NLSD School Board Meeting - January 12, 2026

001I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. I ask you all to read the uh civility and decorum at the top of the agenda. I'm not going to read it to you. Uh the meeting is being recorded and and televised. Just so you know that at this time uh can we have roll call please? Madam Secretary. >> Miss Bilby >> here. >> Mr. Podoro >> here. >> Miss Husach here. Miss Culp >> here. >> Miss Snder >> here. No one. >> Miss Thompson >> here. >> Mr. Weber >> here. >> No. >> Miss Williams. >> Mr. Green >> here. >> We have a taco. >> So, they don't want to come,

002but they're here. Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you. >> I'm looking at the list and I see no one who has requested public comment at this time. So, we'll bypass that. Okay. You've all received copies of the meetings. Is there a motion to approve the meetings as listed? >> So moved. >> A motion. Is there a second? >> Thank you. Discussion or questions, additions hearing. None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? No. And the minutes are approved. So let's move to special board report. CLU. Miss Husach. >> Not too much to report. We did have our December meeting. Um there is a new uh holiday video that is posted as well as a video for the 50th anniversary of the IDA programs. So feel free to go visit the website

003for information on those. Uh coming up and on the budget or on uh the agenda will be the general operating budget. Uh our district would have no change as a general um increase to the IU. That's all I have. >> Thank you. Uh LCTI Mr. for Dorcha. Thank you. Uh we reorganization meeting we did not have much action uh other than that. Uh we did do our budget presentation which again as I said last month went out to the uh administration here as to all the schools. We will take action in our January meeting to approve it from the LCTI board. it then has to go to each individual school district to and each individual school district must vote on the the budget. Uh other than that, we elected a new chairperson. Uh Audrey Mat

004from Allentown is our new chair and I'm happy to say that I am the vice chair. >> Congratulations. >> So that's all I have to report right now, sir. >> Well, congratulations, sir. Unless our superintendent also attends as superintendent record, I don't know if you have anything additional. >> Uh just that we will be having our countywide superintendent meeting this Thursday at LCTI whereas a group of superintendents will also be discussing uh the proposed budget for LCTI and its impact on descending school districts. >> Okay, thank you both. Uh anything >> okay. Uh, our meeting is the first Thursday which happened to be New Year's Day this year. So, we did not have a meeting. So, we'll be having our meeting this Thursday. So, I have really no report. Uh, you've all received copies of

005the Did I Oh, I thought you were pointing at something. The committee meetings. Any questions on any of the reports anywhere? No. Okay, we're ready. Good evening everyone. We hope you all had an amazing winter break. So tonight me and Maddie will be discussing the end of the semester events as well as sports. So in the beginning of December, our student leadership team opened our school store. Dr. Riley and Mr. Mccardi worked with students on the leadership team to create this exciting new store. So Riley Schaw, someone on the leadership team, worked with Ronnie Coun to order the merchandise. It's open and available during lunch and learn in the lobby. Um they sell items such as pajamas, hoodies, coffee cups, lanyards, and bracelets. We applaud the student leadership team in their determination to make our

006school a better place. Winter Keystone testing sessions was a tremendous success with three full days of testing conducted last week. Students demonstrated a strong work ethic and benefited greatly from the newly implemented testing schedule. Most students participated asynchronously. Those scheduled to test reported in person to the high school and we experienced very few student absences across all testing sessions. Feedback from staff and students was overwhelmingly positive. In addition to the testing, all students participated in lunch and learn during each testing day, which provided staff with a meaningful opportunities to connect and offer targeted support. We are grateful for the school board's continued support for our testing schedule which has played a crucial role in creating a positive and productive testing environment. On the 19th, which is Monday, schools will be closed for Martin Luther King

007Day. And then next week as well, student council will be holding a winter blood drive on Tuesday the 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the high school gym with Miller Keystone Blood Center. You must be at least 16 years old to donate and you also may need a um appointment to donate as well. We hope that everyone considers donating. And finals for the first semester are next week. Block 1 and two are on Wednesday the 21st and block three and four are on Thursday the 22nd. The second semester as well as new classes begin on Friday the 23rd. And that's all I have for tonight. And now on to Maddie with more school events and sports. Thank you, Olivia. So, with the end of the first semester quickly approaching, many of the math

008and English departments are preparing to do their final testing. National Honor Society will induct new members on January 27th at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Theater season is now in full swing, and the theater cast and crew are working tirelessly to give an amazing spring musical. This year's musical is Anastasia. It will be performed between March 12th to the 15th and tickets are available for purchase on the Northern Le the Northern Lehigh website. Senior night for girls basketball will be against Jim Thorp on January 30th followed by the boys senior night against Pomodan on February 3rd 3rd. Uh now speaking of basketball, Tegan Sims, a junior, just reached her thousand career points last Saturday against Banger. Kellen Bower, also a junior, should get his thousand career points very soon, just being 20 points

009away. This is an incredible feat for both Kellen and Tegan to accomplish and shows their hard work and dedication to both their sport and team. Congrats to both of them. The current or current or current sports standings are girls basketball with a six to five where their next game will be against CAD soccer on January 13th at home. Boys basketball is 5 to 10 with their next game being against Caddy on January 13th, which is away. Girls wrestling is 4 to2 ne and their next meet will be against Lee Heighten on January 14th which is away and boys wrestling is 1 to3 um and their next meet will be against Lee Heighten as well on January 14th away. That is all I have. Thank you. >> Thank any questions for the >> musical. >> Yes.

010>> How about yourself? >> I also am but I'm not like performing but I'm doing like the background. >> Great. >> Wellrounded. Thank you. >> Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> You are um free to stay. You are free to go engage in other activities tonight. >> G I want no other. >> Okay, we got F. Where are we at here? G superintendent report. Dr. Link. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. So this evening, I'd like to begin my report um by handing over some time to representatives from excuse me, excuse me, uh representatives from our high school esports team. Uh this evening we have Mrs. Crystal Tedleman, Mrs. Janelle Sheckler, the adviserss, and then uh 10th grader sophomore Jar Ortiz uh is here as well, one of the team members. I know uh you've

011had an exciting season with some strong competition. So, I'll kind of turn it over to the three of you uh if you'd like to share a little bit about um all things esports at Northern Lehigh High School. >> Um so, our esports teams this year, we just completed our our fall season. Our spring season starts next week. So, we already have students signed up to compete for the the fall season. Um, we had it was our first competition for a lot of the titles, but our students did very well. Uh, we made it to playoffs in two out of the four titles and we made it to finals in the Rocket League title. So, we got to take our students to Harrisburg. They competed in person there. Um, and they they did a fantastic job.

012Our team captain was unfortunately in Dubai at the time uh because the esports league changed the competition dates after they had booked their trip. So uh that hurt our team a little bit, but that just made them more determined to place again this season so that we have a second chance at competing in person in finals. Um would you like to say anything about esports? It's a fun experience at Bass and it's a great way to make new friends. >> Jamar competes in a couple of titles for us. Um, so he he does a fantastic job and hopefully with a few more years with us, we'll we'll get him to compete in finals too. So that would be that would be nice. So, uh, thank you the three of you for coming and sharing a

013little bit about esports. I'm happy to hear, uh, the success that you've had. You made it into the playoffs, um, actually into the finals and I think it was Rocket League you said. Um, and you know, hopefully that does encourage into the spring. So, I do have a question for the three of you. I know I know that esports has been with us now, I think, for almost three years. I think as as part of the athletics department, yes, this is our third year. Okay. >> Um, prior to that it was considered a club. >> Okay. And then what would you say are from season to season about the average participation rate? So, how many members? >> So, I think it's tough because like right now we have 30 students that are involved >> but

014the teams you know are limited. So we we have maybe 24 students that are actually competing. It depends. Like Fortnite only allows two students to compete at a time. Okay. >> So we can have a bunch of alternates, but we really want to lead with with our best competitors. Um it so that's kind of what restricts us. Um but we usually have around 20 to 30 students involved. Um, if we if if we got brave enough to have multiple teams running simultaneously, which is what we started to try to do with the the second coach, we can probably start to expand that. Um, the hard part is the league is new also. So, over the past few years, we've seen a lot of changes with things like, you know, Rocket League is always going to

015be on Tuesdays and then the season starts and oh, it's on Monday. Um, and the the downside to that is that a lot of our students will block their schedules through their employers um, and say, "Well, I can only work these days." So then we we might lose some kids. We might see some or, you know, we have conflicts with with other activities. Well, I'm in the musical. We we practice every Thursday. Then they're not available for the competition. So that's kind of what impacts how many students we have involved. Um, also the fact that this isn't something that we have established at lower grades yet is, you know, by the time they get to high school, we're getting a lot of juniors and seniors who are interested in trying to get recruited to college

016teams or to get scholarships. So, we don't have as many freshmen and sophomores that are getting involved because they're not thinking that way yet. They want to play video games for fun. they're not as invested in playing them for competition. Um, so I think, you know, if we were to open up, they do have a middle school league through PSAL. If we were to open up something at a lower level, we would have those students more more used to competing on a team so that then our high school program would would probably grow. >> Okay. So, you you've shared a lot there. All real. No, no, no, no. And I say that meaning what I'm hearing is this is starting to quickly shadow as far as participation rates and opportunities. I heard you say there's

017a uh collegiate um scholarships available um or even a career pathway. I just added that in there. You didn't actually say that. Um but there's opportunities beyond just competition. Right. Maybe most importantly is what Joe Maher said about I get to meet and make new friends, right? either in person with our teammates or perhaps even virtually with competitors from other school districts. What What do you need or what would be helpful from administration or the school board for continued success or even to perhaps potentially push it down into the middle level when we're ready? >> So, I I think that's a tough question. Um actually, uh Mr. Mr. Hill and I were talking at the beginning of the meeting about how our setup is a little different than some other districts, but how that might

018actually work better for us. Um, some districts have these very elaborate esports labs that they've invested a ton of money into. But if they don't have the coach or if the students don't have the right timeline or transportation, those labs are sitting there empty. Our students have been competing from home using their own technology, their own devices, and if they don't have access to that, then we provide it for them. Um the downside to that is we are as fast as their internet connections versus you know having something in the building that would allow us to provide that. So I think those are conversations that we kind of have to have in terms of like the technology department in terms of the individual players and and where their comfort levels are um and and see

019how we could grow that way. Um, I think what made the biggest difference for our kids this year was being recognized more as an actual team. Um, getting that recognition on the dog dish, having some um, other staff members kind of congratulate them when we share out their success. Um, we really would like to see something simple like jerseys. Um, we've looked into that trying to figure out how we can make something like that possible because it is a team sport. These kids really do have to rely on each other and it would be nice for them after a win to come in wearing their jerseys and be able to say, you know, I'm I'm part of a team that has qualified for states and and that sort of thing. Um so those little things

020in the beginning, um we are incredibly grateful for the um Nintendo Switches that we received and the games that we have that students like Durar can borrow if they need to. Um, and we're hoping to continue to grow the program that way. Most of the games, the titles that are selected for the league are free to play. Um, there are just a handful that you have to pay for the game in order to compete. And that's something that we don't feel our students should have to pay to play. So, um, having the the titles that we have to to accommodate a full team so that if a student doesn't have it on their own, we can provide it. That has been a huge help as well. Um, as the league continues to expand those titles,

021that's something else that we'll have to look into. Um, last the the beginning of this year, they kind of tossed in a new a brand new title for us, Marvel Rivals. Uh, we had some students that were already playing this. There's stuff called download content. So, and some of you may know what that is, but for the rest of you, it's basically like someone can play with a more expensive football. And if our kids don't have the money to download that expensive football, then then they're playing with, you know, less adequate equipment. Um, those types of things are still being negotiated in the league. Like I said, the league is so new that, you know, when we when we notice discrepancies like, well, it's it's not equitable to say that they can play with a

022character that they've paid for, but our kids don't have access to the paid characters. should we not allow the paid characters to compete and it's all students have to use only the the base game characters? So, we're having those types of conversations. Um, but yeah, I think the support just just that the interest, the acknowledgment that what these kids are doing takes skill, takes talent, takes practice and time. um that that's that's the most valuable until we have those conversations about equipment and and access. >> So that that's very helpful to administration um as we kind of plan what do we need to plan for budget-wise moving forward. Um cuz I do agree that the team should be treated as a varsity sport. I think it's you've proven that you're ready. You're you're going to

023state competitions already. Um, and I and I think this is something that we need to uh take some responsibility for and continue to plan forward. So, thank you for that. Um, Jamar, thank you for coming in and sharing your experience uh tonight. I wish you best of luck in the spring season. Um, and you know, hopefully we can have you back if not at the end of the spring spring season, maybe next fall again um for another update. So, I I appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you for spending some time with us this evening. And I'll open it up to the board if they have any questions or comments. I like your jersey idea because it's a team and that's what represents a team. So, you know, there might be some way we can make

024that happen. >> Okay, thank you very much. Have a great rest of the night. >> And again, you're all welcome to stay or you can uh move on to other other things as well. Um, also I would like to share this evening that this past Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending the science fair at Slington Elementary School. Uh, proudly sponsored by the Northern Lehigh PTO. We have an officer with us this evening. So, thank you for doing that. Um, it was wonderful to see our Slington Elementary students sharing their projects and explaining their work to peers, parents, and judges. The evening was judged by Mrs. Binder and Mr. Fritz, two of our Slington Elementary School teachers, along with special guest judge and school board member, Mr. Tim Weber. Uh, the evening provided an

025ideal opportunity for our young scientists to walk others through their designs, hypothesis, outcomes, and data while also practicing valuable public speaking skills in a supportive setting. Uh, the list of winners is as follows. In third grade, Joel Stevens earned third place for his project on water filtration. Uh Savannah Hittinger uh took second place with her experiment on elephant toothpaste. First place was awarded to Luke Gross for his project exploring the seasons in different hemispheres. In fourth grade, Olivia George received second place for her volcano experiment. And Garrett Gernet earned first place for his project on the strength of a magnet. And in fifth grade, uh Javon Clinton received third place for his robotic arm project. Evan Baker earned second place for his investigation into his crested gecko's favorite food. And there was a tie for

026first place between Ryan Kirkpatrick uh who tested the 5second rule. That was that was interesting. Um and uh and Owen Gross who uh examined the damaging effects of drinking soda. Uh so kudos to all of our young scientists. It was a great evening. Um and I was just I felt fortunate to be able to hear some of the presenters give their presentation. So again, uh thank you to the faculty and Mr. Weber and thank you um to our our PTO um officers, the whole PTO program. Uh Katchcha, thank you for being there as well. >> This is actually the fourth year that we've hosted the science fair. Um and I think the projects kind of get more and more creative every year. Um it's cool to see, but we would really love it to be

027somewhat bigger. Um, so we have been trying to discuss with the science teachers how we can kind of grow it a little bit. Um, a couple different ideas, but um, I think it it's fun. It's a good time and it gives it gives some of the kids who don't otherwise have an outlet through sports or other types of hobbies to get involved in something. So, >> well said. I fully agree. And I'm going to lean on our um resident uh newspaper writer here, Mr. Honor, uh to maybe celebrate these young scientists as well as our esports team. >> Thank you very much. And that concludes my report this evening, Mr. Green. >> Thank you. >> Nothing. Thank you. >> Uh I think it's your turn. >> Thank you. Um this evening uh we'd like to

028say thank you to our school board and in honor of school board recognition month, you'll see library books that are sitting in front of each of our school board members. These books will be donated to our school libraries um on your behalf. And so we have Miss Tedman that's going to speak about our secondary libraries and then I have some information from our elementary librarian um for some thank yous that they'd like to share this evening. I'm not going to say as much as just just thank you very much for your support of the libraries and the library programs. Um they are an incredible space in our buildings. They have wonderful resources. Um and I I'd really love to see them utilized to the extent that we possibly could. Um we greatly appreciate the books

029that you have donated for us. They'll be processed with care and placed on the shelves for many many students to interact with. Um, I want to say that the book that was selected for the elementary school, The Day You Begin, that's right there, is one that I read to my high school students. So, these books definitely impact K through 12. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Tedman. And, uh, from Mrs. uh, Rachel Demo, our elementary librarian, dear Northern Lehigh School Board members, I'd like to thank you for your generous book donations to the Peters and Slington elementary libraries. The selected books support empathy and inclusion, individuality, and self-acceptance, bravery and adventure, and exploration of history and science. New books are always exciting, and I'm sure our students are looking forward to reading them. This

030year, in addition to connecting with literature, our elementary students are increasing their digital literacy and media awareness skills, completing research projects, exploring careers, budgeting, and engaging in hands-on STEM or STEAM activities. These learning experiences help build a foundation for lifelong learning and reading. Thank you for your continued commitment to our students and school community. Best regards, Rachel Domo. So, on behalf of all of the stakeholders in our school district, we'd like to thank you, especially during January during board appreciation month for all that you do and the tireless uh hours that you put into being school board members. Right. Um, and now we'll shift gears a little bit and we'll jump into our annual school board um, presentation of our data. people. >> Good evening and welcome to Northern Lehigh School District's presentation of our

031annual state assessment data. Tonight's annual data presentation is pretty comprehensive and we have a significant amount of information to share with you. We anticipate the presentation will take approximately 1 hour to move through all of the data. With that said, in order to help us stay on track and ensure we're able to present the information in a clear and cohesive way, we ask that all questions be held to the end of the entire presentation, and we will make sure to allow time for questions and discussions once we've concluded. Thank you in advance for your patience and attention. This is Northern Lehigh School District's administrative presentation of the 2425 state assessment data. This includes last year's state assessment data as we have not yet completed all of this year's state testing yet. Northern Lehigh School District

032has four schools. Peters Elementary is about 5 miles down the road and serves grades K through two. All of our other schools are on the main campus. Slington Elementary houses students in grades 3 through six. Our middle school grades seven and 8. and our high school grades 9 through 12. Our enrollment as of October 1st of 2024 was 1628 students. Of those, 125 students attended LCTI. We also had 115 students enrolled in charter schools. Our student group data shows that 41.4% of our students at the time were economically disadvantaged. 3.7% were English language learners, 19.5% received special education services, 1.1% were considered homeless, and 3.8% were military connected. We now have a better system for tracking students in the foster care system. So, next we will report next time we will report in that area

033as well. 51% of students were male, 49% were female. And with regard to race and ethnicity on the right hand side of the slide, you can see the breakdown of um students.1% was American Indian or Alaskan native native 7% were considered Asian, 2.4% considered black, 1% native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 19.2% 2% Hispanic, 73.7 white, and 3.9% identify as two or more races. Before we begin to discuss Northern Lehigh School District's assessment data, we'd like to ask you to jot down any questions you have and hold those to the end. If you could reference the slide, that would be extremely helpful. Next is more information on the composition of the state assessment system that we will be discussing this evening. Years ago, Pennsylvania transitioned away from a single school performance profile or SP score

034and now utilizes a dashboard approach for presenting data and building level data through future ready PA index. This slide explains the reasons for that change. I'm not going to spend a lot of time going through this slide um in detail as it's something that we present annually. However, they include use of more varied indicators related to preparing students for post-secary success, transparency, transparency of achievement and growth, especially with regard to subgroups and having a system that is easy to navigate. Also discussed in previous years is that there are three main tabs within the future ready PA index. They include the following statewide assessment measures, ontrack measures, and college and career readiness measures. On this slide are the lists of indicators that are included in each of those areas. State assessment measures include uh percent proficient

035or advanced on PSSA or Keystone exams in math, ELA, and science. meeting annual growth expectations via PEAS system and proficient of solely advanced on the same state tests as listed earlier. Ontrack measures include English language proficiency, chronic absenteeism or regular attendance, and early indicators of success in reading, which Pennsylvania has selected as grade three, and in math, which PA has defined as grade seven. College and career measures include graduation rate, career readiness benchmark, industrybased learning, rigorous courses of study, like the AP courses, and post-secary transition to school, military, or work. Some indicators apply to all students, while others only apply to some schools or co or cohorts of students. Um, all released data can be examined by visiting the state's public site at futurerepppa.org. Before we begin to examine the data, it's important to make

036you aware of some information and changes that are happening for this year and on the horizon. On this slide, you see the tested subjects and performance categories. Science is changing. was the last year that students took science PSSAs in fourth grade. Starting in 2425, students took the science PSSAs in fifth grade instead. Due to the updated science standards adopted in Pennsylvania, newly aligned science questions were developed and administered in 2425. With the permission of the United States Department of Education, assessment scores in science were waved as part of the field test process. Therefore, only participation rates are reported for science on the index for the 2425 school year. The Keystone exam has also changed. Through the winter of 2024, the exam remained the same as it has been. The spring of 2025, biology assessments, including

037field tested aligned items to the new steel standards um but was not a census field test. Therefore, accountability data for both participation and performance will be collected and reported. With regard to uh the performance categories, we aim to have all students at least attain the proficient level in tested subjects. However, beginning in 2023, the state move towards graduation pathways, which we'll speak about on the next slide. The third bullet is the state's target and the fourth discusses interimm targets for districts between now and 2033 in achieving those expectations. At times you will see things colorcoded in this presentation like a traffic light. Red signifies areas to stop and examine. Yellow gives areas for pause and green shows that things are going well. Blue means that we are exceeding expected levels of performance. More to come

038in these areas as our presentation progresses. The last area to touch on before we discuss the 2425 data is that in 2018, the state passed Act 158. This law requires students to graduate under one of the listed graduation pathways. The class of 2023 was the first to be required to do so. You can see that only the first two of these five pathways puts a heavy emphasis on using the Keystone exams to meet the graduation pathway requirement. All pathways are listed on this slide and are important to note because students are not retesting as they have been in the past and are demonstrating that they can graduate under a particular pathway. We are being more strategic in who we are encouraging to participate in prep sessions and retake Keystone exams. This paradigm shift impacts district

039scores as students are not required to retest in the same manner as they did in the past. In addition to these pathways, students could also graduate under a waiver for extenduating circumstances during their senior year or through fulfilling their IEP program if they are a student with special needs. More to come regarding graduation pathways when we get to the high school and subgroup data later in the presentation. This section begins our presentation on the 2425 data and again more information on this data can be found on future ready PA index site which is futurerepppa.org. At this time I will turn things over to Mr. Schneiderite to pre present Peter's elementary school data. Thank you, Dr. Doker. Good evening to the board. Good evening to the community. Um, first of all, uh, the following slides represent,

040as you know, Peters Elementary School for the 24-25 school year. And as a reminder to, uh, to everyone, Peters is our primary grades K through2 elementary school. So, at Peters Elementary School, the first slide will show data regarding regular attendance rate. This is a lagging indicator which means it's from the 232 24 school year. We can see that the percentage of students not chronically absent at Peters is listed as 83%. This is 3.4% above the state average yet 11.1% below that statewide performance standard that we must reach by 2033. Uh this is the only data point for state data for Peters Elementary School. However, for the first time last year, we actually had two students take the PSSAs. Uh if you recall, we have uh we had one class of special education students who were

041K through three, and through the board's decision, uh we hired an extra special education teacher at the middle school, and that sort of realigned it. So, we had two students take the assessment last year. Uh but because uh it was only two students, it did not meet the uh end score, which means that data is not reportable. So in lie of that data, I would like to share with you again um the ELA and math data from our local assessments from the last school year, the same time frame. Uh this data demonstrates the growth of our primary grade students. And first we will look at the dibbles next data from last school year. Uh this is the entire year worth. It's broken out by grade level with kindergarten being the top section, first grade being

042the middle section and second grade being the bottom section. And within each wh pardon uh within each grade there are three bar graphs representing the beginning of the year at the top, middle of the year in the middle, and end of the year at the bottom. Looking at the graphs, there are colors that represent groups of students. Blue represents students above benchmark. Green represents students that are at benchmark. Yellow represents students who are below benchmark and red represents students who are well below benchmark. So this graph demonstrates that from the beginning of the year to the end of the year that there was an increase in students who were at and above benchmark at each grade level and a decrease in students who were well below or well below uh benchmark. At the beginning of

043the year in kindergarten, 26% of students were at or above benchmark. And by the end of the year, 69% of students were at or above benchmark, representing a 43% increase. At the beginning of the year in first grade, 52% of students were at or above benchmark. And at the end of the year, 73% of students were at or above benchmark, representing a 21% increase. And at the beginning of the year in second grade, that very bottom um grouping, 47% of students were at or above benchmark. And at the end of the year, 68% of students were at or above benchmark, which represents a 21% increase as well. And from the beginning of the year, the percentage of students who were below benchmark to well below benchmark also decrease in the same percentages. In kindergarten, they

044decreased by 43%. in first grade 21% and in second grade 21% as well. I'd also like to remind the board that as you go down the graph you can see basically less red and yellow, more green and blue and that as the year progresses the expectations for the assessment also get more rigorous. It's not as if they give the same test at the beginning and the end of the year and then as we teach them it's the you know it's the same expectation as they take that beginning middle and end of the year benchmark the assessments and the rigor and the expectation of students also gets more challenging. So there's growth despite the increased rigor throughout the year. Uh this next graph we will look at the math data from the 2324 uh school year

045and it's actually going to be in the form of a pie chart. uh this represents the breakdown of our K through2 SCU students. On the left hand side is the data from the beginning of the year and the right hand side is the data at the end of the year for our IXL math data. Within the pie charts, dark green represents students above grade level, green represents students on grade level, yellow represents students below, and orange represents students far below grade level. The segment that is gray represents students who did not take the assessment and were not pinpointed. On the left hand side, at the beginning of the school year, 49% of students were above or on grade level with 44% of students below or far below grade level with 8% not pinpointed. At the

046end of the year on the right, 61% of students were above or on grade level, which is a 12% increase, and 32% of students were below or far below grade level, a 12% improvement. And at the end of the year as well, 6% of students were not pinpointed. You can see that visual representation very clearly on uh comparing the left and the right. You can see on the left the amount of green to the right the amount of green and the decreased uh significant significant decrease in the amount of yellow. Um ideally making those students that were in that below area proficient and uh my final slide based on that data we have a number of areas that we have focused on this school year that I'd like to highlight. First in ELA, we are

047focused on our second year of implementation of our CKLA Amplify reading program. We look forward to seeing how this researchbased science of reading aligned program continues to contribute to the growth of our students. At the building level, I've had a strong focus on literacy intervention. This year at Peters Elementary School, we have developed what we call a literacy lab designed to give teachers the tools to more effectively provide timely interventions to our students. We are also planning on hosting our first annual literacy night. I look forward to sharing this information uh about the event with the board at next month's education committee meeting um scheduled for February. Uh this event as a very brief uh touching point uh is designed to support the collaboration uh between Peters and uh Peters Elementary School and the families

048at Peters and to share information related to early reading strategies so that families can better support their students at home. In math we are continu uh continuing uh I'm sorry currently undergoing a math pilot grades K through 8. We are piloting two programs, Thinking Math and I Ready to examine the best next steps for our math curriculum. At Peter, we have two kindergarten teachers and two first grade teachers piloting Thinking Math. And we have one kindergarten teacher and two second grade teachers pilot, I'm sorry, and one second grade teacher piloting I Ready. Uh special thanks to those teachers who are basically jumping into this school year learning new curriculum, teaching these new curriculum to students so that we can truly vet these programs and make a you know the best choice uh moving forward uh

049for our students. And finally, I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight for the board the impact of the decision last year to hire additional power professionals to work with our students. Because of that decision, we have now we now have an instructional power professional scheduled at every grade level working with students every single day. Uh this has allowed us to create a more flexible schedule that allows for more students to receive direct intervention. Um and when not providing those interventions, these power educators are working in classrooms providing support for both teachers and students. I wanted to acknowledge that that decision has had a a positive impact on what we do at Peters and thank you for that. Next, I'm going to turn the presentation over to Mr. Briner at Slington Elementary School. Okay. Uh,

050good evening everyone. Uh, it's great to see everybody this afternoon or this evening. >> It's really touching. >> Okay. Um, uh, I'm going to be presenting the, uh, information for Slington Elementary School. Uh, just as a reminder, Slington Elementary School is our students in grades 3 through six. Um, I also get the privilege of uh explaining a lot of the charts uh that we're going to be going over uh this evening. Uh, so bear with me. I will do my best uh to uh keep them uh or explain them as best as possible. So our first um our first slide here is uh uh regarding attendance uh and regular attendance rates at Slington Elementary School. This performance measure represents the percentage of students enrolled in school for 90 or more school days and who are

051present for 90% or more of those days. Uh so this is this is a lagging indicator meaning that it's coming from the 2324 school year uh and being presented to you as data in the 2425 school year. Uh this percentage uh for Slington Elementary School was 90.4%. Uh this is 10% or 10.8% above the state average. uh yet it is 3.7% below the statewide performance standard uh which we must meet uh reach by 2033. Uh there is also a color code that goes with this. So the color at the top of that slide or the top of that chart uh as you can see is green. Uh but each color means something a little bit different. uh for attendance. If it were blue, it means that we are exceeding the performance standard or we're 94.1%

052or higher uh for the attendance rate. If it were green, it means that we're meeting the uh performance standard, meaning we're between 89 80.9% uh to 94%. And if it were red, it means that uh we're we weren't meeting the performance standard uh or we were below 80.8%. Okay, this next slide uh is uh the achievement data uh for Slington Elementary School. It represents the percentage of all students enrolled for a full academic year scoring proficient or advanced on the PSSAs in grades 3 through six in ELA, math, and science. So ELA is on the left hand side, math is in the center, science is on the right hand side. Uh this is a composite score for the building. Uh it also includes a statewide average. So inside the chart uh we have our uh

053our percent proficient or advanced at the top. In the middle uh is the statewide average and then at the bottom is the 2033 statewide goal. Uh also there is a color code that goes along with this. So, if the color were blue, it means that we're meeting or exceeding the statewide goal. If it were green, it means that we're meeting or exceeding the interim target. If it were red, it means that we're not meeting the statewide goal or interimm target. And if it were gray, it would mean that it's uh insufficient information or not applicable. So, in ELA, we uh Slenson Elementary School was 37.6% 6% proficient uh with of proficient for all of our students in grades 3 through six. Um and that's uh for students that were proficient or advanced on the PSSA.

054This was below the statewide average of 49.9% and the statewide 23 33 goal of 81.1%. This falls into the red category since it does not meet the statewide goal or interim target in math. Uh, Slington Elementary was 35.4 uh or 35.4 of all of our students in grades three through six were proficient or advanced. Uh, on the PSSA, this was below the statewide average of 41.7 and the statewide 30 2033 goal of 71.8. This falls into the red category because it uh since it did not meet the statewide goal or the interimm target. And as previously stated by Dr. Stoker, the science PSSA has transitioned from grade 4 to grade 5. And for the 2425 school year, uh only participation rates were published. So uh that is the reason why the science color uh is

055gray and it's um there's no uh other data that's being present presented for testing results. This next slide shows the growth at Slington Elementary School again in ELA math and science. ELA on the on the left, math in the center, and science on the right. This performance measure represents the academic growth of students taking the PSSA relative to the their entering achievement and average statewide growth during the reported year. The PEOS academic growth score uh presents the students impact or the school's impact on the change in academic achievement levels of groups of students from year to year in each of the state assessed content areas. The PEOS growth index is converted to a 50 into a 50 to 100 point scale. Uh the color code uh for this information is as follows. The blue ex

056it means that uh we would have exceeded one year's worth of the growth standard or one year uh one year's worth of growth. Green means that we met one year's worth of growth. Red means that we're not meeting one year's worth of growth and gray means that there's insufficient information or it's not applicable. So in ELA PEOS growth for all students at Slington for the 2425 school year was 70. This is lower than the state average growth score of 75.4 but is equal to the 2033 goal of 70. Uh Slington Elementary fell into the green category in this uh for this uh assessment. uh which means that we met one year's worth of the growth of growth and met the one-year growth standard. In math, PEOS growth uh for all students at Slington in 2425

057was 51. That's the growth score. This is lower than the state average uh state average growth score 74.9 and lower than the 2033 growth score of 70. Slington Elementary uh fell into the red category uh for this growth measure because it did not meet the one-year growth standard. And in science uh just as said before, there is insufficient insufficient information because this was not reported specifically in science, which is why uh that is gray up on the board. Okay. So, the next few slides breaks this uh breaks this same information down a little bit differently and specifically uh related to how the board has asked us to present it kind of in the past specific to cohorts. So, the next few slides will provide you with cohort data for achievement and growth. Uh this slide

058shows uh this particular slide shows the cohort data from last year's third grade which is this year's fourth grade uh of students in ELA and math. ELA is on the left and math is on the right. Uh the color code at the top for this particular for these particular categories are as follows. Um the pink means that that was the percentage of students that was that were below basic. Yellow means it's the percentage of students that were basic. Green is the percentage of students that that are proficient. Blue means that it's the percentage of students that are advanced. And the dark gray after the blue in the chart is uh the percent of students that were proficient and advanced combined. So, the percentage of students who were proficient and advanced in ELA at Slington Elementary

059School in in third grade in 2425 was 24%. Uh, the percentage of students in math that were proficient in third grade uh for 2425 was 30%. This is the first year of state testing and so therefore you're only seeing one year's snapshot uh of of uh of data. Um there is no growth data that goes along with this because there's no growth uh calculation that can be made because there's no previous data. So this that is why you're only seeing one uh uh one score and which is achievement data. Uh okay, this next slide is the same information uh but what you will find on this slide is that uh you have achievement and the two charts uh charts at the top on the left hand side is ELA on the right hand side is

060math and below that is growth information which I will uh go over in just a moment. So this slide shows the cohort data from last year's fourth grade which is this year's fifth grade students in ELA and math. And you can see that there's two years worth of data here. With regard to achievement, the percentage of students who were proficient and advanced at Slington in uh fourth grade last year for 2425 was 35%. This was an increase from the previous year of 31%. The percentage of students who were proficient or advanced in math at Slington uh elementary and fourth grade in 24-25 was 37% which was a slight decre decrease from the previous year of 38%. with regards uh to growth. Uh the explanation of the two charts at the bottom and um the the

061the key at the bottom uh this these charts uh at the bottom of the slide show a snapshot of student growth performance. The value added growth measure is measured yearly and is reported in colors in the this in this particular chart. The color definitions are as follows. dark blue which is all the way to the right uh signifies significant evidence this school exceeded the growth standard. The light blue uh is moderate evidence that the school exceeded the growth standard. Green is evidence shows evidence that the school met the growth standard. Yellow shows moderate evidence that the school did not meet the growth standard. Red means that uh there's significant evidence that the school did not meet the growth standard. and no color would mean that there's no data currently available. So, as you can see

062in 2425 in ELA, this cohort's growth fell into the green region, which indicates evidence that we met the growth standard or uh approximately one year's worth of growth uh academic growth in ELA. In math, this cohort's growth fell into the lower yellow region, which indicates that there's moderate evidence that we did not meet the growth standard or fell short of one year's worth of academic growth. This next slide uh is uh shows last year's fifth grade and this year's sixth grade. It's the exact same data that I kind of went over in terms of explanation except for the the fifth grade last year's fifth grade cohort and this year's sixth grade uh cohort. As you can see, there's three years worth of data for this particular cohort. In regards to achievement, the percentage of students

063who were proficient and advanced at Slington and ELA in the fifth grade in 24 25 was 45%. Previous results were 49% in third grade and 51% in fourth grade. So this is a decrease uh for us from previous years. However, this was higher than the statewide average for fifth grade students in 2425 which was 44 44%. The percentage of students uh who were proficient or advanced at Sladington in math in fifth grade in 2425 was 43%. Previous results were 40% in third grade, 40 and 46% in fourth grade. So this is a decrease from previous years. In regards to growth, as you can see in for in 2425 in ELA, this cohort's growth fell into the upper green region, which indicates evidence that the school met the growth standard or approximately one year's worth of

064growth. In math, this cohort uh growth fell into the upper yellow region, which indicates moderate evidence that the school did not meet uh the growth standard. Uh though it's uh it was close to meeting a year's worth of growth. This next slide uh is cohort data from last year's sixth grade and this year's seventh grade students. And as you can see, there are four years worth of data for this cohort. In regards to achievement, the percentage of students who were proficient and advanced at Slington in sixth grade uh in ELA in 2425 was 41%. Previous results were 43% in third, 42% in fourth, and 51% in fifth. So this was a decrease from previous years. The percentage of students who were proficient and advanced in Slington and sixth grade in math was 24.5 or I'm

065sorry in 2425 school year was 31%. Previous results were 32% in third grade, 45% in fourth grade and 42% in fifth grade. So this was also a decrease for this cohort. As you can see, for 2425 in ELA, this cohort fell into the lower yellow region, which indicates moderate evidence that it did not meet one year's worth of growth. And in math, it also fell into the lower yellow region, which indicates moderate evidence that it did not meet uh a year's worth of growth. This next slide is related to college and career readiness. This indicator present uh represents the percent of students who demonstrate engagement in instruction and activities that satisfy the career education and work academic standards as mandated by chapter 4 regulations and in accordance with district comprehensive and chapter 339 K through2

066guidance plans. School entities must demonstrate that students have met full the full continuum of career readiness expectations as defined for each grade span. Specifically, evidence shall be collected in a manner that validates that all four strands of the career education and work standards have been meaningfully addressed for all students. Grades span requirements are as follows. By the end of grade five, students must rep or must produce two or more pieces of evidence accumulated within uh grades K through five, the K through five span. Students are are to produce a minimum of six pieces of evidence in uh grades K through three, four, and five. By the end of grade 8, students have to produce two additional pieces of evidence per grade beyond uh the K through five band. Um, one piece of evidence for uh

067for this the six through eight grades span must be the students individual career plan and students are to produce a minimum of six pieces of evidence in grades bless you. Grades six, seven, and eight. By the end of grade 11, students have to produce two additional pieces of ev evidence per grade beyond the K through five and the 6 through 8 grade bands. Students are to produce a minimum of eight pieces of evidence in grades 9, 10, 11. Uh 9, 10, and 11. And at least two of these pieces of evidence must uh demonstrate implementation of the students indivi individualized career plan. Uh again this comes with a a color code. Uh so blue means that we uh have exceeded the performance standard mean green means that we met the performance standard yellow is not

068meeting the performance standard and gray is insufficient information. So for 2425 we uh you as you can see we were 100% 100% of our students uh at Slington in the uh at the school met the standard for college and career evidence. This is 8.5% above the state average and 2% above the statewide performance standard. This falls into the blue category which is uh for exceeding the performance standard standard. And I'm proud to announce this is the third year in a row that we have met this standard with a perfect score. This next slide is uh a historical look at Slington Elementary School's building scores. Uh the state has moved as Dr. Stoker mentioned away from using a single value uh and instead uh instead uses a dashboard system of progress. However, that build uh the

069building score does show a progression over time. The building score for 2425 was 62.1 which does represent a a decline in recent years. The main cause for the decline in the building score was a drop in the achievement scores at in ELA. This decrease was not entirely unexpected as we were anticipating an implementation dip following curriculum changes in ELA. We remain fully committed to and confident in the selection of CKLA and its implementation and believe strongly in it in this foundational shift and that it will lead to greater long-term success. Additionally, the building score was also impacted by the absence of adequate academic growth in mathematics. We recognize mathematics growth and achievement continue to play a major factor in the overall progression at Slington Elementary School, which is why we have currently engaged in a

070math curriculum program change process. And finally, our building score was also affected by uh a technical change uh in the calculation with the exclusion of the science achievement scores due to the new state standards. without the science component factored into the score. The decline we saw in ELA and math was uh was magnified because of greater weights uh in that calculation. It is important to note that science historically has been a high performing category uh for our building and this change in the calculation meant that uh the challenge that we have that we are seeing in ELA and math was magnified in the building score. So the question is where are we going from here and what are we focusing on? Uh really um the first point up there is understanding our cohorts. Uh there's

071three main points that I want to point out um and and discuss regarding understanding the cohorts. First, a small elementary school serving four uh assessed grade levels uh over uh you know or with an overall uh achievement score is profoundly uh means that our our overall achievement score is profoundly sensitive to the performance of any one single cohort. Um uh when a cohort is assessed for a the first time, their initial scores establish a baseline achievement data that follows them for the next four years. In a small school, the success or challenge of a single grade level carries a much larger weight on the overall final achievement outcome compared to a larger school. This is one reason why there are at times dramatic shifts in overall achievement um in at our building. It also helps

072to pinpoint the overall concern uh in tier 1 curriculum and instruction. The progressive drops we uh we have witnessed over the past recent years in ELA and math help to validate the work that we have done and are doing in curricular changes and program changes. Second, uh, in regards to cohorts, it is crucial to look beyond raw achievement uh, scores and focus on academic growth of our cohorts. Achievement tells us where students are, but growth tells us how fast they are moving. We are uh, we're pleased to see the instructional efforts on average made the expected full year's worth of academic growth in ELA even with even while still navigating a new curriculum. This PSSA data is consistent with uh what we saw in our local benchmarking data as well. On the other hand, we

073are not seeing the expected full year's worth of growth in math and have not historically. So, we are working to move in a different direction by pivoting or by piloting programs in the pro change process. Third, while meeting the overall standard for growth in ELA is a major accomplishment, it highlights our challenge, which is making dramatic multi-year jumps in achievement in a single year. Our students are achieving their expected annual growth, but single multi multiple cohorts start uh below proficiency. So reaching the proficient benchmark requires sustained and accelerated learning across multiple years. To help accomplish this, we are actively focused on strategies in diversifying our tool belt, such as integrating specialized instruction like Orton Gillingham, UF, Fly, and Voyer programs through our MTSS process, and also leveraging differently and more strategically to help us accelerate

074student learning beyond the expected rate and close the achievement gap over time. Specifically related to math, we're focusing on uh obviously achievement and growth. And as I previously stated, we recognize the mathematics growth and achievement continues to need improvement and we are actively working towards that solution. We are currently engaged in the math curriculum review process with two pilot programs currently running uh in the building and we are planning on a potential math curriculum program change in the 2627 school year. In the meantime, we are working diligently to leverage academic tools such as EXL in small group targeted intervention uh interventions groups to close gaps and increase overall growth of our students. Re we are also refining our ELA implementation. And so despite meeting growth standards in ELA, we remain committed to the improvement in

075achievement and eliminating the implementation dip that has occurred. We remain fully committed to the fidelity of the CKLA implementation process. We are having having planning and data meetings uh that are being held to discuss the implementation tools, their application and the use of the data and strategies currently uh being used in classrooms. We're also using all of the programs in our tool belt that I mentioned earlier to address concerns through our MTSS process in ELA. And finally, uh, we're targeting historically underperforming groups. To improve overall achievement, we are prioritizing the support of groups such as our economically disadvantaged students and our uh, our English language learners. For economically disadvantaged students, we are ensuring basic needs are being met through programs such as C, which is our free breakfast and lunch program, and Backpack Buddies, which

076is uh our program that we send food home with students over the weekend uh to support them uh with nourishment over the weekend. We're providing specialized uh targeted interventions through MT our MTSS process and we're also engaging uh with our families for our English language learners. Thanks to the support of the school board, additional staffing has been hired and is now in place uh to meet the growing needs of our ELDP or English language development program. We continue to focus on professional development and instructional strategies to address individual learning needs. uh specifically for our newcomers and we are also seeing success um in this specifically with our WEDA scores uh uh and our WED WEDA success from last year. The WEDA test is the annual assessment that all of our English language learners must take.

077And uh we are pleased uh that our efforts to support our English language learners at Slington um is yielding strong results as evidenced in the 2425 W to access assessment data. So some key indicators of that success is a strong average proficiency. So Slington ha achieved an average WEDA score of 3.8 eight out of six for students tested in grades three through six with six students uh testing out of the program into exit monitoring status meaning that they're scoring a 4.5 uh or higher which is a very large number um in one school year to test out. Um uh we're also uh we they also had high oral language proficiency um on the assessment and students demon demonstrated notable proficiency in receptive language skills with multiple students achieving high scores across the domains. We are

078also engaging families uh in the educational program through adult ESL uh classes and family field trips. So, this concludes uh the Slington Elementary School data. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Williams. Uh now for the middle school data. >> Very touching. All right. I appreciate that. >> Good evening to the board. Uh good evening to the community. Uh Mr. Brian, I'm going to thank you for describing all of the charts and the colors, the data that you're going to see from me. The middle school is going to follow those descriptions, so I won't have to go through and describe all of that again. Um, the following slides that you're about to see represent the data from the Northern Lehigh Middle School from the 2024 2025 school year. Um, as a reminder, Northern Lehigh

079Middle School houses grades 7 and 8. At Northern Lehigh Middle School, the first slide that we are showing you is data regarding the regular attendance rate. This is a lagging indicator from the 2023 2024 school year. You can see that the percentage of students not chronically absent. I want to hold that. It's hard to see the knot there. Not chronically absent um at the middle school is 85.6%. This is 6% above the state average yet still 8.5% below the statewide performance standard that we must reach by 2023. This regular attendance rate is slightly higher than the 85.2% from the prior year. and that's showing an increase in the number of students who are not chronically absent at the middle school. And this earned us a green rating indicating that we have met the performance standard.

080This is encouraging as improving overall student attendance has been a focal point at the middle school over a number of years. And through the rest of the school year this year, our building level office team will continue to utilize our newly developed attendance tracking system. We're going to use increased proactive family outreach and the incorporation of attendance goals throughout our building in order to ensure that we reach the 2033 statewide performance standard that you see there. The slide that you're seeing now shows the achievement data for the Northern Lehigh Middle School for the 2024 2025 school year. In English language arts, 47.9% of all students in grades seven and 8 were proficient or advanced on the PSSA. This was below the state average of 49.9% and the statewide 20 uh 2033 goal of 81.8% as

081indicated by the red rating that you're seeing there. In math, 22.4% of all students in grades seven and eight were proficient or advanced on the PSSA. This was below the state average of 41.7% and the statewide 2033 goal of 71.8% as indicated by the red rating. As previously stated, the science PSSA has transitioned. So for the 2024 2025 school year, only participation rates were published and you did not see any testing results indicated by the gray color. This slide shows the growth scores for the middle school across the three PSSA tested subjects. In English language arts, our PEOS growth for all students in the 2024 2025 school year in the middle school was 86.0. This is higher than the statewide average growth score of 75.4 and higher than the 2033 goal of 70.0. The middle

082school is blue in the ELA growth measure because we exceeded the growth standard. In math, the PEOS growth for all students in the 2425 school year of the middle school was 64.0. This is lower than the statewide average growth score of 74.9 and lower than the 2033 goal of 70.0. The middle school is red in the math growth measure because we did not meet the growth standard in this area for the 2425 school year. And as we stated in science, Pivos growth was not reported indicated by the gray color. This slide shows, as you've seen in the previous uh data from Slington, the cohort data um that is representing this year's seventh grade uh students. Um, I'm sorry, last year's seventh grade students and that would be this year's current eighth grade students in ELA

083and math for 5 years. You'll see the ELA scores on the left and you'll see the data for the math on the right. With regard to achievement, the percentage of students who were proficient and advanced in ELA in the 2425 school year was 44%. Previous results were 16% in grade 3, 48% in grade 4, 49% in grade 5, 46% in grade 6, and 44% in grade 7. So this is a slight decrease from the last few years. The percentage of students who were proficient and advanced in math in the 2425 school year was 21%. When we look at previous results, 34% in grade three, 37% in grade 4, 35% in grade 5, 22% in grade 6, and 21% in grade 7. So this is a decrease from previous years. With regard to growth, as you

084see below, as you can see, for the 2425 school year in ELA, this cohort's growth fell in the middle of the green region, which is classified as meats, indicating evidence that the school met the growth standard or approximately a year's worth of academic growth. On the right hand side, you see the growth score for math. In math, this cohort's growth fell in the upper red region, which is categorized as well below, indicating significant evidence that the school did not meet the growth standard. This slide shows cohort data for last year's eighth grade students, which are students who are currently in ninth grade for ELA and math over the last five years. We do not have Keystone data for this entire cohort yet. With regard to achievement, the percentage of students who were proficient and advanced

085in ELA in the 2425 school year was 50%. Previous post-pandemic results were 51% in fourth grade, 52% in fifth grade, 53% in sixth grade, 50% in seventh grade, and 50% in eighth grade. So this is the same as the previous year and a decreased from other years. However, this is above the state average for this subject area in the 2425 tested year. The percentage of students who were proficient and advanced in math in the 24-25 school year is 23%. Previous post-pandemic results were 37% in fourth grade, 34% in fifth grade, 40% in sixth grade, and 32% in 7th grade. So, this is a decrease from previous years. With regard to growth, if you look at the bottom, ELA on the left and we'll see two on the right um for math and then also below

086that you'll see algebra 1 and I'll speak a little bit about that. As you can see, for the 24-25 school year in ELA, this cohort's growth fell in the middle of the dark blue region, which is categorized as well above, indicating significant evidence that the school exceeded the growth standard. In math, for students who took the PSSAs, this cohort's growth fell in the lower red region, which is categorized as well below, indicating significant evidence that the school did not meet the growth standard. Below that, you're seeing the growth store for our students who took the algebra 1 Keystone exam. This cohort's growth fell in the upper dark blue region, which is categorized as well above, indicating significant evidence that the school exceeded the growth standard. So, at the middle school, we actually run two sections

087of a higher level algebra 1 course, and we ran two of those sections in the 2425 school year as well. In the 2425 school year, we have 42 students who took this course and that was an increase of four students compared to the year prior. The year prior, we had 38 total students take that course. Um, when we look at that, the scores, 95% of our students that took this course scored proficient and advanced, 40 out of 42 students. and 60% of our students, 25 out of the 42 achieved advanced on the algebra 1 Keystone exam. Um, so while we're increasing the number of students who test each year, we are also continuing to increase the percentage of students that are achieving advanced on the Algebra 1 Keystone exam. And this marks the fifth consecutive

088year that the percentage of students scoring advanced on the Algebra 1 Keystone exam has increased for our students at the middle school. This slide shows the career standards benchmark. As previously stated for the 2425 school year, you can see that 100% of students in the school met the standard for college and career evidence. This is 8.5% above the state average and 2% above the statewide performance standard. I'm proud to announce that this is the fourth year in a row that we have met this standard with a perfect score. This table shows a historical look at the middle school's building scores. As previously stated, the state has moved away from using a single value and instead uses a dashboard system of progress. However, building scores do incorporate data from the areas that we have presented tonight.

089student achievement on state assessments, student academic growth year-to-year, closing gaps in achievement among different student groups, and other academic indicators such as attendance. As was pre previously stated, the middle school has also been impacted by the technical change in the calculation of building scores with the exclusion of the science achievement scores due to the new state standards. Without the science component factored into the score this year, building scores were more heavily weighted in English language arts and mathematics. It is important to note that this science has historically been a high performing category for our building and it was not included. Even with this change, you can see that the middle school has been incrementally growing each year. The building score that you see there of 66.6 is the highest on record. This progression is encouraging

090as it is an indicator that our areas of focus and the work we are doing at the middle school to continually improve overall student growth and achievement is on the right track. So that's the data and having the data is very important. But what we do with the data and the action that we take with that data is really where we're going to see the gains and us meeting the goals that we have set for ourselves. So with that in mind, there's four main areas that we have as a focus at the middle school. You can see them bolded at the top of each one of those particular areas. We're looking to strength strengthen curriculum implementation in our tested content areas. Use data and professional development to drive instructional improvement. Maximize student intervention and goal

091setting through our win and goal team periods, which we often refer to as our advisory periods. and we're looking to integrate our MTSS system, which at the middle school, our teams are our inspire team, our academic team, and our SAP team. When we take a look at what we're doing with curriculum, we're going to continue staff collaboration as we are in year one of our adoption of the Amplify program in ELA. And we're looking for that collaboration to help us align curriculum tightly to the PA core ELA standards, establish and monitor appropriate instructional pacing, strengthen vertical alignment between grades seven and eight, and increase depth of knowledge, rigor, and standardsbased discourse. We're looking to continue piloting the I Ready math curriculum. And as we do that, we're looking to focus again on our alignment to

092the PA core math standards, integration of diagnostic data that we're implementing daily in instruction, and we're looking to identify any gaps prior to a full adoption so that we make the right decision with the curriculum. And we're beginning exploration of an integrated science curriculum in grades seven and eight that aligns with the PA Steel standards and emphasizes inquiry, real world application, and vertical coherence. As we take a look at what we're doing with data and professional development, we're looking to facilitate vertical collaboration among content area teachers so that we can address gaps that we see between our g uh grade levels and align instructional expectations and assessments. We want to look to continue to leverage our use of ed insight for teacher specific review of data so that we can continue to analyze formative benchmark

093and state assessment data. Identify trends and instructional priorities. For example, do we see weaknesses in particular anchors or do we see them in particular question styles like for example open-ended questions or text dependent analysis? and we're looking to make sure that we target historically underperforming groups through the review and assessment of that data. When we take a look at what we're trying to do with our student intervention um in our win and gold team periods, we're looking to continue to pursue our fifth school of distinction status from our relationship with the brilliant pathways in the college for every student program. We're going to continue to form relationships with community partners as we continue to present seminars and facilitate campus visits for our students at the middle school. We're going to utilize our mentoring model to

094facilitate student specific goal setting. And we're going to look to leverage our use of the programs that we have at our disposal like EXL and Firefly so that we can provide targeted support and intervention. That's going to help us identify standards level gaps using PSSA aligned assessments. It's going to help us assign PA core skills based on our Firefly data and use diagnostic data for targeted support and for targeting student grouping. Um, for example, these would be our bubble students as we get into marking period 3 who we know just need that little push to move into that proficient level. And lastly, a a big push at the middle school is making sure that all of our systems communicate together so that we can align and embed data sources across our MTSS teams, ensure academic,

095behavioral, and social emotional supports are aligned, and so that we can develop a shared vision through proactive communication with our students and with our families. And with that, I am going to now turn it over to Dr. Voli for the data from Northern Lehigh High School. >> Thank you, Mr. Williams. Good evening, everyone. It's great to see you as always. And now I know which side which button I'm pushing here. All right, so we are finally to the high school. Um the following slides represent our high school data from the 2425 school year. And again, our school houses, as you know, grades 9 through 12. At Northern Lee High School, the first slide shows data regarding the regular attendance rate. This, as you know, is a lagging indicator from the 2324 school year. You can

096see that the percent of students not chronically absent at the high school is at 84%. This is 4.4% 4% above the state average and 10.1% below the performance standard that we have to reach by the school year 2033. All right, the achievement scores for the high school are a little bit different than the other schools. The results I'm going to share for the 2425 11th grade cohort of students, regardless of when they take the Keystone exams, whether it's 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, it doesn't really matter. They're banked until the students are actually juniors. So when they are in 11th grade and then we share them with you during that school year. So in English language arts, 54.2% 2% of the 11th grade cohort of students were proficient or advanced on Keystone exams. This

097was above the state average of 49.9% but still below the statewide goal of 2033 of 81.1. So we have a little bit of time to get there, but we are above the state average. In math, which is the middle column there, 38.3% of 11th grade cohort of students were proficient or advanced on the Keystone. This was just below the state average of 41.7 and below the 2033 goal of 71.8. So, we were only about 3% below the statewide average for math. And as previously stated, the science keystone is transitioning to the steel standards. So for the 2425 school year only participation rates were published and not the actual testing results. This slide shows the growth scores for the high school across the three tested subject areas in literature. PEOS growth for all students in 2425

098in the high school was 100. If you remember Mr. Briner um explained that the score the scores range from 50 to 100. So quite honestly our school our students could not have performed any better. This is higher than the statewide average score of 75.4 and higher than the actual 2033 goal of 70. The high school is in blue in the English language arts growth measure because we exceeded the growth standard in algebra 1. PEOS growth for all students in 2425 in the high school was 74. This is slightly lower than the statewide average growth score of 74.9 but already higher than the 2033 goal of 70. The high school is in green for math for the growth measure because we meet the growth standard in this area for 2425. In biology, PEOS growth for 2020,

099I'm sorry, 2425 was not reported. This slide shows cohort data from last year's 9th grade. This year's 10th grade students in ELA and math for four years. We do not have Keystone data for this entire cohort yet, but we will next year. So, just looking at them with regard to achievement, previous post-pandemic ELA results were 55% in fifth grade, 62% in sixth grade, 59% in seventh grade, and 59% in eighth grade. Previous post-pandemic math results were 30% in fifth grade, 33% in sixth grade, 41% in seventh grade, and 22% in eighth grade. There is no additional achievement or growth to report for this cohort is not is because not all of them test in ninth grade. This slide shows cohort data for last year's 10th grade, this year's 11th grade students in ELA and math

100for three years. We do not have d keystone data for this entire cohort yet, but will at the end of this school year. With regard to achievement, previous post-pandemic ELA results were 50% in sixth grade, 51% in seventh grade, and 43% in eighth grade. Previous post-pandemic math results were 14% in sixth grade, 22% in seventh grade, and 9% in eighth grade. There is no additional achievement or growth to report for this cohort, as not all of them test in 10th grade. This slide shows cohort data for last year's 11th grade, this year's 12th grade students in ELA and math. for middle school and high school. We do have Keystone data for this entire cohort. So, let's look at achie achievement. The percent of students proficient and advanced on the ELA PSSA in seventh grade was

10141% and in eighth grade was 45%. The percent of 11th grade cohort of students who was proficient or advanced on the literature keystone was 55%. The percent of students proficient and advanced on the math PSSA in seventh grade was 17%. When they were in eighth grade, it was 4%. Now, the percent of 11th grade cohort of students who were proficient or advanced on the algebra and Keystone was 39%. Let's take a look at growth. As you can see, for the 24-25 school year in literature, this cohort's growth fell in the upper dark blue region, which is categorized as well above, indicating significant evidence that our school exceeded the growth standard. In algebra 1, this cohort's growth fell in the middle of the green region, which is categorized as meeting, indicating evidence that the school met

102the growth standard or approximately made one year's worth of academic growth. This slide shows cohort data for last year's 12th grade who are our graduates in English language arts and math for middle school and high school. Again, we do have Keystone data for this entire cohort. So, let's take a look at achievement. The percent of students proficient and advanced on the ELA PSSA in 8th grade was 49%. The percent of the 11th grade cohort of students who was proficient or advanced on literature keystone was 53%. Jumping over to math, the percent of students proficient and advanced on the math PSSA in 8th grade was 13%. The percent of 11th grade, the 11th grade cohort of students who was proficient or advanced on the algebra 1 keystone was 48%. Jumping down to growth, as you can

103see, for 2425 in literature, this cohort's growth fell in the upper green region, which is classified as meats, indicating evidence that the school met the growth standard or approximately a year's worth of academic growth. In algebra 1, this cohort's growth fell in the lower dark blue region, which is categorized as well above, indicating that there was significant evidence that our school exceeded the growth standard. This slide shows the career standards benchmark for the 2425 school year and you can see that 100% of students in our school met the standard for college and career evidence. This is 8.5% above the state average and 2% above the statewide performance standard. I am proud to announce that this also for us is the third year in a row that we have met this standard with a perfect score.

104And just to highlight, we have also been a CFES school of distinction for three consecutive years. Um CFES again stands for college and career for every student. Um and we have several well all of our staff but several uh point people. You met one of them tonight, Mrs. Tedman. And uh one of our school counselors, Mrs. Hoffford, works very hard with our um high school scholars to represent everything we do in this area. um and they are to be commended for all of that. All right, graduation is also a lagging indicator. So, as you can see, the graduation data is from the 2324 school year. The high school had 91.7 of our 7% of our students graduate in four years and we exceeded the state average of 88% and we are very close already to

105the 2033 goal of 92.4%. The industrybased learning standing standard measures the number of 12th graders who at some point between 7th grade and 12th grade achieved one or more of the following. They either scored competent or advanced on industry standardsbased competency assessments. Earned at least one industry recognized credential. Completed a workbased learning experience. Industry standardsbased competency include assessments like our like the nocti which our students take at LCTI as part of many of their programs. For the 2425 school year, we had about 25% of our student body attending LCTI in some capacity which is pretty exciting. The data on the right hand graphic is based on the 25 2425 school year data. As you can see, 43% of our students achieved one of these industry-based learning measures. This is above the state average of 41.4%

106as well as already above the statewide performance standard for 2033 of 30.7. Okay, this table, as you've seen in previous presentations, show a historical look at the high school's building scores. As previously stated, the state has moved away from using a single value and instead uses a dashboard system of progress. However, building scores do show a progression over time. The building score for 2425 is 74.7, which is the highest one since the pandemic. During 2425, students at the high school took AP exams in calculus, biology, English language and composition, English literature and composition, and US history. A score of three or higher on an AP exam is considered a qualifying score, meaning students have demonstrated college level knowledge and depending on the institution may earn college credit or advanced placement. In calculus, there were six

107students who tested. The average score was 2.8. And 67% of students scored a three or higher. In biology, there were three students who tested. The average score was a 3.7. And all students scored a three or higher. In language and composition, there were eight students who tested. The average score was a 3.1. And 88% of our students scored a three or higher. In literature and composition, there were four students who tested. The average score was a 3.0 and 75% of our students scored a three or higher. In US history, there were 13 students who tested. The average score was a 3.3 and 77% of our students scored a three or higher. So overall, we had 34 students test. The average score was a 3.2. all exams and 79% of students who tested scored at least

108a three and just to share in comparison we had about the same number of students last year of one last 33 students took AP exams last year the average score was a 2.7 as compared to 3.2 two this year and only 52% of students scored at least a three and we had 79% this year score that high. Okay, this slide shows SAT performance for students at our high school with a focus on the 2025 administration. In 2025, 32 students participated in the SAT. For 2025, students earned an average evidence-based reading and writing score of 550 and an average math score of 522 for a combined average total score of 1038. This total score is slightly above the 2025 national average of 1029, but below the PA average of 1075. For comparison, in 2024, 37 students

109at Northern Lehigh High School took the SAT and earned an average evidence-based reading and writing score of 579 and an average math score of 553 for a combined average total score of 1131. The 2024 high school average exceeded both the national average of 1024 and the PA average of 1078 that year. While the number of test takers decreased slightly from 24 to 25, SAT results continue to reflect strong performance in evidence-based reading and writing relative to national norms. Year-to-year variation is expected given the relatively small cohort sizes and SAT participation at the high school. Remember, it remains optional and self- selected which should be considered when interpreting trends over time. So to the good stuff as the other principles mentioned. So you know we have a multiaceted um approach at the high school which basically

110means it's more than one goal but not so many that you get lost and you do nothing well. Okay. So we really have narrowed it down to three areas. um this year at the high school. The first is ongoing strategic professional development. These very strategically selected sessions for our faculty center on high impact instructional strategies. So what is happening in front of our kids every single day and using those strategies to maximize the effectiveness of everything we do academics. So core instruction. So what happens in every classroom for 80 minutes a day? That's what we call core instruction. So what instructional strategies in those content areas are going to yield the best understanding, learning, academic growth, and achievement. And not only in our core one, which we call it in our in our regular classes,

111but also in our intervention time, which again, you know, is unheard of at a at a secondary level quite often. and we have it at the high school. We have a beautiful amount of time during the day in the middle of the day. So now that we have this great time and our kids are doing great during that time, now we need to sharpen our focus during that time. So um what is it? How are we intervening with the kids that are struggling as Mr. Williams talked about the bubble students who just need that little bit of push and how are we challenging those that are already high achievers? um you know and how do we do that? Do we get presenters in? Do we how do we get them involved and to get them

112and to push them further than they've ever gone before? Um so just an example of something I I put in there was, you know, we have experts in house that are amazing. Our teachers, our staff amazing. You met one of them last week, Amanda Briana. She is amazing at data. Um so we have a lot of in-house experts, but there are times when we have to go out. So, you know, our partners with the IU21, they're coming in in a couple weeks. Um, and they're going to be working with us on those key instructional strategies in various areas. We're also sending, we believe in in Dr. Rickini. Um, he is an expert in math out of Penn State. We're sending our whole math department together to see him and learn from him. And yeah, that

113throws a little wrench in coverage at the high school that day, but it doesn't matter because we believe it's important enough to send them all. Um so also we're looking at effective utilization of tools um for math as Mr. Williams uh mentioned Firefly EXL. We're getting better and better and better at looking at the data and moving from looking at it to action. Um and I know that's something Mrs. Culp has mentioned many times is what are you going to do about it? And that's what we're focusing on at the high school is okay, we've talked about it, we see what it is, how do we move it to action? Um our second focus collaboration and consistency and util utilization of block instruction um and again our lunch and learn interventions. So, we're monitoring the

114impact of what we're doing, not only in core instruction, but also um in that intervention time. And we have a group of lead teachers at the high school who are really just that they're teacher leaders who are asking questions about the attendance data, the growth data, the achievement data, and why is it that some are moving and some are are not. Um you know, so we're having those great discussions and actions, moving to action. Um and then the last thing is just taking a look at our um lesson plans, making sure they're engaging because if our kids are not engaged, they are not going to learn. So that's the very foundational pieces of what we do. We can't abandon those because again, it's the foundation of everything. Um and if we are not designing engaging

115lessons and that's what it is. It's a design. Um it's a craft and not everybody's great at that and some are amazing and we just all help each other. Um, so it's identifying those best practices and then replicating those in every classroom across the building. And I think our data is showing that we are going in the right direction. Um, we have a lot to celebrate at the high school and we're just going to keep the momentum going. So, thank you for all your support as always. I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent, Dr. Stober. >> Thank you, Dr. Bali. And Mrs. Dada is going to join me. Um, thank you to our principles for the thorough presentations of their building data this evening. Um, next, Mrs. Dada and I will examine

116historically underperforming populations. These include students who are economically disadvantaged English learners and special education students who have an IEP. To examine equity and how Northern Lehigh School District is serving underperforming populations, we examine the performance of various subgroups across the district. This slide shows performance levels for students who were considered economically disadvantaged in 2425. Recall from our demographic slide earlier in the presentation that 41.4% of our students are economically disadvantaged districtwide in 2425. At Sladington, 27.8% 8% of students who were considered economically disadvantaged were proficient or advanced in ELA and 22.6 were proficient or advanced in math. In the middle school, 31.4% of students who were considered economically disadvantaged were proficient or advanced in ELA and 7% proficient or advanced in math. At the high school, 40% of students who were considered economically disadvantaged were

117proficient or advanced in literature and 21.4% 4% um were proficient or advanced on algebra 1. Although across the board these performance levels are about 10 point uh 10 percentage points below um the all student peer group um they are generally comparable to other economically disadvantaged populations across the county and across our IU. This slide shows performance levels for students who were considered multilingual learners or English learners in 2425. As a reminder from the demographic slide earlier in our presentation, about 3.7% of students are considered L's districtwide last year. At Sladington, 10% of students who were considered L's were proficient or advanced in ELA and 5% were proficient or advanced in math. This is the first year that Slington has met the state required end count of 20 ELELS which means comparison data from the prior

118years is not available. So it's the first year that we had enough students to actually see numbers um and data for that group um in our district for the both middle school and high school. The end count of 20 students is still not being met. Um so well you will see is or insufficient sample listed for those tested subjects in the secondary school at this time. Sometimes ELA math and science PSSAs and keystone assessments are not the most accurate measures uh of performance for our English learners as it can be difficult to determine whether results reflect a student's content knowledge or language acquisition barrier. For this reason, Pennsylvania also administers the national WEDA assessment to English learners statewide. WEDA measures students reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in English, providing a more precise picture of

119language development and growth over time. During the 2425 school year, more than 60 students were enrolled in English language development program at any given time. Across the district, 63 students were assessed across the WEDA domains. Scores ranged from a low of 1.0, representing students at the newcomer level of English proficiency, to a high of 5.1, indicating students at the bridging level. This range illustrates the diverse language profic proficiency levels of our multilingual learners across the district. Average scores by school are listed on the slide and indicate that many of our students are at the beginning or developing stages of English proficiency. These result results are reviewed on an individual basis as students enter Northern Lehi with varying levels of English language experience. Um instructional supports are intentionally designed to promote growth from each students unique

120baseline. I am pleased to report that as a result of this targeted learning and weekly meetings with the ESL department that we had seven students across the district who earned scores qualifying them for exit from the ELP and placement on exit monitor status for the current school year. This 11% placeout rate is a tribute to the ESL teachers, classroom teachers and the ELDP paraprofessional who work with the students in that department. Good evening. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about the assessments for special education students. One of those is the PASSA. Um the PASSA is the alternative system of assessments for students with significant disabilities, typically those that are identified as um intellectually disabled or autistic. Um while the state average of students with disabilities continues to rise, the state still only allows

1211% of all the state tested students to take the pass up. Um, as you can see, the district has been working towards meeting the allowable amount for 2526. Now, this is an estimate because students may want come in or or leave by the time we actually take the assessment. Um, so that is an estimate and we're hoping to make our goal this year of under 1%. Excuse me. Um, the district went through compliance monitoring last year and this is an area that we'll continue to need to monitor. The district numbers continue to fluctuate with students moving in and out and more and more students are being identified every year. Um, when I started this, we were at 13% of students had IEPs, we are now at almost 20%, as you saw, 19.5%. But we are

122still only allowed for that 1% according to the state. Um, while the district continues to monitor and educate the staff and students on the eligibility criteria for the alternative PASA, the decision if the student takes the PASA or not is strictly an IEP team decision. Okay, sorry. >> Yep. Thanks. Um, this is now the um talking about the PSSAs. Okay, this slide shows the performance levels for students who were identified with disabilities in 24 and 25. If you recall from the previous demographics slide early in the pres presentation, the students with disabilities now represents the 19.5% of population. Um, this is a very diverse group and subgroup within our district. At slating, you'll see that we are at 13.7% of students with disabilities were proficient and advanced in ELA and 13.7 were proficient and advanced

123in math. In the middle school, 14% of the students were with disabilities were proficient and advanced in ELA and 7% were proficient advanced in math and algebra 1. While at the high school, 28% of the students with disabilities were proficient and advanced in literature and 7.7% were proficient and advanced in algebra 1. Um, with the subgroups, proficiency rates for students with disabilities are notably lower obviously than the all the student peer groups reflecting the complexity of the learning needs within this population. It's important to note that many of these students with reading disabilities are one or two grade levels below the typical uh student. Yet, they're required to read, decode, comprehend, and respond to the same grade level text as the other students. Um despite this challenge, in many cases, students have demonstrated greater than

124a year's growth in reading um when measured with their instructional level. This outcome is generally indicated with trends across the count county and with the IU. Um it's an important to focus on specially designed instruction that we do inclusive practices and targeting academic supports for these students. This slide contains some of the strategies that we are using to address the subgroups and individual needs of the historically underperforming students. With regard to the economically disadvantaged students, we are trying to ensure that their other basic needs are met. As described earlier in the presentation, for example, C allows for free breakfast and lunch. We do backpack buddies so that we're meeting some of the basic needs of students. Uh we also tried to provide targeted interventions through our MTSS systems across the district and in in each

125of the buildings and then engaging families in the educational program >> for special education. We are going to have to continue to monitor those PASSA participation rates. Um, continue to challenge our students in that area. We're going to monitor the PSSA participation rates at grades 8 and 11. That was previously uh a problem in years past that we continue to monitor and make sure that everybody is participating. Um, a lot of that has to do with motivation because our students don't want to take those long tests and and we're going to make it into chunk. we're going to chunk the tests and things like that and also provide some motivation. Um, our teachers are doing a great job providing short-term motivation for those grades. Um, also to continue to increase the student inclusion rates for

126all grade levels. Uh, with regard to our multilingual learners um, in our English language development program, we can't thank the board enough for hiring that additional teacher to meet the growing needs of our program. Um, we're definitely see seeing the benefits of that with more personalized instruction for our students in the ESL program. Uh, we're looking also to focus on PD and strategies to address individual learning needs of students, especially those that are newcomers, either coming directly into the country to Northern Lehi or coming um into surrounding districts and then transferring to Northern Lehi. You'll actually see one of those PD sessions that um is on the board agenda for approval this evening. And finally, looking to engage families in the educational program um through adult ESL classes. Those actually run on Monday nights around

127the same time as our um committee meetings or our board meetings. And those are to engage families um of any student in the district who um are also looking to uh learn English. And then family field trips. We take many of the family members with us on student field trips to engage them in the educational process. So, this concludes our presentation for the this evening. I know that was a little bit longer than um expected. We do appreciate your attention. Um there's a lot of important information that we went over tonight. Um we'll take questions at this time and then if you have any additional questions that come up, you certainly can email those to me and we can get back to you with responses. >> I I do a Um, so one thing I

128I would ask is would it be possible next time we a slide presentation to number the pages so that if we refer to a slide >> yes we can do that. Just um on a side note this will be posted on the website either this evening or tomorrow. We'll get this up onto the web page so that if anyone wants to reference it you can certainly do so at that time. So the first question I have is um at the elementary level we seem to always have um start off the year with with low and achieving scores. Um and I really commend the teachers for you know jumpstarting the students after being off for the summertime. I was wondering do we have any thoughts? Have we given any thought to some kind of summer learning

129loss program maybe to keep the kids engaged over the summertime so that you know math and reading so that we don't fall behind lose. >> So I can speak to um Kinder Quest for our students coming in before they even begin in kindergarten. Uh Mr. Schneiderite and his team over at Peters have run that. This is going to be year three coming up for our incoming um 26 27 group of students. That's to get students um you know familiar with the school, familiar with academics with um you know what happens at Peters. Uh we've also in the past especially during the pandemic to try to close the gap have run open horizons. We have our steam program that runs in the summer. So we have done summer programs in the past. Um we have curtailed

130or some of those programs have been reduced since the pandemic. Um but it's something if you know if that's the board's will we can look at further as well. >> And the the other thing with at elementary um I know we're working on new bringing new curriculum and I heard that that's a reason why maybe our scores are low and maybe this is a question for Scott Mr. Pine. Uh doc is it Dr. Pine now? No not yet. um when do you see the dust settling with the new curriculum that we would start to see advances? So the I mean the rule of thumb is that there's an imple implementation gap that can last up to three years. I don't anticipate us seeing that. Our teachers actually have recovered very well from what I think

131was very difficult year last year u really in terms of learning the pacing, learning the program themselves. I mean, if you think about it as, you know, you drive your car every day, right? And all of a sudden you get thrown in someone else's car and it takes some time to get adjusted to that. It's a terrible analogy in some ways because it's way more complex than that is, but yeah. So, I mean, so I mean, I don't I don't expect that. I don't expect it to take three years. I think we're already seeing a much higher level of comfort in our teachers. Um, I would say that you're going to see the biggest gains at our lower grades first, right? So the students who are who are in this program at the primary level,

132they're getting all of that instruction in terms of foundational literacy components uh right there at the get-go. Uh whereas at the upper grades, in some ways, we're trying to compensate for that not having been there prior to the new curriculum adoption. So there's just a lot more work to close the gap in the upper grades. Um I actually have conversations about the math adoption coming up. you know, within the next month. Um, it's going to be a similar conversation there. Uh, there's a real struggle when students have not been through a rich program all the way through. When we do end up making that shift of a bigger struggle at the top end and closing that gap, then obviously our students are coming with blank slates who are coming in to us. >> Okay. Yeah.

133Uh, I'd just like to thank you all for presenting some historical data. I I appreciate that. Gives us a little bit of an idea where we were going and uh I think that's comfortable. I'm still a little sad that we're seeing a lot of reds, probably as many reds as blues, and I'd like to see more blues, but you know, I know you're working on it, so we'll go from there. >> Anything else, Dr. Stoker? >> That's our report this evening. Thank you, Mr. Green. >> Thank you very much. Uh where are we here? The superintendent, Miss Malurus. >> I don't have anything this evening because uh Mrs. Kac did say that the um budget is on the agenda for approval this evening for CLIU. That's all I have. >> Thank you. An executive session

134was held at 6:15 this evening and mostly legal uh items that we discussed at that area. Okay, at this time we'll move to personnel. We have items A through where are we? J. Is there a motion to approve the personnel item? >> Second. >> Motion to second. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos? No. Okay, we have one policy guitar club. Is there a motion to approve the policy item? >> So move. >> Second. Thank you. Any questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> No. And so ordered. I have nothing under conference. Uh curriculum and instruction. Uh we have A and B. Right. Yes. Two items. Is there a motion to approve those items? >> So move.

135>> Second. >> Motion second. Discussion or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? No. And so ordered. Anyone have any old business? If not, we have a couple of new business items there. A, B, and C. Is there a motion to approve new business? >> Second. >> Who's the motion? >> Thank you. >> Any questions on the new business items hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I >> I >> opposed. No. And so ordered. Uh my financial if there be no objections I would like to take out item I at this point in time. So we'll vote on A through H and JK uh and JNK. And yeah, that's it. Right. So when we move item I, is there a motion to approve the

136other items under financial? >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. Any questions or discussion on those items? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> And opposed? No. And so ordered. Uh, okay. We're going to go back to item I now. I think I'll turn it back over to Dr. Wink. >> Thank you, Mr. Green. So, um, for item I, we're going to need to make a decision here so we can fill in the blanks in the agenda. What you see up on the screen is directly related to a decision that needs to be made for the field turf replacement in Bulldog Stadium. I'm going to show you four different renderings here and let you know the associated cost with each. We have with us this

137evening, uh, Mr. Matt Mooney from Keystone Sports Construction who uh can answer any questions uh that you may have. And then Mr. Mooney, I'm going to throw you a last minute curveball because we may have one additional request, but it shouldn't change the pricing as as explained. >> So, we'll go through the renderings first. The first one is um you'll see that we have our Northern Lehigh logo in the middle with the NL and then the Bulldog overlay over that. And then from the last time we discussed this, it says Bulldogs in the end zone, blue end zones, and we switched the lettering to white so it's more uh much more representative of our school district colors. There is a watermark on this one that says Northern Lehi. Please note that if this is the

138selection of the board with the northern Lehi watermark, northern will be fully spelled out and the last N will not be incorporated into the N in the logo. So, it'll be a full Northern to the left and a full Lehi to the right. This this option here is at a cost of $57,00016757,16769. However, administration is recommending that no matter which option we choose, you select the uh payment and performance bond to address any issues that would come out once the project starts. So then the total cost with the 1.5% added in for those bonds would be $514,776. So I'll just kind of let that image hang there for a second or two. And now Mr. Haw, I'm going to ask you to go to the next one. The second option is the same thing except

139the NL logo now does not have the bulldog overlay. It's just the letters NL. It would still say Northern Lehi as the watermark running the length of the field and then Bulldogs in the end zone. The cost for this one uh is $488,63942. However, if you add in the 1.5% uh bonds, it comes to $495,978, I believe. So, here the difference is we're removing the bulldog uh image because that removes a color in the color schemes. It actually is a reduction in cost. >> Okay. Okay. Mr. Haw if you can show the third option. This one here removes the northern Lehi watermark running the length of the field and instead inserts a large bulldog uh which takes up much of of of the playing field and that is um has the traditional Northern Lehigh logo

140in the center. So the NL with the Bulldog over it. Uh, so this kind of represents two of our different bulldogs that we use in our kind of branding throughout the district and still has the bulldogs in the end zone. This price is the same as the first one. Uh, so $57,16769. We're recommending the bonds go with it. So that would be $514,776. And then we have our fourth option which again is very similar to the previous one but it removes that Northern Lehi Bulldog over the NL logo and it's just the NL. So that one goes back to um if you do it with the bond $495,970. So before um I ask somebody to to make a recommendation and then we discuss which option it would be uh Mr. Mooney, I I would like

141to ask if for any of those options up there if in the end zone or I'm sorry on the ones where um it's the large bulldog. >> Yep. >> If on say the the southern end zone, so the one to the left, if it could say northern Lehi in white lettering and then Bulldogs in the northern end zone. >> Uhhuh. Absolutely. >> At the same pricing. >> Yeah, absolutely. and and no change in price for uh for that. >> Okay. >> Swapping of that northern link the >> Oh yes and okay and then thank you uh Mrs. Billy good memory. Um the other one is for where the NL is in the in the center there. >> Y >> could we make that white lettering with a blue outline instead of blue lettering with a

142white outline? >> Uh yes. >> Okay. Same. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Y um >> just flipping those colors. >> Yeah. So, you think it would pop a little bit more if the NL was white with a blue a blue outline around the letters? >> Yeah, absolutely. So, we could make that change. No problem. And it would not impact the price. >> Okay. Uh so, that being said, I'm going to open it up to uh school board members so we can fill in the first blank uh in this agenda item. >> Can I see option three again? And then that one, uh, Mrs. Snider with the changes about Northern Lehigh in the end zone. And if the board would like to have that NL also be white with the bulldog overlay, that would be with

143the bond $514,776. >> Y. So that would just change that would change from blue to white. >> Correct. Yep. and in the end zone to the left more than behind. >> Any changes? Yes. >> Can I make a motion? >> Is there any more questions? >> Well, we'll we'll So, this will just be like the first half of the of the motion because we still need to do the track, but I would I'm interested in what you have to say, Mr. Weber. >> Well, then I'll wait on the track. I'll wait on the track. Okay. Any I'm looking left now. Any other comments or anything else? Snider. Any questions? You okay? >> Okay. How about on the right? Any questions? >> My only thing with that is I don't I think the bulldog was repetitive.

144>> Option three. >> On to option three. >> Yeah. I mean, I just see option. >> Yeah. >> I like four. >> I like the watermark. Not so much both. Not to mention that one bulldog in the center is significantly more money. >> I like the option four. >> Four. I agree. >> Yes. with the white >> with the white and then northern Lehi on the one I do one end zone. >> Question, if you put Northern Lehigh in the one end zone, >> I know this isn't the scale, but how will that look? Will it fit appropriately? And >> um >> we do have um I don't think Mr. Haw has it uh but we we do have it where has said northern Lehi. if you want to pass that down and Mr. Hall

145if I can take them. >> Yeah, I would kind of like to see how that would look just because I'm afraid it's gonna look so cluttered on Right. And I'm >> I have these all in with Northern Lei as well. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to pull that up right now and uh put it up on the screen, >> right? So, just bear with me one second here. Oh, okay. >> Um, okay. So, it would look like that >> except it would be white lettering. >> Yeah. >> On one side, >> but you know, Lehi on one side. Bulldog. >> Right. Right. >> Bigger font. >> So the Bulldogs would be a different font size likely. I mean we could work with the design team I would imagine. >> Yeah. Exactly. So >> would be

146spread out more the >> you would have you get to view um on when the shop drawings you know all final designs and just make sure it looked good. Do you suggest that having the two different font sizes or how is that going to work? >> Um, actually, yeah, whatever. I mean, really, we we can do either one. So, um, whatever you guys want is really what we want to do, you know. So, um, from a from our perspective, it's it's either or. So, so the lettering is likely going to be different sizes in each end zone because you got more letters in the south end zone. >> So, in other words, should we try to keep them all the same uh the same size? Is that is that what you're thinking? >> Bulldog would

147look too small then. >> Yeah. >> I'm almost feeling like maybe we should just keep bulldogs on the ends and leave the NL in the middle. And I mean, >> yeah, I agree. >> It would feel lopsided. I think >> I don't think aesthetically it won't be good. >> Right. >> Even if it gets white, it's still going to be >> feels like we couldn't choose. >> We put them both on both. >> Yeah. >> I agree with that. >> I still want blue and white stripes. I'm not going to vote. >> No, I think you're going to lose that boat, man. All these like >> Oh my god. >> People were running. Can we go back to the Bulldogs with >> Sure. I'm gonna >> I'm gonna have to log out here and let

148Steve take control again. >> So like that >> who are >> I follow the talked about it today. The scoreboard's got to have more than Leon. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Right. The school board's got to have bulldogs on it. >> School dogs. >> Correct. >> I I like your watermark. >> So, what I think what I'm hearing is this design, but a white NL in the center. Correct. >> And bulldogs in the end zone. Correct. >> So, that should be this price. >> Motion at this point. is going to say object four >> uh the 495 what is it 971 >> 78 I'm sorry thank you >> 397 >> okay that's what the motion's going to say just so everybody understands that >> and if you're comfortable with that fine if not then we'll have

149more discussion but >> uh you want to do part two >> are you comfortable with whole number >> yeah But >> yeah, >> 970 >> 8 B. Yeah, it's 970. >> Okay. >> Should be 495970. >> It's actually 970. Yeah, >> my eight. >> Yeah, my eight looked like a zero. I apologize. >> Vice versa. >> Okay. >> 495970 bill. >> Correct. >> And that includes the bond bond. >> Okay. So then the next blank that we will need to fill in has to do with the track. The base price for the track is $348,2582. If we bundle the track and the turf together, we actually get a deduct a nice a significant de uh discount of $11,53155. administration strongly recommends that you bundle these two projects together. So with the deduct, the cost goes

150to $336,728. >> Wait, what was that for? The track. >> For the track, >> Say that again, please. I >> So if you bundle the two projects together, >> the cost of the track is $336,728. >> Okay. Part of that contract is an option to also add in the bond protection at 1.5% which comes out to $5,51. Administration is that recommending that you also add the bond protection for the track which would bring the track price with the bond protection and and also the discount to $341,779. Mhm. >> 341 >> 779. >> Correct. So, we're recommending that you bundle it together and add in the bond protection for the track as well. >> Okay. Let's have discussion on the track. Anyone any questions looking left? Any idea? I I think I think we it needs

151to be done and we might as well get the discount, >> you know, while we can and they can stage the >> Yeah, we can process. >> Exactly. We can do it together. >> Doing it all at one time will save time, I think. But also, the equipment's here just once, so that should be helpful, too. >> And and we will get it done prior to the uh we'll get them both done >> prior to the August one acclamation. >> Sounds good. >> Oh, that's terrific. What was the day again? You said August. >> Yeah, prior. So, our goal would be is if we started say right after graduation in mid June. Uh then we would our goal certainly would be to be done before August 1. And >> so is my math correct? 837769.

152>> Yep. >> 3769. >> Okay. Is everybody comfortable with the number? 37 749. Is that what you got? >> Yep. >> Now, this includes an 8-year warranty and 10-year maintenance. Correct. >> Correct. It includes 8-year warranty, on-site warranty, and then it includes a 10-year maintenance of which the first two years are free. And then for this remaining eight years, it's locked in at our current maintenance cost, which is approximately $3,400, which is already discounted to where it's at. um honestly for other districts. So we would have it locked in for 8 years at the current cost for maintenance which is two um full services a year plus uh annual concussion concussion testing. >> Can we get that for free? >> I tried, sir. >> You tried. Good. >> That would make me vote for it

153if you gave us that for free. >> Really good. >> It really would. And even if you didn't do blue and white, I'd still vote for it. >> And just to be clear, this is going to come out of the fund balance that we have. So it would actually capital reserve >> capital reserve. Correct. >> Correct. Next month there'll be a motion on um to move $3 million out of fund balance over into the capital reserve project to to make >> that would not affect pushed off to next year, >> right? It won't affect next year's budget >> budget. Yeah. Right. Hey Matt, I just want to say um hearing what we did um about previous jobs that this company has done. I know we're not familiar with this company, but I feel really comfortable

154based on what we had heard tonight as far as how they have done another district um and how the work went. So I I I'm looking forward to that. >> Well, yeah, we appreciate that. We work hard to uh exceed expectations and and you know we appreciate the opportunity and are confident we will for sure >> and I think for anybody >> showcase >> anyone listening that wasn't in our previous meetings that we did talk to some of the other districts that they have worked with and they had very high things to say about your company um including Danville which I have a friend who works there um so >> Oh that's great we'd love to hear We get rid of that 3,400. >> Can I make a motion? >> Uh, yes. Do you want

155to fill in a numbers either either? I'd like to make a motion that we select option four bundling the uh the turf replacement with the track um with the bulldog at either end with a white NL in the middle with the blue outline um going with Keystone Sports Construction >> and and that would be at a cost tim Costco $495,970 for the field and $341,779,0007 $779 for the track. >> For the track. >> Okay, everybody understand that motion? >> Yes. >> Okay. Is there a second to that? >> I'll second that. >> Second. Thank you. >> Any further discussion on that? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Those opposed, no. Okay, I'll vote yes. >> Damn, you drive hard. Uh, >> okay. Where were we? I think we're down

156to legal. Is that Is that correct? >> Is that where we were? Thank you. >> You need to do >> uh I have nothing under legal >> or correspondence. >> Nothing. Nothing. >> Couple information items. Okay. I would also like to announce at this time that on Oh, I should have picked out the date. What is that date in in February? >> February 2nd. Okay. On February 2nd, preceding the committee meetings, we will have an executive session beginning at 5:00 uh where we will do the superintendent's annual contract or semianual midyear, excuse me, midyear uh contract and and uh performance review. evaluation, sir. >> Call evaluation. Okay, we could call it that. Superintendent's evaluation and performance review. No, I can't do that. Okay, so that will be at at beginning at 5:00. Uh hopefully we

157will complete that by 5:30. Uh so we can start the meeting on time, but we will be doing that at 5:00. >> Okay, we're all okay on that. >> Not seems to. >> All right. Any guests? >> No, we'll do that. Any guests want to be heard? >> They all got tired and went home. More guests. >> Okay, thank you. Uh, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Yes, there is. >> Second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> We're done here. Yay. 9:30. Thank you, everyone.