i just wonder how many of you when you were a kid would have thought that was a good idea thank you mrs gordon good evening good evening my name is susan gordon and i'm a 48-year resident of montgomery township and the mother of two wonderful north penn grads i'm also a former teacher in the centennial school district a

039hospital administrator and a friend of many of the people in this room and on the stage and it makes me heart sick to see how the warmth and the caring spirit of the north bend community is being torn apart and i'm not here to talk about masks or vaccinations or critical race theory or any of the other hot button issues that have made these meetings so contentious i'm here first and foremost to thank the north penn teachers administrators and staff for the amazing jobs they did and continue to do under extraordinary circumstances and i particularly want to thank the members of the school board who've given who were given the almost herculean task of creating a safe and secure learning environment for 13 000 students in the midst of a pandemic in november you remember

040you were elected by a majority of the voters in the north penn area you are elected by a majority and i hear the snickers behind me and you you have a chance again to prove that you can find enough people to support your positions to change the board but you don't have it yet you were tasked with following the dictates of the constitution to quote provo to promote the general welfare and like solomon you've tried to bring different sides together without cutting the baby in half you've tried to appease your critics with reason and facts but as jonathan swift so brilliantly stated you can't reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place our discourse has become unreasonable it's being fed by fear misunderstandings and oftentimes lies

041but also there's some and it's sometimes hard to see through the anger there's a true desire to protect our children on both sides however anger doesn't create policy and screaming at elected officials doesn't move the ball forward it's time to turn down the volume and think realistically about the hard choices that the school board directors have been called upon to make the general welfare is larger than one political party or interest group and if we are no longer willing to give a little for the greater good then we all fail together thank you uh rebecca curlett is the next one and then declan lanier is declan here i am rebecca curla i am a resident of town manson township i have two children in the district i'm also a registered nurse i want to express

042my thanks to the board and let you know that there are many parents in the district that support the current health and safety plan i know i have felt comfortable as a medical professional with this plan from the beginning now is not the time to abandon the science-based plan i'm looking at the numbers currently as of 210 all municipalities within the district are still at the high level with north wales at the substantial level it is time to have patience and stay the course all numbers have been improving over the last few weeks so it was good reason to be positive that our numbers will get to the lower ranges and we can follow the plan to make up masking optional i know no one likes wearing a mask but wearing a mask is not

043dangerous and once you're used to it it becomes easier i wear a mask all day every day at work all my cancer patients wear masks all day every day when they get their treatment people with lung cancer wear masks it is not dangerous to wear a mask excuse me can we it is a small thing to protect the more vulnerable people in our community then i want to thank the board for the patience of all this minority of people in the district that have loud voices thank you for your service thank you [Applause] last speaker is mr declan lanier is declan here mr lanier he's not here okay then we're going to move on yeah okay good i know we issues are brought up at the school board meeting like we talked about people with

044in special needs circumstances and we had there were discrepancies in the services that we were providing uh christian fusco um addressed talked to those people and what people don't understand is after these meet if you watch tina stoll at this meeting she's writing down everything she hears i think dr bauer and [Music] and our solicitor and our superintendent are also taking notes if they hear something that they think is important like the woman who said that uh her friend's son was told something i know and you can believe that they're out there checking that story out tomorrow they are they what you see here is not what happens it's just our way of taking notes to figure out what's happening in our community that's what we're here to to listen and to learn issues that

045are happening our community and they are following up on those issues you don't see the same people who with real issues coming back and complaining because dr bauer and tina and the rest of the board they follow up on those issues and that's all i have to say thank you mr rush [Applause] okay um with that we'll move on then to the next part of the um agenda which is the uh approval of the minutes from the february 8th 2022 board work session do i have a motion please so moved do i have a second motion by mr fosco seconded by dr lewis campbell are there any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries moving on then to committee reports first up is personnel the personnel committee of the

046board met in executive session on february 1st 2022 to discuss matters of personnel including the appointment of staff and staffing considerations end of report finance mr fusco please thank you at the february 8 2022 finance committee meeting which was a virtual meeting the following items were reviewed the monthly financial reports were provided and budget transfers were reviewed with additional discussion on the following items first planetary bid results mrs johnson reviewed the bid results for the upgrade to the planetarium the item was further discussed at the february 15th special finance committee meeting and the bid award appears on tonight's agenda the 2223 tax rebate program mr skaraki reviewed data from the district's rebate program for its first four years the committee recommended increasing the rebate percentage from 60 to 75 percent for the upcoming year this

047item as well appears on tonight's agenda the 2223 montgomery county intermediate unit budget mr skaraki presented an overview of the budget north penn's total share for the 22-23 school year is 209 200 which represents a 1 41 dollar or 0.68 decrease the mciu budget appears on tonight's agenda the governor's budget presentation mr skaraki provided an update on governor wolf's 2223 budget address proposed budget changes were presented for the basic and special education subsidies which would generate substantial additional revenue for the district the governor also proposed charter school reform which would have a positive impact on the district's finances mr skaraki will provide additional details under tonight's treasures report a special finance committee meeting was held on february 15 2022 which was also a virtual meeting following items were reviewed first department budget presentation the 2223

048department budgets for the emergency management and safe schools transportation and facilities and operations were presented to the committee revenue spotlight this is a new feature of the finance committee where the administration presents a deep dive into the particular revenue item at this meeting mr skaraki presented information about the earned income tax all financial presentations are accessible via board docs the next finance committee meeting will be held on tuesday march 8 2022 and tuesday march 22nd 2022. both meetings start at 6pm end of report thank you mr fusco does anyone have any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to the safe schools committee meeting dr lewis campbell would you mind reading that thank you the safe schools committee met on monday evening january 31st 2022 in a virtual format miss katrina crandall and mr

049fran moscow from margola healing associates presented an overview of their firm and the scope of work that will be performed as part of their school safety assessment engagement with north penn the committee is excited to begin the assessment process with the kickoff meeting on february 3rd with the final report to be delivered in may mr door then presented a review of our emergency procedures and related training for students dr neil broxterman joined the group to discuss specific steps taken to individualize emergency response procedures for students with special needs mr door concluded the presentation by sharing training resources available to staff including a number of new strategies just recently implemented the next safe schools committee meeting is scheduled for monday february 28th at 5 45 pm end of report thank you dr lewis campbell are there

050any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to the education curriculum and instruction committee report mr fusco please thank you the eci committee met on tuesday february 1st 2022 in virtual format at this meeting presentations informing the board and community of the work in which building principals and their staff are engaging in the area of cultural proficiency and awareness commenced each month for the remainder of the school year every building principal will take their turn to share the efforts and celebrations occurring in this area in their respective building at the meeting on february 1st the committee received updates from mrs tania swaively principal of inglewood mrs christina carter principal of culp mrs heather mann principal of bridal path and mr wesley heinel principal of hadfield the principals their staff and parents are collaborating to

051implement ways to make all students and their families feel welcome and included we invite you to take the time to view the presentations which are posted with the february 1st 2022 eci meeting in board docs the next meeting of the eci committee will take place on tuesday march 1st 2022 at 6 pm in virtual format and a report thank you mr fusco are there any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to policy mr brush i don't think you have your microphone the policy committee met on february 8th in a virtual format at the meeting the commit committee continued its policy review work in collaboration with the district administration the district solicitor and the psba new policies reviewed this month were policy 805-1 relations with law enforcement policy opening exercises flag displays policy 811

052bonding policy 812 property insurance policy 813 other insurance also policy 137.1 extracurricular participation by home school students which was adopted on february 20th was revised as a result of a recent public public school board association update the policies on the agenda this evening for first read by the full board in addition when policy 805-1 relations with law enforcement is approved notice is hereby given that the following policy will be repealed policy 1411 relation with police departments the next meeting of the policy committee will be on march 8th at 5 pm in a virtual format thank you thank you mr rush are there any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to facilities and operations mrs wesley please the facilities and operations committee met on monday january 31st in a virtual format the committee reviewed

053the following items to be moved to this evening's action meeting for the board's consideration three change orders for the knapp elementary school project ratification award of the natural gas commodity for february 2022 permission to advertise for the purchase of bottle fill water coolers the committee also reviewed the following items that were discussed the february february 8th work session meeting for the board's consideration the board approved these items at the work session meeting design contract for replacement and restoration of the natatorium roof at the high school and sections of the gwen noor elementary school roof permission to advertise the roofing projects design contract for hvac projects at bridalpath gwenet square and walton farm elementary schools and an esc air handler which is now not functioning permission to advertise the hvac projects was also added and then

054also the traffic study for the high school master planning process the committee was presented and discussed informal informational items that included the proposed 2022 capital projects the knapp elementary and crawford stadium project updates an update on the high school master plan process and recent activities and an update on the health care clinic the next facilities and operations meeting is scheduled for monday february february 28th at 7 pm and will be held in a virtual format thank you thank you mrs wesley are there any comments or questions seeing none we'll move on to the north monco technical career center the north monko joint operating committee met on monday february 7th in an executive session to discuss a personnel matter our next meeting will be this coming wednesday thank you thank you mr rush montgomery county intermediate

055unit report please mr fusco thank you the mciu board appointed and welcomed the following new mciu board members amy hubley from the school district of springfield township rowan keenan from perkins valley school district susan lawrence from pottstown school district dr gary ledberg from upper marion area school district jennifer lohman from the school district of cheltenham township sharon mourinho from colonial school district melanie schaffmeister from lower marion school district and maggie white from springford area school district eric gooding cpa partner at mali presented the audit results from the fiscal year ending june 30th 2021. congratulations to sandee edling jonathan alisi and the staff of the office of business services for this excellent report with no significant findings on behalf of the mciu administration dr speaker thank the montgomery county intermediate unit's board of directors for their

056dedication and commitment to helping improve education for the children of montgomery county happy school board directors recognition month dr speaker provided an update of the mciu organizational goals for the 21-22 school year which now includes metrics the goals were originally presented to the mciu board in september 2021. the updated document can be found in the board docs library the mciu board approved the 2223 membership services budget the mciu board approved the 2122 section 611 and section 611 arp american recovery plan budgets for training and consulting attack and equitable participation responsibilities the mciu board reviewed the agenda and report from the january 11 2022 head start policy council meeting human resources update seven professional development requests 25 new employees 14 resignations seven professional staff members have been assigned as mentors for the induction program for 2021-22

057and five professional contracts were awarded to the following tenured employees kristen piazza teacher hearing support grace cochran physical therapist evaluator lindsey spangler case manager tisha crovetti occupational therapist and lisa russo educational consultant the mciu board granted approval of a number of general contracted consultant agreements to support the following patan initiatives state personnel development grant middle school success the path to graduation in the pennsylvania department of education annual conference the mciu board approved continuations and renewals of contracted technology service agreements to support school districts for the 2122 school year the mciu board approved a number of contracted service agreements to support its many trainings programs and services provided by the office of the of mciu upcoming information tuesday february 1st 2022 mciu classroom support hiring event 12-6 at mciu lafayette street building from february march this

058year universal design for learning with shelly moore in virtual format from six to eight this past week on the 15th the mciu head start policy council meeting was held and on the 23rd of this month the board meeting will be held at 6 45 and on a side note this is typically ms ramich's report so if anybody watching this hears it and i butchered their name i sincerely apologize and a report thank you mr fusco a long report so i gave that one to you and i took the next one so the north north foundation you want to dr lewis thank you [Music] north finn foundation report the foundation met last week on wednesday february 9th in a virtual format virginia higgins communications and development specialist for the district was appointed as a trustee virginia

059will chair our alumni committee and has already made strides in improving our outreach to north penn graduates treasurer jack hoy reviewed our financial statement indicating we are in a very strong financial position he is currently working with an outside auditing firm to conduct our annual standard financial review the big project we are working on is our annual online auction which will be held may 4th through the 11th we are looking for community businesses who will donate services and products to this popular fundraising event the foundation also approved funding for the high school dui assembly this impactful event is held annually before end-of-year celebrations to show students the dangers of driving under the influence the foundation's five hundred dollar support will fund the day speakers our next week meeting is on march 9th at 8 a.m

060end of report thank you dr lewis campbell are there any comments or questions i would like to thank the education foundation for the support for the new tell us at the new projector at the uh planetarium planetarium thank you very much it's it's very welcome all right the final report then would be uh legislative and that is from mr mcmahon please thank you madam chair our madam president i should say governor wolf recently unveiled his 22 i'm sorry 2022-2023 budget proposal which includes significant funding increases for public education community members are invited to review mr scrocky's deep recent deep dive into the proposal for more details as the next step in the budget process the pennsylvania house and senate appropriations committees will conduct hearings on the proposal in the next several weeks the full house

061and full senate are expected to reconvene in late march and of report thank you mr mcbain next up is the solicitor's report mr summers please uh thank you my report this evening is to announce that the board did meet in an executive session immediately prior to the meeting this evening for the purpose of discussing a matter of personnel involving an administrative position and that concludes my report thank you mr summers next up then is the superintendent's report dr dietrich please thank you i recommend approval of the items under the consent agenda namely items dealing with policies first readings of policies repeals of policies gifts to the district building rental fees the advertising for bid a request for proposals various contracts bid awards student travel and student agreements items a through l as listed do i

062have a motion so moved 22nd motion by uh mr fusco seconded by mr rush any comments or questions um i would just like to say for the gifts to the district i would like to thank the people who donated so generously and i see that there is um two gifts for special olympics bocce court are we hosting the special olympics again this year we're not it's just okay well thank you to the um generous donations that were made to the district okay so we have a motion on the floor if there's no further comments all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the personnel items as per the attached do i have a motion so moved second motion by mr fusco seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions seeing

063none all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the community education program fee schedule for summer camps 2022. do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco seconded by dr g any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend the approval of change order c12 the low bar incorporated in the amount of zero dollars for additional changes to complete the lobby by having a contractual change made by applying the unit cost allowance 16 to this change order recommend the approval of change order c13 to low bar incorporated and the amount of zero dollars for additional flooring underlayment in phase five quarters by having a contractual change made to apply the unit cost allowance 23. to this change order and recommend the approval

064of change order c 14 to low bar incorporated in the amount of seven thousand six hundred thirteen dollars seven cents for additional fascia materials and changes to metal studs and sheet rock do i have a motion motion by mrs wesley do i have a second seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend the ratification award of the natural gas commodity contract with ugi energy services for the month of february 2022 at a rate of four dollars eight point seven cents per deca therm do i have a motion some move do i have a second second motion by mr fusco and second seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions what is a dekatherm you don't want to answer that thank you all in

065favor say aye any opposed motion not a available motion by dr uh mr fusco seconded by dr g any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the attached resolution for a real estate tax rebate program for qualified homeowners and renters for the 2021-22 fiscal year do i have a motion so moved motioned by dr lewis campbell seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions madam president i have a typo in that resolution that should say the 22-23 year i apologize oh yes sorry thank you um mr summers do we have to we don't have to redo the motion do we no it's just clear that the motion that's being voted on is the motion as listed but for the 2022-2023 fiscal year okay i believe that

066same mistake might have been throughout the mciu uh presentation as well but i'm not sure we're not reading that again um so just to make note for people watching that we are increasing the amount of the rebate percentage to 75 percent of what the state rebate is and we encourage those that are eligible to please apply and take advantage of this rent our property tax and rent rebate program that is offered in this district so there is a motion on the floor any other comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you thank you dr dietrich financial reports mr scrocky please thank you madam president uh thank you to the board for approving the tax rebate program for the 22-23 year that will be the fifth year of the

067program and this year already we've had nearly 400 individuals receive a rebate average rebate of 268 dollars so it's a program that has been replicated by a number of districts throughout the state and certainly the residents that receive that rebate are appreciative they are the most needy in the school district so thank you once again for that just a quick update on the governor's proposed budget for the 2223 fiscal year and the impact it would have on north penn school district governor wolf did deliver his budget address on february the 8th and in north penn if approved as presented north penn would realize a 4.4 million dollar increase in its basic education funding that's a 38 percent increase over the current year's amount the special education subsidy would increase by hundred 513 dollars that's a

068seven and a half percent increase also the governor proposed charter school reform at north penn it would save the district nearly 1.1 million dollars and that charter school reform statewide would save a total of 373 million dollars it would happen via two mechanisms 199 million dollars in savings would be established would be the savings i should say as a result of establishing a statewide cyber school tuition rate of 9 800 hours per student per year also an additional 174 million dollars in savings per year would result from changing the special education formula that charter schools cyber schools actually receive so again in total the proposal would save 373 million dollars statewide nearly 1.1 million dollars at north penn we certainly would support the governor's proposed budget and that budget does not include an increase at

069the state level and would have a major impact positive impact on north penn's budget in the coming year in terms of the treasures report this is for the month of january 2022 we had cash receipts in the month totaling 3.3 million dollars disbursements totaled 24.5 million dollars so we continue to be in negative cash flow for the remainder of the fiscal year that's simply because the majority of our revenue comes in july through september due to real estate taxes our available funds through the end of january were 142.5 million dollars i do need to mention that is about 10.7 million dollars less than last year however the vast majority of that is just due to the timing of a debt service payment compared to last year so with that madam president i recommend approval of

070the treasury's report for the month of january 2022. do i have a motion please second second merchant by mr fusco and seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions all in favor say aye any opposed motion and sixty available cents do you have a motion so moved have a second second motion by mr fusco seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries next item for vote are the budget transfers in the month of january these were reviewed at the finance committee and recommending approval of the budget transfers for the month of january in the amount of two hundred sixty thousand sixty two dollars and ninety one cents to a motion second motion by mr fusco and seconded by mr mcbain any comments or questions seeing

071none all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries and finally madam president we have the financial reports that are posted in board docs we do review these in more detail at the finance committee meetings and as a reminder again for the budget process we will have two finance committee meetings in the month of march to in april and two in may and one in june that would conclude our budget process for the 22-23 year thank you thank you mr scrocky okay moving on to other business notice of retirement so um before we um i guess we'll take a motion first and then i have a statement so do i have a motion so moved do i have a second second motion by mr fusco and seconded by ms dr g so with the

072announcement of his retirement at the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year on behalf of the school board of directors i would like to thank dr kurt dietrich for his many years of dedicated service to the north penn school district and to the field of public education in 2006 dr dietrich was selected from a field of more than 40 applicants to be hired by north penn as assistant superintendent to dr robert hassler after a little less than four years as a suit assistant superintendent the board elected dr dietrich as superintendent of schools for a term that began on february 15 2010. during his more than 12 years as superintendent dr dietrich has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to ensuring that the north penn remains one of the finest school districts in the commonwealth of pennsylvania throughout his

073term the district has continuously provided the community with a school system that delivers high quality education while being mindful of its role as a steward of public tax dollars a fun fact about dr dietrich he was elected to his local school board of directors at the age of 19. his experience as a school board director along with his experience as an educator gave him the unique ability to view issues from the perspective of both an elected official and a school employee this experience no doubt also gave him the ability to work with two very different sets of north pennsylvania board of directors over his time here in north penn school district i'm sure that was not easy but he did it among the many accomplishments that he achieved during his time as superintendent a few

074that stand out are the district's transition to a more inclusive model of education for students with disabilities navigating the district through the economic crisis of the early 2010s which i remember being very difficult the implementation of full-day kindergarten the successful supervision of countless construction projects including major renovations of montgomery hatfield and knapp elementary schools pembroke and penfield middle schools and the crawford stadium perhaps his finest hour though has been the leadership that he has provided during the coronavirus pandemic rather than calling it an end to a successful career and retiring in the spring of 2020 dr dietrich committed himself to ensuring that he would continue to be there to support the students the staff the community through this unprecedented crisis his steadfast and calm leadership helped guide not just north penn school district but districts

075throughout montgomery county as many others look to him for advice and counsel his efforts in that regard are deeply appreciated and will not be forgotten throughout his career dr dietrich has spent countless nights away from his family attending school board meetings public forums athletic events and student performances his retirement has been well earned and we wish him nothing but the best during the years ahead as he completes his term over the next few months please join us in expressing your thanks and appreciation to dr dietrich for his many years of service and dedication to the north penn school district thank you so much well thank you very much it was it's more than 40 years ago that i began my service in public education and i've had the privilege to work with many many many

076fine individuals throughout those years and i look forward to the remaining four and a half months here as the superintendent and then for whatever awaits me thereafter additional comments i think i'll make my last board meeting which will be sometime in june so with that i'm going to throw it back to you president stole for the remainder of the agenda thank you dr dutcher okay so we have a motion on the floor are there any other comments any other question no we no so all in favor say aye any opposed motion carries thank you again dr dietrich for your service all right moving on then to other business does anyone have any other business this evening seeing none we will move on to the second audience of citizens which we will have for 30 minutes

077is there anyone who would like to make a public comment at this time yeah mr rush thanks again for having some leadership courage to say what's on your mind i don't agree with you tina's troll has still not has still not gotten back to me on the repercussions of a nurse that told my child she should get vaccinated you did get back to me and everyone needs to understand this north penn school district nurses have the right to check your child's vaccination status that was gotten back to me but i still haven't gotten back from you tina or you kurt mr scaraki thank you for always getting back to me mass will become optional not because of the science but because of the politicians hear the footsteps i said last week that one of my

078agendas when i run for school board is going to be to fund the school i got in a little lukewarm water with my wife over that she's a teacher for 25 plus years let me expand on that last month i paid 640 dollars on my electric bill because of this guy this career politician okay parents aren't going to be able to afford to send their kids to private schools or where they want to send them this this is getting momentum and and if you don't read about it i'm sure you do read about it and it's going to come soon so either smarten up okay and realize that every parent has a right children have a right or you're going to be on the outside looking in and while it seems kind of ironic that

079i'm going to run for the board to defund the school i want parents and children to have the option we work hard for our money okay and that's just not fair and not right but again this is so much more than masks this is about the indoctrination of our kids for so many years and finally people are standing up i got a text that there are 117 or so people on there please come on out here speak what you feel is the truth okay they're here now let them understand hear what is going on in your mind what's going on in your life this is just not right you know jack nicholas the golden bear mike tyson iron mike that was my generation those are the athletes that i used to love okay athletes athletics

080is nowhere near what it used to be but as i sit here i think of iron mike tyson yeah he made some mistakes we all make mistakes right when somebody asked him hey iron mike so-and-so's got a plan what are you gonna do i love when he said this he said everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face okay well i'm not here to punch in the face with my fists but we're here to punch you in the face with the facts and we're going to continue to do that until we're heard and until we're gone back to consistently thank you [Applause] declan lanier lansdale the consequences for making terroristic threats against the school or anyone for that matter are very serious such actions would result in expulsion and at the minimum

081misdemeanor charges but what is the consequence for a student student filing false claims against another student for example in the case of a school board's met a school board member's child filing a false report that another another student made terroristic threats what is the consequence for that this happened twice at two different schools in the same district in the past two weeks should the audience of citizens now expect their children to become a target of harassment and intimidation is this tactic meant to silence those who disagree with the lord because if it is we're on to you now not all your students have been brainwashed and we're not afraid to speak the truth thank you as a gentleman said earlier it is about about much more than masks but i'm limiting my remarks to matt

082the subject of masks or members my apologies because you know about this and you don't care or you can't see it i honestly don't know but you must hear it again mandatory masks are a placebo a health menace but most importantly throughout history as a demonstration of submission many years ago bob dylan sang a song and it said you got to serve somebody so who are you serving behind those masks here are just a few of the evil results of forced mask wearing especially on children increase in dental hygiene problems cavities receding gum lines bad breath mouth breathing for young children can lead to facial deformities worsening acne and impetigo which we you may have seen the photos of the children who have the face rash from wearing the masks it's a painful itchy rash

083caused by bacteria bacterial pneumonia from collected moisture germaphobia which leads to antisocial or hostile behavior towards the unmasked and many of us have experienced that out in public stunting the development of children who are dependent on social interactions physical contact and seeing facial expressions demoralization of children and a great increase in mental health problems among them mandates are reckless manipulative fear-mongering virtue signaling and totalitarian by suppressing the individual self-expression and speaking of totalitarianism remember what o'brien said to winston smith and i know you know the reference and i'll update it for 2022. do you want a picture of the future imagine a muzzle covering a human face forever well it ain't going to happen but i wouldn't want to answer for crimes against humanity such as forced masking i think it would be better to

084have a millstone hung around my neck and be drown in the depths of the sea take heed if the if the wind is sewn the whirlwind can't be far behind tasks completed honors given and accolades you give to yourself cannot mask what you're continuing to do to our children pauline baraccio from tomlinson township i'm going to go back to what i was saying before about the special needs children there mr scracky sent me to kristen johnson who i met with on friday she was very good thank you mr scraki for that but there is still some wiggle room there's there's still room in the sr money that you're getting and you can count the cameras as a coveted expense because if these students have to wear masks you can be monitoring them the special needs

085children and you can also be monitoring the the teachers who are sometimes abusive you know north penn likes to pat itself on its back um saying we don't have bullying well the child who was threatening the family of the other little boy that was bullying and you always have made announcements that you are great with special needs as i said before when my daughter was in kindergarten what happened i worked for the school district for a time before i took her out of school in second grade and um i saw a lot of awful things and uh dr dietrich i'm hoping that in the next four and a half months when you're still here perhaps you can have some sway over these people and work on getting rid of the masks they don't work if

086you're following the science go to the cdc they've already said it doesn't work they already said that vaccines are killing more children than saving them so um you know if if you want to do this whole arkoosh thing you know valerie's wrong okay i go to the commissioner's meetings and she gives a little update and she did it this morning and she doesn't clarify the term she just oh yes we're going lower and you know well if the things are dropping if the rates are dropping take the masks off saturn school district has had them off and you don't see any rays in in in their coveted um instances or anything i mean and people are not being hospitalized that's the other thing people are not being hospitalized for covid you take a person to

087the emergency room they do a swab it's a rapid test which is really not reliable and they say oh you're positive for covid but that person could be there for a broken leg or anything else so then they say well they're hospitalized with covet and faucet was explaining this himself i saw him uh on on on whatever newscast it was if you're going to the hospital and you don't have covid symptoms you don't have covet okay you don't have it right and all this testing i brought this up to arkoosh i said why is the i'm gonna run out of time this constant testing in the county is a waste of money if you don't have it you don't have it why do you have to keep going for testing and then if you are

088told that you had it brought to you i'm sorry you're out of time [Applause] smith ferry hatfield township um on the agenda tonight there was the superintendent's report on the contracts can we explain who marlene pray is you're not gonna answer me okay you're hiring her i guess for equity professional development do you not know her background she works for the rainbow room in doylestown okay she teaches kids masturbation techniques with minors under her instruction this makes way for pedophilia obviously you don't do your research penridge has already banned her you might want to rethink that okay again this whole organization thing where we were able to speak up because we're a part of an organization you have like black lives matter naacp did you guys just vote on that tonight that the policy just

089changed because then she could have spoke in the beginning so that's a breach of policy you might want to give her her three minutes my kids have been in school since the beginning of the year no mask 99 of those kids do not wear masks not one covet outbreak this is false information tell me is the virus that smart are you just that dumb okay you have sports going on they're not wearing masks do you not think that these kids don't play outside of school without a mask what is the difference their kids let them be kids take the damn ass off it's ridiculous you're making fools out of yourselves karma's coming also to the nurse who spoke no disrespect i have all appreciation for the nurses out there but you are taught to research

090and research and research and advocate this is crap you are following a protocol of the government which is killing people and yes mass are harmful look it up also casa is uh not here tonight i say don't know where he is he's all you guys are all about diversity and equity and inclusion yet he supports joe biden who does joe biden support robert byrd high ranking member of the kkk good job guys you're doing swell hello kimberly from hatfield and i do want to apologize for interrupting your meeting when i asked if it was my time because kimberly what's your last name is it martin martin yes and i do apologize and what i'm sorry did you state your municipality have you okay yeah thank you yeah so sorry about that earlier as was mentioned

091earlier there are 13 000 students in the school district and approximately 2 000 employees and yet nine board members are deciding the fate of all 13 000 students in regards to the mask mandates i'm not here to say i want to require you know everybody to make not wear a mask but what i want is the respect for me and other people and family members to make this right choice which is make it optional my family my child my choice i think it's pretty incredible that every one of you outside in social media have been spotted without a mask in fact all the boards meetings were taking place without a mask and then all of a sudden they all came on children are at the least risk right now the numbers are down and i

092just i just find it's pretty it's pretty discriminatory against all the parents who actually want to not have their children wear a mask where i work i work with several students who actually attend penfield and i've been asking them questions and every one of them unanimously and i quote are just over the mask they're over it they never wanted them from the first place many of them have told me how their faces break out they can't breathe they have headaches at the end of the school day their grades have dropped take the mask off at the least just make it optional that way if parents want to still put the mask on let them do that to their children that's their child their choice and dr dietrich i respectfully would ask i know that you

093are a man of faith and you are a man of reason and i would really hope that you could talk to your board members in this last final time and talk some reason to them talk logic okay you know this isn't fair nine people make a decision for thirteen thousand students and we are a majority of parents who don't want to have our children masked i mean it creates such a social enact in awkwardness and in self-defense when you're teaching children to protect themselves the first thing is what is what does a perpetrator do they cover your mouth and they don't want the child to speak you know this is sort of training and programming children and it's and they are not at risk they are not at risk you know this isn't about politics

094this is about what's right abraham lincoln when he was a young attorney before he was president and he was trying to uh a really high profile case the other prosecuting attorney said to him mr lincoln you don't know much about the law and and maybe i don't know much about it but mr lincoln at the time said to him i'm almost done he said i may not know about all the law but i do know the difference between right and wrong and this is wrong thank you mrs martin your time's up elizabeth north hillsborough sorry i just want to say thank you um to the nine of you that are shouldering the burden of taking care of the 13 000 students in this public school system it's not easy what you do but you do

095the best you can you do the best for every student and i appreciate that i have four children two of which are in at north wells elementary and they don't have a problem wearing masks thank you also for passing that once community transmission levels are low enough masking will be optional so that's already been discussed i don't understand why this masking debate is still going on because you've already passed a resolution that it will become optional as soon as the community level of transmission is low enough no it's not if you if you actually read anywho [Music] thank you very much i understand how difficult your situation is and it's not easy to please everyone and you won't but we support you i know many many people that support you and i'm sorry that the

096minority of people that don't support you are so vocal and so hurtful and so hateful and full of malice you guys do a great job and we appreciate you very very much thanks thank you go ahead mrs gab hi roseanne gad lansdale i wanted to finish what um i was interrupted i wasn't allowed to finish my speech but we are advocating for all children all children who are suffering and that are being silenced and i don't think you have any idea at all what that feels like as a parent seeing it with their child the question is what are you doing and that is the question i have for you what are you doing to fix this because it's two years two years too long okay that is all i wanted to say in addition

097mr summers dana has always spoken at our meetings as a as a moms for liberty member and um i would like the courtesy if you would to allow her to please do her speech she spent a lot of time no she was she spoke last time she spoke ever she didn't no she didn't she hasn't been here forever yes she has mrs stole please look it up she's been at every meeting no no so you can finish mrs gad and then mr lanier and then well then i guess i'm reading her speech that's fine if you have three minutes three minutes before i begin i want to say every single person has free will to choose righteousness or foolishness what side are you on this sport has this notion that they run the show we

098the people have the power as i see it the walls of jericho are crashing all around the foolish ones if you have been complicit and can't think for yourself follow the rule of law then you too are foolish let me explain every public official has a bond or liability policy that ensures that the constitution and the state laws are upheld to the highest regard we are not run by a corporation any longer but the constitutional republic for the united states if you are found guilty on any following laws you should be shuddering each one of you hold personal liability which means that you could lose all assets and never serve in public office again giving you a warning about crimes by government officials 18 usc 3571 violation of oath and denied provisions in constitution 250

099000 18 usc 1001 falsification of documents is ten thousand dollars eighteen usc 666 bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds is five thousand per violation ten years in prison just to name a few it's very disturbing that your solicitor has been allowing this to continue when many other schools have heeded the warning don't kid yourself this is a nationwide movement the school districts are now now listening to the people because their livelihood is at stake not because of doing the right thing shame on all of you you have been using our heart tax earned paid or that payer dollars for these restrictions when the majority has been asking questions giving proof of the pandemic and pointing out issues to rectify we have constantly spoke about this to no avail with this board why is that maybe

100because they believe they are both mrs gadger time's up thank you mr lanier go ahead [Applause] jason lanier lance del borough um i want to congratulate dr dietrich on his retirement i i do wonder if he has any regrets about dealing implementing the the curriculum of of this board and i say that looking at the the rankings of this school district and this high school in the last four years in 2017 we are ranked 11th we are currently ranked 47th as a school district in 2017 uh north penn high school was 15th in the in the in pa we're currently 32nd in pa this isn't the direction we want to go and i put a lot of this on the board jamming in this sort of woke curriculum this isn't positive and as mr fusco

101said you're to teach the children academics you're not to teach them their morality you're not to teach them the world that sounds very religious to me not your job so let's go back a little bit to the timeline i had been talking about i cut myself short there so on the uh on july 15 2021 miss still i said to you that there's privileged walks going on in the school you said on that day it's not happening in north penn where's your evidence what you said was that you were lining up people by color and i said that was not happening and that was proven to be false there is no proof at all that it's been delivered you guys what you what you substantiate isn't necessarily true and i i'll show you why so

102when they when we said privilege walk and we gave it we gave examples of both race walks and privilege walks you both denied fusco and g both denied that was happening fusco you said it's bunk i'm tired of talking about it g you said it doesn't happen it's not happening stop watching fox tv is that true that is a fact in the debate then you started to give ground a little bit mr fusco you said hey oh well it may or may not have happened i'm not sure turns out it did happen i want to know why it took eight months for you guys to realize it is happening and now that you're proud that it's happening and you you congratulate the teacher for doing this is it happening in other elementary schools would you

103know if it's happening because you i know you didn't do an investigation you tracked down one example and then you proceeded to tell us it wasn't happening or it possibly was happening and now just last week it did happen but it's good because it it proves our point because we need to teach your kids morality and we need to teach our kids how to interact with everyone your job is to teach kids reading writing and arithmetic your time's up good night next hi everyone my name is mark connolly and i live in upper gwinnett township so i wanted to thank the board for um you know it's it's been a hard two years on everybody we're all going through something that we haven't gone through in almost a century we're going through a pandemic that

104is more global faster and more broadly reaching than ever and i appreciate the fact that you guys are trying to balance the equities of the over a hundred thousand people who live in the school district um you know a lot of people have a lot of opinions on things and you know i i think that the health and safety plan has been beneficial i also think that you know reality is when i was looking at the numbers yesterday it looks to me like um you know the numbers are almost coming down enough that we're going to reach the point where we're not going to be in high anymore maybe next week maybe in a couple more weeks so you know to people who are hoping for a masculist future under this health and safety plan

105i think it's coming and i think mass in general have been beneficial but you know i'm hoping as well that the numbers of cases will come down the other thing i wanted to talk about a little bit is civility um you know as i've been sitting here tonight and i understand that this these things are not necessarily representative of people who don't believe in masking but you know i've heard people you know referencing the school board as you know we have to beat the enemy i've heard people saying things like child abuse tyrants i understand that a lot of people have a lot of opinions and a lot of those opinions are you know good faith opinions based on their understandings and i'm not right about everything all the time lord knows i'm not but

106my hope as a community is that you know we can get back to a place where we're treating civility as a virtue and where you know when we're talking at public meetings we're remembering that you know we're all members of this community together and you know when we're treating the school board like it's an us versus stem thing that's toxic to the whole community and like i said i understand that it's been a hard two years you've had to make decisions that no one really has wanted to make but i appreciate that you guys have taken the effort to you know look at all the equities look at all the sides and that i really think that you guys have tried your hardest to do what's best for the entire community all 105 000 of

107us so for that i thank you thank you mr connolly is there anyone else that would like to make public comment we have time for one more okay seeing none then i'll ask for a motion to adjourn so moved meeting is adjourned thank you everyone for coming out tonight all right you