NPSD School Board Action Meeting 5-20-21

001okay youtube is live madam president meeting is yours thank you mr gilmer [Music] i call this meeting to order welcome to tonight's action meeting uh we're going to start off please with the pledge of allegiance i pledge [Music] for which it allegiance one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay next up then will be the suspension of policy 006.1 with specific regard to the limitation on the number of school board directors participating in a meeting electronically and the requirement of having the majority of the board physically present at a meeting location do i have a motion to suspend that policy please second motioned by mr fusco and second in by mrs ramich um all in favor say aye raise your hand any opposed motion carries thank you okay so next up

002we're up to the audience of citizens and it's nice to see people back in person so welcome everyone who's here this evening in person um we're going to start off i think public comment with those that are in the room and then we will um engage anybody who is making public comment virtually so is there anybody here this evening that would like to make public [Music] i figure maybe they would be able to speak before i speak i think before anybody speaks i'm going to briefly read the statement so i just want to make sure that people know that this meeting is being videotaped for community cable channels individuals attending this meeting virtually or in person and intend to speak to the board should be aware that they are being videotaped in order to meet

003the 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 compliance with this requirement it is essential that those planning to address the board raise their hand electronically and state their name and address members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to allow time for all those who wish to speak to the board the board president may ask an individual to yield the microphone to the next speaker so mr patchell i see nobody took you up on your offer before before i get my 180 seconds i've been watching them down in congress and uh when they speak before that great chamber in the house they do not speak with a mask on would you like me

004to speak with that or could i take it down so i could be heard yeah we can hear you fine if you want to take it off that's fine go ahead go ahead okay um yes you can start the timer now uh my name is william patchell i live at bonnie lane it's uh in montgomery township and i said so many times to such a well-run community i wonder how it got cobbled up with some of these other communities and i always felt that maybe a brixit from montgomery township would be a great idea i think the high school would probably have about 400 kids in it they'd probably be all online because they demonstrated that there's a high intellect in that township along with the parents would probably all have phds one thing i'd

005like to ask ask this board you need to do your accounting differently every time you come here you have all these spending plans and then after you commit all these funds now we got to fill the holes in i remember mr skaraki at 43 million dollars on the available fund balance oh we can't go much lower than that now we're down to 38 36 million i questioned the logic of that i think it could go much lower we have hundreds and hundreds of students that have abandoned the district going to cyber charter school i don't know how that works out i don't know how many retirements are going to occur at the last moment because peop the teachers or the staff will say you know what i can't stand it i'm not going to do

006it anymore i don't need two extra years okay here's another thing coming up i went i went to lowe's at 10 for a 2x4 this high school is is is somewhere in dreamland dream big yeah you're dreaming big that school costs 600 million now electricians make over a hundred dollars an hour you'll be lucky through prevailing wage i don't care who does it maybe a union or non-union but they have to pay the wage you have a naked light bulb in the center of that classroom and look like it's in kabul you don't understand what is going on when i got out of the army in 1968 it's hard to believe it was that long ago i went in may 22nd 1966 so i think i'm holding up pretty good i said to my dad

007there's a green wave coming because lyndon johnson decided he was going to start printing money printing money borrowing money guns and butter oh yeah we can do it all no we couldn't do it all and all of a sudden all the wages and everything and the end result of that was uh paul volcker at 18 on the short rates i hope you don't wind up in paul volcker's vision of the future but you're all going to be doomed all these families they stop construction on the new thing that ryan holmes has why because they can't deliver the product at the price for 350 000 i think they might actually have to charge the low 400s no small families are going to be living in the district it's going to be nothing but i don't know

008what's going to live here but i'm not moving and i'm not sending any more uh people to indulge in the district you need to think about where you're going you need headlights you don't need a rear view mirror i know where it's going you're going to have trouble and you've got to replace all these buses thank you mr patchell [Music] hi i'm lauren wilson i live in montgomery township good evening i just wanted to say that two things one i'm looking forward to the community conversation with dr dietrich to hear more about what's going on in the high school after the incident that occurred earlier this month with these students and to hear how that is progressing because there's a lot of misunderstanding across the district in terms of the actions that have or have

009not been taken and i think that's a good opportunity for the district to clarify what is going on and what's not going on across the district i also appreciate the statement that the board made last week or in the last meeting as relates to what they can and cannot say in terms of the incident and being very explicit i'll continue to thank the district about the work that still needs to be done i continue to be proud of north penn and where we go as a community as it relates to cultural proficiency but i still see the need for continued work and i'm glad that the people in this room sitting across from me continue to see the need for that work as well and being explicit because we know that there's still a lot

010of work to be done across the district so i thank you for staying committed to the work that needs to be done being explicit in your uh partnership on this journey and continue to educate the community about the work we're being that's being done the last thing i want to say is i do think there's an opportunity to continue to share more explicitly with the community all of the work that we've done around cultural proficiency in a summarized fashion perhaps at the end of the year and i know dr waters is working on something but i think that's something that all of our community members need to see because we have taken great strides this year as it relates to professional development with our staff on a recurring basis as well as engaging parents across

011the district in a different way and i do think that that's something that many of our parents don't realize or know about and i think there's a lot of work that even many of us involved in the day today are not aware of i do think there's an opportunity to continue to educate all of our community members explicitly on the work that's being done not everybody has the time or the commitment to sit with these meetings with me like me so i do think something should happen at the end of the year perhaps the video i know is being worked on is the right um avenue or maybe a written form would be um useful as well so thank you i look forward to continue working with you all thank you mrs wilson hi i'm

012vicki flannery i live in north wales borough um i just wanted to take a moment just to thank everybody for bringing the um outdoor mass choice up in a vote this evening i think that is a a huge step forward in you know helping our children and bringing bringing it back to normal for them uh i wanted to touch base that sadderton and colonial school districts both have been the leaders in allowing uh parents to make the decision on whether their child wears a mask on the playground during recess we're reaching temperatures near 90 this week alone and it is extremely dangerous for our young children to be outside more dangerous than uh you know honestly the the numbers don't show that our children are catching covet or coronavirus from being outside on the playground

013um so we really need to need to focus on that north penn was the leader in bringing our kids back to school and we need to see them be the leader again in uh changing the covid policy for our young children um and and again i just want to take the moment to thank you guys for for bringing this up this evening i i definitely think it's a stride forward and i'm very happy um you know to hopefully have more conversation with the board members in the future about covered policy with our young children so thank you thank you i'm sorry did you say your name was becky flannery vicky flannery oh bicky sorry thank you if there are no more comments from the floor we do have a hand up online okay so up

014next is elizabeth patrick elizabeth i've enabled your microphone so when you're ready to begin you can unmute state your name and address and begin your comments please thank you this is elizabeth patrick and i am at 3 30 hanes drive in north wales i'd like to ask the board to review the current classroom size policies if they are not currently in review the existing policy opens the door to classes of up to 29 children in elementary school an environment that is far from idea in a covered world i understand that principles are currently being asked a space plan for next year and current policy opens the door to reducing class sections based on enrollment numbers it is my understanding that it is being considered for the current fourth graders soon to be fifth graders at

015north wales elementary school it is my hope this board will advise the administration of north penn to proceed with great caution before reducing the number of classes per grade which will greatly increase the number of students even if the existing outdated policy allows for it the current policy was drafted in a pre-covered world and does not take into consideration the current learning gaps social distancing and emotional state of north wales elementary schools unvaccinated children as a mother of a current fourth grader i have seen firsthand what a struggle this year has been despite my son being a gifted student who is well resourced outside of the district we have had our fair share of challenges i worry about how stretched resources inside of fifth grade could be next year if the decision is made to

016increase class size from its current 20 to 28 students i respectfully ask the board to please reconsider the current policies that seem to be outdated and unfair to our kids who deserve more thank you for your time thank you mrs patrick up next is jason lanier jason i've enabled your microphones you're ready to begin please state your name and address and begin your comments chase lanier 100 oak drive lansdale uh i want kind of echoing off the last two speakers here the the policies that you guys have enacted i know you there's some kind of guidance that is recommending what you're doing i'm not sure if this is actually guidance based on the science that is available currently so back up until uh last year when you when you gave us the opportunity to go

017in person and took it away from us at that point maybe things were a little bit foggy but now it's pretty clear if you want to commit yourself to saying masks work then you don't need to have social distancing and i can tell you i know this because there's there's thousands of flights every day with people packed on them with masks that don't have any social distancing so if masks work then you don't need social distancing on the other hand do masks really work and does any of this doing any good to prevent anything from from transmitting from student to student no it's not and i can tell you why kids young kids especially the younger you are the less likely you are to get coveted the less likely you are to be a a

018transmission of co give transmission to covet this all has to do with the biology of kids called the ace2 receptor if you if you want to read about it you can type in ace2 receptor and you can read all about it there's there's it's a it's the ace is an acronym uh antigen antigen testin um converting enzyme two and that what it is as you get older you develop more of these and that's because your body this specific antigen is made to decrease your blood pressure makes sense as you get older you have more stresses in your life more pr uh more likely to increase your blood pressure this is specifically for that people in better health have less problems problems with covid younger people not so much stress not so many problems they don't

019aren't receptors for the disease so you don't need this you can look into this this is not hard to do you can look in this have the intellectual curiosity and you can push back on montgomery county or the pennsylvania board of health who was ever telling you how to do this and one last thing this antigen testing that we're putting the athletes through in the high school and that you're making the the students uh for the prom uh to go through i don't know if you guys are aware of this but the guy running this out of chop dave rubin and this is not conjecture again you can read about this he started a company called well connects nznx well connect uh this company sole function is to distribute information to the states and county

020governments information that is collected from the schools so he's profiting from the information that we're providing for him even though this can this antigen test does nothing for asymptomatic uh uh finding of covid i say that because when you look at again if you look at the research and do the the and and uh have a little intellectual curiosity you'll see that it does not do anything for asymptomatic finding of covid it's simply only good for you know the kid has a temperature you take it then they might be positive it makes sense but not for asymptomatic thank you thank you mr lingar okay up next is chris carroll let's give me a second here so my mouse wakes up again there we go i apologize chris carroll is up next so chris i've enabled

021your microphones and you're ready to begin state your name and address and begin your comments please hi this is chris carroll i am at 820 sullivan drive in lansdale uh my question is to the board i would like to know what your action plan is for the uptick in the number of students that are currently failing and in danger of having to either repeat a grade go to summer school much like one of the previous speakers i have not one but two gifted students that under the current block model are in danger of failing clearly this is not an isolated issue and most everyone i've talked to including uh your wonderful guidance staff who also have children are experiencing very similar things with their children so i would like to know what your action plan

022is to prevent an unusually high number of students from failing especially failing required courses this this year dr bauer would you like to [Music] yeah mrs stahl um i'll be happy to give mr carroll a call and discuss this with him um i'll touch base with mr hassler in the morning and give him a call no problem thank you okay up next is owen wilcox owen i've enabled your microphones when you're ready to begin your comments state your name and address and please begin well good evening owen wilcox 32 east school street uh i also wanted to thank the board for having on the agenda tonight the uh update to the health and safety plan i know i've emailed uh asking about this so it was glad to see that it'll be up for discussion

023and hopefully approval certainly it seems like based on the new guidance coming out from you know the federal and state as well as the county office of public health that uh it's a should be a common sense you know data-driven decision that hopefully is easy to make for the board also see on agenda the um flexible instruction day and i'll be honest it certainly has me a little worried um because i see in the uh act that was passed by the um legislature you know it mentions you know a disease epidemic and you know i'm sure that uh worries a lot of people um that this will be used to uh basically revert to a virtual instruction um but i did see that it was limited to five days in the school year so um

024kind of reassured me and i think the the administration did a pretty good job this past year uh with balancing essentially you know when to give a snow day and when to to have you know virtual instruction i know that a lot of private schools have been doing this um you know for a few years since it was initially uh provide you know provided as an opportunity so i think it'll be a good thing to um especially in in years where we have significant weather um i think the district has proven they can kind of deliver in a virtual environment so thank you again and um i look forward to your vote on the updated health and safety plan thank you mr wilcox okay i do not see any other hands up at this time

025okay there will be a second opportunity for public comment at the end of this meeting if anyone wants to make a comment after we go through everything okay so then next up will be the approval of the minutes from april 15 2021 action meeting do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco and seconded by mr casa are there any comments or questions all in favor say aye or raise your hand i motion carries moving on then to committee reports first up is personnel the personnel committee of the board met in executive session on may 4th 2021 to discuss matters of personnel including the appointment of staff and staffing considerations finance mr fusco please thank you the finance committee met on april 21st a special meeting for the budget and on may 11th

026which was our regular meeting the monthly financial reports and budget transfers were reviewed with additional discussion on the following items first mr skaraki provided a detailed presentation of the 2021-22 budget anyone wishing to learn more about north penn's finances is encouraged to watch the youtube recording from this meeting the slide presentation is also posted online subsequent to this meeting the proposed final budget was approved by the school board on may 11th dr kristen landis presented the 2021-22 technology departmental budget may 11th mr skaraki reviewed the propane gas and filling station maintenance bid results the bid award appears on tonight's agenda mr skaraki reviewed the real estate tax printing service bid results the recommendation to reject the bids appears on tonight's agenda mr skaraki reviewed the gaming funds distribution for 2021-22 north penn will see a

027slight reduction compared to the current year the gaming funds are distributed back to eligible homesteads on a dollar for dollar basis via the homestead exemption mr skaraki provided an update on the selection process for the proposed on-site healthcare clinic provider which is very exciting mr skaraki announced that the north penn school district received the 2021 eastern pennsylvania alliance for clean transportation advocate award this award is given to the business or school district that helps eastern and central pennsylvania by making a commitment to support alternative fuel vehicles and technologies within their fleet of vehicles the district won this award based on the propane bus initiative over the past three years kudos nikrina this is kristin johnson provided an update on the student assistance program rfp that was recently conducted the next finance committee meeting will be

028held on tuesday june 8th 2021 at 6 pm and that's not a misprint it is one more meeting to go for finance this year thank you mr fusco is there anyone that has any comments or questions for mr fusco all right okay seeing none we'll go on to safe schools mr casa please thank you madam president it is good to see uh everyone here tonight um so this is a uh a big moment for the community and uh welcome everyone to to engaging that only makes our community better when we have this many voices and and people paying attention so thank you the safe schools committee met on monday april 26th at 6 p.m dr bauer mr durr and mr summers participated in a discussion with committee members about proposed board policy number 226 concerning

029searches the committee heard details about the reasonable suspicion threshold needed to conduct a search and discuss the scope of searches addressed in the policy the collection of data about the number and type of searches conducted was also discussed the committee stressed the importance of using such data to test for disproportionality as well as to inform the improvement of policy and guidelines moving forward the committee ultimately concurred with the draft language and policy number 226 and it was sent to the policy committee to continue through the approval process the next safe schools committee meeting is scheduled for monday may 24th at 6 00 pm end of report thank you mr casa does anyone have any comments or questions seeing none we will move on then to the education curriculum and instruction committee dr g please the

030uci committee met on may 4th 2021 during that meeting dr deanna waters miss patty freewood and mr john brown provided an overview of how homework for students has been assigned during the 2021 school year the purpose of homework is to practice materials presented in class in order to reinforce learning and facilitate mastery of specific skills during the pandemic homework has not been given to elementary school students however they have been encouraged to read independently and review math using freckle and flashcards secondary students have received a reduced amount of homework this year this is due in part to block scheduling at the middle schools and the challenge of checking homework virtually we also discussed concurrent and dual enrollment and enrollment dr waters and mrs donna dome and miss rachel earley updated the committee on concurrent annual

031enrollment with concurrent enrollment academically eligible seniors take college courses courses that are independent of their high school transcript and eligibility eligibility to graduate from north penn the district has arrangements for this program with gwened arcadia penn state abington and montgomery county community college dual enrollment offers students the opportunity to earn high school and college credits for the same courses this can be done on campus as well as off campus glen and mercy and montgomery county community college have partnered with northbound high school to offer on-campus courses discussions are also taking place with the university of pittsburgh regarding our potential arrangement between them and northbound high school the next eci meeting is scheduled for june 1st 2021 at 6 00 pm madam president i also would like to know that we are looking forward to a

032presentation regarding the instructional models for fall 2021 in june as well that will not be at the eci meeting i believe that will be at the work session thank you dr g are there any comments or questions seeing none we'll move next to policy please mr fusco thank you thank you uh this update from our regular regular policy meeting of may 11 2021 the committee has almost completed its review of policies in the series policy 226 searches was discussed at the april 13th meeting and then referred to the safe schools committee for comment safe schools committee provided positive feedback consequently the policy is on the agenda for a first reading also on the agenda for a first reading it's policy 232 student involvement in decision making two additional policies were discussed but no action was

033taken on them policy student expression distribution and posting of materials and policy 237 personal electronic devices are on hold until a case that could impact them is decided by the us supreme court that decision is expected in june the next policy meeting is scheduled for june 8 2021 at five o'clock thank you mr fusco are there any comments or questions seeing none we'll go on to facilities and operations mr casa please thank you madam president uh i'd like to point out too the safe schools uh report only had one item however that went well over time that's how in-depth it was so we followed that with that meeting with the facilities and operations committee which met that same evening on april 26 2021. the facilities and operations committee reviewed the following items that were recommended

034to be moved to this evening's action meeting for the board's consideration an eagle scout service project gift to construct an outdoor classroom at bridalpath elementary school a change order for requests for crawford stadium project representatives from the high school and act club our environmental club presented to the committee outlining their sustainability activities and ideas for future sustainable plans for the future anyone who is interested in this really should watch a video from that night these are great leaders for the future and our students are really helping to lead the way in our community the district's construction manager mr slaughter of ics and mr schneider provided an in-depth update of the knapp elementary and crawford stadium projects the projects are well underway in progressing well on time and on budget the committee discussed the high school

035master planning for potential renovations and dr dietrich provided an update on a cdc project north penn is participating in the next facilities and operations meeting is scheduled for monday may 24th at 6 30 p.m end of report thank you mr casa are there any comments or questions none we will move on to the north monco technical career center on may 17th the jlc met in an executive session to discuss the employee contract we also held the regularly scheduled board meeting at the regularly scheduled board meeting we approved the agreement between north montgol area vocational technical school educator association and north mongol area low tech school joint committee for the period july 1st 2021 to june 30 2024 also we the 10th 11th and 12th grade students are back full time if they want to be

036back full time we the students recognition ceremony will be held at north penn high school and virtually over soon for guests on thursday june 3rd if if you don't know uh we do they do catering at uh north bronco tech and they also serve lunches and do haircuts at the vo tech and i can tell you personally that they're an award-winning team of students and you should definitely uh try their lunches the curbside pick up for lunches is on wednesday and thursday and haircuts on monday it's tuesday and wednesday by appointment the equity council conducted a survey walk a mile in my shoes to build empathy in the student population 80 students volunteered to answer questions anonymously the results were shared and discussed students talk about their poverty their parental addiction deceased parents feeling alone

037depression anxiety add adhd and dyslexia the collins writing project was used to get student feelings and emotions on paper the next meeting will be on june 21st at 7 00 pm thank you mr rush are there any comments or questions from mr rush seeing none we'll move on to the montgomery county intermediate unit mrs romich please thank you the mciu board welcomed sarah evans brockett as the new representative from the perky oman valley school district jennifer wilson was appointed to serve as the mciu board secretary through june 30th 2021. jeffrey sultanak judge of ballots reported that all constituent school districts voted overwhelmingly to approve the mciu board budget for the 2021-2022 year in terms of mciu staff recognition the bataan consultants dr nicole holland sims and miss amira hilanci were recipients of the 2021 moral

038and courageous commitment to equity educator award we are also honored that on april 22nd the annual shirley dixon celebration of urban urban education symposium we were able to have staff attend that the mciu diversity equity and inclusion steering committee conducted its first meeting to begin their work to look at how mciu can improve practices and create an opportunity to support our member schools and districts in the important work in alignment with the american rescue plan the mciu has established the 2021 catalog of services and in alignment with the emergency assistance for non-public school programs they've also created a catalog of services as well the mciu will be launching and end its annual election cycle to seat representatives to the mciu board of a direct board of directors effective july 1 2021. the mciu board approved

039the mciu joint purchasing consortium agreement line item supply bid and the classroom learning spaces furniture and equipment bid the board also approved other consolidated budgets and other such things in terms of human resources there were seven new employees two temporary professional staff were granted tenure seven new employees 45 staff members were assigned to support the esy program the mciu board approved a number of contracted service agreements to support the following initiatives aacc talks 2021 and various trainings and services provided by the offices of the mciu the next board meeting is wednesday may 26th um end of report thank you mrs ramich any comments or questions seeing none we'll stick with mrs romich as she does the north penn educational foundation great thank you the foundation met on wednesday may 5th in an online format format

040it is with great excitement that we announced that the foundation is continuing to support a spatial computing program at north penn high school after a presentation from technology and engineering teacher kurt reichwein foundation trustees unanimously approved funding for over forty thousand dollars to purchase licensing computers and oculus goggles to support a new spatial computing course for the fall we are extremely proud to say that we are the only high school in the united states working with a myriad of providers to offer such a course most of this type of work occurs at the college level a special thanks to mr reichwein and who after the foundation approved funding wrote a grant for the software company and was awarded seventeen thousand dollars to cover licensing costs we will be sure to keep everyone informed as the

041course begins in the fall i am thrilled to announce that the foundation's online auction raised more than ten thousand dollars this year it was our most successful event yet i want to thank community members businesses and fellow board members for donating items and also bidding and winning on some great experiences and products one of the items that the board put forward was coffee and conversation with a school board member so um president stole and i will be meeting with the north penn student and parent next week we're really excited about that we did receive some sad news however our president dave kratz has decided to step down from his leadership position this summer dave has served as president for many years and has helped guide the foundation to its highest level of fundraising and grant

042making thankfully dave will remain on the board and his successor will be elected this month the foundation is currently reviewing bylaws and express expects to bring proposed changes to the north penn school district board of school directors sometime this summer also the foundation is currently running its end-of-year staff tribute for anyone who would like to acknowledge north penn staff for their hard work this year you can make a donation to the foundation on that person's behalf information can be found on the foundation's website our next meeting is wednesday june 2nd at 3 the time we will be approving more than twenty thousand dollars in grants for the upcoming school year for more information on the foundation please contact christine lebroski at the esc thank you end of report thank you mrs ramich that's really exciting

043news about the engineering academy it's phenomenal yeah yeah it's it's really truly amazing i cannot wait to see this in action are there any other comments from mrs romich okay then we'll move on to the legislative report and mr mcvean is not here this evening so i'll read it off the house and senate will reconvene this coming monday with continued budgetary uncertainty surrounding basic and special educational funding for the coming year even as peacers contributions charter school funding and other unfunded and underfunded mandates continue to press upon public school districts we don't yet know whether there will be another year of no increase or change to the basic education funding or the special ed funding alone or even whether the agreement will last one year or two while this is a common yearly concern for

044public school districts like ours this year's budget will begin to answer growing questions about how public education might might begin to recover not just from the pandemic but from decades of underfunding from the pre-k programs that help prepare some of our north penn students to the pennsylvania state system of higher education universities that must offer accessible higher education for our graduates other bills moving through harrisburg which are not yet finalized include senate bill 73 a mandate waiver program which allows districts to apply for relief which would improve operations or instruction senate bill 664 which would provide an optional additional year of instruction as a result of the pandemic and house bill 412 which would provide day-to-day substitute teacher flexibility as always our neighbors are asked to call their state representatives and senators on these issues

045to help support north penn schools and families and finally the psba charter reform virtual rally will be held on may 25th at 9 30 a.m directors are encouraged to register to attend and report any comments or questions mr skaraki how many years has it been that the state has provided no increase well we had no increase in the current year in our basic education funding and in our budget for the upcoming year we're anticipating a another zero percent increase it will be two straight years for the basic education funding and it's also important to note on that subject if the state would implement the fair funding formula and flow all basic education dollars through that formula north penn would gain an additional 8.4 million dollars in funding per year i've mentioned at previous finance committee

046meetings that over the years we are basically subsidizing districts that are receiving too much in basic education funding based on the fair funding formula only of the total pot of money of basic education funding that's flowing through that formula it's only the new money that's been allocated since the formula was implemented back in 2016. so a call to action to all local legislators would be encourage them to have 100 of basic education funding flow through that fair funding formula 8.4 or 8.4 million dollars in the north penn budget would create a balanced budget and a reduced tax increase for the north penn residents thank you mr skraki are there any other comments or questions okay um we'll move on then to the solicitor's report thank you uh madam president uh my report this evening is

047to announce that the board did meet in an executive session on may 4th 2021 for the purpose of discussing matters of collective bargaining with the npea and nespa the board will also be meeting an executive session immediately following tonight's meeting for the purpose of discussing a confidential student matter and one recommendation just moving forward with the rest of this evening's meeting is because not all board members who are present in the board room are visible to anyone who's watching remotely if when you cast your vote for any particular item those members who are in the in the boardroom if you could verbally indicate your vote in addition if you're raising your hand that would certainly be fine but if you could verbally state your vote as well just so it can be recognized by anyone

048who may be watching at home and that concludes my report thank you so mr summers just to be clear do you want us to do a roll call vote for everything or you just want people to say i loud out loud correct great thank you all right next up will be the superintendent's report dr dietrich please thank you i recommend approval of the items listener the consent agenda namely the adoption of policies repeal the policy adoption of policies first reading the gifts to the district student travel contracts approval to advertise for bids good awards for athletic supplies propane gas filling station and maintenance and domestic water heater replacements and furthermore then the rejection of bids for the fire alarm replacement project teacher laptops and the real estate tax billing printing services and finally that includes

049recommendation under consent agenda for approval of the alternative placements and student agreements do i have a motion please so moved motioned by mr fusco do i have a second seconded by mr casa are there any comments or questions yeah just wanted to congratulate the odyssey the amount team sorry the odyssey of the mind team uh who is traveling to orlando florida for the world finals congratulations to them are there any other comments or questions okay seeing none all in favor say aye that good mr summers that's great thank you thank you motion carries i recommend approval of the personnel items as per the attached do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco and seconded by mr casa any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye aye aye motion carries with

050that approval we have a new director of prickleman equity dr pam hart i think pam's available virtually if we could get her there she is congratulations pam welcome dr hart glad to have you on board delighted to be here thank you all very much all right the next item is regard to the election of a board treasurer recommend the election of kristen johnson as a non-member treasurer of the board of school directors for a one-year term beginning july 1st 2021 through june 30 2022 and the establishment of a bond in the amount of five thousand dollars with the premium to be paid by the school district compensation for duties assigned by the chief financial officer shall not exceed 100 per month do i have a motion so moved second motioned by mr fusco and seconded

051by dr lewis campbell are there any comments or questions seeing none all in favor say aye aye [Music] any opposed motion carries recommend the election of stephen scrocky as the secretary to the board of school directors for a four-year term effective july 1st 2021 through june 30 in accordance with section 404 of the school code to be effective upon the furnishing of a bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars with the premium to be paid by the school district and with a stipend of one thousand two hundred dollars per year do you have a motion by mr costa or fusco and seconded by mr casa any comments or questions as i i'd like to thank uh mr scrocky for his uh coordination and through the countless hundreds of hours in the last year to

052be a secretary that's four years in and of itself and the community this board owes you a debt of gratitude for helping keep us on track thank you very much thank you mr scrucky thank you mr scraki thank you mr thanks everyone here to go steve thank you so so uh we have a motion on the floor we have to vote for it now all in favor say aye aye any proposed no motion approved thank you recommend approval of the authorization of the district's administration to submit to pde an application to establish a flexible instructional day program beginning the 2021-22 school year do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco and seconded by mr rush are there any comments or questions just can we just give a little explanation of this for

053the community what it is yes so there is an opportunity uh for the school districts in the state of pennsylvania to apply for flexible instructional days uh there is a there's a limitation to the number of days that can be done through that particular program there's another program also during a pandemic that was possible this year but in regard to the flexible instructional days they are limited to five opportunities for those where you would be able to go you know online typically in north penn that would be due to dangerous weather conditions so give you a good example the weather forecast looks ominous and the decision is that we would say rather than bringing students in and have an early dismissal real soon thereafter just to simply having a virtual day that particular day that

054would be a day that we could use in the flexible instructional day program we recall this past year we did have two snow days where we truly had a you know snow storms we did not invoke the flexible instructional day program during those however i think it works really well when you have those days when it's uncertain and it seems like it would be better just to go ahead and have a virtual particular day on those events is is that something that could be used for um when it's really hot as well for the um middle schools yes there are all sorts of you know weather conditions um you know that you could be using those for so that is you know an opportunity there great thank you so we have a motion on the

055floor are there any further questions or comments all in favor say aye all right any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the revised health and safety plan for the north penn school district uh in this particular motion it would say that masks will not be required during outdoor recess or during outdoor phys ed classes do i have a motion so moved motioned by dr lewis campbell do i have a second second seconded by mr fusco are there any comments or questions doctor dude oh sorry uh dr g and then dr mrs roman dr dr dietrich justin that's me um dr dietrich could you just for the community um just describe explain the reason why we would do this now i just think it's important as people have kind of asked like okay what's the data

056you're basing this on could you just kind of describe what would be the reasoning why we would choose to do this now yes so there is an opportunity uh now where it's been determined that if uh there is physical exertion that and it does not uh depend upon the vaccination status of the individuals but if there's physical exertion then when that physical exertion is occurring mass would not be required so there's a recent opportunity that was provided to the school district you'll recall also that the cdc initially had stated that individuals who are fully vaccinated would not need to wear masks however they did clarify then a few days later that uh individuals in school systems ought to finish the school year with the indoor masking requirements in place but in terms of outdoor because

057of physical exertion there is an opportunity to amend your health and safety plans to permit no mass during those events thank you dr dietrich i think um and i and just to follow up and so thank you dr g for that question but also every time there is a change then we are required i believe it's by the department of education correct where we have to update the district's health and safety plan and so the cdc guidance has been reviewed discussed it then means that we update the health and safety plan it is approved by the voted on by the board and then um on file with the department of education yeah well that's correct so the cdc provides guidance and then we have a you know school district health and safety plan as required

058by pde north penn's particular health and safety plan does clearly delineate masks and masking requirements so there were some neighboring districts that uh had moved a little more swiftly on this because it wasn't a part of their health and safety plan or didn't need to have that board approval in north penn we have that into our health and safety plan as we believe it's appropriate to be in there and we didn't need then to wait until tonight's action uh if in fact the board does approve this now uh to be able to make that change thank you mr rush did the montgomery township and dr kush agree with this new policy yes so we had extensive conversations with the office of public health in montgomery county dr valar koosh and also ms michelle masters in

059regard to uh to this and they concur with the recommendation that during physical exertion we would no longer need to require masks so i think you know as this year winds along here as we're watching the numbers very very closely with the virus with the temperatures beginning to increase now it's an appropriate step dr dietrich if the board votes on it tonight which we're going to do in a few minutes when will this policy be effective uh as soon as the board takes that vote dr lewis campbell so effectively tomorrow then this would be in place thank you we will communicate uh that out to our community so that everyone is well aware thank you are there any further comments or questions i was actually there are some folks outside some advocates for this motion

060in addition they've expressed some concern about next year and on addition some concerns about the middle schools specifically because of um the heat because of the lack of the air conditioning and i was wondering if anybody could speak to anything that might be in place in order to make sure that the students the middle school in particular who are going to need to continue to wear masks i'd like to remind folks that my mask protects you your mask protects me whether or not some folks are vexed and some aren't they're just starting to do that now but are there systems in place for those students in the middle school for when temperatures do get to a point where the mask becomes frankly unbearable yeah so there are a number of things in place regarding our

061middle schools as we have every year the leadership in those middle schools takes steps to be able to move students to spaces to help mitigate the effect of the heat we also due to the investment of this board and some funding we were able to secure from the federal government uh purchased some significant made a significant investment in the streaming capabilities so if it comes to a point this uh you know later part of this spring where the you know temperatures rising and people want to make an individual decision not to send their children because of the investment of this board in that streaming equipment they would be able to do that and they would be able to continue their class work uh through a virtual environment so those two things the combination of the

062steps that are taken at each building and then also because of the investment there in the streaming equipment we have that available to finish out this particular school year great thank you did you have a question yes uh thank you madam president dr dietrich uh has there been i i heard you talk about the county uh office of public health and so i understand there's the cdc recommended guidance and then there's the county um which i just want to make clear not have any assumptions is the county requiring masks indoors or for schools currently or is that still discretion of a school board so the way it works is if you would have vaccinated individuals and you know there is a determination made that vaccinated individuals do not need to continue with masking that is

063not the recommendation of the office of public health in montgomery county to relax that they would recommend that we continue the year finish the year out however if it was the will of a particular district to say that vaccinated individuals we need to be a real understanding of that that would be you know individuals that had whatever number of doses if it's a two dose vaccine in the necessary weeks in between followed by the necessary weeks thereafter you know that wouldn't be a requirement in terms of uh you know finishing that but their recommendation would just be to concur with the cdc and say let's just finish the year with the masks in place and the indoors thank you dr dietrich and uh thank you for your work in uh helping to facilitate this type

064of information uh for the board and the various resources that you're able to uh discuss the science with please you know thank you for the updates as it changes because i you know certainly as uh vice president fusco had mentioned there are others in the community who want to make sure that we're responsive to some of their questions about masks at various levels and and what those rules and recommendations would be i would use this as an opportunity for the community to to promote that june 8th work session as well when we're going to discuss next year in those plans is that before the vote i'm sorry to add another two minutes but dr dietrich can you give a pitch here yeah so june 8th will be the work session opportunity to discuss at that

065juncture what we got in terms of feedback on this particular year and then as we look forward to uh you know give some indication as to how things are looking at that point in time i do believe it is really important that at some juncture real soon here we get a feel from our community in terms of who you know is looking to send their children back in i'll call it september it's actually the very end of august but you know the beginning of the school year it's my hope that we can have everyone back in september and i think as things are looking right now it looks real promising for that to happen but we're watching this very very carefully we're watching what's going on in some other countries but it's been it's been

066encouraging the last couple weeks in particular especially i would say the last 10 days have been real encouraging as we're on the calls with the public health officials that things seem to be really dramatically improving and it's looking uh is looking pretty positive right now so i'm very hopeful uh that we can have as close to possible as a normal if you will uh september now it's been emphasized to us that we need to remain agile and that if for some reason numbers should change and you know as they follow the science of the virus there's a possibility uh that you know as more and more people move back indoors again during colder weather there could be an uptick again thereafter so we've been put on notice that you know if necessary we may need

067to go back to some kind of way of mitigation of some of those strategies but i mean i would be hopeful that we could have a september that's as close to normal as possible thank you dr teacher i think we share that hope um okay so there are no further questions we have a motion on the floor so all in favor say aye or raise your hand hi any opposed motion carries all right the next item is uh i recommend approval of the revised north penn school district return to play plan and with that motion it would relax the requirements in terms of spectators at athletic events who are fully vaccinated so if you are fully vaccinated at an outdoor event and our remaining athletic events would be outdoors uh the requirement to be masked

068would not be necessary so it would be for vaccinated individuals and that would be the recommended action thank you do i have a motion motion by mr casa seconded by mr rush any comments or questions all in favor say any aye motion carries next items in regard to the crawford stadium project recommend the approval of change order ec2 to bsi electrical contract contractors in the amount of seven thousand nine hundred dollars to install one electrical circuit in the baseball dugout do i have a motion motion by mr cost i do have a second second seconded by mrs romich any comments or questions yes uh just is an update for information so it doesn't sound like seven thousand dollars for a plug and a dugout this is this is actually part of the crawford stadium upgrade

069to ensure that there is no longer a multi-hundred foot extension cord from inside the high school to the playing field for electricity for our sports team even so far as to make sure that there's you know they have a closet there but there's absolutely no light in it so this is an opportunity with the renovation of crawford to ensure that that electrical conduit occurs a lot of that expense which we did cover in facilities and operations to make sure we got the best price actually comes from having to drill underground put that wire which is a thicker gauge and bring it all the way up through the dugout so just an explanation of what that cost is for thank you mr costa that's helpful are there any other comments thank you for that explanation because

070i was sitting here wondering why does it cost seven thousand dollars yeah i think there would have been a public comment about that yeah and i'm surprised that we could even run a 100-foot uh uh extension cord out there legally because because of the fire hazard that would be presented well are there any other comments questions okay so um the merchant on the floor all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries and now we'll recommend items h i j k and l all regarding assessment appeal settlements then that would include recommending the uh attached stipulations for those items to settle real estate tax assessment appeals between north penn school district and color con incorporated aes rec llc the pp station square investors llc the yh property llc the gch retail village llc all

071in one motion do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco is seconded by mr rush any comments or questions all in favor say aye hi hi any opposed motion carries recommend approval of the 2021 real estate tax installment payment plan as per the attached resolution do i have a motion so moved motioned by mr fusco do i have a second second seconded by dr lewis campbell any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you dr dietrich next up will be the uh the financial report mr scrakki please madam president just a real brief update here as mr fusco mentioned in the finance committee report this evening the preliminary i'm sorry the proposed final budget was approved on may 11th final budget adoption is slated for

072thursday june the 17th in terms of the numbers for the month of april we collected cash receipts totaling 5.2 million dollars our disbursements for the month of april were 17.5 million dollars that left us with a cash balance at the end of the month totaling 102.1 million dollars and that's a 3.3 million dollar increase over last year also as i mentioned at the last finance committee meeting while there is a 6.4 million dollar budget deficit that was approved initially for the current fiscal year we are on a pathway based on enhanced revenues and reduced expenses to actually break even this year that means no use of fund balance for the 2021 school year that's great and one week excellent yeah when we presented the proposed final budget for next year although that does contain a

073budget deficit we also feel there's a pathway to breaking even next year as well with no use of fund violence great thank you uh so i'd ask for a recommendation for approval of the treasurer's report for the month of april 2021. motion summer motion by mrs romich drive a second second seconded by mr fusco are there any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you next up we have the sanction and approval of invoices for the month of april and they totaled 20 million 856 365 and six cents asking for ratification of these disbursements do i have a motion so moved motion by mr fusco do i have a second seconded by mr rush any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye aye any opposed motion

074carries okay next item for action are the budget transfers which we did review at the finance committee meeting and these totaled 205 985 and 82 cents we're asking for approval of these budget transfers do i have a motion so move do you have a second motion by mr fusco and seconded by mr casa any comments or questions all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries and finally for informational purposes we do have all the monthly financial reports attached in board docs and we also review them in more detail at the finance committee meetings thank you president stall thank you very much mr scrappy okay we're almost there at the end uh is there any other business yes madam president go ahead we weren't able to beat uh governor wolf to the uh birthday

075salutations but to ben hartram today happy birthday from from the board and thank you for all your work as a eagles autism ambassador and just being an overall great human being who just spreads kindness everywhere he goes thank you thank you mr casa i'm sure ben is listening um under other business i would also like to um wish all the seniors that are going to the prom this weekend a you know safe and happy prom um i'm really glad that we're able to have something this year i think that's um wonderful um i know there was a lot of work going into setting it up outside i think i heard there was 700 people signed up for it so i think the weather is going to be pretty nice so uh you know it all

076points towards having a very nice prom this year and uh just wishing hoping everybody stay safe and have fun so is there any other comments or any other new business okay then we will move on to the second opportunity for the audience of citizens mr um gilmore is there anybody i almost said mr patchell just automatically all right i have previous experience we're starting the uh the bell for the gate three minutes here we go my name is william pacquiao i live at 404 bonnie lane it's montgomery township first thing to extend his contract for five four years if you people lose in november i think that should be tabled and let the new people that get elected vote on this that's irresponsible for you to vote on this that's the first mistake he may

077be good that's your opinion maybe the new people might find it well we have somebody's much better and we might actually get it at a lower cost that does happen in society you know this now i was sitting in the back of the room and wearing a mask i just understand if i was in college i would have fallen asleep it was so dreary i didn't know what to say to myself i had i was drifting off and this is what a mask is like let me tell you nobody cares about north penn school district really you have this inflated view of yourself and you know what i talked to todd stevens and when he gets to harrisburg you know what he says you know what those people out in warren county tioga county and

078all those northern tier counties they see they spent how much on that stadium we don't even have we had a standard cinder track and all those things that you say you have to do you know what they do they're like transmissions in the army that come through from headquarters i didn't get anything it was garbled and they do whatever they want to do you people just did 290 million shame on you you know how ridiculous that sounds every stinking year it goes up have you ever shown any restraint you know what now if i was uh if i was in high school here you know what why would i come back i got a nice wawa hoagie for lunch i don't have to ride the bus i don't have to wear a mask i don't

079have to worry about in luco parentai which means you you give up all your rights and you get a quick ride down to telminson township police department hopefully and then miss kim i see she's sitting up there in the uh in the upper right hand corner and i ask what about the psychologist oh he can't find any you only have you tell me about all this mental depression you have and all these things that are happening and the evictions anybody how many are going to get evicted from the district i hear there's over 6 million people that are fighting eviction they don't have any money and what you do is if they do get to stay the landlord says hey i gotta raise your rent another 300 a month what i'm going to have to

080move how many students you're going to lose just for eviction you don't even have a thing for a head count i just sent in a right to know about the how many have actually registered for pre-k you know what the birth rate in this district is it's going down down down down and the ones that you're trying to hold on to they're going to try to cyber charter schools you better learn how to learn online because that's what employers want thank you thank you mr patrol can we just clarify very quickly so the public no you're fine come on i'm just gonna yeah so the public is confused we didn't extend mr skaraki for a four-year contract with the district he was approved as the board secretary for the board of school directors which is

081an organization it's a statewide organization yeah just so we're clear he's not it wasn't a contractor no hi oh it's okay uh vicki flannery north wales borough i just wanted to take a moment to thank you guys for um passing the motion to allow our kids to be outside during recess without the masks on up for their parents approval uh and i and i do appreciate that june 8th that we're going to discuss allowing mass choice indoors as well next year um i i want to introduce myself formally my name again vicky flannery i am the co-chair for the montgomery county moms for liberty i'm sure you guys will be seeing a lot of me uh coming up and i hope that we can have um a good working relationship together in um helping our

082our children collectively um in in in their education so thank you again i appreciate it thank you mrs flannery i don't see any more in the room we do have a couple of hands up online up first is uh katie hirsch katie i've enabled your microphones and you're ready to begin please state your name and address and begin your comments katie kirsch one or two chaps away um first i want to thank you for the mask removing the mass requirement for outside and more and more science says that that's the right thing to do i want to express my frustration though with the lack of planning from this district i've been asking since january to have some insight as to what's going to happen in the fall other districts have already announced their plans mr

083fusco your district started planning in january spring ford presented an entire plan over a month ago those families know what the fall is going to look like for them we are going to start talking about making a plan on june 8th yet we've already asked families to register for kindergarten or register for first grade and it's mind-boggling how slow this board is to make plans and move forward i don't understand how other districts all around us already have planned out and communicated to families when we haven't even begun the discussion i i mean i've i've talked to each of you you know where i stand it's amazing that this is where we are at this point in time thank you okay up next is jessie bradica i've opened your microphone soon you're ready to begin

084please state your name and address and begin your comments jesse you're muted there there you go hi i'm jesse bradica i live in lansdale 1821 mifflin drive i want a second what katie said um i've been aware of other districts that have also come up with plans and also made their uh removal of the masks for outdoor uh activities and sports much faster than north penn being that we have always been a leading district this lack of leadership is surprising to me second i want to just comment on a lot of the meeting meeting with various students and parents over the last few months about this mandatory testing that you are imposing on kids to participate is causing a high level of stress and anxiety in an already high level anxiety world around this covid

085and twice tonight you have mentioned the vaccinated individuals being able to attend um sporting events and vaccinated individuals being able to take off masks as per the cdc this board did not follow cdc guidelines last summer when they closed the schools um they were happy to announce that they did not that they acted before the cdc and closing the three feet gap in the fall so i ask that you consider your community and parents and do not add undue stress and anxiety and i'd like to know how you're going to handle unvaccinated individuals versus vaccinated individuals thank you up next is katie strayhorn katie i've enabled your microphones you're ready to begin state your name and address and begin your comments please my name is katie strahorn i'm at 213 fernwood court in harleysville and

086as a parent who has a child in the district and then who has also pulled my children and my tax money to cyber charter schools because of the disappointment in the quality of education that north penn had exhibited i just would love to know how we are equipping our teachers to be better teachers i know that there's been such an emphasis on this culturally responsive instruction and education uh during the in service days and the professional development but i just wonder how we're missing educating the entire population and really addressing the strengths and the needs the gap is getting larger and larger i'm blessed to be able to stay home with my children and to be able to facilitate learning with them but there's a lot of families who cannot do that and so i

087just wonder how the board is going to address trying to equip the teachers to better educate i have a daughter that sits in an auditorium for an hour and a half and some days she doesn't even have to turn in work which is unacceptable you don't go to a job and not turn in work you do your work and it's expected of you however because we have shortages of teachers and subs um and teachers that are not coming into the buildings these children are just getting funneled uh another neighbor of mine had her son supposed to sit for three hours in the auditorium and just do my work i just would love to know what the board is going to do to hold our teachers accountable and to also equip them to be the best

088that they can be this district is excellent i was um i've been through it since kindergarten and i brought my kids two here and i just would love to know what we're gonna do to make this a better experience for all children no matter what thank you so much thank you mr horn you have another hand up just waiting for my mouse to engage there we go up next is jason lanier jason give it a second here i apologize we go when you're ready to begin you can unmute your mic state your name and address and begin your comments please jason here 100 oak drive lansdale uh two separate topics actually they're kind of tied together as some of the other uh speakers just before me were bringing them nicely together but i'll do a

089little bit more abruptly here the uh the critical race theory nonsense that you guys are introducing introducing into the curriculum the the the the marxist mentality of blm and in critical race theory why why are you doing this i i don't understand it if you would only have some intellectual curiosity and look to see where this is derived you would would surely see it why do we want to segregate kids based upon race why do we want to make one group of kids feel poorly about themselves while telling the other group of kids that they can't do anything because they're victims why do you want to do this i do not understand and look at other districts around the country and see what happens to those districts as they implement this nonsense more and more

090and more second you guys and dr dietrich i i you mentioned scientific data pushing these decisions with the the montgomery county board of health uh i don't i'm calling bs on that there's no data that is supporting these decisions these are done arbitrarily there is no data which supports these decisions there's no reason why kids should be wearing masks kids zero to to 29 in pennsylvania there's been zero fatalities they are not vectors of transmission they do not carry these viruses the kids might get sick for a very short period of time but most likely you will they'll be asymptomatic the entire time and tie this in with the mandatory testing you did for the sports teams select sports teams you're doing the same thing for kids that want to go to prom and this

091isn't going to make anything any more safe this isn't doing anything serving any benefit to anyone this is simply giving data for the director of at chop uh what's it uh paul rubin mark rubin dave rubin dave rubin is the director at chop you look him up he's the guy in your contact he's the man who gave you this information he's the guy pushing pushing you to do this his company which he started shortly after the okay came down from the state so this was december 18th he started this this company december 18th of last year this company collects that data and distributes that to the counties and the states for money we're only padding his data he's making money off of this we're not doing anything that's making anybody more safe we are just

092giving money to uh somebody who is who is uh who thought far enough ahead to create a company to facilitate the stat of being distributed you guys need to look into this you need to open your eyes look at the real data look at the real science and make decisions based upon on facts not on feelings facts that's what you need to do thank you very much [Music] mrs wilson yeah how is it called i'll go with go ahead mrs wilson oh okay lauren wilson montgomery township i just wanted to um make a couple points i know we caught we i feel for every parent whose child hasn't done well this year and has had an issue with the virtual learning platform that has been provided i do want to continue to provide my story

093with my child who has flourished and done extremely well both virtual hybrid and fully in person she's had an amazing teacher an amazing support staff at her school and so while i continue to feel for the parents that haven't had such an opportunity i do want to continue to shed light that some students are fearing well in all of the platforms and all of the teachers that have stepped up and tried to figure out a way to make this engaging for the kids whether it be music whether it be phys ed or whether it be their core curriculum studies my daughter has done amazingly well i know a number of parents across the district whose children have continued to thrive regardless of the situation so i don't dis discount anyone else's situation but i want

094to continue to provide both sides of the story as it relates to how children are faring in the community this year i also want to say that north penn is a beautiful school district because it's a melting pot of people from all different perspectives and and ways of life as we continue to get reminded and and and i think it's important to to to hear all the sides of the story as it relates to the mask and the mass list policy and where we go because while for some people it gives them a a weight off their shoulders to remove the mask for students it gave me a point of pause and caution and concern for my child who's not vaccinated because she's too young so it's a hard decision to make because while you

095have some people uh feeling very passionate once i for one am on the opposite side of that spectrum it took me longer to send my child back to school and i still am not able to get my child vaccinated though myself and my husband are so while i understand that all parents have different decisions to make it's hard to please everyone and i truly respect all of you for trying to do that on a continuing basis the last thing i want to say is as it relates to critical race there i agree with mr lanier that i'm so glad we don't teach that here i am so glad we don't teach political race day and i'm so glad we continue to teach american history black history and the truth about our systems here and what's

096happening and what has happened in this country whether it relates to any student and i'm glad we don't teach that because i agree that would be wrong and i'm so glad that our curriculum that our district is recognizing that and i'm proud of the culturally proficient materials we continue to put through from the office of curriculum and equity a lot of work still to be done but i agree we shouldn't be going down that route we should continue down the path of teaching american history black history and the truth because the truth is always right thank you thank you mrs wilson we do have another hand up online so up next will be chris carroll chris i've enabled your microphone so you're ready to begin you can state your name and address and begin your

097comments please thank you this is chris carroll at 820 sullivan drive uh just a point that may um help to shed some light on a topic addressed by the last two two speakers uh i think it would be very beneficial to the community if we did get more visibility into the cultural proficiency and equity training i think if there are misconceptions they can easily be dispelled uh and i think it's a lot of angst is created by the topics of uh critical race training critical race theory and it is unfortunate that there are other institutions that use words like um uh cultural proficiency equity and inclusion to mean things other than what they should be and that's a coming together we have a very incredibly diverse uh community in north penn and have for quite

098some time and i do believe that's one of our strengths uh so i would like to see more from the board of opening a window into what exactly is being taught in the cultural proficiency and equity program and again i hope that that may dispel any misconceptions that are out there until then unfortunately we are left to draw our own conclusions and may they may not necessarily be the right ones thank you mr carroll i think that was the point mrs mullison made on her first public comment as well so i think we can accommodate that moving forward we do not teach critical race theory no matter how many times mr lanier says it so thank you for that are there any other comments oh hi jazzy and tolbert i live in montgomery township um

099i was going to echo the same thing i made a comment at the last board meeting that i think a forum in which parents could understand exactly what is being taught would be helpful for the community because that instance about critical race theory being taught in the schools does come up at every single board meeting so i think that would be helpful on another note i just wanted to say thank you to the board i mean i don't claim to be a lawyer a plumber or whatever i try not to tell people how to do their jobs but i am a physician and a pediatric oncologist at that and i do i have taken care of some of the most vulnerable patients so i appreciate the board taking their time and using the science to

100assess the mass mandates for children while they're in school because we all know that my kids who are in elementary and my son who is in middle school they're not fully vaccinated so i actually applaud the board for what you have done with your safety plan i do understand it was a more detailed safety plan than some of the other districts and so the rollout and the roll back in has to be slow and it has to be thought of carefully so just wanted to say thank you all for that thank you dr tolbert i just add very quickly too because we do focus very much on the elementary but we have to remember that the middle school students are just now starting to get vaccinated and the research has shown that they are in

101an age group that is susceptible to the effects of coven more so than elementary so we have one month to go there is really not enough time where we will have all of the or a critical mass even of the students in the up middle schools vaccinated or the high school got a little bit of a head start but we have to keep them in the context of this conversation as well and keep in mind their health and safety okay next up is katie strayhorn i believe i think did she go this time or she go first time so then all hands have been raised i usually write this down i didn't have my pen i had it written down it can get confused between the first and second public comment so if there are

102no other hands at this time can i just add one as well um and that is i do think it's important for us to continue to keep the community and up to date with what we're doing with regards to equity but we also have some great resources in past meetings that have been recorded great work done in the eci committee great work done in policy we're trying to integrate it into every discussion every committee so that it touches so having it in a clearinghouse is a great place but know that there are it's it's really everywhere so there are great things to go back and look at great things that have been done great things that have been written and updated um and so i think there are resources that are there and yes i

103think then bringing and giving a summary and you know kind of highlighting it is something that we can also do as well unless a mistake in dr bauer there is discussion about an equity forum am i correct about that yes uh i believe um why is it the name escaping me if anybody else can help we're having a summoning we're having a summit but the summit is not a forum as we've had in the past the the equity summit is um something that i believe they're working on with the teachers i know that dr waters would be able to speak to that um in particular um so you know we certainly can look at we've had forums in the past i think that miss ramesh has spoken to this very well that there we've actually

104we've had a lot of forums a lot of discussion over the past three years and we it's important for us to continue those discussions so that we can dispel any of the things that are that's really being said it's kind of muddying the waters of the really important work that um that we're doing so um i think we can certainly begin to have those discussions about a forum we're working with our parents in equity group um and i think we can you know continue to talk about that but the equity summit is not a like forum where we would be educating the community right that is taking place over the summer in july i believe um and it involves staff and some of our parents in the parents and equity group um um i just

105want to clarify one thing and um agree with some of the comments that have made been made a few minutes ago parents please understand we are not teaching critical race theory in this school district never have and that is not our intention critical race theory is not taught in any k-12 school district in these united states we're all about culturally responsive teaching and critical race theory is not even taught to undergrads in college so i don't know where this these parents are getting this from but the time you take to sit up here and lambast us about critical race theory which we're not even nowheres near that direction and don't plan to be it's taught in graduate schools but the time and effort you take to come up with these these theories that you're coming

106up with take time to read a book get off the tv stop listening to the pundits stop listening to the sound bites really find out what critical race theory is so you'll know that in this district we are teaching culturally responsive teaching in which we take all dr lewis campbell we lost your sound oh yeah andy froze up but i think dr lewis campbell made her point with them is a part of who they are and it helps them to be better learners and so that teachers then come from a place of not a deficit of what a student doesn't know but what a student does know and what they can learn and ultimately parents our goal is to make sure your children are trained and prepared for this global world that they will be

107in and not back in the day when all of these crazy ideas about difference came about and we're trying to make sure that we prepare your children from a 2 for a 21st century education and i'm just glad that uh dr king wasn't quoted tonight because i'm just tired of having dr king's words taken out of context when it comes to judging students and people on the content of their character if you knew what dr king stood for he would be all about culturally responsive teaching so don't mix up the two and don't keep coming in here telling us that that's what we're about we are not why would we want white children to feel bad about themselves why would we want any child to not be able to get along with other children that

108is not what we're about in this district and some things will come up that parents will know more about what it is we're trying to do but we're trying to prepare your children to exist in this world not by some of the misconceptions that their parents have so i just had to say that i'm i'm so full of being told that we're teaching critical race theory and no schools in k-12 are teaching critical race theory thank you dr lois campbell okay are there any other comments from school board directors for any admin seeing none um then do i have a motion to adjourn so moved okay meeting is adjourned thank you very much everyone